A federal court ruled against a motion by Sierra Nevada Corp. to reinstate a suspension of work by two companies on commercial crew contracts awarded by NASA last month. NASA had issued stop-work orders to Boeing and SpaceX shortly after Sierra Nevada filed its protest of the CCtCap awards on Sep. 26.
In a statement announcing the protest, Sierra Nevada alleged there were “serious questions and inconsistencies” in NASA’s selection process. On Oct. 9, NASA announced it was lifting the stop-work order, citing “statutory authority available to it” in order to keep the overall commercial crew effort on schedule. NASA warned of risks to operations of the international space station and NASA’s ability to meet its international commitments if the development of commercial crew systems was delayed. (10/21)
Pentagon Report: Commercial Bandwidth 4 Times More Expensive than WGS (Source: Space News)
A U.S. Defense Department study says buying bandwidth from commercial satellite providers is nearly four times more expensive than using military-owned communications satellites. The study provides a counterpoint to the long-held position of commercial satellite operators that leasing is cheaper than buying, and illustrates the uphill challenge they face in seeking to change the way the Pentagon meets its satellite communications needs.
The report says the U.S. Air Force-owned and -operated Wideband Global Satcom system should remain a top priority and that the Defense Department should use commercial satellite bandwidth only when WGS capacity is not available. (10/21)
KSC To Offer Undeveloped Property for Commercial Use (Source: Space News)
With most of its surplus space shuttle-era infrastructure handed over to other organizations — including the U.S. Air Force’s X-37B military spaceplane program — NASA’s Kennedy Space Center will soon solicit proposals from companies that want to develop new facilities there, including new launch sites.
“Now that our assets, for the most part, are spoken for or transitioned from shuttle, they can provide us a proposal for undeveloped land” on center property that companies would like to develop, said Scott Colloredo, director of KSC’s Center Planning and Development Directorate.
That land use, which he said could include additional launch sites or manufacturing facilities, would have to be consistent with KSC’s master plan published this year. That plan sets aside land at the center for additional horizontal and vertical launch and landing sites, as well as locations for assembly, testing and processing buildings. “As long as it’s compatible with our master plan and our future planning, we’ll entertain it,” Colloredo said. (10/21)
Marshall Partnerships Push Boundaries of Technology (Source: WAAY)
Going to and developing space is one of the biggest challenges that face humanity. As such, it requires some of the brightest minds and most motivated agencies to overcome the problems that the harsh environment of space presents. The Marshall Space Flight Center knows that they can't do it alone, and forge partnerships with industry, government and academic entities to combine resources and manpower to create groundbreaking technology not only for use in space, but also to make life better on Earth. Click here. (10.21)
Zero-G Printer Shares History with Voyager Mission (Source: Made In Space)
Jon Lomberg is without question the preeminent space artist and the world’s most experienced designer in creating messages for other times and other beings. From artwork on far-reaching probes like Voyager and New Horizons to sun dials on the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity. It is a rare privilege for Made In Space to work with him on yet another milestone in space history; artwork on the the first manufacturing device in space. Click here. (10/21)
Florida Space Day 2015 Invites Sponsorships (Source: FSD)
On March 25, 2015, Florida-based companies that support the aerospace industry will be meeting with legislators in Tallahassee for Florida Space Day 2015. This event includes legislative visits with our House and Senate Representatives to discuss their support of our industry and to bring them our collaborative messages on space-related issues and pending legislation.
The funding for Florida Space Day is solely supported by Florida aerospace partners like you. Sponsorship allows involvement in various planning committees, and provides budget for developing and communicating our message, as well as partner recognition. All contributors are invited to participate in the planning and implementation of the Florida Space Day 2015 event; as well as attend the March 25th evening reception on the 22nd Floor of the Capitol Building, and to attend other events that are presently being scheduled. Click here. (10/20)
Fox Plans Billionaire Space Race TV Drama (Source: Parabolic Arc)
Fox is going for a new take on space race with an untitled drama, from 20th Century Fox TV. It falls under a deal Film 44 inked with the Fox network at the beginning of the summer. Written by Attie, the present-day drama us about a space race — but between people instead of nations, as two wildly ambitious egos with a long and ugly personal history battle to control the future of space exploration. Attie, Berg and Aubrey executive produce. (10/21)
Virgin Galactic Now Has More Land Rovers Than Spaceships (Source: Parabolic Arc)
Virgin Galactic has received the first production vehicle of Land Rover’s Discovery Sport vehicle after it rolled off the assembly line in Halewood, England last week. The vehicle was sent to Virgin Galactic headquarters in London, Land Rover announced. This brings to at least six the number of Land Rover vehicles Virgin Galactic has received under a partnership and promotional deal between the two companies that was announced earlier this year.
Five Land Rovers have been seen at Virgin Galactic’s production and test center in Mojave, California. Virgin Galactic also will use Land Rovers at Spaceport America in New Mexico, where the company will fly tourists on suborbital flights aboard SpaceShipTwo. (10/21)
Sleepy Sun Could Make Mars Trips Deadly (Source: New Scientist)
Space is getting more dangerous. Just as missions will ramp up, it seems that exploring the solar system will become more deadly. The sun is going through a quiet period. Simulations suggest that, by the 2020s, this means astronauts spending a year in space will exceed NASA's safety limits for radiation exposure, potentially thwarting missions to Mars or to asteroids.
High-energy particles from deep space called cosmic rays bombard the solar system and can damage spacecraft and human DNA. The sun's magnetic field shields us from much of this radiation, but the field's strength waxes and wanes on an 11-year cycle. The most recent peak in activity – a solar maximum – has been abnormally weak, reducing the shield's effectiveness.
Earth's own magnetic field protects people on the ground and even on the International Space Station, but a sleepy sun could be bad news for those going further afield. (10/21)
Doses of Radiation Contracted by Cosmonauts Overstated (Source: Itar-Tass)
Doses of radiation contracted by cosmonauts during orbital missions are smaller by a factor of several times that it was thought previously, suggest the results of the Matryoshka-R experiment held aboard the International Space Station (ISS) by scientists from different countries, including Russia, since 2004.
“This finding is crucial to the planning of protracted space flights,” Dr. Vyacheslav Shurshakov from the Moscow-based Institute of Medical-Biological Problems, one of the authors of the research, told TASS. "It means in practical terms we can fly longer and go further." (10/21)
Russia Launches Proton Rocket (Source: RIA Novosti)
Russia launched on Tuesday an Express-series communications satellite on board the Proton-M carrier rocket from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan. Based on the heavy-class Express-2000 platform, the spacecraft will have an active lifespan of 15 years and carry 11 antennas as well as 72 transponders, according to Russia's Reshetnev Company, which designs and builds Express-series satellites. (10/21)
Ice Spotted on Mercury—Yes, We Know It Sounds Nuts (Source: TIME)
At high noon on Mercury, the temperature can soar to 800°F—and no wonder. The Solar System’s smallest planet (as of 2006, anyway) averages only 36 million miles from the Sun, which is right next door compared with Earth’s 93 million. You’d be justified in thinking that ice couldn’t possibly exist on such a scorching world.
But you’d be wrong. Scientists using the MESSENGER space probe are reporting in the journal Geology that they’ve taken images of that reveal what they call “the morphology of frozen volatiles” in permanently shadowed crater floors near the planet’s north pole. That’s ice, in plain English. “This is making a lot of people happy,” said Nancy Chabot of the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins, lead author of the report.
It’s good news because the discovery confirms circumstantial evidence for ice on Mercury that’s been mounting for decades—first from radar observations with powerful radio telescopes on Earth that showed high reflectivity from the polar region, then from MESSENGER’s neutron spectrometer, which picked up the atomic signal of hydrogen in the same area. That pointed to H2O, almost certainly in the form if ice. (10/21)
Inmarsat Details The Forensic Search For MH370 (Source: Aviation Week)
A fresh assessment of satellite data has shifted the hunt for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 (MH370) to another zone in the southern Indian Ocean, based in part on new analysis from satellite operator Inmarsat, which cautions that “significant uncertainty” remains as to the location of the missing Boeing 777-200ER.
As the underwater search for MH370 moves to an area approximately 800 km (500 mi.) south of the previous zone, London-based Inmarsat, which has been criticized for its part of the investigation, shared details of the refined data analysis on which the shift was largely based. Click here. (10/20)
Lockheed Tumbles as Sales Fall Short of Analyst Estimates (Source: Bloomberg)
Lockheed Martin declined the most in almost two years after its third-quarter sales fell short of analysts’ estimates and margins declined in the unit that includes its F-35 fighter jet. Lockheed is increasingly reliant on the $398.6 billion F-35 program, the Pentagon’s most-expensive weapons system.
The jets were temporarily grounded earlier this year after an engine fire on one plane. While the company’s sales have suffered amid U.S. budget cuts, Lockheed’s shares had been buoyed on speculation that increased global tensions will improve the prospects for defense spending. Sales decreased 2.1 percent to $11.1 billion, the company said, the ninth straight quarterly decline amid government budget cutbacks. Analysts had projected $11.27 billion. (10/21)
NASA Has Found a Way to Listen to Space (Source: Esquire)
When a spaceship whooshes by in the middle of a sci-fi movie, every nerd worth his salt blurts out, “There is no sound in space!” There isn’t. No sound detectable to the human ear, that is. The only vibrations that survive the vacuum of space are electromagnetic waves. NASA has found a way to hear them.
Using a “plasma wave antenna” to record vibrations within 20 to 20,000 hertz, the range of human hearing, NASA has captured the actual sounds of our planets. It should come as no surprise that our Solar System sounds more majestic than any sci-fi director could fabricate. (10/21)
Aerojet Rocketdyne Selected to Power and Propel 2020 Mars Rover (Source: SpaceFlight Insider)
With NASA preparing to send crews to travel to Mars some time in the 2030s, the space agency is developing mechanical pathfinders which will blaze the trail that their human counterparts will retrace when their time comes to make history. However, getting to the Martian surface – is more difficult than recent missions have made it out to be.
To help ensure that NASA’s 2020 Mars Rover makes it safely to the dusty terrain – it has selected a well-known aerospace entity, under a larger collaborative effort - to provide key systems to help ensure success. Aerojet Rocketdyne’s thrusters have been selected for the follow-on mission to NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover, Curiosity. In its current configuration, the robotic explorer will be very similar to Curiosity – which landed on the Martian surface in August of 2012 after a nine-month journey across the void. (10/21)
China Launches New Satellite Via Orbital Carrier Rocket (Source: Space Daily)
China has launched its new Yaogan-22 remote sensing optical satellite into scheduled orbit Monday, Chinese News Service reported. The satellite was launched atop a Long March 4C rocket, which blasted off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, a Chinese space and defense launch facility and a spaceport. (10/21)
Russia to Create Space-Based Ballistic Missile Warning System (Source RIA Novosti)
Russia will create a space-based ballistic missile warning system capable of detecting launches of existing and test missiles, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Thursday. "The creation of an integrated space system is one of the key directions in which Russian nuclear deterrent forces will be developed." (10/21)
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