India Poised To Expand Presence in
Global Launch Market (Source: Space News)
India has five slots available on its PSLV launcher for missions
heading into sun-synchronous orbit between 2015 and 2017, and expects
that its more-powerful GSLV Mark 3 rocket, intended for
geostationary-orbiting telecommunications satellites, ultimately will
be able to accommodate one foreign/commercial launch a year, a senior
Indian space official said.
The vehicle is designed to launch telecommunications satellites
weighing around 4,000 kilograms. With the move among manufacturers and
operators toward lighter-weight satellites featuring electric
propulsion, the Indian vehicle could find itself well-placed in the
commercial market now taking shape. (10/2)
KSC (and Other Coastal Spaceports)
Threatened by Climate Change (Source: Business Insider)
All over the world, coastal cities are in danger of being wiped out by
floods. This chart, published by the Union of Concerned Scientists,
focuses just on the United States, pointing out some of the country's
historic landmarks that may be lost to rising sea levels or other
extreme weather events. The Statue of Liberty, Cape Hatteras
lighthouse, and the Kennedy Space Center are just a few places that may
one day exist only in history books. Click here.
(10/2)
Cloud on Saturn's Moon Titan is Made
of Icy Poison (Source: LA Times)
A strange cloud that NASA's Cassini spacecraft spotted on Saturn’s moon
Titan two years ago appears to be made of icy hydrogen cyanide, a
poison that on Earth has been used to kill everything from rats to
whales. The toxic cloud, described in the journal Nature, defies
expectations for where and how clouds form on the Saturnian satellite
and may force scientists to adjust their understanding of what goes on
in the Titan's atmosphere.
The large spinning cloud appeared in Titan’s southern hemisphere in May
2012, high in the atmosphere, about 200 miles above the surface. The
cloud, which is still going strong, spins faster than the moon itself,
taking nine hours to complete a rotation while Titan takes about 16
Earth days. Using data from the Cassini spacecraft’s visual and
infrared mapping spectrometer, the researchers looked at the spectrum
of light coming from the cloud and found the chemical signature of
hydrogen cyanide ice. (10/1)
Space Age Churches Rise and Fall with
Space Program (Source: Florida Today)
It was the late 1950s and modern day launch pads and towers were
climbing out the hot, swampy wetlands along Brevard County's northern
shoreline to meet man's lofty goal of space travel. But a little
farther along the way in places like Titusville, Cocoa Beach and
Merritt Island, there was also a boomlet of faith that gave rise church
steeples and worship halls to meet the spiritual needs of those helming
the race to space. (10/2)
Are the World’s Religions Ready for
E.T.? (Source: Vanderbilt University)
In 1930, Albert Einstein was asked for his opinion about the
possibility of life elsewhere in the universe. “Other beings, perhaps,
but not men,” he answered. Then he was asked whether science and
religion conflict. “Not really, though it depends, of course, on your
religious views.”
Over the past 10 years, astronomers’ new ability to detect planets
orbiting other stars has taken this question out of the realm of
philosophy, as it was for Einstein, and transformed it into something
that scientists might soon be able to answer. Realization that the
nature of the debate about life on other worlds is about to
fundamentally change led Vanderbilt Professor of Astronomy David
Weintraub to begin thinking seriously about the question of how people
will react to the discovery of life on other planets. Click here.
(10/2)
UrtheCast To Select Providers of ISS
Cameras Soon (Source: Space News)
A Canadian company that operates two cameras on the Russian segment of
the international space station will soon select a provider for optical
and radar instruments it plans to install on a U.S. space station
module in 2017. Wade Larson, president of Vancouver, British
Columbia-based UrtheCast, said the company is in the final stages of
evaluating proposals for the system. “We will be announcing the
contractor team in two to three weeks,” he said.
One of the instruments in the system will be a camera capable of taking
images and video at visible wavelengths at resolutions as sharp as 0.5
meters. The other is a synthetic aperture radar that can operate at L-
and X-band wavelengths simultaneously. UrtheCast announced in July
plans to install the optical and radar instruments on the station. The
company is working with Houston-based NanoRacks, which will be
responsible for arranging the launch and installation of the cameras on
the station’s Node 3, or Tranquility, module. (10/1)
The Expert Guide to Space Colonies
(Source: BBC)
With our rising planet’s population competing for space and resources,
some people are convinced we need to look beyond Earth to help ensure
humanity’s survival. As Elon Musk, the entrepreneur behind space
tourism company SpaceX put it recently: “I think there is a strong
argument for making life multi-planetary in order to safeguard the
existence of humanity in the event that something catastrophic were to
happen." Even if you don’t believe this bleak vision, it’s hard to
ignore the eternal human instinct to discover the undiscovered – an
urge that could push people beyond the safety of our planet. Click here.
(10/2)
How Private Space Companies Make Money
Exploring The Final Frontier (Source: Universe Today)
There’s a big difference in thinking between governments and the
private companies that participate in space. While entities such as
NASA can work on understanding basic human health or exploring the
universe for the sake of a greater understanding, companies have a
limitation: they need to eventually make a profit. Click here.
(10/2)
Report: Boeing Ranked Ahead of SpaceX,
Sierra Nevada on Commercial Crew (Source: Parabolic Arc)
Boeing’s submission was considered “excellent” for “mission
suitability,” whereas SpaceX got a “very good” ranking. The numerical
scores for that category, according to one person familiar with the
details, were separated by more than 60 points out of a possible 1,000.
The document shows Boeing also garnered the highest ranking of
“excellent” for technical approach and program management, compared
with “very good” rankings for SpaceX.
Based on Boeing’s performance on a preliminary contract, NASA concluded
it had “very high confidence” in that company’s likelihood of
delivering what it promised—the highest ranking possible…. Neither
Boeing nor SpaceX were deemed to have what NASA considered significant
weaknesses in their proposals. But in explaining his final decision,
Mr. Gerstenmaier pointed to what he saw as some uncertainties and
shortcomings in SpaceX’s bid. Click here.
(10/2)
Four Candidate Landing Sites for 2018
ExoMars Mission (Source: SpaceFlight Insider)
Four possible landing sites are being considered for the ExoMars
mission in 2018. Its rover will search for evidence of martian life,
past or present. ExoMars is a joint two-mission endeavour between ESA
and Russia’s Roscosmos space agency. The Trace Gas Orbiter and an
entry, descent and landing demonstrator module, Schiaparelli, will be
launched in January 2016, arriving at Mars nine months later. The Rover
and Surface Platform will depart in May 2018, with touchdown on Mars in
January 2019. (10/2)
India Seeking Outside Help on
High-throughput Satellite (Source: Space News)
The Indian government wants a high-throughput satellite generating at
least 100 gigabits-per-second in orbit within five years and is seeking
international partners in its development, an Indian Space Research
Organisation official said. If pursued, the project would mark a rare
opportunity for foreign suppliers to crack India’s mainly closed
satellite telecommunications market, which in any case has shown signs
of opening in the past year. (10/2)
'Man In The Moon' Mystery Has Finally
Been Solved (Source: Huffington Post)
"How many people have looked up at the moon and wondered what produced
the pattern we see -- let me tell you, I’ve wanted to solve that one!"
That's Maria Zuber, a geophysics professor at MIT and principal
investigator for NASA's GRAIL (Gravity Recovery and Interior
Laboratory) mission to understand the moon's interior, according to a
written statement from MIT.
Previous theories held that an asteroid created the massive Oceanus
Procellarum basin on the lunar surface -- often called the "man on the
moon." But Zuber and a team of colleagues at MIT, the Colorado School
of Mines, and NASA say they've found a new explanation for the
mysterious feature on the lunar surface: ancient volcanic eruptions.
According to the scientists, an asteroid would have created a circular
basin upon impact. But a new high-resolution map created from GRAIL
data revealed that the area surrounding the Procellarum basin is more
rectangular, made up of sharp angles and structures the scientists call
gravity anomalies. "We interpret the gravity anomalies discovered by
GRAIL as part of the lunar magma plumbing system -- the conduits that
fed lava to the surface during ancient volcanic eruptions," Zuber said.
(10/2)
Nearby Star Unleashes Flare 10,000
Times Bigger Than Any From Our Sun (Source: Huffington Post)
Our sun's largest solar flare looks pretty wimpy next to this one.
NASA's Swift satellite spotted the strongest, hottest, and
longest-lasting stellar flares ever recorded from a nearby red dwarf
star in April. And now, astrophysicists reveal that the flares were as
much as 10,000 times more powerful than the largest solar flare ever
recorded -- reaching temperatures up to 360 million degrees Fahrenheit.
That's 12 times hotter than the sun's core. (10/2)
Bezos Wants to Leave His Mark on Space
(Source: Aviation Week)
Jeff Bezos, the billionaire entrepreneur behind Amazon.com, has
definitely placed his mark on the planet. His retail genius is embodied
in the convenience of online shopping for just about everything (that’s
where I bought my camera), and in the sad decline of bookstores and
record shops that once afforded pleasant respite from the hustle-bustle
of modern life.
For the past 14 years, Bezos has been working to put his mark off the
planet as well—quietly, as is his wont. Blue Origin, the startup space
company Bezos endowed, has generated a fair amount of smoke and fire at
its West Texas test site, but very little publicity. The Seattle-based
company employs a PR firm, and maintains a website that affords
snippets of information about its suborbital- and orbital-spacecraft
developments. But in general, the company’s work takes place behind a
veil of secrecy.
Some of that work has been quite impressive, as “Blue” works toward
unmanned flight tests in 2018 of a biconic orbital vehicle aimed at
human spaceflight. Now the company—and its founder—have taken a major
step into the limelight with the Sept. 17 announcement that it is
developing a 550,000-lb.-thrust rocket engine for United Launch
Alliance. Click here.
(9/29)
New Satellite Monitoring Solar Storms
to be Launched in 2015 (Source: NextGov)
The Deep Space Climate Observatory satellite, designed to give
scientists at least an hour's notice of solar storms heading toward the
Earth, is set to be launched next year, according to the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "The DSCOVR data will also be
used to drive the next generation of space weather models, allowing
forecasters to specify where on Earth the storm conditions will be at
their worst," said Doug Biesecker, DSCOVR program scientist. (10/1)
Space Florida, Space Foundatio, Visit
Orlando Join to Bring IAC to Central Florida (Source:
SpaceFlight Insider)
The 2014 International Astronautical Congress (IAC) is well underway
and more than 3,000 delegates are roaming the halls and event spaces in
downtown Toronto, Canada, collaborating and exchanging their breadth of
experiences, views and research on hundreds of topics relevant to
spaceflight and astronautical endeavors. In addition to the studies and
the social events however, this years’ attending membership will have
some additional work cut out for them.
It is expected that the International Astronautical Federation (IAF),
in collaboration with the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA)
and the International Institute of Space Law (IISL), will announce the
membership-selected location for the 68th edition of the annual IAC on
Friday, Oct. 3. In the spirit of international collaboration, the IAC
is held in a different country every year, with an IAF member
organization serving as its host.
This week in Toronto, voting members will need to pare down their
options to select just one location from a field of four final
locations and member organization bids: Adelaide, Australia (Submitted
by The Space Industry Association of Australia), Bremen, Germany
(Submitted by ZARM Drop Tower Operation and Service Company), Istanbul,
Turkey (Submitted by The Turkish Amateur Satellite Technologies
Society) and Orlando, United States of America (Submitted by The Space
Foundation). (10/1)
Nuclear Warheads Kept in Reserve for
Potential Asteroid Threat (Source: Wall Street Journal)
Some U.S. nuclear-warhead components, scheduled for disassembly in the
next year, have gotten at least a temporary new lease on life. The
reason: possible use in defending the Earth against killer asteroids.
That bit of information was tucked deep inside a 67-page Government
Accountability Office report on the National Nuclear Security
Administration, which manages the U.S. atomic-weapons arsenal. (9/30)
Cubesats: A Space Junk Hazard?
(Source: Discovery)
According to space debris expert Hugh Lewis, of the University of
Southampton, the use of cubesats and the relaxed attitude to space
collision hazards could increase the likelihood of space assets
encountering the small satellites in the future. Lewis outlined some of
the problems associated with cubesat use.
For starters, most cubesats cannot maneuver themselves while orbiting
Earth, so should a collision scenario be predicted, they cannot be
commanded to dodge out of the way. Also, some of the organizations
using cubesats have insufficient plans for de-orbiting their orbital
assets, meaning many defunct cubesats will remain in orbit long after
their operational lifetimes. Click here.
(10/1)
Hollywood Takes Steps Toward Armstrong
Biopics (Source: Collect Space)
The life story of Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon,
has taken not one, but two small steps towards landing on both the big
and small screens. A newly-acclaimed director and a television network
have each reportedly turned their attention to the late Apollo 11
moonwalker as the inspiration for a feature-length film and TV
miniseries, respectively. (9/29)
Space Station Partners in No Rush To
Decide on Extension (Source: Space News)
The heads of three space agencies said their governments may not make
decisions until 2016 on whether to continue to participate in the ISS
beyond 2020. The leaders of the Canadian Space Agency, European Space
Agency, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said they had near-term
priorities to address first, including maximizing the current use of
the ISS, before considering the extension proposed by the U.S. earlier
this year. (9/30)
NASA Images Reveal Shocking Scale of
Aral Sea Disaster (Source: FOX News)
A series of NASA satellite images has revealed the shocking decline of
water levels in the Aral Sea, a massive environmental disaster dubbed
“the quiet Chernobyl.” NASA’s Terra satellite began capturing the
images in 2000, when the vast central Asian lake known as the Aral Sea
was already a fraction of its 1960 size. Click here.
(10/1)
Crops Grow On Fake Moon And Mars Soil
(Source: Popular Science)
If humans ever set up permanent bases on the Moon or Mars, we'll need
to be able to grow our own food there. To find out whether that’s
actually possible, a team of scientists in the Netherlands planted 14
plant species in soils that simulate the Martian and lunar regolith. It
turned out that the Martian soil simulant was better than some Earth
soils for growing plant life, which is good news for astronauts. Click here.
(9/9)
Scaled Down Dream Chaser Would be
Stacked with Thunderbolt Rocket (Source: Space News)
That vehicle would be attached to the two-stage Thunderbolt rocket that
Orbital Sciences Corp. is building for Stratolaunch. Thunderbolt will
be launched from a custom-built aircraft Stratolaunch is building at
its facility in Mojave, California. The scaled-down Dream Chaser would
be able to carry two to three people into low Earth orbit, including to
the international space station.
One advantage of this concept, Gravelle said, is that air launch
provides additional flexibility in arranging launches. “It can launch
from pretty much anywhere to any inclination,” he said. The
Stratolaunch aircraft requires a runway at least 3,800 meters long,
although the smaller Dream Chaser can land on runways as short as 2,500
meters.
The Stratolaunch aircraft is more than 50 percent complete, said Chuck
Beames, president of Vulcan Aerospace Corp., the holding company owned
by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen that is funding development of
Stratolaunch. The company is planning initial flight tests of the
aircraft in mid-2016, with initial test launches planned for 2018.
(10/1)
Another Proposed UK Spaceport Gets
Endorsement (Source: BBC)
A bid to bring the UK's first spaceport to the former airbase at
Kinloss has been endorsed by Moray councillors. The UK government is
considering potential sites and a consultation document has identified
Kinloss as a possible location for the project. The chair of the Moray
Economic Partnership and the council's economic development committee,
John Cowe, said it was a clear front runner. The council said the
economic benefits would be enormous. Ministers want to establish the UK
spaceport by 2018 - the first of its kind outside of the US. (10/1)
ULA To Help Fund Aerojet Rocketdyne
Engine Studies (Source: Space News)
Although United Launch Alliance has already selected Blue Origin to
develop a new main engine for the future, the Denver-based rocket maker
will continue to fund a smaller-scale effort by longtime supplier
Aerojet Rocketdyne to examine propulsion concepts that include a
kerosene-fueled main engine dubbed AR-1. Aerojet Rocketdyne of
Sacramento, California, has been shopping the AR-1 as a potential
replacement for the Russian-made RD-180 engine that powers the main
stage of ULA’s Atlas 5 rocket. (9/30)
Russia and China Have Visa Issues at
IAC (Source: SpaceRef)
The first plenary of the IAC is the much anticipated yearly Heads of
Agencies panel where the leaders of the leading space programs have an
opportunity to bring the Congress up to date on their countries
activities. Unfortunately, and embarrassingly, members of both the
Chinese and Russian delegations had visa problems and were unable to
make it.
It is not known who is at fault for this issue, but according the
President of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), Walter Natynczyk, during
a press conference afterwards, the CSA was not informed of the issue
until 48 hours before the start of the Congress. The Canadian
Department of Foreign Affairs handles these matters. It's not clear why
China had visa issues as Canada has just completed a new trade
agreement with them. (10/1)
Advertising Video Contest Will Send
Winner to Space (Source: Ad Week)
When it comes to hype, business-to-business marketing typically takes a
backseat to consumer-based initiatives. But Virool may have found a way
to cut through the clutter as it is announcing a marketing video
contest that will send the winner into outer space. The programmatic
video startup, which claims to have served 60,000 ads in its first two
years, is encouraging video creatives to submit spots to a dedicated
channel through May 4, 2015. Virool will then pick the video that best
captures an "out of this world" theme, and award the victor a seat
aboard the Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo. (9/30)
Lemurs May Hold Key to Deep Space
Travel (Source: WNCN)
The key to space travel and complicated surgical procedures could be
found in lemurs at Duke University. With about 250 lemurs from 23
different species roaming 80 acres of natural habitat at Duke Forest,
Duke University has the largest number of lemurs outside Madagascar.
Those lemurs could hold the key to faster recovery times from injuries
and even deep space travel because of hundreds of species of primates,
the fat-tailed dwarf lemur is the closest genetic cousin to humans that
can hibernate. Click here.
(9/30)
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