Space news #20: Is Russia trying too hard?
After months of nearly non-stop Russian space-achievement-propaganda, the Russian space industry has now experienced a string of temporary setbacks.
Last week, a Soyuz carrying a Progress delivery run to the International Space Station failed when the launch vehicle suffered a fuel leak in its third stage. Engineers were able to make brief contact with the Progress, but were unable to correct its spin. A couple of days later it fell back to Earth over South Africa.
Just this morning, a second Russian rocket launch failed. This time a Proton M carrying a communication satellite. Launching from Khazikstan, the rocket experienced launcher deja-vu when a fuel leak in its third stage caused it to break up before reaching orbit.
Russian spacecraft are generally know for being reliable, at least in the recent past. Despite this, as a result of the Soyuz incident, Sarah Brightman, who had booked passage on a Soyuz bound for the International Space Station, has changed her tune on the off chance that her scheduled flight might be her swan-song.
Although these incidents tarnish Russia’s launch reputation a little, they could actually be symptoms of a larger problem. Commercial space companies such as Space X and Blue Origin have launch systems that are going to cheaper than the Russian launchers. These failures could be a sign that Russia is trying too hard to cut costs to stay competitive in the new space race.
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Spaceflight
- Russian Telescope Captures Burning Up Progress Spacecraft
- NASA Test Materials to Fly on Air Force Space Plane
- Java In Zero-G – How Space Coffee Cup Works
- US space agency chief confident of putting Americans on Mars in 2030s
- 3D printer making Chinese space suit parts
- European Space Agency Director Wants to Set Up a Moon Base
- Explosion of US Military Satellite May Endanger Spacecraft After All
- Progress reenters over Pacific
- Manned mission to ISS to be delayed due to cargo spacecraft’s failure
- CubeSats: Tiny, Versatile Spacecraft Explained
- Making good on the promise of suborbital spaceflight
- Debunking the invalid claims of a space radiation paper
- Welding Begins on Orion Pathfinder
- Next X-37B Mission Set To Begin Soon
- Space Launch System Program Moving Forward
- Singer Sarah Brightman Changes Her Tune
The Solar System
- Activity on Enceladus Could Be “Curtain Eruptions”
- Evidence Found in Asteroid Debris For How Water Reached Earth
- Student Mars Rover team will compete in Utah desert
- Geochemical process on Saturn’s moon linked to life’s origin
- Chaos on a watery world
- NASA Funds ‘Squid Rover,’ 14 Other Far-Out Space Tech Ideas
- NASA’s First Encounter With the ‘Last Planet’
- Martian Sunset Through Two Rovers’ ‘Eyes’
- Ceres Animation Showcases Bright Spots
- Curiosity Rover Sees Stunning Blue-Tinted Sunset on Mars
- Tiny Cubesats Set to Explore Deep Space
- Ceres White Spots Multiply in Latest Dawn Photos
- Getting Down to Science at Ceres
- Galactic Gold Rush: Asteroid Mining to Start This Summer
- Was Ancient Mars Warm? Planet’s History Takes Watery New Twist
- Two Worlds, One Sun
- NASA Research Reveals Europa’s Mystery Dark Material Could Be Sea Salt
- Venus Plane Pushed for Next NASA Next Frontiers Mission
- All 5 of Pluto’s Known Moons Spied by NASA Probe
- Fresh evidence for how water reached Earth found in asteroid debris
- Breaking waves perturb Earth’s magnetic field
- Weather forecasts for planets beyond our solar system
- NASA funds SwRI instrument to date Moon and Mars rocks
- Europa’s Mystery Dark Material Could Be Sea Salt
- Does the Red Planet Have Green Auroras?
Exoplanets
- ‘Venus Zone’ Narrows Search for Habitable Exoplanets
- Life Needs An Atmosphere, But How Much Is Too Much?
- Astrophysicists offer proof that famous image shows forming planets
- Living on an Alien Planet: Exoplanet Kepler-186f
- Ancient Star Raises Prospects of Intelligent Life
- Alien Megastorms of Colossal Brown Dwarfs
- “Alien Life Habitats” –NASA Brainstorms Alternatives to Water
- Alien Life on Oily Exoplanets Could Have Ether-based ‘DNA’
The Universe
- At the Limit of Diffraction
- The Galaxy at the Beginning of the Universe
- Animated Explainer on the Fermi Paradox from Kurz Gesagt
- Immense Halo Discovered Enveloping the Andromeda Galaxy
- Most Ancient and Extreme Star Formation in the Universe Observed
- Lopsided Star Explosion Holds the Key to Other Supernova Mysteries
- Why Some Collapse Into Black Holes to Form a Space-Time Singularity
- Proto super star cluster – a cosmic ‘dinosaur egg’ about to hatch
- 15 million euro boost for European astronomy
- Dark Matter Waves at the Center of Galaxies
- Advanced Alien Civilizations Still Science Fiction For Now
- SETI: Are Fermi Bubbles Detectable?
- Astronomers bypass visible light to map the Galaxys structure
- DARPA developing zoom lens to spot distant space objects more clearly
- Iconic Supergiant Star’s Hidden Companion
- Andromeda Galaxy Is Surrounded by a Supersized Gas Halo
- SETI and Stellar Drift
Everything else