November 16th, 2015
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New Mexico’s Spaceport America has announced a “master development plan” that opens up more “build-to-suit” parcels within the North and East Campuses at the 18,000-acre facility in Southern New Mexico. Roughly 250 acres surrounding Spaceport America’s Gateway to Space terminal — and the site’s 12,000-ft by 200-ft spaceway — will be divided into parcels of […]
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Late last week, the rover wheeled 125 feet (38 meters) across the landscape to a new position. According to Ken Herkenhoff of the USGS Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff, Arizona, the over the weekend plan calls for use of the Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam) instrument that looks at rocks and soils from a distance […]
An international airborne campaign to observe the plunge to Earth of WT1190F – an unidentified space object – has claimed victory in documenting the fiery fall off of Sri Lanka. In a statement from the SETI Institute’s rapid response team that included the International Astronomical Center in Abu Dhabi and the UAE Space Agency: “The […]
A demonstration of asteroid mining technology was conducted November 12 at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. According to Joel Sercel of TransAstra Corporation, initial large scale testing of Optical Mining was completed — an innovative approach for extracting rocket propellants from asteroids that could soon make space rocks ubiquitous refueling stations for […]
Updated: Langbroek of SatTrackCam Leiden, the Netherlands reports that the first imagery is in of the re-entry of artificial object WT1190F south of Sri Lanka at 6:18 UT today, coming from a trans-Lunar orbit. Imagery is from a research aircraft organized by UAE Space Agency, IAC, NASA, ESA. Go to: https://youtu.be/YJT-q8_dl88 Whatever it was – but […]
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover has surveyed prominent mineral veins at the site dubbed “Garden City” – features that vary in thickness and brightness. For example, types of vein material evident in that area include: 1) thin, dark-toned fracture filling material; 2) thick, dark-toned vein material in large fractures; 3) light-toned vein material, which was deposited […]
Two U.S. space mining companies issued separate statements yesterday signaling their thumbs up thanks for Congressional legislation that enables the commercial exploration and use of space resources. The U.S. Senate yesterday passed legislation — Title IV of S.1297, the U.S. Commercial Space Launch Competitive Act of 2015. This legislation promotes the right of U.S. citizens […]
Work is progressing on a deep-space technology-demonstration mission that would also be the first probe to rendezvous with a double asteroid. The Asteroid Impact Mission, or AIM, is undergoing detailed design ahead of a final go/no-go decision by the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Ministerial Council next year – in December 2016. AIM is Europe’s contribution […]
Virgin Galactic announced today the appointment of female pilot, Kelly Latimer, as part of the company’s commercial operations team. Latimer is a former combat veteran and retired US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel and joins Virgin Galactic with extensive experience with heavy aircraft and as an experimental test pilot for NASA, Boeing, and the US […]
Explore Mars, Inc. has produced the first annual Humans to Mars Report (H2MR). This report provides updates on challenges, plus progress in areas such as mission architecture design and development, scientific discoveries, policy, public perception, international cooperation and competition, and new private capabilities. Analytical tool As noted in the report’s introduction, authored by Chris Carberry, […]
