More details about SpaceX Dragon drop test
More details about the drop test by SpaceX of its Dragon capsule.
Category: Points of Information
Very brief descriptions, with appropriate links, of current or recent news items.
Space war breakthrough?
Is the space war over NASA’s future ending? I wonder, reading this report in which NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver confidently announces that a compromise between Congress and the administration is pending. More importantly, she said the following:
Many things are still uncertain, but one thing is not uncertain. Marshall [Space Flight Center] will lead the heavy-lift launch program.
Considering Garver’s previously strong opposition to Constellation, this statement indicates that she and the administration have backed down, and are willing to accept the heavy-lift part of Constellation, once called Ares V, as long as no one uses those Bush-era names.
TSA humilates passenger
Why I drive rather than fly, as much as possible: TSA guards rummage through woman’s purse, inspect her receipts, commandeer her checkbook, and call her husband. Key quote:
“I understand that TSA is tasked with strengthening national security but [it] surely does not need to know what I purchased at Kohl’s or Wal-Mart.”
Earth and Moon, the double planet
Want to see what the Earth-Moon double planet looks like from 114 million miles away? Take a look at this image taken recently by the Messenger spacecraft on its long journey to Mercury.
Landing gear collapses on WhiteKnightTwo during test flight
Bad news for space tourism! One of WhiteKnightTwo’s landing gears collapsed as the plane landed at the end of a test flight yesterday. Here’s a statement from Scaled Composites, the builder of the suborbital rocket system.
Shrinking moon
Images from Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter have proven that as the Moon cooled and solidified, it shrunk, leaving behind a network of cliffs, called thrust faults, across its entire face.
Eclipsing a neutron star
Astronomers have discovered the first star/neutron star binary system where the normal star is eclipsing the neutron star several times each week.
Station cooling system up and running
The cooling system on ISS is finally running normally again after the three spacewalks to replace the system’s failed pump.
Plastic pollution down
Despite increasing use by humans, the plastic pollution floating in the North Atlantic ocean has not increased over the last two decades,and scientists don’t know why. From the Science press notice:
The authors propose a handful of possible explanations for why more discarded plastic is not appearing out in the open Atlantic Ocean. It may break up into pieces too small to be collected by the nets, or it might be sinking beneath the surface. Or, it might be consumed by marine organisms. More research will be necessary to determine the likelihood of each scenario.
Obama bans gun sales
The Obama administration has blocked South Korea from selling over a hundred thousand American-made surplus rifles to American gun collectors.
Mud volcanoes on Mars
Mud volcanoes on Mars.
Dragon capsule drop test
Take a look at these pictures of the August 12 drop test of SpaceX’s Dragon capsule.