NASA's New X-Planes Will Be Seriously
Cool (Source: Fast Company)
NASA will reportedly soon request money to build a new line of
efficient and environmentally friendly X-planes. NASA will ask for a
$3.7 billion budget increase over the next decade. The planes are part
of a 10-year plan called the New Aviation Horizons Initiative. One of
the most interesting-looking planes is a hybrid-wing body aircraft with
turbofan engines on top of its back end. The new design reduces drag
and will let engines become larger and more efficient, all while
lowering the noise produced by such a large aircraft. (3/2)
Elon Musk Denies SpaceX's Donald Trump
Campaign Donation (Source: Inverse)
A Twitter user announced today to Elon Musk that he was
“surprised/disappointed” to discover that SpaceX had donated $10,000 to
Donald Trump’s campaign. Musk responded within 15 minutes, saying:
“SpaceX has not donated to any presidential campaign.”
The original image shared in the confrontational tweet lists the Center
for Responsive Politics as its source. A glance at the CRP’s current
list for top Trump donors does not list SpaceX. However, a cached
version of the page from February 29 does.
Musk’s carefully worded statement — “SpaceX has not donated to any
presidential campaign” (emphasis added) — is intriguing. As it turns
out, Musk, SpaceX, and Tesla have donated lots of money to lots of
people. Click here.
(3/2)
Nelson, Castor Join Call to keep NOAA
Weather Center in Tampa Area (Source: Tampa Tribune)
A major weather research program facing eviction from MacDill Air Force
Base next year just got some additional backing from local Congress
members. Sen. Bill Nelson and Rep. Kathy Castor, both Democrats, sent a
joint letter today to Kathryn D. Sullivan, administrator of NOAA,
saying they expect NOAA’s MacDill-based Aircraft Operations Center to
remain in Florida and that they want employees there to have a role in
figuring out where the operation should relocate. (3/1)
Could Laser Weapon Save Earth from
Killer Asteroids? (Source: Space Daily)
Potentially hazardous asteroid are still looming large in the minds of
scientists engaged in planetary defense issues. Numerous strategies
describing deflection of Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) have been proposed,
including methods employing kinetic impactors, robotic mining or
gravity tractors. However, one of the proposed concepts has been lately
reconsidered by a team of researchers, becoming one of the most serious
proposals.
The project, named DE-STAR (Directed Energy System for Targeting of
Asteroids and exploRation), envisions a large phased-array laser in
Earth orbit to deflect asteroids, comets, and other NEOs endangering
our planet. There is also a much smaller, similar system being
considered, called DE-STARLITE, that could travel alongside the target,
slowly deflecting it from nearby over a long period. (2/2)
Former Florida Senate President
Considers Campaign to Replace Altman (Source: TCPalm)
The race to replace state Sen. Thad Altman on Florida's Space Coast
could become more competitive as former Senate President Mike
Haridopolos considers entering the race. Haridopolos, now a lobbyist,
said he hasn't made up his mind and many people have asked him to run
since he left office in 2012.
If he enters the race, he will face state Reps. Debbie Mayfield and
Ritch Workman, as well as Michael Thomas of Melbourne in the Republican
primary. Altman currently chairs a committee focused on defense and
space, and his day job is as preseident of the Astronaut Memorial
Foundation. This senate seat has traditionally been a focal point for
space industry issues. (3/2)
Spaceport America to Hold Open House
(Source: Parabolic Arc)
Spaceport America, will be hosting an open house event free to the
public on Saturday, April 2, 2016. Spaceport America and Virgin
Galactic crewmembers are looking forward to sharing an inside view into
the world’s first purpose-built commercial spaceport with friends,
neighbors and space enthusiasts from New Mexico and afar.
The program includes hands-on fun and educational activities and
demonstrations at the horizontal launch area. There will also be a
raffle for some guests to tour the Spaceport America Experience and
ride the G-shock simulator. (3/1)
Speedier Arctic Data as Warm Winter
Shrinks Sea Ice (Source: Nature)
Following a record winter in many ways, Arctic sea-ice cover seems
poised to reach one of its smallest winter maxima ever. As of 28
February, ice covered 14.525 million square kilometres, or
938,000 square kilometres less than the 1981–2010 average. And
researchers are using a new technique to capture crucial information
about the thinning ice pack in near real time, to better forecast
future changes.
Short-term weather patterns and long-term climate trends have conspired
to create an extraordinary couple of months, even by Arctic standards.
“This winter will be the topic of research for many years to come,”
says Jennifer Francis, a climate scientist at Rutgers University in New
Brunswick, New Jersey. “There’s such an unusual cast of characters on
the stage that have never played together before.”
The characters include the El Niño weather pattern that is pumping heat
and moisture across the globe, and the Arctic Oscillation, a
large-scale climate pattern whose shifts in recent months have pushed
warm air northward. Together, they are exacerbating the long-term
decline of Arctic sea ice, which has shrunk by an average of 3% each
February since satellite records began in 1979. (3/1)
The Space Renaissance: the Government
as Early Adopter (Source: Space News)
There is a renaissance occurring in the aerospace community, and the
way governments respond in the next couple of years may set the stage
for what could be the next new industry. The aerospace industry is a
strategic industry, with national security, scientific and commercial
opportunities all intertwined. Driven by governments, the aerospace
sector has served “the customer” to meet its needs, in its image, at
its cost.
In other words, the government has had market power, setting the
quantity, quality and cost of aerospace products, is the delineator of
requirements and acts as the program manager. There will always be
bespoke aerospace contracting services to meet unique government needs,
but we argue that the emergence of aerospace entrepreneurs can bring
two new opportunities to bookend the existing aerospace sector: rapid
demonstrations and commercial products. (3/1)
New Space Bill Draft Being Reviewed
(Source: Space News)
A draft of a comprehensive space policy bill is now circulating in
industry. The office of Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-OK) is seeking comments
on the draft of the American Space Renaissance Act, which includes a
variety of military, civil and commercial provisions that Bridenstine
believes could be implemented in other legislation.
The bill would restructure NASA management similar to the Space
Leadership Preservation Act and direct NASA to make landing humans on
Mars its main priority. The bill authorizes significant spending
increases for the FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation. It
also requires the Pentagon to make greater use of hosted payloads and
other commercial approaches. (3/1)
Singapore Company Gets $30M for Space
Debris Solution (Source: Japan Times)
A Singapore company with ambitions to clean up orbital debris has won
$30 million in investment from Japanese organizations. Astroscale
announced Tuesday it secured funding from the Innovation Network Corp.
of Japan and venture capital fund Jafco. The company will use the
funding to continue development of an orbital debris mapping satellite,
IDEA OSG 1, that is scheduled to launch at the end of this year.
Astroscale later plans to demonstrate technology that can be used to
remove debris from orbit. (3/1)
Canada Charges Four with Chinese Space
Tech Transfer (Source: National Post)
Four people are facing charges in Canada of exporting sensitive
space-related technologies to China. Two of the four people allegedly
stole technical data from the company they worked for, Teledyne DALSA,
and sold it to Chinese companies that will use it to enhance cameras on
Chinese satellites, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Officials did not release additional details on the technology and its
applications. (3/1)
Kelly Returns to His Home Planet
(Source: CBS)
Astronaut Scott Kelly is back on Earth after nearly a year in space.
The Soyuz TMA-18M spacecraft carrying Kelly and Russian cosmonauts
Mikhail Kornienko and Sergey Volkov landed in Kazakhstan at 11:26 p.m.
Eastern Tuesday night, more than three hours after undocking from the
International Space Station. Kelly and Kornienko spent 340 days in
space, a U.S. record for Kelly, while Volkov spent a more typical six
months on the station. All three appeared to be in good condition after
landing. Kelly is scheduled to return to Houston late tonight. (3/2)
Space Appropriators Survive Primary
Challenges (Sources: AL.com, Houston Chronicle)
Two key members of congressional appropriations committees survived
primary challenges Tuesday. Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) got 65 percent
of the vote in the Republican primary in Alabama, winning the
nomination for a sixth term. Shelby chairs the Senate appropriations
subcommittee that funds NASA, and has been a key player in the debate
about the future of the RD-180 engine. Rep. John Culberson (R-TX) also
won his primary. Culberson chairs the House appropriations subcommittee
that funds NASA. (3/2)
Sierra Nevada to Support Orbital ATK’s
Cygnus (Source: SNC)
Sierra Nevada Corp. was recently awarded a contract to provide multiple
Passive Common Berthing Mechanisms (PCBM) by Special Aerospace Services
(SAS) of Boulder, Colorado for Orbital ATK’s Cygnus advanced
maneuvering spacecraft in support of NASA’s Commercial Resupply
Services 1 and 2 (CRS1, CRS2) programs.
This contract follows a previous order with SNC resulting in the
complete delivery of eight PCBM units in support of Orbital ATK’s CRS1
missions. With the berthing of the OA-4 Cygnus spacecraft to the ISS on
December 9, 2015, three SNC PCBM units have now flown and successfully
berthed with the ISS. The PCBMs provide a sealed connection between
Cygnus and the International Space Station (ISS), enabling delivery and
removal of critical supplies. (3/1)
ET Search: Look For the Aliens Looking
for Earth (Source: Nature)
By watching how the light dims as a planet orbits in front of its
parent star, NASA’s Kepler spacecraft has discovered more than 1,000
worlds since its launch in 2009. Now, astronomers are flipping that
idea on its head in the hope of finding and talking to alien
civilizations.
Scientists searching for ET should target exoplanets from which Earth
can be seen passing in front of the Sun, says René Heller, an
astronomer at the Max Planck Institute. By studying these eclipses,
known as transits, civilizations on those planets could see that Earth
has an atmosphere that has been chemically altered by life. “They have
a higher motivation to contact us, because they have a better means to
identify us as an inhabited planet,” Heller says. Click here.
(3/1)
NASA Studies Middle East Drought
(Source: Science World)
A NASA study has found that the Middle East is currently 18 years into
the worst drought in the past 900 years. The current drought began in
1998 in the Eastern Mediterranean region and is directly affecting
countries such as Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Cyprus and
Turkey, according to NASA.gov. Click here.
(3/1)
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