Turns out that Elon Musk’s SpaceX isn’t just about shipping people and goods to NASA’s space station, but, some day, a trip to a nearby star. Not sure why he built this, near Boca Chica in the Rio Grande Valley on the Texas-Mexico border, when we haven’t even gone back to the moon yet, much less Mars.
Blast off of an Indian orbiter, a 1.4-ton moon lander and a 56-pound robot mobile rover on the far side of the moon is today, seven months after the Chinese put a lander on the far side of the moon.
These landers are preparation for manned explorations, including establishment of moon bases, however small at first. Trump reportedly is (take that for what it’s worth) angry that NASA isn’t moving faster on putting Americans back on the moon by 2024.
NASA is a biiiggg bureaucracy—with lots of paperwork—which moves at a snail’s pace. I’m betting on the first base being Chinese.
Via Science Alert & PJMedia
Comments Off on India goes for Luna
Posted in Obsessions, Science/Engineering, Space
Tagged India goes for moon
Israel will try once more to land a robot craft on the moon.
“The 5-foot-tall Beresheet 1, the world’s first privately funded moon lander, crashed into the moon while attempting a landing [April 11] Apparently, a technical glitch caused its main engine to stop mid-landing.”
The second attempt could take 2 to 3 years to get ready. If at first you don’t succeed…
Via UPI
Posted in Israel, Science/Engineering, Space
The Hebrew means Israel Lives! The English: Small Country, Big Dreams
Space X’s Elon Musk celebrated the Feb. 6. 2018, first flight of its Falcon Heavy rocket by launching a cherry-red Tesla roadster with a space-suited mannequin driver into solar orbit. Video low-orbit view here.
“The Tesla will likely make quite a few laps around the sun before its deep-space adventure comes to an end. An orbit-modeling study performed last year predicted that the space car will eventually slam into either Venus or Earth, probably within the next few tens of millions of years.”
When you’re filthy rich you can do anything, obviously. Even evade the environmental wackos who might have held this up. Too late, guys, the roadster is now about 226 million miles away. And probably a wreck.
Via Space dot com
Comments Off on Roadster to the Sun
Posted in Science/Engineering, Space, Uncategorized
View of the far side of Luna, a great hole to be explored, and inside the Chinese probe, an experimental biosphere that may lead to a moon base for people– a sustainable closed ecosystem.
Comments Off on An impressive hole
Posted in Science/Engineering, Space
Tagged far side of the moon, Moon base
The 16th dragon ship to rendezvous with the International Space Station has delivered Xmas goodies and “a team of space-going mice” which I’m sure will outrage PETA if they don’t make it back alive.
Comments Off on Just another day at the office
Posted in Science/Engineering, Space
Tagged just another dragon ship
 | Caribou on Rule 5: Jowita Zienkiewic… |
 | Dick Stanley on Ignoring public opinion |
 | Sennacherib on Ignoring public opinion |
| Sennacherib on Defend yourself, support … |
| Sennacherib on Defend yourself, support … |
| Dick Stanley on Another scorpion |
| Sennacherib on Another scorpion |
| Dick Stanley on His excellancy returns |
