Illustration of Cygnus in orbit. (Credit: Orbital Sciences Corporation)

Cygnus Mission Update
Via Orbital Sciences Corporation
September 20, 2013

Before Cygnus can rendezvous and berth with the International Space Station (ISS), it must perform several thruster firings to raise its orbit and catch up with the ISS. Cygnus must also perform 10 maneuvers to demonstrate the safety capabilities of the Cygnus. Once each demonstration maneuver is complete, Orbital will send a data package to NASA for review to verify that the demonstration has met its objectives.

Since the launch of the spacecraft at 10:58 a.m. on Wednesday, September 18, the Cygnus team has been busy completing the first two of 10 required in-orbit demonstrations and has successfully conducted three Delta V burns to raise Cygnus’ orbit. On Friday, September 20 , the team will conduct Delta V burn #4 to raise Cygnus’ orbit to within 4 km of the ISS orbit altitude. If needed, an additional burn may be conducted in Saturday, September 21, to “fine tune” Cygnus’ orbit.

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A thruster glows red during a hot-fire test at NASA’s White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, N.M.,for Boeing’s CST-100 spacecraft orbital maneuvering and attitude control (OMAC) system. (Credit: Boeing)

WASHINGTON, DC (NASA PR) — Boeing’s CST-100 spacecraft is one step closer to liftoff after a gauntlet of test firings of its steering jets at White Sands Space Harbor in Las Cruces, N.M.

Boeing and Aerojet Rocketdyne recently completed the tests, which simulated the demanding environment of space. The tests assessed how the thrusters — which fire with 1,500 pounds of force — will speed up, slow down and move the spacecraft while carrying NASA astronauts in Earth’s orbit.

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SpaceShipTwo on final approach to Mojave. Credit: Ken Brown

TV Guide is breathlessly reporting an exclusive this morning involving the creator of the Survivor TV show:

Mark Burnett hasn’t given up on his space dreams. According to multiple sources, Burnett is pitching a show to networks that would send the winner on one of Virgin Galactic’s first suborbital space flights.

Insiders say a bidding war among several networks is already underway for the project, which would give an ordinary citizen the chance to fly into space. The winner would take off on Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo from Spaceport America in New Mexico — perhaps as soon as next year.

Billionaire Sir Richard Branson, who founded Virgin Galactic as part of his Virgin Group, has already said he plans to be on the first flight, with his family, on Dec. 25 this year. The Burnett show is then expected to pit contestants against each other for a chance at a seat on the second flight.

Branson and his family are scheduled to be on the first commercial flight, which would follow the completion of the flight test program in Mojave and licensing by the Federal Aviation Administration. Completing those steps in time for a Christmas Day flight is virtually impossible at this point.

When commercial flights will begin is uncertain, something that complicate the timing of any reality series. Virgin Galactic has been predicting sometime next year, but multiple sources have told Parabolic Arc that there are continued issues with SpaceShipTwo’s hybrid engine that could push the schedule back.

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An Ariane 5 rocket soars into orbit on Dec. 29, 2010. Credits: ESA /CNES/Arianespace

Arianespace/Astrium PR — Arianespace and Astrium signed an initial agreement on 17 September to begin the production of 18 additional Ariane 5 ECA launchers.

As part of this agreement, Arianespace has ordered from Astrium, long-lead items and the start of production activities for the 18 additional launchers. These items and the first production activities are valued at more than 400 million euros. Astrium and Arianespace plan to sign the full production contract for the additional launchers before the end of 2013.

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Elon Musk Tweeted that the hot fire today went fine and that the launch window will open on Sept. 29.

Bothell, WA, 19 September 2013 (TUI PR) — Tethers Unlimited, Inc. (TUI) has signed a contract with the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to develop technologies to enable 3D printing of spacecraft structures with embedded radiation shielding. Under this Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract, TUI will develop its patent pending processes for creating structural elements containing an internal layered composition of polymers and metals that is exceptionally efficient at absorbing space radiation. This “Versatile Structural Radiation Shielding” (VSRS) technology takes advantage of the flexibility of 3D printing to enable rapid and affordable fabrication of customized parts that minimize the mass required to shield spacecraft electronics.

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Today’s Follow the Build update on XCOR’s blog looks at subsonic wind tunnel testing for the suborbital Lynx space plane. The company has been posting updates and in-depth about the Lynx every day for the past several weeks. Other posts have looked at the vehicle’s engine, landing gearing and “built a little, test a little approach” to development.

Artist’s conception of the proposed SpaceX commercial launch facility near Brownsville, Texas.

A brief update from Brownsville, where officials have reached an agreement on how to close beaches if SpaceX builds a new commercial spaceport along the Texas Gulf Coast:

Cameron County and the Texas General Land Office have signed a memorandum of agreement outlining how the county will handle the temporary closure of Boca Chica Beach for possible rocket launches.

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Mission Update Via Orbital Sciences Corporation Since launch yesterday at 10:58 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT), Orbital’s Cygnus logistics spacecraft and its team have been busy and performing well. After successfully completing two orbit-raising Delta V (DV) burns, the team carried out free drift and abort demonstrations (known as Demos 2a and 2b). This marked the first of 10 demonstration milestones for Cygnus on its way to the International Space […]

Launch of Delta IV NROL-65, August 28, 2013 from Vandenberg Air Force Base. (Credit: ULA)

With the budget fight heating up in Washington, the threat of a government shutdown looming, and Congressional Republicans attempting to repeal new health care law for the 42nd time, the nation’s top military space official is warning of a looming crisis in national defense.

Using his most stark language to date on the topic, the U.S. Air Force’s top uniformed officer for space described the automatic U.S. budget cuts known as sequestration as “silliness” and warned that their compounded effects into 2015 could effectively torpedo the entire U.S. military space enterprise.

“You will break every program,” said Gen. William Shelton, commander of Air Force Space Command.

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