http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/hyperbola/ Orbiting the blogosphere with Rob Coppinger en Copyright 2008 Fri, 29 Aug 2008 16:15:41 +0000 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification

credit: Virgin

This is not to be confused with the 1986 Virgin Dan Dare video game pictured above or NASA's Massively Multi-Player Online Role Playing (MMPORG) project or the recent Glenn Research Center's procurement process; although Glenn's game is very similar to the game held in legal hell]]> http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/hyperbola/2008/08/lawyers-hold-nasa-video-game-h.html http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/hyperbola/2008/08/lawyers-hold-nasa-video-game-h.html NASA constellation game lawyers mmporg nasa video Fri, 29 Aug 2008 16:15:41 +0000
credit: Virgin Galactic

The aerospace industry loves phrases like risk reduction. What they really mean is R&D to try to make sure the damn thing works. But R&D has cost connotations while risk reduction, well, it is like motherhood and applie pie. Reducing risk, how can that be bad? And so Spacedev is to help with SpaceShipTwo's (SS2) propulsion system development, probably to reduce the risk of Scaled employees being involved in another oxidiser flow test explosion incident]]> http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/hyperbola/2008/08/spaceshiptwo-risk-reduction-of.html http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/hyperbola/2008/08/spaceshiptwo-risk-reduction-of.html Virgin Galactic explosion hickam oxidiser safety spacedev spaceshiptwo ss2 virgin galactic whiteknighttwo wk2 Fri, 29 Aug 2008 11:57:47 +0000

credit: NASA]]> http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/hyperbola/2008/08/nasa-to-study-ares-rocket-prop.html http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/hyperbola/2008/08/nasa-to-study-ares-rocket-prop.html Ares Constellation ares explosion nasa propellant risk rocket tank Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:47:16 +0000 had had a requirement for "Lightweight Materials for the CEV Parachute Assembly System (CPAS)" that would be "developed, manufactured, and laboratory and flight tested" for use "in the skirt to shoulder region of the main canopies"


credit: NASA

This was so CPAS would meet the required "launch weight constraints" and parachute compartment volume but now NASA has decided to cancel that procurement]]> http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/hyperbola/2008/08/nasa-cancels-orion-parachute-w.html http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/hyperbola/2008/08/nasa-cancels-orion-parachute-w.html Orion airborne systems cancel CEV CPAS Johnson Space Center lightweight materials NASA Parachute Assembly System procurement Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:39:18 +0000

credit: DLR / caption: DLR's Phoenix demonstrator is dropped over Sweden's NEAT test range

While RLVs have featured as a part of ESA's Future Launcher Preparatory Programme I have personally never believed that a mini-Space Shuttle would be the outcome. Even the Russians with all their experience have never even put the flyback booster Baikal into operation - and that is just for a partially reusable system

Yet studies planned by ESA indicate a readiness to spend hundreds of thousands of euros on technologies that can only be for horizontal landing RLVs]]> http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/hyperbola/2008/08/more-esa-reusable-space-transp.html http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/hyperbola/2008/08/more-esa-reusable-space-transp.html ESA dlr esa jaxa neat phoenix reusable spacecraft Tue, 26 Aug 2008 16:04:57 +0000
credit: ESA

The European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter's Visual Monitoring Camera (VMC), originally designed to provide images of the ill-fated Beagle lander's separation, is now back in action as the 'Mars Webcam'. Not a scientific instrument it is providing "fantastic views of Mars," according to ESA including crescent views of the planet not obtainable from Earth

Go here for more of the webcam's images

Click on all the images in this blog post to see larger versions in the same browser window ]]> http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/hyperbola/2008/08/esas-mars-webcam-now-online.html http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/hyperbola/2008/08/esas-mars-webcam-now-online.html ESA beagle ESA images mars Mars Express vmc webcam Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:04:29 +0000
Credit: NASA

According to the 13 August 1964 issue of Flight International NASA test pilot E. P. Hetzel is trying out the paraglider system of spacecraft recovery, then under consideration for Project Gemini flights, in this photo

It is the first manned test of the recovery system at what became NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards, California

More such reports about the development of American, and Soviet, manned spaceflight systems can be found in the Flight archive, a completely free to access archive of every issue ever published since Flight's inception in 1909]]> http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/hyperbola/2008/08/paragliding-reentry-capsules-4.html http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/hyperbola/2008/08/paragliding-reentry-capsules-4.html NASA gemini hetzel nasa paragliding spaceflight Thu, 21 Aug 2008 17:23:31 +0000
credit: NASA

Having announced that DIRECT can't cut the mustard and that NASA's Constellation programme is hamstrung by industrial and political decisions I had said that Hyperbola would put forward its own plan for human exploration beyond low Earth orbit

Not wanting to attempt to tackle this nebulous topic in one blog post I am going to start by setting out some parameters and if I can persuade out in-house artists could have some snazzy pictures in the foreseeable future

So for those of you brave enough to click through to the extended section and read my self imposed constraints, feel free to flame away]]> http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/hyperbola/2008/08/hyperbolas-vision-for-space-ex.html http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/hyperbola/2008/08/hyperbolas-vision-for-space-ex.html exploration esa exploration hyperbola jaxa mars moon nasa roscosmos vse Wed, 20 Aug 2008 16:41:54 +0000
credit: JAXA

If you are one of the sub-human fools who thinks that the Apollo Moon landings were faked then you're conspiracy believing days are numbered

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency has posted pictures of what it calls the "halo" generated by the Apollo 15 lunar module engine exhaust plume when it blasted off the Moon. The blast area was detected in its SELenological and ENgineering Explorer(SELENE)/Kaguya orbiter's Terrain Camera images]]> http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/hyperbola/2008/08/jaxa-images-halo-effect-of-apo.html http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/hyperbola/2008/08/jaxa-images-halo-effect-of-apo.html JAXA Apollo 15 ascent camera engine exhaust plume halo effect images Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency jaxa Kaguya orbiter Selene Tue, 19 Aug 2008 12:18:20 +0000
credit: Khrunichev Space Center 9 August 2008

The Khrunichev Space Center mockup first-stage for south Korea's Korea Space Launch Vehicle arrives in the Asian country where it will be checked out at the Naro Space Center]]> http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/hyperbola/2008/08/korean-space-launch-vehicle-sh.html http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/hyperbola/2008/08/korean-space-launch-vehicle-sh.html Russia first stage Khrunichev Space Center Korea Korean Space Launch Vehicle KSLV Naro Space Center rocket russia South spaceflight Tue, 19 Aug 2008 11:29:53 +0000


credit: NASA]]> http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/hyperbola/2008/08/third-stage-for-ares-v.html http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/hyperbola/2008/08/third-stage-for-ares-v.html Ares aerospace america aiaa ares august frank seitzen nasa v Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:10:12 +0000
credit: NASA / caption: NASA selected 23 proposals for a SBSP study in 1999

The European Space Agency's general studies programme is to assess a laser-based SBPS concept for Earth and for the lunar surface. Small scale science missions' laser power transmissions will also be considered]]> http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/hyperbola/2008/08/esa-funds-technology-for-earth.html http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/hyperbola/2008/08/esa-funds-technology-for-earth.html ESA esa sbsp space based solar power Fri, 15 Aug 2008 14:17:22 +0000
credit: NASA

The Ares V Earth departure stage (EDS), Altair lunar lander adaptor, visible in this picture has been a cause of concern for NASA because of the extra mass it could represent]]> http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/hyperbola/2008/08/altairs-ares-v-adaptor-whose-p.html http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/hyperbola/2008/08/altairs-ares-v-adaptor-whose-p.html Ares adaptor altair ares integrated mass problems shroud solution v Thu, 14 Aug 2008 08:00:45 +0000
credit: NASA

This image is from a video of a compressed air cylinders propelled prototype Modular Common Spacecraft Bus, tested by NASA Ames Research Center. The octagon-like common bus will be used for NASA's 2011 launched Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) orbiter

According to NASA's science mission directorate LADEE will be followed by lander missions for the International Lunar Network (ILN) and now we know that those landers could be nuclear powered]]> http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/hyperbola/2008/08/nasas-nuclear-powered-lunar-la.html http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/hyperbola/2008/08/nasas-nuclear-powered-lunar-la.html NASA iln international lunar network ladee lander lunar moon nasa nuclear orbiter power Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:06:57 +0000 create its own massively multi-player online game but its Glenn Research Center's Educational Programs Office has decided to enter the games arena with a request for proposals for a $200,000 contract to develop an interactive educational lunar base design and exploration simulation


credit: NASA / caption: will the LunarSIM Moon base look like this?]]> http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/hyperbola/2008/08/nasa-plans-lunarsim-game.html http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/hyperbola/2008/08/nasa-plans-lunarsim-game.html NASA altair constellation lunar lander mmporg nasa orion video game Tue, 12 Aug 2008 13:45:48 +0000