An RIA Novosti report on Orbital Technologies plans for a commercial space station.
Cosmic Log’s Alan Boyle talks to new Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides about the company’s plans for suborbital flight. Eventually, THAT question came up again:
Q: I’m sure anytime you talk about what you’re doing, people ask you when the rides will become available. What are you able to say about how the time frame is developing? What’s the latest?
A: It’s funny, Alan, you’re the first person to ask me that question … in the last 10 minutes. As you know, we do not have a public schedule because we want our flight testing to be focused on building a safe vehicle. But as I think others have expressed, and certainly Richard has expressed, our hope is to get to space this coming year. That’s obviously dependent on flight test. We’ll go into commercial operation as soon as we can, and as soon as we’re able to work with the FAA to get a commercial license. So far, things are progressing well. We’re very excited about the glide test results — we’ve just had another fantastic flight. The vehicle is flying very well. So … so far, so good.
Yep, safety.This thing’s going to safer than a couch in a safe at Fort Knox before Richard Branson and his family climb aboard with designer Burt Rutan in tow.
Republican budget cutters are preparing to take an axe to the federal budget trunk — and anyone (low-income students, rocket scientists, the newly disabled) who gets in the way. It’s part of an effort to fulfill a campaign promise to cut $100 billion from domestic discretionary spending.
Just how bad would the cuts be for NASA? Legislators are actually targeting $84 billion in cuts, a reduction of 18 percent that would return spending to 2008 levels. NASA’s funding would be cut about 8 percent from $18.93 billion to $17.4 billion. However, some Republicans outside of government are advocating a much steeper reduction — by 50 percent to $9.47 billion.
On Monday, ISRO Chairman K Radhakrishnan gave an address at the International Conference on Contemporary Trends in Optics and Optoelectronics. During the talk, he gave a brief review of ISRO’s successes over the past five years and a preview of missions scheduled for the next two years.
Excerpts follow after the break.
This week in The Space Review… Can NASA develop a heavy-lift rocket? Last week the debate on how NASA should develop a heavy-lift rocket restarted after NASA submitted a report indicating its preferred design would not fit into the budget and schedule of its authorization act. Jeff Foust reports on the issues regarding the technology, budget, and even utility of a heavy-lifter raised in that debate. Small ball or home […]
ROSCOSMOS PROGRAM UPDATE
In early 2011, International Public Committee on IGMASS (international global natural and industrial emergency aerospace monitoring system) (IGMASS IPC) has made steps to promote the project in China.
Roscosmos representatives, Russian experts of Space Systems R&D presented IGMASS in Beijing on Jan. 10-13, IPC executive secretary Sergey Cherkas informed.
SNC Dream Chaser Pressure Shell. (Credit: Sierra Nevada Corporation)
A Private Space Shuttle Replacement
Technology Review
The company reached all its development milestones for the Dream Chaser last year and is now finishing a battery of tests on the craft’s carbon-composite frame. The shell of the spacecraft must be able to endure heavy loads and intense vibrations. So the Dream Chaser frame has been mounted on an earthquake simulator in a lab at the University of Colorado in Boulder. So far, the design has performed as expected, says Mark Sirangelo, head of Sierra Nevada’s Space Systems division. At facilities in San Diego, the company has been testing the craft’s hybrid rocket motors. In the coming months, the company will put the two together to complete a full prototype, carry it into the air, and drop it to see how it flies….
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Since New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez took office nearly three weeks ago, the organization overseeing the construction of Spaceport America has lost its executive director, general counsel and board of directors. This is creating concerns about a leadership vacuum as the $209 million taxpayer-funded project moves toward completion later this year.
ULA's Atlas V
U.S. Air Force To Request $1.8 Billion for EELV Program as Costs Skyrocket
Space News
Projected budgets for the U.S. Air Force’s Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program will rise by more than 50 percent over the next few years as the cost of materials has increased sharply and the service buys more rockets to provide stability for the industrial base, according to government and industry sources.
The Air Force plans to request $1.78 billion for its primary launch vehicle program in 2012, some $450 million more than it previously planned to request for 2012, a government source said. The service’s five-year budget plan for EELV totaled $6.3 billion in its 2011 spending blueprint, and that figure will rise to $10 billion in the request it sends to Congress in February, the source said….
ATV-2 Johannes Kepler undergoing preparations. Credits: 2011 ESA / CNES / Arianespace / Photo Optique Vidéo du CSG / S. Martin
ESA MISSION UPDATE
ATV-2 is almost ready for launch on 15 February from Europe’s Spaceport. It will be the heaviest load ever lofted into space by the Ariane 5 rocket, making the 200th flight of the European launcher even more spectacular.
ESA’s latest Automated Transfer Vehicle space ferry, named after the German astronomer and mathematician Johannes Kepler, is now fully fuelled, its oxygen tanks are filled and most of the cargo from ESA and NASA is placed inside.
SAS PRESS RELEASE
Special Aerospace Services, a woman-owned aerospace company committed to developing and providing innovative aerospace solutions to the aerospace industry, U.S. government agencies, Department of Defense, and the emerging commercial spaceflight sector, held its first “Commercial Human Spaceflight Technical Forum” on January 12-14 in Boulder, Colorado.
SpaceX has released a new video touting its bid to launch NASA astronauts into orbit using its Falcon 9/Dragon system. The clip above is an excerpt; view the full video here.)Â In a blog post, the company also provided some additional details on the proposal it submitted for funding under NASA’s CCDev program.