March 23, 2018

NASA to Launch Parachute Test off Virginia Coast March 27 (Source: Parabolic Arc)
NASA will test a parachute for possible future missions to Mars from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia on Tuesday, March 27. The launch window for the 58-foot-tall Terrier-Black Brant IX suborbital sounding rocket is from 6:45 to 10:15 a.m. Backup launch days are March 28 to April 10. (3/22)

Budget Bigly Boosts KSC, With Second Launch Tower for SLS (Source: Florida Today)
A second giant launch tower would rise at Kennedy Space Center under a budget deal that Congress is expected to approve before this weekend, finalizing funding for the remainder of 2018. The deal — which includes $350 million to start building a second Mobile Launcher, or ML — could accelerate the first launch of astronauts atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket, or at least limit further delays to that mission.

The project responds to an independent safety panel’s concern about a nearly three-year gap between the first SLS test flight without a crew, targeted for December 2019, and the first launch of astronauts aboard an Orion capsule. NASA will have spent about $650 million on an existing tower for at least the first SLS launch. The problem, the safety panel found, is that after that first launch, KSC would need at least 33 months to overhaul the existing tower to support an upgraded SLS rocket with a taller, more powerful upper stage.

By adding a second Mobile Launcher designed for the taller SLS rocket, the crew launch could stay on track even if the uncrewed test flight slips well into 2020. Or, in a scenario that appears to be growing more likely, NASA could decide to launch astronauts on the smaller version of the SLS, and wait to add the bigger upper stage on the next mission. That option would simplify preparations for the crew launch, which might be possible as soon as mid-2022. It would also require another roughly $200 million to buy the stage — similar to those flown on Delta IV rockets — and certify it for human spaceflight. (3/22)

NASA (KSC) Ground Systems Budget Doubles in Omnibus Bill (Source: Space News)
NASA's FY-18 budget request included $460.4 million for Exploration Ground Systems, which these days largely means infrastructure investments at KSC for the agency's SLS and Orion programs. That $460 million turned into $895 million in the new Omnibus budget bill. (3/22)

NASA Aims for the Moon with Commercial Help (Source: Room)
NASA is pushing forward with a new Moon-focused exploration campaign to increase science activities near and on the Moon, with a series of increasing complex commercial robotic missions, and an ultimate aim to return humans to the lunar surface.

In the last few days, the agency has issued a Request for Information (RFI) to; “assess commercial interest in development of domestic lunar lander capabilities that would evolve to meeting the identified performance towards human-class landers.”

To accomplish these goals, the agency hopes to start the ball rolling with a set of two demonstration landers that will be funded over the next 4-7 years. The initial capability will be to deliver payloads with a medium-sized lander that can cope with a payload in ~500 kilogram range. (3/21)

House Science Committee Approves Measure Designating NASA Marshall as Lead Propulsion Center (Source: Parabolic Arc)
The House Science Committee has approved a bill that would designate the Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama to “provide leadership for the U.S. rocket propulsion industrial base," with a role that is "essential to sustaining and promoting U.S. leadership in rocket propulsion and developing the next generation of rocket propulsion capabilities,” a bill introduced by Mo Brooks (R-AL) states.

“Erosion of the rocket propulsion industrial base would seriously impact national security, space exploration potential, and economic growth,” the bill states. “The Marshall Space Flight Center has decades of experience working with other Government agencies and industry partners to study and coordinate these capabilities.” (3/22)

Small Rockets Aim for a Big Market (Source: Air & Space)
Los Angeles-based Rocket Lab is the first private company dedicated to small satellites—which can be anything from tiny, three-pound CubeSats to spacecraft the size of a washing machine. The two-stage Electron rocket can lift up to 500 pounds to low Earth orbit.

Until now, smallsats have had to piggyback on rockets delivering larger satellites for better-paying customers, so they rarely got to call the shots. “They have no control over schedule and orbit,” Beck says. Rocket Lab aims to fix that. From the company’s launch pad on the east coast of New Zealand, rockets can reach a wide range of altitudes and inclinations to the equator to suit the smallsat customer’s needs.

The potential market is huge. Today an estimated 200 small satellites are launched per year; Swedish space technology company AAC Microtec estimates that by 2023, the number will rise to more than 500. Rocket Lab will charge a base price of $5.7 million for a dedicated launch to orbit, but if many CubeSats share the ride, the cost for the smallest ones could be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. (3/22)

County Officials Optimistic for Spaceport Colorado FAA Approval (Source: Brighton Standard Blade)
Adams County commissioners met with FAA officials in Washington D.C. to discuss the application for Spaceport Colorado at Front Range Airport. The spaceport application is in a 180-day review period mandated by the FAA. Federal officials are expected to decide on approval or denial by Aug. 19. If approved, the new Spaceport Colorado is expected to serve as a hub for satellite production and microgravity research as well as be a launch site for space tourism.

“There are some objections to our license,” Hodge told the audience. “I think the people who are objecting might not understand what a spaceport is.” Objections have mostly come from “industry” and not from local residents. He did not elaborate about what types of businesses are against a launch site at Front Range Airport, nor did he comment specifically about the objections that have been raised. (3/21)

World's Cheapest Space Explorer Plans to Build Lunar Structures (Source: Bloomberg)
India, which sent an orbiter to Mars at about 1/10th the cost of NASA’s Maven probe, is examining how to build habitations on the moon. “ISRO, along with academic institutions, is doing experimentation on potential structures for lunar habitation,” Jitendra Singh, the junior minister for space, told lawmakers. “Various options are being studied about the requirements and complexities of habitats.”

India’s declaration -- just ahead of a planned lunar mission -- comes at a time when governments are looking at the moon for the first time in years. In the U.S., President Donald Trump requested almost $900 million in new funding for NASA moon missions, which include building a space station in lunar orbit by the mid-2020s. China this year plans to land a probe on the unexplored dark side of the moon, where radio signals from Earth can’t be received. (3/21)