A Japanese H-2A rocket will launch an advanced navigation satellite tonight. Watch it live! | China just test-fired a massive solid-fueled rocket | Blue Origin unveils plans to build a private space station called Orbital Reef by 2030
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Japan's H-2A rocket will launch a navigation satellite today (Oct. 25), and you can watch the event live. A livestream for the launch will begin at 9:45 p.m. EDT (0145 GMT or 10:45 a.m. local time Tuesday, Oct. 26). You can watch it live in the window above, courtesy of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which builds and operates H-2A rockets the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). You can also watch it directly via the company's YouTube. Launch is scheduled to take place at the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. EDT Monday (0200-0300 GMT; or 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. local time Tuesday).
China has test fired a huge new solid rocket motor, creating more propulsion options for the country’s growing space activities. The rocket motor was ignited Tuesday (Oct. 19) at a site near Xi'an city in north China, firing for 115 seconds, creating a tremendous trail of flame and exhaust.
Blue Origin, Boeing, Sierra Space and several other partners announced today (Oct. 25) that they plan to build a commercial off-Earth outpost called Orbital Reef, which is scheduled to be up and running by the late 2020s. Orbital Reef's envisioned customers include national governments, private industry and space tourists, project team members said. The outpost will initially complement but eventually take the baton from the International Space Station (ISS), which is expected to be retired in the 2028 to 2030 timeframe.
The Hubble Space Telescope caught a pair of "squabbling" galaxies in action, according to the European Space Agency. The pair of objects is known as Arp 86 and includes two galaxies roughly 220 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Pegasus. They are known individually as NGC 7753 and the much smaller companion NGC 7752.
For the first time in history, scientists may have just discovered a planet in another galaxy. The potential exoplanet, called M51-ULS-1b, lies 28 million light-years away in the spiral galaxy Messier 51 (M51), also known as the Whirlpool galaxy. This discovery could be just the tip of the iceberg, revealing many other exoplanets outside the Milky Way.
SpaceX is hoping to launch its first orbital Starship test flight in the next few months from its Starbase facility in Texas and a new video captures the company's work so far on the massive rocket. The 90-second montage, which SpaceX showed off on Twitter, offers views of the company's massive Starship spacecraft being wheeled to the launch pad, taking off, performing complex flips and then landing safely on the ground. You also catch a glimpse of Earth from up high.
Rocket launches can inject huge amounts of soot into higher layers of Earth's atmosphere, depending on their fuel, possibly contributing to climate change. A pair of British rocket startups now claim their rocket technology can reduce spaceflight's environmental footprint by switching to renewable fuel. Both of these startups plan to launch their rockets from different spaceports located in Scottish wilderness, and being green has been part of their pitch from the start. While Edinburgh-based Skyrora plans to fly their rockets using rocket fuel made from non-recyclable plastics. Their counterpart, the Inverness-based Orbex, is betting on biopropane, a natural gas made as a byproduct during biodiesel production.
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak's new space company is really starting to take shape. Hawaii-based Privateer remains in stealth mode a month after Wozniak and co-founder Alex Fielding announced its existence, but we know the company aims to tackle humanity's growing problem with space junk, which threatens to hinder our exploration of the final frontier. And Privateer will focus, at least initially, on improving our knowledge of the teeming orbital population.
