Part 3 of 3 Parts (Please read Part 1 and Part 2 first)
One big stumbling block for the Interstellar Probe project is the fact that best heat shield ever used by a NASA probe is only able to protect a probe that comes within four million miles of the Sun. The Interstellar Probe would have to come within two million miles of the Sun in order to make best use of the gravity boost.
Part 2 of 3 Parts (Please read Part 2)
Part 1 of 3 Parts
For the most part, I have blogged about space around the Earth. Occasionally I have ventured out into the Solar System. Very rarely, I have written about missions beyond our Solar System. Today I am going to blog about a such a mission.
NASA has just announced that it is sending a lander to Titan, a moon of Saturn. The lander will carry a robot helicopter to explore Titan. The mission is called Dragonfly. It is part of NASA’s New Frontiers program which is dedicated to high-priority solar system science projects.
I have written about Tethers Unlimited (TU) before. They are a private space company located in Bothell, WA. Years ago, when they were founded, tethers were thought to hold great promise for a number of space applications. As time passed, that promise faded and so did the money available for research and development.
Twenty commercial space companies joined NASA representative at a conference last week to discuss the commercial possibilities of the International Space Station. NASA has been planning to use the ISS to support the commercialization of space for some time. Stephanie Schierholz, the lead spokesperson for NASA, said, “We’re here because the International Space Station is now open for business.”
In addition to this blog on the space industry, I also write a weekly blog on the nuclear issues at www.nucleotidings.com. Occasionally, I write posts that are relevant to both blogs such as today’s post on nuclear thermal propulsion.
NASA has just announced that it has awarded contracts to three companies to carry payloads of scientific instruments to the Moon in 2020 and 2021. No private company has ever successfully landed a probe on the Moon. The last time the U.S.
On May 16th, NASA announced that forty-five and a half million dollars is going to be awarded to eleven companies under the terms of NextSTEP E contracts. NASA has been developing a plan for manned lunar exploration. A space station dubbed the Gateway will be placed in orbit around the Moon.
With President Trump and Vice President Pence publicly pushing for a U.S. manned landing on the Moon in the next five years, there is a lot discussion of lunar exploration in the popular press. Ultimately, the companies and nations interested in the exploring the moon want to build permanent manned bases there.
