ULA's Mike Gass and SpaceX's Elon Musk were featured witnesses at a Mar. 5 Senate hearing in Washington DC. With questioning from Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) and Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), the back-and-forth was filled with sharply pointed barbs. Shelby seemed to take a posture of defending ULA, which builds rockets in his state, while Mikulski asked questions that allowed SpaceX to put its intended points forward.
Musk argued that ULA's monopolistic situation has caused its prices to rise unaccepably, leading to billions in wasted tax dollars. He offered that billions could have been saved if SpaceX rockets were used, and suggested that Falcon rockets should replace Atlas rockets (with their Russian engines) in the EELV program. He criticized the cost-plus contracting approach used by the Air Force to procure Atlas and Delta launches, recommending fixed-price contracts as the alternative.
ULA asserted that SpaceX's offered numbers were false, and said that Atlas and Delta reliability were key to meeting national security needs for assured space access. He explained that the reliability comes at a cost, and that fixed-price contracting doesn't work well for mission requirements that tend to shift. He said frequent schedule changes require contractor flexibility that cannot be priced adequately with fixed-price contracts. (3/5)
Near-Term Pool of Competitively Awarded EELV Launches Shrinks for SpaceX (Source: Space News)
Should SpaceX earn certification to launch U.S. national security payloads aboard its Falcon 9 rocket, the company will be eligible to bid on seven such missions from 2015-2017, half as many as originally expected, a top U.S. Air Force space acquisition officer said March 5.
The reduction is driven in part by a slowdown in procurement of GPS 3 navigation satellites beginning in the 2015 budget year, primarily because earlier-generation GPS satellites are lasting longer in orbit than expected. Another factor is a delay in the delivery of the first GPS 3 spacecraft to 2016, he said. (3/5)
Falcon 9 Performance: Mid-size GEO? (Source: Aviation Week)
Last month commercial fleet operator SES said it plans to launch the 5.3-ton SES-10 communications satellite on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in 2016. The problem, however, is that SpaceX caps the advertised GTO performance of Falcon 9 from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport at 4,850 kg. Elon Musk says while Falcon 9 is capable of lofting more mass to orbit than advertised, he says the current performance from the Cape is closer to 3,500 kg, due to latitude and plane changes.
Musk said while the Falcon 9 is able to compete in the mid-sized geosynchronous satellite range, it is “not quite at the 5-ton (5,000-kg) level when you consider plane-change maneuvers and higher altitude.” But given SpaceX's plan to gradually introduce fully and rapidly reusable first-stage rocket cores, both Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy will see weight penalties affect performance. (3/5)
2015 NASA Budget DOA In Congress (Source: America Space)
Since 2010, the Obama Administration’s proposed annual NASA budget for human spaceflight (HSF) has been rejected by Congress. The Administration’s proposed fiscal year 2015 NASA budget will likely meet the same fate. Past proposed NASA HSF budgets by the Obama Administration, specifically the 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014 budgets, died in large part because Congress was unwilling to accept proposed cuts to NASA’s human spaceflight programs, specifically the Orion and Space Launch System programs, in favor of a larger Commercial Crew program budget.
Given that history, Congress will surely be surprised by the Administration’s proposal to dramatically increase the Commercial Crew program budget from $696 million to nearly $1.1 billion while cutting the Orion and SLS programs by 7 percent. (3/4)
Rep. Schiff Calls Obama’s Proposed NASA Budget ‘Insufficient’ (Source: Pasadena Star-News)
In President Barack Obama 2015 proposed budget, funds set aside for science, NASA and planetary exploration fell below what some hoped to see. The fiscal budget calls for $1.28 billion in planetary exploration and $17.5 billion for NASA, slightly off from the $1.3 billion and $17.6 billion set aside for planetary science and NASA, respectively, in fiscal 2014.
“It’s plainly insufficient,” said Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Burbank, “In order to meet the priorities the administration has laid out, we need a better budget for overall planetary science.” Schiff said the budgets, while “fine,” aren’t substantial enough and could impact endeavors like the 2020 Mars mission or the future mission to Europa, Jupiter’s moon. (3/4)
Mojave Spaceport Investigates Mysterious Resignation of CFO (Source: Parabolic Arc)
For the past two weeks, officials at the Mojave Air and Space Port have been investigating a mystery: Why did long-time Chief Financial Officer Erika Westawski suddenly resign on the morning that a financial audit was to begin? Westawski’s sudden departure caught everyone at the airport by complete surprise, CEO and General Manager Stu Witt said. Airport staff and an outside financial team have been working on an emergency audit to determine if anything is amiss with the airport district’s finances. (3/5)
'Cosmos' TV Series Is Coming to Fox (Source: Space.com)
When Carl Sagan's beloved 13-part "Cosmos" series first aired in 1980, it was broadcast on PBS. But a new reboot of the show, hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson, hasn't been pigeonholed in the realm of educational programming; it will launch in a much splashier fashion when it premieres on Fox and National Geographic Channel this weekend. (3/5)
Russia Plans to Launch New Glonass Satellite on March 24 (Source: RIA Novosti)
Russia is planning to launch another Glonass-M navigation satellite into orbit on March 24, the Defense Ministry said Wednesday. Glonass is Russia’s answer to the US Global Positioning System, or GPS, and is designed for both military and civilian uses. (3/6)
NASA Awards Contract to Modify KSC's Vehicle Assembly Building High Bay (Source: NASA)
NASA has selected Hensel Phelps Construction Co., of Orlando, Fla., to modify High Bay 3 in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the processing of the agency's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. Hensel Phelps will receive a fixed-price contract for $99.57 million, consisting of the base amount and three options. The period of performance is 782 calendar days, or about 2 years and one month. The potential maximum value of this contract is $112.70 million, if additional awarded options are exercised. (3/5)
Forget a Soft Landing, Let’s Just Harpoon That Asteroid (Source: Engineering.com)
To make in situ asteroid sampling easier, students at the University of Washington have been developing the Sample Return Systems for Extreme Environments (SRSEE). Comprised of a rocket impactor that would burrow into a target, the SRSEE’s impact would be so great that it would bore several meters into a target. Once planted inside an asteroid, ports on the SRSEE’s nose would capture samples of alien rock and deposit them in a capsule safely nested inside the once-ballistic impactor.
After gathering all the material it can, the interior capsule would be reeled in via tether to a satellite floating nearby. That satellite could then conduct experiments and beam its findings pack to earth, or begin its return journey home. While this whole plan seems like it might be a little too farfetched to be true, NASA has deemed it feasible enough to garner a $500K Innovative Advanced Concepts grant.
In fact, the U. Washington team developing the SRSEE project has already begun real world experiments testing the validity of their design. Earlier this year in the Black Rock Desert a number of SRSEE prototypes were floated to an altitude of 914m (3000ft) and sent crashing back to Earth. While the SRSEE prototypes survived their test Washington researchers determined they hadn’t reached a high enough altitude for “proper performance testing.” (2/26)
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