The current model U-2S aircraft features an all-glass digital cockpit, improved sensors, and propulsion systems. But its pilots still wear backup GPS/GLONASS-enabled watches, just in case. USAF The Garmin D2 Charlie pilot’s smartwatch. Garmin A U-2 Dragon Lady flies above the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range, California, Mar. 23, 2016. U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Robert […]
SpaceX is accelerating its commercial efforts with the launch of the SmallSat Rideshare Program offering smaller companies a more affordable and reliable way to get their technology into space. Announced by Elon Musk’s space company on Monday, the program will offer regularly scheduled, dedicated rideshare missions on the reusable Falcon 9 rocket with prices starting […]
NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, affectionately called TESS, discovered three new worlds during its latest exploration. The exoplanets are the smallest, nearest known to date and orbit a star that’s just 73 light-years away, which is pretty much just around the corner in cosmic terms, NASA and MIT announced Monday. The star furthermost away also […]
SpaceX stumbled at the first hurdle with its recent attempt to launch 60 satellites into space — which wound up being pushed back a day due to bad weather, and then called off yet again. It was an unfortunately inauspicious start for Elon Musk’s Starlink project, which aims to rain down internet from the heavens, […]
[embedded content] Initially slated for a two-year mission, NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) soars in an elliptical, 13.7-day cycle around the Earth. It’s a unique and extreme orbit that’s never been used before, varying as close as 67,000 miles and as far away as 232,000 miles from its home planet. According to Space.com, the stable […]
From Tesla to Hyperloop to plans to colonize Mars, it’s fair to say that Elon Musk thinks big. Among his many visionary ideas is the dream of building a space internet. Called Starlink, Musk’s ambition is to create a network for conveying a significant portion of internet traffic via thousands of satellites Musk hopes to […]
Relocating is complicated enough when you’re simply moving to a new city. Scientists at NASA have taken property searches up an infinite number of levels, however, as they search for another Earth. NASA’s planet-hunting team turned up a potential relocation candidate on the first pass with a new satellite. The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) uses four […]
Gov. Jerry Brown says California will move forward with plans to launch a satellite into space in order to monitor climate change. He made the announcement at the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco. “With science still under attack and the climate threat growing, we’re launching our own damn satellite,” Brown said at the end […]
Rocket launches are spectacular whichever way you look at them. In fact, they’re so darn impressive they can even cause drivers to take their eyes off the road, occasionally leading to all kinds of unwanted metallic entanglements. While footage of most launches is shot by cameras on the ground, we occasionally get a glimpse of […]
Previous Next Earth’s poles are the frontlines in the dramatic tale of climate change, where the impacts of increased temperatures can be seen firsthand as massive ice sheets break off and crash into the sea. Tracking glaciers helps understand the consequences of climate change elsewhere — see, for example, sea level rise — and scientists […]
Illustration of the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) in front of a lava planet orbiting its host star. TESS will identify thousands of potential new planets for further study and observation. NASA/GSFC NASA’s exoplanet-hunting satellite TESS is fully operational and has begun scanning the skies for distant planets, NASA reported on Friday. And maybe, just […]
[embedded content] Lockheed Martin has just taken 3D printing to new heights, printing an enormous titanium dome meant for satellite fuel tanks. It’s the largest space part the company has 3D printed to date, and measures 46 inches in diameter — just under four feet. The dome is also significantly larger than the next most […]