Indian space program hit by another launch mishap
Spaceflight Now
India’s largest rocket lost control and erupted in a fireball Saturday, dealing another blow to the country’s space program after back-to-back failures of the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle….
Trouble struck the rocket less than a minute after liftoff, when video footage showed the vehicle veering from its flight path, tumbling out of control and being engulfed in a fireball.
On Christmas Day 1776, Gen. George Washington and the Continental Army crossed the Delaware River in the face of a full-blown nor’easter. Landing on an icy riverbank not far from where I grew up, Washington and his ragtag troops marched south through the snow and sleet to rout the Hessian garrison at Trenton. This battle, and two subsequent ones at Trenton and Princeton, helped to save the faltering American Revolution. […]
The Venus Express spacecraft. (Credit: ESA)
ESA MISSIONS UPDATE
Nov. 22, 2010
ESA has decided to extend the productive lives of 11 of its operating space science missions. This will enable ESA’s world-class science missions to continue returning pioneering results until at least 2014.
ESA’s Science Programme Committee (SPC) had to make significant decisions at its 18-19 November meeting in Paris: 11 science missions, all of them still working beyond their planned lifetimes, all of them still delivering exceptional science, and yet all coming to the end of their funding.
Site for Colorado’s Space Act research park could be picked next month: Unnamed developer has submitted letter of intent to build
Colorado Daily
The location of a 200-acre research campus resulting from Colorado’s recent Space Act agreement with NASA — a broad program estimated to result in the creation of 10,000 jobs statewide — could be determined as early as mid-January, an official involved with the agreement said Monday.
XCOR's Lynx suborbital vehicle
NASA’s Office of Chief Technologist has published detailed information about suborbital vehicles that will be available beginning in 2011 for researchers to conduct microgravity experiments. The vehicles are being built by Armadillo Aerospace, Blue Origin, Masten Space Systems, Virgin Galactic, and XCOR.
Today we will look at XCOR’s Lynx vehicle. The two-seat suborbital vehicle is being assembled in Mojave, Calif. for its first test flight next year, with commercial operations following as early as 2012.
Santa One's instrument panel. (Credit: FAA)
SANTA CLAUS UPDATE (VIA FAA)
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) safety inspectors at the North Pole certified Santa One, the reindeer-powered sleigh piloted by Santa Claus, for its Christmas Eve round-the-world delivery mission.
Santa One, led by Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, is outfitted with new satellite-based NextGen technology, which will allow Santa to deliver more toys to more children with improved safety and efficiency.
“Children around the world will get their gifts on time, regardless of the weather, thanks to NextGen,†said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “We’re proud to say NextGen is bringing Santa Claus to town.â€
Virgin Galactic’s president announces his resignation Los Angeles Times Will Whitehorn, president of the world’s first spaceliner Virgin Galactic, will retire from that role in January. He will be replaced by George T. Whitesides, a former NASA chief of staff, who was also appointed as Virgin Galactic’s first full-time chief executive earlier this year. Whitehorn is leaving the company to “concentrate on other business interests,” a press release said. Read […]
NASA Chief Technologist Bobby Braun talks about this generation’s space race in a TEDxNASA talk.
The Russian President’s website has the transcript of an interview that Dmitry Medvedev recently gave to The Times of India. He talks about deepening Russo-Indian cooperation in a broad range of areas, including space. Cooperating in space will take the form of lunar exploration, space science, human spaceflight, and the GLONASS satellite navigation system.
An excerpt from the interview follows after the break.
CSA PRESS RELEASE
Nine key space leaders have been elected to the Board of Directors of the California Space Authority, a statewide non-profit organization. Of that total, four are new Board members while five are returning to the Board of Directors. A three-year term of office will begin for the elected Board members starting January 2011.
The new Board members are Mark Pieczynski of Orbital Sciences Corp., Julie Van Kleeck of Aerojet, Ron Ramos of Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, and Lisa Matthews of Sierra Nevada Corp. Returning Board members are Julie Sattler of Lockheed Martin, Al Hoffman of Boeing, Randall Garber of AT Kearney, Alan Jones of ATK and Tim Bennett of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
Gear down on SpaceShipTwo. (Photo: Mark Greenberg)
NASA’s Office of Chief Technologist has published detailed information about suborbital vehicles that will be available beginning in 2011 for researchers to conduct microgravity experiments. The vehicles are being built by Armadillo Aerospace, Blue Origin, Masten Space Systems, Virgin Galactic, and XCOR.
Today we will look at Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo. The eight-seat suborbital vehicle built by Scaled Composites is currently being tested in Mojave, Calif.
