* SpaceX did a test of the Dragon crew module pad abort last Monday:
* Blue Origin flew the New Shepard suborbital vehicle to the edge of space last week:
* Back in April SpaceX attempted to land the first stage of a Falcon 9 onto a floating platform in the Atlantic. A balky valve disrupted the control just above the platform, causing it to touchdown at a tilt. They will try again to land the first stage for a flight in June and in other launches later in the year.
The latest update from NASA on activities related to the Int. Space Station:
More positive reviews for the Kerbal Space Program (see earlier post):
* Kerbal Space Program review: A playful masterpiece of space exploration – The Washington Post
“Kerbal Space Program” is the kind of game one’s never finished playing. Its ends always feel open to negotiation. It is a purer form of game play. Rather than a ritualistic capitulation to an unchanging condition, it creates a system of wonderment within an ever-expanding boundary of possibilities. Even the game’s susceptibility to bugs and its ungainly interfaces belie a wild expansiveness, technical byproducts of a thing attempting to do things no one planned for it to do.
* Kerbal Space Program review – the final frontier – Metro News
Despite the hugely complicated theories underpinning your creations much of the game’s design decisions remain surprisingly intuitive. You don’t need to have studied applied physics to make reasonable decisions on rocket design: a paper plane and an understanding that the heavier something is the more thrust it needs to take off will do.
There is an element of edutainment to Kerbal Space Program (it’s endorsed by both NASA and Elon Musk) but it still works extremely well as a straight video game, to the point where its closest comparison is probably Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts. It still needs better tutorials and a more accessible introduction to sandbox mode, where the real fun is to be had, but clearly this is a game that is going to continue to evolve, and will probably never be truly ‘finished’.
* It’s Not Easy Being Green – Kerbal Space Program – GameInformer.com
Kerbal Space Program provides something for everyone: players who will never see a return voyage from “the Mun,” and those who delve into special resource gathering, landing, docking, and crew-out-of-ship activities. If you are a creative type who loves to fool around with physics, you’ll probably love Kerbal Space Program. If you’re just looking to create unbelievable, ridiculous rockets with an impractical number of fuel pods, you can still have plenty of fun. Whatever your level of engagement, you can enjoy shooting these little green Smurfs into space – or into the nearby scenery.
Here is a collection of recent TMRO.tv Space Pod video reports. Note that
TMRO Space Pods are crowd funded shows. If you like [these episodes] consider contributing to help us to continue to improve. Head over to http://www.patreon.com/spacepod for information, goals and reward levels. Don’t forget to check out our weekly live show campaign as well over at http://www.patreon.com/tmro
* Why is there no cold beer in space!? – Space Pod 05/06/15
From wet burps to breaking the rules, Lisa Stojanovski talks about the different fridges on the International Space Station and why none of them are stocked with beer.
* NASA is STILL Doing Amazing Things – Space Pod 05/05/15
NASA is still doing some amazing things, both in space and on Earth, and in this episode, Space Mike discusses some awesome stuff that just happened in the last week.
* A Symphony of Satellites – Space Pod 05/03/15
What if you could hear the satellites that are over your head? This week, Ariel Waldman showcases a really cool space hack that translates Earth-orbiting robots into rhythm.
* The Cosmic Yardstick: Light Years – Space Pod 05/01/15
TMRO Astronomer Jared Head goes over what a light year is, and why astronomers use them.
* EMERGENCY Russia’s Progress Cargo Vessel Fails! – Space Pod 04/30/15
Russia’s Progress 27M Cargo Vessel failed to deploy it’s antenna’s so that ground controllers could successfully dock the spacecraft to the International Space Station. In this video Space Mike discusses why it failed and what we are going to do about it.
* Allergies, synthetic muscle and Robonaut on the International Space Station – TMRO
Last week on the International Space Station, astronauts swabbed their noses in search of allergy-causing microorganisms and played with synthetic muscle that could make robots perform more like humans. Lisa Stojanovski also talks about her favourite International Space Station crew member – Robonaut-2.
Spacevidcast Robonaut-2 Coverage
Myco Experiment
Synthetic Muscle
Robonaut-2
NASA’s Journey to Mars program is offering prizes for solutions submitted from the public for three problems that need solving to help make it feasible to send humans to the Red Planet: NASA Announces Journey to Mars Challenge – NASA
The challenges are listed in the NASA Innovation Pavilion: