The system will blow through 4,700 pounds of propellant in just three seconds, using attitude-control nozzles to keep the capsule upright as it blasts away from a failing rocket at more than 6,000 mph. The capsule and its crew will then descend gently back to Earth using a series of parachutes.
See more images, and a video, of the NASA Launch Abort System at the Best of What's New 2009 site.
The 50th anniversary of Australia’s relationship with NASA approaches, but the standard Space Vehicle Tracking and Communications agreement, renewed every 10 years since 1960, will not be renewed. Instead, when the agreement expires on February 26, it will only be extended for two years.
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Technology, Australian Space Council, Kim Carr, nasa, spaceThe original agreement on Space Vehicle Tracking and Communications made provisions for the use of Australian sites at Canberra, Alice Springs, Tidbinbilla and Dongara to monitor the movements of US spacecraft.
Science Minister Kim Carr comments “This is to provide sufficient time to prepare a new, more strategic and forward-looking reaty, given the changes that have occurred within the space sector since 1980”.
[Via SMH
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