Archive for November, 2014

NASA Announces the 4 Million Kilometer Cube Quest Challenge

NASA Announces the 4 Million Kilometer Cube Quest Challenge

Though they may have been considered something of a novelty when cubesats first entered the space industry, today it may be difficult to overstate the potential of these diminutive spacecraft to change the way in which we explore, learn and conduct commerce in the final frontier. While cubesats are finding an initial niche in low […]

Posted in: NASA
A Stellar Holiday Show From ESO

A Stellar Holiday Show From ESO

Seemed like an appropriate image to kick off the holiday season:  Full image is here From the European Southern Observatory: “The MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile has captured a richly colourful view of the bright star cluster NGC 3532. Some of the stars still shine with a hot bluish colour, […]

NASA Prints First 3-D Object in Space

NASA Prints First 3-D Object in Space

The first object printed in space is held up by International Space Station Commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore.  Image Credit NASA This week marked a significant “first” in space, the first ever use of a 3-D printer to manufacture an object in zero-G. With 3-D printing, also known as additive manufacturing sweeping the industrial world, it […]

NASA’s Sky High Pegasus Contract Shows SmallSat Launcher Opportunity

NASA’s Sky High Pegasus Contract Shows SmallSat Launcher Opportunity

$16.5 Million Dollars Ago.  OSC Pegasus Launches IRIS. Image Credit : NASA In case there was any doubt there is still a long, long way to go in reducing launch prices across the spectrum, consider this NASA press release from November 20th. CONTRACT RELEASE C14-047 NASA Awards Launch Services Contract for Ionospheric Connection Explorer NASA […]

Elon Musk Reveals SpaceX Landing Barge

Elon Musk Reveals SpaceX Landing Barge

Perhaps unimpressed with the weekend’s college football lineup, Elon Musk took to Twitter once again on Saturday, this time to reveal the landing barge SpaceX has commissioned for construction in Louisiana, as well as to provide a little more insight on how it may be used. First came a confirmation that the next Falcon 9, […]

Posted in: SpaceX
ESO: Black Holes Aligned Despite Being Over Billions of Light Years Apart

ESO: Black Holes Aligned Despite Being Over Billions of Light Years Apart

Image: Artists impression of quasars aligned with each other in a galactic superstructure. Credit ESO This is truly strange, and a pretty clear indication that our conception of how the universe is built is still very incomplete. From the ESO: Observations with ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile have revealed alignments over the largest […]

SpaceX CRS-5 Flight to ISS Set for December 16

SpaceX CRS-5 Flight to ISS Set for December 16

The next SpaceX launch to the International Space Station has been shifted from a provisional No Earlier Than (NET) date of December 9th one week until December 16th, with backup dates on the 19th and 20th. Liftoff is scheduled at 2:31 pm EST. NASA is still in the process of shuffling its payload assignments in […]

XCOR / ULA Upper Stage Engine Passes New Milestone

XCOR / ULA Upper Stage Engine Passes New Milestone

Hydrogen Piston Pump: Image Credit XCOR Aerospace XCOR has announced a new milestone in its upper stage engine program being supported by United Launch Alliance. The complete press release is below.  From a big picture standpoint, ULA appears to be in an interesting state of transition, with stories coming out in a bad cop/good cop […]

Reuters Investigation Sheds New Light on Russian Engine Deal

Reuters Investigation Sheds New Light on Russian Engine Deal

Michal Gass, Former President and CEO of United Launch Alliance Following up on questions posed in a letter by U.S. Senator John McCain to the US Air Force chief of acquisitions, Reuters has been looking closer into the United Launch Alliance RD-180 issue, and the mysterious five person company RD-Amross, which serves as the Russian […]

Lunar Mission One Aims to Crowdsource the Moon

Lunar Mission One Aims to Crowdsource the Moon

Image Credit: Lunar Mission One Lunar Mission One, a private effort aimed at drilling at least 20 meters deep into the Moon’s South pole was announced in London today. As with an increasing number of missions, inital funding is being sought through a crowd-sourced KickStarter campaign. In this case key incentives are a digital memory […]

π