Hyperbola

DIRECT strike back

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 15:42:08 +0000

Directlauncher.com team member and AIAA paper co-author Chuck Longton has responded to the NASA criticism of the DIRECT concept in this Hyperbola blog post and pointed out what his team considers are Constellation's failures with its architecture

credit: NASA

See Chuck's main points in the extended entry portion of this post. He also says in his original comment that "there will be an upcoming response that will be placed, at the very least, on the www.directlauncher.com website"

I agree with NASA's Doug Cooke, DIRECT can't replace Constellation

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 10:46:58 +0000

I agree with Doug Cooke, NASA exploration systems mission directorate's deputy director, that the DIRECT concept is not the optimal solution its proponents claim it to be

I made my opposition to DIRECT clear in a reply to a reader's comment on this blog in January

credit: DIRECT

AUDIO: SpaceX CEO Elon Musk speech and Q&A session

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 08:44:41 +0000

Space Exploration Technologies chief executive Elon Musk spoke at the UK's Royal Aeronautical Society in London on the evening of the 3 July

The approximately 10min speech was entitled "What is Needed to Extend Life Permanently Beyond Earth?" Musk also reviewed SpaceX's progress. There were no pictures or video

There then followed about a 60min question and answer session. The audio recording of both the speech and Q&A can be found in the extended entry of this blog post

PICTURES: NASA investigates inflatable Moon base

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:27:36 +0000

credit: NASA

NASA has been investigating inflatable modules for its planned lunar outpost. Here are some pictures of its concept, designs and the Ares V cargo launch vehicle integration

Click on all images in this blog post to see larger versions in the same browser window

Starchaser Industries' Nova 2 rocket revealed!

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 07:17:07 +0000

credit: Starchaser Industries

In line with the embargo its 1 July so here are the UK's Starchaser Industries' Nova 2 rocket pictures. Amusingly Clark Lindsey, while kindly linking to my blog post with related pictures, managed to find this link to the rocket's pictures on Starchaser's own website. Something to think about for media management for anybody out there, website porosity...

Click on the image here and those in the extended portion to see larger versions

SPY PICTURE: first image of White Knight II with wing fitted

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 09:01:47 +0000

This world exclusive first image of Virgin Galactic's White Knight II (WK2) with its wing attached to its fuselages shows the port side forward fuselage, WK2 has two such booms

The port fuselage does not have the windows present on the starboard fuselage, which can be seen in the construction images in the extended portion of this blog post

More Virgin Galactic images can be found here at airspace.aero

Click on the image to see a larger version in the same browser window

Virgin Galactic update on Monday 30 June

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 16:26:57 +0000

Check this blog on Monday 30 June as I will post an important Virgin Galactic update in the morning UK time

Kennedy Space Center Pad 39A damage analysis

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 10:21:41 +0000

At 1500h EDT (2000h BST) yesterday (26 June) NASA held a media telecon on the damage to pad 39A's flame trench during the 31 May launch of Space Shuttle Discovery for the STS-124 mission

Here are the news reports about that telecon from Orlando Sentinel, Space.com, Florida Today and Spaceflight Now for you to read

Below this text and in the extended portion of this blog post you will find images from an internal NASA briefing about the damaged pad. Click on the images to see the larger versions

Starchaser Industries to unveil UK's largest ever rocket on 1 July

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 12:57:22 +0000

One time British X-Prize team Starchaser Industries, with offices in the UK and near the spaceport-to-be New Mexico's Spaceport America, is to unveil its new rocket on 1 July, which it claims will be the UK's largest when it launches from the island nation in September 2009

credit: Starchaser Industries / caption: this graphic shows the rocket's capsule and LES

Xcor's Lynx mock-up progresses

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 08:00:52 +0000

Xcor Aerospace has progressed further with its Lynx single stage to suborbit vehicle mock-up since I visited the company and here are the latest pictures

NASA: MPLM may stay on orbit, docking rules to change and launch-on-need re-designated?

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 09:22:02 +0000

According to sources within NASA's International Space Station Progamme office, managers are still considering whether they want to leave the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module on orbit despite the agency's earlier denials that that could happen. But the current baseline has it returning

Another major change is the possible altering of the rules for Space Shuttle, Soyuz docking at ISS. The idea is that now that the orbiter and Soyuz "docking ports are farther away [from each other]" and ISS will be doing "indirect handovers," with the station crew expansion to six from May 2009, for Shuttle mission flexibility the docking rules can change

Previously Soyuz dockings have not been allowed to occur while the orbiter is on-station and so agency officials want to see if it makes sense to plan for a Soyuz docking or undocking during a Shuttle mission

NASA is also altering its rescue mission planning, also known as launch-on-need flights. The new launch-on-need approach is to use the next flight with the planned cargo complement to rescue the previous flight if necessary, so the concept of STS-3xx is ending

Let's be honest, NASA astronauts are prepared to die

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 09:20:42 +0000

Space Daily has a brief report about comments by NASA administrator Michael Griffin to ABC news regarding the plan for a rescue mission for the crew of Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission STS-125/HST SM-4

The Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) report has a proposed rescue method for an orbiter distant from the International Space Station and it involves a space walk transfer via a guideline from one payload bay to another - graphics below are taken from the Columbia Accident Investigation Board report

credit: CAIB

credit: CAIB

PICTURE: SpaceShipTwo cockpit composite section?

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 23:49:02 +0000

This computer enhanced "spy pic" shows what I think is the cockpit structure of the first SpaceShipTwo (SS2) flight model

While it shares some of the features of the White Knight II (WK2) fuselage, cockpit structure seen in the picture below (taken from this blog entry) there are key differences that suggest it is for SS2 instead

credit: Virgin Galactic

Lockheed Martin's flyback first-stage booster is called...

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 20:08:48 +0000

credit: Lockheed Martin

Space Adventures answers Flight's questions on Roscosmos confusion

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 17:47:24 +0000

1 The Russian Federal Space Agency's website is carrying a statement (see link) saying that its head Anatoly Perminov knew nothing of this agreement you publicised between you and Roscosmos for your private flight. How do you respond to this?