Space Tourism … and Much More
A brief update on the Augustine Commission:
The Orlando Sentinel says the 10-member panel will send a draft of its executive summary to the White House within the next day but will delay release of its full report until mid-September.
Read the full story.
China to begin construction of orbital space station in 2020
RIA Novosti
China will begin the construction of its own orbital space station in 2020, the Sina news service said on Monday, citing a top official with the country’s manned spaceflight program.
Asteroid Ida
British plan to tackle asteroids
BBC News
A team of British scientists are developing plans for a spacecraft that could stop large asteroids from destroying the Earth.
The 10 tonne “gravity tractor” would deflect any orbiting rocks years before any potential collision could happen.
Continue reading ‘British Team Designs Device to Stop Killer Asteroids’
Angara rocket engine test
Russia to invest $143 mln in engines for new Angara rocket
RIA Novosti
Russia will invest about 4.5 billion rubles ($143 mln) by 2015 in the production of engines for a family of Angara carrier rockets, the Perm Territory’s government said on Monday.
The environmentally-friendly Angara rocket, currently under development by the Khrunichev center, is designed to put heavy payloads into orbit. It is intended mainly for launch from the Plesetsk space center to reduce Moscow’s dependence on Kazakhstan’s Baikonur, the main launch facility for the current generation of Russian rockets.
The new line of rockets will complement, and eventually replace, the existing line of Rockot and Proton launch vehicles. It will be available in a range of configurations capable of lifting between two and 24.5 metric tons into low-earth orbit.
Read the full story.
India Moon mission is ‘mixed success’
BBC News
Despite being dubbed by Isro as an “engineering success”, the mission had a rough ride around the Moon.
A fuel leak from the rocket almost aborted its lift-off. Within days of reaching the Moon a power system failed, and a back-up system had to be activated.
Continue reading ‘Indian Lunar Mission Troubled From the Start’
Altair
Giving NASA a clear mission
G. Ryan Faith makes the case for giving NASA a straightforward mission—space exploration—and prioritizing its tasks accordingly.
Protecting the space workforce
Taylor Dinerman warns that DOD and NASA program cuts could lead to a brain drain like the ones seen after previous mass layoffs.
Is the near-Earth space frontier closed?
Much of what made the Space Age possible was driven by the development of ICBMs and related spacecraft systems. Andrew Tubbiolo argues that this legacy may make it more difficult for commercial and civil entities to expand their activities in Earth orbit.
Review: Pluto Confidential
The recent IAU General Assembly has come and gone without any changes in the definition of “planet†or Pluto’s classification. Jeff Foust reviews a new book that takes yet another look at the controversy surrounding Pluto’s status and how it compares to previous planetary controversies.
David Livingston will interview the following guests this week on The Space Show….
1. Monday, August 31, 2009; This is a taped interview from SmallSat featuring Paul Lithgow, President, Comtech AeroAstro.
2. Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2009, 7-8:30 PM PDT: There is no program this evening as I am at the National Space Policy meetings in Washington, DC.
3. Friday, Sept. 4, 2009, 9:30-11:30 AM PDT : We welcome back Dr. Pat Hynes of the New Mexico Space Grant Consortium to discuss the upcoming Personal Spaceflight Symposium in Las Cruces, NM Oct. 21-22, 2009.
4. Sunday, Sept. 6,, 2009, 12-1:30 PM PDT: We welcome back Brian Shiro to discuss his recent experiences at Devon Island.
UCLA webcam image from atop Mount Wilson at 10:26 a.m. PDT on 31 August 2009
The latest on the fire that is threatening Mount Wilson from MSNBC:
A wildfire threatening 12,000 homes and a major communications center nearly doubled in size overnight, giving firefighters little time to rest or mourn two colleagues killed on Sunday.
The fire had burned 134 square miles of brush and trees in the Angeles National Forest by early Monday, up from 71 square miles on Sunday evening, officials said.
It was just a half-mile from Mount Wilson, a ridgetop center overlooking Los Angeles that includes many broadcasting antennas and an observatory. Crews planned to set backfires to slow its advance. Planes have dropped retardant around the towers.
Read the full story.
Image from UCLA's webcam on Mount Wilson, 10:48 p.m. PDT
The latest report on the Southern California wildfire from the Associated Press, as of 10:14 p.m. PDT:
The Southern California fire was expected during the night Sunday to reach the top of Mount Wilson, where 22 television stations, many radio stations and cell phone providers have their transmitters, said U.S. Forest Service Capt. Mike Dietrich.
Television stations said if the antennas burn broadcast signals will be affected but satellite and cable transmissions will not be.
Two giant telescopes and several multimillion-dollar university programs are housed in the century-old Mount Wilson Observatory. The complex of buildings is both a historic landmark and a thriving modern center for astronomy.
Continue reading ‘Mount Wilson Threatened By Massive SoCal Wildfire’
Richard Branson after his first flight aboard WhiteKnightTwo at the Oshkosh airshow.
The Observer’s Alley Canwath takes a look at an updated edition of Branson, an unauthorized biography of the British billionaire first published nine years ago:
Among the responses to the original version of this book in 2000 there was one that Tom Bower must have particularly relished. It came from Branson himself, who said with a customary flourish: ‘What I have read has offended me on every single level … it is a foul, foul piece of work from the first words to the last – really rotten, nasty stuff.’
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