The speech sent by **Jan Wörner — former Director General of ESA -** for the Inaugural Opening Session of the 2021 Space Renaissance Congress.
Jan couldn’t present live, however he kindly sent us his speech, that we are nonored and proud to publish and add to the Acta of the Congress.
A great message: “We don’t want to *go back *to the Moon, repeating the Apollo mission, we want to* go forward* to the Moon”.
Three Chinese astronauts — Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo — were lifted off on June 17 aboard the Shenzhou-12 manned spacecraft to China’s still-under-construction space station, where they are carrying out a series of technical and scientific operations. Join CGTN’s special coverage to learn more about Shenzhou-12 crewed mission to Chinese Space Station. #SpaceChina #Shenzhou12
A new space race is now underway.
In both cases, the language is an attempt to call forth the spirit of the Outer Space Treaty. However, as many critics have stated, the Artemis Accords suffer from the fact that they are tied to a specific space agency and program. This was certainly the basis of Rogozin and Russia’s resistance when the Accords were first announced, hence why Russia and China have come together to do the same.
In short, they have decided to establish a set of bilateral agreements that would allow others to participate in their program of lunar exploration. While it’s not clear what the long-term implications of this will be, it could possibly lead to tensions and territorial disputes down the road. After all, one of the hallmarks of the current era of space exploration is its plurality, where multiple space agencies (and commercial space) are involved instead of two competing superpowers.
Posted in education, space travel
Kerbal Space Program has now been out for a full 10 years, progressing alongside the space industry and the various people that operate within it. This documentary-style video takes a look at the people that have been influenced, inspired, and introduced to the wonder of space exploration by this bizarre game about little green beings, created by a small group of developers in Mexico City.
We want to thank you, the community, for helping us turn KSP into the launchpad for the next generation of space explorers!
https://www.kerbalspaceprogram.com/game/kerbal-space-program/
Don’t miss another KSP launch!
The 2021 Space Renaissance Congress is going to kick-off today, June 26th, at 13:45 UTC!
5 days of intense discussion on the best strategy to bootstrap the Civilian Space Development before 2025.
* 2021 is seeing the development of the first fully reusable orbital vehicle.
* this milestone will make the space settlement possible, provided that the right decisions will be taken, during next years.
The US Federal Aviation Administration says Sir Richard’s rocket plane can carry paying customers.
SpaceX’s Texas facility known as Starbase has seen significant progress in its quest to become a mass-producing entity of Starship Super Heavy rockets.
In the last few weeks, SpaceX’s South Texas facility known as Starbase has seen significant progress in its quest to become a mass-producing entity of heavy-lift rockets.
Company founder and CEO Elon Musk recently shared a series of tweets showing the progress on the heavy-lift rocket known as Super Heavy in the company’s high bay assembly facility.
One of the tweets depicted the aft section of the giant rocket, known as BN2 or booster No. 2, seeming mostly completed in preparation for the company’s upcoming orbital attempt of the Starship launch system.
Virgin Galactic announced on Friday that the Federal Aviation Administration granted the company the license it needs to fly passengers on future spaceflights, a key hurdle as the venture completes development testing.
“The commercial license that we have had in place since 2016 remains in place, but is now cleared to allow us to carry commercial passengers when we’re ready to do so,” Virgin Galactic CEO Michael Colglazier told CNBC. “This is obviously an exciting milestone and a huge compliment to the team.”
While the FAA previously gave Virgin Galactic a launch license to conduct spaceflights, the license expansion allows the company to fly what the regulator calls “spaceflight participants.” The company completed a 29 element verification and validation program for the FAA, clearing the final two FAA milestones with its most recent spaceflight test in May. Colglazier noted the two last milestones were specific to the spacecraft’s flight control systems and inertial navigation systems.
1. Bigelow must be pissed.
2. A giant ring like that would make a hell of a spacecraft to get around the solar system.
Lawrence Klaes shared a link to the group: Space Settlement Alliance.
The Orbital Assembly Corporation, a space construction firm run by NASA veterans, announced in a press statement today, June 24, that it has successfully demonstrated its technology for developing the world’s first space hotel.
Circa 2012 Dilithium crystal created.
Brace yourselves: Researchers at University of Huntsville in Alabama say they are using “Dilithium Crystals” in a new fusion impulse engine that could cut the travel time to Mars down to as little as six weeks, not the six months it takes now.
Txchnologist, an online magazine sponsored by General Electric, talked to team member and aerospace engineering PH.D. candidate Ross Cortez, he said “The fusion fuel we’re focusing on is deuterium [a stable isotope of hydrogen] and Li6 [a stable isotope of the metal lithium] in a crystal structure.”
“That’s basically dilithium crystals we’re using,” he said.
