Astrobotic’s Polaris lunar prospector. (Credit: Astrobotic)

PITTSBURGH, PA (Astrobotic PR) – Astrobotic today announced completion of a prototype lunar prospecting rover, Polaris, to search for water ice at the Moon’s poles.  The rover will prospect for water, oxygen, methane, and other volatiles which could be useful for energy, supporting life, and producing rocket fuel.  ”This rover is a first step toward using off-Earth resources to further human exploration of our solar system,” said John Thornton, President.

(more…)

Felix Baumgartner will attempt to set a new skydiving record on Tuesday morning by jumping from 120,000 feet. If successful, he will break the record of 102,800 feet set by U.S. Air Force Colonel Joseph Kittinger in 1960. The Red Bull Stratos mission is set to begin at 8:30 a.m. EDT (5:30 a.m. PDT) from Roswell, N.M. if weather permits. Baumgartner will ascend in a pressurized capsule attached to a […]

Fort Lee, NJ, October 8, 2012 (ORBCOMM PR) – ORBCOMM Inc., a global satellite data communications company focused on two-way Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications, today announced that the first prototype of its second generation of satellites (OG2) was launched on the Cargo Re-Supply Services (CRS-1) mission aboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle from Cape Canaveral, FL, on October 7, 2012 at 8:35 pm EST.

The OG2 prototype satellite, flying as a secondary payload on this mission, was separated from the Falcon 9 launch vehicle at approximately 9:00 pm EST. However, due to an anomaly on one of the Falcon 9’s first stage engines, the rocket did not comply with a pre-planned International Space Station (ISS) safety gate to allow it to execute the second burn.

(more…)

Roscosmos has selected eight applicants to go through cosmonaut training, according to a press release issued by the Russian space agency. The new trainees are A.V. Fedyaeva, I.V. Ignatov, S.V. Korsakov, O.V. Blinov,  D.A. Petelina, N.A. Chub, P.V. Dubrova, and A. Kikin. The space agency received 304 applications as part of the first ever open call for cosmonauts, Roscosmos said. Fifty-one applicants made it past the first cut, and nine […]

Debris from the rupture of a Falcon 9 engine fairing during the Oct. 7 launch.

A mission update from SpaceX:

The Dragon spacecraft is on its way to the International Space Station this morning and is performing nominally following the launch of the SpaceX CRS-1 official cargo resupply mission from Cape Canaveral, Florida at 8:35PM ET Sunday, October 7, 2012.

Approximately one minute and 19 seconds into last night’s launch, the Falcon 9 rocket detected an anomaly on one first stage engine. Initial data suggests that one of the rocket’s nine Merlin engines, Engine 1, lost pressure suddenly and an engine shutdown command was issued immediately. We know the engine did not explode, because we continued to receive data from it. Our review indicates that the fairing that protects the engine from aerodynamic loads ruptured due to the engine pressure release, and that none of Falcon 9’s other eight engines were impacted by this event.

(more…)

This week on The Space Show with David Livingston… 1. Monday, October 8, 2012, 2-3:30 PM PDT (5-6:30 PM EDT, 4-5:30 PM CDT): We welcome DR. CATHERINE CONLEY Director, NASA Planetary Protection. We will be discussing all aspects of planetary protection which is concerned with preventing the transfer of life between planetary bodies. 2. Tuesday, October 9 , 2012, 7-8:30 PM PDT (10-11:30 PM EDT, 9-10:30 PM CDT): We welcome […]

CAPE CANAVERAL, FL., October 8, 2012 (Space Florida PR) – Space Florida received a Gold Excellence in Economic Development Award for their Boeing/Kennedy Space Center (KSC) commercial partnership project in the category of “Public-Private Partnerships for communities with populations of 500,000+” from the International Economic Development Council (IEDC).

The honor was presented at an awards ceremony on Tuesday, October 2, during the IEDC Annual Conference, which was held September 30 – October 3, 2012 in Houston, Texas.

(more…)

This video shows something serious happening to one of the Falcon 9’s engines. Engine 1 seems to have suffered a “rapid unscheduled dis-assembly” — i.e., it blew up. The other 8 engines burned longer than planned to put Dragon into orbit. The anomaly occurred at 1 minute and 20 seconds into the flight. I’m told that the engines have Kevlar around them to prevent the turbine blades, which are spinning […]

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket blasted off on time at 8:35 p.m. this evening from Cape Canaveral, placing a Dragon freighter into orbit that is bound with supplies and equipment for the International Space Station. Dragon separated from the second stage and successfully deployed its solar panels.

This is the first of 12 resupply missions that SpaceX is contracted to fly under contract with NASA under the Commercial Resupply Services program. The vehicle will be berthed at the space station on Wednesday morning.

A press release from SpaceX:

Cape Canaveral, FL — Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) today successfully launched its Dragon spacecraft aboard a Falcon 9 rocket on the first official cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station. The launch went off on schedule at 8:35 p.m. ET from Launch Complex 40 in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

(more…)

Armadillo Aerospace successful launched its STIG-B rocket from Spaceport America earlier today. However, some sort of abort occurred during the flight, so it’s not clear how high it reached. The objective was to send the payload above 100 kilometers, the boundary of space.

Armadillo founder John Carmack has Tweeted some updates:

John Carmack @ID_AA_Carmack

> Armadillo flight at Spaceport America hit an abort limit, but the recovery system functioned properly, so the vehicle is safe.

(more…)