An update from the Mojave Air and Space Port administration on the financial audit: Mojave, California (03.12.14) The CEO of the Mojave Air and Space Port (MASP) announced today that the independent auditors of Lance, Soll and Lunghard, have completed an initial investigation and report that the District remains financially viable and solvent following a special examination of the District’s finances. The special examination was prompted by the unexpected resignation […]

Planet Labs spacecraft launched from ISS. (Credit: Planet Labs)

San Francisco, CA, March 17, 2014 (Planet Labs PR) – Planet Labs today announced that it has confirmed launches for more than 100 satellites over the next 12 months. The satellites will launch on rockets from the USA and Russia. This constitutes the largest constellation of satellites manifested in history. These new launches will build on Planet Labs first 28 satellites, Flock 1, which were launched in January.

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This week on The Space Show with David Livingston: 1. Monday, March 17, 2014, 2-3:30 PM PDT(5-6:30 PM EDT, 4-5:30 PM CDT): We welcome LEE HUTCHINSON to discuss the Columbia Rescue Mission that he recently wrote about: https://arstechnica.com/science/2014/02/the-audacious-rescue-plan-that-might-have-saved-space-shuttle-columbia. 2. Tuesday, March 17, 2014:, 7-8:30 PM PDT (10-11:30 PM EDT, 9-10:30 PM CDT): We welcome Jeff Smith to tell us about the Space Expedition Corp (Spacexc.com) event at the Griffith Observatory […]

So far, about 200 explosions and at least 5 collisions in space have occurred. Further explosions and collisions are very likely. The explosions are mainly caused by on board energy sources, either due to pressure build-up in propellant tanks, battery explosions, or the ignition of hypergolic fuels. (Credit: ESA)

PARIS (ESA PR) — Across a satellite’s working life, batteries keep the craft’s heart beating whenever it leaves sunlight. But after its mission ends, those same batteries may threaten catastrophe.

Space debris mitigation rules require the complete deactivation of electrical power sources aboard a satellite on retirement, in order to guard against explosive accidents that might produce fresh debris dangerous to other satellites.

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Mars colony (Credit: Mars One)

It looks like Lionsgate TV has won the sweepstakes to produce the Mars One reality series, which will chronicle the effort by “eccentric Dutch billionaire entrepreneur Bas Lansdorp” to colonize the Red Planet.

Mars One calls for new groups of four to be sent to Mars every two years, beginning no later than 2024. Announced last year, the scientific project already has received almost 300,000 applications from all over the world, which are being whittled down. Lionsgate TV is expected to start its own casting search, with the two selection processes ultimately merged.

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Ice Crystal-2 installation. (Credit: NASA)

ISS Research Highlights
Week of March 3, 2014

The Expedition 38 crew finished the Aniso Tubule investigation. Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Koichi Wakata completed the close-out activities and retrieved samples from the Minus Eighty-Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI). He exposed them to light for a period of time and then put the samples into the Cell Biology Experiment Unit (CBEF) for incubation.

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SANTE FE, N.M. (Thornburg Foundation PR) — The Thornburg Foundation is pleased to announce that the recently completed Virgin Galactic Terminal Hanger at Spaceport America will receive the 2014 Jeff Harnar Award for Contemporary Architecture in New Mexico. Sited in the remote landscape region approximately twenty-five miles southeast of Truth or Consequences, the project was selected from submissions of completed projects located throughout the state.

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PASADENA, Calif. (TPS PR) — The Planetary Society cannot fully support the FY2015 NASA Budget Request. While there are some positive aspects—particularly the newfound openness to exploring Europa and the continued science operations of most high-priority planetary missions—the request imposes unacceptable cuts to the Science Mission Directorate that damage the immediate and long-term health of some of NASA’s most successful programs, particularly planetary exploration. If this budget is passed unchanged, there will be fewer planetary missions in development by 2019 than at any point in the past few decades (Fig. 1).

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Engineers prepare Orion’s service module for installation of the fairings that will protect it during launch this fall when Orion launches on its first mission. The service module, along with its fairings, is now complete. (Credit: NASA)

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. (NASA PR) — Orion is marching ever closer to its first trip to space on a flight that will set the stage for human exploration of new destinations in the solar system.

The Orion team continues to work toward completing the spacecraft to be ready for a launch in September-October. However, the initial time frame for the launch of Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) has shifted from September-October to early December to support allowing more opportunities for launches this year. Completing the spacecraft according to the original schedule will allow many engineers and technicians to continue transitioning to work on the Orion spacecraft that will fly atop the agency’s Space Launch System. It will also ensure that NASA’s partners are fully ready for the launch of EFT-1 at the earliest opportunity on the manifest.

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U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said on Thursday that the Pentagon will reassess the use of Russian-made RD-180 engines to power the Atlas V rocket, which launches many of the nation’s vital military and national security satellites. “This is going to engage us in a review of that,” Hagel told the House Appropriations defense subcommittee today. “No question about that.” […] United Launch Alliance has an engine supply of more […]