May 9th, 2016
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Nobody ever claimed that planting humans on Mars was easy – and that keeping them there safe and sound was a slam dunk. Next week, the Humans to Mars Summit (H2M) will spotlight the needed steps to enable human exploration of the Red Planet by the 2030s. This confab of experts takes place May […]
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The space future comes into sharp focus by the farsighted entrepreneur Richard Branson in a special series of articles as part of Aviation Week & Space Technology’s special centennial issue. Branson has created Virgin Galactic’s commercial spaceline, the LauncherOne small-satellite launch service, and an aerospace manufacturing arm – The Spaceship Company. Greater purpose […]
As part of Aviation Week & Space Technology’s special centennial issue, aerospace imagineer, Burt Rutan, founder of Scaled Composites, has shared his thoughts on the next 100 years of aerospace, and the ingredients required for technological breakthroughs. Rutan led the team who created the first privately built spacecraft to send humans into space – SpaceShipOne […]
Last March, a magnetically-levitated rocket sled set a world record, racing across a nearly frictionless track at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico. The speed attained by the 2,000-pound, magnetically-levitated (Maglev) sled was clocked at 633 miles per hour, operated by the 846th Test Squadron at the facility. This was the fastest speed […]
A newly released, award-winning GoPro video captures the November 6th, 2015 rocket flight of UP Aerospace Inc. – a 20-foot (6 meter) tall SL-10 suborbital rocket. The mission deployed the Maraia Capsule testing the aerodynamics and stability of the payload on re-entry to the atmosphere. Designed and built by NASA’s Johnson Space Flight Center, Maraia […]
One small tweet for humankind…a giant leap to Mars? A lot of high fives have been flying since Elon Musk and his fellow Musketeers tweeted April 27: “Planning to send Dragon to Mars as soon as 2018. Red Dragons will inform overall Mars architecture, details to come.” Details aside, at SpaceX they’ve never been secretive […]
In space history, only a handful of Russian and American travelers have experienced single-person orbital flight. That “you’re on your own” encapsulated feeling is palpable as you face your instrument panel. A three month competition has led to some creative interiors for a single-person spacecraft. Genesis Engineering Solutions (GES) in Lanham, Maryland sponsored the contest […]
The recent loss of Japan’s X-ray Astronomy Satellite ASTRO-H (Hitomi) is a blow to acquiring new space-based views of the universe – but also adds to the growing issue of Earth orbiting debris. Furthermore, some of the errant 2.7 ton spacecraft is expected to reach terra firma when it eventually makes it fiery fall through […]
The next frontier in space exploration is Mars, the red planet—and human habitation of Mars isn’t much farther off. In October 2015, NASA declared Mars “an achievable goal;” that same season, Ridley Scott and Matt Damon’s The Martian drew crowds into theaters, grossing nearly half a billion dollars in the first two months. Now […]
What kind of map is needed to best aide human explorers strutting about on Mars? An international call is open to students, cartographers, and graphic artists from all countries to participate in planning the first human mission to Mars. The International Cartographic Association (ICA) Commission on Planetary Cartography is organizing a competition for creating maps […]
