Ken Murphy / 1:12 am April 27th, 2006

Murphy, Ken
“The Accidental Space Activist”
adAstra online
04/27/2006
On-line Text

Librarian’s Note: There were supposed to be photos included as well, taken from the NSS-NT Activities Gallery

Rob Wilson / 2:34 am April 25th, 2006

…try and try again.

That’s got to be the motto for the CALIPSO and CloudSat teams, who despite trying and trying again, are not having a lot of luck getting their Delta-2 ride to orbit to leave Vandenberg. Patience must be the catchword of the day, too: the two teams have just endured their fourth launch scrub in five days. This time it was overly strong winds, right at the altitude where the rocket would be passing through the region of maximum dynamic pressure, or Max-Q. Because the launch window is only one second long, any unplanned hold automatically translates into a scrub.

Must be tough for the satellite teams, heading out there four times, getting all psyched up for the launch of their satellite four times, and then getting hit with the letdown of a scrub. Hang in there, guys! Once your satellites are safely on orbit, you wont care how many tries it took to get them there.

Rob Wilson / 12:37 am April 25th, 2006

They say it’s the quiet ones that you need to watch. Well, Bigelow Aerospace has always been fairly low-key with their publicity, giving a favorable impression of a New Space company too busy summoning the future to spend much effort on talking about it. While they have made no secret of their inflatable space station plans, they haven’t been going out of their way to seek publicity, either.

But there comes a time when, whatever it is you are quietly and determinedly working away at, your efforts can’t help but draw the attention of others. For Bigelow, the first such moment is rapidly approaching.

READ MORE…

Rob Wilson / 12:29 am April 25th, 2006

I will be Dr David Livingston’s guest Tuesday night on The Space Show. It should be a good one - not because I’m on it (I could talk for hours but most of it would be pretty boring), but because David has agreed to let me turn the tables, and interview him, as Mark and I did earlier here at OotC.

David is a fascinating guy, and is of course the one person that he can’t interview on his show. Hearing David’s stories and experiences interviewing some of the top people in the New and Old Space industries will be well worth a listen, so you wont want to miss it, tonight (Tuesday) at 7-8:30pm PDT.

Rob Wilson / 10:38 pm April 24th, 2006

From the OotC China desk: according to this report, Shanghai is about to get a “National Space Theme Park”.

The theme park will be China’s answer to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, minus the launch pad. Pujiang Town will be the site of the park, which will include a space museum and a resort, the officials said. “Visitors to the park will be able to experience various exciting astronaut training facilities,” said Zeng Fanlong, an official of the Shanghai Bureau of Astronautics. Zeng added the interactive features will include a multi-axis trainer and a low gravity simulator so that visitors can experience what it feels like to be in space.

A space theme park in China. You could even say that such a thing is a low-level form of space tourism, without too much of a reach. Well, space-themed tourism, perhaps. Interesting.

Rob Wilson / 10:21 pm April 24th, 2006

A progress cargo ship began its two-day journey to the International Space Station today, carrying two and a half tons of fresh supplies, experiments, water, air, and fuel for the Expedition Thirteen crew.

Launched on time from Baikonur Cosmodrome at 12:03pm EDT, the automated freighter had an uneventful run to orbit. The Russian Space Agency recently agreed to double its production of progress craft, along with the piloted Soyuz taxi vehicles that currently rotate crews at the ISS. These extra vehicles will allow the space station crew to be doubled to six in about 2009. Moving cargo from shuttle to progress also means that the space shuttle can be dedicated to construction rather than resupply missions.

The progress launched today will arrive at ISS at 1:40pm EDT Wednesday. NASA TV will cover the docking from 1pm.

Rob Wilson / 9:04 pm April 24th, 2006

Scaled Composites is designing and building SpaceShipTwo for The Spaceship Company and Virgin Galactic. Burt Rutan’s company doesn’t usually give much away about what it’s up to, which makes this article all the more interesting.

It looks like they now have a working SpaceShipTwo cockpit simulator, and some of the pilots from Virgin Galactic have been taking it for a spin. They’ve been evaluating the pilot interface, and are working on putting together an operations manual. That’s one pilot’s handbook I’d love to have a read of.

It also mentions what VG is looking for in its space pilots: Military training, with experience of the safety culture found in commercial aviation. Apparently they’ve even had some NASA pilots applying.

Rob Wilson / 8:12 pm April 24th, 2006

On this day in 1990, the space shuttle Discovery launched the Hubble Space Telescope into low Earth orbit. Arguably no other unmanned spacecraft has had as large an impact on the public consciousness over such a sustained period of time.

The images Hubble has returned are nothing short of spectacular, but that is just the surface. This one telescope has literally, figuratively, and in every way conceivable, changed our view of the universe. Hubble may have been launched with imperfect vision, but she must surely go down in history as one of NASA’s most successful spacecraft of all time. She even plays a part in the history of manned spaceflight, proving the technical, (though sadly not yet economic) feasibility and usefulness of on-orbit repair and servicing.

Not bad for a girl who wears glasses Sweet sixteen, and never been kissed, as the saying goes. Happy birthday, Hubble!

Rob Wilson / 7:50 pm April 24th, 2006

The European Space Agency has completed construction of its main contribution to the International Space Station, the Columbus laboratory module. The module is now ready for shipment to Kennedy Space Center where it will be prepared for launch on a space shuttle late next year.

Four and a half meters in diameter and nearly seven meters long, the Columbus module will have an internal volume of 75 cubic meters, and be capable of accommodating a crew of three and up to nine thousand kilograms of experiments. At launch, it will weigh 12500 kilograms. It has an on-orbit design life of ten years, which puts its ‘use-by date’ at 2017 if it is launched on schedule. Interestingly, that coincides with the time that NASA expects to be winding down its ISS operations to concentrate on returning to the Moon.

Rob Wilson / 7:18 pm April 24th, 2006

The latest batch of articles is out at the Space Review, and once again Jeff Foust has assembled a fine collection of thoughtful commentary.

Before we get to that, I have to add my voice to the others who have marvelled recently at the one-man space publishing phenomenon that is Jeff Foust. Michael Belfiore started it here, and Dan Schrimpsher seconded (it’s buried in the middle of his own rather prodigious post), and I’d like to add my vote as well. Jeff not only publishes Space Today, the definitive space wire service, and The Space Review, he also finds the time to run a couple of really good blogs, Space Politics and Personal Spaceflight. Oh, and he holds down a full time day job at Futron as well.

My hat’s off to you Jeff, I have no idea how you do it, but I sure do appreciate it.

But back to this week’s articles:

That Kitty Hawk moment by Bob Clarebrough makes the point that, although the flight of SpaceShipOne was one of those moments that changes everything, it will be a while before the world at large comes to fully appreciate it.

In Small steps forward for NewSpace, Jeff Foust (if editing it weren’t enough, TSR always has an article or two written by Jeff as well!) takes stock of progress in the New Space industry, as reported at the recent Space Access Society conference.

Taylor Dinerman examines the recent announcement about US-China space cooperation in Cooperation with China: still dancing on eggs.

In Selling space exploration in uncertain times, Eric Hedman looks at space policy and the next election cycle.

And to top it all off, (the indefatigable) Jeff Foust reviews the novel Challenger Park.

Ken Murphy / 12:01 am April 17th, 2006

Murphy, Ken
“The Importance of the Moon”
Space News
04/17/2006
On-Line Text

Ken Murphy / 7:06 am April 15th, 2006

Be sure to stop by the forums to catch up on the latest reviews of fiction involving our Moon, including “Apollo 21″ by Frank Hogan, “Dead Man on the Moon” by Steven Harper, and “Millenium” by Ben Bova. The reviews are ongoing, more than thirty so far, so you never know what’s next as we venture out of the cradle and visit our neighbor.

Mark Trulson / 11:18 am April 11th, 2006

Launched on 9 November 2005, ESA’s Venus Express ended a 153-day and 400-million km cruise into the inner Solar System firing its main engine for a 50-minute burn, which brought it into orbit around Venus.

The orbit will be refined over the next four weeks to achieve the final operational polar-orbit of 66,000 kilometers. The orbiter will conduct an in-depth observation of the structure, chemistry and dynamics of the atmosphere of Venus for at least two Venusian days (486 Earth days).

“With the arrival of Venus Express, ESA is the only space agency to have science operations under way around four planets: Venus, the Moon, Mars and Saturn” underlines Professor David Southwood, the Director of ESA’s science programmes. “We are really proud to deliver such a capability to the international science community.”

The Venus Express mission mainly focusses on studying the peculiar atmosphere of Venus, with a precision never achieved before. In doing so, it will make the first ever use of the so called ‘infrared windows’, which are narrow bands in the atmospheric spectrum, discovered in the 1980s thanks to ground observations. Looking through these ‘windows’ Venus Express will be able to gather precious information about the lower layers of the atmosphere and even the surface. Both Photos, Credits: ESA - AOES Medialab

Mark Trulson / 12:23 pm April 10th, 2006

Image above: In this artist’s concept, the upper stage and a “sheparding spacecraft” (left) approach the moon before impacting at the south pole (right). Credit: NASA/John Frassanito and Associates.

Since the story broke several days ago the secondary payload that was said to be a lander turns out to be an add-on impactor mission. Granted, an impactor is still considered a lander, just that it “lands” a little bit harder than I was imagining.

The press conference held live on NASA TV announced an overview of the new portion of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter project.

First, the craft will direct the upper stage used to leave Earth orbit to crash into a permanently-shadowed crater at the lunar south pole, creating a plume visible to Earth-based observatories. Next, the satellite will observe the plume and fly through it using several instruments to look for water. At the end of its mission, the satellite will itself become an impactor, creating a second plume visible to lunar-orbiting spacecraft and Earth-based observatories.

This is probably not a permanent link but HERE is the story on NASA’s website.

Mark Trulson / 2:19 pm April 7th, 2006

Let the games begin. Space-Shot.com announces the release of the first $3 internet skill-game with a prize that will send you flying, a free trip on a sub-orbital flight

“I am proud to announce that space travel is now open to all people!” said SpaceShot founder Sam Dinkin. “This product will appeal to those who always wanted to go to space, but don’t have the deep pockets to buy their way.”

The number of participants will determine how often the prize trip will be offered, so the more players, the more winners.

I know our fearless leader here at Out of the Cradle, Rob Wilson is participating. I’m sure he will be along soon to fill us in.

Sam Dinkins, (seen in the photo above) participated in an interview with Rob a while back, which can be accessed HERE.

Mark Trulson / 11:57 am April 6th, 2006

SpaceRef has very brief article announcing NASA’s plans to tag on a robotic lunar lander mission as a secondary payload to the 2008 launch of Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Details however are scant at this time.

NASA managers, engineers, and scientists have been reviewing secondary spacecraft proposals that take advantage of the payload capability of the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle, the rocket that will launch the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter in October 2008.

A briefing will be held live on NASA TV which will announce and discuss the winning proposal. The article also mentions that Raytheon has submitted a proposal for the lander. How many other proposals and who holds the winning design was not, however mentioned.

Hopefully information on the proposal will include things like location of landing site, sicence packages aboard the lander and other little tidbits of the like.

“Exploration Systems managers will brief news media at 2 p.m. EDT Monday, April 10, about plans to conduct high risk and high return research of the lunar surface using a new spacecraft. The press conference will be held in the NASA Headquarters auditorium, 300 E Street S.W., Washington.”

Mark Trulson / 10:33 am April 4th, 2006

In a press release yesterday Space Adventures announced;

Space Adventures, Ltd., the world’s leading space-experiences company, announced today that Charles Simonyi, Ph.D. has signed a contract for a future orbital spaceflight.

This is the same company that brought about the visits to the International Space Station (ISS) by private citizens, Dennis Tito, Mark Shuttleworth and Greg Olsen. However, take note that it says the contract was for a future orbital spaceflight, not a trip to the ISS.

They do promise…

“More details regarding Dr. Simonyi’s scheduled flight date, commencement of spaceflight training and specific mission objectives will be announced in the coming months.”

Things that are new and different are usually also interesting.

With the contract for an orbital flight and no mention of a ISS visit, this is at least new and different…I’m thinking “Interesting” will come along too.

Ken Murphy / 9:56 am April 4th, 2006

Our friend David Livingston will be hosting a round-table discussion which will include the topics of rockets, engineering, and cost effective space access on his Radio/Podcast program, The Space Show.

The LIVE broadcast will take place Sunday, April 9. 2006, from noon-1:30PM PDT (yeah, that pesky daylight savings time has kicked in). The scheduled panelists for the program are Dr. John Jurist, Monte Davis, and Patrick Stiennon with David Hoerr, authors of “The Rocket Company,” and I’m sure the listeners will be calling in to add their two-cents worth as well.

It should make for interesting listening.

For more information on this or future programs and how you can tune in, check out David’s Website.

Ken Murphy / 7:14 pm April 1st, 2006

Ward, Peter
“House of Flying Fossils”
New Scientist
04/01/2006
Publisher’s Web Site

Mark Trulson / 3:53 pm April 1st, 2006

The above graphic shows the current location of the New Horizon probe in relation to the inner planets. Updated hourly, the map and information on how it is created can be found at this NASA site. Credit: NASA

840 million kilometer check-up of 6 out of 7 instruments show no problems. Do to the highly-light sensitive nature of the spacecraft’s seventh instrument, the extremely sensitive Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) – must wait until the probe flies deeper into space where sunlight levels are lower before testing.

Space.Com provides more information.