Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam and NSS Chairman Mark Hopkins discuss joint statement at the 2013 International Space Development Conference. (Credit: NSS)

Washington, DC, June 10, 2013 (NSS PR) — National Space Society (NSS) today announces a new space solar power international initiative. NSS endorses this initiative and will work to forge an international organization involving America, India and other nations to develop space solar power. This has the potential of solving humanity’s energy needs and greatly mitigating climate change.

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Video Caption: Test firing of the first stage of F9-R–advanced prototype for the world’s first reusable rocket. The test took place at SpaceX’s rocket development facility in McGregor, TX, lasting 112 seconds. Unlike airplanes, a rocket’s thrust increases with altitude; F9-R generates just over a million pounds of thrust at sea level but gets up to 1.5 million pounds of thrust in the vacuum of space. Please follow Parabolic Arc […]

This week on The Space Show with David Livingston…. 1. Monday, June 10, 2013, 2-3:30 PM PDT (5-6:30 PM EDT, 4-5:30 PM CDT): We welcome DR. MINDY HOWARD to the program to discuss space training. Dr. Howard created the Inner Space Training program to psychologically prepare commercial astronauts for their space flights. 2. Tuesday, June 11 2013, 7-8:30 PM PDT (10-11:30 PM EDT, 9-10:30 PM CDT): BOB ZIMMERMAN returns to […]

Design image shows a RS-25 rocket engine installed on the A-1 Test Stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center. (Credit: NASA/SSC)

Bay St. Louis, Miss. (NASA PR) — NASA plans to begin testing RS-25 engines for its new Space Launch System (SLS) in the fall of 2014, and the agency’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi has a very big — literally — item to complete on the preparation checklist.

Fabrication recently began at Stennis on a new 7,755-pound thrust frame adapter for the A-1 Test Stand to enable testing of the engines that will provide core-stage power for NASA’s SLS. The stand component is scheduled to be completed and installed by November 2013.

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The Department of Transportation’s matching grants program for space transportation was dropped from President Barack Obama’s Fiscal Year 2014 budget request due to funding constraints.

The grants, which were first authorized in 1992, have been awarded to a number of licensed and proposed spaceports in recent years to help fund space-related infrastructure development.  The grants require 50 percent local matches, including 10 percent from private-sector sources.

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Bern, Switzerland, June 3, 2013 (Sea Launch PR) — Sea Launch AG has announced that the Failure Review Oversight Board (FROB) issued its final summary report of findings on May 31, following its review of the investigation into the cause of the January 31, 2013 failed launch attempt of the IS-27 spacecraft.  It had been previously reported that the FROB concluded that the failure was isolated to the Zenit 3SL 1st stage hydraulic power supply unit (BIM) with no other contributors identified.

Corrective actions are expected to be complete on the existing flight units in the June/July time frame and do not involve any design changes to the flight hardware.  The corrective actions focus on additional standalone inspections and testing of the BIM prior to installation into the Zenit 1st stage engine compartment.

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HUNTSVILLE, ALA. (NASA Marshall PR) — The Mighty Eagle, NASA”s robotic prototype lander managed out of NASA”s Marshall Space Flight Center, recently completed a test series to monitor its systems functionality after coming out of winter storage. This latest series included a test flight that was recorded by the Quad-Copter — a small vehicle also developed at Marshall that was equipped with a video camera allowing for never-before-seen footage of the Mighty Eagle.

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Space News reports that ESA has rejected a plea from Europe’s Air & Space Academy that it abandon plans for a solid-fuel Ariane 6 in favor of a new liquid-fuel booster: The European Space Agency (ESA) has no intention of changing course for its future Ariane 6 rocket despite pointed criticism of the selected design by former ESA and European industry launch-vehicle experts, ESA Launch Vehicle Director Antonio Fabrizi said […]

Artist conception of Epsilon rocket (Credit: JAXA)

TOKYO (JAXA PR) — Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency will launch the Spectroscopic Planet Observatory for Recognitionof Interaction of Atmosphere (SPRINT-A) by the first Epsilon Launch Vehicle (Epsilon-1) in the following schedule.

Launch date: August 22 (Thursday.), 2013 (Japan Standard Time)
Launch time: between 1:30 p.m. through 2:30 p.m. (JST)*
Launch window: Aug. 23 (Fri) through Sept. 30 (Mon.), 2013
Launch site: Uchinoura Space Center

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The first Angara carrier rocket is shipped to its launch site. (Credit: Khrunichev)

MOSCOW (Khrunichev PR) — The Khrunichev Space Center has shipped the first flight model of light-weight Angara 1.2 PP (PP is the Russian for “Maiden Launch”) to the Plesetsk Cosmodrome.

In accordance with the Angara 1.2 Maiden Launch Master Schedule, the train carrying the Angara 1.2 PP hardware departed for Plesetsk in the early hours of May 28.

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