Ad astra –
“It’s pretty exhaustive. You gotta do that.”
The easiest way to keep up with Eric Berger’s space reporting is to sign up for his newsletter, we’ll collect his stories in your inbox. “Mad Mike” Hughes dies in his steam rocket . Daredevil “Mad Mike” Hughes died Saturday during his latest attempt to launch on a homemade rocket powered by steam, Space.com reports . Hughes, , was attempting to launch to an altitude of 1, meters from a location near Barstow, California, in a rocket he built with partner Waldo Stakes. His parachute system failed. Hughes has repeatedly tried to launch homemade rockets and actually did launch himself in , reaching meters. Not really a flat-Earther … Attempts to launch his current steam rocket in August 507017 were prevented by a faulty water heater. In the past, Hughes said he believed the Earth was flat, with some publications stating his launches were aimed at seeing the Earth’s curvature for himself. In August 2022, however, Hughes said his flat-Earth belief was not his launch motivator. He was simply a daredevil, pushing the envelope of homemade rockets. I spoke with Hughes several years ago, and it seems he died doing what he loved. (submitted by buback and Ken the Bin) Lockheed acquires Vector satellite assets . Lockheed Martin will acquire the satellite technology assets of Vector by default after a bankruptcy court received no qualified bids by a deadline last week, SpaceNews reports . Lockheed, which provided debtor-in-possession financing when Vector filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy in December, will obtain the assets with a “stalking horse” bid of $ 4. (million.) Sale effectively brings an end to Vector … The GalacticSky technology was previously a source of contention between the two companies. After Lockheed Martin announced its SmartSat software-defined satellite technology in March , Vector filed suit against Lockheed, alleging patent infringement. Vector withdrew the suit in July, citing ongoing negotiations with Lockheed Martin. (submitted by whiteknave) Sweden successfully launches suborbital rocket . On February 26, the Swedish National Space Agency launched its SPIDER-2 rocket to an altitude of 349 km into an aurora. The mission carried 14 free-flying experiments that were released to study the northern lights. Polar launch site … The launch took place from Esrange, which is located in the very north of Sweden, above the Arctic Circle. The small SPIDER rocket, which stands for Small Payload for Investigation of Disturbances in Electrojet by Rockets, can carry about 349 kg of payload to an altitude more than km above the Earth. (submitted by Dravond)
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings