Reaction Engines update, Mars mission & hypersonic airliner
The
July update at Reaction Engines Ltd. is now available. And here's a recent article about the company:
UK Skylon spaceplane set for engine test in "3-4 years" - The Register - July.22.10.
Brian Wang reports on the firm's
Troy Mars mission concept:
Reaction Engines of the UK Who is Developing the Skylon Spaceplane Has a Video of a Proposed Mission to Mars - nextbigfuture.com
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Reaction Engines is also working on the
LAPCAT A2 project, sponsored by the EU, to study development of a long range hypersonic airliner:
High-speed planes: Return of the Mach - The Independent - July.21.10
08/03/10 08:12 PM |
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Briefs: A lunar elevator; More space elevator news
A space elevator between the lunar surface and the Earth-Moon L1 LaGrange point is theoretically feasible with available tether materials:
Developers Say Lunar Elevator Could be Built Within a Decade - Universe Today.
More at
LiftPort, which is sponsoring a
workshop in Seattle, July 29-Aug.1.
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There is also big conference in August on the general topic of space elevators:
The 2010 Space Elevator Conference, August 13-15, Microsoft Conference Center, Redmond, Washington, USA.
The
Strong Tether Challenge, which has $2M prize money in the purse, will be held during the meeting.
I believe the latest rumors are that the
Power Beaming Challenge, which has a $1,100,000 prize remaining in the purse, will be held sometime later this year in Washington state.
The
Japanese Space Elevator Association (JSEA) is sponsoring a
climber competition (300m) during August 7-9.
Update: Here's a video (via
The Space Elevator Blog) by and about
LaserMotive, which won the level one Power Beaming Challenge prize last year:
07/19/10 09:56 PM |
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Reaction Engines update with STERN/STRICT projects video
Reaction Engines Ltd. has posted their
latest update (via
Rocketeers.co.uk).
Check out their interesting
video describing the
Expansion/Deflection Nozzle research projects with collaborators at University of Bristol and Airborne Engineering.
07/06/10 10:18 AM |
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IKAROS solar sail deployment postponed
Louis Friedman reports that the final step in the deployment of the
IKAROS solar sail will be delayed while the team studies the data from the initial unfurling steps to make sure everything is OK:
Lou Friedman in Japan: Taking things slowly with IKAROS sail deployment - The Planetary Society Blog - June.5.10
06/06/10 12:43 AM |
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More about the X-51A flight
The X-51A team still doesn't know why the vehicle didn't reach Mach 6 or why it shut down early. However, they are starting to extract useful information from the data and the engine seemed to demonstrate the basic performance goals that they wanted it to accomplish:
X-51A Team Eyes Results Of Scramjet Flight - Aviation Week - June.1.10.
06/02/10 12:20 AM |
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LightSail update
Speaking of solar sails, here is the latest on the Planetary Society's
LightSail project:
LightSail: Firming Up the Spacecraft Design - Planetary News/The Planetary Society
05/27/10 04:07 PM |
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IKAROS solar sail update
The Japanese
IKAROS spacecraft appears to be doing well as it prepares for deployment of the solar sail in a few weeks:
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Initial checkout of IKAROS complete - The Planetary Society Blog - May.25.10
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IKAROS moves to Verification Experiment Phase - JAXA - May.24.10
05/27/10 10:18 AM |
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X-51A flight success
Via a reader comes news that the X-51A scramjet test, delayed from yesterday, flew successfully today:
First X-51A Hypersonic Flight Deemed Success - Aviation Week.
05/26/10 06:50 PM |
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X-51A scramjet flight set for today
The
X-51A scramjet prototype is scheduled to fly today off the coast of California. It will be dropped from a B-52 and then boosted by a solid rocket to Mach 4.5. After release from the booster it will accelerate to Mach 6 under scramjet power for 5 minutes. This compares to 10 seconds of scramjet powered flight by the
X-43 in 2004.
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Air Force's Mach 6 Cruise Missile Ready to Race - Danger Room/Wired.com - May.24.10
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X-51A flight planned May 25 - AFRL - May.20.10
05/25/10 08:55 AM |
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IKAROS spin
Here's some more info about the
IKAROS solar sail, including this animation video showing how it will unfurl the sail:
IKAROS Aloft: Shaking Out Sail Technologies - Centauri Dreams.
05/21/10 03:16 PM |
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H-2A launch with Venus probe and solar sail set for today
Following a weather postponement of the first attempt earlier this week, JAXA will try again today to launch the H-2A rocket with the Venus Akatsuki orbiter and the IKAROS solar sail. Lift-off is planned for 21:58:22 GMT (5:58 p.m. EDT):
Spaceflight Now | H-2A Launch Report | Mission Status Center.
Here is another article about the IKAROS:
H-2A Launch Report | Solar sail will harness sunlight during test flight - Spaceflight Now.
The IKAROS container will be released from the payload adapter after about 42 minutes into the flight. However, the sail will not be unfurled until June.
Update7:33 pm EDT: The launch was a success and the Akatsuki and IKAROS spacecraft, as well as the UNITEC-1 university satellite, have been deployed.
05/20/10 12:48 PM |
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Reaction Engines - Skylon passenger module video
Via
Rocketeers.co.uk comes a pointer to the
Reaction Engines Ltd video about
SKYLON Passenger & Logistics Module, which is narrated by Brian Blessed (this reminds me that I should order the
I Claudius DVDs).
Don't know if the
Skylon is really doable, especially for the $15B or so that Reaction Engines claims is required for its development. However, it is amazing that instead of pursuing next-gen technology like this, NASA planned to spend up to $50B to develop an all-throwaway, solid rocket powered system with a sea landing capsule.
Time for NASA to let commercial companies build LEO transports with well proven systems and focus its R&D instead on leading edge technologies, e.g.
Spaceliner, 1971 - The Unwanted Blog.
05/19/10 10:15 AM |
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Briefs: Space elevator newsletter; IKAROS launch delayed
Check out the latest newsletter from the International Space Elevator Consortium (ISEC) :
The ISEC Newsletter - May 2010.
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Today's scheduled launch of Japan's H-2A rocket with the Akatsuki Venus probe and the IKAROS solar sail had been scrubbed due to bad weather. No new launch date posted yet:
H-2A Launch Report | Mission Status Center - Spaceflight Now.
This post shows how the sail will unfurl:
It Powers as It Sails - Japan's Ikaros - On Space/Aviation Week.
05/17/10 09:20 PM |
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Briefs: IKAROS again; X-51 test flight plan
More about the Japanese
IKAROS solar sail project:
Japanese Solar Sail Headed for Venus and Beyond - SPACE.com - May.16.10.
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Craig Covault writes a lengthy update on the
X-51 program, which has the first of four test flights coming up later this month :
X-51 scramjet flights poised to bridge air and space propulsion for space launch, Prompt Global Strike - Spaceflight Now
05/17/10 12:14 AM |
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IKAROS and the Planetary Society
The
Planetary Society provides more info about the Japanese
IKAROS solar sail project:
Japan to Launch Mission to Venus and Solar Sail on Monday
The Planetary Society Is Mission Participant
Pasadena, CA, — Japan's AKATSUKI mission -- the Venus Climate Orbiter -- will launch Monday, May 17 along with the IKAROS solar sail. Flying aboard both spacecraft are the names of The Planetary Society's members as well as greetings from others who signed up to send their names and messages to Venus.
continue at PS...
05/15/10 04:15 PM |
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IKAROS solar sail set to fly
Will be great if the Japanese
IKAROS becomes the first solar sail finally to get a boost from the Sun:
Maiden voyage for first true space sail - New Scientist - May.12.10. It is scheduled to reach space on May 18th as a secondary payload on the H-IIA rocket that is launching Japan's new Venus orbiter.
05/14/10 12:26 AM |
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