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BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | The next 50 years of exploration 

David Southwood is director of science at the European Space Agency (Esa). Here, he casts an eye over recent discoveries in planetary science and astronomy ... and ponders how these might guide space exploration in the coming decades. We have been in space for 50 years. It is a long time and we have certainly come a long way so far. Where exactly will we be in space 50 years from now? It is hard to say. Let me start close to home. As far as the planets are concerned, I think that Mars has to be the number one target for years to come. Mars is the closest place to Earth in the Solar System. A mission to bring Martian rock and soil to Earth, called Mars Sample Return, is inevitably a primary objective for scientists. As my friend Professor Colin Pillinger at the UK's Open University says, "just put a piece of Mars in my laboratory and I'll tell you more about it than any robot could by crawling around on the surface". However Mars is a big place. We can't just study samples from one region.   [More...] [Less...]

Goddard Space Flight Center 

A Comparison of Science and Technology Spending for DoD s Space and Nonspace Programs 

www.cbo.gov CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE Peter R. Orszag, Director U.S. Congress Washington, DC 20515 January 15, 2008 Honorable Terry Everett Ranking Member ... Subcommittee on Strategic Forces Committee on Armed Services U.S. House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515 Dear Congressman: At your request, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has analyzed whether a difference exists between the Department of Defense’s (DoD’s) funding for science and technology (S&T) activities supporting unclassified space programs and its funding for S&T activities supporting other (nonspace) programs. The enclosed report indicates that funding for S&T activities supporting unclassified space programs has been less than S&T funding for other defense programs and that DoD’s plans for the future maintain that difference in funding. (Because of a lack of information, CBO’s analysis does not address the extent to which classified research might be supporting unclassified space programs.) If you would like fu   [More...] [Less...]

China launches first lunar probe - International Herald Tribune 

BEIJING : With a regional space race heating up in Asia, China launched its first lunar probe into space Wednesday as the Communist Party moved a step ... closer to fulfilling its ambitions of one day reaching the moon. The Chang'e-1 satellite, named after a mythical Chinese goddess who flew to the moon, lifted off at 6:05 p.m. Officials and tourists watched the launching at a site in Sichuan Province, while state television provided coverage to the rest of the nation. The probe is expected to remain in orbit for a year, providing lunar satellite images and other information as China prepares to launch a space vehicle to the moon by 2012 and then send an astronaut in 2020. Within an hour of blastoff the probe's solar panels had been activated, and space officials declared the launch a success. "The launch was very successful, and everything is proceeding just as planned," Wu Ji, director of the Space Science and Applied Research Center, told Xinhua, China's state-run news service. In recen   [More...] [Less...]

NASA - International Space Station 

About the Space Station (as of June 2007): Weight 482,345 pounds Pressurized Volume Almost 14,000 cubic feet Dimensions Span of Solar Arrays: 256 feet ... Length: 146 feet from Destiny Lab PMA 2 to Zvezda; 170 feet with a Progress docked Truss P4 to S4: 231 feet Height with no Progress on DC1: 98 feet Height with Progress on DC1: 107 feet PMA-2 Move Readies Station for Harmony Relocation Image Above: Against the backdrop of a blue Earth, Canadarm2 moves Pressurized Mating Adapter-2. Image credit: NASA TV International Space Station crew members moved Pressurized Mating Adapter-2 from the front of the U.S. laboratory Destiny to the Harmony node early Monday, clearing the way for Harmony's relocation to its permanent home. Harmony, with PMA-2 on its outboard end, is scheduled to be moved from its temporary position on the Unity node to the front of Destiny on Wednesday. Disengagement of the first set of bolts holding PMA-2 in place began about 4:35 a.m. EST, initiated by Peggy Whitson workin   [More...] [Less...]

BNSC - Home 

British National Space Centre The British National Space Centre (BNSC) partnership is at the heart of UK efforts to explore and benefit from space. This ... site explains what we do and how it affects you.   [More...] [Less...]

SpaceShipOne / Two Commercial Spacecraft - Aerospace Technology 

SpaceShipOne / Two Commercial Spacecraft, USA The Virgin Galactic SpaceShip is a family of commercial suborbital and orbital spacecraft that will be owned ... and operated by the Virgin Galactic spaceline company. The spaceships will allow the first suborbital space travel for private astronauts. The spaceships are currently under construction and are a larger and enhanced derivative of the SpaceShipOne space vehicles which were designed and built by the company Scaled Composites. The family of spaceships will be designed and built by The Spaceship Company, which was formed in 2005 by Scaled Composites and the Virgin Group. The Spaceship Company will licence the spacecraft technologies under an agreement with Scaled Composites and will carry out the development of the operational systems, including the SpaceShipTwo suborbital space vehicle, the future orbital space vehicles and the carrier aircraft, the WhiteKnight Two aircraft. The Spaceship Company will also carry out the marketing of th   [More...] [Less...]

XCOR Aerospace Rocket Engines -XR4A3 EZ Rocket 

XR-4A3, 400lbf LOX/Alcohol EZ Rocket Engine In June of 2000, after we had concluded tests of our proprietary oxygen/alcohol igniter, we set to work on ... a 160 lb thrust liquid oxygen and isopropanol engine, which we ran in October of the same year. Following successful tests of this engine, known as the XR-3A2, in November, 2000, we started to design and build the regeneratively cooled 400 lb thrust LOX/alcohol engines that we eventually integrated into a Long-EZ airplane to create our EZ-Rocket aircraft. The XR-4A3 engines went through multiple acceptance tests before the first flight of the EZ-Rocket on July 21, 2001. Early flights on engines 101 and 102 quickly lead to design improvements, and serial numbers 103 and 104 powered 20 of the 26 flights of the EZ-Rocket. The flight test program passed its first milestone by flying with both engines for an engine run time of 96 seconds, and a total flight time of five minutes and twenty seconds. Later flights achieved burn times of up to 2.   [More...] [Less...]

Public Service Events - Space 08 Programme 

What is so important about space? Why is it important to science & technology? How can space exploration help us tackle climate change, and what can it ... do for Britain's Government and the general public? Over the last 6 years Starchaser has developed a unique Educational Outreach initiative that annually engages with over 150,000 school children nationwide. Linked to the National Curriculum, Starchaser leverages examples from its own rocket R&D programme to enthuse and inspire future generations of scientists, engineers and astronauts. An innovative range of workshops, presentations and interactive mobile exhibits are used to deliver key points while schools are also invited to the 2009 launch of Starchaser’s Nova 2, which will qualify as the UK’s biggest ever rocket. Is a UK-USA collaboration our ticket to Mars? Is now the time for the UK astronaut to emerge? The international space industry is growing with the rise of space tourism, telecommunications via satellite are now indispensa   [More...] [Less...]

World Space Week 

Calendar Photos Theme Highlights Organize an Event Coordinate Volunteer Donate Posters Reports Teacher Guides All Products Student Flight in Zero G Washington ... Reception   [More...] [Less...]