Since humans began to walk the Earth, we have been explorers by necessity and by choice. Something within ourselves drives us to seek out new places and opportunities. Without this drive to explore, our world would be a very different place today.
Where would we be if Christopher Columbus felt content in Europe? What if Thomas Edison was happy with the amount of light candles emitted? What if Mark Zuckerberg never founded Facebook? Well, society could probably live without that last example. In all seriousness, the urge to explore is as natural as breathing.
Every time I watch Congress struggle with seemingly endless budget talks, it is bewildering why NASA is always on the chopping block. Of all the parts that make up the budget, I fail to understand how cutting NASA, which currently makes up a mere .5 percent of the budget, will somehow promote “fiscal accountability.” (2/12)
Farewell to Yutu (Source: Space Daily)
By now, it seems almost certain that China's Yutu Moon rover has died a premature death in the cold lunar night. The rover has been exposed to sunlight for a few days, and there has been no word of it waking up. Yutu's problems began roughly three weeks ago when a solar panel failed to fold inwards over the rover's body, just before night fell at the rover's landing site. The folding panel was designed to protect the rover's interior during the two-week lunar night, by trapping heat from a radioisotope source. Without this protection, the rover's electronics have apparently frozen. (2/12)
Jade Rabbit: China's Lunar Rover Officially Dead (Source: WIRED)
Mechanical problems affecting Yutu, China's first lunar rover, cannot be fixed and the spacecraft will not be restored, according to a short statement on a Chinese news site. Users of Chinese microblogging network Weibo have reportedly been posting missives to Yutu, also known as Jade Rabbit, ever since the abnormalities with the rover first came to light a couple of weeks ago. The blessings have turned to messages of mourning, now it has been confirmed there is no way to bring the rover back from the dead. (2/12)
Bob Werb Retires, and Jeff Feige Elected Chairman at Space Frontier Foundation (Source: SFF)
The Board of Directors of the Space Frontier Foundation announced today that Bob Werb, Co-Founder and long-time Chairman of the Board, has retired from the position, and that they have unanimously elected space entrepreneur Jeff Feige to take over as the Foundation’s new Chairman. (2/12)
Generation Orbit Signs Investment Banking Agreement (Source: SpaceRef)
On January 17th, 2014, Generation Orbit Launch Services, Inc. (GO) signed an exclusive investment banking agreement with The Inman Company, a leading regional investment banking firm. As part of the GO team, Inman will assist in raising capital to fund GO's continuing growth and will then advise management on maximizing shareholder value.
Generation Orbit, with its network of key industry participants, is developing the GOLauncher, an air-launched rocket system specifically designed for launching small satellite payloads. GOLauncher offers fast, flexible, and dedicated space transportation services for nano and microsatellites, enabling developers and operators to unlock the full commercial and scientific potential of this rapidly growing market segment. (2/12)
Return of the Workhorse, Delta-2 (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
A quarter-century since its first launch Friday, preparations are underway to end a mini-hiatus and return to the business of launching Delta 2 rockets, if only for a little while longer. The United Launch Alliance vehicle debuted on Valentine's Day 1989, and since then has flown 150 more times over the past 25 years. It has performed successfully a remarkable 149 times, including the last 96 straight launches.
But there's been a gap for the past two years with no flights. The matching of ready payloads with the rocket meant no launches until this summer when the start of the final sendoff to the Delta 2 begins. There's pieces and parts to build just five more Delta 2 rockets and four of them have been sold to NASA. First up is OCO 2, the replacement Orbiting Carbon Observatory to launch July 1 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. (2/12)
ViaSat Gears Up for Loral Trial, Reports Slower Exede Growth (Source: Space News)
Satellite broadband hardware and services provider ViaSat said it is ratcheting up legal expenses as it prepares for a March trial in its lawsuit against former supplier Loral over allegations of contract breach and patent infringement. ViaSat reported double-digit percentage increases in revenue and gross profit for the nine months ending Jan. 3, but the company said its recent star performer — the North American consumer satellite broadband service Exede — added fewer subscribers than expected toward the end of 2013. (2/12)
Airbus Getting $81 Million from ESA Ariane 6 Feasibility Studies (Source: Space News)
Airbus Defence and Space will pursue definition and feasibility studies of Europe’s proposed next-generation Ariane 6 rocket through 2014 under a contract with the European Space Agency valued at 60 million euros ($81 million). Under the contract, which an ESA official said was signed Feb. 10, Airbus will “consolidate the launcher’s main characteristics” based on the ESA-approved design of a vehicle with solid-fueled first and second stages, two solid-fueled strap-on boosters and a reignitable cryogenic upper stage. (2/12)
OIG: NASA Has 15,000 Unclosed Expired Awards (Source: NASA Watch)
As of October 2013, NASA had more than 15,000 award instruments that had expired but were not yet closed. NASA contracts with a private company to assist with the closeout process. The OIG found that although NASA has slowed the growth of its backlog of instruments awaiting closeout, the Agency needs to make further improvements to its closeout process. (2/12)
Landing of Russian and US Astronauts Moved Forward to March 11 (Source: Itar-Tass)
The landing of the Soyuz TMA-10M reentry capsule with two Russian cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut has been moved forward from March 12 to March 11. The landing site has also been moved from Arkalyk, Kazakhstan, because of large snowdrifts in the area, said Alexei Krasnov, who is responsible for piloted missions in the Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos). (2/12)
Defunct Soviet Reconnaissance Satellite May Hit Earth (Source: RIA Novosti)
A decommissioned Soviet military satellite will burn up in the atmosphere Sunday in an uncontrolled descent and surviving fragments may hit Earth, according to an aerospace defense official. The military is actively monitoring the satellite using its space tracking network, which has indicated that it will impact the Pacific Ocean on Sunday, Colonel Alexei Zolotukhin said Friday. (2/12)
Russia Gives India, UK Satellite Images of Disaster Areas (Source: RIA Novosti)
Russia’s space agency said Wednesday that it has supplied fresh satellite images to assist Britain and India cope with unfolding natural disasters blighting the two nations. The Resurs-P satellite launched by Russia last summer on Thursday photographed areas along the southern coast of England, which is currently battling floods caused by torrential downpours that began in January. (2/12)
Gigantic Black Hole Jets Shines in Amazing New Video, Photo (Source: Space.com)
While the black hole jet is a prominent feature, the picture also shows what scientists think to be the leftovers of a collision between Centaurus A (Cen A for short) and a smaller galaxy millions of years ago. The "dust lane" that wraps around the middle of Cen A could be the remains of the incorporated galaxy, NASA officials said. Click here. (2/12)
A Launch Site at Shiloh? No: Refuge is Too Fragile (Source: Daytona Beach News-Journal)
Space Florida’s decision to pick a fight with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and invade the heart of the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge is extremely disappointing. It is particularly disturbing, considering that NASA has had a harmonious existence with the refuge for 50 years.
In 2008, NASA studied placing more launch pads for the private space industry north of S.R. 402 near Space Florida’s Shiloh proposal. NASA wisely concluded that those sites were too environmentally damaging and disruptive. NASA prepared a new master plan for space development in 2012, titled “Kennedy Space Center — Future Development Concept 2012-2031”. There are no proposals for launch pads north of S.R. 402. This plan offers ample space to private space contractors and Space Florida south of S.R. 402. (2/12)
A Launch Site at Shiloh? Yes: Environment Right for Success (Source: Daytona Beach News-Journal)
As a 30-year resident of Volusia County, I am proud to be involved in the spaceport project in southeastern Volusia County. It is clear that the positive impact of this project can help drive our community’s future progress and quality of life. I was transferred here in 1984 for a project, with plans to return to South Florida when it was finished. But the quality of life was and still is superior in Volusia County, so I stayed here with my family.
My children were raised here but when one excelled in higher education, she was recruited to another state that offers more high-paying technical jobs. I’m tired of watching us raise great kids, educate them with our tax dollars and then see them move to other states for job opportunities that don’t exist here. But when I see the spaceport project, I think of the impact it could have in creating startup companies and entrepreneurial activities. I think of the impact on our own Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and the students who will come to see Shiloh as a one-of-a-kind laboratory.
The Shiloh project is well planned, well designed and most importantly, is necessary for our region’s economic future. Kennedy Space Center is not designed to support the entrepreneurial activity of a commercial space program. A site dedicated to commercial space flight will give private enterprise opportunities to thrive. It is an environment built for success. (2/12)
Russian Space Telescope Enters Guinness Book of Records (Source: RIA Novosti)
Russia’s Spektr-R telescope has been named the largest orbital radio telescope by Guinness World Records. The telescope, with a diameter of 10 meters, was launched in July 2011 from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan.
"The [Guinness] certificate is the result of the scientific success of the Spektr-R project, which has been confirmed by the outcome of its work in orbit published in the Journal of Astronomy,” Russia’s Lebedev Physics Institute said Wednesday. (2/12)
Meet Three People Applying For One-Way Trip to Mars (Source: Universe Today)
If you were to find yourself on the Red Planet, what would you do when you get there? Those who made the second round of the Mars One mission (which aims to establish a colony on Mars in the next decade) are a step closer to answering that question. In interviews with Universe Today, applicants Andrew Rader, Max Fagin and Brian Hinson explained what they’ll do if they embark on a planned one-way trip to the Red Planet. Click here. (2/12)
No comments:
Post a Comment