NASA Cut Limited to $89 Million for FY-2013 (Source: Aviation Week)
NASA will take only an $89 million cut in its topline spending request for fiscal 2013 compared to this year’s operating plan, sources said Friday, but the $17.711 billion NASA budget proposal due out Feb. 13 will axe the joint effort with Europe to return samples from Mars to pay for development overruns on the James Webb Space Telescope.
Human spaceflight continues pretty much as expected, with an $830 million request for commercial crew development (CCDev) work and only a slight drop in the $2.8 billion NASA is spending this year on its heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion multipurpose crew vehicle. Space technology would get $699 million in the new request, while aeronautics drops to $500 million.
The SLS would get another $1.8 billion under the new request, which must clear an election-year Congress focused on deficit reduction. The exploration-vehicle figures track with last year’s budget runout for fiscal 2013, with the Orion budget tweaked downward to keep it in pace with launch vehicle work. The ISS would get another $3 billion under the fiscal 2013 request, roughly as planned to sustain the six-person crew there. (2/10)
Italian Satellite to Help Measure Space-Time Warp (Source: SpaceFlightNow.com)
Scheduled for launch from French Guiana on Monday, Europe's first lightweight Vega rocket is packed with nine small research satellites, including a unique Italian craft designed to help make an elusive accurate measurement of a central tenet of Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity. The 98-foot-tall booster is due for liftoff in a two-hour launch window opening at 1000 GMT (5 a.m. EST) Monday. The four-stage launcher, developed with Italian leadership, will make its first flight from the Guiana Space Center, a European-run spaceport in French Guiana. (2/10)
Private Mars Initiative Seeks Investors (Source: Hobby Space)
We want to see our childhood dreams fulfilled and not forgotten. We want to see humanity conquer the final frontier. We want to see human settlements on Mars. And we will achieve our dreams by organizing like no one has ever organized, and by collaborating like no one has ever collaborated. The Mars Initiative (TMI) is a fully registered non-profit tax-exempt 501(c)(3) charitable organization recognized by the laws and regulations of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in the United States of America. We are also registered as a Texas non-profit organization. Donations and gifts to The Mars Initiative are tax deductible. Click here. (2/10)
A Few Words About NASA’s Mars Mess (Source: Houston Chronicle)
We’ve talked a lot recently about the troubles with NASA’s human spaceflight program, but the space agency’s science program is in similar disarray. Under President Obama’s budget, which will be unveiled next week, the budget for NASA’s robotic probes program will be cut from $1.5 billion to $1.2 billion. The division will pay for these cuts largely by ending NASA’s EXO partnership with the European Space Agency to send probes to Mars in 2016 and 2018. Scientists are upset, as no doubt are the Europeans for whom these were flagship science missions to look for life on the red planet and take preparatory steps toward bringing a sample back from Mars. (2/10)
Prime Minister Approves Pakistan Space Policy (Source: Business Recorder)
Prime Minister of Pakistan Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has approved Pakistan Space Policy and it is likely to be presented in National Assembly for its consideration and approval soon, Chairman, Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO), Major General Ahmed Bilal said. He admitted that in first 40 years since its inception very little work has been done of in space research.
He said that in many countries of the world space related businesses are generating billions of dollars whereas Pakistan is lagging behind in this area. He said that emphasis in the policy has been placed on educating students about its benefit for the nation. It is proposed that space education should be made compulsory in schools and colleges. The chairman said that a pilot project of agriculture crop monitoring through satellite was launched in 2005, which was a big success and now its ambit has been extended. (2/10)
Mars Spacecraft Computer Issue Resolved (Source: NASA JPL)
Engineers have found the root cause of a computer reset that occurred two months ago on NASA's Mars Science Laboratory and have determined how to correct it. The fix involves changing how certain unused data-holding locations, called registers, are configured in the memory management of the type of computer chip used on the spacecraft. Billions of runs on a test computer with the modified register configuration yielded no repeat of the reset behavior. The mission team made this software change on the spacecraft's computer last week and confirmed this week that the update is successful. (2/10)
Largest Virtual Telescope Operational in Chile (Source: AFP)
Astronomers in Chile said this week they had created the world's largest virtual optical telescope by using a special technique to combine images from the four most powerful devices as if they were a single device. "This weekend we managed to finish the process (of merging the images) after almost a year," said Jean-Philippe Berger, a scientist at the European Southern Observatory which operates the Very Large Telescope array (VLT) in Chile's high northern desert. The VLT complex includes four large optical telescopes, each of which are about 30 meters high and have mirrors eight meters in diameter. (2/10)
Independent Human Spaceflight Sought by Japan (Source: SpaceFlightNow.com)
The Japanese space agency is pushing for a domestic human spaceflight capability, proposing modifications to the country's International Space Station cargo delivery system to carry astronauts into orbit by 2025. If approved by the Japanese government, the craft's development would follow a crawl-walk-run approach. Japan has already demonstrated its H-2 Transfer Vehicle can haul cargo and experiments to the space station, and next up could be developing a return capsule to bring equipment from the outpost back to Earth. (2/10)
Putin Wants Russian GLONASS to be as Efficient as US GPS (Source: Itar-Tass)
Prime Minster Vladimir Putin said on Thursday the Russian global positioning GLONASS system should not be inferior to US GPS. “By all parameters GLONASS shall be not worse but even better than GPS,” he told the government. Despite launch problems faced by the Russian space industry last year “we succeeded to deploy the orbital group of GLONASS,” Putin said. Currently there are 31 GLONASS satellites in orbit and 24 are operating. In the past five years its positioning accuracy grew from 35 to 2.8 meters while GPS accuracy is 1.8 meters. (2/10)
NASA Offers Reward For Green Propellant (Source: Aviation Week)
NASA’s Technology Demonstration Missions Program is looking for “green” alternatives to toxic hydrazine as a storable propellant for spacecraft, offering contracts worth as much as $50 million each to researchers with promising ideas. The agency is seeking proposals for demonstrations of systems that use storable monopropellants or bipropellants that are safer than hydrazine to generate spacecraft propulsion and power. The broad area announcement, which is available at http://go.usa.gov/Qbx, calls for complete integrated systems that include engines, tanks, valves, injectors, igniters, thrust chambers and propellant-control systems. (2/10)
Cheap Non-Space Parts Doomed Phobos Mission (Source: America Space)
A catastrophic computer crash caused by space radiation penetrating non space qualified components caused the failure of the Russian Phobos Sample Return mission as it tried to initiate a firing sequence to propel itself to Mars, according to the Russian investigation team headed. The failure commission studied more than 700 documents related to Phobos spacecraft construction, as well as data from its short-lived flight. (2/10)
Landmark Launch in Rocketry: Centaur Set for Flight 200 (Source: SpaceFlightNow.com)
The venerable U.S. upper stage rocket motor -- the Centaur -- that created the pathway to the Moon and every planet across the solar system will be making its 200th flight next Thursday in a milestone mission to boost the U.S. Navy's sophisticated new mobile communications satellite to orbit. Originally developed by General Dynamics under the direction of NASA at the dawn of the space age, Centaur was conceived to power payloads with a high-energy cryogenic engine fed with liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. (2/10)
2012 U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame Induction Weekend (Source: ASF)
On May 4, 2012 America will be watching as an unprecedented group of 40+ Hall of Fame astronauts, 500 high-profile guests and top space industry officials will gather at Kennedy Space Center for the Space Coast’s event of the year - the 2012 U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame Induction Gala to benefit the non-profit Astronaut Scholarship Foundation (ASF). The black-tie affair will recognize inductees Franklin Chang-Diaz, Kevin Chilton and Charlie Precourt along with their peers such as astronauts Buzz Aldrin, John Glenn and James Lovell. Click here. (2/9)
Tom Hanks Speaks Out on Behalf of Space Exploration (Source: Roger Launius Blog)
Beginning in the early 1990s the NASA budget began to decline, a trend that continues to the present, and numerous individuals committed to the continuation of an aggressive space exploration program began to speak out. One of the most vocal was actor Tom Hanks, winner of two Academy Awards and star of Apollo 13. A longtime space advocate, Hanks appeared before Congress on July 25, 1995, to testify on behalf of NASA’s continued activities. With the President set to unveil his budget proposal for fiscal year 2013 next week, and the widespread anticipation that NASA’s programs will suffer severe cuts in it, it seems appropriate to highlight this eloquent statement of Tom Hanks on behalf of NASA and its mission of pushing back the frontiers of understanding about space. (2/10)
NASA's Shuttle Carrier Aircraft 911's Final Flight (Source: NASA)
One of NASA's two modified Boeing 747s that were modified for use as space shuttle carrier aircraft, NASA 911, made its final flight Feb. 8. The big four-engine converted jumbo jet's final mission was a short flight lasting only about 20 minutes from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base to The Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility adjacent to Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale.
The converted jetliner will be retired and used as a source of parts to keep NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) Boeing 747SP aircraft and the remaining Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, NASA 905, flying. NASA 905 will be used to ferry the remaining space shuttles to the cities of their final display venues, including the National Air and Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center near Washington, D.C. (Discovery), the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York City (Enterpirse), the California Science Center in Los Angeles (Endeavour) and the visitor center at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida (Atlantis). (2/10)
Musk Anticipates Third IPO in Three Years With SpaceX (Source: Bloomberg)
Elon Musk, chief executive officer of SpaceX, wants the private rocket-launch business to have an initial public offering in 2013, the entrepreneur’s third such sale in about three years. “There’s a good chance that SpaceX goes public next year,” Musk, 40, said without elaborating. Tesla Motors sold shares for the first time in 2010. SolarCity Corp., a developer of rooftop solar-power systems of which Musk is chairman, is also preparing to file for an IPO this year. (2/10)
Report: Administration to Cut Planetary Science Funding (Source: Space Today)
The Obama Administration's fiscal year 2013 budget proposal will include a 20-percent cut in NASA's planetary science program, likely killing planned cooperation with Europe on Mars exploration. The Washington Post reported Thursday that the 2013 budget proposal, scheduled for release on Monday, will cut NASA's planetary science program budget from $1.5 billion in 2012 to $1.2 billion in 2013, with additional cuts projected out to 2017.
Those cuts are expected to spell the end of plans to work with ESA on a joint Mars exploration program that included a 2016 orbiter and 2018 lander and rover. The cuts are thought to be due at least in part to help cover the increased costs of the James Webb Space Telescope. At least two members of the House appropriations committee have said they would move to block those cuts when they take up the agency's budget later this year. (2/10)
Governor Urges Lawmakers to Reconsider Spaceport Vote (Source: Las Cruces Sun-News)
Gov. Susana Martinez is trying a political Hail Mary. Martinez wants legislators on two committees to reverse themselves in deference to Spaceport America, the $209 million project in southern New Mexico. The Senate Judiciary Committee this week declined to advance a bill granting spaceport suppliers and manufacturers immunity from most lawsuits by space travelers. Members of the House Business and Industry Committee made a similar decision. Spaceport executives said the $209 million government enterprise in Sierra County could lose businesses because of the legislators' stand. Martinez agrees.
But Sen. Lisa Curtis, D-Albuquerque, said that by looking out for consumers New Mexico would be better off. Curtis, an attorney who serves on the Judiciary Committee, said the unthinkable would be possible if the Spaceport got its way. All six passengers on a space flight could die because of negligence by a manufacturer of the craft. But the law sought by the spaceport staff would make it impossible for their families to sue the responsible companies, a system contrary to the best interests of the public, Curtis said. The legislative session ends at noon Feb. 16. (2/10)
Good News/Bad News On Human Spaceflight Regulation (Source: Open Market)
In a bill passed last week authorizing the FAA for another year, the moratorium on regulation of the safety of spaceflight participants, in place since 2004, was extended for another three years, but not as long as proponents in industry had hoped. The idea was that the technology was insufficiently well understood by anyone, including the FAA, to put in place regulations that wouldn’t stifle industry development and innovation, given all the different approaches (vertical takeoff and landing, horizontal takeoff and landing, air launch, hybrid rockets, liquid rockets, etc.). Click here. (2/9)
Schiff Opposes NASA Cuts (Source: Pasadena Star-News)
With NASA facing massive cuts to its budget in 2013, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-CA, met with NASA Administrator Charles Bolden on Thursday, and relayed his own opposition to the shrinking of the space agency's funding. "America's unique expertise in designing and flying deep-space missions is a priceless national asset and the Mars program, one of our nation's scientific crown jewels, has been a spectacular success that has pushed the boundaries of human understanding and technological innovation, while also boosting American prestige worldwide and driving our children to pursue science and engineering degrees in college," he said. (2/9)
Commercial Centrifuge Heading to Space Station (Source: NanoRacks)
Astrium North America is proud to announce that Astrium Space Transportation and NanoRacks LLC have teamed up to offer a cost‐effective, commercial centrifuge facility for the International Space Station. Astrium Space Transportation is handing over on the 14th of February to NanoRacks LLC a gravitational research centrifuge marking a new era of commercial utilization of the U.S. National Lab. The handover will take place at Astrium North America’s Houston facility.
The centrifuge will allow researchers to perform research under various gravity levels, including Mars and Moon conditions or as 1‐G control to contrast results with microgravity projects conducted on the space station. Astrium North America is pleased to be involved in this truly commercial and collaborative project with NanoRacks, working together with NASA toward the enhancement of science facility capabilities on ISS. (2/9)
SpaceX Launch Could Move to April 20 (Source: SpaceFlightNow.com)
NASA and SpaceX officials previously selected March 20 as a "placeholder" date on the Eastern Range, but SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said last week he expected the flight would slip until April. Sources said SpaceX has reserved April 20 for the launch on the Air Force Eastern Range. A launch in late April is contingent upon not only the completion of software testing, inspections and reviews of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule, but also on finding a place for the mission in the space station's traffic pattern. (2/9)
February 9, 2012
Japan to Build on Past Success for Future Exploration Goals (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
As NASA continues to struggle with gaining a clear direction for the future of human space exploration, the U.S. space agency’s international counterparts are wasting no time setting exploration goals for themselves. Specifically, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is aiming to capitalize off past success to enable further human and robotic exploration of the solar system in the coming decades. Click here. (2/9)
Uneven Funding Partially Responsible for Phobos-Grunt Failure (Source: Interfax-AVN)
Insufficient funding of the Phobos-Grunt project at the initial stage might have had an effect on its plight, Director of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Space Research Institute Academician Lev Zelyony said. "If we draw a chart of the project funding by years, we shall see that there was absolutely no money in 2007-2008. Allocations were made approximately a year before the scheduled launch date. As a result, the plans to launch Phobos-Grunt in 2009 were thwarted," he said. "It is impossible to make new instruments within five months even if the funding is unlimited," Zelyony said. (2/9)
Return to Moon Base Gingrich (Source: The Economist)
Despite receiving a round kicking, Newt Gingrich is not giving up on his moon base. To support his cause, Mr Gingrich has invoked the two animating forces of a previous space age: John F. Kennedy's vision of sending a man to the moon and the threat of some other nation getting there first. This is standard fare in any argument in favor of human space exploration. It's also based on a flawed reading of history.
Kennedy's great moon venture was a politically motivated ploy that may have turned out differently had he lived. For a while, the strategy seemed crucial in proving the inferiority of communism. But behind the scenes the president admitted to being "not that interested in space", and by 1963 he had begun a major rethink of the program because of its "fantastic expenditures".
At the United Nations that year he asked whether America and the Soviet Union ought to be involved in such "duplications of research and construction", and proposed a joint lunar program. After a cool reaction from the Soviets, Kennedy was assassinated a few months later and the moon race became his legacy. But it was not a lone dash that Kennedy had envisioned as much as a joint venture. Click here. (2/9)
Next NASA Future Forum with John Glenn at Ohio State Feb. 20-21 (Source: NASA)
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, Deputy Administrator Lori Garver and Sen. John Glenn will discuss NASA's past, present and future during a NASA Future Forum at Ohio State University in Columbus on Feb. 20-21. The forum coincides with the 50th anniversary of Glenn's historic Friendship 7 space flight. (2/9)
Ed Weiler Says He Quit NASA Over Cuts to Mars Program (Source: Science)
Next week, President Barack Obama will propose a $300 million cut in NASA's planetary science programs as part of his 2013 request for the agency, ScienceInsider has learned. If adopted by Congress, the 20% cut in planetary science would in all likelihood shelve NASA's ability to participate in two Mars missions to be carried out in partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA). And the former head of NASA's science mission says that the targeting of the ExoMars program by White House budget officials was the final straw leading to his resignation last fall. (2/9)
Birthday Cake for X-37B (Source: Space Daily)
It's almost time to light a candle for one of the world's most intriguing spacecraft. No, I don't mean ignite the rocket for launch. The second mission of the X-37B robot spaceplane is approaching the one-year mark on its mission. On March 5, it will celebrate this milestone, assuming that the spacecraft is still in orbit. (2/9)
Nike Looks to Space for NBA Star Sneakers at Orlando Game (Source: CollectSpace)
Three icons of professional basketball will don special space-themed sneakers when they take the court for the NBA All-Star Game in Orlando later this month. LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Kobe Bryant will wear special edition Nike shoes styled after NASA spacesuits and inspired by astronauts. (2/9)
U.S. Squeezes French-led Satellite Maker Over China (Source: Reuters)
The United States has threatened action that could disrupt a French-led satellite maker's supply chain, spurred by suspicion that it illegally used U.S. know-how or parts in spacecraft launched by Chinese rockets. The State Department last month quietly warned the company, Thales Alenia Space, that export licenses needed by its U.S. suppliers might be denied, absent greater cooperation in an investigation of the matter.
License refusals could crimp the 2 billion euros ($2.65 billion) in worldwide civil and military sales that the company, known as TAS, posted in 2010. They also could force a costly product-line revamp and strain U.S. ties with France. The threat escalates the United States' multi-year push for details on the design and components of a watershed telecommunications satellite that TAS has labeled as free of U.S. parts and therefore exempt from U.S. export controls. (2/9)
AIA: Aerospace Industry Sales Will Drop in 2012 (Source: AIA)
Marion Blakey, president and CEO of the Aerospace Industries Association, says 2011 proved to be a good year for the aerospace industry. However, 2012 will not provide as rosy an outlook due to defense budget cuts. "Unfortunately, we're predicting that 2012 will be a much different year," Blakey said. "We expect aerospace sales to decrease by about half a billion dollars." (2/9)
Mica, Adams Could Compete in Primary for New District (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
After weeks of silence, U.S. Rep. John Mica of Winter Park said Wednesday that he plans to run for re-election in a redrawn congressional district centered on Seminole County — setting up a potentially bruising primary with fellow Republican Sandy Adams of Orlando. Mica's decision comes as the state Legislature nears the end of the once-a-decade process of redrawing congressional lines, a process that inevitably leads to jockeying among incumbents seeking the best districts to defend. Editor's Note: The new district does not include KSC, as Adams' current district does, but it would be home to many space industry workers. (2/9)
France, Germany Working Group To Resolve Ariane 5 Differences (Source: Space News)
France and Germany have agreed to establish two working groups to resolve their differences over the future of the Ariane 5 rocket and Europe’s role in the international space station. Both groups are scheduled to reach their conclusions by June 30, in time to inform French and German positions before a November conference of ministers from the 19-nation European Space Agency (ESA). The conference, held every three or four years, sets Europe’s medium-term space budget and policy direction. (2/9)
JAXA: Mitsubishi Scandal Could Affect Launch to ISS (Source: Daily Mainichi)
A scandal involving Mitsubishi Electric Corp. concerning inflated defense contracts could affect the scheduled launch this summer of a logistics vehicle to transport food and other supplies to the International Space Station, the Japanese space agency said Thursday. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency suspended Mitsubishi Electric from submitting competitive bids related to satellite development following the revelation late last month that the company had padded bills in connection with contracts for the Defense Ministry and the space agency, known as JAXA.
The launch schedule could be changed as JAXA may have to sign an additional contract with the company on the development of the Konotori3 vehicle before its launch from Tanegashima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture, according to JAXA President Keiji Tachikawa. The agency, which is now looking into the scandal, plans to decide how long the company should remain suspended once the probe is concluded. (2/9)
Russia’s Rockot To Launch Two ESA Sentinel Craft (Source: Space News)
The German-Russian Eurockot Launch Services joint venture on Feb. 9 announced it will launch two European environment-monitoring satellites aboard Russian Rockot vehicles under contracts with the European Space Agency (ESA). The launches, from northern Russia’s Plesetsk Cosmodrome, will carry the Sentinel 2A and Sentinel 3A satellites into polar low Earth orbit, with the first of the two launches to occur no earlier than late 2013. (2/9)
Europe Defers Start on New Polar-orbit Weather Satellites (Source: Space News)
Europe’s meteorological satellite organization, Eumetsat, has again been unable to secure its member governments’ full support to start work on a next-generation polar-orbiting weather satellite system and will try anew in July, Eumetsat officials said. The 27-nation Eumetsat said it has nonetheless increased the guaranteed contributions to the program, to 83 percent of the total compared to 55 percent previously. (2/9)
Obama’s Budget Would Cut Mars Program, Solar System Exploration (Source: Washington Post)
The budget coming Monday from the Obama administration will send the NASA division that launches rovers to Mars and probes to Jupiter crashing back to Earth. Scientists briefed on the proposed budget said that the president’s plan drops funding for planetary science at NASA from $1.5 billion this year to $1.2 billion next year, with further cuts continuing through 2017.
It would eat at NASA’s Mars exploration program, which, after two high-profile failures in 1999, has successfully sent three probes into Martian orbit and landed three more on the planet’s surface. A congressional champion of space exploration said that the budget slashing “absolutely will not fly” with the House committee that oversees NASA. “You don’t cut spending for critical scientific research endeavors that have immeasurable benefit to the nation and inspire the human spirit of exploration we all have,” Rep. John Abney Culberson (R-TX) said. (2/9)
Amazing Views of Earth from the Space Station (Source: Mirror)
The view’s awesome but the atmosphere’s not much to write home about. These latest picture postcards were taken from the International Space Station as it soared overhead. Skywatchers regularly see the space station streaking across the night sky as it whizzes round the planet But as we watch from the ground the astronauts on board are looking down on us and taking their own detailed pictures. Some are just fascinating landscapes, others detailed photographs to gain scientific insight into the earth and how it works. Click here. (2/9)
Tidal Forces Could Squeeze Out Planetary Water (Source: Astrobiology)
Alien planets might experience tidal forces powerful enough to remove all their water, leaving behind hot, dry worlds like Venus, researchers said. These findings might significantly affect searches for habitable exoplanets, scientists explained. Although some planets might dwell in regions around their star friendly enough for life as we know it, they could actually be lifelessly dry worlds.
The tides that we experience on Earth are caused by the gravitational pull of the Moon and Sun. Our tides are nothing compared to what we see elsewhere in the solar system — the gravitational pull Europa experiences from Jupiter leads to tidal forces roughly 1,000 times stronger than what Earth feels from our moon, flexing and heating Europa. (2/9)
What Was Up at SpaceUp San Diego (Source: San Diego City Beat)
The future of mankind in space is dark. I don’t mean dark as in the absence of light, though that’s obviously true. Nor do I mean dark in the sense that space exploration won’t move forward—it will. Slowly but surely, the human race will extend into space. The darkness is in the socio-political implications of a space race that could mirror the colonization of the Americas, with all the death and exploitation that came with it. Indentured servitude. Corporate rulers. Space cults.
At least, that’s the impression I took away after attending the “Future of Astronauts (Colonization)” panel at SpaceUp San Diego, an “unconference” on space exploration held at the Ansir Innovation Center in Kearny Mesa over the weekend. Rather than a formal agenda, the unconference format is designed to inspire innovation and improvisation through an open-ended schedule. (2/9)
NASA PIT Crews Assist Commercial Spacecraft Developers (Source: Parabolic Arc)
Just as every race car driver has a pit crew to keep them on track on the way to a victory quickly and safely, the seven aerospace companies that have teamed up with NASA’s Commercial Crew Program have their own PIT Crews, called Partner Integration Teams, to help guide them in their race to space.
They’re not packing an arsenal of air compressors, fuel, or even spare tires, though. Instead, NASA PIT Crews are equipped with the intimate knowledge of what is takes to design, develop, manufacture, process and launch space transportation systems. Lately, those teams have been making significant progress under Commercial Crew Development Round 2 (CCDev2). Click here. (2/9)
Spaceport Visitors Center to Offer Behind-the-Scenes Tours (Las Cruces Sun-News)
The on-site visitors center at Spaceport America will offer specially developed behind-the-scenes tours, according to plans as well as the chance to visit the Virgin Galactic Gateway to Space. The New Mexico Spaceport Authority Board of Directors reviewed plans Tuesday to design, build and program the Spaceport America Visitor Experience.
The plan includes two off-site welcome centers located in Hatch and in Truth or Consequences, as well as the on-site visitors center. Officials expect more than 200,000 people will visit annually. Officials say the goal is to immerse visitors in the excitement of the world's first commercial spaceport built specifically for launching people and payloads into space. The initial visitor experience program is expected to begin operating in 2013, about the time Virgin Galactic plans to begin commercial operations at Spaceport America. (2/9)
As NASA continues to struggle with gaining a clear direction for the future of human space exploration, the U.S. space agency’s international counterparts are wasting no time setting exploration goals for themselves. Specifically, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is aiming to capitalize off past success to enable further human and robotic exploration of the solar system in the coming decades. Click here. (2/9)
Uneven Funding Partially Responsible for Phobos-Grunt Failure (Source: Interfax-AVN)
Insufficient funding of the Phobos-Grunt project at the initial stage might have had an effect on its plight, Director of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Space Research Institute Academician Lev Zelyony said. "If we draw a chart of the project funding by years, we shall see that there was absolutely no money in 2007-2008. Allocations were made approximately a year before the scheduled launch date. As a result, the plans to launch Phobos-Grunt in 2009 were thwarted," he said. "It is impossible to make new instruments within five months even if the funding is unlimited," Zelyony said. (2/9)
Return to Moon Base Gingrich (Source: The Economist)
Despite receiving a round kicking, Newt Gingrich is not giving up on his moon base. To support his cause, Mr Gingrich has invoked the two animating forces of a previous space age: John F. Kennedy's vision of sending a man to the moon and the threat of some other nation getting there first. This is standard fare in any argument in favor of human space exploration. It's also based on a flawed reading of history.
Kennedy's great moon venture was a politically motivated ploy that may have turned out differently had he lived. For a while, the strategy seemed crucial in proving the inferiority of communism. But behind the scenes the president admitted to being "not that interested in space", and by 1963 he had begun a major rethink of the program because of its "fantastic expenditures".
At the United Nations that year he asked whether America and the Soviet Union ought to be involved in such "duplications of research and construction", and proposed a joint lunar program. After a cool reaction from the Soviets, Kennedy was assassinated a few months later and the moon race became his legacy. But it was not a lone dash that Kennedy had envisioned as much as a joint venture. Click here. (2/9)
Next NASA Future Forum with John Glenn at Ohio State Feb. 20-21 (Source: NASA)
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, Deputy Administrator Lori Garver and Sen. John Glenn will discuss NASA's past, present and future during a NASA Future Forum at Ohio State University in Columbus on Feb. 20-21. The forum coincides with the 50th anniversary of Glenn's historic Friendship 7 space flight. (2/9)
Ed Weiler Says He Quit NASA Over Cuts to Mars Program (Source: Science)
Next week, President Barack Obama will propose a $300 million cut in NASA's planetary science programs as part of his 2013 request for the agency, ScienceInsider has learned. If adopted by Congress, the 20% cut in planetary science would in all likelihood shelve NASA's ability to participate in two Mars missions to be carried out in partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA). And the former head of NASA's science mission says that the targeting of the ExoMars program by White House budget officials was the final straw leading to his resignation last fall. (2/9)
Birthday Cake for X-37B (Source: Space Daily)
It's almost time to light a candle for one of the world's most intriguing spacecraft. No, I don't mean ignite the rocket for launch. The second mission of the X-37B robot spaceplane is approaching the one-year mark on its mission. On March 5, it will celebrate this milestone, assuming that the spacecraft is still in orbit. (2/9)
Nike Looks to Space for NBA Star Sneakers at Orlando Game (Source: CollectSpace)
Three icons of professional basketball will don special space-themed sneakers when they take the court for the NBA All-Star Game in Orlando later this month. LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Kobe Bryant will wear special edition Nike shoes styled after NASA spacesuits and inspired by astronauts. (2/9)
U.S. Squeezes French-led Satellite Maker Over China (Source: Reuters)
The United States has threatened action that could disrupt a French-led satellite maker's supply chain, spurred by suspicion that it illegally used U.S. know-how or parts in spacecraft launched by Chinese rockets. The State Department last month quietly warned the company, Thales Alenia Space, that export licenses needed by its U.S. suppliers might be denied, absent greater cooperation in an investigation of the matter.
License refusals could crimp the 2 billion euros ($2.65 billion) in worldwide civil and military sales that the company, known as TAS, posted in 2010. They also could force a costly product-line revamp and strain U.S. ties with France. The threat escalates the United States' multi-year push for details on the design and components of a watershed telecommunications satellite that TAS has labeled as free of U.S. parts and therefore exempt from U.S. export controls. (2/9)
AIA: Aerospace Industry Sales Will Drop in 2012 (Source: AIA)
Marion Blakey, president and CEO of the Aerospace Industries Association, says 2011 proved to be a good year for the aerospace industry. However, 2012 will not provide as rosy an outlook due to defense budget cuts. "Unfortunately, we're predicting that 2012 will be a much different year," Blakey said. "We expect aerospace sales to decrease by about half a billion dollars." (2/9)
Mica, Adams Could Compete in Primary for New District (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
After weeks of silence, U.S. Rep. John Mica of Winter Park said Wednesday that he plans to run for re-election in a redrawn congressional district centered on Seminole County — setting up a potentially bruising primary with fellow Republican Sandy Adams of Orlando. Mica's decision comes as the state Legislature nears the end of the once-a-decade process of redrawing congressional lines, a process that inevitably leads to jockeying among incumbents seeking the best districts to defend. Editor's Note: The new district does not include KSC, as Adams' current district does, but it would be home to many space industry workers. (2/9)
France, Germany Working Group To Resolve Ariane 5 Differences (Source: Space News)
France and Germany have agreed to establish two working groups to resolve their differences over the future of the Ariane 5 rocket and Europe’s role in the international space station. Both groups are scheduled to reach their conclusions by June 30, in time to inform French and German positions before a November conference of ministers from the 19-nation European Space Agency (ESA). The conference, held every three or four years, sets Europe’s medium-term space budget and policy direction. (2/9)
JAXA: Mitsubishi Scandal Could Affect Launch to ISS (Source: Daily Mainichi)
A scandal involving Mitsubishi Electric Corp. concerning inflated defense contracts could affect the scheduled launch this summer of a logistics vehicle to transport food and other supplies to the International Space Station, the Japanese space agency said Thursday. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency suspended Mitsubishi Electric from submitting competitive bids related to satellite development following the revelation late last month that the company had padded bills in connection with contracts for the Defense Ministry and the space agency, known as JAXA.
The launch schedule could be changed as JAXA may have to sign an additional contract with the company on the development of the Konotori3 vehicle before its launch from Tanegashima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture, according to JAXA President Keiji Tachikawa. The agency, which is now looking into the scandal, plans to decide how long the company should remain suspended once the probe is concluded. (2/9)
Russia’s Rockot To Launch Two ESA Sentinel Craft (Source: Space News)
The German-Russian Eurockot Launch Services joint venture on Feb. 9 announced it will launch two European environment-monitoring satellites aboard Russian Rockot vehicles under contracts with the European Space Agency (ESA). The launches, from northern Russia’s Plesetsk Cosmodrome, will carry the Sentinel 2A and Sentinel 3A satellites into polar low Earth orbit, with the first of the two launches to occur no earlier than late 2013. (2/9)
Europe Defers Start on New Polar-orbit Weather Satellites (Source: Space News)
Europe’s meteorological satellite organization, Eumetsat, has again been unable to secure its member governments’ full support to start work on a next-generation polar-orbiting weather satellite system and will try anew in July, Eumetsat officials said. The 27-nation Eumetsat said it has nonetheless increased the guaranteed contributions to the program, to 83 percent of the total compared to 55 percent previously. (2/9)
Obama’s Budget Would Cut Mars Program, Solar System Exploration (Source: Washington Post)
The budget coming Monday from the Obama administration will send the NASA division that launches rovers to Mars and probes to Jupiter crashing back to Earth. Scientists briefed on the proposed budget said that the president’s plan drops funding for planetary science at NASA from $1.5 billion this year to $1.2 billion next year, with further cuts continuing through 2017.
It would eat at NASA’s Mars exploration program, which, after two high-profile failures in 1999, has successfully sent three probes into Martian orbit and landed three more on the planet’s surface. A congressional champion of space exploration said that the budget slashing “absolutely will not fly” with the House committee that oversees NASA. “You don’t cut spending for critical scientific research endeavors that have immeasurable benefit to the nation and inspire the human spirit of exploration we all have,” Rep. John Abney Culberson (R-TX) said. (2/9)
Amazing Views of Earth from the Space Station (Source: Mirror)
The view’s awesome but the atmosphere’s not much to write home about. These latest picture postcards were taken from the International Space Station as it soared overhead. Skywatchers regularly see the space station streaking across the night sky as it whizzes round the planet But as we watch from the ground the astronauts on board are looking down on us and taking their own detailed pictures. Some are just fascinating landscapes, others detailed photographs to gain scientific insight into the earth and how it works. Click here. (2/9)
Tidal Forces Could Squeeze Out Planetary Water (Source: Astrobiology)
Alien planets might experience tidal forces powerful enough to remove all their water, leaving behind hot, dry worlds like Venus, researchers said. These findings might significantly affect searches for habitable exoplanets, scientists explained. Although some planets might dwell in regions around their star friendly enough for life as we know it, they could actually be lifelessly dry worlds.
The tides that we experience on Earth are caused by the gravitational pull of the Moon and Sun. Our tides are nothing compared to what we see elsewhere in the solar system — the gravitational pull Europa experiences from Jupiter leads to tidal forces roughly 1,000 times stronger than what Earth feels from our moon, flexing and heating Europa. (2/9)
What Was Up at SpaceUp San Diego (Source: San Diego City Beat)
The future of mankind in space is dark. I don’t mean dark as in the absence of light, though that’s obviously true. Nor do I mean dark in the sense that space exploration won’t move forward—it will. Slowly but surely, the human race will extend into space. The darkness is in the socio-political implications of a space race that could mirror the colonization of the Americas, with all the death and exploitation that came with it. Indentured servitude. Corporate rulers. Space cults.
At least, that’s the impression I took away after attending the “Future of Astronauts (Colonization)” panel at SpaceUp San Diego, an “unconference” on space exploration held at the Ansir Innovation Center in Kearny Mesa over the weekend. Rather than a formal agenda, the unconference format is designed to inspire innovation and improvisation through an open-ended schedule. (2/9)
NASA PIT Crews Assist Commercial Spacecraft Developers (Source: Parabolic Arc)
Just as every race car driver has a pit crew to keep them on track on the way to a victory quickly and safely, the seven aerospace companies that have teamed up with NASA’s Commercial Crew Program have their own PIT Crews, called Partner Integration Teams, to help guide them in their race to space.
They’re not packing an arsenal of air compressors, fuel, or even spare tires, though. Instead, NASA PIT Crews are equipped with the intimate knowledge of what is takes to design, develop, manufacture, process and launch space transportation systems. Lately, those teams have been making significant progress under Commercial Crew Development Round 2 (CCDev2). Click here. (2/9)
Spaceport Visitors Center to Offer Behind-the-Scenes Tours (Las Cruces Sun-News)
The on-site visitors center at Spaceport America will offer specially developed behind-the-scenes tours, according to plans as well as the chance to visit the Virgin Galactic Gateway to Space. The New Mexico Spaceport Authority Board of Directors reviewed plans Tuesday to design, build and program the Spaceport America Visitor Experience.
The plan includes two off-site welcome centers located in Hatch and in Truth or Consequences, as well as the on-site visitors center. Officials expect more than 200,000 people will visit annually. Officials say the goal is to immerse visitors in the excitement of the world's first commercial spaceport built specifically for launching people and payloads into space. The initial visitor experience program is expected to begin operating in 2013, about the time Virgin Galactic plans to begin commercial operations at Spaceport America. (2/9)
February 8, 2012
Aviation, GPS Representatives Warn of LightSquared's 'Catastrophic' Plans (Source: National Journal)
LightSquared cried foul on Wednesday after one of its staunchest congressional critics held a hearing that aired fears over the company’s proposed wireless networks. The House Transportation Aviation Subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Tom Petri, R-WI, held a hearing on “a review of issues associated with protecting and improving our nation's aviation satellite-based global positioning system infrastructure.”
That, LightSquared charged, was nothing more than a thinly veiled attack on its network, which has been shown to interfere with GPS devices. And indeed, while the hearing touched on a range of potential threats to GPS, LightSquared and the FCC were front and center. The witnesses, who included government officials from the Transportation Department and the United Nations as well as representatives of the airline and GPS industry, took the FCC to task for allowing LightSquared’s plans to advance as far as they have. (2/8)
Scientist Tracks Changes to Earth’s Forests From Space (Source: EarthSky)
Satellite researcher Alan Belward works for the Institute for Environment and Sustainability, part of the European Commission’s Joint Research Center in Ispra, Italy. Dr. Belward heads the Land Resource Management Unit, which looks at changes to land cover and land use on a global scale. In 2011, Dr. Belward was part of the most comprehensive forest survey ever, which involved 190 countries. An essential tool for his research is data from the Landsat satellite program, which has taken detailed pictures of forest canopies for over 40 years. Click here. (2/8)
Proposed Type of Solar Neutrino Spotted (Source: Science News)
In a technical tour de force, physicists have spotted long-sought low-energy neutrinos zipping from the sun. The discovery confirms one of the first possible steps in the fusion cycle that helps power the star, says Cristiano Galbiati, a physicist at Princeton University. The newfound particles are produced when two protons and an electron interact to make deuterium, a heavy form of hydrogen that helps feed the sun’s fusion. About 1 in 400 deuterium atoms in the sun are made in this proton-electron-proton, or pep, reaction. (2/8)
Romanian Accused of Hacking NASA-JPL Computers (Source: AP)
The Los Angeles U.S. attorney's office says a federal grand jury has indicted a Romanian citizen on charges he hacked into 25 climate-research computers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. Prosecutors say Tuesday's indictment charges 25-year-old Robert Butyka with one count of unauthorized impairment of a protected computer. The hacking in 2010 made computers in the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder Program unusable for two months while malicious code was removed and data restored. (2/8)
Astrogenetix and NASA to Continue Biomedical Research on Station (Source: Astrogenetix)
Astrogenetix, a subsidiary of Astrotech, has entered into a Space Act Agreement (SAA) with NASA to provide the critical resources needed to continue utilizing the International Space Station (ISS) and to further the development of important on-orbit microgravity vaccines and therapeutic drug experiments.
Astrogenetix entered into a similar SAA in 2009 resulting in 12 successful missions on the Space Shuttle that led to the discovery of potential vaccine targets for both salmonella and MRSA. This experience clearly identified that the most important part of the discovery process is the repeated frequency of access to microgravity. The new SAA reflects this important priority and NASA has committed to provide a minimum of 28 missions between 2013 and 2016. (2/8)
Michigan Group Hosting Cape Canaveral Job Fair Aimed at Former NASA Workers (Source: WKMG)
A group from Michigan was courting former NASA workers at a job fair Wednesday. The job fair, hosted by MichAGAIN Orlando and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation's Talent Team highlighted displaced NASA workers specifically in the IT, engineering and defense industry recently laid off because of the Space Shuttle program's end. (2/8)
Australian Opposition Leader Slams Satellite Option (Source: Sky News)
The opposition says the federal government has opted for an unnecessary "Rolls-Royce" communications system by paying $620 million for two new satellites to provide high-speed broadband to remote parts of Australia. NBN Co, the government-owned enterprise rolling out the national broadband network (NBN), has signed a deal with US firm Loral to make the satellites.
About 200,000 homes and businesses in the nation's most remote regions will have access to internet speeds similar to those available in urban centers when the satellites are launched in 2015. "Don't buy yourself a Camry, a Falcon - buy yourself a Rolls-Royce, a Bentley," opposition communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull told reporters in Canberra on Wednesday. "Nothing but the best will do, nothing but the most expensive will do." (2/8)
ILS Moves SES-4 Launch To Mid-February (Source: Aviation Week)
International Launch Services (ILS) plans to loft the SES-4 telecommunications satellite to orbit Feb. 14 after resolving an electrical problem affecting the U.S.-based company’s Proton rocket that was discovered during preflight processing last month. The delay marks the second time that launch of the SES-4 satellite, built by Space Systems/Loral for Luxembourg-based fleet operator SES, has been postponed in recent weeks. It previously was slated to launch Jan. 28 from Kazakhstan. ILS attributes the latest delay to a technical issue with the electrical wiring. (2/8)
From Mars to London, With a Few Stops Along the Way (Source: New York Times)
A piece of Mars fell on Morocco in July. But that was just the start of its travels on Earth. The 2.4-pound meteorite purchased by the Natural History Museum in London is a shergottite, a young rock that formed on Mars just a few hundred million years ago. The biggest chunk of the meteorite flew from Morocco to Paris to New York, where the collector who bought it bicycled around town with it in his backpack. Finally, this week, it flew to London.
The Natural History Museum there announced Wednesday that it had purchased the meteorite for its collection. “I would say, arguably, it is the most significant fall in a hundred years,” said Caroline Smith , the museum’s meteorite curator. Of the tens of thousands of meteorites that have been found on Earth, only 61 came from Mars. And this new one is only the fifth Martian meteorite whose fiery passage through the atmosphere was seen by people on the ground. (2/8)
NASA Mission Takes Stock of Earth's Melting Land Ice (Source: NASA)
In the first comprehensive satellite study of its kind, a University of Colorado-led team used NASA data to calculate how much Earth's melting land ice is adding to global sea level rise. The researchers measured ice loss in all of Earth's land ice between 2003 and 2010, with particular emphasis on glaciers and ice caps outside of Greenland and Antarctica.
The total global ice mass lost from Greenland, Antarctica and Earth's glaciers and ice caps during the study period was about 4.3 trillion tons (1,000 cubic miles), adding about 0.5 inches (12 millimeters) to global sea level. About a quarter of the average annual ice loss came from glaciers and ice caps outside of Greenland and Antarctica (roughly 148 billion tons, or 39 cubic miles). Ice loss from Greenland and Antarctica and their peripheral ice caps and glaciers averaged 385 billion tons (100 cubic miles) a year. (2/8)
Black Hole Eats Asteroids, Burps Out X-Rays (Source: WIRED)
The supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy may be constantly snacking on asteroids. A new study finds that asteroids at least 12 miles wide falling into the black hole would account for the regular bright x-ray flares seen through telescopes. Though nothing, including light, can escape a black hole, most are ringed by a disk of gas and dust. As it falls in, this material heats up to incredible temperatures, generating energy.
For several years, NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory has spotted daily fluctuations in the emissions coming from the Milky Way’s central black hole. Known as Sagittarius A*, this 2-million- to 4-million-solar-mass black hole is approximately 26,000 light-years from Earth near the border of the constellations Sagittarius and Scorpius. Sagittarius A*’s daily flares generally last a few hours and increase the black hole’s brightness by a hundred times.
Researchers now suggest that tens of trillions of asteroids and comets, stolen from their parent stars, might float around the black hole. The central supermassive black hole could sustain these regular flares for billions of years. Even at a rate of one asteroid per day, it would have only consumed a few trillion asteroids over the lifetime of the galaxy, leaving plenty of fodder. (2/8)
How Huntsville Breeds Rocket Scientists (Source: The Atlantic)
Tim Pickens is the kind of guy that gives Huntsville its nickname: Rocket City. The name was there before he was, derived from the city’s high concentration of NASA and military space projects. But Pickens’ decades of involvement in the city’s space industry and engineering community embodies the relationship between the city and the rockets that helped put people on the moon.
He’s a rocket scientist son of a rocket scientists who’s a commercial space advisor and chief propulsion engineer at Dynetics Inc., and team leader of the Rocket City Space Pioneers, a team competing in the Google Lunar X Prize competition to land a robot on the moon. He’s also a garage tinkerer who’s famously attached rockets to bicycles. Click here. (2/8)
Celebrating Black History Month: NASA’s African-American Astronauts (Source: America Space)
February is Black History Month, or National African-American History Month, and here at AmericaSpace we are celebrating the achievements of African-American astronauts in the United States Space Program. From Guion “Guy” Bluford to Ronald McNair, these courageous Americans made significant contributions to human space exploration. Read on for a short piece on each of these heroes. Click here. (2/8)
LightSquared cried foul on Wednesday after one of its staunchest congressional critics held a hearing that aired fears over the company’s proposed wireless networks. The House Transportation Aviation Subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Tom Petri, R-WI, held a hearing on “a review of issues associated with protecting and improving our nation's aviation satellite-based global positioning system infrastructure.”
That, LightSquared charged, was nothing more than a thinly veiled attack on its network, which has been shown to interfere with GPS devices. And indeed, while the hearing touched on a range of potential threats to GPS, LightSquared and the FCC were front and center. The witnesses, who included government officials from the Transportation Department and the United Nations as well as representatives of the airline and GPS industry, took the FCC to task for allowing LightSquared’s plans to advance as far as they have. (2/8)
Scientist Tracks Changes to Earth’s Forests From Space (Source: EarthSky)
Satellite researcher Alan Belward works for the Institute for Environment and Sustainability, part of the European Commission’s Joint Research Center in Ispra, Italy. Dr. Belward heads the Land Resource Management Unit, which looks at changes to land cover and land use on a global scale. In 2011, Dr. Belward was part of the most comprehensive forest survey ever, which involved 190 countries. An essential tool for his research is data from the Landsat satellite program, which has taken detailed pictures of forest canopies for over 40 years. Click here. (2/8)
Proposed Type of Solar Neutrino Spotted (Source: Science News)
In a technical tour de force, physicists have spotted long-sought low-energy neutrinos zipping from the sun. The discovery confirms one of the first possible steps in the fusion cycle that helps power the star, says Cristiano Galbiati, a physicist at Princeton University. The newfound particles are produced when two protons and an electron interact to make deuterium, a heavy form of hydrogen that helps feed the sun’s fusion. About 1 in 400 deuterium atoms in the sun are made in this proton-electron-proton, or pep, reaction. (2/8)
Romanian Accused of Hacking NASA-JPL Computers (Source: AP)
The Los Angeles U.S. attorney's office says a federal grand jury has indicted a Romanian citizen on charges he hacked into 25 climate-research computers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. Prosecutors say Tuesday's indictment charges 25-year-old Robert Butyka with one count of unauthorized impairment of a protected computer. The hacking in 2010 made computers in the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder Program unusable for two months while malicious code was removed and data restored. (2/8)
Astrogenetix and NASA to Continue Biomedical Research on Station (Source: Astrogenetix)
Astrogenetix, a subsidiary of Astrotech, has entered into a Space Act Agreement (SAA) with NASA to provide the critical resources needed to continue utilizing the International Space Station (ISS) and to further the development of important on-orbit microgravity vaccines and therapeutic drug experiments.
Astrogenetix entered into a similar SAA in 2009 resulting in 12 successful missions on the Space Shuttle that led to the discovery of potential vaccine targets for both salmonella and MRSA. This experience clearly identified that the most important part of the discovery process is the repeated frequency of access to microgravity. The new SAA reflects this important priority and NASA has committed to provide a minimum of 28 missions between 2013 and 2016. (2/8)
Michigan Group Hosting Cape Canaveral Job Fair Aimed at Former NASA Workers (Source: WKMG)
A group from Michigan was courting former NASA workers at a job fair Wednesday. The job fair, hosted by MichAGAIN Orlando and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation's Talent Team highlighted displaced NASA workers specifically in the IT, engineering and defense industry recently laid off because of the Space Shuttle program's end. (2/8)
Australian Opposition Leader Slams Satellite Option (Source: Sky News)
The opposition says the federal government has opted for an unnecessary "Rolls-Royce" communications system by paying $620 million for two new satellites to provide high-speed broadband to remote parts of Australia. NBN Co, the government-owned enterprise rolling out the national broadband network (NBN), has signed a deal with US firm Loral to make the satellites.
About 200,000 homes and businesses in the nation's most remote regions will have access to internet speeds similar to those available in urban centers when the satellites are launched in 2015. "Don't buy yourself a Camry, a Falcon - buy yourself a Rolls-Royce, a Bentley," opposition communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull told reporters in Canberra on Wednesday. "Nothing but the best will do, nothing but the most expensive will do." (2/8)
ILS Moves SES-4 Launch To Mid-February (Source: Aviation Week)
International Launch Services (ILS) plans to loft the SES-4 telecommunications satellite to orbit Feb. 14 after resolving an electrical problem affecting the U.S.-based company’s Proton rocket that was discovered during preflight processing last month. The delay marks the second time that launch of the SES-4 satellite, built by Space Systems/Loral for Luxembourg-based fleet operator SES, has been postponed in recent weeks. It previously was slated to launch Jan. 28 from Kazakhstan. ILS attributes the latest delay to a technical issue with the electrical wiring. (2/8)
From Mars to London, With a Few Stops Along the Way (Source: New York Times)
A piece of Mars fell on Morocco in July. But that was just the start of its travels on Earth. The 2.4-pound meteorite purchased by the Natural History Museum in London is a shergottite, a young rock that formed on Mars just a few hundred million years ago. The biggest chunk of the meteorite flew from Morocco to Paris to New York, where the collector who bought it bicycled around town with it in his backpack. Finally, this week, it flew to London.
The Natural History Museum there announced Wednesday that it had purchased the meteorite for its collection. “I would say, arguably, it is the most significant fall in a hundred years,” said Caroline Smith , the museum’s meteorite curator. Of the tens of thousands of meteorites that have been found on Earth, only 61 came from Mars. And this new one is only the fifth Martian meteorite whose fiery passage through the atmosphere was seen by people on the ground. (2/8)
NASA Mission Takes Stock of Earth's Melting Land Ice (Source: NASA)
In the first comprehensive satellite study of its kind, a University of Colorado-led team used NASA data to calculate how much Earth's melting land ice is adding to global sea level rise. The researchers measured ice loss in all of Earth's land ice between 2003 and 2010, with particular emphasis on glaciers and ice caps outside of Greenland and Antarctica.
The total global ice mass lost from Greenland, Antarctica and Earth's glaciers and ice caps during the study period was about 4.3 trillion tons (1,000 cubic miles), adding about 0.5 inches (12 millimeters) to global sea level. About a quarter of the average annual ice loss came from glaciers and ice caps outside of Greenland and Antarctica (roughly 148 billion tons, or 39 cubic miles). Ice loss from Greenland and Antarctica and their peripheral ice caps and glaciers averaged 385 billion tons (100 cubic miles) a year. (2/8)
Black Hole Eats Asteroids, Burps Out X-Rays (Source: WIRED)
The supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy may be constantly snacking on asteroids. A new study finds that asteroids at least 12 miles wide falling into the black hole would account for the regular bright x-ray flares seen through telescopes. Though nothing, including light, can escape a black hole, most are ringed by a disk of gas and dust. As it falls in, this material heats up to incredible temperatures, generating energy.
For several years, NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory has spotted daily fluctuations in the emissions coming from the Milky Way’s central black hole. Known as Sagittarius A*, this 2-million- to 4-million-solar-mass black hole is approximately 26,000 light-years from Earth near the border of the constellations Sagittarius and Scorpius. Sagittarius A*’s daily flares generally last a few hours and increase the black hole’s brightness by a hundred times.
Researchers now suggest that tens of trillions of asteroids and comets, stolen from their parent stars, might float around the black hole. The central supermassive black hole could sustain these regular flares for billions of years. Even at a rate of one asteroid per day, it would have only consumed a few trillion asteroids over the lifetime of the galaxy, leaving plenty of fodder. (2/8)
How Huntsville Breeds Rocket Scientists (Source: The Atlantic)
Tim Pickens is the kind of guy that gives Huntsville its nickname: Rocket City. The name was there before he was, derived from the city’s high concentration of NASA and military space projects. But Pickens’ decades of involvement in the city’s space industry and engineering community embodies the relationship between the city and the rockets that helped put people on the moon.
He’s a rocket scientist son of a rocket scientists who’s a commercial space advisor and chief propulsion engineer at Dynetics Inc., and team leader of the Rocket City Space Pioneers, a team competing in the Google Lunar X Prize competition to land a robot on the moon. He’s also a garage tinkerer who’s famously attached rockets to bicycles. Click here. (2/8)
Celebrating Black History Month: NASA’s African-American Astronauts (Source: America Space)
February is Black History Month, or National African-American History Month, and here at AmericaSpace we are celebrating the achievements of African-American astronauts in the United States Space Program. From Guion “Guy” Bluford to Ronald McNair, these courageous Americans made significant contributions to human space exploration. Read on for a short piece on each of these heroes. Click here. (2/8)
Calling All Space Entrepreneurs (Source: Aviation Week)
As many as 10 finalists are expected to present their plans to judges at the Space Frontier Foundation’s annual NewSpace Business Plan Competition during the NewSpace 2012 Conference at NASA Ames Research Center on July 26-28. There’s a big pot of gold at the end of this rainbow: a $100,000 first prize and $10,000 second prize. The prizes are funded by a grant from Ames. Finalists will speak before a panel of judges that includes venture capitalists, angel investors and business development leaders. Finalists will be announced June 8. (2/8)
AIA Commends Attempts to Modify Sequestration (Source: SpaceRef.com)
We are pleased members of both the House and Senate recognize the dangers that draconian cuts pose to our nation's security and America's skilled workforce, threatening more than one million middle class jobs. It is imperative that Congress and President Obama quickly agree to a path forward that avoids sequestration and automatic reductions in defense and domestic spending. The effects on DOD, FAA and NASA are potentially devastating. (2/8)
Aerospace, Defense Business Doubles to $44B in 2011 (Source: UPI)
Defense and aerospace deals hit a new high for 2011 of $44 billion, double the amount in deals for 2010. "We saw a wide-ranging mix of deals in 2011 as global aerospace and defense M&A activity reached record levels," said Scott Thompson, U.S. aerospace and defense leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers. (2/8)
Florida Lawmaker Supports Relaxing Export Controls (Source: Defense News)
Congressional support for relaxing export controls is on the upswing. A recent report by the Aerospace Industries Association estimates that the U.S. satellite industry lost $21 billion in sales from 1999 to 2009 due to export controls. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-FL, said she supports "common-sense improvements in our export control system that will enhance U.S. national security." (2/8)
SpaceX to Launch AsiaSat 6 and AsiaSat 8 in 2014 (Source: SpaceX)
SpaceX, the world’s fastest growing space launch company, and Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company Limited (AsiaSat), the leading regional satellite operator in Asia, today announced an agreement to launch two AsiaSat communications satellites using SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket in 2014. AsiaSat 6 and AsiaSat 8 are scheduled to launch in the first half of 2014 from SpaceX’s launch complex at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. (2/8)
A Backlash Against the Backlash (Source: Space Politics)
While Colorado, Minnesota, and Missouri held Republican primaries or caucuses on Tuesday, Newt Gingrich was on the campaign trail in Ohio, looking ahead to that state’s primary on Super Tuesday next month. In Dayton, he stuck to the space plans he laid out in Florida two weeks ago. “Immediately two of my opponents rushed into to say that’s really stupid,” he said. He defended his support for space, citing the potential for jobs and technological spinoffs. “When we talk about job creation, just remember the [computers and phones] you’re using, all those have components that were developed from the space program,” he said.
“I am deeply concerned that Senator Santorum so easily relinquishes space development to the Chinese and Russians,” Gingrich national security advisor Stephen Yates said on Saturday, apparently referring to a radio ad released by the Santorum campaign Friday which dismissed Gingrich’s lunar base plans as “fiscal insanity”. “American success in space is not only about being the first to develop a station on the moon,” Yates said, citing an “explosion of math, science, engineering and national security technology” that would benefit the nation. (2/8)
Editorial: Moon Base is Not a Loony Idea (Source: Denver Post)
Is [Gingrich's moon base idea] a visionary, back-to-the-future kind of idea, or, as Mitt Romney said, "a big idea but a bad idea"? NASA continues to pursue a human return to the moon as a stepping stone toward exploration of the solar system. The moon, asteroids, and eventually Mars are all goals of the U.S. human space program. Click here. (2/8)
Europe’s ATV Space Ferry Set for Launch to Space Station (Source: ESA)
Fuel, water, oxygen, air and most of the dry cargo have been loaded into ESA's third Automated Transfer Vehicle, Edoardo Amaldi, as the 9 March liftoff approaches. Since arrival at Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, last August, the space ferry has been undergoing intensive preparations to fly to the International Space Station next month. (2/8)
Russia May Spend Almost $12 bln on Glonass in 2012-2020 (Source: RIA Novosti)
Russia may spend 346.5 billion rubles (almost $12 bln) on its Glonass satellite navigation system in 2012-2020. Glonass is Russia’s answer to the U.S. Global Positioning System, or GPS, and is designed for both military and civilian uses. Roscosmos and economics ministry had agreed on a draft development program for the Glonass project, and it had already been submitted for government’s approval in late January.
The expenditures include 146.9 billion rubles ($5 billion) to support the system and 138.3 billion rubles ($4.6 billion) to develop it. A group of 31 Glonass satellites is currently in orbit, with 24 operating to provide global coverage, four in reserve and one undergoing trials. (2/8)
United Launch Alliance Enjoys Growth Spurt (Source: WHNT)
United Launch Alliance's Decatur site has been quietly enjoying prosperity and growth against all odds. Officials say despite scale backs to the Space Program and the lagging economy, ULA has added more than 150 jobs over the last 10 months. And things are only getting better for the company and the opportunities it's offering locals.
"A lot of people don't realize how much we've been actually increasing our staffing here and our employment at this site and the opportunities that we're able to offer the local community," said Dan Caughran, site leader for the company's Decatur site. He says the future is looking bright for ULA and people looking for jobs. (2/8)
Elon Musk on SpaceX’s Reusable Rocket Plans (Source: Popular Mechanics)
SpaceX is hard at work trying to design rocket parts that can fly themselves back to the launchpad for reuse. We talked to founder Elon Musk about how far the company’s designs have come. Musk has always said that he wants his rockets and spacecraft to be fully reusable. That’s why it stoked our interest to see Musk tweet this recently: "Design completed for bringing rocket back to launchpad using only thrusters. Yay. Wings r just dead weight in space." Click here. (2/8)
New Mexico Senate Committee Grounds Spaceport Liability Exemption (Source: Albuquerque Journal)
The Senate Judiciary Committee today put the brakes on an effort to exempt spacecraft manufacturers from liability in case of passenger injury during spaceflight. The legal exemption in Senate Bill 3 was pushed by Spaceport officials as a way to attract new aerospace manufacturers to establish their operations near Las Cruces at Spaceport America. Without the special space travel liability exemption, those companies may choose to open shop in Texas, Florida or Virgina, states where manufacturers and suppliers are not held liable for death or injury in commercial space travel, critics said.
Several votes to take action on the bill failed in committee, and the bill is not expected to move out of the Judiciary Committee for consideration elsewhere in the Senate. Bill sponsor Sen. Mary Kay Papen, D-Las Cruces, said she is hopeful the effort could get another chance if the House passes their version of the bill and sends it back to the Senate. Several Judiciary Committee members, however, said the lack of legal liability could cause companies building spacecraft parts and materials to act recklessly and potentially create unnecessary hazards for space travelers now being billed about $200,000 for a trip reaching just beyond the Earth’s atmosphere. (2/8)
UK Seeks Funds for Space (Source: Telegraph)
After six attempts, we have at last produced an astronaut capable of going on a manned mission into orbit - but Tim Peake is riding in the slipstream of Europe’s space efforts, not ours. And all too often, the UK space program conjures up images of the failed Beagle project, which in 2003 prematurely vanished on its debut mission to Mars. Despite our hardly galactic start, the Coalition is proving much more ambitious. It wants Britain to capture 10pc of the £400bn global space industry by 2030 – heroic stuff given the UK's £300m of Government funding is dwarfed by France’s $2bn (£1.25bn) and is postively microscopic compared to America’s $35.6bn. (2/8)
New Planet May Support Liquid Water (Source: Cosmos)
A new extrasolar planet has been identified and researchers are calling it the most likely candidate yet to be able to host liquid water. Publishing in the current issue of The Astrophysical Journal Letters, an international team of researchers led by Guillem Anglada-Escudé from the Carnegie Institution for Science in the U.S describes a planet called GJ 667Cc, which is located at the relatively close distance of 22 light-years from Earth. (2/8)
Moon Draws Growing Interest as Source of Rare Minerals (Source: Washington Post)
Interest in materials known as rare earth elements surged when China temporarily blocked exports in 2010. Manufacturers started looking everywhere for new supplies of gadolinium and terbium and other elements used in televisions, hybrid car batteries and many other products. The search took them to such places as California, the Pacific ocean floor and the moon. The moon’s stock is up even among politicians, as Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney recently sparred over whether it makes sense to invest in lunar mining.
Rare earth elements aren’t the only potentially valuable resources on the moon. Helium-3, an isotope that in the future may support cold fusion when earthlings finally figure out how to make it happen, is another potential treasure. Ready to grab your moon pick, pull on your moon boots and heigh-ho your way into a moon mine? Not so fast. There’s a vast amount of research that needs to be done first. (2/8)
As many as 10 finalists are expected to present their plans to judges at the Space Frontier Foundation’s annual NewSpace Business Plan Competition during the NewSpace 2012 Conference at NASA Ames Research Center on July 26-28. There’s a big pot of gold at the end of this rainbow: a $100,000 first prize and $10,000 second prize. The prizes are funded by a grant from Ames. Finalists will speak before a panel of judges that includes venture capitalists, angel investors and business development leaders. Finalists will be announced June 8. (2/8)
AIA Commends Attempts to Modify Sequestration (Source: SpaceRef.com)
We are pleased members of both the House and Senate recognize the dangers that draconian cuts pose to our nation's security and America's skilled workforce, threatening more than one million middle class jobs. It is imperative that Congress and President Obama quickly agree to a path forward that avoids sequestration and automatic reductions in defense and domestic spending. The effects on DOD, FAA and NASA are potentially devastating. (2/8)
Aerospace, Defense Business Doubles to $44B in 2011 (Source: UPI)
Defense and aerospace deals hit a new high for 2011 of $44 billion, double the amount in deals for 2010. "We saw a wide-ranging mix of deals in 2011 as global aerospace and defense M&A activity reached record levels," said Scott Thompson, U.S. aerospace and defense leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers. (2/8)
Florida Lawmaker Supports Relaxing Export Controls (Source: Defense News)
Congressional support for relaxing export controls is on the upswing. A recent report by the Aerospace Industries Association estimates that the U.S. satellite industry lost $21 billion in sales from 1999 to 2009 due to export controls. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-FL, said she supports "common-sense improvements in our export control system that will enhance U.S. national security." (2/8)
SpaceX to Launch AsiaSat 6 and AsiaSat 8 in 2014 (Source: SpaceX)
SpaceX, the world’s fastest growing space launch company, and Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company Limited (AsiaSat), the leading regional satellite operator in Asia, today announced an agreement to launch two AsiaSat communications satellites using SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket in 2014. AsiaSat 6 and AsiaSat 8 are scheduled to launch in the first half of 2014 from SpaceX’s launch complex at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. (2/8)
A Backlash Against the Backlash (Source: Space Politics)
While Colorado, Minnesota, and Missouri held Republican primaries or caucuses on Tuesday, Newt Gingrich was on the campaign trail in Ohio, looking ahead to that state’s primary on Super Tuesday next month. In Dayton, he stuck to the space plans he laid out in Florida two weeks ago. “Immediately two of my opponents rushed into to say that’s really stupid,” he said. He defended his support for space, citing the potential for jobs and technological spinoffs. “When we talk about job creation, just remember the [computers and phones] you’re using, all those have components that were developed from the space program,” he said.
“I am deeply concerned that Senator Santorum so easily relinquishes space development to the Chinese and Russians,” Gingrich national security advisor Stephen Yates said on Saturday, apparently referring to a radio ad released by the Santorum campaign Friday which dismissed Gingrich’s lunar base plans as “fiscal insanity”. “American success in space is not only about being the first to develop a station on the moon,” Yates said, citing an “explosion of math, science, engineering and national security technology” that would benefit the nation. (2/8)
Editorial: Moon Base is Not a Loony Idea (Source: Denver Post)
Is [Gingrich's moon base idea] a visionary, back-to-the-future kind of idea, or, as Mitt Romney said, "a big idea but a bad idea"? NASA continues to pursue a human return to the moon as a stepping stone toward exploration of the solar system. The moon, asteroids, and eventually Mars are all goals of the U.S. human space program. Click here. (2/8)
Europe’s ATV Space Ferry Set for Launch to Space Station (Source: ESA)
Fuel, water, oxygen, air and most of the dry cargo have been loaded into ESA's third Automated Transfer Vehicle, Edoardo Amaldi, as the 9 March liftoff approaches. Since arrival at Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, last August, the space ferry has been undergoing intensive preparations to fly to the International Space Station next month. (2/8)
Russia May Spend Almost $12 bln on Glonass in 2012-2020 (Source: RIA Novosti)
Russia may spend 346.5 billion rubles (almost $12 bln) on its Glonass satellite navigation system in 2012-2020. Glonass is Russia’s answer to the U.S. Global Positioning System, or GPS, and is designed for both military and civilian uses. Roscosmos and economics ministry had agreed on a draft development program for the Glonass project, and it had already been submitted for government’s approval in late January.
The expenditures include 146.9 billion rubles ($5 billion) to support the system and 138.3 billion rubles ($4.6 billion) to develop it. A group of 31 Glonass satellites is currently in orbit, with 24 operating to provide global coverage, four in reserve and one undergoing trials. (2/8)
United Launch Alliance Enjoys Growth Spurt (Source: WHNT)
United Launch Alliance's Decatur site has been quietly enjoying prosperity and growth against all odds. Officials say despite scale backs to the Space Program and the lagging economy, ULA has added more than 150 jobs over the last 10 months. And things are only getting better for the company and the opportunities it's offering locals.
"A lot of people don't realize how much we've been actually increasing our staffing here and our employment at this site and the opportunities that we're able to offer the local community," said Dan Caughran, site leader for the company's Decatur site. He says the future is looking bright for ULA and people looking for jobs. (2/8)
Elon Musk on SpaceX’s Reusable Rocket Plans (Source: Popular Mechanics)
SpaceX is hard at work trying to design rocket parts that can fly themselves back to the launchpad for reuse. We talked to founder Elon Musk about how far the company’s designs have come. Musk has always said that he wants his rockets and spacecraft to be fully reusable. That’s why it stoked our interest to see Musk tweet this recently: "Design completed for bringing rocket back to launchpad using only thrusters. Yay. Wings r just dead weight in space." Click here. (2/8)
New Mexico Senate Committee Grounds Spaceport Liability Exemption (Source: Albuquerque Journal)
The Senate Judiciary Committee today put the brakes on an effort to exempt spacecraft manufacturers from liability in case of passenger injury during spaceflight. The legal exemption in Senate Bill 3 was pushed by Spaceport officials as a way to attract new aerospace manufacturers to establish their operations near Las Cruces at Spaceport America. Without the special space travel liability exemption, those companies may choose to open shop in Texas, Florida or Virgina, states where manufacturers and suppliers are not held liable for death or injury in commercial space travel, critics said.
Several votes to take action on the bill failed in committee, and the bill is not expected to move out of the Judiciary Committee for consideration elsewhere in the Senate. Bill sponsor Sen. Mary Kay Papen, D-Las Cruces, said she is hopeful the effort could get another chance if the House passes their version of the bill and sends it back to the Senate. Several Judiciary Committee members, however, said the lack of legal liability could cause companies building spacecraft parts and materials to act recklessly and potentially create unnecessary hazards for space travelers now being billed about $200,000 for a trip reaching just beyond the Earth’s atmosphere. (2/8)
UK Seeks Funds for Space (Source: Telegraph)
After six attempts, we have at last produced an astronaut capable of going on a manned mission into orbit - but Tim Peake is riding in the slipstream of Europe’s space efforts, not ours. And all too often, the UK space program conjures up images of the failed Beagle project, which in 2003 prematurely vanished on its debut mission to Mars. Despite our hardly galactic start, the Coalition is proving much more ambitious. It wants Britain to capture 10pc of the £400bn global space industry by 2030 – heroic stuff given the UK's £300m of Government funding is dwarfed by France’s $2bn (£1.25bn) and is postively microscopic compared to America’s $35.6bn. (2/8)
New Planet May Support Liquid Water (Source: Cosmos)
A new extrasolar planet has been identified and researchers are calling it the most likely candidate yet to be able to host liquid water. Publishing in the current issue of The Astrophysical Journal Letters, an international team of researchers led by Guillem Anglada-Escudé from the Carnegie Institution for Science in the U.S describes a planet called GJ 667Cc, which is located at the relatively close distance of 22 light-years from Earth. (2/8)
Moon Draws Growing Interest as Source of Rare Minerals (Source: Washington Post)
Interest in materials known as rare earth elements surged when China temporarily blocked exports in 2010. Manufacturers started looking everywhere for new supplies of gadolinium and terbium and other elements used in televisions, hybrid car batteries and many other products. The search took them to such places as California, the Pacific ocean floor and the moon. The moon’s stock is up even among politicians, as Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney recently sparred over whether it makes sense to invest in lunar mining.
Rare earth elements aren’t the only potentially valuable resources on the moon. Helium-3, an isotope that in the future may support cold fusion when earthlings finally figure out how to make it happen, is another potential treasure. Ready to grab your moon pick, pull on your moon boots and heigh-ho your way into a moon mine? Not so fast. There’s a vast amount of research that needs to be done first. (2/8)
February 7, 2012
Ex-NASA Exec: Gingrich Moon Colony Lost in the Laughter (Source: CNN)
Lost in the laughter over the past two weeks has been Newt Gingrich's core point about America's future in space. We shouldn't just explore space, we should develop and even settle it, using the same enterprise-friendly approaches that helped open the West and the skies. As a former NASA executive, it is clear to me that most commentators don't understand this is now possible, let alone necessary. David Frum's recent viewpoint that a moon colony is a waste of money is eerily similar to what critics have said about other visionary ideas during America's history.
In 1844, Asa Whitney proposed to Congress that America build a transcontinental railroad. U.S. Sen. Thomas Benton responded that it was "an imposture, a humbug; it could have emanated only from a madman." The golden spike was pounded into the ground in Utah just 25 years later. In 1867, Secretary of State William Seward proposed that America purchase Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million. Horace Greeley mocked Seward, calling it "a frozen wasteland." Alaska was one of the best investments America ever made.
To be fair, Frum makes a point that must be addressed: "With the greatest respect," Frum wrote, "'the wonder and glory of it' is not a very compelling answer to the question: 'What do I get for my hundred billion bucks?'" The answer is that we shouldn't spend that much, and certainly not for "wonder and glory." Gingrich's core point is that we must change how and why we do space by leveraging the power of free enterprise. Whatever misgivings you might have about Gingrich, in this case he is right. (2/7)
Illinois Congressman Urges Action on Satellite Export Controls (Source: Dan Manzullo)
Congressman Don Manzullo (R-IL), a leader on export control reforms in Congress, urged the Obama Administration to expedite a required risk assessment on U.S. satellite exports so Congress can lift export restrictions and allow more sales of non-sensitive satellites overseas, creating more American jobs. Manzullo, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia & the Pacific, participated in a hearing of the full Foreign Affairs Committee exploring export control reforms.
Manzullo is the lead Republican sponsor of legislation (HR 3288) that would lift excessive export controls from the U.S. manufacturers of commercial satellites and components so they can sell more of their products overseas and create more American jobs. The Safeguarding United States Satellite Leadership and Security Act of 2011, sponsored by Congressman Howard Berman (D-CA), would restore the President’s ability to determine what export restrictions should apply to commercial satellites and related components. (2/7)
Mobile Launcher Tests Confirm Designs (Source: NASA)
The 355-foot-tall mobile launcher, or ML, behaved as expected during its move to Launch Pad 39B at NASA"s Kennedy Space Center in November 2011, an analysis of multiple sensors showed. The top of the tower swayed less than an inch each way. The tests showed that computer models used in designing the massive structure were correct. The actual results varied less than 5 percent of what was predicted. (2/7)
Astronaut Janice Voss Dies (Source: NASA)
NASA astronaut Janice Voss passed away from cancer overnight. One of only six women who have flown in space five times, Voss' career was highlighted by her work and dedication to scientific payloads and exploration. "As the payload commander of two space shuttle missions, Janice was responsible for paving the way for experiments that we now perform on a daily basis on the International Space Station," said Peggy Whitson. (2/7)
Man Who Warned of Challenger Disaster Dies at 73 (Source: AP)
Roger Boisjoly, a NASA contractor who repeatedly voiced concerns about the space shuttle Challenger before it exploded, has died. He was 73. Boisjoly died of cancer on Jan. 6. The 1986 Challenger tragedy shocked the nation. Seven astronauts, including a schoolteacher, were killed when the shuttle disintegrated 73 seconds after liftoff. Boisjoly, an engineer at rocket-builder Morton Thiokol Inc., warned in 1985 that seals on the booster rocket joints could fail in freezing temperatures. (2/7)
Our Planet, Tangled in Magnetic Spaghetti (Source: Discovery)
OK, so it's not real spaghetti -- it's a computer visualization of the complex magnetic field that creates Earth's magnetosphere -- but it sure looks tangled. Using the awesome power of a Cray XT5 Jaguar supercomputer, a team of space physicists are unlocking some of the biggest mysteries surrounding how the sun's magnetic field interacts with our planet's magnetosphere. They basically want to understand what happens when global magnetic fields become tangled to the extreme. Space physicists categorize these interactions under "space weather," and they are responsible for some of the Earth's most powerful (and beautiful) atmospheric events. Click here. (2/7)
NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer in Standby Mode (Source: NASA JPL)
NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer, or Galex, was placed in standby mode today as engineers prepare to end mission operations, nearly nine years after the telescope's launch. The spacecraft is scheduled to be decommissioned -- taken out of service -- later this year. The mission extensively mapped large portions of the sky with sharp ultraviolet vision, cataloguing millions of galaxies spanning 10 billion years of cosmic time. (2/7)
NASA Chief Joins President Obama at White House Science Fair (Source: Space.com)
Top NASA officials, including space agency chief Charles Bolden, joined President Barack Obama on Feb. 7 to welcome students from across the country to the second annual White House Science Fair. Bolden and other senior space agency officials attended the national science fair to support the innovative students chosen to showcase their experiments in the East Wing of the White House. The White House Science Fair is an effort to spur student-interest in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. (2/7)
Mars-Bound Rover Carries Penny for Camera Checkup (Source: NASA JPL)
The camera at the end of the robotic arm on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has its own calibration target, a smartphone-size plaque that looks like an eye chart supplemented with color chips and an attached penny. When Curiosity lands on Mars in August, researchers will use this calibration target to test performance of the rover's Mars Hand Lens Imager, or MAHLI. MAHLI's close-up inspections of Martian rocks and soil will show details so tiny, the calibration target includes reference lines finer than a human hair. This camera is not limited to close-ups, though. It can focus on any target from about a finger's-width away to the horizon. (2/7)
Plan Unveiled for Spaceport America Visitor Centers (Source: Parabolic Arc)
The New Mexico Spaceport Authority Board of Directors reviewed plans today to design, build and program the Spaceport America Visitor Experience. The plan includes two off-site Welcome Centers located in the Village of Hatch in Doña Ana County and in Truth or Consequences in Sierra County, plus an on-site Visitors Center and specially developed behind-the-scenes tours as well as the chance to visit the Virgin Galactic Gateway to Space.
The Spaceport America Visitor Experience will be a professionally designed immersion into the excitement of the world’s first purpose-built, commercial spaceport. Guests will be invited to explore the history, adventure, potential and inspiration of both the next space-age. Officials project attendance will grow to more than 200,000 visitors annually. Click here. (2/7)
USA’s Exit Sends NASA in Search of New Steward for Shuttle Equipment (Source: Space News)
Amid signs space shuttle operator United Space Alliance (USA) may not be around to do the job, NASA is seeking an industry steward for millions of dollars worth of high-tech support equipment housed in the Shuttle Logistics Depot, a 15,000-square-meter facility just a short drive from KSC. The privately owned facility is currently leased to USA and would not be part of the deal. The facility houses machine shops and specialty labs previously used to keep the shuttle flying.
USA’s plan called for putting the equipment to use for non-NASA customers, such as the Defense Department, until it was needed again to support a next-generation space transportation system. But new business was slow to materialize and that strategy finally imploded in December when USA’s parent companies barred it from seeking any new business. USA made only limited progress in using the Depot for military and commercial customers, and the “small contracts” it did win to demonstrate the depot’s capabilities are set to expire in the fall, a spokeswoman said.
The depot, which employed around 400 USA workers when the shuttle was still flying, is down to a staff of 55. Whether the equipment at the depot will find a home with some other caretaker or return to Kennedy is yet to be determined. The quipment ranges from specialized manufacturing tools and avionics test equipment to desktop computers. Officials said there were some entities mulling the possibility of taking over the whole Shuttle Logistics Depot and maintaining it much as USA did. However, they would not say who these entities were. (2/7)
NASA to Hold Industry and Academia Day to Discuss SLS Advanced Development (Sources: NASA, SPACErePORT)
During a speech in Houston last fall, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said that with heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS), the agency would be "using students to help us develop [SLS] modules, which we did not do before ... really integrating students and academia into this." As it turns out, NASA is focusing on integrating academic involvement in only one element of the SLS program, the "Advanced Development" element.
NASA will host an industry and academia day Feb. 14 at Marshall Space Flight Center to share information on SLS Advanced Development research opportunities. The SLS vehicle will require advanced developments in the areas of concept development, propulsion, structures, materials, manufacturing and avionics, and software. These efforts will focus on affordability and sustainability of the SLS as it evolves from the 70-metric-ton vehicle to the 130-metric-ton vehicle. Click here. (2/7)
ISS Managers Working to Realign Busy Launch Manifest (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
International Space Station (ISS) Program managers at space agencies around the world are currently in the process of ironing out an extremely complex and busy integrated schedule of comings and goings at the station, in light of recent delays to Soyuz launches and the inaugural station visit by SpaceX’s Dragon capsule. Following what was an extremely challenging 2011 due to numerous hardware Russian failures, Roscosmos continues to have bad luck in its quest to get its programs back on track. Click here. (2/7)
Santorum Rejects Reagan Space Legacy (Source: American Spectator)
I like Rick Santorum. My former senator, whom I voted for three times and have written about here and here is conservative, a great family man, smart and passionate about his beliefs. So… I hate to say this, but at the moment: what a disappointment. This is his strategy to be The Conservative Alternative to moderate Mitt Romney? By joining Romney in rejecting the Reagan space legacy? Just as everybody is reminded both of Ronald Reagan's 101st birthday and the late January 1986 Challenger tragedy?
Santorum wrote an op-ed on the subject, mocking the Reagan beliefs by comparing them to the cartoon character George Jetson. Earlier he'd said: "I promise you: no moon colonies, I promise." The week that the nation is be celebrating Ronald Reagan's 101st birthday -- that would be Feb. 6 -- Rick Santorum has selected that exact moment to present himself as the anti-Reagan? With the nation still recalling the tragedy that was the explosion of the Challenger space shuttle 26 Januarys ago, Rick Santorum sides with... Barack Obama and Mr. Obama-Lite Mitt Romney? But says he's the most "authentic conservative"?
If Rick Santorum is going to try and become The Conservative Alternative at the expense of the Reagan space legacy -- he should stop and get out of the campaign right now before he inflicts any more damage to himself and the conservative cause. Click here. (2/7)
Editorial: Rather Than Race To The Moon, The U.S. Should Set Its Sights On Mars (Source: Forbes)
Both leading Republican presidential candidates, along with many others of us, agree that the U.S. sorely needs a bold, well defined and stable long-term space plan…one that will inspire innovation and revitalize unabashed recognition of American exceptionalism. But with regard to the moon, our nation has been there…done that…left our citizens’ footprints behind decades ago.
Is there any real point in returning? Will doing so again provide a much-touted “stepping stone” pathway into deep space exploration, or galvanize sufficient public interest to support sustainable progress? Would it open up future commercial markets and investments to significantly offset taxpayer burdens?
The scope of the next U.S. space goal should be scaled to a vision of the nation we are committed to become, one that will inspire and guide our children and theirs to fulfill and expand. As articulated by a previous American leader, that goal should be something we choose to undertake not because it is easy, but rather, because it is difficult. (2/7)
Orbiter Discovers Evidence of Primordial Ocean on Mars (Source: SpaceFlightNow.com)
The radar on Europe's Mars Express orbiter detected sediments beneath the red planet's surface strongly indicative of an ocean floor that formed billions of years ago, scientists announced this week. The sediments could have been deposited by an ocean 4 billion years ago, when Mars was warmer and supported abundant liquid water, according to researchers.
Another scenario involves a temporary sea that formed when a large comet or asteroid struck Mars, melting subsurface ice and creating outflow channels draining the water into a giant basin. The material was discovered by the MARSIS radar on Mars Express. Imagery from satellites circling Mars have shown formations resembling ancient shorelines before, but scientists using Mars Express may have found the floor of a primordial ocean. (2/7)
Vega Debut Slips To End Of Launch Window (Source: Aviation Week)
Pushing the limits of a six-day launch window, ESA has shifted the debut of its new Vega rocket to Feb. 13 from Feb. 9, allowing ample time to prepare the flight-qualification campaign. Vega’s flight-readiness review board met Feb. 2 to evaluate mission-preparation status. The Vega will lift off from Europe’s Guiana Space Center. “In fact there is no delay,” ESA spokeswoman Brigitte Kolmsee says, explaining that within Vega’s Feb. 9-14 launch window, Feb. 9 was a working date. (2/7)
Loral Lands Two-satellite Contract with Australia’s NBN (Source: Space News)
Loral will build two Ka-band broadband satellites for Australia’s government-owned NBN Co. following a long competition that featured many of the world’s satellite and ground hardware manufacturers, according to industry officials. An announcement of the contract is expected in the coming days. The satellites, to be delivered in time for launch in 2015, will complement the broadband service that NBN is rolling out across Australia with fiber and terrestrial-wireless links. (2/7)
"Ping-Pong" Planets Bounce Between Stars (Source: Astronomy Now)
A gravitational ping-pong match lasting up to one million years could be in play between nearby binary stars, say Cambridge University scientists. It is widely accepted that planets can be ejected completely from a solar system, especially during the dynamically chaotic period early in the solar system's life where planets are jostling for the most stable orbits (see Jumping Jupiter ejected giant planet and Free-floating planets more common than stars?).
Recently, exoplanets have been found in two and even three-star systems, and in the new study, Nickolas Moeckel and Dimitri Veras of the Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge, show that a planet ejected from orbit around one star could find itself passed onto its binary companion. Furthermore, the planet may get "bounced" between the stars, providing one possible explanation for the eccentric orbits of some exoplanets. (2/7)
VC Turns Office Into Apollo Museum (Source: CNET)
The last time I went to talk with venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson, managing director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, I spent more time ogling his museum of NASA Apollo gear than I did talking about his startup investments. So I made an appointment to go see him again, with enough time to snap pictures of the equipment in his office in Palo Alto, Calif., office. Click through our slideshow for a view into this small, private, and unique collection of space artifacts. (2/7)
New Meaning of ‘Desperate’ — Asking Russia for a Ride to Mars (Source: National Post)
Facing enormous budgetary pressures and expecting still further cuts, NASA has reportedly told their counterparts at the European Space Agency that it anticipates being forced to withdraw from two planned robotic missions to Mars. NASA was set to provide communications gear, scientific equipment and two rockets to launch the respective missions on their way. But due to expected cuts to their Mars exploration budget, NASA has given early notice that it doesn’t think it will be able to participate.
The Europeans, however, have already spent hundreds of millions of euros on the project, which it considers its flagship program. Looking for a way to keep the program alive, it has reached out to Russia’s space agency to see if the Russians might provide the money and technological capabilities that America is no longer good for. If that doesn’t spell desperation, it’s hard to imagine what would. The Russians aren’t exactly coming off of a winning year in the annals of space exploration. (2/7)
Lost Treasures: President Nixon's Moon Rocks (Source: New Scientist)
By weight, the moon rocks collected during the Apollo missions are worth far more than diamonds, and in any case, they have a priceless historical value. They are relics of humanity's greatest adventure to date. Not all are properly accounted for, however. That's why Joseph Gutheinz, a former NASA investigator, has spent much of his career tracing moon rocks that have gone missing: he's even staged elaborate stings to lure would-be illegal sellers. And there's one particular group of moon rocks that Gutheinz is keen to recover. Click here. (2/7)
NASA Budget Looms Ahead (Source: Daily Press)
President Obama is expected to release his 2013 budget in the coming days — with it will come a funding plan for NASA. Cuts appear likely. How they might affect Langley Research Center and Wallops Flight Facility is uncertain. Langley hasn’t been forced to make mass layoffs as seen at KSC, which shed thousands of jobs after NASA retired the space shuttle. Still, it has laid off a small percentage of its contract workforce in recent years. Meanwhile, contract labor at Wallops is expected to grow because the facility is home to a $1.9 billion program that will ferry supplies to the International Space Station. (2/7)
Do Aliens Go Invisible by 'Going Green'? (Source: Discovery)
As we discover more and more planets around other stars, the Fermi Paradox is becoming, well, more paradoxical. The Fermi Paradox simply asks the question "where are they?" Our Milky Way galaxy is so big and so old -- and we are estimated to be accompanied by at least 100 billion planets -- that aliens should have visited us by now. Instead, when we peruse the heavens, we are faced with the Great Silence, which is one of the biggest challenges to modern astronomy.
There have been numerous solutions to the Fermi paradox, but none of them are satisfactory. A few diehards like Harvard astronomer Howard Smith are emphatic that we are completely alone in the universe. As much as I disagree, there isn't a shred of evidence to the contrary. Nevertheless, I do wholeheartedly agree with my colleague Seth Shostack of the SETI Institute who says that it would be a miracle if we didn't find advanced life out there.
Picking up on this idea, Canadian science fiction writer Karl Schroeder has come upon a novel solution to the failure of astronomical observations to solve the Fermi Paradox. He proposes: "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from nature." In other words, smart aliens have "gone green" and generate no waste products that we could detect. They therefore blend into the galaxy. Therefore, "artificial and natural systems are indistinguishable,” writes Schroeder. (2/7)
Final Frontier: Work Begins on Space Port (Source: Orlando Business Journal)
Kennedy Space Center will be turned into a multi-purpose space port during the next two years, starting with more than $15 million worth of upcoming projects at Cape Canaveral. And at least one future commercial space flight tenant is expected to create up to 550 permanent high-tech jobs. That’s good news for Brevard County, which has a 10.8 percent unemployment rate and was hit hard by the 2011 closure of the space shuttle program and the loss of more than 9,000 high-wage space industry jobs. (2/6)
NASA Aims For Commercial Crew Demo Flight by Mid-Decade (Source: Hobby Space)
NASA's revamped Commercial Crew Integrated Capabilities Program (CCiCap) will advance multiple crew-capable launch systems and could include a crewed orbital demo mission by mid-decade. Within the CCiCap "Base Period" of Aug. 2012 - May 2014, NASA hopes to make multiple awards of between $300-500 million. A second "Optional Milestones Period" could include the demo flight and would include $400 million per year to support milestone achievements by selected contractor(s). (2/7)
FAA Learning Period for Spaceflight Regulation Extended Though 2015 (Source: CSF)
The Commercial Spaceflight Federation welcomes Congress's passage of the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill, which includes a key provision granting regulatory stability to the commercial spaceflight industry. The new law's provision extends a regulatory "learning period" that was created when Congress originally passed the Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act (CSLAA) of 2004. This learning period was established in law in December of 2004 to allow for several years of flight test and early commercial operation of new human spaceflight vehicles.
Congress's intent was to allow for industry and the FAA to build a database from actual flight experience of what design features, technologies, and operating practices contributed to safety, and initially regulate only those system elements in which safety issues arise. The Federation extends its thanks to Senate Majority Leader Reid, Chairman Rockefeller, Chairman Cantwell, Chairman Nelson, and Ranking Member Hutchison, as well as House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, Chairman Mica, Chairman Petri, Chairman Hall, Chairman Palazzo, Ranking Member Costello, and Representative Rohrabacher for their assistance in reaching this agreement. (2/7)
Lawmakers Brace for Defense Cuts in Home States (Source: San Diego Union-Tribune)
Some lawmakers are trying to minimize the effect of defense cuts on their home states. "Make no mistake: The savings that we are proposing will impact on all 50 states and many districts, congressional districts, across America," said Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. Obama plans to submit the fiscal year 2013 budget to Congress on Monday. (2/7)
Export Rules May Have Cost U.S. Firms $21 Billion (Source: AIA)
A report by the Aerospace Industries Association says limits on U.S. exports may have cost defense firms $21 billion in lost sales since the late 1990s. "Instead of preventing other countries from developing space capabilities, barriers to export for U.S. satellite products have prompted numerous countries to create indigenous space capabilities and leverage their growing market share" for research and innovation, said the AIA. (2/7)
High School Robotics Challenge Returns to Embry-Riddle (Source: ERAU)
Robots return to Embry-Riddle Saturday, Feb. 18, when hundreds of teens from around Florida flock to the Daytona Beach campus to participate in FIRST Tech Challenge’s Florida Championship Tournament. They will be competing in the daylong event to win regional recognition for design excellence, sportsmanship and teamwork, and to advance to the FIRST Tech Challenge World Championship. Engineering students and faculty members from Embry-Riddle will volunteer as judges and referees. The event, which will be held in the ICI Center, is free and open to faculty members, staff, students and the public. (2/5)
Suing Loral Costing ViaSat $1 Million Per Quarter (Source: Space News)
Satellite broadband product and service provider ViaSat Inc. said Feb. 6 it is spending around $1 million per quarter on its patent infringement and breach-of-contract lawsuit with satellite builder Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) and that the cash outlay for legal fees could go higher. In a conference call with investors, ViaSat officials said they are ready to settle with SS/L if possible but that they are also prepared for a long court case if necessary. (2/7)
Private Spacecraft Move Forward as Soyuz Struggles (Source: New Scientist)
All eyes are on commercial space companies in the wake of the latest setback for Russia's space programme, which has delayed the launch of the next crew to the International Space Station. A recent flight of a private rocket bodes well for the fledgling industry, but the coming weeks should reveal whether the industry can really take off.
Russia's space agency Roscosmos reported last week that the Soyuz capsule meant to take astronauts to the station on 30 March sprang a leak when the air pressure inside it was accidentally pumped too high during a test. Another Soyuz capsule is being prepared for launch in its place but will not be ready to fly until 15 May.
It's just the latest in a string of problems for Russian space vehicles. In August, for example, an uncrewed Soyuz rocket crashed to Earth. That temporarily threw the space station's future into doubt because the same type of rocket is the only craft used to launch crews to the outpost. Click here. (2/7)
Avanti Secures Financing for Third Satellite (Source: Financial Times)
Avanti Communications is planning to become one of very few space-related companies listed on the main market of the London Stock Exchange, after securing financing for the launch of its third satellite. David Williams, chief executive, said the Aim-quoted company that provides broadband internet services to remote areas via satellite, would seek to move to the main market in early 2013. The company would join Inmarsat as the only other main-market listed satellite operator in the UK. (2/7)
Where SETI Meets Intelligent Design (Source: Smart Planet)
Mankind is, at least for the moment, listening for its neighbors again. The decades-old search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) was interrupted last year when funding to operate the 42 radio telescopes in the Allen Telescope Array, with which the SETI Institute of Mountain View, Calif., listens to emissions from space. Private funds and a deal with the U.S. Air Force resurrected the program in December, which is news that gladdened the hearts of many of us hopeful of finding intelligent alien life out there somewhere. How long the SETI Institute can keep the lights on is still unclear.
People will no doubt continue to argue about whether SETI is worthwhile or a waste of money. Even its staunchest proponents acknowledge that the chances of imminent success are low — though the impact would be huge on science and humanity’s perception of its place in the cosmos. Meanwhile, its fiercest opponents would have to admit that the money spent on SETI is trivial: the program costs about $2.5 million a year, about 1/30th the cost of a small Learjet or about 1/3,000th of what the world spends on iPads.
What makes the debate particularly curious is that notwithstanding a great many numbers that get thrown around on the topic, estimates of the odds of SETI’s eventual success are almost meaningless and beside the point. And in their pursuit of alien intelligence, SETI researchers can find that they have strange bedfellows in certain creationists, who try to make similar arguments — but with less scientific merit. Click here. (2/7)
Space Debris is Making Rocket Launches Dangerous (Source: NewsOK)
Last month, the International Space Station, an orbiting space laboratory as big as a football field, had to move. A piece of space junk 10 centimeters (four inches) across was aimed at it. To ensure the safety of the crew, its engines were fired for 54 seconds to move it to an orbit 1,000 feet higher. Such is life in Earth orbit. This was the 13th time the ISS had to be moved to avoid potential damage from a collision with space debris. The piece of space junk was moving faster than a bullet and could have caused significant damage had it hit certain critical parts of the space station. And that's just one piece of space debris, one of many. (2/7)
Limit on Colorado Spaceport Liability Advances (Source: Denver Business Journal)
A critical piece of Colorado’s efforts to develop a spaceport at Front Range Airport sailed unanimously through its first legislative committee Monday, despite expected opposition. Senate Bill 35, sponsored by state Sen. Mary Hodge, D-Brighton, creates a limited liability for companies that would operate space flights out of the facility. It heads next to the Senate floor. SB 35 mimics similar laws in place in Florida, Texas, New Mexico and Virginia — all prime competitors for spaceport business. (2/7)
Spaceport Board to Hear Visitors Center Talk (Source: Las Cruces Sun-News)
The New Mexico Spaceport Authority will meet Tuesday in Truth or Consequences to hear a presentation about proposed welcome centers and a visitors center related to Spaceport America. The agency also will approve its state Open Meetings Act resolution, which spells out how it will notify the public in advance of meetings, according to the authority's agenda. (2/7)
Aerospace Report Hits Rules on Exports (Source: Wall Street Journal)
Satellite makers and their suppliers are stepping up demands for changes to U.S. export controls, painting in stark economic terms the impact of what they insist are regulations curbing their ability to compete for commercial orders against European and other foreign satellite makers. On Tuesday, industry trade group Aerospace Industries Association is expected to release details of a report concluding that U.S. export controls on commercial satellites may have cost tens of thousands of American jobs and up to $21 billion in lost sales for aerospace companies since the late 1990s. (2/7)
NASA Wants Small-satellite Demo Proposals (Source: Aviation Week)
NASA’s new technology-development organization is seeking proposals for low-cost, short-development, flight-test projects that will demonstrate communications and proxiimty operations with satellites weighing less than 400 lb., and for propulsion systems for cubesats. With a March 4 deadline for executive summaries of proposals, the agency hopes to award one or more contracts in the fall under its Edison Small Satellite Demonstration Program. Winning projects should be ready to fly “within two or three years at a total cost of no more than $15 million,” the agency said Feb. 2. (2/7)
Aerojet’s Confidence in Next Generation Engine and Green Propellants (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
Californian aerospace company Aerojet believes they are in a good position to continue their advancements in the development of rocket engines, ranging from the Next Generation Engine (NGE) for the US Air Force’s Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program, through to environmentally “green” propellants for propulsion hardware. While Aerojet is already involved in a wide range of propulsive requirements for launch vehicles and spacecraft, work is already well under way for their effort to become the provider of the Next Generation Engine (NGE), a process started via the Air Force’s Request For Information (RFI) over a year ago.
Aerojet recently noted they had successfully completed a major milestone in the development of a ground demonstrator for the Next Generation Engine (NGE) program, announcing the completion of the Preliminary Design Review (PDR) of the turbopump assembly. The engine under development – which is yet to receive a name – would not be restricted to just US Air Force/EELV use, according to Julie Van Kleeck.
Aerojet – who previously noted it has been decades since there has been an open engine competition in the United States – added they are unable to compare their new engine to an RL-10 derivative at this stage. However, they are confident they can present their NGE as a major step forward. “We don’t know many specifics about RL-10 derivatives since little has been made public. Aerojet believes that our offering for NGE will make major improvements over the current RL-10 in cost and reliability and have equal or greater performance depending on configuration,” added Ms Van Kleeck. (2/7)
Lost in the laughter over the past two weeks has been Newt Gingrich's core point about America's future in space. We shouldn't just explore space, we should develop and even settle it, using the same enterprise-friendly approaches that helped open the West and the skies. As a former NASA executive, it is clear to me that most commentators don't understand this is now possible, let alone necessary. David Frum's recent viewpoint that a moon colony is a waste of money is eerily similar to what critics have said about other visionary ideas during America's history.
In 1844, Asa Whitney proposed to Congress that America build a transcontinental railroad. U.S. Sen. Thomas Benton responded that it was "an imposture, a humbug; it could have emanated only from a madman." The golden spike was pounded into the ground in Utah just 25 years later. In 1867, Secretary of State William Seward proposed that America purchase Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million. Horace Greeley mocked Seward, calling it "a frozen wasteland." Alaska was one of the best investments America ever made.
To be fair, Frum makes a point that must be addressed: "With the greatest respect," Frum wrote, "'the wonder and glory of it' is not a very compelling answer to the question: 'What do I get for my hundred billion bucks?'" The answer is that we shouldn't spend that much, and certainly not for "wonder and glory." Gingrich's core point is that we must change how and why we do space by leveraging the power of free enterprise. Whatever misgivings you might have about Gingrich, in this case he is right. (2/7)
Illinois Congressman Urges Action on Satellite Export Controls (Source: Dan Manzullo)
Congressman Don Manzullo (R-IL), a leader on export control reforms in Congress, urged the Obama Administration to expedite a required risk assessment on U.S. satellite exports so Congress can lift export restrictions and allow more sales of non-sensitive satellites overseas, creating more American jobs. Manzullo, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia & the Pacific, participated in a hearing of the full Foreign Affairs Committee exploring export control reforms.
Manzullo is the lead Republican sponsor of legislation (HR 3288) that would lift excessive export controls from the U.S. manufacturers of commercial satellites and components so they can sell more of their products overseas and create more American jobs. The Safeguarding United States Satellite Leadership and Security Act of 2011, sponsored by Congressman Howard Berman (D-CA), would restore the President’s ability to determine what export restrictions should apply to commercial satellites and related components. (2/7)
Mobile Launcher Tests Confirm Designs (Source: NASA)
The 355-foot-tall mobile launcher, or ML, behaved as expected during its move to Launch Pad 39B at NASA"s Kennedy Space Center in November 2011, an analysis of multiple sensors showed. The top of the tower swayed less than an inch each way. The tests showed that computer models used in designing the massive structure were correct. The actual results varied less than 5 percent of what was predicted. (2/7)
Astronaut Janice Voss Dies (Source: NASA)
NASA astronaut Janice Voss passed away from cancer overnight. One of only six women who have flown in space five times, Voss' career was highlighted by her work and dedication to scientific payloads and exploration. "As the payload commander of two space shuttle missions, Janice was responsible for paving the way for experiments that we now perform on a daily basis on the International Space Station," said Peggy Whitson. (2/7)
Man Who Warned of Challenger Disaster Dies at 73 (Source: AP)
Roger Boisjoly, a NASA contractor who repeatedly voiced concerns about the space shuttle Challenger before it exploded, has died. He was 73. Boisjoly died of cancer on Jan. 6. The 1986 Challenger tragedy shocked the nation. Seven astronauts, including a schoolteacher, were killed when the shuttle disintegrated 73 seconds after liftoff. Boisjoly, an engineer at rocket-builder Morton Thiokol Inc., warned in 1985 that seals on the booster rocket joints could fail in freezing temperatures. (2/7)
Our Planet, Tangled in Magnetic Spaghetti (Source: Discovery)
OK, so it's not real spaghetti -- it's a computer visualization of the complex magnetic field that creates Earth's magnetosphere -- but it sure looks tangled. Using the awesome power of a Cray XT5 Jaguar supercomputer, a team of space physicists are unlocking some of the biggest mysteries surrounding how the sun's magnetic field interacts with our planet's magnetosphere. They basically want to understand what happens when global magnetic fields become tangled to the extreme. Space physicists categorize these interactions under "space weather," and they are responsible for some of the Earth's most powerful (and beautiful) atmospheric events. Click here. (2/7)
NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer in Standby Mode (Source: NASA JPL)
NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer, or Galex, was placed in standby mode today as engineers prepare to end mission operations, nearly nine years after the telescope's launch. The spacecraft is scheduled to be decommissioned -- taken out of service -- later this year. The mission extensively mapped large portions of the sky with sharp ultraviolet vision, cataloguing millions of galaxies spanning 10 billion years of cosmic time. (2/7)
NASA Chief Joins President Obama at White House Science Fair (Source: Space.com)
Top NASA officials, including space agency chief Charles Bolden, joined President Barack Obama on Feb. 7 to welcome students from across the country to the second annual White House Science Fair. Bolden and other senior space agency officials attended the national science fair to support the innovative students chosen to showcase their experiments in the East Wing of the White House. The White House Science Fair is an effort to spur student-interest in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. (2/7)
Mars-Bound Rover Carries Penny for Camera Checkup (Source: NASA JPL)
The camera at the end of the robotic arm on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has its own calibration target, a smartphone-size plaque that looks like an eye chart supplemented with color chips and an attached penny. When Curiosity lands on Mars in August, researchers will use this calibration target to test performance of the rover's Mars Hand Lens Imager, or MAHLI. MAHLI's close-up inspections of Martian rocks and soil will show details so tiny, the calibration target includes reference lines finer than a human hair. This camera is not limited to close-ups, though. It can focus on any target from about a finger's-width away to the horizon. (2/7)
Plan Unveiled for Spaceport America Visitor Centers (Source: Parabolic Arc)
The New Mexico Spaceport Authority Board of Directors reviewed plans today to design, build and program the Spaceport America Visitor Experience. The plan includes two off-site Welcome Centers located in the Village of Hatch in Doña Ana County and in Truth or Consequences in Sierra County, plus an on-site Visitors Center and specially developed behind-the-scenes tours as well as the chance to visit the Virgin Galactic Gateway to Space.
The Spaceport America Visitor Experience will be a professionally designed immersion into the excitement of the world’s first purpose-built, commercial spaceport. Guests will be invited to explore the history, adventure, potential and inspiration of both the next space-age. Officials project attendance will grow to more than 200,000 visitors annually. Click here. (2/7)
USA’s Exit Sends NASA in Search of New Steward for Shuttle Equipment (Source: Space News)
Amid signs space shuttle operator United Space Alliance (USA) may not be around to do the job, NASA is seeking an industry steward for millions of dollars worth of high-tech support equipment housed in the Shuttle Logistics Depot, a 15,000-square-meter facility just a short drive from KSC. The privately owned facility is currently leased to USA and would not be part of the deal. The facility houses machine shops and specialty labs previously used to keep the shuttle flying.
USA’s plan called for putting the equipment to use for non-NASA customers, such as the Defense Department, until it was needed again to support a next-generation space transportation system. But new business was slow to materialize and that strategy finally imploded in December when USA’s parent companies barred it from seeking any new business. USA made only limited progress in using the Depot for military and commercial customers, and the “small contracts” it did win to demonstrate the depot’s capabilities are set to expire in the fall, a spokeswoman said.
The depot, which employed around 400 USA workers when the shuttle was still flying, is down to a staff of 55. Whether the equipment at the depot will find a home with some other caretaker or return to Kennedy is yet to be determined. The quipment ranges from specialized manufacturing tools and avionics test equipment to desktop computers. Officials said there were some entities mulling the possibility of taking over the whole Shuttle Logistics Depot and maintaining it much as USA did. However, they would not say who these entities were. (2/7)
NASA to Hold Industry and Academia Day to Discuss SLS Advanced Development (Sources: NASA, SPACErePORT)
During a speech in Houston last fall, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said that with heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS), the agency would be "using students to help us develop [SLS] modules, which we did not do before ... really integrating students and academia into this." As it turns out, NASA is focusing on integrating academic involvement in only one element of the SLS program, the "Advanced Development" element.
NASA will host an industry and academia day Feb. 14 at Marshall Space Flight Center to share information on SLS Advanced Development research opportunities. The SLS vehicle will require advanced developments in the areas of concept development, propulsion, structures, materials, manufacturing and avionics, and software. These efforts will focus on affordability and sustainability of the SLS as it evolves from the 70-metric-ton vehicle to the 130-metric-ton vehicle. Click here. (2/7)
ISS Managers Working to Realign Busy Launch Manifest (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
International Space Station (ISS) Program managers at space agencies around the world are currently in the process of ironing out an extremely complex and busy integrated schedule of comings and goings at the station, in light of recent delays to Soyuz launches and the inaugural station visit by SpaceX’s Dragon capsule. Following what was an extremely challenging 2011 due to numerous hardware Russian failures, Roscosmos continues to have bad luck in its quest to get its programs back on track. Click here. (2/7)
Santorum Rejects Reagan Space Legacy (Source: American Spectator)
I like Rick Santorum. My former senator, whom I voted for three times and have written about here and here is conservative, a great family man, smart and passionate about his beliefs. So… I hate to say this, but at the moment: what a disappointment. This is his strategy to be The Conservative Alternative to moderate Mitt Romney? By joining Romney in rejecting the Reagan space legacy? Just as everybody is reminded both of Ronald Reagan's 101st birthday and the late January 1986 Challenger tragedy?
Santorum wrote an op-ed on the subject, mocking the Reagan beliefs by comparing them to the cartoon character George Jetson. Earlier he'd said: "I promise you: no moon colonies, I promise." The week that the nation is be celebrating Ronald Reagan's 101st birthday -- that would be Feb. 6 -- Rick Santorum has selected that exact moment to present himself as the anti-Reagan? With the nation still recalling the tragedy that was the explosion of the Challenger space shuttle 26 Januarys ago, Rick Santorum sides with... Barack Obama and Mr. Obama-Lite Mitt Romney? But says he's the most "authentic conservative"?
If Rick Santorum is going to try and become The Conservative Alternative at the expense of the Reagan space legacy -- he should stop and get out of the campaign right now before he inflicts any more damage to himself and the conservative cause. Click here. (2/7)
Editorial: Rather Than Race To The Moon, The U.S. Should Set Its Sights On Mars (Source: Forbes)
Both leading Republican presidential candidates, along with many others of us, agree that the U.S. sorely needs a bold, well defined and stable long-term space plan…one that will inspire innovation and revitalize unabashed recognition of American exceptionalism. But with regard to the moon, our nation has been there…done that…left our citizens’ footprints behind decades ago.
Is there any real point in returning? Will doing so again provide a much-touted “stepping stone” pathway into deep space exploration, or galvanize sufficient public interest to support sustainable progress? Would it open up future commercial markets and investments to significantly offset taxpayer burdens?
The scope of the next U.S. space goal should be scaled to a vision of the nation we are committed to become, one that will inspire and guide our children and theirs to fulfill and expand. As articulated by a previous American leader, that goal should be something we choose to undertake not because it is easy, but rather, because it is difficult. (2/7)
Orbiter Discovers Evidence of Primordial Ocean on Mars (Source: SpaceFlightNow.com)
The radar on Europe's Mars Express orbiter detected sediments beneath the red planet's surface strongly indicative of an ocean floor that formed billions of years ago, scientists announced this week. The sediments could have been deposited by an ocean 4 billion years ago, when Mars was warmer and supported abundant liquid water, according to researchers.
Another scenario involves a temporary sea that formed when a large comet or asteroid struck Mars, melting subsurface ice and creating outflow channels draining the water into a giant basin. The material was discovered by the MARSIS radar on Mars Express. Imagery from satellites circling Mars have shown formations resembling ancient shorelines before, but scientists using Mars Express may have found the floor of a primordial ocean. (2/7)
Vega Debut Slips To End Of Launch Window (Source: Aviation Week)
Pushing the limits of a six-day launch window, ESA has shifted the debut of its new Vega rocket to Feb. 13 from Feb. 9, allowing ample time to prepare the flight-qualification campaign. Vega’s flight-readiness review board met Feb. 2 to evaluate mission-preparation status. The Vega will lift off from Europe’s Guiana Space Center. “In fact there is no delay,” ESA spokeswoman Brigitte Kolmsee says, explaining that within Vega’s Feb. 9-14 launch window, Feb. 9 was a working date. (2/7)
Loral Lands Two-satellite Contract with Australia’s NBN (Source: Space News)
Loral will build two Ka-band broadband satellites for Australia’s government-owned NBN Co. following a long competition that featured many of the world’s satellite and ground hardware manufacturers, according to industry officials. An announcement of the contract is expected in the coming days. The satellites, to be delivered in time for launch in 2015, will complement the broadband service that NBN is rolling out across Australia with fiber and terrestrial-wireless links. (2/7)
"Ping-Pong" Planets Bounce Between Stars (Source: Astronomy Now)
A gravitational ping-pong match lasting up to one million years could be in play between nearby binary stars, say Cambridge University scientists. It is widely accepted that planets can be ejected completely from a solar system, especially during the dynamically chaotic period early in the solar system's life where planets are jostling for the most stable orbits (see Jumping Jupiter ejected giant planet and Free-floating planets more common than stars?).
Recently, exoplanets have been found in two and even three-star systems, and in the new study, Nickolas Moeckel and Dimitri Veras of the Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge, show that a planet ejected from orbit around one star could find itself passed onto its binary companion. Furthermore, the planet may get "bounced" between the stars, providing one possible explanation for the eccentric orbits of some exoplanets. (2/7)
VC Turns Office Into Apollo Museum (Source: CNET)
The last time I went to talk with venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson, managing director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, I spent more time ogling his museum of NASA Apollo gear than I did talking about his startup investments. So I made an appointment to go see him again, with enough time to snap pictures of the equipment in his office in Palo Alto, Calif., office. Click through our slideshow for a view into this small, private, and unique collection of space artifacts. (2/7)
New Meaning of ‘Desperate’ — Asking Russia for a Ride to Mars (Source: National Post)
Facing enormous budgetary pressures and expecting still further cuts, NASA has reportedly told their counterparts at the European Space Agency that it anticipates being forced to withdraw from two planned robotic missions to Mars. NASA was set to provide communications gear, scientific equipment and two rockets to launch the respective missions on their way. But due to expected cuts to their Mars exploration budget, NASA has given early notice that it doesn’t think it will be able to participate.
The Europeans, however, have already spent hundreds of millions of euros on the project, which it considers its flagship program. Looking for a way to keep the program alive, it has reached out to Russia’s space agency to see if the Russians might provide the money and technological capabilities that America is no longer good for. If that doesn’t spell desperation, it’s hard to imagine what would. The Russians aren’t exactly coming off of a winning year in the annals of space exploration. (2/7)
Lost Treasures: President Nixon's Moon Rocks (Source: New Scientist)
By weight, the moon rocks collected during the Apollo missions are worth far more than diamonds, and in any case, they have a priceless historical value. They are relics of humanity's greatest adventure to date. Not all are properly accounted for, however. That's why Joseph Gutheinz, a former NASA investigator, has spent much of his career tracing moon rocks that have gone missing: he's even staged elaborate stings to lure would-be illegal sellers. And there's one particular group of moon rocks that Gutheinz is keen to recover. Click here. (2/7)
NASA Budget Looms Ahead (Source: Daily Press)
President Obama is expected to release his 2013 budget in the coming days — with it will come a funding plan for NASA. Cuts appear likely. How they might affect Langley Research Center and Wallops Flight Facility is uncertain. Langley hasn’t been forced to make mass layoffs as seen at KSC, which shed thousands of jobs after NASA retired the space shuttle. Still, it has laid off a small percentage of its contract workforce in recent years. Meanwhile, contract labor at Wallops is expected to grow because the facility is home to a $1.9 billion program that will ferry supplies to the International Space Station. (2/7)
Do Aliens Go Invisible by 'Going Green'? (Source: Discovery)
As we discover more and more planets around other stars, the Fermi Paradox is becoming, well, more paradoxical. The Fermi Paradox simply asks the question "where are they?" Our Milky Way galaxy is so big and so old -- and we are estimated to be accompanied by at least 100 billion planets -- that aliens should have visited us by now. Instead, when we peruse the heavens, we are faced with the Great Silence, which is one of the biggest challenges to modern astronomy.
There have been numerous solutions to the Fermi paradox, but none of them are satisfactory. A few diehards like Harvard astronomer Howard Smith are emphatic that we are completely alone in the universe. As much as I disagree, there isn't a shred of evidence to the contrary. Nevertheless, I do wholeheartedly agree with my colleague Seth Shostack of the SETI Institute who says that it would be a miracle if we didn't find advanced life out there.
Picking up on this idea, Canadian science fiction writer Karl Schroeder has come upon a novel solution to the failure of astronomical observations to solve the Fermi Paradox. He proposes: "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from nature." In other words, smart aliens have "gone green" and generate no waste products that we could detect. They therefore blend into the galaxy. Therefore, "artificial and natural systems are indistinguishable,” writes Schroeder. (2/7)
Final Frontier: Work Begins on Space Port (Source: Orlando Business Journal)
Kennedy Space Center will be turned into a multi-purpose space port during the next two years, starting with more than $15 million worth of upcoming projects at Cape Canaveral. And at least one future commercial space flight tenant is expected to create up to 550 permanent high-tech jobs. That’s good news for Brevard County, which has a 10.8 percent unemployment rate and was hit hard by the 2011 closure of the space shuttle program and the loss of more than 9,000 high-wage space industry jobs. (2/6)
NASA Aims For Commercial Crew Demo Flight by Mid-Decade (Source: Hobby Space)
NASA's revamped Commercial Crew Integrated Capabilities Program (CCiCap) will advance multiple crew-capable launch systems and could include a crewed orbital demo mission by mid-decade. Within the CCiCap "Base Period" of Aug. 2012 - May 2014, NASA hopes to make multiple awards of between $300-500 million. A second "Optional Milestones Period" could include the demo flight and would include $400 million per year to support milestone achievements by selected contractor(s). (2/7)
FAA Learning Period for Spaceflight Regulation Extended Though 2015 (Source: CSF)
The Commercial Spaceflight Federation welcomes Congress's passage of the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill, which includes a key provision granting regulatory stability to the commercial spaceflight industry. The new law's provision extends a regulatory "learning period" that was created when Congress originally passed the Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act (CSLAA) of 2004. This learning period was established in law in December of 2004 to allow for several years of flight test and early commercial operation of new human spaceflight vehicles.
Congress's intent was to allow for industry and the FAA to build a database from actual flight experience of what design features, technologies, and operating practices contributed to safety, and initially regulate only those system elements in which safety issues arise. The Federation extends its thanks to Senate Majority Leader Reid, Chairman Rockefeller, Chairman Cantwell, Chairman Nelson, and Ranking Member Hutchison, as well as House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, Chairman Mica, Chairman Petri, Chairman Hall, Chairman Palazzo, Ranking Member Costello, and Representative Rohrabacher for their assistance in reaching this agreement. (2/7)
Lawmakers Brace for Defense Cuts in Home States (Source: San Diego Union-Tribune)
Some lawmakers are trying to minimize the effect of defense cuts on their home states. "Make no mistake: The savings that we are proposing will impact on all 50 states and many districts, congressional districts, across America," said Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. Obama plans to submit the fiscal year 2013 budget to Congress on Monday. (2/7)
Export Rules May Have Cost U.S. Firms $21 Billion (Source: AIA)
A report by the Aerospace Industries Association says limits on U.S. exports may have cost defense firms $21 billion in lost sales since the late 1990s. "Instead of preventing other countries from developing space capabilities, barriers to export for U.S. satellite products have prompted numerous countries to create indigenous space capabilities and leverage their growing market share" for research and innovation, said the AIA. (2/7)
High School Robotics Challenge Returns to Embry-Riddle (Source: ERAU)
Robots return to Embry-Riddle Saturday, Feb. 18, when hundreds of teens from around Florida flock to the Daytona Beach campus to participate in FIRST Tech Challenge’s Florida Championship Tournament. They will be competing in the daylong event to win regional recognition for design excellence, sportsmanship and teamwork, and to advance to the FIRST Tech Challenge World Championship. Engineering students and faculty members from Embry-Riddle will volunteer as judges and referees. The event, which will be held in the ICI Center, is free and open to faculty members, staff, students and the public. (2/5)
Suing Loral Costing ViaSat $1 Million Per Quarter (Source: Space News)
Satellite broadband product and service provider ViaSat Inc. said Feb. 6 it is spending around $1 million per quarter on its patent infringement and breach-of-contract lawsuit with satellite builder Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) and that the cash outlay for legal fees could go higher. In a conference call with investors, ViaSat officials said they are ready to settle with SS/L if possible but that they are also prepared for a long court case if necessary. (2/7)
Private Spacecraft Move Forward as Soyuz Struggles (Source: New Scientist)
All eyes are on commercial space companies in the wake of the latest setback for Russia's space programme, which has delayed the launch of the next crew to the International Space Station. A recent flight of a private rocket bodes well for the fledgling industry, but the coming weeks should reveal whether the industry can really take off.
Russia's space agency Roscosmos reported last week that the Soyuz capsule meant to take astronauts to the station on 30 March sprang a leak when the air pressure inside it was accidentally pumped too high during a test. Another Soyuz capsule is being prepared for launch in its place but will not be ready to fly until 15 May.
It's just the latest in a string of problems for Russian space vehicles. In August, for example, an uncrewed Soyuz rocket crashed to Earth. That temporarily threw the space station's future into doubt because the same type of rocket is the only craft used to launch crews to the outpost. Click here. (2/7)
Avanti Secures Financing for Third Satellite (Source: Financial Times)
Avanti Communications is planning to become one of very few space-related companies listed on the main market of the London Stock Exchange, after securing financing for the launch of its third satellite. David Williams, chief executive, said the Aim-quoted company that provides broadband internet services to remote areas via satellite, would seek to move to the main market in early 2013. The company would join Inmarsat as the only other main-market listed satellite operator in the UK. (2/7)
Where SETI Meets Intelligent Design (Source: Smart Planet)
Mankind is, at least for the moment, listening for its neighbors again. The decades-old search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) was interrupted last year when funding to operate the 42 radio telescopes in the Allen Telescope Array, with which the SETI Institute of Mountain View, Calif., listens to emissions from space. Private funds and a deal with the U.S. Air Force resurrected the program in December, which is news that gladdened the hearts of many of us hopeful of finding intelligent alien life out there somewhere. How long the SETI Institute can keep the lights on is still unclear.
People will no doubt continue to argue about whether SETI is worthwhile or a waste of money. Even its staunchest proponents acknowledge that the chances of imminent success are low — though the impact would be huge on science and humanity’s perception of its place in the cosmos. Meanwhile, its fiercest opponents would have to admit that the money spent on SETI is trivial: the program costs about $2.5 million a year, about 1/30th the cost of a small Learjet or about 1/3,000th of what the world spends on iPads.
What makes the debate particularly curious is that notwithstanding a great many numbers that get thrown around on the topic, estimates of the odds of SETI’s eventual success are almost meaningless and beside the point. And in their pursuit of alien intelligence, SETI researchers can find that they have strange bedfellows in certain creationists, who try to make similar arguments — but with less scientific merit. Click here. (2/7)
Space Debris is Making Rocket Launches Dangerous (Source: NewsOK)
Last month, the International Space Station, an orbiting space laboratory as big as a football field, had to move. A piece of space junk 10 centimeters (four inches) across was aimed at it. To ensure the safety of the crew, its engines were fired for 54 seconds to move it to an orbit 1,000 feet higher. Such is life in Earth orbit. This was the 13th time the ISS had to be moved to avoid potential damage from a collision with space debris. The piece of space junk was moving faster than a bullet and could have caused significant damage had it hit certain critical parts of the space station. And that's just one piece of space debris, one of many. (2/7)
Limit on Colorado Spaceport Liability Advances (Source: Denver Business Journal)
A critical piece of Colorado’s efforts to develop a spaceport at Front Range Airport sailed unanimously through its first legislative committee Monday, despite expected opposition. Senate Bill 35, sponsored by state Sen. Mary Hodge, D-Brighton, creates a limited liability for companies that would operate space flights out of the facility. It heads next to the Senate floor. SB 35 mimics similar laws in place in Florida, Texas, New Mexico and Virginia — all prime competitors for spaceport business. (2/7)
Spaceport Board to Hear Visitors Center Talk (Source: Las Cruces Sun-News)
The New Mexico Spaceport Authority will meet Tuesday in Truth or Consequences to hear a presentation about proposed welcome centers and a visitors center related to Spaceport America. The agency also will approve its state Open Meetings Act resolution, which spells out how it will notify the public in advance of meetings, according to the authority's agenda. (2/7)
Aerospace Report Hits Rules on Exports (Source: Wall Street Journal)
Satellite makers and their suppliers are stepping up demands for changes to U.S. export controls, painting in stark economic terms the impact of what they insist are regulations curbing their ability to compete for commercial orders against European and other foreign satellite makers. On Tuesday, industry trade group Aerospace Industries Association is expected to release details of a report concluding that U.S. export controls on commercial satellites may have cost tens of thousands of American jobs and up to $21 billion in lost sales for aerospace companies since the late 1990s. (2/7)
NASA Wants Small-satellite Demo Proposals (Source: Aviation Week)
NASA’s new technology-development organization is seeking proposals for low-cost, short-development, flight-test projects that will demonstrate communications and proxiimty operations with satellites weighing less than 400 lb., and for propulsion systems for cubesats. With a March 4 deadline for executive summaries of proposals, the agency hopes to award one or more contracts in the fall under its Edison Small Satellite Demonstration Program. Winning projects should be ready to fly “within two or three years at a total cost of no more than $15 million,” the agency said Feb. 2. (2/7)
Aerojet’s Confidence in Next Generation Engine and Green Propellants (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
Californian aerospace company Aerojet believes they are in a good position to continue their advancements in the development of rocket engines, ranging from the Next Generation Engine (NGE) for the US Air Force’s Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program, through to environmentally “green” propellants for propulsion hardware. While Aerojet is already involved in a wide range of propulsive requirements for launch vehicles and spacecraft, work is already well under way for their effort to become the provider of the Next Generation Engine (NGE), a process started via the Air Force’s Request For Information (RFI) over a year ago.
Aerojet recently noted they had successfully completed a major milestone in the development of a ground demonstrator for the Next Generation Engine (NGE) program, announcing the completion of the Preliminary Design Review (PDR) of the turbopump assembly. The engine under development – which is yet to receive a name – would not be restricted to just US Air Force/EELV use, according to Julie Van Kleeck.
Aerojet – who previously noted it has been decades since there has been an open engine competition in the United States – added they are unable to compare their new engine to an RL-10 derivative at this stage. However, they are confident they can present their NGE as a major step forward. “We don’t know many specifics about RL-10 derivatives since little has been made public. Aerojet believes that our offering for NGE will make major improvements over the current RL-10 in cost and reliability and have equal or greater performance depending on configuration,” added Ms Van Kleeck. (2/7)
February 6, 2012
China Publishes High-Resolution Full Moon Map (Source: Xinhua)
China on Monday published a full coverage map of the moon, as well as several high-resolution images of the celestial body, captured by the country's second moon orbiter, the Chang'e-2. The map and images, released by the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (SASTIND), are the highest-resolution photos of the entirety of the moon's surface to be published thus far, said Liu Dongkui. The images were photographed by a charge-coupled device (CCD) stereo camera on the Chang'e-2 from heights of 100 km and 15 km over the lunar surface between October 2010 and May 2011, according to a statement from SASTIND. (2/6)
Military Angles Assessed After New Iranian Booster/Satellite Mission (Source: America Space)
Before dawn on Feb. 3 Iran launched its new “Navid” imaging spacecraft into orbit using a Safir booster that can easily be converted into a Medium Range Ballistic Missile (MRBM). Israeli intelligence, the U.S. Strategic Command and CIA analysts are performing assessments of the rocket and satellite. The Navid liftoff came in darkness at 5:34 a.m. GMT as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and launch controllers chanted Islamic prayers during the last minutes of the countdown.
According to one Iranian source, the 110 lb. spacecraft has 400 meter imaging resolution. Two other Iranian sources, however, say it carries “high resolution” imaging capability. The launch comes at a time of high tension over Iranian nuclear capabilities. The U. S. and Israeli intelligence assessments of the satellite will determine its threat, if any, to revealing Israeli preparations for a possible strike against Iran’s nuclear weapon’s capabilities. (2/6)
Ship That Hit Kentucky Bridge Has Precious Space Cargo (Source: UT San Diego)
The hulking cargo ship that tore through a western Kentucky bridge last month is carrying millions of dollars of Atlas-5 rocket components that will be used to launch a secure military satellite communications system, called the AEHF-2 from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport.
The Coast Guard on Monday allowed the Delta Mariner to move away from the damaged bridge so that debris, including twisted steel and asphalt, could be cleared from the boat's bow. The rocket parts had been sitting stranded on the ship for about 10 days until the Delta Mariner was moved on Monday. The Coast Guard says an investigation into the cause of the boat crash is ongoing. (2/6)
NASA and Industry Join Forces for Virginia Aerospace Day (Source: NASA)
Aerospace is a high-tech engine propelling Virginia's economy and creating high-paying jobs. NASA leaders from Langley Research Center in Hampton and Wallops Flight Facility on the Eastern Shore will join aerospace industry representatives statewide to bring this message to Virginia General Assembly members on AeroSpace Days 2012, Wednesday and Thursday, Feb. 8-9, in Richmond.
Over 300 aerospace firms in the Commonwealth contribute $7.6 billion to the Virginia economy and create more than 28,000 jobs with an average annual salary of nearly $100,000. NASA's two Virginia facilities bring in $1.2 billion and support nearly 11,000 jobs. Virginia's newest aerospace asset, the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS), is one of only four commercial spaceports licensed by the FAA to send rockets into orbit. (2/6)
GenCorp Reports 2011 Annual and Fourth Quarter Results (Source: GenCorp)
GenCorp Inc. reported results for the fiscal year and fourth quarter ended November 30, 2011. Net sales for 2011 totaled $918.1 million compared to $857.9 million for 2010. Net income for 2011 was $2.9 million, compared to net income of $6.8 million for 2010. Funded backlog as of November 30, 2011 was $902 million compared to $804 million as of November 30, 2010. (2/6)
Atlas 5 Rocket Topped with Navy's Newest Satellite (Source: SpaceFlightNow.com)
Looking towards launch next week to begin dramatically improving the capacity for U.S. military mobile communications, a new breed of satellite was hauled to the towering Atlas 5 rocket assembly building today for mounting atop the powerful booster. The Navy's first Mobile User Objective System satellite, dubbed MUOS 1, is scheduled for blastoff next Thursday, Feb. 16, at sunset from Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. (2/6)
Astronaut Legends Glenn, Carpenter to Visit Space Coast (Source: Florida Today)
Legendary astronauts John Glenn and Scott Carpenter will be on the Space Coast this month to celebrate the 50th anniversaries of the nation’s first two orbital human spaceflights. The two Project Mercury astronauts will appear at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex on Feb. 18 along with U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Orlando, KSC Director Robert Cabana and NASA astronaut Stephen Robinson. Robinson flew with Glenn on the STS-95 shuttle mission in 1998.
Glenn and Carpenter, the last two surviving members of the nation’s first seven Project Mercury astronauts, will appear at a 6:30 p.m. Feb. 18 event dubbed “On The Shoulders of Giants.” Regular admission and entry into the event is $43 plus tax for adults and $33 plus tax for children aged 3-11. (2/6)
NASA's Push Toward Carbon-Neutral Airliners (Source: Aviation Week)
To achieve sustainable growth in air travel, future airliner designers face challenges never seen by their predecessors. New concepts will not only have to meet unprecedented performance goals, but they must do so while striving for carbon neutrality. NASA’s goal to solve this conundrum takes on new significance in coming weeks as researchers across the U.S. begin a series of landmark tests under the next stage of the agency’s subsonic fixed-wing program. Wide-ranging work will include refining a glider-like truss-braced wing and integrating it with a hybrid-electric propulsion system, wind tunnel tests of a multirole wing leading edge and evaluation of a protective outer skin that could enable lighter structures. (2/6)
The Complex, Challenging Problem of Orbital Debris (Source: Space Review)
Several recent satellite reentries have put a spotlight on the issue of orbital debris. Jeff Foust reports on a recent panel session that discussed how complex the problem is and how difficult it will be, technically and otherwise, to solve it. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2020/1 to view the article. (2/6)
Sharp as a Tack (Source: Space Review)
Last month a little-known pioneer of satellite reconnaissance passed away. Dwayne Day describes the unique insights Frank Buzard offered on the early history of American spy satellite efforts. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2019/1 to view the article. (2/6)
Congressional Opposition to a Code of Conduct for Space (Source: Space Review)
Although the Obama Administration has now proposed the development of an international "Code of Conduct" for outer space activities versus adopting a European version, some in Congress remain concerned. Michael Listner discusses their potential opposition to an international code and what they could do to block it. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2018/1 to view the article. (2/6)
Russian Scientists Reach 'Alien' Antarctic Lake (Source: Global Post)
Russian scientists have successfully drilled to Lake Vostok, buried over two miles — or 13,000 feet — beneath the great Antarctic ice sheet. It is one of the world's largest lakes. However, it hasn't been exposed in more than 20 million years. The team from Russia's Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI) drilled for weeks to reach the isolated, subglacial water, part of a network of more than 200 subglacial lakes in Antarctica.
Vostok is thought to harbor conditions similar to those of Jupiter's moon Europa and Saturn's moon Enceladus, and the discovery of life in the lake's inky depths would significantly strengthen the prospect of discovering life on either of these icy bodies. the scientists were "enormously excited about what life-forms might be found there." Their main concern was contaminating the lake with drilling fluids and bacteria, "and the potentially explosive 'de-gassing' of a body of water that has especially high concentrations of oxygen and nitrogen."
They are using a special technique to minimise the risk of contaminating Vostok's previously untouched waters, PhysOrg.com explained: "When the drill reaches the lake, the water pressure will 'push the working body and drilling fluid upwards in the borehole,' where it will freeze. The researchers will then return during the next Antarctic summer to remove the frozen water for analysis." (2/6)
Augmented Reality Promises Astronauts Instant Medical Knowhow (Source: ESA)
A new augmented reality unit developed by ESA can provide just-in-time medical expertise to astronauts. All they need to do is put on a head-mounted display for 3D guidance in diagnosing problems or even performing surgery. The Computer Assisted Medical Diagnosis and Surgery System, CAMDASS, is a wearable augmented reality prototype. Augmented reality merges actual and virtual reality by precisely combining computer-generated graphics with the wearer’s view. Click here. (2/6)
McCain Cites Conflict in EELV Block Buy Plan (Source: Space News)
A senior U.S. lawmaker and leading critic of the U.S. Air Force’s primary satellite launching program questioned the service’s plan to rely on the prime contractor’s cost estimates to determine how many rockets to buy over what time period, saying the data are unreliable and represent a conflict of interest for the company.
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, wrote Air Force Secretary Michael Donley Jan. 27 to reiterate his concerns with the service’s Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) block buy strategy. In response to a Government Accountability Office report last year criticizing its plans to buy eight booster cores per year over five years, the Air Force said it would choose from a matrix of priced options ranging from six to 10 booster cores annually over a period of three to five years.
Because EELV prime contractor United Launch Alliance (ULA) stands to benefit from large orders, relying on the company for data that could affect the size and timeframe of the block buy “gives rise to a conflict of interest,” McCain said in his letter. “In my view, the government should develop price estimates based on certified data provided by ULA and its subcontractors and conduct its own analysis to find the ‘sweet spot’ that most furthers the taxpayers’ interests.” Click here. (2/6)
Gingrich Holds Ground on Space Policy (Source: Space Politics)
While Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has been the subject of criticism and even satire for his comments about establishing a permanent lunar base, he doesn’t appear to be backing down from those statements. In an appearance on “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Gingrich was asked if those topics “ultimately hurt your seriousness” in the campaign. Gingrich disagreed. “Every serious analyst understands that the Chinese are going all out to dominate space, the Russians today have the only man-rated vehicle available to the United States in space,” he said.
“I didn’t propose any additional federal spending, I proposed a fundamental reform of NASA to engage the private sector in very bold and very dramatic ventures... I think every American should wonder why we’ve spent billions ... on NASA and currently have no vehicle to put human beings into space,” he said. “I believe it’s possible to unleash the American people, to inspire the private sector, to encourage entrepreneurs and to have a dramatically better space program than we have today.” He specifically said he doesn’t desire a massive new government program: “I’m not for a gigantic federal tax-paid program, I’m for a dramatic reform of the current program.” (2/6)
Santorum Hits Again at Gingrich Space Policy (Source: Space Politics)
In an op-ed released by his campaign Sunday, Rick Santorum argued that an expensive big-government space program is exactly what Gingrich was proposing. “Building a federally-funded moon colony would inevitably cost—at the very least—billions of dollars,” Santorum writes. “In addition to our current overspending, this would ultimately saddle our children with the price tag for another one of Speaker Gingrich’s grandiose ideas.”
Santorum’s op-ed accuses Gingrich of “pandering” to voters on Florida’s Space Coast (which, if it was, didn’t turn out to be very successful) and proposing something unrealistic and wasteful. “[I]t takes away from the more immediate, important, and realistic goals of the space program; encouraging partnerships between the space program and private businesses to grow the technology, engineering, and manufacturing sectors of our economy,” he writes. He doesn’t offer more details about how he envisions the public-private cooperation beyond that it “puts the focus on where we need it now, stimulating our economy and putting people back to work.” (2/6)
Mars Surface an Unlikely Place for Life After 600-Million-Year Drought (Source: Science Daily)
Mars may have been arid for more than 600 million years, making it too hostile for any life to survive on the planet's surface, according to researchers who have been carrying out the painstaking task of analysing individual particles of Martian soil. Researchers have spent three years analysing data on Martian soil that was collected during the 2008 NASA Phoenix mission to Mars. Phoenix touched down in the northern arctic region of the planet to search for signs that it was habitable and to analyse ice and soil on the surface.
The results of the soil analysis at the Phoenix site suggest the surface of Mars has been arid for hundreds of millions of years, despite the presence of ice and the fact that previous research has shown that Mars may have had a warmer and wetter period in its earlier history more than three billion years ago. The team also estimated that the soil on Mars had been exposed to liquid water for at most 5,000 years since its formation billions of years ago. They also found that Martian and Moon soil is being formed under the same extremely dry conditions. (2/3)
ExoMars Cooperation Between NASA and ESA Near Collapse (Source: BBC)
NASA looks set to pull the plug on its joint missions to Mars with the European Space Agency. NASA has told ESA it is now highly unlikely it will be able to contribute to the endeavours, which envision an orbiting satellite and a big roving robot being sent to the Red Planet. The US has yet to make a formal statement on the matter but budget woes are thought to lie behind its decision. Europe is now banking on a Russian partnership to keep the missions alive. (2/6)
High Planetary Tilt Lowers Odds for Life? (Source: Astrobiology)
If you think summer is too hot or winter unbearably cold, take solace that in the distant past seasons on our planet might have been much harsher. However, the advent of milder seasons did more than offer comfort, some scientists suggest. Subdued seasonality might be linked to the emergence of complex life on Earth around 600 million years ago. On alien worlds, extreme seasonal spikes and plunges in temperature could likewise determine whether life teems, scrapes by, or dies.
Seasons arise when the axis of a planet's spin is tilted relative to the plane of the planet's orbit. Recent research has suggested that a loss of axial tilt and its attendant seasonality, which helps moderate global temperatures, could doom extraterrestrial creatures. Scientists are also considering the opposite case: worlds where blazing summers and devastatingly frigid winters make the development of life with any complexity a long shot. (2/6)
How Can You Prepare to See Earth From Space? (Source: Txchnologist)
Within the next few years, the next generation of “space tourists” will begin up-down sorties into space from an American spaceport. Among the unearthly delights will be minutes of weightlessness and a window view that’s literally “out of this world.” But the vista spread out below them may be perceived as little more than a tumult of brilliant colors and half a sky of pitch black, barely recognizable as their home planet. \\
Just as Alan Shepard could only stutter, “Oh, what a beautiful view,” when he first saw the Earth from space half a century ago, these new space visitors will recall being overwhelmed by the sight and scattered details – but perhaps, very little else. Virtually every space traveler to date has reported been overloaded by new sensations: they all lacked what might be termed “space sight.” Future astronauts and tourists can prepare themselves, with a lot of preflight practice. The need for it – and the value of doing it right – are as yet poorly recognized in the spaceflight training programs currently available. Click here. (2/6)
Earth Station: The Afterlife of Technology at the End of the World (Source: The Atlantic)
The Jamesburg Earth Station is a massive satellite receiver in a remote valley in California. It played a central role in satellite communications for three decades, but had been forgotten until the current owner put it up for sale, promoting it as a great place to spend the apocalypse. It stands feet from a trailer park and down the road from a Buddhist retreat. This is the story of one of the old, weird ties between Earth and space. Click here. (2/6)
China on Monday published a full coverage map of the moon, as well as several high-resolution images of the celestial body, captured by the country's second moon orbiter, the Chang'e-2. The map and images, released by the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (SASTIND), are the highest-resolution photos of the entirety of the moon's surface to be published thus far, said Liu Dongkui. The images were photographed by a charge-coupled device (CCD) stereo camera on the Chang'e-2 from heights of 100 km and 15 km over the lunar surface between October 2010 and May 2011, according to a statement from SASTIND. (2/6)
Military Angles Assessed After New Iranian Booster/Satellite Mission (Source: America Space)
Before dawn on Feb. 3 Iran launched its new “Navid” imaging spacecraft into orbit using a Safir booster that can easily be converted into a Medium Range Ballistic Missile (MRBM). Israeli intelligence, the U.S. Strategic Command and CIA analysts are performing assessments of the rocket and satellite. The Navid liftoff came in darkness at 5:34 a.m. GMT as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and launch controllers chanted Islamic prayers during the last minutes of the countdown.
According to one Iranian source, the 110 lb. spacecraft has 400 meter imaging resolution. Two other Iranian sources, however, say it carries “high resolution” imaging capability. The launch comes at a time of high tension over Iranian nuclear capabilities. The U. S. and Israeli intelligence assessments of the satellite will determine its threat, if any, to revealing Israeli preparations for a possible strike against Iran’s nuclear weapon’s capabilities. (2/6)
Ship That Hit Kentucky Bridge Has Precious Space Cargo (Source: UT San Diego)
The hulking cargo ship that tore through a western Kentucky bridge last month is carrying millions of dollars of Atlas-5 rocket components that will be used to launch a secure military satellite communications system, called the AEHF-2 from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport.
The Coast Guard on Monday allowed the Delta Mariner to move away from the damaged bridge so that debris, including twisted steel and asphalt, could be cleared from the boat's bow. The rocket parts had been sitting stranded on the ship for about 10 days until the Delta Mariner was moved on Monday. The Coast Guard says an investigation into the cause of the boat crash is ongoing. (2/6)
NASA and Industry Join Forces for Virginia Aerospace Day (Source: NASA)
Aerospace is a high-tech engine propelling Virginia's economy and creating high-paying jobs. NASA leaders from Langley Research Center in Hampton and Wallops Flight Facility on the Eastern Shore will join aerospace industry representatives statewide to bring this message to Virginia General Assembly members on AeroSpace Days 2012, Wednesday and Thursday, Feb. 8-9, in Richmond.
Over 300 aerospace firms in the Commonwealth contribute $7.6 billion to the Virginia economy and create more than 28,000 jobs with an average annual salary of nearly $100,000. NASA's two Virginia facilities bring in $1.2 billion and support nearly 11,000 jobs. Virginia's newest aerospace asset, the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS), is one of only four commercial spaceports licensed by the FAA to send rockets into orbit. (2/6)
GenCorp Reports 2011 Annual and Fourth Quarter Results (Source: GenCorp)
GenCorp Inc. reported results for the fiscal year and fourth quarter ended November 30, 2011. Net sales for 2011 totaled $918.1 million compared to $857.9 million for 2010. Net income for 2011 was $2.9 million, compared to net income of $6.8 million for 2010. Funded backlog as of November 30, 2011 was $902 million compared to $804 million as of November 30, 2010. (2/6)
Atlas 5 Rocket Topped with Navy's Newest Satellite (Source: SpaceFlightNow.com)
Looking towards launch next week to begin dramatically improving the capacity for U.S. military mobile communications, a new breed of satellite was hauled to the towering Atlas 5 rocket assembly building today for mounting atop the powerful booster. The Navy's first Mobile User Objective System satellite, dubbed MUOS 1, is scheduled for blastoff next Thursday, Feb. 16, at sunset from Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. (2/6)
Astronaut Legends Glenn, Carpenter to Visit Space Coast (Source: Florida Today)
Legendary astronauts John Glenn and Scott Carpenter will be on the Space Coast this month to celebrate the 50th anniversaries of the nation’s first two orbital human spaceflights. The two Project Mercury astronauts will appear at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex on Feb. 18 along with U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Orlando, KSC Director Robert Cabana and NASA astronaut Stephen Robinson. Robinson flew with Glenn on the STS-95 shuttle mission in 1998.
Glenn and Carpenter, the last two surviving members of the nation’s first seven Project Mercury astronauts, will appear at a 6:30 p.m. Feb. 18 event dubbed “On The Shoulders of Giants.” Regular admission and entry into the event is $43 plus tax for adults and $33 plus tax for children aged 3-11. (2/6)
NASA's Push Toward Carbon-Neutral Airliners (Source: Aviation Week)
To achieve sustainable growth in air travel, future airliner designers face challenges never seen by their predecessors. New concepts will not only have to meet unprecedented performance goals, but they must do so while striving for carbon neutrality. NASA’s goal to solve this conundrum takes on new significance in coming weeks as researchers across the U.S. begin a series of landmark tests under the next stage of the agency’s subsonic fixed-wing program. Wide-ranging work will include refining a glider-like truss-braced wing and integrating it with a hybrid-electric propulsion system, wind tunnel tests of a multirole wing leading edge and evaluation of a protective outer skin that could enable lighter structures. (2/6)
The Complex, Challenging Problem of Orbital Debris (Source: Space Review)
Several recent satellite reentries have put a spotlight on the issue of orbital debris. Jeff Foust reports on a recent panel session that discussed how complex the problem is and how difficult it will be, technically and otherwise, to solve it. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2020/1 to view the article. (2/6)
Sharp as a Tack (Source: Space Review)
Last month a little-known pioneer of satellite reconnaissance passed away. Dwayne Day describes the unique insights Frank Buzard offered on the early history of American spy satellite efforts. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2019/1 to view the article. (2/6)
Congressional Opposition to a Code of Conduct for Space (Source: Space Review)
Although the Obama Administration has now proposed the development of an international "Code of Conduct" for outer space activities versus adopting a European version, some in Congress remain concerned. Michael Listner discusses their potential opposition to an international code and what they could do to block it. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2018/1 to view the article. (2/6)
Russian Scientists Reach 'Alien' Antarctic Lake (Source: Global Post)
Russian scientists have successfully drilled to Lake Vostok, buried over two miles — or 13,000 feet — beneath the great Antarctic ice sheet. It is one of the world's largest lakes. However, it hasn't been exposed in more than 20 million years. The team from Russia's Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI) drilled for weeks to reach the isolated, subglacial water, part of a network of more than 200 subglacial lakes in Antarctica.
Vostok is thought to harbor conditions similar to those of Jupiter's moon Europa and Saturn's moon Enceladus, and the discovery of life in the lake's inky depths would significantly strengthen the prospect of discovering life on either of these icy bodies. the scientists were "enormously excited about what life-forms might be found there." Their main concern was contaminating the lake with drilling fluids and bacteria, "and the potentially explosive 'de-gassing' of a body of water that has especially high concentrations of oxygen and nitrogen."
They are using a special technique to minimise the risk of contaminating Vostok's previously untouched waters, PhysOrg.com explained: "When the drill reaches the lake, the water pressure will 'push the working body and drilling fluid upwards in the borehole,' where it will freeze. The researchers will then return during the next Antarctic summer to remove the frozen water for analysis." (2/6)
Augmented Reality Promises Astronauts Instant Medical Knowhow (Source: ESA)
A new augmented reality unit developed by ESA can provide just-in-time medical expertise to astronauts. All they need to do is put on a head-mounted display for 3D guidance in diagnosing problems or even performing surgery. The Computer Assisted Medical Diagnosis and Surgery System, CAMDASS, is a wearable augmented reality prototype. Augmented reality merges actual and virtual reality by precisely combining computer-generated graphics with the wearer’s view. Click here. (2/6)
McCain Cites Conflict in EELV Block Buy Plan (Source: Space News)
A senior U.S. lawmaker and leading critic of the U.S. Air Force’s primary satellite launching program questioned the service’s plan to rely on the prime contractor’s cost estimates to determine how many rockets to buy over what time period, saying the data are unreliable and represent a conflict of interest for the company.
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, wrote Air Force Secretary Michael Donley Jan. 27 to reiterate his concerns with the service’s Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) block buy strategy. In response to a Government Accountability Office report last year criticizing its plans to buy eight booster cores per year over five years, the Air Force said it would choose from a matrix of priced options ranging from six to 10 booster cores annually over a period of three to five years.
Because EELV prime contractor United Launch Alliance (ULA) stands to benefit from large orders, relying on the company for data that could affect the size and timeframe of the block buy “gives rise to a conflict of interest,” McCain said in his letter. “In my view, the government should develop price estimates based on certified data provided by ULA and its subcontractors and conduct its own analysis to find the ‘sweet spot’ that most furthers the taxpayers’ interests.” Click here. (2/6)
Gingrich Holds Ground on Space Policy (Source: Space Politics)
While Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has been the subject of criticism and even satire for his comments about establishing a permanent lunar base, he doesn’t appear to be backing down from those statements. In an appearance on “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Gingrich was asked if those topics “ultimately hurt your seriousness” in the campaign. Gingrich disagreed. “Every serious analyst understands that the Chinese are going all out to dominate space, the Russians today have the only man-rated vehicle available to the United States in space,” he said.
“I didn’t propose any additional federal spending, I proposed a fundamental reform of NASA to engage the private sector in very bold and very dramatic ventures... I think every American should wonder why we’ve spent billions ... on NASA and currently have no vehicle to put human beings into space,” he said. “I believe it’s possible to unleash the American people, to inspire the private sector, to encourage entrepreneurs and to have a dramatically better space program than we have today.” He specifically said he doesn’t desire a massive new government program: “I’m not for a gigantic federal tax-paid program, I’m for a dramatic reform of the current program.” (2/6)
Santorum Hits Again at Gingrich Space Policy (Source: Space Politics)
In an op-ed released by his campaign Sunday, Rick Santorum argued that an expensive big-government space program is exactly what Gingrich was proposing. “Building a federally-funded moon colony would inevitably cost—at the very least—billions of dollars,” Santorum writes. “In addition to our current overspending, this would ultimately saddle our children with the price tag for another one of Speaker Gingrich’s grandiose ideas.”
Santorum’s op-ed accuses Gingrich of “pandering” to voters on Florida’s Space Coast (which, if it was, didn’t turn out to be very successful) and proposing something unrealistic and wasteful. “[I]t takes away from the more immediate, important, and realistic goals of the space program; encouraging partnerships between the space program and private businesses to grow the technology, engineering, and manufacturing sectors of our economy,” he writes. He doesn’t offer more details about how he envisions the public-private cooperation beyond that it “puts the focus on where we need it now, stimulating our economy and putting people back to work.” (2/6)
Mars Surface an Unlikely Place for Life After 600-Million-Year Drought (Source: Science Daily)
Mars may have been arid for more than 600 million years, making it too hostile for any life to survive on the planet's surface, according to researchers who have been carrying out the painstaking task of analysing individual particles of Martian soil. Researchers have spent three years analysing data on Martian soil that was collected during the 2008 NASA Phoenix mission to Mars. Phoenix touched down in the northern arctic region of the planet to search for signs that it was habitable and to analyse ice and soil on the surface.
The results of the soil analysis at the Phoenix site suggest the surface of Mars has been arid for hundreds of millions of years, despite the presence of ice and the fact that previous research has shown that Mars may have had a warmer and wetter period in its earlier history more than three billion years ago. The team also estimated that the soil on Mars had been exposed to liquid water for at most 5,000 years since its formation billions of years ago. They also found that Martian and Moon soil is being formed under the same extremely dry conditions. (2/3)
ExoMars Cooperation Between NASA and ESA Near Collapse (Source: BBC)
NASA looks set to pull the plug on its joint missions to Mars with the European Space Agency. NASA has told ESA it is now highly unlikely it will be able to contribute to the endeavours, which envision an orbiting satellite and a big roving robot being sent to the Red Planet. The US has yet to make a formal statement on the matter but budget woes are thought to lie behind its decision. Europe is now banking on a Russian partnership to keep the missions alive. (2/6)
High Planetary Tilt Lowers Odds for Life? (Source: Astrobiology)
If you think summer is too hot or winter unbearably cold, take solace that in the distant past seasons on our planet might have been much harsher. However, the advent of milder seasons did more than offer comfort, some scientists suggest. Subdued seasonality might be linked to the emergence of complex life on Earth around 600 million years ago. On alien worlds, extreme seasonal spikes and plunges in temperature could likewise determine whether life teems, scrapes by, or dies.
Seasons arise when the axis of a planet's spin is tilted relative to the plane of the planet's orbit. Recent research has suggested that a loss of axial tilt and its attendant seasonality, which helps moderate global temperatures, could doom extraterrestrial creatures. Scientists are also considering the opposite case: worlds where blazing summers and devastatingly frigid winters make the development of life with any complexity a long shot. (2/6)
How Can You Prepare to See Earth From Space? (Source: Txchnologist)
Within the next few years, the next generation of “space tourists” will begin up-down sorties into space from an American spaceport. Among the unearthly delights will be minutes of weightlessness and a window view that’s literally “out of this world.” But the vista spread out below them may be perceived as little more than a tumult of brilliant colors and half a sky of pitch black, barely recognizable as their home planet. \\
Just as Alan Shepard could only stutter, “Oh, what a beautiful view,” when he first saw the Earth from space half a century ago, these new space visitors will recall being overwhelmed by the sight and scattered details – but perhaps, very little else. Virtually every space traveler to date has reported been overloaded by new sensations: they all lacked what might be termed “space sight.” Future astronauts and tourists can prepare themselves, with a lot of preflight practice. The need for it – and the value of doing it right – are as yet poorly recognized in the spaceflight training programs currently available. Click here. (2/6)
Earth Station: The Afterlife of Technology at the End of the World (Source: The Atlantic)
The Jamesburg Earth Station is a massive satellite receiver in a remote valley in California. It played a central role in satellite communications for three decades, but had been forgotten until the current owner put it up for sale, promoting it as a great place to spend the apocalypse. It stands feet from a trailer park and down the road from a Buddhist retreat. This is the story of one of the old, weird ties between Earth and space. Click here. (2/6)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
