spacecraft
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NASA Is Running Out Of Space Fuel, No Refills In Sight
3:00PM Adrian Covert | So apparently, NASA needs this itsy-bitsy little thing called Plutonium-238 to make their deep-space rocketships go ZoOOOooOoOooM ZooOOOOoMM, but they’re running out of it and need congress to drop $US30 million to help make more. More »
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How the Weird Mars Science Laboratory Floating Sky Crane Works
2:10PM Jesus Diaz | When I read that the UFO-looking Mars Science Laboratory’s aeroshell would use a floating crane–called Sky Crane by NASA–to softly land the rover on Mars, I couldn’t believe it. Now, watching this hyperrealistic NASA simulation showing how the mechanism actually floats, lowers the rover, and then flies away, I still can’t believe it. This is the kind of stuff that makes the kid in me wake up and pay attention with my eyes and mouth wide open. More »
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Air Force to Launch Military Orbital Spaceplane
8:15PM Jesus Diaz | The USAF and Boeing will launch the X-37B–the first military orbital space plane if you discount the secret military shuttle–on top of an Atlas V rocket in November. They want to test its flying features in space and during atmospheric reentry. And probably its anti-matter rays and nuclear bays and hyperspace engines too (but of course, they are never going to tell you that). However, there seems to be a conflict with the civilian space program which may push one of the Moon exploration missions to 2009. More »
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First Look At New Russian-Euro Lunar Capsule
11:30AM Matt Hickey | Here it is, fellow space-geeks, the first official image of the new joint Russian-European manned spacecraft, and we’ll be damned if it doesn’t look like something out of the Ikea Kitchen Collection. It’s made to ferry up to four people (cosmonauts or astronauts?) to the moon and back, with a two-stage orbiter-and-lander design much like the original American lunar missions. What’s interesting is that the craft uses thrusters to slow its descent to the moon’s surface as well as to launch itself off the surface. The Russians state that they expect a launch in 2018, though a launch could happen sooner if stock rockets currently available are modified, which sounds perfectly and totally safe to us. [BBC] More »
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Mars Lander Can Move Arm Now, Probably Just Slept On It Wrong
10:41AM Gizmodo US Edition | Putting rest to fears that the Phoenix Lander might be DOA, the lander wagged its robotic arm on Thursday. NASA was worried that a stuck piece of plastic casing could prohibit the 2.3m titanium appendage from extending, making it impossible for the Phoenix to carry out crucial drilling experiments. More »
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Buran Space Shuttle Floats Along the Rhine
11:30AM Haroon Malik | The Buran space shuttle was once the apple of the Soviet space fleet’s eye. Unfortunately, it has now been reduced to floating peacefully down the river Rhine, where it will eventually come to rest at the Technik Museum Speyer in Mannheim, Germany. The great shuttle took to the skies only once during an unmanned test flight, but two decades later, the modern relic has gone the way of a crushed Buzz Lightyear—it’s realised it can’t fly, but at least it can put on one hell of an exhibition. Good on you, Buran. The images of the final float look stunning, and the video of the event, which is set against some seriously melancholic music, makes the whole event look like a sad and dignified funeral procession. Check out the pictures in the gallery below, then jump in to see the clip. Warning: have your hankies ready. More »
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Orion Crew Test Module Timelapse Build
11:00AM Jesus Diaz | This timelapse video shows the construction of the first Orion crew module, the spacecraft that will take humanity to the Moon and Mars. As you can see, this version is not the full ship, as it lacks all computer, engine, and support systems, not to talk mention the proton torpedoes and turbolasers. However, the Apollo-style module is the first real tangible part of the Constellation Program, and will play a crucial part in its early development. galleryPost('orionnasa', 3, ''); More »
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DARPA Close To Awarding Contract For Spy Plane That Stays Aloft For 5 Years
1:20PM Sean Fallon | According to Flight Global, DARPA is close to awarding a contract to build an unmanned aircraft that can stay in the air for up to 5 years at a time. DARPA describes the “Vulture” project as a “persistent pseudo-satellite capability in an aircraft package.” In other words, the aircraft can hover over a single area, narcing, communicating, or surveying for years at a time. More »
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Boeing to Design New DARPA’s Networked Swarm Spacecrafts
4:45AM Jesus Diaz | Start buying Cold War nuclear shelters and piling up the canned food, because Boeing Advanced Systems has started System F6, “DARPA’s Future, Fast, Flexible, Fractionated, Free-Flying Spacecraft United by Information Exchange space technology program.” In other words: multiple, networked specialised spacecraft swarms that are intelligent enough to perform a single coordinated task together, like analysing the crops or deciding to destroy humanity, Skynet-style. Actually, it could completely change satellites for the better, according to some experts: More »
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