April 10 News Items

ATK Plans Commercial Ares I (Source: Aviation Week)
ATK, which is building the first stage of NASA's Ares I crew launch vehicle by recycling the solid-fuel booster it builds for the space shuttle, wants to make the same capability available to other users for missions without crews. ATK's Ron Dittemore said the human-rating that led NASA to build the Ares I first stage around the shuttle booster should also be attractive to other customers with "high-value" payloads, including the Defense Dept. and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). Possible concepts include an Ares I with a payload shroud for launching big geosynchronous communications satellites, and a version with a Centaur stage mounted atop the NASA-designed, Boeing-built Ares I cryogenic upper stage for planetary missions. (4/9)

F-22 Raptor as Space Fighter? (Source: Spaceports Blog)
The F-22 Raptor is an adaptable high-technology military flying machine with capability to become an early 21st Century anti-satellite weapon launcher, according to a recent report indicating that a derivative of the Aim-120 AMRAAM missile is being modified for just such a new mission. “If you put the missile in an F-22 [Raptor] and launch it at Mach 2 and 60,000 ft. while in a zoom and at a 45-degree angle, you’ve got an ASAT capability against spacecraft in low-earth orbit,” says one USAF General. (4/5)

Powerful New Satellite to Debut Over Pacific (Source: Guardian)
The U.S. is set to start operating a powerful new military communications satellite over the Pacific next week, the first of a planned six-satellite network that will boost data flows 10-fold. On its own, the maiden Boeing co-built Wideband Global Satellite will provide more capacity for video, data and voice than the entire group of 10 or so satellites it is designed to replace, the command said. Australia joined the WGS program last year, providing funds that expanded it to include the sixth satellite, which had been an option under a contract awarded to Boeing in January 2001. (4/10)

Boeing Patent Shuts Down AMC-14 Lunar Flyby Salvage Attempt (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
Attempts to salvage a wayward GEO comsat have come unstuck in the face of institutional disinterest and an aging patent of questionable validity. The AMC-14 commercial geostationary satellite was launched in March by a Proton launch vehicle into space just short of its minimum geostationary transfer orbit (GTO). Following the failed launch, SES Americom looked into how they might salvage the satellite in a manner similar to the Asiasat-3 salvage in 1998. However, a plan to salvage AMC-14 was abandoned a week ago when SES gave up in the face of patent issues relating to the lunar flyby process used to bring wayward satellites back to GEO Earth orbit.

It was possible to bring AMC-14 back via the moon to a stable GEO orbit where the high powered satellite would have been able to operate for at least four years and probably longer. In the face of unrelated legal battles between the current patent owner Boeing and the satellite's owner SES Americom - any efforts to salvage AMC-14 have been cast aside. Primarily this is because SES is currently suing Boeing for an unrelated New Skies matter in the order of $50 million dollars - and Boeing told SES that the patent was only available if SES Americom dropped the lawsuit. (4/10)

South Korean Astronaut, Cosmonauts Arrive at Space Station (Source: Space.com)
Crewmembers aboard the International Space Station (ISS) welcomed the arrival of a Russian spacecraft bearing their replacements and South Korea's first astronaut early Thursday. Russian cosmonauts Sergei Volkov and Oleg Kononenko, and South Korean spaceflyer So-yeon Yi pulled in at the station aboard their Soyuz TMA-12 spacecraft, which docked with the outpost's Earth-facing Pirs module. Yi's journey represents a landmark achievement for her country. (4/10)

New Division for Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (Source: Defense News)
In an industry where failure is not an option, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (PWR) is working to give its engineers a place where they can experiment with new possibilities in propulsion. The new Power Innovations division provides a more laboratory-like setting, Rick Bachtel, PWR's general manager for operations in Alabama, said. Many of the projects will come out of the Huntsville offices where PWR is headquartered, but if an idea pops up at the company's California, Florida or Mississippi locations, it would move forward, possibly even temporarily drawing staff from other locations.

While aerospace giants Lockheed Martin and Boeing have their Skunk Works and Phantom Works, and some of the developmental envelope is being pushed by purely innovation-centered companies like SpaceX, a unit like Power Innovations is a unique thing in the rocket industry, said a PWR official. (4/10)

Canada Blocks Space Sale to Alliant Tech (Source: Financial Post)
The federal government of Canada blocked the sale of Vancouver-based MDA Corp.'s space business to American interests. The office of Industry Minister Jim Prentice confirmed on Thursday that Mr. Prentice wrote to Alliant Techsystems on Apr. 8 to say "he is not satisfied that the proposed sale of MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. to ATK is likely to be of net benefit to Canada." Minneapolis-based ATK will now have 30 days to make a better case to Industry Canada if it intends to pursue the deal. The main point of contention involves legislation governing remote-sensing satellite technology made by MDA. This includes the Radarsat 2 satellite, which has received government funding. ATK agreed to buy the space unit of MDA in January for about $1.3-billion. (4/10)

State Attracts $355 Million in Space Exploration Funds (Source: Rocky Mountain News)
Colorado is one of the nation's largest recipients of NASA space-exploration dollars. The federal space agency spent $354.6 million on Colorado-based contracts last year, putting the state No. 8 nationwide for NASA contract funding, according to the space agency. Nearly $200 million went to Lockheed Martin Corp., which is designing and developing NASA's Orion spacecraft to take astronauts to the moon and Mars. Other big recipients of NASA dollars included Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. and the University of Colorado, the nation's single largest recipient of NASA university research dollars. (4/10)

ESA to Recruit New European Astronauts (Source: ESA)
With ESA astronauts working in the Columbus laboratory onboard the International Space Station (ISS) and the first of ESA’s new ATV cargo ships having delivered fresh supplies to the station, ESA’s human spaceflight activities have entered a new era. It is now time for ESA to seek out new talent to bolster its Astronaut Corps for future manned missions to the ISS, the Moon and beyond. The selection process will start on Monday 19 May. (4/10)

Military's Space Demands Keep Topping Supply (Source: Reuters)
U.S. military demand for satellite services will continue to outrun supply as the United States fleshes out a global information "mosaic," the Air Force's top civilian said Wednesday. "We are entering an age when warfighters want more of what space has to offer," Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne said. Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and other defense contractors are vying for billions of dollars of work on advanced military communications, navigation and other satellite systems that will boost U.S. signal-processing power as much as 10-fold compared with systems being replaced. (4/10)

Delta 4-Heavy Rocket on the Pad for Late July Blastoff (Source: SpaceFlightNow.com)
Preparations for the next launch of America's largest unmanned rocket are underway at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport's Complex 37 following the recent rollout of the Delta 4-Heavy vehicle from its assembly hangar. Resting on its transporter, the mammoth orange and white rocket stretching about 170 feet in length emerged from the Horizontal Integration Facility on March 26 for the short drive to pad 37B. The vehicle is capable of carrying the military's largest payloads that once relied upon the now-retired Titan rocket fleet. (4/10)