Archive for March, 2016

Birth of a New Earth: Will We Still Be Around to See It Turn 16?

Birth of a New Earth: Will We Still Be Around to See It Turn 16?

In the best image of its kind to date, ESO’s ALMA captures a protoplanetary disc around the star TW Hydrae, revealing the telltale signature of rings and gaps that indicate planets are in the process of formation. Press Release From the European Southern Observatory: The star TW Hydrae is a popular target of study for […]

Progress 63 Lifts Off to ISS, SpaceX CRS-8 is Next

Progress 63 Lifts Off to ISS, SpaceX CRS-8 is Next

The second of three tightly paced supply missions to the International Space Station has lifted off from Baikonour, Kazakhstan. The Soyuz booster carrying the Progress 63 cargo ship lifted off at 11:23:57 CDT (10:23 PM local) carrying 3 tons of food, fuel and supplies. After a 2 day transfer, it will dock with the aft […]

Posted in: Russian Space
NASA’s Green Propellant Mission Passes Key Milestone

NASA’s Green Propellant Mission Passes Key Milestone

NASA’s Green Propellant Green Propulsion Infusion Mission (GPIM) has passed a critical flight readiness milestone in anticipation of launch in early 2017, completing functional and equipment testing of its systems and software. The mission which will provide on-orbit demonstration of a new, less toxic “green” propellant will be tested aboard a Ball Aerospace Configurable Platform 100 satellite, […]

Sea Launch May Sail Again

Sea Launch May Sail Again

Russia has found a buyer for Sea Launch, the innovative but troubled launch consortium which combines an ocean going platform with Zenit boosters built in the Ukraine to loft satellites to GTO from the equatorial Pacific Ocean. Following the suspension of operations in 2014, Russia had been looking to sell Sea Launch in order to […]

Celebrity Scientists on Predicting Mars Settlement

Celebrity Scientists on Predicting Mars Settlement

  In an interview in The Verge,  the world’s most famous astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson threw some serious shade on SpaceX’s Red Planet ambitions. ” The delusion that relates to private spaceflight isn’t really what you’re describing. They’re big dreams, and I don’t have any problems with people dreaming. Mars One, let them dream. That’s not […]

Posted in: Mars
Russia Will Conduct First Launch From New Spaceport in April

Russia Will Conduct First Launch From New Spaceport in April

The world’s oldest space power will soon be inaugurating its newest space port.  After a long and troubled development which has frequently drawn the ire and intense scrutiny of Vladimir Putin, Russia is planning to conduct the first launch from the Vostochny cosmodrome in the nation’s far east in late April. From TASS: MOSCOW, March […]

Posted in: Russian Space
A BEAMing Opportunity: Next SpaceX Flight Offers Promise of an “Expanding” Future in Space

A BEAMing Opportunity: Next SpaceX Flight Offers Promise of an “Expanding” Future in Space

  Next Friday, April 8th, SpaceX is scheduled to launch a Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station. As the company’s first commercial cargo flight to ISS since disaster struck the CRS-7 mission on June 28th, 2015, it was already due to attract a great deal of attention. But given what will be riding to […]

India Anticipates May Launch for RLV Demonstrator

India Anticipates May Launch for RLV Demonstrator

The prospect of clearer skies is helping India draw closer to a flight test of a reusable launch vehicle demonstrator. After delaying a test of the RLV-TD originally planned to take place last December in order to work through technical issues, the Indian Space Research Organization is anticipating the suborbital launch of the 6.5 meter, […]

NASA OIG Unhappy With SLS/Orion Spaceport Command and Control Systems

NASA OIG Unhappy With SLS/Orion Spaceport Command and Control Systems

The stack of reports critical of various aspects of NASA’s Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft grew a little taller today. NASA’s Office of Inspector General has released a rather unflattering audit regarding the Spaceport Command and Control (SCCS) for SLS & Orion. The system, which will be used to control the network of ground […]

Posted in: SLS / Orion
The Journey to Mars Gets a Lot More “Interesting”

The Journey to Mars Gets a Lot More “Interesting”

OK. So the rocket doesn’t actually have a NASA logo anywhere on it, and the launch site is definitely not Cape Canaveral, but Dos Equis has certainly decided to borrow some very familiar imagery for its commercial featuring Jonathon Goldsmith in his final performance as “The Most Interesting Man in the World.” With its clearly identifiable […]

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