November 16th, 2014
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The NASA Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued a November 14 report that flags the space agency’s current and top management and performance challenges. Its key observation is that NASA’s “static” budgets, along with fiscal uncertainties, makes it tough for the space agency to move forward on its agenda. Looking forward to 2015, the NASA […]
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Update – the Philae lander has entered sleep mode at 01:36 Central European Time (CET) on November 15, 2014. The Philae lander performed about 56 hours of continuous scientific measurements on the surface of Comet 67P. But by 01:15 CET on November 15 the energy state of the lander became so low that the engineers […]
Here’s new news via old data! Data gathered by U.S. government sensors onboard hush-hush spacecraft — and released to NASA for use by the science community — reveal that small impact events are frequent and random. A map of these small impact events – known as fireballs or bolides –has been released by NASA and […]
A new story from me, up today on Space.com: Innovative ‘Starshade’ Tech Could Illuminate Rocky Alien Planets by Leonard David, Space.com’s Space Insider Columnist November 14, 2014 06:56am ET http://www.space.com/27765-starshade-tech-alien-planet-search.html
The European Rosetta mission deposited the Philae lander onto comet Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko on November 12, Central European Time. European space scientists confirmed that the probe bounced three times prior to coming to a stand-still attitude. Harpoons on the lander did not fire and Philae appeared to be rotating after the first touchdown, which indicated that […]
Europe’s Rosetta spacecraft deployed the Philae lander – achieving a space first. They have been riding through space together for more than 10 years. Philae is the first probe to land on a comet, while Rosetta is the first to rendezvous with a comet and follow it around the Sun. The information collected by Philae at one […]
Russian rocketeers are readying the Angara 5 heavy-lift booster for an end of December liftoff. This will be the first launch of the heavy-class Angara 5 booster. The creation of the Angara family of launch vehicles signals a growing capability to launch a variety of spacecraft from the territory of Russia. Developer of the Angara […]
The tragic accident on October 31 involving the private spaceliner, SpaceShipTwo, and the loss of one of its two test pilots, Mike Alsbury, has been addressed in a special message from the CEO of the Mojave Air and Space Port, Stuart Witt: “The past three weeks have proven exceedingly challenging for the entire Mojave Flight […]
A ceremony in China has showcased the re-entry capsule that recently flew a circumlunar trajectory and returned to Earth under parachute. In a website posting by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, images are shown of what is now affectionately known as the “little fly” spacecraft. Shown in photos are items flown in the […]
The European Space Agency (ESA) is working with architects at Foster+Partners to evaluate constructing a Moon base via 3D printing using lunar soil. Started in 2013, the collaboration is eying the rim of Shackleton Crater at the lunar south pole for the base location. A multi-dome lunar base could be built based on the 3D […]
