This week in The Space Review… HLV! HLV! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing! Say it again! That is basically Lou Friedman’s view of the job creating, budget busting heavy-lift vehicle that Congress has thrust upon a reluctant NASA. Todd Neff looks at the vastly over budget and behind schedule James Webb Space Telescope, which threatens to scuttle and delay other valuable projects. Jeff Foust reports on some the […]

NASA’s Office of Chief Technologist has published detailed information about suborbital vehicles that will be available beginning in 2011 for researchers to conduct microgravity experiments. The vehicles are being built by Armadillo Aerospace, Blue Origin, Masten Space Systems, Virgin Galactic, and XCOR.

Today we will look at Blue Origin’s New Shepard system. The Washington State-based company is expected to begin commercial flight operations with cargo next year, with human flights following in 2012. The New Shepard vehicle will fly from Texas.

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NASA PROGRAM UPDATE

NASA has issued delivery orders to three companies as part of its Innovative Lunar Demonstrations Data (ILDD) project. Each order is worth $500,000 and will help develop vehicle capabilities and demonstrate end-to-end robotic lunar landing missions.

The three companies selected are:

— Astrobotic Technology Inc., Pittsburgh
— Dynetics Inc., Huntsville, Ala.
— Moon Express Inc., San Francisco .

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SpaceShipTwo glides downward on its first test flight. (Photo: Mark Greenberg)

A new quarterly, New Space Magazine , has launched. It includes an article from Philip A. Janquart titled, “Space Tourism: Will it go far or fizzle out?” in which I’m quoted extensively. Some excerpts:

“Virgin has a lot of money and prestige behind it,” Messier told NewSpace Magazine. “They are, kind of, the Goliath of the industry right now. They just completed another test flight. It’ll be interesting to see how fast they can move with the aggressive schedule they have. One question is their engine: they still need to do a lot of testing.”

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This week on The Space Show…. Monday, December 20 , 2010, 2-3:30 PM PST. We welcome Dr. Al Koller of SpaceTEC to the show. Dr. Koller founded SpaceTEC – the National Science Foundation’s Center for Aerospace Technical Education. SpaceTEC offers this country’s only national certification for aerospace technicians. Tuesday, December 21, 2010, 7-8:30 PM PST: We welcome back Dr. Robert Richards to the show. Dr. Robert (Bob) Richards is a […]

FUTRON PRESS RELEASE

Futron has released new analysis that benchmarks space technology among the top 10 leading space powers, which identifies specific technologies where countries optimize their economic and industrial competitiveness, or vice versa, where nations fail to effectively leverage technical capabilities. The release of Futron’s 2010 Space Technology Capacity Index represents an important milestone in integrating technology capability and use into national space competitiveness.

According to Ms. Peggy Slye, Futron’s Chief Operating Officer, “Managing technology development at the national level requires insight into technical requirements of space programs, but, also, increasingly, must incorporate the source of technology development as well as how products and services are disseminated in a globalized and commercial space industry.”

For example, the Technology Index finds that the U.S. technological leadership is buoyed by the contribution of the industrial sector, which effectively markets, uses, and sells technology assets to government and commercial clients worldwide. Canada represents another country that effectively disseminates its technology.

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Armadillo Aerospace's Super Mod vehicle. (Credit: Armadillo Aerospace)

NASA’s Office of Chief Technologist has published detailed information about suborbital vehicles that will be available beginning in 2011 for researchers to conduct microgravity experiments. The vehicles are being built by Armadillo Aerospace,  Blue Origin, Masten Space Systems, Virgin Galactic and XCOR.

Today we will look at platforms being offered by Armadillo Aerospace. The Texas company expects to make the first flight under the NASA funded Commercial Reusable Suborbital Research (CRuSR) program in January, begin commercial cargo operations in 2011, and start human spaceflight by the end of 2012.

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NASA LUNAR ECLIPSE UPDATE

NASA has planned various ways to help the public enjoy the total lunar eclipse on the night of Dec. 20 to 21.

Astronomers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., will host a pair of live web chats to answer questions and help make the rare celestial experience one to remember. Marshall Center astronomer Rob Suggs will hold the first chat from 4 – 5 p.m. EST on Dec. 20 and discuss the best ways to view the eclipse. From 12 a.m. – 5 a.m., Marshall researcher Mitzi Adams will answer questions as the eclipse passes across the continental United States. A live video feed of the eclipse will be available on the chat site at:

https://www.nasa.gov/connect/chat/lunar_eclipse.html

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Armadillo Aerospace: Testing a parachute deployment process by dropping a weight out of an airplane. As you can see there was excellent spatial coordination between the drop team and the recovery team. (Shout out to Clark Lindsey over at Hobby Space.)

OCEANEERING PRESS RELEASE

Oceaneering International, Inc. (NYSE:OII) announced that ex-astronaut Michael J. (“Mike”) Bloomfield has joined Oceaneering as its Vice President and General Manager of Oceaneering Space Systems.

Mr. Bloomfield is a veteran Astronaut of three Space Shuttle flights.  Selected as a NASA Astronaut in 1994, Mike served as Pilot on STS-86 and STS-jj97 and as Commander of STS-110.  While at NASA he also held important positions with the Astronaut Office including Chief of Safety and Chief Instructor Astronaut. Additionally, Mr. Bloomfield was Director of Shuttle Operations and Chief of the Shuttle Branch. He also served as Deputy Director of the Flight Crew Operations Directorate (FCOD) before leaving NASA in 2007 to join ATK as Vice President for Houston Operations.  In his new role at Oceaneering, Mr. Bloomfield will lead Oceaneering’s Space System Division, where he has responsibility for all aspects of the business.

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German space technology for the ISS – integration of the ATV 2 transporter at Astrium in Bremen. (Credit: Astrium GmbH)

This has been a busy year for Germany’s space agency, DLR. The German government has recently overhauled the nation’s space policy. DLR also recently signed an agreement with NASA to expand cooperation in radar mapping satellites, lunar research and other areas.

A press release describing the policy overhaul follows. Following that, there is a Q&A interview with DLR Chairman Johann-Dietrich Wörner in which he expands that was recently published on the space agency’s website.

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Ariane 5

“A Memorandum of Understanding allocating €82.5 million to carrying out preparatory work linked to the post-Ariane-5 next-generation launcher has been signed. This is the first tranche of a €250 million programme financed by the “big loan”. CNES [Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales – French Space Agency] is the contracting authority for this work, which will be entrusted to space industry manufacturers. Thanks to this investment and work, France will contribute effectively to preparation of the future European launchers and support the excellence of the French players in this sector. This programme highlights the support for the strategic industrial sectors provided by the “big loan” which is preparing the future of French industry.”

Read French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s full communiqué concerning the future of his country’s space industry after the break.

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