Verge Science is here to bring you the most up-to-date space news and analysis, whether it’s about the latest findings from NASA or comprehensive coverage of the next SpaceX rocket launch to the International Space Station. We’ll take you inside the discoveries of new exoplanets, space weather, space policy, and the booming commercial space industry.
After Jeff Bezos lost one of AST’s giant space-based cell towers last weekend, the FCC has stepped up with some good news by approving its commercial license. AST can now operate a constellation of up to 248 satellites in low Earth orbit in order to deliver space-based cellular broadband to everyday smartphones. It was supposed to go live sometime later this year before the Blue Origin debacle.
Astronauts aboard the ISS are getting new custom HP laptops, an upgrade to an orbital compute setup that already includes HP workstations and printers. But is the company getting a little ahead of itself?
Nathan Friend:
“along with HP printers designed to work in microgravity”
I’d love it if HP designed printers to work in regular gravity first, thank you
Get the day’s best comment and more in my free newsletter, The Verge Daily.
A rock NASA’s Curiosity rover drilled in 2020 contained “the most diverse collection of organic molecules ever found on the Red Planet,” including seven never previously detected on Mars. The finding published today in Nature was made using its onboard Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) laboratory.
It’s either a gilded pathway to the stars or a financial black hole.
Astronauts having very human reactions to witnessing Earthset. “Gone! It’s gone. Oh my god.”
We just flew around the Moon, which remains an incredible feat for human beings. On this planet, I’m really psyched to print and frame the official NASA posters for the Artemis II mission. And because they’re public works you can get them for free. What a great use of taxes.
Some parts of the probe were powered down last year, but power dropped unexpectedly during a maneuver on February 27th, leading NASA to shut down the Low-energy Charged Particles experiment (LECP) earlier than expected. A fix is in the works that could extend the life of both Voyagers and possibly bring LECP back online.
“While shutting down a science instrument is not anybody’s preference, it is the best option available,” said Kareem Badaruddin, Voyager mission manager at JPL. “Voyager 1 still has two remaining operating science instruments — one that listens to plasma waves and one that measures magnetic fields. They are still working great, sending back data from a region of space no other human-made craft has ever explored. The team remains focused on keeping both Voyagers going for as long as possible.”
During a press conference on Thursday, astronaut Reid Wiseman said if Artemis II had a lander, “at least three of my crewmates would have been in it trying to land on the Moon.”
“If you had given us the keys to the lander, we would’ve taken it down and landed on that moon.”
Reporting from Bloomberg on how many Cybertrucks Elon’s other companies have been buying:
SpaceX, the Musk-led rocket and satellite maker, accounted for 1,279 — or more than 18% — of the 7,071 Cybertrucks registered in the US during the fourth quarter, according to registration data that S&P Global Mobility provided to Bloomberg News. The billionaire’s other ventures acquired another 60 vehicles during those months.
The billionaire space race sure heated up yesterday with Amazon’s purchase of Globalstar. In response, Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched 54 new Starlink satellites in less than 24 hours via two deployments, while Jeff Bezos has only managed to launch a total of 241 Leo satellites in the last 12 months.
The new Leo (formerly Project Kuiper) antenna will enable air travelers bandwidth of up to 1 gigabit per second for downloads and 400 megabits per second for uploads on Delta, JetBlue, and any other commercial airlines Amazon signs up.
Still, Amazon isn’t close to meeting its deadline from the FCC to launch 1,600 satellites by July 2026, having recently requested a two year extension.
Elon Musk has apparently made the jump from X to infect both TikTok and Instagram with new verified accounts. According to the New York Times:
Mr. Musk needs to build widespread public interest in SpaceX so it can raise billions of dollars from investors. The public offering could turn the 54-year-old tech mogul, who is already the world’s richest man, into the first trillionaire.
[nytimes.com]
We love a good space mission patch and this one worn by the Navy rescue team is top-tier. You can check out more photos from the Artemis II splashdown from NASA right here.
The Artemis II crew has successfully splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego. They’ve now finished their 10-day journey around the far side of the Moon. It’s been so inspiring to follow.
When the four astronauts aboard Orion return to Earth tonight, they’ll rely on a heat shield that NASA has admitted is flawed. Former astronaut Dr. Charlie Camarda told the New York Times that NASA never should’ve launched Artemis II, guessing there’s a 95 percent chance it will return safely.
CNN explains Artemis II’s “lofted” entry has been adjusted to try to limit the unexpected charring on the Artemis I heat shield, and National Geographic also went in-depth. YouTube, Netflix, and others will broadcast the landing starting at 6:30PM ET.
How the Artemis II spacecraft was designed with (relative) comfort in mind.
You might not be able to fly on an Artemis mission, but you could help them navigate transitions across the gravity on Earth, in transit, and on the Moon. Navy researchers are seeking volunteers to help find out “how the brain and inner ear respond to motion and to space motion sickness mitigation techniques” using an Air Force centrifuge:
Participants will complete up to eight hours of testing across two days, including exposure to three times the force of Earth’s gravity acceleration profile inside the centrifuge, and a series of balance and vision assessments.
On its way to and from visiting the Moon, the 33 engines of the ESA’s European Service Module are keeping Orion on track, as explained in this video. The crew has also tested manual piloting and plans another demonstration tonight at about 10:55PM.
The module’s last correction burn will happen before it separates from the crew capsule ahead of a scheduled splashdown Friday night at 8:07PM ET off the coast of San Diego.
While thousands of smartphones and cameras were trained on the sky on April 1st capturing the historic launch of Artemis II, Redditor Cambot72 recorded it on a Nintendo 3DS XL. The 0.3-megapixel footage has some retro Apollo vibes, and you can download the original version to watch in 3D if you’ve still got a 3DS.
As Artemis II sends back some wallpaper-worthy photos of the Moon and a solar eclipse, it may have given Samsung some inspiration for its next generation of smartphone cameras.
Thegovier:
Hopefully Samsung will add this to their photography AI so we can all take perfect photos next time we’re on the other side of the moon.
Get the day’s best comment and more in my free newsletter, The Verge Daily.
With their historic lunar flyby complete, the crew of Artemis II are officially on their way back to Earth. The Orion spacecraft is expected to splash down off the coast of San Diego around 8PM Eastern on Friday. NASA’s next Artemis mission is currently slated for 2027.
The crew of the Artemis II are now on a return trajectory to Earth, with an expected splash down off the coast of San Diego at approximately 8:07pm local time on Friday, April 10.
After setting a new distance record and going behind the Moon, the Artemis II crew has now gone as far away from Earth as they will during the mission.
The team reached the milestone during a planned communications blackout, but they’ve made contact again.
Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen have surpassed Apollo 13’s record for the greatest distance a human mission has traveled away from Earth at over 240,000 miles and counting, and they’ll continue stretching that out until about 7:07PM ET. Right now, they’re beginning to observe the Moon’s surface.
NASA Flight Director Brandon Lloyd, Capsule Communicator Amy Dill, and Command and Handling Data Officer Brandon Borter also marked a lighthearted milestone today by emailing the crew what is now assumed to be the longest person-to-person message ever sent in human history.
The streaming giant missed out on the April 1st launch of Artemis II, but will broadcast today’s historic flight around the Moon.
At 1PM ET, the capsule will fly past the Moon’s far side, which always faces away from the Earth, and it will also stream on NASA’s official YouTube channel. NASA also made a deal with Netflix last year to feature some of its content.
[What's on Netflix]
NASA shared this photo taken by the Artemis II crew today, showing the Orientale basin in its entirety for the first time. The far side is also becoming visible as the mission approaches its destination.
Artemis II’s astronauts are carrying iPhones, but it’s not to post on Instagram or check email. They can’t even connect to the internet. They’re mostly there for taking photos and videos. According to the New York Times:
The mission is one of the first times that NASA has allowed astronauts to fly with smartphones. NASA gave each astronaut an iPhone during the crew’s quarantine, which started in March, the agency said. But there was no sneaking in a video call on FaceTime or a round of Candy Crush before entering orbit. The phones can’t connect to the internet or use Bluetooth, NASA said. They are primarily for taking photos and videos.
