Despite its current problems, which include a 30% cut in funding over the next decade, and the recently announced delay of its heavy lift launch vehicle plans, the Russian space program is keeping its long term ambitions focused squarely on the Moon. Sergey Krikalev, executive director of Roscosmos State Space Corporation told TASS on April […]
If you think NASA sometimes has trouble explaining just what it wants to do with the Space Launch System before it is actually used for the “Journey to Mars,” consider this somewhat bizarre explanation of Russia’s planned Fenix launch vehicle. Billed as a backup to the Angara system for the same reason the USAF insists […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
A slew of recent discoveries point to our solar system being a much wetter place than we once thought it was. From permanently shadowed ice on the Moon, to seasonal Recurrent Slope Linea evidence on Mars, and subsurface oceans on outer planet moons, space offers an abundant supply of life’s most vital element. Melting a […]
From the European Southern Observatory comes a series of images of what is described as a “lonely galaxy,” a description which may be as fitting as it is evocative. The images, which were taken by ESO’s OmegaCAM on the VLT Survey Telescope, shows the dwarf galaxy Wolf-Lundmark-Melotte (WLM) which was first discovered in 1909 but not […]
Press Release: Paragon Space Development Corporation® Wins NASA Phase II For Cryogenic Fluid Management Technology TUCSON, AZ (March 21, 2016) – Paragon Space Development Corporation® (Paragon) and partner Thin Red Line Aerospace (TRLA) received a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award from NASA to advance their Cryogenic Encapsulating Launch Shroud and Insulated Upper […]
Virgin Galactic is making progress in its bid to enter the small launcher business with its LauncherOne two-stage, liquid fueled booster. Last week, the company announced that LauncherOne’s carrier aircraft, a Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747-400 named appropriately enough, Cosmic Girl, arrived in Waco. Texas for conversion to its new assignment. LauncherOne will be carried to […]
From playing a vital role in building, staffing, and operating the International Space Station over the last 15 years, to launching the ExoMars probe this week, there is no doubt the Russian space program is a vital, and even indispensable component of the global space exploration infrastructure. According to a report in Reuters with quotes […]
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