There may finally be movement on reform of the export restrictions that have hobbled US space hardware developers: Gates To Outline Export Reform Plan by April - Space News.

With efforts continuing by NASA supporters in Congress to extend the Shuttle program beyond this year, the statement on Tuesday from Shuttle program manager John Shannon that the program could be extended for a mere $200M per month has gotten considerable attention. Some people are claiming he is refuting a recent claim by Lori Garver that it is unaffordable to continue flying the Shuttles. The $2.4B number per year sounded very low to me since the annual budget for the Shuttle program has been in the +$4B range. Shannon has now placed a comment on a Space Politics post explaining what he meant.

Rand Simberg discusses Shannon's statements: John Shannon Responds - Transterrestrial Musings.

Part of the issue is nomenclature, and what Shuttle “extension” really means. If by that you means continue operations into the future at the current flight rate, there’s not enough money in the world to do so, so Lori is correct in that regard. If you mean instead to not shut down the program, and waste lots of money keeping the standing army in place, and hoping that they don’t lose their edge, while you’re waiting two or three years to get tanks produced again, then yes, you could “extend” the Shuttle, but I’d call that more something like, hibernate and resurrect it. Either way, there is no way to avoid reliance on the Russians in the near term (and the same would have been true with the Program of Record). Once the decision was made to shut down tank production a couple years ago, the die was cast. And there is no real conflict between what the Deputy Administrator and Shuttle PM are saying.

Update: Here's a way for the Shannon Shuttle extension plan to make everyone on the Space Coast happy:
1. Workforce A assembles the Orbiter, ET, and SRBs in the VAB and rolls the package out to the pad.
2. Workforce B, working nights, rolls the Shuttle back to the VAB, disassembles it and puts the orbiter on the runway.
3. Repeat
This is the perfect NASA space transportation system - lots of employees, lots of activity at KSC, and none of that dangerous rocket flying stuff. Gee, they might even reach the one "flight" a week rate predicted for the Shuttle back in the early 70s...

A message from ZERO-G:

Zero Gravity Corporation Establishes the ZERO-G Weightless Lab
The only commercially available reduced gravity environment for scientific experimentation
Flights scheduled for July and September 2010

Today, Zero Gravity Corporation (ZERO-G) announced the establishment of the ZERO-G WEIGHTLESS LAB. The specially designed two-day program provides the only commercial access to Martian, Lunar, zero and hyper gravity environments for scientific research. The program is open to academic, corporate and government agency applicants.

“The establishment of the ZERO-G WEIGHTLESS LAB demonstrates ZERO-G and Space Adventures’ continued commitment to open the space frontier to all,” said Eric Anderson, President and CEO of Space Adventures/ZERO-G. “The ZERO-G WEIGHTLESS LAB provides open access for commercial and government entities to conduct research in a reduced gravity environment that is not only affordable, but available today. The microgravity laboratory is completely operational; no test flights, development effort, or outside investment is required. Space is open for business!”

The ZERO-G WEIGHTLESS LAB, which was specially designed to meet researcher’s needs, offers clients the availability to charter a section of the plane rather than the entire plane, for the two-day program. The LAB offers a total of 25 parabolas, adequate storage space and a state-of-the-art containment unit for smaller research projects.

“When I traveled to the International Space Station (ISS), my most prized on-orbit activity was the protein crystallization project. The results were just as we predicted and my team has flown another specimen to the ISS since my flight,” said Richard Garriott, Space Adventures’ sixth orbital spaceflight client and the 1st second generation American astronaut. “The ZERO-G WEIGHTLESS LAB is a great first-step in space-based research and its available today. Why wait until other spaceflight options are available? Fly now! Get more time in weightlessness, at a far lower cost!”

All applicants must submit a Research Proposal Package. The proposal will be reviewed by ZERO-G’s Research Staff and its airline partner, Amerijet International Cargo. Upon acceptance, ZERO-G will work to obtain proper FAA approvals for the experiments, including a Test Readiness Review. Past client projects have included studies in biomedical and pharmaceutical research, fluid and fundamental physics, materials science, aerospace engineering, space exploration hardware and human space habitation.

Two ZERO-G WEIGHTLESS LAB flights have already been scheduled. On July 22-23, the plane will fly out of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. and on September 17-18, out of Memphis, Tenn. Upon demand, additional dates and locations can be added.

For flight specifications and detailed application protocol, please visit http://www.gozerog.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Research_Programs.welcome or contact Michelle Peters, Director of Education and Research Programs at info [at] gozerog.com or at +1 703 524 7172 x 210.

About ZERO-G
Zero Gravity Corporation is a privately held space entertainment and tourism company whose mission is to make the excitement and adventure of weightlessness accessible to the public. ZERO-G is the first and only FAA-approved provider of weightless flight to the general public, as well as the entertainment and film industries; corporate and incentive market; non-profit research and education sectors; and government.

Founded in 1993, ZERO-G is led by a world-class team of veteran astronauts and experienced business leaders. The company was co-founded by X PRIZE Chairman and space visionary, Dr. Peter H. Diamandis; veteran astronaut, Dr. Byron K. Lichtenberg, and NASA Engineer Ray Cronise. The team spent more than a decade working to bring the marvel of weightless flight to the public.

Since launching ZERO-G in September 2004, the company has conducted more than 200 weightless flights and flown over 6,000 members of the public, including celebrities and media personalities, corporate charters, science and math teachers, and individuals age eight to 93.

ZERO-G operates under the highest safety standards as set by the FAA (Part-121) with its partner Amerijet International Cargo of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Aircraft operations take place under the same regulations set for large commercial passenger airliners. For more information on the company and the ZERO-G WEIGHTLESS LAB, please visit www.gozerog.com.

Stephen Clark says

SpaceX could attempt another static fire this afternoon, but that is a "big maybe," company officials say. Scattered showers and thunderstorms are passing across Central Florida today, but the impact of weather on the Falcon 9 rocket's engine test is unclear.

The strongback will be partially retracted away from the rocket before fueling occurs.

See webcam of the pad here.

Update: Spaceflight Now reports that

A SpaceX spokesperson says today's engine test has been scrubbed due to winds and weather at the launch site.

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Jeff Foust is continuing to post notes on Twitter from the Goddard Memorial Symposium.The new NASA Chief Technologist, Robert Braun, spoke this morning:
/-- Bobby Braun, NASA chief technologist: if NASA is going to work on gamechanging technologies, has to be ok that not all will succeed.
/-- Braun: new NASA Space Technology program designed to provide "technology push" for ideas with broadbased applications.
/-- Braun: mission directorates more focused on "technology pull", working on techs needed to accomplish their specific goals.
/-- Braun: culture at NASA is changing with respect to technology development efforts, driven from the top.

The Constellation program is nominally still active but sounds like it's becoming more hollowed out by the day both at the agency and the contractors: Orion removed from NASA control - MOD positioning for commercial role - NASASpaceFlight.com.
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Shuttle extension efforts:
/-- Fla. lawmakers make push to extend shuttle life, build rocket - Florida Today
/-- One other note about shuttle extension - Space Politics
/-- Posey and Kosmas introduce House version of spaceflight gap bill - Space Politics

SpaceX has posted two pictures from the abbreviated Falcon 9 hot-fire pad test on Tuesday on its Updates page.
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Bigelow is looking to hire ex-astronauts for both ground and flight work: Astronauts Jobs in North Las Vegas, Nevada - Bigelow Aerospace - Career Builder (via Skytland).
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I strongly doubt that the ISS will splashdown in 2020 or even in 2028: ISS Partners Looking out to 2028 - SpaceNews.com.

Speedup static tested a hybrid motor back in February: Hybrid Motor Holds Together - Speedup - Feb.16.10 (via Space Prizes). See video.
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John Hare considers some variations on air launch techniques: VTVL Airlaunched - Selenian Boondocks -Mar.10.10.

So far, most all of the noise about the administration's space plan has come from politicians from states and districts directly impacted by the Constellation cancellation and the end of the Shuttle program. There has yet to be much input from three other major players: the 95% of Congress that is currently unaware of or unconcerned about the NASA budget turmoil, the general public, and arithmetic.

As I've pointed out several times here, the non-NASA sector of Congress has consistently refused to increase the funding for NASA even during good economic times. It's hard to believe they will boost it now with deficits/debt going through the roof. Yes, the NASA budget is a small percentage of the total budget but if they can't say no to a NASA increase, they can't say no to anyone. (The "discretionary" budget is turning into a collection of mini-entitlements for particular groups.) It's quite possible that Congress will not accept Obama's small boost to the NASA budget and may even cut the agency's funding.

The general public has shown no enthusiasm for greater funding for NASA. See, for example, this recent poll. Its unlikely that any politician outside of a small number of districts and states with big NASA centers and contractors would suffer in any way by voting for the Obama plan or for an even tougher policy for the agency.

As noted in the previous item, the budget arithmetic makes Constellation completely untenable. Continuing the Shuttle is extremely expensive and dangerous. A government launcher, i.e. Ares I/Orion, would be stupendously expensive to develop and operate.

For the Space Summit on April 15th, President Obama may be tempted to offer several expensive modifications to the current plan, e.g. extra Shuttle flights and a heavy lifter project, in hopes of mollifying opposition, especially in Florida. However, this runs the risk that the rest of the country will see him yielding to pressure from a special interest group and committing the country to even more unsustainable spending.

I would suggest he try another approach. First give a clear account of the reasoning behind the new budget and the arithmetic that drove it. Then explain that the only way to save NASA's human spaceflight program is to make spaceflight much less expensive. And the only way to make it less expensive is to encourage commercial companies to compete with innovative approaches. Lower cost spaceflight will not only enable NASA to do great things but also lead to lots of new jobs, new technologies, and new opportunities in space. This approach may not satisfy the local audience but I think it would play well with the broader public and with Congress.
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More space policy items:
/-- A little bit more about the White House space conference - Space Politics - Mar.10.10
/-- STS-131 Shuttle Report | Shuttle leader says extending program still feasible - Spaceflight Now- Mar.10.10
/-- Rep. Frank Wolf and Five Others Will Call on Bolden for 30 Day Study - spacepolicyonline.com- Mar.10.10

Marcia Smith posts a more detailed account of Jeff Greason's presentation on Wednesday at the Goddard Memorial Symposium: No Painfree Options -- "Deal With It" -- Says XCOR's Greason - spacepolicyonline.com - Mar.10.10.

Jeff urged that people face the fact that there "are no good options" and

be realistic in looking at where the human space flight program was headed under the previous plan and debate on their merits the issues about its future. Whatever the answer is, it is likely to be painful for someone.
...
"Constellation was designed for a budget twice what it got. That's what unexecutable means," he said, adding that it would require "four, five, six billion dollar increases every year for the rest of time" to be successful, including operations.

He later pointed out that each Orion capsule alone would cost $500 million.

Concerning commercial crew transport services,

He asserted that a "lot of lies are being spun" about the concept of commercial crew and it is "silly" to say that commercial companies cannot provide such services, but it is likely to happen first with established launch vehicles, not entrepreneurial ventures. He expects Falcon 9 and Taurus 2 to be successful someday, but Delta 4 and Atlas 5 already are proven.

Jeff Foust continued posting notes on Twitter for the afternoon sessions at the Goddard Memorial Symposium (see earlier item). Here is a compilation of his postings:

/-- Greason says we need to elevate the level of debate about the new NASA policy. Not hearing a lot if substance so far.
/-- Greason: Constellation showed if you wanted to redo Apollo with Apollo-era tech, also needed Apollo-era budgets, which NASA wasn't getting.
/-- Greason: Sooner or later Constellation was going to be canceled. Regrettable, [but] when you're in a hole, stop digging.
/-- Greason: with FlexPath we can start missions beyond LEO sooner, "start putting runs on the scoreboard" while dev systems needed for Moon.

/-- Brett Alexander, starting comm'l panel: new plan is a leap ahead for human spaceflight. It's about getting the rest of us in space.

/-- Mike Gold: Bigelow has invested >$180M of his own money in Bigelow Aerospace. Needs comm'l crew to get a return on that investment.
/-- Gold: don't need to rely on so-called "untried" companies: a Boeing-built capsule on an Atlas 5 meets our needs.

/-- Larry Williams: thinks a "Netscape moment" is coming for space, but for SpaceX "hope we turn out to be Google and not Netscape".
/-- Williams: "spin start" abort during F9 test firing happens frequently in tests in Texas; "not a big issue". [My emphasis]
/-- Williams: could do Falcon 9 launch as soon as end of this month, but more likely April or May. "We'll launch when we're ready."
/-- Williams: no discussion with NASA about exercising their COTS-D option; assuming they'll do separate competition for comm'l crew.

/-- Gold: expect 1st big market for Bigelow to be biotech, then gov'ts looking to stretch space budgets.
/-- Gold sees the "sweet spot" for pricing for comm'l crew to be somewhere in the $mid-20M range.

Heading back home today. We'll be on the road for the next eight hours or so. I'll try to post late this evening. Some misc. items till then:
/-- VIDEO: Space emerges as issue in UK election science debate - Hyperbola
/-- Better Than Apollo: The Space Program We Almost Had - Wired.com
/-- Twitter / BonNovA: New high-performance injec ...
/-- NASA space shuttle gearing up for big phase out - BusinessWeek

Yesterday's first attempt by SpaceX to carry out the Falcon 9 pad test firing sure is getting a lot of attention, e.g. see the many links about it at spacetoday.net. Comments on the articles are pretty amazing. The bumps and hiccups that routinely occur in the course of developing a brand new system don't usually take place in a spotlight in front of a huge crowd. In this case, much of the crowd reminds me of the fans of an opposing team who cheer and jeer, whoop and holler at the slightest miscue by the visiting team, even during the pre-game warmup. One can only imagine the joy and celebration that will erupt if the F9 fails to get to orbit. There will probably be rioting in Titusville...
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More about the efforts to extend the Shuttle program a bit longer: Hanging on to the shuttle - Space Politics

Jeff Foust is posting notes on his Twitter page from the Goddard Memorial Symposium happening today in Greenbelt, Maryland. The first talk was by Lori Garver. A sampling of his notes:
/-- Garver: NASA heavy-lift program starts now under new plan; would not have started until >2015 under old plan.
/-- Garver: past programs have been vehicle-centric, not space transportation-centric: focus has been on the vehicle and not the payload.
/-- Garver: NASA very supportive of prizes, talking about potential collab on Google Lunar X Prize, such as making a data purchase.
/-- Ed Weiler: NASA SMD budget "is a good news budget and a great news budget". Good for space sci, great for Earth sci.
/-- Weiler: finally confident MSL on track for launch in Oct 11 after final actuator passed tests 2 weekends ago.
/-- David Radzanowski, SOMD: no sign of an increase in attrition or performance problems with shuttle workforce despite looming end of program.
/-- Radzanowski: technically possible to extend shuttle, but anything possible with enough $ and workforce. Still would have 2-3 yr gap.
/-- Doug Cooke, ESMD: hoping to find multiple users in industry for hydrocarbon engine to be developed in new plan.
/-- Cooke: working now on developing human-rating reqs for comm'l vehicles. Want something that is well thought out, but not excessive.

John Logsdon explains that "NASA is not a jobs program" - FederalNewsRadio.com - Mar.9.10.

Other items:
/-- Obama's Plans for NASA Face Tough Battle at Space Summit - AOL News - Mar.9.10
/-- President Obama will talk NASA during Florida trip - Spaceflight Now - Mar.9.10

SpaceX has issued a statement about the test firing on Tuesday:

Today SpaceX performed our first Static Fire for the Falcon 9 launch vehicle. We counted down to an T-2 seconds and aborted on Spin Start. Given that this was our first abort event on this pad, we decided to scrub for the day to get a good look at the rocket before trying again. Everything looks great at first glance.

We completed pad preps on time and with good execution. The integrated countdown with the range included holdfire checks, S- band telemetry, C-band, and FTS simulated checks. We completed helium, liquid oxygen (LOX), and fuel loads to within tenths of a percent of T-zero conditions. Tanks pressed nominally and we passed all Terminal count, flight software, and ground software abort checks right down to T-2 seconds. We encountered a problem with the spin start system and aborted nominally.

As part of the abort, we close the pre-valves to isolate the engines from the propellant tank and purge the residual propellants. The brief flames seen on the video are burn off of LOX and kerosene on the pad. The engines did not ignite and there was no engine fire.

We detanked and safed the vehicle and launch pad. Preliminary review shows all other systems required to reach full ignition were within specification. All other pad systems worked nominally. Inspections will be complete tonight. Tomorrow will consist of data review and procedure updates. Commodities will be replenished tomorrow including TEA TEB load, LOX and helium deliveries.

We’ll look to do the next static fire attempt in three or four days.

Update: Stephen Clark elaborates on the SpaceX info about the engine firing test: SpaceX: Falcon 9 engine test aborted before ignition - Spaceflight Now

Some NASA policy and budget related items:
/-- Shelby seeks a critical mass - Space Politics
/-- Which track for NASA? - Huntsville Times
/-- Advice to Obama From Senator Bill Nelson - spacepolicyonline.com
/-- NASA: Money key to more space shuttle flights - msnbc.com/AP

Update: Criticism mounts against Obama's plans to change NASA strategy - washingtonpost.com.

Some comments from Elon Musk:

"The problem with Constellation was that success was not one of the possible outcomes," says Elon Musk, founder and chief executive of SpaceX, a start-up rocket firm that would be in the running for one of the new NASA commercial contracts.

Musk plans to conduct the first test launch of his Falcon 9 rocket at Cape Canaveral, Fla., sometime in the coming weeks. He puts the odds of success on the first try at 70 to 80 percent.

"It's trivial to build a rocket. It's incredibly difficult to build a rocket that goes to orbit," Musk says.

The timetable could put the launch very close to Obama's April 15 space conference. That makes Musk nervous.

"It is looking oddly close to the middle of next month. Which is a little scary," Musk says. "I'd hate for any decision here to be informed by some unfortunate situation on our first launch."

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The latest Res Communis collection of space law, regulation and policy links: Library: A Round-up of Reading - Res Communis.

Franklin Chang Diaz is proposing to NASA that they use two small VASIMR engines for reboosting the ISS. (The engines would using the station's solar generated power.): NASA could buy plasma engine for station reboost services - Flight Int.

Ian O'Neill at Discovery News hosts The Carnival of Space #144.

Stephen Clark reports that the SpaceX Falcon 9 pad fire test is currently set for 1:00 pm EST today: Spaceflight Now | Falcon Launch Report | Mission Status Center.

Other info:
/-- SpaceX Falcon 9 "Hot-Fire" Slated At Cape Canaveral Today - The Flame Trench/Florida Today
/-- SLC-40 webcam - Florida Today

Update: Stephen Clark says that the firing was aborted shortly after it started. They have scrubbed the engine test for the day.

Another X-51 article: Air Force to Test New Hypersonic Aircraft - SPACE.com/SpaceNews.

(I'm very skeptical that scramjets will provide any space launch benefit but the technology is interesting nonetheless and the military is paying for its development for non-space applications.)

Here's an Air Force video (link via Michael Belfiore) about the project.