Weekly - NASA beams cat video from space using lasers and more

Weekly Space News - Quick and Easy

Firefly Alpha’s rocket malfunction puts satellites into wrong orbit

Last week, a space startup called Firefly Aerospace’s Alpha rocket malfunctioned. This malfunction resulted in the payload being put into the wrong orbit. The Lockheed Martin technology demonstration satellite was originally intended to be put in a circular orbit around the earth, but a malfunction in the upper stage of the rocket resulted in it being put into an elliptical orbit.

NASA beams cat video from space using lasers

NASA recently achieved a breakthrough in laser communications as it used its Psyche spacecraft, located nearly 31 Million Kilometers Away to beam an ultra-high-definition video to Earth for the first time using lasers. The video happens to be of a cat chasing a laser dot around the room. While this may not look like anything much, it shows how laser communications are improving every day. Lasers can transmit more data compared to conventionally used radio waves.

Aditya-L1 to reach orbit by Jan 6th

Last week ISRO announced that its Aditya-L1 spacecraft will reach the Earth-Sun Lagrangian Point 1 by January 6th 2024. The Aditya-L1 is a solar mission by ISRO designed to study and observe the sun. it is currently on its way to the orbit.