About the size of a drink coaster, this Terminator Tape Deorbit Module enables a small spacecraft to remove itself from orbit at the end of its mission to help reduce the growth of space debris. (Credit: TUI)

Bothell, WA, 18 December 2012 (TUI PR) — Tethers Unlimited, Inc. (TUI) announced today that it has delivered the first flight units of an innovative spacecraft component that will help reduce the growth of space debris. TUI delivered several of its Terminator Tape™ Deorbit Modules to The Aerospace Corporation for use on its upcoming AeroCube-­5 flight experiment.

The Terminator Tape Deorbit Module is a small device, about the size of a drink coaster, which is attached to a satellite prior to launch. When the satellite completes its mission, it activates the Terminator Tape Module, which then deploys a long conductive tape. This tape drags against the Earth’s magnetic field and upper atmosphere, rapidly lowering the orbit of the spacecraft until the satellite burns up in the upper atmosphere. By rapidly removing the satellite from orbit, the Terminator Tape helps ensure that the satellite will not contribute to the accumulation of space debris that could pose a threat to future space missions.

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Employees at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., unpack four large metal rings that will be used to create adapters for NASA’s Orion spacecraft to integrate with the propulsion elements for flight. The rings were forged at Major Tool and Machine in Indianapolis, Ind., for NASA’s Space Launch System Program, managed at the Marshall Center. (Credit: NASA/MSFC)

WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — Recent engineering advances by NASA and its industry partners across the country show important progress toward Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1), the next step to launching humans to deep space. The uncrewed EFT-1 mission, launching from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in 2014, will test the re-entry performance of the agency’s Orion capsule, the most advanced spacecraft ever designed, which will carry astronauts farther into space than ever before.

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Sierra Nevada Corporation’s Dream Chaser shuttle. (Credit: Sierra Nevada)

Sparks, NV – December 14, 2012 – SNC PR — Sierra Nevada Corporation’s (SNC) Space Systems is pleased to announce that its Dream Chaser® Space System Program has been selected by NASA’s Commercial Crew Program to receive a Certification Products Contract (CPC).

This award is the first step on the path to enabling International Space Station transportation services and to provide for government certification of the Dream Chaser commercial crew orbital transportation system.

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CANOGA PARK, Calif. (PW&R PR) — Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne successfully completed the last hot-fire test on the J-2X powerpack — an important step toward development of America’s next rocket engine designed for human spaceflight.  NASA has selected the J-2X as the upper-stage propulsion for the Space Launch System (SLS), an advanced heavy-lift launch vehicle.  Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is a United Technologies Corp. (NYSE:UTX) company.

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An update from Orbital Sciences Corporation: The Antares team began cold flow testing with a first stage on the launch pad. The initial cold-flow tests validated the loading and unloading of liquid oxygen to the rocket. The top photo below is a still image captured by the pad video system. Meanwhile, in the Horizontal Integration facility, the Antares to be employed for the test launch (mission A-ONE) has been dressed […]

PASADENA, Calif. (NASA PR) — NASA has named the site where twin agency spacecraft impacted the moon Monday in honor of the late astronaut, Sally K. Ride, who was America’s first woman in space and a member of the probes’ mission team.

Last Friday, Ebb and Flow, the two spacecraft comprising NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission, were commanded to descend into a lower orbit that would result in an impact Monday on a mountain near the moon’s north pole. The formation-flying duo hit the lunar surface as planned at 2:28:51 p.m. PST (5:28:51 p.m. EST) and 2:29:21 p.m. PST (5:29:21 p.m. EST) at a speed of 3,760 mph (1.7 kilometers per second). The location of the Sally K. Ride Impact Site is on the southern face of an approximately 1.5 mile- (2.5 -kilometer) tall mountain near a crater named Goldschmidt.

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The National Research Council’s (NRC’) Committee on Human Spaceflight has named 14 members to its Technical Feasibility Panel, which will help the committee evaluate the future of the American space program.

The panel is being chaired by John Sommerer, who is head of the space sector at John Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory (APL).  Other notable members of the panel include: former NASA Chief Technologist Bobby Braun; Douglas Cooke, former NASA associate administrator for Exploration Systems; Robert Dickman, former commander of the 45th Space Wing; soft spacesuit designer Dava J. Newman; and space architect Guillermo Trotti.

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This week on The Space Show with David Livingston… 1. Monday, Dec.17, 2012, 2-3:30 PM PST (5-6:30 PM EST, 4-5:30 PM CST): We welcome back MARK BRAY. Bray currently works at MSFC in Huntsville, AL supporting the SLS program and he pursues entrepreneurial space activities on his own time. Mark will be discussing development of a commercial space market, applications of Geoffrey Moore’s “Crossing the Chasm”, space policy and the […]

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL, December 17, 2012 (Space Florida PR) – Representatives from Florida’s aerospace industry will visit Tallahassee on March 6, 2013, to participate in Florida Space Day and share with legislators the opportunities the industry brings to Florida and the nation’s space program.

“Since Florida is the third largest space industry in the nation, the decisions made in both Tallahassee and Washington D.C. in regard to the space program will greatly affect the state,” said Don M. White Jr., chairman of Florida Space Day 2013.

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It looks as if Kazakhstan could have a very long wait before it can take control of the Baikonur Cosmodrome and its adjoining city. A Kazakh proposal to gradually end the long-term lease that Russia holds on Baikonur is getting a chilly reception in Moscow.

“It will cause many issues, including social ones,” forecasts deputy head of the Russian State Duma’s commission on the CIS and compatriots Tatyana Moskalkova. She said that economic integration could assist in solving the problem. “If the EurAsian Economic Union were in place, those issues would not be that vital,” she explained.

Head of the State Duma’s commission Leonid Slutsky says the status question may be under discussion to the very end of the rent term between Russia and Kazakhstan, which is to 2050. “The format of the future joint exploitation is not in place, the terms are not clear,” he said. “Clearly, it (revision of the status)  is most likely to happen after expiration of the agreement, which is after 2050,” he said.

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