Today’s launch of AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird 7 satellite aboard Blue Origin’s reusable New Glenn rocket was a partial success. The New Glenn touched down on its landing pad without incident, making it the second launch and landing for the first stage booster, and officially giving Jeff Bezos a reusable launch vehicle. Unfortunately for AST SpaceMobile, the mission was less successful. Its cell-tower-in-space was delivered to a lower orbit than expected by the second stage of the launch vehicle, rendering it functionally useless.
While the satellite separated from the launch vehicle and powered on, the altitude is too low to sustain operations with its on-board thruster technology and will de-orbited.
Bezos, for his part, posted a video of the landing on X without comment.
Today’s launch of AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird 7 satellite aboard Blue Origin’s reusable New Glenn rocket was a partial success. The New Glenn touched down on its landing pad without incident, making it the second launch and landing for the first stage booster, and officially giving Jeff Bezos a reusable launch vehicle. Unfortunately for AST SpaceMobile, the mission was less successful. Its cell-tower-in-space was delivered to a lower orbit than expected by the second stage of the launch vehicle, rendering it functionally useless.
While the satellite separated from the launch vehicle and powered on, the altitude is too low to sustain operations with its on-board thruster technology and will de-orbited.
Bezos, for his part, posted a video of the landing on X without comment.
#Blue #Origin #successfully #reused #Glenn #rocketBlue Origin,News,Science,Space">Blue Origin successfully reused its New Glenn rocket
Today’s launch of AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird 7 satellite aboard Blue Origin’s reusable New Glenn rocket was a partial success. The New Glenn touched down on its landing pad without incident, making it the second launch and landing for the first stage booster, and officially giving Jeff Bezos a reusable launch vehicle. Unfortunately for AST SpaceMobile, the mission was less successful. Its cell-tower-in-space was delivered to a lower orbit than expected by the second stage of the launch vehicle, rendering it functionally useless.
While the satellite separated from the launch vehicle and powered on, the altitude is too low to sustain operations with its on-board thruster technology and will de-orbited.
Bezos, for his part, posted a video of the landing on X without comment.
#Astronauts #Fast #Theyredot physics,physics,astronomy,space,spacecraft,moon landing,navigation,acceleration">How Can Astronauts Tell How Fast They’re Going?
Let’s use our car again, but this time we’ll get real numbers from the accelerometer in our smartphone. Say we start at a red light and then accelerate at 2 m/s2 (meters per second squared) for five seconds. From the equation above, Δv1 would be 2 x 5 = 10 m/s, so that’s our velocity. Now, after cruising for a while, we accelerate again at 1 m/s2 for five more seconds. Δv2 is then 1 x 5 = 5 m/s. Adding these two changes, our velocity is now 15 m/s. And so on.
The only problem is that inertial measurement isn’t as accurate as the Doppler method over long periods, because small errors will keep accumulating. That means you need to recalibrate your system periodically using some other method.
Optical Navigation
On Earth, people have long navigated by the stars. In the northern hemisphere, just find Polaris. It’s called the North Star because Earth’s axis of rotation points right at it. That’s why it appears stationary, while the other stars seem to revolve around it. If you point a finger at Polaris you’ll be pointing north, and you can use that orientation to go in whatever direction you want.
Now, if you can measure the angle of Polaris above the horizon, you’ll also know your latitude. If the angle is 30 degrees, you’re at latitude 30 degrees. See, it’s easy. And once you can measure position, you just need to do it twice and record the time interval to find your velocity.
But celestial navigation works because we know how the Earth rotates, and that doesn’t help in a spacecraft. Oh well, can we just use the stars like you would use the cows on the side of the road? Nope. The stars are so far away, astronauts would need to travel for many, many generations to detect any shift in their position. Like the airplane flying over the sea, you’d seem to be stationary, even while traveling 25,000 mph.
But we can still use the basic idea. For optical navigation in space, a spacecraft can locate other objects in the solar system. By knowing the precise location of these objects (which change over time) and where they appear relative to the viewer, it’s possible to triangulate a position. And again, by taking multiple position measurements over time, you can calculate a velocity.
In the end, even though spaceships lack speedometers, it’s possible to track their speed indirectly with a little physics. But it’s just another example of how flying in space is really, totally different—and way more complicated—than driving or flying on Earth.
“These were the ambassadors to the stars that we sent out there,” Jared Isaacman, NASA’s administrator, said after the landing. “I can’t imagine a better crew. It was a perfect mission.”
“These were the ambassadors to the stars that we sent out there,” Jared Isaacman, NASA’s administrator, said after the landing. “I can’t imagine a better crew. It was a perfect mission.”
#NASA #Artemis #splashes #Pacific #Ocean #perfect #landing #Moon #mission #TechCrunchartemis ii,NASA,Space">NASA Artemis II splashes down in Pacific Ocean in ‘perfect’ landing for Moon mission | TechCrunch
After 10 days, the four astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft have returned to Earth, their mission around the Moon a success.
Integrity, the name of the crew’s spacecraft as part of NASA’s Artemis II mission, splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, California, at 5:07 p.m. Pacific Time, according to NASA. The four crew members aboard — three Americans and one Canadian — were all in “green” (or safe and healthy) condition after the Orion craft’s “perfect” landing.
The crew was composed of Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen. From liftoff to splashdown, the quartet was in space for just over nine days (with NASA rounding up and calling it a 10-day mission).
Artemis II was NASA’s first mission to the Moon’s orbit in more than 50 years. The crew traveled farther from Earth than humans ever have before — reaching an estimated 252,760 miles from our planet. During their journey, the crew orbited the Moon, taking photos from their flyby of never-before-seen parts of the surface, and even witnessing a total solar eclipse. They identified new craters, naming one after Wiseman’s wife Carroll, who died of cancer in 2020.
“These were the ambassadors to the stars that we sent out there,” Jared Isaacman, NASA’s administrator, said after the landing. “I can’t imagine a better crew. It was a perfect mission.”
NASA’s control room recorded the team’s surprise during the mission livestream, although the cameras did not pick up the flashes. According to the astronauts, the flashes were white or blue-white and lasted less than a second. The cameras they were using to document the moon weren’t fast enough to record them.
Lunar surface replete with craters generated by meteorite collisions.
Photograph: NASA
The crew was flying between 6,000 and 7,000 kilometers away. Under normal conditions, these impacts would have gone unnoticed. However, at the time they were studying the solar eclipse, which left the far side of the moon completely dark. That extreme contrast allowed them to distinguish the brief flashes that emerged from the surface.
Before the trip, the Artemis II team trained to identify possible meteorite impacts on the moon. They immediately recognized what they were seeing and reported it according to their protocols. NASA later confirmed that these were natural collisions on the satellite, a scenario they have been monitoring for years. The agency has not yet released a statement, but the conversation was recorded on the YouTube livestream.
It was during this solar eclipse that the astronauts saw most of the impact flashes.
Photograph: NASA
The Problem of Meteorites on the Moon
Since the idea of building permanent lunar bases first arose, different teams have assessed the risks to future inhabitants. Today, the two major challenges are “moonquakes” and meteorite impacts. For the former, there are plans to install seismographs to help understand the phenomenon. For the meteorites, astronomers already know the approximate frequency, and observations such as the six recent flashes help to refine existing models.
On Earth, the atmosphere destroys most meteorites before they reach the ground. Only the larger ones make it through, and it’s a rare scenario. The moon lacks that protective layer, which means any fragment of space rock ends up impacting the surface. The hundreds of millions of lunar craters prove it.
In space exploration, even small objects can pose a risk. For example, a micrometeorite traveling at tens of kilometers per second can puncture thin materials or damage essential equipment. Fragments whose surface area exceed centimeters act as high-energy projectiles, similar to bullets, and could compromise a habitat. Objects larger than 1 meter across generate craters; while they’re extremely rare, they pose a real risk.
NASA’s control room recorded the team’s surprise during the mission livestream, although the cameras did not pick up the flashes. According to the astronauts, the flashes were white or blue-white and lasted less than a second. The cameras they were using to document the moon weren’t fast enough to record them.
Lunar surface replete with craters generated by meteorite collisions.
Photograph: NASA
The crew was flying between 6,000 and 7,000 kilometers away. Under normal conditions, these impacts would have gone unnoticed. However, at the time they were studying the solar eclipse, which left the far side of the moon completely dark. That extreme contrast allowed them to distinguish the brief flashes that emerged from the surface.
Before the trip, the Artemis II team trained to identify possible meteorite impacts on the moon. They immediately recognized what they were seeing and reported it according to their protocols. NASA later confirmed that these were natural collisions on the satellite, a scenario they have been monitoring for years. The agency has not yet released a statement, but the conversation was recorded on the YouTube livestream.
It was during this solar eclipse that the astronauts saw most of the impact flashes.
Photograph: NASA
The Problem of Meteorites on the Moon
Since the idea of building permanent lunar bases first arose, different teams have assessed the risks to future inhabitants. Today, the two major challenges are “moonquakes” and meteorite impacts. For the former, there are plans to install seismographs to help understand the phenomenon. For the meteorites, astronomers already know the approximate frequency, and observations such as the six recent flashes help to refine existing models.
On Earth, the atmosphere destroys most meteorites before they reach the ground. Only the larger ones make it through, and it’s a rare scenario. The moon lacks that protective layer, which means any fragment of space rock ends up impacting the surface. The hundreds of millions of lunar craters prove it.
In space exploration, even small objects can pose a risk. For example, a micrometeorite traveling at tens of kilometers per second can puncture thin materials or damage essential equipment. Fragments whose surface area exceed centimeters act as high-energy projectiles, similar to bullets, and could compromise a habitat. Objects larger than 1 meter across generate craters; while they’re extremely rare, they pose a real risk.
#Artemis #Astronauts #Witnessed #Meteorites #Colliding #Moonspace,nasa,moon,spacecraft,artemis,asteroids,astronauts">Artemis II Astronauts Witnessed 6 Meteorites Colliding With the Moon
During their flyby of the far side of the moon, the Artemis II astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft saw as many as six flashes emerging from the lunar surface. Surprisingly, they were witnessing small meteorites impacting the ground and producing brief flashes of light.
NASA’s control room recorded the team’s surprise during the mission livestream, although the cameras did not pick up the flashes. According to the astronauts, the flashes were white or blue-white and lasted less than a second. The cameras they were using to document the moon weren’t fast enough to record them.
Lunar surface replete with craters generated by meteorite collisions.
Photograph: NASA
The crew was flying between 6,000 and 7,000 kilometers away. Under normal conditions, these impacts would have gone unnoticed. However, at the time they were studying the solar eclipse, which left the far side of the moon completely dark. That extreme contrast allowed them to distinguish the brief flashes that emerged from the surface.
Before the trip, the Artemis II team trained to identify possible meteorite impacts on the moon. They immediately recognized what they were seeing and reported it according to their protocols. NASA later confirmed that these were natural collisions on the satellite, a scenario they have been monitoring for years. The agency has not yet released a statement, but the conversation was recorded on the YouTube livestream.
It was during this solar eclipse that the astronauts saw most of the impact flashes.
Photograph: NASA
The Problem of Meteorites on the Moon
Since the idea of building permanent lunar bases first arose, different teams have assessed the risks to future inhabitants. Today, the two major challenges are “moonquakes” and meteorite impacts. For the former, there are plans to install seismographs to help understand the phenomenon. For the meteorites, astronomers already know the approximate frequency, and observations such as the six recent flashes help to refine existing models.
On Earth, the atmosphere destroys most meteorites before they reach the ground. Only the larger ones make it through, and it’s a rare scenario. The moon lacks that protective layer, which means any fragment of space rock ends up impacting the surface. The hundreds of millions of lunar craters prove it.
In space exploration, even small objects can pose a risk. For example, a micrometeorite traveling at tens of kilometers per second can puncture thin materials or damage essential equipment. Fragments whose surface area exceed centimeters act as high-energy projectiles, similar to bullets, and could compromise a habitat. Objects larger than 1 meter across generate craters; while they’re extremely rare, they pose a real risk.
![NASA Artemis II splashes down in Pacific Ocean in ‘perfect’ landing for Moon mission | TechCrunch
After 10 days, the four astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft have returned to Earth, their mission around the Moon a success.
Integrity, the name of the crew’s spacecraft as part of NASA’s Artemis II mission, splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, California, at 5:07 p.m. Pacific Time, according to NASA. The four crew members aboard — three Americans and one Canadian — were all in “green” (or safe and healthy) condition after the Orion craft’s “perfect” landing.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfhDuOHMp0A[/embed]
The crew was composed of Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen. From liftoff to splashdown, the quartet was in space for just over nine days (with NASA rounding up and calling it a 10-day mission).
Artemis II was NASA’s first mission to the Moon’s orbit in more than 50 years. The crew traveled farther from Earth than humans ever have before — reaching an estimated 252,760 miles from our planet. During their journey, the crew orbited the Moon, taking photos from their flyby of never-before-seen parts of the surface, and even witnessing a total solar eclipse. They identified new craters, naming one after Wiseman’s wife Carroll, who died of cancer in 2020.
“These were the ambassadors to the stars that we sent out there,” Jared Isaacman, NASA’s administrator, said after the landing. “I can’t imagine a better crew. It was a perfect mission.”
#NASA #Artemis #splashes #Pacific #Ocean #perfect #landing #Moon #mission #TechCrunchartemis ii,NASA,Space](https://i1.wp.com/techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/artemis-II-Getty.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 "NASA Artemis II splashes down in Pacific Ocean in ‘perfect’ landing for Moon mission | TechCrunch
After 10 days, the four astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft have returned to Earth, their mission around the Moon a success.
Integrity, the name of the crew’s spacecraft as part of NASA’s Artemis II mission, splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, California, at 5:07 p.m. Pacific Time, according to NASA. The four crew members aboard — three Americans and one Canadian — were all in “green” (or safe and healthy) condition after the Orion craft’s “perfect” landing.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfhDuOHMp0A[/embed]
The crew was composed of Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen. From liftoff to splashdown, the quartet was in space for just over nine days (with NASA rounding up and calling it a 10-day mission).
Artemis II was NASA’s first mission to the Moon’s orbit in more than 50 years. The crew traveled farther from Earth than humans ever have before — reaching an estimated 252,760 miles from our planet. During their journey, the crew orbited the Moon, taking photos from their flyby of never-before-seen parts of the surface, and even witnessing a total solar eclipse. They identified new craters, naming one after Wiseman’s wife Carroll, who died of cancer in 2020.
“These were the ambassadors to the stars that we sent out there,” Jared Isaacman, NASA’s administrator, said after the landing. “I can’t imagine a better crew. It was a perfect mission.”
#NASA #Artemis #splashes #Pacific #Ocean #perfect #landing #Moon #mission #TechCrunchartemis ii,NASA,Space")
