A couple of slides from a NASA presentation made during last month’s FAA commercial space conference. The above slide shows the overall propulsion plan for the next 25 years. Note the image of the USAF’s Reusable Booster System which has a 2025 deployment. The service would phase out use of the existing EELVs (Delta IV and Atlas V) by 2030. Below is the National Hypersonic Plan Access-to-Space Roadmap, which covers […]
Tether Applications, Inc. has proposed a system that would solve one of the key roadblocks to using the International Space Station for research purposes: the lack of down mass capability for returning experiments.
Dubbed SPEED, for Small Payload Express Earth Delivery, the system would use small re-entry capsules ejected for ISS by the crew. The vehicle would be de-orbited by a solar sail, re-enter the atmosphere, and be recovered in mid-air by aircraft.
Joe Carroll of Tether Applications, Inc. and Dan Rasky of NASA Ames Research Center presented the plan last month during the 14th Annual FAA Commercial Space Transportation Conference. Selected slides from the presentation follow after the break.
YN PR — Yuri’s Night is pleased to announce that Xeni Jardin, co-editor of Boing Boing, and Ariel Waldman, founder of Spacehack.org, will be serving as judges for the Yuri’s Night “Call To Humanity†Space Ad Contest, sponsored by Space Travellers.
The Space Ad Contest calls on graphic designers, illustrators and other creative individuals to “create a powerful and inspiring print ad (such as a poster or magazine advertisement) that would move people to think about space and support humanity’s future among the starsâ€.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Credit: Agência Brasil
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gave an address to ISRO employees at the space agency’s Space Application Centre in Ahmedabad on Saturday. The speech, was was beamed to other ISRO centers across the country, comes at a time when the space agency is dealing with the fallout of a controversial satellite deal with Devas Multimedia and struggling to recover from the loss of two GSLV rockets last year.
Singh said that ISRO needs to pay greater attention to the GSLV program and mentioned “some aberrations and setbacks in the space programme in the recent past. These are being dealt with in accordance with laid down procedures. It is however important that you work with renewed dedication, sincerity and zeal to fulfill the high expectations we have from our space programme.”
The full text of Singh’s remarks follows after the break.
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ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER PR — This morning in the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem, a framework agreement was signed on cooperation between the Russian Federal Space Agency and the Israel Space Agency.
The agreement, which was signed in the presence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, enhances cooperation between the Israeli and Russian space agencies in the fields of space research, observation, navigation, medicine and biology in space, research in advanced materials and launchings.
Soyuz rocket
In looking through Kazkosmos’ plans for 2010-15, I discovered what it costs Russia to maintain its presence at the Kazakhstan’s Baikonur Cosmodrome:
Based on the above is only logical that Russia considers beneficial to pay an annual $115 million dollars for the lease of the Baikonur Cosmodrome and invest annually $ 100 million to maintain its facilities. From the perspective of Kazakhstan receive annual rental fee is none other than the implementation of its unique competitive advantage. During the lease period the country’s budget has more than $1.8 billion U.S. dollars.
Russia’s Angara booster, set for its initial launch next year, has been delayed again, according to RIA Novosti: Test launches of Russia’s new generation Angara booster rockets will begin no later than 2013, a spokesman for the Russian Space Forces said. Alexei Zolotukhin said work to build on-ground infrastructure of the space complex for launches of Angara carrier rockets is currently in active stage at Russia’s northern space center Plesetsk. […]
A P3 Navy aircraft with Hangar One at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California. (Copyright 2008: Douglas Messier)
NASA PR – MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. – NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., has won two agency awards: the 2010 Government Invention of the Year Award and the 2010 Commercial Invention of the Year Award.
Ames received the Government Invention Award for developing the Future ATM (Air Traffic Management) Concepts Evaluation Tool, or FACET, a software that creates simulations for managing air traffic scenarios.
Soyuz rocket
NASA PR — The Russian Federal Space Agency has adjusted the launch date for the next three residents of the International Space Station to Monday, April 4 (April 5 in Baikonur, Kazakhstan).
The new date enables engineers in Baikonur to complete their checkouts of the Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft. The launch date was set after a thorough review of Soyuz systems by Russian space officials and engineers.
Russian cosmonaut and Soyuz Commander Alexander Samokutyaev, NASA Flight Engineer Ron Garan and Russian Flight Engineer Andrey Borisenko are scheduled to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 5:18 p.m. CDT on April 4 (4:18 a.m. Baikonur time on April 5).
SPACE FLORIDA PR — The first three weeks of the 2011 session have been marked by significant policy shifts for education, pensions, and health care.  Space Florida has testified in five different committees this year to the importance of Florida’s space industry to the future economy.  Additionally, important space legislation has been moving well through the legislature and the industry, as a whole, has received great support. The most significant development for Florida’s space industry has been the discussion around the structure of the State’s economic development entities.
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev
Kazkosmos officials are getting behind the bid of Kazakhstan President-for-Life Nursultan Nazarbayev for another term running the Central Asian republic where the Baikonur Cosmodrome is located. The vote will take place on April 3.
The local ÒšazÒ“arysh branch of Nazarbayev’s People’s Democratic Party (NDP or Nur Otan) recently held a meeting at ÐŒazaÑœstan Єarysh Sapary, a joint stock company run by Kazkosmos. Space agency officials were effusive in their praise for the president, who has held power since 1991. Kazkosmos PAO reports:
“We believe that President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan is a true pioneer in space exploration, because it was he who paved the road to space for Kazakhstan. It concerns the fate of the Baikonur cosmodrome, and the flight of the first Kazakh cosmonaut Toktar Aubakirov, and all three of my space flight, as well as today’s large-scale projects Kazkosmos. We have always felt the support of the President of the country,” said Kazkosmos Chairman Talgat Musabayev, who is a member of the Nur Otan Political Council.