Techdirt. Stories about "spacex"

Techdirt. Stories about "spacex" Easily digestible tech news... http://www.techdirt.com/ en-us Techdirt. Stories about "spacex"http://www.techdirt.com/images/td-88x31.gifhttp://www.techdirt.com/ Mon, 25 Feb 2013 17:00:00 PST DailyDirt: Going To Mars Michael Ho http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100208/0432428084/dailydirt-going-to-mars.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100208/0432428084/dailydirt-going-to-mars.shtml

The Inspiration Mars Foundation is planning a roundtrip manned mission to Mars (non-stop, so no landing) that would last about 501 days, launching in 2018. A press conference to announce the details will be held on Feb 27th. [url]

When the Phobos-Grunt mission failed to reach Mars orbit, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev suggested some severe punishments (but no death penalty!) for whoever was to blame. The mission had planned to return soil samples from Phobos (one of Mars' moons), but the spacecraft never left Earth orbit due to a computer programming error. [url]

Valery V. Polyakov spent 438 continuous days in space aboard Mir and returned to Earth in 1995. That is the longest anyone has stayed in space in a single trip (others have been in space for more time, but over multiple trips), and it demonstrates that it's possible to survive in microgravity for the approximate amount of time it might take to go to Mars. [url]

Elon Musk has a vision of a public-private joint venture to establish a human colony on Mars. Musk is obviously promoting the SpaceX brand with this kind of public statement, but he also says that a viable Mars mission would need about $36 billion to get off the ground. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post.

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]]> urls-we-dig-up http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20100208/0432428084 Tue, 26 Jun 2012 17:00:00 PDT DailyDirt: Space Race Continues Michael Ho http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100803/10525410479/dailydirt-space-race-continues.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100803/10525410479/dailydirt-space-race-continues.shtml SpaceX shipped some supplies to the International Space Station, and it's on track to providing a rocket system for ferrying astronauts to the ISS as well. More and more commercial space ventures are competing with government space programs, and this new space race will hopefully continue and create even more inspiring space technologies over the next decade and beyond. Here are just a few other interesting developments along the way.

NASA and the FAA have reached a tentative agreement to provide better guidelines for regulating all kinds of space launches. Virgin Galactic has been granted a license, but it might be interesting to see if all those amateur weather balloons and sub-orbital rocket projects will run into any regulatory problems. [url]
Excalibur Almaz is a commercial space transportation company with roots in the former Soviet Union's military space program. For about $100 million, you can hitch a ride on one of these older (but very reliable!) Soviet-era spacecraft that have been extensively tested -- possibly all the way to the moon. [url]
Citizen scientists are putting together an ArduSat -- an open source satellite -- that could be included on a free launch via a NASA or ESA ride-along program. There ain't no such thing as a free launch? [url]
China has recently become the third nation to successfully dock a manned space capsule with another space vessel. Three people (including China's first female astronaut/taikonaut) on the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft joined up with the Tiangong 1 space module in orbit. [url]

Elvis Presley's original crypt is being auctioned off, and a really big fan of Elvis will be able to rest in peace where Elvis once did. The bidding starts at $100,000 -- but as the saying goes, "You can't take it with you..." [url]

There are a bunch of companies that will turn ashes of loved ones (human or pet) into diamonds. Maybe they'll start engraving decoded genomes onto the diamonds, and that'll help preserve even more of our dearly departed. [url]

Actor James Doohan, who played Scotty on the original Star Trek series, has been launched into orbit to his final resting place -- as (some of) his ashes were aboard the second stage of the SpaceX rocket that met up with the International Space Station. Celestis is the company that provided the service for Doohan, and it usually charges about $3,000 for a gram of ashes to reach Earth orbit. [url]

To find some more bizarre/crazy stuff, check out some things that other StumbleUpon users have found. [url]

By the way, StumbleUpon can also recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

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]]> urls-we-dig-up http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20100707/11020210105 Wed, 30 May 2012 17:00:00 PDT DailyDirt: Cheaper Satellites Are Blasting Off Michael Ho http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100608/0842399739/dailydirt-cheaper-satellites-are-blasting-off.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100608/0842399739/dailydirt-cheaper-satellites-are-blasting-off.shtml recently demonstrated its capabilities by successfully docking with the International Space Station. It's the first example of a private company achieving this feat, and it's paving the way for more private space ventures. Cheaper space missions are becoming more commonplace, and here are just a few more experimental projects that are aiming to change the space race by creating a multitude of mini space missions.

Nanoracks reportedly has the first commercial cargo flown in a SpaceX Dragon capsule. One of the commercial experiments includes components of Ardbeg whisky to determine how whisky ages in zero gravity. Maybe there are faster ways to produce aged whisky... in space? [url]
Interplanetary CubeSats could dramatically lower the costs of space exploration in our solar system. Low Earth orbit CubeSats have already made affordable satellite experiments possible for universities as well as government space agencies, so floating a few of these satellites out beyond Earth's reach could open up even more possibilities. [url]
The CleanSpace One project is planning to launch satellites that can clear out space debris in the Earth's orbit. Around 16,000 objects (>10 cm in diameter) are currently cluttering up space right above the Earth, and finding a good way to clean up this space pollution could make other space missions less risky. [url]
To discover more links on space exploration, check out what's floating around in StumbleUpon universe. [url]

By the way, StumbleUpon can also recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

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]]> urls-we-dig-up http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20100608/0842399739 Tue, 22 May 2012 02:01:44 PDT SpaceX 'Test' Flight Off And Running Mike Masnick http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120522/01405119010/spacex-test-flight-off-running.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120522/01405119010/spacex-test-flight-off-running.shtml has worked according to plan -- and we're now a step closer to a private space program (photo from NASA):

The SpaceX folks webcast the whole thing from its website (hopefully, they'll post the video for people to rewatch -- as of right now there's nothing). The White House immediately offered its congratulations for "the potential of a new era in American spaceflight..." powered by the private sector.

This is the second time that SpaceX has gotten this far, but rather than just orbiting the earth a couple times, the current mission goal is to have the Dragon capsule actually dock with the International Space Station (and deliver some food). The actual docking process is a bit complex, apparently, so there are still some worries. However, things certainly seem to be progressing.

And, of course, this is just one of many stepping stones towards actually offering private manned spaceflight, which goes beyond just touching the edges of space, but actually into orbit. Either way, it's an important milestone along the way.

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]]> well-that's-nice http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20120522/01405119010 Wed, 18 Apr 2012 17:00:00 PDT DailyDirt: Rockets, Man Michael Ho http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100419/0051579073/dailydirt-rockets-man.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100419/0051579073/dailydirt-rockets-man.shtml

North Korea tried to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of its national founder Kim Il-sung with a big rocket launch. The rocket was also a thinly-disguised test for a long-range missile, but it failed by blowing up a little over a minute after launching. [url]

The world’s first student-made rocket to hit space hasn't quite succeeded in reaching an altitude of 100 km, but there are a number of schools working on it. A pass or fail grade for this project seems like tough grading... [url]

SpaceX is working on designing safer and cheaper manned spacecraft, anticipating an upcoming boom in commercial space ventures. For example, its launch abort system has integrated escape thrusters mounted to the side of the crew capsule, and these engines aren't jettisoned or wasted if the mission goes as planned. [url]

To discover more links on space exploration, check out what's floating around in StumbleUpon universe. [url]

Landing equipment on Mars that weighs anywhere near 40-80 tons (on Earth) is just out of the question using current technology. The Mars Science Laboratory weighs about a ton and it's about as big as we can go right now... and we'll see how it does later this year. [url]

SpaceX's CEO Elon Musk wants to send people to Mars in 10-20 years. It would be interesting if a private company lands on another planet before any nation does. [url]

Studying 12 generations of worms on the International Space Station could help us better understand how humans will survive indefinitely long trips in space. So Caenorhabditis elegans could be the first animals sent to another planet, instead of dogs or chimps. [url]

To discover more links on space exploration, check out what's floating around in StumbleUpon universe. [url]

NASA is handing off low-Earth orbit to commercial enterprises and taking a look at longer-range missions for itself. The space race has essentially turned into America's Next Top Space Model... or American Space Idol... [url]

Paul Allen and Burt Rutan have developed an enormous mothership that will launch rockets from the stratosphere. Stratolaunch Systems hasn't built it yet, but they plan to launch the first rocket in 2016. [url]

So far, SpaceX is the only commercial company to successfully return a spacecraft from orbit. This capability is only shared by five nations and the European Space Agency. [url]

To discover more links on space exploration, check out what's floating around in StumbleUpon universe. [url]