Our Engagement Palette!
Check out our colour-coded system for our weekly space news:
🟤 Brown: For weeks that are mundane and bland.
🟡 Yellow: For fairly interesting weeks.
🟢 Green: For the most exciting weeks.
This Palette will help you decide if this week’s news is worth your time!
This week ranks green 🟢 on the Engagement Palette.
NASA launches Artemis-II
Last week, NASA successfully launched its Artemis-II crewed lunar mission. The four astronauts will reach the moon on April 6th for a flyby and will return on April 10th. This paves the way for future Artemis missions. Artemis-III will also be a flyby, while Artemis-IV will land humans on the moon. The last time humans went near the moon was the Apollo-17 mission in 1972.
Saudi Arabia launches its first space weather satellite
Recently, Saudi Arabia successfully launched its SWC-1 (Shams) satellite into space. It was launched on the same rocket as Artemis-II, but is not related to the moon mission. The satellite aims to study space weather like Earth’s magnetic field, solar radiation and more. This is Saudi Arabia’s first dedicated space weather satellite.
SpaceX postpones 12th Starship test flight
Recently, SpaceX postponed the 12th test flight of its powerful Starship rocket from April to mid-May. The Starship rocket is the most powerful ever, over 122 meters tall (40 stories) and aims to be fully reusable. It will be used for interplanetary and moon missions, though it is still currently in development.
Tianlong-3 rocket explodes after launch
Last week, Chineese private firm Space Pioneer’s Tianlong-3 rocket failed during a launch. The exact cause of the failure is being investigated. Like SpaceX’s Falcon-9 rocket, Tianglong-3 also has landing legs and fins that help its first stage land vertically on the pad, making the rocket partially reusable. The rocket will play a key role in building China’s Qianfan satellite constellation for internet services.
