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HobbySpace

 

 
Welcome to HobbySpace. the site that will prove to you that everyone can participate in space exploration and development in one way or another.
February 2009
Recent Blog Postings
HobbySpace Log:
RLV & Space Transport News:
Recent Features
Bigelow Genesis II
Commercial Stairway to Space - Timeline 2009
A discussion of how commercial efforts might dominate human spaceflight by the latter half of the next decade.
Falcon 1 launch
Review of NewSpace in 2008
A compilation of significant events and developments in the NewSpace movement during 2008.
NG-LLC 2008
Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge
Compilation of blog postings, articles, photos and videos concerning this event in October 2008.


More Interviews, Articles, and Special Topics.
Space Art Spotlight
Moon: Assembly Required  by Jim Plaxco
Moon: Assembly Required
Sands of Mars  by Jim Plaxco
Sands of Mars

Mistress Moon  by Jim Plaxco
Mistress Moon

Planet Riding the Stream of Stars  by Jim Plaxco
Moon: Assembly Required


Jim Plaxco

More space art...
Space Music Video of the Month
Space Hobbies & Activities in the Spotlight
The Oveview Effect

Many astronauts and cosmonauts have said that the experience of space travel, particularly the impact of seeing the magnificent earth from orbit, has had an enormous affect on their lives. Author Frank White labeled this the Overview Effect in his book of that name. The Overview Institute is devoted to raising public awareness of the Effect.

Many more people will share in this experience when space tourism services become common. The SpaceCollective, an interesting multimedia site with lots of space oriented videos, provides the following video about the experience of spaceflight:


Citizen Astronauts
It's a Whole New Outer Space Out There

The Skylon Spaceship

The British company Reaction Rockets, led by Alan Bond, is developing the Skylon single stage to orbit spaceplane. The key enabler of this vehicle is the innovative Sabre engine, which Reaction Engines says

is a unique hybrid engine that can “breathe” air when in the atmosphere, like a jet engine, and become a rocket engine when in space. In air-breathing mode air is first cooled by a revolutionary heat exchanger pre-cooler before being compressed and fed to the rocket engine to be burned with hydrogen fuel. When in rocket mode the hydrogen is burnt with liquid oxygen.

They believe that successful development of the vehicle would lead to drastic reductions in the cost of access to space:

We expect mission costs to fall to about $10 million per launch for high product value cargo (e.g. communications satellites) $2-5 million for low product value cargo (e.g. science satellites) and for costs per passenger to fall below $100k, for tourists when orbital facilities exist to accommodate them.

The firm recently obtained funding from several sources, including the European Space Agency (ESA), to develop further the Sabre engine technology: The Rocket that Thinks It's a Jet: The SKYLON spaceplane is one step closer to realization thanks to European Space Agency and UK Government support for revolutionary British propulsion technology - Reaction Engines Limited - Feb.19.09. Once the Sabre engine approach is proven, the development of the Skylon would take about 10 years and $10B according to Bond.



The Skylon vehicle in a simulation video from Reaction Engines.

Check for the latest in leading edge rocket and space travel projects on the Space Transport News blog.

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See the archive of previous HobbySpace homepage Spotlight items ...
January 09 - March 09

HobbySpace provides over 15,000 space links and
has delivered over
30,588,000 page views since
January 1999.

The Art of C. Sergent Lindsey

 

 
 
 
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