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ARCHIVE
Month: July 2012
Commercial Spaceflight Federation Is Asleep – Again

Keith’s note: There will be a hearing on Wednesday at 2:00 pm EDT titled “Emerging Commercial Suborbital Reusable Launch Vehicle Market”. The hearing was announced several weeks ago. Yet the Commercial Spaceflight Federation has not issued a heads up or media advisory for this hearing. Nor is anything posted on their website. Not only are three of its members testifying, a representative of the CSF’s Suborbital Applications Researchers Group is […]

  • NASA Watch
  • July 31, 2012
Space Studies Board Survey on NASA's strategic Direction

Take the National Academies’ Space Studies Board Survey on NASA’s strategic Direction “In the FY2012 appropriations bill that funds NASA, Congress requested an independent study of NASA’s strategic direction. The study is being conducted by a committee of the National Research Council. The Strategic Directions Committee is listening to a wide variety of experts in aeronautics and space science and technology, space policy and programs, and communications strategy, and it […]

  • NASA Watch
  • July 31, 2012
NASA Tries To Make You Think They Did Something Extra Speedy

NASA’S Space Launch System Passes Major Agency Review, Moves to Preliminary Design “SLS reached this major milestone less than 10 months after the program’s inception. The combination of the two assessments represents a fundamentally different way of conducting NASA program reviews. The SLS team is streamlining processes to provide the nation with a safe, affordable and sustainable heavy-lift launch vehicle capability. The next major program milestone is the preliminary design […]

  • NASA Watch
  • July 31, 2012
Recreating the Saturn V One Piece At A Time

Rocket companies hope to repurpose Saturn 5 engines, Spaceflight Now “Dynetics and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne announced Wednesday they are teaming up to resurrect the Saturn 5 rocket’s mighty F-1 engine to power NASA’s planned heavy-lift launch vehicle, saying the Apollo-era engine will offer significantly more performance than solid-fueled boosters currently under development.” NASA Will Explore F-1 Upgrade For Heavy Lifter, Aviation Week “The powerful rocket engine developed in the […]

  • NASA Watch
  • July 31, 2012
Survey: U.S. Space Industry 'Deep Dive'

Department of Commerce BIS Survey: U.S. Space Industry ‘Deep Dive’ “The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), Office of Technology Evaluation, in coordination with the U.S. Air Force, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Reconnaissance Office is undertaking a survey and assessment of the U.S. space industrial base supply chain network. The principal purpose of this project is to gain an understanding of the complicated network supporting […]

  • NASA Watch
  • July 31, 2012
Congress Deals With Space Artifacts and Moon Rocks

House Committee on Science, Space and Technology Markup on Astronaut Artifact Ownership “The Committee will meet to consider the following measure, or for other purposes: H.R. 4158 – To confirm full ownership rights for certain United States astronauts to artifacts from the astronauts’ space missions.” – NASA IG Sends Cops in Flack Vests After 74 Year Old, 4’11” Grandmother, earlier post – Selling History Or Just Personal Stuff?, earlier post […]

  • NASA Watch
  • July 31, 2012
GAO on Federal Liability Risk for Commercial Launches

GAO: Commercial Space Launches: FAA Should Update How It Assesses Federal Liability Risk “According to studies, the United States provides less commercial space launch indemnification for third party losses than China, France, and Russia. These countries put no limit on the amount of government indemnification coverage, which in the United States is limited by the Commercial Space Launch Act Amendments of 1988 (CSLAA). Governments’ commitments to pay have never been […]

  • NASA Watch
  • July 30, 2012
NASA Yanks Air Pressurized Paper Rocket Launcher Offline

Keith’s note: A note titled “NASA Reccomends Discontinuation of Student Rocket Activity” went out to NASA’s education mailing lists this afternoon with some urgency. No other detail has been provided by NASA. “Recently, an air pressurized paper rocket launcher being used by an educator failed. This launcher is described in NASA’s Rockets Educator Guide, publications EG-2011-11-223-KSC, pp. 86-90 and EG-2008-05-060-KSC, pp. 86-90. NASA completed an engineering investigation into the failure […]

  • NASA Watch
  • July 30, 2012
A Unique Way to Use Space to Work Toward Peace on Earth

DigitalGlobe and Enough Project Formalize Partnership to Monitor Mass Violence in Sudan “DigitalGlobe (DGI), a leading global provider of high-resolution earth imagery solutions, today announced an agreement with the Enough Project to continue providing unrivaled imagery and analysis services to monitor evidence of bombings, razed villages and possible threats to civilians in Sudan in an effort called the Satellite Sentinel Project (SSP). In addition to the imagery and analysis provided […]

  • NASA Watch
  • July 30, 2012
Rallying The Troops and Lowering Expectations

Note from James Green, Director Planetary Science, NASA on Mars Curiosity Rover Landing “One week from today, our community will be forever changed, one way or the other, no matter what. The landing of the Mars Curiosity Rover at Gale Crater occurs at 1:31 AM (Eastern Time) and it will be a history event. Curiosity is our latest flagship mission and it demands all of our attention. This feat represents […]

  • NASA Watch
  • July 29, 2012