Mission To Mars Planned By Private Space Leaders

by Chris Owen on
When we last heard from Dennis Tito, it was when the New York-born American engineer was catching a $20 million ride on the International Space Station. That was in 2001 and he did so against the wishes of NASA, instead hitting up the Russian Federal Space Agency for the lift. Now, 20+ years later, Tito plans a trip to Mars in a venture that should make him the first human ever to walk on the red planet.

On what looks to be a 500-day round trip voyage to Mars, Tito’s newly formed Inspiration Mars Foundation teases “plans to take advantage of a unique window of opportunity to launch a historic journey to Mars and back in 501 days, starting in January 2018,” reports CNET.

Details are few right now but clarity will come next week during a press conference scheduled for February 27, 2013, at The National Press Club in Washington, D.C., moderated by CNN’s Miles O’Brien.

Speculation on how the flight will go includes wondering if an actual landing on Mars will occur or if the private mission will simply (as though this is simple in any way) be a fly-by. At nearly 70 years old by the time the proposed flight happens, time is of the essence for Tito.Also involved in the project is Paragon Space Development Corporation most recently involved with the life-support systems in the Red Bull Stratos Space Jumper, world’s-highest sky dive in 2012. That was nothing new for them either, as original members of the Biosphere 2 sealed dome life-support for the experiment of the early 1990s.

Add it all up and these private space leaders could very well pull it off. We’ll find out more details on the plan next week.

Want to know more about the idea of a mission to Mars? Check this video:



[Photo Credit – Flickr user Amitabh T]

Space Shuttle Now Officially A Tourist Attraction

by Chris Owen on

Space Shuttle Atlantis arrived this week at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex to begin life as the star of a $100 million exhibit called the Shuttle Launch Experience, expected to open in July 2013. It was the historic final journey of a space shuttle orbiter, signaling the beginning of life after space for the shuttle fleet.

“We think visitors to Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex will be awed and inspired by how they will see and experience Atlantis,” said Bill Moore, chief operating officer of Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in a statement.

Atlantis completed its historic final journey led by 30 former astronauts who joined the orbiter for the final leg of the trip. Parked in front of the last open wall of the 90,000-square-foot exhibit building, Atlantis will be encapsulated in a protective wrap while that wall is completed.

Once inside the visitor’s complex, Atlantis will be raised 36 feet off the ground then rotated about 43 degrees to mimic spaceflight. On display, its payload bay doors will be open and the robotic arm extended.

Along with Atlantis, the Shuttle Launch Experience will have over 60 interactive, immersive exhibits about the entire shuttle program including a 363-foot-long Apollo/Saturn V rocket and other unique space artifacts.

At the entrance to the Shuttle Launch Experience, guests will walk past a full-size external fuel tank and two solid rocket boosters. Strategically positioned, a silhouette of the orbiter is attached to show guests the exact size and placement of the 184-foot-tall space shuttle.

Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex opens daily at 9 a.m. Admission includes the Kennedy Space Center Tour, the new Shuttle Launch Experience, 3-D IMAX space films, Astronaut Encounter, Exploration Space: Explorers Wanted and the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame, featuring historic spacecraft and personal astronaut memorabilia. For more information, call 877-313-2610 or visit www.KennedySpaceCenter.com.

Right now and through November 12, the space center is offering a sneak peek, up-close and personal look at Atlantis as part of any tour. During scheduled times, a Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex tour guide will take guests through the construction zone and allow guests to take pictures and pose within the secured area.

NASA has spread around the tourism wealth by positioning remaining orbiters around the country. Enterprise is at the Sea-Air-Space Museum in New York City, Discovery is at
Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum in Virginia and Endeavour is at the California Science Center in Los Angeles, California.




[Photo Credit: NASA photo]

SpaceX Mission Viewing Available Live

by Chris Owen on

The first SpaceX mission to resupply the International Space Station (ISS) happens October 7, 2012. The flight begins a series of missions to deliver and return cargo to the ISS under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services contract aboard the privately run Dragon spacecraft.

SpaceX’s Dragon will bring 1,000 pounds of supplies to the six person Expedition 33 crew aboard the ISS. Those astronauts will load us a robotic arm to grapple Dragon, attach it to the ISS then load an estimated 730 pounds of scientific materials and 504 pounds of space station hardware to be returned to Earth.

NASA’s goal with the Commercial Crew Development Program is “to accelerate the availability of U.S. commercial crew transportation capabilities and reduce the gap in American human spaceflight capability. Through this activity, NASA also may be able to spur economic growth as potential new space markets are created,” the space agency said in a press release.Florida’s Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex is offering the public an opportunity to view this night launch from the NASA Causeway with a limited number of Special Access Passes that can be purchased for $20 plus tax, in addition to admission. Bus boarding will begin at 5:30 p.m. EDT for transportation to the NASA Causeway.

Launch viewing is also available from Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, including live mission control commentary, and is included with regular admission. The night launch is scheduled for 8:34 p.m. EDT from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

In other SpaceX news, earlier this month SpaceX’s Grasshopper vertical takeoff and landing test vehicle (VTVL) took its first test flight hop from the company’s rocket testing facility in McGregor, Texas, shown in this video:




The short hop of approximately 6 feet is a major milestone for Grasshopper, part of a reusable first stage for SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. As seen in the video, “Grasshopper” is a Falcon 9 first stage, a Merlin-1D engine, and four steel landing legs along with a a steel support structure.

SpaceX is developing vehicles that are fully and rapidly reusable in line with a NASA goal of reducing cost and increasing the efficiency of spaceflight.

Grasshopper is expected to test out hovering at about 100 feet in the next several months.

[Flickr photo by FlyingSinger]

Photo Of The Day: Endeavour In San Francisco

by Chris Owen on

This Photo of the Day, “Endeavour in SF – see you in LA!” comes from Gadling Flickr pool member jrodmanjr and is taken with a Canon EOS 7D.

In 19 years of service, Endeavour went on 25 missions, carried 133 astronauts, spent 299 days in space and traveled 122,883,151 miles. Captured here by jrodmanjr is the shuttle’s last journey, which began Monday at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and will end at the California Science Center in Los Angeles. Seen here, space shuttle Endeavour passes over the Golden Gate Bridge.

Upload your best shots to the Gadling Group Pool on Flickr. Several times a week we choose our favorite images from the pool as Photos of the Day.

Tips for getting featured: include the camera you used along with any other equipment or processing software that might help other photographers know more about your image. Also, captions mean a lot when the image is not one that is easily recognizable … not a problem here for jrodmanjr.

Faster-Than-Light Travel May Be Possible

by Chris Owen on

Faster-than-light travel was once seen as simply a key element in science fiction tales that made stories work. Faster-than-light warp drive made all that possible, at least between the covers of a good sci-fi book. In the real world though, travel to distant planets at speeds known to man, was thought to be impractical. Now, NASA is re-thinking warp drive with a focus on making fantasy into reality.

“Mexican physicist Miguel Alcubierre proposed the first warp drive in 1994, but found that the energy costs associated with such a device would be problematic,” says Zach Walton in WebProNews. “In fact, scientists peg the energy required to be about equal to the mass-energy of Jupiter.” Way too much.Checking in with NASA on the idea, a new space ship design from Harold White at NASA’s Johnson Space Center might be the answer. “The original warp drive was envisioned as a small ship that’s encircled by a flat ring that would warp space-time around the ship,” says Walton. The new design would be more like a donut and, if proven true, could lead to faster-than-light travel.

A trip to Mars in minutes? Exploration of the solar system? All in line with this video from National Geographic on the colonization of Mars.



[Flickr photo by Sweetie187]