Space Tourism, Space Transport and Space Exploration News

December 25, 2012

Space Fence program moving forward
Hanscom AFB MA (SPX) Dec 24, 2012
The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center here recently put out a request for proposal to move the Space Fence program forward. Space Fence will be a system of up to two land-based radars, the first site located at Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, to track objects entering Earth's orbit. According to program officials, it will form the foundation of improved space situational awareness by expanding the ability to detect, track, identify and characterize orbiting objects such as comm ... read more

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NASA Puts Orion Backup Parachutes to the Test NASA completed the latest in a series of parachute tests for its Orion spacecraft Thursday at the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground in southwestern Arizona, marking another step toward a first flight te ... more		Expedition 34 Spends Christmas in Space Expedition 34 is the latest crew to spend Christmas aboard the International Space Station. The six-member crew, Commander Kevin Ford and Flight Engineers Chris Hadfield, Tom Marshburn, Roman Romane ... more		"All-Clear" Asteroid Will Miss Earth in 2040 Using the Gemini North telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawai'i a team of astronomers from the University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy (IfA) have confirmed that the chance of asteroid 2011 AG5 impacti ... more
				Smart SPHERES Fly High Aboard the International Space Station On Dec. 12 engineers at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., and Johnson Space Center in Houston conducted an experiment using small, free-flying robotic satellites called "Smart SPHE ... more		Closest sun-like star may have planets An international team of scientists, including Carnegie's Paul Butler, has discovered that Tau Ceti, one of the closest and most Sun-like stars, may have five planets. Their work is published by Ast ... more

CubeSats, SmallSats and MicroSats

Spiral Structure of Disk May Reveal Planets An international team of astronomers has used HiCIAO (High Contrast Instrument for the Subaru Next Generation Optics) (Note 1) to observe a disk around the young star SAO 206462. They succeeded in c ... more		Cassini Instrument Learns New Tricks For seven years, a mini-fridge-sized instrument aboard NASA's Cassini spacecraft reliably investigated weather patterns swirling around Saturn; the hydrocarbon composition of the surface of Saturn's ... more		Kremlin cautions 'lots of work' ahead before Ukraine peace deal Eutelsat strikes global satellite internet deal with UK govt US promises Philippine president to ramp up deterrence on China		The paths of photons are random - but coordinated Researchers at the Niels Bohr Institute have demonstrated that photons (light particles) emitted from light sources embedded in a complex and disordered structure are able to mutually coordinate the ... more
				DARPA developing robotic mule The use of robotics and similar technology has added a new dimension to the battlefield for all fighting forces, but the U.S. military in particular. ... more		Soyuz rocket brings trio to space station A Russian Soyuz capsule with a three-man international crew docked without a hitch to the International Space Station on Friday after spending two days in orbit, Russian space control said. ... more

Solar systems for home and business
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Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison & Memory Foam Mattress Review

White House to honor scientists, inventors U.S. President Barack Obama has named 12 eminent researchers and 11 extraordinary inventors as recipients of national medal awards, the White House said Friday. ... more		Landmark Year in Private Space Flight Development With NASA's retired shuttles mothballed in museums, 2012 saw a new kind of spacecraft blaze its own path toward the International Space Station. In May, the Dragon space capsule - developed, owned a ... more		Restoring sea floor after mining may not be possible, researchers warn China starts construction of Tibet mega-dam Brazil's Congress passes bill easing environmental licensing rules		SSL And Sea Launch Announce Successful Completion Of Investigation Space Systems/Loral (SSL) and Sea Launch AG have jointly reported that the Independent Oversight Board (IOB) formed to investigate the solar array deployment anomaly on a satellite launched in the s ... more
				Clays on Mars: More Plentiful Than Expected A new study co-authored by the Georgia Institute of Technology indicates that clay minerals, rocks that usually form when water is present for long periods of time, cover a larger portion of Mars th ... more		MEXSAT Bicentenario Satellite Sends First Signals from Space The MEXSAT Bicentenario satellite, built by Boeing [NYSE: BA] partner Orbital Sciences Corporation [NYSE: ORB], sent its first signals from space Wednesday following launch from Kourou aboard an Ari ... more

Ariane 5 ECA orbits Skynet 5D and Mexsat Bicentenario satellites

Payload integration complete for final 2012 Ariane 5 mission

Arctic town eyes future as Europe's gateway to space

Opportunity For Some Shoulder Workout At Copper Cliff

Clays on Mars: More Plentiful Than Expected

Curiosity Rover Explores 'Yellowknife Bay'

Apollo's Lunar Dust Data Being Restored

GRAIL Lunar Impact Site Named for Astronaut Sally Ride

NASA probes crash into the moon

Halfway Between Uranus and Neptune, New Horizons Cruises On

Dwarf planet Makemake lacks atmosphere

Keck Observations Bring Weather Of Uranus Into Sharp Focus

	Opportunity For Some Shoulder Workout At Copper Cliff Opportunity is working at "Matijevic Hill" (named in honor of Jake Matijevic) at the inboard edge of "Cape York" on the rim of Endeavour Crater. There, the rover has been conducting in-situ (c ... more		Origin of life emerged from cell membrane bioenergetics A coherent pathway which starts from no more than rocks, water and carbon dioxide and leads to the emergence of the strange bio-energetic properties of living cells, has been traced for the first ti ... more		Swansong Biospheres: The last refuges for life on the far-future Earth Billions of years from now, life on Earth will be extinguished when the dying Sun scorches the surface of our planet. New research has aimed to determine what the last life forms on Earth will be, a ... more		Ariane 5 ECA orbits Skynet 5D and Mexsat Bicentenario satellites On Wednesday, December 19, 2012, Arianespace successfully carried out the 53rd Ariane 5 launch in a row, orbiting two payloads: the Skynet 5D military communications satellite for Astrium Services, ... more

AI helps automate nuclear reactor licensing process at INL

Battery sharing model boosts savings for local energy communities

Bifacial CuInSe2 solar cells achieve record efficiency on transparent substrates

Health Concerns Could Ground Citizen Astronauts		From Cassini for the Holidays: A Splendor Seldom Seen		Curiosity Rover Explores 'Yellowknife Bay'		Apollo's Lunar Dust Data Being Restored		What happens to plant growth when you remove gravity?
Medical Ops, Fan Checks for Space Crew; New Trio Checks Soyuz		Charitum Montes: a cratered winter wonderland		Search for life extends to the stars		Opportunity Continues Rock Studies		Custom robots could do Fukushima cleanup

To reach final frontier, NASA can't go it alone: analysts

Three astronauts blast off for ISS in Russian craft

Nearby star is good candidate for Earth-like planets

Station Crew Does Maintenance as Soyuz Rolls to Launch Pad

ISS Orbit Raised Ahead of Crew Arrival

New Trio Launches to Join Expedition 34

CU-Boulder team develops swarm of pingpong ball-sized robots

Venus transit and lunar mirror could help astronomers find worlds around other stars

Payload integration complete for final 2012 Ariane 5 mission

Enabling ChemCam to Measure Key Isotopic Ratios on Mars and Other Planets

Sierra Nevada Corporation Selected by NASA to Receive Human Spaceflight Certification Products Contract

Rocketdyne Reaches Milestone for J-2X powerpack

TDRS-K Arrives at Kennedy for Launch Processing

Beating Heart of J-2X Engine Finishes Year of Testing

Head-mounted cameras could help robots understand social interactions

Flexing fingers for micro-robotics: Berkeley Lab scientists create a powerful, microscale actuator

Fast20XX research project - ideas for travelling at hypersonic speed

Hat Trick for X-37B

BepiColombo Mercury Transfer Module Mass Properties Measurement

Operation to "rescue" Yamal-402 a success

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