Tags: Space Race, VIRGIN GALACTIC, BLUE ORIGIN, NEW SHEPHERD, SPACE X, EDGE OF SPACE
You know the space program was dead for decades. While all the trekkies filled their minds and imaginations with Science Fiction and Hero worship of the “Astronauts” and learned all about our “VAST UNIVERSE” in school.
Suddenly, in recent days, the RACE for SPACE has been given new life. Our “5 Dimension” Generation X, Post Modern, Computer NERDS are all excited.
Don’t you realize that this all by design? The SPACE RACE has always been a fabulous Fund Raiser! They need money and lots of it for their real Technology to bring in their NWO. SO, why not rely on what has worked in the past. It also is a very effective and convenient distraction from the reality that is about to fall upon us.
Much like all the Phony Philanthropy, all the “charitable causes” generous and caring people fall so easily prey to. They are bleeding you dry of all your money and possessions to build their POST HUMAN EMPIRE.
Don’t you understand that their TRANSHUMAN WORLD is a POST HUMAN WORLD? YOU are not only completely expendable… you are a useless eater. A CLOG in their machine. WAKE UP!
Branson will fly earlier than Bezos, but won’t soar as high
Jeff Bezos announced last month that he would go to space on July 20, along with his brother and two other people, on his company’s New Shepard.
Branson had been expected to take a Virgin Galactic flight later this year, but after Bezos said he was blasting off, Branson leapfrogged to an earlier launch date.
Unlike a traditional launch, Virgin Galactic uses a special “mothership” to fly the rocket plane up to approximately 50,000 feet. The rocket-powered plane will then be dropped from the mothership, light its rocket and zoom to the edge of earth’s atmosphere — about 50 miles in altitude.
The crew will experience a few minutes of weightlessness before the plane plummets back to earth and lands in New Mexico.
Company: Blue Origin
Launch date: July 20
Space flight: New Shepard Rocket
New Shepard, Blue Origin’s rocket was named after astronaut – Alan Shepard, the first American to go to space. The sub-orbital rocket offers flight to space over 100km above the earth (20km more than Virgin Galactic’s flight) and accommodation for payload. In general, the rocket is designed to take astronauts and research payloads past the Karman line. spacer
There is debate over whether the Virgin Galactic flight path will actually reach “space.” Due to its design, the top altitude of Branson’s craft falls short of the Karman line recognized internationally as the altitude at which space begins – about 62 miles above sea level (although that definition itself is also under review).
Bezos’ Blue Origins flight will go above that line, briefly.
The company’s Twitter account posted less-than-subtle statements on Friday about the elevation differential.
“From the beginning, New Shepard was designed to fly above the Karman line so none of our astronauts have an asterisk next to their name,” Blue Origin tweeted.
Elon Musk plans to send civilians to low-earth orbit this year.
Launch date: NA
Space flight: Super Heavy and Starship
Elon Musk, who wants to die on Mars plans to send civilians to low-earth orbit this year. Unlike Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, SpaceX’s space journey will last up to four days involving passengers orbiting the planet before the splashdown. Jared Isaacman, the founder of Shift4 Payments, has purchased a rocket ride to orbit from SpaceX. Out of the four, two seats are considered a donation.
Accompanying him on the trip is Sian Proctor, 51, a community college professor from Tempe, Ariz., Christopher Sembroski, 41, of Everett, Wash., and Hayley Arceneaux, a former patient of St. Jude, who now works as a physician assistant there, reports NYTimes.
It’s worth mentioning that Musk’s SpaceX has already taken a crew to the International Space Station. Elon Musk also said that he would fly Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa around the moon with its upcoming Starship rocket in 2023.
However, Elon Musk’s primary goal is to colonise Mars and create a self-sustaining city by 2050.
Right from the dawn of civilisation, we humans have always been interested in the universe and even devised plans to reach Mars, the Moon, and stars. Finally, the touristy trip to space is happening as anticipated. But is it worth all the extravaganza?
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THIS IS NOT A RACE… DO YOU SEE THEM LINING UP? SWEATIN OVER WHO GOES FIRST? NO, these BILLIONAIRES are all part of the SHOW. They are there to keep you distracted. TO keep you focused on what and where the Controllers want you focused. They are scripted out to each get their little piece of the “Glory” while they keep everyone else stringing along. They are spaced out according to the MASTERPLAN for the NWO.
If you believe their fairy tales… I got a piece of property I want to sell you.
Billionaire Branson soars to edge of space in his Unity rocket plane
Branson and five other people are riding the VSS Unity, an air-launched rocket plane, for a 90-minute flight voyage to the outer reaches of Earth’s atmosphere. The mothership, VMS Eve, is based at Virgin Galactic’s Spaceport America in New Mexico, the same location where the VSS Unity is set to land.
The test flight comes just nine days before the first crewed flight of Blue Origin’s New Shepard capsule. The company launched barbs at its competition shortly before its test, implying that Virgin Galactic’s plane is not actually a spaceship and saying that New Shepard offers a better experience to customers.
ALSO ON RT.COMBillionaires’ space race: Bezos’ Blue Origin dunks on Branson’s Virgin Galactic ahead of crewed flight, saying it doesn’t countIf you like this story, share it with a friend!
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What’s a suborbital flight? An aerospace engineer explains
“Suborbital” is a term you’ll be hearing a lot as Sir Richard Branson flies aboard Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity winged spaceship and Jeff Bezos flies aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard vehicle to touch the boundary of space and experience a few minutes of weightlessness.
But what exactly is “suborbital”? Simply put, it means that while these vehicles will cross the ill-defined boundary of space, they will not be going fast enough to stay in space once they get there.
If a spacecraft – or anything else, for that matter – reaches a speed of 17,500 mph (28,000 km/h) or more, instead of falling back to the ground, it will continuously fall around the Earth. That continuous falling is what it means to be in orbit and is how satellites and the Moon stay above Earth.
Anything that launches to space but does not have sufficient horizontal velocity to stay in space – like these rockets – comes back to Earth and therefore flies a suborbital trajectory.
Why these suborbital flights matter
Although the two spacecraft launched in July 2021 will not reach orbit, the accomplishment of reaching space in private spacecraft is a major milestone in the history of humanity. Those aboard these and all future private-sector, suborbital flights will for a few minutes be in space, experience a few minutes of exhilarating weightlessness and absolutely earn their astronaut wings.
A well-thrown baseball
Conceptually, the flights that Branson and Bezos will be on are not terribly different from a baseball thrown into the air.
The faster you can throw the baseball upward, the higher it will go and the longer it will stay in the air. If you throw the ball with a bit of sideways velocity as well, it will go farther down-range.
Imagine throwing your baseball in an open field. As the ball rises, it slows down, as the kinetic energy inherent in its velocity is exchanged for potential energy in the form of increased altitude. Eventually the ball will reach its maximum height and then fall back to the ground.
Now imagine that you could throw the baseball fast enough to reach a height of perhaps 60 miles (97 km). Presto! The baseball has reached space. But when the ball reaches its maximum height, it will have zero vertical velocity and start to fall back to Earth.
The flight may take several minutes, and during most of that time the ball would experience near weightlessness – as will the newly minted astronauts aboard these spacecraft. Just like the hypothetical baseball, the astronauts will reach space but won’t enter orbit, so their flights will be suborbital.
[The Conversation’s science, health and technology editors pick their favorite stories. The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: John M. Horack, The Ohio State University.
Read more:
- Space tourism is here – 20 years after the first stellar tourist, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin plans to send civilians to space
- When will the first baby be born in space?
John M. Horack does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affilia
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At What Altitude Does Earth End And Space Starts?
Table of Contents
I recently watched a video that featured dozens of fighter jets engaged in a fierce dogfight (an aerial battle between fighter aircraft). The jets continued to climb through the bluish-white sky as they fired missiles at their opponents, but suddenly, the sky became pitch-black, indicating that they had entered ‘space’!
Credit: Call of Duty: Infinity War (Official Trailer)
The second thing that I wondered while watching that transition (the first thing I thought was WHOA!) was whether aircraft could actually reach outer space if they continued going up? And how close/far is ‘space’ in the first place?
That answer depends entirely on what you call ‘space’; and yes, if you have a special aircraft that can manage to achieve such high speeds, you could actually reach space!
However, let’s tackle the most basic question first…
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Ever wonder why rockets don’t just go straight up into the sky? There’s actually a scientific reason behind their curved trajectory. Find out why in our latest video, where we explore the benefits of a curved path and how it helps rockets reach space more efficiently. Get ready for thrilling rocket launch recaps on our channel! We feature the most exciting moments and update you with new uploads for all rocket launches. Don’t forget to like and subscribe to stay in the loop. 00:00 You are Here 01:06 The Earth’s Atmosphere 01:41 Benefits of Curved Trajectories 02:23 Real Life Examples Website and App: https://www.spacelaunchschedule.com/ Facebook: 
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What is ‘space’?
That might seem like a dumb question at first, right? Space is where the rest of the solar system and the broader expanse of the universe is located. It’s where astronauts go, and it’s what you see at night when you look up at the sky. None of these definitions are incorrect, but they don’t do much to help define the boundary between our planet and the vacuum of space.
The blackish area in this picture is ‘space’ (Photo Credit : SkyLine/ Fotolia.com)
From the perspective of Earth, space is where the atmosphere becomes thin – even to the point of non-existence. This is obviously a very simplified and subjective definition of ‘space’, but for the scope of this article, it will suffice to understand the distinction between the Earth and space itself.
How high is space?
Many would answer this by saying that, ‘space starts where the atmosphere ends’. Although this is not incorrect, it doesn’t really answer the question, as it leads to an inevitably follow-up question (imagine having a really curious kid pulling at your sleeve): where does the atmosphere end?
Again, this is not an easy question to respond to, in that it doesn’t have a definite answer. You see, the atmosphere that covers our entire planet is not a single entity; instead, it is a collection of a number of gases and dust particles. This layer of gases continues to thin as you go higher up in the sky. This is why most commercial airplanes can’t fly beyond 28,000-35,000 feet above the ground.
Here’s a picture to visualize the situation a bit better:
This is how the atmosphere looks. Now, can you pinpoint – with exact certainty – the altitude at which the atmosphere ends? Probably not, because as you can see, the atmosphere is a collection of progressively thinning layers of gases, rather than a well-defined entity, so it doesn’t have an exact boundary.
How high do you have to go to be in ‘space’ officially?
Although there is no definite boundary where space starts, there is a limit, and if you crossed it, you would have entered space… at least, officially. This boundary is known as the Karman line (also spelled Kármán line), which is often referred to as the ‘edge of space’. 10,000 km = 6213.712 miles
The Karman Line lies near the bottom of the Thermosphere (Photo Credit: Wikipedia.org)
The Karman Line is an imaginary boundary that lies 100 kilometers above Earth and is widely considered the boundary between the outer space and Earth’s atmosphere. The line owes its name to Theodore von Karman – a Hungarian American physicist who was the first to determine that around this altitude, the atmosphere became too thin to support aeronautical flights. In simple terms, this means that at this altitude, an aircraft cannot operate using regular flight tech to generate aerodynamic lift and expect to stay airborne above this altitude (it would instead require rockets). This definition is accepted by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), an international body that sets standards for astronautics and aeronautics.
Note that the atmosphere still exists beyond the Karman line; in fact, tiny particles of the exosphere (the outermost layer of the atmosphere) can be found 10,000 kilometers above the surface of Earth! From that perspective, the International Space Station, which orbits at only 330-435 kilometers above the Earth, isn’t even worthy of its name.
So, it’s not that the atmosphere ends at the Karman line, it’s simply that at that altitude, it becomes too insignificant to support flights that rely on ‘air quality’. Here’s a fun fact: you don’t have to fly beyond the Karman line to officially be considered an ‘astronaut’; according to the US Air Force’s definition of an ‘astronaut’, all you have to do is fly more than 50 miles (80 km) above mean sea level to earn that title!
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Stunning animation shows the Earth’s Van Allen radiation belts
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Nasa admits humans can’t pass through the dangerous Van Allen Belts
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The Van Allen Belts Are Lethal, This is how Astronauts Fly Through Them
Radiation Belts – NASA
Van Allen radiation belt – Wikipedia
PDF The Deadly Van Allen Belts? – NASA
PDF The Deadly Van Allen Belts?
How NASA Worked Around Earth’s Radiation Belts to Land …
YOU KNOW, THE DEADLY RADIATION BELT THEY DID NOT EVEN KNOW EXISTED WHEN THEY SUPPOSEDLY LANDED OUR GUYS ON THE MOON
Could they pass through the Van Allen Belt to the Moon …
NASA Discovers New Radiation Belt Around Earth | Space
How NASA Worked Around Earth’s Radiation Belts to Land …
Scientists Discover Impenetrable Barrier 11,500 km above Earth
By — Vicky Stein
If this space study is right, humans have never left Earth’s atmosphere
The Earth’s atmosphere is described as a fragile coat wrapping around the planet, comparable in scale to an apple’s skin protecting the fruit. For more than half a century, even before the Apollo 16 mission captured the first ultraviolet images of Earth, researchers knew that the outermost atmospheric layer — the geocorona — extends far beyond the denser, surface-level air that we breathe.
Now, a new study from Space Physics redefines the boundaries of our planet, based on overlooked data collected at the end of the last millennium. The report concludes that the edges of the atmosphere actually extend more than 391,000 miles from the planet’s surface, about twice as far as our moon.
This doesn’t mean you can go moonwalking without a spacesuit, said Jean-Loup Bertaux, a study coauthor and planetologist. The hydrogen molecules that make up the outer atmosphere are so sparse that this region is still considered a vacuum. Any spacecraft traveling through it wouldn’t notice a thing or be slowed by drag.
It does mean, however, that humankind has yet to leave the Earth’s atmosphere. The moon, the farthest point ever reached by astronauts, orbits well within the geocorona.
All of this challenges the way we see our planet’s borders. NASA considers a space traveler to be an astronaut when they climb higher than 50 miles above the planet’s surface. The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, which judges world records for aeronautic travel, uses the Kármán line — set at 100 kilometers above sea level — to denote the “edge of space.”
The first ultraviolet photos of the Earth’s geocorona were taken by Apollo 16 astronauts on the moon in 1972. Photo courtesy of NASA
With this new knowledge, high-powered telescopes on the moon or in Earth’s orbit will also need to account for — and filter out — the geocorona’s bright ultraviolet light when looking out into the universe. This would make it easier to scan the cosmos.
And if those telescopes spot planets out in the galaxy with the same halo that surrounds our Earth, that light could someday be used to locate habitable planets far from our own interstellar front door.
What the researchers did
More than two decades ago, a spacecraft called SOHO — the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory — was suspended halfway between the Earth and the sun, searching the sky for a particular frequency of ultraviolet light known as Lyman-alpha radiation.
“Lyman-alpha is, basically, the color of hydrogen,” Bertaux said. It turns out that the solar system is awash in this color, given hydrogen is the most common element in the universe. As each atom of hydrogen is illuminated by the sun, it emits a Lyman-alpha glow.
Lyman-alpha lies in the far ultraviolet portion of the light spectrum, where human eyes can’t see it. But an instrument on the SOHO spacecraft called SWAN could, and did.
Back in the 1990s, Bertaux directed SWAN’s original and primary mission: to monitor solar wind, a constant barrage of charged particles flowing out of the sun. Bertaux is now at least nominally retired, but in his “free time,” his attention floats back to some of the long-overlooked, side-project data he collected in his 55-year career.
With Igor Baliukin, a physicist at Russia’s Space Research Institute and the study’s lead author, Bertaux delved back into images of the Earth taken by SWAN in 1996, 1997 and 1998.
What they found
Although the existence of the geocorona was well-known even in the early 1960s, according to Bertaux, experts at the time would have estimated that it ended well inside of the lunar orbit.
Bertaux, Baliukin and their team found the geocorona extends more than 50 times the Earth’s diameter away from the planet’s surface.
The Earth has a diameter of 7,926.3 miles at the equator, so 50 times 7,926.3 miles? WOW That would be 396,315 miles!!!! Wow, there is a number full of satanic numerals!
“When the astronauts were on the moon, they were looking back at the Earth,” Bertaux said, “but they were not thinking that they were indeed inside the atmosphere of the Earth.”
This not-to-scale diagram shows the Earth’s geocorona, the halo of hydrogen atoms that extends 50 times the diameter of our planet. On the sun-facing side of the planet, the geocorona is “pushed” by solar winds, creating an enlarged “tail” on the opposite side of the planet. Image courtesy of ESA, text enlarged by NewsHour
The team also knew, based on earlier observations of the geocorona, that photons in the solar wind push around the hydrogen in the outer atmosphere, meaning the geocorona must be asymmetrical between the Earth’s day and night sides.
Baliukin created a model of that asymmetrical effect — a “tail” on the geocorona that bulges out from the night side of the planet — that can expand our understanding of space weather. Space weather, in turn, can affect cellphones, GPS maps and electric infrastructure.
What it means
The Earth’s extended atmosphere isn’t much good for supporting life, but it does have consequences for our search for extraterrestrials, said Thomas J. Immel, a physicist at the University of California, Berkeley’s Space Sciences Laboratory who was not involved in this study.
“We’re more interested in the upper atmosphere of planets these days because of exoplanets,” Immel said.
Exoplanets orbit stars other than our own sun. Some of those exoplanets likely fall in the “habitable zone,” where liquid water might exist on a planet’s surface. The hydrogen in our atmosphere is the result of hydrogen atoms separating from water. If we’re looking for habitable planets out there in space, we might be looking for a geocorona just like ours.
“Thirty years ago, we knew there were 100 billion stars in the galaxy like our sun, but we did not know if there were any planets,” Bertaux explained. Today, one estimate lists nearly 4,000 confirmed and recorded exoplanets, with many more yet to be identified.
This research, Immel said, is “a reminder that we don’t know everything about our atmosphere. There’s more to do here on Earth even as we reach out to observe planets around other stars.”
The first image of the Earth’s geocorona was taken from the moon in 1972 by the astronauts of the Apollo 16 mission. The best information on our ultraviolet halo was collected in the late 1990s. Now in 2019, Bertaux, Baliukin and company gave us an estimate of the outermost reaches of our planet’s atmosphere.
Bertaux’s prediction for the future?
In the next 100 years, he said, “clearly we will have the means” to detect not only hydrogen around a habitable planet, but maybe even life among the stars.
6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.
14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.
17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.
19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
So, even when GOD takes the lights out of the sky… there will be light. BECAUSE GOD IS THE LIGHT!
JOEL 3
14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.
15 The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.
16 The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.
Matthew 24
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: 30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
THOSE THINGS THEY CALL PLANETS are just wandering stars that is the etymology of the word “planet”. The stars are not solid they are lights… light beings. Entities made up of ethereal. YOU CANNOT LAND ON THE MOON. OR ANY PLANET.
Ethereal | Definition of Ethereal by Merriam-Webster
Ethereal Synonyms, Ethereal Antonyms | Merriam-Webster …
NASA Throws Cash at Suborbital Flight, Piggybacking on Space Tourism
The agency’s getting wise to the rise of the commercial space industry, and its keen on accessing suborbital zones.
Sir Richard Branson, you may want to pay attention here. NASA’s got another proposals request out, for future space tech investigations–but this time it looks like the agency’s getting wise to the rise of the commercial space biz, and its growing opportunities to access suborbital zones.
NASA’s previous solicitations for proposals have covered advanced aerospace and space-bound technologies, as well as cheap, quiet future commercial jets. The latest proposal, from the Flight Opportunities Program under the Office of the Chief Technologist, is a little different: It’s all about getting technology and test experiments into microgravity on the cheap, by shooting them into sub-orbital space at about 60 miles up rather than into orbit.
The Flight Opportunities program is specifically designed to boost the development of the new commercial space business in the U.S., which is being led by consumer-carrying companies such as Virgin Galactic and bigger business efforts like SpaceX. Virgin, along with a number of still rather mysterious companies, like Jeff Bezo’s Blue Origin, is aiming at flying paying passengers into suborbital space inside a handful of years–and it seems this new NASA proposal is aimed squarely at the spacecraft of these companies.
The benefits of having frequent, reliable, low-cost access to microgravity via these third parties are obvious for NASA–it can test and re-test various technological tricks and fixes on a much more frequent and cheap basis than having to launch its own expensive sounding rockets. The quick turnaround times between commercial flights could even allow for near real-time fixes and adjustments to be made.
As part of the new proposal, then, NASA is also requesting data from commercial suborbital flight companies about integrating experimental payloads into their flight profiles, and NASA’s Chief Technologist Bobby Braun even mentions the matter during the announcement: These flights will allow researchers to “test their technologies in a range of microgravity environments” and will also be able to “share their data with NASA” so the agency can use it “when planning future missions.” That idea alone will carry cachet for some companies or experimenters that are keen to submit proposals.
If we’re reading the sub-orbital tea leaves correctly: With NASA swiftly embracing the new space business environment, it is acting to maximize its future potential by leveraging the technology of new commercial partners and competitors.
JULY 13, 2011
XCOR Lynx slated to fly new suborbital telescope
The Lynx .XCOR Aerospace Suborbital Vehicle. Credit: XCOR Learn More
Commercial space company XCOR Aerospace has signed a “Memorandum of Understanding” with the Planetary Science Institute, laying the groundwork for flying a human-operated telescope on board XCOR’s Lynx spacecraft. The Atsa Suborbital Observatory is a specially designed telescope for use in suborbital space vehicles, and when used with commercial suborbital vehicles, PSI says it will provide low-cost space-based observations above the contaminating atmosphere of Earth, while avoiding some operational constraints of satellite telescope systems.
“The XCOR vehicle design and capabilities work well for hosting the kind of observing facility we are developing,” said PSI Senior Scientist Faith Vilas, the Atsa Project Scientist.
“NASA has been flying suborbital observatories for decades, on unmanned, disposable rockets. The new manned, reusable commercial platforms will allow us to make repeated observations with a single instrument, but without the need to refurbish it between flights,” said Luke Sollitt, and affiliate scientist with PSI and a co-inventor with Vilas of the Atsa Observatory. “In addition, the short turn-around means we can do many observations or targets.”
Atsa means “eagle” in the Navajo language. The facility is optimized for observing solar system objects near the sun that are difficult to study from orbital observatories such as Hubble and ground-based telescopes.
The Lynx is a two-seat, piloted space transport vehicle, capable of taking humans and payloads on a half-hour suborbital flight to 100 km (330,000 feet) and then return safely to a landing at the takeoff runway, providing 4-6 minutes of weightless flight.
Like an aircraft, Lynx is a horizontal takeoff and horizontal landing vehicle, but instead of a jet or piston engine, Lynx uses its own fully reusable rocket propulsion system to depart a runway and return safely.
The Atsa Observatory will be mounted on the top of the Lynx in an experiment pod. XCOR or PSI did not release the cost per flight, but XCOR’s price for one passenger is $95,000 USD. In contrast, the price for using sounding rockets vary, depending on how high the rocket goes, but some cost as little as $10,000 USD.
The Lynx flight profile. Credit: XCOR
“These are natural targets for instruments on suborbital rockets to observe, but a human-tended facility using the kind of reusable launch vehicle offered by XCOR offers significant cost savings,” said Mark Sykes, CEO and Director of PSI, who is also a long-time planetary astronomer and is training to be an Atsa operator.
The Lynx spacecraft will fly to space on a customized flight trajectory and will be capable of precision pointing, allowing the Atsa system with its operator to acquire the desired target and make the planned observations. “We are being approached by many potential customers who are interested in supporting observations of the inner solar system,” Vilas said. “We will also be able to support target of opportunity observations for newly discovered objects and other phenomena.”
“We’re looking forward to flying PSI’s Atsa system on Lynx, it will be a groundbreaking experience. The rapid and flexible operations of the Lynx will enable scientists to pick specific targets of interest and the same day fly multiple tailor made observation missions quickly and inexpensively when they want them to be flown,” said Khaki Rodway McKee, XCOR’s Program Manager.
“We are entering into a new era in the human exploration of space, where private companies like XCOR and PSI will begin to play leading roles in certain areas, beginning with suborbital flight – harkening back to the days of NASA’s Mercury program,” Sykes said.
Andrew Nelson, XCOR’s Chief Operating Officer, said, “Much like the early days of the Internet, mobile communications and social networking revolutions saw new and innovative applications drive commercial multi-billion dollar marketplaces, so we are seeing privately funded efforts like PSI’s Atsa as a key early adopter signaling a robust future for suborbital reusable launch vehicles.”
Source: Universe Today
Space The Final Frontier
UPDATED: 10/15/21 TAGS: Mark Bezos, William Shatner, New Shepherd, launch, landing in Texas desert, SPACE, Captain Kirk, Exploring Deep Space, Going Where No Man Has Gone Mission NS-18 – New Shepherd Rocket to Space – Star Wars Captain Kirk – William Shatner JEFF BEZOS Launched “NEW SHEPHERD” rocket into “space” 10/13/21 Well, who is the … Click Here to Read More