Aerospace & Defense News - Space

AirGuide Business, Oct 13, 2008

Oct 13, 2008

Spacewalk completed, China turns focus to next phase. After a successful spacewalk, the Chinese are now focused on building a space station, followed by a manned lunar mission as early as 2020. "We might even see a traffic jam on the moon," says a professor at the City University of New York, "with different lunar modules orbiting the moon at the same time from different nations." Though the moon offers limited natural resources or military advantage, Michio Kaku says too many spacecraft in near-earth orbit could cause political friction. "More and more, outer space is crucial for commerce, science, communications, weather forecasting and spy satellites, and it could become an area of contention between great powers." Oct 6, 2008

ESA

European Space Agency's Intermediate Experimental Vehicle (IXV) program will begin its preliminary design review on 4 November with a test flight target of 2012. Launched by ESA's new Vega rocket in 2012, IXV will reach an altitude of 450km (279 miles) before returning at a speed of 26,850km/h (16,700mph), equivalent to re-entry from low-Earth orbit. The project started in 2005 and will demonstrate re-entry technologies including thermal protection systems, guidance, navigation and hot structures. The vehicle will have about 600 sensors to record its performance. It has completed its development phases A and B and following the preliminary design review, phase C and phase D activities will begin in January. At the 59th International Astronautical Congress, in Glasgow, UK from 29 September to 3 October, a paper on IXV's progress said: "Pending a detailed [technological readiness level] assessment, a window design [may be added to the demonstrator]. ESA could use the IXV experience to create a safety and reliability framework for future non-destructive re-entry vehicles. Oct 9, 2008

NASA

NASA says more shuttle workers will find Constellation jobs NASA officials told lawmakers Wednesday that the end of the space shuttle program will cost 4,500 jobs at Kennedy Space Center -- not 6,400, as originally feared. The agency says more workers than expected will find jobs with Constellation, the next major space program, though some analysts call the new projections overly optimistic. The five-year lag between the last shuttle mission and the first Orion launch is expected to cause deep economic pain in Central Florida, and Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama is proposing a $2 billion boost to NASA's budget to help preserve some of those jobs. Orlando Sentinel (Fla.) (10/9) Oct 9, 2008

NASA

NASA shuffles launch schedule following shuttle delay An electronics failure on the Hubble Space Telescope has postponed a rescue mission by space shuttle Atlantis until at least February 2009, forcing an extensive schedule shuffle in the waning days of the shuttle program. The uncertainty surrounding future shuttle launches could delay tests of the shuttle's replacement, the Ares I, because launch pads cannot be renovated for the new rocket until no longer needed by the shuttle program. Aerospace Daily & Defense Report (10/8) Oct 9, 2008

NASA

NASA has awarded 18-month research contracts worth a total of $12.4 million to six industry teams. The teams will study advanced concepts for subsonic and supersonic commercial transport aircraft that could enter service in 25-30 years. The contracts are for research into subsonic ultra-green aircraft, small efficient and quiet air transport, advanced concept studies for supersonic and subsonic commercial transport and technology for "N 3", which is NASA's reference to future aircraft that are considered "three generations" ahead of today's fleets. The end of these contracts will see companies propose a second phase of research on technologies identified during the first phase. Oct 8, 2008

NASA

Flagship Mars rover faces cancellation, delay. After spending $1.5 billion on the Mars Science Laboratory, scheduled for launch next year, NASA officials could decide this week whether to pull the plug due to spiraling costs. The chief of the agency's Mars exploration program said the new rover is expected to go at least 30% over budget, a threshold that would make it subject to congressional review. Analysts fear the huge cost overruns will force cuts in other missions. "The magnitude of the increases has been mind-boggling," said a Brown University geologist. "It has sent a shock wave to the Mars program and beyond to the planetary community." Oct 7, 2008

NASA

NASA's Ares I-X flight mission team does not expect its test rocket to be launched before June 2009 after the US space agency announced on 29 September an indefinite delay for the Hubble space telescope's fourth servicing mission (SM4) planned for 14 October. The launch of the Ares I-X, a rocket representative of NASA's Constellation programme's Ares I crew launch vehicle (CLV), was to have taken place on 15 April from Kennedy Space Center's pad 39B. Its ascent will give NASA data on the dynamics of the "stick", as Ares I is known, an unusually long and thin vehicle that will launch the Orion crew exploration vehicle. Oct 7, 2008