NASA Supplemental Information: Competitive Acquisition of Cooperative Agreement for ISS National Laboratory Management Entity “The information provided below supplements prior postings at the official procurement web site in specific areas of high interest to potential bidders. Any additional questions related to this supplemental information should be directed to the procurement website for formal written response.” Keith’s 27 Dec note: Full document with editor’s notes below: Link to Contract Study: ISS […]

NASA spending $500 million for canceled rocket, Orlando Sentinel “Thanks to congressional inaction, NASA must continue to fund its defunct Ares I rocket program until March — a requirement that will cost the agency nearly $500 million at a time when NASA is struggling with the expensive task of replacing the space shuttle. About one-third that money — $165 million — will go to Alliant Techsystems, or ATK, which has […]

NASA Internal Memo: Maintaining Capability to Conduct the STS-135 Mission “… I ask that you continue planning and preparations efforts to execute this mission in late June 2011 as currently planned. This includes maintaining the requisite workforce to safely conduct this mission and extending contracts if necessary. We must focus on STS-135 as a real mission as well as a Launch-On-Need capability for the STS-134. Without clarity in focus now […]

ISRO: GSLV F06 Failure: Preliminary Findings and Further Steps “The finding of the Preliminary Failure Analysis Team is that the primary cause of the failure is the untimely and inadvertent snapping of a group of 10 connectors located at the bottom portion of the Russian Cryogenic Stage. Some of these connectors carry command signals from the onboard computer residing in the Equipment Bay (located near the top of the vehicle) […]

Russian space officials fired over satellite crash, Reuters “The GLONASS satellites, intended for Russia’s rival to the American GPS system, a project dear to the Kremlin, were lost because the Proton M rocket carrying them into orbit was loaded with too much fuel, a investigating commission found.” Russia’s first GLONASS phone an ‘iPhone 4 competitor,’ except not really (video), Engadget “As the story goes, Russia-based AFK Sistema’s subsidiary Sitronics (along […]

Can NASA change in order to survive?, Orlando Sentinel via LA Times. “In the world of government spaceflight, that’s almost a rounding error. And the ability of SpaceX to do so much with so little money is raising serious questions about NASA. The agency that once stood for American technical wizardry is starting to lose its luster. Inside NASA, some employees have taken to wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the letters […]

Photo source: AS11-40-5903 (20 July 1969), NASA Astronaut Buzz Aldrin sues Topps for using his likeness in trading cards, LA Times “Buzz Aldrin was the second person to set foot on the moon; now he’s the first to sue Topps Inc. for putting a photograph of the historic moment on its “American Heroes” series of trading cards. The 80-year-old retired astronaut sued Topps on Monday in federal court in Los […]

Galaxy 15 Status Update: Power, Communications, and Control Restored “On 23 December, the power from the Galaxy 15 battery completely drained during its loss of earth lock and the Baseband Equipment (BBE) command unit reset, as it was designed to do. Shortly thereafter Galaxy 15 began accepting commands and Intelsat engineers began receiving telemetry in our Satellite Operations center. We have placed Galaxy 15 in safe mode, and at this […]

Photo: GOES-13 Satellite Captures Blizzard Leaving New England “Snows are finally winding down in New England today, Dec. 27, as a powerful low pressure system brought blizzard conditions from northern New Jersey to Maine over Christmas weekend. The GOES-13 satellite captured an image of the low’s center off the Massachusetts coast and saw the snowfall left behind.”

NASA looking into Loveland, Coloradan.com “Representatives from NASA were in Loveland on Wednesday, touring the old Hewlett-Packard/Agilent campus, where they are considering developing a technology park that could house 60 to 80 businesses and create 10,000 jobs, said Don Marostica, Loveland resident and the state’s development director. … Members of the association and representatives from Marostica’s office came up with a plan to create a technology park that would house […]