12 March 2013
Comet PANSTARRS Rises to the Occasion Mid-March
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12 March 2013
Russia plans giant solar power station to orbit Earth
Russia is thinking of building a giant solar power station capable of collecting energy and beaming it to Earth. This idea was put forward by Central Scientific Research institute for Engineering, a subsidiary of the Russian Space Agency, Roskosmos.
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11 March 2013
Grasshopper's latest test reaches 24 stories high
SpaceX's reusable rocket testbed completed another brief hop at a Texas test facility last week, rising 24 stories into the air and landing on its launch pad. The test Thursday demonstrated a guidance and landing algorithm to be used by SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, according to Elon Musk, the company's founder and CEO.
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11 March 2013
Cassini Makes Last Close Flyby of Saturnian Moon Rhea
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11 March 2013
Japan, US hold space cooperation talks
Japan and the United States held talks Monday on wide-ranging cooperation in space. The statement, released by the Japanese foreign ministry said experts from the two governments met in Tokyo for the first "Comprehensive Dialogue on Space".
The statement said the forum was focused on a "wide range of interests, including resource and disaster management, environmental monitoring, technology development, scientific discovery, national and international security, and economic growth".
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11 March 2013
UK and Kazakhstan agree collaboration in space
David Willetts, Minister for Universities and Science, said, "This agreement will see the UK and Kazakhstan working together on space activities with high growth potential, such as communications, navigation and Earth observation. It will foster innovation and encourage greater exchange of information and technology between our countries."
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11 March 2013
Neptec wins contract to develop cameras for European Space Agency's ExoMars Programme
Contracts with European organizations represent an increasing portion of Neptec's Space Exploration business as the company expands beyond its core business with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).
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09 March 2013
Musk: 'I'd like to die on Mars'
SpaceX founder Elon Musk told the crowd at the South by Southwest festival in Texas Saturday "I'd like to die on Mars, just not on impact." The 41-year-old, South African-born American entrepreneur, who also co-founded Tesla Motors and PayPal, said it would be his life's biggest disappointment if someone doesn't make it to the Red Planet before he dies, the Los Angeles Times reported.
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08 March 2013
Concerns over a Russian Satellite which might have been collided with Chinese Space Debris
According to Analytical Graphics, Inc. (AGI), the Center for Space Standards and Innovation (CSSI) has determined that on January 22, 2013 debris from the Chinese FENGYUN 1C collided with Russia’s BLITS satellite. Teams looking at the event found a close approach between debris from FENGYUN 1C and the BLITS satellite. Although the predicted distance would seem to preclude a collision, the fact that the close approach occurred within 10 seconds of the estimated change in orbit made it appear likely that this piece of FENGYUN 1C debris actually collided with BLITS, AGI reported.
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07 March 2013
Shenzhou 10 very likely last manned mission for Tiangong 1
Zhou Jianping, Chief Designer of China's manned space programme and member of the 12th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), said on 6 March 2013 that the Shenzhou 10 spacecraft is expected to launch sometime between June and August and dock with the orbiting lab module Tiangong 1. “Tianggong 1 will not dock with other manned spacecraft after this. It will be used as a scientific experiment,” he added. Shenzhou 10's crew will consists of three Chinese astronauts, including one woman.
There are unofficial reports that after the Shenzhou 10 mission the next manned space flight will dock with the new to be launched Tiangong 2 space lab in the 2014/2015 time frame.
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07 March 2013
Survey on Sending Humans to Mars
The poll found that 76 percent of Americans agree or strongly agree with the statement "it is worthwhile to increase NASA's percentage of the federal budget to 1 percent to fund initiatives, including a mission to Mars." When broken down by demographics, the results show that a majority of each group agree or strongly agree with this statement.
Seventy-eight percent of respondents age 65 or older are confident that humans will go to Mars by 2033. They are the most confident out of all age groups. This group also had strong support for funding of space initiatives - 89 percent believe NASA's budget should be increased to 1 percent of the federal budget, and 96 percent are in agreement that it is necessary for the government to fund initial technologies to send humans to explore Mars.
When told that there are currently two operational NASA rovers on Mars, 67 percent of all respondents agreed the United States should send both humans and robots to Mars. The age group of 25-34 had the highest percentage of correctly naming Curiosity at 67 percent, more than 10 percent higher than any other age group.
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07 March 2013
Space Station to Forecast Natural Disasters
The crew of a new expedition to the International Space Station (ISS) will install special equipment to monitor Earth’s atmosphere and forecast natural disasters, ISS-36 Crew Commander Pavel Vinogradov said on Thursday.
It is a complex system of sensors and antennas designed to study the plasma/wave processes in the upper layers of Earth’s atmosphere, “which will eventually benefit mankind by forecasting earthquakes and other natural disasters,” Vinogradov said.
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07 March 2013
NASA Launches Website to Design Interplanetary Missions
The Trajectory Browser, as the web application is called, can provide an instantaneous assessment of the launch date, time and flight path requirements for future missions to asteroids, comets and planets for the next 25 years.
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06 March 2013
Russia to send woman to space in 2014
Russia will send a female cosmonaut into space for the first time in two decades next year, an official at the space training centre said Wednesday. Yelena Serova, 36 and a professional cosmonaut, "is getting ready for a space flight in the second half of 2014," said Alexei Temerov, an official at Russia's Star City space training centre.
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06 March 2013
Chinese lunar probe in breakthrough outer space travel
China's second moon orbiter, Chang'e-2, has arrived in outer space about 20 million km from the Earth, marking a new breakthrough in the nation's efforts for deep space exploration, Chinese scientists said on Thursday.
Scientific planning, innovative orbit design, accurate observation and control are the major factors that helped Chang'e-2 save fuel in its flight and guaranteed successful travel in outer space, said Wu Weiren, chief designer of China's lunar probe program.
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06 March 2013
2014 maiden launch for Long March-7 rocket
China's indigenous carrier rocket Long March-7 will hopefully make its first launch in 2014, a senior official of the rocket's designing institute said.
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05 March 2013
Soyuz crew approved for fast approach to space station
The next three residents launched to the International Space Station will reach their new home six hours after blastoff, flying an express rendezvous with the complex and reducing the crew's time in the cramped confines of the Soyuz capsule.
"We tried this approach on the cargo vehicles, and now we're trying to do it on the manned vehicles," said Sergei Krikalev, a veteran cosmonaut and administrator of the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center near Moscow.
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05 March 2013
Jupiter Moon Lander Project to Get First Funding in 2014
Between 10 million and 30 million rubles (about $300,000 to $1 million) will be provided during the first year for R&D, and construction of the first mockups could start by 2017, Maxim Martynov, deputy general designer at the Lavochkin Science and Production Association, told RIA Novosti.
The project envisions sending one orbiter and one lander to Jupiter’s largest moon, Ganymede, by 2023, in order to study the planet for about three years.
It is not yet clear whether the Ganymede Lander will be a partner mission for the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer (JUICE).
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04 March 2013
China to use modified rocket for moon landing mission
With its improved design, the modified carrier rocket's reliability has been increased and its carrying capacity has been boosted by 30 kg, Liang Xiaohong, Communist Party of China (CPC) chief of the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, said.
Liang said the new design will allow the Chang'e-3 to take advantage of more launch windows in comparison to the Chang'e-2.
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03 March 2013
Dragon cargo ship reaches destination after shaky start
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01 March 2013
SpaceX capsule encounters problems in orbit
The unmanned Dragon capsule launched by US private firm SpaceX encountered problems en route to the International Space Station on Friday when three of its four thrusters malfunctioned, the company said.
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01 March 2013
Russia Starts Designing Launch Pad for Amur Rocket
Russia began designing a new launch pad for the Amur heavy carrier rocket at the Vostochny Space Center that is currently under construction in the Amur Region in the country’s Far East, the Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) reported on Friday.
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28 February 2013
US multimillionaire aims to send couple to Mars
Dennis Tito, the world's first space tourist, announced plans to organize a manned, return-trip mission to Mars in 2018. And he's looking for a couple to volunteer for the mission - which has many potential challenges.
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28 February 2013
Stanford scientist closes in on a mystery that impedes space exploration
The researchers fired tiny dust particles at targets resembling satellites at speeds of 60 kilometers per second. "We found that when these particles hit, they create a plasma or quasi-neutral gas of ions and electrons, and that plasma can then emit in the radio frequency range," Close said.
These plasma-induced bursts of energy could explain mysteries like the European Space Agency's loss of its Olympus communication satellite in 1993, Close believes.
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28 February 2013
Van Allen belt study reveals surprises
A new NASA mission was launched 30 August 2013 to learn more about the belts, which are known to be hazardous to satellites, astronauts and technological systems on Earth. Just a few days after launch, CU-Boulder researcher said, the instruments on board returned a shocking result: the formation of a third radiation belt.
The instruments initially showed the expected two Van Allen belts, but after a few days the outer ring appeared to compress into an intense, tightly packed electron band and a third, less compact belt of electrons formed further out, creating a total of three rings. In the following months the Van Allen radiation zones re-formed into the originally expected two-belt structure, researchers said. "We have no idea how often this sort of thing happens," CU-Boulder researcher Dan Baker said. "This may occur fairly frequently but we didn't have the tools to see it."
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27 February 2013
NASA Creates Space Technology Mission Directorate
As part of the Obama Administration's recognition of the critical role that space technology and innovation will play in enabling both future space missions and bettering life here on Earth, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden has announced the creation of the Space Technology Mission Directorate.
The directorate will be a catalyst for the creation of technologies and innovation needed to maintain NASA leadership in space while also benefiting America's economy.
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26 February 2013
What is the status of Sino-European space cooperation
On the webportal www.space.com space expert Rob Coppinger is giving a comprehensive overview on the current activities between ESA and China for establishing cooperations in the area of manned space flight and technology development.
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25 February 2013
'Vulcan' wins Pluto moon name vote
Although Vulcan and Cerberus won the name poll, the final decision on names for the moons will rest with the International Astronomical Union.
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FOR FURTHER READING
11 March 2013
The Lion and the Vortex
During the Falklands War, the United States offered assistance, often covertly, to Great Britain. Dwayne Day reports on newly-declassified documents that reveal that this assistance included access to a newly-launched signals intelligence satellite.
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11 March 2013
Community, lenses, and learning: the “Columbia+10” workshop
Last week a forum in Washington looked back at the Columbia accident and the lessons learned from it. Mary Lynne Dittmar offers her perspective on the cathartic nature of the event and the insights it offered on the past and future of spaceflight.
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11 March 2013
Launch failures: what’s changed?
Space launch can, by its nature, be very unforgiving to even the smallest changes. Wayne Eleazer recounts how, in several cases, seemingly innocuous, minor changes resulted in unfortunate outcomes for missions.
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11 March 2013
Addressing the challenges of space debris, part 3: policy
While dealing with space debris requires overcoming a number of technical obstacles, the political ones may be even greater. Michael Listner completes his assessment of the challenges of cleaning up space debris by offering a potential solution to some of the policy challenges associated with this effort.
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11 March 2013
Review: Red Rover
As the science results from NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity pour in, it’s easy to forget that the instrument that make that science possible can be as challenging to develop as the spacecraft itself. Jeff Foust reviews a book by the principal investigator of one of Curiosity’s instruments, who tells the inside story of the development of that instrument and work on other missions.
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08 March 2013
India's Space Ambitions
A comprehensive overview on Indias current space project.
At a time when many space-faring nations are whittling their budgetary allocations, India's mounting space ambitions are attracting global attention, fuelling reports that the country is locked in a space war with its archrival China, a charge New Delhi denies.
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04 March 2013
A Martian adventure for inspiration, not commercialization
Last week, a new organization founded by a pioneering space tourist announced plans for a crewed Mars flyby mission to launch in 2018. Jeff Foust describes the background of the mission and the various challenges to turn this unique concept into an actual voyage.
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04 March 2013
Taking a page from maritime practice to self-regulate the commercial space industry
Regulating the safety of the emerging commercial spaceflight industry poses challenges given the lack of experience and concerns about government overregulation. Three authors suggest that one approach is to take a page from the maritime industry and establish organizations that can perform a type of self-regulation.
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04 March 2013
China’s ASAT enigma
China attracted the world’s attention in 2007 with a test of a anti-satellite weapon that created thousands of pieces of debris. Dwayne Day reports on a recent forum that describes the challenges in knowing what China is doing today with ASATs, and why.
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04 March 2013
The future of the US human spaceflight program is not reliving its past
Civil space policy, in particular human spaceflight, was not an issue in last year’s presidential election. Roger Handberg argues that space advocates must stop believing that the president restore the agency to the glory years of the 1960s but instead focus on what’s needed to create a more sustainable program for the future.
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04 March 2013
The Last Pictures: Contemporary pessimism and hope for the future (part 3)
In the final installment of his examination of a unique artifact included on a recently launched commercial satellite, Larry Klaes ponders just how long that artifact might last in Earth orbit, and the significance of its message.
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