SpaceX readies November launch to International Space Station

Matthew Lynley

From: http://venturebeat.com/

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Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), run by Tesla Motors chief executive and PayPal mafioso Elon Musk, is looking at a November launch for its second private space flight to the International Space Station.
It’s one of the first of several launches for the company as part of a 12-flight cargo mission to supply the International Space Station now that the U.S. space shuttle program has ended. SpaceX secured $1.6 billion in funding to run the mission.

“I think it’s a really exciting time for space, because for the first time in several decades we had a very real prospect of fielding multiple human space vehicles,” Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides told VentureBeat. “That’s good for the U.S., it encourages innovation and also provides more than one option, which means it’s more reliable.”

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is currently discussing developing an in-line, disposable space vehicle that would put between 70 and 130 tons of cargo into orbit. Those rockets are primarily planned for exploration beyond low-Earth orbit, Whitesides said. But there’s plenty of room for a company to handle cargo missions and sub-orbital travel, he said.

There’s also room for companies that specialize in space tourism, like Virgin Galactic. That company sells tickets for flights in sub-orbital paths above the Earth for around $200,000, while there are companies in Russia that sell tickets for orbital flights for around $65 million each ticket.

“My sense is that we’ll (Virgin Galactic) be the next american company that sends humans into space,” he said. “Obviously it’s sub-orbital versus orbital, but I think our general expectation whether it’s sub-orbital or orbital is that over time prices will come down.”

SpaceX is one of two companies NASA has contracted to fly cargo missions to the International Space Station now that the shuttle program has ended. NASA has also contracted Orbital Sciences to launch cargo missions to the space station.

SpaceX has raised $500 million from investors and $300 million in funding from NASA. The company was the first to send a private space capsule into orbit and bring it back to Earth in December.

SpaceShipTwo Returning to Earth Looks Just Awesome

Jesus Diaz
from: http://gizmodo.com/

—Virgin Galactic has tested the return capabilities of their SpaceShipTwo spacecraft for the first time. The video of its first feathered flight is just too beautiful and elegant to describe. Just watch it:

Click on video to see at full screen

The test was conducted at the Mojave Desert, in California. WhiteKnightTwo lifted the suborbital spacecraft to the skies and then released it. Shortly after breaking free, SpaceShipTwo started its feathered descent maneuver. The video—which was taken with telescopic cameras provided and operated by the Clay Observatory—demonstrates that Burt Rutan's shuttlecock technology works like a charm. Such a simple design, yet so effective. This is exactly why I love aircrafts and engineering.

The 27-foot wingspan ship—which has a cabin of just 12 feet (3.66 meters) long by 7.5 feet (2.28 meter) in diameter—will take six people to space for $200,000 a head when it's operative. Start saving, people!

Then send me your money.

http://www.virgingalactic.com/

SpaceX Reveals The Falcon Heavy, The Most Powerful Rocket Since The Mighty Saturn V

by Matt Burns
from http://www.crunchgear.com/

SpaceX teased the world last week with some rocket pr0n that hinted that the company was finally ready to reveal its Falcon Heavy mega rocket. Well, that’s what the company did minutes ago in a Washington DC press conference. World, meet the Falcon Heavy. She might take us back to the Moon.






The Falcon Heavy will be the most powerful and capable launch platform. At 52,000 kg the payload capability is nearly double that of the current heavy lifter, the Space Shuttle and its 24,400 kg carrying capacity. This super strength is thanks to a three banks of nine engines that combine to generate 17 MN (3,800,000 lb) of thrust at liftoff. SpaceX claims that the three core design makes the Falcon Heavy as powerful as a three stage rocket. (Like the Saturn V) Cross-feeding propellant from the side boosters leaves the center core the majority of the fuel even after the two boosters separate. This function is optional and can be disabled for lower-mass launches.

While impressive, it’s still half as powerful as the 44-year old Saturn V’s 7,648,000 lb record. Still, SpaceX’s CEO, Elon Musk stated that it’s powerful enough to send man back to the Moon and it very well do just that since the the Falcon Heavy complies with NASA’s human rating standards. The Falcon Heavy is expected to blast off for the first time in 2012. Space just got exciting again. [SpaceX]

First craft lands at Spaceport America (Exclusive Video)

by Stephen Greenwood

from http://www.gadling.com/

The future of travel is one step closer to taking off. Last Friday, Spaceport America officially dedicated its recently completed tarmac by welcoming two craft to land in front of a large crowd of Spaceport officials, future astronauts, and press.

Gadling was on-site to witness history as Virgin Galactic's spaceship VSS Enterprise, carried by mothership White Knight II, made a dramatic flyover and landed on the enormous 200 ft wide by 10,000 foot long runway.

Situated under restricted airspace in the desert of New Mexico, the Spaceport is the first purpose-built commercial facility designed for vertically and horizontally launched spacecraft. The facility will serve as Virgin Galactic's headquarters for the initial 20 years of operation, but aims to serve as a base for many types of commercial spacecraft as this new industry is formed.

For more information about Virgin Galactic's approach to commercial spaceflight, head on over to their website. For a look at the event and interviews with Richard Branson, Governor Bill Richardson & a few future astronauts, watch our exclusive video below!

SolarEagle Unmanned Plane to Fly for 5 Years Without Landing

by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada

from http://www.treehugger.com/

Photo: Boeing

First Flight Scheduled for 2014
It was a great accomplishment when the Zephyr solar plane spent over 2 weeks in the air. Some even dubbed it the "eternal plane". But it looks like the Zephyr is about to get some serious competition: Boeing just signed an $89 million contract with the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for the development of a solar plane that will be in a league of its own. Read on for more details.

The SolarEagle, pictured in the rendering above, is an unmanned aircraft powered by solar energy.
"SolarEagle is a uniquely configured, large unmanned aircraft designed to eventually remain on station at stratospheric altitudes for at least five years," said Pat O'Neil, Boeing Phantom Works program manager for Vulture II. "That's a daunting task, but Boeing has a highly reliable solar-electric design that will meet the challenge in order to perform persistent communications, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions from altitudes above 60,000 feet." The aircraft will have highly efficient electric motors and propellers and a high-aspect-ratio, 400-foot wing for increased solar power and aerodynamic performance. (source)
The deal is for Boeing to build a full-scale demonstrator and fly it for the first time in 2014. The initial flight should be 30 days, beating the Zephyr's record (though by then maybe the Zephyr will have a new, longer record).

This isn't the only unmanned aircraft that Boeing is working on. We've previously written about the hydrogen-powered Phantom-Eye.

Military and Civilian Uses
Such a plane could one day replace satellites in some applications and allow scientific missions to be done at a much lower cost than sending a satellite in orbit. Of course, it will probably first be used by the military, but many technologies with civilian uses have first been developed by the deep pockets of the DoD.

Via Boeing, Smartplanet

Gigantic airship will also serve as 'stratellite'

World's largest inflatable vehicle will become a stratospheric satellite, say its developers.

By Katherine Butler
From http://www.mnn.com/

BEYOND BLIMPS: The Bullet 580 is 235 feet long. By comparison, the Goodyear Blimp is only 192 feet long. (Photo: chadwho1ders/Flickr)

The heyday of air ships like the ill-fated Hindenburg were thought to be long gone. But decades since the famous airship crashed in New Jersey, the behemoths of the skies are making a comeback. Space.com reports that the E-Green technologies Bullet 580, a 235-foot long airship that is as long as a 27-floor skyscraper, is to serve as a stratospheric satellite, or "stratellite." Its developers hope that it will serve as a “high-flying sentinel” in the air.

The gigantic airship recently took six hours to inflate inside Garrett Coliseum in Montgomery, Ala. It is designed to carry payloads of up to 2,000 pounds at altitudes of 20,000 feet. The ship is made of Kevlar, which has a width just one-16th of an inch thick. Nonetheless, this is 10 times stronger than steel. E-Green Technologies bought the Bullet 580 from its developers, 21st Century Airships, just last year.

The Bullet 580 is intended as a prototype for a series of ships for commercial use. Michael Lawson is chairman and CEO of E-Green Technologies. As he told Space.com, "Our airships are radically different designs that move beyond the performance limitations of traditional blimps or zeppelins by combining advanced technology with simple construction and the ability to fuel with algae, protecting our environment.”

The practical uses for the gigantic air ship include military and civilian purposes. Space.com reports that different versions of the airship might take on roles for “battlefield surveillance, missile defense warning, electronic countermeasures, weapons platforms, Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) services, weather monitoring, broadcast communications and communications relays.” Further, E-Green Technologies expects that the new series of airships will create aerospace and aviation jobs in both Florida and California, where the business hopes to set up operational centers.

Launch of secret US space ship masks even more secret launch of new weapon

Michael Evans, Pentagon Correspondent 

From: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/

The X-37B sits on top of an Atlas V rocket

Somewhere above earth is America’s latest spaceship, a 30ft craft so classified that the Pentagon will not divulge its mission nor how much it cost to build.

The mysterious X37B, launched successfully by the US Air Force from Cape Canaveral on Thursday, using an Atlas V rocket, looks like a mini-Space Shuttle — but its mission is top secret.

It is officially described as an orbital test vehicle. However, one of its potential uses appears to be to launch a surge of small satellites during periods of high international tension. This would enable America to have eyes and ears orbiting above any potential troublespot in the world.

The X37B can stay in orbit for up to 270 days, whereas the Shuttle can last only 16 days. This will provide the US with the ability to carry out experiments for long periods, including the testing of new laser weapon systems. This would bring accusations that the launch of X37B, and a second vehicle planned for later this year, could lead to the militarisation of space.

US defence officials, who would not say how much the project had cost, insisted, however, that it was “just an updated version of the Space Shuttle activities”.

Thursday’s launch was more about testing the craft, a new generation of silica tile and a wealth of other advances that make the Shuttle look like yesterday’s space technology.

Nasa’s X37B programme began in 1999 and ran until September 2004 when it was transferred to the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency before being taken over by the US Air Force.
The flight of the X37B is being managed by the US Air Force Space Command’s 3rd Space Experimental Squadron.

“This bird has been through all of the shake, rattle and roll, the vibration tests, the acoustic tests that any spacecraft would go through,” said Gary Payton, Under Secretary of the Air Force for Space Programmes.
With all the focus on the launch of the secret X37B, another space launch by a Minotaur IV rocket from Vandenberg Air Force base in California received less attention.

It was carrying the prototype of a new weapon that can hit any target around the world in less than an hour.
The Prompt Global Strike is designed as the conventional weapon of the future. It could hit Osama bin Laden’s cave, an Iranian nuclear site or a North Korean missile with a huge conventional warhead.

Paragliding the Himalayas With iPhones, So You Can Go Too

• By Keith Barry

From jagged, snow-capped mountain peaks to peaceful villages adorned with colorful prayer flags, there are perhaps no more breathtaking views on earth than from high above the Himalayas. Five paragliders are right now flying and hiking the length of the Himalayas all the way through Nepal, and they’re sharing the once-in-a-lifetime experience with anyone who has a computer.

While paragliding in the Himalayas is a fairly common trip for experienced fliers, no team has gone all the way through Nepal. These guys are seasoned fliers and between them they have experience flying all over the world. But they’ve never tried anything like this before: hiking and flying more than 800 miles from Dharamsala to Sikkim, India.

“This journey has never been done by a team,” said Nick Greece of the U.S. Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association. “People have flown from Northern India to the Nepal border but never further. This team will fly across Nepal as well. For a team to do this live tracking is imperative, and it is only in the last year or two that it has become realistic and relatively reliable.”

The Himalayan Odyssey Team is carrying some impressive tech. It has the obligatory iPhones and three solar chargers to keep them going, variometers to track their rate of ascent and descent, two-way radios for staying in touch and GPS for staying on course. When they’ve got cellphone coverage, the team will upload track logs to their website, allowing those of us who prefer our feet on the ground to follow their adventure from our cubicles. SPOT GPS trackers also will update their route every 10 minutes.

“These will allow visitors to reply our flights on Google Maps, or Google Earth and visualize every circle, every zig, and every zag we make, and even what the terrain underneath us looks like while we’re zigging and zagging,” team member Eric Reed said. “It’s beautiful, but it will depend on GSM service.”

Hopefully they’ll have better coverage in the Himalayas (.pdf) than in Manhattan.

Reed, a member of the U.S. Paragliding Team who was laid off last year from a management position at Microsoft, says he’s already received e-mails of support and can’t wait to start offering live updates on his progress. He’s been through the Himalayas before with team leader Brad Sander, and at the end of last year’s trip they decided that this time they’d “take the line as far as we could.”

“All of the communication is great fun — both for the readers and the writers — and I think it does actually improve our safety level, but it also inevitably make the wilds just a little less wild,” he said. “That’s the way with technology. But I’m not complaining. There’s still plenty of wild in the world.”

In addition to letting the rest of the world come along for the journey, Reed says all that technology is essential for safety, helping keep the team connected even when they land in different locations. The Himalayas can be just as inhospitable as they are inspiring, and as they began their journey Wednesday, according to their blog, conditions were already far from ideal.

“We plan to fly and land together as a team, as much as possible, but inevitably there will be days when we get separated,” he said. “Once we’re all on the ground if we’re not all together, communication gets hard via cell or radio. The SPOTs will help us here as well — we’ll use them to send our position via SMS to everyone on our team once we’ve landed.”

Photos: Nick Greece

Read More http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/03/himalayan-odyssey-team/#ixzz0i0AMdGxI

Der CyberKrieg- German Cyberwarfare

A New Breed of Soldier?: gutter (CC Licensed)

Just outside the small town of Rheinbach, the German army has begun preparations for a new kind of war. Following on the heels of attacks against the Internet infrastructure of Estonia, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan, as well as a large scale hacking attack by China against a number of European countries, the German army, or Bundeswehr, has established its first unit dedicated solely to cyber war. According to a new article in Der Spiegel, the unit is still considered secret, and will work on both defensive and offensive operations.

But a technologically advanced nation developing a unit for cyber war is not itself unique. Rather, the fact that even Germany plans on developing these capabilities signals that the age of cyber war has finally arrived.

“Other than Britian and France, European countries have not been very out front about their war-making capabilities,” said Martin Libicki, author of Conquest in Cyberspace and a senior policy research at the Rand Corporation. “Since Germany is very careful about these things, the fact that they actually announced that they're doing it may mean it’s not as everyday as it seems.”

Instead, the creation of the secret unit signals that Germany will join the larger shift by many militaries towards acknowledging the importance of cyber war. According to Scott Borg, Director and Chief Economist of the US Cyber Consequences Unit, a non-profit founded by the US government that now independently consults with the government and businesses, about a dozen countries have developed cyber war capabilities.

With the Russian cyber attack that took out Estonia’s banking, government ministries and Internet for several days in 2007, the wired world joined the land, sea and air as a standard battlefield in modern war. After the 2007 Estonia incident, Russians launched cyber attacks against Georgia during their 2008 war, and then took down the Internet of Kyrgyzstan on January 18th of this year. Since 2007, cyber attacks have been used in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, between Indian and Pakistan, and between China and Taiwan and Japan.

Der Speigel said that the Bundeswehr unit, lead by Brigadier General Friedrich Wilhelm Kriesel, consists of 79 computer scientists recruited from the Bundeswehr’s universities and training centers.

And while the unit won’t become fully operational until next year, Germany has a long history of cyber war. According to James Lewis, Director and Senior Fellow, Technology and Public Policy Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the first case of cyber war in history occurred when the KGB hired German hackers to break into the US Department of Defense (DoD) computer system.

The impetus for creating this unit came from a spate of recent cyber attacks against Germany. In 2007, attempts by Chinese hackers to conduct industrial espionage against Germany became so bad that during a state visit to Germany, German chancellor Angela Merkel publicly asked Chinese officials to stop. Additionally, Germany has engaged in some spats over gas pipelines with Russia, a country that has launched cyber attacks every year since 2007.

“Russia has demonstrated the willingness to use cyber space, and I'm sure Germany is concerned about Russia's use of cyber force as a negotiating tactic,” said O. Sami Saydjari, chairman of the Professionals for Cyber Defense.

Of course, the creation of this new German unit isn’t the only sign that countries are paying more attention to the Internet battlefield. Just last month, the DoD published its Quadrennial Roles and Missions Report. The Report, which the DoD uses to help Congress formulate the military budget for the coming years, highlighted four areas of particular importance. Three of the areas were the obvious choices of counter-insurgency, unmanned aerial vehicles and supply. The forth area was cyber war. Looks like Germany might not be the only country increasing its focus on fighting this popular new kind of war.