Buzz Aldrin lays out his plan for Shuttle extension and a Shuttle derived heavy-lifter: My Word by Buzz Aldrin: Let shuttle do heavy lifting - OrlandoSentinel.com.
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Sen. Bill Nelson seemed pleased with his talk on Tuesday with the President about NASA: Nelson: "Excellent conversation" with Obama on NASA - The Flame Trench/Florida Today - Mar.16.10.
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Ex-Shuttle program employees may have new job options in the Space Coast area: Space shuttle job losses: Orlando's training-simulation industry says it can absorb many displaced shuttle workers - OrlandoSentinel.com.

Will Pomerantz writes about NASA's effort to solicit input from the public via thewww.nasa.gov/open website: William Pomerantz: Building a More Open Government, One Idea at a Time - huffingtonpost.com - Mar.16.10.
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American Aerospace Advisors Inc. is taking commercial reservations for research on Discovery flight STS-133, the final scheduled Space Shuttle mission. It will provide approximately two weeks of microgravity time: American Aerospace Accepting Commercial Reservations for Research On Last Scheduled Space Shuttle Mission - American Aerospace - Mar.8.10 (pdf).

They are working with Nanoracks LLC.

The FAA is looking for educational institutions to partner with in establishing a Center of Excellence For Commercial Space Transportation:
/-- Center of Excellence for Commercial Space Transportation - Grants.gov -Opportunity Synopsis - Mar.16.10
/-- Federal Aviation Administration Center of Excellence For Commercial Space Transportation Final Solicitation, Date of Issue: March 16, 2010, Closing Date: April 30, 2010 - FAA (pdf)

Here is an announcement from XCOR:

Airgas and XCOR Aerospace Announce Supply and Sponsorship Agreements

16 March 2010, RADNOR, PA & MOJAVE, CA: Airgas, Inc. (NYSE: ARG), the largest U.S. distributor of gases, welding and safety products, and XCOR Aerospace, which develops and produces reusable rocket-powered vehicles and propulsion systems, today jointly announced a 15-year product sales agreement and a sponsorship agreement. Airgas will provide liquid oxygen, helium, and nitrogen for XCOR’s reusable, non-toxic propulsion systems, including the propulsion system on the XCOR Lynx reusable suborbital spacecraft. Airgas and XCOR will also participate in joint marketing programs to promote XCOR propulsion systems and suborbital space launch services.

Having developed and flight-demonstrated fully reusable and environmentally sensitive rocket systems, XCOR is now building the Lynx suborbital spacecraft. The production Lynx will be able to fly safely to altitudes of over 62 miles (100 kilometers) four or more times per day. Consuming liquid oxygen and helium from Airgas, and a very clean, highly processed special grade of kerosene, XCOR’s engines are among the cleanest high-performance rocket propulsion systems ever designed. Additionally, Airgas will supply propellants for the unique non-toxic thrusters used for the Lynx reaction control system (RCS) to safely guide the Lynx while in space and then back into the Earth’s atmosphere during re-entry.

“This is an exciting new industry in which we are pleased to be involved,” said Peter McCausland, Airgas chairman and chief executive officer. “In addition to working with the great people and technology at XCOR, it is rewarding to participate in an endeavor that inspires our nation’s youth to pursue Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education.”

“To witness the power of a XCOR rocket engine test or see their vehicles fly, like at the Oshkosh air show in 2008, and to know they are using environmentally safe Airgas products, makes us proud to be a part of the XCOR-Airgas team,” added Tom Thoman, Airgas senior vice president – tonnage and merchant gases.

Expanding on the team sentiment, Jeff Greason, XCOR chief executive officer noted, “Having Airgas on board as a national sponsor and gas supplier allows XCOR the peace of mind that we will have a committed partner as our business grows.”

Driving XCOR’s target markets is their ability to provide low-cost, safe, and repetitive daily access to space for small satellite launch to low Earth orbit (LEO) for research and educational missions (REM), as well as for training and personal space flight.

“The Internet and integrated wireless communications devices like the Blackberry or Apple iPhone were ‘the next big thing’ in the 1990s and the first decade of the millennium,” said Andrew Nelson, XCOR chief operating officer. “Now, new multi-billion dollar space-related markets are being enabled by low-cost and safer access to space, and we need leading and reliable suppliers like Airgas to ensure our success.

Here is the text of the speech by NASA administrator Charles Bolden given today (see earlier item) at the Satellite 2010 conference: Remarks by NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden, Jr., Washington Space Business Roundtable, Satellite 2010 Conference, Washington, DC March 16, 2010 (pdf).

I think it is a good speech that responds directly to many of the criticisms at the new NASA budget and priorities. Examples:

At the highest level, the President and his staff as well as my NASA senior leadership team closely reviewed the Augustine Committee report, and they came to the same realization the Committee concluded: The Constellation program was on an unsustainable trajectory. If we continued on our current course, at best we would have ended up flying a handful of astronauts to the moon sometime after 2030. But to accomplish even that limited task, we would have had to make even deeper cuts to the other parts of NASA’s budget, terminating support of the ISS early and decimating our science and aeronautics efforts. Further, we would have had no money to advance the state of the art in any of the technology areas that we need to enable us to do new things in space – no money to lower the cost of access to space, no money for closedloop life support, no money for advanced propulsion technology, no money for radiation protection. The President recognized that what was truly needed for beyond LEO exploration was game-changing technologies; making the fundamental investments that will provide the foundation for the next half-century of American leadership in space exploration.
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Some have argued that the Constellation program was the symbol of American leadership in space. I think they have been misled. An unsustainable program, as described in the Augustine Committee Report, with no funding planned to support the ISS beyond 2015 and no definitive, funded plans for a heavy lift launch vehicle necessary for exploration beyond low Earth orbit can hardly be considered a symbol of American leadership in space. U.S permanent human presence in space and our international human spaceflight partnership would have ended or been totally dependent on the Russians for the foreseeable future. That is not American leadership in my book. Under the new plan, however, we will ensure continuous American presence in space throughout this entire decade, re-establish a robust and competitive American launch industry, start a major heavy lift R&D program years earlier, and build a real technological foundation for sustainable beyond-LEO exploration. That to me is real leadership, and our international partners already recognize it.
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But the development of Ares and Orion consumed these technology development plans. By 2009, there was little exploration funding available for anything besides the immediate launch vehicle and capsule programs.
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I often hear the criticism that under the President’s plan we have no destination. This is also not true. The ultimate destination in our solar system for our exploration efforts is Mars, but we don’t have the technological where-with-all to safely get humans there yet. In order to reach this destination, we need a robust research and development program to help us provide the capabilities that will make this goal attainable.
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Commercial providers have long carried our most valuable payloads to space for the nation and have been integral to every human spaceflight mission since the beginning. My guess is that the American workers who have successfully built and launched the Atlas V 20 times in a row would disagree that US commercial spaceflight is untried or untested.

Read the whole thing.

Looks like a big rocket weekend at FAR the Mojave Area: Paul Breed says on Twitter,

Sat, many rockets at FAR (1 Hr from Mojave) Blue Ball, Masten Xombie, a solid project, the sugar shot to space test, and HPR

And earlier Dave Masten said,

Saturday will also have rocket launches, including our own Xombie. DM or @ reply if you want to come up to Mojave to see it.

The title of this article is misleading in a rather humorous way. Most of the panelists had clear but different destinations in mind. Lester Lyles, in fact, was ambiguous in that he was "a little bit concerned" about the lack of a specific destination but thought NASA could "produce useful technologies even without a firm destination": NASA Needs a Clear Destination for Space Exploration, Experts Say - SPACE.com
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More space policy items:
/-- Briefly noted: Kosmas, Parker, and the GAO - Space Politics
/-- Orlando Editorial: Ramp up space effort - OrlandoSentinel.com
/-- Florida leaders pow-wow in D.C. on NASA policy - The Write Stuff/Orlando Sentinel .
/-- Obama's death panel for Constellation sees costs spiral - Hyperbola

Jeff Foust is attending the Satellite 2010 conference in National Harbor, Maryland today and is posting comments on his Twitter page. Charles Bolden gave a luncheon talk and Jeff's notes include:
/-- Constellation, he argued, should not be seen as the symbol of what the US can do in spaceflight. We can do better.
/-- New plan allows us to utilize ISS, develop commercial capabilities and technologies needed for sustainable exploration beyond LEO.
/-- Bolden: not true there is no destination in new plan; the ultimate destination is Mars but we need to develop the tech to get there.
/-- Bolden: unfair to say comm'l space transportation capabilities "untried and untested": tell that to American workers who build Atlas 5. [My emphasis]
/-- Bolden: comm'l crew will give us redundant, "made in America" capbilities. Don't want to be dependent on Soyuz for next decade.
/-- Bolden also said safety was important for comm'l crew: he won't allow anything to go forward that he considers unsafe.
/-- He said wants comm'l sector to take over access to LEO, even eventually management of ISS; NASA should not be in ops business.

Other Twitter notes from the conference can be found at twitter.com/#search?q=#satellite2010

An article about spaceport development and the spaceflight liability protection legislation recently enacted in New Mexico: New Mexico spaceport clears legislative hurdle - BusinessWeek (via spacetoday.net).

Here's an update on development at Orbital Sciences of the Taurus II/Cygnus system for cargo delivery to the ISS: New Private Space Freighter Has Solid Backing - SPACE.com.

SpaceX has posted an update about the pad test firing and includes the pictures and videos seen here earlier. The text also includes this,

This was the final step for the rocket and launch pad before launch itself. We are now waiting for completion of the final set of tests of the flight termination system, specifically the explosives and initiators, and the acceptance of that test documentation by Air Force range safety. As soon as the tests are complete and the Air Force has signed off, we will move forward with launch.

If all goes as hoped, the first countdown attempt may be as soon as next month. It's important to note this is not a prediction of when we will launch, just when we will probably try a countdown. Additional images of SpaceX's successful Falcon 9 static fire below—stay tuned for more updates as we continue to progress towards the first flight of Falcon 9/Dragon.

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The Wall Street Journal notes yesterday's announcement about the SpaceX agreement with Space Systems/Loral to launch a communications satellite in 2012: SpaceX Rocket to Carry Loral Satellite - WSJ.com.
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Casey Kazan comments on developments at SpaceX : SpaceX Poised for Historic Launch - Does It Signal the Birth of a New Commercial Space Era? - Daily Galaxy

T. L. James reports on a visit to NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility where the Shuttle External Tanks were built: Not Much Opportunity for Shuttle Extension | MarsBlog.net.

What impressed me the most, however, was that for the first time in twelve-plus years, I saw areas of the factory with the lights turned off.

What this suggests is that there isn’t any hardware work going on to extend the Shuttle program beyond the number of tanks currently on-hand or in final assembly.

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Spaceports blog points to this video of Shuttle program manager John Shannon discussing the issue of extending the Shuttle program:

Robert Pearlman writes about preparations for flying Enterprise from Smithsonian's Udvar-Hazy Center to some other museum after the Smithsonian receives the Shuttle Discovery when it retires: NASA readies retired test shuttle Enterprise for one last flight - collectSpace - Mar.15.10
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Meanwhile, Discovery is still in active duty. Here are some updates on the status of preparations for its launch, currently scheduled for April 5th:
/-- STS-131 Shuttle Report | More testing planned on shuttle Discovery problem - Spaceflight Now - Mar.15.10
/-- NASA Sets Tests For Discovery & Maintains Aim For April 5 Launch - The Flame Trench/Florida Today - Mar.15.10

An article about the Red Bull Stratos project and Fekix Baumgartner, who will attempt to break Joe Kittinger's sky-diving records for altitude and speed : Findings - Chasing the Sound Barrier, in a Leap From 23 Miles Up - NYTimes.com - Mar.15.10.

The communications satellite industry sure goes through frequentups and downs. Seems strange that it's now in an up while the overall global economy is still weak: Satellite Industry Performance Pleases Wall Street - SpaceNews.com.
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Alan Boyle reports on new high res images of Phobos and on plans to explore with unmanned and manned missions: Martian moon in spotlight - Cosmic Log/msnbc.com

Some thoughts and suggestions about how to handle the loss of jobs with the end of the Shuttle program: Preventing the Giant Sucking Sound - Chair Force Engineer

I don't know what currently exists for helping members of the shuttle workforce to find employment, but NASA really needs a "Shuttle Transition Office" that has a high priority within the agency. Such an office would work closely with SpaceX, ULA, Sierra Nevada Corp, Bigelow Aerospace and everybody else in the newspace arena to encourage maximum reuse of existing shuttle facilities (the Vehicle Assembly Building at the cape and Michould Assembly Facility come to mind,) and maximum use of shuttle program employees in NewSpace programs.

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One might think that after the tasks of supporting the Air Force, feeding contractors and bolstering the NASA centers, getting people to space was the lowest priority for Constellation. (Getting them there at a reasonable cost certainly had no priority at all.):
/-- Air Force says Constellation cuts could raise launch costs - Spaceflight Now
/-- NASA: Ending Constellation Will Cost More - Aviation Week

In a couple of the pictures of the SpaceX pad firing test (e.g. as in this one), there appears to be a spray of debris from the side of the rocket. I've been informed that it was just ice breaking up and blown by the wind.

From the start of the Space Age, a strong majority of the US public has been very supportive of space exploration and development - until the question of funding comes up: The Final Countdown: Americans' reluctance to pay for the popular space program could doom it - Forbes.com.

If NASA had ever given the public the impression that reducing the cost of spaceflight was its top priority and was making progress in that direction, I expect the public would be far more inclined to support the agency more generously. Unfortunately, the crash-program mentality of the Apollo program left NASA with an institutional bias against cost-effectiveness.

I never cease to be amazed in the current debate over the new NASA plan at how many of those opposing it treat the high cost for human spaceflight as a minor side issue. It's apparently no big deal that it will cost upwards of a billion dollars each time an Ares I/Orion system is launched. Reducing costs will require encouraging commercial competition for access to LEO and developing technology to improve in-space transportation. Rather than slow down the return to the Moon and Mars with all that, it's apparently better to continue paying thousands of dollars to get a kilogram to LEO and several tens of thousands of dollars to place a kilogram on the lunar surface.

Well, I don't think the public will put up with those costs forever, especially as cuts start to be forced on government programs that they give a higher priority to. Either NASA greatly increases the cost-effectiveness of its human spaceflight program or it really is doomed.

Jeff Foust lists several upcoming commercial space related events in the Washington DC area: It's commercial space week - Space Politics.
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Jack Kennedy reports on commercial space related developments in the Virginia legislature: Virginia Commercial Space Launch Operations Budget and Policy Adopted - Spaceports.

Tests in Russia of the engines intended for the first stage for the Orbital Sciences Taurus II vehicle, which will be used for cargo deliveries to the ISS, were completed successfully: Orbital and Aerojet Complete Main Engine Lifetime Testing for Taurus II Space Launch Vehicle - Russian Tests of Heritage NK-33 Rocket Engine Confirm Performance and Durability - Engine Completes Two Times Normal Firing Duration of a Taurus II Launch Profile - Orbital Sciences.
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Robert Block reports on the SpaceX Falcon 9 firing test: That SpaceX Falcon 9 hot fire: the movie - The Write Stuff/Orlando Sentinel.