Shuttle Delayed Until Mid-April February 28, 2007
Posted by Brian Pfeifer in ESA, JAXA, NASA, News and politics.add a comment
Yesterday, the Space Shuttle Atlantis found itself at the center of a severe hailstorm. The spacecraft was slated for mission STS-117, an ISS construction flight, on March 15. During the 2-mile wide storm, the external tank and left wing suffered over 7,000 impacts from golf ball sized hailstones. Ground crews will roll the Shuttle back to the Vehicle Assembly building this weekend and conduct a more thorough inspection of the damaged areas. In 1999, the last time the external tank suffered hail damage, it took four days to repair the many small dings in the insulation.
Unfortunately, even a brief delay will force mission STS-117 to miss their March launch window. The Shuttle Atlantis and her crew will now have to wait until the next Soyuz flight delivers ISS Expedition 15 and departs the station. Since flight rules preclude having both vehicles flying at the same time, the Shuttle flight will launch no earlier than the April 20th. These delays are expected to have a small, but noticeable impact on the three other Shuttle flights scheduled for this year.
The main feature of mission STS-117 is the installation of the S-3/4 solar arrays. At the end of the flight, the ISS will once more be in a symmetrical configuration, and have enough electrical generating capacity to support the Japanese and European laboratory modules. Although the extra living space is not available yet, the new solar-voltaic wings will also provide enough power to run life support equipment for three additional crewmen. If JAXA and ESA’s automated cargo delivery vehicles work as advertised, the ISS may see a crew of six in the near future.
Mars Society Seeks to Restore NASA Funding February 22, 2007
Posted by Brian Pfeifer in Mars Society, NASA, News and politics.add a comment
NASA’s budget took a $500 million hit from Congress earlier this year. Most of the damage was done to Exploration systems and the development of the Orion/Ares spacecraft. Under the currently reduced budget, it will be impossible for NASA to put the Orion crew module into space before the Space Shuttle retires in 2010. Delaying the production of the Shuttle’s replacement will have a ripple effect on the rest of NASA’s exploration plans and lengthen the timeline for every other project.
The Mars Society is committed to human spaceflight, and establishing long-term bases on the red planet, which are also goals of the President’s Vision for Space Exploration. They aren’t just sitting around complaining about the budget situation, but mobilizing their members across the nation in an effort to return funding to the beleaguered agency. Over the next week, Society members and other spaceflight supporters will call and fax Congressmen to remind them of NASA’s importance, and to request that Congress fund the agency at the level requested by the President.
If you agree that NASA’s budget should be returned to projected levels, a mere $16 billion, then see the complete message from the Mars Society below and call your Congressmen:
The Mars Society Phone and Fax Blitz
February 21, 2007
For further information about the Mars Society, visit our website at
www.marssociety.org
The Vision for Space Exploration (VSE) is under attack. In a
Continuing Resolution (CR), Congress has cut $500 million from the
2007 NASA budget, with $900 million cut from the Exploration mission
directorate repsonsbile for implementing the Moon-Mars initiative.
This cut will hurt VSE and could be the first volley in a new round
of attempts to kill it. There are those in Congress who would like to
eliminate human space flight all together. This job will be much
easier if they only hear whimpers from supporters of space
exploration.
We need to tell Congress in no uncertain terms that VSE is vital to
our nation and that they need to restore the funds that have been
cannibalized from the 2007 budget. In addition, they need to support
a healthy increase in funding in the 2008 budget.
We hope that members of the Mars Society (and other interested
people) will make hundreds of telephone calls and send hundreds of
faxes (for faxes, see bottom of page) to Congress to send them the
message that the american people want a space program that is really
going somewhere.
JUST TAKE A FEW MINUTES OUT OF YOUR DAY! IT IS EASY! And report
back to us once you’ve called at marspolitics@yahoo.com.
What should you say when you call the office?
Ask for the staffer who deals with space and/or science issues. There
is a good chance you will be put into voice mail. However, if you
speak to a staffer or leave a voice-mail message, here are some key
themes to emphasize -
- Restore the money removed from the NASA 2007 budget in the
Continuing Resolution (CV). This cut could seriously impede the
forward motion of this program.
- Congress should support AT LEAST the funding increase that was
presented in the 2008 NASA budget.(See-
http://space.com/news/070205_nasa_budget.html)
- Remind them that Mars is an essential part of the Vision for Space
Exploration and that you hope that this program can be achieved as
quickly and efficiently as possible.
NOTE: When speaking to Congressional staffers, be polite—even if they
hold a different view from your own. At the end of your conversation,
thank them for taking the time to speak with you.
If you don’t know who your United States Senators and Representative
is, you can find that information at www.senate.gov and
www.house.gov. If you have any problems with process, feel free to
contact me at marspolitics@yahoo.com.
FAXES
The Mars Society will automatically send your faxes.
1. Go to http://congress.marssociety.org
2. Enter the username of “tms” (no quotes) and then enter the
password of “Congress” (no quotes)
3. Fill in your name and address and then write your letter. The
fax generator will automatically send faxes to your United States
Senators and Representative. It will also provide the proper heading
to the fax. You do not need to add a heading.
4. If you have any problems getting the fax generator to work,
contact Alex Kirk at alex@schnarff.com
An in-depth discussion of the politics surrounding the VSE will be
held at the 10th International Mars Society Conventiuon, Aug 30-Sept
2, UCLA, Los Angeles. Registration is now open at www.marssociety.org
For further information about the Mars Society, visit our website at
www.marssociety.org
A Busy Year for SpaceX February 16, 2007
Posted by Brian Pfeifer in NASA, Rocketplane Kistler, Space Startups, SpaceX.add a comment
The El Segundo based rocket development company has a full plate this year, including three planned launches of their yet to be successful Falcon 1 booster. SpaceX is also continuing development of the Falcon 9 booster for NASA’s COTS program to create commercially viable cargo delivery service to the ISS.
All three Falcon 1 flights will launch from their facility on Omelek Island in the Kwajalein atoll. After the second attempted demonstration flight, which may launch as early as March 9, they plan to launch satellites for the US Navy Research Laboratory and for the Malaysian government in the third and fourth quarters, respectively.
NASA recently announced that on February 8 SpaceX gained approval for their first COTS orbital demonstration mission scheduled for September 2008. Though the initial $278 million contract is for the development of pressurized and unpressurized cargo delivery capabilities, SpaceX is looking beyond bulk cargo. The Dragon capsule they are developing will also be capable of conducting taxi missions to deliver crews to the ISS or other LEO destinations. With NASA’s commitment to purchase cargo and crew launch services as soon as they are available, SpaceX is pursuing multiple revenue streams with this single spacecraft.
Rocketplane Kistler also completed systems requirement design reviews to NASA’s satisfaction this month. They are also on tract to fulfill their commitments in the COTS development contract. “These milestones demonstrate genuine progress toward a new way of doing business for NASA and pave the way for the commercial purchase of transportation services needed to maintain the International Space Station,” said Alan Lindenmoyer, manager of the Commercial Crew and Cargo Program Office at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Houston. “If these companies can continue this rapid pace, the first demonstration launches are right around the corner.”
What is Bigelow Up To? February 14, 2007
Posted by Brian Pfeifer in Bigelow Aerospace, Blue Origin, Lockheed Martin, NASA, Rocketplane Kistler, Russia, Space Startups, SpaceX.add a comment
In April, Robert Bigelow will unveil long secret business plans at the National Space Symposium. Industry watchers are abuzz with speculation at to what he plans to reveal. Back in November, Bigelow announced that Genesis II, scheduled for launch by April 1, will be the last opportunity to fly personal effects on a test flight. Does this mean that Genesis II will be Bigelow’s final sub-scale demonstrator? Was Genesis I so successful that he’s ready to proceed with his first full-sized Nautilus module?
Last year, Bigelow also entered into negotiations with Lockheed-Martin to explore the feasibility of man-rating the Atlas 5 launch vehicle. Will Bigelow announce an agreement to carry through with the project? Will Lockheed resurrect one of their plans for a space capsule to ride atop the Atlas and taxi people to waiting Bigelow habitation modules?
Energiya, announced plans last year for a commercial circumlunar flight. Drawings that used to be on the Bigelow web site depict Russian Soyuz docked to a Bigelow inflatable habitat. Has Bigelow entered into an agreement with Energiya to provide living space for their flight around the Moon?
NASA’s Orion capsule is designed to be one component of a flexible modular system. For any given mission additional components are added like an earth departure rocket stage, additional living space, and life support. There has been recent talk in the space community about the feasibility of Orion missions to NEO’s, Near Earth Objects. Missions to these asteroids would need additional habitation space, just like that provided by a Bigelow inflatable module. Is NASA requesting just such a system?
Speculating about the future of Bigelow Aerospace is fun because there are so many possibilities. While other aerospace startups are slogging through the process of building and testing rocket boosters, Bigelow has jumped ahead to design systems that will take advantage of these boosters. His inflatable modules will dramatically increase the capabilities of anyone who can launch people into orbit. Whether it’s SpaceX, Blue Origin, Rocketplane Kistler, Energiya, or NASA, he’s providing the tools to expand their missions, and turn cramped space capsules into full-fledged spacecraft.
Cloning Cows February 9, 2007
Posted by Brian Pfeifer in Future Development, clone.add a comment
It looks like the FDA is poised to approve cloned cattle for human consumption. While the expensive of cloning makes it unlikely that we’ll be eating clones any time soon, it does suggest how cloning may be employed profitably in the near future. Most cows don’t snuggle up to their favorite bull anymore. Artificial insemination is the standard practice, and pedigreed semen can sell for a surprising price. While it may not be worth it to clone an animal destined for your dinner table, a more likely scenario is to create a clone of an aging prize bull. The semen from the clone should sell just as well as that from the original. It will be financially rewarding sectors like this that will provide the real impetus to perfect cloning techniques.
While beef may be big business, the way horse breeders spend money, I’m surprised we haven’t heard of cloning attempts in that arena. Stud fees for horse dramatically eclipse those for cattle. And think if you could raise and train a dozen clones of a thoroughbred winner. Some are bound to lose out due to injuries, but at least one should be a champion like the original. On the day that a clone wins the Kentucky Derby, cloning will have come into its own.
What of the moral implications of cloning? Through the process of selective breeding we have been manipulating genetic lines of animals and plants for the entire history of farming and animal husbandry. If we look at it in the same light, we can at least wrap our heads around it. As for cloning humans, we should think of it like any other medical procedure. First, do no harm. After that, it’s a matter of individual moral understanding. Cloning is in our future. Its possible benefits are too great for us to simply turn away from it. Can it be abused? Certainly, but so can any other technology we’ve developed. It’s in the application that we demonstrate our wisdom, or lack thereof.
Cosmic Barn Raising February 8, 2007
Posted by Brian Pfeifer in NASA.add a comment
This morning, Mike Lopez-Alegria exited the Quest Airlock amidst a small constellation of tools and equipment on the third spacewalk in just over a week. He and Sunita Williams have already completed major plumbing work on the ammonia-filled cooling system on the ISS, as well as numerous smaller tasks. Today, they hope to finish installing the Station to Shuttle power transfer system. This will allow future Space Shuttles to remain docked to the ISS for up to two weeks by drawing electricity from the station instead of from its own fuel cells.
This will greatly improve the construction process as the work proceeds far more efficiently when a large Shuttle crew assists in construction operations. Without the shuttle, space walkers are left to do all of the work themselves, only aided by verbal guidance from ground controllers. With the Shuttle docked, two astronauts can dedicate their time to operating the Canada Arm II in support of construction, as well as providing extra hands to help prepare suits and other equipment. With two teams of spacewalkers, they can alternate spacewalking days, and pack far more work into a shorter time. And through the whole process, crews can take advantage of air supplies aboard the shuttle to repressurize the airlock without depleting limited ISS reserves.
A long Shuttle mission to the ISS will allow crews to take advantage of the best resources of both systems. Not only that, but it harkens back to the days when friends and neighbors gathered to help each other build new homes and barns. I wonder if they’ll install a small pine bough at the end of the truss when they finally complete this cosmic barn raising.
Congressional Budget Cuts Put the Squeeze on Orion/Ares Development February 6, 2007
Posted by Brian Pfeifer in NASA, News and politics.add a comment
The outgoing Republican Congress, unable to agree on over half of the annual spending bills for 2007, left them to the incoming Democratic Congress to finish up. Instead of wasting time wrangling over them, the new Congress decided to keep all budgets at last year’s level, and proceed with other work. Among those left out in the cold by these tactics was NASA Administrator Mike Griffin who was counting on a half a billion-dollar increase this year.
After last year’s arguments over cuts in the science budget, Congress required that the majority of the shortfall come out NASA’s Exploration Systems Directorate. This means that the Orion and Ares development projects will slow down this year and it places their 2014 target date in jeopardy. On previous occasions Administrator Griffin expressed hope that he and his team could find a way to expedite progress on Orion and shorten the window between the Shuttle’s retirement in 2010 and Orion’s first manned mission. Gone are such hopes. In today’s press conference Mike Griffin expressed his concern that the Orion and Ares programs will be severely delayed by the new budget, and that NASA will experience another talent drain like it did during the window between the final Apollo flight in 1975 and the first Space Shuttle launch in 1981.
Though space enthusiast may cry foul, and grumble about Congress not fulfilling the President’s Vision for Space Exploration, students of history should not be surprised by recent events. Most of NASA’s major programs have been plagued by similar budgetary crises. During the height of the Vietnam Conflict, President Johnson, who had pushed for the creation of NASA, cut Apollo’s budget at a time when they were running into cost overruns and badly needed more cash. The designs for both the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station were reduced to less ambitious projects in an attempt make them more acceptable to Congress.
Of course, the budgetary process is not truly completed yet. If the VSE is still important the President Bush, he could provide leadership in returning the shorted funds to NASA. NASA also has supporters in Congress who could also take the lead. Either Congress will find a way to strengthen support for the Orion development, or finding a replacement for the Shuttle will drag out indefinitely.
Space Colonization February 4, 2007
Posted by Brian Pfeifer in Future Development.add a comment
When spaceflight supporters enthusiastically discus the possibility of spreading human colonies across the solar system, they often focus on technical requirements. They argue over what boosters are needed to launch the colony’s infrastructure and supplies. They worry over the design of closed loop environmental systems, microgravity farming, and even genetic diversity. All these challenges must be overcome before permanent, self-sufficient human colonies exist, but these are not the most important keys for establishing colonies. If you want human settlements on Mars, the Moon, or elsewhere, we must establish economic reasons for them to exist. If we can accomplish this task, then the rest of the technical challenges will no longer appear so daunting.
Let’s examine, for a moment, the European colonies in North America. The Greek and Phoenician colonies around the Mediterranean would also serve, but as an American, I know more about the history of my own nation. None of these colonies were established as an experiment in self-government. They were not established by people who thought colonies should be created to hedge against the possibility the Europe would be destroyed by war, environmental catastrophes, or acts of God. They were not established by people hoping to further human technology by conquering a new environment.
The first European visitors to the New World were looking for trade routes and new resources. Spanish and Portuguese colonies became successful when they found gold and became profitable operations. This spurred many others to search for precious metals throughout the Americas. Fishing fleets plied the North Atlantic and found large schools of fish off the coast of Newfoundland and New Amsterdam, which later became New England after the British took the colony away from the Dutch. Further north, timber and fur trade supported the French Colonies in Canada and south through the Mississippi watershed.
Tobacco and cotton were so important to southern colonies in North America because they were in high demand in Europe and provided a ready cash crop. New England found wealth in the less glamorous but equally vital grain trade. Wheat and other grains grew well in New England, which also boasted many small rivers to power gristmills. The grain was grown and ground into flour before being shipped down the same rivers to the coast.
Conditions in the colonies were awful at first. Tradesmen, adventurers, paupers, and religious outcasts grew up in “modern” European cities found nothing but a wilderness when they arrived in the New World. We all know the story of how the Pilgrims would have died in their first winter if the Indians had not come to their rescue. This little scene is memorialized in our Thanksgiving Day celebrations. When you may not realize is that although many Pilgrims became farmers, but that’s not what they had planned to do. They brought everything they needed to build a perfect society, except farmers and farming equipment. They were planning to live off regular supplies from England. Jamestown in Virginia was established under the same assumption, as were many other colonies.
Most colonies did not become self sufficient for several generations if ever. Even when they grew enough food to feed themselves, Europe still sent cheaper and better manufactured goods. On their return trips to Europe these ships filled their holds with raw materials and foodstuffs from the colonies. The balance of trade was in the favor of the mother country. This is why the colonies existed and received continued support from home. The new settlements fattened the coffers of their founding nations and it’s corporations. Without this economic incentive, there would have been little drive to colonize the New World.
As for space, we don’t have any clear economic reasons to colonize our solar system. There are several possibilities. Asteroid mining may provide a source of valuable minerals. If large-scale fusion power generation becomes a reality, the H3 mining on the Moon could be profitable. Microgravity may yet prove perfect for growing some important crystals or medications. These are certainly no the only ideas bandied about for space based businesses, and if history is any indicator of the future, it is certain that there are many more we have not yet imagined. As soon as someone proves that any of these industries is economically feasible, then others will happily invest the time, money and talent needed to solve the technical hurdles of colonization. Economics will drive the settlement of our solar system. If it is profitable, it will happen. It’s that simple.
