CLPS

NASA cancels half-billion dollar water-ice-seeking VIPER Moon rover

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NASA’s VIPER – short for the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover – sits assembled inside the cleanroom at the agency’s Johnson Space Center. Image: NASA/Helen Arase Vargas NASA announced Wednesday it was pulling the plug on the VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) project. It was the second time in less than a decade, NASA …

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Intuitive Machines’ Moon lander Odysseus reaches lunar orbit

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A image of Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander named ‘Odysseus’ captured by one of the spacecraft’s onboard cameras. Image: Intuitive Machines Achieving a successful lunar landing becomes increasingly more tangible for the team at Intuitive Machines with each passing day since launch. On Wednesday, the Houston-based company announced that it was able to place its robotic …

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Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander ends mission in fiery reentry

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Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander captured by a camera mounted onboard the lander on its second day in space. Image: Astrobotic The first U.S. lander bound for the Moon since 1972 burned up in Earth’s atmosphere on Thursday. The unfortunate ending for Astrobotic’s spacecraft was deemed the most responsible choice given its hopes of reaching the …

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Peregrine lander suffers propulsion ‘anomaly,’ Moon landing seemingly unlikely

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Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander in the clean room at Astrotech in Titusville, Florida. The spacecraft was the main payload onboard the first launch of ULA’s Vulcan rocket. Image: ULA In situation seemly pulled from a science fiction movie, a robotic mission to the Moon swung from the brink of failure to having renewed hope before …

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ULA marks success with the inaugural mission of its Vulcan rocket launching a Moon-bound robotic lander

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The inaugural Vulcan rocket leaps off the pad at Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The booster was powered by the first pair of BE-4 engines to fly in space. Image: Michael Cain/Spaceflight Now With the company’s future riding on it, United Launch Alliance’s first Vulcan rocket successfully put a commercial robotic …

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ULA says its Vulcan rocket is finally ready to fly

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The United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket is transported from the Vertical Integration Facility (VIF) to Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral, Florida, in preparation for the certification mission (Cert-1). The mission will launch the Astrobotic Peregrine commercial lunar lander, as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, into a highly elliptical orbit more …

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NASA discusses Moon-bound science as ULA’s Vulcan rocket gets go ahead for Jan. 8 launch

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The payload for the Certification-1 (Cert-1) flight test on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan rocket is encapsulated inside its payload fairing in preparation for launch. The mission will launch the first Astrobotic Peregrine commercial lunar lander, as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, into a highly elliptical orbit more than 220,000 …

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Intuitive Machines targets launch to the Moon in mid-January

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The completed Nova-C lander for the IM-1 mission is photographed in mid-October at Intuitive Machines’ facilities in Houston, Texas, ahead of it being shipped to Cape Canaveral, Florida. Image: Intuitive Machines The first lunar lander aiming for a touchdown at the Moon’s south pole has a new launch date. Intuitive Machines said Friday it is …

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Test-firing of ULA’s first Vulcan rocket on tap today

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Watch our live coverage of the Flight Readiness Firing for United Launch Alliance’s first Vulcan Centaur rocket at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Follow us on Twitter. SFN Live United Launch Alliance’s first Vulcan Centaur rocket is back on its launch pad at Cape Canaveral for a critical test-firing of its Blue Origin-built BE-4 main engines …

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First Vulcan rocket rolls back to hangar for ‘adjustments’ prior to test-firing

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United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket rolls out to Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral on May 11. Credit: United Launch Alliance United Launch Alliance’s first Vulcan rocket was filled with methane and liquid oxygen propellants at Cape Canaveral last week for a tanking test, but managers decided to move the rocket back inside a …

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