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Recent Blogs

1. NASA in eastern Kern wants to make airliners greener and more fuel-efficient

   By NASA NEWS

   Tuesday, Jan 08 2013 05:53 PM

   NASA has selected eight large-scale integrated technology demonstrations to advance aircraft concepts and technologies that will reduce the impact of aviation on the environment over the next 30 years, research efforts that promise future travelers will fly in quieter, greener and more fuel-efficient airliners.

   NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in eastern Kern County is or will be directly involved in at least two of these projects, and may be involved in several additional research efforts should they progress to actual flight test phases, said Dryden spokesman Alan Brown.

   The demonstrations, which are part of by NASA's Environmentally Responsible Aviation Project, will focus on five areas -- aircraft drag...

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2. Is it climate change, the Mayan calendar or just another October in Bakersfield?

   It's mid-October. We're well into the season commonly known as fall. Halloween is rumored to be nearing. But on this Thursday afternoon in Bakersfield, it's hot. Sweaty, smoggy, sticky hot. The Weather Channel at 2:45 p.m. said it was 91...

3. Gosford, where have ye gone?

   If you ever go searching for the community of Gosford, you might bring along some tea and crumpets. Gosford rated a mention in "Kern County Place Names," a nifty little book published by the Kern County Historical Society. Turns out this...

4. Edwards Air Force Base begins consolidation, cost-cutting measures

   The Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards Air Force Base in eastern Kern County has been redesignated the Air Force Test Center as part of a larger effort to cut costs and redundancies, the Air Force said in a release Friday. The change...

5. Space tourism pioneer Virgin Galactic wants to launch satellites, too

   Virgin Galactic, the commercial spaceline developer with operations in eastern Kern County, has unveiled plans to build a new air-launched rocket designed to deliver small satellites into orbit. Commercial flights of a new orbital launch...

6. Virgin Galactic says it's back 'on track' for space tourism flights

   Press release -- Virgin Galactic MOJAVE, Calif. -- Virgin Galactic, the world's first commercial spaceline, today announced that its passenger-carrying suborbital space vehicle, SpaceShipTwo (SS2), successfully completed its first glide...

7. Mojave space company to offer training flights to aspiring astronauts

   An aerospace company in eastern Kern County has agreed to provide training flights in its spaceplane to future astronauts and customers of a commercial aerospace firm in the British Isles. Mojave-based XCOR Aerospace said in a release...

9. Mojave-based XCOR Aerospace to provide free ride to space

   An aerospace company in eastern Kern County has promised a free trip to suborbital space to a Northern California woman. In a news release today, Mojave-based XCOR Aerospace said San Francisco Bay Area resident Jennifer Brisco is the grand...

10. Looking for a job in the commercial space industry?

    MOJAVE -- Jobs for spaceship designers and engineers are opening up in this high desert community in eastern Kern County -- and they tell the story of a new reality. NASA is no longer the only game in town when it comes to building...

11. NASA employing local companies for payload transport

    At least two commercial aerospace companies with operations in eastern Kern County are expected to benefit from a new partnership between NASA and private companies developing commercial access to space. On Wednesday, NASA's Flight...

12. Ever hunted a megalodon?

    Can you dig it? Buena Vista Museum of Natural History will open the famed Ernst Quarries to the public for an additional weekend of fossil digging. The dig is open to everyone -- from the first time digger to the experienced fossil hunter...

13. Draft environmental impact statement released for Isabella dam project

    News Release US Army Corps of Engineers, Sacramento District March 16, 2012 Corps presents possible Isabella Lake Dam fixes SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Sacramento District released the Isabella Lake Dam Safety...

14. The Spaceship Company in eastern Kern enlisting help to build Virgin Galactic spaceships

    A Mojave-based company currently building a fleet of commercial spaceships for Virgin Galactic announced Monday that it has qualified three suppliers to fabricate structural components for the company's space tourism vehicles. In a news...