Is shooting down Phobos-Grunt an option?
Is shooting down Phobos-Grunt an option?
Tag: engineering
Soyuz capsule had docked with ISS
The Soyuz capsule with three astronauts has successfully docked with ISS.
Voyager 2 has switched to backup thrusters in an effort to extend the spacecraft’s life
Voyager 2, 9 billion miles away, has successfully switched to using its backup thrusters in an effort to extend the spacecraft’s life at least another decade.
The Chinese have completed a second docking at their space station
The Chinese have successfully completed today a second test docking between the unmanned Shenzhou space capsule and their space station Tiangong 1.
A Singaporean businessman, his wife and two children have paid $1 million to become the first Asian family to fly together on SpaceShipTwo
This is my idea of a family outing: A Singapore businessman, his wife, and two children have paid $1 million to become the first Asian family to fly together on SpaceShipTwo.
Russian space agency head says there is still a chance to save Phobos-Grunt
The head of the Russian space agency said yesterday that there is still a chance to save Phobos-Grunt.
“The probe is going to be in orbit until January, but in the first days of December the window will close” to re-programme it, he told Russian news agencies at Russia’s Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
He also said that the probe will not pose a threat, and will burn up in the atmosphere if it should fall to Earth.
Scheduling the next Dragon flight, the first to dock with ISS
Scheduling the next Dragon flight, the first to hopefully berth with ISS.
Presently they are saying early January, though it appears that no one will be surprised if it gets delayed to February.
Soyuz rocket successfully launches three astronauts into orbit
A Soyuz rocket has successfully launched three astronauts into orbit.
This is the first manned launch since the shuttles were retired, and the first Russian manned mission since the failure of a Soyuz rocket in August. If all goes well, the astronauts will dock with ISS in two days.
NASA halting work on its J-2X rocket engine
Par for the course: NASA, having successfully completed a 500 second test of the J-2X rocket engine, has halted all further development work on that engine.
The NASA program to build the heavy-lift rocket is expected to get $1.2 billion per year, and yet it doesn’t have enough money to develop both its first and second stages simultaneously? Kind of proves my point that NASA’s fixed labor costs, imposed on it by Congress, makes it impossible for the agency to ever build anything at a competitive price.
The result: every project dies stillborn.
First manned Soyuz launch set for Sunday night
The first manned Soyuz launch since the launch failure in August is set for Sunday night.
A millionaire has purchased two tickets on Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo and is looking for a woman to join him
Want a date? A millionaire has purchased two tickets on Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo and is looking for a woman to join him on the flight.
Toxic Russian Mars probe aims for Earth
It now looks like the stranded and toxic Russian Mars probe, Phobos-Grunt, is likely aimed at Earth.
We are looking at an uncontrolled toxic reentry scenario. Phobos-Grunt . . . is fully-laden with unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide; that’s ten tons of fuel and oxidizer. The probe itself weighs-in at only three tons. . . . Phobos-Grunt’s batteries are draining and its orbit is degrading. It looks as if the probe will reenter later this month/early December. NORAD is putting a Nov. 26 reentry date on Phobos-Grunt.