Budget (27)
Commissions (61)
Concepts (33)
Editorials (61)
Events (10)
Missions (13)
News Releases (59)
Prometheus (12)
Property Rights (7)
Rumors (7)
Russia (11)
Weblog News (8)
"Astronomers announced today the first discovery of a new class of planets beyond our solar system about 10 to 20 times the size of Earth - far smaller than any previously detected. The planets make up a new class of Neptune-sized extrasolar planets.
In addition, one of the new planets joins three others around the nearby star 55 Cancri to form the first known four-planet system."
+ Read News Release (JPL)
+ Read News Release (Carnegie Institution)
+ Read News Release (McDonald Observatory)
"When the President’s Commission on Implementation of United States Space Exploration Policy (often called the President’s Commission on Moon, Mars, and Beyond, or simply the Aldridge Commission after chairman Pete Aldridge) issued its final report in mid-June, it won seemingly unanimous praise from the small but often contentious space advocacy community. The Space Foundation announced it “fully supports” the Commission’s recommendations, and challenged NASA to implement them. The National Space Society (NSS) described the report as “a plan that will transform NASA and lead the way to a spacefaring civilization.” Even the Space Frontier Foundation, while quibbling with some of the language in the report, called it a “rhetorical breakthrough” and “a huge step forward in human space exploration."
+ Read Article (The Space Review)
"In “The Man Who Sold the Moon” (Robert A. Heinlein, 1950) D. D. Harriman had on his lapel a “6+” button when he walked into the office of the CEO of the competing beverage company, Moka-Coka. Harriman was trying to make the point that some trademarks will fit on the Moon, which would make a great canvas for spreading carbon black on it. By making this and similar pitches, Harriman was able to create a critical mass of people who wanted him to help them guarantee that none of their competitors would advertise on the Moon."
+ Read Article (The Space Review)
International Space Exploration Meetup Day is September 7th, and groups are forming up across the country to meet & discuss Moon-Mars.
Visit Meetup.com to find out where the Meetup Day is in your neighborhood. If you live near Seattle, I will be hosting the Meetup at the Redhook Brewery in Woodinville and discussing some of the projects I've been working on like MarsHome.org, an effort to build the first permanent base on Mars.
Tagline: "Great Civilizations Do Great Things"
"Time is drawing closer for the maiden liftoff of the privately financed Falcon 1 launch vehicle, built by Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) of El Segundo, California.
But the march to the launch pad has not been easy. The firm has encountered engine troubles, supplier problems, mounds of regulatory paperwork and other costly woes requiring far more money to be spent than initially projected.
The SpaceX Falcon 1 rocket is headed for a September delivery to Launch Complex 3 West at the Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. Once in position, the launcher will undergo an on-the-pad firing of its main engine, leading to a potential first flight towards the end of November.
+ Read Article (Space.com)
"For Moon, Mars and beyond, NASA could indeed utilize Shuttle-C configurations, if they so chose. Following Aldridge guidelines would appear, then, to open the door to some private sector activity in due course. But the key question becomes, who controls it?"
+ Read Article (The Space Review)
In order to win the political battle of the budget, space exploration has to perennially out-compete hunger, terrorism, disease and infirmity. The high profile of space exploration is a two-edged sword in this battle because the technological leadership inherent in space exploration is counterbalanced by the perception of conspicuous consumption. The arguments that the next $100 billion spent on space would be better spent on something else are rhetorically effective, but logically empty.
+ Read Article (The Space Review)
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman G Madhavan Nair today indicated that the Country can launch a manned mission to Space in seven to eight years timeframe.
Talking to newspersons here, he said a National debate should be carried out whether India should go in for such an expensive programme, which might cost the Exchequer around Rs 10,000 crore.
+ Read Article (The Hindu)
Editor's Note: Also coming out today is an AP Story which basically says the exact opposite. Seems like the chinese all of the sudden with conflicting statements... so it would be foolish to count them out, I think.
"With the delivery of all electronic systems, Cosmos 1 -- the world's first solar sail craft -- achieved a critical milestone today in its countdown towards its launch later this year or early in 2025."
+ Read Press Release (The Planetary Society)
Editor's Note: Been following this for a few years. It's great to see this finally approaching launch.
I have always been a huge fan of RSS (Really Simple Syndication) and I have made some updates to the RSS feeds provided by ProjectConstellation.US, and I have added an article explaining RSS & linking to popular Newsreaders.
Enjoy!
"NASA and the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration - Naval Reactors (NR) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that will lead to the development, design, delivery, and operational support of civilian space nuclear reactors within NASA's Project Prometheus."
+ Read Press Release (NASA)
"Russia will resume construction of a new section of the International Space Station (ISS) and will cease being a free “space carrier” for NASA, Aleksandr Aleksandrov, head of the test-flight service of Russia’s Rocket and Space Corporation (RKK) Energiya told ITAR-TASS."
+ Read Article (MosNews)
"The extraordinary threat by the White House to veto the VA-HUD budget bill unless NASA is properly funded is a first in American political history. There is no record of LBJ, let alone any other President, threatening to veto a budget bill because NASA did not get what it needed. It is a characteristic of this administration that they take a frustratingly long time to make up their minds but, when they do come up with a policy, they stick to it. It took them three years to come up with the Moon-Mars vision but, now that they have, they seem to be determined to support it."
+ Read Article (The Space Review)
"Conventional wisdom over the last several months has been that any human return to the Moon will not—barring an unlikely crash Chinese program—take place for a decade or more. The shuttle, obviously, is not capable of such a mission, and its successor, the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV), is not planned to enter service before about 2015, assuming all goes as planned. That would indicate that it will be at least that long, and perhaps longer, before humans again venture beyond low Earth orbit."
+ Read Article (The Space Review)
"The biggest flaw of New Moon Rising is arguably not its content but how it is presented. The book is littered with errors that a trained copy editor would have caught immediately: inconsistent and incorrect capitalization and punctuation, along with the occasional spelling error. Even the formatting seems odd: the leading, or spacing between lines of text, varies in some portions late in the book, becoming mildly distracting. The book also lacks an index or bibliography. A "source notes" runs just half a page, citing interviews with unnamed "senior leaders" at NASA and the White House."
+ Read Review (The Space Review)
Editor's Note: Maybe Keith Cowing should give up writing books and stick to what he's good at -- harassing non-profit groups and pontificating on his "fair and balanced" websites.
"Americans, at least those who think it is in our best interest to revitalize our position in space exploration, have had some time to read and mull over "A Journey to Inspire, Innovate, and Discover", issued by the President’s Commission on Implementation of United States Space Exploration Policy. It clearly stated what the United States must do and why in the exploration of space. In his announcement in January, President Bush stated: '…the fundamental goal of this vision is to advance U.S. scientific, security, and economic interests through a robust space exploration program.'"
+ Read Article (The Space Review)