ULA and ITT Military Contracts Boost Cape Canaveral Spaceport (Sources: DOD, SPACErePORT)
United Launch Alliance was awarded a $9,000,000 contract to accelerate the launch-to-launch time spans of the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle launches to preserve the capability to launch the National Reconnaissance Office L-32 mission in October 2010. At this time, the entire amount has been obligated. In a separate action, ITT Industries, Inc. at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport was awarded a $66,370,706 contract option for continued program management, interface management, systems engineering and integration, depot maintenance transition, product acquisitions and modifications, and instrument modernization for operational systems and infrastructure at the spaceport. (11/19)
NASA Recruits 'Planet 51' Actor Dwayne Johnson to Spread Message (Source: Space.com)
Actor Dwayne Johnson, formerly known as "The Rock," is helping to spread the benefits of NASA in a new series of public service announcements (PSAs) timed with the release of Sony Pictures' animated feature film "Planet 51." In the PSAs, Johnson touts NASA's role in education, recycling and the development of new technologies, commonly referred to as "spinoffs."
"Films are such a powerful way to reach out to new audiences and excite them about space exploration," NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver said in a statement. "Dwayne will enlighten families about the importance of learning science and math and celebrating others' differences. He also informs the public about some NASA technologies which are used right here on Earth." (11/20)
French Bond Issue Could be Boon for Space (Source: Space News)
A French government commission on Nov. 19 proposed investing 2 billion euros ($3 billion) of a planned 35 billion-euro government bond issue in new aeronautical and space technologies including Earth observation and broadband spacecraft. The commission estimated that the total investment package would expand to 60 billion euros when private-sector and possible European Union contributions are included. The investments backed by the bond issue could come in the form of grants co-financed by the projects’ sponsors, reimbursable loans or loan guarantees made by the French Innovation Agency, OSEO. (11/20)
Soyuz Rocket Launches Russian Military Payload (Source: SpaceFlightNow.com)
Russia launched a military spy satellite into space Friday on a Soyuz rocket from the country's Plesetsk spaceport. The three-stage Soyuz rocket delivered the spacecraft to an elliptical orbit with a high point of about 560 miles and a low point of approximately 120 miles. The orbit's inclination is about 67.2 degrees, according to tracking data. The satellite was named Kosmos 2455 after the launch as part of the Russian defense ministry's naming system for spacecraft. The payload was the sixth Russian military satellite launched this year. This was the 12th flight this year of a variant of the venerable Soyuz rocket family. It also marked the 63rd space launch worldwide to successfully reach orbit this year. (11/20)
Iran to Launch Space Booster, Satellite by Late 2011 (Source: MSNBC)
Iran plans to launch a communications satellite by late 2011 with no outside help, a top Iranian official said Friday, after Italy and Russia declined to put it into orbit. The move reflected Tehran's frustration with the two countries as it tries to push ahead with an ambitious space program, which has worried world powers because the same rocket technology used to launch satellites can also be used for military purposes. Israeli media have claimed that the new Iranian satellite, named Misbah, or "Lantern" in Farsi, is a spy satellite. Iran says the satellite, which is to be launched into a low-earth orbit, is to assist in data communication. (11/20)
Cosmonaut: Russia Falling Behind in Space Race (Source: MSNBC)
Russia lacks a viable program for developing a new spacecraft and will likely fall behind in the space race, a veteran Russian cosmonaut said in an interview. Efforts to build a successor to the 40-year old Soyuz spacecraft have dragged on with no end in sight, Mikhail Tyurin said. He blamed the slow progress on a lack of clear goals and poor coordination. He said officials' talk of using the ship to fly to the International Space Station, and then the moon and Mars, are unfeasible. "One vehicle can't be both a steamroller and a Formula One racer," he said. (11/20)
Editorial: The Wet Side of the Moon (Source: New York Times)
Picture a habitat atop a hill in warm sunlight on the edge of a crater near the south pole of the Moon. There are metal ores in the rocks nearby and ice in the shadows of the crater below. Solar arrays are set up nearby and humans live in sealed, cave-like lava tubes, protected from solar flares and sustained by large surface greenhouses. Imagine the Moon as the first self-sustainable human settlement away from Earth and a high-speed transportation hub for the solar system.
We can finally begin to think seriously about establishing such a self-sufficient home on the Moon because last week, NASA announced that it had discovered large quantities of water there. While we have known for decades that the Moon had all the raw chemicals necessary for sustaining life, we believed they were trapped in rocks and thus difficult to extract. The discovery of plentiful lunar water is of tremendous importance to humanity and our long-term survival. Click here to view the editorial. (11/20)
U.S. Preeminence in Space is Eroding, Experts Tell Congress (Source: Miami Herald)
America is losing its edge in space as China, Iran and other rivals step up their efforts, experts told a congressional panel on Thursday. Among the statistics: 37 nations now have satellites in space, 13 have active space programs and eight are capable of launching their own satellites. Russia and China have particularly aggressive programs, the experts testified, while new entrants to the "space club" include Algeria, Nigeria, Venezuela and South Africa. AIA Vice President J.P. Stevens told lawmakers that the U.S. share of the global commercial space market has slipped to just 15%. "Our leadership is no longer guaranteed," he said. "We're being undercut." (11/20)
Increase in Defense Spending Needed to Meet Plans (Source: AIA)
Defense spending will need to increase by 6%, to $567 billion annually, in constant 2010 dollars, in order to meet the current administration's plans, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The need for more funds could squeeze suppliers of advanced systems, and steadily rising maintanence and personnel costs are among other factors requiring increased spending. (11/20)
Former Astronaut-Astronomer, Sam Durrance, Joins the Suborbital Researchers Group (Source: CSF)
The Commercial Spaceflight Federation announces that Florida native and former NASA astronaut Samuel T. Durrance, a PhD astronomer and veteran of two Space Shuttle missions, has been selected as the latest addition to CSF’s Suborbital Applications Researchers Group (SARG). Including Dr. Durrance, SARG now consists of eleven researchers and educators, in disciplines ranging from microgravity physics to life sciences, who are aiming to increase awareness of commercial suborbital spacecraft in the science and R&D communities, work with policymakers to ensure that payloads can have easy access to these vehicles, and further develop ideas for the uses of vehicles under development by Armadillo Aerospace, Blue Origin, Masten Space Systems, Virgin Galactic, and XCOR Aerospace. (11/20)
Lighting Science Lands NASA Deal (Source: Orlando Business Journal)
Lighting Science Group Corp. and the Kennedy Space Center have signed a two-year agreement to jointly develop a high-illumination and good-color-rendering LED light fixture for space exploration. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The agreement calls for development of a lighting fixture prototype able to meet the unique demands of space equipment and space travel. Lighting Science CEO Zach Gibler said the agreement also opens up opportunities to take lighting advances developed for space exploration and translate them into earth-bound LED lighting applications. The company is based in Satellite Beach. (11/20)
Editorial: Who Owns the Moon? (Source: Cornell Sun)
The discovery of water on the moon opens up very basic questions that not many people stop to consider, most notably, “who owns the moon.” Who, if anyone, claims to own the moon? Who is recognized as owning the moon? Can anyone own the moon? While these questions may seem silly or trivial, the idea of eventually adding a permanent lunar base, or mining the moon for resources makes them surprisingly relevant. The answer to the question of who owns the moon, of course, is no one.
The Outer Space Treaty, the international law signed by more than 100 countries (including the United States), states that the moon and other celestial bodies are the province of all mankind, however, like most simple answers this one contains several complications. At the time the United Nations drafted the Outer Space Treaty there were only two spacefaring nations, the United States and the Soviet Union. We now have over a dozen, and many of them, China, Russia, the U.S., India and Japan, want to go to the moon. The commercial space sector is also becoming extremely interested in Earth’s only natural satellite with companies considering everything from mining the lunar surface to building extraterrestrial resorts on it.
Editor's Note: This article gives me another opportunity to suggest that the Obama Administration, with its ongoing multi-agency space policy update and keen interest in multi-national and commercial space programs, has a unique opportunity to lead the development of a new space treaty regime. Current gray-areas in today's treaties present a dis-incentive for some foreseeable large-scale commercially-oriented space projects. (11/20)
Solar Project Expansion at KSC Tied to Utility Rate Increase and State Support (Sources: Florida Today, SPACErePORT)
It doesn't yet include solar power-beaming satellites, but a Florida Power & Light (FPL) project at Kennedy Space Center will be expanded to include some other solar power R&D if the utility company is able to gain state approval for a rate increase. FPL officials said the expansion is also contingent upon state legislators passing a law supportive of renewable energy. FPL's ongoing development of a 10-megawatt solar plant at KSC would be expanded with an additional 100 megawatts, bringing 1,000 temporary jobs and 50 permanent ones. The permanent jobs would be science and engineering focused, residing at a new energy R&D center at KSC's Exploration Park. (11/20)
Key Lawmakers Stand Behind Constellation (Source: Florida Today)
Two NASA allies in Congress dug in their heels Thursday and said that the agency should continue with its troubled Constellation program and not rely on global partners to access space after the shuttle is retired in 2010. The assertions, by the chairwoman (Gabrielle Giffords) and ranking Republican member (Pete Olson) of the House Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics, signal a growing divide between Congress and the White House over NASA’s future, as the administration has indicated it wants to make space exploration more of a joint effort with other nations.
The White House has embraced the recent recommendation of a presidentially appointed space panel that advocated international partnerships to share the huge costs of human spaceflight. But Congress is reluctant to change the status quo, in part because it could put hometown jobs at risk. Thursday’s hearing was the first in a series planned by Giffords to underscore support for Constellation. Another is set for next month to assess the safety of competing commercial rocket designs, an issue Giffords said was “given inadequate scrutiny in the Augustine report.” Constellation backers frequently cite safety as a reason to continue the program’s Ares rockets and the Orion capsule.
But cost could ultimately be Constellation’s undoing. The program has cost nearly $8 billion since 2004. The White House has warned agencies including NASA to prepare for budget cuts of 5 to 10 percent. A test launch of an Ares I mockup last month cost $445 million, which led one lawmaker to question whether money would be better invested in helping commercial rocket companies. “We are spending more than any other country in the world but we are falling behind. What does that tell you?” asked U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-California. (11/20)
When Good Rockets Go Bad (Source: WIRED)
In the grand scheme of human space programs in Russia and the United States, catastrophic failures are relatively rare. But they are often quite spectacular and make a big impression on the public and on the funding for space exploration. The explosions in the videos we’ve assembled here were very costly, some in terms of life, some in terms of lost equipment and all in terms of progress of the space programs. Click here to view a collection of rocket failure videos. (11/20)
Rocket Barons Share Thoughts on Launch Industry (Source: SpaceFlightNow.com)
Managers of the top commercial launch providers, including Arianespace, ILS, and bankrupt Sea Launch, disagree on the outlook of the industry as satellite operators clamor for more participants in the launch market. Arianespace and ILS can now launch about 21 commercial communications satellites per year, based on combined average flight rates. Up to 28 payloads could be launched annually if both providers ramped up operations. Those numbers don't include the expected addition of the Soyuz rocket to Arianespace's fleet next year.
The Ariane 5 is launching two satellites at a time about seven times each year. The Proton launches on commercial missions six to eight times per year. The maximum flight rates for the vehicles are nine missions annually for Ariane and 10 commercial flights per year for Proton. Arianespace and ILS agree that two able providers could efficiently handle the demands of satellite operators worldwide. But officials with Sea Launch say there is room for a third major market participant.
The Sea Launch manifest has been emptied by payloads moving to Ariane 5 and Proton launchers. Most recently, the XM 5 radio broadcasting craft switched to the Proton rocket for a launch in late 2010, earlier than Sea Launch could conduct the mission. Sea Launch's backlog now consists of three firm launches, two unidenfitifed Eutelsat missions and the Intelsat 17 satellite. Four more options from Intelsat are also on the manifest. (11/20)
Other Players Vie for Launch Business (Source: SpaceFlightNow.com)
In addition to Arianespace, ILS and SeaLaunchc, United Launch Alliance (with Atlas-5 and Delta-4) and China (with the Long March) are vying for a slice of the commercial satellite launch market, as are SpaceX (with the Falcon-9), India's Antrix (with the PSLV and GSLV), and Japan (with the H-2). All of these companies are jockeying for position in a market that is projected to consist of 20 to 24 commercial satellites per year between 2009 and 2018, according to industry studies.
These numbers lead some to fear of more oversupply in the finicky launch market and question the value of new participants and even established companies like Sea Launch. The Federal Aviation Administration's Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee, or COMSTAC, released a report in May predicting an average of 20.8 commercial satellites and 15.7 commercial launches to geostationary transfer orbit in the next decade. Euroconsult, a Paris-based reserch firm specializing in satellites, published a similar forecast in June calling for a total of 235 commercial geostationary communications payloads between 2009 and 2018.
Leaders of the world's largest satellite operators have made repeated statements lambasting the state of the commercial rocket industry. Eutelsat and Intelsat have both kept contracts with Sea Launch and Land Launch, despite the company's financial trouble. Both companies say they would like to see more variety in the launch market. Sea Launch officials are thankful for the support and agree with the strategy. Now we don't see any operator complaining about launch prices anymore. What they're worried about is access to space," said Sea Launch's president. (11/20)
$350,000 Awarded in Glove Design Competition (Source: Florida Today)
The two competitors sat side by side, waiting like contestants at a high school science fair. But here, at the Astronaut Hall of Fame in Titusville Thursday evening, much more was at stake: $400,000 in total prize money for designing gloves that exceeded the requirements of a NASA astronaut glove. The professorial Peter Homer, 48, from Maine had tasted victory before, winner of a similar competition in 2007. His competition was Ted Southern, a 32-year-old New York City native who designs props and costumes for a living.
Experience won, and Homer took home a check of $250,000. Southern's glove met the standards too, and he was awarded $100,000. The rest of the $50,000 prize money was held back because the five judges did not see a novel and innovative approach in the TMG design of the gloves. TMG refers to Thermal Micrometeoroid Garment, a material that makes up the outer layer of an astronaut glove or a spacesuit. (11/20)
November 19 News Items
U.S. Losing its Lead in Space, Experts Warn Congress (Source: Star-Telegram)
America's once clear dominance in space is eroding as other nations, including China, Iran and North Korea, step up their activities, a panel of experts told the House subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics Thursday. Russia now leads the world in space launches. China recently became the third nation, after the United States and Russia, to send its own astronauts to space. "China is laying the groundwork for a long-term space program with or without us," said Scott Pace, director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University in Washington. "We should worry if we're not out there with them."
In a competition once limited to the U.S. and the Soviet Union, 60 nations now have their own space agencies, panelists said. Thirteen nations have active space programs, and eight are capable of launching their own satellites into orbit. In the last 10 years, the number of countries with communications satellites or GPS systems in orbit has increased from 27 to 37. "Countries as diverse as Algeria, Iran, Nigeria, Venezuela, South Africa and Turkey have now become part of the so-called space club." (11/19)
Costa Rican Company Creates Plasma Rocket to Pick Up Space Trash (Source: Global Post)
Franklin Chang Diaz has great aspirations for his rocket: a mail-carrier for outer space, a garbage truck for orbital debris and, the ultimate goal, a shuttle to Mars. The Costa Rica-born physicist speaks nonchalantly about the day humankind will have moved entirely to outer space, while our precious Earth becomes “a protected park.” Click here to view the article. (11/19)
Burn-Through Blamed in Long March Mishap (Source: Space News)
China’s Long March 3A series of rockets is expected to return to flight before the end of this year following the conclusion of a state-run board of inquiry into the Aug. 31 failure of the vehicle’s upper stage. The investigation into the underperformance of one of two upper-stage engines during the flight, which placed Indonesia’s Palapa-D satellite into a useless orbit, concluded that failure was caused by a burn-through of the engine’s gas generator.
The board of inquiry into the vehicle’s first failure in 13 years concluded that the most likely cause of the burn-through was foreign matter or humidity-caused icing in the engine’s liquid-hydrogen injectors. To prevent a recurrence of the problem, the liquid hydrogen gas-feed system on future rockets will be fitted with a filter to prevent the passage of ice or other foreign objects. In addition, the gas generator in the third-stage engine’s liquid hydrogen cavity in the future will be purged before launch to prevent ice buildup. (11/19)
ULA To Delay Layoffs To January (Source: Florida Today)
United Launch Alliance will delay and reduce layoffs planned for Friday until Jan. 7. The layoffs, expected to affect up to 70 workers, now will affect 20 to 30 ULA employees the Cape Canaveral Spaceport, according to a letter from ULA President and CEO Michael Gass. The layoff delay was enabled by a funding increase from the federal government "for Delta IV launch capability enhancement." The additional funds reportedly totaled $10 million. ULA has two launches remaining this year, and nine scheduled next year.
"This (layoff) delay will allow our Cape launch team to remain focused on mission success for both the upcoming commercial Atlas V Intelsat-14 (Nov. 23) and Air Force Delta IV WGS-3 (Dec. 2) missions," said the letter from Gass. "Our best offense in preventing future reductions is a total commitment to prefect product delivery and 100 percent mission success for our government and commercial customers." Some 720 ULA employees work at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Nine workers were laid off on Oct. 1. (11/19)
AIAA Plans Aerospace Sciences Event in Orlando on Jan. 4-7 (Source: AIAA)
The AIAA will hold the 48th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting (including the New Horizons Forum and Aerospace Exposition) at the Orlando World Center Marriott on Jan. 4-7. This is a major multidisciplinary event for aerospace scientists and engineers from around the world. It provides an forum for scientists and engineers from industry, government, and academia to share and disseminate scientific knowledge and research results with a view toward new technologies for aerospace systems. New additions to the event for 2010 include a Jan. 4 session entitled NASA Research: Then and Now. The early-bird registration deadline is Dec. 7. Click here for information and registration.
Editor's Note: Four faculty members from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University will serve on multiple panels during the event, and I'll be there in the audience. (11/19)
Analyst: Asia Threatens U.S. Military Dominance (Source: AIA)
A defense analyst at the Congressional Research Service says U.S. global military dominance is fading, threatening the "Pax Americana" that has ruled since the end of World War II. Stephen Daggett says the rise of Asian economies is shifting power to the east. "The days of the American Century were really in the last 50 years of the 20th century," Daggett said Wednesday before a meeting of the House Armed Services Committee. (11/19)
Hopes Dim for FAA Reauthorization Bill in 2009 (Source: AIA)
Despite pleas from the aviation industry -- and airports in particular -- the Senate appears unlikely to pass an FAA reauthorization bill by year's end. The Senate Finance Committee has yet to approve the measure, which would then require a debate by the full Senate followed by a conference to iron out differences with the House bill. The agency's current temporary authorization -- its seventh in two years -- is set to expire Dec. 31. (11/19)
Australian Space Science 'Making Gains' (Source: The Age)
A year after being advised to lift its game, Australia is making a leap forward in the field of space science, the federal government says. It has thrown $48.6 million at the problem, establishing a space science program and a space policy unit, and plans to set up a special space council bringing together top experts in the sector. The shift comes after a senate committee's report a year ago which found Australia was lagging well behind other countries in space science.
It said Australia was the only OECD country without a national spa ce agency and missing countless opportunities in a field driven by innovation and technology. Science Minister Kim Carr says a key change will come with the establishment of a Space Industry Innovation Council to oversee the improvement of the sector as a whole. (11/19)
Sri Lanka Signs Agreement to Set Up Space Agency (Source: Daily Mirror)
Sri Lanka has embarked on setting up a space agency yesterday with the signing of an agreement with the Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) that would pave the way for launching a local space agency which will lead the country to launch a geo satellite in three years. One of the major activities of the space agency is to launch a satellite. SLTRC Chief said there is a possibility of launching a satellite through a public partnership. “This may be a better option as the government may not have enough funds for it,” he said. (11/19)
Mexico Considering Space Agency to Develop Astronomy (Source: Xinhua)
Mexican President Felipe Calderon said on Wednesday that the nation is considering creating a space agency to boost the development of astronomy and space science. "Right now, the Congress is considering the creation of an aerospace agency, which already has a budget of 122 million pesos (9.38 million U.S. dollars) committed," Calderon said. The money is currently being spent on space-related projects via existing ministries and state-run bodies. In Latin America, Brazil and Costa Rica have well-known space programs. (11/19)
Editorial: Look Homeward, NASA (Source: Baltimore Sun)
The agency's Earth-science budget has been slashed at a time when it is most needed. Last month, 360 miles above the Earth, a little-noticed light went dark. It was the third and final laser on NASA's Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite (ICESat), developed and managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt. For the last 6 1/2 years, ICESat has been using precise laser measurements to determine how much the Greenland and Antarctica ice sheets are contributing to the rise of the global seas.
The situation with ICESat serves as a stark reminder that many of the remarkable capabilities that NASA has developed to help us understand our planet are living on borrowed time. NASA is best known for exotic projects that explore distant places, but many of NASA's greatest contributions to society have come from its Earth-observing satellites. I wish the loss of ICESat were just an aberration in an otherwise healthy global observing system, so we could continue to understand how and why our planet is changing. Unfortunately, this is only a hint of things to come. (11/19)
NASA Challenges Inventors to Improve Space Gloves (Source: Florida Today)
The gloves are off when it comes to the latest advancement in aerospace technology. NASA thinks a little competition and $400,000 in prize money might launch the latest in space hand wear during its Astronaut Glove Challenge at the Astronaut Hall of Fame.
The goal of the challenge is to find innovative ways to reduce hand fatigue and create a lighter, stronger glove with greater dexterity and flexibility. If gloves do not exceed current NASA baseline standards, there will be no winner in the competition. (11/19)
Editorial: The China Card (Source: Florida Today)
For more than a decade, the U.S. and China have been joined at the hip as major trading partners with the countries driving the global economy. But one aspect of Sino-American relations has never made sense even as ties between the nations have grown: The lack of an agreement to make China a partner with the U.S. in space exploration, even though 16 other spacefaring nations long ago joined NASA to fund, build and operate the International Space Station.
We have strongly advocated that Washington ink such a pact and one may finally be in the offing with the White House announcement Tuesday during President Obama’s trip to China that it’s opening preliminary talks with Beijing on the subject. The agreement would bring benefits to both countries, and American and Chinese officials should strive to turn the proposal into reality as soon as possible. (11/19)
European Mischief Makers? (Source: Hyperbola)
An article run by Space News and authored by two former senior European Space Agency launcher officials that attacks sub-orbital tourism and hopes for commercial orbital transport. It is clear that ESA's leadership does not share these views. The organization has a policy on space tourism. The two authors may actually feel so strongly about the subject matter that the word hoax is, for them, a polite reference to the new industry.
This blogger got to feel the strength of anti-space tourism sentiment in Europe at a recent conference, where a senior technical official at an ESA center called suborbital travel "trivial" and a French space agency representative, who was also on the panel, had some harsh words as well. It is hard for space industry veterans to accept the claims of New Space when they have been working, sometimes for decades, in an industry that has launched much into orbit and never brought the cost down.
The argument this blogger had put forward is that the frequency of suborbital trips generates the revenue and wider business confidence that leads to the markets investing. This in turn leads to a virtuous circle of suborbital improvement, leading to point to point services, with further improvement, and finally reaching an orbital capability that will in part be reusable. (11/19)
Embry-Riddle Flight Teams Dominate Regional Contests from Coast to Coast (Source: ERAU)
On Nov. 14, 2,200 miles apart in San Diego, Calif., and Jacksonville, Fla., the Golden Eagles and Eagles flight teams representing Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, dominated their respective regional competitions, winning in flight, ground, and overall team categories in regional Safety and Flight Evaluation Conference (SAFECON) competitions held by the National Intercollegiate Flying Association (NIFA). The Eagles are based at Embry-Riddle’s East Coast campus in Daytona Beach. The Golden Eagles hail from the West Coast campus in Prescott, Arizona. (11/19)
There’s Water on the Moon, But Who Owns It? (Source: Wall Street Journal)
Ownership of the moon? On the one hand, it sounds like something only a legal academic might think about. But that’s not so, says Timothy G. Nelson, an international arbitration lawyer. Nelson says aerospace companies are already thinking about ways to make space exploration profitable. While it’s still decades away, Nelson says the possibilities are becoming more concrete all the time, and that it’s not too soon to think about the law and the moon.
The question is governed by international law, and some of the principles are actually fairly well developed. At bottom, when one asks such a question, he’s really asking about the law concerning the extraction of resources in a place where there’s no sovereignty. Incidentally, the fact that there is no sovereignty is reflected in an international treaty in 1967 [often referred to as the Outer Space Treaty], which essentially said that no country shall make any sovereign claims to the moon.
Of course, getting resources from the moon will take an enormous capital investment, and the trick in setting up a treaty will be to make it feasible to get private capital involved. If you don’t do that; if it’s something that’s overly regulated by a centralized U.N. framework, it won’t work. You have to make it such that private investors could sensibly commit the funds to go ahead and do the exploitation. Click here to view the article. (11/19)
America's once clear dominance in space is eroding as other nations, including China, Iran and North Korea, step up their activities, a panel of experts told the House subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics Thursday. Russia now leads the world in space launches. China recently became the third nation, after the United States and Russia, to send its own astronauts to space. "China is laying the groundwork for a long-term space program with or without us," said Scott Pace, director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University in Washington. "We should worry if we're not out there with them."
In a competition once limited to the U.S. and the Soviet Union, 60 nations now have their own space agencies, panelists said. Thirteen nations have active space programs, and eight are capable of launching their own satellites into orbit. In the last 10 years, the number of countries with communications satellites or GPS systems in orbit has increased from 27 to 37. "Countries as diverse as Algeria, Iran, Nigeria, Venezuela, South Africa and Turkey have now become part of the so-called space club." (11/19)
Costa Rican Company Creates Plasma Rocket to Pick Up Space Trash (Source: Global Post)
Franklin Chang Diaz has great aspirations for his rocket: a mail-carrier for outer space, a garbage truck for orbital debris and, the ultimate goal, a shuttle to Mars. The Costa Rica-born physicist speaks nonchalantly about the day humankind will have moved entirely to outer space, while our precious Earth becomes “a protected park.” Click here to view the article. (11/19)
Burn-Through Blamed in Long March Mishap (Source: Space News)
China’s Long March 3A series of rockets is expected to return to flight before the end of this year following the conclusion of a state-run board of inquiry into the Aug. 31 failure of the vehicle’s upper stage. The investigation into the underperformance of one of two upper-stage engines during the flight, which placed Indonesia’s Palapa-D satellite into a useless orbit, concluded that failure was caused by a burn-through of the engine’s gas generator.
The board of inquiry into the vehicle’s first failure in 13 years concluded that the most likely cause of the burn-through was foreign matter or humidity-caused icing in the engine’s liquid-hydrogen injectors. To prevent a recurrence of the problem, the liquid hydrogen gas-feed system on future rockets will be fitted with a filter to prevent the passage of ice or other foreign objects. In addition, the gas generator in the third-stage engine’s liquid hydrogen cavity in the future will be purged before launch to prevent ice buildup. (11/19)
ULA To Delay Layoffs To January (Source: Florida Today)
United Launch Alliance will delay and reduce layoffs planned for Friday until Jan. 7. The layoffs, expected to affect up to 70 workers, now will affect 20 to 30 ULA employees the Cape Canaveral Spaceport, according to a letter from ULA President and CEO Michael Gass. The layoff delay was enabled by a funding increase from the federal government "for Delta IV launch capability enhancement." The additional funds reportedly totaled $10 million. ULA has two launches remaining this year, and nine scheduled next year.
"This (layoff) delay will allow our Cape launch team to remain focused on mission success for both the upcoming commercial Atlas V Intelsat-14 (Nov. 23) and Air Force Delta IV WGS-3 (Dec. 2) missions," said the letter from Gass. "Our best offense in preventing future reductions is a total commitment to prefect product delivery and 100 percent mission success for our government and commercial customers." Some 720 ULA employees work at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Nine workers were laid off on Oct. 1. (11/19)
AIAA Plans Aerospace Sciences Event in Orlando on Jan. 4-7 (Source: AIAA)
The AIAA will hold the 48th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting (including the New Horizons Forum and Aerospace Exposition) at the Orlando World Center Marriott on Jan. 4-7. This is a major multidisciplinary event for aerospace scientists and engineers from around the world. It provides an forum for scientists and engineers from industry, government, and academia to share and disseminate scientific knowledge and research results with a view toward new technologies for aerospace systems. New additions to the event for 2010 include a Jan. 4 session entitled NASA Research: Then and Now. The early-bird registration deadline is Dec. 7. Click here for information and registration.
Editor's Note: Four faculty members from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University will serve on multiple panels during the event, and I'll be there in the audience. (11/19)
Analyst: Asia Threatens U.S. Military Dominance (Source: AIA)
A defense analyst at the Congressional Research Service says U.S. global military dominance is fading, threatening the "Pax Americana" that has ruled since the end of World War II. Stephen Daggett says the rise of Asian economies is shifting power to the east. "The days of the American Century were really in the last 50 years of the 20th century," Daggett said Wednesday before a meeting of the House Armed Services Committee. (11/19)
Hopes Dim for FAA Reauthorization Bill in 2009 (Source: AIA)
Despite pleas from the aviation industry -- and airports in particular -- the Senate appears unlikely to pass an FAA reauthorization bill by year's end. The Senate Finance Committee has yet to approve the measure, which would then require a debate by the full Senate followed by a conference to iron out differences with the House bill. The agency's current temporary authorization -- its seventh in two years -- is set to expire Dec. 31. (11/19)
Australian Space Science 'Making Gains' (Source: The Age)
A year after being advised to lift its game, Australia is making a leap forward in the field of space science, the federal government says. It has thrown $48.6 million at the problem, establishing a space science program and a space policy unit, and plans to set up a special space council bringing together top experts in the sector. The shift comes after a senate committee's report a year ago which found Australia was lagging well behind other countries in space science.
It said Australia was the only OECD country without a national spa ce agency and missing countless opportunities in a field driven by innovation and technology. Science Minister Kim Carr says a key change will come with the establishment of a Space Industry Innovation Council to oversee the improvement of the sector as a whole. (11/19)
Sri Lanka Signs Agreement to Set Up Space Agency (Source: Daily Mirror)
Sri Lanka has embarked on setting up a space agency yesterday with the signing of an agreement with the Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) that would pave the way for launching a local space agency which will lead the country to launch a geo satellite in three years. One of the major activities of the space agency is to launch a satellite. SLTRC Chief said there is a possibility of launching a satellite through a public partnership. “This may be a better option as the government may not have enough funds for it,” he said. (11/19)
Mexico Considering Space Agency to Develop Astronomy (Source: Xinhua)
Mexican President Felipe Calderon said on Wednesday that the nation is considering creating a space agency to boost the development of astronomy and space science. "Right now, the Congress is considering the creation of an aerospace agency, which already has a budget of 122 million pesos (9.38 million U.S. dollars) committed," Calderon said. The money is currently being spent on space-related projects via existing ministries and state-run bodies. In Latin America, Brazil and Costa Rica have well-known space programs. (11/19)
Editorial: Look Homeward, NASA (Source: Baltimore Sun)
The agency's Earth-science budget has been slashed at a time when it is most needed. Last month, 360 miles above the Earth, a little-noticed light went dark. It was the third and final laser on NASA's Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite (ICESat), developed and managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt. For the last 6 1/2 years, ICESat has been using precise laser measurements to determine how much the Greenland and Antarctica ice sheets are contributing to the rise of the global seas.
The situation with ICESat serves as a stark reminder that many of the remarkable capabilities that NASA has developed to help us understand our planet are living on borrowed time. NASA is best known for exotic projects that explore distant places, but many of NASA's greatest contributions to society have come from its Earth-observing satellites. I wish the loss of ICESat were just an aberration in an otherwise healthy global observing system, so we could continue to understand how and why our planet is changing. Unfortunately, this is only a hint of things to come. (11/19)
NASA Challenges Inventors to Improve Space Gloves (Source: Florida Today)
The gloves are off when it comes to the latest advancement in aerospace technology. NASA thinks a little competition and $400,000 in prize money might launch the latest in space hand wear during its Astronaut Glove Challenge at the Astronaut Hall of Fame.
The goal of the challenge is to find innovative ways to reduce hand fatigue and create a lighter, stronger glove with greater dexterity and flexibility. If gloves do not exceed current NASA baseline standards, there will be no winner in the competition. (11/19)
Editorial: The China Card (Source: Florida Today)
For more than a decade, the U.S. and China have been joined at the hip as major trading partners with the countries driving the global economy. But one aspect of Sino-American relations has never made sense even as ties between the nations have grown: The lack of an agreement to make China a partner with the U.S. in space exploration, even though 16 other spacefaring nations long ago joined NASA to fund, build and operate the International Space Station.
We have strongly advocated that Washington ink such a pact and one may finally be in the offing with the White House announcement Tuesday during President Obama’s trip to China that it’s opening preliminary talks with Beijing on the subject. The agreement would bring benefits to both countries, and American and Chinese officials should strive to turn the proposal into reality as soon as possible. (11/19)
European Mischief Makers? (Source: Hyperbola)
An article run by Space News and authored by two former senior European Space Agency launcher officials that attacks sub-orbital tourism and hopes for commercial orbital transport. It is clear that ESA's leadership does not share these views. The organization has a policy on space tourism. The two authors may actually feel so strongly about the subject matter that the word hoax is, for them, a polite reference to the new industry.
This blogger got to feel the strength of anti-space tourism sentiment in Europe at a recent conference, where a senior technical official at an ESA center called suborbital travel "trivial" and a French space agency representative, who was also on the panel, had some harsh words as well. It is hard for space industry veterans to accept the claims of New Space when they have been working, sometimes for decades, in an industry that has launched much into orbit and never brought the cost down.
The argument this blogger had put forward is that the frequency of suborbital trips generates the revenue and wider business confidence that leads to the markets investing. This in turn leads to a virtuous circle of suborbital improvement, leading to point to point services, with further improvement, and finally reaching an orbital capability that will in part be reusable. (11/19)
Embry-Riddle Flight Teams Dominate Regional Contests from Coast to Coast (Source: ERAU)
On Nov. 14, 2,200 miles apart in San Diego, Calif., and Jacksonville, Fla., the Golden Eagles and Eagles flight teams representing Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, dominated their respective regional competitions, winning in flight, ground, and overall team categories in regional Safety and Flight Evaluation Conference (SAFECON) competitions held by the National Intercollegiate Flying Association (NIFA). The Eagles are based at Embry-Riddle’s East Coast campus in Daytona Beach. The Golden Eagles hail from the West Coast campus in Prescott, Arizona. (11/19)
There’s Water on the Moon, But Who Owns It? (Source: Wall Street Journal)
Ownership of the moon? On the one hand, it sounds like something only a legal academic might think about. But that’s not so, says Timothy G. Nelson, an international arbitration lawyer. Nelson says aerospace companies are already thinking about ways to make space exploration profitable. While it’s still decades away, Nelson says the possibilities are becoming more concrete all the time, and that it’s not too soon to think about the law and the moon.
The question is governed by international law, and some of the principles are actually fairly well developed. At bottom, when one asks such a question, he’s really asking about the law concerning the extraction of resources in a place where there’s no sovereignty. Incidentally, the fact that there is no sovereignty is reflected in an international treaty in 1967 [often referred to as the Outer Space Treaty], which essentially said that no country shall make any sovereign claims to the moon.
Of course, getting resources from the moon will take an enormous capital investment, and the trick in setting up a treaty will be to make it feasible to get private capital involved. If you don’t do that; if it’s something that’s overly regulated by a centralized U.N. framework, it won’t work. You have to make it such that private investors could sensibly commit the funds to go ahead and do the exploitation. Click here to view the article. (11/19)
November 18 News Items
What's the Environmental Impact of Going Into Space? (Source: Slate)
We hear so much about the environmental impacts of transportation. What about space travel? How do rockets affect the atmosphere? Each flight into space does have a small impact on the planet it leaves behind, but—-for the moment, at least—-these launchings are very rare. Only a couple of rockets blast off every week around the world. As a result, space travel doesn't register on most environmentalists' radars.
One issue that might deserve some attention has to do with the depletion of stratospheric ozone. Rocket engines emit reactive gases that cause ozone molecules to break apart. They also discharge microscopic particles of soot and aluminum oxide, which may increase the rate at which those gases wreak havoc. Each variety of rocket propellant delivers its own blend of ozone-depleting substances: Solid propellants, for example, are more damaging than liquid ones, though exactly how much is unclear. Engine design matters, too. To make matters worse, spacecraft dump some of these pollutants directly into the upper and middle stratosphere, where they can start causing damage immediately. (11/18)
Spy Agency Changes Spark Mistrust (Source: DOD Buzz)
Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair should sign by Dec. 1 a document laying out new responsibilities for the National Reconnaissance Office, builder and operator of America’s spy satellites. This will set in motion the first substantial changes to the NRO charter since 1965.
The new document reportedly lays out eight core ideas meant to guide the NRO and will become the foundation for a new NRO charter, which most intelligence community and Pentagon officials feel strongly must be updated. But the document’s main guiding principle has some observers worried that it will give the NRO too much power, particularly over some Air Force satellite systems.
The key here is just what will the NRO build and operate. One phrase in the statement of principles worries these observers: “overhead reconnaissance systems.” This, said our source, “could include Air Force systems,” and thus gives the spy agency powers it currently does not possess. That worries military space advocates. They worry that the NRO could take budgetary and programmatic control over some systems currently controlled by the services, especially the Air Force. (11/18)
U.S. and China Face Mounting Orbital Debris Hazards (Source: SpaceFlightNow.com)
Quick-thinking Chinese ground controllers were able to maneuver a high-value Chinese spacecraft out of the path of space debris marking the first such save by China, demonstrating the country's maturing space tracking and command and control systems.
In the U.S., major efforts are also underway to improve and exercise debris see-and-avoid measures. The U.S. military says it is now tracking 800 maneuverable satellites for possible collisions and expects to add 500 more non-maneuvering satellites by early 2010. (11/18)
Hatches Open and Shuttle and Space Station Crews Get to Work (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Hatches between space shuttle Atlantis and the International Space Station were opened and now there are 12 people aboard the orbiting outpost. The six shuttle astronauts floated into the station and exchanged hugs and handshakes with the six full-time station residents. The opening of the hatch also brings to an end Nicole Stott’s time as space station flight engineer. Stott will now officials be part of the Atlantis crew. If all goes according to plan and Atlantis lands in Florida on Nov. 27, Stott will have spent a total of 91 days in space. According to NASA, she will be the last station crew member to return to Earth on the space shuttle. From now on Russian Soyuz spacecraft will be used for future station crew launches and landings.
Editor's Note: Stott is an Embry-Riddle graduate who will also fly aboard the last Space Shuttle flight, currently planned for next year. Interestingly, Stott is married to Christopher Stott, a co-founder and board member of Excalibur Almaz and Odyssey Moon, based on the Isle of Man. (11/18)
India Reaches Out to Lonely Iran, May Offer Satellite Launch (Source: Indian Express)
New Delhi plans to woo Tehran with offers of greater intelligence sharing, revival of defense training and a possible launch of the latter’s satellite but will remain non-committal on the proposed Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline. One “big gesture” by India at the talks will be an offer to launch Iran’s commercial satellite through an ISRO vehicle for which the technical details — sent by the Iranians in July — have been sent to Indian Space Research Organization for “assessing the nature of the satellite”. The Mesbah, designed to travel in low earth orbit to assist in data communication over three years, was first timed for a launch by a Russian Cosmos-3 satellite-carrier but that did not happen. Last week, satellite maker Carlo Gavazzi Space Company of Italy refuted Iran’s claim that it would be launching the satellite after March 2011. (11/16)
SaveSpace Campaign Reaches Milestone With Letters to Obama (Sources: NASA Watch, SaveSpace)
In a video posted at SaveSpace.us, Space Florida President Frank DiBello claims that he visited the White House and they asked "what they could do with all the letters" that they received. DiBello says that they claimed to have received 500,000 letters and that "this has had a devastating impact in Washington that has been recognized". (11/18)
Star Goes Rogue in Untimely Collision (Source: Discovery)
It's a solid doomsday prediction that in about 5 billion years the dying sun will expand as a bloated red giant and engulf the Earth. But imagine if in just a few weeks the middle-aged sun suddenly ballooned out to the orbit of Saturn and immediately vaporized Earth and most of the other planets in the solar system! And, even before this happened, imagine that every morning you awoke the sun was ever more sweltering until it began evaporating the oceans, spontaneously starting forests ablaze, and melting asphalt!
This sounds like the stuff of a far-out science fiction movie. But astronomers think that they actually witnessed such an even in 2002. A sun-like star on the edge of our galaxy abruptly grew 600,000 times brighter in a few weeks and ballooned 1,000 times its diameter. Alien astronomers on neighboring galaxies would have dutifully noted it as it briefly becoming one of the brightest stars in our Milky Way galaxy. (11/18)
UCF Professor Helps Launch New Space-Travel Industry (Source: UCF)
More than 40 years after man first set foot on the moon, space travel remains for its many fans a lifelong dream that is rarely realized. Joshua E. Colwell, an associate professor of planetary science at the University of Central Florida, is about to help change that. In the past three months, Mr. Colwell and a few other university scientists have begun working with a group of small companies that are close to launching a new generation of privately built spacecraft that would let human passengers routinely travel beyond Earth’s atmosphere to the beginning of outer space. The companies bear such names as Space Adventures, SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, and Orbital Outfitters. They expect their flights, at about $200,000 a ticket, to cater mostly to wealthy tourists, at least at first. (11/18)
NASA Ames Supercomputer Ranks Among World's Fastest (Source: NASA)
After a recent upgrade, NASA’s premiere supercomputer located at Ames Research Center has garnered the sixth spot on the Top-500 list of the world's most powerful computers. The Pleiades supercomputer is an SGI® Altix® ICE system with 14,080 Intel® Xeon® quad-core processors (56,320 cores, 110 racks) running at 544 trillion floating point operations per second (teraflops) on the LINPACK benchmark, the industry standard for measuring a system’s floating point computing power. One of the most powerful general-purpose supercomputers ever built, Pleiades also features the world's largest InfiniBand® interconnect network. (11/18)
Is This the End for Human Space Flight? (Source: New Scientist)
So we won't be going to Mars, not in my lifetime anyway. And not back to the moon either, not for decades. Buzz Lightyear fantasies are dashed. Don't believe the spin - the dream is over. OK, the Augustine panel's review of NASA's human space-flight plans outlines several options. Mars may be out, but the moon is still in with a shout, and plans to go to the Lagrange points and even the asteroids are mooted. Technically, all this is probably doable. But it won't happen, and here's why. The problem is not money: the US can afford an extra $3 billion a year. It is psychological. NASA, the only game in town, has no idea what space is for, and no audacity.
There certainly was audacity in 1961, when JFK made his lunar pledge. The key line was not the crazy bit about landing a man on the moon, it was the hubristic promise to do so by 1970. If Wernher Von Braun had insisted the moon was unreachable before 1975, they probably would never have gone. Why? Because by 1975 Kennedy's presidency would be ancient history. Some other guy would get all the glory as Old Glory was hammered into the lunar regolith. Of course that happened anyway, but Kennedy's reasoning must have been that, even in 1969, he would be able to bask in the glory of a successful moon shot.
It may simply be that space exploration is incompatible with US democracy. A Mars shot would take four presidential terms at least. No president will ask taxpayers to fund something he won't be around to take credit for. Another big problem is the legacy of some terrible decisions that left NASA with the expensive, dangerous space shuttle and a white-elephant space station that manages the feat of making space seem as dull as cardboard. The whole thing is a mess. Click here to view the editorial. (11/18)
Atlas V & Delta IV Get New Launch Dates (Source: Florida Today)
The stalled launch of an Atlas V rocket is being rescheduled for early next Monday and a Delta IV rocket also has a new launch date: Dec. 2. The 19-story Atlas and its payload -- an Intelsat commercial communications satellite -- now is slated to blast off from Launch Complex 41 at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport at 12:50 a.m. Monday. The launch window will extend until 2:20 a.m.
The Delta IV rocket and its payload -- a military communications satellite -- now are scheduled to blast off from Launch Complex 37 at 7:21 p.m. Dec. 2. The launch window that day will extend until 8:41 p.m. The mission had been set for Nov. 19 but the satellite payload had to be returned to a processing facility in south Titusville so critical batteries could be recharged. (11/18)
Hopes Stirring at NASA for Ares Engineering Vindication (Source: Popular Mechanics)
When NASA released news of engineering troubles surrounding the under-construction Ares I rocket's propensity to shake violently, critics were quick to jeer. But now NASA engineers at Marshall Flight are cautiously optimistic that the fears have been overstated after reviewing early data from the Ares I-X's test flight. "The data is very preliminary but the trends are very good," says Pat Lampton, the chief engineer for the first stage. As the Obama administration mulls over the future of manned spaceflight, making any positive test data discoveries especially well-timed.
A NASA team in 2007, looking at ground test data and shuttle launches, determined that the vibrations caused by the first stage of the rocket could damage hardware and disorient, or even injure astronauts. The vibrations were assumed to be worse in a 5-segment booster than a 4-segment boosters used on the space shuttle. However, that amplification has not been recorded during the Ares I-X test flight. "We've looked and we can't find it," Lampton says. "The physics are real but the amplification problem may not be as bad as we feared." (11/18)
Satellite Firms Moving Ahead on Orbital Database (Source: Space News)
Three of the world’s largest commercial satellite operators have issued a request for proposals for a company to design and operate a database on satellite positions, planned maneuvers and signal transmissions with a view to reducing the chance of orbital collisions and frequency interference. The three companies — Intelsat, SES and Inmarsat — expect to select a contractor as early as December to create the Space Data Center, to be located at the newly established Space Data Association (SDA) in Britain’s Isle of Man.
If it is successful in persuading other satellite operators to overcome their natural hesitation in handing over sensitive corporate operating details, the SDA would become the satellite industry’s first global effort to address the related issues of space situational awareness and signal interference. (11/18)
Russia Could Delay Maiden Launch of Angara Rocket (Source: RIA Novosti)
The maiden launch of Russia's new Angara carrier rocket could be postponed for at least one year due to shortage of funds from the Defense Ministry, the top Russian space official said Wednesday. The Angara rocket, currently under development by the Khrunichev center, is designed to put heavy payloads into orbit. The launch facilities were expected to be finished by 2010, and the first launch had been originally scheduled for 2011.
"There is a serious delay in the construction of launch facilities [for Angara] due to the shortage of financing from the Defense Ministry. We are doing everything we can on our part," said Anatoly Perminov, the head of the Federal Space Agency Roscosmos. Perminov said that the ministry has not halted financing completely, but significantly reduced it, resulting in the delay to construction this year. Angara is a modular launch system, planned for a capability similar to the US EELV rockets. (11/18)
Pentagon Takes Aim at Growing Number of Contract Protests (Source: AIA)
Last year saw a record 611 challenges to defense contract awards, and the Pentagon is reviewing its contracting procedures in an effort to reverse the trend. According to the General Accounting Office, contract protests surged 24% in 2008, including high-profile efforts to build new aerial refueling tankers and search-and-rescue helicopters. A Pentagon official refused to speculate whether his department might ask Congress to rewrite the 25-year-old law that made such protests possible. (11/18)
Satmex Reports 7.3 Increase in 3Q Revenue (Source: Space News)
Struggling satellite fleet operator Satmex of Mexico reported increased revenue for the three months ending Sept. 30 and also added to its cash balance as it continued to look for a way to finance a new satellite without violating its debt covenants. Satmex, which like other satellite operators in North America is facing a decline in business from satellite broadband provider Hughes Network Systems, said backlog dropped by 7 percent, to $240.3 million as of Sept. 30, compared where it stood June 30. (11/18)
NASA, Microsoft Take Web Surfers to Mars (Source: AFP)
NASA and Microsoft launched an interactive website that allows Web surfers to become Mars explorers. The "Be a Martian" website invites members of the public to help scientists perform such research tasks as improving maps of the red planet. "We're at a point in history where everyone can be an explorer," Doug McCuistion, director of NASA's Mars Exploration Program, said in a statement. "People worldwide can expand the specialized efforts of a few hundred Mars mission team members and make authentic contributions of their own," he said. Users can, for example, count craters on Mars, a task NASA said had posed a challenge in the past because of the vast numbers involved. (11/18)
Little Progress in Freeing a Rover on Mars (Source: New York Times)
The NASA rover Spirit, stuck in sand on Mars, tried to move Tuesday for the first time since May. In less than a second, it stopped. Cautious mission managers had put tight constraints on the Spirit’s movement to ensure that it did not drive itself into a deeper predicament. Because the uncertainty in its tilt was more than one degree, the rover called it a day. Spirit awaits new instructions. The commands to the rover were for it to make two forward motions, rotating its wheels three revolutions each time. If the rover were on solid ground, that would have carried it about five yards. (11/18)
Editorial: Can We Boldly Go? (Source: Philadelphia Inquirer)
Maybe someone should stick a copy of The Right Stuff into the DVD player tomorrow night on President Obama's long flight back from his mission to Asia. That inspirational movie about America's first astronauts might help Obama make a decision about the future of manned space flight. A blue-ribbon panel has told him that the future will be bleak unless more money is spent.
In a recession, such an assessment would appear to be fatal. But some creative thinking might lead to a different conclusion. With his mind on his whirlwind trip to Tokyo, Singapore, Shanghai, Beijing, and Seoul, Obama probably hasn't had time to appreciate last week's news that the presence of water on the moon has been confirmed. The discovery ironically came only months after former astronauts in the old Apollo program, which first sent men to the moon 40 years ago, had urged Obama to give up on plans to go back there and instead concentrate on a manned mission to Mars. (11/18)
Kranz: NASA Needs a Tune-up (Source: Wichita Eagle)
It took America a decade to go to the moon the first time. "We could do it in much less than that, five to seven years — if we had the will," said Gene Kranz, a NASA pioneer who led the ground team that guided America's astronauts to the moon and back. "Will is the key. Without will, you're powerless." Kranz, who spoke to a crowd of about 1,200 on Tuesday at the Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce annual meeting and dinner, called the space program "the economic engine of our country." But, he said it's an engine in need of a tune-up.
The space program of the 1960s and 1970s "unleashed a generation of young Americans to step forward" and "take the hard route" of math, science and engineering. Today, Americans are "not as innovative as we used to be," Kranz said. One of his biggest concerns, he said, is that unemployment among technical and science professions is higher than the general unemployment rate of about 10 percent. (11/18)
Editorial: 2009 - A Space Travesty (Source: Daily Evergreen)
NASA is wasting time and money on moon exploration. Breaking news: NASA’s October attack on the moon has revealed the location of water beneath the lunar surface. I, however, am not excited. NASA plays a key role in improving human understanding of the universe, but continuing to focus attention on the moon harms the agency’s creditability. We are finished with the moon. We have gazed at it, walked on it, driven on it and now blown it up. It is time to look past the moon.
NASA’s official statement claims, “The discovery opens a new chapter in our understanding of the moon.” What the statement fails to answer is how this affects us. We already know the moon was once part of Earth, broken off most likely by a large meteor strike. We are well aware of how important the moon is to our ocean tides. We already knew that ice was on the moon, hinting that there could be water buried underneath. This is no great discovery. This is merely a confirmation of a theory that ultimately has no bearing on the human race.
This discovery sparked talk of “future lunar exploration,” which, in the minds of the average citizen, means astronauts walking on the moon again. Perhaps, it even means setting up a moon colony. We all need to stop believing science fiction. Unless NASA is hiding secret technology meant to allow us to easily live and breathe on the moon, there is [sic] not going to be any moon colonies anytime soon. If NASA is keeping this technology a secret, it must let us know. (11/18)
The Case for 'Telepresence' in Space (Source: EE Times)
Telepresence, a logical derivative of the telephone, is an emerging technology that can enable a human to perform physical work, or take action, at a remote location. Telepresence could be developed to enable a human on Earth to function in, and experience, a distant space environment such as Mars as effectively, for all practical purposes, as actually going there but without going there.
A telepresence mission for the human exploration and development of Mars would then be a valid, and much less expensive, substitute for a manned mission. The fundamental problem making manned missions prohibitively expensive is that the transportation, sustenance and safe return of living human bodies off of Earth is extremely difficult. Mars has therefore only been explored by what are presently called unmanned robotic missions -— an unfortunate terminology. It is unfortunate because the word "robot" is suggestive of an alien being such as R2D2 from Star Wars, while the term "unmanned" seems to imply the absence of a human. The false impression is that the exploration is not really human exploration. (11/18)
We hear so much about the environmental impacts of transportation. What about space travel? How do rockets affect the atmosphere? Each flight into space does have a small impact on the planet it leaves behind, but—-for the moment, at least—-these launchings are very rare. Only a couple of rockets blast off every week around the world. As a result, space travel doesn't register on most environmentalists' radars.
One issue that might deserve some attention has to do with the depletion of stratospheric ozone. Rocket engines emit reactive gases that cause ozone molecules to break apart. They also discharge microscopic particles of soot and aluminum oxide, which may increase the rate at which those gases wreak havoc. Each variety of rocket propellant delivers its own blend of ozone-depleting substances: Solid propellants, for example, are more damaging than liquid ones, though exactly how much is unclear. Engine design matters, too. To make matters worse, spacecraft dump some of these pollutants directly into the upper and middle stratosphere, where they can start causing damage immediately. (11/18)
Spy Agency Changes Spark Mistrust (Source: DOD Buzz)
Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair should sign by Dec. 1 a document laying out new responsibilities for the National Reconnaissance Office, builder and operator of America’s spy satellites. This will set in motion the first substantial changes to the NRO charter since 1965.
The new document reportedly lays out eight core ideas meant to guide the NRO and will become the foundation for a new NRO charter, which most intelligence community and Pentagon officials feel strongly must be updated. But the document’s main guiding principle has some observers worried that it will give the NRO too much power, particularly over some Air Force satellite systems.
The key here is just what will the NRO build and operate. One phrase in the statement of principles worries these observers: “overhead reconnaissance systems.” This, said our source, “could include Air Force systems,” and thus gives the spy agency powers it currently does not possess. That worries military space advocates. They worry that the NRO could take budgetary and programmatic control over some systems currently controlled by the services, especially the Air Force. (11/18)
U.S. and China Face Mounting Orbital Debris Hazards (Source: SpaceFlightNow.com)
Quick-thinking Chinese ground controllers were able to maneuver a high-value Chinese spacecraft out of the path of space debris marking the first such save by China, demonstrating the country's maturing space tracking and command and control systems.
In the U.S., major efforts are also underway to improve and exercise debris see-and-avoid measures. The U.S. military says it is now tracking 800 maneuverable satellites for possible collisions and expects to add 500 more non-maneuvering satellites by early 2010. (11/18)
Hatches Open and Shuttle and Space Station Crews Get to Work (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Hatches between space shuttle Atlantis and the International Space Station were opened and now there are 12 people aboard the orbiting outpost. The six shuttle astronauts floated into the station and exchanged hugs and handshakes with the six full-time station residents. The opening of the hatch also brings to an end Nicole Stott’s time as space station flight engineer. Stott will now officials be part of the Atlantis crew. If all goes according to plan and Atlantis lands in Florida on Nov. 27, Stott will have spent a total of 91 days in space. According to NASA, she will be the last station crew member to return to Earth on the space shuttle. From now on Russian Soyuz spacecraft will be used for future station crew launches and landings.
Editor's Note: Stott is an Embry-Riddle graduate who will also fly aboard the last Space Shuttle flight, currently planned for next year. Interestingly, Stott is married to Christopher Stott, a co-founder and board member of Excalibur Almaz and Odyssey Moon, based on the Isle of Man. (11/18)
India Reaches Out to Lonely Iran, May Offer Satellite Launch (Source: Indian Express)
New Delhi plans to woo Tehran with offers of greater intelligence sharing, revival of defense training and a possible launch of the latter’s satellite but will remain non-committal on the proposed Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline. One “big gesture” by India at the talks will be an offer to launch Iran’s commercial satellite through an ISRO vehicle for which the technical details — sent by the Iranians in July — have been sent to Indian Space Research Organization for “assessing the nature of the satellite”. The Mesbah, designed to travel in low earth orbit to assist in data communication over three years, was first timed for a launch by a Russian Cosmos-3 satellite-carrier but that did not happen. Last week, satellite maker Carlo Gavazzi Space Company of Italy refuted Iran’s claim that it would be launching the satellite after March 2011. (11/16)
SaveSpace Campaign Reaches Milestone With Letters to Obama (Sources: NASA Watch, SaveSpace)
In a video posted at SaveSpace.us, Space Florida President Frank DiBello claims that he visited the White House and they asked "what they could do with all the letters" that they received. DiBello says that they claimed to have received 500,000 letters and that "this has had a devastating impact in Washington that has been recognized". (11/18)
Star Goes Rogue in Untimely Collision (Source: Discovery)
It's a solid doomsday prediction that in about 5 billion years the dying sun will expand as a bloated red giant and engulf the Earth. But imagine if in just a few weeks the middle-aged sun suddenly ballooned out to the orbit of Saturn and immediately vaporized Earth and most of the other planets in the solar system! And, even before this happened, imagine that every morning you awoke the sun was ever more sweltering until it began evaporating the oceans, spontaneously starting forests ablaze, and melting asphalt!
This sounds like the stuff of a far-out science fiction movie. But astronomers think that they actually witnessed such an even in 2002. A sun-like star on the edge of our galaxy abruptly grew 600,000 times brighter in a few weeks and ballooned 1,000 times its diameter. Alien astronomers on neighboring galaxies would have dutifully noted it as it briefly becoming one of the brightest stars in our Milky Way galaxy. (11/18)
UCF Professor Helps Launch New Space-Travel Industry (Source: UCF)
More than 40 years after man first set foot on the moon, space travel remains for its many fans a lifelong dream that is rarely realized. Joshua E. Colwell, an associate professor of planetary science at the University of Central Florida, is about to help change that. In the past three months, Mr. Colwell and a few other university scientists have begun working with a group of small companies that are close to launching a new generation of privately built spacecraft that would let human passengers routinely travel beyond Earth’s atmosphere to the beginning of outer space. The companies bear such names as Space Adventures, SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, and Orbital Outfitters. They expect their flights, at about $200,000 a ticket, to cater mostly to wealthy tourists, at least at first. (11/18)
NASA Ames Supercomputer Ranks Among World's Fastest (Source: NASA)
After a recent upgrade, NASA’s premiere supercomputer located at Ames Research Center has garnered the sixth spot on the Top-500 list of the world's most powerful computers. The Pleiades supercomputer is an SGI® Altix® ICE system with 14,080 Intel® Xeon® quad-core processors (56,320 cores, 110 racks) running at 544 trillion floating point operations per second (teraflops) on the LINPACK benchmark, the industry standard for measuring a system’s floating point computing power. One of the most powerful general-purpose supercomputers ever built, Pleiades also features the world's largest InfiniBand® interconnect network. (11/18)
Is This the End for Human Space Flight? (Source: New Scientist)
So we won't be going to Mars, not in my lifetime anyway. And not back to the moon either, not for decades. Buzz Lightyear fantasies are dashed. Don't believe the spin - the dream is over. OK, the Augustine panel's review of NASA's human space-flight plans outlines several options. Mars may be out, but the moon is still in with a shout, and plans to go to the Lagrange points and even the asteroids are mooted. Technically, all this is probably doable. But it won't happen, and here's why. The problem is not money: the US can afford an extra $3 billion a year. It is psychological. NASA, the only game in town, has no idea what space is for, and no audacity.
There certainly was audacity in 1961, when JFK made his lunar pledge. The key line was not the crazy bit about landing a man on the moon, it was the hubristic promise to do so by 1970. If Wernher Von Braun had insisted the moon was unreachable before 1975, they probably would never have gone. Why? Because by 1975 Kennedy's presidency would be ancient history. Some other guy would get all the glory as Old Glory was hammered into the lunar regolith. Of course that happened anyway, but Kennedy's reasoning must have been that, even in 1969, he would be able to bask in the glory of a successful moon shot.
It may simply be that space exploration is incompatible with US democracy. A Mars shot would take four presidential terms at least. No president will ask taxpayers to fund something he won't be around to take credit for. Another big problem is the legacy of some terrible decisions that left NASA with the expensive, dangerous space shuttle and a white-elephant space station that manages the feat of making space seem as dull as cardboard. The whole thing is a mess. Click here to view the editorial. (11/18)
Atlas V & Delta IV Get New Launch Dates (Source: Florida Today)
The stalled launch of an Atlas V rocket is being rescheduled for early next Monday and a Delta IV rocket also has a new launch date: Dec. 2. The 19-story Atlas and its payload -- an Intelsat commercial communications satellite -- now is slated to blast off from Launch Complex 41 at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport at 12:50 a.m. Monday. The launch window will extend until 2:20 a.m.
The Delta IV rocket and its payload -- a military communications satellite -- now are scheduled to blast off from Launch Complex 37 at 7:21 p.m. Dec. 2. The launch window that day will extend until 8:41 p.m. The mission had been set for Nov. 19 but the satellite payload had to be returned to a processing facility in south Titusville so critical batteries could be recharged. (11/18)
Hopes Stirring at NASA for Ares Engineering Vindication (Source: Popular Mechanics)
When NASA released news of engineering troubles surrounding the under-construction Ares I rocket's propensity to shake violently, critics were quick to jeer. But now NASA engineers at Marshall Flight are cautiously optimistic that the fears have been overstated after reviewing early data from the Ares I-X's test flight. "The data is very preliminary but the trends are very good," says Pat Lampton, the chief engineer for the first stage. As the Obama administration mulls over the future of manned spaceflight, making any positive test data discoveries especially well-timed.
A NASA team in 2007, looking at ground test data and shuttle launches, determined that the vibrations caused by the first stage of the rocket could damage hardware and disorient, or even injure astronauts. The vibrations were assumed to be worse in a 5-segment booster than a 4-segment boosters used on the space shuttle. However, that amplification has not been recorded during the Ares I-X test flight. "We've looked and we can't find it," Lampton says. "The physics are real but the amplification problem may not be as bad as we feared." (11/18)
Satellite Firms Moving Ahead on Orbital Database (Source: Space News)
Three of the world’s largest commercial satellite operators have issued a request for proposals for a company to design and operate a database on satellite positions, planned maneuvers and signal transmissions with a view to reducing the chance of orbital collisions and frequency interference. The three companies — Intelsat, SES and Inmarsat — expect to select a contractor as early as December to create the Space Data Center, to be located at the newly established Space Data Association (SDA) in Britain’s Isle of Man.
If it is successful in persuading other satellite operators to overcome their natural hesitation in handing over sensitive corporate operating details, the SDA would become the satellite industry’s first global effort to address the related issues of space situational awareness and signal interference. (11/18)
Russia Could Delay Maiden Launch of Angara Rocket (Source: RIA Novosti)
The maiden launch of Russia's new Angara carrier rocket could be postponed for at least one year due to shortage of funds from the Defense Ministry, the top Russian space official said Wednesday. The Angara rocket, currently under development by the Khrunichev center, is designed to put heavy payloads into orbit. The launch facilities were expected to be finished by 2010, and the first launch had been originally scheduled for 2011.
"There is a serious delay in the construction of launch facilities [for Angara] due to the shortage of financing from the Defense Ministry. We are doing everything we can on our part," said Anatoly Perminov, the head of the Federal Space Agency Roscosmos. Perminov said that the ministry has not halted financing completely, but significantly reduced it, resulting in the delay to construction this year. Angara is a modular launch system, planned for a capability similar to the US EELV rockets. (11/18)
Pentagon Takes Aim at Growing Number of Contract Protests (Source: AIA)
Last year saw a record 611 challenges to defense contract awards, and the Pentagon is reviewing its contracting procedures in an effort to reverse the trend. According to the General Accounting Office, contract protests surged 24% in 2008, including high-profile efforts to build new aerial refueling tankers and search-and-rescue helicopters. A Pentagon official refused to speculate whether his department might ask Congress to rewrite the 25-year-old law that made such protests possible. (11/18)
Satmex Reports 7.3 Increase in 3Q Revenue (Source: Space News)
Struggling satellite fleet operator Satmex of Mexico reported increased revenue for the three months ending Sept. 30 and also added to its cash balance as it continued to look for a way to finance a new satellite without violating its debt covenants. Satmex, which like other satellite operators in North America is facing a decline in business from satellite broadband provider Hughes Network Systems, said backlog dropped by 7 percent, to $240.3 million as of Sept. 30, compared where it stood June 30. (11/18)
NASA, Microsoft Take Web Surfers to Mars (Source: AFP)
NASA and Microsoft launched an interactive website that allows Web surfers to become Mars explorers. The "Be a Martian" website invites members of the public to help scientists perform such research tasks as improving maps of the red planet. "We're at a point in history where everyone can be an explorer," Doug McCuistion, director of NASA's Mars Exploration Program, said in a statement. "People worldwide can expand the specialized efforts of a few hundred Mars mission team members and make authentic contributions of their own," he said. Users can, for example, count craters on Mars, a task NASA said had posed a challenge in the past because of the vast numbers involved. (11/18)
Little Progress in Freeing a Rover on Mars (Source: New York Times)
The NASA rover Spirit, stuck in sand on Mars, tried to move Tuesday for the first time since May. In less than a second, it stopped. Cautious mission managers had put tight constraints on the Spirit’s movement to ensure that it did not drive itself into a deeper predicament. Because the uncertainty in its tilt was more than one degree, the rover called it a day. Spirit awaits new instructions. The commands to the rover were for it to make two forward motions, rotating its wheels three revolutions each time. If the rover were on solid ground, that would have carried it about five yards. (11/18)
Editorial: Can We Boldly Go? (Source: Philadelphia Inquirer)
Maybe someone should stick a copy of The Right Stuff into the DVD player tomorrow night on President Obama's long flight back from his mission to Asia. That inspirational movie about America's first astronauts might help Obama make a decision about the future of manned space flight. A blue-ribbon panel has told him that the future will be bleak unless more money is spent.
In a recession, such an assessment would appear to be fatal. But some creative thinking might lead to a different conclusion. With his mind on his whirlwind trip to Tokyo, Singapore, Shanghai, Beijing, and Seoul, Obama probably hasn't had time to appreciate last week's news that the presence of water on the moon has been confirmed. The discovery ironically came only months after former astronauts in the old Apollo program, which first sent men to the moon 40 years ago, had urged Obama to give up on plans to go back there and instead concentrate on a manned mission to Mars. (11/18)
Kranz: NASA Needs a Tune-up (Source: Wichita Eagle)
It took America a decade to go to the moon the first time. "We could do it in much less than that, five to seven years — if we had the will," said Gene Kranz, a NASA pioneer who led the ground team that guided America's astronauts to the moon and back. "Will is the key. Without will, you're powerless." Kranz, who spoke to a crowd of about 1,200 on Tuesday at the Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce annual meeting and dinner, called the space program "the economic engine of our country." But, he said it's an engine in need of a tune-up.
The space program of the 1960s and 1970s "unleashed a generation of young Americans to step forward" and "take the hard route" of math, science and engineering. Today, Americans are "not as innovative as we used to be," Kranz said. One of his biggest concerns, he said, is that unemployment among technical and science professions is higher than the general unemployment rate of about 10 percent. (11/18)
Editorial: 2009 - A Space Travesty (Source: Daily Evergreen)
NASA is wasting time and money on moon exploration. Breaking news: NASA’s October attack on the moon has revealed the location of water beneath the lunar surface. I, however, am not excited. NASA plays a key role in improving human understanding of the universe, but continuing to focus attention on the moon harms the agency’s creditability. We are finished with the moon. We have gazed at it, walked on it, driven on it and now blown it up. It is time to look past the moon.
NASA’s official statement claims, “The discovery opens a new chapter in our understanding of the moon.” What the statement fails to answer is how this affects us. We already know the moon was once part of Earth, broken off most likely by a large meteor strike. We are well aware of how important the moon is to our ocean tides. We already knew that ice was on the moon, hinting that there could be water buried underneath. This is no great discovery. This is merely a confirmation of a theory that ultimately has no bearing on the human race.
This discovery sparked talk of “future lunar exploration,” which, in the minds of the average citizen, means astronauts walking on the moon again. Perhaps, it even means setting up a moon colony. We all need to stop believing science fiction. Unless NASA is hiding secret technology meant to allow us to easily live and breathe on the moon, there is [sic] not going to be any moon colonies anytime soon. If NASA is keeping this technology a secret, it must let us know. (11/18)
The Case for 'Telepresence' in Space (Source: EE Times)
Telepresence, a logical derivative of the telephone, is an emerging technology that can enable a human to perform physical work, or take action, at a remote location. Telepresence could be developed to enable a human on Earth to function in, and experience, a distant space environment such as Mars as effectively, for all practical purposes, as actually going there but without going there.
A telepresence mission for the human exploration and development of Mars would then be a valid, and much less expensive, substitute for a manned mission. The fundamental problem making manned missions prohibitively expensive is that the transportation, sustenance and safe return of living human bodies off of Earth is extremely difficult. Mars has therefore only been explored by what are presently called unmanned robotic missions -— an unfortunate terminology. It is unfortunate because the word "robot" is suggestive of an alien being such as R2D2 from Star Wars, while the term "unmanned" seems to imply the absence of a human. The false impression is that the exploration is not really human exploration. (11/18)
November 17 News Items
Japan Aerospace Budget to be Cut, Research Canceled in National Fiscal Reductions (Source: Examiner)
A Japanese governmental advisory committee looking to cut billions of dollars worth of wasteful spending from the country’s 2010 budget has recommended that specific funds to Japan’s aerospace program (JAXA) be reduced, including a call to end research related to the development of a new rocket engine.
As part of a first round of recommendations for cuts and reductions that have amounted to 278.7 billion yen (approximately $3.1 billion USD), the committee on called for an end to research on the over-budget GX rocket engine, the Yomiuri reported. Requested funds for the 2010 fiscal year amounted to 5.8 billion yen (~$65 million USD). (11/17)
Florida Gets $98.7 Million Thus Far for Stimulus Research Projects (Source: WIRED)
More than $20 billion in economic stimulus money has poured into the nation’s universities, according to a new collection of data gathered by a trio of research consortia. “This is the largest investment in science and research probably since Sputnik,” said Bill Andresen, a vice president at the University of Pennsylvania in charge of Federal affairs and president of The Science Coalition.
California’s institutions were the big winners, snagging 1,602 grants worth almost $1.2 billion, but the money was spread across the country. Florida is ranked 21st, with 310 grants worth over $98.7 billion, or $5.39 per capita. Click here to view a table showing data on all 50 states. (11/17)
Could Jupiter Moon Harbor Fish-Size Life? (Source: National Geographic)
In the oceans of a moon hundreds of millions of miles from the sun, something fishy may be alive—right now. Below its icy crust Jupiter's moon Europa is believed to host a global ocean up to a hundred miles (160 kilometers) deep, with no land to speak of at the surface. And the extraterrestrial ocean is currently being fed more than a hundred times more oxygen than previous models had suggested, according to provocative new research.
That amount of oxygen would be enough to support more than just microscopic life-forms: At least three million tons of fishlike creatures could theoretically live and breathe on Europa, said study author Richard Greenberg of the University of Arizona in Tucson. Based on what we know about the Jovian moon, parts of Europa's seafloor should greatly resemble the environments around Earth's deep-ocean hydrothermal vents, said deep-sea molecular ecologist Timothy Shank. (11/17)
“Butterflies in Space” Education Project Launches to Space Station (Source: NASA)
Students of all ages can follow the “butterflynauts” aboard the International Space Station as they develop from larvae into Painted Lady butterflies. The educational experiment launched Nov. 16 on space shuttle Atlantis, and the butterfly habitat will be transferred to the Space Station within the first 2-3 days of the mission.
“About 100 elementary and middle school classrooms across the U.S. are participating in a pilot study by setting up ground-based habitats. Students will replicate the space experiment and compare the growth and behavior of their butterfly larvae with those living in the microgravity environment of space,” said Dr. Greg Vogt. Editor's Note: Under an arrangement with Space Florida, several Florida K-12 classrooms are participating. (11/17)
Sri Lanka Signs Agreement with SSTL for Space Capability (Source: SSTL)
Officials from Sri Lanka and Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) signed an agreement that starts a Sri Lankan national space capability by providing an SSTL Earth Observation satellite and commencing the definition and design of Sri Lanka’s first communications satellite. (11/17)
First New Zealand Space Rocket Ready for Blast Off (Source: NBR)
In the week beginning November 30 (subject to weather), Rocket Lab’s Atea-1 rocket is due to blast off, carrying a payload 120km into the heavens. Atea-1 will become the first privately-funded rocket to launch from the Southern Hemisphere. Rocket Lab is offering its rocket for suborbital missions.
Compared to past and present US and Russian behemoths, Atea-1 is a tiddler - just 150mm wide and 6m tall. And its payload is restricted to a modest 2kg (compared to the Space Shuttle's 22,700kg). But Rocket Lab's chief executive Peter Beck told NBR that’s all the capacity his company needs for commercially successful launches (although larger rockets are planned). The launch will take place on Great Mercury Island, east of the Coromandel. (11/16)
Developer Selected for NASA Research Park at Ames (Source: Mountain View Voice)
TMG Partners and "The Related Companies" have been selected to be master developers of a unique $1 billion research park at Moffett Field in a partnership with NASA Ames and local universities. The 3-million-square-foot project includes nearly 2,000 homes, a million square feet of commercial space and 600,000 square feet of academic space, according to conceptual plans. The developers say that working with universities and NASA Ames attracted them to project, which could be seen as risky in the current market.
The developers are betting that the economy will rebound in three to five years, said William Berry, president of University Associates-Silicon Valley. "A new community integrating the commercial, science and residential components with technology companies of Silicon Valley can be found nowhere else," said Michael Covarrubias, chairman and CEO of TMG, in a press release. (11/16)
China, U.S. to Cooperate in Space Exploration (Source: People's Daily)
Chinese President Hu Jintao met in Beijing with visiting U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday. Both leaders agreed to start cooperation in new fields of space exploration and high-speed railway construction. (11/17)
Atlantis Blasts Off in Flawless Launch (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Space shuttle Atlantis roared into orbit at 2:28 pm on Monday, arching through light clouds to begin an 11-day mission to the International Space Station and bringing the 28-year-old shuttle program one step closer to retirement. The successful liftoff -- one of the most trouble-free in the history of the program -- reduces the number of remaining launches to five and marks the first NASA mission completely devoted to stocking the station with spare parts -- such as pumps and gyroscopes -- so that the floating observatory can continue long past the orbiter's 2010 retirement. (11/16)
NASA Wants to Retool Shuttle Logistics Depot (Source: Florida Today)
Until NASA's next spacecraft begins flying, the agency hopes to keep the doors open at the workshop that repairs and refurbishes the orbiter's mechanical and electronic equipment. Repairing military equipment returning from the Middle East could provide temporary work for up to 300 engineers and technicians at the NASA Shuttle Logistics Depot, operated by United Space Alliance.
"We have a skilled set of engineers, technicians and support staff that we need to keep here," USA deputy associate program manager Jim Kell told a gathering of nearly 50 elected officials and government representatives.
"There is no commitment on the (Defense Department's) part to put additional work here," said Frank DiBello, president of Space Florida, a state agency that supports the space industry. "We have to compete for it." U.S. Reps. Suzanne Kosmas and Bill Posey attended Monday's meeting. Both said they would work to secure money for the Defense Department to fund the program at the NSLD. (11/17)
EADS Reports Loss for Third Quarter (Source: AIA)
A stronger euro helped drag EADS to a third-quarter loss, the company said Monday, while big new military and commercial aircraft continued to weigh on the company's future. CFO Hans Peter Ring told analysts Airbus may have to take a new charge on the A380 super jumbo, and renegotiated contracts for the A400M could produce "substantial negative income statement impacts ... in future quarters." (11/16)
Things are Rough All Over... (Source: Space Review)
NASA is routinely criticized for failing to bring in projects on time and schedule. Dwayne Day notes that for all of NASA's problems, the Defense Department's project management woes are far more serious, with potentially bigger implications. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1511/1 to view the article. (11/16)
Solar Sailing Gets its Second Wind (Source: Space Review)
The concept of solar sailing is particularly attractive for some missions, but to date no one has been able to successfully launch one. Jeff Foust reports on a new bid by The Planetary Society to do that, and by doing so build upon the legacy of one of its co-founders. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1510/1 to view the article. (11/16)
All These Worlds Are Yours, Except the Moon and Mars (Attempt No Landing There) (Source: Space Review)
Much of the attention about the Augustine Committee report was with one of its options, called the Flexible Path. Michael Huang argues that while the committee might appear to prefer it, there are a number of problems with that architecture. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1509/1 to view the article. (11/16)
Editorial: The Human Moon (Source: New York Times)
Over the past four months, NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft, which is in a low polar orbit over the Moon, has returned a series of images of Apollo landing sites showing the vessels themselves at rest on the Moon’s surface. The mission of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which is loaded with instruments, is to produce a new and vastly sharper glimpse of the Moon from an orbit about 30 miles above the surface — all with an eye toward a possible manned return.
Yet there’s something terribly wistful about the probe's photographs of the Apollo landing sites. The detail is such that if Neil Armstrong were walking there now, we could make him out, make out his footsteps even, like the astronaut footpath clearly visible in the photos of the Apollo 14 site.
Perhaps the wistfulness is caused by the sense of simple grandeur in those Apollo missions. Perhaps, too, it’s a reminder of the risk we all felt after the Eagle had landed — the possibility that it might be unable to lift off again and the astronauts would be stranded on the Moon. But it may also be that a photograph like this one is as close as we’re able to come to looking directly back into the human past. (11/17)
Russian Engines Power American Spacecraft (Source: Russia Today)
From Russia across the Atlantic – and ultimately toward space: the rocket engines used for historic missions like the first spacecraft visit to Pluto are known as RD-180s. They are used to power America’s Atlas boosters, which send satellites into orbit. (11/17)
A Japanese governmental advisory committee looking to cut billions of dollars worth of wasteful spending from the country’s 2010 budget has recommended that specific funds to Japan’s aerospace program (JAXA) be reduced, including a call to end research related to the development of a new rocket engine.
As part of a first round of recommendations for cuts and reductions that have amounted to 278.7 billion yen (approximately $3.1 billion USD), the committee on called for an end to research on the over-budget GX rocket engine, the Yomiuri reported. Requested funds for the 2010 fiscal year amounted to 5.8 billion yen (~$65 million USD). (11/17)
Florida Gets $98.7 Million Thus Far for Stimulus Research Projects (Source: WIRED)
More than $20 billion in economic stimulus money has poured into the nation’s universities, according to a new collection of data gathered by a trio of research consortia. “This is the largest investment in science and research probably since Sputnik,” said Bill Andresen, a vice president at the University of Pennsylvania in charge of Federal affairs and president of The Science Coalition.
California’s institutions were the big winners, snagging 1,602 grants worth almost $1.2 billion, but the money was spread across the country. Florida is ranked 21st, with 310 grants worth over $98.7 billion, or $5.39 per capita. Click here to view a table showing data on all 50 states. (11/17)
Could Jupiter Moon Harbor Fish-Size Life? (Source: National Geographic)
In the oceans of a moon hundreds of millions of miles from the sun, something fishy may be alive—right now. Below its icy crust Jupiter's moon Europa is believed to host a global ocean up to a hundred miles (160 kilometers) deep, with no land to speak of at the surface. And the extraterrestrial ocean is currently being fed more than a hundred times more oxygen than previous models had suggested, according to provocative new research.
That amount of oxygen would be enough to support more than just microscopic life-forms: At least three million tons of fishlike creatures could theoretically live and breathe on Europa, said study author Richard Greenberg of the University of Arizona in Tucson. Based on what we know about the Jovian moon, parts of Europa's seafloor should greatly resemble the environments around Earth's deep-ocean hydrothermal vents, said deep-sea molecular ecologist Timothy Shank. (11/17)
“Butterflies in Space” Education Project Launches to Space Station (Source: NASA)
Students of all ages can follow the “butterflynauts” aboard the International Space Station as they develop from larvae into Painted Lady butterflies. The educational experiment launched Nov. 16 on space shuttle Atlantis, and the butterfly habitat will be transferred to the Space Station within the first 2-3 days of the mission.
“About 100 elementary and middle school classrooms across the U.S. are participating in a pilot study by setting up ground-based habitats. Students will replicate the space experiment and compare the growth and behavior of their butterfly larvae with those living in the microgravity environment of space,” said Dr. Greg Vogt. Editor's Note: Under an arrangement with Space Florida, several Florida K-12 classrooms are participating. (11/17)
Sri Lanka Signs Agreement with SSTL for Space Capability (Source: SSTL)
Officials from Sri Lanka and Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) signed an agreement that starts a Sri Lankan national space capability by providing an SSTL Earth Observation satellite and commencing the definition and design of Sri Lanka’s first communications satellite. (11/17)
First New Zealand Space Rocket Ready for Blast Off (Source: NBR)
In the week beginning November 30 (subject to weather), Rocket Lab’s Atea-1 rocket is due to blast off, carrying a payload 120km into the heavens. Atea-1 will become the first privately-funded rocket to launch from the Southern Hemisphere. Rocket Lab is offering its rocket for suborbital missions.
Compared to past and present US and Russian behemoths, Atea-1 is a tiddler - just 150mm wide and 6m tall. And its payload is restricted to a modest 2kg (compared to the Space Shuttle's 22,700kg). But Rocket Lab's chief executive Peter Beck told NBR that’s all the capacity his company needs for commercially successful launches (although larger rockets are planned). The launch will take place on Great Mercury Island, east of the Coromandel. (11/16)
Developer Selected for NASA Research Park at Ames (Source: Mountain View Voice)
TMG Partners and "The Related Companies" have been selected to be master developers of a unique $1 billion research park at Moffett Field in a partnership with NASA Ames and local universities. The 3-million-square-foot project includes nearly 2,000 homes, a million square feet of commercial space and 600,000 square feet of academic space, according to conceptual plans. The developers say that working with universities and NASA Ames attracted them to project, which could be seen as risky in the current market.
The developers are betting that the economy will rebound in three to five years, said William Berry, president of University Associates-Silicon Valley. "A new community integrating the commercial, science and residential components with technology companies of Silicon Valley can be found nowhere else," said Michael Covarrubias, chairman and CEO of TMG, in a press release. (11/16)
China, U.S. to Cooperate in Space Exploration (Source: People's Daily)
Chinese President Hu Jintao met in Beijing with visiting U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday. Both leaders agreed to start cooperation in new fields of space exploration and high-speed railway construction. (11/17)
Atlantis Blasts Off in Flawless Launch (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Space shuttle Atlantis roared into orbit at 2:28 pm on Monday, arching through light clouds to begin an 11-day mission to the International Space Station and bringing the 28-year-old shuttle program one step closer to retirement. The successful liftoff -- one of the most trouble-free in the history of the program -- reduces the number of remaining launches to five and marks the first NASA mission completely devoted to stocking the station with spare parts -- such as pumps and gyroscopes -- so that the floating observatory can continue long past the orbiter's 2010 retirement. (11/16)
NASA Wants to Retool Shuttle Logistics Depot (Source: Florida Today)
Until NASA's next spacecraft begins flying, the agency hopes to keep the doors open at the workshop that repairs and refurbishes the orbiter's mechanical and electronic equipment. Repairing military equipment returning from the Middle East could provide temporary work for up to 300 engineers and technicians at the NASA Shuttle Logistics Depot, operated by United Space Alliance.
"We have a skilled set of engineers, technicians and support staff that we need to keep here," USA deputy associate program manager Jim Kell told a gathering of nearly 50 elected officials and government representatives.
"There is no commitment on the (Defense Department's) part to put additional work here," said Frank DiBello, president of Space Florida, a state agency that supports the space industry. "We have to compete for it." U.S. Reps. Suzanne Kosmas and Bill Posey attended Monday's meeting. Both said they would work to secure money for the Defense Department to fund the program at the NSLD. (11/17)
EADS Reports Loss for Third Quarter (Source: AIA)
A stronger euro helped drag EADS to a third-quarter loss, the company said Monday, while big new military and commercial aircraft continued to weigh on the company's future. CFO Hans Peter Ring told analysts Airbus may have to take a new charge on the A380 super jumbo, and renegotiated contracts for the A400M could produce "substantial negative income statement impacts ... in future quarters." (11/16)
Things are Rough All Over... (Source: Space Review)
NASA is routinely criticized for failing to bring in projects on time and schedule. Dwayne Day notes that for all of NASA's problems, the Defense Department's project management woes are far more serious, with potentially bigger implications. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1511/1 to view the article. (11/16)
Solar Sailing Gets its Second Wind (Source: Space Review)
The concept of solar sailing is particularly attractive for some missions, but to date no one has been able to successfully launch one. Jeff Foust reports on a new bid by The Planetary Society to do that, and by doing so build upon the legacy of one of its co-founders. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1510/1 to view the article. (11/16)
All These Worlds Are Yours, Except the Moon and Mars (Attempt No Landing There) (Source: Space Review)
Much of the attention about the Augustine Committee report was with one of its options, called the Flexible Path. Michael Huang argues that while the committee might appear to prefer it, there are a number of problems with that architecture. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1509/1 to view the article. (11/16)
Editorial: The Human Moon (Source: New York Times)
Over the past four months, NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft, which is in a low polar orbit over the Moon, has returned a series of images of Apollo landing sites showing the vessels themselves at rest on the Moon’s surface. The mission of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which is loaded with instruments, is to produce a new and vastly sharper glimpse of the Moon from an orbit about 30 miles above the surface — all with an eye toward a possible manned return.
Yet there’s something terribly wistful about the probe's photographs of the Apollo landing sites. The detail is such that if Neil Armstrong were walking there now, we could make him out, make out his footsteps even, like the astronaut footpath clearly visible in the photos of the Apollo 14 site.
Perhaps the wistfulness is caused by the sense of simple grandeur in those Apollo missions. Perhaps, too, it’s a reminder of the risk we all felt after the Eagle had landed — the possibility that it might be unable to lift off again and the astronauts would be stranded on the Moon. But it may also be that a photograph like this one is as close as we’re able to come to looking directly back into the human past. (11/17)
Russian Engines Power American Spacecraft (Source: Russia Today)
From Russia across the Atlantic – and ultimately toward space: the rocket engines used for historic missions like the first spacecraft visit to Pluto are known as RD-180s. They are used to power America’s Atlas boosters, which send satellites into orbit. (11/17)
November 15 News Items
President Must Decide Whether Human Space Exploration is Worth the Expense (Source: San Diego Union Tribune)
We explore space because of precious intangibles. At its best, NASA exemplifies the best of America; our optimism, our curiosity, our ingenuity, our courage. It communicates values to the American public and to the world at large. It leads young people to the study of science and engineering. We explore space because human space flight connects with the global public, and NASA’s leadership in space promotes American leadership in the world.
The International Space Station has proved that many nations can learn how to work together toward a distant and difficult goal...Human society is ready to begin exploring the solar system for real. Should we start now or later? Is landing on the Moon the first thing we should do? Haven’t we already been there, done that? Should we settle on the Moon because of its own value, or as a steppingstone to Mars? If we are really setting the stage for humanity’s expansion beyond the Earth, don’t we also need to go elsewhere in the coming century? How about surveying asteroids for their useful minerals, and getting to know them better, in case one should threaten to hit Earth? Can’t we visit the moons of Mars more easily than landing on Mars?
We have to put things in perspective. Deep space exploration cannot overshadow the preservation of the planet most important to us: Earth. Leadership in using Earth-observing satellites to diagnose climate change will be as or more important than human space flight in fostering a fundamental belief among nations in America’s benevolent purpose. Each president since Eisenhower has had to decide for his time and place how space fits into the nation’s priorities. The decisions President Obama will make are especially momentous. NASA has not been at such a critical turning point since the end of the Apollo program. (11/15)
Twitter Fans Flock to Space Shuttle Launch (Source: Space.com)
NASA is about to open space shuttle launches to a whole new audience. About 100 lucky followers of NASA's Twitter feed are descending on the agency's Cape Canaveral, Fla., spaceport to get a front row seat to the planned Monday launch of space shuttle Atlantis. The gathering is the first time NASA has held an event for Twitterers to view a shuttle liftoff in person. NASA gave tickets to the two-day event to the first 100 "Space Tweeps" to register. "I'm certain it will be one of those 'top moments' of my life," said Adam Fast of Lawrence, Kan. Fast, a pilot, said he thinks it's important to educate the public more about NASA's activities and how they could impact everyday lives. (11/15)
Shuttle Workers Fear Job Outlook (Source: Florida Today)
Half of NASA's shuttle workers are worried about their future after next year's fleet retirement. Sixty percent are dissatisfied with information they are receiving about the shutdown and NASA's future. Three of four might leave for the right opportunity. But only 5 percent are actively seeking new jobs. In fact, 80 percent are likely to stay through the six remaining missions. And most supervisors believe they'll have the right people with the right skills to finish the program safely. The findings -- outlined in NASA employee surveys -- illuminate a major safety issue.
Losing critically skilled workers is a top risk for the $3 billion-a-year shuttle program, ranking right up there with potential rocket booster or engine failures. An exodus would raise the chances of catastrophe as NASA aims to complete the International Space Station. "I can't think of anything more important," said retired Navy Vice Adm. Joseph Dyer, chairman of the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, which was created by Congress after the 1967 Apollo 1 launch pad fire. (11/15)
India: Mars Exploration by 2030 (Source: The Hindu)
Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) Chairman K. Radhakrishnan has said exploration of Mars will take a tangible shape by 2030. He called it the “next logical frontier in space” after Chandrayaan-II, which will be put in place by 2013 with robots and rovers to study the surface of the moon. (11/15)
Goddard Team Develops New Carriers for Space Station (Source: NASA)
In a partnership that exemplifies One NASA, engineers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. teamed up with engineers at NASA's Johnson and Kennedy Space Centers to design, build, and test five new ExPRESS Logistics Carriers, or ELCs, which will be delivered to the International Space Station. "ExPRESS" stands for Expedite the Processing of Experiments to the Space Station.
The ELCs will provide scientists with a platform and infrastructure to deploy experiments in the vacuum of space without requiring a separate dedicated Earth-orbiting satellite, and will also serve as parking fixtures for spare International Space Station (ISS) hardware which can be retrieved robotically long after the shuttle retires. (11/15)
New Mexico Spaceport Authority Awards Roads Contract (Source: Las Cruces Sun-News)
The New Mexico Spaceport Authority board on Friday awarded a $3 million contract to a company that will build roads at Spaceport America. The contract entails building four miles of paved road and three miles of gravel roads, as well as paving a parking lot at the spaceport site, located southeast of Truth or Consequences. The contract was awarded to CMC Construction of Truth or Consequences. Bidding will open up soon on the next construction package, the terminal-hangar facility. The spaceport authority also approved an amendment to its agreement with Sierra Electric Cooperative about constructing underground electricity infrastructure to reach the spaceport site. (11/15)
Langley: Battle Over the Future of NASA Hits Home (Source: Hampton Roads Daily Press)
Without the extra $3 billion NASA would lose thousands of jobs along the space coast from Cape Canaveral, Fla., to Houston, and the implications to Langley are totally unknown. All this in a recessionary economy with massive federal budget deficits. So, the battle lines are drawn. Congressional delegations from Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Texas are already fighting for the $3 billion or, failing that, some compromise that saves jobs in their states at the expense of other NASA programs and installations.
These delegations have membership on key congressional committees that appropriate NASA's funds. While Langley's major roles in NASA are in those parts of the agency "that aren't critical to the exploration strategy," Virginia's congressional delegation is not well positioned in this fight as it has no membership on NASA appropriating committees. Langley is indeed a pawn in the battle.
What's at stake for Hampton Roads? NASA Langley is a high-tech laboratory with more than 3,500 civil-service and contractor jobs, many of which are high-paying technical and managerial positions, and an annual budget of $700 million. This translates into an annual economic impact on Hampton Roads of $900 million and 10,000 jobs. Losing Langley would have an impact at least as great as losing an aircraft carrier, so it is critical that Hampton Roads leadership and the Virginia congressional delegation engage fully in the battle over the future of NASA. (11/15)
Much Media Coverage for Cirque du Soleil Founder’s Space Trip (Source: CanWest)
It seems Cirque du soleil founder Guy Laliberte created a media circus when he went into space last month. The Montreal billionaire’s trip to the International Space Station as a tourist received 23 times more international media attention than Canada’s presence in Afghanistan, according to recently released data. Influence Communication says it was hired by Cirque du soleil to do an analysis of the media coverage of Laliberte’s trip. The company placed the value of the advertising generated by the 50-year-old’s nearly two-week space odyssey at more than $592 million. (11/15)
Editorial: Space Travel to Save the Environment Makes Sense (Source: San Diego Union Tribune)
Now that human-induced climate change is on us, all our ideas and behaviors have to be re-examined...So what about space, which used to be the very emblem of our future? What is it we think we’re doing up there? And does it still make sense in the age of climate crisis? If you ask me, some of it never made sense. All that talk about our cosmic destiny, or the need “not to have all our eggs in one basket,” implied that we were somehow capable of living without this planet.
But Earth is not our cradle, and we are not meant to go to the stars. Earth is our permanent home, for good or ill. We need to stabilize its biosphere and our presence in it for our own good. We have to become global systems managers before we know how to do it, so at this point we are in emergency mode. It’s in this context that a particular kind of space travel makes sense and indeed is an excellent idea. We should explore our own solar system...because the climate crisis is very much a matter of interactions we have altered between our planet and our sun.
Another good reason for a space program is the immense potential of space-based solar power. Of course, constructing such a system would require a big fleet of reliable heavy lifters, but we have built such spacecraft before. And only with that kind of robust space program can we think about deflecting asteroids that otherwise might devastate us, another good reason for inhabiting local space. (11/15)
We explore space because of precious intangibles. At its best, NASA exemplifies the best of America; our optimism, our curiosity, our ingenuity, our courage. It communicates values to the American public and to the world at large. It leads young people to the study of science and engineering. We explore space because human space flight connects with the global public, and NASA’s leadership in space promotes American leadership in the world.
The International Space Station has proved that many nations can learn how to work together toward a distant and difficult goal...Human society is ready to begin exploring the solar system for real. Should we start now or later? Is landing on the Moon the first thing we should do? Haven’t we already been there, done that? Should we settle on the Moon because of its own value, or as a steppingstone to Mars? If we are really setting the stage for humanity’s expansion beyond the Earth, don’t we also need to go elsewhere in the coming century? How about surveying asteroids for their useful minerals, and getting to know them better, in case one should threaten to hit Earth? Can’t we visit the moons of Mars more easily than landing on Mars?
We have to put things in perspective. Deep space exploration cannot overshadow the preservation of the planet most important to us: Earth. Leadership in using Earth-observing satellites to diagnose climate change will be as or more important than human space flight in fostering a fundamental belief among nations in America’s benevolent purpose. Each president since Eisenhower has had to decide for his time and place how space fits into the nation’s priorities. The decisions President Obama will make are especially momentous. NASA has not been at such a critical turning point since the end of the Apollo program. (11/15)
Twitter Fans Flock to Space Shuttle Launch (Source: Space.com)
NASA is about to open space shuttle launches to a whole new audience. About 100 lucky followers of NASA's Twitter feed are descending on the agency's Cape Canaveral, Fla., spaceport to get a front row seat to the planned Monday launch of space shuttle Atlantis. The gathering is the first time NASA has held an event for Twitterers to view a shuttle liftoff in person. NASA gave tickets to the two-day event to the first 100 "Space Tweeps" to register. "I'm certain it will be one of those 'top moments' of my life," said Adam Fast of Lawrence, Kan. Fast, a pilot, said he thinks it's important to educate the public more about NASA's activities and how they could impact everyday lives. (11/15)
Shuttle Workers Fear Job Outlook (Source: Florida Today)
Half of NASA's shuttle workers are worried about their future after next year's fleet retirement. Sixty percent are dissatisfied with information they are receiving about the shutdown and NASA's future. Three of four might leave for the right opportunity. But only 5 percent are actively seeking new jobs. In fact, 80 percent are likely to stay through the six remaining missions. And most supervisors believe they'll have the right people with the right skills to finish the program safely. The findings -- outlined in NASA employee surveys -- illuminate a major safety issue.
Losing critically skilled workers is a top risk for the $3 billion-a-year shuttle program, ranking right up there with potential rocket booster or engine failures. An exodus would raise the chances of catastrophe as NASA aims to complete the International Space Station. "I can't think of anything more important," said retired Navy Vice Adm. Joseph Dyer, chairman of the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, which was created by Congress after the 1967 Apollo 1 launch pad fire. (11/15)
India: Mars Exploration by 2030 (Source: The Hindu)
Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) Chairman K. Radhakrishnan has said exploration of Mars will take a tangible shape by 2030. He called it the “next logical frontier in space” after Chandrayaan-II, which will be put in place by 2013 with robots and rovers to study the surface of the moon. (11/15)
Goddard Team Develops New Carriers for Space Station (Source: NASA)
In a partnership that exemplifies One NASA, engineers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. teamed up with engineers at NASA's Johnson and Kennedy Space Centers to design, build, and test five new ExPRESS Logistics Carriers, or ELCs, which will be delivered to the International Space Station. "ExPRESS" stands for Expedite the Processing of Experiments to the Space Station.
The ELCs will provide scientists with a platform and infrastructure to deploy experiments in the vacuum of space without requiring a separate dedicated Earth-orbiting satellite, and will also serve as parking fixtures for spare International Space Station (ISS) hardware which can be retrieved robotically long after the shuttle retires. (11/15)
New Mexico Spaceport Authority Awards Roads Contract (Source: Las Cruces Sun-News)
The New Mexico Spaceport Authority board on Friday awarded a $3 million contract to a company that will build roads at Spaceport America. The contract entails building four miles of paved road and three miles of gravel roads, as well as paving a parking lot at the spaceport site, located southeast of Truth or Consequences. The contract was awarded to CMC Construction of Truth or Consequences. Bidding will open up soon on the next construction package, the terminal-hangar facility. The spaceport authority also approved an amendment to its agreement with Sierra Electric Cooperative about constructing underground electricity infrastructure to reach the spaceport site. (11/15)
Langley: Battle Over the Future of NASA Hits Home (Source: Hampton Roads Daily Press)
Without the extra $3 billion NASA would lose thousands of jobs along the space coast from Cape Canaveral, Fla., to Houston, and the implications to Langley are totally unknown. All this in a recessionary economy with massive federal budget deficits. So, the battle lines are drawn. Congressional delegations from Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Texas are already fighting for the $3 billion or, failing that, some compromise that saves jobs in their states at the expense of other NASA programs and installations.
These delegations have membership on key congressional committees that appropriate NASA's funds. While Langley's major roles in NASA are in those parts of the agency "that aren't critical to the exploration strategy," Virginia's congressional delegation is not well positioned in this fight as it has no membership on NASA appropriating committees. Langley is indeed a pawn in the battle.
What's at stake for Hampton Roads? NASA Langley is a high-tech laboratory with more than 3,500 civil-service and contractor jobs, many of which are high-paying technical and managerial positions, and an annual budget of $700 million. This translates into an annual economic impact on Hampton Roads of $900 million and 10,000 jobs. Losing Langley would have an impact at least as great as losing an aircraft carrier, so it is critical that Hampton Roads leadership and the Virginia congressional delegation engage fully in the battle over the future of NASA. (11/15)
Much Media Coverage for Cirque du Soleil Founder’s Space Trip (Source: CanWest)
It seems Cirque du soleil founder Guy Laliberte created a media circus when he went into space last month. The Montreal billionaire’s trip to the International Space Station as a tourist received 23 times more international media attention than Canada’s presence in Afghanistan, according to recently released data. Influence Communication says it was hired by Cirque du soleil to do an analysis of the media coverage of Laliberte’s trip. The company placed the value of the advertising generated by the 50-year-old’s nearly two-week space odyssey at more than $592 million. (11/15)
Editorial: Space Travel to Save the Environment Makes Sense (Source: San Diego Union Tribune)
Now that human-induced climate change is on us, all our ideas and behaviors have to be re-examined...So what about space, which used to be the very emblem of our future? What is it we think we’re doing up there? And does it still make sense in the age of climate crisis? If you ask me, some of it never made sense. All that talk about our cosmic destiny, or the need “not to have all our eggs in one basket,” implied that we were somehow capable of living without this planet.
But Earth is not our cradle, and we are not meant to go to the stars. Earth is our permanent home, for good or ill. We need to stabilize its biosphere and our presence in it for our own good. We have to become global systems managers before we know how to do it, so at this point we are in emergency mode. It’s in this context that a particular kind of space travel makes sense and indeed is an excellent idea. We should explore our own solar system...because the climate crisis is very much a matter of interactions we have altered between our planet and our sun.
Another good reason for a space program is the immense potential of space-based solar power. Of course, constructing such a system would require a big fleet of reliable heavy lifters, but we have built such spacecraft before. And only with that kind of robust space program can we think about deflecting asteroids that otherwise might devastate us, another good reason for inhabiting local space. (11/15)
November 14 News Items
Military Refurb Work Could Save 300-400 KSC Jobs (Source: Florida Today)
Work refurbishing military hardware returning from Iraq could keep several hundred shuttle workers employed, local officials hope. At 8 a.m. Monday, hours before the planned launch of shuttle Atlantis, officials from Space Florida and other economic development agencies, together with state and federal elected officials, plan to meet with a Department of Defense-led team to discuss the opportunity, estimated to be worth $25 billion nationally. "This is a real opportunity to keep 300 to 400 people employed who otherwise are going to be out of work when the shuttle retires," said Dale Ketcham, director of the Spaceport Research and Technology Institute at KSC. "This might not work, but it certainly seems like it ought to and should, so we're pursuing it," Ketcham said. (11/14)
Atlantis "Go" for Monday Liftoff (Source: Florida Today)
NASA mission managers gave a unanimous "go" to continue counting down toward a 2:28 p.m. Monday launch of space shuttle Atlantis to the International Space Station. "Atlantis is ready to go, in really great shape," said Mike Moses, shuttle program launch integration manager and chair of the Mission Management Team. Atlantis and six astronauts are set to haul nearly 30,000 pounds of hardware to station, much of it large spares that will be stowed outside, during an 11-day flight that includes three spacewalks. (11/14)
Huntsville Space Center Wants Help Telling 'Rocket City' Story (Source: Huntsville Times)
From the early 1940s into the early '60s, Huntsville went through an extreme makeover. Especially in the years after World War II, as Redstone Arsenal became home to the Army's missile programs and Dr. Wernher von Braun's team of German scientists, the community's identity changed from watercress, cotton and mills to engineering, rocket engines and orbit. "We're going to try to really show Huntsville transforming from a cotton town to the Rocket City," said Jennifer Crozier, executive director of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center Foundation. The center already has plenty of photographs, old films and interviews for the exhibit, which she said will be prominent in the northeast corner of the Davidson Center for Space Exploration. (11/14)
Atlas Slips Beyond Shuttle Launch (Source: Florida Today)
An Atlas rocket will be rolled back to its assembly building so technicians can resolve a problem with a signal relayer, and the move will force United Launch Alliance to slip its commercial satellite-delivery mission until after the planned launch Monday of shuttle Atlantis. Early morning Saturday's launch attempt was thwarted when an electronic assembly that routes signals to stage separation detonators suffered a momentary power glitch -- a 50-millisecond power cycle. Engineers could not determine the cause of the glitch and recommended canceling the today's attempt. Launch managers concurred. (11/14)
Enterprise Florida Invites Companies to Exhibit at International Aerospace Events (Source: EFI)
Enterprise Florida's 2010-11 Aviation/Aerospace & Defense Industry calendar includes state participation in major events like the Farnborough International Air Show, Singapore Air Show, FIDAE 2010 (Chile), DEFENDORY 2010 (Greece), and possibly others. Your company can gain international exposure and pursue import/export market opportunities as part of Florida's impressive multi-company exhibit at these events. Grants are available to assist companies with participation costs. Call Ken Cooksey at 850-298-6632 for information. (11/13)
Obama Eyes Domestic Spending Freeze (Source: AP)
The Obama administration has alerted domestic agencies to plan for a freeze or even a 5 percent cut in their budgets, part of an election-year push to rein in record deficits that threaten the economy and Democrats' political prospects next fall. White House budget director Peter Orszag said Friday that it is imperative to start curbing the flow of red ink in coming years so as not to erode the fledgling economic recovery and raise interest rates. But he called it a balancing act and said acting too fast could undercut the recovery. (11/14)
Russia Goes All Out to Develop Nuclear-Powered Spacecraft (Source: Xinhua)
President Dmitry Medvedev says Russia will prioritize the development of nuclear energy, especially the use of nuclear technology in spacecraft. He made the announcement during his annual address to the Federal Assembly. Anatoly Perminov, the head of Federal Space Agency Roscosmos, said last month that the agency has planned to develop spacecraft with a megawatt-class nuclear power set. He said the project would advance Russia's astronautic technology to a world-leading level. The project, he said, also would greatly reinforce the performance of Russia's new manned spacecraft while decreasing energy consumption. Perminov said the draft design of the spacecraft would be finished by 2012, and at least 17 billion rubles (more than 580 million U.S. dollars) were needed for further development over the next nine years. (11/13)
Work refurbishing military hardware returning from Iraq could keep several hundred shuttle workers employed, local officials hope. At 8 a.m. Monday, hours before the planned launch of shuttle Atlantis, officials from Space Florida and other economic development agencies, together with state and federal elected officials, plan to meet with a Department of Defense-led team to discuss the opportunity, estimated to be worth $25 billion nationally. "This is a real opportunity to keep 300 to 400 people employed who otherwise are going to be out of work when the shuttle retires," said Dale Ketcham, director of the Spaceport Research and Technology Institute at KSC. "This might not work, but it certainly seems like it ought to and should, so we're pursuing it," Ketcham said. (11/14)
Atlantis "Go" for Monday Liftoff (Source: Florida Today)
NASA mission managers gave a unanimous "go" to continue counting down toward a 2:28 p.m. Monday launch of space shuttle Atlantis to the International Space Station. "Atlantis is ready to go, in really great shape," said Mike Moses, shuttle program launch integration manager and chair of the Mission Management Team. Atlantis and six astronauts are set to haul nearly 30,000 pounds of hardware to station, much of it large spares that will be stowed outside, during an 11-day flight that includes three spacewalks. (11/14)
Huntsville Space Center Wants Help Telling 'Rocket City' Story (Source: Huntsville Times)
From the early 1940s into the early '60s, Huntsville went through an extreme makeover. Especially in the years after World War II, as Redstone Arsenal became home to the Army's missile programs and Dr. Wernher von Braun's team of German scientists, the community's identity changed from watercress, cotton and mills to engineering, rocket engines and orbit. "We're going to try to really show Huntsville transforming from a cotton town to the Rocket City," said Jennifer Crozier, executive director of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center Foundation. The center already has plenty of photographs, old films and interviews for the exhibit, which she said will be prominent in the northeast corner of the Davidson Center for Space Exploration. (11/14)
Atlas Slips Beyond Shuttle Launch (Source: Florida Today)
An Atlas rocket will be rolled back to its assembly building so technicians can resolve a problem with a signal relayer, and the move will force United Launch Alliance to slip its commercial satellite-delivery mission until after the planned launch Monday of shuttle Atlantis. Early morning Saturday's launch attempt was thwarted when an electronic assembly that routes signals to stage separation detonators suffered a momentary power glitch -- a 50-millisecond power cycle. Engineers could not determine the cause of the glitch and recommended canceling the today's attempt. Launch managers concurred. (11/14)
Enterprise Florida Invites Companies to Exhibit at International Aerospace Events (Source: EFI)
Enterprise Florida's 2010-11 Aviation/Aerospace & Defense Industry calendar includes state participation in major events like the Farnborough International Air Show, Singapore Air Show, FIDAE 2010 (Chile), DEFENDORY 2010 (Greece), and possibly others. Your company can gain international exposure and pursue import/export market opportunities as part of Florida's impressive multi-company exhibit at these events. Grants are available to assist companies with participation costs. Call Ken Cooksey at 850-298-6632 for information. (11/13)
Obama Eyes Domestic Spending Freeze (Source: AP)
The Obama administration has alerted domestic agencies to plan for a freeze or even a 5 percent cut in their budgets, part of an election-year push to rein in record deficits that threaten the economy and Democrats' political prospects next fall. White House budget director Peter Orszag said Friday that it is imperative to start curbing the flow of red ink in coming years so as not to erode the fledgling economic recovery and raise interest rates. But he called it a balancing act and said acting too fast could undercut the recovery. (11/14)
Russia Goes All Out to Develop Nuclear-Powered Spacecraft (Source: Xinhua)
President Dmitry Medvedev says Russia will prioritize the development of nuclear energy, especially the use of nuclear technology in spacecraft. He made the announcement during his annual address to the Federal Assembly. Anatoly Perminov, the head of Federal Space Agency Roscosmos, said last month that the agency has planned to develop spacecraft with a megawatt-class nuclear power set. He said the project would advance Russia's astronautic technology to a world-leading level. The project, he said, also would greatly reinforce the performance of Russia's new manned spacecraft while decreasing energy consumption. Perminov said the draft design of the spacecraft would be finished by 2012, and at least 17 billion rubles (more than 580 million U.S. dollars) were needed for further development over the next nine years. (11/13)
November 13 News Items
SpaceX Protests Award of Launch Contract to Orbital (Source: Space News)
SpaceX has challenged an Air Force launch services order placed with Orbital Sciences Corp., arguing that under federal law the contract should have been competitively awarded. On Sep. 14, the Air Force issued a task order to Orbital to launch NASA’s Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) spacecraft using surplus missile hardware. Orbital has been launching government satellites with Minotaur rockets based on ballistic missile motors since 2000.
The five-stage Minotaur-5 rocket, the largest of the Minotaur family, has yet to make its debut. SpaceX believes it can provide the launch services with either its Falcon 1e or Falcon 9 rocket at a cost savings to the government. The Air Force never inquired with SpaceX as to whether it could meet the mission’s requirements, the company said. The protest could revive a long-running but recently dormant policy debate over whether the use of excess missile hardware to launch satellites undermines the U.S. commercial space industry.
SpaceX claims Orbital’s contract award violates the Commercial Space Act of 1998, which among other things requires the U.S. government to buy launch services from U.S. commercial providers whenever possible. The law also states that ballistic missiles cannot be used for space launches unless the secretary of defense certifies their use will result in cost savings to the government. SpaceX claims using the Minotaur-5 for this mission will not result in cost savings for the government, and that the government made no attempt to seek out alternative providers before issuing the contract. Click here to view the article. (11/13)
Ofeq-8 Nearing Launch on Israeli Rocket (Source: Space News)
Israel is readying its newest spy satellite, Ofeq-8, for launch by the middle of next year, but production orders for a next-generation Ofeq-9 are stalled pending a cost-sharing and technical agreement with a prospective partner country. The Ofeq-8, in final construction at Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), will be launched into low Earth orbit by Israel’s indigenous Shavit launcher, also built by IAI. Israel lost its Ofeq-6 in September 2004, when it crashed into the Mediterranean Sea due to an electrical malfunction that failed to ignite the Shavit’s third-stage motor. (11/13)
DigitalGlobe Raises Outlook on Strong 3Q Results (Source: Space News)
Commercial imagery satellite operator DigitalGlobe posted higher revenue and income for the third quarter of 2009 and raised its full-year outlook following the successful Oct. 8 launch of the company’s third high-resolution remote sensing satellite, WorldView-2. In a Nov. 10 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Longmont, Colo.-based company said net income for the three months ended Sept. 30 was up slightly, year over year, to $14.6 million. Revenue rose about 7.5 percent, to $71.8 million, compared with the same period last year. DigitalGlobe’s year-to-date net income, however, was down 16 percent to $33.6 million. (11/13)
Water Found on Moon, Scientists Say (Source: New York Times)
There is water on the Moon, scientists stated unequivocally on Friday, and considerable amounts of it. “Indeed yes, we found water,” Anthony Colaprete, the principal investigator for NASA’s Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, said in a news conference. The confirmation of scientists’ suspicions is welcome news both to future explorers who might set up home on the lunar surface and to scientists who hope that the water, in the form of ice accumulated over billions of years, could hold a record of the solar system’s history.
The satellite, known as Lcross (pronounced L-cross), slammed into a crater near the Moon’s south pole a month ago. The impact carved out a hole 60- to 100-feet wide and kicked up at least 24 gallons of water. “We got more than just whiff,” said Peter H. Schultz, a professor of geological sciences at Brown University and a co-investigator of the mission. “We practically tasted it with the impact.” (11/13)
Defective Satellites Hobble Orbcomm’s Business (Source: Space News)
Satellite two-way messaging service provider Orbcomm said it is prepared to take its insurers to court to force them to pay a $50 million claim for satellite failures that occurred both during and after the period that the company’s policy was in effect. Orbcomm also said one of its key services, providing Automatic Identification System (AIS) data on ships to the U.S. Coast Guard and other customers, is at risk because of an apparently identical defect on six satellites launched in 2008. These satellites are the focus of the insurance dispute. The company has filed a $50 million claim with its insurers covering the loss of all six satellites.
Orbcomm is unlikely to get any in-orbit relief until late 2010 at the earliest. Sierra Nevada Corp. is building Orbcomm’s 18-satellite second-generation constellation under a $117 million contract signed in May 2008, and has promised to have the first group of six satellites ready for launch starting in late 2010. The 18 satellites will be launched by five SpaceX Falcon 1e rockets under a $46.6 million contract, with the launches to occur between late 2010 and early 2014. (11/13)
Why Ares-1 Should Fly (As a Satellite Launcher) (Source: SPACErePORT)
Last month, National Reconnaissance Office chief Bruce Carlson expressed his agency's growing frustration that its Atlas and Delta space launch options were too limited. With too few launch sites and only one launch company under contract, Carlson sees a bottleneck that inhibits our nation's capability to deliver intelligence-gathering satellites to orbit. That same month, a group of private-sector satellite operators formed the "Coalition for Competitive Launches" to expand the availability of Atlas-5 and Delta-4 rockets for commercial missions. Developed under the Air Force's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program, these highly capable rockets are marvels of engineering. But although they were intended for dual government/commercial role but they have remained largely unavailable for commercial missions.
From Carlson's perspective, according to Space News, "part of the solution is more NASA involvement in launch efforts." Without realizing it, NASA may already have done a huge favor to NRO and the Coalition for Competitive Launches. By funding technology development for Ares-1, and sponsoring risk-reduction with the recent Ares-1X test flight, NASA has positioned Alliant Techsystems (ATK) to enter the market for government and commercial satellite launches. If Ares-1 is canceled by NASA, ATK could propose to add an Ares-1-like vehicle to the Air Force's EELV program, meeting Carlson's desire to expand the number of launch sites, launch companies, and launch vehicles to meet our nation's large-satellite launch demand.
The big question is whether ATK could offer such a vehicle at a competitive price, including the cost for a new launch pad and processing facilities. SpaceX is way out in front of ATK on this opportunity, with a February 2010 debut for its Falcon-9, so ATK might also have some doubts about whether the government/commercial satellite market is strong enough to support four launch vehicle programs. If ATK does decide to pursue other markets for Ares-1, Florida's Space Coast (and the thousands of workers soon to lose their Space Shuttle jobs) would have the best of both worlds: an operational Ares-1 and whatever other system NASA develops to replace it. (11/13)
Excalibur Almaz Linked to Sea Launch Investment (Source: Space News)
The unidentified investor group providing initial financing to Sea Launch Co., the commercial launch provider that is in bankruptcy proceedings, includes an Isle of Man-based space tourism company, according to industry sources. The company, Excalibur Almaz Ltd., includes on its board George Abbey, former director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center; J. Buckner Hightower, described in company documents as chief fundraiser; Art Dula, who has a long history of dealing with Russian space ventures; and Leroy Chiao, a former NASA astronaut. Excalibur Almaz was created in 2005 to refurbish Russia’s Almaz spacecraft and transform it into a capsule for week-long trips to space by paying customers. The company said it owns “several Almaz spacecraft, including reusable re-entry vehicles and space stations.” (11/13)
Editorial: Bring Sea Launch to Florida (Without the Ships) (Source: SPACErePORT)
The group of space industry investors poised to pull Sea Launch LLC out of bankruptcy should consider ditching the company's offshore launch platform in favor of launching their Ukrainian/Russian Zenit rockets from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. Back in the early 1990s, before they went ahead with the floating-platform approach, the Sea Launch team was encouraged to consider operating on-land the Cape, but at that time the Eastern Range was a much more expensive and difficult environment for new commercial companies, especially companies flying former Soviet Union rockets. A mid-Pacific platform could steer clear of landside red-tape, while offering heavier-lift and both equatorial and polar flight profiles.
With a launch rate averaging less than four per year since 1999, Sea Launch was never able to justify the sky-high cost for developing and operating their floating infrastructure. They also have yet to launch a non-equatorial mission. I would wager that their operating costs are currently higher than if they were launching from a land-based spaceport, even with the associated red-tape. The main benefit they've accrued from operating at sea has been their ability to launch heavier satellites due to their equatorial location. In a move apparently intended to reduce costs for lighter satellite launches, the company has already begun to move some missions to a "Land Launch" operation at Kazakhstan's Baikonur spaceport.
Times have changed at the Eastern Range, and the environment now seems more accommodating for new commercial launchers, including rockets with major foreign components. Adding the Zenit to the Cape's stable of launch vehicles could be a game-changer for the company, positioning it not only for lower-cost commercial launches, but also potentially for U.S. government missions if the Air Force and NASA get serious about expanding the number of competitors eligible to launch their payloads. (11/13)
NASA Offers $400,000 Prize for Super Space Glove (SourcE: InfoWorld)
If you can build a high-tech glove that can move easily and operate effectively in the vacuum of space, NASA may have $400,000 for your effort. That’s the amount of money up for grabs in the 2009 Astronaut Glove Challenge set for Nov. 19 at the Astronaut Hall of Fame in Titusville, Fla. NASA said the competition will test gloves from at least two contestants that will measure the gloves' dexterity and strength during operation in a glove box that simulates the vacuum of space. The challenge will be conducted by Volanz Aerospace in a format that brings all competitors to a single location for a "head to head" competition to determine the winning Team(s). (11/13)
Shuttle Logistics Facility Considered for DOD Operations (Source: Space Florida)
A high-level team from the Pentagon and NASA HQ will meet on Nov. 16 to discuss potential opportunities to use the NASA Shuttle Logistics Depot (NSLD) at Cape Canaveral for the repair and refurbishment of military hardware returning from Iraq over the next two-to-five years. The estimated value of refurbishment activity is $25B. Pilot projects at the NSLD have demostrated its capability to perform this type of work.
If the bid for NSLD consideration is successful, the work could maintain (and possibly grow) the existing 300+ engineers and technicians presently committed to maintaining flight hardware and ground support equipment for the Shuttle Program at the NSLD, which is scheduled to be closed (and its employees laid off) next year. Progress to date has been funded and orchestrated by the Department of Defense Manufacturing Technology Program. (11/13)
NASA Studies Heavy-Lift Rocket Alternatives (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
In the wake of criticism that NASA's next-generation Constellation Program rockets are behind schedule and over budget, teams of agency engineers are hastily reviewing alternative designs for a new heavy-lift rocket. Among the options they are looking at: a rocket made of the space shuttle's external fuel tank, engines and solid-rocket boosters that has been championed by freelance engineers and hobbyists, and a successor to the Saturn V that once carried astronauts to the moon.
The study, ordered last month by NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden as a "top priority," is supposed to be finished by Thanksgiving so Bolden can present it to President Barack Obama to help him chart a new course for America's space policy. Bolden told managers at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., and Kennedy Space Center to set up a "special team" to evaluate alternatives to the Constellation Program's Ares rockets. The first launch of Ares I — scheduled for 2015 — could be delayed until 2017.
The study team is focused on designs that can be developed quickly and cheaply, using existing engines and motors. The team is trying to figure out how much each would cost to launch and operate — and whether it could be upgraded later to a more-powerful version if funding becomes available. Still, it remains unclear whether any of the designs will be seriously considered by the Obama administration — or whether there will be enough money to build any of them during the next decade. Click here to view the article. (11/13)
SpaceX has challenged an Air Force launch services order placed with Orbital Sciences Corp., arguing that under federal law the contract should have been competitively awarded. On Sep. 14, the Air Force issued a task order to Orbital to launch NASA’s Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) spacecraft using surplus missile hardware. Orbital has been launching government satellites with Minotaur rockets based on ballistic missile motors since 2000.
The five-stage Minotaur-5 rocket, the largest of the Minotaur family, has yet to make its debut. SpaceX believes it can provide the launch services with either its Falcon 1e or Falcon 9 rocket at a cost savings to the government. The Air Force never inquired with SpaceX as to whether it could meet the mission’s requirements, the company said. The protest could revive a long-running but recently dormant policy debate over whether the use of excess missile hardware to launch satellites undermines the U.S. commercial space industry.
SpaceX claims Orbital’s contract award violates the Commercial Space Act of 1998, which among other things requires the U.S. government to buy launch services from U.S. commercial providers whenever possible. The law also states that ballistic missiles cannot be used for space launches unless the secretary of defense certifies their use will result in cost savings to the government. SpaceX claims using the Minotaur-5 for this mission will not result in cost savings for the government, and that the government made no attempt to seek out alternative providers before issuing the contract. Click here to view the article. (11/13)
Ofeq-8 Nearing Launch on Israeli Rocket (Source: Space News)
Israel is readying its newest spy satellite, Ofeq-8, for launch by the middle of next year, but production orders for a next-generation Ofeq-9 are stalled pending a cost-sharing and technical agreement with a prospective partner country. The Ofeq-8, in final construction at Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), will be launched into low Earth orbit by Israel’s indigenous Shavit launcher, also built by IAI. Israel lost its Ofeq-6 in September 2004, when it crashed into the Mediterranean Sea due to an electrical malfunction that failed to ignite the Shavit’s third-stage motor. (11/13)
DigitalGlobe Raises Outlook on Strong 3Q Results (Source: Space News)
Commercial imagery satellite operator DigitalGlobe posted higher revenue and income for the third quarter of 2009 and raised its full-year outlook following the successful Oct. 8 launch of the company’s third high-resolution remote sensing satellite, WorldView-2. In a Nov. 10 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Longmont, Colo.-based company said net income for the three months ended Sept. 30 was up slightly, year over year, to $14.6 million. Revenue rose about 7.5 percent, to $71.8 million, compared with the same period last year. DigitalGlobe’s year-to-date net income, however, was down 16 percent to $33.6 million. (11/13)
Water Found on Moon, Scientists Say (Source: New York Times)
There is water on the Moon, scientists stated unequivocally on Friday, and considerable amounts of it. “Indeed yes, we found water,” Anthony Colaprete, the principal investigator for NASA’s Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, said in a news conference. The confirmation of scientists’ suspicions is welcome news both to future explorers who might set up home on the lunar surface and to scientists who hope that the water, in the form of ice accumulated over billions of years, could hold a record of the solar system’s history.
The satellite, known as Lcross (pronounced L-cross), slammed into a crater near the Moon’s south pole a month ago. The impact carved out a hole 60- to 100-feet wide and kicked up at least 24 gallons of water. “We got more than just whiff,” said Peter H. Schultz, a professor of geological sciences at Brown University and a co-investigator of the mission. “We practically tasted it with the impact.” (11/13)
Defective Satellites Hobble Orbcomm’s Business (Source: Space News)
Satellite two-way messaging service provider Orbcomm said it is prepared to take its insurers to court to force them to pay a $50 million claim for satellite failures that occurred both during and after the period that the company’s policy was in effect. Orbcomm also said one of its key services, providing Automatic Identification System (AIS) data on ships to the U.S. Coast Guard and other customers, is at risk because of an apparently identical defect on six satellites launched in 2008. These satellites are the focus of the insurance dispute. The company has filed a $50 million claim with its insurers covering the loss of all six satellites.
Orbcomm is unlikely to get any in-orbit relief until late 2010 at the earliest. Sierra Nevada Corp. is building Orbcomm’s 18-satellite second-generation constellation under a $117 million contract signed in May 2008, and has promised to have the first group of six satellites ready for launch starting in late 2010. The 18 satellites will be launched by five SpaceX Falcon 1e rockets under a $46.6 million contract, with the launches to occur between late 2010 and early 2014. (11/13)
Why Ares-1 Should Fly (As a Satellite Launcher) (Source: SPACErePORT)
Last month, National Reconnaissance Office chief Bruce Carlson expressed his agency's growing frustration that its Atlas and Delta space launch options were too limited. With too few launch sites and only one launch company under contract, Carlson sees a bottleneck that inhibits our nation's capability to deliver intelligence-gathering satellites to orbit. That same month, a group of private-sector satellite operators formed the "Coalition for Competitive Launches" to expand the availability of Atlas-5 and Delta-4 rockets for commercial missions. Developed under the Air Force's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program, these highly capable rockets are marvels of engineering. But although they were intended for dual government/commercial role but they have remained largely unavailable for commercial missions.
From Carlson's perspective, according to Space News, "part of the solution is more NASA involvement in launch efforts." Without realizing it, NASA may already have done a huge favor to NRO and the Coalition for Competitive Launches. By funding technology development for Ares-1, and sponsoring risk-reduction with the recent Ares-1X test flight, NASA has positioned Alliant Techsystems (ATK) to enter the market for government and commercial satellite launches. If Ares-1 is canceled by NASA, ATK could propose to add an Ares-1-like vehicle to the Air Force's EELV program, meeting Carlson's desire to expand the number of launch sites, launch companies, and launch vehicles to meet our nation's large-satellite launch demand.
The big question is whether ATK could offer such a vehicle at a competitive price, including the cost for a new launch pad and processing facilities. SpaceX is way out in front of ATK on this opportunity, with a February 2010 debut for its Falcon-9, so ATK might also have some doubts about whether the government/commercial satellite market is strong enough to support four launch vehicle programs. If ATK does decide to pursue other markets for Ares-1, Florida's Space Coast (and the thousands of workers soon to lose their Space Shuttle jobs) would have the best of both worlds: an operational Ares-1 and whatever other system NASA develops to replace it. (11/13)
Excalibur Almaz Linked to Sea Launch Investment (Source: Space News)
The unidentified investor group providing initial financing to Sea Launch Co., the commercial launch provider that is in bankruptcy proceedings, includes an Isle of Man-based space tourism company, according to industry sources. The company, Excalibur Almaz Ltd., includes on its board George Abbey, former director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center; J. Buckner Hightower, described in company documents as chief fundraiser; Art Dula, who has a long history of dealing with Russian space ventures; and Leroy Chiao, a former NASA astronaut. Excalibur Almaz was created in 2005 to refurbish Russia’s Almaz spacecraft and transform it into a capsule for week-long trips to space by paying customers. The company said it owns “several Almaz spacecraft, including reusable re-entry vehicles and space stations.” (11/13)
Editorial: Bring Sea Launch to Florida (Without the Ships) (Source: SPACErePORT)
The group of space industry investors poised to pull Sea Launch LLC out of bankruptcy should consider ditching the company's offshore launch platform in favor of launching their Ukrainian/Russian Zenit rockets from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. Back in the early 1990s, before they went ahead with the floating-platform approach, the Sea Launch team was encouraged to consider operating on-land the Cape, but at that time the Eastern Range was a much more expensive and difficult environment for new commercial companies, especially companies flying former Soviet Union rockets. A mid-Pacific platform could steer clear of landside red-tape, while offering heavier-lift and both equatorial and polar flight profiles.
With a launch rate averaging less than four per year since 1999, Sea Launch was never able to justify the sky-high cost for developing and operating their floating infrastructure. They also have yet to launch a non-equatorial mission. I would wager that their operating costs are currently higher than if they were launching from a land-based spaceport, even with the associated red-tape. The main benefit they've accrued from operating at sea has been their ability to launch heavier satellites due to their equatorial location. In a move apparently intended to reduce costs for lighter satellite launches, the company has already begun to move some missions to a "Land Launch" operation at Kazakhstan's Baikonur spaceport.
Times have changed at the Eastern Range, and the environment now seems more accommodating for new commercial launchers, including rockets with major foreign components. Adding the Zenit to the Cape's stable of launch vehicles could be a game-changer for the company, positioning it not only for lower-cost commercial launches, but also potentially for U.S. government missions if the Air Force and NASA get serious about expanding the number of competitors eligible to launch their payloads. (11/13)
NASA Offers $400,000 Prize for Super Space Glove (SourcE: InfoWorld)
If you can build a high-tech glove that can move easily and operate effectively in the vacuum of space, NASA may have $400,000 for your effort. That’s the amount of money up for grabs in the 2009 Astronaut Glove Challenge set for Nov. 19 at the Astronaut Hall of Fame in Titusville, Fla. NASA said the competition will test gloves from at least two contestants that will measure the gloves' dexterity and strength during operation in a glove box that simulates the vacuum of space. The challenge will be conducted by Volanz Aerospace in a format that brings all competitors to a single location for a "head to head" competition to determine the winning Team(s). (11/13)
Shuttle Logistics Facility Considered for DOD Operations (Source: Space Florida)
A high-level team from the Pentagon and NASA HQ will meet on Nov. 16 to discuss potential opportunities to use the NASA Shuttle Logistics Depot (NSLD) at Cape Canaveral for the repair and refurbishment of military hardware returning from Iraq over the next two-to-five years. The estimated value of refurbishment activity is $25B. Pilot projects at the NSLD have demostrated its capability to perform this type of work.
If the bid for NSLD consideration is successful, the work could maintain (and possibly grow) the existing 300+ engineers and technicians presently committed to maintaining flight hardware and ground support equipment for the Shuttle Program at the NSLD, which is scheduled to be closed (and its employees laid off) next year. Progress to date has been funded and orchestrated by the Department of Defense Manufacturing Technology Program. (11/13)
NASA Studies Heavy-Lift Rocket Alternatives (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
In the wake of criticism that NASA's next-generation Constellation Program rockets are behind schedule and over budget, teams of agency engineers are hastily reviewing alternative designs for a new heavy-lift rocket. Among the options they are looking at: a rocket made of the space shuttle's external fuel tank, engines and solid-rocket boosters that has been championed by freelance engineers and hobbyists, and a successor to the Saturn V that once carried astronauts to the moon.
The study, ordered last month by NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden as a "top priority," is supposed to be finished by Thanksgiving so Bolden can present it to President Barack Obama to help him chart a new course for America's space policy. Bolden told managers at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., and Kennedy Space Center to set up a "special team" to evaluate alternatives to the Constellation Program's Ares rockets. The first launch of Ares I — scheduled for 2015 — could be delayed until 2017.
The study team is focused on designs that can be developed quickly and cheaply, using existing engines and motors. The team is trying to figure out how much each would cost to launch and operate — and whether it could be upgraded later to a more-powerful version if funding becomes available. Still, it remains unclear whether any of the designs will be seriously considered by the Obama administration — or whether there will be enough money to build any of them during the next decade. Click here to view the article. (11/13)
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