Space Updates From Three Countries (indiatimes.com)

The Indian Space Research Organisation continues developing a reusable launch vehicle, which could cut the costs of satellite launches by 90%. William Robinson quotes the Business Times: India will use a mini-rocket with a booster to fly a winged reusable launch vehicle into lower earth orbit on May 23... If everything goes well, it will reach about 70 kilometers from earth, and will plunge into the Bay of Bengal...to demonstrate hypersonic and aero-thermodynamics of the winged re-entry vehicle with autonomous mission management
Meanwhile, Thelasko shares this reminder from BlastingNews that the U.S. Air Force's mysterious X-37B celebrated the one-year anniversary of its launch: Today, the maneuverable craft operates in a 220-mile orbit, a higher altitude it briefly held last fall and roughly the same perch occupied twice by the previous X-37B mission, according to satellite-tracking hobbyist Ted Molczan. This X-37B carries at least two payloads, revealed by the military before the ship took off â" an experimental electric propulsion thruster to be tested in orbit and a pallet to expose sample materials to the space environment.
And MarkWhittington writes that "The latest Chinese space station, the Tiangong 2, is slated to be launched later in 2016 and will be visited by Chinese astronauts in a Shenzhou spacecraft. But, according to Spaceflight Insider, the Chinese are already looking ahead to their permanent low Earth orbit space facility, the Tiangong 3, slated to begin construction in 2018."

Comments

Dawn of a new round of space race

[Taco Cowboy]

Actually this is good for humanity

No matter which entity wins, we all win

Re: Dawn of a new round of space race

[invictusvoyd]

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's 5th Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress estimated that 1.56 million people, or one in every 200 Americans, experienced homelessness

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...


They really gotta shut that NASA down .

Re: Dawn of a new round of space race

[phayes]

First off, experiencing homelessness at some point in ones lifetime != habitually shitting where you live.
Secondly, the homeless in the USA generally use public accessible facilities connected a functional sewer system. In India, even people with homes just dump it out the window.

That said, I'm not one of those who says "people need to take care of social ill X before spending any money on space.

Re:Three articles in one

[stealth_finger]

They post some kind of political or social thing, it gets 500+ comments, half of which are this isn't news for nerds etc. They post some actual science/space/news for nerds and no one's about. And half the people that did turn up are talking about shitting in the streets....