July 21 News Items

Northrop Grumman Buys Builder of SpaceShipOne (Source: Space News)
Northrop Grumman Corp. agreed July 5 to increase its stake in Scaled Composites - the builder of the X-Prize-winning SpaceShipOne and a host of record-breaking aircraft - from 40 percent to 100 percent, Northrop Grumman spokesman Dan McClain confirmed July 20. The company expects the deal to close in August pending regulatory approval by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Scaled Composites currently is working with Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic venture on a vehicle designated for now as SpaceShipTwo, which would carry two pilots and six paying passengers into suborbital space for a few minutes of weightlessness. The company also is building a new carrier aircraft, dubbed WhiteKnight2, will carry SpaceShipTwo to an altitude of 15 kilometers before releasing it to soar to suborbital space.

Atlantis Stay of Execution Reversed in New Manifest (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
Atlantis has only two missions remaining - STS-122 and STS-125 - according to a new FAWG (Flight Assignment Working Group) manifest, which shows the orbiter is once again set for retirement in 2008. The rationale for the U-turn is unclear, given Atlantis is no longer required to enter an OMDP (Orbiter Maintenance Down Period) in 2008. The move will see Atlantis cannibalized for spare parts, and could lead to an early reduction in numbers of the United Space Alliance workforce.

Component Glitch Delays Japan Lunar Launch (Source: Space News)
The Japanese space agency, JAXA, has postponed the scheduled Aug. 16 launch of its Kaguya lunar orbiter mission on an H-2A rocket after discovering problems with spacecraft components that were improperly installed. No new launch date has been scheduled.

Martian Dust Storms Imperil NASA Rovers (Source: Space News)
NASA warned July 20 that severe dust storms that have obscured the surface of Mars could damage or even cripple the Spirit and Opportunity rovers that have been traversing the red planet's surface since 2004. The dust is blocking out the sunlight that the rovers use to recharge their batteries. If the sun's rays are blocked out for an extended period, the rovers will be unable to keep themselves warm enough to operate. The brightness of the sun as viewed from the surface is now down to less than 5 percent of what it would be with a perfectly transparent atmosphere.

Spacehab Chief Invites Venture Pitches (Source: Space News)
Spacehab President Thomas Boone Pickens, son of the famous Texas oil tycoon, is looking for new space ventures to fund. Pickens has extended an open invitation to space entrepreneurs to come to Spacehab to pitch their ideas. Pickens said in an interview that his Houston-based company is establishing a "technology incubator" called SpaceTech to serve as a venture capital fund for promising new space businesses.

Brazilian Suborbital Launch Goes Awry (Source: Space News)
The Brazilian Space Agency launched a suborbital rocket carrying nine scientific experiments July 19, but was scrambling to recover the payload, which went off course during its descent. The VSB-30 rocket, which made its initial flight Dec. 1, 2005, in Sweden, was launched 242 kilometers high from the Alcantâra Launch Center in the state of Maranhão. The rocket spent approximately 19 minutes aloft, including about six in space. The descent went off-course due to telemetry signal discrepancies. Teams from the Brazilian Air Force and Navy were sent to recover the payload but had yet to recover it as of press time.

MDA Cancels Plan to Procure Low-Cost Target Missiles (Source: Space News)
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) has canceled an effort to field inexpensive missile targets. The Low Cost Assessment Targets program was intended to field "low cost, quick turn-around missile systems that can be used for assessing and calibrating sensor system developments and modifications, payload developments, sounding rocket experiments, and limited intercept experiments." However, industry's responses, as well as further analysis by the MDA, led the agency to conclude that "potential requirements are insufficient to support continuation of the acquisition," according to a July 18 Internet posting by MDA.

Europe Struggles With Research Satellites (Source: Space News)
Europe's Goce gravity-field and ocean-circulation observation satellite is two years behind schedule following what designers agree were overly ambitious performance and schedule demands but is now on track for a March 2008 launch. The satellite, expected to weigh 1,100 kilograms at launch, is designed to operate from about 250 kilometers in altitude - the lowest orbit ever intentionally used by a European satellite - following its launch aboard a Russian Rockot launch vehicle operated by the German-Russian firm Eurockot Launch Vehicles GmbH. Keeping the satellite steady to permit sensitive gravity-field measurements while compensating for the considerable atmospheric drag at that altitude are part of a host of design challenges. The satellite has no moving parts, and will be powered by small xenon-ion electric motors whose continuous pulses will correct for drag.

Russia Informs Customers Two Satellites Will Be Late (Source: Space News)
The Russian Satellite Communications Co. (RSCC), which until late June had been telling potential customers its Express AM33 and AM44 telecommunications satellites would be available this year, has reversed itself and now says both satellites will be up to half a year late. RSCC says it only recently was informed by its satellite-payload supplier, Thales Alenia Space, that the hardware would not be delivered as scheduled to the prime contractor. The late deliveries will cost the satellite-fleet operator substantially in lost revenue from customers whose contracts stipulate a start date in 2007.

Britain Considering Giving More Authority, Own Budget, to Space Agency (Source: Space News)
A British Parliamentary committee has proposed that Britain's space agency, which currently has less power and influence than its major European counterparts, be given more authority to make early decisions on European programs.

Witness: Plan Would Mitigate QuikSCAT Loss (Source: Aerospace Daily)
The NOAA plan in the event the QuikSCAT satellite fails could mitigate the loss of its data "very effectively" and preserve the quality of hurricane forecasting, a NOAA laboratory director told House lawmakers. Three studies have been undertaken to address the potential degradation to computer hurricane forecasts that might result if QuikSCAT was lost. "In my opinion, the preponderance of evidence from the three studies indicates that computer model forecasts of landfalling hurricanes, especially in the 2-5 day time range, could be degraded if we do not mitigate the loss effectively," said the NOAA official. But "NOAA has recently developed an effective mitigation plan that would make substantial use of other satellites as well as enhanced aircraft observations." If QuikSCAT were to fail today, the National Hurricane Center could use data from the ASCAT European satellite, although it doesn't have the same kind of resolution and coverage of QuikSCAT, which can gather data over an 1,800-kilometer wide swath of ocean.