News
Here one can find all entry descent and landing-related news. Would you happen to have a news tip? Let us know!
Older news can be found here:
13-10-2024 - SpaceX catches Starship booster on the pad
After a successful flight back to the launch pad, SpaceX has caught the booster using the "chopsticks". This feature would allow for rapid reusability in the future. During the flight it seemed that a fire broke out, as of yet it is unclear what happened here or what the damage of the fire was. The ship itself landed relatively in one piece in the ocean.
12-10-2024 - X38 to demonstrate in-orbit aerobraking
The X-38 spaceplane will demonstrate an orbit change using aerobraking. By dipping into the atmosphere and bleeding energy.
07-10-2024 - PLD announces new rockets and crewed capsule
In a press conference, PLD Space announced a proposal for a new LEO crewed capsule. At the moment more details remain unclear except for the name of the capsule: Lince.
07-10-2024 - RocketLabs to investigate Mars Sample Return mission
RocketLabs has been added to the list of companies that will be investigating a potential mission to return the samples made by Perseverance.
07-09-2024 - Starliner lands safely without crew
After several issues and uncertainties, the Starliner capsule has finally landed safely back on Earth, unfortunately without crew. They will return with the Dragon capsule.
05-08-2024 - Space Rider completes first drop tests
The parachute system of Space Rider has gone through several drop tests in Italie. The paraglider tested was 10 by 27 meters and was dropped from 3.5 km.
18-07-2024 - NASA cancels Viper
The Viper Moon Rover has been officially cancelled. The rover was supposed to fly to the moon's south pole in 2025. In February 2024 NASA announced that the rover was 80% built.
10-07-2024 - Ariane 6 launches successfully, but re-entry experiments are not deployed
The long-awaited flight of Ariane 6 has finally been completed. However, both re-entry experiments have not been deployed as problems arose with the second stage. The stage was therefore also not de-orbited.
25-06-2024 - Chang'e-6 returns safely to Earth
The latest Chinese moon mission has successfully returned to Earth after gathering samples from the other side of the moon. The EDL profile followed roughly the same profile as the Chang'e-5 mission
23-06-2024 - ISRO completes third landing mission
The RLV-LEX-03 mission has been successfully completed by ISRO.
06-06-2024 - Starship makes a successful test flight
The SpaceX starship, critical for the NASA Artemis missions has completed several milestones during the latest test flight. The booster seems to have soft landed in the ocean after speeding the Starship itself to a single orbit.
05-06-2024 - Starliner makes it to orbit
After several years of delays, Starliner has made it to orbit carrying its first crew
01-06-2024 - Chang'e-6 lands successfully on the dark side of the moon
After launching on the third of May, the Chang'e-6 lander has successfully landed on the dark side of the moon. The goal is to gather samples and return to Earth end of June 2024.
16-05-2024 - ESA and NASA join forces in ExoMars
ESA and NASA have signed a new agreement for the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin mission, with NASA providing key elements like launch service and heater units. The mission, set for 2028, searches for past and present signs of life on Mars. The European RHU is being developed in parallel by the UK, with NASA providing lightweight radioisotope heater units.
07-04-2024 - Sierra Space completes drop tests of Ghost
Sierra Space, known for the dream chaser space plane has performed successful drop tests of their Ghost return to Earth solution. This deployable thermal protection system would allow for deploying payloads all over the world.
22-03-2024 - ISRO completes RLV-LEX-02
After earlier successful drop tests, ISRO has completed the second drop test of the RLV vehicle
23-02-2024 - Intuitive machines sort off nails the lunar landing
The Nova-C lander, developed by Intuitive Machines, successfully landed on the Moon, marking the first American lunar landing in over 50 years. The lander carries scientific instruments and for various lunar experiments. This milestone opens a new era of commercial and scientific lunar exploration. A day after the landing it was revealed that the lander landed harder than expected with a too high horizontal velocity. This caused the lander to topple over. Marking it the second moon lander this year to land on its side.
22-02-2024 - VARDA successfully lands their capsule
After being stuck in orbit due to permit issues, the VARDA W-1 mission has successfully demonstrated its ability to perform a controlled Entry Descent and Landing, landing softly in the Utah desert.
21-02-2024 - Nova-C successfully reached lunar orbit
The Intuitive Machines Nova-C lander has successfully reached the lunar orbit and is now expected to land at 23:24 UTC (6:24 PM EST) tomorrow.
31-01-2024 - SpaceX launches Intuitive Machines Nova-C to the moon
Part of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services, the nova-C lander has been launched to the moon.
26-01-2024 - SLIM has landed on its side
The JAXA SLIM lander seems to have made a hard soft landing on the Moon. During the final descent, the lander operated as planned, but a nozzle seems to have blown out causing the lander to land sideways. This did not allow for the solar panels to make contact with the sun. One of the deployable payloads has captured the lander in one piece on the surface of the moon. It should be noted that the lander is close to 100 meters to its intended point and was thus extremely accurate.
19-01-2024 - SLIM lands on the moon
The JAXA SLIM lander successfully lands on the moon after a long flight. Currently, the lander seems to be struggling to generate power.
18-01-2024 - Peregrine burns up in the atmosphere
After a short space flight, the Peregrine lander has burned up in the atmosphere of the Earth.
08-01-2024 - Vulcan launches Peregrine lander to the moon
The new ULA Vulcan lander has successfully put the Peregrine Mission One into space. Unfortunately, the lander soon developed issues meaning a successful landing will most likely not happen. The company will now attempt to put the lander as close to the moon as possible.
