NASA and Orbital Sciences have rescheduled the Cygnus freighter launch to ISS until January 8 because of cold weather.
NASA and Orbital Sciences have rescheduled the Cygnus freighter launch to ISS until January 8 because of cold weather.
Tag: commercial
The second commercial launch on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket has been delayed three days until January 6 because an unspecified issue with the rocket’s fairing.
The second commercial launch on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket has been delayed three days until January 6 because an unspecified issue with the rocket’s fairing.
It appears the company wants to do some additional inspections of the rocket, just to be sure all is well. They haven’t been more specific then this,
“Unfortunately, it’s easier for our franchisees to open a restaurant in Siberia than in California.”
“Unfortunately, it’s easier for our franchisees to open a restaurant in Siberia than in California.”
Kind of sums everything up, doesn’t it? And unless the American public starts to vote aggressively for freedom and less government — even if that means their favorite programs or benefits might be cut — it ain’t gonna get better.
Virgin Galactic has released video of SpaceShipTwo’s second powered flight.
Virgin Galactic has released video of SpaceShipTwo’s second powered flight.
Messier notes how strained the pilot’s voices are, indicating that this test flight was “one wild ride.” I have put the video below the fold.
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Mars One narrows its applicant pool of would-be Martian colonists from 200,000 to just over a 1000.
Mars One narrows its applicant pool of would-be Martian colonists from 200,000 to just over a 1000.
People started applying for a voyage to the red planet in April 2013 through Mars One, a Netherlands-based private venture that wants to land humans there by 2025. By the time the company stopped taking applications, more than 200,000 people had submitted one. Today, Mars One announced that it’s made a short(er) list of 1,058 applicants.
These are individuals willing to make a one way trip.
The company for the high resolution cameras that the Russian astronauts were unable to install on ISS during their spacewalk last week has issued an update.
The company for the high resolution cameras that the Russian astronauts were unable to install on ISS during their spacewalk last week has issued an update.
The installation of the cameras proceeded according to plan and without incident. During a spacewalk, Russian cosmonauts were able to transport the cameras to their mounting position and install them quickly and efficiently. However, soon after installation, the Mission Control Centre (MCC) outside of Moscow was unable to receive any data from either camera (contrary to what was reported during the live transmission of the spacewalk). Without this data, engineers in the MCC were not able to confirm that the cameras were receiving the power necessary to allow them to survive the temperature fluctuations of the space environment. As a consequence, senior technical personnel from UrtheCast and RSC Energia (UrtheCast’s Russian partner) jointly decided that the safest and most prudent course of action was to uninstall the cameras and bring them back inside the ISS to be reinstalled at a later date, once the data transmission problem has been solved.
UrtheCast’s Chief Technology Officer, Dr. George Tyc, was present at the MCC throughout the operation, along with the Company’s Chief Engineer for Space Systems, Mr. Greg Giffin. Said Dr. Tyc, “The fact the neither camera could communicate with the MCC strongly suggests that the problem lies inside the ISS and it is not a problem with the cameras or external cables. This kind of issue has been encountered before on the ISS and can be fixed in the near-term. Bringing the cameras back inside to be installed another day was simply the right engineering decision.”
No word on what caused the problem, but as this commercial project is being done in partnership with the Russians and the Russians are whom the company is working to solve the technical problem it was almost certainly on the Russian portion of ISS.
The first person to cycle to the South Pole.
The first person to cycle to the South Pole.
Leijerstam used a modified version of the commercially-available Sprint trike, made by recumbent tricycle manufacturer Inspired Cycle Engineering (ICE). She chose to go with a recumbent trike because it would allow her to maintain stability in the often very-high winds. This allowed her to concentrate simply on moving forward, instead of having to waste time and effort keeping her balance. The strategy paid off, as she not only made it, but also beat two other cyclists who had set out for the Pole on two-wheelers, days before her Dec. 17th start date.
SpaceX successfully completed a static fire engine test Saturday in preparation for its next commercial satellite launch on January 3.
The competition heats up: SpaceX successfully completed a static fire engine test Saturday in preparation for its next commercial satellite launch on January 3.
It will be a busy next two months for commercial space. Cygnus is scheduled to launch on January 7, while Dragon makes its next flight on February 22. During that same time period a Russian Progress freighter will be launched. Also, there will be two Ariane 5 launches and one Proton launch, plus one commercial launch by India along with that country’s first launch of its home-built GSLV rocket.
As I say, the competition is heating up.
India has now scheduled January 5 as the date for the test launch of its homebuilt powerful GSLV rocket.
The competition heats up: India has now set January 5 as the date for the test launch of its homebuilt powerful GSLV rocket.
India’s needs this more powerful rocket if they are going to be a serious player in the new colonial movement in space. They have had many problems over the past decade trying to get it operational. Maybe now they will finally succeed.
Today’s spacewalk by two Russian astronauts on ISS set a new Russian duration record though one of the two commercial cameras was unable to transmit its data to the ground.
Today’s spacewalk by two Russian astronauts on ISS set a new Russian duration record though one of the two commercial cameras installed was unable to transmit its data to the ground.
For reasons that are unclear, the astronauts were then instructed to disconnect both cameras and bring them back inside ISS. This caused the cancellation of a number of other tasks and was the reason the spacewalk was the longest ever by Russian astronauts.
The first commercial supersonic business jet?
The Russians on ISS are doing their own spacewalk today, for profit.
The Russians on ISS are doing their own spacewalk today, for profit.
They are installing two cameras for a Canadian company that will beam down high resolution commercial images of the Earth’s surface.
Another successful Proton rocket launch took place today in Russia.
Another successful Proton rocket launch took place today in Russia, putting a Russian communications satellite into orbit.
This is the fourth successful Proton launch since July’s spectacular failure, suggesting that the Russians have gotten the rocket’s manufacturing process back on track.
The Russians have delayed the first launch of a new Soyuz rocket for at least a week.
The competition heats up: The Russians have delayed the first launch of a new Soyuz rocket for at least a week.
No reason for the delay was announced. The rocket is an entirely new design, with an upper stage expected to cost less to make.
The companies building manned spacecraft for the United States all appear to be on track.
The companies building manned spacecraft for the United States all appear to be on track.
The report gives a nice overview of the recent achievements of all three companies, and suggests that the U.S. will once again have a manned spacecraft capability before the decade has ended coming from more than one design.
The top ten states for job growth.
The top ten states for job growth.
There isn’t a clear common political thread here, but it is worth noting that all of the top five and seven of the ten have all-Republican governments.
It isn’t the party that matters, it is the philosophy of the members of that party that matters. And you are more likely to find politicians who support freedom, competition, and capitalism in the Republican Party.
NASA and Orbital Sciences have set January 7 as the launch date for the Cygnus cargo mission to ISS.
NASA and Orbital Sciences have set January 7 as the launch date for the Cygnus cargo mission to ISS.
They did some rescheduling at Wallops Island to allow the Cygnus launch to happen earlier.
India has set January 5 as the launch date for its next attempt to launch is home-built GSLV rocket.
India has set January 5 as the launch date for its next attempt to launch is home-built GSLV rocket.
A 3D printer comparison guide.
An update on the Google Lunar X-Prize competition.
An update on the Google Lunar X-Prize competition.
A number of teams have dropped out, narrowing the competition to eighteen teams.