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September
7, 2009
Super-Secret Atlas Flight Set For Tuesday Night (Source: Florida
Today)
An Atlas V rocket and its classified payload were given a preliminary green
light for launch next week as United Launch Alliance and an unidentified U.S.
government customer agreed to press ahead with final countdown preparations.
The 191-foot-tall Atlas V and its clandestine cargo are scheduled to blast
off from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 5:35 p.m.
Tuesday. The launch window will extend through 7:45 p.m. that night. (9/4)
Augustine Commission Delays Report Release (Source: Orlando
Sentinel)
An independent space panel won't release its report on American human
spaceflight today as expected. Instead the commission is shooting for a
release in mid-September, said NASA's liaison to the 10-member panel, led by
retired Lockheed Martin CEO Norm Augustine. The committee, however, aims to
send a draft of their executive summary to NASA and the White House sometime
in the next 36 hours, said NASA official Phil McAlister. He said the report
won't contain any surprises and should correspond to four to seven options
developed in hearings earlier this month. These include plans to rely on
commercial rocket companies to reach the International Space Station and
build a free-ranging spaceship capable of exploring the inner solar system.
But all the options are hamstrung by NASA budgets that don't provide enough
resources, the panel concluded. (8/31)
White House to Receive Augustine Summary Tuesday (Source: Orlando
Sentinel)
An independent space panel is expected on Tuesday to present the White House
with a "summary report" of its recommendations for NASA's future,
according to the panel's website. The report follows weeks of public hearings
aimed at finding the best course for NASA's human spaceflight program, which
faces an uncertain future. (9/4)
Obama Administration Mulls U.S. Human
Spaceflight Future
(Source: Space.com)
President Barack Obama is not expected to significantly boost the projected
funding profile for NASA's manned spaceflight program in the next few years,
despite warnings that the space agency needs between $3 billion and $4
billion more annually to send astronauts back to the Moon, according to
sources with ties to the administration.
Instead, White House and NASA officials are scrubbing NASA's 2010 budget
proposal for potential cost savings over the next decade that could help fund
some means of sending astronauts beyond low Earth orbit as soon as 2020. One
possibility being weighed by the administration is abandoning the idea of
astronaut landings on the Moon in favor of missions that would take
astronauts on close flybys of heavenly bodies such as asteroids. (9/3)
Giving NASA a Clear Mission (Source: Space Review)
A common refrain among space advocates is that NASA is given too much to do
and too little funding to accomplish it. G. Ryan Faith makes the case for
giving NASA a straightforward mission -- space exploration -- and
prioritizing its tasks accordingly. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1456/1 to view the
article. (8/31)
Join The Debate And Vote On NASA's Future (Source: Florida
Today)
The White House is facing big decisions about NASA's human space flight
program and we're launching a special online poll and town hall forum to find
out what you think. Should President Obama extend shuttle fleet operations?
Should the International Space Station be ditched in the Pacific in 2016 as
planned? Should NASA cancel the Ares I rocket and rely on commercial or
military launchers to send up U.S. astronauts? Should NASA go back to the
moon? Straight to Mars? Or perhaps an asteroid?
All of the options will result in job losses at the Kennedy Space Center.
We'd like you to weigh in by voting on our 10 poll questions and sharing your
more detailed thoughts in a week-long forum starting now. You can interact
there with our space reporters and editors as well as some special guests.
You can find it all by clicking here now. (9/6)
To the Moon, NASA? Not on This Budget,
Experts Say
(Source: AP)
"NASA has been like a star athlete that's broken world records back in
the 1960s and is stuck in the bleachers ever since, unable to suit up for
what it does best," said space scientist Alan Stern, who quit last year
as NASA's associate administrator for science. But, as has been the case
since about 1971, money is holding engineers back, Stern said. "Bush
never delivered on his promise to up NASA's funding," Stern said. He
added that the previous NASA administrator "tried cannibalizing NASA (to
pay for exploration) but that wasn't enough. (8/31)
Augustine Committee Ideas Require More Money (Source: Florida Today)
When President Barack Obama decides what to do with the manned spaceflight
report a blue-ribbon panel will submit to the White House, the success of the
option he chooses will depend largely on one factor, lawmakers say. Money.
"The No. 1 most significant thing that needs to happen -- whichever
choice is made -- is that sufficient funding must go with the
recommendation," said U.S. Rep. Suzanne Kosmas, a New Smyrna Beach
Democrat whose district includes Kennedy Space Center. "In the past,
there have been visions with funding that didn't match," she said.
U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski, the Maryland Democrat who chairs the Senate
Appropriations panel that oversees NASA funding, agreed: "NASA has been
asked to do too much with too little." It's not clear how Obama will
react to the report outlined by the 10-member Augustine Panel. But John
Logsdon, former director of George Washington University's Space Policy
Institute, said the choices are not mutually exclusive. "You can take
some of one, and mix it with some of another," he said. Both Kosmas and
U.S. Rep. Bill Posey, R-Rockledge, have pushed for using the shuttles beyond
their expected 2011 retirement date. (8/31)
Asteroid Mission Getting Attention (Source: Florida Today)
I love the movie Armageddon. Sure, the movie wildly departs from the
realities of space flight. Two souped-up, top-secret military space shuttles
are rolled out on a moment's notice, shipped to Kennedy Space Center and
launched within minutes of another from adjoining pads. A bunch of barely
trained oil riggers make up an astronaut crew asked to save the world by
crash-landing on a monster asteroid and bust it apart with a nuclear warhead.
Oh, and they're supposed to fly safely home.
However, the underlying premise of the movie is very real, and more and more
people are starting to say it would be a good idea for NASA to look at
sending astronauts to an asteroid. Among them: the panel of space experts who
are delivering their final report on the future of NASA to President Barack
Obama this week. (8/31)
NASA Aims for a Mars Landing in 30 Years (Source: Orlando
Sentinel)
Forget racing to the moon. Some planners within NASA want the space agency to
delay its mission of returning astronauts to lunar surface by 2020 and
instead set its sights on Mars, according to an internal paper that surfaced
Friday afternoon. The six-page proposal envisions a 30-year plan for
exploration. Access to low-Earth orbit, including the International Space
Station, would be left to commercial rocket companies so NASA could focus on
the “higher-risk development” of spacecraft “needed for the path to Mars.”
This plan does not rule out a return trip to the moon. But the moon and
asteroids are viewed as “proving grounds” meant to help researchers develop
technologies capable of reaching Mars -- a distinction from the Bush
administration plan of establishing moon outposts. “NASA must remain the
world leader in human spaceflight and lead humankind to prepare for missions
to Mars. We are going to Mars because it is civilization’s next major
challenge,” notes the paper. “It is exciting, inspiring and what NASA should
be doing.” (9/4)
Editorial: A One-Way Ticket to Mars (Source: New York
Times)
Now that the hype surrounding the 40th anniversary of the Moon landings has
come and gone, we are faced with the grim reality that if we want to send
humans back to the Moon the investment is likely to run in excess of $150
billion. The cost to get to Mars could easily be two to four times that, if
it is possible at all. It is quickly becoming clear that going to the Moon or
Mars in the next decade or two will be impossible without a much bigger
budget than has so far been allocated. Is it worth it?
The most challenging impediment to human travel to Mars does not seem to
involve the complicated launching, propulsion, guidance or landing
technologies but something far more mundane: the radiation emanating from the
Sun’s cosmic rays. The shielding necessary to ensure the astronauts do not
get a lethal dose of solar radiation on a round trip to Mars may very well
make the spacecraft so heavy that the amount of fuel needed becomes
prohibitive. There is, however, a way to surmount this problem while reducing
the cost and technical requirements, but it demands that we ask this vexing
question: Why are we so interested in bringing the Mars astronauts home
again? (9/1)
Extending Space Station Key to Mars (Source: Reuters)
Getting humans to Mars will require medical research on the International
Space Station through at least 2020, said the program's lead scientist,
presenting a time frame five years beyond NASA's current budget forecast.
Extending the life of the station, a $100 billion project of 16 nations that
is nearing completion after more than a decade of construction, was a
surprise finding of the presidential panel reviewing the U.S. human space
program.
"NASA needs the ISS," program scientist Julie Robinson said.
"A six-month stay on the space station is going to be the best analog
we're ever going to have for a six-month microgravity transit to Mars in the
future." The study team's report was to be delivered to the White House
this week but was not expected to be publicly disclosed until mid- to
late-September. The panel also said NASA's $18 billion annual budget, about
half of which is spent on human space projects, falls about $3 billion a year
short for Constellation, the moon-and-beyond exploration initiative NASA
plans after it retires the space shuttle and station programs. (9/2)
Astronauts Continue Rigging ISS For Science (Source: Aviation Week)
The 13 astronauts and cosmonauts on the space shuttle Discovery and the
International Space Station took some time off Friday before plunging into
preparations for the third and final spacewalk of the docked portion of their
mission. Halfway through the 13-day STS-128 mission, the two crews had
accomplished two of their most important tasks - delivering NASA astronaut
Stott as the replacement for Tim Kopra, also of NASA, on the space station
crew, and swapping out a depleted ammonia-tank with a fresh unit containing
600 pounds of fresh coolant. The astronauts will also replace a rate gyro
assembly and a remote power control module, connect some heater cables, route
some avionics cables for the Tranquility pressurized node scheduled to arrive
in February 2010, and perform other maintenance tasks. (9/4)
Low Earth Orbit: Two Pieces of Space Junk Pass in the Night (Source:
What's New)
A portion of a European Arianne 5 rocket passed within a mile of the ISS and
the shuttle Discovery. There are about 19,000 objects larger than 10 cm that
are known to be in low-Earth orbit. This piece was much larger, but even a 10
cm piece of junk is big enough to bring down the ISS. As serious as the space
junk problem is, the ISS is far more likely to be brought down by a piece of
paper bearing the report of the Augustine panel. The panel has presumably
delivered its report to the White House. Norm Augustine is scheduled to
testify on the group’s findings in back-to-back hearings before the House and
Senate on Sep 15-16. (9/4)
Orion Passes Milestone As Questions Loom (Source: Aviation Week)
Putting the Orion crew exploration vehicle atop a new rocket would require a
year or two more work to get back to its current stage of development,
project managers said Sep. 1. NASA experts completed their preliminary design
review (PDR) on the four-seat capsule Aug. 31, and cleared project engineers
to begin work on detailed design. The only major open issue involved the
parachute system in the capsule's forward bay, which had "gotten pretty
heavy and difficult to deploy," according to a project manager. That is
being redesigned, with a separate PDR coming up "within a month."
"I think we have a way to close that for sure in the near term,"
Geyer said in a telephone press conference Sept. 1. But while the final PDR
board vote was unanimous in favor of moving ahead with design of the Orion,
the vehicle's future will be shaped by decisions growing out of the report of
the Augustine Panel. (9/2)
Orion
Would Fly Late if New Rocket Ordered (Source: Florida Today)
The first flights of the next-generation Orion spacecraft would be pushed
back at least a year or two if NASA is directed to scrap the Ares I rocket
and switch to another launcher, officials said Tuesday. NASA would have to
redo design work that already has been finished on the Orion — Apollo-like
capsules designed to fly U.S. astronauts on moon missions or to the
International Space Station. “Swapping out rockets seems like it’s just a straight-forward
thing, but we have to keep the entire mission in mind,” said Jeff Hanley,
manager of NASA’s Project Constellation, which is developing Ares rockets and
Orion spacecraft. (9/2)
The 'Save Ares' Campaign Goes Online (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
The push to save NASA's newest rocket went online this week with a new video
that encourages viewers to tell Congress and the White House that it should
stick with the Constellation program and not "take a chance" with
other spacecraft designs. A video uses selected clips from the Augustine
Panel, but it largely cherry picks testimony from hours of panel hearings and
gives the impression that the Panel supports Constellation more than it
actually does.
The video was posted at the same time that contractors who are working on the
Constellation program -- including Lockheed Martin and solid-rocket
manufacturer ATK -- are setting up a major lobbying effort to persuade
Congress to allow NASA to continue work on the Ares 1 for at least another
year. Because "rounderb" is anonymous, it's impossible to tell
whether the video is connected to that effort. Click here to view the video.
(9/3)
Ares May Look Dead but Keeps Kicking (Source: Orlando
Sentinel)
Critics of NASA's Ares 1 rocket have all but declared the program dead. But
Ares 1 contractors are fighting back with a campaign to convince the White
House that their plan to replace the space shuttle should continue. The
ultimate decision rests with the Obama administration, which has not yet
taken a public stand on its preference. "It's not dead. But is it [Ares
1] the optimal choice? I don't know," said Leroy Chiao, a panel member
and former astronaut. Champions of Ares insist that after four years — and $3
billion — the program is too far along to throw away. (9/6)
NASA and ATK Schedule Ares-1 Motor Test on
Sep. 10
(Source: NASA)
NASA and Alliant Techsystems Inc., or ATK, have rescheduled the test of the
new first-stage solid rocket motor for the Ares I rocket. The static firing
of the five-segment solid motor, designated development motor -1, is
scheduled for 1 p.m. MDT on Thursday, Sep. 10, at the ATK test facility in
Promontory, Utah. The first firing attempt on Aug. 27 was scrubbed because of
an anomaly with the ground test controller. (9/4)
NASA's
Vision Needs Hard Questions, Perhaps an Entrepreneurial Boost (Source: Washington
Post)
"Shoot for the moon," goes the old saying. "Even if you miss,
you'll land among the stars." Lately, this seems to be NASA's strategy.
Its vision for human space exploration, the Constellation Project, envisions
landing on the moon by 2020 and on Mars by 2037. Devised after the commission
investigating the Columbia shuttle disaster found that the space program
suffered as much from a lack of vision as from technical failure, this lofty
mission sought to fill the vision vacuum and encourage a new generation of
Americans to look upward. The vision came at a price. Although proponents
noted that the Constellation Project was small in the grand scheme of the
federal budget, the plan would cost billions of dollars.
So it is little wonder that the Augustine Panel has been expressing concern.
If the committee's public comments are any indication, its findings will be
grim: NASA's recent budget cuts render the current manned mission plan
impossible. This is not the first time NASA's plans have suffered from lack
of fiscal foresight: Once the international space station is completed next
year, the current budget calls for deorbiting it by 2016. Maybe it's time to
take a step back to assess the right role for a manned space program that
requires billions of dollars annually -- and for what? Certainly, boldly
going where no man has gone before is an American creed. But with the advent
of increasingly complex and precise instruments, science in space requires
less and less input from astronauts. Groundbreaking research can occur
without humans. NASA should not have to sacrifice programs that are truly
ground-breaking to keep the international space station manned and supplied.
(9/1)
Private Enterprise's Ticket to Fly Into
Space
(Source: Washington Post)
Perhaps, someday, going into space will be as mundane as flying on a
commercial aircraft: Buy the ticket online, drive to the aerodrome, shuffle
through a cattle-pen security line, grab a burger in the food court, watch a
mediocre movie on the way up, and so on. Here's a somewhat more plausible
scenario: In the near future, U.S. astronauts could ride into orbit on a
rocket that says, on its side, "SpaceX." Or some such exotic
company name. The prospect of commercialized spaceflight -- with astronauts
going into orbit on rockets owned and operated by private companies -- is
becoming more plausible as the White House awaits a sweeping review of the
human spaceflight program. (9/4)
Jump-Starting the Space Program, With Profit Motive (Source: Weekly
Standard)
The reason little has happened in space exploration since 1969 was typically
reported as having something to do with the end of the Cold War. But few
commentators asked why no other motivation for investment in space had
emerged in the United States or other countries. The reason is simple: a lack
of incentives. What actually happened to space exploration is that just
before the moon landing, in 1967, the Treaty on Principles Governing the
Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the
Moon and Other Celestial Bodies went into force.
This treaty prohibits any nation from claiming ownership of any part of outer
space. The treaty states that "outer space, including the moon and other
celestial bodies, is not subject to national appropriation by claim of
sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means." And
that, in a nutshell, explains why few are interested in spending money to go
there. The principal benefits from space exploration are national prestige
and technological spinoffs. Thus, a rising power such as China is interested
in expanding its space program. Although peaceful economic exploitation is
not prohibited, in the absence of property rights a company or a country
probably could not capitalize on a mineral discovery or the settlement of a
planet.
Further, the treaty specifies that all exploration and use of outer space
"shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all
countries, irrespective of the degree of their economic or scientific development."
On earth, there is a traditional distinction between terra nullius,
"land belonging to no one," which can be claimed through discovery
and settlement, and res communis, the high seas and other areas that cannot
be claimed by any country. This distinction allowed Christopher Columbus, for
example, to both promise much and bargain hard. Had he been barred from
claiming lands and precious metals for his patrons, it is doubtful anyone
would have funded his voyages--or that he would have wanted to go himself. He
insisted on retaining 10 percent of the profits of the voyage, hereditary
governorship of the lands he hoped to discover, and much else. (9/5)
LaRouche: Why Mankind Must Venture Out Into Space (Source: EIRNA.com)
At a private luncheon with diplomats in Washington on Aug. 19, American
economist Lyndon LaRouche was asked about the call for a 50-year program for
a manned mission to Mars, that he had issued in his Aug.1 webcast. LaRouche
first stressed the "long-term human reason for the space program."
We cannot simply stay on Earth, he said, "like prisoners waiting for the
catastrophes that are likely to happen to our planet." Although that may
be in distant future, we must prepare for it now.
Secondly, he said, to maintain an economy, you need a high rate of scientific
and technological progress. "To do that, you need a driver program.
Competent people understood that if mankind wanted to go into space, we had
to start by going to our Moon, and establishing a base there, on which to
build the industries and equipment you need to to go into space -
economically. (9/5)
Is the Near-Earth Space Frontier Closed? (Source: Space
Review)
Much of what made the Space Age possible was driven by the development of
ICBMs and related spacecraft systems. Andrew Tubbiolo argues that this legacy
may make it more difficult for commercial and civil entities to expand their
activities in Earth orbit. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1454/1 to view the
article. (8/31)
Editorial:
Humans Too Attached to Terrestrial Life, Lack Curiosity(Source: Daily
Cardinal)
Do you realize that we’re floating in space? It’s something I found myself
saying over and over again this summer, while being bombarded with coverage
of Apollo 11’s 40th anniversary as well as the Parseids meteor shower in
July. I also found myself asking, why aren’t we out there in space? Why
aren’t we exploring like we used to? Have we run out of curiosity? I
supplemented my cosmic ruminations with countless episodes of the BBC sci-fi
series “Doctor Who,” watching as David Tennant’s terribly clever Doctor
guided mankind safely through the perils of the galaxy in his spaceship
cloaked as a police call-box. “Brilliant,” the Doctor would exclaim upon
finding humans somewhere out amongst the stars. “So far from Earth, out here
only to explore.” (9/4)
Martian Meteorite May Have Held Life (Source: New Scientist)
More than a decade after the furor over a Martian meteorite that some claimed
contained fossil microbes, a new analysis suggests the rock's environment on
Mars was conducive to life. In 1996, some scientists argued that ALH 84001, a
Martian rock found in Antarctica, contained complex carbon-based molecules
and some microscopic markings shaped like bacteria. Sceptics said that the
shapes were ambiguous and that the molecules could have been formed at
temperatures of 650 °C or so. Even the hardiest known microbes on Earth die
above about 120 °C.
But an analysis of the other mineral deposits in ALH 84001 - such as those
containing calcium and iron - by Paul Niles of NASA's Johnson Space Center in
Houston, Texas, and his team suggests that water surrounded the rock and had
been cool enough for life to thrive. "These minerals were formed in what
is very likely to have been a habitable environment," says Niles. (9/3)
Moon Dust Not as Strange as Hoped (Source: New Scientist)
Ever since a 1998 space shuttle experiment saw what appeared to be an
anomalously heavy variety of matter, the hunt has been on for more of the
same. Now, a search of lunar soil for so-called "strange matter"
has come up short, casting doubt on whether it exists at all. The standard
model of particle physics describes six types of quark, including the up and
down quarks which make up protons and neutrons, found inside ordinary atoms.
Physicists have long theorised about strange matter that would also contain
strange quarks. Strange matter is heavier and denser than ordinary matter, as
the strange quark has roughly 10 times the mass of the up or down quark.
Researchers took 15 grams of lunar soil from the Apollo missions and
accelerated the grains past a powerful magnet. Any strangelets present would
curve less in the magnetic field than normal matter - but none was observed.
(9/2)
Moon is Target for High-Energy Cosmic Rays (Source: Cosmos)
Astronomers have found a new way to search for high-energy cosmic rays, the
most energetic particles in the universe, by scanning the face of the Moon.
Cosmic rays stream through space and constantly bombard the Earth's
atmosphere. They pose little threat to us on the planet's surface, but can
cause electronic glitches in satellites in space and, in high doses, are
dangerous for astronauts. Their origin has not been proven, although theories
suggest they may be created by the supermassive black holes thought to be at
the heart of galaxies or result from the decay of massive particles leftover
from the Big Bang. (9/2)
Mission to Mercury (Source: MIT
Technology Review)
The European Space Agency (ESA) has announced that its newest satellite,
called BepiColombo, will travel to Mercury using ion-electric thrusters
developed by U.K. company QinetiQ. The space agency already uses a smaller
version of the same system--made of T5 ion thrusters--aboard its GOCE
satellite, which launched earlier this year to measure earth's gravitational
field. BepiColombo, which is scheduled to launch in 2014, will use four T6
ion thrusters. The company says the thrusters used in both spacecraft are ten
times more efficient than traditional chemical ones. ESA awarded QinetiQ a
contract worth $37.4 million to build the electric propulsion system. (9/3)
Is Europa Our Best Hope for Finding Extraterrestrial Life? (Source:
Discover)
Jupiter’s moon Europa is a forbidding world, yet NASA intends to devote
billions of dollars over the next decade to getting there. At the center of
this effort will be the most complicated orbital explorer ever built, each of
its components carefully armored against the deadly stream of particles in
Jupiter’s massive wake. The orbiter will require six years to reach its
destination. Then, when it arrives at Europa, engineers will consider the
mission successful if it survives for just three months of exploration before
shorting out. (9/4)
The Hunt for Habitable Exomoons (Source: Astronomy Now)
While astronomers keenly await the discovery of Earth-like planets around
other stars, the possibility of habitable moons should not be ruled out
either, say scientists. NASA's Kepler spacecraft launched earlier this year
with the hunt for Earth-like planets the primary goal of the mission. It will
make detections using the transit method – by looking for the characteristic
dips in stellar brightness as a planet passes in front of its parent star.
An exomoon’s gravity tugs on the planet it orbits, making the planet wobble
during its orbit around its host star. Kepler should be able to record the
resulting changes in the position and velocity of the planet during these
transits. Low density Saturn-like planets give the best possible chance for
detecting moons since their low mass means they wobble much more than
comparatively heavier planets like Jupiter. An even more exciting scenario is
if the Saturn-like planet orbits within the not-too-hot, not-too-cold
'Goldilocks zone' of the star then liquid water could be stable on any
sufficiently large moon, and the presence of water is crucial for life as we
know it. (9/4)
Mt. Wilson Observatory Escapes Serious Damage (Source: LA Times)
The historic Mt. Wilson Observatory, site of some of the greatest
astronomical discoveries of the 20th century, appears to have escaped serious
damage from the Station fire, but scientists working on the mountain say the
blaze still managed to take a toll on the ongoing research there. As many as
40 different projects were underway at the observatory and some people had
waited a year to get observing time. They will have to be rescheduled.
"Losing observing time is a small problem compared to losing the
observatory," said an observatory director. (9/3)
A Second California Observatory in Peril (Source: Sky & Telescope)
For the past week firefighters have staged an all-out effort to save the
historic observatory atop Mount Wilson in Southern California from the
devastating Station Fire, which by Wednesday had engulfed some 200 square
miles of the rugged San Gabriel Mountains. But the fate of a second big scope
in the area remains unknown — and prospects for its survival are much more
dire. Located just 5 miles northeast of Mount Wilson, Stony Ridge Observatory
is home to a 30-inch telescope. It's historic in its own right, a facility
built by and for amateurs. When completed by its 15 founders in 1963, its big
eye was the eighth largest telescope in California and likely ranked as the
largest amateur scope in the United States. (9/3)
UCLA Astronomers Wait Anxiously to Learn Fate of Research Project (Source:
UCLA Today)
UCLA astronomers are anxiously waiting today (Sep. 1) to see whether the
massive wildfire that has scorched more than 100,000 acres so far will end
their long-term project to supply NASA with data on magnetic fields at the
surface of the sun. Their research depends on scientific equipment located at
the base and on top of a 150-foot solar tower located at the Mount Wilson
Observatory, which has been the focus of a firefighting effort to save the
40-acre complex, where critical communication facilities for television and
radio are located, as well as various research projects run separately by
UCLA, UC Berkeley, USC, Caltech and Georgia Tech. Two UCLA staff observers,
one of whom lives at the observatory complex, were evacuated Friday night.
(9/2)
Space
Scientists Meet at ASU to Plan Mars Exploration (Source: ASU)
What should be the nation's goals and priorities for exploring Mars in the 2013
to 2022 timeframe? To help answer this question, space scientists from the
United States and around the world will gather Sep. 9-11 at the Faculty Club
on ASU's Tempe campus. Most of the discussions will be open to the public, in
person and by webcast at http://nasa-nai.acrobat.com/psdecadal/. The meeting is
sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences as part of its efforts to
prepare a "Planetary Decadal Survey." The survey is not limited to
just Mars but will cover all aspects of solar system exploration. It will
broadly canvas planetary scientists to determine current knowledge and then
identify the most important scientific questions they will face in the years
2013-2022. (9/4)
Univ. of Arizona Lectures on Migrating Planets, Hazardous Asteroids Search
(Source: UA News)
The University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory is launching its
Fall 2009 Evening Lecture Series with talks on wandering solar system planets
and searches for hazardous asteroids from Mount Lemmon. The hour-long
lectures begin at 7 p.m. in the Room 308, the Kuiper Space Sciences Building
lecture hall. The Kuiper Space Sciences Building is located on the UA campus
at 1629 E. University Boulevard. (9/4)
NASA Approves CalTech X-Ray Space Mission (Source: NASA)
NASA recently confirmed that the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or
NuSTAR, mission will launch in August 2011. NuSTAR will carry the first
high-energy X-ray focusing telescopes into orbit, providing a much deeper,
clearer view of energetic phenomena such as black holes and supernova
explosions than any previous instrument has provided in this region of the
electromagnetic spectrum. NuSTAR is a NASA Small Explorer mission led by
Caltech, managed by JPL, and implemented by an international team of
scientists and engineers. (9/4)
New Mexico State University to Study Space
Weather
(Source: AP)
Astronomers at New Mexico State University plan to take weather forecasting a
step further. They have been awarded grants from the National Science
Foundation and NASA to better understand the depths of the sun and predict
weather in space, such as the magnetic storms that can develop on the sun and
cause havoc with satellites and power grids on Earth. Assistant astronomy professor
Jason Jackiewicz said the researchers will study the sun during
"sunquakes," probing its interior to determine the sun's internal
properties. Scientists hope to see where a magnetic field is born and how it
rises, as well as understand solar eruptions and flares. (9/5)
Brown Economists Measure GDP Growth from Outer Space (Source: Brown
University)
Measurements of economic growth often fall short for developing countries,
particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Three Brown University economists suggest
a way to improve GDP estimates for such areas by using images of nighttime
lights as seen from space. While almost all industrialized countries receive
a grade of A, nearly all sub-Saharan African countries get a grade of C or D.
Several countries do not appear in the table, including Iraq, Myanmar,
Somalia, and Liberia. To improve these estimates, researchers suggest
combining measured income data with the changes observed in a country’s
“night lights” as seen from outer space. Using U.S. weather satellite picture
composites, they look at changes in a region’s light density over a 10-year
period. “Consumption of nearly all goods in the evening requires lights,”
they write. “As income rises, so does light usage per person, in both
consumption activities and many investment activities.” (9/6)
Embry-Riddle to Host Aviation Law Meeting, Including Space Tourism
Discussion (Source: ERAU)
On Sep. 11, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University will host the tri-annual
meeting of the Aviation Law Committee of the Florida Bar. The attendees are
practicing attorneys from around the state who specialize in aviation law,
including transactional law, representing pilots in FAA enforcement actions,
personal injury, representing plaintiffs and defendants, and corporate
aviation. At the meeting, to be held at the Daytona Beach campus, the
committee members will hear presentations by personnel from the Daytona Air
Traffic Control Center (TRACON), as well as discussions of liability issues
related to space tourism, and the legal issues involved in training rotor
wing pilots. (9/4)
Embry-Riddle Blends Simulations for
Unmanned Aerial Systems with Real-Time Air Traffic (Source: ERAU)
As home to one of Embry-Riddle’s residential campuses, Daytona Beach boasts
the second-busiest general-aviation airport in the nation. However, one kind
of aircraft you won’t see at the airport is an Unmanned Aerial System (UAS).
Although UASs like Predator-B, Shadow, and Global Hawk are being relied on
more and more by the military, the use of unpiloted aircraft is rare in the
U.S. National Airspace System (NAS) because the current air traffic system
can’t ensure the separation of manned and unmanned aircraft. As the situation
now stands, the vehicles are primarily relegated to designated military
areas.
Nonetheless, the demand to expand NAS access for UASs is increasing because
they can perform certain tasks for longer durations, for less money, and in a
safer manner than piloted aircraft, tasks such as collecting weather
information inside hurricanes, tracking wildfires, securing our country’s
borders, and monitoring highway congestion. In response to this situation,
researchers at Embry-Riddle have developed a unique solution that will train
future UAS operators while also testing concepts that may ultimately lead to
integrating UASs into the National Airspace System.
“By using commercially available flight simulators, our researchers have
fused live real-world air traffic with that of simulated UAS operations,”
said Ted Beneigh, Embry-Riddle aeronautical science professor. “With this new
combination, we can transfer the training and testing of UASs from the sky to
the simulator while maintaining a level of realism to prepare UAS operators
of the future.” (9/1)
NASA, FAA Working in Tandem on NextGen (Source: AIA)
As the FAA ramps up efforts to boost the near-term benefits of NextGen
technology, NASA is focused on mid- to long-term pieces of the system to
facilitate a full roll-out by 2025. With two separate development tracks
under way, "The challenge is to make the connection between them as
robust as possible," says a NASA official. "They need to be
linked." Editor’s Note: FAA officials are working to integrate
space traffic requirements into the NextGen air traffic management system.
(9/1)
NASA Partners To Revolutionize Personal Transportation (Source:
SpaceRef.com)
NASA officials have signed an agreement with Unimodal Systems, LLC to
collaborate on the use of NASA-developed control software and human factors techniques
to evaluate acceleration, jerk and vibration of an advanced transportation
vehicle system. The control software was originally designed to control
robots and other applications. The collaboration will help NASA better
understand the softwares usefulness, human performance and safety.
This collaborative effort is anticipated to help NASA with its aeronautics
and space activities, while Unimodal gets to develop the next generation
high-speed transportation system, said Jeffery Smith, deputy chief of the
Entrepreneurial Initiatives Division at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett
Field, Calif. NASA will receive valuable feedback from our systems software
usage. (9/3)
Laser-Propelled Spaceships Could Transform Transportation (Source:
Space.com)
Beamed Energy Propulsion (BEP) is far more than a dream or idea: It is a
powerful enabling technology that will radically transform the future of air
and space transportation. It is physics, not imagination. BEP permits us to
build and fly hyper-energetic vehicles driven by remote sources of laser,
microwave, and mm-wave power. Such vehicles provide unique performance that
would be impossible to achieve with traditional, combustion-based engines.
Vehicles driven by BEP will be "greener," safer, smaller, lighter, faster,
and far more efficient than any currently existing means of flight transport.
(9/4)
Travel to Space in an Inflatable Elevator (Source: Times of India)
The idea of a space elevator that zooms people into space has long been the
dream of scientists, sci-fi writers such as Arthur C Clarke and even
children’s writer Roald Dahl. It was Dahl who famously wrote ‘Willy Wonka and
the Glass Elevator’. But a major hurdle in realizing the dream has been
finding the right construction material. Now, three scientists from York
University in Toronto, Raj Seth, Brendan Quine and George Zhu, have proposed
an inflatable space tower up to 20 km tall, which can carry people and
payloads into space.
The Toronto proposal is for a space elevator made of Kevlar, a light, strong,
synthetic fibre that is normally used for bullet-proof vests. The proposed
elevator would be a pressurized structure with compartments arranged in
vertical and horizontal sections. It would be stabilized with a variety of
balancing methods. "Inflatable structures have several advantages, such
as being lightweight, lower lifecycle costs, and simpler design with fewer
parts. The tower beam ...can be inflated with air, helium and/or hydrogen.”
(9/6)
Diamandis Finds The New Spirit of St. Louis (Source: Huffington Post)
Many people look at the X PRIZE Foundation and say, "WOW" - what a
great idea." What they may not know is how one person's initial concept
evolves to that "WOW" stage of achievement. Here's my journey.
Click here to view the
article, (9/3)
XCOR Reaches Significant Milestones on Lynx Engine Program (Source:
XCOR)
XCOR Aerospace announced it has reached several significant milestones in the
5K18 rocket engine test program. This is the engine that powers XCOR’s Lynx
suborbital spacecraft. “Like all of our rocket engines, this engine has
demonstrated the ability to be stopped and re-started using our safe and
reliable spark torch ignition system”, said XCOR CEO Jeff Greason. “The basic
cooling design has also been completed and the engine is able to run
continuously at thermal equilibrium. With those milestones reached, the 5K18
test program is now moving forward into a second phase of tuning and
optimization, in which we will also greatly increase our cumulative run
time.” (9/2)
ORBCOMM and SpaceX Reach Deal to Launch Satellite Constellation (Source:
SpaceX)
ORBCOMM Inc. SpaceX have reached an agreement for SpaceX to launch 18 ORBCOMM
Generation 2 (OG2) satellites to begin as early as the fourth quarter of 2010
through 2014. SpaceX will deliver ORBCOMM’s second-generation satellites into
low Earth orbit (LEO) for the purpose of supporting ORBCOMM’s existing
constellation of satellites, adding new features, and growing its global
Machine-to-Machine (M2M) and Automatic Identification System (AIS) offerings.
Each new satellite will be equipped with an enhanced communication payload
designed to increase subscriber capacity for M2M communication up to 12 times
over the current satellite constellation, increase message sizes, and include
AIS detection capability. SpaceX plans to launch the second-generation
satellites on multiple Falcon 1e launch vehicles. Designed from the ground up
by SpaceX, the Falcon 1e has upgraded propulsion, structures and avionics
systems in order to further improve reliability and mass-to-orbit capability.
(9/3)
SpaceX Delivers Space Station Hardware to
Support Future Commercial Launches (Source: SpaceX)
SpaceX has delivered the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS)
Ultra High Frequency (UHF) Communication Unit to Kennedy Space Center in
preparation for launch on Space Shuttle Atlantis. Atlantis will deliver the
unit to the International Space Station (ISS) to support SpaceX's future
flights to the orbiting laboratory. Developed by SpaceX, in collaboration
with NASA, the unit allows for communication between the ISS, SpaceX's Dragon
spacecraft, and ground-based mission control. The system also allows the ISS
crew to monitor an approaching or departing capsule. As part of NASA's COTS
competition, SpaceX will conduct flights of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle and
Dragon spacecraft, culminating in Dragon berthing with the ISS and then
returning to Earth. (9/1)
Peckham Leaves SpaceX to Rejoin Boeing (Source: Space
News)
Rob Peckham is returning to Boeing Satellite Systems International as vice
president of business development after only six months at SpaceX. Peckham, a
former president and general manager of Sea Launch, left that company in
March to become vice president of business development at SpaceX. Before
joining Long Beach, Calif.-based Sea Launch, where he worked for nine years,
Peckham worked for Hughes Space and Communications Co., now Boeing Satellite
Systems of El Segundo, Calif.
Peckham’s departure is the second quick exit of a former Sea Launch executive
from SpaceX, developer of the Falcon series of rockets and the Dragon capsule
designed for international space station resupply missions. Jim Maser,
Peckham’s predecessor at Sea Launch, left the company in March 2006 to join
SpaceX as president and chief operating officer, only to leave the following
December to take the reins at rocket engine maker Pratt & Whitney
Rocketdyne. (9/2)
Protecting the Space Workforce (Source: Space Review)
Cancellation of Defense Department programs and the uncertainty surrounding
NASA's exploration plans could lead to the loss of thousands of aerospace jobs.
Taylor Dinerman warns that such cuts could lead to a brain drain like the
ones seen after previous mass layoffs. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1455/1 to view the
article. (8/31)
'It Looks Good For Us Here' at Marshall (Source: Huntsville
Times)
Robert Lightfoot, Marshall Space Flight Center's new director, told center
employees Tuesday that Huntsville should be able to count on future NASA
launch and science work. "It looks good for us here," Lightfoot
said. "There are some concerns about the future, but decisions will be
made soon. We all still have a job to do. We cannot forget that there are six
space shuttle flights left, an Ares I test launch on schedule and science
research we perform here." (9/2)
NASA Langley to Lead $265 Million Climate-Change Study (Source: Daily
Press)
Most scientists agree sea levels will continue to rise. By how much and when
is another matter. It's an uncertainty the federal government hopes to solve
with CLARREO, a $265 million program led by NASA Langley Research Center.
Officially known as the Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity
Observatory, the program is one of 17 recommended in a 2007 National Research
Council study. The study blueprints the nation's earth science objectives for
the next 10 years. CLARREO has been in the works since 2007, but Langley
officials kept largely mum about it until Tuesday, when they unveiled details
before a few hundred employees. (9/2)
Space Rovers Tested in Arizona (Source: MIT
Technology Review)
At its annual Desert RATS event, NASA is testing new robots in a simulated
lunar environment. Each year a NASA-led team of researchers, called Desert
Research and Technology Studies (D-RATS), test their latest human-robotic
exploration systems in a simulated lunar environment in Arizona. This year,
the agency is conducting a 14-day mission during which two crew members--an
astronaut and a geologist--will live inside a Lunar Electric Rover (LER).
They will only leave the rover--wearing spacesuits--to perform simulated
moonwalks.
The event kicked off on August 28 and will continue until September 18. It
will include testing NASA's K-10 rover, designed for reconnaissance and
mapping, and its Tri-ATHLETE rover, a heavy-lifter that carries a habitat for
the LER to dock to. The field tests are important in the development of
NASA's planetary robotic systems--it not only gives engineers and technicians
experience with the equipment, but it ensures their reliability for future
missions. (9/2)
Orbital Sciences Opens New Arizona Facility (Source: East Valley
Tribune)
Orbital Sciences Corp. has taken possession of a new 82,000-square-foot
building in south Chandler, Arizona, and has started moving employees into
the new space. Located across the street from the company's main complex, the
new building will provide office space for about 300 program managers and
engineers in the company's Launch Systems Group. Currently, those employees
are crowded together at other Orbital locations in Chandler, and the new
building will give them more room to work, said Jim Utter, deputy general
manager for business operations. No additional hiring is taking place, he
said. (9/5)
Space: Hawaii's Final Frontier? (Source: Honolulu Magazine)
It sounds like science fiction. But to Jim Crisafulli, director of Hawaii’s
Office of Aerospace Development, civilian space travel is as real as jet
travel to and from the Mainland. Thanks to House Bill 994, which passed in
July, Hawaii will, over the next three years, conduct environmental impact
studies and community input surveys in the hopes of joining the ranks of
states like Florida, Oklahoma and New Mexico, which already have spaceport
licenses.
The current plan hopes to use existing runways and airports, such as the Big
Island’s Kalaeloa Airport and Kona International, to launch space planes.
Space planes, which are still being developed, look like small business jets
and can carry five passengers plus a pilot. They would take Hawaii passengers
about 75 miles offshore before jumping to Earth’s suborbit. After a plane
climbs to about 50,000 feet, it shoots into the sky at a face-melting 2,644
miles per hour. Passengers will then feel weightlessness for three to four
minutes as the plane falls from suborbit at 350,000 feet. The proposed route
would take passengers from the Big Island to Oahu, and feature premium travel
packages—for $200,000—that include hotel rooms and space camp training.
Ticket prices “might come down in three to five years [after the program is
running],” says Chuck Lauer, of Rocketplane Global, a company developing a
space plane and interested in starting civilian space travel in the Islands.
It may be another three to four years before Hawaii taxpayers would even see
a properly tested plane. So why invest? (9/2)
Space Florida Sponsors Collaborative Mars Experiment Design Competition
(Source: Space Florida)
Space Florida, The Mars Society, NASA-Kennedy Space Center and the Florida
Department of Education have joined forces to create a competition in which
Florida middle and high school students will design scientific experiments to
send to the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in Utah.
Space Florida and the Florida DoE will help spread the word about the
competition through Florida schools and host entries via the Space Florida
website (www.spaceflorida.gov/mars.php). Students from
middle and high schools across the state will be invited to design and submit
experiments that could assist in the study of Martian environments. Once top
designs are selected by the Competition’s Advisory Committee, Space Florida
will sponsor the winning teams/individuals with $100 each to cover assembly
and shipping costs to the MDRS Habitat in Utah. (9/2)
2009 Shaping Up as Profitable Year for Insurers (Source: Space News)
Insurers are likely to face a claim of slightly more than $100 million to pay
for the reduced service life of Indonesia’s Palapa-D telecommunications
satellite, bringing to around $500 million the amount of satellite-related
insurance claims made so far in 2009, insurance broker Willis Inspace said
Sept. 4. That $500 million in losses will be set against around $800 million
in premium revenue if the three Ariane 5 vehicles and three or four
International Launch Services (ILS) Proton rockets scheduled to be launched
between September and December occur without failure, according to Willis.
Four major claims make up the estimated losses so far in 2009: the sudden
in-orbit loss of Eutelsat’s W2M satellite, insured for 120.5 million euros
($172 million); the failure of two or more of the six satellites launched in
mid-2008 by satellite-messaging service provider Orbcomm, which has filed a
$50 million claim; a claim of 130 million euros by the Eutelsat-SES joint
venture for a defect in the S-band antenna aboard Eutelsat’s W2A satellite;
and the Palapa-D claim for about half the satellite’s insured value of some
$203 million. (9/4)
Chinese Rocket Fails to Deliver Commercial
Satellite
(Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
The Chinese have suffered a problem during the launch of the Indonesian
Palapa-D communications satellite via a CZ-3B Chang Zheng-3B (CZ3B-12) launch
vehicle. The launch took place at the Xi Chang spaceport on Monday, but
failed to place the spacecraft in the required orbit – due to an issue with
the CZ-3B’s third stage. The Palapa-D satellite was scheduled to replace the
Palapa-C2 (23864 1996-030A) satellite – which is due to come to the end of
its life in 2011 – at 113.0 degrees East. It is unknown at this time if the
spacecraft can be saved, though this is unlikely. Latest reports from the
Chinese State media – which appeared to undergo a news blackout for several
hours after launch – claim the problem is related to a failure of third stage
ignition. (8/31)
Rocket Hiccup No Jam-Up for China (Source: China
Daily)
The failure to put a satellite into orbit earlier this week is only one bump
on a long road of successes, said a space expert. The mishap is the first
glitch in a string of 75 successful launches for China's rocket program
dating to October 1996, said Pang Zhihao. China experienced major setbacks
between 1994 and 1996, but regained its international reputation after
tightened quality control and a series of successes. Pang pointed out that
launching a satellite is risky, and other countries have also experienced
failures. (9/2)
Satellite Stranded by Chinese Rocket to be
Salvaged
(Source: Space News)
Indonesia’s Palapa-D telecommunications satellite arrived in standard
geostationary transfer-orbit position Sept. 3, three days after being left in
a useless orbit by an underperforming Chinese Long March 3B rocket. The
satellite is expected to be guided into its final geostationary-orbit
position by mid-September, according to the satellite’s builder, Thales
Alenia Space of France and Italy. One industry official said Palapa-D,
designed to operate for 15 years, will have enough fuel for eight to 10 years
of service following the orbit-raising maneuvers.
The decision to attempt to salvage the satellite despite its placement in a
too-low orbit was made with Palapa-D insurance underwriters, whose payout
amount to Indosat likely will depend on how much commercial life the
satellite can provide. (9/3)
China Adjusts Satellite Orbit After Skewed Launch (Source: Reuters)
An Indonesian communications satellite launched from China two days ago has
had its orbit corrected, China's Xinhua said, after it failed to enter a
preset path. The Palapa D satellite, owned by Indonesian satellite
communications company Indosat, was launched from Xichang in Sichuan province
on Monday. It failed to reach its preset orbit after the third stage of the
Long March rocket used to launch the satellite did not ignite correctly. The
initial failure had been a setback in China's efforts to market its space
launch capability to other countries. (9/2)
China To Begin Construction Of Orbital Space Station In 2020 (Source:
RIA Novosti)
China will begin the construction of its own orbital space station in 2020,
according to a top official with the country's manned spaceflight program. Gu
Yidong said that China would send two or three space labs into orbit in
2010-2015, while the basic module of the space station is to be orbited by
2020. The spacecrafts will "form the basic orbital complex of the
Chinese space station" when docked together, he said. According to
earlier Chinese media reports, China plans to send a manned mission to the
Moon by 2030 and subsequently build a lunar base to send missions to other
planets in the Solar System, such as Mars. (9/1)
Japan's HTV On Target For Sep. 11 Launch (Source: Aviation Week)
Japan's unmanned H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) has passed a NASA flight
readiness review and is in final preparations for liftoff from Tanegashima
Space Center on its first mission to the International Space Station (ISS) on
Sept. 11 local time. The 10-meter long spacecraft is capable of carrying 4.5
metric tons of internal cargo and 1.5 tons of external cargo. This first
flight will carry 2.5 metric tons internally - which will mostly be station
logistics, with about 20 percent of the pressurized volume being occupied by
research hardware. (9/3)
Mitsubishi,
IHI to Join $21 Billion Space Solar Project (Source: Bloomberg)
Mitsubishi Electric Corp. and IHI Corp. will join a 2 trillion yen ($21
billion) Japanese project intending to build a giant solar-power generator in
space within three decades and beam electricity to earth. A research group
representing 16 companies, including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., will
spend four years developing technology to send electricity without cables in
the form of microwaves.
Japan is developing the technology for the 1-gigawatt solar station, fitted
with four square kilometers of solar panels, and hopes to have it running in
three decades. Transporting panels to the solar station 36,000 kilometers
above the earth’s surface will be prohibitively costly, so Japan has to
figure out a way to slash expenses to make the solar station commercially viable,
said Hiroshi Yoshida, Chief Executive Officer of Excalibur KK, a Tokyo-based
space and defense-policy consulting company. “These expenses need to be
lowered to a hundredth of current estimates,” Yoshida said by phone from
Tokyo. In the U.S., agencies have spent $80 million over three decades in
sporadic efforts to study solar generation in space, according to a 2007
report by the U.S. National Security Space Office. (9/1)
Island Britain: Sleepy Isle of Man Moves
Into the Space Age
(Source: Times Online)
The Isle of Man, 220 square miles of hill and glen with 82,000 inhabitants,
has reinvented itself. Its business now is business, not tourists or kippers.
A self-governing island, which belongs to neither the United Kingdom nor the
European Union, it responded to the collapse of tourism by slashing taxes and
developing a financial sector.
This outcrop in the Irish Sea is a magnet for entrepreneurs, an incubator for
new enterprises of the most surprising sort. A Manx company called CVI made
the laser optics with which NASA’s Phoenix Lander spotted snow on Mars last
year. Another Manx company, Odyssey Moon, is competing to win the $30million
(£18.4million) Google Lunar X prize by putting a robotic landing craft on the
Moon. A third, Excalibur Almaz, is developing space tourism.
Later this month Nicole Stott, wife of a Manxman, will begin her four months
at the International Space Station. The Isle of Man has officially joined the
space race. Mrs Stott’s husband, Chris, a space fanatic working for Lockheed
Martin in the late 1990s, persuaded the island’s Government to file for the
orbital satellite space slots that it is entitled to. In 2004 Allan Bell, the
Treasury Minister, needed a headline-grabbing announcement for his budget and
declared a zero corporate tax rate for space activities. The response, he
says, was “quite amazing”. (9/3)
India: Mars Mission by 2013-2015 (Source: Times of India)
India's mission to Mars will take place between 2013-2015, Indian Space
Research Organization chief G Madhavan Nair said. "We have given a call
for proposal to different scientific communities. Depending on the type of
experiments they propose, we will be able to plan the mission," he said.
The mission is at conceptual stage and will be taken up after Chandrayaan-2,
Nair said. "Once in two years you get an opportunity for the
mission," Nair said. ISRO Chairman is in Goa to host the eighth
international conference on low cost planetary missions. (8/31)
Chandrayaan-I Was 'Killed' by Heat Stroke (Source: Times of
India)
The reasons for early termination of the Chandrayaan-I mission are now
tumbling out and they reveal that ISRO had kept the Moon orbiter's problems
tightly under wraps. Contrary to the space agency's explanation that
Chandrayaan's orbit around the Moon had been raised from 100km to 200km in
May this year for a better view of the Moon's surface, it is now known that
this was because of a miscalculation of the Moon's temperature that had led
to faulty thermal protection.
Admitting this, Dr T K Alex, director, ISRO Satellite Centre, Bangalore,
said, “We assumed that the temperature at 100km above the Moon's surface
would be around 75 degrees Celsius. However, it was more than 75 degrees and
problems started to surface. We had to raise the orbit to 200km." It now
transpires that heating problems on the craft had begun as early as November
25, 2008, forcing ISRO to deactivate some of the payloads — there were 11 in
all. As a result, some of the experiments could not be carried out which
raised questions on whether the pre-launch thermal vacuum test done on the
spacecraft at the ISRO Satellite Centre in Bangalore was adequate. (9/6)
US Scientist’s Flip-Flop on India’s Moon
Mission Success
(Source: Thaindian News)
Three days after the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) admitted the
abrupt end of its Chandrayaan-1 mission, Carle Pieters, science manager at
the NASA-supported spectrology facility at the Brown University, said: “I
think it’s a complete success...The achievements are very difficult to
accomplish...What we have not achieved is our ultimate goal, which was a much
more extended mission that was to be achieved during the full two years. But,
the first phase of what we wanted to accomplish, we were able to accomplish
and we will be working with the data in the future.”
Asked to comment on ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair’s claim that 95 per cent of
the objectives were achieved, Pieters was noncommittal. “I can’t claim in one
way or the other as I have information only on my experiment,” she
maintained. (9/2)
Scientist Rubbishes Apollo 15 Conspiracy Theory (Source: Space Daily)
A Camera on board India's maiden unmanned lunar mission Chandrayaan-1 has
recorded images of the landing site of US spacecraft Apollo 15, rubbishing
conspiracy theories that the fourth US mission to land on the moon four
decades back was a hoax. The Terrain mapper camera (TMC) on board
Chandrayaan-1, which had an abrupt end a few days back, has sent the prints
of landing site of Apollo 15 and tracks of the lunar rovers used by
astronauts to travel on lunar surface, a senior scientist associated with
India's lunar mission said during a presentation here. (9/4)
One Giant Slip in Bangladesh News (Source: BBC)
Two Bangladeshi newspapers have apologized after publishing an article taken
from a satirical US website which claimed the Moon landings were faked. The
Daily Manab Zamin said US astronaut Neil Armstrong had shocked a news
conference by saying he now knew it had been an "elaborate hoax".
Neither they nor the New Nation, which later picked up the story, realized
the Onion was not a genuine news site. "We thought it was true so we
printed it without checking," an associate editor said. (9/4)
Editorial: Japanese Prime Minister’s Wife Has Odd Space Past (Source:
The Independent)
The revelation that the wife of the Japanese prime minister-elect was once
abducted by aliens and whisked off to Venus ("a very beautiful place...
very green") is food for thought. One can imagine how a few members of
our own political classes would benefit from the sort of trip taken by Miyuki
Hatoyama.
Gordon Brown would surely find a view of Olympus Mons on Mars more inspiring
than the fells of the Lake District. John Prescott might discover a species
of life out there capable of understanding his verbless sentences. There must
be a black hole somewhere out there in the universe in which Nick Griffin
might be safely deposited. For John Redwood it would be a homecoming. If
travel broadens the mind, what more improving junket for our legislators than
some space travel? (9/3)
Atheists Say NASA is Violating Separation of Church and State (Source:
Los Angeles Chronicle)
An Atheist-First Amendment public policy group charged last week that NASA is
violating the separation of church and state by permitting a "space
missionary" memento on the latest Discovery Space Shuttle Mission. On
board the shuttle is a piece of an airplane that crashed in Ecuador in 1956
that carried members of the Missionary Aviation Fellowship. One of the
shuttle astronaut contacted the Idaho-based group proposing that the item be
taken into space as part of a government-funded exploration project. The
event has re-ignited enthusiasm by religious groups for "space
missionary" proselytizing. Click here to view the
article. (9/2)
DOD Official: Defense Changes Must Consider Industry's Health (Source:
Defense News)
Pentagon officials should try to avoid weakening the U.S. defense industry as
they make major program decisions, especially ones that affect niche areas
such as stealth aircraft and space systems, said Ashton Carter, Pentagon
acquisition, technology and logistics chief. "I feel industrial base
issues are completely legitimate because having the best defense industrial
and technology base in the world is not a birthright," Carter said
during a Sept. 1 interview. "It's not about jobs, it's about certain
kinds of jobs: very skilled, very rare kinds of skills that are not easily
replicated in the commercial world and if allowed to erode would be difficult
to rebuild." (9/2)
NRO: No Business For Conflicted Companies (Source: DOD Buzz)
Less than a month after President Obama signed the Weapons Systems
Acquisition Reform Act into law, the National Reconnaissance Office acted
with almost blinding speed and issued a memo detailing its adamant stand
against the possible appearance of any corporate conflicts of interest.
The memo, which was sent to us after our story appeared on how space
manufacturing companies are being forced to sell advisory companies that do
business with the intelligence community, lays out very detailed instructions
for companies hoping to do business with the maker and operator of the
nation’s spy satellites.
Any company that does not comply with the conflict of interest requirements:
"will also be prohibited from bidding on or participating in any NRO
contract to supply the system(s), or any major component thereof, or from
serving as a subcontractor, vendor or consultant to the system supplier or
major component supplier or major component suppliers on any system related
to the work while in a non-conflicted status." (9/3)
Law Forcing Space Companies to Sell (Source: DOD Buzz)
The acquisition reform legislation passed by Congress is forcing major
defense companies to sell subsidiaries so they don’t fall afoul of new
restrictions forbidding manufacturers from owning companies that advise the
government about acquisitions. The most glaring example appears to be the
pending sale by Northrop Grumman of TASC, a company with some 5,000 employees
who provide the military and, especially, the intelligence community with
technical advice on acquisitions and operations.
Loren Thompson, a defense analyst at the Lexington Institute, just said “yes”
when I asked him if the TASC sale is largely being driven by language in the
Weapons Systems Acquisition Reform Act drafted by Sens. Carl Levin and John
McCain, the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Armed Services
Committee. Several experienced space acquisition experts said independently
that the TASC sale was being driven by the bill. The relevant text can be
found in Section 207 of the bill, which requires the creation of regulations
forbidding “organizational conflicts of interest.” (9/2)
Cirque du Soleil Boss Outlines Space Visit Plans (Source: CBC)
Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté says his coming "social
mission" in space is a chance for him to champion water issues while
entertaining the world with an unprecedented "planetary artistic
event." Laliberté, 50, will become Canada's first space tourist when he
blasts off from Earth on Sept. 30 aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft heading
to the International Space Station.
The Quebec billionaire, who is calling himself a "private space
explorer," revealed more details of his mission via webcast from Moscow
on Wednesday. His mission will climax Oct. 9, when he will orchestrate a
worldwide event involving celebrities on five continents, including Nobel
Peace Prize winner Al Gore, Canadian environmentalist David Suzuki, Brazilian
culture minister Gilberto Gil, astronaut Julie Payette and performers Peter
Gabriel, Shakira and U2, among others. (9/2)
Space Hotels: Bad for Sweat Glands, Good for Sunsets (Source: Faster
Times)
Last year, Wall-E may have scared us all into thinking that space travel
would turn us into potato sacks with dangling, short legs, only concerned
with a giant, touchscreen panel. Well, that last part may come true sooner
than later: Students at Imperial College London and the Royal College of Art
in the U.K. are currently designing hotel concepts that decidedly emphasize
health, exercise, and nutrition.
The Space Hotel Project includes clothes with chest flaps (good luck to those
with especially pungent sweat glands), a robot concierge, sleeping bags that
hang from pods, a COLBERT treadmill, and a customizable food menu. Students
who apparently miss the Dance Dance Revolution trend yet are now fond of yoga
resistance bands have also envisioned an exercise wall where one can “pull on
elastic bands in time with lights and music” to maintain their muscles while
enjoying zero gravity. (9/2)
Space
Sights and Smells Surprise Rookie Astronauts (Source:
Space.com)
For rookie astronauts flying aboard the International
Space Station, the food is good, the rocket thrusters are loud and there's an
odd tang in the air - apparently from outer space. "It's a very, very
different environment than I expected," Discovery shuttle pilot Kevin
Ford, a first-time spaceflyer, said from orbit late Friday. One of things
Ford wasn't ready for is the weird smell. "From the [spacewalks] there
really is a distinct smell of space when they come back in," Ford said
from the station in a Friday night news conference. "It's like...something
I haven't ever smelled before, but I'll never forget it. You know how those
things stick with you." In the past, astronauts have described the smell
of space as something akin to gunpowder or ozone. (9/5)
Titusville Firm Wins California Spaceport Support Contract (Source:
SPACErePORT)
Call Henry Inc. of Titusville, Florida, has won a $7.7 million Air Force
contract modification to support maintenance, modification, and modernization
for facilities, property and Western Range Support equipment to ensure
successful performance during tests, operations and launches. (9/2)
ASRC Wins Contract Extension at NASA Glenn
Research Center
(Source: NASA)
NASA's Glenn Research Center has awarded a one-year contract option to Arctic
Slope Regional Corporation (ASRC) for engineering and scientific services.
The option has a value that will not exceed $50 million. The contract
provides engineering and scientific support services to Glenn's Lewis Field
and Plum Brook Station in Sandusky, Ohio. ASRC will provide on-site support
services for technical, engineering and scientific tasks in the areas of
aeronautics, microgravity science, space exploration, space power and
propulsion, and related science and technology activities. (8/31)
SBIR Conference Planned in Orlando, Sep. 21-24 (Source: SPACErePORT)
The 2009 SBIR "Beyond Phase II" Conference and Technology Showcase
will be held at the Orlando Marriott World Center on Sep. 21-24. The event is
designed to bring together key technology and acquisition personnel from government
and industry to enable the transition of SBIR-funded research and development
into products for government and private sector commercial markets. Click here for information and
registration. (9/2)
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