Artists concept of the Ariane VI Two related items in Space News point to the growing conundrum facing Arianespace as it attempts to devise a strategy for combating the emergence of SpaceX and the Falcon 9. After repeatedly downplaying any impact from SpaceX (and generally dissing the company, its rocket and its founder) during much of […]
Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station Arguably, no-one has doe more to popularize the concept of colonizing Mars than Dr. Robert Zubrin. Through his groundbreaking book, The Case for Mars, and the efforts of the Mars Society, Zubrin has led the charge to re-think assumptions about the cost and complexity of establishing a permanent human presence […]
One of the long term challenges facing would-be pioneers off planet, is what to do with the all the waste generated. While the space station has experimented with partially closed loop recycling systems, producing potable water from urine, there is of course the other inevitable by-product of human presence to deal with as well, and […]
The Proton, Russia’s largest booster, continued its successful entry into 2014 with the March 16 launch of two communications satellites. Liftoff out of the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan took place at 3:08 am Moscow time, (7:08 pm EDT) and the Breeze M upper stage placed the Express AT-1 and Express AT-2 satellites into geostationary orbit […]
Mars One appears to be taking an another step on its long path to the Red Planet with the news out of Hollywood that Lionsgate Entertainment, which has produced his such as Mad Men, and well as film franchises Twilight and The Hunger Games, will be producing a reality based show portraying the organization’s quest to […]
Coming on the heels of releasing its “Flock 1” of 28 Earth Observation cubesats into Low Earth Orbit from the International Space Station, Planet Labs announced today that it has confirmed launch orders for 100 more of its tiny spacecraft to be carried out over the next year. The announcement does not specify which boosters […]
NASA/JPL News Story March 17, 2014 Astronomers are announcing today that they have acquired the first direct evidence that gravitational waves rippled through our infant universe during an explosive period of growth called inflation. This is the strongest confirmation yet of cosmic inflation theories, which say the universe expanded by 100 trillion trillion times, […]
Swiss Space Systems, the European startup which began operations just over a year ago with plans for an airplane launched, two-stage partially reusable space launch system, was at Cape Canaveral Friday to announce an agreement enabling zero-g, parabolic flights starting in 2015. The announcement, which was made after negotiations with Space Florida, will see a […]
Update: According to further information from Space News, the SpaceX-3 mission was delayed due to the discovery of “oily residue” on thermal blankets used to protect the Dragon spacecraft’s trunk. The concern was that out-gassing from the spots could potentially contaminate sensitive instruments fixed on the outside of the International Space Station. SpaceNews is […]
It’s difficult to say exactly why this confluence of events occurred, but space exploration’s really good media week continues Friday evening at 8 p.m. EDT with the global premier of National Geographic’s “Live from Space” broadcast event. Over the course of the two hour show, which will include video from a single 90 minute orbit, […]
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