Space Foundation News Clips

Technology tested for space planes that fly on the edge of space in a matter of hours

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 16:36:00 GMT

(The Economic Times) Dec. 9, 2011
Plans for suborbital flights took a big first step with Gov. John Hickenlooper's request for federal licensing of a spaceport in Colorado. Front Range Airport, a general-aviation airport 22 miles east of Denver and a close neighbor to Denver International Airport, is seen as the likely candidate for the designation.

NASA has rocky record of tracking space materials

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 16:35:16 GMT

(Florida Today) Dec. 9, 2011
More than 500 "astromaterials" that the agency has loaned to research facilities and schools have been stolen or gone missing, according to an audit issued Thursday by NASA's inspector general.

Lunar Eclipse Will Supersize Blood-Red Moon Saturday

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 16:34:44 GMT

(SPACE.com) Dec. 9, 2011
A total lunar eclipse will occur early Saturday morning (Dec. 10), casting the moon into shadow and making it appear bright red and supersized.

Next space station trio counting down to blastoff

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 16:33:55 GMT

(Spaceflight Now) Dec. 8, 2011
Three new flight engineers to return the International Space Station's resident crew to the full 6-person size traveled from their Russian training base outside Moscow to the Kazakhstan launch site Thursday.

ESA selects Astrium to build Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 18:58:02 GMT

(ESA News) Dec. 8, 2011
Furthering Europe's capacity to monitor atmospheric pollution, ESA has awarded a contract worth €45.5 million to Astrium UK to act as prime contractor for the Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite system.

Ancient Mars Water? Mineral Find Makes It a Slam-Dunk

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 18:57:17 GMT

(Discovery News) Dec. 8, 2011
Eight years after landing on Mars to search for signs of past water, a NASA rover has hit paydirt with what appears to be a ribbon of the water-deposited mineral gypsum laced inside an ancient rock.

Lockheed Updating Roll-on/Roll-off ISR for C-130

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 18:56:00 GMT

(Defense News) Dec. 7, 2011
Even as the U.S. Air Force starts flight-testing next week of a new version of its Senior Scout payload for the C-130J Hercules cargo plane, Lockheed Martin is working to add an electro-optical/infrared camera to the roll-on/roll-off signals intelligence package.

Names of China's Secret Astronauts Revealed by Autographed Envelope

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 18:55:25 GMT

(SPACE.com) Dec. 7, 2011
Could a collectible have just outed the names of China's second group of astronauts?

Kepler telescope likely to find many more alien planets

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 18:54:52 GMT

(msnbc) Dec. 7, 2011
The new haul of potential alien planets raked in by NASA's Kepler space telescope likely won't be the instrument's last big batch of discoveries, researchers say.

ULA chief urges NASA to get moving

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 17:30:37 GMT

(Florida Today) Dec. 7, 2011-12-07
The head of the joint venture vying to be part of the effort to deliver NASA astronauts to the International Space Station on a commercial spacecraft wants NASA to decide soon who will win that contract.

Hubble Racks Up 10,000 Science Papers

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 17:30:00 GMT

(NASA HQ) Dec. 6, 2011
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has passed another milestone in its 21 years of exploration: the 10,000th refereed science paper has been published. This makes Hubble one of the most prolific astronomical endeavors in history.

Is the case for Mars facing a crisis?

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 17:29:29 GMT

(msnbc) Dec. 6, 2011
Will NASA's $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory mission mark another step toward sending humans to Mars --or one of the last steps for a long time in NASA's Mars exploration program?

Vampire Star's 'Gentle' Bite Captured in New Images

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 17:28:54 GMT

(SPACE.com) Dec. 7, 2011
The best images yet of a vampire star siphoning material from its stellar companion have been captured by combining the powers of multiple telescopes at a European observatory in Chile.

Discovery of Earth-like planet "thrilling"

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 16:43:29 GMT

(CBS News) Dec. 6, 2011
Scientists looking for life on other planets like to talk about the "Goldilocks Zone" -- not too hot, not too cold, but just right. Now, researchers at the NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif., have found a planet that's right in that zone.

Voyager Hits New Region at Solar System Edge

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 16:42:49 GMT

(SpaceDaily.com) Dec. 6, 2011
NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft has entered a new region between our solar system and interstellar space. Data obtained from Voyager over the last year reveal this new region to be a kind of cosmic purgatory.

Astronomers Find Biggest Black Holes Yet

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 16:42:13 GMT

(The New York Times) Dec. 5, 2011
Astronomers are reporting that they have taken the measure of the biggest black holes yet found in the universe, abyssal yawns 10 times the size of our solar system into which billions of Suns have vanished.

Final Space Shuttle Commander Leaving NASA

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 16:41:40 GMT

(Fox News) Dec. 6, 2011
The last astronaut to command the space shuttle is retiring from NASA, the space agency announced Monday. Astronaut Chris Ferguson, who commanded the final mission of NASA's 30-year space shuttle program in July, will retire from the space agency on Dec. 9.

First Crew for Tiangong

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 16:41:11 GMT

(SpaceDaily.com) Dec. 5, 2011
The successful first docking mission to China's Tiangong 1 space laboratory has cleared the path for greater things to come. The flight of the uncrewed Shenzhou 8 spacecraft demonstrated two successful dockings with the laboratory, as well as showing that this new production model of Shenzhou also works well.

Europe gives up on stranded Mars probe Phobos-Grunt

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 16:40:36 GMT

(BBC News) Dec. 5, 2011
European space experts have given up on the stranded Russian probe to Mars, Phobos-Grunt. The spacecraft got stuck in the Earth's orbit four weeks ago when one of its engines didn't fire properly.

Space Station Astronaut Will Answer Video Questions From Public

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 16:39:59 GMT

(NASA HQ) Dec. 3, 2011
NASA has announced a unique opportunity to ask the commander of the International Space Station a question about his role on the orbiting outpost. Commander Dan Burbank will answer videotaped questions from the public during a live event tentatively set for Friday, Jan. 20, on NASA Television.

Space washing machine could microwave laundry

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 16:39:19 GMT

(msnbc) Dec. 2, 2011
Imagine putting dirty clothes into a washing machine, leaving, and only coming back once the freshly cleaned clothes have been dried out by microwaves. That out-of-this-world-laundry concept could someday become a reality for astronauts and space explorers headed for the moon, asteroids or Mars.

NASA Satellite Confirms Sharp Decline in Pollution from US Coal Power Plants

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 15:56:34 GMT

(SpaceDaily.com) Dec. 2, 2011
A team of scientists have used the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on NASA's Aura satellite to confirm major reductions in the levels of a key air pollutant generated by coal power plants in the eastern United States. The pollutant, sulfur dioxide, contributes to the formation of acid rain and can cause serious health problems.

Oops ... NASA comes clean on Mars rover Curiosity slip-up

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 15:55:59 GMT

(SPACE.com) Dec. 1, 2011
All NASA spacecraft sent to other planets must undergo meticulous procedures to make sure they don't carry biological contamination from Earth to their destinations. However, a step in these planetary protection measures wasn't adhered to for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity, now en route to the Red Planet, Space.com has learned.

Space 'Never Got Old,' NASA Astronaut Says

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 15:55:20 GMT

(SPACE.com) Dec. 1, 2011
After living in space for nearly six months on the International Space Station, NASA astronaut Mike Fossum is still getting used to his "land legs."

Month of amazing skywatching awaits us in December

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 15:54:42 GMT

(msnbc) Dec. 1, 2011
A total lunar eclipse, a close encounter between Mercury and the moon, and a planetary tour de force are just some of the amazing sights skywatchers can see this month.

Texas Drought Visible in New National Groundwater Maps

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 17:59:07 GMT

(SpaceDaily.com) Dec. 1, 2011
The record-breaking drought in Texas that has fueled wildfires, decimated crops and forced cattle sales has also reduced levels of groundwater in much of the state to the lowest levels seen in more than 60 years, according to new national maps produced by NASA and distributed by the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

NASA Exercises Contract Option for TDRS-M Satellite Decision Will Retain Hundreds of Jobs

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 17:58:26 GMT

(NASA History Division) Dec. 1, 2011
NASA has elected to exercise the first of two available contract options for procurement of an additional Tracking Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) from Boeing Satellite Systems, Inc. of El Segundo, Calif. The estimated value of the contract option is $289 million and extends the period of performance through April 2024. Exercising the option will allow Boeing Satellite Systems to retain at least 300 American jobs.

Mysterious Christmas Day "Starburst" Explained?

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 17:57:45 GMT

(National Geographic) Nov. 30, 2011
On December 25, 2010, a NASA telescope spotted a bright "star" that suddenly appeared in the sky. The brilliant object was a gamma-ray burst--a distant and mysterious flash of some of the most intense light in the cosmos.

Checklist from Apollo 13 sells for $388,375

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 17:56:51 GMT

(msnbc) Nov. 30, 2011
A checklist used by Apollo 13 commander James Lovell to make calculations that helped guide the damaged spacecraft home has been sold at auction for $388,375.

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 18:17:27 GMT

Why does Mars Curiosity rover have a laser raygun?

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 18:17:11 GMT

(The Christian Science Monitor) Nov. 29, 2011
NASA's Mars rover, Curiosity, is armed with a laser to zap rocks, not Martians. The laser can vaporize rocks at a distance of 23 feet.

Authorities Gauge Impact of Europe's Galileo Navigation Satellite System

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 18:15:47 GMT

(SpaceDaily.com) Nov. 29, 2011
Experts have taken a look at the status of Europe's Galileo global navigation satellite system, emphasizing the prospect for international cooperation, tapping into the satellite navigation business sector, and identifying key benefits for European citizens.

Russia's Glonass-M satellite put into orbit

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 18:15:09 GMT

(SpaceDaily.com) Nov. 29, 2011
Russia sent another Glonass-M navigation satellite into orbit on Monday, said Alexei Zolotukhin, spokesman of Russian Space Forces.

Curiosity's 'signature flight': Obama autograph, many more

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 18:14:22 GMT

(msnbc from SPACE.com) Nov. 28, 2011
NASA's Mars Science Laboratory with its car-size Curiosity rover is now on its way to the Red Planet after its launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla. on Saturday. It is outfitted with the most advanced scientific gear ever sent to Mars in an effort to learn whether conditions there can support microbial life.

Europeans report contact with Russia's stranded Mars probe

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 16:12:24 GMT

(msnbc) Nov. 23, 2011
The European Space Agency reported Wednesday that a ground station in Australia has re-established contact with Russia's Phobos-Grunt probe, two weeks after a mysterious post-launch glitch.

Mars rover gets 'engine' upgrade: Curiosity fueled by nuclear power

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 16:09:50 GMT

(The Christian Science Monitor) Nov. 22, 2011
NASA's most ambitious Mars exploration mission yet is set for launch on Saturday, and the rover has one hot energy source.

On Mars Rover, Tools to Plumb a Methane Mystery

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 16:09:16 GMT

(The New York Times) Nov. 22, 2011
There are no cows on Mars. Of that, planetary scientists are certain, which leaves them puzzling over what could be producing methane gas detected in the thin Martian air. Methane molecules are easily blown apart by ultraviolet light from the Sun, so any methane floating around must have been released recently.

Space Station Crew May Take Shelter from Space Junk

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 16:08:44 GMT

(SPACE.com) Nov. 22, 2011
The three spaceflyers onboard the International Space Station may have to take shelter inside Russian space capsules tomorrow (Nov. 23), to protect themselves from a possible collision with a piece of Chinese space junk.

Russian Soyuz brings astronauts safely back to Earth

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 15:47:47 GMT

(Space Daily) Nov. 22, 2011
Three astronauts landed safely in the Kazakh steppe aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule on Tuesday after a stay of over five months aboard the International Space Station, Russian mission control said.

Nuclear 'space battery' bests solar in Curiosity Mars mission

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 15:47:09 GMT

(CNET) Nov. 22, 2011
The Mars Science Laboratory, called Curiosity, scheduled for launch on Saturday will be powered by a nuclear device, rather than solar panels. Designers hope the nuclear generator will make the mobile robot more productive as it conducts science experiments in the search for conditions to support life.

Why Is It So Hard to Go to Mars?

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 15:40:45 GMT

(SPACE.com) Nov. 21, 2011
As NASA prepares to launch its huge new Curiosity rover toward Mars on Nov. 26, the current travails of a robotic Russian probe stranded around Earth offer an uncomfortable truth: Getting to the Red Planet is tough.

Russian probe misses Mars trip

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 15:40:08 GMT

(msnbc) Nov. 21, 2011
Russia's stranded Phobos-Grunt spacecraft reportedly has lost its main opportunity to go to Mars and land on one of its moons, but efforts to revive it continue.

Thales Alenia To Build Turkmenistan's First Satellite

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 17:18:26 GMT

(Space News) Nov. 21, 2011
The government of Turkmenistan has contracted with Thales Alenia Space of Europe to build the nation's first telecommunications satellite, to be launched in 2014 into an orbital slot controlled by the government of Monaco, the Turkmen government announced.

NASA 2012 Budget Funds JWST, Halves Commercial Spaceflight

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 17:17:51 GMT

(Space News) Nov. 18, 2011
NASA will get $17.8 billion for 2012 under a compromise budget that increases funding for the troubled James Webb Space Telescope astronomy flagship but provides less than half of what the agency sought for its commercial spaceflight program.

NASA to Launch Mars Rover 'Dream Machine' This Week

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 17:17:11 GMT

(SPACE.com) Nov. 21, 2011
After nearly a decade of planning, several cost overruns and a two-year delay, NASA is finally set to launch its next Mars rover this week.

Scientists Report Second Sighting of Faster-Than-Light Neutrinos

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 17:16:26 GMT

(The New York Times) Nov. 18, 2011
Two months after scientists reported that they had clocked subatomic particles known as neutrinos going faster than the speed of light, the same group of scientists said on Friday that it had performed a second experiment that confirmed its first results and eliminated one possible explanation for how the experiment could have gone wrong.

Space Would Take Big Hit if Supercommittee Fails

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 18:04:39 GMT

U.S. military space initiatives would lose up to $27 billion if a congressional “supercommittee” tasked with reducing federal spending fails, triggering a $600 billion reduction to be applied evenly across Pentagon programs.Satellite communications, space protection, and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance programs could face delays or termination if the supercommittee misses the Nov. 23 deadline for drafting legislation to reduce federally spending by $1.5 trillion over the next decade, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said in a Nov. 14 letter to key lawmakers.

Russia, France to team up on ‘hi-tech rockets’

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 18:04:16 GMT

Russia and France will pool their efforts to build cutting-edge reusable space rockets, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Friday. “Russian and French engineers are already working in this direction under Project Ural,” Putin told a news conference after a meeting of the Russian-French cooperation commission.

Russia's difficulties in space run deep

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 18:03:52 GMT

Russia's unsuccessful launch of a Mars moon probe points up the problems of a once-pioneering space industry struggling to recover after a generation of brain drain and crimped budgets, experts said. An unmanned craft, launched last week in what was meant to be post-Soviet Russia's interplanetary debut, became stuck in Earth's orbit and may drop into the atmosphere within days. The failure rattled Russian space officials but came as no surprise to many industry veterans who saw the ambitious mission to bring back dirt from the Martian moon Phobos as a long shot.

Nasa releases sharpest ever Moon elevation map

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 18:03:26 GMT

The US space agency (Nasa) has released the sharpest ever elevation map of the Moon. It will enable scientists to accurately portray the shape of the entire Moon at a higher resolution than ever before. The map was produced using data sent back by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft, which was launched in June 2009.

Satellites help track endangered species

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 18:02:57 GMT

Researchers say they've used satellite images to assess the conservation status of endangered reptiles and amphibians in the Western Indian Ocean. European scientists said the images allowed them to assess the extent of suitable habitat available for threatened species on the small Comoro Islands archipelago.

Allianz counts down to space insurance launch

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 18:02:14 GMT

German insurance giant Allianz will launch special insurance to so-called “space tourists” next year, according to a media report. The countdown to launch of the insurance – which will cost between $700 (€518) and $10,000 (€7,399) depending on the coverage requested – will coincide with the expected start of commercial near-space flights next year by the Virgin Galactic company.

China's spacecraft comes back to Earth

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 16:09:22 GMT

(SpaceDaily.com) Nov. 17, 2011
China's unmanned spacecraft Shenzhou VIII returned to Earth after completing two space dockings that have advanced the nation's ambitious space program.

Photos: SpaceX Dragon Capsule Mated To Unpressurized Trunk for ISS Demo Flight

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 16:08:45 GMT

(SpaceRef) Nov, 16, 2011
See photos of the SpaceX Dragon Capsule - slated to complete a demonstration flight to the International Space Station (ISS) in early 2012 aboard a Falcon 9 rocket -- which completed a processing milestone this week when the capsule was mated with the trunk that will carry unpressurized cargo to the ISS.

Liquid lakes close to moon's skin

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 16:06:30 GMT

(BBC News) Nov. 16, 2011
Scientists have found the best evidence yet for water just beneath the surface of Jupiter's icy moon, Europa. Analysis of the moon's surface suggests plumes of warmer water well up beneath its icy shell, melting and fracturing the outer layers.

Asteroid debate rises to next level

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 16:05:59 GMT

(msnbc) Nov, 16, 2011
Last week's hubbub over the asteroid 2005 YU55, which passed within 200,000 miles of Earth, set the scene for a seminar on near-Earth objects sponsored in Boulder, Colo., by the Secure World Foundation. The public's interest in the harmless flyby was just a foretaste of what could happen when astronomers spot a rock that has a significant chance of hitting Earth.

NASA budget plan saves telescope, cuts space taxis

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 18:44:28 GMT

(Reuters) Nov. 16, 2011
A compromise spending plan for NASA preserves the over-budget replacement for the Hubble Space Telescope and halves President Barack Obama's request for money to spur development of commercial space taxis, officials said on Tuesday.

Chinese Docking Spacecraft Readies for Return to Earth Thursday

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 18:43:17 GMT

http://www.space.com/13644-china-shenzhou8-docking-spacecraft-separation.html
(SPACE.com) Nov.16, 2011
A robotic Chinese spacecraft that executed the nation's first in-space docking has separated from its orbital partner in preparation for a return to Earth tomorrow, according to news reports.

Botched Mars mission shows Russian industry troubles

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 18:42:34 GMT

(Reuters) Nov. 16, 2011
Russia's unsuccessful launch of a Mars moon probe points up the problems of a once-pioneering space industry struggling to recover after a generation of brain drain and crimped budgets.

Soyuz Docks At ISS, Hatch Opened

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 18:41:44 GMT

(SpaceDaily.com) Nov. 16, 2011
A spacecraft carrying two Russians and an American docked Wednesday with the International Space Station in the first Russian manned mission for five months after a spate of technical failures.

Congress Poised to Approve $17.8 Billion for NASA in Must-Pass Bill

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 21:25:55 GMT

(Space News) Nov. 15, 2011, Brian Berger
NASA stands to receive $17.8 billion for 2012 under a $1 trillion compromise spending measure House and Senate budget negotiators released Nov. 14.

Russian Rocket Gives NASA a Lift to Space Station

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 21:25:08 GMT

(The New York Times) Nov. 14, 2011, David M. Herszenhorn
A Russian Soyuz rocket blasted off through heavy snowfall in Kazakhstan on Monday morning, beginning a two-day trip to ferry three astronauts to the International Space Station.

Oh, the Places We Could Go

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 21:24:26 GMT

(The New York Times) Nov. 14, 2011, Dennis Overbye
Read about a new Mars exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History, opening this weekend.

Want to Be an Astronaut? NASA Seeking More Space Travelers

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 21:22:38 GMT

(SPACE.com) Nov. 15, 2011, Mike Wall
Good news for those who think they've got the right stuff: NASA opened the application process for its next astronaut class today.

Great Leap Upwards For China

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 17:36:31 GMT

When China's Shenzhou 8 spacecraft successfully docked last week with the mini space laboratory Tiangong 1, it represented just one small step in terms of man's achievements in space. Yet despite the successful docking, the difficulties of space exploration remain significant, as other recent events show. China's first Mars probe, Yinghuo-1, was stranded on Wednesday in Earth's orbit after it took off from Kazakhstan that day with Russia's Phobos-Grunt spacecraft. Engineers hope to send the probe on the right trajectory before it loses battery power. In August, an experimental Chinese satellite failed to reach orbit when the Long March 2C rocket carrying it malfunctioned after launching from Gansu province in north-west China. A year earlier the country also suffered a partial mission failure, a disappointment that hit particularly hard given that over a span of more than 10 years before this, China had enjoyed a run of 75 successful rocket launches.

After 34 Years In Space, The Voyager Spacecraft Fly On -- And On And On

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 17:35:36 GMT

There are few things as awful as the detritus of the 1970s. An era that gave us crock pots, Pintos, pet rocks, shag carpet, the avocado green refrigerator and the Captain and Tennille is an era best lost to history. But then, of course, there are the Voyager spacecraft. It was in August and September of 1977 -- when Jimmy Carter was in the White House, "Best of My Love" was the No. 1 song, Laverne & Shirley the No. 1 show, and the Dow was headed for a year-end close of 831 -- that Voyagers 1 and 2 were launched. But the ships' primary missions succeeded beyond the giddiest predictions of the engineers who built them. The Voyagers are poised to pass at last from the outermost boundary of the solar system into the truly uncharted regions of interstellar space, and NASA wants them fit for duty when they do. The fact that the Voyagers have enough juice left to make that crossing is a tribute to the radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) -- otherwise known as teeny, tiny nuclear power plants -- onboard. The RTGs are fueled by plutonium-238, which, at the time of launch, was predicted to be good enough to keep the ships going for 50 years. So far those projections are holding, with power expected to last until 2025.

Throwing Money Into Space

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 17:35:06 GMT

THE Hubble space telescope, an orbiting observatory launched in 1990 by NASA, America's space agency, has been one of that agency's most successful missions since the Apollo moon shots in the 1960s and 1970s. So in 2002, when the agency considered plans for a successor that would study the universe in infra-red, rather than visible light, would be ready to fly in 2010 and would cost just $2.5 billion, saying "yes" was easy. Nine years later, NASA is regretting that decision. The James Webb space telescope (JWST), as the new machine is called, is still in the workshop, and its launch date has been set back repeatedly (2018 is the latest official estimate). Its cost has gone up to $8.8 billion, a figure that, if history is any guide, could rise still further. Which would be embarrassing at the best of times, but with public-spending cuts looming and NASA's budget flat for the foreseeable future, it is causing real strains.

NASA Runs J-2X Engine 500 Seconds In Ground Firing

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 17:34:33 GMT

The powerful liquid hydrogen-fed engine NASA is developing to propel hardware and humans out of Earth orbit underwent a successful ground test-firing in Mississippi on Wednesday afternoon. The J-2X powerplant built by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne will be fitted to the upper stage of the Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket that will send manned missions to deep space. The first launch of the SLS heavy-lifter rocket with the J-2X engine is tentatively targeted for 2017.

What Happens To Scaled Composites After Burt Rutan?

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 17:33:46 GMT

Burt Rutan founded Scaled Composites in 1982 and over three decades drove its research into such risky projects as the round-the-world flight of Voyager and the atmosphere-topping climb of SpaceShipOne. But Rutan retired from Scaled Composites seven months ago, and moved from southern California's Antelope Valley to a lake on the foothills of northern Idaho's Bitterroot Mountains. Will Scaled Composites, a Northrop Grumman-owned subsidiary since 2007, carry on its founder's unique tolerance for high-risk research, and succeed? We had the opportunity to interview Rutan last week, and we broached this topic carefully. We asked him what he hopes Scaled Composites becomes after his departure. "Well I hope they continue what I always strived for and that is to follow some very -- they're basic, common sense stuff," Rutan replied. "If you're doing research, you've got to let the researcher decide what risks to take."

Brazil Wants Indian Satellites To Monitor Amazon

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 17:33:04 GMT

Brazil is negotiating to use satellites from India to improve the monitoring of deforestation in the Amazon rain forest. A member of Brazil's National Institute for Space Research says a satellite recently launched by the Indian government could vastly increase Brazil's ability to combat deforestation in the region. Luis Maurano says the IRS-6 satellite would allow authorities to locate deforested areas much faster than with the satellites currently used. If not, Brazil will have to wait until the launch of a satellite in partnership with China at the end of 2012.

Russia Tries To Save Stranded Mars Probe

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 14:50:15 GMT

Russia made desperate efforts on Thursday to give a vital boost to a pioneering Mars probe that now hangs in a low Earth orbit and could potentially crash back down in a matter of days. Russia made desperate efforts on Thursday to give a vital boost to a pioneering Mars probe that now hangs in a low Earth orbit and could potentially crash back down in a matter of days. Russia made desperate efforts on Thursday to give a vital boost to a pioneering Mars probe that now hangs in a low Earth orbit and could potentially crash back down in a matter of days. "Based on my experience, you cannot make the upper-stage work on a second attempt," the armed forces' former chief space adviser Vladimir Uvarov told Interfax on Thursday. The space agency said it had a window of two weeks to reprogramme the craft while it clings on to its current orbit. But the agency's chief Vladimir Popovkin said the system's batteries could only last three days. The mishap caps an inglorious list for Russia's space programme on the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's first flight into space. Three navigation satellites plunged into the sea after a failed launch in December and Russia has since lost new military and telecommunications satellites upon launch. "The Mars mission's failure could mean that we lose space as a field of scientific research," the Nezavisimaya Gazeta daily added.

Seven Charged With Infecting NASA Computers

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 14:50:04 GMT

Six Estonians and one Russian were charged on Wednesday with planting viruses in more than four million computers around the world, including computers belonging to U.S. government agencies such as NASA. The defendants earned at least $14 million from the scheme, according to prosecutors. The virus hijacked Internet searches and re-routed computers to websites and advertisements. For example, users trying to visit Apple's iTunes were re-directed to a different website claiming to sell Apple products. Netflix led to an unrelated website called "BudgetMatch."

ESA To Launch Cost-Cutting Initiative

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 14:49:51 GMT

The European Space Agency (ESA) plans to reduce its internal operating costs by 25 percent in the next five years as its way of adapting to the economic crisis buffeting Europe, ESA Director-General Jean-Jacques Dordain said Nov. 8. Addressing a conference on space policy at the European Parliament here, Dordain said the agency understands it cannot ignore the economic tumult that is forcing most of its member governments to reduce their budgets. The official said one problem the agency is having in cutting its costs is that there is no other organization in the world that has ESA's structure and performs equivalent work. Simply put, it has been difficult for ESA to determine whether its current internal costs are higher or lower than those at other organizations doing similar work.

Dragon Offers Ticket To Mars

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 14:49:40 GMT

Dragon, the privately built space capsule intended to haul cargo and astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS), is auditioning for another high-profile role. Its maker, SpaceX of Hawthorne, California, says that the capsule, which is set to make its first test flight to the ISS later this month, could be dispatched to Mars -- drastically cutting the cost of exploration on the red planet. In a presentation at a meeting of NASA science advisers in Washington DC on 31 October, the group advocated repurposing Dragon and the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch rocket to send an ice drill that would look for life near the poles of Mars. The mission could launch as early as 2018 for a cost of US$500 million, proponents say -- well within the budget of NASA's least-expensive class of planetary missions. Yet the prospect of a fast, cheap route to the red planet could be attractive for Mars scientists, whose other plans are falling foul of budget constraints. Another mission proposed for 2018, a rover that would gather rocks in the first part of a three-stage effort to bring samples back to Earth, would cost $2.5 billion -- a figure that NASA hopes to split with the European Space Agency. But that hasn't been enough to placate US President Barack Obama's budget advisers, who are wary of the $8.5-billion total cost of the multi-launch project and are threatening to leave the missions out of future budget requests. McKay says some colleagues are fretting that Red Dragon will undermine the push for the 2018 rover mission.

DARPA Solicits Air-Launch Proposals

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 14:49:28 GMT

DARPA has released a broad area announcement (BAA) calling for information about launching small satellites from aircraft as a low-cost alternative to expensive vertical rocket launches. The programme, called airborne launch assist space access (ALASA), calls for a range of modified carrier aircraft and custom-built rockets. A computer-generated picture accompanying the BAA features a heavily modified Bombardier regional jet, providing an example of what may be to come. A DARPA/NASA report from June, 2011, examining a variety of aircraft and launch configurations, concluded that modifying an off-the-shelf aircraft could result in costs as low as $3,000/lb, or around one-third the price of a large conventional rocket. The air-launch concept, which has been studied since the first satellites proposals, has become increasingly attractive as the necessary size and weight of satellites for a given mission have shrunk dramatically in recent decades. Advances in aircraft reliability and operating cost gives added incentive.

China Launches Remote-Sensing Satellite

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 14:49:16 GMT

China successfully launched the remote-sensing satellite Yaogan XII Wednesday from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in the northern Shanxi province, according to a press release from the center. The satellite was sent into space aboard a Long March 4B carrier rocket at 11:21 a.m. Beijing Time, according to the center. The satellite will be used to conduct scientific experiments, carry out surveys on land resources, estimate crop yield and help with natural disaster-reduction and prevention. Also hitching a ride on the rocket was the satellite Tianxun I, which will be used to carry out technological verification tests, according to the center. Yaogan XI was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern Gansu province in September last year.

Japan, Vietnam Sign Deal For Two Radar Imaging Satellites

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 14:49:04 GMT

Vietnam will buy a pair of Japanese-designed Earth observing radar satellites under a just-finalized deal representing Japan's first export of a remote sensing satellite system, government officials here said. Japan will finance the satellite project through overseas development assistance loans it is providing to Vietnam as part of a broader 92.6 billion yen ($1.2 billion) package that includes the building of a major shipping port, a highway project and efforts to bolster flood-prone Vietnam's ability to respond to natural disasters. Japan will provide an initial 7.2 billion yen over the next two years to begin work on the X-band satellites, the first of which will be built in Japan and launched in 2017, according to Nobutaka Takeo, deputy director of the Space Industry Office at the Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry (METI), which proposed the project. The second satellite, slated to launch in 2020, will be assembled in Vietnam, he said. The satellite loan will be coordinated via the Japan International Coordination Agency (JICA), a quasi-governmental body responsible for implementing Japan's overseas aid programs. JICA will provide the loan for the two satellites and related facilities, and help Vietnam develop the capacity to operate and maintain the facilities and equipment, said Yoshio Wada, deputy director general of JICA's Southeast Asia Department. Takeo said METI is in talks with a number of other developing countries around the Asian region about providing ASNARO-based satellites, but he declined to provide further details.

Phobos-Grunt Mars probe loses its way just after launch

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 15:24:37 GMT

(BBC News) Nov. 9, 2011, Jonathan Amos
Russian engineers are fighting to save the country's latest mission to Mars.
The Phobos-Grunt probe launched successfully but then failed to fire the engine to put it on the correct path to the Red Planet.

NASA Proposes Orion Test Flight in 2014

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 15:27:21 GMT

(Space News) Nov. 8, 2011, Dan Leone
NASA wants to stage an unmanned test flight of its next-generation deep-space capsule, the Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, in 2014 -- three years before its intended carrier rocket, the congressionally mandated Space Launch System, is scheduled to debut.

Passing asteroid puts on a show

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 15:22:36 GMT

(MSNBC) Nov. 9, 2011, Alan Boyle
Watch a six-frame video showing the spin of asteroid 2005 YU55 on Nov. 7 as it closed in for an encounter with Earth. The radar imagery was produced by NASA's Goldstone radio telescope.

First & Last Space Shuttle Crews Meet for 'Bookend' Photos

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 15:22:04 GMT

(SPACE.com) Nov. 8, 2011, Robert Z. Pearlman
The first and last astronauts to fly on NASA's space shuttles met Nov. 2 in Houston to pose for a series of historic photographs

Group Letter to Congress and the Obama Administration Regarding NASA's Commercial Crew Program

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 15:21:06 GMT

(SpaceRef) Nov. 8, 2011
Reprint of letter supporting human spaceflight.

Russia Launching Probe to Sample Mars' Moon Phobos Today

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 16:08:33 GMT

(SPACE.com) Nov. 8, 23011, Mike Wall
Russia is set to launch a robotic spacecraft to the Mars moon Phobos today, marking the nation's first attempt at an interplanetary mission in 15 years.

Your guide to the asteroid encounter

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 16:07:49 GMT

(msnbc.com) Nov. 7, 2011, Alan Boyle
The asteroid 2005 YU55 will pose no threat to Earth when it zooms by on Tuesday, but it will spark a frenzy of picture-taking and online chatting. So where do you find the good stuff?

Swarm: magnetic field satellites get their bearings

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 16:07:06 GMT

(European Space Agency) Nov. 7, 2011
ESA's Swarm satellites, which will unravel the complexities of Earth's magnetic shield, are being put through their paces to ensure that they will withstand the rigours of space. Marking an important milestone, the first satellite has undergone magnetic testing.

The Highest Resolution Image of the Sun's Surface Ever Obtained in Visible Light

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 16:06:28 GMT

(National Science Foundation) Nov. 7, 2011
The 1.6-meter aperture New Solar Telescope (NST) at Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO), has captured the highest resolution image of the surface of the sun ever obtained in visible light. The image was acquired with adaptive optics.

Long Space Missions Can Give Astronauts Blurry Vision, Study Finds

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 16:05:50 GMT

(SPACE.com) Nov. 8, 2011, Staff Writers
Sending astronauts on long space missions can affect how they see once they return to Earth, a new study reveals.

US Military Wants to Launch Satellites from Airplanes

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 20:31:06 GMT

(InnovationNewsDaily) Nov. 7, 2011, Staff
U.S. military operations rely heavily upon satellites to spy on battlefields and coordinate friendly forces across the globe, but fast-changing ground conditions or enemy attacks on satellites can threaten to overwhelm the system. That's why the Pentagon has announced $164 million to turn airliners into airborne launch platforms that can send small satellites into orbit within 24 hours.

NASA Acknowledges James Webb Telescope Costs Will Delay Other Science Missions

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 20:30:24 GMT

(Space News) Nov. 7, 2011, Dan Leone
Saving the James Webb Space Telescope means that some other NASA science missions slated for launch after 2015 will have to be delayed.

White House: Sorry, But We Haven't Found Aliens Yet

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 20:29:25 GMT

(Time) Nov. 7, 2011, Megan Gibson
Inquiring minds would like to know for certain whether there are extraterrestrials here on Earth. After more than 12,000 people signed an online petition that demanded the POTUS "formally acknowledge an extraterrestrial presence engaging the human race" and make all documents related to that alien presence public, the public has their response. Unfortunately for conspiracy theorists and E.T. fans, it's not likely the response they were looking for.

Planetary Scientists Hope to Bring Back Mars Moondust

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 20:28:21 GMT

(Scientific American) Nov. 7, 2011, John Matson
Planetary scientists may soon get the dirt on a Martian moon--literally. A Russian spacecraft will soon depart for Phobos, the larger of the two moons Mars. It will attempt to land there, scoop up some soil and return it to Earth for analysis.

China has Australia space tracking station: report

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 20:27:32 GMT

(Space Daily) Nov. 5, 2011, Staff Writers
China has acquired a space tracking station in Australia, its first such facility in a close U.S. ally, a report said Saturday.

Boeing Focuses On Abort In CST-100 Tests

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 13:43:52 GMT

Tests of Boeing’s CST-100 commercial crew vehicle in a supersonic wind tunnel at NASA’s Ames Research Center are focused on gathering data that will be needed to keep a four-person crew alive during a launch failure and return them to Earth safely. The high-definition, 12-in.-dia. aluminum tunnel-test model includes pressure sensors and simulated thrusters to determine the aerodynamics of a launch abort. The work will involve “flying” the 1/14-scale model through more than 20 different positions and using the data to validate computer models of the way the capsule will handle in an abort. “It’s a really high-def model,” says John Elbon, vice president and general manager for space exploration at Boeing Defense, Space and Security. “They pipe it for thrusters so you can fire thrusters when it’s in the wind tunnel and measure the disturbances that you get.” Engineers are moving the Boeing capsule toward preliminary design review next February or March, Elbon says.

Richard Branson On The Environmental Impact Of Space Travel

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 13:43:38 GMT

Branson thinks that by being in space, people become more passionate about the planet. And he's planning on helping out cash-strapped NASA with its research, too. Earlier this week, Virgin Galactic--the space travel arm of the Virgin Group--debuted the first-ever spaceport in New Mexico. Dubbed Spaceport America, the $209 million commercial spaceship terminal will begin suborbital flights for anyone with the $200,000 ticket fee soon after test flights are finished at the end of 2012. The commercial flights will be short previews of what it's like to be an astronaut, with a two and a half hour trip that includes views of Earth and five minutes of weightlessness. Impressive as it may be, is Virgin Galactic environmentally sound? Fast Company caught up with Virgin Group CEO Richard Branson at the inauguration of Virgin America's new cabin trainer facility in Burlingame, Calif., to find out.

Viasat broadband 'super-satellite' launches

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 13:43:23 GMT

One of the most powerful satellites ever built has been put in orbit by a Russian Proton rocket. The Viasat-1 spacecraft will deliver broadband services to customers in the US and Canada. With a total data throughput of some 140 Gbps, the satellite has more capacity than all other commercial communications satellites over North America combined. Viasat-1 left Earth from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The lift-off for its carrier Proton rocket occurred at 00:48 local time (18:48 GMT Wednesday). The flight was declared a success just over nine hours later. Viasat-1 will be moved to a geosynchronous position at 115 degrees West, and should become fully operational in 2012 after a period of testing. The satellite carries the name of San Diego-based space technology supplier Viasat, but will be pressed into service for its satellite broadband division, Wildblue Communications. Wildblue already has more than 400,000 subscribers using a trio of satellites, and should have room for about a million more with Viasat-1.

China Will Own the Moon, Space Entrepreneur Worries

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 13:43:09 GMT

A new game of "Solar System Monopoly" is under way, and the United States is losing, commercial space entrepreneur Robert Bigelow said today (Oct. 19). The first prize, ownership of the moon, is up for grabs, and China will likely snag it, Bigelow said here at the 2011 International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight. Bigelow's Las Vegas-based company, Bigelow Aerospace, is constructing private inflatable space modules that it hopes to rent out to government and commercial customers. The firm is even working on a series of labs for a human lunar colony. But by the time the America gets into gear to build its own moon base, large swaths of lunar territory may already be claimed, Bigelow said in a talk that the firebrand entrepreneur warned the audience would be "controversial." "Americans are still basking in the lunar glory from 40 years ago," Bigelow said. "But we don’t own one square foot of the damn place. NASA is a shadow of the space agency it once was in the 1960s and 1970s."

Europe's Galileo sat-nav launch delayed

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 13:42:53 GMT

The launch of the first satellites in Europe's version of GPS has been delayed. The flight to orbit of the two Galileo spacecraft on a Russian Soyuz rocket from French Guiana was due to occur early on Thursday morning. However, with just under three hours to the scheduled lift-off, the call was made to put back the launch by at least 24 hours. The cause was an anomaly detected during the fuelling of the rocket. This related to a leaking valve on the pipes feeding propellant to the vehicle's third stage. Engineers are now working to replace the valve. "We don't yet know how long the delay will be but if the launch occurs on Friday, it will be at 07:30 [local time (10:30 GMT; 11:30 BST)]," said a spokesman for the European Space Agency. "We'll know more later today," Franco Bonacina told BBC News. The mission will be the first for Soyuz in French Guiana. The rocket normally flies from northern Russia, and from Kazakhstan - the famous Baikonur Cosmodrome.

Arianespace loses Thaicom

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 13:42:39 GMT

France-based Arianespace has lost its revenue base in Thailand as Thaicom is using other satellite service providers. Richard Bowles, director of Arianespace Asean, acknowledges that the fees of US rival SpaceX are half those of his company, but says Arianespace has more experience and better backup plans. Thaicom Plc, its only customer in Thailand, earlier said it would enter into contracts with the satellite builder Orbital Sciences and the launch-service provider Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) for the construction and launch of the Thaicom 6 satellite by mid-2013 in a $160-million project. Thailand is Arianespace's fourth-biggest market in Asia behind Japan, India and Australia. The company has provided satellite launching service for Thaicom for 14 years. "We expect to lose the Thai customer for the first time, with a potential revenue loss of $100 million as a satellite launching service, as Thaicom used Arianespace to launch all five of its satellites previously," said Richard Bowles, director of Arianespace Asean.

GAO recommends against DoD's plan to buy rockets in bulk from ULA

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 13:43:47 GMT

The Department of Defense should consider a smaller, shorter-term purchase of rocket-launch services and gather more information about alternatives before committing to a long-term purchase of United Launch Alliance vehicles, a government watchdog agency concluded in a report released Monday. The Pentagon’s $15 billion plan to buy 40 rockets from United Launch Alliance over five years, starting in 2013, might lock in higher-than-necessary prices, leave rocket stages sitting in storage and limit competition from other companies, the U.S. Government Accountability Office found. “Gaining sufficient knowledge to make sound decisions before committing to an expensive long-term block buy is essential to an acquisition of this magnitude,” the report said.

Interview: NASA’s New Rules for Manned Private Spaceflight

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 13:43:32 GMT

Our report on NASA’s new contract detailing the rules for crew-carrying spacecraft features the insights of Philip McAlister, director of NASA’s Commercial Spaceflight Development. Here, we offer the full transcript of our Oct. 12 interview with McAlister, in which he details how NASA is trying to change the way it does business. (Light edits were made for clarity.) Q. We’re interested in how NASA and private space are going to go forward as we go from cargo to crew contracts. Will there will be any sort of differences in the approach? I grabbed the draft request for proposal (RFP), and it seems like things will be done a little bit differently. A. Yeah. There’s some big differences in the way we’re going about doing the crew part as opposed to the cargo part . . . I will give you what we see as the unique features associated with this draft RFP that’s clearly something that I think going forward is going to be the most interesting.

Analysis: ViaSat's growth hinges on satellite launch

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 13:43:19 GMT

After being plagued by delays, U.S. satellite and wireless communications systems maker ViaSat Inc plans to send its most advanced satellite into orbit. The satellite, which will launch on Wednesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on an ILS Proton rocket, is expected to boost ViaSat's bandwidth capabilities, allowing it to tap into the booming demand for Internet communications -- provided that the launch is a success. The ViaSat-1 satellite, expected to be the most efficient and highest-capacity Ka band satellite in the world, was supposed to launch earlier this year, but was delayed for nine months because of problems at satellite manufacturer Space Systems Loral and a Proton rocket failure to put another satellite in the correct orbit.

Astrium Aims To Spawn New Satellite Market

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 13:42:58 GMT

EADS Astrium entered uncharted territory this month in accepting financial backing from the European Space Agency (ESA) to build a new high-speed data relay service for Europe while simultaneously creating a market for it. Astrium has taken privatization of satellite communications and remote-sensing services further than anyone else in the business, showing a willingness to spend hundreds of millions of its own euros with little or no government backing. But David Chegnion, vice president of business development for Astrium Services, says the public-private partnership agreement inked Oct. 4 with ESA to build, test, launch and operate the new European Data Relay Satellite (EDRS) system is different. “We are pioneering a new service and a new market,” Chegnion says.

Russia interested in space missile defense system – Kremlin source

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 13:42:43 GMT

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is interested in the so-called Strategic Earth Defense concept proposed by Russian NATO envoy Dmitry Rogozin, a Kremlin source said on Tuesday. “The president is familiar with this conception, it seemed interesting for him,” the source said. Earlier on Tuesday Russian Kommersant daily reported that Russia was preparing to offer the United States and NATO a draft project for the joint defense system that would protect the Earth from asteroids and other threats from space. Rogozin proposed the draft concept, Kommersant said. However, Russian scientists are skeptical that missiles can protect Earth from asteroids. “It is unlikely that existing missiles would be able to destroy an asteroid. We can currently reach only a few near-Earth asteroids…it is necessary to develop other ways of countering asteroid-comet threats,” Sergey Naroenkov of the Institute of Astronomy of the Russian Academy of Sciences said.

Rick Scott: 'Great Opportunity' in Kennedy Space Center's Future

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 13:42:26 GMT

Gov. Rick Scott, Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll, CFO Jeff Atwater and Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam took a bus to the Kennedy Space Center’s Operations and Checkout Building. Missing was Attorney General Pam Bondi, who had attended the earlier Cabinet meeting at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. The Operations and Checkout Building is where Apollo-era vehicles were processed. Its 70,000-square-foot bay will serve as the final-assembly location for the Orion crew exploration vehicles. Florida contributed $35 million to the $55 million cost of renovating the facility. The first test flight for Orion in Florida is set for 2013. They were greeted at the building by Kennedy Space Center director Bob Cabana. Cabana escorted them into the 70,000-square-foot bay, which had gleaming white floors and high ceilings. In past years, visitors had to don white jumpsuits to enter, but since no hardware is being worked on at the moment, no bunny-suits were distributed.

Meet the Man Who Wants to Mine the Moon

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 13:42:12 GMT

The moon is made of far more valuable stuff than green cheese. And one man wants to capitalize on that fact. NASA, which ended America's space shuttle program in June, says it wants to privatize spaceflight. Naveen Jain, co-founder and chairman of Moon Express, Inc., wants to go a step further: He wants to privatize the moon itself. Jain's company plans to piggyback on private shuttle flights, using them to carry his lunar landers and mining platforms to the moon. "People ask, why do we want to go back to the moon? Isn't it just barren soil?" Jain told FoxNews.com. "But the moon has never been explored from an entrepreneurial perspective." Green cheese indeed -- there's cash in them lunar hills! Our nearest neighbor in the sky holds a ransom in precious minerals, Jain explained: Twenty times more titanium and platinum than anywhere on earth, not to mention helium 3, a rare isotope of helium that many feel could be the future of energy on Earth and in space.

Russians see room for moonbase in lunar lava caves

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 13:41:53 GMT

The United States may have put the first man on the moon, but Russian scientists and space explorers are now gazing at a new goal -- setting up a colony on the moon. The discovery of volcanic tunnels on the moon could provide a natural shelter for the first lunar colony, cosmonauts and scientists said on Tuesday. Researchers have long suspected the moon's volcanic past left an underground network of lava tubes as its legacy, and 2008 images from Japan's Kaguya spacecraft showed a possible way down -- a mysterious, meters-deep hole breaching the surface. "This new discovery that the moon may be a rather porous body could significantly alter our approach to founding lunar bases," veteran spaceman Sergei Krikalyov, who heads Russia's Star City cosmonaut training center outside Moscow, said at a forum on the future of manned spaceflight. As the world's space agencies debate where to fly beyond low-Earth orbit, including deep space missions to asteroids and Mars, the European Space Agency's (ESA) head of human spaceflight programs said the moon also looked attractive. "In ESA, there is still a very strong focus on the moon. It could be a natural first to go there," Martin Zell told Reuters.

JPL celebrates 75th anniversary of event that led to its creation

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 13:41:34 GMT

They were known as the Suicide Squad. The roots of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge can be traced to an afternoon 75 years ago this month when a group of Caltech students test-fired a homemade rocket in the dry bed of the Arroyo Seco. The first three attempts failed. The fourth accidentally ignited the engine's oxygen line, spewing fire in every direction. "We had no money except our own pocket money," Frank Malina, the group's leader, who would become JPL director, said years later. "So we went around looking for second-hand stuff all over the area." That wayward experiment on Oct. 31, 1936, would lead in a few short years to the creation of the laboratory at Caltech and the birth of rocket science in the United States.

Best-Ever Topographic Map of Earth Released

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 15:39:41 GMT

The most complete digital topographic ever made of the Earth was released by NASA today (Oct. 17). The map, known as a global digital elevation model, was created from images collected by the Japanese Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer, or ASTER, instrument aboard NASA's Terra satellite. The 3-D effect is achieved by merging two slightly offset two-dimensional images (called stereo-pair images) to create depth. The first version of the map was released by NASA and Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) in June 2009. "The ASTER global digital elevation model was already the most complete, consistent global topographic map in the world," said Woody Turner, ASTER program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Private spaceship briefly hurtled out of control

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 15:39:27 GMT

A malfunction during the most recent test flight of the private spacecraft SpaceShipTwo sent the vehicle hurtling out of control until its crew could stabilize the craft for a safe landing. The issue provided some heart-stopping moments for its airborne crew and ground handlers, but also allowed the vehicle's owner, Virgin Galactic, to showcase the craft's safety features. The commercial space plane made its 16th glide flight on Sept. 29, following a hiatus for hangar work. For the first time, SpaceShipTwo carried a three-person crew — two pilots and a flight test engineer. To begin, SpaceShipTwo was lifted to high altitude by its carrier plane, WhiteKnightTwo. After a clean release from WhiteKnightTwo, SpaceShipTwo immediately entered a rapid descent. Springing into action, the crew deployed the ship's novel feather re-entry system.

ISS could be used for satellite assembly until 2028

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 15:39:10 GMT

The service life of the International Space Station (ISS) may be extended until 2028, a Russian space official said on Tuesday. The service life of the ISS ends in 2015 but participants of the project - Canada, the European Union, Japan, Russia and the United States – have recently agreed to extend its operation until at least 2020. “At present, experts have been instructed to find ways to extend the station’s service life until 2028,” Alexei Krasnov, the head of Roscosmos manned spaceflight programs, told the participants of the Space Forum 2011. The orbital station could be used as an assembly line and a launch pad for experimental spacecraft, including small satellites, he said. “These are going to be small-size satellites, but we will be able to launch them from the ISS to a variety of orbits,” Krasnov said. NASA earlier called the ISS “an anchor for the future of human space exploration” and a major component of the U.S. human space program.

Japan to cooperate with Turkey in space sector

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 15:38:55 GMT

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Vice President Kiyoshi Higuchi said he would contribute to the space institution which Turkey was planning to set up as well as share his and his country's experiences in space sector. Higuchi told AA on Tuesday that JAXA contacted Turkish officials regarding the establishment of a space institution in Turkey, and they would cooperate with Turkey. Higuchi said that opening a space institution, which would regulate Turkey's space activities, was important. Noting that space studies were still very risky, Higuchi said that Turkey did not have a space shuttle launch system, adding that it would be Turkish government to decide whether to have it or not. Higuchi said that if Turkey demanded, Japan could help in this issue. Higuchi gave a conference in Rixos Hotel in Ankara. He will give another conference in Istanbul on Wednesday.

Not Such a Stretch to Reach for the Stars

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 15:38:34 GMT

A starship without an engine? It may seem a fantastical notion, but hardly more so than the idea of building a starship of any kind, especially with NASA’s future uncertain at best. Yet here in Orlando, not far from the launching site of the space program’s most triumphant achievements, the government’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or Darpa, drew hundreds this month to a symposium on the 100-Year Starship Study, which is devoted to ideas for visiting the stars. Participants — an eclectic mix of engineers, scientists, science fiction fans, students and dreamers — explored a mix of ideas, including how to organize and finance a century-long project; whether civilization would survive, because an engine to propel a starship could also be used for a weapon to obliterate the planet; and whether people need to go along for the trip. (Alternatively, machines could build humans at the destination, perhaps tweaked to live in non-Earth-like environs.)

U.S. Widens Rocket Field

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 19:13:57 GMT

Pentagon and NASA officials have reached an agreement intended to help small commercial space ventures compete for lucrative business to launch government satellites into space, while reducing costs and loosening the grip of giants Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp. on such contracts. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Air Force and the Defense Department's spy-satellite office on Friday announced criteria for allowing privately built rockets to launch future military and civilian payloads. By adopting a joint approach to evaluate future risks, the agreement aims to weigh cost and rocket reliability against the potential dangers of launch failures destroying satellites. The most critical payloads, for example, won't be allowed to blast off on new, privately built rockets until those systems have a proven track record of at least several successful launches. Less critical payloads could sit atop new rockets that haven't yet flown and whose performance still needs to be validated, according to documents released by the Air Force.

Russian Soyuz Recovery Strategy Endorsed

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 19:13:46 GMT

Appearing before a House oversight panel this week, NASA’s chief human spaceflight official and two of the agency’s independent safety experts endorsed Russian efforts to investigate and recover from the Aug. 24 loss of a Soyuz rocket without forcing an evacuation of the six-person International Space Station. The loss of the Soyuz-U booster carrying a Progress cargo capsule revealed the pitfall of a decision by U.S. policy makers to retire the space shuttle in July — at least four to five years before NASA-nurtured commercial crew capabilities are expected to be ready to take on the role of transporting astronauts to and from the orbiting science laboratory. Russia responded quickly, identifying a contaminant blockage in a third-stage fuel line or stabilizer valve as the root cause and implementing a recovery strategy, according to Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA’s associate administrator for human exploration and operations.

Test flights for Orion at KSC on tap for '13

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 19:13:39 GMT

NASA is gearing up for two flight tests of the spacecraft being designed to carry U.S. astronauts into deep space. The space agency soon will decide which to launch first: an atmospheric re-entry test or a low-altitude emergency escape mission. Regardless of the order, both unmanned flight tests will be launched from the Space Coast to certify the Apollo-style capsule for human expeditions beyond Earth orbit. The first test is targeted for launch in late 2013 or early 2014. The second would follow in 2015 or 2016. NASA spaceflight chief William Gerstenmaier was briefed this week on the two options. The atmospheric re-entry test might be flown first because the Orion capsule for that mission then could be re-used for the low-altitude abort test. “Within the next two months, I expect him to make a choice,” said NASA Orion Program Manager Mark Geyer.

Europe Looks to Russia after NASA Falls Short on ExoMars Mission

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 19:13:31 GMT

The European Space Agency (ESA) will forge ahead with ExoMars, an ambitious two-part robotic mission that would look for signs of life on the Red Planet, even though NASA has reneged on its promise to provide a launch rocket for the first stage of the mission. During a 12-13 October ESA council meeting in Paris, the agency decided to begin negotiations with Russia for a rocket that would launch the first stage of ExoMars, in 2016, in exchange for Russian participation in the mission. Already €150 million (roughly US$207 million) shy of the €1 billion it needs for the entire ExoMars project, ESA has deemed it too costly to use its own Ariane rocket for the 2016 launch, according to a senior ExoMars official who asked not to be identified. The initial 2016 phase of the mission would carry an orbiter designed to sniff out possible sources of methane and other trace gases that might signal the presence of microbial life on Mars.

ESA counting down to historic launches

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 19:13:22 GMT

At the European Space Agency (ESA), fingers remain crossed as the countdown continues towards its much-anticipated Soyuz launch on 20 October. Not only will the three-stage ST-B rocket will be making its first-ever flight from ESA's launch centre in Kourou, French Guiana, its payload will be the first two satellites for Europe's Galileo navigation constellation. Final assembly began on 12 September, following electrical and mechanical tests in August. The horizontal integration is taking place inside a purpose-built building at the spaceport, with roll-out to the launch pad planned for 14 October. A second Soyuz launch, carrying two more Galileo spacecraft, is to follow in December. Then, thanks to cash freed up by some €500 million ($673 million) in cost savings, ESA will embark on a fast-track effort to purchase and launch enough satellites to provide near-global coverage by the end of 2014. This is some seven years behind the original plan, but well ahead of expectations at the beginning of this year.

NASA buys flights on private spaceship

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 19:13:13 GMT

The space tourism company Virgin Galactic has struck a deal with NASA worth up to $4.5 million for research flights on the company's new private spaceliner SpaceShipTwo, Virgin Galactic officials announced. Under the deal, NASA will charter up to three flights on Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo, an air-launched spacecraft designed to carry eight people on trips to suborbital space. The announcement comes just two days after Virgin Galactic announced that Mike Moses, NASA's former deputy space shuttle program chief, had joined the company's ranks as vice president of operations. "We are excited to be working with NASA to provide the research community with this opportunity to carry out experiments in space, said George Whitesides, president and CEO of Virgin Galactic, in a statement. "An enormous range of disciplines can benefit from access to space, but historically, such research opportunities have been rare and expensive," Whitesides added. "At Virgin Galactic, we are fully dedicated to revolutionizing access to space, both for tourist astronauts and, through programs like this, for researchers."

Indian PSLV Lifts Off With Four Satellites

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 19:12:59 GMT

India has successfully launched a new satellite, Megha-Tropiques, to study climatic and atmospheric changes in tropical regions. Produced jointly by India and France, the one-ton satellite was one of four spacecraft placed into orbit on Oct. 12 by the Indian Space Research Organization’s (ISRO) Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) from the launch pad near Sriharikota at the Satish Dhawan Space Center in southern India. The PSLV stood 44 meters (145 ft.) tall and weighed 230 tons at launch. “The PSLV-C18 has been a grand success. Very precisely, four satellites were injected in circular [orbits],” ISRO Chairman K. Radhakrishnan says. Megha-Tropiques will give meteorologists fresh insight into how water moves through the atmosphere to produce monsoons, Radhakrishnan says. “The mission marks the beginning of a new era of cooperation between India and France. It’s a truly global mission,” he adds.

Small Satellites Prompt Big Ideas for Next 25 Years

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 19:12:49 GMT

There is big news on the small satellite front. From super-secret agencies and the U.S. military to academia and private firms, as well as world space agencies and NASA, ultra-small satellites are the big thing. In sizing up "smallsats," there are a range of classifications in the less-than-500- kilogram department, be they minisatellites, microsatellites, nanosatellites, picosatellites, palm-size CubeSats, even the diminutive Femto satellite, weighing in at less than 100 grams. Cornell University has begun to delve into a postage stamp-size "satellite on a chip" design, called Sprite, envisioning a swarm of these tiny probes exploring planetary atmospheres for organic compounds. Call them a powerful force in the universe. Smallsats have already shown their ability to monitor disasters, study Earth’s environment and support agriculture, cartography and earth science missions.

Challenge to Students: Have Space Station Run Your Experiment

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 19:12:42 GMT

Make a two-minute video. Get an experiment flown to the International Space Station. YouTube and Lenovo, the computer manufacturer, announced on Monday a science contest called SpaceLab for students around the world ages 14 to 18, and it is not quite like any other science contest. For one, the students, who can enter individually or in teams of up to three, do not actually have to perform any experiments. Instead, they will make videos to pitch ideas for experiments that could be conducted in the zero-gravity environs of the space station. The two winning entries will be built and flown there, and astronauts will conduct a demonstration that will be broadcast to classrooms via YouTube. “The headline idea was, ‘let’s create the world’s largest, coolest classroom in space,’ ” said Zahaan Bharmal, director of European marketing for Google, which owns YouTube.

Missions proposed to explore Uranus

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 19:12:34 GMT

Earlier this year, the Planetary Science Decadal Survey recommended that NASA consider sending a mission to the planet Uranus. With all the attention paid to Mars, Jupiter and even poor little Pluto, what's the draw in going to Uranus? Lots, says Mark Hofstadter of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "Uranus is a type of a planet that we know very little about," Hofstadter said. "Thirty years ago, we thought Uranus and Neptune were just smaller versions of Jupiter and Saturn." We now know, however, that the two outermost planets in our solar neighborhood are not gas giants filled with hydrogen and helium gas, but rather "ice giants" containing a large mixture of water, methane, ammonia and carbon dioxide. Current tallies of exoplanets suggest that ice giants are more common in our galaxy than the larger gas giants. "We'd like to study our local examples of this common type of planet," Hofstadter said.

Dark discussion ahead for Europe and US

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 17:21:36 GMT

It couldn't have been planned better. Just as the Nobel committee was announcing its physics award would go to the research that identified the "accelerating expansion of the Universe", delegates to the European Space Agency were sitting down in Paris to approve a mission to investigate "dark energy" - the very thing thought to be pushing the cosmos apart at a faster and faster rate. Saul Perlmutter and Adam Riess of the US and Brian Schmidt of Australia will share the Nobel. The trio studied a particular type of stellar explosion, or supernova, and found that the most distant of these objects were receding quickest. This observation led to the theory that some mysterious, gravitationally repulsive dark energy must be behind the rising expansion of the cosmos - although we don't really have the foggiest idea what that is.

Boeing Studies X-37B Evolved Crew Derivative

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 17:21:29 GMT

Boeing is studying scaled-up variants of the reusable X-37B orbital test vehicle (OTV) for potential delivery of cargo and crew to the International Space Station (ISS) and other low-Earth-orbit destinations. The development plan is believed to be aimed at providing a larger cargo adjunct to the company’s CST-100 crew vehicle as well as a possible longer-term, crew-carrying successor. The plan builds on the ongoing OTV demonstration with the U.S. Air Force, the first phase of which ended when the classified, unmanned OTV-1 demonstration flight concluded in December 2010 with an autonomous landing at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., following 244 days in orbit. A second mission, OTV-2, is under way. OTV-2 has been in space since March 5, and assuming it has not already been covertly recovered, is expected to remain in space until at least mid-October.

For Review: U.S.-Russian Exploration Options

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 17:21:21 GMT

NASA and the Russian space agency Roscosmos have agreed to set up an “expert-level group” to review exploration targets for joint cooperation, provided the two sides in the bilateral discussion can agree on where to go. Vladimir Popovkin, the new Roscosmos head, told the 62nd International Astronautical Congress that the talks could lead to a deal for sharing the expense of exploration beyond low Earth orbit. Deep-space exploration is “unthinkable without broader international cooperation,” Popovkin said through an interpreter. Later, in an interview with Aviation Week, the new space chief said Russia plans to use the new cosmodrome at Vostochny for human exploration beyond low Earth orbit, while the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan will continue to be the starting point for Russian missions to the International Space Station (ISS).

SA, Nigeria to use space technology to benefit Africans

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 17:21:12 GMT

South Africa’s expectations from the space industry have been informed by its current priorities and in this light the key objective has been to use space science and technology to benefit society, South African National Space Agency (Sansa) CEO Sandile Malinga said in Cape Town this week. Speaking at the International Astronautical Conference, Malinga said that earth observation, through appropriate satellites, had been identified as one of the ways to benefit society, as it would provide tools for planning, resource management, disaster management and other similar applications. Malinga said that government was looking at playing a direct role in the development of the satellites themselves. “Our government is looking at probably holding a stake in one of our [satellite] companies. That has not been finalised but that is the current thinking,” he said.

Comets a water source for thirsty early Earth

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 17:21:04 GMT

Astronomers have found the first comet with ocean-like water in a major boost to the theory that the celestial bodies were a significant source of water for a thirsty early Earth. The intense heat of the planet immediately after it formed means any initial water would have quickly evaporated and scientists believe the oceans emerged around 8 million years later. The puzzle is where the water, which is vital for life on Earth, came from. Past analysis of water-ice from far-flung comets suggested they could have delivered no more than 10 percent of today's oceans because the chemical "fingerprints" did not match up. But research from Paul Hartogh of Germany's Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research and colleagues published on Wednesday showed a comet called 103P/Hartley 2 has the same chemical composition as the Earth's oceans.

Watching Out for Falling Stars, With a Smartphone in Hand

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 17:20:56 GMT

American stargazers could be forgiven for shaking a fist at the heavens this weekend. The Draconids meteor shower is expected to yield intense shooting-star activity, but by the time the sun sets on the United States, the action will most likely have ended. Fortunately, you can still track and watch coming meteor showers and other astronomical phenomena if you have a smartphone loaded with Meteor Shower Guide ($1 on Apple) or Meteor Shower Calendar (free on Android), and two great star-viewing apps, StarWalk ($3 on iPhone; $5 on iPad) and Google Sky Map (free on Android). Now is a good time for stargazing, particularly with children. The night sky is more clearly visible in mid-evening than in the summer months, and for people in the Northern states, it’s not so cold that everyone will run inside after spotting Orion’s belt.

Asteroid Vesta features mountain bigger than any on Earth

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 17:20:47 GMT

A NASA spacecraft orbiting the asteroid Vesta is revealing new details about the huge space rock's surface, including a massive mountain that rises taller than Mt. Everest on Earth. NASA's Dawn probe has been circling Vesta since mid-July, when it arrived in the asteroid belt that orbits the sun between Mars and Jupiter. So far, Dawn has beamed back surprising views of Vesta that revealed an enormous mountain in the asteroid's southern hemisphere and show that its crater surface is incredibly diverse place. "We are learning many amazing things about Vesta, which we call the smallest terrestrial planet," Chris Russell, principal investigator of the Dawn mission, said in a statement. "Like Earth, Mars, Venus and Mercury, Vesta has ancient basaltic lava flows on the surface and a large iron core … The south polar mountain is larger than the big island of Hawaii, the largest mountain on Earth, as measured from the ocean floor. It is almost as high as the highest mountain in the solar system, the shield volcano Olympus Mons on Mars."

Three weird planets found around a sunlike star

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 17:20:36 GMT

A NASA spacecraft has found an unusual three-planet system that consists of one super-Earth and two Neptune-size worlds orbiting a star similar to our sun, a new study reveals. The planet-hunting Kepler Space Telescope discovered the three planets around the star Kepler-18, which is only 10 percent larger than the sun and contains 97 percent of the sun's mass, researchers from the University of Texas at Austin said. The alien system could also host more planets than have been found so far, they added. All three planets, which are designated Kepler-18b, c, and d, orbit much closer to their parent star than Mercury does to the sun. The planet Kepler-18b orbits closest to the star, taking 3.5 days to complete its journey. The planet is about 6.9 times the mass of Earth and is twice the size of our home planet, making planet b a so-called super-Earth, the researchers said.

From Farmworker to NASA

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 17:20:27 GMT

Dr. Heather Knight, president of Pacific Union College, poses with Dr. Jose Hernandez last Thursday before the first Convocation. Knight told the crowd that Hernandez recently met with President Barack Obama, who asked him to run for Congress from Stockton. Dr. Jose Hernandez, 41, gives all of the credit for motivating him to become a NASA astronaut to his parents, who were born in Mexico and were migrant farmworkers. Hernandez, who spoke at the first Convocation to kick off the school year at Pacific Union College in Angwin last Thursday, said he grew up in a typical, migrant farmworker family. His parents would pack up their car and with their four children head north in February. Their destination was Chino, in Southern California, where they would harvest strawberries for a month. Then the family headed to Monterey, then to Stockton and Modesto to pick the cucumbers and peaches and end the season in November in Northern California for the grape harvest. Their trip home to Central Mexico would take two and a half days and in February the trip would begin again.

Grabbing Objects in Space

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 17:20:19 GMT

One of the most challenging tasks in space is for one spacecraft to grab onto another spacecraft. Although the robotic arms on the space shuttles and International Space Station (ISS) have made it look easy over the years, the process requires complex manipulator arms and special fixtures on the objects the arms are grasping, limiting the technology's use. A small startup company is testing a new approach, though, that could greatly expand the applications of robotic arm technology to include, for example, cleaning up orbital debris and servicing the ISS. Colorado-based Altius Space Machines is developing a robotic arm system it calls the "sticky boom," which can extend up to 100 meters. At the end of the boom is a pad that uses a technology called electroadhesion to induce electrostatic charges onto any material—metal, plastics, glass, even asteroids—it comes into contact with, allowing it to clamp onto the object because of the difference in charges between the boom and object.

Studies of Universe’s Expansion Win Physics Nobel

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 15:58:48 GMT

The astronomers are Saul Perlmutter, 52, of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California, Berkeley; Brian P. Schmidt, 44, of the Australian National University in Canberra; and Adam G. Riess, 41, of the Space Telescope Science Institute and Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. “I’m stunned,” Dr. Riess said by e-mail, after learning of his prize by reading about it on The New York Times’s Web site. The three men led two competing teams of astronomers who were trying to use the exploding stars known as Type 1a supernovae as cosmic lighthouses to limn the expansion of the universe. The goal of both groups was to measure how fast the cosmos, which has been expanding since its fiery birth in the Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago, was slowing down, and thus to find out if its ultimate fate was to fall back together in what is called a Big Crunch or to drift apart into the darkness.

Former shuttle workers face uncertain future

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 15:58:39 GMT

By next summer, employment at Kennedy Space Center is expected to fall to its lowest level since before the Apollo program blasted astronauts to the moon more than 42 years ago — a fact that doesn't surprise folks on the Space Coast but still causes many to wince. It has been nearly eight years since then-President George W. Bush announced plans to retire the space shuttle, yet the region still is struggling to find good jobs for thousands of workers whose paychecks disappeared with the end of the shuttle era. NASA officials predict the KSC work force will number roughly 8,200 next year — about half the 15,000 employed there in 2008. A few hundred contractors now are giving the shuttles last rites before they, too, join their former colleagues in a brutal job market.

Europe to lead daring Sun mission

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 15:58:31 GMT

Europe is to lead the most ambitious space mission ever undertaken to study the behaviour of the Sun. Known as Solar Orbiter, the probe will have to operate a mere 42 million km from our star - closer than any spacecraft to date. The mission proposal was formally adopted by European Space Agency (Esa) member states on Tuesday. Solar Orbiter is expected to launch in 2017 and will cost close to a billion euros. Nasa (the US space agency) will participate, providing two instruments for the probe and the rocket to send it on its way. The Esa delegates, who were meeting in Paris, also selected a mission to investigate two of the great mysteries of modern cosmology - dark matter and dark energy. Scientists are convinced that these phenomena dominate and shape the Universe but their nature has so far eluded any satisfactory explanation. The discovery in the late 1990s of dark energy and its influence on cosmic expansion was recognised with a Nobel Prize earlier in the day for three scientists.

Space Startups Have A Head Of Steam

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 15:58:22 GMT

They tend to whoop once it’s over, but going into the centrifuge at the National AeroSpace Training And Research (Nastar) center here in the Philadelphia suburbs, would-be suborbital space travelers usually are a bit subdued. After two days of classroom work, some preparatory “flights” and an unpleasant session in the high-altitude chamber, they have a better understanding of how a real flight—and their bodies’ reactions to it—could go wrong. But once they are done with a state-of-the-art simulation of flight in the Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo, a little exhilaration is unavoidable. Exhilaration is growing across the commercial spaceflight field, as policy changes in Washington and progress on a wide range of commercial-space ventures feed anticipation that the terrestrial economy is about to leap into low Earth orbit. “Excitement” is a political buzzword these days, often overused in some work-a-day speeches written at the White House and NASA. But here in the trenches it is palpable.

Flying Telescope Makes An Out-Of-This-World Find

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 15:58:13 GMT

Astronomers are lining up to use a powerful new NASA telescope called SOFIA. The telescope has unique capabilities for studying things like how stars form and what's in the atmospheres of planets. But unlike most of the space agency's telescopes, SOFIA isn't in space — it flies around mounted in a Boeing 747 jet with a large door cut on the side so the telescope can see out. Putting a telescope in space makes sense: There's no pesky atmosphere to make stars twinkle. But why put one on a plane? One reason is that the plane lands every day, says Alycia Weinberg, an astronomer at the Carnegie Institution for Science. She's in charge of planning observations on SOFIA, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy. Weinberg says those daily landings let researchers fix things or upgrade instruments. With no more space shuttle missions, fixing telescopes in space ranges from nearly impossible to impossible.

Electric Plane Wins $1.35 Million in NASA Challenge

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 15:58:04 GMT

NASA has doled out the largest prize in aviation history, in an effort to help make future aircraft cleaner and greener. A team called Pipistrel-USA.com, of State College, Pa., has taken home the $1.35 million top prize, NASA officials announced Monday (Oct. 3). The space agency helped organize a competition called the CAFE Green Flight Challenge, which tasked teams to design, build and demonstrate super-efficient aircraft. Team eGenius, of Ramona, Calif., came in second and scored $120,000. Both top finishers demonstrated working electric planes. "NASA congratulates Pipistrel-USA.com for proving that ultra-efficient aviation is within our grasp," Joe Parrish, NASA's acting chief technologist at NASA Headquarters in Washington, said in a statement. "Today we've shown that electric aircraft have moved beyond science fiction and are now in the realm of practice."

Space tourism creeps closer to reality

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 15:57:56 GMT

Venture capitalist Alan Walton has trekked to the North Pole, climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and skydived over Mount Everest. A hop into space to enjoy a few minutes of weightlessness would have been the ultimate adventure. After waiting seven years to fly aboard Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic spaceline, Walton gave up on the dream and asked for a $200,000 ticket refund on his 75th birthday this past spring. Walton, who was among the first 100 customers to sign up, is not as spry as he used to be, and he's concerned about the project delays. "This was a decision I wish I didn't have to make," he said recently. But "it was time." Promises of space travel for the masses reached a euphoric pitch in 2004 when the experimental SpaceShipOne air-launched over the Mojave Desert and became the first privately financed, manned spacecraft to dash into space. It won the $10 million Ansari X Prize on Oct. 4, 2004, for accomplishing the feat twice in two weeks.

Next SpaceX test may wait until early '12

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 15:57:47 GMT

SpaceX’s next demonstration flight for NASA is likely to slip to next year, the company says. The launch of a Falcon 9 rocket and unmanned Dragon capsule from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station had been targeted for Nov. 30. But ongoing technical preparations and an uncertain schedule of flights to the International Space Station after a Russian launch failure in August will push the mission back by at least a few weeks. SpaceX has tentatively requested a launch opportunity Dec. 19, but CEO Elon Musk said last week in Washington, D.C., that the mission’s timing looks “more like January.” Hawthorne, Calif.-based SpaceX is preparing to deliver cargo to the station under a $1.6 billion NASA contract. A first demonstration flight last December successfully orbited and recovered a Dragon.

Destination for first starship? Someplace that's livable

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 15:57:38 GMT

If humans ever build an interstellar spaceship —a vehicle capable of reaching another star — one of the biggest questions will be which of the billions of stars in the Milky Way it should visit. Scientists debated possible interstellar destinations at the 100-Year Starship Symposium, a weekend meeting here sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to discuss planning the first mission to another star system. Among the top priorities for choosing a star to target is its potential to harbor life, said astrobiologist Jill Tarter of the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute. [Gallery: Visions of Future Human Spaceflight] "It's really the story of life in the cosmos that is likely to drive exploration beyond the solar system," Tarter said."I think this is the question that will be worth the effort and the pain and the investment of traveling to another star system."

Russian Soyuz Successfully Launches With Kosmos (Glonass-M)

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 15:23:42 GMT

Russia has successfully launched the Kosmos (Glonass-M) satellite into orbit, following lift-off of their Soyuz 2-1B launch vehicle from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia, marking the first Soyuz launch since the August failure, which resulted in the loss of Progress M-12M. Launch occurred at 20:15 UTC on Sunday, with spacecraft separation over three hours later. The launch was a key step towards Russia's full return to flight for the Soyuz launch vehicle. This next Progress launch -- on October 30 -- will be the ultimate test of the full vehicle, given Sunday's launch did not use the same design of Upper Stage, whereas Progress and crewed Soyuz launches have full commonality. A successful launch will pave the way for the next ISS expedition to launch to the orbital outpost.

SLS Mission Schedule Improving -- Crewed Moon Mission Moving To 2019

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 15:23:29 GMT

With all cylinders now firing on NASA's exploration planning effort, the development and early mission schedule for the Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion are starting to fall into place, with dramatic improvements being worked for NASA's opening crewed Beyond Earth Orbit (BEO) mission with the Orion (MPCV), which is moving to the left by two years. Only one long term manifest for the SLS had been listed in recent months, showing the debut of the Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle (HLV) in 2017 -- an unmanned mission around the moon -- prior to a four year gap until the crewed version was to be launched. SLS-1, a 70mt version of the SLS, is still expected to debut in 2017, with a "crew capable" Orion (Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle) being sent on a test trip around the Moon. The 2021 debut of SLS/Orion for the crewed version of this mission is now being pushed to the left by two years, with a launch date of 2019. This realigned schedule effort slips the Orion Flight Test (OFT-1) -- involving the MPCV being sent on a multi-orbit mission around the Earth via a Delta IV-H -- to December, 2013. This slip of around six months had been expected for some time, and the test may yet slip into 2014. It has been noted that the crewed mission around the moon may even be advanced to 2018, one year after the debut SLS-1 launch, should funding projections remain stable over the coming years.

Bigelow Aerospace Downsizes Dramatically

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 15:23:17 GMT

Bigelow Aerospace, which is developing inflatable space habitats for commercial use, laid off some 40 of its 90 employees Sept. 29, a company official confirmed. "We are proceeding with a core group of fifty plus engineers, managers and support staff," Mike Gold, Bigelow Aerospace's director of Washington operations and business growth, said in an emailed response to questions from Space News. "This core group allows us to retain key human capital and capabilities, with which we are continuing to aggressively pursue the development and eventual deployment of the BA 330 system." Gold, in his email, said the layoffs "were caused by a perfect storm of events." "We had hoped that by 2014 or 2015 that America would again be able to fly its own astronauts. Unfortunately, the prospect of domestic crew transportation of any kind is apparently going to occur years after the first BA 330 could be ready," Gold wrote. "For both business and technical reasons, we cannot deploy a BA 330 without a means of transporting crew to and from our station, and the adjustment to our employment levels was necessary to reflect this reality.

NASA Cannot Launch 2016 ExoMars Orbiter

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 15:23:03 GMT

The heads of NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) are scheduled to meet the week of Oct. 3 to determine how much further to reduce their already slimmed-down cooperative mission to Mars following NASA's latest round of program cuts, a senior ESA official said Sept. 30. NASA officials have told their ESA colleagues in recent weeks that the U.S. agency cannot provide an Atlas 5 rocket as was planned to launch Europe's Mars telecommunications relay and an atmospheric-descent and landing module. The decision likely will force a cancellation of the 2016 launch if ESA cannot secure a Proton rocket from Russia as part of a barter effort that has not been negotiated. Even before NASA had decided it could no longer afford the 2016 launch, the entry, descent and landing package had been eliminated from the two-launch scenario to permit NASA to purchase a less-expensive version of the Atlas 5 rocket. If ESA finds an alternate rocket, the package may be reinserted, depending on budget consequences. ESA's Industrial Policy Committee had been unable to clear ExoMars program financing in June because of the confusion about the rover work, and no clear signal from NASA. The committee met again Sept. 30, and heard ESA lay out the two scenarios that will be discussed in Cape Town and presented to ESA governments Oct. 12. Under the first scenario, ESA will find a substitute for the Atlas rocket and thus maintain the 2016 mission. Passvogel conceded that only two possibilities seem feasible: A European heavy-lift Ariane 5 rocket, which would add more than $150 million to ESA's already stressed ExoMars budget, or a Russian Proton rocket that the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, would provide as part of a barter arrangement. The second scenario scraps the 2016 mission altogether. ESA and NASA would continue their collaboration on a Mars rover to be launched aboard an Atlas 5 in 2018. The spacecraft carrying the rover and its NASA-provided Sky Crane landing system would also be fitted with a telecommunications relay package to enable rover communications.

Delta 2 Rocket Could Win New NASA Launch Assignments

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 15:22:50 GMT

With its final scheduled flight looming just three weeks away, the workhorse Delta 2 rocket has won the right to rejoin the competition for future NASA satellite launches. NASA announced Friday that the vehicle will take an "on-ramp" to again be included on the roster of rockets that the space agency can chose from when deciding launch assignments. But the news is no guarantee the Delta 2 will be picked by NASA to deploy upcoming satellites. It simply means the rocket can fight for future launches of medium-class payloads against rivals such as Orbital Sciences, SpaceX and Lockheed Martin. When NASA announced its new contracting system a year ago, the Delta 2 was no longer included in the available lineup of rockets for the agency to use. The Delta 2's exclusion meant it was unable to bid on prospective NASA launches, and the situation suggested the rocket's flying days could be ending because the U.S. Air Force also had left the rocket. "The medium-class market that Delta 2 has served for so many decade has really shrunk over the last few years. It's just hard to find a business case that works, that allows you to be able to launch the one or two per year that market demands right now and be able to do it for a reasonable price," Vernon Thorp, United Launch Alliance's program manager for NASA missions, said at a recent press conference. Its next -- and possibly final -- mission is scheduled for Oct. 25 from Vandenberg Air Force, California, carrying the NPP climate and weather satellite. It will be 50th time the Delta 2 has performed a mission for NASA.

NGA Bracing For New Congressional Scrutiny Of EnhancedView Funding

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 15:22:33 GMT

The U.S. government agency that contracted with two commercial companies to purchase Earth observation imagery for 10 years is bracing for fresh questioning of the $7.3 billion program from a U.S. Congress hunting high and low for budget cuts, the agency's commercial acquisition director said. The U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is not predicting it will come through the process unscathed. But one year into the planned 10-year EnhancedView program, the agency sees nothing in it that would not stand up to the scrutiny, Duncan Scot Currie said. Currie, NGA's director for commercial imagery acquisition and integration, said his office is going all-out to brief Congress on EnhancedView's status in hopes of limiting the damage. "Congress is currently debating the fiscal year 2012 budget while at the same time we are building the [Defense Department] budget from 2013 to 2017," Currie said in an interview here Sept. 15 during World Satellite Business Week, organized by Euroconsult. "What we want above all is budget stability through at least fiscal year 2014, when both new satellites are launched."

Iran To Unveil Explorer, Build Space Town

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 15:22:19 GMT

Speaking to reporters in a press conference on the occasion of the Space Week here in Tehran today, Fazeli noted his agency's projects, and said, "Scientists are conducting studies over an Explorer project and given the results gained from out studies and the tests done in this regard, we will soon announce the date for displaying this achievement once we are ascertained (of everything)." Elsewhere, he pointed to the country's plan for building a space town, and said, "Last year a promise was made about the building of a space town. This project is receiving the needed permissions and is under planning." Iran has recently taken wide strides in aerospace. The country sent the first biocapsule of living creatures into space in February, using its home-made Kavoshgar-3 (Explorer-3) carrier. Iran announced in February that it planned to unveil and send two recently-built satellites into space in the near future. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced in 2010 that Iran plans to send astronauts into space in 2024. But, later he said that the issue had gone under a second study at a cabinet meeting and that the cabinet had decided to implement the plan in 2019, five years earlier than the date envisaged in the original plan.

Iran Postpones Monkey's Ride Into Space

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 15:22:04 GMT

"One cannot give a set date for this project and as soon as our nation's scientists announce the readiness (of the project) it will be announced," said Hamid Fazeli, head of Iran's Space Organisation said. Fazeli had said in mid-June that a Kavoshgar-5 rocket would be launched "during the month of Mordad (July 23 to August 23) with a 285-kilogram capsule carrying a monkey to an altitude of 120 kilometres." He gave no reason for the postponement.

Space Debris Could Be About To Hit Us With Some Weighty Legal Conundrums

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 15:21:50 GMT

After the anti-climax of Nasa's upper atmosphere research satellite (UARS) falling into the Pacific ocean, rather than on anyone's head, it will be only a few weeks until we need to start anxiously peering skywards once more for the return of Rosat, a German x-ray satellite telescope. Though smaller than UARS, it is thought that more of Rosat could survive re-entry to the Earth's atmosphere -- as many as 30 pieces weighing a total of 1.6 tonnes, the largest of which is the heat-resistant telescope mirror. UARS has raised the question of who would be legally responsible if satellite debris did hit someone, which becomes ever more likely as the amount of junk in orbit around the planet grows -- Nasa says an average of one tracked piece of debris has fallen back to Earth each day over the last 50 years, most of them burning up in the atmosphere. According to the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, the so-called Magna Carta of spaceflight, the country where the object was launched is absolutely liable. Uniquely in the UK, however, the government passes on this liability in full to the private sector, a policy which experts say harms the space industry's competitiveness. In this year's budget, Chancellor George Osborne promised to fall into line with international practice and place an upper limit on liability, as part of a package of initiatives to encourage economic growth in the space sector.

Tiangong Roars Aloft Under Watchful Eyes Of Party Leadership

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 18:18:03 GMT

China's new 8.5 ton Tiangong-1 docking module is undergoing orbital checkout following a smooth countdown and night launch Sept. 29 at the Jiuquan Space Launch Center in the Gobi desert. The unmanned Shenzhou 8 spacecraft will now move into advanced processing and stacking at Jiuquan in preparation for its planned launch in October and initial unmanned docking tests in November. Chinese President Hu Jintao watched the launch of Tiangong-1 at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center, Mission Control for the flight. Several other members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, including Wu Bangguo, Jia Qinglin, Li Changchun, Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang and Zhou Yongkang, were also present. That is important because their support is vital to continued advancement of the Chinese space program. This is an especially notable show of support for China's overall space program, says Michael Sheehan an expert on Chinese affairs. The successful launch of the Tiangong-1 space station by China is an event of huge geopolitical significance, says Sheehan. "The true significance of Tiangong-1 is that it is a statement of China's intent to achieve superpower status," he says. In that vein the Tiangong deputy chief designer Zhang Shan noted that the two large camera ports noted last week on the Earth facing mid belly of the spacecraft are for two hyperspectral imaging cameras to survey croplands for residue from pesticides, said Zhang. That may be so, but they may have a more substantive use as military reconnaissance cameras, with film or data tapes that can be returned to Earth by visiting Shenzhou crews starting in early 2012. The bottom line is having hyperspectral cameras on board dramatically increases the military utility of the Tiangong vehicle as a high-tech surveillance platform, that will be visited to two crews that can pick up imaging products or conduct manned hyperspectral imaging.

Could You Send Up A Couple Of Pizzas?

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 18:17:42 GMT

China is developing a cargo spaceship to supply the nation's future space station, said Zhou Jianping, chief designer of China's manned space program. Supply technology is one of the keys to sustaining a space station's operation with regular deliveries of fuel, food and equipment, as well as experimental devices. "The Soviet Union's Mir space station, which de-orbited in 2001, needed supplies from a cargo ship four times a year. Our cargo spaceship will have more capacity than that, so we will need to make fewer deliveries," Zhou said. "It is unlikely we will rely on a manned spaceship to ferry food and fuel to a space station, as a manned spaceship can take only 300 kg of cargo, far from enough for future space station operations," he said. This cargo spaceship, yet unnamed, will weigh 13 tons when fully loaded, Zhou said without elaborating on how much cargo exactly it can carry. With a diameter of 3.35 meters, it will look like the Tiangong-1 space module that was launched on Thursday as part of China's first spacecraft rendezvous and docking mission. It is a two-module structure - a resource module providing propellant and electricity and another module carrying supplies, he said.

Rohrabacher Demands Release Of NASA's Recent On-Orbit Fuel Depot Analysis

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 18:17:18 GMT

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) continued his criticism of NASA's new design for deep space exploration by sending a letter to former NASA's Administrator Dr. Michael D. Griffin asking him to join Rohrabacher's call for NASA to release their recent analysis and conclusions regarding on-orbit fuel depots. Dr. Griffin spoke about on-orbit technology during his testimony before the House Science, Space and Technology Committee on September 22rd, 2011. "I'm certain you are aware that on-orbit fuel depots were included in NASA's initial Human Exploration Framework...as presented on May 25, 2010," writes Rohrabacher. "Somewhere in the intervening time, depots were dropped from the plan. It is important for Congress and the American people to understand how and why that decision was made." According to Rohrabacher, current NASA Administrator Charles Bolden told him in July he would forward this information to Congress but has yet to do so. "The promise and potential of on-orbit fuel depots is the ability to use our existing fleet of launch vehicles, including Delta IV, Atlas V, Falcon 9, Taurus II, and Liberty, to enable deep space missions. Using this system instead of a huge "monster" rocket would increase flight rates, bringing greater efficiency into operations, increasing flight experience and providing data leading to greater reliability; and would increase the market potential for the commercial systems we will use for crew and cargo transportation to the International Space Station.

SpaceX's Musk Says ULA Space Launch Monopoly A 'Mistake'

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 18:16:57 GMT

Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Space Exploration Technologies Corp., said extending a U.S. space launch "monopoly" controlled byBoeing Co. (BA) and Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT) would be a mistake. Musk said the Air Force is "proposing to extend the sole- source monopoly" of United Launch Alliance LLC, a joint venture of Chicago-based Boeing and Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed, until 2018. He spoke at the National Press Club in Washington and also announced plans to develop a reusable rocket. Awarding United Launch Alliance a block buy of future launches "would be a big mistake for the American taxpayer and also for jobs in America," Musk told reporters afterward. Jessica Rye, a spokeswoman for Centennial, Colorado-based ULA, said independent groups have studied the block buy "as being the most cost efficient method to purchase launch services," a similar approach to satellite procurement. ULA was formed in 2006, Rye said in an e-mail, because market conditions didn't justify two companies with separate infrastructures competing for space launch business. The equipment has a track record of success, she said. Major Tracy Bunko, a spokeswoman for Air Force Secretary Michael Donley, said the service will release a new acquisition strategy "in the next few weeks" aimed at controlling cost growth and promoting competition in the EELV program.

Spacex Working On Reusable Rocket

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 18:16:40 GMT

The top executive at a private space exploration company said his company is developing the first fully reusable launch vehicle, which could drastically cut the costs of spaceflight and eventually allow humans to live on Mars. "We have a design that on paper, doing the calculations, doing the simulations, it does work," Elon Musk, CEO of California-based SpaceX told reporters at the National Press Club on Thursday. "And now we need to make sure that those simulations and reality agree because generally when they don't, reality wins." The reusable launch vehicle will be based on SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and would separate into lower and upper pieces after leaving Earth. The lower piece would return to Earth by descending vertically to its launch pad, where it would land on four legs. It would steer to its launch pad aerodynamically, without using wings, Musk said. SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket costs $50 million to $60 million to build and launch -- and it's the cheapest on the market, Musk said. If that rocket could be reused 1,000 times, the capital cost per launch would fall to about $50,000, he said. Fuel and oxygen cost only about $200,000 per launch, he said. The main problem in developing a fully reusable launch vehicle is that the extra insulation necessary to protect a rocket while re-entering the atmosphere and during landing would make it too heavy to escape Earth's gravity.

Houston Delegation Wants A New Shot At Shuttle

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 18:16:19 GMT

Houston's miffed congressional delegation aimed Thursday to wrest the retired Shuttle Enterprise from New York City, insisting NASA's award of the coveted spacecraft to the Big Apple was based on promises that are not being kept. Texas lawmakers rekindled efforts to persuade the Obama administration to put the test-bed spacecraft on public display at NASA's Johnson Space Center after a published report that the USS Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum had been beset with difficulties since being awarded the artifact in April. Texans conceded their campaign faces formidable challenges, with officials from the museum in New York City and NASA headquarters insisting the challenges will be overcome in time for the Hudson River facility to display the Enterprise. "It seems like New York has blown up the entire bid they used to get the space shuttle in the first place," said Rep. Pete Olson, R-Sugar Land, whose district includes JSC. "NASA needs to put the brakes on this and exercise oversight - something I assure you Congress will do."

Wolf Asks White House To Identify JWST Offsets

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 18:15:59 GMT

The chairman of the House subcommittee with NASA funding responsibility is asking the White House to identify programs whose budgets would have to be cut to cover skyrocketing costs on the agency's next flagship-class astronomy observatory. In a Sept. 28 letter to Office of Management and Budget Director Jacob Lew, Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.), chairman of the House Appropriations commerce, justice, science subcommittee, said the White House has been slow to provide the information needed to make a 2012 funding decision on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Wolf's panel in July proposed canceling JWST, whose estimated price tag has risen to $8.7 billion, but the Senate Appropriations Committee recommends pressing ahead with the mission, billed as the successor to the hugely successful Hubble Space Telescope. In the letter, Wolf said the White House has expressed opposition to canceling the program but has yet to identify any programs whose budget's would have to be trimmed or eliminated to offset the cost of JWST, whose original estimated price tag was less than $2 billion. The lawmaker also complained that NASA completed a JWST replan months before his subcommittee drafted the bill that recommends killing the program but declined to share that information.

Breath Easy: NASA Finds No 'Imminent Risk' From Asteroids

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 18:15:39 GMT

Armageddon is not imminent. Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck and Billy Bob Thornton can stand down. There is no apocalyptic asteroid barreling toward a catastrophic collision with Earth. No inbound planet-killer for at least the next few centuries. No need for NASA to scramble a team of blue-collar, deep-core drillers to save the world. A new NASA census spotted 93% of all supersized space rocks zipping through near-Earth orbits. NASA scientists said Thursday that none of the 981 detected represent a hazard of Hollywood proportions. Congress in the late 1990s was concerned enough with the potential for asteroid collisions that it ordered NASA to search for all in the vacinity of Earth's orbit. Not so coincidentally, the call came at about the same time that the Hollywood asteroid disaster films Armageddon and Deep Impact opened in theaters around the country. The census taken by the WISE spacecraft found far fewer mid-sized asteroids -- those between 330 feet and 3,300 feet in diameter -- than previously estimated: 19,500 rather than 35,000, or about 40% fewer. The $320 million WISE mission also will contribute to NASA's plan to meet President Barack Obama's call for a human expedition to an asteroid by 2025. The new census will yield a list of the most likely asteroids to target for a visit.

Another Dead Satellite To Crash Land In November

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 18:15:13 GMT

A defunct NASA satellite that fell to Earth last week sparked some worldwide buzz, but it's not the only spacecraft falling out of space. The decommissioned German X-ray space observatory, called the Roentgen Satellite or ROSAT, will tumble to Earth sometime in early November, but it's still too early to pinpoint exactly when and where debris from the satellite will land, according to officials at the German Aerospace Center. The 2.4-ton spacecraft's orbit extends from the latitudes of 53 degrees north and south, which means the satellite could fall anywhere over a huge swath of the planet -- stretching from Canada to South America, German Aerospace officials said. The latest estimates suggest that up to 30 large pieces of the satellite could survive the intense and scorching journey through Earth's atmosphere. In all, about 1.6 tons of the satellite components could reach the surface of the Earth, according to German Aerospace officials.

Orbiting Standards Lab Could Improve Climate Predictions

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 18:14:57 GMT

Policy makers would be much better placed to combat the effects of global warming if scientists had access to accurate measurements of the Earth's radiation balance from a dedicated satellite, claims an international group of physicists. As well as collecting its own data, the spacecraft would also calibrate other Earth-observation satellites. The group is led by scientists at the UK's National Physical Laboratory (NPL) and it estimates that the satellite could cut a decade or more from the time needed to make useful projections of global temperature at the end of the 21st century. Reducing the uncertainties will involve continued space-based measurement of key climate variables such as cloud cover in order to compare these data with the values predicted by each of the various models. According to Nigel Fox of NPL, today's space-based instruments require an observing period of 30 or 40 years before the uncertainties can be restricted to a range of about 1--2 C. At this point governments will know whether and when they need to take major steps to combat climate change, such as building large flood barriers, or whether more modest changes will do the job. However, he and colleagues from the UK, US and Switzerland argue that this period could be cut to just 12 years following the launch of a satellite known as TRUTHS.

China launches its first space laboratory module

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 15:42:24 GMT

China successfully launched its first space lab module into orbit in an impressive nighttime display on Thursday. The unmanned Tiangong 1 module lifted off on a Chinese Long March 2F rocket at 9:16 p.m. local time (9:16 a.m. ET) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China. The spacecraft launched just two days before China's Oct. 1 National Day holiday. The Tiangong 1 module, which is expected to remain in orbit for two years, is considered an important steppingstone in the country's effort to construct its own crewed space station. The prototype space lab measures 34 feet (10.4 meters) long and 11 feet (3.35 meters) wide and has a mass of 8.5 metric tons.

US & China: Space Race or Cosmic Cooperation?

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 15:42:15 GMT

China is only the third country ever to send a person into space. This week the rising space power is set to reach another milestone, launching its first space lab module, an unmanned prototype for a future space station. China's reach for the stars presents the United States with a choice. America could reach out to cooperate, proposing joint exploration projects, or it could restrict collaboration and perhaps even decide to pursue a space race akin to the 1960s competition against the Soviet Union. Experts say there are benefits and pitfalls to either position, and note that the space question is only one thread in the complex, changing world of Sino-American relations. In 2003, China joined the very small club of nations, consisting of Russia and the United States, that can launch a person to orbit. The second and third manned Chinese missions came in 2005 and 2008. Now China is preparing to loft Tiangong-1, a space lab test module, atop a Chinese Long March 2F rocket.

Chief designer explains Chinese way of mastering space docking technology

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 15:42:04 GMT

Some developed countries acquired docking technology crucial to landing a space station decades ago, and, to catch up with leaders in space technology, China plans to use more speed and cut costs, said a Chinese scientist with the manned space program. This docking technology is the most risky aspect of China's manned space program. "We can never count on other countries to sell their mature technology to us, so we have to rely on our own," Zhou Jianping, chief designer of China's manned space program, told Xinhua in an exclusive interview on Thursday. The interview was made ahead of the launch of China's first space lab module, the Tiangong-1, scheduled for Thursday evening. The successful launch and docking are expected to pave the way for building the nation's first space station. The space programs of the United States and Russia only achieved a single target during each mission, but China's Tiangong-1 operation will realize three other goals in addition to docking, Zhou said.

SpaceX Puts Falcon 1 On Ice

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 15:41:54 GMT

The softness of the small-satellite launch market has forced Space Exploration Technologies Inc. (SpaceX) to suspend production of the Falcon 1 launch vehicle pending an upcoming market review. SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell says: “We haven’t abandoned it, but we are looking to address the market in a more cost-effective way. We were really hoping the small-sat market would be really robust. However, with Falcon 1 we sold very few vehicles through 2010.” While the company focuses on development of its larger Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launchers, Shotwell says it will review the Falcon 1 development situation in early 2012. Speaking at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Space 2011 conference here, she adds that one possible option could be to offer it as a target vehicle.

It's time to reconsider the nuclear option for spaceflight

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 15:41:44 GMT

For weeks to come, NASA will be working with the aerospace industry on its plans to develop its new super-sized rocket for missions back to the moon, the nearest Lagrangian point, asteroids, Mars and other ports of call in deep space. The agency will be working with the latest technology, as well as innovations yet to be invented. Some even dare to whisper rocketry's N-word: nuclear. But first, it seems logical to assume that NASA will use what it has. For the initial flight tests, NASA’s new heavy-lift rocket will use two five-segment versions of the space shuttle’s solid-rockets. The solids will be strapped to a tank structure equipped with shuttle-style main engines, forming the basic “core stage.” The second stage will use the J-2X engine, an updated version of the upper-stage rocket that powered the Saturn 1B and Saturn V rockets in the 1960s and '70s. The system was used for 16 manned space missions, including nine Apollo flights that carried crews to the moon and back.

Virgin Galactic Nears Spaceship Crew Choice

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 15:41:33 GMT

Virgin Galactic is close to finalizing the initial flight crews for its space tourism and science operations. Three pilots will make up the first crew who will fly both the SpaceShipTwo suborbital vehicle and WhiteKnightTwo (WK2) mother ship. “There were 550 applicants, and we downselected to the finalists this summer,” says Virgin Galactic President and CEO George Whitesides. Speaking at the Society of Experimental Test Pilots symposium in Anaheim, Calif., he adds that the first announcements are expected “this fall.” The three pilots will fly with Virgin Galactic chief pilot David Mackay, who recently made his first sortie in WK2. Minimum requirements for candidates include graduation from a recognized test pilot school and at least one tour of instruction at a school.

UK-built NigeriaSat-2 shows off its vision

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 15:41:23 GMT

The most powerful UK-built imaging spacecraft ever sent into orbit has been demonstrating its capability. Its first pictures since being launched in August show Salt Lake City in the US - its airport and surrounding roads. The satellite, built for the Nigerian space agency (NASRDA), can acquire images that resolve details on the ground that are just 2.5m across. Called NigeriaSat-2, the platform will be used by the African nation to map its lands and plan urban development. It will also assist the Disaster Monitoring Constellation. This UK-managed fleet of spacecraft is used to picture regions of the Earth gripped by natural calamities. These might be catastrophic floods or a big earthquake. Images sent down from space will often be critical to organising an effective emergency response.

Russia set for launch of Proton-M carrier rocket with Mexican satellite

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 15:41:13 GMT

Russia's Proton-M carrier rocket with a Mexican telecommunications satellite, QuetzSat-1, will be launched on Thursday from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan, a spokesman for the Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos) said. "The launch of the Proton-M carrier rocket with QuetzSat-1 satellite has been scheduled for Thursday at 22:32 Moscow time [18:32 GMT]. The separation of the satellite from the carrier rocket has been slated for Friday at 7:45 Moscow time [3:45 GMT]," the spokesman said. This will be a second launch of Proton-M carrier rockets equipped with Briz-M boosters, following a recent string of launch failures in the Russian aerospace industry. On August 18, a Russian Proton-M rocket lost an Express-AM4 satellite that was designed to provide digital television and secure government communications for Siberia and the Far East.

Orbital Minotaur IV Launches With Tacsat-4

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 16:56:48 GMT

An Orbital Minotaur IV+ rocket has launched from Kodiak Island, Alaska, on Tuesday, carrying an experimental communications satellite for the United States Navy and Operationally Responsive Space Office. Liftoff was on schedule at 15:49 UTC (07:49 local time). TacSat-4 is the third in a series of experimental satellites intended to demonstrate new technologies for the US military. The first spacecraft, TacSat-2, was launched on 16 December 2006. Whilst the mission was considered to have been successful, it was reported that some of the sensors could not be tested for several months due to a dispute between the US Navy and National Reconnaissance Office; it remains unclear if they were ever activated. TacSat-2 decayed from orbit on 5 February 2011, having ceased to operate in January 2008. TacSat-4, also known as the Tactical Microsatellite Innovative Naval Prototype, or INP, was developed under a new US Navy policy of increased investment in spacecraft technology development.

Satellite Makers Gird For Leaner Times

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 16:56:36 GMT

European and U.S. satellite manufacturers are preparing for a global downturn as budget pressures curb funding for large government contracts and major commercial customers wind down their recent spending sprees. U.S. aerospace giants Lockheed Martin and Boeing are bracing for spending cuts in Washington as Congress seeks savings in the Pentagon's annual budget, which last year topped $663 billion. Joe Rickers, president of Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems, says his company has seen a slowdown in the number of satellite orders in the past six months, and it has downsized in several areas as a result. "The U.S. government customer will not be having any real big new starts that are out there on the horizon, so our defense business is tightening," he said during the World Summit for Satellite Financing here last week. "But on the flip side, there is demand for bandwidth--everybody with their mobile device on their belt and troops deployed to various areas." As U.S. government buyers seek to lower spending through less traditional acquisition initiatives, including firm fixed-price orders for satellites, Rickers says a hybrid market is emerging. "I think we're still very early in what is likely to be a 5-10-year contraction of public spending," says David Thompson, Orbital's chief executive. "As budgets tighten, certain customers will look to somewhat more affordable small and medium-sized systems. If that is correct, that would present additional opportunities for us."

NOAA Makes Plans For Funding Cuts, Data Gap

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 16:56:22 GMT

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is working with the Obama administration to shield its multibillion-dollar weather satellite program from suffering collateral damage in congressional spending wars. And with a gap in polar-orbiting satellite coverage becoming more likely, the agency is also making contingency plans to share data with other nations. The gap was already set in motion by schedule delays to the program and funding cuts over time. In 2011, the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) lost much of its budget request. Those factors are pushing back the launch date into 2017 and forcing weather forecasts to rely on the JPSS predecessor -- a satellite designed for research rather than operational use -- longer than it was expected to last. If a gap in coverage -- particularly of a critical afternoon orbit -- emerges, the U.S. may rely more heavily on an international web of satellites. "We'll look to do anything we can to secure the data that maintains the best quality data forecast that we can if we find ourselves in a gap in the 2016 time frame," Sullivan says. Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) raised the possibility of turning to private industry for help in filling the gap. Sullivan says the agency has issued a request for information to industry for providing data. But at the same time, she adds that no one matches the accuracy of instruments made by the U.S.

Military Surveillance Data: Shared Intelligence

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 16:56:08 GMT

No one monitors our planet more closely than the military. Through most of their history, the data collected by this vast blanket of military sensors have been highly classified. But on occasions when scientists are lucky enough to see the data, their view is considerably different from that of the generals. After the cold war, some of these data did start trickling out to scientists, mainly in the United States, which has vast military resources and a vibrant scientific community. The flow ebbed after 2000 -- but there are hints that it is resuming, and that more fruitful data collaborations are to come. A group of security-cleared scientists called MEDEA has recently rekindled ties with the US intelligence community to discuss the use of military environmental data for the study of climate change. In the late 1990s, work by Gore and MEDEA led the United States and Russia to declassify Arctic-sea-ice data recorded between the 1970s and 1990s by satellites, submarines and other sources. Then, around 2000, MEDEA abruptly halted its work and, in 2009, the informal meteor data from the Air Force stopped flowing too. No one really knows why. But such twists and turns are the price of working with the intelligence community. As Schlesinger puts it, researchers aren't privy to the "darkened world where a bunch of people make a decision". Also in 2009, MEDEA persuaded intelligence officials to publicly share images of areas of environmental interest that had, by that time, been photographed regularly for more than a decade.

New Forecast: Sun's 'Superstorms' Could Doom Satellites

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 16:55:56 GMT

Magnetic storms set off by the sun could pose a bigger threat than thought to weather, communication, military and other satellites close to Earth, with a potentially devastating economic impact, scientists suggest. In the new study, researchers found that solar radiation can energize a belt of high-energy particles that surrounds Earth more dramatically than previously believed. The study focused on the possible effects of a particularly strong magnetic storm on the Van Allen radiation belts, the dangerous rings of high-energy particles that girdle the Earth. The belts are split into two distinct zones. The outer belt, which is made up of electrons, reaches from about 15,800 to 31,600 miles (25,500 to 51,000 kilometers) above the surface, while the inner belt, which consists of a mix of electrons and protons, reaches from about 4,000 to 8,000 miles (6,400 to 12,800 km) aboveNow computer simulations suggest that during a "superstorm" -- which has occurred in the past and is likely to recur in the future - the electrons in the inner belt, too, could become energized. Near-Earth radiation could then remain dramatically more intense for several years afterward. "The increase in radiation in the inner zone may last for up to a decade and continue damaging satellites for years after a very strong storm," study lead author Yuri Shprits, a space physicist at the University of California, Los Angeles, told SPACE.com. This radiation would damage satellites in that zone and potentially cut their lifetimes by five-sixths or more. "It would not destroy all satellites at once," Shprits said. "However, at least according to our calculations, a very strong storm can increase the radiation dose in the inner zone by a factor of 10, and within a few years we may lose a significant portion of the satellites that traverse the inner zone."

Kennedy Space Center Sees Plan For Landmark Overhaul

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 16:55:41 GMT

NASA is taking its first steps this week toward converting 50-year-old Kennedy Space Center into a vibrant modern spaceport where both the agency and commercial companies can operate. With a new era of human space exploration and orbital enterprise opening, NASA started architectural design work Tuesday aimed at building a new $200 million to $300 million Central Campus Complex in the KSC Industrial Area. "You're talking about facilities that are 50 years old and getting older," said KSC spokesman Allard Beutel. "This is looking ahead to the next 50 years." Beutel said the new buildings will be less expensive to operate and maintain. NASA expects to save $400 million over 40 years, he said. The two contracts are part of an effort to convert KSC from a government-owned-and-operated launch operations site to a 21st-century spaceport where both NASA and commercial companies operate. NASA's post-shuttle era plan calls for the agency to invest in development of commercial spacecraft to ferry people to and from the International Space Station and other destinations in low-Earth orbit. The space agency itself plans to develop a supersized rocket and the multipurpose Orion crew exploration vehicle for missions beyond Earth orbit.

Congressman Wants Probe Of NASA's Plans To Contract For Heavy-Lift Work

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 16:55:28 GMT

A California congressman is asking for a federal investigation of what he says is NASA's plan to avoid competition for work on the agency's new heavy-lift rocket project. U.S. Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif, wrote the Comptroller General's Office days before NASA plans to unveil its acquisition strategy for the Space Launch System (SLS) this Thursday in Huntsville, Al. "I have serious concerns with NASA's attempt to avoid holding a full and open competition to acquire the SLS," McClintock wrote Sept. 22. "Instead, NASA is considering modifying and/or extending existing contracts for retired or cancelled programs resulting in one or more 'de facto sole source awards.' Some of these contracts were originally awarded on a sole source basis." "I strongly believe that such a de facto sole source award would be a violation of the 1984 Competition in Contracting Act (CICA)." McClintock said. "I am aware of multiple potential contractors who have expressed intent to compete for any available SLS contracts, and who should have every opportunity to do so."

Russia Says No To U.S. ISS Docking

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 16:55:15 GMT

A private U.S. space capsule will fly near the International Space Station but docking at the ISS has not been approved, a Russian space official says. California-based SpaceX announced plans to send its Dragon capsule toward the orbiting lab Nov. 30 and has proposed a docking with the ISS nine days after launch. Russia has said it will not allow the SpaceX vehicle to dock with the ISS unless its safety is fully tested, RIA Novosti reported. "We will not issue docking permission unless the necessary level of reliability and safety is proven," Alexei Krasov, head of the human spaceflight department of Roscosmos, said. "So far we have no proof that this spacecraft duly complies with the accepted norms of spaceflight safety.

ASAP Want NASA To Avoid "Going Native" With CCP Partners -- Spacex Latest

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 16:54:56 GMT

NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) have recommended that NASA personnel embedded at commercial companies should be rotated, in order to avoid them "going native", which they fear threatens rule bending as the teams' working relationship becomes closer over time. Meanwhile, SpaceX are waiting on decision to see if they can combine their next two Dragon COTS missions. A decision is due on whether SpaceX will be allowed to combine the second and third demonstration flights to the ISS, which would result in a full mission through to the arrival at the Station. This decision is believed to be imminent, and will be made via Human Exploration and Operations (HEO) Mission Directorate Associate Administrator Bill Gersteinmaier. However, NASA source information on Monday has pointed to different problem, this time with the "Stakeholders" -- notably the Russians, who appear to be unsatisfied with the "performance data" supplied to them from the COTS 1 flight. Due to the secretive nature of both the Russians and SpaceX (due to commercial and contractual reasons), it is likely no decision will be known until it is officially announced by NASA. No date has been set for such an announcement at this time. "There is still tremendous uncertainty associated with the CCP cost estimate. The range extends from $1B to $10B, and the estimate's fidelity continues to be less than satisfying. The budget is the 'elephant in the room'. The budget to sustain at least two competitors, operating under fixed-price contracts, into design and development looks to be exceedingly challenging. There is an issue with risk acceptance

SpaceX To Build 'Grasshopper' Rocket

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 16:54:42 GMT

SpaceX, the company started by PayPal co-founder and tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, is stepping up its pursuit of a reusable rocket with a suborbital craft named "Grasshopper." Based on the company's Falcon rocket, the 106-foot tall launcher will have an extra motor to practice cushioning its return trip to Earth, with the aim of landing on the launch pad, a draft environmental assessment issued by the Federal Aviation Administration shows. From a launch site in McGregor, Texas, Grasshopper will fly as high as about 11,500 feet above ground, and as often as 70 times a year. In addition to a Falcon 9 first stage and a Merlin engine, Grasshopper would be outfitted with four steel landing legs and a steel support structure, the FAA document shows. SpaceX declined to disclose details of the Grasshopper program, but rather than developing a new suborbital launch vehicle for sale, Grasshopper most likely is a testbed for SpaceX to chase the elusive holy grail of rocket scientists -- reusable launchers. The company has flown its Falcon 9 rocket twice, and plans to launch a third time before the end of the year on a practice cargo run to the International Space Station. Both Falcon 9s splashed back into the Pacific Ocean after the successful flights and were recovered, but could not be reused. When asked about SpaceX's progress on reusable rockets, Musk replied, "Well, so far, it has sucked...but we have learned a lot."

Beaming Up A Brighter Future For SA

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 16:54:26 GMT

Sandile Malinga used to visit his only neighbour with a television set to watch Star Trek. Next week, he will introduce South Africa's new space administration to the biggest gathering of the world's space community at the International Astronautical Congress in Cape Town. But while astronauts and rocket scientists talk about ways of getting to Mars, Malinga, newly confirmed head of the South African National Space Agency (Sansa), will be looking for ways to use space to improve mealie fields, mineral finds and maths results in rural parts of the country. Then, on Africa Space Day, October 3, the 44-year-old scientist will represent South Africa in a key African Space Leaders' Round Table with the heads of the continent's three other fully fledged space agencies to pursue his main goal: using high-tech science for low-tech benefits. "There is a space race in Africa," he said. "Nigeria has got two satellites in space. We have one, and it's not doing well. But we have taken a more risky route of developing our own satellites. It might be slow, but we aim to develop a fully operational satellite which delivers for all Africans."

Humans Envisioned On Mars In 25 Years

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 20:11:51 GMT

The Global Exploration Roadmap, unveiled by the International Space Exploration Coordination Group on Sept. 22, offers two 25-year human pathways to Mars. One follows the "Asteroid next" approach favored by U.S. President Barack Obama, while the other features a "Moon next" gateway more akin to the George W. Bush administration's scrapped Constellation program. Representatives from 10 of the agencies met in Kyoto, Japan, on Aug. 30 to sign off on the release of the 45-page document, which will undergo further discussion, leading to a planned revision in 2012. Fluid in its outlook and five years in the making, the roadmap does not come with a price tag. Nor does it require binding agreements from existing participants or exclude newcomers, including the noticeably absent China.

Neil Armstrong: US Space Program 'Embarrassing'

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 20:11:38 GMT

The first and last men to walk upon the moon have testified at a Congressional hearing that NASA is a national disgrace. The US space program is "embarrassing and unacceptable," said Neil Armstrong, who on July 21, 1969, first set foot on the surface of the earthly companion that, in his testimony, he referred to as Luna. "Today we are on a path of decay," testified fellow ex-astronaut Eugene Cernan, who said goodbye to Luna on December 14, 1972, bringing the curtain down on the US Apollo program. Being 81 and 77 years old, repectively, and having achieved much in their careers, Armstrong and Cernan have nothing to prove nor favor to curry -- and their comments reflected that freedom. Both men testified that reinvigorating the US space program was of critical importance to the US economy, national security, and sense of purpose. Armstrong, for example, pointed out that the US aerospace industry is the number-one contributor to the country's balance of payments, with a $50bn positive trade balance in 2010.

Virginia Rocket-Launch Site Suggestion A KSC 'Betrayal'

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 20:11:20 GMT

A proposal by NASA's Wallops Flight Facility to support launches of human spaceflight missions from Virginia may pose a "direct threat" to the economy and work force on the Space Coast, local leaders say. As part of a comprehensive environmental review of potential new operations, Wallops is considering the impact of infrastructure upgrades needed for unspecified manned missions. Local space and economic development officials weighed in with public comments, saying any NASA funding that supports launches of people on orbital flights from Virginia would be a wasteful duplication and further undermine a work force reeling from the shuttle's retirement. "The most pressing issue for the Florida workforce is the sense of betrayal that their tax dollars might be used in establishing a competing orbital human spaceflight launch capability in another state when they have so well and ably done the job here in Florida," wrote Lynda Weatherman, president and CEO of the Economic Development Commission of Florida's Space Coast, in a letter dated last month.

NASA Studies Composite Fuel Tanks To Lighten Spacecraft Loads

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 20:11:06 GMT

America's next deep-space rocket may carry its fuel in composite tanks light enough to save millions in costs and make room for thousands of pounds of extra fuel and supplies. NASA announced Tuesday that Huntsville's Marshall Space Flight Center will lead a new project to develop fuel tanks made of composite materials for future spacecraft. It's an effort targeting the greatest source of weight on a spacecraft, where 60 percent of a typical rocket's mass is in its propellant tank. "Probably applicable to heavy-lift, propellant depots, advanced in-space transportation and any future landing systems," Marshall Director Robert Lightfoot said, listing some of the new tanks' potential uses. "NASA and industry are constantly striving to reduce the weight and cost of launch vehicles," Marshall's John Vickers told a Tuesday teleconference. Vickers is project manager of what is formally called the Composite Cryotank Technologies Demonstration effort at Marshall. The goals of the test, Vickers said, are a 25 percent cost savings and tanks weighing 30 percent less than current aluminum and aluminum/lithium models.

Arianespace Faces Multiyear Struggle Stacking Heavier Payloads On Ariane 5

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 20:10:53 GMT

Europe's heavy-lift Ariane 5 rocket will be unable to launch any commercial missions for the next six months because of worsening payload compatibility issues that Ariane 5 designers hope to solve with the vehicle's planned upgrade. But that modification, called Ariane 5 Midlife Evolution (ME), will not make its first flight before 2016 at the earliest and will not be in regular service before 2018 -- and then only if European governments approve the program's remaining development budget, estimated at about 1.5 billion euros ($2 billion). For the next seven years then, Europe's Arianespace commercial launch consortium will have to cope with the gradually increasing weight of the average telecommunications satellite by matching payloads as best it can while staying within Ariane 5's current limits. An annual mission count of just five launches will make it difficult for Evry, France-based Arianespace to turn a profit. The company has posted small losses in each of the past two years despite the continued reliability of Ariane 5, whose Sept. 21 launch was its 46th consecutive success.

Sea Launch Resumes Operations After 2-Year Break

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 20:10:39 GMT

International consortium Sea Launch resumed its operations on Saturday with a launch of a Russian-Ukrainian Zenit-3SL rocket carrying a European telecoms satellite, the company said. The rocket put the Atlantic Bird 7 satellite into a high-perigee transfer orbit at 21:25 GMT. The 4.6-ton satellite was built by Astrium for Eutelsat Communications to provide digital broadcasting services for Eutelsat's customers in the Middle East and North Africa. Its scheduled in-orbit lifetime exceeds 15 years. A total of 30 rocket launches have been made from the Odyssey platform in the Pacific from 1999 until 2009, with 27 of them successful. Sea Launch announced its bankruptcy in June 2009. In July 2010, Energia subsidiary Energia Overseas Limited (EOL) received 95% in Sea Launch by a bankruptcy court ruling. Sea Launch currently has ten Zenit-3SL's on order to satisfy existing and future customer requirements for launches through the end of 2013, the company said.

Plesetsk Resumes Preparations For Glonass-M Launch

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 20:10:27 GMT

The Plesetsk spaceport in the Arkhangelsk region has resumed preparations for launching a Glonass-M navigation satellite with a Soyuz-2-1b rocket on October 1, Space Forces spokesman Col. Alexei Zolotukhin told Itar-Tass on Friday. Glonass general designer Yuri Urlichich said that five to six navigation satellites would be launched in Russia before the end of this year. Russia is resuming launches of Soyuz rockets, which were suspended after the Progress M-12M failure of August 24. The accident alerted partners in the International Space Station (ISS) project, who later agreed to a tentative launch schedule with crew flights to the ISS resuming on November 14. "The Space Station Control Board, with representation from all partner agencies, set the schedule after hearing the Russian Federal Space Agency's findings on the Aug. 24 loss of the Progress 44 cargo craft. The dates may be adjusted to reflect minor changes in vehicle processing timelines," NASA said.

U.S. Republican Lawmakers Call For Investigation Of Lightsquared Case

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 20:10:13 GMT

The political controversy over alleged ties between the White House and a company seeking U.S. government approval for a satellite-terrestrial broadband network serving North America widened Sept. 22, as Republican lawmakers called for a formal probe of the matter. In a letter to senior members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, five Republicans on the House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee expressed support for an "aggressive investigation" into why LightSquared received regulatory approvals from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) despite well-document concerns that its planned network would interfere with GPS applications, including national security. Meanwhile, seven Republicans on the House Science, Space and Technology Committee sent twin letters to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and Office of Management and Budget Sept. 20 demanding documents relating to any actions taken by President Barack Obama's administration in support of LightSquared's proposed network.

U.S. Senate Spending Bill Calls For Cancellation Of Defense Weather Satellite System

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 20:09:52 GMT

Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems' bid to build the next generation of U.S. military weather satellites was dealt a setback Sept. 15 when the Senate Appropriations Committee called for the cancellation of the Defense Weather Satellite System (DWSS). The DWSS program was initiated last year in the wake of a White House decision to dismantle the troubled National Polar-orbiting Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) and establish separate programs for military and civilian weather needs. Northrop Grumman, the NPOESS prime contractor, was given a $429.9 million Air Force contract in May to get started on DWSS. Northrop also retained an oversight role on the Joint Polar Satellite System, the civilian counterpart to DWSS. Senate appropriators, who last year denied the Pentagon's full funding request for DWSS, citing a lack of urgency, have now signaled they expect Northrop Grumman to compete to build the successor to the Air Force's Defense Meteorological Satellite Program spacecraft.

Japan Launches New Spy Satellite

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 20:09:39 GMT

Japan launched a new spy satellite into orbit Sept. 23, officials said, in its latest effort to beef up surveillance against the threat of North Korean missiles. "The rocket was launched successfully and the satellite was separated into an orbit around the earth later," Naoki Takarada, an official of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), said by telephone from Tanegashima. It was Japan's latest effort to build an intelligence-gathering system following North Korea's missile launch in 1998 over the Japanese archipelago. Japan currently has three information-gathering satellites in orbit and the latest satellite will replace one of them which has passed its use-by date. The three are all optical satellites, which can capture images in daylight and in clear weather. In the next two years, Japan plans to launch two radar satellites, which can capture images at night and in cloudy weather.

NASA to Spend $1.6 Billion to Buy 'Space Taxi' for Astronauts

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 16:11:34 GMT

NASA astronauts will soon get their own "space taxi" to shuttle between the International Space Station and the Earth, the space agency said on Monday. The agency will spend up to $1.61 billion for buying a complete range of spacecrafts, launchers, mission operations and ground support which will run from July 2012 to April 2014. "This is a significant step forward in America's amazing story of space exploration," said NASA administrator Charles Bolden. "It's further evidence we are committed to fully implementing our plan - as laid out in the Authorization Act - to outsource our space station transportation so NASA can focus its energy and resources on deep space exploration." According to NASA's draft proposal, the Integrated Design Contract (IDC) shall be awarded to multiple private companies that can provide designs for all the operations related to an expedition and recovery.

Senate Panel Caps Webb At $8 Billion

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 16:11:23 GMT

Lawmakers on the Senate Appropriations Committee recommend an $8 billion cap on the development of the troubled James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) program, which covers the latest projected cost to finish and operate the huge infrared telescope. NASA has estimated that $8.7 billion will be needed to finish building the state-of-the-art observatory, launch it and operate it for at least five years. Amid fears from scientists practicing other NASA-funded research disciplines that the JWST will drain funds from their work, the full appropriations panel followed the lead of its Commerce, Justice and Science subcommittee in recommending an appropriation of $529.6 million for the telescope in fiscal 2012.

Defunct NASA satellite to crash to Earth this week

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 16:11:11 GMT

A defunct NASA science satellite is expected to fall back to Earth on Friday, showering debris somewhere on the planet although scientists cannot predict exactly where, officials said. The 6.5-ton Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, or UARS, was carried into orbit during a space shuttle mission in 1991. It operated for 14 years, collecting measurements of ozone and other chemicals in the atmosphere. Since completing its mission in 2005, UARS has been slowly losing altitude, tugged by Earth's gravity. On Friday, the 35-foot-long, 15-foot diameter (10.6-metres long, 4.5-metres diameter) satellite is expected to plunge into the atmosphere, NASA reported on its website. While most of the spacecraft will be incinerated, scientists expect up to 26 pieces, with a combined mass of about 1,100 pounds (500 kg) to survive the fiery re-entry and fall down somewhere on Earth.

China takes first step towards space station

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 16:11:02 GMT

China is about to take the first step towards building its own space station with the launch of Tiangong 1, or Heavenly Palace, in a further sign of its race to catch up with the US and Russia. State media on Tuesday reported that China would next week launch an unmanned craft from the Chinese western Gobi desert that will be used for practising operations at a future space station. The launch comes as the US is cutting funding for its space programme, having retired its space shuttle fleet after a last flight of the Atlantis in July. Although space experts warn of huge technological challenges ahead for the country’s space station plans, the programme would eventually make China the world’s only nation with a space station. The China Manned Space Engineering Office has said it plans to complete the space station in 2020, just as the International Space Station is scheduled to retire.

Esa-Nasa Mars missions' race against clock

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 16:10:51 GMT

Europe and America are now in a race against time to rescue their plans for joint missions to Mars. The space agencies (Esa and Nasa) want to send an orbiting satellite to the Red Planet in 2016, followed by a large rover two years later. But funding woes on both sides of the Atlantic have put the ventures in doubt, certainly in their present form. Unless solutions are found soon, there is a grave danger the 2016 and 2018 launch opportunities will be missed. Officials are now looking at the possibility of making the ExoMars missions - as they are known in Europe - smaller in scale to reduce cost, or gaining additional funds by asking the Russians to enlist in the programme. "We are now trying for certain recovery actions so that we can still do the missions," said Alvaro Gimenez, the director of science at Esa.

Firm completes spacecraft factory in Mojave

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 16:10:39 GMT

Bringing commercial spaceflight a step closer to reality, a privately funded aerospace firm has built a production plant where it will assemble the world's first fleet of passenger-ready spaceships. The 68,000-square-foot facility next to a runway at the Mojave Air and Space Port about 100 miles north of Los Angeles is one of the first aircraft assembly plants to be built in the region in decades. It'll be home to Spaceship Co. — a joint venture of Mojave-based Scaled Composites and British billionaire Richard Branson's space tourism company, Virgin Galactic. "This is a big day for Galactic," said George Whitesides, chief executive of Virgin Galactic. "We're moving closer and closer to bringing paying passengers into space."

European tech could propel Nasa's Orion capsule

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 16:10:28 GMT

Europe is looking to play a significant role in America's plans for the manned exploration of deep space. Nasa has detailed its vision for a huge new rocket system that could send astronauts to asteroids and even Mars. European engineers believe they could contribute to this project by providing the propulsion unit that pushes the rocket's capsule to these locations. Participation would require the agreement of European member states and a budget to fund the development work. A formal proposal is likely to be presented for consideration by the bloc's space ministers when they meet next year in Italy. One attraction is that it would almost certainly lead eventually to European astronauts being invited to take part in deep space missions. If the project is approved, engineers would hope to have the propulsion unit, or service module, ready to fly on the American rocket's first test flight.

China to build and launch satellite for Belarus

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 16:10:18 GMT

China will build a communication satellite for Belarus and bring it into orbit. The contract was signed in Minsk on Sunday during the visit of the Chinese delegation led by Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, the China Daily newspaper reported on Tuesday. “The contract with Belarus marks China’s expansion of satellite in-orbit delivery service to the European market,” said Yin Liming, president of China Great Wall Industry Corp. This is China’s only corporation that is authorized to launch commercial satellites for foreign customers. Aside from contract with Belarus China has another six contracts. However, Belarus is China’s first client on the European market. The communications satellite will use the Dongfanghong-4 satellite platform and has a designed lifespan of 15 years.

Curacao takes another step toward space tourism

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 16:10:05 GMT

XCOR Aerospace and Space Expedition Curacao announced today that they're going forward with a deal worth more than $10 million to start offering rocket plane rides beyond the edge of space from the Caribbean island starting in 2014. The wet-lease arrangement follows up on an agreement in principle reached a year ago. Under this type of contract, the Curacao venture would have XCOR's Lynx rocket plane available for its use, but XCOR would be in charge of the ground operations and provide the pilot. California-based XCOR's development plan calls for beginning flight testing about a year from now, using a prototype version of the Lynx that's built for flights up to an altitude of 38.5 miles (62 kilometers). By the time the Curacao deal kicks in, XCOR aims to have one or two "Mark II" production models ready to fly to altitudes in excess of 62.5 miles (100 kilometers), which is the internationally recognized boundary of outer space.

Blurred vision plagues astronauts who spend months in space

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 16:09:52 GMT

If NASA ever wants to send astronauts to Mars, it first must solve a problem that has nothing to do with rockets or radiation exposure. A newly discovered eye condition -- found to erode the vision of some astronauts who've spent months aboard the International Space Station -- has doctors worried that future explorers could go blind by the end of long missions, such as a multi-year trip to Mars. While blindness is the worst-case scenario, the threat of blurred vision is enough that NASA has asked scores of researchers to study the issue and has put special eyeglasses on the space station to help those affected see what they're doing. "We are certainly treating this with a great deal of respect," said Dr. Rich Williams, NASA's Chief Health and Medical Officer. "This [eye condition] is comparable to the other risks like bone demineralization [loss] and radiation that we have to consider … It does have the potential for causing mission impact."

Will NASA's Hot New Rocket Really Fly?

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 15:19:17 GMT

Want to make a space geek dreamy (O.K., dreamier than usual)? Just mention the Saturn V rocket. Thirty-six stories of big-muscle booster, the Saturn V produced 3.4 million kg (7.5 million lb.) of thrust, could carry 120 metric tons of payload, launched 24 astronauts to the moon and put America's first space station in orbit. Then, in 1973, it was forever mothballed. But those same geeks beamed this week when NASA revealed its plans for its next generation heavy-lift booster. It's designed for deep-space destinations like the Saturn V; it can lift a lot of tons like the Saturn V; it even looks like the Saturn V — eye candy of the first order. "President Obama challenged us to be bold and dream big, and that's exactly what we're doing at NASA," said space-agency administrator and former astronaut Charles Bolden. "While I was proud to fly on the shuttle, tomorrow's explorers will now dream of one day walking on Mars."

Secret Cold War Spy Satellite Program Declassified, Finally Revealed

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 15:19:04 GMT

Twenty-five years after their top-secret, Cold War-era missions ended, two clandestine American satellite programs were declassified Saturday (Sept. 17) with the unveiling of three of the United States' most closely guarded assets: the KH-7 GAMBIT, the KH-8 GAMBIT 3 and the KH-9 HEXAGON spy satellites. The vintage National Reconnaissance Office satellites were displayed to the public Saturday in a one-day-only exhibit at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles Airport, Va. The three spacecraft were the centerpiece of the NRO's invitation-only, 50th Anniversary Gala celebration held at the center last evening. Saturday's spysat unveiling was attended by a number of jubilant NRO veterans who developed and refined the classified spacecraft and its components for decades in secret, finally able to show their wives and families what they actually did 'at the office' for so many years.

Some small companies find ways to survive shuttle's demise

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 15:18:54 GMT

Business is steady these days at Aero Industries Inc., a small metal-parts operation in Orlando. Once heavily dependent on NASA's space-shuttle program, the company now has a mix of new clients, in industries ranging from energy and aviation to health care. Its survival is no accident: Aero started scoping out nonspace business half a decade ago, which has helped it avoid a plunge in sales as NASA phased out the shuttle program. The orbiter fleet's retirement is wiping out more than 9,000 jobs at Kennedy Space Center along with scores of small businesses throughout Brevard County. The program ended in July with the final flight of Atlantis. "Shortly after I bought [the business], I realized the shuttle would be coming to an end really soon," said Nancy Simmons, an entrepreneur who acquired Aero in 2004.

NASA completes huge mirrors for next space telescope

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 15:18:42 GMT

NASA's next huge space telescope passed a major mirror milestone this week on its path to become the world's most powerful space observatory when it launches in 2018. Engineers completed coating 21 mirrors that will make up NASA's flagship James Webb Space Telescope with the thin — but vital — layer of gold that will reflect the faint infrared light collected by the observatory from the most distant reaches of the universe. "It represents not just the coating event but the completion of a huge engineering project," John Mather, the telescope's senior project scientist, told SPACE.com. "The mirrors are spectacularly new technology." Each of the 21 hexagonal mirror segments is almost the height of a person (4.9-feet, or 1.5 meters tall) and is made of beryllium, a material chosen for its light weight, stiffness and ability to withstand huge changes in temperature without warping.

NASA Detects Planet Dancing With a Pair of Stars

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 15:18:27 GMT

Sometimes the orange sun rises first. Sometimes it is the red one, although they are never far apart in the sky and you can see them moving around each other, casting double shadows across the firmament and periodically crossing right in front of each other. Such is life, if it were possible, on the latest addition to the pantheon of weird planets now known to exist outside the bounds of our own solar system. It is the first planet, astronomers say, that has been definitely shown to be orbiting two stars at once, circling the pair — which themselves orbit each other tightly — at a distance of some 65 million miles.

ISS astronauts land in Kazakhstan, crew in good mood - Mission Control

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 15:18:16 GMT

A special search group on Friday opened the hatch to the Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft and reported that all three crewmembers returning to Earth from the International Space Station are in good condition. "The crew descended and landed [on Earth] just fine, the astronauts are in a good mood, and the weather in Kazakhstan where they landed is fine," the rescue group told Mission Control by radio. The Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft carrying ISS crewmembers Andrei Borisenko, Alexander Samokutyayev and Ron Garan landed at a designated area in Kazakhstan approximately at 08:00 a.m. Moscow time (04:00 GMT). The return was originally set for September 8, but the failed launch of a Progress space freighter on August 24 forced the rescheduling.

Balloon experiment to study gamma rays

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 15:18:03 GMT

U.S. researchers say they'll send a balloon up 130,000 feet to measure radiation from the remains of a supernova explosion 6,500 light years from Earth. The first opportunity in a week-long launch window at NASA's balloon facility in New Mexico will come Sunday, a University of New Hampshire release said Friday. The balloon will carry a 1-ton instrument intended to gather gamma ray data on the supernova remnant known as the Crab Pulsar. Astrophysicists say they hope the data will provide a better understanding of a phenomenon known as particle acceleration, a ubiquitous and important but poorly understood process that generates radiation and occurs throughout the universe, found in everything from Earth's magnetic field to pulsars and black holes.

SLS: The Rocket In Need Of A Destination

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 16:05:44 GMT

The Space Launch System (the name will be changed at some point, surely) will be the most powerful launcher ever built - more powerful even than the Saturn V rockets that put men on the Moon. Infrastructure and tooling that looked bound for the scrap heap after the retirement of the shuttle suddenly has a new lease of life. But even with this back-to-the-future approach, the SLS will be an immense financial undertaking, and there are sure to be many people who will baulk at the cost of it all. What will be interesting to see now is whether Congress, having made such a fuss about the need for this rocket, will stay the course and continue to fund it as federal funds get squeezed on all sides. Nasa will also have to work harder to explain to people what this rocket is for. Science and space reporters like myself have no problem fantasising about the missions and destinations made possible by this "monster", as Senator Nelson called it. But what about the ordinary person, the everyday American taxpayer who may be unfamiliar with space matters? The genius of JFK and Apollo was the simplicity of the message - of "achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon". The "destination" came first - only later did the American people understand "how" it would be achieved. With SLS, American taxpayers have been given the "how" first with a rather vague promise of "where" at some future date. An asteroid in the 2025 time frame has been mentioned, but beyond that very little has been clarified. One senior Nasa official said on Wednesday that the SLS had been designed in a "capability-driven framework". Had Kennedy said "our goal is to develop capabilities to the point where hopefully in a few years we can think about sending people to an asteroid and later to Mars" - how long would the dream have stayed alive?

Senate Panel Restores James Webb Space Telescope Funding

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 16:05:22 GMT

A U.S. Senate panel has proposed giving NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) about $150 million more for 2012 than the White House requested for the overbudget project, which appropriators in the House of Representatives voted this summer to cancel. The additional funding for JWST amounts to a 40 percent increase for the project and is part of a 2012 spending bill approved Sept. 14 by the Senate Appropriations commerce, justice, science subcommittee. Overall, the subcommittee's bill would provide NASA with a total of $17.9 billion for 2012. That is about $500 million less than the agency got for 2011 and $800 million less than what U.S. President Barack Obama sought for NASA in the 2012 budget request he sent Congress in February. The Webb telescope, which was marked for cancelation in the $16.8 billion NASA spending bill the House Appropriations Committee approved in July, would receive $530 million next year under the Senate's bill -- about 40 percent more than the $374 million the Obama administration included for the project in its 2012 request. With appropriators in both the House and Senate agreeing to cut NASA's budget, the odds have increased that spending on the U.S. civil space program will decline in 2012. Meanwhile, the Senate Appropriations commerce, justice, science subcommittee did not say what projects would get cut to pay for the JWST increase or how much it planned to provide for other high-profile NASA programs, like the heavy-lift Space Launch System and the Commercial Crew program A Senate aide said that the Space Launch System would get about $1.8 billion. This aide added that NASA's Commercial Crew program would get approximately what it was authorized to receive in the NASA Authorization Act of 2010: $500 million. That's still $350 million short of what the Obama administration requested for the program next year.

SpaceX Applauds Senate Funding Of Privatized Space Program

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 16:05:03 GMT

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk today applauded a Senate committee's approval of $500 million in NASA funding next year to help develop commercial crew taxis for trips to the International Space Station. "The investments made by this legislation will accelerate efforts to return America to launching astronauts and reduce our dependency on Russia," Musk said in a statement. "With the failure of the Soyuz booster last month, this effort is more important than ever." The proposal from the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations is significantly more than the flat funding of $312 million offered by the House, but well below the roughly $800 million President Obama propsoed for the 2012 fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. The Senate spending plan would fund NASA at $17.9 billion next year, down about 3 percent from this year.

SpaceX Engine Anomaly Troubles Panelist

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 16:04:46 GMT

Some Falcon 9 rocket engines didn't perform exactly as expected during a test flight that successfully delivered a Dragon capsule to orbit last year, but SpaceX and NASA say the issue will be resolved before a follow-up mission planned in late November. "We've seen it, we've seen the corrective actions and it's a rather simple fix, what they're planning to do," said Alan Lindenmoyer, head of the NASA program preparing commercial vehicles to ferry cargo to the International Space Station. Questions about the engine anomaly were raised last week when a NASA advisory committee member called it a "significant event" and SpaceX's explanation of it "troublesome." "There was no explanation or root cause analysis or corrective action for this particular anomaly," Charles Daniel said during a public meeting last Friday in Washington D.C., according to Space News. "This is a relatively troublesome statement not to recognize that a premature engine shutdown was a significant event." SpaceX says the rocket's nine first-stage Merlin engines shut down on time, but four experienced a momentary spike in temperature when fuel cut off slightly before the oxidizer, prompting an "oxidizer-rich" shutdown that could have damaged turbines.

Virgin Aims For First Space Launch Within A Year

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 16:04:27 GMT

Business magnate Richard Branson hopes to launch a vessel into space within the next 12 months, kicking off an era of commercial space travel. "The mother ship is finished... The rocket tests are going extremely well, and so I think that we're now on track for a launch within 12 months of today," he told CNN's Piers Morgan late Wednesday. "About an hour between Los Angeles and London is not completely out of the question," Branson said, adding that it will likely take many years before the company can offer such a service. In the meantime, Virgin has sold some 430 tickets for space travel -- at $200,000 a pop -- for an estimated $86 million.

NRO Chief Protects Tech, Procurement Budgets

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 16:04:06 GMT

The health of the U.S. classified satellite fleet is solid, as are the development programs under way now to produce the next generation of spacecraft, says the director of the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). U.S. Air Force Gen. (ret.) Bruce Carlson, however, declines to speculate on how the secretive organization, which designs and operates classified U.S. spacecraft, will fare in upcoming budget talks as Washington sorts out a national debt reduction plan. Carlson also notes that he has been able to "preserve" historical funding levels for science and technology projects -- which were typically around 8% of the budget but had recently dipped to closer to 5%. This account supports leading-edge work that allows for the deployment of innovative technologies. If budget reductions are demanded in the near term, Carlson says he will opt to cut operations accounts to maintain funding levels for his personnel and technology. Though many of the satellites in orbit today were designed to collect data on the former Soviet Union, Carlson says the NRO has made dramatic advances in supporting anti-terrorism work. Through a "clever set of technologies," the NRO is able to help find and geo-locate improvised explosive devices (IEDs) before they explode in Afghanistan, he says. "We are catching a lot of them before they get detonated," Carlson said during a Defense Writers Group breakfast in Washington Sept. 15. Though more complex to geo-locate, Carlson says the NRO has also made advances in finding "push-to-talk" radios. He says that only years ago the NRO could "get you within three miles," though now "we measure in meters," which means these enemy communications systems can be targeted with most U.S. guided weapons.

The Value Of Space Policy In Austerity Europe

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 16:03:44 GMT

The European Commission's industry and entrepreneurship website displays a clock counting down the days, hours, minutes and seconds until two satellites lift-off from a spaceport 7,500km from Brussels. Galileo has been in development for eight years. The cost of building the [Galileo] infrastructure has spiralled to €5.4bn, with EU member states bearing the full brunt after a public-private partnership set up to provide funding collapsed in 2007. The timing of the satellites' launch raises questions about the value of spending billions on space research, technology and exploration at a time of financial crisis, as governments are forced to slash spending amid speculation about the very future of the single currency. In the case of Galileo, the justification has always been the long-term reward. According to the commission, the market for global satellite navigation applications will reach €240bn by the end of the decade, with about 7 per cent of gross domestic product -- equal to €800m in Europe -- reliant on sat nav services. Independent studies have shown that the system could contribute up to €90bn to the European economy in its first 20 years. Alongside Galileo a second large-scale project is underway, called Global Monitoring for Environment and Security. Using data collected by satellites, as well as earth-based measuring tools, GMES is intended to help develop understanding of climate change through the accurate observation of, for instance, the state of oceans or the chemical composition of the atmosphere. It will also have security applications, such as in border surveillance. According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the global market for commercial Earth observation data could rise to $3bn by 2017. As well as carrying through the Galileo and GMEs projects, they include protecting space infrastructures against space debris, solar radiation and asteroids by setting-up a European Space Situation Awareness system which could save €332bn in costs from collisions. The European space manufacturing industry is worth €5.4bn per year and employs a highly qualified workforce on more than 31,000. The 11 major satellite operators in Europe run 153 communication satellites, represent 6,000 employees and have a €6bn euro per year turnover, with a downstream effect on 30,000 employees. There is no doubt then, that although spending on space research and technologies can sometimes seem like a frivolous luxury, the benefits are significant. So while there might only be 36 days, 20 hours, 46 minutes and five seconds until the launch of the first Galileo satellites, it seems certain that European policy-makers will be spending on space well beyond that.

Satellite Falls Faster Than Forecast

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 16:03:20 GMT

NASA's Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite is now expected to fall to Earth sometime between Sept. 23 and 25, orbital experts reported today. That's toward the early end of the original projections for UARS' fiery descent: Last week, when NASA announced that the long-defunct, six-ton satellite would crash, the time frame was given as late September to early October. That wide window of possibilities was due to the uncertainties over atmospheric conditions. Now the picture is becoming clearer, said Nicholas Johnson, head of NASA's Orbital Debris Program Office at Johnson Space Center in Texas. "The sun has become very active since the beginning of this week, and it's accelerating the prediction," he told me. Higher solar activity heats and expands the upper atmosphere, creating more drag for satellites in decaying orbits. The increased drag pulls down those satellites more quickly -- and that's what's behind the earlier prediction.

Mega Space Storm Would Kill Satellites For A Decade

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 16:02:58 GMT

A major solar storm would not only damage Earth's infrastructure, it could also leave a legacy of radiation that keeps killing satellites for years. When the sun belches a massive cloud of charged particles at Earth, it can damage our power grids and fry satellites' electronics. But that's not all. New calculations suggest that a solar megastorm could create a persistent radiation problem in low-Earth orbit, disabling satellites for up to a decade after the storm first hit. It would do this by destroying a natural buffer against radiation - a cloud of charged particles, or plasma, that normally surrounds Earth out to a distance of four times the planet's radius. But solar outbursts can erode the cloud. In October 2003, a major outburst whittled the cloud down so that it only extended to two Earth radii. A repeat of a huge outburst that occurred in 1859 - which is expected - would erode the cloud to almost nothing. Speeding electrons cause electric charge to accumulate on satellite electronics, prompting sparks and damage. Increasing the number of speeding electrons would drastically shorten the lifetime of a typical satellite, the team calculates. The researchers say that the destructive radiation could hang about for a long time, spiralling around Earth's magnetic field lines. "When you get this radiation that far in, it tends to be quite long-lived and very persistent," says Ian Mann of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, who was not involved in the study. Thicker metal shielding around satellite electronics would help, says Shprits. The persistent radiation would also be hazardous for astronauts and electronics on the International Space Station.

NASA Unveils Space Launch System Vision

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 17:59:02 GMT

The Space Launch System (SLS), as it is currently known, will be the most powerful launcher ever built - more powerful even than the Saturn V rockets that put men on the Moon. On top of the SLS, NASA plans to put its Orion astronaut capsule, which is already in development. The agency says the first launch should occur towards the end of 2017. This will be an uncrewed test flight, and it is estimated the project will have cost $18bn (£11.4bn) by that stage. The initial design calls for the SLS to be able to put 70 tonnes in a low-Earth orbit (LEO), the altitude of the space station. Some 130 tonnes is the eventual target. By comparison, today's biggest commercial launch vehicles, such as the Ariane 5 or the Delta IV Heavy, can put just over 20 tonnes in LEO. The immense lift capability is necessary to put all the equipment in orbit that is needed to undertake a deep-space mission. Since the retirement of the shuttle in July, America has no means of getting its own astronauts into orbit; it must rely on Russian Soyuz rockets to do that job. NASA has invited the private sector to sell it transportation services to the space station, but these commercially operated rockets and capsules will not be ready for flight until the middle of the decade. And, in any case, none of them will have the power or the life-support systems capable of taking astronauts beyond LEO.

A Setback Could Force NASA To Bid For A Plan B

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 17:58:35 GMT

The announcement on Tuesday by the Russian space agency that it will delay the launching of the next crew to the International Space Station is a concern for NASA, which is relying solely on the Russians for astronaut transportation. But a series of recent rocket malfunctions has made this approach look tenuous. American companies have contracts with NASA to carry cargo to the space station and hope eventually to win contracts to serve as space taxis for humans. But their success is hardly assured. The Orbital Sciences Corporation of Vienna, Va., one of two companies that are to start taking cargo to the space station next year, suffered a setback in June when an engine caught fire during a ground test. The other company, the Space Exploration Technologies Corporation of Hawthorne, Calif. -- or SpaceX -- has come under criticism because it did not disclose until last week a brief overheating of the engines during an otherwise highly successful test flight last December. As for the American contractors, they are nowhere near ready to launch people into space and probably will not be until 2015 at the earliest. And in Washington, the White House and Congress continue to argue. The Obama administration proposed $850 million for the next fiscal year to further finance commercial development of astronaut-carrying "space taxis" -- what NASA calls its commercial crew program -- while Congress has put a higher priority on a large NASA-designed rocket for astronaut missions beyond low-Earth orbit. A budget bill passed by the House provided only $312 million for commercial crew efforts. NASA also appears to be broadening its rocket choices. It announced on Tuesday an agreement with Alliant Techsystems Inc. of Minneapolis to help with its proposed Liberty rocket.

U.S. Lawmaker Asks NASA To Turn Over Propellant Depot Study

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 17:57:48 GMT

U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) called on NASA Administrator Charles Bolden to deliver the space agency's assessment of a space exploration architecture that uses in-space propellant depots and a fleet of commercially built rockets as an alternative to a single government-owned heavy-lift vehicle. In July, Bolden testified before the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, answering questions from lawmakers about NASA's delay in producing a reference design for the Space Launch System (SLS), a heavy-lift rocket for deep space missions that Congress has ordered NASA to build. In a Sept. 6 letter, Rohrabacher pointedly reminds Bolden that he testified during the July hearing, "that the studies have been done, and the fuel depot solution proved to be more expensive. Rohrabacher wrote in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by Space News, that a propellant depot-based architecture might allow NASA to fly astronauts beyond low Earth orbit aboard the Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) sooner and more often than would be possible if the capsule had to wait on SLS for a ride into space. With depots, Rohrabacher said, commercially operated rockets could be used to send MPCV on deep space missions. Commercial rockets could also be tapped to fly propellant depots into space, and to deliver a serviceable supply of rocket fuel in low Earth orbit, Rohrabacher said.

NASA Experts To Assist ATK On Commercial Crew Rocket

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 17:57:23 GMT

NASA and Alliant Techsystems Inc., a leading rocket contractor, announced Tuesday they will share data and expertise in helping design and develop the Liberty rocket, a U.S.-European launcher that could haul humans into Earth orbit by 2015. In a press conference at the Kennedy Space Center, government and industry officials said the unfunded Space Act Agreement, or SAA, will allow both entities to communicate and collectively analyze the design of the Liberty rocket. Alliant Techsystems, or ATK, will continue funding development of the Liberty rocket with internal capital under the Space Act Agreement, which includes four milestones and runs through March 2012. The company plans to bid for NASA funding next year. "With Liberty, we showed up a little bit later than the Atlas 5 that's been flying," Rominger said. "Having said that, what we've found are a couple of things. Folks are very interested in Liberty because of the value that we bring. We're competitive, we believe, pricing-wise for the performance. Nobody can match what Liberty can do, in particular if you look at the reliability and safety of the systems, the heritage of our systems."

Russia Announces Launch Of 2 Spacecraft In Oct.-Nov.

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 16:24:06 GMT

Russian space agency Roscosmos said on Tuesday it has tentatively set the nearest launch of a Progress space freighter on October 30 and a Soyuz manned spacecraft on November 12. Another Soyuz is scheduled to lift off on December 20 and a Progress - on January 26, 2012. The new launch schedule has been drafted on the basis of an investigation into a failed launch of the Progress M-12M space freighter from the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan on August 24.

Controllers In Contact With Russian Satellite Dropped Off In Useless Orbit

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 16:23:47 GMT

The Russian Express-AM4 satellite launched Aug. 18 into a bad orbit is communicating normally with ground controllers, has partially deployed its solar arrays, pointed to the sun and is in a safe and stable standby mode, the satellite's prime contractor said Sept. 12. Astrium Satellites of Europe, which built Express-AM4 for Moscow-based Russian Satellite Communications Co. (RSCC), nonetheless concurs with RSCC that the satellite's orbit is so far off its intended drop-off point that it cannot be salvaged, Astrium Satellites Chief Executive Evert Dudok said. "It went into safe mode and opened two wings of its solar array -- the normal procedure," Dudok said during a press briefing here. "After a week or so, we had data accurate enough to start communicating with the satellite. It has power, it has heat, and it can communicate. But from our perspective it is in a lost orbit." Dudok said the satellite's ownership has transferred to RSCC, which will decide what to do with it, and when to move it into a graveyard orbit out of the way of other spacecraft, following consultations with Express-AM4 insurance underwriters. The satellite's launch was insured for about $300 million.

DARPA Releases HTV-2 Details

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 16:23:28 GMT

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has released new details about the fate of the Hypersonic Test Vehicle (HTV-2), which crashed into the Pacific Ocean during its 11 August flight. "An initial assessment indicates that the Flight 2 anomaly is unrelated to the Flight 1 anomaly," said Major Chris Schulz, HTV-2 programme manager. "We've confirmed that the HTV-2 made impact with the Pacific Ocean along its flight trajectory as planned in the event of an anomaly," Schulz said. "HTV-2 demonstrated stable aerodynamically controlled M20.0 hypersonic flight for approximately 3min," said DARPA director Regina Dugan. "It appears that the engineering changes put into place following the vehicle's first flight test in April 2010 were effective. We do not yet know the cause of the anomaly for Flight 2."

CHIRP Delay Holds Lessons For U.S. Air Force, Industry

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 16:23:07 GMT

The first U.S. Air Force sensor to be launched as a hosted payload aboard a commercial telecommunications satellite is more than a year late because the Air Force underestimated the complexity of developing the sensor and mating it to its satellite host, Air Force and industry officials said Sept. 12. The delays in developing the sensor, an experimental missile-launch tracker called the Commercially Hosted Infrared Payload (CHIRP), added costs to the program and obliged the commercial satellite operator hosting CHIRP to switch the sensor from one satellite to another one planned for a later launch. CHIRP's development and preparation for launch have been closely viewed by both the Air Force and the commercial telecommunications satellite industry as an indicator of whether hosted payloads can be made routine as the Air Force seeks to reduce satellite system costs. Despite the development and delivery hiccups with CHIRP, these officials said they were confident that the hosted payload idea is too appealing not to be used on a regular basis, especially at a time of likely defense budget cutbacks -- so long as precautions are taken early in program development. Commercial satellite operators have almost unanimously endorsed the idea of hosted payloads. But they warn that getting a satellite launched and generating revenue are their overriding concerns. Waiting months for a hosted payload to clear the Air Force's often laborious verifications and clearances, they said, usually will not be possible.

Need For More Testing Debated In GPS Fight

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 16:22:49 GMT

LightSquared has proposed additional changes to its planned broadband wireless network to mitigate interference with GPS, but pressure is growing for further testing before a decision is made on whether to approve deployment of the revised system. LightSquared believes sufficient testing has been conducted to show most GPS receivers will not be overloaded by transmissions from its revised terrestrial network, but government witnesses at a congressional hearing Sept. 8 said tests already performed were not enough to ensure GPS would not still be compromised. In the latest of several modifications made since government-mandated tests showed its base-station transmitters as originally proposed would interfere catastrophically with GPS, LightSquared says it will further reduce the power reaching the ground to mitigate interference with the most sensitive high-precision receivers used in agriculture, construction and scientific research.

India To Have One More Satellite Launch Site

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 16:22:25 GMT

Amid requests from various countries for launch of their satellites, India has decided to set up one more launch site to expand its capacity in this aspect. At a meeting held by the Prime Minister's Principal Secretary T.K.A. Nair here to review performance of the Department of Space, it was decided that a feasibility study would be conducted for a new site, sources said. The decision to find a new site was taken after the meeting was told that ISRO has only two satellite launch pads, both of which are affected during the cyclone season, the sources said. The two launch pads are located at Sriharikota High Altitude Range (SHAR). During recent years, there have been requests from a number of countries for launching their satellites in India. The meeting was also informed that despite successful launch of GSAT-8 and GSAT-12 satellites, there is shortage of transponders primarily due to DTH and communication requirements. It was decided that steps should be taken to meet the gap within two years, the sources said. At present, Department of Space is leasing transponders and using foreign launch vehicles to meet the needs. The sources said thrust is being given by the PMO on these spheres as part of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's desire to see boost in scientific innovation in the current decade.

Sriharikota To Be Developed Into Satellite Assembling Hub

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 16:22:06 GMT

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is drawing plans to develop the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota in Sri Potti Sriramulu Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh into a Centre for assembling satellites and rockets in near future. "Our vision is a quantum jump in satellites and launch vehicles to be dealt with in future years. The space port Sriharikota should further develop into an area where the industries in India working for space would come together, assemble satellites and rockets there and move to the launch pad," ISRO chairman K Radhakrishnan said.

Canada Losing Ground In Space Competitiveness, Report Says

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 16:21:26 GMT

Experts are worried about a report that shows India has moved ahead of Canada in space competitiveness and that Canada is also losing ground to other big players in space. The 2011 Space Competitiveness Index, compiled by U.S. consulting firm Futron, also says government delays in presenting a long-term space plan are offsetting Canada's competitive advantages. There are concerns the delays may even put Canada behind in the space robotics sector where it has built a worldwide reputation with its iconic Canadarm. Futron's program manager, David Vaccaro, says the index shows Canada has slipped behind India and is being challenged hard by Brazil, China, Israel, Japan and South Korea. "My sense is that what's really happening is that as other countries start to move up, Canada has lost relative positional strength because other countries have started to advance faster," he told The Canadian Press. The analysis highlights the fact Canada still has not unveiled a new long-term plan for its space sector. It praises Canada for retaining a skilled space workforce and notes that the country's space companies did well in 2010."But delays in space policy...are offsetting these competitive advantages," the Futron report said.

Fifty New Exoplanets Discovered

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 16:21:02 GMT

The bumper haul of new worlds includes 16 "super-Earths" - planets with a greater mass than our own, but below those of gas giants such as Jupiter. One of these super-Earths orbits inside the habitable zone - the region around a star where conditions could be hospitable to life. The planets were identified using the Harps instrument in La Silla in Chile. Lead author Dr Michel Mayor, from the University of Geneva in Switzerland, said the haul included "an exceptionally rich population of super-Earths and Neptune-type planets hosted by stars very similar to our Sun". He added: "The new results show that the pace of discovery is accelerating." Harps (High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher) is a precision instrument known as a spectrograph that is installed on the 3.6m telescope at Chile's La Silla Observatory.

Scientists Balk At Telescope Bailout

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 16:20:38 GMT

The troubles surrounding NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, which is often seen as Hubble's successor, are now drawing grumbles from astronomers as well as lawmakers. Keeping JWST alive has been a cause celebre for the past couple of months, ever since a House panel proposed cutting off funding for the telescope. Over the years, the project's price tag has repeatedly gotten bigger while the launch timetable has faced repeated delays. At one time, the next-generation telescope was slated for launch this year with a mission cost of $3.5 billion. In contrast, the latest estimates suggest that the telescope won't lift off until 2018 at the earliest, with costs rising as high as $8.7 billion. On Thursday, a newsletter published by the Arizona-based Planetary Science Institute published a signed editorial complaining that the game plan for planetary science in the next decade "is under threat from cost overruns by the NASA James Webb Space Telescope." If NASA is not given more funding to cover the costs, "JWST should not be restored unless and until an open science community assessment is made of the value of what will be gained and what will be lost across the entire NASA science portfolio," the editorial read. All this led Nature News' Eric Hand to observe today that "the internecine warfare among NASA scientists over the fate of the James Webb Space Telescope has begun," with planetary scientists and solar physicists pitted against astrophysicists.

Manned Flights To Space Station Set To Resume Quickly

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 17:29:25 GMT

U.S. and Russian officials are poised to announce swift resumption of manned missions to the International Space Station, after determining that last month's failure of an unmanned cargo rocket headed to the orbiting laboratory was likely an isolated incident. Transporting crews to the station on Russian-built Soyuz rockets could resume as early as mid-October, according to U.S. government and industry officials. Such a schedule, which could be announced shortly, would seem to ensure that the $100-billion station won't have be left temporarily unmanned as a result of last month's failed Soyuz rocket launch. But now, according to U.S. industry and government officials, experts in Washington and Moscow anticipate that manned flights will pick up more quickly, so they are backing away from those earlier contingency plans. In addition to the conclusions of Russian investigators about the August failure, people familiar with the matter said NASA officials also seem increasingly sure that astronauts would be able to survive and safely return to earth in their capsule in the event of another third-stage propulsion failure. In light of such safeguards, NASA managers have decided additional cargo flights aren't essential.

Obama Administration Accused Of Sabotaging Space Launch System

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 17:29:11 GMT

Two U.S. senators flatly accused the White House of trying to sabotage the nation's human spaceflight program after a newspaper report based on leaked NASA documents said a congressionally mandated heavy-lift rocket, crew capsule and associated infrastructure could cost nearly $63 billion through 2025. President Barack Obama, who has since been accused by lawmakers of stalling on SLS. The accusatory rhetoric escalated after the internal NASA cost estimates surfaced in a Sept. 7 report in The Wall Street Journal. In a joint press release issued Sept. 8, Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) and Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), both staunch SLS supporters, blasted the cost figures as a "wildly inflated" contrivance of the Obama administration, which they said is seeking to "undermine America's manned space program." Nelson and Hutchison said the upper range of the cost estimates are "based on an imaginary 'acceleration' of SLS development." They said a $57 billion cost figure pegged to one of several scenarios laid out in the document -- a copy of which was obtained by Space News -- is nearly double an estimate provided by Booz Allen Hamilton, a consulting firm that conducted an independent analysis of the SLS, the MPCV and associated ground support infrastructure. The head of one commercial space company said it is unclear how NASA arrived at the cost estimates contained in the leaked document. "The way NASA does accounting, you can make the numbers come out to be anything you want it to be," said Jeff Greason, chief executive of XCOR Aerospace of Mojave, Calif., which is developing vehicles to carry paying passengers to suborbital space. "It's a deliberately opaque process." But in a Sept. 8 interview, Greason said the SLS and MPCV appear to have the same affordability issues as Constellation. "The essential feature of Constellation was that it couldn't be done within NASA's budget, and I do not see anything in the proposed SLS-MPCV architecture that changes that," Greason said.

NASA Sees Testing SLS In 2017 For $18B

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 17:28:57 GMT

Early cost estimates for the heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS) that Congress has ordered NASA to build indicate the agency believes it can test an unmanned version of the "core" vehicle selected by Administrator Charles Bolden for about $18 billion by the end of 2017. That previously undisclosed figure, which the agency gave to Booz Allen Hamilton for an independent analysis of the big rocket's cost, includes the Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) based on the Orion capsule Lockheed Martin started under the Constellation program, and $2 billion in modifications to ground launch facilities at Kennedy Space Center, Fla. The amount, which NASA believes it could provide under its fiscal 2012 budget request for human space exploration, would deliver a basic SLS able to lift 70 metric tons to low Earth orbit. In the report it based on those figures, Booz Allen found NASA's long-term SLS estimates through 2025 "optimistic" and based on unrealistic assumptions. But it found the agency's near-term estimates adequate. Disclosure of the numbers Booz Allen used in its outside analysis of the reference design Bolden selected triggered an uproar from Senate backers of the SLS.

SpaceX Acknowledges Falcon 9 Engine Anomaly

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 17:28:45 GMT

Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) Corp. acknowledged that its Falcon 9 rocket experienced an engine anomaly during its December launch of the company's reusable Dragon space capsule. "I'd call it an oxidizer-rich shutdown," former NASA astronaut Ken Bowersox, SpaceX's vice president of astronaut safety and mission assurance, told Space News in a Sept. 9 interview. Despite the engine anomaly, Falcon 9 successfully delivered Dragon to orbit during the Dec. 8 mission, an orbital demonstration flight conducted under NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Service (COTS) program. Bowersox's acknowledgement came after a discussion of the incident during a joint meeting of the ISS Advisory Committee and the NASA Safety Advisory Panel at NASA headquarters here earlier the same day. The meeting was held to discuss the results an Aug. 9 meeting with SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corp., another company under contract to fly cargo to the ISS. During the August meeting, held at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, SpaceX told to the two advisory bodies that there had been an engine anomaly during the most recent Falcon 9 launch, according Charles Daniel, a shuttle and space station safety expert at Herndon, Va.-based Valador Inc., and a member of the ISS Advisory Committee. "There was no explanation or root cause analysis or corrective action for this particular anomaly," Daniel said Sept. 9 during the public meeting. "This is a relatively troublesome statement not to recognize that a premature engine shutdown was a significant event." Valador Inc., was sued in June by SpaceX in Virginia's Fairfax County Circuit Court. SpaceX brought the suit forward after another Valador vice president, Joseph Fragola, made what SpaceX said were defamatory statements about the safety and reliability of the Falcon 9. The suit was settled out of court in early August.

Blue Origin Failure Unlikely Show-Stopper

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 17:28:24 GMT

The inflight failure of Blue Origin's second test vehicle is not necessarily a failure of the secretive company's efforts to begin launching scientists and space tourists on a reusable suborbital rocket. Nor will the aborted launch affect NASA's plans to use private operators to transport cargo and crew to the International Space Station (ISS). The company is also working on an orbital "Reusable Booster System" with the partial support of NASA's Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program, which is seeding development of crew vehicles capable of reaching the ISS. Bezos says in his website posting that the company is building two crew capsules--one for the suborbital flights and one for the larger orbital vehicle. NASA says the company started work on those tasks in May. The failure last month was unrelated to the CCDev-2 tasks, according to Phil MacAlister, who runs the CCDev program for NASA. The company has identified three experiments for an early unmanned flight of the suborbital vehicle, drawing on proposals submitted through Alan Stern, a former NASA associate administrator for science and Blue Origin's "independent representative for research and education." That flight was initially considered possible this year, according to the Blue Origin website, but it will certainly slip with the loss of the test booster.

Production On Major Part Of China's Jumbo Rocket Completed, Maiden Voyage Before 2015

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 17:28:11 GMT

Production on a major part of China's Long March-5 large-thrust carrier rocket has been completed and its maiden voyage is expected to take place during the country's 12th Five-Year Plan period (2011-2015), according to its producer. The entire production of the new generations of rockets, including the Long March-5 and -6, will be housed in a large industrial base in north China's Tianjin Municipality, said Ma Xingrui, general manager of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC). The Tianjin Aerospace Industry Base, with an area of 4,700 mu (313.33 hectares), has been built with a total investment of more than 6 billion yuan (938 million U.S. dollars), according to the CASC. The Long March-5 rocket is scheduled to be put into service in 2014, Liang Xiaohong, deputy head of the CASC-affiliated China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology which designs and produces the rocket, has said during previous interviews. With a maximum low Earth-orbit payload capacity of 25 tonnes and high Earth-orbit payload capacity of 14 tonnes, Long March V rockets will be among the world's leaders in payload capacity and reliability, Liang said, adding that the 25-tonne maximum capacity is 2.5 times that of in-service Long March rockets. The production of a core cabin for China's manned space station and large satellites will also begin during the 2011-2015 period, Ma said.

Evidence Builds For Chinese Mach 15 Spaceplane Test From 60 Mi. Altitude

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 17:27:58 GMT

Details emerging from China indicate the Chinese have likely flight tested for the first time a secret 4 ton winged spaceplane that was rocketed into a 60 mi. high suborbital trajectory for test of reentry systems starting at Mach 15. Continued successful development of the spaceplane could give the People's Liberation Army (PLA) an operational military spaceplane comparable to the U. S. Air Force X-37B currently flying its second orbital mission."If the main mission for China's space plane was simply to service China's future Space Station there would be little cause for concern," says researcher Richard Fisher who is a Senior Fellow with the International Assessment and Strategy Center, a Washington Think Tank that aids Congress, the Pentagon and the National Security community. "But this is not the case. Chinese sources indicate that from its inception China's space plane program has been intended to perform military missions, to include space combat missions," says Fisher. The Spaceplane and Station programs were both formed at about the same time under PLA leadership. This news about the Shenlong reentry test "is huge" says Dr. Andrew S. Erickson, an Associate Professor in the Strategic Research Department at the U.S. Naval War College, Newport, R.I.. He is also an expert on the Chinese military. "This looks like a very thorough study by Fisher", says Erickson. He added that it is hard to verify all the data "but Fisher has done a good job of laying out potentially relevant information." China will sometimes turn loose what might be described as "teaser" information on its secret programs, but often the data is affiliated with other events to send a broader message. With the spaceplane's release of information there are messages of success for the communist party leadership in Shaanxi province and also messages for the U. S. Secretary of Defense who was visiting Beijing that day. Along with the flight test evidence, there is also evidence that the program has benefited from technology transfer between the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio and a top Chinese ceramic scientist, Prof. Zhang Litong, says Fisher

Space Station Crew Not Prepping For Shutdown - Yet

Fri, 09 Sep 2011 18:52:28 GMT

The astronauts aboard the International Space Station said Tuesday that ground controllers are figuring out how best to leave the vast complex running -- what lights to leave on, which vents to keep open -- in case it needs to be temporarily abandoned. Until Russian engineers can figure out what went wrong [with the recent crash of a Russia resupply vehicle], all Soyuz launches are on hold. Six men are living aboard the space station. Three of them will leave late next week, a week late to keep the outpost fully staffed as long as possible. A new crew of three was supposed to blast off this month. But the flight has been delayed until at least the beginning of November, just two weeks before the three remaining residents would have to leave. "The teams in Houston are in the preliminary stages of deciding everything, from what ventilation we're going to leave running, what lights we're going to leave on, what condition each particular experiment will be on, every tank, every valve, every hatch," Fossum said at a news conference from space. At best, Fossum and his two crewmates -- one Japanese and one Russian -- will have less time than usual to brief their replacements face to face. They're already videotaping some instructions. At worst, the newcomers will have to make do with the videotapes, with no one on board to greet them and fill them in on the workings of the sprawling lab. None of the three has lived on the space station before; in fact, two will be new to space.

Russian Work On Progress Failure Encouraging

Fri, 09 Sep 2011 18:52:15 GMT

The head of spaceflight operations at NASA expects the International Space Station to remain occupied despite the failure of a Soyuz rocket carrying a load of station supplies, based on the nature of the failure and Russia's progress in identifying the cause. William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for human exploration and operations, told the Space Transportation Association Sept. 8 that NASA believes a crew would have survived the Aug. 24 launch failure had the rocket been carrying a three-seat Soyuz capsule instead of a Progress cargo vehicle when its third-stage engine shut down. Based on briefings by the Russian State Commission assigned to review the failure and oversee corrections, Gerstenmaier says a Soyuz crew would have been able to abort and return to Earth safely, regardless of where in the flight profile the shutdown occurred. "I'm pretty confident we'll be returning to flight before we have to go unmanned [operations] on station, but we'll work with the Russians," Gerstenmaier says. "They're sharing data with us much like they did before" when a pyrotechnic bolt problem prevented Soyuz instrument segments from separating before reentry, sending capsules into ballistic reentries. Gerstenmaier says NASA's Moscow representative gets regular briefings from the State Commission, and the U.S. agency is able to pose questions to the Russian body. "We'll also have an independent team here in the U.S. that will be looking at general capabilities of return to flight so we can make sure that we can ask really good questions of the Russians as we start finding out pieces of data," he says. "I think by the time we get ready to return to flight we'll have confidence that this is the right system."

Russia May Put Space Program Under State Defense Order

Fri, 09 Sep 2011 18:52:02 GMT

The Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos said on Wednesday it is considering returning the federal space program to the framework of the state defense order to ensure steady financing and reduce the number of accidents with space launches. "It would be beneficial to return the federal space program and the Glonass program to the framework of the state defense order," said Vitaly Davydov, deputy head of Roscosmos. "It would bolster discipline in issues related to financing, quality control and schedule deadlines in manufacturing," Davydov said. Roscosmos said in June that the agency was looking for a funding of 402 billion rubles ($14.35 billion) for the program.

Florida, Texas Senators Say Leaks Are Undermining Space Program

Fri, 09 Sep 2011 18:51:47 GMT

The anger spread on Capitol Hill today over published leaks this week suggesting the cost of a new heavy-lift NASA rocket could balloon to $57 billion. U.S. Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, and Bill Nelson, D-Florida, accused the Obama administration of leaking the numbers to weaken support for the rocket Congress has already approved. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Alabama, also criticized the White House on the same issue Wednesday. Hutchison and Nelson said in a statement that the scenario leaked to the Wall Street Journal and published Wednesday is "imaginary." "No one has proposed to accelerate development," the senators said of the cost-spiraling possibility reported in the Journal. "We and others have - repeatedly - demanded that the administration's budget office simply follow the development plan that the President signed into law last year." Hutchison, Nelson and other senators say the White House won't release a report favorable to the rocket, but are leaking damaging numbers. The senators' full statement is [included in the article].

The NASA Numbers Behind That WSJ Article

Fri, 09 Sep 2011 18:51:33 GMT

SpacePolicyOnline.com has obtained a copy of the NASA charts that apparently are the source of data for the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article that has everyone in space policy circles abuzz. In a story on Wednesday, the WSJ asserted that the White House has "sticker shock" over the potential cost of NASA's exploration program to send astronauts beyond low Earth orbit. The newspaper said it was based on NASA charts showing NASA's current cost estimate for the program versus higher projected costs if the program is accelerated to achieve earlier results. The story prompted a scathing statement by Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) and Bill Nelson (D-FL) calling the figures cited by the WSJ "contrived numbers" that are part of a "campaign to undermine America's manned space program." The charts-- labeled "ESD Integration, Budget Availability Scenarios" -- do not reveal the motivation for their existence or who created them, other than the NASA logo on each of the 26 pages. They map out the budget and schedule details of five different scenarios. All assume the first flight of a 70 metric ton (mT) version of the Space Launch System (SLS) in 2017, but milestone dates for the 70mT SLS with a crew and for the 130 mT version of the SLS and flight rates differ in the various scenarios. [Details about various scenarios follow.]

Iridium Says Space Collision Risk Low

Fri, 09 Sep 2011 18:51:21 GMT

The danger of collisions between satellites in space has lessened sharply thanks to better coordination with U.S. military satellite trackers, said the head of Iridium Communications Inc (IRDM.O), which was involved in the only such mishap to have occurred so far. "The risk is very, very, very small -- extremely small," Matthew Desch, the company's chief executive, told the Reuters Aerospace and Defense Summit in Washington on Thursday. "That doesn't mean we dismiss it," he said. "It requires effort, but don't think there will be a problem." The U.S. Air Force began sharing more specific information with satellite operators about possible collisions after an Iridium communications satellite collided with a defunct Russian military communications satellite in February 2009, destroying both craft. It was the first-ever collision between two intact spacecraft. Since the accident, Desch said, his company has almost 100 times nudged one or another of its 66 satellites in its low-Earth-orbit constellation to get them out of harm's way. Such tweaks, accomplished through tiny puffs from thruster engines, are based on information the company now receives from the U.S. Joint Space Operations Center. A U.S. study released last week said the amount of debris orbiting the Earth has reached "a tipping point" for collisions, which would in turn generate more of the debris that threatens astronauts and satellites. NASA needs a new strategic plan for mitigating the hazards posed by spent rocket bodies, discarded satellites and thousands of other pieces of junk flying around the planet at speeds of 17,500 miles per hour, the National Research Council said in the study.

Canada's Dextre Completes Marathon Week of Robotics Ops on ISS

Fri, 09 Sep 2011 18:51:08 GMT

Canada's Special Purpose Dextrous Manipulator (SPDM), more commonly known as "Dextre" or the "Canada Hand", has completed a week of highly successful and highly complex robotics operations on the International Space Station (ISS). The never-before-completed operations have raised the bar for fine dextrous robotics on ISS, and ushered in a new era of human-robotic partnership on the station. The SPDM was designed and built by MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates, (MDA), and financed by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). It is designed as a "hand" for the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS), AKA "Canadarm2″, and gives the ISS robotic Mobile Servicing System (MSS) the capability to perform fine dextrous tasks. The SPDM was launched to the ISS on STS-123 in March 2008, and is controlled entirely from the ground. The SPDM will raise the bar yet higher as it moves into its next role of Research & Development (R&D), as it uses the newly installed RRM payload to develop the techniques to refuel a satellite on-orbit. In the coming weeks, the SPDM will release the launch lock on the RRM payload, and RRM will then conduct a "vision test". Actual RRM operations are slated to begin in early 2012.

James Webb Space Telescope Threatens Planetary Science

Fri, 09 Sep 2011 18:50:48 GMT

The recently released NRC Planetary Decadal Survey ("Visions and Voyages"), with input from the planetary community, detailed specific priorities for the next decade of solar system exploration. This carefully laid out plan is under threat from cost overruns by the NASA James Webb Space Telescope. The NRC Planetary Decadal Survey did not cite JWST as a priority for planetary science. JWST has, however, been a priority in the NRC Astrophysics Decadal Surveys. When JWST was ranked as the top major initiative for NASA astrophysics in the 2001 NRC Astronomy Decadal Survey, it was estimated to cost $1B and launch by 2011. NASA has now spent $3.5B on JWST and it is now projected to cost a minimum of $8.7B for a launch no earlier than late 2018. As a result, JWST's cost increases have outstripped the resources of the NASA Science Mission Directorate's Astrophysics Division, and NASA leadership has now declared JWST an "agency priority." Resources of other NASA programs, including the Agency's Planetary Sciences Division within the Science Mission Directorate, are now threatened to cover current and future JWST cost overruns.

Scientists Perceive NASA Bias Against Venus

Fri, 09 Sep 2011 18:50:30 GMT

Venus would seem to be a tempting destination for planetary probes: conveniently close, and an extreme laboratory for atmospheric processes familiar on Earth. So why won't NASA send a mission there? That was the frustrated question coming from scientists at the annual meeting of NASA's Venus Exploration Analysis Group (VEXAG) near Washington, D.C., on August 30-31. They perceive an agency bias against Venus, a planet that hasn't seen a U.S. mission since the Magellan probe radar-mapped its shrouded surface in the early 1990s, and which won't see one any time soon, after NASA this year rejected a bumper crop of Venus proposals. "A lot of us are dismayed," says David Grinspoon, astrobiology curator at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science in Colorado, who is a co-investigator on several of the proposals. Without new missions supplying data for analysis, funding for Venus research has dwindled, leading to fewer students entering the field--and a smaller constituency to lobby for missions. "Because of this feedback loop, the community has shrunk," he says. Research grants mentioning Venus have accounted for just 2 percent of NASA's planetary-science funding since 2005.

Japan Test Fires Venus Probe Engine

Fri, 09 Sep 2011 18:50:16 GMT

Japan said it had successfully test-fired the engine of its "Akatsuki" space probe in preparation for a renewed attempt to get it into orbit around Venus in 2015. Following December's failed attempt to send the probe to the second planet from the sun, a remote test ignition conducted Wednesday lasted for 2 seconds as planned, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said. "The failure in December was highly likely due to engine damage," said JAXA spokesman Eijiro Namura. "We have made the first step forward by igniting the engine for the first time since then," to assess its condition, he said. Based on the test results, JAXA plans to fire up the engine in early November in order to adjust the craft's positioning ahead of the next available window for a Venus orbit attempt in 2015 or later, according to the agency.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44437786/ns/technology_and_science-space/

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 15:23:20 GMT

Bad weather forced NASA to delay Thursday's launch of two new lunar probes that are designed to make detailed studies of the inside of the moon and its gravitational field. Windy conditions thwarted the day's two launch opportunities, so the agency will have to wait until Friday to try again. NASA's twin Grail spacecraft were scheduled to blast off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on an unmanned Delta 2 rocket at 8:37 a.m. ET, but upper-level winds in the area caused the agency to stand down. A second launch opportunity was available at 9:16 a.m. ET, but weather conditions did not improve, which forced NASA to hold off until Friday. Current predictions do not show significant weather improvements until the weekend.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14789230

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 15:23:10 GMT

British engineers have developed an autonomous navigation system for a Mars rover. The technology will guide a robotic vehicle across the surface of the Red Planet, steering it clear of hazardous rocks and gullies. All controllers would need to do is give the vehicle the co-ordinates of a destination. The navigation system would work out the best way to get there. It can even change the route half-way through if unexpected obstacles are encountered. The system has been developed as part of Europe's ExoMars programme, the multi-million-euro project to put a rover on Earth's near neighbour in 2018. Whether the autonomous navigation system will actually be used on that vehicle is another question, however.

NASA & Military After 9/11: Grappling with US Space Security

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 15:23:00 GMT

The terrorist attacks that shook the United States 10 years ago had effects that reached all the way into space. Not only did the events of Sept. 11, 2001, prompt NASA to immediately beef up its already strict security procedures, they forced military space officials to reassess their priorities regarding space security and triggered a shift in space policy. "There were certainly efforts made to link responding to terrorist threats to support for and expanding missile defense," said Joan Johnson-Freese, a space policy analyst at the Naval War College in Newport, R.I. Before 9/11, space security concerns under President George W. Bush were largely focused on China, Johnson-Freese explained. Questions swirled around what kind of space hardware China was building, why, and how the United States should respond. [9/11 Remembered in Space Photos]

Astronomers forgo sleep; eyes fixed on star's explosion

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 15:22:50 GMT

Astronomers are losing sleep and amateur skywatchers are training their sights on an exploding star, or supernova, that is the closest of its kind to be seen in four decades. Expected to peak in brightness Thursday and Friday, the exploding star is practically next door cosmically speaking, about 21 million light years away, or about 1,240 million-trillion miles. It was first spotted in telescopes Aug. 23. It is located in the "Pinwheel Galaxy," above the Big Dipper. Telescopes worldwide, including NASA's Swift and Hubble Space Telescopes, turned to observe the celestial fireworks within a day and have been tracking its brightening light ever since.

Isro to increase Edusat's capacity

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 15:22:40 GMT

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is increasing the capacity of EDUSAT to make the facility of tele-education available in more parts of the country soon, B N Suresh, senior adviser of ISRO said here on Wednesday. EDUSAT, India's first thematic satellite dedicated exclusively for educational services, was launched in September 2004. The satellite is specially configured to relay through audio-visual medium, employing multi-media multi-centric system, to create interactive classrooms. EDUSAT has multiple regional beams covering different parts of the country - five Ku-band transponders with spot beams covering northern, north-eastern, eastern, southern and western regions of the country.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44432611/ns/technology_and_science-space/

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 15:22:30 GMT

Many storms erupting from the surface of the sun last longer and are more powerful than thought, new research shows. Scientists had regarded solar flares as dramatic one-off events that blaze up and die down in due course. But about 15 percent of them have a second distinct peak of strong energy emission minutes or hours later, and this encore burst often outshines the first, scientists using NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) spacecraft have observed. The discovery is expected to lead to better space weather forecasts. "This new data will increase our understanding of flare physics and the consequences in near-Earth space where many scientific and commercial satellites reside," Lika Guhathakurta, lead program scientist for NASA's Living with a Star Program at the agency's headquarters in Washington, said in a statement.

'Small' safety risk as satellite falls to Earth

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 15:22:19 GMT

Put on your hard hats, everybody: NASA's warning that a defunct satellite is set to hit the earth sometime in the next six weeks. The Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) is expected to re-enter Earth's atmosphere late this month or in early October, almost six years after it finished its mission. It was launched on September 15, 1991, by the space shuttle Discovery. Originally designed for a three-year mission, UARS measured chemical compounds found in the ozone layer, wind and temperature in the stratosphere, as well as the energy input from the sun. The 35-foot-long, 15-foot-diameter spacecraft was decommissioned on December 14, 2005.

White House Experiences Sticker Shock Over NASA's Plans

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 17:43:45 GMT

White House budget officials increasingly are concerned that some of NASA's manned-exploration plans may be unaffordable, especially as the space agency weighs options that would raise the cost by billions of dollars by speeding up the development of rockets and spacecraft, according to people familiar with the issue. The cost concerns are coming to a head, these people said, as the White House Office of Management and Budget ratchets up questions about NASA's proposed program in light of the current emphasis on deficit reduction. President Barack Obama may announce a decision in the next few weeks on what space program the White House will ask Congress to fund starting in fiscal 2012, according to some government officials.

Rocket man: Richard Shelby pushes NASA funds

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 17:43:32 GMT

Republican Sen. Richard Shelby has been one of Barack Obama’s most persistent critics, accusing the president of putting the country on a road to financial ruin with deficits as far as the eye can see. But his demands to slash government programs tend to stop at the Alabama state line. Here in his home state, Shelby has been pressuring the Obama administration to spend billions to build what could become the world’s biggest rocket at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville — a government project that would affect thousands of jobs, benefit a network of powerful industry interests and fill a major void at the agency after the collapse of the Bush-era Constellation initiative and the end of the space shuttle program in July.

US astronaut shortage 'poses risks'

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 17:43:23 GMT

The United States does not have enough astronauts to meet the changing needs of human spaceflight in the coming years, warned a report Wednesday by a non-profit group that advises on science policy. The shrinking American astronaut corps poses risks to the US investment in human spaceflight and NASA should take steps to boost the size of its space-flying crew, the National Research Council said in its report. "Viewed as a supply chain, astronaut selection and training is very sensitive to critical shortfalls," said committee co-chair Frederick Gregory, former commander of three shuttle missions. "Astronauts who are trained for specific roles and missions can't be easily interchanged," said Gregory, also a former NASA deputy administrator.

SpaceX, Blue Origin, And The Race To Control The Commercial Space Industry

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 17:43:14 GMT

A Soyuz rocket recently failed--surprising news, as it's generally considered a rather reliable rocket. In the process it pitched tons of vital food, engineering, fuel and air supplies for the International Space Station into the wastelands of Siberia. And at high speed--the ISS may have to be unmanned for a short interval as a result, despite billions of dollars and decades of effort. In the post-Shuttle era, this event is critical: It puts extra emphasis on the emerging commercial space industry. SpaceX is the most high profile of the new pretenders to the space launcher crown, having had numerous successful trial launches of its Falcon line of medium-lift rockets. It's a fairly high-profile company, and some of this is helped by the fact its CEO is none other than Elon Musk, the man behind Tesla cars.

Delta II family 'pretty proud' as likely final launch nears

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 17:43:03 GMT

Dan Wilkin will be there tonight when a derrick-like gantry is rolled away from a towering Delta II rocket set to launch Thursday at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Bright xenon floodlights will bathe the turquoise-and-white workhorse, one of the last of a breed birthed by the Challenger accident in 1986 -- a time when predecessor Delta I rockets were being phased out in favor of the do-it-all shuttle. Four decals will be lit up on the side of the 12-story rocket: NASA, United Launch Alliance and Delta rocket logos along with a moon mission insignia. What's missing? An unofficial emblem created especially for the 110th and likely last Delta II launch from the Cape.

NASA Chief Technologist To Leave Agency

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 17:42:55 GMT

The first NASA chief technologist in a decade is leaving the agency to return to Atlanta's Georgia Institute of Technology. Bobby Braun, who came to the space agency two years ago through an agreement with Georgia Tech, will leave in October, NASA said. As NASA's chief technologist, Braun was a top adviser on technology policy and programs. "Bobby has rebuilt our basic and applied research capabilities, created technology programs to enable our agency's future success, and clearly articulated the importance of NASA's technology investments as an integral component of our nation's space policy," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in a statement. Joseph Parrish, the deputy chief technologist, will serve as acting NASA chief technologist. In a preliminary report released last week, the National Research Council concluded that NASA's technology base is "largely depleted." Uncertainty over the agency's goals have undermined efforts to develop new technology, the report found.

Russia to sink $170 mln into Plesetsk space center

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 17:42:45 GMT

Russia will spend over 5 billion rubles ($170 mln) on the development and expansion of the Plesetsk space center in northern Russia this year, Space Forces spokesman Col. Alexei Zolotukhin said on Wednesday. The money will be spent on "the construction and reconstruction of facilities at the Plesetsk space center," he added. This includes the reconstruction of a local motorway, the construction of a new barracks and a cafeteria. The center's energy supply system will also be modernized, he said. New facilities will be built, including a dormitory, a medical center, parking lots, a hospital, and healthcare facilities. Plesetsk is used especially for military satellites being put into polar orbit since the area to the north of the launch pad, where debris might fall, is virtually uninhabited.

Accused NASA spy pleads guilty to attempted espionage

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 17:42:35 GMT

A former NASA scientist accused of trying to sell classified information to Israel about American military satellites pleaded guilty Wednesday to a felony count of attempted espionage. Stewart David Nozette, an MIT-trained scientist, admitted guilt in exchange for a proposed sentence of 13 years. He faced from 30-years to life had he been convicted at trial on a four-count indictment. "I think it's a fair sentence," his lawyer, John Kiyonaga, told CNN after a plea agreement hearing at U.S. District Court. Nozette signed a statement of facts in which he admitted meeting with undercover FBI agents intending to trade secrets for money. Reading from that statement Wednesday, prosecutor Anthony Asuncion quoted Nozette as telling an agent, "So, I guess I gave you some of the most classified information that there is."

NASA launches new Web tool to explore solar system

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 17:41:40 GMT

Want to explore the solar system and follow NASA space missions in real time? NASA is giving you the chance to through a new interactive Web-based tool called Eyes on the Solar System. The space agency said that the tool combines video game technology and NASA data to create an environment for users to ride along with agency spacecraft as they explore the cosmos. "You are now free to move about the solar system," Blaine Baggett, a manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada Flintridge, said in a statement. “See what NASA's spacecraft see -- and where they are right now -- all without leaving your computer.” By using a keyboard and mouse, online users can zip through space and explore anything that catches their interest. For example, NASA in August launched a probe called June that will explore Jupiter.

Meet a moon-walker, Uhura of 'Star Trek' at KSC

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 17:41:26 GMT

Crowds at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex viewing Thursday's scheduled launch of the GRAIL mission to the moon also will be able to meet an Apollo moon-walker and a Starship Enterprise officer. The visitor complex has scheduled four days of activities, beginning today, surrounding the mission, including Thursday's appearances by Apollo 16 astronaut Charlie Duke Jr. and Nichelle Nichols, who played Lt. Uhura on the original "Star Trek" TV series. The complex will open at 4:30 a.m. Thursday, offering special viewing from the NASA Causeway for the rocket launch, which is scheduled for 8:37 a.m., with a second attempt scheduled at 9:17 a.m., if needed. With the shuttle program ended, officials of the visitor complex and other Space Coast tourism businesses hope to spark growing spectator interest in unmanned launches like this one.

Make China Our New Partner In Space

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 16:51:05 GMT

On August 24, the launch of Progress 44P -- an unmanned Russian space freighter -- failed after the third stage of the Soyuz rocket carrying it suffered an as-yet-unknown problem. During this time of round-the-clock coverage of the events in Libya, Hurricane Irene, and the roller-coaster stock market, this news got only short mention in the media. But it is a very big deal. Not because of the loss of the supplies that were headed to the International Space Station; NASA was quick to point out that supplies have been stocked aboard the ISS, so no immediate changes in operations are required. The bigger deal is that this is the same rocket that launches Russia's Soyuz spacecraft, which carry crew to and from ISS. The rocket will be grounded until the root cause of the failure is determined and a fix is put into place. It is unknown how long this process will take. But if the space station had to be left without a crew aboard, this could be a serious problem. There are a number of events that cause the station to lose "attitude control." Without a crew, however, the antennae would quickly lose lock with Mission Control, and the ISS computers would not receive commands from the flight controllers. The solar arrays would no longer be correctly pointed at the sun, and the storage batteries would run down. The space station would slowly die. What can we do? Are there any other options? Yes: Bring China into the International Space Station program. China is the only other entity besides the U.S. and Russia with a human spaceflight capability. In fact China is, at the moment, the only entity that can launch astronauts into low earth orbit.

China Reschedules Launch Of Unmanned Space Module

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 16:50:39 GMT

Chinese scientists have decided to reschedule the launch of the Tiangong-1, an unmanned space module, due to the failed launch of an experimental orbiter, a spokesperson with the project said Thursday. The decision to delay the launch was based on the consideration that the carrier rocket Long-March II-F, which would be used for the upcoming launch, belongs to the same series as the malfunctioning one that led to the experimental orbiter SJ-11-04 failing to enter Earth's orbit in August. "The specific launch date for the Tiangong-1 will be set based on the results of the investigation into the malfunctioning rocket," the spokesperson said, adding that the project's teams are currently double-checking every product that will be involved in the space-docking. The Shenzhou-8 spacecraft, the Long March II-F carrier rocket, and the Tiangong-1 have all been transferred to the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China's Gansu Province, the spokesperson said.

Florida Senators Dispute Sen. Richard Shelby's Criticism Of Spending At Kennedy Space Center

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 16:50:16 GMT

Florida's U.S. senators say Alabama's U.S. senators misunderstand a federal law they all helped write, a law requiring NASA to build a heavy-lift rocket. Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Tuscaloosa, says the two delegations agree on the main point: NASA should start now on the new rocket formally known as the Space Launch System (SLS). Yet despite Shelby's focus on the bottom line, the dueling views aired in two August letters to the White House, marking a rare public split in the congressional front pushing the new rocket. The Alabama senators are furious that the White House has delayed development of Space Launch System even though Congress approved it last November in the NASA Authorization Act of 2010 and appropriated $1.8 billion for it for the fiscal year that ends this month. But the Shelby/Sessions letter went further and accused NASA of wrongly shifting some $341 million to Kennedy Space Center in Florida for improvements that they say should go to SLS. Those improvements at Kennedy are only "tangentially" related to the heavy-lift rocket project, according to the Alabama senators. In his statement this week, Shelby stressed what the two delegations have in common. "I am glad to see that my colleagues from Florida have joined me in pushing the administration to follow the law and move forward with the development of a Space Launch System," Shelby said. "The letter from Sens. Nelson and Rubio makes clear that President Obama's effort to abandon American leadership in human space exploration is unacceptable. With this central point I am in complete agreement."

The Precursor To An African Space Agency

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 16:49:41 GMT

The International Astronautical Congress, the annual premier conference of space enthusiasts, students, and professionals, will be held in October in the African region for the first time in the event's 60 plus year history. In light of this occasion, increasing calls are being made for the establishment of an African space agency. While I do support the creation of space agencies in developing countries, such as the Nigerian Space Agency (NASRDA) and the newly established South African National Space Agency (SANSA), I do not believe that Africa is ready for a regional space agency. Other regional co-operative initiatives should be considered first to fully expose African countries to the benefits of Space Science and Technology (SST). With the increasing awareness of the tangible benefits of SST, and with thought to avoiding some of the political barriers to entry, the focus for African countries should be on translation of space applications into usable ideas at the ground level for sustainable development. Such a proposal is in line with the 1999 Vienna Declaration on Space and Human Development as adopted at the Third United Nations Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNISPACE III). The job now is to identify the mechanisms needed to actually implement those resolutions and recommendations, first for the benefit of the states and then for the benefit of the region.

Domino's Plans Pizza On The Moon

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 16:49:12 GMT

Domino's Japanese arm has proposed a branch on Earth's nearest galactic neighbor is the latest escalation in a pizza publicity war. Rival chain Pizza Hut set the bar high in 2001 by delivering a pizza to astronauts orbiting the Earth in the International Space Station, but Domino's fought back last year in a series of events to mark the 25th anniversary of its arrival in Japan. The competition has been taken beyond the stratosphere now, however, with construction firm Maeda Corp coming up with a plan for a dome-shaped concrete Domino's restaurant on the surface of the moon. The company estimates the entire project will cost Y1.67 trillion - some £13.4 billion - of which Y560 billion (£4.5 billion) will be required to transport 70 tons of construction materials and pizza-making equipment to the moon aboard 15 rockets.

Slow Liftoff For Space Tours

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 16:39:16 GMT

New Mexico's $209 million Spaceport America is at last nearly complete, nine months behind schedule. The two-mile-long runway for space planes is ready to go. Construction crews are putting the finishing touches on the futuristic terminal. But the real challenge is yet to come. The spaceport was launched in 2006 by former Gov. Bill Richardson, a Democrat, at a time when the state was flush with cash and the aeronautics world was abuzz with predictions of a boom in space tourism and commercial travel. Five years later, the state is hurting. The new Republican governor, Susana Martinez, has made clear that taxpayers are done subsidizing the spaceport, and it will need to cover its eventual operating budget of about $6 million a year. That could prove to be a heavy lift. The technological and marketing breakthroughs that were supposed to usher in a dramatic surge in space launches have been slow to materialize. What's more, while New Mexico has the newest, flashiest spaceport, it faces tough competition from other states vying to host commercial launches. Skeptics aren't sure there will be enough business to sustain all the spaceports. Oklahoma's spaceport, for instance, hasn't hosted a single launch since it received its Federal Aviation Administration license in 2006. Global spending on commercial launches was about $2.5 billion last year, according to the Space Foundation, a global trade group. That's just a fraction of the tens of billions spent on less-glamorous space activities, such as building satellites and ground facilities for telecommunications, weather monitoring and other services.

Russia Determines Causes Of Back-To-Back Launch Failures

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 16:38:52 GMT

Investigators have identified the causes of consecutive launch mishaps with the Proton and Soyuz rockets, clearing a major hurdle in preparing to return the workhorse launch vehicles to flight. In an announcement Monday, the Russian space agency said the investigation into the Soyuz launch failure Aug. 24 was focusing on a malfunction in the rocket's third stage gas generator. The launch was carrying an automated Progress cargo ship to the International Space Station. The Soyuz investigation has not formally issued its findings or recommended corrective actions. A launch schedule for the next manned flight to the International Space Station will not be decided until the commission completes its work.

International Space Station To Stay Manned After All?

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 16:38:39 GMT

Russian space officials say they have identified what went wrong with the rocket that failed to reach orbit last week. Now the question is whether the explanation will allay enough fears to keep the International Space Station going. A spokesperson for the Federal Space Agency (Roscomos) told Russian news agency Itar-Tass that the failure was caused by the rocket's third-stage engine. "It is a malfunction in the engine's gas generator," he said. Space officials had said Monday that the immediate future of the International Space Station rested on whether the Russians could determine what went wrong with the rocket and then fix it before a November deadline. If not, warned NASA's space station chief --- who also happens to be chairman of the international group that operates the space station -- the station might have to be abandoned. At least temporarily.

Russia Considering Unmanned Space Station: Official

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 16:38:27 GMT

Russia's space agency Roskosmos is considering ending a permanent human presence in space, an agency official said Wednesday following last week's crash of a supply ship delivering precious cargo to the ISS. "Perhaps in the future, we will not need a constant manned presence in the lowerEarth orbit," Roskosmos deputy director Vitaly Davydov told journalists in Moscow. "We don't exclude the possibility of returning to the concept of DOS (long-term orbital) stations that we had before stations with constant human presence," he said. Roskosmos chief Vladimir Popovkin said in a recent interview that he regretted Russia having put so much emphasis on manned space flight, rather than looking into more financially rewarding spheres like telecommunications.

Solutions Sought For Growing Space Junk Problem

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 16:38:15 GMT

The alarm came too late, and the six men aboard the International Space Station hurried to Soyuz escape capsules. For a tense two minutes in June, they waited for the "all clear" to come as an unexpected bit of space junk, likely a small piece of an old rocket body or spacecraft, zipped by at 17,000 mph. "Orbital debris is part of the cost of doing business in space," says space scientist Nicholas Johnson of NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, which manages the space station. As the scope of the problem grows, the administration has sharpened calls for space-faring nations to confront space junk. The aim: Help protect assets belonging to both nations and private firms, the latter taking on more of a space role now that the U.S. space shuttle program has ended. The issue gets even more attention Thursday when the National Research Council releases a report on protecting spacecraft from debris, old rocket bodies and meteoroids. Interviews ahead of that report found that ideas range from a $1 billion U.S. Air Force "Space Fence" radar tracking system, to a proposed European Space Agency probe that would spray loose rockets with protective foam, to an Italian spacecraft equipped with robot arms to help de-orbit the biggest pieces of debris.

NASA Tech Development Behind Schedule, Report Says

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 16:38:02 GMT

NASA's technology base is "largely depleted," leaving the agency without the advancements it needs to meet the future goals of its space program, according to a new report. "Success in executing future NASA space missions will depend on advanced technology developments that should already be underway," according to an Interim Report on NASA's Draft Space Technology Roadmapsby the National Research Council. "However, it has been years since NASA has had a vigorous, broad-based program in advanced space technology. The agency has 14 space technology roadmaps--which NASA commissioned the report to examine--that identify "a wide variety of opportunities to revitalize NASA's advanced space technology development program. The report's findings suggest that the completion of these roadmaps could be in jeopardy. "Currently available technology is insufficient to accomplish many intended space missions," according to the report. The report cites several examples where there are gaps. For instance, to send people to destinations beyond low earth orbit, the agency needs new technology to mitigate the effects of space radiation, from both the cosmic ray background and from solar flares. It also needs new, state-of the art environmental control and life support systems (ECLSSs) that are highly reliable and can be easily repaired

Shannon To Review Space Exploration Plans

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 15:50:39 GMT

John Shannon, who managed NASA’s space shuttle program in the wake of the Columbia accident and returned the remaining orbiters to flight, will oversee a near-term effort to tighten plans for future international space exploration. With the retirement of the shuttle fleet, Shannon will evaluate design reference missions (DRM) developed by the International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG). Meeting Aug. 30 in Kyoto, Japan, the ISECG identified two “potential pathways” for human exploration into the Solar System — the “Moon next” approach started under the Constellation program and an “Asteroid next” plan that will follow President Barack Obama’s goal of exploring an asteroid or other near-Earth object as a stepping-stone to Mars.

USAF Official: Long Road For Distributed Sats

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 15:50:31 GMT

Despite growing interest from some senior U.S. Air Force leaders in exploring new architectures for the Pentagon’s satellite constellations, chances are that this “disaggregation” concept is not likely to take root any time soon, according to one senior procurement official. Lt. Gen. Mark Shackelford, the outgoing military deputy in the Air Force acquisition office, says that the momentum today in the Air Force is behind sustaining current satellite programs in production. Officials at Air Force Space Command and U.S. Strategic Command are exploring the disaggregation concept, which calls for distributing capabilities of satellites or constellations on various platforms in space. The idea is to field larger numbers of less capable systems to reduce the risk of a major space service outage in the event of an attack on a satellite system or an in-orbit failure.

Colo. legislators urge NASA to speed work on Orion craft

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 15:50:23 GMT

Recent crashes of Russian rockets have prompted members of the Colorado congressional delegation to urge NASA to speed completion of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle — called Orion MPCV — being built by Lockheed Martin. National Aeronautics and Space Administration officials said Monday they are considering bringing home the six astronauts on the $100 billion space station this fall, leaving it unmanned by year's end. The space station can be operated from the ground, but NASA officials said equipment failures could pose problems with no one there to fix them. The Russians are investigating the causes of the Aug. 18 and Aug. 24 rocket failures. Since the space-shuttle program ended in July, United States must rely on the Russians to ferry people and supplies to the space station. U.S. Rep. Ed Perl mutter, D-Colo., said in a letter Tuesday to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden that the Russian crashes underscore the need to commit resources for "the timely completion" of Orion MPCV.

Boeing Plans For Next NASA Heavy-Lift Rocket

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 15:50:13 GMT

While details of NASA’s congressionally mandated heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS) still remain unannounced, Boeing says it expects to get a clearer picture of the work scope this fall, and will bid “aggressively” for a share when requirements are revealed. Speaking to Aviation Week at an event marking the 50th anniversary of satellite development at its El Segundo, Calif., facility, Boeing Network and Space Systems President Roger Krone says the company is optimistic of securing substantial SLS business. However, he acknowledges that many more details of NASA’s plans will need to be revealed before Boeing knows where it will play. In addition, Krone says Boeing hopes that in the interim NASA will safeguard the skill base by maintaining SLS-relevant work under surviving Ares contracts. Boeing held the prime contract for the upper stage of the canceled Ares I rocket.

China Moves Toward Permanent Space Presence

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 15:50:03 GMT

China is expected to launch its Tiangong 1 space laboratory in the coming days. A country that only eight years ago put its first taikonaut (astronaut) into orbit could, in eight more years, be the only country to possess a permanently-crewed space station. Chinese media report that the Tiangong 1, or “Heavenly Palace”, is being readied for flight at the Jiuquan launch facility in Inner Mongolia. The module represents the first element of China’s plan to develop a manned space station, which Beijing hopes will be fully operational by 2020. Professor Kwing-Lam Chan of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology is involved in analysis of China’s lunar program. He explains the objective of this first Tiangong mission: “It’s a lab for testing the connection between spacecraft: Shenzhou 8 will be sent [up] probably this year, and will be connected to Tiangong 1 for testing, but will not carry people,” he said.

Jupiter probe's 'goodbye for now' to Planet Earth

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 15:49:54 GMT

The departing Juno probe has looked back and pictured Planet Earth. Nasa's Jupiter-bound spacecraft imaged the pale blue dot at a distance of 9.5 million km during an early check-out of its camera and other onboard systems. Juno was launched on 5 August and should arrive at the gas giant in 2016. This is but a brief farewell. The probe must sweep back by Earth in 2013 for the "gravitational slingshot" that will give it the required speed to chase down Jupiter three years later. The current plan is for Juno to spend a little over a year at the giant planet, orbiting over its poles. It will use its remote sensing instruments to look down through Jupiter's atmosphere. Scientists expect to learn more about its different layers and what precisely lies at the planet's core. Juno will set a record for the most distant spacecraft powered by solar energy. Out at Jupiter, the intensity of sunlight is only 1/25th of that at Earth. All previous probes to the gas giant have gone equipped with radioisotope batteries.

How NASA Plans to Make Astrophysics Fun With an Ambitious Social Game

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 15:49:44 GMT

Imagine if government agencies made social games. Who wouldn’t enjoy the Federal Reserve’s Asset-Backed SecuritiesVille, or the Census Bureau’s World of FormCraft? Maybe not. But what about NASA? After all, exploring space is a staple motif of the video game pantheon. NASA’s educational efforts have blossomed in the digital age. Its website is choc-full of gorgeous multimedia, and astronauts themselves are tweeting from orbit. Now NASA seeks to “gamify” the serious science of astrophysics — that is, create a commercially viable educational video game that people will actually want to play. That’s easier said than done. A virtual planetarium might be scientifically accurate, but a real snoozer. A modern space shooter would be awesome, but have little educational value. NASA hoped to strike a balance by contracting a game developer for the project, and held a research challenge back in 2007 in search of proposals. The winner is Canadian game studio Project Whitecard, and its ambitions for a persistent and scientifically accurate multiplayer online game look promising.

Private mission to space station may face delay

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 15:49:32 GMT

Last week's crash of a Russian cargo spacecraft could delay the first-ever private mission to the International Space Station, according to NASA officials. Space Exploration Technologies — better known as SpaceX — is planning to launch its Dragon capsule toward the orbiting lab on Nov. 30, with a historic docking slated for nine days later. But as a result of the Aug. 24 crash of the unmanned Russian Progress 44 supply ship, there might not be any astronauts aboard the station to receive Dragon in early December. If that's the case, Dragon's launch would have to be postponed, officials said. Russia's unmanned Progress 44 cargo ship was doomed by a problem with its Soyuz rocket, which is similar to the one Russia uses to launch its crew-carrying vehicle — also called Soyuz — to the station. With the recent retirement of NASA's space shuttle program, Soyuz is the only game in town for ferrying astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

Spacesuits of future will try to imitate gravity

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 15:49:22 GMT

Just reaching for floating M&Ms aboard the space station can prove tricky for new astronauts whose bodies are accustomed to Earth's gravity. On long missions to other planets, they might not struggle so much if they had spacesuits designed to resist movement in an imitation of gravity. Such a suit could help stabilize astronauts living in the microgravity environment of space stations and spaceships so that they avoid the body coordination mistakes that make even simple tasks difficult. NASA commissioned work toward a suit for future space missions based on an idea by the Draper Laboratory. "We would expect the resistance to simulate movements against a gravitational acceleration when in microgravity," said Kevin Duda, senior member of the technical staff in the Draper Laboratory's Human Centered Engineering Group, at Cambridge, Mass.

'Smart collars' will track wildlife

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 15:49:12 GMT

U.S. researchers say "smart collars" will enable people to learn how animals live their lives and possibly transform how wild populations are managed. The collars will use a combination of global positioning technology and accelerometers for recording an animal's actions as it leaps, runs or is sleeping, The New York Times reported Tuesday. The collars, being developed and tested in universities, will give biologists and wildlife managers data they've never had before, the researchers said. "What you end up with is a diary for the animal, a 24-hour diary that says he spent this much time sleeping, and we know from the GPS where that was," said researcher Terrie Williams, a professor of biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. "Then he woke up and went for a walk over here. He caught something over here. He ate something and we know what it was because the signatures we get for a deer kill versus a rabbit kill are very different." Current wild animal collars using radio or satellite technology can reveal an animal's location, but not much more.

NASA's smaller programs could be at risk

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 16:00:19 GMT

The cost of NASA's two flagship programs — a new space telescope and its next rocket — is poised to devour much of the agency's shrinking budget in coming years, putting at risk everything from efforts to develop futuristic spacecraft to returning rocks from Mars, scientists and congressional insiders warn. At a time when budgets are being slashed government-wide, price estimates for the James Webb Space Telescope and NASA's new rocket and crew capsule either have increased by billions of dollars or are at risk to do so, according to internal NASA documents and external evaluations. The Webb telescope, a high-tech successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, once was expected to cost $3.5 billion and launch this year. Now, the estimate is $8.7 billion, with a 2018 launch date. And NASA's proposed Space Launch System and Orion capsule — capable of taking humans to the moon and beyond — could run the agency at least $32 billion over the next decade, a figure that auditors caution is likely optimistic. The trend has alarmed astronomers and others, who are concerned that less-visible projects — such as robotic Mars missions and various space probes — will be sacrificed.

Orion test changeup a boost for Cape

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 16:00:11 GMT

NASA aims to move a critical test of the Orion spacecraft launch abort system to Cape Canaveral from a missile range in New Mexico, enabling engineers to execute a splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean and a water recovery operation. The move from White Sands Missile Range also is expected to save money because the test will take place in close proximity to Orion assembly, integration and production facilities at Kennedy Space Center. Details of the test are outlined in an agency white paper obtained by FLORIDA TODAY. A converted Peacekeeper missile would blast off from Launch Complex 46 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, hauling up an Orion crew module equipped with a Launch Abort System. Rocket motors and thrusters on the pole-like system would pull an Orion spacecraft away from a booster rocket in a launch accident. The test aims to make certain the system would work at a high altitude. NASA in 2006 selected the New Mexico missile range for the test because at the time, Orion spacecraft were being designed to make parachute landings on land. Since then, engineers have switched the landing mode to the type of water splashdowns made during the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs.

Space station could be at risk if crews are forced to leave temporarily

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 16:00:00 GMT

If the grounding of Soyuz rockets forces crews to abandon the International Space Station even temporarily, the chances of losing the facility outright skyrocket the longer it goes unmanned, Florida Today reports. NASA International Space Station Program Manager Mike Suffred says evacuation is a distinct possibility in mid-November if Russian Soyuz rockets are not flying, writes Florida Today's Todd Halvorson. Past NASA risk assessment shows a one in 10 chance of losing the station within six months if there is no crew aboard to handle critical system failures. That soars to a 50% proability if it remains crewless for a year, the newspaper says. The International Space Station has been continuously staffed since the first expedition crew opened the outpost in November 2000. In a worst-case scenario, station systems could fail, making it impossible for engineers on the ground to maintain remote control of the 1 million-pound outpost.

JPL readies GRAIL for lunar orbits

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 15:59:49 GMT

Scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory will use two satellites about the size of a washer and dryer to study the composition of the moon, officials said Monday. The Gravitational Recovery and Interior Laboratory project will send two satellites to spend three months examining the moon in hopes of learning more about the composition of the rocky orb circling our planet, JPL officials said. Working with what has been described as moon's "most sensitive tape measure," the GRAIL project will calculate the distance between the two satellites being launched and at the same time measure the moon's gravitational pull on each of the orbiters, according to JPL officials. The gravity-measuring technique used on GRAIL resembles the Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment system, which has been mapping Earth's gravity since 2002.

Miniature Nuclear Reactor to Power Mars and Moon Colonies

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 15:59:41 GMT

Humans might not be living on Mars or the moon anytime soon, but scientists might have just overcome one major hurdle on the route to interstellar habitation: electricity. Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory have designed a suitcase-sized nuclear plant that can power up to eight normal-sized homes. Thanks to its size and durability, the plant can provide fission power not only on Earth, but on the moon, on Mars, or any other place NASA requires a power generator. While most nuclear plants generate hundreds or thousands of megawatts of electricity, this portable generator would create only 40 kilowatts. This smaller size is ideal for the type of conditions seen in space, said James Werner, lead researcher on the project. "Just taking it down to that size has a lot of significant differences," Werner told InnovationNewsDaily. The generator is more flexible and can be placed in craters or caves on uninhabited planets, for example. It is also exponentially less heavy than standard nuclear power plants, which Werner said is essential for a generator to work properly in space.

Canada needs to invest in a truly ambitious space project: the exploration of Mars.

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 15:59:27 GMT

Canada has enjoyed a partnership with NASA since the launch of our first satellite, Alouette 1, in 1962. As most Canadians know, that partnership also resulted in the Canadarm, as well as the larger and more capable Canadarm 2 and the two-armed Dextre robot aboard the ISS, not to mention 14 flights by eight Canadian astronauts. On the horizon, we have Col. Chris Hadfield, who will be the second Canadian to live aboard the Space Station for six months (after Bob Thirsk) and will be the first-ever Canadian station commander. Other Canadians will also live and work on the ISS. But what happens after that? This may be a propitious time for Canada to examine its future in space with a thorough investigation of all its programs. Planning space exploration, whether human or robotic, is complex and requires the vision and courage to believe that the near impossible can be achieved. The stakes are always high, and the timeline from idea to realization often spans more than a decade. So far, Canada’s record of success has been outstanding, both in building spacecraft and in human space exploration. Now, it’s time for Canada to make a bold move.

Japan firm vying for lunar X Prize unveils moon rover

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 15:59:16 GMT

A Tokyo company has unveiled what it hopes will be the first privately built unmanned rover on the moon, and win it U.S. $30 million in prizes from the X Prize Foundation in the process. The Japan-Netherlands joint venture firm White Label Space Japan, of Tokyo's Nakano Ward, told reporters at the unveiling that it hopes to launch the final version of the rover as soon as 2014. The X Prize Foundation, a United States-based NPO, offers large cash prizes for major scientific feats. Past awards have included the $10 million Ansari X Prize for the first non-governmental organization to launch a reusable manned spacecraft into low orbit. The Google Lunar X Prize, backed by the U.S. Internet search giant, promises a $30 million prize to the first private organization that can land a rover on the moon, have it explore 500 meters and send high-definition images back to Earth. Thus far 28 teams from 18 countries around the world have announced their participation in the contest, which will expire on New Years Eve, 2015. White Label Space, established on Jan. 1, 2008 for the express purpose of winning the Google Lunar prize, is Japan's only entry in the contest.

Senators back KSC space projects

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 15:59:07 GMT

Florida's two U.S. senators have tried to brush back an attempt by colleagues to steer money from Kennedy Space Center to other sites involved in the development of NASA's planned heavy-lift rocket for exploration missions. In a letter to the White House dated Friday, Sens. Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio suggest an apparent "misunderstanding" about the need to fund not only the design and construction of a rocket, but facilities from which to process and launch it. "These projects have been selected because they decrease development and operations costs for the new vehicle," their letter states. Earlier this month, a group of five Republican senators from Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi accused the Obama Administration of funding KSC upgrades "only tangentially related" to the rocket known as the Space Launch System. According to their Aug. 15 letter, NASA planned to "transfer" $340.2 million of the $1.8 billion allocated for the rocket project in 2011 to upgrade Kennedy infrastructure, rather than focusing on design and construction of the rocket and related engine tests.

First Mars astronauts may grow their own food

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 15:58:59 GMT

Tang? Freeze dried ice cream? Not so fast. Men and women traveling to Mars will be farmers and gourmet chefs as well as traditional astronauts, according to scientists discussing a manned mission to the Red Planet. Maintaining food supplies remains one of the greatest challenges faced by Mars mission planners, experts explained at the 242nd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society. Weight, nutrition and variety pose the biggest problems, explained Maya R. Cooper, a senior research scientist in the Space Food Systems Laboratory in NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Tex. For flights on space shuttles and the International Space Station, astronauts get 3.8 pounds of food per day. For a 5-year round-trip mission to Mars, that would mean almost 7,000 pounds of food per person. "That's a clear impediment to a lot of mission scenarios," Cooper said. "We need new approaches." One solution under consideration is a high-tech "kitchen garden" that would allow crews to grow healthy food to eat during the long journey while also improving onboard atmosphere by producing oxygen and removing carbon dioxide.

Russia delays space mission after crash

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 17:21:46 GMT

Russia postponed the next manned mission to the International Space Station by at least a month on Monday and an official said any further delay might force Moscow to consider leaving the station unmanned for the first time in a decade. The Russian space agency, Roskosmos, announced its decision to allow time for safety checks to be made following the crash of an unmanned cargo craft ferrying food and fuel to the space station on August 24. It set no new dates for the missions in a brief statement. But Russian news agencies said three of the six crew would now return to Earth around September 16, instead of September 8, and the replacements would blast off in late October or early November instead of on September 22. Interfax quoted an unnamed space official as saying Roskosmos would carry out two test launches of its unmanned Soyuz rocket before sending the next astronauts into space.

Soyuz failure puts more pressure on SpaceX to deliver

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 17:21:38 GMT

This week's failure of a Russian resupply mission bound for the International Space Station has increased the spotlight on the next U.S. vehicle scheduled to visit the outpost: SpaceX's Dragon capsule. "It certainly puts some increased pressure on SpaceX," company founder and CEO Elon Musk said. "It just means we've got to make sure we deliver." Hawthorne, Calif.-based SpaceX is targeting a Nov. 30 launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on its most ambitious mission yet, which hopes to make Dragon the first commercial spacecraft to berth at the orbiting research complex. It's only a demonstration mission, and won't carry cargo critical to ongoing station operations. But a successful flight would set the stage for commercial cargo deliveries next year, a long-term capability essential to supporting six crew members and meaningful science research on the station -- especially if other vehicles experience problems.

NOAA: Weather satellites are in jeopardy

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 17:21:28 GMT

It's easy enough to take for granted how much we know about the weather these days. Take Hurricane Irene: There are plenty of weather maps showing the path of that storm, which is churning through the Caribbean on its way to the East Coast of the United States. We have a pretty good idea of where Irene is heading and how strong it will be when it hits land. All of this, of course, gives people in North Carolina and elsewhere days to stock up on food and plan an escape route -- just in case these predictions come true. How do we know all this stuff? Because satellites are watching. That's the point the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has been trying to make lately as it campaigns to avoid budget cuts to its program for monitoring the Earth's oceans and weather from above the atmosphere.

NASA needs the go-ahead for a clearly defined mission

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 17:21:17 GMT

There's a way. There's just not a strong will. That's where America's space program finds itself as space experts try to figure out NASA's roadmap. The space agency is at a critical juncture with the shuttle program over and uncertainty on Capitol Hill over development of a new space launch system (SLS) within tight budgets. Participants in a space panel discussion in Huntsville on Friday - including former NASA Administrator Michael Griffin, former longtime Congressman Rep. Bud Cramer and key aerospace executives - made it clear that plenty of groundwork has already been laid in developing a heavy lift rocket system to venture beyond low-Earth orbit. They just need a mandate to build and a defined mission. And the administration has yet to deliver. "SLS is not a paper rocket," Steve Cook, director of space technology at Dynetics, said Friday at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center. Cook guided the audience through a power point presentation showing work that has already been done over the last six years under different program names. Cook presented slides of boosters, engines, test firings, and core components like batteries and computers for a heavy lift rocket that have been achieved at Marshall Space Flight Center and other NASA centers like Stennis in Mississippi and Michoud in Louisiana. "The physics doesn't change. A lot of work has already been done," he said.

Nigerian satellites are picture perfect

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 17:21:06 GMT

Nigeria's latest Earth observation satellites have returned their first pictures. The spacecraft, launched on 17 August, give the African nation a powerful new capability to map its own lands and other parts of the globe. NigeriaSat-2 and NigeriaSat-X will also assist the Disaster Monitoring Constellation. This UK-managed fleet of spacecraft is used to picture regions of the Earth gripped by natural calamities. These might be catastrophic floods or a big earthquake. Images sent down from space will often be critical to organising an effective emergency response. The first picture released from the Nigerian pair is of New Zealand's biggest city, Auckland. It was acquired by NigeriaSat-X, and reveals the buildings and the landscape surrounding this major urban centre. It is just possible to see the wakes of ships passing under the harbour bridge that joins downtown Auckland with North Shore City. The satellite is equipped with a multi-spectral imager for general mapping, agricultural monitoring and disaster relief work.

Asteroid Dust Confirms Meteorite Origins

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 17:20:56 GMT

Last year, a Japanese spacecraft brought asteroid dust back to Earth for the first time, and now researchers analyzing the dust report that most meteorites on Earth originate from stony S-type asteroids like the one sampled, confirming what scientists have long theorized, but had never been able to prove. Through actual, physical sampling of the dust particles, less than four thousandths of an inch in length, researchers were able to confirm that the dust is identical to material that makes up meteorites. This and other findings are published in a set of six papers in the current issue of the journal Science. The asteroid dust was gathered by Hayabusa, a spacecraft launched by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency in 2003. It arrived on the surface of an S-type asteroid known as Itokawa more than two years later, and then re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere and landed in southern Australia last summer.

Extraterrestrial Hurricanes: The Most Monstrous Storms Happen in Space

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 17:20:45 GMT

By Earth standards, Hurricane Irene is a monster storm. But it's just a baby compared to the massive cyclones of Jupiter and Saturn. Our planet is not the only one in the solar system that boasts huge, hurricane-like storms. The gas giants Jupiter and Saturn, for example, churn out spinning squalls that can be bigger than the entire Earth. While these storms aren't fed by warm ocean water the way terrestrial hurricanes are, they're similar in a lot of ways, scientists say. "There certainly are storms that have thunder and lightning and rain that are bigger than terrestrial hurricanes," said atmospheric scientist Andrew Ingersoll of the California Institute of Technology, a researcher with NASA's Cassini mission to Saturn. "And more violent — the winds on those planets are stronger, too."

Satellite Takes Last Look at Earth

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 17:20:34 GMT

After 16 years orbiting Earth and taking pictures of its surface, a European Space Agency satellite recently took one last image before it was shut down for good. The final image was taken by the ERS-2 satellite over the Antilles Islands in the Caribbean. ERS-2 was decommissioned and removed from its continuous orbit Earth July 4. "We've been tracking ERS-2 for nearly 10 years," said team member Hans Graber, executive director of the University of Miami's Center for Southeastern Tropical Advanced Remote Sensing (CSTARS). "The satellite provided essential scientific data to monitor hurricanes and other environmental and weather-related phenomena." The data collected from the satellite represented a major asset for the Earth observation community, according to a European Space Agency statement. CSTARS used the satellite to collect more than 24,000 scenes of environmental conditions on Earth. All together, these images represent 93 million square miles (240 million sq km), which would cover the United States more than 24 times.

Americans Ride to Space Is in Question

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 14:38:38 GMT

(The New York Times) Aug. 25, 2011, Andrew Kramer
Prospects seemed to dim Thursday for a timely launching of a Russian rocket carrying American astronauts to the International Space Station next month, as Russian space officials temporarily grounded a similar rocket after one crashed shortly after takeoff on Wednesday.

NASA not coerced into giving shuttles to L.A., N.Y., report says

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 14:37:51 GMT

(Los Angeles Times) Aug. 25, 2011, Richard Simon
NASA’s decision to award retired space shuttles to Los Angeles, New York, Florida and the Washington area was not the result of improper political influence, according to an investigation spurred by complaints from Houston and other areas that lost out in the fierce competition for an orbiter.

NASA Robonaut R2 Tweets From Outer Space

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 14:37:13 GMT

(InformationWeek) Aug. 25, 2011, Elizabeth Montalbano
NASA's first Robonaut in space is using Twitter to share its experience with the public. "Look at me, I'm in space!" tweeted Robonaut 2 (R2) (@AstroRobonaut) on Wednesday from its mission on the International Space Station (ISS).

Russia May Launch Another Soyuz Rocket Friday Despite Recent Failure

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 14:36:32 GMT

(Space News) Aug. 25, 2011, Peter B. deSelding
The Russian space agency, Roscosmos, on Aug. 25 said it may still proceed with a planned Friday (Aug. 26) launch of a Glonass navigation satellite aboard a Soyuz rocket despite the failure yesterday of another Soyuz variant carrying an unmanned supply ship intended to dock with the international space station.

US Military Video Shows Hypersonic Aircraft Test Flight

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 14:35:49 GMT

(SPACE.com) Aug. 25, 2011, SPACE.com staff
The U.S. military released new details Aug. 25 about the recent test flight of a super-fast prototype aircraft, along with a video showing the vehicle streaking through the sky at more than 20 times the speed of sound.

Solar System history written in dust

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 14:35:19 GMT

(BBC News) Aug. 26, 2011, Jonathan Amos
So much from so little. When Japanese scientists opened the sterile canister from their sample-return mission to Asteroid Itokawa, they dared to hope they would have something to analyse. They did - more than a thousand rocky fragments, but none of them bigger than a couple of tenths of a millimetre across. But with today's powerful laboratory tools, this mini-haul proved just ample, and, in the current edition of Science magazine, the Hayabusa mission-scientists report their key findings.

Pulsar strips a white dwarf, leaves a Jupiter-sized diamond

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 14:34:48 GMT

(ars technica) Aug. 25, 2011, John Timmer
Neutron stars form from the core of a collapsing star and, as the supernova dissipates, often rotate rapidly, creating a pulsar. In less than a million years, however, their strong magnetic fields act as a brake, slowing them down considerably. In some cases, however, the neutron star will have a nearby companion, and its gravity is sufficient to start stripping mass off it. As the process continues, the neutron star will spin back up, creating what's called a millisecond pulsar. In most cases, these companions are still around, visible as a bright star locked in an orbital embrace with a pulsar. Now, researchers have spotted one where the star is still there, but not visible—the neutron star has stripped it down to a crystaline core the size of Jupiter.

Russian rocket failure likely to delay 1st post-shuttle astronaut launch

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 14:29:00 GMT

A Russian rocket failure Wednesday likely will delay the first post-shuttle era launch of astronauts to the International Space Station and also could force a temporary reduction in the number of people living aboard the outpost. American astronaut Ron Garan and two Russian cosmonauts likely will extend six-month tours of duty at the space station rather than return to Earth as planned on Sept. 8. The planned Sept. 21 launch from Kazakhstan of a new station crew that includes U.S. astronaut Dan Burbank faces an indefinite delay while a Russian commission investigates the Soyuz rocket failure and the loss of an unmanned Progress supply ship. Station staffing would be cut from six to three if Russia cannot return Soyuz rockets to flight by late October.

Neil Armstrong urges return to the Moon

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 14:28:37 GMT

Astronaut Neil Armstrong has urged a return to the Moon to train for missions to Mars as the United States contemplates the future of its space programme following the end of the shuttle era. The first man to walk on the Moon is due to address the US Congress on new directions for NASA in coming weeks. He has previously criticised US President Barack Obama for being "poorly advised" on space matters and said it was "well known to all that the American space programme is in some chaos at the present time, some disarray". "There are multiple opinions on which goals should be the most important and the most pressing," he told a function in Sydney late Wednesday. The US shuttle programme came to an end last month with the Atlantis cruising home for a final time, 42 years after Armstrong became the first person to set foot on the Moon as part of the Apollo 11 mission. Critics have assailed NASA for lacking focus, with no next-generation human spaceflight mission to replace the shuttle programme.

ZUBRIN: NASA on the block

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 14:28:15 GMT

America’s human spaceflight program is adrift. The space shuttle has made its final flight, and the Obama administration has no coherent plan what to do next. Instead, it has proposed that the United States waste the next decade spending $100 billion to support a goalless human spaceflight effort that goes nowhere and accomplishes nothing. In the face of a mounting imperative to find ways to cut the federal deficit, this has set up the nation’s space program for the ax. In order for NASA’s human-exploration effort to be defensible, it needs a concrete goal and one that is truly worth pursuing. That goal should be sending humans to Mars. As a result of a string of successful probes sent to the Red Planet over the past 15 years, we know for certain that Mars was once a warm and wet planet and continued to have an active hydrosphere for a period on the order of a billion years - a span five times as long as the time it took for life to appear on Earth after there was liquid water here.

Stennis Poised to Expand

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 14:27:48 GMT

The former Army ammunition facility officially was transferred from the U.S. Army to the NASA’s John C. Stennis Space Center Wednesday, adding 1.6 million square feet of economic opportunity for Hancock County and South Mississippi. The transfer ceremony was held at the Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne engine assembly facility within the former ammunition plant. Among the speakers were U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran and NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver, who said Stennis has been a vital part of the American space program since Apollo and will be part of every phase of NASA exploration in the future. The ammunition plant created thousands of jobs in the 1980s and the local economy was shaken when it closed less than a decade later, said Cochran. When the Base Realignment and Closure Commission ruled in 2005 the ammunition plant should close, “I believe it was good news for the Stennis Space Center and the Gulf Coast,” he said. He called the economic development potential “tremendous for the Gulf Coast.”

5 years after demotion, Pluto still stirs debate

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 14:27:27 GMT

Five years ago today, the solar system lost a planet. On Aug. 24, 2006, Pluto — which had been known as the ninth planet since its 1930 discovery — was demoted to the newly created category of "dwarf planet." The decision was controversial, rankling some scientists who disagreed with the reasoning behind it. It also upset and confused many laypeople, who had regarded the nine planets as permanent fixtures in the sky — key touchstones for their understanding of the cosmos, and their place in it. But Pluto's reclassification shows that our knowledge of the world around us is always changing, that scientific truths aren't handed down from on high. And that reminder may be the greatest legacy of the longstanding debate about Pluto's planet status. "This debate shows people, especially kids, that science is always evolving, and it's exciting," said planetary scientist Scott Sheppard of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, who hunts for faraway dwarf planets. "And you should get involved in science, because there's a lot more to learn out there."

Astronomers report seeing supermassive black hole swallowing star

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 14:27:04 GMT

For the first time, astronomers say they've borne witness to a supermassive black hole consuming a star. Two papers released Wednesday by the journal Nature describe powerful blasts of radiation whose brightness and behavior can be explained only by a sun-sized star being torn apart by the gravitational forces of a black hole at the center of its galaxy, the authors say. Scientists believe they have seen the aftermath of such stellar violence before, in the form of fading glows emanating from distant galaxies, in whose centers supermassive black holes usually reside. But they had never caught one in the act. "This was the first time we saw one of these big black holes going from quiet and silent to very loud and noisy, producing a lot of light and radiation," said Davide Lazzati, an astrophysicist at North Carolina State University who was not involved in the study.

When universes collide, how will we know when it happens?

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 14:26:40 GMT

When universes collide, how will we know when it happens? The WMAP probe. From a certain perspective, the Universe looks as smooth and uninteresting as a billiard ball—the smoothest billiard ball ever made. What do I mean by this? The radiation from the Big Bang, now so deeply red-shifted that it is microwave radiation, looks pretty much the same no matter where we look. This cosmic microwave background (CMB) is so smooth that the WMAP satellite, designed to look for lumps in this background, had to have unbelievable sensitivity to successfully see any. One consequence of this smooth background is that the observable Universe had to have undergone a period of very rapid expansion, referred to as inflation.

Hubble Telescope Successor Could Get a Financial Lifeline

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 14:47:00 GMT

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is perilously overbudget and under threat of cancellation, but Nature has learned that it may be offered a financial lifeline. The flagship observatory is currently funded entirely through NASA's science division; now NASA is requesting that more than US$1 billion in extra costs be shared 50:50 with the rest of the agency. The request reflects administrator Charles Bolden's view, expressed earlier this month, that the telescope is a priority not only for the science programme, but for the entire agency. NASA expects that the total cost of getting the 6.5-metre telescope to the launch pad by 2018 will be about $8 billion, around $1.5 billion more and three years later than an independent panel predicted in November 2010. Because in the next few years agency budgets are likely to be flat at best, scientists had feared that the JWST would end up swallowing the $1-billion astrophysics budget whole, or at least heavily eroding the $5-billion science-division budget.

Analysis: NASA's cost estimates for heavy-lift rockets questionable

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 14:46:36 GMT

NASA's cost estimates for building rockets and spacecraft for human missions beyond Earth orbit are questionable and do not provide adequate reserves for difficulties encountered during development, an independent analysis shows. The analysis by technical consultant Booz Allen Hamilton did not list NASA dollar estimates for the development of a heavy-lift launch vehicle, the crew spacecraft or the ground systems required to launch them from Kennedy Space Center. Instead, the study assessed the ways in which NASA's internal cost estimates have been developed and documented, and the practices used to generate them. In doing so, the consultant found estimates that are adequate for short-term budget planning, but are lacking in the depth required for gauging long-term expenses.

Senators: $340M for KSC a "misallocation"

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 14:46:15 GMT

Five senior Republican senators have taken aim at $340 million dollars of upgrades to prepare Kennedy Space Center for future launches of a heavy lift rocket. If the senators are successful in redirecting the money away from NASA and towards other space centers, Dale Ketcham, Director of Spaceport Research and Technology Institute Dale Ketcham says, "It would turn KSC into all but a ghost town." In a letter to President Barack Obama, Alabama Senator Richard Shelby called the $340 million dollars a "misallocation of funds," because the money is budgeted for development and testing of a new heavy lift rocket to explore beyond earth orbit. At Kennedy Space Center, the money is being used to upgrade the launch facility to launch the next generation rocket. In addition to Shelby, the four senators who have signed the letter are: Jeff Sessions (R) of Alabama, Thad Cochran (R) and David Vitter (R) of Mississippi, and Roger Wicker (R) of Louisiana also signed.

NASA picks 3 pioneering tech missions for deep space

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 14:45:56 GMT

NASA has picked a deep space atomic clock, a giant solar sail design and a novel laser communications system as the must-have technologies to help future space exploration, agency officials announced Monday. NASA plans to pump a total of $175 million into three demonstration missions — one for each pioneering technology — with launches anticipated by 2015 or so. The three were selected as part of NASA's Technology Demonstration Missions program, which seeks to infuse high-impact tech into the agency's future space missions. "These technology demonstration missions will improve our communications, navigation and in-space propulsion capabilities, enable future missions that could not otherwise be performed and build the technological capability of America's space industry," said NASA chief technologist Bobby Braun in a statement.

Russia Suspends Launches Over Costly Lost Sat

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 14:45:35 GMT

Russia suspended launches of its chief Proton-M rocket on Tuesday over the multimillion-dollar loss of a communications satellite, the latest in a string of embarrassing setbacks that have dogged the industry. Russia’s space agency said in a statement that failure of the rocket’s upper stage, responsible for boosting satellites into final orbit, was the most likely cause for last week’s botched launch. Roskosmos said its experts were still trying to link back up with the $265-million Express AM4 satellite, billed by its maker EADS as the most powerful ever built in Europe, after it disappeared from monitors shortly after launch last Thursday. The costly debacle on Russia’s principal launch vehicle for heavy commercial and military satellites is a major embarrassment for the aerospace industry, coming on the heels of a series of other mishaps.

ISRO's eyes in the sky to watch climate change

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 14:45:13 GMT

Climate change is on everybody's minds these days. The National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has also planned to launch some sophisticated satellites to keep a watch on climate change. Director of NRSC V K Dhadwal, who came calling to the Regional Remote Sensing Centre in the city, spoke about the importance of keeping a watch on the changes in climate and the role remote sensing can play in it. The most ambitious projects include Megha-Tropiques, INSAT-3D, Saral Altika and SCATSAT among others. He said not just ISRO but other national and international space bodies including NASA and United Nations' Environment Programme (UNEP) had been taking serious actions in this regard too. As the name suggests, Megha-Tropiques would help analyse the rainfall pattern while the advanced INSAT-3D would be exclusively used for meteorological purposes. Dhadwal was especially excited about Saral, which was being developed with help from French scientists, as it would be the first spaceborne altimeter to operate at K{-a} band. SCATSAT, that he said would be in use only in 2014, would be entirely dedicated to climate monitoring.

It's alive! Space station's humanoid robot awake

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 14:44:55 GMT

NASA's humanoid robot has finally awakened in space. Ground controllers turned Robonaut on Monday for the first time since it was delivered to the International Space Station in February. The test involved sending power to all of Robonaut's systems. The robot was not commanded to move; that will happen next week. "Those electrons feel GOOD! One small step for man, one giant leap for tinman kind," Robonaut posted in a Twitter update. (All right, so a Robonaut team member actually posted Monday's tweets under AstroRobonaut.) The four visible light cameras that serve as Robonaut's eyes turned on in the gold-colored head, as did the infrared camera, located in the robot's mouth and needed for depth perception. One of Robonaut's tweets showed the view inside the American lab, Destiny. "Sure wish I could move my head and look around," Robonaut said in the tweet. Robonaut — the first humanoid robot in space — is being tested as a possible astronaut's helper.

Want a space vacation? Russia luxury hotel in orbit will start at $1 million a week

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 14:44:28 GMT

The dream of space flight, formerly possible only for professional astronauts and a handful of adventurous multimillionaires, may be on the verge of becoming (almost) affordable for the mere millionaire. A Russian-based company, Orbital Technologies, has announced plans to launch a seven-room luxury hotel into orbit, about 220 miles from the Earth, within five years. A five-day vacation package will cost under $1 million, including up to three months of specialized training, return flight aboard a Russian Soyuz or one of the commercial space planes that will soon be operational, three nights in one of the hotel's zero-gravity cabins, and a sightseeing flight around the moon. If that still sounds expensive, consider that the last "space tourist", Cirque du Soleil founder Guy LaLiberte, paid upwards of $25 million for his tourist jaunt to the International Space Station aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft just two years ago.

Pluto holds big surprises for speedy NASA probe

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 14:44:03 GMT

Pluto may be small, but it is proving to be big on surprises. With NASA's New Horizons spacecraft now speeding toward it, our understanding of the dwarf planet should transform even further. "We've never had a reconnaissance of a dwarf planet such as Pluto before, and every time we've been to a new type of planet, we find nature is much richer than we expected," New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern, of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo., told SPACE.com. New Horizons, which was sent aloft in 2006, has been billed by NASA as its fastest spacecraft ever launched from Earth, having sped from our planet at about 36,000 mph (nearly 58,000 kph). The probe should reach Pluto and its moons in July 2015. New Horizons will be the first up-close reconnaissance of Pluto in history. It will mark one of the first times scientists get to study a new type of planet this close since the 1970s, when NASA explored the giant planet Jupiter. (NASA's Dawn probe is slated to visit the rocky dwarf planet Ceres, the largest asteroid in the solar system, in February 2015).

The New Space Frontier: Live Video of Earth in HD Coming Soon

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 14:43:37 GMT

Ask any astronaut about the view from space and you're likely to get the same answer: The Earth is a gorgeous, crystal-clear eyeful. But for most of us on the ground, it’s a perspective not easily within reach. But that may change with a Canadian firm's quest to provide high-definition (HD) video views of Earth from space. The Calgary-based company, UrtheCast (pronounced "EarthCast") is working with the Russia aerospace company RSC Energia to build, launch, install and operate two cameras on the Russian module of the International Space Station. The two Urthecast cameras — one medium-resolution and one high-resolution — are being built by the U.K.'s Rutherford Appleton Laboratories. Energia is targeting a 2012 launch for the cameras. Once they're installed on the space station, their video of the Earth will be beamed to ground stations around the planet, and then displayed in near real-time on the UrtheCast Web platform or distributed directly to the company’s exclusive partners and customers.

SpaceX Looks For An Extra Base

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 16:05:43 GMT

Even as SpaceX prepares for its first visit to the International Space Station, it's looking for another spaceport to handle a whole different kind of launch traffic. The California-based company is increasingly in the news because of its role as the first private-sector successor to the just-completed space shuttle program. Company founder and CEO Elon Musk has said that SpaceX is thinking about establishing an additional base for launching Falcon rockets, to supplement its facilities at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida and the pad that's currently being renovated at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The Vandenberg pad is planned as the home base for SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket, which is designed to go after the Air Force's satellite launch business. Last month, local officials in Texas hinted that SpaceX was ready to invest up to $50 million in the Gulf Coast Regional Spaceport, south of Houston. Musk told me that he hadn't yet decided where the third base would be located, but he made it sound as if he was firmly set on expanding operations. He also explained why an extra space base was on SpaceX's agenda: "The third launch site would open early, in perhaps three or four years. So it makes sense to have NASA and Defense Department launches occur from Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg, but then probably shift most of our commercial launches to a purely commercial launch site that's really aimed at being the best customer for a commercial launch provider."

Futron Study: U.S. Losing Ground In Space

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 16:05:31 GMT

The U.S. remains top ranked among 10 nations in space competitiveness for 2011, but it is losing ground to global competitors as its space policy undergoes a major transition, especially in the area of human spaceflight, according to the Futron Corp.'s 2011 Space Competitiveness Index. Futron examined 50 metrics in making the rankings, including a trio of overarching indicators: government, human capital and industry. "Of the 10 countries analyzed, only the United States has shown four straight years of competitiveness declines," Futron notes in an executive summary. "By contrast, Russia, China and Japan have improved their own space competitiveness by 12%, 27% and 45%, respectively, over their relative starting points from when Futron's benchmarking process began in 2008." Overall trends studied by Futron reveal that cooperation in space tends to intensify competition. The report finds that global space activity drives a substantial economic engine as well as fostering national pride and advancements in science and exploration. In related highlights, the index notes that Japan has strengthened its position relative to almost every other country through policy reforms that link government and industry. Russia's world-leading launch sector is poised for increased activity as it prepares to begin Soyuz launches from Kourou, French Guiana, while providing essential crew and cargo transportation services to the International Space Station.

OMB Tells Agencies To Reduce Funding Requests

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 16:05:18 GMT

The tough budget environment that lies ahead for agencies like NASA, NOAA and DOD that are part of the government's discretionary spending became clear in the annual budget guidance put out by the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Wednesday. The federal government's fiscal year (FY) is from October 1 - September 30. FY2011 is coming to a close and Congress is debating the request for FY2012. The President's budget request for FY2013 should be submitted to Congress on the first Monday of February 2012. Last year, the OMB guidance for FY2012 budget requests was to cut five percent from what OMB projected for FY2012 in the FY2011 request. In NASA's case, for example, in the FY2011 budget request OMB projected $19.45 billion for NASA, so the OMB guidance required the agency to submit a request five percent less than that. Whatever NASA requested is not public, but the end result was a President's request to Congress of $18.72 billion, the same as what the agency received in FY2010 and an increase of $27 million above what Congress provided for FY2011 ($18.45 billion). This year's guidance, however, tells agencies to submit requests that are five percent less than what they received for FY2011. For NASA, that means five percent less than $18.45 billion, or $17.52 billion. In its FY2012 request, the agency assumed a level budget of $18.72 billion per year for the next five years. Agencies must also show the impact of a 10 percent cut from the FY2011 enacted level, which in NASA's case would be $16.6 billion.

China Eyes Closer Aerospace Cooperation With Russia

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 16:05:06 GMT

China is keen to deepen cooperation with Russia in the aerospace sector, especially in manned space flight and deep space exploration programs, a Chinese aerospace entrepreneur said Tuesday. Yin Liming, president of the China Great Wall Industry Corporation (CGWIC), said his company has kept extensive contacts with Russia's federal space agency Roscosmos and major aerospace enterprises in recent years, as the two countries are seeking closers ties in the field. In accordance with the 2010-2012 China-Russia Space Cooperation Outline, China and Russia will continue to strengthen their cooperation in the field, in particular in the creation of a satellite navigation system, joint deep space research, moon exploration and manned space missions, Yin told Xinhua in an interview at the 10th MAKS air show. But to achieve this goal, China needs more international cooperation and coordination, Yin said, adding that leading countries including Russia should be more open in technology sharing. The CGWIC president said the Mars program has showcased the two countries' joint efforts in the space industry in the past four years. "Through such cooperation, the scientists and researchers of our two nations can make more contribution to human efforts in space exploration," he said.

World's Largest Radio Telescope Project Will Not Include U.S.

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 16:04:53 GMT

After economic downgrades and a lack of funds shut down NASA's shuttle program, many Americans are uncertain about the future of our country's space exploration. Space exploration helps us understand the universe we live in, and gain a better understanding of the planet we call home. Planning is underway for what will be the world's largest radio telescope, an array of 3,000 antennae set up in remote regions of the Southern hemisphere that will have at least 50 times more capacity than anything before. Called the Square Kilometer Array (SKA), it will bring closer the possibilities of learning new information about the origin of the universe and the formation of galaxies and black holes. The multinational project will be based in either South Africa or Australia, and it is likely that American technology and funding will be used initially. Overall, SKA is projected to cost about $2 billion to get set up over the next eight years or so, along with more than $200 million a year in operating costs once it is operational. Organizers originally planned on the United States contributing a third or more of the total, or about $700 million to get it going and $70 million a year after that. The European Union is expected to be a major funder, with other participating countries also contributing. However, the cost of the expected U.S. share was too much for an NSF division with a budget of about $250 million a year that is expected to increase to as much as $500 million a year by 2020.

China's Third Launch In A Week Proves Too Much As Long March 2C Fails

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 16:26:09 GMT

With an apparent urgency to complete an orbiting constellation, China launched another new satellite in the ShiJian-11 series, just three weeks after the launch of the previous ShiJian-11 mission. However, the launch of the Long March 2C with ShiJian 11-04 failed during ascent after leaving the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 09:26UTC on Thursday. As with the previous ShiJian-11 satellites, the true mission of Shi Jian 11-04 was not revealed by the Chinese authorities. Some observers noted that the ShiJian 11 series could be related with a constellation of operational early warning satellites. 'ShiJian' means 'Practice' and this series of satellites have been used with a variety of configurations and missions for scientific research and technological experiments. With official Chinese media reports being tight-lipped -- as is usual for China in the event of a problem -- the exact cause of the failure is unknown. However, once official, this would be the first time the Long March 2C has failed in its 35 launch career, and only the second Chinese failure since February, 1996.

FAILURE: Russia's Ekspress-AM4 Is Lost As Proton-M Briz-M Fails

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 16:25:56 GMT

A Proton-M rocket, with the fiftieth Briz-M upper stage, launched Russia's Ekspress-AM4 communications satellite, after an early morning liftoff from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. However, having launched at 03:25 Thursday local time (21:25 UTC on Wednesday) - and the Proton-M completing its mission successfully -- the Briz-M failed to deploy Ekspress-AM4 into a geosynchronous transfer orbit after it was reported to have lost all power at the time during -- or shortly after -- the fourth burn. Ekspress-AM4 is the latest in a series of communications satellites operated by the Russian Satellite Communications Company. Details in the Russian claim all contact was lost with the stage and spacecraft at either the time of the ignition of the Upper Stage for the fourth burn, or just after the burn was completed - citing a complete loss of power.

Russian Satellite Still "Lost"

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 16:25:44 GMT

The Russian flight control center, with the help of French colleagues, has re-traced the upper-stage rocket of the device which brought to orbit the Russian satellite "Express AM-4". The satellite was launched from Baykonur, a cosmodrome in Kazakhstan rented by Russia, in the early hours of Thursday. But, soon after the launch, the operators lost connection with it. However, though the upper-stage rocket has now been located, it is not yet known whether it still holds the satellite. On the Russians' request, the flight control center in Toulouse, France, which is equipped with facilities of the last generation, is helping to re-trace the satellite.

Manned Space Flights No Longer Priority For Russia

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 16:25:32 GMT

Moscow no longer sees manned spaceflight as its top priority but remains committed to its International Space Station obligations, the head of Russian space agency Roskosmos said on Wednesday. Russia holds a monopoly on flights to and from the 16-nation station. Soyuz launches from its Baikonur cosmodrome are now the only way to space since the United States retired its 30-year shuttle programme in July. NASA pays it more than $50 million per flight to send its astronauts to the space outpost. "Unfortunately manned spaceflight accounts for an unjustifiably large part of the budget: It makes up 48 percent," he told reporters at Russia's flagship MAKS airshow near Moscow. He added Roskomos would narrow its focus to satellite communication, navigation systems and meterological study. While the 16-partner nations in the project have long had a plan to de-orbit the station, a European space official on Wednesday said its lifespan would likely be extended beyond 2020 -- the current commitment -- but "obviously not until 2035." As the initial rapture with space station has faded, critics say Russia's reliance on the Soyuz as a cash cow has too long absorbed the agency's attentions and stunted innovation. Popovkin, who replaced veteran space chief Anatoly Perminov earlier this year following a string of embarrassing launch failures, surprisingly took the lead on some of those charges this month when he said scientists had nothing more to learn from low-Earth orbital flight.

Next-Gen Engine Vital To U.S. Rocketry

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 16:25:12 GMT

Development of the U.S. Air Force's proposed next-generation upper-stage engine is vital to inject new life into the industry, even though the operational requirement remains obscure, say supporters. The Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center issued a request for information in 2010 for a next-generation engine (NGE) to replace the Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (PWR) RL10 by 2017. The effort was launched amid concerns that the venerable engine is reaching its design limits and costing more as PWR's customer base shrinks with the retirement of the space shuttle. Two variants of the RL10 power the upper stages of the Air Force's Atlas V and Delta IV Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles (EELV). The Air Force plans to continue using the EELV family through 2030 and, according to the request for information, wants a new "upper-stage engine utilizing modern design and manufacturing methods ... that will demonstrate state-of-the-art operating margin and reliability and minimize life-cycle costs." The NGE plan could inject new life into an industry suffering from years of cancelled projects, such as NASA's Constellation program, says Van Kleeck. "To sustain the industrial base, you have to have a full life cycle. We have to take these things all the way from development, and we're not doing that. Now's the perfect time to say, 'Let's do something different,' because if we continue in this mode we aren't going to do anything," she adds.

Dnepr Launches With Ukraine's Sich-2 And Several Passengers

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 15:49:24 GMT

An ISC Kosmotras Dnepr carrier rocket has launched eight satellites into Low Earth orbit. The primary payload of this, the seventeenth Dnepr launch, was Ukraine's Sich-2 remote sensing satellite. Sich-2 is the third spacecraft to be launched in a series of Ukrainian satellites named Sich, meaning Owl. The first, Sich-1, was placed into orbit by a Tsyklon-3 carrier rocket in August 1995. Based on a former Soviet Okean-O1 remote sensing satellite, it was the first Ukrainian satellite to be launched since the collapse of the Soviet Union. As has become relatively common for Dnepr launches, several other satellites joined Sich-2 for the ride into orbit. In this case, seven secondary payloads were launched. NigeriaSat-2 is a 300-kilogram observation satellite which will be operated by Nigeria's National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA).. A second NASRDA payload, NigeriaSat-X or NX, was also launched on the Dnepr. A pair of AprizeSat spacecraft, to be operated by Argentine communications operator Aprize, have also been placed into orbit. The 12-kilogram AprizeSat-5 and 6 satellites will be used for store-dump communications, and also carry Automatic Identification System transponders to track ships at sea. RASAT is a Turkish remote sensing satellite, intended to replace the BILSAT-1 satellite which ceased operations in 2006. It is the first Turkish-built spacecraft to be launched. The EduSAT spacecraft, which will be operated by the Sapienza University of Rome, is a technology demonstration nanosatellite, which will test solar cells, a transponder, and techniques for deorbiting spacecraft. The final payload, Blok Perspektivnoy Avioniki 2, or BPA-2, has intentionally remained attached to the upper stage of the Dnepr. It is conducting a brief mission to study the use of navigation equipment in space.

Senators Urge White House Again To Start Work On Heavy-Lift Rocket

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 15:49:10 GMT

Two Alabama senators plus senators from other states with NASA facilities are again pushing the space agency to move forward with a new heavy-lift rocket. Sens. Richard Shelby and Jeff Sessions, both of Alabama, David Vitter of Louisiana and Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker of Mississippi sent a letter to President Barack Obama Aug. 15 urging movement. "We write today to request that the administration immediately provide the Section 309 report to Congress, and that the Office of Management and Budget immediately release its hold and approve the program," the letter said. The Section 309 report was a congressional requirement for NASA to inform it within 90 days of the signing of the NASA Authorization Act of 2010 what heavy-lift rocket plan NASA would use to build the agency's next big rocket. That report is now nearly 200 days late, the letter said. The senators say all other parts of the compromise are under way except the heavy-lift rocket, which is being studied by budget experts including OMB. The senators believe money is being diverted from heavy-lift to other NASA spending priorities and that the White House "has no intention" of following the law on spending. OMB spokeswoman Meg Reilly issued the following statement today: "Space exploration remains a commitment of this Administration, but as we take a critical eye to every aspect of the Federal budget, we must ensure that every dollar spent in this area is used effectively and efficiently. We are working with NASA now to better understand the costs of this approach to ensure that a final plan is practicable and sustainable over the long term. At a time when we're working to find savings across the Federal government, it would be reckless to make a final determination before the results of NASA's independent cost assessment are in. This is the best approach for American taxpayers and the future of America's space exploration."

COTS Vehicle Could Reach ISS This Year

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 15:48:56 GMT

The two companies using NASA seed money to develop commercial cargo carriers for the International Space Station (ISS) are preparing for crucial launches before the end of the year, although both need some last-minute answers before they can fly. Under the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program, Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) needs approval from NASA to fly two Orbcomm messaging and asset-monitoring satellites piggyback on its Falcon 9 launcher en route to the first berthing of its Dragon cargo capsule at the ISS later this year. A berthing by either vehicle would start clearing the way for its owner to shift to the lucrative Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contracts they already hold. Orbital Sciences stands to gain $1.9 billion for eight cargo flights to the ISS, while SpaceX is down for 12 flights at $1.6 billion.

Energia Holding Initial Negotiations On Tourist Trip Around Moon

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 15:48:10 GMT

The Energia Corporation is holding initial negotiations on a tourist trip around the moon onboard a Soyuz spaceship. "We are holding initial negotiations on the commercial flight around the moon. The crew makeup, partners and project budget are on the agenda," Energia President Vitaly Lopota told Interfax-AVN on Monday. Space Adventures announced in late January 2011 that it had sold to an individual one of the two tickets for the commercial flight to the moon aboard a Soyuz spaceship for $150 million. The company did not say who bought the ticket; it just hinted that the person was well known. There had been reports claiming that movie director James Cameron, the maker of Titanic and Avatar, might be the first 'lunar' tourist. The reports were refuted. Energia, the designer and manufacturer of Soyuz manned spaceships, suggested two ways of a commercial flight to the moon. An aerospace industry representative told Interfax-AVN earlier that the lunar modification of the Soyuz needed one unmanned test flight.

Space Adventures: Tourists Could Fly Around Moon In 2016-2017

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 15:47:54 GMT

Space Adventures will announce the names of two space tourists, who will fly around the natural satellite of the Earth on board the Russian Soyuz spacecraft in five or six years, before the end of 2011. "Such a flight is feasible in 2016-2017," head of the Russian office of Space Adventures Sergei Kostenko told Interfax-AVN at the MAKS-2011 aerospace show in Zhukovsky.

China's Surge Continues With Haiyang-2A Launch Via Long March 4B

Tue, 16 Aug 2011 15:47:00 GMT

China has launched the first of a news series of oceanographic satellites, with the HaiYang-2A (HY-2A) launched at 22:57UTC on August 15. The launch was carried out by a Long March 4B (Chang Zheng-4B) launch vehicle from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, as the Chinese ramp up their impressive launch rate. This mission was originally schedule to take place in 2009. However, it was delayed for unspecified reasons. Another delay -- albeit only a day -- was also required due to unacceptable weather conditions at the launch site. The new ocean dynamic environmental HaiYang-2 satellite series is a very important piece of China's civil spacecraft program. The satellite will be used to monitor ocean wind fields, sea levels and temperatures, waves, currents, tides, and storms in order to provide disaster and weather forecasting information.

Russian Official: Next Space Tourist Flight Set For 2014

Tue, 16 Aug 2011 15:46:47 GMT

The next space tourist to visit the International Space Station (ISS) will probably depart Earth in 2014, a Russian space agency official said Monday. Construction of a Soyuz space module for the paid ride into orbit has begun and provided there is demand the mission will take place, said Vitaly Lopata, head of the aerospace company Energiya. The corporation also has begun work on a new space project which would bring paying travelers into an orbit of the moon, Lopata told the Interfax news agency. The price of an eight- to nine-day ride aboard a Soyuz module on a planned lunar orbit missions would be between 100 and 150 million dollars, according to news reports.

SpaceX Plans November Test Flight To Space Station

Tue, 16 Aug 2011 15:46:32 GMT

California-based rocket maker SpaceX said that it will make a test flight in late November to the International Space Station, now that NASA has retired its space shuttle program. "SpaceX has been hard at work preparing for our next flight -- a mission designed to demonstrate that a privately-developed space transportation system can deliver cargo to and from the International Space Station (ISS)," the company, also called Space Exploration Technologies, said in a statement. "NASA has given us a November 30, 2011 launch date, which should be followed nine days later by Dragon berthing at the ISS," the company said.

Growing Need For Space Trash Collectors

Tue, 16 Aug 2011 15:46:18 GMT

On April 2, for the fifth time in less than three years, the International Space Station fired its engines to dodge a piece of orbital debris that appeared on a collision path. Other spacecraft also regularly scoot out of the way of rocket and satellite debris. Such evasive action will be needed increasingly frequently, a new study finds. Friction between the atmosphere and materials passing through it, known as drag force, offers the only natural means for culling detritus left in orbit by space launches. But the thermosphere is cooling. A resulting drop in its density is cutting this portion of the atmosphere's drag force, thereby increasing the lifetime of orbiting trash (including pieces in that heavily populated band at 800 to 1,000 kilometers). Two years ago, aerospace engineer Hugh Lewis of the University of Southampton, England, and his colleagues calculated that within a few decades, space agencies would have to begin culling perhaps five major pieces of debris annually to slow this collision-enhanced growth in the number of orbiting trash particles. But in a paper in the Journal of Geophysical Research, posted online Aug. 10, the Southampton team now doubles that number, pointing out that the thermosphere's falling density renders the old trash-pickup requirements obsolete.

Stemming Capital Flight Through Satellite, The NIGCOMSAT Way

Tue, 16 Aug 2011 15:46:03 GMT

The Nigerian Communications Satellite, NIGCOMSAT Limited, last week, gathered stakeholders at the International Conference Centre, Abuja , to discuss the future of satellite business in Nigeria. The confab which was woven around the theme Optimizing Satellite Communications for National Development, also meant to galvanise interest of investors towards using satellite business to help the Nigerian economy out of the woods. At the beginning of the conference, NigComSat CEO, Engr Ahmed Rufai, unveiled the benefits of the replacement satellite, describing it as an in--orbit delivery programme by China Great Wall Industry Corporation (CGWIC) to replace Nigeria's Nigcomsat-1. He also hinted that the satellite would provide a critical ICT backbone infrastructure to drive the national ICT revolution by providing a cost effective solution and affordable access to meet the nation's telecommunications, broadcast, aviation, maritime, defense, security and revenue diversification needs of the nation. Minister of Science and Technology, Prof. Okon Ewa, decried the huge annual expenditure of over $450m on foreign bandwidth. For him, such huge amount amounted to capital flight and could be channeled into other areas of national development if the country takes the issue of communications satellite business seriously.

NASA Consolidates Human Spaceflight Office

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 16:30:32 GMT

NASA has officially consolidated its human spaceflight program, including the international space station, deep space exploration, and commercial cargo- and crew-transport operations, under a single mission directorate. The new Human Exploration and Operations (HEO) Mission Directorate comprises what used to be the Space Operations and Exploration Systems mission directorates. Bill Gerstenmaier, formerly the Space Operations associate administrator, will head up the new directorate. Douglas Cooke, previously the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate's top official, would have been deputy administrator of the HEO directorate, according to an internal presentation circulated by NASA in February. But Cooke had said he planned to leave the agency after the two directorates were combined.

NASA Academic Reimbursements Questioned

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 16:30:08 GMT

NASA is paying too much to educate civil servants and contract employees by failing to seek the best academic value, set financial limits or seek future service commitments from workers, as well as by allowing reimbursements for academic credits earned for prior experience, according to an audit by agency Inspector General Paul Martin. In a report made public Aug. 10, auditors concluded the decentralized administration of the program and a lack of internal controls have increased the potential for abuse of a training benefit intended to meet the agency's skill needs and strategic goals. The audit was restricted to a half-dozen NASA installations, and a wider examination would "result in substantially higher questioned costs," according to the report. The top 20 universities selected by NASA workers for course work included 11 private or for-profit institutions that charged on average 3.6 to 1.6 times more than public alternatives, according to the report.

Lowering Launch Costs

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 16:29:56 GMT

Classified elements of the U.S. budget make it difficult to calculate the price that U.S. government agencies pay to put each satellite into orbit. Still, top defense and intelligence officials have left no doubt that the prices are higher than they would like, and they are going public with plans to bring them down. The Air Force is scrubbing the Delta and Atlas systems for places to cut costs as it negotiates the next batch of Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) launches for the military, National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and NASA. SpaceX has seized the initiative from ULA by publicizing its prices everywhere it can, from its website to online blogs. Meanwhile, ULA "does not publicly release its launch costs," ULA spokeswoman Jessica Rye said. That has left SpaceX to calculate that the DoD could save a billion dollars a year by replacing its Atlas and Delta purchases with the Falcon 9 and a larger version that has yet to fly, the Falcon Heavy. The Falcon 9 costs up to $60 million, and a Falcon Heavy up to $125 million, according to SpaceX. An aerospace engineer estimated that various models of the ULA Delta 4 cost between $160 million and $400 million, depending on whether the rocket is equipped with strap-on boosters for added lift, and whether infrastructure costs are included in the price. Atlas 5 prices were discussed during a Jan. 26 NASA meeting. Jim Norman, the space agency's associate administrator for launch services, said an Atlas 5 costs between $102 million and $334 million

Can Darpa Control The Satellite Appetite?

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 16:29:44 GMT

If scientists at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) get their way, in a few years' time there may be networked clusters of dozens or even hundreds of small, cheap, easily replaceable satellites working together to take the place of the large, expensive hardware currently floating around in orbit. The Pentagon-funded researchers have spent several years, tens of millions of dollars working on something called System F6 (Future, Fast, Flexible, Fractionated, Free-Flying Spacecraft). The goal of the program is to create clusters of small satellites tied together by ad hoc wireless networks that allow them to autonomously share tasks such as processing, data storage, sensing, communications relay and navigation, while trading off missions if any one satellite fails or falls out of orbit. Darpa says it wants to conduct an in-orbit demonstration in 2014-15 While Darpa has not specified the size of the project, Raytheon is designing the network to handle clusters of up to 100 satellites in which each one would have around 10 different applications running at a time, both consuming and producing information..

NASA Considers Liquid Rocket Engine For MPCV Escape System

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 16:29:31 GMT

NASA's Langley Research Center, in Hampton, Va., is considering using a liquid thruster engine on the next Max Launch Abort System (MLAS) test flight, according to contract documents released on Thursday. The current emergency abort system on MPCV has a single solid rocket engine in a tower positioned above the crew capsule. The alternate MLAS would have four or more solid rocket motors attached.

Russia Officially Invited To Join Largest Project Of ESO In Chile

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 16:29:17 GMT

The Russian Astronomic Society has been officially invited to join the largest project of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Chile. Russia's admission fee is 120 million euros and the terms are highly preferential. Russia will also receive orders for unique astro-instruments. "Russia is very much interested in this project," press secretary of the Pulkovo Astronomic Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences told Itar-Tass. "The former Soviet Union wanted an access to Chile for doing astronometric and astrophotographic works. Fifteen countries of Europe used the chance provided by the world's best astronomical climate in South America later on."

Japan To Offer ODA For Vietnam's Space Development

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 16:29:03 GMT

Japan will provide official development assistance to Vietnam to use to launch space satellites, with the aim of boosting ties between the two countries and Japan's satellite-launch industry, Foreign Ministry officials said Saturday. Japan will offer 7 billion yen to develop and manufacture two earth observation satellites for use monitoring natural disasters. The two countries are expected to reach an agreement on the yen loan-financed project by the end of this month, ministry officials said. Orders for the satellites are expected to be placed with Japanese companies. One of the satellites will be manufactured in Japan and launched from the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture, government sources said. Other countries such as France have provided technological assistance to Vietnam's space program. Japan looks to increase its involvement in the space business overseas as "demand for launching artificial satellites will surge mainly in developing countries," a senior Foreign Ministry official said.

Astronaut Photographs Perseid Meteor... From Space

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 16:28:49 GMT

Seeing regular updates from the International Space Station (ISS) is a special joy of mine, especially since the shuttle fleet was retired last month. As poignantly noted by Irene in "Atlantis' Final Reentry Seen From Space," although the shuttle is gone, the U.S. presence on the ISS certainly is not. So, in a stunning photograph taken by NASA astronaut Ron Garan through a space station window, a single Perseid meteor was captured as the piece of comet dust slammed into the Earth's atmosphere.

Falcon HTV-2 Hypersonic Plane Loses Control In Mach 20 Test

Fri, 12 Aug 2011 15:51:34 GMT

The U.S. military said it launched a hypersonic test aircraft called the Falcon HTV-2, which reached speeds of 13,000 mph, but lost control after about nine minutes of flight and, they believe, crashed in the Pacific Ocean. This afternoon DARPA released a statement saying it had difficulty controlling the Falcon in the air."The aircraft transitioned to Mach 20 aerodynamic flight," it said. "This transition represents a critical knowledge and control point in maneuvering atmospheric hypersonic flight. More than nine minutes of data was collected before an anomaly caused loss of signal. "'Here's what we know,'" Air Force Maj. Chris Schulz, the HTV-2 program manager for DARPA, said in the statement. 'We know how to boost the aircraft to near space. We know how to insert the aircraft into atmospheric hypersonic flight. We do not yet know how to achieve the desired control during the aerodynamic phase of flight. It's vexing; I'm confident there is a solution. We have to find it.'"

Russia Space Chief Regrets Focus On Manned Missions

Fri, 12 Aug 2011 15:51:23 GMT

The new chief of Russia's space agency on Thursday said it had put too much emphasis on manned space flight and needed to increase financing on projects that brought a tangible return. Roskosmos chief Vladimir Popovkin, in one of his first interviews since taking office this year, said the agency was spending almost half its budget on manned flight and it was no longer good enough just to put a human in orbit. "In Roskosmos, unfortunately, at a certain time there was a very big shift to manned spaceflight. The budget for manned flight programmes takes up almost half of the budget of the entire agency," he told the Kommersant daily. Popovkin did not comment on the lifespan of the ISS but indicated he believed scientists had fully explored the influence of orbital flight on humans. "Of course Russia has obligations towards the ISS which need to be fulfilled but Roskosmos intends to increase the amount of financing for projects aimed at creating communication, navigation and meteorological systems."

SpaceX Plans To Be Top World Rocket Maker

Fri, 12 Aug 2011 15:51:11 GMT

While many beleaguered U.S. aerospace manufacturers are trimming back amid continuing uncertainty over the nation's long-term goals, California-based SpaceX is ramping up plans to become the world's largest producer of rocket engines in less than five years, manufacturing more units per year than any other single country. The company also continues to bolster its workforce, passing the 1,500-employee mark for the first time at the start of August after seeing a 50% uptick in payroll last year. "We have built about 60 engines so far this year, and will build another 40 by year-end," says Shotwell. Speaking at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Joint Propulsion Conference here, Shotwell explains that the eventual "plan is to build up to 400 engines per year, that's our target." For SpaceX's longer-term ambitions to deliver cargo and humans to Mars, Elon Musk, SpaceX founder and chief technical officer says plans to develop a "super-efficient, staged-combustion engine" could be made official "later this year, or early next."

NASA IG Sizes Up Aging Infrastructure

Fri, 12 Aug 2011 15:50:57 GMT

NASA Inspector General Paul K. Martin reports significant lapses in the agency's Real Property Management System (RPMS), an internal database that tracks the agency's significant and far-flung assets -- an estimated 5,000 buildings and structures, including laboratories, launch pads and test stands. In total, these properties carry an impressive current replacement value of $26.4 billion -- at a time NASA and the agency's legislative backers are in search of the financial means to fund future human as well as robotic exploration initiatives. Congress and the White House acknowledged as much when the NASA Authorization Act of 2010 was passed and signed into law. One provision of the legislation, which appears to represent the closest example of a policy consensus on NASA's post-shuttle future, includes a directive that the agency examine its property rolls and downsize to match the needs of future missions.

Satellite For Pakistan Launched By Chinese Rocket

Fri, 12 Aug 2011 15:50:45 GMT

China deployed a communications satellite for Pakistan on Thursday aboard a Long March 3B rocket launched from a mountainous spaceport in the southwest China's Sichuan province. The fresh spacecraft, called PakSat 1R, replaces Pakistan's aging national communications satellite launched in 1996. PakSat 1R was built by the China Academy of Space Technology and is based on the DFH-4 spacecraft platform. China has reached agreements to build DFH-4 communications satellites for several non-traditional players in the space industry, including Pakistan, Nigeria, Venezuela, Laos and Bolivia.

China, Bolivia Launch Telecom Satellite Project

Fri, 12 Aug 2011 15:50:34 GMT

China and Bolivia on Wednesday jointly launched a communications satellite project that will be completed within three years. The construction of the Tupac Katari satellite, named after an 18th century indigenous hero who fought Bolivia's Spanish colonizers, will benefit the Bolivian people, said Bolivian President Juan Evo Morales Ayma at the launching ceremony. The deal is funded by China Development Bank.

China Set To Launch Its Space Lab: Tiangong I

Fri, 12 Aug 2011 15:50:23 GMT

Although there has been no official announcement, there are good signs here in Beijing that China plans to launch its experimental space laboratory before the end of August. Tiangong I is not the Chinese space station, nor will it be a part of the Chinese space station (see below). At 8 tons, Tiangong I is much smaller than the 80-ton U.S. Skylab, which was launched in 1973, or even the 22-ton core module of the Soviet MIR, which was launched in 1986. China's space lab will have a short life-span of two years and is designed as a test bed for the technologies China will need to move forward with its space station program. The most important among these is docking technology, which will allow a spacecraft carrying people to and from the station to hook up with it. During the next two years China will launch 3 missions to the Tiangong I space lab: Shenzhou 8, 9, and 10. At present China anticipates launching two additional experimental space labs in the Tiangong series before moving on to the construction of a space station.Tiangong 2 and Tiangong 3 are currently scheduled to be launched sometime before 2015. This will complete the second stage of China's three-stage program.

NASA Picks Seven Contractors For Missions

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 12:51:47 GMT

NASA will spend up to $10 million over the next two years to fly science and engineering payloads to the upper atmosphere and out to the edge of space on reusable commercial vehicles, some of which will also be carrying humans. Under indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contracts, seven U.S. companies will provide flight services to the agency’s Office of the Chief Technologist as it works to advance new space technologies for future exploration. “Through this catalog approach, NASA is moving toward the goal of making frequent, low-cost access to near-space available to a wide range of engineers, scientists and technologists,” said Chief Technologist Bobby Braun in announcing the contracts. “The government’s ability to open the suborbital research frontier to a broad community of innovators will enable maturation of the new technologies and capabilities needed for NASA’s future missions in space.”

State vows $7M expansion boost for SpaceX in Brevard

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 12:51:29 GMT

The state has pledged more than $7 million to help SpaceX increase its local launch rate and potentially attract hundreds of jobs to the Space Coast. Hawthorne, Calif.-based SpaceX plans to renovate one facility and build another at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station so the company can process multiple Falcon 9 rockets and ready spacecraft for launch. "Having extra processing facilities for launch vehicles and payloads enables us to increase our launch rate," said SpaceX spokesman Bobby Block. "The greater the launch rate, the more activity you have out at the Cape." The Falcon 9 made its first two launches last year, including a demonstration mission under a NASA program preparing for deliveries of cargo to the International Space Station. Another demonstration for NASA is planned late this year.

More Than 1,000 Shuttle Workers to Lose Jobs This Month

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 12:51:13 GMT

More than 1,000 workers at companies that worked on the space shuttle program will leave their jobs for good in August. While at least one major space shuttle contractor is laying off more employees than it projected in the lead up to last month’s final space shuttle mission, at least two — Houston-based United Space Alliance (USA) and Chicago-based Boeing — will issue fewer pink slips in August than initially predicted. The most significant attrition is at USA, NASA’s main shuttle contractor. The Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture expects to end the summer with a work force less than a third the size it was following the 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia accident. [Photos: NASA's Last Shuttle Landing] USA, which laid off 1,550 workers immediately following the final space shuttle mission’s July 21 landing at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, will lay off another 515 Aug. 12, spokeswoman Kari Fluegel told Space News Aug. 3. Most of these will come out of Houston.

NASA's new propulsion institute could save vital knowledge for tomorrow

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 12:50:57 GMT

There's an urban myth in the rocket world that today's engineers couldn't recreate the mighty Saturn V F-1 engines that took Americans to the moon if they wanted to. Critical technology has been lost, the story goes. Not exactly true, say today's propulsion experts at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville. Some techniques are no longer available, it's true, but better ones exist. "Building on the knowledge base left to us by those old-timers," Marshall's Dr. Dale Thomas said Wednesday, "we can today build a better F-1 than they did." The key to understanding Marshall's new push in propulsion is in the first phrase of that sentence: "Building on the knowledge base left to us." That's the first thing that Thomas, Marshall's associate director for technical issues, and his boss, center Director Robert Lightfoot, want to do with Marshall's planned new National Institute for Rocket Propulsion systems (NIRPS). They want to preserve today's expertise so it can be there tomorrow.

Vladimir Popovkin visiting the area where the Vostochny space center will be constructed

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 12:50:30 GMT

Russia will allocate about 250 billion rubles ($8.4 billion) to build the Vostochny space center in Far East, the head of the country's space agency Roscosmos said on Thursday. Russia currently uses two launch sites: Baikonur in Kazakhstan, which it has leased since the end of the Soviet Union, and Plesetsk in northwest Russia. So far ground infrastructure, as well as technical and launch complexes are being designed, Roscosmos chief Vladimir Popovkin said in an interview with the Kommersant daily. "About 250 billion rubles are to be allocated for the construction," he said. The Russian government earlier said it intended to spend 24.7 billion rubles (around $800 million) during the first three years of the construction of the space center, billed as a "new stage in the development of Russian cosmonautics." The construction of Vostochny is scheduled to begin this year and end in 2016, with the first rocket launch to take place in 2015 and the first manned flight due in 2018.

What's up for the astronauts?

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 12:50:14 GMT

At the National Space Symposium in Colorado Springs in April, a reporter asked former NASA Administrator Dick Truly, "What do you think about NASA’s space policy?" The three-star admiral and former astronaut, who helped lead America's space agency through the aftermath of the 1986 Challenger explosion, thought for a moment. Then he answered with bedrock sincerity, choosing his words with deliberate care: "If you can tell me what NASA’s policy is, I'll tell you what I think." The laughter was slow to fade. Lately it's been hard for NASA to make a decision and stick with it. But Admiral Truly, it's just possible that America’s stumble-along space agency has stumbled upon a pretty good plan for low Earth orbit. It's true that the retirement of the space shuttle fleet will force American astronauts to ride Russia’s Soyuz spaceships for at least the next few years. But at the same time, U.S. companies are working on space taxis that could start flying Americans to the International Space Station within four years or so.

SpaceX eyes Mars

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 12:49:52 GMT

In the notoriously tight-lipped world of commercial spaceflight, every talk by a prominent personality is a newsworthy event. During a brief speech, followed by a lengthy Q&A, Elon Musk, the enigmatic founder of US-based SpaceX, revealed new developments at the company, which is widely considered the frontrunner in the quest for manned commercial spaceflight. SpaceX has had a good year to date. It has unveiled a new version of its Falcon 9 rocket - which will launch twice the payload of the nearest competitor, at half the cost - and has already begun construction of the specialised pad required to launch it. After receiving $75 million from NASA to develop a launch abort system, the space agency gave tentative blessing to combining two flights to the International Space Station (ISS), allowing the SpaceX Dragon capsule to both approach and dock with the ISS on the same mission.

America In Space: Should Man Be There Too?

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 12:49:35 GMT

I was 10 years old on July 20, 1969, the day Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon and solemnly said: "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." The words were supposed to mark the beginning of a new era of exploration as we extended our presence beyond the confines of our home planet, not unlike what had happened here on Earth a few centuries earlier as we began to travel more freely and fully explore our own planet. Fast forward to 2011. Much has changed. We don't have a lunar base and, in fact, haven't stepped back on the Moon in almost 40 years. Manned space flight is prohibitively expensive and, of course, risky. There are also serious technological challenges. However, President Obama believes we should keep on sending humans to space, as he made clear in a speech delivered in April at NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center:

Could High-Speed Rail Take Us to Mars?

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 12:49:16 GMT

News item: the estimated cost of building California's high-speed rail system has increased, again, to at least $60 billion, perhaps as much as $80 billion, and maybe more, according to the Mercury News. This comes on top of news that ridership of the system likely will be lower than previously estimated. How much is that? Put it this way, space travel is much, much cheaper than a fast train to San Francisco. The annual budget of NASA is $18 billion. Estimates of a manned mission to Mars are between $30 and $40 billion -- half as much as California high-speed rail. Right now, I can't get to Mars. But I have a host of ways -- flying, driving, taking the bus, or taking a slow train -- of getting from my home in LA to the Bay Area. So why not take that high-speed rail money and use it instead for a state space program? Yes, space travel is notoriously expensive. But a space program would be cheaper and more likely to produce innovation and economic breakthroughs than high-speed rail.

Npoess Preparatory Project Holds To Schedule

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 14:15:27 GMT

With compatibility testing of the spacecraft bus, systems and instruments complete, all that remains before shipment of the Npoess Preparatory Project (NPP) satellite to Vandenberg AFB, Calif., for launch are some routine tasks. “All satellite testing is complete,” Ball Aerospace NPP Program Manager Scott Tennant said Aug. 8. “We are in final preparations prior to shipment.” Those preparations include testing the spacecraft’s solar arrays, which will begin next week. Ball used its BCP 2000 bus for NPP and integrated a five-instrument suite that included contributions from Raytheon, ITT and Northrop Grumman, besides Ball’s own instrument builders.

Funding hinges on clearer NASA vision, Posey warns

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 14:15:08 GMT

NASA faces an uphill battle for funding in Congress unless it clarifies vague exploration plans, U.S. Rep. Bill Posey said Tuesday. "Absent a clear mission, human spaceflight, I'm afraid, will be very vulnerable," he said. "Out of sight, out of mind." Posey, R-Rockledge, addressed an audience of about 300 at the National Space Club Florida Committee's monthly luncheon meeting at the Radisson Resort at the Port. Last month, the House Appropriations Committee approved a 2012 budget proposal that would cut NASA funding by $1.6 billion, to $16.8 billion. The budget leaves flat the funding for commercial space taxis NASA hopes will fly astronauts from the cape by the middle of the decade. Posey said he would work to restore "decimated" funding for closeout of the shuttle program that threatened jobs "we cannot afford to lose" at KSC. There are only a few dozen House members committed to the cause of human spaceflight, by Posey's reckoning, with "a whole lot more that we need to transform or convert."

Space can make Eastern Shore blast off

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 14:14:53 GMT

For 86 years the anticipated splash of 150 wild horses hitting the July surf has brought tourists in droves to Virginia's Eastern Shore to relive the excitement of the Pony Swim made famous in the classic children's book "Misty of Chincoteague." And much like the Saltwater Cowboys who herd Misty's descendants across the channel to Chincoteague Island, it could well be Space Cowboys on nearby Wallops Island who ride a new wave of tourism revenue to this rural peninsula. Just as NASA's space shuttle program is relegated to the history books, the stars are aligning to turn the NASA Wallops Flight Facility with the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport into a successful incubator for commercial spaceflight. A key factor is Orbital Sciences Corp. stepping in for the shuttle and utilizing the Eastern Shore launch site to supply the International Space Station.

Sun unleashes the largest solar flare in years

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 14:14:37 GMT

An extremely powerful solar flare, the largest in more than four years, rocked the sun early Tuesday, but is unlikely to wreak any serious havoc here on Earth, scientists say. "It was a big flare," said Joe Kunches, a space scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)'s Space Weather Prediction Center. "We lucked out because the site of the eruption at the sun was not facing the Earth, so we will probably feel no ill effects." Today's solar flare began at 3:48 a.m. EDT, and was rated a class X6.9 on the three-class scale scientists use to measure the strength of solar flares. The strongest type of solar eruption is class X, while class C represents the weakest and class M flares are medium-strength events.

Russian space science blooms again

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 14:14:18 GMT

A three-decade-long drought came to an end on July 18 when a Zenit rocket launched a Russian radio telescope into orbit. Not since the Soviet Union's economic and political fall have Russian space scientists been able to develop and launch such a cutting edge piece of research instrumentation as the Spektre R telescope. A product of the Lebedev Physical Institute, with additional funding from the Kremlin, the Spektre R is now the largest telescope in space. It is perhaps the most beautiful as well, with a flower-like design of 27 gold-colored petals that opened up perfectly soon after launch. The main scientific goal of the five-year mission is the study of the deepest and most mysterious reaches of our universe, including the origins of black holes, the structure of galaxies, star formations and the boundaries of interstellar space.

Next Hypersonic Technology Vehicle to Launch

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 14:13:54 GMT

The U.S. Air Force confirms it will attempt the second flight of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 (HTV-2) from Space Launch Complex 8 at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., on Aug. 10 at 7 a.m. The Lockheed Martin-built hypersonic glider will be boosted by a Minotaur IV with the aim of flying 4,100 nm across the Pacific in 30 min., to splash down off Kwajalein Atoll. The HTV-2 is designed to demonstrate the high lift-to-drag aerodynamics and high-temperature materials needed for sustained hypersonic flight, with the goal of validating technology for a vehicle able to reach anywhere in the world in 60 min.

China poised to launch first satellite for Pakistan

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 14:13:35 GMT

For the first time, China will be launching a communication satellite for close ally Pakistan, a move that will mark "a new beginning" in bilateral space collaboration. The satellite named PAKSAT-1R will be launched at an "appropriate time" in the coming days, state-run Xinhua news agency quoted an unnamed official as saying. The satellite, which was made in China, would provide a variety of benefits, including high-power communication and weather monitoring facilities, besides strategic defence applications. Both the satellite and rocket are currently in good condition, the official said. The satellite would be launched from Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in southwest Sichuan Province by China's space work horse, the Long March-3B carrier rocket, he said. The new satellite was expected to replace PAKSAT-1, which was acquired by Pakistan in 2002 from the US-based Hughes Space and Communications Company after Indonesia had given it up due to power problems.

NASA IG Sizes Up Aging Infrastructure

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 14:13:17 GMT

NASA Inspector General Paul K. Martin reports significant lapses in the agency’s Real Property Management System (RPMS), an internal database that tracks the agency’s significant and far-flung assets — an estimated 5,000 buildings and structures, including laboratories, launch pads and test stands. In total, these properties carry an impressive current replacement value of $26.4 billion — at a time NASA and the agency’s legislative backers are in search of the financial means to fund future human as well as robotic exploration initiatives. As Martin notes in an Aug. 4 report, “NASA Infrastructure and Facilities: Assessment of Data Used to Manage Real Property Assets,” 80% of these structures are at least 40 years old and in degraded condition. NASA’s “aging issue” is peaking at a time when large and growing federal budget deficits are straining resources, especially for discretionary agencies like NASA, the report states.

Surviving Mars rover nears crater

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 14:56:52 GMT

Months after the death of the Mars rover Spirit, its surviving twin is poised to reach the rim of a vast crater to begin a fresh round of exploration. Driving commands sent up to Opportunity directed the six-wheel rover to make the final push toward Endeavour crater, a 14-mile (22-kilometer)-wide depression near the Martian equator that likely could be its final destination. At its current pace and barring any hiccups, Opportunity should roll up to the crater's edge on Tuesday. The finish line was a spot along a ridge that the rover team nicknamed "Spirit Point" in honor of Opportunity's lost twin. "I'm totally pumped. We've been driving for so long," said Ray Arvidson of Washington University in St. Louis who is part of the team. The milestone injects a sense of adventure back into a mission that wowed the public with color portraits of the landscape and the unmistakable geologic discoveries of a warm and wetter past.

Space junk could be tackled by housekeeping spacecraft

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 14:56:44 GMT

Scientists have proposed a viable solution to the growing problem of space junk. The idea involves launching a satellite to rendezvous with the largest space debris, such as spent rocket bodies. The satellite would then affix a propellant kit, driving the debris to its doom in the Earth's atmosphere. The authors claim the scheme, in the journal Acta Astronautica, could inexpensively remove five to 10 such objects per year of operation. The scope of the problem is enormous; more than 17,000 objects of a size greater than 10cm reside in low-Earth orbit. But the greater problem on the horizon is that each of the largest of these represents the potential to create thousands more.

Potential Mars Water 'A Big Deal,' Scientists Say

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 14:56:36 GMT

Claims of water on Mars have been made before, but a new discovery of potential liquid water on the Red Planet's surface last week is still making waves in the science world. What differentiates the new find from previous discoveries is the fact that it's the strongest evidence yet for liquid water, as opposed to ice, and it's on the Martian surface, as opposed to miles underground where it would be difficult to verify its presence. The research is based on observations by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which observed seasonal changes in slopes carved into the planet's surface that appear most likely to have been formed by flowing salty, briny water. "In the last 15 years, we've certainly discovered that Mars has water," said one of the researchers, geophysicist Philip Christensen of Arizona State University in Tempe, during an Aug. 4 news conference announcing the find. "Much of that water is frozen. What makes these new observations so interesting is that they occur at much lower latitudes where temperatures are much warmer and where it's actually possible for liquid water to exist."

Space-Time Moving Propulsion, 3-D Printer and More: NASA to Revolutionize Future Space Exploration

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 14:56:26 GMT

When NASA's ambitious long-term research bears fruit, a few ground-breaking technologies could emerge, taking space exploration to altogether different league. The space agency has announced a funding program, the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC), to develop innovative, creative technologies for space exploration in future. Consider the following: Creation of a propulsion technology that could move space-time rather than a spaceship, in an effort to move out of the rocket-driven spacecraft design and possibly breach the light-speed barrier. Developing the 3-D printer technology, using which parts of spacecraft and space stations can be built in space layer by layer, using feedstock of metal, plastic or other materials.Developing systems for an interstellar human voyage, enabling humans to make viable long-haul space treks within a hundred years. The creation of technologies for clearing the space debris fast and safe. For example, some technology to drive pieces of space junk out of zones around Earth.

Space Station to Fall to Earth—Find Out How and Where

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 14:56:18 GMT

Earlier this month Russia's space agency Roscosmos caused an inadvertent media frenzy when deputy head Vitaly Davydov stated in a video that the International Space Station (ISS) would sink into the Pacific Ocean in 2020. But NASA officials say the statement about the roughly $150-billion, 15-nation partnership was premature. Officially NASA, Roscosmos, and partners in Japan, Europe, and Canada have agreed to keep the station operational until at least 2020, but "that's only half the story," said NASA spokesperson Joshua Buck. "The international partners have been discussing extending the mission through 2028. At this point, there's no reason we wouldn't do that." Still, at some point the mission will end, and the orbiting laboratory will be directed to plunge toward Earth. The station can't simply be left in orbit, or it will eventually fall from the skies on its own, raining debris over a wide swath of the planet and possibly endangering people on the ground. So what exactly will happen when we no longer need the biggest artificial space object in history?

A new 'Cosmos' will be on TV

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 14:56:10 GMT

Three decades after Carl Sagan's original "Cosmos," a new version is heading for the Fox TV network in 2013 ... with some fresh surprises in the mix. One of the biggest surprises apparently has to do with the guy who helped get the series green-lighted by Fox: Seth MacFarlane, the creator of "Family Guy," a Fox cartoon sitcom that The New York Times calls, ahem, "bawdy and irreverent." But it shouldn't be all that surprising. "Family Guy" has been known to poke fun at scientists as well as the scientifically challenged, and because he was born in 1973, MacFarlane was at the perfect age to start drinking in Sagan's wisdom when the original "Cosmos" appeared in 1980. The astrophysicist following in Sagan's footsteps for the new 13-episode series will be Neil deGrasse Tyson, who is director of New York's Hayden Planetarium as well as a seasoned author and TV host. Tyson said he and MacFarlane discussed the idea of re-energizing "Cosmos" as a follow-up to a Science and Entertainment Exchange session they both attended.

Ariane Leaves Troubles Behind With Good Launch

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 17:41:20 GMT

Loaded with European and Japanese television broadcasting satellites, an Ariane 5 rocket blasted off in a ball of fire Saturday from the South American jungle and successfully deployed both payloads less than an hour later. Arianespace, the French company overseeing the launch, postponed the mission from July 1 to replace a hydrogen valve in the rocket's first stage. An anomaly with the valve scrubbed the flight's first launch attempt. The 11,750-pound ASTRA 1N spacecraft, a satellite for European operator SES ASTRA, separated first about 27 minutes after liftoff. The Ariane 5 rocket's upper stage deployed Japan's 6,415-pound BSAT 3c/JCSAT 110R satellite 38 minutes into the flight. Arianespace's next launch is set for early September with the Arabsat 5C and SES 2 commercial communications satellites.

New NASA Moon Rocket Could Cost $38 Billion

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 17:41:08 GMT

he rocket and capsule that NASA is proposing to return astronauts to the moon would fly just twice in the next 10 years and cost as much as $38 billion, according to internal NASA documents obtained by the Orlando Sentinel. The money would pay for a new heavy-lift rocket and Apollo-like crew capsule that eventually could take astronauts to the moon and beyond. But it would not be enough to pay for a lunar landing -- or for more than one manned test flight, in 2021. That timeline and price tag could pose serious problems for supporters of the new spacecraft, which is being built from recycled parts of the shuttle and the now-defunct Constellation moon program. It effectively means that it will take the U.S. manned-space program more than 50 years -- if ever -- to duplicate its 1969 landing on the moon. That is certain to infuriate NASA supporters in Congress, who last year ordered NASA to build a new heavy-lift rocket by December 2016 -- a deadline the agency says it can't meet. And it may well convince others there's no good reason not to slash NASA's budget as part of a recent deal to cut federal spending by at least $2.1 trillion over 10 years.

NASA Budget Is Seeing Stars

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 17:40:42 GMT

THE LAST SHUTTLE has landed. Soon, without space shuttles to perform repairs, the Hubble Space Telescope will break down and plummet into the ocean. We have long advocated a rethinking of NASA's role. Manned spaceflight is costly even in times of surplus, and for a fraction of the cost it is possible to do a great deal of fascinating science. Now, with the last shuttle retiring, NASA has an opportunity to shift its priorities to do more for less. This is why it is so disheartening that a House Appropriations subcommittee has moved to kill the James Webb Space Telescope -- Hubble's successor. It is always difficult to put a price on the future. But this small cost saving would have a much larger cost in terms of the United States' role in astrophysics. We should remain open to ways to make the telescope better -- perhaps asking less of it so we can launch it sooner. But to jettison it now, when so much depends on it and we have nothing to take its place, would be shortsighted -- as shortsighted as we will be without it.

More Than 1,000 Shuttle Workers To Lose Jobs This Month, Including 800 From USA

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 17:40:28 GMT

NASA Wants Gas Stations In Space

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 17:39:58 GMT

prove a vital necessity. Toward that end, NASA has awarded contracts to four companies with plans to study how to store and transfer fuel in space. "Storing cryogenic propellants such as liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen in space for long periods of time with minimal boil-off is critical for deep space human exploration," according to a NASA statement. NASA's Exploration Technology Development Program awarded a total of $2.4 million to Analytical Mechanics Associates Inc. of Hampton, Va., Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation of Boulder, Colo., The Boeing Company of Huntington Beach, Calif., and Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company in Littleton, Colo., for the project. "Each company will provide a final report to help define a mission concept to demonstrate the cryogenic fluid management technologies, capabilities and infrastructure required for sustainable, affordable human presence in space," said the NASA statement. Toward a similar goal, NASA launched an experiment called the Robotic Refueling Mission to the International Space Station on the shuttle Atlantis in July. The project, installed on the station's exterior during a spacewalk, allows the laboratory's Dextre robot to test space refueling techniques on a satellite mockup.

China Modifies Long March 2F For Docking

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 17:39:46 GMT

Chinese space launcher builder CALT has made 170 modifications to the Long March 2F rocket that will loft the Tiangong 1 docking target, says national space conglomerate CASC. Long March 2F is the CALT launcher designed to the high safety standards of human transportation. Tiangong 1 will not carry crew during launch, however, nor even when it serves as a target for the Shenzhou 8 spacecraft, which also will be unmanned. If the two successfully demonstrate China's docking technology, then the next mission, Shenzhou 9, will have astronauts aboard. Tiangong 1's Long March 2F has arrived at the Jiuquan launch center in the northwestern province of Gansu. CASC says the launch is due this year, but no specific date has been given. Now, more than ever, the mission managers will not want to be tied down to an announced target date. The deadly collision of two fast trains last month is likely to create added pressure on all involved in the mission to avoid failure. Chinese society has been in an uproar over the train crash, partly because, thanks to government propaganda, the high-speed rail system has become an extraordinarily high-profile project. In effect, the propaganda boomeranged on the government. Far more than ground transportation, the national space program is used to feed the propaganda system, so any failure would heighten official embarrassment.

Japan Charts Path For Manned Space Missions

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 17:39:33 GMT

First, deliver things to the International Space Station. Second, deliver things and bring things back. Finally, send people up and bring them back. That, in a nutshell, is the sequence that the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) wants to follow as it takes the first step, launching the HTV Kounotori cargo craft, and sets out its plans for the next two. With an eye on flying a manned space mission in 2025, JAXA engineers are working on a capsule as big as SpaceX's Dragon in their nascent program for an Earth-return cargo spacecraft. Designers have rejected their alternative concept for an Earth-return cargo capsule--a smaller one that would have fitted into the unpressurized cargo bay of the Kounotori spacecraft. Development is not yet funded, however, and the manned missions are even further from being approved by Japan's Space Activities Committee. "Before the [March 11] earthquake, we drew up a schedule with a first flight in fiscal 2017," that is, by March 31, 2018, says program manager Yusuke Suzuki. "If we can now get such a budget, we can do it by 2017." Suzuki declines to disclose the estimate of the HTV-R program cost, saying it should be given to the government first. The mission for the HRV would be to work with the ISS. Since the space station is due to be decommissioned in 2020, it is clear that much delay will reduce or eliminate JAXA's opportunity to fly operational missions with the return capsule. Developing the heat-shield material and manufacturing it in large, precise pieces will be a big step for Japan. The U.S. will give Japan small amounts of material for laboratory use but cannot be expected to supply usable volumes of the strategically sensitive product, so Japan will develop the heat shield for the HRV, says Suzuki.

India Shuttles With Idea Of Re-Usable Launch Vehicle

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 17:39:01 GMT

A technology demonstration of re-usable launch vehicle, which is critical for India's human space flight programme, is likely to be done by year-end. But India's wait to master the technology will be a long one. For, 30 years since the US championed re-usable vehicle technology through its "space shuttle," India, one of the leading countries in space technology, is yet to test a proper technology demonstrator of re-usable vehicle. Although India is making advances in this technology through Isro's ground work, the challenges faced, especially due to a lack of specific funding for the project, would mean that it will a long time for us to boast of such a technology. He did not commit on the space agency's stand on the issue. The re-useable technology, along with a "fool-proof" GSLV launch vehicle will prove critical for the country's ambitious "human space flight" programme, which has got a clearance with Rs 145-crore earmarked for it. Such a project cannot be executed indigenously without this technology, as it is essential to have a vehicle that can bring the cosmonauts back, just like the US space shuttle did.

Emerging Technologies Add Noise To Telescope Race

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 17:38:48 GMT

As South Africa and Australia jostle to win the right to build the world's largest radio telescope, pollution produced by emerging communication and mining technologies potentially threatens both bids. The multi-billion dollar Square kilometre array (SKA) radio telescope will be approximately 50 times larger than the world's largest radio telescope, and will allow astronomers to see 10 times further than before. "The biggest challenge for the SKA will be interference, which will tend to be dominated by locally-generated interference," said astrophysicist Ray Norris from CSIRO. "This comes from FM transmitters, mobile phones, not to mention things like generators in farms." Consequently, both the Australian and South African teams are racing to tighten the protection afforded to them by their respective governments. A recent report from the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has enhanced the radio quiet protections around the region proposed in the Australian-New Zealand bid to host the SKA. Similarly, physicist Adrian Tiplady from the South African SKA group appears confident in their legislative protection. "South Africa has in place the Astronomy Geographic Advantage Act, which is aimed at protecting the SKA, and other radio astronomy projects, from potential sources of detrimental interference."

Britain's Prince Harry 'Obsessed With Space': Wants To Be A NASA Astronaut

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 17:38:32 GMT

Prince Harry wants to be a NASA astronaut? A recent report from The Sun suggests that Prince Harry of the British Royal family wants to go to space and even wants to enter NASA training. He has already asked Sir Richard Branson's son for a seat on one of the Virgin Galactic sub-orbital flights. He hopes to become an honorary member of the elite U.S. space programme after returning from Afghanistan next year. "It's his dream to be the first Royal in space," a Royal source told The Sun. Harry is a Trekkie and has a craving desire to get into space. "His service with the Army Air Corps has been exemplary, which puts him in good stead. There's no chance of him walking on the Moon, but he wants to train with NASA - and is determined to get on a Virgin Galactic flight," sources report.

Juno Probe Heads For Jupiter From Cape Canaveral

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 17:53:50 GMT

The Juno spacecraft will cruise beyond Mars to put itself in orbit around the gas giant in 2016. It is the first solar-powered mission to venture this far from the Sun. The mission launched atop an Atlas 5 rocket from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Friday at 12:25 local time (16:25 GMT; 17:25 BST), after a brief delay caused by a helium leak. Juno's mission is to probe the secrets of the Solar System by explaining the origin and evolution of its biggest planet. The spacecraft's remote sensing instruments will look down into the giant through the many layers and measure their composition, temperature, motion and other properties. This should yield some remarkable new insights into the coloured bands that wrap around the planet, and a new perspective on the famous Great Red Spot - the colossal storm that has raged on Jupiter for hundreds of years. Juno is the second in Nasa's so called New Frontiers class missions. The first, New Horizons, was launched towards dwarf planet Pluto in 2006 and should arrive at its target in 2015.

Compelling New Evidence For Flowing Water On Mars

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 17:53:37 GMT

American fecklessness was on painful display for much of the past week as the Washington debt-ceiling standoff revealed us to the world at our peevish worst. What was sorely needed was some reminder of what the U.S. is capable of at our enterprising best -- and this afternoon NASA provided it. New images beamed back by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), which has been circling the Red Planet since 2006, have produced the first compelling evidence of flowing, salty water on the Martian surface. Water may mean biology -- and biology, of course, would mean Martians. The MRO appears to have changed that. In a paper published this week in the journal Science and announced at a press conference at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, mission scientists revealed the appearance of seasonal streaks at key points on the Martian surface, looking for all the world like the tracks of water rivulets running down-slope, collecting at the base of the incline and then evaporating back into the atmosphere. The Curiosity rover, a Mars car about the size of an SUV, will launch in November as well, but NASA cautions that it won't be able to investigate the sites up close. Its planned landing site is too far from where the streaks have been seen and it was not built to navigate the steep, 35-degree slopes where the rivulets are forming. There is one other reason -- known as a "planetary protection concern" -- that even a properly designed, perfectly targeted Curiosity would not be allowed to set so much as a wheel near the newly discovered sites. The rover has not been fully sterilized in a way that would ensure no Earthly bugs could commingle with or contaminate Martian organisms, and it can't be redesigned now in a way that would even make such a biological scrubbing possible.

NASA Gets Starry-Eyed Over Boeing Offer

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 17:53:23 GMT

NASA's post-shuttle era got a symbolic boost Thursday with the aerospace giant Boeing Co.'s announcement that it will partner its seven-seat crew capsule with the super reliable Atlas V rocket in hopes of carrying astronauts to the orbiting space station by the end of 2015. The ambitious timetable is entirely contingent on NASA's budget, but it raised the possibility that the U.S. may be able to reduce a projected five-year gap in manned space flights following the shuttle's retirement last month -- and ease reliance on Russia to ferry U.S. astronauts and cargo to the $100 billion space laboratory. The officials outlined three tests designed to enable two Boeing test pilots to fly into orbit to the space station in the final three months of 2015. The tests include a launch pad test, an Atlas V going into orbit and a rocket ascent with an abort by the crew capsule.

Is This The End Of Boeing And Lockheed (In Space)?

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 17:53:12 GMT

On Thursday, July 21, 2011, at 5:57 a.m., America's last space shuttle landed safely at Kennedy Space Center, bringing to an end America's manned odyssey in space. 542 million miles traveled, 355 astronauts served, 1,333 days spent in space -- over and out. But what comes next? For decades now, Boeing and Lockheed have ... developed heavy launch rockets to loft spacecraft into earth orbit and beyond. Delta IV, Atlas V -- United Launch Alliance's rockets are famed for their ability to lift multi-ton payloads into space. Recognizing this, companies like Orbital Sciences (NYS:ORB) think that their best chance of breaking into this industry is by targeting a gap in "medium launch" rockets. Indeed, Orbital's "Taurus II" rocket is targeted at just this market niche. With NASA budgets due for a trim, PayPal founder Elon Musk believes SpaceX can beat ULA at its own game by competing on both quality ... and cost. As I said earlier this year, I'm excited at the prospect of investing in an honest-to-goodness profitable IPO like SpaceX -- but I have to wonder if Boeing and Lockheed will be as pleased at this development. I mean, if they're abandoning the medium lift market to Orbital, you have to figure that's because it's not as profitable for them as the businesses they're remaining in. And if ULA is picking up launch fees two to three times what SpaceX says it will charge for Falcon Heavy, you have to figure heavy satellite launches are profitable indeed. Now, SpaceX is threatening to take that business away from them. Within less than two years, a business that just lost a major customer in the shuttle program could begin shrinking even further. You see, it doesn't really matter whether SpaceX wins contracts away from Boeing and Lockheed outright, or if it simply forces their prices down by offering lower-cost launches. Either way, ULA loses revenues, and Boeing and Lockheed see their profit margins shrink.

Commercial Manned Space Flight Coming To Virginia

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 17:53:00 GMT

NASA's Wallops Flight Facility held a public meeting on Wednesday to seek input from local residents on several new projects under development at the Virginia spaceport, including the introduction of manned space flight from Wallops Island. "NASA is seeking public input in the preparation of an environmental study that will assess land use changes at its Wallops Flight Facility required to support current and potential future programs and missions supporting space programs with national importance and priority," the agency said in a statement on Friday. NASA is evaluating the potential environmental impacts from a range of reasonable alternatives to continue growth at Wallops while also preserving the ability to safely conduct its operations. Currently under consideration are two alternatives: [ed. Article goes on to describe the two alternatives.]

Satellites In The Developing World

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 17:52:47 GMT

Within 24 hours of the catastrophic 2010 earthquake near Port-au-Prince, Haiti, space agencies and companies around the world tasked satellites with providing free images of the earthquake's aftermath. Experts quickly analyzed and interpreted images taken from space, mapping out essential information for rescue workers on the ground: areas with many damaged buildings, roads likely closed by debris. In a paper published recently in the journal Acta Astronautica, Danielle Wood, a PhD candidate in MIT's Engineering Systems Division, and Annalisa Weigel, assistant professor of aeronautics and astronautics and engineering systems at MIT, examine countries including Nigeria, Malaysia and Thailand where nascent satellite programs have cropped up, thanks to a relatively recent philosophical change within the space industry. "These countries are not just getting a new technology toy," Wood says. "They're also creating a new, first generation of experts that can help inform the country's use of space technology to address local challenges."

Boeing Selects Atlas V Rocket For Initial Commercial Crew Launches

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 16:48:40 GMT

The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] today announced it has selected the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket to launch the Boeing Crew Space Transportation (CST)-100 spacecraft from Florida's Space Coast. "This selection marks a major step forward in Boeing's efforts to provide NASA with a proven launch capability as part of our complete commercial crew transportation service," said John Elbon, vice president and program manager of Commercial Crew Programs and the source selection official for Boeing. If NASA selects Boeing for a development contract with sufficient funding, ULA will provide launch services for an autonomous orbital flight, a transonic autonomous abort test launch, and a crewed launch, all in 2015.

New Propulsion Center Would Put Huntsville At Center Of National Push

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 16:48:27 GMT

It's called NIRPS, and Huntsville aerospace leaders hope it becomes the next big thing in the city's rocket history. NIRPS, which stands for the National Institute for Rocket Propulsion Systems, is a new center being created by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. The institute's first mission will be preserving America's existing propulsion capabilities, Marshall officials said. "The institute is being formed in response to widely acknowledged concern regarding the U.S. propulsion industry base," a Marshall statement said. "Erosion of this capability has been cited in numerous trade and independent studies. U.S. leadership in rocket and missile propulsion is threatened by long-term industry downswing, a shortage of new solid and liquid propulsion programs, ability to attract and retain fresh talent, and pressure on discretionary federal budgets expected to continue for at least a decade." The institute will take a three-pronged approach to meet the challenge. First, it will monitor and analyze the state of the industry to develop national policy options and strategies. Second, it will identify technology needs. Third, it will serve as a "solutions facilitator" for industry and government rocket builders, not only here but for foreign space partners.

Sandy Adams Proposes Hubzones For Space Coast

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 16:48:14 GMT

With the Obama administration pulling the plug on the space shuttle program, Florida Republican Congresswoman Sandy Adams is hoping to keep NASA workers on the Space Coast. Adams, a freshman who represents parts of Brevard, Orange, Seminole and Volusia counties, introduced legislation Wednesday which she labeled the Shuttle Workforce Revitalization Act of 2011. It's a bill to keep NASA workers in the area by launching a "historically underutilized business zone" (HUBZone) in Brevard County. Businesses that qualify under the HUBZone program must have Americans as the majority owners and be based and have 35 percent of their employees living in the designated HUBZone. Under the initial act setting up the zones, federal agencies can send more than 3 percent of their budget through prime contracts to small businesses based in HUBZones.

ATK Lays Off 100 In Sixth Cut In Utah Over Two Years

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 16:48:04 GMT

ATK Aerospace Systems told employees in June it would conduct another round of layoffs in its aerospace systems group. On Wednesday it followed through, cutting 100 in the wake of NASA's shutdown of the U.S. space shuttle program. ATK spokeswoman Trina Patterson said that among the number, 28 were volunteers and five were transferred to other divisions. "The reductions were primarily in Utah but also affected our Alabama and Florida locations," she said in an emailed statement. The company, which made the twin solid-fuel booster motors used to propel the shuttle into low-Earth orbit, now has conducted its sixth round of layoffs in the company's aerospace systems group in the past two years.

Retired General: Mil Space Investment Needed

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 16:47:52 GMT

Former U.S. Air Force Space and Missiles Systems Center (SMC) Commander Gen. Tom Sheridan warns that new investment is needed now to guarantee U.S. military access to space later this decade and beyond. "We need to be able to get to space, and we never want to give that capability up," says Sheridan, who retired on Aug. 1 after a 36-year Air Force career. Speaking at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Joint Propulsion Conference here, Sheridan says key priorities should be the development of successors to the RD-180 first-stage and RL10 upper-stage engines. Sheridan also believes that the Air Force and NASA, both of which require a new-generation, first-stage hydrocarbon engine, should work more closely to combine research and development efforts. "We should put NASA in charge of some pieces and put the Air Force in charge of some pieces, not unlike what we did with the Titan program 40 to 50 years ago," he suggests. Despite continual development and thrust growth, "the RL-10 design is over 50 years old, and it's working at its performance limits," he says. Although the Air Force's current work with Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne and United Launch Alliance to develop RL10C derivatives from ex-Delta inventory is a "good first step," Sheridan says this only provides a stopgap answer. "It can only solve the upper-stage situation for a few years. By 2018, a new solution is required. Now is the time to start that investment."

DigitalGlobe Doubles Down On Government Business

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 16:47:39 GMT

Earth imagery and services provider DigitalGlobe on Aug. 2 said it is refocusing its sales efforts to concentrate on growing its government customer base, which is already more than 80 percent of its business, and will spend correspondingly less time on the commercial sector. In a conference call with investors and a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, DigitalGlobe said its biggest customer, the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) on July 25 triggered the second year of a 10-year program that is expected to provide DigitalGlobe with some $3.55 billion assuming all options are exercised. DigitalGlobe competitor GeoEye of Dulles, Va., has a similar 10-year contract with NGA under the EnhancedView program.

GeoEye Bullish On Growth Prospects, Mum On Takeover Rumor

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 16:47:26 GMT

Earth observation imagery and services provider GeoEye on Aug. 2 reiterated its forecast of a double-digit revenue increase for 2011 despite slower-than-expected business from the U.S. government caused by a protracted budget debate and by the company's still-evolving adoption of new government-imposed performance metrics. In a conference call with investors, Dulles, Va.-based GeoEye refused to comment on a Wall Street rumor that the company has hired an investment bank to prepare for possible takeover bids by one or more suitors. The rumors caused a 17 percent jump in GeoEye stock July 26. Under a 10-year deal with NGA that began in September, GeoEye is guaranteed up to $3.8 billion in revenue from NGA. NGA is also paying up to $337 million for the cost of the GeoEye-2 satellite, which GeoEye officials say will cost between $800 million and $850 million including launch and insurance.

Europe Could Downsize Mars 2016 Mission

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 16:47:11 GMT

The European Space Agency (ESA) is considering a plan to scale back or eliminate the entry, descent and landing element of a robotic science mission to Mars in 2016, a cost-saving measure that could bolster a more ambitious joint U.S.-European rover mission to the red planet two years later. Alvaro Gimenez, ESA's director of science and robotic exploration, says Europe could save about €120 million ($174 million) if the 19-member space agency immediately abandons development of its ExoMars Entry, Descent and Landing Module (EDL), a testbed designed to demonstrate Europe's mastery of lander technology. Slated to launch in 2016, EDL is designed to be carried aboard a telecommunications satellite equipped with a methane-sniffing trace-gas sensor and a data relay capability indispensible to a subsequent ExoMars mission planned for 2018. Of the €345 million in industrial costs ESA has budgeted for the 2016 ExoMars mission, "about €120 million could be saved" if the agency opts to scrap the 600-kg (1323-lb.) EDL tech demo, Gimenez says, though the decision to do so would need to be reached soon.

E Pluribus Lunum: Did Earth Once Have Two Moons?

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 16:46:58 GMT

For tens of millions of years--a mere sliver of astronomical time--the night sky above Earth may have been a bit more populous than it is today. For that brief period, our planet may have had not one but two moons, which soon collided and merged into our familiar lunar companion. No one would have been around to see the second moon--the lunar merger would have occurred nearly 4.5 billion years ago, shortly after Earth had formed. The two-moon hypothesis, put forth in a study in the August 4 issue of Nature, would help explain why the moon's two hemispheres are so different today. The familiar hemisphere facing Earth is covered by low, lava-filled plains (seen as the darker gray areas on the moon's "face"), whereas the far side, which is never visible from Earth, is a collection of rugged, mountainous highlands. Those highlands, according to the new hypothesis, would be the remains of the smaller, short-lived satellite following its collision with the moon that now hangs overhead. The key is that the moonlet's impact would be slow enough to pancake its material across one face of the moon rather than excavating a large crater.

Spacewalkers To Prepare ISS For Russian Lab

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 16:56:37 GMT

Cosmonauts Sergei Volkov and Alexander Samokutyaev will team outside the Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS) on Aug. 3 for a scheduled 6-hr. spacewalk that will prepare the 10-year-old Pirs docking compartment for a future departure to free docking space for a new Multipurpose Laboratory Module. The extravehicular activity (EVA), which is scheduled to get under way at 10:30 a.m. EDT, will include a range of activities with external Russian experiments as well as the deployment of Arissat-1, a 57-lb. educational satellite that commemorates the 50th anniversary of the first human spaceflight -- Yuri Gagarin's single orbit of the Earth on April 12, 1961. The cosmonauts also will install a laser transmitter for the high-speed transmission of Russian science data and Biorisk, an experiment that assesses the effects of the space environment on bacteria and fungi.

NASA Oversight Of CCDev-2 Partners Reveals Progress Milestones

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 16:56:05 GMT

NASA's key Commercial Crew Development (CCDev-2) drive appears to be progressing to plan, as four companies press on with the development of their manned vehicles, with an aim to transport crews to the International Space Station (ISS) by the middle of this decade -- aided by Agency money, whilst allowing for the key oversight from NASA. Right now, NASA are providing funds via awards, ranging from $22m to $93m, to the four successful CCDEV-2 companies, as outlined at the start of an expansive and unreleased NASA CCDev-2 presentation, acquired by [NASA Spaceflight]. [ed. The remainder of the article contains updates on the progress of the four CCDev-2 award recipients.]

SpaceX Settles Lawsuit Against Safety Consultant

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 16:55:33 GMT

Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) has agreed to settle a $1 million defamation lawsuit against an aerospace safety consultant the Hawthorne, Calif.-based company accused in June of spreading a rumor that the Falcon 9 rocket experienced a major anomaly during its most recent flight. "Since SpaceX filed its lawsuit ... the Parties have been working collaboratively to resolve the matter. Regarding the underlying facts, Dr. [Joseph] Fragola investigated a rumor regarding the performance of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle during its most recent launch. Through email communications with both NASA and SpaceX on June 8, 2011, Dr. Fragola confirmed that the rumor was false in that no Falcon 9 engines failed and the first stage did not explode," SpaceX and Valador said in a joint statement. "There was independent NASA tracking and video of the flight, and subsequent debriefing with NASA, indicating no such failure, indicating no such failures or explosions.

Exploring Space With Chip-Sized Satellites

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 16:55:07 GMT

Gravity may be woven into the very fabric of space-time, but some objects seem nearly immune to its pull. Scale something down to the size of a dust particle and you'll find it can stay aloft almost indefinitely, dancing in midair on thermal currents. With matter that size, the force of air striking the surface of the particle outmatches gravity's effect on its tiny mass. This behavior is more than just a curiosity: It could have profound implications for space exploration. Spacecraft have been getting bigger and bigger for decades, ballooning in size to carry ever more impressive equipment, from the Herschel Space Observatory's 3.5-meter telescope to the Cassini probe's 11-meter magnetometer boom. But if we can reverse that trend and instead build the tiniest spacecraft possible, we can create entirely new ways to study the solar system and beyond. Miniaturization will inevitably mean limitation--less power, fewer instruments, and reduced ability to store and broadcast data. But dust-mote-size spacecraft could do things that no current space probe can do: coast without a parachute onto the plains of Mars or float for weeks in the soupy atmosphere of Titan. They could be mass-produced and launched by the thousands to form vast space-based networks of sensors. And if the probes could be made thin and lightweight enough, alternative forms of propulsion could eventually send them to distant worlds, without the need for rocket fuel.

Colorado In The Forefront Of The Future Of Space Travel

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 16:36:17 GMT

Colorado appears poised to become the center of the human-spaceflight universe, with one foot planted in deep space and the other in low-Earth orbit. With the space shuttle program ending and worries about U.S. space leadership growing, there seems to be no gap in the state's space enterprise. Companies based in Colorado are pushing ahead with development of spacecraft to take Earthlings to Mars, asteroids and other far-flung places, and of vehicles with closer-to-home destinations, such as the international space station. "A new era is at hand," said Elliot Pulham, chief executive of the Space Foundation in Colorado Springs, "where more organizations, more nations and more people are involved in the business of space." Sierra Nevada and Blue Origin of Washington state have chosen Atlas V as the rocket for their spacecraft. Boeing is considering Atlas V. "We want it to be safe," said George Sowers, United Launch Alliance's vice president of business development. "We will be looking at how the vehicle was designed, how it was tested, how much of a margin there is, processes to build it and how rigorous are those." Sowers said Atlas V could be cleared for human missions by 2014. If approved, the commercial work could swell United Launch Alliance's 3,900-person workforce by hundreds to thousands, he said.

MDA Sales Remain Strong Even As Key Initiatives Stumble

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 16:35:57 GMT

Space hardware and services provider MDA Corp. of Canada reported double-digit increases in revenue and operating profit for the six months ending June 30 but said flagship programs in Earth observation and telecommunications are encountering delays. The company for the first time expressed doubt about whether its pioneering effort with partner Intelsat General Corp. of Washington to refuel satellites in orbit would be able to close its business case given the tepid reception it has received from the U.S. government. Richmond, British Columbia-based MDA said it had set aside, for now, an effort to make a billion-dollar acquisition in the United States to give its space business improved access to the U.S. government market because no suitable matches could be found. MDA Chief Executive Daniel E. Friedmann said that even if a U.S. target materialized, it would not be easy for MDA to conclude a deal given the uncertainties about future U.S. government spending. Friedmann said the problem has nothing to do with the retirement of the U.S. space shuttle, for which the company has been preparing for years. The issue, he said, is that there is no work for the robotics team without a Canadian government strategy on how to proceed, and without a commercial business that could take up the slack. MDA thought it had found such a program in early 2011 with the announcement, with Intelsat General, of the Space Infrastructure Services satellite refueling project. Intelsat had agreed to be the anchor customer for the venture, committing up to $280 million for the mission's first series of operations as early as 2015 to refuel several Intelsat spacecraft. But the hoped-for interest from the U.S. government, particularly the Defense Department, has not materialized, Friedmann said. The commercial market remains a possibility, but without a firm government customer, the program may never get off the ground. Intelsat General and MDA have responded to a NASA solicitation for projects that include in-orbit servicing, but it remains unclear whether MDA, as a Canadian company, will be allowed to bid for the work. "You had to be a U.S. company to bid for the NASA proposal," Friedmann said. "We bid from our U.S. [subsidiary] company. We bid with a U.S. partner. We bid with all-U.S. content. We obeyed every rule. We're a very good U.S. citizen on this. But we still carry a different passport."

Preliminary NASA Plan Shows Evolved SLS Vehicle Is 21 Years Away

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 16:35:44 GMT

A new schedule, created by NASA, has provided a "preliminary, budget restricted" manifest which places the first flight of the fully evolved Space Launch System (SLS) in the year 2032. The information includes details on the chosen configuration and hardware, but provides a depressing schedule, with a flight rate of just one mission per year, after a staggered opening which results in SLS-2 waiting until 2021 to launch. Initially, the call was to debut the SLS in 2016. As recently noted, the schedule for the opening flight has moved to December 2017 -- although it now has an actual mission. The mission will be lunar, with SLS-1 lofting Orion (MPCV) on an unmanned mission around the Moon. Nearly four years will pass before the next SLS launch in August 2021, known as SLS-2, a vehicle which is identical to SLS-1, with the only difference being an element of the mission, which would be a manned trip around the moon in the MPCV, prior to a west coast landing in the Pacific. [ed. The article breaks down the planned missions of the SLS through SLS-11 in August 2030] And then, in August of 2032, the evolved SLS is expected to debut (see image left), again based on the same 5xRS-25E driven core, but this time with a full Upper Stage, becoming the 130mt+ HLV. This debut (SLS-13) would be -- as expected -- based around a cargo mission.

Close-Ups Of Vesta, Our Second-Heaviest Asteroid

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 16:35:30 GMT

NASA's Dawn mission has returned new images from orbit around Vesta, revealing a diverse and dramatic landscape. Dawn entered orbit around the giant asteroid Vesta on 16 July. Vesta is the second-heaviest asteroid in the solar system and may offer new insights into the early stages of planet formation, since meteorites from Vesta suggest the giant asteroid formed before Earth and the other planets. Dawn, currently about 3500 km away from Vesta, has been getting closer to the asteroid since it entered orbit around it at a distance of 16,000 km. It will officially begin the science-observing phase of its mission on 11 August at an altitude of 2700 kilometres, eventually dipping to just 200 kilometres above the asteroid. In July 2012, it will depart Vesta en route to its second and final destination, Ceres, the biggest asteroid in the solar system.

Japanese Astronomy Pushes On After Hard Year

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 16:35:18 GMT

From faulty spacecraft to two damaged facilities, the past year has been a tough year for Japan's astronomical programs. Yes despite the setbacks, Japan has already begun working to fix every problem they've faced in this difficult year. The troubles started late last year as Japan's Venus exploring spacecraft, Akatsuki failed to properly enter orbit around Venus. Ultimately, the failure was blamed on a faulty valve that didn't allow the thruster to fire for the full length of the burn necessary to transfer into the correct orbit. Instead, the craft is now in a wide orbit around the Sun. The organization in charge of the probe, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced earlier this month that they will "attempt to reignite the damaged thruster nozzle" and, if the test goes well, can try again for an orbital insertion in November 2015. The next setback came with the devastating March 11th earthquake which the facilities being used to study the samples returned from the sample and return mission Hayabusa were damaged. While the particles were safe, the sensitive accelerators that are used to study them suffered some damage. More recently, Japan's flagship observatory, Subaru atop Mauna Kea, Hawaii, was damaged when coolant leaked onto several instruments as well as the primary mirror, halting operations early last month.

Lightsquared May Interfere With Galileo

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 16:35:07 GMT

Europe has weighed in on the GPS interference issue in the U.S., expressing "deep concerns" about LightSquared's plans to operate a broadband wireless network using frequencies adjacent to the band allocated to global navigation satellite systems. Europe is developing its own satellite navigation system, Galileo. In a letter to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the European Commission says analysis by the European Space Agency shows the potential for LightSquared's terrestrial transmissions to interfere with Galileo receivers on aircraft operating into the U.S. Europe has developed the Egnos system to increase the accuracy and integrity of GPS. This is interoperable with the U.S. wide-area augmentation system (WAAS). As a result, the EC also is concerned about the effect of interference on the performance of Egnos/WAAS receivers on aircraft entering U.S. airspace.

EADS In $1 Billion Satcom Acquisition

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 16:34:55 GMT

European aerospace group EADS kept up a hot pace of acquisitions with a $960 million cash deal to buy satellite communications firm Vizada on Monday, chasing steadier sales from high-value services. The purchase, from private equity owner Apax France, was flagged by Reuters on Sunday and adds to a string of deals designed to help the Airbus parent firm dispose of surplus cash. Although Vizada is based in Paris, a contract with the U.S. Army will give Franco-German EADS an extra toe-hold in the United States where efforts to expand have met mixed success. Under pressure from analysts to look at better uses for an 11 billion euro net cash surplus, EADS has long said it is ready to spend up to 2 billion euros to fund external growth. But the pace quickened after it lost a contest with Boeing, the world's largest aerospace company, to supply air tankers to the Pentagon in March. The setback removed a chance to make the U.S. a bigger launchpad for internal growth. EADS has said it would be prepared to look at European companies with a foothold in U.S. defense to gain entry.

Space Needle Wants To Send A Person To Suborbit

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 16:34:41 GMT

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Seattle's iconic Space Needle, organizers want to go beyond Earth. "We went back to 1962 and questioned why the Space Needle was built," said Ron Sevart, President and CEO of the Pacific Northwest landmark. "It was an optimistic time, a forward-looking time, right in the middle of the space race." Inspired, Sevart and his team decided to create a multi-tiered contest to send a member of the public into short ride into space using a company from the burgeoning private space travel industry. Inspired, Sevart and his team decided to create a multi-tiered contest to send a member of the public into short ride into space using a company from the burgeoning private space travel industry. The winning trip to space would be a suborbital shot, with about 6 minutes of zero gravity, Garriott said. The details will come later. Space Adventure is still developing the vessels that will be used for the excursions. The cost for the grand prize is about $110,000. It could take years to happen.

Space Program's Environmental Cleanup Could Take Decades

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 17:08:00 GMT

NASA spent decades to send men to the moon, launch the space shuttles and build a laboratory in space, and now it will take a century to clean up the chemical messes left behind. Plumes of carcinogenic chemicals used in the launching of the space shuttles, Apollo moon shots and other rockets seeped deep into sandy soils beneath launch pads and other structures at Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. They form viscous toxic goo that will take $1 billion in cleanup costs agencywide over many decades, and could bog down funding for next-generation spacecraft. NASA estimates it will spend $96 million in the next 30 years at Kennedy Space Center, including $6 million this year. The Air Force says it will take another $50 million to get the rest of its cleanups at Cape Canaveral under way by 2017.

Lining Up Backup Plans For The International Space Station

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 17:07:48 GMT

The space shuttle flew to the International Space Station 37 times, but its retirement leaves NASA reliant on the Russian Soyuz for future trips, raising the question of what would happen if the Soyuz is grounded for an accident or another problem. As it turns out, NASA does not have a formal contingency plan, said Michael Suffredini, NASA's program manager for the space station. If necessary, the space station crew could leave via the two docked Soyuz capsules, which can each carry three astronauts. The station can be operated by ground controllers, so long as critical parts -- such as guidance gyroscopes -- don't require human hands for repairs. It carries 6 metric tons of fuel, enough to keep it boosted to the proper orbit for 360 days. Russian progress cargo ships can replenish the fuel supply robotically. An analysis after the Columbia shuttle accident showed that if the space station were unoccupied for more than six months, the chance of it leaving orbit and crashing into the atmosphere would increase tenfold, although that risk is still minimal, Suffredini said. "Most of our critical systems have redundancy," he said.

How To Avoid Repeating The Debacle That Was The Space Shuttle

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 17:07:36 GMT

Now that Atlantis is safely on the ground and astronauts will never again face the risk of flying in a space shuttle, maybe we can at last take a clear-eyed look at this disappointing episode in our nation's history. This isn't purely a historical exercise but a practical one--a cautionary tale showing how to avoid repeating the same mistake we made with the shuttle. When I say "we," I don't mean the people working on the craft, or NASA, or even our representatives in the U.S. government. I mean the society as a whole--from the reporters who obsessively covered the incessant launch delays, to the scientists who demeaned anyone who questioned NASA's budget, to the teachers who spoke about it in admiring tones to their students. In the descent of our manned space program into stultified irrelevance, we're all a little bit complicit. The most important thing to realize about the space shuttle program is that it is objectively a failure.

Garver: NASA Must Evolve The Way It Works With The Private Sector

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 17:07:23 GMT

Despite concerns that funding shortfalls will hamper NASA's efforts to promote a private industry capable of ferrying cargo and crew into low Earth orbit, government and industry officials attending the Space Frontier Foundation's annual conference said they were confident that commercial firms would continue to play an increasingly important role in the U.S. space program. NASA officials are working diligently "on evolving the way we work with the private sector," Deputy Administrator Lori Garver said July 28 at the NewSpace 2011 conference here. While the overall percentage of NASA's budget going to the private sector is likely to remain at the current level of approximately 85 percent, the space agency is changing the way it spends that money in an effort to help private companies "leverage that money to bring in more private investment, more innovation, open new markets, reduce costs and provide economic gain." If the $312 million budget proposed for commercial crew transportation by the House Appropriations Committee in July becomes law, "it would be very challenging for us to maintain multiple partners, maintain progress and fly folks in the middle part of the decade," Brent Jett, deputy manager for NASA's Commercial Crew Program, said. "At some point, we have to spend more than a couple hundred million dollars to fly." A NASA plan revealed July 20 to use more traditional government procurement practices for the third phase of the CCDev program has raised concerns among industry officials who said additional regulatory oversight is likely to raise costs and delay progress in building the new spacecraft. Following detailed federal acquisition rules would require a cultural shift for SpaceX employees who do not fill out time cards, Garrett Reisman, SpaceX CCDev 2 project manager, said.

Space New Frontier For Tech Lobbying

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 17:07:10 GMT

President Barack Obama's élan for Elon Musk, the serial entrepreneur bent on launching private rockets into space cheaply, includes multiple personal visits, high praise and apparent reciprocation: Musk this year attended a $35,800-a-head Obama fundraiser and has filled other Democratic coffers with cash. But in the new post-space shuttle space race, it takes more than glad-handing with the president to get the lucrative civilian and military contracts involving both human and cargo transport. Musk, who founded PayPal and Tesla Motors, is no pauper. His outfit, Space Exploration Technologies -- SpaceX -- and other relative newcomers such as Blue Origin, Sierra Nevada Corp. and Orbital Sciences Corp., are all fighting to wrestle a greater share of riches from Boeing and Lockheed Martin, which are to space launches as the USS Enterprise is to "Star Trek" and still lord over all other firms when it comes to government contracts. Since 2003, SpaceX's lobbying expenditures have steadily increased each year, nearly reaching the $600,000 mark in 2010, federal records show. Through June 30, the company has this year spent $320,000 lobbying federal entities from the Senate and Office of Management and Budget to NASA and the Air Force, putting it on pace to again exceed the previous year's total.

'Red Dragon' Mission Mulled As Cheap Search For Mars Life

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 17:06:57 GMT

The search for signs of life on Mars may have just gotten a lot cheaper. NASA is working with private spaceflight firm Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) to plan a mission that would search for evidence of life buried in the Martian dirt. The NASA science hardware would fly to the Red Planet aboard SpaceX's Dragon capsule, which the company is developing to ferry cargo and astronauts to and from the International Space Station. This so-called "Red Dragon" mission, which could be ready to launch by 2018, would carry a cost of about $400 million or less, researchers said. "I just want a cheap delivery system to go to Mars," said astrobiologist Chris McKay, of NASA's Ames Research Center here. "I don't care how it gets there." McKay and his colleagues are developing the Red Dragon concept as a potential NASA Discovery mission, a category that stresses exploration on the relative cheap. NASA is currently vetting three Discovery candidates, one of which it will choose for a 2016 launch. That mission will be cost-capped at $425 million, not including the launch vehicle. Red Dragon is not in that group of three finalists. NASA will make another call for Discovery proposals in 18 months or so, McKay said, and he and his team plan to be ready for that one. If Red Dragon is selected in that round, it could launch toward Mars in 2018.

Russia To Carry Out 3 Space Launches In August

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 17:06:45 GMT

Russia's space agency Roscosmos said on Friday it is planning to launch two satellites and a space freighter next month. The Express-AM4 satellite will be launched on August 18 on board a Proton-M carrier rocket from the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan. A Progress M-12M cargo spacecraft will be launched from Baikonur to the International Space Station on August 24 on board the Soyuz-U launch vehicle. A Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket will orbit a Glonass-M navigation satellite after the launch on August 25 from the Plesetsk Space Center in northern Russia.

Angara To Launch In 2013; Third KSLV-1 Flight Set For Next Year

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 17:06:22 GMT

Russia's long-delayed Angara family of rockets will finally take to the skies above the Plesetsk Cosmodrome beginning in 2013, according to Vladimir Nesterov, general director of the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center. Speaking to reporters at Baikonur on Saturday, Nesterov also said that the third flight of South Korea's KSLV-1 rocket, which uses the Angara first stage, will take place during the second half of next year. Nesterov said the Angara 1.2 rocket, which can lift 3.7 metric tons into low Earth orbit (LEO), would fly during the first half of the year. This launch would be followed by a flight of the heavier Angara 5 rocket, which is designed to launch between 18-28.5 metric tons to LEO depending upon which version is used. Nesterov said that the third flight of South Korea's KSLV-1 rocket would likely take place in August or September 2012. The rocket is composed of the first stage of the Angara booster and a South Korean upper stage.

Hayabusa Spacecraft Returns To Earth In Three More Films

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 17:06:06 GMT

The asteroid probe Hayabusa, which has captivated Japan with its miraculous return from a seven-year, 6-billion kilometer, trouble-plagued space journey, is scheduled to lift off again--in three new films. One of the three movies, which are due to hit the big screen from fall through 2012, will feature Ken Watanabe, an award-winning Japanese actor who has starred in many Hollywood hits. The probe's feat has already been featured in a documentary film by Kadokawa Pictures Inc., titled "Hayabusa," which opened in May and drew about 100,000 viewers. Despite the expected tough competition among film studios, producers share the view that Hayabusa's accomplishments should be adapted to the big screen because it exemplifies Japanese researchers' dedication and tenacity. The movies, producers said, needed to be made as Japan's status as a world technological leader has been shaken and people's confidence eroded during the nation's long economic stalemate. According to JAXA, eight movie companies initially contacted the agency about Hayabusa.

AEB President Wants To Triple Brazilian Space Budget

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 17:05:48 GMT

Brazilian Space Agency (AEB) President Marco Antonio Raupp wants his budget tripled from 300 million reals ($191 million) to 900 million reals ($573 million) as part of an ambitious overhaul of the nation's space effort. In an address last week to the 63rd Annual Meeting of the Society for the Advancement of Science (SBPC), Raupp said the increased budget is necessary to carrying Brazil's National Program of Space Activities (PNAE), a five-year plan now being revised. In addition to boosting funding, Raupp is also pursuing a merger of AEB with the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) to create a NASA-style organization that would be managed by a single body. Raupp also is focused on increasing the involvement of private industry in the space program and expanding the space workforce through better recruitment and STEM education. Brazil also is seeking to become autonomous in space launches. AEB is working with Ukraine to launch the Cyclone-4 rocket from its Alcântara Launch Center (CLA). The nation also has an ambitious effort with the Russians called Southern Cross to develop a family of five new rockets by 2020.

Senators Subpoena Rocket Documents From NASA

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 17:34:53 GMT

The chairman and ranking Republican of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee have made good on their threat to subpoena documents related to NASA's selection of a design for the heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS), setting up a showdown over the agency's pace in meeting a congressional order. NASA is closing in on its reference design for the heavy-lift SLS, which Congress says in the authorization language must be able to lift 130 metric tons to begin moving human explorers beyond low Earth orbit. Last week the agency sent the Senate panel a letter on its progress. It also has given senators and committee staffers a peek at some 6,000 pages of documents from the protracted reference-design selection process. But the design was due in January, and the panel has been threatening a rare subpoena for information for more than a month. "As the Senate committee responsible for developing NASA's policies and authorizing its expenditures, we also have the duty to make sure that NASA is spending taxpayers' dollars in accordance with the law," Rockefeller and Hutchison wrote to Bolden in June. "In the process of conducting this legislative oversight, the committee has the right to any information that will aid us in understanding how and whether NASA is implementing the 2010 act."

SpaceX Eyes November 30 Cargo Launch To Space Station

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 17:34:41 GMT

Space Exploration Technologies, a privately owned firm developing a space taxi with U.S.-government backing, plans to launch its second test capsule on November 30 and send it all the way to the International Space Station, a company manager said on Thursday. SpaceX currently is working on upgrading the Dragon cargo capsule for human occupants and has broken ground on a third launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California for a heavy-lift version of the Falcon rocket. SpaceX intends to combine its second and third test flights with a single mission, scheduled to launch November 30 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, Garrett Reisman, a former astronaut now working with SpaceX, said at the NewSpace 2011 conference that was held at NASA's Ames Research Center in California and broadcast on the Internet. That would position SpaceX to begin work on its 12-flight, $1.6 billion station cargo delivery mission. SpaceX also is among four companies holding a combined $269 million in NASA contracts to develop space taxis that can fly astronauts to the space station, a job now handled by Russia at a cost of more than $50 million per person.

Europe Seeks Greater Role In NASA's Exploration Missions

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 17:34:28 GMT

The European Space Agency wants to take on a major task in NASA's future space exploration plans, proposing to combine parts of Europe's existing space station freighter with the U.S. Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle for human voyages into deep space. The talks are focused on potentially modifying portions of Europe's Automated Transfer Vehicle to travel beyond low Earth orbit with NASA's next exploration capsule named the MPCV. The opportunity for Europe to propose a significant contribution to NASA's exploration goals arose with the decision to extend to life of the space station until 2020. Instead of paying its 8 percent share of the lab's common operating costs in cash, Europe bartered with NASA with five robotic ATV missions to resupply the station through 2014. But the barter agreement expires after 2017, and ESA has no plans to build additional ATVs beyond the five vehicles already on the books, according to Thomas Reiter, the space agency's director of human spaceflight. "That gives us a very interesting opportunity, not only to barter our operating costs of the station for the second half of this decade, but also gives the perspective for advancing technology, most likely centered on an ATV derivative, for an application that goes beyond low Earth orbit," Reiter said. Reiter said he expects around 450 million euros, or about $650 million, will be available to start development of a follow-on ATV craft for NASA to cover three years of operations costs from 2017 until 2020. If the space station's life is extended beyond 2020, further money would be available to mature the ATV-derived system. According to Reiter, engineers are completing studies of a hardened version of the ATV to bring equipment from the space station back to Earth. Once the studies are finished, Reiter said the Advanced Re-entry Vehicle concept will go into a dormant mode. Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for space operations, characterized the negotiations as "preliminary" but said the United States could come to an agreement with ESA on cooperation on missions beyond low Earth orbit this fall.

ESA Protests Earth Observation Program's Removal From Multiyear Budget Proposal

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 17:34:14 GMT

The European Space Agency (ESA) has sent letters to its member governments asking them to protest a decision by the European Commission to remove Europe's flagship environmental program from the commission's proposed multiyear financial envelope, ESA's director of Earth observation said. The 19-nation ESA also will be taking its case to the European Parliament in an effort to find a place in the commission's seven-year budget for the multibillion-dollar Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) program, he said. In its proposed seven-year budget, the commission -- which is the executive arm of the 27-nation European Union -- lumps GMES together with the European-led ITER next-generation nuclear reactor, which has suffered multiple cost overruns and is still years away from being fully operational. Liebig said he was particularly surprised that the commission elected to include the Galileo satellite navigation constellation in its seven-year budget proposal despite the fact that the 30-satellite Galileo constellation is years behind schedule and, even after a recent effort to rein in costs, still expected to cost 40 percent more than its 3.4-billion-euro budget.

China Make It Two In A Week Via Successful Shi Jian 11-02 Launch

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 17:34:02 GMT

For the second time this week this week alone, China has launched a satellite -- this time from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The Shi Jian 11-02 satellite was launch at 07:42UTC by a Long March 2C (Chang Zheng-2C) launch vehicle from the SLS-2 launch pad -- as the Chinese prepare for a busy August. According to the Chinese media this mission involved an "experimental satellite". However, what is known is this satellite was launched with the same launch azimuth of the Shi Jian 11-03, three weeks after the launch of the previous Shi Jian 11 satellite. As with Shi Jian 11-01 and Shi Jian 11-03, the true mission of Shi Jian 11-02 was not revealed. However, some observers noted that the Shi Jian 11 series of satellites could be related with a constellation of operational early warning satellites. Anticipating the launch of TianGong-1 in September, China is schedule to make three orbital attempts in August. Affirming its position on the international launch market, China plans to launch on August 14th, Pakistan Independence Day, the PakSat-1R. This launch was contracted in October 2008 between SUPARCO and the China Great Wall Industry Corporation. Paksat-1R is based on the new DFH-4 platform. The other launches planned in August include the launch of the First HY-2 Hai Yang-2 oceanographic satellite fom the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, prior to the launch of the Shiyan Weixing-4 and Chuang Xin-3 pair of spacecraft from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.

Why Tiangong Is Not A Station Hub

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 17:33:49 GMT

There's been another round of inaccurate reporting in the Chinese media about China's Tiangong space laboratory. Stories have claimed that Tiangong 1, due to be launched within two months, is the cornerstone of a Chinese space station. This is not true. Tiangong 1 is a small spacelaboratory module with a single docking port. It will be launched before the end of September 2011. Later this year, we expect the unmanned Shenzhou 8 spacecraft to dock with it. Shenzhou 8 will return to Earth after staying docked with the Tiangong 1 laboratory for less than a month. Next year, we expect the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft to be launched to Tiangong 1. This time, there will be astronauts aboard. Tiangong is testing many of the technologies that China will need to build a space station. China has announced plans to build a large space station in the years ahead. But Tiangong 1 is not going to be a part of that space station. Yes, it's a step on the path to a large Chinese space station, but Tiangong 1 is not the space station, nor is it a part of it. But that's not to say that Tiangong won't have a role in the future Chinese space station. In the future, modified versions of Tiangong are expected to serve as cargo spacecraft for China's space station. They will carry food and other gear for the three-person crew.

Israel Studies Airborne Launch Scheme For Shavit Rocket

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 17:33:32 GMT

Faced with a requirement for heavier military spy satellites, Israeli planners have devised an airborne launch concept in which the country's indigenously built Shavit 2 rocket would be released from a modified Boeing 747 aircraft in international airspace high above the Indian Ocean, sources here said. Under the new option gaining traction within some sectors of Israel's defense and space establishment, the Shavit 2 would be carried under the fuselage of a specially adapted 747 airliner, flown to the Indian Ocean, and launched from altitudes of about 12,000 meters eastward in the direction of Earth's rotation. Unlike the U.S. Pegasus rocket, which is dropped bomb-style from an L-1011 carrier aircraft and then maneuvers itself into its launch trajectory, the Israeli concept calls for the Boeing host aircraft to hurl the wingless Shavit 2 into its designated flight path. Sources here say the Israel Air Force aims to do this by pitching the carrier aircraft up to a steep acrobatic performance-style angle to put the space launch vehicle into its required trajectory. To avoid launching over enemy countries in the region, Israel launches all of its satellites westward over the Mediterranean, in the opposite direction of Earth's rotation. Because launches in this direction do not get the added boost provided by Earth's rotation -- some refer to it as a slingshot effect -- there is a performance penalty of up to 40 percent, defense and industry sources said. And given a new Israel Air Force requirement for next-generation spy satellites weighing 700 kilograms -- nearly double that of the current Ofeq series of spacecraft -- Israel will have to reclaim every bit of lost lift capacity and then some, sources here said.

Trojan asteroid seen in Earth's orbit by Wise telescope

Thu, 28 Jul 2011 14:33:07 GMT

Astronomers have detected an asteroid not far from Earth, moving in the same orbit around the Sun. The 200-300m-wide rock sits in front of our planet at a gravitational "sweet spot", and poses no danger. Its position in the sky makes it a so-called Trojan asteroid - a type previously detected only at Jupiter, Neptune and Mars. 2010 TK7, as it is known, was found by Nasa's Wise telescope. The discovery is reported in this week's Nature journal. It is a fascinating observation because the relative stability and proximity of Trojans would make possible targets for astronaut missions when we eventually go beyond the space station.