Psyche spacecraft's sci-fi thrusters suffer glitch on way to metal-rich asteroid

Astronauts complete 5th-ever all-female spacewalk | Psyche spacecraft's sci-fi thrusters suffer glitch | These ARE the Lego Star Wars deals you're looking for Created for ceo.studentlike.spuniv@blogger.com | Web Version May 2, 2025 CONNECT WITH SPACE.COM       Something amazing every day. SIGN UP ⋅   WEBSITE   The Launchpad (NASA) Astronauts complete 5th-ever all-female spacewalk Two NASA astronauts performed history's fifth all-female spacewalk today (May 1), moving an antenna and partially preparing the International Space Station for a new set of solar arrays. Expedition 73 crewmates Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers competed a 5-hour, 44-minute extravehicular activity (EVA, or spacewalk) at 2:49 p.m. EDT (1849 GMT) today, after they reentered the station's Quest airlock and it began to be re-pressurized. Read More (NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU) Psyche spacecraft's sci-fi thrusters suffer glitch On Tuesday (April 29), NASA announced that its Psyche probe has suffered a setback concerning its propulsion system while nearly 150 million miles (238 million kilometers) from our planet. The complication surrounds a "decrease in fuel pressure" within Psyche's solar electric propulsion setup, NASA says, which led the team to power off the thrusters until a solution arises. However, the agency also affirms that these thrusters can remain off until at least mid-June before worries arise about Psyche's trajectory toward its asteroid target. Read More Space Deal of the Day (Lego, Future) These ARE the Lego Star Wars deals you're looking for Star Wars Day, May 4th ('May the 4th be with you') is just around the corner. The major online retailers have big discounts on the best Lego Star Wars sets and are looking to tempt fans of the epic movie franchise into adding to their Star Wars collection, or perhaps lure some new Lego builders into the Star Wars universe for the first time. Read More Skywatching (NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA) Asteroid Vesta is at its brightest this week On Friday, May 2 the asteroid Vesta will reach opposition, marking the ideal period to spot the second largest asteroid orbiting in the rocky belt of debris located between Mars and Jupiter. The asteroid should become easily detectable as a bright point of light with the aid of binoculars or a telescope. Thankfully the moon is still a diminutive waxing crescent in the western night sky, and so will offer relatively little glare as you search for the distant asteroid. Read More Spaceflight (Firefly Aerospace/NSF) FAA grounds Firefly's Alpha rocket until investigation Firefly Aerospace's Alpha rocket has been grounded until further notice. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is requiring an investigation into Alpha's latest flight, an April 29 launch from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base that ended in failure. "A return to flight is based on the FAA determining that any system, process, or procedure related to the mishap does not affect public safety," the agency wrote in an update the day of the mishap. "In addition, Firefly may need to request and receive approval from the FAA to modify its license that incorporates any corrective actions and meet all other licensing requirements." Read More Science & Astronomy (Mark Garlick/Science Photo Library/Getty Images) Evidence of Planet 9 found in surveys taken 23 years apart The best candidate yet for the elusive Planet Nine has been spotted in two deep infrared surveys taken 23 years apart. If this mystery object really is Planet Nine, it would have a mass greater than Neptune, and currently be about 700 times farther from the sun than Earth is. Read More SpaceX (SpaceX) SpaceX launches 28 Starlink satellites from Florida SpaceX has launched another Starlink mission, keeping a steady pace of adding to the satellite megaconstellation every few days. A Falcon 9 rocket launched SpaceX's Starlink 6-75 mission Thursday night (May 1) from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) in Florida. The Space Coast liftoff occurred at 9:51 p.m. EDT (0151 GMT on May 2) from CCSFS's Launch Complex-40 (LC-40) . The rocket carried 28 new Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit (LEO), where they will join a constellation of more than 7,200 broadband satellites. Read More   Sign Up  |    Update Profile  |    Unsubscribe Privacy Policy  |    Cookies Policy  |    Terms and Conditions CONTACT US: FEEDBACK  |    ADVERTISE Future US LLC © Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY, 10036