In a follow-up to his earlier posting on SpaceShipTwo development issues, Guest Contributor Rob Coppinger interviewed the chief of Virgin Galactic:
Following Virgin Galactic’s supersonic SpaceShipTwo (SS2) flight on April 29, only the fourth test in eight months, the spaceline’s
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It was expected that SpaceX would eventually move testing of the Grasshopper first stage reusable prototype booster, or subdequent versions, to New Mexico for high altitude tests but it was expected t be at White Sands Missile Range, not the commercial spaceport next door:
Governor Martinez
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Robert Bigelow and Bigelow Aerospace are profiled in this extended article: Robert Bigelow Plans a Real Estate Empire in Space - Businessweek
Here's a video
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Sean Casey of the Silicon Valley Space Center (SVSC) talks about the Space Hacker Workshop and the promise of new space applications and breaktrhoughs: Space Hackers Unite! - Wired Science/Wired.com
To Casey, it’s a numbers game. If you have more people developing more ideas for...
October 2 2012 01:26:33 AM |
by Clark Lindsey, Managing Editor
The latest issue of the print version of Space News has an article about the recent SpaceX Grasshopper brief flight test. Most of the content has been reported here previously but SpaceX spokewoman Katherine Nelson did mentioned some interesting information about a second generation Grasshopper in the works. It would have:
- "Lighter legs that fold up on the side of the rocket"
- "A different engine bay"
- "50% longer"
- No word on when it will fly.
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Trent Waddington has posted a video of the first flight from a camera attached to the base of the vehicle:
Update: The video came originally from Elon Musk's twitter.yfrog.com page.
My understanding is that these first three Grasshopper flights were powered by Merlin 1D engines- which have been tested in hot fire ground runs also, ready for the sixth Falcon 9 missions; Mar 1 should see the last ( and fifth) flight of the Merlin 1C. Merlin 1D is is to operate at a thrust on launch of 147,000 Lbf - a good 50 % more than the first Merlin engines, and 20%+ more than the Merlin 1C The Merlin 1D will have 50% longer fuel tanks than the current article - presumably to allow for Read More
My understanding is that these first three Grasshopper flights were powered by Merlin 1D engines- which have been tested in hot fire ground runs also, ready for the sixth Falcon 9 missions; Mar 1 should see the last ( and fifth) flight of the Merlin 1C. Merlin 1D is is to operate at a thrust on launch of 147,000 Lbf - a good 50 % more than the first Merlin engines, and 20%+ more than the Merlin 1CThe Merlin 1D will have 50% longer fuel tanks than the current article - presumably to allow for eventual full reusability without sacrifice of payload mass?Am I right here?
The changes to the engine bay and size of the rocket are both consistent with the new Grasshopper being built from the newer (as yet untested) version of the Falcon 9 first stage that is scheduled to be used from Q1 2013, and which is supposed to be the basis for the Falcon Heavy.
Ed Wright is very happy about last weekend's Space Hacker Workshop, which he helped to organize and run: Space Hacker Workshop a Smashing Success - CitizensInScience.
One hundred participants crowded into the main hall, which was standing-room-only on May 4 And 5. Turnout greatly...
Here's a NASA video showing the arrival of the Sierra Nevada Dream Chaser at Dryden test facility at Edwards AFB. Caption:
Sierra Nevada Corp. (SNC) Space Systems' Dream Chaser test flight craft, also known as an engineering test article, arrived at NASA's Dryden Flight Research...
Sarah Brightman gets a firm date of October 2015 for her flight on a Soyuz to the ISS:
Russia Confirms Plans to Send Sarah Brightman to Space - RIA Novosti
Sarah Brightman plans on upcoming space journey - CBS News
I hope by the time of her flight she has a better understanding of how...
An announcement from CASIS:
CASIS Announces Grant Awards for Materials Science
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL. (March 21, 2013) – The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), the nonprofit organization promoting and managing research onboard the International Space Station...
It was expected that SpaceX would eventually move testing of the Grasshopper first stage reusable prototype booster, or subdequent versions, to New Mexico for high altitude tests but it was expected t be at White Sands Missile Range, not the commercial spaceport next door:
Governor Martinez...
ESA sponsored a recent conference on the space debris problem and it concluded with a call for action to do something about this growing threat to space activities: Global experts agree action needed on space debris - ESA. Below is a press conference in which the panel summarizes the...
In the latest episode of his StarTalk Radio Show, Neil deGrasse Tyson interviews Peter Diamandis about Planetary Resources, Inc. and asteroid mining: Eureka! Asteroid Mining - StarTalk Radio Show.
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Here's an announcement of a SBSP meeting this summer:
Space Solar Power Workshop 2013
This multidesiplinary workshop is planned for two days and includes three main sessions and one concluding session. Each main session consists of half a day and includes talks and debates. Presentations...
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