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So where are the extraterrestrial beings?
Not so very long ago, astronomers were theorising about life on practically every planet in the solar system whereas today the Earth is sometimes envisaged as the only haven for living beings... have the extraterrestrial beings disappeared in-between times?
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The rapid growth of New Space
For several years, entrepreneurs have been aspiring to develop a new approach to the space industry and targeting a reduction in launch costs. Is the private sector going to revolutionise human space flight?
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Avatar’s Venture Star
The spaceship from James Cameron’s film is far less fanciful than it appears and even plausibly deals with several problems posed by interstellar travel.
Iran: animals, satellites and a new launch vehicle
The ISA, or Iranian Space Agency, has announced the complete success of a suborbital flight which took a capsule containing a mouse, two turtles and some worms into space on 3 February 2010. The capsule, equipped with a life-support system, parachuted back down to Earth. The rocket used was a Kavoshgar-3, similar to that which placed a small 27 kg satellite (Omid) in orbit a year ago. Also on 3 February 2010, the Iranian Space Agency officially presented 3 satellites, two for telecommunications and one for Earth observation. It also revealed a project for a launch vehicle dubbed Simorgh-3, capable of sending a 100 kg satellite up to an altitude of 500 km. The improvement in performances should even make it possible to target 700 kg to 1,000 km. In the longer term, Iran has announced, on more than one occasion, its intention to develop its own human space flight programme.
The ISA, Iranian Space Agency, website
Published on 4 February 2010
