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Thursday, January 7, 2016

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Mars Society Gemini Mars Design Competition

MARS SOCIETY ANNOUNCEMENT
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Letters of Intent for Gemini Mars Design Competition Due January 30th
 
The Mars Society announced in September 2015 that the organization is launching an international student engineering contest to design the Gemini Mars mission, creating a plan for a two-person Mars flyby that could be placed on the desk of the President-elect in late 2016 and be completed by the end of his or her second term in office.

The Gemini Mars mission has some similarities to the previously proposed 
Inspiration Mars mission, but eliminates its principle weakness by avoiding the requirement to use a rarely employed high energy trajectory that imposed excessive technology development, launch capacity and schedule demands on the mission. Instead much easier and more frequently used low energy trajectories will be allowed.

The contest will be open to teams of engineering students from universities around the world, with the group offering the best design receiving a $10,000 prize, and awards of $5,000, $3,000, $2,000 and $1,000 going to the second, third, fourth and fifth place contestants, respectively.

Letters of intent from student teams interested in participating in the international competition are due by Saturday, January 30th.

For full contest instructions an
d details, please click here

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Tons of Star Trek Early Data Discovered On Gene Roddenberry Floppy Disks

http://www.cinemablend.com/television/Tons-Rare-Star-Trek-Data-Recovered-From-Gene-Roddenberry-Floppy-Disks-109147.html

Sunday, January 3, 2016

Space-X Poised To Relaunch Falcon 9 Rocket

Elon Musk: SpaceX poised to relaunch Falcon 9 rocket

By Marilyn Malara   |   Jan. 2, 2016 at 11:33 AM
The latest SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, an earlier version seen here, is reportedly ready to be relaunched after its historic landing in Cape Canaveral on Dec. 21. File Photo by Joe Marino-Bill Cantrell/UPI 
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Jan. 2 (UPI) -- The SpaceX-developed Falcon 9 rocket is ready for its next launch, CEO Elon Musk announced.
"Falcon 9 back in the hangar at Cape Canaveral," Musk, who also founded innovative electric car company Tesla Motors, wrote in the caption alongside a close-up shot of the projectile.
"No damage found, ready to fire again," he added.
On Dec. 21, the the reusable rocket made history when it became the first rocket to successfully complete an upright landing without incident. Just ten days later, Muskrevealed on social media the revolutionary rocket is ready for its next test.
Reusable rockets such as Musk's Falcon 9 pose a threat to the business of space transportation in Russia, where American astronauts go to make their way to the International Space Station.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said the Roscosmos state-owned corporation is working on methods to minimize spending on launches to space as reusable technology innovated by SpaceX and similar companies severely cut down costs.
"The main goal today is to make space cheap," Rogozin told television program Rossiya 24 TV. "Competitors are stepping on our toes. Look at what billionaire Musk is doing with his projects. This is very interesting, well done, and we treat this work with respect."
The country's president, Vladimir Putin, signed a decree to dissolve space agency Roscosmos, although missions will still be executed by the corporation of the same name in 2016.
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