SOUTH BEND — Local residents will have several opportunities to learn about space exploration in the next few days.
Read More at South Bend Tribune…
Archive for October 13, 2007
Michoud’s resolve after Katrina wows NASA
The prowess of the Michoud Assembly Facility and the speed at which it got up and running after Hurricane Katrina helped NASA decide to make the facility a key manufacturing site for future space vehicles.
Read More at New Orleans Times-Picayune…
NASA is Building the Third Tallest Roller Coaster in the World, as an Escape System
Let’s hope that nothing ever goes wrong while astronauts are preparing to launch on their Ares 1 rocket – the new vehicle that will replace the space shuttle. But if there is a problem, and the astronauts need to escape right now, they’ll have a fun ride down – on the 3rd tallest roller coaster [...]
2 local firms Ares I finalists
NASA has chosen two leading aerospace companies here as finalists for work on the Ares I Instrument Unit, a complex computer guidance and navigation system used to set the rocket on course after launch.
Read More at The Huntsville Times…
AIP FYI #120: Filling the Breach: Senate Adds $1 Billion to FY 2008 NASA Budget Bill
The Senate has started its consideration of the FY 2008 Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations Bill. During the first day of debate, the Senate agreed to add $1.0 billion to the NASA budget to restore funding that had been reallocated from the “Exploration Capabilities” and “Science, Aeronautics, and Exploration” accounts.
Investing in Moon Land
In a previous post i mentioned that the Lunar Registry is offering plots of land up in one acre increments. Once my excitement that i may be able to live on the moon someday subsided, i felt a little uneasy thinking about the negative aspects of what the privatization of space would bring. Billion-dollar corporations have already shown that they will exploit anyone and everything just to increase profit by a tenth of a percentage point; just imagine the recklessness with which they will treat space.
My fear is that in the not-so-distant future people will be buying and selling plots of moon land or spaces in space like they are trading stocks in the market or online services. For terrestrial stocks, that’s fine, but i would hate to see space become one huge advertisement like most of the Earth has.
Wanted: Top-flight recruits for elite astronaut corps
NASA wants a few good recruits for its elite astronaut corps. A background in math or science is essential. Test piloting is a plus. And, as the application warns, “Frequent travel may be required.”
Astronauts To Ride ‘Roller Coaster’ Rails In Emergency
As NASA revamps Launch Complex 39B to host the new Orion spacecraft and Ares I rocket of the Constellation Program, engineers are preparing to install a new kind of departure system to evacuate astronauts. The agency calls it the Orion Emergency Egress System, but it is fundamentally a group of multi-passenger cars on a set of rails reminiscent of a roller coaster. Its purpose is to move …
NASA contract underscores area’s space connections
Denco, Inc., a Las Cruces firm, last week won a $3.1 million contract from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Denco will build launch site facilities for NASA’s Orion Launch Abort System.
Read More at Las Cruces Sun-News…