1996 Long Dong Silver

2009: assessment of a year of Astronautics

E' giunto il momento di fare il bilancio di questo 2009 in campo spaziale. Cerchiamo di ricordare i punti principali; L'anno è iniziato in grande stile con l'inaugurazione dell'Anno Internazionale dell'Astronomia manifestazione che ha animato una miriade di incontri, eventi, rassegne e iniziative per avvicinare le persone alle stelle. Ma il 2009 è was also an important year for the High Energy Astrophysics and the protagonists were AGILE, a little gem all Italian launched in April 2007, ending, NASA mission with a "heart" Italian (revealed sensitive LAT Large Area Telescope has been realized in our country) and SWIFT, another NASA mission with Italian participation. The new satellites in the constellation Sky-Med showed their worth with the continuous monitoring of the earthquake-stricken areas of Abruzzo April 6. In May, the ESA launched the pair of space telescopes Herschel and Planck, two other missions with significant Italian contribution, which immediately started to provide unprecedented data on the early Universe and on objects far away and rising stars. How can we not forget the shuttle mission to repair Hubble Space Telescope and the further expansion of the International Space Station which, for the first time, was able to accommodate a full crew of 6 people and which also saw the first European commander, Frank De Winne . After debuting in 2008, ATV this year it fell to the Japanese HTV bring supplies to the ISS. Russia has shown its proverbial reliability of the Soyuz launch to the International Space Station. Always on the side of human flight ESA has also chosen six new astronauts, and Italy has done a master with the choice of Samantha and Luke Cristoforetti Unless Parmitano. But in July astronautics also celebrated the 40th anniversary of the historic Apollo 11 moon landing with a series of events, even in Italy, and that you are worthily ended with the confirmation of the discovery of water on the Moon by several American missions. NASA managed to launch the first test of new rocket Ares family even if the Commission Augustine, established by President Obama, made a report on the U.S. space program was very negative and that still awaits a solution. Well that ends this year was a year of very hard, and Astronautics lived all that is preparing a 2010 will give us as rich and perhaps more than the past. But novelty aside what is coming will surely be remembered as the year of the closing of the Shuttle program after thirty years of honorable, for better or for worse service, Earth / Space. I just hope that the choices of the White House, to which we are bound also we Europeans, we do not take a step back in the long road to the conquest of space.

Power Cord Extension Cable

SpaceShipTwo Unveiled


Finally, Virgin Galactic has revealed to the public his shuttle for suborbital flights: the SpaceShipTwo (pictured above Credit: Virgin Galactic). Maybe someone will ask whether it is appropriate at a time of economic crisis such as this type of advertising a trip for millionaires (in Euro) ... Perhaps if we really want access to space becomes a routine like now is to catch a plane must, of necessity, move from this phase. Indeed, other means of transport such as car before, and the plane, later, started out as a fashion for wealthy people, and only after many years, have passed the stage of mass access. In the area poses more technical problems and security by several orders of magnitude higher to those of a plane and then it is logical that the growth is slower. I hope that the adventure of Virgin Galactic (because when it comes to adventure ...) has really happened and could pave the way for low-cost access to space. Certainly from a 6-minute suborbital flight to stay in orbit is the step up but I am confident that the very success of the first possible step would allow the next. In fact, Rutan has never denied thinking that after SS2 SS3 will be an orbital ... Sorry that was not the only NASA to have an approach to the low orbit in a few years but perhaps could use the system by renting cheap Rutan ... maybe!