Space News: ULA Says Workforce Reductions will Help Cut Costs
LES MENUIERES, France -United Launch Alliance (ULA) will reduce its work force by 19 percent over the next few years as it weeds out unneeded overlaps in Atlas and Delta rockets and finds other efficiencies, ULA Chief Operating Officer Dan Collins said.
The head-count reduction, which follows a 16 percent staff cut over the past four years, should enable Denver-based ULA to reduce operating costs and offer reduced launch-service prices to its U.S. government customer, he said.
Collins said ULA, established in December 2006, has already surpassed its goal of cutting launch costs by 25 percent over the previous generation of rockets, and that more cost reductions are on the way.
His remarks were made Nov. 18 at an industry roundtable during the Global Warfare Symposium in Los Angeles. The conference was organized by the Air Force Association, which recently released a transcript of the session.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission approved the merger of what had been competing launch-service providers — Lockheed Martin with the Atlas 5 and Boeing with its Delta family — out of concern that, if left to market forces, one of these launch operations might fail. The U.S. Air Force had further argued that a merger would facilitate moving satellites between Atlas and Delta rockets.
Neither the Air Force, nor U.S. regulators, had relied on promised savings in approving ULA’s creation, although Boeing and Lockheed officials had said the merger would permit up to $150 million a year in savings assuming an annual government launch business of $1.5 billion to $2 billion per year.
Since its creation, ULA has launched 45 times, all successfully. It conducted eight launches in 2010 — the same rate as 2009 — and has 12 scheduled in 2011, which would be a record launch rate for the company.
How to assess the costs associated with a given U.S. government satellite launch has been a subject of debate for years. The analysis is made difficult by the complex web of services provided by the government for a launch in addition to the cash it pays ULA. Moreover, the government pays ULA an annual sum for sustainment of the operation in addition to what it pays for individual Atlas 5 and Delta 4 launches.
Collins said the Boeing Delta and Lockheed Atlas operations in 2006 had a combined work force of 4,400. ULA is now down to 3,700 people and will drop further, to 3,000 assuming a constant level of work, in the coming years, he said.
“In doing this, we’ve exceeded our promise on savings to the customer … by 30 percent and over the five-year period on which the savings will be looked at, we’re going to deliver nearly $800 million of savings due to the consolidation. … I’ve heard it said that ULA just doesn’t care about saving money, and I’ll tell you, that’s just not the case.”
In 2006, the U.S. Air Force and U.S. government regulators, in written statements, said creating a de facto launch monopoly would not lead to lower per-launch costs. Some even assumed costs would rise with the lack of competition, but that the price to pay was worth the benefits to the U.S. Defense Department.
Collins did not specify how ULA has arrived at its $800 million in savings. In the past, the company has said reducing the time required for Atlas and Delta launch campaigns is one way ULA has shaved operating costs.
Further cost cutting could occur as ULA streamlines operations by “eliminating redundancy between the different models of Atlas and Delta where … some of the configurations don’t provide as much value,” Collins said.
He urged the government not to force a competitive environment on an industry that may be ill suited to it. “I’m not saying no to competition, I’m just urging us to be judicious in its use,” he said. “Our success will be judged not on how widely we used the tool of competition, but … on how wisely we used the tool of competition.”
Given the U.S. policy of barring non-U.S. rockets from launching U.S. government satellites, the most likely near-term competition for ULA will be from Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, Calif., whose Falcon 9 rocket recently completed a demonstration mission of launching into low Earth orbit, and recovering, a cargo capsule.
SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk was sitting with Collins on the panel, and he used the occasion to urge the government to scrap its cost-plus contracting scheme in favor of fixed-price contracts. The cost-plus formula, he said, makes “good people do bad things. … You’re creating an incentive to maximize costs up to the limit of the program being canceled.”
“The Air Force has erected enormous barriers to entry at least in the launch market, and made it really very difficult to get in,” Musk said. “It’s sort of strange that we have over 30 missions on contract for Falcon 9 — which is a vehicle that has more capability than the Delta 4 Medium — but not one of those is with the Air Force. Why is that?”
SpaceX has a heavy-lift version of the Falcon 9 in development that has yet to fly.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Thursday, December 30, 2010
NASA's new year will start like the old year with funding uncertainty
AL.com: NASA's new year will start like the old year with funding uncertainty
HUNTSVILLE, AL - For NASA and its Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, 2011 will start as a replay of 2010, with more uncertainty over the agency's future.
As 2010 ends, NASA Headquarters in Washington says it is stuck in a "holding pattern" between its old space program, known as Constellation, and its new mission of building a heavy-lift rocket for deep space exploration.
In part, NASA Headquarters blames U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Tuscaloosa, with whom the White House fought all year over space policy. But Shelby's office says that there is no reason NASA can't move forward.
"NASA is just making excuses and continuing to drag its feet, just as it has done for the past two years under the Obama administration," Shelby spokesman Jonathan Graffeo said Wednesday.
Looming even larger in NASA's future is the pending arrival in Washington of a new Congress with a Republican-led House of Representatives committed to cut federal spending.
Will the new Congress take a scalpel to NASA's budget? No one knows. Will NASA make any substantial progress before the new Congress acts? No one expects it.
The last Congress adjourned in December without passing a NASA budget for fiscal year 2011. Instead, NASA was lumped with the rest of the government in a stop-gap funding measure called a continuing resolution. It keeps spending at 2010 levels until it expires in March and prevents NASA from starting or shutting down any programs in the meantime.
That leaves NASA governed by language Shelby inserted in an earlier law requiring it to keep funding Constellation until a new budget is approved, NASA Headquarters says.
"We were hoping that language was going to be removed in the (stop-gap funding bill)," NASA spokesman J.D. Harrington said Tuesday. "It wasn't."
Some published estimates say NASA could have to spend as much as $500 million on Constellation, a program Congress has agreed to kill.
But Shelby's spokesman says that's not true. There's no reason NASA can't use 2010 Constellation funding to start on the new heavy-lift rocket, Graffeo said.
"The continuing resolution doesn't muddy the waters for them; it continues for the next couple of months the direction from Congress NASA has attempted to ignore for the last couple of years," Graffeo said. "The Shelby language is unambiguous and sends a clear message to NASA: Use the money Congress appropriates as intended - to build a rocket that will maintain our leadership in space."
That's not how Harrington saw it. "Unfortunately, we are still in a holding pattern," he said.
What should NASA watchers look for in the new year? According to interviews this week, there are several mileposts ahead.
First, will NASA open a heavy-lift vehicle program office at Marshall, the NASA center designated to lead work on the new rocket? There is a heavy-lift planning office there now, but a program office is much more significant.
Second, what will the new Congress do with NASA's 2011 budget? Will it appropriate the $1.8 billion discussed earlier for heavy lift? Or will it cut the amount or postpone funding?
Third, will NASA be able to pick a design for the new rocket, and how will it handle procurement of the necessary parts? The last Congress authorized a rocket based on the same solid-rocket motor technology that powered the space shuttle.
If NASA opts instead to study a liquid-fueled rocket motor in 2011, some NASA watchers believe that would mean a delay that could put the new rocket in jeopardy.
For now, Harrington said the most NASA can do is "continue working on Constellation and do some initial planning" for the new rocket.
This confusion isn't new for NASA, which has cycled through decades of debate over balancing its role in the nation's space program with that of industry.
Obama kicked off the latest round in February when he proposed killing Constellation, which he said was behind schedule and over budget, and replacing it with a new commercial space industry nurtured by federal money. NASA would concentrate on robot missions, Earth science and designing a new heavy-lift rocket, Obama said.
Congress said no to Obama and yes to a new NASA rocket. But Congress did agree to let Constellation die and, anticipating that death, contractors in Huntsville in 2010 killed the jobs of an estimated 800 Huntsville rocket engineers and contractors working on Constellation's first phase, the Ares I rocket.
Underlying the urgency for NASA - or someone - to move forward now with a new rocket is the fact that in 2011 NASA finally winds down its 30-year old space shuttle program with two final flights to the International Space Station. Soon, America will have no way into space but catching a ride with the Russians.
HUNTSVILLE, AL - For NASA and its Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, 2011 will start as a replay of 2010, with more uncertainty over the agency's future.
As 2010 ends, NASA Headquarters in Washington says it is stuck in a "holding pattern" between its old space program, known as Constellation, and its new mission of building a heavy-lift rocket for deep space exploration.
In part, NASA Headquarters blames U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Tuscaloosa, with whom the White House fought all year over space policy. But Shelby's office says that there is no reason NASA can't move forward.
"NASA is just making excuses and continuing to drag its feet, just as it has done for the past two years under the Obama administration," Shelby spokesman Jonathan Graffeo said Wednesday.
Looming even larger in NASA's future is the pending arrival in Washington of a new Congress with a Republican-led House of Representatives committed to cut federal spending.
Will the new Congress take a scalpel to NASA's budget? No one knows. Will NASA make any substantial progress before the new Congress acts? No one expects it.
The last Congress adjourned in December without passing a NASA budget for fiscal year 2011. Instead, NASA was lumped with the rest of the government in a stop-gap funding measure called a continuing resolution. It keeps spending at 2010 levels until it expires in March and prevents NASA from starting or shutting down any programs in the meantime.
That leaves NASA governed by language Shelby inserted in an earlier law requiring it to keep funding Constellation until a new budget is approved, NASA Headquarters says.
"We were hoping that language was going to be removed in the (stop-gap funding bill)," NASA spokesman J.D. Harrington said Tuesday. "It wasn't."
Some published estimates say NASA could have to spend as much as $500 million on Constellation, a program Congress has agreed to kill.
But Shelby's spokesman says that's not true. There's no reason NASA can't use 2010 Constellation funding to start on the new heavy-lift rocket, Graffeo said.
"The continuing resolution doesn't muddy the waters for them; it continues for the next couple of months the direction from Congress NASA has attempted to ignore for the last couple of years," Graffeo said. "The Shelby language is unambiguous and sends a clear message to NASA: Use the money Congress appropriates as intended - to build a rocket that will maintain our leadership in space."
That's not how Harrington saw it. "Unfortunately, we are still in a holding pattern," he said.
What should NASA watchers look for in the new year? According to interviews this week, there are several mileposts ahead.
First, will NASA open a heavy-lift vehicle program office at Marshall, the NASA center designated to lead work on the new rocket? There is a heavy-lift planning office there now, but a program office is much more significant.
Second, what will the new Congress do with NASA's 2011 budget? Will it appropriate the $1.8 billion discussed earlier for heavy lift? Or will it cut the amount or postpone funding?
Third, will NASA be able to pick a design for the new rocket, and how will it handle procurement of the necessary parts? The last Congress authorized a rocket based on the same solid-rocket motor technology that powered the space shuttle.
If NASA opts instead to study a liquid-fueled rocket motor in 2011, some NASA watchers believe that would mean a delay that could put the new rocket in jeopardy.
For now, Harrington said the most NASA can do is "continue working on Constellation and do some initial planning" for the new rocket.
This confusion isn't new for NASA, which has cycled through decades of debate over balancing its role in the nation's space program with that of industry.
Obama kicked off the latest round in February when he proposed killing Constellation, which he said was behind schedule and over budget, and replacing it with a new commercial space industry nurtured by federal money. NASA would concentrate on robot missions, Earth science and designing a new heavy-lift rocket, Obama said.
Congress said no to Obama and yes to a new NASA rocket. But Congress did agree to let Constellation die and, anticipating that death, contractors in Huntsville in 2010 killed the jobs of an estimated 800 Huntsville rocket engineers and contractors working on Constellation's first phase, the Ares I rocket.
Underlying the urgency for NASA - or someone - to move forward now with a new rocket is the fact that in 2011 NASA finally winds down its 30-year old space shuttle program with two final flights to the International Space Station. Soon, America will have no way into space but catching a ride with the Russians.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
In 2010: NASA Sets New Course for Human Spaceflight, Marks Other Milestones
Satellitwe Spotlight: In 2010: NASA Sets New Course for Human Spaceflight, Marks Other Milestones
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 2010 set a new course in human spaceflight, rewrote science textbooks, redefined our viewpoint about the moon, made major contributions toward life on Earth, and completed various other objectives in its quest toward the next era in exploration.
NASA and its international partners celebrated 10 years of permanent human habitation on the International Space Station on Nov. 2. More than 600 different research and technology development experiments were been conducted aboard the orbiting lab.
The recently passed NASA Authorization Act of 2010, in addition to extending station operations until at least 2020, directed NASA to select an independent, nonprofit research management organization to develop and manage a portion of the U.S. share of the station as a national laboratory. Companies did crucial contributions in 2010 such as SpaceX's (News - Alert) successful Dec. 8 launch of the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule. The flight was the first for NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program, which is developing commercial supply services to the International Space Station.
NASA and the National Science Foundation team announced the discovery of a planet with three times the mass of Earth orbiting a nearby star in a zone that might allow the planet to support life. The research placed the planet in an orbit where liquid water could exist on the planet's surface. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) returned initial images that confirmed an unprecedented new capability for scientists to better understand our own sun's dynamic processes. Images from the spacecraft showed never-before-seen detail of material streaming outward and away from sunspots.
In a press release, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said this year that NASA's work made headlines around the world. More importantly, it enlarged our understanding of the universe and Earth, inspired people, and opened new frontiers for their dreams and aspirations.
NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver added that NASA achievements this year across the spectrum from science, to aeronautics, education and human spaceflight provided incredible value to their nation. They continue to build upon their rich history, taking on new challenges and doing the things that no one else can do, all for the benefit of humanity.
This year also saw the President of the United States of America Barack Obama visit the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 15, to discuss details of his plans for space exploration. The President committed NASA to a series of developmental goals leading to a new spacecraft for reaching low Earth orbit and new technology for potential missions beyond the moon.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 2010 set a new course in human spaceflight, rewrote science textbooks, redefined our viewpoint about the moon, made major contributions toward life on Earth, and completed various other objectives in its quest toward the next era in exploration.
NASA and its international partners celebrated 10 years of permanent human habitation on the International Space Station on Nov. 2. More than 600 different research and technology development experiments were been conducted aboard the orbiting lab.
The recently passed NASA Authorization Act of 2010, in addition to extending station operations until at least 2020, directed NASA to select an independent, nonprofit research management organization to develop and manage a portion of the U.S. share of the station as a national laboratory. Companies did crucial contributions in 2010 such as SpaceX's (News - Alert) successful Dec. 8 launch of the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule. The flight was the first for NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program, which is developing commercial supply services to the International Space Station.
NASA and the National Science Foundation team announced the discovery of a planet with three times the mass of Earth orbiting a nearby star in a zone that might allow the planet to support life. The research placed the planet in an orbit where liquid water could exist on the planet's surface. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) returned initial images that confirmed an unprecedented new capability for scientists to better understand our own sun's dynamic processes. Images from the spacecraft showed never-before-seen detail of material streaming outward and away from sunspots.
In a press release, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said this year that NASA's work made headlines around the world. More importantly, it enlarged our understanding of the universe and Earth, inspired people, and opened new frontiers for their dreams and aspirations.
NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver added that NASA achievements this year across the spectrum from science, to aeronautics, education and human spaceflight provided incredible value to their nation. They continue to build upon their rich history, taking on new challenges and doing the things that no one else can do, all for the benefit of humanity.
This year also saw the President of the United States of America Barack Obama visit the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 15, to discuss details of his plans for space exploration. The President committed NASA to a series of developmental goals leading to a new spacecraft for reaching low Earth orbit and new technology for potential missions beyond the moon.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Canadian astronauts could take commercial flight to ISS
CTV News: Canadian astronauts could take commercial flight to ISS
MONTREAL — The head of the Canadian Space Agency says a Canadian astronaut may end up hitching a ride to the International Space Station on board a commercial vehicle.
In early December, a capsule belonging to Space Exploration Technologies Corp. -- better known as SpaceX -- splashed down into the Pacific Ocean.
The "Dragon" spacecraft was launched from Cape Canaveral atop the company's Falcon 9 rocket, circled the Earth twice and then parachuted back to Earth.
CSA president Steve MacLean says he's impressed by what SpaceX accomplished, noting Canada will launch a communications satellite atop the Falcon 9 rocket in 2011.
Most of Canada's astronauts have used U.S. space shuttles to travel to the space station, but the shuttles will be retired in 2011.
MacLean would not rule it out when asked if a Canadian might hitch a ride on a commercial vessel, like SpaceX's Dragon.
"If you were to ask me to be a betting man, when the time comes that will be a decision that I could see that could happen," he told The Canadian Press.
"If everything goes well, and if it shows that to our satisfaction everything is OK, everything is safe and secure, yes, it's possible."
MacLean also has his eye on U.S. company Orbital Sciences, which is working on a winged space capsule.
Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield is already scheduled to board a Russian Soyuz for a trip to the International Space Station in late 2012 for a six-month stay.
And MacLean says another ISS visit is forecast "for a few years after the flight of Hadfield."
That space voyage will inevitably go to one of Canada's two newest astronauts -- David Saint-Jacques or Jeremy Hansen -- who are currently in training.
MacLean says the world's space agencies are looking at three possible ways to ship their astronauts to the space station after the American shuttles retire.
"A big player in that is the commercial sector. The Soyuz is there. And in addition you've got the ATV, which is the European vehicle.
"There are discussions about turning it into a crew-return vehicle."
Since its first voyage in April 2008, the European Space Agency's ATV, or Automated Transfer Vehicle, has been used as a supply ship.
"All options are being looked at with respect to that because (space station) access is an issue," MacLean said.
He says one scenario has the Americans buying space for their astronauts on a commercially built spacecraft.
Because it helped build the space station using the giant robotic Canadarms, Canada has one "credit" left for a trip to the space station.
That basically means it will be able to send an astronaut, with the Americans picking up the tab.
Looking beyond the space station, MacLean says future space exploration has been narrowed down to two possible concepts -- a trip to an asteroid or a voyage to the other side of the Moon.
Short term, after a quiet 2010, the coming year will be a busy one as several Canadian satellites are launched into space.
MacLean says NEOSSat, described as the first space telescope totally dedicated to keeping an eye out for the rest of the world, is due to be put into orbit in the coming months.
NEOSSat (Near-Earth Object Surveillance Satellite) will scan areas near the sun to pinpoint asteroids which have not yet been detected.
Other launches include: M3MSAT, (Maritime Monitoring and Messaging Microsatellite) -- a satellite that can check all ships in the ocean; and Sapphire -- a surveillance satellite that is being operated jointly with the Department of National Defence.
In the meantime, MacLean is still trying to get approval of a long-term space plan -- which he first began developing in 2008.
"We're still working with people in Ottawa, senior representatives of government and we just have to wait and see," he said.
But that's not good enough for Kevin Shortt, the president of the Canadian Space Society.
He says stimulus funding will run out in 2013 and it will be difficult to maintain the space workforce in Canada unless the plan is forthcoming.
"After that, without any long-term goals and any additional projects, companies in Canada will be struggling to maintain their workforce," Shortt said.
He says Canada is already starting to lose out.
"Right now, there are people in the space industry and within the scientific community in general who are packing up and going to do business elsewhere because there isn't that long-term vision from the Canadian government," Shortt said.
MONTREAL — The head of the Canadian Space Agency says a Canadian astronaut may end up hitching a ride to the International Space Station on board a commercial vehicle.
In early December, a capsule belonging to Space Exploration Technologies Corp. -- better known as SpaceX -- splashed down into the Pacific Ocean.
The "Dragon" spacecraft was launched from Cape Canaveral atop the company's Falcon 9 rocket, circled the Earth twice and then parachuted back to Earth.
CSA president Steve MacLean says he's impressed by what SpaceX accomplished, noting Canada will launch a communications satellite atop the Falcon 9 rocket in 2011.
Most of Canada's astronauts have used U.S. space shuttles to travel to the space station, but the shuttles will be retired in 2011.
MacLean would not rule it out when asked if a Canadian might hitch a ride on a commercial vessel, like SpaceX's Dragon.
"If you were to ask me to be a betting man, when the time comes that will be a decision that I could see that could happen," he told The Canadian Press.
"If everything goes well, and if it shows that to our satisfaction everything is OK, everything is safe and secure, yes, it's possible."
MacLean also has his eye on U.S. company Orbital Sciences, which is working on a winged space capsule.
Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield is already scheduled to board a Russian Soyuz for a trip to the International Space Station in late 2012 for a six-month stay.
And MacLean says another ISS visit is forecast "for a few years after the flight of Hadfield."
That space voyage will inevitably go to one of Canada's two newest astronauts -- David Saint-Jacques or Jeremy Hansen -- who are currently in training.
MacLean says the world's space agencies are looking at three possible ways to ship their astronauts to the space station after the American shuttles retire.
"A big player in that is the commercial sector. The Soyuz is there. And in addition you've got the ATV, which is the European vehicle.
"There are discussions about turning it into a crew-return vehicle."
Since its first voyage in April 2008, the European Space Agency's ATV, or Automated Transfer Vehicle, has been used as a supply ship.
"All options are being looked at with respect to that because (space station) access is an issue," MacLean said.
He says one scenario has the Americans buying space for their astronauts on a commercially built spacecraft.
Because it helped build the space station using the giant robotic Canadarms, Canada has one "credit" left for a trip to the space station.
That basically means it will be able to send an astronaut, with the Americans picking up the tab.
Looking beyond the space station, MacLean says future space exploration has been narrowed down to two possible concepts -- a trip to an asteroid or a voyage to the other side of the Moon.
Short term, after a quiet 2010, the coming year will be a busy one as several Canadian satellites are launched into space.
MacLean says NEOSSat, described as the first space telescope totally dedicated to keeping an eye out for the rest of the world, is due to be put into orbit in the coming months.
NEOSSat (Near-Earth Object Surveillance Satellite) will scan areas near the sun to pinpoint asteroids which have not yet been detected.
Other launches include: M3MSAT, (Maritime Monitoring and Messaging Microsatellite) -- a satellite that can check all ships in the ocean; and Sapphire -- a surveillance satellite that is being operated jointly with the Department of National Defence.
In the meantime, MacLean is still trying to get approval of a long-term space plan -- which he first began developing in 2008.
"We're still working with people in Ottawa, senior representatives of government and we just have to wait and see," he said.
But that's not good enough for Kevin Shortt, the president of the Canadian Space Society.
He says stimulus funding will run out in 2013 and it will be difficult to maintain the space workforce in Canada unless the plan is forthcoming.
"After that, without any long-term goals and any additional projects, companies in Canada will be struggling to maintain their workforce," Shortt said.
He says Canada is already starting to lose out.
"Right now, there are people in the space industry and within the scientific community in general who are packing up and going to do business elsewhere because there isn't that long-term vision from the Canadian government," Shortt said.
Yearender: Major space exploration events in 2010
EnglishNews.com: Yearender: Major space exploration events in 2010
BEIJING, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- Man's approach to the universe has witnessed a further diversification in its means of exploration in 2010, as world's major aerospace powers vied in developing means of delivery, launching satellites and building the International Space Station.
Following are some key space events that have happened in 2010.
1. The United States launched its space shuttles for three times in 2010 to deliver equipment needed for building the International Space Station, including three pressurized modules Tranquility, Cupola and Rassvet. With a total of 13 modules, the nearly-complete station now has the capacity for the long-term station of six astronauts and has its lifetime prolonged until 2020.
2. China successfully launched its lunar probe satellite Chang'e 2 on Oct. 1. The orbiter, still running at the moment, has taken high-resolution pictures of the lunar surface from 18.7 km above the moon, and done some critical tests for following Chang'e satellites' landing on the moon in the future.
3. The U.S. Air Force's X-37B unmanned spacecraft returned to Earth on Dec. 3 after more than seven months in orbit. The Boeing-built winged craft was designed to launch like a satellite and capable of deploying solar panels to provide electrical power in orbit. The United States hoped the tests on X37B would be helpful for the development of a brand new aircraft equipped with both aeronautic and aerospace engines and capable of vertical taking off and landing.
4. Japan's Hayabusa probe returned to Earth on June 13 with particles collected from the asteroid Itokawa. Hayabusa was launched in 2003. It reached an asteroid named Itokawa in 2005 and made two touchdowns on it in November the same year. The spacecraft experienced a fuel leak and loss of contact with Earth for seven weeks before returning to earth in June.
5. The U.S. Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known as SpaceX, successfully launched the Falcon 9 rocket which carried a capsule named Dragon to its orbit at 300 km above the Earth. The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) plans to use Dragon to fly cargo, and perhaps astronauts, to the space station.
6. A bunch of new navigation satellites started to serve this year. China launched five orbiters in 2010 for its independent satellite navigation and positioning network, also known as Beidou, or Compass system. Russia launched six satellites for its GLONASS navigation system. The U.S. first new GPS satellite, named GPS 2F-1, blasted off atop an unmanned Delta 4 rocket in May, pushing its navigation precision up to 3 meters. And Japan's first navigation satellite Michibiki, meaning "guiding" or "showing the way", blasted off on Sept. 11 and will improve positioning coverage in mountainous terrain and urban centers.
7. The spacecraft for the U.S. Solar Dynamics Observatory, a NASA mission to observe the Sun for five years, was launched on Feb. 11, 2010.
The mission is expected to provide some details of the inner functioning mechanism of the Sun. On June 15 the French PICARD satellite was also launched to study the most unnoticeable solar changes.
8. The U.S. Air Force launched its first Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite on Aug. 14. With its enormous huge transmission capacity, AEHF satellites will place the aging Milstar satellite fleet to provide faster simultaneous communications. On Sept. 25 the U.S. Air Force launched the Space-Based Space Surveillance satellite (SBSS), which will keep tabs on other spacecrafts and space junks around Earth without being constrained by weather, atmosphere or the time of day.
9. Japan launched Venus climate orbiter Akatsuki (meaning "Dawn") on May 21. On Dec. 7 the probe missed the Venusian orbit due to a thruster that intended to slow the craft to allow Venus' gravity to pull it into orbit shut down prematurely. Japan will try the probe again when the satellite passes Venus six years later.
10. U.S. President Barack Obama abandoned on April 15 the return-to-moon plan of the previous administration, and instead set the country's new space policy, including sending humans to an asteroid by 2025 and by the mid-2030s sending humans to orbit Mars and return them safely to Earth. The U.S. government will fund private corporations in developing aerospace transport technologies, while continuing its research on heavy-thrust carrier rockets and certain parts of its previous manned spacecraft plan.
BEIJING, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- Man's approach to the universe has witnessed a further diversification in its means of exploration in 2010, as world's major aerospace powers vied in developing means of delivery, launching satellites and building the International Space Station.
Following are some key space events that have happened in 2010.
1. The United States launched its space shuttles for three times in 2010 to deliver equipment needed for building the International Space Station, including three pressurized modules Tranquility, Cupola and Rassvet. With a total of 13 modules, the nearly-complete station now has the capacity for the long-term station of six astronauts and has its lifetime prolonged until 2020.
2. China successfully launched its lunar probe satellite Chang'e 2 on Oct. 1. The orbiter, still running at the moment, has taken high-resolution pictures of the lunar surface from 18.7 km above the moon, and done some critical tests for following Chang'e satellites' landing on the moon in the future.
3. The U.S. Air Force's X-37B unmanned spacecraft returned to Earth on Dec. 3 after more than seven months in orbit. The Boeing-built winged craft was designed to launch like a satellite and capable of deploying solar panels to provide electrical power in orbit. The United States hoped the tests on X37B would be helpful for the development of a brand new aircraft equipped with both aeronautic and aerospace engines and capable of vertical taking off and landing.
4. Japan's Hayabusa probe returned to Earth on June 13 with particles collected from the asteroid Itokawa. Hayabusa was launched in 2003. It reached an asteroid named Itokawa in 2005 and made two touchdowns on it in November the same year. The spacecraft experienced a fuel leak and loss of contact with Earth for seven weeks before returning to earth in June.
5. The U.S. Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known as SpaceX, successfully launched the Falcon 9 rocket which carried a capsule named Dragon to its orbit at 300 km above the Earth. The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) plans to use Dragon to fly cargo, and perhaps astronauts, to the space station.
6. A bunch of new navigation satellites started to serve this year. China launched five orbiters in 2010 for its independent satellite navigation and positioning network, also known as Beidou, or Compass system. Russia launched six satellites for its GLONASS navigation system. The U.S. first new GPS satellite, named GPS 2F-1, blasted off atop an unmanned Delta 4 rocket in May, pushing its navigation precision up to 3 meters. And Japan's first navigation satellite Michibiki, meaning "guiding" or "showing the way", blasted off on Sept. 11 and will improve positioning coverage in mountainous terrain and urban centers.
7. The spacecraft for the U.S. Solar Dynamics Observatory, a NASA mission to observe the Sun for five years, was launched on Feb. 11, 2010.
The mission is expected to provide some details of the inner functioning mechanism of the Sun. On June 15 the French PICARD satellite was also launched to study the most unnoticeable solar changes.
8. The U.S. Air Force launched its first Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite on Aug. 14. With its enormous huge transmission capacity, AEHF satellites will place the aging Milstar satellite fleet to provide faster simultaneous communications. On Sept. 25 the U.S. Air Force launched the Space-Based Space Surveillance satellite (SBSS), which will keep tabs on other spacecrafts and space junks around Earth without being constrained by weather, atmosphere or the time of day.
9. Japan launched Venus climate orbiter Akatsuki (meaning "Dawn") on May 21. On Dec. 7 the probe missed the Venusian orbit due to a thruster that intended to slow the craft to allow Venus' gravity to pull it into orbit shut down prematurely. Japan will try the probe again when the satellite passes Venus six years later.
10. U.S. President Barack Obama abandoned on April 15 the return-to-moon plan of the previous administration, and instead set the country's new space policy, including sending humans to an asteroid by 2025 and by the mid-2030s sending humans to orbit Mars and return them safely to Earth. The U.S. government will fund private corporations in developing aerospace transport technologies, while continuing its research on heavy-thrust carrier rockets and certain parts of its previous manned spacecraft plan.
Friday, December 24, 2010
CCDev has many contenders to produce 'space taxi'
Orlando Examiner: CCDev has many contenders to produce 'space taxi'
Once, the field had only had few entries, but now there are several companies vying to send American astronauts into orbit. With NASA’s Commercial Crew Development program, or CCDev 2, and the encouragement of commercial space firms to produce their own vehicles, the number of potential ‘space-taxis’ has swelled, with virtually every established and up-and-coming aerospace company either producing – or proposing one.
One of the first firms to unveil a potential means of transportation to the International Space Station (ISS) was Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX). SpaceX launched the first of its Dragon spacecraft on Dec. 8, and shortly thereafter became the first private company to safely recover a spacecraft after it returned from orbit.
Not to be out done by the ‘new kid on the block’ Boeing unveiled its version of a space taxi this past September. Boeing’s Crew Space Transportation-100 (CST-100) spacecraft which it described could be used for missions to the space station or other ‘LEO platforms.’ One potentially exciting prospect about this endeavor is that any excess seating capacity will be available for purchase through Space Adventures.
A step away from what most of these companies are doing, Orbital Sciences has proposed producing a ‘mini-shuttle’ to ferry passengers to and from orbit. Most aerospace companies that have submitted designs and ideas have stepped away from the space plane concept as it is now viewed as too complicated and expensive. However, the U.S. Air Force recently successfully demonstrated the viability of its unmanned X-37B space plane. It was perhaps with this in mind that emboldened Orbital to go a step further and produce a man-rated mini space plane. Orbital images show their spacecraft proposal being lifted to orbit atop a Delta IV Heavy.
Just this month Virgin Galactic also announced its plans to produce a space plane (the company uses a space plane in its sub-orbital commercial efforts – this new space plane appears to be an extension of that).
Lastly Sierra Nevada Corp also has thrown its name into the ring proposing a winged spacecraft. Their ‘Dream Chaser’ spacecraft is similar to Orbital’s proposal, a winged spacecraft that would be launched to orbit atop an expendable launch vehicle.
These companies are all vying for the $200 million that NASA has placed into a program to promote ease of access to orbit. While the Orion spacecraft, produced by Lockheed Martin, is part of a NASA program – these other organizations are hoping that by demonstrating the viability of their technology – that they can also secure a strong position in the emerging commercial space market.
Once, the field had only had few entries, but now there are several companies vying to send American astronauts into orbit. With NASA’s Commercial Crew Development program, or CCDev 2, and the encouragement of commercial space firms to produce their own vehicles, the number of potential ‘space-taxis’ has swelled, with virtually every established and up-and-coming aerospace company either producing – or proposing one.
One of the first firms to unveil a potential means of transportation to the International Space Station (ISS) was Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX). SpaceX launched the first of its Dragon spacecraft on Dec. 8, and shortly thereafter became the first private company to safely recover a spacecraft after it returned from orbit.
Not to be out done by the ‘new kid on the block’ Boeing unveiled its version of a space taxi this past September. Boeing’s Crew Space Transportation-100 (CST-100) spacecraft which it described could be used for missions to the space station or other ‘LEO platforms.’ One potentially exciting prospect about this endeavor is that any excess seating capacity will be available for purchase through Space Adventures.
A step away from what most of these companies are doing, Orbital Sciences has proposed producing a ‘mini-shuttle’ to ferry passengers to and from orbit. Most aerospace companies that have submitted designs and ideas have stepped away from the space plane concept as it is now viewed as too complicated and expensive. However, the U.S. Air Force recently successfully demonstrated the viability of its unmanned X-37B space plane. It was perhaps with this in mind that emboldened Orbital to go a step further and produce a man-rated mini space plane. Orbital images show their spacecraft proposal being lifted to orbit atop a Delta IV Heavy.
Just this month Virgin Galactic also announced its plans to produce a space plane (the company uses a space plane in its sub-orbital commercial efforts – this new space plane appears to be an extension of that).
Lastly Sierra Nevada Corp also has thrown its name into the ring proposing a winged spacecraft. Their ‘Dream Chaser’ spacecraft is similar to Orbital’s proposal, a winged spacecraft that would be launched to orbit atop an expendable launch vehicle.
These companies are all vying for the $200 million that NASA has placed into a program to promote ease of access to orbit. While the Orion spacecraft, produced by Lockheed Martin, is part of a NASA program – these other organizations are hoping that by demonstrating the viability of their technology – that they can also secure a strong position in the emerging commercial space market.
What Happened in Space News December 24
Vega 2 - USSR Venus/Comet Halley Probe - 4,000 kg was launched on December 21, 1984.
Vega 2 flew past Venus on June 15, 1985 on its way for a flyby with comet Halley.
Like its sister probe Vega 1, t dropped off a Venera-type lander and a balloon to investigate the Venusian middle cloud layer.
The lander's soil experiment sampled anorthosite-troctolite which is found in the lunar highlands but is rare on Earth.
The balloon floated in the atmosphere for about 48 hours at an altitude of 54 kilometers.
Between Vega 1 and 2, downward gusts of 1 meter/second were encountered and wind velocities of up to 240 kilometers/hour. The Comet Halley flyby took place on March 9, 1986.
Like Vega 1, Vega 2 probe is now in a solar orbit.
Vega 2 flew past Venus on June 15, 1985 on its way for a flyby with comet Halley.
Like its sister probe Vega 1, t dropped off a Venera-type lander and a balloon to investigate the Venusian middle cloud layer.
The lander's soil experiment sampled anorthosite-troctolite which is found in the lunar highlands but is rare on Earth.
The balloon floated in the atmosphere for about 48 hours at an altitude of 54 kilometers.
Between Vega 1 and 2, downward gusts of 1 meter/second were encountered and wind velocities of up to 240 kilometers/hour. The Comet Halley flyby took place on March 9, 1986.
Like Vega 1, Vega 2 probe is now in a solar orbit.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Japan May Scale Back Its Space Ambitions After Probe Misses Venus
Japan May Scale Back Its Space Ambitions After Probe Misses Venus
The failure of a Venus probe to reach orbit last week will likely prompt the Japanese space program to take a more cautious tack, according to scientists attending the American Geophysical Union fall meeting this week. The Akatsuki probe — meaning “dawn” in Japanese — is shedding light on the perils of space ambition on a shoestring budget, according to Space.com.
“Our score is zero wins, two losses,” Takehiko Satoh, of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), told Space.com last week. “We have to be more conservative to plan our next planetary mission, so it will never fail in any aspect.”
After a nearly eight-month journey to the second planet, Akatsuki was supposed to fire its thrusters for eight minutes Dec. 6 to insert itself into orbit around Venus. But a pressure drop in the fuel line caused them to burn for only two and a half minutes, and the probe overshot the planet. Mission managers don’t know what happened to cause the pressure drop, Satoh said. They hope to try again in six years, the next time Akatsuki will be close enough to try an orbital insertion.
Meanwhile, it’s a second interplanetary setback for the space agency, JAXA, which tried a Mars mission in the late 1990s but abandoned it after several problems.
Despite a budget many times less than the U.S. or Europe, Japan has set high goals for space exploration, including a lunar bipedal robonaut by 2015 and a robotic moon base by 2020. But the Akatsuki miss will likely prompt more conservative missions in the near future, Satoh said.
On the other hand, Japan’s Hayabusa mission shows it’s also possible to achieve great success after expected failure. Hayabusa survived damage from a massive solar flare, problems with its thrusters, landing issues and communication problems that forced a three-year delay in its return to Earth, but in the end, it successfully brought asteroid dust back home — the first samples returned from a celestial body other than the moon.
Satoh said Akatsuki’s team now shares Hayabusa’s never-give-up spirit. Nevertheless, Japanese scientists will probably be more cautious next time, he said, adding JAXA might seek more collaboration with ESA and NASA to learn from their successes.
The failure of a Venus probe to reach orbit last week will likely prompt the Japanese space program to take a more cautious tack, according to scientists attending the American Geophysical Union fall meeting this week. The Akatsuki probe — meaning “dawn” in Japanese — is shedding light on the perils of space ambition on a shoestring budget, according to Space.com.
“Our score is zero wins, two losses,” Takehiko Satoh, of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), told Space.com last week. “We have to be more conservative to plan our next planetary mission, so it will never fail in any aspect.”
After a nearly eight-month journey to the second planet, Akatsuki was supposed to fire its thrusters for eight minutes Dec. 6 to insert itself into orbit around Venus. But a pressure drop in the fuel line caused them to burn for only two and a half minutes, and the probe overshot the planet. Mission managers don’t know what happened to cause the pressure drop, Satoh said. They hope to try again in six years, the next time Akatsuki will be close enough to try an orbital insertion.
Meanwhile, it’s a second interplanetary setback for the space agency, JAXA, which tried a Mars mission in the late 1990s but abandoned it after several problems.
Despite a budget many times less than the U.S. or Europe, Japan has set high goals for space exploration, including a lunar bipedal robonaut by 2015 and a robotic moon base by 2020. But the Akatsuki miss will likely prompt more conservative missions in the near future, Satoh said.
On the other hand, Japan’s Hayabusa mission shows it’s also possible to achieve great success after expected failure. Hayabusa survived damage from a massive solar flare, problems with its thrusters, landing issues and communication problems that forced a three-year delay in its return to Earth, but in the end, it successfully brought asteroid dust back home — the first samples returned from a celestial body other than the moon.
Satoh said Akatsuki’s team now shares Hayabusa’s never-give-up spirit. Nevertheless, Japanese scientists will probably be more cautious next time, he said, adding JAXA might seek more collaboration with ESA and NASA to learn from their successes.
Congress freezes NASA's budget until March
Congress freezes NASA's budget until March
Unable to pass an annual spending bill in this legislative session, the U.S. Congress approved a temporary government funding measure Tuesday, cutting nearly $300 million from NASA's expected budget and potentially limiting action on new space exploration programs.
Atlantis is being prepared for launch in the summer of 2011, but NASA is struggling to find money to pay for a final shuttle flight. Credit: NASA-KSC
President Obama was expected to sign the continuing resolution late Tuesday, ensuring the government remains functioning before the current budget expires at midnight.
The temporary budget funds the federal government through March 4 near fiscal year 2010 levels. For NASA, that means an annual budget rate around $18.7 billion if the continuing resolution was extended through fiscal year 2011, which began Oct. 1 and runs for 12 months.
The continuing resolution came after Senate Republicans thwarted attempts by Democratic leaders to pass a full-year budget.
Federal funding beyond March 4 will be decided by the next Congress. Incoming Republican leadership in the House of Representatives has vowed to roll back discretionary spending to fiscal year 2008 levels, setting the stage for a budget battle in the opening weeks of the next Congress.
The legislation passed the Senate by a 79-16 vote Tuesday afternoon, and the House agreed to the continuing resolution several hours later.
The continuing resolution does not include amendments for NASA, meaning the space agency will receive roughly the same budget as in fiscal year 2010. It also does not explicitly direct NASA to commence development of a government-owned heavy-lift rocket and multi-purpose crew vehicle for space exploration missions.
The exploration programs were included in the NASA authorization act passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama in October. But the authorization is only a budget blueprint, and specific funding levels must be decided in appropriations legislation.
Congress did not pass any full-year appropriations bills before recessing for the Christmas holiday, leaving NASA in limbo as agency officials attempt to overcome significant differences in the continuing resolution and the authorization act.
The authorization budget called for $19 billion for NASA in fiscal year 2011, upping cash for an extra space shuttle mission, commercial crew and cargo programs, and initiating a redesigned space exploration program.
Sen. Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat, told NASA and Obama administration officials earlier this month that a multi-month continuing resolution should not add any major burdens to NASA's goals for the next year.
"If we just get a continuing resolution of fiscal year 2010, NASA's funding there is $18.7 billion," Nelson said in a hearing in early December, anticipating a continuing resolution similar to the measure passed Tuesday. "That is, in this context of this economic recession that we're in, $300 million less than a $19 billion authorization. That's 1.67 percent of the total authorization."
"That funding level for the next fiscal year will be right about at where it is in the authorization bill," said Sen. David Vitter, R-La., in the Dec. 1 hearing. "So this should be a simple task if we really all want to accomplish it. And so the proof will be in the pudding if it gets done."
The flat funding in the continuing resolution will also challenge NASA's efforts to address new costs on several programs, including the James Webb Space Telescope and an expanded Earth observation satellite system.
Another hurdle facing NASA is language carried over from last year's appropriations prohibiting the agency from terminating parts of the Constellation moon program or starting new efforts.
Officials are reviewing how best to proceed as the agency tries to reconcile the competing authorization and appropriations legislation.
Unable to pass an annual spending bill in this legislative session, the U.S. Congress approved a temporary government funding measure Tuesday, cutting nearly $300 million from NASA's expected budget and potentially limiting action on new space exploration programs.
Atlantis is being prepared for launch in the summer of 2011, but NASA is struggling to find money to pay for a final shuttle flight. Credit: NASA-KSC
President Obama was expected to sign the continuing resolution late Tuesday, ensuring the government remains functioning before the current budget expires at midnight.
The temporary budget funds the federal government through March 4 near fiscal year 2010 levels. For NASA, that means an annual budget rate around $18.7 billion if the continuing resolution was extended through fiscal year 2011, which began Oct. 1 and runs for 12 months.
The continuing resolution came after Senate Republicans thwarted attempts by Democratic leaders to pass a full-year budget.
Federal funding beyond March 4 will be decided by the next Congress. Incoming Republican leadership in the House of Representatives has vowed to roll back discretionary spending to fiscal year 2008 levels, setting the stage for a budget battle in the opening weeks of the next Congress.
The legislation passed the Senate by a 79-16 vote Tuesday afternoon, and the House agreed to the continuing resolution several hours later.
The continuing resolution does not include amendments for NASA, meaning the space agency will receive roughly the same budget as in fiscal year 2010. It also does not explicitly direct NASA to commence development of a government-owned heavy-lift rocket and multi-purpose crew vehicle for space exploration missions.
The exploration programs were included in the NASA authorization act passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama in October. But the authorization is only a budget blueprint, and specific funding levels must be decided in appropriations legislation.
Congress did not pass any full-year appropriations bills before recessing for the Christmas holiday, leaving NASA in limbo as agency officials attempt to overcome significant differences in the continuing resolution and the authorization act.
The authorization budget called for $19 billion for NASA in fiscal year 2011, upping cash for an extra space shuttle mission, commercial crew and cargo programs, and initiating a redesigned space exploration program.
Sen. Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat, told NASA and Obama administration officials earlier this month that a multi-month continuing resolution should not add any major burdens to NASA's goals for the next year.
"If we just get a continuing resolution of fiscal year 2010, NASA's funding there is $18.7 billion," Nelson said in a hearing in early December, anticipating a continuing resolution similar to the measure passed Tuesday. "That is, in this context of this economic recession that we're in, $300 million less than a $19 billion authorization. That's 1.67 percent of the total authorization."
"That funding level for the next fiscal year will be right about at where it is in the authorization bill," said Sen. David Vitter, R-La., in the Dec. 1 hearing. "So this should be a simple task if we really all want to accomplish it. And so the proof will be in the pudding if it gets done."
The flat funding in the continuing resolution will also challenge NASA's efforts to address new costs on several programs, including the James Webb Space Telescope and an expanded Earth observation satellite system.
Another hurdle facing NASA is language carried over from last year's appropriations prohibiting the agency from terminating parts of the Constellation moon program or starting new efforts.
Officials are reviewing how best to proceed as the agency tries to reconcile the competing authorization and appropriations legislation.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Only Lunar Eclipse of 2010 Takes Place Tonight
Only Lunar Eclipse of 2010 Takes Place Tonight
For astronomy fans, Christmas comes early this week.
Barring cloudy weather, astronomy enthusiasts and sky gazers across North America will be treated to the only lunar eclipse of the year tonight.
The eclipse will be visible Monday night on the West Coast and during the early hours Tuesday on the East Coast.
If the sky is clear, experts say the show might be extra spectacular, as the moon will have a reddish glow.
A lunar eclipse takes place when the sun, Earth and moon are all perfectly aligned with the Earth in the middle. When the moon passes behind the Earth, the sun's rays are blocked from striking the moon. This can only occur when the moon is full.
Lunar Eclipse to Last About Three and a Half Hours
As the moon moves deeper into Earth's shadow, indirect sunlight passes through Earth's atmosphere, casting an orange and red hue over the moon.
Unlike a solar eclipse, which can only be seen for a few moments from any specific spot, a lunar eclipse can be viewed for several hours. It is also safe to view a lunar eclipse without special glasses or equipment.
According to NASA, the total phase should last about three and a half hours when it begins as a partial eclipse at 1:33 a.m. ET and it will finish at 5:01 a.m. ET. The totality phase -- when the moon is entirely inside Earth's shadow -- will last approximately 72 minutes.
This year's only lunar eclipse actually coincides with the winter solstice, meaning that the moon will appear high in the night sky, aiding visibility for revelers.
There will be two total lunar eclipses in 2011 -- one in June and one in December. North America will miss the June show and witness only a part of next December's eclipse.
Find out more about the Dec. 21 lunar eclipse here at NASA's website.
For astronomy fans, Christmas comes early this week.
Barring cloudy weather, astronomy enthusiasts and sky gazers across North America will be treated to the only lunar eclipse of the year tonight.
The eclipse will be visible Monday night on the West Coast and during the early hours Tuesday on the East Coast.
If the sky is clear, experts say the show might be extra spectacular, as the moon will have a reddish glow.
A lunar eclipse takes place when the sun, Earth and moon are all perfectly aligned with the Earth in the middle. When the moon passes behind the Earth, the sun's rays are blocked from striking the moon. This can only occur when the moon is full.
Lunar Eclipse to Last About Three and a Half Hours
As the moon moves deeper into Earth's shadow, indirect sunlight passes through Earth's atmosphere, casting an orange and red hue over the moon.
Unlike a solar eclipse, which can only be seen for a few moments from any specific spot, a lunar eclipse can be viewed for several hours. It is also safe to view a lunar eclipse without special glasses or equipment.
According to NASA, the total phase should last about three and a half hours when it begins as a partial eclipse at 1:33 a.m. ET and it will finish at 5:01 a.m. ET. The totality phase -- when the moon is entirely inside Earth's shadow -- will last approximately 72 minutes.
This year's only lunar eclipse actually coincides with the winter solstice, meaning that the moon will appear high in the night sky, aiding visibility for revelers.
There will be two total lunar eclipses in 2011 -- one in June and one in December. North America will miss the June show and witness only a part of next December's eclipse.
Find out more about the Dec. 21 lunar eclipse here at NASA's website.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Dec 16, 2010, Yahoo News: Russia in contact with shuttle after glitch
Russia in contact with shuttle after glitch
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia said on Thursday it was in full contact with the international space station and its Soyuz shuttle after a brief loss of contact with the craft that will soon become the mainstay of the international space program.
Russia's mission control had lost communication with the Soyuz craft for several hours, Interfax news agency reported, quoting an unnamed source in the space industry.
The Soyuz spaceship blasted off on Wednesday carrying a U.S., Russian and Italian astronaut to the International Space Station, where it was expected to dock on Friday at 23:12 Moscow time (2012 GMT).
"At the current time there is a sustainable connection between the Krasnoznamenski (military satellite control center) and Korolyov (Space central command)," Interfax news agency reported Defense Ministry spokesman Alexei Zolotukhin as saying.
The Soyuz flight is one of the last before the United States retires its reusable Discovery shuttles, leaving international space station astronauts completely dependent on Russian craft for missions to space.
A source at Russia's central command said information on the ship's orbit was coming in regularly after the loss of contact.
"The parameters of the orbit of the international space station and spaceship Soyuz TMA-20 stopped coming into space command center around 18:00 Moscow time, but the flow of information was restored between 20:30-21:00," he said.
Loss of contact with space shuttles occurs from time to time, but lasts only a short time.
Central command became alarmed after hours passed without information on the spaceship's whereabouts, and contacted NASA's mission control center in Houston, urging it to use its global positioning system (GPS) to track the craft, said one of the anonymous sources quoted by Interfax.
The United States has planned only two more shuttle missions, after which NASA will hand Russia responsibility for ferrying the ISS crew, at a cost of $51 million per person.
The international space station is a $100 billion project, organized by 16 countries. It has been under construction 220 miles above Earth since 1998.
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia said on Thursday it was in full contact with the international space station and its Soyuz shuttle after a brief loss of contact with the craft that will soon become the mainstay of the international space program.
Russia's mission control had lost communication with the Soyuz craft for several hours, Interfax news agency reported, quoting an unnamed source in the space industry.
The Soyuz spaceship blasted off on Wednesday carrying a U.S., Russian and Italian astronaut to the International Space Station, where it was expected to dock on Friday at 23:12 Moscow time (2012 GMT).
"At the current time there is a sustainable connection between the Krasnoznamenski (military satellite control center) and Korolyov (Space central command)," Interfax news agency reported Defense Ministry spokesman Alexei Zolotukhin as saying.
The Soyuz flight is one of the last before the United States retires its reusable Discovery shuttles, leaving international space station astronauts completely dependent on Russian craft for missions to space.
A source at Russia's central command said information on the ship's orbit was coming in regularly after the loss of contact.
"The parameters of the orbit of the international space station and spaceship Soyuz TMA-20 stopped coming into space command center around 18:00 Moscow time, but the flow of information was restored between 20:30-21:00," he said.
Loss of contact with space shuttles occurs from time to time, but lasts only a short time.
Central command became alarmed after hours passed without information on the spaceship's whereabouts, and contacted NASA's mission control center in Houston, urging it to use its global positioning system (GPS) to track the craft, said one of the anonymous sources quoted by Interfax.
The United States has planned only two more shuttle missions, after which NASA will hand Russia responsibility for ferrying the ISS crew, at a cost of $51 million per person.
The international space station is a $100 billion project, organized by 16 countries. It has been under construction 220 miles above Earth since 1998.
16 Feb, Signal Online: One Tiny Satellite, One Big Change for Space
One Tiny Satellite, One Big Change for Space
The first satellite built by the U.S. Army in more than five decades launched last week, ushering in a new phase of space use for the military branch. Officials with the program intend experiments with the demonstration technology to lead to a number of identical satellites that could be deployed together in low Earth orbit to simulate tactical communications capabilities and to evaluate nanosatellite performance.
U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command (SMDC/ARSTRAT) has the lead for the Space and Missile Defense Command-Operational Nanosatellite Effect (SMDC-ONE), which launched as a secondary payload on a Falcon 9 two-stage booster; the primary payload was a Dragon spacecraft built by Space Exploration Technologies Corporation. Technology advancements made the recent Army nanosatellite possible. According to John London, SMDC/ARSTRAT nanosatellite technology manager, very small satellites—1- to10-kilogram nanosatellites and 10- to 100-kilogram microsatellites—can be developed and demonstrated relatively inexpensively. The SMDC-ONE weighs 4 kilograms.
Leaders have identified many applications for this satellite class as potentially relevant to the dismounted ground component warfighter. For example, the Army expects the small satellites to provide over-the-horizon communications and imaging to troops currently restricted from such services by location or time.
London says the demonstration has progressed well so far. Four to five satellite passes occur daily over the SMDC ground stations in Huntsville, Alabama, and Colorado Springs, Colorado. Both stations have made numerous contacts with the SMDC-ONE. During these information exchanges, the ground stations acquire the nanosatellite's state-of-health data as well as detailed buffered on-board sensor data.
Approximately 45 minutes after its initial launch, the SMDC-ONE deployed from the Falcon 9 trunk unit and was maneuvered into low Earth orbit. After lying dormant for 30 minutes, it deployed its receiver antennas. Despite its tumbling mode, the nanosatellite contacted the ground station at SMDC/ARSTRAT on Redstone Arsenal, Alabama.
Now that initial actions in the deployment have proven successful, the next step is to experiment with a higher data rate to transfer more data faster. "Following transfer of all buffered data, we hope to transfer files including simulated unattended ground sensor [UGS] data between the ground stations via SMDC-ONE," London explains. "Upon successful completion of those transfers, we plan to incorporate an actual UGS set with a gateway which sends real-time UGS data to the satellite. We also will use a UGS ground station to receive and display that real-time UGS data."
In addition, the command could perform additional experimentation during the nanosatellite's approximately 30-day deployment. After that time, the satellite should drop out of orbit and, because of its small size and weight, burn up during re-entry into the atmosphere.
The SMDC expects that the Army will continue to develop more small satellite systems in the future. Currently, the command has several imaging and communications nanosatellites and microsatellites under development for technology demonstrations. The nanosatellite now in orbit is one of eight, 4-kilogram satellites that the SMDC took delivery of in April 2009. Ducommun Miltec, Pericle Communications Company and Clyde Space Limited produced the equipment at the end of a 1-year contract. Of the seven remaining flight-ready SMDC-ONE nanosatellites, two are scheduled to fly in late 2011 with another slated on a flight in early 2012.
The first satellite built by the U.S. Army in more than five decades launched last week, ushering in a new phase of space use for the military branch. Officials with the program intend experiments with the demonstration technology to lead to a number of identical satellites that could be deployed together in low Earth orbit to simulate tactical communications capabilities and to evaluate nanosatellite performance.
U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command (SMDC/ARSTRAT) has the lead for the Space and Missile Defense Command-Operational Nanosatellite Effect (SMDC-ONE), which launched as a secondary payload on a Falcon 9 two-stage booster; the primary payload was a Dragon spacecraft built by Space Exploration Technologies Corporation. Technology advancements made the recent Army nanosatellite possible. According to John London, SMDC/ARSTRAT nanosatellite technology manager, very small satellites—1- to10-kilogram nanosatellites and 10- to 100-kilogram microsatellites—can be developed and demonstrated relatively inexpensively. The SMDC-ONE weighs 4 kilograms.
Leaders have identified many applications for this satellite class as potentially relevant to the dismounted ground component warfighter. For example, the Army expects the small satellites to provide over-the-horizon communications and imaging to troops currently restricted from such services by location or time.
London says the demonstration has progressed well so far. Four to five satellite passes occur daily over the SMDC ground stations in Huntsville, Alabama, and Colorado Springs, Colorado. Both stations have made numerous contacts with the SMDC-ONE. During these information exchanges, the ground stations acquire the nanosatellite's state-of-health data as well as detailed buffered on-board sensor data.
Approximately 45 minutes after its initial launch, the SMDC-ONE deployed from the Falcon 9 trunk unit and was maneuvered into low Earth orbit. After lying dormant for 30 minutes, it deployed its receiver antennas. Despite its tumbling mode, the nanosatellite contacted the ground station at SMDC/ARSTRAT on Redstone Arsenal, Alabama.
Now that initial actions in the deployment have proven successful, the next step is to experiment with a higher data rate to transfer more data faster. "Following transfer of all buffered data, we hope to transfer files including simulated unattended ground sensor [UGS] data between the ground stations via SMDC-ONE," London explains. "Upon successful completion of those transfers, we plan to incorporate an actual UGS set with a gateway which sends real-time UGS data to the satellite. We also will use a UGS ground station to receive and display that real-time UGS data."
In addition, the command could perform additional experimentation during the nanosatellite's approximately 30-day deployment. After that time, the satellite should drop out of orbit and, because of its small size and weight, burn up during re-entry into the atmosphere.
The SMDC expects that the Army will continue to develop more small satellite systems in the future. Currently, the command has several imaging and communications nanosatellites and microsatellites under development for technology demonstrations. The nanosatellite now in orbit is one of eight, 4-kilogram satellites that the SMDC took delivery of in April 2009. Ducommun Miltec, Pericle Communications Company and Clyde Space Limited produced the equipment at the end of a 1-year contract. Of the seven remaining flight-ready SMDC-ONE nanosatellites, two are scheduled to fly in late 2011 with another slated on a flight in early 2012.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
15 Dec 2010, Examiner Orlando: Voyager 1 headed into interstellar space
Voyager 1 headed into interstellar space
She started her long journey some 33 years ago. The Voyager 1 spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida in 1977 on what would mark one of the most successful space exploration missions in history. The spacecraft is just now leaving our solar system and heading out into interstellar space.
NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft has reached the edge of the solar system where the momentum of the solar wind ends. This is a major milestone for the program, which is still operated out of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) located in Pasadena, California.
Voyager 1 is now heading into interstellar space some 10.8 billion miles away from the sun. Voyager 1 has crossed into an area where the velocity of the hot ionized gases (plasma) that comes from the sun has slowed to almost nothing.
"The solar wind has turned the corner," said Ed Stone, Voyager project scientist based at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif. "Voyager 1 is getting close to interstellar space."
The ‘solar wind’ is the stream of charged particles that form a bubble known as the heliosphere around our entire solar system. This ‘wind’ travels at supersonic speed until it crosses a shockwave dubbed the termination shock.
She started her long journey some 33 years ago. The Voyager 1 spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida in 1977 on what would mark one of the most successful space exploration missions in history. The spacecraft is just now leaving our solar system and heading out into interstellar space.
NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft has reached the edge of the solar system where the momentum of the solar wind ends. This is a major milestone for the program, which is still operated out of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) located in Pasadena, California.
Voyager 1 is now heading into interstellar space some 10.8 billion miles away from the sun. Voyager 1 has crossed into an area where the velocity of the hot ionized gases (plasma) that comes from the sun has slowed to almost nothing.
"The solar wind has turned the corner," said Ed Stone, Voyager project scientist based at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif. "Voyager 1 is getting close to interstellar space."
The ‘solar wind’ is the stream of charged particles that form a bubble known as the heliosphere around our entire solar system. This ‘wind’ travels at supersonic speed until it crosses a shockwave dubbed the termination shock.
15 Dec 2010, Space Daily: Year of the Dragon
Year Of The Dragon
A new era in spaceflight opened last Wednesday with the successful first flight of Space Exploration Technologies' (SpaceX) Dragon capsule by a non-government entity. It demonstrated the ability to maneuver on orbit, deorbit, enter the atmosphere, deploy its parachutes, and be recovered intact.
Had it had people on board, which it could have, with its rudimentary short-duration life support system, they would have had a "nice ride," according to SpaceX founder Elon Musk.
That it didn't was due only to a lack of flight experience, and a launch escape system, yet to be developed, but which can be and almost certainly will be now, closing the "gap" during which we are reliant on the Russians for ISS access with the Shuttle retirement to as little as a couple years.
Equally importantly, it demonstrated that the successful first flight of the new SpaceX Falcon 9 launcher in June was no fluke, with a perfect delivery of the capsule to orbit. SpaceX's commercial customers, such as Iridium, will have more confidence now in the system, and their numbers are now sure to grow.
Had it occurred a day earlier, it would have done so on the thirty-eighth anniversary of the launch of the last human excursion to the moon.
Space policy has been roiled all year by the misperception that the new NASA direction described in its 2011 budget request in late January had not only abandoned the space agency's goal of returning to the moon by 2020, but essentially ended the human spaceflight program.
This false perception was often fed by people with other agendas, to preserve jobs in Utah, Alabama, Florida and Colorado.
One of the most persistent criticisms of the new policy has been that relying on commercial companies for the delivery of NASA astronauts to orbit was "risky" and "uncertain," while ignoring the certainty that persisting with Ares I and Orion was going to be horrifically expensive and dramatically increase the dreaded "gap".
The Augustine Panel pointed out over a year ago that the program was slipping more than a year per year, and that they would be available no sooner than 2017, and cost more than the Space Shuttle per flight.
This criticism also ignored the highly successful record of the United Launch Alliance's (ULA) Atlas and Delta rockets, on which both NASA and the Department of Defense rely for the delivery of billion-dollar satellites.
With Wednesday's apparently flawless flight, and continuing progress on other capsule concepts from Boeing and others, that criticism will be greatly muted now.
Combined with the growing acceptance of ULA's concepts for orbital propellant depots based on Atlas and Delta launch technologies, which obviates the need for the heavy-lift vehicle demanded by Congress in its recent NASA authorization, it will be ever harder to justify continuing such expensive and unnecessary programs in the coming austere budget environment.
The half-century-old paradigm of Apollo - a specific planetary goal, a gargantuan rocket, an unlimited budget - is finally dead.
Replacing it is a more effective concept, for those who want to open up and develop the solar system, and not just send a few government-employee "explorers" at a cost of billions per flight - a robust and redundant space transportation infrastructure, with private competition and increasing activity driving down costs for all, and not just NASA.
Those interested in getting up to speed on the issues and solutions for the future of human space flight should be interested in Launchspace's newest two-day course, no. 9015: New Approaches to Human Spaceflight Technology and Policy, in which they will be discussed in great detail. Watch for a public schedule announcement in the near future.
A new era in spaceflight opened last Wednesday with the successful first flight of Space Exploration Technologies' (SpaceX) Dragon capsule by a non-government entity. It demonstrated the ability to maneuver on orbit, deorbit, enter the atmosphere, deploy its parachutes, and be recovered intact.
Had it had people on board, which it could have, with its rudimentary short-duration life support system, they would have had a "nice ride," according to SpaceX founder Elon Musk.
That it didn't was due only to a lack of flight experience, and a launch escape system, yet to be developed, but which can be and almost certainly will be now, closing the "gap" during which we are reliant on the Russians for ISS access with the Shuttle retirement to as little as a couple years.
Equally importantly, it demonstrated that the successful first flight of the new SpaceX Falcon 9 launcher in June was no fluke, with a perfect delivery of the capsule to orbit. SpaceX's commercial customers, such as Iridium, will have more confidence now in the system, and their numbers are now sure to grow.
Had it occurred a day earlier, it would have done so on the thirty-eighth anniversary of the launch of the last human excursion to the moon.
Space policy has been roiled all year by the misperception that the new NASA direction described in its 2011 budget request in late January had not only abandoned the space agency's goal of returning to the moon by 2020, but essentially ended the human spaceflight program.
This false perception was often fed by people with other agendas, to preserve jobs in Utah, Alabama, Florida and Colorado.
One of the most persistent criticisms of the new policy has been that relying on commercial companies for the delivery of NASA astronauts to orbit was "risky" and "uncertain," while ignoring the certainty that persisting with Ares I and Orion was going to be horrifically expensive and dramatically increase the dreaded "gap".
The Augustine Panel pointed out over a year ago that the program was slipping more than a year per year, and that they would be available no sooner than 2017, and cost more than the Space Shuttle per flight.
This criticism also ignored the highly successful record of the United Launch Alliance's (ULA) Atlas and Delta rockets, on which both NASA and the Department of Defense rely for the delivery of billion-dollar satellites.
With Wednesday's apparently flawless flight, and continuing progress on other capsule concepts from Boeing and others, that criticism will be greatly muted now.
Combined with the growing acceptance of ULA's concepts for orbital propellant depots based on Atlas and Delta launch technologies, which obviates the need for the heavy-lift vehicle demanded by Congress in its recent NASA authorization, it will be ever harder to justify continuing such expensive and unnecessary programs in the coming austere budget environment.
The half-century-old paradigm of Apollo - a specific planetary goal, a gargantuan rocket, an unlimited budget - is finally dead.
Replacing it is a more effective concept, for those who want to open up and develop the solar system, and not just send a few government-employee "explorers" at a cost of billions per flight - a robust and redundant space transportation infrastructure, with private competition and increasing activity driving down costs for all, and not just NASA.
Those interested in getting up to speed on the issues and solutions for the future of human space flight should be interested in Launchspace's newest two-day course, no. 9015: New Approaches to Human Spaceflight Technology and Policy, in which they will be discussed in great detail. Watch for a public schedule announcement in the near future.
What Happened in Space News December 15
Vega 1 - USSR Venus/Comet Halley Flyby - 4,000 kg was launched on December 15, 1984.
Vega 1 flew past Venus on June 11, 1985 on its way for a flyby with comet Halley. It dropped off a Venera-type lander and a balloon to investigate the Venusian middle cloud layer.
The lander's soil experiment failed. The balloon floated in the atmosphere for about 48 hours at an altitude of 54 kilometers.
The Comet Halley flyby took place on March 6, 1986.
Both Vega 1 and Vega 2 are currently in heliocentric orbits.
Vega 1 flew past Venus on June 11, 1985 on its way for a flyby with comet Halley. It dropped off a Venera-type lander and a balloon to investigate the Venusian middle cloud layer.
The lander's soil experiment failed. The balloon floated in the atmosphere for about 48 hours at an altitude of 54 kilometers.
The Comet Halley flyby took place on March 6, 1986.
Both Vega 1 and Vega 2 are currently in heliocentric orbits.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
14 Dec 2010, Yahoo News: Russia's Soyuz soon to be only lifeline to space
Russia's Soyuz soon to be only lifeline to space
BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan – As a Soyuz spacecraft slowly rolls to its launchpad on the icy cold steppes of Kazakhstan, even the most seasoned space fan cannot help but be spellbound by the sight.
With NASA finally retiring the shuttle program next year, the venerable Russian workhorse is now set to become the world's only lifeline to the International Space Station. That predicament is provoking mixed feelings of concern over excess reliance on Russia's space program and enduring admiration for the hardiness of the Soviet-designed Soyuz.
"The vehicle is a rugged 'one trick pony,' no frills or luxuries, and can take any licking and keep on ticking," said James Oberg, a veteran of NASA Space Shuttle Mission Control in Houston.
The next Soyuz mission begins Thursday, when NASA astronaut Catherine Coleman, Russian cosmonaut Dmitry Kondratyev and European Space Agency's Paolo Nespoli of Italy lift off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in southern Kazakhstan.
In a procedure polished over more than four decades of Soyuz launches, the carrier rocket was horizontally rolled out of its hangar on a flatbed train at 7 a.m. local time Monday and carefully carried to the blastoff site in the winter darkness.
In contrast to NASA's distinctive winged shuttle, which is reusable albeit exorbitantly expensive to operate, the Soyuz can only be used once. It is a relatively streamlined craft consisting of a tiny capsule sitting atop powerful booster rockets.
The name, which comes from the Russian word for "union," was both a tribute to its Soviet design and a reference to the Soyuz's ability to dock with other modules. That detail was an absolute must even to begin thinking about long-term space missions or possible travel beyond the Earth's orbit.
Whereas the shuttle's viability has been hamstrung by countless delays, the last time a Soyuz launch was postponed was as far back as 1971.
Yet for all its trustworthiness, the first Soyuz launch in April 1967 ended in tragedy when Col. Vladimir Komarov, the sole cosmonaut onboard, died on re-entry.
Soviet authorities had grown alarmed at U.S. strides in the space race and had pushed for hasty deployment of the Soyuz before the United States could get its Apollo rocket off the ground.
That Soyuz disaster led to an immediate postponement of manned flights and injected a new spirit of caution into the Soviet space program. A minute attention to detail, most evident in Russian space officials' obsession with running operations on a timetable counted in seconds, has earned the Soyuz a well-deserved reputation for safety.
"My biggest dream in life has always been to fly in orbit someday, but I can tell you that I would feel a hell of a lot more at ease in a Soyuz than in a shuttle," space historian Bert Vis said.
Despite such oft-heard endorsements, a clutch of incidents in recent years has aroused concern. Most notably, problems with the Soyuz capsule's service module during a landing in April 2008 caused a perilously steep re-entry trajectory, which placed crushing gravitational pressure on its three-person crew.
Ahead of watching the Soyuz being winched into place at the launchpad Monday, NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, who traveled onboard that capsule, said the luxuries afforded by the shuttle would indeed be missed.
"The Soyuz is kind of a gentler launch, but I'd much rather land in a shuttle, because it's much more civilized," Whitson said.
Critics also complain that by leaving themselves so heavily reliant on the Soyuz, the United States could fall victim to costly price gouging at the hands of Russian space authorities.
"Moscow already uses it for leverage and has raised the price to NASA repeatedly over the years, to $50 million now," said Brian Harvey, an expert on the history of the Russian space program. "But a shuttle launch costs $550 million a go, so it's still good value."
And while the Russian space program is set to enjoy almost a complete monopoly on ferrying people to space for the next few years, things might change. The successful test launch last week of a privately developed rocket from Cape Canaveral is a clear example of how the market could breed viable space competitors.
"If new, commercially developed space transportation systems in the West leapfrog the tried-and-true Russian booster stable in the next decade, Russia will be left with no significant capability of interest to foreign customers," Oberg said.
The politics and economics of space travel is usually far from astronauts' minds, however, and while in Baikonur, most relish the pleasure of witnessing the ingenuity that goes into assembling the rockets.
"It was Michelangelo that said the sculpture was always inside the rock, I just have to take away the unnecessary pieces. The Soyuz is one of those sculptures," said Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, who plans to fly to the International Space Station onboard a Soyuz spacecraft in 2012.
BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan – As a Soyuz spacecraft slowly rolls to its launchpad on the icy cold steppes of Kazakhstan, even the most seasoned space fan cannot help but be spellbound by the sight.
With NASA finally retiring the shuttle program next year, the venerable Russian workhorse is now set to become the world's only lifeline to the International Space Station. That predicament is provoking mixed feelings of concern over excess reliance on Russia's space program and enduring admiration for the hardiness of the Soviet-designed Soyuz.
"The vehicle is a rugged 'one trick pony,' no frills or luxuries, and can take any licking and keep on ticking," said James Oberg, a veteran of NASA Space Shuttle Mission Control in Houston.
The next Soyuz mission begins Thursday, when NASA astronaut Catherine Coleman, Russian cosmonaut Dmitry Kondratyev and European Space Agency's Paolo Nespoli of Italy lift off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in southern Kazakhstan.
In a procedure polished over more than four decades of Soyuz launches, the carrier rocket was horizontally rolled out of its hangar on a flatbed train at 7 a.m. local time Monday and carefully carried to the blastoff site in the winter darkness.
In contrast to NASA's distinctive winged shuttle, which is reusable albeit exorbitantly expensive to operate, the Soyuz can only be used once. It is a relatively streamlined craft consisting of a tiny capsule sitting atop powerful booster rockets.
The name, which comes from the Russian word for "union," was both a tribute to its Soviet design and a reference to the Soyuz's ability to dock with other modules. That detail was an absolute must even to begin thinking about long-term space missions or possible travel beyond the Earth's orbit.
Whereas the shuttle's viability has been hamstrung by countless delays, the last time a Soyuz launch was postponed was as far back as 1971.
Yet for all its trustworthiness, the first Soyuz launch in April 1967 ended in tragedy when Col. Vladimir Komarov, the sole cosmonaut onboard, died on re-entry.
Soviet authorities had grown alarmed at U.S. strides in the space race and had pushed for hasty deployment of the Soyuz before the United States could get its Apollo rocket off the ground.
That Soyuz disaster led to an immediate postponement of manned flights and injected a new spirit of caution into the Soviet space program. A minute attention to detail, most evident in Russian space officials' obsession with running operations on a timetable counted in seconds, has earned the Soyuz a well-deserved reputation for safety.
"My biggest dream in life has always been to fly in orbit someday, but I can tell you that I would feel a hell of a lot more at ease in a Soyuz than in a shuttle," space historian Bert Vis said.
Despite such oft-heard endorsements, a clutch of incidents in recent years has aroused concern. Most notably, problems with the Soyuz capsule's service module during a landing in April 2008 caused a perilously steep re-entry trajectory, which placed crushing gravitational pressure on its three-person crew.
Ahead of watching the Soyuz being winched into place at the launchpad Monday, NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, who traveled onboard that capsule, said the luxuries afforded by the shuttle would indeed be missed.
"The Soyuz is kind of a gentler launch, but I'd much rather land in a shuttle, because it's much more civilized," Whitson said.
Critics also complain that by leaving themselves so heavily reliant on the Soyuz, the United States could fall victim to costly price gouging at the hands of Russian space authorities.
"Moscow already uses it for leverage and has raised the price to NASA repeatedly over the years, to $50 million now," said Brian Harvey, an expert on the history of the Russian space program. "But a shuttle launch costs $550 million a go, so it's still good value."
And while the Russian space program is set to enjoy almost a complete monopoly on ferrying people to space for the next few years, things might change. The successful test launch last week of a privately developed rocket from Cape Canaveral is a clear example of how the market could breed viable space competitors.
"If new, commercially developed space transportation systems in the West leapfrog the tried-and-true Russian booster stable in the next decade, Russia will be left with no significant capability of interest to foreign customers," Oberg said.
The politics and economics of space travel is usually far from astronauts' minds, however, and while in Baikonur, most relish the pleasure of witnessing the ingenuity that goes into assembling the rockets.
"It was Michelangelo that said the sculpture was always inside the rock, I just have to take away the unnecessary pieces. The Soyuz is one of those sculptures," said Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, who plans to fly to the International Space Station onboard a Soyuz spacecraft in 2012.
14 Dec 2010, Daily Yomiuri Online: Use Akatsuki lessons in future space projects
Use Akatsuki lessons in future space projects
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, unlike its European or U.S. counterparts, does not abound with budget and staff. Whether Japan, under such circumstances, will achieve space technology that it can be proud of globally is being put to the test.
The space probe Akatsuki failed to enter orbit around Venus last week.
The probe was supposed to retrofire, but due to a fuel supply failure it passed by the planet without reducing its speed.
The Mars probe Nozomi, launched in 1998, also failed to go into orbit around its target planet. It is unfortunate to see the second failure in as many attempts at planetary exploration.
===
No success without failure
But challenges are never without failure. The United States and the former Soviet Union, front-runners in space exploration, succeeded in their explorations of Venus and Mars only after repeated failures.
The cause of the recent failure must be thoroughly investigated and understood so that the lessons learned can be used for future space exploration.
Akatsuki's flight data shows that it suddenly became unbalanced minutes after it started retrofiring. JAXA suspects that the engine nozzle was damaged, and this led to the probe being thrown off kilter.
If Akatsuki follows its current trajectory, it will next approach Venus six years from now, when JAXA will try again to put the probe into orbit around Venus.
But the next attempt is expected to be difficult, with the level of damage suffered determining how complicated it may be. Thus, determining the damage is a vital task.
The engine installed on Akatsuki was developed by Japan independently. Its advantages include high combustion efficiency, outstanding durability and low price.
The Akatsuki project is said to have cost about 25 billion yen, including the expense of the launch. JAXA developed such a sophisticated probe on a smaller budget than Europe or the United States would have used.
===
Ultimate test has begun
The probe's performance was confirmed repeatedly in ground tests, but had yet to be tested in space. Now, the probe is suddenly in the midst of the ultimate test.
The probe Hayabusa, which returned after sampling minute particles from the asteroid Itokawa, was also equipped with many "unprecedented" technologies. It developed a series of problems including engine trouble during its seven-year space journey, but JAXA managed to overcome each one as it arose.
In the case of Akatsuki, too, JAXA must explore every possibility.
China and India have joined the ranks of the United States, European countries and Russia in planetary exploration. In addition to the scientific motivation of elucidating the origin of the solar system and Earth itself, these countries are spurred by the chance to enhance their own space development technology.
Japan, for its part, plans to launch a Mercury probe in 2014 that it and Europe will jointly use to observe the planet and collect data. An asteroid probe to succeed Hayabusa is also in the works. We hope that Japan will make steady achievements in promoting these projects.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, unlike its European or U.S. counterparts, does not abound with budget and staff. Whether Japan, under such circumstances, will achieve space technology that it can be proud of globally is being put to the test.
The space probe Akatsuki failed to enter orbit around Venus last week.
The probe was supposed to retrofire, but due to a fuel supply failure it passed by the planet without reducing its speed.
The Mars probe Nozomi, launched in 1998, also failed to go into orbit around its target planet. It is unfortunate to see the second failure in as many attempts at planetary exploration.
===
No success without failure
But challenges are never without failure. The United States and the former Soviet Union, front-runners in space exploration, succeeded in their explorations of Venus and Mars only after repeated failures.
The cause of the recent failure must be thoroughly investigated and understood so that the lessons learned can be used for future space exploration.
Akatsuki's flight data shows that it suddenly became unbalanced minutes after it started retrofiring. JAXA suspects that the engine nozzle was damaged, and this led to the probe being thrown off kilter.
If Akatsuki follows its current trajectory, it will next approach Venus six years from now, when JAXA will try again to put the probe into orbit around Venus.
But the next attempt is expected to be difficult, with the level of damage suffered determining how complicated it may be. Thus, determining the damage is a vital task.
The engine installed on Akatsuki was developed by Japan independently. Its advantages include high combustion efficiency, outstanding durability and low price.
The Akatsuki project is said to have cost about 25 billion yen, including the expense of the launch. JAXA developed such a sophisticated probe on a smaller budget than Europe or the United States would have used.
===
Ultimate test has begun
The probe's performance was confirmed repeatedly in ground tests, but had yet to be tested in space. Now, the probe is suddenly in the midst of the ultimate test.
The probe Hayabusa, which returned after sampling minute particles from the asteroid Itokawa, was also equipped with many "unprecedented" technologies. It developed a series of problems including engine trouble during its seven-year space journey, but JAXA managed to overcome each one as it arose.
In the case of Akatsuki, too, JAXA must explore every possibility.
China and India have joined the ranks of the United States, European countries and Russia in planetary exploration. In addition to the scientific motivation of elucidating the origin of the solar system and Earth itself, these countries are spurred by the chance to enhance their own space development technology.
Japan, for its part, plans to launch a Mercury probe in 2014 that it and Europe will jointly use to observe the planet and collect data. An asteroid probe to succeed Hayabusa is also in the works. We hope that Japan will make steady achievements in promoting these projects.
14 Dec 2010, WSJ: How About a Moon Base?
How About a Moon Base?
BY HOMER HICKAM
Go to the Wall Street Journal to read the rest of the article
BY HOMER HICKAM
American space exploration has had two remarkable successes this month. On Dec. 3, the Air Force's X-37B, an unmanned mini-shuttle whose precise capabilities are secret, made a picture-perfect landing at Vandenberg Air Force Base after nine months in space. Then on Dec. 8, SpaceX successfully launched and landed Dragon, a cargo spacecraft that can be outfitted to carry astronauts, a first for a private U.S. company.
All of which raises the question, what's NASA up to these days? The answer: Not much.
In late September, the U.S. Senate arrived at a bipartisan compromise that phased out NASA's space shuttle program ...
Go to the Wall Street Journal to read the rest of the article
Monday, December 13, 2010
13 Dec, 2010, The Space Review: The Pioneer lunar orbiters: a forgotten failure
The Pioneer lunar orbiters: a forgotten failure
An ezine article rather than a newspaper report, therefore please visit the link to read the rest of it.
The Pioneer lunar orbiters: a forgotten failure
There has been a resurgence in interest in the exploration of the Moon. In addition to current American efforts, Japan, India, and China have placed spacecraft into orbit around the Moon in recent years and they have plans to land on the lunar surface in the future. A genuine competition between the Asian space powers is developing to exploit the Moon and its resources. The success of these programs owes much to the experience gained during the competition between the Soviet Union and the United States a half a century ago in the opening years of the Space Age.
Before NASA was founded on October 1, 1958, the US Air Force had ambitious plans for space exploration. During the national debate that followed the launch of Sputnik, the Air Force was trying to position itself so that it could dominate the nation’s infant space program. Even after the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) was founded in February of 1958 and was given the task of coordinating America’s military space programs, Air Force efforts and plans figured prominently.
The Air Force’s first step beyond Earth orbit, called Project Able, was a series of attempts to place a small spacecraft into orbit around the Moon. These orbiters, along with a pair of small US Army-JPL lunar flyby probes, were part of the ARPA-sponsored Operation Mona, which was approved by President Dwight Eisenhower on March 27, 1958. Three launch attempts made by the Air Force between August and November of 1958, now called Pioneers 0, 1, and 2; all failed to reach the Moon. But even before these missions flew, the Air Force, in conjunction with the builders of their first lunar orbiters, STL (Space Technology Laboratory, a division of TRW), began to study follow-on missions not only to lunar orbit but also to Venus, given priority. Little was known about Earth’s near twin at this time and many believed Venus ranked with Mars as a likely abode for extraterrestrial life, making it a desirable target for exploration.
An ezine article rather than a newspaper report, therefore please visit the link to read the rest of it.
The Pioneer lunar orbiters: a forgotten failure
13 Dec 2010, Aviation Week: SpaceX Sees ISS Meet-up in 2011
SpaceX Sees ISS Meet-up in 2011
With two near-perfect Falcon 9 launches and the successful orbital operation, reentry and parachute landing of its first Dragon capsule, Space Exploration Technologies is confident it will join Russian, European and Japanese cargo ships in reaching the International Space Station next year, a critical component of NASA’s plan to maintain a six-person crew after the space shuttles are retired.
Buoyed by Dragon’s debut flight, the first under NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS)program, an elated Elon Musk, chief executive and chief technical officer for SpaceX, said he will ask NASA to combine objectives laid out for the remaining two COTS missions, for which NASA is contributing $287 million, and permit a docking at the station during its next flight, targeted for mid-2011. If successful, SpaceX would be ready to begin station cargo runs, under a separate 12-flight, $1.6-billion NASA launch services contract, before the end of 2011.
“I feel highly confident that we can go to the space station on our next flight and that we can do so by approximately the middle of next year. It’s really a relatively small delta between this vehicle and the one that will go to station,” Musk said.
“We’ll certainly give it good consideration,” echoed Alan Lindenmoyer, NASA manager of the Commercial Crew and Cargo Program Office at the Johnson Space Center. Their comments followed the Dec. 8 orbital debut of Dragon, a 3-hr., 19-min. mission Musk termed “mind-blowingly awesome.”
The 157.8-ft.-tall Falcon 9 lifted off at 10:43 a.m. EST after a day’s delay to repair two cracks in the upper-stage engine nozzle extension spotted in closeout photos on Dec. 6. The rocket was lowered into a horizontal position for visual inspections and, within hours of finding the problem, a repair that was sure to raise some eyebrows was underway: a technician cut off the lower 4 ft. of the 9-ft.-long niobium alloy sheet nozzle using aircraft metal shears. The nozzle increases the performance of the upper-stage Merlin engine and was not needed to put Dragon into a planned 300-km. (186-mi.) circular orbit for its trial run. “The second stage went up to 11,000 km.—and that’s with the shortie skirt,” Musk said.
Simulations, analysis, a quick determination of root cause—fluttering produced by a nitrogen purge venting onto the thin nozzle—and the addition of a diffuser to the vent line to prevent additional problems settled any questions about whether the unorthodox repair would jeopardize the mission, and SpaceX was cleared for a launch attempt a day earlier than originally thought possible.
Dragon flew two orbits around the planet, executing a pre-programmed series of maneuvers and systems checks that would be needed for an ISS rendezvous and docking. Then, as Dragon soared over Australia, the spacecraft fired four of its 18 Draco thrusters for 6 min. to de-orbit and plunge back into the atmosphere on a 12-deg. angle of attack. Drogue chutes, then three main parachutes, released on time, slowing Dragon to an 8-mps. (26-fps.) landing speed and a dead-on splashdown in the Pacific Ocean 500 mi. west of Baja California, completing the first FAA-licensed commercial spacecraft reentry and earning SpaceX a page in the history books of private spaceflight. “Drogue deploy and main chute deploy were the riskiest points in the mission, so when those main chutes came out, it was a done deal,” Musk said.
Future versions of Dragon will have a propulsive landing system, with parachutes as backup, he added. “You can literally land on something the size of a helipad, refuel and take off again. That will be the next-generation Dragon.”
Musk expects Dragon’s early success will bolster his company’s pitch for NASA Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) funding to work on a launch escape system, the major upgrade to transform the capsule from cargo carrier to human spaceship. With that, along with seats, solar panels and what Musk called “minor upgrades,” Dragon can “easily transport people,” he said.
“People sometimes think that to take a cargo spacecraft and put a crew into it requires this enormous amount of magical pixie dust or something. This is not at all the case. If there had been people sitting in the Dragon capsule today, they would have had a very nice ride. They would have experienced maybe up to 4.5g, about what you’d see in an amusement park, and they would have done quite well,” Musk said.
Proposals for the next round of CCDev funding are due Dec. 13, with awards expected in March 2011. NASA expects to have about $200 million for Round 2 of the program. Its initial $50 million—paid with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds—went to Sierra Nevada Corp. ($20 million), Boeing ($18 million), United Launch Alliance ($6.7 million), Blue Origin ($3.7 million) and Paragon Space Development Corp. ($1.4 million). The program is modeled on the COTS effort that backs SpaceX as well as Orbital Sciences Corp., which plans to debut its Taurus 4 rocket in 2011.
Before Dragon’s flight, SpaceX had received $253 million for meeting 17 of its program’s 22 milestones. Lindenmoyer said another $5 million would be forthcoming if post-flight review supports the mission’s apparent success.
“Getting this far this fast has been a remarkable achievement,” noted Phil McAlister, acting director of NASA Commercial Space Flight Development. “It’s almost unbelievable that we would get this far for less than a $300-million development effort in four years.”
SpaceX has spent more than $600 million of its own funds for Falcon and Dragon development, added President Gwynne Shotwell and, more significantly, is on the hook to cover any unexpected expenses in its quest for more affordable access to space. “If we overrun this program, we have to come up with the money through investment to cover the cost, which is dramatically different from taxpayers funding cost-type contracts where, if the contractor overruns, taxpayers have to pay the overruns. That is not the case for this program,” Shotwell said. “I think that’s exactly why this program was set up that way—to limit the government’s exposure.”
With two near-perfect Falcon 9 launches and the successful orbital operation, reentry and parachute landing of its first Dragon capsule, Space Exploration Technologies is confident it will join Russian, European and Japanese cargo ships in reaching the International Space Station next year, a critical component of NASA’s plan to maintain a six-person crew after the space shuttles are retired.
Buoyed by Dragon’s debut flight, the first under NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS)program, an elated Elon Musk, chief executive and chief technical officer for SpaceX, said he will ask NASA to combine objectives laid out for the remaining two COTS missions, for which NASA is contributing $287 million, and permit a docking at the station during its next flight, targeted for mid-2011. If successful, SpaceX would be ready to begin station cargo runs, under a separate 12-flight, $1.6-billion NASA launch services contract, before the end of 2011.
“I feel highly confident that we can go to the space station on our next flight and that we can do so by approximately the middle of next year. It’s really a relatively small delta between this vehicle and the one that will go to station,” Musk said.
“We’ll certainly give it good consideration,” echoed Alan Lindenmoyer, NASA manager of the Commercial Crew and Cargo Program Office at the Johnson Space Center. Their comments followed the Dec. 8 orbital debut of Dragon, a 3-hr., 19-min. mission Musk termed “mind-blowingly awesome.”
The 157.8-ft.-tall Falcon 9 lifted off at 10:43 a.m. EST after a day’s delay to repair two cracks in the upper-stage engine nozzle extension spotted in closeout photos on Dec. 6. The rocket was lowered into a horizontal position for visual inspections and, within hours of finding the problem, a repair that was sure to raise some eyebrows was underway: a technician cut off the lower 4 ft. of the 9-ft.-long niobium alloy sheet nozzle using aircraft metal shears. The nozzle increases the performance of the upper-stage Merlin engine and was not needed to put Dragon into a planned 300-km. (186-mi.) circular orbit for its trial run. “The second stage went up to 11,000 km.—and that’s with the shortie skirt,” Musk said.
Simulations, analysis, a quick determination of root cause—fluttering produced by a nitrogen purge venting onto the thin nozzle—and the addition of a diffuser to the vent line to prevent additional problems settled any questions about whether the unorthodox repair would jeopardize the mission, and SpaceX was cleared for a launch attempt a day earlier than originally thought possible.
Dragon flew two orbits around the planet, executing a pre-programmed series of maneuvers and systems checks that would be needed for an ISS rendezvous and docking. Then, as Dragon soared over Australia, the spacecraft fired four of its 18 Draco thrusters for 6 min. to de-orbit and plunge back into the atmosphere on a 12-deg. angle of attack. Drogue chutes, then three main parachutes, released on time, slowing Dragon to an 8-mps. (26-fps.) landing speed and a dead-on splashdown in the Pacific Ocean 500 mi. west of Baja California, completing the first FAA-licensed commercial spacecraft reentry and earning SpaceX a page in the history books of private spaceflight. “Drogue deploy and main chute deploy were the riskiest points in the mission, so when those main chutes came out, it was a done deal,” Musk said.
Future versions of Dragon will have a propulsive landing system, with parachutes as backup, he added. “You can literally land on something the size of a helipad, refuel and take off again. That will be the next-generation Dragon.”
Musk expects Dragon’s early success will bolster his company’s pitch for NASA Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) funding to work on a launch escape system, the major upgrade to transform the capsule from cargo carrier to human spaceship. With that, along with seats, solar panels and what Musk called “minor upgrades,” Dragon can “easily transport people,” he said.
“People sometimes think that to take a cargo spacecraft and put a crew into it requires this enormous amount of magical pixie dust or something. This is not at all the case. If there had been people sitting in the Dragon capsule today, they would have had a very nice ride. They would have experienced maybe up to 4.5g, about what you’d see in an amusement park, and they would have done quite well,” Musk said.
Proposals for the next round of CCDev funding are due Dec. 13, with awards expected in March 2011. NASA expects to have about $200 million for Round 2 of the program. Its initial $50 million—paid with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds—went to Sierra Nevada Corp. ($20 million), Boeing ($18 million), United Launch Alliance ($6.7 million), Blue Origin ($3.7 million) and Paragon Space Development Corp. ($1.4 million). The program is modeled on the COTS effort that backs SpaceX as well as Orbital Sciences Corp., which plans to debut its Taurus 4 rocket in 2011.
Before Dragon’s flight, SpaceX had received $253 million for meeting 17 of its program’s 22 milestones. Lindenmoyer said another $5 million would be forthcoming if post-flight review supports the mission’s apparent success.
“Getting this far this fast has been a remarkable achievement,” noted Phil McAlister, acting director of NASA Commercial Space Flight Development. “It’s almost unbelievable that we would get this far for less than a $300-million development effort in four years.”
SpaceX has spent more than $600 million of its own funds for Falcon and Dragon development, added President Gwynne Shotwell and, more significantly, is on the hook to cover any unexpected expenses in its quest for more affordable access to space. “If we overrun this program, we have to come up with the money through investment to cover the cost, which is dramatically different from taxpayers funding cost-type contracts where, if the contractor overruns, taxpayers have to pay the overruns. That is not the case for this program,” Shotwell said. “I think that’s exactly why this program was set up that way—to limit the government’s exposure.”
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Saturn's rings: Leftovers from a cosmic murder?
Yahoo News: Saturn's rings: Leftovers from a cosmic murder?
WASHINGTON – One of the solar system's most evocative mysteries — the origin of Saturn's rings — may be a case of cosmic murder, new research suggests.
The victim: an unnamed moon of Saturn that disappeared about 4.5 billion years ago.
The suspect: a disk of hydrogen gas that once surrounded Saturn when its dozens of moons were forming, but has now fled the crime scene.
The cause of death: A forced plunge into Saturn.
And those spectacular and colorful rings are the only evidence left. As the doomed moon made its death spiral, Saturn robbed its outer layer of ice, which then formed rings, according to a new theory published online Sunday in the journal Nature.
"Saturn was an accomplice and that produced the rings," said study author Robin Canup, an astronomer at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo.
The mystery of Saturn's rings "has puzzled people for centuries," said Cornell astronomer Joe Burns, who wasn't involved in the study and said Canup's new theory makes sense.
One of the leading theories has been that either some of Saturn's many moons crashed into each other, or an asteroid crashed into some of them — leaving debris that formed the rings. The trouble is Saturn's moons are half ice and half rock and the planet's seven rings are now as much as 95 percent ice and probably used to be all ice, Canup said. If the rings were formed by a moon-on-moon crash or an asteroid-on-moon, there would be more rocks in the rings.
Something had to have stripped away the outer ice of a moon, a big moon, Canup said.
So her theory starts billions of years ago when the planets' moons were forming. A large disk of hydrogen gas circled Saturn and that helped both create and destroy moons. Large inner moons probably made regular plunges into the planet, pulled by the disk of gas.
These death spirals took about 10,000 years and the key to understanding the rings' origins is what happened to them during that time. According to Canup's computer model, Saturn stripped the ice away from a huge moon while it was far enough from the planet that the ice would be trapped in a ring.
The original rings were 10 to 100 times larger than they are now, but over time the ice in the outer rings has coalesced into some of Saturn's tiny inner moons, Canup said. So what began as moons has become rings and then new moons.
This helps explain Tethys, an odd inner moon that didn't quite fit other moon formation theories, she said. Saturn has 62 moons — 53 of them have names. New ones are discovered regularly by NASA's Cassini probe.
But this doesn't explain rings on other planets in our solar system, such as Jupiter, Neptune and Uranus, which probably formed in a different way, Canup said.
The rings and ice-rich inner moons are the last surviving remnants of this lost moon, "which is pretty neat," Canup said.
Burns said Canup's theory explains the heavy ice components of rings better than other possibilities. Larry Esposito, who discovered one of Saturn's rings, praised the new paper as "a very clever, original idea."
"I would call it more like cosmic recycling," Esposito said because the moon became rings which then became moons. "It's not so much a final demise, but a cosmic effort to reuse materials again and again."
WASHINGTON – One of the solar system's most evocative mysteries — the origin of Saturn's rings — may be a case of cosmic murder, new research suggests.
The victim: an unnamed moon of Saturn that disappeared about 4.5 billion years ago.
The suspect: a disk of hydrogen gas that once surrounded Saturn when its dozens of moons were forming, but has now fled the crime scene.
The cause of death: A forced plunge into Saturn.
And those spectacular and colorful rings are the only evidence left. As the doomed moon made its death spiral, Saturn robbed its outer layer of ice, which then formed rings, according to a new theory published online Sunday in the journal Nature.
"Saturn was an accomplice and that produced the rings," said study author Robin Canup, an astronomer at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo.
The mystery of Saturn's rings "has puzzled people for centuries," said Cornell astronomer Joe Burns, who wasn't involved in the study and said Canup's new theory makes sense.
One of the leading theories has been that either some of Saturn's many moons crashed into each other, or an asteroid crashed into some of them — leaving debris that formed the rings. The trouble is Saturn's moons are half ice and half rock and the planet's seven rings are now as much as 95 percent ice and probably used to be all ice, Canup said. If the rings were formed by a moon-on-moon crash or an asteroid-on-moon, there would be more rocks in the rings.
Something had to have stripped away the outer ice of a moon, a big moon, Canup said.
So her theory starts billions of years ago when the planets' moons were forming. A large disk of hydrogen gas circled Saturn and that helped both create and destroy moons. Large inner moons probably made regular plunges into the planet, pulled by the disk of gas.
These death spirals took about 10,000 years and the key to understanding the rings' origins is what happened to them during that time. According to Canup's computer model, Saturn stripped the ice away from a huge moon while it was far enough from the planet that the ice would be trapped in a ring.
The original rings were 10 to 100 times larger than they are now, but over time the ice in the outer rings has coalesced into some of Saturn's tiny inner moons, Canup said. So what began as moons has become rings and then new moons.
This helps explain Tethys, an odd inner moon that didn't quite fit other moon formation theories, she said. Saturn has 62 moons — 53 of them have names. New ones are discovered regularly by NASA's Cassini probe.
But this doesn't explain rings on other planets in our solar system, such as Jupiter, Neptune and Uranus, which probably formed in a different way, Canup said.
The rings and ice-rich inner moons are the last surviving remnants of this lost moon, "which is pretty neat," Canup said.
Burns said Canup's theory explains the heavy ice components of rings better than other possibilities. Larry Esposito, who discovered one of Saturn's rings, praised the new paper as "a very clever, original idea."
"I would call it more like cosmic recycling," Esposito said because the moon became rings which then became moons. "It's not so much a final demise, but a cosmic effort to reuse materials again and again."
Neil Armstrong Talks About The First Moon Walk
NPR: Neil Armstrong Talks About The First Moon Walk
Well, this doesn't happen every day.
In yesterday's post, I talked about Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin's walk across the lunar surface back in 1969 and wondered, how come they walked such a modest distance? Less than a hundred yards from their lander?
Today Neil Armstrong wrote in to say, here are the reasons:
It was really, really hot on the moon, 200 degrees Fahrenheit. We needed protection.
We were wearing new-fangled, water-cooled uniforms and didn't know how long the coolant would last.
We didn't know how far we could go in our space suits.
NASA wanted us to conduct our experiments in front of a fixed camera.
We [meaning Neil] cheated just a little, and very briefly bounded off to take pictures of some interesting bedrock.
But basically, he says, we were part of a team and we were team players on a perilous, one-of-a-kind journey. Improvisation was not really an option.
But, reading between the lines, I kinda think he wanted to do more, go further. Anyway, read for yourself:
Dear Mr. Krulwich
I was delighted to read your December 7 column on the the Apollo 11 lunar surface traverses, The NASA maps do accurately portray the locations of the pathways used to complete the myriad of tasks we were assigned. And, although I have not checked, I believe the comparison with the size of athletic fields is reasonably accurate.
You asked: “Who knew?"
The answer to that question is: Just about anyone who had any interest in learning the answer. The plan for the lunar surface work was widely distributed and we even did a full dress rehearsal for the press at the NASA Johnson Space Center.
It is true that we were cautious in our planning. There were many uncertainties about how well our Lunar module systems and our Pressure suit and backpack would match the engineering predictions in the hostile lunar environment. We were operating in a near perfect vacuum with the temperature well above 200 degrees Fahrenheit with the local gravity only one sixth that of Earth. That combination cannot be duplicated here on Earth, but we tried as best we could to test our equipment for those conditions. For example, because normal air conditioning is inadequate for lunar conditions, we were required to use cold water to cool the interior of our suits. We did not have any data to tell us how long the small water tank in our backpacks would suffice. NASA officials limited our surface working time to 2 and 3/4 hours on that first surface exploration to assure that we would not expire of hyperthermia. After returning to and repressurizing the Lunar Module, we were able to drain and measure the remaining water in the backpacks to confirm the predicted.
There was great uncertainty about how well we would be able to walk in our cumbersome pressurized suit. My colleague demonstrated a variety of techniques in view of the television camera that I had installed in a position predetermined to be in the optimum spot for coverage of all of our activities. Preflight planners wanted us to stay in TV range so that they could learn from our results how they could best plan for future missions. I candidly admit that I knowingly and deliberately left the planned working area out of TV coverage to examine and photograph the interior crater walls for possible bedrock exposure or other useful information. I felt the potential gain was worth the risk.
It is true that we would have liked to stay on the surface longer and traveled further away from the Lunar Module and the television camera. But we had a number of experiments to install, samples to document and collect, and photographs to take. The time available was fully allocated and we were working diligently to complete our assigned tasks. The Lunar Laser Ranging Retroreflector we installed is still in use today in a variety of scientific experiments.
Later Apollo flights were able to do more and move further in order to cover larger areas, particularly when the Lunar Rover vehicle became available in 1971. But in KRULWICH WONDERS, you make an important point, which I emphasized to the House Science and Technology Committee. During my testimony in May I said, "Some question why Americans should return to the Moon. "After all," they say "we have already been there." I find that mystifying. It would be as if 16th century monarchs proclaimed that "we need not go to the New World, we have already been there." Or as if President Thomas Jefferson announced in 1803 that Americans "need not go west of the Mississippi, the Lewis and Clark Expedition has already been there." Americans have visited and examined 6 locations on Luna, varying in size from a suburban lot to a small township. That leaves more than 14 million square miles yet to explore.
I have tried to give a small insight into your question “Who knew?”
I hope it is helpful.
Sincerely,
Neil Armstrong
Commander
Apollo 11
Well, this doesn't happen every day.
In yesterday's post, I talked about Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin's walk across the lunar surface back in 1969 and wondered, how come they walked such a modest distance? Less than a hundred yards from their lander?
Today Neil Armstrong wrote in to say, here are the reasons:
It was really, really hot on the moon, 200 degrees Fahrenheit. We needed protection.
We were wearing new-fangled, water-cooled uniforms and didn't know how long the coolant would last.
We didn't know how far we could go in our space suits.
NASA wanted us to conduct our experiments in front of a fixed camera.
We [meaning Neil] cheated just a little, and very briefly bounded off to take pictures of some interesting bedrock.
But basically, he says, we were part of a team and we were team players on a perilous, one-of-a-kind journey. Improvisation was not really an option.
But, reading between the lines, I kinda think he wanted to do more, go further. Anyway, read for yourself:
Dear Mr. Krulwich
I was delighted to read your December 7 column on the the Apollo 11 lunar surface traverses, The NASA maps do accurately portray the locations of the pathways used to complete the myriad of tasks we were assigned. And, although I have not checked, I believe the comparison with the size of athletic fields is reasonably accurate.
You asked: “Who knew?"
The answer to that question is: Just about anyone who had any interest in learning the answer. The plan for the lunar surface work was widely distributed and we even did a full dress rehearsal for the press at the NASA Johnson Space Center.
It is true that we were cautious in our planning. There were many uncertainties about how well our Lunar module systems and our Pressure suit and backpack would match the engineering predictions in the hostile lunar environment. We were operating in a near perfect vacuum with the temperature well above 200 degrees Fahrenheit with the local gravity only one sixth that of Earth. That combination cannot be duplicated here on Earth, but we tried as best we could to test our equipment for those conditions. For example, because normal air conditioning is inadequate for lunar conditions, we were required to use cold water to cool the interior of our suits. We did not have any data to tell us how long the small water tank in our backpacks would suffice. NASA officials limited our surface working time to 2 and 3/4 hours on that first surface exploration to assure that we would not expire of hyperthermia. After returning to and repressurizing the Lunar Module, we were able to drain and measure the remaining water in the backpacks to confirm the predicted.
There was great uncertainty about how well we would be able to walk in our cumbersome pressurized suit. My colleague demonstrated a variety of techniques in view of the television camera that I had installed in a position predetermined to be in the optimum spot for coverage of all of our activities. Preflight planners wanted us to stay in TV range so that they could learn from our results how they could best plan for future missions. I candidly admit that I knowingly and deliberately left the planned working area out of TV coverage to examine and photograph the interior crater walls for possible bedrock exposure or other useful information. I felt the potential gain was worth the risk.
It is true that we would have liked to stay on the surface longer and traveled further away from the Lunar Module and the television camera. But we had a number of experiments to install, samples to document and collect, and photographs to take. The time available was fully allocated and we were working diligently to complete our assigned tasks. The Lunar Laser Ranging Retroreflector we installed is still in use today in a variety of scientific experiments.
Later Apollo flights were able to do more and move further in order to cover larger areas, particularly when the Lunar Rover vehicle became available in 1971. But in KRULWICH WONDERS, you make an important point, which I emphasized to the House Science and Technology Committee. During my testimony in May I said, "Some question why Americans should return to the Moon. "After all," they say "we have already been there." I find that mystifying. It would be as if 16th century monarchs proclaimed that "we need not go to the New World, we have already been there." Or as if President Thomas Jefferson announced in 1803 that Americans "need not go west of the Mississippi, the Lewis and Clark Expedition has already been there." Americans have visited and examined 6 locations on Luna, varying in size from a suburban lot to a small township. That leaves more than 14 million square miles yet to explore.
I have tried to give a small insight into your question “Who knew?”
I hope it is helpful.
Sincerely,
Neil Armstrong
Commander
Apollo 11
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Venus Probe Fails To Enter Orbit
RedOrbit: Venus Probe Fails To Enter Orbit
Posted on: Wednesday, 8 December 2010, 09:35 CST
The Japanese probe that was to have spent two years studying Venus has failed to enter the planet's orbit and is now being pulled towards the sun, the space agency announced on Wednesday.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) $300 million Planet-C Venus Climate Orbiter, code named 'Akatsuki' or 'Dawn', had reached Venus earlier this week and was to enter an elliptical orbit around the planet, monitoring its volcanic activity and recording information regarding its cloud cover and climate.
However, according to AFP reporter Miwa Suzuki, the box-shaped probe shot past the planet after struggling to enter its gravitational field. On Tuesday, JAXA officials reported that the Akatsuki had reversed its engines in order to slow down to enter Venus's gravity, but according to Suzuki, some 24 hours later, they were forced to report that the mission had failed.
"We started the maneuver to put the Venus probe Akatsuki into orbit around Venus at 8:49 am (Tokyo time) on December 7," JAXA officials said in a statement, according to Suzuki, "but have confirmed that we could not put it into the orbit."
JAXA spokesman Hitoshi Soeno told the AFP that the agency's ground control, located in Sagamihara, was still in command of the probe and would likely have a second chance at completing the mission. However, they will have to wait six years to do so--a major blow for the fledgling Japanese space program, which earlier this year saw its 'Hayabusa' probe become the first vehicle of its kind to collect asteroid dust and return to Earth with the payload.
"The failure in the crucial orbital insertion stage of the probe was a big letdown for Japan, which has never succeeded in an interplanetary mission but has marked some major successes in space on a relatively tight budget that is focused primarily on small-scale science projects," Associated Press (AP) writer Eric Talmadge said on Wednesday, adding that the failed mission "disappointed scientists around the world" who had been hoping to study Venus in order to obtain valuable data regarding climate change on Earth.
In a statement, Bill Nye, executive director of the American space exploration group The Planetary Society, said "The Planetary Society regrets that the innovative Akatsuki spacecraft seems to have missed its opportunity to lock into an orbit of Venus. Although Akatsuki has already accomplished some remarkable things on its voyage, this setback reminds us how difficult space exploration can be."
Posted on: Wednesday, 8 December 2010, 09:35 CST
The Japanese probe that was to have spent two years studying Venus has failed to enter the planet's orbit and is now being pulled towards the sun, the space agency announced on Wednesday.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) $300 million Planet-C Venus Climate Orbiter, code named 'Akatsuki' or 'Dawn', had reached Venus earlier this week and was to enter an elliptical orbit around the planet, monitoring its volcanic activity and recording information regarding its cloud cover and climate.
However, according to AFP reporter Miwa Suzuki, the box-shaped probe shot past the planet after struggling to enter its gravitational field. On Tuesday, JAXA officials reported that the Akatsuki had reversed its engines in order to slow down to enter Venus's gravity, but according to Suzuki, some 24 hours later, they were forced to report that the mission had failed.
"We started the maneuver to put the Venus probe Akatsuki into orbit around Venus at 8:49 am (Tokyo time) on December 7," JAXA officials said in a statement, according to Suzuki, "but have confirmed that we could not put it into the orbit."
JAXA spokesman Hitoshi Soeno told the AFP that the agency's ground control, located in Sagamihara, was still in command of the probe and would likely have a second chance at completing the mission. However, they will have to wait six years to do so--a major blow for the fledgling Japanese space program, which earlier this year saw its 'Hayabusa' probe become the first vehicle of its kind to collect asteroid dust and return to Earth with the payload.
"The failure in the crucial orbital insertion stage of the probe was a big letdown for Japan, which has never succeeded in an interplanetary mission but has marked some major successes in space on a relatively tight budget that is focused primarily on small-scale science projects," Associated Press (AP) writer Eric Talmadge said on Wednesday, adding that the failed mission "disappointed scientists around the world" who had been hoping to study Venus in order to obtain valuable data regarding climate change on Earth.
In a statement, Bill Nye, executive director of the American space exploration group The Planetary Society, said "The Planetary Society regrets that the innovative Akatsuki spacecraft seems to have missed its opportunity to lock into an orbit of Venus. Although Akatsuki has already accomplished some remarkable things on its voyage, this setback reminds us how difficult space exploration can be."
The Dragon has landed
GearFuse: The Dragon has landed
The privately-funded capsule SpaceX Dragon reentered Earth’s atmosphere and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean yesterday afternoon, becoming the first spacecraft launched, orbited, and successfully recovered from orbit after reentry by a private company.
The size, ambition, and glamor of NASA and Soviet manned missions in the 1960s made space exploration synonymous with massive governmental programs. In the case of NASA, of course, the work was always a private-public partnership, with companies, independent laboratories, and university research programs all vying for lucrative contracts.
Despite its private funding, Dragon partakes of this tradition. Contracts with NASA, ESA, and other governmental space programs will furnish SpaceX with its chief source of income for the program, and the company adopted NASA technology (itself developed by private contractors) for crucial systems of the spacecraft, such as the Common Berthing System that allows Dragon and other craft to dock with the International Space Station.
Long before the first human orbited the Earth, science fiction’s future was consistently the province of private industry, as in the pioneering 1950 spaceflight movie Destination Moon, in which a privately-funded nuclear rocket is launched against government orders. Robert Heinlein, who worked on the screenplay for Destination Moon, published that same year a novel called The Man Who Sold the Moon, in which a disruptive tycoon sets off a lunar diamond rush in hopes of gaining proprietary control over the Moon itself—compared to which, SpaceX’s plans for supplying the International Space Station and ferrying tourists into orbit seem tame and salutary.
The privately-funded capsule SpaceX Dragon reentered Earth’s atmosphere and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean yesterday afternoon, becoming the first spacecraft launched, orbited, and successfully recovered from orbit after reentry by a private company.
The size, ambition, and glamor of NASA and Soviet manned missions in the 1960s made space exploration synonymous with massive governmental programs. In the case of NASA, of course, the work was always a private-public partnership, with companies, independent laboratories, and university research programs all vying for lucrative contracts.
Despite its private funding, Dragon partakes of this tradition. Contracts with NASA, ESA, and other governmental space programs will furnish SpaceX with its chief source of income for the program, and the company adopted NASA technology (itself developed by private contractors) for crucial systems of the spacecraft, such as the Common Berthing System that allows Dragon and other craft to dock with the International Space Station.
Long before the first human orbited the Earth, science fiction’s future was consistently the province of private industry, as in the pioneering 1950 spaceflight movie Destination Moon, in which a privately-funded nuclear rocket is launched against government orders. Robert Heinlein, who worked on the screenplay for Destination Moon, published that same year a novel called The Man Who Sold the Moon, in which a disruptive tycoon sets off a lunar diamond rush in hopes of gaining proprietary control over the Moon itself—compared to which, SpaceX’s plans for supplying the International Space Station and ferrying tourists into orbit seem tame and salutary.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
NASA sells shuttle PCs without wiping secret data
Two questions this article doesn't address... who is buying these computers, and did NASA keep a backup of all the info that was on them, or is all that info gone for good (except if found by the new owners, of course.)
BBC News: NASA sells shuttle PCs without wiping secret data
US space agency Nasa has been left red-faced after selling off computers without ensuring that highly sensitive data had been removed.
An internal investigation found 10 cases where PCs were sold despite failing data removal procedures.
Another four PCs - which were about to be sold - were found to contain data restricted under arms control rules.
The computers were being sold off as Nasa winds down its space shuttle operations.
The last shuttle flight is scheduled for June 2011.
But the space agency's internal auditors discovered that its policies for wiping data from PCs used in the Shuttle programme have not always been followed.
They uncovered issues at four locations: the Kennedy and Johnson Space Centers, and the Ames and Langley Research Centers.
Secret data
In some cases, tests were not being run to confirm the computers had been wiped.
Investigators also found that some PCs that had failed those verification tests were still being put up for sale.
Their report in to the incidents says its impossible to know what data was left on the sold-off equipment, but analysis of similar equipment "raises serious concerns" for Nasa.
Investigators found four PCs being prepared for sale at the Kennedy Space Center which contained data subject to export control by the International Traffic in Arms Regulations.
They also found dozens of PCs at the Kennedy equipment disposal facility that all had external markings listing network details.
Such details could potentially provide hackers with "unauthorised access to Nasa's internal computer network".
Nasa will now review and update its equipment disposals procedures.
BBC News: NASA sells shuttle PCs without wiping secret data
US space agency Nasa has been left red-faced after selling off computers without ensuring that highly sensitive data had been removed.
An internal investigation found 10 cases where PCs were sold despite failing data removal procedures.
Another four PCs - which were about to be sold - were found to contain data restricted under arms control rules.
The computers were being sold off as Nasa winds down its space shuttle operations.
The last shuttle flight is scheduled for June 2011.
But the space agency's internal auditors discovered that its policies for wiping data from PCs used in the Shuttle programme have not always been followed.
They uncovered issues at four locations: the Kennedy and Johnson Space Centers, and the Ames and Langley Research Centers.
Secret data
In some cases, tests were not being run to confirm the computers had been wiped.
Investigators also found that some PCs that had failed those verification tests were still being put up for sale.
Their report in to the incidents says its impossible to know what data was left on the sold-off equipment, but analysis of similar equipment "raises serious concerns" for Nasa.
Investigators found four PCs being prepared for sale at the Kennedy Space Center which contained data subject to export control by the International Traffic in Arms Regulations.
They also found dozens of PCs at the Kennedy equipment disposal facility that all had external markings listing network details.
Such details could potentially provide hackers with "unauthorised access to Nasa's internal computer network".
Nasa will now review and update its equipment disposals procedures.
SpaceX craft launches from Florida
CNN: SpaceX craft launches from Florida
CNN) -- The SpaceX commercial rocket lifted off at 10:43 a.m. ET.
The first commercial spacecraft slated to orbit Earth and re-enter successfully was originally scheduled to lift off shortly after 9 a.m. but was delayed.
SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule had a 9 a.m. to 12:22 p.m. ET launch window.
A successful launch and re-entry would be the latest steps toward commercial space ventures that could eventually ferry astronauts and cargo to the international space station.
In July, a test launch of the Falcon 9 rocket was "essentially a bullseye," SpaceX officials said after the rocket successfully pushed past the earth's atmosphere and deposited a mock-up of its Dragon space capsule in orbit.
NASA has been flying shuttles in low Earth orbit and going to and from the space station for 30 years. The administration would like to see whether private companies can do it cheaper and more efficiently, as the shuttle program is about to fly into retirement.
NASA has selected SpaceX and another company, Orbital Sciences, to each develop an orbital vehicle because the United States will not have its own way to get to the space station. The United States will be renting space from the Russians aboard their Soyuz spacecraft.
But the competition is rabid. SpaceX is the first company to reach the launchpad. By this summer, it had spent almost $400 million to get there.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, co-founder of PayPal, said in July that if all goes well after a series of test flights, SpaceX will be ready to begin flying cargo to the space station next year.
Musk says they can begin ferrying astronauts to the space station within three years.
"We want to see a future where we are exploring the stars, where we're going to other planets, where we're doing the great things that we read about in science fiction and in the movies," he said at the time.
Live coverage of the Wednesday's launch will air on NASA Television and on the agency's website, NASA said.
CNN) -- The SpaceX commercial rocket lifted off at 10:43 a.m. ET.
The first commercial spacecraft slated to orbit Earth and re-enter successfully was originally scheduled to lift off shortly after 9 a.m. but was delayed.
SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule had a 9 a.m. to 12:22 p.m. ET launch window.
A successful launch and re-entry would be the latest steps toward commercial space ventures that could eventually ferry astronauts and cargo to the international space station.
In July, a test launch of the Falcon 9 rocket was "essentially a bullseye," SpaceX officials said after the rocket successfully pushed past the earth's atmosphere and deposited a mock-up of its Dragon space capsule in orbit.
NASA has been flying shuttles in low Earth orbit and going to and from the space station for 30 years. The administration would like to see whether private companies can do it cheaper and more efficiently, as the shuttle program is about to fly into retirement.
NASA has selected SpaceX and another company, Orbital Sciences, to each develop an orbital vehicle because the United States will not have its own way to get to the space station. The United States will be renting space from the Russians aboard their Soyuz spacecraft.
But the competition is rabid. SpaceX is the first company to reach the launchpad. By this summer, it had spent almost $400 million to get there.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, co-founder of PayPal, said in July that if all goes well after a series of test flights, SpaceX will be ready to begin flying cargo to the space station next year.
Musk says they can begin ferrying astronauts to the space station within three years.
"We want to see a future where we are exploring the stars, where we're going to other planets, where we're doing the great things that we read about in science fiction and in the movies," he said at the time.
Live coverage of the Wednesday's launch will air on NASA Television and on the agency's website, NASA said.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
High Stakes Loom Over SpaceX's Private Space Capsule Launch Test
Space.com: High Stakes Loom Over SpaceX's Private Space Capsule Launch Test
This week, all eyes will be on one private spaceflight company.
The Hawthorne, Calif.-based Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, is making final preparations for the launch of its Falcon 9 rocket and new Dragon space capsule on what could be a groundbreaking test flight for the entire commercial spaceflight industry.
If successful, the flight will mark the first time a private company has launched and re-entered a spacecraft from low-Earth orbit.
It's a milestone on the path to realizing the first commercial human spaceflight capability," Bretton Alexander, president of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, told SPACE.com. "It's historic in that it's the beginning of a paradigm shift from a government human spaceflight architecture to one that opens up human spaceflight to the private sector."
The planned launch has been delayed from Tuesday due to cracks in the Falcon 9's second-stage rocket engine nozzle. Engineers are working to investigate the problem and hope to have it resolved in time for a possible Wednesday or Thursday Dragon launch attempt, NASA and SpaceX officials have said.
Partnering with NASA
The test will also be the first mission by any company under NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program, which is designed to foster the development of private vehicles with the ability to carry cargo – and eventually crew – to the International Space Station. [INFOGRAPHIC: Inside Look at SpaceX's Dragon Capsule]
"If they're successful, it will be a huge step forward and a feather in the cap of SpaceX," said Roger Launius, senior curator in the division of space history at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. "If it's successful, we'll be that much farther down the road toward developing a new launcher that has potential to carry cargo to the station, and maybe even crews at some point."
SpaceX already has a $1.6 billion contract with NASA to provide cargo flights to the space station using the company's Dragon capsule.
The hope is that commercial providers such as SpaceX will help fill the gap created when NASA stops flying space shuttle missions next year. Until private spaceships are available, NASA will have to rely on Russian Soyuz spacecraft to transport astronauts to space.
SpaceX plans to fly at least 12 unmanned missions to ferry supplies to the International Space Station. And, while the Dragon capsule is not yet man-rated to carry human passengers into space, the company ultimately aims to win a contract to fly astronauts to the station as well.
"Successful recovery of Dragon would bode very well for future astronaut transport," SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who made his fortune as co-founder of PayPal, told SPACE.com in an e-mail. "Once shuttle retires, Dragon will be the only spacecraft [capable] of returning humans to Earth apart from Soyuz. Since a launch escape system is not needed after ascent, in principle Dragon could very easily be converted to a lifeboat with more than twice the capacity of Soyuz (seven in our case vs. three for Soyuz)."
Building a launch escape system – a device that would enable astronauts to jettison from the rocket if an emergency were to occur during liftoff – is one of the main challenges in man-rating Dragon to carry humans. [Gallery: Photos of the Dragon Space Capsule]
High stakes
Recently, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, which oversees commercial space transportation, awarded SpaceX the first-ever commercial license to re-enter spaceships from Earth orbit.
"The FAA license itself is a small milestone, but it's one more important and necessary step to really changing the way human spaceflight is done," Alexander said.
Still, with commercial spaceflight still very much in its infancy, SpaceX's upcoming test demonstration has more than just an unmanned capsule riding on its rocket.
"It's hard to overstate the importance," Alexander said. "But, the reality is that it's a test program, and there are always issues with test programs. One would expect issues to crop up, but because it's the beginning of the industry, this is incredibly important."
In June, SpaceX conducted a successful flight test of Falcon 9 with a more simplified version of the Dragon spacecraft on board. The flight went off largely without a hitch, but Alexander cautioned that expectations for any program in its test stage should be controlled.
"There's an expectation that you're going to have issues, and when it goes incredibly well, it's fantastic," he explained. "But if you look back at the history of government activities even, all previous space programs have had issues – it's to be expected."
"Let's remember, first flights of most rockets fail," Launius said. "If SpaceX is not successful, it's simply an indication that they're following a well worn path of previous design efforts. It doesn't mean that this is the wrong strategy, it just means there's more work to do."
Early snags
In fact, SpaceX's prelaunch activities hit a few snags during engine tests Friday and Saturday, less than a week before the scheduled launch. Two attempts at so-called static fire tests were aborted on Friday and Saturday before a third finally went smoothly.
The first test failed because one of the Falcon 9's engines experienced elevated chamber pressure, while the second was aborted due to low pressure in the gas generator of one of the rocket's engines.
After making adjustments, the company was able to complete a full-duration static fire test later that morning.
"I think there is a tendency to treat each mission as make or break when a new company like SpaceX joins the field, but no one flight is that important," Musk said. "Most of the successful launch vehicles experience a failure in one of their first three flights before going on to be very successful. These are test flights, and so the information that we gain from them is far more important than whether or not we meet all of our mission objectives."
Yet, if Tuesday's test flight is deemed a success, it will undoubtedly be a historic benchmark that paves the way for the future of commercial spaceflight, experts said.
"This would represent an important milestone in the history of space, heralding the dawn of a new era where private companies can now bring back spacecraft from orbit," Musk said.
And perhaps that time cannot come soon enough. With the retirement of NASA's space shuttle fleet close on the horizon, the stakes are raised for who and what will provide the follow-on spaceflight capability after the shuttle era comes to an end.
And test flights aren't the only challenges the burgeoning industry must face: Political factors loom as well. A NASA authorization bill recently passed by Congress allocates money for private spaceflight, but the bill is still waiting for appropriations from Congress.
"The gap in human spaceflight is now entirely in the hands of Congress and what they do with appropriations," Alexander said. "The NASA authorization bill that was passed recognized the importance of this and made commercial crew primary, but things are still up in the air."
This week, all eyes will be on one private spaceflight company.
The Hawthorne, Calif.-based Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, is making final preparations for the launch of its Falcon 9 rocket and new Dragon space capsule on what could be a groundbreaking test flight for the entire commercial spaceflight industry.
If successful, the flight will mark the first time a private company has launched and re-entered a spacecraft from low-Earth orbit.
It's a milestone on the path to realizing the first commercial human spaceflight capability," Bretton Alexander, president of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, told SPACE.com. "It's historic in that it's the beginning of a paradigm shift from a government human spaceflight architecture to one that opens up human spaceflight to the private sector."
The planned launch has been delayed from Tuesday due to cracks in the Falcon 9's second-stage rocket engine nozzle. Engineers are working to investigate the problem and hope to have it resolved in time for a possible Wednesday or Thursday Dragon launch attempt, NASA and SpaceX officials have said.
Partnering with NASA
The test will also be the first mission by any company under NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program, which is designed to foster the development of private vehicles with the ability to carry cargo – and eventually crew – to the International Space Station. [INFOGRAPHIC: Inside Look at SpaceX's Dragon Capsule]
"If they're successful, it will be a huge step forward and a feather in the cap of SpaceX," said Roger Launius, senior curator in the division of space history at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. "If it's successful, we'll be that much farther down the road toward developing a new launcher that has potential to carry cargo to the station, and maybe even crews at some point."
SpaceX already has a $1.6 billion contract with NASA to provide cargo flights to the space station using the company's Dragon capsule.
The hope is that commercial providers such as SpaceX will help fill the gap created when NASA stops flying space shuttle missions next year. Until private spaceships are available, NASA will have to rely on Russian Soyuz spacecraft to transport astronauts to space.
SpaceX plans to fly at least 12 unmanned missions to ferry supplies to the International Space Station. And, while the Dragon capsule is not yet man-rated to carry human passengers into space, the company ultimately aims to win a contract to fly astronauts to the station as well.
"Successful recovery of Dragon would bode very well for future astronaut transport," SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who made his fortune as co-founder of PayPal, told SPACE.com in an e-mail. "Once shuttle retires, Dragon will be the only spacecraft [capable] of returning humans to Earth apart from Soyuz. Since a launch escape system is not needed after ascent, in principle Dragon could very easily be converted to a lifeboat with more than twice the capacity of Soyuz (seven in our case vs. three for Soyuz)."
Building a launch escape system – a device that would enable astronauts to jettison from the rocket if an emergency were to occur during liftoff – is one of the main challenges in man-rating Dragon to carry humans. [Gallery: Photos of the Dragon Space Capsule]
High stakes
Recently, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, which oversees commercial space transportation, awarded SpaceX the first-ever commercial license to re-enter spaceships from Earth orbit.
"The FAA license itself is a small milestone, but it's one more important and necessary step to really changing the way human spaceflight is done," Alexander said.
Still, with commercial spaceflight still very much in its infancy, SpaceX's upcoming test demonstration has more than just an unmanned capsule riding on its rocket.
"It's hard to overstate the importance," Alexander said. "But, the reality is that it's a test program, and there are always issues with test programs. One would expect issues to crop up, but because it's the beginning of the industry, this is incredibly important."
In June, SpaceX conducted a successful flight test of Falcon 9 with a more simplified version of the Dragon spacecraft on board. The flight went off largely without a hitch, but Alexander cautioned that expectations for any program in its test stage should be controlled.
"There's an expectation that you're going to have issues, and when it goes incredibly well, it's fantastic," he explained. "But if you look back at the history of government activities even, all previous space programs have had issues – it's to be expected."
"Let's remember, first flights of most rockets fail," Launius said. "If SpaceX is not successful, it's simply an indication that they're following a well worn path of previous design efforts. It doesn't mean that this is the wrong strategy, it just means there's more work to do."
Early snags
In fact, SpaceX's prelaunch activities hit a few snags during engine tests Friday and Saturday, less than a week before the scheduled launch. Two attempts at so-called static fire tests were aborted on Friday and Saturday before a third finally went smoothly.
The first test failed because one of the Falcon 9's engines experienced elevated chamber pressure, while the second was aborted due to low pressure in the gas generator of one of the rocket's engines.
After making adjustments, the company was able to complete a full-duration static fire test later that morning.
"I think there is a tendency to treat each mission as make or break when a new company like SpaceX joins the field, but no one flight is that important," Musk said. "Most of the successful launch vehicles experience a failure in one of their first three flights before going on to be very successful. These are test flights, and so the information that we gain from them is far more important than whether or not we meet all of our mission objectives."
Yet, if Tuesday's test flight is deemed a success, it will undoubtedly be a historic benchmark that paves the way for the future of commercial spaceflight, experts said.
"This would represent an important milestone in the history of space, heralding the dawn of a new era where private companies can now bring back spacecraft from orbit," Musk said.
And perhaps that time cannot come soon enough. With the retirement of NASA's space shuttle fleet close on the horizon, the stakes are raised for who and what will provide the follow-on spaceflight capability after the shuttle era comes to an end.
And test flights aren't the only challenges the burgeoning industry must face: Political factors loom as well. A NASA authorization bill recently passed by Congress allocates money for private spaceflight, but the bill is still waiting for appropriations from Congress.
"The gap in human spaceflight is now entirely in the hands of Congress and what they do with appropriations," Alexander said. "The NASA authorization bill that was passed recognized the importance of this and made commercial crew primary, but things are still up in the air."
Monday, December 6, 2010
Japanese space probe set to orbit Venus on maiden voyage
English News cn: Japanese space probe set to orbit Venus on maiden voyage
Japanese space probe set to orbit Venus on maiden voyage
English.news.cn 2010-12-07 12:13:08 FeedbackPrintRSS
TOKYO, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- Japan's Akatsuki spacecraft on Tuesday morning fired its primary maneuvering engine for about 12 minutes to slow the probe enough for it to enter Venusian gravity and begin its orbit of the planet, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) officials said.
Akatsuki, the 300 million U.S. dollar, 1,000-pound probe, has been speeding toward Venus since launching on May 20 from the Tanegashima Space Center, but JAXA officials said they will have to wait till this afternoon to confirm the craft's successful entrance into Venus' orbit.
The JAXA officials said the probe would have only one chance to enter orbit, because if it fails, it will pass over Venus.
Providing the probe successfully enters Venus' orbit, it will mark the first time in Japan's space exploration history that a space probe has been placed in orbit around a planet other than Earth.
Akatsuki (meaning "Dawn" in Japanese) will conduct several attitude control thruster burns in order to maneuver the craft so that its communications antenna points toward Earth so the probe can radio its status back to ground controllers.
Once the probe is successfully in orbit, it will adjust its position to eventually move into the targeted oval orbit circling the planet in 30 hours at altitudes of 550 to 80,000 km around Dec. 13.
The orbiter launched with Japan's Ikaros solar sail, which successfully unfurled an ultra-thin sail membrane last summer and demonstrated its viability as an alternative propulsion source.
Ikaros is also on a trajectory toward Venus, but it will sail past the planet later this month and continue circling the sun.
Akatsuki's five cameras will collect unparalleled data on the planet's atmosphere and runaway greenhouse effect for a two-year mission.
Each of the probe's cameras is designed to study a particular segment of the Venusian atmosphere, ranging from surface imagery to observations of the planet's sulfur cloud tops at an altitude of 60 miles.
Akatsuki is also equipped with short-wave infrared imagers to look for active volcanoes, search for lightning storms, chart the distribution of water vapor and carbon monoxide and map the surface of Venus.
JAXA said shedding light on meteorological phenomena in Venus will help understand why Venus and Earth, the two planets most similar in size and distances from the sun, have very different environments, with the atmosphere of Venus being made up of thick carbon dioxide, clouds of sulfuric acid and super-rotating jet stream winds of up to 225 mph. The study will also deepen understanding of Earth, the officials said.
"Although Venus is believed to have formed under similar conditions to Earth, it is a completely different world from our planet, with extremely high temperatures due to the greenhouse effect of carbon dioxide and a super-rotating atmosphere blanketed by thick clouds of sulfuric acid," said Takeshi Imamura, Akatsuki' s project scientist.
Venus formed much like Earth and probably enjoyed calmer times in its ancient past. But something went wrong long ago, leading a potentially once-temperate Venus on an evolutionary course much different than Earth, according to expert astronomers.
"Using Akatsuki to investigate the atmosphere of Venus and comparing it with that of Earth, we hope to learn more about the factors determining planetary environments," Imamura said. "From this viewpoint, we will be able to understand more about the reason why Earth is as it is now, and how it might change in the future."
Japanese space probe set to orbit Venus on maiden voyage
English.news.cn 2010-12-07 12:13:08 FeedbackPrintRSS
TOKYO, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- Japan's Akatsuki spacecraft on Tuesday morning fired its primary maneuvering engine for about 12 minutes to slow the probe enough for it to enter Venusian gravity and begin its orbit of the planet, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) officials said.
Akatsuki, the 300 million U.S. dollar, 1,000-pound probe, has been speeding toward Venus since launching on May 20 from the Tanegashima Space Center, but JAXA officials said they will have to wait till this afternoon to confirm the craft's successful entrance into Venus' orbit.
The JAXA officials said the probe would have only one chance to enter orbit, because if it fails, it will pass over Venus.
Providing the probe successfully enters Venus' orbit, it will mark the first time in Japan's space exploration history that a space probe has been placed in orbit around a planet other than Earth.
Akatsuki (meaning "Dawn" in Japanese) will conduct several attitude control thruster burns in order to maneuver the craft so that its communications antenna points toward Earth so the probe can radio its status back to ground controllers.
Once the probe is successfully in orbit, it will adjust its position to eventually move into the targeted oval orbit circling the planet in 30 hours at altitudes of 550 to 80,000 km around Dec. 13.
The orbiter launched with Japan's Ikaros solar sail, which successfully unfurled an ultra-thin sail membrane last summer and demonstrated its viability as an alternative propulsion source.
Ikaros is also on a trajectory toward Venus, but it will sail past the planet later this month and continue circling the sun.
Akatsuki's five cameras will collect unparalleled data on the planet's atmosphere and runaway greenhouse effect for a two-year mission.
Each of the probe's cameras is designed to study a particular segment of the Venusian atmosphere, ranging from surface imagery to observations of the planet's sulfur cloud tops at an altitude of 60 miles.
Akatsuki is also equipped with short-wave infrared imagers to look for active volcanoes, search for lightning storms, chart the distribution of water vapor and carbon monoxide and map the surface of Venus.
JAXA said shedding light on meteorological phenomena in Venus will help understand why Venus and Earth, the two planets most similar in size and distances from the sun, have very different environments, with the atmosphere of Venus being made up of thick carbon dioxide, clouds of sulfuric acid and super-rotating jet stream winds of up to 225 mph. The study will also deepen understanding of Earth, the officials said.
"Although Venus is believed to have formed under similar conditions to Earth, it is a completely different world from our planet, with extremely high temperatures due to the greenhouse effect of carbon dioxide and a super-rotating atmosphere blanketed by thick clouds of sulfuric acid," said Takeshi Imamura, Akatsuki' s project scientist.
Venus formed much like Earth and probably enjoyed calmer times in its ancient past. But something went wrong long ago, leading a potentially once-temperate Venus on an evolutionary course much different than Earth, according to expert astronomers.
"Using Akatsuki to investigate the atmosphere of Venus and comparing it with that of Earth, we hope to learn more about the factors determining planetary environments," Imamura said. "From this viewpoint, we will be able to understand more about the reason why Earth is as it is now, and how it might change in the future."
Japanese space probe set to orbit Venus on maiden voyage
English News cn: Japanese space probe set to orbit Venus on maiden voyage
Japanese space probe set to orbit Venus on maiden voyage
English.news.cn 2010-12-07 12:13:08 FeedbackPrintRSS
TOKYO, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- Japan's Akatsuki spacecraft on Tuesday morning fired its primary maneuvering engine for about 12 minutes to slow the probe enough for it to enter Venusian gravity and begin its orbit of the planet, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) officials said.
Akatsuki, the 300 million U.S. dollar, 1,000-pound probe, has been speeding toward Venus since launching on May 20 from the Tanegashima Space Center, but JAXA officials said they will have to wait till this afternoon to confirm the craft's successful entrance into Venus' orbit.
The JAXA officials said the probe would have only one chance to enter orbit, because if it fails, it will pass over Venus.
Providing the probe successfully enters Venus' orbit, it will mark the first time in Japan's space exploration history that a space probe has been placed in orbit around a planet other than Earth.
Akatsuki (meaning "Dawn" in Japanese) will conduct several attitude control thruster burns in order to maneuver the craft so that its communications antenna points toward Earth so the probe can radio its status back to ground controllers.
Once the probe is successfully in orbit, it will adjust its position to eventually move into the targeted oval orbit circling the planet in 30 hours at altitudes of 550 to 80,000 km around Dec. 13.
The orbiter launched with Japan's Ikaros solar sail, which successfully unfurled an ultra-thin sail membrane last summer and demonstrated its viability as an alternative propulsion source.
Ikaros is also on a trajectory toward Venus, but it will sail past the planet later this month and continue circling the sun.
Akatsuki's five cameras will collect unparalleled data on the planet's atmosphere and runaway greenhouse effect for a two-year mission.
Each of the probe's cameras is designed to study a particular segment of the Venusian atmosphere, ranging from surface imagery to observations of the planet's sulfur cloud tops at an altitude of 60 miles.
Akatsuki is also equipped with short-wave infrared imagers to look for active volcanoes, search for lightning storms, chart the distribution of water vapor and carbon monoxide and map the surface of Venus.
JAXA said shedding light on meteorological phenomena in Venus will help understand why Venus and Earth, the two planets most similar in size and distances from the sun, have very different environments, with the atmosphere of Venus being made up of thick carbon dioxide, clouds of sulfuric acid and super-rotating jet stream winds of up to 225 mph. The study will also deepen understanding of Earth, the officials said.
"Although Venus is believed to have formed under similar conditions to Earth, it is a completely different world from our planet, with extremely high temperatures due to the greenhouse effect of carbon dioxide and a super-rotating atmosphere blanketed by thick clouds of sulfuric acid," said Takeshi Imamura, Akatsuki' s project scientist.
Venus formed much like Earth and probably enjoyed calmer times in its ancient past. But something went wrong long ago, leading a potentially once-temperate Venus on an evolutionary course much different than Earth, according to expert astronomers.
"Using Akatsuki to investigate the atmosphere of Venus and comparing it with that of Earth, we hope to learn more about the factors determining planetary environments," Imamura said. "From this viewpoint, we will be able to understand more about the reason why Earth is as it is now, and how it might change in the future."
Japanese space probe set to orbit Venus on maiden voyage
English.news.cn 2010-12-07 12:13:08 FeedbackPrintRSS
TOKYO, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- Japan's Akatsuki spacecraft on Tuesday morning fired its primary maneuvering engine for about 12 minutes to slow the probe enough for it to enter Venusian gravity and begin its orbit of the planet, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) officials said.
Akatsuki, the 300 million U.S. dollar, 1,000-pound probe, has been speeding toward Venus since launching on May 20 from the Tanegashima Space Center, but JAXA officials said they will have to wait till this afternoon to confirm the craft's successful entrance into Venus' orbit.
The JAXA officials said the probe would have only one chance to enter orbit, because if it fails, it will pass over Venus.
Providing the probe successfully enters Venus' orbit, it will mark the first time in Japan's space exploration history that a space probe has been placed in orbit around a planet other than Earth.
Akatsuki (meaning "Dawn" in Japanese) will conduct several attitude control thruster burns in order to maneuver the craft so that its communications antenna points toward Earth so the probe can radio its status back to ground controllers.
Once the probe is successfully in orbit, it will adjust its position to eventually move into the targeted oval orbit circling the planet in 30 hours at altitudes of 550 to 80,000 km around Dec. 13.
The orbiter launched with Japan's Ikaros solar sail, which successfully unfurled an ultra-thin sail membrane last summer and demonstrated its viability as an alternative propulsion source.
Ikaros is also on a trajectory toward Venus, but it will sail past the planet later this month and continue circling the sun.
Akatsuki's five cameras will collect unparalleled data on the planet's atmosphere and runaway greenhouse effect for a two-year mission.
Each of the probe's cameras is designed to study a particular segment of the Venusian atmosphere, ranging from surface imagery to observations of the planet's sulfur cloud tops at an altitude of 60 miles.
Akatsuki is also equipped with short-wave infrared imagers to look for active volcanoes, search for lightning storms, chart the distribution of water vapor and carbon monoxide and map the surface of Venus.
JAXA said shedding light on meteorological phenomena in Venus will help understand why Venus and Earth, the two planets most similar in size and distances from the sun, have very different environments, with the atmosphere of Venus being made up of thick carbon dioxide, clouds of sulfuric acid and super-rotating jet stream winds of up to 225 mph. The study will also deepen understanding of Earth, the officials said.
"Although Venus is believed to have formed under similar conditions to Earth, it is a completely different world from our planet, with extremely high temperatures due to the greenhouse effect of carbon dioxide and a super-rotating atmosphere blanketed by thick clouds of sulfuric acid," said Takeshi Imamura, Akatsuki' s project scientist.
Venus formed much like Earth and probably enjoyed calmer times in its ancient past. But something went wrong long ago, leading a potentially once-temperate Venus on an evolutionary course much different than Earth, according to expert astronomers.
"Using Akatsuki to investigate the atmosphere of Venus and comparing it with that of Earth, we hope to learn more about the factors determining planetary environments," Imamura said. "From this viewpoint, we will be able to understand more about the reason why Earth is as it is now, and how it might change in the future."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
