Space In General

Anyone got bets on it being Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson?

Whoever it is it's cost them some top cash.
 
Anyone got bets on it being Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson?

Whoever it is it's cost them some top cash.
I'll wager (1) that it won't happen in 2018 and (2) if it does, the crew won't make it back alive.
 
Now then the question is, does a sufficiently wealthy person or persons just decide to go out (out there).
There are undoubtedly, obviously there are, sufficiently brave and wealthy thrill seekers who would risk or even sacrifice their lives for such an adventure. But if they did (sacrifice their lives), would it be good for Musk's business plan?

 
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A sculpture of a man wearing Stemrad's new protective vest, Astrorad, is seen at an exhibit at Madatech, National Museum of Science Technology and Space in Haifa, Israel February 23, 2017. REUTERS/Amir Cohen


By Ori Lewis and Rinat Harash

HAIFA, Israel (Reuters) - A vest designed to shield astronauts from deadly solar particles in deep space is set for trials on a lunar mission ready for deployment on any manned mission to Mars, its Israeli developers said.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/mars-ast...et-moon-mission-trial-102722609--finance.html
 
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Another day, another unhinged-sounding plan to fly to the moon announced by an eccentric billionaire.

According to a report from the Washington Post, Blue Origin — the spaceflight company founded by Amazon.com's Jeff Bezos — is planning to set up an "Amazon-like" service to send cargo to the moon in the hopes that people will eventually settle there.

The first "Blue Moon" mission — conducted with NASA's help — could launch as early as July 2020, according to the report.

SEE ALSO: Jeff Bezos-backed rocket landed safely back on Earth after flying to space

The Blue Origin news hits just days after SpaceX's Elon Musk announced that his spaceflight company plans to send two unnamed people on a trip around the moon at the end of next year.

Is this yet another case of rocket-measuring by Musk and Bezos?


https://www.yahoo.com/news/moon-missions-continue-jeff-bezos-191626179.html


A Trump connection

Rumors were swirling in the space industry early this week that Trump would make some kind of announcement about human spaceflight during his speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday. However, that big space moment didn't come to pass.

According to a report by Politico, Trump was expected to include more about his vision for America's future in space, but most of that got cut at the last minute. Instead, Trump's only reference to space in his hour-long speech was the line: "American footprints on distant worlds are not too big a dream."

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President Donald Trump, Elon Musk (center) and White House chief strategist Steve Bannon on Feb. 3, 2017.

Image: AP/REX/Shutterstock

It's not clear whether Trump's expected speech was the tipping point for SpaceX and Blue Origin, but either way, we know that Bezos and Musk have had time to speak with the new president.
 
That link for the Blue Origin landing safely "from space" is almost a year and a half old, and they might have orbital capability by 2020. OTOH, they have reflown and landed their booster four times (I think,) although it's only straight up and straight down. No re-entry shielding needed when you aren't returning from orbit.........
 
^^^ Launch was scrubbed due to high winds. Next attempt same time Thursday (Wednesday night west coast US) with 90% favorable conditions.
 
Launch is GO at the moment, but they shifted the time to 2:00am EDT. I was going to stay up and watch but the time change made it too late. Guess I'll catch the replay in the morning.

 
A moon landing in 2018?

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The spacecraft will land two miles from the Apollo 17 site then rovers will be deployed to track down Nasa's moon buggy CREDIT: PTSCIENTISTS

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The landing module, Alina, has room for science experiments, and will become a communications base-station for future missions CREDIT: PTSCIENTISTS

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/...tists-pledge-make-first-private-moon-landing/
Is that a Vodafone logo? Well at least there is no atmosphere up there cause down here they'd lose signal to it.
 
Science
SpaceX will try to prove its rockets are reusable with second launch
USA Today 9 hours ago
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All those cool rocket landings SpaceX has pulled off over the past year or so? They’ll amount to little more than expensive stunts unless the company shows that those recovered Falcon 9 boosters can be re-launched again. And again. And again. SpaceX’s highly anticipated first opportunity to prove that its rockets can be reused is expected next week, with the planned 4:59 p.m. Wednesday launch from Kennedy Space Center of a commercial communications satellite on what's being called a “flight proven” booster. CEO Elon Musk has long argued that reusability is the innovation that will revolutionize the launch industry by driving down costs, a prerequisite to fulfilling his dream of colonizing Mars. ...
 
Our planet must be a beautiful sight for aliens, due to the colorful sparking taking place around the poles.

From today's edition of Spaceweather:

SOLAR WIND STORM: For the 3rd consecutive day, our planet is inside a stream of fast-moving solar wind flowing from a canyon-shaped hole in the sun's atmosphere. The gaseous material is pressing against Earth's magnetic field with speeds exceeding 600 km/s. Earth's response: A light show around the poles. Last night, Layton Findlater saw the Southern Lights shining through clouds over Invercargill, New Zealand:



"Another night of brief but intense auroras," says Findlater. "Hopefully, we can make it three nights running here in the Deep South."

At the moment, the solar wind shows little sign of flagging. Speeds between 600 and 700 km/s are likely for the rest of March 29th with a 25% chance of G1-classgeomagnetic storms. High-latitude sky watchers on both ends of the planet should remain alert for auroras. Free: Aurora Alerts
 
Totally missed the launch thanks to my manager that decided to walk into our office 2 minutes before launch and stick around for what seemed like an eternity. Caught the landing though...
 
And LANDED!!!! Successful re-use and re-recovery!|

I also like the lawyer-ese comment they made: First reuse of an orbit-capable booster. You know, since Blue Horizon has re-used their carnival-ride booster, that only goes up and back down vertically, but is not capable of orbit.

And it's the first reuse of a liquid-fueled orbit-capable booster, that can actually soft-land itself. The shuttle's solid-fuel boosters were reusable, but someone had to go fetch them after they parachuted into the ocean.
 
The picture froze, went back to talking people then loads of cheering and then a live feed of booster on the pad.:banghead: I didn't see it land. I wanna see it land. :banghead: It's not FAIR.:banghead:
 
And LANDED!!!! Successful re-use and re-recovery!|

I also like the lawyer-ese comment they made: First reuse of an orbit-capable booster. You know, since Blue Horizon has re-used their carnival-ride booster, that only goes up and back down vertically, but is not capable of orbit.

And it's the first reuse of a liquid-fueled orbit-capable booster, that can actually soft-land itself. The shuttle's solid-fuel boosters were reusable, but someone had to go fetch them after they parachuted into the ocean.
The long-term commercial viability of Falcon needs to be demonstrated by number of reuses and cost and speed of turnaround.
 
The picture froze, went back to talking people then loads of cheering and then a live feed of booster on the pad.:banghead: I didn't see it land. I wanna see it land. :banghead: It's not FAIR.:banghead:
I'm sure we'll get some drone footage shortly. They need to try and sort out the cutout issues they're getting from the vibrations.
The long-term commercial viability of Falcon needs to be demonstrated by number of reuses and cost and speed of turnaround.
This is only the first one. Give it time...
 
The picture froze, went back to talking people then loads of cheering and then a live feed of booster on the pad.:banghead: I didn't see it land. I wanna see it land. :banghead: It's not FAIR.:banghead:
Ah, that's what I call the 'Sky Go' effect... bad luck :lol:
 
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