The year 2008 is set to either be a record breaking one or will see major programmes unravel with the European Space Agency, NASA, California based-Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) and UK space tourism company Virgin Galactic all facing key tests. In this forecast I have written for Flight International magazine I have set out what I think could be the big stories for the next 12 months
And from the Flight archive here is another cutaway, this time the NASA Skylab that operated from May 1973 to February 1974
And read this nine-page report by Flight from 1973 all about Skylab and continue to watch video
This cutaway is from the Flight archives
And here you can read the 1961 Flight report about the Vostock ground station control centre
This fantastic CGI whirling transparent spaceship Discovery shows key elements of the interior of the habitation/command module sphere at the front of the spacecraft from Arthur C Clarke and Stanley Kurbick's movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. The EVA pod bay, flightdeck and centrifuge living quarters are all clearly visible.
Read the original Flight International magazine report about the Apollo 8 mission that returned to Earth 39 years ago today
Struggling with all that excess food? Well then relax and test your Japanese language skills with this Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency video that features the International Space Station and JAXA's HTV cargo vehicle
Watch this reassuring movie about a European Space Agency mission to save the Earth from deadly asteroids
And here's that horizontal "launch"
And here is Buran with its carrier aircraft
And read this fantastic Flight report all about Buran here
Here is the fifth drop test for the X-38 crew return vehicle before it was cancelled by NASA as part of the agency's cost reduction exercise in 2001-2002
I'm on vacation as of 20 December but check back with Hyperbola on a daily basis as there will be blog postings popping up on autopilot during the course of this holiday season
But in the mean time wonder over what will happen with NASA's planned Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) demonstration programme's phase two International Space Station resupply contract in 2008 when it could be law that the agency has to first sort out its ongoing dispute with Rocketplane Kistler before giving away its cash again
However COTS hopeful Spacehab has announced the successful mid-air recovery capture test for its ARCTUS transportation system
Space.com ponders NASA's water or land conundrum for its Orion crew module
Over at NASASpaceflight it's the Space Shuttle programme's fun and games with its external tank that been the focus of attention and Aviation Week is no less concerned
Russia's famous S P Korolev Rocket and Space corporation Energia provides photos of its preparations for the next Progress cargo vehicle launch
The European Space Agency is also publicising its work towards the launch of its first Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV, named Jules Verne, from Kourou, French Guiana
Then on the slightly less serious side it seems reality television and space tourism are merging
And finally, it wouldn't be a Hyperbola blog post without some links care of Hobbyspace.com
The following blog is an update of the 14 August 2006 Flight International blog posting
NASA administrator Michael Griffin announced at the 9th International Mars Society Convention in Washington DC on 3 August 2006 that his agency would undertake studies of manned Mars missions this year.
It won't be the first time NASA has carried out such a study. This year it is 10 years since the 237-paged "Human Exploration of Mars: The Reference Mission of the NASA Mars Exploration Study Team" was published. But this time we already knew largely, what we now know is called the Mars Design Reference Architecture 5.0, would be saying.
NASAWatch.com is reporting the latest NASA budget reports and its not a pretty sight with over $300 million cut from the agency's requested budget, assuming the bill that would appropriate this money isn't veto'd by US president George W Bush
Despite this reality its not stopping Floridian politicians from pushing for billions more for NASA to keep Shuttle flying and develop the Orion capsule and its Ares booster. Well at least they can say they tried
In the meantime NASA is just getting on with the job, with this work on components for its Ares I creww launch vehicle's upper stage J-2X engine and tanking tests for the propellant tank that should be strapped to the Orbiter Atlantis for a 10 January launch
The Space Review has a roundup of spaceport info and via Hobbyspace.com the Review has some details from the recent Space Systems Loral announcement
While over at Aviation Week’s OnSpace blog there is more Google lunar X Prize fun
Hey it's that annual favourite, the NORAD tracking Santa videos! In this one he goes to the International Space Station
For more space-based situational awareness of that Red loving do-gooder go here
And yes, expect Hyperbola to indulge itself in more spaceflight-related silliness in the run up to the European pagan winter solstice or birthdate of the most famous local Nazareth lad, depending upon your point of view
A random scattering of links to various stuff care of a number of Hyperbola's favourite sites
More spaceport news care of Personal Spaceflight
Via Hobbyspace.com
Armadillo Aerospace update
Canadian spaceflight stuff
Popular Science on hypersonics
Assorted links 1
Assorted links 2
Space.com talks about Brazil and Argentina's joint suborbital unmanned flight
And finally, more book suggestions from Alan Boyle
While NASA battles with its Space Shuttle external propellant tank (ET) sensor problems US Congressman David Weldon has submitted legislative proposals to keep the Shuttle programme going until 2015
Speaking to NASA administrator Michael Griffin on Friday 14 December he said he had not been asked by Congress to respond to the Weldon proposals and he repeated his previous comments that continuing Shuttle with the current budget will mean something else having to be dropped. The implication being more space science or the Constellation programme's plans for its Orion capsule and Ares rocket. There will be more on my interview with Dr Griffin in blog postings this week
According to NASASpaceflight.com the delay for Atlantis' launch from its ET is giving the US space agency time to prepare a new extra-vehicular activity suit glove for its astronauts
In the meantime Aviation Week reports on an 18 December spacewalk for the International Space Station
But at least the ISS hasn't vanished as our sister title New Scientist reports on disappearing comets forcing NASA to redirect
Later today I'll be interviewing on camera NASA administrator Michael Griffin for 30min about a wide range of subjects before going on to the Geological Society where the Royal Astronomical Society is holding part of its conference on the future use of the Moon for astronomy.
But before I report back on that here are some interviews, exclusive to Flight, that we conducted earlier this year with Apollo astronaut veterans, Gene Cernan, Al Worden, Alan Bean and Mercury original Scott Carpenter
There are times in journalism that with the best will in the world things don't quite turn out to be what you expected or were told
Over a year ago I reported that NASA had decided its Constellation programme's Lunar Lander would be called Artemis
NASA didn't deny it and I was unable to get any comment from the agency nor could I get an interview with any of the personnel in their Lander project office. Well, whether my very reliable source had got it right or not the new name is Altair
The other surprise this morning was that Charles Miller from Constellation Services International (CSI) got in touch and said that there is no Russian element to the Space Systems Loral (SSL), CSI proposal for NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) demonstration programme.
Speaking to me in October Miller explained that an S P Korolev Rocket and Space corporation Energia Progress vehicle would act as a spacetug and meet the CSI's cargo cannister in low Earth orbit and take it to the International Space Station. But now it turns out the big change with SSL's invovlement is that a satellite bus is to be used as the tug and push the cannister to ISS
Find infromation on Spacehab's COTS proposal here and its competitor for the $175 million space act agreement on offer, PlanetSpace, here
Other items of interest today, Andrews Space has announced its ISS cargo module design, Space Shuttle Atlantis' launch has been put back to 10 January and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency has posted an update to its lunar orbiter Kaguya/Selene mission
MSNBC's Alan Boyle's Cosmic Log has its own recommended xmas reading suggestions and so I thought, why not Hyperbola too?
So, for those titles you'll want to read between your many 40-winks infront of the home fire after too much alcoholic Eggnog, my recommendations are, in no particular order;
Rocket Men: Vostok and Voskhod, the First Soviet Manned Spaceflights
Spies in the Sky: Surveillance Satellites in War and Peace
China's Space Program- from Conception to Manned Spaceflight
Space Shuttle: The History of the National Space Transportation System The First 100 Missions
NASAWatch.com has posted some fun videos, one is about the futuristic spaceflight dreams of a bygone era and the other is a nifty CGI'd Shuttle zooming into Cape Town, South Africa
Hobbyspace.com has some more Google lunar X prize info and various assorted links here and here
It is not such a happy state of affairs over at New Scientist with bad news for the UK's involvement in space related physics and astronomy projects
Personal Spaceflight.com has the latest on the New Mexico spaceport tax district saga
And finally, Hobbyspace.com is doing a very good job of covering the US Air Force Research Laboratory's Full-reusable Access to Space Technology programme. I interviewed its manager Captain Nidal Jodeh recently so expect more on FAST from me soon
With China's Chang'e-1 lunar orbiter now sending back pictures of the dark side of the moon the Asian superpower's leadership has been hailing its success and has reasserted, again, that China's space programme is for peace and its own prosperity.
Its one-time Communist bloc superpower rival, Russia, has done a deal with Franco-Italian joint venture Thales Alenia Space for co-operation with the Russian state owned NPO-PM satellite manufacturer
While here RIA Novosti reports on Energia blowing its own trumpet
NASASpaceflight.com is reporting NASA's plans to troubleshoot for its next attempt at launching Space Shuttle Atlantis on its mission STS-122
While NASA is giving an International Space Station briefing today
Spaceref.com links to an Aviation Week article about internal NASA emails that show the agency's decision making difficulties
Aviation Week also has this report about NASA's tanking tests for Atlantis' external propellant tank
Just in case NASA is also making preparations for a possible delay to its Lunar Reconaissance Orbiter/Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) mission
Despite its Shuttle problems the US military managed to launch a satellite
Aviation Week's senior space editor Frank Morring has posted a story about NASA's Constellation programme with some detail on developments its going through
And this week Boeing won the Ares I crew launch vehicle (CLV) instrument unit (IU) contract. Useful as Boeing is building the Ares I CLV upper stage that houses the IU
But you have to wonder what progress NASA can make in future with reports about its budget situation like this
And Space Politics is also reporting this Florida Today article that questions Constellation's viability
Transterrestrial Musings has linked to this Spaceref.com article about US president George W. Bush's vision for space exploration and its gloomy future
The Russians are part of this COTS proposal from Space Systems Loral and Constellation Services International (CSI). I was told by CSI that it was offering its LEO Express Space Cargo intellectual proprty to others, now we know who
Read MSNBC's take on the situation here
This CSI based proposal would require the US Congress to continue its relief for NASA from the Iran-Syria non-proliferation act, from 2011 when it currently runs out
Here is some non-COTS collaboration for NASA and apparently Wikipedia's COTS page has been updated
Space Exploration Technologies has also updated its website with a lot of information about first-stage hot firing tests of its Falcon 9 rocket and developments for its Dragon capsule. Watch movies of the hot fire test and a simulation of its Dragon capsule docking with ISS, here and here
"New Space" company Xcor has announced successful rocket tests and NASAWatch.com has linked to an Aviation Week article about the most recent Space Investment Summit
"New Space" follower Clark Lindsey has got the investigative bit between his teeth when it comes to the accident at Scaled Composites in July with two postings, here and here
While here Rand Simbrg questions a fellow bloggers ideas about that holy grail, lowering access to space costs
Hobbyspace.com is keeping track of New Space stuff with these links to a report about the challenges the new head of New Mexico's spaceport effort faces; a review of the recent Space Investment Summit; some moves to improve funding for NASA's Centennial Challenges; and a link to SatNews report about Spacehab's ARCTUS concept
Flightglobal will have more on ARCTUS and PlanetSpace's proposals for NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) demonstration programme in the next day or so
While NASA's Space Shuttle Atlantis' launch for its STS-122 mission has been pushed back to January, the much delayed Boeing Delta II launch finally got off the ground, as did a Russian military satellite
The Russians are also making progress with their new Angara rocket
And finally, this report talks about China's use for its new Compass navigation system for the 2008 Beijing Olympic games
NASA deputy administrator Shana Dale ponders about the fiscal year 2009 budget, despite the agency not getting its FY2008 budget appropriated yet
And if trying to operate Shuttle and develop the Orion crew exploration vehicle and its Ares I crew launch vehicle booster isn't tough enough one Congressman wants to continue the pain
NASAWatch.com does it again with this 40-page presentation on progress for NASA's Constellation programme it has made public just before today's media telecon with the programme's leaders - more on that tomorrow
We are all going to have to wait till late January for the official unveiling of Virgin Galactic's Scaled Composites' designed and developed White Knight II (WK2), SpaceShipTwo (SS2) launch system but at the third Rutherford Appleton Laboratory space conference in Didcot, England, yesterday Galactic's president Will Whitehorn gave us all a sneak peak at the company's progress
So 12 December is the big day for the final Ares I crew launch vehicle contract award announcement about who wins the cash for the rocket's avionics. Best of luck everybody for that, I'm on holiday that day so don't expect any blogging on the outcome from moi
NASA has confirmed to Flight that it is considering an alternate launch abort system telling me that: "NASA is sponsoring the M-LAS as a risk mitigation effort for Orion. We are retaining the current "tower" concept as the baseline launch abort system design."
While NASA is deciding whether to kill its block one International Space Station mission only Orion crew exploration vehicle or keep ISS going to 2020, Transterrestrial Musings has linked to Thomas James' Marsblog and his ruminations on a way round the dastardly plots to spike NASA manned Mars mission research funding
Perhaps not quite as impossible a mission but Mojave air and spaceport is apparently having troubles with its spaceport licence
I spoke to Stuart Witt, Mojave air and spaceport manager, at the 2006 Personal Spaceflight executive summit in New Mexico and he said they were going to apply for a new licence to ensure they could extend the number of suborbital test flights in preparation for Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo
I have kept checking back with the FAA on whether Mojave has put in for a new licence but until recently they hadn't. Obviously flying White Knight II won't require suborbital flight appproval but come 2009 they are going to have to get going with those.
As its becoming clear that Galactic won't be flying commercially until well into 2010 and will operate its first customer flights from Spaceport America and not Mojave, as was originally intended, Mojave doesn't necessarily need the licence it once did but still regulatory problems for Witt and his team could become a real problem for Galactic and its partner Scaled Composites
And finally, Hobbyspace.com has various links including one about the latest Space Investment Summit
Clark Lindsey's Hobbyspace.com and Space Politics are both carrying reports about moves to get an extension to the Shuttle programme beyond its planned 2010 retirement date
With 13 missions planned for International Space Station assembly and spare parts deliveries the current, sort of, end mission date is 29 July 2010, so I hear, but why not fit one more in, say in September?
Stephen Oswald, former Shuttle pilot-astronaut and mission commander and now Boeing Shuttle programme manager and vice president, told me yonks ago he expected the orbiters to keep flying into 2011 but that was back during the Return To Flight days and so that could have been a harsh judgement on the flight rate that could be expected. He still might be right though
Meanwhile we all await Saturday following the fuel sensor glitch, but yesterday also saw a Boeing Delta two launch delayed
While we all wait you can watch Atlantis spin slowly during its STS-115 mission
I was "on mission", as some of the space agency folks like to say, yesterday so I wasn't around to catch the Google Lunar X Prize announcements but anyway, one lunar prize competitor announced it will purchase lunar landing technology from Raytheon
And here another Google Lunar X Prize team gives details of its intentions to space.com
MSNBC's Cosmic Log's Alan Boyle gives an overview of everything that is happening team wise with Google Lunar X Prize
Here Yuri Zaitsev discusses nation states and their focus on the Earth's natural satellite while here he looks at Russia's Earth observation spacecraft
But going back to the Google Lunar prize, I doubt any team will attempt this famous early 20th century film's approach to Moonship propulsion!
Le Voyage dans la lune (1902) is a French science fiction black and white silent film known in its English language release as "A Trip to the Moon". It is loosely based on two popular novels of the time: From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne and The First Men in the Moon by H. G. Wells. It was written and directed by Georges Méliès, with help from his brother Gaston. It is recognized as one of the first films of the science fiction genre, and for its innovative animation
This image shows Spacehab's ARCTUS vehicle, which is the basis for its COTS proposal
NASAWatch.com is raising the issue of where NASA's Orion crew exploration vehicle will land
It is already clear from material in the public domain that Orion's abort scenarios see it land in the Atlantic. So the CEV has got to have airbags. Flight has also obtained landing studies and these deal with a land landing only
According to NASASpaceflight.com Orion's launch abort system could radically change - I'm trying to get confirmation of this
NASA has just posted an update for its Lunar Lander industry day, it is now on a first come, first served basis for company representatives. Previously you could have up to five people attend from each company
Looking at the broader NASA picture Aviation Week has a report about the US National Academies "midterm review" of the agency's progress in implementing the National Research Council's 2003-2013 solar system exploration decadal survey recommendations, giving the agency "passing marks for now"
While I'm on NASA topics I have heard that Commercial Orbital Transportation Services demonstration programme applicant Spacehab is to update its website with ARCTUS details on the 10 December
China apparently also has wider solar system goals other than the Moon with a Mars probe launch planned for 2009
That country caused a bit of a stir with its dodgy Moon pic earlier this week and MSNBC's Alan Boyle's Cosmic Log has the low down on what the answer probably really is
On the other side of the world Israel and India, somewhat closer to China, have denied any political interference in the delay of the Israeli satellite launch by an Indian rocket
Over at JAXA they are announcing the launch date for a broadband internet satellite
And finally, while NASA has announced a delay to its Mars Scout mission, the European Space Agency has publicised a successful Vega rocket test
And for those of you who can't wait for the next Atlantis launch, here is the last one for STS-117
Over at The Woracle blog my colleague Graham Warwick (pr. Wor-rick not War-wick as so many Americans do) has plenty of info on US military hypersonic vehicles
Here Northrop Grumman gives details about the thermal protection system technology its developing with the US Air Force Research Lab that could be used on the likes of DARPA's FALCON for prompt global strike and/or future reusable rockets
For those of you who prefer a cislunar strike capability Northrop is now building the Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite that will smack into the Moon sending a greater than 250,000kg (550,000lb) plume higher than 32,700ft from the lunar surface
While a launch of an alleged Israeli spy satellite by an Indian rocket was held up this week
But if that's all a bit dry for you then here is a surprisingly informative film for US school kids from the 1960s that includes film of Robert Goddard's work
New Space champion Space Exploration Technologies founder Elon Musk is talking about his profit expectations and plans to float his firm
Talking of making money out of low Earth orbit, Transterrestrial Musings has a link to the latest in a series of investment "summits" for budding space venture capitalists
Meanwhile its invasion of the space enthusiasts in Washington DC soon apparently
If that is all too much then sit back for some moderate to heavy topics over at The space Review
MSNBC is carrying reports about the US military's new spy satellites and about the $1.5 billion science instrument Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) that is likely to be left on the laboratory floor and not taken to the International Space Station because NASA has no plans to schedule a Shuttle mission for it. The AMS was designed to be launched by Shuttle
The US Senate's science and technology committee's space subcommittee gave NASA administrator Michael Griffin a talking to about this last month
Talking of NASA, NASASpaceflight.com apparently has the latest on retirement plans for the Space Shuttle's Main Engine
According to the schedules I have the final build of an SSME was supposed to have taken place already. What isn't said by anyone is the fact that NASA knows how much it would cost to restart its suppliers many Shuttle production lines and of course Constellation is keeping many more running because it will use Shuttle systems or something very similar from the same companies - 2010 is not necessarily the end
Meanwhile Russia's Federal Space Agency website has links to detail about the Sirius Four satellite and a profile of Khrunichev Space Center
Selenian Boondocks has a link to a lot of Moon related stuff
Here are 3D images of the Moon care of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kaguya/Selene lunar orbiter
Marsblog has a couple of links, here and here, to Mars stuff, unsurprisingly
And if you haven't had enough of Hobbyspace.com quite yet here are some more links care of that energetic site
Hobbyspace.com has a series of links to NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services programme stuff about PlanetSpace, various reports and links to videos, which you could have seen a long with a bunch of others on Hyperbola months ago
Industrious Clark Lindsey at Hobbyspace.com has also been mining the FAA website for any announcements regarding the secretive Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin project; has found an interview with Virgin Galactic president Will Whitehorn where he apparently says that commercial flights will now start in 2010 - I'll be seeing Will on Thursday so expect confirmation or not about that from me on Friday - and finally, Clark has some detail about the third space investment summit
And another "New Space" topic is the Google Lunar X-Prize with this spaceref.com link to a press release about an announcement this Thursday
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