June 11th, 2014
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UPDATE: NASA’s Low Density Supersonic Decelerator will not launch Saturday, June 14, due to unfavorable weather conditions forecast for this last designated launch date in the current launch period. NASA will research range availability for the coming weeks and the costs associated with extending the test flight period for launching LDSD’s high-altitude balloon and […]
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The world lost a global visionary. Here’s my new SPACE.com account: Peter Glaser, Father of Solar-Power Satellite Idea, Dies at 90 http://www.space.com/26175-peter-glaser-solar-power-satellite-obituary.html
Sally Ride – America’s First Woman in Space by Lynn Sherr; Simon & Schuster, New York, New York; $28.00; June 2014. This is a truly inspiring book, written by a top-notch journalist about an extraordinary woman – Dr. Sally Ride. It’s corny to talk of Ride as a woman who simply served up the proverbial […]
A special video now highlights the findings of a just-released report from the U.S. National Research Council (NRC): Pathways to Exploration – Rationales and Approaches for a U.S. Program of Human Space Exploration. Go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiUJ2EfDDp0 Issued June 4th, the NRC report is arguing for a continuation of America’s human space exploration program. This study […]
The U.S. Department of Defense has released its annual report to Congress on military and security developments in China. Parts of the report deal with that country’s military space and space industry capabilities. Noted in the report, for example, are: 1) Development of a second Chinese responsive space launch vehicle dubbed the Long March 11 […]
Globaïa has created a compelling infographic on asteroid impacts. This bit of visual feast is based on the B612 Foundation’s video on incoming events between 2000 and 2013: See that thanks to Spine films at: http://vimeo.com/92478179 The data was collected by a network of sensors that monitors Earth around the clock listening for the infrasound […]
Last month, testing of an Airbus Defense and Space’s SpacePlane quarter-scale demonstrator showcased the conditions a full-scale craft would encounter in returning from space after suborbital missions. Airbus envisions that its business jet-sized SpacePlane – using a combination of jet engines and a rocket engine – can fly to the edge of space hauling passengers […]
China has made use of its Lunar Palace 1- a ground-based artificial closed ecological facility. Last month, three volunteers stepped out of the research facility, concluding a 105-day test – the first long-duration multi-crew sealed cabin research carried out in China. “Lunar Palace 1” refers to the Integrative Experimental Facility for Permanent Astrobase Life-support Artificial […]
An important new report advocates that America should pursue a disciplined “pathway” approach – executing a series of intermediate steps along the way – that lead to the “horizon goal” of planting the first human footprints on Mars. “All long-range space programs, by all potential partners, for human space exploration converge on this goal,” the […]
The U.S. Air Force has awarded to Lockheed Martin a five-year $914.7 million contract to build an advanced ground-based radar system – a “Space Fence.” Lockheed Martin beat out Raytheon for the new network of ground-based radars. This radar system will be sited on the Kwajelein Atoll to improve the ability to identify and track […]
