The Martian Chronicles blog is hosting Carnival of Space 47, a collection of links to articles on a variety of space topics. The stories include:
- An article by Darnell Clayton at Colony Worlds speculating about whether Bigelow Aerospace could alter the design of its planned space station to accommodate artificial gravity;
- Animation of NASA’s Spirit rover scurrying around on the surface of Mars;
- A summary of the science that would have been lost had NASA gone ahead with budget cuts in the Spirit and Opportunity programs;
- Paul Gilster’s musings about possible life in an ocean below Titan’s frozen surface.
Discovery News has an interesting report on a lesser known aspect of the Endeavour’s recent mission to the International Space Station: an experiment with inflatable structures that could make space construction easier.
As part of an Air Force-funded experiment called RIGEX, shuttle astronauts “inflated three flexible tubes housed inside a chamber in the shuttle cargo bay with pressurized nitrogen gas, then heated them. The tubes then cooled, forming rigid structures…[which] were blasted with vibrations to test their structural integrity.”
Officials are hoping the experiment will lead to easier ways of building large structures in space. Bigelow Aerospace is developing a space station using a similar technology called TransHab that was originally developed by NASA in the 1990’s.
Bigelow Aerospace has chosen Orion Propulsion, Inc. to provide the forward attitude control system for its Sundancer space habitat. Orion Propulsion will provide four ACS bi-propellant modules, which will be used for attitude control and desaturating momentum wheels.
“We are very excited about the opportunity to support Bigelow Aerospace’s Sundancer program, which is placing the first commercial human-rated space habitat in Earth orbit,” said Orion CEO Tim Pickens. “This kind of trailblazing opportunity is in line with Orion’s commitment to commercial space efforts. Affordable thrusters and systems are centerpieces of Orion Propulsion’s product line.”
Orion Propulsion is located outside of Huntsville, Alabama. Bigelow Aerospace is based in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Bigelow Aerospace has invited the public to try to identify a bright spot that is appearing in images beamed down from their orbiting Genesis I module. You can submit your guess at:
http://www.bigelowaerospace.com/genesis_I/?Mystery_in_the_Sky.
SPACEX PRESS RELEASE VIA BUSINESS WIRE
HAWTHORNE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) today announced its newly revised mission manifest listing twelve flights of its Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 launch vehicles.
“We are on track to deliver our first Falcon 9 vehicle to Cape Canaveral by the end of 2008,” said Gwynne Shotwell, Vice President of Business Development for SpaceX. “In addition, we’re very pleased to have signed a significant new US government customer for our next Falcon 1 flight, and will be releasing details shortly.”
Continue reading ‘SpaceX Announces Revised Schedule for Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 Launches’
The Decatur Daily has a story about how United Launch Alliance suffered a setback for its Atlas V vehicle, which was not chosen for the COTS program.
Earlier this week, NASA officials awarded a $170 million contract to Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corporation to develop a new launch system capable of delivering cargo to the International Space Station. The space agency had earlier awarded a similar contract to California-based SpaceX for a similar project involving both cargo and crew vehicles.
The Atlas V vehicle is being considered as the prime rocket for Bigelow Aerospace’s planned Sundancer space station. The companies are reportedly in negotiations for up to 50 Atlas V cargo and crew launches.
Pundit Rand Simberg has weighed in on the proposed deal for up to 50 Lockheed Martin Atlas V launches to support Bigelow Aerospace’s planned Sundancer space station. Simberg discusses the rocket’s reliability as well as NASA’s decision not to use the Atlas as the basis for a shuttle successor.
Space expert Jon Goff has some thoughts about that potential blockbuster deal for Lockheed Martin to provide up to 50 Atlas V’s to support cargo and crew transport to Bigelow Aerospace’s planned space station.
“If he were just running an orbital hotel (he isn’t), I’d be very skeptical. Instead I’m somewhere between skeptical and guardedly optimistic. While there haven’t been large numbers of takers for flights on the Soyuz, what Bigelow’s offering is fundamentally different. Flight opportunities are frequent (which is critical for most microgravity research programs–imagine trying to run an R&D lab that you could only visit once or twice a year!), the situation is more customer friendly, training would likely be more streamlined (I hear that for Soyuz training the “passenger” is actually more of a third crew member than an honest-to-goodness passenger), etc.”
You can read more of his post at Jon’s excellent Selenian Boondocks blog.
New Scientist reports that there are no major obstacles to upgrading the Atlas V rocket for human spaceflight. Bigelow Aerospace is in negotiations with Lockheed Martin to launch humans and cargo to its planned orbital space station.
Meanwhile, NASA Administrator Mike Griffin defended his decision to reject the Atlas V for the shuttle successor in favor of a shuttle-derived Ares rocket. Griffin accused “losing contractors [of] spotting an opportunity coincident with an election year to reopen what was a settled issue three years ago.”
The Orlando Sentinel also has a story about Ares and Robert Bigelow’s plan for the Atlas V.
Robert Bigelow is planning to use the Atlas 5 rocket to launch tourists to his planned orbital space facility beginning in about 2011. The Las Vegas-based company is currently in negotiations with Denver-based United Launch Alliance to develop a human-rated of the Atlas rocket.
Space.com has the full story here.