Rob Coppinger takes a look at developments in human spaceflight over at his Hyperbola blog, including:
- Virgin Galactic’s plan to roll out its White Knight carrier aircraft in about two months’ time;
- EADS-Astrium’s proposal for an ATV-derived capsule, with photos of a mockup unveiled at the Berlin Air Show (the BBC also has a story);
- a six-person capsule being jointly studied by Europe and Russia for possible launch on the Zenit;
- Mitsubuishi Heavy Industries‘ reusable space plane roadmap;
- a proposal for ESA to assist European companies in developing space tourism.
In related news, Virgin Galactic and the National Space Society have announced a new Space Ambassadors program. The program will train people to go forth and spread the word about the great benefits of space exploration, NSS and Virgin Galactic in their communities. One lucky ambassador will get to fly into space aboard Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo. Virgin and NSS have not decided how the winner will be chosen.
EADS Astrium and the German Space Agency (DLR) have proposed modifying Europe’s Automated Transfer Vehicle to carry three astronauts into orbit, the BBC reports.
“The ATV, which ferried just under five tonnes of supplies to the orbiting platform in April, is packed with sophisticated navigation, rendezvous and docking technologies. It also has a pressurised section that is ‘human rated’ in the sense that, once docked to the 340km-high station, astronauts can move around inside it safely in just T-shirts.
“But the ATV was not built with the intention of transporting humans across space, and a fit-for-purpose capsule would have to be developed to take the place of the current cargo section.”
If the project is approved, EADS and DLR officials believe they could conduct test flight beginning in 2013, with human flights coming four or five years later. The project will likely be considered by European space ministers at a meeting in November.
European and Russian space companies are studying designs for a new crew vehicle for possible launch aboard an Ariane 5, Rob Coppinger reports over on his Hyperbola blog.
The study involves a group of European companies headed by Thales Alenia Space and EADS Astrium that is working with Russia’s Energia and S. P. Korolev. A number of designs are being considered, including one similar to NASA’s Apollo and Orion capsules.
One particularly intriguing aspect is that engineers studied building a lunar version of the Russian Soyuz crew transport. However, they rejected the idea because problems arose with the vehicle’s thermal protection system and other changes required to fly to the moon.
Virginia-based Space Adventures is planning to use a Soyuz variant to fly tourists around the moon. Coppinger’s report raises some interesting questions about just how much modification the vehicle will require and what that might cost.
Andrei Kislyakov has an interesting analysis on the RIA Novosti website about Russia’s future role in the International Space Station project. Although there are fears in the West about the country’s growing role in the program, some in Russia worry their involvement could decline in the future.
The recent launch of Europe’s Automated Transfer Vehicle resupply ship has subtly shifted the balance among the partners. Europe will be playing a larger role in station operations, a role that could eventually expand to flying astronauts to the facility aboard a human-rated ATV.
To date, crew transfers and cargo resupply have been handled by the American space shuttle and the Russian Soyuz and Progress spacecraft. However, America plans to retire the shuttles in 2010, and it could be five years before the successor vehicle, Orion, flies crews to ISS.
Continue reading ‘Russia: Feeling a Tad Slighted?’
EADS projects that up to 15,000 people annually will be willing to fork over 200,000 euros ($300,000) to fly suborbital tourism flights, BBC’s Jonathan Amos reports.
EADS’ Astrium division is now working on space vehicle to rocket tourists up to 100 kilometers (62.5 miles). The company anticipates it will need an assembly line cranking out about 10 spacecraft annually.
Astrium anticipates it be will be producing about 10 spaceplanes a year. “To satisfy the market you will need more planes than you think, because once there is regular operation, the price will decrease which means there will be more customers,” CTO Robert Laine told Amos.
In an Air & Space story titled “Satellite Smashers,” Tony Reichhardt looks at the increasing threat posed by orbital debris. The space garbage, which comes from everything from spent rocket stages to anti-satellite tests, can disable automated spacecraft and puncture human habitats when it hits them at more than 17,000 miles per hour.
NASA’s Nicholas Johnson is conducting a comprehensive study of options with debris experts from the United States, Japan and Europe. The group will present their findings to the International Academy of Astronautics next year.
“No easy or cheap solutions have yet been identified,” Johnson said. “Some of the ideas are technically outlandish, some are technically feasible. If you want to spend tens of millions to retrieve a single rocket body, you can do it. But it doesn’t make any sense economically.”
The European Space Agency will be expanding its astronaut corps. World Radio Switzerland’s Alex Helmic talks with Peter Erni of the Swiss Space Office and Swiss astronaut Claude Nicollier about the selection process. Erni says that eight candidates will be selected from as many as 50,000 applicants.
Flight Global has a report about a recent meeting held by NASA chief Mike Griffin and Italian Space Agency President (ASI) Giovanni Fabrizio Bignami to help map out an international human exploration strategy.
The story says that U.S. and Italian officials agreed that Europe needs autonomous human access to space. They also agreed that studies of nuclear propulsion and the orbital assembly of Mars spacecraft are necessary.
Italy has been heavily involved in human spaceflight, providing two nodes for the International Space Station as well as making major contributions to ESA’s Columbus module and the Automated Transfer Vehicle.