Dynetics and PWR Aiming to Liquidize
SLS Booster Competition (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
One of the most famous rocket engines in history – the Apollo/Saturn’s
F-1 – could one day fly again, providing Alabama company Dynetics,
teamed with Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne (PWR), win the advanced
booster competition for the Space Launch System (SLS). Their liquid
booster approach would advance SLS’ capability to launch payloads of
150mt to orbit. Click here.
(11/9)
Failure Investigation Now Focusing on
Satellite Design (Source: Space News)
The investigation into solar-array damage on the Intelsat IS-19
telecommunications satellite has cleared the Sea Launch vehicle from
responsibility and is focusing on the Loral-built spacecraft. The
unusually long investigation — the satellite was launched in May and
had trouble deploying one of its two solar arrays upon separation from
the rocket — has led to concerns in the industry that the inquiry would
end the same way as a 2004 investigation into a similar anomaly.
That investigation issued conclusions that assigned clear blame to
nothing in particular. Sea Launch and Loral continued their operations
and between 2004 and 2012 seven Loral satellites were launched without
a problem. This time around, both Sea Launch and SS/L said they were
determined to push the failure investigation as far as possible to
determine what happened. The two companies divided the cost of an
independent review board headed by Jack R. Wormington, formerly of the
Aerospace Corp. (11/9)
How Has SpaceX Shaken up the Local
Aerospace Business? (Source: LA Observed)
Elon Musk's company is hiring lots of people (close to 2,000 workers at
last check) and snapping up most all available property near the giant
Hawthorne headquarters. It also leads the way in the privately funded
space business. Still, the company remains a work in progress - as does
the refashioned space business. Establishment war horses like Boeing,
Raytheon, and Northrop are trying to figure out how to co-exist with
the upstart SpaceX, whose business model is radically different from
the way aerospace has worked for decades. Click here.
(11/9)
China to Launch Manned Spaceship in
June (Source: Xinhua)
China plans to launch another manned spacecraft Shenzhou-10 in early
June 2013, a lead space program official said. Like in the Shenzhou-9
mission, the crew might include two men astronauts and a woman, who are
scheduled to enter the Tiangong-1 space lab module, Niu Hongguang,
deputy commander-in-chief of China's manned space program, said on the
sidelines of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.
"They will stay in space for 15 days, operating both automated and
manual space dockings with the target orbiter Tiangong-1, conducting
scientific experiments in the lab module and giving science lectures to
spectators on the Earth," he said, adding that the selection for the
crew will begin in early 2013. (11/10)
Griffin: Huntsville Should Harness PNT
Market (Source: Huntsville Times)
There is plenty of room for Huntsville to harness the commercial space
market, and opportunity lies more with utilizing data than it does with
building shuttles, according to former NASA administrator Mike Griffin.
Griffin, who served as NASA administrator during the George W. Bush
administration, said one of the most promising global markets is for
space-based positioning, navigation and timing. For 2013 alone,
forecasts for the PNT market is valued around $10 billion, with an
annual growth rate of 12 percent. PNT refers to GPS, GPS augmentations
and other global navigation satellite systems. (11/10)
Editorial: So Many Planets, So Few
Telescopes (Source: LA Times)
Over the last few weeks, astronomers announced not one but two
extraordinary discoveries in the ongoing search for planets orbiting
stars beyond the sun. The first was a world about the size of Neptune,
5,000 light-years away, whirling around in a solar system with four
stars. The second was an Earth-size planet right next door in the Alpha
Centauri system — three stars that orbit one another not thousands or
hundreds but a mere four light-years from our solar system.
With a surface temperature of 2,000 degrees or so, this planet's
surface is probably molten, but its presence implies, tantalizingly,
that there could be more. All of this is exciting and wonderful, but
it's a far cry from the discoveries astronomers thought they would be
making by now. Back in the mid-1990s, when the first "exoplanets"
(extrasolar planets) were found in distant star systems, NASA talked
boldly about the new generation of powerful telescopes it was planning
to build, in large part to hunt for alien worlds, especially those in
balmy, life-friendly orbits. Click here.
(11/10)
NASA's Looking at Options for SLS'
Cargo Configuration (Source: America Space)
NASA is continuing to take steps towards building its Space Launch
System (SLS), the mammoth rocket that promises to surpass the Saturn V
for size and power. Last week, the agency began looking at ways to make
it even bigger, specifically its cargo capacity. In a Request for
Information (RFI) published last Thursday, the agency put out a call
for information on possible payload adapters and fairings already
available in commercial industry to use with the SLS.
The SLS is poised to be an excellent workhorse for future missions, in
large part because it’s so flexible. The initial Block 1 and Block 1A
versions will be able to lift 70 metric tons into Earth orbit and use a
small “kick” stage to punt the payload to further destinations. Later
incarnations of the SLS – the “evolved” rocket – will be able to lift
130 metric tons into orbit. All three versions will be able to carry
crews or cargo, depending on a mission’s demands, to destinations like
the Moon, Mars, and even LaGrange points. Click here. (11/10)
http://www.americaspace.org/?p=26877
SpaceX Gears Up for Launches at
Vandenberg Air Force Base (Source: Space News)
As Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) ramps up for regular
cargo runs to the international space station from Florida, a new
launch site to put satellites into polar orbits from California is on
track to debut next year. The company, which in October completed the
first of 12 planned space station resupply flights under a $1.6 billion
NASA contract, is refurbishing Space Launch Complex-4 (SLC-4) East at
Vandenberg Air Force Base, located 150 miles northwest of Los Angeles.
“It will be online early next year,” SpaceX’s commercial crew project
manager, Garrett Reisman, said at the International Symposium for
Personal and Commercial Spaceflight in New Mexico last month. The
launch complex, originally built for Atlas rockets, was modified in the
1970s for the military’s Titan boosters. It was last used for a Titan 4
launch in October 2005. SpaceX plans to use the pad to launch Falcon 9
and Falcon Heavy rockets. (11/9)
U.S. Air Force Plans Annual Piggyback
Flights Starting in 2014 (Source: Space News)
The U.S. Air Force is preparing to establish a new service for
secondary payloads. Starting in 2014, the service plans to conduct
annual flights of an adapter designed to mount six secondary payloads
on Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles (EELVs), the rockets the U.S.
government relies on to send large satellites into orbit. (11/9)
UK to Invest Extra £300m in Space
Science Research (Source: Guardian)
The UK will host the European Space Agency's headquarters for telecoms
satellite monitoring, the chancellor George Osborne announced on
Friday. The move is part of an extra £300m to be invested in space
science research by the government over the next five years. Osborne
made the announcement at the Royal Society in London, in his first
major speech on the Treasury's ambitions for science and technology. In
the address, Osborne outlined eight areas of technology in which he
wanted the UK to become a world leader. (11/10)
China's Mystery Space Plane Project
Stirs Up Questions (Source: Space.com)
As the next secretive flight of the U.S. Air Force's robotic X-37B
mini-shuttle draws closer, analysts are keeping a close eye on China’s
own potential space plane, the Shenlong. Last year several Chinese
media outlets reported a test flight of the Shenlong space plane that
apparently included its airdrop from an H-6 bomber. But the
nature of the Shenlong project's testing, as well as what the robot
vehicle truly represents, remains sketchy.
Several China watchers in the U.S. have taken a stab at what the
Shenlong (Mandarin for "Divine Dragon) might mean, with some experts
conjecturing that the craft is simply a tit-for-tat response to the
unmanned X-37B space plane. "Shenlong is China’s effort to develop a
re-entering aerodynamic spacecraft, similar to the space shuttle or the
X-37B but much smaller than either," said Mark Gubrud, a postdoctoral
research associate in the Program on Science and Global Security at
Princeton University. (11/10)
Colors of ExoEarths Could Indicate
Habitability (Source: Astrobiology)
In the rapidly advancing field of exoplanet research, it always helps
to be one step ahead. A handful of rocky exoplanets have been
discovered to date, and it is only a matter a time before the
floodgates open and the number of known terrestrial exoplanets
skyrockets. These planets could bear alien life, but how do we know
which ones are worthy of a detailed inspection?
The most basic criterion when looking for habitable planets is that
they should have liquid water, as liquid water is essential for life as
we know it. Another criterion is to search for habitats in which life
is known to exist on Earth, and a new study by Siddharth Hegde and Lisa
Kaltenegger at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany has
revealed a method that will do just that. By identifying the colors of
environments known to be a haven for extremophiles on Earth, it is
possible to search for similar environments on planets that are akin to
our own. (11/10)
Revenue Boost for Astrium
(Source: Aviation Week)
EADS Astrium reported sharply higher revenue in the first nine months
of the year, due largely to the December 2011 acquisition of mobile
satellite services provider Vizada. The company’s revenues for the
period rose 14% to €3.9 billion ($4.9 billion), up from €3.4 billion in
the first nine months of 2011. Order intake reached €2.9 billion over
the first nine months of the year, up from €2.3 billion in the same
period the previous year, an increase of 23% attributed to solid
services activity. (11/10)
Plans for Wallops Research Park Look
“To Infinity and Beyond’ (Source: East Shore Post)
Accomack supervisors committed Wednesday to borrowing up to $4 million
to install water, sewer, roads and other amenities to Wallops Research
Park (WRP), a move their financial experts assured them could be made
without raising taxes. The 8-1 vote also promised the county would
apply for a $4 million state grant that would fund construction of a
taxiway connecting NASA’s runway to the research facility and would
remove a deed restriction from property needed to complete WRP.
The parcel was given to Accomack by the federal government for
recreation. Supervisor Grayson Chesser was the only supervisor to vote
against the project. He said after hearing the presentation he felt
better about it, but still couldn’t support the action. “I will spend
it (county money) just like it was coming out of my own pocket … I
don’t think we have a very good track record,” he added. Chesser also
wondered how long Wallops will be around. “You can’t beat the ocean,”
he said, estimating the island has “no more than 20 years at the most”
left. Chesser also blamed the shoreline work on Wallops for [erosion]
problems on the mainland.
“They’re not building things because of a pipe dream,” said Supervisor
Ron Wolff. “It’s solid … we need to look to the future. Bigelow
Aerospace wants to come. They already have satellites in orbit.” “This
is probably the best opportunity we’re ever going to have,” said Vice
Chairwoman Wanda Thornton. Editor's Note:
Click here
for a copy of the presentation provided to the Accomack board. (11/9)
Region that Helped Power the Rocket
Age is Back in the Game (Source: Los Angeles)
Aerospace settled in Southern California because land was cheap, local
universities provided research and testing facilities, numerous
military installations were close by, and the region was welcoming to
new (and sometimes unorthodox) ideas. “Southern California as we know
it would not exist without aerospace,” says Peter Westwick, who studies
the industry at the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the
West.
“This was the road to the middle class for California families. The
ranch house, the backyard barbecue, the surfing—they were built on the
defense industry.” Along the way were ebbs and flows, depending on who
controlled Washington and whether the nation was engaged in conflict.
Once the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, tens of thousands of aerospace
and defense jobs in the area were eliminated. Thousands of additional
jobs could be lost in 2013 if Congress and the White House remain
deadlocked on a budget package and are forced to institute
across-the-board cuts. Click here.
(11/9)
Ariane 5 Launch Postponed by 24 Hours
(Source: Arianespace)
CNES informed Arianespace that the weather conditions are unfavorable
over the Guiana Space Center in Kourou. Arianespace has decided to
postpone Flight 210 by 24 hours. Flight 210 will place into
geostationary transfer orbit the EUTELSAT 21B and STAR ONE C3
telecommunication satellites. (11/10)
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