One interesting bit of news that came out of the Space Access ‘08 conference in Phoenix involved efforts by Florida to lure Orbital Sciences’ COTS program away from Virginia.
NASA recently awarded the Dulles, Virginia-based company with a $170 million contract to develop commercial transport to the International Space Station under its COTS initiative. Orbital Sciences will operate out of Wallops Island on Virginia’s Eastern Shore.
Jim Muncy of PoliSpace told conference attendees that Florida is trying to convince Orbital to move the program south, according to an account of his talk on Rand Simberg’s Transterrestrial Musings blog.
“You should see the list of things that Orbital wants from Florida to get them to move there from Wallops,” Muncy is quoted as saying. Simberg’s post provides no elaboration.
Continue reading ‘Will Florida Lure Orbital’s COTS Program Away from Virginia?’
SPACE X PRESS RELEASE
McGregor TX – Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) conducted the first three-engine firing of its Falcon 9 medium to heavy lift rocket at its Texas Test Facility outside McGregor, on March 8, 2008. At full power the engines generated over 270,000 pounds of force, and consumed 1,050 lbs of fuel and liquid oxygen per second. This three-engine test again sets the record as the most powerful test yet on the towering 235-foot tall test stand. A total of nine Merlin 1C engines will power the Falcon 9 rocket.
The test series continues with the addition of two engines for a total of five, then finally the full complement of nine engines. With all engines firing, the Falcon 9 can generate over one million pounds of thrust in vacuum - four times the maximum thrust of a 747 aircraft.
“The incremental approach to testing allows us to closely observe how each additional engine influences the entire system,” said Tom Mueller, Vice President of Propulsion for SpaceX. “This ensures that we obtain as much data, knowledge and experience as possible as we approach the full nine engine configuration. To date we have not encountered any unexpected interactions between the engines.”
Continue reading ‘SpaceX Conducts Successful Rocket Firing’
With the retirement of the space shuttle only 2 1/2 years away, NASA officials and Congressional representatives are increasingly worried about a possible five-year gap in flight operations until a successor vehicle can take over.
In Congressional testimony, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin, who has lead the agency since 2005, referred to the gap as his “greatest regret and greatest concern….We will be largely dependent on the Russians, and that is terrible place for the United States to be. I’m worried, and many others are worried.”
NASA will not be able to independently reach a space station it has spent 25 years building. Instead, the space agency will be dependent upon Russian Soyuz spacecraft until it can bring its Ares/Orion system online around 2015.
Continue reading ‘Shuttle Gap Raises Concerns on Capitol Hill’
Jeff Foust of SpacePolitics.com reports that both Virginia and Hawaii advanced legislation this week to encourage commercial space ventures to locate in their states.
Virginia Governor Tom Kaine signed “zero-g, zero tax” legislation that:
“Grants an income tax exemption for income resulting from the sale of launch services to space flight participants or launch services intended to provide individuals the training or experience of a launch, without performing an actual launch. The bill also grants an income tax exemption for any gain recognized as a result of resupply services contracts for delivering payload entered into with the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services division of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration or other space flight entity.”
Meanwhile, the Hawaii House of Representatives approved a bill
that appropriates funding for costs associated with seeking a spaceport license from the Federal Aviation Administration. Hawaii is attempting to lure commercial space operators to establish facilities in the state.
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’
Ever wondered what the differences are between Europe’s ATV, SpaceX’s Dragon, and Orbital Sciences Cygnus spacecraft? If so, Taylor Dinerman has a few answers over at The Space Review.
All three vehicles are designed to ferry cargo to the International Space Station. ESA’s ATV is set to make its debut later this month; Dragon and Cygnus are commercial alternatives being developed by private industry with seed money from NASA’s COTS program. Dinerman takes a look at each vehicle’s capabilities and their prospects.
SpaceX has slipped the first launch of its Falcon 9 vehicle by nine months to June, 2009, according to Florida Today.
The El Segundo, Calif.-based company headed by Internet billionaire Elon Musk is receiving $278 million from NASA to launch three vehicles under its COTS program. COTS is designed to help develop commercial alternatives for cargo and crew delivery to the International Space Station.
Flight Global also has a story that includes comments from Musk blaming the delays on a shift in launch sites from a small Pacific atoll to Cape Canaveral and the “enormous amount of work” required to build a new rocket.
Meanwhile, SpaceX says it has completed qualification testing of its Merlin regeneratively cooled engine for its smaller Falcon 1 rocket, which is scheduled for Spring 2008. Two previous launch attempts of the missile failed.
Space Florida Press Release
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Feb. 20, 2008) – Space Florida is actively engaged with dozens of commercial space companies who have expressed an interest in expanding existing operations, or bringing new business to Florida, and state officials are confident in their ability to support these entrepreneurial ventures.
Continue reading ‘Space Florida Actively Engaged in Growing State’s Aerospace Economy’
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.
SPACEHAB Press Release
HOUSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–SPACEHAB, Incorporated (NASDAQ:SPAB), a provider of commercial space services, today issued a statement from SPACEHAB Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Thomas B. Pickens, III, regarding NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) announcement on February 19, 2008.
“While we are disappointed that SPACEHAB was not selected as a winner of the COTS competition, we want to be certain to convey to our stockholders that the Company has been aggressively pursuing other valuable opportunities including growing our profitable Astrotech subsidiary, primarily through our expanded long term relationship with the U.S. Government Office of Space Launch and our announced end-to-end ALLSAT satellite service system. Also, by design, most of the costs and advanced engineering that were invested in the COTS ARCTUS Program are also being applied to advance our ALLSAT satellite system.
Continue reading ‘SPACEHAB Releases Statement About COTS Loss’