Secret Mini-Shuttle Due for Landing as Soon as Friday (Source: SpaceFlightNow.com)
The U.S. Air Force's clandestine X-37B space plane will glide back to Earth as soon as Friday and land on a concrete runway in California. The X-37B spacecraft, also called the Orbital Test Vehicle, has been circling Earth since April 22 conducting classified tests while under the watchful eye of amateur observers on the ground. The two-paragraph statement issued by the 30th Space Wing at Vandenberg Air Force Base says the "exact landing date and time will depend on technical and weather considerations," but it is expected between Friday and Monday. (11/30)
Launch Companies Beg NASA: Save the Space Planes! (Source: WIRED)
In separate, closed-door meetings, reps from two different companies asked NASA's Dave Huntsman about the X-34s’ status. “Most of us didn’t even know the X-34s still existed, since it had been years since program cancellation,” the engineer mused. Propelled by industry’s interest, Huntsman placed a few calls and located the X-34s on the bombing range.
Sensing the renewed interest, in January the Air Force voluntarily towed the X-34s off the range, a tedious, weeks-long undertaking complicated by mud and distance. To pay for inspections, Huntsman and a growing band of allies counted on a phenomenon unique to government budget cycles. “With the Dryden guys, I proposed to my boss...that if any funds freed up in September 2010 [as fiscal year was ending] — not an uncommon occurrence — that we take AFRL up on their offer to fund half of a $400,000 study to determine the exact status of the vehicles. (11/30)
NASA Extends ATK Solid Rocket Motor Contract (Source: NASA)
NASA has signed a $42.1 million contract modification to space shuttle reusable solid rocket motor manufacturer ATK Launch Systems to provide continued prelaunch through postlaunch support from Oct. 1, 2010, through Dec. 31, 2011. The modification is based on an extension to the current Space Shuttle Program launch schedule, which shifted the last two scheduled missions into fiscal year 2011.
The extension also covers the completion of contract activities associated with the processing of flight hardware after the last scheduled shuttle flight, STS-134, and postflight activities for cleaning and preserving the reusable solid rocket motors. This modification brings the total potential value of the cost-plus-award fee/incentive fee contract to $4.13 billion. The principal location of the work to be performed is ATK Launch Systems Inc. in Brigham City. (11/30)
Will Space Tourists Fly Next Year? (Source: MSNBC)
Virgin Galactic's billionaire founder, Richard Branson, says that "we're about 12 months away" from flying paying passengers to the edge of outer space. But there are huge hurdles between now and then -- such as actually putting the spaceship through rocket-powered tests. Branson delivered his latest prediction for the start of Virgin Galactic's commercial service on NBC's TODAY show, repeating his intention to get on board for the first operational flight of the SpaceShipTwo rocket plane, along with other members of his family. (11/30)
Has NASA Found Life Near Saturn? (Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
NASA has called a 2 p.m. news conference for Thursday "to discuss an astrobiology finding that will impact the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life." Speculation is growing that NASA has discovered life on one of Saturn's moons. The space agency did not release more details, but the list of news conference participants is telling, according to blogger Jason Kottke.
The group includes Pamela Conrad, author of a paper on geology and life on Mars; and James Elser, an Arizona State University professor involved in a NASA-funded program that emphasizes looking at the chemistry of environments where life evolves. "So, if I had to guess at what NASA is going to reveal on Thursday, I'd say that they've discovered arsenic on Titan and maybe even detected chemical evidence of bacteria utilizing it for photosynthesis (by following the elements)," Kottke wrote. (11/30)
New Particle Links Dark Matter with Missing Antimatter (Source: Physics World)
Physicists in the US and Canada have proposed a new particle that could solve two important mysteries of modern physics: what is dark matter and why is there much more matter than antimatter in the universe? The yet-to-be-discovered "X" particle is expected to decay mostly to normal matter, whereas its antiparticle is expected decay mostly to "hidden" antimatter. The team claims that its existence in the early universe could explain why there is more matter than antimatter in the universe – and that dark matter is in fact hidden antimatter. (11/30)
Advice to Astronauts: Eat More Fish (Source: Discovery)
Nutritionists have some advice for astronauts worried about bone loss: Eat more fish -- and while you're at it, skip the salt. Studies show strong ties between how much fish astronauts eat while in orbit and the amount of bone they were able to preserve, says NASA nutritionist Scott Smith. Astronauts typically lose between 1 to 1.5 percent of their bone mass per month in orbit. A postmenopausal woman, by comparison, loses that amount of bone in a year. On Earth, the condition often leads to osteoporosis, which leaves bones susceptible to fractures and breaks.
Whether a diet rich in fish can help mitigate bone loss for the terrestrial-bound has not been determined, but Smith finds it highly likely. Smith and colleagues credit the omega-3 fatty acids present in some fish with helping to stem bone loss. A second study on subjects confined to bed rest -- intended to simulate the muscle atrophy and other conditions astronauts experience in weightlessness -- found similar results. (11/30)
Discovery Fuel Tank Analysis Continues (Source: Florida Today)
Launch pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center is quiet as shuttle Discovery awaits a decision about whether it can make another launch attempt this year. Engineers continue to study an area on the external tank where metal support beams were repaired after cracking earlier this month. They're analyzing the likelihood that more of the beams called "stringers" could crack when the shuttle is fueled again, potentially dislodging dangerous chunks of insulating foam toward the orbiter during ascent, or if the tank is safe to fly "as is." Editor's Note: There's growing speculation that this launch could slip to February. (11/30)
Strong Showing on Anti-Earmark Vote (Source: Politico)
Thirty-nine senators voted Tuesday in support of a three-year moratorium on appropriations earmarks, the strongest showing ever by opponents of the current process and a potential game changer in the year-end budget debate. The ban did not pass, but it did attract impressive bi-partisan support. The current Senate leadership will have to decide now whether to strip out or weaken draft language in an omnibus spending bill that currently sets aside billions for home-state projects. With nearly 40 senators supporting the moratorium, the Appropriations Committee leadership faces the threat of endless delays if some accommodation is not reached. (11/30)
Space Energy Group Issues Progress Report (Source: Space Energy)
Space Energy is preparing for a historic gathering of its Technical Team & Board of Advisors – the world´s leading Space-Based Solar Power (SBSP) authorities - to discuss the strategic objectives and outcomes of the company's planned Space-Based Solar Power Concept & Systems Definition Study. "This will be an immensely important and imperative historic study; essential to the direction we take in terms of the pathways to demonstration and thereafter to commercialization."
Space Energy also is pushing ahead with discussions and negotiations with key government officials and has reached an initial consensus for the organization and co-hosting of a clean energy summit, which will include Space Based Solar Power as one of the major topics of discussion. Click here for more. Editor's Note: Space Energy has a subsidiary office in Fort Lauderdale. (11/29)
It's The Age Of "Aquarius" For NASA Astronauts (Source: CBS4)
In a few weeks NASA's Space Shuttle Discovery is set to take off. On board will be several astronauts who have been in the Florida Keys for training. They spent weeks working, eating, and sleeping beneath the ocean in America's inner space station called Aquarius. Acquarius is the only manned underwater research station in the world. Aquarius is owned by NOAA, but operated by the University of North Carolina. Mitchell Tartt with NOAA equates Aquarius to an underwater recreational vehicle. "It's basically the size of a small airstream or a school bus," said Tartt. "And you are in there with six people." (11/30)
Space Coast Economic Development Chief Lands Seat on Scott Transition Team (Source: Miami Herald)
Lynda Weatherman, president and CEO fo the Economic Development Commission of Florida's Space Coast, has been selected to serve on a 76-member gubernatorial transition team focused on economic development and regulatory reform. Governor-elect Rick Scott will be inaugurated on January 4. (11/30)
Virgin Galactic Keeps Mum On Orbital Spaceflight Ambitions (Source: Space.com)
While Virgin Galactic's public sights are set on offering suborbital space tourist treks on its SpaceShipTwo passenger ships, the company is already quietly eyeing the next step: orbital space travel. Virgin Galactic founder and president Sir Richard Branson publicly admitted the company's orbital aims last month at the dedication of the Spaceport America facility under construction in New Mexico. But he and other Virgin execs are keeping mum on the details.
"Obviously, we want to move on to orbital after we've got suborbital under our belts, and maybe even before that," Branson said. While suborbital spaceflight is no cakewalk, achieving orbital space travel is much more difficult. Staying in space for a full orbit requires a significant velocity boost above that required for suborbital trips. The increase in speed requires a corresponding increase in energy, which means a lot more fuel. This extra fuel would push the spacecraft's weight up significantly, thus requiring greater thrust to get off the ground.
Furthermore, the return trip presents a challenge. The higher up a craft starts its descent from, the more it will accelerate as it travels back to Earth. And when a fast-moving spaceship plunges through our planet's atmosphere, it creates incredible friction and heat. Orbital spacecraft require stronger heat shields to withstand this blast than the comparatively slow-moving suborbital craft. (11/29)
Bolden Treads Softly On China, Other Issues (Source: Aviation Week)
The Chinese space officials who NASA Administrator Charles Bolden met in Beijing will not be coming to the U.S. for a reciprocal visit in December, but there may be a visit in 2011. Nor is Anatoly Permanov, the head of the Russian space agency, likely to get much traction soon with a list of possible cooperative projects he discussed with Bolden in Washington Nov. 18. As with China, Russia will have to wait until the U.S. political climate becomes more stable.
In a rare one-on-one interview with a U.S. reporter, Bolden tiptoed around a range of sensitive issues as he looks for bipartisan support in the 112th Congress. Deeper engagement with foreign space powers will have to go through the cumbersome interagency review process, he said, while NASA must complete its own assessment of how far over budget the James Webb Space Telescope has become before deciding how to tackle the problem.
But one thing he made clear, despite some evidence to the contrary. “I have all the support that I want from my higher command, which is the president of the United States.” Bolden says he has been working Capitol Hill to win support in the next session of Congress for an appropriation to go with the compromise authorization bill President Barack Obama signed in October. (11/29)
Construction Delay at Spaceport America (Source: NewSpace Journal)
Spaceport America officials have stopped work on one of the facility’s buildings until as late as next spring in order to reevaulate the design of its interior. The Air Rescue Fire Facility (ARFF), a building that will be the spaceport’s fire station as well as host the spaceport’s administrative offices, was 70-percent complete last week when officials ordered work on it halted. Rick Homans, executive director of the New Mexico Spaceport Authority, said the work stoppage was designed to allow them reevaulate the interior of the dome-shaped ARFF.
“We want to make sure the interior design and functionality works for us and that it is also in sync with the overall look and design of the other components of Spaceport America.” He said that reevaulation would be complete by the end of the first quarter of 2011, at which point work on the building would resume. Any additional costs incurred by the redesign would be “minimal”, he said. (11/29)
U.S. Satellite Internet Leaps Forward with New Spacecraft in 2012 (Source: TechNewsDaily)
Broadband Internet delivered via satellite stands to get a big boost in 2012 when HughesNet, one of two major providers in the United States, launches a next-generation spacecraft. The new satellite, named Jupiter, will be able to transfer data faster than the company's current dedicated Spaceway satellite and an array of transponders leased on other orbiting craft.
Speed and subscription prices are not yet set, but even a potential download rate of 20 megabits per second (mbps) would be 10 times the current rate and should be available for comparable prices, according to statements from HughesNet. All this would be good news for the more than 10 million Americans who lack access to high-speed Internet, which is usually defined internationally as greater than 256 kilobits per second.
Experts Question Usefulness of Air Force's Robotic X-37B Space Plane (Source: Space.com)
New observations of the Air Force's secretive unmanned X-37B space plane have put the spacecraft's classified mission back in the limelight. While many ponder the exact nature of such a vehicle, some experts have already gone on record questioning whether a robotic space plane is even needed.
Cheaper alternatives exist for just about every mission capability that the X-37B robotic space plane might possess, according to an analysis by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) released during the spacecraft's current mission. The organization's experts want the Obama administration and Congress to review the U.S. commitment to a space plane program. (11/29)
Unimaginative Union of Concerned Scientists Does it Again (Source: Behind the Black)
According to the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), the reusable X-37B — in orbit at the moment and expected to return to Earth in the near future — has no compelling use. “It’s hard to think of what could make that mission compelling,” [UCS scientist Laura] Grego told SPACE.com. “It doesn’t protect you from antiaircraft fire, and the element of surprise doesn’t really work in your favor if you’re launching on Atlas V [rocket].”
In reading this article, it is fascinating how completely unimaginative the scientists from the Union of Concerned Scientists seem. Nor do I find this surprising. For the last few decades this organization has opposed almost every new aerospace engineering project that might actually have made possible the human exploration of space. It’s as if these scientists feared new ideas and grand achievement. Sadly, the UCS had great influence with policy makers in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, and thus helped limit the American government’s space program capabilities during that time period. (11/29)
Murder! Intrigue! Astronomers? (Source: New York Times)
When Danish and Czech scientists exhumed the remains of the astronomer Tycho Brahe in Prague this month, they dug up much more than some bones and hairs. They found something that has eluded astronomers for thousands of years: a story with major box-office potential. It’s “Amadeus” meets “Da Vinci Code” meets “Hamlet,” featuring a deadly struggle for the secret of the universe between Tycho, the swashbuckling Danish nobleman with a gold-and-silver prosthetic nose, and the not-yet-famous Johannes Kepler, his frail, jealous German assistant. The story also includes an international hit man, hired after a Danish prince becomes king and suspects Brahe of sleeping with his mother (and maybe being his father!).
The archaeologist leading the team cautions that even if they confirm suspicions that Brahe was poisoned by mercury, that wouldn’t necessarily prove he was murdered, much less identify the killer. Fortunately for Tycho and Kepler, Hollywood has never let a lack of data get in the way of a plot. There’s no evidence that Antonio Salieri poisoned Mozart, and look what the movie “Amadeus” did for their album sales. (11/29)
Dark Jupiter May Haunt Edge of Solar System (Source: WIRED)
A century of comet data suggests a dark, Jupiter-sized object is lurking at the solar system’s outer edge and hurling chunks of ice and dust toward Earth. “We’ve accumulated 10 years more data, double the comets we viewed to test this hypothesis,” said planetary scientist John Matese of the University of Louisiana. “Only now should we be able to falsify or verify that you could have a Jupiter-mass object out there.”
In 1999, Matese and colleague Daniel Whitmire suggested the sun has a hidden companion that boots icy bodies from the Oort Cloud, a spherical haze of comets at the solar system’s fringes, into the inner solar system where we can see them. In a new analysis of observations dating back to 1898, Matese and Whitmire confirm their original idea: About 20 percent of the comets visible from Earth were sent by a dark, distant planet. Click here to read the article. (11/29)
Earth Oceans Were Homegrown (Source: Science)
Where did Earth's oceans come from? Astronomers have long contended that icy comets and asteroids delivered the water for them during an epoch of heavy bombardment that ended about 3.9 billion years ago. But a new study suggests that Earth supplied its own water, leaching it from the rocks that formed the planet. The finding may help explain why life on Earth appeared so early, and it may indicate that other rocky worlds are also awash in vast seas.
Our planet has always harbored water. The rubble that coalesced to form Earth contained trace amounts—tens to hundreds of parts per million—of the stuff. But scientists didn't believe that was enough to create today's oceans, and thus they looked to alien origins for our water supply. Geologist Linda Elkins-Tanton of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge didn't think researchers needed to look that far. (11/29)
November 29, 2010
Demanding Design Boosts Shuttle Engine (Source: Space Daily)
A space shuttle main engine burns at 6,000 degrees F, but the outside of the nozzle remains cool to the touch. Prior to launch, sometimes it even frosts over. The nozzle technology that allows a finger-width of ridged metal to contain and steer flames that would boil iron is just one of the scores of innovations designers came up with for the engines three decades ago. Such advances were critical if NASA was going to realize its plans for a reusable space shuttle that, unlike the previous rockets, would not use its engines once and then drop them in the ocean.
Some of the others: a system that lets the engines be incrementally throttled up and down depending on the needs of the mission; a hydrogen turbopump that spins 567 times a second with each 2" tall turbine blade generating 700 horsepower; a computer that runs 50 health checks on the engine every second using data from 200 sensors; a system of pipes, or ducts, that withstand pressures as high as 7,000 pounds per square inch; and several others. Click here to read the article. (11/29)
White House Announces Federal Pay Freeze (Source: Washington Post)
President Obama announced Monday a two-year pay freeze for civilian federal employees, including those working at the Department of Defense. The White House expects the move to save $2 billion for the remainder of fiscal 2011 — which began Oct. 1 — and $28 billion over the next five years. (11/29)
Spaceport Indiana Plans to Host Trans-Atlantic Balloon Flight (Source: SPI)
The White Star Balloon team is building the first small balloons to float, unmanned, all the way from Spaceport Indiana USA to Europe this winter. On the four thousand mile voyage, the balloons will be blown forward at up to 200MPH by the category 5 hurricane winds that make up the Jet Stream. A few amateurs have tried in the past, but all failed to make it completely across the Atlantic Ocean. (11/29)
Spaceport Indiana's "Race To Space" Rocket Competition Planned in 2011 (Source: SPI)
In May 2011, Indiana will host the first of its kind rocket competition at Spaceport Indiana. The event will play host to teams from five states as they bring their best designs and launch them miles into the air. Teams from elementary, middle, high school and colleges will launch rockets that will ultimately offer new concepts in flight. The idea behind the competition is to inspire students to put their ideas into action and see if they can solve challenges that we face in space exploration. Spaceport Indiana is a commercial launch facility and will offer the use of its launch site, rocket engine test cell and other capabilities to these young pioneers.
The chance to use the facilities as part of their design and test phases is a new opportunity for young rocketeers. In most competitions, the teams show up with their design and fly. We want them to understand how to use facilities to prepare the most successful flights possible. Entry fees range from $200 - $400 depending on the grade level. Teams are limited to 5 members. There is no limit to the number of teams that can register from each school. Click here for more. (11/29)
Moratorium on Earmarks Could Hurt California Defense Contractors (Source: AIA)
Hundreds of defense contractors in Southern California could slash jobs or go out of business altogether if a proposed moratorium on federal earmarks passes. Critics see the earmarks as an example of pork-barrel spending that contributes to the $1.4 trillion deficit. The Senate is expected to vote on the moratorium as early as today. More than $3 billion in earmarks went to defense work in California this year. (11/29)
Defense Cuts Target Texas Weapons Programs (Source: AIA)
Weapons programs in Texas are among programs at the top of the Pentagon's list as it looks to make major budget cuts. Various proposals slash procurement -- which has been North Texas's prime source of federal funding. Reductions would also cut in half the purchases of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, built in Fort Worth. (11/29)
Flattening Milspace Budgets Spark Reaction (Source: Aviation Week)
U.S. military space programs, which have suffered through a decade of multibillion-dollar cost overruns and massive delays, must become more competitive to maintain funding as defense budgets flatten, according to senior Pentagon officials. At a recent conference, space industry leaders and company and government program managers got what amounted to a gentle lecture from Defense Department leaders who are bracing for tough years ahead in their development and procurement budgets. They also responded with their own criticism of Washington and calls for change.
Several industry leaders agreed with the goal of reducing the cost of military space systems, but they differed on how to do it. While some saw the challenge as an opportunity, others seemed more pessimistic. “The defense sector will not be... sheltered from the perfect storm gathering around us” of ballooning national debt and a demand by Defense Secretary Robert Gates to pursue more contract accountability, efficiencies and $101 billion in savings by Fiscal 2016, said a Lockheed Martin executive.
Requirements for the Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS), a $10 billion Lockheed program to build the next missile warning constellation, contributed to massive cost overruns as did mismanagement on the part of the company. Unnecessarily invasive oversight is also a hindrance for industry, she said. “Stop bringing 500 people to a design review [and] stop bringing ... more independent review teams in,” she said. (11/29)
O'Keefe: EADS Expects U.S. Acquisitions to Take Off (Source: AIA)
EADS is expected to become more aggressive in acquisitions in the U.S. market now that the company's commercial unit has an improved outlook. The company's U.S. acquisitions had been limited to less than $500 million during the downturn, but that limit has lifted, said EADS North America CEO Sean O'Keefe. "We're not restricting ourselves to [the $500 million] level exclusively anymore," he said. "The direction I'm getting now from [parent company CEO] Louis Gallois and the board is that we're prepared to entertain more aggressively companies that can give us market access we don't currently have." (11/29)
Black Apollo (Source: Space Review)
As part of preparations for the Apollo landings, NASA needed to get detailed imagery of potential landing sites. Dwayne Day reveals a partnership between NASA and NRO that proposed using Apollo spacecraft equipped with reconnaissance satellite cameras to provide those images. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1734/1 to view the article. (11/29)
Year of the Solar System (Source: Space Review)
While most of the recent attention NASA has received has been on its human spaceflight programs, its robotic missions also are noteworthy. Lou Friedman contrasts the impending milestones for the agency's missions with the fiscal issues some of those programs face. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1733/1 to view the article. (11/29)
Space Colonization in Three Histories of the Future (Source: Space Review)
Space settlement has long been a core tenet of space advocates, who have offered a range of scenarios about how it would work. John Hickman examines these proposals and highlights the flaws in their historical analogies. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1732/1 to view the article. (11/29)
NASA's Extended Limbo (Source: Space Review)
Last month the president signed into law a NASA authorization bill that reoriented the agency's human spaceflight efforts. However, as Jeff Foust reports, budget delays and implementation questions keep NASA's future plans uncertain. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1731/1 to view the article. (11/29)
Fighting for Pluto's Planet Title (Source: Space News)
Alan Stern has been fighting for Pluto's planethood ever since the icy body was demoted to "dwarf planet" in 2006. That year, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) came up with a new definition of "planet": A body that circles the sun without being another object's moon, is large enough to be rounded by its own gravity (but not so big that it undergoes nuclear fusion, like a star) and has "cleared its neighborhood" of most other orbiting bodies. Since Pluto shares orbital space with many other objects in the Kuiper Belt — the ring of icy bodies beyond Neptune — it was relegated to the newly created category of dwarf planet.
The rethink was partly a response to the discovery of Eris, by Caltech astronomer Mike Brown. Eris, a rocky world circling the sun far beyond Pluto, was initially thought to be larger than its Kuiper Belt cousin. But new observations of Eris have cast doubt on its size supremacy. Stern, a planetary scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo., and leader of NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto, strongly disagrees with Pluto's demotion. Click here to read the interview. (11/29)
O3b Secures Funding For Broadband Satellite Network (Source: Wall Street Journal)
Satellite communications company O3b Networks said Monday it has raised $1.2 billion from a group of investors and banks, its final funding round before the launch of its global satellite broadband network. O3b, which is backed by Google Inc. (GOOG), plans to launch its fiber-quality Internet service serving emerging markets. (11/29)
A Shuttle for Intrepid (Source: New York Post)
The Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum on Manhattan's West Side remains in the running to become permanent home to one of three retired NASA space shuttles when the program is officially shuttered next year. But this month's elections lengthened the odds. The House Science Committee oversees NASA -- and its incoming chairman, Ralph Hall (R-Texas), has made no bones about where he'd like shuttles Discovery, Endeavour and Atlantis located: "East Texas, West Texas, Northeast Texas and even the 4th District of Texas, even the Panhandle, would make excellent homes for the orbiter fleet."
That's not welcome news to the 20 cultural institutions -- including the Intrepid -- that are trying to land one of the retired shuttles. In addition to Texas, Florida is New York's chief competitor, given its status as home to the Kennedy Space Center. But, as New York's Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand ensured in language inserted into NASA's funding bill last year, the final location for a shuttle need only have some historical connection to the US space program, and Intrepid qualifies. (11/29)
Editorial: 2010: Space Oddity (Source: San Francisco Chronicle)
Under a magnificent high-desert sky, the Spaceship Company has broken ground on a new hangar at the Mojave Spaceport - a $200 million investment in California's future made when capital, jobs and entire industries are fleeing the Golden State at warp-speed. This joint venture of specialty aircraft manufacturer, Scaled Composites and Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic builds spacecraft for the emerging private space tourism market.
The firm is one of several private California companies supported by an audacious new space policy. The Obama administration, Congress, NASA and the private sector are finally voyaging toward a market-based space industry. Admittedly, the new policy's vision is not bold enough nor its exploration schedule aggressive enough, but it does - as the Great One advised - "skate to where the puck is going, not to where it's been."
It dismantles a cost-plus quagmire that has left Americans traveling in space far less often, far less safely, at far greater expense and, most ironically, not so very far at all. Much must be done to maintain U.S. space leadership, but privatization is absolutely required. In a world of declining revenues and budget-crushing entitlements, NASA as a sleepy jobs program for aging engineers is unsustainable. (11/29)
Look Back Before Moving Forward (Source: Florida Today)
NASA needs to remember lessons from Columbia disaster. -- Gas lines were leaking again out at the shuttle launch pad at Kennedy Space Center. Foam insulation on the external tank cracked, raising the specter of dangerous launch debris. The metal beneath the foam, part of the tank's support structure, cracked in four places. Thus far, root causes for the tank cracks are proving elusive. Nevertheless, the space shuttle team is pushing ahead in hopes they'll be able fly the next-to-last scheduled mission as early as mid-December.
The decision on the eve of Thanksgiving to wait a couple weeks to study the problems is a good sign. Sound engineering, so far, is ruling the day. Yet, the sense of urgency to get this mission off the ground this year is strong. It's understandable, but disconcerting. What's the hurry? NASA says there is none. Senior brass, front-line managers and engineers will tell you they will launch no shuttle before they're convinced it's safe. They appear sincere in that belief.
People need to be reminded to remember. Memories fade. Circumstances change. Requirements creep. Turnover of shuttle personnel erodes the lessons learned. Columbia's loss is evidence that those lessons, learned once, are not retained permanently. A new schedule pressure is brewing, whether NASA and its contractors want to admit it or not. Those who've watched the program long enough can sense the urgency to keep the shuttles flying at a regular pace. The ingredients for Congress to pull the plug on the program -- perhaps even earlier than expected -- are all there. (11/29)
Using Existing Rockets for Future Human Exploration (Source: NASA Watch)
Bravo Lockheed Martin [for moving to launch the Orion capsule on a lunar mission atop a Delta-4 rocket]. A near-term, private sector solution to human space flight, using a commercially available rocket and Orion - much sooner than Ares 1 could have ever done. Now, sit back and watch as the (otherwise) pro-business Republicans in Congress - especially ATK's congressional delegation - try and stop it. (11/29)
Program Error Caused Japanese Space Probe's Failure to Shoot Ball at Asteroid (Source: Mainichi Daily)
An error in a computer program sent from the ground caused Japan's Hayabusa unmanned space probe to fail to shoot a metal ball at the asteroid Itokawa to collect rock samples from it, according to the results of a study by the national space agency. Although the probe somehow managed to bring back to earth particles of rocks from the asteroid last June, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency will learn from the lesson when it sends a successor probe into space. (11/29)
A space shuttle main engine burns at 6,000 degrees F, but the outside of the nozzle remains cool to the touch. Prior to launch, sometimes it even frosts over. The nozzle technology that allows a finger-width of ridged metal to contain and steer flames that would boil iron is just one of the scores of innovations designers came up with for the engines three decades ago. Such advances were critical if NASA was going to realize its plans for a reusable space shuttle that, unlike the previous rockets, would not use its engines once and then drop them in the ocean.
Some of the others: a system that lets the engines be incrementally throttled up and down depending on the needs of the mission; a hydrogen turbopump that spins 567 times a second with each 2" tall turbine blade generating 700 horsepower; a computer that runs 50 health checks on the engine every second using data from 200 sensors; a system of pipes, or ducts, that withstand pressures as high as 7,000 pounds per square inch; and several others. Click here to read the article. (11/29)
White House Announces Federal Pay Freeze (Source: Washington Post)
President Obama announced Monday a two-year pay freeze for civilian federal employees, including those working at the Department of Defense. The White House expects the move to save $2 billion for the remainder of fiscal 2011 — which began Oct. 1 — and $28 billion over the next five years. (11/29)
Spaceport Indiana Plans to Host Trans-Atlantic Balloon Flight (Source: SPI)
The White Star Balloon team is building the first small balloons to float, unmanned, all the way from Spaceport Indiana USA to Europe this winter. On the four thousand mile voyage, the balloons will be blown forward at up to 200MPH by the category 5 hurricane winds that make up the Jet Stream. A few amateurs have tried in the past, but all failed to make it completely across the Atlantic Ocean. (11/29)
Spaceport Indiana's "Race To Space" Rocket Competition Planned in 2011 (Source: SPI)
In May 2011, Indiana will host the first of its kind rocket competition at Spaceport Indiana. The event will play host to teams from five states as they bring their best designs and launch them miles into the air. Teams from elementary, middle, high school and colleges will launch rockets that will ultimately offer new concepts in flight. The idea behind the competition is to inspire students to put their ideas into action and see if they can solve challenges that we face in space exploration. Spaceport Indiana is a commercial launch facility and will offer the use of its launch site, rocket engine test cell and other capabilities to these young pioneers.
The chance to use the facilities as part of their design and test phases is a new opportunity for young rocketeers. In most competitions, the teams show up with their design and fly. We want them to understand how to use facilities to prepare the most successful flights possible. Entry fees range from $200 - $400 depending on the grade level. Teams are limited to 5 members. There is no limit to the number of teams that can register from each school. Click here for more. (11/29)
Moratorium on Earmarks Could Hurt California Defense Contractors (Source: AIA)
Hundreds of defense contractors in Southern California could slash jobs or go out of business altogether if a proposed moratorium on federal earmarks passes. Critics see the earmarks as an example of pork-barrel spending that contributes to the $1.4 trillion deficit. The Senate is expected to vote on the moratorium as early as today. More than $3 billion in earmarks went to defense work in California this year. (11/29)
Defense Cuts Target Texas Weapons Programs (Source: AIA)
Weapons programs in Texas are among programs at the top of the Pentagon's list as it looks to make major budget cuts. Various proposals slash procurement -- which has been North Texas's prime source of federal funding. Reductions would also cut in half the purchases of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, built in Fort Worth. (11/29)
Flattening Milspace Budgets Spark Reaction (Source: Aviation Week)
U.S. military space programs, which have suffered through a decade of multibillion-dollar cost overruns and massive delays, must become more competitive to maintain funding as defense budgets flatten, according to senior Pentagon officials. At a recent conference, space industry leaders and company and government program managers got what amounted to a gentle lecture from Defense Department leaders who are bracing for tough years ahead in their development and procurement budgets. They also responded with their own criticism of Washington and calls for change.
Several industry leaders agreed with the goal of reducing the cost of military space systems, but they differed on how to do it. While some saw the challenge as an opportunity, others seemed more pessimistic. “The defense sector will not be... sheltered from the perfect storm gathering around us” of ballooning national debt and a demand by Defense Secretary Robert Gates to pursue more contract accountability, efficiencies and $101 billion in savings by Fiscal 2016, said a Lockheed Martin executive.
Requirements for the Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS), a $10 billion Lockheed program to build the next missile warning constellation, contributed to massive cost overruns as did mismanagement on the part of the company. Unnecessarily invasive oversight is also a hindrance for industry, she said. “Stop bringing 500 people to a design review [and] stop bringing ... more independent review teams in,” she said. (11/29)
O'Keefe: EADS Expects U.S. Acquisitions to Take Off (Source: AIA)
EADS is expected to become more aggressive in acquisitions in the U.S. market now that the company's commercial unit has an improved outlook. The company's U.S. acquisitions had been limited to less than $500 million during the downturn, but that limit has lifted, said EADS North America CEO Sean O'Keefe. "We're not restricting ourselves to [the $500 million] level exclusively anymore," he said. "The direction I'm getting now from [parent company CEO] Louis Gallois and the board is that we're prepared to entertain more aggressively companies that can give us market access we don't currently have." (11/29)
Black Apollo (Source: Space Review)
As part of preparations for the Apollo landings, NASA needed to get detailed imagery of potential landing sites. Dwayne Day reveals a partnership between NASA and NRO that proposed using Apollo spacecraft equipped with reconnaissance satellite cameras to provide those images. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1734/1 to view the article. (11/29)
Year of the Solar System (Source: Space Review)
While most of the recent attention NASA has received has been on its human spaceflight programs, its robotic missions also are noteworthy. Lou Friedman contrasts the impending milestones for the agency's missions with the fiscal issues some of those programs face. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1733/1 to view the article. (11/29)
Space Colonization in Three Histories of the Future (Source: Space Review)
Space settlement has long been a core tenet of space advocates, who have offered a range of scenarios about how it would work. John Hickman examines these proposals and highlights the flaws in their historical analogies. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1732/1 to view the article. (11/29)
NASA's Extended Limbo (Source: Space Review)
Last month the president signed into law a NASA authorization bill that reoriented the agency's human spaceflight efforts. However, as Jeff Foust reports, budget delays and implementation questions keep NASA's future plans uncertain. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1731/1 to view the article. (11/29)
Fighting for Pluto's Planet Title (Source: Space News)
Alan Stern has been fighting for Pluto's planethood ever since the icy body was demoted to "dwarf planet" in 2006. That year, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) came up with a new definition of "planet": A body that circles the sun without being another object's moon, is large enough to be rounded by its own gravity (but not so big that it undergoes nuclear fusion, like a star) and has "cleared its neighborhood" of most other orbiting bodies. Since Pluto shares orbital space with many other objects in the Kuiper Belt — the ring of icy bodies beyond Neptune — it was relegated to the newly created category of dwarf planet.
The rethink was partly a response to the discovery of Eris, by Caltech astronomer Mike Brown. Eris, a rocky world circling the sun far beyond Pluto, was initially thought to be larger than its Kuiper Belt cousin. But new observations of Eris have cast doubt on its size supremacy. Stern, a planetary scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo., and leader of NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto, strongly disagrees with Pluto's demotion. Click here to read the interview. (11/29)
O3b Secures Funding For Broadband Satellite Network (Source: Wall Street Journal)
Satellite communications company O3b Networks said Monday it has raised $1.2 billion from a group of investors and banks, its final funding round before the launch of its global satellite broadband network. O3b, which is backed by Google Inc. (GOOG), plans to launch its fiber-quality Internet service serving emerging markets. (11/29)
A Shuttle for Intrepid (Source: New York Post)
The Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum on Manhattan's West Side remains in the running to become permanent home to one of three retired NASA space shuttles when the program is officially shuttered next year. But this month's elections lengthened the odds. The House Science Committee oversees NASA -- and its incoming chairman, Ralph Hall (R-Texas), has made no bones about where he'd like shuttles Discovery, Endeavour and Atlantis located: "East Texas, West Texas, Northeast Texas and even the 4th District of Texas, even the Panhandle, would make excellent homes for the orbiter fleet."
That's not welcome news to the 20 cultural institutions -- including the Intrepid -- that are trying to land one of the retired shuttles. In addition to Texas, Florida is New York's chief competitor, given its status as home to the Kennedy Space Center. But, as New York's Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand ensured in language inserted into NASA's funding bill last year, the final location for a shuttle need only have some historical connection to the US space program, and Intrepid qualifies. (11/29)
Editorial: 2010: Space Oddity (Source: San Francisco Chronicle)
Under a magnificent high-desert sky, the Spaceship Company has broken ground on a new hangar at the Mojave Spaceport - a $200 million investment in California's future made when capital, jobs and entire industries are fleeing the Golden State at warp-speed. This joint venture of specialty aircraft manufacturer, Scaled Composites and Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic builds spacecraft for the emerging private space tourism market.
The firm is one of several private California companies supported by an audacious new space policy. The Obama administration, Congress, NASA and the private sector are finally voyaging toward a market-based space industry. Admittedly, the new policy's vision is not bold enough nor its exploration schedule aggressive enough, but it does - as the Great One advised - "skate to where the puck is going, not to where it's been."
It dismantles a cost-plus quagmire that has left Americans traveling in space far less often, far less safely, at far greater expense and, most ironically, not so very far at all. Much must be done to maintain U.S. space leadership, but privatization is absolutely required. In a world of declining revenues and budget-crushing entitlements, NASA as a sleepy jobs program for aging engineers is unsustainable. (11/29)
Look Back Before Moving Forward (Source: Florida Today)
NASA needs to remember lessons from Columbia disaster. -- Gas lines were leaking again out at the shuttle launch pad at Kennedy Space Center. Foam insulation on the external tank cracked, raising the specter of dangerous launch debris. The metal beneath the foam, part of the tank's support structure, cracked in four places. Thus far, root causes for the tank cracks are proving elusive. Nevertheless, the space shuttle team is pushing ahead in hopes they'll be able fly the next-to-last scheduled mission as early as mid-December.
The decision on the eve of Thanksgiving to wait a couple weeks to study the problems is a good sign. Sound engineering, so far, is ruling the day. Yet, the sense of urgency to get this mission off the ground this year is strong. It's understandable, but disconcerting. What's the hurry? NASA says there is none. Senior brass, front-line managers and engineers will tell you they will launch no shuttle before they're convinced it's safe. They appear sincere in that belief.
People need to be reminded to remember. Memories fade. Circumstances change. Requirements creep. Turnover of shuttle personnel erodes the lessons learned. Columbia's loss is evidence that those lessons, learned once, are not retained permanently. A new schedule pressure is brewing, whether NASA and its contractors want to admit it or not. Those who've watched the program long enough can sense the urgency to keep the shuttles flying at a regular pace. The ingredients for Congress to pull the plug on the program -- perhaps even earlier than expected -- are all there. (11/29)
Using Existing Rockets for Future Human Exploration (Source: NASA Watch)
Bravo Lockheed Martin [for moving to launch the Orion capsule on a lunar mission atop a Delta-4 rocket]. A near-term, private sector solution to human space flight, using a commercially available rocket and Orion - much sooner than Ares 1 could have ever done. Now, sit back and watch as the (otherwise) pro-business Republicans in Congress - especially ATK's congressional delegation - try and stop it. (11/29)
Program Error Caused Japanese Space Probe's Failure to Shoot Ball at Asteroid (Source: Mainichi Daily)
An error in a computer program sent from the ground caused Japan's Hayabusa unmanned space probe to fail to shoot a metal ball at the asteroid Itokawa to collect rock samples from it, according to the results of a study by the national space agency. Although the probe somehow managed to bring back to earth particles of rocks from the asteroid last June, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency will learn from the lesson when it sends a successor probe into space. (11/29)
November 28, 2010
After Bush Canceled the Space Shuttle (Source: SpaceKSC Blog)
President George W. Bush proposed his Vision for Space Exploration on January 14, 2004. The VSE proposed the retirement of the Space Shuttle program upon completion of the International Space Station in 2010, followed by a minimum four-year gap where the United States would rely upon Russia to transport astronauts to and from the ISS. It called for a grand vision that would return astronauts to the Moon by 2020. How to pay for it? The President said:
"Achieving these goals requires a long-term commitment. NASA's current five-year budget is $86 billion. Most of the funding we need for the new endeavors will come from reallocating $11 billion within that budget. We need some new resources, however. I will call upon Congress to increase NASA's budget by roughly a billion dollars, spread out over the next five years... It's only a beginning. Future funding decisions will be guided by the progress we make in achieving our goals. Click here to read the article. (11/28)
Can We Grow Crops On Other Planets (Source: Space Daily)
Science fiction lovers aren't the only ones captivated by the possibility of colonizing another planet. Scientists are engaging in numerous research projects that focus on determining how habitable other planets are for life. Mars, for example, is revealing more and more evidence that it probably once had liquid water on its surface, and could one day become a home away from home for humans. Click here to read the article. (11/28)
Reusable Launch Vehicles – The Future of Space Missions (Source: Brahmand.com)
Several countries, including US, Russia and India, are working on the concept of a Reusable Launch Vehicle system. However, with several technological challenges involved, no major breakthrough has been achieved in this direction so far. India's space agency ISRO has conceived plans to design, develop and test a two-stage-to-orbit (TSTO) fully re-usable launch vehicle system. For this, a series of technology demonstration missions have been conceived.
The Indian RLV would significantly cut down launch cost from the present level of around $12,000 / kg. ISRO's RLV is a pure launcher. It is not designed to enter orbit. The RLV will loft a satellite into orbit and immediately re-enter the atmosphere and glide back for a conventional landing. The RLV and the rocket booster will be recovered separately, with the former making a conventional landing on a runway and booster making a parachute landing.
ISRO’s RLV will possess wings and tail fins, and will be launched atop a 9 ton solid booster called S-9, similar to the ones on the PSLV. The space agency plans to achieve RLV capability in three phases - Re-entry Technology Development, RLV Runway Recovery, and Scramjet Power. (11/28)
Deficit Commission Quietly Edits Space Recommendation (Source: Space Politics)
A proposal by the co-chairs of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform to cut NASA’s commercial crew development program has generated criticism from space industry advocates. However, it appears the commission co-chairs (or, more likely, their staffs) have quietly edited that proposed cut. The original version reads as follows:
"24. Eliminate funding for commercial spaceflight. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) plans to spend $6 billion over the next five years to spur the development of American commercial spaceflight. This subsidy to the private sector is costly, and while commercial spaceflight is a worthy goal, it is unclear why the federal government should be subsidizing the training of the potential crews of such flights. Eliminating this program would save $1.2 billion in 2015."
The same recommendation in official version of the document, on the commission’s web site, now reads as follows: "24. Eliminate funding to private sector for spaceflight developments. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) plans to spend $6 billion over the next five years to invest in private sector development of space transportation capabilities, which NASA plans to competitively purchase once available. Eliminating this program would save $1.2 billion in 2015." (11/28)
Rare Earth Elements are in the News (Source: Naples News)
Rare earth elements, with strange names like neodymium, scandium, yttrium, are messy to dig out of the ground and difficult to refine. They are very useful, being important ingredients in lasers, superconducting magnets, batteries for hybrid automobiles, and the kinds of magnets used in computer hard disc drives. China produces roughly 97 percent of the world’s supply of rare earth elements.
A few weeks ago China tightened its exports of these elements. Japan is looking into the possibilities of opening a rare earth mine in Vietnam, and in the U.S. Molycorp Minerals plans to reopen a mine in California. But new facilities would have to be built to refine the ores. At present, the only operating refinery happens to be in China. Cynics believe the Chinese are trying to drive up the price. Conspiracy theorists see a plot in Beijing to control a natural resource that is vital for many high-tech industries.
Space enthusiasts, though, see an opportunity. The solar system contains millions, perhaps billions, of small chunks of metals and minerals, which are called asteroids. The largest of them, Ceres, is less than 600 miles wide. Most of them are much smaller. Many of these asteroids happen to be rich in rare earth elements. In fact, most of the rare earth mines on our planet are situated at the sites of ancient asteroid impacts. (11/28)
NASA History On Sale at Astronaut Store (Source: LA Times)
Want a chunk of the heat shield from the space capsule during the Apollo program? You’re in luck. The Astronaut Store has got you covered. With signed portraits of astronauts and items from nearly every era of space travel, the online store has gifts for even the most discerning NASA fanboy. Pick up a signed picture of John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth. Or get an autographed snapshot of Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon. Prices range from $40 to $150.
The store also offers pieces of spacecraft that reached the black sky in its Space Artifact Series. There are relics such as bits of a map used on the Moon and hunks of a tire belonging to the space shuttle. Shoppers are buying NASA history, but they could be influencing the agency’s future. Sales from the store benefit the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, a nonprofit set up by astronauts. Since 1984, the foundation has provided more than $3 million in college scholarships for students who exhibit exceptional performance in science and technology. Click here. (11/28)
High-Paying Jobs Scant Outside KSC (Source: Florida Today)
Laid-off space industry workers face the prospects of much lower wages as they head out into the Brevard County work force. The average annual salary for Kennedy Space Center on-site workers was $77,235 in 2008, which was nearly twice the wage level of the average Brevard County worker at that time, according to the latest NASA study.
There are likely several factors that contribute to that discrepancy: The Davis-Bacon Act, which requires employees on federal installations to be paid more than the market rate; the fact that federal work can be more complex or require more skills; and the longevity and older age of the KSC workers.
With approximately 2,000 KSC jobs already lost, another 6,000 or so space industry workers could lose their livelihoods by the time the last shuttle completes its mission sometime next year. With Brevard County's unemployment rate hovering near 12 percent and the tight economy keeping a lid of business expansion and job creation, the likelihood is small that space industry workers will find similar, high-paying jobs locally. (11/28)
President George W. Bush proposed his Vision for Space Exploration on January 14, 2004. The VSE proposed the retirement of the Space Shuttle program upon completion of the International Space Station in 2010, followed by a minimum four-year gap where the United States would rely upon Russia to transport astronauts to and from the ISS. It called for a grand vision that would return astronauts to the Moon by 2020. How to pay for it? The President said:
"Achieving these goals requires a long-term commitment. NASA's current five-year budget is $86 billion. Most of the funding we need for the new endeavors will come from reallocating $11 billion within that budget. We need some new resources, however. I will call upon Congress to increase NASA's budget by roughly a billion dollars, spread out over the next five years... It's only a beginning. Future funding decisions will be guided by the progress we make in achieving our goals. Click here to read the article. (11/28)
Can We Grow Crops On Other Planets (Source: Space Daily)
Science fiction lovers aren't the only ones captivated by the possibility of colonizing another planet. Scientists are engaging in numerous research projects that focus on determining how habitable other planets are for life. Mars, for example, is revealing more and more evidence that it probably once had liquid water on its surface, and could one day become a home away from home for humans. Click here to read the article. (11/28)
Reusable Launch Vehicles – The Future of Space Missions (Source: Brahmand.com)
Several countries, including US, Russia and India, are working on the concept of a Reusable Launch Vehicle system. However, with several technological challenges involved, no major breakthrough has been achieved in this direction so far. India's space agency ISRO has conceived plans to design, develop and test a two-stage-to-orbit (TSTO) fully re-usable launch vehicle system. For this, a series of technology demonstration missions have been conceived.
The Indian RLV would significantly cut down launch cost from the present level of around $12,000 / kg. ISRO's RLV is a pure launcher. It is not designed to enter orbit. The RLV will loft a satellite into orbit and immediately re-enter the atmosphere and glide back for a conventional landing. The RLV and the rocket booster will be recovered separately, with the former making a conventional landing on a runway and booster making a parachute landing.
ISRO’s RLV will possess wings and tail fins, and will be launched atop a 9 ton solid booster called S-9, similar to the ones on the PSLV. The space agency plans to achieve RLV capability in three phases - Re-entry Technology Development, RLV Runway Recovery, and Scramjet Power. (11/28)
Deficit Commission Quietly Edits Space Recommendation (Source: Space Politics)
A proposal by the co-chairs of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform to cut NASA’s commercial crew development program has generated criticism from space industry advocates. However, it appears the commission co-chairs (or, more likely, their staffs) have quietly edited that proposed cut. The original version reads as follows:
"24. Eliminate funding for commercial spaceflight. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) plans to spend $6 billion over the next five years to spur the development of American commercial spaceflight. This subsidy to the private sector is costly, and while commercial spaceflight is a worthy goal, it is unclear why the federal government should be subsidizing the training of the potential crews of such flights. Eliminating this program would save $1.2 billion in 2015."
The same recommendation in official version of the document, on the commission’s web site, now reads as follows: "24. Eliminate funding to private sector for spaceflight developments. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) plans to spend $6 billion over the next five years to invest in private sector development of space transportation capabilities, which NASA plans to competitively purchase once available. Eliminating this program would save $1.2 billion in 2015." (11/28)
Rare Earth Elements are in the News (Source: Naples News)
Rare earth elements, with strange names like neodymium, scandium, yttrium, are messy to dig out of the ground and difficult to refine. They are very useful, being important ingredients in lasers, superconducting magnets, batteries for hybrid automobiles, and the kinds of magnets used in computer hard disc drives. China produces roughly 97 percent of the world’s supply of rare earth elements.
A few weeks ago China tightened its exports of these elements. Japan is looking into the possibilities of opening a rare earth mine in Vietnam, and in the U.S. Molycorp Minerals plans to reopen a mine in California. But new facilities would have to be built to refine the ores. At present, the only operating refinery happens to be in China. Cynics believe the Chinese are trying to drive up the price. Conspiracy theorists see a plot in Beijing to control a natural resource that is vital for many high-tech industries.
Space enthusiasts, though, see an opportunity. The solar system contains millions, perhaps billions, of small chunks of metals and minerals, which are called asteroids. The largest of them, Ceres, is less than 600 miles wide. Most of them are much smaller. Many of these asteroids happen to be rich in rare earth elements. In fact, most of the rare earth mines on our planet are situated at the sites of ancient asteroid impacts. (11/28)
NASA History On Sale at Astronaut Store (Source: LA Times)
Want a chunk of the heat shield from the space capsule during the Apollo program? You’re in luck. The Astronaut Store has got you covered. With signed portraits of astronauts and items from nearly every era of space travel, the online store has gifts for even the most discerning NASA fanboy. Pick up a signed picture of John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth. Or get an autographed snapshot of Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon. Prices range from $40 to $150.
The store also offers pieces of spacecraft that reached the black sky in its Space Artifact Series. There are relics such as bits of a map used on the Moon and hunks of a tire belonging to the space shuttle. Shoppers are buying NASA history, but they could be influencing the agency’s future. Sales from the store benefit the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, a nonprofit set up by astronauts. Since 1984, the foundation has provided more than $3 million in college scholarships for students who exhibit exceptional performance in science and technology. Click here. (11/28)
High-Paying Jobs Scant Outside KSC (Source: Florida Today)
Laid-off space industry workers face the prospects of much lower wages as they head out into the Brevard County work force. The average annual salary for Kennedy Space Center on-site workers was $77,235 in 2008, which was nearly twice the wage level of the average Brevard County worker at that time, according to the latest NASA study.
There are likely several factors that contribute to that discrepancy: The Davis-Bacon Act, which requires employees on federal installations to be paid more than the market rate; the fact that federal work can be more complex or require more skills; and the longevity and older age of the KSC workers.
With approximately 2,000 KSC jobs already lost, another 6,000 or so space industry workers could lose their livelihoods by the time the last shuttle completes its mission sometime next year. With Brevard County's unemployment rate hovering near 12 percent and the tight economy keeping a lid of business expansion and job creation, the likelihood is small that space industry workers will find similar, high-paying jobs locally. (11/28)
November 27, 2010
The Real Story Behind NASA’s Resurrected X-34 Space Plane (Source: WIRED)
The space press buzzed last week when NASA quietly moved its two long-grounded X-34 spaceplanes from storage at the agency’s Dryden center to a test pilot school in the Mojave Desert. At the desert facility, the mid-’90s-vintage X-34s would be inspected to determine if they were capable of flying again. It seemed that NASA was eying a dramatic return to the business of fast, cheap space access using a reusable, airplane-style vehicle — something the Air Force has enthusiastically embraced with its mysterious X-37B spacecraft.
The truth is a bit more complicated. An Orbital official said “[NASA] might be just trying get it out of Edwards’ valuable real estate." In fact, real estate has been a factor in the X-34s’ moves over the years, Dryden official Alan Brown said. After the program’s termination, NASA transferred the prototype vehicles to the Air Force, “which thought it might use them but never did,...When the Air Force needed room in the hangar, [the X-34s] were moved to a bombing range and sat out there deteriorating for several years.” Earlier this year NASA moved them back to Dryden.
The idea to ship the X-34s to Mojave was "to see if it could be refurbished and made flightworthy.” Provided they’re in flyable shape, it’s far more likely the space agency will make the X-34s available to private industry. “There are a number of firms interested in these things, developing communications and other technologies,” Brown said. “It would be helpful if they had a vehicle.” Brown implied he was trying to downplay the X-34s’ possible resurrection, but his reference to private industry hints at a far more exciting future for the space planes than would be likely in NASA service. (11/27)
European Space Ministers Emphasize Space-Based Infrastructure (Source: Space Policy Online)
The space ministers of the European Union (EU) and European Space Agency (ESA) met on Nov. 25 in Brussels for the seventh time since the two organizations signed a framework agreement in 2004. The two groups have overlapping, but not identical, memberships. The EU is a political body, while ESA is technical. The two have worked together on the European Galileo navigation satellite system and the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) program for several years.
The Space Council meeting took place as part of a meeting of the Council of the European Union on "Competitiveness (Internal Market, Industry, Research and Space)." A press release from the EU said that the Council "endorsed a resolution on the orientations to be taken so that Europe can continue to develop world-class space infrastructures and applications, and to rely on efficient space systems to serve its citizens." The Galileo and GMES programs were given special emphasis. (11/27)
Circular Patterns in Background Radiation Suggest Big Bang Was Latest of Many (Source: Science News)
Most cosmologists trace the birth of the universe to the Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago. But a new analysis of the relic radiation generated by that explosive event suggests the universe got its start eons earlier and has cycled through myriad episodes of birth and death, with the Big Bang merely the most recent in a series of starting guns.
Researchers base their findings on circular patterns they discovered in the cosmic microwave background, the ubiquitous microwave glow left over from the Big Bang. The circular features indicate that the cosmos itself circles through epochs of endings and beginnings. (11/27)
Joint Space Programs Seldom Save Money, Report Says (Source: Space News)
Although constrained budgets may spur U.S. federal agencies to establish collaborative space missions, these joint ventures are inherently more complex and result in higher overall costs than independent projects, according to a report released Nov. 23 by the National Research Council (NRC).
The report’s primary recommendation is that agencies avoid collaborative Earth-observing or space science missions, said Daniel Baker, director of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and co-chairman of the NRC committee that drafted the report, “Assessment of Impediments to Interagency Collaboration on Space and Earth Science Missions.” (11/27)
Chinese Communications Craft Rides Long March Rocket (Source: SpaceFlightNow.com)
China orbited a military communications satellite Wednesday on a Long March rocket, continuing the country's busiest year of space launches since the Chinese space program dawned more than four decades ago. The Long March 3A rocket launched Wednesday from the Xichang space base in southwestern China's Sichuan province. It was just after midnight Thursday morning at the launch site. (11/27)
Tech Transfer Seen as a Cost of Winning Business (Source: Space News)
The most successful Earth observation satellite builder on the global market, Astrium of Europe, is willing to accept that 20 percent of its contracts’ value goes to transferring technology to customer nations and ultimately may undermine future Astrium business, a senior Astrium official said. Astrium makes a conscious effort to limit the amount of technology it inadvertently gives to customers. But some contracts, most recently one with the government of Kazakhstan, stipulate that the winning bidder must train local engineers in satellite production and satellite imagery analysis. (11/27)
Space Tourism Attracts Silicon Valley Leaders (Source: Silicon Valley Mercury News)
With a boost from several prominent Internet figures, space tourism is becoming a big business, even though significant technical, business and political hurdles remain before it becomes a regular -- and commercially viable -- occurrence. Virgin Galactic says it has the clear lead among a growing number of companies that hope to establish space as a tourist destination, but a host of other companies hope to launch even more ambitious -- and expensive -- space tourism voyages.
SpaceX has a key test scheduled for Dec. 7, when it tries to become the first private business to do what only six government agencies around the world have achieved -- fly a space capsule into orbit and then recover it safely back on Earth. For about $20 million, SpaceX ultimately hopes to carry paying passengers into orbit. Boeing, using a seven-passenger space capsule that could be available by 2015, will provide trips on a new seven-passenger capsule to NASA's space station, or to a private space station being developed by Bigelow Aerospace. Blue Origin, which is bankrolled by Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, is also working on a suborbital passenger rocket. (11/27)
Space Adventures Builds Multi-Vehicle Backlog of Space Tourists (Source: Silicon Valley Mercury News)
Space Adventures has already sent eight paying passengers into space using Russian Soyuz spacecraft, and Google co-founder Sergey Brin is first in line for a future flight to orbit. Now, the company is advertising a trip around the moon for two paying passengers, which could happen in three to four years at $100 million a seat, a trip to the moon is a bit steep, but it's less than one Silicon Valley tycoon spent trying to get to Sacramento.
Space Adventures is also working with a Texas company, Armadillo Aerospace, to develop a rocket that would carry private passengers on a suborbital trip like Virgin Galactic's. A Space Adventures official said the company has more than 100 Armadillo flight reservations at $110,000 a trip. "We hope to beat Virgin to it, but that's part of the fun at the moment," he said. "This is now really hard cash that is going into these projects, where people will start to fly on those vehicles in the next few years. Is it one year? Is three? Is it five? I don't know. But there is an inflection point where these ideas have got the money they need in order to succeed." (11/27)
Masten Plans Mojave Test Flights Before Florida Mission(s) (Source: Space News)
Michael Mealling, Masten’s vice president for business development, said in October the company would conduct its first test flight of its Xaero vertical takeoff, vertical launching vehicle in November from the company’s test site at the Mojave Air and Space Port. Following that independently financed flight, Masten planned to conduct two NASA-funded flights in December that will send Xaero to a height of 5 kilometers.
Masten’s flight-test schedule has since slipped about a month to the right. Masten was selected by NASA in November to share $475,000 with Texas-based Armadillo Aerospace to conduct flight demonstrations under the U.S. space agency’s Commercial Reusable Suborbital Research (CRuSR) program. Masten’s portion was $250,000. (11/27)
Sarah Palin Talks NASA in New Book (Source: Space Politics)
Former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin's new book spends a little over a page talking about space policy-—or, more accurately, contrasting the policies of the 1960s with what she considers the diminished horizons of today. She describes watching the Apollo 11 landing on a black-and-white TV set. “As with Theodore Roosevelt, JFK’s ambition to put a man on the moon perfectly captured a nation that feared neither hard work nor failure.”
Today’s “national leaders”, though, she claims, lack “Kennedy’s confidence and brio”. “Instead of announcing ambitious new goals for the space program, we have the head of NASA telling Arab television that his agency’s ‘foremost’ goal, according to President Obama’s instruction, is ‘to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science and math and engineering.’” That’s a reference to NASA chief Charles Bolden’s now-infamous interview with al-Jazeera.
The passage, though, doesn’t mention that the administration later said that Bolden misspoke and that such outreach was not NASA’s primary mission. It’s also unclear, from Palin’s claim that the administration hasn’t declared “ambitious new goals for the space program”, whether she is unaware of NASA’s new direction, including the goals announced by President Obama in his April 15th speech at the Kennedy Space Center, or if she doesn’t consider them sufficiently ambitious. (11/27)
The space press buzzed last week when NASA quietly moved its two long-grounded X-34 spaceplanes from storage at the agency’s Dryden center to a test pilot school in the Mojave Desert. At the desert facility, the mid-’90s-vintage X-34s would be inspected to determine if they were capable of flying again. It seemed that NASA was eying a dramatic return to the business of fast, cheap space access using a reusable, airplane-style vehicle — something the Air Force has enthusiastically embraced with its mysterious X-37B spacecraft.
The truth is a bit more complicated. An Orbital official said “[NASA] might be just trying get it out of Edwards’ valuable real estate." In fact, real estate has been a factor in the X-34s’ moves over the years, Dryden official Alan Brown said. After the program’s termination, NASA transferred the prototype vehicles to the Air Force, “which thought it might use them but never did,...When the Air Force needed room in the hangar, [the X-34s] were moved to a bombing range and sat out there deteriorating for several years.” Earlier this year NASA moved them back to Dryden.
The idea to ship the X-34s to Mojave was "to see if it could be refurbished and made flightworthy.” Provided they’re in flyable shape, it’s far more likely the space agency will make the X-34s available to private industry. “There are a number of firms interested in these things, developing communications and other technologies,” Brown said. “It would be helpful if they had a vehicle.” Brown implied he was trying to downplay the X-34s’ possible resurrection, but his reference to private industry hints at a far more exciting future for the space planes than would be likely in NASA service. (11/27)
European Space Ministers Emphasize Space-Based Infrastructure (Source: Space Policy Online)
The space ministers of the European Union (EU) and European Space Agency (ESA) met on Nov. 25 in Brussels for the seventh time since the two organizations signed a framework agreement in 2004. The two groups have overlapping, but not identical, memberships. The EU is a political body, while ESA is technical. The two have worked together on the European Galileo navigation satellite system and the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) program for several years.
The Space Council meeting took place as part of a meeting of the Council of the European Union on "Competitiveness (Internal Market, Industry, Research and Space)." A press release from the EU said that the Council "endorsed a resolution on the orientations to be taken so that Europe can continue to develop world-class space infrastructures and applications, and to rely on efficient space systems to serve its citizens." The Galileo and GMES programs were given special emphasis. (11/27)
Circular Patterns in Background Radiation Suggest Big Bang Was Latest of Many (Source: Science News)
Most cosmologists trace the birth of the universe to the Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago. But a new analysis of the relic radiation generated by that explosive event suggests the universe got its start eons earlier and has cycled through myriad episodes of birth and death, with the Big Bang merely the most recent in a series of starting guns.
Researchers base their findings on circular patterns they discovered in the cosmic microwave background, the ubiquitous microwave glow left over from the Big Bang. The circular features indicate that the cosmos itself circles through epochs of endings and beginnings. (11/27)
Joint Space Programs Seldom Save Money, Report Says (Source: Space News)
Although constrained budgets may spur U.S. federal agencies to establish collaborative space missions, these joint ventures are inherently more complex and result in higher overall costs than independent projects, according to a report released Nov. 23 by the National Research Council (NRC).
The report’s primary recommendation is that agencies avoid collaborative Earth-observing or space science missions, said Daniel Baker, director of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and co-chairman of the NRC committee that drafted the report, “Assessment of Impediments to Interagency Collaboration on Space and Earth Science Missions.” (11/27)
Chinese Communications Craft Rides Long March Rocket (Source: SpaceFlightNow.com)
China orbited a military communications satellite Wednesday on a Long March rocket, continuing the country's busiest year of space launches since the Chinese space program dawned more than four decades ago. The Long March 3A rocket launched Wednesday from the Xichang space base in southwestern China's Sichuan province. It was just after midnight Thursday morning at the launch site. (11/27)
Tech Transfer Seen as a Cost of Winning Business (Source: Space News)
The most successful Earth observation satellite builder on the global market, Astrium of Europe, is willing to accept that 20 percent of its contracts’ value goes to transferring technology to customer nations and ultimately may undermine future Astrium business, a senior Astrium official said. Astrium makes a conscious effort to limit the amount of technology it inadvertently gives to customers. But some contracts, most recently one with the government of Kazakhstan, stipulate that the winning bidder must train local engineers in satellite production and satellite imagery analysis. (11/27)
Space Tourism Attracts Silicon Valley Leaders (Source: Silicon Valley Mercury News)
With a boost from several prominent Internet figures, space tourism is becoming a big business, even though significant technical, business and political hurdles remain before it becomes a regular -- and commercially viable -- occurrence. Virgin Galactic says it has the clear lead among a growing number of companies that hope to establish space as a tourist destination, but a host of other companies hope to launch even more ambitious -- and expensive -- space tourism voyages.
SpaceX has a key test scheduled for Dec. 7, when it tries to become the first private business to do what only six government agencies around the world have achieved -- fly a space capsule into orbit and then recover it safely back on Earth. For about $20 million, SpaceX ultimately hopes to carry paying passengers into orbit. Boeing, using a seven-passenger space capsule that could be available by 2015, will provide trips on a new seven-passenger capsule to NASA's space station, or to a private space station being developed by Bigelow Aerospace. Blue Origin, which is bankrolled by Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, is also working on a suborbital passenger rocket. (11/27)
Space Adventures Builds Multi-Vehicle Backlog of Space Tourists (Source: Silicon Valley Mercury News)
Space Adventures has already sent eight paying passengers into space using Russian Soyuz spacecraft, and Google co-founder Sergey Brin is first in line for a future flight to orbit. Now, the company is advertising a trip around the moon for two paying passengers, which could happen in three to four years at $100 million a seat, a trip to the moon is a bit steep, but it's less than one Silicon Valley tycoon spent trying to get to Sacramento.
Space Adventures is also working with a Texas company, Armadillo Aerospace, to develop a rocket that would carry private passengers on a suborbital trip like Virgin Galactic's. A Space Adventures official said the company has more than 100 Armadillo flight reservations at $110,000 a trip. "We hope to beat Virgin to it, but that's part of the fun at the moment," he said. "This is now really hard cash that is going into these projects, where people will start to fly on those vehicles in the next few years. Is it one year? Is three? Is it five? I don't know. But there is an inflection point where these ideas have got the money they need in order to succeed." (11/27)
Masten Plans Mojave Test Flights Before Florida Mission(s) (Source: Space News)
Michael Mealling, Masten’s vice president for business development, said in October the company would conduct its first test flight of its Xaero vertical takeoff, vertical launching vehicle in November from the company’s test site at the Mojave Air and Space Port. Following that independently financed flight, Masten planned to conduct two NASA-funded flights in December that will send Xaero to a height of 5 kilometers.
Masten’s flight-test schedule has since slipped about a month to the right. Masten was selected by NASA in November to share $475,000 with Texas-based Armadillo Aerospace to conduct flight demonstrations under the U.S. space agency’s Commercial Reusable Suborbital Research (CRuSR) program. Masten’s portion was $250,000. (11/27)
Sarah Palin Talks NASA in New Book (Source: Space Politics)
Former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin's new book spends a little over a page talking about space policy-—or, more accurately, contrasting the policies of the 1960s with what she considers the diminished horizons of today. She describes watching the Apollo 11 landing on a black-and-white TV set. “As with Theodore Roosevelt, JFK’s ambition to put a man on the moon perfectly captured a nation that feared neither hard work nor failure.”
Today’s “national leaders”, though, she claims, lack “Kennedy’s confidence and brio”. “Instead of announcing ambitious new goals for the space program, we have the head of NASA telling Arab television that his agency’s ‘foremost’ goal, according to President Obama’s instruction, is ‘to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science and math and engineering.’” That’s a reference to NASA chief Charles Bolden’s now-infamous interview with al-Jazeera.
The passage, though, doesn’t mention that the administration later said that Bolden misspoke and that such outreach was not NASA’s primary mission. It’s also unclear, from Palin’s claim that the administration hasn’t declared “ambitious new goals for the space program”, whether she is unaware of NASA’s new direction, including the goals announced by President Obama in his April 15th speech at the Kennedy Space Center, or if she doesn’t consider them sufficiently ambitious. (11/27)
November 26, 2010
Satellite Broadband to Connect Europe (Source: Wall Street Journal)
Europe’s first Ka band satellite delivering broadband internet to remote consumers across Europe was launched Friday. All things going well, the £120 million ($190 million) HYLAS 1 will deliver high speed, two-way data services across Europe. The service offers 2Mbps up to 10Mbps download and up to 5 Mbps upload speeds; prices start from around €25 ($33) a month. It is aimed at remote rural locations too far from hubs to lay copper or fibre connections.here above the Atlantic. (11/26)
Space - The EU Frontier? (Source: Irish Times)
In the face of straitened times on Planet Earth, ESA director Prof David Southwood argues the case for continuing to fund space missions. Intercepting asteroids, charting the evolution of stars, circling Mars to map organic molecules and even landing on the red planet to collect and analyze materials. These are all on the European Space Agency (ESA)’s to-do list over coming years. At a time when the economy on planet Earth isn’t quite as flush as it used to be, is now really the time to be spending on space ventures that push back the frontiers? (11/26)
Obama Leaves His Mark on U.S. Space Policy (Source: Xinhua)
Since the 1950s, when the American began marching into the space, each U.S. administration has issued public summary of its main principles and goals for using space. There was no exception for the Obama administration. On June 28, Obama unveiled his space policy, reiterating plans to send Americans to visit an asteroid by 2025 with the goal of sending astronauts to Mars in the mid-2030s, calling for more commercial and international sector cooperation on space exploration. Click here to read the article. (11/26)
Russian Commission Approves New ISS Crew (Source: RIA Novosti)
A Russian governmental commission has approved the main and back-up crews for a new expedition to the International Space Station (ISS). The flight will take off from the Baikanur Space Center in Kazakhstan on December 15 and the ship will dock with the ISS on December 17. The main crew includes Russian Cosmonaut Dmitry Kondratev, NASA Astronaut Catherine Coleman and European Space Agency Astronaut Paolo Nespoli. (11/26)
Ariane 5 Launches With Dual-Payload Flight (Source: SpaceFlightNow.com)
An Ariane 5 rocket launched Friday with two spacecraft, hauling into orbit a traditional fixed communications satellite for Intelsat and an adaptable broadband Internet services payload for U.K.-based Avanti Communications. (11/26)
ISS Crew Lands Safely in Kazakh Steppe (Source: Itar-Tass)
The Soyuz capsule with the three crewmembers of ISS Expedition 24/25 -- Fyodor Yuгchikhin, Shannon Walker and Douglas Wheelock-- landed softly at 07:46 Moscow time in the Kazakh steppe, a Mission Control Center source told Itar-Tass. The capsule landed in the planned area north of Arkalyk. (11/26)
Europe’s first Ka band satellite delivering broadband internet to remote consumers across Europe was launched Friday. All things going well, the £120 million ($190 million) HYLAS 1 will deliver high speed, two-way data services across Europe. The service offers 2Mbps up to 10Mbps download and up to 5 Mbps upload speeds; prices start from around €25 ($33) a month. It is aimed at remote rural locations too far from hubs to lay copper or fibre connections.here above the Atlantic. (11/26)
Space - The EU Frontier? (Source: Irish Times)
In the face of straitened times on Planet Earth, ESA director Prof David Southwood argues the case for continuing to fund space missions. Intercepting asteroids, charting the evolution of stars, circling Mars to map organic molecules and even landing on the red planet to collect and analyze materials. These are all on the European Space Agency (ESA)’s to-do list over coming years. At a time when the economy on planet Earth isn’t quite as flush as it used to be, is now really the time to be spending on space ventures that push back the frontiers? (11/26)
Obama Leaves His Mark on U.S. Space Policy (Source: Xinhua)
Since the 1950s, when the American began marching into the space, each U.S. administration has issued public summary of its main principles and goals for using space. There was no exception for the Obama administration. On June 28, Obama unveiled his space policy, reiterating plans to send Americans to visit an asteroid by 2025 with the goal of sending astronauts to Mars in the mid-2030s, calling for more commercial and international sector cooperation on space exploration. Click here to read the article. (11/26)
Russian Commission Approves New ISS Crew (Source: RIA Novosti)
A Russian governmental commission has approved the main and back-up crews for a new expedition to the International Space Station (ISS). The flight will take off from the Baikanur Space Center in Kazakhstan on December 15 and the ship will dock with the ISS on December 17. The main crew includes Russian Cosmonaut Dmitry Kondratev, NASA Astronaut Catherine Coleman and European Space Agency Astronaut Paolo Nespoli. (11/26)
Ariane 5 Launches With Dual-Payload Flight (Source: SpaceFlightNow.com)
An Ariane 5 rocket launched Friday with two spacecraft, hauling into orbit a traditional fixed communications satellite for Intelsat and an adaptable broadband Internet services payload for U.K.-based Avanti Communications. (11/26)
ISS Crew Lands Safely in Kazakh Steppe (Source: Itar-Tass)
The Soyuz capsule with the three crewmembers of ISS Expedition 24/25 -- Fyodor Yuгchikhin, Shannon Walker and Douglas Wheelock-- landed softly at 07:46 Moscow time in the Kazakh steppe, a Mission Control Center source told Itar-Tass. The capsule landed in the planned area north of Arkalyk. (11/26)
November 25, 2010
Deficit Hit Men Target NASA's Post-Shuttle Plans (Source: AP)
NASA's effort to farm out astronauts' space station trips to private companies over the next decade is under fire again, this time by federal deficit hit men. Spaceflight vendors stand to lose $1.2 billion in NASA funding in 2015 under a proposal by the co-chairmen of President Obama's bipartisan deficit commission. Eliminating federal funding for commercial rocket rides is just one of dozens of ideas put forth earlier this month.
NASA isn't overly worried, for now. Neither are the entrepreneurs who are counting on government dollars to hurry their spacecraft and rockets along; they're used to the Earth-mired roller coaster ride. Besides, few if any observers expect the proposed cut to muster enough support. But the fact that commercial spaceflight was targeted, underscores the vulnerability and controversy of the Obama administration's plan to get American astronauts to the International Space Station via commercial craft.
"We're at the point now where it's either commercial human spaceflight or no human spaceflight in the U.S.," said SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. SpaceX is one of several companies vying to deliver astronauts or supplies to the space station, freeing NASA up to focus on grander deep-space adventures. Unless they come up with safe and reliable means of transport, NASA will be forced to continue buying seats on Russian Soyuz spacecraft at a cost of tens of millions of dollars — per person. (11/25)
Private Companies Vying in $$$ Race to Space (Source: AP)
Several companies are in the latest race to space, vying for a chance to fly cargo and even astronauts to the International Space Station once NASA's shuttle program ends. Click here for a brief look at each of them. (11/25)
Simulation Casts Doubt on Origins of Lunar Water (Source: New Scientist)
The mystery of how the moon got its surface water has just got deeper, following the failure of an attempt to replicate the mechanism that was thought to produce it. Three separate space missions last year reported detecting a sheen of water only molecules thick over large parts of the moon's surface. Many planetary scientists assumed the water was created when particles from the solar wind hit lunar soils, but this idea has now been thrown into doubt.
"The solar wind cannot produce water in sufficient quantities to account for the results of the three missions that observed it," says Raúl Baragiola, a member of the team at University of Virginia, Charlottesville, that tried to reproduce this effect in the lab. (11/25)
Saturn Moon Rhea's Surprise: Oxygen-Rich Atmosphere (Source: Space.com)
Saturn's second-largest moon Rhea has a wispy atmosphere with lots of oxygen and carbon dioxide, a new study has found. NASA's Cassini spacecraft detected Rhea's atmosphere during a close flyby of the frozen moon in March. The discovery marks the first time an oxygen-rich atmosphere has been found on a Saturn satellite. (11/25)
Early Universe Recreated in LHC Was Superhot Liquid (Source: New Scientist)
The early universe was an extremely dense and superhot liquid, according to the surprise first findings of the ALICE experiment at the Large Hadron Collider near Geneva, Switzerland. The experiment to probe the early moments of the universe started up on Nov. 7, smashing together the nuclei of lead atoms inside the LHC's circular tunnel to produce incredibly dense and hot fireballs of subatomic particles at over 10 trillion degrees.
The idea behind ALICE is to recreate the exotic, primordial "soup of particles" known as quark-gluon plasma that appeared microseconds after the universe's birth. Gluons and quarks went on to become the constitutive "bricks" of neutrons and protons inside atomic nuclei. Many models have suggested that the flow of particles from these subatomic fireworks produced in high-energy nuclear collisions should behave like a gas and not a liquid. (11/25)
Plasma Engine Aces Efficiency Tests: Set for ISS in 2014 (Source: The Register)
Officials working at a NASA spinoff company are thrilled to announce that their plasma drive technology – potentially capable of revolutionizing space travel beyond the Earth's atmosphere – has checked out A-OK in ground tests. According to the Ad Astra Rocket Company, building the Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR), the firm's VX-200 prototype engine has just completed its latest round of trials with flying colors.
“Many of the flight applications at the heart of our business model – orbital debris removal, satellite servicing, cargo flights to the Moon and Mars, and ejecting fast probes to the outer solar system – have required that the propulsion system achieve 60 per cent system efficiency," explains Ad Astra's Dr Tim Glover. (11/25)
China Launches Communications Satellite (Source: Xinhua)
China successfully launched a communications satellite, "Zhongxing-20A", at 12:09 a.m. Thursday from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province. "Zhongxing-20A" would help improve the country's radio and television broadcasts, said a statement from the center. The satellite was sent by a Long March 3A rocket into the preset orbit. It was the 135th launch of China's Long March series of rockets since April 24, 1970, when a Long March-1 rocket successfully sent China's first satellite, Dongfanghong-1, into space. (11/25)
How to Catch Microbes Hitchhiking to Mars (Source: WIRED)
Microbial stowaways on Mars rovers could raise false alarms for astrobiologists hoping to find evidence of life — or worse, could wipe out native Martians waiting in the soil. A new study suggests that current techniques for cleaning Mars rovers could let some of the hardiest life forms, single-celled salt-lovers and tiny animals called tardigrades, slip through.
Current techniques for sterilizing spacecraft use dry-heat treatments and chemicals similar to those that could be produced in the Martian soil. Whatever organisms survive those treatments are also the most likely things to survive and thrive once they reach Mars, Johnson said. “Everybody knows that this is not the greatest way to go about it, but that’s the way they do it,” said astrobiologist Rocco Mancinelli of the SETI Institute, a coauthor of the paper. “I personally think it has to be revamped.” (11/25)
U.S. Military Space Plane Nearing End of Design Life (Source: SpaceFlightNow.com)
Observers tracking movements of the U.S. Air Force's X-37B secretive space plane report the spacecraft is dropping altitude, a possible sign the clandestine mission is near landing as it approaches the limit of the its on-orbit capability. Air Force officials remain silent on landing and recovery plans for the reusable space plane, other than it will return to Earth at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.
The 11,000-pound spaceship entered an orbit more than 250 miles above Earth after launch, but four significant maneuvers have since altered that trajectory, causing observers to lose track of the X-37B for several days at a time. The X-37B features landing gear for touchdown on a 15,000-foot-long runway originally built for the space shuttle. (11/25)
Einstein's 'Biggest Blunder' Turns Out to Be Right (Source: Space.com)
What Einstein called his worst mistake, scientists are now depending on to help explain the universe. In 1917, Albert Einstein inserted a term called the cosmological constant into his theory of general relativity to force the equations to predict a stationary universe in keeping with physicists' thinking at the time. When it became clear that the universe wasn't actually static, but was expanding instead, Einstein abandoned the constant, calling it the '"biggest blunder" of his life.
But lately scientists have revived Einstein's cosmological constant (denoted by the Greek capital letter lambda) to explain a mysterious force called dark energy that seems to be counteracting gravity — causing the universe to expand at an accelerating pace. A new study confirms that the cosmological constant is the best fit for dark energy, and offers the most precise and accurate estimate yet of its value. (11/24)
Dark Energy on Firmer Footing (Source: Nature)
The claim that mysterious dark energy is accelerating the Universe's expansion has been placed on firmer ground, with the successful application of a quirky geometric test proposed more than 30 years ago. The accelerating expansion was first detected in 1998. Astronomers studying Type 1a supernovae, stellar explosions called "standard candles" because of their predictable luminosity, made the incredible discovery that the most distant of these supernovae appear dimmer than would be expected if the Universe were expanding at a constant rate. This suggested that some unknown force - subsequently dubbed dark energy - must be working against gravity to blow the universe apart. (11/24)
Last Chance: Where to Watch the Shuttle Launch (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
There may be one more launch, or maybe two, but one thing is for sure, when NASA does manage to get space shuttle Discovery up into space, it should be the last time we see the orbiter lift off from Kennedy Space Center. That means if you want to see one of the greatest man-made spectacles of all time, you better start planning to get out to Cape Canaveral in December or for what could be the shuttle program's finale in late February 2011. There's an outside shot there will be one final mission in summer 2011, but NASA budget woes after the election may put an end to that. But here's what we do know. Click here to read the article. (11/25)
Does Oklahoma Have Too Many State Agencies? (Source: KOTV)
Nearly 200 agencies operate in Oklahoma using state dollars. If you count all of the boards, agencies and commissions, that number jumps to 616. "We have too many state agencies, we need to cut and consolidate and get rid of a lot of the bureaucracies," said Representative David Dank, (R) Oklahoma City... The Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority is getting $424,289 from the state. It oversees the airport and spaceport near Burns Flat which is licensed for space flights, though there are currently no space tourism flights. "That needs to go immediately," said Dank.
"We have prepared ourselves and we have built the foundation for it, so to abandon it now doesn't make any sense," said spaceport director Bill Khourie. You may remember a company called Rocketplane that got an $18 million tax credit to launch its space tourism operation there and take the public to space. That company's now bankrupt and long gone. Khourie remains confident space flights from Burns Flat will happen.
"If we had space tourism flights that originated here, people would be coming to Oklahoma from all over the world to be able to participate in these flights," said Khourie. "There's limitless things that this offers as far as research, development, transportation, it's just incredible and we are the facility that can host those operations." Khourie's three mile long, 300 foot wide runway is not the only place being questioned. (11/25)
Vegas Firm Hoping to Attract Canadian Astronauts Onto Inflatable Space Station (Source: Canadian Press)
A Las Vegas company that's been developing an inflatable space station is trying to entice Canadian astronauts to hop aboard. Bigelow Aerospace says it's working on a commercial space complex that will have the strength of a Kevlar bullet-proof vest.
A company representative was in Ottawa last weekend, delivering a keynote speech and lobbying officials at the annual summit of the Canadian Space Society. Mike Gold, a Bigelow director, called it his first attempt to reach out to the Canadian government and the space industry. He argued that the facility will offer countries a cheaper way into space within five years.
In an email Tuesday, the CSA's director of space exploration, Gilles Leclerc, said that the agency is not involved, "in any way," in the Bigelow project. But Gold expresses optimism. "I don't know how much I can say, but let me say if there wasn't the interest in Canada, I wouldn't be here," he said. (11/24)
Hardy Bugs Could Survive a Million Years on Mars (Source: New Scientist)
It was already nicknamed "Conan the Bacterium" for its ability to withstand radiation. Now it seems Deinococcus radiodurans could, in theory, survive dormant on Mars for over a million years. Scientists froze the bugs to -79 °C, the average temperature at Mars's mid-latitudes. Then they zapped them with gamma rays to simulate the dose they would receive under 30 centimeters of Martian soil over long periods of time. The team worked out that it could take 1.2 million years under these conditions to shrink a population of the bacteria to a millionth of its original size. (11/24)
Long March 7 Advances Toward Service (Source: Aviation Week)
The CALT Long March 7 medium-heavy space launcher will go into production in 2014, according to current plans, completing a new family of Chinese rockets with new fuels and engines. Sized between the Long March 5 and 6, the new rocket will offer up to 720 tons (1,590,000 lb.) of liftoff thrust from six engines fed by liquid oxygen and kerosene.
The first stage of the Long March 7 will have two YF100 engines, already known to have a thrust of 120 tons. The rocket will also have four boosters, each with one YF100. The Long March 7’s previously stated throw weight to low Earth orbit, 10-20 tons, indicates that it would be built with a variable number of boosters. The second stage will have an engine developing 18 tons of thrust.
Four more years of development will be needed before production begins. The Long March 7 is therefore not far behind the Long March 5, which is due to fly in 2014—a target which has slipped several times. The biggest engineering challenge is in maintaining a precise shape for the 5-meter-dia. (16.4-ft.) body. China’s earlier standard rocket module diameters, to be used again for the Long March 6 and 7 and the boosters for all three, are 2.25 and 3.35 meters. (11/24)
Lockheed Martin Sees 2013 Space Capsule Test Flight (Source: Wall Street Journal)
Lockheed Martin Corp.'s development of a new astronaut capsule for NASA, seemingly sidetracked by White House opposition barely a few months ago, now appears to be gaining traction with a proposed unmanned test flight as early as 2013. At least some of the incoming Republican panel chairmen and other senior GOP lawmakers may view the proposed test flight as circumventing congressional language to quickly develop a new heavy-lift NASA rocket.
Congress has adopted language strongly favoring space-shuttle derived rockets for this purpose, rather than a version of the Delta IV. Neither the House nor the Senate ever specifically gave the green light to using a Delta rocket for the planned test mission. The latest NASA plan retains Orion, but at reduced funding levels. And the lack of an approved appropriations bill covering the agency's current fiscal year threatens to further erode Lockheed Martin's revenue for Orion.
The biggest battle may be over whether a beefed-up variant of the Delta IV—-packing more power and certified safe enough to carry astronauts—-is an appropriate candidate for NASA's next-generation heavy-lift launcher. Substantial improvements would be required to meet those criteria, and many lawmakers and other NASA critics argue a faster and less expensive path would be to rely on a space-shuttle derived alternative. (11/25)
Editorial: Politics Should Not Dictate Design of NASA Rockets (Source: New Scientist)
The latest political nuisance for NASA is that senators and congressmen from Utah are trying to pressure NASA to promise that any new heavy-lift launcher it designs will include derivatives of the shuttle's solid rocket boosters (SRBs). They're even claiming that the recent NASA authorization bill that President Obama signed into law in October legally requires it. Hogwash!
The recent authorization bill does direct NASA to proceed (subject to funding) with development of a heavy-lift launcher to support future space exploration. However, nowhere does it require use of the shuttle SRBs. The farthest it goes toward that is to specify that NASA should use existing technology from the shuttle and the now-defunct Ares launchers "to the extent practicable".
Whether it is necessary, "practicable", or even desirable to use SRBs in a new man-rated heavy-lift launcher depends very much on who you ask. It seems clear who the Utah legislators have been asking – ATK, the Utah-based company that makes the shuttle SRBs and was expecting to make derivatives of them for Ares. Observers with less of a financial stake in the decision might disagree. (11/25)
I want to Do Apollo Again (Source: Transterrestrial Musings)
Rand Simberg has produced a short animation discussing the merits (or lack thereof) for developing a new NASA heavy-lift rocket. Click here to watch. (11/25)
New Launchers Require New Arrangement (Source: Aviation Week)
Europe’s launch sector is demanding changes in the Arianespace governance and shareholding structure in return for increased financial support. The European launch provider has asked for a capital injection from shareholders and a new public support mechanism to help it counter growing competition from lower-cost players and help defray the extra burden of operating two new launch vehicles—the Soyuz 2 medium lifter and Vega light booster—from its Kourou, French Guiana, spaceport.
Arianespace Chairman/CEO Jean-Yves Le Gall will not say how much the company is requesting, but industry executives say the capital injection would amount to €100 million ($136 million), perhaps spread between 2010 and 2011; and the price support program, €120 million per year. A previous support scheme for the Ariane 5, dubbed European Guaranteed Access to Space (EGAS), expires toward year-end.
The pressures on Arianespace come as France and Germany are discussing a midlife upgrade to the Ariane 5 (the Ariane 5 ME) and the vehicle—dubbed Ariane 6 but officially known as the Next-Generation Launcher (NGL). The French position, echoed by Arianespace, is that market changes, such as a gradual increase in midsize payloads that are typically paired with larger satellites in Ariane 5 missions, are eroding the Ariane 5’s dual-mission business case. (11/25)
Shuttle Discovery's Last Flight Over Christmas? (Source: San Francisco Chronicle)
Baffled by fuel tank cracks, NASA announced another prolonged launch delay for space shuttle Discovery on Wednesday and raised the prospect of a Christmastime flight. Shuttle managers refused to set a new launch date for Discovery's final flight, on hold since the beginning of November. The next launch opportunity would be Dec. 17.
"We would have liked to have found a most probable cause by now" for the cracks that were found on Discovery's fuel tank, said Bill Gerstenmaier, head of NASA's space operations. "This is turning out to be a little more complicated from an analysis standpoint." "We'll let the data drive where we're heading," he told reporters. (11/24)
Black Hole May Offer Clues to Extra Dimensions (Source: Science)
Could space have dimensions beyond the three that we all know and love? Some theories in particle physics speculate that it might, although these dimensions would be curled up in loops so small, they could probably be probed only in high-energy particle collisions. Now, however, one theorist suggests that, at least in principle, these hypothesized dimensions might reveal themselves in another subtle way. If there are extra dimensions, then the gravity from the black hole in the center of our galaxy might dramatically brighten the images of stars beyond it.
The idea rests on two assumptions. First, that space has extra dimensions. That's a central tenet of string theory, which posits that every fundamental bit of matter is really an infinitesimal string vibrating in one way or another. According to string theory, space has six extra dimensions that we don't see because they're curled and tangled up at very small length scales. (11/25)
Former NSC Official Takes Job with Orbital (Source: Space News)
Peter Marquez, former director of space policy for the White House National Security Council (NSC) and a central figure in shaping President Barack Obama’s National Space Policy, will join Orbital Sciences Corp. as vice president of strategy and planning effective Nov. 29. (11/25)
Eutelsat Still Searching for Answers in W3B Failure (Source: Space News)
Eutelsat Chief Executive Michel de Rosen on Nov. 24 said he remains confident that investigators will find the cause of the propulsion-system failure on Eutelsat’s W3B telecommunications satellite. But he conceded that, one month after the failure, the inquiry is still searching for a smoking gun. (11/25)
Cassini Back to Normal, Ready for Enceladus (Source: NASA JPL)
NASA's Cassini spacecraft resumed normal operations today, Nov. 24. All science instruments have been turned back on, the spacecraft is properly configured and Cassini is in good health. Mission managers expect to get a full stream of data during next week's flyby of the Saturnian moon Enceladus. Cassini went into safe mode on Nov. 2, when one bit flipped in the onboard command and data subsystem computer. Engineers have traced the steps taken by the computer during that time and have determined that all spacecraft responses were proper, but still do not know why the bit flipped. (11/24)
What Does SpaceX's Commercial Reentry License Mean for Space Travel? (Source: Fast Company)
Score one for would-be space travelers: SpaceX, a space transport startup bankrolled by Tesla founder Elon Musk, just became the first commercial company to receive a license to re-enter a spacecraft from orbit into Earth's atmosphere, courtesy of the FAA. Here's a statement from NASA on the new license:
"In the near term, NASA plans to be a reliable partner with U.S. industry, providing technical and financial assistance during the development phase. In the longer term, NASA plans to be a customer for these services, buying transportation services for U.S. and U.S.-designated astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). We hope that these activities will stimulate the development of a new industry that would be available to all potential purchasers, not just the U.S. government." (11/24)
NASA's effort to farm out astronauts' space station trips to private companies over the next decade is under fire again, this time by federal deficit hit men. Spaceflight vendors stand to lose $1.2 billion in NASA funding in 2015 under a proposal by the co-chairmen of President Obama's bipartisan deficit commission. Eliminating federal funding for commercial rocket rides is just one of dozens of ideas put forth earlier this month.
NASA isn't overly worried, for now. Neither are the entrepreneurs who are counting on government dollars to hurry their spacecraft and rockets along; they're used to the Earth-mired roller coaster ride. Besides, few if any observers expect the proposed cut to muster enough support. But the fact that commercial spaceflight was targeted, underscores the vulnerability and controversy of the Obama administration's plan to get American astronauts to the International Space Station via commercial craft.
"We're at the point now where it's either commercial human spaceflight or no human spaceflight in the U.S.," said SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. SpaceX is one of several companies vying to deliver astronauts or supplies to the space station, freeing NASA up to focus on grander deep-space adventures. Unless they come up with safe and reliable means of transport, NASA will be forced to continue buying seats on Russian Soyuz spacecraft at a cost of tens of millions of dollars — per person. (11/25)
Private Companies Vying in $$$ Race to Space (Source: AP)
Several companies are in the latest race to space, vying for a chance to fly cargo and even astronauts to the International Space Station once NASA's shuttle program ends. Click here for a brief look at each of them. (11/25)
Simulation Casts Doubt on Origins of Lunar Water (Source: New Scientist)
The mystery of how the moon got its surface water has just got deeper, following the failure of an attempt to replicate the mechanism that was thought to produce it. Three separate space missions last year reported detecting a sheen of water only molecules thick over large parts of the moon's surface. Many planetary scientists assumed the water was created when particles from the solar wind hit lunar soils, but this idea has now been thrown into doubt.
"The solar wind cannot produce water in sufficient quantities to account for the results of the three missions that observed it," says Raúl Baragiola, a member of the team at University of Virginia, Charlottesville, that tried to reproduce this effect in the lab. (11/25)
Saturn Moon Rhea's Surprise: Oxygen-Rich Atmosphere (Source: Space.com)
Saturn's second-largest moon Rhea has a wispy atmosphere with lots of oxygen and carbon dioxide, a new study has found. NASA's Cassini spacecraft detected Rhea's atmosphere during a close flyby of the frozen moon in March. The discovery marks the first time an oxygen-rich atmosphere has been found on a Saturn satellite. (11/25)
Early Universe Recreated in LHC Was Superhot Liquid (Source: New Scientist)
The early universe was an extremely dense and superhot liquid, according to the surprise first findings of the ALICE experiment at the Large Hadron Collider near Geneva, Switzerland. The experiment to probe the early moments of the universe started up on Nov. 7, smashing together the nuclei of lead atoms inside the LHC's circular tunnel to produce incredibly dense and hot fireballs of subatomic particles at over 10 trillion degrees.
The idea behind ALICE is to recreate the exotic, primordial "soup of particles" known as quark-gluon plasma that appeared microseconds after the universe's birth. Gluons and quarks went on to become the constitutive "bricks" of neutrons and protons inside atomic nuclei. Many models have suggested that the flow of particles from these subatomic fireworks produced in high-energy nuclear collisions should behave like a gas and not a liquid. (11/25)
Plasma Engine Aces Efficiency Tests: Set for ISS in 2014 (Source: The Register)
Officials working at a NASA spinoff company are thrilled to announce that their plasma drive technology – potentially capable of revolutionizing space travel beyond the Earth's atmosphere – has checked out A-OK in ground tests. According to the Ad Astra Rocket Company, building the Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR), the firm's VX-200 prototype engine has just completed its latest round of trials with flying colors.
“Many of the flight applications at the heart of our business model – orbital debris removal, satellite servicing, cargo flights to the Moon and Mars, and ejecting fast probes to the outer solar system – have required that the propulsion system achieve 60 per cent system efficiency," explains Ad Astra's Dr Tim Glover. (11/25)
China Launches Communications Satellite (Source: Xinhua)
China successfully launched a communications satellite, "Zhongxing-20A", at 12:09 a.m. Thursday from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province. "Zhongxing-20A" would help improve the country's radio and television broadcasts, said a statement from the center. The satellite was sent by a Long March 3A rocket into the preset orbit. It was the 135th launch of China's Long March series of rockets since April 24, 1970, when a Long March-1 rocket successfully sent China's first satellite, Dongfanghong-1, into space. (11/25)
How to Catch Microbes Hitchhiking to Mars (Source: WIRED)
Microbial stowaways on Mars rovers could raise false alarms for astrobiologists hoping to find evidence of life — or worse, could wipe out native Martians waiting in the soil. A new study suggests that current techniques for cleaning Mars rovers could let some of the hardiest life forms, single-celled salt-lovers and tiny animals called tardigrades, slip through.
Current techniques for sterilizing spacecraft use dry-heat treatments and chemicals similar to those that could be produced in the Martian soil. Whatever organisms survive those treatments are also the most likely things to survive and thrive once they reach Mars, Johnson said. “Everybody knows that this is not the greatest way to go about it, but that’s the way they do it,” said astrobiologist Rocco Mancinelli of the SETI Institute, a coauthor of the paper. “I personally think it has to be revamped.” (11/25)
U.S. Military Space Plane Nearing End of Design Life (Source: SpaceFlightNow.com)
Observers tracking movements of the U.S. Air Force's X-37B secretive space plane report the spacecraft is dropping altitude, a possible sign the clandestine mission is near landing as it approaches the limit of the its on-orbit capability. Air Force officials remain silent on landing and recovery plans for the reusable space plane, other than it will return to Earth at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.
The 11,000-pound spaceship entered an orbit more than 250 miles above Earth after launch, but four significant maneuvers have since altered that trajectory, causing observers to lose track of the X-37B for several days at a time. The X-37B features landing gear for touchdown on a 15,000-foot-long runway originally built for the space shuttle. (11/25)
Einstein's 'Biggest Blunder' Turns Out to Be Right (Source: Space.com)
What Einstein called his worst mistake, scientists are now depending on to help explain the universe. In 1917, Albert Einstein inserted a term called the cosmological constant into his theory of general relativity to force the equations to predict a stationary universe in keeping with physicists' thinking at the time. When it became clear that the universe wasn't actually static, but was expanding instead, Einstein abandoned the constant, calling it the '"biggest blunder" of his life.
But lately scientists have revived Einstein's cosmological constant (denoted by the Greek capital letter lambda) to explain a mysterious force called dark energy that seems to be counteracting gravity — causing the universe to expand at an accelerating pace. A new study confirms that the cosmological constant is the best fit for dark energy, and offers the most precise and accurate estimate yet of its value. (11/24)
Dark Energy on Firmer Footing (Source: Nature)
The claim that mysterious dark energy is accelerating the Universe's expansion has been placed on firmer ground, with the successful application of a quirky geometric test proposed more than 30 years ago. The accelerating expansion was first detected in 1998. Astronomers studying Type 1a supernovae, stellar explosions called "standard candles" because of their predictable luminosity, made the incredible discovery that the most distant of these supernovae appear dimmer than would be expected if the Universe were expanding at a constant rate. This suggested that some unknown force - subsequently dubbed dark energy - must be working against gravity to blow the universe apart. (11/24)
Last Chance: Where to Watch the Shuttle Launch (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
There may be one more launch, or maybe two, but one thing is for sure, when NASA does manage to get space shuttle Discovery up into space, it should be the last time we see the orbiter lift off from Kennedy Space Center. That means if you want to see one of the greatest man-made spectacles of all time, you better start planning to get out to Cape Canaveral in December or for what could be the shuttle program's finale in late February 2011. There's an outside shot there will be one final mission in summer 2011, but NASA budget woes after the election may put an end to that. But here's what we do know. Click here to read the article. (11/25)
Does Oklahoma Have Too Many State Agencies? (Source: KOTV)
Nearly 200 agencies operate in Oklahoma using state dollars. If you count all of the boards, agencies and commissions, that number jumps to 616. "We have too many state agencies, we need to cut and consolidate and get rid of a lot of the bureaucracies," said Representative David Dank, (R) Oklahoma City... The Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority is getting $424,289 from the state. It oversees the airport and spaceport near Burns Flat which is licensed for space flights, though there are currently no space tourism flights. "That needs to go immediately," said Dank.
"We have prepared ourselves and we have built the foundation for it, so to abandon it now doesn't make any sense," said spaceport director Bill Khourie. You may remember a company called Rocketplane that got an $18 million tax credit to launch its space tourism operation there and take the public to space. That company's now bankrupt and long gone. Khourie remains confident space flights from Burns Flat will happen.
"If we had space tourism flights that originated here, people would be coming to Oklahoma from all over the world to be able to participate in these flights," said Khourie. "There's limitless things that this offers as far as research, development, transportation, it's just incredible and we are the facility that can host those operations." Khourie's three mile long, 300 foot wide runway is not the only place being questioned. (11/25)
Vegas Firm Hoping to Attract Canadian Astronauts Onto Inflatable Space Station (Source: Canadian Press)
A Las Vegas company that's been developing an inflatable space station is trying to entice Canadian astronauts to hop aboard. Bigelow Aerospace says it's working on a commercial space complex that will have the strength of a Kevlar bullet-proof vest.
A company representative was in Ottawa last weekend, delivering a keynote speech and lobbying officials at the annual summit of the Canadian Space Society. Mike Gold, a Bigelow director, called it his first attempt to reach out to the Canadian government and the space industry. He argued that the facility will offer countries a cheaper way into space within five years.
In an email Tuesday, the CSA's director of space exploration, Gilles Leclerc, said that the agency is not involved, "in any way," in the Bigelow project. But Gold expresses optimism. "I don't know how much I can say, but let me say if there wasn't the interest in Canada, I wouldn't be here," he said. (11/24)
Hardy Bugs Could Survive a Million Years on Mars (Source: New Scientist)
It was already nicknamed "Conan the Bacterium" for its ability to withstand radiation. Now it seems Deinococcus radiodurans could, in theory, survive dormant on Mars for over a million years. Scientists froze the bugs to -79 °C, the average temperature at Mars's mid-latitudes. Then they zapped them with gamma rays to simulate the dose they would receive under 30 centimeters of Martian soil over long periods of time. The team worked out that it could take 1.2 million years under these conditions to shrink a population of the bacteria to a millionth of its original size. (11/24)
Long March 7 Advances Toward Service (Source: Aviation Week)
The CALT Long March 7 medium-heavy space launcher will go into production in 2014, according to current plans, completing a new family of Chinese rockets with new fuels and engines. Sized between the Long March 5 and 6, the new rocket will offer up to 720 tons (1,590,000 lb.) of liftoff thrust from six engines fed by liquid oxygen and kerosene.
The first stage of the Long March 7 will have two YF100 engines, already known to have a thrust of 120 tons. The rocket will also have four boosters, each with one YF100. The Long March 7’s previously stated throw weight to low Earth orbit, 10-20 tons, indicates that it would be built with a variable number of boosters. The second stage will have an engine developing 18 tons of thrust.
Four more years of development will be needed before production begins. The Long March 7 is therefore not far behind the Long March 5, which is due to fly in 2014—a target which has slipped several times. The biggest engineering challenge is in maintaining a precise shape for the 5-meter-dia. (16.4-ft.) body. China’s earlier standard rocket module diameters, to be used again for the Long March 6 and 7 and the boosters for all three, are 2.25 and 3.35 meters. (11/24)
Lockheed Martin Sees 2013 Space Capsule Test Flight (Source: Wall Street Journal)
Lockheed Martin Corp.'s development of a new astronaut capsule for NASA, seemingly sidetracked by White House opposition barely a few months ago, now appears to be gaining traction with a proposed unmanned test flight as early as 2013. At least some of the incoming Republican panel chairmen and other senior GOP lawmakers may view the proposed test flight as circumventing congressional language to quickly develop a new heavy-lift NASA rocket.
Congress has adopted language strongly favoring space-shuttle derived rockets for this purpose, rather than a version of the Delta IV. Neither the House nor the Senate ever specifically gave the green light to using a Delta rocket for the planned test mission. The latest NASA plan retains Orion, but at reduced funding levels. And the lack of an approved appropriations bill covering the agency's current fiscal year threatens to further erode Lockheed Martin's revenue for Orion.
The biggest battle may be over whether a beefed-up variant of the Delta IV—-packing more power and certified safe enough to carry astronauts—-is an appropriate candidate for NASA's next-generation heavy-lift launcher. Substantial improvements would be required to meet those criteria, and many lawmakers and other NASA critics argue a faster and less expensive path would be to rely on a space-shuttle derived alternative. (11/25)
Editorial: Politics Should Not Dictate Design of NASA Rockets (Source: New Scientist)
The latest political nuisance for NASA is that senators and congressmen from Utah are trying to pressure NASA to promise that any new heavy-lift launcher it designs will include derivatives of the shuttle's solid rocket boosters (SRBs). They're even claiming that the recent NASA authorization bill that President Obama signed into law in October legally requires it. Hogwash!
The recent authorization bill does direct NASA to proceed (subject to funding) with development of a heavy-lift launcher to support future space exploration. However, nowhere does it require use of the shuttle SRBs. The farthest it goes toward that is to specify that NASA should use existing technology from the shuttle and the now-defunct Ares launchers "to the extent practicable".
Whether it is necessary, "practicable", or even desirable to use SRBs in a new man-rated heavy-lift launcher depends very much on who you ask. It seems clear who the Utah legislators have been asking – ATK, the Utah-based company that makes the shuttle SRBs and was expecting to make derivatives of them for Ares. Observers with less of a financial stake in the decision might disagree. (11/25)
I want to Do Apollo Again (Source: Transterrestrial Musings)
Rand Simberg has produced a short animation discussing the merits (or lack thereof) for developing a new NASA heavy-lift rocket. Click here to watch. (11/25)
New Launchers Require New Arrangement (Source: Aviation Week)
Europe’s launch sector is demanding changes in the Arianespace governance and shareholding structure in return for increased financial support. The European launch provider has asked for a capital injection from shareholders and a new public support mechanism to help it counter growing competition from lower-cost players and help defray the extra burden of operating two new launch vehicles—the Soyuz 2 medium lifter and Vega light booster—from its Kourou, French Guiana, spaceport.
Arianespace Chairman/CEO Jean-Yves Le Gall will not say how much the company is requesting, but industry executives say the capital injection would amount to €100 million ($136 million), perhaps spread between 2010 and 2011; and the price support program, €120 million per year. A previous support scheme for the Ariane 5, dubbed European Guaranteed Access to Space (EGAS), expires toward year-end.
The pressures on Arianespace come as France and Germany are discussing a midlife upgrade to the Ariane 5 (the Ariane 5 ME) and the vehicle—dubbed Ariane 6 but officially known as the Next-Generation Launcher (NGL). The French position, echoed by Arianespace, is that market changes, such as a gradual increase in midsize payloads that are typically paired with larger satellites in Ariane 5 missions, are eroding the Ariane 5’s dual-mission business case. (11/25)
Shuttle Discovery's Last Flight Over Christmas? (Source: San Francisco Chronicle)
Baffled by fuel tank cracks, NASA announced another prolonged launch delay for space shuttle Discovery on Wednesday and raised the prospect of a Christmastime flight. Shuttle managers refused to set a new launch date for Discovery's final flight, on hold since the beginning of November. The next launch opportunity would be Dec. 17.
"We would have liked to have found a most probable cause by now" for the cracks that were found on Discovery's fuel tank, said Bill Gerstenmaier, head of NASA's space operations. "This is turning out to be a little more complicated from an analysis standpoint." "We'll let the data drive where we're heading," he told reporters. (11/24)
Black Hole May Offer Clues to Extra Dimensions (Source: Science)
Could space have dimensions beyond the three that we all know and love? Some theories in particle physics speculate that it might, although these dimensions would be curled up in loops so small, they could probably be probed only in high-energy particle collisions. Now, however, one theorist suggests that, at least in principle, these hypothesized dimensions might reveal themselves in another subtle way. If there are extra dimensions, then the gravity from the black hole in the center of our galaxy might dramatically brighten the images of stars beyond it.
The idea rests on two assumptions. First, that space has extra dimensions. That's a central tenet of string theory, which posits that every fundamental bit of matter is really an infinitesimal string vibrating in one way or another. According to string theory, space has six extra dimensions that we don't see because they're curled and tangled up at very small length scales. (11/25)
Former NSC Official Takes Job with Orbital (Source: Space News)
Peter Marquez, former director of space policy for the White House National Security Council (NSC) and a central figure in shaping President Barack Obama’s National Space Policy, will join Orbital Sciences Corp. as vice president of strategy and planning effective Nov. 29. (11/25)
Eutelsat Still Searching for Answers in W3B Failure (Source: Space News)
Eutelsat Chief Executive Michel de Rosen on Nov. 24 said he remains confident that investigators will find the cause of the propulsion-system failure on Eutelsat’s W3B telecommunications satellite. But he conceded that, one month after the failure, the inquiry is still searching for a smoking gun. (11/25)
Cassini Back to Normal, Ready for Enceladus (Source: NASA JPL)
NASA's Cassini spacecraft resumed normal operations today, Nov. 24. All science instruments have been turned back on, the spacecraft is properly configured and Cassini is in good health. Mission managers expect to get a full stream of data during next week's flyby of the Saturnian moon Enceladus. Cassini went into safe mode on Nov. 2, when one bit flipped in the onboard command and data subsystem computer. Engineers have traced the steps taken by the computer during that time and have determined that all spacecraft responses were proper, but still do not know why the bit flipped. (11/24)
What Does SpaceX's Commercial Reentry License Mean for Space Travel? (Source: Fast Company)
Score one for would-be space travelers: SpaceX, a space transport startup bankrolled by Tesla founder Elon Musk, just became the first commercial company to receive a license to re-enter a spacecraft from orbit into Earth's atmosphere, courtesy of the FAA. Here's a statement from NASA on the new license:
"In the near term, NASA plans to be a reliable partner with U.S. industry, providing technical and financial assistance during the development phase. In the longer term, NASA plans to be a customer for these services, buying transportation services for U.S. and U.S.-designated astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). We hope that these activities will stimulate the development of a new industry that would be available to all potential purchasers, not just the U.S. government." (11/24)
November 23, 2010
NASA Selects Companies for Advanced Aircraft Concepts Study (Source: NASA)
NASA has awarded two contracts for studies designed to identify advanced concepts for airliners that could enter service in 2025 and fly with less noise, cleaner exhaust and lower fuel consumption. A team led by Lockheed Martin of Palmdale, Calif., was selected for a contract worth $2.99 million. A team led by Northrop Grumman of El Segundo, Calif., was selected for a contract worth $2.65 million. Both contracts have a performance period of 12 months, beginning in November. (11/23)
Astrotech Wins NPOESS Processing Work (Source: Astrotech)
Astrotech Space Operations has won a fully-funded task order under an existing $35 million Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract. The Company will provide facilities and payload processing services from its VAFB location in support of NASA's National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Preparatory Project (NPP) mission scheduled to launch October 25, 2011. (11/23)
US Postal Service Reveals Designs for 2011 Space Stamps (Source: CollectSpace)
Alan Shepard will be depicted on a 2011 U.S. postage stamp wearing the silver spacesuit in which he made history as the first American astronaut to fly into space. The stamp's design, which was quietly released last week by the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), shows Shepard from his shoulders up centered between images of his rocket lifting off and his capsule orbiting the Earth. Opposite the astronaut's portrait on an adjoining stamp, an artist's rendering shows NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft orbiting the planet Mercury. Editor's Note: How do we get USPS to develop a larger series of space stamps? I bet they'd be very popular. (11/23)
Russia Plans Work on Nuclear Space Projects (Source: RIA Novosti)
Russia's Energia space corporation will start developing standardized space modules with nuclear-powered propulsion systems next year. Energia director Vitaly Lopota said the first launches with a capacity of 150 to 500 KW could be made some time in 2020. Roscosmos Director Anatoly Perminov previously said the development of Megawatt-class nuclear space power systems (MCNSPS) for manned spacecraft was crucial if Russia wanted to maintain a competitive edge in the space race, including the exploration of the moon and Mars.
The project will require an estimated 17 billion rubles (over $580 million). Energia earlier said it is also ready to design a space-based nuclear power station with a service life of 10-15 years, to be initially placed on the moon or Mars. It is also working on a concept of a nuclear-powered space tug, which could more than halve satellite launching and orbiting costs. (11/23)
Russia to Spend $2 Billion for Space Clean-up (Source: Xinhua)
Russia's Rocket and Space Corporation Energia will build a special orbital pod designed for sweeping-up satellite debris from near-Earth space. The system was estimated to cost about $1.9 billion U.S. dollars. "The corporation promised to clean up the space in ten years by collecting about 600 defunct satellites on the same geosynchronous orbit and sinking them into the ocean," said an Energia official.
He said the cleaning satellite would work on nuclear power and be capable to work up to 15 years. Energia said that the company would complete the cleaning satellite work-out and assembly by 2020 and test the device no later than in 2023. Sinyavsky said that Energia has also been drafting a space interceptor designed to destroy dangerous space objects heading toward the Earth. Editor's Note: Heads up, Pentagon! These Russian systems would have capabilities that could pose a threat to your operational satellites too. (11/23)
Russian Scientists Developing Moonbase Protection Systems (Source: RIA Novosti)
Russian scientists are developing automatic sealing systems to protect future manned space stations on the Moon and Mars from debris, Russia's Central Research Institute of Machine Building said. "Protection of spacecraft modules against micrometeorite impact and space debris, based on the use of protective screens, that is passive protection, is at the limit of its technical capability due to weight restrictions," the institute's experts said.
"This is why we need to develop new protection based on self-sealing systems capable of independently and quickly restoring the object's air-tightness in case of leaks," they said. Scientists said there are three ways of self-sealing a spacecraft. The first is to place a plug into the hole and thus stop the air leak. The second is to feed liquid sealant into the rupture, and the third is a combination of the two methods. (11/23)
U.S. Mission Proposed to Send Astronauts to the Moon's Far Side (Source; Space.com)
While NASA has officially given up its plans to send humans back to the surface of the moon anytime soon, a contractor is proposing a mission to send a crew to a stationary spot in orbit over the far side of Earth's neighbor. Lockheed Martin has begun pitching an L2-Farside Mission using its Orion spacecraft under development.
The company says such an endeavor could sharpen skills and technologies needed for a trip to an asteroid – as well as showcase techniques useful for exploring Mars by teleoperation as astronauts orbit the red planet. Both are stated goals under the new direction for NASA outlined by President Obama.
From a "halo orbit" around an L2 point on the moon's far side, a crew would control robots on the lunar surface. Teleoperated science tasks include snagging rock specimens for return to Earth from the moon's South Pole-Aitken basin – one of the largest, deepest, and oldest craters in the solar system – as well as deploy a radio telescope array on the farside. (11/23)
Dragon Re-Entry License - Not the First? (Source: HobbySpace)
Gary Hudson believes the Commercial Experiment Transporter (COMET), which failed to reach orbit on a Conestoga 1620 rocket on Oct. 23, 1995 (launched from the Wallops Island spaceport in Virginia), actually had received the first commercial spacecraft reentry license. A paper published in 1998 about COMET included the following statement:
"Ultimately, the OCST [Office of Commercial Space Transportation in Dept. of Transportation] licensed the COMET reentry vehicle as a payload on a licensed expendable launch vehicle. In this way, the OCST licensed the first landing of a reusable space vehicle before passage of legislation (still pending) that would empower the OCST to license vehicle landings." So it sounds like the COMET got the first return license but Dragon got the first license actually authorized by legislation.
Editor's Note: The Conestoga and COMET were developed by Houston-based Space Services Inc. Conestoga used a cluster of Delta-2 strap-on solid rocket motors, wrapped around surplus Minuteman missile stages. COMET was to be a retrievable experiment carrier for NASA's CCDS (Centers for the Commercial Development of Space) program. Click here for more on the rocket. Also, back in the mid-1990s, OCST was part of the Dept. of Transportation, not FAA, so SpaceX can still claim to have the first "FAA" reentry license. (11/23)
Virgin Galactic Blasts Report on Environmental Impact of Space Tourism (Source: Guardian)
It isn't easy trying to pioneer an entirely new industry - just ask Will Whitehorn, president of Virgin Galactic, Richard Branson's attempt to take tourists into space. Not only does he face the prospect of launching a multi-billion dollar venture in the wake of an economic downturn, but he is also having to battle growing environmental concerns about the high profile project.
It can't be a coincidence that on Oct. 22, as Virgin Galactic opened its first spaceport, Geophysical Research Letters published a report suggesting that the environmental effects of this new mode of space travel might be more severe than first thought. The report has Whitehorn hopping mad. "The research was fundamentally wrong," he says. "If you had a Virgin Galactic program running for ten years, if you assumed that we weren't using biobutinol (which we will) we're talking about less environmental impact over ten years than 1.5 shuttle launches." (11/23)
340 Aspiring Astronauts Already Ticketed for Space Travel (Source: WFAA)
At least three Dallas-Fort Worth-area travel agents are taking reservations for space tourism flights. $200,000 pays for three days of training at Spaceport America, then a flight to 50,000 feet before SpaceShipTwo disconnects from WhiteKnightTwo and rockets up at three times the speed of sound until the dark expanses of space finally frame the planet. From take-off to touchdown, it's a little more than a two-hour flight. Zero gravity lasts about five minutes.
Perhaps most fascinating is that experts predict more people will go to space in the next five years than every astronaut that has ever gone before. To accomplish that, details have to be sorted out first: Issues like space insurance, space traffic control and maybe — most importantly — how spaceports can launch spacecraft without interfering with more traditional aircraft criss-crossing the country. (11/23)
Earth and Space Science Missions Less Risky if Conducted by a Single Agency (Source: National Academies)
Earth and space science missions developed and implemented by federal agencies in collaboration typically result in additional complexity and cost and increased risks from divided responsibilities and accountability, says a new report from the National Research Council. Federal agencies should not partner in conducting space and earth science missions unless there is a compelling reason to do so and clear criteria are met in advance.
The committee examined case studies from previous domestic and international missions, received briefings from several agencies, and drew upon committee members' own experiences to reach its conclusions While there are varying amounts of cooperation among agencies, the report says that generally the more interdependent agencies are for mission success, the higher the degree of complexity and risk associated with the project.
Editor's Note: Case in point: NPOESS. Exception to the rule(?): DOD procurement of launch services (like last week's Minotaur-4) to fly a mix of payloads from DOD and NASA. Perhaps it makes sense for multiple agencies to use a single procurement mechanism, but not to combine requirements for a complex hardware/technology development program.
National Academies Report Seems to Support National Space Council Concept (Source: SPACErePORT)
The new National Academies report that cautions against multi-agency management of space science missions seems to argue in favor of a new system for inter-agency coordination, where such multi-agency programs are warranted. Here's a quote from the news release accompanying the new report: "There is a need for coordinated oversight of interagency collaboration; however, OMB and OSTP are not suited to day-to-day oversight. Some alternative governance mechanism may be required to facilitate accountable decision-making across multiple agencies." This is the kind of role envisioned for a National Space Council. (11/23)
World Space Agencies to Jointly Explore Solar System (Source: Xinhua)
International space agencies have agreed to cooperate over the exploration of solar system using unmanned spacecraft, said Russian federal space agency Roscosmos. "Universal understanding of the birth and the development of our Solar System ... has widened significantly with the beginning of the space era, which gave an opportunity to see everything through the eyes of automatic research equipment," according to a Roscosmos website statement. Countries were not likely to achieve any palpable results if they worked separately, said the statement, which came as a result of the recent meeting between 25 space agencies in Washington. (11/23)
Space Club Donates $40,000 to Brevard Schools for Space Week (Source: NSCFL)
National Space Club Florida Committee has donated $40,000 to the Brevard Schools Foundation for Space Week, a program that over a two week period in December allows all 5,300 Brevard County sixth grade students and their science teachers to participate in a full day of organized and hands-on activities at Kennedy Space Center. Their contribution is matched by a grant from the Consortium of Florida Education Foundations.
In addition to their financial contributions, National Space Club members and companies also participate during Space Week by giving student presentations and setting up aerospace-themed exhibits for the students. Since 2003, over 35,000 sixth grade students have participated in this innovative program. Since the inception of Space Week, the National Space Club has contributed over $125,000 to the program. (11/16)
Tiny, Cheap, and Fuel-Less: Is O/OREOS the Future of Satellites? (Source: Smart Planet)
Friday saw the launch of the Minotaur IV rocket, which made its low-key launch from Alaska Aerospace Corporation’s Kodiak Launch Complex in Kodiak, Alaska. Onboard were multiple small satellites, some largely new, some based on proven technology. Nestled somewhere among the others, though, was clue about NASA’s near future in space, a strange little craft called the O/OREOS.
For a multi-purpose, standalone research module with an expected mission length of six months–not to mention a NASA project–this satellite is phenomenally cheap, at just $1.75 million. It won’t need any propellant to carry out its two experiments–a study of how microbes reproduce in space and a battery of tests on how certain organic molecules respond to weightlessness, radiation and UV light–so it won’t carry any. Oh, and it’s the size of a loaf of bread.
The O/OREOS is one among a growing trend nanosatellites, a class of orbiters that could change the way certain tupes of research are done in space. Small and light enough to be tucked away aboard rockets without interfering with existing payloads or dramatically altering launch weight, they’re unprecedentedly affordable to launch, as well as build. (11/23)
Stanford Students Design Canopy for CubeSats (Source: Parabolic Arc)
Stanford researchers have completed the first successful tests in zero gravity of a canopy for CubeSats — the tiny satellites that hitch rides on rockets sending larger satellites into orbit. The goal is to gather data on what happens when micrometeoroids slam into a satellite. Such impacts often knock out electronic equipment on satellites. The encounters are poorly understood, but the canopies could be a first step in eventually building “black boxes” for satellites similar to airplane flight recorders. Click here to see the video. (11/23)
NASA’s Plan to Save Astrophysics From Space Telescope’s Budget Overruns (Source: WIRED)
The $1.5 billion in cost overruns needed to complete the planned successor to the Hubble Space Telescope had NASA astrophysicists fearing for the future of other projects. But it appears NASA won’t suck funds from other astrophysics research to pay for the telescope. “They’re not going to ravage the astrophysics budget,” said Alan Boss, an astrophysicist at the Carnegie Institution for Science and chair of the NASA advisory council astrophysics subcommittee, said. “That is wonderful news.” (11/23)
USAF: AEHF-1 Engine Failure An Anomaly (Source: Aviation Week)
Preliminary findings of an investigation into a malfunction on the Pentagon’s newest communications satellite, worth more than $2 billion, indicate that an onboard engine failure was an anomaly and not the result of a design failure. This is clearing the way for the second of the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellites to be slated for launch as early as March 2012.
AEHF-1’s liquid apogee engine (LAE), which was designed by IHI Aerospace of Japan, failed to fire as planned, leaving the spacecraft in a low orbit. The LAEs, however, performed as expected, and the culprit could be a problem in the fuel system feeding those engines. "It was a manufacturing issue in the propulsion system," said an Air Force official...a problem with "workmanship." (11/22)
Ex-Manager Credits Hubble for Religious Converts (Source: Decatur Daily)
The Hubble Space Telescope mission statement never mentioned evangelical pursuits when NASA adopted the idea in 1973. Its former project manager, however, said the billion dollar spacecraft has certainly helped substantiate a beginning point for the universe, and its spectacular images have transformed atheist and agnostic scientists into Christian converts.
Jim Odom, a Decatur resident who led the Hubble program in the 1980s, told the Rotary Club of Decatur on Tuesday that he knows many people in the scientific community who became Christians by the observing the wonders of the heavens revealed by Hubble, which is celebrating its 20th year in operation. “It was purely what they saw (through Hubble),” he said.
Odom was moved briefly to tears when he recalled how four of the 12 key astronomers and astro physicists who worked on Hubble with him at Marshall Space Flight Center went from non-believers to believers in a God-created universe. "That to me is worth more than all the science Hubble produced,” he said. (11/23)
NASA, the White House and PETA Lead in Social Media, Online Strategy (Source: Business Wire)
NASA, the White House and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) outpace other public sector organizations when it comes to social media savvy and online strategy, according to the first annual Digital IQ Index for the Public Sector. The index measures and ranks public sector organizations’ Digital IQs across four dimensions: effectiveness of an organization's site, digital marketing, social media and mobile platforms. (11/23)
NASA has awarded two contracts for studies designed to identify advanced concepts for airliners that could enter service in 2025 and fly with less noise, cleaner exhaust and lower fuel consumption. A team led by Lockheed Martin of Palmdale, Calif., was selected for a contract worth $2.99 million. A team led by Northrop Grumman of El Segundo, Calif., was selected for a contract worth $2.65 million. Both contracts have a performance period of 12 months, beginning in November. (11/23)
Astrotech Wins NPOESS Processing Work (Source: Astrotech)
Astrotech Space Operations has won a fully-funded task order under an existing $35 million Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract. The Company will provide facilities and payload processing services from its VAFB location in support of NASA's National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Preparatory Project (NPP) mission scheduled to launch October 25, 2011. (11/23)
US Postal Service Reveals Designs for 2011 Space Stamps (Source: CollectSpace)
Alan Shepard will be depicted on a 2011 U.S. postage stamp wearing the silver spacesuit in which he made history as the first American astronaut to fly into space. The stamp's design, which was quietly released last week by the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), shows Shepard from his shoulders up centered between images of his rocket lifting off and his capsule orbiting the Earth. Opposite the astronaut's portrait on an adjoining stamp, an artist's rendering shows NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft orbiting the planet Mercury. Editor's Note: How do we get USPS to develop a larger series of space stamps? I bet they'd be very popular. (11/23)
Russia Plans Work on Nuclear Space Projects (Source: RIA Novosti)
Russia's Energia space corporation will start developing standardized space modules with nuclear-powered propulsion systems next year. Energia director Vitaly Lopota said the first launches with a capacity of 150 to 500 KW could be made some time in 2020. Roscosmos Director Anatoly Perminov previously said the development of Megawatt-class nuclear space power systems (MCNSPS) for manned spacecraft was crucial if Russia wanted to maintain a competitive edge in the space race, including the exploration of the moon and Mars.
The project will require an estimated 17 billion rubles (over $580 million). Energia earlier said it is also ready to design a space-based nuclear power station with a service life of 10-15 years, to be initially placed on the moon or Mars. It is also working on a concept of a nuclear-powered space tug, which could more than halve satellite launching and orbiting costs. (11/23)
Russia to Spend $2 Billion for Space Clean-up (Source: Xinhua)
Russia's Rocket and Space Corporation Energia will build a special orbital pod designed for sweeping-up satellite debris from near-Earth space. The system was estimated to cost about $1.9 billion U.S. dollars. "The corporation promised to clean up the space in ten years by collecting about 600 defunct satellites on the same geosynchronous orbit and sinking them into the ocean," said an Energia official.
He said the cleaning satellite would work on nuclear power and be capable to work up to 15 years. Energia said that the company would complete the cleaning satellite work-out and assembly by 2020 and test the device no later than in 2023. Sinyavsky said that Energia has also been drafting a space interceptor designed to destroy dangerous space objects heading toward the Earth. Editor's Note: Heads up, Pentagon! These Russian systems would have capabilities that could pose a threat to your operational satellites too. (11/23)
Russian Scientists Developing Moonbase Protection Systems (Source: RIA Novosti)
Russian scientists are developing automatic sealing systems to protect future manned space stations on the Moon and Mars from debris, Russia's Central Research Institute of Machine Building said. "Protection of spacecraft modules against micrometeorite impact and space debris, based on the use of protective screens, that is passive protection, is at the limit of its technical capability due to weight restrictions," the institute's experts said.
"This is why we need to develop new protection based on self-sealing systems capable of independently and quickly restoring the object's air-tightness in case of leaks," they said. Scientists said there are three ways of self-sealing a spacecraft. The first is to place a plug into the hole and thus stop the air leak. The second is to feed liquid sealant into the rupture, and the third is a combination of the two methods. (11/23)
U.S. Mission Proposed to Send Astronauts to the Moon's Far Side (Source; Space.com)
While NASA has officially given up its plans to send humans back to the surface of the moon anytime soon, a contractor is proposing a mission to send a crew to a stationary spot in orbit over the far side of Earth's neighbor. Lockheed Martin has begun pitching an L2-Farside Mission using its Orion spacecraft under development.
The company says such an endeavor could sharpen skills and technologies needed for a trip to an asteroid – as well as showcase techniques useful for exploring Mars by teleoperation as astronauts orbit the red planet. Both are stated goals under the new direction for NASA outlined by President Obama.
From a "halo orbit" around an L2 point on the moon's far side, a crew would control robots on the lunar surface. Teleoperated science tasks include snagging rock specimens for return to Earth from the moon's South Pole-Aitken basin – one of the largest, deepest, and oldest craters in the solar system – as well as deploy a radio telescope array on the farside. (11/23)
Dragon Re-Entry License - Not the First? (Source: HobbySpace)
Gary Hudson believes the Commercial Experiment Transporter (COMET), which failed to reach orbit on a Conestoga 1620 rocket on Oct. 23, 1995 (launched from the Wallops Island spaceport in Virginia), actually had received the first commercial spacecraft reentry license. A paper published in 1998 about COMET included the following statement:
"Ultimately, the OCST [Office of Commercial Space Transportation in Dept. of Transportation] licensed the COMET reentry vehicle as a payload on a licensed expendable launch vehicle. In this way, the OCST licensed the first landing of a reusable space vehicle before passage of legislation (still pending) that would empower the OCST to license vehicle landings." So it sounds like the COMET got the first return license but Dragon got the first license actually authorized by legislation.
Editor's Note: The Conestoga and COMET were developed by Houston-based Space Services Inc. Conestoga used a cluster of Delta-2 strap-on solid rocket motors, wrapped around surplus Minuteman missile stages. COMET was to be a retrievable experiment carrier for NASA's CCDS (Centers for the Commercial Development of Space) program. Click here for more on the rocket. Also, back in the mid-1990s, OCST was part of the Dept. of Transportation, not FAA, so SpaceX can still claim to have the first "FAA" reentry license. (11/23)
Virgin Galactic Blasts Report on Environmental Impact of Space Tourism (Source: Guardian)
It isn't easy trying to pioneer an entirely new industry - just ask Will Whitehorn, president of Virgin Galactic, Richard Branson's attempt to take tourists into space. Not only does he face the prospect of launching a multi-billion dollar venture in the wake of an economic downturn, but he is also having to battle growing environmental concerns about the high profile project.
It can't be a coincidence that on Oct. 22, as Virgin Galactic opened its first spaceport, Geophysical Research Letters published a report suggesting that the environmental effects of this new mode of space travel might be more severe than first thought. The report has Whitehorn hopping mad. "The research was fundamentally wrong," he says. "If you had a Virgin Galactic program running for ten years, if you assumed that we weren't using biobutinol (which we will) we're talking about less environmental impact over ten years than 1.5 shuttle launches." (11/23)
340 Aspiring Astronauts Already Ticketed for Space Travel (Source: WFAA)
At least three Dallas-Fort Worth-area travel agents are taking reservations for space tourism flights. $200,000 pays for three days of training at Spaceport America, then a flight to 50,000 feet before SpaceShipTwo disconnects from WhiteKnightTwo and rockets up at three times the speed of sound until the dark expanses of space finally frame the planet. From take-off to touchdown, it's a little more than a two-hour flight. Zero gravity lasts about five minutes.
Perhaps most fascinating is that experts predict more people will go to space in the next five years than every astronaut that has ever gone before. To accomplish that, details have to be sorted out first: Issues like space insurance, space traffic control and maybe — most importantly — how spaceports can launch spacecraft without interfering with more traditional aircraft criss-crossing the country. (11/23)
Earth and Space Science Missions Less Risky if Conducted by a Single Agency (Source: National Academies)
Earth and space science missions developed and implemented by federal agencies in collaboration typically result in additional complexity and cost and increased risks from divided responsibilities and accountability, says a new report from the National Research Council. Federal agencies should not partner in conducting space and earth science missions unless there is a compelling reason to do so and clear criteria are met in advance.
The committee examined case studies from previous domestic and international missions, received briefings from several agencies, and drew upon committee members' own experiences to reach its conclusions While there are varying amounts of cooperation among agencies, the report says that generally the more interdependent agencies are for mission success, the higher the degree of complexity and risk associated with the project.
Editor's Note: Case in point: NPOESS. Exception to the rule(?): DOD procurement of launch services (like last week's Minotaur-4) to fly a mix of payloads from DOD and NASA. Perhaps it makes sense for multiple agencies to use a single procurement mechanism, but not to combine requirements for a complex hardware/technology development program.
National Academies Report Seems to Support National Space Council Concept (Source: SPACErePORT)
The new National Academies report that cautions against multi-agency management of space science missions seems to argue in favor of a new system for inter-agency coordination, where such multi-agency programs are warranted. Here's a quote from the news release accompanying the new report: "There is a need for coordinated oversight of interagency collaboration; however, OMB and OSTP are not suited to day-to-day oversight. Some alternative governance mechanism may be required to facilitate accountable decision-making across multiple agencies." This is the kind of role envisioned for a National Space Council. (11/23)
World Space Agencies to Jointly Explore Solar System (Source: Xinhua)
International space agencies have agreed to cooperate over the exploration of solar system using unmanned spacecraft, said Russian federal space agency Roscosmos. "Universal understanding of the birth and the development of our Solar System ... has widened significantly with the beginning of the space era, which gave an opportunity to see everything through the eyes of automatic research equipment," according to a Roscosmos website statement. Countries were not likely to achieve any palpable results if they worked separately, said the statement, which came as a result of the recent meeting between 25 space agencies in Washington. (11/23)
Space Club Donates $40,000 to Brevard Schools for Space Week (Source: NSCFL)
National Space Club Florida Committee has donated $40,000 to the Brevard Schools Foundation for Space Week, a program that over a two week period in December allows all 5,300 Brevard County sixth grade students and their science teachers to participate in a full day of organized and hands-on activities at Kennedy Space Center. Their contribution is matched by a grant from the Consortium of Florida Education Foundations.
In addition to their financial contributions, National Space Club members and companies also participate during Space Week by giving student presentations and setting up aerospace-themed exhibits for the students. Since 2003, over 35,000 sixth grade students have participated in this innovative program. Since the inception of Space Week, the National Space Club has contributed over $125,000 to the program. (11/16)
Tiny, Cheap, and Fuel-Less: Is O/OREOS the Future of Satellites? (Source: Smart Planet)
Friday saw the launch of the Minotaur IV rocket, which made its low-key launch from Alaska Aerospace Corporation’s Kodiak Launch Complex in Kodiak, Alaska. Onboard were multiple small satellites, some largely new, some based on proven technology. Nestled somewhere among the others, though, was clue about NASA’s near future in space, a strange little craft called the O/OREOS.
For a multi-purpose, standalone research module with an expected mission length of six months–not to mention a NASA project–this satellite is phenomenally cheap, at just $1.75 million. It won’t need any propellant to carry out its two experiments–a study of how microbes reproduce in space and a battery of tests on how certain organic molecules respond to weightlessness, radiation and UV light–so it won’t carry any. Oh, and it’s the size of a loaf of bread.
The O/OREOS is one among a growing trend nanosatellites, a class of orbiters that could change the way certain tupes of research are done in space. Small and light enough to be tucked away aboard rockets without interfering with existing payloads or dramatically altering launch weight, they’re unprecedentedly affordable to launch, as well as build. (11/23)
Stanford Students Design Canopy for CubeSats (Source: Parabolic Arc)
Stanford researchers have completed the first successful tests in zero gravity of a canopy for CubeSats — the tiny satellites that hitch rides on rockets sending larger satellites into orbit. The goal is to gather data on what happens when micrometeoroids slam into a satellite. Such impacts often knock out electronic equipment on satellites. The encounters are poorly understood, but the canopies could be a first step in eventually building “black boxes” for satellites similar to airplane flight recorders. Click here to see the video. (11/23)
NASA’s Plan to Save Astrophysics From Space Telescope’s Budget Overruns (Source: WIRED)
The $1.5 billion in cost overruns needed to complete the planned successor to the Hubble Space Telescope had NASA astrophysicists fearing for the future of other projects. But it appears NASA won’t suck funds from other astrophysics research to pay for the telescope. “They’re not going to ravage the astrophysics budget,” said Alan Boss, an astrophysicist at the Carnegie Institution for Science and chair of the NASA advisory council astrophysics subcommittee, said. “That is wonderful news.” (11/23)
USAF: AEHF-1 Engine Failure An Anomaly (Source: Aviation Week)
Preliminary findings of an investigation into a malfunction on the Pentagon’s newest communications satellite, worth more than $2 billion, indicate that an onboard engine failure was an anomaly and not the result of a design failure. This is clearing the way for the second of the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellites to be slated for launch as early as March 2012.
AEHF-1’s liquid apogee engine (LAE), which was designed by IHI Aerospace of Japan, failed to fire as planned, leaving the spacecraft in a low orbit. The LAEs, however, performed as expected, and the culprit could be a problem in the fuel system feeding those engines. "It was a manufacturing issue in the propulsion system," said an Air Force official...a problem with "workmanship." (11/22)
Ex-Manager Credits Hubble for Religious Converts (Source: Decatur Daily)
The Hubble Space Telescope mission statement never mentioned evangelical pursuits when NASA adopted the idea in 1973. Its former project manager, however, said the billion dollar spacecraft has certainly helped substantiate a beginning point for the universe, and its spectacular images have transformed atheist and agnostic scientists into Christian converts.
Jim Odom, a Decatur resident who led the Hubble program in the 1980s, told the Rotary Club of Decatur on Tuesday that he knows many people in the scientific community who became Christians by the observing the wonders of the heavens revealed by Hubble, which is celebrating its 20th year in operation. “It was purely what they saw (through Hubble),” he said.
Odom was moved briefly to tears when he recalled how four of the 12 key astronomers and astro physicists who worked on Hubble with him at Marshall Space Flight Center went from non-believers to believers in a God-created universe. "That to me is worth more than all the science Hubble produced,” he said. (11/23)
NASA, the White House and PETA Lead in Social Media, Online Strategy (Source: Business Wire)
NASA, the White House and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) outpace other public sector organizations when it comes to social media savvy and online strategy, according to the first annual Digital IQ Index for the Public Sector. The index measures and ranks public sector organizations’ Digital IQs across four dimensions: effectiveness of an organization's site, digital marketing, social media and mobile platforms. (11/23)
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