SPACEX UNVEIL NEW MARS PASSENGER SPACESHIP

A company that has flown unmanned capsules to the Space Station unveiled a spacecraft designed to ferry up to seven astronauts to low-Earth orbit that SpaceX founder Elon Musk says will lower the cost of going to space.

The futuristic, cone-headed craft dubbed Dragon V2 featured landing legs that pop out and a propulsion system designed to land almost anywhere “with the accuracy of a helicopter,” Musk said Thursday at the Southern California rocket builder’s headquarters near Los Angeles International Airport.

The technology would enable rapid reloading and reusability of the spacecraft, he said. He noted that in the past, many rockets and space craft return to Earth in a fireball, rendering them unusable.

“You can just reload, propel it and fly again,” Musk said. “This is extremely important for revolutionizing access to space because as long as we continue to throw away rockets and space crafts, we will never truly have access to space. It’ll always be incredibly expensive.”

The capsule also features a bright, sleek interior with swing-up computer screens at the control station, a two-level seating system to accommodate up to seven astronauts and large windows for them to marvel at Earth’s curvature.

The cone-shaped cap can open to allow for the manned craft to dock at the Space Station on its own.

The spacecraft also has more powerful engines, better heat shields, the landing legs and backup parachutes to ensure a soft landing.

In a NASA briefing with reporters last year, Musk said Dragon V2 would look futuristic like an “alien spaceship” and promised “it’s going to be cool.”

Since the shuttle fleet retired in 2011, NASA has depended on Russian rockets to transport astronauts to orbit and back, paying nearly $71 million per seat. The space agency has said it wants U.S. companies to fill the void by 2017 and has doled out seed money to spur innovation.

SpaceX short for Space Exploration Technologies Corp, has made four cargo runs to the giant orbiting outpost some 200 miles above Earth. Just last month, its Dragon capsule splashed into the Pacific, returning nearly 2 tons of science experiments and old equipment.

Companies competing for the right to ferry station astronauts need to design a spacecraft that can seat a crew of four or more and be equipped with life support systems and an escape hatch in case of emergency. SpaceX has said it’s designing a seven-seat spacecraft.

SpaceX and longtime NASA contractor Boeing Co. are “more or less neck and neck” in the competition, but there’s a long way to go before astronauts can rocket out of the atmosphere on private spacecraft, said John Logsdon, professor emeritus of political science and international affairs at George Washington University.

Logsdon said progress by private companies is slower than anticipated mainly because Congress has not fully funded NASA’s budget request for the effort. He said it’s important for the U.S. to wean its reliance on Russia given the political tension over the annexation of Crimea.

“It’s essential to have our own capability to transport people to space,” he said. “This is an important step in that direction.”

Firing Missiles at Mars – What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that a group trying to raise money to shoot missiles at Mars is from the U.S. No matter what the reason, is blasting holes in another planet a good idea? And what IS their reason anyway?

Explore Mars, a non-profit group in Beverly, Massachusetts, is appealing for funds for a project it calls Exolance, whose purpose would be to probe deeper into the surface of Mars than any previous missions by firing missiles into the planet’s crust. The missiles would contain instruments design to withstand the impact so they can radio subterranean data back to Earth – data that Exolance hopes will include evidence of life on Mars.

Curiosity’s drill can only dig about an inch. NASA’s upcoming InSight lander mission will dig down five meters but isn’t looking for life, while the European Space Agency’sExoMars rover will probe two meters for life but only in one spot.

Exolance uses archery metaphors to explain its plan. The Arrows are small, lightweight penetrating probes originally designed for the military (bunker-busting weapons technology) that will pierce the surface to a depth of five or more meters. The life-detection equipment will send data to a surface transmitter which relays it to an orbiter that sends it to Earth. Multiple Arrows will be shot by a Quiver dispenser as it descends to the surface, so that they are spread across a wide surface area.

Explore Mars will test Exolance in the Mojave Desert in 2014 to prove the instruments can withstand the impact. Then it needs to convince NASA, SpaceX or another private company to take the probes to Mars as part of another mission.

NASA sent two penetrating probes to Mars in 1999 but the shock of impact knocked out the instruments. It has fired probes into sand and ice for a possible mission to Jupiter’s moon Europa.

Missiles, bunker-busting, arrows, penetration … not exactly terminology that says peaceful space exploration. What could possibly go wrong?

Source: MU

Bus-Sized Asteroid Makes Close Pass by Earth…but That’s Not the Scariest Part

A bus-sized asteroid passed by the Earth at a distance closer than the moon Saturday — but the more disconcerting part is how little warning astronomers had of the event.

Scientists learned of the 25-foot asteroid named 2014 HL129 just three days before it came within 186,000 miles of Earth.

The asteroid was spotted by astronomers with the Mt. Lemmon Survey, located in the Catalina Mountains of Arizona.

Watch this animation of HL129′s trajectory: HERE

Though Saturday’s event was only a close shave, incidents like the 65-foot-wide meteor that crashed in Russia in February 2013 — which went undetected until it was too late — are why NASA and other government space agencies around the world are working to better predict these giant space rocks that can have catastrophic consequences.

NASA’s Near-Earth Object Program estimates that more than 90 percent of the near-Earth objects larger than one kilometer have already been discovered, but 90 percent of those 140 meters or larger are still being tracked down.

Last year, NASA announced the Asteroid Grand Challenge, which encouraged the general public to get involved in the various aspects of asteroid hunting. Watch NASA’s video about this project:

But what’s to be done if a threatening asteroid is found? NASA is working on ideas to take care of that problem, too. One option includes sending up a weighted robotic spacecraft to collide with the object to send it off course, but this would require years of prior warning. Other ideas involve nuclear explosions or a spacecraft that could serve as a “gravity tractor” and change an asteroid’s velocity just enough to avoid a collision with the planet.

NASA’s Near Object Program has more detailed information about HL129.

Source: The Blaze