An update from NewScientist on NASA’s LCROSS spacecraft, which suffered a major malfunction over the weekend that burned up more than 70 percent of its fuel supply:
When the team made contact with the spacecraft, they discovered it had lost 140 kg of hydrazine propellant in the 20 previous hours, when the spacecraft was not in contact with Earth. The spacecraft’s tank originally held 306 kg of fuel; 50 kg remain.
PM lays foundation stone of ISRO campus in Delhi
Thaindian News
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Tuesday laid the foundation stone of the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) first campus in the national capital and urged space scientists to continue their focus on need-based science for nation building.
NASA MISSION UPDATE The weather outlook for Friday morning’s targeted launch of Discovery calls for a 70 percent chance of acceptable conditions at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Liftoff would be at 12:22 a.m. Meteorologists will watch the conditions carefully throughout the countdown, with the greatest expected concern being for anvil clouds and thunderstorms within 20 nautical miles of the Shuttle Landing Facility. The mission management team will evaluate […]
Faulty shield eyed as cause of failure to orbit a satellite
JoongAng Daily
Officials yesterday morning stopped trying to detect the first space satellite launched from South Korea, tentatively concluding it had been destroyed by falling back into the atmosphere.
The X PRIZE’s Peter Diamandis discusses prizes with Philantrophy News Digest.
Video of work done by the Moon Diggers, a team fielded by Astrobotic Technology to compete in NASA’s Regolith Excavation Challenge.
China Daily has a Q&A with Ouyang Ziyuan, chief scientist of China’s lunar exploration program about Chang’e 1 and the future of that nation’s moon plans.
Viewpoint: Explore Mars with robots
by John Merchant
EE Times
In stark contrast, 40 years after Charles Lindbergh’s pioneering achievement of the first solo transatlantic flight, luxury jumbo jet travel had been established throughout the world. We are clearly on the wrong path in space!
Technicians completed connections between the LRO and LCROSS spacecraft and the Atlas V rocket at Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Photo credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis
Managers mull options after moon mission malfunction
Spaceflight Now
Officials are hurriedly looking for ways to save fuel on NASA’s $79 million lunar impactor mission after a crisis Saturday caused the spacecraft to burn more than half of its remaining propellant.
The Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite used about 140 kilograms, or 309 pounds, of maneuvering fuel to maintain the probe’s orientation in space Saturday, according to Dan Andrews, the mission’s project manager at Ames Research Center.
X PRIZE FOUNDATION PRESS RELEASE
The X PRIZE Foundation announced today that three teams have registered to make attempts to win the $1.65 million still available in the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge. The teams include:
* Armadillo Aerospace will attempt to claim a Level 2 purse from Caddo Mills, TX, on September 12 and 13.
* Masten Space Systems will attempt to claim purses in both levels from Mojave, CA, on September 15-16 (Level One), October 7-8 (Level Two), and October 28-29 (Level Two).
* Unreasonable Rocket will attempt to claim purses in both levels from Cantil, CA, on Oct 30-31.
NASASpaceflight.com say there are conflicting reports as to whether South Korea’s launch of the KSLV-1 (Naro-1) rocket succeeded in placing a satellite into orbit last night:
