January 27 News Items

Russia to Proceed Solo With Soyuz Successor; ESA Human Spacecraft Going Nowhere (Source: Parabolic Arc)
It looks as if Russia will develop a replacement for the Soyuz on its own rather than cooperating with the Europeans. Meanwhile, ESA’s effort to develop its own vehicle is stalled for lack of money. Roskosmos head Anatoly Perminov said: “In November 2008, ESA Ministerial Counsel approved ATV-based cargo return capsule project, with possible further step forward to the crew vehicle design. We have completed preliminary studies of the advanced crew transportation system for LEO and lunar missions. Most likely, Russia will develop the new crew vehicle autonomously.”

According to Rob Coppinger: The new Russian vehicle is set to fly in 2016. Roskosmos and ESA had been studying a joint program, but that effort apparently stalled. Tensions arose over ESA’s interest in capsule technologies. And Russia’s insistence that it only wanted western European electronics for the vehicle. The Russian demand that only a new Russian rocket launch ACTS/CSTS was apparently another stumbling block.” Meanwhile, Coppinger reports that ESA’s efforts to upgrade its Automated Transfer Vehicle took a major hit in November when European space ministers failed to adequately fund the efforts. Plans call to upgrade the throw-away freighter so it can carry cargo back from the station with eventual plans to use it for crew transfers.

Sources close to the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV)/Advanced Reentry Vehicle (ARV) team are telling Hyperbola that the November 2008 ESA ministerial meeting outcome was seen as catastrophic for the agency’s hopes for ARV operating before the International Space Station (ISS) is de-orbited, even with a 2020 end of life target, and a follow-on manned version of ARV. With an original proposal for a €300 million ($380 million) study budget for an ARV that could bring back experiments and other cargo from the ISS the actual outcome, funding of €21 million is less than 10%.” (1/26)

Embry-Riddle and Florida Tech Participate in NASA Student Launch Initiative (Source: NASA)
Twenty student teams selected by NASA from colleges and universities around the country are spending the winter building sophisticated rockets they will launch high over Alabama during NASA's 2008-2009 University Student Launch Initiative in April. The annual rocketry challenge will be held April 18 at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville. The two Florida university teams are from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and the Florida Institute of Technology. (1/27)

Industry Group Opposes Protectionist Rule in Stimulus Plan (Source: AIA)
Big U.S. exporters are opposing a "Buy America" clause in President Barack Obama's $825 billion stimulus package, due to concerns that the protectionist legislation could spark a trade war with Europe. The American Steel First Act, approved last week by the House Appropriations Committee, stipulates that only U.S.-made steel may be used in infrastructure projects financed under the stimulus plan. In a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., the Aerospace Industries Association and other trade groups warned that the law would result in "shutting U.S. exporters and their workers out of hundreds of billions of dollars of new business" as foreign governments respond with protections of their own. (1/27)

Why We Shouldn’t End Our Manned Space Program (Source: Esquire)
One night last fall, as the nation's economy rapidly unspooled, America did something big that we barely notice anymore but that no one else can match. We can't stop now, can we? ... Three miles away, over the Florida creeks and swamps, Endeavour was bathed in white light from all angles. Nobody in the bleachers talked about the price of gas, or the crisis on Wall Street, or war, or politics, or race, or impossibility. Everybody talked about how far we might go. Everybody watched the giant countdown clock and the little TVs that had been set up on tables. Everybody watched Don Pettit being strapped into his seat, and they talked about his magic powers and his six-year-old’s heart, about how he had never stopped believing in the things we used to believe in. Click here to view the article. (1/27)

Stimulus Bill Includes Millions for Satellite Program (Source: Washington Post)
Here's a troubling one from Taxpayer's For Common Sense: Spending on the National Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellite System, a program to generate weather and climate data, has doubled over the last 14 years to $12.5 billion -- even though none of the satellites have been launched. The taxpayer group is highlighting the program as part of its oversight of the Obama administration's stimulus package. Here's what they had to say in a recent blog:

"Despite energetic lobbying by the defense industry (and some lawmakers) the $825 billion stimulus bill now emerging ... seems free of handouts for Air Force jets and other military hardware. But DOD will benefit from hundreds of millions going to NASA and [NOAA] for a fancy satellite program called the National Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS). Unfortunately, construction and testing bungles slowed things down so that 14 years later, the cost of the Raytheon/Lockheed Martin program has doubled from $6.5 to $12.5 billion for four instead of six satellites. And the first bird has yet to make its maiden voyage." (1/27)

China to Grant Remote Sensing Satellite to Indonesia (Source: Antara News)
The Chinese government will grant Indonesia a remote sensing satellite to help monitor and provide early detections on events taking place in the sea. Indonesia welcomed the Chinese grant because Indonesia had a vast sea while its sensing capability was still limited. Many government agencies are conducting activities at sea such as the Customs and Excise office, the Maritime and Fisheries Ministry, and the Navy. (1/27)

Boeing Receives Contract Extension for Transformational Satellite System (Source: Boeing)
Boeing has received a $75 million contract extension from the Air Force to continue risk reduction and system definition for the Transformational Satellite Communications System (TSAT). The six-month contract extension began on Jan. 7, 2009. This additional award brings Boeing's total TSAT contract funding to $793 million. (1/27)

Date Set for South African Satellite Launch (Source: BUA News)
The date for the launch of the much-anticipated SumbandilaSat science satellite has been set for 25 March by the Department of Science and Technology. The Sumbandila, a low-orbit satellite which will collect data to be used to monitor and manage disasters such as floods, oil spills and fires within Southern Africa, will be launched into space from a submarine in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Editor's Note: Submarine at Baikonur? (1/27)

Kosmas Wants to Add $2 Billion for NASA (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
The Florida lawmaker who represents Kennedy Space Center plans to file an amendment to the economic stimulus plan on Tuesday that would add $2 billion to NASA's budget so that NASA can extend the shuttle era and more quickly build its new moon rocket. U.S. Rep. Suzanne Kosmas, D-New Smyrna Beach, aims to broadly write the amendment so that the next NASA administrator can have flexibility in spending the money, either to extend the shuttle era past its retirement date in 2010 or to speed up construction of Constellation, a system of new rockets and capsules meant to return astronauts to the moon by 2020. It also could be used for both purposes. Already, Congress has proposed dueling plans to give either $600 million or $1.5 billion to NASA. Her amendment would add to both proposals. (2/27)

Speed Demon: the Scramjet (Source: Cosmos)
With continuing tests planned for the Australian outback, the 8,000 km/h scramjet is edging towards reality. In the future – sooner than you might think – it could be possible to climb aboard a craft that takes off from Sydney and touches down in London with barely enough time in between for a beverage and an afternoon nap. It will soar above the atmosphere at hypersonic speeds of Mach 8, or about 8,300 km/h, arcing across the globe in a parabolic flight path, then gliding gently down to the ground: the whole trip taking less than three hours.

Kevin Bowcutt, the chief scientist for hypersonics with Boeing Phantom Works, based in California, USA, says that flight could be a reality within 10 to 20 years. "There are no miracles, no major technological breakthroughs that we need to get from here to there," says Bowcutt. "But it won't be easy, quick, or cheap. It will take a lot of investment and years of hard engineering and development work." (1/27)