Space Florida Wins Air Force Spaceport Services Contract (Source: DOD)
Space Florida has been awarded a $48 million contract which will provide spaceport services for the Space Launch Division within the Air Force's Space and Missile Systems Center/Space Development and Test Directorate. At this time, no funds have been obligated. Editor's Note: This is the same "Spaceports-3" contract that other spaceport authorities in Virginia, California and Alaska have been awarded to support Air Force Minotaur missions. Space Florida can now compete against these other spaceport authorities for such missions, using Launch Complex 46 at the tip of the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. (12/30)
Adams Pledges Support for NASA Human Spaceflight (Source: Daytona Beach News-Journal)
Sandy Adams of Orlando was elected in November to represent U.S. House District 24... "I will work to educate my colleagues about the importance of restoring human space flight as the mission of NASA -- not as an afterthought or something that would be "nice" to do, but as the core mission of the agency. It's not just a national security issue for me, but also a jobs issue, as thousands of our friends and neighbors have helped to make the United States pre-eminent in space exploration and human space flight. We cannot and should not be forced to rely on the Russians and Chinese to get our astronauts into space." (12/29)
Sen. Shelby’s Pork Lust Forces NASA To Spend $500M On Canceled Rocket Program (Source: Think Progress)
Thanks to Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), taxpayers are footing a $500 million bill for a NASA rocket that the agency has no plans or desire to continue developing. Pork legislation inserted into a spending bill by Shelby earlier this year is requiring NASA to spend millions on the canceled Ares-1 rocket program through March, even while the agency can’t find funds to begin a much-needed modernization of the famed Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida:
At the root of the problem is a 70-word sentence inserted into the 2010 budget — by lawmakers seeking to protect Ares I jobs in their home states — that bars NASA from shutting down the program until Congress passed a new budget a year later. [...] But Congress never passed a 2011 budget and instead voted this month to extend the 2010 budget until March — so NASA still must abide by the 2010 language.[...]
The language that keeps Constellation going was inserted into the 2010 budget last year by U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, an Alabama Republican who sought to protect the program and Ares jobs at Marshall Space Flight Center in his home state. His office confirmed that the language was still in effect but did not respond to e-mails seeking details. (12/30)
Discovery's Launch Still 'Go' for Feb. 3 Despite New Cracks (Source: CFNews-13)
Small cracks were found on space shuttle Discovery's external fuel tank Thursday during X-ray tests. But mission managers said the cracks should not delay the Feb. 3 launch. The cracks, a couple inches long, were detected on the tops of three stringers on panel 6, which is on the opposite side of the tank from Discovery. The cracks will be repaired using the same method as the others. (12/30)
Buzz Aldrin Sues Over Image on Moonwalk Trading Card (Source: Space.com)
Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second man ever to walk on the moon, is suing the trading card giant Topps for using a photo of him taken on his historic moonwalk as part of a recent series of collectible cards, according to news reports. After being unable to negotiate a licensing fee for the image, the 80-year old Aldrin filed a lawsuit against Topps in a Los Angeles federal court on Dec. 27, "contending that the trading card company had unjustly profited from his historic achievement. (12/30)
11 Things Americans Will Be Doing in Space in 2011 (Source: Space.com)
From private spaceflights to NASA missions to the moon, Mars and beyond, the next year promises to be a busy one for Americans in space. Here's a preview of just some of the coming attractions for U.S. spaceflight in 2011. Click here. (12/30)
NASA Accepts Proposals for Space Lab Control (Source: Galveston Daily News)
The International Space Station has nearly reached its full operating capacity more than 10 years since assembly of the orbiting laboratory began. Gearing for the next phase of the station’s purpose, NASA is seeking a nonprofit research management organization to develop and oversee the U.S. part of the lab. NASA’s 2010 Authorization Act, signed by President Barack Obama on Oct. 11, extends station operations to at least 2020. (12/30)
Editorial: Spotlight on Station (Source: Florida Today)
Could 2011 be the year of the International Space Station? Proponents are saying yes as the shuttle program ends and the $100¤billion outpost becomes the focal point for the human exploration of space for the next decade.
The Space Coast has a great deal at stake because plans for a resurgent launch industry at Cape Canaveral are joined at the hip to private rockets flying cargo and crews to the station.
That, plus the prospect of ground facilities here serving as a hub for preparing experiments headed to the outpost, make it critical the station receive the funding required in coming years to fulfill its mission. A mission that has survived a torturous, quarter-century road that includes several redesigns, a near-death experience in Congress and delays in completion caused by the shuttle Columbia disaster.
The station has been attacked from the start as a boondoggle that could never meet its lofty goal as a platform for groundbreaking scientific research that could lead to wonder drugs and super-smart computers. Now it has a chance to prove critics wrong, which it has the potential to do. Click here to read the editorial. (12/30)
Editorial: New Governor Should Retain NM Spaceport Leadership (Source: Las Cruces Sun-News)
Every time a new governor is elected, it means a certain amount of upheaval in state government. Susana Martinez has earned the right to select her own team to head the many state agencies and departments. And, given that the Republican governor-elect has a very different perspective than her predecessor, Democrat Bill Richardson, it should come as no surprise that she is cleaning house in Santa Fe and replacing Richardson appointees with those more in line with her views.
But, we believe there is one Richardson appointee who should be retained - at least for the immediate future. Spaceport Authority Director Rick Homans has overseen the steady progress at the facility this past year. With the spaceport on schedule to open in 2011, this would be a poor time to change leadership. (12/30)
NASA's Continued Funding Uncertainty (Source: Huntsville Times)
As 2010 ends, NASA Headquarters in Washington says it is stuck in a "holding pattern" between its old space program, known as Constellation, and its new mission of building a heavy-lift rocket for deep space exploration. In part, NASA Headquarters blames U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Tuscaloosa, with whom the White House fought all year over space policy. But Shelby's office says that there is no reason NASA can't move forward.
"NASA is just making excuses and continuing to drag its feet, just as it has done for the past two years under the Obama administration," Shelby spokesman Jonathan Graffeo said Wednesday. Looming even larger in NASA's future is the pending arrival in Washington of a new Congress with a Republican-led House of Representatives committed to cut federal spending. Will the new Congress take a scalpel to NASA's budget? No one knows. Will NASA make any substantial progress before the new Congress acts? No one expects it. (12/30)
December 29, 2010
Outlook: More Efficient Aerospace Production Means Fewer Workers (Source: AIA)
Manufacturing companies in Washington state, including Boeing, plan to ramp up production next year, but they may not need as many new workers, thanks to automation and lean production techniques designed to make production more efficient. The outsourcing of less complicated work has also reduced the need for local manpower. (12/29)
Students Compete in Honeywell Aerospace Challenge Finals (Source: AIA)
The Honeywell Fiesta Bowl Aerospace Challenge finals, held Dec. 30, will see presentations from six teams of fifth through eighth graders. The students will present their plans for an international lunar base, including a physical scale model. A panel of senior-level Honeywell engineers and NASA astronauts will judge the presentations. (12/29)
New Funding Gives NASA Earth Science Missions a Big Lift (Source: AIA)
The current five-year government spending plan should allow NASA to substantially ramp up its Earth science program. The program faced constraints and uncertainty just a year ago, but the new spending plan provides an additional $2.4 billion over the previous blueprint. This could allow NASA to fly a few missions each year instead of one every couple of years, one official said. (12/29)
Arianespace 6 for 6 in 2010 (Source: Arianespace)
On Wednesday, December 29, Arianespace orbited two communications satellites: Hispasat 1E for the Spanish operator Hispasat, and Koreasat 6 for the KT Corporation. This was the 55th Ariane 5 launch and the 41st success in a row. This latest successful Ariane 5 launch, the sixth in 2010, once again proves the launcher’s operational capabilities. Ariane 5 is the only commercial satellite launcher now on the market capable of simultaneously launching two payloads and handling a complete range of missions, from commercial launches into geostationary orbit to scientific satellites boosted into special orbits. (12/29)
Russia Sacks Space Officials Over Rocket Crash (Source: Financial Times)
The Kremlin sacked two top space officials held accountable for a rocket crash that set back Russia’s plans to complete a constellation of orbital navigation satellites to rival the US global positioning system. A Russian rocket carrying three Glonass satellites into orbit veered off course shortly after blastoff from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan this month and plunged into the Pacific Ocean, 1,000 miles north-west of Hawaii. (12/29)
After Indian Launch Fiasco, Allegations Galore (Source: Business Standard)
What caused the failure of the Indian Space Research Organization's latest mission to launch an advanced communication satellite, GSAT-5P, a consecutive failure of a launch? Allegations and accusations are said to be flying between the three divisions of ISRO, according to sources. An official said that cables carrying control signals from the on-board computer to the first stage snapped. The mission control could not send commands to the vehicle, as a result. The uncontrolled vehicle started deviating from its flight path and had to be detonated. (12/29)
Now You Don't... The Search for Life on Mars Continues (Source: The Economist)
Toward the end of 2011 a large and hugely expensive robotic rover called Curiosity is due to blast off for Mars from Cape Canaveral. If it makes it safely to the planet’s surface in August 2012 (getting down from orbit in one piece has not always proved easy for space probes) one of the first things it will do is sniff the air. Its creators, back on Earth, will be straining to see if that air carries a whiff of methane.
In 2004 three different groups said they had seen signs of methane in the atmosphere of Mars. Since, on Earth, almost all atmospheric methane comes from living things, this provided the biggest news from the planet since ALH 84001, a meteorite purportedly bearing Martian fossils, created headlines in 1996. Click here to read the article. (12/29)
NASA Seeks Space Technology Graduate Fellowship Applicants (Source: NASA)
NASA is seeking applications from graduate students for the agency's new Space Technology Research Fellowships. Applications are being accepted from accredited U.S. universities on behalf of graduate students interested in performing space technology research beginning in the fall of 2011. The deadline for submitting fellowship proposals is Feb. 23. Information on the fellowships, including how to submit applications, is available here. (12/29)
ILS To Launch Satmex 8 in 2012 on Proton Rocket (Source: Space News)
Satellite fleet operator Satmex of Mexico will launch its Satmex 8 telecommunications satellite aboard an International Launch Services (ILS) Proton rocket between July and September 2012, Satmex and ILS announced. Satmex 8 will replace Satmex 5 at 116.8 degrees west. Satmex 5, whose ion-electric propulsion system failed, is operating on backup chemical propulsion that Satmex has said will run out by late 2012. (12/29)
Ohio Supreme Court OKs State's Satellite TV Tax (Source: Washington Post)
The Ohio Supreme Court has upheld a state sales tax for satellite TV providers that cable competitors don't have to pay, rejecting arguments from the satellite industry that the tax is unfair while maintaining a source of tens of millions of dollars in revenue for the financially struggling state. (12/29)
Editorial: NASA Helping Keep Us Safe Down on Earth (Source: Redding.com)
The traditional rap on America’s space program was that the billions of tax dollars devoted to NASA’s moon shots, interplanetary probes and orbiting telescopes could be far better spent on down-to-Earth needs. In fact, that complaint’s as thin as the air up in the stratosphere. Anyone who’s found their way around a strange city with a geographic positioning system — or surfed the hundreds of channels on satellite television, or enjoyed a precise, up-to-the moment weather forecast — has lived an easier terrestrial life thanks to the spin-off benefits of the space program. Click here to read the article. (12/29)
Private Spaceflight Ready to Take Off in 2011 (Source: Space.com)
The private space industry has long been viewed as fledgling. But this once-pejorative term has taken on new meaning this year, as a roster of successes and fast-paced growth throughout 2010 suggests private spaceflight is ready to take off in 2011. Multiple private-sector space firms are moving into full power, going well beyond powerpoints and hand-waving. Still, the coming year is likely to feature battles between "same old space" and the ascension of "new space." Click here to view the article. (12/29)
First Human-Like Robot to Fly in Space (Source: Silicon Valley Mercury News)
To watch NASA's Robonaut 2 tip its head and gaze down at its open palms as it flexes its fingers and opposable thumbs is to believe there must be a human behind the opaque gold visor on the robot's face. In fact, there are only cameras. Robonaut 2, which NASA hopes to launch Feb. 3 aboard the space shuttle Discovery on a flight to its permanent home on the International Space Station, will be the first humanoidlike robot to fly in space.
Based on technology nurtured in part at NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View and built jointly by the space agency and General Motors, the robot has a head, two arms and a humanlike chest and shoulders. It has fingers, thumbs and wrists with enough dexterity to grip a pen and write "hello." It can even dial an iPhone. NASA intends to use Robonaut to do tasks that are too dangerous for humans, such as risky spacewalks, as well as for jobs that are too mundane, like swabbing the internal surfaces of the space station to prevent bacterial buildup -- an onerous task that now falls to astronauts. (12/29)
Suspected Debris of Exploded Rocket Washes Ashore (Source: IANS)
An oval metal object, suspected to be debris of the rocket that was blown up mid-air by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scientists Saturday following a failed launch, washed ashore near Pazhaverkadu in Thiruvallur district, officials said. A huge oval shaped metal object washed ashore Monday. (12/29)
Manufacturing companies in Washington state, including Boeing, plan to ramp up production next year, but they may not need as many new workers, thanks to automation and lean production techniques designed to make production more efficient. The outsourcing of less complicated work has also reduced the need for local manpower. (12/29)
Students Compete in Honeywell Aerospace Challenge Finals (Source: AIA)
The Honeywell Fiesta Bowl Aerospace Challenge finals, held Dec. 30, will see presentations from six teams of fifth through eighth graders. The students will present their plans for an international lunar base, including a physical scale model. A panel of senior-level Honeywell engineers and NASA astronauts will judge the presentations. (12/29)
New Funding Gives NASA Earth Science Missions a Big Lift (Source: AIA)
The current five-year government spending plan should allow NASA to substantially ramp up its Earth science program. The program faced constraints and uncertainty just a year ago, but the new spending plan provides an additional $2.4 billion over the previous blueprint. This could allow NASA to fly a few missions each year instead of one every couple of years, one official said. (12/29)
Arianespace 6 for 6 in 2010 (Source: Arianespace)
On Wednesday, December 29, Arianespace orbited two communications satellites: Hispasat 1E for the Spanish operator Hispasat, and Koreasat 6 for the KT Corporation. This was the 55th Ariane 5 launch and the 41st success in a row. This latest successful Ariane 5 launch, the sixth in 2010, once again proves the launcher’s operational capabilities. Ariane 5 is the only commercial satellite launcher now on the market capable of simultaneously launching two payloads and handling a complete range of missions, from commercial launches into geostationary orbit to scientific satellites boosted into special orbits. (12/29)
Russia Sacks Space Officials Over Rocket Crash (Source: Financial Times)
The Kremlin sacked two top space officials held accountable for a rocket crash that set back Russia’s plans to complete a constellation of orbital navigation satellites to rival the US global positioning system. A Russian rocket carrying three Glonass satellites into orbit veered off course shortly after blastoff from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan this month and plunged into the Pacific Ocean, 1,000 miles north-west of Hawaii. (12/29)
After Indian Launch Fiasco, Allegations Galore (Source: Business Standard)
What caused the failure of the Indian Space Research Organization's latest mission to launch an advanced communication satellite, GSAT-5P, a consecutive failure of a launch? Allegations and accusations are said to be flying between the three divisions of ISRO, according to sources. An official said that cables carrying control signals from the on-board computer to the first stage snapped. The mission control could not send commands to the vehicle, as a result. The uncontrolled vehicle started deviating from its flight path and had to be detonated. (12/29)
Now You Don't... The Search for Life on Mars Continues (Source: The Economist)
Toward the end of 2011 a large and hugely expensive robotic rover called Curiosity is due to blast off for Mars from Cape Canaveral. If it makes it safely to the planet’s surface in August 2012 (getting down from orbit in one piece has not always proved easy for space probes) one of the first things it will do is sniff the air. Its creators, back on Earth, will be straining to see if that air carries a whiff of methane.
In 2004 three different groups said they had seen signs of methane in the atmosphere of Mars. Since, on Earth, almost all atmospheric methane comes from living things, this provided the biggest news from the planet since ALH 84001, a meteorite purportedly bearing Martian fossils, created headlines in 1996. Click here to read the article. (12/29)
NASA Seeks Space Technology Graduate Fellowship Applicants (Source: NASA)
NASA is seeking applications from graduate students for the agency's new Space Technology Research Fellowships. Applications are being accepted from accredited U.S. universities on behalf of graduate students interested in performing space technology research beginning in the fall of 2011. The deadline for submitting fellowship proposals is Feb. 23. Information on the fellowships, including how to submit applications, is available here. (12/29)
ILS To Launch Satmex 8 in 2012 on Proton Rocket (Source: Space News)
Satellite fleet operator Satmex of Mexico will launch its Satmex 8 telecommunications satellite aboard an International Launch Services (ILS) Proton rocket between July and September 2012, Satmex and ILS announced. Satmex 8 will replace Satmex 5 at 116.8 degrees west. Satmex 5, whose ion-electric propulsion system failed, is operating on backup chemical propulsion that Satmex has said will run out by late 2012. (12/29)
Ohio Supreme Court OKs State's Satellite TV Tax (Source: Washington Post)
The Ohio Supreme Court has upheld a state sales tax for satellite TV providers that cable competitors don't have to pay, rejecting arguments from the satellite industry that the tax is unfair while maintaining a source of tens of millions of dollars in revenue for the financially struggling state. (12/29)
Editorial: NASA Helping Keep Us Safe Down on Earth (Source: Redding.com)
The traditional rap on America’s space program was that the billions of tax dollars devoted to NASA’s moon shots, interplanetary probes and orbiting telescopes could be far better spent on down-to-Earth needs. In fact, that complaint’s as thin as the air up in the stratosphere. Anyone who’s found their way around a strange city with a geographic positioning system — or surfed the hundreds of channels on satellite television, or enjoyed a precise, up-to-the moment weather forecast — has lived an easier terrestrial life thanks to the spin-off benefits of the space program. Click here to read the article. (12/29)
Private Spaceflight Ready to Take Off in 2011 (Source: Space.com)
The private space industry has long been viewed as fledgling. But this once-pejorative term has taken on new meaning this year, as a roster of successes and fast-paced growth throughout 2010 suggests private spaceflight is ready to take off in 2011. Multiple private-sector space firms are moving into full power, going well beyond powerpoints and hand-waving. Still, the coming year is likely to feature battles between "same old space" and the ascension of "new space." Click here to view the article. (12/29)
First Human-Like Robot to Fly in Space (Source: Silicon Valley Mercury News)
To watch NASA's Robonaut 2 tip its head and gaze down at its open palms as it flexes its fingers and opposable thumbs is to believe there must be a human behind the opaque gold visor on the robot's face. In fact, there are only cameras. Robonaut 2, which NASA hopes to launch Feb. 3 aboard the space shuttle Discovery on a flight to its permanent home on the International Space Station, will be the first humanoidlike robot to fly in space.
Based on technology nurtured in part at NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View and built jointly by the space agency and General Motors, the robot has a head, two arms and a humanlike chest and shoulders. It has fingers, thumbs and wrists with enough dexterity to grip a pen and write "hello." It can even dial an iPhone. NASA intends to use Robonaut to do tasks that are too dangerous for humans, such as risky spacewalks, as well as for jobs that are too mundane, like swabbing the internal surfaces of the space station to prevent bacterial buildup -- an onerous task that now falls to astronauts. (12/29)
Suspected Debris of Exploded Rocket Washes Ashore (Source: IANS)
An oval metal object, suspected to be debris of the rocket that was blown up mid-air by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scientists Saturday following a failed launch, washed ashore near Pazhaverkadu in Thiruvallur district, officials said. A huge oval shaped metal object washed ashore Monday. (12/29)
December 28, 2010
Galaxy 15 Status Update: Power, Communications, and Control Restored (Source: SpaceRef.com)
On 23 December, the power from the Galaxy 15 battery completely drained during its loss of earth lock and the Baseband Equipment (BBE) command unit reset, as it was designed to do. Shortly thereafter Galaxy 15 began accepting commands and Intelsat engineers began receiving telemetry in our Satellite Operations center. We have placed Galaxy 15 in safe mode, and at this time, we are pleased to report it no longer poses any threat of satellite interference to either neighboring satellites or customer services.
After completing initial diagnostic tests, we will load updated commanding software to the satellite. We expect to relocate the satellite to an Intelsat orbital location where engineers at our Satellite Operations Control Center will initiate extensive in-orbit testing to determine the functionality of every aspect of the spacecraft. We will provide an update through normal sales channels, and MyIntelsat, if and when the satellite recovery mission is successful. (12/28)
Astronauts4Hire is Hiring (Source: Parabolic Arc)
Have you ever wanted to be an astronaut? Do you have specialized scientific, engineering, or operational experience relevant to human spaceflight? Now is your chance to make your dreams come true! Astronauts4Hire is seeking candidates to expand its cadre of prospective commercial astronauts. Applications are due February 5, 2011 for full consideration in this selection cycle. Individuals interested in becoming flight members can submit their application via the Astronauts4Hire website, http://www.Astronauts4Hire.org/p/join.html, before February 5, 2011. (12/28)
Is Orbital Sciences Going to Bomb? (Source: Motley Fool)
Is Orbital Sciences sending any potential warning signs to alert investors? Take a look at this chart, which plots revenue growth against Accounts Receivable (AR) growth, and Days Sales Outstanding (DSO). When that red line (AR growth) crosses above the green line (revenue growth), I know I need to consult the filings. Similarly, a spike in the blue bars (DSO) indicates a trend worth worrying about. (12/28)
The Top 6 Spaceflight Stories of 2010 (Source: Space.com)
This year was a big one for spaceflight, with governmental agencies and the private sector alike marking many key milestones. During this watershed year, for example, NASA changed course to pursue new goals, the first private space capsule was launched into orbit and the International Space Station reached the 10-year mark of continuous human habitation. Here's a brief rundown of the top six spaceflight stories of 2010. (12/28)
Can NASA Compete with SpaceX? (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Early this month, SpaceX launched an unmanned version of its Dragon capsule into orbit, took it for a few spins around Earth, and then brought it home with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. The total cost — including design, manufacture, testing and launch of the company's Falcon 9 rocket and the capsule — was roughly $800 million. In the world of government spaceflight, that's almost a rounding error.
The ability of SpaceX to do so much with so little money is raising some serious questions about NASA. Inside NASA, some employees have taken to wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the letters "WWED," which stands for "What Would Elon Do?" It's a lack of affordability that is killing NASA, experts say. Aerospace-industry executives, NASA contractors and employees all warn that unless the storied agency can become leaner and more efficient in an era of shrinking federal budgets, it could find itself becoming a historical footnote.
"NASA and industry need to partner together to change our approach," says Jim Maser, the president of Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, which has designed virtually every rocket engine used by NASA since the dawn of the space program. Over the past six years, NASA has spent nearly $10 billion on the Ares I rocket and Orion capsule — its own version more or less of what SpaceX has launched — and came up with little more than cost overruns and technical woes. (12/28)
Orion An Example of Excessive NASA Oversight (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Perhaps the greatest test case for improving the affordability of NASA programs is the Orion spacecraft. Unlike Dragon, which cost SpaceX a few hundred million dollars to design, build and fly, Orion has so far cost $4.8 billion and is not likely to fly for at least another three years — and an additional $1.2 billion.
Orion's prime contractor, Lockheed Martin Corp., has long complained that unnecessary levels of NASA oversight drive up costs and has pleaded with the agency to cut down on required paperwork. Now, according to Mark Geyer, NASA's Orion program manager, the agency is relenting, scaling back layers of supervision and looking at other ways to cut costs.
And, rather than looking to build a fully-loaded capsule — capable for flying to the moon — NASA will build it in stages to match the budget. Under the latest plan, NASA and Lockheed would produce an unmanned test vehicle by 2013, and then a simple capsule that could orbit astronauts in 2017. By 2018, Orion would be ready to go to the International Space Station and, hopefully by 2020, would be capable of going to points beyond the moon for extended stays. (12/28)
Don't Send Bugs to Mars (Source: New Scientist)
We humans have a unique talent for contaminating Earth's pristine environments. Is it any surprise that we are also contaminating pristine celestial bodies with bacterial spores? Spacefaring nations have been sending unsterilised spacecraft to the moon, Mars, Jupiter, comets and asteroids for over 40 years. It has been estimated that about one trillion microbial spores from spacecraft are now scattered around Mars. Yet the search for life in our solar system has barely begun.
It wasn't always so. At the dawn of the space age, policy-makers had every intention to protect space from contamination. They also set out to protect Earth from material brought in from other celestial bodies that might contain toxins or pathogens. These lofty goals were enshrined in the United Nations Outer Space Treaty of 1967, now signed by all spacefaring nations. Click here to read the article. (12/28)
India-Launched Satellite and Rocket Were Not Insured (Source: The Hindu)
Both the communication satellite GSAT-5P and the Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle GSLV-F06 that was to have put the satellite into orbit on Saturday from Sriharikota were not insured. The GSLV-F06 cost the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) Rs.175 crore and GSAT-5P Rs.150 crore. The GSLV-F06 went up in smoke because the command from its electronic brain to its first stage did not go home. This happened because four connectors, which stitch up the wires conveying the signal, prised open and the wires got snapped. (12/28)
SpaceX Launches New Space Era (Source: San Bernardino Sun)
One of the most significant events in space exploration took place this month when a private company launched a spacecraft into orbit and successfully brought it back to Earth intact and on target. The craft is large enough to ferry supplies and eventually astronauts to the International Space Station, and to perform other tasks in space, manned or unmanned.
Until the flight by Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) on Dec. 8, only large nations such as the United States, Russia, China, Japan and India, and the European Space Agency had been able to launch a spacecraft into orbit and retrieve it. Although there were no people aboard SpaceX's craft, there easily could have been. In a few years, there probably will be astronauts going to and from the space station in the private company's vehicles. (12/28)
Canada Weighs Space Station Options (Source: CBC)
The head of the Canadian Space Agency says a Canadian astronaut may end up hitching a ride to the International Space Station on board a commercial vehicle. CSA president Steve MacLean says he's impressed by what SpaceX accomplished, noting Canada will launch a communications satellite atop the Falcon 9 in 2011. Most of Canada's astronauts have used U.S. space shuttles to travel to the space station, but the shuttles will be retired in 2011. MacLean would not rule out Canada hitching a ride on a commercial vessel like SpaceX's Dragon. (12/28)
Technology Mission: Preserve Apollo Shots (Source: Investors Business Daily)
Mesmerized by images beamed to his TV set, 10-year-old Mark Robinson watched the Apollo 11 lunar module land on the moon. Now, Robinson leads a NASA-funded team to archive photographs from the historic Apollo missions. "I was a total 'going to the moon' nerd," said Robinson, a professor at Arizona State University's School of Earth and Space Exploration and head of the Apollo Image Archive.
Both Robinson and scanning technology had to mature a little before the bold project of archiving about 36,000 still photographs from the 1968-72 moon missions could happen. The famous moon shots most people know are really copies — sometimes second or third generation — of the originals. All-important details are becoming fuzzy on those copies. It's a painstaking process to add clarity. (12/28)
Cultural History of the Moon (Source: New York Times)
The book “Moon: A Brief History,” with its wide variety of illustrations from classical texts, science fiction and other sources, describes not just the history of the celestial body but the ways it inspired the human imagination to take flight, fueled, as Proust put it, by “the ancient unalterable splendor of a Moon cruelly and mysteriously serene.” Click here to see the slide show. (12/27)
Moon Landing Postal Image Needs Your Stamp of Approval (Source: Space.com)
The Smithsonian Institution's National Postal Museum is asking for help in selecting an iconic stamp to represent the United States in an international gallery — and one of its choices celebrates the first moon landing. You can vote on which stamp best represents America; choices include the Statue of Liberty, the capitol dome or a flag-and-fireworks stamp. One of the seven candidate stamps is the classic $2.40 Apollo 11 single. The stamp that receives the most votes by January 20, 2011, will be the winner. To cast your vote, click here. (12/28)
Hewlett Packard Wins NASA Computer Services Contract (Source: NASA)
NASA awarded on Dec. 27 a 10-year contract to HP Enterprise Services for Agency Consolidated End-user Services, or ACES. This contract has a maximum value of $2.5 billion and four-year base period with two three-year option periods. The contract will be managed at the NASA Shared Services Center (NSSC) in Mississippi.
The ACES contract will develop a long-term outsourcing arrangement with the commercial sector to provide and manage most of NASA's personal computing hardware, agency-standard software, mobile information technology (IT) services, peripherals and accessories, associated end-user services, and supporting infrastructure. (12/28)
Hispasat, Koreasat Ready for Launch (Source: Broadband TV News)
Arianespace has rolled out its sixth Ariane 5 for launch in 2010, preparing the final mission of this year for an evening liftoff today, December 28, at the Spaceport in French Guiana. The workhorse vehicle was transferred to the ELA-3 launch zone from the Spaceport’s Final Assembly Building – where the Ariane 5 was fitted with its dual-satellite payload of Hispasat 1E and Koreasat 6. (12/28)
On 23 December, the power from the Galaxy 15 battery completely drained during its loss of earth lock and the Baseband Equipment (BBE) command unit reset, as it was designed to do. Shortly thereafter Galaxy 15 began accepting commands and Intelsat engineers began receiving telemetry in our Satellite Operations center. We have placed Galaxy 15 in safe mode, and at this time, we are pleased to report it no longer poses any threat of satellite interference to either neighboring satellites or customer services.
After completing initial diagnostic tests, we will load updated commanding software to the satellite. We expect to relocate the satellite to an Intelsat orbital location where engineers at our Satellite Operations Control Center will initiate extensive in-orbit testing to determine the functionality of every aspect of the spacecraft. We will provide an update through normal sales channels, and MyIntelsat, if and when the satellite recovery mission is successful. (12/28)
Astronauts4Hire is Hiring (Source: Parabolic Arc)
Have you ever wanted to be an astronaut? Do you have specialized scientific, engineering, or operational experience relevant to human spaceflight? Now is your chance to make your dreams come true! Astronauts4Hire is seeking candidates to expand its cadre of prospective commercial astronauts. Applications are due February 5, 2011 for full consideration in this selection cycle. Individuals interested in becoming flight members can submit their application via the Astronauts4Hire website, http://www.Astronauts4Hire.org/p/join.html, before February 5, 2011. (12/28)
Is Orbital Sciences Going to Bomb? (Source: Motley Fool)
Is Orbital Sciences sending any potential warning signs to alert investors? Take a look at this chart, which plots revenue growth against Accounts Receivable (AR) growth, and Days Sales Outstanding (DSO). When that red line (AR growth) crosses above the green line (revenue growth), I know I need to consult the filings. Similarly, a spike in the blue bars (DSO) indicates a trend worth worrying about. (12/28)
The Top 6 Spaceflight Stories of 2010 (Source: Space.com)
This year was a big one for spaceflight, with governmental agencies and the private sector alike marking many key milestones. During this watershed year, for example, NASA changed course to pursue new goals, the first private space capsule was launched into orbit and the International Space Station reached the 10-year mark of continuous human habitation. Here's a brief rundown of the top six spaceflight stories of 2010. (12/28)
Can NASA Compete with SpaceX? (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Early this month, SpaceX launched an unmanned version of its Dragon capsule into orbit, took it for a few spins around Earth, and then brought it home with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. The total cost — including design, manufacture, testing and launch of the company's Falcon 9 rocket and the capsule — was roughly $800 million. In the world of government spaceflight, that's almost a rounding error.
The ability of SpaceX to do so much with so little money is raising some serious questions about NASA. Inside NASA, some employees have taken to wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the letters "WWED," which stands for "What Would Elon Do?" It's a lack of affordability that is killing NASA, experts say. Aerospace-industry executives, NASA contractors and employees all warn that unless the storied agency can become leaner and more efficient in an era of shrinking federal budgets, it could find itself becoming a historical footnote.
"NASA and industry need to partner together to change our approach," says Jim Maser, the president of Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, which has designed virtually every rocket engine used by NASA since the dawn of the space program. Over the past six years, NASA has spent nearly $10 billion on the Ares I rocket and Orion capsule — its own version more or less of what SpaceX has launched — and came up with little more than cost overruns and technical woes. (12/28)
Orion An Example of Excessive NASA Oversight (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Perhaps the greatest test case for improving the affordability of NASA programs is the Orion spacecraft. Unlike Dragon, which cost SpaceX a few hundred million dollars to design, build and fly, Orion has so far cost $4.8 billion and is not likely to fly for at least another three years — and an additional $1.2 billion.
Orion's prime contractor, Lockheed Martin Corp., has long complained that unnecessary levels of NASA oversight drive up costs and has pleaded with the agency to cut down on required paperwork. Now, according to Mark Geyer, NASA's Orion program manager, the agency is relenting, scaling back layers of supervision and looking at other ways to cut costs.
And, rather than looking to build a fully-loaded capsule — capable for flying to the moon — NASA will build it in stages to match the budget. Under the latest plan, NASA and Lockheed would produce an unmanned test vehicle by 2013, and then a simple capsule that could orbit astronauts in 2017. By 2018, Orion would be ready to go to the International Space Station and, hopefully by 2020, would be capable of going to points beyond the moon for extended stays. (12/28)
Don't Send Bugs to Mars (Source: New Scientist)
We humans have a unique talent for contaminating Earth's pristine environments. Is it any surprise that we are also contaminating pristine celestial bodies with bacterial spores? Spacefaring nations have been sending unsterilised spacecraft to the moon, Mars, Jupiter, comets and asteroids for over 40 years. It has been estimated that about one trillion microbial spores from spacecraft are now scattered around Mars. Yet the search for life in our solar system has barely begun.
It wasn't always so. At the dawn of the space age, policy-makers had every intention to protect space from contamination. They also set out to protect Earth from material brought in from other celestial bodies that might contain toxins or pathogens. These lofty goals were enshrined in the United Nations Outer Space Treaty of 1967, now signed by all spacefaring nations. Click here to read the article. (12/28)
India-Launched Satellite and Rocket Were Not Insured (Source: The Hindu)
Both the communication satellite GSAT-5P and the Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle GSLV-F06 that was to have put the satellite into orbit on Saturday from Sriharikota were not insured. The GSLV-F06 cost the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) Rs.175 crore and GSAT-5P Rs.150 crore. The GSLV-F06 went up in smoke because the command from its electronic brain to its first stage did not go home. This happened because four connectors, which stitch up the wires conveying the signal, prised open and the wires got snapped. (12/28)
SpaceX Launches New Space Era (Source: San Bernardino Sun)
One of the most significant events in space exploration took place this month when a private company launched a spacecraft into orbit and successfully brought it back to Earth intact and on target. The craft is large enough to ferry supplies and eventually astronauts to the International Space Station, and to perform other tasks in space, manned or unmanned.
Until the flight by Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) on Dec. 8, only large nations such as the United States, Russia, China, Japan and India, and the European Space Agency had been able to launch a spacecraft into orbit and retrieve it. Although there were no people aboard SpaceX's craft, there easily could have been. In a few years, there probably will be astronauts going to and from the space station in the private company's vehicles. (12/28)
Canada Weighs Space Station Options (Source: CBC)
The head of the Canadian Space Agency says a Canadian astronaut may end up hitching a ride to the International Space Station on board a commercial vehicle. CSA president Steve MacLean says he's impressed by what SpaceX accomplished, noting Canada will launch a communications satellite atop the Falcon 9 in 2011. Most of Canada's astronauts have used U.S. space shuttles to travel to the space station, but the shuttles will be retired in 2011. MacLean would not rule out Canada hitching a ride on a commercial vessel like SpaceX's Dragon. (12/28)
Technology Mission: Preserve Apollo Shots (Source: Investors Business Daily)
Mesmerized by images beamed to his TV set, 10-year-old Mark Robinson watched the Apollo 11 lunar module land on the moon. Now, Robinson leads a NASA-funded team to archive photographs from the historic Apollo missions. "I was a total 'going to the moon' nerd," said Robinson, a professor at Arizona State University's School of Earth and Space Exploration and head of the Apollo Image Archive.
Both Robinson and scanning technology had to mature a little before the bold project of archiving about 36,000 still photographs from the 1968-72 moon missions could happen. The famous moon shots most people know are really copies — sometimes second or third generation — of the originals. All-important details are becoming fuzzy on those copies. It's a painstaking process to add clarity. (12/28)
Cultural History of the Moon (Source: New York Times)
The book “Moon: A Brief History,” with its wide variety of illustrations from classical texts, science fiction and other sources, describes not just the history of the celestial body but the ways it inspired the human imagination to take flight, fueled, as Proust put it, by “the ancient unalterable splendor of a Moon cruelly and mysteriously serene.” Click here to see the slide show. (12/27)
Moon Landing Postal Image Needs Your Stamp of Approval (Source: Space.com)
The Smithsonian Institution's National Postal Museum is asking for help in selecting an iconic stamp to represent the United States in an international gallery — and one of its choices celebrates the first moon landing. You can vote on which stamp best represents America; choices include the Statue of Liberty, the capitol dome or a flag-and-fireworks stamp. One of the seven candidate stamps is the classic $2.40 Apollo 11 single. The stamp that receives the most votes by January 20, 2011, will be the winner. To cast your vote, click here. (12/28)
Hewlett Packard Wins NASA Computer Services Contract (Source: NASA)
NASA awarded on Dec. 27 a 10-year contract to HP Enterprise Services for Agency Consolidated End-user Services, or ACES. This contract has a maximum value of $2.5 billion and four-year base period with two three-year option periods. The contract will be managed at the NASA Shared Services Center (NSSC) in Mississippi.
The ACES contract will develop a long-term outsourcing arrangement with the commercial sector to provide and manage most of NASA's personal computing hardware, agency-standard software, mobile information technology (IT) services, peripherals and accessories, associated end-user services, and supporting infrastructure. (12/28)
Hispasat, Koreasat Ready for Launch (Source: Broadband TV News)
Arianespace has rolled out its sixth Ariane 5 for launch in 2010, preparing the final mission of this year for an evening liftoff today, December 28, at the Spaceport in French Guiana. The workhorse vehicle was transferred to the ELA-3 launch zone from the Spaceport’s Final Assembly Building – where the Ariane 5 was fitted with its dual-satellite payload of Hispasat 1E and Koreasat 6. (12/28)
December 27, 2010
The Promises Obama Wants You to Keep Forgetting (Source: Salon)
In early December, a combative President Obama challenged reporters at a press conference: "Look at what I promised during the campaign. There's not a single thing that I've said that I would do that I have not either done or tried to do. And if I haven't gotten it done yet, I'm still trying to do it." As it turns out, there are plenty of clearly stated promises, in areas big and small, that Obama has not kept. PolitiFact, which pretty much has this market cornered, has been tracking hundreds of Obama promises.
Back to the Moon: Candidate Obama's space policy -- an issue that is closely watched in the crucial state of Florida -- had this to say: "[Obama] endorses the goal of sending human missions to the Moon by 2020, as a precursor in an orderly progression to missions to more distant destinations, including Mars."
After the campaign, returning to the Moon faded from Obama's agenda. Finally, in the 2011 budget, the administration completely abandoned the idea, calling the NASA Moon program "over budget, behind schedule, and lacking in innovation due to a failure to invest in critical new technologies." The budget said the Moon program had drawn funding away from the more important areas of "robotic space exploration, science, and Earth observations." (12/27)
Skylon Hypersonic Spaceplane Should See Major Funding Decision in Mid-2011 (Source: Next Big Future)
Skylon is a design by Reaction Engines Limited for an unpiloted, airbreathing single-stage to orbit, combined cycle jet engine based spaceplane. A fleet of vehicles is envisaged; the design is aiming for reusability up to 200 times. In paper studies, costs per kilogram of payload are hoped to be below the current costs of launch, including the costs of R&D, with costs expected to fall much more over time after the initial expenditures have amortised. The cost of the program has been estimated by the developer to be about $12 billion.
The vehicle design is for a hydrogen-powered aircraft that would take off from a conventional runway, and accelerate to Mach 5.4 at 26 km using atmospheric air before switching the engines to use the internal LOX supply to take it to orbit. It would then release a 12-tonne payload, then reenter the atmosphere. The payload would be carried in a standardised payload container or passenger compartment
The UK Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills was aksed what the recent assessment he has made of the potential viability of the Skylon Spaceplane; what assessment he has made of his merits of Government support for that project; and if he will make a statement. Minister David Willetts said: "The European Space Agency is funding proof of concept work for Skylon from UK contributions. This work is focusing on demonstrating the viability of the advanced British engine technology that would underpin the project. Initial work will be completed in mid 2011 and if the trial is successful, we will work with industry to consider next steps." (12/27)
New Mexico: 2010 was Full of Spaceport Milestones (Source NM Politics)
Exactly five years ago this month, Governor Bill Richardson announced a bold plan to build the world’s first purpose-built commercial spaceport — aiming to be for the emerging “new” space industry what Silicon Valley has become for the computer industry. What a difference five years makes! 2010 will be considered a milestone year for the commercial spaceflight industry, and for Spaceport America. Click here to see a few of the accomplishments in the year just past. (12/27)
Colorado Region Could Reach New Heights with NASA Project (Source: Coloradoan)
Since early December, economic development specialists across the Front Range have set their sights on landing a deal that could bring 10,000 jobs to their doorsteps. When NASA signed a contract with the Colorado Association for Manufacturing and Technology on Dec. 13, the race started to find the best site for a technology park somewhere between metro Denver, Boulder and Loveland. As proposed, the NASA campus would house businesses that develop and build technologies to benefit the agency and boost the state's manufacturing industry. (12/27)
NASA's Ares Rocket Dead, But Congress Lets You Pay $500 Million More For It (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Thanks to congressional inaction, NASA must continue to fund its defunct Ares I rocket program until March — a requirement that will cost the agency nearly $500 million at a time when NASA is struggling with the expensive task of replacing the space shuttle. About one-third that money — $165 million — will go to Alliant Techsystems, or ATK, which has a $2 billion contract to build the solid-rocket first stage for the Ares I, the rocket that was supposed to fill the shuttle's role of transporting astronauts to the International Space Station.
But under a new NASA plan signed into law by President Barack Obama in October, there's no guarantee that the new rocket required by that plan will use solid-fuel propulsion. And, in fact, many in the agency say a liquid-fueled rocket would be cheaper, more powerful — and safer. The money to ATK is part of the $1.2 billion NASA will spend on its canceled Constellation program from Oct. 1 through March. Most of the rest will go to Lockheed Martin, which is building the Orion capsule intended to take astronauts into space aboard whatever rocket NASA selects. That program was largely spared by the new NASA plan.
What's more, constraints on NASA spending resulting from congressional budget gridlock will delay the scheduled start this year of a program to modernize aging facilities at Kennedy Space Center to transform it into a "21st-century spaceport." It's now not clear when the program will begin. Click here to view the article. (12/27)
The Top 7 Space Stories of 2010 (Source: Space.com)
In the year 2010, humanity made first contact with extraterrestrials — at least according to the sequel to the acclaimed film "2001: A Space Odyssey." Nothing quite so earth-shattering happened in the real world this year. But space-science researchers did make a number of extraordinary discoveries in 2010, including finding what may or may not be the first habitable alien world and uncovering clues to the nature of dark matter. Click here to see the list. (12/27)
Monument to Honor Space Shuttle Workers (Source: Florida Today)
Mercury. Gemini. Apollo. The nation's storied space programs are all remembered here, at Space View Park in Titusville. And, now, with the shuttle fleet just three flights away from retirement, fundraising is under way to bestow the same honors on this nearly three-decade-long program. Dozens of astronauts, former Kennedy Space Center directors, community leaders and aerospace companies are behind an effort to build a $500,000 granite Shuttle Monument that would take its place near the other space monuments that dot the park. (12/27)
NASA Facility Awaits Word of Possible Cuts (Source: Las Cruces Sun-News)
Two years ago, NASA said more than 8,000 contractor jobs connected to the space program could be eliminated after the space shuttle program was shut down. With the shuttle's final days imminent - the last flights are scheduled for next year - the questions that now must be asked are: Will there be layoffs at NASA's White Sands Test Facility near Las Cruces and, if so, what effect will that have on the local economy?
Right now, the answer is unclear. The test facility has about 700 workers, with about 50 of them employed by the government and the rest by private contractors, said Robert Cort, the facility's associate manager of technical operations. The two biggest employers at the facility - where rocket motor testing takes place as does refurbishing of flight hardware and other tasks - are Jacobs Technology and Enterprise Advisory Services Inc. (12/27)
India Checks Rocket Failure Data (Source: PTI)
India’s top space scientists are analyzing data to find out what caused the satellite launch to fail yesterday and an expert committee is likely to be formed soon. “Teams are looking at the data to find out the reason,” said Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) spokesperson S. Satish. “A failure analysis committee is likely to be formed in the next one or two days,” he added. Initial data indicated that the control command signals from the rocket’s onboard computer failed to reach the first-stage circuits, causing the vehicle to lose altitude, veer off its flight path and crack up under the heavy load on its structure. (12/27)
Job Cuts Loom in Arizona as Military Eyes Cuts (Source: AIA)
Arizona's defense and aerospace contractors could face cutbacks in the coming year as the U.S. Defense Department reduces spending. The state, which received upwards of $12.4 billion in military contracts last year, saw its share fall by 19% in 2010. The decline is attributed to a slowdown in defense spending following the post-9/11 buildup and the winding down of the war in Iraq. (12/27)
Report: Air Traffic Control Upgrades Seeing Delays, Higher Costs (Source: AIA)
The Federal Aviation Administration's effort to overhaul the air traffic control system will experience significant delays and unforeseen costs, according to a new report by the inspector general. In the report, DOT Inspector General Calvin Scovel said he is particularly concerned about a computer program that manages aircraft flying at high altitudes. The FAA may need to pay up to $500 million more to contractor Lockheed Martin to finish the project. (12/27)
Outer Space Issues 2011 – Upcoming Trends Forecast by Secure World Foundation (Source: NewsWise)
There are outstanding issues in the coming year that deserve increased attention in terms of global outer space activities – from tackling the growing problem of orbital space debris, enhancing Earth security via satellite data, protecting our planet from Near Earth Objects, and assuring a sustainable space environment for all nations to improve their well-being. Click here to read the article. (12/27)
Disaster Leaves India With One Cryo Engine (Source: Times of India)
ISRO is staring at a crisis: it is left with just one Russia-made cryogenic engine and its indigenous version is far from ready. The launch of communication satellites weighing more than 2 tons into a geosynchronous transfer orbit need Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicles (GSLV) powered partly by cryogenic engines.
The cryogenic engine that went up in flames with GSLV-F06 on Saturday was the sixth of the seven such engines the country had procured from Russia. Post-Pokhran-II, the US had armtwisted Russia to deny the engine to India. ISRO tried the indigenous cryogenic engine for the GSLV-D3 launch on April 15, 2010, which was a failure. The engine has gone back to ISRO's workshops for ground tests and there is no definite word on when the improved version would be ready. (12/27)
Failure Sparks Safety Fears for 2016 Manned Space Flight (Source: DNA)
What if there were live Indian astronauts on board the geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle (GSLV) rocket that exploded a minute after lift-off on Saturday afternoon from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota? This is the question that is bothering scientists of the Indian space research organization (ISRO), which is on track to launch its first manned space flight in 2015-16.
The cause for worry among the ISRO scientists is this: the manned space flight mission will also be launched on board a GSLV rocket. At stake will not only be the Rs12,400 crore mission and the Indian space agency’s reputation, but also the lives of two vyomanauts (as the Indian astronauts will be referred to). (12/27)
Failure of Japan's Venus Probe Akatsuki Likely Due to Faulty Valve (Source: Mainichi)
The failure of the Akatsuki Venus Climate Orbiter to enter orbit around Venus earlier this month was most likely due to a blockage in the backflow valve installed in the fuel-supply pipes of the engine that was used for reverse engine thrust, a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) taskforce has concluded. The valve is structured in a way that it cannot be manipulated from Earth, and whether the space probe can be inserted into Venus's orbit -- at its next chance six years from now -- will not be clear until various experiments are conducted on Earth. (12/27)
In early December, a combative President Obama challenged reporters at a press conference: "Look at what I promised during the campaign. There's not a single thing that I've said that I would do that I have not either done or tried to do. And if I haven't gotten it done yet, I'm still trying to do it." As it turns out, there are plenty of clearly stated promises, in areas big and small, that Obama has not kept. PolitiFact, which pretty much has this market cornered, has been tracking hundreds of Obama promises.
Back to the Moon: Candidate Obama's space policy -- an issue that is closely watched in the crucial state of Florida -- had this to say: "[Obama] endorses the goal of sending human missions to the Moon by 2020, as a precursor in an orderly progression to missions to more distant destinations, including Mars."
After the campaign, returning to the Moon faded from Obama's agenda. Finally, in the 2011 budget, the administration completely abandoned the idea, calling the NASA Moon program "over budget, behind schedule, and lacking in innovation due to a failure to invest in critical new technologies." The budget said the Moon program had drawn funding away from the more important areas of "robotic space exploration, science, and Earth observations." (12/27)
Skylon Hypersonic Spaceplane Should See Major Funding Decision in Mid-2011 (Source: Next Big Future)
Skylon is a design by Reaction Engines Limited for an unpiloted, airbreathing single-stage to orbit, combined cycle jet engine based spaceplane. A fleet of vehicles is envisaged; the design is aiming for reusability up to 200 times. In paper studies, costs per kilogram of payload are hoped to be below the current costs of launch, including the costs of R&D, with costs expected to fall much more over time after the initial expenditures have amortised. The cost of the program has been estimated by the developer to be about $12 billion.
The vehicle design is for a hydrogen-powered aircraft that would take off from a conventional runway, and accelerate to Mach 5.4 at 26 km using atmospheric air before switching the engines to use the internal LOX supply to take it to orbit. It would then release a 12-tonne payload, then reenter the atmosphere. The payload would be carried in a standardised payload container or passenger compartment
The UK Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills was aksed what the recent assessment he has made of the potential viability of the Skylon Spaceplane; what assessment he has made of his merits of Government support for that project; and if he will make a statement. Minister David Willetts said: "The European Space Agency is funding proof of concept work for Skylon from UK contributions. This work is focusing on demonstrating the viability of the advanced British engine technology that would underpin the project. Initial work will be completed in mid 2011 and if the trial is successful, we will work with industry to consider next steps." (12/27)
New Mexico: 2010 was Full of Spaceport Milestones (Source NM Politics)
Exactly five years ago this month, Governor Bill Richardson announced a bold plan to build the world’s first purpose-built commercial spaceport — aiming to be for the emerging “new” space industry what Silicon Valley has become for the computer industry. What a difference five years makes! 2010 will be considered a milestone year for the commercial spaceflight industry, and for Spaceport America. Click here to see a few of the accomplishments in the year just past. (12/27)
Colorado Region Could Reach New Heights with NASA Project (Source: Coloradoan)
Since early December, economic development specialists across the Front Range have set their sights on landing a deal that could bring 10,000 jobs to their doorsteps. When NASA signed a contract with the Colorado Association for Manufacturing and Technology on Dec. 13, the race started to find the best site for a technology park somewhere between metro Denver, Boulder and Loveland. As proposed, the NASA campus would house businesses that develop and build technologies to benefit the agency and boost the state's manufacturing industry. (12/27)
NASA's Ares Rocket Dead, But Congress Lets You Pay $500 Million More For It (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Thanks to congressional inaction, NASA must continue to fund its defunct Ares I rocket program until March — a requirement that will cost the agency nearly $500 million at a time when NASA is struggling with the expensive task of replacing the space shuttle. About one-third that money — $165 million — will go to Alliant Techsystems, or ATK, which has a $2 billion contract to build the solid-rocket first stage for the Ares I, the rocket that was supposed to fill the shuttle's role of transporting astronauts to the International Space Station.
But under a new NASA plan signed into law by President Barack Obama in October, there's no guarantee that the new rocket required by that plan will use solid-fuel propulsion. And, in fact, many in the agency say a liquid-fueled rocket would be cheaper, more powerful — and safer. The money to ATK is part of the $1.2 billion NASA will spend on its canceled Constellation program from Oct. 1 through March. Most of the rest will go to Lockheed Martin, which is building the Orion capsule intended to take astronauts into space aboard whatever rocket NASA selects. That program was largely spared by the new NASA plan.
What's more, constraints on NASA spending resulting from congressional budget gridlock will delay the scheduled start this year of a program to modernize aging facilities at Kennedy Space Center to transform it into a "21st-century spaceport." It's now not clear when the program will begin. Click here to view the article. (12/27)
The Top 7 Space Stories of 2010 (Source: Space.com)
In the year 2010, humanity made first contact with extraterrestrials — at least according to the sequel to the acclaimed film "2001: A Space Odyssey." Nothing quite so earth-shattering happened in the real world this year. But space-science researchers did make a number of extraordinary discoveries in 2010, including finding what may or may not be the first habitable alien world and uncovering clues to the nature of dark matter. Click here to see the list. (12/27)
Monument to Honor Space Shuttle Workers (Source: Florida Today)
Mercury. Gemini. Apollo. The nation's storied space programs are all remembered here, at Space View Park in Titusville. And, now, with the shuttle fleet just three flights away from retirement, fundraising is under way to bestow the same honors on this nearly three-decade-long program. Dozens of astronauts, former Kennedy Space Center directors, community leaders and aerospace companies are behind an effort to build a $500,000 granite Shuttle Monument that would take its place near the other space monuments that dot the park. (12/27)
NASA Facility Awaits Word of Possible Cuts (Source: Las Cruces Sun-News)
Two years ago, NASA said more than 8,000 contractor jobs connected to the space program could be eliminated after the space shuttle program was shut down. With the shuttle's final days imminent - the last flights are scheduled for next year - the questions that now must be asked are: Will there be layoffs at NASA's White Sands Test Facility near Las Cruces and, if so, what effect will that have on the local economy?
Right now, the answer is unclear. The test facility has about 700 workers, with about 50 of them employed by the government and the rest by private contractors, said Robert Cort, the facility's associate manager of technical operations. The two biggest employers at the facility - where rocket motor testing takes place as does refurbishing of flight hardware and other tasks - are Jacobs Technology and Enterprise Advisory Services Inc. (12/27)
India Checks Rocket Failure Data (Source: PTI)
India’s top space scientists are analyzing data to find out what caused the satellite launch to fail yesterday and an expert committee is likely to be formed soon. “Teams are looking at the data to find out the reason,” said Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) spokesperson S. Satish. “A failure analysis committee is likely to be formed in the next one or two days,” he added. Initial data indicated that the control command signals from the rocket’s onboard computer failed to reach the first-stage circuits, causing the vehicle to lose altitude, veer off its flight path and crack up under the heavy load on its structure. (12/27)
Job Cuts Loom in Arizona as Military Eyes Cuts (Source: AIA)
Arizona's defense and aerospace contractors could face cutbacks in the coming year as the U.S. Defense Department reduces spending. The state, which received upwards of $12.4 billion in military contracts last year, saw its share fall by 19% in 2010. The decline is attributed to a slowdown in defense spending following the post-9/11 buildup and the winding down of the war in Iraq. (12/27)
Report: Air Traffic Control Upgrades Seeing Delays, Higher Costs (Source: AIA)
The Federal Aviation Administration's effort to overhaul the air traffic control system will experience significant delays and unforeseen costs, according to a new report by the inspector general. In the report, DOT Inspector General Calvin Scovel said he is particularly concerned about a computer program that manages aircraft flying at high altitudes. The FAA may need to pay up to $500 million more to contractor Lockheed Martin to finish the project. (12/27)
Outer Space Issues 2011 – Upcoming Trends Forecast by Secure World Foundation (Source: NewsWise)
There are outstanding issues in the coming year that deserve increased attention in terms of global outer space activities – from tackling the growing problem of orbital space debris, enhancing Earth security via satellite data, protecting our planet from Near Earth Objects, and assuring a sustainable space environment for all nations to improve their well-being. Click here to read the article. (12/27)
Disaster Leaves India With One Cryo Engine (Source: Times of India)
ISRO is staring at a crisis: it is left with just one Russia-made cryogenic engine and its indigenous version is far from ready. The launch of communication satellites weighing more than 2 tons into a geosynchronous transfer orbit need Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicles (GSLV) powered partly by cryogenic engines.
The cryogenic engine that went up in flames with GSLV-F06 on Saturday was the sixth of the seven such engines the country had procured from Russia. Post-Pokhran-II, the US had armtwisted Russia to deny the engine to India. ISRO tried the indigenous cryogenic engine for the GSLV-D3 launch on April 15, 2010, which was a failure. The engine has gone back to ISRO's workshops for ground tests and there is no definite word on when the improved version would be ready. (12/27)
Failure Sparks Safety Fears for 2016 Manned Space Flight (Source: DNA)
What if there were live Indian astronauts on board the geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle (GSLV) rocket that exploded a minute after lift-off on Saturday afternoon from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota? This is the question that is bothering scientists of the Indian space research organization (ISRO), which is on track to launch its first manned space flight in 2015-16.
The cause for worry among the ISRO scientists is this: the manned space flight mission will also be launched on board a GSLV rocket. At stake will not only be the Rs12,400 crore mission and the Indian space agency’s reputation, but also the lives of two vyomanauts (as the Indian astronauts will be referred to). (12/27)
Failure of Japan's Venus Probe Akatsuki Likely Due to Faulty Valve (Source: Mainichi)
The failure of the Akatsuki Venus Climate Orbiter to enter orbit around Venus earlier this month was most likely due to a blockage in the backflow valve installed in the fuel-supply pipes of the engine that was used for reverse engine thrust, a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) taskforce has concluded. The valve is structured in a way that it cannot be manipulated from Earth, and whether the space probe can be inserted into Venus's orbit -- at its next chance six years from now -- will not be clear until various experiments are conducted on Earth. (12/27)
December 26, 2010
European Communications Satellite Riding Proton to Orbit (Source: SpaceFlightNow.com)
A Russian Proton rocket launched Sunday with a European broadband communications satellite, the continent's first spacecraft dedicated to high-throughput Ka-band connectivity for Internet and television services. The satellite, named KA-SAT, carries 82 Ka-band spot beams to spread a staggering 70 gigabits per second of capacity across Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. (12/26)
Virginia Governor Boosts Spaceport Budget (Source: Spaceports Blog)
Earlier this month, Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell appeared before a joint meeting of the Senate Finance and House Appropriations Committees of the soon-to-be 2011 General Assembly in Richmond with his budget priorities for next year and among them - a financial boost for the state's commercial spaceport at Wallops Island.
McDonnell pledged significant operational support to the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority, increasing the operation budget of the spaceport. His latest request to the 2011 General Assembly is $1,379,095 for the next fiscal year beginning July 1, 2011, a $379,079 increase over what was approved last year.
The Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, one of only four FAA-commercial orbital launch facilities in the nation, is expected to commence launching re-supply and cargo to the Space Station in 2011. NASA is also planning a unmanned mission from Wallops Island to the Moon in early 2013. Virginia was the first state in the nation to adopt a Commercial Space Flight Liability and Immunity statute in 2007 and the first to adopt a ZeroGravity-ZeroTax statute in 2008. (12/26)
Florida Transportation Officials Tour Spaceport (Source: Space Florida)
Representatives from the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) had a familiarization tour of sites at KSC and CCAFS as part of the Cape Canaveral Spaceport Master Plan Project Review. The aim of the tour was to familiarize the FDOT with the Spaceport’s Transportation Improvements Projects, to assist in their determination of 2010-2011 Project Priorities, and to define their interface with the state’s Strategic Intramodal System.
The group visited project sites listed in the Master Plan including the KSC Shuttle Landing Facility, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) Launch Complex 40, Space Florida Launch Complexes 36 & 46, Exploration Park, and the Space Life Sciences Lab. Click here for more. (12/26)
Failed Rocket Launch Threatens India Space Ambitions (Source: AFP)
The explosion of an Indian space rocket is likely to hit the country's efforts to push further into the global market for launching commercial satellites, experts warned. The accident was the second setback for India this year following the crash in April of a rocket that was meant to showcase domestically built booster technology. Experts called on the ISRO to go back to drawing board with the 1.75-billion-rupee ($39 million) GSLV before attempting to offer the rocket as a platform for international satellite launches. They also warned that India's ambitions to send its first manned space flight in 2016 were under threat. (12/26)
Global Space Launch Failures in 2010 (Source: Xinhua)
In 2010, several states encountered space launch failure accidents. However, it will not weaken the determination of human beings to explore the mysteries of the universe, and great space expeditions will continue in the future. Click here for info on recent Indian, Russian and Korean launch failures. (12/26)
Virgin Galactic Partnerships Not Tied to Spaceport America (Source: Las Cruces Sun-News)
Spaceport America's anchor tenant company, Virgin Galactic, announced recently it's partnering with two other companies that have their sights set on orbital spaceflight. The other companies, Nevada-based Sierra Nevada Corp. and the Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corp., have submitted competing bids to NASA for a chance at flying U.S. astronauts to space after the shuttle program retires. But don't expect orbital flights to launch from Spaceport America any time soon.
For starters, Virgin Galactic's proposed role seems limited at this point. The commercial spaceflight company has said it would market seats aboard orbital flights to its existing suborbital-flight customer base, as well as to the larger public, according to a company news release. Virgin Galactic may also have some involvement in vehicle testing for the companies' development programs. Also, potential launch locations for orbital vehicles are limited by infrastructure and regulation. That's the case with Sierra Nevada Corp.'s proposal, said Mark Sirangelo, corporate vice president and head of the company's space systems division.
"It's not possible for any of the companies' orbital to fly out of New Mexico because of physics and logistics, so we all would be flying out of one of the coastal spaceports," he said. "New Mexico doesn't have a rocket port that can launch a vehicle of this size - we're flying out of an Atlas V rocket.,, We could fly to Las Cruces as an entry point and land there, if we wanted to," he said. (12/26)
The Shuttle's Last Christmas (Source: Florida Today)
‘Twas the Shuttle’s last Christmas and our spirits were low, For the program was ending and soon we’d all go. We’d processed the Shuttles with infinite care And followed each mission as if we were there. We made every effort to achieve all our goals; We offered our talents, our hearts and our souls.
Our work was much more than a meager career; ‘Twas an honor and privilege beyond all compare. As this marvel of science was applauded worldwide, We looked on each Shuttle with unfettered pride: Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, and then Atlantis, Endeavour all ferried brave men. Click here to read the poem. (12/26)
A Russian Proton rocket launched Sunday with a European broadband communications satellite, the continent's first spacecraft dedicated to high-throughput Ka-band connectivity for Internet and television services. The satellite, named KA-SAT, carries 82 Ka-band spot beams to spread a staggering 70 gigabits per second of capacity across Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. (12/26)
Virginia Governor Boosts Spaceport Budget (Source: Spaceports Blog)
Earlier this month, Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell appeared before a joint meeting of the Senate Finance and House Appropriations Committees of the soon-to-be 2011 General Assembly in Richmond with his budget priorities for next year and among them - a financial boost for the state's commercial spaceport at Wallops Island.
McDonnell pledged significant operational support to the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority, increasing the operation budget of the spaceport. His latest request to the 2011 General Assembly is $1,379,095 for the next fiscal year beginning July 1, 2011, a $379,079 increase over what was approved last year.
The Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, one of only four FAA-commercial orbital launch facilities in the nation, is expected to commence launching re-supply and cargo to the Space Station in 2011. NASA is also planning a unmanned mission from Wallops Island to the Moon in early 2013. Virginia was the first state in the nation to adopt a Commercial Space Flight Liability and Immunity statute in 2007 and the first to adopt a ZeroGravity-ZeroTax statute in 2008. (12/26)
Florida Transportation Officials Tour Spaceport (Source: Space Florida)
Representatives from the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) had a familiarization tour of sites at KSC and CCAFS as part of the Cape Canaveral Spaceport Master Plan Project Review. The aim of the tour was to familiarize the FDOT with the Spaceport’s Transportation Improvements Projects, to assist in their determination of 2010-2011 Project Priorities, and to define their interface with the state’s Strategic Intramodal System.
The group visited project sites listed in the Master Plan including the KSC Shuttle Landing Facility, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) Launch Complex 40, Space Florida Launch Complexes 36 & 46, Exploration Park, and the Space Life Sciences Lab. Click here for more. (12/26)
Failed Rocket Launch Threatens India Space Ambitions (Source: AFP)
The explosion of an Indian space rocket is likely to hit the country's efforts to push further into the global market for launching commercial satellites, experts warned. The accident was the second setback for India this year following the crash in April of a rocket that was meant to showcase domestically built booster technology. Experts called on the ISRO to go back to drawing board with the 1.75-billion-rupee ($39 million) GSLV before attempting to offer the rocket as a platform for international satellite launches. They also warned that India's ambitions to send its first manned space flight in 2016 were under threat. (12/26)
Global Space Launch Failures in 2010 (Source: Xinhua)
In 2010, several states encountered space launch failure accidents. However, it will not weaken the determination of human beings to explore the mysteries of the universe, and great space expeditions will continue in the future. Click here for info on recent Indian, Russian and Korean launch failures. (12/26)
Virgin Galactic Partnerships Not Tied to Spaceport America (Source: Las Cruces Sun-News)
Spaceport America's anchor tenant company, Virgin Galactic, announced recently it's partnering with two other companies that have their sights set on orbital spaceflight. The other companies, Nevada-based Sierra Nevada Corp. and the Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corp., have submitted competing bids to NASA for a chance at flying U.S. astronauts to space after the shuttle program retires. But don't expect orbital flights to launch from Spaceport America any time soon.
For starters, Virgin Galactic's proposed role seems limited at this point. The commercial spaceflight company has said it would market seats aboard orbital flights to its existing suborbital-flight customer base, as well as to the larger public, according to a company news release. Virgin Galactic may also have some involvement in vehicle testing for the companies' development programs. Also, potential launch locations for orbital vehicles are limited by infrastructure and regulation. That's the case with Sierra Nevada Corp.'s proposal, said Mark Sirangelo, corporate vice president and head of the company's space systems division.
"It's not possible for any of the companies' orbital to fly out of New Mexico because of physics and logistics, so we all would be flying out of one of the coastal spaceports," he said. "New Mexico doesn't have a rocket port that can launch a vehicle of this size - we're flying out of an Atlas V rocket.,, We could fly to Las Cruces as an entry point and land there, if we wanted to," he said. (12/26)
The Shuttle's Last Christmas (Source: Florida Today)
‘Twas the Shuttle’s last Christmas and our spirits were low, For the program was ending and soon we’d all go. We’d processed the Shuttles with infinite care And followed each mission as if we were there. We made every effort to achieve all our goals; We offered our talents, our hearts and our souls.
Our work was much more than a meager career; ‘Twas an honor and privilege beyond all compare. As this marvel of science was applauded worldwide, We looked on each Shuttle with unfettered pride: Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, and then Atlantis, Endeavour all ferried brave men. Click here to read the poem. (12/26)
December 25, 2010
Russia Begins Proton Launch Campaign (Source: Spaceports Blog)
Eutelsat Communications confirmed today that the launch campaign of its KA-SAT satellite by an ILS Proton Breeze M vehicle has resumed at the Baikonour Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Launch is scheduled in the night of 26 to 27 December 2010. (12/25)
JAXA Set to Close Exhibition Following Cost-Cutting Panel's Recommendation (Source: Mainichi)
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)'s Tokyo exhibition pavilion will close its doors permanently on Dec. 28 despite its increasing popularity following a government cost-cutting panel's recommendation to shut the facility. JAXA's showroom, JAXAi, opened in September 2004 in a bid to advertise the country's space activities through the display of a real rocket engine and other space-related items. (12/25)
Russia to Launch New-Generation Satellite on Jan. 20 (Source: Interfax)
Russia plans to launch a new-generation geostationary hydrometeorological satellite, Elektro-L, on January 20, 2011, from the Baikonur spaceport. The launch was originally planned for December 25. "The launch of a Zenit-2SB launch vehicle coupled with a Fregat-SB upper stage and carrying the first Elektro-L satellite will open the Russian 2011 space launch program."
The source explained the postponement of the launch by the fact that the Fregat-SB is an absolutely new version of an upper stage, and therefore "a decision has been made to carry out the full cycle of additional tests of all of its systems and check its technical and design documentation." (12/25)
Up From Akatsuki's Failure (Source: Japan Times)
An H-IIA rocket blasted the Venus planetary probe Akatsuki (daybreak) into space on May 21. But Akatsuki, Japan's first spacecraft sent to explore Venus, failed to orbit Venus after overshooting the planet due to engine trouble. The craft was developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency at a cost of ¥25.2 billion. Its failure stands in stark contrast to the space probe Hayabusa (peregrine falcon), which succeeded in collecting dust particles from the asteroid Itokawa. (12/25)
Indian GSLV Rocket Explodes After Leaving Launch Pad (Source: MSNBC)
A rocket carrying an Indian communications satellite exploded seconds after lift-off from a launchpad in India on Saturday in a potential setback for its commercial space business. The Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) exploded in the first stage of the flight, leaving a trail of smoke and fire. The initial launch of the GSAT-5P satellite had been pushed back because of an engine defect. Click here for photos. (12/25)
LEO-to-GEO Tug: Cheaper Than a Delta-IV Heavy (Source: Space Business Blog)
In response to recent blog posts about LEO tugs servicing Iridium’s satellite constellation, readers have been asking me about other uses for orbital tugs. One tug use that keeps coming up in our discussions is a LEO to GEO transfer tug. Such a tug would pick up a payload in LEO and transfer the payload to GEO, drop the payload off in the correct orbit, and return to LEO for its next payload.
Although there are some intriguing propulsion technologies on the horizon that make the case for such a tug easier to close, could a transfer tug be developed today with today’ s propellants to serve the extreme ends of the GEO Satellite market (projected for the next decade to be 20-25 satellites per year)? Click here to read the analysis. (12/23)
Eutelsat Communications confirmed today that the launch campaign of its KA-SAT satellite by an ILS Proton Breeze M vehicle has resumed at the Baikonour Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Launch is scheduled in the night of 26 to 27 December 2010. (12/25)
JAXA Set to Close Exhibition Following Cost-Cutting Panel's Recommendation (Source: Mainichi)
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)'s Tokyo exhibition pavilion will close its doors permanently on Dec. 28 despite its increasing popularity following a government cost-cutting panel's recommendation to shut the facility. JAXA's showroom, JAXAi, opened in September 2004 in a bid to advertise the country's space activities through the display of a real rocket engine and other space-related items. (12/25)
Russia to Launch New-Generation Satellite on Jan. 20 (Source: Interfax)
Russia plans to launch a new-generation geostationary hydrometeorological satellite, Elektro-L, on January 20, 2011, from the Baikonur spaceport. The launch was originally planned for December 25. "The launch of a Zenit-2SB launch vehicle coupled with a Fregat-SB upper stage and carrying the first Elektro-L satellite will open the Russian 2011 space launch program."
The source explained the postponement of the launch by the fact that the Fregat-SB is an absolutely new version of an upper stage, and therefore "a decision has been made to carry out the full cycle of additional tests of all of its systems and check its technical and design documentation." (12/25)
Up From Akatsuki's Failure (Source: Japan Times)
An H-IIA rocket blasted the Venus planetary probe Akatsuki (daybreak) into space on May 21. But Akatsuki, Japan's first spacecraft sent to explore Venus, failed to orbit Venus after overshooting the planet due to engine trouble. The craft was developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency at a cost of ¥25.2 billion. Its failure stands in stark contrast to the space probe Hayabusa (peregrine falcon), which succeeded in collecting dust particles from the asteroid Itokawa. (12/25)
Indian GSLV Rocket Explodes After Leaving Launch Pad (Source: MSNBC)
A rocket carrying an Indian communications satellite exploded seconds after lift-off from a launchpad in India on Saturday in a potential setback for its commercial space business. The Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) exploded in the first stage of the flight, leaving a trail of smoke and fire. The initial launch of the GSAT-5P satellite had been pushed back because of an engine defect. Click here for photos. (12/25)
LEO-to-GEO Tug: Cheaper Than a Delta-IV Heavy (Source: Space Business Blog)
In response to recent blog posts about LEO tugs servicing Iridium’s satellite constellation, readers have been asking me about other uses for orbital tugs. One tug use that keeps coming up in our discussions is a LEO to GEO transfer tug. Such a tug would pick up a payload in LEO and transfer the payload to GEO, drop the payload off in the correct orbit, and return to LEO for its next payload.
Although there are some intriguing propulsion technologies on the horizon that make the case for such a tug easier to close, could a transfer tug be developed today with today’ s propellants to serve the extreme ends of the GEO Satellite market (projected for the next decade to be 20-25 satellites per year)? Click here to read the analysis. (12/23)
December 24, 2010
Space Station Gesture Goes Global (Source: Florida Today)
Seeking fellowship with humans around -- and above -- Earth this holiday season? Over the next week, look to the heavens as the International Space Station flies overhead, and wave. You'll be part of a campaign connecting people around the planet with the six astronauts and cosmonauts living in space, while paying homage to a marvel of human technology and ingenuity. (12/24)
Mars: An Inexpensive Way To Restore America’s Future (Source: Forbes)
The federal government is planning to spend $19 billion on NASA’s civil space program next year, and yet the agency’s signature mission — human exploration of space — seems to be in its death throes. The Obama Administration has canceled plans it inherited to send astronauts back to the Moon, the Space Shuttle is about to retire, and the only near-term human space flight initiative on the books is a handout to rich California businessmen to update old technology. You’d think that with the nation in the midst of an identity crisis, the White House could have come up with something a little more inspiring.
Congress has stepped in to stop the administration from destroying the human space flight industrial base, but it doesn’t really have a vision of what NASA should be aiming to achieve. So here’s a vision: send humans to Mars by the early 2030s, and do it without spending any more money than NASA was planning to spend anyway. Mars is the only other earth-like planet in the known universe. It has water, it may contain life, and it could eventually sustain a human colony. By organizing the human spaceflight program with Mars in mind, NASA can develop a near-term investment and exploration agenda that gets us somewhere interesting without any additional commitment of funding. And in the process, maybe it can help America get its sense of purpose back.
I’m not going to talk about how China plans to get into human spaceflight, because then you might think this entire posting was about us versus them. But it wasn’t really about China at all — a country that typically generates fewer patents in a year than IBM does. It’s about America getting its act together and starting to think like a winner again rather than like some aging baby boomer fearful of its own mortality. America still has huge advantages over any other country that can be leveraged to restore the confidence with which we entered the new millennium. Some of the steps we can take in that direction would be surprisingly inexpensive and popular. And all we need to do to get started is to think a little differently about what we are trying to accomplish. (12/24)
No More Monkey Business (Source: Pasadena Weekly)
Monkey lovers were delighted Dec. 13 when they learned that NASA had pulled the plug on its controversial plan to irradiate 18 of the sociable primates to learn about the effects of radiation on human astronauts on long voyages to Mars. The experiments, which included bombarding squirrel monkeys with withering doses of radiation to see what effect it had on them, were to take place at the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) in Upton, NY. (12/24)
Contract Marks New Generation for Deep Space Network (Source: NASA JPL)
NASA has taken the next step toward a new generation of Deep Space Network antennas. A $40.7 million contract with General Dynamics SATCOM Technologies, San Jose, Calif., covers implementation of two additional 34-meter (112-foot) antennas at Canberra, Australia. This is part of Phase I of a plan to eventually retire the network's aging 70-meter-wide (230-foot-wide) antennas.
The Deep Space Network (DSN) consists of three communications complexes: in Goldstone, Calif.; Madrid, Spain; and Canberra, Australia. The 70-meter antennas are more than 40 years old and are showing signs of surface deterioration from constant use. Additional 34-meter antennas are being installed in Canberra in the first phase; subsequent phases will install additional 34-meter antennas in Goldstone and Madrid. (12/24)
NASA Launches Contest for Best 'Space Craft' (Source: Space.com)
A panel of NASA judges will convene early next year to pick the best design among a number of competing space crafts. But they'll be vetting paintings and sculptures, not rovers and orbiters. In October, NASA and the online crafts marketplace Etsy teamed to launch "Space Craft," a contest in which entrants share original handmade items or works of art inspired by the space agency and its programs.
In October, NASA and the online crafts marketplace Etsy teamed to launch "Space Craft," a contest in which entrants share original handmade items or works of art inspired by the space agency and its programs. Contestants submitted more than 1,000 entries in three categories — original 2-D art, 2-D reproductions and original 3-D art. The online Etsy community has whittled those entries down, choosing 40 finalists in each of the three fields, Brown said.
The finalists span a wide range of media, styles and degrees of whimsy. One finalist in the 3-D category, for example, is a fleece space shuttle hat, complete with a smiling Hubble Space Telescope attached via a grapple arm. The next step comes early next year with a panel of judges from Etsy, NASA and other guests making a final decision in February. (12/24)
2011 Preview: Private Space Flight Takes Off (Source: New Scientist)
Private companies have been promising for years that they can slash the cost of space travel, breaking the government monopoly on space flight and opening up the final frontier to the rest of us. At long last these efforts may be bearing fruit. So what do we have to look forward to in 2011? SpaceX plans two more demonstration flights, the first of which will likely blast off mid-year and is expected to fly within a few kilometers of the ISS. The second would actually dock with the station, marking another first for a non-governmental spacecraft.
Virgin Galactic is also set to take some giant leaps forward in 2011. In October 2010, the company carried out the first unpowered flights of SpaceShipTwo. The suborbital vehicle was lofted up to an altitude of nearly 14 kilometers by its WhiteKnightTwo carrier plane, before gliding back down to Earth. SpaceShipTwo, which is modeled on the X-Prize-winning SpaceShipOne, will launch into space for the first time during test flights in 2011. If the tests are a success, passenger flights could begin as soon as late 2011.
Several other companies, such as Boeing, have long-term plans to offer rides into space. But Virgin Galactic and SpaceX are likely to dominate headlines in the coming year, and may make 2011 the most exciting yet for private space flight. (12/24)
Russia to Launch Up To 53 Communication Satellites in Five Years (Source: Xinhua)
Russia plans to launch five Glonass communication satellites in 2011 and 48 more later to create a Cosmonaut information highway. There are 20 of 26 Glonass satellites in orbit offering services. Two more Glonass satellites are needed to secure the signals to cover the Russian territory. Russia is also going to develop the Gonets 48-satellite system designed for high-speed communications.
Galkevich said the system would require 20 billion rubles (650 million U.S. dollars) to become operational in five years time. The Cosmonaut system will be developed by the U.S. Loral company if approved by the Russian Space Agency, or Roscosmos. Roscosmos must decide whether foreign companies could participate in developing the system. (12/24)
No Bad Faith in Contracts for NASA Cargo Launch Capability (Source: Courthouse News)
PlanetSpace has no basis to challenge contracts that NASA awarded for a project to develop new commercial launch capabilities, the Court of Federal Claims ruled. Judge Lawrence Block called PlanetSpace's attempts to discredit the bid process "somewhat incredibl[e]" and based on "unfounded insinuations of bad faith."
PlanetSpace was one of three bidders that applied to transport NASA cargo to the International Space Station, and it filed suit when NASA awarded contracts to SpaceX and Orbital Sciences. The court dismissed four of the PlanetSpace's claims in an earlier ruling and asked NASA to explain its decision process before it considered the remaining two points.
After a NASA board concluded that PlanetSpace did not meet contractor responsibility standards, a second board found that SpaceX offered the best mission suitability at the lowest price and PlanetSpace had the second best offer. NASA decided that PlanetSpace's plan was too risky, however, and picked the third company, Orbital Sciences, to win the second contract. Block found that NASA properly rationalized why it picked the two contractors over PlanetSpace. (12/24)
Android Did Not Go Into Space (Source: The Inquirer)
Many websites reported that Google sent Android gadgetry into space, when in fact it didn't even get a third of the way there. While Google entitled its blog posting and related video "Android in spaaaace," what actually happened was that it sent some Android toys, Nexus S handsets and flight related electronics up to an altitude of 107,000ft.
Space is above 50 miles or 63 miles depending upon whether you are the US Air Force or the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI). Beyond the parochial shores of the US, 63 miles or 100km is the accepted altitude where space begins. It is also known as the Karman line. Even Virgin Galactic has accepted this and so the maximum altitude for its Spaceshiptwo will be above 100km. For the FAI, and most of the world, space begins at 328,000ft. (12/24)
Aerojet Propulsion Remains Operational as Voyager 1 Approaches Interstellar Space (Source: Aerojet)
Aerojet celebrates NASA's recent announcement that Voyager 1 has reached a point at the edge of our solar system where there is no outward motion of solar wind. Now approximately 10.8 billion miles from the sun, Voyager 1's passage through the heliosheath, the turbulent outer shell of the sun's sphere of influence, and the spacecraft's upcoming departure from our solar system, mark a major milestone as it will become mankind's first interstellar probe.
In about 40,000 years, Voyager 1 will drift within 1.6 light years (9.3 trillion miles) of AC+79 3888, a star in the constellation of Camelopardalis. Signals to command the thrusters now take more than 16 hours to reach the spacecraft. (12/24)
World's Largest Neutrino Detector Completed at South Pole (Source: Scientific American)
Thousands of meters below the ice near the South Pole lies one of the most unusual observatories ever constructed. The instrument's nervous system comprises 86 strands of light detectors, stretching down into the ice sheet like oversize strings of pearls. Each strand features 60 basketball-size detectors, spanning the depths from 1,450 to 2,450 meters below the surface. And the body of the observatory is the ice itself, an abundant medium with an astonishing natural clarity. (12/24)
Funding Puts NASA At Square One Again (Source: Aviation Week)
Congressional action to fund the government through March 4, 2011, leaves NASA pretty much right where it started in February when the Fiscal 2011 budget came out, with everything—from an extra space shuttle flight to early use of commercial replacements for the shuttle—uncertain.
In addition to a short-term continuing resolution (CR), NASA has received its Fiscal 2012 “passback” from the White House Office of Management and Budget along with a strongly worded presidential caution to all federal agencies not to expect much wiggle room on the spending figures it contains.
In legislative parlance, the latest CR contained no “anomalies” for NASA, continuing funding levels and conditions set out in its Fiscal 2010 appropriation. That means the Constellation program that Obama killed with his budget request remains on the books, as does legislative language prohibiting NASA from embarking upon the White House’s new approach to human spaceflight that would rely on commercial providers. (12/24)
ESA Unable To Secure Commitment to Station Extension (Source: Space News)
The European Space Agency (ESA) was unable to win its member governments’ approval of NASA’s proposed five-year extension of operations of the international space station because of an unrelated dispute over financial support for Europe’s Arianespace commercial launch services consortium, ESA and European government officials said. As a result, no decision approving the station’s extension to 2020 will be made before a March meeting of ESA governments. ESA already is committed to supporting the station through 2015, though the details remain to be worked out. (12/24)
NASA's COTS Dream Gets Boost from Taurus II Test (Source: Flight Global)
NASA's vision of private enterprise partners filling the cargo and crew launch gap left by the imminent retirement of its Space Shuttle fleet got a further boost from Orbital Sciences's successful 17 December long-duration test firing of its liquid-fuelled Aerojet-supplied AJ26 rocket engine. A pair of liquid oxygen/kerosene-fuelled AJ26s will power the first stage of its Taurus II space launch vehicle - and carry its Cygnus cargo vehicle to the International Space Station, possibly before the close of 2011.
The AJ26 engine test ran for 55s at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, during which the engine was purposely stressed to 109% - about 370,000lb (1,645kN) - of its baseline thrust level. Orbital also tested engine start-up, propellant valve commanding, the gimballed thrust vector control and shutdown sequencing, all with positive results according to preliminary data. (12/23)
Testing on Virgin Galactic SS2 is Ahead of Schedule (Source: AIA)
Scaled Composites says testing on Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo is going better than expected and even if bad weather prevents an additional glide test by year's end, the program is ahead of schedule. Virgin Galactic says it is on target to become the world's first commercial space line, with routine operations from Spaceport America, N.M., set for 2012. (12/24)
China Matches U.S. Space Launches for First Time (Source: WIRED)
Outwardly, it looked like just another big space launch — and those happen about once a week, from spaceports all around the world. But Friday’s blast-off of a rocket, carrying a Chinese GPS-style navigation satellite, from the Xi Chang Satellite Launch Center was different. It set a record for successful Chinese launches in one year: 15. The launch represented another important milestone. For the first time since the chilliest days of the Cold War, another country has matched the United States in sheer number of rocket launches. (12/23)
Colorado Community Makes Long-Shot Bid to Attract NASA Park (Source: Loveland Reporter-Herald)
Loveland is on the northern edge of a zone being scoped by NASA for a million-square-foot research and manufacturing center, and city officials are hoping the Agilent Technologies Inc. campus might be a candidate. But as they wage a quiet campaign to attract the space agency’s interest, they acknowledge that their gambit will be a long shot. NASA on Dec. 13 signed the Space Act Agreement with the Colorado Association for Manufacturing Technology, an agency that advises and consults with state manufacturers. (12/23)
$8 Million Earmark for Ames Hangar Restoration Evaporates (Source: Mercury News)
Just a month after money to restore Moffett Field's Hangar One had been found, it's gone again. A good chunk of the funds that preservationists and officials hoped to use to restore the hangar after its toxic siding is removed had been tucked into a massive spending bill that Congress ditched last week.
NASA announced last month it would commit $20 million to put new siding on the hangar but was also counting on an $8 million congressional earmark -- reduced from $10 million in an original proposal -- submitted by Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, to supplement the work. The earmark was part of a $1.1 trillion funding bill that failed last week in the face of Republican opposition to earmarks. (12/20)
Sierra Nevada, Orbital, Aerojet and PWR Reps Join California Space Authority Board (Source: Parabolic Arc)
Nine key space leaders have been elected to the Board of Directors of the California Space Authority, a statewide non-profit organization. Of that total, four are new Board members while five are returning to the Board of Directors. A three-year term of office will begin for the elected Board members starting January 2011.
The new Board members are Mark Pieczynski of Orbital Sciences Corp., Julie Van Kleeck of Aerojet, Ron Ramos of Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, and Lisa Matthews of Sierra Nevada Corp. Returning Board members are Julie Sattler of Lockheed Martin, Al Hoffman of Boeing, Randall Garber of AT Kearney, Alan Jones of ATK and Tim Bennett of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. (12/23)
Tracking Santa -- An Interview with the Head Researcher (Source: DOE)
Every year since 1998, the Department of Energy's Los Alamos lab has been using state of the art technology to track Santa Claus as he circles the globe the night before Christmas. Click here to read an interview with Santa Tracker Head Researcher (and Cibola Flight Experiment Project Leader) Diane Roussel-Dupre to get a little more insight into the program. (12/23)
Space Junk Rivals Weapons as a Major Threat (Source: Space.com)
What began as a minor trash problem in space has now developed into a full-blown threat. A recent space security report put the problem of debris on equal footing with weapons as a threat to the future use of space. Hundreds of thousands of pieces of space junk — including broken satellites, discarded rocket stages and lost spacewalker tools — now crowd the corridors of Earth orbit.
These objects could do serious damage to working spacecraft if they were to hit them, and might even pose a risk to people and property on the ground if they fall back to Earth and are large enough to survive re-entering the atmosphere. The new Space Security 2010 report released by the Space Security Index, an international research consortium, represented space debris as a primary issue. Similar recognition of the orbital trash threat also emerged in the U.S. national space policy unveiled by President Obama in June 2010. (12/23)
Santa Looks to Final Rendezvous With NASA's Space Shuttles (Source: NASA KSC)
Santa Claus is expected to make an unforgettable flyby of NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida this Christmas Eve to see the three space shuttles as they are prepared for their final missions. NASA granted the jolly ol' elf and his nine reindeer permission to fly over various Kennedy sites, including the Shuttle Landing Facility, the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), and orbiter processing facilities (OPF) where Discovery, Endeavour and Atlantis are being readied for launch. (12/23)
Virgin’s Will Whitehorn to Retire, Whitesides to Ascend (Source: NewSpace Journal)
Virgin Galactic president Will Whitehorn will retire from the company next month and be replaced by current CEO George Whitesides. Whitehorn, who has been working for the Virgin Group in various capacities since 1987, has been president of Virgin Galactic since 2004, when the company announced plans to license the SpaceShipOne technology and work with its developer, Scaled Composites, to build SpaceShipTwo. (12/23)
Seeking fellowship with humans around -- and above -- Earth this holiday season? Over the next week, look to the heavens as the International Space Station flies overhead, and wave. You'll be part of a campaign connecting people around the planet with the six astronauts and cosmonauts living in space, while paying homage to a marvel of human technology and ingenuity. (12/24)
Mars: An Inexpensive Way To Restore America’s Future (Source: Forbes)
The federal government is planning to spend $19 billion on NASA’s civil space program next year, and yet the agency’s signature mission — human exploration of space — seems to be in its death throes. The Obama Administration has canceled plans it inherited to send astronauts back to the Moon, the Space Shuttle is about to retire, and the only near-term human space flight initiative on the books is a handout to rich California businessmen to update old technology. You’d think that with the nation in the midst of an identity crisis, the White House could have come up with something a little more inspiring.
Congress has stepped in to stop the administration from destroying the human space flight industrial base, but it doesn’t really have a vision of what NASA should be aiming to achieve. So here’s a vision: send humans to Mars by the early 2030s, and do it without spending any more money than NASA was planning to spend anyway. Mars is the only other earth-like planet in the known universe. It has water, it may contain life, and it could eventually sustain a human colony. By organizing the human spaceflight program with Mars in mind, NASA can develop a near-term investment and exploration agenda that gets us somewhere interesting without any additional commitment of funding. And in the process, maybe it can help America get its sense of purpose back.
I’m not going to talk about how China plans to get into human spaceflight, because then you might think this entire posting was about us versus them. But it wasn’t really about China at all — a country that typically generates fewer patents in a year than IBM does. It’s about America getting its act together and starting to think like a winner again rather than like some aging baby boomer fearful of its own mortality. America still has huge advantages over any other country that can be leveraged to restore the confidence with which we entered the new millennium. Some of the steps we can take in that direction would be surprisingly inexpensive and popular. And all we need to do to get started is to think a little differently about what we are trying to accomplish. (12/24)
No More Monkey Business (Source: Pasadena Weekly)
Monkey lovers were delighted Dec. 13 when they learned that NASA had pulled the plug on its controversial plan to irradiate 18 of the sociable primates to learn about the effects of radiation on human astronauts on long voyages to Mars. The experiments, which included bombarding squirrel monkeys with withering doses of radiation to see what effect it had on them, were to take place at the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) in Upton, NY. (12/24)
Contract Marks New Generation for Deep Space Network (Source: NASA JPL)
NASA has taken the next step toward a new generation of Deep Space Network antennas. A $40.7 million contract with General Dynamics SATCOM Technologies, San Jose, Calif., covers implementation of two additional 34-meter (112-foot) antennas at Canberra, Australia. This is part of Phase I of a plan to eventually retire the network's aging 70-meter-wide (230-foot-wide) antennas.
The Deep Space Network (DSN) consists of three communications complexes: in Goldstone, Calif.; Madrid, Spain; and Canberra, Australia. The 70-meter antennas are more than 40 years old and are showing signs of surface deterioration from constant use. Additional 34-meter antennas are being installed in Canberra in the first phase; subsequent phases will install additional 34-meter antennas in Goldstone and Madrid. (12/24)
NASA Launches Contest for Best 'Space Craft' (Source: Space.com)
A panel of NASA judges will convene early next year to pick the best design among a number of competing space crafts. But they'll be vetting paintings and sculptures, not rovers and orbiters. In October, NASA and the online crafts marketplace Etsy teamed to launch "Space Craft," a contest in which entrants share original handmade items or works of art inspired by the space agency and its programs.
In October, NASA and the online crafts marketplace Etsy teamed to launch "Space Craft," a contest in which entrants share original handmade items or works of art inspired by the space agency and its programs. Contestants submitted more than 1,000 entries in three categories — original 2-D art, 2-D reproductions and original 3-D art. The online Etsy community has whittled those entries down, choosing 40 finalists in each of the three fields, Brown said.
The finalists span a wide range of media, styles and degrees of whimsy. One finalist in the 3-D category, for example, is a fleece space shuttle hat, complete with a smiling Hubble Space Telescope attached via a grapple arm. The next step comes early next year with a panel of judges from Etsy, NASA and other guests making a final decision in February. (12/24)
2011 Preview: Private Space Flight Takes Off (Source: New Scientist)
Private companies have been promising for years that they can slash the cost of space travel, breaking the government monopoly on space flight and opening up the final frontier to the rest of us. At long last these efforts may be bearing fruit. So what do we have to look forward to in 2011? SpaceX plans two more demonstration flights, the first of which will likely blast off mid-year and is expected to fly within a few kilometers of the ISS. The second would actually dock with the station, marking another first for a non-governmental spacecraft.
Virgin Galactic is also set to take some giant leaps forward in 2011. In October 2010, the company carried out the first unpowered flights of SpaceShipTwo. The suborbital vehicle was lofted up to an altitude of nearly 14 kilometers by its WhiteKnightTwo carrier plane, before gliding back down to Earth. SpaceShipTwo, which is modeled on the X-Prize-winning SpaceShipOne, will launch into space for the first time during test flights in 2011. If the tests are a success, passenger flights could begin as soon as late 2011.
Several other companies, such as Boeing, have long-term plans to offer rides into space. But Virgin Galactic and SpaceX are likely to dominate headlines in the coming year, and may make 2011 the most exciting yet for private space flight. (12/24)
Russia to Launch Up To 53 Communication Satellites in Five Years (Source: Xinhua)
Russia plans to launch five Glonass communication satellites in 2011 and 48 more later to create a Cosmonaut information highway. There are 20 of 26 Glonass satellites in orbit offering services. Two more Glonass satellites are needed to secure the signals to cover the Russian territory. Russia is also going to develop the Gonets 48-satellite system designed for high-speed communications.
Galkevich said the system would require 20 billion rubles (650 million U.S. dollars) to become operational in five years time. The Cosmonaut system will be developed by the U.S. Loral company if approved by the Russian Space Agency, or Roscosmos. Roscosmos must decide whether foreign companies could participate in developing the system. (12/24)
No Bad Faith in Contracts for NASA Cargo Launch Capability (Source: Courthouse News)
PlanetSpace has no basis to challenge contracts that NASA awarded for a project to develop new commercial launch capabilities, the Court of Federal Claims ruled. Judge Lawrence Block called PlanetSpace's attempts to discredit the bid process "somewhat incredibl[e]" and based on "unfounded insinuations of bad faith."
PlanetSpace was one of three bidders that applied to transport NASA cargo to the International Space Station, and it filed suit when NASA awarded contracts to SpaceX and Orbital Sciences. The court dismissed four of the PlanetSpace's claims in an earlier ruling and asked NASA to explain its decision process before it considered the remaining two points.
After a NASA board concluded that PlanetSpace did not meet contractor responsibility standards, a second board found that SpaceX offered the best mission suitability at the lowest price and PlanetSpace had the second best offer. NASA decided that PlanetSpace's plan was too risky, however, and picked the third company, Orbital Sciences, to win the second contract. Block found that NASA properly rationalized why it picked the two contractors over PlanetSpace. (12/24)
Android Did Not Go Into Space (Source: The Inquirer)
Many websites reported that Google sent Android gadgetry into space, when in fact it didn't even get a third of the way there. While Google entitled its blog posting and related video "Android in spaaaace," what actually happened was that it sent some Android toys, Nexus S handsets and flight related electronics up to an altitude of 107,000ft.
Space is above 50 miles or 63 miles depending upon whether you are the US Air Force or the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI). Beyond the parochial shores of the US, 63 miles or 100km is the accepted altitude where space begins. It is also known as the Karman line. Even Virgin Galactic has accepted this and so the maximum altitude for its Spaceshiptwo will be above 100km. For the FAI, and most of the world, space begins at 328,000ft. (12/24)
Aerojet Propulsion Remains Operational as Voyager 1 Approaches Interstellar Space (Source: Aerojet)
Aerojet celebrates NASA's recent announcement that Voyager 1 has reached a point at the edge of our solar system where there is no outward motion of solar wind. Now approximately 10.8 billion miles from the sun, Voyager 1's passage through the heliosheath, the turbulent outer shell of the sun's sphere of influence, and the spacecraft's upcoming departure from our solar system, mark a major milestone as it will become mankind's first interstellar probe.
In about 40,000 years, Voyager 1 will drift within 1.6 light years (9.3 trillion miles) of AC+79 3888, a star in the constellation of Camelopardalis. Signals to command the thrusters now take more than 16 hours to reach the spacecraft. (12/24)
World's Largest Neutrino Detector Completed at South Pole (Source: Scientific American)
Thousands of meters below the ice near the South Pole lies one of the most unusual observatories ever constructed. The instrument's nervous system comprises 86 strands of light detectors, stretching down into the ice sheet like oversize strings of pearls. Each strand features 60 basketball-size detectors, spanning the depths from 1,450 to 2,450 meters below the surface. And the body of the observatory is the ice itself, an abundant medium with an astonishing natural clarity. (12/24)
Funding Puts NASA At Square One Again (Source: Aviation Week)
Congressional action to fund the government through March 4, 2011, leaves NASA pretty much right where it started in February when the Fiscal 2011 budget came out, with everything—from an extra space shuttle flight to early use of commercial replacements for the shuttle—uncertain.
In addition to a short-term continuing resolution (CR), NASA has received its Fiscal 2012 “passback” from the White House Office of Management and Budget along with a strongly worded presidential caution to all federal agencies not to expect much wiggle room on the spending figures it contains.
In legislative parlance, the latest CR contained no “anomalies” for NASA, continuing funding levels and conditions set out in its Fiscal 2010 appropriation. That means the Constellation program that Obama killed with his budget request remains on the books, as does legislative language prohibiting NASA from embarking upon the White House’s new approach to human spaceflight that would rely on commercial providers. (12/24)
ESA Unable To Secure Commitment to Station Extension (Source: Space News)
The European Space Agency (ESA) was unable to win its member governments’ approval of NASA’s proposed five-year extension of operations of the international space station because of an unrelated dispute over financial support for Europe’s Arianespace commercial launch services consortium, ESA and European government officials said. As a result, no decision approving the station’s extension to 2020 will be made before a March meeting of ESA governments. ESA already is committed to supporting the station through 2015, though the details remain to be worked out. (12/24)
NASA's COTS Dream Gets Boost from Taurus II Test (Source: Flight Global)
NASA's vision of private enterprise partners filling the cargo and crew launch gap left by the imminent retirement of its Space Shuttle fleet got a further boost from Orbital Sciences's successful 17 December long-duration test firing of its liquid-fuelled Aerojet-supplied AJ26 rocket engine. A pair of liquid oxygen/kerosene-fuelled AJ26s will power the first stage of its Taurus II space launch vehicle - and carry its Cygnus cargo vehicle to the International Space Station, possibly before the close of 2011.
The AJ26 engine test ran for 55s at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, during which the engine was purposely stressed to 109% - about 370,000lb (1,645kN) - of its baseline thrust level. Orbital also tested engine start-up, propellant valve commanding, the gimballed thrust vector control and shutdown sequencing, all with positive results according to preliminary data. (12/23)
Testing on Virgin Galactic SS2 is Ahead of Schedule (Source: AIA)
Scaled Composites says testing on Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo is going better than expected and even if bad weather prevents an additional glide test by year's end, the program is ahead of schedule. Virgin Galactic says it is on target to become the world's first commercial space line, with routine operations from Spaceport America, N.M., set for 2012. (12/24)
China Matches U.S. Space Launches for First Time (Source: WIRED)
Outwardly, it looked like just another big space launch — and those happen about once a week, from spaceports all around the world. But Friday’s blast-off of a rocket, carrying a Chinese GPS-style navigation satellite, from the Xi Chang Satellite Launch Center was different. It set a record for successful Chinese launches in one year: 15. The launch represented another important milestone. For the first time since the chilliest days of the Cold War, another country has matched the United States in sheer number of rocket launches. (12/23)
Colorado Community Makes Long-Shot Bid to Attract NASA Park (Source: Loveland Reporter-Herald)
Loveland is on the northern edge of a zone being scoped by NASA for a million-square-foot research and manufacturing center, and city officials are hoping the Agilent Technologies Inc. campus might be a candidate. But as they wage a quiet campaign to attract the space agency’s interest, they acknowledge that their gambit will be a long shot. NASA on Dec. 13 signed the Space Act Agreement with the Colorado Association for Manufacturing Technology, an agency that advises and consults with state manufacturers. (12/23)
$8 Million Earmark for Ames Hangar Restoration Evaporates (Source: Mercury News)
Just a month after money to restore Moffett Field's Hangar One had been found, it's gone again. A good chunk of the funds that preservationists and officials hoped to use to restore the hangar after its toxic siding is removed had been tucked into a massive spending bill that Congress ditched last week.
NASA announced last month it would commit $20 million to put new siding on the hangar but was also counting on an $8 million congressional earmark -- reduced from $10 million in an original proposal -- submitted by Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, to supplement the work. The earmark was part of a $1.1 trillion funding bill that failed last week in the face of Republican opposition to earmarks. (12/20)
Sierra Nevada, Orbital, Aerojet and PWR Reps Join California Space Authority Board (Source: Parabolic Arc)
Nine key space leaders have been elected to the Board of Directors of the California Space Authority, a statewide non-profit organization. Of that total, four are new Board members while five are returning to the Board of Directors. A three-year term of office will begin for the elected Board members starting January 2011.
The new Board members are Mark Pieczynski of Orbital Sciences Corp., Julie Van Kleeck of Aerojet, Ron Ramos of Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, and Lisa Matthews of Sierra Nevada Corp. Returning Board members are Julie Sattler of Lockheed Martin, Al Hoffman of Boeing, Randall Garber of AT Kearney, Alan Jones of ATK and Tim Bennett of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. (12/23)
Tracking Santa -- An Interview with the Head Researcher (Source: DOE)
Every year since 1998, the Department of Energy's Los Alamos lab has been using state of the art technology to track Santa Claus as he circles the globe the night before Christmas. Click here to read an interview with Santa Tracker Head Researcher (and Cibola Flight Experiment Project Leader) Diane Roussel-Dupre to get a little more insight into the program. (12/23)
Space Junk Rivals Weapons as a Major Threat (Source: Space.com)
What began as a minor trash problem in space has now developed into a full-blown threat. A recent space security report put the problem of debris on equal footing with weapons as a threat to the future use of space. Hundreds of thousands of pieces of space junk — including broken satellites, discarded rocket stages and lost spacewalker tools — now crowd the corridors of Earth orbit.
These objects could do serious damage to working spacecraft if they were to hit them, and might even pose a risk to people and property on the ground if they fall back to Earth and are large enough to survive re-entering the atmosphere. The new Space Security 2010 report released by the Space Security Index, an international research consortium, represented space debris as a primary issue. Similar recognition of the orbital trash threat also emerged in the U.S. national space policy unveiled by President Obama in June 2010. (12/23)
Santa Looks to Final Rendezvous With NASA's Space Shuttles (Source: NASA KSC)
Santa Claus is expected to make an unforgettable flyby of NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida this Christmas Eve to see the three space shuttles as they are prepared for their final missions. NASA granted the jolly ol' elf and his nine reindeer permission to fly over various Kennedy sites, including the Shuttle Landing Facility, the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), and orbiter processing facilities (OPF) where Discovery, Endeavour and Atlantis are being readied for launch. (12/23)
Virgin’s Will Whitehorn to Retire, Whitesides to Ascend (Source: NewSpace Journal)
Virgin Galactic president Will Whitehorn will retire from the company next month and be replaced by current CEO George Whitesides. Whitehorn, who has been working for the Virgin Group in various capacities since 1987, has been president of Virgin Galactic since 2004, when the company announced plans to license the SpaceShipOne technology and work with its developer, Scaled Composites, to build SpaceShipTwo. (12/23)
December 22, 2010
Can We Afford to Return to the Moon? (Source: Air & Space)
I take issue with several points in the Augustine report. But now that the dust has settled and we have a “new direction” for our space program, its two principal deficiencies are evident. First, by discarding the clear strategic direction provided by the VSE, we have entered an era of uncertainty and aimlessness of purpose in our space program.
This institutional drift is reflected in nearly daily stories about NASA – new missions studies, new launch vehicles, the endless personal backbiting amongst the space internet cognoscenti. Second, the assertion of the report that return to the Moon is “unaffordable” is simply wrong. How you go to the Moon and what your mission is there determines cost and all the committee looked at were cost models for the existing program and minor variants on it. Click here to read the article. (12/21)
Discovery of New Molecule Can Lead to More Efficient Solid Rocket Fuel (Source: SRC)
Trinitramid – that's the name of the new molecule that may be a component in future rocket fuel. This fuel could be 20-30 percent more efficient in comparison with the best rocket fuels we have today. The discovery was made at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Sweden.
"A rule of thumb is that for every ten-percent increase in efficiency for rocket fuel, the payload of the rocket can double. What's more, the molecule consists only of nitrogen and oxygen, which would make the rocket fuel environmentally friendly. This is more than can be said of today's solid rocket fuels, which entail the emission of the equivalent of 550 tons of concentrated hydrochloric acid for each launch of the space shuttle," says Tore Brinck, professor of physical chemistry at KTH. (12/22)
Engage the Plasma Drive, Mars Here We Come (Source: Online Opinion)
President Obama’s call earlier this year to send spacecraft to Mars by 2015 is good news for space enthusiasts but more so for Australian physicist Dr Christine Charles who has invented a new type of plasma rocket drive. This is the supercharger of all space engines and Dr Charles and a team of physicists at the Australian National University developed the first prototype.
Lets have a look at Dr Charles’ Helicon Double Layer Thruster (HDLT) engine. Currently it would take an astronaut about 14 months to reach Mars and return to Earth. With the HDLT it would take three to four months - cutting 10 months off a round trip. Her ion propulsion drive rocket is safer and cheaper than any other similar design and works with a variety of propellants, including carbon dioxide (the main constituent of Mars’ atmosphere). When traveling in deep space, surrounded by radiation and in zero gravity, velocity is everything.
This electric double layer is the electrostatic equivalent of a sheer drop. The plasma ions passing through the double layer experience a sudden and very forceful acceleration in the same way water does as it flows over a cliff. The same double layer physics are behind the awesome light show of the aurora. In this case, the charged particles of the solar wind enter the Earth’s atmosphere at the poles. Click here to read the article. (12/22)
ISRO to Launch Singapore Satellite Soon (Source: The Hindu)
The Indian Space Research Organization is set to place Singapore's first satellite in orbit within a month or so. The experimental satellite was made by a university in the City-State itself. “One of the very good things in the India-Singapore bilateral relationship is that research institutions and universities have direct links with each other.” And, the governments of the two countries also inked, a Memorandum of Understanding a few years ago. (12/22)
India to Get Access to GLONASS (Source: The Hindu)
India and Russia on Tuesday signed an agreement to share high-precision signals from the Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) for defense as well as civilian use. As per the agreement, Russia will provide access to the GLONASS high-precision navigation signals to India. Russia currently has a total of 26 GLONASS satellites in orbit, of which 23 are operational. (12/22)
Students Take Part in Nationwide Rocketry Challenge (Source: AIA)
About 7,000 students from around the country are competing in the Team America Rocketry Challenge, where teams design, build and fly model rockets that must reach a certain altitude and fly for a certain period of time. This year's goals are an altitude of 750 feet and 45 seconds in flight -- plus successful recovery of an egg in the rocket's capsule. (12/22)
Support Builds for Asteroid-Hunting Spacecraft (Source: AIA)
Support is increasing for NASA's development of a spacecraft that could hunt asteroids and help protect Earth from possible asteroid threats. One possibility involves placing an infrared imaging telescope in orbit around the sun, which could offer a larger field view of the sky than is available from observatories on Earth. "If we seriously want to find all the asteroids which could be an impact hazard to the Earth, as well as find the asteroids which would be good destinations for human spaceflight, then a space-based survey telescope in solar orbit interior to Earth's would be the most rapid way to do that," said NASA's Lindley Johnson. (12/21)
Probing the Sun: How Close Can We Get? (Source: PBS)
At what point would a spacecraft approaching the sun vaporize? We all know the tale of Icarus. He attempts to escape imprisonment in Crete with wings made of feather, wood and wax. Ignoring his father's warnings, he flies too close to the sun. The wax melts. Icarus plummets to his death. For a spacecraft, the ability to fly safely near the sun depends entirely on its material, its design, and its fly-by trajectory.
The deep-space probe Helios 2 has flown closer to the sun than any other spacecraft; it made it 32 million miles from the sun's center. But a team of NASA scientists have designed a spacecraft that can survive at a distance eight times closer than that. After 21 circles, it will fall into a stable orbit at the 4-million-mile distance from the sun's center. That's well within the corona, the fiery atmosphere beyond the sun's ball.
The probe, which is lightweight, but rugged, is made of carbon-carbon material, layered around foam. Once within the corona, it will be exposed to temperatures of 2,600 degrees Fahrenheit. Its instruments are designed to measure the corona's magnetic field, particle distribution and radiowaves. A sunshield will protect it by dissipating some of the heat. (12/22)
Solar Sail Flotilla Could Divert Possibly Dangerous Asteroid (Source: Space.com)
A flotilla of solar sail spacecraft could change the course of the asteroid Apophis — which is headed a little too close to Earth for comfort — by shading the space rock from solar radiation, according to a French researcher. Such a plan could help shift Apophis into a slightly safer orbit by the time it is expected to swing by Earth on April 13, 2036. But experts have warned previously that any efforts to divert the space rock could actually make matters worse. (12/22)
Superhero Move May Save Black Holes From Nakedness (Source: New Scientist)
Black holes may dodge the speeding "bullets" that would otherwise strip them naked – and pose problems for Einstein's theory of general relativity. The finding is good news for physicist Stephen Hawking, who has wagered that such naked singularities are a physical impossibility.
The event horizon surrounding a black hole means nothing, not even light, escapes. But in 2009, physicists Ted Jacobson and Thomas Sotiriou at the University of Maryland at College Park calculated that, under some circumstances, an incoming particle might cause a spinning black hole to rotate so fast that this horizon is destroyed, allowing light to escape.
The trouble is, the theory of general relativity and other laws of classical physics break down around the resulting "naked singularity". Now Enrico Barausse, also at the University of Maryland in College Park, and his colleagues reckon that such incoming particles needn't strip spinning black holes. (12/22)
China's Orbiter Successfully Flies Through Lunar Eclipse (Source: Xinhua)
China's solar-powered lunar probe satellite Chang'e 2 has successfully stood the test of a lunar eclipse and hours of flying in complete darkness. The orbiter, launched on Oct. 1, flew out of the shadow at 17:57 Beijing Time (09:57 GMT) Tuesday, said Zhou Jianliang, deputy chief engineer of the BACC. It entered the shadow at 14:50 Tuesday. During the three-hours when the orbiter was obscured from the sun's rays by the earth, it relied solely on battery power and experienced temperatures of around 200 degrees Celsius below zero. (12/22)
NASA Plans Planet-Finding TweetUp in California (Source: NASA)
NASA will give 100 of its Twitter followers an insider look at its planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft and the agency's Ames Research Center on Feb. 11 in Moffett Field in California. For the first time, NASA's Twitter followers are being invited to Ames to learn about planetary discoveries from Kepler and the science flights of NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) aircraft.
Tweetup registration opens at 1 p.m. EST on Jan. 5 and closes at 1 p.m. on Jan. 10. NASA will accommodate 100 active Tweeps randomly selected from those who sign up online. Additional registrants will be placed on a waiting list. Those who cannot attend the Tweetup can follow along via Web coverage, including tweets and live streaming. For more information about the Tweetup and to sign up, visit http://www.nasa.gov/tweetup. (12/22)
Inmarsat Secures Ex-Im Financing for Global Xpress Satellites (Source: Space News)
Mobile satellite services provider Inmarsat of London has secured $666 million in loans from the U.S. Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank to finance the construction and insurance of three large Ka-band satellites to provide bandwidth to commercial and military customers. One of the Global Xpress satellites, being built by Boeing, will carry a hosted payload that Inmarsat is having built with the expectation that it will be leased by a U.S. military customer, industry officials said. (12/22)
Florida Gains Two U.S. House Seats in Census (Source: St. Pete Times)
Florida will gain two U.S. House seats as Census Bureau data released Tuesday realigned Congress and continues a steady shift of population and political power to the South and West. A 17.6 percent population boom in the past decade will give Florida 27 House members beginning in 2012, boosting the state's clout and ability to draw more federal funding. Florida now has as many seats as New York, a significant marker that shows how far the state has come since the advent of air conditioning. (12/22)
Battle Over Florida Redistricting Begins (Source: Florida Capital News)
Florida legislators got the official go-ahead Tuesday to start a two-year argument over redrawing the state's congressional and legislative districts. Details on how Florida's population has shifted internally remain months away. Because of national population shifts, the state gains two seats in the U.S. House.
But it also means that state lawmakers will have to draw the district boundaries for themselves — 40 in the Senate and 120 in the House — as well as the now-27 congressional tracts. While Florida gets more seats in Congress, the state Legislature does not grow. Editor's Note: Last time the state re-districted, the Cape Canaveral Spaceport was split to include two districts, one including KSC and the other including CCAFS. (12/22)
Gov.-Elect Scott May Merge Agencies for Economic Development (Source: The Ledger)
Three high-profile state agencies could be combined under a proposal released by Gov.-elect Rick Scott's transition team. The state departments of Transportation, Environmental Protection and Community Affairs would be merged. The policy briefing recommends that Scott, who is preparing to take office next month, "refocus discrete components (of the agencies) as part of a newly created, more muscular state economic development agency."
It also recommends the state get out of the business of overseeing local comprehensive planning following high profile fights in the Legislature in recent years over growth management restrictions lawmakers say are overly burdensome. It would take legislation to combine the agencies and the transition team warned Scott that merging DCA with the other two large agencies wouldn't necessarily make those problems go away, even as it recommended he push for the consolidation. (12/22)
Threat from Wayward Intelsat Satellite Diminishes (Source: Space News)
Intelsat’s runaway Galaxy 15 telecommunications satellite, which stopped responding to commands in April and since has been in an uncontrolled drift around the Earth along the principal orbital highway, has lost enough power that 95 percent of its electrical payload has shut down. The shutdown, which Intelsat originally had hoped would occur in August, finally arrived Dec. 17, all but ending an eight-month drama in which Intelsat had to warn owners of satellites in Galaxy 15’s path to perform occasionally elaborate maneuvers to prevent frequency interference for their customers. (12/22)
Proton Return-to-Flight Planned for December 26 (Source: SpaceRef.com)
After the failure of the last Proton launch and following an investigation, it has been decided to go ahead with the launch of Eutelsat's KA-SAT satellite on Dec. 26. The original launch date was Dec. 20. (12/22)
Turner to Chair Strategic Forces Subcommittee (Source: Space News)
Incoming U.S. House Armed Services Committee Chairman Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-Calif.) named Rep. Michael Turner (R-Ohio) to head the panel’s strategic forces subcommittee in the 112th Congress that convenes in January. The strategic forces subcommittee has oversight of the nation’s military space and missile defense programs, as well as its nuclear arsenal. (12/22)
I take issue with several points in the Augustine report. But now that the dust has settled and we have a “new direction” for our space program, its two principal deficiencies are evident. First, by discarding the clear strategic direction provided by the VSE, we have entered an era of uncertainty and aimlessness of purpose in our space program.
This institutional drift is reflected in nearly daily stories about NASA – new missions studies, new launch vehicles, the endless personal backbiting amongst the space internet cognoscenti. Second, the assertion of the report that return to the Moon is “unaffordable” is simply wrong. How you go to the Moon and what your mission is there determines cost and all the committee looked at were cost models for the existing program and minor variants on it. Click here to read the article. (12/21)
Discovery of New Molecule Can Lead to More Efficient Solid Rocket Fuel (Source: SRC)
Trinitramid – that's the name of the new molecule that may be a component in future rocket fuel. This fuel could be 20-30 percent more efficient in comparison with the best rocket fuels we have today. The discovery was made at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Sweden.
"A rule of thumb is that for every ten-percent increase in efficiency for rocket fuel, the payload of the rocket can double. What's more, the molecule consists only of nitrogen and oxygen, which would make the rocket fuel environmentally friendly. This is more than can be said of today's solid rocket fuels, which entail the emission of the equivalent of 550 tons of concentrated hydrochloric acid for each launch of the space shuttle," says Tore Brinck, professor of physical chemistry at KTH. (12/22)
Engage the Plasma Drive, Mars Here We Come (Source: Online Opinion)
President Obama’s call earlier this year to send spacecraft to Mars by 2015 is good news for space enthusiasts but more so for Australian physicist Dr Christine Charles who has invented a new type of plasma rocket drive. This is the supercharger of all space engines and Dr Charles and a team of physicists at the Australian National University developed the first prototype.
Lets have a look at Dr Charles’ Helicon Double Layer Thruster (HDLT) engine. Currently it would take an astronaut about 14 months to reach Mars and return to Earth. With the HDLT it would take three to four months - cutting 10 months off a round trip. Her ion propulsion drive rocket is safer and cheaper than any other similar design and works with a variety of propellants, including carbon dioxide (the main constituent of Mars’ atmosphere). When traveling in deep space, surrounded by radiation and in zero gravity, velocity is everything.
This electric double layer is the electrostatic equivalent of a sheer drop. The plasma ions passing through the double layer experience a sudden and very forceful acceleration in the same way water does as it flows over a cliff. The same double layer physics are behind the awesome light show of the aurora. In this case, the charged particles of the solar wind enter the Earth’s atmosphere at the poles. Click here to read the article. (12/22)
ISRO to Launch Singapore Satellite Soon (Source: The Hindu)
The Indian Space Research Organization is set to place Singapore's first satellite in orbit within a month or so. The experimental satellite was made by a university in the City-State itself. “One of the very good things in the India-Singapore bilateral relationship is that research institutions and universities have direct links with each other.” And, the governments of the two countries also inked, a Memorandum of Understanding a few years ago. (12/22)
India to Get Access to GLONASS (Source: The Hindu)
India and Russia on Tuesday signed an agreement to share high-precision signals from the Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) for defense as well as civilian use. As per the agreement, Russia will provide access to the GLONASS high-precision navigation signals to India. Russia currently has a total of 26 GLONASS satellites in orbit, of which 23 are operational. (12/22)
Students Take Part in Nationwide Rocketry Challenge (Source: AIA)
About 7,000 students from around the country are competing in the Team America Rocketry Challenge, where teams design, build and fly model rockets that must reach a certain altitude and fly for a certain period of time. This year's goals are an altitude of 750 feet and 45 seconds in flight -- plus successful recovery of an egg in the rocket's capsule. (12/22)
Support Builds for Asteroid-Hunting Spacecraft (Source: AIA)
Support is increasing for NASA's development of a spacecraft that could hunt asteroids and help protect Earth from possible asteroid threats. One possibility involves placing an infrared imaging telescope in orbit around the sun, which could offer a larger field view of the sky than is available from observatories on Earth. "If we seriously want to find all the asteroids which could be an impact hazard to the Earth, as well as find the asteroids which would be good destinations for human spaceflight, then a space-based survey telescope in solar orbit interior to Earth's would be the most rapid way to do that," said NASA's Lindley Johnson. (12/21)
Probing the Sun: How Close Can We Get? (Source: PBS)
At what point would a spacecraft approaching the sun vaporize? We all know the tale of Icarus. He attempts to escape imprisonment in Crete with wings made of feather, wood and wax. Ignoring his father's warnings, he flies too close to the sun. The wax melts. Icarus plummets to his death. For a spacecraft, the ability to fly safely near the sun depends entirely on its material, its design, and its fly-by trajectory.
The deep-space probe Helios 2 has flown closer to the sun than any other spacecraft; it made it 32 million miles from the sun's center. But a team of NASA scientists have designed a spacecraft that can survive at a distance eight times closer than that. After 21 circles, it will fall into a stable orbit at the 4-million-mile distance from the sun's center. That's well within the corona, the fiery atmosphere beyond the sun's ball.
The probe, which is lightweight, but rugged, is made of carbon-carbon material, layered around foam. Once within the corona, it will be exposed to temperatures of 2,600 degrees Fahrenheit. Its instruments are designed to measure the corona's magnetic field, particle distribution and radiowaves. A sunshield will protect it by dissipating some of the heat. (12/22)
Solar Sail Flotilla Could Divert Possibly Dangerous Asteroid (Source: Space.com)
A flotilla of solar sail spacecraft could change the course of the asteroid Apophis — which is headed a little too close to Earth for comfort — by shading the space rock from solar radiation, according to a French researcher. Such a plan could help shift Apophis into a slightly safer orbit by the time it is expected to swing by Earth on April 13, 2036. But experts have warned previously that any efforts to divert the space rock could actually make matters worse. (12/22)
Superhero Move May Save Black Holes From Nakedness (Source: New Scientist)
Black holes may dodge the speeding "bullets" that would otherwise strip them naked – and pose problems for Einstein's theory of general relativity. The finding is good news for physicist Stephen Hawking, who has wagered that such naked singularities are a physical impossibility.
The event horizon surrounding a black hole means nothing, not even light, escapes. But in 2009, physicists Ted Jacobson and Thomas Sotiriou at the University of Maryland at College Park calculated that, under some circumstances, an incoming particle might cause a spinning black hole to rotate so fast that this horizon is destroyed, allowing light to escape.
The trouble is, the theory of general relativity and other laws of classical physics break down around the resulting "naked singularity". Now Enrico Barausse, also at the University of Maryland in College Park, and his colleagues reckon that such incoming particles needn't strip spinning black holes. (12/22)
China's Orbiter Successfully Flies Through Lunar Eclipse (Source: Xinhua)
China's solar-powered lunar probe satellite Chang'e 2 has successfully stood the test of a lunar eclipse and hours of flying in complete darkness. The orbiter, launched on Oct. 1, flew out of the shadow at 17:57 Beijing Time (09:57 GMT) Tuesday, said Zhou Jianliang, deputy chief engineer of the BACC. It entered the shadow at 14:50 Tuesday. During the three-hours when the orbiter was obscured from the sun's rays by the earth, it relied solely on battery power and experienced temperatures of around 200 degrees Celsius below zero. (12/22)
NASA Plans Planet-Finding TweetUp in California (Source: NASA)
NASA will give 100 of its Twitter followers an insider look at its planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft and the agency's Ames Research Center on Feb. 11 in Moffett Field in California. For the first time, NASA's Twitter followers are being invited to Ames to learn about planetary discoveries from Kepler and the science flights of NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) aircraft.
Tweetup registration opens at 1 p.m. EST on Jan. 5 and closes at 1 p.m. on Jan. 10. NASA will accommodate 100 active Tweeps randomly selected from those who sign up online. Additional registrants will be placed on a waiting list. Those who cannot attend the Tweetup can follow along via Web coverage, including tweets and live streaming. For more information about the Tweetup and to sign up, visit http://www.nasa.gov/tweetup. (12/22)
Inmarsat Secures Ex-Im Financing for Global Xpress Satellites (Source: Space News)
Mobile satellite services provider Inmarsat of London has secured $666 million in loans from the U.S. Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank to finance the construction and insurance of three large Ka-band satellites to provide bandwidth to commercial and military customers. One of the Global Xpress satellites, being built by Boeing, will carry a hosted payload that Inmarsat is having built with the expectation that it will be leased by a U.S. military customer, industry officials said. (12/22)
Florida Gains Two U.S. House Seats in Census (Source: St. Pete Times)
Florida will gain two U.S. House seats as Census Bureau data released Tuesday realigned Congress and continues a steady shift of population and political power to the South and West. A 17.6 percent population boom in the past decade will give Florida 27 House members beginning in 2012, boosting the state's clout and ability to draw more federal funding. Florida now has as many seats as New York, a significant marker that shows how far the state has come since the advent of air conditioning. (12/22)
Battle Over Florida Redistricting Begins (Source: Florida Capital News)
Florida legislators got the official go-ahead Tuesday to start a two-year argument over redrawing the state's congressional and legislative districts. Details on how Florida's population has shifted internally remain months away. Because of national population shifts, the state gains two seats in the U.S. House.
But it also means that state lawmakers will have to draw the district boundaries for themselves — 40 in the Senate and 120 in the House — as well as the now-27 congressional tracts. While Florida gets more seats in Congress, the state Legislature does not grow. Editor's Note: Last time the state re-districted, the Cape Canaveral Spaceport was split to include two districts, one including KSC and the other including CCAFS. (12/22)
Gov.-Elect Scott May Merge Agencies for Economic Development (Source: The Ledger)
Three high-profile state agencies could be combined under a proposal released by Gov.-elect Rick Scott's transition team. The state departments of Transportation, Environmental Protection and Community Affairs would be merged. The policy briefing recommends that Scott, who is preparing to take office next month, "refocus discrete components (of the agencies) as part of a newly created, more muscular state economic development agency."
It also recommends the state get out of the business of overseeing local comprehensive planning following high profile fights in the Legislature in recent years over growth management restrictions lawmakers say are overly burdensome. It would take legislation to combine the agencies and the transition team warned Scott that merging DCA with the other two large agencies wouldn't necessarily make those problems go away, even as it recommended he push for the consolidation. (12/22)
Threat from Wayward Intelsat Satellite Diminishes (Source: Space News)
Intelsat’s runaway Galaxy 15 telecommunications satellite, which stopped responding to commands in April and since has been in an uncontrolled drift around the Earth along the principal orbital highway, has lost enough power that 95 percent of its electrical payload has shut down. The shutdown, which Intelsat originally had hoped would occur in August, finally arrived Dec. 17, all but ending an eight-month drama in which Intelsat had to warn owners of satellites in Galaxy 15’s path to perform occasionally elaborate maneuvers to prevent frequency interference for their customers. (12/22)
Proton Return-to-Flight Planned for December 26 (Source: SpaceRef.com)
After the failure of the last Proton launch and following an investigation, it has been decided to go ahead with the launch of Eutelsat's KA-SAT satellite on Dec. 26. The original launch date was Dec. 20. (12/22)
Turner to Chair Strategic Forces Subcommittee (Source: Space News)
Incoming U.S. House Armed Services Committee Chairman Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-Calif.) named Rep. Michael Turner (R-Ohio) to head the panel’s strategic forces subcommittee in the 112th Congress that convenes in January. The strategic forces subcommittee has oversight of the nation’s military space and missile defense programs, as well as its nuclear arsenal. (12/22)
December 21, 2010
Senate Approves Stopgap Spending Bill (Source: Space News)
The U.S. Senate adopted a temporary spending bill Dec. 21 that would keep the government funded at 2010 levels through March 4. The stopgap appropriation now goes to the House of Representatives for consideration before the current continuing resolution under which the government is operating expires at midnight. The Senate bill, approved 79-16, was offered in the form of an amendment to H.R. 3082, a House-approved measure that would have funded the federal government for the remainder of fiscal year 2011 and which would have increased NASA spending by $186 million over 2010 levels. (12/21)
Spending Bill Holds No Extra Money for NASA (Source: Florida Today)
NASA wouldn't receive the extra funding anticipated for the first year of its new policy, under a spending bill awaiting approval in Congress. But Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., said the space agency should be able to accomplish its goals of launching a third shuttle mission in 2011 and supporting commercial rocket development, despite losing the extra funding, at least temporarily.
The Senate was expected to consider today a spending bill that largely holds funding steady for most agencies until March 4. The House would then rubber-stamp that measure, leaving major spending decisions for the next Congress. NASA would receive $18.7 billion for the year that started Oct. 1, which is a couple of hundred million dollars less than anticipated for the year.
President Barack Obama had proposed $19 billion for the space agency, as it shifted to boost commercial rockets to ferry people to the International Space Station. Appropriations Committees in the House and Senate separately approved $18.9 billion for NASA. But Senate Republicans scuttled the full-year spending bills because of complaints about other spending provisions. (12/21)
Senate Omnibus Funding Bill Would Have Provided $8M Earmark for Patrick AFB Improvement (Source: SPACErePORT)
The Senate's failed attempt at a lame-duck omnibus funding bill included $8 million for relocation of the main gate at Patrick Air Force Base (PAFB) on Florida's Space Coast. PAFB is the home of the 45th Space Wing, which manages the Eastern Range and supports government and commercial launches at the nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Whether the funds will be included by the 112th Congress in their next DOD appropriation bill remains unknown, but appears unlikely as the Congress tries to ban such earmarks. (12/21)
Engineer Hopes to Buy Satellite to Provide Free Internet (Source: Space.com)
One man's bankrupt satellite company is another man's opportunity to spread free Internet across the world. That's the hope of Kosta Grammatis, CEO and founder of ahumanright.org, who sees having an Internet connection as a basic necessity — in fact, a human right — for every global citizen.
Grammatis is raising $150,000 to create a business plan for buying a communications satellite and moving it to a new orbital slot to provide free Internet service to developing countries. He has his sights set on the TerreStar-1 satellite: a spacecraft the size of a school bus that launched in 2009 and is owned by a company that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October. (12/21)
NASA Seeks Proposals For Suborbital Tech Flight Demos and Flight Services (Source: Space Daily)
NASA is seeking proposals from researchers interested in testing new technologies during suborbital flights. The agency also is requesting information from commercial suborbital reusable launch vehicle providers and commercial payload integrators about carrying the technology payloads. The selected payloads will fly on aircraft that provide parabolic flight trajectories and on suborbital reusable launch vehicles capable of flying to altitudes above 62 miles. The flights will expose the payloads to reduced gravity and near-zero gravity environments. (12/21)
Information for Prospective Space Station Investigators (Source: NASA)
Flying experiments on the International Space Station is a unique opportunity to eliminate gravity as a variable, to provide exposure to vacuum and radiation, and to have a clear view of both the Earth and universe beyond. If you have an idea for a space flight experiment and want to learn how to have it operated on ISS, this is where to begin. (12/21)
NASA Selects United Negro College Fund To Help Build Science Careers (Source: NASA)
NASA has selected the United Negro College Fund to administer a $1 million career development and educational program designed to address the critical shortage of U.S. minority students in science and engineering fields. The NASA Astrobiology Institute's (NAI) Minority Institution Research Support (MIRS) program is providing the funding for the four-year effort. The program will provide opportunities for up to four faculty members and eight students from minority-serving institutions to partner with astrobiology investigators. (12/21)
NASA Might Merge Human Spaceflight, Operations Directorates (Source: Space News)
NASA is considering a plan to merge its space operations and human spaceflight mission directorates to better align with the U.S. space agency’s manned spaceflight goals, according to NASA officials. The heads of NASA’s Exploration Systems and Space Operations mission directorates said they had been tasked by NASA Administrator Charles Bolden to formulate a plan for combining the two organizations and report back to the agency chief in early 2011. (12/21)
Prediction: Expect Earths Twin Planet in 2011 (Source: New Scientist)
Like meeting an estranged twin you didn't know you had, Earthlings will thrill at finding their planetary double. To predict the timing of this momentous occasion, we turned to a measure of "Earth-like-ness." This "habitability index" is based on estimates of a planet's average temperature and size. "Hot Jupiters", searingly hot worlds that orbit their hosts in just days, score close to zero, while one with similar properties to Earth would get a value of 1.
In September, plotting the index of each planet against the date of its discovery and extrapolating the resulting curves predicted that an Earth-like planet would be found by May 2011. Two weeks later, such a planet - Gliese 581 g - was spotted although the detection is awaiting further confirmation. Now we've taken the same curves, adapted them to include Gliese 581 g's habitability index of 0.4, and come up with a fresh prediction. Our figures suggest there is an 82 percent chance that we will find a true doppelgänger for Earth by the close of 2011. (12/21)
Strange New World (Source: Cosmos)
Saturn's enigmatic moon Titan has turned out to be an unexpected treasure trove of Earth-like landscapes and bizarre weather systems – and there are even tantalising hints of a vast and warm underground sea sloshing inside. Europe's Huygens space probe took 10 years to construct and required a further eight years to reach its target: Titan, the giant moon of Saturn. Click here to read the article. (12/21)
Space Rock Surprise (Source: Science News)
Planetary scientists have found amino acids, building blocks of life, in an unexpected place: a meteorite whose parent asteroid formed at temperatures so high that such fragile organic compounds should have been destroyed. One explanation for the surprising discovery is that some amino acids might form through a mechanism that does not require the presence of water, upping the chances of finding life beyond the solar system, says Daniel Glavin of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. (12/21)
NASA-NSF Scientific Balloon Launches From Antarctica (Source: NASA)
NASA and the National Science Foundation launched a scientific balloon on Monday, Dec. 20, to study the effects of cosmic rays on Earth. It was the first of five scientific balloons scheduled to launch from Antarctica in December. The Cosmic Ray Energetics And Mass (CREAM VI) experiment was designed and built at the University of Maryland. CREAM VI is investigating high-energy cosmic-ray particles that originated from distant supernovae explosions in the Milky Way and reached Earth. Currently, CREAM VI is floating at 126,000 feet above Antarctica with nominal science operations. (12/21)
Alien Planet May Be in Habitable Zone After All (Source: Space.com)
The alien planet Gliese 581g has been getting a lot of attention recently as a possibly habitable world, but a case is building for its next-door neighbor as a good candidate for extraterrestrial life, too. Gliese 581d, another planet discovered around the star Gliese 581, may well lie in the "habitable zone" of the star — that just-right distance range that can allow liquid water to exist — new atmospheric-modeling research suggests. The finding follows closely on the heels of a similar study, published earlier this year, that reached the same provisional conclusion. (12/21)
Site for Colorado's Space Act Research Park Could be Picked Next Month (Source: Colorado Daily)
The location of a 200-acre research campus resulting from Colorado's recent Space Act agreement with NASA -- a broad program estimated to result in the creation of 10,000 jobs statewide -- could be determined as early as mid-January. The aerospace and clean energy research park is one aspect of a multi-faceted five-year agreement between the space agency and the Colorado Association for Manufacturing and Technology, designed to create a public-private "regional innovation cluster" in Colorado; increase manufacturing capabilities; and bring technologies to market in a speedier fashion. (12/21)
Russia Raises Space Station Orbit (Source: RIA Novosti)
Russia's Mission Control is preparing to adjust the orbit of the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday by raising it 4.2 kilometers (2.6 miles). The readjustment is necessary to ensure the best conditions for the docking of Russia's Progress M-09M space freighter and the U.S. Discovery's final mission to the orbital station before the veteran space shuttle is removed from future service. (12/21)
The U.S. Senate adopted a temporary spending bill Dec. 21 that would keep the government funded at 2010 levels through March 4. The stopgap appropriation now goes to the House of Representatives for consideration before the current continuing resolution under which the government is operating expires at midnight. The Senate bill, approved 79-16, was offered in the form of an amendment to H.R. 3082, a House-approved measure that would have funded the federal government for the remainder of fiscal year 2011 and which would have increased NASA spending by $186 million over 2010 levels. (12/21)
Spending Bill Holds No Extra Money for NASA (Source: Florida Today)
NASA wouldn't receive the extra funding anticipated for the first year of its new policy, under a spending bill awaiting approval in Congress. But Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., said the space agency should be able to accomplish its goals of launching a third shuttle mission in 2011 and supporting commercial rocket development, despite losing the extra funding, at least temporarily.
The Senate was expected to consider today a spending bill that largely holds funding steady for most agencies until March 4. The House would then rubber-stamp that measure, leaving major spending decisions for the next Congress. NASA would receive $18.7 billion for the year that started Oct. 1, which is a couple of hundred million dollars less than anticipated for the year.
President Barack Obama had proposed $19 billion for the space agency, as it shifted to boost commercial rockets to ferry people to the International Space Station. Appropriations Committees in the House and Senate separately approved $18.9 billion for NASA. But Senate Republicans scuttled the full-year spending bills because of complaints about other spending provisions. (12/21)
Senate Omnibus Funding Bill Would Have Provided $8M Earmark for Patrick AFB Improvement (Source: SPACErePORT)
The Senate's failed attempt at a lame-duck omnibus funding bill included $8 million for relocation of the main gate at Patrick Air Force Base (PAFB) on Florida's Space Coast. PAFB is the home of the 45th Space Wing, which manages the Eastern Range and supports government and commercial launches at the nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Whether the funds will be included by the 112th Congress in their next DOD appropriation bill remains unknown, but appears unlikely as the Congress tries to ban such earmarks. (12/21)
Engineer Hopes to Buy Satellite to Provide Free Internet (Source: Space.com)
One man's bankrupt satellite company is another man's opportunity to spread free Internet across the world. That's the hope of Kosta Grammatis, CEO and founder of ahumanright.org, who sees having an Internet connection as a basic necessity — in fact, a human right — for every global citizen.
Grammatis is raising $150,000 to create a business plan for buying a communications satellite and moving it to a new orbital slot to provide free Internet service to developing countries. He has his sights set on the TerreStar-1 satellite: a spacecraft the size of a school bus that launched in 2009 and is owned by a company that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October. (12/21)
NASA Seeks Proposals For Suborbital Tech Flight Demos and Flight Services (Source: Space Daily)
NASA is seeking proposals from researchers interested in testing new technologies during suborbital flights. The agency also is requesting information from commercial suborbital reusable launch vehicle providers and commercial payload integrators about carrying the technology payloads. The selected payloads will fly on aircraft that provide parabolic flight trajectories and on suborbital reusable launch vehicles capable of flying to altitudes above 62 miles. The flights will expose the payloads to reduced gravity and near-zero gravity environments. (12/21)
Information for Prospective Space Station Investigators (Source: NASA)
Flying experiments on the International Space Station is a unique opportunity to eliminate gravity as a variable, to provide exposure to vacuum and radiation, and to have a clear view of both the Earth and universe beyond. If you have an idea for a space flight experiment and want to learn how to have it operated on ISS, this is where to begin. (12/21)
NASA Selects United Negro College Fund To Help Build Science Careers (Source: NASA)
NASA has selected the United Negro College Fund to administer a $1 million career development and educational program designed to address the critical shortage of U.S. minority students in science and engineering fields. The NASA Astrobiology Institute's (NAI) Minority Institution Research Support (MIRS) program is providing the funding for the four-year effort. The program will provide opportunities for up to four faculty members and eight students from minority-serving institutions to partner with astrobiology investigators. (12/21)
NASA Might Merge Human Spaceflight, Operations Directorates (Source: Space News)
NASA is considering a plan to merge its space operations and human spaceflight mission directorates to better align with the U.S. space agency’s manned spaceflight goals, according to NASA officials. The heads of NASA’s Exploration Systems and Space Operations mission directorates said they had been tasked by NASA Administrator Charles Bolden to formulate a plan for combining the two organizations and report back to the agency chief in early 2011. (12/21)
Prediction: Expect Earths Twin Planet in 2011 (Source: New Scientist)
Like meeting an estranged twin you didn't know you had, Earthlings will thrill at finding their planetary double. To predict the timing of this momentous occasion, we turned to a measure of "Earth-like-ness." This "habitability index" is based on estimates of a planet's average temperature and size. "Hot Jupiters", searingly hot worlds that orbit their hosts in just days, score close to zero, while one with similar properties to Earth would get a value of 1.
In September, plotting the index of each planet against the date of its discovery and extrapolating the resulting curves predicted that an Earth-like planet would be found by May 2011. Two weeks later, such a planet - Gliese 581 g - was spotted although the detection is awaiting further confirmation. Now we've taken the same curves, adapted them to include Gliese 581 g's habitability index of 0.4, and come up with a fresh prediction. Our figures suggest there is an 82 percent chance that we will find a true doppelgänger for Earth by the close of 2011. (12/21)
Strange New World (Source: Cosmos)
Saturn's enigmatic moon Titan has turned out to be an unexpected treasure trove of Earth-like landscapes and bizarre weather systems – and there are even tantalising hints of a vast and warm underground sea sloshing inside. Europe's Huygens space probe took 10 years to construct and required a further eight years to reach its target: Titan, the giant moon of Saturn. Click here to read the article. (12/21)
Space Rock Surprise (Source: Science News)
Planetary scientists have found amino acids, building blocks of life, in an unexpected place: a meteorite whose parent asteroid formed at temperatures so high that such fragile organic compounds should have been destroyed. One explanation for the surprising discovery is that some amino acids might form through a mechanism that does not require the presence of water, upping the chances of finding life beyond the solar system, says Daniel Glavin of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. (12/21)
NASA-NSF Scientific Balloon Launches From Antarctica (Source: NASA)
NASA and the National Science Foundation launched a scientific balloon on Monday, Dec. 20, to study the effects of cosmic rays on Earth. It was the first of five scientific balloons scheduled to launch from Antarctica in December. The Cosmic Ray Energetics And Mass (CREAM VI) experiment was designed and built at the University of Maryland. CREAM VI is investigating high-energy cosmic-ray particles that originated from distant supernovae explosions in the Milky Way and reached Earth. Currently, CREAM VI is floating at 126,000 feet above Antarctica with nominal science operations. (12/21)
Alien Planet May Be in Habitable Zone After All (Source: Space.com)
The alien planet Gliese 581g has been getting a lot of attention recently as a possibly habitable world, but a case is building for its next-door neighbor as a good candidate for extraterrestrial life, too. Gliese 581d, another planet discovered around the star Gliese 581, may well lie in the "habitable zone" of the star — that just-right distance range that can allow liquid water to exist — new atmospheric-modeling research suggests. The finding follows closely on the heels of a similar study, published earlier this year, that reached the same provisional conclusion. (12/21)
Site for Colorado's Space Act Research Park Could be Picked Next Month (Source: Colorado Daily)
The location of a 200-acre research campus resulting from Colorado's recent Space Act agreement with NASA -- a broad program estimated to result in the creation of 10,000 jobs statewide -- could be determined as early as mid-January. The aerospace and clean energy research park is one aspect of a multi-faceted five-year agreement between the space agency and the Colorado Association for Manufacturing and Technology, designed to create a public-private "regional innovation cluster" in Colorado; increase manufacturing capabilities; and bring technologies to market in a speedier fashion. (12/21)
Russia Raises Space Station Orbit (Source: RIA Novosti)
Russia's Mission Control is preparing to adjust the orbit of the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday by raising it 4.2 kilometers (2.6 miles). The readjustment is necessary to ensure the best conditions for the docking of Russia's Progress M-09M space freighter and the U.S. Discovery's final mission to the orbital station before the veteran space shuttle is removed from future service. (12/21)
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