Hawaii "Super Strypi" Orbital Launch
Planned in October (Source: Garden Island)
Hawaii’s first space launch — aimed at testing a low-cost launch system
for small satellites — will blast off from Kauai’s military base on
Oct. 29. The ORS-4 mission is sponsored by the Operationally Responsive
Space (ORS) Office in collaboration with the University of Hawaii and
the Pacific Missile Range Facility. It will test the rail-launched
rocket Super Strypi, which will deploy a UH student-made satellite.
(6/22)
Upcoming Pluto Flyby is a Rallying
Opportunity for Space (Source: Space News)
After a nine-and-a-half-year journey covering nearly 5 billion
kilometers, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft is on the verge of its
history-making encounter with Pluto and its moons, the most distant and
least-understood planetary system in the solar system.
If all goes well over the next few weeks, New Horizons will make its
closest approach to Pluto July 14, passing some 13,000 kilometers from
the surface of the icy dwarf planet, inside the orbits of its five
known moons. Coincidentally — or not — the encounter will occur on the
50th anniversary of another major first in planetary exploration: the
NASA Mariner 4 probe’s flyby of Mars.
For more historical perspective, the last first-time close encounter
between a man-made probe and a planet occurred in 1989, when NASA’s
Voyager 2 spacecraft passed by the distant gas giant Neptune, Pluto’s
closest planetary neighbor. Once New Horizons makes its way past Pluto
and into the Kuiper belt of icy bodies, humankind will have completed
its initial reconnaissance of the solar system. (6/22)
The Ups and Downs of Smallsat
Constellations (Source: Space Review)
There is growing interest in developing constellations of smallsats for
a variety of missions, with new concepts appearing regularly. Jeff
Foust reports on some of the challenges these ventures face both in
launching those satellites and dealing with orbital debris risks. Visit
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2776/1
to view the article. (6/22)
Space Deterrence: a Response
(Source: Space Review)
The issue of the role deterrence plays in protecting space assets has
been the subject of debate in military policy circles. Roger G.
Harrison and Deron R. Jackson respond to a recent essay here to defend
their concept of a multi-layered approach to space deterrence. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2775/1
to view the article. (6/22)
The Myth of "What Might Have Been" in
Space (Source: Space Review)
Many space advocates lament that the US did not act upon the plans for
long-term space exploration proposed as Apollo achieved its lunar
landing goal. Alastair Browne argues that there's little need to regret
that path not taken, since the nation would not have traveled far down
it. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2774/1
to view the article. (6/22)
NASA Signs Agreement with Space
Florida to Operate Historic Landing Facility (Source: NASA)
A new agreement marks another step in the transformation of NASA’s
Kennedy Space Center in Florida to a multi-user spaceport. NASA’s
historic Shuttle Landing Facility, the site of one of the longest
runways in the world, has a new operator.
“Our journey to Mars goes straight through Florida, and this agreement
helps amplify the many ways that our critical Kennedy Space Center can
support the next generation of human spaceflight,” said NASA
Administrator Charles Bolden. A 30-year property agreement for the
operations and management of the facility, located at Kennedy, has been
signed by NASA and Space Florida, the aerospace and spaceport
development authority for the state of Florida. (6/22)
Hearing on U.S. Space Launch Strategy
Could Get Testy (Source: Space News)
The chairman of the House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee
on June 22 set the stage for a scheduled June 26 hearing on national
security space launch by declaring that Congress meant it when it
directed the U.S. Air Force to end its reliance on Russian rocket
engines by 2019.
“It is not the time to fund new launch vehicles, or new infrastructure,
or rely on unproven technologies,” Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL) said in a
press release announcing the hearing. “It is the time for the Pentagon
to harness the power of the American industrial base, and move with
purpose and clarity in order to swiftly develop an American rocket
propulsion system that ends our reliance on Russia as soon as possible.”
The Air Force and White House agree that the
liquid-oxygen/kerosene-fueled RD-180 should be phased but disagree with
Congress on the one-for-one replacement approach, instead advocating
broader program of investment in various launch vehicle technologies.
And while ULA wants to replace the Atlas-5 with a new Vulcan rocket,
Rogers and others in Congress believe the better approach is to put a
new government-developed engine into the existing Atlas-5 design. (6/22)
Texas High Court Says Boeing Air Base
Lease Can Be Private (Source: Law360)
The Boeing Co. does not have to publicly disclose what it pays to use a
former San Antonio area Air Force base for plane maintenance because
the information could give its competitors an undue advantage, the
Texas Supreme Court said Friday. Editor's Note:
This could be relevant for leases of NASA and Air Force launch property
at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. (6/21)
Titan's Atmosphere More Earth-Like
Than Previously Thought (Source: Space Daily)
Scientists at UCL have observed how a widespread polar wind is driving
gas from the atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan. The team analysed data
gathered over seven years by the international Cassini probe, and found
that the interactions between Titan's atmosphere, and the solar
magnetic field and radiation, create a wind of hydrocarbons and
nitriles being blown away from its polar regions into space. This is
very similar to the wind observed coming from the Earth's polar regions.
Titan is a remarkable object in the Solar System. Like Earth and Venus,
and unlike any other moon, it has a rocky surface and a thick
atmosphere. It is the only object in the Solar System aside from the
Earth to have rivers, rainfall and seas. It is bigger than the planet
Mercury. (6/22)
France Giving up Arianespace
Ownership, but not Oversight (Source: Space News)
The French government will be able to maintain a firm oversight role
over the Arianespace launch consortium despite the government’s
agreement to sell its 35-percent stake in the company to Airbus Safran
Launchers, the president of the French space agency, CNES, said. The
sale of the shares in Arianespace has been cleared by the French
government, apparently after Airbus Safran Launchers provided
guarantees that Arianespace would not move from its Evry headquarters.
(6/19)
Foundation Struggles to Raise Money
for Sentinel Space Telescope (Source: Nature News)
The B612 Foundation, which announced plans in 2012 to develop the
Sentinel space telescope to detect near-Earth objects, raised just $1.2
million in 2012 and $1.6 million in 2013. Sentinel has an estimated
cost of $450 million. The mission has also missed every developmental
milestone in a 2012 Space Act Agreement with NASA, which the agency
says is now being reexamined. B612 says Sentinel could still launch as
soon as 2019 if it is able to raise sufficient funding. (6/22)
China's Super "Eye" to Speed Up Space
Rendezvous (Source: Xinhua)
Chinese space experts have developed the world's most sensitive "eye"
that enables the autonomous rendezvous and docking of two spacecraft --
flying eight times faster than bullets -- more efficiently and safely.
The "eye" is China's newly developed third-generation rendezvous and
docking CCD optical imaging sensor. It will be used on China's second
orbiting space lab, Tiangong-2, the Chang'e-5 lunar probe and the
permanent manned space station, according to China Academy of Space
Technology (CAST). (6/22)
Handover of Shuttle Runway Could
Eventually Lead to Space Tourism (Source: MyNews13)
The state of Florida is taking over one of the world's longest runways
in an effort to grow commercial space business. NASA is expected to
hand over the Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility to Space
Florida at a signing ceremony Monday. State leaders hope the runway
will lead to more jobs for Brevard County.
Nearly four years have passed since the last space shuttle touched down
at on the 15,000-foot runway, and the agency Space Florida hopes to put
it to new commercial uses. “Eventually the space tourism is going to be
real space tourism where tourists come to go into space," Dale Ketcham
of Space Florida said. "And we’re quite confident that we’re going to
be able to get the lion’s share of that market. That’s our goal.”
Space Florida says the runway is attractive to companies interested in
launching and landing their spacecraft horizontally, much like an
airplane. Switzerland-based Swiss Space Systems is hoping to use the
runway in the years ahead. “We will have a small SAT launcher off of
our SOAR spacecraft that will launch small satellites into orbit, and
in many years we hope to launch passengers into sub-orbit as well,"
said Laura Seward Forczyk, manager for Swiss Space Systems USA. (6/21)
"Adras-1" Aims to Rid Outer Space of
Junk (Source: The Australian)
A small Singaporean company has developed a prototype of a machine that
could hold the key to removing man-made junk from outer space.
ASTROSCALE, a start-up with about 50 employees, hopes a market will
grow for its "Adras-1", and that satellite operators will seek to
protect their expensive machinery as space becomes more crowded with
orbiting junk.
The printer-sized prototype of the Adras-1, made out of Nanoblocks, has
been on display at the Paris Air Show, where Astroscale's Yosuke Hosoi
demonstrated how it works. The purpose of the prototype is to take aim
at a problem that can seem intractable - no one seems sure how to take
care of the clutter or who should be in charge of the task. (6/22)
Wallops Flight Facility to Hold Open
House for Public (Source: WTOP)
NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility is holding an open house for the public
to celebrate its 70th anniversary. The event will be held on Saturday.
Wallops launched its first rocket on June 27, 1945. Wallops director
Bill Wrobel says that the facility wants to give the public a
first-hand look at its diverse missions. The scientific balloon lab and
the sounding rocket payload facility are among the facilities that will
be open. (6/22)
Preparing America’s Spaceport for
NASA’s New Rocket (Source: Planetary Society)
The first impression you get walking into NASA’s Vehicle Assembly
Building is that this does not look like a place where rockets are
assembled. It’s dark and dusty, and the smell of oil fills the cool,
damp air. You hear loud machinery in the distance, accompanied by the
beep-beep-beep of trucks in reverse. Construction workers dart in and
out of the shadows.
There’s also a sense of purpose in the air. With the shuttle program
now four years gone, the mourning period appears to be fading.
Conversation coalesces around what comes next. By late 2018, this mecca
of spaceflight must be ready to host NASA’s next rocket, the Space
Launch System. There are deadlines to meet. The civil servants and
contractors have determination in their eyes. And although NASA lists
November 2018 as the first SLS launch date, KSC doesn’t appear to have
received the memo—everyone here says September is the correct month.
(6/22)
Inventors Hope to Launch 'Backyard
Satellites' to Fill Gap in Australian Space Exploration (Source:
ABC)
Stuart McAndrew is making history from a backyard shed in suburban
Perth. The IT worker is building a satellite capable of being launched
into space and taking pictures of Earth. Australia is the only OECD
nation without a dedicated space agency, and Mr McAndrew is one of a
growing number of Australians turning to homemade space exploration to
fill the gap.
He has designed the satellite PocketQube, a Rubik's cube-sized box with
antennas, solar panels and electronics. It is made from mostly
off-the-shelf items, including aluminium from the local hardware shop,
a tape measure and electronics bought over the internet. Mr McAndrew
believes it is the first of its kind in Australia. He has been working
on the project for two years.
Mr Dempster is hoping the rise of nano-satellites will encourage young
Australians to study science, technology, engineering and maths
subjects and put space on the agenda for a new generation. "If you want
to get young kids into science and so on, the things that do it for
them are dinosaurs and space," he said. The expense and logistics of
launching small satellites into space remains a key problem. (6/22)
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