SpaceX Dragon Flight to
ISS is On for Monday (Source: Parabolic Arc)
NASA officials said today that SpaceX’s launch of a Dragon freighter to
the International Space Station is on for Monday despite the failure of
an external computer on the orbiting facility. The Falcon 9 launch is
set for 4:58 p.m. EDT from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. (4/13)
Sea Launch Vessels
Featured in Captain America Film (Source: Sea Launch)
The Sea Launch Odyssey Launch Platform and Sea Launch Commander vessels
based in Long Beach, California were prominently featured in Marvel’s
Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The new blockbuster film from
Marvel Studios was released nationwide on April 4, 2014.
Marvel’s designers & production crew creatively re-imagined the
vessels into a singular set that combined attributes from both vessels
to craft The Lemurian Star. The Lemurian Star serves as the
heart-pounding backdrop for the thrilling opening sequence in the film
where Captain America leads fellow Avenger Black Widow and his select
team of S.H.I.E.L.D. Strike Agents onto the vessel to rescue captured
S.H.I.E.L.D. agents from French mercenary Batroc. (4/13)
Study Raises Red Flags on
California Aerospace Industry (Source: National Defense)
A combination of unfriendly tax policies, military budget cuts and
cutthroat competition is wreaking havoc on California’s storied
aerospace industry, a new study cautions. “Aerospace is one of
California’s most important sources of jobs and revenues. The state
must take steps to support it into the future,” says a report recently
published by the consulting firm A.T. Kearney.
While military budget cuts have hit aerospace manufacturers nationwide,
California is being disproportionately affected because state tax and
industrial policies make it difficult to compete against other U.S. and
foreign firms, says Randall Garber, partner at A.T. Kearney public
sector and defense services. (4/13)
Orion Passes Tests to
Prepare for Flight (Source: SEN)
As NASA prepares to send its Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle far
beyond the International Space Station this year, the spacecraft
underwent 26 hours of continuous operations on the ground on 8 April
and performed well, the agency said. This "integrated system testing"
was necessary to verify that the spacecraft's various systems can work
well together. Among other things, technicians verified the
spacecraft's computer, propulsion valves, software and temperature
sensors. (4/12)
Texas Officials Embrace
SpaceX Progress (Source: Morning Valley Star)
State and federal officials say they welcome recent developments that
have advanced SpaceX’s proposal to build the world’s first private,
commercial vertical launch site and control center in Cameron County.
“The state stands ready to continue to support local officials in
recruiting the SpaceX project to South Texas,” said Gov. Rick Perry’s
spokeswoman, Lucy Nashed. The governor is a strong supporter of
bringing commercial space travel to Texas, she said.
Editor's
Note: Florida Governor Rick Scott and Texas Governor Rick
Perry have been friendly rivals on several sporting events and economic
development issues. But thus far Gov. Scott is not signing up for a
battle of incentives to capture SpaceX's commercial launch pad. Florida
has done much to support SpaceX's launch operations at the Cape
Canaveral Spaceport, and expanding in Florida already makes sense if
SpaceX seeks to leverage its existing workforce and other resources at
the Cape. (4/12)
Cosmonaut Appointed
Representative of Sevastopol Governor in Moscow (Source:
Itar-Tass)
Acting governor of Sevastopol Aleksei Chaly has appointed cosmonaut
Sergei Krikalyov as his representative in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
The corresponding order had been signed on April 8 and came into force
on Saturday. “In connection with the change of the city management
structure, appoint from April 12, 2014 Krikalyov Sergei Kostantinovich
as representative of the governor of the federal city of Sevastopol in
the cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg,” Chaly decreed. (4/13)
Why NASA Isn’t on
Speaking Terms With China or Russia (Source: Slate)
So NASA has been dragged into the fallout over Russia's seizure of
Crimea from Ukraine. The space agency has suspended contact with Russia
except for that concerning International Space Station operations. Will
this action influence Vladimir Putin and his apparent dream of
geographically reassembling parts of the Soviet Union as a new Russian
empire? That's highly unlikely. So why do it?
Space has a long history of serving as a surrogate for demonstrating
U.S. displeasure about foreign or domestic policy actions in other
countries. Though examples date back to the Cold War, the most recent
case relates to China. China has been banned for years from
participating in the ISS because select members of the U.S. Congress
consider it inappropriate to work with a communist government. Click here.
(4/13)
Honey, I Want to Move to
Mars (Source: Texas Monthly)
You might have read about my wife, heard her on the radio, or seen her
on TV. She’s Sonia Van Meter, the Austin woman (and stepmother) who is
a semifinalist for Mars One, the privately funded European nonprofit
that wants to recruit and train people to be sent to Mars in groups of
four starting in 2024. When people learn of this, they invariably ask
how I feel. Click here.
(4/13)
Flight 370 Search Brings
Inmarsat Unaccustomed Bit of Fame (Source: New York Times)
On an enormous electronic map of the globe in the modernist
headquarters of a satellite company here, two green hexagons the size
of dinner plates hovered off the west coast of Australia, revealing
signals from an armada of ships and planes converged in the hunt for
any remains of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.
The searchers were there in large part because the company, Inmarsat,
had produced an innovative analysis of a series of fleeting radio
signals from the plane — picked up by one of its satellites in the
hours after the jet, carrying 239 people, disappeared from radar
screens March 8. (4/13)
Prototype of China’s
Manned Moon Rover Debuts (Source: ECNS)
China's self-developed manned moon rover made its first appearance at
the 11th China Chongqing Hi-tech Fair on Thursday. The vehicle has been
developed by a research team of experts from 27 Chinese key
universities. With a size similar to that of a sport-utility vehicle,
the rover looks like little more than iron frames and wheels.
"In fact, these frames are made of hi-tech materials which are light
and unbreakable. The rover is big enough to hold two astronauts, and
can carry several tools," said Zhan Hanqing, one of the designers of
the rover and a professor at Chongqing University, the major institute
responsible for the project. Click here.
(4/10)
CASIS ARK 1 Research to
Ride a Dragon to Space Station (Source: CASIS)
Advancing Research Knowledge 1 (ARK 1) is the first increment marking a
series of research payloads being sent to the space station under the
CASIS umbrella. The nonprofit manages the U.S. national laboratory
aboard the space station to maximize use of the in-orbit research
facility. Through a formal solicitation process as well as an
unsolicited proposal process, CASIS has pathways whereby new and
existing users within academia, industry and other governmental
agencies can access the space station for research and technology
development. Click here.
(4/10)
The High Cost of SLS
(Source: Parabolic Arc)
NASA really hasn’t made much progress in bringing down operating costs.
The annual program cost of the Space Launch System will be about $3
billion. This is roughly what NASA is spending annually to develop the
Space Launch System and its Orion deep-space vehicle. It is also
roughly what NASA is spending on station operations, and approximately
what it cost to maintain the space shuttle program when it was
operating.
NASA officials are claiming that launches will cost about $500 to $700
million each. That sounds fairly reasonable given the massive payload
SLS would be able to place into orbit. And you might think, well, in a
good year NASA might be able to launch two of them? Wrong. The $500 to
$700 million figure might be the marginal cost of the launch, not
including all the additional fixed costs of the infrastructure and
program (the $3 billion per year figure). Just like the shuttle program
cost about $3 billion per year whether NASA launched once or five
times. Click here.
(4/12)
China Uses Satellite,
Drones to Fight Pollution (Source: Space Daily)
China is using satellites and drones to detect air pollution around
Beijing and the practice will be expanded, the Ministry of
Environmental Protection said. Satellites and drones, which can detect
clandestine emissions and capture images with a resolution of up to 4
centimeters, have been used in the cities of Tangshan, Xingtai and
Handan in north China's Hebei Province, a pollution-plagued region
surrounding Beijing. (4/13)
Hubble Extends Stellar
Tape Measure 10 Times Further (Source: Space Daily)
Using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers now can precisely
measure the distance of stars up to 10,000 light-years away -- 10 times
farther than previously possible. Astronomers have developed yet
another novel way to use the 24-year-old space telescope by employing a
technique called spatial scanning, which dramatically improves Hubble's
accuracy for making angular measurements. The technique, when applied
to the age-old method for gauging distances called astronomical
parallax, extends Hubble's tape measure 10 times farther into space.
(4/13)
Supernova Cleans Up Its
Surroundings (Source: Space Daily)
Supernovas are the spectacular ends to the lives of many massive stars.
These explosions, which occur on average twice a century in the Milky
Way, can produce enormous amounts of energy and be as bright as an
entire galaxy. These events are also important because the remains of
the shattered star are hurled into space. As this debris field - called
a supernova remnant - expands, it carries the material it encounters
along with it. (4/13)
NASA Simulation Portrays
Ozone Intrusions From Aloft (Source: Space Daily)
Outdoor enthusiasts in Colorado's Front Range are occasionally rewarded
with remarkable visibility brought about by dry, clear air and wind.
But it's what people in the mountainous U.S. West can't see in
conditions like this - ozone plunging down to the ground from high in
the stratosphere, the second layer of the atmosphere - that has
attracted the interest of NASA scientists, university scientists and
air quality managers. Ozone in the stratosphere, located on average 10
to 48 kilometers (6 to 30 miles) above the ground, typically stays in
the stratosphere. Not on days like April 6, 2012. Click here.
(4/13)
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