Space Shuttle 2.0 – The X37 Launches In April

You might think that a new space shuttle would make the mainstream news, but the U.S Air Force has kept tight wraps on the X-37, a junior sized spaceplane that will take on some of the functions of the space shuttle.

In April 2010, the Air Force is scheduled to launch an Atlas V booster from Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying the newest U.S. Spacecraft, the unmanned X-37, to orbit. The X-37 embodies the Air Force’s desire for an operational spaceplane, a wish that dates back to the 1950s, the era of the rocket powered X-15 and X-20.

“The space shuttle has performed it’s job very well, but  you don’t need to launch a Mac truck into space when a Toyota Celica will do,”  explains Mark Lewis, a University of Maryland hypersonics expert who recently completed a four year appointment as a chief scientist for the Air Force. It’s possible the spaceplane could have a role in national security, but when Lewis is asked about anything more than the X-37’s aerodynamics he clams up. The X-37 has taken a winding and perplexing path among NASA, DARPA, and the Air Force. Today, call up any of these organizations and say “X-37″ and it’s like spraying a garden hose at housecats.

For the full story, read the Michael Kieslus article at Air & Space Magazine - http://www.airspacemag.com/space-exploration/Space-Shuttle-Jr.html?utm_source=newsletter20091118&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ASMNovember

(Below) Scaled Composites “White Knight” launched the X-37A on three test glides in 2006.

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Time Names Ares Rocket “Best Invention of 2009″!

(Above) The dramatic roll out of the Ares at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The Best Invention of the Year: NASA’s Ares Rockets

“Metal has no DNA; machines have no genes. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have pedigrees — ancestral lines every bit as elaborate as our own. That’s surely the case with the Ares 1 rocket. The best and smartest and coolest thing built in 2009 — a machine that can launch human beings to cosmic destinations we’d never considered before — is the fruit of a very old family tree, one with branches grand, historic and even wicked.”

Read more at Time Magazine:

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1934027_1934003,00.html

Here’s a Time Magazine video feature on the selection of Ares I as “Invention of the Year.”
http://www.time.com/time/video/player/0,32068,49642414001_1937778,00.html

And here’s a Time Magazine gallery of cool Ares I-X photos:
http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1932999,00.html

Mike – Thanks for sharing!

(Below) NASA workers make pre-launch preparations on launch pad 39-B at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The rocket is part of a family of rockets in NASA’s Constellation program, started in 2005 to go to Mars or the moon. It will also be equipped to fill in for the current aging Space Shuttle.

Okuda Log – The Launch Of The Ares 1-X

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Mike and Denise have posted an in-depth report on their trip to the Cape to view the launch of the Ares 1-X on their blog. Check it out!

http://web.me.com/michaelokuda/michael_okuda/Blog/Blog.html

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Ares – Right Stuff, Right Graphics.

Denise and Mike at the Cape just last week.

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Greetings from the Okudas!

NASA launched the Ares I-X vehicle from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, October 28, 2009.  The successful Ares I-X Development Flight Test was designed to help NASA engineers gain valuable data to help with the design of the next generation of America’s human launch vehicles.  The Ares launch vehicles, teamed with the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicles, will replace the space shuttle and provide safer, more reliable space transport for our astronauts.  Eventually, the Ares boosters may be a vital link in returning astronauts to the Moon, then on to Mars and beyond.  I worked with the Ares team to develop emblems for Project Ares, as well as the Ares I-X Development Flight Test, and Project Constellation, which is the overall family of exploration systems projects.  Normally, NASA doesn’t put project logos on the sides of their rockets, so I nearly fell out of my chair when I learned that the Ares I-X vehicle would carry three of my designs on its exterior.

The launch was pretty awesome, too!

Afterwards, NASA declared the test a success, calling it a “huge step forward for NASA’s exploration goals.”

- Mike

For more info on Ares I-X:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/ares/flighttests/aresIx/index.html

Visit Mike and Denise at their web site:

http://web.me.com/michaelokuda/michael_okuda/Mike.html

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(Below) Ares roars off the pad bearing Mike’s mission logos. NASA knows cool.

Symphony of Science

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Thanks for sending this Maria! Really wonderful!

Especially love seeing Richard Feynman.

Watch Ten Minutes of Astonishing Bullet Impacts at 1,000,000 FPS

The hot video at CAP\BSG VFX this week. Mind boggling!

Life On The ISS

Sent in by Craig “Bink” Binkly, Enterprise prop master.

Future By Design.

Sorry! This video was pulled from Youtube! The comments are still here to be enjoyed!

Some of you know that one of my favorite futurists is a gentleman by the name of Jacque Fresco. He is also my friend. Here is a documentary in 9 parts by William Gazecki. Sent in by Pacal!

Atlantis 125 \ Ocean’s 11

Hey Rick! Look! Beautiful people in space!

(Above) NASA’s clever nod to the “Ocean’s 11″ movie poster (Below).

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Virgin Galactic

Go here and click “view movie”.  It will take your breath away!

THIS is the real start!

http://www.virgingalactic.com/flash.html?language=english

Collier’s Gro-Quick Moon Seed – 02

Three large rockets, 50 crewpersons, heavy machinery, and a serious presence in the solar system.

To help celebrate the moon landing 40th anniversary, more magic pages from Collier’s magazine. It’s 1954, and dreamers with serious plans and serious know-how pitch their visionary ideas to the American public. Fifteen years later, men would indeed walk upon the moon, but in a much scaled back version of von Braun’s blue-sky plan. In these Collier’s extrapolations we go to the moon like we mean it, and we’re there to stay, with a permanent settlement, plenty of hands and lots of heavy gear. I’m very proud of the Apollo program, but oh! If only! When I think of the money we have squandered on useless wars!  Even more amazing is that people complain about the pittance we have spent on space exploration… all while enjoying the technology it has made possible.

Click any of the images for a better look.

Just look at what people in their right mind envisioned!  Stop the world! I want to get on!

(Above) Causing moon quakes – Rockets with explosive war heads are fired off and scientists check vibration waves caused by distant blasts, to determine interior composition of the moon. Seismograph in foreground is push button controlled and surveying instrument to its left has cupped headpiece, to accomodate hand hooks and helmets of expedition members.

Spider

 

One of my favorite segments in “From The Earth To The Moon”, from the episode “Spider”. Brilliant, funny, inspiring.