Researchers at the Finnish Meteorological Institute have made significant progress on developing a potentially revolutionary electric solar wind sail, Next Big Future reports. The sail consists of long metallic tethers and a solar-powered electron gun used to keep the tethers positively charged. The solar wind exerts a continuous thrust on the spacecraft and tethers.
“The electric sail is an extremely promising new propulsion technique which is nearly ready to be tested. If electron heating turns out to be successful performance may be increased even more. Costs for solar system missions will go down and new capabilities and performance will be possible.”
NASA PRESS RELEASE
A small motor in the robotic arm of NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity that began stalling occasionally more than two years ago has become more troublesome recently.
Rover engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., are diagnosing why the motor, one of five in the robotic arm, stalled on April 14 after much less motion that day than in the case of several earlier stalls. They are also examining whether the motor can be used and assessing the impact on Opportunity’s work if the motor were no longer usable.
The motor controls sideways motion at the shoulder joint of the rover robotic arm. Other motors provide up-and-down motion at the shoulder and maneuverability at the elbow and wrist. A turret at the end of the arm has four tools that the arm places in contact with rocks and soils to study their composition and texture.
“Even under the worst-case scenario for this motor, Opportunity still has the capability to do some contact science with the arm,” said JPL’s John Callas, project manager for the twin rovers Opportunity and Spirit. “The vehicle has quite a bit of versatility to continue the high-priority investigations in Victoria Crater and back out on the Meridiani plains after exiting the crater.”
Continue reading ‘JPL Diagnoses Balky Shoulder Joint on Opportunity Rover’
Space.com’s Tariq Malik has an interesting story about what leisure activities astronauts pursue the space station do during their downtime. In addition to looking down at the Earth, astronauts have relay races, run marathons, throw out the first pitch at Yankees games, and throw boomerangs around. Although small scale, these activities are precursors from future space games.
Having spent near a quarter century and $100 billion on the International Space Station, NASA may have significant problems completing the orbital outpost by 2010 and supporting it after the agency retires the space shuttle the same year.
That is the rather dour assessment delivered by the Government Accountability Office during a Congressional hearing on Thursday. GAO’s Cristina Chaplain said NASA’s station completion plans”require much to happen and very little to go wrong” over the next two years. Once the agency completes station construction, it will retire the space shuttle.
Chaplain said NASA will have a difficult time replacing the shuttle’s large payload capacity. The significant “shortfall in (NASA’s) ability to provide logistical support to the station … may well impact support for a six-person crew and the quality of the research that can be conducted,” she said.
NASA officials disagreed, expressing confidence that they can finish the station in two years and keep the facility supplied with a mixture of Russian, Japanese and European vehicles. The space agency also is funding development of commercial resupply ships under its COTS program.
There’s more about GAO’s report and NASA’s response below:
GAO Report (PDF Document)
Shuttle’s retirement could leave space station lacking support
Orlando Sentinel
Shuttles’ end may leave space station out in the cold
Houston Chronicle
Report: Supplying ISS will be difficult
Florida Today
NASA PRESS RELEASE
MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. – NASA’s Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., and m2mi Corp., Moffett Field, Calif., announced Thursday they are taking a revolutionary step forward in improving telecommunications and networking from space.
Under the terms of a cooperative research and development agreement, only the third in NASA’s history, NASA Ames and m2mi will work together to develop very small satellites, called nanosats, for the commercialization of space.
“NASA wants to work with companies to develop a new economy in space,” said NASA Ames Center Director S. Pete Worden. “m2mi has great technology that fits excellently with our goals, while enhancing the commercial use of NASA-developed technologies.”
Nanosatellites are small satellites weighing between 11 and 110 pounds. A large number of these satellites, called a constellation, will be placed in low Earth orbit for the new telecommunications and networking system.
Continue reading ‘NASA Ames Partners with M2MI for Nanosat Development’
Buoyed by increased defense sales, Raytheon reported first-quarter profits of $400 million, or 93 cents per share. The world’s fifth largest defense contractor’s 15-percent growth exceeded Wall Street expectations, and company officials re-iterated earlier guidance double-digit profit growth this year.
Associated Press Story
Raytheon Press Release
Northrop Grumman reported that first-quarter earnings fell 32 percent after “the company was forced to take a charge due to rising costs and delays with an amphibious assault ship program it is building for the U.S. Navy,” the Associated Press reported.
Northrop Grumman does extensive aerospace work. Last year, it purchase Scaled Composites, the Mojave, Calif.-based company that is building the SpaceShipTwo suborbital tourism vehicle.
Space Adventures CEO Eric Anderson was in Dubai this week, talking up his company’s $265 million spaceport in Ras Al Khaimah and its planned human circumlunar tourism flights, now set for launch in 2012.
Business 24-7 indicates that the $100 million flight will involve a 10-day stay aboard the International Space Station. The mission will require two separate rocket launches, one for the Soyuz and a second for a booster to send the spacecraft off to the moon.
The Soyuz will not orbit the moon but rather fly around it at an altitude of 160 kilometers (100 miles). The Soviets sent several robotic Soyuz-derived Zond missions on similar flights 40 years ago, but they have not flown any similar missions since then.
“We are in serious discussions with some clients from around the world, including Americans, Europeans and hopefully some Emiratis in the future,” Anderson said.
Celestis will launch the ashes of 208 people into orbit aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 1 rocket in June. The flight, which will be launched out of the Marshall Islands, will be the seventh and largest memorial flight undertaken by the Houston-based company. There is more information at the Space Frontier Foundation website.
SpaceX, based in El Segundo, Calif., is hoping that the third time is a charm for their low-cost rocket. Two previous Falcon 1 launch attempts have failed; the first exploded shortly after takeoff, while the second reached space but failed to put its payload into orbit.
LOCKHEED MARTIN PRESS RELEASE
DENVER, April 23rd, 2008 – Lockheed Martin has submitted a series of innovative proposals to the Department of Defense designed to advance state-of-the-art technologies in support of fielding rapid and responsive space systems for the warfighter.
The proposals were submitted to the Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) Office at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M.in response to three Broad Agency Announcements (BAA) released in March that address a range of capabilities in the ORS mission area. These include responsive spacecraft bus and payloads technologies; a multi-mission low earth orbit modular space vehicle; and responsive launch, range and system architecture and modeling technologies. Lockheed Martin responded to each of these BAAs with innovation and end-to-end solutions.
“The need to design, build and deploy responsive space systems that provide timely data to the warfighter is a top priority for our customer,” said Phil Bowen, director of Surveillance and Intelligence Systems at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company. “Our responsive space capabilities combine Lockheed Martin’s proven experience and leading edge technologies in providing affordable and responsive solutions and we look forward to collaborating with the ORS office and our industry teammates on this important initiative.”
Continue reading ‘Lockheed Martin Proposes Modular LEO Space Vehicle to DOD’