Casual Astronomy, Spaceflight News and Lower California Weather 

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SpaceX also said it completed multiple restarts of the Merlin 1D engine at its test facility in McGregor, Texas. A modified version of the engine for vacuum firings will be used on Falcon 9 upper stages.

"An enhanced design makes the Merlin 1D the most efficient booster engine ever built, with a vacuum thrust-to-weight ratio exceeding 150, while still maintaining the structural and thermal safety margins needed to carry astronauts," SpaceX said in a statement.

The company says the engine is also tailored for high rates of production utilizing fewer parts and robotic construction methods.

Lockheed Martin Corp. is preparing to ship the pressure shell for the first space-bound Orion capsule from a Louisiana factory to the Kennedy Space Center, where it will be readied for liftoff on an orbital test flight in 2014.
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The Orion capsule's first voyage in space - called Exploration Flight Test 1 - will verify the spacecraft's heat shield during re-entry at speeds mimicking what the capsule will experience on subsequent missions to the moon, asteroids, or other deep space destinations.
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The Orion spacecraft - also called the multipurpose crew vehicle - is NASA's next human-rated spacecraft designed for astronaut voyages beyond low Earth orbit.

Piloted Orion flights will blast off on the Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket, which is scheduled for its first test flight in 2017. NASA's schedule calls for the first crewed Orion mission in 2021.

NASA has added the Orbital Sciences Corp. Antares rocket to its fleet of launchers for robotic research and exploration missions, the space agency announced Tuesday.

The two-stage rocket is being developed by Orbital Sciences as a cargo launcher to serve the International Space Station, but it could double as an economical booster for NASA's scientific satellites.

With costs of proven United Launch Alliance rockets on the rise, NASA is seeking new launch options for its research missions, especially polar-orbiting Earth observation satellites, which have been hardest hit by launch woes.
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If you are not impressed with the Chinese space program, you are not paying attention. ....

Forecasters will almost certainly face gaps in weather data before NOAA's next-generation polar-orbiting satellites begin launching in 2017, government officials told Congress this week.

Mounting costs and satellite development delays will likely mean NOAA's next polar-orbiting weather satellite will launch after its current operational spacecraft is retired, officials said.

Kathryn Sullivan, NOAA's deputy administrator, said studies show weather prediction would suffer without complete atmospheric data collected by satellites in polar orbit.
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Delays in launching NOAA's new weather satellites have stemmed from administrative mismanagement and inadequate budgets, according to a watchdog agency.
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