The test flight of a potentially revolutionary transportation system for future space missions has been delayed several months for more preflight testing, project officials announced Tuesday. Originally planned for the second half of December, the flight of the Demonstrator-3 inflatable space vehicle will now occur sometime in the spring of 2005. Sometimes referred to as a
Expedition to a desert Mars
The Mars Society has begun a new series of simulated Red Planet expeditions at its Mars Desert Research Station in Utah, following up on past rounds of research. “Expedition Alpha” moved in to the space-outfitted habitat this week and is already sending back dispatches. Over the next two weeks, the nine crew members will test tools and techniques that could be used someday during a human mission to Mars
Cavity fighter approved for human testing
A biotech company has won approval to conduct human trials of a dental treatment that uses genetically modified bacteria to prevent cavities for a lifetime, after resolving regulators
Next-generation Russian spaceship unveiled
Russian space officials on Tuesday unveiled a full-scale high-fidelity mockup of the spacecraft they hope will replace the veteran Soyuz space capsule. Descriptions of the Kliper (for “clipper ship”) vehicle have been widely circulated in the space community but today
Boeing, Northrop team up on spaceship
Two aerospace giants, the Boeing Co. and Northrop Grumman Corp., said Tuesday they will form a partnership to compete for the contract to build NASA
NASA researchers investigate way-out ideas
‘Crazy’ projects look decades into the future. When a presidential commission analyzed NASA’s goals for space exploration, it said the space agency should create an “incubator for cutting-edge technologies and concepts,” playing a role similar to that of the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Fortunately, space planners already have the nucleus for such an effort, known as the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts, or NIAC. Lunar researcher Paul Spudis, a member of the presidential commission, made sure he got in a plug for the little-known organization.
$50 million orbital space race launched
A Las Vegas hotel magnate who is hoping to build the world’s first commercial space stations on Tuesday launched a challenge offering $50 million to the creators of the first privately funded spaceship to reach orbit. Robert Bigelow, who owns Budget Suites of America, formally announced the long-rumored prize just a day after the first privately funded spaceship rocketed out of the atmosphere and won the $10 million Ansari X Prize, which was designed to spur commercial spaceflight. To win the contest, which is limited to U.S.-based ventures, a team must build a five-seat spacecraft without government money and send five astronauts into orbit above the Earth twice within 60 days.
SpaceShipOne blasts off up into space
SpaceShipOne landed safely Wednesday after blasting off up into space in what appeared to be the successful start to its bid to win a $10 million prize for private spaceflight. Officials on the ground said the ship had unofficially cleared the 100-kilometer mark, crossing the internationally accepted boundary of outer space. That came after tense moments immediately after the plane’s separation from its carrier aircraft. As SpaceShipOne’s rocket engine completed its 90-second burn, the plane went into a severe roll upwards. Stunning images showed the plane corkscrewing in as many as 10 revolutions per minute, before pilot Mike Melvill brought it back under control.
Next-gen rover to practice searching for life
Robotics experts are getting a next-generation rover ready to hunt for life in the driest place on Earth. The two-month-long dry run in Chile’s Atacama Desert could help set the stage for a similar search someday on Mars. The four-wheeled, solar-powered rover, named Zo
Lessons from an Arctic Mars
Two groups of researchers are winding down their field season in the Canadian Arctic, after testing tools and techniques that could well come into play during future human missions to Mars. They’re bringing back tips for those future explorers

