May 3 News Items

An Out-of-This-World-Class Supply Chain? (Source: DC Velocity)
Within the next 15 years, NASA hopes to have a permanent station on the moon. To make that possible, it must develop a channel for delivering food, fuel, oxygen, exploration equipment, and spare parts that's at least as good as the best earthbound networks, if not better. A missed shipment of oxygen generators from Earth to the moon would have far more serious consequences than a missed shipment of machine parts from Long Beach to Albany.

At least NASA will have some help. Two MIT researchers have begun work on a project with Kennedy Space Center to determine what a space exploration supply chain will have to look like and how it might work. In January, they released an initial version of SpaceNet, described as a software tool for modeling interplanetary supply chains. Their plan is based on a network of distribution centers, or "nodes," that would include space-based platforms that would serve as both inventory-holding sites and as transfer points between Earth and the lunar station.

Though the interplanetary supply chain will operate on essentially the same principles as its terrestrial counterparts, the MIT researchers acknowledge that NASA logisticians will face a few added challenges. For one thing, transit times (at least in the case of Mars) could stretch to nearly a year. For another, capacity would be limited by the number of space launches. It's safe to say, none of this will make the traditional cost vs. service tradeoffs any easier.

Global Space Missions Stifled by US Restrictions (Source: New Scientist)
NASA's ability to cooperate with the space agencies of other countries is sharply limited by US security regulations, top space scientists told a US congressional committee. Using a set of rules called ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations), the US government restricts the exchange of information and hardware that could potentially have military applications. But scientists speaking to the committee said it is inappropriately hampering international cooperation on space science missions. "It has become a nightmare and is probably the single biggest impediment to international collaboration in the science program," said Lennard Fisk of the University of Michigan, who chairs the National Research Council's Space Studies Board.

He warned that not cooperating with other countries could leave the US behind in space exploration. "If we choose not to, there are alignments that will take place among other nations," he said. "We could find ourselves in a space race with the world, and that would probably be an unwise position." Those concerns were echoed by other scientists at the hearing. "We are the ones that lose out as much as anyone else, or maybe more so," said scientist.

Ohio Provides $5 Million to Upgrade Space Power Facility for Moonship Tests (Source: Sandusky Register)
NASA Plum Brook Station hopes to use a $5 million grant from the Ohio Department of Development to create 82 full-time jobs, NASA officials said Wednesday. The state grant will be matched with $5 million of NASA funds to upgrade the Space Power Facility at Plum Brook, a gigantic vacuum chamber. The plan is to use the new additions to the facility to test components of Orion, the new spaceship NASA plans to build to return astronauts to the moon and send them to Mars.

The project will add a "vibro-acoustic test capability" to the facility, checking to see how spacecraft cope with the noise and vibrations they'll be subjected to when launched into space. Gov. Ted Strickland began looking for ways to help NASA -- and bring jobs to Ohio -- as soon as he won the election. The night he won, Strickland and Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher signed a letter to NASA urging the space agency to move forward on its planned Ohio work.

HASC Panel Targets Missile Defense, Milspace (Source: Aviation Week)
The House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee is recommending Congress cut the boost-phase Airborne Laser missile defense effort by $400 million, re-evaluate nuclear weapons policy while slowing the Reliable Replacement Warhead, (RRW) and bar the Pentagon from deploying Trident nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles as converted, conventional prompt global strike weapons. For milspace, the panel would slice $200 million from the Alternative Infrared Satellite System, $150 million from the Global Positioning System III effort and $80 million out of the High-Integrity GPS element. But the group would add $100 million toward buying the fourth Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellite, $40 million to buy GPS II-F satellites 13-15, $100 million to procure the fourth Space-Based Infrared satellite, $63 million for modernized GPS-user equipment and $30 million for so-called operationally responsive space capabilities.


Train Carrying Shuttle SRB Segments Derails (Source: SpaceToday.net)
A train carry shuttle solid rocket booster (SRB) segments for use on a launch later this year derailed Wednesday, injuring several people. The train, en route from Utah to the Kennedy Space Center, derailed when a bridge it was crossing in rural Alabama collapsed, causing several cars to overturn. Six people riding in the train's passenger car suffered injuries. One car, carrying a single SRB segment, overturned; cars carrying seven other SRB segments and two aft exit cones remained upright. The status of the booster segments is still under investigation. The SRB segments were intended for use on a shuttle mission scheduled for launch in October or December. NASA officials said that replacement SRB segments are available for those flights if needed.

Launch Simulation Ride Should Reel in Dollars (Source: Florida Today)
The Shuttle Launch Experience -- Brevard County's next major theme park-style attraction -- is expected to provide a boost to the Space Coast tourism industry. And, to coincide with the May 25 debut of the Shuttle Launch Experience at the KSC Visitor Complex, area hotels are offering discounted rooms and packages that include tickets to the Visitor Complex. The $60 million Shuttle Launch Experience is designed to give riders a chance to feel what the astronauts feel when they lift off in a space shuttle. It will be one of the major debuts at a U.S. tourist attraction this year.