Launch of SpaceX Supply Ship Delayed
to January (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
Blaming a technical glitch encountered during a preflight test,
officials said Thursday the launch of SpaceX’s next Dragon cargo
capsule to the International Space Station has been delayed to early
January. Liftoff of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is now expected no earlier
than Jan. 6 at 6:18 a.m. EST.
SpaceX said engineers ran into unspecified problems during a “static
fire” test conducted Tuesday. During static fire tests, the SpaceX
launch team loads the rocket with kerosene and liquid oxygen
propellants, runs through countdown procedures, then lights the
booster’s nine Merlin 1D engines for a few seconds while the Falcon 9
is held down on the launch pad at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. (12/18)
Stage Recovery: The Future of Space
Launch is Near (Source: Just a Tinker)
Until recently, the future of space launch looked pretty much like its
past. For over 50 years, humanity has blasted thousands of spacecraft
and satellites into space. Every launch vehicle that carried them aloft
has ended up littering the planet with the broken, twisted remains of
expended rocket stages. Only a tiny fraction of the entire rocket
escapes Earth’s deep gravity well to reach space as useful payload.
With one notable exception, the Space Shuttle.
It seemed like a virtual impossibility to recover any part of the
launch vehicle. Because of this assumption, expendable launch vehicles
were deemed to be just ‘the cost of doing business’… until now. SpaceX,
has finally revealed how and when they will attempt to recover the
booster stage of its Falcon 9 launch vehicle. Click here. (12/16)
Falcon-9 Slip Closes 2014 with 16
Florida Launches, 12 Planned for 2015 (Source: SPACErePORT)
At the beginning of 2014, SpaceX had plans for up to 10 launches during
the year from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. The Falcon/Dragon CRS-5
slip into January will leave SpaceX with only six launches for the
year. Altogether, that brings Florida's 2014 total to 16 launches: six
each for Falcon-9 and Atlas-5, and four for Delta-4. One early launch
manifest for 2015 currently includes 12 planned launches, including
seven Falcon-9, four Atlas-5, and one Delta-4. (12/18)
Across the Ideological Universe
(Source: Slate)
Rockets, satellites, and spaceships on display at the National Air and
Space Museum in Washington, D.C., are a testament to American
achievements in space. But in an exhibit on the heady days of the 1960s
and ’70s, one note on a timeline placard stands out. In 1969, it
explains, a government task force suggested that NASA should build a
permanently manned space station, and perhaps go to Mars.
This did not happen. Political support for the ideas evaporated while
people worried about the Vietnam War, social upheavals, and the money
already spent on the Apollo program. The country must “define new goals
which make sense for the seventies,” President Richard Nixon declared.
A year after the moon landing, 56 percent of the public said it hadn’t
been worth the price. Click here.
(12/17)
Einstein’s Thoughts on SETI (Source:
Air & Space)
“There is every reason to believe that Mars and other planets are
inhabited,” said Einstein in 1920. “Why should the earth be the only
planet supporting human life? It is not singular in any other respect.
But if intelligent creatures do exist, as we may assume they do
elsewhere in the universe, I should not expect them to try to
communicate with the earth by wireless [radio]. Light rays, the
direction of which can be controlled much more easily, would more
probably be the first method attempted.” (12/17)
NASA’s Kepler Reborn, Makes First
Exoplanet Find of New Mission (Source: NASA)
NASA's planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft makes a comeback with the
discovery of the first exoplanet found using its new mission -- K2. The
discovery was made when astronomers and engineers devised an ingenious
way to repurpose Kepler for the K2 mission and continue its search of
the cosmos for other worlds. (12/17)
Could the Higgs be Part of the
Matter-Antimatter Problem? (Source: Discovery)
As excitement grows for the the second 3-year run of the Large Hadron
Collider (LHC), physicists are frantically planning the experiments
that will be carried out when the particle accelerator starts slamming
particles together at record energies in 2015. One of those experiments
could focus on why the universe is dominated by matter and not
antimatter, one of the most enduring mysteries in modern physics.
And the focus of the study? Yes, the infamous Higgs boson may be at
least partially to blame for our universe’s matter-antimatter
asymmetry. When the universe began, right at the ignition of the Big
Bang some 13.75 billion years ago, particles of matter and antimatter
should have been generated in equal numbers. Should matter and
antimatter meet, total annihilation occurs. Therefore, if equal
quantities of matter and antimatter were generated, there should be no
matter or antimatter left in the universe.
Instead, the universe would have remained as a soup of energy where
matter (or antimatter) could not form. But as we look around us,
although tiny quantities of antimatter can be found, the universe is
obviously filled with matter. So the question is: Why did matter win
out? Click here.
(12/17)
XCOR Seeks Pioneers to be First Batch
of Space Travelers (Source: Want China Times)
Despite the crash of Virgin Galactic's prototype space tourism rocket
on Oct. 31, XCOR, Virgin's archrival, has continued to prepare its
space travel program, mainly due to the unwavering commitment of its 30
plus Chinese clients. Zhang Yong, XCOR's Chinese agent, reports that in
the wake of the accident he has not received any cancellations from the
30 customers in China who have already purchased their tickets.
"Most of them regard the chance to do this as a life-defining moment
and aren't willing to pull out so easily," Zhang said, adding that he
had received a message from XCOR assuring the program's safety, as its
space travel technology is quite different from that of Virgin
Galactic. "In the wake of the crash, XCOR will be even more stringent
in its safety checks for the program," says customer Dong Jingjing.
(12/17)
Who Owns the Moon? (Source:
Millionaire Corner)
Some national and private interests are discussing the ownership of
celestial bodies and the natural resources that can be found within.
Frans von der Dunk, Professor of Space Law at the University of
Nebraska, suddenly finds himself as the leading national expert on the
topic of ownership of celestial bodies.
“In 1990, space law was a relatively coherent succinct body of law,’’
Von der Dunk said. “There were a few international agreements. They
were just starting to build the international space station. Private
participation in space was very, very limited. It was all so much more
science driven.”
The currently held international treaty on space law is being
challenged by both private enterprise and nationalist interests who
believe celestial bodies are unclaimed property and there is a treasure
trove of natural resources in those bodies that have value. Click here.
(12/17)
Lunar Mission One Reaches First
Kickstarter Funding Goal (Source: NY Daily News)
Lunar Mission One is one step closer to retracing Neil Armstrong's
steps on the moon. The British-led effort reached its first Kickstarter
goal of £600,000, which roughly translates to $945,000. The idea behind
Lunar Mission One is to send a robotic probe to the moon that will
drill a 100-meter hole into the moon and collect core samples. The
famous physicist Stephen Hawking was one of the project backers. (12/17)
Orbital Awaits Government Approval of
Rocket Engine Deal (Source: Sputnik)
Orbital Sciences Corporation is waiting for the necessary governmental
approval for the delivery of Russian designed RD-181 engines, the
company's press service said. According to the statement, Orbital is in
the process of obtaining all necessary permits for the support of the
use of RD-181 and approval of the recent contract with Russian design
bureau NPO Energomash by appropriate US government agencies. (12/17)
U.S. Senate Unlikely To Go Along with
Third Interceptor Site (Source: Space News)
The U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee would be more likely to fund
an additional radar on the East Coast to guard against a missile attack
from Iran rather than build a third ground-based interceptor site, two
committee staff members said Dec. 15.
They said while they expect House Republicans to suggest a third ground
based-interceptor site in the coming year, a more affordable option,
especially within the current budget constraints, would more likely be
an additional radar near the East Coast. The current U.S. territorial
shield features interceptor fields in California and Alaska, and in
March 2013 the Obama administration announced plans to beef up the
latter site. (12/17)
India Takes First Step Toward Manned
Space Mission (Source: The Hindu)
India’s first experimental flight GSLV Mark III took off successfully
from Sriharikota on Thursday. Also known as LVM3/CARE, this suborbital
experimental mission was intended to test the vehicle performance
during the critical atmospheric phase of its flight and carried passive
(non functional) cryogenic upper stage.
"Everything went off as expected. This new launch vehicle performed
very well and is a great success. We had an unmanned crew module to
understand re-entry characteristics. That also went off successfully
and it has touched down in the Bay of Bengal," said ISRO’s chief K.
Radhakrishnan. In exactly about five and half minutes after taking off,
the vehicle carried its payload — the 3775 kg crew module Atmospheric
Re-entry experiment (CARE) — to the intended height of 126 km. (12/17)
Twins Unlocking the Secrets of Space
(Source: TIME)
When Scott Kelly calls home from the International Space Station (ISS)
sometime next year, whoever answers the phone may simply hang up on
him. The calls will be welcome, but the link can be lousy, with long,
hissing silences breaking up the conversation. That’s what happens when
you’re placing your call from at least 229 mi. above the Earth while
zipping along at 17,500 m.p.h. and your signal has to get bounced from
satellites to ground antennas to relay stations like an around-the-horn
triple play. Click here.
(12/17)
New Mexico’s Spaceport is
State-of-the-Art Ghost Town (Source: GCR)
Spaceport America was intended to be the launch pad for the world’s
richest people who were willing to pay large sums for a private viewing
of the Earth from its upper atmosphere. But the $219m facility in the
New Mexico desert, built with help from the state’s taxpayers, has
become a 21st century ghost town. Click here.
(12/17)
SpaceX Continues to Expand Facilities,
Workforce (Source: Phys.org)
2014 was undoubtedly SpaceX's most lucrative year to date. In
September, the company (along with Boeing) signed a contract with NASA
for $6.8 billion to develop space vehicles that would bring astronauts
to and from the ISS by 2017 and end the nation's reliance on Russia.
And this past week, the company announced a plan to expand operations
at its Rocket Development and Test Facility in McGregor, Texas.
The facility is the key testing grounds for all SpaceX technology. And
now that the company is actively collaborating with NASA to restore
indigenous space-launch ability to the US, more testing will be needed.
Click
here. (12/17)
SpaceX Mission Likely to Slip to
January (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
The next Falcon 9 v1.1 set to launch out of Florida’s Cape Canaveral
scrubbed a Static Fire attempt on Tuesday. The Static Fire is required
ahead of the upcoming mission to loft the CRS-5/SpX-5 Dragon to the
International Space Station (ISS). Unspecified issues with the rocket
are likely to slip the launch – as late as early January, although
SpaceX isn’t commenting at this stage. (12/17)
Bigelow Module Go For 2015 Launch
(Source: Popular Science)
In 2014, commercial spaceflight reached a major milestone when NASA
selected two companies—SpaceX and Boeing—to deliver astronauts to the
International Space Station (ISS). This year, the agency will turn its
attention to the next logical step: commercial habitats. SpaceX will
launch Bigelow Aerospace’s Expandable Activity Module to the ISS in
late summer or early fall.
Once connected to the Tranquility node, the habitat will inflate to 13
feet long. Then, for two years, instruments will measure how well it
holds up in space. Bigelow will use that data to build a 12-person
station. NASA, meanwhile, has begun developing standards for use by
commercial stations. Philip McAlister, the agency’s director of
commercial spaceflight, says private enterprise will help sustain
robust human activity in low-Earth orbit. “American spaceflight is not
just about us anymore,” he says. (12/16)
As Inspector General Frets, NASA Bides
Time on TDRS Replacements (Source: Space News)
Despite another reminder from its inspector general that the agency’s
space communications network is heading for a bandwidth logjam in 2016,
NASA is not rushing to procure more of the Tracking and Data Relay
Satellites (TDRS) that keep Earth-orbiting spacecraft in touch with the
ground, an official said.
“NASA has not started any procurement action for future TDRS,” Badri
Younes, deputy associate administrator for the Space Communications and
Navigation (SCaN) Office wrote. “However, the Goddard Space Flight
Center has begun architecting and investigating the feasibility of
implementing the next generation data relay satellites.” (12/16)
Russia to Launch Spy Satellite for
South Africa (Source: SEN)
In a midst of the year-end flurry of activity at the Russian space
center in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, the most unusual and least visible
launch campaign takes place at a desolate Site 2A. At the height of the
Cold War, the low-profile facility housed nuclear warheads for the
first Soviet ballistic missile, the R-7. Even though nukes had been
gone from Baikonur for decades, Site 2A's latest role was veiled in
secrecy until just a few days ago.
The former nuclear storage is now home for the pre-launch processing of
the Kondor-E (Condor) Earth-watching satellite. Known primarily to the
seasoned followers of the Russian space program, Kondor does not have a
page on Roskosmos' web site and not until this week did its launch date
appear in the official manifest. In the meantime, Kondor's anticipated
liftoff had been causing a storm of controversy half a world away—in
South Africa! (12/16)
NASA Awards Launch Contract to SpaceX
(Source: Parabolic Arc)
NASA has selected SpaceX to provide launch services for the Transiting
Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission. TESS will launch aboard a
Falcon 9 v1.1 launch vehicle, with liftoff targeted for August 2017
from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport in Florida. The total cost for NASA
to launch TESS is approximately $87 million, which includes the launch
service, spacecraft processing, payload integration, tracking, data and
telemetry, and other launch support requirements.
Editor's Note: The $87 million price apparently includes $61 million
for the rocket and $26 million for associated services, including
spacecraft processing and integration, tracking and telemetry, other
range costs and support requirements. In contrast, a similarly sized
Atlas-5 mission recently cost NASA $160 million. (12/16)
Virginia Research, Environmental
Efforts Benefit from Federal Spending Plan (Source: Daily Press)
The $1.1 trillion spending bill that just cleared Congress includes
millions of dollars toward advanced aircraft, a cleaner Chesapeake Bay,
stiffer standards for oil tank cars and repairs to the state's
spaceport damaged by a rocket explosion in October. In fact,
aeronautics and environmental efforts in Hampton Roads and the Eastern
Shore are looking at tens of millions of dollars under the compromise
fiscal year 2015 plan.
Local NASA facilities are big winners under the plan. U.S. Sens. Tim
Kaine and Mark Warner announced in a joint statement over the weekend
that NASA Langley Research Center would get much of a $90 million
increase in NASA's aeronautics research, while the Mid-Atlantic
Regional Spaceport (MARS) at NASA Wallops would get $20 million to
fully fund launch pad repairs. (12/16)
Chinese State-Owned Aerospace Giant
Seeks Private Partnership (Source: Xinhua)
In a move to spur innovation, state-owned China Aerospace Science and
Technology Corp. (CASC), the major contractor for China's space
program, invited 1,300 private enterprises to a forum it co-hosted in
the eastern city of Ningbo. The 2014 China (Ningbo) international forum
on advanced aerospace materials and commercialization signaled a shift
in the once restricted sector to a more-open working style that
encourages collaborative practice with private entities. (12/17)
NASA’s Asteroid Retrieval Mission
Faces Criticism (Source: Scientific American)
The Obama administration wants to send humans to Mars in the 2030s. Of
course, such a mission requires a lot of advance engineering, and as a
first step, nasa plans to send astronauts to a small asteroid that
would be brought into a stable orbit around the moon. To achieve that
mechanical feat, a solar-powered robotic probe is being designed to
capture a space rock and slowly push it into place.
A target asteroid has yet to be announced, and the robotic space tug
has yet to be built, but the parties involved hope to have the rock
relocated to the moon's vicinity as soon as 2021. nasa calls this
concept the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) and is marshaling resources
across the entire agency to support it.
Michele Gates, the agency's program director for ARM, says that its
advanced propulsion technology and crew activities would give nasa the
capability and experience needed to someday reach Mars. The trip would
demonstrate spacecraft rendezvous procedures and establish protocols
for sample collection and extravehicular movements. Click here.
(12/16)
Curiosity Rover Drills Into Mars Rock,
Finds Water (Source: Space.com)
NASA's Curiosity rover is continuing to help scientists piece together
the mystery of how Mars lost its surface water over the course of
billions of years. The rover drilled into a piece of Martian rock
called Cumberland and found some ancient water hidden within it.
Researchers were then able to test a key ratio in the water with
Curiosity's onboard instruments to gather more data about when Mars
started to lose its water, NASA officials said.
In the same sample, Curiosity also detected the first organic molecules
it has found. Curiosity measured the ratio of deuterium (heavy
hydrogen) to "normal" hydrogen. This D-to-H ratio can help scientists
see how long it takes for water molecules to escape, because the
lighter hydrogen molecules fly toward the upper atmosphere more freely
than deuterium does.
The D-to-H ratio in Cumberland is about half the ratio found in the
Martian atmosphere's water vapor today, NASA officials said. This
suggests that the planet lost much of its surface water after the
Cumberland rock formed, space agency officials added in the same
statement. (12/17)
Buzz Aldrin Plans to Move to Florida (Source:
Malibu Times)
Aldrin has now resided in California for half his adult life, first
moving to the state in the 1970s from NASA in Houston. “I went to
Edwards Air Force Base to run the test pilot school, and I’ve been here
ever since.” Soon, however, he said “We’re pulling up stakes in
California and will be settling in Florida.” Aldrin is originally from
the East Coast, and believes state taxes in Florida will be lower.
(12/17)
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