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Mars Shaping Up as NASA Budget Battleground

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 00:20:00 GMT

Mars is the Roman god of war, an apt connection as budget battles heat up with the release of NASA's FY2013 request. Lines are being drawn in the space science community generally and among planetary scientists specifically as everyone fights for scarer resources. Future plans for Mars probes are at the center of the debate. All eyes are on Congress to see if it will save the planetary exploration budget and, if it does, what will be sacrificed in this zero-sum budget environment.

NASA's total budget would decline by only a small amount if Congress appropriates the President's request, but a $300 million cut to NASA's $1.5 billion planetary science budget is sparking controversy. The complaints come both from those who believe that budget suffered because of overruns on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and those who feel that NASA is trying to salvage some sort of robotic Mars exploration program at the expense of exploring other places in the solar system.

The cut from $1.5 billion to $1.2 billion means that NASA will not be able to fulfill its pledge to participate with the European Space Agency (ESA) in a series of missions that ultimately would return a sample of Mars to Earth. NASA informed ESA that it could not participate in missions planned for 2016 and 2018 that were to kick off that effort. The decision resulted in a storm of controversy in the planetary science community that blamed overruns on JWST for the reduced funding for planetary science. JWST is part of NASA's astrophysics program. Planetary science and astrophysics are two of the four disciplines within NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD). The other two are earth science and heliophysics (studies of the Sun and the solar-terrestrial environment). The budget request for all of astrophysics -- including JWST, which is bookkept separately -- would increase substantially, and earth science and heliophysics would increase slightly. Only planetary science would decrease in FY2013.

NASA officials have been careful not to make any connection publicly between JWST overruns and cuts to the planetary science budget. They insist that several planetary science missions have completed their development phases or soon will. Thus, a reduction should not be surprising, they say. That argument has not assuaged those who draw the battle line between JWST and planetary science.

But a new front opened on Thursday during a teleconference meeting of the NASA Advisory Council's (NAC's) Planetary Science Subcommittee. Divisions within the planetary science community became apparent there, and may continue on Monday and Tuesday at a meeting of NASA's Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG) near Dulles Airport outside Washington, DC.

At Thursday's meeting, advocates of exploring the outer planets -- those that lie beyond Mars and the asteroid belt -- were particularly vocal in arguing that the recent National Research Council's Decadal Survey for planetary science gave them the next priority if the Mars sample return missions did not proceed. Instead, they complained, NASA is continuing to talk about Mars missions, albeit smaller than those that were planned with ESA. On February 13, the day the budget request was released, for example, SMD Associate Administrator John Grunsfeld spoke about options for sending smaller probes to Mars in 2016 and 2018 despite cancellation of the plans with ESA for the large "flagship" (most expensive) missions. Grunsfeld also restated what NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden said earlier in the day that the agency is developing an "integrated strategy" for Mars exploration that responds to the needs of both science and human exploration goals at NASA.

Jim Green, director of SMD's planetary science division, confirmed at Thursday's meeting that a Mars sample return mission will not be pursued in this decade. He also repeated what he has said at previous meetings of this subcommittee that the planetary science community needs to make its case that the return on investment for planetary exploration is worth the cost. NASA's budget includes a four-year projection that shows planetary science will continue on a downward trajectory through FY2015 to $1.1 billion and then receive very slight increases the next two years. By FY2017 the budget ekes its way back to the $1.2 billion it would get in FY2013.

NRC Decadal Surveys are performed for each of the space and earth science disciplines every 10 years (a decade) and prioritize what science questions are most important and identify missions to answer them. The Decadal Surveys are often referred to as "bibles" because NASA and Congress usually follow their recommendations faithfully since they represent a consensus of the relevant science community. The planetary science Decadal Survey stated that the Mars sample return missions had top priority for flagship missions and if they did not proceed, then NASA should go to the next on the list -- a mission to Jupiter's moon Europa called the Jupiter Europa Orbiter (JEO). Europa has an icy crust that scientists believe covers a liquid ocean of water. In the "follow the water" quest for extraterrestrial life, it is a very high priority target for outer planet exploration.

Green was challenged at Thursday's meeting to explain why NASA is talking about smaller Mars missions instead of focusing on a Europa mission as the Decadal Survey recommended. He insisted that NASA is following the Decadal Survey recommendations because the 2016 Mars mission it is considering already had been proposed as a candidate for a small Discovery-class mission, and the agency is not trying to add a medium-class New Frontiers mission for Mars.

The Decadal Survey stipulated that if JEO was to proceed, its costs would have to be sharply reduced. Robert Pappalardo of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), a NASA-funded federal research and development center operated by the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, CA, is heading a study to do just that. He stated at Thursday's meeting that his group has come up with "multiple fly-by missions that will come in at the cost target" and demanded to know why NASA is "abandoning the Decadal Survey recommendation."

Green replied that looking at the budget through FY2017, there is "no room for a flagship level activity," but Pappalardo countered that the mission his study committee has developed is "sub-flagship now." Two other studies also are underway for outer planet flagship missions and Green replied that until all three go through an independent cost review, NASA cannot make any announcement about what might be the next flagship mission.

Others at the meeting pointed out that when NASA's Cassini mission, currently studying Saturn, completes operations in 2018, it will be the end of the outer planets flagship program. One called the FY2013 budget request a "going out of business" scenario for outer planets exploration. Green did not disagree.

The United States is the only country to launch probes to the outer planets, although ESA built the Huygens probe that landed on Saturn's moon Titan as part of NASA's Cassini program. ESA is considering a mission to Jupiter and its moons called JUICE. It is one of three proposals vying for selection as ESA's next major space science program. A decision is expected this spring. Green said that if JUICE is selected by ESA, NASA might be able to participate in a small way. Green complimented ESA for reacting "with vision and not with anger" to NASA backing out of the Mars 2016 and 2018 missions and its willingness to continue considering cooperation with NASA.

JPL, which builds many of NASA's planetary exploration spacecraft, and planetary exploration in general are popular in Congress. Several of the scientists at Thursday's meeting spoke confidently that Congress will restore funding for planetary science. The debate may well have a different dimension on Capitol Hill. At a February 17 hearing on the President's FY2013 budget request for research and development, Rep. Ralph Hall (R-TX), chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, asked why NASA was singled out for "unequal treatment." He said the request proposes increases for all the agencies within the committee's jurisdiction except NASA. He and ranking member Eddie Bernie Johnson (D-TX) both complained about the cuts to the Mars budget.

Getting Congress to increase NASA funding above the President's request will be challenging to say the least in the current budget environment. For FY2012, Congress cut NASA's request from $18.72 billion to $17.77 billion (after a $30 million across-the-board rescission). However, Congress might make other choices on how to allocate the funds it provides to NASA. The question then is what NASA programs might suffer in order to restore funding for planetary exploration. Few expect the FY2013 budget to be finalized before the November elections meaning that NASA and other agencies will have to operate on a Continuing Resolution (CR) for some number of months. CRs usually fund programs at their previous year's level, so in this particular case, that could be good news for the planetary science community -- if only for a few months.

Green pointed out at Thursday's meeting that even if Congress added money for planetary science in FY2013, that does not mean a new program could be initiated because there is no guarantee increased funding would be provided in future years. He also noted that if Congress increases funding for planetary science, it might direct NASA on how to spend it rather than giving the agency flexibility to make those decisions.

NOAA Caps JPSS Cost at $12.9 Billion Through 2028

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 22:33:00 GMT

Mary Kicza, who heads the part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that is responsible for weather satellites, said yesterday that NOAA has agreed to a life-cycle cost cap of $12.9 billion for the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS).

That may seem like quite a steep price for two satellites, but Kicza explained that the JPSS program pays for more than two JPSS spacecraft, their instruments, launch and operations. The program also includes costs associated with completing the Total Solar and Spectral Irradiance Sensor (TSIS) that was to have flown on the since-cancelled National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS). The JPSS-1 satellite cannot accommodate the TSIS instrument, and although NOAA currently has no plans to launch it, the agency is trying to find such an opportunity. JPSS costs also include building and launching separate spacecraft for search and rescue transponders used to locate and rescue people in distress as part of the international COSPAS-SARSAT system, and the Advanced Data Collection System (A-DSC) to collect data from ocean buoys. Both of those also could not be accommodated on the JPSS-1 satellite. NOAA had planned to launch them on the Department of Defense's (DOD's) new weather satellites, the Defense Weather Satellite System (DWSS), but that program has just been terminated.

Additionally, the JPSS cap covers operating the satellites through the year 2028.

The first JPSS is expected to be launched in early calendar year (CY) 2017 (which is the second quarter of FY2017). NOAA's FY2013 request for JPSS is $916.4 million, slightly less than the $924 million it received from Congress for FY2012. Kicza said the Administration plans to keep the program funded at approximately $900 million per year for the next several years.

The NOAA cap is more than what Senate appropriators wanted in their version of the FY2012 appropriations bill that includes NOAA (P.L. 112-55). They wanted to impose a cap of $9.43 billion through 2024 (S. Rept. 112-78), but it was not adopted in the conference report (H. Rept. 112-284). NOAA said in its briefing slides that the $12.9 billion life cycle cost estimate through 2028 is an increase over its previous estimate of $11.9 billion through 2024 reflecting "an extended estimate of satellite performance."

JPSS is NOAA's polar-orbiting weather satellite program that replaces its part of NPOESS. NOAA also operates a companion system in geostationary orbit, Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES), and is in the process of building a new version of those as well. Called GOES-R, it would get a significant "planned" increase in FY2013: $802.0 million compared to $615.6 million in FY2012. GOES-R has had its share of overruns and delays, but NOAA has agreed to a $10.9 billion cap on that program. That pays for four GOES-R satellites, their instruments, launches and operations through the year 2036. The first launch is scheduled for late CY2015 (first quarter FY2016).

Kicza, assistant administrator for NOAA's 's National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS), made the remarks at a briefing on the FY2013 budget request for NESDIS. Echoing comments by NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco during her budget briefing last week, Kicza seemed apologetic that the satellite systems are consuming such a large part of the NOAA budget. Kicza reminded the audience that 20 NOAA programs were being terminated while the satellite budget is going up 8.8 percent. It represents 40 percent of the total NOAA request of $5.1 billion, she said.

She lauded the successful launch and initial operations of NASA's Suomi NPP satellite last fall, which will serve as a bridge between NOAA's current generation of polar orbiting weather satelites and JPSS. The last of NOAA's polar orbiting satellites was launched in 2009. NOAA officials have been warning Congress for the past two years that because Congress appropriated less funding than requested for JPSS in FY2011 and FY2012 that a data gap is very likely if the satellites meet, but do not exceed, their design lifetimes.

Scolese to Head Goddard, Lightfoot Coming to NASA Headquarters

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 22:43:00 GMT

NASA's Chris Scolese and Robert Lightfoot are about to assume new roles at the agency. Scolese will be the new director of the Goddard Space Flight Center while Lightfoot replaces Scolese at NASA Headquarters.

Scolese is currently NASA's Associate Administrator, the third highest ranking official at the agency and the top civil servant (the Administrator and Deputy Administrator are political appointees). He served as Acting Administrator after the departure of Mike Griffin while the current Administrator, Charlie Bolden, was being selected and confirmed. He will replace Rob Strain as director of Goddard in Greenbelt, MD; Strain recently left to join Ball Aerospace.

Lightfoot is the director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL. He will replace Scolese as Acting Associate Administrator.

Both men are NASA veterans and will assume their new roles on March 5.

Fifty Years Ago Glenn Sailed Into Orbit; Today, He's Dismayed

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 13:44:00 GMT

Human spaceflight has become so common over the past five decades that it may be difficult to remember just how exciting it was when John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth 50 years ago today. For all the achievements of the U.S. human spaceflight program in the subsequent five decades, though, Glenn is dismayed at the state of the program today.

NASA and the nation are celebrating Glenn's accomplishment on February 20, 1962 when he flew into space on Friendship 7 as part of the Mercury program. He had been beaten into orbit ten months earlier by Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin and the United States was trying mightily to catch up with its superpower rival. Alan Sheperd reached the threshold of space on May 5, 1961, but his flight was suborbital. Nonetheless, it was enough to give President John F. Kennedy confidence to announce three weeks later that the United States would land a man on the Moon and return him safely to Earth by the end of the decade.

Glenn's flight and others in the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs proved that America was good to its word, with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landing on the Moon on July 20, 1969. Support for human spaceflight diminished dramatically after the Moon race was won, however. The space shuttle program was approved by President Nixon in 1972 and made its first flight in 1981. Repeated attempts to develop new systems to replace the shuttle failed. The 2004 decision by President George W. Bush to focus on returning astronauts to the Moon without a commensurate boost to NASA's budget meant the shuttle program would have to be terminated to free up money for the new program. The shuttle flew its final mission last year, and the United States currently has no way to launch people into space. When a new U.S. system will emerge is unclear and is largely dependent on funding. NASA is anticipating 2017 for the first U.S. commercial human space transportation system and 2021 for its own new system.

Glenn, who now is 90 years old, went on to a career in politics. He was a U.S. Senator from Ohio from 1974 to 1999 and flew into space for a second time in 1998, becoming the oldest person (77) to make the trip. Today he speaks with dismay about the state of the U.S. human spaceflight program, complaining that NASA must pay Russia to transport people back and forth to the International Space Station. In an interview with Bill Harwood published on CNET.com, Glenn says "I disagreed strongly, and still do, with George Bush's decision (to retire the shuttle)." He criticized the inability to fully utilize the ISS as a research laboratory because of the lack of a U.S. transportation system and the need to rely on Russia to get up and back, as well as the lack of a U.S. "heavy lift capability." NASA is currently working on a new heavy-lift rocket, the Space Launch System, but it will not make its first test flight until 2017 and its first operational flight until 2021.

Glenn told Harwood: "And yet back in those days, one of the major driving forces in support of the program was the fact that we were in competition with the Soviets. And yet here we are these 50 years later, (paying) 60-some million dollars per astronaut to go up there and back. And this is supposed to be the world's greatest space-faring nation? That part of how we've developed I don't agree with at all. I don't thnk the shuttle should have been canceled until we had a replacement for it."

He particularly noted that if anything goes wrong with Russia's Soyuz space transportation system "we don't have a manned program" because there is no backup capability. He is skeptical about commercial crew, not only because "it seems to me it's more accounting than anything else," but because he believes it will take much longer than the companies suggest. "They say three to five years, but they've been saying three to five years for the last four years. So I think it's like five to seven to 10 years, something like that."

As for President Obama's space policy, Glenn said that had met with the President in the Oval Office and explained his view that the space shuttle should be retained until a replacement was available. He reported that the President "just said there wasn't the money to do it. He's been handed a pretty lousy hand on that one, also, as far as the budget went. So I couldn't really criticize him too much on that, but I wish he had been able to do that."

The complete interview with Harwood is on CNET.com.

House Committee Members Argue Against Cuts to Mars Exploration, Weather Satellites

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 21:54:00 GMT

Cutting federal spending may be on the top of Washington’s priority list, but not if it impacts NASA’s Mars and human exploration programs or NOAA’s weather satellites if House science committee members have their way.

At a House Science, Space and Technology Committee hearing on Friday, Chairman Ralph Hall (R-TX) sharply criticized the President’s FY2013 budget request for research and development (R&D) for singling NASA out for “unequal treatment.” Ranking member Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) joined him in complaining about cuts to the robotic Mars exploration program while other members rued the level of funding for NOAA’s Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS).

The topic of the hearing was the FY2013 budget request for R&D. John Holdren, President Obama’s science adviser and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), was the only witness. He defended the request which, he said, increases non-defense R&D by five percent over the FY2012 level despite austere budget times.

Committee Chairman Hall, however, criticized that request because it proposes increases for all the agencies within the committee’s jurisdiction except NASA. He is particularly concerned about the proposed reductions in NASA’s robotic Mars exploration program and inadequate funding for the Space Launch System (SLS), the new “heavy lift” rocket that NASA is building at congressional direction in the 2010 NASA Authorization Act to take astronauts out into the solar system.

Hall stressed that in that Act, Congress directed that the SLS and the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle be available to serve as a backup to commercial crew to transport astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). Under NASA’s proposed schedule, however, SLS/Orion system will not be ready for its first crewed flight until 2021, a year after ISS operations are currently scheduled to be discontinued. Holdren deflected a question from Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) about whether the SLS program would remain on its current schedule by saying he “had a cloudy crystal ball” when trying to predict the progress of complex technological projects. He did, however, assure the congressman that he did not know of any plans to delay it.

Hall asked Holdren about the decision to use Space Act Agreements for developing commercial crew capabilities and the fact that they do not allow NASA to require companies to meet safety standards. Holdren demurred, saying that he did not know the details, but said that as far as he knows NASA retains responsibility for the safety of its astronauts and ”if there is a problem in the agreements that would jeopardize that, I am sure we will fix it.”

Hall also inquired how Holdren could say that the budget represents an “integrated strategy” for Mars exploration “that ensures the next steps for the robotic Mars exploration program,” since there is no next mission to Mars in the budget. Holdren countered that even though the NASA budget cannot support two planned Mars missions with Europe in 2016 and 2018, “we retain the most vigorous and forward leaning program … in the world” with a rover (Opportunity) already on the surface of Mars and another one (Curioisty) on its way, two spacecraft (Mars Odyssey and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter) already in orbit and another scheduled for launch next year (MAVEN), “and additional missions going forward.” He insisted that “We are in no way retreating from our commitment to have a vigorous program of Mars exploration including laying the groundwork for human exploration.”

Ranking member Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) joined Hall in criticizing cuts to the Mars planetary science program. She said that the decision could create the perception that the United States is an unreliable partner at a time when international cooperation is more important than ever. Not everyone on the committee agreed with that sentiment, however. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) later said that she considered the NASA request to be “prudent” and suggested that the Europeans may not be able to afford their Mars plans either considering the economic circumstances in Europe.

In general, Holdren defended the request for NASA, asserting it “honors the priorities” of the 2010 NASA Authorization Act, including support for development of SLS and Orion, operations of the ISS through at least 2020, commercial crew, launching the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) in 2018, “an integrated strategy” for the robotic Mars exploration program that supports both science and human exploration goals, a balanced set of Earth and space science missions, a “dynamic” space technology program, and a “strong aeronautics research effort.”

NOAA’s satellite programs also were debated during the hearing. Johnson praised the proposed increase for NOAA’s new geostationary weather satellite program, GOES-R, but expressed concern about “the small cut” to NOAA’s new polar-orbiting system, the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS). She referred to JPSS as a “long-troubled” effort, although it was initiated only in FY2011. However, it is NOAA’s successor to a long-troubled program -- the tri-agency National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) – that was terminated by the Obama Administration in the FY2011 budget after 16 years of delays and overruns. JPSS, however, did not receive its requested funding level in FY2011 or FY2012, and NOAA is warning that there likely will be a gap in data several years from now when existing satellites cease functioning, but the first JPSS is not yet operational.

Holdren said NOAA’s weather satellites are “crucial” and blamed the potential gap on the previous Administration and Congress itself. Holdren said “we’ve been threatened for some time with a gap we inherited,” perhaps suggesting that the Bush Administration should have cancelled NPOESS instead of leaving it for President Obama. “We’re doing everything possible to … minimize that gap even if we don’t now have the capability to avoid it all together,” he asserted. He pointed to the less-than-requested funding JPSS received for the previous two years and said in the FY2013 budget they are “trying to make up for it.” In fact, he blamed the need to fund weather satellites for why the NOAA R&D budget overall would decline in FY2013. “Nobody wanted to reduce … the R&D portfolio’’ at NOAA, “but we absolutely have to minimize the gap,” he said.

Rep. Daniel Lipinski (D-IL) complained about cuts to NOAA’s National Weather Service (NWS), but Holdren insisted that the most important thing for the NWS is getting basic data about what the atmosphere is doing. If money cannot be found to pay for the satellites that provide that data, he said, then “all the money in the world poured into the Weather Service won’t make up for the deficit.”

The hearing was broadly on the R&D budget request and one of the other topics that arose was interaction with China. Two committee members -- Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) and Chip Cravaack (R-MN) -- grilled Holdren on why the United States would want to share any technology with China as Rohrabacher said Vice President Joe Biden suggested earlier in the week during a visit by China’s Vice President Xi Jinping. Holdren insisted that the Administration does not want to share any technologies with China that are harmful to U.S. interests, but there are some where it is in our own best interest to share. He cited nuclear reactor safety, avoiding theft of nuclear materials from nuclear facilities, influenza, and reducing emissions of pollutants as examples.

Events of Interest: Week of February 20-24, 2012

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 03:03:00 GMT

The following events may be of interest in the week ahead.

The House and Senate are in recess (except for non-legislative pro forma sessions).

Monday-Tuesday, February 20-21

NASA Future Forum and celebration of the 50th anniversary of John Glenn's first U.S. orbital human spaceflight, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH

Tuesday, February 21

Washington Space Business Roundtable luncheon with John Celli, President, Space Systems/Loral, University Club, Washington DC, 11:45 am - 1:45 pm ET

Tuesday-Thursday, February 21-23

International Space University 16th Annual Symposium, Strasbourg, France

Thursday, February 23

Marshall Institute and TechAmerica Space Enterprise Form Space Situational Awareness seminar, 601 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Suite 600 Indiana Avenue Entrance, Washington DC, 9:00 - 11:00 am ET
NASA Advisory Council (NAC) Commercial Space Committee, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, AL, 8:00 am - 2:30 pm CT (9:00 am 2:30 pm ET)
NAC Planetary Science Subcommittee, teleconference, 2:00 - 4:00 pm ET

Thursday-Friday, February 23-24

NAC Astrophysics Subcommittee, NASA HQ, Washington DC
- Thursday, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm, room 8R40
- Friday, 9:00 am - 4:00 pm, room 7H45

NOAA Administrator: Weather Satellites Vital, But "Loom Large" in Budget

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 16:33:00 GMT

Referring repeatedly to the "painful choices" that had to be made, Jane Lubchenco, administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), presented her agency's FY2013 budget request at a briefing on Thursday. The need to fund the nation's "vital" civil weather satellites means that other NOAA programs will be cut, she said, even though the agency as a whole is requesting a slight increase compared to FY2012.

NOAA, part of the Department of Commerce, is building a new generation of polar-orbiting weather satellites -- the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) -- as well as a new generation of geostationary weather satellites -- the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-R (GOES-R) series. The FY2013 JPSS budget request is $916.4 million, a slight decrease from the $924 million NOAA received for FY2012. For GOES-R, the request is $802 million, up substantially from $615.6 million in FY2012 -- Lubchenco called it a "planned increase." NOAA's total request is $5.1 billion, an increase of $154 million over FY2012.

Cost overruns and schedule delays in building the new weather satellites, highlighted by the programmatic failure of the tri-agency National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS), have left Congress skeptical of the program management capabilities of NOAA and its NPOESS partner, the Department of Defense (DOD). DOD has its own polar orbiting weather satellites -- the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP). NPOESS was supposed to merge the NOAA and DOD polar-orbiting systems, but the Obama Administration gave up on the effort in FY2011 after 16 trouble-filled years. The decision followed a final independent review that concluded the two agencies' cultures were simply too disparate for them to work together effectively.

The NPOESS divorce terms were that NOAA and DOD would revert to separate systems. NOAA's is JPSS and more urgently needed since all of NOAA's polar orbiting satellites already are in orbit. DOD still has two of its legacy DMSP satellites "in the barn" awaiting launch when needed. (DOD was planning a new system, the Defense Weather Satellite System, but it now also has been cancelled.)

The Obama Administration included a sizeable increase for NOAA to get started on JPSS in the FY2011 budget. Unfortunately, that request was swept up in congressional turmoil as Republicans regained control of the House. Decisions on the FY2011 budget were delayed until half way through that fiscal year and many programs -- including JPSS -- were held to their previous year's level. Since the FY2010 level reflected the NPOESS program where NOAA and DOD were sharing the costs, it was less than half of what NOAA needed for JPSS.

The program fared better in FY2012, receiving $924 million of the $1.07 billion requested, but the damage was done. NOAA is concerned that there is very likely to be a "data gap" when existing satellites expire before the first JPSS is launched. Kathy Sullivan, Deputy Administrator of NOAA, said yesterday that there may still be a data gap even if Congress agrees to the funding level for JPSS included in the FY2013 request.

NOAA launched its last polar-orbit weather satellite in 2009. It has a five year design lifetime. A NASA research satellite, Suomi NPP, that was designed to test new technologies for the NPOESS program and was launched last fall will be pressed into service as an operational weather satellite to bridge the gap until the first JPSS is launched in late 2016 or early 2017. Suomi NPP has a three-year design lifetime. While satellites often exceed their design lifetimes, it is risky to bank on that, which is why NOAA is worried. Sullivan said that if all the satellites meet, but do not exceed, their design lifetimes, a 20-22 month data gap could result, especially taking into account that it requires several months for the JPSS satellite to be tested and calibrated after launch.

Lubchenco said yesterday that the FY2013 request provides a "stable funding path for the next five years" for JPSS and that the agency has committed to a funding cap for the lifecycle costs of the program. Senate appropriators included a cap in their version (S. Rept. 112-78) of the FY2012 appropriations bill that funds NOAA (P.L. 112-55), but it was not adopted in the conference report (H. Rept. 112-284). The Senate wanted to cap the program at $9.43 billion through 2024. Lubchenco did not specify if that is the cap to which she is now committed.

The Senate appropriators fretted about the "long term drain" JPSS could have on other NOAA programs. That sentiment was echoed in yesterday's briefing as well. Lubchenco stated that "the need to fund polar and geostationary satellites imposes serious constraints on the rest of NOAA's budget." Later, In response to a question about whether cuts to NOAA's education programs might be restored next year, she replied that satellites "will continue to loom large in our budget."

The GOES-R program has had its own significant overruns, although it appears to be on track at the moment. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued several reports about the program, most recently in 2010. The first of the GOES-R series is expected in the first quarter of FY2016. Lubchenco called the geostationary weather satellites "an unblinking eye in the sky" to monitor hurricanes and other weather phenomena.

Lubchenco's clear message, in fact, is that weather satellites are vital to many of NOAA's other programs, including fisheries, coastal management, and building a "weather-ready nation," not to mention many other aspects of American life, the economy and national security. Therefore, they must be a top priority for NOAA, she said.

NOAA's FY2013 request also supports two smaller satellite programs, JASON-3 and DSCOVR. JASON-3 is the third in a series of U.S.-European ocean altimetry satelites for which $30 million is requested, up from $19.7 million provided in FY2012. DSCOVR is a space weather satellite that dates back to the Clinton Administration when it was called Triana. Vice President Al Gore was closely associated with developing the idea for the satellite and its launch was deferred for political reasons after George W. Bush became President. The return of White House control to Democrats in 2009 gave the project new life and NASA, NOAA and DOD are working together to get the spacecraft ready for launch and into space. NOAA is requesting $22.9 million for FY2013, compared to $29.8 million provided for FY2012.

NASA's FY2013 Budget Request

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 02:28:00 GMT

NASA's FY2013 Budget Request is a short SpacePolicyOnline.com fact sheet that tracks NASA's FY2013 budget request as it works its way through Congress. It will be updated as congressional action warrants. The current version is dated February 15, 2012 and shows the FY2013 request compared to the FY2012 appropriated level.

NASA Science Officials: News Not Entirely Bleak for Mars, PU-238 Restart Still Needed

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 18:36:00 GMT

NASA may be ending its plans to launch two Mars spacecraft with the European Space Agency (ESA) in 2016 and 2018, but smaller Mars missions are not out of the question according to John Grunsfeld, the new head of NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD). He and Jim Green, director of SMD's planetary science division, tried to paint a less than bleak picture of the future of NASA's Mars exploration program during a budget briefing on Monday. At the same time, Green reaffirmed NASA's need for the Department of Energy (DOE) to restart production of plutonium-238 (Pu-238), which is needed to power some NASA solar system exploration spacecraft.

The FY2013 budget request for NASA cuts the planetary science budget from $1.5 billion to $1.2 billion. Consequently, NASA has informed ESA that it will not be able to participate in two robotic Mars missions in 2016 and 2018 the two agencies were planning to execute cooperatively. The 2016 mission is called ExoMars. The planetary science community has reacted with dire warnings about the consequences of foregoing those missions as well as postponing plans for other planetary programs such as exploration of the outer planets (Jupiter and beyond) and their moons. The Planetary Society said the cuts "strike at the heart of one of NASA's most productive and successful programs over the past decade."

NASA's total budget request of $17.711 billion is slightly less than the agency received for FY2012 -- $17.770 billion after being adjusted for a $30 million rescission included in the agency's FY2012 appropriations bill. SMD's budget would decline from $5.074 billion to $4.911 billion. Earth science, heliophysics and the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) would get increases, while planetary science and the non-JWST portions of the astrophysics program would decrease. (See our FY2013 NASA budget request fact sheet for details.)

Grunsfeld stressed that a NASA Mars mission, Curiosity, is currently enroute to Mars with landing expected in August, and another Mars probe, MAVEN, is scheduled for launch in 2013. He did not rule out smaller U.S. missions in 2016 and 2018, but not the "flagship" class missions that ESA and NASA were discussing. The ESA-NASA missions were first steps in a series of mission intended to culminate in returning a sample of Mars to Earth. Grunsfeld said that he "hoped" a sample return mission still could be accomplished within 20 years. As NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden explained at his budget briefing earlier in the day, he has charged Grunsfeld, NASA's Chief Scientist, NASA's Chief Technologist, and NASA's Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations to develop an integrated strategy for Mars exploration that would support both human and robotic exploration.

Even though NASA's planetary aspirations are being scaled back, Green said that the agency still needs DOE to restart production of Pu-238, an artificially produced isotope. Three reports from the National Research Council (NRC) since 2009 have characterized the need for "Pu-238 restart" as critical. DOE owns the facilities where Pu-238 can be created, but they were closed years ago. Subsequently, DOE purchased Pu-238 from Russia, but Russia canceled its contract with DOE in 2009. Historically, DOE produced the Pu-238 and provided it to NASA. In its FY2010 budget request, the Obama Administration asked for $30 million in DOE's budget to restart production, but Congress said no because it felt NASA should fund it. In FY2011, the Administration split the costs equally between the two agencies with the idea that NASA would transfer its money to DOE. The NASA funding was approved, but not DOE's. The situation was repeated for FY2012.

This year, the Administration is not trying to win support for DOE funding for Pu-238 production. The only requested funding is in NASA's budget -- $10 million. Green said NASA transferred the money it received to DOE and it is being used for studies on how much Pu-238 could be delivered and when using DOE's existing facilities.

Pu-238 is needed for spacecraft that cannot rely on solar energy to produce electricity to power instruments and systems because they travel too far from the Sun or will be in darkness on lunar or planetary surfaces for long periods of time. NASA has used Radioisotope Power Sources (RPS's) for decades for these types of spacecraft. When it determined its requirements in 2009, many such probes were planned.

The clear message from the NASA budget briefings on Monday is that no new flagship missions -- the most expensive -- are being planned for the indefinite future. A number of lunar surface probes that were to support the Constellation program also disappeared when that program was cancelled. The question then is how much Pu-238 is needed. Green said that several of the contenders for selection in the smaller Discovery and mid-size New Frontiers classes would need Pu-238, so the agency still considers Pu-238 restart to be crucial.

Critics of the cutbacks to planetary exploration blame cost overruns on JWST. NASA officials refused to make that connection, however, insisting that the smaller budget should be expected since development of Curiosity and two other planetary spacecraft -- LADEE and MAVEN -- has ended or soon will.

The JWST overrun, however, has impacted funding for other astrophysics missions. Chief among them is the Wide-Field InfraRed Survey Telescope (WFIRST), which was the top large space mission recommended by the 2010 NRC decadal survey for astronomy and astrophysics. Grunsfeld confirmed there is no money in the FY2013 budget to begin development of WFIRST, whose purpose is three-fold: to search for planets in solar systems elsewhere in the universe (exoplanets), conduct an all-sky infrared survey, and try to unravel the secrets of dark energy. Instead, NASA is hoping for a small role in ESA's dark energy mission, Euclid.

The teleconference ended before questions could be asked about plans for Earth science or heliophysics. Both budgets would increase in FY2013, although the OCO-2 mission could be delayed for as many as two years. The original Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) was lost when its Taurus XL launch vehicle failed. NASA quickly began to build a replacement anticipating a relatively fast relaunch, but another Taurus XL failed dooming another NASA earth science satellite (GLORY). The OCO-2 spacecraft should be completed in FY2013, but NASA is continuing to assess its options for launching it and states that the launch could slip to 2015.

Gerstenmaier: Soyuz Launch Date May Advance, INKSNA Waiver Needed, Beyond LEO Destination TBD

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 17:23:00 GMT

In addition to the top-line messages of the budget briefings by NASA officials yesterday regarding the FY2013 budget request, a number of other important points were made primarily as answers to questions from reporters. Here are some interesting tidbits from the teleconference with Bill Gerstenmaier, Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations.

NASA is requesting money for purchasing transportation services to and from the International Space Station (ISS) after the current contract with Russia runs out in mid-2016, but is not yet choosing who would provide those services - Russia or U.S. commercial companies. In an earlier agency-level budget briefing, NASA Administrator Bolden had said that NASA expects commercial crew will be ready "no earlier than 2017." Gerstenmaier pointed out, however, that some of the U.S. commercial companies insist they might be ready sooner than that and thus NASA has not made a firm decision to buy more seats on Russian Soyuz spacecraft. Representatives of Boeing, Sierra Nevada and SpaceX testified to the House Science, Space and Technology Committee last fall that they could be ready by 2015 if there is adequate funding. Congress subsequently provided NASA with substantially less funding to support the commercial crew program, but, conceptually, private investors could come forward to make up the difference. Gerstenmaier said NASA will decide probably next spring as to who to contract with for those services.

Nonetheless, the Administration is planning to ask Congress this spring for another waiver to the Iran-North Korea-Syria-Nonproliferation Act (INKSNA) to allow it to continue to purchase ISS-related services from Russia after mid-2016. That is not necessarily an indication that NASA is skeptical that commercial crew will be ready by then, but Gerstenmaier said Russia provides other services that will be necessary throughout the life of the ISS, including analysis, systems engineering, and keeping the Functional Cargo Block (FGB) module "up to date." NASA paid Russia for the FGB (also known as Zarya) so it is U.S.-owned, but Russian-built. Launched in 1998, it was the first ISS module in orbit. Gerstenmaier had indicated at an October 2011 House committee hearing that a request for another INKSNA waiver was in the works.

Although Russia has been experiencing unexpected problems in its space program recently, Gerstenmaier indicated that he remains confident of Russia's ability to support ISS. In fact, he said, the next Soyuz launch may be moved up from its current May 15 launch date. The launch was scheduled for March 30, but had to be postponed after the Soyuz spacecraft that was to be launched was damaged during testing. Russia is replacing it with the next Soyuz that was in the manufacturing process and apparently may be able to get it ready earlier than expected.

As for human spaceflight beyond low Earth orbit, Gerstenmaier confirmed plans to launch a test flight of the Orion capsule in 2014 and the first flight of NASA's Space Launch System in 2017 with an unoccupied Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle. But it will be four more years before there is a second SLS flight with an Orion carrying a crew. Gerstenmaier said that during that time Orion will be outfitted with the systems needed to support a crew, such as life support systems. When asked if money was the pacing item making it such a long wait, he replied yes.

He also was asked about why it was taking so long to choose the next destination for human spaceflight and whether landing on the Moon is "on or off the list." Gerstenmaier replied that a Moon landing is neither on nor off the list because the list is still being developed. NASA continues to conduct studies about what missions will be enabled by the capabilities it is building. Once that is done, a decision will have to be made about the destination. He noted, however, that a goal such as landing on the Moon would require funding to build a lander and it is not clear when such money would be available. "Those are the trades we need to make," he said.

USGS Director: Landsat Has Many Fans, But Affordable Solution Needed for Future

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 17:52:00 GMT

Marcia McNutt, Director of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), said today that the Obama Administration is "full of fans of Landsat," but that an affordable solution must be found to continue this series of land remote sensing satellites.

McNutt spoke at a briefing on the FY2013 budget request for USGS, part of the Department of the Interior. USGS is requesting $1.1 billion for FY2013, a $35 million increase over its FY2012 level. The request includes $53.3 million for USGS activities related to operating and disseminating data from Landsat 5 and 7, the two satellites now in orbit, and developing the ground system for the next in the series, the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) or Landsat 8. NASA is funding the development and launch of the LDCM spacecraft. It is scheduled for launch in January 2013.

The pressing question is what comes next. The Landsat user community has grown tremendously since the data were made available for free in 2008. The medium resolution (30 meter and 15 meter) data from Landsat satellites have little commercial value compared to the high resolution (less than 1 meter) data available from companies like GeoEye and DigitalGlobe. Nonetheless, the data are critical for many applications, especially in agriculture and land use studies. The first Landsat (then called ERTS) was launched by NASA in 1972 and the resulting 40-year data-set is considered invaluable. The Landsat program has endured a tumultuous programmatic history and survives largely because of a strong and vocal user base.

Users now are worried about a gap in data acquisition both between now and when Landsat 8 is operational because Landsat 5 and 7 are failing, as well as after Landsat 8 stops functioning. Landsat 8 has a five-year design lifetime. Landsat 5 and 7 have operated long past their design lifetimes, but users cannot bank on that happening with future satellites. Landsat 5 was launched in 1984. Its operations were suspended last fall after it experienced an electronics failure. Landsat 7 was launched in 1999 and its data have been degraded since 2003 because of a failure in its scan line corrector.

In the FY2012 budget request, the Obama Administration proposed transferring the entire Landsat program to USGS, which would take responsibility for developing requirements and funding development, launch, and operation of future satellites. USGS is willing to take on the role, but Congress rejected the plan because of concerns about negative impacts on other parts of the USGS budget. Congress gave USGS only $2 million in FY2012 for studies related to the next in the series, Landsat 9.

McNutt said that USGS is working with NASA, NOAA and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) on how to craft an affordable program that would keep the Department of the Interior in the lead because "everyone is still convinced" USGS is the agency that best understands the user community.

For FY2013, however, USGS is not even requesting $2 million to keep level with FY2012. At today's budget briefing, Matt Larsen, Associate Director for Climate & Land Use Change, said that only "a quarter of a million" -- $250,000 -- is in the budget proposal for Landsat 9 studies. USGS requested the National Research Council to conduct a study and make recommendations on how to implement a sustained land imaging program. Larsen said that would be one input to deliberations among Administration stakeholders, but that it also will release a Request for Information to the Landsat community in the coming weeks.

New FCC Decision Dooms LightSquared - UPDATED

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:18:00 GMT

UPDATE: Links to the FCC announcement and its request for comments (due March 1) have been added and the article slightly rewritten accordingly.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has decided to revoke its year-old provisional decision to allow the company LIghtSquared to proceed with its mobile broadband system because of concerns it will interfere with GPS receivers.

LightSquared wants to create a hybrid satellite-terrestrial mobile broadband system. It received provisional FCC approval to proceed in January 2011 as long as it could demonstrate that its signals would not interfere with Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers that are ubiquitous in the aviation, automobile, personal data assistant and many other markets -- not to mention national security. The 2011 FCC decision set off a firestorm of opposition that resulted in a flurry of congressional hearings lambasting LightSquared. The most recent was last week.

The February 14 statement by FCC spokeswoman Tammy Sun states that the FCC will indefinitely suspend its January 2011 decision and release a request for public comment. That request was released on February 15; comments are due March 1, 2012.

The FCC action responds to a letter from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). The FCC governs use of the radio frequency spectrum by the private sector, while NTIA governs its use by the goverment. NTIA wrote to the FCC Tuesday saying that recent tests show there is "no practical way to mitigate the potential interference at this time."

LightSquared insists that the problem is that manufacturers of GPS receivers are to blame for any interference. It says that it designed its system in conformance with the FCC's technical requirements, but the GPS receivers were built so that they listen for signals outside the band in which they are supposed to be operating. The company asserts that the recent tests cited by the NTIA were flawed.

Third Time's the Charm -- Russia's Proton Rocket Successfully Orbits SES-4

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 04:13:00 GMT

Russia succeeded in launching a communications satellite for SES today after two previous attempts were scrubbed.

In an anomalous situation for the Russian space launch industry, two previous attempts to launch the SES satellite in December 2011 and January 2012 encountered technical problems close to launch and the rocket had to be removed from the launch pad for repairs. Designated SES-4 or NSS-14, the satellite was successfully lofted today. The need to roll back from the launch pad received considerable media attention because Russia's aerospace industry is experiencing an unusual wave of accidents and failures.

FY2013 R&D Budget Request Material Posted on OSTP Website

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 17:23:00 GMT

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) has posted information, including fact sheets, about the FY2013 budget request for research and development. OSTP will hold a press conference that will be webcast at 1:30 pm today.

The website has the following documents:

Press Release (pdf)

Fact Sheets (all PDFs)

NASA Officials Cheer $17.7 Billion Request for FY2013

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 01:09:00 GMT

Leaks to the press last week about the broad outlines of NASA's FY2013 budget request muted the official roll-out of the budget today, but it is now confirmed that NASA's FY2013 request is $17.711 billion. That is a slight decrease from its $17.800 enacted level for FY2012, but $1 billion less than NASA projected it would have a year ago.

NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden and NASA Chief Financial Officer Beth Robinson briefed the overall budget this afternoon, followed by slightly more detailed briefings by the Associate Administrator (AA) for Human Exploration and Operations Bill Gerstenmaier, AA for Science John Grunsfeld, AA for Aeronautics Jaiwon Shin, and Chief Technologist Mason Peck. All portrayed the budget in a positive light considering the country's economic situation. The top line budget numbers are:

Science: $4.911 billion

Earth Science, $1.784 billion
Planetary Science, $1.192 billion
Astrophysics, $659 million
James Webb Space Telescope: $628 million
Heliophysics, $647 million

Aeronautics: $552 million

Space Technology: $699 million

Exploration: $3.933 billion

Exploration Systems and Development (Orion and SLS): $2.769 billion
- Space Launch System: $1.340 billion
- Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (Orion): $1.025 billion
- Exploration Ground Systems: $404.5 million
Commercial Spaceflight (commercial crew): $830 million
Exploration Research and Development: $334 million

Space Operations: $4.013 billion

Space Shuttle: $71 million
International Space Station: $3.008 billion
Space and Flight Support: $935 million

Education: $100 million

Cross Agency Support: $2.848 billion

Construction and Environmental Remediation: $619 million

Inspector General: $37 million

Last year, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) was separated from the rest of the astrophysics program because of management problems. If the two amounts are added together, the astrophysics discipline is slated to get $1.287 billion.

Robinson was careful to point out that the amount for the Space Launch System includes funds that are accounted for in the SLS line ($1.34 billion), part of the construction line ($140 million), and the exploration ground support line ($406 million). All told, she said, the request for SLS is $1.885 billion. SLS is a high priority for Congress, especially Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) who has fought for the program over the past two years. In a press statement, she sharply criticized the request for cutting millions of dollars from SLS and Orion while asking for $830 million for commercial crew: "The Administration remains insistent on cutting SLS and Orion to pay for commercial crew rather than accommodating both."

The future of the robotic Mars exploration program was a recurring theme of questions asked at the briefings. NASA has informed the European Space Agency that it will not participate in two Mars missions in 2016 and 2018 respectively that had been a focus of NASA-ESA cooperation since 2009. Bolden and Robinson played down the significance of the change in plans and frankly stated that the agency simply cannot afford another "flagship" mission at this time. Flagships are the most expensive of the NASA categories of scientific spacecraft. The agency just launched a Mars-bound flagship mission, the Mars Science Laboratory (or Curiosity), and is building another flagship -- the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Questions about whether overruns on JWST caused the budget cut to the Mars program were deflected. NASA officials insisted that the decrease in funding for planetary science from $1.5 billion to $1.2 billion is due to Curiosity's launch and the impending launches of two other planetary missions (LADEE and MAVEN). With the development phases of those spacecraft completed or coming to an end, reduced funding should be expected, they said.

Bolden made clear that NASA is not walking away from Mars exploration missions, but instead will develop an integrated strategy for Mars exploration that responds to the needs of both the Science Mission Directorate and the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate. He said that he has charged Grunsfeld, Gerstenmaier, Peck and NASA Chief Scientist Waleed Abdalati to come up with the integrated plan. Grunsfeld said later that he is not ruling out a mission -- not a flagship mission, but something smaller -- for the 2018 opportunity. The Earth and Mars are correctly aligned in their orbits around the Sun every 26 months to launch spacecraft and 2018 is a particularly good alignment -- a "sweet spot" according to Grunsfeld. He will be talking with the planetary science community to come up with new ideas on how to take advantage of it.

Fundamentally, all the NASA officials were putting a positive spin on the budget request, insisting that a $17.7 billion request signals strong White House support for what NASA does even though it is less than the current level. As was true last year, the White House allowed NASA to show its projected "out year" budget as remaining level for the next 5 years even though the White House's own budget charts show a different picture. Last year the White House numbers were lower than what NASA used; this year it is the reverse. In the White House material, NASA's budget would rise ever so slightly year by year beginning in FY2014, reaching $21.4 billion in 2022. As everyone says, though, projections are just that, a notional idea of what the future may hold.

FY2013 Budget Requests for Space Activities: Where to Find Agency Budget Documentation

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 02:18:00 GMT

FY2013 Budget Request for Space Activities: Where to Find Agency Budget Documentation is a SpacePolicyOnline.com fact sheet that provides links to FY2013 budget request documentation for U.S. government space activities. Included are links to budget materials for the Department of Defense (DOD), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA's) Office of Commercial Space Transportation, and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), which operates the Landsat land remote sensing satellites. This fact sheet is dated February 13, 2012 and will be updated when the agencies post detailed budget information.

Events of Interest: Week of February 13-18, 2012

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 21:34:00 GMT

The following events may be of interest in the coming week. Click on the links below or on our right menu, or check our full calendar also on the right menu, for more details.

The House and Senate are both in session this week. Times, dates and witnesses for congressional hearings are subject to change. Check the relevant committee's website for up to date information.

During the Week

Release of President Obama's budget request for FY2013 will dominate conversation in Washington this week, even though many politicians and pundits already have declared it "dead on arrival." Champions of defense spending, for example, are criticizing the depth of proposed Pentagon cuts even as Republicans insist that the deficit must be dramatically reduced by cutting federal spending and not raising taxes. The President's Budget Request (PBR) does not reflect "sequestration," the poison pill Congress and the White House included in the Budget Control Act last summer that would impose even more stringent cuts on both defense and non-defense discretionary spending. The failure of last year's congressional supercommittee to reach agreement on other methods of cutting the deficit officially meant that sequestration should be in effect, but no one at either end of Pennsylvania Avenue wants to swallow that pill. Ignoring it appears to be the game plan of the moment. The shrill partisan debate that characterized Washington last year seems destined to be repeated this year, amplified by election year politics. What will happen to space program funding is anyone's guess. Nonetheless, release of the budget tomorrow is the opening shot of the FY2013 budget debate. Many departments and agencies are holding briefings tomorrow or later in the week. Noted below are those most strongly related to space policy.

This is also the final week of the WRC-12 conference in Geneva, Switzerland. The last week is usually the most interesting -- where major deals are cut. We'll keep you posted of anything that might dramatically affect allocation of frequencies or orbital slots for satellites.

Monday, February 13

President Obama speaks to students at Northern Virginia Community College about the FY2013 Budget Request, Annandale, VA, 11:00 am ET, officially kicking off this year's debate
White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Government Printing Office (GPO) release the FY2013 budget request at GPO, 11:15 am.
OMB and other White House officials hold press conference on FY2013 budget request, White House Eisenhower Executive Office Building, 12:30 pm ET
White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) briefing on R&D and STEM Education in the FY2013 budget request, AAAS auditorium, 1200 New York Avenue, N.W., 1:30-2:30 pm ET
NASA FY2013 budget briefing, NASA Headquarters, 2:00 pm ET, followed by individual teleconference briefings by the mission directorates and the chief technologist, see this NASA press release for details but HEOMD is at 3:30, SMD at 4:30, OCT at 5:15, and ARMD at 6:00). NASA budget information will be posted on the NASA budget website at 1:00 pm ET.
DOD FY2013 budget briefing, the Pentagon, 2:00 pm ET, followed by individual briefings by the Army, Navy and Air Force (see this DOD press release for details but Air Force is at 4:45)
Kennedy Space Center Director Cabana available at KSC press site to discuss FY2013 budget request, Kennedy Space Center , FL, 4:15 pm ET

Tuesday, February 14

SpacePolicyOnline.com loves our readers and wishes you all a Happy Valentine's Day!
NASA Pre-Proposal Conference for Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCAP) solicitation, Courtyard Marriott, Cocoa Beach, FL, starting at 8:30 am ET
NASA "Industry and Academia Day" for Space Launch System Advanced Development, Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL, beginning at 9:30 am CT (10:30 am ET)
SASC Hearing on FY2013 DOD budget request, G-50 Dirksen, 9:30 am ET
USGS budget briefing, USGS Headquarters, Reston, VA, 1:00 pm ET
AIAA Commercial Space Update, Lockheed Martin Global Vision Center, Arlington, VA, 2:30-4:30 pm ET (you must have RSVP'd to AIAA by last Friday to attend -- see the Feb. 14th entry on our full calendar for details)

Wednesday, February 15

HASC hearing on FY2013 DOD budget request, 2118 Rayburn, 10:00 am ET
Space Transportation Association (STA) meeting with Johnson Space Center Director Mike Coats, 253 Russell, 5:00 pm ET (you must RSVP)

Wednesday-Thursday, February 15-16

FAA 15th annual Commercial Space Transportation conference, Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Washington DC

Thursday, February 16

House Appropriations defense subcommittee hearing on FY2013 DOD budget request, 2359 Rayburn, 10:00 am ET
NOAA budget briefing, Department of Commerce main building, 14th Street and Constitution Ave., NW, 1:00 pm ET

Friday, February 17

House SS&T Hearing on FY2013 budget request for Federal R&D, 2318 Rayburn, 9:30 am ET

Friday-Saturday, February 17-18

NASA Celebrates 50 Years of Americans in Orbit, NASA TV and Kennedy Space Center, FL

Attempt at High-Altitude Commercial “Spaceflight” Jump Resumes

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 04:02:00 GMT

After being halted by a multi-million dollar lawsuit last year (see our story), daredevil Felix Baumgartner’s attempt to be the first human to break the speed of sound in freefall from a high altitude balloon is slated to take place this year.

Wearing a pressurized suit, Baumgartner will jump from a balloon in the stratosphere at an altitude of 120,000 feet -- from “the edge of space” as his sponsor Red Bull Stratos proclaims. In addition to the publicity value, the venture seeks to provide medical and scientific data that may be relevant for future human spaceflight missions. Baumgartner not only wants to be the first human to break the speed of sound in free-fall, but aims to break three records that Red Bull Stratos asserts have remained in place for fifty years: highest “manned” balloon flight, highest skydive and longest skydive. Baumgartner plans to skydive for 5 minutes 30 seconds. Red Bull Stratos states that the current records were set by Col. Joseph Kittinger, Jr. in August 1960, when he came close to breaking the speed of sound. He serves as an advisor and a mentor to Baumgartner on the project.

During that flight, Kittinger jumped from a balloon at an altitude of 102,800 feet, freefell for four-and-a-half minutes and reached speeds up to 614 miles per hour according to the U.S. Centenntial of Flight Commission.

The Commission, however, credits Malcolm Ross and Victor Prather with the highest altitude flight during a 1961 mission when they reached 113,740 feet. Prather completed the flight, but died after falling from the sling of the rescue helicopter. The FAI, the French organization that keeps official records for aviation and related fields, credits Ross with the altitude record.

Baumgartner and his team are in the final preparations of their project after completing testing in a vacuum chamber in Texas and moving on to the location of the jump in Roswell, New Mexico.

The success of the venture may well depend on Baumgartner’s only protection from the extreme conditions of the stratosphere, a pressurized suit that, according to the BBC, is similar to but tougher and more mobile than a NASA astronaut space suit.

RedBull.com says “This mission is all about pioneer work. Maybe one day people will look back and say it was Felix Baumgartner and the Red Bull Stratos team that helped to develop the suit that they’re wearing in space. We want to do something for posterity.”

Aviation Week: NASA To Request $17.7 Billion for FY2013

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:22:00 GMT

Officially, details about a President's budget request are not supposed to be released by agencies prior to the White House giving the OK. Except for the Department of Defense and perhaps some high level messages the White House wants to preview, that usually means waiting until the complete budget request for the entire federal government is released. That event is scheduled for Monday, but information about what the request proposes for NASA has been leaking out. Aviation Week reveals today that the total NASA request will be $17.711 billion.

Frank Morring writes today that the request is "only an $89 million cut," but ends NASA's plans to participate in a robotic Mars mission with the European Space Agency (ESA). The impact of the FY2013 budget request on NASA-ESA Mars cooperation was publicized by the Washington Post yesterday, but that article did not include the total request for NASA.

While $17.711 billion is a small cut from what the agency received from Congress in FY2012, it is a substantial cut from the funding level that the Obama Administration projected for NASA last year. NASA's FY2012 appropriated level is $17.800 billion, so by comparison the cut is indeed modest. In last year's budget request, however, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) projected that NASA would get $18.030 billion in FY2013. The White House allowed NASA to use higher projected spending levels in its own budget materials, keeping the agency level at $18.7 billion through FY2016. So a $17.711 billion request can be interpreted as a small cut of $89 million from its current level, or a huge cut of $1 billion from NASA's own projections a year ago at this time.

Agencies like NASA that conduct multi-year research and development projects benefit from having an idea of what to expect in the future so they can effectively plan their programs. While any future year projection is just that, a projection not a promise, when it varies significantly from reality, the planning process becomes inefficient.

Aviation Week published additional details about the FY2013 budget request, which it says includes $830 million for commercial crew, $1.8 billion for the Space Launch System, $1 billion for the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, $3 billion for the International Space Station, $699 million for space technology development, and $500 million for aeronautics. The total amount for science is not mentioned, only the $300 million cut to the planetary science program (from $1.5 billion to $1.2 billion according to yesterday's story in the Post).

The administration's budget request is the first step in a lengthy process to determine how much the government can spend in FY2013. The new fiscal year starts on October 1, but few expect Congress to complete action on budgets before then. Meeting that October 1 deadline is a difficult task every year and especially challenging in an election year.

Editor's Note: It is interesting to observe that some members of the media are getting access to the NASA budget material on a non-embargoed basis prior to Monday's release. NASA had scheduled a meeting this afternoon where media representatives could learn about the budget if they agreed to an embargo where nothing could be published before Monday. That embargoed briefing was canceled about two hours before it was scheduled to occur. One cannot help but wonder who is leaking the information to favored publications without restrictions. The obvious intent of the Washington Post story yesterday was to rally support for the Mars exploration program. Today's story in Aviation Week does not seem to have a bias, but does portray the cuts to NASA overall as being far less dramatic and may assuage some concerns.

Reports: Planetary Science to Take Hit in New Budget

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:22:00 GMT

Rumors ahead of the release of the FY2013 budget request paint a gloomy picture for NASA's planetary science program. The Washington Post reports today that the budget request will drop from $1.5 billion to $1.2 billion for FY2013 with additional cuts in later years.

NASA planetary science division director Jim Green has hinted as recent meetings of the NASA Advisory Council's (NAC's) planetary science subcommittee that such cuts were more than likely. Without getting into specifics -- which is officially prohibited prior to the President releasing the budget request -- Green alerted the planetary science community that it had to make its case as to why planetary science is important to the nation.

The story in the Washington Post this morning suggests that the community got the message. It quotes Jim Bell, a member of that subcommittee and President of The Planetary Society, calling the proposed cuts "devastating " to U.S. robotic Mars exploration plans. Scott Hubbard, a member of the parent NAC Science Committee and who was NASA's first Mars program director and later Director of NASA's Ames Research Center, went further: "It's a scientific tragedy and a national embarrassment."

Such cuts would impact not only the U.S. program, but Europe's. In 2009, NASA and the European Space Agency signed what was thought to be a revolutionary international cooperation agreement where the two agencies essentially merged their Mars exploration programs. Instead of cooperating on a mission-by-mission basis, now the programs themselves would be merged to get the most payoff from investments on both sides of the Atlantic.

Early indications last fall that the budget outlook was dimming led NASA to pull back from committing to the next two merged missions -- in 2016 and 2018 -- that themselves were just the first in a string of missions with the ultimate goal of returning samples from Mars. ESA's science director Alvaro Gimenez told the BBC earlier this week that it had been told NASA participation in the missions had become "very unlikely." ESA is also talking to Russia about cooperating on those missions. Russia's Mars probe, Phobos-Grunt, was lost last fall because of computer design and programming errors.

The Washington Post quotes Rep. John Culberson (R-TX), a member of the House appropriations subcommittee that funds NASA, as condemning the proposed cut and asserting it will not be approved by Congress. Those comments, however, illustrate the painful choices that will have to be made not only in FY2013 but for the rest of the decade to reduce the deficit, especially if the reduction must be accomplished only through spending cuts, as the Republicans insist, and not with revenue increases. At the moment, influential Senators and the Obama Administration apparently have agreed that the top science priority for NASA is completing the over-budget James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), not planetary exploration. The planetary program is just one of five divisions within NASA's Science Mission Directorate. JWST was separated from the rest of NASA's astrophysics division last year to improve management of the program, so planetary science must compete for resources with JWST, the rest of astrophysics, heliophysics, and earth science. The planetary program itself must choose priorities among Mars and the rest of the solar system.

Choosing science priorities is only the first step. Prioritizing NASA's science programs versus human exploration and aeronautics is another level of decision-making, then NASA versus other agencies in the same appropriations bill (including the Department of Commerce and its weather satellite activities, the Department of Justice, and the National Science Foundation), and then all of those against the rest of domestic discretionary spending.

The FY2013 budget request will be released on Monday. NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden will participate in a press conference at NASA Headquarters at 2:00 pm that day, which will be webcast on NASA TV.

LightSquared Gets Pounded Again at Another Congressional Hearing

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 04:48:00 GMT

Potential interference between LightSquared's satellite-terrestrial mobile broadband system and GPS was the subject of yet another congressional hearing today. Numerous hearings were held last year in a variety of House committees, each warning of calamitous consequences if LightSquared is allowed to implement its system. Today's hearing before the House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) committee was no different.

The hearing comes less than two weeks after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued its most recent directive about LIghtSquared. Noting that the FY2012 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act (part of the FY2012 Consolidated Appropriations Act) prohibits the FCC from allowing LightSquared to proceed until "concerns of potential widespread harmful interference" are resolved, the FCC declined to grant a request from LightSquared to make a declaratory ruling that GPS devices are not protected against harmful interference as long as LightSquared abides by the FCC's technical parameters.

The company launched a high powered satellite, SkyTerra, in 2010 to use in a mobile broadband system, but requested permission from the FCC to augment the satellite capacity with a network of 40,000 terrestrial cell towers -- an Ancillary Technical Component (ATC) in FCC terminology. In January 2011, the FCC gave LightSquared provisional permission to proceed with the ATC, but the provision was that it had to form a technical committee to perform tests to determine the extent to which interference with GPS would occur. The radio frequency bands assigned to LightSquared are adjacent to some of the GPS bands.

The 2011 FCC decision prompted an outcry from GPS user communities. Tests conducted by the FCC-required technical committee demonstrated that interference would indeed be a problem. LightSquared modified its plans and also complained that it has complied with all of the FCC's technical requirements. It asserts that the interference is the fault of GPS receiver manufacturers who did not properly design the receivers.

Another round of tests was ordered last fall, but the results were similar. On January 13, 2012, the government's National Space-Based PNT (Positioning, Navigation and Timing) Advisory Board, which is playing a leading role in opposing LightSquared's plans, sent a letter to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) stating its "unanimous conclusion ... that both LightSquared's original and modified plans ... would cause harmful interference to many GPS receivers." NTIA, part of the Department of Commerce, oversees government use of radio frequencies, while the FCC governs their use by the private sector.

LightSquared complained that the tests were "rigged." It called on NTIA and the FCC to conduct another round of tests and for "fair and transparent oversight of the testing process...."

Aviation interests have been particularly vocal in opposing LightSquared because GPS is widely used in the aviation industry. At today's hearing before the aviation subcommittee of the House T&I committee, Deputy Secretary of Transportation John Porcari said no further testing was warranted at this time. He added that the most recent tests were independently reviewed by Idaho National Lab and MIT Lincoln Lab. Expanding broadband access to more Americans is a major goal of the Obama Administration, he said, but LightSquared is incompatible with "FAA requirements for low-altitude operations" near LightSquared transmitters. Noting that the FAA had already spent over $2 million in testing and analyzing LightSquared's proposal, he argued that further government investment "cannot be justified at this time."

Other witnesses at the hearing represented the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a U.N. specialized agency that sets global standards and regulations for aviation safety; the Air Transport Association; the Air Line Pilots Association; the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association; Garmin AT, Inc.; and George Washington University.

AIA: U.S. Lost Thousands of Jobs, Billions of Dollars Because of Export Law

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 04:00:00 GMT

The Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) released a new report and several fact sheets today about the negative impact of U.S. export controls on that industry. AIA concludes that changes made in 1999 that put all satellites and their components on the U.S. Munitions List cost the satellite manufacturing industry $20.8 billion between 1999 and 2009, which translates into 27,893 jobs lost annually during that time period.

AIA released its most recent report on the impact of export controls on the aerospace industry and the satellite industry-specific fact sheets in conjunction with a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on export reform. AIA's President, Marion Blakey, testified along with Patricia Cooper, President of the Satellite Industry Association (SIA).

As they have for many years, the two associations recounted the loss of global market share for U.S. companies since the late 1990s when Congress dictated that all satellites and their components be treated as munitions under U.S. export laws. Congress acted in the wake of an investigation that concluded U.S. satellite manfacturing companies aided the development of China's launch vehicles, close cousins of missiles with their obvious national security implications. At the time, U.S.-made satellites could be exported to China for launch. After several Chinese launch vehicle failures where U.S.-built satellites were lost, satellite manufacturers Loral and Hughes (now Boeing) aided China in its accident investigations, but did not adhere to the export control restrictions in place at the time.

The so-called Cox Committee, chaired by then-Rep. Christopher Cox (R-CA) investigated the Loral-Hughes incident. Its findings led to language in the FY1999 National Defense Authorization Act (P.L. 105-261) placing satellites and their components on the U.S. Munitions List of items whose exports are controlled by the State Department.

For most of the 1990s, commercial communications satellites were under the jurisdiction of the dual-use Commerce Control List administered by the Department of Commerce. The Cox committee and the new law changed that. No U.S. satellites, or satellites containing U.S. components, can be exported to China now under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). European satellite manufacturers have used the opportunity to build "ITAR-free" satellites that can be exported to China for launch, an advantage for satellite owners who thus can take advantage of China's relatively low launch prices.

Ordinarily the Executive Branch determines what items are on each list, and SIA's Patricia Cooper testified today that her organization wants that responsibility returned to the Executive Branch. "Satellites are the only category of products mandated by Congress for blanket treatment as munitions....SIA asks that Congress remove this blanket requirement and restore Executive Branch authority over regulation of satellite export controls," she said.

At the same time, she insisted that the satellite industry is not seeking any changes in how exports to China are handled: "Further, SIA and its members do not seek any legislative erosion of safeguards already in place that have effectively prohibited satellite technology exports to China."

Events of Interest: Week of February 6-11, 2012-UPDATE

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:47:00 GMT

UPDATE: NASA's Commercial Crew Forum on Tuesday has been added.

The following events may be of interest in the coming week. The House and Senate both will be in session this week.

During the Week

These events may be of special interest. The Senate is expected to pass the conference report on the FAA reauthorization bill (H.R. 658) on Monday. The impact on the aerospace industry, especially the satellite industry, of current export laws will be highlighted at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Tuesday. Issues about GPS will get another airing on Wednesday before the aviation subcommittee of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. The WRC-12 conference in Geneva continues.

Tuesday, February 7

House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Export Controls (AIA and SIA testify), 2172 Rayburn, 10:00 am ET
NASA Commercial Crew Program Forum, Kennedy Space Center, FL, 11:00 am - 12:00 pm ET

Tuesday-Thursday, February 7-9

National Research Council (NRC) study on Air Force Astrodynamics Standards, Keck Building, Washington, DC (some sessions are closed)

Wednesday, February 8

House Transportation & Infrastructure Aviation Subcommittee Hearing on GPS, 2167 Rayburn, 11:00 am ET

Thursday, February 9

NASA International Space Station Advisory Committee, NASA HQ room 1Q39, Washington, DC, 12:00-1:00 pm ET

Friday-Saturday, February 10-11

Astronomy and Astrophysics Advisory Committee, NSF HQ, Arlington, VA, 8:30 am - 5:00 pm ET
- Friday, room 555 Stafford II Building, 2121 Wilson Blvd.
- Saturday, room 1060 Stafford I Building, 4201 Wilson Blvd

New Study Contradicts Controversial Arsenic Finding

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 21:01:00 GMT

Last week, one of the main critics of a NASA-funded study that claimed the discovery of a life-form that could thrive on arsenic, announced results that contradict the original conclusions, dealing the latest blow to the controversial finding.

In December 2010, a team led by NASA astrobiology research fellow Felisa Wolfe-Simon announced that a microbe dubbed GFAJ-1 could thrive in the presence of arsenic, incorporating the toxic substance in its DNA in the place of phosphorous, one of the six elements of life. The results were made public in a NASA press conference that drew attention to the finding’s implications on the agency’s quest for life in other parts of the universe.

Yet many scientists were not convinced. Ensuing debate prompted sharp criticisms, several of which were published in Science as technical comments along with the print version of the article on June 3, 2011. Many of the comments centered on a concern that phosphorous contamination could account for the bacteria’s growth – not the level of arsenic.

This is what Rosemary Redfield, a microbiologist at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, set out to investigate.

In a posting last week on arxiv.org, an electronic preprint archive, Redfield announced her results after looking at the two main arguments of the paper: that the bacterium had managed to grow in low phosphorous and high arsenic conditions, and that arsenic had been incorporated into the organism’s DNA. Consistent with criticisms faulting contamination in the original study, Redfield found that the bacterium’s growth could be accounted for as a result of trace levels of phosphorous. Measuring samples with and without added arsenic, but with the same level of phosphorous, Redfield found growth rates equivalent to those described in the original study.

A collaboration with Leonid Kruglyak from Princeton University allowed Redfield to analyze the bacterium’s DNA in high-arsenic conditions. "The results showed that there is no detectable arsenic in the DNA," she told CBS News. Although this suggests that more sensitive measurements could potentially detect the presence of arsenic, Redfield’s first result counters the original study’s main claim: that the bacterium could grow on arsenic alone.

In a ScienceInsider article covering the story, Redfield says: "We can do fancier analyses that push the limits of detection down, but I think the burden of proof is back on the authors. They are going to have to provide some better data than they did in their paper," she said.

ScienceInsider reported that Wolfe-Simon and her colleagues declined to comment on the new study until it is published. They added, however, that they only suggested arsenic was in the DNA and that the key point of the paper was that the microbe was able to use the toxin to grow. The article quotes John Tainer, a biochemist who recently joined Wolfe-Simon’s team, in saying: "What this is about is refuting an extreme interpretation of the paper." This is a shift in the team’s original position, as discussed in the 2010 press conference, that when measuring the arsenic concentration in the organism, they found it to be behaving as phosphorous would: as the backbone of the DNA.

Redfield has submitted her findings to Science for publication.

FAA Reauthorization Nears Passage--UPDATE

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 04:47:00 GMT

UPDATE: The Senate passed the bill on Monday as expected.

ORIGINAL STORY: The House passed a compromise version of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization bill (H.R. 658) on Friday and the Senate plans to vote on it Monday. A four-year extension of current regulations concerning private human spaceflight is included.

Disputes primarily over labor issues have derailed the bill many times since September 2007 when the last authorization expired. Congress passed 23 temporary extensions in the meantime and finally appears to have decided that enough is enough and will pass a compromise that will reauthorize the agency through September 2015.

Among FAA's many responsibilities is facilitating and regulating commercial space launches through the Office of Commercial Space Transportation. The office was created by the 1984 Commercial Space Transportation Act, which has been amended several times, most recently in 2004 when Congress put in place temporary rules regarding commercial human space transportation. At the time, commercial suborbital flights with companies like Virgin Galactic were expected to begin soon. Congress chose a light regulatory touch to stimulate the commercial potential of this sector, setting requirements for crews, but essentially letting passengers -- "space flight participants" -- decide for themselves if they want to climb aboard after being informed of the risks. The law said that after eight years of experience with commercial human spaceflight, the FAA could consider stronger regulations if needed.

Eight years have passed, however, and the first commercial human spaceflight has yet to occur. Some in the industry sought to change the law so that the current approach would be extended until eight years after the first commercial human spaceflight, but Sec. 827 of this bill extends it only until October 1, 2015.

NRC Says Yes to NASA Participation in ESA's Euclid Mission

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 20:50:00 GMT

The National Research Council (NRC) issued its report today on whether NASA should make a modest hardware contribution to Europe's Euclid dark energy mission valued at about $20 million in exchange for one seat on Euclid's 12-person science committee and early access to Euclid data. The NRC endorsed NASA's plan.

The report was requested by NASA and executed by the NRC on an expedited basis because the European Space Agency (ESA) needs an agreement to be signed through the U.S. State Department by the end of April if the United States wants to participate. Consequently the committee was able to meet only once. At that meeting, several committee members expressed concern about whether even a small contribution to Euclid would negatively affect plans for a U.S. dark energy mission. The most recent NRC decadal survey for astronomy and astrophysics identified the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) as its highest priority large space mission, which has dark energy research as one of its three objectives.

Plans for building WFIRST are being delayed because of cost overruns on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The earliest WFIRST launch date now is about 2022 while Euclid is planned for launch in 2019. By providing the hardware for the Euclid mission, U.S. scientists will get early access to Euclid's data and one of 12 seats on the Euclid science team. The agreement does not involve any exchange of funds between the United States and Europe. NASA will pay for the hardware development and provide the hardware to ESA. Exactly what hardware NASA will provide still must be negotiated, but ESA is particularly interested in U.S. near-infrared detectors.

The committee was careful to state that the contribution to Euclid "should be made in the context of a strong U.S. commitment to ... WFIRST...." and its "intent has been clear that this report does not alter ... plans for implementation of the [decadal] survey's priorities."

The NRC committee that produced the 2010 decadal survey, New Worlds New Horizons, and recommended development of WFIRST was aware of ESA's plans for Euclid, but ESA had not yet selected Euclid for development. That occurred last fall. By then, the depth of the cost overrun on JWST had crystallized and, coupled with the outlook for sharply constrained budgets for many years, NASA began looking for other ways to pursue dark energy research. Dark energy is thought to comprise more than 70 percent of the universe. It is called "dark" because scientists do not know what it is. They know the universe is expanding at a rate faster than earlier theorized and coined the term dark energy to refer to the force or phenomenon that is fueling that expansion.

NASA earlier proposed a greater U.S. contribution to Euclid, but the U.S. astrophysics community was not supportive for fear it would drain resources from WFIRST or other U.S. space science priorities. The $20 million proposal that NASA offered this time apparently was the right order of magnitude to win that support. An internal NASA advisory subcommittee earlier had approved the idea as well. The $20 million represents about 10 percent of the cost of Euclid's instruments and is usually referred to as NASA having a "10 percent role in Euclid," but it is not 10 percent of the cost of the project overall.

NASA Media Teleconference Today on Changes to ISS Launch Schedule

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:34:00 GMT

NASA will hold a media teleconference at 2:00 pm Central Time (3:00 pm ET) this afternoon to discuss changes to the International Space Station (ISS) schedule.

NASA says the teleconference at Johnson Space Center will discuss "progress toward an updated schedule." The next crew launch to the ISS has been delayed because the Russian Soyuz spacecraft that was to take the crew into space was damaged during testing and is unusable. Russia will provide a replacement spacecraft, but the launch will be delayed from March 30 until the end of April or middle of May.

Meanwhile, the next test launch of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and its Falcon 9 launch vehicle already had been delayed because more work was needed. That test is intended to demostrate Dragon's ability to berth with the ISS as part of SpaceX's effort to provide earth-to-ISS cargo services for NASA.

The teleconference will be streamed live at http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio.

Suffredini: Space Station Launch Delays Will Have Little Impact on Overall Operations-Correction

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 13:52:00 GMT

Correction: An earlier verison of this posting misspelled Mr. Suffredini's name as Sufferdini.

NASA International Space Station (ISS) program manager Mike Suffredini said today that although the launch of the next crew to the ISS will be delayed and other aspects of the schedule juggled, overall there will be virtually no impact on ISS operations.

The next crew was supposed to be launched to ISS on March 30. Last week, however, their Soyuz descent capsule was badly damaged in a testing accident. Russia has decided to use an entirely different Soyuz module rather than trying to replace just the descent part of it and is pulling up the next Soyuz that already is in manufacturing. That will delay the launch until May 15.

Consequently, the ISS partners are making modest changes to the crew rotation schedule that will also impact when the next automated Russian cargo spacecraft, Progress, is launched. ISS crews rotate on a roughly six month schedule, with three astronauts ferried to and from ISS on a single Soyuz spacecraft. With a regular crew complement of six, that means four Soyuz spacecraft are docking with and undocking from the ISS every year. Added to that are the automated cargo spacecraft -- Russia's Progress, which are launched between four and six times a year, plus Europe's ATV and Japan's HTV, each about once a year. Thus, ISS is a traffic hub, with complicating factors such as sun angles dictating when certain launch and docking operations occur.

Suffredini played down the idea that the changes due to the Soyuz testing failure problem would have any long term impact on ISS operations and the scientific research the crews are conducting. What affects scientific research is the number of crew aboard. A hiccup last year because of a Russian launch failure (of a Progress cargo spacecraft in August) meant only three instead of six crew members were aboard for longer than expected, reducing scientific output. Now that the six-person complement has been restored, astronauts are working hard to make up the difference so the goal of an average of 35 hours per week over the course of an "expedition" is maintained. Right now, the astronauts are spending more than that on science to make up for the lost time last fall.

He also expressed confidence in the part of the Russian space program that produces the Soyuz and Progress spacecraft and their launch vehicles. In response to a question from a reporter about other failures, such as the Phobos-Grunt Mars mission, Sufferdini said that was outside his area of expertise. He stressed that he is confident of the Russian company, Energia, that manufactures the spacecraft for the ISS program and of its ability to investigate and remedy failures when they occur.

On a separate but related issue, he also talked about the upcoming launch of SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft to ISS. The next test launch of Dragon and its Falcon 9 launch vehicle recently slipped from February 7 to March 20. It will demonstrate the ability of Dragon to berth with ISS. Dragon is designed to be used as a cargo spacecraft for ISS and NASA has Space Act Agreements with SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corp. to help them develop "commercial cargo" systems. They were supposed to be operational by this year, as NASA's contract with Russia to take cargo to the ISS runs out. (Its contract to take crews to and from ISS is separate.)

Suffredini expressed no surprise that the SpaceX test launch slipped to March 20 and said that his personal belief is that it will slip to the first week in April while stressing that was not a firm statement, just his expectation based on years of experience. Delaying until early April is not a problem in his view. The key is to avoid a conflict with the next Progress launch and docking in mid-April. He said that all the ISS partners, not only Russia, must agree to the SpaceX test berthing and they had just had a meeting in which they all said they were "comfortable" with the plan.

He added that because of the Russian cargo spacecraft failure last fall, Russia owes NASA a certain amount of cargo capacity to the ISS. If the U.S. commercial cargo efforts of SpaceX and Orbital are delayed, that should buy NASA some time into the early part of 2013.

NRC Prioritizes 16 Technologies for NASA Development, Calls Again for Pu-238 Restart

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:03:00 GMT

The National Research Council (NRC) released the final report from its committee that has been reviewing NASA's technology roadmaps for the past year. The roadmaps were developed by NASA's Office of Chief Technologist (OCT), then headed by Bobby Braun. Braun returned to Georgia Tech shortly after the NRC committee released an interim report last fall. This final report identifies 16 high priority technologies for NASA investment over the next five years.

The technology priorities in the report are not tied to specific NASA missions, but instead to one of three "technology objectives" -- extend and sustain human activities beyond low Earth orbit, explore the evolution of the solar system and the potential for life elsewhere, and expand our understanding of Earth and the universe in which we live. The NRC committee stressed that the "objectives are not independent, and more than one objective may be addressed by a single mission...."

Taking into account the constrained budget environment NASA faces in the years ahead, the committee selected a "short list" of 16 technologies that need investment in the next five years. (The table in the report showing the 16 technologies is arranged by the three technology objectives. Some technologies appear under more than one objective, however, so there are 16 rather than 23 as a quick reading might infer.) The committee believes the 16 could be "reasonably accommodated within the most likely expected funding level available for technology development by OCT (in the range of $500 million to $1 billion annually)." The 16 are:

Radiation Mitigation for Human Spaceflight
Long-Duration Crew Health
ECLSS
GN&C
(Nuclear) Thermal Propulsion
Lightweight and Multifunctional Materials and Structures
Fission Power Generation
EDL TPS
Solar Power Generation (Photovoltaic and Thermal)
Electric Propulsion
In-Situ Instruments and Sensors
Extreme Terrain Mobility
Optical Systems (Instruments and Sensors)
High Contrast Imaging and Spectroscopy Technologies
Detectors and Focal Planes
Active Thermal Control of Cryogenic Systems

The committee identified two technologies that it considered to be at a "tipping point" where a relatively small investment could produce a large payoff in readiness: Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generators (ASRG) and On-Orbit Cryogenic Storage and Transfer.

ASRGs require less plutonium-238 (Pu-238) than today's radioistope power systems, but still require some, and the committee emphasized that restarting Pu-238 production is still "urgently needed." The NRC already highlighted the need for restarting Pu-238 production in two earlier reports -- one specifically addressing the Pu-238 issue in 2009 and the planetary science decadal survey published in 2011. Congress has provided NASA with its half of the funding needed to restart production, but the other half is in the Department of Energy's (DOE's) budget and DOE's appropriators remain unconvinced that DOE should pay any of those costs. DOE owns the facilities where the production would take place, but it is NASA that needs the Pu-238.

Phobos-Grunt Failure: Cosmic Rays or Counterfeit Chips?

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 01:44:00 GMT

The Russian media have been reporting today on their interpretation of the results of the investigation into the failure of the Phobos-Grunt (Phobos-soil) mission. Itar-Tass, the official news service of the Russian government, says it was a computer problem, but was the real culprit cosmic rays or counterfeit computer chips?

Itar-Tass reported that the computer system did a double re-start, as explained yesterday on RussianSpaceWeb.com. The Itar-Tass story says the double-restart caused the spacecraft to go into a standby mode and was caused by the "local influence of heavy charged particles" or because the computer chips "may have been counterfeit." Sticking to the charged-particle explanation, Itar-Tass goes on to say that the institute that built the spacecraft, NPO Lavochkin, should have taken these particles -- cosmic rays -- into account in designing the system, and Lavochkin officials were "administratively punished" as a result. Another Itar-Tass story blamed computer programmers.

Another important Russian media outlet, RIA Novosti, added that counterfeit computer chips "may have been imported" and were to blame. But it goes on to say that the commission that investigated the failure "ruled out any 'external or foreign influence"" as the reason for the failure. Some Russian officials had blamed a U.S. radar in the Marshall Islands for inadvertently damaging the spacecraft as it flew overhead.

Russian space agency director Vladimir Popovkin is looking towards the future, not the past. He told RIA Novosti that Russia might build a replacement for Phobos-Grunt if the European Space Agency decides not to include Russia in its upcoming Mars mission, ExoMars.

Russian Officials Confirm Delay in Next ISS Crew Launch

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 02:01:00 GMT

Russian space officials confirmed today that the next launch of a Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) will be delayed until the end of April or mid-May. The delay is due to a testing failure of the Soyuz descent module last week.

Russian space agency (Roscosmos) director Vladimir Popovkin said the launch would be postponed until the end of April. The mission, Soyuz TMA-04M, was supposed to be launched March 30. Alexei Krasnov, the head of human spaceflight programs at Roscosmos, told RIA Novosti that the launch would be delayed 30-45 days, or possibly until mid-May, and the exact date would be established after consultation with NASA.

The ISS is a partnership among the United States, Russia, Japan, Canada and several European countries, with NASA and Roscosmos holding the key roles in ISS operations.

The three crew-members who will be launched on this mission are Russians Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin and NASA's Joseph Acaba.

According to RussianSpaceWeb.com, the Soyuz descent capsule was subjected to higher pressures than expected during a test last week and a weld ruptured making the capsule unusable.

NRC Lukewarm About NASA's Proposed Space Radiation Cancer Risk Model

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:17:00 GMT

The National Research Council (NRC) issued a report today evaluating changes NASA is proposing to make on how it estimates the risk that astronauts could develop cancer because of exposure to radiation in space. The report concluded that the proposed changes are better than the current model NASA is using, but still needs improvements.

The study committee, chaired by R. Julian Preston of the Environmental Protection Agency, assessed changes NASA is proposing to its current model for estimating the risk of radiation-induced cancer in astronauts. The existing model was most recently updated in 2005. Last year NASA proposed changes based on new findings from a number of sources.

Overall, the NRC committee concluded that the proposed changes represent the state-of-the-art, but "There remains a need for additional data to be developed to enhance the current approach and to reduce uncertainty in the model."

The committee complained that "NASA's proposed model and associated uncertainties are complex" and "require a very clear and precise set of descriptions," that were not provided in NASA's published report. Thus, the committee found it difficult to review, and while it asked NASA for clarifications throughout its deliberations, not all of the ambiguities were resolved.

"The overall evaluation of the committee is that NASA’s proposed model represents a definite improvement over the previous one. However, the committee urges that the necessary improvements identified by the specific recommendations provided [herein] be incorporated before the proposed integrated model is implemented."

Zak: Phobos-Grunt Doomed by Computer Design, Testing Flaws, Not U.S. Radar

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 18:12:00 GMT

The Russian commission investigating the failure of the Phobos-Grunt (Phobos-soil) Mars mission concluded that computer design error and insufficient testing were the reasons the probe never left Earth orbit, not interference from a U.S. radar according to Anatoly Zak at RussianSpaceWeb.com. Zak summarizes the commission's findings on his website today. Russia's news agency Itar-Tass reported over the weekend that the findings would be presented to Russia's space agency director yesterday and made public this week, but neither it nor other leading Russian media sources have published anything yet today.

Zak reports on his website that the "most probable cause ... was a simultaneous robooting of two operational processors in the main computer.... The computers could crash as a result of errors in their software or as a result of some external reasons, such as electromagnetic incompatibility, industry sources said. The mentioning of this last point ... apparently became a basis for numerous reports in the Russian press blaming the failure on various improbable external reasons, such as foreign radars or solar flares."

"Foreign radars" refers to assertions by some Russian officials that a U.S. radar based in the Marshall Islands inadvertently damaged Phobos-Grunt while it was being used to study asteroids and the orbiting spacecraft passed through the beam. Yuri Koptev, former head of the Russian space agency who chaired the commission investigating the Phobos-Grunt failure, said that his group would conduct an experiment to prove or disprove the theory.

Zak reports that tests were conducted by NPO Lavochkin, which manufactured Phobos-Grunt, to determine if the computer could have been affected "by interference from the probe's own power supply or from unlikely external sources, such as a narrow powerful beam of a ground radar. During these tests, the computer withstood all simulations without any problems."

Therefore, "[w]ith all external failure scenarios effectively debunked, the most probable cause of the failure was narrowed down to the lack of integrated testing" of the computer, Zak states.

More Russian Space Woes Likely to Delay Next ISS Crew Launch, Commercial Proton Launches

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 21:06:00 GMT

Problems in Russia's aerospace sector are still hampering its space program on which the United States and global commercial satellite companies increasingly rely. The next Soyuz spacecraft slated to launch a crew to the International Space Station (ISS) apparently was damaged beyond repair during recent testing, while commercial Proton launches are on hold because of technical issues.

Last year, Russia experienced five launch failures, including a Soyuz rocket that was intended to send a Progress cargo spacecraft to the ISS. A multi-week delay in launching a three-person ISS crew resulted as Russian experts worked to ensure that a very similar Soyuz rocket was indeed safe to take people into space.

The spacecraft that carries crew members is also named Soyuz, and on Friday Russia announced that the Soyuz spacecraft assigned for the next crew launch, expected on March 30, failed a test. Anatoly Zak at RussianSpaceWeb.com reports today that Russian industry sources and the website Novosti Kosmonavtiki (Space News) are indicating that during testing the spacecraft was pressurized "up to 3 atmospheres, instead of the nominal 1.3-1.5 atmospheres....The bad quality of materials in the spacecraft...had also been suspected. Another report surfaced on January 29, 2012 ... that a welding line on the descent module had broken as a result of the internal pressure" and the "descent module was damaged beyond repair." Zak estimates that the next launch might be delayed until the end of April at the earliest if a decision is made to use a replacement descent module.

At the same time, a Proton rocket had to be rolled back from the launch pad days before launch for a second time. Intended to launch a commercial communications satellite, SES-4 (or NSS-14), the launch was supposed to take place in December. A day before before launch, a problem was detected that required the rocket to be removed from the pad for repair. The launch was rescheduled for January 28, but once again had to be scrubbed. This time it reportedly is a problem with a transit cable in the Proton's first stage that will require partial disassembly of the vehicle per RussianSpaceWeb.com and the rocket again must be rolled back from the pad. A new date for the SES-4 launch has not been announced. The date of the next commercial Proton launch, of a Sirius radio broadcasting satellite, is also in doubt.

Until recently, Russian rockets and spacecraft had a reputation for reliability. The number of problems now surfacing raises serious questions about the health of the Russian aerospace industry just when the United States has become completely reliant on Russia to keep the ISS crewed. The U.S. government's decision to terminate the space shuttle last year with no U.S. system to replace it means that NASA must purchase services from Russia for crew transportation to and from the ISS and for providing a "lifeboat" capability so crews can escape in an emergency. The commercial satellite sector also relies heavily on Russia's commercial launch services. In 2010, Russia conducted 13 commercial launches, compared to six for Europe's Arianespace and four for the United States, according to The Space Report 2011.

Last month, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin appointed Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin to investigate the problems in the Russian space industry and determine solutions. Russia's space agency, Roscosmos, was due to report to Rogozin at the end of last week on the space industry's challenges, but no stories have appeared in the Russia media yet to indicate that such meetings took place. The commission investigating the failure of the Phobos-Grunt Mars mission also was supposed to issue its conclusions last week. On January 26, Russia's news agency Itar-Tass said the report was completed and would be submitted to Roscosmos director Vladimir Popovkin today (Sunday) and made public this coming week.

Events of Interest: Week of Jan. 30-Feb. 3, 2012

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:02:00 GMT

The following events may be of interest in the coming week.

During the Week: The House and Senate are in session this week. The World Radiocommunications Conference continues in Geneva, Switzerland. The conclusions of the Russian commission that investigated the Phobos-Grunt failure are supposed to be made public this week.

Tuesday, January 31

NASA media briefing on new discoveries about interstellar matter, NASA HQ, Washington, DC, 1:00 pm EST

Wednesday, February 1

Screening of film Article of Hope, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 10:00 am EST

Wednesday-Friday, February 1-3

National Research Council (NRC) Committee on Implementation of a Sustained Land Imaging Program, NRC Keck Center, 500 5th St., NW, Washington, DC (some sessions of this meeting may be closed)

Friday, February 3

Secure World Foundation "Trash in the Skies" meeting, 253 Russell Senate Office Building, 12:00 - 1:30 pm EST

NRC Welcomes Suggestions for Committee Members-But Hurry

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:27:00 GMT

The National Research Council's (NRC) Space Studies Board welcomes recommendations for members of three standing committees that are being formed, but suggestions must be submitted by close of business tomorrow, January 30, 2012.

In addition to the ad hoc study committees that the NRC creates to provide advice on particular topics, permanent standing committees also may be formed on broader subjects that provide a mechanism for ongoing interaction with members of various segments of the science and engineering communities.

The Space Studies Board (SBB) is currently forming or re-forming three of its standing committees: the Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics (joint with the NRC's Board on Physics and Astronomy); the Committee on Astrobiology and Planetary Science (a merger of the SSB's former Committee on the Origins and Evolution of Life and the Committee on Planetary and Lunar Exploration); and the Committee on Earth Sciences and Applications from Space (formerly the Committee on Earth Science).

More information on the role of standing committees at the NRC and how to send in your suggestions are on the SSB website under "Other News."

Soyuz Descent Module Fails Testing; ISS Launches May Be Delayed

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:08:00 GMT

Russia's news agency Itar-Tass reports today that the descent module of the next Soyuz spacecraft scheduled for launch to the International Space Station (ISS) experienced a failure during testing. Initial Russian media reports said that future flights to the ISS would be delayed, but a more recent report says that no decisions have been made yet.

The Itar-Tass story posted at 15:15 today quotes Russian space agency (Roscosmos) official Alexei Krasnov as disputing earlier Russian media reports that the Soyuz TMA--04M launch would be delayed for several weeks from its current launch date of March 30. He agreed that problems did occur during a test in an altitude test chamber at the Energia Space Rocket Corporation, but that it was a problem with a "service element" and not the descent capsule itself.

Krasnov was quoted as saying "The deformation of a service system was detected. The committee was formed and is investigating how seriously the malfunction was: whether it was a material defect or technologies. Probably, next week some decisions will be taken.” He did not dispute that a schedule delay might result, but downplayed the significance of such a slip.

The three ISS crewmembers scheduled to be launched on Soyuz TMA-04M are Russians Gennady Padakla and Sergei Rivin and NASA astronaut Joseph Acaba.

Romney's Turn to Lay Out Space Goals; Scott Pace Heading Romney's Space Policy Team-UPDATE

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 20:57:00 GMT

UPDATE: Florida Today says it will cover Romney's visit to Astrotech live, and is already running video apparently from that location.

Mitt Romney's website still has him scheduled to appear at the Astrotech facility in Cape Canaveral, FL this afternoon at 4:45 pm ET where he is expected to expand on his plans for the space program if he is elected. Meanwhile, a letter posted on Romney's website reveals that Scott Pace is heading his space policy advisory team.

Last night at the CNN Florida Republican presidential primary debate in Jacksonville, all four Republican presidential candidates, including Romney, were given an opportunity to expound about the space program. Romney's current chief opponent in the race, Newt Gingrich, presented his bold plan for space -- including a lunar base by 2020 -- at a speech on Wednesday. Last night, a member of audience asked what the candidates' plans were for "manned space flight and the future of NASA" and moderator Wolf Blitzer expanded the question to bring in views about Gingrich's lunar base proposal.

Romney called it "an enormous expense." Saying he believes "in a very vibrant and strong space program" and wants to bring together experts to advise him about it, he cautioned that he is "not looking for a colony on the moon. I think the cost of that would be in the hundreds of billions if not trillions. I'd rather be rebuilding housing here in the U.S."

This afternoon's event is listed on his website as scheduled for 4:45-6:00 pm at Astrotech's facility at 620 Magellan Road, Cape Canaveral. Edward Ellegood of Florida Space Report tweeted that he expects Romney to introduce some of the experts he plans to consult.

The Romney campaign may have tipped its hand already, posting a letter of support from some well known players in the space policy arena. The authors of the letter assert that Romney will "restore America's space program." The letter was signed by Scott Pace, Director of George Washington University's Space Policy Institute and who served as a NASA Associate Administrator under former NASA Administrator Mike Griffin. Griffin also signed the letter. Pace is identified as "chair of the Romney Space Policy Advisory Group" and interestingly does not mention his NASA service, but notes his earlier tenure at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Others who signed are Mark Albrecht, former Executive Director of the White House National Space Council under the first President Bush; former astronauts Gene Cernan and Bob Crippen; Peter Marquez, formerly on the staff of the White House National Security Council under the second President Bush and in the early years of the Obama Administration (he is credited with pulling together President Obama's National Space Policy); Eric Anderson of Space Adventures; and William Martel from Tufts University.

Romney Shares Nothing New About Space, Wants Advice First

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 23:19:00 GMT

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney added nothing new about his plans for the space program during a brief speech in Cape Canaveral, FL.

Romney repeated what he said during two primary debates on Monday and last night that he wants to hear advice from scientists, industrialists, defense experts and NASA before making any decisions.

Calling President Obama's space program a failure, he asserted it was time to have a "vision for a space program for the people of the United States of America." If this was the politics of the past, he said, he would come to the Space Coast and promise billions of dollars and lay out what his mission is, "but I'm not going to do that." Referring to his experience in the private sector, he said that before making tough decisions, work has to be done in terms of defining objectives, getting data and hypotheses to determine the choices, and only then selecting an objective and finding a leader to deliver it. His remark about promising billions of dollars appeared to be a swipe at his rival, Newt Gingrich, who make a speech on Wednesday doing just that.

He outlined what he sees as four objectives of the space program, calling each of them a "critical priority": the "existential" objective of understanding the universe and its effects on the Earth, such as climate or the possibility of a "catastrophic event"; commercial; the health and well-being of citizens; and defense. Collectively, those objectives make the space program "an integral part of America's exceptionalism."

Romney paid tribute to those lost in the space shuttle Challenger tragedy, which occurred 26 years ago tomorrow. Saying that we must not forget the sacrifices made for the space program, he told the story of visiting a Boy Scout troop in Massachusetts a couple of years ago and hearing a story about the American flag sitting in the room. The flag had first flown above the U.S. Capitol and then the troop decided they wanted it to fly on the space shuttle. They arranged to do that and it flew on Challenger and the scouts watched the shuttle "explode before their very eyes." Later, the Troop Leader contacted NASA to determine if any remnants of the flag survived. After many months, the flag was returned "in perfect condition" although some medallions that had been in the container next to it were melted and fused together. He said "it was like electricity" when he touched the flag, thinking of the sacrifices that made been made.

Most of the rest of the speech, which lasted only about 15 minutes, was standard campaign fare.

As reported here earlier today, a letter in support of Romney was posted on the candidate's website today from a group of well known space policy veterans. The group is led by Scott Pace, Director of George Washington University's Space Policy Institute, who is identified in the letter as head of Romney's space policy advisory group. Others who signed include former NASA Administrator Mike Griffin and former astronauts Gene Cernan and Bob Crippen.

Remembering the Nation's Fallen Astronauts

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:05:00 GMT

Today is NASA's Day of Remembrance, honoring the astronauts who lost their lives in the cause of space exploration.

The nation's three human spaceflight tragedies occurred years apart, but on days very close to each other. NASA commemorates all three on a single day.

On January 27, 1967, the Apollo 204 fire took the lives of the first Apollo crew. Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee were killed when fire swept through the 100 percent oxygen atmosphere of their Apollo capsule during a ground test. The origin of the spark that started the fire was never definitively determined, but was thought to be from electrical arcing. If launched, it would have been called Apollo 1, but is more commonly referred to as Apollo 204.

On January 28, 1986, the seven crew members of space shuttle Challenger (STS 51-L) were killed when an O-ring in one of the solid rocket boosters failed and caused a catastrophic explosion 73 seconds after launch. NASA astronauts Dick Scobee, Mike Smith, Judy Resnik, Ellison Onizuka and Ron McNair, together with "teacher in space" Christa McAuliffe and Hughes Aircraft payload specialist Greg Jarvis, died.

On February 1, 2003, the space shuttle Columbia (STS-107) disintegrated as it returned from a two-week mission in space as the orbiter was torn apart by aerodynamic forces after superheated air (plasma) entered one of its wings through a hole and deformed it. The hole was created by debris falling from the External Tank during launch. NASA astronauts Rick Husband, William McCool, Michael Anderson, David Brown, Kalpana Chawla, and Laurel Clark, along with Israeli payload specialist Ilan Ramon, were killed.

Today, President Obama issued a statement saying that "it is our duty to honor them the way they would have wanted to be honored -- by focusing our sights on the next horizon."

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, himself a former space shuttle astronaut, released a video message and paid tribute to the crews at memorials to them at Arlington National Cemetery. A wreath-laying ceremony also took place at Kennedy Space Center.

Santorum Cancels Space Coast Visit, but Romney Still On--UPDATE

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:21:00 GMT

UPDATE (Jan. 26, 2012, 7:20 pm ET): Edward Ellegood @FLspacereport tweets that the Romney visit to Astrotech will now be at 4:45 pm ET tomorrow instead of 3:00.

ORIGINAL STORY: Rick Santorum, one of Newt Gingrich's rivals for the Republican presidential nomination, has canceled his scheduled appearance on Saturday at the Space Coast Tiger Bay luncheon according to Florida Today. Another rival, Mitt Romney, still plans to visit Cape Canaveral tomorrow, however.

Gingrich visited the area yesterday and laid out his bold plans for the future of the space program. He and Romney had previewed their visions for space activities during the Republican primary debate on Monday. Santorum and Ron Paul, the fourth candidate remaining in the contest, were not asked about space during that debate, but Santorum had been expected to share his views at Saturday's event. Florida Today quotes a Santorum campaign volunteer as saying only that she was notifed Santorum would be out of town and unable to attend the luncheon.

Meanwhile, Romney will visit Astrotech in Cape Canaveral at 3:00 pm ET tomorrow, Florida Today reports. The event is open to the public.

Another Republican presidential primary debate is scheduled for tonight in Jacksonville, FL at 8:00 pm ET. It will be carried on CNN. The Florida Republican primary will be held on January 31.

Romney and Santorum Also to Visit Space Coast

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:12:00 GMT

Newt Gingrich is not the only Republican presidential hopeful who will visit the Space Coast in advance of the Florida Republican primary on January 31. Florida Today reports that Mitt Romney will visit on Friday and Rick Santorum on Saturday.

Gingrich is scheduled to hold two meetings in Cocoa, FL this afternoon. Florida Today says that Romney will be in Titusville at 4:35 pm on Friday, and Santorum will speak at a "Space Coast Tiger Bay" luncheon in Viera on Saturday.

The appearances skip over tomorrow, January 26, probably because it is the date of the next Republican primary debate in Jacksonville. However, it also is NASA's "Day of Remembrance" in honor of those who lost their lives in the country's three human spaceflight tragedies: the Apollo fire on January 27, 1967 and the two space shuttle tragedies -- Challenger, January 28, 1986, and Columbia, Feb. 1, 2003. A wreath-laying ceremony will be held at Kennedy Space Center at 10:30 am tomorrow.

Gingrich and Romney shared their views on the space program at Monday night's Repubican primary debate. Santorum was not asked about the space program and did not volunteer any views. Neither did Ron Paul, the fourth candidate still in the race. There is no indication on Paul's campaign website that he plans to visit the Space Coast.

Watch Gingrich's Space-Related Campaign Stops Live This Afternoon--UPDATE 2

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 21:26:00 GMT

UPDATE 2 (4:25 pm ET): C-Span is now showing that it will air Gingrich's space policy town hall meeting at 5:00 pm instead of 4:45 pm.

UPDATE: Edward Ellegood @FLspacereport tweets that the roundtable has been postponed until after the speech at 4:45.

ORIGINAL STORY: Newt Gingrich will hold two meetings this afternoon in Cocoa, FL, where he is expected to make a major space policy speech.

From 3:30-4:15, Gingrich is scheduled to meet with aerospace industry leaders for a roundtable discussion at Brevard Community College. The event is invitation-only, but Florida Today's Flame Trench blog says that it will provide a live stream. The agenda is also posted there. A story on the Florida Today site at 2:48 this afternoon indicates that the event may be delayed until closer to 4:00.

At 4:45 pm, C-Span will broadcast the second event, a "Town Hall Meeting on Space Policy" with Gingrich. The meeting itself is scheduled from 4:30 - 5:30 pm.

NPP Satellite Gets New Name

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 21:18:00 GMT

NASA has renamed its NPP earth observing satellite in honor of the father of satellite meteorology, Verner Suomi.

Until now "NPP" has stood for the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Preparatory Project. The tri-agency NPOESS project for which it was preparing, however, was cancelled in 2010.

Launched in October 2011, NPP is being repurposed to not only test new sensors for environmental monitoring of the Earth as originally planned, but to serve as an operational component of the nation's civilian weather satellite system. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) operates that system.

The new name, Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership, or Suomi NPP -- honors Dr. Suomi as well as the partnership among NASA, NOAA, the Department of Defense, the private sector, and academic researchers according to NASA's Earth Science Division Director Michael Freilich.

Dr. Suomi founded the Space Science and Engineering Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1965 and received the National Medal of Science in 1977. He died in 1995 and is remembered as a pioneer in using polar-orbiting and geostationary satellites for weather observations.

ESA Confirms Phobos-Grunt Reentry Location

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 22:52:00 GMT

The European Space Agency (ESA) confirmed today that Russia's Phobos-Grunt (Phobos-soil) Mars mission reentered off the South American coastline on January 15 as earlier reported.

ESA coordinated the activities of the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC) that coordinates activities related to monitoring space debris. Members include ESA and the space agencies of individual European countries, Russia, the United States, China, Canada, Japan, Ukraine and India. ESA said today that --

"Following the 15 January Phobos–Grunt reentry, the US Strategic Command confirmed a reentry time of 17:46 GMT, referring to an altitude of 80 km at 46°S and 87°W, near the South American coastline. This corresponds to a pass at 10 km altitude about seven minutes later – very close to ESA’s prediction.

“'While this was an uncontrolled reentry, the location of the potential impact area was largely over ocean, with a correspondingly low probability of any detrimental effects,' said Prof. Heiner Klinkrad, Head of ESA’s Space Debris Office in Darmstadt, Germany."

Phobos-Grunt was intended to go to Mars and return to Earth a sample of its moon Phobos. The spacecraft successfully reached Earth orbit after launch on November 8, 2011 (Eastern Standard Time), but its engines never fired to send it on its way to Mars. It reentered Earth's atmosphere on January 15, 2012. Russia's space agency, Roscosmos, predicted it would reenter over the Atlantic, but Russia's defense ministry reported that it came down in the Pacific west of Chile. Confirmation of the time and location of reentry has been eagerly awaited by many in the space community since then and the delay in the announcement led to various rumors.

Russia established a commission to investigate the Phobos-Grunt failure chaired by Yuri Koptev. It was scheduled to make its report to Roscosmos earlier this week and the results to be made public tomorrow (January 26).

Gingrich Wants Moon Base by 2020, Mars Colony, New Propulsion, Prizes-UPDATE

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:16:00 GMT

UPDATE: C-Span.org has posted a video of Gingrich's remarks, which begin at 1:56 into the recording.

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich delivered a speech on Wednesday in Cocoa, FL about his plans for the space program. It laid out bold goals with an emphasis on using prizes to entice private investment in space activities.

He promised a permanent base on the Moon by the "end of my second term" as president, which would be 2020. He envisions commercial near-earth activiities including tourism, science, and manufacturing. By the end of 2020, he said, human trips to Mars could be accomplished using "continuous propulsion" that could make the trip in a "remarkably short time because I am sick of being told we have to be timid and ... we have to be limited to technologies that are 50 years old." He wants 10 percent of the NASA budget set aside for funding prizes that would spur private investment, specifically suggesting a $10 billion prize for sending people to Mars.

Gingrich cited Abraham Lincoln and the transcontinental railroad, the Wright Brothers and the development of airplanes, and John F. Kennedy and the Apollo program as models of what can be accomplished if people have the determination and vision to move forward.

Needling one of his opponents for the Republican nomination, Gingrich said that Mitt Romney had "made fun of me for having bold ideas" about the space program, but that his "weirdest" idea -- that Romney's team had yet to uncover -- is a "Northwest Ordinance for space." Gingrich said the idea is that once there are 13,000 Americans living on the Moon they could petition for statehood. He vowed to pursue the idea again if he is President as a "marker" that America wants a bold future.

Failure should be an option, in his view, telling a story of missile defense legend Gen. Bernie Schriever criticizing his successor for having 17 successful launches in a row because that meant he was not trying -- if he was trying he would be making mistakes.

The current situation where the United States must rely on Russia for sending people to the space station, and, in his view, China is surpassing us, is an "embarassment," he said.

Other than suggesting the use of prizes to encourage the private sector to invest in space, Gingrich did not address how such a program would be funded, especially his goal to establish a lunar base in eight years. He made no mention of international cooperation and, in fact, emphasized that the lunar base he wants by 2020 would be "American."

Romney, Gingrich Talk Space

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:07:00 GMT

At last night's Republican presidential primary debate, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich shared their views on the future of the space program. Not surprisingly, both criticized the Obama Administration's program, but perhaps unknowingly supported one of its key elements -- greater reliance on the private sector.

Gingrich went further than Romney, focusing on the use of prizes to stimulate private sector investment in visionary space activities while calling for "a leaner NASA." Prizes are part of the Obama strategy, too, but Gingrich seems intent on making them the cornerstone of the future space exploration program he would design.

Romney complained that President Obama "does not have a vision or a mission for NASA" and as a result Florida and especially its Space Coast are suffering. He believes space is important for science, commercial development and the military and that a vision should be established by bringing together representatives of all of those sectors. He added that NASA should be funded not only by the government "but also by commercial enterprises. Have some of the research done in our universities." Exciting young people and leading the world were other goals he espoused.

A substantial amount of NASA's research is already done by universities, of course, but the concept of commercial enterprises funding NASA instead of the reverse -- as is true now -- would certainly be a change. U.S. leadership and inspiring youth are long-standing goals of politicians of both parties.

Gingrich, who plans a major speech about the space program this week, perhaps tomorrow, extolled the use of prizes to encourage "the private sector into very aggressive experimentation" -- with less spent at NASA. "I don't think building a bigger bureaucracy and having a greater number of people sit in rooms and talk gets you there," he said. Instead he believes a "lot of folks in this country and around the world ... would put up an amazing amount of money and would make the space coast literally hum with activity" in order to win the prizes. Going back to the Moon and on to Mars, building more space stations and developing commercial space, he said, could be done by "leapfrogging into a world where you're incentivizing people who are visionaries and people in the private sector to invest very large amounts of money in finding very romantic and exciting futures."

The two were responding to questions from Beth Reinhard of the National Journal, one of the moderators of the debate. The other two candidates, Ron Paul and Rick Santorum, were not asked questions about the space program.

A video of the portion of the debate devoted to the space program is on YouTube and the Washington Post has a transcript.

Campaign Promises Versus Reality: Obama and the Space Program

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:50:00 GMT

As two of the candidates for the Republican nomination for President spelled out their plans for the space program last night, the New Yorker published an article explaining what happened to the promises presidential candidate Barack Obama made in 2008.

The article by Ryan Lizza is based on hundreds of pages of internal White House memos released by the Obama Administration from the President's first years in office. Lizza uses the promises Obama made about space exploration as one example of how much changed after he won the Oval Office.

In August 2008, presidential candidate Obama gave a rousing speech in Florida about the future of the space program. Criticizing the Bush Administration for giving NASA a vision but not the money to achieve it, Obama asserted "We cannot cede our leadership in space." He vowed to "close the gap" between when the space shuttle program ended and a new system was available and ensure the people of Florida who worked in the space industry did not lose their jobs when the shuttle ended. "We need a real vision," Obama proclaimed, and announced he would reestablish a White House National Aeronautics and Space Council to formulate it. "Under my watch, NASA will inspire the world once again," he said then, and "grow the economy" in Florida.

After his election budget realities set in, Lizza writes. Obama was told by advisers to cancel the Constellation program because it "was behind schedule, over budget, and 'unachievable.'" Obama agreed as he wrestled with the need to cut other favorite programs as well. Later, he received a letter from a woman in Virginia who had voted for him even though she usually voted for Republican candidates, expressing her disappointment in him as President. She asked how he could have cancelled the Ares program, on which her husband worked. After requesting information from aides about "how Ares fit [sic] in with our long term NASA strategy," he directed them to draft a letter to the woman "answering her primary concern -- her husband's career -- for me to send." Lizza writes that the woman's letter "captured the fraught choices that have plagued Obama's past three years."

The article’s primary focus is Obama’s growing realization that the post-partisan political world he believed in as a presidential candidate and his initial months in office bears little resemblance to Washington reality. For its readers, the article is another lesson in the folly of believing what presidential candidates say during campaigns versus what they can deliver if they win.

During the Republican presidential primary debate last night, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich explained their ideas about the future of the space program. Both want to rely more on the private sector -- Gingrich more so than Romney. Gingrich called for using prizes to stimulate private investment in space and a "leaner NASA," while Romney suggested that NASA be funded not only by the government, but by "commercial enterprises." Gingrich said on Sunday he would make a major speech about the space program this week and is scheduled to hold a "Space Industry Roundtable" and a "Space Coast Town Hall Meeting" tomorrow in Cocoa, FL.

Gingrich to Hold Two Space Meetings in Florida Tomorrow

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 21:01:00 GMT

On Sunday, Newt Gingrich announced that he would make a major speech about the space program this week as part of his campaign to win the Republican nomination for President. His website lists two events tomorrow in Cocoa, FL that are focused on the space program.

From 3:30 - 4:15 PM EST, he will hold a "Space Coast-Space Industry Roundtable" at Brevard Community College and from 4:30 - 5:30 pm EST a "Space Coast Town Hall Meeting," according to his campaign website.

Gingrich gave a preview of his views on the space program during the primary debate last night. He wants to expand the use of prizes to incentivize private investors around the world to find "very romantic and exciting futures" in space.

Rep. Gabby Giffords to Resign from Congress

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 13:11:00 GMT

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) will resign from Congress this week after attending tomorrow's State of the Union address.

Rep. Giffords was shot in the head in an assassination attempt a year ago on January 8, 2011. Her survival and recovery to date are considered close to miraculous, and hope was high that she would resume serving her Tucson, AZ district. However, in a video posted on her website and an accompanying press release, she explains that she is doing what is best for Arizona as she continues her recovery. At the same time, she said that she will return.

"I have more work to do on my recovery, so to do what is best for Arizona, I will step down this week. ... I will return and we will work together for Arizona and this country," she said.

Giffords is married to former astronaut Mark Kelly and is a strong supporter of NASA and particularly the human spaceflight program. She chaired the House Science and Technology Committee's Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee in the 111th Congress and officially is the ranking member of that subcommittee now, athough other Members have served in an acting capacity in her absence.

Kelly made his final spaceflight last spring, commanding the last mission of space shuttle Endeavour while his wife was beginning rehabilitation in a Houston hospital. He retired from NASA and the Navy last fall. There is some speculation that he may succeed her. The governor of Arizona will set a date for a primary and general election to choose someone to complete her term.

Gingrich to Make "Visionary" Space Speech This Week

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:17:00 GMT

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich told C-SPAN's Washington Journal yesterday that he plans to make a major speech about his plans for the space program this week when he visits Florida's Space Coast. The Florida Republican primary will be held January 31.

Gingrich said that he plans to make a series of speeches this week on "big solutions for a big country." In addition to space, he said he will speak on health, housing, economic growth, and Cuba and Latin Amercia.

In the interview, he referenced his 1984 book Window of Opportunity in which he devoted a chapter to the space program, adding that his speech this week would be "visionary" and "in the John F. Kennedy tradition rather than the current bureaucracy."

The other Republican presidential candidates have not announced plans to make speeches specifically about the space program as part of their campaigns in Florida, although Florida Today reports that Rick Santorum is scheduled to appear in Brevard County on Saturday. Gingrich will be there on Wednesday. Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station are in that county.

The anniversaries of the three U.S. human spaceflight tragedies are close at hand -- the January 27, 1967 Apollo fire that killed the three members of the first Apollo crew, and the two space shuttle tragedies (Challenger on January 28,1986 and Columbia on February 1, 2003) each of which claimed seven lives. It is a time of reflection in the human spaceflight community, which any politican could see as an opportunity to honor those lost and the cause for which they gave their lives, so other candidates may also mention their plans for NASA.

Florida is a critical state in the presidential contest. Then-candidate Barack Obama made a rousing pro-space speech in Florida on August 2, 2008 criticizing the George W. Bush Administration for setting visionary goals, but not providing the money to achieve them. He said "we cannot cede our leadership in space.... We need a real vision." He asserted that he would reestablish a National Air and Space Council in the White House to develop that vision and "Under my watch NASA will inspire the world once again."

Four years later, the President still has not reestablished the National Air and Space Council (or National Space Council, without the aeronautics component, as it was constituted most recently under the first Bush Administration from 1989-1993). He did, however, propose a major paradigm shift for the human spaceflight program in February 2010 as part of his FY2011 budget request. That plan -- to cancel the Constellation program, turn the transportation of people to and from the International Space Station over to the private sector instead of NASA, and have NASA focus on technology development for eventual human trips to unspecified destinations beyond low Earth orbit -- was not received enthusiastically and set off an intense debate in Congress. Part of the criticism was that this major change was announced as part of a budget request and not in a dedicated speech. The President returned to Florida on April 15, 2010 to explain his plan, but the speech was widely viewed as adding more confusion. After a divisive two years, Congress and the White House seem to be in agreement on the future direction of the human spaceflight program today -- essentially a combination of what each wanted -- but whether it is sustainable within expected budgets remains to be seen.

Florida certainly will be a key state in the presidential race and the Republican National Convention will be held in Tampa Bay in August. That could put the space program front and center in the debate, especially if Gingrich -- a long-time supporter of the space program -- wins the nomination.

The Hill: Obama Delays FY2013 Budget Release To Feb. 13

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:08:00 GMT

Just as he did last year, President Obama reportedly has decided to wait an extra week to release his new budget request to Congress. The date has slipped to February 13 from February 6 according to The Hill newspaper.

By law, the budget request is supposed to be submitted to Congress on the first Monday in February. This year that is February 6. The Hill cites an unnamed Obama administration official as saying that the FY2013 budget request will be released on February 13 instead and quotes two high-ranking congressional Republicans castigating the President for missing the deadline.

Events of Interest: Week of January 22-27, 2012

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 18:03:00 GMT

The following events may be of interest in the week ahead.

During the Week

The House and Senate both will be in session this week and President Obama will deliver his annual State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night. The American Meteorological Society (AMS) holds its annual meeting beginning today in New Orleans, LA, with "town hall" sessions on topics related to earth observing satellites on Tuesday and Wednesday. The four-week World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) 2012, convened by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) where the nations of the world meet to allocate spectrum for terrestrial and space uses, begins in Geneva, Switzerland.

Sunday-Thursday, January 22-26

AMS 2012 annual meeting, New Orleans, LA

Monday, January 23 - Friday, February 17

World Radiocommunication Conference 2012 (WRC-12), Geneva, Switzerland

Tuesday, January 24

NASA Media Roundtable with Chief Technologist Mason Peck, Wallops Flight Facility, VA, 11:00 am EST
AMS Town Hall meeting on strategic plan for the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), New Orleans, LA, 12:15 pm CST
AMS Town Hall meeting on Impending Earth Observations Network Gap, New Orleans, LA, 12:15 pm CST
FAA Commercial Space Trans Adv Cmte (COMSTAC) Risk Management Working Group, teleconference,1:30 pm EST
AMS Town Hall meeting on NASA's Earth Science Division, New Orleans, LA, 6:00 pm CST
President Obama's State of the Union Address to a joint session of Congress, Washington, DC, 9:00 pm EST

Wednesday, January 25

AMS Town Hall meeting on NASA's Progress and Plans for Enabling Programs, New Orleans, LA, 12:15 pm CST
Scheduled launch of Progress cargo spacecraft to the ISS, 6:06 pm EST (5:06 pm CST, 5:06 am January 26 local time at the launch site in Kazakhstan), watch on NASA TV

Friday, January 27

NASA Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP), NASA Headquarters, Room 9H40, Washington, DC, 11:00 am - 12:30 pm EST

NRC Debates NASA's Plan to Participate in ESA's Euclid

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 22:25:00 GMT

The National Research Council (NRC) is debating the merits of NASA’s current plan for U.S. participation in the European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) Euclid dark energy mission and there is not much time to deliberate.

The NRC Committee on Assessment of a Plan for US Participation in Euclid has been asked by NASA to work at breakneck speed for an NRC study, with its report due on April 30. That deadline is dictated by when ESA needs to know whether NASA wants a piece of the action on Euclid or not. If it does, ESA wants a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to be signed by April 2012, right when the report is due.

At a public meeting of the NRC committee on Wednesday, it seemed that many of the committee members were not enthusiastic about NASA’s current plan even though their peers on NASA’s internal astrophysics advisory subcommittee approved of it in November.

The main concern at the NRC committee was the potential impact of spending any money – even the comparatively small amount NASA is proposing – on Euclid instead of on the Wide-Field InfraRed Survey Telescope (WFIRST) mission. WFIRST was the top large space mission recommended by the NRC’s 2010 decadal survey on astronomy and astrophysics, New Worlds New Horizons. That report called for WFIRST to be launched in 2020.

NRC decadal surveys delineate the key science questions for the next 10 years (a decade) in a particular discipline and recommend projects to answer them. The astronomy and astrophysics decadal surveys were the first of this type and date back to the 1960s. Often called “bibles” because their recommendations usually are faithfully followed by NASA (primarily responsible for space-based astronomy) and the National Science Foundation (NSF, which is primarily responsible for ground-based astronomy), they represent a hard-won consensus of that community.

WFIRST has three scientific goals: studying dark energy, performing an all-sky infrared survey, and searching for exoplanets. WFIRST is being delayed, however, because of cost overruns on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). NASA has made clear that JWST is its top science priority and with JWST’s launch date slipping to 2018, significant work on design and development of WFIRST will have to wait until then.

The U.S. space-based astrophysics community hopes WFIRST will lead to answers about dark energy -- called “dark” because scientists do not know what it is. What they know is that some force is causing the universe to expand faster than earlier theorized and the term was coined to refer to this mysterious force.

Ground-based facilities also can be used to investigate dark energy and the NRC decadal survey’s top priority for a ground-based instrument, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), will be used for dark energy research, too. LSST would be funded by NSF and the Department of Energy (DOE), which is working on solving the dark energy puzzle as well, especially at its Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (LBL). LBL’s Saul Perlmutter was one of three scientists to win the 2011 Nobel Prize for Physics for dark energy research, along with Brian Schmidt of Australian National University and Adam Reiss of Johns Hopkins University and the Space Telescope Science Institute.

Many astrophysicists, however, believe that space-based observations will be critical to determining the nature of dark energy. For the U.S. astrophysics community, WFIRST is their top choice.

At the NRC meeting on Wednesday, NASA officials emphasized that the earliest a funding wedge will open up for the design and development of WFIRST will be 2018 with launch expected seven years later – or 2025. Preliminary studies will be carried out before then, but there are not enough funds to make a concerted start on the project until JWST is nearing launch. Euclid, however, is scheduled for launch in 2019, opening an avenue for U.S. scientists to obtain space-based data about dark energy sooner than if they wait for WFIRST. Previous estimates were that WFIRST’s launch would slip to 2022 and the 2025 date seemed to come as a surprise to some of the committee members.

NASA has been discussing the possibility of U.S. participation in Euclid with ESA for a long time, but the U.S. astrophysics community has not been supportive of significant participation because of the potential impact on WFIRST. The plan NASA asked this NRC committee to review involves NASA providing a hardware contribution valued at about $20 million in exchange for ESA giving NASA one of the 12 coveted seats on the Euclid science team. That scientist, called a principal investigator, would be able to bring along 20 co-investigators and an even larger number of “collaborators,” all of whom would have early access to Euclid data. Otherwise, scientists would have to wait 14 months for “quick look” data and longer for more detailed data.

ESA’s primary interest in cooperating with NASA is that it dearly wants U.S. near-infrared detectors for Euclid, although NASA officials said that ESA would accept other hardware contributions (filter wheels or reaction wheels were mentioned).

NASA officials refer to the current plan as the United States having a “10 percent role in Euclid.” At the NRC meeting, they explained that means NASA would provide the equivalent of 10 percent of the total cost for Euclid’s instruments, not 10 percent of the cost of the Euclid project overall. There would be no exchange of funds between the agencies. As noted, NASA ran this 10 percent proposal by its internal astrophysics advisory subcommittee in November and they agreed, but NASA also is seeking input from its external advisers at the NRC to ensure it is acceptable to those responsible for the decadal survey.

The $20 million NASA estimates for its costs would be needed in the next two fiscal years. NRC committee members worried, however, about where the $20 million would come from and whether it might be better invested in early work on WFIRST. When asked what the impact would be on WFIRST’s schedule, Paul Hertz, acting director of NASA’s astrophysics division in the Science Mission Directorate (SMD), said “zero” because the Euclid money is needed in the near term while WFIRST’s development will not begin until about 2018.

Hertz explained that the plan is to take the $20 million in FY2013 and FY2014 from SMD investments planned for technology development, research and analysis, the Explorer program, and research using balloon-borne instruments. Those four areas also were priorities of the NRC decadal survey and Hertz said NASA will increase funding for each of them. However, taking out $20 million for Euclid would mean the rate of increase would be slowed.

Apart from JWST, NASA’s astrophysics budget is about $700 million a year, Hertz said. The $20 million in question ($10 million a year for two years) may seem a small portion of that, but the NRC committee members clearly were worried about which accounts would be cut to pay for Euclid and whether the U.S. astrophysics community would be getting a fair return on the investment.

NASA’s message was that it is fact that Euclid will launch before WFIRST and the primary determinants for WFIRST are when funding is available to build it and how the field of dark energy research evolves in the meantime.

NASA is required by law to ask the NRC to perform a “mid-term review” for each decadal survey half way through the decade that it covers. The mid-term review for the New Worlds, New Horizons Decadal Survey will be due around 2015. Hertz said NASA will ask the NRC to relook at WFIRST at that time to see if changes should be made based on what has been discovered using ground-based instruments and what is expected to be accomplished with Euclid. An NRC committee member said he was worried that WFIRST was in a “holding pattern” until the mid-term review. Hertz agreed that it is, but added that it is true whether or not NASA participates in Euclid. He assured the committee that NASA would not do anything that would slip WFIRST in favor of participating in Euclid.

AP: SpaceX Flight Off Until Late March

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 21:17:00 GMT

The Associated Press (AP) is reporting this afternoon that the test flight of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) will not take place until the end of March. It had been scheduled for February 7.

SpaceX sent an email to reporters on Monday stating that the flight test would be postponed, but did not announce a new date. In that email, SpaceX spokeswoman Kirstin Brost Grantham said that the company believed there were "a few areas that will benefit from additional work and will optimize the safety and success of this mission," and the company was working with NASA to set a new date.

Marcia Dunn of the AP reports (as published via the Washington Times website) that today "officials confirmed the launch would not occur until late March." No further details were provided as to whether the officials are from NASA or SpaceX.

This flight test is intended to demonstrate that SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft can be launched to and berth with the ISS. It is the combination of the last two of three test flights the company is to conduct as part of its effort to build a space transportation system to deliver cargo, and someday crews, to the ISS. NASA is anxious to have SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corp., the other company participating in the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program, begin sending cargo to the ISS this year. The termination of the space shuttle program last year ended NASA's ability to send people or cargo to the ISS.

NRC Worried About Gaps in Global Change Satellite Data-UPDATE

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 17:28:00 GMT

UPDATE: The American Meteorological Society will hold a Town Hall meeting about the USGCRP draft strategic plan at its 2012 annual meeting in New Orleans, LA. That Town Hall meeting is Tuesday, January 24, at 12:15 pm local time.

ORIGINAL STORY: A new National Research Council (NRC) report reviewing the draft strategic plan for the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) expresses concern about potential gaps in satellite observations needed for weather forecasting and climate records.

According to the NRC study, A Review of the U.S. Global Change Research Program's Draft Strategic Plan, Goal 2 of that plan addresses the observations, modeling and data management needed for the next 10 years of the program. The USGCRP coordinates observational and research efforts related to global change, especially climate change, across the federal government.

While the plan "acknowledges" the need for satellite observations that are "sustained in the coming decades," the NRC committee concluded that it did not provide strategies for fulfilling that requirement. The NRC's 2007 Decadal Survey on Earth Science and Applications from Space made recommendations for NASA and NOAA missions, but achieving those goals has been delayed because "the costs of some have missions have grown, in some cases dramatically" and two satellites -- the Orbiting Carbon Observatory and GLORY -- were lost in launch failures, and by budget constraints, says the report. Delays in NOAA's Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) are a further problem, it said.

Consequently, "the Nation is at risk of having serious gaps in observational capability, both for operational forecasting missions and for key climate records." The NRC called for "an appropriate governance structure and clear mechanisms for assuring that long-term satellite-based observing systems are developed and sustained in a manner suitable for meeting the [USGCRP's] key science objectives."

Fostering international relationships also is critical, it added -- "as important as [USGCRP's] efforts to foster the growth of U.S.-led observations."

NASA IG Taps NRC For Study on NASA Direction and Management

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:52:00 GMT

NASA's Office of Inspector General (OIG) is contracting with the National Research Council (NRC) for a congressionally-requested study of NASA's strategic direction and management.

In the FY2012 appropriations bill that funds NASA (P.L. 112-55), Congress directed that $1 million be allocated to the OIG to "commission an independent assessment of NASA's strategic direction and agency management." The report language accompanying the law (H. Rept. 112-284, pp. 260-261) provided details on what the study should cover and asked that it be submitted to Congress and the President within 120 days of enactment, a very short period of time.

The statement of task (SOT) for the study was posted on the NASA OIG website today. It calls for the study to be completed by July 31, 2012, still a very short deadline considering the scope of the report as detailed in the SOT:

1. Consider the strategic direction of the agency as set forth most recently in 2011 NASA Strategic Plan and other relevant statements of space policy issued by the President of the United States.

2. Consider the goals for the agency set forth in the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 (as amended) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Acts of 2005, 2008 and 2010.

3. Consider previous studies and reports relevant to this task.

4. Assess the relevance of NASA's strategic direction and goals to achieving national priorities.

5. Assess the viability of NASA's strategic direction and goals in the context of current budget expectations and stated programmatic priorities for the agency.

6. Discuss the appropriateness of the budgetary balance between NASA's various programs.

7. Examine NASA's organizational structure and identify changes that could improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the Agency's mission activities; and

8. Recommend how NASA could establish and effectively communicate a common, unifying vision for NASA's strategic direction that encompasses NASA's varied missions.

In keeping with specific direction in the appropriations law, any recommendations made by the NRC committee will be predicated on the assumption that NASA's out-year budget profile will be constrained due to continuing deficit reduction.

The NRC Current Projects website does not yet list this study.

Programming Error May Have Doomed Russian Phobos-Grunt Probe

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 17:49:00 GMT

Russia's Phobos-Grunt (Phobos-soil) Mars mission may have failed because of a computer programming error according to unofficial Russian sources.

Officially, a special Russian commission headed by former Russian space agency director Yuri Koptev continues to investigate what led to the failure. However, RussianSpaceWeb.com's Anatoly Zak reports today on a story in the Russian publication Novosti Kosmonavtiki (Space News) that postulates that "the most likely culprit ... was a programming error in the flight control system."

Zak's report goes on to say that post-failure tests showed the processor on the main flight control computer would overload in 90 percent of cases. "Following the initial failure, as ground controllers apparently succeeded in activating the X-band transmitter onboard the spacecraft, new problems arose" because the transmitter was not deactivated when the spacecraft was "flying in the shadow of the Earth for prolonged periods of time." Consequently, "the probe slowly drained its recharable [sic] power batteries and then its emergency power source ... leading to a complete deactivation...."

The Novosti Kosmonavtiki story reportedly is based on information from sources in the Russian aerospace industry. It appears to have more credibility than an alternate theory being publicized in other Russian media sources that a U.S. radar inadvertently damaged the spacecraft while it was being used to study an asteroid. Even one Russian news source, RIA Novosti, discounted the idea in a story today entitled "Russian Scientists Mock U.S. Radar Theory on Mars Probe." Koptev said that his commission will conduct an experiment to prove or disprove that theory.

The Koptev commission is scheduled to make its report to Roscosmos, Russia's space agency, later this month, which then will report to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Rogozin. Rogozin was recently put in charge of Russia's space sector, in addition to responsibiities in overseeing the atomic energy and defense sectors.

"Sophisticated" 4th Graders Choose Ebb & Flow as GRAIL Names

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 18:49:00 GMT

A fourth grade class in Bozeman, MT won the competition to name NASA's two GRAIL spacecraft. The GRAIL mission is mapping the Moon's gravity field. The winning names are Ebb & Flow, a reference to the tides here on Earth that are caused by gravitational interaction between the Moon and Earth.

GRAIL principal investigator Maria Zuber commented in a press conference today that the winning essay written by the 4th graders showed "sophisticated thinking." The students and their teacher, Nina Dimauro, participated in the press conference via Skype from their schoolroom at Emily Dickinson Elementary School in Bozeman. Zuber later added that the GRAIL team members had their own favorite names for the probes, but none was as good as the names submitted by the students participating in the competition. About 900 pairs of names were submitted, she said.

The prize for the winners is that they will be the first class to use the MoonKAM cameras aboard the two GRAIL spacecraft. Former astronaut Sally Ride and Zuber worked together to include the MoonKAM cameras on the spacecraft. Ride now leads Sally Ride Science, a company dedicated to supporting children's interest in science, math, engineering, and technology. Ride, who spoke via teleconference, said it was the first science mission to carry an experiment specifically devoted to education. She said that over 2,100 classrooms already had signed up for the MoonKAM project, and as many as 3,000 were expected to sign up by March when GRAIL's mapping mission begins. The students will "own" the cameras and get to control them.

The twin spacecraft entered lunar orbit over New Year's, and three orbit-lowering engine burns have taken place already. GRAIL A (Ebb) is at 93 kilometers above the lunar surface now, while GRAIL B (Flow) is at 109 kilometers. Several more burns are scheduled to lower the orbits to 55 kilometers, when the mapping mission will begin.

Clinton Commits U.S. To Work on Space Code of Conduct-UPDATE

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 00:02:00 GMT

UPDATE: A link to a one-pager issued by the State Department explaining the need for an International Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities has been added.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton issued a statement today committing the United States to working with the European Union and other countries to develop a "code of conduct" to ensure the long term sustainability of the space environment.

Secretary Clinton cautioned that "the United States has made clear to our partners that we will not enter into a code of conduct that in any way constrains our national security-related activities in space or our ability to protect the United States and our allies." Nonetheless, the United States wants to work with other countries to "reverse the troubling trends that are damaging our space environment and to preserve the limitless benefits and promise of space for future generations."

The full text of the Secretary's statement is as follows:

"The long-term sustainability of our space environment is at serious risk from space debris and irresponsible actors. Ensuring the stability, safety, and security of our space systems is of vital interest to the United States and the global community. These systems allow the free flow of information across platforms that open up our global markets, enhance weather forecasting and environmental monitoring, and enable global navigation and transportation.

"Unless the international community addresses these challenges, the environment around our planet will become increasingly hazardous to human spaceflight and satellite systems, which would create damaging consequences for all of us.

"In response to these challenges, the United States has decided to join with the European Union and other nations to develop an International Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities. A Code of Conduct will help maintain the long-term sustainability, safety, stability, and security of space by establishing guidelines for the responsible use of space.

As we begin this work, the United States has made clear to our partners that we will not enter into a code of conduct that in any way constrains our national security-related activities in space or our ability to protect the United States and our allies. We are, however, committed to working together to reverse the troubling trends that are damaging our space environment and to preserve the limitless benefits and promise of space for future generations."

The State Department also issued a one-pager explaining the need for an International Code of Conduct for Space Activities. It notes that 60 nations and government consortia as well as academic and commercial entities operate 1,100 active satellites today, part of the 22,000 space objects being tracked by the U.S. Department of Defense. Not only does the United States need to address challenges from this increasingly congested space environment, the State Department says, but "threats to the space environment will increase as more nations and non-state actors develop and deploy counter-space systems."

"Given the increasing threat -- through either irresponsible or unintentional acts -- to the long term sustainability, stability, safety, and security of space operations, we must work with the community of spacefaring nations to preserve the space environment for all nations and future generations," it stresses. (Italics in original.)

Box Score of 2011 Launches

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 00:32:00 GMT

Box Score of 2011 Space Launches is a free fact sheet from SpacePolicyOnline.com that shows the total number of space launches in 2011 by Russia, the United States, Europe (Arianespace), China, Japan, India, Iran, Israel, North Korea and South Korea. The table shows how many space launches were successful and how many were failures.

Failed Phobos-Grunt Spacecraft to Reenter Today

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 13:59:00 GMT

Russia's failed Phobos-Grunt (Phobos-soil) Mars spacecraft will reenter Earth's atmosphere today, perhaps before noon Eastern Standard Time (EST). It will be the sad end of a promising mission whose failure to leave Earth orbit remains a mystery.

Various groups monitoring the reentry offer different times for the probe to plunge back through Earth's atmosphere, but agree that it will happen sometime today EST. Space-track.org, which is associated with the U.S. Joint Space Operations Center (JPSoC), currently estimates 16:11-18:35Z, which translates to 11:11 am - 1:35 pm EST.

The European Space Agency (ESA) states that it is coordinating the "international satellite reentry campaign" for the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination (IADC) committee, which includes NASA and Russian space agency Roscosmos as well. The ESA Space Operations (ESOC) website is not quite up to date, but according to its Twitter feed @esaoperations, its current prediction is "late evening" Central European Time (CET) plus or minus 4 hours. CET is six hours ahead of EST.

Roscosmos itself is currently predicting January 15 at 20:51 Moscow Time to January 16 01:05 Moscow Time, which would be between 11:41 am - 4:05 pm EST, according to Russianspaceweb.com.

The Russian government set up a panel to investigate what happened to the spacecraft, which was successfully launched into Earth orbit, but its Fregat upper stage did not fire to send it on to Mars. Former Russian space agency director Yuri Koptev is leading the panel, which is due to report at the end of January. ESA was able to contact the probe on Russia's behalf twice in the days after launch, but the probe went silent thereafter.

The Phobos-Grunt mission was intended to return to Earth a sample of the Martian moon Phobos, as well as deploy a small Chinese spacecraft, Yinghou-1, that was to orbit Mars. It also carried a small experiment from The Planetary Society called LIFE.

Predicting when or where satellites will reenter is an imprecise science. The satellite is in an orbit inclined 51.4 degrees to the equator, so reentry can occur anywhere between 51.4 degrees north and 51.4 degrees south latitude. Russia expects that 20-30 fragments may survive the heat of reentry and reach Earth's surface, which is 70 percent covered with water, reducing, but not eliminating, the risk to people or property.

Russian Space Agency Says Phobos-Grunt Reentry Imminent

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 17:39:00 GMT

UPDATE: The latest Roscosmos prediction is that Phobos-Grunt will reenter between 12:50 and 1:34 EST over the Atlantic Ocean. This is their latest ground track, showing the predicted reentry point.

ORIGINAL STORY: Roscosmos, Russia's space agency, has posted an updated prediction of when the Phobos-Grunt (Phobos-soil) probe will reenter Earth's atmosphere today.

According to its website, the agency has narrowed the reentry window to a specific orbit and believes it will reenter between 21:30 and 23:12 Moscow Time today, which is 12:30 - 3:12 pm EST. Roscosmos provides this groundtrack of the spacecraft's orbit at that time:

It's Over: Phobos-Grunt Reenters into Pacific Ocean

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 20:32:00 GMT

Russia's RIA Novosti news agency quotes a Russian defense official as saying Phobos-Grunt reentered into the Pacific Ocean at 21:45 Moscow Time (12:45 Eastern Standard Time) today.

The news agency quotes Russian defense ministry official Alexei Zolotukhin as saying that the spacecraft fell 1,250 kilometers west of Wellington Island in the Pacific.

Russia's space agency, Roscosmos, had predicted it would fall into the Atlantic. Predicting when and where spacecraft reentries will occur is an inexact science.

Phobos-Grunt (Phobos-soil) was intended to return to Earth a sample of the Martian moon Phobos and deploy a small Chinese spacecraft, Yinghuo-1, into Mars orbit. It also carried a small experiment called LIFE from The Planetary Society. It was successfully launched into Earth orbit on November 8, 2011 (EST), but its Fregat upper stage failed to fire to send it on to Mars. The reasons for the failure remain unknown. A Russian panel is investigating the failure and is expected to report at the end of this month.

Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated the reentry time cited by the Russian official as 21:55 instead of 21:45 Moscow Time (12:55 instead of 12:45 EST).

Events of Interest: Week of January 16-20, 2012

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 03:44:00 GMT

The following events may be of interest in the week ahead. The House returns to work in Washington for two days of legislative session (Tuesday-Wednesday). The Senate continues to meet only in pro forma (non-legislative) session until next week.

Tuesday, January 17

NASA press conference announcing new names for the twin GRAIL probes orbiting the moon, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC, 1:00 pm EST

Wednesday-Thursday, January 18-19

National Research Council (NRC) study committee meeting on NASA's potential cooperation with ESA on the Euclid dark energy mission, Keck Center, 500 Fifth Street, NW, Washington DC (some sessions are closed to the public)
Special Aerospace Services (SAS) 2nd Annual Human Spaceflight Technical Forum, Boulder, CO

Obama Wants to Move NOAA to the Interior Department

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 21:34:00 GMT

President Obama announced today a plan to reorganize part of the U.S. government that could have a significant impact on the U.S. civil weather satellite program.

The focal point of the plan, which requires congressional approval, is to merge five business- and trade-related agencies with some elements of the Department of Commerce. The Commerce Department itself would be abolished. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which manages the nation's civil weather satellites, is currently part of the Commerce Department, but under the Obama plan would be transferred to the Department of the Interior.

In his remarks today, the President blamed President Richard Nixon for putting NOAA in the Commerce Department in the first place.

"My favorite example -- which I mentioned in last year’s State of the Union address -- as it turns out, the Interior Department is in charge of salmon in fresh water, but the Commerce Department handles them in saltwater. (Laughter.) If you’re wondering what the genesis of this was, apparently, it had something to do with President Nixon being unhappy with his Interior Secretary for criticizing him about the Vietnam War. And so he decided not to put NOAA in what would have been a more sensible place."

Although the details of President Obama's proposal are not yet posted on the White House website, Politico, the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC), and The Hill newspaper all state that the plan includes moving NOAA to Interior. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Deputy Director for Management Jeff Zients, who oversaw development of the reorganization plan, also stated that NOAA would move to Interior during a meeting with the press at the White House this morning.

Reaction to the President's overall proposal so far has been mixed. As for the idea of transferring NOAA to Interior, the NRDC said it was "extremely troubled" because it could "erode the capabilities and mute the voice of the government’s primary agency for protecting our oceans and the ecosystems and economies that depend on them." In addition to its satellite activities through the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS), NOAA's major components are the National Marine Fisheries Service, the National Ocean Service, the National Weather Service, the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, and the Office of Program Planning and Integration.

Phobos-Grunt Reentry Window Narrows-UPDATE

Sat, 14 Jan 2012 22:46:00 GMT

UPDATE (Jan. 14, 2012, 5:30 pm EST): Space-track.org's current estimate of the reentry window is 15JAN12 1326Z-15JAN12 2302Z, which translates into tomorrow, January 15, between 8:26 am and 6:02 pm EST. Russia's main news agency, Itar-Tass, reports that Russia's space agency Roscosmos is predicting it will fall on January 15 or 16, with the midpoint of the window at 21:51 Moscow Time tomorrow (or 1:51 pm EST), and that reentry will occur "off of Chile." Forecasting satellite reentry times and locations is a very imprecise science, so these predictions should not be considered definitive.

ORIGINAL STORY (Jan. 13, 2012): Russia's failed Phobos-Grunt (Phobos-soil) spacecraft is expected to reenter Earth's atmosphere this weekend. The reentry window continues to narrow, and Sunday, January 15, Eastern Standard Time (EST) appears to be the most likely day.

Space-track.org, a U.S. government website associated with the Joint Space Operations Center (JSPoC), currently lists "15Jan12 0804Z - 16Jan12 0304Z" as the predicted reentry window. Z stands for "Zulu," an alternate name for Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). That would translate to 03:04 am - 10:04 pm EST on January 15, 2012.

Russia's space agency, Roscosmos, states on its website today that a precise time and point of impact of the fragments will be known 24 hours in advance and it will keep the Secretary General of the United Nations and countries on which debris may fall informed of the situation (as translated by Yahoo! Babel Fish). Even 24 hours in advance, however, an exact time and location for reentry is difficult to predict. A variety of government and amateur space observers are tracking Phobos-Grunt's final days. Bob Christy at Zarya.info has a table showing a number of the predictions, which focus on January 15 with varying bands of uncertainty.

Russia anticipates that 20-30 fragments weighing no more than 200 kilograms may survive the heat of reentry. The Earth is 70 percent covered with water, reducing the likelihood of damage to people or property, but some risk remains. The spacecraft is in an orbit inclined 51.4 degrees to the equator, so debris can fall anywhere between 51.4 degrees north and 51.4 degrees south latitude.

Apollo Artifacts: Which to Sell, Which to Protect?

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 23:21:00 GMT

This year is the 40th anniversary of the last -- or perhaps "most recent" -- human visit to the Moon and it is starting off with controversy over whether the astronauts who participated in the Apollo program have the right to sell mementoes of those missions. At the same time, some historians are trying to preserve the artifacts that remain on the lunar surface as companies and other countries make plans to send robots or people there.

NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden, himself a former NASA astronaut -- though from the space shuttle era, not the earlier Apollo missions -- met with four Apollo astronauts yesterday to discuss the rules that guide whether their personal mementoes are their property or the government's. Apollo 13 astronaut Jim Lovell, Apolllo 17 astronaut Gene Cernan, Apollo 16 astronaut Charlie Duke, and Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickert, met with Bolden along with representatives of other astronauts and NASA personnel. Bolden said in a press statement that the meeting was to talk about "how to resolve the misunderstandings and ownership questions regarding flight mementoes and other artifacts." Bolden called the men "American heroes, fellow astronauts and personal friends who have acted in good faith" and promised to work on resolving "the right policy and legal paths forward..."

NASA has not taken kindly to the actions of some Apollo astronauts who have sold or attempted to sell mementoes in their possession. Quite recently, Lovell reportedly sold a checklist from his ill-fated Apollo 13 mission at auction for $400,000, setting off the latest wave of concern. Bolden said that he believes there have been "fundamental misunderstandings and unclear policies" and the agency will "explore all policy, legislative and other legal means" to clarify ownership and "ensure that appropriate artifacts are preserved and available for display to the American people."

While those discussions proceed, others are focused on preserving artifacts left behind on the Moon. Resurgent interest in the Moon not only for scientific studies or human exploration, but also potential commercial activities, could mean that sites and items of historical interest could be damaged or destroyed. Should the Apollo 11 landing site and the bottom half of its lunar lander, which remains on the Moon, not to mention the American flag implanted by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, be preserved for history or are future robotic or human explorers free to tread upon or take whatever they find?

Writing in the The Space Review in November 2011, Matthew Kleiman, who chairs the space law committee of the American Bar Association Section of Science &Technology Law, concluded that the only guarantee for "comprehensive protection" would be an international agreement. He added, however, that "international space law and traditional property and tort law" offer "limited mechanisms."

NASA issued a set of recommendations last year, posted on the CollectSpace website, about what exactly should be preserved on the lunar surface. Entitled "NASA's Recommendations to Space-Faring Entities: How to Protect and Preserve the Historic and Scientific Value of U.S. Government Lunar Artifacts," the document was issued on July 20, 2011, the 42nd anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing -- the first time humans walked on the Moon. Google Lunar X-Prize, which is sponsoring a competition where a team can win a bonus if its robotic spacecraft makes a "precision landing near an Apollo site or other lunar sites of interest," applauded release of the document in an October 13, 2011 statement.

The New York Times took note of the debate over preserving lunar artifacts on the Moon yesterday, but did not mention the corollary debate over what the Apollo astronauts can do with their own mementoes.

NRC Initating Five New Space-Related Studies

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 16:36:00 GMT

The National Research Council (NRC) is about to begin five new space-related studies. Two are for NASA, two for the Department of Defense (DOD), and one for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The provisional memberships of three of the five study committees are open for comment at the website of the National Academies, of which the NRC is part.

The five studies are:

Assessment of a Plan for U.S. Participation in Euclid (for NASA)
Reusable Booster System: Review and Assessment (for DOD)
Review of NASA Human Research Program's Scientific Merit Assessment Processes (for NASA)
Assessment of the U.S. Air Force's Astrodynamic Standards (for DOD)
Implementation of a Sustained Land Imaging Program (for USGS)

Euclid is the European Space Agency's (ESA's) dark energy mission. An earlier NRC study, the decadal survey for astronomy and astrophysics -- New Worlds, New Horizons -- recommended that NASA build a spacecraft to investigate dark energy (labeled "dark" because scientists do not understand what it is) as well as search for exoplanets and conduct surveys of the universe in the infrared region of the spectrum. That spacecraft, the Wide Field InfraRed Survey Telescope (WFIRST), will be delayed, however, because of NASA's constrained budget and the decision that completing the over-budget James Webb Space Telescope is an agency priority. ESA is moving ahead with its plan for its Euclid dark energy mission and U.S. scientists would like to be part of it. The NRC study will "determine whether a proposed NASA plan for a U.S. hardware contribution to the European Space Agency (ESA) Euclid mission in exchange for U.S. membership on the Euclid Science Team and science data access is a viable part of an overall strategy to pursue the science goals (dark energy measurements, exoplanet detection, and infrared survey science) of the New Worlds, New Horizons report's top-ranked, large-scale, space-based priority: the Wide Field InfraRed Survey Telescope(WFIRST)." The study will be conducted under the auspices of the Space Studies Board (SSB) and the Board on Physics and Astronomy (BPA). The provisional membership list is available here.

DOD has requested the NRC to review and assess an Air Force concept for a reusable launch vehicle. The NRC study will "review and assess the SMC/AFRL concept for a Reusable Booster System (RBS) for the U.S. Air Force. Among the items the committee will consider in carrying out this review are: the criteria and assumptions used in the formulation of current RBS plans; the methodologies used in the current cost estimates for RBS; the modeling methodology used to frame the business case for an RBS capability including: the data used in the analysis, the models’ robustness if new data become available, and the impact of unclassified government data that was previously unavailable and which will be supplied by the USAF; the technical maturity of key elements critical to RBS implementation and the ability of current technology development plans to meet technical readiness milestones." The study will be conducted under the auspices of the Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board (ASEB) and the Air Force Studies Board (AFSB). The provisional membership list is available here.

DOD also asked the NRC to "assess the astrodynamic standards established by Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) and their effectiveness in meeting mission performance needs, as well as possible alternatives. The Joint Space Operations Center (JSpOC) uses astrodynamic algorithms to perform satellite orbit determination and prediction in order to maintain a catalog of over 20,000 objects, ranging from active satellites to tiny pieces of orbital debris. AFSPC established this set of astrodynamic algorithms as standards to be used in operational space surveillance mission systems. These standards were implemented to achieve interoperability between the JSpOC and the mission systems and to ensure mission performance." The study will be conducted under the aupices of the AFSB, ASEB, and Board on Mathematical Sciences and Their Applications. The provisional membership of this committee has not yet been posted on the NRC website.

At the request of NASA, the Board on Health Sciences Policy, part of the Institute of Medicine (another component of the National Academies), will conduct a study that will review "the scientific merit assessment processes used to evaluate NASA Human Research Program's directed research tasks. The study will include a public workshop focused on identifying and exploring best practices in similar peer-reviewed applied research programs in other federal government agencies. The study will also evaluate the scientific rigor of the NASA processes and the effectiveness of those processes in producing protocols that address programmatic research gaps." The provisional membership list is available here.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has asked the NRC to "assess the needs and opportunities to develop a space-based operational land imaging capability. In particular, the committee will examine the elements of a sustained space-based Land Imaging Program with a focus on the Department of Interior’s U.S. Geological Survey role in such a program." USGS operates the Landsat 5 and Landsat 7 spacecraft that were built by NASA and will operate the next in the series -- the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM, also called Landsat 8). The Obama Administration proposed in the FY2012 budget request that USGS take over responsibility for the entire Landsat program, including defining the requirements and paying for the spacecraft to be built and launched, roles that NASA currently plays. Congress did not agree with that plan, however, and the question remains as to how the Landsat program will continue after Landsat 8 is launched. Scientists are anxious to obtain long term data sets of comparable information and want the Landsat series to continue. The first Landsat was launched in 1972; the two currently in orbit are well past their design lifetimes and each has partially failed. This study will be conducted under the auspices of the SSB. The provisional membership of this study committee has not yet been posted on the NRC's website.

The NRC is required to post the provisional memberships of its study committees for a 20-day public comment period prior to when a study begins in accordance with section 15 of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA). Membership on NRC study committees remains provisional until the NRC determines that individuals do not have improper biases or conflicts of interest with regard to the topic of the study.

Popovkin Questions Permanently Occupied Space Stations, Not Sure Why Phobos-Grunt Failed

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:41:00 GMT

Russian space agency (Roscosmos) director Vladimir Popovkin suggested in a wide-ranging interview with a Russian newspaper today that small, single-purpose space stations with visiting crews may be preferable to the multi-purpose, permanently occupied International Space Station (ISS). He also said that the Phobos-Grunt failure remains unexplained and hinted that foreign sabotage might have been responsible.

The interview was conducted by Izvestiya and published in Russian. Google Translate was used to translate the text into English for this article.

While acknowledging that the ISS partners are currently planning to operate ISS until at least 2020 and assessing the possibility of operating it until 2028, Popovkin said that “Permanent human presence in space is not always justified.” His remarks suggest that shorter duration “visiting” missions focused on a specific set of objectives would be preferable.

In response to the interviewer calling the venerable Soyuz (Union) spacecraft “outdated, uncomfortable,” Popovkin defended it because of its reliability. Soyuz is used to take crews to and from the ISS. The question arose in the context of asking Popovkin about plans to develop a new spacecraft that could accommodate six people instead of three, a concept that has been under discussion in Russia for many years. Popovkin said that the new spacecraft could be available in the 2018-2020 time frame, adding that it requires a different launch vehicle. The current Soyuz spacecraft is launched by a Soyuz FG rocket. Popovkin mentioned two existing launch vehicles, Soyuz-2 (a different version of the Soyuz rocket) and Zenit as possibilities, but also brought up the Angara booster, another concept that has been discussed for many years.

In addition to a new crew spacecraft and rocket, Russia has been debating whether to create a new launch site in the eastern part of the country to substitute for some or all of the operations now conducted at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. When Baikonur was built, Kazakhstan was part of the Soviet Union. Since the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991, Russia has had to lease Baikonur from Kazakhstan, now an independent country, for about $115 million per year. Creating a new launch site on Russian soil to replace Baikonur is seen as advantageous from a geopolitical and financial standpoint, but funds have been scarce. The new site, called Vostochny (formerly Svobodny), is a former ICBM base, but would require substantial investment to transition into a space launch site. Popovkin said in the Izvestiya interview it would cost about 173 billion rubles (approximately $5.5 billion) through 2015. Popovkin pointed out that Russia has been contemplating building a launch complex (named “Baiterek”) for Angara at Baikonur at a cost of $1.6 billion and that money has not yet been forthcoming.

Popovkin went on to address questions about a possible reorganization of the Russian space industry in the wake of an unusual number of launch failures in 2011, but said that more details would be available in the future. Among the ideas being considered are horizontal rather than vertical integration of the industry, and moving some companies to the jurisdiction of the Federal Property Agency instead of Roscosmos. Popovkin listed a number of other steps being taken in response to the failures. One is creation of a “departmental quality control system” through which a Roscosmos representative can “monitor the manufacturing process of rocket and space technology.” That person would not replace current inspectors, but could “intervene in any production process.” Popovkin added that he approved the selection of a group of experts under the auspices of TSNIIMASH who are empowered to visit production facilities and ask questions on any issue.

One of the 2011 failures was the launch of the Phobos-Grunt (Phobos-soil) mission that was intended to return to Earth a sample of the Martian moon Phobos. Lofted into Earth orbit successfully, for unknown reasons its upper stage did not fire to send the probe to Mars. Popovkin referred to funding problems, saying the spacecraft was “designed and created [with] a limited amount of funds” that added risk to the mission. Delaying the launch to remedy problems, however, would have affected Russia’s European and Chinese partners in the project and increased costs. If Phobos-Grunt could not be launched in 2011, he said, it would never have been launched with the resulting loss of the 5 billion rubles (approximately $157 million) that had been invested.

He added that they still do not know why the upper stage failed to fire. He noted that “frequent failures” of spacecraft occur when they are out of range of Russian tracking stations and stated that “I do not want to accuse anyone, but today there is a very powerful impact on the spacecraft, possible applications that cannot be ruled out.” Russian space expert Anatoly Zak of RussianSpaceWeb.com interpreted that statement as Popovkin suggesting that a foreign power sabotaged the mission. In November, a retired Russian lieutenant general, Nikolai Rodionov, asserted that an American radar in Alaska might have disabled the spacecraft, an accusation that U.S. space expert James Oberg labeled “moronic” since the ground track of Phobos-Grunt did not pass over the radar site. In Popovkin’s case, he went on to talk about a Russian data relay satellite that was recently launched, the first of three that will expand Russia’s tracking capabilities, so he may have been making the case for improved Russian space tracking capabilities rather than supporting Rodionov, but his meaning is open to interpretation.

Phobos-Grunt is expected to reenter Earth’s atmosphere sometime this week.

Popovkin is due to submit a report to Russian deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin later this month on the problems in the Russian space program and industry.

Events of Interest: Week of January 8-13, 2012

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 15:00:00 GMT

The following events may be of interest in the week ahead. The House and Senate are meeting in non-legislative pro forma sessions every three days (this tactic has been used in the past to prevent Presidents from making "recess appointments" while Congress is in recess, but President Obama has decided to challenge that interpretation of what constitutes a recess and made several recess appointments nonetheless). The House returns for legislative business on January 17; the Senate on January 23.

Sunday-Thursday, January 8-12

American Astronomical Society annual winter conference, Austin, TX
- "Town Hall" (plenary) session on James Webb Space Telescope, Monday, 1:45 pm EST (12:45 pm local time)
- Town Hall session on NASA, Wednesday, 1:45 pm EST (12:45 pm local time)

Monday, January 9

AAS Town Hall session on James Webb Space Telescope (see entry above), 1:45 pm EST (12:45 pm local time)

Monday-Thursday, January 9-12

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) annual Aerospace Sciences meeting, Nashville, TN

Wednesday, January 11

AAS Town Hall session on NASA (see AAS item above for Sunday-Thursday), 1:45 pm EST (12:45 pm local time)
NASA press conference with next International Space Station crew, Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX, 2:00 pm EST (1:00 pm local time)

Obama, Panetta to Release New Defense Strategy Today

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 13:22:00 GMT

President Barrack Obama will join Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta this morning in announcing a new defense strategy that responds to the need to reduce defense budgets.

A news conference at the Pentagon is scheduled for 10:50 am EST this morning. Joining the President and Panetta will be Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, and Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter. The press conference will be carried live on DOD's website and presumably on major media outlets.

Today's announcement of the results of the Defense Strategic Review is expected to provide a broad overview, not specifics. The latter reportedly will come when the FY2013 budget request is released next month.

Panetta: Space Investments Among Those to be Protected

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 20:31:00 GMT

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said today that while cuts are made to the defense budget, investments in several areas will be protected, including space capabilities.

President Obama, Panetta, and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey released the new Defense Strategic Guidance at a press conference today. Panetta stressed that a new strategy was needed even if the budget situation did not demand it because of changing geopolitical circumstances. However, the need to reduce defense spending is an important factor in designing the new strategy, he continued.

Although there will be cuts in many areas, Panetta made it clear that some parts of the defense budget -- including space activities -- will be protected and even augmented: "Lastly, as we reduce the overall defense budget, we will protect and in some cases increase our investments in special operations forces, in new technologies like ISR and unmanned systems, in space, and in particular in cyberspace capabilities, and also our capacity to quickly mobilize if necessary."

Specifics on what programs will be cut or increased were not announced today. That information apparently must wait until the President's FY2013 budget request is submitted to Congress, which is expected on the first Monday in February.

Russia Expects Phobos-Grunt Reentry About January 15

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:38:00 GMT

Russia's Space and Air Defense Troops are expecting the Phobos-Grunt (Phobos-soil) spacecraft to reenter Earth's atmosphere around January 15.

Spokesman Alexei Zolotukhin told Russia's Itar-Tass news agency that the date could change, but January 15 is the current estimate. Some fragments are expected to survive reentry and hit the Earth. The exact location of reentry is dependent on many factors and cannot be predicted in advance with any precision.

Russian specialists still have not determined why the spacecraft failed to leave Earth orbit. It was intended to travel to Mars and one of its moons, Phobos, and return a sample of Phobos to Earth. A Chinese Mars orbiter also was supposed to be deployed. Russian attempts, aided by the European Space Agency, to get the spacecraft to respond to signals initially succeeded, but subsequently failed. An interdepartmental commission is scheduled to report its preliminary findings later this month.

President Signs Bill Terminating DWSS

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 03:02:00 GMT

As one of his last official acts of 2011, on December 31 President Obama signed into law the FY2012 National Defense Authorization Act. Among its provisions, the bill terminates the Defense Weather Satellite System (DWSS) that was DOD's portion of the restructured NPOESS program

The bill (H.R. 1540) authorizes $43 million for termination liability costs. Northrop Grumman was the prime contractor for NPOESS. DOD has two of its legacy Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellites still "in the barn" awaiting launch, so its need for a new system is less urgent than NOAA's for the civilian weather satellite program (all of NOAA's polar orbiting weather satellites are already in orbit). The FY2012 appropriations bill that includes DOD (H.R. 2055) agrees with the authorization action and provides $125 million for an otherwise undefined follow-on weather satellite system.

In 1994, the Clinton White House directed NOAA and DOD (with NASA as a third partner in charge of technology development) to build a joint polar orbiting weather satellite system meeting both civil and military needs instead of the separate systems operated by the agencies historically. Sixteen years later, President Obama issued a "divorce" after years of cost overruns and schedule delays attributed primarily to the inability of the two agencies to work together effectively. The President directed a return to separate systems. NOAA is now building the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) to meet civil needs, with NASA as its acquisition agent. DOD's new system was to be DWSS.

GRAIL Twins Enter Lunar Orbit -- UPDATE

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 03:23:00 GMT

UPDATE: The two spacecraft entered lunar orbit as scheduled.

ORIGINAL STORY: NASA's twin GRAIL spacecraft will enter lunar orbit today and tomorrow, respectively. The two identical spacecraft -- one following the other as they orbit the Moon -- will map its gravity field and give scientists a better understanding of the Moon's interior.

After decades of study, scientists still do not understand the origin of the Moon. A new theory is that the Earth originally had two moons that "bumped" into each other, forming the Moon we have today. The theory responds to observations of the near- and far-sides of the Moon, which are very different from each other. Observations from GRAIL could help determine if the theory is correct.

The two spacecraft are currently dubbed GRAIL-A and GRAIL-B, but will receive new names once they enter orbit. GRAIL-A is due to conduct its lunar orbit insertion burn beginning at 4:21 pm EST today, New Year's Eve. GRAIL-B will follow suit tomorrow, New Year's Day, beginning at 5:05 pm EST.

Maria Zuber of MIT is the principal investigator on the GRAIL mission.

China Issues New Five Year Space Plan

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 23:46:00 GMT

China issued a new "white paper" today describing the achievements of its space program over the past 5 years and outlining its plans for the next 5 years. China issued such white papers in 2000 and 2006, and the 2011 version offers little that is new.

According to the English-language version published on Xinhua's website, China has relatively modest plans for its space program, most of which were previously known. No ground-breaking plans were revealed.

"In the next five years, China will strengthen its basic capacities of the space industry, accelerate research on leading-edge technology, and continue to implement important space scientific and technological projects, including human spaceflight, lunar exploration, high-resolution Earth observation system, satellite navigation and positioning system, new-generation launch vehicles, and other priority projects in key fields. China will develop a comprehensive plan for construction of space infrastructure, promote its satellites and satellite applications industry, further conduct space science research, and push forward the comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable development of China's space industry."

As China has indicated in the past, it is developing at least three new launch vehicles for various purposes. A Delta-4 class launch vehicle, Long March 5, is expected to begin operations from a new launch site on Hainan Island in 2014. Designed to place 25 tons into low Earth orbit or 14 tons into geostationary orbit, it will be the largest of China's space launch vehicles. China also is developing a new small launch vehicle, Long March 6, and a new mid-sized rocket, Long March 7, both of which are mentioned in the white paper. No plans for a heavy-lift launch vehicle were announced today, however. Instead the white paper says only that China will "conduct special demonstrations and pre-research on key technologies for heavy-lift launch vehicles."

No new human spaceflight initiatives were announced either. The white paper reiterates China's focus on building an earth-orbiting space station, which has been known for some time. China launched an unoccupied space station test module, Tiangong-1, in September. The unoccupied Shenzhou-8 spacecraft conducted automated rendezvous and docking operations with it twice. China announced earlier that two more spacecraft, Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-10, will be sent to Tiangong-1 in the next 2 years, but has been unclear as to whether they will carry crews. Some Chinese reports say that Shenzhou 10 will carry a crew -- apparently including China's first female taikonaut -- while others say both will carry crews. The white paper does not clarify the situation, saying only that "unmanned or manned rendezvous and docking" will take place.

Assertions by Chinese "experts" quoted in the Chinese media over the past several years that China was planning to send taikonauts to the Moon in this decade appealed to those who wanted to catalyze another "Moon race," but could not be traced back to official government policy. Today's document, which presumably represents official policy, says only that China will conduct studies "on the preliminary plan for a human lunar landing."

Advancements are expected in the full range of Chinese application satellites, including weather, earth observation, communications, and navigation. These satellites can be used for military and civil purposes, although the white paper makes scant reference to military space goals, policy, or activities. Among its dual-use programs, China is building the Beidou-2 navigation satellite system which is intended to be similar to systems operated by the United States (GPS) and Russia (GLONASS) and under development by Europe (Galileo). China announced earlier this week that Beidou-2 has reached initial operational capability, although only 10 satellites are currently in orbit. These types of systems require 24 satellites to provide global, three dimensional (latitude, longitude, altitude) services, although limited service can be achieved with fewer satellites.

Space science also is part of China's 5-year plan, but the white paper does not go any further than previous announcements. An indication of China's plans to send probes to Mars might have been expected considering that its first attempt -- a small Mars orbiter that is part of Russia's Phobos-Grunt mission -- seems destined to failure, but nothing is mentioned in the white paper. The three-step robotic lunar exploration program -- orbiters, landers/rovers, and ultimately sample return -- has been known for many years. China already has launched two robotic lunar probes, Chang'e-1 and Chang'e-2.

Since the last white paper was issued in 2006, one of the defining moments in China's space program was its decision to test an anti-satellite weapon against one of its own satellites in 2007. The resulting debris -- more than 3,000 pieces in heavily-used low Earth orbit -- earned China international condemnation less for the military nature of the test than for imperiling the use of low Earth orbit by any country or company. This new white paper asserts that China will continue to work on space debris monitoring and mitigation, including experimenting "with digital simulation of space debris collisions." In the preface, China states that it will "work together with the international community to maintain a peaceful and clean outer space..."

The military aspects of China's space program are barely mentioned. China restates its long standing official position of opposing the weaponization of space and to any arms race in space and supporting the use of space for peaceful purposes. For years China and Russia have sponsored a draft treaty at the United Nations on preventing the placement of weapons in outer space, while at the same time China is developing anti-satellite weapons. China also launches many "earth observation" satellites that are at least dual-use if not entirely military. As China critics like Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) often point out, the Chinese space program also is conducted under the auspices of the People's Liberation Army (PLA).

International cooperation is a major focus of the white paper, with China laying out its international cooperative efforts to date and its hopes for the future. China appears to be most interested in leadership in the Asia-Pacific region and with developing countries. With regard to the United States, the white paper says that the head of NASA "visited China and the two sides will continue to make dialogue regarding the space field." Language in the appropriations billl that funds NASA, however, prohibits the agency -- and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy -- from spending any funds to work with China unless authorized by Congress or if certain exceptions are met.

Rogozin Takes Charge of Russian Space Program

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 01:42:00 GMT

At a meeting with the head of the Russian space agency (Roscosmos) today, newly appointed Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin took firm steps to find out what is wrong in the Russian space program.

Rogozin ordered Roscosmos director Vladimir Popovkin to present a final report on the space program's recent woes by January 25, 2012. He also took other steps to find out what the problems are in the space program and how to remedy them. Usually reliable Russian launch vehicles have failed six times in the last 12 months, including five in 2011. The most recent doomed a Russian Meridian military communications satellite. A commercial launch of the venerable Proton rocket has been delayed until late January because of technical problems discovered just before launch earlier this week.

According to Russia's news agency Itar-Tass, Rogozin directed Vladimir Popovkin, who became head of Roscosmos this spring, to report on his agency's analysis of the recent launch vehicle failures by January 25. The report will go to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin subsequently. Putin put Rogozin in charge of the space sector on Monday. Rogozin, formerly Russia's ambassador to NATO, was recently made a deputy prime minister and assigned to identify and remediate problems in the defense and atomic energy industries. Monday's action added space to his portfolio.

Rogozin also gave Roscosmos 50 days to prepare a "strategy of space sector development to 2030 and later," according to Popovkin.

Rogozin and Popovkin furthermore reportedly agreed to create a "personnel reserve" for the space program in response to concerns that the aging industrial workforce is at least partially to blame for recent failures. Rogozin intends to hold a meeting with representatives of leading academic institutions associated with the space, defense and nuclear power industries on January 23, apparently to discuss how to encourage students to study these fields.

Rogozin also reacted angrily today to reports that Russian bloggers had breached security and infiltrated one of Russia's aerospace companies, Energomash, over several days, photographing the deteriorating facility. Calling the bloggers "cheeky mice," he said that he did not "advise anybody to penetrate strategic installations anymore," according to Russian news agency RIA Novosti, which also cited a senior vice president of Energia as saying that the "Energomash plant can be accessed through holes in the fence, which it has no money to repair...."

Russia's Soyuz Scores Success with Globalstar

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 19:47:00 GMT

Today brought good news for the Russian space program after a series of launch failures over the past 12 months raised concerns about the state of the Russian aerospace industry. A Soyuz rocket successfully placed six second-generation Globalstar satellites into orbit, just days after a similar Soyuz rocket failed to launch a Russian Meridian communications satellite.

The Soyuz 2.1a used for Globalstar is very similar to the Soyuz 2.1b used for Meridian on December 23. The cause of the Soyuz 2.1b failure is still being investigated, but initial reports indicate a problem with the third-stage. Debris from the rocket and satellite rained down over populated areas of northern Russia. Meridian satelites are successors to the military Molniya series of communications satellites placed into highly elliptical orbit for decades.

The Globalstar launch today was conducted on a commercial basis through Starsem, a Russian-European joint venture that includes the France Arianespace launch services company. Today's rocket is similar to the type of Soyuz rocket that is launched from Arianespace's launch facility in Kourou, French Guiana. Soyuz is the workhorse of the Russian launch vehicle program and exists in several versions, including one that is used to launch crews to the International Space Station (ISS). The failure of yet another version of Soyuz in August that was supposed to send a cargo spacecraft to the ISS caused a delay in launching ISS crews. Whether the December 23 Soyuz launch failure will affect ISS operations remains unclear.

Globalstar Launch on Soyuz To Proceed, Proton Launch of SES-4 Further Delayed

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 19:38:00 GMT

Satellite operator Globalstar will proceed with its planned launch of six satellites tomorrow on a Russian Soyuz rocket despite a Soyuz failure on December 23 that destroyed a Russian military communications satellite. Meanwhile, launch of a different commercial communications satellite, SES-4 (formerly NSS-14), on a Russian Proton rocket that should have occurred yesterday will be delayed by approximately 25 days because of technical problems with the Proton's Briz (Breeze) upper stage.

The Proton launch was scrubbed shortly before launch. Initially it was unclear as to whether the problem could be resolved quickly or if the launch vehicle would have to be rolled back from the pad. The decision to roll back was made later in the day and International Launch Services, a U.S.-based company that sells commercial launches on Proton, subsequently announced that the launch would be delayed for about 25 days because of problems "with the avionics system" of the Briz-M upper stage. Both Proton and Briz are manufactured by Khrunichev.

Russia's usually reliable launch vehicles have suffered a series of failures in the past 12 months, most recently the loss of a Soyuz-2.1b rocket on December 23 that doomed a Russian military communications satellite. That failure, however, is not deterring satellite operator Globalstar from proceeding with its launch on a Soyuz scheduled for tomorrow, December 28. The launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan is intended to place six second-generation Globalstar satellites into orbit. This launch was arranged through Starsem, a European-Russian joint venture that includes French launch company Arianespace. Starsem conducts commercial Soyuz launches both from Baikonur and from Arianespace's launch site in Kourou, French Guiana. Arianespace and Globalstar issued press releases today indicating that the launch plans are unchanged.

There are many versions of the Soyuz rocket and the Soyuz-2.1b that failed on December 23 is slightly different from version that will be used for Globalstar. Arianespace stated that it would be the "same basic modernized version of Soyuz" as is used in Kourou, but other sources report that the Kourou version, Soyuz-ST, is specially designed to operate in the humid climate in South America, whereas the version used at Baikonur is designated Soyuz 2-1a. RussianSpaceWeb.com has detailed technical information about the differences in these Soyuz variants.

The December 23 launch failure and the Proton problem yesterday led Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to put Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin "in charge of Russia's space sector." Rogozin, Russia's former ambassador to NATO, had just been assigned as Deputy Prime Minister and made responsible for ferreting out the problems in Russia's defense and atomic energy sectors. Yesterday's action adds space to his portfolio.

Technical Problem Delays Russian Proton Launch-UPDATE

Mon, 26 Dec 2011 21:34:00 GMT

UPDATE: This story has been updated to indicate that the launch vehicle has been rolled back from the launch pad.

Russia delayed the launch of Europe's SES-4 communications satellite today because of technical problems with the Proton rocket.

Russia has experienced an unusual number of rocket problems in the past 12 months, starting with the failure of a Proton last December that doomed three GLONASS navigation satellites. Five more failures since then have stranded spacecraft in transfer orbits or not gotten them into orbit at all, including a cargo spacecraft headed to the International Space Station, the Phobos-Grunt Mars probe, and just three days ago, a military communications satellite. A variety of launch vehicles and upper stages from different manufacturers have been involved.

Russia's news agency ITAR-TASS reported Monday afternoon Eastern Standard Time that the rocket "has been removed from the launch site in order to replace some of the instruments and run additional checks." A new launch date was not announced.

This is a commercial launch for International Launch Services (ILS), a U.S.-based company that sells launches on the Proton. SES-4 belongs to Luxembourg-based satellite operator SES.

The satellite was originally built for New Skies, which was headquartered in the Netherlands, and carried a New Skies designation -- NSS-14. SES acquired New Skies in 2005.

Russia Appoints Deputy Prime Minister to Lead Space Sector

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 01:02:00 GMT

Russia's news agency ITAR-TASS revealed today that on Monday Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin "empowered" Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin "to be in charge of Russia's space sector."

Rogozin wants a report on Thursday from Russia's space agency, Roscosmos, on the most recent launch failure, according to ITAR-TASS. A Soyuz rocket failed to place a military Meridian communications satellite into orbit on December 23. Today, the launch of a Proton rocket was delayed and the rocket rolled back from the launch pad because of an unspecified technical problem.

In apparent reference to Putin, ITAR-TASS stated: "According to the head of government, after military acceptance inspection was cancelled many things have changed for the worse. 'It does not mean we must get back to the former regulation instruments but its [sic] is absolutely obvious that the existing instruments are not enough,' he added." Putin is Russia's former president, current prime minister, and candidate to become president again next year. Dmitry Medvedev is Russia's president.

Russia has experienced an unusual string of launch failures -- six in the last 12 months, of which five were in 2011.

Russia Suffers Another Soyuz Rocket Failure

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 18:09:00 GMT

Russia reportedly has suffered another launch failure today of a Soyuz rocket that was intended to place a military communications satellite into orbit.

This version of the Soyuz rocket, Soyuz-2, is slightly different from the Soyuz U rocket that failed in August dooming the Progress M-12M cargo spacecraft. One of the uses of the version that failed today is putting satellites into highly elliptical orbits that have long dwell times over the north pole. These launches take place from the Plesetsk launch site near the Arctic Circle.

The Soviet Union pioneered the use of this type of orbit early in the space program because it is advantageous for communications in northern latitudes where most of the country is located. The communications satellites placed into this orbit for decades were called Molniya (lightning) and the orbit took that name -- a Molniya orbit -- with an apogee of about 40,000 kilometers and a perigee of less than 1,000 kilometers. Molniya orbits now are used by different countries primarily for communications and early warning missions.

Russia's military Molniya satellites are being replaced by a new version, Meridian, and that was the payload today. According to RussianSpaceWeb.com, the third stage of the Soyuz shut down 421 seconds into the flight and the latest reports indicate "a possible bulging of the combustion chamber No. 1, leading to its burn through and a catastrophic fuel leak." That website cites Russian news service Interfax as estimating the "financial loss from the accident could reach two billion rubles."

This is Russia's fifth launch failure in 2011, a surprising number given the usual reliability of Russian rockets. The other four were GEO-IK2, a Rokot launch vehicle with a Briz upper stage that left the spacecraft stranded in transfer orbit; Express AM-4, a Proton-Briz combination that left the spacecraft in transfer orbit; Progress M-12M, a Soyuz U-Fregat combination that did not attain orbit; and Phobos-Grunt, a Zenit-Fregat combination that left the spacecraft stranded in Earth orbit instead of on a Mars trajectory.

Soyuz TMA-03M Docks, Hatches Open

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 18:35:00 GMT

Russia may have suffered another launch failure today, but on a better news front, the Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS).

The three Soyuz TMA-03M crew joined the three current residents of the ISS, restoring the space station to its full complement of six. Soyuz TMA-03M docked at 10:19 am EST and the hatches between the Soyuz and the ISS opened at 12:43 pm EST. The six crew members include three Russians, two Americans, and one European. To keep up with who's on board the ISS and what they are doing, visit NASA's ISS website.

Russia has a launch vehicle named Soyuz (Union), and a spacecraft named Soyuz, which can be confusing. The Soyuz spacecraft is launched by a Soyuz launch vehicle, adding to the confusion. The Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft was launched by a Soyuz-FG launch vehicle. It is somewhat different than the Soyuz-2 that failed today and somewhat different than the Soyuz-U that failed in August. However, because of the similarities among the vehicles, following the August failure Russia delayed further launches of the Soyuz-FG until they were certain that the Soyuz-FG was safe to fly. It is too early to know if today's launch failure will affect future crew launches to the ISS.

Congress Finishes Work for 2011

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 20:14:00 GMT

The House and Senate passed the two-month extension of the payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits quickly today, completing Congress's work for 2011. The bill also keeps Medicare reimbursements to doctors at the current rate instead of declining as they would have otherwise. No offsetting cuts to NASA or NOAA were included.

The final week was chock full of political drama as House Republicans tried to force the Senate to negotiate a one-year extension before December 31, a route the Senate rejected for the short-term knowing that such negotiations will be complicated and time consuming. Offsetting cuts will need to be found. House Republicans did succeed in forcing Senate Democrats and the President to accept a requirement that the President agree to grant a permit for construction of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to the Gulf Coast within 60 days of the law's enactment (today) unless he determines that such a permit is not in the national interest.

The agreement that passed Congress today and was immediately signed into law by President Obama does not affect funding for NASA or NOAA. Last weekend the Senate rejected a House-passed resolution that would have imposed a 1.83 percent across-the-board rescission of FY2012 funding for those and many other government agencies, although the Department of Defense would have been exempted.

House and Senate negotiators are expected to begin work shortly after the New Year to find a way to extend the payroll tax cut and other provisions for the rest of 2012. Where the offsetting cuts will come from is anyone's guess at this point, so no federal agency can rest easy yet.

New ISS Crew Set to Dock Friday Morning

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 22:49:00 GMT

The three crew currently aboard the International Space Station (ISS) will get an early Christmas present Friday morning -- three more crew members, restoring the space laboratory to its full complement of six.

NASA's Don Pettit, Russia's Oleg Kononenko, and Europe's Andre Kuipers (from the Netherlands) are scheduled to dock with the ISS about 10:22 am EST. They will join NASA's Dan Burbank and Russia's Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivinishin, who boarded the ISS last month.

Burbank got another special treat yesterday, witnessing a comet streak by in the sky. He took stunning video of it -- and of the ISS becoming illuminated at orbital sunrise -- that is available on NASA's website.

Soyuz TMA-03M Launches

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 13:25:00 GMT

UPDATE: On-time launch at 8:16 am EST.

ORIGINAL STORY: The launch of Soyuz TMA-03M continues on schedule for launch at 8:16 am EST (7:16 pm local time in Kazakhstan).

NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) are providing live coverage of the launch. The three astronauts aboard the spacecraft are NASA's Don Pettit, ESA's Andre Kuipers, and Russia's Oleg Kononenko.

If all goes according to plan, they will dock with the ISS in two days (December 23) at 10:22 am EST.

Next ISS Crew Ready for Launch Wednesday Morning

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 22:23:00 GMT

Preparations remain on target for the launch of three new crew members for the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday, December 21, at 8:16 am EST.

Three men -- one each from the United States, Russia and the Netherlands -- are scheduled to blast off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard the Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft at that hour (7:16 pm local time at Baikonur). If all goes according to plan, they will dock with the ISS two days later, joining the three crew members already aboard and restoring the ISS to its usual six-person crew complement.

NASA TV plans to cover the launch live beginning at 5:45 am EST.

Latest Exoplanets Earth-Sized, But Not "Just Right"

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 23:02:00 GMT

The latest findings from NASA's Kepler space telescope confirm rocky planets the same size as Earth orbiting a star like our Sun, but they are too close to their Sun to be able to support life as we know it.

NASA announced the most recent Kepler findings today. The planets, designated Kepler-20e and Kepler-20f, are part of a five-planet system orbiting a star similar to our Sun in the constellation Lyra, about 1,000 light years away.

Earlier this month, NASA said that it had confirmed the existence of an Earth-sized planet around a different star that is 600 light years away. That planet, Kepler-22b, is at the correct distance from its Sun -- in the "habitable" or "Goldilocks" zone where the temperature is not too hot, not too cold, but just right -- for liquid water to exist. According to current knowledge, life as we know it requires liquid water.

However, NASA said today that Kepler-22b is "likely to be too large to have a rocky surface." The two planets discussed today are likely to be rocky, but probably do not have liquid water, NASA said. The search for Earth-sized, rocky planets in the habitable zone of a star like our Sun continues.

Kepler can not actually see other planets. It collects data on the dimming of stars that suggests that other bodies -- planets -- are crossing ("transiting") between the star and the telescope at regular intervals and thus are in orbit around the star.

NASA Sets Briefings for Tomorrow on Planets, Commercial Crew

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 01:39:00 GMT

Today NASA announced two press briefings that will take place tomorrow, Tuesday, December 20.

One will be an announcement of new discoveries by NASA's Kepler space telescope that is searching for planets around other stars -- exoplanets. Participants in the news teleconference at 1:00 pm EST (listen to the live stream at http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio) are:
- Nick Gautier, Kepler project scientist, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif.
- Francois Fressin, lead author, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass.
- David Charbonneau, professor of astronomy, Harvard University
- Linda Elkins-Tanton, director of the Carnegie Institution for Science's Department of Terrestrial Magnetism in Washington.
The other is on a completely different topic -- a status report on NASA's commercial crew program (thanks to NASAWatch for publicizing it). That "forum" will be held at Kennedy Space Center in Florida from 11:00 - 11:30 am EST (note that the original announcement incorrectly said it ended at 11:30 pm, but was later modified). From the description, it sounds like a very brief recap of the announcement last week about the new commercial crew strategy.

Legislative Checklist: Major Space-Related Legislation in the 112th Congress, A SpacePolicyOnline.com Fact Sheet

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 21:21:00 GMT

Legislative Checklist: Major Space-Related Legislation in the 112th Congress is a SpacePolicyOnline.com fact sheet that tracks major space-related legislation as it passes through the 112th Congress (the years 2011-2012). Bill numbers, report numbers, and dates when major steps in the legislative process -- such as subcommittee and full commitee markup, floor consideration, conference action, and signing into law -- are shown. This fact sheet is updated as warranted; the current date is February 5, 2012. It includes funding bills for NASA, NOAA, DOD and the Office of Commercial Space Transportation at the Federal Aviation Admiistration.

NASA's FY2012 Budget Request: A SpacePolicyOnline.com Fact Sheet

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 18:50:00 GMT

NASA's FY2012 Budget Request is a SpacePolicyOnline.com fact sheet that tracked NASA's FY2012 budget request as it worked its way through Congress and shows the final FY2012 appropriations for the agency. The report was most recently updated on January 11, 2012.