Monday, August 16, 2010: 2-3:30 PM PDT. We welcome back Hu Davis to the program to talk about innovative SSP ideas and more. Hu is retired from NASA JSC and the aerospace industry and will be talking about technology in our energy future and much more. Tuesday, August 17, 2010, 7-8:30 PM PDT: OPEN LINES. Please call in rather than use email or chat. Thursday, August 19, 9:30-10:30 AM PDT: […]
Spacewalkers continue working on repairs, an interview with EVA’er Dave Wolf, success for Atlas 5 rocket and a new shot from Hubble.
A brief update from The Mainichi Daily News on Japan’s plans to convert its HTV freighter for human spaceflight: The three plans for the HTV-R are: equipping the HTV with a capsule measuring dozens of centimeters in diameter; equipping the HTV with a capsule similar to the Russian Soyuz spacecraft’s return capsule measuring 2.6 meters in diameter; and remodeling the HTV’s cargo space into a large capsule measuring 4 meters […]
Here’s video of the first microgravity wedding in Japan held on Aug. 11 via my friend Misuzu Onuki, who helped plan the ceremony. The couple, who work for space companies, were aboard the Mitsubishi Diamond Air Service, which usually provides flights for microgravity experiments. The experiment here was in how to exchange rings in Zero G, which turned out to be quite a challenge. “It is wonderful that a bride […]
I’ve been hanging out at SETIcon over the last day here. It’s the SETI Institute’s first annual conference, which runs through Sunday in Santa Clara.
It’s been interesting. There have been talks and panel discussions about why we haven’t found alien life yet (nobody’s really sure), advanced warp propulsion (possible if you had the power of countless suns), and how astronauts took a crap in space before there were toilets (way too icky to describe here).
The conference hasn’t been all dry science. There’s been some folks from the entertainment area, both musical and sci-fi. It’s always interesting to see how these worlds come together.
Live streaming video by Ustream This event is set to begin at 4:15 p.m. PDT.
NASA PRESS RELEASE
NASA is hosting a forum to present an overview of common themes captured from industry responses to NASA’s Commercial Crew Initiative Request For Information (RFI). The forum is scheduled for 9 to 11:30 a.m., Thursday, Aug. 19 at NASA Headquarters, 300 E St. SW, Washington.
Launch complexes on Wallops Island, Virginia
The Federal Aviation Administration has given its OK to a NASA plan to expand the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at the Wallops Flight Facility for new commercial launches.
Asteroid probe, rocket get nod from Japanese panel
Spaceflight Now
The board governing Japan’s space program last week formally approved a successor to the Hayabusa asteroid explorer and the Epsilon small satellite launch vehicle to continue development.
An ITN report on the recent space elevator competition in Tokyo.
NASA PROGRAM UPDATE
NASA has announced a second opportunity for small satellite payloads to fly on rockets planned to launch in 2011 and 2012. These CubeSats could be auxiliary cargo on previously planned missions.
SpaceX Readies First Dragon Spacecraft
Aviation Week
Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) this week is set to begin prelaunch checks of the first fully operational Dragon spacecraft destined to be launched under NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program.