A plane has been in space for 500 days, and no one knows why » Techly. The X-37B is a kind of robotic space plane, built by the US.
It’s been in Earth’s orbit for more than 500 days. And its real purpose is a complete mystery. Intrigued? Here’s what we do know about X-37B Constructed in California, the Boeing-built X-37B Orbital Space Vehicle was built for the US Air Force as a test vehicle; not intended to reach production. Currently the X-37B is orbiting at 28,044km/h, at a distance of around 350km in the sky. Getting to Orbit. Why India's Mars Mission Is So Much Cheaper Than NASA's : The Two-Way. Hide captionA rocket carrying the Mars orbiter lifts off from the island of Sriharikota, India, on Tuesday.
Arun Sankar K/AP A rocket carrying the Mars orbiter lifts off from the island of Sriharikota, India, on Tuesday. Former NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin pioneered a "faster, better, cheaper" approach to America's space program, but he would have been hard-pressed to deliver a Mars mission for the bargain-basement price of India's first probe to the red planet, which blasted off Tuesday. "India's Mars mission, with a budget of $73 million, is far cheaper than comparable missions including NASA's $671 million Maven satellite that is expected to set off for Mars later in November," reports The Wall Street Journal, which is among several publications noting the disparity between the cost of U.S. space missions and India's burgeoning program.
Even the project director of India's Mars orbiter mission has been quick to tout his country's frugality in space: Space Glider - FPV to Space and Back! HyperSoar. Key Words: HyperSoar, hypersonic aircraft.
The Rockets of Human Space Flight.
SpaceX. Inflatable spacecraft. Previous chapter: Node Module Above: A concept of the Russian inflatable module for the International Space Station, ISS.
Russia jumps on the inflatable bandwagon Russia's leading developer of manned spacecraft is working on the expandable module, which could be added to the Russian segment of the International Space Station, ISS. RKK Energia, based in the town of Korolev, just outside Moscow, initiated the project around 2011. Despite an exotic nature of inflatable orbital devices, the technology is hardly new to space program and might yet see its true renaissance in the exploration of the final frontier. History of space inflatables Although they are often perceived as a relic from the 18th century, inflatable balloons actually helped launch the Space Age. Far Side rocket Perhaps the most exotic use of inflatable technology for space exploration took place in 1957, when a 60-meter balloon lofted a 893-kilogram rocket dubbed Far Side to an altitude of 30.5 kilometers. Beacon Echo Gemini Luna. Virgin Galactic Wants To Do Moon Cruises, Replace The Concorde For Terrestrial Travel.
Virgin Galactic is starting off sending a small group of billionaires into space, which is pretty cool… if you’re a billionaire.
But the startup’s (yes, it’s a startup, even with Richard Branson at the helm) Commercial Director Stephen Attenborough took the stage at Wired 2013 in London today to talk a bit more about what the space travel company wants to do beyond billionaires. Hint: It could save the cruise business. In the near term, Virgin Galactic wants to do its star tourist thing, to be sure, but it has also already signed up NASA as the first client for space science missions, and there’s a chance to launch satellites into orbit in the same way that they launch aircraft (which is by piggy-backing on a weird dual-fuselage jet called the White Knight, instead of riding a barely controlled explosion). But there’s also opportunity in world travel, once economies of scale come into play and the cost of running these flights goes down.