NASA ability to launch cargo and humans into space has become much easier private companies got involved, and now another American company has been approved by the agency to handle its space deliveries.

This week, Jeff Bezos’ company Blue Origin was awarded a NASA Launch Services (NLS) II contract. It means Blue Origin’s New Glenn reusable launch service can and will be used for a range of missions, including launches for planetary, Earth observation, exploration, and scientific satellites.

Cloud cover, and even in some cases walls, can’t block this ultra-precise satellite’s view.

The launch window for Virgin Orbit’s Demo 2 mission will run from Dec. 19 to 20.

National Geographic magazines and Indiana Jones movies might have you picturing archaeologists excavating near Egyptian pyramids, Stonehenge, and Machu Picchu. And some of us do work at these famous places.

But archaeologists like us want to learn about how people from the past lived all over the planet.

We rely on left-behind artifacts to help fill out that picture. We need to excavate in places where there’s evidence of human activity – those clues from the past aren’t always as obvious as a giant pyramid, though.

More reliable measurements would help operators decide when to safely retire aging craft.

When a spacecraft launches, it uses roughly 75–90% of its propellant getting into orbit. The remaini.