Commercial Crew, Crimea,
and Congress (Source: Space Review)
The increase in tensions between the US and Russia would appear to
provide NASA with a strong case for funding the agency's commercial
crew program and thus reducing reliance on Russia for accessing the
International Space Station. Jeff Foust reports that while NASA has
been making that case, some in Congress are not necessarily receptive
to it. Visit
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2492/1 to view the
article. (4/14)
Special Operations Takes
the Fight to the High Ground (Source: Space Review)
While interest in small satellites is growing, the utility of such
small spacecraft remains open to debate. Ethan W. Mattox discusses an
effort by one element of the US military to test the feasibility of
smallsats to provide communications support for special operations
forces. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2491/1
to view the article. (4/14)
Robust and Reusable?
(Source: Space Review)
If reusable launch vehicles can dramatically lower launch prices, as
some have argued about SpaceX's efforts to develop a reusable Falcon 9,
what markets does such a vehicle enable? Ajay P. Kothari examines the
economics of RLVs regarding one well-known potential market, space
tourism. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2490/1
to view the article. (4/14)
Creating "Believable"
Aliens: an Interview with James L. Cambias (Source: Space
Review)
As interest in astrobiology increases along with the prospects of alien
life, science fiction often remains rooted in conventional descriptions
of what intelligent alien life would be like. John Hickman interviews
an author of a new novel that offers a different, and perhaps more
credible, view of what they could be like. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2489/1
to view the article. (4/14)
Helium Leak Delays SpaceX
Launch (Source: Space Today)
A helium leak in the first stage of a Falcon 9 rocket will delay the
launch of a Dragon cargo spacecraft until at least Friday. NASA
announced the scrub a little more than an hour before the scheduled
4:58 pm EDT liftoff time of the Falcon 9 v1.1. SpaceX and NASA later
reported the scrub was caused by a leak on a helium pressurization
system in the rocket's first stage, which should be fixed by the time
the next launch window opens at 3:25 pm EDT (1925 GMT) Friday.
However, initial forecasts are less promising for the the launch, with
only a 40% chance of acceptable weather then. The Falcon 9 is slated to
launch a Dragon spacecraft on the third of twelve commercial resupply
missions to the International Space Station, delivering new experiments
and supplies for the station. NASA station managers approved plans to
launch yesterday despite the failure of a backup computer mounted on
the station's exterior; managers concluded there was sufficient
redundancy in other station systems to allow the launch to proceed.
(4/14)
Continents May Be A Key
Feature of Super-Earths (Source: Astrobiology)
Huge Earth-like planets that have both continents and oceans may be
better at harboring extraterrestrial life than those that are
water-only worlds. A new study gives hope for the possibility that many
super-Earth planets orbiting distant stars have exposed continents
rather than just water-covered surfaces. Super-Earths likely have more
stable climates as compared to water-worlds, and therefore larger
habitable zones where alien life could thrive.
In the new study, researchers used the Earth as a starting point for
modeling how super-Earths might store their water on the surface and
deep underground within the mantle. Researchers typically expect
super-Earths to exist as water-worlds because their strong surface
gravity creates relatively flattened surface geography and deep oceans.
But the new study found that super-Earths with active tectonics can
have exposed continents if their water is less than 0.2 percent of the
total planetary mass. (4/14)
Early Mars Couldn't Hold
Liquid Water Long (Source: Science News)
Ancient Mars may have resembled Antarctica (but without penguins). The
frozen Red Planet probably had liquid water on its surface for only
relatively short times, according to a new analysis of craters on the
surface. The finding that the Martian atmosphere was not dense enough
to keep flowing water for more than a few hundred thousand years at a
time adds to a growing pile of evidence that Mars probably remained
cold and dry throughout most of its history, punctuated by brief
periods of relative warmth.
Mars today has a very tenuous atmosphere, not nearly dense enough to
keep water from instantly boiling away. But deep canyons and ancient
river deposits point to a time when water flowed across the Red Planet.
Researchers, however, disagree on whether those features indicate
long-lasting temperate climates or brief bursts of warming interspersed
throughout a long, dry winter. (4/14)
Pluto May Have Deep Seas
and Ancient Tectonic Faults (Source: Discovery)
In July 2015 we get our first close look at the dwarf planet Pluto and
its moon, Charon -- a fact that has scientists hypothesizing more than
ever about what we might see there. Astronomy leaders vote to take away
Pluto's planetary status, leaving the solar system with eight celestial
bodies.
One of the latest ideas put forward is that perhaps the collision that
likely formed Pluto and Charon heated the interior of Pluto enough to
give it an internal liquid water ocean, which also gave the small world
a short-lived plate tectonics system, like that of Earth. “We predict
that when New Horizons gets there it will see evidence of ancient
tectonism,” said Brown University's Amy Barr. By 'ancient' Barr means
sometime way back during the first billion years of the solar system's
history. (4/14)
5 Weird Things Launching
Into Space on SpaceX's Dragon Spacecraft (Source:
Space.com)
When private spaceflight company SpaceX launches its newest mission to
the International Space Station next week it will carry some strange
cargo to space. Among the 5,000 lbs. (2,268 kilograms) of cargo riding
aboard Dragon are a set of legs for a robotic astronaut, an
experimental mini-farm for space vegetables and a wealth of other odd
items. Click here.
(4/14)
Space Entrepreneur Seeks
End to Spy Satellite Launch Monopoly (Source: LA Times)
A high-stakes battle is underway in Washington over launching the U.S.
government's most sophisticated national security satellites. Space
entrepreneur Elon Musk is pitted against the nation's two largest
weapons makers, Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp., in a fight for
military contracts worth as much as $70 billion through 2030. (4/14)
Egyptian Satellite to be
Launched in Cooperation with Russia (Source: Egypt
Independent)
"The Egyptian satellite Egy SAT will be launched from the Baikonur
cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Wednesday, in cooperation with the Russian
government, the Russian Federal Space Agency and the Rocket and Space
Corporation Energia," said Hussein al-Shafei, advisor to the Russian
Space Agency in Egypt.
Shafei added this step will mark the beginning of cooperation to build
a modern government that can capture huge amounts of information
through space. He added that the satellite will also help secure
Egypt's borders. "Egypt will benefit from Egyptian-Russian cooperation
in the field of aerospace as it will prompt it (Egypt) to be part of
the aerospace industry and will encourage other industries in Egypt to
rebuild," Shafei said. (4/14)
XCOR One Step Closer to
Becoming Reality (Source: CBS7)
A preliminary launch schedule for XCOR Aerospace at the Midland
International Airport, shows the company will be sending it's
spaceplane into orbit twice a week by 2015. The company applied for a
spaceport license with the FAA. The deadline to approve or deny the
license is Sep. 15. If approved, the Midland International Airport
would be the first to offer both commercial and space flights. It is on
schedule to send two planes into orbit per day by 2018. (4/14)
Gravitating to Conflict?
(Source: Russia Today)
Space has been militarized ever since humanity could reach it, but with
treaties only banning nuclear weapons in space, and tensions simmering
on the ground, a second Space Race seems inevitable. Is cooperation
between Russia and the West a good enough driver of progress, or do we
need competition to stop space exploration from stagnating? Oksana is
joined by former Commander of the International Space Station and
Twitter sensation Chris Hadfield to discuss the gravity of these
issues. Click here.
(4/14)
A Path to Nowhere and the
Absence of Leadership (Source: America Space)
The recent geopolitical tensions resulting from the ongoing crisis
between Russia and Ukraine have indirectly helped to reveal in a
sobering fashion one of the major problems that has been plaguing the
U.S. public space program for many years: the overall lack of foresight
and national leadership.
The deterioration in U.S.-Russian relationships that resulted from the
annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula by Russia last month has
awakened many in the U.S. to the implications of the lack of a domestic
crew launch capability to low-Earth orbit, as evidenced in the various
hearings that took place on Capitol Hill in recent weeks regarding
NASA’s budget. Click here.
(4/13)
Contingency Spacewalk
Planned After Dragon Arrival (Source: Universe Today)
As contingency spacewalks go, the urgent task should be easy: a quick
2.5-hour run to swap out a failed backup computer that controls several
systems on the International Space Station, including robotics. But
NASA doesn’t want to go ahead with it until spare spacesuit parts
arrive, in the aftermath of a life-threatening suit leak that took
place last summer.
Those parts are on board the much-delayed SpaceX Dragon spacecraft
sitting on a launch pad waiting for its next window to open. For this
and other reasons, NASA decided to move ahead with the launch as
planned Monday at 4:58 p.m. EDT (8:58 p.m. UTC). The spacewalk would
take place April 22 — if Dragon gets there as planned on Wednesday.
(4/13)
NASA Hosts Launch Complex
39A Status Update (Source: NASA)
NASA will provide a status update on Launch Complex 39A at 2:30 p.m.
EDT, Monday, April 14 at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The update, which will be held at pad 39A, will not be carried live on
NASA Television. (4/13)
TrepHub Exploring How to
Grow Food on Mars, Other NASA Challenges (Source: CF News
13)
NASA is relying on people around the world this weekend to help them
solve some of the agency's biggest challenges. It's called the
International Space Apps Challenge 2014. NASA has come up with 45
challenges for people to tackle. TrepHub, a nonprofit technology
startup incubator in Melbourne, is looking at issues from how to grow
food on Mars to how to mine asteroids for valuable minerals. (4/13)
No comments:
Post a Comment