Genesis of New Vulcan Rocket Borne of
Fierce Commercial, Political Pressures (Source: Universe Today)
Fierce commercial and international political pressures have forced the
rapid development of the new Vulcan launcher family recently announced
by rocket maker United Launch Alliance (ULA). Vulcan’s “genesis” and
development was borne of multiple unrelenting forces on ULA and is now
absolutely essential and critical for its “transformation and survival
in a competitive environment” moving forward
“To be successful and survive ULA needs to transform to be more of a
competitive company in a competitive environment,” ULA VP George Sowers
told Universe Today in a wide ranging interview regarding the rationale
and goals of the Vulcan rocket. Click here.
(6/24)
McCain Accuses Shelby of Funding Putin
in Rocket Engine Spat (Source: Daily Beast)
The senator wants to end U.S. reliance on Russian engines to get to
space. Some fellow Republicans claim that’s not technically feasible—an
argument McCain’s in no mood to hear. Hundreds of millions in U.S.
taxpayer dollars could be spent on Russian rocket engines if a tiny
section slipped into the annual defense spending bill is ultimately
passed.
Senator John McCain, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services
Committee, is furious, calling it a benefit to “Vladimir Putin’s
cronies”—and accusing a fellow Republican of trying to keep the cash
flowing to Moscow. But the reality is there may not be an alternate to
the Russian engines—at least not in the short term.
The apparent bid to weaken McCain’s prohibition is being led by the
powerful chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, Alabama Senator
Richard Shelby, a fellow Republican. “I know why,” McCain said. But he
didn’t want to expound on whatever knowledge he might have. Nor did
Shelby want to discuss the matter. (6/24)
Inside the Race to Create the Next
Generation of Satellite Internet (Source: Quartz)
Is the sky big enough for two multi-billion dollar satellite internet
projects? In the next two years, we’ll find out if entrepreneurs driven
by human betterment—one looking up at the heavens and humanity’s
future, the other looking down to the earth’s neediest—can share a shot
at creating the next big space product.
The two contenders, Greg Wyler’s OneWeb and Elon Musk’s SpaceX, both
say that within the next three years they will build, launch and
operate hundreds, if not thousands, of satellites flying in a low orbit
around the earth to provide broadband internet. It’s an ambitious
attempt to double the number of satellites orbiting earth—and succeed
at a business that tends to break companies. Click here.
(6/24)
Shower of the Future Uses Certified
Space Technology (Source: Space Foundation)
The Space Foundation's international Space Certification program has
added a new technology. Orbital Systems' "Shower of the Future" shares
the same water purification technology that NASA uses in space. As one
of many components in a larger closed loop system, Orbital Systems has
modified and brought forward a new solution that makes the system
commercially suitable for Earthly water applications for non-potable
use. (6/25)
Bizarre Cometlike Alien Planet Is
First of Its Kind (Source: Space.com)
A Neptune-size planet appears to be masquerading as a comet, with a
gargantuan stream of gas flowing behind it like a comet's tail. The
bizarre find is the first of its kind ever discovered by astronomers.
The strange, cometlike planet, known as GJ 436b, is orbiting a red
dwarf star and is about 22 times as massive as Earth. Astronomers
detected the giant gas cloud around the planet using NASA's Hubble
Space Telescope and Chandra X-ray Observatory. (6/24)
Hawaii Governor Halts Thirty Meter
Telescope Construction, Again (Source: Pacific Business News)
Hawaii's governor halted construction on the Thirty Meter Telescope
project Wednesday after hundreds of protesters opposed to the $1.4
billion observatory blocked work crews from reaching the construction
site at the summit of Hawaii’s Mauna Kea, resulting in the arrests of
11 people. Gov. David Ige, who said last month that he supported the
project, issued a statement through his chief of staff, Mike McCartney,
late Wednesday afternoon calling for construction to be placed on hold
"until further notice." (6/24)
VC Nolan Using What He Learned at
SpaceX at Founders Fund (Source: Silicon Valley Business Journal)
Space isn't the only focus of Scott Nolan's investments at Founders
Fund, but it has long been a passion for him. He was lucky enough to be
the first intern hired at Elon Musk's SpaceX back in its early days in
2003. Click here.
(6/24)
Spaceport America Well-Suited for
Satellite Ground Stations (Source: Las Cruces Sun-News)
Spaceport America recently announced a preliminary agreement that is
the first step in bringing a commercial satellite ground station to the
spaceport. We have excellent connectivity to the fiber optic backbone,
we have unimpeded views of the sky, and major signal disruptions caused
by extreme weather such as hurricanes are very rare. Ground stations
are environmentally friendly, and they provide a steady and dependable
source of revenue. Since they rely on satellites, they really are part
of the larger space industry.
Furthermore, the ground station industry expects continuing growth,
especially in the market segment that uses small antennas at the
customer end. X2nSat, Spaceport America's first satellite ground
station tenant, concentrates on just that market segment. We see this
as a win-win situation and are vigorously pursuing other ground station
operators as well. (6/24)
Rep. Bridenstone: NOAA’s Commercial
Data Policy (Source: Space News)
Technology is rapidly developing to improve tornado warning times
sufficiently to enable zero deaths from tornadoes. As chairman of the
House Science environment subcommittee, with the responsibility to
conduct oversight of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, I am committed to doing everything possible to develop
and deploy such technology to save the lives of my constituents. They
deserve it and America should expect it.
I am convinced that private-sector weather data can augment current
government weather data, assimilate into our numerical weather models
and substantially improve our ability to predict severe weather. I am
also convinced that a competitive, commercial market for weather data
will drive innovation, reduce costs and increase the quantity and
quality of data. (6/25)
Russia's Space Industry Needs Over
100,000 Young Engineers by 2025 (Source: Moscow Times)
Russia's space industry needs to recruit over 110,000 university
graduates in the next decade to revive the sector's fortunes, said a
senior United Rocket and Space Corporation official. The lack of young
talent pursuing jobs in the space sector is one of the biggest
challenges facing the industry, which has seen an increasing number of
embarrassing accidents and rocket failures in the past five years.
The acting head of United Rocket and Space Corporation, Yury Vlasov,
said in Wednesday's statement that the company was prepared to offer
graduates with technical educations interesting and high-paying work in
the space industry to achieve the goal of hiring over 110,000 young
specialists by 2025.
The state-owned company, which unites most of Russia's space design and
production bureaus under its roof, said last year that the number of
people employed in the space industry would rise to 200,000 people by
2016. At the height of the Soviet space program in 1989, over 1 million
people were employed in the space sector. (6/25)
Suiting Up (MIT Technology
Review)
MIT’s Dava Newman says colonists will have to be “extreme athlete
explorers”—always ready to hop on a rover, climb down a crevasse, or
comb through a crater for potential resources. And such physical tasks
would be extremely difficult to carry out while wearing traditional
heavy, puffy space suits. Today’s suits, which use gas to create the
pressure needed in zero gravity, haven’t evolved much since Buzz Aldrin
and Neil Armstrong made their legendary moonwalk. Click here.
(6/24)
NASA Tests a Drone Designed to
Automatically Avoid Collisions (Source: Engadget)
Drones would need to incorporate the ability to detect and avoid nearby
aircraft to safely fly in civilian airspace. NASA is now testing a
modified Predator drone equipped with upgraded sense-and-avoid
equipment by flying other aircraft into its path. The drone is designed
to issue an alert or swerve to avoid collision. (6/23)
OneWeb Places 'Largest Commercial
Launch Order in History' (Source: Space News)
OneWeb announced Thursday a $500 million funding round and a contract
with Arianespace and Virgin Galactic for satellite launches. OneWeb
said it raised the funding from a group that included Airbus, Hughes
Network Systems, Intelsat, Qualcomm, Virign Group, and Coca-Cola.
OneWeb said in a statement that it will use the funding to "further key
technologies" for its broadband satellite system. OneWeb also said it
is placing the largest commercial launch order in history, including 21
Soyuz launches from Arianespace and 39 LauncherOne launches from Virgin
Galactic. The Virgin Galactic order also includes options for 100
additional launches. (6/25)
NASA Warns GOP on Cuts to Space Program
(Source: The Hill)
GOP-backed legislation pending in Congress would thwart NASA’s push to
end U.S. dependence on the Kremlin to send astronauts to the
International Space Station, the agency is warning. For years, NASA has
relied on Russia to send American astronauts to the station, but the
space agency is developing a plan to wean the United States off of that
arrangement.
The plan provides for two companies — Boeing and SpaceX — to create
vehicles to send Americans to the space station by the end of 2017.
However, the House and Senate bills to fund NASA, other science
agencies, and the departments of Commerce and Justice would delay that
plan, NASA contends.
“By gutting this program and turning our backs on U.S. industry, NASA
will be forced to continue to rely on Russia to get its astronauts to
space and continue to invest hundreds of millions of dollars into the
Russian economy rather than our own,” Charles Bolden said. (6/24)
Russia to Centralize Rocket Engine
Development (Source: Moscow Times)
Russia is proceeding with plans to centralize the development of rocket
engines. Igor Komarov, the head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos,
said Wednesday that NPO Energomash, best known as the manufacturer of
the RD-180 engine, will be merged with other engine companies in the
country into a single firm. The consolidation, Komarov said, is
intended to result in "the elimination of redundancies and the
strengthening of enterprises' horizontal connections." (6/25)
China Law Would Support Peaceful Use
of Space (Source: Xinhua)
Space is included in a draft national security law under consideration
in China. The law, which received a third reading Wednesday by the
National People's Congress Standing Committee, supports the peaceful
use of outer space, as well as polar regions and seabeds in
international waters. The report did not go into greater detail about
the law's space-related provisions. (6/25)
Eumetsat Nations Agree to Fund
Next-Generation Polar Satellite System (Source: Eumetsat)
The 30 member nations of Eumetsat agreed to pay for development of the
Eumetsat Polar System Second Generation. Members also provided partial
support for Jason-CS, the next in a series of ocean science satellites,
with members pledging more than 75% of the funds needed for the
mission. (6/24)
Deep Space Explorers to Train
Underwater in Florida University Habitat (Source: NASA)
NASA will send an international crew to the bottom of the Atlantic
Ocean this summer to prepare for future deep space missions during the
14-day NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) 20
expedition slated to begin July 20.
NEEMO 20 will focus on evaluating tools and techniques being tested for
future spacewalks on a variety of surfaces and gravity levels ranging
from asteroids to the moons of Mars and the Martian surface. The NEEMO
crew and two professional habitat technicians will live 62 feet (19
meters) below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean in Florida
International University’s Aquarius Reef Base undersea research habitat
6.2 miles (5.4 nautical miles) off the coast of Key Largo, Florida.
(6/24)
Meet the U.S. Cities Vying To Be
Spacecraft Landing Sites (Source: Popular Mechanics)
The Dream Chaser has not made a single flight or carried any cargo into
space. Yet space-savvy American cities are already rolling out the
aeronautical equivalent of a red carpet, hoping to entice Sierra Nevada
to land its spaceplane at their airports. If the engineers say the
airport can handle it, the next step would be obtaining an FAA license
from the Office of Commercial Space Transportation to operate a reentry
site.
In March, Ellington Airport in Houston announced it was obtaining an
FAA license to land the spaceplane. Last week at the important Paris
air show, city officials from Huntsville announced the start of an
engineering study to examine whether the spaceplane could set down at
their airport. It's going to run them $200,000, a cost that is being
eaten by Huntsville, several nearby cities, and the state of Alabama.
Sierra Nevada wants to rent the Dream Chaser to private companies that
would test components or run experiments in orbit. And while the
spaceplane takes off via a rocket launch in Florida, it can set down on
any runway long enough for a 737 to land. (6/24)
Senate Gets Sane with Support for
Earth Science (Source: Aviation Week)
It appears that some U.S. senators understand what some of their
colleagues in the House of Representatives don’t get—science is facts,
not opinions. The Senate Appropriations Committee has voted to restore
the funds chopped out of NASA’s fiscal 2016 budget request for
space-based Earth science by a bunch of ideologues on the House Science
Committee. (6/24)
Port Canaveral Rejects Maglev Study
(Source: Florida Today)
Port Canaveral commissioners on Wednesday unanimously rejected a
proposal to allow a company to study the feasibility of introducing a
magnetic-levitation train system in and around the port. Georgia-based
American Maglev Technology Inc. had proposed doing the study at no
charge to the port.
But port commissioners had qualms about focusing on one company, rather
than having an independent comprehensive study of options to move
cruise passengers and others around the port property and to nearby
beaches and hotels. (6/25)
Governor Vetoes Space Walk of Fame
Funding (Source: Florida Today)
Charlie Mars, president of the U.S. Space Walk of Fame Museum in
Titusville, said he was very disappointed that the governor vetoed a
$200,000 funding line that would have meant the preservation of the
state's space history. The money would have helped fund operating cost
for the next three to five years and extend science, technology,
engineering and mathematics education. "We were obviously looking ahead
for the future of our museum," he said. "It's mainly the preservation
of our space history that he struck down." (6/25)
Florida Institute of Technology Space
Funding Gets Veto (Source: Florida Today)
Florida Institute of Technology Vice President for Research Frank
Kinney said Florida Tech officials were disappointed Gov. Scott decided
to veto $2.5M in funding which would have helped create a new institute
there to lead efforts to attract more space-related research. Kinney
said Florida Tech would have committed $4.7 million over the next three
years to the institute, which would have opened this fall had the
governor not vetoed the items. (6/25)
Space Coast Rocket Launch Parties Aim
to Promote Space Tourism (Source: Florida Today)
The local tourism community plans to capitalize on social media to tout
the Space Coast as continuing to be the place to see rocket launches —
and will start having launch-viewing parties around the county. The
first such event will be Sunday morning at Space View Park in downtown
Titusville, starting an hour before the scheduled 10:21 a.m. launch of
the SpaceX rocket. The rocket will launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force
Station on an International Space Station resupply mission.
During the Space View park launch party, there will be giveaways of
commemorative T-shirts, sunscreen and other items. Party participants
will be asked to promote the launch through messages, photos and video
on social media, such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, using the
hashtag #WeAreGoFL. “We’re trying to spread the word that there are
still launches from the Space Coast, even without the Space Shuttle
program,” said Eric Garvey, executive director of the Space Coast
Office of Tourism.
The Space Coast Office of Tourism is working with Space Florida on the
new space tourism initiative. “Lots of places have great beaches and
wonderful nature,” Garvey said. But launches are, “something unique to
the Space Coast, and very, very cool.” (6/25)
Intelsat Enters Alliance with OneWeb
Low Earth Orbit Venture (Source: SpaceRef)
Intelsat has entered into a commercial agreement with OneWeb, the
venture planning to build, deploy and operate a low earth orbit ("LEO")
Ku-band satellite constellation. Under the agreement, Intelsat will
partner with OneWeb to use OneWeb's LEO platform, once established, to
complement Intelsat's geostationary orbit ("GEO") satellite services,
resulting in the first and only fully global, pole-to-pole high
throughput satellite system. (6/25)
Space Policy and Regulation Becoming
Significant Industry Issue (Source: Zawya)
International aerospace and space experts will convene in Abu Dhabi
next March at the third Global Aerospace Summit to discuss the rapidly
changing shape of space policy and regulation. "As the international
space industry continues to grow, questions on space regulation and
policy also increase; the Summit will be looking to unearth some of the
answers," said Oisin Commane. (6/24)
Bolivia's Chinese-Made Satellite
Brings in $16 Million (Source: Xinhua)
Bolivia's Chinese-made Tupac Katari satellite has generated $16 million
of income in a little more than a year in orbit. "It's an approximate
figure," said director of the Bolivian Space Agency (ABE) Ivan
Zambrana. "Last year we were close to $10 million and so far this year,
we must be around $6 million," said Zambrana.
Bolivia's first satellite, named after a historical figure, was
launched on Dec. 20, 2013 from China's Xichang Satellite Launch Center,
and began operating commercially in April 2014, following a series of
tests. Currently, $20 million are earmarked a year to pay the project's
debt. (6/24)
Did The Soviets Build A Better Shuttle
Than We Did? (Source: Jalopnik)
For some reason, my social media feeds lately have been filled with
images of “Russia’s secret space shuttles” that have fallen into ruin.
This is a little puzzling, since those shuttles haven’t been ‘secret’
for decades, and they’ve been in terrible condition for over 20 years.
But that got me thinking — was it a better Space Shuttle than the
American one?
The Soviet space shuttle program came about as a direct response to the
U.S. Space Shuttle program, because the Soviets saw the U.S. shuttles
as primarily military spacecraft, ones that would eventually be
configured to carry nuclear bombs. As a result, the Soviet program was
highly military in nature, with all manner of strange and ominous
mission plans and Buran variants (even some really odd wingless
versions) being developed to create in-space nuclear weapon launchers
and military space stations.
What’s the biggest difference there? Look at the rear of the orbiters.
You’ll notice that the U.S. shuttles have five total engines at rear —
two orbital maneuvering engines (OMS) and three very large main
engines, used at launch. The Buran has only the two orbital maneuvering
engines, along with a bunch of smaller attitude control thrusters. So,
why the difference? The answer has to do with the launch vehicles. The
US shuttle uses those three main engines to launch it from the earth
into orbit. Click here.
(6/24)
World Launch Markets Look Toward
Rocket Reusability (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
What was once thought to be a pipe dream of having a reusable system of
rocket and rocket components to reduce the overall cost of spaceflight
is now gaining significant traction, as SpaceX leads the way toward a
fully reusable first stage, while ULA and the European Space Agency
move toward reusability to compete in the ever-changing launch market.
Click here.
(6/24)
11 Arrested as TMT Crews Fail to Get
to Mauna Kea Summit (Source: KITV)
Construction crews for the Thirty Meter Telescope advanced roughly 300
yards up Mauna Kea before they were met by protesters Wednesday
morning. The TMT crews were crossing onto a portion of the road managed
by the state. That's where Department of Land and Natural
Resources officers were waiting to take over the escort.
There were hundreds more protesters lining the mountain in front of
them and multiple people were arrested. In total, 11 people were
arrested, according to West Hawaii Today. One protester was
arrested by Big Island police and the rest were arrested by DLNR staff.
The man arrested by Big Island police was identified as 44-year-old
Ulises Consuegra. Police say he blocked access to construction
workers heading to work on the TMT project. (6/24)
Lockheed Martin Can Recoup Cleanup
Costs From Rocket Factories (Source: Law360)
A pair of industry groups threw their weight behind Lockheed Martin
Corp. in a D.C. Circuit case Monday involving the cleanup of Lockheed's
California rocket factories, saying contractors have to be able to
recuperate some cleanup costs from the federal government to be
competitive. (6/24)
New Mars Colony Mission to be
Crowdfunded (Source: SpaceFlight Insider)
A new international project aiming to establish humans on a Mars colony
– will be crowdfunded. The MarsPolar venture, which plans to create the
first settlement on the Red Planet around 2029, is hoping it will be
able to raise enough money to cover the costs of the pioneering
journey. “I hope that we will have enough to contract the rover teams,
to start preparing our first mission of sending two rovers to Mars,”
said Arteum Goncharov, the co-founder and CEO of MarsPolar. (6/24)
US Rocketeers Take Home Championship
(Source: Space Daily)
Seven students from the Russellville City Schools of Russellville,
Ala., won first place in the International Rocketry Challenge at the
2015 Paris Air Show on June 19. The U.S. team, sponsored by Raytheon,
beat teams from the United Kingdom, who came in second place, and
France, who took home third. (6/25)
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