Austrialian Airport Site for Lynx
Launches? (Source: Morning Bulletin)
Along with beef and pineapples, spacecraft could become a Rockhampton
icon... if our airport is deemed suitable enough for a spacecraft
terminal. It also depends on whether former Rockhampton man John Moody
has success with his proposal to build a $45 million spaceport, which
could horizontally launch spacecraft like the XCOR Lynx from
Rockhampton Airport. Click here.
(11/7)
Space Florida, Israel Issue Joint Call
for Projects (Source: Orlando Business Journal)
Earlier this week, Space Florida and MATIMOP (Israel's industrial
center for research and development), issued a joint call for projects
to fund research and development sponsored by companies in both states.
Florida and Israel formed the annually recurring $2 million joint
program in October 2013 as a way to support research, development and
commercialization of aerospace and related technology projects that
benefit both.
Applying teams must submit a completed application, including a
bi-lateral cooperation form that describes the project and the
collaboration envisioned. Applications are due no later than Monday,
March 16, 2015. According to a release from Space Florida, applicants
must present a proposal that incorporates joint R&D projects in
several explicit areas. Click here. (11/7)
Mission to Jupiter's Moon Gains
Support in Congress (Source: Space.com)
Scientists who want to explore Jupiter's ocean-harboring moon Europa
have some allies in high places. Several influential congresspeople are
among those calling for a mission to Europa, which is regarded by many
scientists as the best place to search for life beyond Earth. "We don't
need to wait to go find life in another solar system," Rep. John
Culberson, R-Texas, said in July. "It's right here in our own backyard."
Culberson spoke at "The Lure of Europa," a public meeting organized in
Washington, D.C., by nonprofit group The Planetary Society. His words
came just one day after NASA scientist Kevin Hand stated at a public
NASA forum that he thought humans would find life in the universe in
the next two decades, and on the same day that NASA released its call
for scientific instruments for a planned Europa mission.
Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, chairman of the House of Representatives'
Science, Space and Technology Committee, kicked things off at "The Lure
of Europa" by wishing the world could see how excited attendees were
about the Jupiter moon. Some members of the audience remained standing,
while others sat on the floor. (11/6)
NASA Tests Revolutionary Shape
Changing Aircraft Flap (Source: SpaceRef)
NASA's green aviation project is one step closer to developing
technology that could make future airliners quieter and more
fuel-efficient with the successful flight test of a wing surface that
can change shape in flight. This past summer researchers replaced an
airplane’s conventional aluminum flaps with advanced, shape-changing
assemblies that form seamless bendable and twistable surfaces.
Flight testing will determine whether flexible trailing-edge wing flaps
are a viable approach to improve aerodynamic efficiency and reduce
noise generated during takeoffs and landings. The Adaptive Compliant
Trailing Edge (ACTE) project is a joint effort between NASA and the
U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), using flaps designed and
built by FlexSys, Inc., of Ann Arbor, Michigan. (11/7)
Why Orion Capsule's Test Flight Is a
'Big (Freakin') Deal' for NASA (Source: NBC)
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden is the last person you'd expect to
drop the F-bomb in public, but when it comes to next month's test
flight of the space agency's Orion deep-space capsule, he's willing to
come perilously close. "That's a big deal," Bolden said in Huntsville.
"As the vice president would say, and I'm not going to say it, that's a
B.F.D."
So why does Bolden think Orion is a big freakin' deal? "It is the first
time this nation has produced a vehicle intended to carry humans beyond
Earth orbit, into deep space, in more than 40 years," he said. "More
than 40 years! That's a B.F.D., OK?" "EFT-1 is absolutely the biggest
thing that this agency is going to do this year. I may be partial,
because it's in my area. ... This is really our first step in our
journey to Mars," Bill Hill, NASA's deputy associate administrator for
exploration systems development, said at Kennedy Space Center.
As ambitious as that sounds, Orion's EFT-1 is just one small step in a
development effort that began eight years ago and currently costs $1
billion a year. The cone-shaped craft looks like a bigger version of
the Apollo moonship of the 1960s, but it's not expected to be ready for
astronauts until the 2020s. (11/7)
Engineers Recommend Changes to Orion
Heat Shield (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
Lessons learned during preparations leading up to the first orbital
test flight of NASA’s Orion spacecraft in December have prompted
engineers to recommend changing the design of the crew capsule’s heat
shield for future missions to the moon, Mars, or an asteroid. The
change centers on how technicians put together the Orion crew module’s
heat shield, which protects the capsule during its descent through the
atmosphere.
The Orion heat shield’s titanium skeleton and carbon fiber skin is
augmented with a fiberglass-phenolic honeycomb structure. More than
330,000 individual cells make up the honeycomb, with each of the cells
filled by hand with a material called Avcoat. The Avcoat insulation is
supposed to ablate away during the Orion spacecraft’s re-entry,
protecting the underlying structure from searing temperatures.
But a review of the heat shield on the Orion spacecraft set for launch
Dec. 4 revealed the Avcoat was slightly more uneven than expected,
according the crew module director at Lockheed Martin. Now Lockheed is
recommending changes to the heat shield’s design that allows for
different contraction rates between the Avcoat and the composite heat
shield substrate. (11/7)
Space Station Seen As ‘Priceless” For
Exploration Development (Source: Aviation Week)
After the astronauts have installed a special 3-D printer in the
glovebox, and set up the high-definition video cameras that will watch
its extruder and work platform from two different angles, controllers
at a small startup company in the research park at Moffett Field,
California, will send signals to begin making things in orbit.
The first test articles will be simple plastic coupons preloaded into
the system’s memory. Those will give engineers at Made In Space, the
company that built the microwave-size printer, and at NASA’s Marshall
Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, data on how well the system
performs in the full-time microgravity environment uniquely available
on the space station.
The on-board manufacturing is a classic example of how NASA is using
the space station to test the hardware it must develop for deep-space
human exploration. In a sense, the station is the perfect analog for a
Mars mission. It has continuous microgravity, which mimics the gravity
loads crews and their equipment will experience en route to and from
the red planet, and its mass and pressurized volume match what a crew
is likely to need to survive the trip. (11/7)
Forget ‘Interstellar’: America’s Doing
Less to Travel to Space Than Ever Before (Source: Washington
Post)
Interstellar is likely to spark imaginative discussions about space and
how far we'll travel as a civilization. The latest data points aren't
good on that matter, though. We now spend less on NASA -- relative to
the wealth of overall economy -- than at any point in history.
Although exploring space has been an iconic part of the American
imagination for decades, it's never registered high on the list of the
public's priorities. Dating back to the 1970s, Americans have
consistently said we're spending too much on space. Equally
interestingly, though, Americans seem to be aware of how much less
we're spending today. As recently as 2012, polling showed that more
Americans than ever before thought that we were spending too little.
(11/7)
China is Now Positioned to Dominate
the Moon (Source: Air & Space)
The only piece missing from their lunar mission architecture is
rendezvous and docking in lunar orbit. Since the Chinese manned program
has already done this multiple times in Earth orbit, odds are that they
will be successful in applying this expertise to their lunar mission.
Click here.
(11/7)
Subcontractor Sued by Orbital Sciences
Offers To Turn Over Hardware (Source: Space News)
The owner of a company accused of delaying ground-support upgrades at
the Virginia spaceport Orbital Sciences uses for launching its Cygnus
cargo tug offered to turn over some of the components Orbital claims
are being held hostage. Kevin Huber, managing director of Integrated
Systems and Machinery, said the firm is “willing to release a partial
shipment which would allow [Orbital] to get going” on the upgrades.
How soon Orbital needs to get going on the upgrades, and even whether
the upgrades can proceed as planned, is an open question. The
components Huber’s firm has been withholding were ordered by Orbital in
2012 as part of a long-planned upgrade for the Transporter Erector
Launcher that Orbital uses to haul Antares out to the pad and hold it
upright for liftoff. But the mobile launch platform was among the
equipment damaged Oct. 28 when Antares failed 15 seconds after liftoff
and came crashing back down.
What is more, Orbital Sciences will not launch from Virginia’s
Wallops Island again until at least 2016, when a redesigned Antares
with a new core stage is expected to debut. Huber said Integrated
Systems and Machinery refused to ship the cylinder and other hardware
because its contract with Orbital calls not only for delivery of the
equipment, but for testing and other support services that have not yet
been performed. That means “we can’t release it unless they [Orbital]
release us from liability for shipping a line-item incomplete,” Huber
said. (11/7)
Dnepr Launches Japanese Satellites
(Source: SpaceToday.net)
A Dnepr rocket successfully placed several Japanese spacecraft into
orbit on Thursday. The Dnepr rocket, a converted SS-18 ballistic
missile, lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan carrying
the Advanced Satellite with New System Architecture for Observation
(ASNARO) satellite and several secondary payloads. ASNARO is a
high-resolution Earth imaging spacecraft. Four smaller spacecraft,
developed by various Japanese universities, also launched on the Dnepr
to perform Earth observation and astronomy missions. (11/7)
Russia Thinking of Moving its Out of
Kazakhstan (Source: Economist)
These days the land around Baikonur is littered with rusty metal.
Russia pays about $115m a year to lease the remote chunk of steppe.
Roscosmos, Russia’s space agency, launches most of its rockets from
Baikonur: between 22 and 25 each year. Until America develops a new
space taxi, the Soyuz is the only way to get people to the 15-nation
International Space Station.
But Kazakhstan and its tenant are bickering. The chief of the Kazakh
space agency, Kazcosmos, has threatened to tear up the lease. And
Russia is building a new spaceport on its own territory, threatening to
make the cosmodrome redundant.
Some Kazakhs would be happy to see the Russians leave. In July 2013 a
Proton rocket carrying navigation satellites exploded after
lift-off—the fourth Proton disaster at Baikonur in 14 years, say
Kazcosmos officials. Kazakhstan tried to limit Proton launches because
the rocket uses an especially toxic fuel. But Russia needs its
workhorse. Thanks to the Proton, which launches only from Baikonur,
Russia has held a third of the commercial space-launch market over the
past decade. Click here.
(11/7)
Manned Commercial Spaceflight: The
Final Unregulated Frontier (Source: Washington Post)
The FAA does have the Office of Commercial Space Transportation, also
known as AST. However the office does not certify the safety of
spacecrafts the same way the FAA certifies the safety of passenger
airliners. Instead, it licenses launches, but that licensing is all
about the safety of people on the ground or making sure the spacecrafts
do not hit other crafts in the air.
"What AST does is protect third parties and property from damage by
activities in space -- they do not regulate the actual space flight and
payloads except to require enough insurance of safety that third
parties will not be injured," said John Logsdon, the former director of
the Space Policy Institute at The George Washington University.
"The FAA is prohibited from regulating launch or reentry vehicle
occupant safety until late in 2015, barring a death, serious injury, of
or close call that can be attributed to a design feature or operating
practice, under Commercial Space Launch Act," said FAA spokesperson
Hank Price. (11/6)
U.S. Space Industry Girds for More
Oversight After Accidents (Source: Reuters)
Last week's incidents have raised questions about the commercial space
industry, and will likely trigger congressional hearings and bids to
increase oversight, according to industry executives, congressional
aides and analysts.
Mark Sirangelo said the accidents were tragic but should be viewed in
the context of the overall space business, and not as an indictment of
new ventures being developed by the commercial sector. He said the
airplane industry had also suffered great losses during its first
decade. "This is catalyst. Things happen that make us better,"
Sirangelo said.
"We don't get better cars if we don't realize that cars have crashes
and then we improve them." He said the commercial space business was
already subject to strict oversight, but industry should respond by
being "even more open. What we need to do ... instead of running away
from it, is confront it, explain it, and be open and honest - maybe
even more open than we have been in letting people understand what
happened." (17)/
Can These Satellite Images Save Lives?
The U.N. Thinks So (Source: Washington Post)
As new crises erupt around the world and old conflicts smolder, the
images that emerge are usually taken by photographers on the ground.
But there is another perspective: the view from space. Satellite images
can be an accurate and fast way to analyze situations in countries
where international aid workers or observers are unable to operate.
They can also show dramatic change.
"Satellite images can absolutely save lives," explains Einar Bjorgo,
the manager of UNOSAT, which is part of the U.N. Institute for Training
and Research. Bjorgo's team provides nongovernmental and governmental
agencies with detailed satellite pictures and analyses that are used to
plan emergency responses and direct teams on the ground. Often, the
images are made available in almost real time. Click here.
(11/6)
Australian Spaceport Proposals Met
with Strong Opposition (Source: The Morning Bulletin)
Spaceport proposals in Australia have been off the radar for many
years, since one proposed at a site near Cape York in the 1980s. In
1986 and 1987, the Queensland Government commissioned feasibility
studies for a launch site on Cape York. The studies were used in a
proposal document in 1987 with a call for expressions of interest.
The advantages of Cape York as a possible Spaceport site included its
proximity to the Equator, its weather and geographical situation, which
were similar to Cape Canaveral in Florida. The idea eventually flopped.
There were many reasons for the demise of the Cape York project,
including: little political interest shown by the Australian
Government, high taxpayer-funded costs to set up the infrastructure and
strong opposition from the Cape York Land Council. (11/7)
China's Moon Missions Explained
(Source: Space.com)
The Chinese Lunar Exploration Program (CLEP) to explore the moon has
several phases, with the ultimate goal of returning moon rock samples
to the Earth. Click here
for an infographic and list of China's lunar projects. (11/6)
California Observatory Wins Back
Funding (Source: Nature)
The University of California (UC) system has reversed its decision to
pull funding from Lick Observatory, ending a year of budgetary angst
for the astronomical research site atop Mount Hamilton in California.
“Now we can get over this hanging on by our fingernails,” says Claire
Max, an astronomer at the university’s Santa Cruz campus. “We all have
a future now.”
The 29 October decision caps several years of bitter battles between UC
astronomers, who are spread among the state’s flagship campuses, and
the university president’s office in Oakland. In September 2013, the
president’s office said that it was following expert advice when it
ordered UC Observatories to find outside funding and management for
Lick and to begin transitioning it away from UC monies by 2017. (11/6)
ESA Maps out How Ariane 6 Would Save
Everyone Money (Source: Space News)
The European Space Agency is proposing to inject 8 billion euros ($10
billion) into Europe’s launch sector over 10 years starting in 2015,
including some 4.3 billion euros on a new Ariane 6 rocket, on the basis
of a contract arrangement with industry in which ESA guarantees five
government missions per year and, in return, industry fends for itself
on the wider commercial market.
The proposal, delivered in the form of a 19-page response (see below)
to Ariane 6 questions posed by Germany — the only big ESA member that
has resisted the program — says the new Ariane 6 will cost ESA
governments less to use than the current Ariane 5 and Europeanized
Russian Soyuz rocket.
And unlike Ariane 5, which requires around 100 million euros per year
of government support to keep launch service provider Arianespace from
suffering financial losses, the Ariane 6 proposal says ESA will pay a
marginal support cost only for government missions, and none for
commercial launches. (11/6)
Rogue Stars Outside Galaxies May be
Everywhere (Source: Science)
You’ve heard of rogue planets, floating through the universe untethered
to any solar system. Now meet rogue stars, which drift through space
with no galaxy to call home. A new study has come to the startling
conclusion that as many as half of all stars in the universe may be
rogue, having been ejected from their birthplaces by galaxy collisions
or mergers. (11/6)
Swiss Space Systems Sends Autistic
Child's Dreams Soaring (Source: Bay Today)
A 12 year old North Bay boy got the surprise of his young life
Wednesday evening, and it turns out to be a wonderful story. Austin
Wasylkiw, a student at F.J. Fricker, has a very keen interest in space.
His dad Alex confirms that his son has been reading books about space
since he was four. So Austin was very interested to read a story in
BayToday about a space company, new to North Bay, called Swiss Space
Systems or S3.
"Our CEO was very touched ... and wanted to do something very special,"
said Robert Feierbach, the head of S3 USA. "He felt it was important to
motivate someone very, very young who is obviously very interested in
space." So when the S3 executives were in the city Wednesday, they
planned a surprise visit, bringing gifts and a special video from the
S3 CEO to their youngest fan. (11/5)
By Outsourcing ISS Cargo Flights,
Orbital Will Likely Bring Cygnus to Florida (Source: SPACErePORT)
With Orbital Sciences Corp.'s decision to halt its use of the Russian
rocket engines suspected to have failed on Antares, the company has
advised NASA it will outsource two launches to other rockets capable of
carrying its Cygnus cargo modules to the Space Station. That means
flying Cygnus atop the SpaceX Falcon-9 and/or the ULA Atlas-5 or
Delta-4, from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. (11/6)
America Can't Afford to be Lost in
Space (Source: Washington Examiner)
NASA has all but handed over the field of spaceflight to the private
sector. Indeed, coming on the heels of President Obama’s termination of
the space shuttle program in 2011, both events had people wondering if
the end of America’s decades-old dominance of space flight is really
finally here.
What the pessimists missed, however, was the successful launch last
Friday of United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V booster, carrying a GPS
satellite into orbit — the fiftieth such successful launch — and
powered by the same kind of seventies-era RD-180 engine that blew up on
the Orbital Science platform. All of which proves we’re far from down
and out in the space race, and that even old technologies work when
we’re committed to their success.
But commercial companies, no matter how skilled or innovative, can’t
conquer space alone. It may be hard for some conservatives to admit,
but there are still things government does best, because it can muster
more critical resources — technological, scientific, and monetary —
than the market can readily supply. Defense is one such area; space is
another. And the two are closely related. (11/5)
A Good Night for Mojave as Steve
Knight Heads to Congress (Source: Parabolic Arc)
In Mojave election news, State Sen. Steve Knight — a big commercial
space supporter — is heading for Congress. In a much watched race,
Knight defeated fellow Republican Tony Strickland to represent the 25th
Congressional District, which includes the cities of Palmdale and
Lancaster. Knight will replace Buck McKeon, who is retiring. Knight has
been a prominent supporter of aerospace and commercial space measures.
He is the son of the late X-15 pilot William “Pete” Knight. (11/5)
NASA Rocket Experiment Finds the
Universe Brighter Than We Thought (Source: NASA)
A NASA sounding rocket experiment has detected a surprising surplus of
infrared light in the dark space between galaxies, a diffuse cosmic
glow as bright as all known galaxies combined. The glow is thought to
be from orphaned stars flung out of galaxies. The findings redefine
what scientists think of as galaxies. Galaxies may not have a set
boundary of stars, but instead stretch out to great distances, forming
a vast, interconnected sea of stars.
Observations from the Cosmic Infrared Background Experiment, or CIBER,
are helping settle a debate on whether this background infrared light
in the universe, previously detected by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope,
comes from these streams of stripped stars too distant to be seen
individually, or alternatively from the first galaxies to form in the
universe. (11/6)
CASIS and Boeing Partner on
MassChallenge Awards (Source: CASIS)
The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) and Boeing
awarded three entrepreneurial researchers financial support through the
MassChallenge Startup Accelerator. In April, both entities announced
their intention to collaborate on the “Technology in Space” sidecar
prize through MassChallenge. Click here.
(11/6)
Bigelow Hiring Again (Sources:
SPACErePORT, Bigelow Aerospace)
After cutting its workforce in half in 2011, Bigelow Aerospace
executives said they were retaining a "core group" to preserve key
capabilities during a slowing-down period. That core group included
just over 50 people. Now Bigelow is hiring again, with about 100
positions advertised on their website, presumably for work at their
North Las Vegas facility. Click here.
(11/6)
Astronauts Submerge GoPro Inside a
Floating Ball of Water On ISS (Source: IFL Science)
Curious about the behavior of water surface tension in microgravity,
three astronauts aboard the International Space Station decided to
stick a GoPro camera inside a floating ball of water. They also filmed
the event using a 3D camera. The men—Steve Swanson, Reid Wiseman, and
Alexander Gerst—captured the videos sometime during summer 2014 as part
of Expedition 40. Click here.
(11/6)
How Can Commercial Space Flights be
Regulated? (Source: Washington Post)
In 2014, with a rocket exploding near one coast and a futuristic
spaceship crashing near the other, there’s another new frontier:
regulating corporate America’s rush to capitalize on the vacuum created
when NASA retired from hands-on space flight. Into that void, Congress
thrust the FAA, charging it with setting the guidelines for a fledgling
industry that has drawn more than a half dozen companies with a variety
of goals.
“It’s a little bit different than the rest of the aviation oversight
that we do,” said an FAA official, “because the industry is kind of
where the Wright brothers were in aviation.” The fact that Antares and
SS2 flew under two different FAA guidelines underscores the nascent
nature of space flight regulation. It also reflects the challenge
federal regulators face in governing emerging technologies: Step in too
soon with a heavy hand and it may stifle creative thinking.
The future regulatory challenge will require dealing with a variety of
designs and intentions. Virgin's SS2 accident will be the first time
the NTSB has led an investigation into a space launch with passengers
on board. Part of the NTSB investigation, said its chairman,
Christopher Hart, will be “to see whether the oversight was adequate,
to the extent that there is oversight in this industry.” Click here.
(11/5)
Editorial: Private Firms Not the
Problem in Rocket Crash (Source: Pasadena Star-News)
The place where civilian space flight needs more scrutiny from the
public sector is in safety oversight, the kind that NASA provided for
astronauts, if imperfectly. Though pilot error may turn out to be the
cause of last week’s crash, experimental fuels that were used —
including a form of nylon and highly volatile nitrous oxide — are
controversial among spaceflight engineers. The LA Times reports that
last year Virgin Galactic’s safety chief resigned and has not been
replaced. The FAA and NTSB, which is investigating the crash, need to
insist on a commitment to safe flying. (11/6)
Wax Fuel Gives Hybrid Rockets More
Oomph (Source: IEEE Spectrum)
Solid-propellant rockets have the fuel and oxidizer already mixed and
held together in a polymer binder. That reduces complexity, but it
doesn’t eliminate the dangers: Cracks or imperfections in the solid
fuel or its packaging can cause uncontrolled combustion and explosion.
Hybrid rocket motors store the oxidizer as a liquid and the fuel as a
solid, a configuration that is mechanically simple and reduces the
opportunity for chemical explosion, both in flight and during ground
operations. That makes hybrids safer than solid-fueled rockets. Our
fundamental innovation is a change in the composition of the solid fuel
that’s used. Instead of the usual rubbery polymer, we use ordinary
paraffin wax. Yes, wax.
Paraffin-based fuels give hybrid rockets more oomph, because the fuel
that is exposed to combustion melts, atomizes, and becomes entrained in
the flowing oxidizer. This enlarges the surface area over which the
fuel can vaporize and react. (11/5)
McAuliffe Calls for Full Financial
Review of Spaceport Deal with Orbital (Source: Richmond
Times-Dispatch)
Gov. Terry McAuliffe has ordered a fresh look at the financial
arrangements between a Virginia spaceflight authority and Orbital
Sciences Corp. He expressed concern over the state’s apparent financial
liability for damage to the pad under an agreement between Orbital and
the Virginia Commercial Space Authority, as well as the state’s ongoing
budget support of the authority and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport.
Orbital CEO David Thompson said Orbital will support efforts by the
spaceport and NASA, which leases a portion of Wallops Island to the
authority, to repair damage “so as to allow Antares launch operations
to resume there in early to mid-2016 and continue for the long term.”
The company’s plan to launch supply missions from other sites, using
the Cygnus cargo spacecraft on other rockets, came as a surprise to
Secretary of Transportation Aubrey L. Layne Jr., one of two state
officials on the nine-member authority board. (11/6)
Raytheon-Led Team Wins Air Force Range
Contract (Source: SpaceRef)
The Air Force awarded the Launch and Test Range Integrated Service
Contract (LISC) to RGNext. The total contract value, including all
potential options and potential award fee is $2.0 Billion. LISC will
provide the Government with a single prime contractor responsible and
accountable for operations, organizational- and depot-level maintenance
as well as sustainment at Cape Canaveral AFS and Vandenberg AFB.
Editor's Note:
RGNext is a Raytheon-led team. This long-delayed contract was
originally targeted for award in 2013, after proposals were submitted
in May of that year. It consolidates three previous contracts that
supported range operations in Florida and California. (11/6)
Market Forces Should Guide Future of
Oklahoma Spaceport (Source: The Oklahoman)
The crash of a Virgin Galactic rocket, which followed the explosion of
an Orbital Sciences Corp. rocket, immediately brought to mind one
Oklahoma lawmaker’s past warnings. In a 2007 debate, state Rep. John
Wright noted the dangers associated with commercial space ventures,
saying there was a pragmatic reason NASA flights launch off the Florida
coast. “They launch those rockets out over the ocean,” Wright said,
“because every once in a while, one doesn’t make it. It blows up.”
Wright made those comments while discussing potential space flights in
Oklahoma. The Virgin Galactic tragedy shows Wright wasn’t engaging in
hyperbole. It also illustrates the need to carefully limit where such
activity is conducted. This doesn’t mean private businesses shouldn’t
be allowed to innovate, even in high-risk developing industries such as
commercial space.
But those industries should rise or fall based on market realities. The
problem in Oklahoma (and other states) is that lawmakers have tried to
tip the economic scales in favor of commercial space ventures through
significant taxpayer subsidies. Wright’s above-noted comments were made
while debating against such subsidies in Oklahoma. The millions of
taxpayer dollars spent on an Oklahoma spaceport have not only failed to
generate a single rocket flight or new economic activity, but may have
undercut local economic development. (11/6)
ATK Offers Solid Motor Option to
Replace RD-180 on Atlas (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
ATK has provided additional details about its domestic alternative to
the Russian-built RD-180 engine currently in use on the venerable Atlas
V rocket of United Launch Alliance (ULA). While ULA has aligned with
Blue Origin’s BE-4 engine, ATK's proposal of a solid-fueled first stage
– as a reliable, cost-effective, and commercial alternative to the
RD-180 – provides insight into the wealth of American-built engine
options.
According to ATK, manufacturing and testing of the solid fueled
solution for the RD-180 replacement would take place within the United
States using tooling and infrastructure already in place across the
country. The solid fueled first stage could also be designed to
specifically meet the Atlas V launch vehicle and payload requirements,
including the upcoming requirement to ferry crew aboard Boeing’s
CST-100 capsule. (11/6)
Insurers Are Likely to Close Space
Tourism Loophole (Source: NBC)
While private pilots and skydivers have to take out extra life
insurance to cover the added risk of their pursuits, space tourists do
not need special policies on their high flying rides. That loophole is
likely to disappear, slowly, after last week's fatal crash of Virgin
Galactic's SpaceShipTwo rocket plane during a test flight.
The loophole exists because U.S. life insurance policies don't ask
about space tourism or exclude it from coverage, meaning insurers
probably would have to pay if the holder died on a space trip,
insurance industry veterans said. Insurance companies are likely to
start adding questions about space travel and may even explicitly
exclude spaceflight coverage, the industry observers said. (11/6)
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