Odin (Brokkr-2) launched on Feb 26, 2025 aboard SpaceX Falcon 9 as part of Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 lunar mission. Its target was near-Earth asteroid 2022 OB5, about 20–30 meters in size (up to ~100 meters diameter) and suspected to be M-type metal-rich, with a flyby planned roughly 300 days after launch to confirm its metallic…
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Chandrayaan-3, launched July 2023, achieved a soft landing near the Moon’s south pole on August 23, 2023, with lander Vikram and six-wheeled rover Pragyan. The mission conducted 14 days of surface operations and returned at least 1100 images and data, including ChaSTE soil temperature measurements to 10 cm depth. Chandrayaan-3 marked India’s first soft landing…
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As of mid-2025, New Shepard had completed about 32 flights (12 crewed) and carried over 60 passengers. Blue Origin’s New Glenn heavy orbital rocket achieved its first successful orbital launch in January 2025. One New Shepard seat was effectively selling for about $1.3 million, well above Virgin Galactic’s roughly $450,000 per seat. NASA awarded Blue…
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By 2030, satellite-connected IoT devices are projected to exceed 26 million and the market is expected to reach about $4 billion. The 3GPP Release-17 NTN standards were finalized in 2022, enabling a single IoT module to operate on both cellular and satellite networks. By 2027, 5G NR-NTN standards under 3GPP Releases 18 and 19 will…
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In May 1999, NASA’s Deep Space 1 operated for three days with the Remote Agent AI, planning activities and diagnosing simulated faults autonomously. From 2001 to 2004, NASA’s EO-1 carried the Autonomous Sciencecraft Experiment (ASE), using onboard machine learning and the CASPER planner to re-task after events like volcanic eruptions. In 2013, JAXA’s Epsilon rocket…
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September 2008: Falcon 1 reached orbit on its fourth flight, becoming the first privately developed liquid-fuel rocket to orbit Earth. December 2008: NASA awarded SpaceX a $1.6 billion Commercial Resupply Services contract to deliver cargo to the ISS. May 2012: Dragon cargo capsule became the first commercial spacecraft to rendezvous with and deliver cargo to…
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GSSAP-1 and GSSAP-2 were launched on July 28, 2014 aboard a Delta IV M+(4,2) from Cape Canaveral, accompanied by the ANGELS experimental satellite. The GSSAP satellites operate in near-geosynchronous orbit roughly 35,900 km (22,300 miles) above Earth and function as a “neighborhood watch” for the GEO belt, providing space situational awareness to USSPACECOM. Built by…
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