Space News June 2015

PROJECT GLOBAL APOLLO A group of scientists and economists is calling for the equivalent of the Apollo space programme to produce cheap, clean energy. The group of experts call their project, launched at the Royal Society, “Global Apollo”. They say they have generated interest from major nations in their aim for an investment of 0.02% of GDP into research, development and demonstration (RD&D) of clean electricity. They believe that 2035 is the danger date…

Branson’s Space Plane delayed for years . . . Virgin Galactic's planned commercial space service may still be years away from taking flight, and its chief executive admits, “We've got work to do, that's for sure", in a Newsnight report on the project. Flight testing suffered a tragic setback last October when Virgin's Enterprise spaceship broke up in flight over California's Mojave desert, killing one of its test pilots. Some ‘Astronaut’ customers are asking for refunds. NTSB report on the disaster due very soon.

But Commercial Small Satellite Launching is a Possibility . . . “LauncherOne” is designed to support quick, responsive, and affordable Cubesat and microsatellite missions. This is a launch vehicle that works like your satellite. Launched from a runway almost anywhere, to give optimal orbit insertion.

Mars Mission - Low Density Supersonic Decelerator Test – Due Tomorrow Next launch attempt is Wednesday, June 3, no earlier than 6:30 pm UT. http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv will show LIVE video of this test. Following balloon launch from mid-Pacific and rocket firing, the object is to have a controlled descent from supersonic speed via a system of parachutes. This technology if successful will be used on future Mars landings.

DAWN spiralling ever closer . . . By May 23rd, Dawn was down to 3,200 miles above the surface of Ceres. The mysterious white spot in the crater is now the subject of a NASA public ‘vote’  Any ideas?

ISS at Midnight

Dusty, Rocky Icy Cliff -- Where? This view of comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko 67P was taken by the Rosetta spacecraft. The irregular ‘dumbbell’ shape of the comet results in vistas such as this. For scale, the picture here is ~850m across.

Ariane V goes up – 27th May 2015 Ariane 5 flight VA223 lifted off from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana last week and delivered two telecom satellites, Directv-15 and Sky Mexico-1, into their planned orbits. Sadly, 2 Russian launchers failed during the month – a Soyuz and a Proton.

Black Hole plays Cosmic Billiards . . . Two big blobs of plasma, shot into space by a black hole, are seen cannoning into each other in a dramatic cosmic billiard-shot. The massive black hole sits in the centre of elliptical galaxy NGC 3862, blasting out a jet of plasma at 98% of C. A fast-moving blob within the jet caught up with another, in a dazzling kinetic impact. It was spotted in a series of Hubble Space Telescope images spanning 1994 - 2014.

My Picture of the Month (APOD May 24th) Endeavour’s Final Launch . . . This picture taken above the clouds as Endeavour burst through was taken by a Shuttle training aircraft high above Florida on 16th May 2011 as it left Earth on its final space mission STS134. The retired Endeavour can now be seen at the California Science Centre, Los Angeles. Endeavour arriving in LA

Goodnight - from Curiosity

Anything interesting between now & September to: michael@held.org.uk