The Albuquerque Tribune argues here why New Mexico must pursue the construction of a spaceport in the state.
Category Archives: Orbital
Alt.space: tough enough for the tough questions
In his Space Review article, Eric Hedman wondered aloud if alt.space was asking itself the tough questions needed to have a realistic chance at technical and business success. One company, Masten Space Systems, has replied that yes, they are. Also, Clark Lindsay at HobbySpace has a very thoughtful response, and … Continue reading
The Space Review: this week’s articles
Eric Hedman thinks that alt.space startups should be asking themselves some tough questions to enhance their business plans and chances of success. Jeff Foust reviews the latest space IMAX movie, about the Spirit and Opportunity Mars rovers, in Review: Roving Mars in IMAX. Andrew Turner describes the Aquarius system, which … Continue reading
The Write Stuff interviews Mike Griffin
Another new space blog has entered the blogosphere and this one, The Write Stuff by Michael Cabbage of the Orlando Sentinel, is starting off with a bang by interviewing NASA administrator Mike Griffin. Lots of interesting stuff to be had here, including Mike’s thoughts on COTS: The space station market … Continue reading
Self-Repairing Spacecraft
In an article titled “Spacecraft, Heal Thyself” the European Space Agency introduces the results of a new study to develop spacecraft that can self-repair. Thanks to the new study funded by ESA’s General Studies Programme, and carried out by the Department of Aerospace Engineering, University of Bristol, UK, engineers have … Continue reading
COTS Announcement Released
NASA has released the Final COTS announcement. Michael Mealling has posted a link at his COTS Watch website. Over at US Space News they have posted a run-down of the various sections providing a good over-view of the announcement. Thoughtfully they highlighted in red this piece of NASA information; Its … Continue reading
UPDATE: SpaceX prepares Falcon 1 for February launch date
After the scrub of the December 19th launch attempt, Elon Musk CEO of SpaceX announced the decision to fly a whole new first stage to Hawaii via C-5 just in time to catch the barge from there to Kwaj a few days before New Year’s Eve. The new stage would … Continue reading
Update on MSS XA-01 project
Our friend Jon Goff from Selenian Boondocks, catches us up on what’s been going on at Masten Space Systems. Bemoaning the lack of “pretty” pictures, he none the less fills us in on the progress on various pieces of the puzzle that will end with XA-01 craft. An engineer on … Continue reading
Space Colonies
This is a rather odd little work that has an amazing amount of really interesting stuff in it. It is a compilation of articles collected from the Co-Evolution quarterly and divided into three sections: Vision, Debate and Space. In large part it’s a compilation of the debate… Continue reading
Falcon 1 launch set for February 8th
SpaceX have just announced a new launch date for the maiden flight of the Falcon 1 rocket, from Omelek in the Marshal Islands. 4:30pm PST on February 8, 2006 marks the ‘T minus zero’ time of the third launch attempt for the new, low-cost rocket. Out of the Cradle will … Continue reading
Space briefs…or what I missed during my holiday vacation
Yes Mr. President…um…ma’am The other day Bob Werb, co-founder of the Space Frontier Foundation had a conversation with the President of the United States. Well, not exactly… In a piece titled “What If…” Bob relates a little thought exercise on what if you had the ear of the President in … Continue reading
Falcon 1 launch live coverage
This is the final word on the subject for now, so I might as well let Elon have it… Posted December 19, 2005 at 4:40 p.m. (pst) Here is the apparent cause of structural damage (further analysis may change the conclusion): Due to high winds, we placed the countdown on … Continue reading
Ascending into space: John Powell talks about JP Aerospace – part two
This is the second part of our interview with John Powell. The first part is here. OotC: PongSats fly on the development missions for your other major program, Airship to Orbit (ATO). When I first heard of ATO, it struck me as a little counterintuitive – but the more I … Continue reading
Things in the news…
NASA Announces First Comet Sample Return to Earth NASA will brief news media at 1 p.m. EST, Wednesday, Dec. 21, about the return of the Stardust capsule. The capsule is carrying cometary and interstellar dust particles back to Earth. The briefing is at NASA headquarters, 300 E Street S.W., Washington. … Continue reading
New Falcon 1 Launch Date Set
Falcon 1′s Tropical Island Aerie SpaceX has firmed up the date and time for their launch attempt of the Falcon 1 rocket. With the various complications that arose to scrub the initial launch attempt now resolved, the Falcon 1 is scheduled to lift-off from the Kwajalein Atoll of the Marshall … Continue reading
A list of ten books for the space enthusiast in your house
As I sit here supposedly completing a list of items I want for the holidays, I glanced around my book shelves and thought of the good selection of tomes I already have. I decided to start a layman’s list of space related books. This list is for someone interested in … Continue reading
Ascending into space: John Powell talks about JP Aerospace – part one
John Powell is the president and founder of JP Aerospace. All through his youth, he dreamed of building spacecraft – and that’s exactly what he’s been doing ever since. With advanced balloon, airship and rocket systems, and even his own free flight experiment payload program, John and his team have … Continue reading
Falcon 1 December Launch Date
When last we tuned into the Falcon 1 saga, the launch had been scrubbed for the November 27th date. “Although we were eventually able to refill the vehicle LOX tanks, the rate at which we could add helium was slower than the rate at which LOX was boiling away. There … Continue reading
Falcon-1 launch delayed 24 hours by army range
SpaceX have announced that the maiden launch of Falcon-1 has been bumped to Saturday at 21:00 GMT: In order to facilitate preparations for a missile defense launch, the Army Space and Missile Defense Command (SMDC) has bumped the SpaceX Falcon 1 maiden flight from its officially scheduled launch date of … Continue reading
Mike Griffin gets it
Hey everyone – lets stop bitching about “Apollo on steroids” for a minute or two, and listen to what the NASA administrator actually has to say about space commerce and NewSpace participation in the Vision for Space Exploration. We may not agree with everything, but we might be pleasantly surpised: … Continue reading
More SpaceX and Falcon info at Dispatches from the Final Frontier
Michael Belfiore has live blogged the SpaceX Falcon-1 launch announcement press conference, and has a pile of good questions and answers from that with Elon. Well worth a read. Some snippets: Q: Are you developing a manned vehicle right now, or have you thought that far ahead yet? A: I … Continue reading
Friday 25 November 2005, 2100 GMT
That’s the date, folks – or 4pm EST for those in the US – that Space Exploration Technologies Corporation’s inaugural Falcon-1 rocket will fly from its launch pad on Omelek island in the Kwajalein atoll. The launch window lasts for four hours. Thanks to Spaceflight Now for the early info. … Continue reading
SpaceX to announce launch time for Falcon 1
Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, maker of the Falcon 1 rocket, have just issued a press release about a news conference tomorrow at which they will announce the launch date and time for the maiden Falcon 1 flight from the Kwajalein atoll. Who: SpaceX Founder and CEO Elon Musk will announce … Continue reading
The NewSpace conundrum: is NASA a competitor or customer?
Michael Griffin is talking up the need for private enterprise in space – without which, he says, NASA cannot afford the human exploration program it envisions. I’m just not sure how that gels with his “We’ll build it all, we’ll launch it all” ESAS architecture.
*Crack* — Was that the starting gun?
The crack of the starting gun for the new space race that is…and I think it was, loud and clear. Not to put words in his mouth but, it appears Fred Kiesche posting over at Lunar Soil agrees in his article, Slow and Steady Wins the Race. And the announcements … Continue reading