Lockheed Martin Space Systems and Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. will work together on concept studies of what its backers hope will become the first commercial mission to Mars, a Phoenix-class lander designed to demonstrate in situ resource utilization (ISRU) and thin-film solar arrays for future human missions.
Crews traveling to Mars and back with today’s technology will face a 5% increase in their chances of developing cancer later in life, based on new data from NASA’s Curiosity rover released at the International Geophysical Union in San Francisco Dec. 9.
A remote-sensing satellite built by China and Brazil failed to reach low Earth orbit following a Dec. 9 launch atop a Chinese Long March 4B rocket from the Taiyuan space center in northern China, according to Brazil’s Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation. In a Dec. 9 statement the ministry said the rocket carrying the CBERS 3 satellite malfunctioned after liftoff at 11:26 a.m. local time and that it failed to deliver the satellite to its intended Sun-synchronous orbit at 770 km altitude.
An International Launch Services (ILS) Proton M/Briz M rocket successfully orbited the first of four new all-Ka-band satellites Dec. 9 for London-based fleet operator Inmarsat, delivering the Boeing-built spacecraft to supersynchronous transfer orbit during a 15-hr. and 31-min. mission.
Scientists have found new evidence that ultra-low frequency (ULF) waves are a force behind the long-mysterious acceleration of highly energetic plasma particles within the Earth’s Van Allen Belts to near-speed-of-light velocities. The findings come from data gathered by NASA’s twin Van Allen Probes.
KEPLER REVIVAL: NASA has given the green light to continued work on a plan to extend its crippled Kepler Space Telescope mission by using an orbital maneuver to compensate for the loss of two of the spacecraft’s four gyro-like reaction wheels. “To be clear, this is not a decision to continue operating the Kepler spacecraft or to conduct a two-wheel extended mission,” Paul Hertz, head of NASA’s astrophysics division, said last week.
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V 501 successfully launched the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office’s classified NROL-39 mission from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., at 11:13 p.m. Pacific Time on Dec. 5.
While there is plenty to debate about where U.S. defense budgets could settle in 2014-15, there is no debate about the Pentagon's desire to continue to compete with cutting-edge technology. It expects defense advantages to be sustained through investment in new weapons and support systems that provide a generational lead over those fielded by adversaries.
China is on its way to the first controlled lunar landing in almost four decades—a planned touchdown in the poetically named Bay of Rainbows (Sinus Iridium) to unleash a robotic rover called Yutu (see illustration), an equally poetic reference to the jade rabbit the goddess Chang'e took with her when she flew to the Moon. China's Chang'e-3 mission made it out of low Earth orbit Dec. 1 into a translunar trajectory that sets up Yutu for a landing on Dec. 14.
In an unprecedented move, the United Launch Alliance (ULA) is planning to resource its industrial base at a level beyond the number of rocket orders placed by the Pentagon.
Recent launches of two converted Soviet-era ballistic missiles have reaffirmed the vehicles' presence in the market for lofting small satellites, a sector once reserved for research and technology demonstrations that is seeing increased demand for commercial applications, including optical and radar imagery and communications.
To call launch market upstart Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) a change agent would not be an overstatement. The company is bursting onto the scene with the stated goal of CEO Elon Musk to break the monopoly for U.S. national security launches now held by the United Launch Alliance's (ULA) Atlas V and Delta IV rockets. Air Force officials say they are already seeing ULA take measures to become more efficient and reduce cost (see page 43). And SpaceX is infusing the market with new manufacturing and design techniques.
For years, space industry pundits have been forecasting a coming boom in the small-satellite market. The key question now is not so much the size of the business opportunity, but how best to unlock its full potential.
The big government rocket Congress has insisted be built for deep-space human exploration is on track for a 2017 first flight. So far, there are no serious technical issues in sight and it is garnering growing interest from other potential users, according to the NASA managers responsible for developing the heavy-lift vehicle known as the Space Launch System (SLS).
Outside experts are responding to NASA's call to lasso an asteroid, providing the agency's Asteroid Retrieval Mission (ARM) planners with new momentum for the two-phase strategy to resume U.S. human deep-space exploration while demonstrating capabilities to find and deflect asteroids that pose an impact threat to Earth.
Startup World View Enterprises Inc. envisions a commercial high-altitude balloon experience for luxury-minded passengers and scientific researchers that will strive to deliver many of the prolonged experiences of spaceflight without the confinement, cost, risks or health limitations associated with rocket launches.
Richard Branson's Virgin Group and Abu Dhabi's aabar Investments PJS, have successfully completed the second rocket-powered, supersonic flight of its passenger carrying reusable space vehicle, SpaceShipTwo (SS2).
PARIS — NASA will seek a supplemental role aboard the European Space Agency’s (ESA) next two large astrophysics missions, including a new-generation X-ray telescope and a gravitational wave observatory.
NASA’s Technology Capabilities Assessment Team is finding new acceptance of the agency’s need to improve efficiency by eliminating duplication across its scattered field centers, with some center directors actually willing to give up assets if they can use the savings to fund their core competencies.
