Orion Spacecraft Ready for Tests at
Plum Brook (Source: SpaceFlight Insider)
Preliminary testing has begun on the Orion crew module adapter at NASA
Glenn Research Center’s Plum Brook Station in Ohio. There, with a test
version of Orion’s European Space Agency (ESA)-provided service module,
also due to arrive in a few weeks, personnel have prepared their giant
Space Power Facility for a series of tests that should prove Orion’s
readiness for future missions beyond low-Earth orbit (LEO), and
possible missions to Mars. Click here.
(8/18)
Send Your Name to Mars (Source:
SpaceFlight Insider)
Mars enthusiasts around the world can participate in NASA’s journey to
Mars by adding their names to a silicon microchip headed to the Red
Planet aboard NASA’s InSight Mars lander, scheduled to launch next
year. Submissions will be accepted until Sept. 8. To send your name to
Mars aboard InSight, go to: http://go.usa.gov/3Aj3G
The fly-your-name opportunity comes with “frequent flier” points to
reflect an individual’s personal participation in NASA’s journey to
Mars, which will span multiple missions and multiple decades. The
InSight mission offers the second such opportunity for space
exploration fans to collect points by flying their names aboard a NASA
mission, with more opportunities to follow. (8/18)
Russia to Send First Ever
Robot-Cosmonaut to ISS (Source: Space Daily)
A team of experts at the Russian Academy of Sciences' Space Research
Institute are working on the prototype of a robot cosmonaut to help ISS
crews during spacewalks. Russia is a world leader where it comes to
designing all kinds of space innovations. (8/19)
Japanese Cargo Craft Launches to ISS
(Source: Space News)
A Japanese cargo spacecraft is on its way to the space station. An H-2B
rocket lifted off from the Tanegashima Space Center at 7:50 a.m.
Eastern time and placed the fifth H-2 Transfer Vehicle (HTV) spacecraft
into orbit. The spacecraft, carrying more than 4,300 kilograms of
supplies and equipment, is scheduled to arrive at the ISS Aug. 24. The
HTV's cargo includes an astrophysics experiment that will be mounted on
the station's exterior and 14 satellites for Planet Labs that will
later be deployed from the station. (8/19)
Avanti Finances Next Satellite
(Source: Space News)
Avanti Communications has wrapped up the financing for its next
satellite. The company closed a $136 million debt and equity deal
Tuesday that the company says will complete the funding needed for the
Hylas 4 satellite. That spacecraft is being built by Orbital ATK for an
early 2017 launch on an Ariane 5. Most of the financing came in the
form of bonds issued to MAST Capital Management LLC of Boston, due in
2019. (8/18)
Virgin Galactic Hires Former SpaceX
Executive for LauncherOne (Source: Space News)
Virgin Galactic has hired a former SpaceX executive. Virgin Galactic
announced early Wednesday that it has hired Barry Matsumori as senior
vice president of business development and advanced concepts for the
company's LauncherOne program. Matsumori was previously senior vice
president for sales and business development at SpaceX, but left the
company earlier this year. (8/19)
Alaska Spaceport Hosts Garvey Rocket
Tests (Source: AAC)
An Alaska spaceport is hosting ground tests of a small launch vehicle.
Garvey Spacecraft Corp., a California company developing a
nanosatellite launch vehicle, carried out tests to "path-find
operations" of its planned vehicle at the Pacific Spaceport Complex -
Alaska in Kodiak. That included shipping a first stage of a test
vehicle to Kodiak and testing fueling there, all carried out within one
month. While the Kodiak launch site has hosted several launches of
small rockets, the Garvey vehicle is the first liquid-fueled rocket
hosted by the complex. (8/18)
CASIS Puts Space Tech in Golf Club
(Source: Florida Today)
The nonprofit running research on the ISS is supporting the rollout of
a new golf club. CASIS, which manages the national lab portion of the
ISS, held a press conference Tuesday with Cobra Puma Golf to unveil a
new driver, the King LTD, which carries CASIS' "Space Is In It"
branding. While Cobra Puma Golf has performed research on the ISS, it
wasn't clear if that research was, in fact, incorporated into the new
club. The company says the club includes other space-related
technologies, such as "spiral lock" threading used to attach shuttle
main engines. (8/18)
New Version of Soyuz Rocket Could Come
in 2022 (Source: Sputnik)
A Russian company believes that a new version of the Soyuz launch
vehicle could be ready by 2022. The head of TsSKB-Progress, which
manufactures the Soyuz, said Tuesday a "draft design" of the proposed
Soyuz-5 rocket should be ready by the end of the year, a schedule that
would allow the vehicle to enter service in 2022. A key difference from
existing version of the rocket will be the development of new rocket
engines that use liquified natural gas as fuel. (8/17)
Spaceport America Visitor Center Saga
Continues (Source: KRQE)
A dispute over a visitors center for New Mexico's Spaceport America has
triggered a special election in one county. The spaceport established a
visitors center in the town of Truth or Consequences earlier this year,
moving a senior citizens center that previously used that building to
another part of town. The displaced users gathered enough signatures on
a petition to force a special election Sept. 22 on whether the center
should be moved back into that building. (8/17)
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