"We started working together at the end of June to track down any Apollo-era heat shields that they had in storage," said Elizabeth (Betsy) Pugel of the Detector Systems Branch at NASA Goddard. "We located one and opened it. It was like a nerd Christmas for us!"

Specifically, the team is hoping to gather information on how to build next gen shields by examining the design of the carrier structure that connected the shield to an Apollo capsule that flew in Low Earth Orbit. They are also interested in the shields thermal response.

Honestly, every time I watch a documentary, read an article or visit a museum dealing with early spaceflight I am reminded of how brilliant the engineers behind these accomplishments really were. This is yet another example. [NASA and Science Daily]

The Falcon 9, which has nine rocket engines to the Falcon 1's one, is scheduled to go on its maiden voyage in 1Q 2009. If SpaceX meets the reliability milestones metered out by NASA, it'll get a $278 million award—about a tenth of the cost the government agency paid Lockheed Martin to develop its own people-transporting, space-faring rocket. [Wired]

Li explained how the system will work: images taken from orbit will combine with images from the surface to create maps of lunar terrain; motion sensors on lunar vehicles and on the astronauts themselves will allow computers to calculate their locations; signals from lunar beacons, the lunar lander, and base stations will give astronauts a picture of their surroundings similar to what drivers see when using a GPS device on Earth. The researchers have named the entire system the Lunar Astronaut Spatial Orientation and Information System (LASOIS)

NASA has awarded Li a $1.2 million grant to develop the LASOIS system over the next three years. He hopes that it will help the astronauts explore the lunar surface with a greater degree of confidence and avoid the stress that comes with getting lost. After all, losing your bearings on the moon is a far cry from taking the wrong exit on the highway. [Physorg]

SpaceShipTwo is the spaceship that'll actually go into space, while White Knight Two is the plane that'll bring it up high enough to launch itself away. SpaceShipTwo will be able to tote eight people at a time into sub-orbit, two pilots and six passengers, each of whom will pay $200,000 for the right to be one of the few humans to see the earth from above.

The White Knight Two is already almost complete, with testing scheduled for later this year, while SpaceShipTwo is about 60% complete. The flights will take off from the Spaceport that Virgin Galactic is building in the New Mexico desert. As much as I'd like to say $200,000 is a ridiculous amount to spend on a flight into space, you know what? If I had so much money that $200,000 wasn't a big deal, I would be all over this. Hey, Branson! How's about a press preview flight, hmm? Good reviews can be bought with free trips to space. [Virgin Galactic via BBC]

Crews spend between two weeks and a month living in a habitat simulating Martian conditions. They need to don a spacesuit to leave, there's a built-in time delay for communications with "Earth," and they can only use equipment and materials from inside the habitat.

There are two locations where these experiments are done. The first is on Devon Island in the Arctic Circle, which is the largest uninhabited island on earth and home to a gigantic meteorite crater. The second is the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah. Two more locations are planned for the future, with one currently under construction in Iceland.

It's a pretty cool project, one that's sure to help out the astronauts who will head to the Red Planet at some point in our future. Bring on the Martian condos and shopping malls! [Fogonazos via Neatorama]

It's not clear exactly what happened, but sometime earlier today the nitrous oxide motor exploded on a remote pad at the Mojave Air and Space port, mangling an 18-wheeler and spewing debris hundreds of feet. It's not known who was killed or what effect this will have on Virgin Galactic's future, but we'll keep you updated. [CNN]

Initially funded by NASA's Institute for Advanced Concepts, the Biosuit has been seven years in the making. Rather than using gas pressurization to protect the astronaut's body from the vacuum of space, a method used by the current 300-pound suits (astronauts expend around 70 or 80 per cent of their energy just trying to move themselves in the suit) the Biosuit uses mechanical counter-pressure, swaddling the body in tight layers of material. Apparently it's down to the pattern of the lines on the suit, which provide a stiff "skeleton" of support as well as maximum mobility.

The suit will be able to help space travellers stay in shape, as currently they can lose up to 40 per cent of their muscle strength during a trip. The new outfits will give different levels of resistance, allowing their wearer to exercise during a long flight. Small punctures of the suit will be dealt with by merely bandaging the area - with current suits, astronauts have to return immediately to base in order to avoid decompression.

The team behind the Biosuit reckons that the version that makes it to Mars will be a hybrid of old and new, with a gas-pressured torso section and helmet, with an oxygen tank attached to the back. And if the biosuit doesn't make it to other planets, Professor Newman has other plans for it: as a training aid for athletes, and helping people back on their feet and learning to walk again. [MIT News Office]

Orbital Outfitters, run by Rick Tumlinson, a longtime civilian space booster who founded the Space Frontier Foundation, and Jonathan Clark, a former NASA flight surgeon, has already started to develop the equipment it thinks is needed to achieve the feat. Clark, whose wife Laurel perished in 2003's Columbia disaster, believes that the smaller the body is attempting re-entry, the less the chance it has of breaking up—hence the thinking behind space dives being used for NASA emergencies.

The 120,000-foot jump is seen as mere baby (space) steps, as Rick and Jonathan are aiming to make the 150-mile survival jump reality. This would involve falling at speeds of over 2,500 mph before a special drogue chute opens to stabilize their descent on entry to the Earth's outer atmosphere.

By the time the jumper reaches our planet's denser atmosphere, he or she will be travelling at more manageable 120mph. Then the conventional chute opens, allowing the brave individual a more-or-less normal landing back on land, and it's back to the bar for a celebratory beer with your friends—that is, if you landed close by where you told them you'd meet up.

High Dive [Popular Science via Sci-Fi Tech]

Lance Bass's trip into space cost him around $20 million, but the European space agency EADS is offering people—and rich ones at that—the chance of a quick one-and-a-half hour blast into space. The trips, starting in 2012, will cost around 200,000 euros—and will give punters the thrill of experiencing three to five minutes of weightlessness at the height of their journey.

But anyone expecting a trip in a traditional rocket—EADS is behind Ariane, which launches many of the world's satellites—can hold it right there. Astrium, the EADS division behind the commercial trips, unveiled its space jet at a press event in Paris yesterday—at least, the front half of the thing was...

It looks a bit like Tom Dickson has asked his favourite question to the space shuttle, a commercial jet and a traditional rocket, IMHO. Using normal jet engines, the thing will take off and climb to a height of seven and a half miles above Earth. Then hang on to your lunch as, turning vertically, the spacecraft's rocket engine will propel everyone 37 miles high in just 80 seconds.

By the time the rocket shuts down, the craft should have sufficient velocity to carry it above 65 miles and into space (it's the final frontier, you know). Then, after your five minutes of weightlessness (just enough time for you to get blasé about it all), the plane will start to fall back to Earth. Using small thrusters to control its altitude (although the BBC said attitude, so I may be wrong and the robot might be a moody son of a bitch), the pilot will guide the spaceship back into the atmosphere. Then it's jet engines set to stun or something and back to the airport.

The cabin has been designed by Aussie super-aesthete Marc Newsom, who replaced the traditional seats with what he describes as "hi-tech hammocks." He told the BBC that passengers would not be disappointed with what they saw and felt. "There are 15 windows and only four passengers, so there're are plenty of opportunities to float around the interior of this cabin and take different views of space, the stars, the moon, and the Earth."

"It will be amazing," he continued. "You'll actually be outside the Earth's atmosphere; you'll be able to see Earth as a spherical object and everything else around you will be black. There must be millions of people who have dreamt about this since they were little kids."

EADS Astrium is looking for a billion euros ($1,329,600,000 in real money) to develop the idea, as well as financial and industrial partners. Any takers? – Ad Dugdale

Firm rockets into space tourism [BBC News]

1. Keep from throwing up all over everyone. Space makes a lot of people sick, even seasoned astronauts, and there are special drugs that have been developed for space sickness. Use them, but don't take too much or you'll have urinary retention, requiring catheterization, which has gotta hurt.

2. Do not look directly into the sun. If you have to remember this, maybe you should consider a different type of vacation, such as spelunking.

3. Clip your fingernails before you go. Those fingernail clippings can float all around the cabin, creating a nuisance for your fellow spacepeople.

Seven more space etiquette tips, after the jump!

4. Don't play with your food. Liquids form a sphere at zero G, and they are tons of fun to play with, so if you must, just use water, and not staining liquids such as grape juice.

5. If you must have space sex, be sure there are no errant droplets or pubic hair specimens floating around afterward, which could prove themselves to be quite embarrassing.

6. Don't hog the windows. Looking out the window is the prime leisure activity on board a spaceship, so be polite, get your ass out of the way and let somebody else gaze at Mother Earth for a while.

7. Clean up the toilet after you've finished. No one wants to be touching, breathing or otherwise contacting any of your bodily excreta. "If you don't take care of your own responsibilities, tension can build up, especially on a long-duration space flight," says former shuttle astronaut Tom Jones.

8. Remember, being in confined quarters for a few days is like being in an elevator. Hold in your farts, and no smoking.

9. If you have really long hair, consider cutting it. It will look like you've stuck your finger in an electrical socket in space, floating all over the place. If you can't cut it, at least tie that shit down.

10. If you don't mind, perhaps you can do a bit of blogging from space for Gizmodo, taking some key gadgets along and letting us know how they work out there, or even inviting us along as your loyal and most entertaining assistants. – Charlie White

Astronauts offer etiquette lessons to space tourists [NewScientistSpace]