Donald Trump to Tour KSC Next Week
(Source: Florida Today)
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump plans to tour Kennedy
Space Center next Monday, Oct. 24. The schedule, whose details are
still being worked out, anticipates Trump flying into KSC's former
space shuttle runway, touring the spaceport and talking with industry
representatives in a roundtable discussion hosted by the Economic
Development Commission of Florida's Space Coast and Space Florida, the
EDC confirmed.
“Since 2008, the Economic Development Commission of Florida’s Space
Coast has led the way to educate presidential candidates regarding the
need to support critical aerospace programs to keep the United States
competitive and viable,” said Lynda Weatherman, organization's
president and CEO. “We are pleased Mr. Trump has accepted our
invitation to participate in this industry roundtable and are hopeful
the Clinton campaign will follow suit.”
The visit would be Trump's second to the Space Coast in a month,
following a Sept. 27 rally that drew 8,500 people to the AeroMod
International aircraft hangar at Orlando Melbourne International
Airport. That event included no mention of the space program or Trump's
space policy positions. In limited remarks to date, Trump has called
NASA "wonderful" and referred to the space program as one worthy of "a
Third World nation." (10/17)
Business Opportunities Expo Planned
for Spaceport on Oct. 25 (Source: KSC)
The NASA Kennedy Space Center Business Opportunities Expo 2016 is
sponsored by the NASA KSC Prime Contractor Board, 45th Space Wing, and
Canaveral Port Authority, and features approximately 150 business and
government exhibitors. Click here.
(10/17)
China Launches Crewed Mission With
Monthlong Visit to Orbiting Lab (Source: Space News)
China successfully launched its first human spaceflight mission in more
than three years Sunday night. A Long March 2F rocket lifted off from
the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 7:30 p.m. Eastern and placed the
Shenzhou-11 spacecraft into orbit. On board Shenzhou-11 are Jing
Haipeng and Chen Dong, named as the crew less than 24 hours before the
launch. They will dock with the Tiangong-2 module for a 30-day mission,
part of a long-term Chinese effort to develop its own space station.
(10/16)
European Lander Separates From
Orbiter, Ready for Mars Descent (Source: BBC)
A European lander separated from its Mars-bound orbiter spacecraft
Sunday. The Schiaparelli lander separated as planned at 10:42 a.m.
Eastern from the Trace Gas Orbiter spacecraft, although it took longer
than expected to regain telemetry from the orbiter after separation.
The orbiter completed a maneuver late Sunday to prepare for going into
orbit around the planet Wednesday. Schiaparelli, a technology
demonstration mission intended to support a 2020 rover mission, will
attempt a landing on Wednesday. The two spacecraft together represent
the ExoMars 2016 mission. (10/16)
Helium Issue Temporarily Keeps Juno in
Raised Orbit Over Jupiter (Source: NASA JPL)
NASA is postponing a orbital maneuver by its Juno spacecraft at
Jupiter. Juno was scheduled to fire its engine Oct. 19 during a close
flyby of Jupiter to lower itself into a 14-day orbit that will be used
for the spacecraft's prime science mission. Two helium valves did not
open as quickly as expected during preparations for the burn Thursday,
leading project managers to postpone the maneuver until no earlier than
the next close flyby in December. Juno, which arrived at Jupiter in
July, is currently in a 53-day orbit. That longer orbit does not affect
the science Juno can perform, but limits the amount of data it can
collect in a given period of time. (10/14)
Light Modulation From 234 Stars
Suggests Alien Civilizations (Source: New Scientist)
A claim by astronomers that they have discovered alien signals from 234
stars is being treated skeptically by their colleagues. In a paper
submitted last week, astronomers at Laval University in Quebec
analyzing data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey said they found
modulation in the light coming from 234 stars, which they argue are
pulses being sent by alien civilizations around those stars. Other
astronomers believe the "pulses" may simply be data analysis errors,
and criticized them for jumping to conclusions without considering
other causes for the pulses. (10/14)
Musk Says Sabotage Unlikely Cause of
Explosion, But Still a Worry (Source: Space News)
Statements attributed to SpaceX founder Elon Musk suggest he remains
concerned that Falcon 9 rocket operations are vulnerable to attack by
“a long list” of SpaceX adversaries even if it’s unlikely that such an
event was behind the Sep. 1 explosion during preparations of a static
fire test.
In comments leaked just hours after a Musk presentation Oct. 13 to the
U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), Musk also said “a leading
theory” for the Sep. 1 failure is the formation of solid oxygen on the
carbon composite overwrapped pressure vessel (COPV) — the helium
reservoir that is immersed in the liquid oxygen tank on the Falcon 9’s
second stage. (10/17)
Why Elon Musk's Mars Vision Needs
'Some Real Imagination' (Source: Bloomberg)
When Elon Musk introduced earthlings last month to his vision for
cities on Mars, his 90-minute remarks fired up imaginations
everywhere—except on Mars. For now. Kim Stanley Robinson has done as
much as anyone to bring the idea of colonizing Mars into the
mainstream. The writer entwined knowledge, reasoning, and imagination
into his landmark Mars trilogy—Red Mars (1992), Green Mars (1993), and
Blue Mars (1996).
And to Robinson, Musk's Martian future looks a lot like other people's
familiar past.
"Musk’s plan," he said, "is sort of the 1920s science-fiction cliché of
the boy who builds a rocket to the moon in his back yard." Click here.
(10/17)
No comments:
Post a Comment