rocket | Common News Update

Mar22021 by adminNo Comments

Rocket Lab plans new Neutron rocket, intends to go public

Science

March 2 (UPI) -- California-based Rocket Lab, which has sent rockets into space 17 times using its small Electron vehicle, plans to launch a much bigger rocket called Neutron by 2024. As part of Rocket Lab's effort to raise funds for Neutron, it plans a public listing on the Nasdaq stock exchange by the end of June. Advertisement Rocket Lab is confident it will succeed, but humble enough to adapt and offer new products, founder and CEO Peter Beck said in an interview. "If we see market opportunities, then we will go after them. And don't get me wrong. ... Electron is still an incredibly important tool. We're not abandoning the small satellite market," Beck said. Neutron would be more than twice as high as its smaller predecessor. It would stand 131 feet tall and be capable of lifting ab...

Feb222021 by adminNo Comments

NASA plans new test-firing of moon rocket

Business

ORLANDO, Fla., Feb. 22 (UPI) -- NASA plans to test-fire its moon rocket again Thursday to prepare for a potential uncrewed flight around the moon later this year, possibly by October. The test, planned for about 5 p.m. EST, would ignite four powerful engines on the 212-foot-tall core stage of the Space Launch System rocket for four to eight minutes at the John C. Stennis Space Center in southern Mississippi. Advertisement A previous attempt to complete a test-firing Jan. 16 ended prematurely when sensors shut the engines after a little more than one minute. The test for the planned Artemis moon missions was the most powerful rocket test since the Apollo era at the facility. Even the truncated test-firing in January created huge clouds of steam from cooling system, which uses 300,000 gallo...

Feb32021 by adminNo Comments

Watch: SpaceX flies, crashes Starship moon rocket again

Science

Feb. 2 (UPI) -- SpaceX's test flight of the company's deep-space Starship rocket ended for a second time in a fiery explosion on the landing pad Tuesday in Boca Chica, Texas, after the Federal Aviation Administration modified the company's license to allow the launch. The rocket, named SN9, ascended to a height of more than 6 miles and performed a flip manuever. But after it descended, its engines appeared to ignite improperly, according to live video SpaceX provided. Advertisement The explosion is not necessarily a setback because the company is gathering data about the craft as it tests, said John Insprucker, the principal engineer at SpaceX, during the broadcast. SpaceX is known for losing rockets during early testing as it explores new designs. "We've done a lot of good things. We jus...

Jan312021 by adminNo Comments

Maine company successfully launches prototype rocket

Technology

A Maine company that’s developing a rocket to propel small satellites into space passed its first major testBy PATRICK WHITTLE Associated PressJanuary 31, 2021, 9:59 PM• 3 min readShare to FacebookShare to TwitterEmail this articleBRUNSWICK, Maine -- A Maine company that's developing a rocket to propel small satellites into space passed its first major test on Sunday.Brunswick-based bluShift Aerospace launched a 20-foot (6-meter) prototype rocket, hitting an altitude of a little more than 4,000 feet (1,219 meters) in a first run designed to test the rocket's propulsion and control systems.It carried a science project by Falmouth High School students that will measure flight metrics such as barometric pressure, a special alloy that's being tested by a New Hampshire company — and a Dutch des...

Jan182021 by adminNo Comments

Virgin Orbit rocket reaches orbit, satellites deployed

Science

Jan. 17 (UPI) -- California-based Virgin Orbit made its first successful flight to orbit Sunday using a rocket launched from a plane over the Pacific Ocean, announcing later that the satellites aboard were released successfully. The rocket soared into space at 2:40 p.m. EST after the company's Cosmic Girl aircraft, a modified Boeing 747-400, released it from beneath a wing. Advertisement "Payloads successfully deployed into our target orbit!," Virgin Orbit tweeted at 5:29 p.m. "We are so, so proud to say that LauncherOne has now completed its first mission to space, carrying 9 CubeSat missions into Low Earth Orbit for our friends @NASA." Forty minutes earlier, the company tweeted, "We can confirm our NewtonFour upper stage engine successfully relit at the right time and for the right dur...