A video of last week’s successful X-51 scramjet test flight: The X-51A soars to new heights – Boeing
Update: More about the flight from Michael Belfiore : X-51A Screams to Hypersonic Success: A nine-year development effort has finally paid off to create air-breathing planes that can hit Mach 5 and above. PM gets an update from program officials about what this means to the future of flight – Popular Mechanics – May.9.13.
Kristian von Bengtson of Copenhagen Suborbitals gives an update on the wind tunnel testing of a model of their Tycho Deep Space II capsule and the modifications they have made to its design: More Winds – More Testing -Wired Science/Wired.com.
The Space Studies Institute, whose mission is “to complete the missing technological links to make possible the productive use of the abundant resources in space”. SSI just announced that it is starting a new project with Prof. Jim Woodward of California State University Fullerton: Exotic Propulsion Initiative – Space Studies Institute.
SSI has always prided itself on focusing our resources on projects that work to provide technologies that further the cause of space settlement and permanent life off Earth. We’ve announced two efforts, the G-Lab and the E-Lab, to provide technologies required for understanding the amount of gravitational force and practical closed life-support systems required for long-term or permanent human habitation in space.
To these projects we have added the Exotic Propulsion Initiative, to explore exotic propulsion opportunities at the very borderlands of physics.
Much public and press excitement has been generated by the DARPA-funded “100 Year Starship” effort, and work on warp drive theory and concepts at NASA’s Johnson Space Center.
An intriguing and thoughtful recent book by Professor Jim Woodward, Making Starships and Stargates: The Science of Interstellar Transport and Absurdly Benign Wormholes
, has further heightened interest in “exotic” physics propulsion concepts.
While no one can predict if or when these technologies might become practical, we can say for certain that not funding basic research will consign any breakthroughs to the realm of science fiction forever.
Accordingly, SSI has established our Exotic Propulsion Initiative to take bold new risks that are unlikely to find conventional funding. Donations to the project will be first used to extend and replicate Professor Woodward’s provocative research findings at his lab at CalState Fullerton, and as resources permit, to open new avenues of exploration into advanced propulsion with other scientists.
Professor Woodward has donated major royalties from his book to SSI in order to jump-start this project’s funding. We are grateful for his donation and are very pleased to be able to offer an opportunity to all interested parties to extend and increase his gift.
I have been offering a serialization of the updated version of the book The Rocket Company by Patrick J. G. Stiennon and David M. Hoerr, with illustrations by Doug Birkholz. This week you can obtain the following chapters of the book:
Download these within the next week. Only four chapters will be available at any one time.
** The electronic version of the updated book is available today for free at The Rocket Company eBook by Patrick Stiennon, David Hoerr, Peter Diamandis, Doug Birkhol: Kindle Store/Amazon.com.
Yesterday. Virgin Galactic‘s SpaceShipTwo (SS2)vehicle made its first rocket powered test flight. VG has created an education program called Galactic Unite with STEM lesson plans based around the SS2 test flights: Galactic Unite Lesson Plans are now live! – Virgin Galactic
These aim to engage and inspire educators and students around Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo test flight milestones.
These aim to engage and inspire educators and students around Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo test flight milestones. You can now download free lesson plans, activities and resources from http://virg.in/zUehN , which are pitched at students aged 5-18. Teachers can use these to enhance technology and engineering lessons, as well as help develop aerospace career paths for students around the world. We hope this encourages many more fledgling rocket scientists out there to reach for the stars!
Stay tuned for more exciting news about Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo and our educational programs via our Galactic Unite website or Virgin Galactic website, Twitter and Facebook.
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And here is a description of the lesson plans at Virgin Unite – Galactic Unite:
Galactic Unite Lessons Plans for Educators
Virgin Galactic and Galactic Unite announce the first of their lesson plans and resources!
These aim to engage and inspire educators and students around Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo test flight milestones. You can now download free lesson plans, activities and resources below, which are pitched at students aged 5-18. Teachers can use these to enhance technology and engineering lessons, as well as help develop aerospace career paths for students around the world. We hope this encourages many more fledgling rocket scientists out there to reach for the stars!
The lesson plans are available here:
Lesson Plan #1: Paper Airplane Designs for Safe Landings
As with the glider test flights of SpaceShipTwo, the most important part to ensure a successful mission is the ability to secure a safe landing. Test a design’s effect on an aircraft’s landing ability with the first lesson plan ‘Paper Airplane Designs for Safe Landings’ where students will create different paper airplane designs, test and study them, to see which ones land the safest.
Lesson Plan #2: WhiteKnightTwo
In the second lesson plan, explore all the ins-and-outs of WhiteKnightTwo, one of the most unique aircrafts in the skies!
Lesson Plan #3: The Design and Test Flight Milestones of SpaceShipTwo
There are a lot of steps you have to take before you can go into space! In the third lesson plan, follow the timeline of SpaceShipTwo from design, to building the aircraft, and successful test flights.
Lesson Plan #4: Careers in Aerospace
Space exploration and commercial space travel is a growing field. In this final lesson plan, students will learn about potential careers in aerospace.
Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo Test Flight Lesson Plans Student Survey
Stay tuned for more exciting news about Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo and our educational programs via our Galactic Unite website or Virgin Galactic website, Twitter and Facebook.
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A video of yesterday’s SS2 flight: