All Space news – Page 12
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NewsFor the long haul to Mars, keep your diet close to the Earth
On the Apollo missions, astronauts ventured about 400,000km from Earth and spent between 8 and 12 days away from home. A trip to Mars would involve 56 million km travelling over eight or nine months – and a stay of about two years, to wait for the two planets to ...
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AnalysisANALYSIS: Roadmap to Mars is paved with ambition, high hopes and money
A manned mission to Mars is a lofty goal, but with international effort beginning to align behind one cohesive plan, the next stage of human exploration may well become possible
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AnalysisANALYSIS: India powering ahead with heavy-lift launcher programme
India’s 12th five year plan period (2012-2017) has been generous to the Indian Space Research Organisation: 25 launches, 33 satellites into orbit and an overall budget of $6.4 billion. During 2014-2015, the space agency will spend just over $1 billion on its satellite, launcher and space exploration programmes.
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Airbus spaceplane concept aces 3,000ft drop test
Airbus Defence and Space last week released pictures and video from a drop test of a runway take-off and landing suborbital spaceplane programme which is now moving into an advanced concept stage.
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Mars mission is 'only justification for human spaceflight programmes' – report
The cost and danger of human spaceflight programmes can only be justified if they are part of a collaborative, international pathway plan aimed at putting boots on “other worlds” – ultimately Mars. And, according to a report by the US National Research Council, since progress “beyond low Earth orbit will ...
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NewsSOFIA telescope declared operational, but funding threat looms
Three months after announcing plans to ground the aircraft, NASA has declared the stratospheric observatory of infrared astronomy (SOFIA) operational after 18 years in development.
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ILA: ESA makes great step for Orion
The development of a key component in transatlantic spaceflight co-operation took a leap forward yesterday, with European Space Agency approval of the design for the service module it will supply for NASA’s Orion crew capsule.
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NewsILA: DLR looks to the future with LamAiR concept
At German aerospace research agency DLR, modern composite technology is finally catching up with a 1970s fast jet vision of the future – to slash airliner fuel burn by up to 13% by using forward-swept wings.
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NewsILA: DLR working at dawn of new technological era
To describe 2014 as a high-profile year for Germany’s aeronautics and space research agency is to risk understatement. Next week, German astronaut Alexander Gerst will strap himself into a Soyuz rocket and begin a six-month stint aboard the International Space Station. And, as Gerst is preparing to come back home ...
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NASA renames Dryden research centre after Neil Armstrong
NASA has renamed its Dryden Flight Research Center (pictured) at Edwards AFB after Neil Armstrong, who served as a test pilot at the centre from 1955 to 1962, amassing more than 2,400 flight hours in 48 types, including the X-15.
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NewsNASA threatens SOFIA with grounding
NASA has threatened to ground a vintage Boeing 747SP equipped with an astronomical observatory unless more funding is raised by partner Germany or new sources.
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Galileo services 'available from year-end' – Brussels
Europe’s much-delayed Galileo satellite navigation system is set to offer its first services around year-end, with 10 spacecraft in orbit to make a functional constellation.
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Finmeccanica heads for power business exit
Alenia Aermacchi, AgustaWestland, Selex and DRS parent Finmeccanica has closed the sale of a nearly 40% stake in its troubled Ansaldo Energia power generation business, for €277 million ($378 million) to Italian investment fund Fondo Strategico Italiano.
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NewsEADS's Astrium unit may be eclipsed by costs
EADS’s Astrium space division ended 2013 on a note of triumph, with the Gaia star-mapping satellite it built for the European Space Agency enjoying a perfect Soyuz launch from the agency’s spaceport in French Guiana.
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Astrium wraps up 2014 on high note but faces months of uncertainty
EADS’s Astrium space division ended 2013 on a note of triumph, with the Gaia star-mapping satellite it built for the European Space Agency enjoying a perfect Soyuz launch from the agency’s spaceport in French Guiana.
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When seeking innovation, don't discount organisation
Tom Enders closed 2013 with some inspiring words on innovation. Giving the annual Wilbur and Orville Wright lecture at the Royal Aeronautical Society in London, the EADS chief executive urged a packed house to support the aggressive pursuit of new technical horizons – because the alternative is stagnation in aviation ...
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India's GSLV rocket to return to flight in early 2014
The Indian Space Research Organisation hopes to have its troubled Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) programme back on track in early 2014, making a flight scrubbed in August 2013, when engineers discovered a fuel leak in the second stage of the three-stage vehicle.
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India's Mars mission makes first key course correction
India’s bid to put a spacecraft into orbit on Mars continues on track, following successful completion of the planned first major trajectory correction manoeuvre following the Mangalyaan mission’s boost away from Earth orbit.
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NewsEADS to cut 5,800 jobs in defence and space restructuring
EADS has presented plans to cut 5,800 positions across its defence and spaces businesses by the end of 2016 as part of a restructuring of these units.