Follow the White Dragon - Good links for tracking what’s going on with the SpaceX/NASA mission of Dragon going to the ISS:
In the photo are the ISS astronaut crew watching the live broadcast of the Falcon 9/Dragon launch, posted on André Kuipers’ photostream.
The Myth of the Starship - Scifi author Charles Stross thinks that starships will never happen; at least not in the conventional sense. In a recent article he argues that instead of hauling “ugly bags of mostly water” across the void, our future will be one of transferring the human consciousness as information onto an artificial substrate (thus making it much more suitable to space travel).
What intrigues me is the possibility that the entire conceptual framework of the starship is a dangerously misleading dead-end, and that what we need is a new framework for thinking about interstellar travel.
The very word “starship” is a concatenation of two other words — star, and ship. The first is pretty harmless; it merely defines the scale factor we’re talking about, as opposed to interplanetary ship, or moon ship, or Atlantic-crossing steam ship. But the second word comes with a whole freightload of unwanted baggage, and I’m of a mind that serious futurists or SF writers might want to think about ditching it completely and looking for something new.
T minus 5 Days - As we get get closer to launch, there are some interesting articles popping up all over the net. This video from space.com has a good two minute summary on the upcoming flight of Dragon.
SpaceX is slated to launch its Dragon capsule to the space station atop the company’s own Falcon 9 rocket on May 19 from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Liftoff is set for 4:55 a.m. EDT (0855 GMT).
Bigelow and SpaceX Join Forces - SpaceX and Bigelow Aerospace made a joint announcement this morning that they will offer commercial crew missions to the BA330 inflatable space habitat. The effort is specifically focused at the international market:
According to Bigelow Aerospace’s President and Founder, Robert T. Bigelow, “We’re very excited to be working with our colleagues at SpaceX to present the unique services that our two companies can offer to international clientele. We’re eager to join them overseas to discuss the substantial benefits that BA 330 leasing can offer in combination with SpaceX transportation capabilities.”
The BA 330 is a habitat that will provide roughly 330 cubic meters of usable volume and can support a crew of up to six. Bigelow Aerospace plans to connect two or more BA 330s in orbit to provide national space agencies, companies, and universities with unparalleled access to the microgravity environment.
“SpaceX and BA have a lot in common. Both companies were founded to help create a new era in space enterprise,” said SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell. “Together we will provide unique opportunities to entities — whether nations or corporations — wishing to have crewed access to the space environment for extended periods. I’m looking forward to working with Bigelow Aerospace and engaging with international customers,” Shotwell explained.
Skylon Interview Video - This video (recorded in 2011) has a great summary of the development history of Skylon, the UK single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) concept being developed by Reaction Engines Limited.
Skylon uses a combined-cycle, air-breathing rocket engine to reach orbit in a single stage, and the design is aiming for re-usability up to 200 times. In paper studies, the costs per kilogram of payload are hoped to be lowered to £650/kg (as of 2011).
The vehicle design is based on a hydrogen-powered aircraft that takes off from a conventional runway, and accelerates to Mach 5.4 using atmospheric air before switching the engines to use the internal liquid oxygen (LOX) supply to take it to orbit.
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