Archives for the 'space exploration' Category
EPOXI Passing
Published on 30 Dec 2007 at 6:56 pm.
2 Comments.
Filed under NASA, space exploration.
Tomorrow a spacecraft will pass Earth. But, not to worry, it is one of our spacecraft. The passing craft is the EPOXI spacecraft.
EPOXI is the former Deep Impact craft that got so much press attention on July 4, 2005, when it plunged an impactor into Comet Tempel 1 (9P/Tempel). The impactor created […]
They’re calling it Altair
Published on 22 Dec 2007 at 3:04 pm.
1 Comment.
Filed under NASA, space exploration.
In the 1960s, NASA furiously worked to design and build a lunar exploration program. Apollo was the result of that effort. The Apollo program was a wonder. A giant rocket, the Saturn V, lifted the moon craft on its way. Rather than land the entire craft, a Lunar Excursion Module (LEM), […]
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Space Settlement Art Contest
Published on 1 Dec 2007 at 4:41 pm.
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Filed under space exploration.
About a half century ago, Wernher von Braun proposed that one day soon, there would be vast orbiting space stations. He envisioned giant cylinders and toruses slowing spinning to produce artificial gravity through centripetal forces. With the rapid progress in space travel and space exploration of the 1960s and early 1970s, it […]
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Earth-Set
Published on 14 Nov 2007 at 10:17 pm.
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Filed under moon, space exploration.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has released some really nice images collected by their Kaguya (SELENE) spacecraft that has been orbiting the Moon for about the past month. These images were taken in high definition, so they are among the best such pictures ever taken. There is also a movie of the event.
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You are go for launch!
Published on 8 Nov 2007 at 6:46 pm.
1 Comment.
Filed under history, space exploration.
Both the United States and the Soviet Union had planned to launch a satellite during the International Geophysical Year of 1957-1958. The Soviets got their satellite, Sputnik, off first, on October 3, 1957. I wrote about that a little over a month ago. American rocket scientists, of course, knew that the Soviets […]
Crowded Moon?
Published on 24 Oct 2007 at 12:03 am.
3 Comments.
Filed under moon, space exploration.
Today China’s Chang’e spacecraft was launched on its way to the Moon. When Chang’e arrives it will be joining Japan’s Kaguya (SELENE) which is already in orbit around the Moon. In addition to cameras, Kaguya sports a battery of spectrometers and radar instruments. The Kaguya spacecraft has also deployed two sub-satellites […]
Beaming Power from Space
Published on 11 Oct 2007 at 9:09 pm.
3 Comments.
Filed under solar energy, space businesses, space exploration.
For about five months, a collaborative study on Space Based Solar Power (SBSP) was conducted for the National Security Space Office. The text of that report is available here. You might wonder what solar power has to do with national security. Well, I’ll get to that a bit later. Suffice it to say that this […]
