A tour of the full scale mockup Boeing’s CST-100 manned capsule.
A tour of the full scale mockup Boeing’s CST-100 manned capsule.
Posted on the back roads of eastern Arizona.
Tag: capitalism
Is Google negotiating to become an investor in Virgin Galactic?
Is Google negotiating to become an investor in Virgin Galactic?
Several stories today say yes, but neither company is commenting. I suspect that if this is true, it is partly because Branson needs to find more investment capital because of the many delays in getting SpaceShipTwo off the ground.
Sierra Nevada has announced that it plans to do additional test flights in 2014 of its prototype Dream Chaser engineering test vehicle
Sierra Nevada has announced that it plans to do additional test flights in 2014 of its prototype Dream Chaser engineering test vehicle.
This is the same test vehicle that skidded off the runway during its first flight when one of its landing legs did not deploy. The company has never released any images of that smashup, but has said the craft was salvageable. I imagine this announcement is part of the continuing lobbying campaign by all the companies (SpaceX, Boeing, Sierra Nevada) competing in NASA’s commercial manned program. NASA is supposed to down select to two companies, maybe only one, by the end of the summer.
The race between Lady Gaga and Sarah Brightman to be first professional singer to perform in space.
The competition heats up: The race between Lady Gaga and Sarah Brightman to be first professional singer to perform in space.
For half a billion dollars Google has purchased satellite company Skybox Imaging.
The competition heats up: For half a billion dollars Google has purchased satellite company Skybox Imaging.
Google plans to use Skybox’s satellites to make better maps with “up-to-date imagery,” the company said in a statement. “Over time, we also hope that Skybox’s team and technology will be able to help improve Internet access and disaster relief—areas Google has long been interested in.” Skybox has only a single satellite in orbit right now but plans to fly a fleet of them to cover the entire globe at all times. Constantly updated satellite images would be of interest to everyone from agricultural companies and hedge funds to hardware stores. A demonstration earlier this year showed how Skybox satellites could be used to monitor oil reserves from space.
The investigation into the failure of a Proton launch several weeks ago has been completed.
The investigation into the failure of a Proton launch several weeks ago has been completed.
The May 16 crash of the Proton space rocket was due to a failed bearing in the steering engine’s turbo pump, the chief of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, Oleg Ostapenko, told ITAR-TASS. “The final version agrees with the preliminary findings made at the first stage of the inter-departmental probe. Telemetry and analytical information indicate that apparently a bearing in the turbo pump failed.
The information so far released is still a little vague in details. Whether the Russians will be more forthcoming is also not clear.
On Monday Boeing unveiled a full mockup of its CST-100 manned capsule.
The competition heats up: On Monday Boeing unveiled a full mockup of its CST-100 manned capsule.
In September NASA will select one or two companies to build manned spacecraft to ferry humans to and from ISS, which explains the recent spate of press shows by these companies each pushing their spacecraft design.
Orbital Sciences has announced a further delay to July 1 for the next Antares/Cygnus cargo mission to ISS in order to complete its investigation into the failure of a Russian engine during testing.
Orbital Sciences has announced a further delay to July 1 for the next Antares/Cygnus cargo mission to ISS in order to complete its investigation into the failure of a Russian engine during testing.
The total delay is now about a month. The press release provides no information as to the status of the investigation, so why it is taking longer than originally expected is unexplained.
Why Japan (and Germany) really lost World War II.
Why Japan (and Germany) really lost World War II.
The article also illustrates with facts why Russia would have lost to the U.S. as well if we had fought them then, before they got the bomb.
Read it. The facts are quite astonishing. Moreover, I have read a number of histories of World War II from the perspective of the Japanese and the Germans, and in both cases their experience matches the facts laid out by this article: The depth of the U.S. manufacturing capability — created by freedom and property rights and small government — was beyond anything the Axis powers could match. As the war continued it overwhelmed them.
Some additional details about Airbus’s spaceplane, its recent successful drop tests, and the company’s future plans.
Some additional details about Airbus’s spaceplane, its recent successful drop tests, and the company’s future plans.
The design has similar to XCOR’s Lynx. It would take off and land from a runway and do a suborbital flight without the need of a mother ship.
Richard Shelby’s poison pill in the Senate NASA budget bill that will double the cost of manned commercial space.
Senator Richard Shelby’s poison pill in the Senate NASA budget bill that will double the cost of manned commercial space.
Essentially Shelby wants to require the commercial companies to follow the older paperwork requirements used by NASA in the past. Presently, the contract arrangements NASA has used for these new companies have been efficient and relatively paperwork free, allowing them to build their cargo freighters (Dragon and Cygnus) and their manned spacecraft (Dragon V2, CST-100, and Dream Chaser) for relatively little.
The older contract rules are what NASA has used for Constellation and SLS as well as all past attempts to replace the shuttle. In every case, the costs were so high the replacement was never finished. In the case of SLS, the costs will be so high it will never accomplish anything.
Why has Shelby (R-Alabama) inserted this language? He wants pork, and SLS is the way to get it. Rather than cut the cost of SLS to make it more competitive (and which will reduce the pork in his state) Shelby instead wants to make the new commercial companies more costly, thus making SLS appear more competitive. It will still cost too much and will not accomplish anything, but this way he will be able to better argue for it in congressional negotiations.
Shelby illustrates clearly that the desire to waste the taxpayers’ money is not confined to the spendthrifts in the Democratic Party. Republicans can do it to!
Want to own your own Apollo capsule from the 1960s?
Want to own your own Apollo capsule from the 1960s?
Apparently nobody wants to buy a spaceship, at least not for $200,000. St. Louis-based auction company Regency-Superior reported no bids on Wednesday for former Lt. Gov. Lonnie Hammargren’s 1960s Apollo Command Module Block 1 mock-up, which was a fixture in the retired neurosurgeon’s eclectic collection since he acquired it in the mid-1970s.
The capsule remains available still at the minimum price if you go to the auction house’s website.