Archive for March, 2012

Apollo 11 Engines To Be Recovered

A view of five F-1 engines on the Saturn 5 that launched NASA's Apollo 11 from Kennedy Space Center in 1969 (Credits: NASA).

In 1969 Apollo 11 launched atop a Saturn 5 rocket. The five F-1 engines on the first stage of that rocket dropped into the Atlantic Ocean as planned, minutes after take-off. And there they have remained, at the bottom of the ocean, undisturbed - until now. Jeff Bezos, founder of Blue Origin as well as Amazon.com, announced that an effort to located [...]

read more

SpaceX Announces Independent Safety Advisory Panel for Commercial Crew

Rendition of the spaceborn Dragon capsule (Credits: SpaceX).

The following press release was published by SpaceX on March 29, 2012. Source: SpaceX Hawthorne, CA – Today, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), one of the leading private companies working to restore America’s ability to carry astronauts to the Space Station, announced it has assembled a team of outside experts to help the company create the world’s safest human spaceflight system. [...]

read more

NASA Announces Aeronautics Research Institute

A view of Hangar One, located inside NASA Ames (Credits: NASA)

Source: NASA. MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. — NASA’s Ames Research Center will host a virtual institute to solicit and foster innovative ideas that address technological challenges facing aviation and the U.S. air transportation system today and in the future. Jaiwon Shin, NASA’s associate administrator for aeronautics research in Washington, and Ames Director S. Pete Worden signed an agreement Tuesday establishing the [...]

read more

ATV Successfully Docks with ISS

Video still of ATV Edoardo Amaldi docking with the International Space Station. The image is taken from the same video that is used by astronauts and the ATV Control Centre to monitor the approach (Credits: ESA/NASA).

Source: ESA ESA’s ATV Edoardo Amaldi has completed the first stage of its docking with the Russian Zvezda module of the International Space Station. The docking occurred smoothly when ATV’s docking probe was captured by Zvezda’s docking cone at 00:31 CEST ( 22:31 GMT). The docking probe is now retracting, to be followed by the hooks between the two craft closing. The data [...]

read more

Stephen Hawking Receives Robert A Heinlein Memorial Award

Stephen Hawking being presented by his daughter Lucy Hawking at the lecture he gave for NASA's 50th anniversary (Credits: NASA/Paul Alers).

The National Space Society published the following press release on March 28. Source: National Space Society The National Space Society (NSS) is pleased to announce Dr. Stephen Hawking as the 14th recipient of NSS’s Robert A. Heinlein Memorial Award. The award will be presented to Dr. Hawking at a special ceremony at the Cooks Branch Conservancy in Montgomery, Texas on [...]

read more

Russia is Developing a Nuclear Space Engine by 2017

Artist's conception of a nuclear thermal rocket for interplanetary missions (Credits: Pat Rawlings for NASA)

According to press agency RIA Novosti, Russia is developing a Megawatt-class nuclear propulsion system for long-range manned spacecraft. “At present we are testing several types of fuel,” said Denis Kovalevich, Skolkovo Foundation’s Nuclear Cluster head, “the engine is expected to be ready by 2017.” The source reports a government allocation of 500 million rubles ($16.7 million) in 2010 to start a project of a [...]

read more

Missed Opportunity Shines Light on Satellite Repurposing

Artist's conception of the Russian Express-AM4 telecommunications satellite (Credits: EADS Astrium).

Russia deorbited the Express-AM4 communication satellite on March 25, despite pleas by startup company Polar Broadband Systems Ltd. to allow the wayward satellite to be put to a new use. The satellite reentered Earth’s atmosphere and landed in the Pacific Ocean. “It was getting a lot of discussion,” says William Readdy, one of the startup’s principals. “For whatever reason, we [...]

read more

Beautiful View of Stars from the ISS

Beautiful View of Stars from the ISS

With all the wonderful observation imagery compiled by NASA’s Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth, the stars can get left behind. Alex Rivest compiled the imagery against a London PM music soundtrack. Star-trails processed using StarStaX. Credit: NASA / JSC / Editor – Alex Rivest / Music – London PM     Staff WritersMore Posts

read more

Soviet Weather Satellite Reenters Over Antarctica

Conceptual drawing of the Meteor satellite.

The Meteor 1-1 weather satellite, first of its kind for the the Soviet Union, reentered over the Queen Maud Land region of  Antarctica on Tuesday 27 after more than four decades in orbit. According to Col. Alexey Zolotukhin, Space Forces spokesman, “fragments of the Meteor 1-1 satellite entered the Earth’s atmosphere at 02:17 a.m. Moscow time on Tuesday [22:17 GMT Monday].” The Meteor [...]

read more

Tomatoes for Mars: Canadian School Project Improves Space Gardening

Researcher at NASA Johnson Space Center studies oxygen producing plants (Credits: NASA).

Technology is not the answer for everything.  Canadian scientists working on Life Support Systems for long duration missions have known this for a long time. Instead of developing sophisticated systems for recycling carbon dioxide and waste or providing water, food, and oxygen, they seek inspiration in nature.  Plants have successfully provided food and air on Earth for millions of years, [...]

read more