The Friends of Amateur Rocketry (FAR) posted the video below showing highlights of activities at their Mojave test site on Saturday May, 4th. These activities included:
the launch of a high power sugar fueled rocket and the first successful static firing of a 6″ rocket motor for the Sugar Shot to Space project (the previous two motor tests resulted in CATOs.
The NASA JSC Project Morpheus has begun testing its new vertical-take-off and landing vehicle. (The previous vehicle was destroyed in a crash during a test flight in August of 2012): And So We Begin Again – Project Morpheus Blog
The roar of a 5,000lb rocket engine has returned to the Johnson Space Center. The Morpheus team has completed the build-up of our “Bravo” vehicle, conducted numerous integrated tests, and has now stepped into our flight test program. We are picking up where we left off – in fact we never stopped working. We have completed our first major milestone in conducting a 50-second static hot fire of the main engine in the vehicle, including simultaneous demonstration of thrust vector control (TVC) and integrated methane reaction control system (RCS) jet firings. Thrust vector control is used to balance and fly the vehicle, while the RCS jets are used to keep the vehicle pointed in the correct direction. We will step into dynamic tethered flights soon, in preparation for our return to KSC this summer.
This Spacevidcast video proves there once was a rocket flight more nominal than all the rest:
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.