NASA awards $1.35M to creators after their electric plane flies 200 miles
NASA awards $1.35 million to the creators of an electric-powered plane after it flies 200 miles.
Tag: engineering
A Virgin Galactic customer gets a refund
A Virgin Galactic customer gets a refund.
An update on the ongoing X-37B mission
An update on the ongoing X-37B mission.
I like this quote from the article:
Meanwhile, Boeing has begun to look at derivatives of their X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle — including flying cargo and crew to the International Space Station. Speaking this week at the Space 2011 conference —organized by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and held in Long Beach, Calif. — Arthur Grantz of Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems sketched out a host of future uses for the space plane design. For one, the X-37B, as is, can be flown to the space station and dock to the facility’s common berthing mechanism. No new technology is required for X-37B to supply cargo services to the ISS, Grantz said. Also, an X-37C winged vehicle has been scoped out, a craft that would ride atop an Atlas 5 in un-shrouded mode.
The Boeing roadmap, Grantz added, also envisions a larger derivative of the X-37B space plane, one that can carry up to seven astronauts, as well as tote into Earth orbit a mix of pressurized and unpressurized cargo.
Dawn begins close-up orbit observations
Dawn begins close-up orbit observations of Vesta. More new results here.
In this orbit, the average distance from the spacecraft to the Vesta surface is 420 miles (680 kilometers), which is four times closer than the previous survey orbit.
The world’s largest radio telescope has opened its eyes
The world’s largest radio telescope has opened its eyes.
Test flights of SpaceShipTwo resume
After a summer break, the flight tests of SpaceShipTwo have resumed. Thursday’s test appeared to a bit more exciting that previous flights:
Test card called for releasing the Spaceship from WhiteKnightTwo and immediately entering a rapid descent. Upon release, the Spaceship experienced a downward pitch rate that caused a stall of the tails. The crew followed procedure, selecting the feather mode to revert to a benign condition. The crew then defeathered and had a nominal return to base. Great flying by the team and good demo of feather system.
Russia launches its first Soyuz rocket since the failure in August
Russia launches its first Soyuz rocket since the Progress launch failure in August.
This was a launch of a Soyuz-2 rocket, which is not identical to the Soyuz-U rocket that the Progress freighter was on. Nonetheless, the success is a good sign that they are back in business.
Five myths about China’s space effort
Five myths about China’s space effort. Key recommendation:
Recognize the significance of space as a field of competition. Beijing is not engaged in a space race with Washington. But China is engaged in a great power competition with the U.S. in which space is one arena. American decision makers should come to terms with this duality. In this regard, the Chinese are unlikely to be manipulated by American proposals on “codes of conduct” or meetings with the head of NASA. As long as Beijing and Washington are in competition, space will be one of the major venues.
And competition is not a bad thing. It is going to be the fuel that gets the human race into space.
An engineer’s take on Elon Musk’s proposal to make Falcon 9 reusable
Clark Lindsey asked an engineer experienced in building reusable spaceships for his take on Elon Musk’s proposal to make Falcon 9 reusable. The answer is fascinating.
NASA now claims it can launch a manned mission to lunar orbit by 2019
Forgive me if I remain skeptical: NASA is now claiming it will launch a manned mission to lunar orbit by 2019 using its Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket, the program-formerly-called-Constellation.
Bigelow lays off half its workforce
It’s confirmed: Bigelow Aerospace has laid off about half its workforce.
Orbital Sciences restarts engine testing for its Taurus 2 rocket
Orbital Sciences has resumed engine testing for its Taurus 2 rocket.
While many have doubts about SpaceX, SpaceX has at least flown two successful flights of its Falcon 9 rocket. Orbital needs the Taurus 2 to supply ISS, and this rocket remains untested and as yet incomplete, with the schedule bearing down on them.
Reality always wins
Elon Musk’s talk yesterday at the National Press Club revealed several interesting things, about SpaceX’s rocket effort, about the state of the American commercial space industry, and about Elon Musk himself.
First, the company’s rocket design effort. Musk centered his talk on SpaceX’s new effort to make its Falcon 9 rocket completely reusable. Though he produced little specific details, and the moderator at the event asked no questions about it, it seems the engineering centers around these three concepts:
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Bigelow lays off half its workforce
This isn’t confirmed, but a twitter comment via Trent Waddington suggests that Bigelow Aerospace has laid off half its workforce. (A hat tip also to Clark Lindsey.)
China uses “America the Beautiful” as background music for animation of Tiangong 1 launch
Catch this quick before they take it down: China used “America the Beautiful” as its background music for an animation shown during Tiangong 1’s launch yesterday.
Tiangong 1 reaches orbit
Tiangong 1 has successfully reached orbit.
China’s first space lab module Tiangong-1 blasts off
China’s first space lab module Tiangong-1 has been launched. No word yet on whether it has safely reached orbit.
SpaceX suspends production of its Falcon 1 rocket
SpaceX suspends production of its Falcon 1 rocket.
As much as I am a fan of Elon Musk and SpaceX, and though I realize that they have been focusing on getting Falcon 9 and Dragon off the ground — the payoff there is greater and a failure of Falcon 1 during this time could be very politically painful — this action contradicts SpaceX’s years of claims that they had a slew of signed contracts to launch Falcon 1.
I will be attending Elon Musk’s luncheon speech today at the National Press Club, and hope to ask him about this and other things.
Fueling has begun for today’s launch of China’s first space station module
Fueling has begun for today’s launch of China’s first space station module.
Exploring an abandoned mine in Nevada
An evening pause: From the youtube webpage:
This inclined shaft is located outside of Searchlight, NV. The shaft itself is about 350 feet deep with two extensive drift levels along its length. We found a winze [a vertical shaft] in the lowest drift level that went down to what appeared to be an additional level.
I must emphasize that mines are very dangerous, and should be approached with great care and caution. Unlike a cave, which has had eons to slowly establish its stable structure, a mine is cut into the rock instantly (compared to geological time), and is thus very unstable and prone to collapse.