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Archive for the ‘NASA’ Category

Or what you are going to call it, an unrealized proposal from Aerojet around 1984. PDF Found on NTRS.
The idea was to have two turbopumps (like on SSME), but instead operate on the expander cycle. Two heat exchangers, two turbines, two pumps. One for each propellant.
 
 
This is a LOX-hydrogen engine. Also this means that since [...]

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The Man. On Space Review. [EDIT: About a month ago, but I only just read it.] This is just excellent. So many things I agree with, that go against the stupid myths of spaceflight and space policy. If you read one space policy interview this year, this should be it!
“NASA is an organization that is [...]

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Xombie NOW

Live stream just went up at http://qik.com/video/312581
they should be flying at 45 past whatever hour it is now in your time zone. Now on the pad loading propellants and helium.
EDIT:
And they did it! Congratulations! Also great accuracy.
The live cellphone video of the second flight was shot from quite close: http://qik.com/video/3126566

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id Software’s upcoming game Rage uses asteroid Apophis as the scene setter for a post apocalyptic world. (id is part of Zenimax now, which also owns Bethesda, who did Fallout, a similar scene but done with nuclear weapons…)
Is this even close to being realistic? No, because of multiple reasons.
You can check out the list of [...]

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Skimming the document (thanks NSF, Florida Today). Cute how a launch without an upper stage at all in the heavy configuration works out for ISS (burn SM fuel for orbit):

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From Hobbyspace, highlighted by Transterrestrial Musings:
The program of record (i.e. Ares I/V/Orion/Altair), which exceeds the expected budget substantially, will no longer be in the options table but kept separately just as a reference.
Yes!
The historic words have been spoken. Now for a better future for NASA, for spacefaring and for humanity.
The Augustine panel has been good [...]

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Jeff Greason is a rational person who simply gets it. It is mind boggling how completely opposite from someone like Mike Griffin he is.
See Jeff’s presentation with the Augustine Panel.
Paraphrasing, “we could go to Mars with Ares V but we shouldn’t – cause we couldn’t stay anyway”. Exactly. That’s the problem with NASA. (or the [...]

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In the previous post.
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I’ve been very tired and felt completely unable to have any effect on my life or on any other things for the last five days or so. This doesn’t mean that I’ve felt lazy – rather that what ever reasonable I have ever done, it has had zero effect on the world.
There [...]

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There are a lot of implicit assumptions that heavy lifters of this or that throw weight must be used for future exploration beyond low Earth orbit.
These “needs” have never been logically derived from anything.
Yet space policy and exploration architectures must be based on rationality above all. There is no excuse whatsoever to do things on [...]

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By ATK in 2005. Shows how little I know.
EDIT: Spaceref had the details, Mach 5.5.
(Scramjets are still not a space application.)

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