This week we have a lot of news

This week we have a lot of news related to Space, enjoy.
SpaceX Rocket Test
This week SpaceX CEO tweeted that they had tested fired their most powerful Rocket yet, with 1.3m lbs.
Image
Here is a copy of the image, looking forward to seeing this vehicle in flight.
Image
Boeing Marching on with CCiCap milestones
This week Boeing announced that it has completed another two milestones under their CCiCap agreement with NASA.  These two milestone bring the reality of Human Space flight for US closer with the completion of the wind tunnel tests on a scale model of the combined CST-100 and Atlas V rocket that will launch it.  The second milestone related to the propellant plumbing changes needed to support the two engine Centaur stage that will be used, all previous Atlas V flights have used a single engine Centaur.
Boeing, Sierra Nevada Corp. and SpaceX are all competing to bring Manned Space Flights to the International Space Station and LEO back to US soil.
In related news Sierra Nevada announced this week they they have successfully started the main testing for the Hybrid Rocket motor that will be used on the DreamChaser vehicle.
3D Printing in Space
There have been a number of exciting announcements about 3D printing recently, NASA announced they were funding a 3D food printer with the first focus on pizza.  This week NASA and Made in Space, Inc announced an agreement to fly a 3D printer to the space station next year to being testing the production of items.
3D printing techniques offer a number of opportunities to improve the cost of manufacturing and reduce the payload required.  Deep Space Industries and The Mars Foundation plan to use materials found in space to supply 3D printers that would allow in-situ manufacturing of parts, these could be used to build structures or even spacecraft and wouldn’t have the same restrains that we have on earth to do Payload mass limits on rockets.
ATV-4 (Albert Einstein) Launched
Following the successful launch aboard an Ariane 5 rocket the next ESA Automated Transfer Vehicle is currently on it’s way to the ISS.  Following a 10 day journey to the station it will dock and the cargo transfers will begin.  The ATV is the largest cargo vehicle available to the ISS with a capacity three times that of Progress and twice of the Dragon, included in the vehicle is fuel, air and water as well as the cargo.
Kepler keeps giving
While the Kepler spacecraft may not be able to continue it’s science mission (they haven’t given up on it yet and are planning ways to compensate for the recent failure), the science data that has already been received from the vehicle will keep scientist busy for years to come as they confirm the planet candidates.  <<ADD KEPLER STATS HERE>>
ARKYD Kickstarter Update
As of writing the Planetary Resources ARKYD Kickstarter project has raised more than $750,000 of the $1,000,000 needed to fund the project.  With more than 20 days remaining it is looking increasingly likely that they will exceed the required amount.  For the latest updates on the campaign check out the Kickstarter page here.
Curiosity Mars Rover Update
During this weeks Rover update teleconference NASA announced that the second drill investigation was complete and they were now heading towards Mount Sharp.  When asked how long it would take to arrive they stated that it would depend on what they found on the way and if it was worth stopping to investigate.   It could take as much as a year to arrive at Mount Sharp.  The Rover’s power supply is good for many years to come therefore they are going to take there time and do the science as they find the need.  Full details of the announcement including additional pictures are available here.
Image
Orion Update
After venting my frustration with the SLS/Orion program last week I thought it was only right to pass on the news that the Orion Capsule had completed stress tests this week that replicate the stresses that would be experienced during an actual mission.  The fixes they made to the designed after the cracks appeared before worked successfully and the vehicle passed all the tests.
And Finally
Today my family and I will be heading to Worchester to visit WPI for the Touch Tomorrow festival, this will be an opportunity for us to meet a NASA Astronaut and see some of the latest developments in Robotics.

Posted

in

, ,

by

Tags:

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *