Well it has been a while since I did the ol’ news bites, as you may have noticed there has been plenty of material to focus on anyway. Last couple of days I have been on training and the blog software has been updated – just to explain the lack of new posts from myself and the rest of the Flight blogging team I guess the surprising news today is the BBC’s scoop on this EADS Astrium manned capsule, based on the Automated Transfer Vehicle technology
This proposal follows the EADS Space/Astrium rebranding, eh, I mean space tourism proposal with its yet-to-be-named “space jet”
And if you’re interested Mr X has a ponder about space tourism here
Talking of the improbable Lockheed’sThomas James is in full rant mode again about the Ares and its performance “issues”
I had wondered how Tom gets away with his comments without his employer coming down hard on him but after seeing at the 3rd exploration conference in Denver the degree to which relations between individual NASA managers and the agency’s contractor have diminished on a personal level I can see why he is left to do his thing
And why does NASA Ames’ need to study the feasibility of a “cured-TPS-block-bonded-in-a-honeycomb” heat shield system design architecture? Isn’t PICA enough?
S P Korolev RSC Energia has a nice “photo report” as always about the next Soyuz-U/Progress launch
And if you’re in Moscow next week there is always this “space for humanity” conference organised jointly by the International Academy of Astronautics and Russian Academy of Cosmonautics by K.E. Tsiolkovsky
JAXA has put up an announcement for its International Space Station crew Alan Boyle gets all astronomical
The UK Spacefleet Association decided it couldn’t organise a bid for European research funding last month for its proposal
And finally, ISRO talks about its recent meeting with India’s prime minister
