August 21 News Items

Russian, European Space Agencies to Develop Manned Spaceship (Source: RIA Novosti)
The Russian and European space agencies will develop a manned transport spaceship for flights to the International Space Station, the Moon and Mars, the head of the Russian agency said. "We agreed today with Jean-Jacques Dordain, the head of the European Space Agency, to form a working group to deal with developing a piloted transport system to fly to the International Space Station, the Moon and Mars," Anatoly Perminov said. "In September, representatives of the Russian and European space industry will start their work," he said, adding that a work scheme would be developed by the end of the year.

No Spaceflight, But Weightlessness a Nice Consolation for Teacher (Source: Gainesville [Georgia] Times)
She didn't make the cut for one of NASA's educator astronaut positions. But Tracy Robar, a Gainesville High School math teacher, still will get to embark on the thrill ride of a lifetime. She is set to fly Sept. 13 on the Weightless Flight of Discovery, sponsored by Northrop Grumman and ZERO-G. Sixty teachers will soar aboard a ZERO-G's G-Force One under the program. Northrop Grumman is bearing all the costs, including the flight suit Robar will wear and a video of the flight she can share with her students.

Soyuz Pad in Guiana Designed to Allow Human Spaceflight Expansion (Source: ERAU)
A delegation from NASA visited Europe's Kourou spaceport in French Guiana to inspect Ariane launch processing methods. They also got a first-hand view of new Vega and Soyuz launch pads under development at the spaceport. The new Soyuz launch tower is being designed to accommodate future expansion for human space missions.

NASA, NOAA Forge Closer Ties On Satellite Programs (Source: Aviation Week)
NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) plan to strengthen their satellite ties in the coming fiscal year with the re-establishment of an effort modeled after the Operational Satellite Improvement Program (OSIP) the agencies implemented in the 1970s. The OSIP "explicitly placed NASA in the role of technology developer and NOAA in the role of sustaining satellite operations," the agencies say in a recent report to Congress. Under the new OSIP program, NASA and NOAA would jointly define instrument requirements for Earth science spacecraft. NASA would develop and launch new instruments to demonstrate their viability, while NOAA would plan and budget for the transition of those instruments into operational systems, including paying for the operational spacecraft.

Shuttle Lands at Cape Canaveral Spaceport (Source: SpaceRef.com)
Space Shuttle Endeavour touched down at Kennedy Space Center at 12:32 p.m. Tuesday, ending its mission to the International Space Station. Endeavour returned home two weeks after it launched from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport.

NASA Glenn Gets Role in New Spacecraft Design (Source: Cleveland Plain Dealer)
Plans moved forward Monday for the NASA Glenn Research Center in Brook Park to help develop a new generation of spacecraft with the awarding of a $51.4 million contract. Benham Constructors LLC of Oklahoma City will build facilities in and around the giant thermal vacuum chamber at NASA's Plum Brook Station in Sandusky to test the conditions that the next generation of spacecraft are likely to face, starting with the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle. NASA Glenn manages the Plum Brook Station. The Orion is expected to carry astronauts to the moon and back to the International Space Station starting in 2019. Glenn's Plum Brook facilities also will be used to develop NASA's Constellation program for explorations to the moon, Mars and other destinations, NASA said.

Space Task Force Continues Podcasts (Source: STF)
The Space Task Force continues to post periodic space-themed podcasts at http://www.spacetaskforce.com/. The Florida-based organization sponsors interviews and discussions on aerospace industry news and events.

New Mexico Considers Concepts for Spaceport Visitor Center (Source: Las Cruces Sun-News)
The New Mexico Spaceport Authority was presented with a feasibility study for Spaceport America welcome centers, one of which is planned for the small farming community in northern Doña Ana County. The $198 million Spaceport America project — scheduled for completion in late 2009 or early 2010 in southern Sierra County — includes $1 million welcome centers and park-and-ride facilities in nearby Hatch and Truth or Consequences.

Moondust Miners Dig for $250,000 in NASA Prize Money (Source: WIRED)
Four couch-sized contraptions, all clearly homebuilt, sit inside a cavernous building at the Santa Maria, California, fairgrounds. One, made of unfinished wood, has denim conveyor belts running over purple and orange plastic beads. It's the brainchild of a boiler engineer from Michigan, whose girlfriend sewed the belts. Another, cobbled together by a systems analyst from nearby Arroyo Grande, features a set of steel trays attached to a long bicycle chain. A team of Los Angeles engineers used precisely machined aluminum and incorporated a toothed rotor that spins like a waterwheel. The tallest of the bunch, standing about 5 feet high, is a clattering assemblage of aluminum scoops mounted on a red conveyor. It represents a year and a half of work by 11 University of Missouri students, two of whom drove 30 hours to get the thing here. They're still scrambling to apply the finishing touches, slapping masking tape on the cups and adjusting bungee cords to keep it upright.

In a moment, the machines will face their opponent: a heap of fake moondust. This is the Regolith Excavation Challenge, a NASA-sponsored competition aimed at applying outsider ingenuity to space colonization. "We think of it as DIY punk rock meets high tech," says Matt Everingham, a fresh-faced engineer with the California Space Authority, the trade group cohosting the contest. Visit http://www.wired.com/science/space/magazine/15-09/ps_moondust to view the article.

RocketPlane Kistler Venture Failing to Win Investors (Source: Wall Street Journal)
In a potentially serious blow to privately supported space-exploration efforts, a project to develop a private-sector rocket to serve the International Space Station has failed to secure investors. Negotiations between a group of prospective commercial investors and a reusable-rocket venture led by closely held Rocketplane Kistler Inc. have broken down, according to industry officials familiar with the details. Alternative funding for the $500 million needed to keep the project on track is uncertain, these officials said. Rocketplane officials had said they were working on fresh financing and still expected the project to succeed, but declined to elaborate.

Shuttle Work May Stall Other Launches (Source: USA Today)
NASA officials are optimistic that space shuttle Endeavour will land safely Tuesday, but they conceded Monday that future shuttle launches are in jeopardy. Just two months before the next planned mission, NASA has decided to revamp a section of the shuttle's fuel tank that cracked off during Endeavour's Aug. 8 launch and gouged the shuttle's heat shield. The dent does not threaten the crew's safety, NASA says.

The next shuttle mission is scheduled for Oct. 23. Any fuel-tank fix could probably be applied soon enough for that flight to lift off on time, said shuttle program manager Wayne Hale. The odds are much lower for a Dec. 6 flight: a milestone mission to add the first European component to the International Space Station. An overhaul of the fuel tank slated to be used on the October mission will tie up NASA's tank hangar. That would keep technicians from starting work on the fuel tank assigned to the December flight.

Return from Arctic Mars (Source: MSNBC)
The Mars Society’s 100-day simulation of an expedition to the Red Planet is wrapping up in the Canadian Arctic - and although some have scoffed at the exercise as little more than grown-ups "pretending to be space explorers," a prominent NASA researcher who participated in the effort says the crew has done groundbreaking research. "The work that this crew has done will contribute to studies of Mars and to studies of the response of permafrost on Earth to global warming," Chris McKay of NASA's Ames Research Center. "Their pioneering simulation of crew operations on Mars time is by far the best work on this topic ever done. It sets the standard for future Mars mission simulations such as the proposed European Space Agency 500-day mission."

India Investing Funds in Manned Space Flight Program (Source: Itar-Tass)
India will invest within the coming five years some $1.5 billion in the development of a set of technologies to carry out a manned space flight by 2015. Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) ManhaVan Nair said that most of the designing, research and technical jobs would be completed already within the current five-year period – up to 2012. Indian experts still lack the necessary experience to build vehicles guaranteeing human safety on board. It is also necessary to increase the dependability of the booster rocket, which was earlier developed to place heavy satellites on a geosynchronic orbit. ISRO is hatching some other ambitious plans, too. “The leading global space powers have already announced their preparations to set up manned bases on the Moon in 2020,” Nair noted. “We believe India should not lag behind them,” he added.

India to Launch INSAT-4CR from Sriharikota on Sept. 1 (Source: The Hindu)
India is planning to launch its latest communication satellite, INSAT-4CR, from Sriharikota spaceport on September 1. This spacecraft is identical to INSAT-4C, which was lost during the unsuccessful launch of Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-F02) in July last year. INSAT-4CR, which has a mission life of ten years, carries 12 high-power Ku-band transponders designed to provide direct-to-home television services, facilitate video picture transmission and digital satellite news gathering.

Aerospace Group Spent $280,000 Lobbying (Source: AP)
The Aerospace Industries Association of America spent $280,000 to lobby the federal government in the first half of 2007, according to a federal disclosure form. The group lobbied Congress, the White House and various agencies, including NASA, the Federal Aviation Administration and the departments of Defense and State, on topics ranging from agency budgets and workforce issues, to acquisition reform and space exploration.

Space Solar Energy Has Future, U.S. Researchers Say (Source: USInfo.state.gov)
Beam solar energy directly from space, and disaster relief expeditions could power all their equipment with no more than a few portable antennas and converters. Campers could use such energy to cook dinners using nothing more than a cell phone-like device. But the primary beneficiaries of such a technological feat would be the many communities that would be able to tap into space solar energy fed into power grids. Terrestrial solar power stations already exist throughout the world. But sunlight is eight times less intense on the earth’s surface than in its geostationary orbit. So why not collect it in space and beam its energy to Earth via microwave power beam, which can penetrate the atmosphere more efficiently, ask U.S. researchers.

They have proposed putting in orbit mega-satellites -- giant, possibly inflatable structures of photovoltaic arrays and antennas -- that would do just that. At receiving stations on Earth, the beam could be converted into electricity or synthetic fuels, which, in contrast to power from terrestrial solar power stations, would flow continuously to the grid independent of the season, weather or location. Click here to view the article.