ScientistPankaj: Intuitive Machines' private Odysseus moon lander on track for Feb. 22 lunar landing

Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Intuitive Machines' private Odysseus moon lander on track for Feb. 22 lunar landing

Sian Proctor is the 1st Black woman to pilot a spacecraft | Intuitive Machines moon lander on track for Feb. 22 landing | February full moon: 'Minimoon' Snow Moon rises Feb. 24

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February 21, 2024

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The Launchpad

Sian Proctor is the 1st Black woman to pilot a spacecraft

(John Krauss/Inspiration4)

From teaching Geoscience to leading the way for African-Americans in space, Dr. Sian Proctor shares her story of breaking barriers and reaching the stars.

Full Story: Space (2/20)

Intuitive Machines moon lander on track for Feb. 22 landing

(NASA TV)

The voyaging Odysseus remains on course for a moon landing this week. The Odysseus moon lander, built by Houston company Intuitive Machines, completed two engine burns in deep space on Feb. 16 and Feb. 18 and is sailing on the right course through space. The mission lifted off on a a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket early Feb. 15 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and all systems and science are healthy as it makes its way towards the moon.

Full Story: Space (2/20)

Skywatching

February full moon: 'Minimoon' Snow Moon rises Feb. 24

(Lorenzo Di Cola/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

The full moon of February, called the Snow Moon, will occur in the eastern U.S. during the morning of Feb. 24, about a day before reaching apogee, the farthest point from Earth in its orbit - creating a "minimoon," a full moon that is slightly smaller than average.

Full Story: Space (2/11)

Spaceflight

Varda's 1st in-space manufacturing capsule to land in Utah

(Varda Space Industries)

A private company's first in-space manufacturing project is about to come back to Earth. Last week, California-based Varda Space Industries got permission from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to land the capsule from its W-1 mission in northern Utah. If all goes according to plan, W-1's 3-foot-wide (0.9 meters) conical capsule will re-enter Earth's atmosphere today.

Full Story: Space (2/19)

SpaceX

SpaceX launches 300th successful Falcon 9 mission (video)

(SpaceX)

SpaceX just notched another impressive milestone. A Falcon 9 rocket launched the Merah Putih 2 communications satellite from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station today at 3:11 p.m. EST (2011 GMT), then deployed it into orbit 34.5 minutes later. It was the 300th successful mission for the workhorse rocket to date,

Full Story: Space (2/20)

Technology

NASA's twin spacecraft will go to the ends of the Earth

(NASA/JPL-Caltech)

NASA is preparing to send two tiny twin spacecraft to the ends of the Earth to collect data that'll aid in the fight against climate change. The shoebox-sized satellites in the Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment (PREFIRE) will blast off during the Spring of 2024, and will measure the full spectrum of heat lost from Earth's polar regions. In a nutshell, PREFIRE will make our climate models more accurate - a very important goal as our planet continues to inorganically warm due to human activities.

Full Story: Space (2/19)

Search for Life

2 dwarf planets may harbor underground oceans

(ESO/L. Calçada/Nick Risinger (skysurvey.org))

Two dwarf planets within our solar system, named Eris and Makemake, might exhibit enough geothermal activity to maintain oceans of liquid water within, according to modeling that describes new observations made with the James Webb Space Telescope.

Full Story: Space (2/20)

Entertainment

Build your own base and explore the surface in 'Moonshot'

(Bearded Brothers Games)

This simulation-based adventure showcases the very latest developments in aerospace design and applicable hardware involved in NASA taking four astronauts to the moon and back as early as 2025 and 2026. Right now, "Moonshot" is destined to only be available for PC, but that certainly might expand to other major platforms by the time it reaches the marketplace and the world goes moon crazy!

Full Story: Space (2/19)