Tag: Coronavirus
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NASA says JWST won’t be ready for launch in March 2021
Technicians inspect a critical part of the James Webb Space Telescope known as the Deployable Tower Assembly after fully extending it in the same maneuver it will perform in once in space. Credit: Northrop Grumman The launch of the James Webb Space Telescope will not happen in March 2021 — the mission’s previously-scheduled launch date…
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Fitted with super-clean sample tubes, NASA’s next Mars rover nears launch date
Technicians installed sample collection tubes into NASA’s Perseverance rover May 21 before launch to Mars in July. Credit: NASA/JPL The Perseverance rover’s sterilized sample tubes — designed to seal Martian rock and sediment for eventual return to Earth — are installed on the spacecraft as teams at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center prepare to enclose the…
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Assembly of Mars rover’s rocket to begin this week
EDITOR’S NOTE: United Launch Alliance ground crews raised the Atlas 5 rocket’s first stage inside the Vertical Integration Facility at Cape Canaveral’s Complex 41 launch pad Thursday, May 28, to begin stacking of the launch vehicle for the Perseverance rover mission. Wrapped up for shipment, the first stage of the Atlas 5 rocket that will launch…
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Pence plans to attend launch of astronauts from Florida next week
Vice President Mike Pence speaks at a previous National Space Council meeting in August 2019. Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani Vice President Mike Pence plans to travel to the Kennedy Space Center on May 27 for the first launch of astronauts from a U.S. spaceport since 2011. Officials at a meeting of the National Space Council Tuesday…
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Upgraded X-37B spaceplane rockets into orbit aboard Atlas 5 launcher
A 197-foot-tall (60-meter) Atlas 5 rocket climbs into the sky over Cape Canaveral on Sunday. Credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now Darting through low clouds, the US Air Force’s reusable X-37B spaceplane rode a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket into orbit Sunday, debuting upgrades to accommodate additional scientific experiments, a dishwasher-sized tech demo satellite, and classified…
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Blustery weather keeps Atlas 5 rocket grounded, SpaceX launch slips to Tuesday
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated at 12:40 p.m. and 9:00 EDT with quote and additional SpaceX launch delay. Vapors from cryogenic propellant stream away from an Atlas 5 rocket at Cape Canaveral Saturday. Credit: United Launch Alliance Gusty winds associated with a subtropical low pressure system prevented United Launch Alliance from sending an Atlas 5 rocket into orbit…
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Atlas 5 dedicated to health care workers, coronavirus victims
The Atlas 5 rocket launch carrying the sixth mission of the U.S. Air Force’s X-37B spaceplane has become part of the military’s “America Strong” campaign, which includes nationwide aerial displays by the Blue Angles and Thunderbirds. Credit: United Launch Alliance U.S. military officials and United Launch Alliance have dedicated the planned launch Saturday of an…
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Dragon crew begins augmented version of NASA’s standard pre-launch quarantine
Astronaut Doug Hurley undergoes a fit check in his SpaceX spacesuit. Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett NASA has added extra safeguards to the agency’s standard pre-launch quarantine protocol to protect astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley from the coronavirus and other contagions in the final two weeks before their scheduled May 27 launch on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon…
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First two smallsats launched for Chinese data relay constellation
A Kuaizhou 1A rocket takes off from the Jiuquan space base Tuesday. Credit: Weibo A Chinese Kuaizhou 1A rocket launched Tuesday with the first two spacecraft for China’s planned 80-satellite Xingyun communications and data relay constellation. The solid-fueled launcher fired away from a road-mobile transported at 0116 GMT Tuesday (9:16 p.m. EDT Monday) from the …
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How BlackSky’s Spectra geospatial data platform uses AI to make sense of satellite images
A color-coded satellite map of an area in northern Virginia shows that parking lots around Dulles Town Center are relatively open, as noted by the oval-shaped patchwork of green blocks just above the center of the image. But other parking lots, noted in shades of orange and red, are relatively busy. Such geospatial information can…