Video Caption: Swing drop testing began last summer at Langley’s Hydro Impact Basin to certify the Orion spacecraft for water landings. Now the team is conducting tests where Orion is being dropped vertically into the pool for the first time, which will help fine-tune the way NASA predicts Orion’s landing loads. The first space-bound Orion capsule will launch on Exploration Flight Test-1 or EFT-1, an uncrewed launch planned for 2014. […]
AUTHOR
Doug Messier
Louisville, Colo. – Aug. 23, 2012 – Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) is pleased to announce that the company’s Dream ChaserSpace System has successfully completed its first milestone as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) initiative. SNC presented NASA with a complete Program Implementation Plan Review, detailing the design, development, system testing, evaluation, risk reduction activities and flight testing of all systems planned for the 21-monthbase and optional agreement period.
Video highlights from XCOR’s announcement earlier today that it will establish operations in Florida.
Video Caption: This is a full-resolution version of the NASA Curiosity rover descent to Mars, taken by the MARDI descent imager. As of August 20, all but a dozen 1600×1200 frames have been uploaded from the rover, and those missing were interpolated using thumbnail data. The result was applied a heavy noise reduction, color balance, and sharpening for best visibility. The video plays at 15fps, or 3x realtime. The heat […]
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden in front of a Falcon 9 rocket at Cape Canaveral. (Credit: NASA)
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (NASA PR) — NASA Administrator Charles Bolden announced Thursday new milestones in the nation’s commercial space initiatives from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The latest advances made by NASA’s commercial space partners pave the way for the first contracted flight of cargo to the International Space Station (ISS) this fall and mark progress toward a launch of astronauts from U.S. soil in the next 5 years.
Bolden announced Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) has completed its Space Act Agreement with NASA for Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS). SpaceX is scheduled to launch the first of its 12 contracted cargo flights to the space station from Cape Canaveral in October, under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services Program.
Kennedy Space Center, FL and Mojave, CA, August 23, 2012 (XCOR PR) — Today, XCOR Aerospace announced its intent to establish an East Coast U.S. operational base in Florida and as market demand dictates, establish a manufacturing and assembly center for XCOR Lynx Mark II suborbital reusable launch vehicles as well.
Video Caption: Funding great science and important space research and education projects often doesn’t take a lot of money. At Uwingu, we are men and women who’ve decided to use our business’s proceeds to create a new source of funding for researchers and educators studying our universe. We’ve spent more than two years designing and building software products that will help people relate better to the sky and to space, […]
In response to the criticism over the recent failure of a Proton launch that stranded two satellites in useless orbits, the Khunichev State Research and Production Space Center has released a detailed accounting of its operational structure.
Of particular interest is how the Khrunichev has grown to become the biggest company in the industry over the past five years by absorbing six other companies that had been its prime subcontractors. During this period, Khrunichev’s workforce has grown from 26,500 to 43,500, an increase of 17,000 employees or 64 percent.
An Ariane 5 rocket soars into orbit on Dec. 29, 2010. Credits: ESA / CNES / Arianespace / Photo Optique vidéo du CSG
Space News reports on the results of a study concerning future ESA programs:
A six-month joint French-German government study of future launch vehicle and space station investment options has reinforced the German space agency’s preference for an upgraded Ariane 5 rocket instead of a new-generation Ariane 6, and cooperation with the United States on a U.S.-led crew vehicle instead of a European-led alternative, the agency’s chief said Aug. 21.
Johann-Dietrich Woerner, chairman of the German Aerospace Center, DLR, insisted in an interview that he was speaking only for himself, and not for the German government….
The FastForward Study Group, which is looking at the development of high-speed point-to-point travel, recently conducted a 13-question survey to determine opinions about the venture. The group has now posted the survey results: https://bit.ly/RCx1AM [PDF]