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SpaceX to launch NASA, NOAA missions exploring the impacts of the Sun – Spaceflight Now

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SpaceX

SpaceX to launch NASA, NOAA missions exploring the impacts of the Sun – Spaceflight Now

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stands at Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Sept. 23, 2024, ahead of the planned launch of NASA’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) spacecraft and two other rideshare missions. Image: John Pisani / Spaceflight Now A trio of Sun-studying, marquee missions for both NASA and the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration (NOAA) is set to take off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket shortly after sunrise on Wednesday. Leading this rideshare missions is NASA’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) alongside the agency’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory and NOAA’s Space Weather Follow-On Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1). Liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center is set for 7:30 a.m. EDT (1130 U...

Astronomy Now relaunches digital platform – Astronomy Now

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Astronomy

Astronomy Now relaunches digital platform – Astronomy Now

by Astronomy Now Editor, Stuart Clark We are pleased to announce that our new Astronomy Now app is live! Since taking ownership of the magazine in July, creating an enhanced digital experience has been a high priority for our new Astronomy Now team. Today we’re in a position to share an early version of the new digital platform, complete with the last 12 back issues and more – including this month’s issue! And we’re inviting all of you to try it for free until 16 October. How to access the Astronomy Now App All you need to do is open a browser and navigate to astronomynowdigital.com. You will then be prompted for an email address, and you will gain entry. The new platform is optimised for both web browsing and mobile usage. When using it on your computer, you can simply read the magazi...

La NASA selecciona a los candidatos a astronauta de la promoción 2025, totalmente estadounidense

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SpaceX

La NASA selecciona a los candidatos a astronauta de la promoción 2025, totalmente estadounidense

Read this press release in English here. Diez nuevos candidatos a astronauta de la NASA fueron presentados el lunes tras un competitivo proceso de selección en el que participaron más de 8.000 aspirantes de todo Estados Unidos. Ahora, la nueva clase completará casi dos años de formación antes de poder optar a asignaciones de vuelo en apoyo de futuras misiones científicas y de exploración a la órbita terrestre baja, la Luna y Marte. El administrador interino de la NASA, Sean Duffy, dio la bienvenida a la promoción de candidatos a astronautas estadounidenses de 2025 durante una ceremonia celebrada en el Centro Espacial Johnson de la agencia en Houston. “¡Es un honor para mí dar la bienvenida a nuestra agencia a la próxima generación de exploradores estadounidenses! Más de 8.000 candidatos s...

Quantum computers have finally achieved unconditional supremacy

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Science

Quantum computers have finally achieved unconditional supremacy

Quantinuum’s quantum computerQuantinuum What can quantum computers do that their traditional counterparts absolutely cannot? This is one of the biggest questions facing the fast-growing industry, and now we finally have an unassailable answer. Instead of classical bits, quantum computers use qubits, which can exist in more states than “0” or “1”, theoretically giving them a computational advantage. But whether a quantum computer can do something impossible or impractical for even the best traditional computers – a feat of quantum supremacy – has proven to be a difficult and contentious question to answer. This is because a true example of quantum supremacy must be a computational task that is practical, so it can be tested on realistic quantum hardware, and provable, s...

NRO, SpaceX to launch reconnaissance satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg SFB – Spaceflight Now

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SpaceX

NRO, SpaceX to launch reconnaissance satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg SFB – Spaceflight Now

File: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stands in launch position at Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base ahead of the launch of the NROL-57 mission. Image: SpaceX The National Reconnaissance Office in the United States is preparing to send its 11th batch of small, reconnaissance satellites into low Earth orbit Monday morning. These are believed to be Starshield satellites, a government variant of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites, though the NRO hasn’t confirmed this. The intelligence-gathering organization tasked SpaceX to deploy an unspecified number of satellites into low Earth orbit as part of its constellation called the “proliferated architecture.” SpaceX is targeting liftoff of its Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base at 1...