Note: More evidence that it does not take a wildly overpriced launch vehicle to achieve an excellent success record. More broadly, India’s space program is off to a good start in 2014, having seen a long awaited fully domestic success with the larger GSLV, and its Mars Orbiter probe functioning nominally on the way to […]
When the Inspiration Mars proposal was originally introduced, at least from a NewSpace perspective, the inspirational part was the fact that Dennis Tito and company seemed intent on using commercial hardware to achieve the first human circumnavigation of Mars, thereby showing that significant accomplishments could be made without the use of hyper-expensive launch systems and […]
NASA News Release On Wednesday, NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover drove the last 98 feet feet (30 meters) needed to arrive at a site planned since early 2013 as a destination for studying rock clues about ancient environments that may have been favorable for life. The rover reached a vantage point for its cameras to survey […]
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech The treasure trove which is the Cassini spacecraft orbiting the Saturn system continues to produce fascinating discoveries. Now it appears that Saturn’s moon Enceladus has a subsurface ocean, one which is likely responsible for the geysers which Enceladus is jetting into space. It is important to note that after the end of […]
Late Wednesday, NASA’s still cordial relationship with Russia took an odd turn when NasaWatch reported rumors of an internal email advising NASA personnel to suspend all communications with the Russian government, except where the International Space Station is concerned. Later in the evening the agency posted the following “official” statement on its Google Plus account, […]
A recent KSC launch award to Orbital Sciences Corporation for a 2016 mission highlights just how expensive the Pegasus booster, once hailed as revolutionary, has become. The $55 million order for the air launched Pegasus for the CYGNSS mission is nearly what SpaceX is charging a commercial customer for the EELV class Falcon 9, […]
“Over the past year, the 80 programs of the 2013 portfolio have grown by a total of $12.6 billion, a net cost increase nearly all attributable to the significant procurement cost associated with one program—the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle.” And that’s just from the front page. In what is becoming a repeated annual refrain, the […]
In a media driven culture, major shifts in national policy can sometimes be traced to the point at which key opinion makers change their minds on a given subject. For example, it is often said that Walter Cronkite’s coverage of the Tet Offensive in the Vietnam War was the deciding factor in shaping how the […]
ATV-4 Prepares for Launch, Image Credit Arianespace NASA has announced that it is extending the existing commercial resupply contacts held by Orbital Sciences and SpaceX through 2017, even as it holds the door open for competition from other potential providers in the next round of competition labelled CRS2. Based on the announcement which is included […]
Swiss Space Systems unveiled its worldwide Zero G flight schedule for 2015 in a March newsletter today. Lifting off from 24 different airfields and every continent except Antarctica, the company’s specially modified Airbus A-300 will span the globe, offering parabolic flights with passengers grouped into three different zones. Beginning at under 2,000 Euros, the “Party […]
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