Atlas V launches OTV3 into orbit from Cape Canaveral. (Credit: Pat Corkery, United Launch Alliance.)

By Douglas Messier
Parabolic Arc Managing Editor

New entrants hoping to break ULA’s monopoly on national security space (NSS) launches face a number of obstacles in getting their launch vehicles certified, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

Perhaps the biggest challenge: the U.S. Air Force considers almost everything it launches into space to be its most critical payloads (Class A), requiring the services of proven rockets like ULA’s Atlas V or Delta IV. Military officials have yet to figure out how to re-classify some of these payloads as less critical (Class B, C and D), thus allowing them to be launched on vehicles with fewer flights under their belts.

(more…)

Forbes has an interview with Steve Isakowitz, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Virgin Galactic. The highlights: Test Flight and Commercial Plans: “All plumbing and tanks are now installed in SS2. The next steps include cold-flow glide flight and the first powered flights. Burn duration will gradually increase on the way to our first space test flight toward the end of 2013. We will then need to complete […]

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL (February 7, 2013) – Representatives from Florida’s aerospace industry will visit Tallahassee on March 6, 2013, to participate in Florida Space Day 2013 and share with legislators opportunities the industry brings to Florida and the nation’s space program.

Former NASA Astronaut Bob Crippen, pilot of the first orbital test flight of the Shuttle program and former NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Director, will be making appearances throughout the event. Space-related exhibits will also be available on the third floor rotunda of the Capitol.

(more…)

Brent Jett

NASA’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP) management team is getting a new deputy manager.

Kathy Lueders, who manages NASA’s International Space Station Program Transportation Integration Office, will take over the role next month. She will replace Brent Jett, who has left the agency after 21 years and four space shuttle flights.

“As deputy program manager, Lueders will oversee the facilitation of commercial spacecraft and launch vehicle development and certification efforts, enabling the safe transportation of NASA astronauts to and from low-Earth orbit and the International Space Station around the middle of the decade,” the space agency said in notice on its website.

(more…)

Launch of Atlas V NRO satellite on June 20, 2012. (Credit: ULA)

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Feb. 6, 2013 (Frost & Sullivan PR) — As government spending decreases worldwide, space launch expenditures within established national programs will steadily decrease with the implementation of cost-cutting measures. Instead, governments will become more reliant on commercial companies to execute space launches. While global space launch expenditures will spike in 2013 and 2014, these will gradually drop as competition between commercial companies for space launch contracts heats up. The global commercial space launch market will transition from the oligopoly of United Launch Alliance (ULA), Arianespace, and International Launch Services (ILS) to a more competitive market with several, smaller companies that manufacture cost-effective launchers.

Frost & Sullivan’s Aerospace & Defense (www.frost.defense.com) practice finds that global spending for space launch activities totaled $6.70 billion in 2011. Space launch spending is forecast to spike to over $9 billion in 2013 and then steadily decrease to $8.36 billion by 2020.

(more…)

The New Mexico House has unanimously passed the spaceflight informed consent law, providing legal protections that Virgin Galactic said were required to keep it from moving out of the state and to attract other tenants to Spaceport America. The measure now goes to Gov. Susana Martinez, who has promised the sign the measure into law. The vote was 70-0, and there seems to have been no shortage of rhetoric among […]

Washington D.C. (NSRC PR) – Since its debut in 2010, the Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference has rapidly become the largest gathering of suborbital researchers and educators in the world, providing an invaluable forum for information in the community. NSRC-2013 will continue the community wide discussion, focusing on the research, education and public outreach capabilities of new reusable suborbital vehicles that will begin operations soon.

NSRC-2013 will bring together vehicle providers, researchers and educators from academia, government and industry to engage in presentations, workshops and networking opportunities. Keynote speakers will include NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver, FAA Associate Administrator George Nield, and former Space Shuttle and ISS astronaut and Commercial Spaceflight Federation President Michael Lopez-Alegria.

(more…)

Video Caption: Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 34 Flight Engineer Chris Hadfield of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) speaks with Canadian-born actor William Shatner, the original Captain Kirk on the “Star Trek” television series, as well as Twitter followers attending a tweetup at CSA Headquarters in St. Hubert, Quebec during an in-flight event Feb. 7. Hadfield had previously exchanged tweets with Shatner after arriving on the orbital laboratory in […]

MOSCOW, Russia and BERN, Switzerland – February 6, 2013 (Sea Launch PR) – S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation “Energia” (“RSC Energia”) spoke out today about its unfailing commitment to the long-term success of the Sea Launch program following the launch failure of Intelsat 27 spacecraft on February 1, 2013. RSC Energia has been the leader and the operator of the Sea Launch program since 2010.

In a statement, the General Designer and the President of RSC Energia, Vitaly Lopota said:

“We profoundly regret about the last week’s loss of the Intelsat 27 spacecraft. Many people worked hard to build the spacecraft, the launch vehicle and support the launch campaign. As we have been working in the space industry for over 65 years we continuously strive for perfection and reliability in everything that we attempt, but sometimes we fall short. The ocean-based launch system, Zenit launch vehicle and upper stage Block DM are a trusted means of payload delivery which combines the best in rocket-building technology and processes of recent decades. The launch failure is being investigated and analyzed. Its findings will be announced in the near future.”

(more…)

Washington, D.C., Feb. 6, 2013 – Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University announced plans to launch the nation’s first bachelor’s degree in Commercial Space Operations during a news conference Wednesday at the 16th Annual FAA Commercial Space Transportation Conference in Washington, D.C.

The new degree program, which would be offered at the Daytona Beach, Fla., campus of the world’s largest accredited aviation and aerospace academic institution, will supply the commercial spaceflight industry with skilled graduates in the areas of space policy, operations, regulation and certification, as well as space flight safety, and space program training, management and planning.

(more…)