Selparis

Falcon 9 v1.1 Test

Tyler Raiz — Mon, 30 Sep 2013 15:51:13 +0000

Yesterday (September 29th), SpaceX launched the newest version of its Falcon 9 rocket, which includes an improved payload capacity of 13 tons to Low Earth Orbit. The new rocket also featured a preliminary version of the reusability package that SpaceX hopes will allow them to recover their rockets in a state suited to rapid turn-around, […]

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The Cygnus/Antares Launch

Tyler Raiz — Wed, 18 Sep 2013 16:13:05 +0000

In a September full of test launches (Minotaur V and Epsilon), here’s the latest offering: Orbital Sciences’ Cygnus cargo craft on the Antares rocket making its first demonstration flight to the International Space Station. With this, Orbital Sciences aims to be the second private company cleared for cargo transfers to the ISS, after SpaceX. I […]

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Two Truly Spectacular Maiden Flights – Minotaur V and Epsilon

Tyler Raiz — Mon, 16 Sep 2013 18:03:43 +0000

It’s pretty rare that we get two magnificent new launch vehicles getting their first flight within a week of each other, but that’s what happened with the LADEE/Minotaur V launch on Sept. 7th and the SPRINT-A/Epsilon launch on Sept. 14th. Both rockets use a series of solid stages to boost their payload – the Minotaur […]

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Elon Musk Explains SpaceX’s Cutting-Edge Design Tech

Tyler Raiz — Fri, 06 Sep 2013 23:00:52 +0000

Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX, explains some of the back-end technology his company is working on that will revolutionize the way engineering is done. First he shows the technology used to manipulate 3-D designs intuitively with a hand in 3-D space instead of in a clunky way with 2-D interfaces (like a mouse). Anyone who’s […]

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Kirobo and the HTV-4/H-IIB Launch

partapsingh — Mon, 05 Aug 2013 15:58:33 +0000

And here I thought that the KOUNOTORI4 was just a normal ISS cargo delivery launch, but no! The web is abuzz with the fact that it was delivering some extra-special cargo – namely this: That’s Kirobo – a merry little robot designed for space that can speak Japanese – including voice and speech recognition. It […]

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Astronaut Chris Cassidy Explains the Helmet Leak

partapsingh — Tue, 30 Jul 2013 17:21:16 +0000

If you’ve been following space news at all recently, you probably heard that on an ISS spacewalk, there was a malfunction in astronaut Luca Parmitano’s suit that led to water slowly leaking into his helmet. The flow was such that they were able to take a measured approach to considering the situation and getting Parmitano […]

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Kounotori4 / H-IIB Launch on August 4th

partapsingh — Sat, 27 Jul 2013 23:04:45 +0000

KOUNOTORI4 is the fourth H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) destined for launch from the Japanese Space Agency JAXA to the International Space Station. It is an unmanned resupply vessel, but unlike the Progress or ATV, it can carry International Standard Payload Racks to the station – only the SpaceX Dragon provides an alternative for that function. […]

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Alphasat and Insat 3-D/Ariane 5 Launch

partapsingh — Sat, 27 Jul 2013 18:14:00 +0000

This was a launch of the massive Ariane 5 rocket on July 25th, 2013 at 19:54 UTC from French Guiana carrying a total of 9760 kg into geostationary orbit. The payloads were Alphasat I-XL, which was put into up for Immarsat‘s Broadband network service, and INSAT 3-D, which is an Indian space research satellite. The […]

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NASA’s Orion Spacecraft

partapsingh — Fri, 26 Jul 2013 21:53:23 +0000

The Orion spacecraft is the vehicle NASA plans to use to extend the reach of manned spaceflight beyond Low Earth Orbit. Originally, it would have been perched on top of the Ares I launch vehicle, which was tested . . . but then canceled. Now, it will be on top of the Delta IV Heavy […]

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Using 3-D Printers to Make Rocket Parts? Done.

partapsingh — Thu, 25 Jul 2013 19:10:56 +0000

Yes, according to this July 24th article on NASA’s website, not only can they manufacture injectors using 3-D printers at a substantially cheaper cost than by traditional methods, but the 3-D printed parts actually perform better. You can get all the juicy details from the NASA article – as usual, I’d like to talk about the […]

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