Lifeboat Foundation

After an aborted test in December, Richard Branson’s company will try again from New Mexico.

More Space news.

The Chinese Tianwen-1 mission to Mars successfully entered Mars orbit on February 102021, only one day after the United Arab Emirates mission Hope arrived at the red planet on February 9. They’ll be followed soon by NASA’s Perseverance mission which is set to arrive and land on February 18.

If it was any other plutocrat I’d be disgusted. But Musk is pumping HIS OWN MONEY into SpaceX (and the space sector in general).

After SO MANY YEARS of INEXCUSABLY low levels of funding for human space flight — and for the creation of absolutely critical space infrastructure — I am EXTACTIC at the news!

I don’t always agree with the guy, but I DO deeply believe in what he’s trying to accomplish. I believe in his aspirations for our species. MOST IMPORTANTLY, unlike most of his peers with vaguely similar aims, I believe he can ACTUALLY ACOMPLISH his goals.

Continue reading “Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, is about to get a whole lot richer” »

Tianzhou cargo spacecraft to visit module also passes review.

COOl.

WASHINGTON — NASA awarded a contract to SpaceX Feb. 9 for the launch of the first two elements of its lunar Gateway on a Falcon Heavy in 2024.

NASA will use a Falcon Heavy rocket to launch the Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) and Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO) modules of the Gateway, destined for the near-rectilinear halo orbit around moon. The contract with SpaceX is valued at $331.8 million for the launch and “other mission-related costs.”

Revealed at the Future Investment Initiative in Riyad, the inflatable, environmentally controlled plant cultivation pod is intended to sustain flora beyond the earth’s surface.

The Red Planet is about to get a little crowded. Three separate missions to Mars launched by the United States, China and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will all reach their destination this month after taking flight within just 11 days of each other in 2020.

Deep-space ventures by the UAE, US and China will arrive at Earth’s planetary neighbour this month.