The Project Morpheus team at NASA JSC was out testing their new lander on a tether Thursday. See the postings at Morpheus Lander (MorpheusLander) on Twitter as in these two examples:
Thanks for watching! Not tomorrow, but NEXT WEEK for sure! Soon we should have a live video feed to the world as well!
At 3ft in the air, I just had another successful test fire! I’m feeling good… now I get to do some RCS tests before we wrap for the day!
now has a concept design for their manned suborbital space vehicle, which they call the HEAT-1600/Tycho Deep Space: HEAT 1600 Concept Development – The Manifestation of Dreams and Ambitions (for Download) – Wired Science/Wired.com
“The first visualization of the HEAT-1600/TDSII rocket – 20 meters high. Image: Kristian von Bengtson. Concept: Peter Madsen / Kristian von Bengtson”
They make available the design drawings:
Nothing is secret at Copenhagen Suborbitals – so please go ahead – download the entire rocket here (Solidworks 2013, IGES and STP, 13MB total)
They are also making progress towards a flight test of their Sapphire rocket with using active guide jet vane rudders. Assembly pictures: 11-05-13 Sapphire Assembly – Copenhagen Suborbitals – Picasa Web Albums
I continue the 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.
See also the electronic version of the updated book is available at The Rocket Company eBook by Patrick Stiennon, David Hoerr, Peter Diamandis, Doug Birkhol: Kindle Store/Amazon.com.
A US Air Force sponsored program has developed a non-toxic alternative propellant to the commonly used, but highly toxic and flammable, monopropellant hydrazine: New research key to revolutionary ‘green’ spacecraft propellant – US Air Force
The new fuel, labeled AF-M315E, is an “energetic ionic liquid, or EIL”. It was developed by Dr. Tom Hawkins of the Air Force Research Lab with funding from the Integrated High Payoff Rocket Propulsion Technology (IHPRPT) Program. AF-M315E offers nearly twice the energy density of hydrazine, has very low vapor flammability and is non-toxic.
The fuel will be tested in space by NASA in 2015 using an engine developed for the fuel by Aerojet in the project called the Green Propellant Infusion Mission (GPIM)
The Green Propellant Infusion Mission (GPIM) project will demonstrate the practical capabilities of AF-M315E, a high-performance green alternative to hydrazine. This innovative, low-toxicity propellant is expected to improve overall vehicle performance. It boasts a higher density than hydrazine, meaning more of it can be stored in containers of the same volume; it delivers a higher specific impulse, or thrust delivered per given quantity of fuel; and it has a lower freezing point, requiring less spacecraft power to maintain its temperature.
Space historian David S. F. Portree writes about the North American X-15 and what lessons can be learned from its reusability : The X-15 Rocket Plane: Implications for Reusable Booster Schedule & Cost (1966) – Wired Science/Wired.com.