November 5 News Items

Delta 4 Heavy Mission Planned for Nov. 8 (Source: Space News)
The Air Force plans the first operational use of a new rocket Nov. 8 when it launches the last of the current generation of U.S. missile warning satellites aboard the largest version of the Delta 4 Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle. The launch of the Defense Support Program (DSP)-23 spacecraft currently is targeted at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport on the same day the space shuttle is due to return to Earth. The priority given to the manned mission could cause the launch of the missile warning satellite to slip by a day or two.

Satellites Crowd Space to Keep Up With Demand from Telecom (Source: DailyBreeze.com)
Outer space will soon be a much more crowded place. Skyrocketing demand for broadband and other communication networks is creating a boon for satellite makers and launchers - who are expected to shoot about 125 satellites into orbit during the next five years. That will nearly double the number of satellites circling the Earth today. This is all good news for companies such as Boeing, the world's largest satellite maker - having built about 85 of the 150 satellites in operation now - and the companies that launch them. "There is a healthy continuing workload in satellites to keep the launch people busy," said Howard Chambers, vice president of Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems. "You should see, in the next five years, 100 to 125 more satellites launched," Chambers said, adding that the number may double if you include military launches. Satellites are used for communications, navigation, intelligence gathering, weather and business-to-business communications in what Chambers refers to as "bent pipes."

E'Prime Receives Launch Site Policy Review Approval (Source: E'Prime)
E'Prime Aerospace announced the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA/AST) has completed the interagency portion of the policy review for E'Prime's launch site license application A-07-EPA-121. Furthermore, the Departments of Defense, and State, and NASA cited no issues, including START Treaty compliance, associated with E'Prime's proposed canister launch program that would adversely impact U.S. National Security or Foreign Policy interests. This determination finally removes all restrictions imposed by the START Treaty based on design parameters to be used in the manufacture of E'Prime's largest motor designated the ESM-9 which was previously prohibited from use by the START Treaty.

Columbus Launch Puts Space Law to the Test (Source: European Science Foundation)
Whose law will apply when Europe’s Columbus space laboratory joins the US-led International Space Station in December? And what happens if astronauts from different countries get into a fight? Dr Ulrike Bohlmann, of ESA’s legal department, told the conference that space law was based on the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 which she described as “the Magna Carta of spaceflight”. It has been ratified by 98 states. Following the tradition of maritime law, the treaty recognises that states have legal jurisdiction within spacecraft registered to them. Dr Frans von der Dunk, of the International Institute of Air and Space Law at the University of Leiden, said that the space station posed new legal problems as it is being assembled from modules supplied by the United States, Russia and Japan as well as ESA. The partners rejected an initial proposal that US law should prevail throughout the space station. “It was agreed that each state registers its own separate elements, which means that you now have a piece of the US annexed to a piece of Europe annexed to a piece of Japan in outer space, legally speaking.”

SpaceDev Completes Milestone Under NASA Space Act Agreement for Commercial Space Access (Source: SpaceDev)
SpaceDev recently completed its first milestone under the Space Act Agreement that it signed with NASA in June 2007. This significant first milestone is to define the outer mold line (OML) of the SpaceDev Dream Chaser™ space vehicle. The SpaceDev team generated a surface model that will be used for future analysis, subscale flight test modeling, and full scale tooling of the Dream Chaser flight vehicle. SpaceDev entered into the Space Act Agreement with NASA's Johnson Space Center to facilitate its development of reliable, safe and affordable transportation of passengers and cargo to and from Earth orbit. As part of the agreement, NASA is providing support regarding commercial vehicle requirements for rendezvous and docking with the ISS as well as ongoing regularly scheduled technical exchange.

China May Use Long March 3B Rocket for Lunar Landing (Source: Xinhua)
China is studying the feasibility of using the Long March 3B carrier rocket for the country's second-stage moon mission of lunar landing. The Long March 3B, in the same family as the Long March 3A on which China's first lunar probe Chang'e-1 was launched, boasts of "strong thrust power." "We had considered using Long March 5 rockets for lunar landing. But to use a more matured and reliable rocket, we are also considering other options, including other models within the Long March 3 families," said Pei. A rover will land on the moon and return to earth with lunar soil and stone samples for scientific research at around 2017.

SeaLaunch Ready for Nov. 13 Flight (Source: Space News)
The Sea Launch Odyssey launch platform and its command ship have left their Long Beach home port in preparation for a Nov. 13 launch of the 5,180-kilogram Thuraya-3 mobile communications satellite. The launch from Sea Launch's Pacific Ocean site on the equator will be the first since the company's January failure, which destroyed the SES New Skies NSS-8 telecommunications satellite.