The new suit looks like Buzz Lightyear's suit
The new suit looks like Buzz Lightyear's suit
The new suit looks like Buzz Lightyear's suit
That was the Z1 prototype.
These are the Z2's.
The Z1 does strongly resemble Buzz, The Green is meant to glow allowing quick location of each other in the shadow of the Earth or other low light. Z2 swapped those glow pads for electroluminescent lamps like Tron Costumes.
As Mel Brooks for told.Aiming for the moon: Adelson donates $16.4 million for Israeli space effort
SpaceIL, which says it is building the world’s smallest spacecraft, is a participant in the prestigious Google Lunar X Prize (GLXP) competition.
By Haaretz | Apr. 9, 2014 | 10:42 PM | 1
Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and his wife have donated $16.4 million to SpaceIL, a nonprofit organization aiming to land the first Israeli spacecraft on the moon.
SpaceIL, a participant in the prestigious Google Lunar X Prize (GLXP) competition, announced the donation in a press release on Wednesday.
"Sheldon and I are very excited to be supporting SpaceIL in an effort to land the first Israeli spacecraft on the Moon," said Dr. Miriam Adelson. "As an Israeli-born physician and scientist, I am especially proud of the positive impact the pursuit of this goal will have on the next generation of young Israelis, and frankly all young people, as it serves an important example of the role science and technology continue to play in our everyday lives and across the world."
SpaceIL is building the world’s smallest spacecraft, at a cost that is currently estimated at $36M. The company aims to show that space exploration is no longer limited to global superpowers with vast space programs, and that any group, small country or university can get involved and contribute to advancing scientific discovery.
Founded by three young engineers at the end of 2010, SpaceIL currently has a full-time staff of close to 20, over 250 volunteers, and a network of hundreds of renowned academics, business leaders, and industry experts.
Aside from landing on the moon, SpaceIL’s collective vision is to create what it calls an Israeli "Apollo Effect" – inspiring the next generation about science, technology, engineering and math and helping to fill country’s urgent need for more scientists and engineers.
The initiative is supported by funding from Morris Kahn, the Schusterman Family Foundation, Israel Aerospace Industries, the Israel Space Agency, Bezeq, Tel Aviv University and the Weizmann Institute.
"As an entrepreneur, nothing is as thrilling as supporting a group of people who have been told that their dreams cannot be realized. For a group of scientists and engineers, in one of the world's smallest countries, to be able to reach such an accomplishment is incredible. We are proud to support Israel and SpaceIL prove that dreams do come true and that hard work, vision, and dedication are rewarded. We stand proudly with SpaceIL in this extraordinary endeavor," said. Sheldon Adelson.
XCOR Aerospace Receives Lynx Mark I Cockpit
XCOR Lynx pressure cabin
Vehicle Integration Commences
09 April 2014, Mojave, CA – XCOR Aerospace announced today that the XCOR® Lynx® Mark I cockpit has been delivered. AdamWorks engineers, along with XCOR engineers, performed several successful pressure tests before it was packed and shipped to XCOR .
The cockpit is the principal major subassembly XCOR needs to begin assembly of the Lynx suborbital spaceplane.
“The successful pressure testing of the Lynx cockpit and its delivery is a major milestone for us,” said XCOR Founder and CEO Jeff Greason. “This will enable us to accelerate toward integration, ground testing and first flight over the rest of this year.”
Andrew Nelson, Chief Operating Officer of XCOR added, “Our clients and partners are very happy to see this significant sign of progress. I could not be more happy with our designers, engineers and team who have worked so hard on this major accomplishment. We are that much closer to suborbital operations.”
# # # # #
XCOR Aerospace: XCOR Aerospace is based in Mojave, California. It is currently creating a Research and Development Center in Midland, Texas, and will be establishing an operational and manufacturing site at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. XCOR builds safe, reliable and reusable rocket-powered vehicles, propulsion systems, advanced non-flammable composites and rocket piston pumps. XCOR works with aerospace prime contractors and government customers on major propulsion systems, while also building Lynx. Lynx is a piloted, two-seat, fully reusable liquid rocket-powered vehicle that takes off and lands horizontally. The Lynx family of vehicles serves three primary missions depending on their specific type including: research and scientific missions, private spaceflight and micro satellite launch (only on the Lynx Mark III). Lynx production models (designated Lynx Mark II) are designed to be robust, multi-mission (research/scientific or private spaceflight) commercial vehicles capable of flying to 100+ km in altitude, up to four times per day. Lynx vehicles are available to customers in the free world on a wet lease basis to start their own manned space flight program. Learn more at .
April 09, 2014 PRINT THIS PAGE
Mars Orbiter Spacecraft Crosses Half Way Mark of its Journey
Today (April 09, 2014) at 9:50 am IST, India's Mars Orbiter Spacecraft crossed the half-way mark of its journey to the Red Planet along the designated helio-centric trajectory.
Mars Orbiter Spacecraft was launched onboard PSLV-C25 on November 05, 2013. On December 01, 2013, Trans Mars Injection manoeuvre was conducted successfully and the Spacecraft was set in its course towards Planet Mars through a helio-centric trajectory. Soon after the Spacecraft crossed the sphere of influence of Earth, a Trajectory Correction Manoeuvre (TCM) was performed successfully on December 11, 2013.
ISRO has been continuously monitoring the Spacecraft using its Deep Space Network complemented by that of NASA-JPL. As the Spacecraft is on its designated trajectory, the TCM planned for April 2014 is not considered essential. If required, the next TCM is planned to be carried out in June 2014.
Mars Orbiter Spacecraft and its five scientific instruments are in good health. Periodic tests are being done on the different levels of autonomy built into the Spacecraft for managing contingencies.
At present, the radio distance between the Spacecraft and the Earth is 39 million km. A signal from the Earth to the Spacecraft and back to Earth takes 4 minutes and 15 seconds. Soon, the High Gain Antenna of the Spacecraft will be put in service for handling communications with the ground stations.
The Mars Orbit Insertion (MOI) manoeuvre would be performed on September 24, 2014.
Progress supply ship docks with space station (UPDATED)
04/09/2014 12:44 PM Filed in: Space News | International Space Station | Russian Space
By WILLIAM HARWOOD
CBS News
A Russian Progress supply ship loaded with 2.9 tons of supplies and equipment vaulted into orbit Wednesday, chased down the International Space Station and glided to a picture-perfect docking to close out an autonomous four-orbit rendezvous with the lab complex.
The cargo ship's Soyuz booster ignited on time at 11:26 a.m. EDT (GMT-4, 9:26 p.m. local time), quickly pushing the spacecraft away from its firing stand at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
The Progress M-23M cargo ship closes in on the International Space Station after a flawless rendezvous. (Credit: NASA TV)
Seconds after liftoff, the rocket knifed through a layer of low clouds and disappeared from view, but NASA launch commentator Rob Navias said telemetry from the spacecraft showed rock-solid performance as it continued its ascent.
The eight-minute 45-second climb to space went smoothly and the Progress M-23M supply craft's solar arrays and navigation antennas deployed as planned moments after separation from the booster's upper stage.
"A flawless launch and ascent," said Navias, monitoring the flight from mission control at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. "So far, so good, for the Progress 55 (mission)."
Following a fast-track six-hour rendezvous, the Progress M-23M cargo ship moved in for a radar-guided docking at the Russian Pirs module at 5:14 p.m. as the two spacecraft sailed 260 miles above the Pacific Ocean just off the coast of Peru.
As always with uncrewed Progress dockings, a Russian cosmonaut aboard the space station monitored the approach from a control station in the station's Zvezda command module, ready to take over by remote control if any problems developed.
But the launch, rendezvous and docking were virtually flawless, and Russian mission managers radioed their congratulations to the station's crew, saying the flight was one of the smoothest in recent memory.
"Again, a huge thank you and congratulations for the excellent work," a Russian called up from the flight control center near Moscow.
"Thank you for your nice words," one of the station cosmonauts replied in translated remarks. "Congratulations to everyone, because it was a joint activity. It's great to see our joint effort has been so successful."
The Progress M-23M spacecraft is the 55th Russian cargo ship launched to the space station since assembly began in 1998. The cargo ship was loaded with 1,764 pounds of propellant for the station's maneuvering rockets; 105 pounds of oxygen; 926 pounds of water; and 3,126 pounds of experiment hardware, spare parts and crew supplies.
A television camera aboard the Progress M-23M supply ship shows the International Space Station as it moved in for docking at the Pirs module just to the lower left of the crosshairs. (Credit: NASA TV)
Expedition 39 commander Koichi Wakata, Mikhail Tyurin, Rick Mastracchio, Oleg Artemyev, Alexander Skvortsov and Steven Swanson plan to unload the cargo ship over the next several days and weeks.
Next up for the space station is launch of a commercial SpaceX Dragon cargo ship Monday that is loaded with 4,600 pounds of equipment and supplies.
Liftoff from launch complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida is targeted for 4:58 p.m. Monday, setting up a two-day rendezvous with the station. If all goes well, the station's robot arm will latch onto the uncrewed Dragon spacecraft around 7:11 a.m. Wednesday, pulling it in for berthing at the Earth-facing port of the forward Harmony module.
Launch originally was planned for last month, but the flight was delayed, first by concern about possible contamination in the spacecraft's unpressurized cargo section and then by a short circuit that damaged critical Air Force radar tracking equipment.
The contamination issue later was dismissed, but work to repair the U.S. Eastern Range tracking gear delayed the SpaceX flight as well as launch of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket carrying a National Reconnaissance Office spy satellite.
With the tracking network back in operation, the Atlas 5 is scheduled for launch from complex 41 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 1:45 p.m. Thursday. If all goes well, the SpaceX Dragon will follow suit Monday.
Sierra Nevada signs agreement with Houston spaceport for Dream Chaser
By Kristen Leigh Painter
The Denver Post
POSTED: 04/10/2014 07:18:10 PM MDT1 COMMENTS| UPDATED: ABOUT 15 HOURS AGO
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Sierra Nevada Corp.'s Space Systems signed a letter of intent Thursday with Houston leaders to explore a future for the Louisville-based company and its high-profile Dream Chaser program at the Texas city's proposed spaceport.
The announcement gives Houston's efforts a significant boost in the emerging "new space" market, which for years sought legitimacy in the public's eye and is now quickly gaining momentum. National competition is mounting as Colorado's own spaceport efforts are faltering due to airspace concerns.
Houston Airport System — a consortium of the Texas city's three airports — is pursuing a Federal Aviation Administration spaceport license, much like Spaceport Colorado is attempting to do at Front Range Airport in Adams County.
"Having Sierra Nevada be able to land here makes our project a reality," said David Alexander, director of the Rice Space Institute in Houston, which is one of Sierra Nevada's partners.
Dream Chaser is a reusable orbital spaceship designed to ferry U.S. astronauts to and from the international space station, with many other potential applications, such as scientific research.
Thursday's agreement was signed just three months after Sierra Nevada made another commitment along Florida's space coast. Both of these states are considered direct competitors to Colorado's aerospace industry.
While both Houston and Colorado are in the final stages of their applications — both planning to formally submit to the FAA in the summer — Houston has managed to gain greater community support by building on its NASA heritage, which furthers its spaceport initiative.
"The people behind the Houston Airport System really came out and found us," said Mark Sirangelo, corporate vice president and head of Sierra Nevada's Space Systems. "They really went out aggressively and made their case."
Colorado is attempting to overcome FAA concerns over Front Range's proximity to Denver International Airport and the potential airspace conflicts.
"We need a letter of agreement about how air traffic control will work together, and that's something that is in discussions right now," said Adams County Manager Todd Leopold, a member of the Front Range Airport Advisory Board. "Our regional air traffic and the national air traffic operations are the ones having the discussion."
Water can be a major asset for human spaceflight in emergency situations, and Houston borders the Gulf of Mexico while Colorado's status as a landlocked state works against it.
Sierra Nevada says the decision to work with Houston doesn't signal lack of support for Colorado's proposal.
"It's not really that we are picking Houston over Colorado, I just think that for where we are at and where Houston is at in its development, it's a good time to partner with them," Sierra Nevada spokeswoman Krystal Scordo said.
For the space company, Thursday's announcement is another step in its efforts to shore up new commercial partners outside its primary client, NASA, which has awarded the space company more than $337 millionso far to develop an alternative to the Russian Soyuz spacecraft.
Houston makes sense for future customers, particularly those who may wish to do medical research in space using the Dream Chaser, Sirangelo said.
"In my view, we are building the iPad, and it's now time to build the apps on that iPad," he said. "It's a natural connection between the research that is being done in this community and the research we can do in space with our vehicle."
The Dream Chaser's first orbital flight date is scheduled for November 2016, aboard an Atlas V rocket built by Centennial-based United Launch Alliance. Sirangelo, who also acts as Colorado's chief innovation officer, said Sierra Nevada should be NASA-ready by the end of 2017.
Read more: Sierra Nevada signs agreement with Houston spaceport for Dream Chaser - The Denver Post
MARCH 05, 2014
ELON MUSK'S STATEMENT TO US SENATE APPROPRIATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE ON DEFENSE
PRESS INQUIRIES
[email protected]
Oral Statement
Elon Musk,CEO & Chief Designer
Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX)
Before the Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense
U.S. Senate
March 5, 2014
Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Cochran, and Members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before this Committee today.
SpaceX was founded to radically improve space transport technology, with particular regard to reliability, safety and affordability. Today, it is one of the leading aerospace companies in the world, with nearly 50 missions contracted at a total value of approximately $5 billion. We have launched our Falcon 9 rocket eight times with 100% mission success, including four launches for NASA, three to the International Space Station, and sophisticated geostationary spacecraft for the world’s leading satellite companies.
At this time, SpaceX is a preferred launch services provider for customers worldwide. We are unilaterally restoring America’s competitiveness in the global commercial space launch market as the only US company consistently winning head-to-head competitions for launch opportunities at the world-class level.
With respect to the EELV Program, I have five specific points:
1. The Air Force and other agencies are paying too high a price for launch. The impacts of relying on a monopoly provider since 2006 were predictable, and they have been borne out. Space launch innovation has stagnated. Competition has been stifled. And prices have risen to levels that General William Shelton has himself called “unsustainable.” I commend the United Launch Alliance (ULA) on its launch successes to date. However, year after year, ULA has increased its prices. It has behaved consistent with the structures and incentives of the existing EELV program. In FY13 the Air Force paid on average in excess of $380 million for each national security launch, while subsidizing ULA’s fixed costs to the tune of more than $1 billion per year, even if the company never launches a rocket. By contrast, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 price for an EELV mission is well under $100M—at least a $280 million per launch difference, which in many cases could pay for the satellite and launch combined – and SpaceX seeks no subsidies to maintain our business. To put this into perspective, had SpaceX been awarded the missions ULA received under its recent non-competed 36 core block buy, we would have saved the taxpayer $11.6 billion. Recently, there have been claims that the Air Force's block buy of 36 booster cores from ULA will save the taxpayer "$4.4 billion over the next several years." If you accept ULA’s claimed $4.4B in savings, then you must also accept that, using the same baseline, the absence of full and open competition resulted in a $7.2B penalty to the taxpayer, and untold consequences for important defense priorities that might otherwise have been funded.
2. Competition is coming to the national security launch market, but it remains a question as to when and how. SpaceX is ready now to compete with our Falcon 9. In order to be certified as an EELV provider, SpaceX has had to meet a number of requirements that were never demanded of the incumbent provider. To begin, we were required to successfully launch three flights of our upgraded Falcon 9 launch vehicle, a requirement we achieved with consecutive successful flights in September, December and January—at no cost to the taxpayer. Under our EELV Certification agreement, we are undertaking various and vigorous engineering reviews with the Air Force. To date, we have delivered more than 30,000 data items to the Air Force and provided total access to our internal systems to more than 300 Government officials for certification. We are hopeful that the Air Force will work expeditiously so that we can compete this calendar year.
3. Robust competition must begin this calendar year. We applaud the early steps the Air Force and NRO have taken to reintroduce competition into the EELV program. In 2012, the Air Force under direction from the Secretary of Defense committed to competing up to 14 missions from FY15 to FY17, with 5 missions available for competition this year, subject to New Entrant certification. We would have greatly preferred that the Air Force open all of its missions for competition, and now we have serious concerns that it may not be the case that 5 missions will be openly competed this year. Undersecretary Kendall’s acquisition directive is quite specific about the need to “aggressively” introduce competition. His directive does not require buying 36 cores from ULA. To be clear, every mission capable of being launched by qualified new entrants should be competed this year and every year moving forward. There should be no more sole sourcing under this program when competition is an option.
4. With the advent of competition, launch should be competed as a commodity, and any competition between New Entrants and ULA should properly acknowledge the launch subsidy received by the incumbent. Consistent with federal procurement regulations and DOD acquisition directives, when a competitive environment exists, the Government should utilize firm, fixed-price, FAR Part 12 contracts that properly incent contractors to deliver on-time and on-budget. That also means eliminating $1 billion subsidies to the incumbent, as those subsidies create an extremely unequal playing field.
5. Our Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch vehicles are truly made in America. We design and manufacture the rockets in California and Texas, with key suppliers throughout the country, and launch them from either Vandenberg AFB or Cape Canaveral AFS. This stands in stark contrast to the United Launch Alliance’s most frequently flown vehicle, the Atlas V, which uses a Russian main engine and where approximately half the airframe is manufactured overseas. In light of Russia’s de facto annexation of the Ukraine’s Crimea region and the formal severing of military ties, the Atlas V cannot possibly be described as providing “assured access to space” for our nation when supply of the main engine depends on President Putin’s permission. Given this development, it would seem prudent to reconsider whether the 36 core uncompeted, sole source award to ULA is truly in the best interests of the people of the United States.
I thank the Committee for this opportunity and look forward to addressing any questions you may have.
Contingency Spacewalk Planned Next Week, But Dragon Must Arrive At Space Station First
by ELIZABETH HOWELL on APRIL 13, 2014
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As contingency spacewalks go, the urgent task should be easy: a quick 2.5-hour run to swap out a failed backup computer that controls several systems on the International Space Station, including robotics. But NASA doesn’t want to go ahead with it until spare spacesuit parts arrive, in the aftermath of a life-threatening suit leak that took place last summer.
Those parts are on board the much-delayed SpaceX Dragon spacecraft sitting on a launch pad waiting for its next window to open. For this and other reasons, NASA decided to move ahead with the launch as planned Monday at 4:58 p.m. EDT (8:58 p.m. UTC). The spacewalk would take place April 22 — if Dragon gets there as planned on Wednesday.
“We need to get it [Dragon] on board as soon as we practically can,” said Mike Suffredini, the International Space Station’s program manager, in a phone briefing with reporters Sunday (April 13). That’s because Dragon is carrying a new spacesuit, components to fix an existing spacesuit, critical research experiments and food for the six crew members of Expedition 39.
The challenge, however, is making sure the station could be ready even if the primary multiplexer demultiplexer (MDM) fails before spacewalkers can make the backup replacement. There are more than a dozen MDMs on station, but each one controls different functions. This primary MDM not only controls a robotics mobile transporter, but also radiators and a joint to move the station’s solar arrays, among other things. The computer sits on the S0 truss on station, which you can view in the diagram below.
A diagram of the truss segments on the International Space Station. Click for a larger version. Screenshot of p. 3 of this PDF document: . Credit: NASA
A diagram of the truss segments on the International Space Station. Click for a larger version. Screenshot of p. 3 of this PDF document: . Credit: NASA
“The biggest driver for us is the positioning of the solar arrays as we look to the next failure,” Suffredini said. NASA needs to reposition the arrays when a vehicle approaches because plumes from the thrusters can put extra “loads” or electrical power on the system.
At the same time, enough power must flow to the station for it to operate. Luckily, the angle of the sun is such these days that the array can sit in the same spot for a while, at least two to three weeks, Suffredini said. NASA configured the station so that even if the primary computer fails, the array will automatically position correctly.
NASA also will move a mobile transporter on station today so that the station’s robotic arm is ready to grasp the Dragon when it arrives, meaning that even if the primary computer fails the transporter will be in the right spot. If Dragon is delayed again, the next launch opportunity is April 18 and the spacewalk would be pushed back.
Dragon’s precious payload of items includes several intended to make NASA spacewalks safer. The suit leak was due to contamination in the fan pump separator of Suit 3011 that plugged a tiny hole inside the water separation part of the unit. Water then escaped and got into the helmet, causing a near-emergency for Luca Parmitano — who was using the spacesuit in July.
European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano on a spacewalk July 9, 2016 during Expedition 36. Here, Parmitano is riding the end of the robotic Canadarm2. Credit: NASA
European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano on a spacewalk July 9, 2016 during Expedition 36. Here, Parmitano is riding the end of the robotic Canadarm2. Credit: NASA
NASA installed snorkels and absorbent helmet pads into its spacesuits while awaiting the results of an investigation, and also pushing back all nonessential spacewalks. The agency now has recommendations in hand and is addressing those with the hope of resuming non-contingency spacewalks this summer.
Today, Suffredini also provided an update on what the contamination was. “The anomaly was the result of contamination introduced by filters essentially used to clean and scrub the water loops for us,” he said.
“Those introduced large amounts of silica into the system, and that silica eventually coagulates in the area of the fan pump sep [separator] and after many uses, it eventually can build up to the point where it plugs the holes and you can’t separate the water from the air.”
The next spacewalk will use Suit 3011 (which got a new fan pump separator for contingency spacewalks in December) and Suit 3005, which will use the new separator on board Dragon. The cooling lines on spacesuits on board station have been purged with fresh water to reduce the silica buildup, and astronauts will use new filters that they know are clean.
Expedition 15's Clay Anderson (on Canadarm2) and STS-118's Rick Mastracchio (right) during an August 2007 maintenance spacewalk on the International Space Station. The NASA astronauts relocated an S-Band antenna subassembly, installed a new transponder and retrieved another transponder. Credit: NASA
Expedition 15′s Clay Anderson (on Canadarm2) and STS-118′s Rick Mastracchio (right) during an August 2007 maintenance spacewalk on the International Space Station. The NASA astronauts relocated an S-Band antenna subassembly, installed a new transponder and retrieved another transponder. Credit: NASA
If for some reason Suit 3005 can’t be used, Suffredini added, the new suit could be put in place instead after some testing to make sure it’s ready. “We’re in a very good posture for the EVA [extra-vehicular activity],” Suffredini said.
NASA hasn’t decided who will go on the spacewalks yet, he added. There are at least two or three spare MDMs on station; the one needed for this particular spacewalk is inside the U.S. Destiny laboratory, which is handily right next to the S0 truss and spacesuit worksite.
Of the “big 12″ repair jobs the astronauts train for, the MDM replacement is among the easiest, Suffredini said, adding astronauts never encountered an external MDM failure on station before.
The last set of contingency spacewalks took place in December to replace a failed ammonia pump that affected science experiments on station. Expedition 39′s Rick Mastracchio was among the pair “outside” during those spacewalks.
We will keep you apprised as circumstances warrant.
Read more:
Russian Space Freighter Makes Fast-Track ISS Journey
By Mark Carreau [email protected]
Source: AWIN First
April 09, 2014
Credit: NASA
Russia’s Progress 55 resupply craft reached the International Space Station (ISS) late April 9, delivering nearly 3 tons of propellant, crew supplies and research gear, following an expedited, four-orbit, 6-hr. launch-to-docking transit.
The unpiloted space freighter linked to the ISS Russian segment Pirs docking compartment at 5:14 p.m. EDT, without suffering the issues that disrupted a similar “fast-track” launch of the Soyuz TMA-12M with three new Russian and American space station crew members on March 25.
The Russian crew transport was unable to reach the ISS until late March 27 after failing to execute the third of four post-launch rendezvous maneuvers required for the trip. Roscosmos, the Russian federal space agency, plans to resume expedited Soyuz crew transits on May 28 with the launch of three Russian, U.S. and European crewmembers.
The TMA-12 was in the wrong attitude for the March 25 burn, according to flight controllers.
The Progress 55, designated by Roscosmos as M-23M, lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on April 9 at 11:26 a.m. EDT, reaching an initial orbit for successful deployments of solar arrays and communications antennas 10 min. later.
Russia’s Progress 54 departed the ISS early April 7, freeing a docking port for its successor. Progress 54, filled with trash, is scheduled for a destructive atmospheric re-entry over the Pacific Ocean on April 18.
U.S. State Department Suspends Defense, Satellite Exports To Russia
By Amy Svitak [email protected]
Source: AWIN First
April 04, 2014
Credit: ILS
With Moscow consolidating its hold on Crimea, the U.S. State Department is suspending approval of defense exports to Russia, a move that could prevent the launch of U.S. commercial communications satellites on Russian rockets.
“State will continue this practice until further notice,” the department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) said in a March 27 announcement on its website.
DDTC export licenses are required to launch U.S. satellites—or foreign-built satellites containing U.S. components controlled by International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR)—on Russian launch vehicles.
If the ban on issuing such licenses remains in effect, the effects would be felt most immediately by International Launch Services (ILS) of Reston, Va., and Sea Launch International of Nyon, Switzerland; ILS markets launches on Russian Proton vehicles, while Sea Launch manages flights on Russia’s Zenit launcher.
“ILS will have trouble getting new programs started now under the current freeze,” a launch industry source said.
However, the hold could potentially affect Soyuz launches from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and Europe’s Guiana Space Center in French Guiana, where European launch consortium Arianespace manages commercial launches of the four-stage, medium-lift Russian rocket.
Although the Obama administration is in the process of relaxing export controls for U.S. communications satellites and related components, the final rule on a proposed list of space-related technologies to be removed from the U.S. Munitions List is not expected until later this year.
“There will be an additional six months probably of review and comment when we do see the latest iteration,” said Michael Gold, chairman of the FAA’s Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee, during a March 14 meeting. “I think actual implementation could potentially slip into next year.”
NASA studies glitch with backup ISS computer (UPDATED)
04/12/2014 04:05 PM Filed in: Space News | International Space Station
Editor's note...
Posted at 10:35 PM ET, 04/11/14: NASA mulls 'black box' failure aboard space station
Updated at 01:10 PM ET, 04/12/14: SpaceX on track for Monday launch pending review of station computer glitch
Updated at 03:45 PM ET, 04/12/14: Clarifying status of contingency spacewalk; adding details
By WILLIAM HARWOOD
CBS News
SpaceX engineers in Cape Canaveral pressed ahead Saturday with work to prepare a Falcon 9 rocket for launch Monday to boost a space station cargo ship into orbit. But a final decision to fly will not be made by NASA until Sunday, agency officials say, after additional work to troubleshoot a glitch aboard the lab complex Friday that knocked out a backup computer unit.
In the meantime, NASA managers have approved a contingency spacewalk to replace the "black box" as soon as possible, but no date has been set pending a decision on the SpaceX launch and additional analysis.
The computer in question, known as a multiplexer-demultiplexer, or MDM, provides a backup channel for commanding the station's mobile transporter, a railcar-like device used to position the station's robot arm at various work sites along the main power truss.
The robot arm will be needed to capture the SpaceX Dragon cargo ship once it reaches the station and engineers want full redundancy for subsequent moves and to prevent more widespread problems in case additional problems develop.
"Everything works just fine with 1 of the 2 computers failed," station Flight Director Ed Van Cise said in a Facebook posting. "2 of 2 computers failed is a really bad day -- effectively can't control anything on the truss." In parentheses, he added: "exaggeration but at a high level, close enough."
"So a replacement spacewalk gets us our redundancy back to protect against having that 2nd failure," he wrote. "Teams today are spending a lot of time talking about SpaceX and what we want to do. It's not just the SSRMS (robot arm) we need to worry about but control of all the hardware on the truss."
As for SpaceX, NASA managers could opt to accept reduced redundancy and clear SpaceX to launch the Dragon spacecraft on time Monday, or they could opt to delay the flight while the station crew installs a replacement unit. Replacing an MDM is a standard repair task that station crews routinely practice during ground training.
"While a final decision on the SpaceX launch is being reviewed, another team of engineers is laying out a timeline for a contingency spacewalk that is required to replace the failed spare MDM," NASA said in a statement Saturday. "No date for the spacewalk has been scheduled. Such a spacewalk is one of the so-called 'Big 12' spacewalks that station crews train to execute for the loss of a critical component on the complex."
The MDM is mounted in the central S0 section of the station's power truss, one of more than 12 similar units used to control a variety of systems. The device measures 10.5 by 14.9 by 16.4 inches and weighs 50.8 pounds.
The apparent failure occurred Friday afternoon, amid work at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station to prepare a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon cargo capsule for launch at 4:58 p.m. EDT (GMT-4) Monday. Assuming an on-time launch, the uncrewed Dragon supply ship would reach the lab complex around 7:11 a.m. Wednesday.
Unlike supply ships built by the Russians and the European Space Agency, the SpaceX Dragon capsule is not able to dock on its own. Instead, the station's robot arm, operated by astronauts inside the space station, is used to lock onto a grapple fixture so the capsule can be moved into position for berthing at the Earth-facing port of the forward Harmony module.
"The prime multiplexer continues to operate flawlessly, and there has been no impact to station operations," NASA said in a Saturday update. "The crew was informed of the problem and is in no danger, continuing its normal complement of research work and routine maintenance."
Earlier Saturday, a Russian Progress supply ship docked to the station fired its thrusters, boosting the lab to the proper altitude for upcoming Soyuz crew ferry flights planned for May.
But the failure of MDM EXT-2 was the clear focus of attention in Houston.
"Station program officials, flight controllers and teams of engineers are working to determine whether there is any risk to launching the SpaceX cargo craft Monday," NASA said. "They will evaluate whether the station has enough redundancy to permit the launch to proceed, which would result in Dragon arriving at the station Wednesday. ... The station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm that would be used to capture and berth Dragon has other redundancy capabilities not affected by the backup MDM failure."
The SpaceX cargo craft is loaded with 4,600 pounds of equipment and supplies, including spacesuit components intended to prevent any recurrence of a potentially catastrophic helmet water leak that occurred during a spacewalk last year.
If a spacewalk is required to replace the suspect MDM, two station astronauts would use spacesuits currently aboard the station, following safety procedures implemented for two excursions last December to replace a faulty cooling system component.
Those spacewalks were successful, and there was no recurrence of the leak that occurred during a July 2013 spacewalk by European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano.
NASA unveils FY 2015 budget; commercial space funding urged
03/04/2014 06:03 PM Filed in: Space News | NASA Budget
By WILLIAM HARWOOD
CBS News
The Obama administration's $17.5 billion budget request for NASA in fiscal 2015 will maintain American leadership on the high frontier, agency Administrator Charles Bolden said Tuesday, urging Congress to fully fund development of commercial manned spacecraft to end U.S. reliance on Russia to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station.
Bolden said he did not expect the current crisis in Ukraine to impact space station operations, adding that "right now, everything is normal in our relationship with the Russians."
"I think people lose track of the fact that we have occupied the International Space Station now for 13 consecutive years uninterrupted, and that has been through multiple international crises," he said. "I don't think it's an insignificant fact that we are starting to see a number of people with the idea that the International Space Station be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. It's not trivial."
NASA unveiled the Obama administration's $17.5 billion FY 2015 budget request Tuesday, urging full funding for commercial manned spacecraft to end reliance on Russia to ferry U.S. astronauts to and from the International Space Station. (Credit: NASA)
Since the retirement of the space shuttle in 2011, and in the absence of earlier funding to develop a follow-on manned spacecraft, NASA has been dependent on the the Russians to launch crews to the space station aboard three-seat Russian-built Soyuz spacecraft.
Under a series of contracts with Roscosmos, the Russian federal space agency, NASA has paid between $50 million and $70 million per seat for U.S. astronauts and partner crew members representing Japan, Canada and Europe to hitch rides aboard Russian ferry ships.
As part of a new space policy implemented by the Obama administration in 2010-11, NASA is overseeing a competition to develop a commercial American manned spacecraft to restore independent access to space.
The administration asked for $850 million for commercial manned spaceflight in its fiscal 2012 budget request, but Congress approved just $397 million, a cut that pushed the first NASA flight to the station back one year to 2017.
The administration requested $830 million in its fiscal 2013 budget. Early debate in the House called for limiting the scope of the contract to a single company but a compromise eventually was reached that would provide $525 million. NASA received $696 million for commercial crew operations in fiscal 2014.
The fiscal 2015 request for commercial crew is $848 million, with another $250 million available from the Obama administration's Opportunity, Growth and Security Initiative. NASA plans to award development contracts to one or more competitors in late summer, and test flights could begin as early as 2015.
But Bolden warned that full funding is required to avoid additional delays.
"Let me be clear about one thing," Bolden said. "The choice here is between fully funding the request to bring space launches back to the U.S. or continuing millions in subsidies to the Russians. It's that simple. The Obama administration chooses investing in America, and we believe Congress will choose this course as well."
As for the crisis in Ukraine, Bolden said NASA is pressing ahead with its normal schedule of joint activity.
Three members of the station's current six-man crew -- commander Oleg Kotov, Sergey Ryazanskiy and NASA astronaut Michael Hopkins -- are scheduled to return to Earth next Monday, landing in Kazakhstan aboard the Soyuz TMA-10M spacecraft.
Their replacements, Soyuz TMA-12M commander Alexander Skvortsov, Oleg Artemiev and NASA astronaut Steven Swanson, are scheduled for launch March 25 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
Asked if the high-stakes drama in Ukraine was prompting any contingency planning, Bolden said "we continue to monitor the situation. You know very well that foremost in our minds is the safety of our crews and our assets. That has not changed."
While NASA engineers and flight controllers constantly update contingency plans for in-flight emergencies or malfunctions, Bolden said that so far, no such planning was required as a result of the crisis in Ukraine.
"In terms of the situation on the ground, we will go into contingency planning as the situation dictates," he said. "But right now, we don't see any reason to be doing so."
He did not address what sort of planning might be possible in the absence of a NASA-operated manned launch-and-entry vehicle. But the station cannot be safely operated by either party on its own and cooperation is required. NASA's 2015 budget request supports the Obama administration's recent decision to keep the station flying through at least 2024.
The budget request includes $3 billion to support the International Space Station in fiscal 2015, $2.8 billion to continue development of a new heavy-lift booster and Orion crew capsule for deep space missions and $4.9 billion for space science.
Science spending includes $1.8 billion for Earth science to improve forecasting and climate modeling; $1.28 billion for planetary science; $607 million for astrophysics; $669 million for solar research and observation; and $645 million to continued development of the James Webb Space Telescope, the long-awaited, long-delayed and over-budget successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. Launch remains planned for October 2018.
The planetary science request covers ongoing development of multiple Mars missions, including a 2020 lander modeled after NASA's Curiosity rover, and the continued operation of currently operating planetary missions, including Curiosity, the Opportunity rover, two Mars orbiters, the Messenger mission to Mercury, the Jupiter-bound Juno spacecraft, the New Horizons spacecraft en route to Pluto and the Cassini spacecraft in orbit around Saturn.
But funding for the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, or SOFIA, a sophisticated infrared-sensitive telescope carried by a modified 747 jumbo jet, would be sharply curtained "due to its high operating cost and budget constraints."
The Obama administration's proposed Asteroid Redirect Mission, or ARM, would receive $133 million in fiscal 2015. The project is focused on robotically capturing a small asteroid and towing it back to the vicinity of the moon for hand-on exploration by astronauts launched aboard the Orion crew capsule.
The ARM mission is part of a broader initiative intended to help NASA learn more about astroids in general, improve the agency's ability to detect potentially threatening asteroids and, at some point, learn how to deflect or destroy an approaching body.
NASA planners hope to launch a manned astroid mission in the mid 2020s with the long-range goal of sending humans to Mars in the 2030s.
"This budget ... ensures that the United States will remain the world's leader in space exploration and scientific discovery for years to come," Bolden said. "It also supports the administration's commitment that NASA be a catalyst for the growth of a vibrant American commercial space industry.
"We're working to send our astronauts to the International Space Station. ... The budget supports this crucial work and keeps us on target to launch American astronauts from right here in the USA by 2017. At long last, this will end our reliance on the Russians to get into space and free us up to carry out even more ambitious missions beyond low-Earth orbit."
SpaceX Launch Is Still ‘Go’ as NASA Plans Spacewalk To Replace Broken Computer
By Dan Leone | Apr. 14, 2014
“We’re good to go” with the planned April 14 launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., Michael Suffredini, space station program manager, said. Credit: NASA photo by Carla Cioffi
WASHINGTON — Space Exploration Technologies Corp.’s third contracted cargo run to the international space station is still set to launch at 4:58 Eastern Standard Time April 14, despite the failure of an external space station computer that will require replacement by spacewalking astronauts, a NASA official said April 13.
The so-called External-2 Multiplexer/Demultiplexer, a computer that controls station’s solar arrays, among other things, failed April 11. However, a backup unit has been activated, and even a failure of the secondary system does not pose an unacceptable threat to the SpaceX mission, Michael Suffredini, space station program manager at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, said during a press conference.
“We’re good to go” with the planned April 14 launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., Suffredini said. Should the mission be delayed for some other reason, a backup launch date April 18 has been set.
NASA has a spare for the failed computer onboard the station. It will be installed during a spacewalk tentatively scheduled for April 22, six days after SpaceX’s Dragon cargo capsule is scheduled to berth with the station. NASA has not yet decided which astronauts will perform the spacewalk.
One of the two astronauts tapped for repair duties will don the same spacesuit that nearly drowned Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano back in July, when his helmet filled with fluid. NASA has since determined that a clogged filter was the cause, and the so-called Extravehicular Mobility Unit has undergone repairs to make it safe, Suffredini said.
SpaceX’s third contracted station cargo launch was delayed by problems with a tracking radar used for launches from the Cape, and the slippage may have implications for Orbital Sciences Corp., NASA’s other commercial cargo hauler.
Dulles, Va.-based Orbital is working toward a May 6 launch of its Antares rocket from Wallops Island, Va., but may not be able to launch until June 9 because of an brewing on-orbit traffic jam. SpaceX’s Dragon is required to remain at station for about a month following its scheduled April 16 arrival, and the Russian Federal Space Agency, Roscosmos, is scheduled to launch new crew members to the station May 28, Orbital said in an April 7 note on its own website.
SpaceX’s commercial manifest might also be affected by the delay. The Hawthorne, Calif.-based company is scheduled to launch half a dozen data-messaging satellites for Fort Lee, N.J.-based Orbcomm in late April.
Hans Koenigsmann, SpaceX’s vice president of mission assurance, said during the April 13 press briefing that the Orbcomm launch was still on for the end of April, but Orbcomm said in an April 11 note on its website that “due to the recent delays with [SpaceX’s station cargo] mission, our new target launch window is May 10-15.”
Follow Dan on Twitter: @Leone_SN
Commerce Secretary Calls Risk of Weather Satellite Gap ‘Too High’
By Mike Gruss | Apr. 11, 2014
“What we’re trying to do now is move the JPSS-2 so there’s greater overlap with the JPSS-1 program,” Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker said. Credit: U.S. Department of Commerce photo
WASHINGTON — The U.S. commerce secretary says current weather satellite development programs are on track but nonetheless she continues to worry about a future gap in coverage.
In hearings before House and Senate panels April 9 and April 10, respectively, Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker repeatedly said the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s weather satellite programs were “on schedule and on budget.”
NOAA, which manages and procures U.S. civil weather satellite systems, is part of the Commerce Department. The agency operates geostationary-orbiting satellites for continental coverage and a polar-orbiting craft for global coverage. Budget difficulties and delays to the systems currently under development have led to concerns about gaps in coverage, primarily from polar orbit.
“The potential for a gap is still too high,” Pritzker told the Senate Appropriations commerce, justice, science and related agencies subcommittee.
Both House and Senate leaders cited an independent assessment that said NOAA is making progress on the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)-R and Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) programs. But that assessment, along with others by the Commerce Department’s inspector general and the Government Accountability Office, identified program risks including the possibility of a gap in JPSS coverage.
As recently as September, Mary Kicza, NOAA’s assistant administrator for satellite and information services, said there is a 50 percent chance the country will experience a gap in polar satellite coverage.
Pritzker said one way to reduce those odds is to keep the JPSS-1 satellite on schedule for a launch in 2017. She also appeared to lend credibility to the idea of accelerating the launch date for JPSS-2, which is not yet under contract but is nonetheless tentatively slated for a 2021 liftoff.
“What we’re trying to do now is move the JPSS-2 so there’s greater overlap with the JPSS-1 program,” Pritzker said during the Senate hearing. “To do that, we need to have the procurement of the instruments, the bus, the ground system and the launch.”
According to documents accompanying its 2015 budget request, NOAA has ruled out the possibility of launching JPSS-1 early, but left the door open for moving up the launch date for JPSS-2. Starting work on JPSS-2 instruments now “may enable options to accelerate JPSS-2 schedules and reduce risk of a data gap between JPSS-1 and JPSS-2,” NOAA said.
NOAA has said it is considering other “potential gap mitigation missions” within the JPSS program but did not provide details.
The agency’s 2015 budget request includes a $165 million increase to buy spare JPSS instruments, which Pritzker called the most important step in building any kind of gap-filler program. NOAA recently announced its intent to procure additional JPSS instruments, including two spare sensors, from the incumbent contractors.
But during questions, lawmakers said they still had concerns about NOAA’s satellite program.
“While Commerce’s budget shows continued reforms to NOAA’s satellite programs in response to critical reviews from this Committee and expert outside analysts, I remain concerned about the stability of these important satellite programs,” Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), who chairs the full Senate Appropriations Committee as well as the commerce, justice, science subcommittee, said in written testimony.
Meanwhile, Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), the ranking member of the full committee and subcommittee, questioned the need for one of NOAA’s secondary satellite projects, the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate (COSMIC)-2. That project, being pursued jointly with Taiwan, consists of 12 small satellites that would measure atmospheric conditions based on GPS signal distortion, or occultation.
Shelby told Pritzker he viewed the JPSS and GOES-R as must-haves, and the COSMIC-2 satellites as “nice-to-haves.”
Follow Mike on Twitter: @Gruss_SN
Commercial Space Bill Would Bolster Utility of Experimental Permits
By Dan Leone | Apr. 11, 2014
The legislation, S. 2140, was introduced by Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and approved by voice vote. Credit: Department of Energy photo
WASHINGTON — Operators of commercial suborbital spacecraft would get more utility out of the experimental permits the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration issues for test flights if a bill approved April 8 by the Senate Commerce Committee becomes law.
The legislation, S. 2140, was introduced by Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and approved by voice vote. It had not been scheduled for consideration by the full Senate as of April 11.
The proposal would amend the 2004 Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act to make clear that experimental permits issued by the Federal Aviation Administration for rocket test flights are not invalidated once the rocket’s operator secures a formal license for commercial flights, according to a press release from Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), one of the bill’s four co-sponsors.
The bill would also clarify that an experimental permit issued for a certain vehicle, for example, the SpaceShipTwo suborbital rocket New Mexico-based Virgin Galactic plans to use in its suborbital tourism business later this year, applies to all copies of that vehicle.
Virgin Galactic Chief Executive George Whitesides praised the bill as soon as it cleared its first hurdle in Congress.
Heinrich’s bill “addresses a technical issue that will help the commercial spaceflight industry develop and deploy reusable space vehicles quickly and safely,” Whitesides, a former NASA chief of staff who since 2010 has been running the company Sir Richard Branson founded in 2004, said in Rubio’s press release.
The FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation regulates the launch and re-entry of reusable commercial suborbital rockets, of which Virgin Galactic’s passenger-carrying SpaceShipTwo is only one example.
Under current U.S. law, FAA issues two kinds of documents for operators of commercial reusable rockets: experimental permits and launch licenses. Right now, permits apply to only one vehicle at a time, and do not allow for revenue-generating flights, such as those Virgin hopes to start flying from New Mexico’s Spaceport America later this year.
Licenses, which also apply to one vehicle at a time, allow for commercial flights, but wipe out any experimental permit connected with a licensed vehicle. However, licenses do allow for experimental flights, FAA’s top commercial space official has said.
“You can still continue to do testing under a launch license,” George Nield, FAA’s associate administrator for commercial space transportation, told members of the House Science space subcommittee during a February hearing.
Virgin has yet to secure its license. The experimental permit under which SpaceShipTwo has flown all its test flights to date is held by Scaled Composites of Mojave, Calif., which developed SpaceShipTwo and its WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft.
Follow Dan on Twitter: @Leone_SN
Pad 39A was used for all the Manned Apollo launches, And a good number of the Shuttle launches. It's a very historic Pad.SpaceX's mega-rocket to debut next year at pad 39A
BY STEPHEN CLARK
SPACEFLIGHT NOW
Posted: April 15, 2014
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SpaceX signed a 20-year lease Monday to operate and maintain one of Kennedy Space Center's historic launch pads, and the California-based company plans to debut the world's most powerful rocket at the facility next year.
NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden, SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell and Kennedy Space Center director Bob Cabana speak to reporters at launch pad 39A. Photo credit: NASA/Dan Casper
The agreement turns over control of Launch Complex 39A to the commercial space transportation firm, which plans to use the launch pad for the the initial flights of the Falcon Heavy, a mega-rocket featuring 27 first stage engines generating nearly 4 million pounds of thrust at liftoff.
Pad 39A was the starting point for many historic Apollo and space shuttle missions, including the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969 and the first and last shuttle launches in 1981 and 2011.
"We'll make great use of this pad, I promise," said Gwynne Shotwell, president of SpaceX, in remarks to the media moments after signing the lease. "We've had architects and our launch site engineering [team] working for many months on the sidelines. We will launch the Falcon Heavy from here first -- from this pad -- early next year."
Shotwell said pad 39A would also host launches of astronauts aboard the crewed version of SpaceX's Dragon capsule, which is under development in a public-private partnership between the company and NASA.
SpaceX is competing with Boeing Co. and Sierra Nevada Corp. to win another round of government funding to continue development of their human-rated spacecraft, culminating in crewed missions by 2017.
Launch pad 39A becomes SpaceX's third launching base after an existing complex on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station a few miles to the south and a West Coast facility for flights into polar orbit at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.
SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets have flown eight times -- seven launches from Cape Canaveral and one flight from Vandenberg.
Without going into detail, Shotwell said SpaceX would make some modifications to pad 39A but leave historic elements of the complex, which has sat mostly untouched since the space shuttle Atlantis rocketed into orbit on July 8, 2011, to begin its last mission.
The turnover of pad 39A marks another milestone in the space center's transformation following the retirement of the space shuttle. Lockheed Martin Corp. set up a factory for the Orion crew exploration vehicle inside KSC's Operations and Checkout Building, and Boeing plans to concentrate construction and processing of its CST-100 commercial crew capsule and the U.S. Air Force's unmanned X-37B space plane in two former space shuttle hangars.
A view of the flame trench at launch pad 39A. Photo credit: NASA/Dan Casper
SpaceX will operate and maintain pad 39A at its own expense, according to a NASA press release. NASA was spending about $1 million annually on upkeep for the launch pad.
NASA officials see no need for pad 39A in its space exploration plans. Nearby Launch Complex 39B received a facelift over the last four years, which saw the demolition of its shuttle-era servicing towers, refurbishment of plumbing and propellant tanks, and modernization of its electrical and communications network.
Pad 39B will be home to NASA's Space Launch System, a government-owned heavy-lift rocket that will launch astronaut crews on deep space expeditions. NASA plans its first destination to be an asteroid repositioned by a robotic spacecraft in a stable orbit near the moon.
The first unmanned test launch of the SLS is scheduled before the end of 2017.
Shotwell said SpaceX plans to build a new hangar near launch pad 39A to assemble rockets horizontally before transferring the launchers to the pad and lifting them atop a launch platform for liftoff.
The Falcon Heavy is SpaceX's biggest booster. It is powered by three kerosene-fueled first stages and an upper stage derived from the Falcon 9 rocket.
Each Falcon 9 first stage is powered by nine Merlin 1D engines. The Falcon Heavy, which uses a combined 28 engines, will be the most powerful space launcher in the world when it first flies in 2015.
SpaceX says the Falcon Heavy can lift nearly 117,000 pounds, or 53 metric tons, into low Earth orbit and shoot 29,000 pounds of payload on a trajectory to Mars. When fueled for launch, the rocket will weigh more than 1,600 tons.
The Falcon Heavy's inaugural flight was scheduled from Vandenberg Air Force Base, but the acquisition of launch pad 39A allows SpaceX to move the mission from California to Florida.
Artist's concept of the Falcon Heavy. Photo credit: SpaceX
"Until yesterday, we didn't actually have pad 39A," said Emily Shanklin, a SpaceX spokesperson, in an email response to questions. "Once the lease was signed, it became the option that made the most sense. Our first heavy missions are out of the Cape, and 39A will feature vertical integration as well, which is required by the military."
The U.S. Air Force requires its most precious payloads to be attached to their rockets in a vertical orientation. SpaceX's current processing paradigm uses horizontal integration, where satellites are bolted to the launch vehicle inside a hangar, then the rocket rolls to the launch pad and is hoisted upright within hours of liftoff.
SpaceX is seeking to break into the market to launch pricey Defense Department and intelligence missions. United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, currently launches all of the military's large satellites on Delta 4 and Atlas 5 rockets.
The Air Force set aside 14 missions for competition between ULA and SpaceX -- and any other company wishing to bid -- over the next few years, but budget cuts and delays threaten to cut that number to fewer launches open for bidding.
The military's insistence that its payloads be integrated with rockets vertically, an overlooked point in recent congressional hearings and debates on the future of the U.S. launch market, has forced SpaceX to rethink its concept of operations.
Vertical integration requires the presence of a fixed or mobile tower at the launch pad, giving cranes and workers access to lift and attach satellites to the rocket.
Launch pad 39A's fixed service structure, a holdover from the space shuttle era, would fit the requirement.
NASA selected SpaceX to enter negotiations to use pad 39A in December after a protest from Blue Origin, a private rocket company owned by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, challenging the fairness of the space agency's search for a tenant to assume control of the launch complex.
Blue Origin claimed NASA expressed a preference for the future tenant of pad 39A to support a multi-user concept, in which several different rockets could utilize the facility.
File photo of the launch of space shuttle Atlantis from pad 39A on the final shuttle mission. Photo credit: NASA/Tony Gray and Tom Farrar
The Government Accountability Office in December decided NASA had expressed no preference for either a multiple-user or an exclusive agreement for the launch pad. NASA announced its selection of SpaceX the day after the GAO rendered its decision.
NASA officials say they will make launch pad 39B available to commercial users when it is not needed by the Space Launch System.
The first two SLS flights are scheduled for 2017 and 2021 -- the first crewed launch -- so NASA officials say such a long gap will create an opportunity for other rockets to use launch pad 39B.
The SLS will only stay at the launch pad for three-to-five days after rollout from KSC's massive Vehicle Assembly Building before liftoff, ensuring a minimal footprint and few scheduling conflicts for potential commercial users, officials said.
Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.
Smart Move, DreamChaser has a lot of promise other then a single error it would have been perfect. The more tests they can squeeze in the better As I want to see this Bird strapped on and launched!Sierra Nevada Plans Additional Dream Chaser Flight Tests in Fall
Posted by Doug Messier on April 16, 2014, at 12:27 pm in News
Tags: boeing, commercial crew program, edwards air force base, human spaceflight, nasa, sierra nevada corporation, spacex.
Comments: 3 responses
3 Comments
Dream_Chaser_Landing
Dream Chaser on approach after a successful free flight. (Credit: Sierra Nevada Corporation)
By Douglas Messier
Managing Editor
Sierra Nevada Corporation will conduct additional drop tests of its Dream Chaser space shuttle at Edwards Air Force Base in the fall, Co-program Director John Curry said during the recent Space Tech Expo in Long Beach, Calif.
The approach and landing tests will be conducted using an upgraded engineering test vehicle that glided to a landing at Edwards last October. The upgrades will include the avionics, software, and guidance, navigation and control systems designed for use on the orbital Dream Chaser spacecraft, Curry said.
The schedule puts completion of Dream Chaser’s drop test milestone at least 17 months behind the original schedule, which called for free flights to be complete in April 2013. The tests could also be conducted after NASA has already decided on which of three competitors to continue funding in the next round of it Commercial Crew Program.
In the competition to fly astronauts to the International Space Station, Sierra Nevada is facing strong competition from Boeing and SpaceX. Faced with limited funding, NASA is expected to eliminate at least one competitor for the next round, which will see the winner or winners build and flight test vehicle(s).
NASA has said it hopes to award the next round of contracts in August. Each of the companies has submitted proposals for the next round that NASA officials are now reviewing.
Both Boeing and SpaceX have experienced some slippage in their schedules. And NASA amended the agreements with all three competitors, extending the current round from the April-May time frame to August while funding additional milestones for each company.
However, the slips in the Boeing and SpaceX schedules have been typically measured from one to several months, depending upon the individual milestones involved. Both companies say they are on track to complete all their milestones by August when the current funding round ends.
Sierra Nevada completed a single free flight of its Dream Chaser engineering model in Oct. 26 for which it received a $7 million milestone payment from NASA. The vehicle was dropped from a helicopter and successfully maneuvered to a touchdown on the runway at Edwards Air Force Base.
The vehicle crashed upon touchdown when one of its landing gears failed to properly deploy, causing the Dream Chaser to skid off the runway. Despite the failure, NASA declared the test successful in meeting the objectives of the milestone. The landing gear is different from what will be used on spaceflights.
The successful flight test was a milestone from the previous round of commercial crew funding. It was to be followed by at least one and as many as five additional drop tests “to reduce risk due to aerodynamic uncertainties in the subsonic approach and landing phase of flight and to mature the Dream Chaser aerodynamic database.” Completion of the milestone is worth $8 million.
Sierra Nevada Commercial Crew Milestones Status
Award Period: August 2012 – August 2014
Total Milestones: 13
Milestones Completed: 8
Milestones Pending: 5
Total Possible Award: $227.5 Million
Total Awarded to Date: $164.5 Million
Total Award Remaining: $63 Million
No. Description Original Date Status Amount
1. Program Implementation Plan Review. This is an initial meeting to describe the plan for implementing the Commercial Crew Integrated Capability Program, to include management planning for achieving CDR; Design, Development, Testing, and Evaluation activities; risk management to include mitigation plans, and certification activities planned during the CCiCap Base Period. August 2012 Complete $30 Million
2. Integrated System Baseline Review. The Integrated System Baseline Review (ISBR) demonstrates the maturity of the baseline CTS integrated vehicle and operations design of the Dream Chaser Space System (DCSS) consisting of Dream Chaser spacecraft, Atlas launch vehicle, Mission Systems, and Ground Systems supports proceeding with the detailed CTS design. October 2012 Complete $45 Million
3. Integrated System Safety Analysis Review #1. The purpose of the Integrated System Safety Analysis Review #1 is to demonstrate that the systems safety analysis of the Dream Chaser Space System (DCSS) has been advanced to a preliminary maturity level, incorporating changes resulting from the Preliminary Design Review, The DCSS consists of the Dream Chaser spacecraft, launch vehicle, ground systems and mission systems. January 2013 Complete $20 Million
4A. Engineering Test Article Flight Testing. At least one free flight of the Engineering Test Article to characterize the aerodynamics and controllability of the Dream Chaser Orbital Vehicle outer mold line configuration during the subsonic approach and landing phase. April 2013 Complete $7 Million
5. SNC Investment Financing #1. This funding represents SNC’s commitment for significant investing financing. SNC to provide program co-investment of [REDACTED]. July 2013 Complete $12.5 Million
6. Integrated System Safety Analysis Review #2. The purpose of the Integrated System Safety Analysis Review #2 is to demonstrate that the systems safety analysis of the Dream Chaser Space System. October 2013 Complete $20 Million
7. Certification Plan Review. The Certification Plan Review defines the top level strategy for certification of the DCSS that meets the objectives for the ISS Design Reference Mission described in CCT-DRM-1110 Rev Basic. SNC shall conduct a review of the verification and validation activities planned for the Dream Chaser Space System (Dream Chaser spacecraft, Atlas launch vehicle, Ground and Mission Systems). November 2013 Complete $25 Million
10A. Critical Design Review Incremental Design Review #1. This is the first of a series of reviews that support the Dream Chaser Space System ICDR. October 2013 Complete
$5 Million
TOTAL TO DATE
(OUT OF $227.5 Million): $164.5
Million
4B. Engineering Test Article Flight Testing. The purpose of these additional free flight test(s) is to reduce risk due to aerodynamic uncertainties in the subsonic approach and landing phase of flight and to mature the Dream Chaser aerodynamic database. A minimum of one and up to five additional Engineering Test Article free flight test(s) will be completed to characterize the aerodynamics and controllability of the Dream Chaser Orbital Vehicle outer mold line configuration during the subsonic approach and landing phase. April 2013 Pending Fall 2014
$8 Million
8. Wind Tunnel Testing. The purpose of this testing is to reduce risk on both the DC vehicle and the DC/Atlas stack by maturing the DC and DCiAtias aerodynamic databases, providing improved fidelity in Reynolds number effects and control surface interactions, and will help determine pre-CDR required updates to the OML or control surface geometry if required. February 2014 Pending 1Q 2014
$20 Million
9. Risk Reduction and TRL Advancement Testing. The purpose of these tests is to significantly mature all Dream Chaser systems to or beyond a CDR level. May 2014 Pending 2Q 2014
$17 Million
9A. Main Propulsion and RCS Risk Reduction and TRL Advancement Testing. The purpose of these tests is to significantly mature the Dream Chaser Main Propulsion System and Reaction Control System to or beyond a CDR level. Risk reduction and Technology Readiness Level improvement tests will be completed for these systems. May 2014 Pending 2Q 2014
$8
Million
15A. Reaction Control System Testing — Incremental Test No. 1. The purpose of the test on this pre-qualification unit is to support eventual qualification/certification by testing the thruster in flight-like environments. July 2014 Pending 3Q 2014
$10 Million
TOTAL: $227.5 Million
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A new cosmodrom may indicate that the Russians might just decide to launch another Mir.Russia accelerates construction of Far East’s spaceport Vostochny
Russia April 16, 16:30 UTC+4
Launch pad for Soyuz-2 carrier rocket at Vostochny to be completed in 2015
UGLEGORSK, April 16. /ITAR-TASS/. The first launching pad of spaceport Vostochny will be mounted on May 15, the chief of this construction project and the head of Russian special construction agency’s construction and engineering company Spetsstroytekhnologii, Sergey Makarov, said on Wednesday. Mounting of an integration house for spacecraft and rockets is planned by this deadline.
Spaceport Vostochny has been built in Russian far eastern Amur region near the settlement of Uglegorsk since 2012. Russian space agency Roscosmos plans that the first launch from a new launching site is due to be made in 2015 and a first piloted launch is planned in 2018. The meeting which Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin held in this settlement was devoted to quicker works at a new Russian cosmodrome.
“The number of workers will be increased manifold at the spaceport regardless natural and weather conditions,” the deputy prime minister said.
A second work shift is about to be introduced, while builders work only in the daytime now. Meanwhile, a programme of universities involved in the space project is being developed in addition. This factor will permit to heighten interest of young specialists in this mega-project and will give an opportunity to involve qualified personnel in work. Rogozin pledged at a meeting with students of South Ural Federal University that construction teams of students would be engaged in this construction project.
Rogozin noted that special meetings devoted to the space centre’s construction would be held in the government monthly.
New Moon!NASA Cassini Images May Reveal Birth of a Saturn Moon
Commotion at Ring's Edge May Be Effect of Small Icy Object The disturbance visible at the outer edge of Saturn's A ring in this image from NASA's Cassini spacecraft results from gravitational effects on ring particles by an object that may be replaying the birth process of icy moons. Cassini's narrow-angle camera recorded this view on April 15, 2013.
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April 14, 2014
NASA's Cassini spacecraft has documented the formation of a small icy object within the rings of Saturn that may be a new moon, and may also provide clues to the formation of the planet's known moons.
Images taken with Cassini's narrow angle camera on April 15, 2013, show disturbances at the very edge of Saturn's A ring -- the outermost of the planet's large, bright rings. One of these disturbances is an arc about 20 percent brighter than its surroundings, 750 miles (1,200 kilometers) long and 6 miles (10 kilometers) wide. Scientists also found unusual protuberances in the usually smooth profile at the ring's edge. Scientists believe the arc and protuberances are caused by the gravitational effects of a nearby object. Details of the observations were published online today (April 14, 2014) by the journal Icarus.
The object is not expected to grow any larger, and may even be falling apart. But the process of its formation and outward movement aids in our understanding of how Saturn's icy moons, including the cloud-wrapped Titan and ocean-holding Enceladus, may have formed in more massive rings long ago. It also provides insight into how Earth and other planets in our solar system may have formed and migrated away from our star, the sun.
"We have not seen anything like this before," said Carl Murray of Queen Mary University of London, the report's lead author. "We may be looking at the act of birth, where this object is just leaving the rings and heading off to be a moon in its own right."
The object, informally named Peggy, is too small to be seen in images so far. Scientists estimate it is probably no more than about a half mile (about a kilometer) in diameter. Saturn's icy moons range in size depending on their proximity to the planet -- the farther from the planet, the larger. And many of Saturn's moons are composed primarily of ice, as are the particles that form Saturn's rings. Based on these facts, and other indicators, researchers recently proposed that the icy moons formed from ring particles and then moved outward, away from the planet, merging with other moons on the way.
"Witnessing the possible birth of a tiny moon is an exciting, unexpected event," said Cassini Project Scientist Linda Spilker, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. According to Spilker, Cassini's orbit will move closer to the outer edge of the A ring in late 2016 and provide an opportunity to study Peggy in more detail and perhaps even image it.
It is possible the process of moon formation in Saturn's rings has ended with Peggy, as Saturn's rings now are, in all likelihood, too depleted to make more moons. Because they may not observe this process again, Murray and his colleagues are wringing from the observations all they can learn.
"The theory holds that Saturn long ago had a much more massive ring system capable of giving birth to larger moons," Murray said. "As the moons formed near the edge, they depleted the rings and evolved, so the ones that formed earliest are the largest and the farthest out."
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
To view an image of the Saturn ring disturbance attributed to the new moon, visit:
For more information about Cassini, visit these sites:
Jane Platt
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-0880
[email protected]
Dwayne Brown
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1726
[email protected]
2014-112
Everyone But NASA Wants To Wake Up This Long-Dormant Spacecraft
Written by
BEN RICHMOND
@a_ben_richmond
April 15, 2014 // 04:13 PM EST
Image: NASA
Where organizations lose their interest—which is to say, funding—the crowd is there to step in. It's true if there isn't money for a Veronica Mars movie, and it's true if the Mars Rover is taking up all of the space agency's cash and attention. An old, even distinguished, NASA spacecraft is coasting toward Earth, but NASA can't afford to bring it back online. That's why a couple of guys want to take on the “geeky endeavor” of bumping it back in to place—with as many 80 year olds as they can find and a satellite dish in Kentucky.
NASA's got a full plate and a shrinking budget, which makes reviving a spacecraft that was given up on decades earlier an unlikely proposition. So in the absence of an official effort, a couple of "citizen scientists" are going to see if they can wake it up on their own. Keith Cowing and Dennis Wingo are experienced technoarcheologists; alum of the Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project, wherein they holed up in an old McDonalds and dug out some early photographs of the moon taken by orbiters 45 years earlier that had been stored on magnetic tape. So they're no strangers to old equipment, shoe-string budgets, and unexpected results, which is why they're ready and willing to see if they're able to wake up the ISEE-3.
Once upon a time, NASA was the one keeping an eye and a staff on the ISEE-3. In 1978, the space agency teamed up with the ESA and launched the third International Solar-Environment Explorer. It was the first spacecraft to monitor solar wind, while it was perched in orbit between the Sun and the Earth.
Whereas the first two ISEEs eventually reentered the Earth's atmosphere, the ISEE-3 stayed out there, and was granted a second life as the ICE: the International Cometary Explorer. As the Russians, Japanese, and the ESA were preparing to send probes to Halley's Comet as it passed in 1986, the newly christened ICE traversed the Giacobini-Zinner comet's tail in 1985, in the process becoming the first spacecraft to pass a comet, and the first to reach Comet Halley in 1986. Also, in the same process, it left its old, solar-wind monitoring position behind.
In 1997, the ICE mission operations were terminated, although the spacecraft's on-board instrumentation was still working and there was still fuel available. NASA's Deep Space Network checked in with the ISEE-3 back in 2008, and its spacecraft's transmitter remains on, but that's all that's really known at this point. It had a second life as a comet hunter, though, so why not a third?
"It's the most cost-effective spacecraft we ever had and I'd like to make it even more cost-effective. It can do more missions," said Bob Farquhar, the "orbit maestro" who originally turned the ISEE-3 into the ICE and got America to a comet before any other country.
Just like in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, the space probe is coming home. In August of this year, the ISEE-3/ICE will swing back by the Earth after nearly three decades of large, looping orbits around the Sun. Some believe that ISEE-3/ICE could be recycled again, and go back to being a solar-weather-observation platform, provided its thrusters are fired soon.
It's not that no one at the cash-strapped NASA of today believes it could be done, but reviving an old spacecraft is just not a project that can earn a line in the budget. A research scientist at the Goddard Space Flight Center, Leonard Garcia, told the Planetary Society's Emily Lakdawalla that agency's Deep Space Network didn't even bother to do a cost estimate on bringing the ISEE-3/ICE back online.
Beyond tightening its belt, with all the changes in communications technology, NASA doesn't have the right equipment to reach the ICE. So even though its signal has been detected in Germany , Puerto Rico, and Kentucky, Houston can't say hi to its old friend.
In 2010, Garcia co-authored a paper in the journal Space Weather that said bringing ICE online was a perfect example of doing more with less, which is basically NASA's MO now. “The spacecraft carries 13 plasma, high-energy particle, field, and wave sensors, most of which were still functional as of 1999,” the article stated. “ISEE 3/ICE can serve many more purposes. Controlling this comparatively simple spacecraft, now well beyond warranty, would be an ideal training opportunity for young scientists and engineers.”
It's a compelling enough mission that Garcia isn't the only one eager not to let an opportunity pass by. NPR reports that a team at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory wants to use their 18-meter satellite dish to communicate with the craft. They have NASA's blessing to try to assess ICE's condition.
But APL is another organization that has people it needs to answer to, Keith Cowing told me over the phone this morning, and truth be told, APL is perched between Baltimore and Washington DC—not the best place for signaling space. Hence the Cowing/Wingo collaboration with Morehead State.
"We've heard it, we've got a dish and now we're moving to listening and talking to it”
To free this project from budget concerns, they set up a crowdfunding page for rebooting the ISEE-3. The project has “a team of engineers, programmers, and scientists,” and Cowing told me they're tracking down everyone who was involved with the original program that's still alive.
Like the Hopkins team, they also has access to a large radio telescope fully capable of contacting ISEE-3 at Morehead State University in Kentucky. Still needs some funding though, hence the crowdfunding page that launched yesterday on Rockethub, where the difficulties ahead are outlined:
In order to interact with the spacecraft we will need to locate the original commands and then develop a software recreation of the original hardware that was used to communicate with the spacecraft. These are our two greatest challenges.
The funding we seek will be used for things we have not already obtained from volunteers. We need to initiate a crash course effort to use 'software radio' to recreate virtual versions all of the original communications hardware that no longer physically exists. We also need to cover overhead involved in operating a large dish antenna, locating and analyzing old documentation, and possibly some travel.
It's easy enough to pick up the signal from the approaching ISEE-3, but they'd have to learn the language it speaks to say anything back. “We've heard it, we've got a dish and now we're moving to listening and talking to it,” Cowing said. “We'll have to recreate the hardware in silicon—in software radio—and recreate and find the language to fire the commands.”
So, sure, a quick emulator for a program, which was written in the 70s in fortran. Even if that ends up being possible, it's unclear what still works on the spacecraft and what it could be used for. Cowing described putting it back in its position perched between Earth and the Sun, where even if its instruments weren't able to monitor the solar wind again, it could be a target for future students to uncover, or could be used to calibrate radio telescopes on Earth.
Or maybe it's just an inspiration for others. When someone tells you that something can't done, that's when you grit your teeth and get going. “Another impossible project to pull off, lets go!” Wingo wrote on his Rockethub bio.
The stakes might be low, “If it's not successful, it'll just fly by,” Cowing said, “and we'll—well, Earth—will see it in 40 years.”
But given NASA's success rate at using spacecraft beyond their mission—the Voyagers, Kepler, etc— why not try to wake up the ISEE-3 and see what its got left? Never let an opportunity, or old spacecraft, pass you by.
Outstanding!This is a important launch not just for the ISS but because SpaceX intends to try and preform a second controlled burn of the First stage. Why? it's to see it Space X can conduct a Controlled landing of the Stage. if they can well this video show's there end game.
That's right kiddies returnable first second and mission capsule that also means Reusable First second and mission capsule. the Advantages should be obvious. They could drive the cost of launches down even more. Already the Russian's and European Space services are racing to try and compete this would pretty much run them outta business,
