Rob Wilson / 9:28 am June 30th, 2005

Pratt & Whitney have won a forty million dollar development contract to build a hydrogen/oxygen rocket engine demonstrator. The engine, based on the venerable RL-10, is intended for in-space applications, and will include the deep throttling capability needed for a lunar lander.

Rob Wilson / 12:23 am June 30th, 2005

Mike Griffin is keen to become a customer of commercial crew and cargo services to resupply the ISS.

Rob Wilson / 12:20 am June 30th, 2005

Burt Rutan has been busy out in Mojave. He’s hired out the White Knight, built to carry SpaceShipOne to launch altitude, to perform drop tests of the NASA/DARPA/DoD X37 atmospheric test vehicle. Photos at Alan’s Mojave Airport Weblog.

Rob Wilson / 12:16 am June 30th, 2005

The Return to Flight Task Force has released its final report - and has not cleared NASA as having met three of the central recommendations of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board. Most media reaction, such as this article, is emphasizing the fact that NASA has failed on the three points, while downplaying the task force’s statements that it does not think that they are technically achievable, and that NASA has done the best it can to make the Shuttle safe.

Rob Wilson / 12:07 am June 30th, 2005

Looks like the Titan flight that is holding up the first launch of SpaceX’s Falcon 5 rocket is going to take even longer. SpaceX have announced that, due to the Titan delays, their first launch will now be from their equatorial Marshall Islands site in the Pacific Ocean. Look on the Updates page for details.

Rob Wilson / 7:42 pm June 22nd, 2005

Michael Griffin states that he can’t promise that all currently planned elements will be included in the final station configuration.

Rob Wilson / 12:01 pm June 22nd, 2005

Today marks the first anniversary of SpaceShipOne’s first flight into space.

Rob Wilson / 11:27 am June 22nd, 2005

Things are not looking good for the Cosmos-1 solar sail experiment. Strategic Command have failed to track the spacecraft since its launch. That means, at best, that Cosmos-1 is not in its planned orbit, and at worst that it is not in orbit at all.

Planetary Society official statement

The Cosmos 1 spacecraft was launched today but we cannot, at this time, confirm a successful orbit injection. Some launch vehicle and spacecraft telemetry data gave ambiguous information during the launch. Since the orbit insertion burn, no signal has been received from the spacecraft. There are continuing efforts to receive a signal from the spacecraft.

Rob Wilson / 9:10 am June 22nd, 2005

The Planetary Society’s Cosmos-1 solar sail testbed spacecraft has rocketed skyward from a Russian ballistic missile submarine in the Barents sea. Only sketchy data has been picked up from the first two ground tracking stations, so now there is a tense wait for Cosmos-1 to come into range of the third in about fourteen minutes time. You can follow the proceedings at the Planetary Society’s Cosmos 1 Solar Sail Weblog.

Rob Wilson / 1:10 pm June 21st, 2005

NASA has established a new program office reporting directly to administrator Michael Griffin.

PA&E has two major studies under way: the Shuttle/Station Configuration Options Team (SSCOT) and the Exploration Systems Architecture Study (ESAS). The SSCOT is examining configuration options for the International Space Station in the context of potential future flight rates for the Space Shuttle Program. The study is operating under the decision to retire the Shuttle no later than 2010.

Some of the topics the ESAS is reviewing include the requirements for returning to the moon, extending human exploration to Mars and possibilities for accelerating development of the Crew Exploration Vehicle. Both studies will be completed this summer in time to aid in key agency decisions.

Apparently, Griffin set up this group very shortly after being appointed. With two key studies already nearing completion, it looks like this is where the future course of the space agency is being charted.

Rob Wilson / 2:43 pm June 19th, 2005

NASA administrator Michael Griffin states that there is no way the space shuttle can fly the 28 flights currently manifested to complete construction of the International Space Station before the shuttle is retired in 2010.

Rob Wilson / 1:05 pm June 19th, 2005

Russian Cosmonaut and current commander of the International Space Station Sergei Krikalev performed an unscheduled manual docking today of a newly arrived progress space freighter. The freighter was to have used its automated KURS docking system, but a ground-related problem sending the command for final approach and docking led to MCC-Moscow advising Krikalev to activate the manual TORU system, and manually dock the Progress craft himself by remote control. Krikalev performed the manual docking flawlessly.

Rob Wilson / 2:01 pm June 17th, 2005

Michael Griffin is understandably pleased with NASA’s FY 2006 Funding Bill.

Ken Murphy / 1:18 am June 17th, 2005

Murphy, Ken
“Reaching Out to Texas Teens”
adAstra online
06/17/2005
On-line text

Rob Wilson / 1:27 pm June 16th, 2005

Here’s the latest news from the surface of Mars.

Rob Wilson / 1:22 pm June 16th, 2005

Russia is showing off a mock-up of its Kliper spacecraft at the Paris Air Show. The European Space Agency seems likely to participate in the development of the new craft, possibly giving them independent human access to space.

Rob Wilson / 1:17 pm June 16th, 2005

Blue Origin recently held a public meeting in Van Horn, Texas, to discuss their suborbital rocket development plans.

“The public information meetings are part of the environmental assessment process required by the FAA,” said Gwen Griffin, a spokesperson for the rocket group. “The meetings are for the public to make comments or ask questions about Blue Origin’s proposal.”

Rob Wilson / 1:12 pm June 16th, 2005

Space shuttle Discovery, now with a new external tank, has made its way back to the launch pad.

Rob Wilson / 1:08 pm June 16th, 2005

ISS Astronaut John Phillips recently became the first person to testify from space, before a meeting of the House Science Space Subcommittee.

Rob Wilson / 1:02 pm June 16th, 2005

Give three million dollars to the aerospace primes and you will get a paper study. t/Space recently was awarded the same amount, and as well as the paper study, they’re flight testing technology demonstrators.

Rob Wilson / 12:53 pm June 16th, 2005

It has long been a bone of contention within the alt.space movement that NASA should buy services where they are available rather than reinvent them in house. In a small way, this appears to be starting.

Rob Wilson / 11:40 am June 14th, 2005

NASA administrator Michael Griffin was quoted today from the Paris Air Show, saying that the Space Shuttle is unable to complete all remaining Internaitonal Space Station contruction and resupply flights before its retirement in 2010, and that as a result space station construction plans are changing. The new plan is due out in October. Griffin has stated that he intends to honor NASA’s commitments to launch international partner modules.

Rob Wilson / 9:15 am June 14th, 2005

No surprises here.

Rob Wilson / 8:51 am June 11th, 2005

At least one commercial provider stands ready to take up logistics supply to the ISS. Constellation Services International is ready to start resupply flights within 25 months of getting a contract.

Rob Wilson / 8:25 am June 11th, 2005

Here’s a NASA Internal Memo from Administrator Mike Griffin, to all NASA staff.

“First, the Vision for Space Exploration is a multigenerational program. It will require decades. The people who will be taking us to Mars and beyond are in elementary and middle school today. Contractors and businesses come and go. They succeed and they fail. The government ownership of the intellectual property that sustains our aeronautics research and space exploration journey will be with us always, as long as there is a government. Naturally, where competition makes the most sense, it will be the first choice, and such decisions need to be made on a case-by-case basis. However, I believe the core capability, the core intellectual property that will sustain this journey, must reside within NASA as an organization, and particularly within the NASA Field Centers.”

Don’t expect NASA to be buying tickets to the Moon from private enterprise any time soon.

Rob Wilson / 8:10 am June 11th, 2005

The European Space Agency has pledged its support for the Russian Kliper spacecraft, intended to replace the Soyuz for International Space Station crew transport around 2011.

Rob Wilson / 7:32 am June 11th, 2005

NASA’s plan to deal with a space shuttle damaged on launch is to keep the crew at the International Space Station until a rescue shuttle can be launched. In this scenario, the station, which currently has the capacity to house three permanent residents, would need to keep its own crew of three plus seven shuttle astronauts alive for six to eight weeks while the rescue shuttle was prepared. The current space station commander, Sergei Krikalev, voiced some concerns about this plan before launching. Now he is on orbit, he seems to have toned down his delivery, but he still has the same concerns. It doesn’t help that equipment such as the Elektron oxygen generation system seems to be in need of constant repair. What happens if it breaks while a stranded Shuttle is crew on board?

Rob Wilson / 7:12 am June 10th, 2005

As noted earlier, NASA is sponsoring a $50,000 prize to encourage development of a process to extract oxygen from Lunar regolith. But they are also spending $1.8 million directly to develop the same technology. Seems a bit unfair on those going after the prize. Did the prize purse need to be bigger (NASA has yet to get authority from congress to post prizes above $50,000), or does NASA have no faith that the MoonRox prize will deliver what they want? Perhaps a bit of both?

Rob Wilson / 8:43 pm June 8th, 2005

The latest update is now out from Space Exploration Technologies Corporation.

Rob Wilson / 11:23 am June 8th, 2005

NASA Watch is reporting that Exploration Systems Mission Directorate head Craig Steidle has resigned. Apparently, Michael Griffin is about to set in motion a major reorganization of NASA’s upper management.