House appropriators were shortsighted and pre-emptive in their recommendation to deny the U.S. Air Force’s request for funds next year to begin work on a follow on to the successful Commercially Hosted Infrared Payload (CHIRP) mission.
Showing results for:
precious payload
43 results found Sort by:
Posted inCivil
Planetary Resources Seeks NASA Funds for Optical Technology
WASHINGTON — Planetary Resources, the billionaire-backed Seattle startup planning to mine asteroids for water and precious metals, is seeking $700,000 from NASA to build a prototype of the multipurpose optics package at the heart of the company’s spacecraft designs.
Posted inOpinion
Letter: NASA’s Earth Science Didn’t Get ‘Poor Marks’
In its May 14 editorial, “Another NASA Constituency Heard From,”Space News makes two important points: that the number of expected orbiting NASA Earth science assets is a function of the budget climate, and America’s “funding woes have not reduced the pressing need to maintain and expand capabilities to monitor the changing global climate and environment.”
Posted inCivil
Asteroid Mining Venture To Start with Small, Cheap Space Telescopes
WASHINGTON — Planetary Resources, a billionaire-backed company that aims to mine asteroids for water and precious metals, says it will set the stage for this ambitious endeavor by building and launching a series of small, low-cost space telescopes, the first of which it intends to launch in 18-24 months.
Posted inOpinion
Editorial: CASIS Controversy Needs a Closer Look
NASA’s legal experts should take a close look now at the circumstances that led to the resignation of Jeanne K. Becker as executive director of the nonprofit organization responsible for administering commercial research aboard the international space station.
Posted inOpinion
Transforming DoD Satcom Procurement
The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has released its strategy to meet national security needs in the face of substantial budget reductions. The decade ahead will require significant modernization of front-line weapons systems that have endured the enormous stresses of long-term combat operations. At the same time, the department will need to acquire new weapons to support a smaller force structure capable of meeting continuing and emerging threats around the globe.
Posted inOpinion
Remembering the Challenger Accident
It came like a shock to the system on Jan. 28, 1986, 25 years ago, when the Space Shuttle Challenger was lost 73 seconds into its flight from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The 25th flight of the space shuttle, known by NASA’s intricate numbering system as STS-51L, was launched that morning. The launches had grown commonplace over the previous five years, an indication that the shuttle was beginning to fulfill its promise as a vehicle providing “routine” access to orbit. And NASA had started to fly the first European astronauts and two members of Congress — Sen. Jake Garn (R-Utah) and Rep. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) — as well as payload specialists from corporations, and even a Saudi prince.
Posted inNews
Roger A. Krone, President, Boeing Network and Space Systems
The size and diversity of Boeing’s space business enables it to weather the industry’s often localized ups and downs. Losses in competitions to build new generations of navigation and weather satellites, for example, were offset in part by a contract to build up to four telecommunications satellites for Intelsat based on Boeing’s new 702 Mid Power platform design.
Posted inNews
Michel Fiat, Chief Technical Officer, Thales Alenia Space
The Aug. 31 launch of the Palapa D telecommunications satellite by a Chinese Long March 3B rocket left the satellite in a badly off-target orbit and presented satellite builder ThalesAlenia Space with a problem: What should we do now?
Posted inOpinion
Human Spaceflight Myth-busting
“Urban myth,” Wikipedia tells us, “is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories thought to be factual by those circulating them.” More often than not, any kernel of truth at the core of the stories is somewhat exaggerated in their modern retelling. As we recede from the 40th anniversary of the first steps taken by humans on another world, it has become clear that the intervening time has allowed for many myths to arise in the exploration folklore. And those myths have now led us down a dead-end, almost certainly unsustainable, path back to where we started.
