Virgin Galactic Vice President for Special Projects William Pomerantz speaks at the LA Space Forum in November.
AUTHOR
Doug Messier
You would think that the U.S. Air Force would be pretty happy with its space program. The last 81 national security launches have gone off without fail. The Air Force has access to two highly-reliable United Launch Alliance (ULA) launch vehicles, Atlas V and Delta IV, for its large, billion dollar payloads. And there is a stable of less powerful boosters for smaller satellite launches.
But, alas, not all is well over at Air Force Space Command:
The U.S. must overcome the growing challenges of rising launch costs and aging propulsion systems if it is to gain much needed efficiencies and maintain its global lead, warns Gen. William Shelton, commander of Air Force Space Command.
MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA) has announced that an agreement with Intelsat to provide on-orbit servicing to the company’s communications satellites has been terminated. Intelsat had served as an anchor tenant for the Canadian company’s Space Infrastructure Servicing (SIS) initiative.
In a press release, MDA said it has not made a decision on whether to proceed with SIS, but that it was exploring options.
“MDA is continuing to pursue opportunities in this area and is currently focused on bidding a space servicing Broad Agency Announcement from a U.S. Government agency, which is due in February,” the company said in a press release. Both NASA and DARPA are looking at satellite servicing.
The Obama Administration has rejected the idea of signing on to a proposed European Union code of conduct for space because it is too restrictive, a top level official said on Thursday. Ellen Tauscher, undersecretary of state for arms control and international security,told reporters during a breakfast that the U.S. will be announcing a new direction soon, Space News reports. The voluntary code sets out a set of rules for […]
Britain’s ever entertaining and intermittently reliable Sun tabloid (owned by Rupert “I Know Nothing” Murdoch and his equally out-of-the-loopy-doopy son) reports that new parents Beyonce and Jay-Z are looking to shoot a music video aboard Sir Richard Branson’s SpaceShipTwo suborbital tourism vehicle. A source said: “The label people have been talking about making a music video in space. Beyonce and Jay-Z seemed the obvious option. Everything is being done to […]
Phobos-Grunt -- coming soon to a continent and/or ocean near you. (Credit: Ralph Vandeberg -- used by permission)
While Roscosmos Head Vladimir Popovkin floats conspiracy theories about foreign weapons taking out Russian spacecraft, his nation has set a new, all-time record for the embezzlement of government funds:
Since 2008 the sums embezzled have grown sevenfold: while back in 2008 the figure was 96.6 billion rubles ($3.2 billion), it is now 718.5 billion rubles ($22.7 billion).
More than 50 per cent of the missing money was wasted on Budget Code violations, with another 35 per cent on violations in state procurements. The underlying reason behind those wastes, the Accounts Chamber head said, is bureaucracy as each governmental order goes through hundreds if legal bodies, which breeds corruption. The functions each legal body performs are often unclear…
However, research published in July 2011 revealed that the average bribe in Russia has increased almost sevenfold – to a whopping $10,000.
So, how is all this graft affecting the Russian space program? Damned good question.
BOEING PR — HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif., Jan. 11, 2012 — The Boeing Company has begun work on a four-month NASA contract to develop a mission concept study for solar electric propulsion technologies. Under the $600,000 firm, fixed-price contract, Boeing will evaluate concepts that combine high-power solar arrays with advanced electric thrusters to power spacecraft and payloads to high Earth orbit and deep space destinations.
The Florida Senate has unanimously approved a measure that will give Space Florida easier access to state transportation funds for the improvement of launch facilities.
“On behalf of Space Florida, I would like to thank Senator Lizbeth Benacquisto on the unanimous passage of SB634 in the Florida Senate yesterday,” Space Florida President Frank DiBello said in a statement. “This bill changes the language in our Statute to better define what ‘Launch Support Facilities’ may be considered for future FDOT infrastructure funding, and also aligns State and Federal definitions to better facilitate the of assignment of federal funds in the future.
Space News reports that ESA is holding its own amid a deepening European fiscal crisis: The European Space Agency (ESA) will have 4 billion euros ($5.2 billion) to spend in 2012, essentially flat from 2011 as a decline in contributions from its member governments is offset by increased payments from the European Union’s executive commission, ESA officials announced Jan. 10. In what may be an unprecedented development, it is Germany, […]
The site and dates for our next annual conference on the business, technology, and politics of radically cheaper access to space, Space Access ’12, are set. The site will be the Grace Inn, 10827 S 51st St in Phoenix, same as last year. Conference sessions will begin 9 am Thursday April 12th 2012 and end 6 pm Saturday April 14th. We plan to have our Hospitality Suite (and the hotel […]