NASA & World Space Exploration...News, Views, Photos & videos

Citing NASA, CCTV reports that a "micro comet smaller than sand" hit one of the six mirrors of the James Webb telescope between May 23 and May 25.

The mirror was made out of alignment from the hit. The scientists and engineers at NASA have "adjusted" its position to compensate for it. It should not affect the overall performance of the telescope.

美国国家航空航天局8日说，略小于一粒沙的一个微流星体击中了詹姆斯·韦布空间望远镜的一片镜片，不过望远镜仍能完成原定任务。

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美国航天局当天在网站发文说，撞击发生在5月23日至25日期间，韦布望远镜收集到的数据因此受到轻微影响，但望远镜运行良好，超出任务要求。

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声明说，工程师调整了被击中镜片的位置，一定程度抵消了因撞击造成的偏差。“最近的撞击不会改变韦布望远镜的运行计划。”

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SanWenYu said:

Citing NASA, CCTV reports that a "micro comet smaller than sand" hit one of the six mirrors of the James Webb telescope between May 23 and May 25.

The mirror was made out of alignment from the hit. The scientists and engineers at NASA have "adjusted" its position to compensate for it. It should not affect the overall performance of the telescope.

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Even aliens are anti west.

I would say Rogozin blusters like the best, but...

Aggregated bits:

South Korea begins testing its lunar orbiter:


South Korea has cancelled its Apophis probe:


Ariane 6 first launch delayed:


Comet interceptor mission approved by ESA:


The rideless Exomars update:


How the Martian samples will be lifted from the surface to the waiting ESA orbiter:


NASA's Ingenuity 'hunkering down' for winter (probably perma shutdown, tbh)


Lockheed talks Osirus-Rex:


NASA still trying to get the one solar panel to properly deploy on Lucy:


NASA's Europa Clipper main body complete:


Progress on the DreamChaser spaceplane:


Lockheed Powered up the Artemis 2 Orion capsule:


Boeing's almost here Starliner:


Rolling Artemis 1 back to the pad:


The DIU is adding nuclear powered missions for demo in 2027:

anzha said:

Ariane 6 first launch delayed

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Europe is going to slide behind South Korea at this rate. I am not kidding. You will see it in 5 years when the South Koreans launch their own rocket design which will be cheaper than Ariane 6. The Koreans only problem is lack of proper launch site. They will have to negotiate with someone for a base close to the Equator.

anzha said:

The rideless Exomars update

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Well that is what Europe gets for cancelling all space cooperation with the Russians. They did it to themselves.

anzha said:

Progress on the DreamChaser spaceplane

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It is nice to see this progressing even if I think it will not be cost effective compared to a capsule. It is a neat project. However it risks cancellation by Congress once Boeing gets their own capsule operating as a backup to the SpaceX one.

anzha said:

The DIU is adding nuclear powered missions for demo in 2027

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The US has a large trail of failed nuclear rocket or nuclear power programs spanning decades. This will probably end up as nothing as usual. The Russians are way ahead on this one. They clearly must have come up with some kind of novel compact lightweight nuclear reactor design no one else has at this moment. Otherwise Burevestnik would not be possible.

gelgoog said:

It is nice to see this progressing even if I think it won't be cost effective compared to a capsule. It is a neat project. However it risks cancellation once Boeing gets their own capsule operating as a backup to the SpaceX one.

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Different contracts. Boeing still has a way to go before it’s manned rate to missions. And the contract for dreamchaser is as an unmanned cargo vehicle. A separate program.
As to costs again different mission. The main aim though is redundancy, but if it can even match the commercial space options then it’s fair game. The Commercialization of space opens not just reduced prices for NASA who now becomes an costumer and not a contractor, but also opens use by other states with approvals. Potential even export.

I guess you never heard the word "downselect". The government does this all the time.

gelgoog said:

I guess you never heard the word "downselect". The government does this all the time.

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Different programs different products.
Dreamchaser, Starliner and Dragon were all in the commercial crew competition for NASA along with Blue origin. Blue origin and Dreamchaser were dropped with Dragon and Starliner getting contracts for manned ISS flights.
A second program was opened Commercial Resupply Services. CRS phase 1 was and Dragon and Cygnus.
CRS phase 2 contracts were for 3 CRS bids Dreamchaser, Cygnus and an Improved Dragon. Lost bids included Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
They downselected three suppliers. What you are implying is that Boeing somehow gets a complete program rewrite. When being blunt they are barely operating.
The Boeing Starliner is a manned taxi to ISS like Soyuz it brings some cargo but mostly people. Cargo Dreamchaser is a delivery truck like Progress. It Cygnus and Dragon V2 aren’t human rated. Cargo Dreamchaser even has a pod intended to burn up like Soyuz.

Using a winged shuttle for cargo flights makes ZERO sense. The whole point of the shuttle configuration is to have low-g flight and this is mostly useful for carrying crew. The extra weight of the winged structure will reduce the amount of mass you can carry. Having to fit a winged vehicle inside a payload shroud, like they are doing with Dreamchaser, also means you will have less usable internal volume with the winged vehicle than with a capsule. Precisely the opposite of what you want with cargo.

No this was just NASA throwing Dreamchaser a bone. Congress will just say they only need two vendors and knife it eventually. At one time Kistler was part of the contract and where are they now?

They will knife either Dreamchaser or Cygnus. Or even both. And respin the cargo contract and give it to Boeing or Lockheed Martin. Blue Origin is also a possibility. I think most likely is Boeing and Blue Origin. They will claim two vendors is enough and three vendors is too many. You just watch.

The people working on Dreamchaser better start pitching this to the USAF because NASA will kill it sooner or later. You will see the political comittee's wheels start turning once the Boeing capsule enters service. Probably after the Republicans return with a majority in Congress.

You were wrong and you still are wrong. The objective is and has been redundancy. For the manned capsules Boeing hasn’t been able to live up to its contract until now leaving space X as the only manned vehicle in the US. Had something gone wrong with Space X that would have left only Cygnus running cargo well a solution to new crews was worked out.
You see the problem? Had Space X Falcon 9 been grounded the US would have been forced to put Astronauts back on Soyuz. The whole point is to have options. 3 cargo vessels were chosen as it minimizes the chances of being forced to outsource due to a grounding. Well maintains logistics to and from ISS. Cygnus, Dragon cargo and Cargo Dreamchaser are contracted though 2026 to fly to ISS. Because of ISS short term of remaining operating there is no need to slash the program and endure cancellation fees that would be higher than operating ones.