Send Your Name to Mars with NASA's MSL

NASA invites you to submit your name to be included on a microchip that will be sent to Mars as part of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission, scheduled to launch in 2011. MSL is a rover that will assess whether Mars ever was, or still is, an environment able to support microbial life. The Send Your Name to Mars Web page enables anyone to take part in the mission by sending his or her name to the Red Planet.

Buzz Aldrin and Snoop Dogg's "Rocket Experience"

Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin has produced a hip-hop song, "Rocket Experience" along with rappers Snoop Dogg and Talib Kweli! If you like it, you can buy it on iTunes (a portion of the proceeds will go to ShareSpace Foundation, to further benefit and support the work of the National Space Society, the Planetary Society and the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation).

Kingston student space competition hat trick!

I am very pleased to announce that for the third year in a row a Kingston Astro student has been selected to represent the UK at the International Astronautical Congress in the undergraduate paper competition. Final year MEng Astro student James Arkwright has been selected to present a paper based on his final year project, ‘Development of a Desktop Hybrid Rocket Motor for Classroom Demonstration’, supervised by Barnaby Osborne, at IAC2009 in Daejeon, Korea in October. Congratulations to both of them!

James (shown here at the Big EARS rocketry week-end) is the fifth Kingston student to be selected in the last six years and follows on from Victoria Reid (2008), Alison Gibbings (2007 – Silver Medal Winner), Flis Holland (2005) and Peter Rickmers (2004 – Gold Medal Winner).

OasISS mission to launch tomorrow

ESA astronaut Frank De Winne launches to the International Space Station tomorrow (Wednesday) to start his six-month OasISS mission. The launch of the Soyuz TMA-15 spacecraft from Baikonur will take place tomorrow at 1334 BST and you can watch it live here.

ESA announces six new astronauts,... and one is British!

From the ESA press release...

ESA today presented the six individuals who will become Europe's new astronauts. The new recruits will join the European Astronaut Corps and start their training to prepare for future missions to the International Space Station, and beyond.

The new astronauts are:

1. Samantha Cristoforetti, Italian

2. Alexander Gerst, German

3. Andreas Mogensen, Danish

4. Luca Parmitano, Italian

5. Timothy Peake, British

6. Thomas Pesquet, French

They were selected following a Europe-wide recruitment process that started last year. Following thorough psychological, medical and professional screening that started with 8413 valid applications, they are the first new recruits to join the European Astronaut Corps since 1992 under this second-ever astronaut selection carried out by ESA. The choice of six was made taking into account flight opportunities planned not only under ESA programmes and activities but also those planned in the frame of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and NASA. This (deleted all) was done in agreement with the Italian authorities and in accordance with the ESA Council decision in 2002 to create a single corps of astronauts in Europe. 

New European Astronauts to be announced on 20 May

The European Space Agency (ESA) will be announcing its new astronauts at ESA HEadquarters in Paris on Wednesday 20 May at press confererence starting at 1315 CEST (1215 BST).

The selection process started in 2008 with 8413 valid applications and following a very demanding selection process, ESA is now ready to introduce the latest members of the European Astronaut Corps who will conduct future missions to the International Space Station, and one day to the Moon and beyond.

Since, currently, the UK does not participate in human spaceflight or contribute financially to ESA's programmes in this area, it is virtually certain that none of the new astronauts will be British. However, given that the UK is currently reappraising its position on human spaceflight, some space commentators believe that a British reserve astronaut may be announced in June.

Rocket Club @ Big Ears

Today saw the first major outing of Rocket Club - to the East Anglian Rocket Society (EARS) annual week-end launch event, Big Ears. Twenty-five rocketeers made the trek to near Cambridge in search of fun, launch opportunities and, ideally, UKRA High Power Rocketry Certification. Although, the weather was fine and sunny, the wind was quite strong for most of the day which, unfortunately, limited the types of rockets that could be launched. Nevertheless, seven Rocket Club members obtained their Level 1 Certification and everyone had a good time. Over the next few weeks we will be working to find more launch opportunities so that the remaining members can launch their rockets and seek certification as well.