http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/11/29/astronomy-community-rallies-behind-zombie-comet-ison/
Saturday, November 30, 2013
Friday, November 29, 2013
Engine trouble scrubs Falcon 9 launch / ISON baffles scientists
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Spaceflight Now" <newsalert@spaceflightnow.com>
Date: Nov 29, 2013 8:49 AM
Subject: Engine trouble scrubs Falcon 9 launch / ISON baffles scientists
To: <aquarianm@gmail.com>
Cc:
NEWSALERT: Friday, November 29, 2013 @ 1445 GMT
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The latest news from Spaceflight Now
From: "Spaceflight Now" <newsalert@spaceflightnow.com>
Date: Nov 29, 2013 8:49 AM
Subject: Engine trouble scrubs Falcon 9 launch / ISON baffles scientists
To: <aquarianm@gmail.com>
Cc:
Hi, just a reminder that you're receiving this email because you signed up to receive the Spaceflight Now NewsAlert. Don't forget to add newsalert@spaceflightnow.com to your address book so we'll be sure to land in your inbox! You may unsubscribe if you no longer wish to receive our emails. |
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The latest news from Spaceflight Now
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Save big and stock up on out-of-this-world space collectibles during The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation's Black Friday sale! Take 30% off EVERYTHING in the Astronaut Store - including autographed photos and models, our signature Space Artifact Series and Astronaut Autograph Club, and more! Sale runs today through Monday, December 2nd. Visit http://astronautscholarship.org/autograph-store/ to take advantage of these great deals!
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ENGINE TROUBLE SCRUBS FALCON 9'S THANKSGIVING LAUNCH
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Topped with a television broadcasting satellite, SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket fired its engines and was moments away from liftoff from Cape Canaveral on Thursday, but the commercial booster aborted the launch after computers detected the engines were too slow building up thrust.
http://spaceflightnow.com/falcon9/007/131128scrub/
LIVE COVERAGE:
http://spaceflightnow.com/falcon9/007/status.html
SCIENTISTS BAFFLED BY NEW PICTURES OF COMET ISON
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After a multi-million-year plunge from the frozen fringes of the solar system, Comet ISON may have broken apart and evaporated in the fierce heat and crushing gravity of the sun before or during a close flyby Thursday, presumably scotching long-held hopes for a dramatic sky show on Earth over the next few weeks. Or maybe not.
http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1311/28ison/
CHINESE MOON LANDER ON THE VERGE OF LAUNCH
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China has scheduled the launch of an ambitious robotic lunar rover as soon as Sunday on a quest to achieve the first soft landing on the moon in more than three decades.
http://spaceflightnow.com/china/change3/131127change3/
GUIDE TO THE PLANETS FOR iPAD
-----------------------------
From tiny Mercury to distant Neptune and Pluto, this interactive guide to the planets from Astronomy Now magazine takes you on a tour of our Solar System and beyond.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/planets-astronomy-now-guide/id633956878?ls=1&mt=8
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SPACE STATION ASTRONAUT PATCHES
See our online store for the latest crew embroidered patches for the International Space Station. Free shipping to U.S. addresses. http://www.spaceflightnowstore.com/
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Thursday, November 28, 2013
Thanksgiving launch for Falcon 9 / Comet ISON meets the Sun
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Spaceflight Now" <newsalert@spaceflightnow.com>
Date: Nov 28, 2013 10:14 AM
Subject: Thanksgiving launch for Falcon 9 / Comet ISON meets the Sun
To: <aquarianm@gmail.com>
Cc:
NEWSALERT: Thursday, November 28, 2013 @ 1610 GMT
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The latest news from Spaceflight Now
From: "Spaceflight Now" <newsalert@spaceflightnow.com>
Date: Nov 28, 2013 10:14 AM
Subject: Thanksgiving launch for Falcon 9 / Comet ISON meets the Sun
To: <aquarianm@gmail.com>
Cc:
Hi, just a reminder that you're receiving this email because you signed up to receive the Spaceflight Now NewsAlert. Don't forget to add newsalert@spaceflightnow.com to your address book so we'll be sure to land in your inbox! You may unsubscribe if you no longer wish to receive our emails. |
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The latest news from Spaceflight Now
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Looking for stocking stuffers for your space fan? The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation's biggest sale of the year is coming soon! Save on autographed photos and models, our signature Space Artifact Series and Astronaut Autograph Club, and much more by taking advantage of Black Friday deals in the Astronaut Store, starting Friday, November 29! Visit http://astronautscholarship.org/autograph-store/ to browse our selection!
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FALCON 9 ON TRACK FOR LAUNCH OF COMMERCIAL SATELLITE
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Thanksgiving Day is launch day for SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, which is set to take off Thursday with a television broadcasting satellite on a landmark mission to prove the privately-developed launcher's commercial capabilities. Launch from Cape Canaveral is set for 5:39 p.m. EST (2239 GMT).
LIVE COVERAGE:
http://spaceflightnow.com/falcon9/007/status.html
HOLIDAY TRAVELERS TRUMP SPACEX LAUNCH PLANS
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Concerned a rocket launch might add more congestion to the skies during Thanksgiving week, federal regulators blocked SpaceX's bid to launch a commercial broadcasting satellite Tuesday and Wednesday, two of the busiest travel days of the year.
http://spaceflightnow.com/falcon9/007/131126faa/
COMET ISON CLOSES IN ON FLYBY OF THE SUN
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Astronomers around the world are closely monitoring Comet ISON's plunge through the inner solar system and awaiting data from a fleet of space telescopes to find out whether the enigmatic chunk of ice will survive a blistering kamikaze-like Thanksgiving Day flyby of the sun.
http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1311/27ison/
GUIDE TO THE PLANETS FOR iPAD
-----------------------------
From tiny Mercury to distant Neptune and Pluto, this interactive guide to the planets from Astronomy Now magazine takes you on a tour of our Solar System and beyond.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/planets-astronomy-now-guide/id633956878?ls=1&mt=8
+++
SPACE STATION ASTRONAUT PATCHES
See our online store for the latest crew embroidered patches for the International Space Station. Free shipping to U.S. addresses. http://www.spaceflightnowstore.com/
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Monday, November 25, 2013
Saturday, November 23, 2013
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Mars probe blasts off / 29 satellites to launch on Minotaur today
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From: "Spaceflight Now" <newsalert@spaceflightnow.com>
Date: Nov 19, 2013 12:02 PM
Subject: Mars probe blasts off / 29 satellites to launch on Minotaur today
To: <aquarianm@gmail.com>
Cc:
NEWSALERT: Tuesday, November 19, 2013 @ 1800 GMT
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The latest news from Spaceflight Now
From: "Spaceflight Now" <newsalert@spaceflightnow.com>
Date: Nov 19, 2013 12:02 PM
Subject: Mars probe blasts off / 29 satellites to launch on Minotaur today
To: <aquarianm@gmail.com>
Cc:
Hi, just a reminder that you're receiving this email because you signed up to receive the Spaceflight Now NewsAlert. Don't forget to add newsalert@spaceflightnow.com to your address book so we'll be sure to land in your inbox! You may unsubscribe if you no longer wish to receive our emails. |
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SPACESHIPS SCALED TO FIT ON YOUR DESK
Beautifully crafted models of rockets and spaceships. The mighty Delta 4 Heavy and Atlas 5 rockets now available in two sizes.
http://www.spaceflightnowstore.com/us/catalog/index.php?cPath=51
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MARS ATMOSPHERIC PROBE BLASTS OFF ABOARD ATLAS 5
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A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket dispatched a $671 million gas-sniffing sleuth to Mars on Monday, taking the first step in a long-distance voyage across the solar system to survey the Martian atmosphere and decipher an enigma nearly as old as the solar system itself.
http://spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av038/131118launch/
THRIFT PAYS FOR EXTRA SCIENCE BY NASA'S MAVEN MISSION
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Citing cost-conscious caution in the early days of the development of NASA's MAVEN mission, scientists say the Mars mission has enough funding reserves to bankroll extra researchers on the MAVEN science team and enhance data analysis models to get the most out of the spacecraft's survey of the Martian atmosphere.
http://spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av038/131117budget/
MINOTAUR ROCKET SET FOR LAUNCH WITH 29 SATELLITES
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Crowned with a record-breaking payload of 29 satellites for the U.S. military, NASA and students, a Minotaur 1 rocket is set to launch Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. EST (0030 GMT Wednesday) from Wallops Island, Va. Weather permitting, the launch of the 70-foot rocket could be visible along the U.S. East Coast.
http://spaceflightnow.com/minotaur/ors3/status.html
NASA ENDS PRODUCTION OF NEW NUCLEAR POWER SOURCE
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NASA has decided to stop development of an improved lightweight plutonium power generator, blaming budget constraints and a diminished need for a high-efficiency nuclear power source with the restart of U.S. plutonium production, officials said Sunday.
http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1311/19asrg/
GUIDE TO THE PLANETS FOR iPAD
-----------------------------
From tiny Mercury to distant Neptune and Pluto, this interactive guide to the planets from Astronomy Now magazine takes you on a tour of our Solar System and beyond.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/planets-astronomy-now-guide/id633956878?ls=1&mt=8
+++
SPACE STATION ASTRONAUT PATCHES
See our online store for the latest crew embroidered patches for the International Space Station. Free shipping to U.S. addresses. http://www.spaceflightnowstore.com/
+++
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Sunday, November 17, 2013
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Dyson Ring 3: How To Get It Up...
Ok. Go ahead and laugh. I hear laughing is good for the soul AND body. :-)
Seriously, though, assembling a ring made of thousands of miles and a few trillion tons of concrete at 60,000 feet in the air is going to be a neat trick. You won't be doing it with cranes.
My answer? Hot air balloons. Yup. Technology that has been used since AD 200 or so in China. Imagine that, another almost 2,000-year-old technology. Which is also why I figure an altitude of 60,000 feet. According to thus Wikipedia article, the altitude for hot air balloons is several thousand feet higher. See the History tab for that part: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_air_balloon
Now, clearly, large hot air baloons can carry a lot of weight, if they're big enough. Blimps generally use lighter-than-air gasses to lift immense loads, because they don't want to carry the fuel to keep air hot for an extended journey. A hot air blimp IS possible, however. But the way I'd want to use them for this project, they just have to go up on a tether, position their load, and come back down.
So you could get all the pieces up there with balloons, but how do you KEEP them up there while you're assembling the ring? Answer: You don't put part of the ring up and wait on the rest. You build all the pieces, then put them all up in place at one time. You have one big Launch Day all around the planet. Once they are all locked in place, the ring supports its own weight, just like after you put in the centerpiece of an arch.
Sure, you would test the various components and assembly methods ahead of Launch Day. You'd make several modules, lift them up by baloon, and test assembly at altitude to make sure everything will work on Launch Day.
So, balloons float on the wind. Even with a tether, they'll move with the wind to the limits of the tether. How do you keep the baloons from floating all over on Launch Day so you can assemble the Dyson ring?
Next post...
Dan
Dyson Ring 2: Why Roman Concrete?
Well, the stuff is a lot better than our current concrete. According to the article above, it's been getting pounded in a Roman port breakwater by the surf for a couple thousand years while remaining intact. Portland cement is only good for about fifty years before it's crumbling so bad it needs to be replaced.
Personally, if a solid object is going to be several tens of thousands of feet over my head, I want it to be as durable as possible. Remember the concrete falling at Wrigley Field in Chicago a few years ago? Yeah. Luckily it didn't hit any Cub fans in the head...but you get the point.
A Dyson ring is going to take a LOT of material. Even if it's only a hundred yards wide and fifty thick, at 60,000 feet up, that is one huge circle. It would be several tens of thousands of miles long. It would make the Great Wall of China and the Great Pyramids look like Tinker Toys sitting next to the Hoover dam. You aren't going to make it all in one piece. That means modular construction with perfect interlocking of the modules is a requirement. Since concrete can be made with moulds, that makes manufacturing hundreds of thousands of interlocking identical modules possible.
The question is, how do you get all those pieces assembled at 60,000 feet high? Next post...
Dan
Monday, November 11, 2013
Space Elevator Requires Insanely Strong Materials? How About A Dyson Ring?
First, what is a space elevator? A space elevator is a many-miles-long cable that has one end anchored on the ground, and the other end in geostationary orbit, 26,199 statute miles above Earth's equator. Centrifugal force would keep the cable from collapsing back to Earth. Vehicles would ascend and descend the cable to put loads into space from various points along the cable.
>
> Current materials aren't strong enough to build such a cable on Earth; however one could be built on the Moon, which has one-sixth of Earth's gravity. That still doesn't help us get to space from Earth, however.
I'd like to propose an alternative method, which I call a "Dyson Ring." This name is derived from the concept of a Dyson Sphere, which is the theoretical concept of building a sphere that completely surrounds a planet. The concept of a Dyson Sphere featured in one of the Star Trek movies.
A Dyson Ring would also surround the entire planet, but would require far less material and time to construct. Like an infinite arch, it would be very strong and able to support itself once built...and support space launch facities that would require far less energy to put loads into orbit than launching from the ground. I think I know how a Dyson ring could be built with existing technology...and some recently re-discovered technology: Roman concrete.
I'll expand on this concept in several future posts, as time permits.
For more than a better world, indeed, an open universe,
Dan
Sunday, November 10, 2013
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