The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency JAXA would like to announce that we have confirmed the successful acceleration of the Small Solar Power Sail Demonstrator “IKAROS” by photon 1 in the course of determining its precise orbit after its sail deployment. The IKAROS was launched by JAXA on May 21 2010 Japan Standard time and all Read more about IKAROS Solar Sailing[…]
Dr. Anthony Zuppero has managed to find a way that we could affordably make the push into outer space and get to inhabit the solar system. A physicist, he’s got the whole thing calculated out, this guy is the real deal. He’s written a very very readable book about his undertaking, which you can download Read more about To Inhabit the Solar System[…]
YouTube – The Known Universe by AMNH.
So… you want to be immortal… you want a celestial body named after you. What next? Unfortunately, the one body that does officially name stars and galaxies – the IAU – won’t let you put your name on one (their regulations are here). Or on a comet or asteroid either. Fortunately there are plenty of Read more about Name a Star – Or a Galaxy![…]
Burt Rutan’s Scaled Composites has unveiled the Virgin Galactic sponsored Spaceship two, the ship that will bring commercial space travellers into space at reasonably affordable prices. News – Virgin Galactic unveils SpaceShipTwo, the world’s first manned commercial spaceship | Virgin Galactic.
The Allan Hills 84001 Meteorite which landed on earth has been examined and they’ve discovered that the tiny magnetite crystals it contains are chemically consistent with being formed in bacteria – they’re basically little fossils. They’re pretty sure the rock, which has floated around for around 16 million years, comes from Mars as it matches Read more about Evidence of life on Mars[…]
This site lists satellites, the ISS and other astronomical objects you can see in the sky based on your own location. It’s a very comprehensive, easy to use astronomy site with object you can and can’t see. Heavens-Above Home Page.
They are on now, and the first teams are already succesful, being able to climb 899m at 3.9 m/s! The game is to get a robot up a line being held by a helicopter in flight. The robot is powered by just a laser beam. The Space Elevator Games.
Japan is committed, now NASA has 3 teams qualified to try to get their laser powered robot to climb a cable hanging from a helicopter one km in the air. Elevator to space? They’re really trying :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Nation.
Three independent missions have confirmed this. SPACE.com — It’s Official: Water Found on the Moon.
Between the planets and moons are gravitational corridors, tubes that intersect at lagrange points, which can be used to travel between celestial bodies using hardly any fuel, only for course correctional purposes. These corridors can be likened to ocean currents. The trade-off is now between speed and fuel consumption: you can use almost zero fuel Read more about Mapping gravitational corridors[…]
Japan has an automated logistics supply vehicle for the International Space Station, which has been launched today for the first time. It’s composed of pressurised and upressurised areas and will be stopped at 10 m from the ISS. Using the robo hand, astronauts can dock it. It’ll stay there as a kind of larder for Read more about Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle[…]
These guys are claiming that gyrocontrolled inflatable modules that allready exist (well, without the gyrocontrols then) could be stacked onto each other initially up to 15 km high. If placed on a mountain that could get it up to 20 km. This could then be used for tourism, atmospheric research, telecoms or spacecraft launches. Eventually Read more about Inflatable space tower[…]