Europe to launch experimental wingless space plane

09 Feb 2015

Europe is set to launch an experimental "space plane", a car-sized, wingless vessel whose 100-minute unmanned mission will inform the design of reusable spacecraft of the future.

The European Space Agency's two-tonne, 5m-long Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV) is scheduled to be blasted into space on a Vega rocket from a space pad in Kourou, French Guiana, at 13:00 GMT on Wednesday.

It will separate from the launcher about 18 minutes later, some 320km above Earth, and then climb to a height of about 450km before starting its descent at several times the speed of sound, recording valuable data along the way.

A parachute will deploy to slow the descent, and balloons will keep the craft afloat after splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, where it will be recovered by a ship for analysis.

Re-entry is a major challenge for the aerospace industry - as illustrated when Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated in Earth's atmosphere in February 2003, killing all seven crew.

Friction with the Earth's atmosphere slows the returning craft, but also heats the outside to scorching temperatures.

If the re-entry angle is too steep the craft will burn up, too shallow and it may bounce off the atmosphere or pierce through but completely miss its landing target.

"We are able to go [to space], we are able to stay in orbit, what we want to learn today is to close the loop, to return from orbit, and this is one of the most complex disciplines in space activity," IXV program manager Giorgio Tumino told the AFP news agency.

Since NASA retired its Space Shuttle, Russia's Soyuz is the only spacecraft that can ferry astronauts to and from the orbiting International Space Station. Private company Space X's Dragon is the only re-entry cargo craft.

Boeing and SpaceX are developing reusable astronaut carriers for NASA, which is also working on the Orion craft it hopes will take humans to Mars. All are based on the capsule design.

"Today we have our astronauts flying in Russian capsules, if one day we want them with the capability to fly back with European technology, this is fundamental," Tumino said of the IXV mission.

Source: al-Jazeera.
Link: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/02/europe-launch-experimental-wingless-space-plane-150209044049437.html.

Iran launches fourth satellite into orbit

Tehran, Iran (XNA)
Feb 09, 2015

Iran launched its fourth satellite into orbit on Monday, state IRIB TV reported. Equipped with GPS navigation system, the home-made satellite, named Fajr (Dawn), was put into orbit using home-made Safir-e Fajr satellite carrier.

Fajr satellite is technically characterized by an orbit which could promote from 250 to 450 kilometers through a thruster or an engine, Press TV reported, stressing that it is capable of staying in the space for 1.5 years while taking and transmitting high-quality pictures to the stations on earth.

The launch came as Iran started the 10-day celebrations marking the 36th anniversary of the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution that put an end to the monarchy of the U.S.-backed Shah regime in the country.

On Monday, President Hassan Rouhani congratulated the nation on the successful launch of Fajr satellite and said the Iranian scientists have entered a new phase in space sciences.

The Iranian government is determined to press ahead with its national space program, he said, adding that "we will proceed with this path until a phase that we will be able to meet our national needs in space by all (the Iranian) scientists and through local technology."

The Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan said that the satellite, the new generation of Omid (Hope) satellite, was completely designed and built by Iranian experts in Aerospace Industries Organization of Defense Ministry and Iran's Electronic Industries Company.

Designing and building Fajr satellite showed the continuation of Iran's scientific progress in the field of advanced technologies, Dehqan said.

Iran, a founding member of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, launched its first domestically-made data-processing satellite, Omid, into space in 2009.

Its second satellite, dubbed Rassad (Observation), was launched into orbit in June 2011, whose mission was to take and transmit images of the earth along with telemetry information to ground stations.

The country launched its third domestically-built Navid-e Elm-o Sanat (Harbinger of Science and Industry) satellite into orbit in February 2012.

In January 2013, Iran sent a monkey into space aboard an indigenous bio-capsule code-named Pishgam (Pioneer).

Later in December 2013, the country sent a monkey, called "Fargam" or Auspicious, into space aboard Pajoheshan (Research) indigenous rocket. It returned the live monkey back to earth safely.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Iran_launches_fourth_satellite_into_orbit_999.html.

US Issuing Licenses for Mineral Mining on Moon

Washington DC (Sputnik)
Feb 09, 2015

The United States government is taking a new and early approach to spur commercial development of space. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has started issuing companies licenses to own land on the moon.

In a letter to space technology company, Bigelow Aerospace, the FAA says it intends to modify its licensing regulations to "encourage private sector investments in space systems by ensuring that commercial activities can be conducted on a non-interference basis," according to Reuters.

Under such license, the company that develops inflatable space habitats, will have exclusive rights to a territory and related areas on the moon, where it can set up an inflatable habitat and perform mining and exploration.

However, this initiative was met with hesitation by the US State Department, which reminded the FAA that the US is a signatory to the 1967 United Nations treaty, which governs activities on the moon.

The UN Outer Space treaty requires countries to authorize and supervise non-government entities operating in space.

"We didn't give (Bigelow Aerospace) a license to land on the moon. We're talking about a payload review that would potentially be part of a future launch license request. But it served a purpose of documenting a serious proposal for a US company to engage in this activity that has high-level policy implications," George Nield, associate administrator for the FAA's Office of Commercial Transportation who wrote the letter told Reuters.

The letter was written in coordination with US departments of State, Defense, Commerce, as well as NASA and other agencies involved in space operations.

Bigelow Aerospace plans to test a space habitat at the International Space Station this year, and then operate free-flying orbital outposts for customers, including government agencies, research organizations, businesses and even tourists. In 2025, it intends to launch a $12 billion project of a series of bases on the moon.

Source: Moon Daily.
Link: http://www.moondaily.com/reports/US_Issuing_Licenses_for_Mineral_Mining_on_Moon_999.html.

SpaceX calls off launch of space-weather satellite

By Kerry Sheridan
Miami (AFP)
Feb 8, 2015

SpaceX's launch of a $340 million sun-observing spacecraft that was initially dreamed up by former US vice president Al Gore was postponed Sunday for at least 24 hours after a late problem.

The unmanned Deep Space Climate Observatory had been scheduled to blast off atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 6:10 pm (2310 GMT) from Cape Canaveral, Florida but a range-tracking issue scuttled it with about two-and-a-half minutes left in the countdown.

DSCOVR's goal is to help space weather forecasters by collecting data on solar wind and geomagnetic storms that can cause damage to electrical systems on Earth.

"Air Force tracking radar went down. Launch postponed to same time tomorrow," tweeted Elon Musk, the billionaire SpaceX founder.

He added: "Prob good though. Will give us time to replace 1st stage video transmitter (not needed for launch, but nice to have)."

SpaceX was expected to try again at 6:07 pm on Monday.

After the launch, SpaceX will make another attempt to guide the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket back to a controlled landing on an ocean platform, as part of the California-based company's goal of making rockets one day as reusable as airplanes.

In January, the rocket attempted a controlled maneuver to land on a powered-barge in the Atlantic, but collided with it instead and broke into pieces...

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/SpaceX_poised_to_launch_resurrected_space_weather_satellite_999.html.

NASA's Kepler Reborn, Makes First Exoplanet Find of New Mission

Pasadena CA (JPL)
Dec 19, 2014

NASA's planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft makes a comeback with the discovery of the first exoplanet found using its new mission -- K2. The discovery was made when astronomers and engineers devised an ingenious way to repurpose Kepler for the K2 mission and continue its search of the cosmos for other worlds.

"Last summer, the possibility of a scientifically productive mission for Kepler after its reaction wheel failure in its extended mission was not part of the conversation," said Paul Hertz, NASA's astrophysics division director at the agency's headquarters in Washington.

"Today, thanks to an innovative idea and lots of hard work by the NASA and Ball Aerospace team, Kepler may well deliver the first candidates for follow-up study by the James Webb Space Telescope to characterize the atmospheres of distant worlds and search for signatures of life."

Lead researcher Andrew Vanderburg, a graduate student at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, studied publicly available data collected by the spacecraft during a test of K2 in February 2014. The discovery was confirmed with measurements taken by the HARPS-North spectrograph of the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo in the Canary Islands, which captured the wobble of the star caused by the planet's gravitational tug as it orbits.

The newly confirmed planet, HIP 116454b, is 2.5 times the diameter of Earth and follows a close, nine-day orbit around a star that is smaller and cooler than our sun, making the planet too hot for life as we know it. HIP 116454b and its star are 180 light-years from Earth, toward the constellation Pisces.

Kepler's onboard camera detects planets by looking for transits -- when a distant star dims slightly as a planet crosses in front of it. The smaller the planet, the weaker the dimming, so brightness measurements must be exquisitely precise.

To enable that precision, the spacecraft must maintain steady pointing. In May 2013, data collection during Kepler's extended prime mission came to an end with the failure of the second of four reaction wheels, which are used to stabilize the spacecraft.

Rather than giving up on the stalwart spacecraft, a team of scientists and engineers crafted a resourceful strategy to use pressure from sunlight as a "virtual reaction wheel" to help control the spacecraft.

The resulting K2 mission promises to not only continue Kepler's planet hunt, but also to expand the search to bright nearby stars that harbor planets that can be studied in detail, to help scientists better understand their composition. K2 also will introduce new opportunities to observe star clusters, active galaxies and supernovae.

Small planets like HIP 116454b, orbiting nearby bright stars, are a scientific sweet spot for K2 as they are good prospects for follow-up ground studies to obtain mass measurements. Using K2's size measurements and ground-based mass measurements, astronomers can calculate the density of a planet to determine whether it is likely a rocky, watery or gaseous world.

"The Kepler mission showed us that planets larger in size than Earth and smaller than Neptune are common in the galaxy, yet they are absent in our solar system," said Steve Howell, Kepler/K2 project scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California.

"K2 is uniquely positioned to dramatically refine our understanding of these alien worlds and further define the boundary between rocky worlds like Earth and ice giants like Neptune."

Since the K2 mission officially began in May 2014, it has observed more than 35,000 stars and collected data on star clusters, dense star-forming regions, and several planetary objects within our own solar system. It is currently in its third campaign...

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/NASAs_Kepler_Reborn_Makes_First_Exoplanet_Find_of_New_Mission_999.html.

SpaceX delays resupply flight to ISS

by Danielle Haynes
Cape Canaveral, Fla. (UPI)
Dec 18, 2014

SpaceX's fifth commercial launch to provide supplies to the International Space Station was delayed due to problems experienced during an engine fire test, the company and NASA said Thursday.

The Falcon 9 rocket was scheduled to take off with the Dragon cargo ship Friday at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The rocket is now scheduled to launch the morning of Jan. 6.

A news release from NASA said the delay was to allow "SpaceX engineers time to investigate further issues that arose from a static fire test of the Falcon 9 rocket" on Tuesday.

"While the recent static fire test accomplished nearly all of our goals, the test did not run the full duration," SpaceX spokesman John Taylor said in email sent to multiple media sources. "The data suggests we could push forward without a second attempt, but out of an abundance of caution, we are opting to execute a second static fire test prior to launch."

"Given the extra time needed for data review and testing, coupled with the limited launch date availability due to the holidays and other restrictions, our earliest launch opportunity is now Jan. 6 with Jan. 7 as a backup," he added.

The postponement won't negatively affect the ISS crew's food, fuel or other supplies, the NASA release said.

This is the second delay of this particular resupply launch.

The rocket was first scheduled to take off Tuesday, but it was delayed to allow "SpaceX to take extra time to ensure they do everything possible on the ground to prepare for a successful launch," NASA said in a statement released Dec. 12.

This particular rocket launch is expected to be groundbreaking for SpaceX. The private spaceflight company was planning to land the rocket's first stage on a platform in the Atlantic Ocean.

Reusable rocket technology is key to the company's growth, CEO Elon Musk has repeatedly said. Being able to reuse vital components of its rocket could shave costs by a factor of 1,000.

"There are a lot of launches that will occur over the next year," Musk said at an aerospace conference earlier this fall. "I think it's quite likely that one of those flights, we'll be able to land and refly, so I think we're quite close."

The new resupply launch is scheduled to take place at approximately 6:18 a.m. EST Jan. 6, with coverage beginning on NASA Television at 5 a.m.

Brooks Hays contributed to this report.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/SpaceX_delays_resupply_flight_to_ISS_999.html.

2015 to be a busy year, says ISRO chief

New Delhi (IANS)
Dec 17, 2014

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will also launch a heavy communication satellite, GSAT-15, with around 40 transponders - automatic receivers and transmitters for communication and broadcast of signals using the Ariane rocket of Arianespace from French Guiana.

"We will be completing the IRNSS (Indian Regional Satellite Navigation System) constellation by launching four more satellites and operationalise the navigation system. The geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle (GSLV) rocket is getting ready to launch GSAT-6 communication satellite," ISRO chairman K Radhakrishnan said here.

He said astronomy satellite Astrosat will be launched in 2015.

Referring to commercial launches, he said India will next year launch five foreign satellites, including three from Britain. India has also signed up contracts to launch two Indonesian satellites.

Radhakrishnan said 2015 will see ISRO enhancing the space applications for the central and state governments.

Asked whether ISRO was dispersing its resources looking at human space mission when the focus should be on developing GSLV rockets to carry heavy communication satellites, Radhakrishnan said: "ISRO's projects are not mutually exclusive. The cryogenic engine for the heavy rocket is under development and will take two years for the rocket to be flight ready."

The space agency will test-fly its heaviest rocket GSLV-Mark III designed to carry satellites weighing around four tonnes.

While the rocket's cryogenic engine is under development, ISRO decided to test the atmospheric flight stability of the rocket, with the two engines carrying a giant cup-cake like crew module.

The crew module will not carry any living being and is only for learning the atmospheric re-entry characteristics of the module.

The main objective of the crew module is to demonstrate its re-entry flight and aero braking, end-to-end parachute system validation.

The 630-tonne rocket will go up to 126km. The crew capsule will get detached and fall into the Bay of Bengal 20 minutes after blastoff.

The descent speed of the crew module will be controlled by three parachutes.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/2015_to_be_a_busy_year_says_ISRO_chief_999.html.