Amazing Cultural Exploitation of the ISS - Space Flute Duet
Harmony reaches new heights as NASA Astronaut Cady Coleman, circling Earth aboard the International Space Station, and musician Ian Anderson, founder of the rock band Jethro Tull, join together for the first space-Earth duet.
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12 May 2011
India designing reusable spacecraft
Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram, P S Veeraraghavan on Wednesday said India`s space scientists are designing a reusable space craft, which is likely to be launched in 2030. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is currently working on Human Spacelift Project or the man mission in 2015 and Chandrayan-II in 2013, he said.
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12 May 2011
Texas Space Alliance Celebrates New Space "Tourism" Law
With the signature of Texas Governor Rick Perry affixed, and its publication by the Texas Secretary of State, the new Texas space liability law goes into immediate effect.
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11 May 2011
Worried on China, US seeks rules in space
The United States said Wednesday it wanted to set guidelines with China on the use of space, voicing worries that the Asian power is increasingly able to destroy or jam satellites.
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10 May 2011
Soyuz launch from Europe space base set for October
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09 May 2011
NASA plans test of advanced nuclear power generator
Two of the robotic missions NASA selected for further study last week would be powered by experimental nuclear generators, a new technology under development to boost the efficiency of electricity production in deep space.
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06 May 2011
Space Adventures proposes modified Soyuz TMA for Moon tourists
U.S. Space Adventures, the only company currently offering tourist orbital spaceflights, has offered to equip the Russian Soyuz TMA spaceship with additional living space for eight-day commercial flights around the moon, the company said late on Thursday.
The firm announced on April 28 that it would offer moon orbit tourist trips, albeit with a price tag of around $150 million per seat.
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06 May 2011
NASA Selects 3 Finalists for 2016 Discovery Mission
Three ambitious space missions have made NASA’s short list for a planned robotic planetary expedition to launch in 2016. The candidates include a mission to glimpse Mars’ interior, a voyage to the extraterrestrial sea of Saturn’s moon Titan, and a probe to take an unprecedented look at the surface of a comet’s core.
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06 May 2011
Orbital Space Tourism Demand
Space projects and organisations such as Excalibur, Galactic Suite, Bigelow's Space Complex Alpha and Russian Orbital Technologies plans have created increasing interest in orbital space tourism, and with that, a need for new data and research.
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06 May 2011
Space Adventures Reflects Upon A Decade In Space Tourism
Space Adventures, the only company that has provided human space missions to the global marketplace, has outlined a forecast for commercial orbital spaceflight and announced details of how additional living space will be made available during the company's planned circumlunar mission.
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06 May 2011
NASA Administrator Visits Jupiter-Bound Spacecraft
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden visited NASA's Jupiter-bound Juno spacecraft on Thursday, May 5, 2011, at the Astrotech payload processing facility in Titusville, Fla. The solar-powered Juno spacecraft will orbit Jupiter's poles 33 times to find out more about the gas giant's origins, structure, atmosphere and magnetosphere.
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05 May 2011
SpaceShipTwo's First "Feathered" Flight
Early on Wednesday 4th May 2011, in the skies above Mojave Air and Spaceport CA, SpaceShipTwo, the world's first commercial spaceship, demonstrated its unique reentry 'feather' configuration for the first time. This test flight, the third in less than two weeks, marks another major milestone on the path to powered test flights and commercial operations.
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05 May 2011
Musk Answers Doubts about Low, Low Launch Prices
For those skeptical about Space Exploration Technologies’ bargain basement launch costs, SpaceX founder and Chief Executive Elon Musk has posted a response on his company’s website. The price of a standard flight on a Falcon 9 rocket is $54 million, he says, and a full NASA Dragon cargo mission to the international space station runs $133 million including inflation. “These prices are based on known costs and a demonstrated track record, and they exemplify the potential of America’s commercial space industry.”
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05 May 2011
US and Europe plan new spaceship
Europe and the US could be building a spaceship together later this decade. It is one of the ideas being considered as Europe ponders the next evolution of its ATV orbital freighter. The sophisticated robotic vessel is used to transport up to 7.5 tonnes of supplies to the space station, but only three more units are in production. Europe is now looking to develop a derivative of the ship and a joint venture with the Americans on a future vessel is being discussed.
The European Space Agency's Director General, Jean-Jacques Dordain, said the new concept must leverage the capabilities of the existing vehicle, such as its automatic rendezvous and docking technology, but that its precise role was up for debate.
"First, perhaps it is a check-out mission of an exploration vehicle to the ISS. The second is to make a sortie that goes well beyond low-Earth orbit - with a crew or without a crew. And then having an Apollo 8 type of visit around the Moon makes perfect sense," Esa's ISS programme manager, Bernardo Patti told BBC News.
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04 May 2011
Voyager's Love Story
One day, years from now - or maybe billions of years, no one knows - aliens might be surprised to run across an old spaceship from Earth. Improbably far from home, the ancient probe is space cold, its nuclear power source spent long ago; an iconic white antenna points silently into the void, beaming no data to the species that made it. A golden record is fixed to the side of the probe, and if ET can decipher it, he might be surprised again, because Voyager has a story to tell - and it's a Love Story.
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04 May 2011
White House: China is Potential Partner in Future Mars Exploration
Testifying May 4 before the House Appropriations commerce, justice, science subcommittee, White House science adviser John Holdren said near-term engagement with China in civil space will help lay the groundwork for any such future endeavor. He prefaced his remarks with the assertion that human exploration of Mars is a long-term proposition and that any discussion of cooperating with Beijing on such an effort is speculative.
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04 May 2011
NASA Unveils Website with Spectacular Solar System Images
Called "From Earth to the Solar System," or FETTSS, the images showcase the excitement of planetary exploration and the journey to understand the origin and evolution of the solar system, and the search for life elsewhere. Images may be downloaded and displayed with the proper photo credit.
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03 May 2011
Exploring Rio Tinto Eurobotically
An ESA rover, a spacesuit mockup and a medical monitoring system took centre stage between 18-22 April at Rio Tinto in Andalucia, southern Spain.
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02 May 2011
Popovkin replaces Perminov at Russian space agency
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related:
Putin fires Russian space agency chief
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02 May 2011
China sees smooth preparation for launch of unmanned module
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related:
China to attempt first space rendezvous
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related:
Building a Heavenly Palace in outer space
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28 April 2011
NASA Receives European Commitment To Continue ISS
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FOR FURTHER READING
09 May 2011
Commercial space skepticism
Commercial space ventures appear to be moving forward on all fronts, with developments ranging from commercial crew funding to the testing of suborbital vehicles. However, Jeff Foust notes that some both in industry and Congress are skeptical of the long-term success of these efforts, in part because of past experience.
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09 May 2011
Public-private partnerships for space
What is the future for space exploration in an era of fiscal constraints and competing priorities? Lou Friedman argues that there is an increasing role for public-private partnerships to advance space exploration initiatives more cost effectively.
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09 May 2011
Iraqi bird: Beyond Saddam’s space program
In addition to trying to develop a launch vehicle, Iraq also worked on an its own satellite during the regime of Saddam Hussein. Dwayne Day describes that satellite effort and the country’s future satellite plans.
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09 May 2011
India and space security
In recent years India’s space program has evolved from one almost solely dedicated to serving national needs to one with a more nationalistic, even militarized bent. Victoria Samson summarizes the takeaways from a recent conference that examined India’s shifting attitudes towards space and their impact on space security.
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09 May 2011
Review: Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence
The search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) suffered a recent funding setback, but work continues to try and find evidence of other civilizations in the universe. Jeff Foust reviews a book that looks at the current state of SETI and the potential to not just listen but also transmit.
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02 May 2011
Old Reliable: The story of the Redstone
This week marks the 50th anniversary of the flight of Alan Shepard, the first American to travel in space. Drew LePage examines the history of the Redstone rocket that made Shepard’s flight possible.
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02 May 2011
A muddled future
The space shuttle Endeavour was set to launch Friday on its final mission, but was scrubbed hours before liftoff because of a technical issue. Jeff Foust notes the near-term uncertainty about when Endeavour will launch parallels the long-term uncertainty about the future of the Space Coast after the shuttle program ends.
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02 May 2011
Pomp and circumstances
Friday’s attempted launch of the space shuttle Endeavour was scheduled for the same day as the big royal wedding in England. Dwayne Day compares and contrasts the symbolism and significance of each.
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02 May 2011
Review: Martian Summer
What’s it like to spend a summer operating a spacecraft on Mars looking for water ice? Jeff Foust reviews a book that provides a unique, quirky look at how a team of scientists and engineers worked on the Phoenix Mars Lander mission.
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