Cubesat Revolution, Spotty Compliance
with Debris Rules Fuel Dangerous Congestion (Source: Space News)
The world’s rocket and satellite owners are doing a mediocre job in
respecting debris-mitigation rules, especially in low Earth orbit,
where debris proliferation is the ugly underside of the fast-growing
small- and microsatellite market, government and industry officials
said.
Twelve years after a grouping of the world’s space powers published
what it thought were modest guidelines asking that satellite and rocket
owners take steps to remove their hardware from low Earth orbit within
25 years after its mission, a sizable portion of them are paying little
attention to the rule.
The French space agency, CNES, studied 12 years of debris-mitigation
practices, 2000-2012, and found that 40 percent of satellites and
rocket bodies are left in low Earth orbit at altitudes high enough to
make it impossible for them to re-enter within the 25-year window
specified in the rules. (10/3)
Commercial Astronaut Training Becoming
Crowded Market (Source: Space News)
As a privately operated astronaut training school in California
announced its arrival into a suddenly crowded market, the chief
executive of a similar company in Houston said his firm is planning to
open its doors in March — nearly a year later than planned. The newest
entrant, the Star Harbor Space Training Academy, will be located in
California, according to consultant Alan Ladwig, a fixture on the space
policy scene who left his position as NASA’s deputy associate
administrator in 2013.
With the addition of Star Harbor, there will be at least three private
U.S. spaceflight training facilities, the other two being the
Houston-area company Waypoint 2 Space and the Nastar Center in
Southampton, Pennsylvania. Only Nastar is open today. The center has
graduated 450 spaceflight trainees since it began operations in 2007,
said Brienna Henwood, the facility’s director of space flight training
and research.
Editor's Note:
And there are more. Florida-based Black Sky Training plans flight crew
and passenger training, and Zero-G and Swiss Space Systems both offer
parabolic flight experiences that are sometimes offered as astronaut
training activities. But I don't know whether any of these would lead
to an actual qualification acceptable to NASA, the FAA, or any foreight
governments for future orbital spaceflight. (10/3)
Satellites Expose Mysteries of the
Deep Ocean (Source: Science News)
A new comprehensive map of Earth’s seafloor reveals never-before-seen
features hidden deep below the waves, including thousands of uncharted
underwater mountains. The map is the most accurate global seafloor map
ever made and could provide new clues to how Earth’s surface got its
shape.
“We know a lot about the continents, but we know almost nothing about
what’s going on in the oceans,” says lead author David Sandwell, an
earth scientist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla,
Calif. “It’s like being on another planet; the ocean is probably the
most unexplored feature in the inner solar system.” (10/3)
NanoRacks Identifies Root Cause of ISS
Cubesat Deployment Failures (Source: Space News)
Two separate August failures of the NanoRacks satellite dispenser
operated from the space station — one a nondeployment of small
satellites and the other an unplanned release of spacecraft — were both
caused by overly tightened dispenser screws, NanoRacks has concluded.
Jeffrey Manber said the company has repeated the failure at a ground
test facility in front of NASA. Sometimes there is no deployment, and
sometimes deployment occurs without being commanded.
Manber said NASA, as space station general contractor, and the Japan
Aerospace Exploration Agency — from whose station module the Nanrocks’
dispensers are deployed — have approved the company’s decision to
deliver a fresh batch of dispensers to the station. But the two
agencies are still assessing possible additional safety measures, such
as mandating that a latch be put on the dispensers’ covers. As an added
precaution, Manber said, NanoRacks has hired the Aerospace Corp. to
oversee the company’s review of what happened.
Manber said two of the dispensers now aboard the station would be
returned to NanoRacks for inspection. NanoRacks is now more closely
calibrating the tightness of the screws before they are prepared for
packing into the space station cargo freighters. The dispensers,
rectangular cylinders with a door at the end, each house up to several
cubesats. The dispensers exit the station from JAXA’s Kibo habitable
module. Once outside, they are seized by Japan’s robotic manipulator
arm and placed into the correct release orientation. (10/3)
Russia to Launch New Heavy-Lift Rocket
on December 25 (Source: Reuters)
Russia plans to test launch its new heavy-lift Angara space rocket on
Dec. 25, Interfax news agency quoted a source in the space industry as
saying on Friday. The Angara is the first new family of space rockets
developed by Russia since the Soviet era and is a vital part of
President Vladimir Putin's efforts to revive the space industry. A
lighter version was launched successfully in July. (10/3)
Russia to Launch New Missile Attack
Warning Satellites Next Year (Source: Itar-Tass)
The first satellites of the future orbital grouping of Russia’s missile
warning system’s space-based echelon are expected to be launched in
2015. Russia is currently developing a space system that is set to
become a space echelon of the missile warning system designed to detect
and track launches of ballistic missiles around the world. “Test
launches will be made next year,” Sergey Boyev said, giving no details
on the number of satellites in the future grouping. (10/3)
Aliens May be Out There, but Too
Distant for Contact (Source: Discovery)
The Milky Way may be home to some 3,000 extraterrestrial civilizations
but the vast distances between our galactic cousins will make contact
extremely rare, a new study concludes. Data collected by NASA’s Kepler
space telescope and other observatories scouting for planets beyond the
solar system indicate Earth is one of some 40 billion potentially
habitable worlds in the galaxy, with about one new life-friendly planet
forming every year, astronomer Michael Garrett said.
Sounds promising, until you consider the sheer size of the Milky Way,
which spans more than 100,000 light-years in diameter. Light travels at
about 186,000 miles per second, but a signal will still take more than
4 years to reach neighboring system Alpha Centauri and 100,000 years to
travel from one end of the galaxy to the other.
“On average, you’d expect the civilizations to be separated by at least
1,000 light-years in the Milky Way. That’s a large distance, and for
communication purposes you need to allow for twice the travel distance,
so you’re talking about civilizations that have to be around for at
least a few thousand years in order to have the opportunity to talk to
each other,” Garrett said. (10/3)
NASA Issues 'Stop Work' Order on Newly
Issued ‘Space Taxi’ Contracts (Source: America Space)
Construction of America’s next human spaceships carrying our astronauts
to the International Space Station (ISS) will have to wait longer,
because the work has now been ordered “stopped” dead in its freshly
trodden tracks by a brand new NASA directive issued barely two weeks
after the agency originally announced in mid-September that the winning
bids had been awarded to Boeing and SpaceX.
The NASA directive to “stop performance” and halt contract work stems
from a new legal challenge filed by the losing bidder, Sierra Nevada
Corporation (SNC), with the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The
GAO has approximately three months to evaluate SNC’s legal challenge
and make a decision regarding NASA’s commercial crew awards. “The GAO
has notified NASA it will make its ruling by Jan. 5, 2015,” Schierholz
said. (10/3)
Safety of Space-Based Microwave Power
Transmission to Earth's Surface (Source: SEI)
Space-Based Power (SBP) envisions the generation of electric power by
in space (e.g. solar energy capture), conversion to radiofrequency (RF)
energy, ‘beaming’ to special rectifying antennas (rectennas) on the
Earth’s surface, then distribution to terrestrial users via preexisting
power grids. The beam would utilize a 2.45 or 5.8 GHz microwave signal
to provide between 1 and 5 GW (gigawatts) of power to the ground.
[NOTE: 1 gigawatt (GW) = 1000 megawatts (MW)].
The legal operation and public acceptance of SBP, especially the
microwave power transmission (MPT) component (sometimes referred to as
wireless power transmission or WPT) through the atmosphere, will depend
in large part on the human occupational exposure experience accumulated
over the past sixty-five years and basic research on the effects of
microwaves on human beings, plants and animals. Click here.
(10/3)
Enough Ice Has Melted in Antarctica to
Alter the Earth’s Gravity (Source: Smithsonian)
The Earth’s gravity field is not uniform. Instead, it mounds in some
spots due to the density of rock or ice below, the flow of groundwater
or ocean currents and other factors. To measure those variations, the
European Space Agency launched the Gravity field and steady-state Ocean
Circulation Explorer (GOCE) in 2009.
During its four-year run, GOCE was able to make a number of
observations that showed gravity changes over time — including the
gravity scar left by the 2011 Japanese earthquake. And, with the help
of an older satellite called GRACE, GOCE's observations showed that
melting glaciers in West Antarctica have lost so much mass that there's
been a dip in gravity over the region. (GOCE provided detail about
individual glacial systems.) (10/1)
NASA's Stephen Volz to Oversee NOAA
Satellites (Source: NextGov)
NASA spaceflight official Stephen Volz will oversee environmental
satellites for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,
NOAA has announced. In his new role as head of National Environmental
Satellite, Data and Information Services, Volz's main tasks will be
overseeing the Joint Polar Satellite System and the Geostationary
Operational Environmental Satellite R-Series, two new satellite
programs that together account for $20 billion and a next-generation
means of studying Earth's climate. (9/30)
NASA to Conduct Full-Scale Military
Helicopter Crash Test at Langley (Source: Star Tribune)
NASA engineers on Wednesday will crash a former military helicopter
that's been retrofitted with various composite subfloors to see how the
material affects the likelihood of injuries. Interest in using carbon
composites in airframe design has grown because it is a lightweight
material, but NASA officials say there hasn't been a lot of safety
testing done on a full-scale level. (9/30)
Agency Hopes to Speed Up Florida
Incentives (Source: Sunshine State News)
Florida's top economic-development leader could be using the prospect
of landing a multinational electronics and technology company like
Apple to get state lawmakers to allow more leeway on state incentives
packages through a program known as the "Quick Action Closing Fund."
Enterprise Florida CEO Gray Swoope told the agency's board members that
Apple is the kind of manufacturer desired by Florida.
However, he said, state laws might hinder such economic-development
efforts because of the length of time needed to get approval for
incentives as firms try to open facilities quickly. Under the Quick
Action Closing Fund, a joint House and Senate panel known as the
Legislative Budget Commission is required to approve incentives
packages over a $5 million threshold. The commission meets periodically
throughout the year.
"I see this as a competitive disadvantage that we need to figure out,"
Swoope said. "I'm not saying that we need to do away with Senate
approval or House leadership approval, because this is $10 million that
we're accountable for. But the approval process needs to be tightened.
It needs to be tightened. (10/1)
North Korea Prepares Launch Site for
Longer-Range Rockets: Report (Source: Newsweek)
Commercial satellite pictures showed North Korea has finished work
under a major program to upgrade the Sohae Satellite Launch Station, in
the North's western region near the border with China, said the 38
North Website, which is operated by Johns Hopkins University's
U.S.-Korea Institute.
"A key component of that program has been to upgrade an existing launch
pad, enabling it to launch rockets larger than the existing Unha-3
space launch vehicle in the future," the think tank said. Unha-3 is the
North's long-range rocket launched in December 2012 following a failed
test in April, triggering a sharp rebuke by the U.N. Security Council,
which already has a series of sanctions in force for its missile and
nuclear tests. (10/2)
Canada’s Astronauts Optimistic About
the Future of Space Tourism (Source: Metro)
“In Canada we had six astronauts chosen in the early ’80s, four in the
early ‘90s and then David and I in 2009,” said Jeremy Hansen. While no
astronauts have been selected for the Canadian space program since, he
believes more will be chosen, more frequently, in the near future.
“Young Canadians today are going to have a lot more opportunities than
my generation had."
“Right now, we only have one vehicle to get people to space, the
Russian Soyuz rocket,” he added. “We can only fly 12 humans in space a
year. … That’s why there’s not a lot of recruiting right now.”
According to Hansen, with the development of American and private
commercial shuttles, there will be a greater capacity for astronauts in
the future. "You will have commercial astronauts in the future who
never go through a government astronaut program,” said Hansen. (10/1)
California Aerospace Commisssion
Proposed to Support Industry (Source: Press-Telegram)
As the U.S. defense budget winds down, lawmakers and business groups
are rallying to preserve Southern California as a hotbed of aerospace
innovation. Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi is spearheading an effort to
create a state aerospace commission that would act as a single point of
contact for all aerospace-related functions in California. The panel
would provide research and public policy recommendations to lawmakers,
develop workforce training programs and address regulatory hurdles
faced by the industry.
“We think it’s long overdue that California have an aerospace
commission to serve as a unified voice and advocate for California’s
aerospace industry,” Muratsuchi said after meeting with aerospace
stakeholders. The commission would be a public-private partnership that
would fill the void left by the California Space Authority, created in
1996 and dissolved in 2011 due to a lack of funding and corporate
membership. Click here.
(10/2)
Quantum Tapped to Build Small Intel
Satellites (Source: Military & Aerospace Elecctronics)
Army strategic reconnaissance experts needed an imaging satellite
company to build small satellites to provide deployed warfighters with
real-time intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance imagery. They
found their solution from Quantum Research International, Inc. in
Huntsville. Officials of the Army Strategic Command at Peterson Air
Force Base, Colo., announced their intention this week to award a
contract worth about $8.5 million to Quantum Research to build and
demonstrate Kestrel Eye satellite technology and ground-control
equipment. (10/2)
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