NASA MISSION UPDATE NASA managers have targeted space shuttle Discovery’s launch for no earlier than Dec. 17. Shuttle managers determined more tests and analysis are needed before proceeding with the STS-133 mission. The launch status meeting planned for Monday, Nov. 29, has been postponed and will be rescheduled. The Program Requirements Control Board reviewed on Wednesday repairs and engineering evaluations associated with cracks on two 21-foot-long, U-shaped aluminum brackets, called […]
photograph of Ad Astra scientists using a laser alignment rig with the VX-200. Credit: Ad Astra Rocket Company
VASIMR® VX-200 Meets Full Power Efficiency Milestone
Ad Astra Press Release
Houston, TX –- Nov. 23, 2010 — Ad Astra Rocket Company’s VASIMR® VX-200 rocket prototype demonstrated its highest power efficiency and performance so far in tests, which ended Friday November 19 at the company’s Houston laboratory. Last week’s results met the efficiency milestone set by the company as it specifies the requirements for the VF-200 flight engine for the International Space Station. The VX-200 is the full power laboratory prototype that provides the technical basis for the design of the flight hardware.
Bigelow Aerospace was in Canada last week pitching its private space station to potential users: A company representative was in Ottawa last weekend, delivering a keynote speech and lobbying officials at the annual summit of the Canadian Space Society. Mike Gold, a Bigelow director, called it his first attempt to reach out to the Canadian government and the space industry. He argued that the facility will offer countries a cheaper […]
HAMPTON UNIVERSITY PRESS RELEASE
Hampton University’s School of Engineering and Technology was awarded a research contract from Lockheed Martin for $93,000. Dr. Morris H. Morgan, III, professor in the Department of Engineering and principal investigator of the contract, and Vitali Khaikine, a researcher in the Department of Engineering, will work in the HU Aeropropulsion Center ( HU-APC ), at the HU Olin engineering building, researching designs to allow aircraft to fly at super and hypersonic speeds.
This week in The Space Review… Human spaceflight worth the cost As we complete the International Space Station and debate future plans for human space exploration, a key question remains: how can we maintain support for this endeavor? In the first in a new series, Lou Friedman examines the issue and the consequences for not answering that question. Where first for space resources? Much of the debate over the last […]
DRDO to invest in Rs1,000-crore defence avionics facility domain-b.com The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) plans to invest around Rs1,000 crore [$220 million] in Hyderabad over the next five years to boost missile production and build a world-class hypersonic wind tunnel facility to serve the growing demands of strategic systems. While a sum of Rs600 crore [$132 million] would be invested on expansion of missile production which is being […]
Some interesting news via the Chinese Xinhua news agency that RSC Energia plans to build a nuclear-power “orbital pod” to clean up space debris. The details include: cost: 600 billion rubles ($1.9 billion USD) cleanup 600 satellites by dropping them in the ocean over 10 years begin operations by 2023 15 year lifespan. The report also indicates that Energia has been developing plans for a “space interceptor designed to destroy […]
Stanford researchers have completed the first successful tests in zero gravity of a canopy for CubeSats — the tiny satellites that hitch rides on rockets sending larger satellites into orbit. The goal is to gather data on what happens when micrometeoroids slam into a satellite. Such impacts often knock out electronic equipment on satellites. The encounters are poorly understood, but the canopies could be a first step in eventually building […]
A P3 Navy aircraft with Hangar One at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California. (Copyright 2008: Douglas Messier)
NASA commits $20 million to save Hangar One
Santa Cruz Sentinel
Hangar One’s future is finally looking bright — provided Congress cooperates.
NASA has committed to spending $20 million to restore the South Bay landmark at Moffett Field, NASA Ames Director of Center Operations Deb Feng announced Thursday at a Moffett Field Restoration Advisory Board meeting.
Space may be first frontier for the next major conflict: Canadian official
Toronto Star
It won’t look like a scene from Star Wars, but the man in charge of space development for the defence department predicts the initial steps of the next major conflict are more than likely to start in orbit and Canada should be prepared.
“The first line in the sand for the next major conflict may very well be in space or cyberspace, but probably not on the ground or in the air or in the seas,†Dupuis said in an interview while attending the annual conference of the Canadian Space Society.
VIA ROSCOSMOS PAO NITS RKP, Peresvet, completed firing tests of Universal Rocket Module URM-2 for Angara launcher. Cold testing of URM-2 with kerosene filling, as well as totally-filled system tests, had been conducted successfully. The firing test, aimed at confirming URM proper operation as a part of Angara’s third stage, took place on Nov. 18 at test bench 102 (TB-102), the largest test bench in Europe. URM-2 is to be […]
Artists conception of SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft in orbit
SPACEX PRESS RELEASE
Since the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Office of Commercial Space Transportation was created in 1984, it has issued licenses for more than 200 launches.
Today the FAA has made SpaceX the first-ever commercial company to receive a license to re-enter a spacecraft from orbit.