Tag: space

Space-X lobs Spanish military satellite into orbit

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Elon Musk’s Space-X sent a Spanish military satellite into orbit Thursday in a hitch-less liftoff from California, extending the private space company’s record of successful launches. Space-X, which proved the utility of its massive Falcon Heavy rocket earlier this month, put up the Paz imaging satellite and two of the company’s own test internet communications satellites on a smaller Falcon 9 rocket. “Successful deployment of PAZ satellite to low-Earth orbit […]

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Russia jails four for embezzling millions from cosmodrome project

MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russia on Wednesday jailed three men and a woman for up to 8 years for embezzling state funding worth millions of dollars while working as contractors on the construction of the country’s showpiece Vostochny cosmodrome. The four, who controlled or worked for construction companies, were together found guilty of embezzling 1.3 billion rubles ($23 million) from the national prestige project, in the latest blow to Russia’s troubled space industry. Moscow’s Simonovsky […]

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Andromeda galaxy was formed in ‘recent’ star crash: study

PARIS, France (AFP) — The Milky Way’s neighboring galaxy, Andromeda, was formed in a colossal crash between two smaller star systems no more than three billion years ago when Earth already existed, researchers said Wednesday. Calculating the birth date of the galaxy has been a major challenge for astrophysicists given the vast age gap between the different stars it is made up of. For the latest study, French and Chinese researchers led by Paris Observatory […]

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SpaceX launches world’s most powerful rocket toward Mars

CAPE CANAVERAL, United States (AFP) — The world’s most powerful rocket, SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, blasted off Tuesday on its highly anticipated maiden test flight, carrying CEO Elon Musk’s cherry red Tesla roadster to an orbit near Mars. Screams and cheers erupted at Cape Canaveral, Florida as the massive rocket fired its 27 engines and rumbled into the blue sky over the same NASA launchpad that served as a base for the US missions to Moon four decades […]

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Russia to start offering spacewalks for tourists

MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russia is planning to send paying tourists on the International Space Station out on spacewalks for the first time, an official from the country’s space industry said Thursday. “We are discussing the possibility of sending tourists on spacewalks,” Vladimir Solntsev, the head of Russian space company Energia, told Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda. “Market analysts have confirmed this: wealthy people are ready to pay money for this,” Solntsev told the paper. He […]

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Europe claims 100 million users for Galileo satnav system

PARIS, France (AFP) — The Galileo satellite navigation system, Europe’s rival to the United States’ GPS, has nearly 100 million users after its first year of operation, the French space agency CNES said Thursday. The system, seen as strategically important to Europe, went live in December 2016, having taken 17 years at more than triple the original budget to get there. Initial services offered only a weak signal, and some of the atomic timekeepers on […]

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SpaceX blasts off Luxembourg government satellite

MIAMI, United States (AFP) — SpaceX on Wednesday blasted off a four-ton secure military communications satellite called GovSat-1, a partnership between the government of Luxembourg and the satellite operator SES. The prime minister and deputy prime minister of Luxembourg were in Florida for the launch, along with the prince and princess of Luxembourg, SpaceX said. “There you saw a successful liftoff of the Falcon 9,” a SpaceX commentator said as the rocket launched on a […]

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Gasps and awe as “super blue blood moon” rises over erupting Philippine volcano

  by Ayee Macaraig Agence France Presse LIGAO, Philippines (AFP) — Filipinos sheltering from the erupting Mayon volcano gasped in delight as an orange full-moon eclipse shone above the mountain’s smouldering crater Wednesday in what was both a once-in-a-lifetime double spectacle and a rare moment of relief. Mount Mayon — the country’s most active volcano — has been spewing spectacular but potentially lethal ash and lava for the last fortnight, forcing some 90,000 people into cramped […]

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Ariane 5 satellites in orbit but not in right location

by Fred Farine Agence France-Presse KOUROU, France (AFP) — Two commercial satellites have been placed in orbit by an Ariane 5 rocket but have yet to reach their correct position, Arianespace said Thursday after mission control briefly lost contact with the craft in a rare malfunction. The usually reliable European space workhorse blasted off at 7.20 pm (2220 GMT) from the Kourou Space Center in French Guiana carrying satellites for Luxembourg’s SES and the United […]

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SpaceX performs first ‘static fire’ of Falcon Heavy rocket

MIAMI, United States (AFP) — SpaceX on Wednesday test-fired its Falcon Heavy rocket for the first time in a launch pad experiment aimed at giving its main engines a trial workout before blasting off in the coming days. Touted as the “world’s most powerful rocket,” the Falcon Heavy is designed to one day carry crew and supplies to deep space destinations such as the Moon and Mars. “Falcon Heavy hold-down firing this morning was good. […]

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Black NASA astronaut is replaced in sudden crew shuffle

MIAMI, United States (AFP) — Jeanette Epps, 46, a former CIA agent turned astronaut, was about to become the first African-American to embark on a mission lasting several months at the International Space Station. It’s still unclear why, but plans for her June liftoff suddenly changed, and another astronaut was chosen in her place, NASA has announced. “A number of factors are considered when making flight assignments; these decisions are personnel matters, for which NASA […]

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Deep, buried glaciers spotted on Mars

by Kerry Sheridan Agence France Presse MIAMI, United States (AFP) — Buried glaciers have been spotted on Mars, offering new hints about how much water may be accessible on the Red Planet and where it is located, researchers said Thursday. Although ice has long been known to exist on Mars, a better understanding of its depth and location could be vital to future human explorers, said the report in the US journal Science. “Astronauts could […]

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