DailyDirt: First In Commercial Space...

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

The space race used to inspire kids to become astronauts or scientists, but the "race" has slowed down quite a bit over the years. So now, it looks like a lot of the cool stuff going on in the field of aerospace is a bit less remarkable than "putting a man on the moon" or having the first satellite EVER. Those events were really amazing because they had never been done before or even really thought of as possible. Here are just a few recent "firsts" that some commercial space projects are making.

• SpaceX is building "the world's first commercial launch complex designed specifically for orbital missions" in Texas. Sure, there are other commercial launch sites for rockets, but SpaceX has the potential to launch re-usable and manned spacecraft into orbit. [url]
• DigitalGlobe's WorldView-3 spacecraft is orbiting our planet, capable of looking down at us with a resolution of about 1 foot (the highest resolution for a non-spy non-government satellite). This satellite can take an image of anywhere in the world within a day's time and possibly predict the fruit yield of an individual tree. [url]
• Japanese beverage maker Otsuka is planning to put the first commercial ad on the moon (if you don't count the fake MTV flag on the moon). Otsuka's Pocari Sweat powder will be packaged in a special 1 kilogram titanium can, and maybe someday, an astronaut will actually mix the powder with water and drink it. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.

Filed Under: commercial space, moon ad, rockets, satellites, space, space race
Companies: digitalglobe, otsuka, spacex