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--- transportation:spacecraft [2026/02/24 23:11] – timb
+++ transportation:spacecraft [2026/03/13 00:14] (current) – [DART] timb
@@ Line 16950: / Line 16950: @@
 https://science.slashdot.org/story/24/08/25/2357246/boeing-lockheed-martin-consider-selling-ula-space-launch-business
+== Space Force Makes the Obvious Choice, Halts Rocket Launches at Boeing's and Lockheed's Space Business ==
+March 08, 2026 06:26 am EDT - Rich Smith for The Motley Fool
+Key Points
+ - United Launch Alliance's (ULA) Vulcan rocket has suffered two anomalies in four launches.
+ - The Space Force has decided two is too many and is pausing launches while searching for a fix.
+ - What does it mean for Boeing and Lockheed Martin, the two major investors in the ULA?
+stocks we like better than Lockheed Martin ›
+United Launch Alliance had high hopes for its new Vulcan Centaur rocket, but they're starting to fall apart -- literally.
+As recently as two years ago, United Launch Alliance (ULA), the space launch venture jointly owned by Boeing (NYSE: BA) and Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT), had hoped to be launching anywhere from 20 to 30 Vulcans annually by now. It's actually launched just four times in two years.
+Worse, as I described last month, two of the four Vulcans ULA has managed to launch experienced anomalies during flight. Although Vulcan's inaugural launch back in January 2024 went off without a hitch, in October 2024, Launch 2 suffered an anomaly when one of the nozzles that directs exhaust flow from Vulcan's two solid rocket boosters fell off during launch.
+Launch 3 then proceeded nominally in 2025, only to be followed by Launch 4 in February 2026 -- which had another problem with its solid rocket boosters. Nothing fell off this time, but the engine exhaust apparently burned through the booster nozzle this time, again endangering the spacecraft.
+https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/space-force-makes-obvious-choice-halts-rocket-launches-boeings-and-lockheeds-space
@@ Line 19661: / Line 19684: @@
 https://www.engadget.com/science/space/nasa-delays-artemis-ii-moon-mission-to-april-2026-224108612.html
+== NASA's crewed Artemis II launch gets pushed back again, this time due to a helium issue ==
+The space agency says it ran into a problem with helium flow to the SLS rocket's upper stage.
+Cheyenne MacDonald - Sun, February 22, 2026 at 3:10 PM PST
+It looks like a March launch is no longer in the cards for Artemis II, NASA's first crewed trip to the moon's vicinity since the final Apollo mission over 50 years ago. While preparations were underway at the Kennedy Space Center for a launch as soon as March 6, the space agency says it ran into an issue with the flow of helium to its SLS rocket's upper stage this weekend and it now has to roll the rocket from the launch pad back to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) to figure out what's wrong and fix it. A media briefing is planned for sometime this week to discuss the problem and what's next.
+But in a post on X, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman confirmed the rollback will "take the March launch window out of consideration." NASA noted on its blog that the current effort "potentially preserves the April launch window, pending the outcome of data findings, repair efforts, and how the schedule comes to fruition in the coming days and weeks." It's a four-mile trip back to the VAB that will take hours to carefully transport the massive rocket and the Orion spacecraft. NASA says it's eyeing February 24 for this trek.
+https://www.engadget.com/science/space/nasas-crewed-artemis-ii-launch-gets-pushed-back-again-this-time-due-to-a-helium-issue-231010042.html
+== Artemis II headed back to the bay; helium issues force another delay ==
+Sending humans around the Moon in February, er, March - now April 2026, maybe
+Brandon Vigliarolo - Mon 23 Feb 2026 17:05 UTC
+The quest to return to the Moon has hit another snag. NASA is delaying Artemis II again, as interrupted helium flow to the rocket’s upper stage forces a rollback to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) and wipes out the March launch window.
+The US space agency said on Saturday that it was troubleshooting interruptions in the flow of helium to the rocket's interim cryogenic propulsion stage, which uses the lighter-than-air gas to maintain environmental conditions in the stage's engine and pressurize the stage’s liquid hydrogen and oxygen propellant tanks. Related systems worked during the most recent Artemis II wet dress rehearsal that concluded on February 19, with NASA noting that helium flow issues didn't emerge until reconfiguration and other operations following the test.
+NASA said on Saturday that it was preparing for a rollback to the VAB, which would mean Artemis II would miss the March launch window, its second after hydrogen leaks delayed the originally planned February launch, with April now the earliest possible window.
+On Sunday, NASA confirmed that the issue was severe enough to merit a rollback.
+"Returning to the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy is required to determine the cause of the issue and fix it," NASA said in its update.
+NASA said that it's not sure what's causing the issue, and that it could relate to the interface between ground lines and rocket lines, a valve in the upper stage of the Space Launch System (SLS), or a ground-to-rocket filter. The agency is also reviewing the possibility that there could be a similar issue to the launch-delaying helium check valve problem on Artemis I, too.
+"The quick work to begin preparations for rolling the rocket and spacecraft back to the VAB potentially preserves the April launch window, pending the outcome of data findings, repair efforts, and how the schedule comes to fruition in the coming days and weeks," the space admin added.
+In other words, NASA's fingers are crossed for an April launch, but don't rush to Polymarket and place your bets on that window quite yet.
+https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/23/artemis_ii_launch_april_helium_issues/
+== Artemis 2 Crew Watches as Trump Snubs Moon Mission in State of the Union Address ==
+During the record-long speech, the President made no mention of NASA's most important crewed mission since the Apollo era, even though the astronauts were in the audience.
+Ellyn Lapointe - February 25, 2026
+President Donald Trump gave the longest State of the Union address in American history last night, speaking for 107 minutes about the “roaring” U.S. economy, “crazy” Democrats, and “the scourge of illegal immigration.” Amid this widely misleading tirade, Trump made two brief nods to American spaceflight but somehow failed to mention the fact that NASA is poised to launch its most important crewed mission since the Apollo era.
+The kicker is, the astronauts were literally sitting in the audience. NASA’s Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and the Canadian Space Agency’s Jeremy Hansen attended the event as guests of House Speaker Mike Johnson. The Artemis 2 mission will send them on a 10-day trip around the Moon this year, marking the first lunar flyby in over 50 years and the farthest human spaceflight in history.
+Artemis 2 is essential to ushering in the “golden age of American space leadership” that the Trump administration so often touts, so the snub was confusing to say the least. The President did, however, vaguely reference the glory of the Apollo era and sing his praises for the U.S. Space Force.
+“Space Force is my baby,” Trump said. “We did that. My baby is becoming so important.”
+https://gizmodo.com/artemis-2-crew-watches-as-trump-snubs-moon-mission-in-state-of-the-union-address-2000726399
+== NASA will try its Artemis II launch again in early April ==
+The agency anticipates about four launch opportunities between April 1 and 6.
+Will Shanklin - Thu, March 12, 2026 at 1:57 PM PDT
+NASA will soon give it another go on April Fools' Day. On Thursday, NASA said it's targeting April 1 at 6:24 PM ET for the Artemis II mission's next launch attempt.
+In case that date doesn't pan out, NASA added April 2 at 7:22 PM as a secondary launch opportunity. If necessary, the agency foresees several more openings between April 1 and 6 to get the Orion rocket into space. "Within those six days between the first and the sixth, we can't always turn around every day for an attempt," NASA acting associate administrator Lori Glaze said at a press conference. "We would anticipate […] about four opportunities within that six-day period."
+In preparation, NASA is targeting March 19 (a week from today) to roll Artemis II back out to the launch pad. However, it warned that further setbacks could occur. "While I am comfortable and the agency is comfortable with targeting April 1 as our first opportunity, just keep in mind we still have work to go," Glaze said. "There are still things that need to be done within the [Vehicle Assembly Building] and out at the pad. As always, we'll be guided by what the hardware is telling us, and we will launch when we're ready."
+https://www.engadget.com/science/space/nasa-will-try-its-artemis-ii-launch-again-in-early-april-205714288.html
@@ Line 20723: / Line 20816: @@
 https://gizmodo.com/the-day-nasa-smashed-an-asteroid-what-it-was-like-inside-mission-control-2000509922
+== Asteroid defense mission shifted the orbit of more than its target ==
+The binary asteroid’s orbit around the Sun was affected by the impact.
+Jacek Krywko – Mar 6, 2026 11:00 AM
+On September 26, 2022, NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft crashed into a binary asteroid system. By intentionally ramming a probe into the 160-meter-wide moonlet named Dimorphos, the smaller of the two asteroids, humanity demonstrated that the kinetic impact method of planetary defense actually works. The immediate result was that Dimorphos’ orbital period around Didymos, its larger parent body, was slashed by 33 minutes.
+Of course, altering a moonlet’s local orbit doesn’t seem like enough to safeguard Earth from civilization-ending impacts. But now, as long-term observational data has come in, it seems we accomplished more than that. DART actually changed the trajectory of the entire Didymos binary system, altering its orbit around the Sun.
+https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/03/nasas-dart-mission-shifted-the-orbits-of-two-asteroids/
+== NASA's DART spacecraft changed a binary asteroid's orbit around the sun, in a first for a human-made object ==
+The mission targeted the smaller asteroid of the pair, but ultimately affected the trajectory of both, new research shows.
+Cheyenne MacDonald - Sat, March 7, 2026 at 1:05 PM PST
+When NASA crashed a spacecraft into the asteroid moonlet Dimorphos in 2022, it altered both Dimorphos' orbit around its parent asteroid, Didymos, and the two objects' orbit around the sun, according to new research. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) said in a press release that this "marks the first time a human-made object has measurably altered the path of a celestial body around the Sun." It's a promising result as scientists work to find a feasible method of defending Earth from hazardous space objects.
+The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission was designed to demonstrate one possible way of deflecting such an object, targeting the non-threatening moonlet Dimorphos, which is about 560 feet wide. NASA quickly declared it a success after its initial analysis showed the planned collision shortened Dimorphos' orbit around Didymos, the larger of the two objects in the binary asteroid system. In a follow-up study published in 2024, a team at NASA's JPL reported that Dimorphos' orbital period had been trimmed by about 33 minutes, as its path was nudged roughly 120 feet closer to Didymos than before. The latest study now indicates that the whole binary system was affected, not just Dimorphos.
+https://www.engadget.com/science/space/nasas-dart-spacecraft-changed-a-binary-asteroids-orbit-around-the-sun-in-a-first-for-a-human-made-object-210529924.html
+== NASA’s DART spacecraft changed an asteroid’s orbit around the sun ==
+Studying this asteroid could help protect Earth from future asteroid strikes
+Lisa Grossman - March 6, 2026 at 2:00 pm
+A spacecraft slowed the orbit of a pair of asteroids around the sun by more than 10 micrometers per second — the first time human activity has altered the orbit of a celestial object, researchers report March 6 in Science Advances. The experiment could have implications for protecting Earth from future asteroid strikes.
+NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART, intentionally crashed a spacecraft into the small asteroid Dimorphos in 2022. The goal was to change Dimorphos’ orbit around its larger sibling, Didymos. Within a month, researchers showed that the impact shortened Dimorphos’ 12-hour orbit by 32 minutes.
+https://www.sciencenews.org/article/spacecraft-changed-asteroid-orbit-nasa