Recently in commercial launch services Category

An ILS Proton Breeze M rocket successfully launched the Nimiq 6 commercial communications satellite for the satellite operator Telesat at 1912 GMT on 17 May from the Baikonur launch site in Kazakhstan.  After a 9 hour 14 minute 5-burn mission, the Breeze M upper stage successfully released the satellite into its planned geostationary transfer orbit.  The satellite, which uses a version of the Space Systems Loral, SS/L-1300 bus design, will use its on-board propulsion to positition itself into its final geostationary Earth orbit position.

 

 

The United Kingdom's Institude of Directors (IoD) has commissioned a report into Britain's Space Industry.  The report called Space: Britain's New Space Infrastructure  notes how well the space business is doing in the United Kingdom.  While it reports that this is mainly on the back of "downstream" activities like satellite television and space insurance, it also states that Britain has found itself a successful niche role in spacecraft manufacturing via  Astrium and Surrey Satelltie Technology Limited (both firms are owned by EADS).   

As it notes the growth of commercial orbital and suborbital space launch providers in the world, and reports the UK firm Reaction Engines' progress with its Skylon spaceplane technology studies (this writer is a small shareholder in the firm) the report has called for the construction of a spaceport with an extra long runway in the UK to allow it and other reusable launch operators to use.

Comment by David Todd:  This spaceport idea is probably a good one but it should be built on UK territory rather than on the UK mainland.  While Scotland could be used as a launch site for polar and sun-synchronous missions (northbound flights would not overfly any built up areas)  for most other orbits it is important to be as close to the equator as possible (this increases the velocity boost from the Earth's spin - for Eastbound flights - and reduces the amout of orbital inclination needed for removal for those boosted satellite missions heading for geostationary Earth orbit - GEO).  As such the UK's territory of Ascension Island in the Atlantic would be ideal for a space port/launch site.  And it could also be used for polar/sun-synchronous flights as well.

An Ariane 5 ECA launch vehicle successfully launched the Japansese commercial communications satellite JCSAT-13 along with the Vietnamese communications satellite Vinasat 2 at 2213 GMT on 15 May 2012 from the Kourou launch site in French Guiana.  

Both satellites, which are to be finally placed in geostationary Earth orbit (GEO), used versions of hte A2100 bus design built by Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems.

The US military should benefit from the launch of its latest communications satellite, AEHF-2.  The military communications satellite was launched successfully at 1842 GMT on 4 May 2012 via a United Launch Alliance (ULA) operated ATLAS V 531 launch from Cape Canaveral.  

 

An ATLAS V 531 flew the AEHF 2 military communications spacecraft into orbit.  Courtesy: ULA/Pat Corkery

 

The next launch into orbit was from China's Jiuquan launch base when a Long March 2D/2 launched the Tian Hui 1B Earth observation satellite successfully at 0710 GMT on 6 May 2012.

 

The first Falcon 9/Dragon C2+ launch to the International Space Station was delayed to 19 May to conduct further software checks on the Dragon capsule.

ISRO and the Indonesian Space Agency have agreed to launch the Indonesian IinuSat on a PSLV vehicle in early 2013. The agreed cost of the launch will be 100,000 Euros. The IiunSat is being built by students from six Indonesian Universities, the satellite will have a launch mass of around 30 kilograms and will have a communications and metrological mission.

Sometimes, it's best to let things speak for themselves. Read on, friends (our highlights):

The First Vibrator in Space   
     
Los Angeles, CA - September 27, 2011 -- On October 8, 2011, online sex toy sales leader SexToy.com, will lead a team to launch the first adult sex toy vibrator into space. The space craft will be equipped with a still and video camera that will send images of its best selling vibrator back to Earth.
 
Through rigorous experimentation, the group has developed a way to send the vibrator into space. The toy will have to withstand temperatures of -75 degrees Fahrenheit and conditions 10 times over normal cosmic radiation. The vibrator will be fully exposed to the elements, reach an altitude of 100,000 feet (~20miles) above the Earth's atmosphere, which is three times the cruising altitude of a typical jet plane. The team hopes to retrieve the vibrator in fully functioning order.
 
SexToy Dave, CEO of CNV.com Inc., says of his inspiration behind the project, "I have always been into firsts and that is how I made my money. I was one of the first on the web selling sex toys, first to have an adult affiliate program, the first to make three appearances on Bravo's hit show Millionaire Matchmaker and now the first online adult business with a space program."
 
The sex toy will be carried into space by a partially solar-powered, partially helium-filled balloon 8 feet wide, armed with a 1080p HD video camera, a 10MP still camera, two consumer cell phones running tracking software, and an experimental GPS unit. The balloon and vibrating bullet will travel through Jet stream winds of up to 100 miles per hour for 1-3 hours and achieve a total distance of up to 100 miles. Sextoy.com will publish the photos on its new blog, "Chew On This" at www.sextoy.com/blog http://www.sextoy.com/blog

NASA's new human spaceflight standards may not be as rigorous as those it already demands for high profile launches such as James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) or Cassini

In an emailed answer to Hyperbola's question about NASA Launch Services (NLS) vehicle certification requirements and crew transport the US space agency says: "NLS is only applicable to NASA payloads, not crew. You should not infer any relationship between NLS and commercial crew."

Yet for high profile "class A" missions, such as JWST, to be launched on a "category three" low risk launch vehicle NASA's certification requirements ask for a 14 consecutive successful flight history - go here for related launch policy directive documentation

United Launch Alliances' Delta IV doesn't have that, Space Exploration Technologies' (SpaceX) Falcon 9 won't have that until 2013 at least, Orbital Sciences' Taurus II never will because it only has eight commercial resupply missions manifested and so only the ULA Atlas V has an adequate launch history - is this what the final report of the Review of US human space flight plans was referring too with its mystery booster?

Sorry, I hear you say, but that is for payloads, not crew. So are you saying that crews will ride on rockets with a lesser launch history than payloads? And if it is greater, well at least you have until 2016 for those commercial crew programme vehicles but NASA administrator Charles Bolden's hopes of something sooner seem a bit dashed

Is this situation what Bolden was referring to yesterday in the Senate hearing when he said that SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft was a cheaper longer term option and that instead Orion was the choice for an International Space Station escape capsule three year's hence?

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Mexico has begun preparations to construct its own 30-hectare space center on the Yucatan peninsula for the country's space agency that was created in 2008

Russia has said it is ready to help Mexico with its space ambitions. In 1996 Russia and Mexico signed an agreement on cooperation in the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes. In March 2009 a Russian Federal Space Agency (aka Roscosmos) delegation visited Mexico's Senate committee on science and technology. That committee dealt with the formation of the Mexican space agency. Roscosmos' statement about the new agency's coastal Yucatan site refers to the centre as a launch facility

Meanwhile according to this report a Greek-Russian cosmonaut is preparing to blast off to the ISS later this year. Think of a word, any word...

One has to wonder what on Earth (pun intended) president Barack Obama, his administration and the NASA management team think will be accomplished with a 1h 55min chin wag between "senior officials, space leaders, academic experts, industry leaders and others" about the future of US space exploration

Public relations disaster is one accomplishment that this blogger can envisage. If everyone comes out of the conference (see timing below - all times in Eastern Daylight Time) declaring the Obama plan a fantastic vision the event will be criticised as a White House whitewash and if a single individual speaks out against it, the reports will be of a divided conference

Hyperbola suspects the outcome will be far far worse

We are told Obama will have some "private time" with politicians attending the event. Anything other than the president's ageement to a wish list of space transportation projects is going to see those politicians attack the new space plan. And it won't stop there, academics will likely go on the record to say they don't agree with all or parts of the plan while industry will simply brief journalists, off the record, about why the plan doesn't make sense 

It is not obvious at what point the media get to question the president and, or his conference participants but I would imagine that certain politicians and corporations are already on the phone to Florida based and national media. Is it a conference or is it Obama's last space stand?

The afternoon to save exploration in full

13:30h NASA tv begins President Barack Obama KSC visit coverage
14:25h President Obama speech in Operations & Checkout building
15:45h Conference overview
           with NASA admininstrator Charles Bolden, Norman Augustine, John Holdren
16:25h Conference breakout sessions
           - increasing access to and utilization of the International Space Station
           - jumpstarting the new technologies to take us beyond
           - expanding our reach into the Solar System
           - harnessing space to expand economic opportunity
17:40h Conference wrap-up with Bolden and breakout session moderators

The 15:45h conference overview and 16:25h breakout sessions will all take place in the Operations & Checkout building