Archive for May, 2016

Hubble Captures Glorious New Image of Mars

Hubble Captures Glorious New Image of Mars

NASA has released the above image of Mars, taken  by the Hubble Space Telescope. Although the complete story is included below, it really is worth following this link to see image in full screen. Bright, frosty polar caps, and clouds above a vivid, rust-colored landscape reveal Mars as a dynamic seasonal planet in this NASA […]

Posted in: Mars
Lockheed Martin Proposes 2028 Outpost in Mars Orbit

Lockheed Martin Proposes 2028 Outpost in Mars Orbit

  Lockheed Martin has put forward a proposal which answers one of the primary criticisms leveled at NASA’s “Journey to Mars,” namely that it doesn’t get there soon enough. The plan, which the company is calling Mars Base Camp, would see the agency forgo a good part of NASA’s lengthy foray into Cis-Lunar space, and […]

Posted in: Mars
SLS, Falcon Heavy and Rockets “Worthy of a Great Nation” : Time for an Independent Review

SLS, Falcon Heavy and Rockets “Worthy of a Great Nation” : Time for an Independent Review

There is an interesting division taking place in the media as it relates to how NASA and the Space Launch System are being covered.  On the one hand, NASA itself has done an excellent, if not overly enthusiastic job of promoting SLS/Orion and the “Journey to Mars” despite the fact that there is no such […]

Posted in: SLS / Orion, SpaceX
Atlas, Delta, Falcon and Whole Bunch of Smoke

Atlas, Delta, Falcon and Whole Bunch of Smoke

Opinionated Analysis The ping pong match between the House and the Senate over ULA’s request for more RD-180 engines for the Atlas V was in the hands of the latter yesterday, where the Senate Armed Services Committee once again insisted that the number be limited to 9 engines beyond tbose already ordered as part of […]

Boeing CST-100 / Starliner Schedule Slip

Boeing CST-100 / Starliner Schedule Slip

SpaceX may now be in the pole position to be the first company to launch astronauts to orbit under NASA’s Commercial Crew contract. According to a report in GeekWire, Boeing has announced a slip, albeit a brief one, in its Starliner test schedule as the company works though several issues in getting its capsule ready […]

CRS-8 Dragon Makes Safe Return

CRS-8 Dragon Makes Safe Return

    NASA Press Release: May 11, 2016 RELEASE 16-052 Critical NASA Science Returns to Earth aboard SpaceX Dragon Spacecraft A SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific Ocean at 2:51 p.m. EDT Wednesday, May 11, about 261 miles southwest of Long Beach, California, with more than 3,700 pounds of NASA cargo, science […]

HyperLoop One Conducting Open Air Test Today

HyperLoop One Conducting Open Air Test Today

A bit off the usual topic for Innerspace, but this piece from MIT Technology Review gives a good account of the progress being made with bringing Elon Musk’s Hyperloop vision to reality. Hyperloop One, formerly Hyperloop Technologies, is conducting an open air test of its system in North Las Vegas, Nevada today. This page will be […]

Virgin Galactic / Blue Origin Videos and Which Ticket Would You Buy?

Virgin Galactic / Blue Origin Videos and Which Ticket Would You Buy?

There is little doubt that SpaceX is for the moment in a class by itself in developing partially reusable orbital space transportation, but it is interesting to note that the company has had very little to say regarding what if any role it sees for space tourism in the products it is developing. The Dragon […]

NASA Announces Discovery of 1,284 New Exoplanets, 9 in “Goldilocks Zone”

NASA Announces Discovery of 1,284 New Exoplanets, 9 in “Goldilocks Zone”

NASA held a teleconference today to announce the confirmed discovery of 1,284 new planets as part of the Kepler Space Telescope’s primary mission. The new batch of planets, the largest found at any one time, bring the total number of new planets discovered by Kepler to 2.325. Of particular interest, the new batch includes 550 […]

Posted in: Exo Planets
SpaceX Falcon 9: Landing Videos and Next Launch

SpaceX Falcon 9: Landing Videos and Next Launch

The automated spaceport drone ship Of Course I Still Love You sailed  back into Port Canaveral yesterday evening carrying the Falcon 9 first stage booster which launched the JCSAT-14 mission welded to its deck. Meanwhile, SpaceX has released a YouTube video showing three different camera views of nighttime landing. The next launch for SpaceX is the […]

Posted in: SpaceX
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