Latest news with #Spaceport
NHK
12-07-2025
- Business
- NHK
Taiwan-made rocket stops flight mid-ascent in Hokkaido
A Taiwanese-made rocket was launched at the Hokkaido Spaceport in Taiki Town, Hokkaido, on Saturday, but it stopped flying during the ascent and did not reach its planned altitude of 100 kilometers. The 12-meter, two-stage rocket lifted off at around 11:40 a.m. It was manufactured by a Taiwanese company. According to the company that manages the spaceport, the rocket stopped flying during its ascent. The company said the first stage of the rocket was confirmed to have separated, but the flight of the second stage was suspended later. Footage taken by NHK shows the second stage of the rocket continuing its flight while rotating and falling. Police say no injuries have been reported. The launch was performed by a foreign company in the same group as the Taiwanese manufacturer of the rocket.
Observer
02-07-2025
- Business
- Observer
Oman: an ideal platform for space launches
Muscat: The Sultanate of Oman boasts an ideal location for space vehicle launches, with its proximity to the equator reducing fuel consumption for spacecraft as they launch in alignment with Earth's rotation. Oman's coastal launch sites overlooking the Indian Ocean and distance from populated areas have attracted international space companies seeking optimal launch locations. HH Sayyid Azzan Qais al Said, Founder and CEO of the National Aerospace Services Company "NASCOM" and "Etlaq" Spaceport, stated that " Etlaq " pioneered the first Middle Eastern space launch with "Duqm-1," marking Oman's inaugural step toward becoming a global space access hub. The 18-degree latitude spaceport enables multi-orbit launches, including equatorial, sun-synchronous, polar, medium Earth, and geostationary orbits. HH Sayyid Azzan revealed that Etlaq's master plan will be operational by 2027, with its Formation Program enabling experimental launches within 14 weeks of planning since 2024. The program focuses on Omani workforce development in advanced space specialties, with current expansion including a second launch pad for experimental missions and a spacecraft assembly facility. Dr Saud Hamid al Shukaili, Director General of Policies & Governance and Head of the National Space Program at the Ministry of Transport, Communications, and Information Technology emphasized that Oman's space launch project aims to attract global space investments while building national capabilities in spacecraft engineering, supporting Oman Vision 2040. Furthermore, a representative at Stellar Kinetics stated that the upcoming mission will be the inaugural launch of the KEA-1 vehicle, offering a unique opportunity to test orbital class systems such as stage separation mechanisms and active guidance under unprecedented mission also aims to achieve microgravity conditions to support university-led research via two onboard scientific payloads developed by international partners.
Yahoo
09-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
How Las Cruces lost the Spaceport America Cup
Mar. 9—LAS CRUCES — For seven years, the world's largest annual college-level rocket competition drew thousands of visitors to Las Cruces and to New Mexico's taxpayer-built spaceport in Sierra County — except during the COVID-19 pandemic — for a week of exhibitions, rocket launches and ceremonies that filled the convention center and promoted Spaceport America's vertical launch facility. But this year, the nonprofit Experimental Sounding Rocket Association, which has organized the Intercollegiate Rocket Engineering Competition since 2006, has permanently moved the competition to Midland, Texas. The Spaceport America Cup, as the event was known since it moved from Utah to New Mexico in 2017, is no more. Over 120 teams from universities in dozens of countries and 34 states participated in the event last June, with 1,800 participating in person. The top prize was claimed by a team from the University of Maryland, while the Chile Cup — a regional prize for competitors from New Mexico and West Texas — went to the University of New Mexico. The competition also drew researchers harvesting data from payloads attached to rockets flying up to 30,000 feet. Aerospace companies seized opportunities to recruit engineering talent among the contestants. ESRA President Steve Taylor said the move came about because competitors had requested "new and more complex challenges to further showcase their engineering proficiency," flying rockets to higher altitudes and accommodating a new two-stage rocket category. Taylor also said the number of exhibitions had outgrown the Las Cruces Convention Center and that the Spaceport had resisted changes to the event that would allow more teams to participate. Before partnering with the Spaceport, the competition had gathered in a remote area of Green River, Utah. In New Mexico, they found a co-host with experience managing large events and a launch facility adjacent to White Sands Missile Range on the other side of the San Andres mountains. "Spaceport America was able to provide a true launch site," Spaceport Director Scott McLaughlin said in an interview. "We knew how to take care of the restricted airspace. We already knew how to take care of things like bathrooms. ... We had ambulances standing by, a brush truck in case there's a fire, and we know how to do triage for all those people. It was work, but it was something we knew how to do." With the Spaceport's involvement, McLaughlin said the competition drew major sponsors such as Blue Origin, SpaceX and Virgin Galactic, as well as grant support from NASA. Moving forward, McLaughlin said the Spaceport would aim to engage younger students through events such as the American Rocketry Challenge, a national competition for middle- and high-school students founded in 2002. "The Cup gave us a lot of national and international visibility with college students," McLaughlin said, "but it didn't give us a lot of engagement with New Mexico or regional students." NMSU's rocketry team, the Atomic Aggies, have been hard at work in their campus workshop, assembling components for a two-stage rocket they will bring to the Midland International Air and Space Port this June. Their mission plan includes a lander designed to deploy at altitude with sensors to collect atmospheric data. The team's project manager, senior Daniel Bluedorn, said that in certain ways, the Spaceport's environment is not ideal. Besides air currents and complications from weather, Bluedorn said the Spaceport's proximity to WSMR complicates the competition schedule, as activities on the military installation may require Spaceport activities to hold; and that teams face losing recoverable stages of their rocket if they fall into restricted areas. The Midland venue, by contrast, is surrounded by commercial space, he said. "It is in standard Permian desert, and there are no mountains around, which means that the wind effects up at altitude are going to be a lot more consistent," he said. "That's something we haven't gotten to experience here."
