Lifeboat Foundation

Blue Robotics, a leading developer of marine robotics systems and components, has partnered with Unmanned Systems Technology (“UST”) to demonstrate their expertise in this field. The ‘Silver’ profile highlights how their underwater ROVs (remotely operated vehicles), thrusters and accessories enable a wide range of missions for commercial, research and exploration applications.

The BlueROV2 is a high-performance, highly configurable ROV designed for underwater inspections, research and ocean exploring. With open-source hardware and software, the platform features an unprecedented level of flexibility and expandability, allowing users to easily make improvements and upgrades to take on a huge variety of missions down to depths of 100m (330 feet).

The ROV incorporates six Blue Robotics T200 thrusters in a vectored configuration, delivering excellent thrust-to-weight ratio and providing the ability to move precisely in any direction. The system can be expanded to eight thrusters via a Heavy Configuration Retrofit Kit, and features adjustable gain levels for precision control at extremely low speeds as well as high power to overcome currents and carry heavy loads. The BlueROV2 is provided with a Fathom ROV tether, with available length options from 25m (82 ft) up to 300 m (984 ft).

Jared Isaacman’s privately funded trip to Earth’s orbit will raise money for St. Jude’s.

Inspiration4 will be motivated in part by Isaacman’s effort to raise more than $200 million for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, a pediatric cancer research hospital that does not charge the families of children for their treatment. Isaacman pledged $100 million out of his own pocket.

“I’ve been very lucky in life; you really don’t get to a position that I’m fortunate enough to be in without the ball bouncing your way a couple times,” said Isaacman in an interview with Space.com. “These families [at St. Jude] were dealt horrible hands. They’re going through what no one should ever have to go through. It’s immense heartache, and the sad part is many of those kids will not grow up to have any of the experiences that I’ve been lucky enough to have in life. We’ve just got to do something about that.”

An international team of researchers have come up with a fusion-based spacecraft thruster that uses a hydrogen isotope called deuterium as a fuel source, as Popular Mechanics reports.

Their “direct fusion drive,” (DFD) — as detailed in a yet-to-be-peer-reviewed preprint — is theoretically able to speed up a spacecraft to a blistering 44 kilometers per second, covering the distance from here to Neptune and beyond in less than a decade.

While electric propulsion systems powered by the rays of the Sun have allowed us to explore the inner reaches of our solar system, venturing beyond Jupiter would require gigantic solar arrays, the team argues in its paper.

NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, and Shannon Walker, along with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Soichi Noguchi, participated in the first media event following their mission and splashdown, where they answered questions about their historic mission on the International Space Station and return to Earth.

SpaceX ’s Crew Dragon, named Resilience, carrying Hopkins, Glover, Walker, and Noguchi, splashed down at 2:56 a.m. May 2 under parachutes in the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Panama City, Florida, and was successfully recovered by SpaceX. After returning to shore, the astronauts immediately flew back to Houston, where they were greeted by their families and colleagues.

Continue reading “‘I Felt Really Heavy!’ – NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 Astronauts Discuss Their Historic Mission and Return to Earth” »

Starship has an explosive flight record, but SpaceX may finally be mastering the spaceship’s landing. That’s crucial to making it reusable.

The current revolution in space flight and other developments for Mars Colonization. See what visionary and lead space activist Dr. Robert ‘Bob’ Zubrin has to say about these and many other driving topics!

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The capsule just returned from space with four astronauts.

The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft Resilience may have just returned to Earth, but it already has a new mission: to carry the first private astronaut flight for SpaceX.

After completing a 167-day stay at the International Space Station (ISS), Resilience splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday morning (May 2). Safely strapped inside were four astronauts: NASA’s Mike Hopkins, Victor Glover, and Shannon Walker, as well as Soichi Noguchi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

SpaceX is performing a test flight of Starship SN15. The prototype will aim to be the first Starship vehicle to softly land during a high altitude flight test. Like the previous Starship prototypes, SN15 is expected to fly to approximately 10 kilometers.

Updates: https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=52398.

Continue reading “LIVE: Starship SN15 Flight Test” »

SpaceX has once again scrubbed the latest major flight test of its Starship rocket. The next-generation spacecraft was set to launch from SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, on Tuesday, but cancelled it for reasons unknown.

Starship SN15’s high-altitude flight test follows four previous attempts that all ended in massive explosions. SpaceX boss Elon Musk said previous issues with the rocket’s Raptor engines have been fixed “six ways to Sunday”, though if it fails to land cleanly there are more Starship prototypes currently under development.

Airspace clearance had been approved by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), road closures were in place with Cameron County, and marine hazard notices had been issued. The test was expected to take place between 12pm and 8pm local time (6pm — 2am BST) on Tuesday, however a backup launch window is also in place for Wednesday.