June 14 News Items
Stardust Memories as Space Becomes Final Frontier in Funerals (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
A Canadian company, Columbiad Launch Services, is taking orders for a launch service provided by an Earth-bound ballistic gun, which fires a missile-shaped vehicle to a height of up to 250 kilometers (155 miles), at which point the ashes are scattered into space and allowed to drift to Earth. Pioneering and poetic -- or borderline macabre, according to your view -- burials in space seem set for a rosy future. Since the cremated remains of Gene Roddenberry, the creator of the TV sci-fi series Star Trek, rocketed into the cosmos a decade ago, the ashes of more than 300 other deceased have followed suit. Of more than 300 "celestial burials" that have taken place since 1997, most concern men and women who during their life fell in love with the heavens, and whose loved ones believe a space send-off is the most fitting tribute of all.
By 2012, as many as 10,000 such burials could be conducted each year, says a Houston, Texas aerospace company, Space Services Inc., the vanguard in an unusual but highly promising, er, undertaking. To be clear, what is being sent in space is not the full remains -- just a symbolic thimbleful of ashes, typically weighing a few grams, which are encased in a small capsule. There are no bodies or body parts. The capsules are then loaded into a small scientific or commercial satellite that has a bit of spare payload for sale. Under the company's "Earth Return Service," the ashes are sent in a sub-orbital loop, reaching an altitude of some 72 miles before the craft parachutes back to Earth for recovery. The cost: $495 for a gram, $995 for seven grams.
Atlas Launched Scrubbed, Friday Attempt Planned (Source: Florida Today)
A problem with the range safety system that protects the people and property from an out-of-control rocket mishap has forced the cancellation of today's Atlas V launch from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. The launch and range safety teams worked into the final minutes of the window trying to get the system cleared for flight, but could not do so.
Secret Spaceflight Readied At Cape Canaveral Spaceport (Source: Aviation Week)
Two top secret National Reconnaissance Office/Navy ocean surveillance spacecraft to track terrorist movements at sea are being readied for launch from Cape Canaveral on June 14. Liftoff is planned between 11:18 a.m. and noon EDT on board a nearly 200-ft.-tall U.S. Air Force Atlas V Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle. One unusual aspect of this secret U.S. military flight is that the Atlas V is powered by Russian RD-180 engines designed during the Cold War. It is likely that Air Force fighters will fly patrols near the launch site to guard against any airborne terrorist attacks on the mission.
ERAU Students Compete in Women's Air Race (Source: ERAU)
Heather Cupitt and Ashley Szasz, both very recent graduates of the Aeronautical Science program at Embry-Riddle, are representing the university in the 2007 Air Race Classic, an all-women's race originally known as the "Powder Puff Derby." They will be competing against 46 other teams from around the nation in a four-day navigation contest, June 19-22, from Oklahoma City to St. Johns, Newfoundland. Details of their experiences are on their website: http://www.freewebs.com/riddleracers/. They will update their website during the race as time allows. Please sign their electronic guestbook to cheer them on.
Is the Space Station a Money Pit? (Source: Time)
Today, the most underachieving machine NASA ever dreamed up got into trouble again, when computers that control the station’s oxygen, water supply and orientation failed. The good news is, the shuttle and station astronauts are not in much danger at all. The bad news is, the station has once again proven itself unworthy of all of the time, money and attention that has been lavished on it over the last two decades...If your SUV occasionally needs a trip to the shop, imagine what it takes to keep a complicated leviathan like this going.
The latest breakdown occurred in computers built and supplied by Russia. The station carries at least a 56-day reserve supply of oxygen, and while it doesn't keep as much water on board, there's more than enough to keep anyone from going thirsty for a good while. A bigger potential problem is the loss of precise control over station orientation. Part of the reason for Atlantis's current visit is to install a new pair of solar arrays, just two of several such reflective wings that help supply the station with power. But collecting solar energy means being able to keep yourself pointed toward the sun, not so easy if you're drifting off center. The computers also help orient the station to avoid space debris and move into position for docking with the shuttle or arriving cargo ships. For now, the shuttle's thrusters and the station's own gyroscopes will keep things reasonably stable, but that is not a permanent fix.
The larger question, as always, is why we're bothering with this whole program in the first place. The station was originally proposed 23 years ago as an $8 billion orbiting laboratory that would perform cutting-edge biological research, manufacture new and highly marketable materials impossible to make in the gravity environment of Earth and generally pay for itself many times over. Close to two decades past deadline and now carrying a projected $100 billion price tag, it has not returned a lick of good science — nor is it likely to. Meantime, it's diverting billions from NASA's budget that could better be spent on the agency's brilliantly successful unmanned space program, as well as its promising efforts to return astronauts to the moon and eventually explore Mars.
Dawn Spacecraft Never Damaged; Set To Launch July 7 (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
Marc Rayman who is helping oversee the Dawn launch campaign team at KSC says: "the report of a worker falling [on the Dawn spacecraft] is wrong; I don't know how such a rumor even got started. A tool made inadvertent contact with the back of the solar array (i.e., the side without solar cells). There is no reason to expect this to have an effect on our plans to launch on July 7."
Proton-M Rocket With US Satellite To Lift Off July 7 (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
The launch of a U.S. telecommunications satellite, DirecTV-10, on board a Russian Proton-M rocket has been scheduled for July 7. The DirecTV-10 is a commercial telecommunications satellite designed and manufactured by Boeing to provide service across continental United States, Hawaii, and Alaska.
Rocketplane Kistler Missed May COTS Milestone (Source: Space News)
NASA says it intends to continue subsidizing development of Rocketplane Kistler's K-1 reusable rocket despite the company's failure to meet a May financial milestone.
EADS Seeks Investors in Space Tourism Vehicle (Source: Space News)
Europe's biggest aerospace company, EADS, has concluded that carrying wealthy tourists to 100 kilometers in altitude for several minutes of weightlessness could be a multibillion-dollar industry in 20 years and is seeking co-investors to build a rocket plane it already has designed.
House Panel Recommends Increasing NASA and NOAA Budgets (Source: Space News)
A House appropriations subcommittee voted June 11 to give NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) more money for 2008 than the White House was seeking for either agency.
Major Computer Problem Looms Over Space Station (Source: Reuters)
A major, new problem popped up on the Space Station as space shuttle astronauts finished installing a new solar-power unit -- the failure of key computers that could in an extreme scenario force the crew off the station. The failure occurred in computers on the Russian segment of the 16-nation station, computers that control navigation and key life-support systems on the huge orbital base. Without them, the station cannot maintain proper orbit and the crew cannot stay on board. The station relies mostly on big gyroscopes to maintain its proper orientation but also uses control jets and navigation systems run by the troubled computers to help. NASA expects to be able to fix the problem and there are numerous alternatives short of taking the crew off the station. NASA is considering extending the visit of space shuttle Atlantis to use its attitude-control jets and life support to supplement the station's while engineers work on the problem.
European Firm Rockets into Space Tourism (Source: BBC)
The European aerospace giant EADS is going into the space tourism business. Its Astrium division says it will build a space plane capable of carrying fare-paying passengers on a sub-orbital ride more than 100km above the planet. The vehicle, which will take off from a normal airport, will give the tourists a three-to-five-minute experience of weightlessness at the top of its climb. Tickets are expected to cost up to 200,000 euros, with flights likely to begin in 2012. EADS Astrium is the company that builds the Ariane rocket, which lofts most of the world's commercial satellites.
Its space jet is a very different concept, however. From a certain angle, the vehicle resembles an ordinary executive aircraft - but its engineers claim it is in fact "revolutionary". The production model will use normal jet engines to take off and climb to 12km. From there, a rocket engine will kick the vehicle straight up, taking it beyond 60km in just 80 seconds. By the time the rocket shuts down, the craft should have sufficient velocity to carry it above 100km - into space.
Sen. Martinez, Rep. Crenshaw Hail Cargo Plane Contract Benefiting Cecil Field (Source: Sen. Martinez)
U.S. Senator Mel Martinez (R-FL) and Rep. Ander Crenshaw (R-FL) welcomed the decision by the Department of Defense awarding the team of L-3 Communications Integrated Systems, Boeing, and Alenia North America the contract for building the military’s next cargo plane. The team has already announced plans for production and final assembly of the C-27J Spartan aircraft at Cecil Commerce Center near Jacksonville.
Editorial: An Ethical Disaster (Source: Florida Today)
The astronauts of NASA's space shuttle Atlantis are making the daunting and dangerous seem almost routine. The ship's crew -- and everyone involved in the mission -- represent NASA at its best in meeting the highest standards of dedication and professionalism. The same cannot be said of NASA's inspector general Robert Cobb. He's an ethical disaster who damages the office every day he remains on the job, and should be fired by President Bush, who appointed him in 2002, for numerous indefensible actions. They include abuse of employees, lax agency oversight, derailing investigations and chummy relationships with NASA bosses -- including his golfing and drinking buddy, former Administrator Sean O'Keefe -- whom he was supposed to monitor.
MacDonald Dettwiler Selling Space Assets (Source: Reuters)
Canada's MacDonald Dettwiler & Associates has put its surveillance and space businesses up for sale, but potential buyers are balking at the roughly $1 billion asking price, The Wall Street Journal reported. Four U.S. defense contractors, including Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman and Alliant Techsystems expressed interest but opted against a bid, the Journal said.
Liberty, EchoStar Plot Intelsat Bid (Source: Wall Street Journal)
Liberty Media Corp. and EchoStar Communications Corp. are preparing a surprising joint offer for satellite-communications provider Intelsat Ltd., which is accepting final bids for its auction today. The pairing represents a bold cooperation between satellite-TV broadcaster EchoStar and media holding company Liberty, which is slated to take control of competing satellite-broadcaster DirecTV Group Inc. in the coming months. The two firms still could decide against making a formal bid. Intelsat is expected to draw bids of $4.5 billion to more than $5.5 billion, according to people familiar with the auction.
Scientists in Costa Rica Set Plasma Engine Record (Source: Reuters)
Scientists in Costa Rica have run a plasma rocket engine continuously for a record of more than four hours, the latest achievement in a mission to cut costs and travel time for spacecraft. The Ad Astra Rocket Company, led by Costa Rican-born former NASA astronaut Franklin Chang-Diaz, said it hopes to use its rocket engines to stabilize space stations in a few years, and then to power a trip to Mars within two decades. "The first objective is to move small spacecraft in low orbit by 2010," said a company executive. Scientists at Ad Astra's Houston laboratory are conducting tests aimed at boosting the engine's overall power, while in Costa Rica they focus on endurance.
No Injuries at NASA Glenn Fire (Source: FOX)
Fire ripped through insulation outside a testing building at the NASA Glenn Research Center. There were no injuries and none of the work supporting the current space shuttle flight was affected. No damage estimate was immediately available for the fire at the deicing research building. The building is being renovated. NASA Glenn consists of 24 major facilities and buildings on 350 acres next to the airport and the 6,400-acre Plum Brook Station about 45 miles west in Sandusky.
New Evidence Points to Oceans on Mars (Source: EurekAlert)
Scientists have found new evidence to support the presence of large oceans on Mars in the past. The research suggests that changes in Mars’ orientation with respect to its axis might be responsible for large variations in the topography of shoreline-like features on the planet. Scientists have studied these features for more than 30 years, and the current study presents a new, alternative explanation for how they formed. Geophysicists have discovered that irregularities in proposed Martian shorelines might be explained by surface deformation from “true polar wander.” Through this phenomenon, Mars' spin axis and poles shifted by nearly 3,000 kilometers along the surface sometime within the past 2 or 3 billion years.
Russian Space Official Arrested for Spying in Austria (Source: RIA Novosti)
A Russian national detained by Austrian police on allegations of spying is an employee of the Russian Space Agency. Police in the town of Gmunden in northern Austria had arrested the man in connection with suspected involvement in military espionage. The paper also said an Austrian Air Force officer who allegedly passed on classified information to the Russian spy, had been detained following a lengthy surveillance operation conducted by Austrian military counterintelligence. The Austrian suspect, who served as a technician in the Austrian Air Force and had many contacts with civilian firms in Germany, could have supplied the Russian spy with electronic research data.
Shuttle Workers Ready to Strike (Source: Florida Today)
A union representing 580 space shuttle program workers at the Kennedy Space Center indicated that a strike is looming, after an unsuccessful meeting Wednesday with a federal mediator. "We will be going on strike," union spokesman Bob Wood said. "I don't see much of anything that would stop it at this point. That's what we're moving toward." Representatives of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Lodge 2061 and District 166 met with United Space Alliance and the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, seeking to resolve a contract dispute. The union said the company's proposal remained unchanged from one the union previously rejected.
Europe Delays ATV Launch Again, Aims for January 2008 (Source: Space News)
The launch of Europe's unmanned cargo-transfer vehicle to the international space station has slipped again, to mid-January at the earliest. The European Space Agency (ESA) council agreed June 14 after deciding that neither the vehicle nor the orbital complex would be fully ready for the vehicle's arrival before then.
U.S. Defense Official Says China Budget Figures are Understated (Source: Space News)
The Defense Department accused China of deceptively shrouding what it spends on rapidly expanding weapons programs including technology to disrupt U.S. space programs.
Kazakhstan Terminates Joint Space Project with Russia (Source: Interfax)
Kazakhstan has decided to close Ishim joint space project with Russia. Creation of a new aerospace rocket complex will be halted due to economic unreasonableness. The idea was to create Ishim as a complex for launching small aerospace vehicles. It was to be based on MiG-31 planes capable of lifting a small rocket. Benefiting from its own engine, the rocket would separate from the plane at the scheduled altitude, ascend higher and place a payload into orbit.
Editorial: Challenges Ahead for NASA (Source: Denver Post)
Trips into outer space have become so common that the public hardly pays attention. But a 4-by-6-inch hole created in space shuttle Atlantis' thermal blanket during Friday's launch has prompted some to take notice. It's a stark reminder that NASA is dealing with an aging fleet of vehicles that need to be upgraded for the 21st century. NASA's next manned spacecraft, Orion, and accompanying rockets will be designed to take astronauts to the space station and eventually to the moon and Mars. But NASA and aerospace industry leaders are concerned about funding, and the gap between the time the last shuttle flies and Orion makes its debut.
Lockheed Martin chief executive Robert Stevens recently said NASA's $17.3 billion proposed 2008 budget is less than the annual sales of candy and gum and less than half what Americans spend on their pets. Congress needs to ensure that it is funding the space program at levels that allow NASA to make a quick and safe transition to new spacecraft.
Alexander Joins X PRIZE Foundation as Executive Director, Space (Source: X Prize Foundation)
The X PRIZE Foundation announced today the appointment of Bretton Alexander to the position of Executive Director, Space Prizes and Wirefly X PRIZE Cup. Alexander previously worked for presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush as Senior Policy Analyst for space issues in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. In his new role, Alexander will work to secure financing, create rules, recruit teams, develop rollout and media plans and investigate international partnerships for all future space-related prizes for the X PRIZE Foundation. Additionally, he will create and manage content for the annual Wirefly X PRIZE Cup and Holloman Air and Space Expo.
Fire Alarm Aboard ISS Caused by Computer Error (Source: Itar-Tass)
A fire alarm indicator activated in the Russian segment Zarya on board the ISS caused a false fire alarm. It was an ordinary incident of computer failure on board the ISS, the NASA expert said. There were similar incidents caused by malfunctioning of the same meters established in different places on board the ISS in the past as well, he said. Neither fire nor signs of fire fumes were found.
Sea Launch Concludes Investigation of Launch Failure (Source: SeaLaunch)
The Sea Launch Failure Review Oversight Board (FROB) has concluded its review of the findings of an interagency CIS Joint Commission, which has been investigating the cause of the unsuccessful launch of January 30, 2007. All systems have been cleared for operations, pending completion and tests of all repairs on the Launch Platform. The commission concluded on March 12 that the failure initiated in the liquid oxygen (LOx) turbopump section of the RD-171M main engine. Following the initial FROB meeting in April with the commission, the Sea Launch partners performed internal inspections of already manufactured and tested RD-171M engines, with the objective of confirming the LOx feed system and pumps were free of debris.
NASA's Dawn Spacecraft Damaged (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
The Dawn mission won't be delayed past it's July 7 launch date target, despite news of damage occurring on part of the spacecraft. A solar array appears to have been damaged - when a worker fell, or as now being stated, dropped an item on to the power generating panels - engineers are carrying out evaluations on Dawn to find out what is the full extent of the damage.
Spacewalkers Face Workaday Glitches (Source: LA Times)
Two astronauts spent nearly seven hours outside the International Space Station on Wednesday struggling with problems familiar to any driveway tinkerer: bolts that wouldn't give and crossed wiring. In the end, spacewalkers Steve Swanson and Pat Forrester were able to partially retract an old set of solar panels and prepare a 10-foot, wheel-like rotary joint that will allow a new set, brought by the shuttle Atlantis, to track the sun. During a second spacewalk, astronauts encountered wiring a problem while installing a set of mechanical assemblies on the new solar arrays.
Controllers were able to activate one of the assemblies remotely, but not the other. As a result, ground controllers decided not to fully remove the restraining bolts that held the rotary joint in place during the trip to space. Completion of the job will be left to a future spacewalk.
Japan to Launch Lunar Orbiter on August 16 (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
Japan will launch a lunar orbiter on August 16 to collect data for research of the moon's origin and evolution. The probe will consist of a main unit, which will circulate 100 kilometres (60 miles) above the moon, and two small satellites. It will be launched from the spaceport on the isle of Tanegashima off the southern tip of Kyushu Island, southern Japan, aboard a domestic H-IIA rocket for a one-year mission.
