MILAN — Refurbishment of ground systems like a mobile launch platform could become another factor in the schedule for the Artemis 2 mission that NASA says is still planned for launch next September.

The Falcon Heavy lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at 12:06 p.m. Eastern. After the second of two burns by the upper stage that placed it on an Earth-escape trajectory, the Europa Clipper spacecraft separated from the stage a little more than an hour after liftoff. The spacecraft made contact with ground controllers minutes later, returning telemetry showing it was in good condition.

WASHINGTON — The United Arab Emirates will launch a mission to visit several asteroids later this decade on a Japanese H3 rocket.

The Starship/Super Heavy vehicle lifted off from the company’s Starbase site at Boca Chica, Texas, at 8:25 a.m. Eastern on a mission called Flight 5 by SpaceX.

On the afternoon of July 9, an Ariane 6 lifted off on a long-delayed inaugural flight from French Guiana. The successful (or, more accurately, mostly successful) launch placed several smallsats into low Earth orbit, but the real payload was European confidence in its launch industry.

SAN FRANCISCO – As a group, NASA’s low-cost science missions have improved significantly.

HELSINKI — China will launch new quantum satellites into low Earth orbit next year, according to a scientist leading the project.

The outer crust of the dwarf planet Ceres, which at 588 miles (946 kilometers) across is the largest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, is likely made from a dirty frozen ocean, according to new computer models.

The European Space Agency’s Hera mission launched today (Oct. 7) at 10:52 a.m. EDT (1452 GMT), riding a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in coastal Florida. 

Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers have discovered that a “puffy” planet is asymmetric, meaning there is a significant difference between one side of the atmosphere and the other.

There is very little doubt that Earth is getting warmer, and that this warming is a result of human-driven gases in the atmosphere that store heat and redirect it toward our planet’s surface. And Earth isn’t the only planet to have experienced this so-called “greenhouse effect.” 

The $5 billion Europa Clipper mission had been scheduled to launch on Thursday (Oct. 10) atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC), on Florida’s Atlantic Coast. But Hurricane Milton has nixed that plan.

Astronomers have used the wide-field view of the Dark Energy Camera to confirm that supermassive-black-hole-powered quasars in the early universe were packed into dense neighborhoods. However, it seems these cosmic beasts weren’t exactly the best neighbors.

A leading astrobiologist melds her passion with the weighty nature of trying to grasp for answers to two key questions: Are we alone in the universe? How did life on Earth begin in the first place?

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Space Force selected four companies to develop concepts for smaller, more cost-effective GPS satellites based on commercial designs, aiming to augment the existing Global Positioning System network, the Department of the Air Force announced Sept. 23.

SAN FRANCISCO — Firefly Aerospace won a contract to launch Quicksounder, a prototype for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s next-generation of environmental satellites in low-Earth orbit. The value of the award was not disclosed.