The Obama Administration has proposed sharp defense cuts that will hit the military’s space research budget, Spaceflight Now reports:

The Operationally Responsive Space office, headquartered at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., would be closed under the budget request. The Pentagon established the ORS program as a joint-force change agent in 2007 to demonstrate space systems on leaner budgets and rapid schedules.

The Space Test Program, also garrisoned at Kirtland, would receive $10 million in the budget request, a fraction of the program’s $47 million funding level in the current fiscal year.

(more…)

What’s more romantic than a $5,000 apiece zero-gravity flight?

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin. (Credit: A. Savin)

Via Russian Ministry of Education and Science

The Military-Industrial Commission (MIC) will soon consider a bill to create a fund that will seek innovative technologies to the domestic military-industrial complex (MIC), Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said.

“In the near future, the MIC for the government to consider the documents prepared by us to create an appropriate fund,” he said at a meeting with rectors of the leading technical universities in Russia.

The Vice Premier said that this fund will be analogous to the agency DARPA, acting at the U.S. Department of Defense.

(more…)

Commercial Spaceflight Federation On Commercial Crew Program: Today, the Commercial Spaceflight Federation welcomed the strong continued support for commercial spaceflight in the new NASA FY2013 budget. Congress and the Administration have consistently identified commercial providers as the most cost-effective and reliable source for routine flights to low-Earth orbit, including transportation of cargo and NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station. As recognized by a wide range of industry […]

1. FY 2011 and FY 2012 are consistent with submitted operating plans. However, for comparability purposes, values for Space Technology in those years reflect the funding for Space Technology-related activities executed in Exploration, Space Operations, and Cross Agency Support. 2. FY 2012 Estimates include the impact to appropriation accounts of the $30 million rescission included in the 2012 Appropriation Act, in addition to ~$1 million from other prior appropriations included […]

This week on The Space Show with David Livingston…. 1. Monday, Feb. 13, 2011 2-3:30 PM PST (5-6:30 PM EST, 4-5:30 PM CST): We welcome back ROBERT (BOB) ZIMMERMAN for policy updates, news, & NASA budget perspectives. 2. Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012, 7-8:30 PM PST (10-11:30 PM EST, 9-10:30 PM CST): We welcome back JIM FUNARO to discuss the upcoming Contact Conference and more (www.contact-conference.com). Note that there is no […]

NASA’s promo video for its proposed FY 2013 budget.

NASA Funding Highlights
(FY 2013 Presidential Budget Proposal)

• Provides $17.7 billion, a decrease of 0.3 percent, or $59 million, below the 2012 enacted level. While making difficult choices, the Budget builds on our existing space infrastructure, contin- ues efforts to streamline agency operations, and preserves innovative capabilities and tech- nologies to sustain American leadership in space.
• Implements a lower cost program of robotic exploration of Mars that will advance science and will also help lay the foundation for future human exploration.
• Invests in new space technologies, such as laser communications and zero-gravity propellant transfer, which can improve America’s ability to access and operate in space and enhance the competitiveness of the U.S. space industry.
• Leverages a Federal investment of $830 million and private sector investment and ingenuity to develop a U.S. capability to transport crews into space, thereby eliminating our dependence on foreign capabilities in this area.
• Provides continued robust funding for the development of a new heavy-lift rocket and crew capsule that will take America deeper into space than ever before, create American jobs, ensure continued U.S. leadership in space exploration, and inspire people around the world.
• Provides $1.8 billion for research and a robust fleet of Earth observation spacecraft to strengthen U.S. leadership in the field, better understand climate change, improve future disaster predictions, and provide vital environmental data to Federal, State, and local policymakers.
• Funds the highest priority astronomical observatories and robotic solar system explorers, including a successor to the Hubble telescope and a mission to return samples from an asteroid, while delaying unaffordable new missions.
• Continues the effort to turn NASA’s former Space Shuttle launch facilities at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida into a 21st Century launch complex so that they can efficiently support programs like the Space Launch System and commercial operators.
• Streamlines agency operations, resulting in over $200 million in savings.

(more…)

Europe’s news rocket, Vega, had a successful flight from Kourou today. Vega’s first payload consists of two Italian satellites: ASI’s LARES laser relativity satellite and the University of Bologna’s ALMASat-1. Flight VV01 will also carry seven picosatellites provided by European universities: e-St@r (Italy), Goliat (Romania), MaSat-1 (Hungary), PW-Sat (Poland), Robusta (France), UniCubeSat GG (Italy) and Xatcobeo (Spain). The mission is intended to qualify the overall Vega system, including the vehicle […]