spacex

SpaceX is working with the National Reconnaissance Office to build a classified system of swarming spy satellites, according to a report published by Reuters. And while the $1.8 billion contract was reportedly signed in 2021, news of the program’s ties to NRO just leaked on Saturday—a great reminder that it’s entirely possible for some tech companies to do highly classified work for years without the public learning about it.Astronomers Could Soon Get Warnings When SpaceX Satellites Threaten Their View The new satellite…

SpaceX launched the third test flight of its Starship rocket on Thursday and reached space, as the company pushed development of the mammoth vehicle past new milestones.Elon Musk's company launched Starship at about 9:25 a.m. ET from its Starbase facility near Boca Chica, Texas.The rocket flew further than previous tests, with the flight lasting about an hour before Starship broke up above the Indian Ocean. The company noted that the vehicle did not splash down in the water, which was the intended ending of the flight."We…

Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, has unveiled ambitious plans to propel humanity into a new era of interplanetary civilization. Musk's latest announcement focuses on the Starship rocket, which he aims to land on Mars within the next five years. This bold endeavor comes on the heels of a successful third test flight of the Starship, bolstering Musk's confidence in its capabilities. Notably, Musk envisions the Starship playing a pivotal role in crewed missions to the Moon by 2026.The Starship rocket represents a significant…

SpaceX hoped the third time would be the charm as it attempted another test of its Starship rocket. This third launch did indeed go well, with the Starship successfully launching at 9:25AM ET. Shortly after launch, it succesfully completed the hot-staging separation from the Super Heavy Booster, and the Starship successfully ignited the second-stage Raptor engines. It's currently coasting and the Raptor engines are planned to be re-lit about 40 minutes after initial take off. The Super Heavy Booster, meanwhile, went into…

SpaceX’s massive Starship took off from the company’s Starbase launch facility in Boca Chica, Texas, at 9:25AM ET on Thursday morning. This test flight was far more successful than its two predecessors, as the vehicle became “the first Starship to complete its full-duration ascent burn” after the six Raptor engines powered it to its expected orbit. It completed the hot-staging separation from its Super Heavy booster and opened a payload door to demonstrate how it could be used for missions like delivering Starlink…

SpaceX’s Starshield unit has had a classified contract with the US National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) since 2021 to build a network of “hundreds” of spy satellites for the agency, Reuters reports today, citing unnamed sources “familiar with the program.” A Wall Street Journal report in February listed a classified $1.8 billion SpaceX contract with a then-unnamed government agency. Now Reuters has attached a name, and that it’s to build a network of “hundreds of satellites bearing Earth-imaging capabilities that can…

SpaceX has been contracted by the Department of Defense’s National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) to build a network of hundreds of low-orbiting spy satellites capable of operating as a swarm and tracking targets on the ground, according to . The Reuters report, which cites five sources with knowledge of the program, builds on earlier reporting by that revealed SpaceX had signed a $1.8 billion contract in 2021 with an unnamed agency.This network, called Starshield, would reportedly be able to gather continuous imagery all…

By NASA March 11, 2024The SpaceX Dragon Endurance spacecraft, with four Crew-7 crew members aboard, approaches the space station for a docking on Sunday, August 27, 2023. Credit: NASA TVThe SpaceX Dragon spacecraft with NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Andreas Mogensen, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov inside undocked from the forward-facing port of the International Space Station’s Harmony module at 11:20…

The idea of using artificial gravity isn’t new. In fact, we’ve seen it as a staple of science fiction entertainment for years. But Elon Musk says he wants to take the sci-fi notion and make it real by creating artificial gravity on Starship’s long-term mission to Mars.It’s no secret that Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, wants to send a ship full of humans to Mars. There are hopes of colonizing the Red Planet, but to do that, we first have to survive the trip. Considering it will take quite a while, roughly seven months,…

NASA’s Europa Clipper is launching in October, and it’s set to unveil the secrets of one of the most intriguing celestial bodies in our solar system. Coming along for the ride is a commemorative plate that symbolizes humanity’s fascination with Jupiter’s mysterious moon Europa and our relentless quest to find extraterrestrial life.The M3 MacBook Airs are as Good as Ever, and That’s the ProblemEuropa represents a fascinating target. The Jovian moon is of huge interest to scientists, primarily due to its suspected ocean,…