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Parabolas: ISS, India, China and More

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on May 5, 2008
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Some updates on human spaceflight from around the web (and the world)….

ISS to Double Crew Size: Aviation Week

“NASA and its partners on the International Space Station (ISS) are in final preparations for the shift from a full-time crew of three to a crew of six on the orbiting laboratory, beginning with the STS-124 space shuttle mission upcoming in June.”

ISRO To Seek Human Spaceflight Funding: Aviation Week

“The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) soon will ask the Indian government to approve a human spaceflight mission by 2014-15 at a projected cost of $2.5 billion.”

Rube Goldberg Was a Piker: Rocketsandsuch Blog

This insider blog reports on the NASA’s latest plan to deal with oscillations in its Ares rocket. Is “hare-brained” a compliment?

China Checks Out Relay Satellite: Aviation Week

“China is beginning the geosynchronous orbit checkout of its first relay satellite to increase communications coverage for manned Shenzhou spacecraft.”

British Perspectives on Human Spaceflight: The Space Review

The British once ruled the seven seas, presiding over an empire upon which the sun never set. Now, it doesn’t even send humans into space. Jeff Foust examines whether that will soon change.

Thales Alenia Space’s Answer to EADS Astrium’s Space Jet: Hyperbola Blog

Rob Coppinger looks at an Italian lifting body concept that could send astronauts and tourists into space. It’s got a really cool para-glider landing system.

Point-to-point suborbital transportation: sounds good on paper, but…: The Space Review

David Hoerr takes a look at the feasibility of taking a shortcut through space in order to fly from London to Sydney. Anyone remember the flying car?

China Reports Progress on Lunar Rover - Updated

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on April 23, 2008
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The Xinhua news agency reports that Shanghai engineers have built and tested three prototypes of lunar rovers in advance of a planned 2013 landing.

“The Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology had made significant progress in key technologies for the locomotion system,” Xinhau reports.

You can see a picture of one prototype here. The 1.5-meter tall, 200-kilogram rover is designed to travel at an average speed of 100 meters per hour.

Second Chinese Lunar Spacecraft to be Orbiter

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Aviation Week is reporting that China’s second lunar spacecraft, Chang’e 2, will orbit the Moon but not land on it, as previous reports had indicated. The magazine quotes Chinese space official Ye Peijiam as saying the spacecraft, set for launch in 2009-2010, will carry different instrumentation from its predecessor, Chang’e 1, which is now mapping the moon from lunar orbit.

The first Chinese landing on the moon is set for around 2012, with a sample return scheduled for 2017.

Japan Views China’s Space Development as Possible Threat

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on March 30, 2008
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China’s growing expertise in space and rocket development is causing concern among its neighbors. A review by the National Institute for Defence Studies, a Japanese think tank, says that China’s program is “a vital means of achieving military competitiveness against the United States.”

“The organisations engaged in China’s space development have strong ties to the People’s Liberation Army and a considerable number of its satellites are presumably intended for military purposes,” the review states.

Brazil to Increase Space Co-operation with China

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The Xinhua news agency reports that Carlos Ganem, the new head of the Brazilian Space Agency (BSA), wants to deepen his nation’s space co-operation with China.

The two nations are already working together on a remote sensing program. Last Setember, a Chinese Long March rocket launched the jointly-developed CBERS 2B satellite into orbit.

Xinhua also reports that Brazil will launch a satellite with Argentina and work with the Ukraine to reconstruct a rocket base.

Official: China to Go Slow on Lunar Exploration

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on March 23, 2008
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In the China Daily, Moon Exploration Center Director Hu Hao says his nation is still in the “initial stage” of space exploration and has a go-slow approach concerning the moon.

“Scientific research can’t be rushed. Lunar travel is an undertaking that is difficult, risky and requires huge investment. You can’t take a wish-list approach to it,” Hu said.

He dismissed stories that China is planning to land taikonauts on the moon by 2020. “You can’t declare yourself the boss of a chicken farm when you’ve only got one egg now, can you?” Hu explained.

In October, China launched its Chang’e-1 probe into lunar orbit. The country has announced plans to land a robotic spacecraft on the moon in 2013 and to follow it up with a lunar rover capable of returning soil samples by 2017.

Will America lose its leading role in space?

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on March 18, 2008
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The Houston Chronicle is concerned that the United States will lose its leading role in space exploration.

The Chronicle’s editors are primarily worried about a possible five-year gap in human spaceflight that could follow the retirement of the space shuttle in 2010. It may take NASA that long to get its new Constellation system online. In the meantime, NASA will be dependent upon the Russians for rides to the International Space Station. And China will be expanding its human spaceflight program.

“Congress should heed U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, and other lawmakers who are pressing for an additional $2 billion to speed up the construction of the Orion vehicle,” the editors say.

Griffin discusses China’s rise, shuttle’s future

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on March 16, 2008
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Last week, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin sat down the Houston Chronicle’s editorial board and reporter Eric Berger to discuss a range of issues. Some highlights:

Griffin is opposed, for reasons of safety and cost, to efforts by Congressman Dave Weldon and others to extend the shuttle program beyond 2010.

China will “probably” get to the moon before the United States. “They are constructing a very well-crafted space program. They are doing things on a number of fronts — economic, political, military — that seem to have the intent of establishing China as a strategic power in the world.”

Griffin does not want another “space race.” Although the Apollo program was a stunning achievement, America was not able to use it as part of a long-term space exploration effort with sufficient political and public support.

Long March 5 to Launch Space Station, Lunar Rovers

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China will use its heavy-lift Long March 5 rocket to launch space stations, lunar rovers and large satellites beginning in 2014, according to a story on the China View website.

The rocket will be built in the Binhai New Area of Tianjin, a port city 120 km (75 miles) southeast of Beijing. It will then be transported by sea to a new launch complex that China is building on the island of Hainan. China expects to be able to construct a dozen Long March 5 rockets per year.

In a separate story, Chinese officials said they expect to launch a recoverable lunar rover in 2017 that would return soil samples to Earth. They view the rover as an essential stepping stone to human missions to the lunar surface.

Presidential Science Adviser Marburger Discusses Stanford Group, China

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Jeff Foust of SpacePolitics.com has a couple of reports on comments made by President Bush’s Science Adviser, John Marburger, during the Goddard Memorial Symposium concerning America’s future in space and whether there is a new “space race” with China.

Marburger emphasized that the nation’s goal is essentially to incorporate the Solar System into our economic sphere, Foust reports. The presidential adviser also took issue with several statements made by the Stanford Group, which gathered recently in Palo Alto to suggest alternative paths the United States could take. Marburger said the group put too much emphasis on exploration and not enough on economic benefits.

“Exploration by a few is not the grandest achievement,” Marburger said. “Occupation by many is grander.”

Foust also reports that the science adviser downplayed any rivalry with China. “I think it would be a serious mistake to construe the relative activities of China and the US as the beginning of a new space race,” Marburger said. “It would lose the opportunity for synergistic efforts” between China and the United States.

You can read Marburger’s prepared remarks here. Jonathan Goff also has thoughts about his remarks at Selenian Boondocks.