June 1 News Items

Alliant Techsystems Vehicle to Launch in July (Source: Flight International)
Solid rocket propulsion maker Alliant Techsystems (ATK) is readying its first prototype complete rocket for launch from the NASA Wallops Flight Center facility in Virginia at the end of July. The two-stage internally funded vehicle, called the ATK launch vehicle (ALV), will carry three NASA payloads for the suborbital flight. One payload, from NASA's Langley Research Center, is designed for hypersonic boundary layer research and then two "soccer ball-sized" secondary payloads, from NASA Ames Research Center, will be deployed at the ALV's suborbital trajectory's apogee. ATK vice president Charlie Precourt tells Flight International that the company is undertaking the project to gain experience in integrating and launching a vehicle. (6/1)

ISRO to Launch Crewed Mission in Six Years (Source: India Today)
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is confident of carrying out a manned mission to outer space within six to seven years, its Chairman Dr G Madhavan Nair said. Low-cost access to space, recoverable and re-usable launch vehicles were also objectives of ISRO, he said. Apart from its launch programs, ISRO could make remarkable progress in areas like tele-medicine and tele-education, he said. (6/1)

Foam Sheds During Discovery Launch (Source: Florida Today)
NASA says the foam shedding during Discovery's ascent is probably not something to worry about. Space operations chief Bill Gerstenmaier said that preliminary analysis identified about five pieces of foam insulation breaking free from the tank. The pieces appeared to be thin, light and consequently incapable of doing serious damage to the orbiter. A full analysis will be done using launch films, pictures of the external tank taken after separation in orbit and high-resolution detail photographs of the orbiter's belly as it approaches the space station on Monday. (6/1)

Virginia Legislators Feted for COTS Launch Effort (Source: Spaceports Blog)
Three Southwestern Virginia state legislators were feted by over 200 people in a standing ovation Wednesday evening in Abingdon, Va. for their legislative efforts to boost the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport as the launch site for the NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) contract won by Orbital Sciences Corporation earlier this year. The Technology Council had hoped that Orbital Sciences Corporation would have announced its final launch pad site selection pending between Virginia and Florida before the Wednesday event. Orbital is expected to make a decision in less than 2-weeks now. (5/30)

New Pics Boost Feelings Mars Lander has Bared Ice (Source: AP)
Sharp new images received Saturday from the Phoenix lander largely convinced scientists that the spacecraft's thrusters had uncovered a large patch of ice just below the Martian surface. That bodes well for the mission's main goal of digging for ice that can be tested for evidence of organic compounds that are the chemical building blocks of life. Team members had said Friday that photos showing the ground beneath the lander suggested the vehicle was resting on splotches of ice. Washington University scientist Ray Arvidson said the spacecraft's thrusters may have blown away dirt covering the ice when the robot landed one week ago. (5/31)

Shuttle Heads for Rendezvous With Space Station (Source: New York Times)
The shuttle Discovery blasted its way into orbit through wispy clouds against blue skies on its way to deliver a bus-sized laboratory to the International Space Station. The column of smoke, bright white against the brilliant day, cast a shadow to the east as the shuttle ascended, and the sound waves from more than 7 million pounds of thrust made the air itself seem to shudder. The shuttle, with its crew of seven astronauts, roared off of the pad at 5:02 p.m., the beginning of a five-minute window for launching that would line it up with the orbit of the International Space Station. Discovery is expected to catch up to the station and dock with it on Monday. (5/31)

Surrogates for Presidential Candidates Answer Space Questions (Source: ERAU)
Lori Garver (representing Hillary Clinton), Floyd Deschamps (representing John McCain), and Steve Robinson (representing Barack Obama) participated in a space Q&A with CNN's Miles O'Brien during last week's ISDC event in Washington. Garver showed that Clinton has the most detailed space policy platform. Deschamps' responses for McCain relied mainly on the Senator's history of support for space issues as a committee chairman. Robinson confirmed Obama's support for space within a broader science and education context. Many in attendance were hoping for more thoughtful and revealing space policy positions from McCain and Obama. (6/1)

Inflatable Robots Could Explore Mars (Source: New Scientist)
An army of inflatable, spherical robots might one day roll around on the Martian surface. Engineers who have designed the lightweight probes say they could economically explore vast regions of other planets. "Our inflatable rovers are lightweight, travel great distances, use very low energy and will be fairly cheap," says Fredrik Bruhn of Ǻngström Aerospace in Uppsala, Sweden, who initiated the idea that has now been developed by a team of engineers. "One battery charge will let such a rover travel around 100 kilometers." While researchers have proposed rolling spherical rovers before, no-one has previously suggested making them inflatable. With funding from the Swedish National Space Board, Bruhn's team has designed an inflatable version with a diameter of just 30 centimetres when it gets pumped full of xenon gas from an internal cartridge on landing. (5/30)

China Using Taiwanese Satellite for Quake Assessment (Source: Space News)
Chinese authorities coordinating post-earthquake emergency response are making use of a Taiwanese satellite that, when it was ordered and launched, provoked protests from China and the threat of sanctions against France, whose industry built it, according to European government officials and an international organization providing disaster response imagery. (5/30)

ILS Close to Return to Flight as Khrunichev Takes Control (Source: Space News)
The builder of the Proton-M launch vehicle has begun tests of a newly designed gas duct to replace the model that failed March 15 and will announce a return to flight date and an updated manifest by the end of June, according to the president of the company that sells Proton launch services worldwide. (5/30)

SpaceDev Payload Selected for June Falcon-1 Launch (Source: Space News)
The Pentagon announced May 29 that its Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) program office has selected a SpaceDev-built spacecraft over two other candidate payloads for the upcoming launch of Space Exploration Technologies' Falcon-1 rocket. (5/30)

Agency Heads Urge Europe to Build Its Own Crew Spacecraft (Source: Space News)
The heads of two of Europe's three biggest space agencies want the European Space Agency (ESA) to begin a long-term program that would lead to an independent European capability to send astronauts into space. Neither Johann-Dietrich Woerner, chairman of the German aerospace center, DLR, nor Italian Space Agency President Giovanni Bignami provided indications of how much money they would have to invest in a European crew-transport capability. But their remarks suggested that European government ministers may be presented with such a proposal when they meet in late November to set a multiyear space plan. Woerner also said Germany is supporting a proposal to modify Europe's unmanned Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) so it can return cargo to Earth after delivering supplies to the international space station.

Some officials say it would cost no more than 300 million euros ($473 million) to add a heat shield to the ATV and make other adjustments to its shell that would give it a re-entry capability. The first ATV is currently in the midst of its inaugural mission at the international space station. Once its supplies are transferred to the station, the ATV will be filled with garbage, undocked and guided to a spot in orbit where it will make its destructive re-entry over the South Pacific Ocean. ESA owes NASA four other ATVs as part of a barter arrangement. For Woerner, modifying ATV to permit a cargo-return function would be the first step in a gradual evolution of the vehicle over a decade that could lead to further refinements that would allow it to transport crews to and from space. Bignami said bluntly that "a real space power must be able to send its own people into space." He urged that ESA begin the effort. (5/31)

Bigelow Taps Aerojet for Sundancer Aft-End Thruster (Source: Space News)
GenCorp Aerojet concluded a $23 million deal in early May to supply Bigelow Aerospace with a monopropellant hydrazine thruster system for the aft end of the Sundancer inflatable space habitat the Las Vegas-based company intends to launch early next decade. The thruster will be used for rendezvous and docking, reboost maneuvers as well as the module's end of life controlled deorbit. Aerojet's system is intended to complement the novel attitude control system Huntsville, Ala.-based Orion Propulsion is providing under a separate $4.8 million contract. Orion's station-keeping thruster system, to be installed on Sundancer's forward end, will be fueled by byproducts from the module's environmental control and life support system. (5/31)

Harris Corp. To Replace Carrier-based Terminals (Source: Space News)
Harris Corp. of Melbourne, Fla., has received a $15.1 million order from the U.S. Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center (Spawar) to provide satellite communications terminals for U.S. aircraft carriers. The contract could be worth as much as $85 million over five years. Harris will supply 2.7-meter terminals with C- and Ku-band capabilities for high-speed Internet access under the Navy's Commercial Broadband Satellite Communications program. They will replace the current C-band terminals made by Harris that have been on Navy ships for more than 10 years, the company said. (5/29)

Potential Harris Sale Increases Uncertainty for Space Coast Economy, Workforce (Source: ERAU)
Harris Corp., a major high-wage employer headquartered on Florida's Space Coast, is considering options for being acquired by another firm, according to recent Wall Street Journal reports. Analysts believe General Dynamics and Northrop Grumman are interested in Harris. If the company is sold, there no guarantee that its various Space Coast units would remain in Brevard County, and there likely would be job migration to or from Florida as part of any acquisition restructuring. (5/31)

Piper to Continue Operations in Vero Beach (Source: Florida Today)
Piper Aircraft ended nearly two years of speculation Wednesday when the company announced it would keep its headquarters in Vero Beach. The deal, anchored by $32 million in incentives from the state and Indian River County, is important because it keeps jobs in the region and continues to strengthen Central Florida's growing status as a hub for jet manufacturers. Piper will be moving into jet manufacturing with production of the single-engine PiperJet, now in prototype development.

Earlier this month, the Brazilian jet-maker Embraer announced plans to locate the U.S. headquarters for its burgeoning business jet sector at Melbourne International Airport, already home to two smaller jet makers. That deal included $12 million in local and state incentives and the promise of up to 200 jobs. Gov. Charlie Crist, who was on hand for the Embraer announcement, appeared in Vero Beach Wednesday for the Piper announcement. (5/29)