Copenhagen Suborbitals posts a video of a test of a turbopump of the type they plan to use on their liquid fueled engines. (See the caption on the Youtube page for details of the project):
http://youtu.be/mZCf8omwzUg
Update on the Chelyabinsk fireball
The NY Times reports on what has been learned about the Chelyabinsk meteor, and the meteoroid that created it, in studies since the event: In Asteroid’s Aftermath, a Sigh of Relief : A Clearer View of the Space Bullet That Grazed Russia – NYTimes.com.
The report includes a video report on the event and on how non-professionals have participated in helping to refine the estimate of the orbit of the meteoroid.
Data from infrasound detectors around the world has helped in estimating the energy released in the fireball
the Canadian team has calculated that the energy released in the Chelyabinsk explosion was the equivalent of about 440 kilotons of TNT, or about 30 times the power of the Hiroshima bomb.
That calculation was made with the help of data from a network of acoustic sensors set up to monitor compliance with the treaty to ban nuclear weapons testing. There are about 45 of the sensors worldwide, detecting so-called infrasound at frequencies well below the range of human hearing.
Space policy: Disposing of underutilized NASA facilities + NASA education activities suspension
A nudge on NASA to dump unneeded facilities: Senate Passes Rubio Amendment Urging NASA To Dispose Of Underutilized Facilities To Save Taxpayer Dollars – Space Industry News.
Ed Wright comments on the suspension of some education and outreach programs at NASA in response to sequestration cuts: NASA Suspends All Education Activities – citizensinspace.org.
Imagining earth from space before spacecraft
Artist Ron Miller writes about the ways pre-Space Age artists depicted how the earth would look from space: How Artists Once Imagined the Earth Would Look from Space – Ron Miller/io9 – Mar.25.13.
Miller also had this previous article about the early space artist Lucien Rudaux : The first science artist to draw accurate pictures of Mars and the Moon – Ron Miller/io9 – Jan.16.12
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British Interplanetary Society history – part 2
Here is the second installment of Kelvin Long’s historical review of the British Interplanetary Society, one of the oldest space advocacy organizations (see Part 1 here) : The British Interplanetary Society at 80 Years: Part II – Centauri Dreams.
He focused on Project Daedalus, a study sponsored by the BIS in the 1970s that attempted to design a realistic interstellar transport.