Recent Reading

Linkdump of space-related articles that have recently caught my interest:

ARKYD Space Telescope Kickstarter. I didn’t think Planetary Resources, being funded by millionaires, would need to resort to crowdfunding, but really it seems more a public relations project than a plea for cash. And participatory fundraising can be an effective publicity and education tool — I myself pledged $39 to get a “Space Selfie.” Red shirts may be involved.

The Martian Chroniclers: A New Era in Planetary Exploration. History and overview of latest steps in robotic Martian exploration in the context of the Curiosity team’s recent successes, by Burkhard Bilger for The New Yorker.

Stratolaunch and Orbital — The Height of Air Launch. Stratolaunch ran into a few bumps shortly after announcing their plans, when SpaceX decided not to produce a rocket for their air launch platform, but they seem to have found a willing partner in Orbital Sciences, who have experience with aircraft-mounted rockets like Pegasus.

The Future of the Spacesuit. Jetpacks were already a thing with the MMU and SAFER, but future spacesuits may also include gyroscopes to compensate for torque from tools used for EVA engineering tasks.

Memories of Baikonur — Dutch space advocate Remco Timmermans writes a guest post for aspiring astronaut Abby Harrison about visiting Baikonur Cosmodrome for a Soyuz launch.

How NASA brought the monstrous F-1 “moon rocket” engine back to life. On modeling and recreating the Saturn V’s engines to gain engineering insight for NASA’s new SLS rocket.

Mars One Mission Could Go Horribly Wrong — If It Ever Gets Off the Ground. Turns out building a Martian colonization program through an internet-registered reality show is probably not the best route.

Unpack a Meal of Astronaut Space Food — brief history of astronaut food from Smithsonian Magazine.