The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) was established to ”develop space technology and its application to various national tasks.” ISRO has successfully launched numerous satellites with applications in communication, navigation, Earth observation, and in 2008 launched India’s first lunar probe, Chandrayaan-1. But for the past two month, ISRO has been tied up in a controversy that has divided its scientists and [...]
Archive for February, 2012
Open issues with the official Phobos-Grunt accident report
Source: James Oberg for The Space Review With the release in Moscow on February 3 of the summary report from the investigation commission for the Fobos-Grunt debacle, the story has dropped from the news. But that is a pity because the report itself shows it is by no means the end of the story of this heartbreaking Russian space setback. [...]
U.S. Strategic Command Seek SSA Cooperation With Allies
U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM) is reportedly entering into a discovery period whereby it will be speaking with allies about bringing together their combined space situational assets (SSA) to create a unified command. The proposed unified command would combine the capabilities of the allies involved to perform SSA activities, including launch support, maneuver planning, on-orbit anomaly resolution, electromagnetic interference reporting and [...]
NASA Scientist Wins a Trip On The Lynx
Thomas Goodwin, a physiology and bioengineering researcher at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, won a free suborbital flight aboard XCOR’s experimental Lynx vehicle. Goodwin’s name was randomly selected during the 2012 Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference (NSRC) on February 27th. “I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to accept this” Goodwin said “I’m very surprised.” Attendees to [...]
Solar Storms Pass Harmlessly
From February 23 to February 24, five solar storms released high energy particles out into the solar system. Two of the storms released coronal mass ejections in the direction of Earth. By February 26, all danger of geomagnetic fall-out was past with only some heightened aurorae as proof of the storms’ passing. The video below, courtesy of NASA, shows a close-up of the magnetic solar [...]
OCO: Lessons Learned and Opportunities Lost
On February 24, 2009, NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) sucessfully lifted off from Vandenberg Airforce Base aboard a Taurus XL rocket. It then plunged back through the atmosphere when the fairing failed to separate, preventing the satellite from boosting into its injection orbit. The satellite was intended to serve a critical function, measuring time-dependent distribution of carbon dioxide concentration in the [...]
Survey: Gaining Perspective on Space Security
Source: Rachel C. Samples Against the backdrop of the recently complete Symposium on the Sustainability of Space Activities at the International Space University (ISU) in Strasbourg, France, a survey was unveiled to gain a greater understanding of space professionals’ opinions on the security of space assets. Too often, matters of security are discussed only behind closed doors. This survey, which runs from February [...]
Crashed mystery sphere in Brazil could be coolant tank
Thousands of locals are flocking to the Brazilian village of Riacho dos Poços to see a large metal object that reportedly fell from the sky. Although no one was injured, the object narrowly missed the home where Valdir José Mendes was sleeping, severing a cashew tree and embedding itself in the ground a few meters away. The roughly 1m spherical [...]
The Last Word on Space Sustainability
In the third and final day of the International Space University (ISU) Symposium on Sustainability of Space Activities, speakers addressed topics ranging from situational awareness networks to preparing for catastrophic event response. The morning session was dedicated to Cooperative Approaches to Improved Space Sustainability. Complementary speakers from different Astrium divisions demonstrated the relative advantages and disadvantages of ground based and space [...]
Solar Dynamics Observatory Captures Partial Eclipse
Source: NASA On February 21, 2012, the Moon moved in between NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) satellite and the Sun (seen here in extreme ultraviolet light) and produced a partial solar eclipse from space. The SDO team observed the lunar transit, which began at about 8.10 am EST and ended about 10 am EST. The SDO is a critical contributor [...]
