Airbus to Cooperate with
Snecma on Electric Propulsion (Source: ADS)
Airbus Defence and Space has signed a cooperation agreement with Snecma
for the use of Snecma’s PPS5000 engine in Airbus Defence and Space’s
Eurostar satellites, for missions in which electric propulsion is
required for positioning maneuvers. Snecma – Safran Group’s aerospace
engine manufacturer – will develop and qualify the new PPS5000 plasma
propulsion engine for its use onboard the Eurostar E3000 platform.
Airbus Defence and Space will adapt its platform to house the new
engine. (3/21)
Divers Resume Work at
Chelyabinsk Meteorite Fall Site (Source: Itar-Tass)
Work of divers has resumed on Lake Chebarkul at the Chelyabinsk
meteorite fall site. The operation was suspended last Tuesday because
of a strong wind, frost of 15 degrees and silt in the water that made
search below the depth of nine meters practically impossible. Divers
worked very intensively last weekend, the director-general of the Aleut
service for special works said. Divers together with scientists
completed mapping of anomalies on the bottom. (3/22)
How Astronauts Survive
Diplomatic Tensions Aboard the ISS (Source: Japan Times)
Talking politics isn't taboo aboard the International Space Station,
where Americans and Russians share close quarters, orbiting at an
altitude of 400 km (248 miles) over the Earth. “We could talk about
anything. We’d talk about politics,” said retired U.S. astronaut Leroy
Chiao, who commanded the ISS for six months in 2004 and 2005. “With
something like this going on, I am sure the crew is talking about it,
you know, in a friendly way.”
American astronaut Mike Hopkins, upon returning from the ISS earlier
this month after a half-year stay, said he considered his Russian
counterparts “close friends” and described cooperation as “very
strong.” Howard McCurdy, an expert on space policy at American
University, said it was not all marital bliss at the ISS. “It is like a
divorced couple trying to live in the same house,” he said. “You can do
it, it is just not very easy. They both own the house. They both
operate the house.” (3/21)
Rocketship Debris Found
in Manzanilla (Source: Trinidad Express)
Part of a rocket was found on Manzanilla Beach yesterday. The object
was taken away for examination by the Trinidad and Tobago Civil
Aviation Authority. Police were informed of the sighting of an object
at around 6 p.m. on Monday by a bather at a beach along
Manzanilla/Mayaro Road.
Senior Superintendent Othneil Williams and ASP Sankar led a
party of police officers to the scene in the vicinity of Cocal
Estate. Police said that it was too dark to search so they
cordoned off the area and returned yesterday to find that the object
had washed ashore. Last May, debris from a rocket or satellite was
discovered on a beach near Morne Diablo. The debris likely came from a
spacecraft that lifted off in French Guiana. (3/18)
Stott Appointed to Head
SSPI (Source: Energy News)
A Isle of Man man has been appointed as president of the satellite
industry’s largest global professional association. Chairman and chief
executive of ManSat Chris Stott has been a member of the Society of
Satellite Professionals International for more than 20 years. SSPI is a
non-profit organization working to promote the development of, and
access to, high-quality education in the industry. (3/21)
Next Atlas 5 Rocket
Cleared for Rollout and Launch (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
The Launch Readiness Review was held Friday and reported all systems
are "go" for liftoff of the Atlas 5 rocket on Tuesday. The rocket will
be rolled from its assembly building to the launch pad at Cape
Canaveral's Complex 41 on Monday morning. The mission is known as
NROL-67, a classified deployment flight for the National Reconnaissance
Office. The launch window opens at 2:05 p.m. (EDT). (3/21)
NOAA Seeks Boost for Sat
Programs Great and Small in 2015 Budget (Source: Space
News)
NOAA requested a $165 million increase for its satellite division in
2015 to buy spare instruments for its polar-orbiting weather satellite
program, speed up the launch of an international ocean topography
mission and study whether to fly a climate sensor left over from a
canceled civil-military program as a hosted payload.In all, NOAA is
seeking $2.25 billion for its National Environmental Satellite, Data,
and Information Service next year.
The biggest chunk of the proposed increase would go toward instrument
spares for the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) program, which is
designed to provide global coverage from polar orbit through 2025 at an
estimated life-cycle cost of about $11.3 billion. NOAA wants $916
million for JPSS in 2015, about $95 million more than Congress
appropriated in 2014, according to budget documents released March 13.
With the extra funding, NOAA would purchase copies of the Advanced
Technology Microwave Sounder and Cross-track Infrared Sounder
instruments for the planned JPSS-2 satellite. Those sensors, a subset
of the JPSS-2 instrument package, are built by Northrop Grumman
Electronic Systems and Exelis Geospatial Systems, respectively. (3/21)
DARPA Space Budget
Increase Includes $27M for Spaceplane (Source: Space News)
DARPA expects to spend some $800 million on space programs from 2015
through 2018, an increase of $130 million over what was projected at
this time last year, budget documents show. Nearly all of the targeted
increase for DARPA’s Space Programs and Technology Office is backloaded
into the outyears, the documents show. For 2015, the office is seeking
nearly $180 million, only $7.5 million more than this year’s funding
level.
The 2015 request includes $27 million for XS-1, a concept for a
reusable spaceplane that could ultimately fly 10 times in 10 days and
boost payloads into low Earth orbit for less than $5 million per
launch. The program received $10 million in 2014. The agency hopes to
select a single vendor next year for the final design and development
of the vehicle, which cold make its initial test flight in 2018. (3/21)
Private Space Taxis on
Track for 2017 Launch, NASA Says (Source: Space.com)
The U.S. should be able to launch its astronauts to space using
homegrown commercial spacecraft by 2017, NASA officials say. The four
private companies NASA is counting on to develop manned spaceships —
Boeing, Blue Origin, Sierra Nevada Corp. (SNC) and SpaceX — are
notching the many milestones set by the space agency's commercial crew
program (CCP), officials said.
NASA requested $848 million for commercial crew in the White House's
2015 budget proposal. That figure is enough to keep competition going,
the agency says, but historically Congress grants the agency less than
it asks for. Click here.
(3/21)
SpaceX Launch to the
International Space Station Reset for March 30 (Source:
NASA)
SpaceX has confirmed it will target its next cargo mission launch to
the International Space Station from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport, for
10:50 p.m. EDT, March 30. A post-launch news conference will follow at
approximately 90 minutes after liftoff. If for any reason the launch is
postponed, the next launch opportunity is 9:39 p.m. Wednesday, April 2.
(3/21)
Thales Alenia Space Exec
Identifies Ways To Save on Next Cygnus Order (Source:
Space News)
The builder of the pressurized cargo modules launched aboard Orbital
Sciences Corp.’s Antares rocket to carry supplies to the space station
says it would need a follow-on contract this year to provide maximum
cost advantage to Orbital and its customer, NASA. Thales Alenia’s 2009
contract with Orbital, valued at $247 million, called for the delivery
of nine Cygnus cargo modules by 2015.
Two of these have been launch successfully, and two more are scheduled
for launch this year. Three more launches in 2015 and two in 2016 will
complete the $1.9 billion Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract
Orbital has with NASA, assuming that the flights carry the contracted
amount of payload. Thales said there are multiple avenues to pursue to
squeeze efficiencies from the current CRS production line for a second
order, but that the scale of economies depends on the timing and size
of the order. (3/21)
Report Rekindles
Suspicions About Chinese Rocket Launch (Source: Space News)
The May 2013 launch of a Chinese rocket on what Beijing described as a
scientific mission may have been a test of an anti-satellite (ASAT)
system, according to a new academic paper. “While there is no
conclusive proof, the available evidence strongly suggests that China’s
May 2013 launch was the test of the rocket component of a new direct
ascent ASAT weapons system derived from a road-mobile ballistic
missile,” the paper says.
According to a press release from the Chinese Academy of the Sciences’
National Space Science Center, the rocket was launched from Xichang
Satellite Launch Center on a suborbital mission to study the
high-energy particles in the upper atmosphere and near-Earth space.
But the Pentagon seemed to question that characterization. “The launch
appeared to be on a ballistic trajectory nearly to geosynchronous Earth
orbit,” Air Force Lt. Col. Monica Matoush, a Pentagon spokeswoman,
wrote in a May 16 email. “We tracked several objects during the flight
but did not observe the insertion of any objects into orbit and no
objects associated with this launch remain in space.” (3/21)
Meteorite From Ontario
Fireball Described as 'Rosetta Stone' (Source: CBC)
Canadian and NASA researchers believe one or more fragments of a rare
and valuable meteorite may have landed near St. Thomas, Ont., after a
fireball streaked across the sky in southern Ontario Tuesday night.
"This is very exciting for us," said Western University meteor
physicist Peter Brown at a news conference Friday, where he appealed to
the public for help in finding the meteorite fragment or fragments.
(3/21)
U.S. RD-180 Coproduction
Would Cost $1 Billion (Source: Aviation Week)
“We hold a license to manufacture and deliver RD-180 engines,” says
Matthew Bates of Pratt & Whitney, which formed a joint venture
with Russian engine manufacturer NPO Energomash in 1997 called RD
Amross. The sole purpose of RD Amross is to provide the engines to the
U.S. “A deviation from the contracted, agreed-upon delivery amount
would represent a contractual breech,” says Maureen Schumann, a
Pentagon spokeswoman.
If Russia were to hold the RD-180 hostage, DOD estimates it would need
$1 billion over five years to establish production on U.S. soil. The
RD-180 sourcing plan was established over years of regulatory review
once Lockheed Martin selected the engine as its propulsion system. To
mitigate concerns about supply, the Air Force maintains a stockpile of
roughly two years' worth of engines. The stockpile was approved as a
change to the U.S. policy with regard to foreign sourcing in 2000.
The policy today is three-pronged. In addition to the stockpile, the
Pentagon also has a plan to “gracefully” transition to U.S. production
if needed. And, finally, should the supply be interrupted, Pentagon
officials can prioritize what missions would use Atlas V while a
production facility is being established stateside. Missions could be
offloaded to the Delta IV. The Pentagon has long held to a strategy of
“assured access” to space by operating two distinct rocket systems.
(3/21)
Kentucky Has Seat at
Space Exploration Table (Source: Courier-Journal)
As a child with a big imagination growing up on a farm in Bardstown, I
never dreamed that by my 20s I would have the opportunity (let alone in
Kentucky!) to design and build cutting-edge, small satellites and other
space technology. But here I am, a recent University of Kentucky
engineering graduate working in the middle of Kentucky Space LLC, a
dynamic new global space company in the commonwealth.
In recent months, Kentucky Space successfully launched three
experimental satellites from two different continents (the U.S. and
Russia, on converted nuclear missiles that were, not long ago, pointed
at each other). When we say small we mean it. The largest satellite is
the size of a tissue box, and all are orbiting about 380 miles above
the Earth at 5 miles per second, sending data to ground stations in
Kentucky. (3/21)
NASA Glenn Will Help in
Developing New Batteries for Space (Source: Cleveland
Plain Dealer)
NASA Glenn Research Center will help search for a new generation of
space batteries. Glenn Director James Free of the Brook Park center
this week signed an agreement with the Lemont, Ill., Joint Center for
Energy Storage Research to design new space batteries. The batteries
can be used to power rovers, spacewalk suits and more. (3/21)
Europe's Home-Grown Space
Shuttle Gears Up for Launch (Source: New Scientist)
Three, two, one, lift-off! The countdown has immortalised launches as
the most exciting part of space travel, but reaching orbit is only half
the challenge. Re-entering Earth's atmosphere is just as difficult, and
can be deadly, as it proved for the unfortunate crew of the doomed
space shuttle Columbia. Now the European Space Agency (ESA) is
preparing to try re-entry for the first time in 16 years, using a novel
spacecraft. Click here.
(3/21)
No comments:
Post a Comment