Tethers could be used to stabilize, reboost, or even change the orbit of the International Space Station (ISS), according to a recent NASA study. That’s the promise of an electrodynamic tether – a simple wire that turns the entire planet Earth into a giant motor, according a presentation obtained by NASASpaceflight.com.
The document details how the early ideas for a space station used “gravity-gradient†configurations to stay naturally stable, but today’s ISS has deviated from that form to satisfy microgravity requirements. A simple tether could restore that passive stability, and make hardware failures – such as the recent loss of a control moment gyro – no cause for concern.
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February 23rd, 2006
NASASpaceflight is proud to announce the launch of a new service for those wishing to be fully informed of the very latest developments in the world of space flight.
Spaceflight L2 is an optimised, in-depth resource keeping you in touch with the inner workings of Space Shuttle processing, CEV development, ESAS development and international [...]
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February 22nd, 2006
Statistics complied by AIA’s Aerospace Research Center have pointed to record figures being reported in the aerospace industry last year – aided by a strong final quarter.
The industry added 7,300 jobs in the final quarter alone, with $241 billion in orders, $175 billion in shipments, with a backlog now swelled to $281 billion [...]
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February 10th, 2006
Noted physicist Dr. Franklin Felber will present his new exact solution of Einstein’s 90-year-old gravitational field equation to the Space Technology and Applications International Forum (STAIF) in Albuquerque on Febuary 14.
The solution is the first that accounts for masses moving near the speed of light.
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February 1st, 2006
Three years ago today saw the loss of the Space Shuttle orbiter Columbia and her crew during re-entry at the end of mission STS-107.
While the names of the seven brave astronauts that perished during re-entry will be honoured today, Columbia’s loss – despite being a ‘machine’ – continues to be grieved alongside her [...]
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January 18th, 2006
NASA researchers are working on an alternative form of space travel to the Moon, involving a ride on a giant slingshot that utilises the technology of momentum-exchange tethers.
These giant structures – roughly 100 kilometres in length – would rotate end-over-end in space, catch a spacecraft, before “throwing” it on a path to take [...]
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January 7th, 2006
It is July 1966. At Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, a 41-year-old test pilot named Jim Wood is moments away from becoming America’s 17th man in space.
Alone, pressure-suited and tightly strapped into the tiny cockpit of a stubby winged ship called ‘Dyna-Soar’, he will shortly be boosted by a Titan IIIC [...]
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January 4th, 2006
The VentureStar may now be nothing more than a memory, but it nearly became part of NASA, the commercial fleet and indeed even the US Air Force, had it of not been for some controversial key decisions during the construction of the technology demonstrator, the X-33.
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January 1st, 2006
Space is a booming worldwide business and NASASpaceflight.com is the one-stop portal to unparalleled, worldwide access for people who know and care about the issues and technologies of space flight.
With editors and reporters in place at all the world’s major space agencies in the United States, Europe and Russia, NASASpaceflight.com is the internet’s [...]
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December 18th, 2005
In spite of his achievements as an astronaut, one of Mike Mullane’s greatest regrets was losing the chance to fly into polar orbit, becoming one of the first humans to do so.
Unlike his first mission in August 1984, Mullane’s second flight would begin from an untried Shuttle launch complex in California and carry [...]
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October 26th, 2005
John Young called it the ‘Death Star’. Behind the dark humour, however, lay real concern for the then-chief of NASA’s astronaut corps. Even with an increasingly confident outlook on the Shuttle’s capabilities at the dawn of 1986, Young instinctively knew that the STS-61F and 61G flights would be two of the riskiest ever attempted [...]
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October 18th, 2005
A team of research engineers, pilots, technicians and air traffic control specialists have completed approximately 94 hours of airborne flight testing of NASA’s Synthetic Vision System (SVS) during an Equivalent Safety evaluation.
The testing used the Langley Research Center’s Cessna 206 Stationair fitted with the experimental Synthetic Vision navigation system.
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September 16th, 2005
Astronauts embarking on missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond may return home in excellent health, well-protected from serious bone and muscle loss, two of the most debilitating effects of prolonged weightlessness.
A new kind of fitness machine, being developed by the National Space Biomedical Research Institute, through researchers at the University of California [...]
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September 2nd, 2005
“Now don’t break our airplane!†Judy Resnik joked.
Hank Hartsfield promised not to. It was October 1985 when the two astronauts shared their moment of camaraderie.
Three months later, the seasoned Shuttle flier would recall Resnik’s light-hearted advice with sorrow; for it was on her flight, rather than his, that [...]
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August 24th, 2005
She was not returning from an ambitious, two-week science mission, trailing double sonic booms in her wake as she swept into desolate Edwards Air Force Base or the marshy expanse of the Kennedy Space Center. Nor was she blasting into orbit under the combined thrust of two Solid Rocket Boosters and three main engines to [...]
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August 22nd, 2005
NASASpaceflight.com has launched a new video service available for users of the site’s forum – the service is entirely free.
The specially ordered high speed FTP server is behind the newly installed section of the site – which will be updated constantly with new videos from the vast archives available to us.
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August 7th, 2005
NASA hero Buzz Aldrin noted his confidence in the safe return of Shuttle Discovery while also giving his support for the next stage in US manned space flight – a return to the Moon and a trip to Mars.
The 75-year-old former astronaut was the second man to walk on the moon and is [...]
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June 14th, 2005
NASASpaceflight.com is looking for number of people to join the dedicated team behind the fast-growing media site.
Open vacancies are listed below.
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June 12th, 2005
Throughout the years, space shuttle missions (designated “STS” for “space transportation system”) have become so common that their many accomplishments may be overlooked. Here are some of the more memorable and historic shuttle missions, in chronological order:
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