The spacecraft bus that will power and point the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) passed its critical design review five months early, as the deep-space infrared instrument continues moving toward its targeted 2018 launch date.
The space agencies that operate the International Space Station—and their other spaceflight partners—likely will be using its facilities to prepare for a push to the Moon and beyond, as well as trying to promote its commercial use. Top managers from more than 30 space agencies who met in Washington Jan. 9-10 were unanimous in their consensus joint statement that deep-space exploration should be based on the ISS model.
In its highest and longest ascent to date, NASA's Morpheus prototype planetary lander flew to an estimated 305 ft. and traversed 358 ft. during a 64-sec. free flight at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) on Jan. 21.
Virgin Galactic plans long-duration hot-fire ground tests of its 47,500-lb.-thrust NewtonTwo kerosene-fueled rocket engine “in the coming months,” following a full-mission duty cycle test of this 3,500-lb.-thrust NewtonOne engine. The work at Virgin's static test stand at Mojave, Calif., supports company plans to supplement its suborbital human spaceflight business by launching small satellites from its WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft.
Virgin Galactic’s plans to supplement its suborbital human spaceflight business by launching small satellites from its WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft are advancing with hot-fire ground tests of the two kerosene-fueled rocket engines it has designed for the application. Developed and built by Virgin Galactic engineers, the 3,500-lb.-thrust NewtonOne and 47,500-lb.-thrust NewtonTwo are the first- and second-stage engines, respectively, for the company’s planned LauncherOne rocket.
HOUSTON — Competition remains a crucial factor in the final stages of the NASA-funded Commercial Crew Program (CCP), according to Michael Lopez-Alegria, president of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation (CSF). CCP is intended to restore the U.S. ability to transport humans to low Earth orbit lost when NASA’s space shuttle fleet retired in 2011.
BOLDEN RECOGNIZED: NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, Jr., a former astronaut, will receive the National Space Trophy for career contributions to human spaceflight, in Houston on April 11. The Rotary National Award for Space Achievement (RNASA) foundation announced its annual trophy selection on Jan. 21. Bolden became the agency’s administrator on July 17, 2009.
COLLISION THREAT: Catastrophic collisions of space junk and orbital assets are likely to occur every five to nine years, and the space debris population may have already reached a “tipping point,” U.S. congressional researchers say in their latest review. “Many experts now believe that mitigation efforts alone are insufficient to prevent the continual increase of space debris,” the Congressional Research Service reported earlier this month. “A growing view among experts holds that some level of active removal of debris from the space environment is necessary.
HOUSTON — NASA’s Morpheus prototype planetary lander ascended to an estimated 305 ft. and traversed 358 ft. during a 64-sec. free flight at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida on Jan. 21, the vehicle’s highest and longest ascent yet in a test-flight campaign expected to last into March. The latest test flight eclipsed a Jan. 16th ascent, in which the methane and liquid oxygen-fueled Morpheus rose to 187 ft. and covered 154 ft. during 57 sec. of flight near the test site adjacent to the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) runway.
Researchers and entrepreneurs interested in using the International Space Station as a satellite bus for Earth remote-sensing sensors will have a chance at government subsidies for launch and operations under a renewed request for proposals from the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (Casis).
ASTEROID ASSISTANCE: More countries should participate in the activities of the International Space Station, and the Obama administration would welcome international support for NASA’s Asteroid Redirect Mission, a U.S. official told the International Space Exploration Forum recently. Moreover, governments should explore more ways to encourage entrepreneurial ventures in space, as well as do “much more” to defend Earth from near-earth objects and space debris, according to remarks by Deputy Secretary of State William Burns.
ATK’s Solar Electric Propulsion MegaFlex solar array design is in line for thermal vacuum deployment testing at NASA’s Glenn Research Center Plum Brook Station this month, following a full deployment demonstration at the company’s Goleta, Calif., facilities in December.
PARIS — Europe’s comet-chasing Rosetta spacecraft emerged from 31 months of deep-space slumber Jan. 20 to reestablish communications with Earth. The €1.3 billion ($1.76 billion) European Space Agency (ESA) mission made contact with NASA’s 70-meter-dia. ground station at Goldstone, Calif., 48 min. into a nail-chewing hour-long window that opened at 12:30 p.m. eastern.
The National Space Society says it “strongly opposes” passage of a U.S. House of Representatives bill (HR 3625) pushed prominently by Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.). The bill would exempt the International Space Station, heavy-lift Space Launch System and Orion crew vehicle from termination without proactive congressional approval, as well as free $507 million in funds held to cover termination liability costs under a contract interpretation by NASA’s Democratic management of the Anti-Deficiency Act.
Analysis of temperature and other data from more than 1,000 meteorological stations worldwide has found 2013 was the seventh-warmest year since 1880, adding more evidence to the long-term rise in global warming, according to NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York. Nine of the 10 warmest years in the 134 years covered by the analysis have occurred since 2000, and the 10th was 1998. The latest GISS analysis finds 2013 tied with 2009 and 2006 in global temperature averages.
A parachute-deployment test of NASA’s Orion crew capsule Jan. 16 added another level of complexity to the preflight work that must be done before the vehicle’s Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1), atop a Delta IV rocket in September.
Space-science units of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences are planning two meetings this year designed to bring young scientists from the two countries together for discussions on space astronomy and solar and space physics. The U.S. Space Studies Board and the Chinese academy’s National Space Science Center set up meetings in Beijing and Los Angeles for space scientists under 40 to “build informal bridges between the space-science communities in China and the United States,” according to a joint announcement.
NASA is expanding its push for commercial partnerships in space projects, with a call for proposals from private companies that may be able to use the agency’s lunar-landing know-how in exchange for rides to the surface of the Moon.
In this era of ostensible federal austerity, flat budget lines or those that are congressionally increased are the new “up.” In that sense, most federal aerospace, civil aviation and defense programs were seeing blue skies for now as the fiscal 2014 omnibus appropriations bill moved through the Capitol last week.
Bill Swanson (left), Raytheon's CEO and chairman, is scheduled to hand over the chief executive's office to current Chief Operating Officer Tom Kennedy on March 31. Swanson will remain chairman at least while the Waltham, Mass.-based defense prime contractor transitions to Kennedy's leadership.
The history of space exploration generally has been a march toward greater ambition, risk, complexity and cost. The first launch vehicles were guided missiles carrying the simplest of satellites, and the objective—orbit—was simple and straightforward. Earlier this month, circumstance presented a unique opportunity to observe how the international space-exploration endeavor has evolved over more than 50 years.
