NewSpace
2010 Review
A report on the annual Space
Frontier Foundation's conference, held
this year in Sunnyvale, California. Topics
of discussion ranged from entrepreneurial
space businesses to lunar miing to fully reusable
suborbital space vehicles.
1st
SpaceX Falcon 9 Launch Resources
Links to blog posts, pictures, videos and
commentary about the successful first launch
of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
New
Space Log 2010
This section holds links to blog posts, articles,
pictures, etc. about events and developments
this year in New
Space.
The Mars
Society sponsors several participatory
projects including the Mars
Analog Research Stations. These stations
provide simulations of Mars bases so that
technologies and techniques for living and
working on Mars can be tested. Volunteers
are selected to comprise a crew to carry
out simulated Mars missions. which can last
for some number of weeks depending on the
project. The video below is a mini-documentary
on one of the recent crews at the Society's
Mars
Desert Research Station in Utah. The
MDRS has seen 90 crews since it was first
opened in January 2002.
Virgin
Galactic and its partner Scaled
Composites, which is led by famous aircraft
designer Burt Rutan, are making steady progress
towards their goal of taking paying passengers
to suborbital space above 100 km in altitude.
The WhiteKnightTwo
mothership "Eve"" recently
carried the SpaceShipTwo
"Enterprise" to 13,700 meters
(45,000 ft) and released the SS2. The unpowered
SS2 tested its flying capabilities for the
first time and glided down to a safe landing
at the Mojave
Air & Spaceport in California. See
the Virgin
Galactic announcement. Below is a video
of the test:
Scenes from the first glide test flight
of SpaceShipTwo "Enterprise" on
October 10, 2010 Virgin
Galactic
Once the test program for the WK2/SS2 is
complete, which could take 9 to 18 months,
the vehicles will be moved to Spaceport
America near Las Crcues, New Mexico.
There, they will begin routine spaceflight
operations starting with about one flight
per week and eventually going to multiple
flights per day. The roomy SpaceShipTwo
has room for 2 pilots and 6 passengers.
Below is a video about the recent dedication
of the Spaceport America runway, whose construction
was recently completed:
A Spaceport
America video of the dedication event
on October 22, 2010.
Check for the latest in leading edge rocket and
space travel projects on the Space
Transport News blog.
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