Constellation: September 2007 Archives

If there is one thing that gets the acolytes of the self-annointed US "New Space" community of space programme prime contractor wannabes excited, it is the prospect of on-orbit fuel depots.
The scenario is this, you launch a rocket with far less fuel than its mission requires and it goes into an orbit that enables it to dock with an in-orbit fuel depot where it fuels up for a mission that it couldn't do with the fuel it could have carried from the Earth's surface. Here Hobbyspace.com's webmaster Clark Lindsey has a think about the New Space strategy and links to some fuel depot info. Personally I think the idea is nuts for low Earth orbit missions, but you may disagree.

Reports from two big space conferences, including one about claims for the imminent death of NASA's Ares I, have been swirling around the blogosphere. One of the conferences is the AIAA Space 2007 event, held from 18-20 September in Long Beach, California, and the other is the World's space industry's annual jamboree, the 58th International Astronautical Congress - held every year somewhere different and this year it is Hyderabad, India. Next year it is Glasgow.