PARIS and NAPLES, Italy — French space agency CNES is studying next-generation launch vehicle concepts for a modular Ariane 6 that would use existing technologies and production facilities to replace the cumbersome, costly and commercially reliant Ariane 5 of today.
A Massachusetts Institute of Technology student believes that with enough warning — as much as 20 years — a paintball-shooting spacecraft might be the best way to divert an asteroid from an extinction-level collision with Earth.
HOUSTON — NASA says operations aboard the International Space Station should not be affected if the SpaceX CRS-2 cargo delivery mission currently slated for January slips as a result of the ongoing investigation into the first-stage engine loss that occurred on the Oct. 7 CRS-1 mission. The supply cache delivered to the station in early to mid-2011 by the now-retired space shuttle placed the six-person orbiting science lab on a firm footing well into 2013, according to Mike Suffredini, NASA’s space station program manager.
Orbital Technologies Corp. (Orbitec), a Madison, Wisc.-based space-technology company, has flight tested a version of the 30,000-lb.-thrust liquid-propellant rocket engine it is developing for the U.S. Air Force’s Advanced Upper Stage Engine Program (Ausep) and other in-space applications.
SASSENAGE, France — A Franco-German accord as to how the European Space Agency (ESA) will pay its portion of common operating costs associated with the International Space Station (ISS) in 2017-20 could founder under a roughly €480 million ($650 million) shortfall in ESA’s €4 billion budget for the orbiting outpost through the end of the decade.
SASSENAGE, France — With less than a month before European Space Agency (ESA) ministers meet to set the agency’s multiyear spending plan, a Franco-German compromise is emerging in the debate over the future of European launchers.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) Oct. 30 - Nov. 1 — 15th Biennial Helicopter Military Operations Technology Specialists' Meeting, Crowne Plaza Williamsburg, Fort Magaruder, Va. For more information go to www.vtol.org/events/helmot-xv. Oct. 30 - 31 — 2012 Coast Guard Innovation Expo, Virginia Beach Convention Center, Virginia Beach, Va. For more information go to www.ndia.org/exhibits/3230.
ANOTHER HURDLE: The proposed $1 billion sale of Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) to Canada’s MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA) has cleared its antitrust review at the U.S. Department of Justice, SSL parent Loral Space & Communications announced Oct. 26. Loral now expects that any further requirements for the deal, “all of which are within the parties’ control, will be satisfied.” The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States cleared the sale last month. SS/L has said it expects the transaction to close in the fourth quarter.
HOUSTON — Spacewalking U.S. and Japanese astronauts plan to re-activate an older thermal control system radiator as part of a strategy to circumvent a small but growing ammonia leak on the International Space Station’s oldest solar power truss. The six- to seven-hour outing by NASA’s Sunita Williams, the station’s commander, and Akihiko Hoshide is scheduled for Nov. 1 at 8:15 a.m. EDT and will take the two astronauts to the far port side of the orbiting science lab’s 356-ft.-long solar power truss.
Blue Origin will use test results with its suborbital New Shepherd crew vehicle of the pusher-type launch-abort system it developed with NASA funding to “inform” the design of its planned orbital space vehicle. The Oct. 19 test at the company range near Van Horn, Texas, used a commercially procured solid-fuel rocket to boost a full-up New Shepherd to an altitude of 2,307 ft., with thrust vector control during powered flight, separate attitude control during coast and a parachute recovery 1,630 ft. away from the starting point.
Northrop Grumman is prime contractor on the James Webb Space Telescope, but its most notable play in the human-spaceflight arena was the Lunar Excursion Module that landed six crews on the surface of the Moon. Now, as NASA awaits the outcome of the upcoming U.S.
The Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (Ladee) is ready for environmental testing at NASA’s Ames Research Center, following installation of the last of its three instruments.
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.
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.
