Add Photons For Your Sails The always interesting Paul Gilster augments the latest news about LightSail, the solar sailing project very similar to the fated NanoSail-D, and includes a note that the planned third photon-powered LightSailwill be sent to L1, where it "can be 'parked' to serve as a solar weather station,".

Moon Water Confirmed NASA confirmed on Friday that the LCROSS mission had kicked up a "significant" amount of water on the Moon

Read the Full Story

"Now it's about capitalism, competition, entrepreneurialism"
8 Feb 2010 | 9:56 am

Members of the teams competing for the Google Lunar X PRIZE met last week at JPL. And as Peter Diamandis points out in this video, the timing was rather symbolic.

As an aside, I'm wondering what the "space prizes yet to come" might be.
Wayne

Buying commercial space services
4 Feb 2010 | 11:17 am

At the BBC, "Spaceman" Jonathan Amos provides an easy to understand description of the big changes that may be in store for NASA.

Wayne

CubeSat, Kentucky Space, Space

Resurrected Cubesat solar sailor, Nanosail-D, to fly
2 Feb 2010 | 9:59 am

The Principal Investigator for the project, Dean Ahorn, has let Kentucky Space know that Nanosail-D has been resurrected and is being readied to fly on the FASTSAT-HSV1 satellite later this year. Similar in concept to the Planetary Society's Lightsail project, the 3U (unit) Cubesat packs an unbelievable amout of fabric into its diminutive body.

Use the radiation pressure of light from the stars or a laser to propel themselves forward, solar sails can in theory reach very high speeds over time.

The two spacecraft are among the very first to test the material and sails that could form the basis for a technology first envisioned by writers in the 1960s, as well as push the technology boundaries of what's possible using the Cubesat platform.

This video demonstrates how Nanosail-D will unfurl its sails.

Wayne

CubeSat, Kentucky Space, Space

Follow Kentucky Space on Twitter
1 Feb 2010 | 11:08 am

If you don't follow Kentucky Space on Twitter, please consider it. We're at http://twitter.com/KySpace, or @KySpace if you're a regular user.

@KySpaceADAMASat and @KySpace_KySat1 can also be found there. The suborbital ADAMASat mission has a February 24 launch date, and KySat-1 is expected to fly in November with NASA's Glory mission.

Wayne

CubeSat, Kentucky Space, Space

2010 will be the year of launches for Kentucky Space
29 Jan 2010 | 8:31 am

It has been quite a week for Kentucky Space.
Last Tuesday a team of students traveled to Kennedy Space Center to deliver NanoRack-2, CubeLab-3 and CubeLab-4, meeting the "on-dock" date for a May flight on Shuttle Atlantis to the ISS (STS-132/ULF4).

After delivery, we made our way to another wing of the massive maze-like Space Station Processing Facility to visit NanoRack-1, FIRSTLab, and CubeLab-2, which were already sealed in a cargo transfer bag ready for loading into the cargo modules for Shuttle Discovery (STS-131/19A). Next we checked out Endeavor which was on the pad 39A ready for launch in February. Finally, we paid a visit to the Shuttle Payload Processing Facility and got to see the impressive SPACEHAB module, the ULF4 platform packed with supplies for station, and the Russian MRM-1 module and airlock that will be added to the ISS as part of of the STS-132 mission (and, coincidentally, will fly to orbit with Rack-2 and CubeLab-3 and CubeLab-4 nestled inside).
On Monday this week, another team traveled to NASA Wallops to integrate the SOCEM payload and the mass models for the SOCEM satellites for vibration testing, spin-balance and a test deployment of the satellites. The payload section is much bigger than than we expected and it was amazing to see it integrated. All of the testes were completed successfully, culminating in a successful test deployment on Wednesday, and clearing the way for integration of the flight models in a few weeks. The launch window opens at 10a ET on February 24.
At the same time, another team of students traveled to NASA Marshall to attend a series of meetings to discuss the ins and outs of operating payloads on the ISS. Finally, as you probably heard, NASA Launch Services announced this week that KySat-1 our first orbital free-flying satellite is officially manifested on the Glory Mission. Pictures of all these events to follow soon (except for the MRM-1 which we can not post). This has been quite a week, I can't wait to see what happens next week. Stay tuned here to find out!
Jim Lumpp
Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Kentucky
Faculty Advisor, Kentucky Space
CubeSat, Kentucky Space, Space

SOCEM test deployment a success
28 Jan 2010 | 8:48 am

These last 3 days some of the Kentucky Space team was able to visit NASA Wallops Flight Facility as NSROC tested the payload section of Hall 12.067, the launch vehicle for SOCEM. The payload section passed vibration testing in all 3 axes, was spin balanced, and then, today, underwent the spin-up and deployment test in which the payload section was spun up and the pyro holding the deployment door was fired, thereby releasing the two CubeSats (ADAMASat and the Cal Poly 1U) and the beanie. In this final test, all three pieces of hardware successfully exited the rocket body and inspection after the test did not reveal any damage to the payloads nor the rails of the PCL. Congratulations to all who have worked on SOCEM!

Anthony Karam - University of Ketucky, Kentucky Space

CubeSat, Kentucky Space, Space