China's new Space shuttle?

 The race for Space is now on!

The peoples republic of China has launched its third secret Space shuttle mission in the last year and this craft is believed to be remotely controlled, but it could be manned? 

Meanwhile it is not known what the mission is for as yet and with the block on the Internet by the United States it perhaps will be some time!

During this operation the U.S. cancelled two flights that of the DragonX and its own year long X-37 missions, one again does not know why, but later both were launched into orbit!

Many other countries now are in the possession of ballistic missiles such as Iran and N-Korea and despite what they have achieved on their own they too will want to do similar to what has been done, if not go further a field as what India has done in getting to Mars and the Sun!

Rumbling MARS?

Something Different!

Two recordings of so called Mars quakes have been released by NASA from their static probe, but both give the impression of trains running deep under the surface of what appears to be a dead dry cold world!

But it is reported that some scientists are now in discussion to find a way to explain the possibility that life has been found on another world in our Solar system and this may not be revealed for at least two years?

Meanwhile China claims that it has been successful in growing a root vegetable on the Moon designed to deal with the conditions of 1/6th gravity and if this proves true the possibilities for Mars is very high!

What humanity is after with both the Moon and Mars and further afield is minerals that are rare if not totally new to the Earth, so that we can replace plastic which remains an essential part of all robotic craft and spaceships?

The Moon?

NASA's Gateway to the Solar System!

The return to the moon is underway with a new space ship being constructed in the U.S. for a return mission and the establishment of a Moon Base and first human travel to Mars by 2030? The Trump administration believe that with the current technology available all of this can be achieved within the next eleven years!

Wither this is true or not by 2030 NASA hopes that the International Space Station ISS will be defunct and some of its component parts will be cannibalised for the Moon base? At this time there is n mention of reinstating the space shuttle programme which on paper still remains a viable proposal for inter-planetary travel!

Both China and Israel now have probes working on the Moon to gather much needed data on radiation exposure from the Suns solar flares and other problems that were discovered during the Apollo flights back in the 1970's!

Six years to MARS?

Orion, Dragon and Other!

The  design and construction of several parts of a New Space ship and its launch system is well underway, as it is claimed we will have humans on the planet Mars in six years time? 

The new U.S. administration is pushing private investment into NASA and this is producing some wonderful results with the first commercial flights to and back from the International Space Station (ISS).

Today or rather now Mars is suffering a long spell of a planetary dust storm, which as yet does not seem to be improving and the discovery of water on the South-Pole has sped up the next lander programme which will be made two years before humans arrive with their own pre-built Mars base!

Life is the big pusher for these types of programmes, but also minerals that are rare on Earth and plenty elsewhere? There is also the possibility of new materials that can be worked to improve our lot down here?

NASA also wants Russian cooperation for a Moon Base and other ventures, with the new commercial re-usable  U.S. systems, this does not mean that the Progress robotic ships will not be used!

Rocket Deign. Part-One.

Russia leads in the Field.

Getting into space is the most expensive thing that humanity has undertaken, in its known history. The rocket at the moment or since 1957 has been the only way to get outside the earths gravitational field!

America had to play catch-up to the Russians in the 1960's but made it to the Moon, which many scientists believe was the biggest waste of resources? Since then America built the Space shuttle, which did a fantastic job, apart from a few losses?

But President Barak Obama cut the programme on two accounts, one cost and two old technology. There may be many other reasons in relation to its bad fire tiles safety record? Meanwhile the U.S has to share with Russia it Kazakhstan facility, to get their crews up to the ISS (International Space Station).

Half of the ISS is made up of the latest MIR sections, while the U.S. and Japan have their various modules and ESA may have one or two attached.

Russia has lead in rocketry from 1926 and its ideas on Spaceships, it has just kept on improving what it has and despite its many other developments such as the Progress Robotic modules and Mir Components both have again improved with time and reliability.

What does the future hold?

The development of a reusable plane concept has ben on the books, since the 1960's, but only up until recently was a new type of non-rocket development in the U.S. by NASA which is the first Electro Engine?

Space Flight.

Pluto, Mercury, Mars and Juno.

This last two years has seen a rise in Space flight activity with new film and photography being returned from several planets and the International space station having the first British space man Tim Peak.

The eight year mission to the dwarf planet Pluto paid off with dramatic clear images of this far flung world having a three layered atmosphere and mountains of ice. Mercury being the closest to the Sun, also now seems to have ice polar caps.

It is confirmed that Mars has flowing water and loads of silica has also been discovered proving that this planet once had oceans of water. There are many areas of the planet that remain undiscovered and its is known that the southern regions are active in some way.

Juno is now half way to the largest planet, it will be arriving near to this gas giant 100X the size of the earth in two moths time. We know know that Jupiter has more than sixty-three moons and the great red spot has changed.

New Horizons has left Pluto and is now half-way to the outer Kyper Belt, with the first moving observation of a object in that region. As to planet 9X, that is still to be found, but New Horizons and other astronomical devices have measured an object 10X Earths size in the outer regions.

A visit to the NASA, ROSCOM,ESA websites, will give you much more detailed information and host of wonderful pictures and much, much more.

NASA Adopts X-Planes.

A British Concept.

I am a bit limited to my night sky videos of only the Moon, since it is the nearest object in the night sky to catch apart from the International Space Station (ISS).  NASA has announced this year, 'That it has found a replacement to its former Space Shuttle, quite a profound bit of tech.'

The Space Shuttle was really 1960's tech in the 1990's and even beyond the millennium was costing a fortune to maintain. A mini shuttle (X37) was developed to carry out sole military operation and was secret, until the amateur astronomers observed its orbits.

The X-Plane that is now being considered was a British concept thought up by the Astronomical Society in the 1970-80's in Vauxhall, London. U.K. 

This concept aircraft could be launched either by rocket platform, as the Shuttle or take off on the piggy back of another larger aircraft and fire off in high altitude into Space. 

It would then make its return under its own power just like a conventional aircraft, where as the Space Shuttle was really a giant glider. If the X-Plane concepts are ever built, we will have our first true Space Ships, now that Star Trek marks its 50th Anniversary.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2016.

More of What?

It would seem that the idea of the drone was the future last year, but now with so many incidents of near misses with aircraft and many other machines perhaps not?

Military and Police drones are perhaps being perfected for future use, but not the near future. NASA has twins with a new rocket propulsion system and the first SpaceEX return rocket from 125 miles up in one piece, this is technology where money is to be made in the commercial satellite market.

With the drop in oil prices and other fossil fuels, the demand for alternative's has been put on hold. With diesel at less than a pound in the U.K. 'I am afraid pollution or carbon emissions are going to be a problem despite the recent Paris, France conference.

One has to wonder sometimes about all this climate change, when military jets and missiles are being fired again in the middle-east how much of a carbon footprint do they make?

Battling with Tecnology.

New things to Learn.

They say that it is 'hard to teach an old dog new tricks? I would have to agree with that claim. Tecnology will always move on, but people will always be slow to catch up with it. In the United Kingdom the governemt wants people to be digitaly minded and yet many regions have declined to teach children basic computer programming. Old folk remain very limited to understanding anyway.

These past weeks the tourist space plane crashed in the States, but no one is giving up. NASA lost their rocket and we are promised that within the next five to ten years most cars in Europe will be electric.

Politics has forced changes in space and in relation to fuel at the moment, but I expect that in ten years we will see many changes while the machines of today will remain. The esential systems in place to supply ISS (International Space Station) will continue, the Electric car may not be a success as hoped for since power cuts could be a serious disadvantage. Sir Richard Branson will be nearer to his vision of space tourism.

China, India, Iran and Nigeria will be the new kids on the block in relation to space exploration, bases on the Moon and stations in space!

Rockets. Part-Two.

From Chinese Firecracker to ISS.

Today rockets are big business for the telecommunications industry, everyone wants a faster Internet speed. Despite many still believing that this is based on optic fiber cables, space actually provides the links.

The rocket has only come into its own, since the end of World War-II (1939-45). The 1950's saw the development of the missile at the beginning of the 'Cold war, between Soviet Russia and the U.S. The Inter-continental ballistic Missile (ICBM) was developed by all sides to deliver multiple nuclear warheads to multiple targets, anything from 12 to 24.

In 1957 Russia launched Spunik and the first man in space  Yuri Gagarin. 

Despite America coming late, it took over with a man on the Moon and then developed the Space shuttle. Russia has opted for commercial satalites launches and now provides the progress Robot shuttles to the International Space Station.

The Jumbo Jet.

Boeing 747-100/8.

You could say 'that the Jumbo jet was the King of the skies, because it has had a forty-three year unchallenged stay.' It is only now with the advent of the Airbus A380, that its reign may end?

I say may, because as has been seen many will continue on as cargo and freight usage. Nearly every country on the planet uses or has at one time employed this huge civil aircraft. The U.S. Boeing 747-100 was conceived by the owner of Pan Am, who designed an aircraft that would be the clipper of the sky, that was formerly held by the British Shorts Sunderland flying boat.

The 747 started as the flagship for Pan-Am, but soon everyone wanted one, because of its long haul capability. Even with the introduction of the joint British/French Concorde, the Jumbo held its ground. Later with the -200 series, I think the most of any series built it set it self up.

Many other versions, including military, scientific and the NASA Space Shuttle carrier have been built and next year (2014) we will take a closer look at some of them.