Posted by Ray Katz in NASA, current
The current Discovery shuttle mission successfully repaired and upgraded the International Space Station.
Thanks to the crew, and ground support, the ISS has increased its electrical capacity (with a new set of solar panels); fixed a toilet; and got their exercise bicycle working again.
Hurrah!
Right now, there’s a mock mission to Mars, with several mock astronauts spending more than 500 days in simulated Mars mission conditions. They will be limited in their consumables. They will have long delays in communications with the outside world. And — horrors — they won’t have any company except each other. This is supposedly [...]
Business Week writes about the symbiotic relationship between Russia and the U.S. in space exploration. It re-iterates the biggest upcoming situation—that for five years or more, the U.S. will depend on Russia to get its astronauts into space. After the shuttle retires, only the Russian Soyuz will be available to ferry people to the International [...]
Should American satellites be used to spy on people inside the U.S.? That was the plan for the current National Applications Office (NAO) program, under the jurisdiction of the Office of Homeland Security. New Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano is reviewing the program. The Congress filed an injunction in October 2007, to prevent the [...]