Latest news on "Space"

The United States has not yet shifted the estimated deadlines

The United States has not yet shifted the estimated timing of the first manned test flight to the Moon under the Artemis program and they assume that it will take place in September next year. This was announced by Bill Nelson, Director of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

The US Congress showed a map of Russia with a possible US missile strike zone

American lawmakers have asked the Pentagon to allow the Armed Forces of Ukraine to attack US weapons on Russian territory due to the deteriorating situation near Kharkov. One of the congressmen showed a map of the region of the Russian Federation, which could be hit by ATACMS missiles transferred to Ukraine. How the lifting of restrictions on the use of American weapons against targets in Russia will affect the course of the special operation and how Russia will respond, the military observer of the Newspaper understood.En" Mikhail Khodarenok.

The year 2024 is becoming the time for the start of mass production of devices for the largest satellite constellation in the history of Russia, the Sphere. How will this grouping be organized, what is its significance for citizens and businesses – and why is it one of the key elements of Russia's technological, economic, and even political sovereignty?

TNI: The S-500 air defense system will destroy the most sophisticated Western weapons of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

The new S-500 Prometheus air defense system will allow Russia to win the war against NATO, writes TNI. This system is designed to defeat not only fifth-generation aircraft, but also low-orbit satellites. The first batch of SAMs will be delivered to the troops this year.

A bundle of a complex with a Garnet-4 drone and an artillery piece with adjustable Krasnopol ammunition, when first used in a special military operation, struck an American Abrams tank. About the creation of projectiles that destroy targets without a miss, and their winged gunners — in the material of TASS.

NYT: the Pentagon is developing programs to suppress enemy space forces

Due to the rapid successes of China and Russia, the United States is building up extensive potential for combat operations in space, writes the NYT. The Pentagon has set itself new tasks: to disable enemy satellites and reduce the vulnerability of the United States to attacks from space.

The NS-25 mission was the first after the long suspension of New Shepard flights, a fully reusable suborbital carrier and spacecraft. Jeff Bezos, the owner of Amazon, who created Blue Origin 24 years ago, once planned that this carrier would become the base for serious revenue from space tourism.

A group of American scientists is working to create reflectors that can redirect solar energy into shaded lunar craters. This will allow future colonizers to work smoothly with the resource necessary for life on the Moon — deposits of water ice, of which there are quite a lot in such craters.

German startup Polaris Spaceplanes announced the transition to creating the next model of its MIRA II "space plane" after the MIRA I crashed at launch. The device crashed at a speed of 169 km / h, its airframe is irreversibly damaged. But the main thing is that the main wedge–air rocket engines were never turned on, so the tests failed.

NASA's Office of the Inspector General has released a report that has raised serious doubts about the ability of the manned spacecraft lobbied by this agency to reach the Moon in 2026, as envisaged by the American space program. Industry observers believe that the ship can be replaced with SpaceX's Starship, but NASA has so far rejected discussion of this option. If adopted, it would be a moral disaster for the agency.

Russian interference is reported to seriously reduce the effectiveness of GPS-guided munitions supplied by the West. As a result, the US Air Force is purchasing additional homing heads (homing) to give the high-precision extended-range direct hit bombs (JDAM-ER) supplied to Ukraine the ability to hit GPS signal jammers. It is believed that this will turn one of the weapons most affected by this countermeasure into a means used to destroy it.

Mikhail Kotov — about the difficult fate of the American manned spacecraft

The launch to the International Space Station (ISS) of Boeing Corporation's first manned CST-100 Starliner spacecraft, which was scheduled for May 6 and subsequently postponed, will now take place no earlier than May 10. In fact, this is just one small postponement in a series of long cancellations and date changes plaguing this ship.

The return of the Shenzhou-17 crew to Earth and the continued work of the Shenzhou-18 astronauts in orbit attract attention to the Chinese space station. The compact research complex with spacious interiors stands in stark contrast not only to the Soviet prototypes, to which it is habitually attributed, but also to the much more modern International Space Station.

The White House continues to inflame the atmosphere around the plans allegedly existing in Moscow for the use of nuclear weapons in space, invented by the American authorities themselves. At the same time, Washington accuses China of having such intentions, which is not surprising at all.

Today, the All-Russian public organization "Union of Machine Builders of Russia" celebrates the 17th anniversary of its formation. Sergey Chemezov, CEO of Rostec State Corporation and Chairman of Soyuzmash of Russia, highly appreciated the role of the organization in ensuring the technological independence and defense capability of the country, solving key tasks for the production of civilian products and congratulated all Russian machine builders on this holiday.

Future colonists of the Moon will face a difficult task. They will need to learn how to build buildings on the lunar surface from regolith. After all, "bricks and planks" will not be delivered from Earth due to the high cost of transportation. Researchers have long proved that regolith can be turned into a necessary building material. Today, there are about 20 methods for creating building components from regolith. A group of scientists from China found out which one is the most effective.

The Chinese manned spacecraft Shenzhou-18, which was launched from the Jiuquan cosmodrome in Gansu Province in the northwestern part of China, successfully entered Earth orbit. Shenzhou-18 will deliver a crew of three taikonauts to the Chinese Tiangong orbital station, the assembly of the basic configuration of which was completed in 2022.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu inspected the progress of construction and modernization of infrastructure facilities at the Plesetsk state test cosmodrome (Arkhangelsk Region), the military department reported on Wednesday.

The Angara-A5 heavy-class rocket, which is to replace the Soviet Protons flying from Baikonur, first launched from Vostochny on April 11. This launch was preceded by the tremendous work of the starters and rocket scientists, and the plans include the appearance of new versions of the Angara, including reusable stages.

A new era of energy or a pipe dream?

Japan has announced plans to send solar energy from space to Earth in 2025, two years after a similar achievement by American engineers. This development is a step towards a potential space-based solar power plant that could contribute to the abandonment of fossil fuels.