Mission | Common News Update

Jul142019 by adminNo Comments

India aborts moon mission launch citing technical glitch

India has temporarily deferred its dream of a soft landing on the lunar south pole, aborting the launch of its second moon mission on Monday less than an hour before liftoff. The Chandrayaan-2 mission was called off when a "technical snag" was observed in the 640-ton, 14-story launch-vehicle system, said Indian Space Research Organization spokesman B.R. Guruprasad. The countdown abruptly stopped at T-56 minutes, 24 seconds, and Guruprasad said that the agency would announce a revised launch date soon. Chandrayaan, the word for "moon craft" in Sanskrit, is designed for a soft landing on the far side of the moon and to send a rover to explore water deposits confirmed by a previous Indian space mission. With nuclear-armed India poised to become the world's fifth-largest economy, the ardently...

Jun122019 by adminNo Comments

Chandrayaan-2: India unveils spacecraft for second Moon mission

Science

India's space agency has unveiled its spacecraft that it plans to launch next month and hopes to land on the Moon in early September. If successful, India will be the fourth country to achieve a soft landing on the Moon, following the US, the former Soviet Union and China.Chandrayaan-2 will be the country's second lunar mission.India's first mission, Chandrayaan-1 which launched in 2008, was an orbiter and did not land on the Moon's surface. This mission will focus on the lunar's surface and gather data on water, minerals and rock formations. The new spacecraft will have a lander, an orbiter and rover. These are photos of the craft in the Indian Space and Research Organisation's (ISRO) lab, where scientists have been bus...

Apr152019 by adminNo Comments

Billionaire plans second mission to the moon for Israel

Science

April 14 (UPI) -- Billionaire Morris Kahn has announced plans for a second attempt to successfully land a spacecraft, Beresheet 2, on the moon for Israel -- a project that might take two years. On Saturday, the SpaceIL chairman said on Channel 12's Meet the Press, "we started something and we need to finish it. We'll put our flag on the moon." The 5-foot-tall Beresheet 1, the world's first privately funded moon lander, crashed into the moon while attempting a landing Thursday. Apparently, a technical glitch caused its main engine to stop mid-landing. Beresheet, whose name means "in the beginning" in Hebrew, was launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in February. For the next six weeks, it pushed its orbit slowly outward. On April 4, Beresheet was captured by lunar gravity. Israel became...

Mar212019 by adminNo Comments

DARPA taps BAE for autonomous air mission planning software

Business

March 21 (UPI) -- The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has awarded BAE Systems a new contract for its work on an autonomous air mission planning system for the U.S. military. The $ 3.1 million contract, announced Wednesday by BAE, is for development work on the Resilient Synchronized Planning and Assessment for the Contested Environment, or RSPACE, system. RSPACE is meant to develop software to aid air operators in planning and making battlespace decisions during daily operations, including when communications are limited or unreliable. BAE is focused on software called the Distributed, Interactive, Command-and-Control Tool, or DIRECT, which is meant to improve battlespace awareness. The system uses a visual interface to alert operators of areas of concern when planning missions...

Mar212019 by adminNo Comments

March Madness: Top prospect James Wiseman has mission to bring Memphis back

Sports

March 21 (UPI) -- No. 1 high school basketball recruit James Wiseman is headed to Memphis next season. He says his mission is to lead the Tigers back to the NCAA tournament. Memphis (22-13) isn't sitting at home, as they play in the NIT tournament, but the Tigers are missing out on the "big dance" for the fourth consecutive season. Wiseman has the skills to turn that tournament drought around. The 7-foot, 230-pound senior led Memphis East High School to a 24-8 record in 2018, averaging 25.8 points, 14.8 rebounds, 5.5 blocks and 1.3 steals per game. He chose to stay in Memphis and join a Tigers program taken over by coach and former NBA star Penny Hardaway, who previously coached at East. Wiseman -- who won the Gatorade National Boys Basketball Player of the Year award Tuesday -- also ha...