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Radar_Relfective_Spheres.jpg
Radar_Relfective_Spheres
These radar calibration reflector spheres have been manufactured since the very earliest days of Raven Industries and Aerostar International still manufactures them today.

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The Mars Pathfinder airbag system was designed to protect the lander regardless of its orientation upon impact with the surface of the planet. The system also was designed to handle lateral movement as well as vertical descent.

The result is a robust system capable of landing in rugged but scientifically interesting locations at Mars. Development of the airbags required significant design and test work, but the qualification program for the system was completed in April of 1996, 8 months prior to launch. Creator/Photographer: NASA 1995 Engineers test huge, multi-lobed air bags, which will envelope and protect the Mars Pathfinder spacecraft before it impacts the surface of Mars. The air bags, manufactured by ILC Dover of Frederica, Delaware, are composed of four large bags with six smaller, interconnected spheres within each bag. The bags measure 5 meters (17 feet) tall and about 5 meters (17 feet) in diameter. As Pathfinder is descending to the Martian surface on a parachute, an onboard altimeter inside the lander will monitor its distance from the ground. The computer will inflate these large air bags about 100 meters (330 feet) above the surface of Mars. ILC Dover is the same company that manufactures spacesuits.

Airbags are breaking the fall of the Pathfinder

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Unlike many other early space station concepts, this design actually made it out of the concept phase and into production, though no models were ever flown. This particular station was 30-feet and expandable. It was designed to be taken to outer space in a small package and then inflate in orbit. The station could, in theory, have been big enough for 1 to 2 people to use for a long period of time. A similar 24 foot station was built by the Goodyear Aircraft Corporation for NASA test use. The concept of space inflatables was revived in the 1990s. source: www.klabs.org/mapld05/panel/index.htm

gpn-2003-00105.jpg On June 28, 1958, Charles Lundquist (right) gave a presentation on orbital trajectories at the Army Ballestic Missile Agency in Huntsville, Alabama to Hermann Oberth (left) and Wernher Von Braun (center). Von Braun was an active proponent of utilizing space stations as “base camps” to other planets and satellites. Hermann Oberth was Von Braun's mentor and was a pioneer in suggesting that space stations would be essential if humans wished to travel to other planets. Charles Lundquist was the chief of the Physics and Astrophysics branch within the former Research Projects Division at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. source: www.klabs.org/mapld05/panel/index.htm

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image source: www.ktb.net/~billmeco/Bigelow.html

The new Space hotels: Rooms for rent in orbit, on the Moon, Mars and beyond.

08:28 pm EDT Oct 21, 2005:

If you thought that the future of private space travel is still far away, and will reach only sub orbit at best - think again. One year after the XPrize panned out, teams are racing to undercut each other's space travel ticket prices, and a new competition has surfaced - between hotels in Space!

Space Adventures just brought the latest space tourist safely back home from the ISS at a cost of 20 million dollars. Sunday, Takafumi Horie, 33, the president of Livedoor revealed his plan to offer tickets for a two to three day orbit of the Earth at around 2 million dollars, using a Salyut space station.

Yet the most interesting right now is perhaps Bigelow's inflatable Space Station. Robert is betting 500 million of his own money on the project. If it works out, the Las Vegas Budget suites owner will not only be able to offer tickets at 8 million dollars,8 million dollars, or rooms at 1 million per night - but he'll build a chain…on the Moon, Mars - and beyond.

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