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73 votes
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NASA detects signal from Voyager 2 after losing contact due to wrong command
46 votes -
US returns to the Moon with commercial moon landing (gifted link)
36 votes -
Recap: SpaceX successfully launches Crew Dragon with Bob Behnken & Doug Hurley on SpX Demo-2 mission to the ISS, restoring US spaceflight for the first time in nine years
Decided I'd post a text post and provide links to all the content, since there's so much and it's all quite diverse. I'll update this post throughout the day with more content: NASA Press Release:...
Decided I'd post a text post and provide links to all the content, since there's so much and it's all quite diverse. I'll update this post throughout the day with more content:
- NASA Press Release: NASA Astronauts Launch from America in Historic Test Flight of SpaceX Crew Dragon
- Live stream & launch video, courtesy SpaceX & NASA. This is going to be live all the way through to docking with the ISS.
- NASA Spaceflight (Good resource, quite in-depth): SpaceX Dragon’s historic launch dodges weather to launch and end the gap
- SpaceNews: Crew Dragon in orbit after historic launch, by Jeff Foust
- The Verge: A cute stuffed dinosaur hitched a ride on SpaceX’s historic launch
- The Verge: Watch NASA astronauts fly SpaceX’s Crew Dragon using touchscreens
31 votes -
NASA’s Voyager 2 is experiencing an unplanned ‘communications pause’ expected to last until October 15
28 votes -
SpaceX lands all three Falcon Heavy rocket boosters for the first time ever
28 votes -
I was scared to say this to NASA... (but I said it anyway)
25 votes -
Mars: NASA lands InSight robot to study planet's interior
25 votes -
US military space plane blasts off on another secretive mission expected to last years
24 votes -
The bodily indignities of the space life
21 votes -
Why not Mars
21 votes -
Jeff Bezos plans to go to space aboard Blue Origins first crewed flight in July
21 votes -
SpaceX submits paperwork for 30,000 more Starlink satellites
21 votes -
SpaceX has signed the world’s first private passenger to fly around the Moon aboard the BFR launch vehicle
@spacex: SpaceX has signed the world's first private passenger to fly around the Moon aboard our BFR launch vehicle-an important step toward enabling access for everyday people who dream of traveling to space. Find out who's flying and why on Monday, September 17.
21 votes -
Faulty valve scuttles Starliner’s first crew launch
20 votes -
Watch the SpaceX Demo-2 crewed launch livestream at 4:33pm ET, May 27th
20 votes -
Starlink - Low latency satellite internet
20 votes -
Quick thinking and a stroke of luck averted a moon lander disaster for Intuitive Machines
19 votes -
Final members named for four-person crew of Inspiration4, the world’s first all-civilian mission to space
18 votes -
A space startup that wants to throw rockets into space
16 votes -
NASA picks SpaceX to land next Americans on Moon
16 votes -
SpaceX refused to move their Starlink satellite when they were alerted to the risk of collision with ESA's Aeolus satellite
16 votes -
SpaceX - Initial results from investigation into Crew Dragon explosion during engine tests on April 20, 2019
16 votes -
SpaceX successfully flies, nearly lands Starship SN8 prototype vehicle after 12.5km suborbital test flight
15 votes -
1,000km cable to the stars - The Skyhook
15 votes -
NASA gives go-ahead for SpaceX commercial crew test flight
15 votes -
First Private Passenger on Lunar BFR Mission [Livestream]
15 votes -
SpaceX reveals monthly cost of Starlink internet in its "Better Than Nothing Beta"
14 votes -
A falling rocket booster just completely flattened a building in China
14 votes -
SpaceX Starship Update
SpaceX will hold a presentation today at 19:00 CDT / 00:00 UTC at their Boca Chica build site to present updates to Starship and show off their newly constructed full scale prototype. SpaceX's...
SpaceX will hold a presentation today at 19:00 CDT / 00:00 UTC at their Boca Chica build site to present updates to Starship and show off their newly constructed full scale prototype.
SpaceX's website: https://www.spacex.com/webcast
Direct Youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOpMrVnjYeY
Announcement on Twitter: https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1177938839949627392
Picture SpaceX posted: http://spacex.com/sites/spacex/files/starship_drone_sunset_7.jpg
14 votes -
Russian actor and director back on earth after two weeks filming first film in space aboard the ISS
13 votes -
Japan’s Hayabusa2 capsule carrying asteroid samples from 162173 Ryugu recovered in South Australian outback
13 votes -
China's Chang'e-5 mission has successfully landed on the moon, will now collect and return the first lunar samples since 1976
13 votes -
X-37B space plane's microwave power beam experiment is a way bigger deal than it seems
13 votes -
SpaceX to test Starlink “sun visor” to reduce brightness
13 votes -
Ask Tildes: Design a spacecraft! You've been offered to submit a space exploration misson, with a cost cap of $1 billion. What is your proposal?
You've been asked to submit a proposal for a space exploration mission of your own desire, to the New Frontiers spaceflight program. These missions have a cost cap of approximately $700 million to...
You've been asked to submit a proposal for a space exploration mission of your own desire, to the New Frontiers spaceflight program. These missions have a cost cap of approximately $700 million to $1 billion, and have famously produced the following spacecraft:
- New Horizons, a flyby probe to Pluto.
- Juno, a polar orbiter of Jupiter.
- OSIRIS-REx, a sample return mission to a rocky asteroid.
- Dragonfly, a drone lander to Saturn's moon Titan.
These are medium-sized missions in both scope, and cost. You can't build the Mars 2020 Rover, or the James Webb Space Telescope. What do you send, and where? Things to consider:
Technology Readiness Level
Administrators are less likely to choose your mission if you choose to integrate risky or untested flight hardware, or novel concepts into the mission design. You're more likely to get selected with more conventional hardware.
Power Source
Your best bet is probably solar panels, maybe something commercial off the shelf like NG's Ultraflex panels? The downside is that these are only effective up to about Jupiter's orbit, and generate power according to the inverse square law. How much do these cost and weigh? How much energy do you generate?
If you go further out into the solar system than that, you'll need a Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (RTG). There aren't many of those around, in fact, after Mars 2020 has taken its RTG, there's two left. What makes your mission deserving of an RTG? Is there enough power in the MMRTG to power your mission?
Propulsion
Does your mission need in-flight propulsion? Either for orbit insertion, landing, or maybe a long coast with Ion thrusters like Dawn? If the latter, you can get some pretty good Xenon-powered thrusters, like NEXT, which gives you 236mN of force from 7kW of input power (this rules out an RTG as your power source).
Don't need long-term burn capability? Maybe a COTS bipropellant engine like LEROS is your thing. Watch your weight though, bipropellants aren't efficient! Often more than half the mass of large spacecraft can be dedicated to just propulsion alone.
Instruments
Go crazy. What are you looking to research? Do you need a long range camera, a wide angle camera, something outside of the visible spectrum, a spectrometer, ground-penetrating radar? Do you have a mass-budget in mind?
Launch Vehicle
Every dollar you save on your launch vehicle, you get to add to your mission profile. Your best bet in terms of performance and cost is probably Falcon 9, which retails for $62-90 million, depending on the amount of assurance for success you need. Of course, if you can find a cheaper launch vehicle, feel free to pick it if it fits into your mission weight.
Objectives
What scientific questions do you want to answer? What are you interested in exploring the most?
13 votes -
US Air Force X-37B secret spaceplane lands after 780 days in orbit
13 votes -
On-demand nutrient production system for long-duration space missions
12 votes -
NASA has selected Blue Origin, Dynetics, and SpaceX to design and develop human landing systems for landing astronauts on the Moon by 2024
12 votes -
SpaceX launches final Dragon 1 mission to the ISS
12 votes -
A look at the differences between the Curiosity rover and Mars 2020, which will start exploring Mars' Jezero Crater for signs of life in 2021
12 votes -
Humans will never colonize Mars
12 votes -
SpaceX’s unnerving silence on an explosive incident
12 votes -
SpaceX Falcon 9 first stage booster spins out of control on descent back to Cape Canaveral LZ-1
12 votes -
NASA prepares for historic asteroid sample delivery on Sept. 24, 2023
11 votes -
South Padre Island, Texas resident Louis Balderas’s monitoring of one of SpaceX's launch facilities has attracted a worldwide following
11 votes -
It’s launch day for the SpaceX Crew-1 mission to the ISS
11 votes -
After twenty years of service, the International Space Station flies into an uncertain future
11 votes -
SpaceX and US Military sign contract to design 7,500-mph rocket that can deliver cargo anywhere in the world in an hour
11 votes -
SpaceX launches fifty-eight Starlink satellites on ninth Starlink launch, including three Planet SkySats
11 votes