The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission authorized a land swap deal with SpaceX, granting Elon Musk’s rocket company 43 acres of land that were heavily sought after as part of conservation efforts in the area.
Alef Aeronautics
Blue Origin, the aerospace company founded by Jeff Bezos, is finally setting some ambitious timelines, saying it plans to conduct an uncrewed Moon landing in as little as a year from now, deploying a demonstration version of its Blue Moon Mark 1 (MK1) cargo lander. This ramps up the space rivalry big time, putting…
An ambitious NASA project designed to test satellite refueling in space, known as OSAM-1, has been discontinued after significant technical, cost, and scheduling difficulties. The cancellation comes in the wake of an October 2023 report from NASA’s Office of Inspector General that cited “poor performance” by Maxar,…
In our top science stories this week: Writer Ed Cara looks back at the terrifying prion disease known as Mad Cow; researchers discover seamounts taller than the Burj Khalifa; and the journal that published a horrifying diagram of ‘rat dck’ explains what went wrong. —Rose Pastore
Nikon is making a camera you can take to space. In partnership with NASA, the company is developing a handheld camera for astronauts to use on the surface of the Moon for the upcoming Artemis missions.
It was a topsy-turvy month in spaceflight, with yet another lunar lander falling over and an upsetting new view showing NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter missing a rotor blade, among other memorable moments.
James Leynse/Corbis via Getty Images
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has closed its investigation into the second Starship test flight, which SpaceX performed on November 18, 2023. With the inquiry concluded, SpaceX is now on track to advance its program, pending the necessary fixes.