aerospace news stories on Newser

Team Creates Lightest Material on the Planet

Rob Quinn — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 05:10:00 CST

A University of California team says it has created a material lighter than any other on Earth. The team's "ultralight metallic microlattice" is 100 times lighter than Styrofoam, and can sit atop a fluffy dandelion without crushing its seeds, the Los Angeles Times reports. The material is 99.99% air,...

Airbus Shows Off Transparent Jet of the Future

Kevin Spak — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 07:45:25 CDT

Someday, Wonder Woman won’t be the only one with an invisible jet. Airbus has been showing the media a virtual “Concept Cabin” of what it imagines its passenger jets will look like in 40 years. The showiest feature: The jets' walls can turn see-through at the touch of a button,...

Private Firm to Launch Moon Rover

Kevin Spak — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 09:10:08 CST

Rovers aren’t just NASA’s purview anymore. In what would be a major milestone for the private space industry, Astrobotic Technology says it’s going to land a solar-powered robot on the moon—a feat that would earn the company a $24 million piece of the Google Lunar X Prize. The rover...

'Sexy Spy' Anna Chapman Lands New Job

Emily Rauhala — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 04:43:40 CDT

What's a sexy former spy to do? Get a job at a bank, apparently. Anna Chapman, the 28-year old Russian operative whose "007-worthy beauty" caught America's attention has now been hired by Russia's FondServisBank, reports the Telegraph . The bank, which works in the aerospace industry, has hired Chapman to bring...

Boeing to Launch Space Tourism Business

Kevin Spak — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 10:04:09 CDT

Boeing would like to fly you to your next vacation destination—in space. The aerospace giant is developing a space capsule that it thinks will be ready to launch tourists by 2015, the company has announced. The capsule will have seven seats, enough to carry a few spectators alongside a...

On the Horizon: Space Flights for $475

Andrew Dermont — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:45:54 CST

Need a vacation? Aerospace engineer Burt Rutan says in the next 10 years a flight to space may be as cheap as $475. In an interview with BigThink , the space pioneer who famously designed the first plane to fly around the world without stopping explains how he, under the auspices...

Ares Test Rocket Blasts Off

Kevin Spak — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 10:51:09 CDT

NASA’s Ares I-X test rocket finally blasted off this morning, after several delays and a storm-foiled first attempt. The $445 million rocket is the first of its kind, and NASA hopes it’ll eventually replace the space shuttle and take astronauts to the moon. Originally it was supposed to lift off...

South Korea Launches Space Rocket

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 06:44:56 CDT

South Korea's first rocket blasted off into space today following an aborted attempt last week and just months after its rival North Korea drew international ire for its own launch. A problem quickly surfaced, however, when the satellite the rocket was carrying apparently failed to enter its intended orbit. South...

Problems Sour Boeing's 'Dream Summer'

Rob Quinn — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 05:10:01 CDT

Boeing was expecting to ride high on defense contracts in mid-2009 even as its 787 Dreamliner transformed air travel—but widespread problems have shadowed the firm's "dream summer," Dan Reed writes in USA Today . The Dreamliner's launch was delayed for a fifth time after structural problems were discovered, and analysts...