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--- transportation:spacecraft [2026/06/04 22:52] – [MAVEN] timb
+++ transportation:spacecraft [2026/06/05 21:28] (current) – [Safety] timb
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 Read More: https://www.engadget.com/2187315/nasa-ends-maven-mars-mission/
+== NASA Just Delivered the Mars Orbiter Update Nobody Wanted to Hear ==
+The agency's efforts to regain contact with the MAVEN spacecraft have culminated in unfortunate news.
+Ellyn Lapointe - June 4, 2026, 11:15 am ET
+After more than a decade in space, a vital Mars satellite suddenly went dark in December. NASA has spent the last six months trying to reestablish contact with the orbiter, but now, the agency has finally thrown in the towel.
+NASA formally ended the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission on Wednesday, explaining that the spacecraft is “not recoverable” and is “no longer capable of performing its science and data relay mission.” This is the update the planetary science community has been dreading for months. The data MAVEN collected over its 11 years in Mars orbit significantly advanced our understanding of the Red Planet, helping researchers unravel the mystery of how its ancient water and atmosphere depleted.
+“The science MAVEN has given us is key to informing what kind of radiation protection and safety measures we must take before sending humans to Mars,” Louise Prockter, director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington D.C., said in an agency statement. “The data collected from MAVEN will continue to provide valuable insight into Mars for decades to come.”
+https://gizmodo.com/nasa-just-delivered-the-mars-orbiter-update-nobody-wanted-to-hear-2000767425
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 https://gizmodo.com/falling-rocket-parts-more-likely-to-cause-deaths-1849165671
+== Safety officials finally have a good idea of what a big rocket explosion can do ==
+Overpressure from the Blue Origin blast shattered windows at a hangar about a mile away from the pad.
+Stephen Clark – Jun 5, 2026 6:55 AM
+Last week’s explosion of a New Glenn rocket at Cape Canaveral, Florida, was clearly a setback for Blue Origin and NASA, but it was a learning experience for safety officials looking to open up the spaceport to hundreds more launches per year.
+The launch base on Florida’s Space Coast is gearing up for a flurry of new arrivals. SpaceX is building multiple launch pads for its super-heavy Starship rocket, which will operate within a few miles of launch pads operated by SpaceX rivals Blue Origin and United Launch Alliance. Two other companies, Stoke Space and Relativity Space, are also developing launch sites along a narrow stretch of coastline at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
+All of them have, or will soon have, rockets burning methane or liquified natural gas, replacing legacy launch vehicles fueled by kerosene, liquid hydrogen, or solid propellants. There are good technical reasons for making the switch, but until last week, engineers had scant real-world data on the damage that millions of pounds of methane and liquid oxygen would cause if a fully loaded rocket exploded on the launch pad or soon after liftoff.
+By 2036, the Space Force projects that the spaceport could support up to 500 launches per year, five times last year’s total. The combination of these lofty launch forecasts and the Space Force’s conservative safety protocols has caused some tension at the Cape Canaveral spaceport.
+https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/06/safety-officials-finally-have-a-good-idea-of-what-a-big-rocket-explosion-can-do/
 ====== Security (General) ======