NASA AUDIT: House Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Paul Broun (R-Ga.) is asking the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to request a review of NASA’s export control policies, in response to recent allegations that Simon “Pete” Worden, director of NASA’s Ames Research Center, allowed foreign nationals access to information protected under International Traffic in Arms Regulations. In an Oct.
Blue Origin has tested the pusher-type launch-abort system it developed with NASA funding, boosting a full-scale mockup of its suborbital crew vehicle to an altitude of 2,307 ft. at its test range near Van Horn, Texas, and recovering the capsule by parachute. The Oct. 19 test, announced Oct. 22, was conducted under a Space Act Agreement for the second round of NASA’s Commercial Crew Development (CCDev-2) effort to spark a commercial industry for transporting astronauts to low Earth orbit.
NASA’s vision for deep-space exploration may be missing an opportunity to re-fortify the agency’s long-running but sporadic ties to nanotechnology, according to an assessment from Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.
SLOW GOING: Orbital Sciences Corp. has once again postponed a flight demonstration of the Antares rocket and Cygnus cargo capsule it is developing under NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program. The Dulles, Va.-based company will slip the mission three or four months to next spring, following a flight demonstration of the rocket from the Wallops Island, Va., launch facility in December. Under the terms of a 2008 COTS agreement, the first flight of the rocket and cargo vessel was slated for late 2010.
HOUSTON — NASA will orchestrate a Nov. 1 spacewalk to address a long-standing cooling system leak outside the International Space Station that has gradually increased since June, the space agency announced on Oct. 19. Earlier concerns about an external electrical short on Sept. 3 that compromised one of the station’s eight power channels and prompted the preparations for a possible second near-term spacewalk, have eased with troubleshooting this week.
Staffers on Capitol Hill have discussed reauthorizing NASA spending and even approving a spending bill that funds the space agency by the end of the year. But whether they succeed depends on the results of the November election.
Pentagon spending appears on the presidential campaign radar primarily as it relates to the No. 1 issue—jobs and the economy. When the candidates travel to Virginia—a military-heavy state that could make a difference in the election's outcome—they have to address defense issues. But without much emphasis by the campaigns on military matters, Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama wind up stumbling on the details.
While NASA and industry are continuing to push toward a 2015 deadline set by Congress for integrating UAVs into civilian airspace (i.e., National Air Space, or NAS), the FAA is weighing concerns about the potential to compromise safety. NASA is considering a prize challenge to accelerate the integration of unmanned aircraft into the FAA's NextGen airspace system. Two competitions of increasing complexity would be run in late 2013 and 2014, with a combined prize purse of $1.5 million.
Europe's aerospace and defense industry missed a unique opportunity to complete a wide-ranging consolidation process that began nearly 50 years ago. Combining EADS and BAE Systems would have created a world-class giant with an impressive €72.9 billion ($94.3 billion) in revenues, 216,000 employees and a comprehensive product range. Moreover, the initiative looked like a perfect fit.
Congressional staffers have held preliminary meetings on updating the legislative underpinnings for the U.S. civil space program, but it’s clear nothing will be decided until the voters choose who’ll be running the program — and the rest of the government — in the upcoming election.
