Results tagged “spaceshuttle” from 60 Second Science

Two days ago, President Bush released his $17.6 NASA budget for FY09. There are a few notable points here: the Langley Research Center took a $92 million hit; Mars exploration has been pushed to the periphery with no new landings scheduled after the 2009 Mars Science Laboratory; and over $173 million has been earmarked for Commercial Orbital Transportation Services, restoring some money Congress cut from the $500 million program late last year.

Interestingly, this is the first year that NASA’s Constellation program has received more funding than the Space Shuttle, which will retire in September 2010. Though Constellation will receive an extra $6.5 billion by that time (directly from shuttle program coffers) the program won’t be operational until at least 2015, forcing NASA to rely on the Russians for access to the International Space Station in the interim.

Florida Senator Mel Martinez, for one, is aghast: “Relying on the Russians to put a person in space for us? C’mon, this is the United States of America!” Get ‘em Mel!

Continue reading 'NASA budget: a brief overview' >

Based on the design of X-prize winning SpaceShipOne, Virgin Galactic's newly unveiled SpaceShipTwo and carrier airplane WhiteKnightTwo are bigger, better, and generally more awesome.

WhiteKnightTwo, the largest carbon composite aircraft in the world, is sporting four Pratt and Whitney PW308A engines, which Virging Galactic cites as "amongst the most powerful, economic and efficient engines available." They can boost the mothership to a high enough altitude to launch SpaceShipTwo, carrying eight astronauts, into suborbital space.

That's it. My day is done. I simply can't top WhiteKnightTwo--unless, that is, we turned it into DarkestKnightInExistenceThree.

Continue reading 'Virgin Galactic unveils new spacecraft; Richard Branson wants me to quit' >

Japan, I'm almost always behind you. But this time, I must admit I'm a little bit lost: Researchers from the University of Tokyo have joined forces with the Japan Origami Airplane Association (JOAA) to develop a paper airplane capable of surviving a flight from the International Space Station to earth's surface. What's next? A tentacle monster that actually exists and rapes people?

Today, researchers will start testing an 8-centimeter prototype in a high-speed wind tunnel at the University of Tokyo. Once inside, the origami space shuttle will brave wind speeds of 5,300 m.p.h. and the intense heat that comes with flying at Mach 7 speeds. That's a great start for a paper airplane, but it'll have to do better than that, because the actual space shuttle can reach speeds of Mach 20 upon reentry.

Continue reading 'Japan to launch origami paper plane from International Space Station...wha?' >