** The Official Space Flight Thread - The Space Station and Beyond **

Merlin5

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I have no idea if this recording conveys the roar of the shuttle lift off better than other videos. But if anyone here has a mega powerful audio system with huge amounts of house shaking bass, this might be worth checking out. My sound system isn't set up at the moment so only heard it through in-ear phones, which doesn't convey the power.


 

Cosimo

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Technicians at Textron Defense Systems near Boston are applying Avcoat ablator material to some 330,000 cells of a honeycomb on the heat shield of NASA's new Orion spacecraft. To ensure that each cell is filled correctly, they are individually X-rayed and a robot is used to machine the material, sanding off fractions of an inch so that the heat shield matches Orion's precise plans.
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Glaucus

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Not really space, but until 12 of August not worthy of its own thread.
On 12 of August Elon MUsk will unveil what is described as Alpha plans for a Hyperloop train system between Los Angeles and San Francisco at over 600mph, it will be open source plans and expected to cost under 7billion 1/10 of what the goverment is looking at spending on a conventional train track for the same route. On the 12th after the unveil he is asking for critical feedback and has said collaborations with other company's are on the cards, as long as they understand the ethos, no BS and waste of money and it stays open source.
 

Cosimo

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cu3ed said:
Any ideas how water would manage to find its way into the helmet of all places?
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They do not know what caused the leak and the investigation is ongoing.

The space suit contains a drink bag which holds 32 ounces of potable water. There is also the cooling and ventilation system which contains about a gallon of water. Initially engineers thought it was the drink bag but that does appear to be the problem. Sweat has also been ruled out as a cause of the problem.

The briefing from a couple of days ago:

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Glaucus

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Awesomtastic

http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/1112902360/moon-express-first-mission-to-moon-south-pole-071913
The International Lunar Observatory Association (ILOA) and Moon Express have just announced not only the first private enterprise mission to the Moon but also the first mission to the Moon’s South Pole.

The mission will be exploring the Moon’s South Pole for mineral resources and water. Lunar probes have provided evidence of mineral and volatile deposits in the Moon’s southern polar region where energy and resources may be abundant, so the private expedition aims to seek this area out.

Moon Express, which began in August 2010 as a commercial lunar resource company, said it will be providing the lunar lander, mission architecture and operations. The mission will include delivering the International Lunar Observatory (ILO) to the South Pole, which will be the first instrument to conduct international astrophysical observations and communications from the lunar surface.

“The ILO will demonstrate the value of the Moon for scientific study of the Galaxy, Moon, Earth, Sun and Stars,” said Steve Durst, founder and director of the ILOA and Space Age Publishing Company.

Moon Express is partnering with NASA for its lunar lander developer. The company will be sending a series of robotic missions to the lunar surface in support of science, commerce and exploration starting in 2015.

“We are very excited to our announce that our second Moon mission will be to the lunar South Pole to deliver the International Lunar Observatory and to prospect for resources,” said Moon Express CEO Dr. Robert Richards. “The mission will provide a historic landing in an unexplored region of the Moon that may harbor some of the greatest resource deposits in the solar system.”

ILOA and Moon Express unveiled the ILO precursor instrument earlier this year known as ILO-X. This mission will fly to the Moon in 2015 aboard the inaugural Moon Express mission. ILO-X will be about the length of a shoebox and will weigh only 4.4 pounds.

ILO and ILO-X will have an internet-based access and control system, which will allow the world to access astronomical pictures from the surface of the Moon.

Richards said in May that they aim to win the Google Lunar X prize, “so that is somewhat driving our schedule.” This prize is offering $20 million to the first privately funded team to successfully land a robot on the lunar surface.

Earlier in July a team of scientists developed a model for companies to take into consideration when developing a lunar surface mission. This model showed how rovers traveling across the surface of the Moon may be affected by dust. The team was able to show how engineers would have to design their rovers to deal with dust differently, depending on which region of the Moon they plan to traverse.
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It's really heating up this private space business.
spaceX ploughing the way forward.
Planetry resources putting an entire fleet up, including one for us to play with :)
And now google lunarX prize looking like it will be won in 201, seems like three teams will fight it out.
 

Glaucus

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Cosmos a new Docu-Series on fox in 2014


Cosmos: A Space-Time Odyssey is an upcoming American documentary television series. It is a follow-up to Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, which was presented by Carl Sagan. The new series' presenter will be Neil deGrasse Tyson. The executive producers are Seth MacFarlane and Ann Druyan, Sagan's widow.[1][2] It was originally announced that it would premiere in the 2012–13 United States network television schedule, but a Twitter update from Neil deGrasse Tyson in June 2012 indicates a Q2 2014 release.[3][4] Episodes will premiere on Fox and also air on National Geographic Channel on the same night
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Fox has confirmed the long-discussed reboot of Carl Sagan’s landmark documentary series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage starring none other than famed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson.

According to the LA Times, the network made their announcement on Monday at their upfront presentation. The series will start with 13 episodes, set to air sometime in 2014. Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane is attached as a producer.

Sagan’s original Cosmos series is one of the most beloved and popular documentary series in the history of television. Broadcast on PBS in 1980, Cosmos was the most watched series in the public television history until Ken Burns’ The Civil War series overtook that title.



We’ve known that something like this was in the works, as reports of a Cosmos reboot starring Tyson was reported back in 2011. No additional details emerged at that time, and nearly a year later Tyson confirmed on Twitter that we could expect the new Cosmos series to launch in Spring of 2014.

The new show’s host, Neil deGrasse Tyson, is easily the most renowned astrophysicist around. He currently directs the Hayden Planetarium at the Rose Center for Earth and Space, and has hosted a PBS show before – NOVA ScienceNow from 2006 to 2011. Tyson is also host to the popular StarTalk Radio Show. He’s also a frequent contributor to the alternative nightly show circuit, including The Daily Show, and Real Time with Bill Maher. Oh, and he’s quite popular on the internet.

Earlier this week we learned that Fox is also bringing back the popular action series 24 – but at this point it’s a one-time thing and it will only run 12 more episodes.
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it looks like it should be good.
 
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