November 24, 2017

Japan Plans Rail-Launch Orbital Mission on Christmas Day (Source: JAXA)
In response to the failure of SS-520 No. 4 experiment in January this year, a retry demonstration will be held on Dec. 25 for the development of rockets and satellites using civil engineering technology. The experiment has been approved by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, as part of its SERVIS project (Space Environment Reliability Verification Integrated System). The SS-520 No. 5 is a three-stage rocket that is a modification of the SS-520 two-stage sounding rocket. (11/13)

Time for Oklahomans to Pack Their Bags for Recreational Space Travel (Source: News OK)
Oklahoma's spaceport is operated by the Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority and is licensed, among other things, to oversee the takeoff and landing of suborbital reusable launch vehicles. Spaceports like Oklahoma's may be used to take the next step in space travel. Companies like Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic and SpaceX, among others, are working toward making commercial space tourism a reality, and they are already selling seats. Click here. Click here. Editor's Note: This article could have been written 10 years ago. (11/23)

How ISRO is Developing a Niche in the Global Space Market (Source: Economic Times)
Last year, India broke its own record by launching 20 satellites, including 17 from foreign countries, in one go. This year in February, India scripted history by successful launch of a record 104 satellites in a single mission. India is now developing its low-cost edge.

The Indian Space Research Organization is developing a small launch vehicle that can be assembled in just three days as compared to 30-40 days for a normal-sized PSLV and can be built at a cost which will be just one-tenth the original manufacturing cost of a PSLV. The manufacturing cost of a launch vehicle is generally in the range of Rs 150 crore to Rs 500 crore across the world. (11/23)

Laws of Physics Still Universal, Studies Find (Source: Cosmos)
Sure, the mainstream media might like to trumpet results that appear to challenge Einstein and threaten to turn everything we know about physics on its head, but those results almost always turn out to be wrong. So, it’s genuinely reassuring when another experiment that appears to confirm our most basic assumptions about the way the cosmos operates.

One of the most fundamental ideas about our universe is that the laws of physics apply across the board – gravity in a distant galaxy behaves like it does in this one, for example. A more elegant piece of theory is what’s called Lorentz invariance - named for Hendrick Lorentz, the scientist who first derived it from his equations teasing out Einstein’s work on special relativity.

Lorentz Invariance states that the laws of physics remain constant for all observers within the same inertial frame. It’s not an idea which is uncritically accepted, since there are mathematical models that predict this symmetry will break down when attempting to reconcile relativity and particle physics. However, two new papers in the journal Physical Review Letters suggest that – for now at least – Lorentz invariance still holds. (11/24)

Meteorologist Warns Collapse of Two Antarctic Glaciers Could Flood Every Coastal City on Earth (Source: Inhabitat)
Two of Antarctica’s glaciers are holding our civilization hostage, meteorologist Eric Holthaus wrote in a piece for Grist. Pine Island and Thwaites are among the continent’s biggest and fastest-melting glaciers – and they could unleash 11 feet of sea level rise if they collapse. That’s enough to flood every coastal city on our planet.

Thwaites and Pine Island sprawl across a plain over 150-miles-long, and inland widen to a reserve of ice two-miles-thick that’s about the size of Texas, according to Holthaus, who says there’s no doubt the ice will melt. The question is not if, but how soon. Should the two glaciers collapse, every shoreline and coastal city could be inundated with water, leaving hundreds of millions of climate refugees homeless. And those events could happen in 20 to 50 years – too fast for humans to adapt. (11/24)