Elizabeth Howell (she/her), Ph.D., was a staff writer in the spaceflight channel between 2022 and 2024 specializing in Canadian space news. She was contributing writer for Space.com for 10 years from 2012 to 2024.
NASA says its Artemis 2 moon rocket is all fixed up. It could launch astronauts to the moon on April 1NASA's Artemis 2 moon rocket has a problem and it's leaving the launch pad. Don't expect a moonshot in MarchBreaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsSign up to our monthly entertainment newsletter to keep up with all our coverage of the latest sci-fi and space movies, tv shows, games and books.
Discover this week's must-see night sky events, moon phases, and stunning astrophotos. Sign up for our skywatching newsletter and explore the universe with us!Space.com's Sci-Fi Reader's Club. Read a sci-fi short story every month and join a virtual community of fellow science fiction fans!NASA is one step closer to sending a drone mission to another world.The US really wants a nuclear reactor on the moon by 2030. 'Achieving this future requires harnessing nuclear power,' NASA chief saysFrom left, Carlisa Drew, Seth Harvey, Anthony Fanelli, Emory Toomey and TJ Lee conduct power and functional testing on Dragonfly’s Integrated Electronics Module and Power Switching Unit in the cleanroom at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. The IEM is Dragonfly’s “brain,” containing the spacecraft’s core avionics; the PSUs control the flow of power to Dragonfly’s instruments and systems.pushes us to the edge of what's possible, but that's exactly why this stage is so exciting," Turtle added."The team is doing an outstanding job, and every component we install and every test we run brings us one step closer to launching Dragonfly to Titan." The car-sized Dragonfly will be the second rotorcraft to explore the skies of a world beyond Earth. The first was NASA's. The solar-powered Ingenuity was designed for just a handful of hops but survived an ambitious flight campaign that lasted nearly three years, from April 2021 to January 2024. Building on what NASA learned, Dragonfly will be bigger — and powered by nuclear energy, not the sun. The Titan drone is also a full mission, costing about $3.35 billion; Ingenuity was a technology demonstrator with a price tag of just $85 million. Dragonfly is expected to launch in 2028 toward Titan, the largest moon of Saturn and second-largest satellite in the solar system, behind Jupiter'sof life as we know it, which makes it an exciting target for scientists, but it has been studied up close just once — by the EuropeanBreaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors After touching down on Titan, Dragonfly aims to"explore a range of diverse sites to study the chemistry, geology and atmosphere of the terrestrial moon and ultimately advance our understanding of life's chemical origins," NASA officials stated. But first, the mission needs to be readied for space. At APL, the first weeks of testing will focus on the spacecraft's integrated electronics module — a sort of"brain" for the mission that focuses on items like guidance, navigation and data handling — and power-switching units. Testing and integration is expected to continue into early 2027. The spacecraft will next be shipped to Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado for systems testing, before a brief return to APL to assess how Dragonfly will do in the space environment. APL will send Dragonfly to NASA'sDragonfly's protective shell for flying through space is also being tested: the shell finished aerodynamic assessments in wind tunnels at NASA'sin Virginia and is now in the integration and testing stage at Lockheed Martin. APL is also assessing insulating foam intended to keep Dragonfly from freezing in Titan's frigid atmosphere, and other items like the science payload and flight radio are also coming together. While several years lie between now and launch, entering the build-and-test phase is a big milestone. "We've spent years designing and refining this amazing rotorcraft on computer screens and in laboratories, and now we get to bring all those elements together and transform Dragonfly into an actual flight system," Annette Dolbow, the Dragonfly integration and test lead at APL, said in the same statement. Elizabeth Howell , Ph.D., was a staff writer in the spaceflight channel between 2022 and 2024 specializing in Canadian space news. She was contributing writer for Space.com for 10 years from 2012 to 2024. Elizabeth's reporting includes multiple exclusives with the White House, leading world coverage about a lost-and-found space tomato on the International Space Station, witnessing five human spaceflight launches on two continents, flying parabolic, working inside a spacesuit, and participating in a simulated Mars mission. Her latest book,"Why Am I Taller?" is co-written with astronaut Dave Williams.The US really wants a nuclear reactor on the moon by 2030. 'Achieving this future requires harnessing nuclear power,' NASA chief says NASA says its Artemis 2 moon rocket is all fixed up. It could launch astronauts to the moon on April 1 NASA says its Artemis 2 moon rocket is all fixed up. It could launch astronauts to the moon on April 1 'Rick and Morty' season 9 promises 'No AI slop! Just Grade A organic slop' when it drops on Adult Swim later this year NASA says its Artemis 2 moon rocket is all fixed up. It could launch astronauts to the moon on April 1
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