Posts tagged space exploration

The 4,082-kilogram satellite, carrying 11 observing instruments from Europe, the United States, Canada and France, will operate in an 820-kilometer polar low Earth orbit. After six months of in-orbit tests, it will monitor weather conditions in tandem with the nearly identical Metop-A launched in October 2006.

(Source: futurenow321)

A spacecraft orbiting Mars has detected carbon dioxide snow falling on the Red Planet, making Mars the only body in the solar system known to host this weird weather phenomenon.

(Source: futurenow321)

Hurtling through a cosmic dust cloud a mere 400 light-years away, the lovely Pleiades or Seven Sisters star cluster is well-known in astronomical images for its striking blue reflection nebulae. At visible wavelengths, the starlight is scattered and reflected by the dust, but in this portrait in infrared light by the Spitzer Space Telescope, the dust itself glows. The false color image spans about 1 degree or seven light-years at the distance of the Pleiades, with the densest regions of the dark.

(Source: futurenow321)

The space race is way over, and sadly so is the entire NASA Space Shuttle program as well. But just because we aren’t shipping astronauts up into orbit anymore doesn’t mean the US isn’t playing around still in outer space. Today actually marks the second test launch of a strange form of airplane slash rocket, the Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 (FTVH2). Capable of cruising at over 13,000mph (that’s Mach 20 or 20x the speed of sound), the unmanned FTVH2 isn’t a new travel or research toy, but a military one.

The X-43 is an unmanned experimental hypersonic aircraft with multiple planned scale variations meant to test various aspects of hypersonic flight.

Credit: http://www.nasa.gov/missions/research/x43-main.html

(Source: futurenow321)

Hawthorne-based rocket company SpaceX has landed another launch contract, adding to its growing backlog of commitments for future space missions. The company formally known as Space Exploration Technologies Corp. agreed to launch three satellites for European communications service provider SES, the companies said Wednesday.

This is the second launch contract SpaceX has signed with SES. The first, announced last year, was for a mission scheduled for 2013.  In May, SpaceX’s Dragon capsule became the first commercial vehicle to successfully attach to the International Space Station. That feat had previously been achieved only by four governments. Internet entrepreneur Elon Musk, SpaceX already has more than 40 launches on its manifest, including missions to resupply the space station and deliver commercial and government satellites into orbit.

(Source: futurenow321)

US private company SpaceX will launch its Dragon space freighter on a next resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) in October. It will be the first of the company’s 12 commercial flights to the ISS under a 2008 contract with the NASA as the initial successful mission in May was considered a test run. NASA administrator Charles Bolden announced that SpaceX is now fully certified to deliver cargo to the orbital station.  The Dragon is a reusable spacecraft developed by SpaceX to fly cargo to the ISS after NASA retired its space shuttle fleet last year.
NASA also awarded SpaceX a commercial crew development contract in April 2011 to develop a reusable spacecraft to carry up to seven astronauts, or a combination of personnel and cargo, to and from the orbital station.  At present, NASA pays Russia $63 million for every astronaut who flies to the ISS aboard Soyuz spacecraft.

(Source: futurenow321)

SkyCube will take low-resolution pictures of the Earth and broadcast simple messages uploaded by sponsors.  After 90 days, it will use an 8-gram CO2 cartridge to inflate a 10-foot (3-meter) diameter balloon coated with highly reflective titanium dioxide powder.  SkyCube’s balloon will make the satellite as bright as the Hubble Space Telescope or a first-magnitude star.  You’ll be able to see it with your own eyes, sailing across the sky.  But SkyCube’s balloon isn’t just for visibility.  It will - within 3 weeks - bring SkyCube down from orbit due to atmospheric drag, ending the mission cleanly in a fiery “grand finale” that avoids any buildup of space debris.

Read more at : http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/880837561/skycube-the-first-satellite-launched-by-you?ref=discover_pop

(Source: futurenow321)

“Most people on Earth would love the chance to become astronauts if they could afford it, so it’s up to us to try to make sure it’s affordable,” Sir Richard Branson told Business Insider’s Aly Weisman in an exclusive interview. “Initially $200,000 is not going to enable the average joe to go in, but we have about 500 people signed up to go into space so far. I think they will be the pioneers and in time the price will come down.”

(Source: futurenow321)