Group items tagged

"Seeking a Human Spaceflight Program Worthy of a Great Nation" - NASA's and Lockheed Martin's 2nd thoughts of returning to the moon..

Rather unconventional approach to human spaceflight...

More: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/jonathanamos/2010/08/danish-rocketeers-are-no-dummi.shtml

...and hitting the news in the same day: A Rocket Built from U.S. and European Parts "A new rocket that would combine parts from NASA's canceled Ares I rocket as well as the Ariane 5 , a well-proven European satellite launcher, could provide a low-cost option for taking crew and cargo to the space station. The rocket proposal was announced this week by ATK, an aerospace and defense company that manufactures the solid rocket motors for NASA's space shuttles, and Astrium, the European company that makes the Ariane 5. They say the rocket, called Liberty, would be ready for flight by 2015." "Other commercial companies, including Boeing and Orbital Sciences Corporation, are looking to use low-end versions of the Atlas V to carry the capsules they are building. Liberty could carry any capsule at a cost less than that of the Atlas V, according to ATK." Look! Competition! :)

"Two sets of [ ATV docking training for astronauts ] lessons are now available for the home user to try." And in case you wonder *where* in the earth are they available, the links are on the right-hand column (also known as ESA's scorn on usability). As usual for the material located there, I took me a few minutes to find them...

Well I tried and could not locate the app to download from these links and sent them a feedback on what I thought a wrong error - though the email bounced :-) So, what is the right link to the app then?

Leo, I'm not iEnabled, so I can't help you with the app. Using other links you can try the PC version (so 20th-century-ish, I know), of course assuming you have somewhere one with Internet Explorer :-)

Filename: BURN_BABY_BURN--MASTER_IGNITION_ROUTINE.agc

"Developers, designers, innovators all kinds of creative thinkers" aka "nerd objective-C programmers with no life"?

Well, the ACT actually proposed a few of the topics (BEWARE, THERE BE CUCUMBERS!). Some are not necessarily software based, like creating a LEGO model of the ExoMars rover (although they stripped LEGO from the challenge description and now it just says "create an ExoMars rover from hardware" ... ). Also we had no clue that they would host part of the challenge here at ESTEC - so our 5 or 6 challenges will all be hosted in Rome... ...

The SpaceX Falcon 9 explosion was caused by a failed strut that allowed a helium bottle to burst free inside the rocket's liquid oxygen tank, CEO Elon Musk said Monday. "One of those struts broke free during flight," Musk told reporters on a conference call to discuss the June 28 blast on what was supposed to be a routine cargo mission to the International Space Station.

I guess this is how it starts as they mentioned they will inspect struts individually before each flight. Also for the space shuttle they believed a rapid inspection between launches would be feasible, but in the end there was a need for individual assessment almost. And we haven't even considered human spaceflight yet.

as predicted, first failure, first inquiry board, first new safety procedures ... and certainly many more will follow and all will make sense but with the risk of loosing the competitive edge

Nice initiative by ESA...

Just right for joint space-photography geeks like me...

Could be fun actually... I liked most the part: "They were asked to (...) find food: meaning fishing, trapping animals, preparing food and cooking with primitive tools.". Roasted squirrel anyone?

Just a bunch of folks disappointed with not being selected to be real astronauts, or did they smell a real business? See also an interview on newscientist: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20727696.200-astronaut-for-hire-space-tourism-will-help-science.html

While my attitude to articles about interstellar travel is generally sceptical, this one seems to raise quite an interesting point... Physicists?

Also, remember never to dereference null pointers.

True, it's almost like installing accelerometers upside down...

Anyone of you among the lucky winners?

Let's start the bets on how long it will take him to exterminate the crew!

Russian space hotel, but alcohol banned on board... something's not right here...

So... basically they are the only guys who now do human spaceflight?

and 2nd failed launch for Russian in 10 days. http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2011/08/proton-m-launches-russias-ekspress-am4-communications-satellite/ although this one is a giant space debris stuck on the GTO.

ESA's article on the consequences for ISS: http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM6GJUTTRG_index_0.html What is not clear is if the rocket that failed is the same variant as used in manned missions. [Edit] According to this article: http://www.interfax.com/newsinf.asp?pg=3&id=268437 "The first and second stages of the Soyuz-FG space rocket used for manned launches differ from those of the Soyuz-U, but the third stage [the one that failed - MR] is identical in both rockets". Thus the stay of astronauts currently at ISS may prolong a little bit.

why don't we use this for long-term space travel :-) ?? anybody wants to have a closer look into this?

a lot in this reads like our Aurora plan about seven years ago ...