Space Ref takes closer look at NASA’s new “Lunar Sooner” timetable and provides a link to a PDF file of the previous timetable for comparison.
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Our friend Jon Goff has a post on the Masten Space Systems blog putting the call out “for few good rocket nerds.” It appears they are taking up the gauntlet of the Centennial Lunar Lander Analog Challenge, and will be expanding their work force. Check out the post for details.
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I’m too cheap to subscribe to Space News so I can look at their online articles so I will direct you to Hobby Space for this bit of news. Majority stockholder of Rocket Plane Limited, George French has bought Kistler Aerospace for an undisclosed amount.
The investment company that had backed Kistler all the way through and out of bankruptcy finally gave up last fall when it gave up waiting for NASA to award it an ISS resupply contract. Now French will back Kistler’s bid to the COTS program.
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A silent auction was held at last October’s Space Frontier Conference. One of the items auctioned, was a VIP tour of Elon Musk’s SpaceX facilities, in El Segundo, California. Bill Boland, an advocate with Space Frontier Foundation won the tour.
Sam Dinkins, tagged along and provides an interview with Dianne Molina the Marketing Manager for SpaceX. An additional article provides some background information on the company. Man I wish I could’ve been there for that tour.
US Space News has posted a link to “The Draft” requesting responses from parties interested in making the propulsion systems for the LRO.
Or in their words…
NASA/GSFC is issuing this draft LRO Propulsion Subsystem Insertion Thrusters Statement of Work (SOW), Specification, and Deliverable Items List and Schedule for the Robotic Lunar Exploration Program/Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (RLEP/LRO) Program.
The synopsis of the draft itself can be found HERE and is actually three documents long. To see those documents just follow the trail from the link on the synopsis page.
SpaceX has issued an update on a new launch window for the maiden flight of their Falcon 1 rocket. The five day window is less than a month away and another static fire test is planned a few days prior to that window as well.
The tentative launch window for the maiden flight of Falcon 1 is March 20 through 25. The gating items are receiving a shipment of liquid oxygen (LOX) from Hawaii and switching out the 2nd stage tank. Obviously, long term operations on Kwaj will require that we install a state-of-the-art, high reliability LOX plant on island. In the meantime, we will get through first launch with LOX shipments from Hawaii and whatever output we can generate from the sad, old clunker of a LOX plant that we currently own.
He goes on to explain of another issue regarding fuel tanks.
We are also replacing the 2nd stage tank, following discovery of a small leak. Fortunately, a Falcon 2nd stage tank just barely fits through the door of a standard cargo airplane (no C-17 required), so the flight is relatively inexpensive and readily available. Fixing the leak in the tank being shipped back is not a huge task, but also not something easily done far away from the factory. Countdown procedures have been modified to prevent such leaks from developing in the future.
The static fire performed during the last countdown attempt was really helpful as a preflight systems checkout, so we will be doing one again three or four days before the next countdown (most likely March 17). In addition, we are doing another systems review with DARPA, AF and NASA in early March. —Elon
We will keep a watch out for further updates and try to provide live coverage of these events where possible.
A draft version of the rules for the $2 million Lunar Lander Challenge, part of NASA’s Centennial Challenges have been released for public comment and feedback. Space.com has the details.
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Earlier in the week, Ed at Robot_Guy addressed the age old question of “why go to the moon.”
A quick look around brings a New Scientist Space article discussing the polar opposites, (their pun, not mine) in the lunar landing spot conversation. Here, everyone thought it was settled and it was just a matter of which pole showed more chance of producing water ice deposits after we get a few more orbital surveys under our belts and a long comes another school of thought…
Recently, David McKay, chief scientist for astrobiology at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, US, circulated a white paper suggesting at least one landing site should be located on dark volcanic rock deposits – called pyroclastic deposits – mainly found away from the Moon’s poles.
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Red Herring, a magazine that covers the technology business angle has posted an article on their website that appears in their latest print issue. It takes a look at space tourism from an investment perspective.
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Space Adventures Announces $265 Million Global Spaceport Development Project, so says the headline of a press release that greeted me after hitting the website.
Space Adventures, Ltd., the world’s leading space experiences company, announced today its plans to develop a commercial spaceport in Ras Al-Khaimah (the UAE), with plans to expand globally. Other potential spaceport locations include Asia, specifically Singapore, and North America. The total estimated cost of the global spaceport development project is at least $265 million (USD) and will be funded by various parties, along with shared investments by Space Adventures and the government of Ras Al-Khaimah.
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The thing I actually went to their website to see was an article detailing a new company that will focus on vehicle development for space tourism.
The lead paragraph explains…
Space Adventures, Ltd., the world’s leading “space experiences” company, announced today (Feb. 16th, 2006), a contract with Prodea, a private investment firm founded by the Ansari family, and a separate contract with the Federal Space Agency of the Russian Federation (FSA), to develop a fleet of suborbital spaceflight vehicles for commercial use globally. This joint venture will fully develop and provide a set of turnkey operational space tourism systems that include the delivery of several suborbital launch vehicles to multiple global locations.
A Russian aerospace company is the designer of the suborbital space transportation system that will be used.
I’m not sure if this announcement is directly connected to the announcement appearing a day later, but there has to be some connection.
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Another New Scientist Space article posted earlier in the week titled Space-elevator tether climbs a mile high updates us on efforts toward a NASA Centennial Challenge relating to the Space-elevator concept. Just to make sure we are all clear, the head line says, (and means) the tether reached a mile in altitude not that any tether-climbers climbed that far.
To make the cable, researchers sandwiched three carbon-fiber composite strings between four sheets of fiberglass tape, creating a mile-long cable about 5 centimeters wide and no thicker than about six sheets of paper.
“For this one, the real critical test was making a string strong enough,” says Michael Laine, president of LiftPort. “We made a cable that was stationed by the balloons at a mile high for 6 hours…it was rock solid.” (LiftPort Group, is a private US company on a quest to build a space elevator by April 2018)
The hitch to the whole thing was that although the battery powered climbers bettered their previous efforts they only made it about 460 meters above ground or about a quarter of the way up the cable.
Still and all, it is an interesting story.
Murphy, Ken
“A sort of L-1 primer”
Selenian Boondocks
02/17/2006
On-Line Text
A tip of the hat goes to LaunchBlog for pointing out this Los Angeles Times, Sunday feature article. The article provides an extensive look at the various countries and their developing lunar programs.
[Updated]
After a frustrating day of glitches during their wet dress rehearsal yesterday, SpaceX have today successfully sorted out their gremlins:
We were very happy to be able to execute a flight countdown all the way to lighting the engine. Although there wasn’t a launch this time, we made a lot of progress refining the rocket and launch pad — all work that needed to be done anyway. I will post a longer update next week, after we have enough time to finish forensics of recent events and formulate next steps.
—Elon
You can view a short video of the engine firing here.
Today’s wet dress rehearsal countdown and engine firing did not go as planned, and there will be no launch tomorrow. From the SpaceX website:
Falcon 1 Maiden Flight Update: Posted February 9, 2006
After analyzing data from the static fire countdown, we decided to postpone the launch. The vehicle is being lowered for further investigation.
Once we have thoroughly checked out all systems, I will post an update on what was found and when the next countdown attempt will occur. Based on range availability and logistics constraints, a rough guess would be two to four weeks.
— Elon Musk
We’ll post more here when we’ve gathered some more information.
Delayed by weather and a possible fuel leak Globalflyer’s original takeoff scheduled for the 7th, was postponed. Space.com recounts the second attempt of the early morning takeoff which was rescheduled to Thursday, February 09, 2006, (today).
The plane lifted off about 1,500 feet farther down the runway than it should have, and it hit two birds. The temperature in the cockpit soared to 130 degrees, causing instruments to temporarily stop working before it cooled off.
“Takeoff was a bit scary, to say the least,” Fossett, 61, said hours later in a statement issued by his flight team. “I had to use most of the runway to get off the ground. This was particularly hairy, as I couldn’t have aborted even if I had wanted to.”
The birds apparently hit the leading edge of a wing and the nose of one of the 13 fuel tanks, but those spots are well reinforced, said Jon Karkow, flight engineer.
The early hour of the takeoff, was an effort to avoid the warmer air temperatures of the later day, which hinders the lift received by the glider-like aircraft. Whether the leak was caused by the collision with the bird or not, it, combined with the strain of climbing to proper altitude caused an estimated 4% loss of fuel after takeoff.
The trip is underway with a start that turned out more adventurous than which most of us would like to be part.
Elon Musk’s brother Kimbal posted a new report from the Kwajalein Atoll and in the process discusses the various definitions of the word “Crazy.”
When other rocket companies need something done, they requisition the right forms, talk to the right people, go back to the right forms, try again with another set of right people, go back to the forms (also known as the TPS reports), and eventually go a little more postal each day.
When SpaceX needs something done, they do it, and they do it fast.
Case in point:
On Saturday night it was discovered that the power distribution boards were not operating properly and that the capacitors needed to be upgraded. This is very difficult to fix on a remote tropical island 5,000 miles away from America.
He goes on to recount the “crazy” efforts made to get the needed pieces to do a component-level repair of the boards. There are a lot of interesting tidbits to digest as we wait for the approaching launch date.
He also added his disclaimer that nothing he says is official, and it is just as likely that he is really hiding in a basement in Boulder CO. (ED: Most likely watching the DvD box set of Firefly, I know I am.)
Leonard David visits the subject of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter as it begins a preliminary design review. Facing the pressures of the 2007 budget constraints and that fact that this mission is considered the opening salvo in “the return to the moon” portion of the VSE makes this review quite a juggling act.
The mission remains an essential “first step back to the Moon for NASA and its implementation of the Vision,” said Jim Garvin, Chief Scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, which is managing the mission.
The article provides a comprehensive look at mission parameters intended to expand the knowledge base prior to exploratory rover and manned missions.
In our first section we visited various Moon maps and posters that are available to those interested in learning more about our Moon.
This time around we’re going to look at a few of the published works that give us a bit closer look at the Moon.
First up is The Clementine Atlas of the Moon by Ben Bussey and Paul Spudis. This was published in 2005, so is very up to date. There’s about 50 pages of introductory information, including history, orbital factors, and major geological ages. The main body of the atlas comprises 144 maps, of both sides as well as the poles. Near the equator they use mercator projection, at mid-latitudes they’re Lambert conic conformal, and the poles are stereographic. This is a serious atlas. The color plates highlighting topography, iron, titanium, thorium, and the epithermal neutron flux that so tantalizingly hints of water treasure (but certainly hydrogen), give some nice background that you don’t often get in the printed works. Each set of facing pages has a Clementine map on the left and on the right a shaded relief mosaic (giving the images a textured feel) that includes all major feature names. 1cm:25km scale. There’s a 25-page four-columned Gazetteer with major feature details. If you’re really serious about the Moon this is the atlas for you.
Next is “Lunar Orbiter Photographic Atlas of the Near Side of the Moon” by Charles J. Byrne. Also published in 2005, by Springer Books. This one breaks up the visible face of the Moon into regions and then breaks that up into a series of 200km x 300km (roughly) photos. A smaller photo to the side has major features named and a 40km reference line. Sun elevation and Lunar Orbiter altitude are noted, as well as the photo number. There appear to be some strange image artifacts in some of the photos of the Mare Serenetatis, especially around the regions of craters Bessel and Banting. It’s not as easily referenced visually, so ample use is made of the index in back. My favorite feature of this book is the CD-ROM of images included with it, perfect for inclusion in reports, presentations, and so on.
Another recent publication is “Le Grand Atlas de la Lune” by Thierry Legault and Serge Brunier. Published in 2004 by Larousse in France (2006 English-language edition) this large (29cmx36.5cm) 125 page work is designed for the telescope observer. Beautiful photographs track the Moon as seen through a telescope (i.e. upside down) from the 3rd to the 27th day of the Lunar Month. The features are unmarked, but every couple of days there’s a clear overlay that names all of the major features that have been revealed. The next section, a good 40 pages, highlights details of Lunar geography, followed by a short section on movements, eclipses, and how to observe the Moon through a telescope. I don’t use this one much as a reference, but it is beautiful to look at, and is probably perfect as a coffee table book in francophone households.
One of the first atlases I picked up was “The Hatfield Photographic Lunar Atlas”, edited by Jeremy Cook. Published in 1999 by Springer. This one is geared towards the telescopic viewer, so North is at the bottom of the photographs. The Moon’s face is divided into 16 parts, which are then broken down into up to five subplates. A hand-drawn guide notes the major features in the region, and the optical libration is noted.
Dinsmore Alter, Director Emeritus of the Griffith Observatory in the early 60s, helped to lay the ground work for the Apollo program with two works published in 1963 and 1964. The first was the “Pictorial Guide to the Moon”, published by the Thomas Y. Crowell Co. The photographs are from the Lick, Mt. Wilson and Palomar Observatories, and are interspersed with ample descriptive text and graphics. A little more weight is given to volcanic origins of many craters than is generally acknowledged today, but it still makes a neat reference. This was followed in 1964 by “Lunar Atlas”, which he edited. It was prepared by the Space Sciences Laboratory of the Space Division of North American Aviation, Inc. This one has 154 B/W plates, some of which identify craters. Different illuminations of some subjects are explored and even a couple of the earliest photos of the Far side. Both are OOP, but easily found in the secondary market.
For those interested in historical maps it’s easy to recommend “Mapping and Naming the Moon” by Ewen Whitaker. This was a pleasure to read and the abundant old maps and plates are intriguing to the eye. One can follow the different styles as the develop. I certainly think it conveys the complexities of Lunar cartography and nomenclature.
Last up is my personal favorite: Antonín Rükl’s “Atlas of the Moon”. I picked up my copy during my studies at ISU in Strasbourg, and it has been a consistent reference ever since. It was recently re-published in 2004 by Sky Publishing Corp. and is available through a number of on-line vendors. The drawing and shading are really nicely done, and it is great for telescope use. When I quickly want to look up a crater this is the one I reach for.
Coming soon:
On Selenography pt. III (or: Selenographical Surfing and CDing), where we’ll look at some of the online websites and computer software available for finding your way around on the Moon.
NB: The third part has been effectively replaced by the Selenography Section of the Lunar Library
Space.com is reporting that Rocketplane Limited, Inc have signed an agreement with a Japanese research firm to take experiments into space:
Officials with Rocketplane and Hokkaido Aerospace Science and Technology Incubation Center have signed an agreement that allows Rocketplane to conduct research flights and launch satellites into space after test flights are successfully completed on Rocketplane’s XP spaceplane.
This would have to reinforce Rocketplane’s business plans, and also those of other suborbital launch providers; it provides some confirmation that a research market for suborbital flight exists. Now suborbital providers can look to two markets for their vehicles: adventure tourism and research.
And there will be others, too. Pat Bahn of TGV Rocket has some interesting ideas about suborbital photo-reconnaissance for the military. Of course, the existence of a military market for suborbital vehicles might not find its way into the public arena until after the fact.
James Oberg delves behind a recent Russian declaration of intent to mine helium-3 on the Moon, and finds little of substance there: Moonscam: Russians try to sell the Moon for foreign cash
Dwayne Day uncovers another space history myth: Apocrypha now: no go for seven orbits
Taylor Dinerman asks (and answers) the question: Will rocket racing help us get into orbit?
Pat Bahn has some ideas about both the general criteria and some specific individuals who deserve recognition: Choosing candidates for the Heinlein Prize
Jeff Foust weighs in on the second of two books sharing both the same title and general topic: Review: the other Return to the Moon
This has been sitting in my drafts folder for a few days now, so it’s time I got around to posting it. It looks like Florida is finally coming to the realization that they might be a bit behind the eight ball when it comes to setting up one of these commercial spaceport thingies. Read about it here: First Coast News | Local News - Former Astronaut Sees Space Vacations in Your Future.
More recently, some confirmation that they are doing something about it. Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Galactic, states in this article, that Florida is currently wooing him to set up a space tourism operation at Kennedy Space Center:
But he [Branson] said today that Nasa had also offered Virgin Galactic a base at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. He said: “If we had to set up base on the east coast, I cannot think of anywhere better.
The article also has an update on Virgin Galactic’s schedule:
Test flights for Virgin Galactic are expected to be carried out at the end of 2007, early 2008. If all goes according to plan, tourists could be flying into space by late 2008.
Disregard our earlier post on the Falcon 1 launch time - just got this from Dianne at SpaceX:
As an additional reliability measure, SpaceX will conduct a full test of vehicle systems, including initiating the flight countdown autosequence and briefly firing the main engine on the launch stand. This test will take place Thursday, February 9 (California time). If no flight critical anomalies are detected, launch will take place on Friday, February 10.
We’ll post more here as we get it, but you can also check the SpaceX launch info page from time to time for the latest.
Ross, Michael
“From Footprints to Blueprints: Development of the Moon, and Private Enterprise”
Author House
06/02/2006
ISBN: 1-420-82522-4
Publisher’s Web Site
Stay tuned folks, either Rob or I (possibly both) will be on hand to provide semi-live coverage of the Falcon1 launch.
[remove] old date, date[/remove]…[insert] new date, date, (see above) [/insert] — ED: that post of the date change was accurate for about 10 mins. it seems.
My wife will be providing sandwiches, drinks and other refreshments…not that y’all are invited to come over and partake, it’s just to let you know I’ll be taken care of, while we “live blog” the event.
I can’t even bring myself to write the words to describe the horror that is the space shuttle budgetary black hole. I’ll just let Clark say it:
* Florida Today points out that “In the past three years, Congress has given the [Shuttle] program $13 billion, and all that money has resulted in just two flights”. Sword of Damocles: NASA must safely launch the space shuttles this year, or the program won’t survive - Florida Today - Feb.5.06.
To put that into perspective:
* Elon Musk has spent about $100M so far on developing the line of SpaceX Falcon launchers. The first Falcon 9 launch is scheduled for 2007. He hasn’t said how much more money it will take to reach that launch but I doubt it could be more than another $100M.
* Kistler says it needs a few hundred million dollars to finish its fully reusable two stage K-1 vehicle.
* T/Space said it can build a CEV system capable of taking crews and cargo to the ISS for around $500M.
* LockMart once promised to build the VentureStar for $6B. If they had a 100% overrun that would still be less than $13B.
‘The Ultimate Flight’
Having been the first to fly round the world, solo in 2005, Steve Fossett and the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer now attempt to fly further than any other aircraft in history.
The team is proceeding to Kennedy Space Center for preparation of a launch attempt on February 7 at first light at 6:42 AM.(EST).
It is a tough decision because there is the risk of a small weather front reaching Kennedy Space Center. If the front arrives before launch, the rain and warm temperatures would result in a cancellation.
Busy week with SpaceX and the Falcon1 launch attempt the following day.
We’d like to extend Steve Fossett best wishes in this record setting effort…Good Luck!
I’m not exactly sure how it applies to our usual subject matter, but I ran across this a while back and decided to share it with you. With academic input comes from Dr H Babinsky at Cambridge University, a team of aeronautics graduates and workshop technicians lead by Geoff Hatton have developed what they call an Unmanned Aerial vehicle (UAV).
The company’s name is GFS Projects Limited and was formed in 2002with the intent to develop and market the GFS UAV.
They are promoting its usage in just about everything including; “Search & Rescue”, “Inspection”, “Military / Communications”, “Surveillance”, “Environmental”, “Toys” and “Film Production”. Currently the flying saucer-shaped craft is well under a meter in diameter. However, they apparently feel the design is scaleable since they also mention “Personal Transportation” and “Freight Carrier” as additional uses.
Check out their website but give it a few moments to load, they have a java-script that launches a cool video showing the UAV in action.
The latest version of the commercial stairway to space timeline at HobbySpace is now available. This is not intended to be a ‘prediction’, as such, but more an indication of what is possible in the near future, if you extrapolate from current events.
The interesting thing about this version of the timeline, is that it’s moved NASA squarely into the middle of the stairway with the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program becoming a significant driver for commercial orbital human spaceflight.
Right now, COTS and space adventure tourism seem to be the best drivers for private flights to orbit. Whether these will prime the pump enough to start a self-sustaining orbital industry remains to be seen, but there is plenty of credible money, business, and engineering experience doing everything in their power right now to ensure the answer is ‘yes’.
| Dr. Paul D. Spudis is a Senior Staff Scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland and Visiting Scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, Texas. Dr. Spudis was formerly with the Branch of Astrogeology, U. S. Geological Survey in Flagstaff, Arizona and the Lunar and Planetary Institute.
He is […]
READ MORE...  Dr. Paul D. Spudis is a Senior Staff Scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland and Visiting Scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, Texas. Dr. Spudis was formerly with the Branch of Astrogeology, U. S. Geological Survey in Flagstaff, Arizona and the Lunar and Planetary Institute.
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