Take a gander at this spectacular image of the shuttle approaching ISS, taken by an amateur astronomer from the ground!
The beer has landed: The first test of space beer in weightlessness has been completed. Key quote:
Astronauts4Hire Flight Member Todd Romberger was selected to perform the flight research. Todd sampled the beer during 12 microgravity parabolas, each reproducing the weightless conditions of space for 30 seconds at a time, and recorded qualitative data on beverage taste and drinkability as well as biometric data to gain a first look at alcohol effects the body.
This is why I call it pork and a waste of money: NASA’s chief technologist admits it will be a decade before Orion and the heavy-lift rocket mandated by Congress flies.
So what the shuttle is being retired! Space tourism is poised to blast off in the next two years.
More launch news: The launch of the climate satellite Glory was postponed again today. No new launch date is set.
More station news: The shuttle Discovery has lifted off on its last mission.
Europe’s Kepler cargo vehicle has docked with ISS.
The automatic docking of the European Kepler freighter to the space station is now set for 10:47 pm (Eastern) tonight.
Want to go to space? Come to the Isle of Man.
The second X-37B has arrived in Florida in preparation for a March 4th launch.
The final launch for the space shuttle Discovery has now been set for Thursday, February 24.
The robot arm on ISS shifted the Japanese freighter docked there to a different port today to clear a path for the shuttle.
According to its manager, the budget troubles of the James Webb Space Telescope will likely keep it on the ground until 2016.
This is terrible news for space-based astrophysics. Until Webb gets launched, NASA will have no money for any other space telescope project. And since all the space telescopes presently in orbit are not expected to be operating at the end of the decade, by 2020 the U.S. space astronomy program will essentially be dead.
Then again, there is the private sector, as Google Lunar X Prize is demonstrating.
Now, was that so hard? The U.S. military is turning to the private sector to fill its satellite communications needs.
How hibernating bears could help man get to Mars.
A new report says that government spending on space will flatten worldwide over the next five years. Some key quotes from the news story however suggest all is not going downhill:
A total of 692 satellites will be launched by governments in the coming decade, up 43% from the previous decade. This is a direct reflection of the increasing number of new space-capable countries across the globe. Civil agencies will launch roughly 75% of these satellites, a significant increase compared to the last decade during which they accounted for 67% of all government satellites launched.
Also, while certain areas will show a decline (the U.S. manned program) others appear robust.
Access to space (launch capability) investments reached $4.6 billion in 2010, and should be sustained in the coming years as more governments see independent access to space as a top priority of their space programs.
In both of the above examples, the areas where space activity will increase is because of the arrival of new space-faring nations (India, Japan, China to name only the most obvious), what I have been calling the new colonial movement. I also believe that as these new countries begin to show their stuff in space, their success will further fuel the competition, and the older space-faring nations will come back to life in order to stay in the game.
This week’s release of cool images from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter included the color image below of a region on the floor of Holden Crater, one of the four possible landing sites for Curiosity, the Mars Science Laboratory planned for launch later this year. (If you want to see the entire image at higher resolution, you can download it here.)
Two things that immediately stand out about this image (other than this looks like an incredibly spectacular place to visit):
The Google Lunar X Prize has announced the final roster of teams competing for its $30 Million prize.
Thousands of previously unknown ruins in Saudi Desert spotted from space.
Meanwhile, up on ISS two Russians have successfully completed a five hour spacewalk, getting all their work done early.
Europe’s second ISS freighter, dubbed Johannes Kepler, launched successfully today.
China on the march! The next flight of their Shenzhou manned spacecraft could be a three week unmanned mission designed to test rendezvous and docking with their soon-to-launch Tiangong 1 space laboratory.
The delay yesterday of the launch of the European cargo ship to ISS might also delay the next Shuttle launch.
Australian space beer ready for micro-gravity test.
The launch of Europe’s freighter to ISS was scrubbed today. They will try again tomorrow.
The first images from Stardust of Comet Tempel 1 have been released. More to come later today.
Update: some glitch is delaying the download of the images. Instead of arriving as programmed, they are arriving in the order taken.
How to watch Stardust’s Comet Tempel 1 flyby tonight.
