China looks to deep space missions, including more lunar landings and robot ants | Examiner.com

http://www.examiner.com/article/china-looks-to-deep-space-missions-including-more-lunar-landings-and-robot-ants?cid=db_articles


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How Newt Gingrich’s moon base became ‘pretty cool’ | TheHill

http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/technology/257501-how-newt-gingrichs-moon-base-became-pretty-cool?utm_source=Today%27s+Deep+Space+Extra%2C+Thursday%2C+October+22%2C+2015&utm_campaign=dailycsextra&utm_medium=email


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Typical media illogic which is destroying this GREAT Country!! Shuttle s/b flying TODAY!

The PBS Columbia Documentary is the most extensive example. In it the shuttles are labeled as "worn out, old technology, too risky, too costly, a mistake and not capable of supporting solar system exploration" none of which is true.The initiative has been very effective and after six years the anti shuttle rhetoric has become a media myth.

Fwd: SLS Earns its Racing Stripes

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Begin forwarded message:

From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: October 23, 2015 at 8:15:56 PM CDT
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: SLS Earns its Racing Stripes

 

 

 

SLS Earns its Racing Stripes

by Jeff Foust — October 23, 2015

NASA has completed the critical design review for the Space Launch System rocket. The review of the design for Block 1 version of the SLS clears the way for full-scale fabrication of the vehicle, keeping the program on schedule for a first launch in 2018. The program actually completed the review in July, although the final results were not briefed to NASA's Agency Program Management Council until earlier this month. [NASA]

Racing Stripes

When NASA announced the completion of the Space Launch System's critical design review Thursday, it also released an updated illustration of the rocket, with the core stage now orange instead of white. NASA said in a press release that orange is "the natural color of the insulation that will cover those elements," as was the case with the shuttle's external tank. Not explained in the release, though, are the curved gray and orange stripes on the solid rocket boosters. Some think they are intended to evoke memories of the shuttle itself or the logo of original shuttle contractor Rockwell International — or, perhaps, computer game company Atari. Credit: NASA

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The satellite industry is making a final stand to protect satellite spectrum in advance of a key conference next month. The industry is seeking to preserve a portion of C-band spectrum between 3.4 and 4.2 GHz that the wireless industry wants to use for terrestrial broadband services. The U.S. and Europe are open to allowing terrestrial use of the lower end of that band, but other nations, and the satellite industry, are seeking to preserve the entire band. The future of that C-band spectrum will be a key topic at next month's World Radiocommunication Conference in Geneva. [SpaceNews]

Lockheed Martin won a $784 million contract for a missile defense radar. The contract, announced this week by the Missile Defense Agency, covers the development of a long-range discrimination radar designed to identify missile threats in the Pacific region. Lockheed, who beat out Northrop Grumman and Raytheon, said technologies it developed for the Space Fence radar program helped it win this contract. [SpaceNews]

NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) has dropped plans to develop additional commercial launch sites on its property. KSC announced Thursday that it decided not to select any proposals submitted earlier this year to develop two commercial launch pads, designated pads 48 and 49. In a statement, KSC officials concluded "the market wasn't sufficiently mature" to proceed with development of the pads, but would reevaluate its plans if market conditions change. [Florida Today]

NASA is seeking designs for the spacecraft that will carry out the robotic portion of the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM). The agency said Thursday that it is requesting proposals that will lead to study contracts for the ARM spacecraft bus. The spacecraft will need to accommodate key ARM technologies, including high-power solar electric propulsion and mechanisms for grappling a boulder off the surface of an asteroid for return to the vicinity of the Earth. NASA expects to award study contracts in January. NASA will provide more details about its plans in an online forum at 10 a.m. Eastern today. [NASA]

The New Horizons spacecraft is starting a series of maneuvers to send it past a Kuiper Belt object. The spacecraft was scheduled to fire its thrusters late Thursday in the first of four maneuvers to send the spacecraft towards a small Kuiper Belt object, 2014 MU69. The trajectory change will send New Horizons past the object, about 50 kilometers across, on New Year's Day 2019. The mission will still need formal NASA approval and funding for an extended mission, which is expected to come next year. [AP]

An asteroid scheduled to fly past the Earth on Halloween may be a comet in disguise. Scientists said the unusual orbit of 2015 TB145 — very elliptical and inclined — suggests that the object might be a comet. The object will fly 480,000 kilometers from the Earth on Oct. 31, and scientists are planning to use radar to study its size and shape. [SPACE.com]

China is developing a satellite to monitor carbon dioxide levels. The unnamed satellite, scheduled for launch next year, will carry sensors to measure carbon dioxide levels with an accuracy of better than 4 ppm. The spacecraft will be operated by China's National Satellite Meteorological Center. [Xinhua]

Satellite systems are "trophy attacks" for computer hackers, according to insurers. Growth in the industry and the entry of new companies developing satellites, or components for satellites, provides new opportunities for hackers seeking access to space systems. At the recent International Astronautical Congress, one European Space Agency official said it received electronic components "tampered with at a fundamental level" that could have made the satellites those components were installed in vulnerable to attack. [Reuters]

A startup is using satellite imagery to help wineries. Vinsight, established earlier this year, combines satellite imagery with sensor and weather data to help wineries better estimate the size of their crop and thus more accurately plan for harvests. Vinsight says they have found an enthusiastic audience among corporate wineries, and the company is looking to expand to cover other crops. [SpaceNews]

 

 © 2015 SpaceNews, Inc. All rights reserved.

 

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Hubble Sees 'First Light' Galaxies at Dawn of Time : Discovery News -- Can't repair Hubble w/o shuttle!

http://news.discovery.com/space/astronomy/hubble-sees-first-light-galaxies-at-dawn-of-time-151022.htm?utm_source=Today%27s+Deep+Space+Extra%2C+Friday%2C+October+23%2C+2015&utm_campaign=dailycsextra&utm_medium=email


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We had it ALL in Shuttle!

Go figure, we had in shuttle UNIQUE capabilities, that were the envy of the world.
We could accomplish tasks in EO that had not been accomplished by any other country, & by operating shuttle, we improved the following:
1. Improved designs for various systems & mfg. & test capabilities
2. Created tens of thousands of excellent jobs
3. Supported iss & maintained an improved safety state than is presently being done re Kraft letter on placing Iss in danger w/ o shuttle
4. Provided the option by maintaining a STS to accomplish important EO tasks, & to explore universe by placing exploration modules in EO.
5. Improve Iss research by providing equipment & supplies that can not be done with Soyuz & cargo transportation system.
6. By maintaining a multiplicity of operations & a dynamic program, provided a Dream for our youth to strive for.
7. Developed approaches/techniques for military operations in EO which are critical to the capabilities of national security

But, after spending billions , we scrap the effort, & develop capsule approach that will not be manned for several more years, & when it is will not come CLOSE to shuttle capabilities, meanwhile WE pay Russia.

Whole deal TOTALLY NONSENSICAL--- seem our leaders in Congress have lost their minds!!!!

Fwd: U.S. Plans $6 Billion Investment in Space Situational Awareness

Sent from my iPad

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: October 20, 2015 at 8:59:01 PM CDT
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: U.S. Plans $6 Billion Investment in Space Situational Awareness

 

U.S. Plans $6 Billion Investment in Space Situational Awareness

by Mike Gruss — October 19, 2015

Space surveillance has taken on increased importance in recent years as near-Earth orbit becomes, as U.S. government officials are fond of saying, more contested, congested and competitive. Credit: NASA

WASHINGTON — The U.S. government, primarily the Department of Defense, plans to spend some $6 billion on efforts to monitor the space environment in real time through 2020, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

That figure, which the GAO acknowledged is not comprehensive, nonetheless represents one of the most detailed accountings of space situational awareness (SSA) programs and funding released to date. The spending is dominated by the Pentagon, with other agencies, primarily NASA, accounting for just 10 percent of the total.

Included in the survey are at least some of the programs that U.S. defense officials say are funded as part of a planned $5.5 billion investment over the next five years on space protection activities, largely in response to growing threats from Russia and China. Also included is a classified missile tracking satellite now being used for space surveillance.

The GAO carried out the survey in response to Senate language in the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act. The Oct. 8 report, "Space Situational Efforts and Planned Budgets," makes no recommendations to the Pentagon or to Congress.

Tracking spending across multiple agencies on a common activity is a difficult task, made much more so because for some organizations, such as the Missile Defense Agency, space surveillance is a secondary mission and is not accounted for separately. The elusiveness of an overall dollar figure for SSA capabilities has been a long-term frustration for Congress.

Space surveillance has taken on increased importance in recent years as near-Earth orbit becomes, as U.S. government officials are fond of saying, more contested, congested and competitive. According to the GAO report, the Air Force's Joint Space Operations Center (JSpOC) issued 671,000 notifications of possible orbital collisions in 2014 alone.

Compounding the congestion problem is what government officials say are increasingly threatening activities by China and Russia. The full extent of these activities has not been disclosed, but China has tested ground-based anti satellite weaponry while Russia has been conducting on-orbit satellite maneuvers that have alarmed government and industry officials alike.

Part of the Air Force's response is a major upgrade to the JSpOC, which manages a catalog of known space objects and unofficially serves as the world's space traffic cop. A second phase of upgrades to the facility, now underway, includes an enhanced capability to catalog known space objects and is expected to come on line in December 2016 at a cost of about $152 million in 2015 and 2016.

The third planned upgrade, which includes the ability to provide real-time alerts of hostile actions such as attempts to jam satellite transmissions, will cost about $240 million through 2020, the report said. Previous Air Force budget documents had not included such specific breakdowns.

The report also provides detail on the government's SSA infrastructure, consisting of some 375 sensors and systems owned by the military, civil agencies and the intelligence community. These include eight dedicated sensors, two of which are in space: the Space Based Space Surveillance Block 10 pathfinder satellite, and the quasi-classified Advanced Technology Risk Reduction satellite launched by the Missile Defense Agency but transferred to Air Force Space Command in 2011.

The government also operates 18 multimission sensors that in addition to space surveillance can be used for things like missile tracking, the report said.

The new programs cited in the report — some of which are funded under the Defense Department's $5.5 billion space protection investment program — include:

• The space tracking radar known as the Space Fence.
• The $500 million-plus Space Based Space Surveillance follow-on system.
• The Operationally Responsive Space-5 satellite.
• The JSpOC Mission System upgrade.
• An Energetic Charged Particle sensor that would fly aboard the Air Force's next-generation weather satellite system, which is still being defined.

The Energetic Charged Particle sensor will monitor space radiation, data that will be used in part to distinguish between naturally occurring and man-made events. Earlier this year, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James mandated that all new satellite programs plan to include the Energetic Charged Particle sensor, prototypes of which are expected to be delivered in fiscal year 2018, the report said.

The report also highlights a $60 million Air Force program that will use ground radars to detect changes in the ionosphere. The Air Force Weather group's Next Generation Ionosonde consists of three ground-based radars whose installation is underway and expected to be complete by 2022.

 

 © 2015 SpaceNews, Inc. All rights reserved.

 

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