|
National / International Items
Biden on Space (Source: Space Politics)
Obama's running mate, Senator Joe Biden has a limited record on space
issues, but he recently said he “wants to make China a full partner in
space rather than a ‘frustrated new entrant’ that has to catch up with
the United States.” And at a New Hampshire debate last fall, he told
an attendee, “I like the robotic programs” and, about human
spaceflight, “with clear leadership we could do anything, good luck.”
In June he and the ranking Republican on the committee, Richard Lugar,
introduced S.3103, the “International Space Station Payments Act of
2008″. This bill would have extended the current waiver in the Iran, North Korea, and Syria
Nonproliferation Act that allows NASA to purchase flight services from Russia. That waiver currently
expires at the end of 2011, and NASA officials have said that they need
the extension this year.
One other thing to keep in mind. Earlier this month Obama advocated
re-establishing the National Space Council (also known as the National
Aeronautics and Space Council), which traditionally has been chaired by
the vice president. That means that, if Obama is elected in November
and he carries through with his plans to recreate the council, Biden
could be playing a much larger role in space policy in the next four
years. (8/23)
Obama Vows to Find $2 Billion For NASA (Source: Orlando
Sentinel)
The first hints of Sen. Barack Obama’s space funding plans came to
light on Sunday as the democratic candidate’s support for a robust
program of human and robotic exploration began to attract some
heavyweight boosters. Two leading space pioneers – Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida and former Senator and
Mercury astronaut John Glenn of Ohio -- yesterday endorsed
Obama’s new space platform. In a nutshell, the comprehensive policy
released on Saturday backs plans to go to the moon by 2020, supports
both human and robotic missions, calls for at least one additional
shuttle flight and increased international cooperation in space.
The Obama campaign was
looking at cutting back on egregious earmarks by Congress, aiming to
bring earmarks down to pre-1994 levels and use the savings to help
NASA. The rapidly unfolding Obama space policy now puts pressure on
Republican rival, Sen. John McCain, to articulate further his space
platform. McCain will hold a closed door meeting on Monday with about
20 space experts hand picked by his campaign staff. (8/18)
Democrats: McCain to Blame for Current Space Problems
(Source: Reuters)
The Florida Democratic Party recently criticized McCain by saying the
five-year gap was created under his watch as former Chairman of the
U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. “It’s a
little late for John McCain to claim he would minimize the gap that he
helped create or save the jobs he helped put in danger,” state
Democratic Party spokesman Eric Jotkoff said in the statement. “If
concerned Space Coast workers are looking for
someone to blame for this poorly-thought-out plan, they need to look no
further than John McCain.”
Florida - a major battleground
state in the November presidential election — faces the loss of
thousands of jobs when the space shuttle program ends in 2010. Both the
Republican and the Democratic candidates say they would like to
minimize the projected five-year gap between the shuttle’s retirement
and introduction of its successor. Obama also has proposed an
additional shuttle flight. (8/18)
McCain, Obama Compete to be Seen as Friend of NASA
(Source: Houston Chronicle)
The presidential campaign battle over NASA has come to resemble a
high-stakes poker game, with John McCain and Barack Obama steadily
upping the ante in a bid to appear the closer friend of the U.S. space
agency. The winner of the game could take home a big political pot: Florida's 27 electoral votes.
With polls showing a tight race in the nation's largest swing state,
Obama and McCain seem to be outbidding each other in an attempt to woo
voters concerned about space-related jobs that could be at risk in the
next few years.
Obama pledged to support $2 billion in additional funding for NASA so
that the agency can close a projected five-year gap in manned
spacecraft exploration, which would result in the loss of thousands of
jobs in Florida and Texas. The Democratic
nominee-apparent also endorsed at least one more space shuttle mission
before the program is retired. Obama's promises trumped Republican foe
McCain, who was the first candidate to call for narrowing the
spaceflight gap but has not committed specifically to additional money
or additional shuttle missions.
Susan MacManus, a political scientist at University of South Florida, said the rapid-fire
exchanges underscore the political sensitivity of NASA as a campaign
issue in the pivotal state. She said the debate over federal space
funding has become campaign shorthand in Florida for the state's troubled
economy. "This argument is not about shots to the moon or specific
missions in space," MacManus says. "This is a lot more about the
economic side of the space program and the high-tech, high-paying jobs
that it creates." (8/20)
McCain Supports $2 Billion More for NASA (Source: Florida
Today)
During a bus ride to Cocoa on the "Straight Talk Express," Sen. John
McCain said he would support an additional $2 billion to add to NASA's
$17 billion budget that would lessen the gap between the end of the
shuttle in 2010 and the next U.S. manned spacecraft in 2015. McCain
also said he would protect the Eastern Range from offshore drilling
that could disrupt rocket launches from Cape Canaveral. "We would protect our
missile ranges," he said. "We can work it out." (8/18)
McCain Claims Strongest Space Support (Source: Reuters)
Sen. John McCain said he, and not Sen. Barack Obama, is the
presidential candidate who will keep the United States up in space. He
lambasted his Democratic rival for changing his position on space
funding. “Sometimes it’s difficult to know what a politician will
actually do once in office because they say different things at
different times to different people,” McCain said in a statement he
read to reporters at Brevard Community College, where he met with local
officials and business executives. “This is a particular problem when a
candidate has a short, thin record on the issues as is the case of Sen.
Obama. “Let me just say in case Sen. Obama does decide to return to his
original plan of cutting NASA funding, I oppose such cuts,” he said,
adding he was committed to funding the Constellation program. (8/18)
McCain's Moon Property: Real Estate Even He Won't Forget
(Source: eMediaWire)
Upon learning that Republican presidential candidate John McCain can't
remember how many homes he owns, a company specializing in lunar real
estate has offered the Arizona senator some property even he can't
forget. Lunar International, a company that offers lunar land claims to
the public in order to support future lunar exploration efforts, has
reserved an acre of moon property for McCain in the famed Sea of Tranquility. A man of his stature
deserves real estate that's truly memorable. (8/22)
Buzz Aldrin Backs Democrat in Florida Congressional Primary (Source: TCPalm.com)
Apollo 11 Astronaut Buzz Aldrin has planted his foot into the
Democratic primary for Florida's 15th District in
Congress by backing pilot Paul Rancatore. In a release, Aldrin stated
that Rancatore, a Vero Beach resident, understands the
needs of the space program. "Paul can build on his experience and
create a partnership with the Department of Defense, NASA and industry
to develop new aerospace innovations that will not only improve
national security but provide springboards for a varying array of
technological and economic opportunities," Aldrin stated. Rancatore is
challenging Steve Blythe, a Melbourne physician, in the Aug. 26
primary. (8/24)
Space Policy Heats Up This Summer (Source: Space Review)
The last couple of weeks has seen a flurry of activity on space policy
issues from the two major presidential candidates. Jeff Foust reports
on the policy statements made by both campaigns as well as a recent
debate on space issues by representatives of the campaigns. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1192/1 to view the article.
(8/18)
America’s Space Efforts Are Being
Hampered by Politics (Source: Economist)
International space rivalries are about more than bragging rights. The
rockets that carry space-bound payloads are close relatives of the
intercontinental missiles that carry enemy-bound warheads. And
satellites furnish information and communications to soldier and
civilian alike. So it is only natural for America, now the leader in space,
to try to protect its dominance and prevent weapons proliferating by
controlling the export of its space technology. Yet rarely has such a
reasonable aim been so self-defeating.
The system of export controls, known as ITAR, is managed with almost
comic zeal by the State Department. Anything that is part of a
satellite assembly needs vetting—even if it is as common as a
lithium-ion battery, as insignificant as a screw or as innocuous as a
stand for a satellite. The cost, delays and inconvenience of dealing
with the American space industry are exasperating enough to send its
foreign partners into orbit. Which is exactly where they have been
going—on their own. The American space industry’s share of
commercial-satellite manufacturing has fallen from over 80% before 1999
to 50% now. The French are going great guns with an “ITAR-free” design.
The Canadians, who once looked to their allies across the border for
their satellites, have found that they can buy everything they need
elsewhere.
Last week Barack Obama promised he would direct a review of ITAR with a
special focus on space hardware. He said outdated restrictions have
cost American space-hardware makers billions of dollars in lost
business. It makes sense for America to use trade restrictions
to hamper foreign efforts in space. But the country would be safer if
parts of the industry were more profitable--otherwise firms are
unlikely to innovate and may even go out of business. ITAR needs
reworking so that it concentrates on a few vital technologies that must
not get into enemy hands, leaving the many commonplace technologies to
commerce.
You might argue that keeping American technology out of foreign
satellites was always the intention of the legislation, even if that
harmed American firms. Except that America’s export policy is
harming both its industry and its security at the same time. Much of
the space technology that Europeans and others are now making poses no
strategic threat. It is just lost American business. Foreign firms may
not have bothered to develop their own technology if the American sort
had been available. And starved of revenues, the Pentagon fears, America’s space industry is now
so vulnerable in places that national security is threatened—which is
precisely the outcome the legislation sought to avoid. (8/21)
Defense, Space Engineers in Demand as Boomers Retire
(Source: AIA)
As baby boomers retire from defense and space engineering careers, the
sector faces a hiring crisis. Many engineering graduates are choosing
high-tech careers in the private sector over top-secret careers in the
public sector. "It is critical that we replace these retiring
engineers; this is not the kind of work that we can just outsource
overseas," said the chairman of a defense industry group. Approximately
60% of the industry's workforce could retire during the next 20 years,
according to the Aerospace Industries Association. (8/22)
Iran Sparks U.S. Concern
with Satellite Rocket Launch (Source: Thomson
Financial)
Iran said it had sent a rocket carrying a dummy satellite into space on
Sunday, triggering fresh concern in Washington that the technology
could be diverted to ballistic missiles. The launch is likely to
further exacerbate tensions with the West over its nuclear drive, which
Iran's arch-foe Washington and its allies claim is a
cover for atomic weapons ambitions. Western governments, already
concerned over Iran's nuclear activities,
have warned that the technology used in the Islamic republic's space
program could be diverted to military use, claims denied by Tehran. (8/18)
Pentagon Doubts Iranian Rocket Test Succeeded (Source: CNN)
The Pentagon does not believe an Iranian rocket test over the weekend
was successful, despite reports in the official Iranian media saying
the Islamic Republic had launched its first vehicle capable of placing
a satellite in orbit. "The Iranians did not successfully launch the
rocket," a senior U.S. defense official told
CNN. The two-stage rocket could have been capable of launching a
satellite into space, but the U.S. intelligence assessment
shows that the second stage "was erratic and out of control," said the
official, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of
the intelligence. The rocket "did not perform as designed," the
official said.
Another U.S. defense official who also
asked not to be named said the most immediate monitoring of the Iranian
test came from the USS Russell in the Persian Gulf using its radar. It is
generally acknowledged that U.S. military and intelligence
satellites have a long-standing capability to monitor rocket and
missile launches around the world by detecting plumes and other launch
emissions. (8/19)
Israel Plays Down Concerns Over Iran's Satellite (Source:
SpaceDaily.com)
The head of Israel's space agency on Monday played down concerns over
Iran's announcement it sent a rocket into space, saying the real threat
came from Tehran's nuclear program. "Iran still has a long way to
go as far as satellites are concerned and it deliberately exaggerates
its air and space successes in order to dissuade Israel or the United States from attacking its
nuclear sites," Yitzhak Ben Israel said. "It is clear that for years Iran has had Shihab-3
ballistic missiles which put Israel within its reach. But the
threat posed by Iran comes from its nuclear
program and not from its satellites or ballistic missiles," said Ben
Israel, who is also a member of parliament with the governing Kadima
party. (8/18)
Iran To Launch Its First
Satellite By Next Weekend (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
Iran will launch its first
satellite in the nearest few days, the country's president said on
Saturday. "The first satellite created by Iranian specialists will be
orbited by an Iranian carrier rocket before the end of the next week,"
Iranian media quoted Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as saying. He added that
economic sanctions imposed by the United States against the Islamic
Republic had a "favorable effect on the country's scientific progress."
According to Ahmadinejad, over 7,000 scientific inventions have been
registered in Iran over the last few years.
In February Tehran successfully launched the
Explorer-1 research rocket, which is reportedly capable of carrying a
satellite into orbit, and unveiled the country's first domestically
built satellite, named Omid, or Hope. Iran plans to send into orbit
several domestic satellites by 2010, the head of the country's
aerospace agency said on Monday. (8/18)
Iran Says Will Soon Launch 'National Satellite' (Source:
YNet)
Day after Islamic republic put dummy satellite into orbit on home-grown
rocket for first time, Tehran's defense minister says, ' We are ready
to launch satellites for friendly Islamic countries' After report of
successful test, Iran prepares to launch real satellite into space.
Iranian Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar reportedly said Monday
that his country was ready to launch a "national satellite" into orbit
in the near future. (8/18)
Iran to Send First Astronaut
Into Space Within 10 Years (Source: RIA Novosti)
Iran plans to send its first
astronaut into space within the next decade, the head of the Iran
Aerospace Organization said on Wednesday. "Iran is currently exploring
the possibility of sending a human into outer space. This is one of the
country's priorities for the next 10 years," Reza Taghipour said. He
said the exact date of the flight would be determined before the end of
the year. "In accordance with a program that we have developed, by 2021
Iran is to become the leading
space power in the region," he said. Iran said on Monday it plans
to send into orbit several domestic satellites by 2010. (8/20)
US-Russia Chill Threatens
NASA Space Program (Source: AFP)
The chill left on US-Russian relations by Moscow's military incursion
into Georgia could spell problems for future US access to the
International Space Station, US experts said. NASA will become
dependent on flights to the Space Station by Russia's Soyuz spacecraft when
it retires the shuttle fleet in 2010. That leaves the needs of US
astronauts visiting the Station vulnerable to the possibility of a new
Cold War between Washington and Moscow after Russia's powerful military
overran much of Georgia two weeks ago in the
dispute over South Ossetia. (8/24)
Georgia 'Will Join NATO': Merkel (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday assured Georgia would join
NATO as she strongly backed the ex-Soviet republic's President Mikheil
Saakashvili in his conflict with Russia. "Georgia will become a member of
NATO if it wants to -- and it does want to," she told reporters before
talks with Saakashvili in Tbilisi. It was one of the
strongest statements yet of support for Georgia's NATO membership bid,
which is fiercely opposed by Russia. "We are on a clear road
towards NATO membership (for Georgia)," she added at a later
news conference. (8/18)
U.S. Signs Missile Defense
Deal with Poland (Source: AP)
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her Polish counterpart signed a
deal Wednesday to build a U.S. missile defense base in Poland, an
agreement that prompted an infuriated Russia to warn of a possible
attack against the former Soviet satellite. The deal to install 10 U.S.
interceptor missiles just 115 miles from Russia's westernmost frontier
also has strained relations between Moscow and the West, ties that
already troubled by Russia's invasion of its former Soviet neighbor,
U.S. ally Georgia, earlier this month. (8/20)
Russia Vents Fury Over US Missile Plan (Source:
SpaceDaily.com)
Russia expressed its fury Friday over US plans to place a new missile
system in eastern Europe, saying it was clear the weapons were pointed
at Moscow and would be a fair military target to strike. Speaking at a
news conference in southern Russia, President Dmitry
Medvedev stated that, despite Washington's denials, the United States had Russia in mind in basing
elements of the system in Poland and the Czech Republic. His comments came a day
after Poland, after appearing reticent
on the plan in recent months, suddenly announced it had reached an
accord with the United States on plans to install US
interceptor missiles on its territory.
The timing of that announcement, coming amid a burgeoning international
crisis over the conflict between Russia and Georgia in the Caucasus, sparked a bellicose
response from the Russian military. Poland is making itself a target
for Russia's military "100 percent"
by hosting elements of a US anti-missile system, a
senior Russian general was quoted as saying. "Such targets are
destroyed as a first priority," Gen. Nogovitsy was quoted as saying. Warsaw and Washington signed a preliminary deal
Thursday on basing part of a US missile shield in Poland, in the face of Moscow's vehement opposition and
mounting East-West tensions over Russia's military presence in Georgia. (8/18)
Russia to Cut All Military Ties with NATO (Source: AP)
Russia has informed Norway that it plans to suspend all military ties
with NATO, Norway's Defense Ministry said Wednesday, a day after the
military alliance urged Moscow to withdraw its forces from Georgia.
NATO foreign ministers said Tuesday they would make further ties with Russia dependent on Moscow making good on a pledge
to pull its troops back to pre-conflict positions in Georgia. However, they stopped
short of calling an immediate halt to all cooperation. A Norwegian
official told The Associated Press that the Russian official notified Norway it will receive a written
note about this soon. He said Norwegian diplomats in Moscow would meet Russian
officials on Thursday morning to clarify the implications of the
freeze. (8/21)
Fear of Mid East 'Cold
War' as Syria Strengthens Russian Alliance (Source: Times)
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad headed to Moscow to discuss an expansion
of his pariah state’s military cooperation with Russia. The trip is raising
fears that the new Cold War that has erupted in the Caucasus will spill over into the Middle East, long a battleground
between East and West, and crush tentative hopes for peace. Israel, like its main sponsor America, has developed close
military ties with Georgia in recent years, with
defense contractors supplying training and equipment to the small,
US-backed state. As Syria renews its Soviet-era
close ties with Moscow, many here fear that the Middle East could once again become a
theater for the two great powers to exert their spheres of influence,
militarily and politically, in the volatile region. And with Israel and the US providing military
backing to Georgia, Russia appears set to respond in
kind by supporting Syria. (8/20)
Venezuela Offers to Host Russian Fleet (Source:
SpaceDaily.com)
The White House said Monday that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's
invitation to host a Russian fleet was "curious" and accused him of
neglecting his people's problems. "The Russians and the Venezuelans can
engage in whatever cooperation that they would like. But it's curious,
I'm not sure what Venezuela needs or gains by a visit
by the Russian fleet," said spokesman Gordon Johndroe. Chavez said
during his weekly radio program on Sunday that Russian President
Dimitri Medvedev wanted to send a Russian naval fleet to visit Venezuela. Under the leftist
Chavez, Venezuela has been seeking closer relations with Moscow, in
part to buy military hardware, including 24 Russian Sukhoi fighter jets
recently delivered, after Washington refused to supply spare parts for
the F-16 jets it sold Venezuela in the 1980s. (8/20)
Venezuela to Launch Simon Bolivar
Satellite with China in November (Source: Xinhua)
The Simon Bolivar satellite will be launched into the space on Nov. 2,
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said. The satellite, made in China, was named after "Simon
Bolivar," a hero who played an important role in winning Latin America's independence. Chinese
Ambassador to Venezuela Zhang Tuo attended as a guest at a TV and radio
program, during which Chavez thanked China for supporting this
project. (8/18)
Korea's Air Force to Pursue
Space Capabilities (Source: KBS)
Korea's Air Force will recruit
aerospace experts for the first time in a bid to expand its space
exploration capabilities. An Air Force official said Tuesday it will
select, this year, 27 aerospace experts among its officers directly
involved in space operations, and it hopes to increase the number in
the years to come. The official added that the Air Force also plans to
establish a new specialty staff for space projects after consulting
with the Ministry of National Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The Air Force aims to establish a basic system for its space
capabilities, including implementing an electro-optical space
monitoring system by 2015, before obtaining the ability to conduct
space operations by 2020. It hopes to have independent space
operational capabilities by 2030. (8/19)
Space Espionage: A High Priority (Source: RIA Novosti)
Replacements are expected to take place soon in the "space spy
community". Yet another American GPS (Global Positioning System)
Navstar satellite will be launched into the low earth orbit in autumn.
It might seem an ordinary event, had it not been for this satellite
being equipped with a platform for intelligence equipment. A purely
navigational GPS has turned into an advanced intelligence system,
appropriate for a variety of special tasks. Military experts expect the
world's major powers to spend as much as $30.6 billion for intelligence
satellite programs in the next decade. By that time, around one hundred
military satellites of various types will be orbiting earth.
In Russia, the fate of the
intelligence satellite program is inseparable from the fate of the
national space program. There was a great decline between the late
1990's and early 2000's. By 2005, only one Russian electronic
reconnaissance satellite was in orbit, compared to 12 American
satellites, surveying Russia's territory. Currently Russia has almost nothing to
match the U.S. In November 2006 and
August 2007, optical reconnaissance satellites ceased operation. (8/21)
Commission Advises Combining Black and White Military Space
Programs (Source: Space News)
A new report that recommends combining the organizations responsible
for unclassified and classified U.S. military space assets likely will
face opposition that could be strong enough to squash the idea. The
soon-to-be-released report by a congressionally mandated panel
recommends the creation of a National Security Space Authority (NSSA),
an organization that would have acquisition and requirements authority
for both unclassified and classified national security space systems.
The head of the NSSA would be dual-hatted as an undersecretary of
Defense for space and a deputy director of national intelligence for
space, and would lead a new organization, the National Security Space
Organization, responsible for the acquisition and operation of all U.S. military and intelligence
space assets. (8/22)
Russian Rocket: All Fueled Up, But No Place to Fly
(Source: Space.com)
In another frustrating foul-up on the path towards converting
Soviet-era military missiles into cash-paying satellite launchers, a
military-industrial team in Moscow has announced the 'indefinite
suspension' of plans to launch an earth resources survey satellite for
Thailand. The reasons: at the last moment, for the second time,
overflight permission has been revoked by a country downrange of the
launch site. First Uzbekistan, and now Kazakhstan, denied permission for
dropping the booster's spent first stage onto their territories.
The Dnepr rocket, a converted SS-18 "Satan" ICBM had finished 25 years
of alert duty in 2005, and had been stored awaiting a more peaceful
assignment. The countdown was underway towards a launch at 1.37
p.m.
Thailand time on Aug. 6. Then the
clock stopped. In what had looked like a 'win-win-win' situation for
all concerned, a Ukrainian rocket factory had been acquiring old
military missiles from the Russian 'Strategic Rocket Forces' and adding
an off-the-shelf upper stage to create a satellite launch capability
that they then sold to foreign customers. (8/22)
ILS Proton Successfully Launches Inmarsat Satellite
(SourcE: ILS)
A Proton Breeze M launch vehicle successfully lifted the Inmarsat-4 F3
satellite into orbit Tuesday, marking the third mission of the year for
International Launch Services (ILS). The Proton Breeze M vehicle, built
by Khrunichev Space Center of Moscow, lifted off from Baikonur
Spaceport. The Inmarsat-4 F3 satellite, a Eurostar 3000GM model built
by EADS Astrium, is expected to go into service at 98 degrees West
longitude, where it will deliver mobile broadband services over the
United States for Inmarsat of London. (8/19)
Alliant Techsystems Gets NASA Green Light to Launch
(Source: Flight International)
NASA has set 21 August as the first opportunity for Alliant Techsystems
(ATK) to launch two NASA payloads on what could be the company's first
and last ALV X-1 suborbital booster. ATK says it is not planning to
manufacture the 16m (53ft)-high, two-stage solid-propellant vehicle,
but will instead use the experience to further its expertise in the
multi-stage rockets, launch services and payload integration. The
company originally developed the ALV to compete in NASA's commercial
orbital transport services program. Those contracts were ultimately won
by SpaceX and Orbital Sciences.
The booster is expected to loft the hypersonic and research payloads to
a 473km (256 miles) altitude and 1,600km downrange of the mid-Atlantic
regional spaceport at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia's eastern shore. One of
the four experiments on board is designed to be recovered. Click here to view the rocket on its
launch pad. (8/19)
Destroyed Rocket Cost NASA $17M; Residents Shower 911 With
Calls (Source: DelMarVaNow.com)
A suborbital rocket carrying two NASA experiments costing $11 million
was destroyed after it veered off course soon after liftoff early
Friday morning, sending fragments raining into the Atlantic Ocean and
at least one barrier island. The flight reached an altitude of about
12,000 feet and was headed south before officials destroyed the rocket
at 5:10 a.m., about 27 seconds into
the mission. The total cost to NASA of the failed launch was $17
million, NASA spokeswoman Beth Dickey said during a teleconference held
Friday morning.
As many as six calls were made to 911 just after the explosion by area
residents reporting debris falling on land. Ed Hopkins of Modest Town, who lives within view of
the launch site, was watching the launch with his wife when he said he
saw two “large flaming pieces” land within a mile of his home. He said
it caused a fire that burned for about 20 minutes. "We were concerned,"
said Hopkins. "I saw it was kind of
coming our way. I told my wife to move toward the back of our deck."
(8/22)
Lack of Cash Hurts NASA's Tech Plans (Source: Orlando
Sentinel)
Tight budgets and uncertainty are hurting NASA's ability to develop
cutting-edge technologies that are critical if the space agency is to
send astronauts to the moon and Mars, according to a new oversight
report. In 20 of 22 projects -- ranging from heat shields to fission
power -- some form of "corrective action" is needed to meet President
Bush's goal of returning astronauts to the moon by 2020, according to a
panel of space experts for The National Academies. These aren't just
engineering problems, the panel noted. It said the money to develop
these technologies -- NASA estimates it is spending $400 million for
the Exploration Technology Development Program -- is inadequate, in an
overall budget of about $17.3 billion. Uncertainty caused by
Constellation design issues has prompted speculation that a new
president might scrap the program for something different. (8/22)
Editorial: NASA Needs Its Own Launch Capability During the
Next 10 Years (Source: Houston Chronicle)
Among the many entities and activities placed in jeopardy by the
incursion of Russian troops into Georgia is U.S.-Russian space
exploration. President Bush said all U.S. alliances with Moscow must be re-evaluated.
Members of Congress warned that they would have to take another look at
the law that allows NASA to pay Russia hundreds of millions of
dollars to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station.
U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, has the right idea. She says
NASA should consider extending the space shuttle past its 2010
deadline. U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson, D-Stafford, whose district includes
the Johnson Space Center, agrees: Russia's "instability and clear
desire to wage war on democracies illustrates the need to increase
NASA's funding and close the gap" between the shuttle's end and Orion's
advent, he said. Sen. Barack Obama, in a change of mind, also agrees.
(8/19)
NASA Fixes Moonship Shaking with Shock Absorbers (Source:
AP)
A space-age version of the rusty springs under old pickup trucks will
help NASA fix the most pressing technical problem with its high-tech
new rocket to send astronauts back to the moon. NASA is going to use 17
super-sized shock abs, agency officials said in a Tuesday press
conference. For close to a year, NASA engineers working on the new Ares
1 rocket and Orion crew capsule have been wrestling with the problem of
heavy vibrations from the massive rocket engines about two minutes
after launch. If the vibrations are not dampened, it could potentially
harm the crew or make it too difficult for them to operate for a few
seconds.
Officials on Tuesday said they have settled on a solution that is
similar to what smooths the rides of pickup trucks: shock absorbers.
But NASA's shock absorbers will be big and mostly remote-controlled.
The plan is to install 16 canisters in the bottom of the rocket with
100-pound weights attached to springs. Battery-powered motors will move
the weights up and down to stop vibrations. The fix will add weight,
but the rocket can handle it, said Ares projects manager Steve Cook.
(8/19)
NASA Faces Budget Busting Crawlerway Rebuild for Ares V
(Source: Flight International)
NASA's Kennedy Space Center crawlerway may have to be rebuilt because
the combined weight of the agency's Ares V cargo launch vehicle, its
mobile launcher and crawler-transporter for the Constellation program
look like being too heavy for it. Built 40 years ago for the Apollo
program, the crawlerway is the road over which crawler-transporters
carry the Space Shuttle. The crawlerway consists of two 12m (40ft)-wide
lanes, separated 15m apart. The surface, at its thickest points on the
curves, has 200mm (8in) of river gravel that is on top of 900mm of
compacted limerock, which is in turn on top of two layers of "select
fill" that is up to 1.1m deep in total.
The crawler-transporter, mobile launcher and Space Shuttle, with empty
external tank, has a mass of about 7.7 million kg (16.9 million lb).
Ares V could weigh as much as 10.9 million kg. "Given the projected
weight of the Ares V vehicle, mobile launcher and transporter, the
total weight is about 33% higher than the crawlerway has ever supported
there is a possibility that the crawlerway could fail to support the
load, resulting in severe impacts to the Constellation program," says a
Constellation vertical integration element risk assessment. (8/21)
Orion Mockup Parachute
Test Crash Due to Setup, Not Design Flaw (Source: New Scientist)
NASA has quietly released photos and video of a 31 July parachute test
for its future Orion astronaut capsule that didn't go so well: the
mockup capsule hit the ground pretty hard. Unsurprisingly, some have
jumped on this, claiming that NASA is trying to cover up a failure. The
full story is a bit more complicated than that. I'm sure NASA wasn't
eager to publicize this embarrassing episode, but it wasn't exactly a
failure. There was a problem, yes, but it was in part of the test
setup, rather than in the parachutes that would actually land an
operational Orion after a trip to the space station or the Moon.
Testing a parachute drop of a heavy object is not simple. In
particular, several auxiliary parachutes were used to help set up the
right test conditions, so that Orion's own parachute system would get a
realistic test. Some of them failed, and as a result the Orion
parachute system was activated at high speed, in dense, low-altitude
air. The Orion "drogue" parachutes, intended to stabilise the capsule
for main-parachute deployment, failed instantly on deployment. The
capsule then began to tumble, main-parachute deployment was hopelessly
messed up, and there wasn't any hope of anything resembling a soft
landing. (8/20)
NASA Engineers Complete Engine Test Series For Ares I Rocket
(Source: SpaceDaily.com)
Engineers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.,
have completed a series of tests on a key component of the J-2X engine.
The J-2X powers the upper stage of the Ares I rocket, which will launch
human explorers to the International Space Station and to the moon. The
test on Aug. 15 was the last of 20 in this series, concluding the
second of four planned sets of tests on the J-2X's workhorse gas
generator, the driver for the turbopumps which start the engine. (8/20)
Rocketry's Low-Cost Model (Source: Flight International)
When it comes to developing launch vehicles, images of burning money as
rapidly as rocket fuel spring readily to mind. Space is naturally the
domain of big corporations and massive government contracts, so a
private venture starting from scratch seems an unlikely candidate to be
the future of this industry. But that is how Hawthorne,
California-based Space Exploration Technologies - SpaceX - is being
described.
So far, SpaceX has some heavy-hitting backers - the US Air Force and
DARPA are sponsors, and SpaceX is a leading candidate to supply crew
and cargo launches under the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services
contracts NASA intends to issue to keep the International Space Station
supplied after the Space Shuttle fleet is decommissioned. But the
company has relatively little to show for itself its flight history
consists of a string of three failures of its Falcon 1 rocket, now
powered by a single regeneratively cooled Merlin 1C engine, which has
been the centrepiece of its development efforts. Click here to view the article.
(8/20)
NASA Closes Florida Spaceport for Tropical Storm Fay
(Source: Florida Today)
NASA closed its Florida spaceport early Monday to protect its space
shuttle fleet and other vital hardware from severe weather associated
with Tropical Storm Fay. The storm is expected to make its closest
approach to the agency's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Cape Canaveral,
Fla., on Wednesday between 2:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. EDT (0600 and 1200
GMT), though forecasters expect heavy rain and strong wind to begin in
the area today at about 2:00 p.m. EDT (1600 GMT). "At least six inches
is anticipated during this time," said NASA spokesperson George Diller
in an update. (8/19)
No Storm Delays Expected For Oct. 8 Shuttle Launch
(Source: Florida Today)
NASA's Kennedy Space Center apparently avoided major damage as of
Wednesday night, and the agency's next shuttle launch likely will
remain on schedule. The storm shut down the nation's shuttle homeport
two consecutive days and regular operations won't resume until Friday.
But the targeted Oct. 8 launch of shuttle Atlantis and seven astronauts
on a fifth and final Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission is
expected to take place as planned. A single panel of aluminum siding
blew off the east side of the KSC Vehicle Assembly Building, and a glass door at an
office building shattered. There were also a few downed trees. (8/21)
Air Force Official Discusses New Mexico Spaceport (Source:
Alamogordo Daily News)
Gary Payton, deputy undersecretary of the Air Force for space programs,
took time out of Monday's DC-X/XA 15th anniversary reunion activities
to talk about Spaceport America. "The Air Force is interested in this
sort of access to space," Payton said. "This is where we could bring
our satellites to put on launch vehicles to fly out of Spaceport America." Payton said the Air
Force is moving to increasingly smaller satellites, so the launch and
recovery facilities that will be available at Spaceport America "are very attractive to
us."
New Mexico's Spaceport America is one of several
spaceports. Payton said equivalent operations can be found in Florida, Oklahoma, California and possibly more places,
although Spaceport America and New Mexico are probably a little
further ahead than other states and their spaceports. "The Air Force is
watching all of those to find out which ones would be best to launch
our satellites," Payton said. (8/19)
Ohio's Future Shaped by Space (Source: PR Newswire)
In recent editorials to newspapers in Ohio, Guion "Guy" Bluford, the
first African American to fly in space highlights the state's role in
space exploration and its impact on the state. "NASA's John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field has long
been an engine of American ingenuity. It has pioneered world-class
research in aircraft engines dating back to the early 1940s. Glenn Research Center is a hybrid hub of
technological work in both aeronautics and key elements of the nation's
space program.
"Ohio has directly benefited
from strengthening NASA's position of global aerospace leadership. That
payback comes in the form of high-tech jobs throughout the state, as
well as inspiring a new generation of scientists and engineers."
Bluford went on to comment, "Ohio has produced more
astronauts than any other state, including John Glenn, the first
American to orbit Earth, and Neil Armstrong, the first person to step
onto the Moon. To view Bluford's complete comments on NASA's long
partnership with Ohio, please view http://spacecoalition.com/Published_Op-Eds.cfm. (8/19)
Ohio University Gets $1.13M NASA Grant for Solar-Panel Testing
Center (Source: Toledo Blade)
The University of Toledo has received $1.13 million from NASA to fund a
solar-panel testing center, a grant which university officials said
will help the region cement itself as the alternative-energy capital of
the Midwest. "This will make our future a lot brighter in a lot of
ways," U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, (D., Toledo) said. The Lucas County commissioners have
pledged to contribute $100,000 to the project for a local match. The
money will come from the county's economic development fund, which has
about $200,000 from the sale of land last year. An official said the
testing center could be a boon to Toledo's economy by attracting
alternative-energy companies. (8/23)
Editorial: Running in Place on Space Station (Source: The
Republican)
You can't get there from here. Not without a Russian rocket, that is.
There is, of course, no way to predict what our relationship with Russia will be like a couple of
years down the road. But even if it has gotten pretty smooth, if Russia has found a way to
contain its worst impulses, there is no way to know how long that will
last. The United States must not put itself in
the position of paying Russia - potentially very hefty
sums - to ferry our people and our stuff to and from the international
space station.
And this is without even beginning to consider that they could easily
blackmail us if they were to become the only space-taxi service in the
world. So, what are the alternatives? Well, giving up on the space
station is one - and it's beginning to look better and better. This
page has long supported NASA and the space program. We will continue to
do so. However, that does not mean that we will back every effort, no
matter what. It's high time to admit that the space station has come to
a whole lot of nothing - and just call it quits. We have gone into
space to study being in space. OK. Whatever. (8/21)
Life in Space: What You Really Need to Know About the Space
Station (Source: Sandusky Register)
Here are some things you learn if you live on the International Space
Station for three months: Life on a spacecraft is more pleasant when
the toilet works. Living with two other people in a space station is
like being married but not being able to leave the house. When you're
getting a haircut in a weightless environment, it's best to use a
clipper with a vacuum hose attached to suck up the hair and keep it
from floating around. Visit http://www.sanduskyregister.com/articles/2008/08/21/front/863452.txt to view the article.
(8/21)
Bigelow Advances Work on Space Habitat Considers Expansion
Locations (Source: Space News)
Building on lessons they continue to learn from their two space modules
still operating in low Earth orbit, the team at Bigelow Aerospace is
accelerating its push to get a habitable version launched. The initial
focus of that work is Sundancer, a larger version of the subscale
Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 spacecraft now in orbit. Sundancer will have
175 cubic meters of habitable space and come fully equipped with life
support systems, attitude control, on-orbit maneuvering systems, the
ability to reboost itself and, at the end of its life, the ability to
conduct a controlled deorbit. It would support a crew of up to three
individuals for varying mission durations and eventually provide the
backbone for the first commercial space station.
Drawing on the cash generated by other companies in his large suite of
enterprises — such as his hotel and real estate businesses — Bigelow
said he had put $150 million into Bigelow Aerospace as of April. In
1999, he said he was prepared to spend $500 million by 2015. That
remains a valid number, he said July 30. Bigelow Aerospace announced in
May it had inked a nearly $5 million contract with Orion Propulsion to
supply the attitude control system for the forward end of Sundancer.
The company also announced that Aerojet has been awarded a $23 million
deal to supply the propulsion system for the aft end of Sundancer, as
well as a system to handle rendezvous and docking.
The company already has expanded its sprawling complex of buildings and
test facilities. Bigelow said the new facilities are needed to set up
an assembly line for producing large space modules and associated
propulsion buses and docking nodes. A facility may be sited in a
location like Florida, New Mexico, Texas or California, Bigelow said. "In some
ways we would prefer being close to our launch facilities. But there
could be various ways to make it so attractive that locating away from
those launch facilities is advantageous to go ahead and pay for
shipping everything else," Bigelow said. (8/23)
Elegant Resorts Partner
With Virgin Galactic to Make Space Travel a Reality (8/22)
Space travel will become reality for people from all walks of life when
Virgin Galactic launches its public flights into space. Elegant Resorts
are the only company appointed by Virgin Galactic to sell this unique
experience in the UK, Russia and CIS. Justine Pitt,
Product Manager at Elegant Resorts, commented: "We have already
experienced some amazing firsts with Virgin Galactic since our
appointment last July, enabling us to give our clients first-hand
knowledge of the whole Virgin Galactic Experience -- including a
simulated trip into space in the NASTAR Center's Space Training
Centrifugal Simulator where we achieved G-forces upwards of 3G's, a
private unveiling of the spacecraft models in New York back in January
with Richard Branson and Burt Rutan, and now the unveiling of EVE."
(8/22)
The Impulse to Be Specific (Source: Space Review)
Many commercial space ventures have grandiose visions and broad aims.
Bob Clarebrough explains why these companies might be better off
developing a much narrower focus that is easier to explain to and
convince investors and to achieve market success. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1191/1 to view the article.
(8/18)
Skin in the Game (Source: Space Review)
Finding compelling rationales for government human spaceflight programs
can be difficult. Greg Anderson argues that one explanation that might
work is that, without such efforts, governments might be able to
exercise little authority over private human expeditions and
settlements beyond Earth. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1190/1 to view the article.
(8/18)
Space Junkies Ask 'Who Owns the Moon?' (Source: Cnet)
Within the next 10 years, the U.S., China, Israel, and a host of private
companies plan to set up camp on the moon. So if and when they plant a
flag, does that give them property rights? A NASA working group hosted
a discussion this week to ask: who owns the moon? The answer, of
course, is no one. The Outer Space Treaty, the international law signed
by more than 100 countries, states that the moon and other celestial
bodies are the province of all mankind. No doubt that would irk all of
the people throughout the ages, like monks from the Middle Ages, who
have tried to claim the moon was theirs.
But ownership is different from property rights. People who rent
apartments, for example, don't own where they live, but they still hold
rights. So with all of the upcoming missions to visit the moon and
beyond, space industry thought leaders are seriously asking themselves
how to deal with a potential land rush, cowboy-style. Visit http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-10024047-76.html to view the article.
(8/23)
Oceaneering Plans to Resubmit Constellation Space Suit Proposal
(Source: Oceaneering)
Oceaneering International intends to submit a revised proposal to NASA
for development and production of the Constellation Space Suit System
(CSSS). NASA's initial contract award to Oceaneering was terminated for
the convenience of the government. Based on a narrow compliance issue,
NASA intends to re-open limited discussions, request new final proposal
revisions, and re-award the contract. The Government Accountability
Office (GAO) has dismissed the protest by a competitor of the initial
contract award. Mark Gittleman, Vice-President and General Manager of
Oceaneering Space Systems, stated, "While we are disappointed that NASA
terminated our contract, we believe in their process and support their
decision. We are pleased the GAO has dismissed the protest. We look
forward to submitting a limited final proposal revision as required by
NASA and to a timely contract award." (8/21)
NASA Seeks Input For Commercial Lunar Communications And
Navigation (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
NASA issued a Request for Information, or RFI, on Monday to gauge
interest and solicit ideas from private companies in providing
communications and navigation services that would support the
development of exploration, scientific and commercial capabilities on
the moon over the next 25 years. NASA plans to establish science
stations on the lunar surface beginning as early as 2013. (8/20)
Rocket Scientists Say We'll Never Reach the Stars (Source:
WIRED)
Many believe that humanity's destiny lies with the stars. Sadly for us,
rocket propulsion experts now say we may never even get out of the
Solar System. At a recent conference, rocket scientists from NASA, the
Air Force and academia doused humanity's interstellar dreams in cold
reality. The scientists analyzed many of the designs for advanced
propulsion that others have proposed for interstellar travel. The
calculations show that, even using the most theoretical of
technologies, reaching the nearest star in a human lifetime is nearly
impossible.
"In those cases, you are talking about a scale of engineering that you
can't even imagine," Paulo Lozano, an assistant professor of
aeronautics and astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology and a conference attendee, said in a recent interview. The
major problem is that propulsion -- shooting mass backwards to go
forwards -- requires large amounts of both time and fuel. For instance,
using the best rocket engines Earth currently has to offer, it would
take 50,000 years to travel the 4.3 light years to Alpha Centauri, our
solar system's nearest neighbor. Even the most theoretically efficient
type of propulsion, an imaginary engine powered by antimatter, would
still require decades to reach Alpha Centauri. (8/19)
Cracking the Question of Life (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
With average temperatures of minus 260 degrees Fahrenheit, an almost
nonexistent atmosphere and a complex web of cracks in a layer of ice
encompassing the entire surface, the environment on Jupiter's moon
Europa is about as alien as they come. So are the enormous forces
behind the surface display, namely an ocean beneath the ice nine times
deeper than Earth's deepest ocean trench and gravitational affects from
a planet 318 times the mass of Earth. Visit http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Cracking_The_Question_Of_Alien_Life_999.html to view the article.
(8/18)
Astronomers Find a New
"Minor Planet" near Neptune (Source: Universe Today)
Astronomers announced today that a new "minor planet" with an unusual
orbit has been found just two billion miles from Earth, closer than Neptune. Using the Sloan Digital
Sky Survey, astronomers detected a small, comet-like object called 2006
SQ372, which is likely made of rock and ice. However, its orbit never
brings it close enough to the sun for it to develop a tail. Its unusual
orbit is an ellipse that is four times longer than it is wide, said University of Washington astronomer Andrew Becker,
who led the discovery team. The only known object with a comparable
orbit is Sedna — the distant, Pluto-like dwarf planet discovered in
2003. But 2006 SQ372's orbit takes it more than one-and-a-half times
further from the Sun, and its orbital period is nearly twice as long.
(8/18)
Hitching a Ride to the Oort Cloud (Source: Space Review)
Astronomers have discovered objects that appear to be from the distant
Oort Cloud in orbits that come closer to the Sun than Neptune. Taylor Dinerman
describes how NASA and partners could use those objects mount a mission
to explore those distant icy bodies. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1189/1 to view the article.
(8/18)
Dark Energy Spacecraft Could Fly Faster than Light
(Source: Cosmos)
A futuristic engine that uses dark energy to propel a spaceship faster
than light is theoretically possible, and could revolutionize space
travel, U.S. scientists say. The idea is backed up by calculations made
by physicists at Baylor University. Like something from the
world of Star Trek, their theory says that a spacecraft could travel at
'warp speed' in a bubble of space-time by manipulating dark energy, the
mysterious invisible force accelerating the expansion of the universe.
The spacecraft would essentially remain in the same place, they said,
while space-time ahead of the spaceship shrank, and expanded again
behind it. The warp engine is based on the 'Alcubierre warp drive', a
mathematical model of a method of stretching space in a wave that was
first proposed by Mexican physicist Michael Alcubierre in 1994. (8/18)
Air Force, ULA to Study Guidelines for ESPA Ring (Source:
Space News)
United Launch Alliance is working with the U.S. Air Force to develop
guidelines that could pave the way for routine launches by 2011 of
small secondary payloads aboard Atlas 5 and Delta 4 rockets. The
guidelines would provide commercial companies, university and
government researchers a standard set of requirements for launching
their payloads in unused space aboard the two rockets, which are the
backbone of the Air Force's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV)
program.
Small satellite industry officials have expressed frustration over the
fact that Delta and Atlas rockets routinely leave the launch pad with
excess space on board that could be used to get small payloads into
orbit. Three upcoming Air Force launches will carry secondary payloads
using the EELV Secondary Payload Adapter (ESPA), and ULA is working
with the Air Force to identify more ESPA opportunities. The pace of
integrating ESPA, however, has not kept pace with the rising focus —
particularly in the military — on building smaller, cheaper
constellations of small satellites for commercial and military
applications such as Earth monitoring and communications.
One estimate of all Atlas and Delta launches scheduled through 2013
suggests there would be 13,500 kilograms of excess lift capacity still
available during those five years, once the primary payload was
subtracted from the equation. (8/23)
Inmarsat Picks Thales Alenia, ILS for S-Band Satellite
(Source: Space News)
Inmarsat has selected Thales Alenia Space to build a large S-band
satellite for two-way mobile communications in Europe to be launched
aboard an International Launch Services (ILS) Proton Breeze M rocket in
early 2011, London-based Inmarsat announced Aug. 22. The satellite
construction and launch agreements are subject to Inmarsat's receipt of
a license from the European Commission to operate the service. (8/23)
Orbital Sciences To Build Next Intelsat Satellite (Source:
Space News)
Orbital Sciences Corp. will build Intelsat's IS-18 satellite under a
contract Dulles, Va.-based Orbital announced Aug. 21. IS-18 will
operate from 180 degrees east and will replace the IS-701 satellite
currently in operation there and in orbit since October 1993. Orbital
said IS-18 is the third order this year for the company's Star-2
commercial geostationary satellite platform. Company officials told
investors in July that they expect to end the year with four or five
new commercial Star-2 orders. IS-18 will carry 24 C-band and 12 Ku-band
transponders and deliver 4.9 kilowatts of power to the payload. (8/23)
Surrey to Establish Satellite Subsidiary in Colorado
(Source: Space News)
As Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. awaits European Commission approval
for its sale to EADS Astrium, the company is establishing a U.S.
subsidiary it hopes will mirror its U.K.-based satellite manufacturing
operation by 2012. The subsidiary, Surrey Satellite Technology US, is led by the company's
commercial director, John Paffett, who said the United States offers some of the
greatest potential for growth in the small satellite market. The
company plans to grow its staff of four to 250 employees during the
next three-and-a-half years and open offices in Washington and Los Angeles, Paffett said. The
company will build its satellites in Denver. (8/23)
Angola to Launch "Angosat"
Satellite
(Source: Xinhua)
The Angolan government has formalized a project to produce, launch and
operate an Angolan satellite dubbed "Angosat". The project also
includes the creation of human resources and relevant infrastructures,
said the report. The Angolan government has approved the contracts for
the building, placing in orbit and operation of the "Angosat" satellite
signed between Angola's Ministry of Postal and
Telecommunication and the Russian consortium "Rosoboronexport". (8/24)
New Interest in Satellites Strengthens General Dynamics Unit
(Source: AIA)
General Dynamics' Spectrum Astro unit is seeing stronger demand for its
ultra-high-tech products and is winning key contracts with private
firms and NASA. The company's factory has produced three satellites in
2008, already the best year in its history. (8/22)
Satellites Track Mexico Kidnap Victims With Chips (Source:
Reuters)
Wealthy Mexicans, terrified of soaring kidnapping rates, are spending
thousands of dollars to implant tiny transmitters under their skin so
satellites can help find them tied up in a safe house or stuffed in the
trunk of a car. Kidnapping jumped almost 40 percent between 2004 and
2007 in Mexico according to official
statistics. Mexico ranks with conflict zones
like Iraq and
|
