A rocket stocked with scientific instruments, technological gadgets, and… bitcoin (literally) is about to head for the moon’s surface. United Launch Alliance’s NASA-funded Vulcan Centaur is slated to lift off in the early hours of January 8 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, to begin its nearly two-month journey. After traveling roughly 238,900 miles, the nearly 2,829-pound […]
$130,000 could buy you a Michelin-star meal with a view of the stars
This year marks the 250th anniversary of the first human hopping aboard a hot air balloon. But Jean-Francois Pilatre de Rozier only hovered about 85 feet above the ground, so it’s safe to say he would be stunned at what his country’s modern denizens are planning. As CNN reported on Thursday, a French company called Zephalto […]
Japan’s ispace lunar lander appears to have crashed into the moon
A commercial lunar rover, developed by the private Japanese company ispace in partnership with the United Arab Emirates, appears to have failed to achieve a soft lunar landing, and is presumed to have crashed on the moon’s surface. The mission’s apparent conclusion comes after four-month, 239,000 mile sojourn, and if successful, could have signaled a new […]
SpaceX’s Starship launch caused a ‘mini earthquake’ and left a giant mess
Last week’s much-hyped test flight of SpaceX’s Starship, the most powerful rocket ever constructed, ended in a fiery explosion minutes after launch, falling far short of the SpaceX team’s optimistic goal of a watery landing near Hawaii. The truncated conclusion was not entirely surprising, however—SpaceX CEO Elon Musk himself estimated a 50 percent chance of […]
Watch SpaceX’s giant Starship rocket explode
SpaceX’s mega-rocket Starship exploded earlier today. Using a Super Heavy booster for the first time below Starship itself, the entire vehicle assembly failed minutes after rising from the launch pad in southern Texas. A radiating light and brown smoke at the base of the rocket, followed by cheers, marked the beginning of the launch. All […]