In continuing our look at the upcoming year in space, we find that the Sierra Nevada Corporation’s Dream Chaser vehicle has five milestones to meet this year under the current Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) phase of NASA’s commercial crew program. It also has a milestone still to meet from the previous Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) phase.
AUTHOR
Doug Messier
The decision to relax controls on the export of U.S. satellites isn’t going over well in China, which remains on a list of nations to which these spacecraft cannot be exported, re-exported or transferred. Those restrictions ban China’s launch industry from placing U.S.-built satellites into orbit. In remarks posted on the Ministry of Commerce website, Spokesman Shen Danyang “pointed out that the US once expressed that its reform of export […]
This week on The Space Show with David Livingston…. SPECIAL TIME: 1. Monday, Jan. 7, 2013, 12-1:30 PM PST (3-4:30 PM EST, 2-3:30 PM CST): DR. ELIGAR SADEH returns to the program to discuss his new book, “Space Strategy in the 21st Century Theory and policy” (www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415622110. 2. Tuesday, January 8, 2013 7-8:30 PM PST (10-11:30 PM EST, 9-10:30 PM CST): We welcome Heather Archuletta to discuss NASA microgravity sleep […]
Antares rocket. (Credit: Orbital Sciences Corporation)
A look ahead to the coming year in space finds the introduction of new launch vehicles in the United States and Russia and a third attempt to launch a Russian-Korean rocket from South Korea. Meanwhile, China will send another crew to its orbiting space station and a rover to the moon.
Below is a selected section of SpaceX’s launch manifest. Now, review it carefully; there will be a quiz.
| Customer | Vehicle Arrival at Launch Site |
Vehicle | Launch Site |
| NASA Resupply to ISS – Flight 2 | 2012 | F9/Dragon | Cape Canaveral |
| ORBCOMM – Multiple Flights | 2012-2014 | Multiple | Cape Canaveral |
| MDA Corp. (Canada) | 2013 | Falcon 9 | Vandenberg |
| Falcon Heavy Demo Flight | 2013 | Falcon Heavy | Vandenberg |
| SES (Europe) | 2013 | Falcon 9 | Cape Canaveral |
| Thaicom (Thailand) | 2013 | Falcon 9 | Cape Canaveral |
| NASA Resupply to ISS – Flight 3 | 2013 | F9/Dragon | Cape Canaveral |
| NASA Resupply to ISS – Flight 4 | 2013 | F9/Dragon | Cape Canaveral |
| NSPO (Taiwan) | 2013 | Falcon 9 | Vandenberg |
Now, at first glance, that looks really, really ambitious, doesn’t it? Especially for a company that flew twice in 2012. So, just how many flights will SpaceX undertake this year? Nine? No.
WRONG! You just failed the quiz, brainiac. EPIC COSMIC FAIL!
VALCEA, Romania (ARCA PR) — ARCA and the European Space Agency (ESA) signed a $1.1 million contract for the ExoMars, High Altitude Drop Test – Balloon Flight Services Program (HADT-BFS). During the contract, ARCA will contribute to the 2016 ExoMars spacecraft program by testing its parachutes, that will allow it to safely land on Mars.
That’s right–-as of today, registration for Yuri’s Night 2013 is officially open for business! Just head on over to register at yurisnight.net and fill in the requested information to sign up your event as part of this year’s festivities. As always, registering your party is completely free. We’re working on some final updates for our event registration system, including our party list, so watch out for future updates on that […]
OKA-T spacecraft (Credit: RSC Energia)
MOSCOW (Energia PR) — S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia embarked on the activities under the project of spacecraft OKA-T serviced on the International Space Station (ISS). Works are underway on development effort “OKA-T-ISS” in the Preliminary Design stage in accordance with the Federal Space Agency contract. Works completion date for the Preliminary Design stage is November 2013.
And that was the year that was….Mojave Air and Space Port CEO Stu Witt recounts 2012, the year in which many, many things happened in the desert and the world did not end.
SpaceShipTwo in flight on Dec. 19, 2012. (Credit: Virgin Galactic)
Virgin Galactic is hiring like crazy at its Mojave Air and Space Port facility. The company has not only bought out Scaled Composites’ interest in the Spaceship Company but also begun an ambitious effort to develop new rocket engines.
Last month, the company posted a opening for a propulsion design engineer that was very revealing about Virgin’s development process.
Main Purpose of the Role
The primary role of this position involves taking a leadership role in the “clean sheet” development of new liquid-fueled rocket engines. Responsibilities will include conceptual through critical design of engine components, production, developmental and flight qualification testing, and flight test support.
The full job posting, which closed on Dec. 28, is reproduced below.