December 2009 Archives

Hyperbola will be returning to the Oort cloud for the festive season from now and will be flying by the blogosphere again from Monday 4 January 2010

استخدام مجموعات ترجمة الأداة على اليسار وبجانب هذه الصفحة بلوق لترجمة القطع الزائد إلى لغتك

С помощью Google Gadget перевод на левой стороне, и в этом блоге веб-страницы в переводе гиперболы на свой язык

Utiliza el Google Gadget de traducir a la izquierda y el lado de la página del blog de traducir a su idioma Hipérbola

गूगल का प्रयोग छोड़ दिया और इस ब्लॉग वेबपृष्ठ के साथ अनुवाद गैजेट पर अपनी भाषा में अनुवाद अतिपरवलय

使用谷歌翻译左侧和本博客网页方小工具，您的语言翻译成双曲线

Utilisez le gadget Google translate sur la gauche et le côté de cette page web blog Hyperbola à traduire dans votre langue

Hyperbola has come to the conclusion that the leading exploration option from Norman Augustine's report, much reported in the press, will sacrifice workforce, skills, infrastructure and technology for a gilded future that will never be realised 

There comes a point in any under funded period of transition when grandiose ideas about reaching lagrange points and near Earth objects have to give way to more important issues of workforce and industrial infrastructure

At the moment the outcome of the US human spaceflight review that everyone is expecting would appear to be the flexible path option. It ends Space Shuttle next year, has a commercial crew transport competition hopefully delivering a US Soyuz like capability around 2016 while the heavy lift booster (also the backup to fill the crew gap if need be) comes onstream later in the early 2020s for the beyond low Earth orbit missions that the new path envisages

And all of this requires the extra $3 billion Augustine describes as the "less constrained" scenario, dollars that this blog thinks are as likely to be forthcoming as the NASA budget sandchart increases president George Bush predicted

Well that's a generous interpretation because based on this presidential meeting schedule provided by US newspaper Florida Today that 3.05pm to 5.15pm slot is probably more like 90min - that consumer safety commission meeting is bound to overrun

But it does prove that when NASA administrator Charles Bolden told this journalist back in October that it would be months before he met president Barack Obama he was right. Bolden also told Hyperbola at the 60th International Astronautical Congress in Korea that he expected no decisions from the first meeting. Rather Bolden will present his ideas and Obama will ask questions and expect further meetings where the NASA chief can provide further answers

It became clear during this journalist's IAC interview with Bolden that the timetable for the realisation of the Obama spaceflight vision could extend into fiscal year 2011, which begins October 2010

For all those space based solar power enthusiasts that I know are out there you might be interested in Reaction Engines' report Solar Power Satellites and Spaceplanes: The SKYLON Initiative.

It is one of a number of updates to the website in the latter half of this year that has seen a flurry of activity for the small UK firm, including opening a new factory, moving offices, acquiring engineering companies and REL founder Alan Bond's Royal Aeronautical Society Brabazon lecture


credit Reaction Engines / caption: The Skylon personnel cum logistics module concept

For keen followers of the single stage to orbit Skylon vehicle there is also a user's guide for the C2 version of the spaceplane on the REL homepage. However Hyperbola understands that a D1 version is in the pipeline with substantially more capability. Go here for more technical detail about Skylon technical issues

Its time again for a whirlwind roundup of various news items from around the internet beginning with Space News' Galileo satellite navigation system scoop

Hyperbola hears that the actual announcement on who won what will be made on or around 23 December, next week basically. While Space News talks of Germany's OHB Systems winning eight of the 22 spacecraft to be ordered Hyperbola can understand why Astrium, with all the built in costs such a large company has to address, might not be too happy at any outcome starting with the reduction in spacecraft from 28 to 22

Talking of Europeans the head of the European Space Agency's Earth Observation programmes visit to China is a feature on the China National Space Administration (CNSA) website which is rather scant on detail on what China, ESA coperation in this area actually means. On the rarely updated CNSA website there is also news of a signing of a two-year China, Russia space co-operation deal, again with little detail on what that means - docking and rendezvous help perhaps?

And talking of Russians, that country's spacecraft company Energia is preparing for the 20 December launch of Soyuz TMA-17, go here for more photos of the astronaut, cosmonaut training.  Meanwhile there is a documentary movie apparently of Anousheh Ansari's Soyuz trip to the International Space Station, more details can be found here at Romanian space advocacy group ARCA's website along with info on a school's space related painting workshop

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency gives an update on its solar sail spacecraft Ikaros, which it compares with the US Planetary Society's Lightsail-1, while Aabar Investment is taking a long term view of its interest in space tourism

Point to point is not going to be with us for a good twenty years simply because of the time it will take, assuming space tourism is successful, to draw in the hundreds of millions of dollars of private investment needed to solve the technology issues of propulsion and thermal protection - not to mention necessary international regulatory issues

But what a point to point suborbital vehicle is unlikely to use is an inflatable heat shield, which NASA is intending to fly again and has just released the draft statement of work for. Another NASA procurement is to examine the feasibility of what could be one element of the Augustine report's flexible path - lagrange point space telescope servicing by astronauts

It's a question to ask when you consider that Norman Augustine's report says on page 92:

The [Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle]-heritage Super Heavy Option 5B has an edge in technology, because it includes a new US developed large hydrocarbon engine,

Why is this important, because the report says on page 69 that "Using the EELV to launch the Orion [or any capsule this blog imagines] would only make sense if it were coupled with the development of an EELV-heritage super-heavy vehicle for cargo launch"?

Does that mean that the much touted EELV crew launchers such as Atlas V would need such a new hydrocarbon engine? Hydrocarbons, namely engines that burn kerosene with liquid oxygen, much beloved of the Russians, are first stage engines. The link that Augustine is making between an EELV crew vehicle launcher and a cargo booster is essentially the same that existed between Ares I and Ares V

And sure enough on page 67 Augustine says: "The upgraded EELV systems would have a core vehicle that would, by itself, have a launch capability to low-Earth orbit in the range of 30 to 35 [metric tonnes]"

Thirty five metric tonnes, sounds enough for one of these core stages to loft a chunky Orion crew and service module, and all thanks to this wonderful new hydrocarbon engine - but who would make it?

Interestingly on page 37 of the 2008 NASA authorisation act it stated that the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) should produce a report for Congress on the US rocket engine industrial base. It was supposed to be delivered in January of this year but by July Hyperbola was being told by OSTP that "The interagency review is ongoing and progress has been made. But it is not complete and I can't predict how much longer it will take."

It is now December and you would imagine that such a report could be quite important for such a decision on EELV or Ares, or any of the crew transportation options. At the moment there are basically three US companies offering powerful hydrocarbon engines, Space Exploration Technologies' (SpaceX) Merlin engine, Aerojet's Russian NK-33 originated AJ26-xx variants and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne's  own P&WR RS-27A (however this Delta II main engine on its own will not have the power needed for Augustine's proposals) and the Russian Energomash RD-180, RD-120

Or is this OSTP rocket engine industrial base report being held back for one reason? The SpaceX Falcon 9 maiden flight perhaps?

From 8-10 December Hyperbola travelled to French Guiana for the Arianespace Ariane 5 GS launch of the French military's Helios 2B reconnaissance satellite. Watch this 9min video to get a feel for what these press trips are like and see a bit of French Guiana

Go here for the 30min Sinnamary Soyuz launch site tour referenced in the video

credit Flight / caption: Lord Drayson speaks at 5th Appleton space conference and I take a blurry photo as usual

As Hyperbola reported back in July the UK's space agency will not get any more money than the existing British National Space Centre (BNSC) manages already - the BNSC being the intra-government department partnership that today oversees civil space spending - and that is on the order of £200 million to £250 million ($406 million) a year: go here for a discussion about UK space spending data

That is official and from the very mouth of the UK minister of state for science and innovation (and space) Lord Paul Drayson of Kensington (You can follow Drayson's tweets here) speaking at the 5th Appleton space conference on 10 December

Hyperbola spoke to Drayson as far back as February of this year about the prospects for an agency and he has since told this blog about his support for re-usable launch vehicles. This blog pondered the agency subject back in July when there was a flurry of speculation and the situation has not fundamentally changed, an agency with no more money than BNSC can not lead to a new agenda of ambition for Britain in space

You can forget human spaceflight initiatives or a re-engagement with launchers or even greater investment in robotic programmes, none of it is about to happen any time soon. After endless reviews for the last few years and statements about having an astronaut it all basically amounts to a lot of a goodwill but very little on the resource side where it counts

The BBC's Jon Amos rightly identifies a potential squeeze on existing work as one outcome in his article. While this is denied as a problem it can't be ignored that if there is no more money and Drayson is talking about activities that are not the traditional space science focus then who gets what?

Hyperbola was taken to the Soyuz launch site at France's Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana on 9 December and this 30min 51s video basically spans the entire time we were there. With a French speaking tour guide (all translations welcome) we got to see the entire site and you will see the beginnning of the mobile gantry that is yet to be fully assembled

Si vous comprenez le commentaire français, alors n'oubliez pas de régler le volume sonore le plus haut possible car je n'étais pas toujours à proximité de la guide touristique

credit: Reaction Engines / caption: Skylon has been the subject of a UK economic review

As part of the UK space exploration review report an economic study was undertaken of reusable launchers, namely Virgin Galactic's air launched system, Reaction Engine's single stage to orbit Skylon and Bristol Spaceplanes Ascender and Spacebus concepts

The space exploration review report can be found here and the economics study can be found here, while the RLV details are from page 46 to page 59 of the economics report

Find the British National Space Centre announcement here for both

The economic report says

The potential benefits to the UK arise from the ability to launch spacecraft at significantly lower cost than can currently be achieved, providing relatively inexpensive access to space for international governments, private companies and the public.

Go here for some great video of the SpaceShipTwo roll our cum unveil event taken by my Washington DC office colleague John Croft. He has a whole raft of videos with speeches made by governors Scharzenegger, Richardson and Sir Richard Branson that never made it to any Virgin Galactic video. In John's video above you can hear him speaking about Scharzenegger's private jet and hear the voice of British born former Flightglobal east coast editor and now Aviation Week senior editor Guy Norris

credit Flight / caption: Arianespace's Ariane 5 GS stands on its launch pad

The launch of France's Helios 2B reconnaissance satellite has been cancelled for today and is to be rescheduled in a few days time

The cancellation news came just after 10am local time (1300h GMT) from Arianespace chief executive Jean-Yves Le Gall. A valve on the Ariane 5 GS launcher's first stage helium pressurisation system, used to presssurise the propellant tanks and other systems, failed resulting in decreasing helium pressure levels 

A statement by Arianespace says: "During final countdown operations for flight 193 slated for today, an anomaly occured in a launcher subsystem. As a result, Arianespace has decided to replace this part, and thus to postpone the launch for a few days. The launch vehicle and its Helios 2B satellite payload have been placed in standby mode and maintained in fully safe conditions."

To replace the valve the rocket has to be moved back to its assembly building resulting in the delay of a few days

Much has been made of the support Norman Augustine's committee has given to commercial spaceflight but what hasn't been talked about is the mystery booster

In the full Review of US human spaceflight plans report it separates the booster from the capsule for the commercial crew competiton it is proposing and refers to a high reliability booster with a track record that NASA would provide but oddly it is not named. On page 70 the report says

In addition, the Committee believes that if a commercial crew program is pursued, NASA should make available to bidders a suitable version of an existing booster with a demonstrated track record of successful flight, adding to the program cost.

Some might have assumed that this was an Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle, either United Launch Alliance's Atlas V or its Delta IV but if so why not just say so?

According to the report it will have a track record which suggests that it should be flying already, so why not name it?

Could it then be the Delta II, a rocket that we always hear is about to have its last launch? But that only has a measly 5,430kg to low Earth orbit capability so its unlikely to be it, not based on that payload capacity data anyway it doesn't look quite enough. Not if you want a six crew International Space Station emergency return capable vehicle. It's a shame because the Delta has, according to this document, a very good reliability

So why not those EELVs?

In this blog post will be a series of images from the unveiling ceremony and party for SpaceShipTwo on 7 December 2009 at Mojave air and spaceport

click on any of the pictures in this blog post to see larger versions in the same browser window

credit Flight/Alan Radecki / caption: WK2/SS2 launch system and above (L-R) Will Whitehorn, Richard Branson, Stephen Attenborough


credit: Flight/Alan Radecki / caption: Scaled Composites project team for Tier 1b

all images credited to Virgin Galactic - click on any to see a larger version in the same browser window

credit Virgin Galactic / caption: unveiled at last

Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo vehicle attached to its carrier aircraft WhiteKnight Two in its hangar at Mojave. Go here for more images

Go here to see a photo dated 6 December that very probably shows a practice run for the light show that is expected to accompany Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo unveil planned for tonight - as revealed by Hyperbola back in October. More evidence of light show plans here. Congrats to Steve Johnson for getting that picture even if he didn't know what he was photogaphing. Hyperbola will post images from the unveil shortly after it occurs. This blog has heard that SS2 has been seen attached to its mothership Whiteknightwo 

Expect blogs with photos and video next week while Hyperbola is in French Guiana for the Arianespace Ariane 5 GS launch of the EADS Astrium built Helios 2B reconnaissance satellite. Hopefully those photos and videos will include the new Samara Space Center Soyuz 2-1a launch pad and its mobile gantry

UPDATE: Go here to read my blog from my March 2007 trip to the European spaceport on French soil in south America

It did seem odd that despite there being two operational Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles, namely Atlas and Delta, that only the Delta IV was being considered during the Norman Augustine led review of US human spaceflight plans

And then yesterday at the House of Representatives' subcommittee on space and aeronautics we hear Jospeh Fragola, Valador Inc vice president and Augustine committee engineering analysis support team member, state that the United Launch Alliance Atlas 431 (watch an Atlas V 431 launch here) had been studied by the Orbital Space Plane programme and been rejected. Three solid rockets strapped to a liquid first stage was deemed a bad idea apparently

Have they not seen the Ares V Lite design? A liquid core with two solid rocket boosters

NASA's 100-page Mars Design Reference Architecture 5.0, elements of which were first seen in a 1 October 2007 presentation, is now available on the Lunar and Planetary Institute's exploration strategies website with a publication date of July 2009. But this blogger can't find any blogosphere links to it that date to then or since so here it is! Exclusively! With a 406-page addendum and a 47-page executive summary there is plenty to trawl through from this study that was first announced in 2006 - click through to the extended portion of this blogpost for more comment

You can now access Hyperbola blog postings and tweets via your iphone with Flightglobal's new app along with the latest and breaking news stories

And if you really really like what you find you can even forward links to your friends via email

Search with the term "Flightglobal" on iTunes and you should find the Flightglobal podcasts and the app

Amazing

The US House of Representatives' committee on science and technology subcommittee on space and aeronautics' hearing charter gave the following info on the human rating study that uses American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding, revealing that it is a mod to an existing contract

A modification to the Bioastronautics contract with Wyle Integrated Science &
Engineering Group was made to develop a set of human system integration
requirements for application to commercial spacecraft in support of NASA's
Commercial Crew and Cargo Program. According to NASA, the human system
integration requirements developed under this task order will be based on a review of
existing Human Rating requirements, Spaceflight Human Systems Standards,
Constellation Program requirements, Commercial Crew and Cargo Program Office
operational concepts and requirements, and the Johnson Space Center Space Life
Sciences Directorate Human Interface Design Handbook.