PARIS — The Russian space agency Roscosmos says its moribund Phobos-Grunt spacecraft could reenter Earth’s atmosphere over the southern Atlantic Ocean Jan. 15, raining down 20-30 chunks of heat-resistant debris off the coast of Argentina. But the agency’s forecast differs wildly from those published online by satellite-tracking enthusiasts and professional orbital analysts in the U.S. using the same publicly available data to predict points of entry that are literally all over the map.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) JAN. 9 - 12, 2012 — American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics 51th Aerospace Sciences Meeting & Exhibit, Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center, Nashville, Tenn. For more information call (703) 264-7622 or go to www.aoaa.org/events
A multibillion-dollar annual market for space tourism and launch services could emerge within the next five years, projects suborbital spaceflight hopeful XCOR Aerospace, which aims to begin flight tests of its first Lynx reusable launch vehicle by year-end.
Operational satellite networks that routinely monitor Earth's climate in the same way meteorological satellites watch the weather today will be extremely useful as the links between human activity and long-term environmental conditions become better understood, and perhaps more dangerous. It is an opportunity the aerospace industry cannot afford to pass up, given its unique ability to address climate-change issues.
Despite its programmatic progress and status as an acquisition reform program for the U.S. Air Force, GPS III—as with any other Pentagon project—is under the microscope and could be subject to funding cuts. The budget environment at the Pentagon gives new meaning to the term “capture team,” which is used to describe the group assigned by a company to win a program. Many contractors say they feel they are in a perpetual “capture team” mode, constantly fighting not only to win programs, but to keep them once they have won the contract.
The uncontrolled reentry of Russia's stranded Phobos-Grunt spacecraft presented a moving target to satellite trackers just days before pieces of the botched Mars mission were expected to fall to Earth.
FOR LATER: The 15 remaining RD-25D space shuttle main engines are on the way from Kennedy Space Center in Florida to the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, where they will be stored until needed to power the core stage of NASA’s planned heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS). As many as five of the reusable liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen engines will be used on the SLS, now scheduled to make its first flight test late in 2017.
Engineers developing NASA’s heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS) for future deep-space human exploration missions are polling the worldwide launch industry for an existing upper stage they can use to propel the Orion multi-purpose crew vehicle (MPCV) on two test flights around the Moon.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Gen. William Shelton, commander of Air Force Space Command, is drawing attention to the the increasingly decrepit state of infrastructure at the Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg AFB launch sites, and the threat it poses to national security space. “We limp along from year to year keeping our fingers crossed that nothing goes wrong,” Shelton says, speaking at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics New Horizon Forum here.
UPSTARTS WELCOME: Sending a clear warning shot across the bows of established launch suppliers, Gen. William Shelton, commander of Air Force Space Command, says the service is increasingly interested in the potential of emergent space companies like Blue Origin and Space Exploration (SpaceX). Propulsion systems recently demonstrated by Blue Origin “might well be worth examining for our own unmanned purposes,” Shelton says.
The past year has seen a lot of turbulence in the stock market, but there have been a few bright spots for investors in aerospace and defense companies. Shares in suppliers of aerospace components fared particularly well in 2011 as Airbus and Boeing ramped up output, and soaring order numbers added to the airframers’ already bulging backlogs.
The past year has seen a lot of turbulence in the stock market, but there have been a few bright spots for investors in aerospace and defense companies. Shares in suppliers of aerospace components fared particularly well in 2011 as Airbus and Boeing ramped up output, and soaring order numbers added to the airframers' already bulging backlogs. Notable performers among suppliers include Hexcel (up 34%), TransDigm Group (33%), Triumph Group (31%), Sifco Industries (23%), Rolls-Royce (20%), Precision Castparts (18%), Safran (12%) and Moog (10%).
NASA's twin Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory (Grail) spacecraft straddled the New Year as they eased into orbit around the Moon, where they will provide the most detailed gravity maps available and important clues to the origins of Earth's big satellite. Before the mission is over, the two spacecraft will also give thousands of middle-school students some hands-on experience in space research. After spending 3.5 months on a low-energy trajectory that started with a tandem launch Sept. 10, 2011, the first of the Grail orbiters braked into lunar orbit at 5 p.m.
Launch of France's first Pleiades Earth-imaging satellite plus a quartet of French military radar-mapping microsatellites atop the second Russian Soyuz flying from the European spaceport near Kourou, French Guiana, suggests that some cross-fertilization may be in order for the troubled Russian space program. The Dec. 16 mission marked the second flight of the Europeanized rocket from the new Soyuz pad at Sinnamary (see photo).
New approaches to life-support technologies, as much as powerful rockets and optimally configured spacecraft, promise to pace NASA's push into deep space with humans. Frequently, advances in the space life-support realm—where the emphasis is on compact, reliable low-energy systems—can lead to improvements at a faster clip in more down-to-earth arenas, including public and personal health, and even environmental protection. Activities at NASA's Kennedy and Johnson space centers, as well as on the International Space Station, are bearing this out.
It's been two years since European launch consortium Arianespace turned a profit. Despite Europe's economic crisis, the market for commercial satellite communications is strong and conditions for launch providers are generally favorable, yet the Evry, France-based launch services company continues to rely on government subsidies.
When it comes to the U.S. missile defense market, nothing and everything have changed. In the closing days of 2011, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) announced that Boeing would retain its decade-long position as prime contractor for the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) missile shield for another seven years. But if the $3.48 billion contract signifies a renewal of the partners' sometimes-rocky marriage, there now seems to be a change in the wedding vows.
AERONAUTICS/PROPULSION •The AeroVironment Nano Air Vehicle Team developed and unveiled a tiny remotely piloted air vehicle, the Nano Hummingbird. Looking and flying like a tiny bird, it is designed to record video with an onboard camera and send color video to a hand-held controller.
