Cygnus Approach Orion Image Credit: OSC One of the most common arguments put forward in support of NASA’s current program of exploration using the Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft is that alternative modular missions launched by smaller boosters are inherently too complicated. The ISS, which required dozens of Shuttle and Russian launches to complete, […]
Rarely, if ever, has a NASA OIG report been this direct: “We found that NASA has organized its NEO Program under a single Program Executive who manages a loosely structured conglomerate of research activities that are not well integrated and lack an overarching framework with Program oversight, objectives, and established milestones to track progress.” “NASA […]
A series of reports highlight the challenges NASA faces in making progress with its plans for the Space Launch System over the next ten years. Only days days before SLS program manager Todd May told an audience at the annual Mars Society convention that the mega booster is still on track for a late 2017 […]
When the Inspiration Mars proposal was originally introduced, at least from a NewSpace perspective, the inspirational part was the fact that Dennis Tito and company seemed intent on using commercial hardware to achieve the first human circumnavigation of Mars, thereby showing that significant accomplishments could be made without the use of hyper-expensive launch systems and […]
NASA Press Release: An asteroid about 25 feet (8 meters) across will safely pass Earth at about 1:21 p.m. PST (4:21 p.m. EST) today, March 6, approaching us six times closer than the moon. This distance, though not unusual, is closer than the Earth flyby of a larger asteroid on Wednesday afternoon, March 5. This […]
The end of the week was marked by the discovery of two interesting new bodies in space. The first, and in some ways most compelling was that of an isolated planet, bereft of a companion star, drifting alone through the cosmos at a relatively close distance of 80 light years away from Earth. The planet, […]
NASA Press Release: NASA Sees Enthusiastic Response on Grand Asteroid Challenge ASA Sees Enthusiastic Response to Asteroid Call for Ideas WASHINGTON — NASA has received more than 400 responses to its request for information (RFI) on the agency’s asteroid initiative, Deputy Administrator Lori Garver announced Friday. “Under our plan, we’re increasing the identification, tracking and […]
A Future in Space Operations presentation earlier this week by Dan Adamo, which can be found here, highlights a potential serious problem with NASA’s proposed asteroid capture mission. The presentation focuses on a “V” plot which shows a range of Near Earth Asteroids grouped into three different classes by their orbital characteristics. Some NEAs falling within […]
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