26 May 2013
Johns Hopkins undergraduates help design space stethoscope for NASA
A team of students at Johns Hopkins University has designed a stethoscope that delivers accurate heart and body sounds to medics who are trying to assess astronauts' health on long missions in noisy spacecraft.
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24 May 2013
Trip into space with DiCaprio costs $1.55m
Leonardo DiCaprio is going to get closer to stars of a different kind as he heads into space aboard the Virgin Galactic, and a well-heeled bidder at the Cannes Film Festival has paid 1.2 million euros (1.5 million) to be his travel buddy.
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23 May 2013
A Roadmap for the Future of Astrobiology
The NASA Astrobiology Program has started the process of outlining future research directions at the organization. Roughly every ten years, the program updates NASA's official Astrobiology Roadmap.
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23 May 2013
Asteroid Sample Return Mission Moves into Development
OSIRIS-REx, the $1 billion asteroid sample return mission led by the University of Arizona, reached a major milestone on May 16: The project passed the agency-level confirmation review called Key Decision Point-C, or KDP-C. KDP-C authorized continuation of the project into the next phase of development, giving the team the authority to proceed toward launch in 2016.
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22 May 2013
Desert Tests Pave Way for Human Exploration of Small Bodies
A team of researchers from the SETI Institute, the Mars Institute, NASA Ames Research Center, and the space robotics company Honeybee Robotics has successfully completed a first series of field tests aimed at investigating how humans will explore and work on near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) and eventually the two moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos.
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22 May 2013
ATK Hoping Tp Clean Up Rocketscience
ATK has completed the first U.S.-based testing of the High Performance Green Propulsion (HPGP) thruster technology for the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). The testing was conducted at ATK Defense Group's test facility in Elkton, Md., in April 2013.
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22 May 2013
First Light Angara Rocket Ready for Launch - Maker
Russia’s first light-class modification Angara 1.2PP carrier rocket is ready for its maiden launch, its manufacturer Khrunichev Center said on Wednesday. The first Angara will be sent to the Plesetsk space center in northern Russia later this month, the manufacturer said in a statement, but did not give a precise launch date.
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22 May 2013
Russia designs reusable spacecraft good for as many as five missions
A Russian company designing a new spacecraft for the country's space program says the craft will be reusable and able to make as many as five flights. Energia Rocket and Space Corp. said the spacecraft's technical design has been finalized but is yet to be officially approved, RIA Novosti reported Wednesday.
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22 May 2013
SPUTNIX is granted a license for space activity
SPUTNIX has been granted a license by the Russian Federal Space Agency for engaging in space activity, namely: creating and modernizing small automatic space vehicles for scientific and commercial purposes.
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20 May 2013
Ground control to 'Major Tim'
It takes the "right stuff" to withstand cosmic bursts of camera light and meteoric bombardments of questions, but Tim Peake is orbit-ready and passed the test of facing the massed media on Monday morning. As Britain's first official, government-backed astronaut, his selection for a mission in late 2015 marks a pivotal moment.
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20 May 2013
ESA is looking for the possibility to explore flight opportunities with Chinese partners
During a press event announcing the flight of British ESA astronaut Timothy Peake, BBC journalist Jonathan Amos, took the opportunity to ask ESA's Director of Human Spaceflight and Operations about ESA's plans for flight opportunities with China. Dr. Thomas Reiter answered: "We are exploring this possibility. We had some exchange with the Chinese Manned Space Agency. Some of my colleagues were visiting them in Beijing. We had a delegation visiting us at the European Astronaut Centre for exchanging some views on the training environment, training programmes, on technical aspects of rendezvous and docking, life support systems and of course scientific work. We have assigned now three colleagues from the European Astronaut Centre to language training. One astronaut actually is among this group. We are looking to the possibility also to explore flight opportunities with our Chinese partners. But once again: these are little steps that need to be seen. It is a first exchange of ideas and of learning to know each other."
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20 May 2013
Massive Moon Explosion Captured on NASA Video
NASA cameras captured video of the largest explosion it has ever seen on the Moon, when a meteorite crashed into the lunar surface in a bright burst of light visible to the naked eye on 17 March. The impact on the Moon could have created a crater as wide as 66 feet (20 meters), and NASA says its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter will be on the lookout for it the next time it passes over the site.
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17 May 2013
NASA Probe Counts Space Rock Impacts on Mars
Scientists using images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) have estimated that the planet is bombarded by more than 200 small asteroids or bits of comets per year forming craters at least 12.8 feet (3.9 meters) across.
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15 May 2013
ISS Statistics Tell the Story of Science in Orbit
During an average 6-month period on the station, as many as 200 investigations operate, with between 70 and 100 of them being new studies. Close to 600 journal articles have published on this research, reflecting the growth in scientific findings from space station investigations. Journals that have published articles include Nature, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America and Physical Review Letters, among others.
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15 May 2013
Danish Space Venture ready for lift off
Aquaporin A/S and Danish Aerospace Company ApS have created a new promising Joint Venture company in the space sector under the name Aquaporin Space Alliance (ASA). The new company will commercialize the Aquaporin Inside technology in space applications and space programs. Examples of potential space business areas for Aquaporin Inside membranes are: Drinking water in space suits, in space capsules and on space stations, clean technical water for specific use e.g. cooling of space suits and spacecraft systems, water for humidity control, batteries and other applications, and water purification of local sources on foreign celestial bodies for future exploration.
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13 May 2013
Spaceman says goodbye to ISS with David Bowie classic
Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield has marked his upcoming departure from the International Space Station by singing a cover version of David Bowie's classic song "Space Oddity" recorded on the orbiting laboratory. Almost 15 Million viewers saw the video on YouTube.
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13 May 2013
Space tourism won't hurt environment, Branson said
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12 May 2013
Ground control to 'Major Tom'
A revised version of David Bowie's Space Oddity, recorded by ISS Commander Chris Hadfield on board the International Space Station is going wild on the internet. Almost 15 Million watched and listened to this exceptional performance in weightlessness.
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11 May 2013
More than 78,000 people apply for one-way trip to Mars
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10 May 2013
Sarah Brightman plans on upcoming space journey
If you called Sarah Brightman a space cadet, it would probably make her smile. That’s because she plans on becoming the first recording artist to venture into space en route to the International Space Station sometime in the next two years. The classically trained singer-actress always wanted to explore the heavens. She says it began in 1969 when she was a little girl sitting in front of the television during the historic Apollo 11 landing on the moon.
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10 May 2013
Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) - NASA's Next Mission To Mars
NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission is scheduled for lift-off on 1:28 p.m. EST Monday, Nov. 18, aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
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01 May 2013
NASA Invites Public to Send Names And Messages to Mars
NASA is inviting members of the public to submit their names and a personal message online for a DVD to be carried aboard a spacecraft that will study the Martian upper atmosphere. The DVD will carry every name submitted. The public also is encouraged to submit a message in the form of a three-line poem, or haiku. However, only three haikus will be selected. The deadline for all submissions is July 1. An online public vote to determine the top three messages to be placed on the DVD will begin July 15.
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09 May 2013
NASA Commercial Partner Sierra Nevada Completes Safety Review
Sierra Nevada Corp. (SNC) Space Systems of Louisville, Colo., has completed its first major, comprehensive safety review of its Dream Chaser Space System. This is the company's latest paid-for-performance milestone with NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP), which is working with commercial space partners to develop capabilities to launch U.S. astronauts from American soil in the next few years.
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09 May 2013
Photos from Chang'e 3 thermal vacuum testing
Photos from Chang'e 3 thermal vacuum testing were published by Emily Lakdawalla on the Planetary Society Blog.
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08 May 2013
Chinese space program: Four challenges for Mars exploration
Ye Peijian, academician of the Chinese Academy of Science and Chief Designer of Chang'e-1, China's first Moon probe, and Chief Commander of the Chang'e-2 and Chang'e-3 missions, said, based on comprehensive consideration, China has no clear Mars exploration program at the present. Therefore, experts have called for carrying it out as soon as possible. Mars is regarded as the most suitable of the inner planets for human settlements next to the Earth. It has been the first choice for global scientific and technological power’s planet exploration.
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08 May 2013
China's Lunar Programm Chief Commander is advocating lunar and Martian exploration - China's Moon rover is expected to work for 3 to 6 months
Ye Peijian, Chief Designer of Chang'e-1, China's first Moon probe, and Chief Commander of the Chang'e-2 and Chang'e-3 missions. "We are able to reach Mars which is 400 million kilometers from Earth, and has the ability to conduct remote monitoring and control and communication in Mars exploration." "It is expected that in the second half of this year China will launch Chang'e-3 for scientific exploration of the Moon, to achieve 'landing on the Moon' for the first time, with the lunar rover to work on the Moon for three to six months and complete the data detection and send them back," Ye said. He expects that around 2020, China is to realize the collection and return of lunar soil.
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08 May 2013
Buzz Aldrin says US must colonize Mars
Speaking at a conference of space experts in the US capital, the 83-year-old said the United States should apply what it learned decades ago by reaching the moon toward building a new colony on the Red Planet. "The US needs to begin homesteading and settlement of Mars," Aldrin said at the Humans to Mars conference at George Washington University. "It is within reach." His call for US leadership in the space race to Mars largely lines up with plans set forth by NASA and President Barack Obama's administration to send the first people to Mars in the 2030s. But unlike NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, who acknowledged at the start of the three-day conference on Monday that significant technological gaps remain, Aldrin said the bulk of the research has already been done.
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08 May 2013
Landing is key puzzle in Mars trip plans: experts say at the Humans to Mars conference at George Washington University
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07 May 2013
Russia has no rivals in space tourism
More and more private companies are now making suggestions to tourists to become cosmonauts and visit the Earth's orbit. Specialists say though that full-scale space flights are out of the question here. The Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos remains the monopolist in this field.
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06 May 2013
UK Space Agency and NASA Join Forces to Explore the Solar System
The Sun and our neighboring planet Mars are two destinations that the UK and US will be exploring together in the coming years, following recent agreements for collaboration on three big space projects: Sunjammer, InSight, and Solar Orbiter.
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06 May 2013
First flight of Cygnus cargo craft delayed to September
Orbital Sciences Corp. says the first full-up test flight of its Cygnus cargo resupply ship to the International Space Station will probably slip to September due to a combination of factors, including an engine replacement on the mission's Antares rocket and a scheduling conflict with a Japanese logistics spacecraft.
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02 May 2013
Scientists Use Laser to Find Soviet Moon Rover
French scientists successfully used a laser to find the Soviet-era Lunokhod 1 rover on the surface of the moon, 42 years after the first planetary exploration vehicle to land on another celestial body roamed the moon's surface, media reports said Monday.
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01 May 2013
NASA to pay Russia $424 mln more for lift into space
NASA said Tuesday it will pay $424 million more to Russia for giving US astronauts a lift to the International Space Station. The hefty bill includes the training and transporting of six astronauts to and from the ISS in 2016 and the first half of 2017 in Russian Soyuz spacecraft. That comes down to $70.6 million a seat, an increase of $5.6 million from the previous price tag.
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01 May 2013
SNC's Hybrid Rocket Engines Power SpaceShipTwo on its First Powered Flight Test
Sierra Nevada Corporation's (SNC) Space Systems is proud to announce that its Hybrid Rocket Motor propelled Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo (SS2) sub-orbital vehicle on its first ever powered flight. SNC's hybrid propulsion system is the largest hybrid ever used for space vehicle propulsion. SNC manufactures two major subsystems on the SpaceShipTwo vehicle including the main oxidizer valve and the hybrid rocket motor, plus nitrous oxide dump system and nitrous oxide pressurization system control valves.
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30 April 2013
NASA's Chief Defends Commercial Spaceflight Agreements
NASA chief Charles Bolden found himself defending the U.S. space agency's practice of investing in commercial companies to ferry cargo - and one day crew - to the International Space Station. The grilling came less than a week after Orbital Science's successful rocket test flight and after several successful SpaceX cargo flights to the International Space Station.
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FOR FURTHER READING
20 May 2013
Those magnificent spooks and their spying machine: The spies help rescue Skylab
Forty years ago this month, NASA launched its Skylab space station, only to find the station was damaged during its ascent to orbit. Dwayne Day examines the little-known role played by a spy satellite to help NASA assess the damage to Skylab before launching a repair mission.
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20 May 2013
Kepler’s uncertain future
Last week a reaction wheel on NASA’s Kepler spacecraft failed, putting the future of the extrasolar planet hunting spacecraft into jeopardy. Jeff Foust reports on efforts to rescue or repurpose Kepler, and why, even with the failure, the spacecraft’s exoplanet discoveries will continue.
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20 May 2013
Futures imperfect
Science fiction has long offered a variety of visions of what the future of spaceflight might be like. Dwayne Day looks at three movies slated for release later this year that offer differing visions of humans in space.
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20 May 2013
Review: Mission to Mars
Decades after his historic mission to the Moon, Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin remains a tireless advocate for human spaceflight. Jeff Foust reviews a new book by Aldrin that provides his roadmap for how, although not necessarily why, to get humans to Mars by the 2030s.
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13 May 2013
Beyond GEO, commercially: 15 years… and counting
Fifteen years ago today, a commercial communications satellite stranded in a transfer orbit flew around the Moon in a bid to make it to geosynchronous orbit. Rex Ridenoure provides a behind-the-scenes account of the development of that rescue scenario, marking the first—and, to date, only—commercial mission beyond GEO.
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13 May 2013
Asteroids: on the way to Mars, or just in the way?
NASA has argued that its proposed asteroid initiative, including a mission to redirect an asteroid into lunar orbit to be visited by astronauts, is a key step towards human missions to Mars. Jeff Foust reports from a Mars conference last week where some saw that asteroid mission as more of a distraction.
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13 May 2013
Cruising through the cosmos on waves of sound
Space has been an inspiration of sorts to some forms of electronic music, including the genre known today as “ambient.” Dwayne Day looks at this intersection of space and music on display at a recent concert.
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13 May 2013
Review: Moon Hoax
Some novels require a certain degree of suspension of disbelief by the reader to accept plot developments that otherwise might not seem credible. Jeff Foust reviews a novel about a human mission to the Moon that may take that need for suspending disbelief a little too far.
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06 May 2013
Drawing the battle lines for NASA’s 2014 budget
Last month NASA unveiled a 2014 budget proposal that is largely similar to its 2013 proposal, with the addition of a new asteroid initiative. Jeff Foust reports on the likely key issues, old and new, that will come up as Congress debates the budget in the coming months.
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06 May 2013
Revisiting the preservation of Tranquility Base and other historic sites on the Moon
Most people recognize the historical significance of the Apollo landing sites and similar locations on the Moon, but there’s little consensus on how to protect them from future explorers. Michael Listner examines some of the proposed ways to provide legal protection to these sites and offers an alternative approach.
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06 May 2013
The fault is not in the stars, but ourselves
The FX television series The Americans has included references to space-based missile defense systems. Dwayne Day discusses what this drama about deep cover KGB agents in America got wrong, and right, about these efforts.
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06 May 2013
NASA, export control, and collaboration: a bit of clarification
Some recent developments have left some observers wondering if NASa and the US government are serious about export control reform and international collaboration. Christopher Stone cautions against jumping to those conclusions.
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06 May 2013
Review: The Milky Way: An Insider’s Guide
Various “insider’s guides” promise to give you unique information on a wide variety of topics. Jeff Foust reviews a book that offers to do something similar for the galaxy we call home.
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