Some misc. items of interest:
/-- NASA Langley helps develop all-composite space module - WTKR - It's disappointing how often composite structures turn out not to offer any weight savings.
/-- Moon Room With a View - Discovery News - Lunar lava tube home site beckons.
/-- No Roadblocks To Extended ISS Operations - Aviation Week - The ISS can continue to fly for at least ten more years.
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Space Prizes provides a round up of various space related links and twitter postings by: OMB Prize Guidance, National Academies on Suborbital, SXSW, X PRIZE Benefit, More - Space Prizes

Rand Simberg thoroughly fisks this Salt Lake Tribune article about those in Congress trying to save Constellation, especially Ares I: More Depressing Space Policy Ignorance - Transterrestrial Musings. He also addresses the problems that come with stretching out programs and underfunding them at the front end.
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Joel Achenbach cites Jeff Foust's recent Space Review article about the administration's poor handling of the roll out of the new budget and policy for NASA: NASA's narrative problem - Achenblog.

An announcement from Space Florida:

Space Florida Secures Licenses for Launch Complexes 46 and 36

CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, Fla. (March 11, 2010) – Space Florida is pleased to announce that it has secured Real Property Licenses for Space Launch Complexes 46 and 36 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. As a result, the 45th Space Wing now grants Space Florida full rights to proceed with construction and refurbishment work at either launch location.

“Within the past year, we have been working diligently with the 45th Space Wing and the Navy to secure full rights to these complexes,” noted Mark Bontrager, vice president of Space Florida’s Spaceport Operations. “Through a mutual trust with both entities, we can now fully pursue build-out of these sites for commercial use. This will help to open up additional opportunities for Florida to take full advantage of the rapidly emerging commercial space marketplace. Having additional domestic launch sites ready for commercial utilization will also ensure the U.S. remains competitive from a global perspective.”

Leonard David writes about research with fully reusable suborbital space transports: New Suborbital Spaceships Spark Scientific Frenzy - SPACE.com.

Stretching out Ares I/Orion until the end of time would be just fine for some Congresspersons. Just think of all the tech innovation and inspiration for kids that will be produced by the Safe...Simple...Whenever program:
/-- Save NASA's Constellation by slowing it, House members from Utah urge - Deseret News
/-- Who cares about 2020, 2030 and beyond is good enough - Hyperbola
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More about ITAR reform plans: Another step towards export control reform - Space Politics.
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The AMS magnet may need more insulation than planned: Problem may delay shuttle's last flight: Antimatter-detector flaw could complicate plans to retire orbiter fleet this year - Orlando Sentinel - Mar.11.10.

The latest issue of the Near Earth LLC newsletter is available: From the Ground Up - March 2010 (pdf).

It includes an announcement about Rich Pournelle, previously at XCOR, joining them.

The "Financings" section has this entry:

SpaceX IPO: Well, despite recent challenges at the Falcon 9 launch pad, we are still very bullish on the prospects of SpaceX. If it can get two or three successful Falcon 9 launches under its belt in the next 12 months, its multi-billion dollar NASA backlog for COTS will be confirmed in investors’ minds and additional commercial satellite operators should see SpaceX as a viable new supplier. With a strengthened and diversified manifest of launches, we would think SpaceX could go public on favorable terms. (see our previous article “SpaceX hits the big time”, September 2009)

Paul Spudis again argues for making the Moon the main goal of NASA's long term plans: Stuck in Transit – Unchaining Ourselves From the Rocket Equation - The Once and Future Moon/Air & Space Mag.

He ridicules the proposed technology development program as a search for "magic beans" but then extols his own supernatural legumes in the form of propellants produced on the Moon. I'm all for focusing on the Moon and for taking advantage of lunar resources but it's going to take an enormous effort to get to the point where utilization of lunar water is practical and of a scale to make an impact on the cost of traveling within space. That enormous effort will be staggeringly expensive if carried out before the costs of getting to LEO and from LEO to the Moon are lowered significantly. (He mentions the use of unmanned systems to do the initial research and demos but indications are that NASA does plan to carry out such projects. It's only by canceling Constellation that there is now money to fund such ventures.)

The title of his post mentions the rocket equation. The contribution of propellant to the current cost of getting to LEO is minuscule. As Burt Rutan noted recently, for mature forms of transportation the operating costs are usually just three or four times the cost of the fuel while for space transportation the costs are a couple of hundred times that of the fuel. The new plan for NASA doesn't involve any magical fruits or vegetables to bring down those costs but instead encourages higher flight rates and competition among multiple providers. This won't get ticket prices down near propellant costs any time soon (need fully reusable vehicles for that) but it's a darn good start in that direction. Technologies like fuel depots and lightweight expandable structures are crucial for lowering in-space transport costs and require no magic either, they are virtually in hand.

The first step towards settling "the new territory of space" is to lower significantly the costs of getting there. Otherwise, we will never be in position to take the crucial second step - utilization of in-space resources.

Kirk Sorensen visited the SpaceX facility in Hawthorne, California and posts a brief but interesting report on what he saw: Visit to SpaceX - Selenian Boondocks.

He seemed to come away impressed:

I looked around at the employees that would walk by. Almost all of them were younger than me (35) and I couldn’t help but contrast that with the demographics I experience at NASA, where I’m practically a baby compared to my co-workers, most of whom are in their 50s and 60s.

There was an excitement and buzz in the air at the SpaceX facility. People are designing, building, and testing rockets. They’re going to launch soon. And I think they’re going to succeed. Even if it doesn’t happen at first–I think they’re going to succeed.

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A reader pointed me this item about Elon Musk and the joy of touring the Golden State in a Tesla Roadster: "We're on the road a lot" - California Travel and Tourism Commission.

Here's a statement released this afternoon by Elon Musk on the Falcon 9 hot-fire test abort on Tuesday:

“The valve that didn't actuate is the ground side isolation valve to release ground supplied high pressure helium to start the first stage engine turbopumps spinning at several thousand rpm. Once that happens it generates enough pressure to start the gas generator, which is a small rocket engine that powers the turbopump. There are no vehicle side valves actuated for spin start (just check valves), so it is an all engines or none situation.

The problem was pretty simple: our autostart sequence didn't issue the command to the normally closed ground side isolation valve. We had tested everything on the vehicle side exhaustively in Texas, but didn't have this iso valve on our test stand there. Definitely a lesson learned to make sure that *everything* is the same between test stand and launch pad on the ground side, not just on the vehicle side.

Ignition fluid (TEA-TEB) flowed nominally to all engines creating the green flame and the main valves opened, but no engines actually started and the system automatically aborted on lack of spin. The fire generated was from flushing the system of fuel and LOX from the open mains. No damage to the vehicle or ground systems and no other anomalies that need to be addressed. If all goes well, we will try the static fire again in the next few days. Right now, we are holding due to extreme weather. It is raining sideways at 46 mph and tornados have been spotted just north of the Cape.

It is important for readers/viewers to appreciate that what we are going through right now is the equivalent of “beta testing”. Problems are expected to occur, as they have throughout the development phase. The beta phase only ends when a rocket has done at least one, but arguably two or three consecutive flights to orbit.“

Update: A bit more info about the test from Robert Block: Musk: Chalk up SpaceX Falcon 9 aborted test to growing pains - The Write Stuff/Orlando Sentinel

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