Todays space news

First story- Luxenbourg's investment in Planetary Resources,

Second; Blue Origin to fly Friday. What with SpaceX's next launch scheduled for Wednesday I look forward to the next round in the Bezos/Musk Twitter p*ssing context...

Catching up

A couple of interesting pieces from last week that I jut came across today (didn't have an work today so spent most of it browsing on line),

First off two MSM articles on current and future launch systems, the first on the BBC, and the second in the WaPo (this one has a few errors but nice graphics, they also have an additional accompanying piece)

Second, Lockheed Martin has flown a T-50A, its entry for the USAF's T-X programme. Personally I think it would be a big mistake to give them the contract based on their history with the F-35, also its getting close to the point where the rest of the industry will lack the capability to design and build advanced fighter aircraft if they don't win any contracts soon. On the other hand at least this one is an existing design (as opposed to Boeing and Northrop Grumman's designs) so it should be quicker and cheaper to build (but then again you have to add the L-M factor in....).

Big news last week was Beam being visited and Elon talking about manned Mars missions by 2024, further thoughts to follow...

Finally, not space related directly but a good article comparing Tesla and Tucker.

Chinese Space entrepreneurs

Anther stumbled upon article on Chinese space entrepreneurs. Interesting reading.

More info on XS-1

Two stories this week, an earlier one from Space News and one I saw today from PopSci. Given DARPA's track record (RASCAL< FALCON, ALSSA), will be a nice change if this program ends in a flight.

India launches RLV test- link roundup

Initial story here, more details here. A counter view here.

Another small satellite air launch system

This ones Scottish though. Two thoughts;

1) the market is getting a b it crowded now, not sure if there will be demand for all these small LV's,

2) Why a DC-10? Is an old design that has been out of production for nearly 30 years. Might prove problematic keeping it airworthy long term.

The week in review 4

This weeks round up of interesting links in the aerospace world;

More info on DARPA's XS-1 program,

Vector Space making progress,

Buzz dis's SLS,

Orbital ATK show off plans for a lunar orbital station, while LM are working on a Mars orbital mission- lots of info in this video:

Old jets being used for training modern pilots,

A close look at recovered SpaceX booster in the Observer, and also from the UK news on domestic spaceports.

CST-100 not flying until 2018 now

So Boeing, with nearly double the budget of SpaceX to produce a less capable design, is now running late too? (shocked face)

Just shows the difference in attitude- Boeing are just in it for the money while SpaceX are thinking bigger with Dragon, which may end up having a long life as an in-space transport, escape craft and landing craft for moons, asteroids and planets. I’ll be surprised if CST-100 ever flies a mission outside beyond the CCtCap program. I'll also bet that if there is a follow on like with CSR2 they don't get a contract (by that point I expect Blue Origin and maybe others to fly). If Boeing and the other

On the plus side at least Lockheed-Martin didn't get the contract....

Video of the day 1

Not one...

...but two videos of rocket vertical landings. 

It won't be much longer (hopefully) before these cease to be newsworthy

From the archives 1: Nautilus and other Private spacecraft

One of the main reasons I took down my old blog was that I as I began by teaching career I  was uncomfortable with some of my old writings being not found by students/colleges/whoever and causing issues. However there were quite a few good, non controversial things that I was sad to see removed from the web. With that in mind this is the first in a series of filler posts look backs on my prior writing. This was originally published 03/04/2011. Since then I think a Biglow/SpaceX manned interplanetary mission is even more likely

Had been meaning to post this vid for a while, which I came across the other week on Hobbyspace. I have been pondering the possibility of craft like this, and the possibility of them being privately funded ever since reading this blog post at Samizdata.

Another kernel of inspiration came from a newsletter I picked up at the BIS the other week, one of which had a summary of this study done by Lockheed-Martin on using Orion capsules to visit a NEO (Near Earth Object). As Orion has been cancelled now this study joins the pile of could have beens proposed over the last 40+ years. It did remind me of a chapter in Bob Zubrin's book Entering space on asteroids missions. It struck me that something similar to this could be put together over the next few years very cheaply.

Using a Bigelow BA330 for the main habitat, Dragon for crew launch and return, F9 upper stages (modified for refueling in orbit and long term propellant storage) and F9/F9 heavy to launch it all an asteroid or Mars orbit mission (to Phobos and Deimos) could be put together for less than $2 billion.

Even cheaper and closer at hand could be a lunar landing, using 2 Falcon heavies to launch fuel pods, a Dragon and a lunar lander developed by Armadillo/Masten. At a guess this could cost less than half a billion all in all.

It would be really cool if this could be done to mark the Apollo 11 50th anniversary landing in 2019!

The week in review 1

Due to various circumstances, I now have a lot more free time and have decided to start a new blog. This is the third time (I think) I have tried this out in the last 15 years, and my main aim with this one is to focus on my interests in space, aviation, military and other advanced technology. It is the 21st century after all, and I'd like this site to be a log of new developments with a bit of commentary and speculation of what may come.

And to so to start what I plan to be a weekly feature, a round-up of the biggest developments of the past week that have caught my eye. In future I'm also planning on linking back to my own posts, but today will just be external links.

Space flight

The biggest news this week has to be SpaceX's announcement that they plan to land a Dragon capsule on Mars in 2018. I have been dwelling on this a lot and have some thoughts I'd like to share soon on a near tern manned mission using this technology.

Additionally we saw a new very small launch vehicle unveiled by Vector Space. I'm not sure how much demand there will be for launchers in this payload range but will be the more competition the better. It will also be interesting to see how far this design can be scaled up. More info here.

Blue Origin posted (by email) some information on the development of their BE-4 engine. Here's a summary.

Finally, a good piece on Buzzfeed on the SLS and its lack of uses, and an Economist article on Billionaire philanthropists that mentions Elon Musk and Jeff Bezo's space projects. 

Aviation:

Saw this week about the Cobalt Valkyrie on Popsci. Is a very pretty plane and will be following its future development with interest.

Also this week Japan's' X-2 5th generation fighter prototype made its first flight, and while slightly older news I saw this article on Lockheed-Martins' return to the civil aviation market with the LM-100.

Military:

Australia orders 12 subs from France. Compared to the problems with the Royal Navy's Astute program seems a good deal.

That's it for this week! Check back for more news and commentary.