The third person to pay his own way to space has reached orbit. Here's the official announcement from Space Adventures: Greg Olsen Successfully Launches to the International Space Station - Space Adventures - Oct.1.05.

Congratulations to Mr. Olsen and Space Adventures!

I expect that updates and info during his flight will be available on the spaceadventures.com and GoToOrbit.com pages.

The hurricane Otis may raise havoc with the debut of the XP Cup: Hurricane Otis heads for coast, possible New Mexico by Tuesday - Space Race News! - Oct.1.05.
...
Things look fine so far with the launch of the Soyuz with Greg Olsen aboard. Get updates at the Spaceflight Now Mission Status Center.

Quirk Books and Space Adventures are sponsoring a sweepstakes that will give away a ticket on a commercial space flight as the grand prize. The contest is part of the promotion for Eric Anderson's new book called The Space Tourist's Handbook, which will be released in November.
...
Michael Belfiore has an article in Wired News about the XP Cup and Armadillo Aerospace, which will fly its vehicle at the event: Doom Rocket Man Preps for Liftoff - Wired News - Sept.30.05.
...
Leonard David posts a brief note on the upcoming SS1 installation ceremony at the Air & Space Museum: Rocket Plane Hits the Ceiling - SPACE.com - Sept.30.05.

NASA Alumni League – JSC Chapter and American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA)
Houston Section Propulsion Technical Committee Joint Sponsored Lunch n' Learn Seminar

Topic: The Advent Private Launch Vehicle Program.

Please join us, bring your lunch and a friend, and listen to a presentation on:

The Advent Program, a private launch vehicle and orbit delivery system, is being developed local to the Johnson Space Center (JSC) by Advent Launch Services, Inc. This organization is led by James Akkerman, Program Manager, and Dr. O. Glenn Smith, Chief Engineer, assisted by an able team of local aerospace experts. The Advent system rocket engine, a 20,000 pound device, has a significant development history and is awaiting possible testing at Stennis Space Center.

The Advent rocket engine and associated hardware will be on display. Akkerman and Smith will describe the design, development plans, and long term strategy of the Advent Launch Services organization. Comments and questions by the presentation attendees will be welcome.

Speakers: Jim Akkerman and Dr. Glenn Smith are retired JSC employees with long and distinguished service in the propulsion and aerospace field.

Date: Thursday, October 6, 2005.

Time: 11:30 am - 1:00 pm.

Chips, light snacks and drinks will be provided, but a meal will not be served.

Place: JSC Gilruth Center, Long Star Room (upstairs)

(All non-JSC badged attendees must enter the Gilruth Center from Space Center Blvd. at JSC's gate #5.)

Information: This free event is open to the public. AIAA membership is not required. Professional Engineers can obtain 1 Professional Development Hour of credit towards Continuing Education requirements by attending this event. For additional information, contact either Norman Chaffee at 281-483-3777 or Andrew Petro at 281-792-5676. Learn more about the AIAA Houston Section at www.aiaa-houston.org.

In response to Griffin's statements on Shuttle/ISS mistakes, science analyst Roger Pielke says, "This is a startling admission from the NASA administrator, and perhaps a positive sign that real change is possible." Griffin: The Space Shuttle Was a Mistake Archives - Prometheus - Sept.28.05.

Pielke refers to his paper from 1993: Reappraisal of the Space Shuttle Programme by Roger Pielke (pdf). I've only scanned through it so far but I found several interesting items.

For example, the paper notes that "conventional wisdom" holds that if NASA had gotten all the funding it wanted and allowed to build one of the original Shuttle designs, which included a fully reusable fly-back first stage, it could have achieved the original Shuttle mission goals of frequent flights (~50 per year) and greatly lower launch costs. Instead, the design was chopped down to fit within the funding limitations set by Nixon and Congress.

The paper notes that it is in fact arguable that a lavishly funded NASA system would have done so well and, regardless, once NASA lowered the system performance it should have lowered expectations. "Instead, in the effort to promote the programme, NASA held policy goals constant to inflate the programme's apparent benefits while the design was compromised.:

Another common belief is that Congress starved NASA of funding during the Shuttle development. Figure 1, however, shows that Congress typically gave NASA more funding that it asked for during the 1971-81 period.

Griffin talks about how he cannot rely on the commercial sector to achieve the goals of the VSE. So Plan A must be a system specified in detail and implemented wholly by NASA as the agency did with the Shuttle and ISS. However, he should look at Table 1, which compares the promise of the Shuttle program and the actual performance. It does not exactly support his great confidence in the agency's ability to fulfill program goals.

In the summary section, the paper suggests that "quick, smaller, and independent" programs are better than a single huge, centralized, long term program like the shuttle. I think this is exactly right, especially if the smaller programs heavily involve or sponsor commercial firms.
...
The CIRES institute in Colorado where Pielke works has published a number of other papers on space policy. See, for example, The Space Shuttle Program: Performance versus Promise by Roger Pielke and Radford Byerly, Space Policy - 1992 (pdf).

The Exploration Architecture should rely more on reusable vehicles instead of expendables according to John K. Strickland:
The Urgency Of Vision For Space Exploration - SpaceDaily - Sept.30.05
...
Griffin tries to match ISS construction to the decreasing number of remaining Shuttle flights: NASA proposes space station be scaled down, Japan facility intact - Yahoo! Asia News - Sept.30.05 * Griffin Begins to Shrink ISS - Cutting Capability Promised For Decades - NASA Watch - Sept.30.05
...
Meanwhile, the Senate calls for NASA to complete the station as planned: Bill calls for NASA to complete space station - New Scientist - Sept.30 * The Senate Speaks Clearly on The Value of a Fully Functional ISS - NASA Watch - Sept.30.05.
...
I wonder if a Chinese spaceship will ever dock with the ISS: China sets date for Shenzhou 6 launch - spacetoday.net - Sept.27.05.

You can follow the progress of the Soyuz mission that leaves tonight (ET) to the ISS and includes "personal spaceflight participant" Greg Olsen: Mission Status Center - Spaceflight Now.

Also, the Space Adventures home page will have updates on the mission.

The launch will be broadcast on NASA TV. See the Spacecasts section for links to online streams.
...
So now we all agree, going to space generates joy: Tourist gearing up for $20M joyride - Florida Today - Sept.30.05
---
Well, we certainly wouldn't want that evil commercialization stuff to muck up outer space, "Olsen also rejected assertions that space tourism was leading to the commercialization of space, and he defended his participation as a necessary step in the evolution of space flight." - .Third Space Tourist Eager for Launch - SPACE.com/AP - Sept.30.05
...
I hadn't thought about the contingency plan that Space Adventures must have in case one of their ISS space tourists has to back out at the last moment: Backup cosmonaut sticks to business: Tourism company executive "ready" to take his client's place - Space News/MSNBC.com - Sept.29.05

If you live near the Las Cruces area, maybe you could give Starchaser a hand in setting up their exhibit for the XP Cup: Las Cruces briefs - Space Race News! - Sept.28.05. This Starchaser gallery shows pictures of their preparations for the event.
...
NASA assigns a leader for the Exploration Systems program: Scott Horowitz Named to Lead NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate - SpaceRef - Sept.20.05. Jon Goff wonders how much encouragement the former ATK manager will give to companies offering alternatives to SRB launchers for ISS crew/cargo service: No Conflict of Interest Here - Selenian Boondocks - Sept.28.05

...
On sci.space.policy I saw a link to this item about a missile air launched from a C-17: Missile Defense Radar Exercise Successfully Completed - MDALink - Sept.26.05. This seems similar to what AirLaunch LLC is developing for an orbital launcher.

Griffin issues a clarification of his statement yesterday about the shuttle and ISS projects: NASA Memo: Griffin Point Paper on USA Today Article, 9/28/05 - SpaceRef -Sept.29.05. Note that he emphasizes that it is the choice of orbit for the ISS was the mistake, not the ISS itself.

Here is a sampling of response to his remarks:
Griffin Comes Clean on Shuttle and ISS - NASA Watch - Sept.28.05
NASA's mea culpa: New admission of shuttle, station failures may increase call to end both now - Florida Today - Sept.29.05
NASA Admin Says Shuttle and ISS are Mistakes - Slashdot - Sept.28.05
Space Shuttle Oops! - PM Science Blog - Sept.29.05

Looks like Armadillo is ready for their short XP Cup demonstration flights. Check out this impressive hover test video.

[Update: Fixed the link.]

[Update 2: John Carmack has posted a new update with additional videos and photos: Ready For X-Prize Cup - Armadillo Aerospace - Sept.28.05.]

I can't blame Griffin too much about the situation. Look at the political reality he has to deal with: Griffin's Plans Conflict With Hutchison's Bill - NASA Watch - Sept.28.05.
...
Some politicians would like to use China as a space motivator: Waving the red flag - Space Politics - Sept.27.05. However, I doubt it would help much even if China doubled the size of its program. Hard to get excited over one crewed flight a year instead of every two.
...
Ed Kyle compares the "Stick" to the Saturn 1B launcher: SRB "Stick" - Saturn IB Reprise? - Space Launch Report Web Log - Sept.21.05.
...
Global Aerospace proposes a method to rove Mars via a balloon guided by a clever wing mechanism attached to a tether: Sailing the planets - Spaceflight Now - Sept.27.05.
...
The Rockets Away website gets a big revamp: Rockets Away! Website Goes Live - Media Company Offers Free Publicity And Low-Cost Promotional Services To Emerging Commercial Space Companies - Rockets Away!/PRWeb - Sept.28.05.

Gee, ya think? NASA administrator says space shuttle was a mistake - USATODAY.com - Sept.27.05.

Of course, in R&D there are good mistakes and bad mistakes. The Shuttle would have been a good mistake if NASA had recognize it as such in the early 1980s, learned from the mistake what worked and what didn't, and initated development of new space transport(s) that would have been ready by the 1990s.

Instead it became one of those awful mistakes that is never admitted to and never learned from. As far as I can tell, it appears that right up until Columbia's accident most of NASA management took it for granted that the Shuttles would still be flying in 2020. This attitude meant that efforts to develop new vehicles internally was always done half-heartedly and the increasing viability of outside "alternative access" was ignored or belittled.

Unfortunately, the new space transport architecture seems to combine the worst of the Shuttle program (e.g. high operating costs and low flight rates) with the worst of Apollo (e.g. almost every component gets thrown away). As Henry Vanderbilt said in his recent essay: "Old NASA ... forgets nothing, and it learns nothing.".

Bay Harbour Management, the main backer for Kistler , is pulling out after losing patience "waiting for NASA to follow through on its pledge to buy international space station resupply services from the private sector": Kistler Future Uncertain as Main Backer Withdraws - Space News/Space.com - Sept.27.05 (subscription required) - via spacetoday.net.

Fortunately there are now other companies (e.g. SpaceX and T/Space) that will remain in the contest for the ISS service (assuming it is ever put out to bid). I find it a shame, though, that we may never see the 2-stage K-1 RLV fly despite the fact it is 75% finished.
...
Been listening to the interview with David Urie on the SpaceShow. His update on the Rocketplane project is interesting but I find his recounting of the X-33/Venturestar project to be particularly intriguing. (He was a former Director of the Lockheed-Martin Skunk Works SSTO/RLV program.) He blames the insistence of NASA on a shuttle replacment vehicle for knocking their RLV development off track. They had planned for a much less ambitious vehicle. They were shooting for SSTO performance but would have been very happy with a reusable first stage for a Titan 4 class launcher.
...
A Russian/European collaboration may actually form to develop the Kliper but their schedule is not exactly breathtakingly fast: Plans for Euro-Russian spaceplane - BBC - Sept.27.05.
...
At an upcoming press conference, Peter Diamandis "will unveil his latest effort to help inspire and drive humanity’s entry into space with the assistance of guests from the Federal Aviation Administration, former astronauts, the world of professional racing and others" : Diamandis Press Conference Oct. 3rd in NY City - Space Race News! - Sept.27.05.
...
Dainel Wiener suggests that surgical strikes with beamed energy from space could be used to defuse storms before they become hurricanes. A space elevator would provide the transport to put the system into place: Hurricanes, Space Elevators, Solar Arrays, and Supercomputers - Wienerlog - Sept.27.05. There is a discussion at Transterrestrial on the idea.

Jonathan Goff gives his take on the Rocket Company in his Book Review: The Rocket Company - Selenium Boondocks - Sept. 27.05. And Mark Mortimer gives his review at Universe Today - Sept.19.05.
...
Don't forget to listen to the SpaceShow interview with Rocket Company authors David Hoerr and Patrick Stiennon.
...
The Science Fiction Museum in Seattle is sponsoring the panel discsussion Space Exploration: Envisioning the Future - October 23th, 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM. Panelists Vernor Vinge, Geoffrey Landis, and Jordin Kare will give their answers to the questions, "Will we ever go to the stars? What new space travel technologies are on the horizon? What will humanity's future in space be like? " [This item came via R. Nech.]

Former astronaut Rick Searfoss took the XCOR EZ-Rocket to the sky recently. Here are two pictures taken by Mike Massee:
.

.

And here is an earlier picture taken by Aleta Jackson of an actress who looks to be comtemplating what a rocket ride would be like:
.

The SpaceX update page now includes this announcement:

"September 26: Target launch date for Falcon I maiden flight is October 31 from our island launch complex in the Kwajalein Atoll. The customer for this mission is DARPA and the payload will be FalconSat-2, part of the Air Force Academy’s satellite program that will measure space plasma phenomena, which can adversely affect space-based communications, including GPS and other civil and military communications. Our second mission carrying TacSat-1 for the Naval Research Laboratory will follow the last Titan IV launch from VAFB."

...
The Shuttle program will definintely keep flying till 2010 according to its supporters in Congress: Shuttles unlikely to take early retirement: Legislators vow it won't happen - Florida Today - Sept.26.05
...
But the Mars Society says if you have to cancel something, better the Shuttle program than the VSE: Statement of Mars Society Political Committee on NASA's New Space Architecture - Space Arena Board/Mars Society - Sept.26.05
...
More about the Alliance for Commercial Enterprises in Space (ACES) and its upcoming workshop: Alliance for Commercial Enterprises in Space Formed and October Forum Announced - SpaceRef - Sept.26.05

I hope Burt Rutan is successful in recruiting a new generation of space cadets: Burt Rutan day at Cal Poly: Alum brings space talk down to Earth - Pacific Coast Business Times - Sept.23.05
...
Does seem that I see more and more young (relative to me) people getting involved in space projects of one sort or another. For example, via Slashdot came a link to the website SpaceNow.ca . The founders want to "to promote the near-term human exploration and settlement of space, as well as the key technologies that will allow us to thrive as a species both in space and on Earth during the next century." Sounds good to me. Check out their tutorials on rocketry, nuclear propulsion, etc.
...
UP Aerospace issues another modest pronouncement: UP Aerospace to Exhibit Renowned 'SpaceLoft' Sub-Orbital Rocket at X PRIZE CUP - UP Aerospace PR/PRWeb - Sept.26.05.
...
This is a cool and farsighted project from the ESA: ESA selects targets for asteroid-deflecting mission Don Quijote - ESA - Sept.26.05

Alan Boyle has a lengthy post on space elevators and the recent article on the topic by Arthur C. Clarke: Questions about the space lift - Cosmic Log/MSNBC.com - Sept.26.05.

He also talks with Michael Laine of the LiftPort Group about their recent climber test using a tether attached to a (fairly) high altitude balloon. "Eventually, LiftPort plans to develop a system that can send cargo up to a mile-high platform, then up to many miles in altitude." However, the current ribbon they are using isn't strong enough to go much higher than the 300m for their tests.

This got me to thinking about the JP Aerospace projects. While I'm not convinced of the feasibility of their "Airship-to-Orbit" vehicle, I think their high altitude platforms would be great as sky islands to visit and to use for launching suborbital and orbital rockets. JPA's goal is first to develop airships (called Ascenders) that go from the ground up to the platforms at 140,000ft (43km). Assuming that ribbon of sufficient strength and length eventually becomes available, it should be more efficient to connect them to the ground and use climbers to bring supplies and people to the platforms. There are the usual practical problems (e.g. could a platform maintain its altitude and support the weight of a 43km tether?) but it's something fun to think about.

This article - Microwave rocket project heats up - Flight Int. - Sept.27.05 - briefly describes a project by Kevin Parkin and Fred Culick at CalTech in which they investigate microwave beam powered launch systems. Similar to Jordin Kare's concept for laser launch, a heat exchanger on a vehicle transforms the beam energy into heat that is transfered to hydrogen fuel for thrust.
A more lengthy, but quite readable, writeup is available from Parkin's website: Feasibility and Performance of the Microwave Thermal Rocket Launcher - by Kevin Parkin, Fred Culick . They say that commercially available microwave sources are already capable of generating the beams necessary to power their 1 ton concept vehicle that could put 100kg into LEO.

(Note that Parkin also has a weblog on which he discusses space topics.)

In the latest Space Review, Robin Snelson reports on what has happen to the teams that competed in the X PRIZE race: X Prize losers: still in the race, not doing anything, or too seXy for the X Cup?
...
Taylor Dinerman reports on concerns in the military that NASA may not use the EELVs as often as the Pentagon would like: Can NASA keep its side of the trans-Potomac bargain?

John Carmack tells Michael Belfiore that Armadillo will try to do a "manned flight by the end of 2006" with their one person Vertical-Takeoff-Vertical-Landing (VTVL) vehicles. They will eventually pursue government contracts and perhaps give rides to paying passengers. Carmack said that, "We're really on the cusp of having significant capabilities here". Carmack says he might reach space next year - Michael Belfiore - Sept.22.05
...
Belfiore also spoke with Brian Feeney: da Vinci Project still racing to space - Michael Belfiore - Sept.25.05. (Via Space Race News.)
...
Check out the updated website for the The GoldenPalace/ daVinci Project. An item on the homepage says they plan a drop test of their capsule into Toronto’s Harbour area in the next few weeks.
...
I better go jogging today so that I can listen to this SpaceShow interview with David Urie of Rocketplane Limited.

Keith Cowing of NASA Watch talks about the need for Griffin to foucs as much on convincing the public that going to the Moon is worth doing as on the technical aspects of the program: NASA's Greatest Challenge - Harder Than Climbing Any Mountain - SpaceRef - Sept.25.05
...
Many of Henry Vanderbilt's comments on the Exploration Architecture in his recent Space Access Update were reprinted in the latest Aviation Week.
...
Dan Schmelzer in Don't Talk About NASA and Jon Goff in A Healthy Take on NASA argue that we should focus on the alt.space world rather than NASA.
...
In that vein, you can now access the recent Popular Science article on T/Space at : Can a Small Start-up Build America's Next Spaceship?New technology. New methodology. T/Space has a plan for getting to space that's so crazy it just might work - Popular Science - Sept.05
...
Jon Goff gives a tutorial on the advantages and disadvantages of liquid hydrogen fuel and why, when all the pluses and minuses are summed, a dense fuel alternative might be the better choice for your rocket vehicle: LH2, Love It or Hate It? - Selenian Boondocks - Sept.24.05

Arthur C. Clarke had a piece in the Times on the space elevator concept: 1st floor: haberdashery, curtains. 35,780th floor: satellite in space - The Times Online - Sept.24.05
...
Rand Simberg clarifies some misunderstandings about space elevator physics: Trouble With The Concept - Transterrestrial Musings - Sept.25.05
...
The Spaceshow recently interviewed Jordin Kare who provided the latest news on developments in laser launch systems. He also talked about the space elevator concept and how it compares to laser launch and he spoke about the use of lasers for powering the lifters.

Not crazy about his Exploration Architecture but I sure agree with Michael Griffin's long term goals: 'Humans Will Colonize the Solar System' - NASA's Griffin - Washington Post - Sept.25.05
...
Robert Zubrin says the heavy-lifter is "absolutely necessary to enable human exploration of the moon and Mars". But once upon a time he was more open to lower cost alternatives: Re: Zubrin on the NASA plan... - The Space Arena Board - Sept.22.05
...
Mike Massee posts some beautiful pictures he took of the recent Minotaur launch: raindrop.com overflow/misc gallery :: Vandenberg Minotaur I dusk launch. More info and pictures at: Rocket launch paints sky with breath-taking scene - Spaceflight Now - Sept.23.05
...
Florida Today urges that KSC and the state go for the CEV gold: Grabbing lunar gold: Continued teamwork needed to gain vital moonship work at KSC - Florida Today - Sept.25.05
...
More about the plans to connect a docked Shuttle to the ISS power system to allow for longer stays: New shuttle power supply gives space station work a jolt - Florida Today - Sept.25.05

The Alliance for Commercial Enterprises in Space - AllianceSpace.net certainly looks like one way for NASA to interact with the entrepreneural space industry. The goals of ACES include serving

as the "Friendly Front Door" between users, operators, and space access providers maximizing the range of productive uses, as well as minimizes the cost and schedule associated with conducting user operations in low-Earth orbit.

ACES has hosted one workshop so far and will hold another in October. The agenda looks quite interesting.

Jeff Foust reprints Griffin's comments from the Exploration Architecture news conference on the issue of NASA's support for entrepreneurial space companies: Commercial commitment - Space Politics - Sept.23.05. Griffin restates his plans to offer contracts for ISS resupply and then says,

... at the end of the day, what commercial means is, that it is not government directed. So, I can provide the incentive and I can provide the market that I have and commercial providers will either emerge or not. It is not acceptable for a publicly funded program not to have a way of meeting its mission requirements in the event that commercial operators do or don't materialize. So, the architecture that we have advanced allows NASA to meet its mission requirements, but also allows NASA to concentrate its resources on other more advanced activities if commercial providers can emerge in the next five to seven years. That is exactly our intent.

He wants to encourage innovative companies and use their services if and when they are available but in the meantime NASA must accomplish its "mission". However, Rand Simberg points out that by creating another very expensive transport architecture, the agency reveals itself to be "more interested in short-term milestones (getting back to the Moon and completing the lost mission of Apollo) than in opening up a frontier." A Thought - Transterrestrial Musings - Sept.23.05.

Griffin is saying that the agency is simply creating the system that will allow them to do the mission that the President has asked them to do but Rand says, "I thought that I heard the president say something else over a year and a half ago, but perhaps, politically, they're right, and I'm wrong."

I have certainly always wished that the President had made it explicit from the start that we should go to the Moon and Mars but do it in a practical, i.e. low cost, manner. Significantly reducing spaceflight costs should be THE number one mission requirement for the agency. Continuing to try to carry out missions with humans while the costs remain so exorbitant is just pointless.

Griffin implies, and I see this often raised in discussion forums, that if the "new space" firms are really commercial, they shouldn't have to rely on government funding. There are two responses to the this. Firstly, if NASA was zeroed out of the federal budget tomorrow, I believe the current generation of entrepreneurial firms would still send humans to orbit by the middle of the next decade if not sooner. In the next few years, companies will be flying tourists to suborbital space and companies like SpaceX will be sending spacecraft to orbit. It is hardly a giant leap of faith to see this creating a commercial infrastructure that will eventually lead to orbital spaceflight for people.

Secondly, it would nevertheless be to everyone's advantage if NASA was not zeroed out but instead had its money spent more wisely. Every other major form of transportation in the US has been developed via a partnership of the government with private firms and this has been hugely beneficial for society as a whole. Government builds roads, dredges rivers, operates air traffic control, etc, etc. while industry builds cars, operated barges, flies aircraft, etc. In the extremely tough bootstrapping situation we have with space, i.e. we need to simultaneously develop both transportation and destinations, it seems perfectly proper for NASA to support that part of the industry that is most intensely focused on opening space and in making it a much cheaper place to operate.

It's a shame the Exploration Architecture didn't follow this approach but there are a host of reasons for this that I think are politically unavoidable for the time being. While waiting for things to change, I hope the entrepreneurial firms will gain from side benefits like the Innovative Partnership program and the ISS resupply service.

A NASA design decision, like going with a Shuttle derived launcher for the CEV progam, typically comes wrapped with a study claiming the chosen design is the optimum one found after detailed comparisons to a wide range of competing approaches. Jon Goff explains why you should be very skeptical of such studies: Lies, Darn Lies, and Trade Studies - Selenian Boondocks - Sept.23.05
...
Jon, though, does believe "that Griffin's heart is in the right place" because of actions like creating the Innovative Parnership program: Griffin - Selenian Boondocks - Sept.23.05
...
I hope the Chinese learn more about doing space from Burt Rutan than not releasing astronaut names till the last minute: Chinese Copy Rutan: Next Astronauts' New Faces - The Aviation and Aerospace World's Daily - Sept.23.05
...
NASA Watch posts some solicitations for CEV work issued by Ames and Glenn centers: Field Centers Begin to Stake Their Claim on CEV Work - NASA Watch - Sept.23.05
...
LiftPort Group has tested a prototype space elevator climber using a ribbon attached to a helium balloon. The climber reached as hight as 305 meters: Space Elevator Concept Undergoes "Reel" World Testing - SPACE.com - Sept.23.05

Have you got your tickets yet to the XP Cup? Sounds like they are going fast: X PRIZE CUP Advance Ticket Sales Exceeding Expectations - Space Race News! - Sept.22.05
...
Via the aRocket forum comes word that XCOR has been flying the EZ-Rocket in preparation for the flight at the XP Cup. Also, John Carmack says they hope to do three flights of one of their VTVL vehicles. They have to stay within the amateur rocketry rules so each flight will last no more than 15 secs. They may try a "pit crew" approach to turning around the vehicle since they want to do the three flights all within an hour.

So don't miss this and lots of other good stuff. Be there!
...
I was surprised to see that the AF Research Lab had a banner ad on the Wired news site. They are looking for proposals from organizations that have a "demonstrated ability to rapidly innovate, develop, and field products or prototypes that provide technical solutions to urgent needs": The Innovation Network, Request for Proposals. The AFRL sponsors a lot of different types of research and this includes a number of space-related projects.
...
Orbital launches a military technology demonstrator satellite on one of its Minotaur vehicles: Minotaur Launch Report - Spaceflight Now - Sept.22.05

Nice to see Irene Mona Klotz informing the BBC audience about some alternative views on the Exploration Architecture: Moon plan 'comes up short' - BBC - Sept.20.05
...
This commentary at ABC also points out some alternatives to the NASA approach: ABC News: Silicon Insider: Orphans Preferred - ABC News - Sept.21.05 (Via NASA Watch). I like this passage:

It is all very exciting… and long overdue. The Gen X-ers seem especially excited, as well they should be. Not only were they born too late to see the last moon landing, but at last, they may have found the great generational quest they've been longing and training (think computer games, robotic competitions, Star Wars/Trek, extreme sports, etc.) for their entire lives.

Some, like Elon Musk, couldn't wait for NASA. He took the millions he made founding PayPal and started Space Explorations Technology, the celebrated new rocket launch company. As it happens, Elon and I made a small side bet a couple years ago after he predicted to me that he would put a man on Mars within 15 years. It is a bet I sincerely hope to lose.

But the enthusiasm of Gen X-ers for space exploration should also be a warning. The more you ponder NASA's new plan the more you realize that it is fundamentally flawed. While the NASA lunar exploration plan is up-to-date on all of the new technologies invented over the last 50 years, philosophically and organizationally it is still trapped in the big business/big government paradigm of the '50s.

...
Meanwhile, it sounds like the threat to the Shuttle program is real: Is OMB Considering Shuttle Termination? - NASA Watch.

Haven't done a systematic counting but it seems that the editorials linked to at spacetoday.net number somewhat more on the positive side than the negative. I'm a bit surprised considering the current Katrina/deficits turmoil.

This editorial supports the alt.space approach: Leave the moon to the entrepreneurs - OC Register - Sept.21.05. If I thought cutting NASA's funding would actually force NASA to turn to the entrepreneurs, I would support it. But I really doubt that it would. The agency would more likely go into hunker down mode as it did in the 1970s and muddle along with no long term space development goals at all. At least with the Exploration funding, there is the chance for some helpful spillover (e.g. contracts for ISS crew/cargo service) to the small space transport companies.

In the coming years these companies can establish their credibility with ISS services and with activities like routine suborbital RLV flights for tourism and be ready to takeover when it becomes obvious even to NASA that the CEV/CLV approach to space transport is far too expensive.

Jeff Foust posts an update on an effort in Congress to defund the Exploration program before it gets going: More on Operation Offset - Space Politics - Sept.22.05. I think this will be derailed by states with strong NASA ties: Texas politicians defend spending on space tours: Some say NASA jobs are key to plan for storm recovery - HoustonChronicle.com - Sept.21.05.

Jon Goff comments on the Exploration Architecture rollout, Henry Vanderbilt's recent Space Access update , and fuel storage in space: Various Thoughts about the ESAS report - Selenian Boondocks - Sept.21.05

Bruce Behrhorst at www.nuclearspace.com has posted an interview with a representative of the Department of Energy's Office of Naval Reactors about their collaboration with NASA on a space reactor. He also has a brief interview (bottom of page) with Eric Anderson of Space Adventures.

Jeff Foust attended the premier of Magnificent Desolation at the Simithsonian Air & Space Museum last night and was surprised to see the SS1 hanging now in the main gallery, though still wrapped in a tarp. Here are two pictures he sent me:

.

.

Keith Cowing criticises the presentation of the Exploration Architecture: NASA'S ESAS Rollout: Pretty Spaceships Without Social Context - NASA Watch - Sept.21.05.

NASA certainly succeeded in getting everyone's attention "as only NASA can". They then dropped the ball when it came to sending out the right message. Unless NASA can learn (rather quickly) how to send the right message - in a socially relevant and realistic context - they are not going to complete a 13 year journey back to the moon - one which will have to be re-justified year after year after year.

...
Griffin also might have elaborated on the potential of the program such as eventually going for long term lunar missions: Griffin: Exploration Plan Allows For Six-Month Lunar Stays - Aviation Week - Sept.21.05.
...
NASA will probably get permission to buy Soyuz rides: Senate Clears NASA to Buy Russian Spaceships - SPACE.com - Sept.21.05.

Michael Belfiore talks with former astronaut Rick Searfoss, who will fly the XCOR EZ-Rocket at the XP Cup in October: Ex-shuttle pilot to fly rocket plane at X Prize Cup - Michael Belfiore - Sept.20.05 . I like this item:

Searfoss tells me the new commercial space industry is where the action is. Retiring NASA astronauts, he told me just now on the phone, generally have two choices--either to go work for big aerospace companies, or to "descend into management" at NASA. Neither option appealed to him; he wanted to fly in space again, and he feels XCOR gives him a good shot at it.

...
With several billion dollars and 7 years, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman-Boeing teams become the "can-do" guys: Firms say they'll meet 2012 launch - Florida Today - Sept.21.05
...
With that kind of money, Glenn Reynolds suggests we skip the CEV, CLV, etc. and go straight to a space elevator: Is This the Right Way to Return to the Moon? - TCS: Tech Central Station - Sept.21.05

In the early 1990s there was a great tempest over budget deficits that produced strong pressure for major cutbacks. However, as I recall, the only major civilian project killed was the Superconducting Supercollider. The SSC had only the Texas delegation behind it while other projects like the ISS (or whatever it was called at the time) had enough broad, multi-state political backing to survive.

Now in Katrina's (and maybe Rita's) wake, there is again significant pressure for real cuts in expenditures. NASA's Exploration program has become an obvious candidate for reduction: Sharpening budget knives - Space Politics - Sept.21.05 * Lawmakers Prepare Plans to Finance Storm Relief - New York Times - Sept.21.05.

That seems unlikely to me. The funding for the exploration program comes out of the $8B or so allocated to human spaceflight in the annual budget. The money is currently dominated by the Shuttle and ISS programs but virtually everyone agrees that the Shuttles will and should stop flying by 2010. If the whole exploration initiative was killed, that would leave only a dying Shuttle program and the ISS with no new NASA designed transport system to access it.

So I'm thinking that the Shuttle program may get cut now rather than in 2010. The exploration architecture uses shuttle-derived systems, so the political support for the Shuttle itself is significantly weakened since most of the jobs will simply move to the new projects. The international partners for the ISS will complain that the shuttle is needed to launch the remaining modules and systems to complete the station but the US can cite the Katrina emergency as its excuse. There might also be a deal to re-jigger some of the modules to fly on other vehicles.

It looks like the administration is at least considering this option: Is OMB Considering Shuttle Termination? - NASA Watch - Sept.20.05. Killing such a highly visible project would definitely get a lot of attention and give the impression at least that the administration is serious about budget restraint.

This option would leave NASA with money for the CEV and the agency could focus on the long term Moon-Mars program, relieved of the incredible strain and distraction that each shuttle flight will produce between now and 2010.

I expect we will know rather soon if this option will be taken.

I had overlooked this posting by Rand Simberg on the scary costs of operating the CEV: Mission Costs - Transterrestrial Musings - Sept.19.05
...
I disagree with a lot of stuff in this Time article but it's nice to detect some enthusiasm for manned spaceflight in a mainstream media outlet: A Medium Leap to the Moon NASA's new lunar plan is, finally, a great start. But it deserves more specifics - Time - Sept.20.05.
...
Reg watch: Just saw this document on the AST-FAA website that describes an agreement with the Air Force on how to resolve requests from launch operators for relief from particular safety requirements: Memorandum of Understanding Between Air Force Space Command and Federal Aviation Administration Office of the Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation for Resolving Requests for Relief from Common Launch Safety Requirements. - August 2005 (pdf)

I also came across this more readable and more interesting MOA with NASA from 2002: MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT Between the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Concerning Commercial Space Transportation Infrastructure Development (pdf)

NASA's Centennial Challenges program has indeed announced a new challenge: Digging "Moon Dirt" is NASA's Fifth Centennial Challenge - NASA - Sept.20.05.

Sponsored with the California Space Education & Workforce Institute, the Regolith Excavation Challenge will involve teams that "design and build autonomously operating systems to excavate lunar regolith, or 'moon dirt', and deliver it to a collector." The team that can move the most regolith in 30 minutes will win $250k.

NASA may need a Shuttle replacement sooner than expected: Is OMB Considering Shuttle Termination? - NASA Watch - Sept.20.05.
...
Spaceref has posted the transcript of yesterday's Exploration Systems news conference: NASA News Conference With Mike Griffin: Exploration Systems Architecture Study Transcript) - SpaceRef - Sept.19.05
...
Leonard David gauges reaction to the plan: NASA's Moon Vision: Action Plan or High-Tech Hallucination? - SPACE.com - Sept.20.05.
I think Paul Spudis makes a good point about the technology that will come out of the program. Though most of the vehicles are throwaways, he says "the systems making up the vehicles are being designed for maximum leverage: long-life, cryogenic-based propulsion, potential reuse in space". This kind of infrastructure development might be the best aspect of the program.

Tons of articles on the exploration architecture debut are listed at spacetoday.net and in the posting NASA exploration architecture unveiled - spacetoday.net - Sept.20.05.
...
Most mainstream media articles don't mention views from the alt.space world. This Washington Post piece does include a brief comment from Charles Lurio: NASA Unveils $104 Billion Plan To Return to the Moon by 2018 - Wash Post - Sept.20.05.
...
A PR from the Space Frontier Foundation focuses on the positive, which in this case is the commercial crew/cargo program: ISS and NewSpace Firms - Space Frontier Foundation - Sept.19.05. (Note that Henry Vanderbilt is skeptical about this program, expecting NASA station managers to sabotage it with tricks like setting "impossible standards for would-be vendors, until they go broke and go away".)
...
Jeff Foust comments on the political reaction to the rollout: Political reaction to ESAS - Space Politics - Sept.20.05.
...
The vehicle development scheme of the Exploration Architecture follows pretty closely to the Owen Garriott and Michael Griffin Report released by the Planetary Society in 2004. However, the Society's response to the architecture is less than ecstatic: NASA unveils exploration architecture - Planetary Society - Sept.19.05.
The Society's leaders particularly dislike the focus on the Moon instead of on Mars. Society Executive Director Louis Friedman, for example, was

...skeptical about the prospects of finding “lunar resources for rocket fuel and permanent presence in lunar bases,” which he referred to as “science-fiction.” “If we get bogged down on lunar macro-engineering projects then exploration of the solar system could be thwarted” he warned. “Nevertheless,” he added, “there is a lot of time to re-work the details of lunar operations and Mars mission planning, hopefully in concert with many others on Earth.”

So its OK to use the perjorative "science-fiction" to describe permanent lunar bases, which he isn't interested in, but not for human missions to Mars, which he is? Gee, we can all play the cheap-shot game, e.g. let him disprove the statement, "The Planetary Society flying a solar sail is science-fiction." I think I will not renew my Society membership while he remains its chief.

Sam Dinkin does some sleuthing to verify the claims of the OSIDA (Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority) about the certification schedule of the Oklahoma Spaceport in Burns Flat:
OK Spaceport EIS December 2005 - Transterrestrial Musings - Sept.20.05
...
The Chinese press knows what's really important when it comes to space: Big cash in live space launch - ShanghaiDaily - Sept.20.05
...
I wonder if this situation will make the AF more or less willing to welcome an EELV competitor from SpaceX? Hurricane Costs May Squeeze Air Force Space Acquisition Program - SpaceNews/Space.com - Sept.19.05

The Vega project, started in 1998, continues its slow march towards a first launch in 2007: Key tests for Vega igniters - ESA - Sept.20.05

The rocket uses three solid fuel motor stages plus a liquid upper stage to put 1500 kg into LEO. For comparison, that puts it roughly midway between the Falcon I and Falcon V vehicles.

Here is a web site with info about ESA - Launchers . It includes a very brief Next Generation Launchers section.

DARPA's RASCAL project aimed to develop a system that could orbit small payloads by launching them via a small expendable rocket carried to a high altitude by an aircraft. The aircraft would use a turbojet but enhanced with the Mass Injection Pre-Compressor Cooling, or MIPCC, technique.

RASCAL, however, was cancelled when it became clear that to achieve the desired mass (~150kg) to orbit capability, a special aircraft would have to be built from scratch rather than just modifying an existing one.

This week's Space News reports that Space Launch, which had been the main contractor on RASCAL, is trying to convince DARPA to fund a new project that would use the MIPCC on an existing aircraft (an F-4) but for launching nanosat payloads in the 10-20Kg range. The company believes such as system could offer launches for $1M apiece. DARPA, however, doesn't seem very interested in a launcher for such small payloads. The article notes that university groups, like one interviewed at the Air Force Academy, who are building nanosats could greatly benefit from such a launcher since they have trouble getting rides to orbit.

Keith Cowing describes the exploration architecture in detail, while noting the "draconian cuts" in NASA's life sciences programs that seem to be part of the funding plan despite Griffin's statements to the contrary: NASA Revives Apollo - While Starving Space Life Science - SpaceRef - Sept.19.05. (I imagine that Griffin would argue that he is taking money from life sciences not for the manned program but to support other science projects like the Webb Telescope, which has suffered serious overruns.)
Other articles:
NASA Planning Return to Moon Within 13 Years - New York Times - Sept.19.05
A retro look to next US spacecraft: NASA's plan, unveiled Monday, is to replace the shuttle with a vehicle that borrows much from Apollo. - csmonitor.com - Sept.20.05
NASA formally unveils lunar exploration architecture - Spaceflight Now - Sept.19.05
More links listed in ESAS Reaction - NASA Watch.

Here's a sampling of blog postings & comments:
Live from NASA HQ, part 6 - PM Blog
Former Space Shuttle Astronaut Tom Jones Shares With PM His Comments On Today's NASA Announcements - PM Blog
Curmudgeons Corner
NASA's new spaceship - updates - Michael Belfiore
NASA's new spaceship is updated Apollo - Michael Belfiore
Keeping the vision alive - Space Politics
Old Media Becomes New - Transterrestrial Musings

and MSM articles:
NASA Plans to Return to Moon With New Space Vehicles - New York Times - Sept.19.05
NASA unveils details of return to the moon: $104B program aims for astronauts on moon by 2020 - Florida Today - Sept.19.05
NASA outlines $104 billion moon mission plan - HoustonChronicle.com - Sept.19.05
NASA estimates $104 billion for return to moon: Griffin defends cost amid Katrina rebuilding: 'We don't cancel the Navy' - Space.com/MSNBC.com - Sept.19.05
NASA to unveil vision for return to Moon - New Science - Sept.19.05

Griffin presented the grand Exploration Architecture for returning to the Moon by 2018 in a news conference this morning shown on NASA TV. In the coming days I will be linking to what I expect will be many articles on the particulars of the plan and the general public response. In terms of the politics, Griffin repeatedly emphasized the following (because he was repeatedly asked about them):

- No funding increase. The aim is to carry out the plan within a NASA budget that remains roughly the same size as the current one.
- Robotic/Space Science missions won't be cut back to pay for it.
- No job losses. Instead, the workforce, especially those people now working on the Shuttle program, will be moved to new assignments as the Exploration program develops.
- It wasn't initially intended to make the architecture so similar to Apollo. The analysis simply pushed it in that direction.

The first question from the press involved the Katrina recovery demands on the budget. He answered that NASA and space exploration are long term priorities for the country and can't be cut ever time there is a hurricane or other crisis. He also noted that the space program provides lots of high-paying, technical jobs in the Gulf Coast area, especially near New Orleans, and that cutting those would not help those areas recover.

He was asked one question regarding the entrepreneurial space companies and he said as usual that he will offer ISS cargo service as a way for that sector to prove itself. He also claimed again that his mandate was to get people to the Moon before 2020 and that only this top-down NASA directed approach is guaranteed to do that.

Here are some links of interest:
How We'll Get Back to the Moon - NASA - Sept.19.05
a Flash presentation.
Lunar Flight Plan Graphic
Back To The Future For NASA's Lunar Re-Tread - PM Magazine Blog (Via TM)
Live from NASA HQ, part 4 - PM Magazine Blog

This week's Space Review includes:

The article Where do we go from here? Making the Vision for Space Exploration a reality by Daniel Handlin suggests "a phased retirement of the shuttle and accelerating CEV development" so as to pressure the next administration to support the CEV/Exploration program:
...
Sam Dinkin explains how private lunar property rights would accelerate the development of the Moon: The Moon and the Tragedy of the Refrigerator .
...
Taylor Dinerman reviews the recent e-Parliament event dealing with space weapons: Whose space security? by Taylor Dinerman
...
Jeff Foust reviews the discussions of standardization of smallsat components and subsystems that took place at a recent conference: Smallsats and standardization.
...
Canada is making great contributions to space robotics that support humans in space but lacks a "a bold vision for the Canadian human spaceflight program": Canadian robotics and the future of space exploration by Sumitra Rajagopalan

Henry Vanderbilt lays out all the serious problems and disappointments with NASA's Apollo 2 program:
Space Access Update #112 - SAS - Sept.19.05.

He also lays out an alternative approach based on smaller commercial launchers and in-space assembly. This would be much cheaper, sustainable, and lay the basis for a true space-faring civilization.

Leonard David lays out the essential question about the Exploration strategy: Moon-to-Mars Plans Emerge: New Agenda or Apollo Retread? - SPACE.com -- Sept.19.05.
...
Aviation Week has its own answer: Griffin's Moon Plan Looks Like Apollo - Aviation Week - Sept.18.05. It's basically "a replay of the Apollo approach of the 1960s, with updated electronics."
...
Ken Murphy is a new contributor to the Selenium Boondocks blog and in his first posting he wonders if NASA's priorities match up with those of the public: On Space Priorities: NASA and its funders - Selenian Boondocks - Sept.18.05.

More about the Personal Spaceflight Symposium on October 6th at New Mexico State University during the XP Cup week: X Prize symposium wants you there - Las Cruces Sun-News - Sept.18.05. (See also the NM State symposium website for the agenda and other details.)
...
Florida is pushing hard to become the center of CEV development:
Fla. jump-starts mission: Team promotes KSC sites for next-generation moon-Mars trips - Florida Today - Sept.18.05
...
You can watch on NASA TV the news conference at 11:00 am ET in which NASA will present its grand Exploration scheme: NASA Rolls Out Exploration Systems Architecture Results - SpaceRef - Sept.16.05.
...
With all of the uproar over the cost of the Katrina recovery, I doubt the wisdom of the agency making a big public show of its Apollo-Two program at this time. But I doubt the wisdom of the architecture itself, so it all seems rather self-consistent.

Dave is now selling a CD packed full of info on various RLV related topics, especially lifting body designs and prototypes. Here is the press release:

Anyone with an interest in rocketry, R/C models and NASA will benefit from reading "The Next Shuttle". Featuring some 117 sources, senior NAR and key NASA staff from Edwards, this book is not just a historic look into Space history. It also clearly spells out the engineering challenges in building a manned reusable space vehicle.

For those flying R/C models some 100 pages of this 439 page text is devoted to 14 configurations. Each of these were flown using a digital wind tunnel (Sub 3D) with the results provided in charts and tables. Any modeler can apply the charts to their design efforts. And where NASA data existed, we compared the NASA results from H-8227. And the examples will show you how easy it is to apply the charts. In the end you will know how well your design will glide, and complete its flight mechanics.

If your interests lie in rocketry, space history, Lifting Bodies and reusable space vehicles this is a book you will want to use today and into the future.

And it is all on CD. Why? Simply because it greatly reduces the cost to you the reader. A similar paper copy would be $65.00, but we are offering the CD at only $25.00. In addition to the 439 page book, there is an extensive resource section for your use. In all, the CD has well over 1200 pages of material.



Dave Ketchledge, publisher of The MicroShuttle, Vertical Trajectory Systems, SoundRoc and key NAR reports has dedicated well over 3 years in answering the question, What is The Next Shuttle?

Stop by the website RocketEngineer.bravehost.com to get a few samples from the book and an order form for the CD. It's worth you your time to buy a copy.

Last week's Space News reported that Orbital Recovery is in late stage negotiations with a satellite fleet operator that could become the customer for its first spacetug. SingTel Opus of Australia is said to be the company wanting a CX-OLEV (ConeXpress Orbital Life Extension Vehicle) to extend the life of one of its aging comsats.

It will be interesting to see if the reality of a spacetug type of system will have any effect on discussions of issues like the future of the Hubble telescope, orbital fuel depots, etc.

I see that Brant Sponberg, head of the Centennial Challenges program, has been added to the speaker list of the ILC 2005 meeting: NASA Announces Moon Exploration Opportunity For Canada - Newswire - Sept.16.05. Sounds like he will be announcing a new "exciting challenge". He likes to do that at conferences.

Burt Rutan tries to inspire students to aim sky high: Cal Poly honors Burt Rutan: Aviation designer speaks to students at alma mater - AV Press - Sept.17.05 [Update: Permalink at Space Race News.]
...
John Powell notes that the ATO (Airship-to-Orbit) concept is getting some attention in Russia: Ecologically Pure Way Of Delivering Of Cargoes In Space- Aerospace Systems - June.12.05. (I think this page was generated by an auto-translator.)

The International Lunar Conference 2005 starts on Monday in Toronto. Looks like a terrific meeting (Agenda).
...
The Michoud plant is getting back into action faster than NASA expected so the agency will continue with the original plan of doing the ET modifications there: External tank work remains in New Orleans: More than $1 billion in damage to tank factory Stennis Space Center - Florida Today - Sept.17.05
...
Some NASA centers will do better than others as the exploration strategy is implemented: Moon plan likely boost for MSFC - Huntsville Times - Sept.17.05.

The cover article for the September October issue of Popular Science is about Transformation Space. It reviews the history of the company and discusses the various hardware tests they have carried out.

The article also goes into the company's strategy of trying to convince NASA to fund it separately from the CEV program for the specific purpose of ISS crew transport. Total funding could reach $500M but it would come in increments as milestones were met.

(As I understand it, the current NASA plan is for t/Space to compete with other entrepreneurial companies for commercial crew/cargo services funding that will come out of the Innovative Partnerships Program.)

The article is written by Michael Belfiore. Check out his blog: Dispatches from the Final Frontier.

Finally made my travel arrangements for the X PRIZE Cup in Las Cruces, New Mexico. I will fly to El Paso on Saturday Oct. 8th and drive up to watch the rocket exhibition on Sunday. Hope to see many of you there. (I'll have to wear a HobbySpace cap or a space suit or something.)

Wish I had time to attend some of the other interesting events happening during the"XP Cup Week" (see the schedule) but watching the rocket firms display their hardware is my main reason for going. The Sunday event will include:

Demonstration flights and launches by the XCOR EZ-Rocket Plane; Armadillo Aerospace; ARCA Aerospace; GoldenPalace.com powered by the da Vinci Project; Starchaser Industries; PlanetSpace/Canadian Arrow; RocketPlane; TGV; Beyond-Earth Enterprises; Tripoli Rocketry Association, and more...

Note that this year's exhibition is not called the X PRIZE Cup but is the "Countdown to the X PRIZE CUP & PERSONAL SPACEFLIGHT EXPO". The actual XP Cup competitions will start next year. At the Oct. 9th exhibition they will announce "the official program for the Inaugural X PRIZE CUP event in 2006." They already have a sponsor lined up: Arianespace to sponsor X Prize Cup - Flight Int. - Sept.16.05.

The Senate passed its version of the NASA budget. I've not seen any info yet on whether it contains NASA's requests for the Centennial Challenges and ISS cargo services programs: Senate Approves $16.4 Billion Budget for NASA - SPACE.com - Sept.15.05 * Senate passes NASA budget - spacetoday.net - Sept.16.05. If not, they might be added back during negotiations with the House over the final version of the budget.
...
Nuclear Iran or not, NASA needs to buy Soyuz rides to the ISS: NASA Seeks Clearance to Buy Russian Technology: Shuttle Grounding Prompts Space Station Dilemma - Wash Post - Sept.16.05
...
NASA's Moon/Mars Expendable Galactica Architecture lumbers along: White House Backs NASA Plan for Vehicles - New York Times - Sept.16.05 * Rollout Plan for Griffin's Architecture Gains Momentum - NASA Watch timeline.
...
More about the Oracle contest winner: Programmer Astronaut: San Jose Programmer To Escape It All Into Suborbital Space - InformationWeek - Sept.15.05.

Jeff Foust passed along a couple of pictures of the SpaceShipOne as it sits in a corner under a tarp at the Air & Space Museum. (Click on these for larger versions.)
.

In this one you can see its nose peeking out:
.

The PlanetSpace suborbital space tourism company (formerly the Canadian Arrow X-PRIZE project) is covered in this article: 'Final frontier' beckoning thrill-seekers: Planet Space sets sights on commercial applications - Business Edge Magazine - Sept.15.05 (via spacetoday.net).

Some items of interest include:

* The V2 inspired vehicle will carry 3 people.

* "first flights will be made in about two years."

* For $250,000, passengers will receive 14 days of training and the suborbital flight

* They have not yet started building the vehicle but are instead focused on testing subsystems. Some unmanned test flights will be carried out at their facility on Cape Rich by Georgian Bay.

* Project chief Geof Sheerin says for the X-PRIZE effort they spent about "$5 million over five years for labour and parts for the rocket." The funding "came from several Canadian private investors, many of whom have stayed on to help with Planet Space's new mission".

NASA has awarded Orbital Sciences a contract for

"launch services for up to 30 new missions with a minimum capability to deliver a 250 kilogram payload (approximately 550 pounds) to a 200-kilometer (approximately 124 miles) circular orbit with an inclination of 28.5 degrees."

NASA Awards Launch Services Contract to Orbital Sciences Corp. - NASA - Sept.15.05. (Via spacetoday.net)

"If NASA orders all 30 missions, the total estimated value of all launch services awarded under the NLS IDIQ contracts could reach $5 billion."

I wonder if SpaceX competed for this contract. In the WSJ article today, Elon Musk complained about the difficulty in obtaining NASA launch orders.

"Space Adventures and Oracle today announced that they will be sending Brian Emmett, a senior software developer for Oracle’s customer Stryker, to suborbital space." The press release is available at: Space Adventures and Oracle to Send Software Developer into Space - Space Adventures - Sept.15.05.

Another SpaceX article: SpaceX launches Falcon 9, With A Customer - Defense Industry Daily - Sept.15.05. (NASA Watch notes that the final expert mentioned has a new job.)
...
Hybrid rockets are getting popular all over: Successful Firing of Hybrid Rocket at Nammo Raufoss AS [Norway] - Nammo.com - Sept.13.05.
...
A HS reader points to this early design for an Space Station crew transport vehicle: NASA - HL-20 Model for Personnel Launch System Research - NASA Langley Factsheets - April.1992. Some similarity with LM's CEV crew vehicle.

Today's Wall Street Journal has the article: For Rocket Start-Up, Sky's the Limit: Surprise Contract Boosts SpaceX as It Competes With Boeing, Lockheed - WSJ - Sept.15.05 (subscription required). It says that the recent contract for the Falcon 9 is with "the U.S. intelligence community" but exactly which agency isn't known.

The article then goes on to describe the challenge that SpaceX is presenting to Boeing and Lockheed-Martin for the Air Force's heavy payload market. Last month, SpaceX filed a complaint with the GAO (Government Accountability Office), the general auditing arm for Congress, stating that the AF is preventing competitors from bidding for launches through at least the end of the decade. This is referring to the EELV (Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle) program that the AF set up with Boeing and Lockheed-Martin to develop two heavy-lifters (Delta IV and Atlas V) and to guarantee them the market for large AF payloads.

The AF, Boeing and LM replied to the GAO that

"opening the door for SpaceX to compete for launches during the next few years would jettison longstanding policies, hurt industry stability and therefore threaten to damage U.S. national security. After 2011, however, the Air Force forecasts 'competition will be utilized to the maximum extent practicable.'"

Elon Musk noted that it was risky to fight government procurement practices while also trying to win government business. However, he said,

" If development of simpler, less-costly rocket alternatives is left to major defense contractors, he argues, "I can assure you it will never, never happen.'"

The WSJ article then described the Falcon I program and the fact that SpaceX has "only" seven firm contracts for launches. A LM spokesman indicated that the company will start to challenge SpaceX in the market for small payloads.

(Item via a HS reader)

Alan Boyle reports on the space elevator competition: Lifter project gets a lift - Cosmic Log /MSNBC.com - Sept.14.05
...
The Sept. 4th Space Show featured John Barber who reviewed the prospects for magnetic levitation rail systems as space vehicle catapults. His MTSC Magnetic Support Technology website provides lots of resources on general maglev technology.
...
The Center for Advanced Engineering Environments at Old Dominion College University has some resources of interest such as the Space Shuttle Return to Flight Knowledge Repository and the section on NASA's New Vision for Space Exploration.

Here's a picture of SpaceShipOne under a cover in the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum: SpaceShipOne in repose. - Boing Boing - Sept.13.05.

The SS1 will be formally installed in the museum on October 5th.

It is listed as a Curator's Choice lecture for October 26th.

NASA presented its grand exploration strategy to the top White House staff today: NASA Briefs White House On Exploration Plan, Public Rollout Expected Next Week - SPACE.com - Sept.14.05.

Congressional committees will be briefed this week and on Monday there will be a press conference to present the plan to the public.

The basic scheme involves the retirement of the shuttle in 2010, the first launch of the CEV on a CLV (Crew Launch Vehicle) in 2011, and then the development of a heavy-lifter. These systems would provide for landing four people on the Moon in 2018 for a seven day visit.

The CEV is tagged at $5.5 billion, the CLV at $4.5 billion, and the heavy-lift launcher between $5B and $10B.

Leonard David reports that SpaceX will delay the Falcon I launch for a few weeks while they investigate the failure of a Merlin engine during qualification testing: SpaceX Engine Snag Delays Falcon 1 Booster's Launch - Space.com - Sept.14.05.

Elon Musk said that the engine currently on the vehicle had passed acceptance tests with "flying colors".

The ablative chamber failed on engine 13 (wouldn't ya know).

"We believe it was due to a variance in manufacturing, given that the prior 12 worked fine. To address this issue, we are adding additional quality assurance tests and increasing film cooling flow as a failsafe."

They want to check out these changes first before the Falcon I launch, now expected in late October.

A major highlight of the X-PRIZE Cup Week will be the International Symposium on Personal Spaceflight October 6, 2005. The agenda (pdf) includes a panel session with representatives of various entrepreneurial space companies on the challenge of "Creating the Personal Spaceflight Revolution."

More info at X PRIZE Foundation, Virgin Galactic, Arianespace and a Former NASA Astronaut to speak at the First International Spaceflight Symposium in New Mexico - Space Race News! - Sept.14.05.

Leonard David reports on the development of the SWR spaceport in New Mexico: Southwest Regional Spaceport Touted as New Mexico Moneymaker - SPACE.com - Sept.13.05.
...
Jon Goff talks about the SpaceX approach to development of the Falcon heavy lifters: Better Sourced SpaceX Post - Selenian Boonbocks - Sept.13.05.
...
Jeff Foust says that Griffin wants to focus on development of nuclear reactors for general space applications rather than on nuclear powered electric propulsion: Prometheus gets nuked - Space Politics - Sept.14.05.

Speaking of military space, Jeff Foust has a posting about a session tomorrow of the e-Parliament that is entitled "Parliamentary Hearing on Space Security". Includes both pro and anti space based weapons speakers. It will be webcast starting at 10:00 am (ET).

In response to my previous posting about a Marine space transport vehicle, Ed Wright has passed along a link to a cool presentation in Powerpoint (what else?) called: Marine Operations Using Space Transportation by Terry Phillips, Schafer Corp - 13 July 05.

There's a bit of a Mad General aspect (or Mad Consultant) to all this but it's still interesting that there are some people looking seriously into the potential of such a system.



See also the Military Space Plane at Schafer Corp.

Jeff Foust reports on difficulties in the formation of the Boeing/LockMart EELV combo: Problems ahead for ULA? - Space Politics - Sept.13.05
...
NASA funding will probably take a hit from the Katrina effect: More aftereffects from Katrina - Space Politics - Sept.13.05
...
UP Aerospace raised quite a bit of publicity in the past week for its launch next year of a reusable sounding rocket. The firm is run by Eric Knight who worked on the avionics for the CSXT project and his Remarkable Technologies company was one of the CSXT sponsors. Here is Eric's humble website Eric Knight -- Entrepreneur, Inventor, Marketer, Writer, Rocket Scientist, Futurist, Internet Pioneer.
...
Boeing will develop a system to divert ISS power to a docked shuttle so that it can remain connected to the station for a longer period: Shuttle to plug into space station power - New Scientist - Sept.12.05 * Boeing gets contract to feed ISS power to docked shuttles - Spaceflight Now - Sept.12.05

The X PRIZE CUP rocket show on October 9th is coming up fast. Here is a Personal invitation from Dr. Peter H. Diamandis - Space Race News! - Sept.8.05
...
And here is a slick X-CUP Brochure (pdf)
...
Buy your tickets online.
...
The XP Cup site offers directions on the different ways to reach the event.

Haven't seen any more news about the engine test failure. Hope it is not a serious setback.
....
Here's an article from South Africa about Elon Musk: South Africa's other space pioneer : Mail & Guardian - Sept.12.05 (via spacetoday.net)
...
Misc. blog/news: Thoughts on Falcon - Carried Away/Daniel Schmelzer - Sept.12.05 * Space Pragmatism: Falcon IX from SpaceX - Space Pragmatism - Sept.9.05 * SpaceX hopes to supply ISS with new Falcon 9 heavy launcher - Flight Int. - Sept.12.05.

Via Jon again, comes a link to a video of some really cool tethered hover tests by Armadillo Aerospace with a small vehicle powered with their new tube rocket engines: allHovers.mpg (13MB). (The last hover only: groundLiftoff.mpg - 3MB)

Via SpaceX Merlin Test Failure? - Selenian Boondocks - Sept.12.05 comes a link to an anonymous report of a failure on the test stand of a Merlin engine, which is used for the first stage of the Falcon vehicles. No confirmation yet and, as Jon says, it isn't known yet what variant of the Merlin was being tested.

Sam Dinkin urges NASA to consider using its small business research funding not just for technology development projects but also for those that involve the development of commercial markets in space: The most important in situ resource is money - The Space Review - Sam Dinkin
...
Taylor Dinerman looks at the issue of aging facilities at KSC: NASA's Florida infrastructure: the next generation - The Space Review
...
The workhorse Delta 2 system may be heading for pasture: Fleet faces possible phasing out - Florida Today - Sept.12.05.

Jeff Foust reviews a recent panel discussion on the difficulties in building space stations, especially the ISS: The trouble with space stations - The Space Review - Sept.12.05.

Though many of the delays and expense of the ISS had nothing to do with in-space assembly, Jeff says the concensus of the panel was to support development of a heavy lifter due to the advantages of launching systems that are already assembled.

However, Al Diaz notes that Mir was far, far easier to build than ISS. About 250 times easier on his somewhat whimsical scale. As far as I know, the NASA exploration program for the next 20 years doesn't entail any in-space system even as big as Mir.

So why do we need a 10 to 20 billion dollar heavy lifter now if the only advantage is avoid assembling at most three or four modules, each of which could be launched by vehicles that exist (e.g. EELVs) or are in development (e.g. Falcon 9)?

In fact, the lesson (or one of the lessons) I take from the ISS is just that we need to practice assemblying smaller systems before we take on another large space system. As Henry Spencer talked about at SAS'05, no matter how big a lifter you build, you will eventually need to do assembly anyway as space development grows.

A significant portion of NASA's nuclear propulsion research is being cut: NASA grounds project at Knolls laboratory: End of $65 million program leaves 150 employees hired for Prometheus work with uncertain futures - Times Union [Albany NY] - Sept.10.05. (Via Transterrestrial Musings.)

The latest issue of Aviation Week is devoted to new military technologies and it includes a long article entitled: Marines eyeing a ride in space: Trading Muddy Boots for Moon Boots - AvWeek - Sept.12.05 (subscription required.) Despite a continuing "chuckle factor", Franz Gayle (Senior Marine Corps Advisor for National Security Space) and a small group of officers and civilians have been making some progress in convincing the Marine brass to at least allow a study of the possibility of deploying small squads of Marines via "a reusable upper-stage space travel vehicle."

The "Hot Eagle" program, sponsored by DARPA and the Air Force Research Laboratory, will look at the concept of "Small Unit Space Transport and Insertion Capability (Sustain)" in which one could deploy

"strategic equipment or a small squad of soldiers to any point on the globe--even the most hard-to-reach location--within hours of need. Once on the ground, those soldiers can carry out strategically critical missions like reconnaissance or destroying a specific target."

Gayl says he "goes to meetings to brief senior leaders and sometimes is laughed out of the room." However, he and his supporters have stuck with the effort since 2002. Currently, they are looking at two-stage systems rather than SSTO due to the discrediting of the latter approach by the X-33, X-34 projects. This means that helicopters or tilt-roters would have to follow to extract the squad.

One vehicle concept of interest is the so-called "bimese" system in which

"two rocket planes would be strapped together, allowing the primary craft to draw fuel from the secondary for the first stage of boost. Upon draining fuel, the secondary craft would return to base while the primary switches to its own tanks for the remainder of the flight."

USAF Brig. Gen. (ret.) S. Pete Worden was asked about the research and he gave it his support, noting that

"If you could get people into place in an hour or so, that changes the whole complexion of the war on terrorism." Worden notes a handful of times the government knew where high-value targets like Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein were located, but was unable to act quickly."

Worden goes on to suggest that the systems being developed for space tourism might lead to a " huge synergy" in the development of such capabilities.

---
Gayl is also campaigning for a separate space services according to this article by Taylor Dinerman: A new space service? - The Space Review - July 5, 2004.

Via the WorldChanging blog come links to this space elevator illustration and to this diagram, both made by Mondolithic Studios.

There are now at least three private startup firms that can make credible proposals to deliver cargo and crews to the ISS.

1. SpaceX has the Falcon series and has funding to develop the vehicles. It "just" needs to launch some successfully to prove that they will work as advertised.

2. T/Space has a strong team and has already demonstrated that it can build hardware in "rapid prototyping" fashion. If Air Launch, a t/Space partner, does win a DARPA Falcon contract as expected, that will definitely advance t/Space as well. Also, there is some overlap between the t/Space program and SpaceShipTwo development, which is fully funded by Virgin Galactic. Nevertheless, the company has said it will need NASA funding on the order of $400M (fixed-contract, milestone dependent) to achieve an ISS delivery system.

3. Kistler Aerospace needs a few hundred million dollars to finish the last 25% of the K-1 program and to start flying vehicles.

No doubt some other contenders (e.g. SpaceDev with its Dream Chaser) will appear once a request for proposals is issued.

So there are companies available to provide ISS delivery services. The only question now is whether NASA will get the funding for such a program. It's time for the space advocacy organizations to resist the Senate threat to the funding for commercial ISS cargo/crew services.

Jeff Foust reports on the Senate appropriations situation: White House comments on NASA appropriations legislation - Space Politics - Sept.9.05. The Senators seem unclear on the concept of space competitions and the way NASA wants to develop them in a step-by-step approach. Even more so on the commercial ISS cargo delivery services program. If the funds are not added back by the Senate, there is still a chance they will be during negotiations with the House.

It's a cliché in commentary on space that "spaceflight will never be routine". The Progress flights to the ISS, though, seem to contradict this. They happen regularly without much fanfare or notice: Space station cargo craft launched by Soyuz rocket - Spaceflight Now - Sept.8.05 * Progress 19 Docks at ISS - SPACE.com - Sept.10.05. Even an expendable system like the Soyuz becomes quite reliable if you fly it enough times. A reusable transport system will only improve on this and we will eventually take routine spaceflight for granted, even for flights with passengers.

The SpaceX Falcon 9 page doesn't give many details on the system yet and the user guides for either the Falcon V or IX won't be available till next year. (The Falcon I guide is available online.) I expect, though, that a lot of data will be released as time goes on, especially after the Falcon I flight (assuming it's successful).

Jon Goff , for example, has obtained some info (unconfirmed) on how they plan to fly the upper stage back to earth: SpaceX and Reusability - Selenian Boondocks - Sept.9.05. The stage enters with the engine end in the direction of flight.

Jon also notes that the performance/price numbers have shifted some for the Falcon fleet: Falcon V Downgrade? - Selenian Boondocks - Sept.9.05.

Update: Sept.11.05 - 2:00 am: Elon Musk responds directly to Jon about the Falcon V numbers in the Selenian Boondocks comments section.

James Oberg reports on the first tests of the XSS-11 spacecraft: Air Force microsatellite passes key first tests: XSS-11 successfully completes series of orbital rendezvous maneuvers - Space News - Sept.9.05

Here's a XSS-11 factsheet (pdf) from the AFRL Space Vehicle Directorate.

BTW: While tracking down the above AFRL report, I came across this report that mentions some serious development problems they had (maybe still have) with a composite helium tank on a test rocket: Demonstrator provides technology to enable responsive space access:The Upper Stage Flight Experiment represents the potential of on demand space lift employing a lowcost, liquidpropelled, expendable rocket body - AFRL - Aug.22.05.

According to this -
Statement of Administration Policy [NASA Excerpt] H.R. 2862, Depts of Commerce and Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, FY2006 - Spaceref - Sept.9.05

- Congress is providing billions for the shuttles to sit on the ground for a year and $600 million for earmarks. But for programs that will significantly reduce the cost of spaceflight for NASA, they can't find the money:

The Administration strongly objects to the elimination of funding for key priorities, including the Space Station Cargo/Crew Services and Centennial Challenges programs, and urges the Senate to shift funding from lower-priority programs in the bill to restore the Administration's request.

A HS reader informs me that NASA chief Michael Griffin will give a colloquium at GSFC on Monday, Sept. 12th at 3:30pm. His talk is titled, "Challenges for a New Generation of Space Engineers". Not specifically on exploration policy or transport topics but they may come up.

Unfortunately, post-9/11 it became difficult for "non-badged individuals" to attend meetings at NASA centers. You will need a sponsor at GSFC to help you obtain a temporary badge and to escort you to the auditorium. GSFC Coloquium info. Maybe it will be webcast.

Here are some comments I found on the web regarding the Falcon 9 announcement:

Jon Goff wonders about how the upper stage makes it safely back to earth: SpaceX Falcon IX Announcement - Selenian Boondocks - Sept.8.05

Iain McClatchie speculates on how the vehicle might affect NASA's plans: SpaceX choices - Ambivalent Engineer - Sept.8.05

Keith Cowing asks an important question: Why Buy One Delta/Atlas - When You Can Buy a Half a Dozen Falcons? - NASA Watch - Sept.9.05.

Rocketplane Limited, Inc. Names Astronaut John B. Herrington Vice President and Director of Flight Systems

Oklahoma City, 9/8/05 – Rocketplane Limited, Inc. announces Oklahoma astronaut John B. Herrington joined the company Sept. 6, 2005 as Vice President/Director of Flight Systems. He will also serve as Chief Test Pilot for the XP Spaceplane.

“John is a NASA astronaut, however, it is his many spectacular talents and abilities that make him valuable to the Rocketplane team,” said Rocketplane President George French. “He is a military test pilot, knows flight avionics and astronautics, and knows the environment of space. To us, John is an asset in that he brings education, knowledge, experience, and skills to finish and test our spaceplane, which will regularly take civilian astronauts into space.”

The Chinese will soon launch their second manned space mission: Next Shenzhou mission expected soon - spacetoday.net - Sept.8.05.

Here's more on the possibilty that the next Shuttle flight will be pushed back to late next year:
Tank changes, hurricane put shuttle schedule in limbo - Spaceflight Now - Sept.8.05
Site damage may delay shuttle to late '06 - Florida Today - Sept.8.05.
Future Shuttle Flight Dates Uncertain in Hurricane's Wake - Space.com - Sept.8.05

John Carmack reports on work they are doing in several areas and includes a video of some hover tests:
Spheres, Development, Engines, Ablatives, Liftoffs - Armadillo Aerospace - Sept.8.05.

Leonard David reports on the Falcon 9: SpaceX to Tackle Fully Resusable Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle - Space.com - Sept.9.05.
Upgrades are already planned:

“The prices we are showing do not account for reusability, so I’m hopeful that we will be able to reduce costs significantly over time. Also, this is still the first generation of our propulsion technology,” Musk said. The SpaceX Merlin 2 engine will benefit from a very significant thrust upgrade and also be considerably cheaper per pound of thrust than Merlin 1, he said.

“As a result, the generation of rockets based on Merlin 2 will be much cheaper per unit mass to orbit than the Falcon line, which is based on Merlin 1,” Musk said.

You can find data for the EELVs at the Boeing Delta IV website (see the technical summary (pdf)) and on this Lockheed-Martin Atlas V page, which includes a data table showing the payload range for it.

OK, until the Falcon I flies successfully, there will be plenty of skepticism about the Falcon 9. However, the fact that it already has a US government contract says that somebody did due diligence on the vehicle and gained confidence in its feasibility.

This is going to have a huge impact on the aerospace industry. As the Wall Street Journal says today about the contract:

"The surprising development, some details of which are expected to be announced this week, means that a startup company with barely more than 100 employees is now maneuvering to compete against aerospace giants such as Boeing Co., Lockheed Martin Corp. by developing a more powerful version of its initial rocket, which can blast payloads of more than 21,000 pounds into low-earth orbit. The company claims its souped-up rocket could even launch satellites weighing roughly 25 tons -- much heavier than typical commercial spacecraft -- into low orbits."

It will obviously also have a big impact on NASA. How can the agency blithely proceed with a multi-billion dollar shuttle derived launcher program when much lower cost vehicles will very likely be available much sooner?

The various Falcon configurations are shown on the SpaceX website. The 25 metric ton payload delivered by the S9 version is about half of what NASA wants its heavy lifter to carry. But could it not get by with this if it saves years of development time and money?

Note that the prices on the table are the full "out the door" costs that include range, third-party insurance, and payload integration charges. Usually these are not included in launch price comparisons.

SpaceX announces that it will develop "the Falcon 9, an Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) class vehicle." It will launch a government payload in the summer of 2007: Spacex Announces The Falcon 9 Fully Reusable Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle - SpaceX - Sept.8.05.

SpaceX will continue to develop the Falcon 5 but the Falcon 9 will launch first. Both vehicles are fully reusable.

Flights will sell for $27M to $35M depending on the size of the fairing.

James Oberg reports that the shuttle may not fly till the fall of 2006 because of Katrina and other problems: No shuttle flights for a year? NASA memo warns impact of Katrina, tank problems could be long lasting - MSNBC.com - Sept.7.05. That would mean that the ~$4B for the shuttle in the 2006 budget will not produce a single flight in that fiscal year.
...
Meanwhile, Discovery is being examined closedly following its flight: NASA examines Discovery's leading-edge panels - Flight Int. - Sept.6.05
...
NASA Watch posts some Exploration Systems Architecture charts from June: NASA Exploration Systems Architecture Study Overview Charts - SpaceRef - Sept.7.05. Note that the third slide says the goal of a CEV demo flight by 2008 has been dropped.
...
NASA Watch reports that the exploration plan will be presented to OMB on Sept. 14th: Rollout Plan for Griffin's Architecture Stumbles Ahead - NASA Watch - Sept.7.05.

Here's an article about the Cosmos 1 program and some speculation on how the June launch failed: The Mystery of Cosmos 1 - SPACE.com - Sept.7.05.
The Planetary Society and Cosmos Studies team, however, is not giving up on solar sails: Let's Build it Again! A message from Louis Friedman.

Leonard David reports on developments at Bigelow Aerospace, which plans to launch a prototype inflatable spacecraft early next year: Inflation Factor: Bigelow Readies Test Module - SPACE.com - Sept.7.05.
With regard to the America's Space Prize, Mike Gold of BA told David that the company "had been contacted by over 30 entities, ranging from well-established groups and entrepreneurial concerns." Gold said, "I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the credibility, seriousness, and capabilities shown by these entities."

Here are three more articles about the UP Aerospace launch, which is scheduled for March:

New Mexico Spaceport schedules first launch - - New Mexico Business Weekly - Sept.6.05
Launch at spaceport set for next year - Las Cruces Sun-News - Sept.7.05
Firm Plans Regional Spaceport Launch - ABQjournal - Sept.7.05

(All via spacetoday.net) The latter article says the company's rockets are reusable. Some other small startup companies such as Beyond Earth Enterprises (a HS advertiser) are also planning to offer similar small payload suborbital launch services. Masten Space is working on a VTOL vehicle for 100kg payloads.

Suborbital, unmanned rockets are usually referred to as sounding rockets and they have been common tools for scientific purposes since the 1940s. Over 800 Black Brant sounding rockets, for example, have been launched since 1962. The most powerful model can send a payload to 1500km. Their systems also provide for payload recovery.

The new companies, however, are trying to go beyond the standard sounding rocket market. They are relying on vehicle reusablity and minimal infrastructure (i.e. they are very small firms) to reduce costs as much as possible. They will focus on the very low end of the science/educational payload market and they hope that cheap prices will expand that market. They also want to create a new consumer market by offering the public the opportunity to send personal items, memorabilia, collectables, etc. into space and back.

NASA Watch has a couple of items on results of the NASA Exploration Systems Architecture Study. FIrstly, the pricetag is looking too high: NASA Exploration Systems Architecture Study: Reference Architecture Budget Projection - SpaceRef - Sept.6.05.

Secondly, some pieces may be left off the ISS: NASA Exploration Systems Architecture Study: 28 Flight (Rev. G) ISS Assembly Sequence vs. 16 Flight Assembly Sequence - SpaceRef - Sept.6.05.

UP Aerospace says it will soon begin providing unmanned suborbital rocket launches from the Southwest Regional Spaceport according to this press release: World's First Operational ''Spaceport'' for Private Space Launches to be Announced by New Mexico's Governor, Bill Richardson - UPAerospace / BusinessWire - Sept.6.05 (via spacetoday.net).

The company's launch services include delivering small payloads (10-50kg)to 80-100 miles (129-161km) with their SpaceLoft™ space-launch vehicles. I can't tell if the rockets are reusable but the payloads are recovered.

Their target markets are primarily educational and scientific projects.

Flight International reports that Rocketplane is doing wind tunnel tests of a model of its XP suborbital vehicle.

Flight International reports that SpaceX will submit a request to the Air Force to carry out its second launch on December 6th from Vandenberg. (Link via spacetoday.net)

The target date for the first flight is Sept. 30th and it will take place from the company's launch complex in the Kwajalein Atoll.

The latest issue of The Space Review is out. It includes the article The hurricane and the vision in which Jeff Foust discusses how the devastation of Katrina may produce significant "short- and long-term effects on both the shuttle program and the overall Vision for Space Exploration."

Two articles relate to why we should transport people into space in the first place: Advocating colonization by Sam Dinkin and
Review: Gaia Selene by Douglas Jobes.

Nature magazine's online news section has an interview with Jim Benson of Spacedev : Making space for small businesses - news @ nature.com - Sept.5.05. (Via spacetoday.net). "Jim Benson shot to fame when SpaceShipOne made its record-breaking, privately funded flight last year; he is the founder of SpaceDev, the company that supplied the craft's engines. Mark Peplow talks to him about the future of commercial space flight."

Perhaps this kind of publicity will make more scientists aware of the existence of such entrepreneurial companies and of the fact that these firms really can provide significant cost savings for space projects.

For your web surfing convenience, you can now reach this page directly via the domain names RLVNews.com and SpaceTransportNews.com.

I've struggled a bit with how to revamp the name of the page. "RLV News" is my most popular page at HobbySpace and I hate to mess with a good thing. On the other hand, this page has long discussed many sorts of ways to get to space besides RLVs (e.g. expendable and partially reusable systems, laser launch, space elevator, etc.). In addition, "in-space" transportation is becoming a frequent topic. The title should refect this broader agenda.

Furthermore, as Mitchell Burnside-Clapp, Rand Simberg and others have long argued, we should move away from the RLV terminology (and mentality) since our space vehicles should inherently be reusable just as airplanes are. We don't refer to the latter as "reusable takeoff vehicles".

"RLV and Space Transport News" is my compromise. A bit clumsy but I think it will work for the time being.

Eric Anderson goes to Florida: Science fiction? Not quite -- Company wants to launch suborbital flights from Florida - St. Petersburg Times - Sept.5.05. Via spacetoday.net.

The latest Aviation Week also has an article about NASA's SDV plans: "NASA Unveiling Shuttle-Derived Launchers: NASA's Griffin pushing shuttle-based launch for Moon/Mars, faces tough battles this fall" (subscription required).

The goal is to develop the CLV (Crew Launch Vehicle) and CEV to replace the shuttle after it retires in 2010. A solid rocket booster from the shuttle will provide the first stage but a new new cryogenic upper stage will be needed. The design of the latter has not been decided and might even include a J-2 Apollo-Saturn engine.

The money freed up by the Shuttle retirement will allow for the dvelopment of a heavy lift vehicle. That would be used by 2018 for lunar surface missions with a crew of four.

While emphasizing the CLV/CEV development with the major aerospace consortia , Griffin still has a "plan to make about $500 million available in the NASA budget to buy commercially developed cargo-delivery services for the station (AW&ST June 27, p. 24). NASA is also considering an investment fund--currently dubbed Red Planet--that would provide seed money for advanced exploration technology development, like the CIA-backed In-Q-Tel fund where Griffin once worked as president and chief operating officer."

Florida Today comments on the SDV plan: NASA's new rockets: Using shuttle components is smart choice, but big KSC job cuts inevitable - Florida Today - Sept.4.05.

The Spaceshow interview with Joe Latrell of Beyond Earth Enterprises (a HS advertiser) is now online. He talked about the company's vehicle development plans and their participation in the upcoming X Prize Cup event in October. The will fly a 17 foot rocket up to a 24,000 foot limit allowed by an amateur rocketry waiver obtained from the FAA.

Other recent space transport related interviews on the Spaceshow include:

John Barber on his Maglev launcher concept.
John Spencer on space tourism.
David Hoerr and Patrick Stiennon, authors of the Rocket Company

The latest issue of Aviation Week reports (subscription required) that Air Launch LLC tested a propane/LOX rocket engine intended for the vehicle they designed for the Darpa Falcon program. The 24,000 lbf. thrust engine will power the second stage of the vehicle.

XCOR flies the EZ-Rocket again: EZ-Rocket returns to sky, targets world record - AV Press - Sept.3.05. (Reprint at Space Race News.)

The next shuttle flight will leave the ISS temporarly in a state unsuitable as a refuge if a subsequent shuttle flight has a problem and needs to dock there for a long period.Space station rescue plan flawed after STS 115 - Flight Int. - Sept.2.05

The Katrina aftermath may force NASA to fix the tanks in Florida: NASA considering shuttle tank fixes at KSC - Florida Today - Sept.2.05

Welcome to the new and improved RLV and Space Transport News. It is now a real, honest-to-gosh weblog. It may look a bit odd at the moment. I'm still learning how to customize the layout (i.e. "skin"). This temporary layout will be modified in the coming days. In addition to changes in appearance, the side bars will include links to various resources, conferences, etc.

The weblog content management system (Nucleus) will allow for easier updating plus it will provide automatic archiving, a search tool specifically for the postings here, an RSS feed, and other features.

I will try to take advantage of these features as best I can. For example. rather than grouping multiple items into a single posting as I usually did, I will separate them so that visitors can bookmark links to individual items if they like.

Thanks for visiting RLV and Space Transport News. Hope the new system will be more useful and convenient for you.

- Clark