September 18th, 2015
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A recent drive by the Curiosity Mars rover of 54 feet (16.6 meters) was completed on Sol 1107. That drive placed the rover in front of a bright outcrop of interest, explains Ken Herkenhoff of the USGS Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff, Arizona. Rover planners have found some bright blocks that have been confirmed as […]
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A new method to harvest asteroids is being eyed as a possible game changer for space exploration. The ability to tap mega-amounts of water from asteroids could be used directly as propellant in solar thermal rockets to provide inexpensive space transportation. Rock star status Experimental work on the Asteroid Provided In-Situ […]
From the NASA History Program Office, a new monograph in aerospace history is available that’s a fascinating read. Emblems of Exploration: Logos of the NACA and NASA has been written by Joseph R. Chambers and Mark A. Chambers. This publication concentrates on the rich and interesting history of the conception and implementation of the […]
On the Moon or Mars, cozy and self-deployable autonomous habitats might rule the day and night given the extreme climes at those extraterrestrial addresses. Enter the “SHEE project” – the Self-deployable Habitat for Extreme Environments. The concept is the product of an architecture research idea initiated by architect Ondrej Doule, detailed here August 31 at […]
Very special radio signals are slated to bounce off the surface of the Moon on September 26 – one of them a sound produced from the Electrocardiogram (EKG) during Neil Armstrong’s historic “One small step” onto the lunar surface. The Giant Step and Lune sur la Lune projects pay tribute to Apollo astronaut Neil Armstrong’s […]
Entrepreneur Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com fame announced his plans today during Florida Space Coast festivities. Here are his prepared remarks released by his rocket company, Blue Origin: Today we announced that we’ll be flying our orbital launch vehicle from Florida. Cape Canaveral has long been a gateway to humankind’s greatest adventures. As a kid, I […]
The performance of Virgin Galactic’s air-launched system, LauncherOne, is to be “significantly” increased – nearly doubling the amount of payload customers can deliver to orbit for the same price. For a price below $10 million, LauncherOne will now be able to launch 440 pounds (200 kilograms) into the standard Sun-Synchronous Orbit most commonly desired by […]
A new RAND Corporation report suggests that although China continues to lag behind the United States in terms of aggregate military hardware and operational skills, it has improved its capabilities relative to those of the United States in many critical areas. Regarding space capabilities, the report includes these chapters: — U.S. Counterspace Capabilities Versus Chinese […]
NASA’s Centennial Challenges includes an innovative 3-D Printed Habitat Challenge – a competition that was initiated last May. NASA and the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute — known as America Makes — are holding a new $2.25 million competition to design and build a 3-D printed habitat for deep space exploration, including the agency’s […]
The artistic talent of Tyler Skrabek has produced the new and informative poster: Spacecraft of the World. “Spacecraft of the World represents one of my most passionate interests, space exploration, more specifically, the vehicles that aid us in our exploration endeavors,” Skrabek explains. “With this poster I wanted to explore the actual vehicles that astronauts […]
