Fwd: Human Spaceflight News - September 12, 2013 and JSC Today---JSC reducing carbon footprint!!!

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Begin forwarded message:

From: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Date: September 12, 2013 6:20:19 AM GMT-06:00
To: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Subject: FW: Human Spaceflight News - September 12, 2013 and JSC Today

Happy Flex Friday Eve!

 

 

To the JSC Community (from Center Director)

 

I am pleased to announce that JSC will move to Phase 2 of the Super-Flex work schedule on October 11, 2013. Thank you to the 4000 or so people who responded to the recent Super-Flex survey.  I have reviewed the responses and also looked at traffic patterns and JSC WebTADS data.  Your response to the survey and Flex Friday participation clearly indicates that Super-Flex enhances workplace flexibilities and provides work/life benefits to many. I hope you will support the implementation of Phase 2 where it does not impact NASA's mission.

 

As I mentioned in my All Hands, Phase 2 will help JSC to meet mandated energy and carbon footprint reductions and cost savings. Phase 2 includes the implementation of "weekend mode" (no lights and air) starting at 5:30pm on Thursdays prior to Flex Fridays. This will occur in buildings across the Center with the exclusion of areas that have been officially designated as 24/7 facilities and facilities that have been designated by their Directors or Program Managers as required.  The Center Operations exceptions process may be used when necessary just as it is currently used on weekends to provide lights and air to specified areas. Further details about Super-Flex implementation, including information on gates and cafeterias, may be obtained at http://jscpeople.jsc.nasa.gov/workplace_flexibilities.html.

 

Super-flex highlights Work from Anywhere/Telework and enables civil service employees to continue to use the Maxiflex schedule, allowing a variety of work schedule options with supervisor approval.  If it is necessary for you to work onsite on Flex Friday, you are encouraged to use an alternative, energy-efficient location in buildings 12 and 20 when possible.

 

JSC will not require that our contractor team members adopt a matching schedule; however, you should be aware that non 24/7 buildings will be in "weekend mode" and many of your civil service customers will not be onsite on those Flex Fridays.  Please contact your contracting officer and/or your customer organization if you have any questions.

 

Thank you for both helping make JSC a better place to work, and helping us reap energy and cost savings.

 

Ellen

 

 

 

 

Thursday, September 12, 2013

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JSC TODAY CATEGORIES Headlines -  Joint Leadership Team Web Poll -  JSC's New Chief Information Security Officer -  Volunteers Needed for Safety & Health Day -  Inside the ISS - Onboard With Chris! Organizations/Social -  Parent's Night Out at Starport - Sept. 20 -  Parenting: Time Management for Family & Work -  Save the Date for Fright Fest: Oct. 25 -  Family Health and Fitness -  Mental Health Disorders and Coping Strategies -  The College Money Guys -  Engineers Without Borders - JSC Intro Session Jobs and Training -  Hand and Power Tools ViTS - Sept. 27 -  Partnership Marketing Analyst Rotation -  Starport Financial Wellness: Home-Buying Seminar

Expedition 36 Soyuz Landing

 

Headlines Joint Leadership Team Web Poll You correctly surmised that 1690 AM is JSC's own informational radio station. Tune in as you enter and leave for the day for the latest updates on what's happening. This Friday is Flex Friday again. What do you do on your flex day? Work? Hide? Chill? Bacon fried cinnamon rolls narrowly won the best fried food contest. Good thing we have lots of AEDs around here. I've already secured my tickets to this year's Nerdzilla Festival at JSC. Have you? The event is a little sketchy right now, so I need some help with what it should look like. Which famous festival should Nerdzilla be modeled after? Should it look like Burning Man? Bonnaroo? Comic Con? Cos your Play on over to get this week's poll. Joel Walker x30541 http://jlt.jsc.nasa.gov/ [top] JSC's New Chief Information Security Officer Effective immediately, Charles (Chuck) W. Layton will assume the position of Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for JSC within the Information Resources Directorate (IRD). The CISO is responsible for the definition and leadership of the JSC Information Technology (IT) Security Program. Layton, who is also currently the lead for the IT Security team, has more than 25 years of experience combined in law enforcement, IT management and governance with the Department of Justice. Layton joined the IRD team in 2011, and is located on-site in Building 46, Room 128, and can be reached at 281-483-4295. Layton will be supported by Mark Fridye in the role of deputy CISO. JSC IRD Outreach x41334 http://ird.jsc.nasa.gov/Home.aspx [top] Volunteers Needed for Safety & Health Day It's takes YOU to help make Safety and Health Day 2.0.13 a success. Please consider volunteering on Oct. 10 to help make this important JSC event possible. Volunteer opportunities range from cooking hot dogs and blowing up balloons to registration and traffic detail. Various shifts are available that should work with your busy schedule. If you're interested in volunteering, please contact Safety & Health Day volunteer coordinator Jasmine Gascar at x39283 or via email with your availability. Event Date: Thursday, October 10, 2013   Event Start Time:9:00 AM   Event End Time:4:00 PM Event Location: Teague Auditorium, JSC Mall Area Add to Calendar Supricia Franklin/Angel Plaza x37817/x37305 http://sthday.jsc.nasa.gov/ [top] Inside the ISS - Onboard With Chris! Even though NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy is safely back on Earth, check out this fun tour he recorded while onboard the International Space Station! Dylan Mathis x48119 http://www.youtube.com/insideISS [top]    Organizations/Social Parent's Night Out at Starport - Sept. 20 Enjoy a night out on the town while your kids enjoy a night with Starport. We will entertain your children with a night of games, crafts, a bounce house, pizza, a movie, dessert and loads of fun! When: Friday, Sept. 20, from 6 to 10 p.m. Where: Gilruth Center Ages: 5 to 12 Cost: $20/first child and $10/each additional sibling if registered by the Wednesday prior to event. If registered after Wednesday, the fee is $25/first child and $15/additional sibling. Register at the Gilruth Center front desk. Click here for more information. Event Date: Friday, September 20, 2013   Event Start Time:6:00 PM   Event End Time:10:00 PM Event Location: Gilruth Center Add to Calendar Shericka Phillips x35563 https://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/en/programs/familyyouth-programs/parents-n... [top] Parenting: Time Management for Family & Work Do you overcommit yourself or your family? Do you say yes because you think no one else will do it? Work and family time management is not about a "perfect" balance of work and family needs. We will be discussing the myths, realities and application involved finding "your" balance. We will explore key areas that each person needs to examine for their career and family to best prioritize their time and energy. Please join us for a self-evaluation and implementation of essential concepts of time management. JSC Employee Assistance Program counselor Anika Isaac, LPC, LMFT, NCC, LCDC, CEAP, will be presenting Time Management for Family and Work on Sept. 19 from 12 noon to 1 p.m. in the Building 30 Auditorium. Event Date: Thursday, September 19, 2013   Event Start Time:12:00 PM   Event End Time:1:00 PM Event Location: Building 30 Auditorium Add to Calendar Lorrie Bennett, Employee Assistance Program, Occupational Health Branch x36130 [top] Save the Date for Fright Fest: Oct. 25 Starport is brewing up something special for Halloween this year. Join in on the frightful family fun at Starport's annual Fright Fest at the Gilruth Center on Oct. 25! Learn and perform the Thriller dance routine with our special Thriller recreation dance class. Come dressed in costume for a fun and frightful workout with a Spooky Spin class - spinning with a Halloween theme! Bring the kiddos to our Fright Fest Bash and have some fun with a bounce house, games, candy, prizes, costume contests and more. And, take a tour of our family-friendly haunted house … if you dare. New for 2013: The NASA NightMARE Run. Visit our website for more information. Event Date: Friday, October 25, 2013   Event Start Time:4:30 PM   Event End Time:8:00 PM Event Location: Gilruth Center Add to Calendar Shelly Haralson x39168 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/ [top] Family Health and Fitness It has been said that humans are social beings. Many of us thrive when we participate in supportive group activities. Even more significant is how essential the family group we identify with influences our individual wellness. Please join us for an increased awareness of how family recreation directly relates to improved health. JSC Employee Assistance Program counselor Anika Isaac, LPC, LMFT, NCC, LCDC, CEAP, will be presenting Family Health and Wellness today, Sept. 12, from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. in Building 17, Room 2026. If you are unable to attend via ViTS, you may attend by WebEx and telephone (information below). 1-888-370-7263, pass code 8811760# Click here. Enter your name and email address. Enter the meeting password: Familyhealth9-12 Click "Join Now" Event Date: Thursday, September 12, 2013   Event Start Time:12:30 PM   Event End Time:1:30 PM Event Location: Building 17, Room 2026 Add to Calendar Lorrie Bennett, Employee Assistance Program, Occupational Health Branch x36130 [top] Mental Health Disorders and Coping Strategies Please join Takis Bogdanos, LPC-S, CGP, with the JSC Employee Assistance Program today, Sept. 12, at 12 noon in the Building 30 Auditorium for a presentation about bipolar disorder as part of the psycho-educational series: Mental Health Disorders, Causes and Treatments. He will be discussing causes, prevalence, symptoms and impact in everyday life, as well as the latest treatments being implemented. Event Date: Thursday, September 12, 2013   Event Start Time:12:00 PM   Event End Time:1:00 PM Event Location: Building 30 Auditorium Add to Calendar Lorrie Bennett, Employee Assistance Program, Occupational Health Branch x36130 [top] The College Money Guys The JSC Employee Assistance Program is happy to present Kris Lloyd with The College Money Guys. Lloyd will provide information on paying for college without going broke. If you are the parent of a high school student who plans to attend college, you need to attend this free workshop on Tuesday, Sept. 24, at 12 noon in the Building 30 Auditorium. Event Date: Tuesday, September 24, 2013   Event Start Time:12:00 PM   Event End Time:1:00 PM Event Location: Buiding 30 Auditorium Add to Calendar Lorrie Bennett, Employee Assistance Program, Occupational Health Branch x36130 [top] Engineers Without Borders - JSC Intro Session Ever wonder what Engineers Without Borders is and what they do? Then come out on Wednesday, Sept. 18, to Building 7, Room 141, from noon to 1 p.m. to learn about the JSC chapter and find out how you can get involved. No RSVP needed. Angela Cason x40903 http://ewb-jsc.org/index.html [top]    Jobs and Training Hand and Power Tools ViTS - Sept. 27   This two-hour course is based on Occupational Safety and Health Administration CFR 1910.28 and 1926.451, requirements for working with hand tools safely in the general and construction industries. During the course, the student will receive an overview of those topics needed to work safely with hand and power tools, including: standards, terminology, inspection of hand and power tool components and proper usage. There will be a final exam associated with this course, which must be passed with a 70 percent minimum score to receive course credit. Use this direct link for registration. https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_... Event Date: Friday, September 27, 2013   Event Start Time:9:30 AM   Event End Time:11:30 AM Event Location: Bldg. 17 Room 2026 Add to Calendar Shirley Robinson x41284 [top] Partnership Marketing Analyst Rotation A rotational opportunity is available for a Partnership Marketing Analyst that will help Strategic Opportunities & Partnership Development produce internal and external communications products and help us capture information about JSC's partnership efforts and accomplishments. You can view the description here. Peggy Wooten x30700 [top] Starport Financial Wellness: Home-Buying Seminar The Home-Buying Seminar is designed to help you understand the complete mortgage process and the mortgage options available to you. This seminar is presented by JSC Federal Credit Union at no cost or obligation. Oct. 2 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Building 4S, Room 2507 You will learn: The basics on selecting your home, mortgage and realtor The entire process, from pre-qualification to closing Mortgage and real estate lingo Real estate purchase contracts Which mortgage is right for YOU If you should escrow or not About the benefits of SWBC There is limited seating. A free lunch will be provided. RSVP by Sept. 30 to Shelly Haralson via email or at x39168. More info here. Shelly Haralson x39168 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/ [top]

 

JSC Today is compiled periodically as a service to JSC employees on an as-submitted basis. Any JSC organization or employee may submit articles. Disclaimer: Accuracy and content of these notes are the responsibility of the submitters.

 

 

 

 

 

NASA TV:

·         8 am Central (9 EDT) – REPLAY of AIAA Discussion - Asteroid Redirect Mission

 

Human Spaceflight News

Thursday – September 12, 2013

 

HEADLINES AND LEADS

 

Budget uncertainty weighs on NASA and space industry

 

Jeff Foust – SpacePolitics.com

 

"How many of you know what your budget is going to be next year? Raise your hand," said Larry James, a retired Air Force lieutenant general and the new deputy director of JPL, in introductory comments at Tuesday morning's plenary session of the AIAA Space 2013 conference in San Diego. As you might expect, effectively no one in the audience of several hundred space professionals did. That uncertainty about civil and military space budgets as fiscal year 2014 approaches was a recurring theme at the conference Tuesday, where government and industry officials emphasized the "changing landscape" of the industry and the need for innovation.

 

Stopgap Spending Bill Carves out Exception for U.S. Weather Satellites

 

Brian Berger - Space News

 

The stopgap spending measure the U.S. House of Representatives had been expected to pass this week to keep federal agencies operating past the end of the month would hold NASA's budget flat through year's end but allow the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to fund two weather satellites programs above 2013 levels.

 

Rocket to Space Station set to launch Tuesday from Wallops

 

Carol Vaughn - Eastern Shore News

 

Attention is turning to the scheduled Sept. 17 launch from Wallops Island of an Orbital Sciences Corporation's Antares rocket carrying the Cygnus spacecraft on a mission to the the International Space Station. It will be the first mission to lift off from Virginia for the International Space Station—and the second major mission launched in less than two weeks from NASA Wallops Flight Facility and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport. The 133-foot-tall, two-stage Antares rocket will be launched from the nation's newest launch pad.

 

New Jersey sky could feature second rocket launch in 10 days

 

R.J. Liberatore Jr. - Shore News Today

 

Southern New Jersey residents could be treated to another out-of-this-world delight next week when a rocket launch streaks through the sky for the second time in 10 days. Orbital Sciences Corporation will launch a cargo carrier Cygnus on top of one of its Antares rockets at 11:16 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 17 from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Pad-0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Eastern Virginia. If you can't take off of work, you can follow the pre-launch, launch and post-launch activity online at www.nasa.gov/ntv. Cygnus will deliver about 1,300 pounds of cargo, including food and clothing, to the Expedition 37 crew aboard the space station.

 

The Next Great Leaps Into Space Are Happening This Week

 

Jason Paur - Wired.com

 

It's going to be a busy seven days for the private space industry, with a pair of launches from the companies operating the new delivery trucks to the International Space Station. Both SpaceX and Orbital Sciences will be flying rockets in the coming week, and the launches are happening on opposite coasts.

 

NASA identifies three potential asteroids for capture

 

Kerry Sheridan - Agence France-Presse

 

The US space agency has narrowed its hunt for an asteroid to capture to three, NASA said Wednesday. The asteroids fit the requirements of being between seven to 10 meters (yards) in size, and further study should be able to narrow the choice even more, scientists said at a conference in San Diego, California. "We have two to three which we will characterize in the next year and if all goes well... those will be valid candidates that could be certified targets," said Paul Chodas, senior scientist at the NASA Near-Earth Object Program Office. The plan is to send a robotic spacecraft to capture the asteroid and drag it into orbit around the Moon. Once there, astronauts could visit the asteroid and take samples of it back to Earth for study.

 

NASA Identifies 3 Potential Asteroid Targets to Catch With Space Lasso

 

Miriam Kramer - Space.com

 

NASA has narrowed the list of candidates down to three space rocks for an ambitious mission to capture an asteroid and tow it to the moon, where it can be explored by astronauts. The space agency's plan aims to bring a 23-foot-wide (7 meters) space rock into lunar orbit using a robotic space lasso. Once the asteroid is in a stable orbit around the moon, astronauts can visit as soon as 2021 using NASA's Orion space capsule and the giant Space Launch System mega-rocket.

 

The Next Space Shuttle:

Hybrid Engines Make Runway-To-Orbit Missions A Reality

 

 

Nicole Dyer - Popular Science (September 2013 issue)

 

A disembodied jet engine, attached to a hulking air vent, sits in an outdoor test facility at the Culham Science Center in Oxfordshire, England. When the engine screams to life, columns of steam billow from the vent, giving the impression of an industrial smokestack. Engineer Alan Bond sees something more futuristic. "We're looking at a revolution in transportation," he says. For Bond, the engine represents the beginning of the world's first fully reusable spaceship, a new kind of craft that promises to do what no space-faring vehicle ever has: offer reliable, affordable, and regular round-trip access to low Earth orbit. Bond and the engineers at Reaction Engines, the aerospace company he founded with two colleagues in 1989, refer to the future craft as the Skylon. The vehicle would have a fuselage reminiscent of the Concorde and take off like a conventional airliner, accelerate to Mach 5.2, and blast out of the atmosphere like a rocket. On the return trip, Skylon would touch down on the same runway it launched from.

 

Astronaut signs on to join ISU aerospace program

 

Associated Press

 

A former astronaut who flew two trips to the International Space Station will join Iowa State University's aerospace engineering program. Clayton Anderson, an Omaha, Neb., native and an ISU graduate, will work with freshmen aerospace engineering students, engaging them in hands-on problem solving and helping design cutting-edge research projects.

 

Former NASA astronaut joins ISU engineering department

 

Jens Manuel Krogstad - Des Moines Register

 

Former NASA astronaut Clayton Anderson will join Iowa State University as an aerospace engineering faculty fellow. Anderson, a Nebraska native, earned his master's degree from ISU in 1983. Anderson has logged 167 days in space and 38 hours of spacewalks at the International Space Station. He has completed two space flights, the university said in a statement. Anderson will work with freshmen aerospace engineering students and help design research projects for the department's students and faculty. Anderson begins his new job in October.

(NO FURTHER TEXT)

 

Space City goes commercial

 

Jeff Carr - Galveston County Daily News (Opinion)

 

(Carr is the senior vice president of aerospace communications for Griffin Communications Group. He is the former director of communications for the United Space Alliance and was the director of public affairs and news chief at the Johnson Space Center.)

 

Some of the biggest names in commercial space were in Houston last week to address and collaborate on key issues facing this rapidly evolving sector of the space industry. Top executives from Boeing, SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin, Paragon, Sierra Nevada Corporation and XCOR Aerospace, plus a host of suppliers and subcontractors, are working together to forge a more affordable and accessible space industry to serve a range of government and private customers. And they are getting close to delivering.

 

Launch pad dispute

Exclusive-use lease better option than multi-use plan

 

Jeffrey Harris - Florida Today (Opinion)

 

(Harris was director of the National Reconnaissance Office and Assistant Secretary of Air Force (space), and held senior executive leadership positions at Lockheed Martin and Space Imaging. He is currently CEO of JKH Consulting in Maryland.)

 

NASA plans to transfer responsibility for shuttle pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center to industry under a five-year operating lease to avoiding costs estimated at $1.2 million a year. After study and review, including public input, NASA announced a competition. Leasing launch complex 39A is a common-sense idea — get someone else to pay and simultaneously create space operation jobs. While many government lease agreements are sole source, NASA welcomed all bidders. SpaceX and Blue Origin opted to compete. SpaceX described the business for an exclusive-use lease using the SpaceX launch vehicle leveraging a multiyear manifest of launches backed by experience operating launch pads. Blue Origin bid to operate launch complex 39A under a landlord model — in part, because the company will not have an operational launch vehicle until 2018. Blue Origin anticipates tenants from unidentified companies to fill the pad manifest. Two companies, two bids. Easy — evaluate, decide and establish the lease to shift responsibility to protect the infrastructure.

__________

 

COMPLETE STORIES

 

Budget uncertainty weighs on NASA and space industry

 

Jeff Foust – SpacePolitics.com

 

"How many of you know what your budget is going to be next year? Raise your hand," said Larry James, a retired Air Force lieutenant general and the new deputy director of JPL, in introductory comments at Tuesday morning's plenary session of the AIAA Space 2013 conference in San Diego. As you might expect, effectively no one in the audience of several hundred space professionals did.

 

That uncertainty about civil and military space budgets as fiscal year 2014 approaches was a recurring theme at the conference Tuesday, where government and industry officials emphasized the "changing landscape" of the industry and the need for innovation.

 

With NASA expected to at least start the fiscal year next month under a continuing resolution (CR), one that could potentially be extended for the full year (Tuesday the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee introduced a CR that runs through December 15), plus the prospects of another round of across-the-board cuts triggered by sequestration, few at the conference expressed a lot of optimism about the agency's fiscal situation.

 

"There is a rumor that some plans are being drawn for a '14 budget that's compliant with sequestration which may be as low as $16.1 billion" for NASA, said Roger Krone, president of Boeing's Network and Space Systems business unit, in that Tuesday morning plenary session.

 

He didn't offer more details about that rumor, but would be consistent with a roughly five-percent cut from NASA's final FY13 appropriation, itself trimmed by five percent from the appropriations bill passed by Congress in March. A presentation at a NASA Advisory Council science committee meeting in late July used an estimate of $16.16 billion for a post-sequestration NASA budget in 2014.

 

How those cuts, or even the application of a CR, would filter down to the various programs in the agency remains to be determined. NASA's Commercial Crew Program, for example, was a beneficiary of the final operating plan released last month, seeing its budget restored to $525 million, the level approved by Congress prior to the application of sequestration.

 

Ed Mango, manager of the program, told reporters at a briefing late Tuesday at Space 2013 that he wasn't sure if that higher number would transfer over into 2014 if there is a CR. "If we are under a CR, we will be, unless there's new legislation that adds to the CR, somewhere between $488 and 525 million," he said.

 

"A CR, and how that impacts Commercial Crew, is still to be determined." He did add that the program is in good shape through the final weeks of fiscal year 2013 and, under some estimates, through all of 2014 as well.

 

"I would say the largest issue we're facing is more of a programmatic thing, and it's around the budget, and frankly around budget uncertainty," said NASA's Todd May, manager of the Space Launch System program, during a panel session on NASA's human spaceflight programs at the conference Tuesday.

 

Budgets are tight, he said, but that was common to past programs he's worked on at NASA. "So far, we have met the challenge. We have done everything we can do to keep this thing on track."

 

While former NASA deputy administrator Lori Garver suggested upon her departure last week that SLS and Orion would likely suffer delays, May insisted SLS was remaining on schedule, even with the current budget concerns.

 

"We just have to wait and let the appropriations process work itself out," he said. "Every year, when all was said and done, we got what we needed to get the job done. I'm here to tell you that we're on track for [a first launch in] '17. We'll see how things work out."

 

Stopgap Spending Bill Carves out Exception for U.S. Weather Satellites

 

Brian Berger - Space News

 

The stopgap spending measure the U.S. House of Representatives had been expected to pass this week to keep federal agencies operating past the end of the month would hold NASA's budget flat through year's end but allow the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to fund two weather satellites programs above 2013 levels.

 

The so-called continuing resolution, or CR, that House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) introduced Sept. 10 would keep the federal government funded at $986 billion through Dec. 15. That is about $2 billion below the U.S. government's budget for fiscal year 2013, which ends Sept. 30. Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), Rogers counterpart in the Senate, told Capitol Hill reporters she would prefer a shorter CR, one that runs through Nov. 28, which is Thanksgiving in the United States.

 

Rogers' bill makes no explicit mention of NASA, which ended up with $16.86 billion this year, according to the 2013 operating plan the agency released at the end of August. However, the bill does mention two satellite programs NASA is managing on NOAA's behalf: the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite System (GOES) and the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS).

 

Rogers' bill allows NOAA to shift money around within its procurement account in order to keep both programs on track for launch.

 

GOES-R, the first of four GOES satellites Denver-based Lockheed Martin Space Systems is currently building under contract to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., is slated to launch in 2015. JPSS-1, which is being built by Boulder, Colo.-based Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp., under contract to Goddard, is slated to launch in 2017.

 

Rocket to Space Station set to launch Tuesday from Wallops

 

Carol Vaughn - Eastern Shore News

 

Attention is turning to the scheduled Sept. 17 launch from Wallops Island of an Orbital Sciences Corporation's Antares rocket carrying the Cygnus spacecraft on a mission to the the International Space Station.

 

It will be the first mission to lift off from Virginia for the International Space Station—and the second major mission launched in less than two weeks from NASA Wallops Flight Facility and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport.

 

The LADEE spacecraft is on its way to the moon after successfully lifting off from the spaceport aboard a Minotaur V rocket on Sept. 6.

 

The 133-foot-tall, two-stage Antares rocket will be launched from the nation's newest launch pad.

 

The launch is set for 11:16 a.m. Tuesday, with a 15-minute window. Launch coverage on NASA TV will begin at 10:45 a.m.

 

Orbital Sciences announced it has named the Cygnus spacecraft to be launched Tuesday after late space shuttle astronaut G. David Low.

 

"Orbital has a tradition going back 25 years or more of naming many of our launch vehicles and spacecraft, and we're going to continue that tradition on this one...We are very proud to name the spacecraft 'G. David Low' and carry this tradition and honor him in this way into space," said Frank Culbertson, Orbital's executive vice president.

 

Shuttle veteran

 

Low, a veteran of three shuttle missions who later worked for Orbital on the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program, died of cancer in 2008 at age 52.

 

He left NASA in 1997 to join Dulles-based Orbital Sciences Corp. as Vice President of Safety and Mission Assurance for Orbital's Launch Systems Group and later served as Vice President of the company's Advanced Programs Group and the Technical Services Division.

 

Lowe was promoted in 2006 to Senior Vice President and Program Manager for the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program at Orbital Sciences.

 

The launch is for a demonstration mission under NASA's COTS program, which is the final milestone that needs to be completed successfully before Orbital undertakes its first cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station under a $1.9 billion Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA, likely later this year.

 

The company is contracted for eight cargo resupply missions to the space station over about four years, all of which will take off from Wallops.

 

NASA under the COTS program made seed money available to private companies to develop cargo vehicles to go to the space station.

 

California-based SpaceX, which won a COTS agreement in 2006, in May 2012 successfully launched its Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Dragon cargo capsule from Florida on a demonstration mission to the space station and afterward began flying regular cargo missions to the space station.

 

Orbital won its COTS agreement in 2008 and successfully launched a test flight of Antares in April this year.

 

A Sept. 17 launch should result in the spacecraft berthing with the space station on Sept. 22, after a series of test maneuvers during its approach.

 

Food delivery

 

Cygnus' pressurized cargo module has a capacity of almost 19 million cubic meters of pressurized volume and can hold over 2 tons of supplies.

 

It is manufactured by Thales Alenia Space, the same company that built cargo modules that carried supplies to the space station on 11 space shuttle missions.

 

The spacecraft on the demonstration mission will carry more than 1,300 pounds of cargo to the space station, including about 44 pounds of care packages for the crew.

 

Also on board will be nearly 434 pounds of crew provisions and 530 pounds of food, along with computer supplies, tools and small experiment modules, among other items, according to NASA's Johnson Space Center Public Affairs Officer Josh Byerly.

 

Also among the items listed on the manifest is an "extravehicular mobility unit"—known to most of us as a spacesuit.

 

For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and scheduling information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

 

For information on the International Space Station, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/station

 

For more information about the mission, and for updated schedules of tours, briefings and NASA TV coverage, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/orbital

 

New Jersey sky could feature second rocket launch in 10 days

 

R.J. Liberatore Jr. - Shore News Today

 

Southern New Jersey residents could be treated to another out-of-this-world delight next week when a rocket launch streaks through the sky for the second time in 10 days.

 

Orbital Sciences Corporation will launch a cargo carrier Cygnus on top of one of its Antares rockets at 11:16 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 17 from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Pad-0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Eastern Virginia.

 

If you can't take off of work, you can follow the pre-launch, launch and post-launch activity online at www.nasa.gov/ntv.

 

Cygnus will deliver about 1,300 pounds of cargo, including food and clothing, to the Expedition 37 crew aboard the space station.

 

Future flights of Cygnus will significantly increase NASA's ability to deliver new science investigations to the nation's only laboratory in microgravity.

 

Rendezvous with the space station is scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 22. NASA Television coverage will begin at 4:30 a.m. and will continue through the capture and installation of the Cygnus spacecraft. Capture is scheduled for about 7:17 a.m. with installation of the craft beginning about 9 a.m.

 

At 11:27 p.m. Friday, Sept. 6, Orbital launched a Minotaur rocket from WallopsIsland that contained a payload destined for the moon.

 

Thousands of people across the New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania watched the liftoff, stage separations and gasped as the Minataur streaked across the night time sky.

 

An April 2013 launch of an Antares was visible from New Jersey.

 

The Next Great Leaps Into Space Are Happening This Week

 

Jason Paur - Wired.com

 

It's going to be a busy seven days for the private space industry, with a pair of launches from the companies operating the new delivery trucks to the International Space Station. Both SpaceX and Orbital Sciences will be flying rockets in the coming week, and the launches are happening on opposite coasts.

 

First up is SpaceX, which has already made three flights to the ISS: one demo flight and two cargo flights. This weekend Elon Musk's company is expected to test-fly a new, stretched version of its Falcon 9 rocket. The new rocket will be launching from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, the first time SpaceX has launched the Falcon 9 from anywhere other than Florida's Cape Canaveral.

 

The upcoming flight does have a payload on board — a Canadian spacecraft — but it is primarily a test flight, and SpaceX founder Elon Musk is understandably cautious.

 

"Upcoming Falcon 9 demo has a lot of new technology, so the probability of failure is significant," he said on Twitter.

 

Musk told Spacenews.com that the company is "being, as usual, extremely paranoid about the launch." With the higher risk of failure, the Canadian Space Agency did get a significant discount for carrying its payload, "maybe 20 percent of the normal price," Musk said.

 

In addition to the new hardware and launch site, SpaceX will also be attempting to relight the engine on the booster stage just before it hits the ocean. The effort is a small step towards SpaceX's goal of creating a reusable first-stage rocket that can return to a landing site after launch.

 

The company has performed several test flights of its Grasshopper test vehicle flying out of SpaceX's McGregor, Texas facility. The Grasshopper is a replica of a first stage, but also has landing gear (and a cowboy mannequin passenger). So far it's climbed to over 1,000 feet, hovered and returned to its launch pad during testing, in addition to the most recent flight last month where the Grasshopper made a hard turn just after liftoff, diverting laterally away from the pad. It then managed to hover, turn back and return to the pad. A new video released this weekend shows the cowboy on board could probably use the Grasshopper to heard cows.

 

In addition to the test flight in California this week, the Falcon 9 has its first commercial launch of a communications payload scheduled for later this year.

 

On the East Coast, Orbital Sciences is preparing for its first flight to the ISS. After its successful first demonstration flight in April, Orbital Sciences is slated to launch its Cygnus spacecraft for the first time on September 17. Cygnus will carry some non-essential cargo to the ISS, following a similar mission as SpaceX did with its Dragon spacecraft on its first visit.

 

Unlike Dragon, the Cygnus spacecraft is not reusable, and will burn up during reentry. The spacecraft will be launched using Orbital's Antares rocket from the Wallops Island Flight Facility on the Virginia coast. If all goes according to plan, Orbital could begin flying its first contracted cargo mission later this year.

 

Next week's flight will be the second this month for Orbital Sciences. The veteran space launch company flew its Minotaur V rocket on Saturday, delivering NASA's new Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer spacecraft into orbit where it will spend several more days before making its trip to the moon for some low-altitude surveying.

 

The Cygnus spacecraft is expected to dock with the ISS on September 22 and remain there for about a month. It will be filled with some trash before being released and ending its disposable flight during reentry.

 

NASA identifies three potential asteroids for capture

 

Kerry Sheridan - Agence France-Presse

 

The US space agency has narrowed its hunt for an asteroid to capture to three, NASA said Wednesday.

 

The asteroids fit the requirements of being between seven to 10 meters (yards) in size, and further study should be able to narrow the choice even more, scientists said at a conference in San Diego, California.

 

"We have two to three which we will characterize in the next year and if all goes well... those will be valid candidates that could be certified targets," said Paul Chodas, senior scientist at the NASA Near-Earth Object Program Office.

 

The plan is to send a robotic spacecraft to capture the asteroid and drag it into orbit around the Moon.

 

Once there, astronauts could visit the asteroid and take samples of it back to Earth for study.

 

The spacecraft used for travel there and back would be the Orion multi-purpose vehicle, which is being built but has not yet been used, as well as a new deep space rocket launcher.

 

The program aims to break new ground by increasing NASA capabilities beyond low Earth orbit, where the International Space Station circles the globe.

 

NASA has touted the planetary defense capabilities the project would build toward protecting the Earth from a potential hazardous asteroid collision, as well as the technology it would boost for future human missions to deep space.

 

President Barack Obama has proclaimed the project would be a key step on the way to sending humans to Mars by the 2030s.

 

Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator of NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Directorate, described the asteroid mission as "pretty compelling."

 

"If you think about grabbing an object in space and then manipulating it for our use and putting it into a destination where we could go back and routinely visit and let commercial companies go visit, I think that is a pretty compelling activity."

 

Obama's 2014 budget for NASA asked for $100 million for the asteroid project, but the overall costs may be as high as $2 billion.

 

"It's a little different way than just a date and a destination. We are really good at just picking dates and destinations. But that's really hard in this budget environment where things are constrained and we have flat budgets, et cetera et cetera, to pull that off," said Gerstenmaier.

 

"It is not just a one-time thing. It actually feeds forward into the broader context of what we want to do with humans in space."

 

The launch could happen as early as 2017 or as late as 2019.

 

After launch of the robotic mission, the journey to the asteroid would take a year and a half, and the act of towing it toward the moon could take another three and a half years, NASA said.

 

The project would use a new fuel technology called solar electric propulsion.

 

"We are talking about engineering the solar system, in a way. We are talking about taking an asteroid which was once here, and then putting it into a useful orbit for our purposes," said Chodas.

 

"This is a very large idea here that we are talking about and I think it will reinvigorate interest in the space program," he said.

 

NASA Identifies 3 Potential Asteroid Targets to Catch With Space Lasso

 

Miriam Kramer - Space.com

 

NASA has narrowed the list of candidates down to three space rocks for an ambitious mission to capture an asteroid and tow it to the moon, where it can be explored by astronauts.

 

The space agency's plan aims to bring a 23-foot-wide (7 meters) space rock into lunar orbit using a robotic space lasso. Once the asteroid is in a stable orbit around the moon, astronauts can visit as soon as 2021 using NASA's Orion space capsule and the giant Space Launch System mega-rocket.

 

NASA scientists have identified three of the best candidates from a list of 14 asteroids that could be prime contenders for this kind of mission, Paul Chodas, a senior scientist in NASA's Near- Earth Object Program Office told reporters in a teleconference Wednesday.

 

"It's mostly orbital constraints that those 14 satisfy," Chodas said. "We did not have the opportunity to characterize the size. We have two to three which we'll characterize in the next year and if all goes well, those will be valid candidates that could be certified targets and we'll pass by another in the year 2016. So we have three from the list of 14."

 

Chodas also thinks that the future of viable asteroid discovery is bright. NASA scientists could find about five more asteroid candidates each year as it prepares for the mission, he said during the teleconference held at the Space 2013 conference held by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in San Diego, Calif.

 

Scientists are searching for a specific kind of space rock to tow into orbit around the moon. NASA officials want an asteroid that is between 20 and 30 feet (7 and 10 meters) in size, which is fairly small for an asteroid. The target size of the near-Earth object is somewhat constrained by the size of the bag and the ability of the robotic probe to wrangle the asteroid back to Earth, Chodas said.

 

Officials are also hoping to capture an asteroid that will be made out of useful material.

 

"It would be preferred to have a so-called 'C-type' asteroid which is one that has hydrated minerals," Chodas said. "These are the kinds of asteroids from which you can extract water and oxygen in theory. So this would be a very interesting object to have in distant retrograde orbit around the moon because we could get an idea of what would be required to use asteroids as way-stations to extract consumables should we need that on the way to Mars, for example."

 

Enhancing the discovery methods for possible asteroid capture mission candidates could also increase the discovery rate for Earth-threatening asteroids, Chodas said: "We can't just look for one kind of asteroid and not find the other. With these enhancements, we're going to find more of both kinds."

 

NASA put out a call for proposals from outside groups about the best ways to go about tackling the asteroid mission and it paid off. The space agency received more than 400 proposals for the asteroid capture mission that officials narrowed down to 96 they plan on discussing in a public workshop taking place from Sept. 20 to Oct. 2.

 

The Next Space Shuttle:

Hybrid Engines Make Runway-To-Orbit Missions A Reality

 

 

Nicole Dyer - Popular Science (September 2013 issue)

 

A disembodied jet engine, attached to a hulking air vent, sits in an outdoor test facility at the Culham Science Center in Oxfordshire, England. When the engine screams to life, columns of steam billow from the vent, giving the impression of an industrial smokestack. Engineer Alan Bond sees something more futuristic. "We're looking at a revolution in transportation," he says. For Bond, the engine represents the beginning of the world's first fully reusable spaceship, a new kind of craft that promises to do what no space-faring vehicle ever has: offer reliable, affordable, and regular round-trip access to low Earth orbit.

 

Bond and the engineers at Reaction Engines, the aerospace company he founded with two colleagues in 1989, refer to the future craft as the Skylon. The vehicle would have a fuselage reminiscent of the Concorde and take off like a conventional airliner, accelerate to Mach 5.2, and blast out of the atmosphere like a rocket. On the return trip, Skylon would touch down on the same runway it launched from.

 

Bond's Synergistic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine (Sabre)—part chemical rocket, part jet engine—will make Skylon possible. Sabre has the unique ability to use oxygen in the air rather than from external liquid-oxygen tanks like those on the space shuttle. Strapped to a spacecraft, engines of this breed would eliminate the need for expendable boosters, which make launching people and things into space slow and expensive. "The Skylon could be ready to head back to space within two days of landing," says Mark Hempsell, future-programs director at Reaction Engines. By comparison, the space shuttle, which required an external fuel tank and two rocket boosters, took about two months to turn around (due to damage incurred during launch and splashdown) and cost $100 million. Citing Skylon's simplicity, Hempsell estimates a mission could cost as little as $10 million. That price would even undercut the $50 million sum that private spaceflight company SpaceX plans to charge to launch cargo on its two-stage Falcon 9 rocket.

 

The engine produces incredible heat as it pushes toward space, and heat is a problem. Hot air is difficult to compress, and poor compression in the combustion chamber yields a weak and inefficient engine. Sabre must be able to cool that air quickly, before it gets to the turbocompressor. In November, Reaction Engines hit a critical milestone when it successfully tested the prototype's ability to inhale blistering-hot air and then flash-chill it without generating mission-ending frost. David Willetts, British minister for universities and science, called the achievement "remarkable."

 

The Skylon concept has also impressed the European Space Agency (ESA), which audited Reaction Engines' designs last year and found no technical impediments to building the craft. The bigger challenge may be securing funding. While ESA and the British government have invested a combined $92 million in the project, Bond and his crew plan to turn to public and private investors for the remaining $3.6 billion necessary to complete the engine, which they say could be ready for flight tests in the next four years. Building the craft itself would require a much heftier investment: $14 billion.

 

* * *

 

The quest for a single-stage-to-orbit spaceship, or SSTO, has bedeviled aerospace engineers for decades. Bond's own exploration of the topic began in the early 1980s, when he was a young engineer working with Rolls-Royce as part of a team tasked with developing a reusable spacecraft for British Aerospace. That's when he came up with the idea of a hybrid engine. But the team struggled to figure out how to cool the engine at supersonic speeds without adding crippling amounts of weight. "By the time the plane hits Mach 2 or so, the air becomes very hot and extremely difficult to compress," Bond says. Rolls-Royce and the British government, doubtful that an easy and economical solution existed, canceled the program's funding.

 

NASA and Lockheed Martin, meanwhile, had their own plans for a fully reusable spacecraft, the VentureStar, intended as an affordable replacement for the partially reusable space shuttle. The VentureStar demonstrator, called X-33 (which graced the cover of this magazine in 1996), was a squat, triangular rocket that would take off vertically and glide back to Earth just as the shuttle did. Eliminating the expendable rockets needed to boost the shuttle into space could theoretically reduce the cost of launches from $10,000 per pound to $1,000 per pound. But by 2001, after sinking more than $1 billion into the project, the agency pulled the plug, citing repeated technical setbacks and ballooning costs. "We backed off because we felt it was better to focus our efforts on other, less costly ways to get payloads to orbit," says Dan Dumbacher, NASA's deputy associate administrator for exploration systems development, who spent two years working on the X-33.

 

With the shuttle now retired, and companies such as SpaceX under contract to resupply the International Space Station (ISS), NASA has doubled down on expendable boosters as a means of sending humans and probes well beyond Earth's orbit. NASA's new platform for deep-space exploration, the Space Launch System, will be the most powerful rocket ever built. The agency's focus on space exploration, and the need for big rockets to achieve it, means NASA no longer needs to build its own platforms just to get cargo into orbit. "From a pure technical perspective, we'd all love to go do SSTO," Dumbacher says. "But we're focused on making sure we get humans farther into space, and that's an expensive proposition."

 

Expendable rockets make sense for missions beyond low-Earth orbit. They can haul more cargo and more fuel than single-stage craft. Rockets also offer reliability—on average, only one out of 20 launches fail, in part because they suffer no wear and tear from repeated use. Finally, rockets come with fewer R&D costs, as much of the technology has existed since the 1960s.

 

But for routine missions to the ISS, or to park a small observational satellite in orbit, affordability becomes a critical consideration. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk told an audience at the National Press Club in 2011 that private spaceflights would need to follow a model closer to that of airlines. "If planes were not reusable, very few people would fly," he said. SpaceX plans to make rocket stages reusable, but there are drawbacks to that, too: While it is possible to recover rocket stages, designing bits and pieces to survive reentry in good working order adds a level of complexity and cost.

 

Hempsell says Skylon could potentially make 100 flights annually—which, if true, could in its first year recoup the money spent in R&D and construction, leaving only expenses like fuel, maintenance, and overhead. And Bond's engine technology, aside from keeping a launch vehicle intact from start to finish, offers another advantage: supersonic aviation. "It could enable an aircraft to fly anywhere in the world in under four hours," says Bond.

 

* * *

 

When air strikes an engine at five times the speed of sound, it can heat up to nearly 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Bleeding off that heat instantly, before the air reaches the turbocompressor and then the thrust chamber, was the most onerous technical challenge for Reaction Engines engineers. Bond's solution is a heat exchanger that works by running cold liquid helium through an array of tubes with paper-thin metal walls. As the scorching-hot air moves through the exchanger, the chilled tubing absorbs the energy, cooling the air to minus 238 degrees Fahrenheit in a fraction of a second. Bond says his exchanger could handle about 400 megawatts of heat (equivalent to a medium-size natural-gas plant). "If it were in a power station, it would probably be a 200-ton heat exchanger," he says. "The one we've built is about 1.4 tons."

 

For rocket scientists, nothing matters more than weight. "Each pound you put into orbit requires about 10 pounds or so of fuel to get it there," says NASA's Dumbacher. "The challenge with the SSTO has always been to get the craft as light as possible [and generate] as much thrust as possible." Bond estimates that Skylon would weigh about 358 tons at takeoff and hold enough hydrogen fuel to carry itself and about 16.5 tons of payload—about the same capacity as most operational rockets—into orbit.

 

If and when the engine passes flight tests, one of Reaction Engines' plans is to license the technology to a potential partner in the aerospace industry. Bond hopes the recent success of the heat exchanger will inspire interest. After 30 years of research, it has certainly inspired him. "It represents a fundamental breakthrough in propulsion technology," he says. "This is the proudest moment of my life."

 

Astronaut signs on to join ISU aerospace program

 

Associated Press

 

A former astronaut who flew two trips to the International Space Station will join Iowa State University's aerospace engineering program.

 

Clayton Anderson, an Omaha, Neb., native and an ISU graduate, will work with freshmen aerospace engineering students, engaging them in hands-on problem solving and helping design cutting-edge research projects.

 

Anderson received a master's degree in aerospace engineering from Iowa State in 1983. He was selected as an astronaut candidate in 1998 and flew missions in 2007 and 2010.

 

Rich Wlezien, chair of the university's aerospace engineering department says Anderson's experience in all aspects of human space flight will be highly relevant to the students as the era of commercial space access emerges.

 

Anderson will begin as a distinguished faculty fellow at Iowa State in October.

 

Space City goes commercial

 

Jeff Carr - Galveston County Daily News (Opinion)

 

(Carr is the senior vice president of aerospace communications for Griffin Communications Group. He is the former director of communications for the United Space Alliance and was the director of public affairs and news chief at the Johnson Space Center.)

 

Some of the biggest names in commercial space were in Houston last week to address and collaborate on key issues facing this rapidly evolving sector of the space industry.

 

Top executives from Boeing, SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin, Paragon, Sierra Nevada Corporation and XCOR Aerospace, plus a host of suppliers and subcontractors, are working together to forge a more affordable and accessible space industry to serve a range of government and private customers.

 

And they are getting close to delivering.

 

New space vehicles with names like SpaceShip Two, Dream Chaser, Dragon, Lynx and New Shepard will, someday soon, be regularly populating air traffic radar screens at certified space ports around the world.

 

The gathering was co-hosted by the Houston Airport System who is, itself, seeking FAA commercial spaceport licensing for Ellington Airport (EFD), and is looking to engage with these industry innovators on home turf.

 

A space port in Houston. "Well, of course," you might think. Where else would you put one? After all, this is Space City, right? The home of human space flight. Ok, maybe in Florida, too…after all, they know a thing or two about launching and landing space vehicles.

 

Truth be told, Houston might become the second city in Texas to score spaceport status, behind Midland who has applied for status, as well, and behind other states already there, including California, New Mexico and Florida.

 

At first glance, it looks like good old Space City is a little late to the dance. But the night is still young, and the city of Houston could still very well wind up being the belle of the ball.

 

While the primary focus of this commercial space surge is on solving the basic transportation problem of getting to space and back, there is also the challenge of developing viable markets, above and beyond taxpayer funded government programs, to sustain affordable, available access to space.

 

The first market that generally comes to mind is space tourism. Without yet making its first flight to space, Virgin Galactic has demonstrated a clear serviceable market with over 650 passengers with reservations to fly on the world's first commercial space liner. But the commercial opportunities associated with space flight also include a wide range of science, medicine, energy, technology, applied research and educational applications. And there is not a more rich, and diverse foundation for the development of commercial space applications in the world than right here.

 

Houston is home to essential industries of the future like energy, manufacturing, aeronautics, and transportation, with legitimate world leadership status in medicine, nanotechnology and education. The Johnson Space Center is home to a world class orbiting research facility, the International Space Station.

 

With all of this and a local space port, Houston will be well positioned to become a major market hub for a new era of space enterprise.

 

While others are focused on getting there and back, it seems like a good time for someone to focus on what we can do when we get there. Space City, that's our cue.

 

Launch pad dispute

Exclusive-use lease better option than multi-use plan

 

Jeffrey Harris - Florida Today (Opinion)

 

(Harris was director of the National Reconnaissance Office and Assistant Secretary of Air Force (space), and held senior executive leadership positions at Lockheed Martin and Space Imaging. He is currently CEO of JKH Consulting in Maryland.)

 

NASA plans to transfer responsibility for shuttle pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center to industry under a five-year operating lease to avoiding costs estimated at $1.2 million a year.

 

After study and review, including public input, NASA announced a competition. Leasing launch complex 39A is a common-sense idea — get someone else to pay and simultaneously create space operation jobs. While many government lease agreements are sole source, NASA welcomed all bidders.

 

SpaceX and Blue Origin opted to compete. SpaceX described the business for an exclusive-use lease using the SpaceX launch vehicle leveraging a multiyear manifest of launches backed by experience operating launch pads. Blue Origin bid to operate launch complex 39A under a landlord model — in part, because the company will not have an operational launch vehicle until 2018. Blue Origin anticipates tenants from unidentified companies to fill the pad manifest.

 

Two companies, two bids. Easy — evaluate, decide and establish the lease to shift responsibility to protect the infrastructure.

 

It is important to get on with practicing the art, science and commerce of a space-faring nation. However, NASA is now blocked from making a selection due to a protest filed by Blue Origin regarding NASA's plans to lease pad 39A for commercial use — even before NASA is able to apply its decision-making expertise. The interference comes after the studies and comment period have ended and before NASA's decision.

 

Some claim that an exclusive-use lease would be improper or damage the national interest. While multi-use launch pads sound good, and many have tried to make them work, no multi-user launch pad operated by a company has succeeded. Pad 37 for the Delta IV rocket was intended to make the pad compatible with the Delta II launch vehicle. It was not successful, and Atlas and Delta launch from different pads.

 

Launch vehicles have different propulsion systems and propellants with different masses, acoustic environments, structures and mechanical interfaces. Some payload and launchers are integrated vertically, while others are integrated horizontally. Additional complexity costs both time and money.

 

A multi-user pad will take additional time and money. The notion of competitors collaborating on common and compatible systems adds difficulty. Proprietary information, security and schedules define competitiveness. Time is money.

 

NASA plans to set up operations of pad launch complex 39B as a multi-use pad by financing pad reconfigurations to handle the Space Launch System (SLS). SLS will not utilize the pad's volume capacity. NASA has not yet identified interest from any private companies — including Blue Origin — in conducting launches from pad 39B. But if a multi-use can be successfully demonstrated, perhaps a NASA third-party honest-broker model with the added benefit of government cost-burden sharing can work.

 

Support the policy that provides for the transfer of excess assets to help bolster the space industry so that pad 39A is not abandoned. Create space operation jobs to help our economy.

 

Help restore the competitiveness of the United States in space launch. A competition is underway; may the best bidder win. It just makes sense to put launch complex 39A back to work.

 

END