SpaceX Launch to Resupply Station Set for Sunday
SpaceX is set to launch the first of a dozen operational missions for NASA to deliver more than 1,000 pounds of supplies to the International Space Station on
Oct. 7. Launch time is 8:35 p.m. from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, just a few miles south of the space shuttle launch pads.
The spacecraft will be joined to the station three days later.
Mars Rover Curiosity Prepares to Use Soil Scoop
On Sol 58 (Oct. 4, 2012) Curiosity maneuvered its arm to use instruments for close-up examination of sandy material at the "Rocknest" site. The inspections with the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) and Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) focused on targets in and near a wheel scuff (pictured at left) that Curiosity made on the preceding sol.
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NASA's Swift Satellite Discovers a New Black Hole
NASA's Swift satellite recently detected a rising tide of high-energy X-rays from a source toward the center of our Milky Way galaxy. The outburst, produced by a rare X-ray nova, announced the presence of a previously unknown stellar-mass black hole.
Ground-based observatories detected infrared and radio emissions, but thick clouds of obscuring dust have prevented astronomers from catching Swift J1745-26 in visible light.
NASA Hits Key Spaceflight Milestones
Over the next several months, Orbital plans a hot-fire test of the Antares, the maiden flight of an Antares rocket and a cargo delivery demonstration mission to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) Program.
Additionally, the largest and most powerful solid rocket booster ever built for flight is being assembled for NASA's Space Launch System at ATK Space Systems in Brigham City, Utah.
HS3 Mission Investigates Hurricane Nadine
HS3 scientists had a fascinating tropical cyclone to study in long-lived Hurricane Nadine. NASA's Global Hawk aircraft has investigated Nadine five times during the storm's lifetime. NASA's Global Hawk also circled around the eastern side of Hurricane Leslie when it initially flew from NASA's Dryden Research Flight Center, Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. to the HS3 base at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Va. on Sept. 6-7, 2012