Ruimtevaart Category

“SpaceX gaat in 2018 naar Mars!” kopt het internet vandaag collectief. Dat is nogal eufemistisch als je ziet dat de honderden blogposts en artikelen zijn gebaseerd op slechts één tweet van het bedrijf. Wij gooien er daarom nóg zo’n blogpost bij door te kijken naar wat we wel en vooral niét weten over SpaceX’ illustere missie. Voor de duidelijk: Alle berichtgeving over SpaceX, alle analyses en speculaties, alles ‘wat we weten’ is gebaseerd op één enkele tweet: Planning to send Dragon to Mars as soon as 2018. Red Dragons willRead More

North Korea has claimed it launched another satellite into orbit, spreading anger throughout the international community. It’s not the first time the country has claimed a satellite launch, but how serious should we take the claims of the totalitarian state? Let’s take a look at North Korea’s controversial space program. North Korea has said it launched a satellite into orbit, using “a long-range rocket”, but it’s actually not quite clear what the object put into orbit was.  Kwangmyongsong The country itself has named the satellite Kwangmyongsong-4, the successor to threeRead More

Edward Mitchell, the sixth man to walk on the moon, has died at the age of 85. Mitchell was a crew member of Apollo 14, the third mission to land on the moon, where he did an EVA with Alan Shepard. Mitchell died late Thursday (EST) in his home in West Palm Beach, according to his family. Career Mitchell started his career at NASA as a Navy test pilot like most others from the first batches of astronauts. Mitchell was trained on the backup crew for Apollo 10, but firstRead More

There’s plenty to do about the ISS, the permanently manned space station that holds astronauts from all corners of the Earth. But few people know there’s a second space station currently in orbit around the Earth. The Chinese Tiangong station might not be manned, but the country has big plans for the future of the habitat. Tiangong is China’s own independent access to space, something the Chinese have aspired since astronauts Yang Liwei’s first flight in 2003. Heavenly Palace The station is called Tiangong-1, which roughly translates to ‘Palace ofRead More

SpaceX will be attempting to land a Falcon 9 rocket again after launching a satellite into space. As opposed to the company’s last landing, the Falcon will now land on a barge in the sea rather than back on land. The Falcon 9 v1.2 will lift-off at 13.42 CEST from Vandenberg Air Force Base. The launch will be of the Jason-3 satellite, an Earth observation spacecraft designed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The satellite will observe global ocean height levels together with existing American and European satellites.Read More

You’re 400 kilometers above the Earth, locked in a small space with your colleagues, far away from your family… It doesn’t sound very pleasant to be in space during the holidays, but even in the International Space Station astronauts celebrate Christmas. But how? The 6 astronauts currently aboard the Station aren’t the first to spend Christmas there – and they won’t be the last. The Station has been permanently manned since 2001, which means there have been quite a few Christmas parties. Decking the halls with jolly The ISS isRead More

Yesterday, SpaceX wrote history by sending six satellites into space, and then landing the same rocket upright so it can be used again. Quite an amazing feat, but let’s look at why exactly SpaceX’ rocket landing is so revolutionary. And what will this mean for the future of spaceflight? What actually happened The company launched the heaviest version of its self-produced and designed rocket, the Falcon 9 v1.1, on a mission that carried 11 ORBCOMM communication satellites to Low Earth Orbit. That was always the primary target of the mission,Read More

Being an astronaut is still a pretty dangerous profession, with a fatality rate of no less than 4% despite everyone’s intense efforts to prevent serious accidents. But what would happen though, if one of the astronauts in the ISS died now? What happens if you die in space? Turns out, there’s not really a protocol for that… Let’s start with The only deaths that (probably) occurred in space are those of the crew members of Soyuz 11, (Georgiy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsayev), who had died during their descentRead More

Where SpaceX has been trying to land its Falcon 9-rocket for years now, suddenly there’s a company that claims to have pulled that off. But that comparison is wrong. Blue Origin has not pulled off what SpaceX has been doing. Here’s why. To determine that difference, we have take a quick look at both companies and what they’re trying to do. SpaceX (founded by Tesla-owner Elon Musk) is a company that offers launches aboard their trusted Falcon 9-rocket. These launches are offered to both private companies like telecom-providers to launchRead More

Until a few years ago, NASA was the undisputed ruler of space. With only three countries that have independent (manned) access to space, America was the only country that ever went to the moon and had the world’s most advanced machine ever with the Space Shuttle. But now, much of that glory has been lost as NASA has no manned spaceflight program anymore. A controversial and astronomically priced rocket called the Space Launch System is supposed to change that – but is NASA on the right path with SLS? ItRead More