Ames Director Worden Keys on Private Sector, Moon Missions
The above is the title line from one of the featured topics on a promotional issue of the Lunar Enterprise Daily.
http://www.spaceagepub.com/ArticleArchive/20060823_1.html
------------------------------------------------------------
Lunar Enterprise Daily -- Wednesday, 23 August 2006 http://www.spaceagepub.com/Daily.html
Space Age Publishing
http://www.spaceagepub.com/
Space Age Calendar
http://www.spaceagepub.com/calendar/currentcalendar.html
------------------------------------------------------------
In the article there is reference to an interview with the new Ames Director, Pete Warden.
- LRK -
------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.spaceagepub.com/ArticleArchive/20060823_1.html
Snip
In a recent interview with Brian Berger and Jeremy Singer in the Federal Times, Worden says Ames is involved in several partnerships, including Google and AirLaunch, as well as discussions with the US Air Force about the development of "small plug-and-play satellites" that could potentially be assembled in one week. "The merger of space and information is a huge growth area for the private sector.... I see Ames as a space portal that is strategically located in a dynamic environment of venture capital, information systems, biotechnology and space," says Worden.
Snip
------------------------------------------------------------
The link to the Federal Times interview noted above.
------------------------------------------------------------
http://federaltimes.com/index.php?S=2044552
Pete Worden
NASA
Space leader explores deals to put astronauts back on the Moon August 21, 2006
BRIAN BERGER AND JEREMY SINGER
------------------------------------------------------------
I have copied the interview below.
If you are in the USA, you might also be interested in looking at the left hand navigation column for the Federal Times web site.
http://federaltimes.com/index.php
or the 'Spotlight' articles noted in the lower right of the index page.
http://federaltimes.com/index.php?C=spotlight
- LRK -
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsltr.: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
============================================================
http://federaltimes.com/index.php?S=2044552
Pete Worden
NASA
Space leader explores deals to put astronauts back on the Moon August 21, 2006
When NASA Administrator Mike Griffin tapped retired Air Force Brig. Gen.
Pete Worden to run the agency's Ames Research Center this past spring, there were high expectations of a prominent role for the center to explore the Moon in advance of a planned return of human explorers.
The Silicon Valley, Calif.-based Ames, better known in recent years for esoteric research in aeronautics and supercomputers than managing space missions, had been assigned responsibility for NASA's Robotic Lunar Exploration Program. Worden, meanwhile, came with a reputation as a maverick determined to shake up the status quo with missions that can be pulled off quickly and on the cheap.
But Worden barely had a chance to settle in when the program was whisked away to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., which is leading development of a robotic lander that NASA hopes to launch in 2011 as a precursor to astronaut landings. Ames' consolation prize was a lunar projects office for developing small spacecraft to support the exploration effort.
In an internal blog for Ames employees, Worden complained that Marshall Director David King took his "lunch money" with an assist from Alabama's powerful congressional delegation. Worden later recanted, saying he spouted off before he "knew all the facts." King took the episode in good humor, telling Worden during a subsequent Strategic Management Council meeting that he owed him lunch.
Worden says it remains his goal to make Ames synonymous with fast-paced and affordable missions, and has been reaching out to like-minded companies to make that happen. But he continues to face challenges, not the least of which is securing funding in a tight budget environment.
Q: How is it to work for NASA after a career spent largely in the national security arena?
Worden: It has been really refreshing working with people who make decisions on solid technical ground. I have to say bluntly that the national security side of the space business has lost some of that technical excellence, particularly at the senior levels of leadership and in recruiting the best and brightest at the lower levels. Since I've been at Ames, my in-box is stuffed full of really super technical people at all levels, including former military program managers with strong track records, wanting to come work with us.
Q: What's your vision for Ames?
Worden: We would like to be a template for working with the private sector.
Another area where Ames can assist NASA as a whole is to really get into small, affordable missions. Small missions potentially have an important role to play in everything we do in space. For example, they help prove out complicated concepts so when you get into a bigger program the technical issues are less taxing.
Q: What's the latest on Google's plans to build a research campus at Ames?
Worden: We are still in the negotiation phase. We have preliminary agreements that would involve hosting some of their facilities at Ames.
That's pretty far along, but not finalized. There also is potential for joint research projects, not necessarily IT related. And the really big thing, if we can find the right program, is to potentially do some type of joint space missions. We are also starting discussions with other companies.
I'm not at liberty to say who yet, but there are probably four or five major discussions ongoing.
Q: What kind of space mission would Ames potentially pursue with Google?
Worden: I don't want to speak for them. Indeed if I spoke for them, I probably wouldn't get very far. But I will just note they are in the information business: organizing information; making it readily available to users and attracting people to their Web site. I will also note that NASA Web sites get billions of hits. If we can find some interesting joint efforts, I think we've got a good shot at working with them.
Q: Mars imagery already is available at Google Mars. Is Google Moon under discussion?
Worden: I cannot comment on specifics.
Q: Does Ames have more to offer the private sector than prized Silicon Valley real estate?
Worden: Absolutely. I've got 2,500 of the cleverest people doing the neatest missions. The merger of space and information is a huge growth area for the private sector and a number of those folks think the same way. I see Ames as a space portal that is strategically located in a dynamic environment of venture capital, information systems, biotechnology and space. There's a huge number of potential partners around Ames.
Q: How about partnerships with the Defense Department?
Worden: We're very interested in partnerships with anybody and DoD is certainly doing a lot of neat stuff. In fact, we just signed a deal with AirLaunch, which is developing a small launcher under a DoD-sponsored program. There's potential for AirLaunch to conduct some flight operations from the Ames airfield. Another potential area of collaboration we are pursuing avidly under the guidance of NASA's associate administrator for aeronautics, Lisa Porter, is hypersonics. DoD, and particularly the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, is doing a lot of really neat programs in those areas and Ames is playing a significant role in some of the research.
There have already been discussions about some of our wind tunnels supporting hypersonics development.
We've also had discussions with the Air Force Research Laboratory about collaborating on the development of small plug-and-play satellites that could potentially be assembled in a week from qualified components. We really want to play a role in that Air Force effort, and we are working closely with other NASA centers, particularly Goddard Space Flight Center, on a potential collaboration.
Q: Do you see synergy between the Air Force's responsive space efforts and what Ames wants to do in the small-satellite arena?
Worden: Right now we are looking very closely at small, fast-paced missions to the Moon. The technology the Air Force Research Laboratory has developed has potentially huge interest to us. And, conversely, a lot of ideas NASA has developed could be of interest to them. Just as there are national security purposes for being able to build a satellite in a week, there are some good reasons why you would want to be able to do that for space exploration, especially as we move into the human expedition phase. We're going to find things out about the Moon, Mars and other objects in our solar system that we are going to want to follow up with space missions that can happen within a month, not five years.
Q: How is Ames' only major flight project, the Kepler space telescope, doing?
Worden: Kepler, like almost all other space missions in the second half of the first decade of the 21st century, has budget and schedule challenges.
But that's a larger issue. I don't think Kepler, from what I've seen, is particularly worse or better than anything else.
Q: Do you expect flight operations of the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) to move from Ames to Dryden Flight Research Center?
Worden: The operations are very much an open issue right now. The arrangement is that SOFIA will continue with Dryden assuming the lead role in finishing the aircraft. For the time being, Ames will continue to lead the science preparation. As Mike Griffin has said, future roles may be competed. Whether SOFIA is operated from Ames or someplace else, we expect to make the point that Ames can play a key role. After all, the science instruments for the mission are being built here.
Q: Are SOFIA flight operations critical to Ames keeping its airstrip open?
Worden: Naturally, it's a consideration, but I don't think it's critical. In my estimation whether or not NASA retains the Ames airstrip depends on a variety of factors, including its relevance to the NASA mission and what it costs. The charge I've been given with not only the airfield, but other facilities here as well, is to work with the private sector and find work that furthers the Vision for Space Exploration and helps defray some of our costs.
Q: It's often said that congressional earmarks originate at the NASA field centers. Will you play that game to protect Ames?
Worden: No. Earmarks are counterproductive for the agency and the Vision for Space Exploration. But I don't think center management originates earmarks.
They are originated by contractors, universities and other people associated with a given center. However, center management can help with earmarks by discouraging them. When you have a meeting with a contractor and they tell you they can go get Congressman X to put in an earmark, you can tell them 'no,' or you can wink or nod and they go do it. It's been made very clear that that's not acceptable in Mike Griffin's NASA.
BRIAN BERGER AND JEREMY SINGER
Snip
============================================================
Google
http://www.google.com/intl/en/about.html
Air Launch
http://www.airlaunchllc.com/
http://www.airlaunchllc.com/AirLaunch-Ames%20MOU%20Press%20Release%20072606%20Final.pdf
[1 page, PDF file. - I grew up in Kirkland WA. - LRK -]
July 26, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AIRLAUNCH LLC TO PARTNER WITH NASA ON SMALL SATELLITE DEVELOPMENT Kirkland, Wash. - AirLaunch LLC announced today that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., to explore collaborations in space launch systems and payloads launched from aircraft.
Snip
AirLaunch LLC is developing the QuickReachT Small Launch Vehicle (SLV) concept under a contract with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
(DARPA) / U.S. Air Force Falcon SLV program that also includes NASA participation. QuickReachT is designed to meet the goals of affordable and responsive space lift, with the ability to deliver 1,000 pounds to Low Earth Orbit for less than $5 million per flight and launch within 24 hours notice.
AirLaunch's rocket achieves responsiveness by launching from an unmodified C-17A or other large cargo aircraft. AirLaunch LLC is a small business headquartered in Kirkland, Wash.
Snip
============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
=============================================================
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Koreasat 5 - Zenit 3SL Launch
Hmmm, August 22, and the launch of a South Korean satellite, Koreasat 5, on a Russian-Ukrainian Zenit-SL carrier rocket, using the services of Sea Launch, from the equator at 154 degrees West Longitude. [August 21st at 8:27 PM Pacific Daylight Time (03:27 GMT, Aug. 22)]
Sounds multi-national to me.
- LRK -
------------------------------------------------------------
http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/calendar/
# Aug 22 -Updated[Aug 17] Koreasat 5 Zenit 3SL Launch
------------------------------------------------------------
The satellite will provide both civilian and military services for South Korea and is manufactured by Alcatel Alenia Space.
Hmmm, any other dual purpose satellites up there in geo-sync?
- LRK -
Alcatel.
------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.alcatel.com/space/index.htm
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060822/latu056.html?.v=70
------------------------------------------------------------
Take a look at the history of Alcatel.
- LRK -
------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.alcatel.com/apropos/history/index.htm
http://www.alcatel.com/products/productsbyfamily.jsp?category=Space+Systems
------------------------------------------------------------
And you remember Sea Launch.
- LRK -
------------------------------------------------------------
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Launch
http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/space/sealaunch/index.html
http://www.socaltech.com/story/0005031.html
------------------------------------------------------------
And if you like, you might launch with the Chinese.
- LRK -
------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.cgwic.com/launch/center.htm
Xichang Satellite Launch Center
http://www.cgwic.com/launch/center1.html
The main purpose of Xichang Satellite Launch Center (XSLC) is to launch spacecraft, such as broadcasting, communications and meteorological satellites, into geo-stationary orbit .
XSLC is located in Xichang Region, Sichuan Province in southwestern China.
Its headquarters is at Xichang City, 65 km from the launch site. The coordinates of the launch pad are 102.0 degree E and 28.2 degree N.
Snip
------------------------------------------------------------
Read more between the lines below. :-)
- LRK -
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsltr.: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
============================================================
http://www.skyrocket.de/space/index_frame.htm?http://www.skyrocket.de/space/doc_sdat/koreasat-5.htm
Koreasat 5 (Mugungwha 5)
Koreasat 5 will be South Korea's first combined civil and military communications satellite. Alcatel Space will supply both the multimission satellite and its ground control system, along with launch and early operations phase (LEOP) support.
Based on the new-generation Spacebus-4000C1 platform from Alcatel Space, Koreasat 5 will feature a state-of-the-art broadband payload, including new technologies developed within the scope of the Syracuse III program.
With 36 transponders in Ku-band, C-band (civil) and SHF band (military), Koreasat 5 will deliver advanced broadband multimedia and digital television transmission services, along with conventional telecom services to operators in the Asia-Pacific region.
Snip
============================================================
http://www.spacedaily.com/2006/060718055734.8vgmp6s5.html
South Korea delays military satellite launch SEOUL, July 18 (AFP) Jul 18, 2006
South Korea on Tuesday delayed the launch of its first military satellite by 10 days to August 20 at the request of the US launching company, defense officials said.
The Mugunghwa 5 military communications satellite was originally due to lift off on August 10 from the South Pacific.
US-based firm Sea Launch is responsible for the launch into orbit at 36,000 kilometers (22,000 miles). France's Alcatel built the satellite.
"We have rescheduled the satellite launch from August 10 to August 20 as requested by Sea Launch," said a spokesman at the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, which is affiliated with the defense ministry.
Snip
============================================================
http://www.interfax.ru/e/B/politics/28.html?id_issue=11575405
Politics
Aug 22 2006 9:34AM
Russian-Ukrainian launch vehicle puts S. Korean satellite into orbit
MOSCOW. Aug 22 (Interfax-AVN) - The South Korean satellite Koreasat-5, has been put into the target geostationary orbit, Mission Control near Moscow told Interfax.
Koreasat-5's orbit parameters are close to the target ones and control over the satellite has been taken over by the customer.
Maneuvers to move the first stage of the launch vehicle to a safe orbit are to be performed within three hours.
It was the fourth launch under the Sea Launch program since the beginning of the year, and 22nd with the Russian-Ukrainian Zenit-SL carrier rocket since 1999.
Koreasat-5 is intended for television transmission and multimedia services in Asia and the Pacific. It can also provide military telecom services. It was made by Alcatel Alenia Space, based on the Spacebus 4100 C1 platform.
The Zenit launch vehicle's previous launch was in May.
The Sea Launch corporation was formed in April 1995 by Boeing Commercial Space Company (Seattle, U.S.) with a 40% stake, the rocket and space corporation Energia (Korolyov, Russia) with a 25% stake, Kvaerner Maritimea s. (Oslo, Norway) with a 20% stake, and the Yuzhnoye state design bureau and Yuzhmash production amalgamation (Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) with a 15% stake.
Russia carried out 18 launches in 2006 on its own or in cooperation with other countries. Two launches, with a Proton-M launch vehicle on February 28 and a Dnepr launch vehicle on July 26, were a failure causing the loss of satellites. One more satellite, launched from a submarine with a converted sea-based rocket, failed to come into action.
The year 2005 saw 26 launches, three of them a failure. A Rokot launch vehicle, launched from Plesetsk, failed to put a CryoSat satellite into orbit, a Molnia-M failed to take a military satellite into space, and the launch of a Volna carrier rocket from a submarine ended in the loss of the Demonstrator D-2R vehicle. sd
Snip
============================================================
http://www.infrasite.nl/news/news_article.php?ID_nieuwsberichten=4985&language=en
2006-08-22 Newsarticle
Company: Alcatel
Successful launch of communications satellite
Successful launch of Koreasat 5 hybrid communications satellite, built by Alcatel Alenia Space as prime contractor
Paris, France - Alcatel Alenia Space announced the successful launch of Koreasat 5, the hybrid military and civilian communications satellite for South Korea. Koreasat 5 is jointly owned by the Agency for Defense Development and KT Corporation of South Korea.
This launch took place on August 21st at 8:27 PM Pacific Daylight Time
(03:27 GMT, Aug. 22 ) by Sea Launch Company on a Zenit-3SL rocket at 154 degrees West Longitude on the Equator. The Koreasat 5 satellite was placed into geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO), on its way to reach after the completion of the Launch Early Operations a final orbital position of 113 degrees East.
Koreasat 5 wil offer secured military communications for the Korean defense forces. It will also serve KT's satellite business by broadening the DTH TV offer in Korea.
Designed, manufactured and integrated by prime contractor Alcatel Alenia Space, Koreasat 5 is a 4,448 Kg (9,806 Lb) satellite based on a Spacebus 4000 C1 platform. It brings 36 active transponders in Ku-band for the commercial mission and in Ka and SHF-bands for military purpose.
Koreasat 5 will deliver advanced broadband multimedia and digital television transmission services, along with conventional telecom services to operators in the Asia-Pacific region. It features state-of-the-art broadband payload, including new technologies developed within the scope of European military programs. This satellite will provide 8.6 kW of electrical power and its lifetime is expected to extend beyond 15 years.
"The Koreasat 5 launch further strengthens the solid ties between our company and the Republic of Korea and together with our involvement in the Kompsat 2 and Kompsat 5 programs illustrates our active participation in Asia space project developments. Our ability to deliver dual (civil/military) solutions and our strong heritage have allowed us to provide upper technologies to meet the requirements of both our customers KT and ADD", said Pascale Sourisse, President and CEO of Alcatel Alenia Space.
About Alcatel Alenia Space
Alcatel Alenia Space is the European leader in satellite systems and at the forefront of orbital infrastructures. Created in July 2005, the company brings together the vast experience and know-how of Alcatel Space and Alenia Spazio to form a new leading force in European space technology. Alcatel Alenia Space represents a worldwide standard for space development that impacts everybody's future: from navigation to telecommunications, from meteorology to environmental monitoring, from defense to science and observation. Alcatel Alenia Space is an affiliate of Alcatel (Paris: CGEP.PA and NYSE: ALA) (67%) and Finmeccanica (Milan:SIFI.MI, FNC.IM) (33%).
About Alcatel
Alcatel provides communications solutions to telecommunication carriers, Internet service providers and enterprises for delivery of voice, data and video applications to their customers or employees. Alcatel brings its leading position in fixed and mobile broadband networks, applications and services, to help its partners and customers build a user-centric broadband world. With sales of EURO 13.1 billion and 58,000 employees in 2005, Alcatel operates in more than 130 countries. For more information, visit Alcatel on the Internet: http://www.alcatel.com
Snip
============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
=============================================================
Hmmm, August 22, and the launch of a South Korean satellite, Koreasat 5, on a Russian-Ukrainian Zenit-SL carrier rocket, using the services of Sea Launch, from the equator at 154 degrees West Longitude. [August 21st at 8:27 PM Pacific Daylight Time (03:27 GMT, Aug. 22)]
Sounds multi-national to me.
- LRK -
------------------------------------------------------------
http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/calendar/
# Aug 22 -Updated[Aug 17] Koreasat 5 Zenit 3SL Launch
------------------------------------------------------------
The satellite will provide both civilian and military services for South Korea and is manufactured by Alcatel Alenia Space.
Hmmm, any other dual purpose satellites up there in geo-sync?
- LRK -
Alcatel.
------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.alcatel.com/space/index.htm
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060822/latu056.html?.v=70
------------------------------------------------------------
Take a look at the history of Alcatel.
- LRK -
------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.alcatel.com/apropos/history/index.htm
http://www.alcatel.com/products/productsbyfamily.jsp?category=Space+Systems
------------------------------------------------------------
And you remember Sea Launch.
- LRK -
------------------------------------------------------------
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Launch
http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/space/sealaunch/index.html
http://www.socaltech.com/story/0005031.html
------------------------------------------------------------
And if you like, you might launch with the Chinese.
- LRK -
------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.cgwic.com/launch/center.htm
Xichang Satellite Launch Center
http://www.cgwic.com/launch/center1.html
The main purpose of Xichang Satellite Launch Center (XSLC) is to launch spacecraft, such as broadcasting, communications and meteorological satellites, into geo-stationary orbit .
XSLC is located in Xichang Region, Sichuan Province in southwestern China.
Its headquarters is at Xichang City, 65 km from the launch site. The coordinates of the launch pad are 102.0 degree E and 28.2 degree N.
Snip
------------------------------------------------------------
Read more between the lines below. :-)
- LRK -
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsltr.: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
============================================================
http://www.skyrocket.de/space/index_frame.htm?http://www.skyrocket.de/space/doc_sdat/koreasat-5.htm
Koreasat 5 (Mugungwha 5)
Koreasat 5 will be South Korea's first combined civil and military communications satellite. Alcatel Space will supply both the multimission satellite and its ground control system, along with launch and early operations phase (LEOP) support.
Based on the new-generation Spacebus-4000C1 platform from Alcatel Space, Koreasat 5 will feature a state-of-the-art broadband payload, including new technologies developed within the scope of the Syracuse III program.
With 36 transponders in Ku-band, C-band (civil) and SHF band (military), Koreasat 5 will deliver advanced broadband multimedia and digital television transmission services, along with conventional telecom services to operators in the Asia-Pacific region.
Snip
============================================================
http://www.spacedaily.com/2006/060718055734.8vgmp6s5.html
South Korea delays military satellite launch SEOUL, July 18 (AFP) Jul 18, 2006
South Korea on Tuesday delayed the launch of its first military satellite by 10 days to August 20 at the request of the US launching company, defense officials said.
The Mugunghwa 5 military communications satellite was originally due to lift off on August 10 from the South Pacific.
US-based firm Sea Launch is responsible for the launch into orbit at 36,000 kilometers (22,000 miles). France's Alcatel built the satellite.
"We have rescheduled the satellite launch from August 10 to August 20 as requested by Sea Launch," said a spokesman at the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, which is affiliated with the defense ministry.
Snip
============================================================
http://www.interfax.ru/e/B/politics/28.html?id_issue=11575405
Politics
Aug 22 2006 9:34AM
Russian-Ukrainian launch vehicle puts S. Korean satellite into orbit
MOSCOW. Aug 22 (Interfax-AVN) - The South Korean satellite Koreasat-5, has been put into the target geostationary orbit, Mission Control near Moscow told Interfax.
Koreasat-5's orbit parameters are close to the target ones and control over the satellite has been taken over by the customer.
Maneuvers to move the first stage of the launch vehicle to a safe orbit are to be performed within three hours.
It was the fourth launch under the Sea Launch program since the beginning of the year, and 22nd with the Russian-Ukrainian Zenit-SL carrier rocket since 1999.
Koreasat-5 is intended for television transmission and multimedia services in Asia and the Pacific. It can also provide military telecom services. It was made by Alcatel Alenia Space, based on the Spacebus 4100 C1 platform.
The Zenit launch vehicle's previous launch was in May.
The Sea Launch corporation was formed in April 1995 by Boeing Commercial Space Company (Seattle, U.S.) with a 40% stake, the rocket and space corporation Energia (Korolyov, Russia) with a 25% stake, Kvaerner Maritimea s. (Oslo, Norway) with a 20% stake, and the Yuzhnoye state design bureau and Yuzhmash production amalgamation (Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) with a 15% stake.
Russia carried out 18 launches in 2006 on its own or in cooperation with other countries. Two launches, with a Proton-M launch vehicle on February 28 and a Dnepr launch vehicle on July 26, were a failure causing the loss of satellites. One more satellite, launched from a submarine with a converted sea-based rocket, failed to come into action.
The year 2005 saw 26 launches, three of them a failure. A Rokot launch vehicle, launched from Plesetsk, failed to put a CryoSat satellite into orbit, a Molnia-M failed to take a military satellite into space, and the launch of a Volna carrier rocket from a submarine ended in the loss of the Demonstrator D-2R vehicle. sd
Snip
============================================================
http://www.infrasite.nl/news/news_article.php?ID_nieuwsberichten=4985&language=en
2006-08-22 Newsarticle
Company: Alcatel
Successful launch of communications satellite
Successful launch of Koreasat 5 hybrid communications satellite, built by Alcatel Alenia Space as prime contractor
Paris, France - Alcatel Alenia Space announced the successful launch of Koreasat 5, the hybrid military and civilian communications satellite for South Korea. Koreasat 5 is jointly owned by the Agency for Defense Development and KT Corporation of South Korea.
This launch took place on August 21st at 8:27 PM Pacific Daylight Time
(03:27 GMT, Aug. 22 ) by Sea Launch Company on a Zenit-3SL rocket at 154 degrees West Longitude on the Equator. The Koreasat 5 satellite was placed into geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO), on its way to reach after the completion of the Launch Early Operations a final orbital position of 113 degrees East.
Koreasat 5 wil offer secured military communications for the Korean defense forces. It will also serve KT's satellite business by broadening the DTH TV offer in Korea.
Designed, manufactured and integrated by prime contractor Alcatel Alenia Space, Koreasat 5 is a 4,448 Kg (9,806 Lb) satellite based on a Spacebus 4000 C1 platform. It brings 36 active transponders in Ku-band for the commercial mission and in Ka and SHF-bands for military purpose.
Koreasat 5 will deliver advanced broadband multimedia and digital television transmission services, along with conventional telecom services to operators in the Asia-Pacific region. It features state-of-the-art broadband payload, including new technologies developed within the scope of European military programs. This satellite will provide 8.6 kW of electrical power and its lifetime is expected to extend beyond 15 years.
"The Koreasat 5 launch further strengthens the solid ties between our company and the Republic of Korea and together with our involvement in the Kompsat 2 and Kompsat 5 programs illustrates our active participation in Asia space project developments. Our ability to deliver dual (civil/military) solutions and our strong heritage have allowed us to provide upper technologies to meet the requirements of both our customers KT and ADD", said Pascale Sourisse, President and CEO of Alcatel Alenia Space.
About Alcatel Alenia Space
Alcatel Alenia Space is the European leader in satellite systems and at the forefront of orbital infrastructures. Created in July 2005, the company brings together the vast experience and know-how of Alcatel Space and Alenia Spazio to form a new leading force in European space technology. Alcatel Alenia Space represents a worldwide standard for space development that impacts everybody's future: from navigation to telecommunications, from meteorology to environmental monitoring, from defense to science and observation. Alcatel Alenia Space is an affiliate of Alcatel (Paris: CGEP.PA and NYSE: ALA) (67%) and Finmeccanica (Milan:SIFI.MI, FNC.IM) (33%).
About Alcatel
Alcatel provides communications solutions to telecommunication carriers, Internet service providers and enterprises for delivery of voice, data and video applications to their customers or employees. Alcatel brings its leading position in fixed and mobile broadband networks, applications and services, to help its partners and customers build a user-centric broadband world. With sales of EURO 13.1 billion and 58,000 employees in 2005, Alcatel operates in more than 130 countries. For more information, visit Alcatel on the Internet: http://www.alcatel.com
Snip
============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
=============================================================
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Asteroid 2006 ON1 Near-Earth Flyby (0.043 AU) is noted on JPL's Space Calendar, and in following that up a link to SpaceWeather showed up.
It seems that some of you should have had a good light show last night from spectacular auroras caused by a geomagnetic storm.
See an image taken in Sweden on August 19th. - LRK -
---------------------------------------------------
http://www.spaceweather.com/
What's Up in Space -- 20 Aug 2006
---------------------------------------------------
Asteroid 2006 ON1 went by at 16.6 times the distance to the Moon, so no light show from an asteroid this time. Hmmm - not at this time. Just keep repeating, not at this time.
- LRK -
---------------------------------------------------
http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/calendar/
# Aug 20 - Mercury Passes 0.5 Degrees From Saturn # Aug 20 - Asteroid 2429 Schurer Occults HIP 13702 (5.6 Magnitude Star) # Aug 20 - Asteroid 1185 Nikko Occults HIP 72622 (2.8 Magnitude Star) # Aug 20 - Asteroid 2006 ON1 Near-Earth Flyby (0.043 AU)
http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/db_shm?des=2006+ON1
http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/Ephemerides/Unusual/K06O01N.html
# Aug 20 - Asteroid 9500 Camelot Closest Approach To Earth (1.860 AU)
---------------------------------------------------
At SpaceWeather you will also note a number of other interesting web links.
- LRK -
Will there be more solar storms in the future? Could well be as we had a
sunspot on July 31 that was backward. This may signal the starting of Solar
Cycle 24 which is expected to be exceptionally stormy.
- LRK -
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/15aug_backwards.htm
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsltr.: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
===================================================
http://spaceweather.com/
What's Up in Space -- 20 Aug 2006
MORNING PLANETS: If you're up at dawn tomorrow, dash outside and look east.
Three planets and the crescent Moon are gathering together just ahead of the
rising sun. Look, it's a nice way to begin the day. [sky map]
MAGNETIC STORM: Last night, a geomagnetic storm sent spectacular auroras
rippling across Scandinavia: "It was almost scary to see the 'flames' in the
sky," says Chris Folde of Selbu, Norway. "I've never experienced anything
like it."
Across the border in Sweden, the auroras had competition from the midnight
sun. No problem. "The display was so strong, I was able to take many
pictures," says Patricia Cowern of Porjus, Sweden:
Snip
August 2006 Earth-asteroid encounters
ASTEROID DATE (UT) MISS DISTANCE MAG. SIZE
2006 ON1 Aug 20 16.6 LD 18 230 m
Notes: LD is a "Lunar Distance." 1 LD = 384,401 km, the distance between
Earth and the Moon. 1 LD also equals 0.00256 AU. MAG is the visual magnitude
of the asteroid on the date of closest approach.
Snip
============================================================
Here is a link to some SOHO images:
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/
Snip
[Many more links like the above at the SpaceWeather link. - LRK -]
http://spaceweather.com/
============================================================
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/15aug_backwards.htm
Backward Sunspot
08.15.2006
August 15, 2006: On July 31st, a tiny sunspot was born. It popped up from
the sun's interior, floated around a bit, and vanished again in a few hours.
On the sun this sort of thing happens all the time and, ordinarily, it
wouldn't be worth mentioning. But this sunspot was special: It was backward.
"We've been waiting for this," says David Hathaway, a solar physicist at the
Marshall Space Flight in Huntsville, Alabama. "A backward sunspot is a sign
that the next solar cycle is beginning."
"Backward" means magnetically backward. Hathaway explains:
Sunspots are planet-sized magnets created by the sun's inner magnetic
dynamo. Like all magnets in the Universe, sunspots have north (N) and south
(S) magnetic poles. The sunspot of July 31st popped up at solar longitude
65o W, latitude 13o S. Sunspots in that area are normally oriented N-S. The
newcomer, however, was S-N, opposite the norm.
Snip
============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
=============================================================
It seems that some of you should have had a good light show last night from spectacular auroras caused by a geomagnetic storm.
See an image taken in Sweden on August 19th. - LRK -
---------------------------------------------------
http://www.spaceweather.com/
What's Up in Space -- 20 Aug 2006
---------------------------------------------------
Asteroid 2006 ON1 went by at 16.6 times the distance to the Moon, so no light show from an asteroid this time. Hmmm - not at this time. Just keep repeating, not at this time.
- LRK -
---------------------------------------------------
http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/calendar/
# Aug 20 - Mercury Passes 0.5 Degrees From Saturn # Aug 20 - Asteroid 2429 Schurer Occults HIP 13702 (5.6 Magnitude Star) # Aug 20 - Asteroid 1185 Nikko Occults HIP 72622 (2.8 Magnitude Star) # Aug 20 - Asteroid 2006 ON1 Near-Earth Flyby (0.043 AU)
http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/db_shm?des=2006+ON1
http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/Ephemerides/Unusual/K06O01N.html
# Aug 20 - Asteroid 9500 Camelot Closest Approach To Earth (1.860 AU)
---------------------------------------------------
At SpaceWeather you will also note a number of other interesting web links.
- LRK -
Will there be more solar storms in the future? Could well be as we had a
sunspot on July 31 that was backward. This may signal the starting of Solar
Cycle 24 which is expected to be exceptionally stormy.
- LRK -
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/15aug_backwards.htm
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsltr.: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
===================================================
http://spaceweather.com/
What's Up in Space -- 20 Aug 2006
MORNING PLANETS: If you're up at dawn tomorrow, dash outside and look east.
Three planets and the crescent Moon are gathering together just ahead of the
rising sun. Look, it's a nice way to begin the day. [sky map]
MAGNETIC STORM: Last night, a geomagnetic storm sent spectacular auroras
rippling across Scandinavia: "It was almost scary to see the 'flames' in the
sky," says Chris Folde of Selbu, Norway. "I've never experienced anything
like it."
Across the border in Sweden, the auroras had competition from the midnight
sun. No problem. "The display was so strong, I was able to take many
pictures," says Patricia Cowern of Porjus, Sweden:
Snip
August 2006 Earth-asteroid encounters
ASTEROID DATE (UT) MISS DISTANCE MAG. SIZE
2006 ON1 Aug 20 16.6 LD 18 230 m
Notes: LD is a "Lunar Distance." 1 LD = 384,401 km, the distance between
Earth and the Moon. 1 LD also equals 0.00256 AU. MAG is the visual magnitude
of the asteroid on the date of closest approach.
Snip
============================================================
Here is a link to some SOHO images:
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/
Snip
[Many more links like the above at the SpaceWeather link. - LRK -]
http://spaceweather.com/
============================================================
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/15aug_backwards.htm
Backward Sunspot
08.15.2006
August 15, 2006: On July 31st, a tiny sunspot was born. It popped up from
the sun's interior, floated around a bit, and vanished again in a few hours.
On the sun this sort of thing happens all the time and, ordinarily, it
wouldn't be worth mentioning. But this sunspot was special: It was backward.
"We've been waiting for this," says David Hathaway, a solar physicist at the
Marshall Space Flight in Huntsville, Alabama. "A backward sunspot is a sign
that the next solar cycle is beginning."
"Backward" means magnetically backward. Hathaway explains:
Sunspots are planet-sized magnets created by the sun's inner magnetic
dynamo. Like all magnets in the Universe, sunspots have north (N) and south
(S) magnetic poles. The sunspot of July 31st popped up at solar longitude
65o W, latitude 13o S. Sunspots in that area are normally oriented N-S. The
newcomer, however, was S-N, opposite the norm.
Snip
============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
=============================================================
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Firms to fill in for shuttles ---
Up, up, and away.
Is it a bird, or a plane, no it is a civilian firm' rocket on its way to the International Space Station, or that is what is being looked into with the help of some pocket change from NASA. (~$500 million dollars)
- LRK -
------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060819/NEWS02/608190325/1007
Firms to fill in for shuttles
Private sector will provide access to space station after fleet retires
BY LARRY WHEELER
FLORIDA TODAY
NASA picked two small space firms Friday to share a $500 million contract to provide access to the International Space Station after the shuttle fleet retires in 2010.
Although the civilian space agency plans to buy its own fleet of rockets and spacecraft to haul people and cargo to and from the space station, as well as the moon, Friday's award is intended to give the private sector a toehold on the government-built space station.
The winning firms were SpaceX and Rocketplane-Kistler.
"We are a customer that needs to re-supply the space station after we retire the shuttle," said Scott Horowitz, associate administrator of NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate. "If the commercial sector can do it safely and reliably and more cost effectively, it is in our best interest to buy that service."
Snip
------------------------------------------------------------
So learn the acronym "COTS" as it applies to space.
- LRK -
------------------------------------------------------------
NASA announces Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) demonstration programme winners.
------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0608/18cots/
What they signed up for.
- LRK -
------------------------------------------------------------
[DOC] Commercial Orbital Transportation Services File Format: Microsoft Word - View as HTML (To be developed by NASA/COTS participants collaboration, based on NASA Human Rating Requirements NPR 8705.2, Man Systems Integration Standard 3000, ...
http://procurement.jsc.nasa.gov/cots/COTS%20Final%20Announcement.doc
[62 page Microsoft Word Document - 491 KB - LRK -]
------------------------------------------------------------
What was it that I was going to do on the ISS?
Now if they use the ISS for something that helps us develop space before it falls from the sky, should be interesting to see if others can go to it.
Who will pay the actual bill for each launch?
A commercial firm is going to want to see some Return On Investment.
Wonder what the insurance bill will be if you don't get some good launches before you start heading to the ISS?
Will these be man-rated (excuse me, person rated), or just cargo flights?
Who will pay for the Russian launches if they are the only person lifters?
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsltr.: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
============================================================
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-spacex19aug19,1,6354668.story?coll=la-headlines-business
NASA Awards Two Contracts to Develop Private Spaceship
>From Bloomberg News
August 19, 2006
NASA said Friday that it had awarded contracts valued at $485 million to two closely held companies to develop a cargo ship to serve the International Space Station, planting the seeds for a commercial space industry.
The contract for Commercial Orbital Transportation Services will be shared by Space Exploration Technologies Corp., also known as SpaceX, based in El Segundo, and Rocketplane Kistler, based in Oklahoma City. It is the first time the U.S. space agency has hired contractors to build a spaceship that private companies, not the government, would own.
Snip
The winners beat out two publicly traded companies, SpaceDev Inc. of Poway, Calif., and Webster, Texas-based Spacehab Inc., along with privately held Reston, Va.-based Transformational Space Corp. and Andrews Space Inc. of Seattle.
Snip
============================================================
http://www.themoneytimes.com/articles/20060819/nasa_selects_two_companies_to_develop_private_spaceship-id-101200.html
NASA selects two companies to develop Private Spaceship
by Bithika Khargarhia - August 19, 2006 - 0 comments
Anticipating private spaceflights taking off sometime in future, NASA on Friday awarded contracts valued at $485 million to two small companies, both recovering from different failures to develop a new commercial spaceship.
NASA selected Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) of El Segundo, California, and Rocketplane-Kistler (formerly part of Kistler Aviation based on Seattle's Eastside) of Oklahoma City, to support the space agency's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) demonstration initiative, which represents NASA's program to coordinate the commercial delivery of crew and cargo to the International Space Station (ISS).
The two companies would get a total of $485 million in "seed money" from NASA over the next five years to develop and test-launch new spacecraft with the idea that they would one day deliver cargo to the international space station (ISS). That means, if successful, the drive will give NASA the capability to re-supply the ISS after the 2010 retirement of the Space Shuttle.
The agreements with SpaceX and Rocketplane-Kistler could increase to $1 billion in development assistance if NASA and Congress decide the companies can safely take astronauts to and from the orbital outpost at a relatively low cost.
Among the two chosen companies, one Rocketplane-Kistler has formed an association with big-name companies, including Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin, with long aerospace histories. However, it emerged from bankruptcy last year.
And the other company, the SpaceX is funded by the Internet magnet behind PayPal, Elon Musk, who is a Chief Executive of SpaceX, but had a flaming breakdown in its initial rocket launch earlier this year. SpaceX has already sold a rocket launch to Las Vegas, Nevada based space technology start-up company, Bigelow Aerospace's planned private space station.
"When commercial enterprise turns the journey into low-Earth orbit into a profit-making business, NASA will be free to focus on goals more appropriate for government, such as exploration," said Scott Horowitz, the agency's associate administrator for exploration.
Snip
============================================================
http://www.flightglobal.com/Articles/2006/08/18/Navigation/177/208518/NASA+announces+Commercial+Orbital+Transportation+Services+demonstration+programme.html
NASA announces Commercial Orbital Transportation Services demonstration programme winners
by Rob Coppinger
California based Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) and Oklahoma's Rocketplane-Kistler (RpK) have won funded space act agreements (SAA) and will have $485 million split between them for the four-year phase one of NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) programme.
By 2010 COTS will see the companies demonstrate capabilities to provide cargo and possibly crew transportation to the International Space Station
(ISS) into the next decade. SpaceX has won a $278 million SAA and RpK a £207 million agreement. The companies have also raised private financing to supplement the NASA funding. An SAA is an agreement for a private company to use NASA facilities and to work with the US space agency's personnel. The SAA money will be paid out in milestones linked to design reviews, testing readiness and eventually test flights.
Snip
“These companies were selected from a total of 20 applicants, based on solid engineering of innovative concepts and sound business plans,” says NASA commercial crew and cargo programme office manager Alan Lindenmoyer. He added that he expects the two companies to exploit other markets such as orbital space tourism.
Snip
In COTS phase one the companies will have to demonstrate four capabilities, unpressurised cargo delivery and disposal; pressurised cargo delivery and disposal; internal cargo delivery and return; and an option for crew transportation. Then in phase two NASA plans to purchase these services competitively. It has informed the two winning companies it will be asking for supply of 5t of unpressurised cargo and 7t of pressurised cargo to the ISS. The second phase could see a crew transport system developed.
Snip
============================================================
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14411983/
SpaceX, Rocketplane win spaceship contest
$485 million to be doled out for new ways to resupply space station
By Alan Boyle
Science editor
MSNBC
Updated: 5:13 p.m. MT Aug 18, 2006
Snip
The Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program, or COTS, marks a dramatic departure in the way NASA does business and could give a boost to the nascent private-sector space race — including space tourism for paying passengers.
NASA Administrator Mike Griffin acknowledged earlier this week that the program could also turn out to be a $500 million flop. "If it doesn’t work, I’ve frankly made the wrong bet … with a good amount of money that we could have used for other purposes if the entrepreneurial sector is, in fact, not able to step up," he told Space.com.
Snip
Two approaches to funding spaceships
In the past, NASA has funded the entire development cost for creating spaceships for human spaceflight, ranging from Mercury capsules to space shuttles. This approach is still being used for the development of the main successor to the space shuttle fleet, known as the Crew Exploration Vehicle or CEV. Two teams, led by Lockheed Martin on one side and Northrop Grumman and Boeing on the other, are vying for that multibillion-dollar project — and NASA is expected to announce the winner of the CEV contract sometime in the next couple of months.
COTS is different in that NASA will be merely "investing" in projects primarily supported by the private sector, with quarterly payments made as the development teams reach technical and financial milestones through the end of 2009. The final milestones call for three test flights, including an unmanned flight to the space station itself, said Alan Lindenmoyer, commercial crew/cargo project manager at NASA.
The spaceships developed with NASA's support could well help fill the gap between the scheduled 2010 retirement of the shuttle fleet and the start of CEV flights in the 2012-2014 time frame.
Snip
============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
=============================================================
Up, up, and away.
Is it a bird, or a plane, no it is a civilian firm' rocket on its way to the International Space Station, or that is what is being looked into with the help of some pocket change from NASA. (~$500 million dollars)
- LRK -
------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060819/NEWS02/608190325/1007
Firms to fill in for shuttles
Private sector will provide access to space station after fleet retires
BY LARRY WHEELER
FLORIDA TODAY
NASA picked two small space firms Friday to share a $500 million contract to provide access to the International Space Station after the shuttle fleet retires in 2010.
Although the civilian space agency plans to buy its own fleet of rockets and spacecraft to haul people and cargo to and from the space station, as well as the moon, Friday's award is intended to give the private sector a toehold on the government-built space station.
The winning firms were SpaceX and Rocketplane-Kistler.
"We are a customer that needs to re-supply the space station after we retire the shuttle," said Scott Horowitz, associate administrator of NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate. "If the commercial sector can do it safely and reliably and more cost effectively, it is in our best interest to buy that service."
Snip
------------------------------------------------------------
So learn the acronym "COTS" as it applies to space.
- LRK -
------------------------------------------------------------
NASA announces Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) demonstration programme winners.
------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0608/18cots/
What they signed up for.
- LRK -
------------------------------------------------------------
[DOC] Commercial Orbital Transportation Services File Format: Microsoft Word - View as HTML (To be developed by NASA/COTS participants collaboration, based on NASA Human Rating Requirements NPR 8705.2, Man Systems Integration Standard 3000, ...
http://procurement.jsc.nasa.gov/cots/COTS%20Final%20Announcement.doc
[62 page Microsoft Word Document - 491 KB - LRK -]
------------------------------------------------------------
What was it that I was going to do on the ISS?
Now if they use the ISS for something that helps us develop space before it falls from the sky, should be interesting to see if others can go to it.
Who will pay the actual bill for each launch?
A commercial firm is going to want to see some Return On Investment.
Wonder what the insurance bill will be if you don't get some good launches before you start heading to the ISS?
Will these be man-rated (excuse me, person rated), or just cargo flights?
Who will pay for the Russian launches if they are the only person lifters?
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsltr.: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
============================================================
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-spacex19aug19,1,6354668.story?coll=la-headlines-business
NASA Awards Two Contracts to Develop Private Spaceship
>From Bloomberg News
August 19, 2006
NASA said Friday that it had awarded contracts valued at $485 million to two closely held companies to develop a cargo ship to serve the International Space Station, planting the seeds for a commercial space industry.
The contract for Commercial Orbital Transportation Services will be shared by Space Exploration Technologies Corp., also known as SpaceX, based in El Segundo, and Rocketplane Kistler, based in Oklahoma City. It is the first time the U.S. space agency has hired contractors to build a spaceship that private companies, not the government, would own.
Snip
The winners beat out two publicly traded companies, SpaceDev Inc. of Poway, Calif., and Webster, Texas-based Spacehab Inc., along with privately held Reston, Va.-based Transformational Space Corp. and Andrews Space Inc. of Seattle.
Snip
============================================================
http://www.themoneytimes.com/articles/20060819/nasa_selects_two_companies_to_develop_private_spaceship-id-101200.html
NASA selects two companies to develop Private Spaceship
by Bithika Khargarhia - August 19, 2006 - 0 comments
Anticipating private spaceflights taking off sometime in future, NASA on Friday awarded contracts valued at $485 million to two small companies, both recovering from different failures to develop a new commercial spaceship.
NASA selected Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) of El Segundo, California, and Rocketplane-Kistler (formerly part of Kistler Aviation based on Seattle's Eastside) of Oklahoma City, to support the space agency's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) demonstration initiative, which represents NASA's program to coordinate the commercial delivery of crew and cargo to the International Space Station (ISS).
The two companies would get a total of $485 million in "seed money" from NASA over the next five years to develop and test-launch new spacecraft with the idea that they would one day deliver cargo to the international space station (ISS). That means, if successful, the drive will give NASA the capability to re-supply the ISS after the 2010 retirement of the Space Shuttle.
The agreements with SpaceX and Rocketplane-Kistler could increase to $1 billion in development assistance if NASA and Congress decide the companies can safely take astronauts to and from the orbital outpost at a relatively low cost.
Among the two chosen companies, one Rocketplane-Kistler has formed an association with big-name companies, including Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin, with long aerospace histories. However, it emerged from bankruptcy last year.
And the other company, the SpaceX is funded by the Internet magnet behind PayPal, Elon Musk, who is a Chief Executive of SpaceX, but had a flaming breakdown in its initial rocket launch earlier this year. SpaceX has already sold a rocket launch to Las Vegas, Nevada based space technology start-up company, Bigelow Aerospace's planned private space station.
"When commercial enterprise turns the journey into low-Earth orbit into a profit-making business, NASA will be free to focus on goals more appropriate for government, such as exploration," said Scott Horowitz, the agency's associate administrator for exploration.
Snip
============================================================
http://www.flightglobal.com/Articles/2006/08/18/Navigation/177/208518/NASA+announces+Commercial+Orbital+Transportation+Services+demonstration+programme.html
NASA announces Commercial Orbital Transportation Services demonstration programme winners
by Rob Coppinger
California based Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) and Oklahoma's Rocketplane-Kistler (RpK) have won funded space act agreements (SAA) and will have $485 million split between them for the four-year phase one of NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) programme.
By 2010 COTS will see the companies demonstrate capabilities to provide cargo and possibly crew transportation to the International Space Station
(ISS) into the next decade. SpaceX has won a $278 million SAA and RpK a £207 million agreement. The companies have also raised private financing to supplement the NASA funding. An SAA is an agreement for a private company to use NASA facilities and to work with the US space agency's personnel. The SAA money will be paid out in milestones linked to design reviews, testing readiness and eventually test flights.
Snip
“These companies were selected from a total of 20 applicants, based on solid engineering of innovative concepts and sound business plans,” says NASA commercial crew and cargo programme office manager Alan Lindenmoyer. He added that he expects the two companies to exploit other markets such as orbital space tourism.
Snip
In COTS phase one the companies will have to demonstrate four capabilities, unpressurised cargo delivery and disposal; pressurised cargo delivery and disposal; internal cargo delivery and return; and an option for crew transportation. Then in phase two NASA plans to purchase these services competitively. It has informed the two winning companies it will be asking for supply of 5t of unpressurised cargo and 7t of pressurised cargo to the ISS. The second phase could see a crew transport system developed.
Snip
============================================================
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14411983/
SpaceX, Rocketplane win spaceship contest
$485 million to be doled out for new ways to resupply space station
By Alan Boyle
Science editor
MSNBC
Updated: 5:13 p.m. MT Aug 18, 2006
Snip
The Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program, or COTS, marks a dramatic departure in the way NASA does business and could give a boost to the nascent private-sector space race — including space tourism for paying passengers.
NASA Administrator Mike Griffin acknowledged earlier this week that the program could also turn out to be a $500 million flop. "If it doesn’t work, I’ve frankly made the wrong bet … with a good amount of money that we could have used for other purposes if the entrepreneurial sector is, in fact, not able to step up," he told Space.com.
Snip
Two approaches to funding spaceships
In the past, NASA has funded the entire development cost for creating spaceships for human spaceflight, ranging from Mercury capsules to space shuttles. This approach is still being used for the development of the main successor to the space shuttle fleet, known as the Crew Exploration Vehicle or CEV. Two teams, led by Lockheed Martin on one side and Northrop Grumman and Boeing on the other, are vying for that multibillion-dollar project — and NASA is expected to announce the winner of the CEV contract sometime in the next couple of months.
COTS is different in that NASA will be merely "investing" in projects primarily supported by the private sector, with quarterly payments made as the development teams reach technical and financial milestones through the end of 2009. The final milestones call for three test flights, including an unmanned flight to the space station itself, said Alan Lindenmoyer, commercial crew/cargo project manager at NASA.
The spaceships developed with NASA's support could well help fill the gap between the scheduled 2010 retirement of the shuttle fleet and the start of CEV flights in the 2012-2014 time frame.
Snip
============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
=============================================================
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/calendar/
Aug 16 - Voyager 1 Reaches 100 AU From The Sun
-----------------------------------------------------------
http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/index.html
Voyager
http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/fastfacts.html
Fast Facts
http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/fastfacts.html
2005 Proposal
3.8 MB PDF file - See snip below from page 29 and 30 - LRK -
-----------------------------------------------------------
Some comments about.
-----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address
=228x22763
muriel_volestrangler Donating Member (1000+ posts) Journal Tue Aug-08-06
10:17 AM
Original message
In praise of ... the Voyager space probe (reaches 100 AU next week)
Editorial in The Guardian:
Their mission began almost 30 years ago, a 1960s dream realised with 1970s technology, aimed at the giant planets. Voyager 1 and 2 have sped past Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. They provided the first close view of the rings of Saturn, winter on Uranus, the frozen ocean and awesome sulphur volcanos on Jupiter's Galilean moons Europa and Io, as well as showing us Titan's choking atmosphere. And they went on.
Next week the first of these amazing little spacecraft will pass an astronomical milestone: Voyager 1 will be 15 billion kilometres (9.3bn
miles) from the sun. That is equivalent to a distance of 100 astronomical units (AU), or 100 times as far from the sun as the sun is from the Earth.
The term AU has almost no useful meaning for earthbound travellers. But it is the standard yardstick for the unimaginable distances to the last outposts of the empire of the sun, and Voyager 1, heading away at 17km a second (38,250mph to British motorists), is about to notch its first century.
...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/leaders/story/0,,1839454,00.html
-----------------------------------------------------------
Funding for listening to the Voyagers is a problem. - LRK -
[2005 - LRK -]
-----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.planetary.org/news/2005/0524_Voyager_1_Enters_Final_Frontier_of.h
tml
Voyager 1 Enters Final Frontier of Solar System as NASA Considers Termination.
Snip
-----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/309/5731/37
cience 1 July 2005:
Vol. 309. no. 5731, p. 37
DOI: 10.1126/science.309.5731.37
News of the Week
2006 BUDGET:
Can Congress Save NASA Science?
Andrew Lawler
In a remarkable show of bipartisan concern, U.S. lawmakers have ordered NASA not to sacrifice research programs to pay for President George W. Bush's vision of humans on the moon and eventually Mars. But at the same time, they may have compounded NASA's problems by giving a tentative green light to Bush's plans while providing little relief for an impending budget crunch in science.
Snip
-----------------------------------------------------------
And the debate goes on,
-----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.times-news.com/opinion/local_story_211111106.html?keyword=seconda
rystory
Published: July 30, 2006 11:11 am print this story email this story
Faceoff: Man or robots in space?
Times-News staffers Dave Boden and Richard Kerns debate an issue of interest to our readers. (Opinions expressed by the two are not necessarily those of the Times-News.)
This week's topic:
The Space Debate
Two years ago, President Bush unveiled a new vision for space exploration based on: completing construction of the International Space Station by 2010; designing a new manned space vehicle to replace the Space Shuttle by 2014; and mounting a return trip to the moon by 2020. A lunar base would then be developed as a launching pad for further exploration, including an eventual manned trip to Mars.
Subsequent NASA budgets have been geared to those goals.
"We do not know where this journey will end," the president said in announcing his Vision for Space Exploration program, "yet we know this:
Human beings are headed into the cosmos."
However, critics in the scientific community say the focus on large, manned "flagship" missions is undermining funding support for robotic exploration and other research-oriented projects.
While the Bush administration has proposed a 3.2 percent increase in NASA's budget for fiscal 2007, to $16.8 billion, funding for science programs will be cut by $3.1 billion from 2006-2010, as a result of the new priorities.
Snip
-----------------------------------------------------------
Are we listening? For how long?
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsltr.: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
============================================================
http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/Proposal-2005/VgrProp05.pdf
Page 29 - 30
Snip
Science Management
The Project Scientist coordinates with the Voyager Science Investigators, the science community, and other elements of the Project to ensure that the Project scientific objectives are met. The Science Steering Group (SSG) is chaired by the Project Scientist and consists of the Principal Investigators for the funded investigations. The SSG has the leading role in the overall optimization of the science return from the mission, and in resolution of conflicting science requirements. Members of the VIM Science Steering Group (the principal investigators) and their co-investigators are listed in Table 2.
Although funding for UVS and PRA has been discontinued by NASA, both data types are still being received. The UV data are made available to Jay Holberg at the University of Arizona, and the PRA data to Michael Kaiser at GSFC.
The principal investigators are responsible for analyzing their data and reporting their findings in a timely manner. They participate, as appropriate, in making these results available to the science community and to the general public. They present their results at science conferences, through news releases and via publications in the popular press and scientific journals. More than 160 refereed and non-refereed papers have been published since 2003. A list of published papers, by investigation, is available at http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/science/bibliography.html
The principal investigators provide archival data to the National Space Science Data Center at Goddard. Since 2003 through July 2005, there were nearly 42,000 accesses to the archived data. Archived data can be accessed via the NSSDC Master Catalog at the following URLs:
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/tmp/1977-084A.html
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/tmp/1977-076A.html
A summary of data availability is accessible at the Sun-Earth Connection Data Availability Catalog at http://spdf.gsfc.nasa.gov/SPD/SPDTopMatrixNASA.pl
In addition, a list of URL's, which point to science data, including those at the investigators' home institutions, is located at the JPL Voyager web site at http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/science/Voyager_Science_Data.html
Budget
Since the beginning of the Voyager Interstellar Mission, the project has continually adapted its operations concept and workforce in response to changes in funding levels. The project has undergone a continual transition from multiple specialized teams to a single operations team wherein each member performs multiple interdisciplinary functions. New, internally developed processes and efficiency enhancements have made this possible. In 2002-2003, the flight team was further reduced due to budget constraints. As a result, the current flight team consists of about 8 full-time equivalents.
An independent review by an advisory group convened by the Director for Astronomy and Physics at JPL concluded that workforce below this level would result in unacceptable risks. This was based on the fact that the current budget level allows for only minimal spacecraft monitoring, immediate response to anomalies, a minimal degree of health reassessment, sequence augmentation and no training.
Concurrent to the reductions in the flight team in 2002 were reductions in the level of funding for science data processing, analysis and archiving.
Because of the minimum level of funding, there has been a reduction in the number of graduate students and postdocs supporting the project, and the co-investigators are now performing much of the data processing and validation.
The guideline budget would have continued operations at the current minimum level, including costs to support the minimum flight team described above and a low level of project management support. The guideline budget includes costs for science center functions related to operating the instruments and performing quick-look data processing. Also included are limited science analyses required to ensure proper instrument operations and the validity of the data before they are archived. Science data analysis funds allow for limited science analysis and the publication and presentation of select papers, primarily of major science events.
However, because of growths in full-cost accounting at GSFC and new direct tailored services costs at JPL, the guideline budget, beginning in 2007, is deficient by about $400K per year. To meet the guidelines, operations would have to reduce by 1.0 FTE. There is no easy reduction, since the loss of any person means the loss of multiple functions. Though there would be a severe impact, a lesser impact would entail the loss of the ability to perform AACS trend analyses and currently ongoing analyses of spacecraft pointing degradation, including evaluation and upgrades of the HYBIC and H-Point Tables. We would lose long-term capability for trend analysis and, if pointing is not improved by the beginning of FY07, pointing degradation would result in degradation of science data reception.
The reduction in science funding in FY07 also corresponds to about 1 FTE, which is about 25% of that devoted to science analysis and will leave only
~3 FTEs devoted to analysis distributed over the five investigations. This will limit the analysis activities to a few topics at a time when Voyager is revealing many puzzling aspects of the heliosheath that require additional, not less, analysis and interpretation.
Within the proposed optimal budget, the descoped items described above would be reinstated. In addition, the optimal science budget would support ~2 additional FTEs in FY06 that would permit study of the broader range of topics outlined above and important augmentations in science center data products. Some of the benefits from this increased budget:
. Improve the quality and timeliness of Voyager MAG data sent to the Voyager Investigators, other Scientists, and the NSSDC, and support our analysis and understanding of the MAG data.
. Complete development of capability to provide open access to all CRS data and improve capability to access data and documentation.
. Improve access to detailed CRS documentation to assist other investigators/students in using the data.
. Provide access to CRS data via web services to the SSSC Virtual Observatories.
. Enable more in-depth analysis of science data than that afforded in the guideline budget.
. Provide for more comparisons of solar wind features in the inner and outer heliosphere to understand the solar wind evolution.
. Increase participation of undergraduate and graduate students in data processing and analysis. This would introduce younger scientists into the space physics community.
Over the past year the Flight Team has identified more than seventy tasks that need to be accomplished, in addition to ongoing activities, to insure continued operations of the Voyager spacecraft at acceptable risk levels.
These tasks may be described as items that would improve the operations infrastructure, replace and reduce the number of old workstations, update software modules to work with the newer computer systems and improve productivity and enhance personnel effectiveness to include cross-training and replacement training.
Important areas unattainable at present include acquisition and training of replacement personnel, detailed anomaly analysis, and improved operational efficiencies in several areas. Most of the electronic tools currently in use are ten or more years old. Many are in need of major upgrades or replacement. New technologies now make possible the development of intelligent tools to automate and reduce workloads and the potential for errors, improve spacecraft health monitoring, and provide for more confident long-range planning.
The optimal budget would provide funds to address the items deemed most important. One-time investments include:
. Software modifications required to migrate the data management system to modern computers,.
This would enhance science data delivery and provide backup capability while reducing the number of workstations required for this task by 67%.
. Recompilation of the MARVEL program to operate on modern computers and to create a real-time backup.
. Development of a temperature estimation tool which would alleviate need for outside consultation and the attendant costs and would allow the team to make decisions about optimum and/or safe thermal balance when reconfigurations due to decline in power become necessary
. Analysis of spacecraft pointing degradation and implementation of necessary modifications to flight software
. Update the RTG model to refine lon-range power output predictions and better define mission extension potential.
There is also an ongoing need for an increase in personnel as follows:
. An increase in computer system administration support beginning in FY06 to implement the changes to workstations as described above and to allow Voyager to become up to date with AMMOS deliveries and remain in step with other missions. Current support levels have been insufficient to maintain this state and have resulted in significant workflow inefficiencies for Flight Team members.
. One FTE to initially provide for software and inherent systems administration support for non- AMMOS workstations and to develop Voyager real-time tools for the AMMOS environment, later to be cross-trained in other operations areas to provide backup and/or be a replacement as members leave the Flight Team. It is highly desirable that there always be a person in on-the-job training to eventually replace and minimize the loss of expertise with personnel departures.
Attributable Deep Space Mission Systems costs, though not part of the Voyager budget submission, are included in Table IV, Line 2a of Appendix 1.
These are based on approximately 10 hours of coverage per day per spacecraft, using both the 34-meter and the higher cost 70-meter antenna.
Direct Multimission Ground Systems and Services costs are included in Item 2a of Tables I and II. Estimated center Full Cost Accounting costs were obtained from Resource Analysts at GSFC and MSFC.
Voyager is the only mission currently exploring the far outer heliosphere.
The spacecraft are capable of continued operations and are in position now to characterize the Sun's influence far away from the source. Until there are other missions to the outer heliosphere, Voyager will provide unique in situ information about this region of space. Voyager 1 has entered the heliosheath and Voyager 2 is poised to encounter the termination shock within the next few years. Continuation of the mission at the optimal level would allow for a more robust science mission that would answer fundamental questions about solar influences in the distant heliosphere, the interactions between the solar and interstellar media and the structure of the termination shock. Furthermore, it would provide for a more robust and lower risk operations environment and reinstate a small degree of flexibility for development of further enhancements and efficiency improvements to Flight Team processes.
Snip
============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
=============================================================
Aug 16 - Voyager 1 Reaches 100 AU From The Sun
-----------------------------------------------------------
http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/index.html
Voyager
http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/fastfacts.html
Fast Facts
http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/fastfacts.html
2005 Proposal
3.8 MB PDF file - See snip below from page 29 and 30 - LRK -
-----------------------------------------------------------
Some comments about.
-----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address
=228x22763
muriel_volestrangler Donating Member (1000+ posts) Journal Tue Aug-08-06
10:17 AM
Original message
In praise of ... the Voyager space probe (reaches 100 AU next week)
Editorial in The Guardian:
Their mission began almost 30 years ago, a 1960s dream realised with 1970s technology, aimed at the giant planets. Voyager 1 and 2 have sped past Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. They provided the first close view of the rings of Saturn, winter on Uranus, the frozen ocean and awesome sulphur volcanos on Jupiter's Galilean moons Europa and Io, as well as showing us Titan's choking atmosphere. And they went on.
Next week the first of these amazing little spacecraft will pass an astronomical milestone: Voyager 1 will be 15 billion kilometres (9.3bn
miles) from the sun. That is equivalent to a distance of 100 astronomical units (AU), or 100 times as far from the sun as the sun is from the Earth.
The term AU has almost no useful meaning for earthbound travellers. But it is the standard yardstick for the unimaginable distances to the last outposts of the empire of the sun, and Voyager 1, heading away at 17km a second (38,250mph to British motorists), is about to notch its first century.
...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/leaders/story/0,,1839454,00.html
-----------------------------------------------------------
Funding for listening to the Voyagers is a problem. - LRK -
[2005 - LRK -]
-----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.planetary.org/news/2005/0524_Voyager_1_Enters_Final_Frontier_of.h
tml
Voyager 1 Enters Final Frontier of Solar System as NASA Considers Termination.
Snip
-----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/309/5731/37
cience 1 July 2005:
Vol. 309. no. 5731, p. 37
DOI: 10.1126/science.309.5731.37
News of the Week
2006 BUDGET:
Can Congress Save NASA Science?
Andrew Lawler
In a remarkable show of bipartisan concern, U.S. lawmakers have ordered NASA not to sacrifice research programs to pay for President George W. Bush's vision of humans on the moon and eventually Mars. But at the same time, they may have compounded NASA's problems by giving a tentative green light to Bush's plans while providing little relief for an impending budget crunch in science.
Snip
-----------------------------------------------------------
And the debate goes on,
-----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.times-news.com/opinion/local_story_211111106.html?keyword=seconda
rystory
Published: July 30, 2006 11:11 am print this story email this story
Faceoff: Man or robots in space?
Times-News staffers Dave Boden and Richard Kerns debate an issue of interest to our readers. (Opinions expressed by the two are not necessarily those of the Times-News.)
This week's topic:
The Space Debate
Two years ago, President Bush unveiled a new vision for space exploration based on: completing construction of the International Space Station by 2010; designing a new manned space vehicle to replace the Space Shuttle by 2014; and mounting a return trip to the moon by 2020. A lunar base would then be developed as a launching pad for further exploration, including an eventual manned trip to Mars.
Subsequent NASA budgets have been geared to those goals.
"We do not know where this journey will end," the president said in announcing his Vision for Space Exploration program, "yet we know this:
Human beings are headed into the cosmos."
However, critics in the scientific community say the focus on large, manned "flagship" missions is undermining funding support for robotic exploration and other research-oriented projects.
While the Bush administration has proposed a 3.2 percent increase in NASA's budget for fiscal 2007, to $16.8 billion, funding for science programs will be cut by $3.1 billion from 2006-2010, as a result of the new priorities.
Snip
-----------------------------------------------------------
Are we listening? For how long?
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsltr.: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
============================================================
http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/Proposal-2005/VgrProp05.pdf
Page 29 - 30
Snip
Science Management
The Project Scientist coordinates with the Voyager Science Investigators, the science community, and other elements of the Project to ensure that the Project scientific objectives are met. The Science Steering Group (SSG) is chaired by the Project Scientist and consists of the Principal Investigators for the funded investigations. The SSG has the leading role in the overall optimization of the science return from the mission, and in resolution of conflicting science requirements. Members of the VIM Science Steering Group (the principal investigators) and their co-investigators are listed in Table 2.
Although funding for UVS and PRA has been discontinued by NASA, both data types are still being received. The UV data are made available to Jay Holberg at the University of Arizona, and the PRA data to Michael Kaiser at GSFC.
The principal investigators are responsible for analyzing their data and reporting their findings in a timely manner. They participate, as appropriate, in making these results available to the science community and to the general public. They present their results at science conferences, through news releases and via publications in the popular press and scientific journals. More than 160 refereed and non-refereed papers have been published since 2003. A list of published papers, by investigation, is available at http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/science/bibliography.html
The principal investigators provide archival data to the National Space Science Data Center at Goddard. Since 2003 through July 2005, there were nearly 42,000 accesses to the archived data. Archived data can be accessed via the NSSDC Master Catalog at the following URLs:
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/tmp/1977-084A.html
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/tmp/1977-076A.html
A summary of data availability is accessible at the Sun-Earth Connection Data Availability Catalog at http://spdf.gsfc.nasa.gov/SPD/SPDTopMatrixNASA.pl
In addition, a list of URL's, which point to science data, including those at the investigators' home institutions, is located at the JPL Voyager web site at http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/science/Voyager_Science_Data.html
Budget
Since the beginning of the Voyager Interstellar Mission, the project has continually adapted its operations concept and workforce in response to changes in funding levels. The project has undergone a continual transition from multiple specialized teams to a single operations team wherein each member performs multiple interdisciplinary functions. New, internally developed processes and efficiency enhancements have made this possible. In 2002-2003, the flight team was further reduced due to budget constraints. As a result, the current flight team consists of about 8 full-time equivalents.
An independent review by an advisory group convened by the Director for Astronomy and Physics at JPL concluded that workforce below this level would result in unacceptable risks. This was based on the fact that the current budget level allows for only minimal spacecraft monitoring, immediate response to anomalies, a minimal degree of health reassessment, sequence augmentation and no training.
Concurrent to the reductions in the flight team in 2002 were reductions in the level of funding for science data processing, analysis and archiving.
Because of the minimum level of funding, there has been a reduction in the number of graduate students and postdocs supporting the project, and the co-investigators are now performing much of the data processing and validation.
The guideline budget would have continued operations at the current minimum level, including costs to support the minimum flight team described above and a low level of project management support. The guideline budget includes costs for science center functions related to operating the instruments and performing quick-look data processing. Also included are limited science analyses required to ensure proper instrument operations and the validity of the data before they are archived. Science data analysis funds allow for limited science analysis and the publication and presentation of select papers, primarily of major science events.
However, because of growths in full-cost accounting at GSFC and new direct tailored services costs at JPL, the guideline budget, beginning in 2007, is deficient by about $400K per year. To meet the guidelines, operations would have to reduce by 1.0 FTE. There is no easy reduction, since the loss of any person means the loss of multiple functions. Though there would be a severe impact, a lesser impact would entail the loss of the ability to perform AACS trend analyses and currently ongoing analyses of spacecraft pointing degradation, including evaluation and upgrades of the HYBIC and H-Point Tables. We would lose long-term capability for trend analysis and, if pointing is not improved by the beginning of FY07, pointing degradation would result in degradation of science data reception.
The reduction in science funding in FY07 also corresponds to about 1 FTE, which is about 25% of that devoted to science analysis and will leave only
~3 FTEs devoted to analysis distributed over the five investigations. This will limit the analysis activities to a few topics at a time when Voyager is revealing many puzzling aspects of the heliosheath that require additional, not less, analysis and interpretation.
Within the proposed optimal budget, the descoped items described above would be reinstated. In addition, the optimal science budget would support ~2 additional FTEs in FY06 that would permit study of the broader range of topics outlined above and important augmentations in science center data products. Some of the benefits from this increased budget:
. Improve the quality and timeliness of Voyager MAG data sent to the Voyager Investigators, other Scientists, and the NSSDC, and support our analysis and understanding of the MAG data.
. Complete development of capability to provide open access to all CRS data and improve capability to access data and documentation.
. Improve access to detailed CRS documentation to assist other investigators/students in using the data.
. Provide access to CRS data via web services to the SSSC Virtual Observatories.
. Enable more in-depth analysis of science data than that afforded in the guideline budget.
. Provide for more comparisons of solar wind features in the inner and outer heliosphere to understand the solar wind evolution.
. Increase participation of undergraduate and graduate students in data processing and analysis. This would introduce younger scientists into the space physics community.
Over the past year the Flight Team has identified more than seventy tasks that need to be accomplished, in addition to ongoing activities, to insure continued operations of the Voyager spacecraft at acceptable risk levels.
These tasks may be described as items that would improve the operations infrastructure, replace and reduce the number of old workstations, update software modules to work with the newer computer systems and improve productivity and enhance personnel effectiveness to include cross-training and replacement training.
Important areas unattainable at present include acquisition and training of replacement personnel, detailed anomaly analysis, and improved operational efficiencies in several areas. Most of the electronic tools currently in use are ten or more years old. Many are in need of major upgrades or replacement. New technologies now make possible the development of intelligent tools to automate and reduce workloads and the potential for errors, improve spacecraft health monitoring, and provide for more confident long-range planning.
The optimal budget would provide funds to address the items deemed most important. One-time investments include:
. Software modifications required to migrate the data management system to modern computers,.
This would enhance science data delivery and provide backup capability while reducing the number of workstations required for this task by 67%.
. Recompilation of the MARVEL program to operate on modern computers and to create a real-time backup.
. Development of a temperature estimation tool which would alleviate need for outside consultation and the attendant costs and would allow the team to make decisions about optimum and/or safe thermal balance when reconfigurations due to decline in power become necessary
. Analysis of spacecraft pointing degradation and implementation of necessary modifications to flight software
. Update the RTG model to refine lon-range power output predictions and better define mission extension potential.
There is also an ongoing need for an increase in personnel as follows:
. An increase in computer system administration support beginning in FY06 to implement the changes to workstations as described above and to allow Voyager to become up to date with AMMOS deliveries and remain in step with other missions. Current support levels have been insufficient to maintain this state and have resulted in significant workflow inefficiencies for Flight Team members.
. One FTE to initially provide for software and inherent systems administration support for non- AMMOS workstations and to develop Voyager real-time tools for the AMMOS environment, later to be cross-trained in other operations areas to provide backup and/or be a replacement as members leave the Flight Team. It is highly desirable that there always be a person in on-the-job training to eventually replace and minimize the loss of expertise with personnel departures.
Attributable Deep Space Mission Systems costs, though not part of the Voyager budget submission, are included in Table IV, Line 2a of Appendix 1.
These are based on approximately 10 hours of coverage per day per spacecraft, using both the 34-meter and the higher cost 70-meter antenna.
Direct Multimission Ground Systems and Services costs are included in Item 2a of Tables I and II. Estimated center Full Cost Accounting costs were obtained from Resource Analysts at GSFC and MSFC.
Voyager is the only mission currently exploring the far outer heliosphere.
The spacecraft are capable of continued operations and are in position now to characterize the Sun's influence far away from the source. Until there are other missions to the outer heliosphere, Voyager will provide unique in situ information about this region of space. Voyager 1 has entered the heliosheath and Voyager 2 is poised to encounter the termination shock within the next few years. Continuation of the mission at the optimal level would allow for a more robust science mission that would answer fundamental questions about solar influences in the distant heliosphere, the interactions between the solar and interstellar media and the structure of the termination shock. Furthermore, it would provide for a more robust and lower risk operations environment and reinstate a small degree of flexibility for development of further enhancements and efficiency improvements to Flight Team processes.
Snip
============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
=============================================================
Friday, August 11, 2006
40th Anniversary (1966),Lunar Orbiter 1 Launch - Aug 10, 1966
Yesterday on JPL's Space Calendar it was noted that August 10 th was the 40th anniversary of the Lunar Orbiter 1 Launch.
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/tmp/1966-073A.html
------------------------------------------------------------
http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/calendar/#0608
Snip
# Aug 10 - Mercury Passes 2.2 Degrees From Venus # Aug 10 - Neptune at Opposition # Aug 10 - 40th Anniversary (1966), Lunar Orbiter 1 Launch # Aug 11 -Updated[Aug 09] JC-Sat 10/ Syracuse 3B Ariane 5 Launch # Aug 11 - Asteroid 46 Hestia Occults HIP 12349 (7.3 Magnitude Star) # Aug 11 - Asteroid 1998 DK36 Near-Earth Flyby (0.035 AU) # Aug 11 - Asteroid 1 Ceres Closest Approach To Earth (1.984 AU) # Aug 11-13 - East Coast Conference on Astronomical Imaging, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Snip
------------------------------------------------------------
SMART-1 is due to crash into the Moon on 2 September, 2006.
Maybe you folks with large telescopes would like to check it out.
- LRK -
Larry Klaes passed this info.
- LRK -
------------------------------------------------------------
>From: "Glenn A. Walsh"
>Reply-To: History of Astronomy Discussion Group
>
>To: HASTRO-L@LISTSERV.WVU.EDU
>Subject: Re: [HASTRO-L] SMART-1--Lunar research opportunity
>Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2006 17:28:14 -0700
>
>Professor Francis G. Graham of Kent State University has also prepared
>a primer for those who would like to try to VISUALLY monitor the impact
>of the SMART-1 spacecraft on the Moon. Of course a fairly large
>telescope would be needed.
>
>Here is a link to the news release, regarding Profesor Graham's
>practical guide to viewing the SMART-1 impact, which includes a link to
>the actual document:
>
>
http://buhlplanetarium4.tripod.com/friendsofthezeiss/releases/NR-Smart1Impact.htm
>
>gaw
>
------------------------
Pittsburgh, July 18 - "On the evening of September 2, observers in the eastern half of North America with moderately large telescopes may get a chance to see the European SMART-1 spacecraft crash into the Moon," according to Friends of the Zeiss Steering Committee Member Francis G. Graham, who is Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Kent State University.
Professor Graham has prepared a practical guide for amateur observers who wish to try to watch the impact of Smart-1 on the Moon, which can be accessed at the following link:
< http://www.venustransit.pghfree.net/gcorner/ImpactMoon.htm >
Snip
------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsltr.: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
============================================================
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/tmp/1966-073A.html
Lunar Orbiter 1
NSSDC ID: 1966-073A
Image associated with mission
Other Names
* Lunar Orbiter-A
* 02394
Description
The Lunar Orbiter 1 spacecraft was designed primarily to photograph smooth areas of the lunar surface for selection and verification of safe landing sites for the Surveyor and Apollo missions. It was also equipped to collect selenodetic, radiation intensity, and micrometeoroid impact data. The spacecraft was placed in an Earth parking orbit on 10 August 1966 at 19:31 UT and injected into a cislunar trajectory at 20:04 UT. The spacecraft experienced a temporary failure of the Canopus star tracker (probably due to stray sunlight) and overheating during its cruise to the Moon. The star tracker problem was resolved by navigating using the Moon as a reference and the overheating was abated by orienting the spacecraft 36 degrees off-Sun to lower the temperature.
Lunar Orbiter 1 was injected into an elliptical near-equatorial lunar orbit
92.1 hours after launch. The initial orbit was 189.1 km x 1866.8 km and had a period of 3 hours 37 minutes and an inclination of 12.2 degrees. On 21 August perilune was dropped to 58 km and on 25 August to 40.5 km. The spacecraft acquired photographic data from August 18 to 29, 1966, and readout occurred through September 14, 1966. A total of 42 high resolution and 187 medium resolution frames were taken and transmitted to Earth covering over 5 milliom square km of the Moon's surface, accomplishing about 75% of the intended mission, although a number of the early high-res photos showed severe smearing. It also took the first two pictures of the Earth ever from the distance of the Moon. Accurate data were acquired from all other experiments throughout the mission. Orbit tracking showed a slight "pear-shape" to the Moon based on the gravity field and no micrometeorite impacts were detected. The spacecraft was tracked until it impacted the lunar surface on command at 7 degrees N latitude, 161 degrees E longitude (selenographic coordinates) on the Moon's far side on October 29, 1966 on its 577th orbit. The early end to the nominal one year mission was due to the small amount of remaining attitude control gas and other deteriorating conditions and was planned to avoid transmission interference with Lunar Orbiter 2.
Spacecraft and Subsystems
The main bus of the Lunar Orbiter had the general shape of a truncated cone,
1.65 meters tall and 1.5 meters in diameter at the base. The spacecraft was comprised of three decks supported by trusses and an arch. The equipment deck at the base of the craft held the battery, transponder, flight progammer, inertial reference unit (IRU), Canopus star tracker, command decoder, multiplex encoder, traveling wave tube amplifier (TWTA), and the photographic system. Four solar panels were mounted to extend out from this deck with a total span across of 3.72 meters. Also extending out from the base of the spacecraft were a high gain antenna on a 1.32 meter boom and a low gain antenna on a 2.08 meter boom. Above the equipment deck, the middle deck held the velocity control engine, propellant, oxidizer and pressurization tanks, Sun sensors, and micrometeoroid detectors. The third deck consisted of a heat shield to protect the spacecraft from the firing of the velocity control engine. The nozzle of the engine protruded through the center of the shield. Mounted on the perimeter of the top deck were four attitude control thrusters.
Power of 375 W was provided by the four solar arrays containing 10,856 n/p solar cells which would directly run the spacecraft and also charge the 12 amp-hr nickel-cadmium battery. The batteries were used during brief periods of occultation when no solar power was available. Propulsion for major maneuvers was provided by the gimballed velocity control engine, a hypergolic 100-pound-thrust Marquardt rocket motor. Three-axis stabilization and attitude control were provided by four one-lb nitrogen gas jets. Navigational knowledge was provided by five Sun sensors, Canopus star sensor, and the IRU equipped with internal gyros. Communications were via a 10 W transmitter and the directional 1 meter diameter high gain antenna for transmission of photographs and a 0.5 W transmitter and omnidirectional low gain antenna for other communications. Both antennas operated in S-band at 2295 MHz. Thermal control was maintained by a multilayer aluminized mylar and dacron thermal blanket which enshrouded the main bus, special paint, insulation, and small heaters.
Results of the Lunar Orbiter Program
The Lunar Orbiter program consisted of 5 Lunar Orbiters which returned photography of 99% of the surface of the Moon (near and far side) with resolution down to 1 meter. Altogether the Orbiters returned 2180 high resolution and 882 medium resolution frames. The micrometeoroid experiments recorded 22 impacts showing the average micrometeoroid flux near the Moon was about two orders of magnitude greater than in interplanetary space but slightly less than the near Earth environment. The radiation experiments confirmed that the design of Apollo hardware would protect the astronauts from average and greater-than-average short term exposure to solar particle events. The use of Lunar Orbiters for tracking to evaluate the Manned Space Flight Network tracking stations and Apollo Orbit Determination Program was successful, with three Lunar Orbiters (2, 3, and 5) being tracked simultaneously from August to October 1967. The Lunar Orbiters were all eventually commanded to crash on the Moon before their attitude control gas ran out so they would not present navigational or communications hazards to later Apollo flights. The Lunar Orbiter program was managed by NASA Langley Research Center and involved building and launching 5 spacecraft to the Moon at a total cost of $163 million.
Snip
============================================================
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/lunarorb.html
Lunar Orbiter (1966 - 1967)
Five Lunar Orbiter missions were launched in 1966 through 1967 with the purpose of mapping the lunar surface before the Apollo landings. All five missions were successful, and 99% of the Moon was photographed with a resolution of 60 m or better. The first three missions were dedicated to imaging 20 potential lunar landing sites, selected based on Earth-based observations. These were flown at low inclination orbits. The fourth and fifth missions were devoted to broader scientific objectives and were flown in high altitude polar orbits. Lunar Orbiter 4 photographed the entire nearside and 95% of the farside, and Lunar Orbiter 5 completed the farside coverage and acquired medium (20 m) and high (2 m) resolution images of 36 pre-selected areas. The images at the top of the page show the Lunar Orbiter spacecraft with the high and medium resolution cameras at the center, and an image of the crater Tycho taken with the Lunar Orbiter 5 medium resolution camera.
Snip
============================================================
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/
Lunar and Planetary Institute
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar_resources/
Gateway To The Moon
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/mapcatalog/
Lunar Map Catalog
Snip
============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
=============================================================
Yesterday on JPL's Space Calendar it was noted that August 10 th was the 40th anniversary of the Lunar Orbiter 1 Launch.
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/tmp/1966-073A.html
------------------------------------------------------------
http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/calendar/#0608
Snip
# Aug 10 - Mercury Passes 2.2 Degrees From Venus # Aug 10 - Neptune at Opposition # Aug 10 - 40th Anniversary (1966), Lunar Orbiter 1 Launch # Aug 11 -Updated[Aug 09] JC-Sat 10/ Syracuse 3B Ariane 5 Launch # Aug 11 - Asteroid 46 Hestia Occults HIP 12349 (7.3 Magnitude Star) # Aug 11 - Asteroid 1998 DK36 Near-Earth Flyby (0.035 AU) # Aug 11 - Asteroid 1 Ceres Closest Approach To Earth (1.984 AU) # Aug 11-13 - East Coast Conference on Astronomical Imaging, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Snip
------------------------------------------------------------
SMART-1 is due to crash into the Moon on 2 September, 2006.
Maybe you folks with large telescopes would like to check it out.
- LRK -
Larry Klaes passed this info.
- LRK -
------------------------------------------------------------
>From: "Glenn A. Walsh"
>Reply-To: History of Astronomy Discussion Group
>
>To: HASTRO-L@LISTSERV.WVU.EDU
>Subject: Re: [HASTRO-L] SMART-1--Lunar research opportunity
>Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2006 17:28:14 -0700
>
>Professor Francis G. Graham of Kent State University has also prepared
>a primer for those who would like to try to VISUALLY monitor the impact
>of the SMART-1 spacecraft on the Moon. Of course a fairly large
>telescope would be needed.
>
>Here is a link to the news release, regarding Profesor Graham's
>practical guide to viewing the SMART-1 impact, which includes a link to
>the actual document:
>
>
http://buhlplanetarium4.tripod.com/friendsofthezeiss/releases/NR-Smart1Impact.htm
>
>gaw
>
------------------------
Pittsburgh, July 18 - "On the evening of September 2, observers in the eastern half of North America with moderately large telescopes may get a chance to see the European SMART-1 spacecraft crash into the Moon," according to Friends of the Zeiss Steering Committee Member Francis G. Graham, who is Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Kent State University.
Professor Graham has prepared a practical guide for amateur observers who wish to try to watch the impact of Smart-1 on the Moon, which can be accessed at the following link:
< http://www.venustransit.pghfree.net/gcorner/ImpactMoon.htm >
Snip
------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsltr.: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
============================================================
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/tmp/1966-073A.html
Lunar Orbiter 1
NSSDC ID: 1966-073A
Image associated with mission
Other Names
* Lunar Orbiter-A
* 02394
Description
The Lunar Orbiter 1 spacecraft was designed primarily to photograph smooth areas of the lunar surface for selection and verification of safe landing sites for the Surveyor and Apollo missions. It was also equipped to collect selenodetic, radiation intensity, and micrometeoroid impact data. The spacecraft was placed in an Earth parking orbit on 10 August 1966 at 19:31 UT and injected into a cislunar trajectory at 20:04 UT. The spacecraft experienced a temporary failure of the Canopus star tracker (probably due to stray sunlight) and overheating during its cruise to the Moon. The star tracker problem was resolved by navigating using the Moon as a reference and the overheating was abated by orienting the spacecraft 36 degrees off-Sun to lower the temperature.
Lunar Orbiter 1 was injected into an elliptical near-equatorial lunar orbit
92.1 hours after launch. The initial orbit was 189.1 km x 1866.8 km and had a period of 3 hours 37 minutes and an inclination of 12.2 degrees. On 21 August perilune was dropped to 58 km and on 25 August to 40.5 km. The spacecraft acquired photographic data from August 18 to 29, 1966, and readout occurred through September 14, 1966. A total of 42 high resolution and 187 medium resolution frames were taken and transmitted to Earth covering over 5 milliom square km of the Moon's surface, accomplishing about 75% of the intended mission, although a number of the early high-res photos showed severe smearing. It also took the first two pictures of the Earth ever from the distance of the Moon. Accurate data were acquired from all other experiments throughout the mission. Orbit tracking showed a slight "pear-shape" to the Moon based on the gravity field and no micrometeorite impacts were detected. The spacecraft was tracked until it impacted the lunar surface on command at 7 degrees N latitude, 161 degrees E longitude (selenographic coordinates) on the Moon's far side on October 29, 1966 on its 577th orbit. The early end to the nominal one year mission was due to the small amount of remaining attitude control gas and other deteriorating conditions and was planned to avoid transmission interference with Lunar Orbiter 2.
Spacecraft and Subsystems
The main bus of the Lunar Orbiter had the general shape of a truncated cone,
1.65 meters tall and 1.5 meters in diameter at the base. The spacecraft was comprised of three decks supported by trusses and an arch. The equipment deck at the base of the craft held the battery, transponder, flight progammer, inertial reference unit (IRU), Canopus star tracker, command decoder, multiplex encoder, traveling wave tube amplifier (TWTA), and the photographic system. Four solar panels were mounted to extend out from this deck with a total span across of 3.72 meters. Also extending out from the base of the spacecraft were a high gain antenna on a 1.32 meter boom and a low gain antenna on a 2.08 meter boom. Above the equipment deck, the middle deck held the velocity control engine, propellant, oxidizer and pressurization tanks, Sun sensors, and micrometeoroid detectors. The third deck consisted of a heat shield to protect the spacecraft from the firing of the velocity control engine. The nozzle of the engine protruded through the center of the shield. Mounted on the perimeter of the top deck were four attitude control thrusters.
Power of 375 W was provided by the four solar arrays containing 10,856 n/p solar cells which would directly run the spacecraft and also charge the 12 amp-hr nickel-cadmium battery. The batteries were used during brief periods of occultation when no solar power was available. Propulsion for major maneuvers was provided by the gimballed velocity control engine, a hypergolic 100-pound-thrust Marquardt rocket motor. Three-axis stabilization and attitude control were provided by four one-lb nitrogen gas jets. Navigational knowledge was provided by five Sun sensors, Canopus star sensor, and the IRU equipped with internal gyros. Communications were via a 10 W transmitter and the directional 1 meter diameter high gain antenna for transmission of photographs and a 0.5 W transmitter and omnidirectional low gain antenna for other communications. Both antennas operated in S-band at 2295 MHz. Thermal control was maintained by a multilayer aluminized mylar and dacron thermal blanket which enshrouded the main bus, special paint, insulation, and small heaters.
Results of the Lunar Orbiter Program
The Lunar Orbiter program consisted of 5 Lunar Orbiters which returned photography of 99% of the surface of the Moon (near and far side) with resolution down to 1 meter. Altogether the Orbiters returned 2180 high resolution and 882 medium resolution frames. The micrometeoroid experiments recorded 22 impacts showing the average micrometeoroid flux near the Moon was about two orders of magnitude greater than in interplanetary space but slightly less than the near Earth environment. The radiation experiments confirmed that the design of Apollo hardware would protect the astronauts from average and greater-than-average short term exposure to solar particle events. The use of Lunar Orbiters for tracking to evaluate the Manned Space Flight Network tracking stations and Apollo Orbit Determination Program was successful, with three Lunar Orbiters (2, 3, and 5) being tracked simultaneously from August to October 1967. The Lunar Orbiters were all eventually commanded to crash on the Moon before their attitude control gas ran out so they would not present navigational or communications hazards to later Apollo flights. The Lunar Orbiter program was managed by NASA Langley Research Center and involved building and launching 5 spacecraft to the Moon at a total cost of $163 million.
Snip
============================================================
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/lunarorb.html
Lunar Orbiter (1966 - 1967)
Five Lunar Orbiter missions were launched in 1966 through 1967 with the purpose of mapping the lunar surface before the Apollo landings. All five missions were successful, and 99% of the Moon was photographed with a resolution of 60 m or better. The first three missions were dedicated to imaging 20 potential lunar landing sites, selected based on Earth-based observations. These were flown at low inclination orbits. The fourth and fifth missions were devoted to broader scientific objectives and were flown in high altitude polar orbits. Lunar Orbiter 4 photographed the entire nearside and 95% of the farside, and Lunar Orbiter 5 completed the farside coverage and acquired medium (20 m) and high (2 m) resolution images of 36 pre-selected areas. The images at the top of the page show the Lunar Orbiter spacecraft with the high and medium resolution cameras at the center, and an image of the crater Tycho taken with the Lunar Orbiter 5 medium resolution camera.
Snip
============================================================
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/
Lunar and Planetary Institute
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar_resources/
Gateway To The Moon
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/mapcatalog/
Lunar Map Catalog
Snip
============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
=============================================================
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Genesis 1 could pave the way for space hotels by 2015
While in Thailand, and off the Internet, I missed the launch of Bigelow Aerospace, Genesis 1.
- LRK -
-----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0607/12bigelow/
Bigelow Aerospace launches its prototype space module Spaceflight Now, FL - Jul 13, 2006 ... inflatable module design for a crew habitat on the international space station. When NASA cancelled plans for the so-called TransHab module, Bigelow picked up ...
Bigelow Aerospace launches its prototype space module BY STEPHEN CLARK SPACEFLIGHT NOW
Posted: July 12, 2006
An inflatable module called Genesis 1 arrived in space after a successful launch Wednesday aboard a converted Russian ballistic missile. The project's backers hope the mission will be the first step in realizing a plan for a futuristic commercial space station that could be fully operational within the next decade.
The Dnepr rocket with Genesis 1 was fired out of its missile silo at 1453 GMT (10:53 a.m. EDT) from a launch base at Yasny near Russia's southern border.
Snip
-----------------------------------------------------------
Let me know if you see Genesis I.
- LRK -
-----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.bigelowaerospace.com/
Genesis I Sightings
Discover our interactive map of Genesis I sightings. Have you seen Genesis I? Add your sighting!
http://www.bigelowaerospace.com/out_there/seen_genesis1.php
7/26/06: Images from the July 12, 2006 Dnepr launch that took Genesis I to space. http://www.bigelowaerospace.com/out_there/launch.php
Snip
8/10/06: The Graphic Gallery is launched, featuring graphics you can use on your Website. http://www.bigelowaerospace.com/multiverse/graphics.php
-----------------------------------------------------------
Now we have an inflatable in orbit, and we have those working on getting folks to space as tourists.
Seems like a good match. Wonder who will be the first to get married in a space hotel?
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsltr.: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
============================================================
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/13828908/
Russians launch inflatable spacecraft
Genesis 1 could pave the way for space hotels by 2015
By Alan Boyle
Science editor
MSNBC
Updated: 5:07 p.m. MT July 13, 2006
Alan Boyle
Science editor
A Russian military base has launched the first prototype for what could eventually become a private-sector space station built up from inflatable modules, the company funding the project said Wednesday.
The Genesis 1 inflatable spacecraft, developed by Las Vegas-based Bigelow Aerospace, could take a significant step toward an era of privately funded hotels, labs and even sports complexes in space.
The company's founder, real-estate magnate Robert Bigelow, has reportedly committed $500 million to the inflatable-module project, with about $75 million spent so far. In an initial statement, Bigelow said Genesis 1 was successfully launched from Russia's Dombarovsky missile base at 10:53 a.m. ET, atop a Soviet-era intercontinental ballistic missile that was converted to commercial use.
In later statements, Bigelow said his mission control center in Las Vegas was receiving data indicating that Genesis 1 was in its 342-mile-high (550-kilometer-high) target orbit, that its solar arrays were working as planned and that the craft's inflatable skin "has successfully expanded."
The module's internal temperature was 79 degrees Fahrenheit (26 degrees Celsius), and the GPS-based tracking system was working, he said.
Years of work
The launch represents the culmination of years of work by Bigelow and his team, using a concept that was first suggested by NASA for the international space station or Mars-bound spacecraft. NASA scrapped the idea in 2001, but Bigelow licensed the concept for commercial use.
The basic concept calls for launching soft-sided spacecraft that could be inflated once they're in orbit. The walls are made from multiple layers of graphite-fiber composite materials, tough enough to stand up to micrometeoroids and orbital debris. Such modules would be cheaper to send into space, and allow for larger pressurized volumes once they were inflated.
Genesis 1 measures about 14 feet (4 meters) in length and 4 feet (1.2
meters) in diameter, and was designed to inflate in orbit to twice that diameter. The module is equipped with 13 cameras inside and out, and could transmit views of Earth as well as items floating inside the enclosed space for years to come.
Bigelow's time line calls for testing larger and larger prototypes, with roughly two launches per year, leading up to the launch of full-scale Nautilus-class modules each enclosing about 11,650 cubic feet (330 cubic meters), or roughly the volume of a three-bedroom home.
In comparison, the international space station has cost on the order of $100 billion so far, and encloses about 15,000 cubic feet (425 cubic meters) of habitable space.
Snip
============================================================
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2006/07/20/1353.aspx
Inside the spaceship factory
Posted: Thursday, July 20, 2006 11:59 PM by Alan Boyle
Categories: Space
On a 50-acre spread in North Las Vegas, near the intersection of Warp Drive and Skywalker Way, the prototypes for future space stations are being built from strips of fortified fabric, supertough inflatable skin and lattices of metal.
Today a gaggle of journalists and space entrepreneurs got a rare look inside Bigelow Aerospace's industrial-park production facility and mission control center, just a week and a day after the company's launch of its Genesis 1 orbital test module. We were treated to three and a half hours of talk and tours, led by billionaire Robert Bigelow and his top engineers.
Snip
============================================================
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2006/07/13/1086.aspx
BIGELOW'S ORBITAL 'BABY'
Posted: Thursday, July 13, 2006 8:10 PM by Alan Boyle
Real-estate billionaire Robert Bigelow, the head of the world's newest orbital space program, says he thinks of his Genesis 1 inflatable module as "our baby" - and lies awake at night wondering how "she" is doing. On the day after the big launch, Bigelow chatted with me about the regulatory hoops he and his team had to jump through, the bugs and jumping beans that are aboard Genesis, and the road ahead to human orbital flight.
Just to refresh your memory, Genesis 1 is a one-third-scale prototype for what Bigelow Aerospace hopes eventually will be the building blocks for private-sector space stations: prefab modules that can be compressed down for launch, then inflated in orbit like balloons with bulletproof skins. The 14-foot-long, 4-foot-diameter spacecraft was launched Wednesday from a Russian military base atop a converted Soviet-era ICBM - and all indications so far are that the craft performed precisely as planned. (Today's mission update says the first images have been sent down from the onboard cameras.)
"This is like the day after a war," Bigelow told me over the phone today from his Las Vegas headquarters. "We have a lot of walking wounded around here, and we have some missing in action - we don't even know where they are. ... We were not prepared for this kind of success, to tell the truth."
Snip
============================================================
http://uplink.space.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=missions&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;Number=544838&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=0
How big will Bigelow's "Inflatable Module" business get? [link to this post] http://uplink.space.com/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Board=missions&Number=544838&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=0&vc=1
I was just reading the following article on Bigelow Aerospace's achievements.
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2006/07/20/1353.aspx
I don't know if this has been discussed elsewhere before but it dawned on me just how big bigelow's module business could become! How parties would be interested in buying his modules???
I bet Virgin Galactic, Scaled Composites and others have been given added incentive to advance the plans for orbital vehicles. Just imagine by 2012, we could have a full system transporting civilians to space, staying in bigelow's modules that dwarf ISS habitation!!
I mean his inflatable modules could become the standard for any future human hab modules, in a variety of applications such as on-orbit, lunar and mars!
Hell, if he pulls of the nautilus module and everything checks out, one of his engineers highlighted it could be hooked up ISS? I wonder if NASA or the other members (RSA, ESA, JAXA etc) has given this serious thought?
If he is allowed to sell his modules to buyers outside of the US, I could see many companies, billionaires wanting to buy their modules... its real estate in space!!
Also, in that article Bigelow hinted at the fact they were gearing the plans towards lunar missions / lunar bases. I think BA could play a really siginificant role in providing human habitation modules on the Moon.
If everything goes to plan by 2012, private spaceflight will have almost caught right up with the big space agencies capabilities. Flight to space, hotels to stay at, flights around the moon with Space Adventures, wow!!
The possibilities are unlimited.
Snip
============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
=============================================================
While in Thailand, and off the Internet, I missed the launch of Bigelow Aerospace, Genesis 1.
- LRK -
-----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0607/12bigelow/
Bigelow Aerospace launches its prototype space module Spaceflight Now, FL - Jul 13, 2006 ... inflatable module design for a crew habitat on the international space station. When NASA cancelled plans for the so-called TransHab module, Bigelow picked up ...
Bigelow Aerospace launches its prototype space module BY STEPHEN CLARK SPACEFLIGHT NOW
Posted: July 12, 2006
An inflatable module called Genesis 1 arrived in space after a successful launch Wednesday aboard a converted Russian ballistic missile. The project's backers hope the mission will be the first step in realizing a plan for a futuristic commercial space station that could be fully operational within the next decade.
The Dnepr rocket with Genesis 1 was fired out of its missile silo at 1453 GMT (10:53 a.m. EDT) from a launch base at Yasny near Russia's southern border.
Snip
-----------------------------------------------------------
Let me know if you see Genesis I.
- LRK -
-----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.bigelowaerospace.com/
Genesis I Sightings
Discover our interactive map of Genesis I sightings. Have you seen Genesis I? Add your sighting!
http://www.bigelowaerospace.com/out_there/seen_genesis1.php
7/26/06: Images from the July 12, 2006 Dnepr launch that took Genesis I to space. http://www.bigelowaerospace.com/out_there/launch.php
Snip
8/10/06: The Graphic Gallery is launched, featuring graphics you can use on your Website. http://www.bigelowaerospace.com/multiverse/graphics.php
-----------------------------------------------------------
Now we have an inflatable in orbit, and we have those working on getting folks to space as tourists.
Seems like a good match. Wonder who will be the first to get married in a space hotel?
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsltr.: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
============================================================
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/13828908/
Russians launch inflatable spacecraft
Genesis 1 could pave the way for space hotels by 2015
By Alan Boyle
Science editor
MSNBC
Updated: 5:07 p.m. MT July 13, 2006
Alan Boyle
Science editor
A Russian military base has launched the first prototype for what could eventually become a private-sector space station built up from inflatable modules, the company funding the project said Wednesday.
The Genesis 1 inflatable spacecraft, developed by Las Vegas-based Bigelow Aerospace, could take a significant step toward an era of privately funded hotels, labs and even sports complexes in space.
The company's founder, real-estate magnate Robert Bigelow, has reportedly committed $500 million to the inflatable-module project, with about $75 million spent so far. In an initial statement, Bigelow said Genesis 1 was successfully launched from Russia's Dombarovsky missile base at 10:53 a.m. ET, atop a Soviet-era intercontinental ballistic missile that was converted to commercial use.
In later statements, Bigelow said his mission control center in Las Vegas was receiving data indicating that Genesis 1 was in its 342-mile-high (550-kilometer-high) target orbit, that its solar arrays were working as planned and that the craft's inflatable skin "has successfully expanded."
The module's internal temperature was 79 degrees Fahrenheit (26 degrees Celsius), and the GPS-based tracking system was working, he said.
Years of work
The launch represents the culmination of years of work by Bigelow and his team, using a concept that was first suggested by NASA for the international space station or Mars-bound spacecraft. NASA scrapped the idea in 2001, but Bigelow licensed the concept for commercial use.
The basic concept calls for launching soft-sided spacecraft that could be inflated once they're in orbit. The walls are made from multiple layers of graphite-fiber composite materials, tough enough to stand up to micrometeoroids and orbital debris. Such modules would be cheaper to send into space, and allow for larger pressurized volumes once they were inflated.
Genesis 1 measures about 14 feet (4 meters) in length and 4 feet (1.2
meters) in diameter, and was designed to inflate in orbit to twice that diameter. The module is equipped with 13 cameras inside and out, and could transmit views of Earth as well as items floating inside the enclosed space for years to come.
Bigelow's time line calls for testing larger and larger prototypes, with roughly two launches per year, leading up to the launch of full-scale Nautilus-class modules each enclosing about 11,650 cubic feet (330 cubic meters), or roughly the volume of a three-bedroom home.
In comparison, the international space station has cost on the order of $100 billion so far, and encloses about 15,000 cubic feet (425 cubic meters) of habitable space.
Snip
============================================================
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2006/07/20/1353.aspx
Inside the spaceship factory
Posted: Thursday, July 20, 2006 11:59 PM by Alan Boyle
Categories: Space
On a 50-acre spread in North Las Vegas, near the intersection of Warp Drive and Skywalker Way, the prototypes for future space stations are being built from strips of fortified fabric, supertough inflatable skin and lattices of metal.
Today a gaggle of journalists and space entrepreneurs got a rare look inside Bigelow Aerospace's industrial-park production facility and mission control center, just a week and a day after the company's launch of its Genesis 1 orbital test module. We were treated to three and a half hours of talk and tours, led by billionaire Robert Bigelow and his top engineers.
Snip
============================================================
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2006/07/13/1086.aspx
BIGELOW'S ORBITAL 'BABY'
Posted: Thursday, July 13, 2006 8:10 PM by Alan Boyle
Real-estate billionaire Robert Bigelow, the head of the world's newest orbital space program, says he thinks of his Genesis 1 inflatable module as "our baby" - and lies awake at night wondering how "she" is doing. On the day after the big launch, Bigelow chatted with me about the regulatory hoops he and his team had to jump through, the bugs and jumping beans that are aboard Genesis, and the road ahead to human orbital flight.
Just to refresh your memory, Genesis 1 is a one-third-scale prototype for what Bigelow Aerospace hopes eventually will be the building blocks for private-sector space stations: prefab modules that can be compressed down for launch, then inflated in orbit like balloons with bulletproof skins. The 14-foot-long, 4-foot-diameter spacecraft was launched Wednesday from a Russian military base atop a converted Soviet-era ICBM - and all indications so far are that the craft performed precisely as planned. (Today's mission update says the first images have been sent down from the onboard cameras.)
"This is like the day after a war," Bigelow told me over the phone today from his Las Vegas headquarters. "We have a lot of walking wounded around here, and we have some missing in action - we don't even know where they are. ... We were not prepared for this kind of success, to tell the truth."
Snip
============================================================
http://uplink.space.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=missions&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;Number=544838&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=0
How big will Bigelow's "Inflatable Module" business get? [link to this post] http://uplink.space.com/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Board=missions&Number=544838&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=0&vc=1
I was just reading the following article on Bigelow Aerospace's achievements.
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2006/07/20/1353.aspx
I don't know if this has been discussed elsewhere before but it dawned on me just how big bigelow's module business could become! How parties would be interested in buying his modules???
I bet Virgin Galactic, Scaled Composites and others have been given added incentive to advance the plans for orbital vehicles. Just imagine by 2012, we could have a full system transporting civilians to space, staying in bigelow's modules that dwarf ISS habitation!!
I mean his inflatable modules could become the standard for any future human hab modules, in a variety of applications such as on-orbit, lunar and mars!
Hell, if he pulls of the nautilus module and everything checks out, one of his engineers highlighted it could be hooked up ISS? I wonder if NASA or the other members (RSA, ESA, JAXA etc) has given this serious thought?
If he is allowed to sell his modules to buyers outside of the US, I could see many companies, billionaires wanting to buy their modules... its real estate in space!!
Also, in that article Bigelow hinted at the fact they were gearing the plans towards lunar missions / lunar bases. I think BA could play a really siginificant role in providing human habitation modules on the Moon.
If everything goes to plan by 2012, private spaceflight will have almost caught right up with the big space agencies capabilities. Flight to space, hotels to stay at, flights around the moon with Space Adventures, wow!!
The possibilities are unlimited.
Snip
============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
=============================================================
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Just received the spaceref.com post and see the announcement that Dr. Van Allen died today.
-----------------------------------------------------------
THE DAY IN SPACE
__________________
In today's space news from SpaceRef:
-- U.S. Space Pioneer, UI Professor James A. Van Allen Dies
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.nl.html?pid=20565
"Dr. James A. Van Allen, U.S. space pioneer and Regent Distinguished Professor of Physics in the University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, died this morning, Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2006 at the age of 91. Arrangements are pending."
-----------------------------------------------------------
The last instrument working on Pioneer 10 was the Geiger Tube Telescope of Dr. Van Allen.
http://www-pw.physics.uiowa.edu/pioneer/
http://www-pw.physics.uiowa.edu/pioneer/gtt.html
http://www-pw.physics.uiowa.edu/pioneer/gtt.jpg
http://www-pw.physics.uiowa.edu/pioneer/p10.html
http://spaceprojects.arc.nasa.gov/Space_Projects/pioneer/PNStat.html
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsltr.: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
============================================================
THE DAY IN SPACE
__________________
In today's space news from SpaceRef:
-- U.S. Space Pioneer, UI Professor James A. Van Allen Dies
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.nl.html?pid=20565
"Dr. James A. Van Allen, U.S. space pioneer and Regent Distinguished Professor of Physics in the University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, died this morning, Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2006 at the age of 91. Arrangements are pending."
============================================================
http://www.press-citizen.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060809/NEWS01/60809004/1079
Wednesday, August 9, 2006
James Van Allen dies
By the Press-Citizen
James Van Allen, a pioneer in space physics and longtime University of Iowa professor, died early this morning at University Hospitals, UI interim president Gary Fethke announced today.
Reading from a prepared statement, Fethke said until his death, Van Allen remained an active member of the faculty.
"We and I will miss him greatly," said an obviously shaken Fethke, his voice quivering, before the opening of the Iowa state Board of Regents meeting this morning in Iowa City. "We extend our sympathies to the Van Allen family."
Regents president Michael Gartner called Van Allen "an Iowa treasure."
"It's a sad day," he said.
Regent Bob Downer of Iowa City proposed the board issue a proclamation to recognize Van Allen's contributions to UI and the scientific community and to express sympathies to the Van Allen family.
Van Allen was responsible for no less than getting the United States into the space race at a time when the nation was terrified that the Soviet Union would conquer us from above.
It was Oct. 4, 1957, when the USSR launched Sputnik, a 183-pound, basketball-sized satellite that became the first man-made object in Earth orbit.
The Soviets' triumph struck fear in the heart of the United States, and the government immediately took action not only to bolster its own efforts to reach space, but to improve math and science education in public schools.
Van Allen was hailed as a national hero when the United States struck back.
This line is from the NASA article "Sputnik and the Dawn of the Space Age:"
"On January 31, 1958, the tide changed, when the United States successfully launched Explorer I. This satellite carried a small scientific payload that eventually discovered the magnetic radiation belts around the Earth, named after principal investigator James Van Allen. The Explorer program continued as a successful ongoing series of lightweight, scientifically useful spacecraft."
The Van Allen Belts, as they are now known, remain a crucial area of study in space science, as evidenced by a recently announced, $100 million NASA project to study the effect of the belts on satellite communications and global navigation systems. The University of Iowa is the lead institution of the study.
The fact that UI remains at the forefront of space research is a testament to Van Allen as a teacher. As impressive as his own work is the work of UI space scientists Don Gurnett, Louis Frank and others who were all Van Allen protogés. Now, most of the university's top work is being conducted by a third generation of UI-grown space scientists.
Van Allen was born Sept. 7, 1914, to Alfred Morris and Alma Olney Van Allen in Mount Pleasant, the second of four sons. In an article originally published in 1990 entitled, “What Is A Space Scientist? An Autobiographical Example,” Van Allen described his family as “closely knit” and having “a strong resemblance to that of earlier pioneer families.”
After graduating from high school, Van Allen stayed at home for college, attending Iowa Wesleyan College in Mount Pleasant. One of his professors, Thomas Poulter, sensed an interest in physics and the study of space in his young student and enlisted his help with his own study of meteors and cosmic rays.
While an undergraduate at Iowa Wesleyan, he assisted the senior scientist of the second Byrd Expedition (1934-35) to Antarctica in preparing seismic and magnetic experimental equipment. In 2004, the American Polar Society commemorated his work by presenting Van Allen with its Honors of the Society award.
In 1932, Van Allen, working in conjunction with a researcher at the University of Iowa, helped map the meteor trails of the Perseid Meteor Showers. He also made a magnetic survey of Mount Pleasant and measured cosmic rays at ground level.
Van Allen completed his studies at Iowa Wesleyan and moved on to do graduate work in nuclear physics at Iowa, a school he described as “my family university.” He got his degree in 1939.
During World War II, Van Allen worked for the Navy developing proximity shells at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.
After the war, Van Allen returned to his real passion: the study of cosmic rays. A cache of almost 100 captured German V-2 rockets allowed the most sophisticated study of the cosmos possible up to that time. Van Allen traveled to White Sands, N.M., where he built intricate instruments for the rockets that could fly up to 100 miles above the earth. That work began to establish Van Allen’s reputation as an expert in rockets and the study of space.
Then, in 1950, Van Allen got a call from Dewey Stuit, the new dean of liberal arts and sciences at the University of Iowa. Stuit needed to find a new head for the physics department and Van Allen was at the top of his list.
James and Abigail Van Allen came to the university in 1951 and lived at first in the converted Army barracks that were next to the football stadium.
He also arrived to a department with a very limited research budget.
Nevertheless, it was an exciting time to be studying physics. The government was looking for experiments and equipment to be launched aboard a future satellite. Most of the experiments received were designed for the Navy’s Vanguard rockets. Van Allen, however, designed his experiment to fit on either the Vanguard or the Army’s Jupiter rocket. That decision proved prescient when the government selected the Jupiter to launch Explorer I.
Soon after that launch, Van Allen and his students began work on Explorer II and Explorer III, which eventually led to the discovery of the belts that bear his name. His work prompted President Eisenhower to invite the Van Allens to the White House, and on May 4, 1959, Van Allen was on the cover of Time magazine.
“In the race into space, the Russians can claim bigger satellites and more powerful rockets,” Time declared. “If the U.S. can retort that it has a big lead in scientific achievement, the man most responsible is James Van Allen, whose instruments, designed and largely constructed in his basement laboratory, brought back from space discoveries the Russians never made.”
Later, Van Allen also built instruments for Mariners I and II, which flew by Venus; Mariner IV, which explored Mars; and Pioneers 10 and 11, the first human-made spacecraft to reach Jupiter and Saturn.
In his later years, he became known as a staunch critic of human spaceflight, arguing that the cost and the dangers to human life were too high, and all research of any real value could be conducted by machinery and robots.
NASA heard the call. In the 1990s, the administration put a greater emphasis on smaller, cheaper, unmanned missions that yielded greater science and were seen as less of a failure if something went wrong.
That attitude led to the incredibly successful Mars Pathfinder missions, and severe public criticism of the costly International Space Station and President Bush's call for a manned mission to Mars.
Van Allen also was a critic of the space shuttle program. Following problems that plagued the July 2005 flight of the shuttle Discovery and in the wake of the February 2003 destruction of the Columbia shuttle, Van Allen described the program as “too expensive and dangerous.”
“It’s a vastly difficult effort with almost no significant purpose,” Van Allen told The Associated Press.
His list of honors is long and distinguished:
• In 1974 People Magazine listed Van Allen as one of the top 10 teaching college professors in the country. His former graduate students list among their accomplishments experiments on NASA's Pioneer 10 and 11, Voyager 1 and 2, Galileo and Cassini spacecraft.
• Van Allen joined the American Geophysical Union (AGU) in 1948 and served as the organization's president from 1982 until 1984. He has received the AGU's highest honors, including the John A. Fleming Award in 1963 for eminence in geophysics and the William Bowie Medal in 1977 for outstanding contributions to fundamental geophysics and for unselfish cooperation in research.
• In 1994, Van Allen received the 1994 Gerard P. Kuiper Prize from the Division of Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society "in recognition of his many contributions to the field of planetary science, both through his investigations of planetary magnetospheres and through his advocacy of planetary exploration." Also in 1994, he was presented with a lifetime achievement award by NASA on the occasion of his 80th birthday and the American Geophysical Union's 75th anniversary.
• Van Allen's many other awards and honors include membership in the National Academy of Sciences since 1959 and the National Medal of Science, the nation's highest honor for scientific achievement, presented in 1987 by President Reagan in ceremonies at the White House. In 1989, he received the Crafoord Prize, awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm and presented by the King of Sweden. The Crafoord Prize is the highest award the Academy can bestow for research in a number of scientific fields and, for space exploration, is the equivalent of the Nobel Prize.
Services for Van Allen have yet to be announced. He is survived by his wife, Abigail Fithian Halsey II Van Allen, his five children -- Cynthia Van Allen Schaffner of New York City; Dr. Margot Van Allen Cairns of Vancouver, British Columbia; Sarah Van Allen Trimble of Princeton, N.J.; Thomas Van Allen of Aspen, Colo.; and Peter Van Allen of Philadelphia -- and seven grandchildren.
============================================================
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/on-line.html
http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4210/pages/Cover.htm
LUNAR IMPACT A History of Project Ranger http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4210/pages/Info.htm#I_Top
http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4210/pages/TOC.htm
http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4210/pages/Ch_1.htm#Ch1_H2
Snip
The data returned by Pioneer 3's radiation experiments, and the discovery of the second radiation shell, heightened scientific interest in charged particles in near-earth space all the more. A few weeks later, in early 1959, James Van Allen and his associate George Ludwig of the State University of Iowa urged that their radiation package be flown again in place of the television system on Pioneer 4 to obtain more radiation data and to further refine information already secured. "We happened to have," a JPL official later explained, "a bonanza in the original Explorer by carrying Van Allen's experiment along and obtaining so much information. You just couldn't go wrong by proposing to gain more information of that type for the next several years." 21 Space officials approved the change. Pioneer
4 would also be launched on a lunar flyby trajectory rather than on a circumlunar trajectory for photographic purposes, so as to measure radiation between the earth and the moon. 22 Snip
[The discovery of the now named Van Allen Radiation belts helped start a long history of the use of Dr. Van Allen's radiation instruments. - LRK -]
============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
=============================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------
THE DAY IN SPACE
__________________
In today's space news from SpaceRef:
-- U.S. Space Pioneer, UI Professor James A. Van Allen Dies
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.nl.html?pid=20565
"Dr. James A. Van Allen, U.S. space pioneer and Regent Distinguished Professor of Physics in the University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, died this morning, Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2006 at the age of 91. Arrangements are pending."
-----------------------------------------------------------
The last instrument working on Pioneer 10 was the Geiger Tube Telescope of Dr. Van Allen.
http://www-pw.physics.uiowa.edu/pioneer/
http://www-pw.physics.uiowa.edu/pioneer/gtt.html
http://www-pw.physics.uiowa.edu/pioneer/gtt.jpg
http://www-pw.physics.uiowa.edu/pioneer/p10.html
http://spaceprojects.arc.nasa.gov/Space_Projects/pioneer/PNStat.html
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsltr.: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
============================================================
THE DAY IN SPACE
__________________
In today's space news from SpaceRef:
-- U.S. Space Pioneer, UI Professor James A. Van Allen Dies
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.nl.html?pid=20565
"Dr. James A. Van Allen, U.S. space pioneer and Regent Distinguished Professor of Physics in the University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, died this morning, Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2006 at the age of 91. Arrangements are pending."
============================================================
http://www.press-citizen.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060809/NEWS01/60809004/1079
Wednesday, August 9, 2006
James Van Allen dies
By the Press-Citizen
James Van Allen, a pioneer in space physics and longtime University of Iowa professor, died early this morning at University Hospitals, UI interim president Gary Fethke announced today.
Reading from a prepared statement, Fethke said until his death, Van Allen remained an active member of the faculty.
"We and I will miss him greatly," said an obviously shaken Fethke, his voice quivering, before the opening of the Iowa state Board of Regents meeting this morning in Iowa City. "We extend our sympathies to the Van Allen family."
Regents president Michael Gartner called Van Allen "an Iowa treasure."
"It's a sad day," he said.
Regent Bob Downer of Iowa City proposed the board issue a proclamation to recognize Van Allen's contributions to UI and the scientific community and to express sympathies to the Van Allen family.
Van Allen was responsible for no less than getting the United States into the space race at a time when the nation was terrified that the Soviet Union would conquer us from above.
It was Oct. 4, 1957, when the USSR launched Sputnik, a 183-pound, basketball-sized satellite that became the first man-made object in Earth orbit.
The Soviets' triumph struck fear in the heart of the United States, and the government immediately took action not only to bolster its own efforts to reach space, but to improve math and science education in public schools.
Van Allen was hailed as a national hero when the United States struck back.
This line is from the NASA article "Sputnik and the Dawn of the Space Age:"
"On January 31, 1958, the tide changed, when the United States successfully launched Explorer I. This satellite carried a small scientific payload that eventually discovered the magnetic radiation belts around the Earth, named after principal investigator James Van Allen. The Explorer program continued as a successful ongoing series of lightweight, scientifically useful spacecraft."
The Van Allen Belts, as they are now known, remain a crucial area of study in space science, as evidenced by a recently announced, $100 million NASA project to study the effect of the belts on satellite communications and global navigation systems. The University of Iowa is the lead institution of the study.
The fact that UI remains at the forefront of space research is a testament to Van Allen as a teacher. As impressive as his own work is the work of UI space scientists Don Gurnett, Louis Frank and others who were all Van Allen protogés. Now, most of the university's top work is being conducted by a third generation of UI-grown space scientists.
Van Allen was born Sept. 7, 1914, to Alfred Morris and Alma Olney Van Allen in Mount Pleasant, the second of four sons. In an article originally published in 1990 entitled, “What Is A Space Scientist? An Autobiographical Example,” Van Allen described his family as “closely knit” and having “a strong resemblance to that of earlier pioneer families.”
After graduating from high school, Van Allen stayed at home for college, attending Iowa Wesleyan College in Mount Pleasant. One of his professors, Thomas Poulter, sensed an interest in physics and the study of space in his young student and enlisted his help with his own study of meteors and cosmic rays.
While an undergraduate at Iowa Wesleyan, he assisted the senior scientist of the second Byrd Expedition (1934-35) to Antarctica in preparing seismic and magnetic experimental equipment. In 2004, the American Polar Society commemorated his work by presenting Van Allen with its Honors of the Society award.
In 1932, Van Allen, working in conjunction with a researcher at the University of Iowa, helped map the meteor trails of the Perseid Meteor Showers. He also made a magnetic survey of Mount Pleasant and measured cosmic rays at ground level.
Van Allen completed his studies at Iowa Wesleyan and moved on to do graduate work in nuclear physics at Iowa, a school he described as “my family university.” He got his degree in 1939.
During World War II, Van Allen worked for the Navy developing proximity shells at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.
After the war, Van Allen returned to his real passion: the study of cosmic rays. A cache of almost 100 captured German V-2 rockets allowed the most sophisticated study of the cosmos possible up to that time. Van Allen traveled to White Sands, N.M., where he built intricate instruments for the rockets that could fly up to 100 miles above the earth. That work began to establish Van Allen’s reputation as an expert in rockets and the study of space.
Then, in 1950, Van Allen got a call from Dewey Stuit, the new dean of liberal arts and sciences at the University of Iowa. Stuit needed to find a new head for the physics department and Van Allen was at the top of his list.
James and Abigail Van Allen came to the university in 1951 and lived at first in the converted Army barracks that were next to the football stadium.
He also arrived to a department with a very limited research budget.
Nevertheless, it was an exciting time to be studying physics. The government was looking for experiments and equipment to be launched aboard a future satellite. Most of the experiments received were designed for the Navy’s Vanguard rockets. Van Allen, however, designed his experiment to fit on either the Vanguard or the Army’s Jupiter rocket. That decision proved prescient when the government selected the Jupiter to launch Explorer I.
Soon after that launch, Van Allen and his students began work on Explorer II and Explorer III, which eventually led to the discovery of the belts that bear his name. His work prompted President Eisenhower to invite the Van Allens to the White House, and on May 4, 1959, Van Allen was on the cover of Time magazine.
“In the race into space, the Russians can claim bigger satellites and more powerful rockets,” Time declared. “If the U.S. can retort that it has a big lead in scientific achievement, the man most responsible is James Van Allen, whose instruments, designed and largely constructed in his basement laboratory, brought back from space discoveries the Russians never made.”
Later, Van Allen also built instruments for Mariners I and II, which flew by Venus; Mariner IV, which explored Mars; and Pioneers 10 and 11, the first human-made spacecraft to reach Jupiter and Saturn.
In his later years, he became known as a staunch critic of human spaceflight, arguing that the cost and the dangers to human life were too high, and all research of any real value could be conducted by machinery and robots.
NASA heard the call. In the 1990s, the administration put a greater emphasis on smaller, cheaper, unmanned missions that yielded greater science and were seen as less of a failure if something went wrong.
That attitude led to the incredibly successful Mars Pathfinder missions, and severe public criticism of the costly International Space Station and President Bush's call for a manned mission to Mars.
Van Allen also was a critic of the space shuttle program. Following problems that plagued the July 2005 flight of the shuttle Discovery and in the wake of the February 2003 destruction of the Columbia shuttle, Van Allen described the program as “too expensive and dangerous.”
“It’s a vastly difficult effort with almost no significant purpose,” Van Allen told The Associated Press.
His list of honors is long and distinguished:
• In 1974 People Magazine listed Van Allen as one of the top 10 teaching college professors in the country. His former graduate students list among their accomplishments experiments on NASA's Pioneer 10 and 11, Voyager 1 and 2, Galileo and Cassini spacecraft.
• Van Allen joined the American Geophysical Union (AGU) in 1948 and served as the organization's president from 1982 until 1984. He has received the AGU's highest honors, including the John A. Fleming Award in 1963 for eminence in geophysics and the William Bowie Medal in 1977 for outstanding contributions to fundamental geophysics and for unselfish cooperation in research.
• In 1994, Van Allen received the 1994 Gerard P. Kuiper Prize from the Division of Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society "in recognition of his many contributions to the field of planetary science, both through his investigations of planetary magnetospheres and through his advocacy of planetary exploration." Also in 1994, he was presented with a lifetime achievement award by NASA on the occasion of his 80th birthday and the American Geophysical Union's 75th anniversary.
• Van Allen's many other awards and honors include membership in the National Academy of Sciences since 1959 and the National Medal of Science, the nation's highest honor for scientific achievement, presented in 1987 by President Reagan in ceremonies at the White House. In 1989, he received the Crafoord Prize, awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm and presented by the King of Sweden. The Crafoord Prize is the highest award the Academy can bestow for research in a number of scientific fields and, for space exploration, is the equivalent of the Nobel Prize.
Services for Van Allen have yet to be announced. He is survived by his wife, Abigail Fithian Halsey II Van Allen, his five children -- Cynthia Van Allen Schaffner of New York City; Dr. Margot Van Allen Cairns of Vancouver, British Columbia; Sarah Van Allen Trimble of Princeton, N.J.; Thomas Van Allen of Aspen, Colo.; and Peter Van Allen of Philadelphia -- and seven grandchildren.
============================================================
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/on-line.html
http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4210/pages/Cover.htm
LUNAR IMPACT A History of Project Ranger http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4210/pages/Info.htm#I_Top
http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4210/pages/TOC.htm
http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4210/pages/Ch_1.htm#Ch1_H2
Snip
The data returned by Pioneer 3's radiation experiments, and the discovery of the second radiation shell, heightened scientific interest in charged particles in near-earth space all the more. A few weeks later, in early 1959, James Van Allen and his associate George Ludwig of the State University of Iowa urged that their radiation package be flown again in place of the television system on Pioneer 4 to obtain more radiation data and to further refine information already secured. "We happened to have," a JPL official later explained, "a bonanza in the original Explorer by carrying Van Allen's experiment along and obtaining so much information. You just couldn't go wrong by proposing to gain more information of that type for the next several years." 21 Space officials approved the change. Pioneer
4 would also be launched on a lunar flyby trajectory rather than on a circumlunar trajectory for photographic purposes, so as to measure radiation between the earth and the moon. 22 Snip
[The discovery of the now named Van Allen Radiation belts helped start a long history of the use of Dr. Van Allen's radiation instruments. - LRK -]
============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
=============================================================
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