News
(Space Fellowship) Kepler Mission Manager Update
(NASA) - The Kepler spacecraft has been performing well since the Safe Mode event of Feb. 2, 2010. Engineers on the anomaly response team are continuing to analyze the telemetry from the event to develop root cause and mitigations. Several mitigations are under consideration and are being prepared for implementation. The mitigations should minimize impact to science activities, should a similar event occur that caused the Feb. 2, 2010 Safe Mode entry. The project team continues to prepare fo [...]
(Space Fellowship) Station Crew Works with Robotics, Prepares for Spaceflight Transports
(NASA) - The Expedition 22 crew of the International Space Station began installing a robotic arm Wednesday while preparing for upcoming spacecraft departures and arrivals. Inside the Japanese Kibo Laboratory, Flight Engineers Soichi Noguchi and T.J. Creamer used the Japanese Kibo laboratory’s 33-foot-long main arm to move a smaller robotic arm, known as the small fine arm, out of Kibo’s airlock and into place for deployment. Over the next two days, the two flight engineers will perform [...]
(Space Fellowship) Mysterious Cosmic 'Dark Flow' Tracked Deeper into Universe
Distant galaxy clusters mysteriously stream at a million miles per hour along a path roughly centered on the southern constellations Centaurus and Hydra. A new study led by Alexander Kashlinsky at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., tracks this collective motion -- dubbed the "dark flow" -- to twice the distance originally reported. "It takes, on average, about an hour of telescope time to measure the distance to each cluster we work with, not to mention the years required [...]
(Space Politics) Posey and Kosmas introduce House version of spaceflight gap bill
Yesterday Reps. Suzanne Kosmas (D-FL) and Bill Posey (R-FL) introduced the “Human Spaceflight Capability Assurance and Protection Act”, which they called the companion version to legislation introduced by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) last week. The text of the legislation isn’t posted yet, but the summary included in Kosmas’s press release covers the major [...]
(Space Politics) One other note about shuttle extension
On the recently hot topic of shuttle extension, I recommend that people review the comments to yesterday’s post on the topic, where shuttle program manager John Shannon has provided his insights to clarify what’s been reported on the topic. In addition, David Radzanowski, depity associate administrator for program intergration in the Space Operations [...]
(Space Fellowship) Picture of the Day - Young stars sculpt gas with powerful outflows
This Hubble Space Telescope view shows one of the most dynamic and intricately detailed star-forming regions in space, located 210,000 light-years away in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), a satellite galaxy of our Milky Way. At the centre of the region is a brilliant star cluster called NGC 346. A dramatic structure of arched, ragged filaments with a distinct ridge surrounds the cluster. A torrent of radiation from the hot stars in the cluster NGC 346, at the centre of this Hubble ima [...]
(Space Daily) Mysterious Cosmic Dark Flow Tracked Deeper Into Universe
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Mar 11, 2010 - Distant galaxy clusters mysteriously stream at a million miles per hour along a path roughly centered on the southern constellations Centaurus and Hydra. A new study led by Alexander Kashlinsky at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., tracks this collective motion - dubbed the "dark flow" - to twice the distance originally reported.
(Space Daily) Japanese baby-bot with runny nose teaches parenting skills
Tsukuba, Japan (AFP) March 10, 2010 - It giggles and wiggles its feet when you shake its rattle, but will get cranky and cry from too much tickling: Meet Yotaro, a Japanese robot programmed to be as fickle as a real baby.
(Space Daily) COMS Flies To Kourou
Toulouse, France (SPX) Mar 11, 2010 - It is the "Swiss Army Knife" of satellites. COMS (Communications, Oceanography and Meteorology Satellite) is the first European 3-axis stabilised geostationary observation satellite to carry three payloads dedicated to meteorology applications, ocean observation and telecommunications.
(Space Daily) SpaceX Static Fire Update
Hawthorne CA (SPX) Mar 11, 2010 - SpaceX has performed our first Static Fire for the Falcon 9 launch vehicle. We counted down to an T-2 seconds and aborted on Spin Start. Given that this was our first abort event on this pad, we decided to scrub for the day to get a good look at the rocket before trying again. Everything looks great at first glance.
(Space Daily) Atom smasher set for high speed bash by early April: CERN
Geneva (AFP) March 10, 2010 - The world's most powerful atom smasher will be brought up to unprecedented power by early April, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research said on Wednesday.
(Space Daily) Arabsat 5A Satellite Shipped To Launch Site
Toulouse, France (SPX) Mar 11, 2010 - The first Arabsat 5th generation satellite today left the Astrium facilties in Toulouse and was loaded in Blagnac airport on an Antonov cargo airplane that will transport it to French Guyana in view of an April launch into geostationary orbit.
(Space Daily) Catastrophic Event Halted Star Birth In Early Galaxy
London, UK (SPX) Mar 11, 2010 - Scientists have found evidence of a catastrophic event they believe was responsible for halting the birth of stars in a galaxy in the early Universe. They report their results in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
(Space Daily) China chooses first women astronauts
Beijing (AFP) March 10, 2010 - China has selected its first two women astronauts to serve on a team that will undertake future missions launched by the nation's burgeoning space programme, state media reported Wednesday.
(Space Daily) China Plans To Launch Third Unmanned Moon Probe Around 2013
Beijing, China (XNA) Mar 11, 2010 - China plans to launch its third unmanned probe to the moon, Chang'e-3, around 2013 and expects to complete the three-phase moon mission in 2017, an official said here Wednesday.
(Space Daily) US military to step up video-game training
Washington (AFP) March 10, 2010 - The US military plans to step up the use of video-games, hoping to curb casualties on the battlefield by training troops through simulations, a commander said Wednesday.
(Space Daily) Galaxy Study Validates General Relativity On Cosmic Scale
Berkeley CA (SPX) Mar 11, 2010 - An analysis of more than 70,000 galaxies by University of California, Berkeley, University of Zurich and Princeton University physicists demonstrates that the universe - at least up to a distance of 3.5 billion light years from Earth - plays by the rules set out 95 years ago by Albert Einstein in his General Theory of Relativity.
(Space Daily) GE - Satcom: New Name, New Look For Satlynx
Stuttgart, Germany (SPX) Mar 11, 2010 - Satlynx is soon to become GE - Satcom. Along with the name change, the company will have a dynamic new corporate identity and website to match. "The evolution of our brand is a natural progression" says Ronny Svang, President and CEO of GE - Satcom.
(Space Politics) Congressmen to call for 30-day spaceflight study
On Thursday six members of the House, all Republicans, wil hold a press conference at the Capitol to ask NASA administrator Charles Bolden to conduct a study in advance of next month’s presidential space conference. Here’s how the event is described in a release late today from one of the six participating members, John [...]
(Space Politics) A little bit more about the White House space conference
One of the biggest questions in the space community right now is what’s behind the White House’s decision on Sunday to hold a space conference featuring President Obama in Florida on April 15: why hold the conference, and what do they expect to get out of it, among other issues. NASA deputy administrator Lori [...]
(Space Fellowship) ASTRA 3B begins its integration with launcher hardware for Ariane 5’s March 24 mission
(Arianespace) - Satellite preparations for Arianespace’s first mission of 2010 have transitioned into their final phase, with the ASTRA 3B payload making its first contact with Ariane 5 launcher hardware. During activity inside the Spaceport’s S5 payload integration building, ASTRA 3B was installed atop a two-piece adapter unit that will serve as the satellite’s interface with Ariane 5. This clears the satellite for integration in Ariane 5’s payload “stack,” which will be co [...]
(Space Politics) Hanging on to the shuttle
The retirement of the shuttle, which not long ago appeared to be a largely settled issue, seems a little less so now. Last week Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) introduced legislation that would at least study extending the shuttle for up to five more years at up to two missions a year; companion legislation [...]
(Space Fellowship) Historic Deep Space Network Antenna Starts Major Surgery
(NASA) - Like a hard-driving athlete whose joints need help, the giant "Mars antenna" at NASA's Deep Space Network site in Goldstone, Calif. has begun major, delicate surgery. The operation on the historic 70-meter-wide (230-foot) antenna, which has received data and sent commands to deep space missions for over 40 years, will replace a portion of the hydrostatic bearing assembly. This assembly enables the antenna to rotate horizontally. The rigorous engineering plans call for lifting about [...]
(Space Fellowship) Station Crew Focuses on Robotics and Command Change
(NASA) - Robotics and handover activities took center stage Tuesday aboard the International Space Station as Expedition 22 draws to a close and the crew prepares for new residents and a visit by space shuttle Discovery. After breakfast and a checkout of station systems, Flight Engineer Soichi Noguchi began his day with a ham radio call to students at Ikaruga Elementary School in the town of Taishi, Hyogo, Japan. Afterwards, Noguchi joined Commander Jeff Williams and fellow flight eng [...]
(Space Fellowship) Inaugural Falcon 9 / Dragon Flight Hardware Update
Today SpaceX performed our first Static Fire for the Falcon 9 launch vehicle. We counted down to an T-2 seconds and aborted on Spin Start. Given that this was our first abort event on this pad, we decided to scrub for the day to get a good look at the rocket before trying again. Everything looks great at first glance. As part of the abort, we close the pre-valves to isolate the engines from the propellant tank and purge the residual propellants. The brief flames seen on the video are normal [...]
(Space Fellowship) China's fourth space center to be completed by 2015
MOSCOW, (RIA Novosti) - China's fourth space center, Wenchang, will be put into service between 2014 and 2015, not in 2013 as it was previously announced, the CCTV channel reported on Tuesday. Located in a forest of coconut palms on the northeast coast of the Hainan tropical island, Wenchang will be the country's first low-latitude space center. Its latitude of only 19 degrees north of the equator will contribute to lower fuel consumption and maximum payload. "The construction of the fourt [...]
(Space Fellowship) Picture of the Day - Snapshot of the ISS
On March 13, 2008, the International Space Station passed across the field-of-view of Germany's remote sensing satellite, TerraSAR-X, at a distance of 195 kilometers, or 122 miles, and at a relative speed of 34,540 kilometers per hour, or more than 22,000 mph. In contrast to optical cameras, radar does not 'see' surfaces. Instead, it is much more aware of the edges and corners which bounce back the microwave signal it transmits. Smooth surfaces such as those on the station's solar g [...]
(Space Daily) Space shuttle can fly beyond 2010, if money is there: NASA
Washington (AFP) March 9, 2010 - The US space shuttle fleet can continue flying beyond NASA's September 30 deadline if the money is made available to keep it going, a US space agency official told reporters Tuesday.
(Space Daily) Russian Volga Region Moves To Produce Flying Saucers
Ulianovsk, Russia (RIA Novosti) Mar 10, 2010 - The government of the Ulianovsk Region in the Volga area has approved a five-year program to produce so-called "flying saucers" - a bizarre hybrid of a helicopter and an aerostat.
(Space Daily) NASA Launches Interactive Simulation Of Satellite Communications
Moffett Field CA (SPX) Mar 10, 2010 - NASA has unveiled an interactive computer simulation that allows virtual explorers of all ages to dock the space shuttle at the International Space Station, experience a virtual trip to Mars or a lunar impact, and explore images of star formations taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.
(Space Daily) China's Fourth Space Center To Be Completed By 2015
Moscow, Russia (RIA Novosti) Mar 10, 2010 - China's fourth space center, Wenchang, will be put into service between 2014 and 2015, not in 2013 as it was previously announced, the CCTV channel reported on Tuesday.
(Space Daily) Russia Shortlists 11 For 520-Day Simulation Of Mars Mission
Moscow, Russia (RIA Novosti) Mar 10, 2010 - Russia's Institute of Medical and Biological Problems announced on Thursday the names of 11 volunteers on the shortlist to take part in a 520-day simulation of an expedition to Mars, a spokesman said.
(Space Daily) Historic Deep Space Network Antenna Starts Major Surgery
Pasadena CA (JPL) Mar 10, 2010 - Like a hard-driving athlete whose joints need help, the giant "Mars antenna" at NASA's Deep Space Network site in Goldstone, Calif. has begun major, delicate surgery.
(Space Daily) Russia, India May Jointly Make Glonass, GPS Navigation Devices
Moscow, Russia (RIA Novosti) Mar 10, 2010 - Russia and India might establish a joint venture to produce navigation equipment for GPS and its Russian equivalent Glonass, the head of the Russian federal satellite navigation operator said on Tuesday.
(Space Daily) Most Extreme White Dwarf Binary System Found
Warwick, UK (SPX) Mar 10, 2010 - An international team of astronomers, including Professor Tom Marsh and Dr Danny Steeghs from the University of Warwick, have shown that the two stars in the binary HM Cancri definitely revolve around each other in a mere 5.4 minutes. This makes HM Cancri the binary star with by far the shortest known orbital period.
(Space Daily) American Aerospace Accepting Research Reservations On Last Shuttle Mission
Radnor PA (SPX) Mar 10, 2010 - American Aerospace Advisors has announced that it is accepting commercial reservations for research on STS-133 (ULF-5), the last scheduled Space Shuttle mission, which will provide approximately two weeks of microgravity time.
(Space Daily) Improving Operational Effectiveness Of Government Satcom Deployments
Fayetteville NC (SPX) Mar 10, 2010 - Improved standards of operational effectiveness for U.S. Government agencies is being facilitated through delivery of training that enables high-performance deployments of satellite communications systems. The development arises in conjunction with increasing reliance upon VSAT-based solutions for communications worldwide.
(Space Daily) Combat Interference With New GVF Installation Certification
Washington DC (SPX) Mar 10, 2010 - To strengthen VSAT-industry competitiveness, satellite operators and VSAT manufacturers recently called upon the Global VSAT Forum (GVF) to expand the reach of the GVF VSAT Installation and Maintenance Training Programme.
(Space Daily) Competition up in 3-d defense imaging
Albuquerque (UPI) Mar 8, 2009 - International competition in three-dimensional imaging for defense applications is gathering momentum as security industry companies worldwide scramble to develop new technologies, with market forecasts that the sector will see major growth in the coming years.
(Space Daily) NASA offers communication simulation
Washington (UPI) Mar 9, 2009 - NASA says it is now offering the public an interactive computer program that allows virtual explorers to experience many space-related simulations.
(Space Fellowship) Picture of the Day - A Mosaic of Cassiopeia
This mosaic of images from the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explore, or WISE, in the constellation of Cassiopeia contains a large star-forming nebula within the Milky Way Galaxy, called IC 1805 or the Heart Nebula, a portion of which is seen at the right of the image. IC 1805 is more than 6,000 light-years from Earth. Also visible in this image are two nearby galaxies, Maffei 1 and Maffei 2. In visible light these galaxies are hidden by dust in IC 1805 and were unknown until 1968 when Paolo [...]
(Space Politics) Shelby seeks a critical mass
Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) hasn’t changed his mind about NASA’s new direction, one that cancels Constellation and seeks to develop commercial systems to transport crews to and from low Earth orbit. He does realize, though, that he has a challenge in front of him: convincing fellow members of Congress that don’t think much about [...]
(Space Daily) France To Pay Russia One Billion For 14 Soyuz Carrier Rockets
Moscow, Russia (RIA Novosti) Mar 09, 2010 - France has put aside some $1 billion to buy 14 Soyuz carrier rockets from Russia, French satellite launch firm Arianespace CEO Jean-Yves Le Gall said Tuesday.
(Space Daily) How Black Holes May Shape Galaxies
Boston MA (SPX) Mar 09, 2010 - New observations from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory provide evidence for powerful winds blowing away from the vicinity of a supermassive black hole in a nearby galaxy. This discovery indicates that "average" supermassive black holes may play an important role in the evolution of the galaxies in which they reside.
(Space Daily) Alternative Energy Crops In Space
Huntsville AL (SPX) Mar 09, 2010 - What if space held the key to producing alternative energy crops on Earth? That's what researchers are hoping to find in a new experiment on the International Space Station.
(Space Daily) Rocket To Go To Moon Under Design
Beijing, China (XNA) Mar 09, 2010 - A new heavy-thrust carrier rocket is under scientific research, with the goal of sending astronauts to the moon, scientists said.
(Space Daily) Iran unveils missiles, launch pad spotted
Tehran (UPI) Mar 8, 2009 - As the United States and other powers mull tightening economic sanctions on Iran, Tehran says it has begin mass production of cruise missiles -- just the thing to block the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
(Space Daily) ASTRA 3B Topped Off For Arianespace Year-Opening Flight
Kourou, French Guiana (SPX) Mar 09, 2010 - Satellite preparations for Ariane 5's initial launch of 2010 have moved into a new phase with the fueling of ASTRA 3B - which is one of two passengers to be orbited by the heavy-lift vehicle on March 24.
(Space Daily) Fuel To The Fire
Moffett Field CA (SPX) Mar 09, 2010 - What's adding fuel to the fire of climate change? Well, fire. Some stunning images recently taken by NASA's Aqua satellite show one of the Earth's latest firestorms - this one at the Dundes Nature Reserve in Western Australia. Nearly 200,000 acres have gone up in flames as of February 18. That's a lot of carbon added to the atmosphere.
(Space Daily) New Investment Fund Backs Space Technologies Finding Uses On Earth
Paris, France (ESA) Mar 09, 2010 - For years, ESA has been bringing space technologies down to Earth through its Technology Transfer Programme and Business Incubation initiatives. Now, the Agency will strengthen these initiatives by supporting new businesses using space innovations through a dedicated venture capital fund.
(Space Daily) How ESA Got Its Tweet Back
Cologne, France (ESA) Mar 09, 2010 - On Friday, Esa Alanen and family visited the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, as guests of ESA, to say thanks for relinquishing the Twitter name www.twitter.com/esa.
(Space Daily) Student Ready To Battle At 17th Annual Great Moonbuggy Race
Huntsville AL (SPX) Mar 09, 2010 - More than 100 student teams from around the globe will drive their specially crafted lunar rovers through a challenging course of rugged, moon-like terrain at NASA's 17th annual Great Moonbuggy Race in Huntsville, Ala., April 9-10.
(Space Daily) An Island Of Stars In The Making On The Outskirts Of Orion
La Silla, Chile (ESO) Mar 09, 2010 - The delicate nebula NGC 1788, located in a dark and often neglected corner of the Orion constellation, is revealed in a new and finely nuanced image that ESO has just released. Although this ghostly cloud is rather isolated from Orion's bright stars, the latter's powerful winds and light have had a strong impact on the nebula, forging its shape and making it home to a multitude of infant suns.
(Space Daily) Bully Galaxy Rules The Neighborhood
Paris, France (ESA) Mar 08, 2010 - Located half a billion light-years from Earth, ESO 306-17, is a large, bright elliptical galaxy in the southern sky of a type known as a fossil group. Astronomers use this term to emphasise the isolated nature of these galaxies. However, are they like fossils - the last remnants of a once active community - or is it more sinister than that? Did ESO 306-17 gobble up its next-door neighbours?
(Space Fellowship) Picture of the Day - Huygens on Titan
In 2005 the robotic Huygens probe landed on Titan, Saturn's enigmatic moon, and sent back the first ever images from beneath Titan's thick cloud layers. This artist's impression is based on those images. In the foreground, sits the car-sized lander that sent back images for more than 90 minutes before running out of battery power. The parachute that slowed Huygen's re-entry is seen in the background, still attached to the lander. Smooth stones, possibly containing water-ice, are strewn ab [...]
(Space Fellowship) Second Ariane 5 for launch in 2010 enters its assembly process at Kourou
(Arianespace) - The Ariane 5 for Arianespace’s second dual-payload flight of 2010 has begun its assembly as the Spaceport in French Guiana is once again the center of activity for two parallel missions. This latest Ariane 5 began taking shape earlier in the week as its cryogenic core stage was positioned over a mobile launch table in the Spaceport’s Launcher Integration Building. It was then joined by the vehicle’s two solid boosters for mating. The second mission of 2010 will u [...]
(Space Fellowship) Static testing of L110 liquid core stage of GSLV- MkIII launch vehicle conducted
(ISRO) - Indian Space Research Organisation conducted the static test of its liquid core stage (L110) of GSLV Mk III launch vehicle, for 150 seconds at its Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) test facility at Mahendragiri at 16:00 hrs March 5, 2010. While the test was originally targeted for 200 seconds it was stopped at 150 seconds since a deviation in one of the parameters was observed. About 500 important parameters were monitored during the static test. The next static test for 200 s [...]
(Space Fellowship) This Week On The Space Show
The Space Show, hosted by David Livingston under www.TheSpaceShow.com, will have the following guests this week: 1. Monday, March 8, 2010, 2-3:30 PM PST (20-21:30 GMT) Replay from Thursday, March 4 with Erik Seedhouse Erik Seedhouse is an aerospace scientist whose ambition has always been to work as an astronaut. After completing his first degree in Sports Science at Northumbria University the author joined the legendary 2nd Battalion the Parachute Regiment, the world’s most elite airbo [...]
(Space Daily) Is That Titan Or Utah
Pasadena CA (JPL) Mar 08, 2010 - Planetary scientists have been puzzling for years over the honeycomb patterns and flat valleys with squiggly edges evident in radar images of Saturn's moon Titan. Now, working with a "volunteer researcher" who has put his own spin on data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, they have found some recognizable analogies to a type of spectacular terrain on Earth known as karst topography. At a poster session on Thursday, March 4, at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in The Woodlands, Texas, displays their work.
(Space Daily) From 2-Trillion-Degree Heat, Researchers Create New Matter
College Station TX (SPX) Mar 08, 2010 - A worldwide team of researchers, including 10 from Texas A and M University, have for the first time created a particle that is believed to have been in existence immediately after the creation of the universe - the so-called "Big Bang" - and it could lead to new questions and answers about some of the basic laws of physics because in essence, it creates a new form of matter.
(Space Daily) ISRO Fires Up L110 Liquid Core Stage Of GSLV- MK3 Launcher
Mahendragiri, India (SPX) Mar 08, 2010 - Indian Space Research Organisation conducted the static test of its liquid core stage (L110) of GSLV Mk III launch vehicle, for 150 seconds at its Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) test facility at Mahendragiri at 16:00 hrs yesterday (March 5, 2010).
(Space Daily) China Launches New Remote-Sensing Satellite
Jiuquan, China (XNA) Mar 08, 2010 - China has successfully put into orbit another remote-sensing satellite, "Yaogan IX" at 12:55 p.m.(Beijing Time) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern Gansu Province, according to a statement from the center Friday.
(Space Daily) X-51 Getting Ready For First Flight
Edwards AFB CA (SPX) Mar 08, 2010 - There's some pretty exciting stuff going on at Edwards Air Force Base as the flight test center team gets ready to conduct an awe-inspiring X-51 first flight. The plan is to air launch the X-51A WaveRider using an expendable solid rocket booster from under the wing of a B-52, this spring.
(Space Daily) 30 Years Later, What Killed The Dinosaurs Is Revisited
San Diego CA (SPX) Mar 08, 2010 - Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, paleoceanographer Richard Norris is one of 41 scientists presenting evidence that an asteroid impact really did kill off dinosaurs and myriad other organisms 30 years after the theory was first proposed.
(Space Daily) Lava Likely Made River-Like Channel On Mars
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Mar 08, 2010 - Flowing lava can carve or build paths very much like the riverbeds and canyons etched by water, and this probably explains at least one of the meandering channels on the surface of Mars. These results were presented on March 4, 2010 at the 41st Lunar and Planetary Science Conference by Jacob Bleacher at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
(Space Daily) Biggest, Deepest Crater Exposes Hidden, Ancient Moon
Pasadena CA (SPX) Mar 08, 2010 - Shortly after the Moon formed, an asteroid smacked into its southern hemisphere and gouged out a truly enormous crater, the South Pole-Aitken basin, almost 1,500 miles across and more than five miles deep.
(Space Daily) China Plans To Launch Unmanned Space Module Next Year
Beijing, China (XNA) Mar 05, 2010 - China plans to launch an unmanned space module, Tiangong-1, in 2011, which is expected to accomplish the country's first space docking and regarded as an essential step toward building a space station, an expert said Wednesday.
(Space Daily) Boeing Transfers US Portions of International Space Station to NASA
Houston TX (SPX) Mar 08, 2010 - Boeing has officially turned over the U.S. on-orbit segment of the International Space Station (ISS) to NASA with the signing of government form DD-250 at the conclusion of an Acceptance Review Board meeting in Houston.
(Space Daily) GOES Satellite Sends First Signals From Space
El Segundo CA (SPX) Mar 08, 2010 - Boeing has received the first on-orbit signals from the third Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) built by Boeing for NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The satellite, GOES-P, is healthy and ready to begin thruster firings to move to its on-orbit test location. GOES-P is a Boeing 601 satellite that will provide enhanced Earth-observation and weather-monitoring services.
(Space Travel) Obama to host April space conference
Washington (AFP) March 7, 2010 - US President Barack Obama will host a space conference next month in Florida to chart his vision for the future of human spaceflight, the White House said Sunday.
(Space Daily) Battle Between Sun And Earth For Our Atmosphere
Rochester NY (SPX) Mar 08, 2010 - Scientists at the University of Rochester have discovered that the Earth's magnetic field 3.5 billion years ago was only half as strong as it is today, and that this weakness, coupled with a strong wind of energetic particles from the young Sun, likely stripped water from the early Earth's atmosphere.
(Space Politics) A space policy summit in Florida next month may be bad timing for some
Both Florida Today and the Orlando Sentinel report today that the White House is planning a “space summit” in Florida next month where President Obama will discuss his new vision for NASA. The timing of the event, though, could cause some heartburn for an organization over 1,500 miles away. The event, expected to take place [...]
(Space Politics) Mikulski’s unlikely fundraiser
Place this in the “politics makes for strange bedfellows” file: today’s Baltimore Sun reports on an interesting source of fundraising for Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), chair of the appropriations subcommittee with oversight of NASA’s budget, who is running for reelection this year. The article notes that the Huntsville metro area is fourth in donating [...]
(Space Fellowship) Boeing Transfers US Portions of International Space Station to NASA
HOUSTON, (Boeing) -- Boeing [NYSE: BA] today officially turned over the U.S. on-orbit segment of the International Space Station (ISS) to NASA with the signing of government form DD-250 at the conclusion of an Acceptance Review Board meeting in Houston. Often referred to as "handing over the keys," the DD-250 is equivalent to a final bill of sale that formally transfers ownership. Through today's review board, NASA and Boeing verified the delivery, assembly, integration and activation of all [...]
(Space Fellowship) GOES-P Satellite Sends 1st Signals From Space
EL SEGUNDO, Calif., (Boeing) -- Boeing [NYSE: BA] has received the first on-orbit signals from the third Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) built by Boeing for NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The satellite, GOES-P, is healthy and ready to begin thruster firings to move to its on-orbit test location. GOES-P is a Boeing 601 satellite that will provide enhanced Earth-observation and weather-monitoring services. GOES-P launched on a Delta [...]
(Space Fellowship) Picture of the Day - Winds of Change
This is a composite image of NGC 1068, one of the nearest and brightest galaxies containing a rapidly growing super-massive black hole. The X-ray images and spectra obtained using Chandra's High Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer show that a strong wind is being driven away from the center of NGC 1068 at a rate of about a million miles per hour. This wind is likely generated as surrounding gas is accelerated and heated as it swirls toward the black hole. A portion of the gas is [...]
(Space Fellowship) Expedition 22 Preparing for Upcoming Soyuz and Shuttle Activities
(NASA) - Expedition 22 Commander Jeff Williams and Flight Engineer Maxim Suraev will complete their stay onboard the International Space Station on March 18. They will undock their Soyuz TMA-16 from the orbiting laboratory at 4:03 a.m. EDT and land in Kazakhstan about 3 1/2 hours later. Staying behind will be new station commander Oleg Kotov and Flight Engineers T.J. Creamer and Soichi Noguchi. The three crew members will become the Expedition 23 crew. Joining them two weeks later will be ne [...]
(Space Travel) ISRO's Budget Is Just Three Per Cent Of That Of NASA
Bangalore, India (PTI) Mar 04, 2010 - Indian Space Research Organisation's budget is just three per cent of that of its US counterpart NASA, its Chairman K Radhakrishnan said. Delivering a convocation address at Tumkur University, he said despite the low funding, the Indian space programme is ready to take a giant leap towards inter-planetary missions and human space flight programme.
(Space Travel) Popular Space Artist Had Extensive Ties To UA
Tucson AZ (SPX) Mar 05, 2010 - Internationally noted artist Robert McCall died last Friday in Scottsdale, Ariz. The 90-year-old artist and Paradise Valley resident whose works are included in the University of Arizona Museum of Art, won decades of acclaim for his depiction of space and human space travel.
(Space Fellowship) Phobos Flyby Success
(ESA) - Mars Express encountered Phobos last night, smoothly skimming past at just 67 km, the closest any manmade object has ever approached Mars’ enigmatic moon. The data collected could help unlock the origin of not just Phobos but other ‘second generation’ moons. Something is not right about Phobos. It looks like a solid object but previous flybys have shown that it is not dense enough to be solid all the way through. Instead, it must be 25-35% porous. This has led planetary scientis [...]
(Space Fellowship) Mars Dunes: On the Move?
PASADENA, Calif., (NASA) -- New studies of ripples and dunes shaped by the winds on Mars testify to variability on that planet, identifying at least one place where ripples are actively migrating and another where the ripples have been stationary for 100,000 years or more. Patterns of dunes and the smaller ripples present some of the more visually striking landforms photographed by cameras orbiting Mars. Investigations of whether they are moving go back more than a decade. Two report [...]
(Space Fellowship) Lava likely made river-like channel on Mars
(NASA) - Flowing lava can carve or build paths very much like the riverbeds and canyons etched by water, and this probably explains at least one of the meandering channels on the surface of Mars. These results were presented on March 4, 2010 at the 41st Lunar and Planetary Science Conference by Jacob Bleacher at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Whether channels on Mars were formed by water or by lava has been debated for years, and the outcome is thought to influence the like [...]
(Space Fellowship) NASA's Kepler Mission Celebrates One Year in Space
(NASA) - One year ago this week, NASA's Kepler mission soared into the dark night sky, leaving a bright glow in its wake as it began to search for other worlds like Earth. "It was a stunning launch," recalled former Kepler Project Manager James Fanson of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Following Kepler's spectacular nocturnal launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket at 7:49 p.m. Pacific Time (10:49 p.m. East [...]
(Space Fellowship) Herschel Finds Possible Life-Enabling Molecules in Space
(NASA) - The Herschel Space Observatory has revealed the chemical fingerprints of potentially life-enabling organic molecules in the Orion nebula, a nearby stellar nursery in our Milky Way galaxy. Herschel is led by the European Space Agency with important participation from NASA. The new data, obtained with the telescope's heterodyne instrument for the far infrared -- one of Herschel's three innovative instruments -- demonstrates the gold mine of information that Herschel will provide on ho [...]
(Space Fellowship) Biggest, Deepest Crater Exposes Hidden, Ancient Moon
(NASA) - Shortly after the Moon formed, an asteroid smacked into its southern hemisphere and gouged out a truly enormous crater, the South Pole-Aitken basin, almost 1,500 miles across and more than five miles deep. "This is the biggest, deepest crater on the Moon -- an abyss that could engulf the United States from the East Coast through Texas," said Noah Petro of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The impact punched into the layers of the lunar crust, scattering that mat [...]
(Space Fellowship) NASA Launches GOES-P to Monitor Earth's Weather
(NASA) - NASA's partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, will continue as the latest Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, GOES-P, launches aboard a Delta IV rocket from Space Launch Complex 37-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. "We've had a long-standing relationship with NOAA," said Andre Dress, the GOES N-P deputy project manager at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "Benefits of developing these satellites in a [...]
(Space Fellowship) Orbital To Acquire General Dynamics' Satellite Development and Manufacturing Business
(Orbital) - Transaction to Strengthen Companys Competitive Position in Medium-Class Satellites for Operational National Security and Advanced Scientific Space Missions (Dulles, VA) -- Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB), one of the world’s leading space technology companies, today announced that it has reached a definitive agreement to acquire the spacecraft development and manufacturing business of General Dynamics Corporation’s (NYSE: GD) subsidiary, GD Advanced Information Systems [...]
(Space Fellowship) Is That Saturn's Moon Titan or Utah?
Planetary scientists have been puzzling for years over the honeycomb patterns and flat valleys with squiggly edges evident in radar images of Saturn's moon Titan. Now, working with a "volunteer researcher" who has put his own spin on data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, they have found some recognizable analogies to a type of spectacular terrain on Earth known as karst topography. A poster session today, Thursday, March 4, at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in The Woodlands, Texas, di [...]
(Space Politics) …and something Florida doesn’t
Florida space advocates have been hoping to turn concern about the economic impact of the retirement of the shuttle and the planned cancellation of Constellation into support for some initiatives to support the state’s space industry. Those initiatives, with a cost of $32.6 million, have the support of the state’s governor (and US Senate [...]
(Space Fellowship) Student Teams Ready to Battle Lunar Terrain at NASA's 17th Annual Great Moonbuggy Race
WASHINGTON, (NASA) -- More than 100 student teams from around the globe will drive their specially crafted lunar rovers through a challenging course of rugged, moon-like terrain at NASA's 17th annual Great Moonbuggy Race in Huntsville, Ala., April 9-10. Some 1,088 high school, college and university students from 20 states and Puerto Rico, Canada, Germany, Bangladesh, Serbia, India and Romania are expected to participate in the race at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center. Students begin to [...]
(Space Fellowship) Inspections, Science and Maintenance for Station Crew
(NASA) - The Expedition 22 crew members aboard the International Space Station were busy Thursday with inspections and a variety of experiments and scheduled maintenance activities. Flight Engineers T.J. Creamer and Soichi Noguchi conducted hatch seal inspections on Pressurized Mating Adapter 3, which was relocated during the STS-130 mission. The leak checks pave the way for the crew members to reopen the newly relocated module for long-term stowage of items not needed immediately. Fl [...]
(Space Politics) Something Florida can agree upon…
Interest in space among Florida’s congressional delegation has traditionally been limited to primarily those representatives from the state’s Space Coast region, plus senators like Bill Nelson with an interest in the topic. For example, when over two dozen representatives signed a letter to NASA last month alleging the agency was breaking the law by [...]
(Space Fellowship) Robot vs. Robot: Live In Washington and Across the Nation
WASHINGTON, (NASA) -- NASA, in cooperation with local technology firms and sponsors, launches a nationwide series of high school robotics competitions that begin March 5 and 6 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, 801 Mount Vernon Place N.W., in Washington. The two-day event runs daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. EST. It is free and open to the public. NASA Television will carry opening ceremonies starting at 9 a.m. March 5. The student competition is called "For Inspiration and Recogniti [...]
(Space Politics) Not much of a “plan B”?
Space News, which has also been covering the news that NASA is working on an alternative “Plan B” in the wake of Congressional criticism, gets administrator Charles Bolden to go on the record that he has not requested any such alternative: “The President’s Budget for NASA is my budget. I strongly support the priorities and [...]
(Space Fellowship) Winds of Change: How Black Holes May Shape Galaxies
(Harvard) - New observations from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory provide evidence for powerful winds blowing away from the vicinity of a supermassive black hole in a nearby galaxy. This discovery indicates that "average" supermassive black holes may play an important role in the evolution of the galaxies in which they reside. For years, astronomers have known that a supermassive black hole grows in parallel with its host galaxy. And, it has long been suspected that material blown away from [...]
(Space Fellowship) ASTRA 3B is “topped off� for Arianespace’s year-opening flight
(Arianespace) - Satellite preparations for Ariane 5’s initial launch of 2010 have moved into a new phase with the fueling of ASTRA 3B – which is one of two passengers to be orbited by the heavy-lift vehicle on March 24. Propellant loading of ASTRA 3B was performed in the Spaceport’s S5 satellite preparation facility, readying this EADS Astrium-built spacecraft for integration with its Ariane 5 ECA launcher. ASTRA 3B is a state-of-the-art Ku- and Ka-band spacecraft designed for t [...]
(Space Fellowship) Successful flight testing of advanced Indian sounding rocket
(ISRO) - Indian Space Research Organisation successfully conducted the flight testing of its new generation high performance sounding rocket today (March 3, 2010) at 08.30 Hrs, from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), SHAR. Advanced Technology Vehicle (ATV-D01), weighing 3 tonnes at lift-off is the heaviest sounding rocket ever developed by ISRO. It carried a passive scramjet engine combustor module as a test bed for demonstration of Air- Breathing propulsion technology. The success [...]
(Space Fellowship) NASA Mars Orbiter Speeds Past Data Milestone
PASADENA, Calif., (NASA) -- NASA's newest Mars orbiter, completing its fourth year at the Red Planet next week, has just passed a data-volume milestone unimaginable a generation ago and still difficult to fathom: 100 terabits. That 100 trillion bits of information is more data than in 35 hours of uncompressed high-definition video. It's also more than three times the amount of data from all other deep-space missions combined -- not just the ones to Mars, but every mission that has flown past [...]
(Space Fellowship) NASA’s International Space Station Program Wins Collier Trophy
(NASA) - The International Space Station Program has won the 2009 Collier Trophy, which is considered the top award in aviation. The National Aeronautic Association bestows the award annually to recognize the greatest achievement in aeronautics or astronautics in America. “We are honored to receive this prestigious award,” said Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate. “We're proud of our past achievements to build and operate the spa [...]
(Space Politics) Increased funding in India; a new budget coming in Canada
India’s latest budget, released last week, features a substantial funding increase for the nation’s space agency, ISRO: 50 billion rupees (US$1.09 billion) for the 2010-11 fiscal year, compared to 31.72 billion rupees ($690 million) in the last budget. That budget includes 1.5 billion rupees (US$32.7 million) to ramp up work on its human spaceflight [...]
(Space Politics) One other interesting Texas election result
While incumbents fared well in Tuesday’s primary elections in Texas, as noted here yesterday, there was one interesting result in the Democratic primary in the 22nd district, currently represented by Republican Rep. Pete Olson: Kesha Rogers won a three-person race with 52.3% of the vote. Rogers is an acolyte of Lyndon LaRouche and, among [...]
(Space Politics) Is there a Plan B in the works at NASA?
That’s the claim of a Wall Street Journal today, which states that administrator Charles Bolden is seeking alternatives to the current plan rolled out just over a month ago because of the strong and largely negative reaction it’s received on Capitol Hill. What might this “Plan B” contain? A memo cited the article [...]
(Space Fellowship) Kazakhstan says Russian Proton launches to continue for now
ASTANA, (RIA Novosti) - Russia and Kazakhstan are currently working on the Baiterek launch pad at the Baikonur space center. The pad is designed for the launch of Angara carrier rockets running on environmentally friendly fuel consisting of oxygen and kerosene, compared to the toxic heptyl used in Proton launch vehicles. "We should speak about the gradual reduction or full termination of launches of Proton carrier rockets, operating on heptyl, after Baiterek is put into operation," Talgat Mus [...]
(Space Fellowship) An Island of Stars in the Making on the Outskirts of Orion
The delicate nebula NGC 1788, located in a dark and often neglected corner of the Orion constellation, is revealed in a new and finely nuanced image that ESO is releasing today. Although this ghostly cloud is rather isolated from Orion’s bright stars, the latter’s powerful winds and light have had a strong impact on the nebula, forging its shape and making it home to a multitude of infant suns. All the stars in this region are extremely young, with an average age of only a million y [...]
(Space Politics) Garver: sorry, shuttle supporters, it’s too late
As efforts are ramping up on Capitol Hill to try and extend the life of the shuttle beyond this year to deal with the gap in US human space access, there’s a separate but related issue: is it even feasible, from a technical (as opposed to fiscal or legislative) perspective, to extend the shuttle by [...]
(Space Fellowship) Picture of the Day - Iceberg Collision in Antarctica
An oblong iceberg roughly as big as Rhode Island called B-09B (center right in this image) collided with the edge of the Mertz Glacier in eastern Antarctica this month breaking away a new iceberg (top left) that is nearly as large at B-09B. This image from Feb. 20, 2010, is one of a series of images from NASA's Aqua satellite that showed the progression and aftermath of the collision. The floating ice tongue of the glacier is created as ice flows down from Antarctica and onto the water. G [...]
(Space Daily) China's space station plan delayed for 'technical reasons'
Beijing (AFP) March 3, 2010 - China has postponed the next step in its ambitious space station programme until 2011 for technical reasons, state media said Wednesday.
(Space Daily) Russia faces cosmonaut shortage: official
Moscow (AFP) March 3, 2010 - Russia faces a shortage of candidates to be cosmonauts as fewer Russians than before are showing an interest in going to space, the head of its space training centre said on Wednesday.
(Space Daily) Chatty robots, flying alarm clocks at top high-tech fair
Hanover, Germany (AFP) March 3, 2010 - Robots that teach Chinese, computers controlled by moving the eyes and flying alarm clocks were among the weird and wonderful gadgets wowing crowds Wednesday at the world's top high-tech fair.
(Space Daily) Aerovel 'Strolls-Out' Flexrotor Long-Endurance Robotic Aircraft With VTOL
Husum WA (SPX) Mar 03, 2010 - When a new airliner is ready for its public debut, it emerges from a giant hangar in a glitzy roll-out extravaganza. But when you have a very small aircraft and an equally small company, you have to think on a different scale. Tad McGeer, Aerovel's president, recalls that "We started a company called Insitu in 1992 to develop the miniature Aerosonde for long-range weather reconnaissance."
(Space Daily) Predicting The Fate Of Stem Cells
Troy, NY (SPX) Mar 03, 2010 - Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have discovered a new method for predicting - with up to 99 percent accuracy - the fate of stem cells.
(Space Daily) Rockwell Collins Conducts Waveform Testing For JTRS GMR
Fort Lauderdale FL (SPX) Mar 03, 2010 - Rockwell Collins has successfully conducted UHF SATCOM and HF waveform Functional Qualification Testing (FQT) on the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) vehicular Ground Mobile Radios (GMR). This testing is conducted to ensure that the Software Communications Architecture compliant waveforms met all allocated JTRS requirements.
(Space Daily) Poland approves revised US missile shield agreement
Warsaw (AFP) March 2, 2010 - Poland on Tuesday agreed to a new version of a deal on stationing an American missile shield, a government statement said, adding it would be aimed essentially at potential threats from Iran.
(Space Daily) China's BYD, Daimler team up on electric vehicle
Geneva (AFP) March 2, 2010 - Chinese auto maker BYD (Build Your Dreams) and German giant Daimler have signed a preliminary agreement to mass produce an electric car together, executives said at the Geneva motor show on Tuesday.
(Space Daily) From NACA To NASA: 95 Years Of Innovation In Flight
Washington DC (SPX) Mar 04, 2010 - Ninety-five years ago a committee of 12 volunteers with a budget of $5,000 embarked on a mission to change the face of U.S. aviation, and in doing so established a legacy of innovative aeronautical research that continues at NASA today.
(Space Daily) Orbital Sciences Selects GS Yuasa to Power Cargo Transport Missions To ISS
Roswell GA (SPX) Mar 04, 2010 - GS Yuasa Lithium Power (GYLP) has announced it has been awarded a contract to supply batteries for Orbital Sciences Corporation's (Orbital) Cygnus maneuvering space vehicle. Cygnus will be used to provide cargo delivery services to the International Space Station.
(Space Daily) Radar Map Of Buried Martian Ice Adds To Climate Record
Pasadena CA (JPL) Mar 04, 2010 - Extensive radar mapping of the middle-latitude region of northern Mars shows that thick masses of buried ice are quite common beneath protective coverings of rubble.
(Space Daily) An Island Of Stars In The Making On The Outskirts Of Orion
Paris, France (SPX) Mar 04, 2010 - The delicate nebula NGC 1788, located in a dark and often neglected corner of the Orion constellation, is revealed in a new and finely nuanced image released by ESO. Although this ghostly cloud is rather isolated from Orion's bright stars, the latter's powerful winds and light have had a strong impact on the nebula, forging its shape and making it home to a multitude of infant suns.
(Space Daily) USAF Eyes Mini-Thrusters For Use In Satellite Propulsion
Wright Patterson AFB OH (SPX) Mar 04, 2010 - Mini- thrusters or miniature, electric propulsion systems are being developed, which could make it easier for the Air Force's small satellites, including the latest CubeSats, to perform space maneuvers and undertake formidable tasks like searching for planets beyond our solar system.
(Space Politics) Hutchison’s bid to preserve US access to the ISS
On Wednesday, a day after losing her Texas gubernatorial bid, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison announced she was introducing legislation to close the gap in US human spaceflight. “We must close the gap in US human space flight or face the reality that we will be totally dependent on Russia for access to space until the [...]
(Space Fellowship) 3rd WGS Satellite Passes On-Orbit Tests
EL SEGUNDO, Calif., (Boeing) -- Boeing [NYSE: BA] announced today that the U.S. Air Force accepted control of the third Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) military communications satellite on March 1, after the spacecraft passed several weeks of rigorous on-orbit tests. WGS is the U.S. Department of Defense’s highest-capacity satellite communications system. WGS-3 completes the initial constellation of three spacecraft, which will provide broadband communications to every theater of operation aro [...]
(Space Fellowship) Radar Map of Buried Martian Ice Adds to Climate Record
PASADENA, Calif., (NASA) -- Extensive radar mapping of the middle-latitude region of northern Mars shows that thick masses of buried ice are quite common beneath protective coverings of rubble. The ability of NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to continue charting the locations of these hidden glaciers and ice-filled valleys -- first confirmed by radar two years ago -- adds clues about how these deposits may have been left as remnants when regional ice sheets retreated. The subsurface [...]
(Space Fellowship) Space Shuttle’s Final Flight Tank Spliced Together
NEW ORLEANS, LA., (Lockheed Martin) -- The Space Shuttle Program’s final flight tank – designated External Tank-138 – has completed a critical production milestone at the NASA Michoud Assembly Facility. Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) builds the External Tanks in New Orleans where its engineers and technicians mechanically spliced ET-138’s liquid oxygen (LO2)/intertank to the liquid hydrogen (LH2) tank, thus producing “a whole tank” for the first time in the production process. The w [...]
(Space Fellowship) NASA's Fermi Probes "Dragons" of the Gamma-ray Sky
(NASA) - One of the pleasures of perusing ancient maps is locating regions so poorly explored that mapmakers warned of dragons and sea monsters. Now, astronomers using NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope find themselves in the same situation as cartographers of old. A new study of the ever-present fog of gamma rays from sources outside our galaxy shows that less than a third of the emission arises from what astronomers once considered the most likely suspects -- black-hole-powered jets from a [...]
(Space Fellowship) Webb Telescope’s First Primary Mirror Meets Cold Temperature Specifications
The James Webb Space Telescope reached a mission-readiness landmark today when its first primary mirror segment was cryo-polished to its required prescription as measured at operational cryogenic temperatures. This achievement sets the stage for a successful polishing process for the remaining 18 flight mirror segments. Northrop Grumman Corporation is leading Webb’s design and development effort for NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Cryogenic polishing, or cryo-null [...]
(Space Fellowship) Station Crew Prepares for Robotics, Speaks to Students
(NASA) - Orbiting 220 miles above the Earth, the Expedition 22 crew members of the International Space Station focused on science, station outfitting and photography Tuesday. They also took time to speak with students in Kansas. Working in the Russian segment of the station, Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov conducted a session with the cardiovascular experiment Dykhanie-1, which studies the relation of gravity to respiration in cosmonauts. Flight Engineer Maxim Suraev assisted Kotov and photograph [...]
(Space Politics) What next for Hutchison?
Yesterday’s Texas primaries contained few surprises, despite an usually large number of challengers for incumbents. Ralph Hall, the ranking member of the House Science and Technology Committee, defeated five challengers in the Republican primary, getting 57% of the vote. And in perhaps the most widely-watched race, incumbent Gov. Rick Perry defeated Sen. Kay [...]
(Space Daily) Astronomically Large Lenses Measure Age And Size Of Universe
Stanford CA (SPX) Mar 03, 2010 - Using entire galaxies as lenses to look at other galaxies, researchers have a newly precise way to measure the size and age of the universe and how rapidly it is expanding, on a par with other techniques.
(Space Daily) Webb Telescope's First Primary Mirror Meets Cold Temperature Specifications
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Mar 03, 2010 - The James Webb Space Telescope reached a mission-readiness landmark today when its first primary mirror segment was cryo-polished to its required prescription as measured at operational cryogenic temperatures. This achievement sets the stage for a successful polishing process for the remaining 18 flight mirror segments.
(Space Daily) Space agencies find new use for 'Leonardo'
Houston (UPI) Mar 2, 2009 - U.S. and Italian space agency officials say they have found a new use for an existing Multi-Purpose Logistics Module known as "Leonardo."
(Space Daily) Next Gen X-ray Telescope To Be Unveiled
Redondo Beach CA (SPX) Feb 26, 2010 - Northrop Grumman will showcase its innovative hardware design for NASA's International X-Ray Observatory (IXO) during the premier conference of the world's leading high energy astrophysicists. IXO is the next generation X-ray telescope slated for development by the space agency.
(Space Daily) Student Rocket REXUS 7 Launched
Esrange, Sweden (SPX) Mar 03, 2010 - The first student rocket planned for this week, REXUS 7, was successfully launched from SSC's launch facility Esrange Space Center. The rocket carried three student experiments onboard. The rocket reached an altitude of 83 km and landed north of Esrange Space Center. The recovery operation has started and the payload will be brought back to the students by helicopter for further analysis.
(Space Daily) Iceberg Collides With The Edge Of An Ice Shelf In The Antarctic
Bonn, Germany (SPX) Mar 03, 2010 - Looking like a needle of ice and snow, iceberg B-15K was caught in the act by the German Aerospace Center's (Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) TerraSAR-X satellite as it collided with an ice shelf in Atka Bay, Antarctica.
(Space Daily) Russia Launches Proton-M Carrier Rocket With 3 Glonass Satellites
Moscow, Russia (RIA Novosti) Mar 03, 2010 - A Proton-M carrier rocket bearing three Glonass satellites was launched from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan early on Tuesday, a spokesman for the Space Forces said.
(Space Daily) How To Hunt For Exoplanets
Washington DC (SPX) Mar 03, 2010 - A new report launched by the Institute of Physics (IOP) Exoplanets - The search for planets beyond our solar system explains how new technological advances have seen the discovery of more than 400 exoplanets to date, a number expected to rise to thousands in the next few years.
(Space Daily) Great Impact Debates
Moffett Field CA (SPX) Mar 03, 2010 - Don Yeomans: As mentioned in last week's debate, an asteroid or comet larger than a kilometer colliding with the Earth would be a very rare event. One would only expect a collision of this type to occur every several hundred thousand years. Nevertheless, it has happened before and it could happen again in the near future. In the unlikely event that a sizable near-Earth object (NEO) is found to be on an Earth-threatening trajectory, would we have the technology to deflect the object in time so that it would pass harmlessly past the Earth?
(Space Daily) Arianespace At World Satellite Risk Forum 2010
Dubai, UAE (SPX) Mar 03, 2010 - During the World Satellite Risk Forum in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, from March 1 to 3, 2010, Arianespace is reaffirming its role as the benchmark launch service provider for the Middle East.
(Space Daily) NASA's Fermi Probes "Dragons" Of The Gamma-Ray Sky
Washington DC (SPX) Mar 03, 2010 - One of the pleasures of perusing ancient maps is locating regions so poorly explored that mapmakers warned of dragons and sea monsters. Now, astronomers using NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope find themselves in the same situation as cartographers of old.
(Space Daily) A Glow In The Martian Night
Moffett Field CA (SPX) Mar 03, 2010 - Astrobiology Magazine (AM): Let's talk about the paper you just published in the journal Science.
(Space Daily) Scientists now listen to the solar wind
Ann Arbor, Mich. (UPI) Mar 2, 2009 - U.S. scientists say they have "sonified" solar wind data, allowing researchers to listen to the solar wind that's usually represented as numbers or graphs.
(Space Fellowship) Inspection, Science, Maintenance for Station Crew
(NASA) - Aboard their orbiting home, the Expedition 22 crew members kicked off the week Monday by inspecting breathing apparatus, conducting a variety of experiments and performing scheduled maintenance activities. Flight Engineer Soichi Noguchi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency inspected portable breathing apparatus as well as fire extinguishers aboard the International Space Station to make sure the devices would be ready in the unlikely event of a fire inside the station. C [...]
(Space Fellowship) OHO-1 satellite to be launched by Arianespace
(Arianespace) - OverHorizon has chosen Arianespace to launch its first communications satellite, OHO-1, the fourth contract signed by Arianespace in 2010 with the world’s leading satellite operators. Jean-Yves Le Gall, Chairman and CEO of Arianespace, and James Gerow, President of OverHorizon LLC, announced today the signature of the launch service contract for the OHO-1 satellite. OHO-1 will be launched into geostationary transfer orbit in mid-2012, using an Ariane 5 launcher from the [...]
(Space Fellowship) Mars Express heading for closest flyby of Phobos
(ESA) - ESA’s Mars Express will skim the surface of Mars’ largest moon Phobos on Wednesday evening. Passing by at an altitude of 67 km, precise radio tracking will allow researchers to peer inside the mysterious moon. Mars Express is currently engaged in a series of 12 flybys of Phobos. At each close pass, different instruments are trained towards the mysterious space rock, gaining new information. The closest flyby will take place on 3 March at 21:55 CET (20:55 GMT). Two dress rehe [...]
(Space Fellowship) Mars Odyssey Still Hears Nothing From Phoenix
PASADENA, Calif., (NASA) -- NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander showed no sign during February that it has revived itself after the northern Mars winter. NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter will check again in early April. The solar-powered Phoenix lander operated for two months longer than its planned three-month mission in the Martian arctic in 2008. It was not designed to withstand winter conditions. However, in case the return of abundant springtime sunlight to the site does revive Phoenix, Odyssey is co [...]
(Space Fellowship) Salt-Seeking Satellite Shaken By Quake, But Not Stirred
(NASA) - NASA's Aquarius instrument, and the Argentinian spacecraft that will carry it into space, the Satelite de Aplicaciones Cientificas (SAC-D), successfully rode out one of the largest earthquakes in recorded history Feb. 27 with no problems. The instrument and spacecraft are at the satellite systems contractor's satellite integration facility in Bariloche, Argentina. The city of Bariloche, located approximately 588 kilometers, or 365 miles, from the epicenter of the magnitude 8.8 earth [...]
(Space Fellowship) Lockheed Martin Orion Team Fabricates World’s Largest Heat Shield Structure
(Lockheed Martin) - Innovative high-temperature material system to provide better crew protection DENVER -- The Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT]-led team developing the Orion crew exploration vehicle achieved a major technology milestone by completing fabrication of the world’s largest heat shield structure. The shield is five meters (16.4 feet) in diameter and is critical to the protection of the spacecraft and its crew from the extreme temperatures experienced during re-entry. The work was com [...]
(Space Fellowship) Discovery and Crew Prepare for STS-131 Mission
(NASA) - Commander Alan Poindexter is set to lead the STS-131 mission to the International Space Station aboard space shuttle Discovery. Joining Poindexter will be Pilot Jim Dutton and Mission Specialists Rick Mastracchio, Clay Anderson, Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, Stephanie Wilson and Naoko Yamazaki of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. Discovery will carry a multi-purpose logistics module filled with science racks for the laboratories aboard the station. The mission has three planne [...]
(Space Daily) World's top high-tech fair goes 3D
Hanover, Germany (AFP) March 2, 2010 - The world's biggest high-tech fair opened to the public Tuesday as the IT sector sought to rebound from a terrible 2009 by wooing consumers with trendy gadgets to make life easier and more fun.
(Space Fellowship) NASA Radar Finds Ice Deposits at Moon's North Pole
WASHINGTON, (NASA) -- Using data from a NASA radar that flew aboard India's Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, scientists have detected ice deposits near the moon's north pole. NASA's Mini-SAR instrument, a lightweight, synthetic aperture radar, found more than 40 small craters with water ice. The craters range in size from 1 to 9 miles (2 to15 km) in diameter. Although the total amount of ice depends on its thickness in each crater, it's estimated there could be at least 600 million metric tons of water [...]
(Space Fellowship) Lockheed Martin Solar X-Ray Imager To Be Launched On NOAA GOES-P Spacecraft
PALO ALTO, Calif., (Lockheed Martin) -- The Solar X-ray Imager (SXI) instrument, designed and built by Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] at its Space Systems Advanced Technology Center (ATC) is ready for flight. Built for the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in Greenbelt, Md., SXI is awaiting launch – scheduled for March 2 – on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) GOES-P spacecraft from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. SXI is one of a suite of instruments tha [...]
(Space Fellowship) Russian spacecraft successfully orbits 3 Glonass satellites
MOSCOW, (RIA Novosti) - A Proton-M carrier rocket has successfully orbited three Glonass satellites, a spokesman for the Space Forces said on Tuesday. The Proton-M carrier rocket bearing three satellites was launched from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan on March 2 at 0:19 Moscow time (22:19 GMT, March 1). Alexei Zolotukhin said that stable telemetric communication was established with the satellites, which were orbited at 3:51 Moscow time (0:51 GMT). Glonass - the Global Navigat [...]
(Space Politics) What the states are up to
While all the attention of late has been on policy machinations taking place in Washington, there’s activity at the state level as well. On Wednesday Florida’s space industry will be conducting it’s annual Florida Space Day in Tallahassee. While the specifics of their meetings with state legislators aren’t stated (the site still states [...]
(Space Fellowship) Picture of the Day - The Possibility of a Brand New World
Several of the dwarf galaxies in the Hickson Compact Group 31 are slowly merging. Will the result of these galactic collisions be one big elliptical galaxy? Most assuredly. The pictured galaxies of Hickson Compact Group 31 will pass through and destroy each other, millions of stars will form and explode, and thousands of nebula will form and dissipate before the dust settles and the final galaxy emerges about one billion years from now. The above image is a composite of images taken in inf [...]
(Space Daily) Russia launches three new navigation satellites: report
Moscow (AFP) March 1, 2010 - A Russian Proton-M rocket was launched into space Monday with three new satellites for Moscow's GLONASS navigation system, aimed at competing with US and European systems, a report said.
(Space Daily) NASA Radar Finds Ice Deposits At Moon's North Pole
Washington DC (SPX) Mar 02, 2010 - Using data from a NASA radar that flew aboard India's Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, scientists have detected ice deposits near the moon's north pole. NASA's Mini-SAR instrument, a lightweight, synthetic aperture radar, found more than 40 small craters with water ice. The craters range in size from 1 to 9 miles (2 to15 km) in diameter.
(Space Daily) The Free World Is Losing NASA's Space Leadership
Bethesda MD (SPX) Mar 02, 2010 - I carefully read your comments every week and think it's time to share with you an article prepared for Launchspace readers on the subject of U.S. manned space programs.
(Space Daily) MTN Supplies Satellite Communications System For Oasis Of The Seas
Miramar FL (SPX) Mar 02, 2010 - Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas, the world's largest cruise ship, has been equipped with MTN Satellite Communications' (MTN) state-of-the-art VSAT satellite communications system.
(Space Daily) Satellites, Rockets And More
Baltimore MD (SPX) Mar 02, 2010 - On Sept. 17, 1959, a little heralded Thor Able rocket launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida. Perched atop the rocket was Transit 1A, a satellite designed by scientists and engineers at Johns Hopkins' Applied Physics Laboratory that the U.S. Navy hoped would provide accurate location information to ballistic missile submarines and be used as a general navigation system.
(Space Daily) LockMart Solar X-ray Imager To Be Launched On NOAA GOES-P
Palo Alto CA (SPX) Mar 02, 2010 - The Solar X-ray Imager (SXI) instrument, designed and built by Lockheed Martin at its Space Systems Advanced Technology Center (ATC) is ready for flight.
(Space Daily) MESSENGER's Odometer Reading: Four Billion Miles!
Baltimore MD (SPX) Mar 02, 2010 - The MESSENGER spacecraft has crossed the four-billion-mile mark since its launch. The probe has completed about 81 percent of its journey toward its destination to be the first spacecraft to orbit the planet Mercury.
(Space Daily) Mars Express Heading For Closest Flyby Of Phobos
Paris, France (ESA) Mar 02, 2010 - ESA's Mars Express will skim the surface of Mars' largest moon Phobos on Wednesday evening. Passing by at an altitude of 67 km, precise radio tracking will allow researchers to peer inside the mysterious moon.
(Space Daily) Spirit In Energy Saving Mode
Pasadena CA (SPX) Mar 02, 2010 - Spirit Status for sol 2177-2184: Spirit is in her winter position, still embedded in the area called "Troy" on the west side of Home Plate. Efforts continue to prepare the rover for winter.
(Space Daily) NASA announces new satellite initiative
Washington (UPI) Mar 1, 2009 - The U.S. space agency says it is starting an initiative to launch small cube-shaped satellites for educational and not-for-profit organizations.
(Space Daily) Investigating Material Ejected From Young Crater
Pasadena CA (SPX) Mar 02, 2010 - Opportunity Status for sol 2158-2165: Opportunity is located near the very young crater "Concepcion." The rover has been investigating the ejecta material around the crater, with some rocks exhibiting a dark rind. On Sol 2158 (Feb. 18, 2010), Opportunity continued the in-situ investigation of the rock target, "Chocolate Hills."
(Space Daily) SES WORLD SKIES To Host Extensive 3D TV Tests
Princeton NJ (SPX) Mar 02, 2010 - With its 3D-ready satellites and teleports serving as the distribution backbone, SES WORLD SKIES has announced it plans to join leading broadcasters, programmers, TV makers and technology providers in a series of extensive tests aimed at accelerating the delivery of 3D TV.
(Space Travel) LockMart Orion Team Fabricates World's Largest Heat Shield Structure
Denver CO (SPX) Mar 02, 2010 - The Lockheed Martin-led team developing the Orion crew exploration vehicle achieved a major technology milestone by completing fabrication of the world's largest heat shield structure.
(Space Fellowship) Beautiful Image of a Cosmic Sculpture
Today ESO has released a dramatic new image of NGC 346, the brightest star-forming region in our neighbouring galaxy, the Small Magellanic Cloud, 210 000 light-years away towards the constellation of Tucana (the Toucan). Many stars in NGC 346 are relatively young in cosmic terms with their births dating back only a few million years or so. Powerful winds thrown off by a massive star set off this recent round of star birth by compressing large amounts of matter, the first critical step towa [...]
(Space Fellowship) Spirit's Journey to the Center of Mars
Mars rover Spirit has tenaciously swept, scraped, and squeezed secrets from the forbidding surface of Mars for 6 years. Now at an impasse, up to its belly in sand, it has struggled to tilt its solar panels toward the sun and collect just enough power to survive the perilously cold Martian winter. If Spirit can make it through to spring, the feisty robot will prove it's still in the game—by solving the mysteries of the Martian core. Spirit's radio signals will also reveal the precise speed [...]
(Space Fellowship) This Week On The Space Show
The Space Show, hosted by David Livingston under www.TheSpaceShow.com, will have the following guests this week: 1. Monday, March 1, 2010, 2-3:30 PM PST (20-21:30 GMT) Cynda Collins Arsenault, co-founder of the Secure World Foundation comes to the show (www.secureworldfoundation.org). Cynda Collins Arsenault is President and co-founder of the Secure World Foundation. Cynda and her husband, Marcel Arsenault started this foundation in order to work towards a secure world where war has [...]
(Space Fellowship) Smoke Over Santiago Following 8.8 Earthquake Seen from Space
Haze lingered over the metropolitan area of Santiago, Chile, following a magnitude 8.8 earthquake on February 27, 2010. In this image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite at 14:25 UTC, black smoke hung over the northern part of the city, while light-colored haze (perhaps pollution and/or dust) covered the southern part of the city and filled a canyon that cuts eastward into the mountains. The lower image, acquired on February 23, shows [...]
(Space Fellowship) Picture of the Day - Blasting Off Into History
NASA's Space Shuttle Program conducted the final test firing of a reusable solid rocket motor Feb. 25 in Promontory, Utah. The flight support motor, or FSM-17, burned for approximately 123 seconds--the same time each reusable solid rocket motor burns during an actual space shuttle launch. Preliminary indications show all test objectives were met. After final test data are analyzed, results for each objective will be published in a NASA report. The test--the 52nd conducted for NASA by A [...]
(Space Daily) World's most powerful atom smasher restarts: CERN
Geneva (AFP) Feb 28, 2010 - Scientists have restarted the world's most powerful atom-smasher overnight, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) said Sunday, as they launch a new bid to uncover the secrets of the universe.
(Space Daily) First Observation Of T2K Neutrino Event At Super-Kamiokande
Kamiokande, Japan (SPX) Mar 01, 2010 - UK particle physicists working on the multinational T2K project, which is designed to detect some of the least understood particles in the universe, have helped track their first neutrino which has travelled 185 miles (295 km) under Japan.
(Space Daily) 3D TV To Showcase At CeBit 2010
Hannover, Germany (SPX) Mar 01, 2010 - This is the year in which 3D cinema and 3D TV will make the breakthrough. At CeBIT in Hannover, Fraunhofer researchers are presenting technologies and standards that are hastening the progress.
(Space Daily) First Measurement Of The Age Of Cometary Material
Livermore, CA (SPX) Mar 01, 2010 - Though comets are thought to be some of the oldest, most primitive bodies in the solar system, new research on comet Wild 2 indicates that inner solar system material was transported to the comet-forming region at least 1.7 million years after the formation of the oldest solar system solids.
(Space Daily) Traffic Congestion Returns As Economy Shows Signs Of Recovery
Kirkland WA (SPX) Mar 01, 2010 - INRIX has released its 3rd Annual INRIX National Traffic Scorecard revealing that traffic congestion and commute travel times in 2009 are back on the rise as the economy emerges from the recession.
(Space Daily) Teletrac And SpeedGauge Deliver Integrated GPS And Vehicle Tracking System
Garden Grove CA (SPX) Mar 01, 2010 - Teletrac and SpeedGauge have announced an agreement whereby Teletrac will provide SpeedGauge services as an integrated component of its award-winning fleet management vehicle technology, Fleet Director 7. SpeedGauge Web-based applications analyze GPS data streams in real time to help fleet managers identify high risk driving behavior and lower fleet operating costs resulting from excessive speeding.
(Space Travel) India Space Buget Gets A Major Boost
New Delhi (PTI) Mar 01, 2010 - India's human space flight programme got a major boost as the General Budget on Friday proposed a significant allocation to it and also sought increase in funds for setting up an indigenous global positioning system.
(Space Daily) Australia Launches Scramjet Consortium
Brisbane, Australia (SPX) Feb 28, 2010 - The University of Queensland will lead a $14 million international consortium to help develop scramjet-based access-to-space systems, flying an autonomous scramjet vehicle at eight times the speed of sound - Mach 8, or 8600 km/h.
(Space Daily) Kazakhstan hindering Russian space missions: official
Moscow (AFP) Feb 27, 2010 - Kazakhstan, home of the space base used to launch rockets to the International Space Station (ISS), is interfering with Russian space missions, the head of Russia's space agency said Saturday.
(Space Daily) Raytheon To Develop Next-Generation GPS Control Segment
Aurora, CO (SPX) Feb 28, 2010 - The U.S. Air Force has selected Raytheon for an initial contract of $886 million to develop a new element of the Global Positioning System to improve the accuracy of information from GPS satellites.
(Space Daily) Giant tech fair goes 3D to pull in the punters
Hanover, Germany (AFP) Feb 28, 2010 - The world's biggest high-tech fair kicks off Tuesday with a focus on "smart" gadgets as well as "Avatar"-inspired 3D products to make consumers' lives easier -- and more fun.
(Space Daily) 'Avatars' can make us better people: study
San Francisco (AFP) Feb 25, 2010 - Fascination with the blockbuster 3-D film "Avatar" has fans tuning into real-world research indicating that virtual selves can inspire people to lead better lives.
(Space Daily) CORRECTED: Scientist eyes 39-day voyage to Mars
Washington (AFP) Feb 26, 2010 - A journey from Earth to Mars could in the future take just 39 days -- cutting current travel time nearly six times -- according to a rocket scientist who has the ear of the US space agency.
(Space Fellowship) Expendable Launch Vehicle Status Report
(NASA) - Spacecraft: Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES-P) Launch Vehicle: Delta IV Launch Pad: Complex 37, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Date: March 2, 2010 Launch Window: 6:19 - 7:19 p.m. EST The Flight Readiness Review for the launch of the Delta IV rocket with GOES-P was held on Feb. 25. The last evaluation, the Launch Readiness Review, will be held on March 1. At Launch Complex 37, closeouts of the Delta IV and GOES-P are beginning. A launch countdo [...]
(Space Fellowship) Expedition 22 Crew Busy With Science and Docked Vehicle Activities
(NASA) - On Friday, Commander Jeff Williams and Flight Engineer Soichi Noguchi collaborated on the PanOptic experiment. The visual experiment uses an ophthalmoscope to capture detailed images and video of the eye for study by experts back on Earth. Flight Engineer T.J. Creamer was busy conducting plant experiments. The APEX-Cambium, or Advanced Plant Experiment-CAMBIUM, is an experiment that seeks an understanding of physiological processes that are affected in plant systems during spaceflig [...]
(Space Fellowship) NASA and Italian Space Agency Find New Use for Module
WASHINGTON, (NASA) -- NASA and the Italian Space Agency announced a new use for an existing Multi Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) known as "Leonardo." It will be transformed into a Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM) for the International Space Station. For nearly a decade, the Italian-built logistic modules have flown inside the payload bays of NASA's shuttle fleet, successfully delivering vital hardware and supplies to the station. The new use for this proven carrier will enhance the use o [...]
(Space Fellowship) Inaugural Falcon 9 / Dragon flight hardware update
Taking the rocket vertical was the most recent milestone in a series of key launch prep activities at the Cape in recent weeks. Prior to this, SpaceX fully integrated all flight hardware, mating the first stage, second stage and Dragon qualification spacecraft in the SpaceX hangar at SLC-40. We then raised the entire vehicle and placed it on to the mobile transporter. The following days involved connecting the vehicle to the transporter's support systems, including lines for RP-1 fuel, liq [...]
(Space Fellowship) ATK and NASA Perform Final Ground Test for Space Shuttle Program
(ATK) - Test will Ensure Booster Safety for Four Remaining Shuttle Flights MINNEAPOLIS -- Earlier today, Alliant Techsystems (NYSE: ATK) and NASA successfully performed the final ground test of a reusable solid rocket motor (RSRM) for the Space Shuttle program at ATK's Promontory, Utah facility. The test marks the completion of a 30-year program that continuously improved the RSRM's performance and safety features. With the completion of today's test, ATK is ready to usher in the next gen [...]
(Space Fellowship) NASA Breaks Ground on New Deep Space Network Antennas
PASADENA, Calif., (NASA) -- NASA officials broke ground near Canberra, Australia on Wednesday, Feb. 24, beginning a new antenna-building campaign to improve Deep Space Network communications. Following the recommendations of an independent study, NASA embarked on an ambitious project to replace its aging fleet of 70-meter-wide (230-foot-wide) dishes with a new generation of 34-meter (112-foot) antennas by 2025. The three 70-meter antennas, located at the NASA Deep Space Network comple [...]
(Space Fellowship) Station Crew Performs Maintenance and Science, Preps for STS-131
(NASA) - After three light-duty days, the Expedition 22 crew members aboard the International Space Station got back to a regular work schedule Thursday, focusing on maintenance, science and preparations for the arrival of the next space shuttle mission. After the crew disconnected and reconnected valves in the system, the Urine Processing Assembly operated successfully after a leak was detected in the plumbing during STS-130. The maintenance work performed over the past few days has restore [...]
(Space Fellowship) Russia shortlists 11 for 520-day simulation of Mars mission
MOSCOW, (RIA Novosti) - The 11 candidates will complete basic spaceflight training and in spring six of them will be chosen to take part in the experiment, which will simulate all aspects of a journey to the Red Planet, with a 250-day outward trip, a 30-day stay on its surface, and a 240-day return flight. The basic requirements for volunteers were that they be aged 25-50, have a higher education, and speak Russian and English. During nearly two years of isolation, the crew members will ex [...]
(Space Fellowship) Naugural Falcon 9 / Dragon flight hardware update
Taking the rocket vertical was the most recent milestone in a series of key launch prep activities at the Cape in recent weeks. Prior to this, SpaceX fully integrated all flight hardware, mating the first stage, second stage and Dragon qualification spacecraft in the SpaceX hangar at SLC-40. We then raised the entire vehicle and placed it on to the mobile transporter. The following days involved connecting the vehicle to the transporter's support systems, including lines for RP-1 fuel, liq [...]
(Space Politics) ProSpace’s 2010 agenda
ProSpace, which will be holding its March Storm lobbying effort on Capitol Hill next week, has released its agenda of issues it plans to bring up in those meetings. The key items cover topics in export reform, exploration, and commercialization: ITAR reform Support the addition to the Senate version of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act the [...]
(Space Politics) Briefly noted: Rutan’s clarification; other criticism and praise
Some people were surprised earlier this week when the Wall Street Journal reported that Burt Rutan submitted a letter to Congress critical of the administration’s move to commercialize human spaceflight. “That would be a very big mistake for America to make,” according to a brief excerpt of the letter quoted by the Journal. [...]
(Space Daily) Local Built Satellite Jugnu Ready To Ship To ISRO
Kanpur (PTI) Feb 26, 2010 - A satellite developed by IIT Kanpur 'Jugnu' that will provide information on natural calamities will be handed over to scientists of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on March six by Indian President Pratibha Patil.
(Space Daily) Final Shuttle Motor Test Completed
Huntsville AL (SPX) Feb 26, 2010 - NASA's Space Shuttle Program conducted the final test firing of a reusable solid rocket motor Feb. 25 in Promontory, Utah. The flight support motor, or FSM-17, burned for approximately 123 seconds - the same time each reusable solid rocket motor burns during an actual space shuttle launch. Preliminary indications show all test objectives were met.
(Space Daily) Pluto Approach Begins
Washington DC (SPX) Feb 26, 2010 - Another milestone passed! Today NASA's New Horizons spacecraft is 15.96 astronomical units (about 2.39 billion kilometers, or 1.48 billion miles) from the Sun - putting it halfway between Earth's location on launch day in January 2006, and Pluto's place during New Horizons' encounter with the planet in July 2015.
(Space Daily) Mars Express To Make Closest Ever Approach To Phobos
Paris, France (ESA) Feb 26, 2010 - On 3 March 2010 Mars Express will make its closest ever approach to Phobos, the larger of the two Martian moons. During a series of flybys, spanning six weeks, all seven instruments onboard Mars Express will be utilised to study Phobos. The close approach provides a first opportunity to perform a unique gravity experiment that may reveal the distribution of mass within this intriguing moon.