Homeowners, Park Officials, Concerned
About Georgia Spaceport (Source: Golden Isles News)
Residents of Little Cumberland Island have been portrayed by a
legislator as a bunch of elitist outsiders who don’t care about Camden
County’s efforts to attract new jobs. They defended themselves Tuesday
during a state House subcommittee meeting to discuss a proposed
spaceport. A member of the Little Cumberland Homeowners Association,
said the big concern is the industry’s 6% failure rate. More than 60
homes on the island would be impacted by launches, he said.
He asked the 11 state representatives on the spaceport subcommittee to
delay voting on proposed legislation that would grant some protections
from frivolous lawsuits against spaceport operators. The site in Camden
County is unsuitable because Parker said it would be the only spaceport
to launch over property it does not own. He said the FAA is not
expected to complete its ongoing environmental assessment until after
the 2017 legislative session ends next spring.
Gary Ingram, superintendent of Cumberland Island National Seashore,
said the National Park Service has many concerns, including how
launches could affect visitors who sometimes make reservations six
months in advance. There are also concerns about potential impacts a
failed launch could have on the five historic districts and 91 historic
structures on the barrier island. (9/13)
Consultants Versus Residents in
Georgia Spaceport Debate (Source: Golden Isles News)
Andrew Nelson, a consultant hired by the county to help establish a
Georgia spaceport, disputed a claim that 6 percent of unmanned rockets
crash. He said more than 99 percent of rockets are successfully
launched. He said a commercial spaceport would be a success because of
the savings. It costs as much as $5 million in extra fees charged by
federal launch sites, he said. Plus, national security launches can
disrupt timetables for commercial launches, he said.
An opponent of the project, Steve Weinkle, said a spaceport will have a
“negligible” impact on the local economy. In fact, he predicted it will
cost local taxpayers millions for a project that is not viable. “We
don’t even know how we are going to pay for it,” he said. “Why don’t
one of these billion dollar companies come here and build it for
themselves?”
Editor's Note:
I question Nelson's comment about "$5 million in extra fees charged by
federal launch sites." All orbital launch sites are supported by the
federal government. So where did this $5 million figure come from? Even
Georgia's spaceport, if built, would have federal regulatory oversight,
so launch companies would have to comply with the same rules. (9/14)
Women on Spacecraft Missions: Moving
Toward Parity With the Percentage in the Field? (Source: Women
in Astronomy)
In general, Participating Scientist programs selected a higher
percentage of women than the initial mission (20% versus 14%). Only two
missions selected a higher percentage of women in the initial mission,
Dawn, which, at 30%, had the largest percentage of women on any initial
science team, more than twice the average of most missions, and Mars
Odyssey, which had a similar percentage of women initially and in the
Participating Scientist Program (20% and 18%).
However, since the number of scientists selected as Participating
Scientists is substantially less than the number selected in the
original team, the final percentage of woman on any team remained lower
than the percentage in the field (16% on average). Only Curiosity,
which has had two rounds of PS selections, improved the percentage of
women substantially (13.5% to 25%). Click here.
(9/13)
ULA Touts Rocket Availability as
SpaceX Investigates Explosion (Source: Denver Business Journal)
United Launch Alliance wants satellite owners to know it can add
missions to its 2017 launch calendar, as rival launcher SpaceX has its
Falcon 9 rocket grounded to investigate an explosion. The
Centennial-based rocket company on Tuesday unveiled what it calls its
RapidLaunch program, promising the industry’s fastest turnaround from
rocket order to launch. Some missions could make it to a launch pad as
soon as three months from order, ULA said.
ULA changed how it assembles rockets and how it integrates satellite
payloads in order to make quicker turnarounds for commercial clients
possible, said Kent Lietzau, ULA’s vice president of business
development. "We have added additional hardware to the production line,
so that we can offer additional vehicles without an impact to our
existing customers,” he said, in a written statement. “We have also
moved customization for any particular launch to the last three months
of production.” (9/13)
How Space Scientists Turn Exoplanets
Into Places We Can ‘See’ (Source: WIRED)
Of course, scientists don’t actually know what any exoplanets look
like. But imagining how they might be—in a standing-right-there
sense—is central to scientists’ perceptions of and interest in them,
according to Lisa Messeri, a space anthropologist at the University of
Virginia. And people felt so passionate about Proxima b (which is not
Earth-like) because its proximity makes it more real. It is a place
people could imagine being.
Messeri studies how scientists effect the transformation from random
planet to real place. In her new book, Placing Outer Space, she maps
that mental shift among scientists at the Mars Desert Research Station,
at a Silicon Valley NASA center, at a mountaintop observatory in Chile,
and in an MIT exoplanet group. Click here.
(9/13)
Houston Spaceport Development is
Looking Up (Source: Xinhua)
Houston airport officials are stepping up efforts to lure new aerospace
tenants to Ellington Airport, the site of the ninth licensed spaceport
in the United States. Last June, the Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA) granted a launch site license to the airport, allowing Ellington
to be used as launch site for reusable launch vehicles. Last year, the
Houston Airport System spent 6.9 million U.S. dollars to purchase a
53,000-square-foot office building that will house new spaceport
tenants.
The building, located near NASA's Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory, had been
solely occupied by Boeing until the company relocated part of its
operations on July 31. Boeing now operates from a six-story building to
serve the aerospace and defense sectors. Now, Houston aerospace
officials are turning up the volume on efforts to land new tenants that
will help usher in Houston's ascent into all things space.
The spaceport's first aerospace tenant, Intuitive Machines, moved into
the mega-office complex on August 11 where it is building unmanned
aerial systems, or drones, for commercial use. "It's a great
opportunity and experience for us," said Health Mooney, director of
production facilities management at Intuitive Machines. "We're the
first ones (tenants) here. This is a burgeoning industry and this place
will only grow and we want to be a part of it." Spaceport officials are
working to include more aerospace entities into the fold. (9/13)
Rocket Crafters Touts Hybrid Rocket
Fuels After SpaceX Explosion (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
An executive with a Titusville company says a rocket his company has
been developing that uses 3-D-printed fuel grains could make rocket
launches safer, cheaper and more reliable. It's an issue brought into
the forefront by the SpaceX explosion that rocked the Space Coast early
this month. There were no injuries but the cause of that disaster
remains unknown.
A combustion system developed by Rocket Crafters sets aside the typical
process of a liquid oxidizer reacting with liquid fuel to create
thrust, said CEO Sid Gutierrez, a retired astronaut. Instead, the
combustion system in the company's experimental Intrepid rocket stores
fuel grains alongside liquid nitrous oxide, converts the nitrous oxide
into gas and pushes it through long, thin fuel grains. An igniter then
creates the reaction that leads to the rocket's thrust.
On the company's website, Rocket Crafters' rocket is described as
"almost immune to accidental detonation" because the fuel and oxidizer
exist in different states — the liquid nitrous oxide and solid fuel.
The motor is considered a hybrid. "Everybody ought to be thinking about
hybrid rocket motors," Gutierrez said. "We need to be moving away from
liquid propellants." (9/13)
Gaia Space Telescope Plots a Billion
Stars (Source: BBC)
The most precise map of the night sky ever assembled is taking shape.
Astronomers working on the Gaia space telescope have released a first
tranche of data recording the position and brightness of over a billion
stars. And for some two million of these objects, their distance and
sideways motion across the heavens has also been accurately plotted.
Gaia's mapping effort is already unprecedented in scale, but it still
has several years to run.
Remarkably, scientists say the store of information even now is too big
for them to sift, and they are appealing for the public's help in
making discoveries. To give one simple example of the scope of Gaia: Of
the 1.1 billion light sources in Wednesday's data release, something
like 400 million of these objects have never been recorded any previous
catalogue. Click here.
(9/13)
NASA Tweaks Cost-Type Contract Pay
Request Reviews (Source: Law360)
NASA issued an interim rule Tuesday updating how the space agency
reviews payment request vouchers under cost-type contracts, to fill the
gap left by a congressional prohibition on the Defense Contract Audit
Agency's reviewing nondefense contracts. (9/13)
SEC Fines Harris Unit Ex-Boss For
$9.6M Bribery Scheme (Source: Law360)
The former CEO of a unit of communications company Harris Corp. agreed
to pay a fine to settle allegations he facilitated a widespread bribery
operation to win Chinese government business for his unit’s medical
records software, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said
Tuesday. (9/13)
Space Exploration Funding's Link with
Public Interest (Source: Brown Daily Herald)
“The message space exploration sends to the rest of the human race is
that when you get a bunch of people together who love what they do and
put their talent together, you can do almost anything,” said Michael
Genest, a key member of the Mission Control Center for the
International Space Station in his lecture, “The International Space
Station and The Future of Humans in Space,” Tuesday afternoon.
Despite NASA’s problem-solving abilities, the program is still faced
with significant challenges when it comes to funding and public
support. “The lifeblood of space exploration for now is funding,”
Genest said, and “as long as we’re in the Lewis and Clark mode of
exploration — government funded, expensive and therefore purely
exploratory — we’re going to be vulnerable to political will.”
One potential solution would be to “shift the center of gravity more to
a more self-interested, commercial model. Then the things that motivate
all commercial successes will motivate space flight,” Genest said.
Until there can be this shift toward a more commercial model, NASA has
attempted to gain public support through social media efforts and
through the internet. (9/13)
Proton Light and Medium Variants Focus
on Smaller Payloads (Source: ILS)
The Proton Light and Proton Medium vehicles will be capable of
launching payloads weighing between 3 and 5 metric tons, to
geostationary transfer orbit, ILS officials said. Proton Medium is
expected to debut in 2018, with the smaller vehicle to follow in 2019.
Proton Medium and Proton Light give ILS a more competitive offering for
satellites weighing 5 metric tons or less, which now make up more than
half the commercial market. This shift has been driven in part by the
introduction of electric propulsion systems that reduce – and in some
cases eliminate – the need for the dense chemical propellant that
satellites have traditionally used to fuel their climb to their final
geostationary orbit. (9/13)
We Need to Change the Wildly
Inefficient Way We Design Rockets (Source: Inverse)
There’s a renewed interest in exploring space, but the way we design
the rockets and propulsion systems that actually get people to the
final frontier is super inefficient and insanely expensive. If mankind
really wants to explore deep space, that has to change. So says Vigor
Yang, the William R. T. Oakes Professor and Chair at the Georgia
Institute of Technology’s School of Aerospace Engineering.
In the past, NASA and other agencies have spent up to 75 percent of
their recourses on testing and redesigning propulsion systems. To Yang,
that’s far too costly and not fast enough. High-fidelity designs —
careful and precise planning ahead of the testing stage — and a
“defense-in-depth” approach could make more advanced systems a reality.
Consider how engineers tried out pretty much everything when designing
the rockets that would eventually propel the Apollo missions to the
moon. For instance, the rockets required baffles — dividers used to
restrain or direct the flow of gas or fuel. Yang said the scientists
tested designs that had numbers of baffles ranging from a modest three
to an absurd 81. Click here.
(9/14)
Is SpaceX’s Rocket Failure Blue
Origin’s Opportunity? (Source: CS Monitor)
“Our mascot is the tortoise. We paint one on our vehicles after each
successful flight. Our motto is 'Gradatim Ferociter' – step by step,
ferociously. We believe ‘slow is smooth and smooth is fast.’ In the
long run, deliberate and methodical wins the day, and you do things
quickest by never skipping steps. This step-by-step approach is a
powerful enabler of boldness and a critical ingredient in achieving the
audacious,” Bezos said in the announcement, drawing attention to the
contrast between his company and Mr. Musk’s.
The traditionally secretive Blue Origin, meanwhile, has been focused on
space tourism and only cryptically alluded today to mysterious grand
plans for its space business and for human colonization. It isn’t
delivering cargo to space yet, but the company is starting to open its
curtain a little wider and offering glimpses into its spaceflight
developments. Blue Origin has good reason to be a little more public,
following several successful suborbital launches and booster, or
engine, landings of its New Shepard rocket.
"Look at the pattern of names,” Bey suggests. He points out that Blue
Origin rockets appear to have been strategically named after the
astronaut associated with each of the country’s major space milestones:
from the first person to reach space (Alan Shepard), to the first one
to orbit Earth (John Glenn), to the first person to walk on the moon
(Neil Armstrong). “But that’s a story for the future,” writes Bezos.
(9/12)
China's Aerospace Progress
(Source: CCTV)
China has been developing aerospace technologies for decades. Yet in
recent years, China has made significant progress in aerospace
activities, including satellite deployment, manned space flights, and
deep space exploration. China now has a complete satellite system,
ranging from scientific experiment to practical applications
satellites.
For high-resolution earth observation, six satellites named “Gaofen”
have been launched since 2013. They are equipped with optical and radar
sensors, which can work in all-weather conditions. China's Beidou
Navigation Satellite system is expected to have worldwide service by
2020. Also, it is set to consist of 35 satellites, with the 23rd having
been launched in June of this year. Click here.
(9/13)
SpaceX Targeting November Return to
Flight (Source: Ars Technica)
SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said the company "anticipates" a
return to flight as early as November, most likely from the Cape
Canaveral Spaceport. A return to flight in three months appears to be
aspirational, as SpaceX still has not identified the root cause of the
anomaly. Indeed, it remains unclear whether the problem occurred with
ground systems or the rocket itself. On Friday SpaceX founder Elon Musk
said the investigation was "turning out to be the most difficult and
complex failure we have ever had in 14 years."
Nevertheless, such a rigorous timeframe is consistent with SpaceX's
accelerated operational tempo, and it did receive praise from NASA in
2015 after quickly returning to flight following an upper stage failure
with the Falcon 9 rocket. Shotwell also confirmed Monday that the
launch of the Falcon Heavy rocket, which SpaceX had hoped to send up
late in 2016, would slip at least until the first quarter of 2017.
(9/13)
30 Ton Meteorite Found in Argentina
(Source: i4u)
Scientists have discovered a meteorite weighing over 30 tonnes in
northern Argentina. The meteorite was found in the town of Gancedo,
1,085 km north of capital Buenos Aires, Mario Vesconi, president of the
Astronomy Association of Chaco, said on Monday. "While we hoped for
weights above what had been registered, we did not expect it to exceed
30 tons," Vesconi said, adding that "the size and weight surprised us."
"It was in Campo del Cielo, where a shower of metallic meteorites fell
around 4,000 years ago," Vesconi added. The meteorite will be weighed
again to ensure an accurate measurement. The largest meteorite ever
found is called Hoba, weighing 66 tonnes in Namibia, Africa. (9/12)
Georgia Lawmaker Criticizes Spaceport
Critics (Source: Golden Isles News)
State Rep. Jason Spencer says opponents of a proposed spaceport in
Camden County are using “underhanded tactics” to block his proposed
Georgia Spaceflight Act. Opponents to the legislation that would
protect spaceport operators from nuisance claims are a group of
property owners who live part-time on Little Cumberland Island, he
said. “They live outside Camden County and they’re not part of the
community,” he said. “This is very elitist of them.”
Spencer, R-Woodbine, said he received an email from the Little
Cumberland Homes Association that outlines the strategy to use to stop
his proposed legislation. A state House spaceport subcommittee will
meet 8:15 to 11 a.m. today to discuss the project at the College of
Coastal Georgia auditorium in Kingsland. After the public meeting,
Spencer said the state legislators will tour the site and some will fly
over the launch site and Cumberland Island.
Supporters and opponents have been selected to speak to the state
lawmakers but members of the audience will not be allowed to ask
questions or voice their opinions. If the legislation is approved,
opponents believe it takes away their rights to sue if a rocket
accident causes death and property damage or to complain about light
pollution and noise. (9/13)
What’s Behind the Names of Chinese
Spacecraft? (Source: CCTV)
When China launched its first satellite in 1970, the country was far
from being the pioneer in space technology it is today. The test
satellite, named DFH-1, the acronym for Dong Fang Hong or "The East is
Red," had a simple telemetry system transmitter that played the tune
"The East is Red," a song which was the de facto anthem in the country
during the 1960s, to tell people around the globe how China was rising
to become a force to be reckon with.
China might have debuted its space program with a patriotic melody,
which gave its name to the spacecraft, but the country slowly started
to draw inspiration from its vivid mythology and lively legends to
refer to its vessels propelled into space.
Names like Chang'e (the Chinese goddess of the moon), Yutu or jade
rabbit (the pet of Chang'e), or Wukong (the rebellious Monkey King from
the Chinese classical novel "Journey to the West"), have become a
household name as well as synonyms of China's success in its
ever-evolving space program. We take a look at the fascinating stories
behind the names of some of China's most famous spacecraft. Click here.
(9/13)
Gripping Details Emerge of Air Force
Response to SpaceX Explosion (Source: SpaceFlight Insider)
“There’s been an explosion on Pad 40.” Chilling words, but when the
45th Space Wing’s Fire Chief made the call over the safety net, the
Incident Management Team (IMT) was ready. Having trained extensively
for this scenario, the team was quick to respond and began implementing
emergency operation procedures designed to protect the public, area
personnel, and site infrastructure.
Benefiting from constant training and preparation, the IMT was rapidly
mobilized and began stationing assets at strategic locations around
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station after a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket
exploded on the pad during a pre-test fueling operation. Click here.
(9/13)
Moon's Birth May Have Vaporized Most
of Earth, Study Shows (Source: Space.com)
The massive collision that created the moon may have vaporized most of
the early Earth, according to a new analysis of samples collected
during the Apollo moon missions. In the early days of planet formation,
a grazing collision between the newborn Earth and a Mars-size rock
named Theia (named after the mother of the moon in Greek myth) may have
led to the birth of the moon, according to a prevailing hypothesis.
Debris from the impact later coalesced into the moon.
This "giant-impact hypothesis" seemed to explain many details about
Earth and the moon, such as the large size of the moon compared with
Earth and the rotation rates of the two bodies. But in the last 15
years, evidence has arisen that has challenged scientists to alter the
details of this hypothesis.
In 2001, scientists began discovering that terrestrial and lunar rocks
had a lot in common: the two bodies possess many of the same chemical
isotopes. (Isotopes of an element have different numbers of neutrons
from each other. These subvarieties are identified by different
numbers; for example, potassium-39 or potassium-40). Isotopes can act
as geologic fingerprints, because prior work has suggested that
planetary bodies that formed in different parts of the solar system
generally have different isotopic compositions. Click here.
(9/13)
LeoLabs to Establish Space Debris
Tracking at Midland Texas (Source: Midland Dev. Corp.)
The Midland City Council and the Midland Development Corporation (MDC)
approved two agreements with LeoLabs, Inc., a company offering space
debris tracking services. The city of Midland has executed a License
Agreement regarding city-owned property for the use of LeoLabs. The MDC
has entered into a promotional agreement with LeoLabs, Inc., which will
include advertising and publicizing for the City of Midland for the
purpose of developing new and expanded business enterprises.
LeoLabs, Inc. is a dedicated to protecting satellites in Low Earth
Orbit (LEO). LeoLabs is building a world-wide network of radars to
track space debris and prevent collisions. The space industry is
growing rapidly as technology developments enable new services to be
offered from space. Many new satellites will be launched over the next
few years to provide imagery, communications, ship tracking services,
weather data, and more.
Space traffic congestion is a significant issue that will become more
pressing as more satellites are launched and the amount of space debris
grows due to collisions and satellite breakups. The CEO and cofounder
of LeoLabs, Dan Ceperley, said, “[We are] excited to work with the City
of Midland to deploy the Midland Space Radar, the first radar
purpose-built for commercial space debris tracking services.” (9/13)
Virginia Leaders Confront Disputes
with Northrop Grumman Over IT Contract (Source: WVIR)
Virginia could be heading toward a legal showdown over substantial
disagreements with Northrop Grumman. Virginia leaders plan to phase out
a massive contract with Northrop Grumman that deals with state agency
computers, email, servers, and other software programs. Those managing
the transition say they're having trouble getting the information they
need for new bidders.
“This was a whirlwind courtship, a short honeymoon, a rocky marriage,
and now we're headed for an ugly divorce,” said Delegate John O’Bannon
(R-73d District). Virginia's IT department, called the Virginia
Information Technologies Agency (VITA), has accused Northrop Grumman of
breach of contract five times this year. As a result, the commonwealth
is withholding more than $10 million in payments. (9/12)
Israel Launches Shavit Rocket.
Satellite Malfunctions. (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
Israel launched its Shavit rocket for the first time since 2014 on
Tuesday, carrying an Ofek reconnaissance satellite into low Earth
orbit. However, while Israel confirmed the satellite has reached orbit,
officials soon cited unspecified problems with the spacecraft during
the checkout period post-launch.
Tuesday’s launch, which appears to have carried an optical imaging
satellite, took place at 16:38 local time from the Palmachim airbase on
Israel’s Mediterranean coast following a 24-hour delay due to adverse
weather. Israel did not announce the launch until the spacecraft was
already in orbit. Reports shortly after the launch suggested that the
satellite had experienced some form of problem during its early phases
of operation. (9/13)
We Just Lived Through the Hottest
Summer on Record, According to NASA (Source: Mic)
We just lived through the hottest August on record, in the hottest
summer on record, during the hottest 11 months on record, according to
a report released Monday by NASA. NASA has been analyzing global
temperatures going all the way back to 1880 — when global temperatures
first began being comprehensively recorded — which means this is the
hottest its been in at least 136 years.
Scientists at the agency's Goddard Institute for Space Studies
explained in the report that while July is ordinarily the hottest month
of the year, August tied it this year. In addition to being tied for
the hottest month on record, August was 1.76 degrees Fahrenheit warmer
than the month's average temperature between 1951 and 1980, GISS' base
period to which subsequent data is compared.
While the increases in temperature may seem incremental, the cumulative
effect can be devastating. As global temperatures rise, temperatures in
the Arctic are rising even faster. As the earth becomes warmer, ice in
the Arctic melts. The ice, however, crucially reflects energy from the
sun back into space, and when it melts, the water and rocks that take
its place absorb more of the sun's energy — making temperatures even
hotter in the region. (9/12)
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