October 23, 2003
NASA's decision to launch a fresh two-man crew to the International Space Station last weekend came over the strenuous objections of mid-level scientists and physicians who warned that deteriorating medical equipment and air and water monitoring devices aboard the orbiting laboratory posed increasing safety risks for the crew, according to space agency documents and interviews.
There is a history of tension over health issues between conservative medical personnel, on one side, and engineers and astronauts eager to fly, on the other, NASA insiders say. However, in what some medical personnel described this week as a chilling echo of the decision-making leading up to the Columbia space shuttle disaster, arguments in favor of scrubbing the latest crew replacement mission and temporarily shuttering the space station were overruled by managers concerned with keeping the facility occupied.
When the shuttles were grounded after the Columbia accident, the facility lost its major supply line and left NASA heavily dependent on the Russians and other partners to keep the space station operating. The Russian spacecraft, however, can transport only a small fraction of the cargo and equipment that the shuttles can. As a result, construction of the incomplete space station is at a standstill, and the customary three-person crews have been replaced with caretaker crews of two, who now spend much of their time doing maintenance and a minimal amount doing scientific research.
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07:21 AM | category: Space Program
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October 15, 2003
"I will not disappoint the motherland," Sina.com, the country's leading Web site, quoted him as saying. "I will complete each movement with total concentration. And I will gain honor for the People's Liberation Army and for the Chinese nation."
Why is it that these Communists always have to sound like freakin' robots? How about a little emotion? Ya did good, go ahead and show it.
Nice photo of the launch here.
Update: More cool photos here, including shots of the Chinese version of 'Cape Canaveral' and a nice profile drawing of the rocket itself.
And from the Encyclopedia Aeronautica, a page chock full o' information and links about the Shenzhou-5.
Final Update: He landed safe and sound, 3 miles from the targeted point (according to Chinese officials). China, like Russia, returns it's capsules to land instead of at sea like the US.
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10:54 AM | category: Space Program
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October 13, 2003
Vandenberg AFB News Release
(Vandenberg AFB, OCT 10) The era of Titan II space boosters comes to a close Wednesday as the last Titan II blasts off of Space Launch Complex-4 West here. The launch window is from 9:17 to 9:28* a.m. The rocket will carry a 4,200-pound Defense Meteorological Satellite Program payload into low Earth orbit approximately 458 nautical miles above the Earth. This is the first DMSP launch in four years. The DMSP satellite constellation monitors the Earth's atmosphere and oceans providing nearly complete coverage of global cloud distribution every six hours.
This final launch is a joint effort between the men and women of the 30th Space Wing, Space and Missile Systems Center, Lockheed Martin, and Aerojet. The Titan program is being phased out as the Air Force moves toward the more cost-effective, efficient Evolved Expendable launch vehicle program.
The first Titan II rocket took off from Vandenberg AFB Sept. 5, 1988. There have been 70 Titan II missile and rocket launches from Vandenberg AFB, according to the 30th Space Wing historian.
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04:05 PM | category: Space Program
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October 08, 2003
Using satellites in orbit, scientists are studying ice-locked oases called polynyas and their thriving populations of penguins.
The researchers used data from two satellites: NASA's Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer. See images here.
It's enough to make a tree-hugger cry. Imagine using evil technology to non-invasively study some of God's happy creatures.
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05:37 PM | category: Space Program
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Ted, pick up a copy of the Nov 2003 issue of Discover magazine (cover story: "How Long Can The Human Body Last?"). It has an inteview with Dr. Sagan's widow, Ann Druyan, which discusses the Cosmos 1 solar sail spacecraft. BTW, at the end of the interview, it says an extended version of the interview is on discover.com but I can't find it to save my life.
Discover certainly doesn't make it easy to find, that's for sure. Then I realized that they don't have the November issue online yet. But I did find a related article from August 2003. They don't allow direct links, but here's how you can get to it. From Discover's main page, click the Recent Issues button on the left. Scroll down to the August 2003 issue and click the very first article, titled Star Trek.
Why bother? Because reading the article, you'll find passages like these:
About 10 years from now, NASA plans to launch a mission called Terrestrial Planet Finder, a space telescope specifically designed to detect another Earth. The odds are good that a survey of 150 or so nearby stars will reveal at least one small, Earth-like planet.
You know we're already working towards getting there once we find it. It's early in the development process, but we are working on it.
The physics is not out of reach," says Robert Frisbee, an engineer who directs advanced propulsion concepts studies at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. His job, and his lifelong dream, is to find a way to master interstellar travel. He is studying five distinct propulsion technologies that could get an astronaut from here to Alpha Centauri in less than 50 years.
The article goes on to talk about the five technologies, which include the aforementioned light sail, referred to as a laser sail. This is a comprehensive overview of the challenges involved in going to another solar system. Food, water, air, gravity, psychology, and more. There are a number of good links at the end of the article too.
"What we're talking about here is not fantasy," Frisbee says. "It's only science fiction until someone does it"."
The meek may inherit the earth, my great-grandkids are going to the stars.
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11:28 AM | category: Space Program
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October 07, 2003
This was followed up last month by an in-flight test.
"Several seconds later [after liftoff] it abruptly pitched ninety degrees and demonstrated unstable operation until finally transitioning into a ballistic terminal descent."
That's geek-speak for "Lawn-dart."
"The subsequent impact with the desert floor destroyed student payloads provided by a USC/JPL team and another from Cerritos High School, but the aft section with the aerospike survived relatively intact. Preliminary analysis indicates that the most probable cause for the observed flight behavior is that part of the engine's graphite exit outer ring experienced excessive and asymmetric erosion, which in turn created a side thrust component."
There are a couple of key points here. First, notice that one of the payloads riding this rocket was designed and developed by a high school. I'll do a post in the near future on the CanSat program, it's pretty cool. Second, there's absolutely nothing wrong with this kind of failure because that's how you learn. They'll analyze the remains (the important bits survived relatively intact) and figure out what improvements need to be made. Then they'll try again. And again, as often as needed. This is solid scientific method in action, with a viable application waiting at the end of the development cycle.
Follow this link for more information about the concept behind aerospike engines and how they differ from standard rocket engines.
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08:05 PM | category: Space Program
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October 06, 2003
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October 05, 2003
You can find an interesting overview of spaceflight proplusion concepts here.
Posted by: Ted at
08:52 PM | category: Space Program
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