When you compare SpaceX to the world's other space enterprises, it's probably easier to list the things SpaceX hasn't done instead of reciting all of the company's achievements.

One of these is the launch of nuclear materials. SpaceX has launched a handful of planetary science missions for NASA, but these spacecraft have all used solar arrays to generate electricity. In this century, NASA's probes relying on nuclear power have all flown on rockets built by United Launch Alliance (ULA), a 50-50 joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

This is about to change with a $256.6 million contract NASA awarded to SpaceX on Monday. The contract covers launch services and related costs for SpaceX to launch Dragonfly, a rotorcraft designed to explore the alien environment of Saturn's largest moon, Titan.

Dragonfly's power source is a radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG), which generates electricity from the heat put out by the radioactive decay of plutonium-238. These plutonium-fueled generators have flown on many previous space missions, including NASA's Perseverance and Curiosity rovers on Mars, the New Horizons spacecraft that beamed back the first up-close views of Pluto, and the long-lived Voyager probes exploring interstellar space.

All of these missions were launched on rockets that have either retired or are nearing retirement: the Atlas V, the Titan, and the space shuttle, to name a few.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/22423380

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/28497993

Blue Origin tweets rollout and erection.

Well folks, time for another suborbital human spaceflight.

| Scheduled for UTC | 2024-11-22 15:30 | |

|

| | Scheduled for (local) | 2024-11-22 09:30 (CDT) | | Launch site | Launch Site One, West Texas, Texas, USA | | Launch provider | Blue Origin | | Launch vehicle | New Shepard (NS5) | | Passengers | 🇺🇸 Emily Calandrelli, 🇺🇸 Sharon Hagle, 🇺🇸 Marc Hagle, 🇺🇸 Austin Litteral, 🇺🇸 James (J.D.) Russell, and 🇨🇦 Henry (Hank) Wolfond | | Mission success criteria | Successful launch and safe landing of booster and crew capsule |

Livestreams

| Stream | Link | |

|

| | Blue Origin | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEzVDtbYYKQ | | Space Affairs | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMMSiDf_sqw | | The Launch Pad | https://www.youtube.com/@TheLaunchPad/streams |

Stats

• 4th launch for Blue Origin in 2024, 28th overall
• 3rd crewed flight for Blue Origin in 2024, 9th overall
• 14th crewed spaceflight of 2024 (Axiom Mission 3, Galactic 06, SpaceX Crew-8, Soyuz MS-25, Shenzhou-18, Blue Origin NS-25, Boeing CFT, Galactic 07, Blue Origin NS-26, Polaris Dawn, Soyuz MS-26, SpaceX Crew-9, Shenzhou-19)

https://nextspaceflight.com/launches/details/7694

Target orbit: N/A

Previous mission (NS-27) | Next mission (NS-29)

Please post small launch updates, discussions, and questions here! Also feel free to leave feedback or suggestions for the mod team. We welcome feedback from the community!

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/28406618

Defense giant Lockheed Martin announced Nov. 19 that its new mid-size satellite platform will make its orbital debut next year aboard a Firefly Aerospace rocket.

The LM 400 satellite bus — roughly the size of a household refrigerator — represents Lockheed’s bid to capture a sweet spot in the satellite market: missions requiring more power and payload capacity than small satellites can provide, but not demanding the complexity of traditional large satellites.

Another three months, another Progress resupply to the International Space Station.

| Scheduled for (UTC) | 2024-11-21, 12:22 | |

|

| | Scheduled for (local) | 2024-11-21, 17:22 (AQTT) | | Docking scheduled for (UTC) | 2024-11-23, 14:40 | | Mission | Progress MS-29 | | Launch site | Site 31/6, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan | | Launch vehicle | Soyuz 2.1a | | Spacecraft | Progress | | Mission success criteria | Successful launch and docking to the ISS |

Livestreams

| Stream | Link | |

|

| | Roscosmos | (launch) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5D5woWk2ck | | Roscosmos | (docking) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgdwNzCThVg | | NASA+ | (launch) https://plus.nasa.gov/scheduled-video/progress-90-cargo-ship-launch/ | | NASA+ | (docking) https://plus.nasa.gov/scheduled-video/progress-90-cargo-ship-docking/ | | The Launch Pad | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csVA9gb-KX4 | | Space Affairs | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUYMPbgXLPM | | Space Devs | (launch) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiHXAlACsS8 | | Space Devs | (docking) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGFp1m13s1A |

Mission Details

• NASA
• NextSpaceflight