11 April 2013
How Astronauts Cry In Space (Video)
Astronaut Chris Hadfield is not afraid to cry, and he isn't scared of showing you how it's done … in space.
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11 April 2013
Bipartisan Legislation Sets NASA's Focus on the Moon
U.S. Representatives Bill Posey (R-FL), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), Chairman Frank Wolf (R-VA), Robert Aderholt (R-AL), John Culberson (R-TX), Steve Stockman (R-TX), Pete Olson (R-TX), Rob Bishop (R-UT) and Ted Poe (R-TX) have once again reintroduced bipartisan legislation directing NASA to develop a plan for returning to the Moon and establishing a human presence there. The RE-asserting American Leadership in Space Act, or REAL Space Act, sets a clear course for NASA toward human space flight while keeping within current budgetary constraints.
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11 April 2013
NASA's Asteroid Initiative Benefits From Rich History
NASA's FY2014 budget proposal includes a plan to robotically capture a small near-Earth asteroid and redirect it safely to a stable orbit in the Earth-moon system where astronauts can visit and explore it. Performing these elements for the proposed asteroid initiative integrates the best of NASA's science, technology and human exploration capabilities and draws on the innovation of America's brightest scientists and engineers.
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06 April 2013
NASA wants to tow an asteroid to the moon
NASA wants to grab a small asteroid and tow it into orbit around the moon, as part of a long-range plan towards establishing permanent manned outposts in space, according to a US senator. To get the project off the ground, US President Barack Obama will propose around $100 million for the US space agency in his 2014 budget, which he submits to Congress on Wednesday, Senator Bill Nelson said in a statement.
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10 April 2013
NASA unveils 2014 budget request, asteroid initiative
The Obama administration is requesting $17.7 billion for NASA in its fiscal 2014 budget proposal, including $105 million to begin laying the groundwork for a proposed mission to robotically capture a small asteroid and move it into high Earth orbit to serve as a target for manned sample return visits in the 2020s.
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10 April 2013
Astronaut's radiation study will be critical for Mars mission
As space exploration inches closer to Mars, research into space radiation will become increasingly critical, says ESA astronaut Christer Fuglesang, who was introduced yesterday as the new head of the Aerospace Engineering master's programme at KTH Royal Institute of Technology. Greeting the media and answering questions yesterday morning at KTH's Stockholm campus, Sweden's first astronaut outlined his research agenda at the university and explained how he will serve as an ambassador for space science and exploration, splitting his time between KTH and the Swedish National Space Board. In addition to research on particle physics, the 56-year-old adjunct professor will continue the "critical" work that he has done at ESA in the subject of space radiation.
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10 April 2013
Exposure to space radiation reduces ability of intestinal cells to destroy oncoprotein
Two studies funded by NASA and presented at the AACR Annual Meeting 2013 help explain why space radiation may increase the risk of colorectal cancer in humans.
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10 April 2013
Obama's budget would boost science, health
The budget proposal that US President Barack Obama released Wednesday would boost funds for major science and health programs while making cuts at NASA and the Environmental Protection Agency.
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09 April 2013
Launch of Australia's Space Policy
Australia's first ever space policy - Australia's Satellite Utilisation Policy - has been released today, providing certainty and strategic direction for Australian users of satellite technology. Launching the policy at ANU's Stromlo Observatory, Minister Assisting for Industry and Innovation Senator Kate Lundy said on-going, cost effective access to satellite capabilities was essential to Australia's future.
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09 April 2013
Russian Space Program to Focus on Landing Missions and Luna-Glob mission will be re-named into „Luna-25“
Russia plans to send a succession of five unmanned probes to the Moon between 2015 and 2022, the latest set to retrieve samples of lunar soil. The 2015 probe was supposed to be called Luna-Glob-1, but the name will be changed to Luna-25, indicating continuity with Soviet-era lunar missions, named Luna-1 through Luna-24, Zelyony said. Russia's Federal Space Agency and the European Space Agency (ESA) would also jointly develop two unmanned Mars probes, said Rene Pischel, the head of ESA's mission in Moscow. The probes are set to launch in 2016 and 2018, and would study the planet's atmosphere and map out traces of water, Pischel said at the press conference. Another joint project would be an unmanned probe to Jupiter's moon Ganymede, expected to launch in 2023, said Oleg Korablyov, who heads the planetary study department at the Institute of Space Research.
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06 April 2013
Russia rekindles Moon exploration program, intends setting up first human outposts there
Having on hand an impressive record of successful moon missions performed when it was the Soviet Union, Russia has set to revive a robotic moon exploration program. The country's serious intentions were unveiled during a microsymposium that took place in Texas in March.
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08 April 2013
Space Shuttle substitute makes headway
Former NASA astronaut Lee Archambault will work with aviation and aerospace manufacturer Sierra Nevada Corp. to pursue the company's goal of producing a feasible replacement for the Space Shuttle. The Nevada company said Archambault joined its Dream Chaser team as a chief systems engineer and test pilot. Archambault will oversee planning and execution of Dream Chaser's flight test programs and SNC's design of the crew interfaces in the Dream Chaser cockpit.
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06 April 2013
Antares rocket positioned on launch pad for test flight on 17 April
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06 April 2013
Copenhagen Suborbitals: Sapphire The Guided Rocket Parachute Test
Copenhagen Suborbitals is just weeks away from our first actively guided rocket flight. The Sapphire rocket has a liftoff mass of 200 kg, and stands six meters tall. Its nitrous oxide / polyurethane HATV type hybrid, controlled by servo operated copper jet vanes in the rocket jet. These powerful motors have a flawless record.
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06 April 2013
Boeing Completes Preliminary Design Review for Connection Between CST-100 Spacecraft and Rocket
The structure that will join the Boeing [NYSE: BA] Crew Space Transportation (CST)-100 spacecraft to an Atlas V rocket has successfully completed a preliminary design review, another step toward the return of humans to space on a U.S. vehicle.
This is the third milestone under the company's Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) agreement with NASA that Boeing achieved on schedule.
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06 April 2013
NASA Selects Explorer Investigations for Formulation
NASA's Astrophysics Explorer Program has selected two missions for launch in 2017: a planet-hunting satellite and an International Space Station instrument to observe X-rays from stars.
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05 April 2013
Space Station Science: Left In The Dust - Again
NASA has touted the International Space Station as a world class laboratory. Indeed, with the urging of Congress it has been designated as a "national laboratory". But just saying something is so does not make it so.
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05 April 2013
Power behind primordial soup discovered
Researchers at the University of Leeds may have solved a key puzzle about how objects from space could have kindled life on Earth. While it is generally accepted that some important ingredients for life came from meteorites bombarding the early Earth, scientists have not been able to explain how that inanimate rock transformed into the building blocks of life.
"The mystery of how living organisms sprung out of lifeless rock has long puzzled scientists, but we think that the unusual phosphorus chemicals we found could be a precursor to the batteries that now power all life on Earth. But the fact that it developed simply, in conditions similar to the early Earth, suggests this could be University of Leeds
between geology and biology," said Dr Terry Kee, from the University's School of Chemistry, who led the research.
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04 April 2013
Used Parachute on Mars Flaps in the Wind
A sequence of seven images from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows wind-caused changes in the parachute of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft as the chute lay on the Martian ground during months after its use in safe landing of the Curiosity rover.
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04 April 2013
Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer Team Publishes First Findings
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03 April 2013
India doing excellent in space programmes: Sunita Williams
"India is doing excellent in space programme and has a huge resource of people. ISRO (India Space Research organisation) is doing a great job," Williams told IANS. She also praised India's lunar mission (Chandrayaan-1 and 2) and the Mars exploration mission schedule for later this year.
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02 April 2013
Global space economy grew in 2012 with Russia, China outpacing U.S. in launches
The global space economy topped $300 billion in commercial revenue and government spending in 2012, according to a report by the Space Foundation, translating to a 6.7 percent increase over the 2011 total of $285.5 billion. Among the report's findings are that Russia and China outpaced the United States in launches and the U.S. space workforce declined for the fifth year in a row.
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01 April 2013
ATK Successfully Ground Tests New CASTOR 30XL Upper Stage Solid Rocket Motor
ATK has tested its newly developed CASTOR 30XL upper stage solid rocket motor at the U.S. Air Force's Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC) in Tennessee. The test was the final qualification for the ATK commercial motor, which was jointly developed by ATK and Orbital Sciences Corporation (ORB) in just 20 months from concept to completion.
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31 March 2013
Shenzhou 10 reaches launch center
China's new manned spacecraft Shenzhou-10, scheduled to blast off in early June this year, was delivered to the launch center in Jiuquan, Gansu Province, on Sunday after passing pre-delivery tests, China's manned space program announced. The rocket which will carry it is undergoing various pre-delivery preparations. Shenzhou-10 will operate both automated and manual space docking with target orbiter Tiangong-1, conducting scientific experiments in the lab module and giving science lectures to spectators on Earth.
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29 March 2013
Soyuz Docks At Space Station Four Orbits After Launch
A new Russian-American crew arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday after an express trip from Earth of under six hours, the fastest ever journey to the orbiting laboratory.
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28 March 2013
WorldFuture Looks Bright for Private US Space Ventures
From wealthy American technology executives to British billionaires, entrepreneurs are betting big on the emerging US private spaceflight industry. While some ventures claim to forge the path to US dominance, others aim to level the playing field for countries that lack space exploration programs. “The private sector is more efficient than the government and can do the same thing at a lower cost,” said John Logsdon, professor emeritus at the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University.
Historically, Logsdon said, the US space agency NASA partnered with private companies for semi-routine cargo transport to space, but it was the decommissioning of NASA’s shuttle program in 2011 that really offered a platform for independent companies.
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28 March 2013
XCOR Driving Rocket Science Forward With Lynx Suborbital Vehicle
XCOR Aerospace has announced a first in aviation and space history, the firing of a full piston pump-powered rocket engine. This breakthrough is the foundation for fully reusable spacecraft that can fly multiple times per day, every day.
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27 March 2013
Soviet MIR EVA spacesuit auctioned for 112,000 euros
A spacesuit used for Soviet spacewalks in the 1980s was auctioned in Paris for 112,484 euros ($143,979), the sale organisers said on Wednesday. The Orlan D spacesuit "was bought over the Internet by a European collector", said a spokeswoman for auctioneers Cornette de Saint Cyr. The name of the cosmonaut or cosmonauts who used the suit was unknown, she said. The item had been valued at 100,000-120,000 euros.
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FOR FURTHER READING
11 April 2013
Beer Cans For Deep Space
The recent announcement of a NASA plan to drag an asteroid into lunar orbit with a robot spacecraft, then stage a crewed astronaut expedition to explore it, has stunned many boffins. The plan is highly original, slightly strange, and probably quite feasible. It also seems to have struck a chord with the general public, judging by the reactions to my earlier article (More Treasures from Asteroids) on this subject. While there are many potential scientific and technical benefits from such a mission, its appeal to the public is a major reason why NASA should support this plan more strongly. This analyst counts himself as a big fan of the proposed mission, but also notes that there could be some potential problems. One potential issue is the amount of disturbance that the asteroid will receive as it is captured and nudged across deep space, then inserted into orbit around our nearest off-planet world. Sure, the asteroid can be delivered, but what state will it be in when it arrives?
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08 April 2013
The uneasy state of NASA’s human space exploration programme
Next week marks the third anniversary of President Obama’s speech calling for a human mission to an asteroid, but many people, including some within NASA, still have trouble accepting that goal. Jeff Foust reports on that perceived lack of enthusiasm and whether a new proposal to retrieve an asteroid could change people’s minds.
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08 April 2013
Move over NASA and make room for the TVA of space
NASA has been taking steps to promote commercial space development, but that is neither the only nor the highest agency priority. Three authors argue that a federally-chartered corporation modeled on the Tennessee Valley Authority could accelerate commercial space development in the US and worldwide.
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08 April 2013
Revisiting exoplanets and dark matter
Two of the biggest topics in astronomy today are the search for extrasolar planets and the composition of dark matter. Jeff Foust updates some recent reports on those topics with news on new exoplanet missions and results from an experiment on the ISS.
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08 April 2013
Review: Your Ticket to the Universe
Compressing the entire universe into a single book can be a difficult task. Jeff Foust reviews a recent book that offers the reader a whirlwind tour of the cosmos, from the Earth to distant galaxies.
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01 April 2013
NASA Turns Up the Heat on Construction of the Space Launch System
Welding engineers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., have had an extremely busy winter assembling adapters that will connect the Orion spacecraft to a Delta IV rocket for the initial test flight of Orion in 2014. The adapter later will attach Orion to NASA's Space Launch System (SLS), a new heavy-lift rocket managed and in development at the Marshall Center that will enable missions farther into space than ever before.
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01 April 2013
The great state space race
Several states are completing to host a planned commercial launch site for SpaceX, with Texas in the lead. Jeff Foust reports on that competition and growing interest by local and state economic development organizations to attract commercial space businesses.
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01 April 2013
Lunarcy: is the idea of lunar settlement crazy?
A new documentary profiles several people with very strong beliefs in lunar settlement. Jeff Foust reviews the film and examines the challenges space advocates face in being taken seriously as they seek goals that, today, seem laughable to the public.
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01 April 2013
Space settlement and future of space law
Continued expansion of humanity into the solar system will bring with it new legal issues. Babak Shakouri discusses some of those potential problems, from legal jurisdiction over multinational facilities to property rights, and how they could be addressed.
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01 April 2013
Review: Mankind Beyond Earth
Human spaceflight is among the most difficult challenges we attempt, which means the rationale for doing so must be strong. Jeff Foust reviews a book that attempts to provide a historical and scientific basis for human spaceflight while also detailing the issues that make it so challenging.
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