22 June 2013
Buzz Aldrin calls for humans to colonise the Red Planet
So why does he think we should be sending astronauts to the red planet? "Because it's in human nature to explore, to find a location to begin a settlement. And it is in reach." replied Aldrin. The simple answer then, appears to be "because it's there". But there is also a more pragmatic reason. He believes that efforts to explore the surface of Mars to date have taken far too long, because the current generation of Mars rovers have to be controlled remotely from Earth - and it takes about 20 minutes for radio signals to be passed each way. "One programme manager, who was in charge of doing that with two robots for five years has said we could have accomplished just as much in a single week, if we had had human intelligence controlling them from nearby - from an orbit around Mars itself", Aldrin says.
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22 June 2013
Looking forward to Europe's 'seven minutes of terror'
This week, the European Space Agency (Esa) released another 70 million euros to advance the rover mission towards its date with a Proton launch rocket in May 2018. A choice has to be made on the configuration of the rover's undercarriage - its rocker-bogie system. Two companies - Ruag of Switzerland and MDA of Canada - were asked to produce competing six-wheeled demonstrators that were nicknamed "Bradley" and "Bruno".
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21 June 2013
NASA Bill Would 'End Reliance on Russia,' Nix Asteroid Capture Project
A Republican-backed bill released Wednesday that would authorize NASA programs for the next two years backs a $500 million project to develop crew transportation systems to end US reliance on Russian rockets for getting astronauts into space even as it blocks a less costly project to capture, redirect and explore an asteroid.
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21 June 2013
China's space program less costly
China's manned space program has achieved rapid development in a "less costly way," a U.S. astrophysicist said Sunday. "China did a great job in successfully sending another three astronauts into space," George Smoot said while visiting the Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT) in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province
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21 June 2013
Space Launch System Program Kicks Off Preliminary Design Review
NASA is beginning a preliminary design review for its Space Launch System (SLS). This major program assessment will allow development of the agency's new heavy-lift rocket to move from concept to initial design.
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21 June 2013
Accelerating ISS Science With Upgraded Payload Operations Integration Center
The operation center's new capabilities enhance collaboration and enable the ground team to efficiently help the International Space Station crew and researchers around the world perform cutting-edge science in the unique space environment.
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21 June 2013
China seeks to boost share of satellite market
China Great Wall Industry Corp, a subsidiary of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, is using this year's Paris Air Show to showcase its next generation of heavy-lifting rocket, the Long March 5, which is expected to be first launched in 2015. China Great Wall, the country's sole commercial provider of international launch services and satellite in-orbit delivery, is also using the event to demonstrate its Long March family of rockets, communication satellite platforms, and remote-sensing and meteorological satellites in the hope of attracting more potential international business, said Zhou Yuanying, the deputy general manager of the company's launch service division.
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20 June 2013
NASA And Italian Space Agency Sign Agreement On Exploration Of Mercury
At a meeting in Rome Thursday, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and Italian Space Agency (ASI) President Enrico Saggese signed a Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation on the European Space Agency- (ESA) led BepiColombo mission to Mercury, strengthening mutually beneficial cooperation between NASA and ASI in planetary exploration.
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20 June 2013
Europe's Ariane rocket sizes up for competition
"For me, the key question for Ariane 6 is not really the design - how many boosters and what will be the size of each and every booster; and of course, we work on that. No, the key question is how to organise relationships between industry and agencies, in order to deliver a launcher to a given target price," observed Alain Charmeau, the CEO of Astrium Space Transportation. This price is about 70-75m euros. "And to be clear, we should not be naive. If we need to reduce the cost by 40% or 50%, it means reducing the number of people. About 80% to 90% of the cost of a launcher is hourly rates - it's manpower. So if you want to reduce the costs, you have to deliver the launcher with fewer people."
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20 June 2013
NASA, Deloitte To Bring Space-Age Risk Management To Oil And Gas Industry
NASA Johnson Space Center and Deloitte will enter into a strategic alliance offering advanced risk-management services to oil and gas companies. These capabilities include several operational risk-management approaches aimed at companies seeking to minimize the risk of catastrophic failures – the kinds of dramatic mishaps that, while highly unlikely, can occur in remote and harsh environments.
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19 June 2013
First Gagarin film turns Soviet idol into new Russian hero
A new Russian film - "Gagarin. First Man in Space" - is the first full biopic on the pioneering cosmonaut ever to be released in Russia or the Soviet Union. Until now, Gagarin's 108-minute orbit of the Earth in 1961 appeared almost too hallowed a subject to be tackled in drama. But the state-subsidised film has been made amid a new drive for patriotic cinema as post-Soviet Russia looks for heroes.
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18 June 2013
Europe's ExoMars missions 'on track'
The director of science at the European Space Agency (Esa) signed contracts on Monday totalling 216m euros with the missions' prime contractor, Thales Alenia Space (TAS). The majority of the funds, 146m euros, should ensure the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) is ready for launch in January 2016. Much more will be needed to finish its construction, and Esa member states have yet to agree finally how to fund ExoMars' global budget, which is expected to top 1.2bn euros.
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18 June 2013
Russia to Unveil New Piloted Spacecraft at MAKS Airshow
The new craft, being developed by the Russian spaceship manufacturer RKK Energia, is expected to make its maiden flight in 2018. "At the MAKS airshow, we will soon see the mock-up of the spaceship, which will fly in 2018," space chief Vladimir Popovkin said at a meeting with President Vladimir Putin and Russian cosmonauts.
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17 June 2013
Plan for modified European rocket gets backing
Two major figures in the European space industry on Monday backed plans to modify the Ariane 5 rocket to help it shoot larger satellites into orbit. The head of the European Space Agency, Jean-Jacques Dordain, said he would ask ESA member states for fast-track approval to have the modification carried out by the end of 2015. The idea had been floated by the new head of satellite launch firm Arianespace, Stephane Israel, whose firm markets services from Kourou, French Guiana, by ESA's Ariane and Vega rockets and Russia's veteran Soyuz.
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17 June 2013
NASA Selects 2013 Astronaut Candidate Class
Eight candidates have been selected to be NASA's newest astronaut trainees. The 2013 astronaut candidate class comes from the second largest number of applications NASA ever has received -- more than 6,100. The group will receive a wide array of technical training at space centers around the globe to prepare for missions to low-Earth orbit, an asteroid and Mars.
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16 June 2013
Russia fetes 50th anniversary of first woman in space
Valentina Tereshkova, now a lawmaker for Russia's ruling party, blasted off in a Vostok-6 spaceship two years after Yuri Gagarin's historic first manned flight in 1961. The 76-year-old remains the only women to have ever made a solo flight in space. "The importance of this event is impossible to overestimate in the history of Russian and world space travel," Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in a congratulatory message to Tereshkova.
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16 June 2013
Commentary: China's space dream a humble one
Ten years after China sent its first man into low earth orbit, three astronauts operating the Shenzhou-10 spacecraft started a journey on a mission which seeks a permanent space station around 2020. Chinese President Xi Jinping said at the launch site that the crew carry a "space dream" of the Chinese nation and represent the lofty aspirations of the Chinese people to explore space. The dream, though also dreamt by the more frequent space travelers of Russia and American, includes a manned space station, moon exploration and even deep space odysseys.
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14 June 2013
Sexism Limited Female Space Flights – Russian Cosmonaut
Russian women rarely go into space because Russian men fear that their heroism would be diminished if shared with members of the opposite sex, scientist and former cosmonaut Yelena Dobrokvashina said Friday, while she also denied rumors that female cosmonauts have tried to conceive when orbiting the Earth.
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13 June 2013
Moon Radiation Findings May Reduce Health Risks to Astronauts
Space scientists from the University of New Hampshire (UNH) and the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) report that data gathered by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) show lighter materials like plastics provide effective shielding against the radiation hazards faced by astronauts during extended space travel. The finding could help reduce health risks to humans on future missions into deep space.
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11 June 2013
China to host international seminar on manned spaceflight
China and the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) will co-host an international seminar on manned spaceflight in Beijing in September, spokeswoman for China's manned space program Wu Ping revealed Monday. The seminar aims to boost international exchanges of latest developments and following steps in manned spaceflight and promote cooperation in the area, Wu told a press conference ahead of the launch of the Shenzhou-10 spacecraft.
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11 June 2013
ScienceRussia May Give Mars Probe Second Try in 2022-2025
Russia's failed Phobos-Grunt Mars moon probe project could be given a second chance in 2022-25, space agency Roscosmos said on Tuesday. “That [repeat of the mission] will apparently take place in 2002-2025,” Roscosmos head Vladimir Popovkin told a meeting of the Russian Academy of Sciences Presidium.
According to NASA, Russia has failed in all 17 of its attempts to study the Red Planet close-up since 1960. The most recent failure before the November accident occurred in 1996, when Russia lost its Mars-96 orbiter during launch.
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11 June 2013
General ready for second space mission
Eight years after his first space mission, Nie Haisheng is now ready to take a second assignment. China's manned space program spokeswoman Wu Ping announced Monday that the 48-year-old Nie is not only the commander of the Shenzhou-10 mission, but also responsible for manually docking the spacecraft with Tiangong-1 module in orbit, which is unprecedented for a Chinese astronaut in one mission.
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11 June 2013
China launches its longest-ever manned space mission
China began its longest manned space mission yet Tuesday with the launch of the Shenzhou-10, state television showed, as the country steps up an ambitious exploration programme symbolising its growing power. The three astronauts on board - who include Wang Yaping, 33, China's second woman in space - saluted cameras mounted inside their capsule.
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11 June 2013
Sierra Nevada Corporation Begins Dream Chaser Main Hybrid Rocket Motor Testing
Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) announces the successful start of the latest phase of hybrid rocket motor qualification testing for the Dream Chaser flight vehicle. SNC completed two tests this week at its rocket test facility in San Diego, Calif. A motor firing and ignition test was completed in preparation for upcoming motor tests under the current Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) award. SNC will conduct another series of hybrid motor firings to meet the next CCiCap contracted milestone beginning this summer.
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10 June 2013
Chris Hadfield retiring from Canadian Space Agency
Chris Hadfield, the first Canadian commander of the International Space Station and a viral Internet sensation for his music video shot aboard the complex, announced his retirement Monday just a month after returning to Earth. "I am extremely proud to have shared my experience," Hadfield said Monday. "I will continue to reinforce the importance of space exploration through public speaking and will continue to visit Canadian schools through the CSA." Hadfield's resignation is effective as of July 3 "to pursue new professional challenges."
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FOR FURTHER READING
17 June 2013
NEAP: 15 years later

Companies today seeking to prospect and mine asteroids aren’t the first such ventures. Rex Ridenoure examines the history of SpaceDev and its proposed Near Earth Asteroid Prospector (NEAP) mission.
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17 June 2013
Export control reform enters the home stretch

For over a decade, the US space industry has been fighting to reform the restrictions that made it difficult for companies to export satellites and related components. Now, Jeff Foust reports, that battle is nearly over, although not without some last-minute concerns about what technologies will remain under ITAR.
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17 June 2013
ISRU rocket hopper: an idea whose time has come?
New technologies and approaches will be required to advance future robotic or human exploration of Mars. Eric Shear outlines how a rocket-powered “hopper” spacecraft, using propellants manufactured on Mars, could accomplish missions a rover or orbiter cannot.
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17 June 2013
The coming era of atomically precise manufacturing and its implications for space
A new book by a long-time advocate of nanotechnology claims that “atomically precise manufacturing” will usher in a new post-industrial era. Vidvuds Beldavs reviews that book and its implications for space commercialization and settlement.
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