October 2012 Archives

The unmanned cargo freighter vessel Progress M-017M/ISS-49P was launched on a rapid approach trajectory to the International Space Station at 0741 GMT by a Soyuz U from the Baikonur launch base near Tyuratam, Kazakhstan.  The rapid approach sequence involves the craft making four burns which allows the craft to rendezvous and dock with the International Space Station within six hours of launch rather than the usual three day approach.   Update: Progress M-017M docked with ISS aft port on Zvezda module at 1333 GMT.

The new rapid approach sequence was first used successfully on Progress M-16M.  It will be used for the manned Soyuz TMA-08M spacecraft mission in March.

The Dragon CRS-1 has returned to Earth. The International Space Station's robot arm unberthed Dragon CRS 1 from the Harmony module at 1119 GMT and released it at 1329 GMT on 28 October 2012.  After making two burns and jettisoning its "trunk", the Dragon CRS-1 spacecraft re-entered at 1902GMT, splashing down in the Pacific off Baja California at 1922GMT. As part of its NASA contract, the near 1 tonne cargo, including medical samples, will be returned to the Administration. The most urgent medical and biological samples have been retrieved.  The rest will be reovered to SpaceX's test facility at McGregor, Texas via California.

American Islander picks up the Dragon CRS-1 capsule.  Courtesy: SpaceX

 

 

 

According to a number of Russian press sources, on 19 October during a strategic exercise held by Russian forces, a number of missile firings took place. The first launch was of a SS-N-18 (Stingray) Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) from the Georgiy Pobedonosets Delta III class of submarine. The submarine, from the Russian Pacific Fleet was positioned in the Sea of Okhotsk when the launch took place and the missile was reported to have successfully reached its target at the Chizha test range on the Kanin Peninsula.

The second launch was of a SS-25 (Topol/Sickle) ICBM from the Plesetsk Missile Test Range. According to some reports, when President Putin (who was taking part in the exercise) pressed the button to launch the missile, there was a failure of the command and control system and the missile failed to launch and a back-up missile was launched instead. The warhead of the missile was reported to have reached its target at the Kura test range on the Kamchatka Peninsula.

During the same exercise four aircraft from the Engels Division, a mix of TU-160 (Backfire) and TU-95MS (Bear H) strategic bombers launched four unidentified (but probably KH-55 (AS-15/Kent)) cruise missiles on the Pemboy Test Range in the Komi Republic. During this part of the exercise one of the cruise missiles was successfully shot down by two surface to air missiles in a test of the Pantir S1 missile and gun defence system. The other three missiles are reported to have hit their targets.

 

While the latest James Bond adventure Skyfall (Director: Sam Mendes) does use a lot of 'Big Brother' surveillance technology to make us fret about the future (GPS tracking, Automatic Number Plate Recognition ANPR cameras, networked CCTV cameras with facial recognition software etc) it does not make special use of space technology in its plot.  We can be grateful for that.  At least it will avoid "errors" that past Bond films have made with respect to space technology. 

One of these was apparent in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) starring Pierce Brosnan, which had a scene involving "live" continuous hi-resolution televised satellite imagery monitoring a terrorist arms bazaar ...a space technology that did not (and still does not) actually exist. Most spy satellites are in low Earth orbits - usually Sun-synchronous or near polar - and pass over a location briefly only twice a day.  As such, they would have been better to say a communications satellite was relaying pictures from a drone.

Having said all that, this satellite monitoring "error" just might be about to be corrected. At the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) held in Naples in early October, Astrium Satellites announced a plan to launch 8,8 tonne satellite to Geostationary Earth Orbit called HRGeo.  This satellite should be able to continuously monitor parts of the Earth at a resolution of 3m using a camera based on large mirror telescope optics.  While 3m imagery is really too low to be described as "high resolution", apparently the military remains unconcerned.  To them moving images are of more value than very high definition snap shots.

This is just one example where apparently erroneous James Bond films have often foreseen an aerospace technology before it has actually come true in reality. 

Other examples include:

You Only Live Twice (1967) depicted vertically-landing reusable rocket stages nearly five decades before SpaceX and Blue Origin started working on them (though you can take it as read that they will not be using a hollowed out volcano as their launch site even if the volcanic Ascension Island remains attractive in being so close to the "best spin boost" of the equator).  

Meanwhile, the high-power lasers and solar beams depicted in the mainly space-tosh plots of Diamonds are Forever (1971), Die Another Day (2002) and in the fun but most space-ridiculous of all, Moonraker (1979), may not be on spacecraft yet, but such laser beam weapons are being deployed in aircraft and on ships. 

The prediction is about to become reality: Satellite laser beam in Diamonds Are Forever. Courtesy: Eon Productions

Having mentioned Die Another Day (2002), the adaptive-camoflage "cloak of invisibility" technique that, to much critical derision, allowed Bond's Aston Martin car to disappear in that film, has now been attempted in real life by Mercedes Benz, although their LED-based technology is not perfected yet.  Meanwhile, Japanese researchers are working on projection technlogies that allow car structures to become invisible from the inside allowing a clearer view for parking/reversing etc.  

Finally, the unbelievable-looking over-the-shoulder fire forward/hit backwards anti-aircraft missile shots fired from Bond's autogyro "Little Nellie" in You Only Live Twice (1967) effectively became a possible reality in the mid-1980s after the Soviet Union developed the highly agile and helmet targeted Vympel R-73 "Archer" missile; and put NATO air forces in a fretful tiz as a result.

Back to the current film:Skyfall (2012) is a very good entry in the series, with a mournful theme sung by Adele setting the tone for the film's feel and plot as it depicts the blowback from past ruthless and callous decisions.  

Set mostly under the grey skies of London and Scotland, the film is, in fact, more reminscent of the cold-war-era Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy than a James Bond extravaganza.  Nevertheless, there are enough exciting stunts in glamorous foreign locations (Istanbul, Shanghai, Macau etc) to please the kids, although some of their surprise has been lost by these stunts' overexposure in movie trailers. 

The acting and the script remain excellent however, with Daniel Craig in the lead 007 role and Dame Judi Dench as his hard-hearted but also vulnerable boss M who has a sort of mother-son relationship with her favourite agent.  There is also serious work done by Ralph Fiennes, and by Javier Bardem as a bi-oriented renegade agent and I.T. expert of a villain (possibly some sort of social commentary here J). 

It is not only in over-the-top space technology that Skyfall misses out on.  Apart from some advanced tracking and computer hacking applications it remains nearly devoid of advanced technological items, to the point that, as he is handed his somewhat underpowered in this body-armour-era 9mm-short calibre Walther PPK/S (albeit with one hi-tech modification), along with a Goldfinger (1964)-style radio tracker, even our hero dejectedly moans to a young Quartermaster "Q", excellently played by Ben Wishaw:

"A gun and a radio...It is not exactly Christmas is it?" 

Still, at least, Bond can console himself that his Aston Martin DB5 classic automobile is back, along with its amusing old-school gadgets including its infamous ejection seat. 

Daniel Craig is physically shorter and fairer than the James Bond hero of the books (note that unlike Casino Royale (2006), Skyfall is not actually derived from a novel), but of all the actors who have played the part, Craig's interpretation of Bond's character is probably the closest to Ian Fleming's original idea: a man who is patriotic and dutiful, but one who is sometimes remorseful over his actions; a man who is brave and heroic, but one who also can be physically and emotionally hurt. 

While the poor treatment of some of the female characters in this film's plot, ranging from demotion to death, has been criticised, it sadly reflects the world as it is for many women, and not as it should be. Similarly, while Daniel Craig's interpretation of 007 does have a politically-incorrect lecherous side, his more-enlightened James Bond, again like the books, also finds that the women he most loves are those who are a match for him.

So as our (mainly) gadgetless and very-human hero 007 continues to serve Queen and country in his 50th year, effectively serving the real Secret Intelligence Service as MI6's principal public relations officer and de facto calling card, we can, at least, thank him for doing so.   Foreign countries may have powerful armies, navies, air forces, and even spacecraft-isotope-wielding poisoners to do their bidding, but we, in this sceptred isle, will always have James Bond.  If only he was real.

Hyperbola Rating: 007 is actually 008/10.   Bond may have been disappointed by a lack of gadgets in Skyfall but the rest of us were not.  Entertaining and thought provoking. Recommended.

The Chinese navigation satellite, Beidou 2-G6 (Compass G6), was launched into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) on its way to its Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) position by a Long March 3C rocket flying out of the Xichang launch site. The satellite later successfully circularised its orbit into its GEO position. The launch took place at 1533GMT on 25 October 2012.  The 3,800kg satellite, which uses a DFH 3B platform, is part of a mixed orbit constellation of navigation satellites. The initial transfer orbit's perigee was very low at 158km (the initial transfer orbit observed by 34620km x 158km at 20.51 degrees inclination).

There will be sadness in those "space cadets" in the United Kingdom of all ages as we note that new evidence has come to light showng just how advanced the main space launch programme in the United Kingdom promised to be before it was ignominiously cancelled in July 1960. 

At a talk given at the British Interplanetary Society in London on 24 October by the space historian John Hazelwood, he revealed the extent of the programme that had been started in 1953 showing that the plan actually involved launching men to orbit with the eventual aim of going to the moon.  

Having been access to previously undisclosed records at RAF Cranwell, Hazelwood discovered how the programme was derived from declared  RAF objectives to have control of "near space" (ie. Earth orbit) but also have control of "Far Space" i.e. the Moon.  The rocket programme was developed which had a self confessed "duality of purpose": that was to be a ballistic missile for the delivery of nuclear warheads, while at the same time, being able to act as an orbital launch vehicle for both manned and umanned spacecraft.  

Astronauts needed - because electronics were primative

In the former application, it was thought in the early 1950s that any rocket should be able to launch a 5,000lb payload to an orbit of 300NM.  Initially it was viewed that spacecraft would have crews of five. The need for humans in space in this pre-transistor age, was really a product of the needs of the then-available electronic technology.  The unreliabile valve components, it was thought, would have to be changed out on a regular basis - and astronauts would be needed to do it.

Plans for initial manned forays into suborbital space were to be via rocket planes such as the Saunders-Roe SR-53 and Avro 720 flying off the back of Vickers Valiant and Avro Vulcan bombers respectively.  In the end this programme was cancelled after ballistic missiles showed the way forward.

Blue Streak enters but it only has a launch vehicle role

By the middle 1950s the product of this research programme was a missile called Blue Streak - a 10 foot diameter Liquid Oxygen (LOx), Kerosene rocket system capable of launching warheads ballistically to 2,500NM.  In fact, as Hazelwood discovered from discussions with Blue Streak's Chief Perfomance Engineer I.E. Smith, this Long Range Ballistic Missile (LRBM) was, with a smaller warhead mass, actualy able to actaully reach out to 4,400NM.  Even more impressively, the rocket, which was powered by two LOx/kerosene burning RZ-2 engines of 150,000 lb thrust, would have been able tlaunch small satellites directly and with high energy upper stages could have even launched a manned spacecraft.   According to Hazelwood, a Blue Streak with a high energy cryogenic upper stage: "would have been able to launch an equivalent payload to an ATV cargo craft." The 20,000kg ATV as is now launched by the Ariane 5.

 

Cutaway of Blue Streak missile. Courtesy: Flightglobal

 

Other designs - and evidence of a major space launch plan

The DeHavilland-designed pressurised Blue Streak was just the start of plans for missile and launch vehicle design.  Running in parallel with Blue Streak was the more pointed English Electric unpressuriseed monocoque concept of similar performance and again of 10 feet in diameter.  This rocket, which was to have been powered by the 185,000lb thrust Delta 3 engines designed by Bristol, was in the end, shelved to be just a back up to the main Blue Streak effort. 

There was other eviidence of just how extensive a British launch programme could have been.  This includes the construction of an air liquefaction plant at Woomera which was capable of producing 18,000 Imperial tons of liquid oxygen (LOx) per year - enough to supply hundreds of heavy lift launches.   More realistically, other evidence suggests that a production line was to have been set up at Stevenage, Hertfordshie, England whch was capale of producing 50 missiles/satellite launch vehicles per year.

Thinking ahead - there were plans for even bigger rockets

Designs existed for much larger rocket launch vehicles with diameters increased up to 16 feet with launch gantrys supplied to handle this growth potential.   At one stage even a 20 foot diameter rocket had been considered.  It was not just launch gantries that were being provided for large launch vehicles.  Modified aircraft were beeing designed to carry stages.

Meantime, a test rocket stand located close to the English/Scottish border at Spadeadam was capable of firing rocket engines upto 1 million lb in thrust.  These engines designated RZ-14 had direct drive pumpls which needed no heavy gearbox and much less heavy lubrication.

While transistors soon negated the need for astronauts to service spacecraft, Britain's manned element of its space programme was not to be forgotten. Armstrong Whitworth along with other aerospace companies were asked to come up with designs for a three-man space capsule, the drawings of which have never been released.

While other sites including Muckleburgh were considered, eventually it was Woomera which was used as the launch site for all UK missile firing including Blue Streak and the orbital attempts of the smaller Black Arrow launch vehicle.

End of the Dream - but bits of UK expertise helped NASA get to the moon

While the ballistic missile element of the programme was soon ended due to the threat of military strikes on fixed launch sites which such a large liquid fuel rocket would need, the space launch application of the Blue Streak rocket continued.  A second stage based on the smaller Black Arrow was considered. 

In the end, the perceived political and economic need to become more involved with Europe, combined with US pressure for the UK to leave the space arena, and fears over the cost, caused the MacMillan government to give up on large scale space research in July 1960.  

In doing so, it formallly gave up planns for manned spaceflight as it moved its Blue Streak missile to become the first stage of  Europa, the unsuccessful launch vehicle of European Launcher Development Organisation (ELDO).  Britain still retained its Black Arrow programme but even this was ended after its only and final successful flight carrying the Prospero satellite in 1971.

However, elements of Britain's space programme lived on.  Not only were British and Canadian scientists heaviy involved with NASA's Apollo space programme, some of its technology came from British designs.  For example, the ablative heat shielding came from the Royal Aircraft Establishment in Farnborough as did the water cooled undergarments that space suit wearing astronauts wear to prevent overheating.

New UK launcher hopes for the future - but the funding will have to be international

While the United Kingdom did become part of ELDO's successor the European Space Agency and its Ariane programme, after Ariane 4 it left the launch vehicle programme.  Neverthless, the UK does still have interests in launch vehicle technology.  For example, there are rumours that the UK is considering developing a quick access small launch capability for its own military observation and electronic intelligence satellites (to add to its human and GCHQ listening station intelligence contribution to the pooled facility it shares with its US intelligence partners).  

In addition, the UK government and UK Space Agency remains a supporter of the efforts of UK firm Reaction Engines as it tries to develop reusable air breathing launch vehicle technology (the writer is a small shareholder).  However, given its very limited overall space funding, the UK Space Agency knows that it does not have the money to do this all by itself.  

 

 

The Soyuz TMA-06M spacecraft has docked to the International Space Station (ISS) at 1229 GMT on 25 October.  The docking took place at the Poisk docking port.  Aboard were mission commander Oleg Novitskiy, flight engineer Evgeny Tarelkin and NASA astronaut Kevin Ford.

It has been announced that the Russian-built Breeze M (Briz-M) upper stage that was responsible for the faulty Proton M launch in August of Telkom 3 and Express MD-2 satellites, has blown up on 16 October.  The explosion is thought to have been caused by the mixing of residual hypergolic propellants which are designed to ignite on contact. NASA and the US Air Force are monitoring the debris cloud to see if it threatens the International Space Station or any other spacecraft.  US Space Command has catalogued at least 80 pieces of debris.

The two satellites were left stranded on 6 August along with the Breeze upper stage in an elliptical orbit approximately 5012 x 266km at an inclination of 49.9 degrees relative to the equator after the stage's third engine firing was ended prematurely. The failure was traced to a manufacturing fault which lay in the pressurisation system for the tanks so the normal safing procedure post launch of dumping the propellants into space, could not take place.

To world scientific dismay, on 22 October, seven scientists working at the Italian National Commission for the Forecast and Prevention of Major Risks received jail terms of six years for "negligence" and "manslaughter" in failing to provide adequate warning of the earthquake that struck the Italian city of L'Aquila on 6 April 2009. 

Sadly, the subsequent earthquake killed 300 people and did major damage to buildings in and around the city.  While the scientists did note the tremors before the earthquake they noted in a reassuring statement, made before the 6.3 Richter scale quake hit, that the risk of a full earthquake event was low.  In doing so, the scientists, to their own regret, got it wrong.  

However, at this point, it should be realised that like forecasting the weather, the prediction of earthquakes remains very much an inexact science.  To penalise these scientists in this unfair way (remember they in no way benefited from their incorrect reassurance) will put off others from even attempting to discover ways of making Earthquake and related Tsunami forecasts in the future.   

Such research even involves space technology.  Seismic researchers think that seismic events can be forwarned by temperature and electromagnetic changes in the ionosphere.  Spacecraft including the French Demeter and Russian Kanopus B1 satellites, have been launched to investigate this effect.  Such research results, if confirmed, could one day yield an accurate way of forecasting Earthquakes - perhaps saving hundreds of thousands of lives.   

If the above conviction stands, there will be little incentive to perform such research anymore as making an incorrect warning or reassurance on the basis of this technology could make the scientists and the organisations inovlved criminally liable. 

Italy, of course, does have an infamous history of imprisoning scientists - most notably Galileo Galilei.  In his astronomical case he was imprisoned for the "heresy" of getting it right about the Earth orbiting around the Sun, but not being believed.  In this seismic forecasting case, these Italian scientists have been imprisoned, this time, for being believed as they simply got it wrong. 

At 1051 GMT on 23 October a Soyuz FG rocket successfully launched the Soyuz TMA-06M/ISS-32S spacecraft into orbit from the Baikonur launch site near Tyuratam, Kazakhstan.  The flight carried to the International Space Station carried mission commander Oleg Novitskiy, flight engineer Evgeny Tarelkin and NASA astronaut Kevin Ford on its way to the International Space Station. The flight also carried some live fish.

Sources report that the launch was slightly unusual in that it took place from a different pad from usual.  Instead of launching from the normal Site 1 pad the flight took place from Site 31 which was last used in 1984. Site 1 is being refurbished. Film footage courtesy: NASATV 

 

On 20th January 1994 a major solar/geogmagnetic event knocked out satellites and partially shut down the power grid in Canada.   The satellites most seriously affected were the Telesat Anik E-1 and E-2 communications satellites which were knocked out for a time after failure in their momentum wheel control systems after Electrostatic Discharge (ESD).  The website Canada.com reports from the journal Space Weather that a team of scientists from Natural Resources Canada have now found the cause of the storm.  Specifically, by examination of images taken by the Japanese Yohkoh Soft X-ray Telescope a "coronal hole" was discovered as having formed which allowed charged particles to be spewed out towards the Earth.  

Improvements in spacecraft design, combined with better early warning systems for space weather has reduced the risk that satellites being damaged by solar events.  Nevertheless, satellite operators remain in fear of a large magnitude solar/geomagnetic storm such as the "Carrington Event" - a super-solar storm named after its main astronomical observer Richard Carrington on 1 September 1859 which knocked out the telegraph system in  Europe and North America.

As reported by Flightglobal, the US Air Force has now its its back on liquid-fuelled flyback boosters as it shut down its Reusable Rocket Booster programme due to budget cuts.  This total halt, which included its Pathfinder technology demonstrator programme, is actually against the advice of the US National Research Council. In a report, the council doubted the business case for going into full operation with boosters but noted that the research should at least continue. 

Boeing's Reusable Booster System preliminary design will remain just an artist's concept, leaving the field open to Russia. Courtesy Boeing

As it plans its expendable Ariane 6 rocket, the European Space Agency (ESA) had similar doubts about the economics of employing similar reusable boosters for such a vehicle, but remains interested in this research, especially in that currently being performed by Russia's rocket design firm, Khrunichev. 

Khrunichev has eschewed using LOx/kerosene (the US Air Force choice) for their planned liquid flyback boosters, in favour of using liquid natural gas/methane and LOx (Liquid Oxygen)   This propellant combination is much less given prone to "coking" (carbon deposits) which would need to be cleaned off before each flight, damaging reusable economics. 

At the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Naples in early October, Professor Anatoly Kuzin of Khrunichev described how, in addition to this advantage how such engines would also given a better performance in terms of specific impulse compared to engines run on LOx/kerosene.

The winged boosters, derivatives from the earlier Baikal design emanating the Russian design firm Molniya, are designed to separate from an Angara-class core vehicle at Mach 7 and at 55km altitude and then rocket back to the launch site, landing as gliders on extended straight wings.  These boosters would be designed to fly 25 times. 

The technology development programme is funded until the end of 2013 and Kuzin expects that this this will be extended noting that Russia is serious about developing such boosters which could be flying by 2020.

Of course, reusabilty is not dead yet in the West.  In separate commercial efforts, both Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) and Blue Origin both plan to eventually field fully reusable vertical landing first stages for their respective two-stage rocket launch systems. 

Meantime, with some limited ESA assistance, Skylon air-breathing spaceplane research continues at Reaction Engines Limited which, if it can be shown to work successfully, could one day allow weekly fully reusable single-stage-to-orbit flights into orbit.   The Skylon space plane's SABRE engine design uses cooled air and LOx with Liquid Hydrogen propellants, which, while clean and coking-free, do have greater volumetric and storage demands compared to other propellant combinations.  The writer remains a small (and hopeful) investor in this technology. 

The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has announced that the GOES 13 meterological satellite has now been recovered to service.  The spacecraft, which had suffered a failure to its temperature and humidity sounder and multi-spectral imager on 23 September was returned to service as the official "Goes-East" satellite 1444 GMT on 18 October.  In doing so, GOES 13 retakes this role from GOES 14 which took over when GOES 13 fell out of service.    GOES 13 was repaired using an outgassing technique to prvent the lubricant-related vibration in the sounder's filter wheel.  GOES 14 will be retained as a back up to GOES 13.

 

NASA has released Schlieren imagery of supersonic wind tunnel tests of a scale model of the initial 70 tonne capable Block 1 Orion-capsule carrying configuration of the Space Launch System (SLS) which may carry astronauts to the Moon, The tests have been taking place in the Trisonic wind tunnel at the NASA Marshall Spaceflight Center.  The Schlieren imaging system allows lighter and darker distortions caused by changes in refractive indexes, in turn caused by density gradients in a fluid, to be visualised.  The technique is usually used to check aircraft and launch vehicle configurations at various attitudes for shock wave interactions and for air flow instabilities.

Schlieren photograph of SLS Block 1 configuration subject to the equivalent of a Mach 4 air flow  Courtesy: NASA/MSFC

After issuing an international call for tenders, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has chosen Arianespace to launch the GSAT 7 and INSAT 3D satellites. The contract also includes two more launch options for ISRO, the Indian space agency.

The two satellies GSAT 7 and INSAT-3D are scheduled for launch in the second quarter of 2013. Both satellites will be launched by Ariane 5 launchers from the Guiana Space Center, Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. 

Designed and built by ISRO, GSAT 7 multiband telecommuications satellite will have a mass of 2,550 kg at launch. INSAT 3D, which is again designed and built by ISRO, is a dedicated weather satellite. It will weigh 2,100 kg at launch, offering 1,100 W of power. INSAT 3D will carry weather forecasting payloads, along with a search & rescue function.

Comment by David Todd:  This launch order is effectively a final admission that ISRO will not be able to get its GSLV launch vehicle series running reliably in time for these launches.  The Flightglobal/Ascend SpaceTrak database records that the last four flights of the GSLV launch vehicle series have been total or partial launch failures. It should also be noted that the GSAT 7 satellite is not for commercial use. The satellite (sometimes annoted as GSAT-7 and also known as Rohini, will be used by the Indian Navy for its telecommunications needs. This launch contract announcement appears to the official confirmation of an announcement of intention disclosed on 3 June 2011.

While former Apollo astronauts including the first man to set foot on the Moon, the late Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong, and the last lunar walker Apollo 17's Gene Cernan,  were, for a time, at loggerheads with President Obama over his then apparent reluctance to build a heavy lift launch vehicle, Obama does still have old-astronaut support in his campaign to remain IUS President.  Veteran Democratic Party Senator John Glenn has appeared in an Obama-supporting video telling the world why Obama should be supported. Glenn, 91. was the first US astronaut to orbit the Earth in 1962 and later flew on a Shuttle mission (STS-95) in 1998.

Nevertheless, despite this backing NASA's current high command may be a little concerned that President Obama's challenger Mitt Romney is now slightly ahead in the polls.  NASA's Administrator Maj Gen Charles Bolden had previously dismissed the chance of a Mitt Romney win as being purely "hypothetical" during a press conference at the International Astronautical Congress in Naples, Italy, earlier this month. 

Mind you, while Romney does have a national poll lead, in the key swing states which will decide the election, including the space state of Florida, the vote is regarded as too close to call.  One thing favouring Obama is that a majority of "early voters" - those that have already posted their vote - have gone with him.  This was before his slide in the polls following his lacklustre performance in the first Presidential debate, though his feistier second debate showing was better received.  

In between, in the Vice Presidential debate, Obama's oversmiling wingman, Vice President Joe Biden, was seen to beat off the humourless Congressman Paul Ryan, who may just have frightened off the electorate with his espousal of hardline policies on healthcare and planned tax cuts for the rich.  As such the Romney/Ryan ticket still remains the outsider with the bookmakers and an outsider in the electoral markets.  

If only the Republican Romney had chosen Democrat Vice President Joe Biden as his running mate, he would have been home and hosed by now!   Still, at 2-1 at the time of writing, the betting odds for a Romney win seem large for such a closely run contest.  He might just do it.

While US Government travel budget cuts have been welcomed by some in the US Congress as a sign that "we are all pulling together" in these financially stringent times, and as evidence that recent expense abuse scandals are on the wane, such cutbacks have, however, had an ill-considered knock on effect on scientic research and especially conference attendance. 

For example, the American Astronautical Society announced that it had been forced to cancel its November conference in Pasadena, California, citing that it could not get enough NASA speakers due to the travel cuts,  The SpaceRef website notes that the cutbacks are affecting other scientific conferences involving government employees citing a recent American Meteorological Society conference which lost 100 out of 130 NOAA attendees at very short notice.

The effect was also apparent at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Naples, Italy, which had several NASA speakers having to make excuse for the fact that the paper they were presenting was not actually written by them.  

Ah well -  it can only be a matter of time before NASA sends its security guards or cleaning ladies to present its papers.  No doubt they can make do with a much lesser class of hotel in conferences aboard, and get there by paddle steamer as well.

The Space Shuttle Endeavour was carefully moved through the streets of Los Angeles on the back of a specialist trailer vehicle on its way to its resting place at the California Science Center on 13 October.  While many cheered there was sadness for some.  Tree lovers were aggrieved that so many trees had to be cut down (in addition to street lamps being moved etc) to enable this journey to take place. 

Worse news from this event was for 349 workers at the United Space Alliance.  It is a marker that they are soon to be laid off now that the work preparing the Space Shuttle orbiters Endeavour and Atlantis for safe museum display has been completed.  

Space Shuttle Endeavour moves gingerly through the streets of L.A.  Courtesy: NASA

The Director General of the European Space Agency (ESA), Jean-Jacques Dordain, recently asserted at the International Astronautical Congress in Naples, that the expected flight rate for new launch vehicles would not be high enough to make reusable technology economic to develop and operate in the near term.  Now it seems that the US Air Force is coming to the same conclusion. Or rather the US National Research Council is.

Lockheed Martin concept for reusable flyback booster as part of the Pathfinder programme may now not happen.  Courtesy: Lockheed Martin

In a paper by the technical arm of the US National Reseach Council, the council advises the US Air Force to not proceed to full development of a liquid flyback booster.  The advice is on the basis of doubts over cost estimates in developing and operating the flyback boosters, and over concerns about the basic business case for the use of the boosters. 

Instead the paper, in viewing the long term benefit of the technology, advises that reusable technology research should continue, both to reduce the risk of developing full boosters, but also because the technology may find applicatoin on other launch systems. The US Air Force Research Laboratory is running a Pathfinder programme researching technology for such boosters.

ESA has a similar stance.   While pursuing the full development of the expendable Ariane 6 (whether this gets built instead of, or ahead of, the planned Midlife Evolution upgrade to the Ariane 5), ESA has financed technology demonstrations of reusable technology at the UK firm Reaction Engines Limited (this writer is a small shareholder).  Reaction Engines hopes one day to build a single-stage-to-orbit space plane called Skylon.

In addition, ESA has had preliminary negotiations with the Russian rocket engine firm, Khrunichev over rocket engine technology it is developing using liquid natural gas/methane and liquid oxygen (LOx) for use on Russian liquid fuel flyback boosters.  Such technology is regarded as ideal for reusable booster rockets as it does not produce signficant coking (carbon deposits) and offers a relatively high specific impulse.

 

On 11 October it was announced that the construction order for European satellite operator Eutelsat's communications satellite, Eutelsat 8 West B, had been awarded to Thales Alenia Space.  As noted by its name, the satellite will be positioned at roughly 8 degrees west in the Geostationary orbital arc.  The satellite will carry 40 Ku-band to meet growing demand for direct-broadcast television across the Middle East and North Africam and 10 C-band transponders for services to Southern Africa and South America. 

The news will be a filip to Thales Alenia Space.  While it continues to be a force in low Earth orbit satellite construction e.g via its Globalstar construction contract, it remains very much the second European force in full communications satellite construction for Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO). Astrium has top spot in European spacecraft manufacturing in this area. 

We, at the Flightglobal Hyperbola blog, give our heartfelt congratulations to the very brave 43-year-old Austrian "jumpanaut" Felix Baumgartner who forgot the old RAF adage "never jump out of a serviceable aircraft" (or balloon for that matter) when he broke the sound barrier in a freefall dive made from 128,100 feet on 14 October over Roswell, New Mexico.   Baumgartner subsequently made a successful parachute landing after the record breaking "flight" which occured exactly 65 years after Chuck Yeager's first Mach 1 flight in the Bell X-1.

So can this aircraftless velocity record ever be broken?  Actually, we think another pressure-suited 'jumpanaut' could fly even faster.  Our very basic knowledge of transonic aerodynamics and "area ruling" (the trick of making airflow-facing cross-sectional areas change smoothly e.g. without a sudden change of frontal area) suggests that, under this, a small shouldered big-hipped pear-shaped lady (she needs small shoulders to account for her arms) would have done even better than Barmgartner's 833.9mph (Mach 1.24) velocity.  And if she had a pointy head with a thick bull neck even better! 

Sorry to be sexist at this time ladies and gentlemen, but as Scottie might have said on Star Trek:  "Ye cannae change the laws of physics Cap'n...or aerodynamics for that matter."

Of course, finding such a woman with the right attributes who is actually willing to do such a dangerous activity will be difficult. Somewhat ungallantly, your correspondent briefly thought of suggesting his wife for the job, though, of course, he rejected this on several counts: she is scared of heights, her head is not pointy enough, and, finally, because your correspondent actually wants to carry on living.  She, no doubt, would have insisted he left the capsule first...and without a parachute. J

At 0837 GMT on 14 October, a Russian-built Proton M/Breeze M launch vehicle successfully launched the 2,730kg commercial communications satellite Intelsat 23 from the Baikonur launch site near Tyuratam, Kazakhstan.  The launch, which was marketed by the International Launch Services company, was a successful return to service for the Proton launch vehicle after a  Proton M/Breeze M launch failure in August.   That failure which stranded two communication satellites, Telkom 3 and Express MD-2, in an incorrect orbit was attributed by an investigation as being caused by a manufacturing fault in the Breeze-M (Briz-M) upper stage.

China launched two Shi Jian remote sensing satellites, Shi Jian 9A and Shi Jian 9B from the Taiyuan launch site in China using a Long March 2C-SMA launch vehicle.  The launch took place at 0325 GMT on the morning of 14 October.  Officially annouced as civilian engineering test satellites, the spacecraft were placed into a sun-synchronous near-polar orbit and will be used to test a new electrical propulsion systems.  In addition to their testing duties, the craft are believed to carry an imaging capability which may also have a military application.

At 1815 GMT on 12 October, two European Galileo navigation satellites, Galileo 3 and Galileo 4, were successfully launched from the Sinnamary launch site near Kourou in French Guaina, using a Russian-builit Soyuz ST-B (Fregat MT) launch vehicle operated by Arianespace.   The Soyuz ST-B is a slightly modified Soyuz 2-1b rocket.

SES announced the procurement of its new satellite SES-9 from Boeing.  The new satellite - ordered through SES' affiliate company SES-SL - will be built by Boeing's El Segundo Satellite Development Center based on the Boeing 702HP platform. The satellite is designed to operate for 15 years in geosynchronous orbit with a 12.7-kilowatt payload and 57 high-power Ku-band transponders (equivalent to 81 x 36 MHz transponders). The spacecraft will carry a xenon ion propulsion system (XIPS) for all on-orbit maneuvering and a chemical bi-propellant system for initial orbit raising.

SES-9 will provide Direct-to-Home (DTH)  broadcasting and other communications services in Northeast Asia, South Asia and Indonesia, as well as maritime communications for vessels in the Indian Ocean. The satellite will be positioned at the orbital slot of 108.2 degrees East and will provide incremental as well as replacement capacity to this well established SES slot over Asia, where it will be co-located with the existing SES-7 and NSS-11 satellites.

While the finer points of language and culture can get "lost in translation" at such an international conference such as International Astronautical Congress, the European Space Agency (ESA) might just have ruined its chances of ever successfully marketing Ariane 6 in USA.  For it transpires that one of the all solid first stage configurations which could be chosen for the launch vehicle is called the non-politically correct sounding "Faggot" which just might upset the US gay community there.

Trying hard not to link the above note directly here, this writer is embrarrassed to recount how, in trying to chase the NASA Administrator Charles Bolden as he rushed to his press conference, he found himself with NASA's leader in one of the washrooms at IAC Naples.  Trying to make small talk while washing his hands (as you do in these situations), your correspondent slightly put his foot in it when he derided US toilet cubicle doors for being definitely too short with too much of a gap at the bottom (even at NASA's HQ in Washington D.C.).  Well, you never know when a deranged limbo dancer might be passing by. 

Ex-marine pilot and astronaut, Major-General Bolden let that one pass, but this writer further put his foot in it further (or rather his pen) when, just before the press conference, he accidently signed the condolence book for the late Apollo 11 hero astronaut, Neil Armstrong, right underneath Bolden's signature, not realising that the page had been reserved for astronauts only. Ah well, this writer will just have to become an astronaut now.  All he has to do is lose about 20kg in weight, gain about 20 points in I.Q., and lose about 20 years of age.  Easy really.

It was not just that that made you correspondent a bit mournful.  He realised that he will probably never match technical reporting capabilities of that greatest-ever reporter in this town, no - not Peter B. de Selding - though he is showing some promise, but actually Pliny the Younger, who accurately described the ash cloud and pyroclastic flow of the Vesuvius eruption in AD 79 as it buried the Roman towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum. 

Still, at least your corpulent correspondent could console himself with an excellent Italian ice cream - especially in all his favourite flavours: strawberry, chocolate, vanilla.  Or maybe not. After all his IAC Naples faux pas, your disheartenend correspondent found that he did not actually fancy licking a large Neapolitan. J (Apologies to BBC Radio 4's "I'm sorry I haven't a clue" for pinching that one.)  

By the way, as we note that the SpaceX Dragon CRS-1 flight was actually carrying ice cream up to the astronauts on its recent flight to the Internatoinal Space Station, before the crew tries to recreate a "Neapolitan" ice cream which is famous for having three flavours: strawberry, vanilla and chocolate side-by-side, the will realise that they only have about one and a half of the three flavours (they have vanilla swirled with chocolate sauce). 

Mind you, before they get upset they should also know that the "Neopolitan" design is not actually from Naples. In fact, it is a US invention of the late 19th Century.  This is unlike the Neapolitiana pizza whose truly Italian origin led to the recipe being safeguarded under EU law at Italy's request.   When it comes to pizzas at least, Italians, and especially Neopolitans, will not be licked!

The Orbcomm OG2-1 communications satellite which was stranded in a lower than planned orbit after the partial failure of the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch on 8 October 2012 (involving a first stage engine shutdown of one of the nine Merlin 1c engines) has now re-entered the atmosphere on 10 October at around 0619 GMT.  The satellite was thought to have been insured to a value of circa $10 million and did not have enough fuel to recover the satellite to its planned operational orbit.

The exact reason why the portion of the flight positioning this spacecraft failed when the earlier positioning of the Dragon CRS-1 unmanned cargo spacecraft worked successfully has not been disclosed. There are unofficial reports that the launch vehicle software had been designed to make up with a shortfall in thrust for the main payload but not for secondary payload positioning.

Dragon CRS-1 has now been captured and docked with the International Space Station (ISS). Dragon CRS 1 was captured by the ISS Robotic Arm at 1056 GMT on 10 October. The Robotic Arm then moved the craft to the Harmony Module of the Station where it then docked with all 16 bolts locked on and berthing was completed at 1303 GMT.

While the Flightglobal Hyperbola column reported newswire reports of her negotiations in August, in early October the singer Sarah Brightman  formally announced that she has booked a seat on a Soyuz to the International Space Station via the space tourism arranger, Space Adventures.  Brightman, who was once a dancer in the sensous dance troupe "Hot Gossip" and once had a minor pop song hit with "I lost my heart to a starship trooper", will have a 10-day stay on the station in 2015. Now a well regarded soprano singer, Brightman, is also the former wife of the famous stage musical composer, Sir Andrew Lloyd-Webber. 

Having passed medical tests, the 52-year-old singer will being her Cosmonaut training shortly.Brightman apparently had to battle for the seat with NASA and the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, as most of the "extra seats" had been booked until 2016.  It was only after NASA and Roscosmos decided to send a two crew team (one astronaut and one cosmonaut) on a 12 month stay to the space station mimicking the length of a Mars mission flight in microgravity conditions that two "tourist seats" became available. 

While the terms of Brightman's flight in 2015 have not been disclosed, NASA currently pays $63 million per flight.  Brightman is reported to be working with UNESCO to perform demonstrations and experiments to promote girls' aspiration for careers in engineering and science.

On 5 October, the California-based commercial satellite manufacturer,  Space Systems/Loral, announced that it had been selected to provide a direct broadcast communications satellite to the satellite operator Echostar and procure  services to launch the spacecraft.  The Echostar 18 satellite will use a version of Space Systems/Loral's LS-1300 bus design.

The 63rd International Astronautical Congress (IAC) took place in Naples, at its Congress centre and exhibition venue at Mostra d'Oltremare during the first week of October.  The IAC Congress broke records with its attendance with 4,000 excecutives, scientists, engineers, students and space aficionados attending. IAC is organised by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) and is held every year, usually alternating between a European and a non-European city.  Like the Olympics, cities vie with each other to have the honour of holding the Congress.

The IAC allows meetings of the major players in spaceflight, with public access to heads of the world's space agencies held in plenary sessions.  Scientists and engineers from all around the world present papers in strands of lectures on all subjects ranging from space debris to space law. There is a strong youth element to the Congress with students allowed to both attend and participate in events.  Social events, paid and unpaid are also provided by the organisers.

Naples remains a popular destination for airline carried visitors and those arriving by ocean.  The reason: Pompeii and Herculanium - those preserved towns of Roman civilisation that had the misfortune to be buried by falling ash and pyroclastic flows emenating from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius one day in AD79.  As it dominates the bay, Vesuvius remains a dangerous volcano (it last erupted in 1944). 

For those that could not spare the time to take one of the paid-for conference bus tours to Pompeii or Herculaneum, there was the famous museum in town.  It has the best of their beautiful artifacts from nearly two millenia ago.  These range from stoves and bedsteads to beautiful statues and mosaics.  In truth some of them in the so called "secret room" are a bit rude.  

Medusa mosaic from Pompeii as shown in Museum of Archeology (MANN) in Naples. Courtesy: Flightglobal/David Todd

Naples itself has a certain shabby charm. Some of its 19th Century architechture is beautiful but its streets are let down by piles of litter.   For pedestrians, crossing these streets remains a danger as drivers (especially those in taxis or on scooters) drive like madmen.  The town also had traditional "Italian job" traffic jams with choruses of hooters and horns.  There are also the ubiquidous strikes, this time by the public transport workers which caused the buses and metro to grind to a stop for a day.  Still, at least the free conference bus was unaffected even if its timetable was not attendee user-friendly.  

While violent crime has lessened significantly in the city, visitors are told to remain on guard for bag snatchers and pickpockets.  Neverthless, there is friendliness from the locals on show.  For those lost  in the back streets of the city, old ladies leaning out of their balconies will be quick to tell you the way to go - but only in Italian.  And for those who like to eat well, the food in the various restaurants and osteria is good  - especialy the sea food in this town.  

The Venue:  Good (in parts)

The venue was both good and not so good.  The main area for lectures was a five minute walk away from the reception and exhibition.  The catering facilities were mixed consisting of an acceptable but very limited rage pizzeria, a poor cafeteria, and several small cafe outlets sellling sandwiches and cakes.  

In the main reception and exhibition area there were two few too few toilets/washrooms, although the main lecture building was well catered for.  Meantime, temporary lecture theaters erected in the noisy exhibition area not insulated enough from sound to work well.

The Exhibition:  A bit spread out and missing US majors

The exhibition stands, which seemed to stretch in a long line from the entrance to the pizzaria, did have an international presence with those from South Korea, South Africa, Japan etc. Nevertheless, overall the exhibition did have a strong European bias with large stands from the European Space Agency and Arianespace. 

Many potential exhibitors have a policy of only exhibiting within their own countries/member states and so while European firms were in strongly represented, US exhibitors were few and far between with no sign of stands from NASA or Boeing or Lockheed Martin.  Having said that US rocket firm Aerojet was in attendance due to their European interests. 

While they may not have had stands, NASA and US firms did have strong contingent present in the lectures and plenary sessions, though some members of NASA's contingent ruefully noted that there should have been more but travel budget limits had prevented many other NASA scientists and engineers from coming. Some NASA attendees even had to present papers for their missing colleagues,

The United Kingdom had a good booth stand from Reaction Engines Limited displaying a video of test of one of its rocketplane engine heat exchangers.  Backing onto this was a small block from the British Interplanetary Society, Commercial Space Technologies and 4Links.

The Arianespace line up of launch vehicles stand attracts its fans.  Courtesy: Flightglobal/David Todd

Not surprisingly, Italy put on a good show. One of the interesting models shown was the Italian suggestion for a mini-space plane akin to the X-37/OTV.  The USV 3 is designed by Centro Italiano Ricerche Aerospaziali - CIRA in collaboration with Japan's JAXA and Germany's DLR to be a small orbital space plane.  Like the larger US Air Force X-37/OTV it would fit inside a launch vehicle fairing.  

The final configuration is still being worked on with the winged spacecraft with internal engine option able to vary its angle of attack currently being favoured over a lifting body with a fixed angle of attack during re-entry.

CSV 3 model on display. Courtesy: Flightglobal/David Todd

Opening Ceremony and reception: Quite good but there was a catering cock-up

As a change from usual IAC practice of having it in the morning, the opening ceremony was held in the early evening of the first day, in an outside arena near to the main conference block.   This worked quite well and the rain held off.  Apart from the usual speeches and tributes to the great and the good (past and present) including a Memorial Award givne to the family of the late Luigi Napolitano, a former IAF President, the main entertainment was a performance by a group of men and women who provided sensual dancing (within limits of decency) along with talenting singing and musical instrument playing.

The dancers and singers at the Opening Ceremony.  Courtesy: Flightglobal/David Todd

The downside was that the event started 30 minutes late, to the point that several of the audience were seen to leave early.  

Following this can only be described as one of the worst IAC reception of recent years with little food of relatively poor quality.  Worse, as thousands of individuals turned up like a hoard of locusts from the opening ceremony, the servers were totally overwelmed with people grabbing what little they had.  After this shambles many of the participants went away hungry and thirsty.

The Plenary Sessions:  A chance to see the leaders debate and see the coming men

Several Plenary Sessions were held, after the Heads of Agencies plenary session  on the first day,  following days has plenary sessions on subjects ranging from small and medium satellites and the trend towards "all electric' spacecraft, to how to launch such small satellites economically.

Other plenary discussion sessions debated the effect that spaceflight has on society, how disaster monitoring can be peformed fron space, and how to keep spacefaring peaceful,

A plenary on the future of space transporation included some of the "coming men" involved in reusable suorbital and orbital hardware including George Whitesides, CEO of Virgin Galactic, and Alan Bond, Founding Director, of Reaction Engines Limited.

Alan Bond, noted that his firm is developing the Skylon reusable spaceplane (this writer is a small shareholder). He noted that he views the launch market as changing with operators becoming distinct from manufacturers - much like the airline business of today.

"Operators should be operators. Manufacturers should be manufacturers," Bond said.

While Bond gained plaudits for Reaction Engines audacious bid for the ESA New European Launch System, a programme that was, as expected, won by the Ariane 6, most appreciated that re-usable technology one day be required.  But when would the market let it become economic? 

Having noted in the Heads of Agency plenary session that Europe would concentrate on those technologies that it leads on, Jean-Jacques Dordain refused to be drawn on whether ESA should support reusable technology more fully.  ESA has already supported some technology demonstrations at Reaction Engines, and has, in the past, examined liquid flyback boosters for the Ariane 5.  

Dordain noted that reusabilty only becomes economic at higher traffic levels and that growht was not at a level that would allow it to be supported for the time being.  Neverthless there are signs that reusability may yet have a place in ESA's launch programme with possible collaboration with Russia under on-going negotiation (see technical briefing).

With respect to regulation, NASA's exploration Associate Director of Human Exploration and Operations, William Gerstenmaier, accepted that as commercial companies tried to reduced the cost of acess to space, for good economics and innovation such firms might need  lesser certification standards even if he was not exactly in favour of doing this.

Technical sessions:  Real technology and ideas destined to remain just paper projects

There is not the space (excuse the pun) to cover all the subjects and strands covered in the technical sessions of the IAC.   Below is just a selection of ones seen by this writer.

While some presentations were, in effect, just organisations' public relations statements, most of the presentations were of of a standard varying between good and excellent - even if some concepts stretched credibility.  The trick that attendees needed to apply was to sift between those space technological ideas that were already in action or about to become so, and those which were destined to remain merely "paper projects".

Lunar missions from Earth-Moon L2 and how to remove lunar dust

Of particular interest was the presentation and paper by Michael Rafferty of Boeing (IAC-12.B3.1.10) which described the latest thinking on how lunar and asteroid exploration might be best  achieved.  The Boeing plan, which has NASA's initial support, is to set up a 'way station' called the Exploration Gateway Platform in a halo orbit at the Earth-Moon L2 Lagrangian point on the far side of the moon (one of the points where the gravitational fields of the Earth-Moon system are balanced).  This would, in effect, be a manned base and fuel stop which would allow a reusable landing craft and transfer stage to move to and from the Moon's surface.   Raffterty also noted that Space Launch System (SLS) would have enough capability to acheive such a mission. 

The message was re-iterated in a later paper IAC-12.D2.8.7 by Boeing (Donahue et al) in which they noted how the SLS launcher would help such a mission and how such an L2 base could be the basis of missions to the asteroids, Phobos and Mars..

Such a plan would need the development of new in-space cryogenic fuel storage systems. The mechanics which were described by George Flynn (IAC-12 D2.3.3) as he noted how such hardware would need cryocooler and passive cooling technologies.  A NASA mission dubbed POD (Point of Departure) is to demonstrate such technologies in 2016.

In his lecture, Michael Rafferty of Boeing had explained that reusability for any lunar lander could be hindered by abrasive lunar dust and that for lunar landing mssions space suits with docking ports could be a solution,  This would, in effect, insulate the interior of any landing and ascent vehicle from this abrasive dust. 

A cleverer method of lunar dust avoidance and removal was presented by NASA's Robert Meuller.  He disclosed that NASA had patented an electrodynamic system for dust shielding.  The system uses a multi-phase travelling electronic field to electrically repel/shake the dust off.  The system works on the basis that the dust carries a charge by its very nature.  The electrodes used can be in the form of very thin wires in fabrics or in transparencies (ideal for helmet visors).  The system is to be tested on the Materials International Space Station Experiment-X (MISSE-X) experiment on the International Space Station.

Launch Vehicles: ESA battles over Ariane 6 while reusability is not dead yet

While there were suggestions how Europe's small Vega might improve its paylaod performance, possibly using a stage using an engine called Mira which is based on a Russian LOx-Methane design, the Congress itself had bigger rockets on its mind.  

While SLS booster dominated the thinking of NASA and Boeing presentations including how it might be used to shorten Mars sample return missions or how its volume would be good for launching large astronomy satellites,and which SLS booster design should be used, in the European Space Agency arguments continue as to whether it should move straight on to design of its next launcher - the Ariane 6 - or continue with upgrades to the Ariane 5. 

Germany is in favour of the latter "Midlife Evolution" of the Ariane 5, which promises to improve its lifting performance to 12 tonnes to GTO (Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit).  Meanwhile France and the leadership of the European Space Agency leadership remain in favour of the former as they note that Ariane 5 continues to receive a financial subsidy of €120 million per annum.  They reason that their modular concept will allow launch costs to come down by more than 20% while at the same time allowing for just one vehicle to serve all markets from payloads 2,500kg to 8,000kg. 

Europe finds itself at a disadvantage in its propulsion choices for such a vehicle.  Jens Kaufmann of ESA described the progress on the design of the Ariane 6.  Without LOx/kerosene engines (the logical choice for the first stage of such a vehicle), the design is now likely to use either a two hydrogen stage core - the so called H-H option - along with small solid strap-on boosters which would be varied according to size of payload;  or have two solid stages with a hydrogen upper stage - the so-called P-P-H option, again with small solid stap-on boosters (IAC-12.D2.4.4).    

While Ariane 6 may be needed to replace the costly Ariane 5, many in the industry view building another expendable as a backward step.   Professor Uwe Apel of he Hochschule Bremen was damning of the Ariane 6 design noting that industry were effectively fooling the European Space Agency into building the launch vehicle they wanted. "There is no new technology in it" he said, addiing "they are just fitting together the building blocks they have."

  

For the time being it looks like it Ariane 6 will be an expendable similar to this artist's concept: Courtesy: ESA/C.Vijoux

In his presentation and paper IAC12 D2.4.6 Apel noted that reusable rockets still offered considerable cost savings.  He demanded that ESA should invest in new reusable technology.  "Risky options are always hard" Apel declared.

"The Ariane 6 is not a step forward." agreed Dr. Martin Sippel, a launch vehicle expert at the German Aerospace Agency, DLR, "but a fully reusable launch vehicle like (Reaction Engines') Skylon may be too ambitious."  

ESA has examined using winged flyback boosters in the past but currently thinks they would be uneconomic to operate at current traffic levels.  Courtesy: ESA

While seen as being currently uneconomic to operate by ESA (and also by the US Air Force), the interim alternative to full reusability of using liquid fuel flyback boosters along with an expendable core is currently being examined by the Russian engine firm Khrunichev.  It continues to work on such technologies including LOx/Liquid methane engines to fly on them.  Professor Anatoly Kuzin of Khrunichev described how such engines offer a better performance in terms of specific impulse over LOx/kerosene but also are much less susceptible to coking (carbon deposits) the cleaning of which is a barrier to economic reusability. Such winged boosters would separate from an Angara-class core vehicle at Mach 7 and at 55km altitude, would be designed to fly 25 times.  The technology development programme is funded until the end of 2013 and Kuzin expects that this this will be extended noting that Russia is serious about developing such boosters which could be flying by the end of the decade.

Kuzin also hinted that ESA is interested in working with Russia on such boosters and especially on their LOx/Methane engine technology. Initial negotiations have taken place with respect to cooperation on this liquid flyback booster technology.

Most interesting in terms of low cost access to space - at least for expendable launch vehicles -  were proposals to build so-called micro-launchers.  The D2.7 session had papers descirbing carrier aircraft concepts and even balloons carrying rockets (the "Rockoon" concept).  Others used hybrid rocket technology (the Romanian Space Agency is working on these).  The most advanced of these concepts, and the one most likely to fly in the short term is the US Army's Soldier Warfighter Operationally Responsive Deployer for Space (SWORDS) programme.

Modified image of SWORDS launch vehicl;e. Courtesy: US Army

This will use a three stage launcher - each stage having four engines which would be steered by varying the thrust on each LOx/Liquid Methane burning pressure-fed engine.  The payload to at 28 degree inclination low Earth orbit is expected to be 20-25kg but would only cost $1 million per launch.  Importantly it would give the US Army a rapid access to space.  The first launch of such a vehicle is planned for the Summer of 2014.

A larger low cost rocket is being built by Brazil, with technical backing from Germany's DLR.  According to current plans, the VLM-1 launch vehicle will become operational in 2016 with various configurations. The initial version will be able to fly 300kg payloads to LEO and the later configuration 2 able to carry 350kg. At a price of only $6 million per launch the three stage rocket would be attractive to many.

With respect to more revolutionary concepts, combined cycle rocked based propulsion research continues to have research done by JAXA (IAC-13.C4.5.1) on it. An eventual two stage launch vehicle is envisaged.

One of the more interesting suggestion for future transportation came from the Romanian Space Agency (IAC-12.C4.5.4) which suggests that ramjet engines could be used to work on the energy released from disassociation of Ozone and Nitrogen.   Whether the world will stand for its ozone being eaten in this way is another matter!

Kyusho University in Japan has made an advances in accelerating the ignition in  Pulse Detonation technologies (IAC-12.C4.5.7) basically using a metal tube in the middle of the duct.

Conclusion:  Overall a good conference

The IAC Naples Congress ended well.  Most enjoyed and were enlightened by it with the major only fault being the catering failure that blighted the main social event.

Having said that, in a few weeks time, most attendees will have probably forgiven this organisational oversight while, no doubt, retaining fond memories of this year's IAC and of the city of Naples that hosted it. 

The International Astronautical Federation (IAF) in the end voted in Naples to choose Jerusalem as the host city for IAC 2015 as it beat off bids from Pattaya Thailand, Istanbul in Turkey and Guadalajara in  Mexico. 

The host city for IAC 2014 had previously been selected as Toronto, Canada, while, next year Beijing has the honour of hosting IAC 2013.  As we wish that city good luck with their preparations, we say: "See you there."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the plenary session held at the International Astronautical Congress involving all the main heads of the world's space agencies, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden hailed international cooperation as the way forward, even though he had to sheepishly admit that NASA had, for a time, put the Exomars missipn at risk when it withdrew its financial support for a launch.  That mission was later saved by the Russian space agency Roscosmos.  

NASA'S Administrator Charles Bolden makes his point at IAC Naples. Courtesy: Flightglobal/David Todd

Bolden noted that most space agencies were facing financial difficulities in the face of govermental cutbacks.  "We are facing a fiscal crisis," he said. Neverthless, Bolden noted that NASA would continue to be at the forefront of exploration but that commercial space activity would fill in the void behind it as he advanced. Bolden suggested that this trend woudl continue in the future noting that there would be a time when "governments and agencies take over interstellar travel,  while industry and companies take over interplanetary travel."

The fate of the Internatonal Space Station (ISS) loomed large at the conference wilth Enrico Saggesse of the Italian Space Agency suggesing that low Earth orbit was "astronaut friendly" and that now the ISS is built, it should be used.  "But how long should we use it?"  he asked.

There was a general acceptance that operations should continue beyound 2020, though JAXA's President, Keiji Tachikawa,  noted that the Moon and Mars should be the next destinations. Servey Saviliev, Deputy Head of the Russian Space Agency indicated that a Russian-built mulitfunctional module would be attached to the International Space Station in the 2013-14 time period.

With respect what each nation should be doing for spaceflight, some suggested that  nations did not have the finance to do everything but that they could specialise.  As he promoted this model Canada's Space Agency head, Steve Maclean noted his nation's prowess in robotics, optics and radar technologies.  Maclean had earlier described how Canada was working on new medical diagnostic tools that can be used in orbit - though we warned that it was not quite up to the fictional tricorder of Star Trek fame.

Enrico Sargesse took up on the concept of countries specialising on key technologies, reporting that Italy had also developed centres of excellence.  That said, Sargesse also noted that much of Italy's space industry was actually part of international firms and that specialisations were spread across several nations.

When asked whether Europe would ever have a manned capability of its own, Head of the European Space Agency, Jean-Jacques Dordain explained that  Europe would probably stay out of developing its own manned space system noting that soon there could soon be too many manned capable systems able to reach orbit.   "Do we need four or five (manned) systems?  Certainly not!"  He said.   Nevertheless, Dordain did think that Europe could contribute key technology for manned systems.   Specifically, Europe hs offered its ATV as the basis of a service module for NASA's Orion manned spacecraft.

With respect to future manned cooperation in space, China's representative on the plenary Yafeng Hu (Hu Yafeng) of the China National Space Administration. hinted that one day China's space stations would welcome other astronauts.

With respect to China's closest space competitor in Asia, P.S. Veeraghavan, Vice Chairman of the ISRO council, noted that India had not yet fully commited to building a manned spacecraft but was working on several of its technologies to do so.  These included life support and manned escape systems.

As the plenary sessoin ended, all the agency heads hoped that the world's public would realise just how dependent on space they were becoming.  Charles Bolden even challenged America to see if it could operate without direct or spin-off space technology.  

 

 

In its quest to pursue manned space exploration to the Moon, asteroids and onwards to Mars, NASA began its Space Launch System heavy lift launch vehicle programme after Project Constellation was cancelled. While the initial Block 1 SLS design has been finalised and will be able to carry 70 tonnes to orbit, it was realised that at least 130 tonnes may be needed for actual manned exploration mission architectures.  As such NASA intends to field later versions of the SLS using a pair of advanced boosters, more powerful than the initial SLS Block 1 version's five segment solid rocket boosters currently made by ATK which were derived from Space Shuttle technology.

NASA has yet to decide whether it wishes to use a solid fuel or a liquid fuel booster. Before it decides on a final configuration, on 1 October NASA awarded contracts to demonstrate key booster technologies to help them choose between the competing designs and reduce the risk in building the final booster.

ATK proposed using an advanced version of this expendable booster which would use a new lightweight composite casing, and would use a higher energy HTPB fuel instead of the current PBAN fuel. At circa 4.5 million lb thrust (20.000kN) this new advanced solid booster is expected to produce about 40% more thrust than the Space Shuttle's SRB. ATK received $51.3 million to construct and test elements of the oblique nosed booster including the composite case design, avionics and nozzle. 

Dynetics, along with its Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne partner, proposed a booster design using two improved variants of its F-1A engine, a throttleable version of the Saturn V derived F-1 engine. The team received $73.8 million to build and test key elements of their 1.8 million pound (8,000kN) engine including the gas generator and new simplfied turbopump assembly, and demonstrate new manufacturing processes for the combustion chamber and new injector plate.

 

The derivative of the F-1A engine is to be renamed.  Courtesy: Dynetics

In addition to new engines, NASA is interested in new tank technologies. As such, the final contract of $12.1 million was given to Northrop Grumman to demonstrate new techniques used in the production of composite fuel tanks including out of autoclave curing and in situ manufacturing.

A fourth contract is expected to be awarded to Aerojet to reduce the risks in the development of a new one million lb (4448kN) thrust dual-combustion chamber LOx/kerosene burning AJ-1-E6 engine via demonstrations of combustion stability in the new design.

The Aerojet bid surprised some. While the AJ-1-E6 (formerly nicknamed the AJ-1000) has a more efficent cycle than the Dynetics/Rockedyne F-1A design, it has less than 60% of its thrust, meaning that four engines will be needed on each booster as opposed to only two of F-1A derivatives. This has implications on cost.

Christopher Crumbly, NASA's Manager SLS Advanced Development Office was careful to be unbiased in his comments with respect to merits of the competing teams: "The F-1 has great advantages because it is a gas generator is a very simple cycle." said Crumbly.

"The Ox-rich staged combustion (of the AJ-1-E6) has great advantages because it has a higher Isp (Specific Impulse - a measure of rocket efficiency equivalent to the momentum change per kg of propellants). "The Russians have been flying Ox-rich for a long time".

"Either one can work," Crumbly added, before remembering to note: "The solids can work."

The liquid teams hade made play of their higher performance which should make the SLS be able to lift 150 or more tonnes to low Earth orbit, promising more flexibilty for manned lunar and asteroid exploration and unmnanned exploration missions. In response, Donald Sauvageau, Director, Advanced Programs, ATK noted that 130 tonnes is the performance target set by NASA, and so long as that this was met it would be overall development and life cycle costs that counted in the competition.

"When you look at a given performance that they (NASA) need, it is going to be a very tight competition between liquid and solid boosters." said Sauvageau.  

All in black: ATK's Advamced Concept Booster for SLS.  Courtesy: ATK

When asked whether both liquid teams could compete on cost when compared to solid rocket boosters, Steve Cook. Director of Space Technologies, Dynetics, who used to run the now-defunct Ares launch programme for NASA, noted that their Dynetics/Rockedyne team would not be competing if it did not think that they could do it.

Cook further made the point that while liquids were preferable to solids on performance, super-high efficiency engines are not really needed for booster engines and it was thrust that counted.

"A gas generator is a much simpler engine," said Cook, "The point is not just to have performance for performance sake, just performance to drive affordability."

Christopher Sanders of the Strategy and Business Development NASA programmes section at Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne commented on Aerojet competitor's apparent weakness in needing four engines on each booster: "Four engines is not better from an affordablity point of view... We like two engines," he said.

With respect to their own team's bid, Cook hailed the reliability record of the past F-1 engine and noted that the many of the major elements of engine had kept to the same dimensions as past F-1 family to keep this reliability and avoid problems with combustion stability that can affect new designs.

While the Dynetics/Rocketdyne team remains a leading contender, some have expressed concerns over difficulties in recovering the tooling from drawings for the F-1A engines - a programme that ended in the 1970s. Sauders dismissed these. "Its been done before on the J-2X programme" he said.

While a decision on a which booster design NASA will procede will not take place until 2015 (and it may yet be a design not including one of these contenders - SpaceX comes to mind), if one of the two current "liquid bids" does win out against the ATK's solid booster design, then which ever 'liquid' team is selected Aerojet is likely to be the winner anyway. That is, if Aerojet's holding company GenCorp has its planned acquisition of Rocketdyne from United Technologies accepted.

Major General Charles Bolden, current NASA Administrator played a straight bat at a press conference held at the International Astronautical Congress, held in Naples, Italy, as he fielded a question from this writer as to whether he would be prepared to served Mitt Romney if he was elected as US President.   

After noting that the event was purely "hypothetical", the good ex-marine pilot and astronaut that he is, Bolden expressed his loyalty to President Obama. 

"I do serve this President.  I am appointed by him and I serve him at his discretion." Bolden proudly announced.

Perhaps he was a little too rash as the question became not so unrealistic after Romney's debating performance against the incumbent, Barak Obama, in the first of the televised US Presidential debates .  While he did upset Sesame Street fans, with a quip against Big Bird (the character not the spy satellite class), Mitt Romney's impressive style has blown the race wide open. 

Before that, Obama had been looking like he was moving into an unassailable lead in the polls.   That trend has now been reversed.

Slow motion film footage released by Space X (Space Exploration Technologies) appears to show the Merlin 1c engine "letting go" emitting hot gases and eventualy causing debris to fall away.   SpaceX notes that the engine stayed intact and the debris was engine fairing material.

 

Comment by David Todd:  While having so many engines on a first stage actually increases the chance there being at least one engine failure on a flight (the reason Falcon 9 have nine engines is purely because their Merlin 1c engine is actually undersized for this role), it does actually increase mission redundancy (well so long as the other engines are not affected by the failed/shutdown engine).  In other words, the remaining working engines can compensate for the loss of thrust.  

While this just about happened for the rocket in getting its main Dragon payload to the right orbit, the secondary Orbcomm was not so lucky and it is how stranded in a useless orbit.  Nevertheless, the fact that the rocket continued to fly after this event is a testament to rhe robustness and redundancy of the vehicle, and to its physical protection systems between the engines which kept the other engines running,   SpaceX and NASA, will however, still have the headache of the delay that any investigation into this event will cause to their launch schedules.

 

A Delta IVM+ 4,2 launch was reported as placing the GPS II F3 satellite into the correct orbit for the US Air Force on 4 October .  However, it has later been announced that the launch vehicle's second stage RL-10 engine had a lower than expected thrust which had to be compensated during the three burn sequence.  An investigation is now taking place into the cause of the launch anomaly.

It has been revealed in a presentation at the International Astronautical Congress by Michael Berglund of the United Launch Allance that unexpectedly high temperature readings were recorded on the centrebody soon after ignition the NRO L-49 flight of the Delta IV Heavy vehicle.  The flight took place on 20 February 2011 from the Vandenberg launch site in California, USA.  The flight was the first time that the rocket had flown from the Western Test Range.   All previous Delta IV Heavy flights had occured from Cape Canaveral in Florida.   

The temperature readings exceeded modelling predictions.  Part of the extra heating was thought due to the splitter flame duct configuration (which split the flow into north and south ducts) at the Vandenberg launch pad rather than the single flame duct configuration at Cape Canaveral.  After research, it was decided to use a staggered engine start for the three RS-68 engines, rather than having them fire all at once.  If this works at Vandenberg, then the technique will also be applied at Cape Canaveral where high centre body heading is also apparent. 

It has been revealed at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) being held in Naples, Italy in early October that the first flight of the European Space Agency's Vega four stage launch vehicle which is operated by Arianespace had a telemetry black out during the later stages of the flight held on 13 February 2012..   Specifically, as revealed by Stefano Bianchi, Vega Project Manager, particles from the firing Zefiro 9 third stage engine effectively blocked signals from the receiver near the Kourou aunch site in French Guiana during the fairing seperation stage.  In the end, the fault's effect on the mission was minimal but this will be a concern for future missions.

While we have been away attending the International Astronautical Congress in Naples, Italy, there have been three launches. The first was an Ariane 5 ECA which was launched from Kourou in French Guiana at 2118 GMT on Friday 28 September. The launch vehicle was carrying two satellites to go to geostationary transfer orbit. They were the Astra 2F, which is owned by SES, the satellite is to be placed at 28.2 degrees East from where it will be used to conduct direct broadcasting of TV signals to Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The second satellite onboard was the Indian Gsat-10 satellite, built and owned by the Indian Space Research Organisation, the satellite will be used to provide communications services the the sub-continent. The satellite also  carries a Gagan payload which will be used to provide augmented navigation services.

The second launch was a Chinese Long March 2D at 0412 GMT on 29 September which carried the Venezuelan Francisco Miranda satellite also known as VRSS-1. This satellite will be used for Earth Observation.

The third launch was a US Delta IVM+4,2 vehicle carrying the third GPS IIF satellite. The launch took place from Cape Canaveral at 1210 GMT on 4 October. The satellite will be placed into the GPS constellation to provide navigation services.

The ATV-03 which had been docked at the International Space Station since 28 March was undocked at 2144 GMT on 28 September and conducted a free flight before being intentionally deorbited over the South Pacific early on 3 October with any surviving debris striking the surface of the Pacific at around 0130 GMT.