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The U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and NASA have agreed to cooperate on the development of a lunar spacecraft intended as the first shot in a series of robotic probes paving the way for future human exploration missions, according to an NRO official.
The cooperation will focus on developing a miniature synthetic aperture radar sensor that the lunar probe will use to develop detailed maps of the Moon’s surface, Rustan said in a Jan. 25 interview.
The lunar probe is expected to begin its mission, which will run over the course of a year, in 2009. The Pentagon is planning to launch the fourth in a series of small spacecraft known as TacSat or Joint Warfighter spacecraft that year.
+ Read Article (MSNBC)
Preliminary studies look at off-loading station building to rockets
By James Oberg
Even as NASA gears up for the space shuttle's return to flight next year, officials at the space agency are quietly studying the possibility of cutting back its number of missions and retiring the spacecraft years ahead of schedule, MSNBC.com has learned.
With the shuttle's main objective being the completion of the international space station, such an early retirement would mean either transferring major station assembly and supply jobs to expendable rockets and/or dropping some station components entirely.
+ Read Article (MSNBC)
Advocates of a propulsion idea for spacecraft claim that it would enable a 90-day round trip to Mars.
Using current technology, it would take astronauts about 2.5 years to travel to Mars, conduct their mission and return to Earth, US scientists estimate.
It would use a space station to fire a beam of magnetised particles at a solar sail mounted on a spacecraft.
+ Read Article (BBC)
NASA is taking the next steps in moving The Vision for Space Exploration from concept to reality. Working with the best in the aerospace industry, the agency is already exploring and refining the concepts that will help America return to the Moon, and ultimately travel to Mars and beyond.
+ Read Article (NASA)
Small quantities of helium-3 previously discovered on Earth intrigued the scientific community. The unique atomic structure of helium-3 promised to make it possible to use it as fuel for nuclear fusion, the process that powers the sun, to generate vast amounts of electrical power without creating the troublesome radioactive byproducts produced in conventional nuclear reactors. Extracting helium-3 from the moon and returning it to Earth would, of course, be difficult, but the potential rewards would be staggering for those who embarked upon this venture. Helium-3 could help free the United States--and the world--from dependence on fossil fuels.
+ Read Article (Popular Mechanics)
Nobody can claim that Burt Rutan, the innovative aerospace designer, doesn’t have his head in the clouds…and his eyes focused on the stars.
Fresh from success of nudging the piloted SpaceShipOne’s nose to record-setting heights and capturing the $10 million Ansari X Prize, Rutan and his team at Scaled Composites have clearly set their sights on far loftier goals.
One gets the feeling that in restricted niches of the Mojave Spaceport here, work is already underway on bigger and better spaceships. Asked directly about that prospect, Rutan is quick with a “no comment” that comes wrapped in a guarded smile.
+ Read Article (Space.com)
The next generation space shuttle, like its predecessor, will serve many masters, as a cargo ship, a scientific laboratory, a docking platform, and a crew habitat. But according to Mark Fisher, Marshall Space Flight Center's manager of Exploration Systems, the next shuttle will be designed to "separate cargo from crew."
That change is one lesson learned from flying the current shuttle for the last quarter century: human spaceflight has made cargo more expensive, and cargo can potentially make human spaceflight less safe. By splitting these basic tasks, it is hoped that a more robust shuttle, called the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV), will emerge for its first unmanned flight test between 2009 and 2012.
+ Read Article (Astrobiology Magazine)
"Lockheed Martin has successfully performed a series of drop tests at the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground in Yuma, Ariz., to validate soft landing technology that can be used for astronaut crew capsules upon return to Earth. The technology makes use of an array of dual airbags that, upon ground impact, releases air from the outer bags of the system, allowing the capsule to settle softly to the ground on its inner airbags."
+ Read Press Release (Lockheed Martin)
Editor's Note: There is also a video available on the Lockheed Martin site which shows a couple of recent tests. I wonder what program they are building this under??
"Worldwide efforts to explore the Moon with robotic probes and then humans is stimulating interest in establishing an International Lunar Decade. Along with the United States now piecing together its back-to-the-Moon agenda, Europe, Japan, India and China are also aggressively working on their lunar research plans.
The ILD would be modeled on the International Geophysical Year (IGY) -- a comprehensive and coordinated series of global geophysical research tasks that were carried out between July 1957 and December 1958 in order to let researchers pool their talent, work and insights."
+ Read Article (Space.com)
"While the details of Project Constellation have yet to be decided and NASA’s contractors are waiting for the Level 2 requirements for the Crew Exploration Vehicle to be published, one technology seems certain to be included—inflatables, or, as Robert Bigelow calls them, "expandables."
+ Read Article (The Space Review)
Doug Cooke, NASA’s deputy associate administrator for exploration systems, said the U.S. space agency’s moon agenda is still very much a work in progress.
"At one end of the scale, we are talking primarily about preparation for exploration beyond the moon -- developing vehicles, spacesuits and other hardware and testing operational capabilities and techniques," Cooke said. "At the other end of the scale, if there are outside interests that want to develop the moon and they come into play, that could drive us harder toward more permanent capabilities."
+ Read Article (Space News)
Bigelow is poised to shake up the way we think about orbital facilities now. I know people who work at Bigelow Aerospace and I followed NASA's TransHab effort closely before it was cancelled by Congress (because it could have been considered Humans to Mars research -- verboten at the time.)
This article includes some new details on Bigelow's inflatable technologies and their philosophies. A MUST-READ article!
+ Read Article (Las Vegas Mercury)
"Japanese researchers, who gave up on an attempt to explore Mars last December, have begun planning another probe to the Red Planet in cooperation with Russia.
Japanese researchers are exchanging information with their Russian counterparts, who will launch their own probe for the first time in 10 years, with an eye to the possibility of installing in the probe a small Japanese satellite that can orbit Mars to study the atmosphere."
+ Read Article (Daily Yomiuri)
"Lunar bases that can travel on wheels, or even legs, will increase landing zone safety, provide equipment redundancy and improve the odds of making key discoveries by enabling crews to visit many lunar sites.
A common scenario for exploration of the moon is that one or more astronauts would travel to a remote site in a pressurized or unpressurized 'rover.' An unpressurized rover trip would only last hours because the astronauts would be in spacesuits for the entire trek. A pressurized rover could sustain astronauts for a much longer trip, lasting days or weeks."
+ Read Article (SpaceDaily)
"Building the next generation spacecraft that would carry American astronauts back to the moon by 2021 takes a tiny but tangible step forward Monday.
By midnight, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration will learn how many U.S. interests intend to bid on the first study contracts under Project Constellation."
+ Read Article (UPI)
Editor's Note: The following two documents were recently released for industry to bid on study contracts for Project Constellation:
NASA Office of Exploration Systems Concept Exploration and Refinement BAA Questions and Answers
NASA Office of Exploration Systems BAA - Concept Exploration and Refinement
In taking a long-term view of how to move ahead with NASAs vision for exploration, "all the options for structuring human spaceflight need to be considered," Bille said. "It depends a great deal on whether any additional problems that could delay return to flight are found in the shuttle fleet," he explained.
+ Read Article (Space.com)
The contractor shall undertake work and other expert duties in support of the Marshall Space Flight Center's Propulsion Research Centers...The contractor will support R&D; efforts in:
1) the testing, evaluation and modification of antiproton trapping devices, and
2) evaluation and layout of potential antiproton propulsion experiments,
3) fundamental physics research in additional areas as needed.
+ Read NASA Announcement of Opportunity
Two interesting paragraphs:
"Sean O'Keefe, NASA's administrator, and several senior aides met with the so-called Blue Dog Democrats...The group vented their concerns about NASA's budget and got in return what one attendee called a detailed review of how the space agency plans to pay for the new space effort. The result was the Blue Dogs agreed to support an amendment to the House version of the budget resolution granting the full NASA request."
AND
"According to congressional sources, several House members complained Bush has failed to say anything more about the moon-Mars plan since his Jan. 14 speech, and his silence has been interpreted as a cooling of support. The group was told the White House was silent, not because Bush was rethinking his grand space plan, but was instead trying to avoid further politicization."
+ Read Article (UPI)
Scientists are divided about the use of the Moon as a base to develop ways to travel to Mars, according to reports given to the US government. Some have said the possibility of water-ice existing at the lunar poles would allow a moonbase to use the ice as rocket fuel for a Mars mission.
+ Read Article (BBC)
Future astronauts returning to the moon will most certainly have a lunar rover to fulfill their tasks. How different would it really be from the 1972 model? To get the answer, a bit of history is in order first.
+ Read Article (The Space Review)
NASA may borrow a development approach from the U.S. Air Force and seek to build multiple prototypes of its proposed new moon landing craft, and then test competing designs against one another in a celestial version of an airplane designers' fly-off.
"We could have (CEV) prototypes flying as soon as 2010, possibly 2009," Steidle said. Under a development plan now under review at NASA headquarters in Washington, a request for industry proposals for the first automated test versions of the CEV may be released early next year.
+ Read Article (UPI)
"On March 10, the House Science Committee held a hearing on NASAs new space exploration plan. One of the witnesses testifying before the committee was Michael Griffin, the former NASA Associate Administrator for Exploration in the early 1990s. Griffin had arrived at NASA at the tail end of the Space Exploration Initiative (SEI), after it had become clear that SEI was all but dead. One of Griffins actions while in this job was presiding over a more realistic plan for returning Americans to the Moon. This plan was called the First Lunar Outpost, or FLO. While testifying, Griffin was asked how much his plan would have cost and he responded that in todays dollars it would cost approximately $30 billion."
"NASA has begun to plot out its escape route from low Earth orbit, putting itself on a return journey back to the Moon, planting footprints on Mars, and heading off to other targets beyond."
+ Read Article (Space.com)
Frank Sietzen from UPI gets another exclusive from NASA.
"NASA has begun studies to determine if it will need a new class of powerful super rockets to boost the new moon and Mars spaceships President Bush has proposed as part of a new U.S. space policy.
The studies, experts told United Press International, will help shape a decision by the end of the year on the size and capabilities of the space launching vehicles that will be needed to lift payloads under Bush's plan."
MSNBC's Alan Boyle posts about Russia's new Clipper in his Cosmic Log, and links to the Astronautix feature discussing Clipper.
"Wade's accompanying graphic brings the point home. The drawing may not reflect the actual design, but it looks very much like Lockheed Martin's concept for NASA's next-generation Crew Exploration Vehicle. In contrast, the analogous CEV design from the Boeing Co. has more in common with the old Apollo command module. Both of the CEV designs hint at a mostly expendable system like the Soyuz, rather than a mostly reusable system like the shuttle. This would represent an about-face from the trend set two decades ago by the shuttle and its Soviet carbon copy."
This Russian webpage includes a image showing the current conceptual design of Clipper.
Using a poor translation, provided by Altavista's Babelfish engine, there are some more details. The words in brackets are my best guess at what is being said.
"New ship will be able to [fall] under any space program: from [orbital] to [lunar] to Mars. In the comparison with working "Soyuz", the [new ship] will be more convenient and [spacious?]. Developers say that it absorbs [many new ideas?], which have been created in our country in the space sphere. The project is called "Clipper".
The overall length of the spacecraft is more than 10 meters. It will be able to deliver 6 crewmembers and 700 kilograms of load to orbit. At its basis, much is taken from "Soyuz". "Buran" will give to the new ship a unique navigation system and experience in reusable heat shielding. The weight of the spacecraft is 14.5 tons. Its [placement] into orbit will be [done by] a new launch vehicle "Onega" from the base of the rocket utilized now "Soyuz". RKK Energia indicates that if we [presumably the Russian public] ensure the project has federal support, [they can] build the rocket in 5 years."
The widely-acclaimed space information site Astronautix.com recently posted an overview of the new Russian "Clipper" spacecraft and its "Onega" launch vehicle.
"It was revealed that RKK Energia had begun the work on the design in 2020, at the request of the Russian Space Agency. The result was a brief outline of the proposed design. However, although it was said that the vehicle 'may' replace the Soyuz by 2011, it was also said that their was no substantive funding for the project and any major work would be dependent on enabling resolutions (and funds) from the office of the Russian President and the Russian government."
This article mentions China's construction of Shenzhou 6 (which will launch a crew of 2 next year) as well as more details on Russia's new "Clipper" 6-person spacecraft.
"The Clipper designs have been in development since 2020 with planed 10-day orbital capability and taking aloft 700kg of payload. It is a next generation design from the once-flown Soviet Space Shuttle Braun [sic] back in the early 1980's.
Space experts expect the European Space Agency to become actively involved with the development of the Russian Clipper Space Shuttle in funding, European comosnauts, and science payloads.
If succesful, the Russian Clipper will fill the void between 2011 and 2015 when the United States will not have human-to-orbit lift capabilities as now envisoned with the shuttle fleet retirement."
In this article from E4Engineering.com, Boeing's lead engineer for the CEV project talks about their inital concept for a reusable lunar lander vehicle, as well as additional details on the overall Boeing "Crew Exploration System" (CES) concept for a lunar mission.
The common module approach is central to Boeing's CES, which comprises a crew control module, crew living quarters module, resource module and an autonomous cargo vehicle. These modules will travel to the Moon together as the Trans Lunar Insertion (TLI) vehicle, and then separate into an orbiting lunar space station and a Moon base.
Lockheed Martin has created a new website which showcases their concepts for the CEV. Apparently not to be outdone by Boeing, who quietly posted some concept art shortly after President Bush's speech.
The new website boasts downloadable posters and also includes more background information on their concepts in the form of a "Marketing Materials" section.
A Boeing website has posted several artist mockups of Crew Exploration Vehicle designs, including a lunar orbiting station, a lunar landing craft, and an interplanetary spacecraft. Seen among the modular designs are inflatable habitats and the proposed Apollo-style capsule design for the CEV.
Written prior to the Bush announcement, this article discusses the details surrounding the new Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) and its potential impact on other programs, such as the Space Shuttle and ISS.
In this Washington Post article, written before the Bush announcement of the CEV, the author stresses that the new craft will represent a "21st-century version" of the Apollo capsule. It also reveals the behind-the-scenes discussions between members of Congress and the administration surrounding the new vision.