Category Archives: Space Systems

Mars, Rockets, Space Systems

Videos: The Nexø II story + The Mars Helicopter + Commercial Crew test flights + Dream Chaser update

More videos:

** The full story of the Nexø II mission August 2018 – Highlights of the recent rocket launch by the all-volunteer Copenhagen Suborbital group:

On August 4th 2018 we successfully launched the Nexø II rocket. Nexø II is Copenhagen Suborbitals most advanced rocket to date. In this video we show you the complete story will all the highlights of the mission. Enjoy! 

** Mars Helicopter – 21st Annual International Mars Society Convention – J. Bob Balaram of NASA JPL reports on the Mars Helicopter, which will travel to the Red Planet on the  Mars 2020  rover mission when it launches in July 2020:

** NASA Commercial Crew: The Flight Tests – A brief item about the initial test flights by Boeing and SpaceX of the systems for taking crews to the International Space Station

** SpaceX Cargo Dragon leaves the ISS –

** Dream Chaser Space Vehicle update from Sierra Nevada on preparations for first ISS cargo flight in 2020:

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Living in Space, Space Systems, SpaceCasts

Videos: “Space to Ground” report on the ISS – Aug.31.2018

Here is the latest Space to Ground report from NASA on activities related to the International Space Station:

A selection of other recent NASA videos of interest:

** An overview of NASA’s ICON mission, which is set to be orbited in October via a Northrop Pegasus XL rocket air-launched from under a Lockheed L-1011 airliner:

Where does Earth’s atmosphere end and space begin? This and other questions soon will be answered by NASA’s Ionospheric Connection Explorer, or ICON, satellite. Get ready to watch as the Pegasus countdown reaches T-Zero launching in early October from its carrier aircraft flying near the Kennedy Space Center. 

** Guy Bluford Reflects on the 35th Anniversary of His First Space Flight

** An update on the recently launched Parker Solar Probe:

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Living in Space, Space Systems, SpaceCasts

Videos: “Space to Ground” ISS report – Aug.17.2018

Here is this week’s Space to Ground report from NASA on activities related to the International Space Station:

And here is the latest This Week @NASA report:

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Amateur/Student Satellite, Living in Space, Space Systems

Video: Japan’s BIRDS project deploys satellites from ISS for countries new to space

The Japan space agency’s BIRDS project has launched university student-built CubeSats from the Kibo module on the International Space Station for several countries that have never before put spacecraft into orbit. The project is managed by the Kyushu Institute of Technology (Kyutech) and is known officially as the Joint Global Multi-Nation Birds Satellite project.

A view of the BIRDS-2 deployment as seen by German astronaut Alexander Gerst.

Birds-1 deployed scientific and technology demonstration CubeSats from Ghana, Mongolia, Nigeria, Bangladesh and Japan while BIRDS-2 deployed CubeSats for Bhutan, Malaysia, and the Philippines.

This video, narrated mostly in Japanese but with English subtitles, describes the Birds project and shows the two deployment events. An animation between 11:10 – 14:30 gives a clear depiction of how the ISS satellite deployment system works.

Birds-1:

Birds-2

Another image of the BIRDS-2 deployment from Alexander Gerst on Twitter.

A JAXA project apparently separate from BIRDS also deployed spacecraft for three countries that are newbies to orbital hardware:

The three BIRDS-2 cubesats head into orbit. Alexander Gerst on Twitter

Resources:

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Living in Space, Space Systems, SpaceCasts

Videos: “Space to Ground” ISS report – Aug.10.2018

Here is this week’s Space to Ground report from NASA on activities related to the International Space Station:

The full video of the Expedition 56 Education Interview with McAuliffe Shepard Discovery Center on August 9, 2018:

Kennedy Space Center news for this week:

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