“Asteroid mining is the key to our future expansion into space.
Planetary Resources is conducting the first commercial exploration of resources on near Earth asteroids.
The first resource that we’re interested in is water. Water, when you break it down into the elements Hydrogen and Oxygen, is rocket fuel – currently the best way to get around the Solar System.
In much the same way that the economic activity on Earth is enabled by fossil fuels, in space, we will have a water-based economy. The Earth’s gravity well is so deep that the cost of bringing propellant from Earth to fuel that economy in space will be prohibitive.”
“SpaceX’s Rocket Development and Test Facility in McGregor, Texas is used for research and development of new rocket engines and thrusters as well as for testing final manufactured engines, various components, and engines during development. Although SpaceX manufactures all of their rocket engines and thrusters at their Hawthorne headquarters, each must pass through McGregor where the company tests each new engine off of the assembly line as well as those being developed for future missions to orbit and beyond before each one can be used on a flight mission. […] Extensive and repeated rocket engine testing is a key to increasing reliability and thereby mission success, while lowering operating cost for SpaceX. Dragon spacecraft, following use on a space mission, splashdown and recovery, are shipped to McGregor for de-fueling, cleanup, and refurbishment for potential reuse in flight missions. The first scaled methane-fueled Raptor rocket engine, manufactured at the Hawthorne facility in California, shipped to McGregor by August 2016 for development testing.
In 2011, the company announced plans to upgrade the facility for launch testing a VTVL rocket, known as Grasshopper, and then constructed a half-acre concrete launch facility in 2012 to support the test flight program. After 8 flights of Grasshopper, and 5 flights of its successor “F9R Dev1” between 2012 and 2014, the FAA permit to fly Grasshopper flight tests in Texas expired in October 2014.
The company originally purchased the McGregor testing facilities of defunct Beal Aerospace—on land which was formerly a munitions manufacturing plant during World War II — where it refitted the largest test stand at the facilities for Falcon 9 engine testing. SpaceX has made a number of improvements to the facility since purchase, and has also extended the size of the facility by purchasing several pieces of adjacent farmland. The area to support the test facility was initially just 256 acres (104 ha) but by April 2011 this more than doubled to over 600 acres (240 ha). With only three initial employees onsite, the facility grew to over 140 employees by late 2011. As of October 2012, the McGregor facility consisted of seven test stands operated 18 hours a day, six days a week, and was building more test stands because production was ramping up and the company had a large manifest in the next several years. As of September 2013, the McGregor facility operated 11 test stands involved in the rocket engine test program, and was averaging two tests each day. The largest test stand by 2013 was the 82 meters (269 ft) tall Falcon 9 tripod. As of March 2015, the facility comprised 4,000 acres (1,600 ha), with 12 test stands; it had run over 4000 Merlin engine tests, including some 50 firings of the integrated nine-engine first stage.
In May 2016, the McGregor City Council instituted more restrictive rules on rocket engine, rocket stage, and low-altitude flight testing. SpaceX has not commented publicly on how the new rules will affect their testing operations, nor whether they will be evaluating other locations where they might conduct such testing.”
“It’s the perfect meeting of old and new. Astronomers have combined recent data from ESA’s Gaia mission with a simple analysis technique from the 18th century to discover a massive star cluster that had previously escaped detection. Subsequent investigations are helping to reveal the star-forming history of our Galaxy, the Milky Way. “
“INTEGRAL (from INTErnational Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory) observes the ever-changing, powerful, and violent cosmos. It is the first space observatory that can simultaneously observe objects in gamma rays, X-rays, and visible light. The spacecraft travels in a geosynchronous highly eccentric orbit with high perigee in order to provide long periods of uninterrupted observation with nearly constant background and away from the radiation belts. Over time, the perigee and apogee have changed, as has the plane of the orbit.
In 2015, spacecraft operators conducted four thruster burns that were carefully designed to ensure that the satellite’s eventual entry into the atmosphere in 2029 will meet the Agency’s guidelines for minimising space debris. The orbital changes introduced during these manoeuvres are highlighted in blue. Making these disposal manoeuvres so early also minimises fuel usage, allowing ESA to exploit the satellite’s lifetime to the fullest.
By revealing both the diffuse emission from our Galaxy, the Milky Way, and the population of individual sources that shine brightly at these energies in our Galaxy and beyond, INTEGRAL has broadened our understanding of the high-energy Universe.”
“ESA’s CryoSat and the Copernicus Sentinel-1 missions have been used to measure subtle changes in the elevation and flow of ice shelves that, in turn, reveals how huge canyons are forming underneath. Warm bottom ocean water is entering the cavity under Antarctica’s Dotson ice shelf and is stirred by Earth’s rotation. This is causing one side of the ice shelf to melt. The canyon, which has formed over 25 years, is now 200 m deep in places and the ice just above it is heavily crevassed, affecting the shelf’s future ability to buttress the ice on land.”
Video credit: ESA/University of Edinburgh–N. Gourmelen/Planetary Visions
Boston Dynamics released a teaser video with SpotMini, their new small four-legged robot, and the quietest robot they designed and built. SpotMini weighs 25 kg, it is all-electric, and has a 90 minute range. The navigation is supported by stereo cameras, depth cameras, an IMU, and position/force sensors in the limbs. SpotMini has the ability to maintain balance and negotiate rough terrain.
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