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Starliner Performs Well in Airbag Testing
Posted on February 17, 2016 at 5:54 pm by Stephanie Martin.
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NASA Admisistrator Charles Bolden recieves a briefing about the CLARREO System Dave Johnson, Bruce Wielicki and Yolanda Sheain in building 1202 at Langley Research Center. 02/09/2016

The Boeing CST-100 Starliner airbag system, which will provide a safe landing for the spacecraft during any phase of flight, was put to the test over the 20-foot-deep Hydro Impact Basin at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, on Feb. 9. The Starliner is one of two commercial spacecraft in development to launch astronauts from the U.S. to the International Space Station via NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.

Six landing airbags, designed and manufactured by ILC Dover in Frederica, Delaware, were inflated before the full-size Starliner test article was hoisted up by a crane and then dropped from a height and angle that mimicked what the spacecraft might encounter as it pushes off an Atlas V rocket during a launch or ascent emergency. The goal for Boeing’s landing and recovery team is to achieve flight qualification status of the Starliner’s airbag and up-righting systems through a series of tests at Langley’s Hydro Impact Basin.

While the Starliner is designed for land-based returns, it is important for engineers to understand how the spacecraft and its systems would perform in all landing scenarios.

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Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin boards the Soyuz TMA-20M spacecraft at the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome early on March 19, 2016 (AFP Photo/Kirill Kudryavtsev)

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Journalists take photos of the Soyuz-FG rocket booster with Soyuz TMA-20M capsule carrying a new crew to the International Space Station, ISS, blasting off at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Saturday, March 19, 2016. The Russian rocket carries NASA astronaut Jeff Williams, Russian cosmonauts Oleg Skripochka, and Alexei Ovchinin of Roscosmos. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

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• PARIS – Russia has approved a 10-year, 1.4 trillion ruble ($20.51 billion) budget for space programs, according to a March 17 announcement posted on the government’s website.
  
  Under the program, which covers the period 2016-25, Russia will tackle a number of large developments in robotic and manned spaceflight. Projects will include continued participation in the International Space Station and completing the Russian segment aboard the orbiting outpost.
  
  The spending will also boost the number of Russian telecommunications satellites and fund support for new space-science endeavors.
  
  There is also the possibility of adding 115 billion rubles to the pot after 2022, says Igor Komarov, head of the Russian space agency
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  .
  
  But economic pressures in Russia will mean the government funds fewer programs than initially planned under a 3.4 trillion ruble spending scheme proposed last year.
  
  “It’s a large program, but we need such big programs, even under circumstances when the economic situation is difficult,” Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev told Russia’s Interfax news agency.
  
  
  Russia’s space industry is in the midst of a major overhaul, one that has seen its federal space agency repurposed as a state-owned corporation that ultimately will oversee the majority of the nation’s space companies. The country has also suffered a spate of space-related mishaps, notably involving the venerable Proton heavy-lift rocket.
  
  Earlier this month the Proton successfully launched a joint European-Russian mission to the Red Planet known as ExoMars 2016. But the launch marks only the first leg of a two-pronged campaign to explore the Martian atmosphere and probe beneath its surface.
  
  European and Russian officials say a second mission slated for 2018 is at risk of being delayed two years due to funding and technical concerns.

• HOUSTON – Portions of the information technology and physical infrastructure of
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  ’s Near Earth Network, part of the agency’s far-reaching Space Communications and Navigation Program, face security risks, says an audit by Paul K. Martin, the agency’s inspector general.
  
  Those risks include reliance on non-government partners to transmit data, maintenance lapses and funding issues that could affect about 40 current Earth science missions, U.S. weather forecasting capabilities and the command and data infrastructure for planned human Space Launch System and Orion exploration missions.
  
  “We believe that these deficiencies resulted from inadequate agency oversight of the network and insufficient coordination between stakeholders. These deficiencies unnecessarily increase the network’s susceptibility to compromise,” concludes Martin’s 38-page report,
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  ’s Management of the Near Earth Network. “The planned increase in network usage, coupled with its future use in human spaceflight, means the network cannot tolerate extended downtime.”
  
  William Gerstenmaier, NASA’s associate administrator for human exploration and operations, and Renee Wynn, the agency’s chief information officer, pledged fully positive responses by March 2018 to all but two of 14 recommendations for corrective action called for by the audit, released March 17.
  
  The exceptions deal with placing the entire network in the NASA Critical Infrastructure Protection Program (NCIPP) and redesignating the complex network as “high” rather than “moderate” on the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) scale for critical operations.
  
  In the first case, Gerstenmaier and Wynn agreed to support a transition of the NASA elements of the network to NCIPP status, but not the components under the oversight of partner agencies or commercial partners. In the second instance, the two officials agreed to adapt the higher NIST standard for the Launch Communications Stations, critical to the human spaceflight program, for Orion/SLS operations, but not other activities.
  
  Much of the audit was focused on NASA’s
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  , which is responsible for telemetry and command services to the 40 Earth science missions. Those assets are essential to the success of SLS/Orion activities planned to enter the test phase before the end of the decade as well as support for the launch and contingency of
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  (NOAA) satellites involved in domestic weather forecasting.
  
  In order to provide the support, the Near Earth Network incorporates equipment owned by other U.S. and foreign government agencies and commercial providers that function alongside NASA owned but geographically separated antennas and transmitters.
  
  
  The IG’s report characterized the use of non-government assets as a “significant security challenge.” It noted the difficulties in properly maintaining often aging equipment in a network that dates to the 1960s, some of the hardware positioned in extreme environments such as Alaska and Antarctica.
  
  All of the factors have contributed to deviations from NASA as well as federal cyber and physical security risk management policies, the audit says.
  
  The IG also questioned the adequacy of the Near Earth Network’s share of NASA’s larger Space Communication Network budget. The Near Earth Network’s share averages about $40 million annually, or about 13% of the total, without much deviation through 2021.
  
  In response to Martin’s recommendations, the agency agreed to review all external system IT connections to ensure they meet NIST standards; develop a strategy for continuously monitoring network security with scanning software; implement a security baseline with a compliance reporting system and waiver processes; conduct a thorough assessment of NASA assets and schedule depot level maintenance, while providing physical protection where needed and adequate logistics support; and improve incident response capabilities.

Last week, the European Space Agency (ESA) and its Russian partners celebrated a historic launch as the long-awaited ExoMars spacecraft headed off to the Red Planet to search for potential signs of life. The 4.3-ton dual spacecraft, including the Trace Gas Orbiter which will stay in orbit as well as the lander named Schiaparelli,

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on March 14 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on a Russian Proton rocket.

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Nigeria plans sending astronaut to space in 2030
Mar 25 2016 - 8:21am

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A NASA photo of sahara Desert from Space

Nigeria is dreaming big on space exploration as it announced that it will send its first astronaut in 2030.

The Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu said this in Abuja when the management team of the Defence Space Agency, led by the Director-General, Air Vice Marshal Victor Udoh, visited him.

The minister said the Federal Government was putting all the structures on ground to ensure that Nigerian astronauts land in space on or before 2030.

“The space programme is very important for a country like Nigeria.

“The ministry will work very hard in the years ahead to strengthen all the structures of the agencies that will help us to ensure that the nation plays a role in the space’’, he said.

He said the ministry would intensify efforts to ensure that all the arrangements needed were provided.

According to him, the space “is a major asset which nations like Nigeria must also be involved in for the purposes of protecting national interest.”

Onu assured the team that the ministry would support and work with the agency in the best interest of the nation.

Earlier, the Director-General said the agency would like to collaborate with the ministry in order to be more efficient and effective.

He said working with the ministry would fast-track accomplishments of the agency’s stated objectives.

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Moon village envisioned by European Space Agency
by Ivana Kottasova

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March 24, 2016: 12:16 PM ET

The European Space Agency wants to build a village on the Moon.

The head of the multinational agency, Johann-Dietrich Woerner, said the village would "serve science, business, tourism and even mining purposes."

In a video interview posted on the

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, Woerner said a permanent lunar base is the next logical step in space exploration.

He said the village could replace the International Space Station in the future. The ISS has been continuously occupied since 2000. It was originally set to be decommissioned by 2020, but its operation has been extended through 2024.

The agency said it could take 20 years before the technology is ready to make the Moon village happen.

Woerner said the agency could use the Moon's natural resources to build the village, instead of bringing materials from Earth. Structures and parts of buildings could be 3D-printed using robots and rovers.

"We don't need a big amount of funding at the beginning...we can start with a small landing mission, which many countries are already planning," he said.

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Having a permanent human presence on the Moon could be risky, because of cosmic radiation, micrometeorites, and extreme temperatures which can range from 253 degrees F (123 C) to minus 243 F (minus 153 C).

But Woerner said these risks could be minimized by picking the right locations on the Moon. "If we go into the shadow on the moon, we'd have places where we don't have the radiation...at the south pole, which has permanent darkness, where we can find water," he said.

The Outer Space Treaty, which was signed in 1967, says that no nation could claim ownership of the Moon. The European Space Agency wants the Moon village to be an international that would combine the capabilities of different space-faring nations.

Some countries might also be interested in mining for rare earth elements and helium on the Moon, he said.

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[Weekender] Korea needs big players for space expedition
Lack of interest by Chaebol a major setback for Korea‘s aerospace industry
Published : 2016-03-25 13:28
Updated : 2016-03-25 18:48

A race to conquer space has been heating up with more billionaires and entrepreneurs around the world betting big on commercial space businesses such as space travel and cargo delivery to space stations.

Korea, as a late-starter, succeeded in launching a rocket in 2013. However, the country has been struggling to make its way into the top echelon of the world’s space sector due to its lack of talents, experience and investment.

Long exposure of the launch, reentry and landing of U.S. space firm SpaceX’s Falcon 9. (SpaceX)

Many critics also point to the near absence of Korean conglomerates in the domestic aerospace scene as a major setback for the nation.

“Since space businesses do not generate short-term revenues, most Korean conglomerates are reluctant to jump into the sector,” said an official from the aerospace sector.

“Other nations, including the U.S. and Russia, on the other hand, have been running space programs for decades and have a large pool of seasoned engineers and talents, which is why the Korean aerospace industry is far behind in the race for outer space,” he said.

Samsung Group, the largest conglomerate here, previously ran aerospace business arm Samsung Techwin, now renamed Hanhwa Techwin after it was acquired by Hanhwa Group in 2014. Techwin was established in 1977 to develop flight engines.

Samsung Group sold part of Techwin’s flight engines business to Korea Aerospace Industries in 1999 and pulled completely out of the aerospace sector in 2014.

Chung Mong-koo, the chairman of Hyundai Motor Group, reportedly showed interest in the aerospace business in the early 90s, having invited Russian rocket engineers to transfer expertise to Korean researchers at the state-run Korea Aerospace Research Institute.

Hanhwa Techwin, the arms business unit of Hanhwa Group, is one of few big aerospace companies run by a conglomerate in Korea.

Some other players in aerospace here include Korea Air, Korea Aerospace Industries and LIG Nex1, but their activities are less exciting compared to their U.S. counterparts.

Those who aim for the sky (and beyond) include Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Amazon and Blue Origin CEO Jeff Bezos and Paul Allen, the Stratolaunch Systems CEO and co-founder of Microsoft.

U.S. space firm Space X’s reusable rocket Grasshopper. (SpaceX)

Since the U.S. government has given more leeway to private companies engaging in space business, lifting off regulations and providing benefits, some entrepreneurs have established their own companies to develop spacecraft while others have invested a massive amount of money in aerospace technology companies.

They may just be hoping to make their childhood dreams reality, or they could be seeing a real business opportunity in the hitherto relatively untapped outer space.

Whichever it may be, they have enlivened the world’s space scene like not seen since the U.S.’ first moon landing in 1969.

Established in 2002, SpaceX has been at the center of media frenzy in recent years with a series of space projects, including launching its spacecraft Dragon and reusable rocket Falcon 9, which can land safely back on earth. In partnership with NASA, the private firm has been delivering supplies to the International Space Station.

Blue Origin, however, stole the show by successfully launching and landing the New Shepard rocket for the second time earlier this year, according to the U.S. space venture.

The successful vertical landing was considered a great step forward in the aerospace segment as it allows the reuse of a space rocket.

SpaceX experienced failure several times while pursuing its technology.




“I’m a huge fan of rocket-powered vertical landing,” Bezos wrote on the website of the private space venture. “To achieve our vision of millions of people living and working in space, we will need to build very large rocket boosters. And the vertical landing (system) scales extraordinarily well.”

SpaceX spent around $1 billion from 2002 and 2012 -- less than a tenth of Samsung Electronics’ research and development spending last year of $11.7 billion -- while the Amazon CEO poured $500 million into his space venture before the launch of the rocket able to land vertically.

By Kim Young-won ([email protected])

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Vostochny Cosmodrome developer ordered to pay VTB bank $52 mln
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13:58 24/03/2016
MOSCOW, March 24 (RAPSI) –The Moscow Commercial Court on Thursday ordered Dalspetsstroy, the company in charge of the Vostochny spaceport construction, to pay 3.5 billion rubles ($52 million) in debt to VTB bank, RAPSI reported from the courtroom.

A credit facility agreement was signed between Dalspetsstroy and VTB in June 2014.

Dalspetsstroy representative asked the court to mitigate the penalty because of the company’s dire financial condition. The bank’s representative in turn resisted the motion claiming that the construction company has not repaid the principal debt.

VTB has filed several lawsuits to recover debt from Dalspetsstroy. On February 24, the Moscow Commercial Court granted the bank’s lawsuit seeking 722 million rubles ($11 million) from the company.

Another claim for 777 million rubles ($11.5 million) should be considered today.

The construction of the space center, due to become Russia's main launch site, began in 2012. The facility is planned to be completed in 2016. The first manned mission is scheduled for 2018.

Dalspetsstroy has repeatedly reported that the project was behind schedule at some sites but promised to catch up.

According to investigators, ex-CEO of Dalspetsstroy, Yuriy Khrizman, his son Mikhail and Chudov embezzled about 106 million rubles ($1.6 million) belonging to the company. However, one criminal episode was uncovered within the investigation into the case over alleged embezzlement at Vostochny Cosmodrome.

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Reviewers approve early design work on new Vulcan rocket

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Vulcan is visualized here in its 441 configuration. Credit: United Launch Alliance

CAPE CANAVERAL — Work to create a new all-American rocket, the United Launch Alliance Vulcan-Centaur, has passed its first major hurdle for its first flight in three years, officials announced Thursday.


The Preliminary Design Review for the next-generation vehicle was recently completed and verified that the rocket will satisfy the criteria for the diverse military, civil and commercial missions it will launch.


“The completion of the Vulcan Centaur rocket’s PDR is the first of several major and very exciting milestones in the launch vehicle’s development,” said Tory Bruno, ULA president and chief executive officer. “We have a strong path to get to a 2019 flight test of this new, highly-capable American launch vehicle.”


The rocket as currently designed will be powered by a pair of BE-4 liquefied natural gas main engines, made by Blue Origin, for 1.1 million pounds of thrust.


ULA continues to carry the Aerojet Rocketdyne AR-1 kerosene engine as a backup option if the BE-4 is not available in time. A final decision of which engine to pursue will come late this year or early next.


The American-powered first stage stems from the fervor to replace the Russian RD-180 engines used by Atlas 5 and use domestic powerplants.


Sitting atop the Vulcan first stage will be the venerable Centaur upper stage that currently flies on Atlas. The Centaur heritage dates back five decades.


Up to six strap-on solid-fuel boosters from Orbital ATK will tailor each Vulcan to its given payload, continuing the successful dial-a-rocket approach used by Atlas.


“Vulcan Centaur will revolutionize spaceflight and provide affordable, reliable access to space with an American main engine,” said Mark Peller, ULA’s program manager for major development.


A later iteration of Vulcan will replace Centaur with the Advanced Cryogenic Evolved Stage, or ACES, that will offer extended mission durations and be powerful enough to replace the Delta 4-Heavy for its most-challenging NRO missions to directly into geosynchronous orbit 22,300 miles above the Earth.


The rocket will fulfill the entire spectrum of Defense Department payloads in terms of weight and orbits.


Vulcan rockets will be launched from Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral in Florida and Space Launch Complex 3-East at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

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Rocket Lab plans to begin launches mid-year
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—March 24, 2016

Rocket Lab's Electron small launch vehicle. Credit: Rocket Lab
WASHINGTON — Rocket Lab, the U.S.-New Zealand company developing the Electron small launch vehicle, now plans to begin launches in the middle of this year after completing qualification tests of the vehicle’s main engine.

The company announced March 22 that it has completed qualification tests of the Rutherford engine, allowing it to be used in flights of the Electron vehicle. A video released by the company showed the engine firing on a test stand for more than two and a half minutes.

The first launch is planned for the middle of this year, company spokeswoman Catherine Moreau-Hammond said March 23, with the overall flight test program running through the second half of the year. Those launches are planned from a site the company is developing on New Zealand’s North Island.

The Rutherford engine uses liquid oxygen and kerosene propellants and can generate up to 5,000 pounds-force of thrust. The Electron uses nine Rutherford engines in its first stage and a single engine, fitted with an extended nozzle, in its second stage.

Rocket Lab has emphasized the advanced technology used in the development of the engine. Elements of the engine are 3-D printed, and the engine uses electric motors to power its turbopumps.

Electron is designed to place up to 150 kilograms into a 500-kilometers sun-synchronous orbit, which Rocket Lab argues makes it ideal for a number of the constellations of small satellites under development for remote sensing and communications. Rocket Lab announced a contract with Spire in February to launch some Spire satellites on up to 12 Electron missions from late 2016 through 2017.

“We are seeing the vehicle come together, and are looking to move to manufacturing at quantity for both our test and commercial flights,” Rocket Lab Chief Executive Peter Beck said in a statement.

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U.S. Air Force: No evidence malfunctioning Japanese satellite was hit by debris
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— March 29, 2016

The U.S. Air Force said a malfunctioning Japanese astronomy satellite known as ASTRO-H was not hit by debris. Credit: JAXA.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Air Force has found no evidence that a Japanese astronomy satellite that malfunctioned March 26 was struck by debris, making a technical problem the more likely culprit.

“We have seen nothing that says it was struck by debris,” Capt. Nicholas Mercurio, a spokesman for the 14th Air Force and Joint Functional Component Command for space, said in an interview with SpaceNews.

In a March 27 statement, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said it lost communications with the Hitomi satellite at 3:40 a.m. Eastern March 26. About 40 minutes later, at 4:20 a.m. Eastern, the Air Force’s Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg Air Force base detected five pieces of debris in the vicinity of the satellite. Subsequent analysis by the JSpOC concluded the breakup event occurred about 9:42 p.m. Eastern March 25, or about six hours before JAXA lost communications with Hitomi.

JAXA is still holding out hope of recovering Hitomi, having received “very short” signals from the satellite March 28 at the Uchinoura Ground Station in Japan and from the Santiago Tracking Station in Chile. JAXA said March 29 it had not determined the health of the satellite and is observing the objects near the satellite using a radar at Kamisaibara Space Guard Center and telescopes at the Bisei Space Guard Center, both owned by the Japan Space Forum.

JAXA continues to investigate the anomaly but has not speculated on the cause of the malfunction. However, the Air Force said it had found no evidence of an orbital debris strike.

After each orbital debris event, such as what happened with the Hitomi satellite, a team at JSpOC essentially tries to “rewind the tape,” Mercurio said, and learn exactly what happened. This effort includes immediately asking industry partners and international allies for data from their sensors and radars that may have been cued in the direction of the event and reviewing any relevant information.

By the morning of March 29, Air Force officials had studied the data and said they saw “nothing” that indicates Hitomi was struck by debris, Mercurio said.

JAXA launched Hitomi, originally known as Astro-H, on an H-2A rocket Feb. 17. The 2,700-kilogram satellite carries several instruments to perform x-ray astronomy observations. Some of the spacecraft’s instruments were provided by NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency. The spacecraft was in the middle of a three-month checkout and instrument calibration phase when the malfunction took place.

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A black hole-hunting Japanese satellite that disappeared last week has mysteriously surfaced again and made contact with ground control.

Japanese space agency JAXA lost contact with the Hitomi space probe on Saturday, when the satellite was due to start operations.

The satellite was later found to have smashed apart into five separate pieces.

The satellite later managed to send two short communications to mission control though these haven’t helped ground crew to unravel the mystery of what happened.

“JAXA has not been able to figure out the state of its health, as the time frames for receiving the signals were very short,” said JAXA in a

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.

The US Joint Space Operations Center, which spotted the broken apart satellite has said there’s

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.

This suggests that the Hitomi’s fate is more likely to be the result of a technical malfunction on the probe itself.

JAXA has not yet be able to find out if they satellite can be salvaged.

A

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in Arizona appears to show the satellite spinning out of control, which could explain why it has lost contact with ground control.

The ambitious Hitomi satellite features instruments provided by NASA, ESA and the Canadian Space Agency with the entire project reported to have cost $270million (£188million).

The probe was launched to gather vital information on supermassive black holes.

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Blackstone said:

Snowball did it.

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The satellite was later found to have smashed apart into five separate pieces.

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