An update on China’s lunar rover Yutu.
An update on China’s lunar rover Yutu.
This is an excellent summary of the mission and its status, including detailed maps outlining the rover’s path before it finally lost the ability to move.
Tag: competition
Richard Branson manipulates the press again
Two stories today from Richard Branson of Virgin Galactic:
- Richard Branson is “90 percent” certain they will launch passengers in 2014
- Richard Branson launches search for the child who inspired him to found Virgin Galactic
The quote from the first story is especially entertaining:
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India’s Mangalyaan Mars orbiter is now halfway to Mars.
India’s Mangalyaan Mars orbiter is now halfway to Mars.
India, unlike Israel, wants to conquer the stars, so the success of their first interplanetary mission means a lot to them.
On Wednesday Israel launched its tenth satellite, spy satellite Ofek 10.
On Wednesday Israel launched its tenth satellite, spy satellite Ofek 10.
This story is only noteworthy in that the launch shows Israel’s very capable abilities to independently launch its own rockets and satellites into orbit. The country however really isn’t competing with the rest of the world in the race to conquer the universe. Their focus is solely surveillance and reconnaissance for security reasons, plus having the missile capability to deliver payloads long distances.
Culturally, the bulk of Israel’s population is in Israel because that’s where they want to be. Going to the stars is not their priority.
Update: Nor does it matter that there is an Israeli team competing in the Google X Prize contest to land an unmanned private rover on the Moon. While there might be individual Israelis who want to settle Mars, the culture’s focus is still going to be on strengthening Israel itself.
XCOR today took delivery of the cockpit assembly of its Lynx suborbital space plane.
The competition heats up: XCOR today took delivery of the cockpit assembly of its Lynx suborbital space plane.
They have said they will begin flight tests later this summer, followed by tourist suborbital flights at some point thereafter.
A Russian Progress freighter successfully docked with ISS on Wednesday, rendezvousing with the station using the fast track approach of six hours.
A Russian Progress freighter successfully docked with ISS on Wednesday, rendezvousing with the station using the fast track approach of six hours.
Congress and NASA administrator Charles Bolden battled over ISS, Russia, crew transport, and commercial space yesterday in a hearing before Congress.
Congress and NASA administrator Charles Bolden battled over ISS, Russia, crew transport, and commercial space yesterday in a hearing before Congress.
Not surprising. Congress wants to know what NASA will do if Russia pulls out of ISS and Bolden really has few options if they do. He in turn was trying to get Congress to focus on funding commercial space so that we can launch our own astronauts to ISS and not depend on the Russians. A true confederacy of dunces. More here.
Triumph of his will: Elon Musk’s effort to build a rocket company.
Triumph of his will: Elon Musk’s effort to build a rocket company.
The article is long, providing incredible background details on Elon Musk’s life and how he got to be the world’s most famous rocket company president. Definitely worth a read.
A detailed look at Russia’s new Angara rocket family.
A detailed look at Russia’s new Angara rocket family.
Boeing is about to begin environmental tests on a new composite fuel tank for rockets.
The competition heats up: Boeing is about to begin environmental tests on a new composite fuel tank for rockets.
Tanks made of composite materials have been a dream of space engineers for decades. Lockheed Martin tried to build them for the X-33, and their failure was essentially what killed that spacecraft. If Boeing is successful here and the composite tanks can then be put into a variety of launch rockets, the savings in weight will lower the cost of getting payloads to orbit significantly.
The launches at Kennedy, delayed because of a fire at an Air Force radar facility, have now been rescheduled.
The launches at Kennedy, delayed because of a fire at an Air Force radar facility, have now been rescheduled.
This includes a military launch by an Atlas 5 rocket on April 10 and SpaceX’s next Falcon 9 launch to supply ISS. The Falcon 9 flight will also include an attempt to bring the first stage back to a soft vertical landing over water.
Even as India successfully launched its second homemade GPS satellite today, its space agency ISRO announced that it will launch a test flight of a manned capsule in June using that country’s powerful GSLV rocket.
The competition heats up: Even as India successfully launched its second homemade GPS satellite today, the head of of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in India announced that it will launch a test flight of a manned capsule in June using that country’s powerful GSLV rocket.
In hearings today, Pentagon officials said that they are considering ways to build American-built engines to use on our rockets rather than buy Russian-made engines.
In hearings today, Pentagon officials said that they are considering building American-built engines to use on our rockets rather than buy Russian-made engines.
They could do this very cheaply if they simply allowed SpaceX to bid on all military launches.
UrtheCast has released its first image of Earth, taken from one of its cameras on ISS.
UrtheCast has released its first image of Earth, taken from one of its cameras on ISS.
The UrtheCast (pronounced Earth-Cast) system, which was installed (not without trouble) on the International Space Station at the end of 2013, is composed of two cameras. The Theia “medium resolution” camera took this shot; the full picture has a resolution of 3200×8000, or about 25 megapixels. The high-resolution device, which will capture video, is still being calibrated.
Eventually UrtheCast plans to provide free, constant, near-real-time video of the globe from far above — that is, when it’s not being rented out to parties interested in a quick satellite snap of an area. Powerful cameras able to respond quickly to such requests are in high demand by everyone from law enforcement to disaster-relief coordinators.
Brian Binnie, the man who flew SpaceShipOne for Scaled Composites, has left that company for competitor XCOR
Brian Binnie, the man who flew SpaceShipOne for Scaled Composites, has left that company for competitor XCOR.
It might simply be the man got a promotion, but it also might be that he knows the problems SpaceShipTwo is having and sees his chances of flying there going down. His willingness to work for XCOR instead could also be looked at as a kind of endorsement of that company’s chances of success.
NASA’s short statement, in connection to the Obama administration’s decision to suspend all non-ISS related activities with Russia, is almost entirely a demand for more funding for its commercial space program.
NASA’s short statement, in connection to the Obama administration’s decision to suspend all non-ISS related activities with Russia, is almost entirely a demand for more funding for its commercial space program.
To quote:
NASA is laser focused on a plan to return human spaceflight launches to American soil, and end our reliance on Russia to get into space. This has been a top priority of the Obama Administration’s for the past five years, and had our plan been fully funded, we would have returned American human spaceflight launches – and the jobs they support – back to the United States next year. With the reduced level of funding approved by Congress, we’re now looking at launching from U.S. soil in 2017. The choice here is between fully funding the plan to bring space launches back to America or continuing to send millions of dollars to the Russians. It’s that simple. The Obama Administration chooses to invest in America – and we are hopeful that Congress will do the same.
Though I agree with them about accelerating manned commercial space, I can’t help wondering if this suspension of activities was actually instigated to generate this lobbying effort. ISS comprises the bulk of the U.S.’s cooperative effort with Russia, and by exempting that from this suspension the Obama administration essentially exempts practically everything, making the suspension somewhat meaningless.
What the suspension does do, however, is highlight our fragile dependency on Russia, just as Congress begins debate on the 2015 budget.
Six Senators on Wednesday demanded the Air Force open up competition to more companies for launching its military satellites.
The competition heats up: Six senators on Wednesday demanded the Air Force open up competition to more companies for launching its military satellites.
U.S. senators on Wednesday urged the Air Force to allow more competition in the multibillion-dollar market for launching government satellites, citing rising costs and concerns about Russian-made engines that power some of the U.S. rockets.
Lawmakers said the Air Force’s budget plan for fiscal 2015 reduced opportunities for privately held Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) and others to gain a foothold in a program now dominated by the two biggest U.S. weapons makers, Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co.
This demand also bodes badly in an indirect way for SLS. It indicates that these senators are beginning to notice the cost benefit of competition and of using the private market. Such a realization is going to eventually leak into their peanut brains about SLS, and that will not do that program any good, especially if the new commercial private companies like SpaceX continue to show success.
The year that Elon Musk’s dream almost died.
China’s new spaceport and the giant rocket it is being built for.
The competition heats up: China’s new spaceport and the giant rocket it is being built for.
The combination of the planned rocket, called the Long March 5 — and its derivatives — matched with the Wenchang Launch Center, China’s new sprawling spaceport, underscores the country’s shifting space gears. It enables China’s space station ambitions, while also boosting the nation’s plans for interplanetary exploration, as well as accomplishing human treks to the moon.
Scientists have developed a bacterium that can brew high energy rocket fuel.
Scientists have developed a bacterium that can brew high energy rocket fuel.
There are issues still that need to be solved before these bugs will be creating fuel for astronauts in space, but the process is promising, especially since it could significantly lower the cost of rocket fuel if they get it to work.