September 24, 2018

India's Manned Space Mission 2022: Need Pool of 30 Potential Astronauts (Source: Times of India)
This August 15, India awoke to a promise from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which when fulfilled, will put us in an elite company of countries. “We’ll send a son or daughter into space by 2022, he announced. First things first, the astronaut selection. “...We’ll need a pool of 30 aspirants, of whom 15 will be picked and given basic training. If the plan is to send three, we'll shortlist three sets of three and let on eset go about three onths before the launch with the others remaining in the program until the launh date." (9/23)

Are Aerojet and Blue Origin Rocket Engines Worse Than Russian Ones? (Source: Motley Fool)
Earlier this month, Rogozin concluded that "it is necessary to continue exporting high-tech" rocket engines to the U.S. Whatever their political disagreements, he said "Russia depends on rocket engine supplies to the US" and "the US also depends on the supplies of Russian rocket engines." Energomash sells its RD-180 engines to ULA for about $9.9 million apiece.

Aerojet Rocketdyne is hoping that ULA will choose its liquid oxygen (LOX)/kerosene-fueled "AR1" engine to replace the RD-180 on future ULA rockets beginning in 2019. Putting out 500,000 pounds of thrust at sea level, it's only about 58% as powerful as the RD-180. What's more, Aerojet is targeting a unit cost of about $10 million to $12.5 million for each AR1 engine -- meaning a pair will probably cost twice the sticker price of an RD-180.

Blue Origin says that its LOX/methane-powered BE-4 will be ready to fly by 2019. Blue Origin hasn't published a price, but promises that once developed it will sell for "about 30-40 percent less than the RD-180." This implies a sticker price as low as $6-7 million -- but whether that's the cost of just one BE-4 (remember, Vulcan will need two to get off the ground) or the cost of a working pair hasn't been clarified. Potentially, at $7 million per engine, Blue Origin's solution could cost $14 million. (9/23)

New Sample Return Capability Launches with Japanese Space Station Freighter (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
A Japanese cargo freighter launched on a five-day trek to the International Space Station, carrying a set of six replacement batteries, an experimental life support system, and a small new landing craft to bring specimens from the space station back to Earth. The Japanese space agency has developed a new return path for biological specimens to come back to Earth from the space station, and the re-entry capsule will debut later this year after the HTV departs the research outpost.

The the capsule has an internal volume of about 30 liters, and astronauts could load up to 44 pounds (20 kilograms) of specimens inside the landing craft, which features a thermos-like container to store refrigerated biological samples. That is a fraction of the carrying capacity of the Dragon capsule, but the new HTV Small Return Capsule will offer station managers a new way to make sure time-critical items can return to Earth for analysis. (9/22)

Trump’s Space Force May Come with a Big Price Tag, and No One Can Agree How to Structure It (Source: The Verge)
Two months after Vice President Mike Pence announced the plan to create a Space Force, the military is fighting over how to make it happen. This week, an internal Air Force estimate leaked to the press that said the Space Force would cost nearly $13 billion to create. And an Air Force organization is arguing that we shouldn’t create the Space Force at all, but rather rename the Air Force.

This is just the beginning of a debate about the right way to move forward with the Space Force, says Brian Weeden, a space expert at the Secure World Foundation, a nonprofit that specializes in space security. Creating a new branch of the military is going to require a lot of complicated bureaucratic reshuffling. “The other piece of it is, how do we create something that is going to placate Trump while doing what actually needs to be done,” Weeden said. (9/22)

Thanks to Trump, Space, 'the Next Great American Frontier,' Is Within Reach (Source: Town Hall)
Only a robust public-private partnership, leveraging the resources of the federal government and the know-how of cutting edge companies (including SpaceX) can achieve America's destiny in space. Fortunately, this destiny is on the cusp of fulfillment, as NASA, in combination with several aerospace giants, is putting the finishing touches on the Space Launch System (SLS).

SLS will support missions to Mars and far beyond. The SLS will also transport a probe to Europa, one of Jupiter's moons, where some scientists believe that, under a vast ice sheet, an ocean may harbor primitive life. NASA, it bears repeating, has a plan and a budget to make all this happen. It also has a track record of success. If we are to take the next step in human evolution, therefore, and strike out among the stars, it will be the SLS that will get us there.

The existing SLS program puts America on a path to further explore our solar system, to return to the Moon, and to land astronauts on Mars. All this depends on funding, however, which was anemic under President Obama, who was content to let America play a secondary role in space in the 21st century. Happily, President Trump has laid out a much more ambitious agenda for NASA. (9/23)

Can Tourism Propel Space Exploration to New Heights? (Source: CSM)
Space tourists like Maezawa may become a regular fixture in the skies in the near future, as companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic all have stated ambitions to bring paying customers into space for the view and experience. Russian company Orbital Technologies also has designs on building space hotels in low-Earth orbit. All have announced timelines that fall within the next decade.

Space travel has long been the domain of scientists, military personnel, and government officials, not well-heeled tourists. But an influx of these newcomers might launch human spaceflight to the next level and profoundly change space exploration.

“It could be a very critical component” in advancing technology and expanding space travel, says N. Wayne Hale, a former NASA engineer who served as the space shuttle program manager and flight director and currently consults with the Special Aerospace Services. “It’s time we open this up to everyone.” (9/21)

Russia’s Roscosmos Refutes Reports on Withdrawal from NASA’s Lunar Orbital Outpost Project (Source: TASS)
Russia has not refused to cooperate with the United States over a program to build the lunar orbital platform Deep Space Gateway, Roscosmos Spokesman Vladimir Ustimenko said. Some media outlets reported earlier that Dmitry Rogozin, the head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, allegedly said that Russia might exit from the joint project.

"Russia has not abandoned the project to build a lunar orbital station jointly with the United States," Ustimenko said. "That’s not true." Talks are underway, he added. "We are for cooperation in fair and partner projects," the spokesman stressed. (9/22)

ExoMars Rover to Land on Surface on March 19, 2021 (Source: TASS)
A European rover will land on the Martian surface on March 19, 2021 as part of the 2020 mission of the ExoMars joint project with Russia, Dmitry Rogozin, head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, said. "The mission to Mars will be launched on July 25, 2020. On March 19, 2021, a Russian lander is to deliver gently the European rover to the surface of the Red Planet," he wrote. The mission was reported to be scheduled for March 2021, but a fixed date was not named. (9/22)

Russia’s RSC Energia Ready to Offer Tourists Moon Flights (Source: Sputnik)
Russia’s Energia Rocket and Space Corporation (RSC Energia) is ready to offer tickets for a lunar tour aboard the Soyuz spacecraft; they will cost between $150 million and $180 million each, a source in the space industry told Sputnik on Sunday. On Tuesday, SpaceX said that Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa would become the first private passenger to fly around the moon aboard the BFR launch vehicle. The flight is expected to take place in 2023.

"RSC Energia has been developing a project to fly around the moon on the Soyuz spacecraft for many years, including providing tourist services. However, now the price of the ticket has increased slightly due to the revision of the economic requirements for the project, and the cost will be from $150 million to $180 million," the source said.

The spacecraft may be launched with the Soyuz-2 carrier rocket — after that, the Angara carrier rocket would launch a transfer-orbit stage with an additional pressurized module into space, which would then couple with the Soyuz spacecraft and set off for the Moon. (9/23)