NASA PR — It’s launch week for NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), scheduled for liftoff Nov. 26 aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. The one hour and 43 minute launch window opens at 10:02 a.m. EST. The MSL spacecraft, including the rover Curiosity, is sealed within the protective payload fairing atop the rocket, which is inside the Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex 41 at Florida’s Cape […]
AUTHOR
Doug Messier
Pad OA at Wallops Island. (Credit: Orbital Sciences Corporation)
GOV. McDONNEL PR – RICHMOND – Governor Bob McDonnell today released a study on the economic competitiveness of the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority (VCSFA). The study, commissioned in response to the 2011 Virginia Appropriation Act, reviewed the governance, organization and competitive landscape for the VCSFA in order to identify the necessary steps to make the Mid Atlantic Spaceport (MARS), located on Wallops Island, the best commercial space launch facility in the country. The study was conducted by KPMG Corporate Finance.
Prince Harry and his brother, Prince William, on a typical day out in Central London. (Photo credit: Staszek99)
As part of our continuing effort to keep its readers up to date on all things Celebritynaut, Parabolic Arc is proud to present the latest British royal who is determined to fly into space.
Yes, it’s Harry!
No, not Harry Potter. Prince Harry. That House of Windsor guy.
It seems that the British Royal, now an active duty helicopter pilot in Afghanistan, is keen on undergoing astronaut training with NASA and flying aboard Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo. And better yet, for all you royal scandal lovers out there, Harry’s bid to become the first British royal in space could tear the British monarchy apart!
Maybe. Read on….
The Nano/Microsatellite Launch Demand Assessment by SpaceWorks Commercial shows that nano/microsatellite launch demand has grown by an average of 4.38% per year since 2000, with an expected 22.5% growth per year over the next 3 years (2011-2014). SpaceWorks Commercial is currently tracking over 180 known future nano/microsatellites being developed globally.
Through the use of quantitative estimates as well as reasonable qualitative adjustments to include new programs, SpaceWorks Commercial has projected global launch demand in the nano/microsatellite market. The assessment makes these future projections according to market growth curves used in other emerging high technology industries. Projections by SpaceWorks Commercial indicate a strong increase in nano/microsatellite launch demand, with an estimated range of 100 to 142 nano/microsatellites (1-50 kg) that will need launches globally in 2020 (versus 23 in 2011).
Read the full press release after the break.
SCHAFER PR — The Schafer Corporation has signed a Licensing and Development Agreement with MoonDust Technologies, LLC (MDT) of Tucson, AZ to give them exclusive, worldwide production and marketing rights for a unique line of products resulting from the use of Schafer’s Proprietary microgravity production technology.
Although well known for their defense-related space capabilities, Schafer has been developing and evaluating technologies for commercial space applications since 2008.
Expedition 29 Commander Mike Fossum, left, Flight Engineers Sergei Volkov, center, and Satoshi Furukawa, sit in chairs outside the Soyuz TMA-02M Capsule just minutes after they landed in a remote area outside the town of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan, on Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011. NASA Astronaut Fossum, Russian Cosmonaut Volkov and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) Astronaut Furukawa are returning from more than five months onboard the International Space Station where they served as members of the Expedition 28 and 29 crews. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
NASA PR — Expedition 29 Commander Mike Fossum and Flight Engineers Satoshi Furukawa and Sergei Volkov landed their Soyuz TMA-02M spacecraft on the steppe of Kazakhstan at 9:26 p.m. EST Monday (8:26 a.m. Tuesday Kazakhstan time), wrapping up a five-and-a-half-month mission of research and exploration.
In a sign of just how fraked up Washington has become, a bipartisan Super Committee formed to recommend at least $1.2 trillion in federal budget cuts returned a big fat goose egg today. After months of secret negotiations, they could agree on only one thing: “Despite our inability to bridge the committee’s significant differences, we end this process united in our belief that the nation’s fiscal crisis must be addressed […]
Ten European Union nations that are not members of the European Space Agency have been invited to sit in on deliberations of the ESA governing Council and its subordinate bodies, the space agency announced in a press release. The move is a sign of deepening ties between the EU and the independently-run space agency.
The ESA Council has also authorized “the ESA Director General to conduct negotiations with Poland for that country to accede to the ESA Convention by March 2012 and thus become the 20th Member State of ESA,” the press release added.
This week on The Space Show with David Livingston… Monday, Nov. 21, 2-3:30 PM PST: We welcome back Mark Whittington to the show. Check out his blog at https://curmudgeons.blogspot.com. His new book is “The Last Moonwalker and Other Stories.” Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011, 7-8:30 PM PST: We welcome back Dr. John Brandenburg regarding his new book “Beyond Einstein’s Unified Field: Gravity & Electro-Magnetism Redefined.” Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2011, 2-3:30 PM […]
Phobos-Grunt in preparation. (Credit: Roscosmos)
RIA Novosti reports on some grim news for the Russian space exploration program:
The launch window to send Russia’s Phobos-Grunt unmanned spacecraft to a Mars moon will close on Monday, an airspace source told RIA Novosti.
“The spacecraft has already unfolded its solar panels and is in the so-called “barbeque mode,” the source said, speaking about the passive thermal control mode during which the spacecraft rotates slowly around its roll axis to prevent one side from continuous solar exposure and overheating.
“So, the ballistic window for Phobos-Grunt’s flight to Mars is limited by November 21,” he said….
Igor Lisov, editor of the industry magazine Cosmonautics News, said if contact with the spacecraft is established after the launch window’s closure, it could still be sent to the Moon or even to an asteroid.
However, he said there were almost zero chances to revive the station.