A success story for Europe and Russia

The beginning of Galileo geopositioning network...

Picture credit: Thilo Kranz

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Ariane 5 : Flight V203

The fourth Ariane 5 mission in 2011 will orbit two direct-to-home (DTH) television broadcast satellites : ASTRA 1N for the Luxembourg-based operator SES Astra, and BSAT-3c/JCSAT-110R for the American manufacturer Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems.

The launch window opportunity begins at 21:53 (UTC) on August 5, 2011.

Some key numbers :

- This will be the 59th Ariane 5 launch.

- The launcher will be carrying a total payload of 9095 kg.

- Injection orbit : Perigee altitude = 249.6 km, Apogee altitude = 35959 km at injection, Inclination = 2° deg.

- Thrust at launch : 13000 kN.

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History : STS-135 : The last one...

The last space shuttle launch : Atlantis, on the way for the last mission...

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Mission STS-134 completed

Endeavour landed at 2:35 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, June 1, 2011. That's the end of the STS-134 mission, that's the final mission of Space Shuttle Endeavour. Atlantis is waiting at launch pad and ready for the last mission.

Credits : Nasa / Bill Ingalls

More info @ NASA

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Probable Endeavour's final launch on May 10

Photo comes from Florida Today.

The penultimate flight of Shuttle serie...

More info @ NASA

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Update :

During the countdown last Friday, engineers detected a failure in one of two heater circuits associated with Auxiliary Power Unit (APU-1) (heaters are required to keep the APUs’ hydrazine from freezing on orbit).

The failure appears to be a power problem within the aft load control assembly-2 (ALCA-2), a box of switches controlling power feeds. This box will be replaced but action could take 2 days or more, then the new ALCA-2 should be tested. NASA presumes that Endeavour's launch will occur no earlier than May 10.

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Goodbye Discovery : Last flight

After 39 missions, Discovery shuttle will be retired... All good (best) things come to an end...

Space shuttle Discovery lifts off for the last time, February 24, 2011 - © NASA TV

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Increasing the overall VASIMR® system efficiency

Ad Astra Rocket Company has published recently a new paper concerning the Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR®). An ambipolar ion acceleration has been identified on the helicon plasma stage in the VASIMR® VX-200i prototype device, that is an ambipolar electric field produced by an electron pressure gradient, resulting in a local axial ion speed of Mach 4 downstream of the magnetic nozzle. This ambipolar ion acceleration would provide added increase in ion velocity during all phases of VASIMR® operation. This result allows to improve more efficient VASIMR® protypes, especially in the high thrust–low Isp operating range.

VASIMR® VX-200i prototype - ©Ad Astra Rocket Company

Paper is available @Ad Adstra Rocket Company

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10213 Space Adventures : A Christmas Lego gift

A little present I received today : 1204 pieces of Lego amusement. And this set will be very soon an historical one.

Posted via email from My Lego Box

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The New US Approach to Human Spaceflight

President Barack Obama will announce tomorrow 15 April at NASA's Kennedy Space Station the new space policy :

• plans to continue development of a stripped-down version of the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle for use as a crew lifeboat on the International Space Station.
• plans to initiate development of a heavy-lift launch vehicle by 2015.

See the following documents (source: http://www.floridatoday.com):

- The fact sheet on Obama’s proposal:

Click here to download:

A_Bold_Approach_for_Space_Exploration_and_Discovery.pdf (26 KB)

- How the proposal affects Florida space workers:

Click here to download:

Florida’s_Space_Workers_and_the_New_Approach_to_Human_Spaceflight.pdf (37 KB)

Posted via web from Sotreta's Box

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Breakthrough Propulsion Physics is alive !

Many people have asked me why I am taking this flight. I am doing it for many reasons. First of all, I believe that life on Earth is at an ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster such as sudden nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus, or other dangers. I think the human race has no future if it doesn't go into space. I therefore want to encourage public interest in space.

Stephen Hawking
About his zero-gravity flight in a "Vomit Comet"
26 April 2007

Hyperdrive Ring concept from Star Wars. The Einstein field equation, based on general relativity, theoretically allows the travel of an object at a greater velocity than that of light, provided that space-time is curved.

Even if the Breakthrough Propulsion Physics (BPP) Program doesn't exist anymore since 2002 (BPP program ran from 1996 and was cancelled by NASA in 2002), even if Marc G. Millis (pioneering propulsion physicist and former head of the BPP Program) retired from NASA on Feb 3 of this year, emerging ideas for the future of the interstellar travel are not dead. Just go watch the Tao Zero Foundation website to realize that the legacy of the BPP program is intact (well, I agree, with much less money, but with the same if not more enthusiasm and relevance). Hereafter I reproduce the "Welcome" page of the Tao Zero Foundation website that describes perfectly the "leitmotiv" and the goals of the Practitioners of Tau.

Imagine the historic moment when the first Earth-like planet is detected deep across interstellar space. Like an inaccessible jewel it will beckon us. Is this a future home for humanity? What forms of life are already there? How do we get there? What happens when we arrive?

Based on today's technology, traveling to the stars is a long-term proposition. While existing space agencies grapple with sending astronauts beyond Earth orbit, and entrepreneurial firms bring the thrill of spaceflight to the people, no one has taken on the challenge of reaching other habitable worlds; until now.

The Tau Zero Foundation is a volunteer group of scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, and writers who have agreed to work together toward practical interstellar flight and to use this quest to teach you about science, technology, and our place in the universe. By posting the latest developments and unfinished advancements here, we give students the starting materials to begin their own discoveries. By showing both how daunting and incredible this challenge is, we hope to increase attention on protecting the habitability of Earth while planning journeys into the galaxy. By reaching for the stars we will create benefits every step of the way.

Here is how you can help with this ambition. With enough support we can competitively award grants and scholarships. Help us create a future worth striving for, where humanity can survive and thrive into the heavens. Let's make this dream a reality together.

- The Practitioners of Tau Zero

So if you've never heard of BPP and the quest for interstellar flight or if you want to really understand the place of humanity, this website will give you some answers but it also will present other questions (how to make ? why to make?) and interesting points of view about possible destinations and the necessary global state of mind to pursue the final objective : conquer other earth-like planets.
If you're an student or a professional and you know all this gobbledygook, you should check the On Edge (The Edge of Knowledge) page where you will find very interesting references that fixed the foundations for further research. About this point I would hold your attention on the Centauri Dreams blog (The News Forum of the Tau Zero Foundation) where you will find a very large source of recent discoveries on astrophysical and cosmological models, emerging technologies, theoretical speculations,...

The Tau Zero Foundation Logo by A. Szames
A few last but important points: Tau Zero Foundation is a private nonprofit corporation and is not affiliated with NASA. The organization was founded principally by Marc G. Millis (now retired from NASA and devoting almost 100% of his time to Tau Zero Foundation).

Tau Zero Foundation
Centauri Dreams

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NASA Missions

This is a hilarious joke about NASA missions and a well done parody about Geeks/Nerds and their intentions of approaching a girl. How long does it take to arrive? What kind of matter we going to find? What kind of gravity pull? Is it a dangerous trip?

And the aswers, here:

NASA Scientists Plan To Approach Girl By 2018

Source : The Onion News

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The VASIMR propulsion: a serious potential candidate for future human interplanetary exploration

But while Obama would forego a headline destination in favour of having NASA develop exotic technologies to enable human exploration of deep space while the private sector takes on the low- Earth orbit transport challenge, Dr. Franklin Chang Diaz, one former NASA astronaut, thinks he can achieve both goals - and before any crew is carried aloft in a private rocket.

Source: FlightGlobal

The technological brick necessary to do this is the VASIMR (Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket). Thirty years ago the very first VASIMR experiment was conducted at MIT, today the VASIMR technology is almost ready to take-off. Indeed, Ad Astra Rocket (the company fouded by Dr. Franklin Chang Diaz) is actually making test campaigns to build the first flight unit of the VASIMR engine, the VF-200, based on VX-200 thruster (thrust = ~1 lbf, specific impulse = 5000 sec, lifetime = > years). It will mounted externally on ISS probably in late 2013 or early 2014 and it will be used for drag compensation missions. This project will serve as a "pathfinder" for the ISS National Laboratory by demonstrating a new class of larger, more complex science and technology payloads.
Reboosting ISS is just one of the missions planned by Ad Astra Rocket. The VF-200 should be able to thrust a "robotic freeflyer space tug" to perform satellite repositioning, refurbishing and disposal missions.
NASA is contracting Ad Astra Rocket also for a lunar tug concept study, to take cargo from LEO orbits to the Moon and back, and deliver equipment in preparation for a human landing.



Movie of the VASIMR lunar tug concept. Credit: Ad Astra Rocket Company

This is only the beginning. Once the moon re-conquered the next step will be Mars... we just need 200 MegaWatt of electrical power (the VF-200 is a 200 kW thruster).

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Is Obama's space policy right?

Buzz Aldrin, member of Apollo 11, the first U.S. manned walk on the Moon, supports the new space policy of President Obama. In the other hand, http://www.supportconstellation.com presents several facts and elements (see the FAQ) which justify the Project Constellation. As a result of bipartisan outcry against the proposed cancellation of Constellation, President Obama has called for a “space summit” to be held in Florida on April 15th, in hopes of building a consensus for space policy. Whatever space policy adopted, I hope we continue to look toward the stars, with ambition and courage... Mars is not so far away... but perhaps have to stop on the Moon passing is a necessary step.

Following article comes from The Wall Street Journal
(http://online.wsj.com):

February 25, 2010

Trading the Moon for Mars
Obama's NASA budget has our space priorities right.
By Buzz Aldrin 

In January, President Obama announced a new budget for NASA that would, newspaper headlines screamed, "Eliminate Funds for Manned Missions to the Moon." Instead, the budget proposes new missions in near-Earth orbit. It also directly challenges and empowers the private sector to push the envelope of human space travel, and implicitly puts America on track to perfect life support and other technologies that can be tested closer to home before embarking on more distant destinations in space.

Many said the president's decision was misguided, short-sighted and disappointing. Having the experience of walking on the moon's surface on the Apollo 11 mission, I think he made the right call.

If we follow the president's plan, our next destination in space, Mars, will be within our reach. Rich in potential resources—including water, an atmosphere, and oxygen in the soil—Mars invites human exploration and eventual habitation. But perfecting the technology necessary to succeed in our eventual journey is a wise first step. Empowering the private sector to carry crews and cargoes into orbit faster is a critical second step.

The new NASA budget makes sense for many important reasons. First, the president is signaling that this agency deserves the full support of this administration and Congress, even as priorities are sorted out and other budgets are cut. Second, getting long-range space flight right requires getting near-Earth orbit perfect. Third, forestalling the moon mission in favor of perfecting the technologies that will allow us to reach Mars within some defined period ahead is sound. We should not rush it and experience an avoidable tragedy.

Mars is the long-range objective for our space program. Just as deep sea exploration began with practice in our littoral waters, a successful Mars mission begins with near-Earth orbit testing. To get to the final stage, we must perfect all that we'll need for the journey. The president' budget and step-by-step approach helps do that, minimizing the risks and costs as we go.

The new direction that Mr. Obama has set in this budget is the kind of bold initiative we have needed for many years. Mankind must explore and America must lead—in all aspects of space exploration, not least manned space exploration. But we must be willing to embrace real vision and reach for Mars with the patience that leadership has always required.

As President John F. Kennedy said in his historic 1962 speech at Rice University, "We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills."

The same can now be said of missions for the permanent human settlement of Mars. Yes, there will be risks. But a great nation has always known the risks of exploration are far outweighed by the discoveries and better lives that exploration brings to our country. With this budget, the president is preparing us for a brighter American future in space. I believe he deserves our support.

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