STRANGE BEDFELLOWS: Florida’s longtime Democratic senator and two recent tea party additions to the state’s congressional delegation are teaming to have the Space Coast designated a special zone in need of extra government assistance. The would-be Shuttle Workforce Revitalization Act, cosponsored by Sens. Bill Nelson (D) and Marco Rubio (R), looks to designate Brevard County as a “historically underutilized business zone,” or HUBZone. The designation gives small businesses in areas deemed economically challenged preference when the government doles out contracts.
Jilted by NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) has decided to press ahead with its ExoMars program in partnership with the Russian space agency Roscosmos, which plans to contribute Proton launch vehicles and a new entry, descent and landing system to the ambitious two-pronged Mars mission in 2016 and 2018. Russia’s arrival as the savior of ExoMars is not without cost, however, as ESA now will have to fund development of a rover for the 2018 mission that NASA had previously planned to share.
It's no secret that Boeing's space systems unit is aggressively pricing bids in an effort to grow its commercial business segment as government spending flags. But even the most bullish observers were taken aback by an estimated $400 million deal just signed with Asia Broadcast Satellite (ABS) and Satellites Mexicanos (SatMex) to build the first all-electric commercial telecom spacecraft intended for launch to geostationary orbit.
Robert J. Stevens, the CEO of Lockheed Martin, went to Capitol Hill on March 14 with a message for lawmakers: You're making my life hell. At issue are automatic cuts to U.S. defense spending scheduled to take effect next January. If Congress and the Obama administration cannot reach a budget compromise by then, military budgets will be hit with a $53 billion cut in 2013 and another $450 billion in reductions during the next nine years.
Amy Svitak (Washington), Frank Morring, Jr. (Washington)
Jilted by NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) has decided to press ahead with its ExoMars program in partnership with the Russian space agency Roscosmos, which plans to contribute Proton launch vehicles and a new entry, descent and landing system to the ambitious two-pronged Mars mission in 2016 and 2018. Russia's arrival as the savior of ExoMars is not without cost, however, as ESA will now have to fund development of a rover for the 2018 mission that NASA had previously planned to share.
Government payloads riding piggyback on commercial spacecraft are likely to win only 1% of the worldwide satellite-market revenue in the next few years, as bureaucratic inertia and a “not-invented-here” mentality work against the potential cost savings.
Power-saving integrated circuits that extend battery life in portable electronics, and are being applied to military radios and investigated for avionics, are the overall winner of Aviation Week's 2012 Innovation Challenge, organized to bring new technologies and processes to the attention of aerospace and defense leaders.
In the uncertain funded world of human spaceflight, the habit of die-hard propulsion engineers to never throw anything away is becoming increasingly useful as NASA looks for crew transports.
The world has changed in the slightly more than three years since the Kepler planet-finding spacecraft was launched into an Earth-trailing heliocentric orbit on a Delta II rocket. For starters, the Earth has 61 new cousins scattered around the universe, and another 2,321 new candidate-planets awaiting confirmation by astronomers as the real things.
In 1989, when Paul Graziani and two friends dreamed up what has become Analytical Graphics Inc., they sat in his living room envisioning a work environment where people could do their best work, creating new and bold things at a speed that would keep them happy and challenged. They would create commercial off-the-shelf analysis software for the security and space sectors, driving down cost while bringing the power of current and dynamic software to a non-consumer market.
Some astronauts who have spent extended periods in microgravity on the International Space Station (ISS) have developed abnormalities in their eyes and pituitary gland/brain connectors that are similar to a type of intracranial hypertension that occurs on the ground. The finding may help Earth-bound physicians understand what causes the potentially serious condition, but it already has NASA flight surgeons pondering how they can mitigate it when astronauts travel into deep space.
The space shuttle Discovery passes its sister ship Atlantis (see photo) March 9 as Kennedy Space Center prepares the retired orbiter fleet for transport to their new museum homes. Discovery is scheduled to arrive at the National Air and Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center at Washington Dulles International Airport on April 19. It will replace the Enterprise atmospheric test article now on display inside the James S. McDonnell Space Hangar.
Field scientists studying global climate change, marine biology, astronomy and other subjects in Antarctica may gain a robust satellite link to colleagues at home if a Russian working group permits salvage of a state-of-the-art communications satellite stranded in a useless orbit last summer. A working group of Russian agencies and companies is expected to decide later this month what to do with Express-AM4, which has been declared a total loss by its insurance underwriter after a Proton launch mishap last Aug. 18.
In 1967, a 19-year-old university student made a daring escape from Fidel Castro's Cuba, reaching the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay. The chief of naval operations (CNO) happened to be visiting the base, and he took Pedro L. Rustan back to Florida on his plane. Forty-four years to the day after that escape, Pete Rustan retired as director of the National Reconnaissance Office's (NRO) Mission Support Directorate. His government service ended with an enviable list of accomplishments that led to significant advances in aviation and space and helped greatly improve U.S.
A half-century-plus after Sputnik, the swirling mass of operational spacecraft and space junk that has grown up around the planet is overwhelming mankind's ability to keep track of it, much less clean it up. Some of the world's biggest commercial satellite operators have teamed up to help each other with their space situational awareness (SSA), spurred by the 2009 collision between an active Iridium low-Earth-orbit (LEO) spacecraft and a defunct Russian military bird.
CLEVELAND, Ohio — NASA should cut back on the breadth of its aeronautics research to free up funds within a flat budget to return to X-plane flight research, says a new report by the National Research Council (NRC). At only 3% of the space agency’s budget, aeronautics research funding is spread too thinly and unable to advance projects to the flight stage, which is vital to convincing industry and regulators to adopt new technologies, the report says
An Astrium-built Russian satellite stranded in a useless orbit by a Proton launch mishap last summer may be salvaged to provide broadband satellite links to scientists working in Antarctica, according to one of the effort’s organizers. A working group of Russian agencies and companies with a stake in the disposition of Express-AM4 will decide later this month what to do with the spacecraft, which has been declared a total loss by its insurance underwriter (Aerospace DAILY, Sept. 12, 2011).
U.S. Air Force planners expect commercial communications satellites to have an ever-larger role in the operation of remotely piloted aircraft (RPAs) as war-on-terror funding dwindles and the U.S. military’s focus shifts to other theaters, including Africa, Latin America and the U.S. border regions.
HOUSTON — Robonaut 2, NASA’s five-year-old collaboration with automaker GM, has generated a prototype Human Grasp Assist device, or Robo-Glove, that shows promise as an aide to manufacturers and their workers by lowering the risk of costly repetitive-stress injuries as well as to spacewalking astronauts by enhancing their grip.
Under pressure from Gulf Coast state politicians, U.S. Air Force leadership confirmed they are reconsidering their plan to move C-130s to Montana from Texas. And the Air Force plans to wrap up its acquisition strategy for the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program this spring, in a way that allows for increased competition. Air Force Secretary Michael Donley and Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz offered these updates to the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee during a March 14 hearing.
Some astronauts who have spent extended periods in microgravity on the International Space Station (ISS) have developed abnormalities in their eyes and pituitary gland/brain connectors that are similar to a type of intracranial hypertension that occurs on the ground. The finding may help earthbound physicians understand what causes the potentially serious condition, but it already has NASA flight surgeons pondering how they can mitigate it when astronauts travel into deep space.
BARCELONA, Spain — Astrium is trying to drum up European interest in its geostationary Earth-observation (EO) satellite concept, including a recent briefing to the European Defense Agency (EDA) to garner funding support.
Boeing has filled out its 702 satellite group with the launch of the “small platform” family on a joint order for four spacecraft from Asia Broadcast Satellite (ABS) and Satellites Mexicanos (Satmex). The first two spacecraft, ABS-3A and Satmex 7, are scheduled to be delivered together for tandem launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 in the fourth quarter of 2014 or first quarter of 2015. Launch plans and details on the second spacecraft for each buyer have not been announced.
NEW GIG: Michael Lopez-Alegria, retired NASA astronaut and lead for the International Space Station’s multilateral crew operations panel, is becoming president of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, effective March 19. Lopez-Algria, a former naval aviator who holds the current record for U.S. spaceflight of 215 days, will serve as the federation’s chief Washington liaison. The seven-year-old organization represents more than 50 commercial spacecraft developers, suppliers and support service providers.
