November 22 News Items

A Look Inside Virgin Galactic's Flight Training (Source: Popular Science)
The NASTAR center’s two-day Space Flight Training Program includes academic classes that train the passengers to deal with the intense G forces experienced in flight, and six flight simulations in NASTAR’s STS-400, a centrifuge that provides the same physiological effects of a trip on SpaceShipTwo. Passengers of SpaceShipTwo will experience G forces in both the x (against the chest) and z (from the top of the head) directions. In space, these passengers can expect to experience three and a half Gs on their trip up, and six Gs on reentry. The STS-400 is one of the only centrifuges in the world capable of moving its cabin in all directions, so that passengers can experience G forces in each direction. Click here to view the article. (11/11)

France's PyroAlliance To Help Brazil on VLS-1 Rocket, ITAR-Free (Source: Space News)
The PyroAlliance division of SNPE Group of Paris will participate in the design and development of Brazil's VLS-1 satellite-launch vehicle under a contract with Brazil's Aerospace Technology Center (CTA). Under the contract, valued at $5.6 million over 16 months, PyroAlliance will provide an initial set of hardware for the rocket and will also oversee provision of gear from other component manufacturers. SNPE Group said the contract guarantees that the components will be ITAR-free, meaning it is not subject to the U.S. State Department's regulations on export of U.S.-built equipment. (11/22)

NASA Inching Toward Next Round of Constellation Contracts (Source: Space News)
With the development of NASA's space shuttle successor well under way, NASA will take steps in 2009 toward the next big round of contracts for systems needed to go to the Moon. In the spring, NASA plans to award multiple design study contracts that industry sources say could total $130 million for the Ares 5 heavy-lift cargo launch vehicle and the Altair lunar lander. The three-year contracts are a way for companies to position themselves to compete for part of the $20 billion NASA is expected to award for the construction of Ares 5 and Altair.

NASA currently intends to break the development of Ares 5 into five separate contracts all managed by Marshall Space Flight Center. NASA officials told prospective bidders this fall that it hopes to award at least two study contracts for each of the five so-called Ares 5 work packages. Industry sources estimate NASA will spend a total of around $100 million on separate design study contracts for Ares 5's Earth departure stage, core stage, first stage, avionics and shroud.

Study contract awards for Altair will follow the same schedule as Ares, with NASA issuing request for proposals in January for key spacecraft design considerations and selections for multiple awards expected in the spring. Industry sources put the value of each of the three anticipated awards at about $10 million. About two years into the study effort, NASA expects to issue solicitations for Altair's and Ares 5's actual design and development contracts, which could be worth a combined $20 billion or more. (11/22)

Obama Vetting Bill Richardson, Space Enthusiast (Source: Space.com)
The political buzz is that President-elect Barack Obama is looking at New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson as Commerce Secretary or some other senior post in his administration. At a recent space event, Richardson was asked about any possible post he might play in an Obama White House. The New Mexico governor played it a little coy, but said: "Here's what I want to be sure of ... that the Obama administration is pro-commercial space ... that the administration is pro-space, pro-government space, pro-commercial space." (11/22)

NASA Scales Back Flagship Mars Mission (Source: AP)
NASA is scrapping a controversial piece of hardware from its next-generation Mars rover that would have allowed the spacecraft to store rock fragments in a mini-basket for a future mission. The decision to slash the storage bin from the Mars Science Laboratory's payload came as engineers raced to meet an October 2009 launch deadline on a project beset by escalating costs and technical challenges. After consulting with independent scientists, NASA this week notified the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages the mission, to fly the nuclear-powered mega-rover without the container because of its "low science value." (11/22)

First Detection of Carbon Dioxide in an Exoplanet (Science News)
Moving one step closer to finding the fingerprints of life in a habitable planet beyond the solar system, astronomers have for the first time detected carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of a planet that orbits a star other than the sun. The extrasolar planet and its star lie about 63 light-years from Earth. A gaseous body slightly bigger than Jupiter, the orb circles its parent star at a proximity that renders it far too hot to support life. (11/22)

Kirtland Officials Accelerate Space-Based Program Testing (Source: AFSC)
Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center officials successfully tested the "Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) Highly Elliptical Orbit" payload and operations center and accelerated operational acceptance by six weeks. SBIRS is a consolidated system intended to meet U.S. infrared space surveillance needs through the first two to three decades of the 21st century. The SBIRS program addresses critical warfighter needs in the areas of missile warning, missile defense battlespace awareness, and technical intelligence. (11/22)

NASA Rushes to Complete Station Tasks (Source: Florida Today)
Space shuttle Endeavour's crew faces an important juncture, halfway through a 12-day stay at the International Space Station. NASA engineers on Friday worked furiously to determine what caused a problem installing a urine treatment system needed to increase supplies of drinking water. Meanwhile, spacewalkers hope to complete repairs of a faulty joint that rotates a set of the outpost's solar wings -- repairs complicated by the loss of tools during Tuesday's spacewalk. They will continue to wipe and scrape debris from a 10-foot gear ring damaged by grinding bearings. Then they'll replace about half of the gear's 12 bearing assemblies. (11/22)

Water Recycler Not Quite Right, Works in Spurts (Source: Houston Chronicle)
The new water recycler aboard the space station faltered during startup testing on Friday, sending experts in NASA's Mission Control into troubleshooting mode. They traced the problem to either an electrical motor — for which there is no replacement on the space station — or a network of sensors. The $250 million recycler is designed to reclaim drinking water from the astronauts' urine and condensate pulled from the atmosphere in the space station. (11/22)