Submitted by acohill on Thu, 05/07/2009 - 08:55
I'm not holding my breath, but some scientists think the Star Trek "warp drive" could be possible. They make it sound so easy--instead of trying to accelerate a space ship to speeds faster than light, all you have to do is "move a chunk of space time" with the ship inside the space time bubble. Sounds good to me, but I suspect moving a chunk of space-time continuum takes a lot of energy. So next up: find a source of dilithium crystals.
Submitted by acohill on Fri, 02/20/2009 - 08:50
A British company called Reaction Engines has unveiled plans for a new unmanned, reusuable earth to orbit spacecraft. The ship will be able to carry 12 tons of cargo into orbit and then return to earth. The spacecraft uses a new kind of dual use rocket engine that is air-breathing for take off and then switches to liquid oxygen in the upper atmosphere. The company says it will take about ten years to get the design into space. In the meantime, the firm's Web site has a really nice animation of operations with the ship, and sci fi buffs will recognize a hat tip to Stanley Kubrick and 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Submitted by acohill on Mon, 01/19/2009 - 14:19
Duke University researchers have developed a cloaking device that is actually, um, a cloak. They have designed a nanotechnology-based material that has the property of bending electromagnetic radiation, including visible and infrared light. The picture accompanying this article shows someone in a cloak with the background behind them clearly visible.
Submitted by acohill on Fri, 01/02/2009 - 09:47
New Mexico's rise to dominance of the space industry in the U.S. may become the fodder of economic development case studies for decades. The State of New Mexico just announced that it has signed a twenty year lease of facilities at Spaceport America with Virgin Galactic. Virgin Galactic says it intends to locate its world headquarters at the facility, bringing with it jobs and tourism.
New Mexico started down this path years ago, when the whole idea of spaceports seemed a bit kooky. But it has been a textbook example of setting a bold vision, funding it properly, and sticking with it until results begin to pay off. Many communities and regions have great ideas, but fail in execution by not funding them properly and/or not staying with them long enough to see the impact.
Virginia is another state with big plans for a commercial spaceport. The Eastern Shore of Virginia has been working with NASA for sometime to convert the obscure Wallops Island rocket launching facility into a mixed use spaceport that supports both government and commercial operations. Not surprisingly, broadband is playing a key role, and NASA and the two counties on the lower Delmarva Peninsula have formed the Eastern Shore of Virginia Broadband Authority, which is about to break ground on a major fiber backbone to support spaceport operations. The Broadband Authority is also beginning work on a community broadband fiber to the home network in the very rural area because the influx of knowledge workers, scientists, and engineers need business class broadband services at home.
Submitted by acohill on Wed, 12/10/2008 - 10:44
As research into the feasibility of a space elevator continues, scientists are discovering it may be quite difficult to make the space elevator work, largely due to the Coriolis effect.
Submitted by acohill on Fri, 10/10/2008 - 08:36
Here is an absolutely spectacular picture of Mercury from a new NASA space probe. It pretty much confirms that Mercury is not a place anyone would want to live, and it is an amazing example of technology in action. The physics of getting a space probe to travel across hundreds of millions of miles to be in exactly the right place at the right time is exacting and difficult; it's nice to know, in midst of this economic downturn, that we still have the capacity to get some very hard stuff done and done right.
Submitted by acohill on Mon, 09/29/2008 - 08:03
SpaceX, the private rocket company, successfully launched a satellite size hunk of aluminum into orbit, making it the first private rocket to boost an object into earth orbit. Like Bert Rutan's SpaceShipOne (which only made a sub-orbital trip), the SpaceX accomplishment will continue to accelerate private investment in space. Rutan is busy building a fleet of space tourism vehicles for Virgin Galactic.
Submitted by acohill on Mon, 09/22/2008 - 13:15
Japanese scientists are developing plans for a space elevator. A couple of U.S. firms have also been working on the same concept, which does not require new scientific breakthroughs, but is instead requires solving a series of engineering and materials fabrication problems. The biggest one is developing a process to make a 62,000 mile ribbon of carbon nanotubes. Carbon fiber materials are strong enough to support the loads that will be imposed on the ribbon cable, but the manufacturing processes to make the cable have to be developed.
Submitted by acohill on Tue, 05/13/2008 - 07:41
NASA may finally be ready to blast off, literally, with greatly expanded capacity, by going to the private sector for space transportation rather than owning and operating all its own space vehicles.
Faced with the problem of using the literally antique Space Shuttles (more than thirty years old in design) just to get food and supplies to the space station and many years from having a replacement, NASA appears to be finally shifting course.
Part of what enables this shift is technology. What was truly pioneering engineering and research effort twenty or thirty years ago can now be designed with inexpensive CAD/CAM programs on powerful and cheap computers. New materials and computer manufacturing allow small space start up companies to build sophisticated space vehicles quickly and economically.
Regions that have been investing in space (New Mexico, Texas, Virginia, among others) may see a small but steady economic development benefit as space startups win big NASA contracts for various kinds of space vehicles and equipment.
Submitted by acohill on Tue, 04/01/2008 - 09:47
Virgin Galactic, the space travel start up and spin off of Virgin Airlines, has teamed up with Google to start colonizing Mars. Google is supplying the financial muscle for the venture, and Virgin is contributing the work the firm has already done on their privately funded space vehicle. The two companies are already beginning to solicit team members willing to be part of the first Martian colony.
Submitted by acohill on Wed, 08/22/2007 - 19:47
The European company (EADS) that builds the Ariane rockets used for commercial satellite launches has announced it has already completed the design for a combination jet/rocket plane that will provide tourists a brief ride into space.
The innovative design will use conventional jet engines to get the spacecraft off the ground, then use a rocket engine to take it to the fringes of space for a short ride. EADS plans to charge about $267,000 for a ticket for a ninety minute ride, and expects to make money from the venture with an estimated four to five thousand customers a year by 2020.
Submitted by acohill on Tue, 08/14/2007 - 13:02
Galactic Suites, the space tourism venture, has a Web site with additional information about the space hotel it is building. Space-related businesses are already transforming the New Mexico economy, and states like Virginia and Texas are also beginning to reap benefits. Not every region will find a niche with space-related opportunities, but the success of New Mexico illustrates that boldness and determination pay when it comes to economic development.
Submitted by acohill on Sat, 06/16/2007 - 09:37
A Mach 10 (ten times the speed of sound) test of a scramjet took place in Australia, where a rocket carried the scramjet into near space, then ignited the scramjet to return to earth. Scramjets are special jet engines that work at very high speeds and at high altitudes, and research has continued on them for decades with mixed success. A successful and reliable scramjet design would allow travel between London and Sydney, Australia in as little as two hours.
Submitted by acohill on Tue, 05/29/2007 - 07:42
This short article on emerging deals between Virgin Galatic and Robert Bigelow's space hotel venture show that the Space Economy continues to quietly roll along. Even more interesting is the recent deal between Virgin Galactic and NASA to share development on various space gear like heat shields, space suits, and rocket motors. Taxpayers may eventually be the biggest winners as private industry gets into the space business and starts making money. It will become much more cost effective for NASA to buy what it needs from private firms than to build everything in house, as it does right now.
In terms of economic development, California and New Mexico are in the lead, with Virginia close behind. All three states have active spaceport development programs, and formerly obscure chunks of real estate are turning into boom towns.
Submitted by acohill on Thu, 03/29/2007 - 06:44
New Mexico's long term vision to dominate commercial space activities in the U.S. continues to mature. The New Mexico legislature has approved $30 million to fund further development of Spaceport America, and the venture already has a $27 million lease signed with Virgin Atlantic. Virgin plans to base its U.S. commercial space operations there, with tourist flights starting before the end of this decade.
It is an instructive lesson for other communities with tough economic challenges. By almost every measure, New Mexico has had a tough time. But the state worked with what it has in abundance--empty land--and turned it into an asset. It was not money or Federal grants that got this done. It was a clearly articulated vision and the determination and grit to stick with it.
Want to be part of the Space Economy? Move to New Mexico. Some of the best high tech jobs in the country are already beginning to move there: composite materials manufacturing for space craft, space avionics, space and air traffic control, advanced air and spacecraft manufacturing, flight testing, and ground support operations and maintenance, to name a few.
Submitted by acohill on Fri, 09/29/2006 - 06:28
As I wrote recently, a lot of my readers just think that the whole Space Economy thing is a litte goofy. But Virgin Galactic has rolled out images of its new sub-orbital space ship, and is already booking seats. Two hundred thousand dollars gets you a two and one half hour trip to the edge of space--about 68 miles above the earth. Pasengers will be weightless long enough to get queasy and/or enjoy the view; the ship will have plenty of windows. Test flights of the system will begin in 2008, and passengers will be lifting off in 2009. And New Mexico's Space Economy is roaring along, and the whole state's economy is being lifted--no pun intended.
Submitted by acohill on Mon, 09/25/2006 - 09:38
When I first began writing about spaceports two years ago, I got a lot of eyerolling in response. Some economic developers really questioned whether this was something to take seriously. But in just two short years, New Mexico is well on the way to turning the entire economy of the state around.
New Mexico's first commercial space launch will take place this week. Big deal, you say? Nine more are already scheduled for the next year, and the Space Economy is already pumping millions into the state economy. Virgin Galactic plans to use the spaceport for commercial flights that will provide space tourism opportunities in comfortable spaceplanes built by Bert Rutan.
The space stuff is fun, but it is not really the point. A few years ago, by nearly every measure, New Mexico was one of the poorest states in the country. By taking a look at their assets, they determined the one thing they had plenty of--wide open, flat spaces--was good for space industries. They then picked up the ball and ran with it, investing consistently and staying on track, even though a lot of people doubted them. And it is now beginning to pay off.
How about your region? Have you identified your strategic assets and built a plan around a *future* economy--space, energy, knowledge, agriculture? Are you executing consistently, with thoughtful, year after year investments to make the right things happen? If not, why not?
Submitted by acohill on Thu, 07/06/2006 - 09:39
The emerging Space Economy just keeps chugging along quietly, even though there has not been much news breaking into the mainstream media. Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, continues to fund Blue Origin, his space tourism firm. The company is building a reusable launch vehicle (RLV) quite different from Bert Rutan's SpaceShipOne design. The Blue Origin vehicle looks like something from the old 1950s scifi movies. It takes off and lands vertically, and is based on a NASA design that received extensive testing in the 1990s.
If you have ever been to west Texas, you know that there is not much there upon which to base an economy, but it is perfect for a spaceport. It is a great example of thinking outside the box for economic development, and trying to leverage what you do have in terms of local assets, rather than simply continuing to rely primarily on industrial recruitment, which was last effective as a primary economic development strategy in 1983.
Submitted by acohill on Tue, 03/07/2006 - 10:39
SpaceX, an American space technology firm, has decided to compete with Russia. Russia has been making a lot of money from the U.S. by hauling payloads and staff back and forth to the space station while NASA sorts out the flying foam problems of the Space Shuttle.
SpaceX just announced that they have been working on a reusable crew capsule that is a cross between the Soyuz and Apollo capsules. It is designed primarily to haul people and freight back and forth to the space station. The company has other space vehicles under development as well.
Submitted by acohill on Fri, 02/24/2006 - 17:14
Florida is synonymous with the space program, and Lockheed Martin's replacement for the space shuttle will be assembled and launched from Florida. The U.S. has not designed and built a new space vehicle in two decades, but the shuttles are nearly worn out. The new launch vehicle is a more traditional rocket design that will carry six crew to earth orbit.
This is part of the plan to have two different vehicles to support the space program. One will carry crew to and from earth, and the other will stay in orbit and will be used for satellite repairs, space station support, and travel to and from the moon.
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