Computer generated image showing the debris cloud around Earth.
Calls for code to limit hazardous space junk
Montreal Gazette
A conference starting Wednesday at McGill University will tackle what to do about the estimated 13,000 to 20,000 pieces of smashed-up satellites and rocket bits floating above our heads…
Aerojet's jettison motor for NASA's Orion crew vehicle.
AEROJET PRESS RELEASE
This first jettison motor shipment increases the technical readiness of the Launch Abort System (LAS) and is a major operational accomplishment as the first full-scale rocket propulsion element to proceed into a system-level flight test.
Gizmodo has an interview with Virgin Galactic President Will Whitehorn. He gives a few interesting details about WhiteKnightTwo and predicts that the $200,000 cost of a flight will be reduced to some much smaller number once blah blah blah and yada yada yada are achieved.
The Orlando Sentinel is reporting that the Obama Administration plans to conduct a full review of the Ares rocket and its Orion capsule, which are designed to replace the space shuttle and return astronauts to the moon:
Russia’s Angara rocket family needs cash injection
Flight International
Fourteen years after the start of development, Russia’s Angara rocket needs a cash injection of billions more roubles to deliver the planned 2011 first flights of its 1.2 and A5 versions.
Jeff Manber has an interesting suggestion about how to reform America’s restrictive ITAR export regulations, which has been blamed for damaging the competitiveness of U.S. firms:
Oliver Knickel helps Cyrille Fournier prepare for a nighttime EEG recording.
ESA NEWS
ESA-selected Mars500 crewmember Oliver Knickel reports on week three of the 105-day simulated Mars mission taking place in a special isolation facility at the Institute of Biomedical Problems in Moscow, Russia.
Oliver Knickel writes: As Cyrille already mentioned in the last diary entry, we finished the second week and thereby started the third week in isolation with cosmonauts’ day on 12 April, the 48th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s and humankind’s first flight to the cosmos. We received congratulations from ESA and IBMP officials, cosmonauts sent us their greetings and even a school class came to IBMP on Sunday to talk to us on the phone.
OPI PRESS RELEASE
Teledyne Brown Engineering (TBE) and Orion Propulsion, Inc. (OPI) successfully demonstrated the Lunar Lander Test Bed (LLTB) today, capping the delivery of this unique hardware to the Von Braun Center for Science and Innovation (VCSI). The LLTB was presented, complete with rocket engine firings, at the dedication of TBE’s Space Systems Manufacturing Center. The LLTB will be used to demonstrate and mature technologies required for future NASA robotic space exploration.
SSC PRESS RELEASE
The Swedish Space Corporation (SSC), a global provider of mission critical systems and services to the space and aerospace markets, has received all necessary approvals from the U.S. Government and has completed the acquisition of U.S.-based Universal Space Network (USN), a leader in space operations for telemetry, tracking and command (TT&C) services. USN will operate as a U.S Corporation and subsidiary of SSC with no change to its operation or organization.
Virgin Galactic President Will Whitehorn promised to half the cost of space tourism tickets to $100,000 after five years of flying SpaceShipTwo.
Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center
Space industry gets virtually nothing from Florida Legislature
Orlando Sentinel
For the first time in recent memory, backers of Florida’s space industry walked away from the two-month legislative session utterly empty-handed.
Node 3 of the International Space Station (Credit: Thales Alenia Space)
ESA PRESS RELEASE
The European-built Node 3 module for the International Space Station will be shipped to NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre, Florida, on 17 May. Media representatives are invited to view the module and attend a ceremony to mark the departure of Node 3.
