09 December 2010
Musk Confident Dragon Will Visit Station on Next Mission
Buoyed by the successful maiden launch and recovery of its unmanned Dragon cargo capsule Dec. 8, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) is pressing its case for sending Dragon to the international space station on its next flight.
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09 December 2010
South Africa unveils space agency
South Africa unveiled its national space agency on Thursday, aiming to become a leader in earth observation technology across the continent in 10 years, the minister of science and technology said.
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08 December 2010
DLR And NASA Conclude Bilateral Framework Agreement
The German Aerospace Center and NASA concluded a framework agreement for bilateral cooperation in Washington D.C. on 8 December 2010.
In the future, there will be close collaboration between German researchers and the NASA Lunar Science Institute, NLSI, to bring together their common expertise in planetary research, particularly lunar research. The focus will be on possibilities for exploring the Moon and concepts for creating infrastructure on the Moon, based on joint, comprehensive geological and physical lunar exploration.
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08 December 2010
Japan probe shoots past Venus, may meet again in six years
A Japanese space probe has hurtled past Venus after failing to enter the planet's orbit as planned, the space agency said Wednesday, but it voiced hope for a successful rendezvous six years from now.
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08 December 2010
SpaceX Dragon Does Two Orbits Before Pacific Splashdown
US company SpaceX on Wednesday successfully launched a space capsule into orbit and back, marking the first such attempt by a private enterprise and a major milestone in the future of space travel.
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07 December 2010
NASA Arsenic Finding Questioned
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07 December 2010
China Builds Theme Park In Spaceport
China is building a science theme park in the middle of its newest spaceport to promote space science among the country's younger generation.
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06 December 2010
Federal Government Approves New German Space Strategy
Over the last few years, space has developed from a science-oriented symbol of technological competition into a means of solving societal problems and global challenges such as climate change and the provision of security. With this as a starting point, German space policy and its implementation must focus on clearly defined objectives. This includes the strategic expansion of national space expertise, to maintain a strong position for German technology in the competitive international marketplace.
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06 December 2010
Robotic Excavations Could Help Get Helium 3 From Moon To Earth
Former ISRO Chairman Madhavan Nair has outlined the possibility of getting Helium-3, found on the moon, through "robotic excavations" to earth, in an attempt to resolve the planet's future energy needs.
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06 December 2010
X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle Completes First Flight
Boeing has announced the successful de-orbit and landing of the Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV), also known as the X-37B, for the U.S. Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office (RCO).
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06 December 2010
Roscosmos And NASA To Seal Deal On Joint Projects
Russia's space agency, Roscosmos, and NASA are to sign a protocol on joint projects in manned and unmanned space travel, the Russian agency's head, Alexei Perminov, said on Wednesday.
"We are considering different variants of cooperation, including flights to asteroids, to a Lagrange point, carrying out joint work on the Moon and in a near-earth orbit," Perminov told journalists in Moscow.
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06 December 2010
Malaysia To Train Experts For Aerospace Industry
Malaysian Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Maximus Ongkili told reporters that the new institute, to be named the Aerostructure Manufacturing Innovation Center ( AMIC), will be the research and development center for three areas: design of new aerostructure, manufacturing process of aerostructure, and utilization of new materials for aerostructure.
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02 December 2010
To Boldly Go - But On A Tight Budget
Britain's space experts are keeping their fingers crossed that their Pounds 250m a year budget won't fall victim to the public spending cuts. Despite the refusal of successive British governments to get involved in the expensive arena of manned space flight, the UK is hoping a renewed strategic focus in the sector can help to create an extra 100,000 jobs over the next decade.
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FOR FURTHER READING
06 December 2010
Breaking the shackles of Apollo
For decades after the Apollo program, many have argued for similar approaches for returning humans to the Moon. Travis Senor makes the case for a very different, long-term approach to human exploration of the solar system.
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06 December 2010
Apollo: secrets and whispers
Just how would a spy satellite been incorporated into an Apollo mission to take high-resolution images of the lunar surface? Dwayne Day follows up last week’s piece on the Lunar Mapping and Survey System with additional insights and illustrations.
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06 December 2010
Searching for ET
Last week’s announcement of the discovery of a microbe that can incorporate arsenic, instead of phosphorus, into its DNA widens the prospects for life on other worlds. Lou Friedman argues that the search for extraterrestrial life, in particular intelligent life, would benefit from having a firmer strategy.
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06 December 2010
Review: Confronting Space Debris
Everyone agrees that orbital debris is a major problem, but how big of a problem does it have to become before we take more action to resolve it? Jeff Foust reviews a new study that compares orbital debris with a wide range of other problems that have gone through similar cycles of action.
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