[Author’s Note: Innerspace.net has been on limited release for the last week as I have taken time off to welcome a personal payload into the world, Nola Kate Money, born on 4/18/2016. As the designated landing zone also happened to be in New Delhi, India, some concessions were simply inevitable.] Story: Although it might not […]
There is a small, but potentially significant battle brewing between would-be launch providers in one segment of the rocket industry which has seen little development in recent years. How it plays out may say quite a bit about the degree to which the aerospace establishment is seeking to maintain its base wherever it can, and […]
Another ridiculously stunning image from the European Southern Observatory. This isn’t science fiction folks, this is the universe, or creation, depending on your viewpoint, in all its unbridled glory. And to think that this band of mostly hairless primates on the third planet out from an inconsequential star in a fairly mundane galaxy are inquisitive […]
From NASA.gov: Following extraction from Dragon, the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) was installed to the International Space Station at 5:36 a.m. EDT. At the time of installation, the space station was flying over the Southern Pacific Ocean. It will remain attached to station for two-year test period. NASA is investigating concepts for habitats that […]
A fascinating experiment is underway at the Marshall Space Flight Center to demonstrate the potential of a new form of solar sail which does away with the fabric entirely. Instead of attempting to deploy a troublesome sail made of mylar, the E-Sail uses instead a series of thin aluminum wires spun out from the slowly […]
Long predicted in coming, the era of active satellite servicing and refueling is about to get underway. Here is the press release from Orbital ATK: Pioneers In Space: Orbital ATK Announces Intelsat as Anchor Customer for New Satellite Life Extension Service Company Begins Production of First of a Planned Fleet of Commercial In-Space Servicing and […]
In February, Innerspace featured a story about a NASA derived concept to send tiny, wafer-sized sized spacecraft to interstellar destinations by using an array of lasers to accelerate them to 30% of the speed of light. It did not take long for the hypothetical story based on a research paper to achieve a potentially very […]
The first Space Shuttle launch took place 35 years ago today. Ending the first great “gap” in American crewed spaceflight which began with the conclusion of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975. The Space Transportation System, with all of its incredible highs and wrenching lows, inaugurated a new era in American spaceflight which is still […]
On Sunday, the SpaceX CRS-8 Dragon spacecraft arrived at the International Space Station, carrying in its “trunk” the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module or BEAM. Based on a press conference held today at the 32nd Space Symposium in Colorado Springs however, BEAM may be only the beginning of Bigelow’s presence at ISS, and the future may […]
He declined to talk about his company’s plans for Mars, and seemed surprisingly apprehensive regarding the challenges in launching Falcon Heavy, but Elon Musk’s remarks at a post flight news conference for the CRS-8 mission dropped a bombshell that likely sent his competitors to bed with a stiff drink, if not stronger stuff. Having previously […]
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