News Archive / Author: Bart Leahy
Bart Leahy is a freelance technical writer living in Orlando, Florida. Leahy's diverse career has included work for The Walt Disney Company, NASA, the Department of Defense, Nissan, a number of commercial space companies, small businesses, nonprofits, as well as the Science Cheerleaders.
Articles By Bart Leahy
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SpaceX conducts rehearsal for classified Zuma launch
January 3rd, 2018After being rescheduled twice, once in late 2017 due to an issue with the Falcon 9 fairing, and once this month due to cold weather in Florida—SpaceX conducted a “wet” dress rehearsal (WDR) for the Zuma mission today (Wednesday Jan. 3), according to a report on NASASpaceflight.com.
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SpaceX Falcon Heavy raised for 1st time at Kennedy Space Center
December 28th, 2017CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — For the first time, SpaceX used its “strongback” hydraulic mechanism to lift its three-core Falcon Heavy rocket into a vertical position at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A. The vehicle will likely face more ground tests and preparations in advance of its liftoff, which is currently slated for no earlier than January 2018.
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Trump policy directive makes Moon NASA’s official goal for human exploration
December 12th, 2017In a brief but pointed Dec. 11, 2017, ceremony at the White House, President Donald Trump signed Space Policy Directive 1, which officially directs NASA to send astronauts back to the Moon as a precursor effort to exploring Mars.
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Muratore: Safety and efficiency went hand-in-hand in rebuild of SLC-40
December 10th, 2017CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX hosted a briefing to members of the media on Friday, Dec. 8, 2017, to provide an overview of work that has been done to return to service Cape Canaveral's Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) after the Sept. 1, 2016, explosion of a Falcon 9 rocket caused severe damage to the site.
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Lockheed Martin completes assembly of third GPS III satellite
November 30th, 2017Using its advanced cleanroom facility near Denver, Colorado, Lockheed Martin has fully assembled the third of its ten contracted third-generation Global Positioning System (GPS III) satellites. Lockheed Martin did not state an official delivery date for the spacecraft, dubbed GPS III Space Vehicle 03 (GPS III SV03).
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First SLS hardware turned over to Ground Systems for EM-1 flight
November 22nd, 2017NASA reports that the rocket stage designated to accelerate the Orion spacecraft to the Moon in 2019 has been turned over to the Ground Systems Development and Operations (GSDO) team at Kennedy Space Center (KSC). The flight stage – called the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) – is being processed for Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1), the first integrated flight of the Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion.
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NASA Exploration Mission-1 managing current challenges, but launch could slip to 2020
November 9th, 2017On November 8, 2017, NASA released an update following a schedule review of Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1), the first uncrewed flight test of the Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion spacecraft to the Moon.
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U.S. Air Force accepts first block of next-generation GPS control system
November 6th, 2017After several delays, Raytheon has delivered part of the Operational Control System (OCX) to the U.S. Air Force (USAF) for use on the USAF’s next-generation global positioning system (GPS III) satellites. The new OCX improves the accuracy of positioning information for all users.
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Blue Origin conducts first hot-fire test of BE-4 engine
October 21st, 2017Blue Origin is moving forward with its rocket development program, hot-firing a 550,000-pound-force (2,446.5-kilonewton) thrust liquid natural gas / liquid oxygen BE-4 engine at its facility in Texas this week.
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ULA, Bigelow Aerospace set sights on lunar orbit outpost
October 19th, 2017United Launch Alliance (ULA) and Bigelow Aerospace are teaming up to send an inflatable space station to low-lunar orbit by 2022. The effort will feature a series of launches aboard ULA’s new Vulcan rocket using its Advanced Cryogenic Evolved Stage (ACES) to make Bigelow’s B330 habitat a depot to facilitate future exploration and development of the Moon.
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GAO: Even with production resumed, NASA plutonium supply at risk
October 15th, 2017Some of NASA’s most accomplished deep-space missions—including Voyager, Cassini, and Mars Science Laboratory—have relied on radioactive plutonium-238 for onboard power and heat. However, a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report states that despite efforts to restart domestic plutonium production, NASA is in danger of not having enough of the radioactive material for future missions by the mid-2020s.
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Tennessee Valley Interstellar Workshop taking the long view to the stars
October 12th, 2017HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — While NASA and commercial operators plan to send human beings beyond low-Earth orbit, the participants of the Tennessee Valley Interstellar Workshop (TVIW) spent this past week contemplating something incomparably more ambitious: seeking practical ways to travel to the stars.
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Ariane 5 pulls double duty launching two comsats from Kourou
September 29th, 2017Shortly after sunset on September 29, 2017, in Kourou, French Guiana, an Arianespace Ariane 5 lofted 23,894 pounds (10,838 kilograms) of payload into space in the form of two communications satellites. The Intelsat 37e satellite will support Africa, Europe, Central Africa, and Latin America, while the BSAT-4a satellite will provide Direct-to-Home (DTH) television service in Japan.
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Boeing hints at delayed first crewed flight of Starliner
September 29th, 2017Speaking at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Adelaide, Australia, on September 26, 2017, Chris Ferguson, director of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner crew and mission systems, discussed testing of the company’s commercial crew spacecraft.
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SpaceX gears up for a busy autumn
September 25th, 2017KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — October and November are lining up to be busy months for SpaceX. If everything goes according to plan, the NewSpace firm is poised to launch (and land) three Falcon 9 rockets, and it also hopes to carry out the first launch of a “Falcon Heavy” in November. These efforts promise a challenging autumn for Elon Musk’s entrepreneurial space company.
