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Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, Calif., recently completed two milestones for NASA’s Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) initiative, which is intended to make commercial human spaceflight services available for government and commercial customers.
These were the fifth and sixth milestones for SpaceX, a partner in NASA’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP). The company is on track to complete all 14 of its CCiCap milestones by mid-2014.
First results from the analysis of eight 'hot Jupiter' exoplanets suggest that winds and clouds play an important role in the atmospheric make up of these exotic planets. Catherine Huitson of the University of Exeter will present the results at the National Astronomy Meeting in St Andrews on Friday 5 July.
Hot Jupiters are giant exoplanets, similar in size to Jupiter, that orbit so close to their stars that their atmospheres can reach temperatures of 1000-3000 degrees Celsius. Astronomers can detect which gases are present in their atmospheres by analysing the spectrum of starlight filtered through the planet's atmosphere when the planet passes in front of the star. Last year, a team led by the University of Exeter was awarded nearly 200 hours on the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to examine eight planets using this technique – the largest survey of its type to date.
DNP SpaceX tests new rocket, totally sticks the landing
We've been watching as the SpaceX Grasshopper's leap has grown higher and higher with each successive launch (and landing!), and the rocket's flights never fail to impress. The reusable spacecraft's latest test is no exception: this time, the 'hopper sailed past its previous 840 feet record, stopping at 1,066 feet. According to the company, the launch had a "more precise" landing thanks to new sensors that measure distance between the ground and the vessel. It shows. The touch-down is both noticeably smoother than previous efforts and drama free compared to Russia's explosive incident in Kazakhstan. The private spaceflight company's latest video is after the break -- do yourself a favor and watch it in HD.
WASHINGTON -- The rover NASA will send to Mars in 2020 should look for signs of past life, collect samples for possible future return to Earth, and demonstrate technology for future human exploration of the Red Planet, according to a report provided to the agency.
The 154-page document was prepared by the Mars 2020 Science Definition Team, which NASA appointed in January to outline scientific objectives for the mission. The team, composed of 19 scientists and engineers from universities and research organizations, proposed a mission concept that could accomplish several high-priority planetary science goals and be a major step in meeting President Obama's challenge to send humans to Mars in the 2030s.
Until now, we've had to simply guess as to what planets outside our solar system might look like. For the first time, the light from an individual exoplanet has been analyzed by the Hubble Space telescope. The planet is named HD 189733b, and while the image above is just an artistic rendering, we do know that it shines a wonderful cobalt blue.
A "Hot Jupiter", HD 189733b might resemble Earth from a distance thanks to its hue, but the two planets could hardly be more different. The exoplanet's atmosphere is above 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit. Storms consistently ravage HD 189733b, raining glass raindrops down through its gaseous skies. And if that wasn't bad enough, atomizing winds whip across the planet's surface at something like 4,300 miles per hour.
Read more at: Interplanetary precision laser could reach to Mars and beyond(Phys.org) —Currently, precision laser ranging is limited to the Earth-Moon distance. These systems are based on passive laser ranging, so that the signal deteriorates as 1/R4 over distance R. In a new study, physicists have designed a system that has a range thousands of times this distance due to the fact that it is based on active laser ranging, where the signal deteriorates as only 1/R2. The new system also has the potential to achieve sub-millimeter accuracy, yielding an overall performance improvement that is more than three orders of magnitude better than today's state-of-the-art space ranging systems.
UK engineers have tested a projectile technology that they believe could be used to explore the Solar System.
The steel penetrator was fired at a 10-tonne cube of ice to simulate the surface of Jupiter's moon Europa.
It hit the block at a speed of 340m/s and decelerated rapidly, but its structure remained intact, as did its interior components.
Researchers say the penetrator would be a robust and inexpensive way to land instruments on other worlds.
These might be seismometers to study the interior of Mars, or a miniature organic chemistry laboratory to check for microbial activity on icy Jovian satellites.
A NASA spacecraft bound for Pluto has captured its first photo of the dwarf planet's largest moon Charon, a cosmic snapshot snapped from nearly 550 million miles away.
Can your printer do this?
NASA and Aerojet Rocketdyne designed and fabricated a key part for a rocket engine with a 3D printer, shaving six months and 70 percent off the cost of production. A successful test of the component, a rocket injector assembly that delivers liquid oxygen and hydrogen into the engine’s combustion chamber, may lead to more efficient manufacturing in the future.
Read more: NASA tests 3D-printed rocket engine | Fox NewsCan your printer do this?
NASA and Aerojet Rocketdyne designed and fabricated a key part for a rocket engine with a 3D printer, shaving six months and 70 percent off the cost of production. A successful test of the component, a rocket injector assembly that delivers liquid oxygen and hydrogen into the engine’s combustion chamber, may lead to more efficient manufacturing in the future.
'Additive manufacturing can be game-changing for new mission opportunities.'
- Michael Gazarik, NASA's associate administrator for space technology
"NASA recognizes that on Earth and potentially in space, additive manufacturing can be game-changing for new mission opportunities, significantly reducing production time and cost by 'printing' tools, engine parts or even entire spacecraft," said Michael Gazarik, NASA's associate administrator for space technology in Washington. "3D manufacturing offers opportunities to optimize the fit, form and delivery systems of materials that will enable our space missions while directly benefiting American businesses here on Earth."
The British government announced on Tuesday that it has authorized an investment of £60 million in Reaction Engine’s Skylon spaceplane. The funding boost comes after a successful feasibility test of a core component of the spacecraft’s revolutionary engine managed by the European Space Agency (ESA) last November and will be used to further develop the revolutionary SABRE engine, which is designed to power the Skylon into orbit and back without the need for outside boosters or tanks
A NASA engineer has achieved yet another milestone in his quest to advance an emerging super-black nanotechnology that promises to make spacecraft instruments more sensitive without enlarging their size.
A team led by John Hagopian, an optics engineer at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., has demonstrated that it can grow a uniform layer of carbon nanotubes through the use of another emerging technology called atomic layer deposition or ALD. The marriage of the two technologies now means that NASA can grow nanotubes on three-dimensional components, such as complex baffles and tubes commonly used in optical instruments.
"The significance of this is that we have new tools that can make NASA instruments more sensitive without making our telescopes bigger and bigger," Hagopian said. "This demonstrates the power of nanoscale technology, which is particularly applicable to a new class of less-expensive tiny satellites called Cubesats that NASA is developing to reduce the cost of space missions."
Since beginning his research and development effort five years ago, Hagopian and his team have made significant strides applying the carbon-nanotube technology to a number of spaceflight applications, including, among other things, the suppression of stray light that can overwhelm faint signals that sensitive detectors are supposed to retrieve.
Flight tests of an engine for the giant space plane Skylon are expected by 2020. The British government and European Space Agency (ESA) are providing $100 million in funding, which will be matched by private financing to complete the propulsion system's development and test.
Two Synergetic Air-Breathing Rocket Engines (SABRE) will power the Skylon space plane — a privately funded, single-stage-to-orbit concept vehicle that is 276 feet (84 meters) long. At take-off, the plane will weigh about 303 tons (275,000 kilograms).
