Pursuing Technology

NASA is facing severe budget restraints for as far as rhe fiscal eye can see, but the agency is supporting small projects aimed at developing technology that will be necessary for future ambitious missions. The approach is very much in line with President Obama's policy of building a space infrastructure that will support long term human presence in space at some point down the spacetime road.

Two such NASA projects are trying to develop improved landing gear that could be used on either probes to other worlds or manned craft to those worlds. The agency is also looking at various in-space propulsion technologies that would bring the planets closer.

Private corporations and nonprofit organizations are likewise working on such technology. With the various efforts moving ahead, this century may yet see the maturation-- not the end-- of The Space Age.

Hypersonic Test Flight Fails

The second test flight of a hypersonic craft being developed by the Pentagon lost communication with the ground last week before crashing into the Pacific. The unmanned vehicle was designed to crash into the ocean, but in both test flights so far, communications were lost.

The craft is designed to fly at Mach 20, which is faster than computer simulations can reliably model. Test flights, therefore, are important-- the data gathered will shape our understanding of what it takes to fly at such speeds.

The goal of the Pentagon program is to develop a craft that can reach anywhere on the planet within minutes. Inevitably, however, if that goal is achieved, it will also influence the future of long distance transportation on Earth as well as the ability to reach low Earth orbit cheaply and regularly.

ATA Coming Back

The Allen Telescope Array, the only astronomical observatory in the world devoted primarily to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, was shut down in April due to a lack of funds. Now, however, more money has been raised, and ATA should be back hunting alien radio signals in a couple of months.

Donations came into the SETI Institute, which operates ATA, from the general public. Institute scientists take the donations as evidence of public support for SETI research. The money so far collected will keep ATA up and running through the end of the year.

Opportunity At Endeavour Crater

NASA's amazing rover, Opportunity, has reached Endeavour Crater after a three-year drive over rugged Martian terrain. That drive began after Opportunity had already survived on Mars for four years.

Endeavour is the largest crater Opportunity has encountered so far, but the rover will likely not drive down to the crater floor. Rather, the current plan is to study rocks on the crater's rim. They seem to be different than rocks so far examined. Clays also seem to be present on the rim, and scientists are eager to study those. Clay is an indicator that liquid water existed in the area at some point, so studying the clay of Endeavour could produce another data point in the building case that Mars was once wetter and warmer than it is today. That, in turn, would strengthen the case that life could have existed on Mars.

Seeding NewSpace

NASA has let two-year contracts totaling $10 million in value to seven American NewSpace companies that call on the companies to fly scientific payloads and researchers on suborbital flights reaching 62 miles out, which is regarded as the edge of space.

The dollar amount isn't overly impressive, especially when spread among seven companies, but NASA is trying to use it as seed money to encourage the development of technologies and capabilities necessary for our continued expansion into space.

Large Moons And Life

Physicists have held over the past few decades that Earth's large moon has played an important role in the development of life by stabilizing Earth's axial tilt, thus helping to maintain consistent climate regimes to which life could adapt. A new study, however, suggests that while the Moon has indeed played that role, life-- even intelligent life-- could probably have arisen without the gravitational influence of a large moon.

According to the study, data argues that the gravitational influence of the other planets, but especially that of mighty Jupiter, would have kept Earth's axial tilt relatively stable even absent the Moon.

If this new view is correct, it has profound implications for the likelihood of extraterrestrial civilizations. Under the big moon theory, perhaps only one percent of all Earth-like worlds within the habitable zone of its parent star would have a large moon. Therefore, ET civilizations would be rare. But if planets in a solar system-- especially a Jupiter-sized planet-- could stabilize the climate on an Earth-like world, perhaps 75 percent of those worlds could be potential homes of civilizations.

Flying CST-100

Boeing has decided that the Atlas 5 will be used to launch its new manned spacecraft, the CST-100 (hopefully the company eventually gives the craft a snappier name), and plans the first manned test flight of the capsule for late 2015. The CST-100 will carry up to seven people and is designed to be reusable, with each capsule flying up to ten times. The spacecraft is to be tasked to deliver cargo and crew to low Earth orbit, either to ISS or to private space stations now on the drawing boards.

Boeing is also looking for pilots to fly the CST-100. One obvious pool of candidates for those jobs is NASA astronauts, who no longer have an American ride into space. Boeing says it will welcome former astronauts into its program, but will consider other candidates, as well.