Phobos-Grunt being prepared for its trip to nowhere. (Credit: Roscosmos)

Details about Russia’s ill-fated Phobos-Grunt continue to leak out, and they paint an ugly portrait of the state of the nation’s planetary program. Consider this hair-raising account from RussianSpaceWeb.com’s Anatoly Zak of repair work done about five weeks prior to the Nov. 9 launch:

As it transpired, engineers found that the polarity for the steering control of the main engine had been mistakenly switched over in the flight control software of the main BKU computer. Nobody knew how such a major problem could’ve been missed during supposedly thorough certification tests in Moscow. Initially, managers decided to limit corrective actions to re-soldering of respective cables. As a result, six cables had to be reconnected on a spacecraft fully loaded with toxic and explosive propellants. Similar attempts to do electric repairs on the fueled vehicle led to the mass loss of life in Baikonur in the aftermath of the infamous Nedelin disaster in 1960. [Emphasis added]

Good God! Not only did they risk blowing themselves into orbit, it turns out that their heroics didn’t really fix anything.

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VG PR — We at Virgin Galactic believe that providing researchers and their experiments affordable, routine, and safe access to space is a core part of our mission. The same novel and innovative features that make SpaceShipTwo the ideal vehicle to carry our private passengers into space also make it a versatile and attractive research platform that we know will allow scientists, engineers, educators, and others to collect data and study questions in a way they have never before been able to do. The large volume and weight capacity, high apogee, and high flight rate of the WK2 and SS2 allow VG to offer a unique capability for payload and technology development in the upper atmosphere, outer space and microgravity environments.

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ULA's Atlas V

ULA PR — CENTENNIAL, Colo., Dec. 6, 2011 — United Launch Alliance was formed just five years ago, bringing together the world’s two most experienced launch teams and two highly reliable launch systems, Atlas and Delta. ULA’s unparalleled recipe of experience is built on the Atlas and Delta legacy of 1,300 launches during the past five decades, propelled by ULA employees and suppliers located in 46 states.

ULA’s impressive record of success lies in the 56 successful launches the company has achieved in just 60 months. In total, ULA has launched 30 national security missions, 17 NASA missions and nine commercial missions.

“We’re very proud of the record ULA team has amassed over the past five years,” said ULA President and CEO Michael Gass. “Just this year, ULA has launched 11 missions with nearly 20 billion dollars of critical, irreplaceable assets, all of which were safely delivered to orbit. Most recently, we launched five science missions for NASA in six months.”

The evidence of ULA’s success is literally on orbit.

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NanoSail-D (Credit: NASA)

NASA PR — After spending more than 240 days “sailing” around the Earth, NASA’s NanoSail-D — a nanosatellite that deployed NASA’s first-ever solar sail in low-Earth orbit — has successfully completed its Earth orbiting mission.

Launched to space Nov. 19, 2010 as a payload on NASA’s FASTSAT, a small satellite, NanoSail-D’s sail deployed on Jan. 20.

The flight phase of the mission successfully demonstrated a deorbit capability that could potentially be used to bring down decommissioned satellites and space debris by re-entering and totally burning up in the Earth’s atmosphere. The team continues to analyze the orbital data to determine how future satellites can use this new technology.

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Dream Chaser cockpit simulator. (Credit: Sierra Nevada Corporation)

SNC PR – Sparks, NV – December 6th, 2011 – Sierra Nevada Corporation’s (SNC) Space Systems announces the completion of two Dream Chaser Space System Milestones under NASA’s Commercial Crew Development Round 2 (CCDev2) Program. SNC has completed ten straight Milestones as part of NASA’s CCDev Programs, with all Milestones completed on time and within budget.

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Video Caption: On board flight video from a successful launch over the weekend of an advanced sounding rocket designed and built by Armadillo Aerospace. The launch took place from Spaceport America’s vertical launch complex on Sun., Dec. 4. The STIG-A vehicle reached its projected sub-orbital altitude of 137,500 feet (41.91 km).

Armadillo Aerospace's STIG A rocket launches from Spaceport America. (Credit: Space Adventures)

UPDATED at 1:56 p.m. PST with corrected altitude via corrected press release

Upham, NM — New Mexico Spaceport Authority (NMSA) officials announced today a successful launch over the weekend of an advanced sounding rocket designed and built by Armadillo Aerospace. The launch took place from Spaceport America’s vertical launch complex on Sun., Dec. 4. The test flight was a non-public, unpublished event at the request of Armadillo Aerospace, as the company is testing proprietary advanced launch technologies.

Saturday’s Armadillo launch successfully lifted off at approximately 11:00 a.m. (MST), which was within the dedicated, five-hour launch window, and reached its projected sub-orbital altitude of 137,500 feet (41.91 km).
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NASA PR — The Announcement of Flight Opportunities is open until the end of December, 2014 and we continuously accept proposals for payloads during this time period. The Program will announce periodic cutoff dates and will review all proposals received up to that point. The current cutoff date is December 16, 2011. All proposals received after this cutoff date will be taken into consideration during the next review cycle currently […]

LMT PR — DENVER, December 5th, 2011 — Lockheed Martin [NYSE:LMT] has been selected by the U.S. Air Force for a contract award to support the Reusable Booster System (RBS) Flight and Ground Experiments program. The value of the first task order is $2 million, with a contract ordering value of up to $250 million over the five-year indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract period. The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center are developing the RBS as the next generation launch vehicle that will significantly improve the affordability, operability, and responsiveness of future spacelift capabilities over current expendable launchers.

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