An American satellite abandoned in 1967 suddenly came back online and began transmitting again for the first time in 50 years. Amateur astronomers first suspected that they’d found the satellite in 2013, but needed years to confirm that it was still occasionally transmitting. The satellite, dubbed LES1, was built by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and launched into space in 1965.
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2016/11/22/satellite-abandoned-in-1967-mysteriously-comes-back-online/
Showing posts with label space. Show all posts
Showing posts with label space. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 22, 2016
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Colonize Mars and make humans a multi-planet civilization
When Elon Musk founded SpaceX in 2002, it was, at best, a millionaire’s flight of fancy. He had made his fortune from tech startups Zip2 and PayPal, and was still two years away from starting Tesla, the electric-car firm.
Musk, as he will gladly tell you, has a vision: Colonize Mars and make humans a multi-planet civilization. He sees it as insurance against a global catastrophe that leads to human extinction. Per Musk, the only sensible policy in this universe is redundancy.
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/10/what-it-took-for-spacex-to-become-a-serious-space-company/381724/?single_page=true
Thursday, May 8, 2014
Russia to colonize the Moon by 2030
MOSCOW, May 8 (RIA Novosti) – Russia has drafted a program for colonization of the moon, and plans to send the first expeditions to build a permanent lunar base in 2030, the Russian Izvestia daily said Thursday, citing an official document.
"The moon is a space object for the future exploration by terrestrial civilization, and a geopolitical competition for the Moon's natural resources may begin in the 21st century," said a report on a potential lunar program prepared by the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Roscosmos space agency and Moscow State University.
The program aims to build an inhabited moon base and testing ground by the middle of the century, which would allow mineral extraction on Earth's only natural satellite.
The project calls on developing a range of long-distance space technology to ensure the country can explore the moon independently from foreign partners. Earlier proposals for lunar exploration focused on strong international cooperation, as it was believed no single country could afford interplanetary projects on its own.
Russia will plan separate three- or four-year-long lunar projects for the next 16 years, according to the plan. The first four will take place between 2016 and 2025 and will focus on defining the physical and chemical composition of the moons south pole, where the future base will be sited. Space roundtrips are scheduled for 2028-30, and manned lunar exploration for 2030-40.
The first stage will cost the government 28.5 billion roubles ($800 million), Izvestia said.
Previous lunar expeditions, which started with the USSR's Luna program in 1959 and the US landing the first man on the Moon 10 years later, discovered aluminum, iron, titanium, rare earths and other minerals."
=============
MOSCOW, May 08. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia will start colonizing the Moon in 2030, Izvestia daily reported on Thursday. The daily has received a draft concept of Russian lunar program developed by enterprises of the Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), a Russian Academy of Sciences institute and Moscow State University.
Notably, the draft concept envisages “creation of a lunar testing ground and a base for extraction of natural resources,” the daily reported.
Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said in an article published in Rossiiskaya Gazeta daily on April 11 that Russia’s strategic goals in space exploration were linked to a broader presence on low Earth orbits, colonization of the Moon and launching exploration of Mars and other objects of the Solar System.
“Authors of the project do not rule out attracting private investors to lunar projects", and “first expeditions with cosmonauts’ landing to create a permanent lunar base are planned in 2030,” the daily reported.
It is needed to explore the Moon dynamically, the project authors recommended, because “leading space powers will explore and assign for themselves lunar territories suitable to provide future opportunities of practical use in the next 20-30 years.”
“The Moon is a first step on the way to the deep space,” chief scientific fellow of the Institute of Space Policy Ivan Moiseyev said. “Therefore, it is reasonable to use the Moon as a promising spaceport,” he added. “As for extraction of mineral resources on the Moon, it is senseless to deliver them to the Earth, because even if diamonds are found there, it will be unprofitable to bring them here all the same,” Moiseyev believes. “But in any case it is possible to start with oxygen generation, as it exists on the Moon in many chemical compounds,” the scientist noted.
Such large-scale projects as colonization of the Moon or Mars would hardly be funded from the state budget, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Cosmonautics Andrei Ionin said.
“Planet exploration by people will be a prerogative of private companies,” Ionin said. “There are already many such projects now that envisage Mars colonization, production of mineral resources on asteroids and similar initiatives. It is difficult to imagine that some government will be prepared to spend trillions for creation of lunar bases, because they have a good deal of other, more vital tasks, including medicine, education, army,” he added.
Roscosmos explained that initiatives in the federal space program would pass a comprehensive expertise at the level of experts and scientists of several industries, and after that the program would be submitted to the government, the daily reported.
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
The Final Countdown
We're leaving together
But still it's farewell
And maybe we'll come back,
To earth, who can tell?
I guess there is no one to blame
We're leaving ground (leaving ground)
Will things ever be the same again?
It's the final countdown.
The final countdown.
Oh, We're heading for Venus (Venus)
And still we stand tall
Cause maybe they've seen us
And welcome us all, yeah
With so many light years to go
And things to be found (to be found)
I'm sure that we'll all miss her so
It's the final countdown.
Monday, May 13, 2013
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Spacefaring
Excalibur Almaz will charge wannabe astronauts an average of £100m for a six-eight month journey exploring deep space.
See http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f5af9e2a-ba21-11e1-aa8d-00144feabdc0.html
=================
Art Dula, who founded the company in 2005, announced a plan to carry out the first test flight in 2014 and the first civilian voyage a year later in a speech at the Royal Aeronautical Society in London yesterday. He later told the Daily Telegraph: "This is not space tourism, it is real scientific expedition – they would go further than anybody has gone before in space. "We want to have the same kind of tradition that Britain had in the 16th and 17th centuries when its explorers went to the ends of the earth seeking knowledge and information and bringing back wealth."I don't know how much wealth they will bring back, but the first person to fly it will earn a place in the history books."
Crew members, numbering up to three per shuttle, would spend a year in training before launching the shuttle from a base in Kazakhstan and docking with a space station, which would then use thrusters to ferry passengers through space. The slow speed of the thrusters, compared with more expensive rockets, would mean a mission to the moon and back would take four months to complete, with the craft spiralling through space "like an etch-a-sketch", Mr Dula explained.
He said: "The engines are very low-thrust, they are very dependable but they run on electricity. This kind of technology has been used before but never for a big habitation module like ours.
"We are probably not going to have a professional astronaut because frankly, this type of space flight is so different to anything that has been before that there is no advantage in having someone what has a steely eye and can make a decision in half a second. With the kind of equipment we have you could make a decision overnight and sleep on it."
From the space station the crew would be able to carry out any scientific experiments they wished, using equipment ferried with them on the shuttle, and later missions could potentially even orbit the moon, he added.
Excalibur Almaz acquired its fleet from NPO Mashinostroyenia, the Russian company which designed the Almaz space programme, and refitted the six craft with "off the shelf" modern systems.On its website the company says: "Each EA space station boasts 90 cubic metres of pressurised volume, which is plenty for a crew to survive in relative comfort for months at a time. The fleet is at a very high level of space readiness and, crucially, has a proven emergency-escape system."
Mr Dula admitted his plan sounded "somewhat unbelievable" but insisted he would have no shortage of takers.He said: "A sovereign government could certainly afford it, it is not anywhere near what an Apollo mission would cost because we have well over £1 billion of costs that the Soviets have sunk into it. But this have to be a government body.
"There have always been very wealthy individuals who have sponsored scientific missions ... we simply do not know who is going to do it, who since childhood has desperately wanted to go into space, but I expect we will have a lot of interested people."Dr Dave Parker of the UK Space Agency said the move was part of a "whole new world" of private space travel but added that he was "pretty sceptical" that a civilian could be trained to fly a spacecraft in the space of a year.He said: "What they are doing is trying to put together some pieces of existing technology from Russia with a few bits of new technology so that they can re-use it and they have been trying to develop this idea for a good few years now.
"Obviously the reality is they do not have the investment to do any of this at the moment. But good luck to them, people have got to try things like this."
--http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/9342210/Fly-to-the-moon-for-100m.html
See http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f5af9e2a-ba21-11e1-aa8d-00144feabdc0.html
=================
Excalibur Almaz, a British space company based on the Isle of Man, has
announced plans to make the first trip to the moon since the Apollo 17
mission of 1972. The company has acquired a fleet of former Soviet shuttles and space stations
and is planning the mission in three years time. The flight, which would last four months and fly past the moon at a distance
of 1000km, is open to anyone who can finance it including
government-sponsored researchers, space agency scientists or even
billionaires with money to burn. But any space enthusiast wishing to make the trip would have to be willing to
fly the craft themself because no trained astronauts would accompany them on
their odyssey, the company said.
Art Dula, who founded the company in 2005, announced a plan to carry out the first test flight in 2014 and the first civilian voyage a year later in a speech at the Royal Aeronautical Society in London yesterday. He later told the Daily Telegraph: "This is not space tourism, it is real scientific expedition – they would go further than anybody has gone before in space. "We want to have the same kind of tradition that Britain had in the 16th and 17th centuries when its explorers went to the ends of the earth seeking knowledge and information and bringing back wealth."I don't know how much wealth they will bring back, but the first person to fly it will earn a place in the history books."
Crew members, numbering up to three per shuttle, would spend a year in training before launching the shuttle from a base in Kazakhstan and docking with a space station, which would then use thrusters to ferry passengers through space. The slow speed of the thrusters, compared with more expensive rockets, would mean a mission to the moon and back would take four months to complete, with the craft spiralling through space "like an etch-a-sketch", Mr Dula explained.
He said: "The engines are very low-thrust, they are very dependable but they run on electricity. This kind of technology has been used before but never for a big habitation module like ours.
"We are probably not going to have a professional astronaut because frankly, this type of space flight is so different to anything that has been before that there is no advantage in having someone what has a steely eye and can make a decision in half a second. With the kind of equipment we have you could make a decision overnight and sleep on it."
From the space station the crew would be able to carry out any scientific experiments they wished, using equipment ferried with them on the shuttle, and later missions could potentially even orbit the moon, he added.
Excalibur Almaz acquired its fleet from NPO Mashinostroyenia, the Russian company which designed the Almaz space programme, and refitted the six craft with "off the shelf" modern systems.On its website the company says: "Each EA space station boasts 90 cubic metres of pressurised volume, which is plenty for a crew to survive in relative comfort for months at a time. The fleet is at a very high level of space readiness and, crucially, has a proven emergency-escape system."
Mr Dula admitted his plan sounded "somewhat unbelievable" but insisted he would have no shortage of takers.He said: "A sovereign government could certainly afford it, it is not anywhere near what an Apollo mission would cost because we have well over £1 billion of costs that the Soviets have sunk into it. But this have to be a government body.
"There have always been very wealthy individuals who have sponsored scientific missions ... we simply do not know who is going to do it, who since childhood has desperately wanted to go into space, but I expect we will have a lot of interested people."Dr Dave Parker of the UK Space Agency said the move was part of a "whole new world" of private space travel but added that he was "pretty sceptical" that a civilian could be trained to fly a spacecraft in the space of a year.He said: "What they are doing is trying to put together some pieces of existing technology from Russia with a few bits of new technology so that they can re-use it and they have been trying to develop this idea for a good few years now.
"Obviously the reality is they do not have the investment to do any of this at the moment. But good luck to them, people have got to try things like this."
--http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/9342210/Fly-to-the-moon-for-100m.html
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Friday, February 24, 2012
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Nazis in Space
"A sci-fi black comedy about Nazis from the moon invading Planet Earth is one of the hottest tickets at the Berlin film festival, which is better known for its gritty political fare.
"Iron Sky", a B-movie spoof drawing the crowds at the 11-day event in the German capital, imagines that Hitler's surviving henchmen set up a lunar colony after the fall of the regime in 1945, biding their time to strike back.
The opportunity comes in 2018 when a US astronaut exploring the dark side of the moon comes face to face with a Nazi soldier clad in a black uniform and a breathing mask.
Behind him, a secret military base shaped like a swastika looms into view, prompting giggles from the packed audience.
The intergalactic farce produced mainly in Finland pits the would-be Fourth Reich against an America led by a Sarah Palin double, who is seen incessantly jogging in the Oval Office."
--http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.f32abb74f95d14a6936ec9b64350d636.41&show_article=1
"Iron Sky", a B-movie spoof drawing the crowds at the 11-day event in the German capital, imagines that Hitler's surviving henchmen set up a lunar colony after the fall of the regime in 1945, biding their time to strike back.
The opportunity comes in 2018 when a US astronaut exploring the dark side of the moon comes face to face with a Nazi soldier clad in a black uniform and a breathing mask.
Behind him, a secret military base shaped like a swastika looms into view, prompting giggles from the packed audience.
The intergalactic farce produced mainly in Finland pits the would-be Fourth Reich against an America led by a Sarah Palin double, who is seen incessantly jogging in the Oval Office."
--http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.f32abb74f95d14a6936ec9b64350d636.41&show_article=1
Friday, February 10, 2012
NASA abandons Mars
"With limited money for science and an over-budget new space telescope, the space agency essentially had to make a choice in where it wanted to explore: the neighboring planet or the far-off cosmos.
Based on the advance word about NASA's budget for the coming year, Mars lost out.
Two scientists who were briefed on the 2013 NASA budget, due to be released on Monday, said the space agency is eliminating two proposed joint missions with Europeans to explore Mars in 2016 and 2018."
--http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46334188/ns/technology_and_science-space/
Based on the advance word about NASA's budget for the coming year, Mars lost out.
Two scientists who were briefed on the 2013 NASA budget, due to be released on Monday, said the space agency is eliminating two proposed joint missions with Europeans to explore Mars in 2016 and 2018."
--http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46334188/ns/technology_and_science-space/
Friday, February 3, 2012
Soyuz spacecraft lands in Kazakhstan
This happened about November 3, 2011.
Kazakhstan has the only manned spaceflight program in the world. NASA uses its facilities when it sends astronauts to the ISS.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Proposed Russian Lunar Base
"Russia is talking with the US and Europe on plans to create a manned research base on the moon, the head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos said Thursday.
Roscosmos is discussing the possibilities for a permanent moon base with officials from NASA and the European Space Agency, the agency's chief, Vladimir Popovkin said.
"We don't want man to just step on the moon," Popovkin told Vesti FM radio station, according to the Ria Novosti news agency. "Today, we know enough about it, we know that there is water in its polar areas ... we are now discussing how to begin [the moon's] exploration with NASA and the European Space Agency."
He said the plan was either to set up a base on the moon or launch a station to orbit around it.
Russia also is planning to send two unmanned mission to the moon by 2020, Popovkin said."
Read more: http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpps/news/russia-us-moon-base-nasa-dpgonc-20110119-to-_17194074
Roscosmos is discussing the possibilities for a permanent moon base with officials from NASA and the European Space Agency, the agency's chief, Vladimir Popovkin said.
"We don't want man to just step on the moon," Popovkin told Vesti FM radio station, according to the Ria Novosti news agency. "Today, we know enough about it, we know that there is water in its polar areas ... we are now discussing how to begin [the moon's] exploration with NASA and the European Space Agency."
He said the plan was either to set up a base on the moon or launch a station to orbit around it.
Russia also is planning to send two unmanned mission to the moon by 2020, Popovkin said."
Read more: http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpps/news/russia-us-moon-base-nasa-dpgonc-20110119-to-_17194074
Friday, December 30, 2011
Chinese space plans
"Outer space is the common wealth of mankind. Exploration, development and utilization of outer space are an unremitting pursuit of mankind. Space activities around the world have been flourishing. Leading space-faring countries have formulated or modified their development strategies, plans and goals in this sphere. The position and role of space activities are becoming increasingly salient for each active country's overall development strategy, and their influence on human civilization and social progress is increasing.
The Chinese government makes the space industry an important part of the nation's overall development strategy, and adheres to exploration and utilization of outer space for peaceful purposes. Over the past few years, China's space industry has developed rapidly and China ranks among the world's leading countries in certain major areas of space technology. Space activities play an increasingly important role in China's economic and social development.
The next five years will be a crucial period for China in building a moderately prosperous society, deepening reform and opening-up, and accelerating the transformation of the country's pattern of economic development. This will bring new opportunities to China's space industry. China will center its work on its national strategic goals, strengthen its independent innovative capabilities, further open to the outside world and expand international cooperation. In so doing, China will do its best to make the country's space industry develop better and faster. At the same time, China will work together with the international community to maintain a peaceful and clean outer space and endeavor to make new contributions to the lofty cause of promoting world peace and development."
--http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2011-12/30/content_14354558.htm
The Chinese government makes the space industry an important part of the nation's overall development strategy, and adheres to exploration and utilization of outer space for peaceful purposes. Over the past few years, China's space industry has developed rapidly and China ranks among the world's leading countries in certain major areas of space technology. Space activities play an increasingly important role in China's economic and social development.
The next five years will be a crucial period for China in building a moderately prosperous society, deepening reform and opening-up, and accelerating the transformation of the country's pattern of economic development. This will bring new opportunities to China's space industry. China will center its work on its national strategic goals, strengthen its independent innovative capabilities, further open to the outside world and expand international cooperation. In so doing, China will do its best to make the country's space industry develop better and faster. At the same time, China will work together with the international community to maintain a peaceful and clean outer space and endeavor to make new contributions to the lofty cause of promoting world peace and development."
--http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2011-12/30/content_14354558.htm
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
New space company
The field of private space ventures is gaining a new competitor, Stratolaunch Systems, the brainchild of former Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen. According to press reports, Allen is prepared to commit at least $200 million of his own fortune to the creation of a launch vehicle he believes will allow for inexpensive launches of satellites into low Earth orbit.
While the U.S. government’s manned space program has floundered for years, lacking a destination and the will to develop new launch vehicles in a timely fashion to replace the obsolete space shuttle, several private corporations are actively pursuing technologies for carrying people and cargo to Earth orbit.
On December 13, Allen announced the creation of Stratolaunch Systems, which would, the company claimed, reunite Allen and Burt Rutan “to develop the next generation of space travel.” Allen and Rutan collaborated on SpaceShipOne, which flew in September 2004. According to a corporate press release, the goal of Stratolaunch Systems is to “bring airport-like operations to the launch of commercial and government payloads and, eventually, human missions. Plans call for a first flight within five years. The air-launch-to-orbit system will mean lower costs, greater safety, and more flexibility and responsiveness than is possible today with ground-based systems.”
The recent expansion of efforts by private industry to expand a nongovernmental role in space exploration has highlighted the contrast between the NASA and its would-be competitors. Obviously, NASA has an established history, with several dramatic successes which include the moon landings from 1969 through the early 1970s. The success of companies such as SpaceX, which developed the Falcon 9 booster and is actively pursuing further advances that offer the possibility of relatively inexpensive launches to low Earth orbit, has demonstrated a growing role for private industry. Allen’s new Stratolaunch Systems is but the latest competitor in a steadily expanding niche of the aerospace industry.
An article for the Wall Street Journal explains the technological approach favored by Rutan’s and Allen’s new company:
Announced Tuesday, the novel, high-risk project conceived by renowned aerospace designer Burt Rutan seeks to combine engines, landing gears and other parts removed from old Boeing 747 jets with a newly created composite craft from Mr. Rutan and a powerful rocket to be built by a company run by Internet billionaire and commercial-space pioneer Elon Musk.
Dubbed Stratolaunch and funded by one of Mr. Allen's closely held entities, the venture seeks to meld decades-old airplane technology with cutting-edge booster-rocket designs in an unprecedented way to assemble a hybrid that would offer the first totally privately funded space transportation system.
The ultimate goal — which has eluded corporate and government rocket scientists for decades — is to build a reliable and flexible aircraft-based launch option capable of hurling satellites as heavy as a pickup truck into low-earth orbit.
Whether Stratolaunch’s "composite craft," or SpaceX’s less expensive, but more "traditional," rockets will prove the more successive technology, only time — and the market — will determine. But the future of the new space corporations seems bright.
--http://www.thenewamerican.com/tech-mainmenu-30/space/10246-microsofts-allen-launches-new-space-company
While the U.S. government’s manned space program has floundered for years, lacking a destination and the will to develop new launch vehicles in a timely fashion to replace the obsolete space shuttle, several private corporations are actively pursuing technologies for carrying people and cargo to Earth orbit.
On December 13, Allen announced the creation of Stratolaunch Systems, which would, the company claimed, reunite Allen and Burt Rutan “to develop the next generation of space travel.” Allen and Rutan collaborated on SpaceShipOne, which flew in September 2004. According to a corporate press release, the goal of Stratolaunch Systems is to “bring airport-like operations to the launch of commercial and government payloads and, eventually, human missions. Plans call for a first flight within five years. The air-launch-to-orbit system will mean lower costs, greater safety, and more flexibility and responsiveness than is possible today with ground-based systems.”
The recent expansion of efforts by private industry to expand a nongovernmental role in space exploration has highlighted the contrast between the NASA and its would-be competitors. Obviously, NASA has an established history, with several dramatic successes which include the moon landings from 1969 through the early 1970s. The success of companies such as SpaceX, which developed the Falcon 9 booster and is actively pursuing further advances that offer the possibility of relatively inexpensive launches to low Earth orbit, has demonstrated a growing role for private industry. Allen’s new Stratolaunch Systems is but the latest competitor in a steadily expanding niche of the aerospace industry.
An article for the Wall Street Journal explains the technological approach favored by Rutan’s and Allen’s new company:
Announced Tuesday, the novel, high-risk project conceived by renowned aerospace designer Burt Rutan seeks to combine engines, landing gears and other parts removed from old Boeing 747 jets with a newly created composite craft from Mr. Rutan and a powerful rocket to be built by a company run by Internet billionaire and commercial-space pioneer Elon Musk.
Dubbed Stratolaunch and funded by one of Mr. Allen's closely held entities, the venture seeks to meld decades-old airplane technology with cutting-edge booster-rocket designs in an unprecedented way to assemble a hybrid that would offer the first totally privately funded space transportation system.
The ultimate goal — which has eluded corporate and government rocket scientists for decades — is to build a reliable and flexible aircraft-based launch option capable of hurling satellites as heavy as a pickup truck into low-earth orbit.
Whether Stratolaunch’s "composite craft," or SpaceX’s less expensive, but more "traditional," rockets will prove the more successive technology, only time — and the market — will determine. But the future of the new space corporations seems bright.
--http://www.thenewamerican.com/tech-mainmenu-30/space/10246-microsofts-allen-launches-new-space-company
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Robots on the Moon
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-naveen-jain-20111210,0,6032753.story
"Most people don't take it literally when they're told to shoot for the moon — but thinking small isn't Naveen Jain's way. The 52-year-old Internet entrepreneur is a co-founder of Moon Express Inc., one of several companies in the Google Lunar X Prize competition, in which privately funded teams will try to put robots on the moon by 2016.
Jain's plans don't end at reaching the moon's surface. MoonEx, as his company is also known, plans to make billions mining the moon for precious resources. It also hopes to let customers send messages and materials to the moon."
===============
On a related note, Romney was attacking Gingrich for promoting lunar colonies at the debate in Iowa. Here is Gingrich's idea:
"Gingrich, who has dabbled in science fiction and cited both futurist Alvin Toffler and the concept of "psychohistory" in Isaac Asimov's Foundation novels as intellectual inspirations, has long been dubbed "Newt Skywalker" thanks to his vision of future warfare that blends fact and fantasy. This streak of futurism is, by his own admission, rooted in a political and philosophical belief about technology and power. ''I would rather rely on engineers than diplomats for security,'' Gingrich told Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine in 1994, in reference to his support for missile defense."
"Most people don't take it literally when they're told to shoot for the moon — but thinking small isn't Naveen Jain's way. The 52-year-old Internet entrepreneur is a co-founder of Moon Express Inc., one of several companies in the Google Lunar X Prize competition, in which privately funded teams will try to put robots on the moon by 2016.
Jain's plans don't end at reaching the moon's surface. MoonEx, as his company is also known, plans to make billions mining the moon for precious resources. It also hopes to let customers send messages and materials to the moon."
===============
On a related note, Romney was attacking Gingrich for promoting lunar colonies at the debate in Iowa. Here is Gingrich's idea:
"In response to another question, Gingrich criticized the handling of the nation's space program, saying the country was leading the world, but the program is now stymied by bureaucracy.
“Instead of being the exciting, dynamic entrepreneurial future, we studied it to death and we red-taped it to death and we created standards that are absurd,” Gingrich said.
He said he would like to devote a portion of NASA's budget and use it as tax-free prize money for private companies that develop new ways to explore space.
“If you took 5 percent of the NASA budget over the last 10 years, you'd have $8 billion in prizes,” Gingrich said. “If you said, for example, we'll pay a billion dollars to the first folks to get to the moon and be able to stay there, we'd have all sorts of folks forming various efforts to get to the moon, none of them would be applying for federal money, none of them would be sitting around waiting for grant reviews.”
--http://www2.tbo.com/news/politics/2011/nov/17/1/gingrich-tells-florida-crowd-he-welcomes-scrutiny-ar-325422/
=======================
Newt Skywalker and the Moon Mirror =======================
"Gingrich, who has dabbled in science fiction and cited both futurist Alvin Toffler and the concept of "psychohistory" in Isaac Asimov's Foundation novels as intellectual inspirations, has long been dubbed "Newt Skywalker" thanks to his vision of future warfare that blends fact and fantasy. This streak of futurism is, by his own admission, rooted in a political and philosophical belief about technology and power. ''I would rather rely on engineers than diplomats for security,'' Gingrich told Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine in 1994, in reference to his support for missile defense."
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Spaceport planned near Denver
Front Range is located near Watkins, east of Denver. Its proposed status as "Spaceport Colorado" would allow for creation of a facility offering tourism, travel and cargo transport to space and from point to point on Earth.
Spaceports — of which eight are active in the United States — are viewed as important economic-development tools.
"These are the opportunities, like cellphones in the early 1990s, that seem farfetched but may not be all that far away. The potential here is huge," Hickenlooper said to about 300 aerospace industry members gathered at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.
Just a year or two ago, Colorado was considered too populated to allow the construction and operation of a spaceport.
Since then, the development of dual-propulsion spacecraft that can take off from a conventional runway has altered those perceptions. The emerging technology is expected to make space travel easier because it doesn't have the risks of vertical launches.
"Being able to launch horizontally is a game-changer," said Barry Gore, chief executive of Adams County Economic Development.
The concept sounds like something out of Buck Rogers — space planes taxi and take off powered by jet engines, switch to rocket engines when they hit altitude and switch back to jet engines for landing.
"In an hour and a half, you can be in Singapore," said Tom Clark, executive president of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp.
--http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_19493801
Spaceports — of which eight are active in the United States — are viewed as important economic-development tools.
"These are the opportunities, like cellphones in the early 1990s, that seem farfetched but may not be all that far away. The potential here is huge," Hickenlooper said to about 300 aerospace industry members gathered at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.
Just a year or two ago, Colorado was considered too populated to allow the construction and operation of a spaceport.
Since then, the development of dual-propulsion spacecraft that can take off from a conventional runway has altered those perceptions. The emerging technology is expected to make space travel easier because it doesn't have the risks of vertical launches.
"Being able to launch horizontally is a game-changer," said Barry Gore, chief executive of Adams County Economic Development.
The concept sounds like something out of Buck Rogers — space planes taxi and take off powered by jet engines, switch to rocket engines when they hit altitude and switch back to jet engines for landing.
"In an hour and a half, you can be in Singapore," said Tom Clark, executive president of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp.
--http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_19493801
Saturday, October 22, 2011
China will own the moon
From: http://www.space.com/13331-china-space-race-moon-ownership-bigelow-ispcs.html
"Americans are still basking in the lunar glory from 40 years ago," [Robert] Bigelow said. "But we don’t own one square foot of the damn place. NASA is a shadow of the space agency it once was in the 1960s and 1970s."
In contrast, he argued, China has the motivation and ability to win the next space race and claim ownership of much of the moon. Bigelow argued that international law would allow a nation to make such a claim, especially if it were able to enforce it through continuous human lunar presence.
Owning the moon would be a windfall both financially and for international prestige, he said. Not only does it offer a jumping off point for further exploration of the solar system, but it also contains vast stores of valuable resources such as water and helium-3, a possible fuel for nuclear fusion.
Moreover, the symbolic and global psychological impact would be huge, Bigelow said. "I think nothing else China could possibly do in the next 15 years would cause as great a benefit for China."
In addition to China's growing technological prowess, the country has the cash, the lack of debt and the national will to become the owner of the moon, Bigelow argued. He predicted China could claim ownership of vast swaths of lunar territory by 2022 to 2026.
Update: Here is a quote from another article about his speech.
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/10/19/8402070-will-china-take-over-the-moon
Bigelow characterized China as "the new gunslinger in Dodge" when it came to space exploration.
The way he sees it, China is progressing along a slow, steady path toward space proficiency. The steps in that path include follow-ups to the Shenzhou 8 spacewalk mission in 2008, the unmanned Chang'e lunar missions and last month's Tiangong 1 space lab launch. In the coming years, China will have plenty of cash for great leaps forward in space, while the United States will be hamstrung by higher debt and tighter budgets.
"Americans are still basking in the lunar glory from 40 years ago," [Robert] Bigelow said. "But we don’t own one square foot of the damn place. NASA is a shadow of the space agency it once was in the 1960s and 1970s."
In contrast, he argued, China has the motivation and ability to win the next space race and claim ownership of much of the moon. Bigelow argued that international law would allow a nation to make such a claim, especially if it were able to enforce it through continuous human lunar presence.
Owning the moon would be a windfall both financially and for international prestige, he said. Not only does it offer a jumping off point for further exploration of the solar system, but it also contains vast stores of valuable resources such as water and helium-3, a possible fuel for nuclear fusion.
Moreover, the symbolic and global psychological impact would be huge, Bigelow said. "I think nothing else China could possibly do in the next 15 years would cause as great a benefit for China."
In addition to China's growing technological prowess, the country has the cash, the lack of debt and the national will to become the owner of the moon, Bigelow argued. He predicted China could claim ownership of vast swaths of lunar territory by 2022 to 2026.
Update: Here is a quote from another article about his speech.
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/10/19/8402070-will-china-take-over-the-moon
Bigelow characterized China as "the new gunslinger in Dodge" when it came to space exploration.
The way he sees it, China is progressing along a slow, steady path toward space proficiency. The steps in that path include follow-ups to the Shenzhou 8 spacewalk mission in 2008, the unmanned Chang'e lunar missions and last month's Tiangong 1 space lab launch. In the coming years, China will have plenty of cash for great leaps forward in space, while the United States will be hamstrung by higher debt and tighter budgets.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Spaceport America is almost ready to open
Phase one of the world's first commercial spaceport, which will be the hub for Virgin's consumer spaceflights, is now 90 per cent complete.
The 1,800-acre Spaceport America site, in Las Cruces, New Mexico, is the home base for Virgin Galactic, Richard Branson's most ambitious business venture yet.
It already boasts a runway stretching to nearly two miles long, a futuristic styled terminal hanger, and a dome-shaped Space Operations Centre.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2034239/Phase-worlds-commercial-spaceport-90-cent-completed--time-flights-2013.html#ixzz1XFJ163Gh
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Lunar landing anniversary
Yesterday was the 41st anniversary of Apollo 11. It is doubtful that we will return to the Moon within 41 years.
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