Latest Space technology Stories
The Sun and our neighboring planet Mars are two destinations that the UK and US will be exploring together in the coming years, following recent agreements for collaboration on three big space projects. During a visit this week to space facilities and companies in the UK, Mason Peck, Chief Technologist at NASA, said, “Cooperation and collaboration are critical to meet increasingly global challenges, and our partnership with the United Kingdom in space exploration and technology...
Deputy Administrator Lori Garver will visit NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans and testing facilities at the agency's Stennis Space Center in Bay St. Louis, Miss., Friday, May 3. These facilities are critical to the construction and testing of NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Commercial Crew Program. Michoud and Stennis also are important to partnerships with private industry, which is helping maximize the use of NASA facilities. At 9 a.m. CDT, Garver will visit...
WASHINGTON, May 1, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Deputy Administrator Lori Garver will visit NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans and testing facilities at the agency's Stennis Space Center in Bay St. Louis, Miss., Friday, May 3. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) These facilities are critical to the construction and testing of NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Commercial Crew Program. Michoud and Stennis also are important to...
WASHINGTON, May 1, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA is inviting members of the public to submit their names and a personal message online for a DVD to be carried aboard a spacecraft that will study the Martian upper atmosphere. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) Scheduled for launch in November, the DVD will be in NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft. The DVD is part of the mission's Going to Mars Campaign coordinated at the...
Robotic bird's independently controllable wings makes more realistic flight maneuvers possible. COLLEGE PARK, Md., April 30, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In this age of advanced technology, how hard could it be to develop a robotic bird that flies by flapping its wings? Despite the apparent simplicity of the idea, it's very hard--if you want the bird to actually fly. And how hard could it be to make a robot bird whose wings can flap independently of each other? So hard that it's...
Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online NASA said its Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity placed itself in standby mode during April when the sun was blocking out communication with the Red Planet and Earth. The space agency said mission controllers learned of the changed status on April 27, when they first heard from Opportunity after the blocked communication period. Engineers pumped "fresh commands" into the rover on Monday to get it to resume operations. According to...
Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online The European Space Agency's (ESA) Herschel observatory has officially run out of liquid coolant, ending its mission. The space observatory launched nearly four years ago with a goal to help reveal some of the cooler sides of the universe, including planet, star and galaxy formation. "Herschel gave us the opportunity to peer into the dark and cold regions of the universe that are invisible to other telescopes," said John Grunsfel,...
Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo broke the sound barrier for the first time on Monday, reaching Mach 1.2 in a test flight. In a blog post today, founder of Virgin Galactic Richard Branson announced the “momentous” feat that the company had achieved. "It marks the moment when we put together two key elements of our spaceflight system – the spacecraft and its rocket motor, which have both been tested extensively by themselves over...
Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Update (May 6 at 10:15 a.m.) ESA’s second Vega flight, VV02, due for a launch this past weekend, was canceled at last minute due to unfavorable weather conditions. The Vega rocket was scheduled to lift off on May 4 from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, carrying Proba-V as the prime payload. Proba-V is the first of four ESA missions in the Vega Research and Technology Accompaniment (VERTA) program, which will...
Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online After preliminary tracking of a recently discovered asteroid, one Italian astronomer is making the case for a close flyby in 13 years. The new data suggest asteroid 2013 GM3, which is roughly 65 feet in diameter, will pass “dangerously close” to Earth on April 14, 2026. Francesco Manca of the Sormano Astronomical Observatory (OAS) near Milan, Italy, said a pass looks to be within 5,300 miles of Earth, according to a RIA...
Latest Space technology Reference Libraries
The Pioneer Program is a series of American unmanned space missions designed for planetary exploration. The program included a number of missions, but the most well-known missions were Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11. Both Pioneer 10 and 11 explored the outer planets and left our solar system. Both probes carry a gold plaque, depicting a man and a woman and information about the origin of the probes and their creators. The Pioneer probe was named by Stephen A. Saliga, who was chief designer of Air...
Project Constellation is a spaceflight program run by NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration). The program goals are to continue significant operations away from Earth's environment, to develop technologies needed for expanding exploration of space, and to continue conducting fundamental science. Project Constellation was developed by the Exploration Systems Architecture Study, which established how NASA would pursue the goals from the Vision for Space Exploration and the...
Wernher von Braun (March 23, 1912 - June 16, 1977) was one of the leading figures in the development of rocket technology in Germany and the United States. His work on the Nazi rocket program made him a controversial figure. The controversy was captured in a song by satirist Tom Lehrer, who described him as "A man whose allegiance is ruled by expedience". He was born on in Wirsitz, Posen, Germany and his mother gave him a telescope upon his Lutheran confirmation. His interest in astronomy...
NEAR-Shoemaker Mission -- The Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous - Shoemaker (NEAR Shoemaker), renamed after its launch in honor of Gene Shoemaker, is an unmanned spacecraft designed to study the near-Earth asteroid Eros from close orbit over a period of a year. The primary scientific objectives of NEAR were to return data on the bulk properties, composition, mineralogy, morphology, internal mass distribution and magnetic field of Eros. Secondary objectives include studies of regolith...
Terraforming -- Terraforming (literally, "Earth-shaping") is the process of modifying a planet, moon or other body to a more habitable atmosphere, temperature or ecology. The term was first used in a science fiction novel, 'Seetee Shock' (1940?) by Jack Williamson, but the actual concept is older than that. An example in fiction is 'First and Last Men' by Olaf Stapledon in which Venus is modified, after a long and destructive war with the original inhabitants, who naturally object to the...
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