06 June 2011
Five Steps Toward Future Exploration
The NASA Astrobiology Science and Technology for Exploring Planets (ASTEP) program has announced a set of new projects to develop and test technologies that will enable the astrobiological exploration of the Solar System. The ASTEP program advances the search for life on other planets by supporting research and exploration of some of Earth's most remote and extreme places.
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06 June 2011
Boeing Announces Workforce Reductions in Space Exploration Division
Boeing has issued 60-day advance layoff notices to approximately 510 employees in its Space Exploration division, resulting primarily from the planned completion of the Space Shuttle program.
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03 June 2011
Ames Imaging Experts Create Unique Views of STS-134 Launch
Imaging experts funded by the Space Shuttle Program and located at NASA's Ames Research Center prepared this video by merging nearly 20,000 photographs taken by a set of six cameras capturing 250 images per second at the STS-134 launch on May 16, 2011. From seven seconds before takeoff to six seconds after, the cameras took simultaneous images at six different exposure settings. This technique can help visualize debris falling during a launch or support research involving intense light sources like rocket engines, plasma experiments and hypersonic vehicle engines.
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03 June 2011
One year in isolation
Romain Charles, the European participant of the simulation study wrote about the year with his crew mates: "We have a great crew and although our backgrounds are significantly different, we never had any conflicts between us. That's why I'm full of optimism for our last days in the Mars 500 modules. We'll see you on 5 November when we'll land on Earth after our 520 day's journey to the Red Planet, not before!"
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03 June 2011
Homemade Danish rocket takes off
A home-made rocket built by two Danes, Peter Madsen and Kristian von Bengtsson, successfully blasted off from a floating launch pad off the Danish Baltic island of Bornholm Friday, nine months after its first test flight failed due to a defective hair drier.
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02 June 2011
Materials for Mars
What would it take to make a manned mission to Mars a reality? A team of aerospace and textile engineering students from North Carolina State University believe part of the solution may lie in advanced textile materials. The students joined forces to tackle life-support challenges that the aerospace industry has been grappling with for decades.
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01 June 2011
Thales delivers First Cygnus PCM to Orbital
Thales Alenia Space announced that it has delivered to Orbital Sciences its first Pressurized Cargo Module (PCM) developed to transport cargo to the International Space Station. This first PCM will be used for the Cygnus demonstration mission, under NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) research and development initiative with Orbital.
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31 May 2011
US astronaut fears 'memory' gap after shuttle ends
US astronaut Mark Kelly, who is commanding the shuttle Endeavour's final space flight, said Tuesday he is concerned about a drain of NASA talent once the US shuttle program ends later this year. "I think what is always at risk is, as we transition to a new program and a new vehicle there is going to be a period of time when Americans aren't flying on US spacecraft, so that's a challenge," he said in an interview with US media, broadcast from space on the last day of the shuttle's mission.
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30 May 2011
Should India Go Suborbital
What is happening with India's human spaceflight program? It's hard to be sure. India's space program has experienced mixed results in the past two years, with the success of some missions being overshadowed by some major failures.
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30 May 2011
Cosmica Spacelines And XCOR Aerospace Tout Suborbital Payload Flight Opportunties
Supporting technology development and fundamental science, Cosmica offers full payload integration services to support innovation through recurrent suborbital flight opportunities.
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30 May 2011
A mole to explore the interior of Mars
The final contenders in NASA's Discovery programme, which invites scientists to propose unmanned planetary missions, have been announced. The Geophysical Monitoring Station (GEMS) for Mars mission proposal has made it to the final round of decision-making. The German Aerospace Center is significantly involved with the geophysical experiment, which will explore the interior of Mars.
The main objective of the mission, which could launch in early 2016, is to obtain a unique impression of the 'interior life' of Mars through a series of direct measurements.
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27 May 2011
ESA Cleared To Restart Work on 2016 Mars Mission
The European Space Agency (ESA) on May 26 gave a sufficiently strong endorsement of a redesigned Mars exploration program with NASA to permit contract payments to restart in July, ESA officials said, adding that the new schedule leaves enough time - but just barely - to meet the program’s launch dates.
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27 May 2011
Le Gall Makes Appeal for Ariane 5 Successor
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26 May 2011
Lawmakers Question Plans for Space Station Resupply
Members of a congressional panel questioned the wisdom of NASA’s plan to rely on two commercial companies to handle the critically important job of ferrying cargo to the international space station after the space shuttle concludes its final flight scheduled for July.
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26 May 2011
ATV-4 to carry name Albert Einstein
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26 May 2011
NASA's Spirit Rover Completes Mission on Mars
NASA has ended operational planning activities for the Mars rover Spirit and transitioned the Mars Exploration Rover Project to a single-rover operation focused on Spirit's still-active twin, Opportunity. This marks the completion of one of the most successful missions of interplanetary exploration ever launched.
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26 May 2011
Mars Formed Rapidly into Runt of Planetary Litter
Mars developed in as little as two to four million years after the birth of the solar system, far more quickly than Earth, according to a new study published in the May 26 issue of the journal Nature. The red planet's rapid formation helps explain why it is so small, say the study's co-authors, Nicolas Dauphas at the University of Chicago and Ali Pourmand at the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science.
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25 May 2011
Obama Eroding JFK’s Space Legacy, Apollo Pioneers Say [USA Today]
America’s leadership in space, established 50 years ago with President John F. Kennedy’s bold vision of landing a man on the Moon, is slipping away under the guidance of President Barack Obama, according to lunar pioneers Neil Armstrong, Jim Lovell and Gene Cernan.
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FOR FURTHER READING
06 June 2011
Human spaceflight for less: the case for smaller launch vehicles, revisited
As NASA, Congress, and industry debate what the new Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket should be, some argue that such a rocket isn’t necessary at all. Grant Bonin makes the case for exploration architectures that use larger numbers of smaller, less expensive rockets.
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06 June 2011
New strategies for exploration and settlement
For many space advocates, space settlement has long been the ultimate goal of spaceflight, but one that has seen little progress in the last few decades. Jeff Foust reports on two recent speeches that offer similar, if slightly differing, takes on new approaches that could make settlement a reality.
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06 June 2011
Bring home the sample
A Mars sample return mission remains a high priority for scientists, but one that is technically and financially difficult to carry out. Lou Friedman discusses the importance of sample return and the role that international cooperation can play to further it.
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06 June 2011
NASA’s new robot challenge
Draft rules for a new NASA prize competition involving sample return technology were quietly released last month. Ben Brockert reviews the rules and discusses some potential issues with the planned competition.
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06 June 2011
The last shuttle crew
Next month the final shuttle mission will lift off with a four-person crew. Anthony Young reflects on this final crew and the future of human spaceflight.
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06 June 2011
A Salute to the Spirit of Mars
Well done, Spirit. "For the past 7 years, Spirit has been on a journey as extraordinary as any mission in NASA history," says Mars Exploration Rover project manager John Callas of JPL. "But now it may be time to say thanks and farewell." NASA hasn't heard from Spirit in more than a year, and on May 25th, 2011, the agency sent a final transmission in its series of attempts to regain contact.
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31 May 2011
Analyzing the new Kennedy tape
Last week, on the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s speech calling for a human mission to the Moon by the end of the decade, his presidential library released a new recording of space deliberations by Kennedy. John Logsdon examines the new tape and what it says about Kennedy’s interest in spaceflight and support of NASA.
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31 May 2011
Bad Moon rising
As NASA struggles to develop a new heavy-lift launch vehicle, commercial entities are cobbling together existing systems for new applications, like Space Adventures’s plans for a lunar flyby mission. Stewart Money argues that the latter approach might offer a more expedient approach to near-term exploration than developing a big booster.
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31 May 2011
Fifty years of NASA art
A traveling exhibition of artwork created under NASA’s art program has made its way to the National Air and Space Museum. Jeff Foust explores the collection and the origins of the agency’s art efforts.
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31 May 2011
Spacepower versus bin Laden
Special operations forces justifiably got the credit for the raid a month ago that killed Osama bin Laden. However, Taylor Dinerman notes that the mission would not have been possible with a variety of space assets, from reconnaissance to communications.
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31 May 2011
Roswell that ends well
A recent book about Ares 51 makes some bizarre claims about Nazi flying saucer, the Soviet Union, and Roswell. Dwayne Day suggests that the outlandish tale may have its roots in a science fiction short story over a half-century ago.
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