Ares I-X rolls out to the launch pad at Cape Canaveral.
NASA’s tough mission: Dismantling Constellation
Orlando Sentinel
Obama’s 2011 budget proposal provides $2.5 billion to pay contractors whatever NASA owes them so the agency can stop work on Constellation’s Ares rockets, Orion capsule and Altair lunar lander. But administration officials acknowledge that this number is, at best, an educated guess…
Many inside and outside of the space agency, however, think the number is too low.
Fate of a Temecula spaceflight venture is unknown
Riverside Press-Enterprise
By 2006, a Temecula company had vowed to launch test flights of a vehicle that would one day allow civilians to fly into space.
Four years later, Sprague Astronautics’ Web site is the only thing to get off the ground — and it hasn’t been updated in years.
X-51 Waverider
U.S. Air Force Set To Begin X-51 Hypersonic Flight Tests
Space News
The maiden flight of the X-51 Waverider aircraft — the first U.S. hypersonic vehicle to fly in six years — is scheduled to take place later in March. Boeing Defense, Space & Security Systems of St. Louis has been developing the aircraft since 2003 on behalf of the Air Force Research Laboratory and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
On this edition of “This Week in Space” – the NASA Administrator hits some Congressional turbulence over NASA’s new budget, shuttles Endeavour and Discovery are on the move, new pics of ice geysers on one of Saturn’s moons, Orbital Sciences says its safety first for its new commercial spaceship, astro-immigrants are spotted in the Milky Way, and our own Miles O’Brien testifies to the Senate on NASA’s future.
Russia shortlists 11 for 520-day simulation of Mars mission
RIA Novosti
Russia’s Institute of Medical and Biological Problems announced on Thursday the names of 11 volunteers on the shortlist to take part in a 520-day simulation of an expedition to Mars, a spokesman said.
EXPLORE MARS PRESS RELEASE
Feb. 25, 2010
We are pleased to announce the formation of Explore Mars, Inc. (www.exploremars.org). Explore Mars is a project oriented group that was created to promote science and technology innovation and education with a use for Mars Exploration. Through a series of technology innovation awards, scientific symposiums and workshops, Mars analog work, technology demonstrations, and other programs, we provide a platform for scientists and “citizen scientists†to engage in meaningful space exploration research and development in the private sector.
Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center
23,000 now expected to lose jobs after shuttle retirement
Florida Today
Revised projections now show that about 23,000 workers at and around Kennedy Space Center will lose their jobs because of the shuttles’ retirement and the new proposal to cancel the development of new rockets and spacecraft…
Air Force X-37B spaceplane arrives in Florida for launch
Spaceflight Now
A secretive military spacecraft resembling a small space shuttle orbiter flew to Florida in the belly of a cargo plane this week to undergo final processing for launch on April 19….
Burt Rutan says he supports commercial spaceflight but is concerned about how the United States is pursuing trips beyond Earth orbit.
NASA BUDGET REQUEST
ESMD will lead research and development (R&D) activities related to space launch propulsion technologies. This propulsion R&D effort will include development of a U.S. first-stage hydrocarbon engine for potential use in future heavy lift (and other) launch systems, as well as basic research in areas such as new propellants, advanced propulsion materials manufacturing techniques, combustion processes, and engine health monitoring. In support of this initiative, NASA will explore cooperative efforts with the Department of Defense (DOD) and also develop a competitive process for allocating a small portion of these funds to universities and other non-governmental organizations.
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NASA Exploration Technology and Demonstrations
Budget Proposal
Flagship Technology Demonstrations
Projects selected as in-space, flagship demonstrations will be significant in scale, and offer high potential to demonstrate new capability and reduce the cost of future exploration missions. These missions will demonstrate such critical technologies as in-orbit propellant transfer and storage, inflatable modules, automated/autonomous rendezvous and docking, closed-loop life support systems, and other next generation capabilities key to sustainably exploring deep space.
In FY 2011, NASA will initiate several Flagship Technology Demonstrators, each with an expected lifecycle cost in the $400 million to $1 billion range, over a lifetime of five years or less, with the first flying no later than 2014. In pursuit of these goals, international, commercial, and other government agency partners will be actively pursued as integrated team members where appropriate.
