09 September 2012
Indian PM defends spending on space exploration
"Questions are sometimes asked about whether a poor country like India can afford a space programme and whether the funds spent on space exploration, albeit modest, could be better utilised elsewhere," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in a speech on Sunday. "This misses the point that a nation's state of development is finally a product of its technological prowess."
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07 September 2012
Russia Denies ‘Systemic Crisis’ in Space Industry
Russia’s space industry is not in crisis despite some local problems, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said on Friday. “There is no systemic crisis in the Russian space industry; we have problems with some firms, in some sectors,” said Rogozin, who oversees the military-industrial complex in the Russian government.
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07 September 2012
A Mars Rover Curiosity Begins Arm-Work Phase
After driving more than a football field's length since landing, NASA's Mars rover Curiosity is spending several days preparing for full use of the tools on its arm. Curiosity extended its robotic arm Wednesday in the first of six to10 consecutive days of planned activities to test the 7-foot (2.1-meter) arm and the tools it manipulates.
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07 September 2012
NASA Document Explains Agency’s Commercial Crew Picks
NASA dropped one company from its short list of potential commercial crew providers and relegated another to a backup role because of doubts that the proposed vehicles could be completed within the time and money the agency has available, according to an internal document NASA released Sept. 4.
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04 September 2012
NASA Dropped ATK’s Commercial Crew Proposal over Technical Concerns
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06 September 2012
First man on moon to be buried at sea: Armstrong family
The burial will take place after a September 13 public memorial in the US capital. NASA chief Charles Bolden, present and former astronauts and other dignitaries are expected to attend the ceremony at the Washington National Cathedral in honor of Armstrong.
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06 September 2012
US space probe leaves asteroid's orbit, NASA says
The US space probe Dawn has left the orbit of Vesta, one of the biggest asteroids in the solar system, and is headed for a rendezvous with the dwarf planet Ceres in February 2015, NASA said.
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05 September 2012
Obama, Romney Give Answers on Space Goals
ScienceDebate.org, an “independent citizens’ initiative asking candidates for office to discuss the top science questions facing America,” posed this one to Democratic U.S. President Barack Obama and his Republican opponent, Mitt Romney: “What should America’s space exploration and utilization goals be in the 21st century and what steps should the government take to help achieve them?”
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05 September 2012
Astronauts Use Toothbrush to Fix Space Station
Two International Space Station crew members on Wednesday successfully completed a spacewalk to install a new power switching unit, the US space agency NASA said. American Sunita Williams and Japan's Akihiko Hoshide had to contend with a sticky bolt that prevented them from completing the installation in a previous spacewalk last week.
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05 September 2012
Mankind's messenger at the final frontier
It looks like a dustbin lid strapped to a cluster of fishing rods. Its computer is so puny it could not even start up your iPhone. And if E.T. wants to listen to the message it brings, he'll need a gramophone to play it on. But in the history of space exploration, there is not a probe that can touch the glittering career of Voyager 1, mankind's first messenger to the cosmos. Thirty-five years after it was launched, the doughty explorer is on the brink of leaving the Solar System and heading into the deep chill of interstellar space. More than 18 billion kilometres (11.25 billion miles) from home, Voyager is still yielding terrific science as it battles through the last fringes of our star system.
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05 August 2012
Space Firsts - a selective comparison
Brian Weeden of the Secure World Foundation had a look into the timeframe for the achievement of space milestones among the three big space powers: USA, Russia, China. Using open source data, he compiled timelines for all three government-funded human spaceflight programmes from the initial orbiting of animals to the first successful docking of a human-occupied spacecraft with an orbital module designed to be inhabited. Weeden was not looking into the number of flights and the budgets needed to accomplish the space flight milestone achievements.
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05 September 2012
Africa needs own space agency: Sudan's Bashir
Africa needs its own space research agency, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir told a regional conference of communications ministers who met on Wednesday as the continent's IT sector grows. "I'm calling for the biggest project, an African space agency," Bashir said in remarks opening the two-day meeting.
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05 September 2012
NASA's GRAIL Moon Twins Begin Extended Mission Science
NASA's twin, lunar-orbiting Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) spacecraft began data collection for the start of the mission's extended operations. At 9:28 a.m. PDT (12:28 p.m. EDT) yesterday, while the two spacecraft were 19 miles (30 kilometers) above the moon's Ocean of Storms, the Lunar Gravity Ranging System - the mission's sole science instrument aboard both GRAIL twins - was energized.
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04 September 2012
Tiangong Orbit Change Signals Likely Date for Shenzhou 10
Plans may now have firmed up a little with an aim to fly the mission early in the new year. Tiangong 1's new orbit will decay to Shenzhou altitude early February, during the next pair of launch windows that extend through January to mid-February
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04 September 2012
Space Center Chief Loses Job over Failed Launches
Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed Vladimir Nesterov as general director of the Khrunichev Space Center, the state press service reported on Monday.
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31 August 2012
NASA Conference Travel Prompts Lawmaker Query
The chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee that funds NASA is asking the agency to detail how much it is spending to send employees to the 63rd International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Naples, Italy, in October.
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31 August 2012
Russian Companies Design Space Tour Plane
Russia's NPO Molniya design bureau and the Myasischev Experimental Factory (EMZ) are designing a space-plane for sub-orbital "space tourism" and small satellite launch flights, according to a company specialists' report seen by RIA Novosti.
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30 August 2012
Russia's moonshot hope 'not a dream'
Russia has proposed a joint project with Kazakhstan and Ukraine to build a heavy rocket capable of launching manned missions to the Moon. It believes this project could be accomplished within three years.
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30 August 2012
Japanese spacecraft to search for clues of Earth's first life
In a Physics World special report on Japan, Dennis Normile reports on how the Japanese space agency JAXA plans to land a spacecraft onto an asteroid in 2018 to search for clues of how life began on Earth. Hayabusa 2 will be JAXA's second attempt at collecting material from an asteroid, after its first mission returned to Earth in June 2010.
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30 August 2012
Curiosity Rover Plays First Song Transmitted from Another Planet
For the first time in history, a recorded song has been beamed back to Earth from another planet. Students, special guests and news media gathered at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., today to hear "Reach for the Stars" by musician will.i.am after it was transmitted from the surface of Mars by the Curiosity rover.
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30 August 2012
Russian Women Could Return to Space
Russian women can be included into the country's cosmonauts team if they successfully complete all selection stages, Sergei Krikalev, head of the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, said on Tuesday.
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29 August 2012
Manned interplanetary missions on NASA's agenda
After dropping plans to return to the Moon, the American space agency NASA has set its sights on Mars. But before venturing there, it is going to test out its latest interplanetary technologies during a manned mission to Asteroid Itokawa, expected to take place before 2025.
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29 August 2012
Dragon Spacecraft Set to Make Second Run for ISS
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden announced on Thursday that SpaceX is now fully certified to deliver cargo to the orbital station, the Universe Today said.
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29 August 2012
Dream Chaser Team Completes Milestone
Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) is pleased to announce that the company's Dream Chaser Space System has successfully completed its first milestone as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) initiative.
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28 August 2012
Russia to reform cosmonaut recruitment
Russia says it is making changes in the way it conducts its effort to recruit cosmonauts, with one official saying the current procedure is "impractical."
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28 August 2012
Signing out: Armstrong autographs under hammer
A series of autographs of Neil Armstrong, will go under the hammer this week with auctioneers wondering if the sky's the limit for the prized signatures. "Neil Armstrong was very generous to those who sought out his autograph because they were inspired by the Apollo 11 mission," said Nate Sanders, owner of Nate D Sanders Auctions. "When he realized that some people just requested it in order to sell it ... he became disillusioned with autograph seekers. He didn't believe in charging for his autograph, so at this time he suddenly stopped signing altogether.
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28 August 2012
Super-heavy carrier rocket could be created jointly with Ukraine, Kazakhstan
The space rocket corporation Energia, based in Korolyov near Moscow, has proposed a plan to create a super-heavy carrier rocket, Commonwealth, for long-distance space missions, jointly with Ukraine and Kazakhstan, Energia President and General Designer Vitaly Lopota told reporters on Monday.
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FOR FURTHER READING
04 September 2012
The next best thing
Is there a way for humans to be on a surface of another planet without actually physically being there? Dan Lester argues that, thanks to the increasing capabilities of robotics and related technologies, telepresence can be the next best thing to actually being there, at considerably less cost and risk.
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04 September 2012
Space policy in the campaign shadows
With only about two months until Election Day, space enthusiasts are increasingly curious as to the space policy positions of the presidential candidates. Jeff Foust reports that, despite a few minor developments last week, space has not been a high priority for the campaigns, particularly when compared to four years ago.
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04 September 2012
Beyond the era of Armstrong: preserving Tranquility Base and other historic sites on the Moon
After last month’s passing of Neil Armstrong, some have suggested that the US government seek to make the Apollo 11 landing site an official historic landmark. Michael Listner describes why that suggestion faces a number of legal obstacles.
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04 September 2012
Lonely giant
Most people with an interest in space are familiar with the Saturn V rockets on display in Florida, Alabama, and Texas. However, Dwayne Day points out there’s another Saturn V first stage on display, and exposed to the elements, in Louisiana.
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04 September 2012
Review: Reaching for the Stars
José Hernández went from being the son of migrant farmworkers in California to flying in space as a NASA astronaut. Jeff Foust review a book by the astronaut-turned-politician that chronicles how he made his childhood dream of being an astronaut come true.
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27 August 2012
Farewell, Mr. Armstrong
On Saturday, Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the Moon, passed away at the age of 82. Jeff Foust examines what his life meant to so many people inside and outside the space community.
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27 August 2012
Many steps
Neil Armstrong had an effect on many people over his life. Dwayne Day briefly describes his interactions with the man.
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27 August 2012
Latin America’s space programs in 2012
An increasing number of countries in Latin America are getting involved in space through the development or ownership of their own satellites and by other means. W. Alex Sanchez examines the changing capabilities of and interests among Latin American countries in space today.
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27 August 2012
Review: A Brief History of Rocketry in ISRO
India has been developing a variety of launch vehicles for over half a century. Jeff Foust reviews a book that provides a history of the development of those rockets and profiles the key people who made them possible.
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