Mission Possible, But Not Yet

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): The Mission Possible vehicle during construction. (The Exploration Company)

A new European space company came close to success with its space capsule early this week until it had problems with reentry. The Exploration Company, discussing its Mission Possible vehicle, had this to say:

The capsule was launched successfully, powered the payloads nominally in-orbit, stabilized itself after separation with the launcher, reentered and reestablished communication after black out…We are still investigating the root causes and will share more information soon. We apologize to all our clients who entrusted us with their payloads.

The Mission Possible capsule was expected to complete the following tasks:

  • Phase 1: Separation from the Launcher
  • Phase 2: Stabilizing the Capsule and Putting its Heatshield Forward
  • Phase 3: Atmospheric Re-entry
  • Phase 4: Parachute Deployment and Descent
  • Phase 5: Splashdown and Recovery

The problem appears to be related to the parachute deployment in Phase 4.

Launched into space aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, the European company was preparing the way for its planned Nyx capsule. With the Nyx capsule, the company hopes to carve out a place for itself in the space cargo business – first in low-Earth orbit and later between the Earth and the Moon.

In an earlier press release, the company outlined its European roots:

Germany, Munich:Core of spacecraft avionics, power systems, and flight software. Also, a leader in additive manufacturing.
France, Bordeaux: Specializing in propulsion systems, reentry phase, thermal engineering, system engineering, and mission safety, also hosts the main control center.
Italy, Turin: Home to the babckup control center, docking and other complex mechanisms, life support system and high-thrust engine turbomachinery.
Luxembourg, opening in 2025: Dedicated to cryogenic refuelling, a critical development for deep-space missions.

This bold European company’s partial success should pave the way for more attempts and contribute to a greater European presence in the space industry.

Space Stories: Mysterious Signal Solved, Trusting AI in Astronomy, and a New Particle Detected on the Moon

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: Image by Anjana Daksh from Pixabay.

Here are some recent space-related stories of interest.

—Phys.org: “Mysterious Fast Radio Burst Turns Out to be From Long-dead NASA Satellite“

A team of astronomers and astrophysicists affiliated with several institutions in Australia has found that a mysterious fast radio burst (FRB) detected last year originated not from a distant source, but from one circling the planet—a long-dead satellite. The team has posted a paper outlining their findings on the arXiv preprint server…The findings could lead to the development of new tools for studying signals coming from space, whether near or far, and possibly new ways to monitor the movement of dead satellites.

—Futurism: “Nobel Prize Winner Warns About Astronomers Using AI to Make Discoveries“

A team of astronomers say they’ve gleaned the mysterious traits of our galaxy’s black hole by probing it with an AI model. But a pretty big name on the field is throwing a little bit of cold water on their work. Just a little bit. Reinhard Genzel, a Nobel laureate and an astrophysicist at the Max Planck Institute, expressed some skepticism regarding the team’s use of AI, and the quality of the data they fed into the model. “I’m very sympathetic and interested in what they’re doing,” Genzel told Live Science. “But artificial intelligence is not a miracle cure.”

—Swedish Institute of Space Physics: “Swedish-built Instrument Discovers New Type of Particle on the Lunar Surface“

A space instrument, built by the Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF), has for the first time detected negative hydrogen ions on the surface of the Moon – a type of particle never seen there before. The discovery was recently published in the scientific journal Nature Communications Earth and Environment.

The Recently Created iSpace Crater Has Been Spotted

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Image (Credit): The arrow indicates the impact site for ispace’s Resilience lunar lander, as seen by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera on June 11, 2025. (NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University)

It doesn’t look like much, but NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter recently spotted the small crater made by the crashed ispace lunar lander named Resilience. The Japanese lander crashed on the Moon’s surface earlier this month after the company’s second try at a lunar landing.

The Moon is littered with debris and pockmarks from various successful and failed missions. The Apollo crew alone left enormous amounts of trash, debris, and space equipment scattered around the Moon. The Russians also left quite a bit of space equipment on the Moon many years ago, as well as its most recent Luna-25 mission, which crash-landed.

We can only hope that the Artemis mission will soon enough be adding to the equipment on the Moon without the drama of crash landings.

Pic of the Week: Mars or Bust?

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): The explosion of a Starship rocket during testing at the Brownsville, Texas Starbase on June 18, 2025. (LabPadre Space)

As shown in the image above, SpaceX lost one of its Starships yesterday in a massive explosion at the Brownsville, Texas Starbase, making the Moon and Mars seem even farther away. Fortunately, no one was injured during this failed test firing of the Starship 36 rocket engines.

We should expect some problems along the way, but the trend is going backwards for Mr. Musk.

In a press release, SpaceX stated:

Engineering teams are actively investigating the incident and will follow established procedures to determine root cause. Initial analysis indicates the potential failure of a pressurized tank known as a COPV, or composite overwrapped pressure vessel, containing gaseous nitrogen in Starship’s nosecone area, but the full data review is ongoing. There is no commonality between the COPVs used on Starship and SpaceX’s Falcon rockets.

In separate comments, Mr. Musk initially stated:

Just a scratch.

Yes, the scratch heard round the world.

A Day in Astronomy: Beginnings and Ends

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Image (Credit): ValentinaTereshkova just before boarding her Vostok 6 capsule. (NASA)

On this day in 1963, Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova from the USSR became the first woman in space. She flew solo on the Vostok 6 for three days. It was her first and last time in space. Her importance as a symbol for women and the USSR meant she would never fly again lest something happen to her.

She was quoted as saying:

They forbade me from flying, despite all my protests and arguments. After being once in space, I was desperately keen to go back there. But it didn’t happen.

On this same day in 1977, German-American Wernher von Braun passed away. As the chief designer of the Saturn rockets that took men to the Moon, he was to see all of the Apollo missions before his death.

He is also quoted as saying:

I’m convinced that before the year 2000 is over, the first child will have been born on the moon.

It is unlikely he would have believed that it would be another 50 years before we found our way back to the Moon.

Image (Credit): Braun standing next to the first stage of the Saturn V booster he helped design. (NASA)