“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.
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Posted inOpinion
OpEd: A 50 Year Trend: Entrepreneurs with a Vision
While it was government programs that supported the initial forays into space that began 50 years ago, many of today’s spaceflight advances were driven by visionary entrepreneurs who established commercial businesses based on satellite technology. Just like the pioneers of the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s who created so many services that are ubiquitous today, entrepreneurs are continuing to push the edge of what is possible in space and to recreate the satellite industry.
Posted inCommercial
Editorial: The Launch Market Tightens
I t goes without saying that there is never a convenient time to have a launch failure, but the Jan. 30 Sea Launch mishap that destroyed SES New Skies’ NSS-8 satellite was particularly ill-timed.
Posted inNews
NASA Eyes New Generation of Space Computers With More Autonomy
As NASA sets its eyes on the Moon and beyond to begin a new chapter in human space exploration, the agency is working to develop more autonomous spacecraft using commercial off-the-shelf computer systems that will be better able to withstand the detrimental effects of space radiation, which can cause glitches in normal off-the-shelf processors.
Posted inPress Release
Rosetta arrives in South America
The final leg of Rosetta’s four-year race to the launch pad has now begun. After a 6500 km trip across the Atlantic Ocean, ESA’s comet chaser arrived safely yesterday evening […]
Posted inPress Release
HyShot program secures place in flight history
University of Queensland researchers today (August 16) claimed success for the world`s first flight test of supersonic combustion, the process used in an air-breathing supersonic ramjet engine, known as a […]
Posted inPress Release
Spacecraft Riding High to Catch Some Rays
NASA’s Genesis spacecraft launched flawlessly atop a Delta 7326 rocket from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Station at 12:13:40 p.m. EDT (9:13:40 a.m. PDT) today. Genesis will become the first mission […]
Posted inPress Release
Genesis Set to Catch a Piece of the Sun
NASA’S next robotic space explorer is ready to do a little sunbathing on a mission to catch a wisp of raw material from the luminous celestial body around which the […]
Posted inPress Release
The Maxus-4 package: what goes on in microgravity
>The Maxus-4 rocket launched on 29 April carried seven experiments stacked in five self-contained modules. They were designed to investigate phenomena in fluid physics and materials science that are difficult […]
Posted inPress Release
Rosetta flight structure arrives from Finland
With less than two years remaining before launch, engineers at Alenia Spazio in Turin were eagerly awaiting yesterday’s delivery of the Rosetta Orbiter flight structure. Now that the box-shaped, metal […]
