Moonspike Launches Effort to Develop
Lunar Rocket (Source: Moonspike)
We are happy to welcome you to the Moonspike engineering adventure,
taking you and us to the Moon. We have spent most of 2015 preparing
this launch and we are happy to finally let you all know about it.
Moonspike aims to reach the Moon with a small, professional, dedicated
team and this task is easy on paper – but real development is not.
Hopefully you will find that we have presented a feasible plan as a
starting point, and you will support us as we attempt to move this
project off paper and into reality.
Moonspike will show progress and hardware quickly and weekly – if we
get funded, this will not be a project which stays dormant, or shows
only renderings, ideas and text. We know that the globe is packed with
great minds and we invite you all to take part. Hopefully you will find
it inspiring to see how an actual moon rocket is created and, if we
succeed, finally launched. Click here.
(10/1)
Investing in the Next Space Race
(Source: Oxford Investment U)
If there is water on Mars and colonists can make a home there, I think
we’re setting up for a good old-fashioned space race. A land rush on
Mars could be a possibility. That sounds exciting, eh? And there are
companies that will profit. Exploring Mars unlocks a whole planet full
of potential. I hope we do it soon. It could be a very profitable
journey for investors. Click here.
(9/30)
Australian Broadband Satellite May Not
Deliver What it Promises (Source: Crikey)
One of the most powerful forces in the world today, disruptive new
technology, will destroy all of the hopes that rode into space on the
rocket that launched the first of two Australian NBN National Broadband
Network satellites toward geostationary orbits. Even the national
broadcaster the ABC made this clear as it streamed the live launch of
the first of two Sky Muster space based platforms from French Guiana.
There are well based mathematical reasons why the billion dollar
investment to provide ‘high speed’ broadband access to 200,000 more
remote subscribers with NBN internet access will not perform as well as
hyped. Australian governments do not seek out ruthlessly impartial
analysis of big spending projects, and the NBN seriously required such
a reality check.
The inherent problem with geo-synchronous satellites is called
latency.Unfortunately for those who use ‘the cloud’ for computing
services, or are even attempting to conduct basic commerce over the
web, those actions often involve servers on the far side of the planet.
Anyone who has, like the writer, tried to use WordPress from a jet with
internet access through a geo-synchronous communications satellite,
will know that the process is mind numbingly slow and error prone.
(10/1)
GPS III Launch Services RFP Released
by Air Force (Source: GPS World)
The U.S. Air Force released a final Request for Proposal (RFP) for GPS
III Launch Services on Sept. 30. Launch services include launch vehicle
production, mission integration and launch operations for a GPS III
mission scheduled to launch in 2018. Proposals are due back to the Air
Force no later than Nov. 16 in accordance with the solicitation
instructions. (10/1)
Major Repairs on Wallops Island
Spaceport Completed (Source: Washington Post)
The Virginia Commercial Spaceflight Authority says major repairs to a
launch pad that was damaged when a rocket exploded shortly after
liftoff last fall have been completed. An unmanned commercial supply
rocket bound for the International Space Station exploded moments after
liftoff from Wallops Island on Oct. 28. The rocket explosion caused
about $15 million in damage to the launch pad, which sits on a NASA
facility on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. (10/1)
Tomorrow’s Space Suit: Personal
“Gravity Pack” Comes Standard (Source: IEEE Spectrum)
After exiting the air lock, an astronaut uses the thrusters on her
space suit to propel herself toward a nearby asteroid. With great care,
she gets as close and as steady as she can in preparation for knocking
a few samples off the surface. But with very little gravity to anchor
her, the strike of her hammer throws her backward in an uncontrolled
tumble.
This scenario may sound a bit comic, but it’s one that engineers will
have to keep in mind as they design ways to once again send astronauts
out beyond low earth orbit—to a piece of an asteroid brought close to
the moon by a robotic spacecraft, according to NASA’s current plans; to
other small bodies in deep space; and on long missions to what could be
our generation’s ultimate destination—Mars. Click here.
(9/30)
Swiss Space Systems Announces
Partnership with UAE Company (Source: Parabolic Arc)
Swiss Space Systems (S3) – A satellite launcher for the Middle East
Dubai, UAE / Payerne, Switzerland, the 30th of September, 2015 – Swiss
Space Systems (Holding) SA, through its subsidiary S3 Middle East,
announces major partnership with D&B Group to deliver access to
space to the Middle East. The goal is to develop, manufacture, certify
and operate unmanned suborbital shuttles to locally launch small
satellites up to 250 kg by 2019. (9/30)
Google Lunar X Prize Down to the Sweet
16 (Source: Parabolic Arc)
With an end-of-the-year deadline looming for the Google Lunar X Prize
to continue, the $30 million competition to land a private rover on the
moon has shrunk in half to 16 teams from the original 33 or 34. At
least one of the teams has to demonstrate that it has a firm launch
contract in place by Dec. 31 for the competition to continue. If at
least one team can show a contract this year, then the remaining teams
in the competition will have until the end of 2016 to secure contracts
in order to stay in the race. (9/30)
Lunar Mission One, Astrobotic Partner
to Establish First Lunar Digital Archive on Moon (Source:
Parabolic Arc)
Astrobotic Technology Inc. and Lunar Missions Ltd, the company behind
the global, inclusive, not-for-profit crowd-funded Lunar Mission One,
have signed a deal to send the first digital storage payload to the
Moon. The payload will support Lunar Mission One’s ‘Footsteps on the
Moon’ campaign, launched earlier today, which invites millions of
people to include their footsteps – in addition to images, video and
music – in a digital archive of human life that will be placed on the
moon during Astrobotic’s first lunar mission. (9/30)
Could Prestwick Become Scotland’s
First Spaceport? (Source: The Scotsman)
It was once Scotland’s window across the ocean, the base of all
transatlantic flights to the United States and Canada. Today, Prestwick
is a shadow of its former self and offers services to fewer than 20
destinations in Europe. But the airport on the Ayrshire coast could be
welcoming tourists looking for a rather more adventurous trip if it is
chosen as the launchpad for the UK’s first commercial space flights.
The UK Government is eager to expand the fledgling space industry and
is asking for final bids from potential spaceports to be submitted by
next year. It has set an ambitious target of winning 10 percent of the
global market by 2030. (9/30)
India to Sex Up Sriharikota Spaceport
(Source: mydigitalfc.com)
A day after launching the Indian space research observatory or
mini-Hubble named Astrosat, the Center has given an in-principle
clearance to Indian Space Research Organization to build a third
satellite launchpad (SLP) and assembly line at the Sriharikota
spaceport in Andhra Pradesh costing Rs 1,000 crore. The prime
minister’s office (PMO) has given the go-ahead for building the third
launchpad and assembly line as part of a larger plan to make ISRO a
commercially-viable profit center.
The Union cabinet will shortly consider the proposal after ISRO puts
together the technical configuration for the SLP and launch vehicle
assembly line, to push Sriharikota as the world’s most cost-effective
space industrial complex. (9/30)
UAE Space Agency Explores Ties with
India (Source: Khaleej Times)
A delegation from the UAE Space Agency met officials of the Indian
Space Research Organization to discuss possibilities of cooperation
between the two space organizations. The UAE delegation included
Chairman Dr Khalifa Al Rumaithi, Director-General Dr Mohammed Nasser Al
Ahbabi, and a number of senior officials. During the visit, the UAE
delegation learnt about the Indian space sector and ISRO programs
including satellite launching capabilities, which have positioned India
as a leading nation within the space industry. (9/30)
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