Flight of the Origami Spacecraft

MARI YAMAGUCHI -- Associated Press -- March 27, 2008 at 1:55 PM EDT

KASHIWA, Japan — Japanese scientists and origami masters hope to launch a paper airplane from space and learn from its trip back to Earth.

It's no joke. A prototype passed a durability test in a wind tunnel this month, Japan's space agency adopted it Wednesday for feasibility studies, and a well-known astronaut is interested in participating.

A successful flight from space by an origami plane could have far-reaching implications for the design of re-entry vehicles or space probes for upper atmospheric exploration, said project leader Shinji Suzuki, a professor at Tokyo University's Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Suzuki said he was skeptical a decade ago when he first discussed with experts the idea of sending into space a craft made in the tradition of Japan's ancient art of paper folding.

"It sounded like a simply impossible, crazy idea," Suzuki said. "I gave it some more thought, and came to think it may not be ridiculous after all, and could very well survive if it comes down extremely slowly."

In a test outside Tokyo in early February, a prototype about 7 centimetres long and 5 centimetres wide survived Mach 7 speeds and broiling temperatures up to 446 degrees Fahrenheit in a hypersonic wind tunnel — conditions meant to approximate what the plane would face entering Earth's atmosphere.

Ruling on sale of [RadarSat2- maker MDA] delayed

Where there's life there's hope.

Mar 20, 2008 02:39 PM THE CANADIAN PRESS
OTTAWA–Industry Canada has taken a 30-day extension to review the controversial sale of the Canadian-built Radarsat satellite and Canadarm to a U.S. arms-maker.
Industry Minister Jim Prentice informed Alliant Techsystems that he won't meet the Saturday deadline to approve or reject the proposed sale by Vancouver-based MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd.
Prentice is reviewing the proposed $1.325-billion sale under the Investment Canada Act.
His office issued a release today stating it had "sent the investor a letter advising them that the review process . . . would be extended by 30 days from the date of the letter."
The letter was dated Wednesday, March 19.
The minister would offer no further comment on the sale.
A chorus of critics has called on the government to block the deal, saying it would send cutting-edge, taxpayer-subsidized technology to a foreign country's control.
Many also worry that Canada could lose access to state-of-the-art imaging from the Radarsat-2 satellite of Canada's Far North, where battles over Canadian sovereignty are heating up in lock-step with global warming and receding pack ice.

I can't see what the delay is - if it's wrong now (and it is) then it's wrong in 30 days.

We really only have ourselves to blame allowing all of Canadian space tech to concentrate in one company.

--PB--

Lost in space

David Pugliese put together an excellent piece specifying how technology developed using Canadian tax dollars was sold out.

That the purchaser is American is not the point. It's that they're not Canadian.

Control of Canada's finest space technologies are going over the border never to be seen again and we're back at square one with our defense and Arctic sovereignty strategies in tatters.

--PB--

"Sometime in the next few weeks, Canada's leading space technology firm will pass into American hands and, potentially, the 'top secret' files of the Pentagon. Critics fear millions of dollars of taxpayer investment, a significant number of high-tech jobs, our Arctic sovereignty and our international reputation in space research will also vanish.
David Pugliese, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Sunday, March 09, 2008

Part 2 of a Series

By April 2007, MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates had started, quietly, to shop around its space and defence assets, approaching seven potential purchasers.

On the market was the cream of Canada's space industry. Not only was the Richmond, B.C., firm offering the Radarsat-2 satellite, the most advanced spacecraft of its kind in the world, but also a host of other technologies, including the Canadarm, robot systems that could refuel satellites in orbit, and new-generation radar and optical-imaging research."

"Ten Teams Registered to Compete for $30 Million Google Lunar X PRIZE

"February 21, 2008, Mountain View, CA – The X PRIZE Foundation and Google, Inc. today announced the first ten teams to register for the Google Lunar X PRIZE, a robotic race to the Moon to win a remarkable $30 million in prizes. This international group of teams will compete to land a privately funded robotic craft on the Moon that is capable of roaming the lunar surface for at least 500 meters and sending video, images and data back to the Earth."

"The X PRIZE Foundation has also announced that Space Florida will be a new preferred partner and the first preferred launch site for the $30 million Google Lunar X PRIZE competition. ... As the first preferred launch site, Space Florida will award an additional prize of $2 million to the Grand Prize winner of the Google Lunar X PRIZE competition... Space Florida was created by the Florida Legislature to sustain Florida's position as the global leader in space exploration and commerce, and is the principal organization charged with promoting and developing Florida's aerospace industry."

"The ten teams are:

Aeronautics and Cosmonautics Romanian Association (ARCA): Based in Valcea, Romania and led by Dumitru Popescu, ARCA was also a contender in the Ansari X PRIZE. ... The craft they plan to enter in the Google Lunar X PRIZE will be called the “European Lunar Explorer.”

Astrobotic: Team Astrobotic, [a consortium of Carnegie Mellon University, Raytheon Company and additional institutions] led by Dr. William “Red” Whittaker [and specialises in] autonomous navigation through stereo vision a[enabling] Carnegie Mellon’s robots to automatically avoid obstacles and select their own route across unmapped terrain. Astrobotic will compete for the prize using their “Artemis Lander” and “Red Rover.”

Chandah: Chandah, meaning “Moon” in Sanskrit, was founded by Adil Jafry [whose] goal is to catalyze commercialization of space, and bring advances in space travel, tourism, sciences, and technology to the general public at large. Team Chandah’s spacecraft will be named “Shehrezade.”

FREDNET: Headed by Fred J. Bourgeois III, this multi-national team is comprised of systems, software, and hardware developers [whose] goal is to bring the same successful approach used in developing major software systems (such as the Internet, and Linux) to bear on the problems associated with Space Exploration and Research.

LunaTrex: Led by Pete Bitar, LunaTrex is comprised of several individuals, companies, and universities from all over the United States, some of whom were also competitors for the Ansari X PRIZE. Each team member brings their own history to the mix: rocket science, high-altitude near-space R&D, defense directed-energy technology, aviation design and development, robotics, trajectories, and non-conventional propulsion expertise. The name of their competing craft will be “Tumbleweed.”

Micro-Space Inc.: Helmed by Richard Speck and based in Colorado, Micro-Space [has] flown 17 innovative, bipropellant liquid fuel rockets, three near-hover rockets with vectored thrust guidance, scores of flights with telemetry and radio tracking, and several innovative life support systems [and competed] in the Ansari X PRIZE as well as the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge. Their “Human Lunar Lander” will compete for Google Lunar X PRIZE.

Odyssey Moon: The first team to register for the competition, Odyssey Moon is a private commercial lunar enterprise headquartered in the Isle of Man and founded by Dr. Robert Richards. ... Their Google Lunar X PRIZE craft is titled “MoonOne (M-1).”

Quantum3: A U.S.-based team, Quantum3 is led by Paul Carliner, a senior executive in the aerospace industry. They propose to field a small spacecraft launched from an East Coast range using launch-coast-burn trajectory for a propulsive soft landing on the surface of the Moon at the Sea of Tranquility. ... Their craft will be called “Moondancer.”

Southern California Selene Group: According to team leader Harold Rosen, the approach taken by the Santa Monica Selene Group can be succinctly summarized as “an elegantly simple design that is relatively inexpensive to implement.” The architecture for their “Spirit of Southern California” spacecraft will combine the control and communication systems used in some of the earliest communications satellites with the latest in electronic and sensor technology.

Team Italia: Based in Italy and led by Prof. Amalia ErcPublish Postoli-Finzi, Team Italia is a collaboration between several universities. The team is currently running a prototype of its system at Politecnico di Milano. The architecture of the robotic system is under study: a single big rover or a colony of many robots, light and mobile, with many legs and wheels, able to be compacted in the lander and distributed quickly on the Moon's surface with cameras and sensory support."

Space tourism to rocket in this century, researchers predict

"Outer space will rocket into reality as “the” getaway of this century, according to researchers at the University of Delaware and the University of Rome La Sapienza.

In fact, the “final frontier” could begin showing up in travel guides by 2010, they predict.

“In the twenty-first century, space tourism could represent the most significant development experienced by the tourism industry,” says Prof. Fred DeMicco, ARAMARK Chair, in UD's Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management program.

“With the Earth under attack from a myriad of environmental impacts, including climate change concerns and pollution, outer space is the next viable frontier to explore and make longtime plans for,” he notes. “While there are global policies to be determined relating to private ventures in space, the technology to make space travel safer and cheaper is moving forward.”"

[Civilian space will finally move from science fiction movies to reality --PB--]