Category: Space Flight

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Elon Musk, Engineering, Space Flight, SpaceX

Space X: Elon Musk shares staggering video that shows true size of rockets

Elon Musk has shared a video that helps visualize the sheer scale of SpaceX’s rockets, and the results are awe-inspiring. The CEO retweeted a video on Wednesday from YouTube channel Corridor Crew, which uses visual effects to show the size of the Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy and BFR rockets in real-life situations.

The video, which uses 3D models produced by Reese Wilson, shows the sheer scale of the company’s rockets that it’s using to fulfil its space exploration ambitions. While the Falcon 9 has been sending satellites into space and the Falcon Heavy completed a test flight with the Tesla Roadster, it’s the upcoming BFR that will transport humans to Mars as soon as 2024. Musk described the video as “cool,” while astronomy writer Phil Plait wrote that it was “amazing. The SF/X are really really good. I’ve been to the SpaceX factory twice, and have seen the landing leg on the main floor and the booster outside. They’re WAY bigger than you’d think.”

Continue reading… “Space X: Elon Musk shares staggering video that shows true size of rockets”

Analysis, NASA, Space, Space Flight, SpaceX

Majority of Americans believe it is essential that the U.S. remain a global leader in space

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Despite the increasing role of private companies in space exploration, most believe NASA’s role is still vital for future.

Sixty years after the founding of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), most Americans believe the United States should be at the forefront of global leadership in space exploration. Majorities say the International Space Station has been a good investment for the country and that, on balance, NASA is still vital to the future of U.S. space exploration even as private space companies emerge as increasingly important players.

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Amazon.com, Business, Science & Technology News, Space, Space Flight

Prime delivery, straight from the moon? Bezos dreams of heavy industry in space

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Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is convinced that one day “we are going to have to leave this planet.” And he believes that his Blue Origin space company can help make it happen.

Outlining his ambitious vision at the Space Development Conference in Los Angeles during a recent on-stage chat with GeekWire‘s Alan Boyle, Bezos said that, ideally, Blue Origin would collaborate with NASA or ESA, Europe’s space agency, to move toward his goal, though he said that if that doesn’t work out, his company would go it alone.

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Analysis, Energy, NASA, Space Flight

NASA’s ‘impossible ‘ space engine tested-here are the results

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The first independent tests of the EmDrive suggest there’s a mundane explanation for the wildly controversial device.

Spaceflight is hard. Blasting heavy cargo, spacecraft, and maybe people to respectable speeds over interplanetary distances (not to mention the luxury of stopping at destinations) requires an amount of propellant too massive for current rockets to haul into the void.

That is, unless you have an engine that can generate thrust without fuel.

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Aviation, Business, Space, Space Flight

Rocket Lab readies its first commercial launch

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Rocket Lab’s Electron booster stands on the launchpad during testing

Following a successful January test launch that saw its Electron booster reach orbit for the first time, Rocket Lab is now getting down to business. The US-based private space firm and its wholly owned New Zealand-based subsidiary have announced plans to go ahead with its first fully commercial mission, with the launch window to open later this month.

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NASA, New Discoveries, Science & Technology News, Space, Space Flight

‘A fantastic find’: Mars hides thick sheets of ice just below the surface

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The slope rises as high as London’s Big Ben tower. Beneath its ruddy layer of dirt is a sheet of ice 300 feet thick that gives the landscape a blue-black hue. If such a scene sounds otherworldly, it is. To visit it, you’ll have to travel to Mars.

Continue reading… “‘A fantastic find’: Mars hides thick sheets of ice just below the surface”

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