I've been standing in line next to a green monster for more than an hour. This might sound like a bad situation, but the monster is actually a rather nice human in body paint and stunning, neon-green contact lenses.
Robert Forward’s Indistinguishable from Magic is a genial and absorbing read, a collection of essays and fiction illustrating some of the scientist’s most memorable ideas. And while gigantic lightsails driven by laser beam to other stars always come to mind when Forward’s name is mentioned, it’s fascinating to page through his thoughts on antimatter, black [...]
A year in orbit for Deimos-1 and UK-DMC2 Space blog A year in orbit for Deimos-1 and UK-DMC2 This evening SSTL will celebrate the first anniversary of the Earth observation satellites Deimos-1 and UK-DMC2 that were launched in July last year onboard a Dnepr rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan . The two satellites were quickly commissioned and joined the Disaster Monitoring Constellation to deliver their first images in August just a week after . launch Deimos-1 was the first Earth Observation satellite built by SSTL for Spanish company Deimos Imaging , who have been capturing fantastic imagery of the world during the year . The following image and many more can be viewed in their online gallery The whole island of Cyprus , image taken 7th August 2009. Credit : Deimos Imaging
UK and Russia sign space collaboration deal Space blog UK and Russia sign space collaboration deal At the Farnborough International Airshow last week , the UK signed a historic agreement with Russia leading the way to greater collaboration in space between the two nations . SSTL welcomes this great news , which promises to make it easier for the two nations to benefit from their respective . strengths SSTL has had a long and successful collaboration with a variety of Russian organisations spanning 20 years , working with the UK and Moscow offices of Commercial Space Technologies CST Ltd . as representative and local partner . SSTL and CST have together been one of the major customers for Russian launch services However , don't think it's a one way street SSTL is also playing an integral
by Larry Klaes The Faces from Earth project, run so energetically by Tibor Pacher, is planning its next ‘E.T. Are You Out There?’ campaign, following a successful campaign in May that introduced interstellar concepts to school children in five countries. In this piece, journalist Larry Klaes looks back at the Voyager spacecraft, which will be [...]
With more attention now being focused on possible missions to an asteroid, we should keep in mind that DLR, the German Aerospace Center, has been looking into an asteroid mission via solar sail for some time now. One 2006 paper from DLR’s Institute of Space Simulation pondered a 70-meter sail for use in a projected [...]
The final day of the Second International Symposium on Solar Sailing (ISSS 2010) kicks off this morning with Roman Kezerashvili (City University of New York) discussing solar sail missions as a way of testing fundamental physics. Last year in Aosta I listened with fascination as Kezerashvili discussed close solar passes (‘Sundiver’ missions) that could approach [...]
Before I move into today’s story on Titan, I want to mention that those of us who weren’t able to attend the ongoing Second International Symposium on Solar Sailing (ISSS 2010) can take heart in the fact that selected papers from the proceedings have been quickly published online. Conferences vary tremendously in the resources they [...]
It's hard to believe that we've just crossed the six-month mark on WISE -- seems like just yesterday when we were all up at Vandenberg Air Force Base, near Santa Barbara, shivering in the cold at night while watching the countdown clock.
It is an exciting time for space exploration. The Cassini spacecraft continues to dazzle us from Sa
As you may have noticed, things have been rather quiet on Astroengine of late. This is partly due to my pan-European trek and my work on Discovery News, but mainly due to my horrid affliction of procrastination. Hence why I’m late in posting this pretty awesome picture of a lightning bolt blasting across the French [...]
Diagram of the jump altitude/flight profile of the SpaceDiver program. Credit: Orbital Outfitters It
SSTL antennas destined for ISS resupply vehicle Space blog SSTL antennas destined for ISS resupply vehicle Orbital Sciences Corporation Orbital has ordered nine GPS patch antennas from SSTL for the Cygnus™ advanced manoeuvring spacecraft for those who don’t recognise the name , this is one of the forthcoming unmanned resupply spacecraft for the International Space Station ISS Orbital is the prime contractor for this spacecraft which is one of the first truly commercial missions to be conducted for NASA . GPS Patch Antenna The Cygnus spacecraft is being developed by Orbital to demonstrate cargo delivery services under a NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services COTS agreement . In addition to the COTS development and demonstration program , Orbital will utilise the Cygnus to perform
The asteroid Lutetia photographed from the Rosetta … space agency scientists say knowing its m
RadCollector x Ride Highlife featuring Spacecraft design Highlife/Spacecraft Collabo Fresh off of th
Commemorating 37 years of successful tank deliveries, NASA and Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company
Antennas ship for COMDEV maritime mission Space blog Antennas ship for COMDEV maritime mission SSTL has delivered eight S-Band patch antennas to COM DEV this month that will play a small part in the Canadian space company’s exciting M3MSat Maritime Monitoring and Messaging Micro-satellite mission . The M3MSat Maritime Monitoring and Messaging Micro-satellite is a technology demonstration mission jointly funded and managed by Defence Research and Development Canada DRDC and the Canadian Space Agency CSA The microsatellite is being designed , built and launched by COMDEV for the Government of Canada to support Canadian sovereignty , security , safety and communications needs within the territorial and maritime regions of Canada and . beyond M3MSat is designed to demonstrate the full
Quite frankly, I’m stunned. An Australian amateur astronomer has just observed his second ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ event: an impact in the atmosphere of Jupiter. Phil Plait was very quick to get the news out, describing it as a “major coincidence,” and he ain’t wrong! Anthony Wesley’s first event was the famous July 2009 observation of what was [...]
Gulf of Mexico oil slick captured by satellite Space blog Gulf of Mexico oil slick captured by satellite SSTL’s satellite imaging subsidiary DMCii has used its UK-DMC2 satellite to monitor the oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico Satellite imagery is being supplied to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Noaa and the US Geological Survey USGS following an activation of the International Charter Space and Major Disasters UK-DMC2 Image C DMCii , 2010. UK-DMC2 and its five siblings in the Disaster Monitoring Constellation DMC of satellites are able to provide daily imaging of the oil slick if required , detecting changes in the spill and tracking changes in direction . Current reports indicate that the oil click is moving towards the Florida coastline , having already reached land