In the 1990s, NASA designed an experimental space plane as a cost-effective alternative to expensive rockets. Dubbed the X-33, the vehicle was based on a concept called SSTO (single stage to orbit). SSTO eliminates the rocket stages of traditional spaceflight, which use rockets that contain engines and fuel and are dropped during ascent to save… Read More »
The past decade has seen rapid expansion of the commercial space industry, with rival nations jockeying for key military and economic positions beyond Earth, public and private enterprises scrambling to mine the Moon, and a growing halo of space debris littering low-Earth orbit. In a 2023 white paper, a group of concerned astronomers warned against… Read More »
When you buy through links in our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn commission. Credit: Astroscale Astroscale’s ADRAS-J orbital inspection mission captured every aspect of the target piece of space debris up close. The stunning images of the 36-foot (11-meter) long rocket stage were captured from a distance of just 164 feet (50… Read More »
When you buy through links in our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn commission. A group of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites in orbit ahead of deployment. | Source: SpaceX Satellites in SpaceX’s Starlink megaconstellation have performed nearly 50,000 collision avoidance maneuvers in the past six months, nearly double the number in the previous six… Read More »
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — SpaceX will use a powerful, improved capsule to launch the International Space Station out of orbit once the spacious laboratory expires. NASA and Elon Musk’s company outlined a plan Wednesday to incinerate the space station upon re-entry and dump what’s left in the ocean, ideally in early 2031 when it… Read More »
NASA has confirmed that a large pile of space debris discovered on a mountain road in North Carolina last month came from a SpaceX capsule headed to the International Space Station. The piece of debris was found in late May by an employee of The Glamping Collective, a luxury mountain resort in Haywood County near… Read More »
By Joey Roulette WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. space agencies reported that an unused Russian satellite broke into more than 100 pieces in orbit, resulting in astronauts on the International Space Station having to take shelter for about an hour and increasing the mass of space debris in orbit. No details have yet been given as… Read More »
As the space around Earth becomes increasingly littered with man-made debris, scientists are stepping up efforts to preserve satellites in real time. The latest of these efforts are new algorithms being developed at the University of Central Florida (UCF) to automatically track and protect spacecraft from crashing into satellites. asteroids inside cislunar space — The… Read More »
Simulated image of a satellite collision and the resulting debris.ESA / ID&Sense / ONiRiXEL, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO NASA’s TIMED satellite narrowly avoided a collision with Russia’s dead Cosmos 2221 spacecraft this week. In a worst-case scenario, the impact would launch 7,500 bits of debris into low Earth orbit. As the amount of space debris… Read More »
Gazing at the night sky was once an escape from the man-made chaos on Earth. Not anymore. Nearly 70 years after Sputnik was launched, so many machines are flying through space that astronomers worry their light pollution will soon make it impossible to study other galaxies with terrestrial telescopes. There is also space debris; Nearly… Read More »