On Orbit XIV

In this episode of On Orbit we have Space Based Solar Power (SPSP), Great Britain's lunar probe, a status update on the Dawn probe, SpaceX at it again,


In the Space Review, we have the 1st argument for SBSP that I have seen coming from the military side of things. Pakistan can and has closed access to the nearest port, Karachi, to American forces and can do so at any time. Coalition troops fighting in Afghanistan are dependent on over-land convoys from Karachi for supplies. With SBSP, isolated areas like Afghanistan, Diego Garcia and innumerable land locked countries can have independent access to electrical power. There are some detractors though and they bring up good points.

MoonLITE, is the next lunar probe in the the pipeline. The 100 million pound (pound sterling, not pound weight) probe is set to investigate the cause of the mysterious moonquakes.

JPL's Dawn spacecraft shut down its ion propulsion system as scheduled. The spacecraft is now gliding toward a Mars flyby in February of next year. "Dawn has completed the thrusting it needs to use Mars for a gravity assist to help get us to Vesta," said Marc Rayman, Dawn's chief engineer, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "Dawn will now coast in its orbit around the sun for the next half a year before we again fire up the ion propulsion system to continue our journey to the asteroid belt."

SpaceX is showing off yet again, by completing a full mission-length firing of the Falcon 9's 1st stage. It was a static test and it lasted 178 seconds.

As an added bonus, we have a couple NASA related articles by Alan Stern - NASA's Black Hole Budgets and Imagine Reconnecting NASA.



Stumble It!

Read more...

On Orbit XIII

The tri-color Indian flag joins the the red, white and blue of the US and the red and gold of the old Soviet Union on the lunar surface via the Moon Impact Probe (MIP). The flag was painted on the sides of MIP.



NASA's New Ares Rocket Engine Passes Review

NASA's newest high-performance rocket engine, the J-2X, successfully completed its critical design review Thursday at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

Chandrayaan-1 to Search for Lunar Ice

The U.S. Navy's Synthetic Aperture Radar instrument will use an computer designed by British firm SSTL to look to for water ice on the surface of the Moon. The Japanese probe Selene failed to find any evidence of it but there is still hope that it is there in the permanently shadowed craters of the lunar poles.

First Cemetery on the the Moon?

Celestis, a business that launches cremated remains into orbit, is expanding its business to landing capsules on the Moon.

Read more...

On Orbit XII

Phase 1 of China's Lunar Probe Project is complete according to Chinese scientists. The mapping of the lunar surface by the probe Chang'e-1 was performed over the course of a year. As of yet, the Chinese government hasn't release the maps to the general public. There is another probe in the pipeline, Chang'e-2 and a rover scheduled for a 2012 launch as phase two for the China lunar program. Around 2017, sample return rover is scheduled as the third stage.

India's lunar probe Chandrayaan-1 has reached its final lunar orbit. Orbiting at about a height of 100 km above the surface, Chandrayaan-1 takes about two (2) hours complete an orbit of the Moon. Chandrayaan-1 is projected to have a life cycle of two (2) years. The next thing to look forward to is the release of the Moon Impact Probe (MIP)



The MIP has a mass of 35 kg and will be release at some point in the future while Chandrayaan-1 is in its current orbit. Flight time is expected to be about 25 minutes from launch to impact. The primary objective is to demonstrate the technologies required for landing the probe at a desired location on the Moon and to qualify some of the technologies related to future soft landing missions. Chandrayaan-2 has been scheduled for no later 2012. The ISRO has long term plans to send probes to both Mars and Venus.

Read more...

On Orbit XI

The newest Carnival of Space is out.


India's space agency - ISRO, recently successfully launched their first lunar probe, Chandrayaan-1. Chandrayaan-1 reached lunar orbit this past Saturday, 8 November. According to ISRO Director S. Satish, Chandrayaan-1 fired its motors for orbital insertion at 1145 GMT for 805 seconds to enter lunar orbit. India is looking not to miss the boat on this newest space race that China and Japan have begun. National prestige is not the only thing at stake. India is also looking to join the commercial launch industry. India and China are not the only new players in the new space race. The Ukraine and Indonesia have signed a cooperation agreement and Brazil is developing its own launcher the VLS-1.

As of 9 November 2008, the ISRO began circularizing Chandrayaan-1's orbit around the Moon.

Read more...

On Orbit X

SpaceX DragonLab, a free-flying, fully-recoverable, reusable spacecraft capable of hosting pressurized and unpressurized payloads

Chandrayaan-1 Enters Lunar Transfer Trajectory

German CESAR rover takes top prize in ESA's lunar rover challenge

KSC takes delivery of the first components of the Ares 1-X

Emergence of the Chinese space industry

Read more...

On Orbit IX

More design flaws found in Ares I rocket

ESA's Lunar Robotics Challenge: A tough task for the student teams

From The Space Review: Why the majority of the work in colonizing the space frontier will come from amateur effort

Read more...

On Orbit VIII

Russia looking at consolidating aerospace industry assets into state agency.  Decision to be made in 2009.

NASA Goddard CIO joins the blogosphere:Goddard CIO Blog

NASA JSC Advanced Planning Office Blog: JSC Advanced Planning Office Blog

Official NASA blogs

SpaceDev to be acquired by the Sierra Nevada Corp: SpaceRef.com

Read more...

On Orbit VII

Rosetta spacecraft has close encounter with E-class asteroid

Rescue Shuttle Atlantis getting ready to roll back

NASA's Pluto probe hits 1000 days in space

Carnegie Mellon to test robotic lunar prospector in Hawaii

British X-ray camera set to launch on India's Chandrayaan-1

Argentina joinsVenezuela in reaching out to Russia for Space Program assistance

ESA looking to develop independentcrew return vehicle

Hubble status report:

Read more...

On Orbit VI

Japan Maps Lunar Far Side Gravity Field

ISS crew might not be expanded

Space Adventures Client, Private Astronaut Richard Garriott, Successfully Launches to the 
International Space Station

Read more...

On Orbit V

From Colony Worlds, China draws on its vast manned spaceflight experience and offers to train other countries astronauts.

Update: India's Chandrayaan-1 lunar probe is scheduled to liftoff on 22 October with the launch window open until the 26th.

NASA's Cassini probe is scheduled for close flybys of Saturn's moon Enceladus on 9 October and 31 October at a height of 25 km (16 miles!) and 196 km (122 mi) respectively.  Cassini will be sampling Enceladus's many geysers because water vapor and organic compounds have been detected and scientists suspect the existence of underground oceans of water.

China looks forward to its first space station Tiangong 1 to be launched in 2010 or 2011.  Automated flights Shenzhou 8 and 9 will dock with Tiangong 1, a feat made easier given China's demonstrated ability to rendevous spacecraft in space.  The manned flight Shenzhou 10 will bring Tiangong 1's three man crew.  Things are moving quickly in the Middle Kingdom.  Can we keep up?

Read more...

On Orbit IV

NASA admin Michael Griffin states that given a choice, NASA would always buy launch services to the ISS from a private company.  Here's your chance SpaceX.  Griffin also affirms that "human populations must diversify if it wishes to survive."  

The Space Foundation has published "ITAR and the U.S. Space Industry." The report proposes steps to modernize ITAR, enabling the regulations to accomplish their original purpose of protecting important security technologies while allowing more U.S. space companies to compete successfully in the global economy.  Interesting because John Goff over at Selenian Boondocks posted about the problems domestic space companies have with ITAR.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran has stated that Iran will be launching a domestic rocket capable of putting 700 kg into orbit.  The satellite Omid (Hope) will be used for natural disaster management and telecommunications.

NASA to announce new student contest to design tools an instruments to be used on the moon.

Read more...

On Orbit III

I was hoping for a bit more news before I posted another one of these, but it seems to be a slow news day.  Anyway, here we go and welcome to any new readers from the Carnival of Space.

Links to live streaming audio between astronauts on the ISS and mission controllers can be found here: http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=26549

Congrats to China on the sucessuful return of her taikonauts: Spacewalkers Return

Read more...

On Orbit II

Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne Readies World's First Hypersonic Hydrocarbon-Fueled and -Cooled Scramjet for Flight

It Takes A Nation To Build A Rocket

Read more...

On Orbit I

On Orbit, our news dump.

Shenzhou 7 set to fly China third manned spaceflight.  Unlike Shanzhou 6, -7 will carry three taikonauts (definitely the best sounding astronaut title) into orbit, with the first taking place in 2003.  Sent aloft on the Long March II-F, it will be the 109th launch of a Long March rocket.  Additionally, Chinese authorities report that the Long March series has a 100% success rate.  Once in orbit, one of the taikonauts will perform a spacewalk.

From Space Daily

Update: Russia Looks to Take Lead in Commercial Launch Services

Now with pictures.  Can anyone tell me how they plan to recover the RD-191?

Update: India's Moon Mission May Lift Off October 19

If India misses it October launch window for Chandrayaan-I, cyclone season would prevent a launch until December.

Read more...