Unforgiving Failures: the challenges of upper stages

Three days before Christmas, an Alpha rocket built by Firefly Aerospace lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The initial phases of the flight appeared to go as expected, placing the upper stage and its satellite payload, a Lockheed Martin technology demonstration satellite called Tantrum, into a parking orbit. All that was left, Firefly said as it wrapped up its launch webcast, was a second burn of the upper stage about 40 minutes later to circularize the orbit.

FAA to require reentry vehicles licensed before launch

Varda Space Industries completed its first mission by landing its capsule in Utah Feb. 21, returning pharmaceuticals produced in microgravity. Credit: Varda Space Industries/John Kraus Updated 3:15 p.m. Eastern with Varda statement. WASHINGTON — The Federal Aviation Administration is revising its licensing regulations to prevent a repeat of a situation last year where a spacecraft

Gravitational waves reveal 1st-of-its-kind merger between neutron star and mystery object

Astronomers announced on April 5 that they may have detected a collision between a neutron star and a lightweight mystery object — an object larger than the largest known neutron star, but smaller than the smallest known black hole. The finding sheds light on objects that exist in this murky realm, which was long thought to be empty but, in recent times, has revealed otherwise.

Achoo! Baby star ‘sneezes’ tell astronomers a lot about their development

Every new parent knows the cold anxiety that grips them when their baby sneezes for the first time. That’s when a litany of possible issues and ailments probably begin to irrationally race through your mind. Researchers now know baby stars also “sneeze,” but these infinitely more powerful post-natal sneezes launch gas, dust, and magnetic energy. In other words, they’re more useful to the cosmos than stressful.