Lifeboat Foundation

Although today’s rocket engines are advanced and powerful, they tend to rely on traditional — and naturally volatile — fuels. Firehawk Aerospace has a safer and more stable new solid fuel, new engines, and millions in new funding to take it through the next round of tests to its first in-atmosphere demonstration launch.

Firehawk appeared on the scene two years ago with a fresh take on hybrid engines; the breakthrough made by CEO Will Edwards and chief scientist Ron Jones was to give that fuel a structure and 3D print it in a specially engineered matrix.

The structured, solid fuel grain is more stable and easier to transport than other fuels, and burns in a very predictable way. The company designed engines around this concept and tested them at smaller scales, though they have also been working on the kind of engine you might actually use if you were going to space. But the company has said that one of the strengths of the system is its adaptability.

The beloved Hubble observatory could get the SpaceX treatment.

New scientific research suggests Mars astronauts would get a horrifying does of radiation.

How serious is it?

Continue reading “Can humans survive radiation on Mars?” »

Hubble last got a visitor during the Shuttle era.

Voila! Europa’s topography reveals itself to NASA’s Juno mission. The moon will be visited by the Europa Clipper in the 2020s.

NASA and SpaceX are undertaking a feasibility study.

The Hubble Space Telescope could one day be serviced by a private SpaceX spacecraft called Dragon, according to an article published by Space.com

Jensen further added that a Dragon Hubble mission wouldn’t necessarily need to be crewed. The study might point the way to an uncrewed mission with Dragon or even a different aircraft.

Continue reading “NASA and SpaceX explore using Dragon to send Hubble back to its initial position” »

SpaceX and billionaire astronaut Jared Isaacman are teaming up with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to study whether a private mission could extend the life of the famed Hubble telescope.

NASA signed an agreement with Elon Musk’s company and the Polaris Program, which Isaacman leads, to study the possibility of using a SpaceX spacecraft to dock with the telescope and change its orbit in an effort to further its lifetime, the parties announced Thursday.

NASA’s science chief Thomas Zurbuchen said during a press call that SpaceX approached NASA with the idea “a few months ago.”

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The world now has stunning new photos of this week’s asteroid strike, the first planetary defense test of its kind.

NASA on Thursday released pictures of the dramatic event taken by the Hubble and Webb space telescopes.

A few hours later, SpaceX joined NASA in announcing that they’re studying the feasibility of sending a private mission to Hubble, potentially led by a billionaire, to raise the aging telescope’s orbit and extend its life.

NASA and SpaceX signed an unfunded Space Act Agreement Thursday, Sept. 22, to study the feasibility of a SpaceX and Polaris Program idea to boost the agency’s Hubble Space Telescope into a higher orbit with the Dragon spacecraft, at no cost to the government.