NASA reports that a small asteroid will harmlessly pass relatively close to Earth on September. As is often the case, it was not detected until just a few days ago. On a vaguely related note, when Congress returns to session next week, there will be a sub-committee hearing on H.R. 5603 (pdf), the American Space […]
A graduate student at Stanford may have made a break-through in reducing the costs of electrolysis in splitting water into its constituent elements of hydrogen and oxygen. According to a report in phys.org, the new process uses common materials and a fraction of the input electrical power employed in conventional techniques: “Using nickel and iron, […]
At 6:31 AM CDT, astronauts aboard the International Space Station released Orbital Sciences Cygnus cargo vessel which has been berthed to the orbiting facility’s Harmony module for the last 23 days. Having been filled with trash and sent on its way, the Cygnus will enter Earth’s upper atmosphere in a destructive re-entry on Wednesday. With […]
In what is already turning out to be one of the more fascinating space oriented crowdsourcing efforts yet seen, Planetary Resources introduced what amounts to a public access prototype of its planned Arkyd space telescopes at a press conference yesterday. The broadcast started late, was horribly garbled, and at times seemed more like the sort […]
One of the more innovative smaller efforts underway at NASA is the Flight Opportunities Programs, which offers researchers access to the suborbital and high altitude environment on a variety of platforms. The range of the experiment portfolio is impressive, and it has already hosted a number of experiments which could be important stepping stones on the path to permanent and expanding presence in space. For instance, much […]
Paragon Space Development Corporation Press Release: Paragon Space Development Corporation® Wins NASA ISS Water Processor Development Contract TUCSON, AZ (February 22, 2016) – NASA has awarded Paragon with a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase III contract for the patented Ionomer-membrane Water Processor (IWP) System. IWP will provide the platform for up to 98% water […]
Overnight Japan lofted the ASTRO-H X-Ray Observatory into Low Earth Orbit. As is the custom, the spacecraft was given an additional name, “Hitomi” to go along with the formal designation. Hitomi literally means the pupil of the eye, or aperture, in Japanese, but also connotes a broader meaning of the wisdom or insight which can […]
Yesterday, the Court of Federal Appeals issued a temporary injunction barring United Launch Alliance from making further purchases or receiving shipments of Russian built RD-180 rocket engines until the matter can be reviewed by three different oversight agencies. The order came as a result of the lawsuit filed Monday by SpaceX against the USAF/ULA EELV […]
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