Category: Commercial

U.S. Imposes New Russian Sanctions Including Restricting Export Licenses – UPDATE

U.S. Imposes New Russian Sanctions Including Restricting Export Licenses – UPDATE

By Marcia Smith | Posted: April 28, 2014 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: April 28, 2014 11:06 pm ET

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney released a statement this morning (April 28, 2014) announcing that additional sanctions are being placed on Russia because of the situation in Ukraine.  Asset freezes on 17 Russian companies and export license restrictions are among the new sanctions.

The statement is general so it is not clear at this point whether any of the actions will affect space-related activities.  The relevant part of the statement is as follows:

“The Department of the Treasury is imposing sanctions on seven Russian government officials, including two members of President Putin’s inner circle, who will be subject to an asset freeze and a U.S. visa ban, and 17 companies linked to Putin’s inner circle, which will be subject to an asset freeze.  In addition, the Department of Commerce has imposed additional restrictions on 13 of those companies by imposing a license requirement with a presumption of denial for the export, re-export or other foreign transfer of U.S.-origin items to the companies.  Further, today the Departments of Commerce and State have announced a tightened policy to deny export license applications for any high-technology items that could contribute to Russia’s military capabilities.  Those Departments also will revoke any existing export licenses that meet these conditions.”

Later in the day, the White House released a transcript of a telephone briefing in which a few — but not many — details were provided.  Two members of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle were sanctioned and 17 “entities” that are “affiliated with the oligarchs we designated a few weeks ago, on March 20, including the Rotenberg brothers and Gennady Timchenko.”

Perhaps of more direct important to space activities are export restrictions.  A “senior administration official” says that export license applications at both the Department of State and Department of Commerce have been on hold since the beginning of March and they are being scrutinized to “see which ones involve technology that the Russian defense industrial complex is in need of, and those are the ones that will be denied.”  Microelectronics was cited as one example.

Meanwhile, the State Department said that “effective immediately” the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls will “deny pending applications for export or re-export of any high-technology defense articles or services regulated under the U.S. Munitions List … that contribute to Russia’s military capabilities.”  It also will revoke any existing licenses that meet those conditions.    Other pending applications will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. 

The Obama Administration is in the process of updating export control regulations on commercial satellites, but at the moment they remain on the U.S. Munitions List.   Several Russian rockets, including Proton, Soyuz, Zenit (which is partially Ukrainian), and Dnepr, are used to launch satellites that are manufactured in the United States or contain U.S. components.  Whether the Administration deems them to “contribute to Russia’s military capabilities” is an open question.  Two other interesting facets of the issue are that  International Launch Services (ILS), which markets the Proton rocket commercially, is a U.S.-based company, and the Soyuz rocket is launched not only from Russia, but from Europe’s Kourou launch site in South America a part of a European-Russian arrangement.  The United States wants to present a united front with Europe in imposing sanctions, but Europe has not announced its plans yet.

Note:  this article was updated at 11:00 pm ET on April 28, 2014.

Last Updated: Apr 28, 2014 11:06 pm ET
What's Happening in Space Policy: April 28-May 2, 2014

What's Happening in Space Policy: April 28-May 2, 2014

By Marcia Smith | Posted: April 27, 2014 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: April 27, 2014 10:58 am ET

Here is our list of space policy-related events for the upcoming week and any insight we can offer about them.  The House and Senate will be back in session after a two-week spring break with a full agenda of NASA, NOAA and national security space decisions on tap.

During the Week

House committees and subcommittees will be making decisions on budgets and policy for the nation’s space program this week as they mark up appropriations and authorization legislation. (Not sure what a markup is?  Or the difference between an authorization and an appropriation? See our fact sheet:  What’s a Markup?  Answers to That and Other Mysteries of the Legislative Process.)

Customarily the House acts on appropriations legislation before the Senate, and, indeed, the Senate Appropriations CJS subcommittee is still holding hearings on FY2015 budget requests for the agencies under its jurisdiction.  Its hearing on NASA’s request is on Thursday. 

Also of interest is a House SS&T Environment Subcommittee hearing on NOAA’s FY2015 budget request on Wednesday.

NASA is engaged in a full court press to articulate the outline of the agency’s plan on sending humans to Mars and how the Asteroid Redirect Mission fits into it.   After meeting with the NASA Advisory Counci a week and a half ago and participating in a three-day Humans 2 Mars summit at George Washington University last week, NASA will hold its own public “exploration forum” at NASA Headquarters on Tuesday afternoon (interestingly, the House SS&T committee is marking up the NASA authorization bill at the same time, which, we imagine, is entirely coincidental).

Lots of other interesting events are scheduled, including a symposium on Capitol Hill sponsored by the American Astronautical Society on Thursday highlighting science experiments conducted on the International Space Station and Women in Aerospace’s annual conference on Wednesday featuring top government officials including Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James.

Here’s the list of everything we know about as of Sunday morning.

Tuesday, April 29

Wednesday, April 30


Thursday, May 1

Last Updated: Apr 27, 2014 10:58 am ET
McCain Wants Investigation of Air Force EELV Contract

McCain Wants Investigation of Air Force EELV Contract

By Marcia Smith | Posted: April 25, 2014 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: April 25, 2014 10:48 pm ET

Following on the heels of SpaceX’s announcement earlier today that it is filing suit against the Air Force for its block buy contract of satellite launches from the United Launch Alliance (ULA), Senator John McCain (R-AZ) sent two letters to the Department of Defense (DOD) asking questions about that contract.

One letter is to Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James and the other to DOD’s Inspector General (IG).  Both are posted on McCain’s website.

The letter to James asks about what McCain says is the “apparently incomplete and incorrect nature” of her testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) earlier this month regarding the December 2013 award of a sole source block buy contract of 36 core vehicles from the ULA.  SpaceX announced today that it is filing suit against the Air Force for awarding that contract without competition.

McCain says that James’s testimony to SASC about the contract appears to be “specious” because she said that it was for “heavier launches” that no new entrant — e.g., SpaceX —  has been qualified to meet.  McCain argues that the Air Force has not stated what missions will be flown with those 36 core vehicles. 

The separate letter to DOD’s Inspector General asks for an investigation into four issues related to DOD’s decision to significantly reduce the number of national security space launches available for competition above the 36 core vehicles in the December 2013 contract.  Initially there were to be 14 launches in FY2015-2017 set aside for competition with “new entrants” like Space X, but the number recently was reduced by half.  DOD explains that seven of the launches were delayed until past FY2017.  McCain questions the rationale for those decisions and whether they support DOD’s contention that it is aggressively pursuing competition in procuring launch services as promised.

Last Updated: Apr 25, 2014 10:48 pm ET
Musk Confirms Falcon 9 Reusability Experiment Worked

Musk Confirms Falcon 9 Reusability Experiment Worked

By Marcia Smith | Posted: April 25, 2014 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: April 25, 2014 10:49 pm ET

SpaceX’s announcement today that it is filing suit against the Air Force over a launch vehicle contract overshadowed other company news — confirmation that the reusability test of the Falcon 9 first stage last week was successful.

SpaceX CEO and Chief Designer Elon Musk began a press conference at the National Press Club this afternoon by talking about the “good news” story of the Falcon 9 test before moving on to the news about the lawsuit.

The April 18 launch of SpaceX’s CRS-3 cargo mission to the International Space Station (ISS) included a test of returning the Falcon 9’s first stage to Earth and deploying landing legs as though it was returning to land.  The goal is for these stages to return and land at Cape Canaveral and be reused.  Musk tweeted that day that initial data showed the rocket stage had reignited its engine after separating from the second stage and Dragon spacecraft (which went on to Earth orbit), descended vertically, deployed its landing legs and survived for 8 seconds after reaching the water.   Today’s comments confirmed that account and provided additional information.

He called the test a “huge milestone … No one has soft landed a liquid rocket boost stage before.” That is true, although NASA routinely recovered space shuttle solid rocket boosters (SRBs) from the ocean and reused them.

A boat hired by SpaceX could not get close enough to see the event or recover the stage.  Musk said that another test will take place on the next Falcon 9 launch, a commercial launch for Orbcomm, and laughingly said he was going to hire bigger boats.  He also said that the April 18 launch just happened to take place during a huge storm at sea and the landing area was in the deep ocean.  He is hoping for better weather for the Orbcomm launch and the rocket stage will drop into the ocean closer to shore, increasing the chances it can be recovered.   The rocket stage was destroyed by wave action, Musk said.  It was two days before any boat could reach the area and all that was left were pieces of the interstage section, one of the four landing legs and other “bits and pieces.”

SpaceX did get some video of the reentry (presumably from an aircraft that was tracking the flight), but the “link was very weak,” Musk said today.  They are trying to clean it up and will post it on the SpaceX website.

Musk said tests will continue over the ocean until he is comfortable it can land with accuracy.  He hopes to be able to return one of these stages to land later this year and is working with the Air Force to identify landing locations at Cape Canaveral.  The plan is to refly that stage next year.   Eventually, he believes it will be possible to return a stage to land and reuse it the same day.  Current SpaceX launch prices do not assume reusability and 70 percent of the cost is associated with the first stage  Therefore, prices could drop “as much as 70 percent” in the long run if reusability proves out, but that depends on being able to refly it with minimal work.  He also noted that customers need to be comfortable with the idea.

The space shuttle is the only operational reusable launch vehicle ever developed and it never achieved promised economies.  Musk repeated what he has said many times — that reusability will only be cost effective if it is “both rapid and complete.”  The shuttle was only partially reusable (the large External Tank was not reusable) and turnaround times were months, not weeks or days.

Last Updated: Apr 25, 2014 10:49 pm ET
SpaceX Files Protest of Air Force EELV Contract, Continues Criticism of Atlas V Russian Engines – UPDATE

SpaceX Files Protest of Air Force EELV Contract, Continues Criticism of Atlas V Russian Engines – UPDATE

By Marcia Smith | Posted: April 25, 2014 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: May 5, 2014 6:28 pm ET

SpaceX CEO and Chief Designer Elon Musk announced today, April 25, that he is filing suit against the Air Force for the contract it awarded to United Launch Alliance (ULA) in December 2013 for Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) launches over the next five years.  The two EELVs are Delta IV and Atlas V and, in addition to announcing the lawsuit, continued his criticism of the Atlas V because it uses Russian RD-180 engines.

Musk wants to compete against ULA for national security space launches that could be launched using his Falcon rockets — the existing Falcon 9 and the Falcon Heavy now in development.  He said the block buy contract for 36 EELV cores awarded on a sole source, non-competed basis is “not right.”   He argued that SpaceX rockets are good enough for NASA and the commercial satellite sector, so why would they not be good enough for launching something “as simple as a GPS satellite.” 

“The ULA rockets are four times as expensive as ours,” he asserted, and therefore the contract is costing U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars more than necessary.

In a press release distributed at the National Press Club event, SpaceX calculates that the average cost of a ULA launch is $460 million based on figures publicly available in budget documentation presented to Congress by the Department of Defense (DOD).  By comparison, Musk says that the launch of a Falcon 9 would be about $90 million for the Air Force; about 30 percent higher than the $60 million price to a commercial customer because of “mission assurance” requirements imposed by the Air Force.  The commercial price for a Falcon Heavy launch is $135 million, the press release states.

It is impossible to compare those prices to launches conducted for the Air Force by ULA because DOD does not account for ULA costs in a compatible manner, a point that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has criticized for several years.  It recently reported that DOD is improving its visibility into the ULA costs, but a per-launch cost or price is not available.  One can only look at how much money is requested for EELV launches and divide by the number of launches that year to obtain an average.

Musk also continued to press the case, as he did at a March hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee, that the United States should not be using the Atlas V rocket because it relies on Russian-built RD-180 engines.  He went so far as to suggest that paying Russia for the engines might violate sanctions imposed by the United States against Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin because of Russia’s actions in Ukraine. Rogozin is in charge of Russia’s space sector and one of several top Russian officials sanctioned by President Obama after Russia annexed Crimea.  “It is hard to imagine that Rogozin is not benefitting personally” from the engine sales, Musk stated.

Musk said SpaceX concluded the lawsuit was “the only option” to bring these matters into the light:  “Let the sun shine on this. Sunlight is the best disinfectant.” 

He also said that the protest is not specifically intended to get launches awarded to SpaceX:  “If we compete and lose, that’s fine, but why wouldn’t they even compete it?”

Musk was asked why he waited so long to file suit, since the EELV contract was awarded in December.   He replied that although it was awarded in December, he did not know about it until March, specifically the day after the March Senate Appropriations Committee hearing.  He said he did not think it was “an accident” that it only became public at that time.

The contract award was posted on the FedBizOpps website on December 19, 2013, however, and written up in trade publications soon thereafter.  SpaceX has not replied to an email requesting clarification on what it was that the company did not know until March.

The day after the Senate hearing DOD officials did reveal in a budget briefing that the number of launches it is setting aside specifically for “new entrants” like SpaceX would be fewer than earlier planned over the next few years.  Those launches are in addition to the 36 launches in the December contract, however.

Late on April 25 SpaceX issued another press release summarizing its position and stating that it will formally file the lawsuit on Monday, April 28.  

NOTE:  This article was updated on April 26, 2014 with the additional information about the new press release and about a new website SpaceX said it was creating, freedomtolaunch.com, where it would post the lawsuit would at noon EDT April 28.  This article was updated again on April 28 to remove the clause about the new website.  The lawsuit is not posted there and instead of a countdown clock indicating when the website will be launched, there is simply a notice that it will be “launching soon.”

NOTE 2:  As of May 5, the freedomtolaunch.com website has made no changes despite the fact that the judge in the case has issued two rulings already.   That website clearly is not a good source of any information other than a link to the SpaceX press release.

Last Updated: May 05, 2014 6:28 pm ET
On Earth Day, Asteroids and Human Trips to Mars Get the Attention

On Earth Day, Asteroids and Human Trips to Mars Get the Attention

By Marcia Smith | Posted: April 22, 2014 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: April 23, 2014 10:42 am ET

Today was Earth Day 2014.  Former astronaut Ed Lu used it as an occasion to release a visualization of 26 asteroid impacts with Earth since 2000 to demonstrate that such events are not rare.  As head of the B612 Foundation, he is intent on building a space telescope with non-government funds to find where the Earth-threatening asteroids are so we can defend Earth against them.  Fellow former astronaut Tom Jones does too, but he has something more in mind — find asteroids and use their resources to enable and/or lower the cost of sending people to Mars.  That goal, sending people to Mars, was the focus of a separate conference in Washington, DC today where NASA officials continued to make the case for an Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) as a steppingstone to the Red Planet.

Lu, Jones and Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders — the man who took the historic “Earthrise” photo as he orbited the Moon in 1968 — spoke at an event at Seattle’s Museum of Flight.  The B612 Foundation, named after the asteroid in the children’s story The Little Prince, is raising funds from philanthropists and the public to build an infrared space telescope for launch in 2018 to identify the location of asteroids, especially those that threaten Earth.   Lu’s message is that deflecting asteroids away from Earth is easy as long as there is enough warning time.  A little nudge from a spacecraft that impacts the asteroid is all that’s needed.  “We humans can go and change this,” he exclaimed,  “There is nothing stopping us from doing it.”   The next great space mission, Lu said, is protecting planet Earth.

B612 released a video (try Fireflox if IE doesn’t work) based on analysis by Peter Brown of the University of Western Ontario of 26 asteroid impacts with Earth since 2000.  The data are from an international network of “infrasound” sensors that monitor for tests of nuclear weapons explosions.   The video shows where the 26 impacts took place, mostly over ocean areas.  Lu explained at a pre-press conference telecom that “impact” means impact with the Earth’s atmosphere, not the surface.  The point of the video is not to alarm people, but to “inspire” them to do something to fix the problem, Lu said.

Tom Jones agreed with the goals of the B612 Foundation and also promoted the concept of finding asteroids so their resources can be exploited to enable human deep space exploration, especially to Mars.  Jones is an advisor to Planetary Resources, a company that wants to mine asteroids. 

Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C, NASA officials including Administrator Charlie Bolden outlined the agency’s concept for sending people to the surface of Mars.  This took place at the second “Humans to Mars Summit” that kicked off with a talk by Bolden and a panel moderated by journalist Miles O’Brien featuring the head of NASA’s Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate Bill Gerstenmaier and NASA Associate Administrator for Space Technology Mike Gazarik.

The NASA team continued to promote the Obama Administration’s Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) as a steppingstone to sending people to the surface of Mars.  Finding asteroids — B612’s focus — is indeed part of ARM, but primarily using ground-based equipment.  The Obama Administration doubled the amount of money (from $20 million per year to $40 million per year) NASA can spend on locating asteroids because of ARM, but its plans do not include launching an infrared telescope like Sentinel.  That is why B612 is trying to raise money from philanthropists and the public to launch such a telescope.

From NASA’s perspective, ARM is part of a long term strategy to send people to the surface of Mars.  Last week, Gesternmaier won kudos from the NASA Advisory Council (NAC) for articulating how ARM fits into the longer term Mars strategy.  NAC members worried, however, that he emphasized that the strategy requires a “modest” increase in NASA’s budget.

He and Bolden continued to stress that today.  They did not define “modest increase,” but considering that President Obama’s total budget request for NASA in FY2015 is a $186 million cut from FY2014 demonstrates the challenge NASA has in adding to its available funds. 

Gerstenmaier’s theme is that progress can be made, albeit slowly, to landing people on Mars if NASA gets a modest budget increase using a steppingstone approach that includes the International Space Station (ISS) and ARM to demonstrate operations further from Earth than ISS, but not so far that crews could not return home expeditiously in an emergency.  Overall, it is a matter of having a flexible, sustainable program that can adapt to changes in political leadership and that incorporates cooperation with the private sector and other countries.  When asked if that includes China, Gerstenmaier said he could not imagine that “at some point we don’t work with China.”  He joked that he could be “teleported off this stage to Mars” for suggesting it, however.

The Humans to Mars Summit (H2M) continues through Thursday.  Many of the sessions are being webcast.

Last Updated: Apr 23, 2014 10:42 am ET
SpaceX Landing Experiment Works; NASA Slips Orb-2 Launch Date

SpaceX Landing Experiment Works; NASA Slips Orb-2 Launch Date

By Marcia Smith | Posted: April 21, 2014 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: April 21, 2014 8:01 pm ET

SpaceX founder and Chief Designer Elon Musk indicated in a tweet that the landing experiment on Friday’s Falcon 9 launch went well.  Meanwhile, as expected, NASA slipped the launch date for Orbital Sciences Corporation’s Orb-2 launch from May 6 to June 9.

SpaceX and Orbital are competitors in NASA’s commercial cargo program to take cargo to the International Space Station (ISS).   Launches from each company are staggered and a delay in one can result in the delay of the other.  SpaceX’s launch of its third operational mission to the ISS, SpaceX CRS-3, was delayed several times and finally launched on April 18.  NASA had indicated that if the SpaceX launch took place on April 18 that it would ask Orbital to delay its next ISS cargo  launch — Orb-2 — from May 6 to June 9.  NASA made that schedule adjustment today.

Friday’s SpaceX CRS-3 launch of its Dragon spacecraft to ISS using the Falcon 9 rocket included a test of a controlled landing of the rocket’s first stage into the ocean.  It is a step toward eventually returning Falcon 9 first stages to land so they can be reused.  The first stage of this Falcon 9 incorporated landing legs and the company tested not only deploying them, but restarting the first stage engine after it separated from the second stage and Dragon (sending them on their way to ISS).  The first stage made a controlled vertical descent to the ocean and deployed its landing legs as though it might be returning to land.  Heavy seas prevented a recovery ship from being close enough to view the event, but SpaceX obtained data from an aircraft that was tracking it.

At a post-launch press conference on Friday, Musk said that he knew the first stage’s roll rate was “close to zero” as it descended, a good sign, but needed to wait for more data from the airplane before knowing how the remainder of the test went.   He later tweeted that:

 

No further information has been posted on SpaceX’s website about the landing test, but Dragon successfully berthed to the ISS yesterday.

 

Last Updated: Apr 21, 2014 8:01 pm ET
Dragon Arrives at ISS Delivering 150 Science Experiments, Preparations Continue for Wednesday Spacewalk

Dragon Arrives at ISS Delivering 150 Science Experiments, Preparations Continue for Wednesday Spacewalk

By Marcia Smith | Posted: April 20, 2014 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: April 20, 2014 8:39 am ET

SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft was successfully grappled by Japanese astronaut and International Space Station (ISS) commander Koichi Wakata using Canada’s robotic arm, Canadarm2.  Capture was exactly on time at 7:14 am ET this morning. Installation onto a docking port is expected about 9:30 am ET.

Dragon was launched on Friday afternoon on SpaceX’s third operational cargo mission to the ISS — SpaceX CRS-3.  The robotic spacecraft is delivering 3,500 pounds of supplies and equipment, including 150 scientific experiments.  It will remain berthed to the ISS until May 18 and then return to Earth and splash down in the Pacific Ocean.  It is the only one of the five cargo spacecraft that service ISS that is designed to survive reentry, a benefit especially to scientists who want to study the results of their experiments in ground-based laboratories.  Russia’s Progress, Europe’s ATV, Japan’s HTV and Orbital Sciences Corp’s Cygnus are not equipped with heat shields to protect them from reentry forces and burn up as they descend through the atmosphere.  They are used to dispose of trash — another important task.

Among the SpaceX CRS-3  cargo are a new spacesuit and repair parts for three spacesuits already aboard the ISS.   A malfunctioning spacesuit put European astronaut Luca Parmitano in grave peril last summer when his helmet filled with water from the spacesuit’s cooling system.  NASA later determined that a filter was clogged by silica particles that were in the water.  They have replaced the filters and flushed the water systems in the suits.   Parmitano’s suit was used for a “contingency” spacewalk in December and will be used again for another contingency spacewalk this Wednesday.  

Contingency spacewalks, as compared to “planned” spacewalks, are performed when an unexpected problem develops requiring a spacewalk to repair something.  NASA has not cleared the spacesuits for planned spacewalks yet as they continue to investigate the source of the silica particles.  ISS program manager Mike Suffredini said at an April 18 press conference that they are learning a lot about water chemistry and have become more “adept” at how to keep the water clean, but have not yet done their final failure analysis.  However, they feel they have reduced the risk to an acceptable level for contingency spacewalks.

Wednesday’s spacewalk by NASA astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Steve Swanson will replace a broken computer — a Multiplexer-DeMultiplexer (MDM) — on the space station’s exterior.

Last Updated: Apr 20, 2014 8:39 am ET
What's Happening in Space Policy: April 21-27, 2014

What's Happening in Space Policy: April 21-27, 2014

By Marcia Smith | Posted: April 20, 2014 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: April 21, 2014 5:04 pm ET

Here is our list of space policy-related events for the upcoming week and any insight we can offer about them.  The House and Senate remain in recess; they will return April 28.

During the Week

The three-day Humans to Mars Summit 2014 at George Washington University has an all-star lineup of speakers including NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden, NASA Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA Associate Administrator for Space Technology Mike Gazarik, and NASA Ames Center Director Pete Worden.   NASA put out its own press release about the event to let everyone know Bolden will “outline NASA’s human exploration path to Mars” during his keynote address on Tuesday at 9:00 am ET. 

Tuesday is Earth Day.  A chance to celebrate our home planet.   NASA is sponsoring activities all week online and in various locations around the country.  The B612 Foundation chose Earth Day to release “video of data from nuclear-test-ban-organization showing multiple atomic bomb scale asteroid impacts on Earth since 2001.”  Their press conference will be livestreamed from the Seattle Museum of Flight at 11:30 am Pacific (2:30 pm Eastern).

Here’s a list of all the events we know about as of Sunday afternoon.

Monday-Saturday, April 21-27

Tuesday, April 22

  • Earth Day. Celebrate your home planet!  Check local news outlets for announcements of local events.
  • B612 Press Conference, Seattle Museum of Flight, Seattle, WA, 11:30 am Pacfic Time (2:30 pm ET), will be livestreamed
    [B612 tweeted on April 21 that this begins at 11:00 am PT, but the press release and B612’s website say 11:00 am PT]   

    • B612 is also co-sponsoring an evening event at the museum, from 6:00 – 7:15 pm PT

Tuesday-Thursday, April 22-24

  • Humans to Mars Summit 2014, George Washington University, Washington, DC, will be livestreamed and broadcast on NASA TV (at least portions will be).  (The conference is in different buildings on the various days; consult the agenda for details)

Wednesday, April 23

Last Updated: Apr 21, 2014 5:04 pm ET
Musk: Dragon Had Thruster Problem, But OK Now; Waiting for Data from Landing Leg Test

Musk: Dragon Had Thruster Problem, But OK Now; Waiting for Data from Landing Leg Test

By Marcia Smith | Posted: April 18, 2014 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: April 18, 2014 7:06 pm ET

SpaceX Founder and Chief Designer Elon Musk said at a CRS-3 post-launch press conference today that the Dragon spacecraft had a problem with its Draco thrusters, but everything appears OK now.  Meanwhile, he is waiting for more data from the test of landing legs on the Falcon 9 first stage that took place over the ocean.  A heavy sea state dampened hopes that the stage itself would be recovered.

Speaking about two hours after the successful launch of this third SpaceX operational cargo mission to the International Space Station (ISS), Musk expressed happiness that the launch went as planned and did not seem worried about the thruster problem.  He said that an isolation valve that leads to the thruster pods did not respond so a backup valve was used instead.  Dragon has 18 Draco thrusters that are used to maneuver the spacecraft from its initial orbit to the ISS.  They are distributed across four pods: two pods hold four thrusters and two hold five thrusters.  An anomaly with the Draco thrusters caused a problem during the CRS-2 mission last year.  Musk was asked if today’s problem was related to last year’s and he said it was too early to tell.

As for the test of landing legs on the Falcon 9 first stage, Musk said he had seen data from the rocket stage’s descent down to Mach 1.1 and it looked good.  SpaceX planned to get data via aircraft and ship observations, but high seas prevented the ship from getting close to the stage as it reached the water.   Musk was not optimistic that the stage could be recovered and brought back for inspection because of the rough seas.  The data telemetered to the aircraft from the rocket stage, however, showed that it had a zero roll rate, which Musk considered a success in and of itself.   He remains hopeful that a stage can be recovered sometime this year and reflown next year.   He wants to make the Falcon 9 reusable.  Eventually the rocket stages would descend and return to a landing pad rather than being recovered at sea.

This launch was delayed several times for various reasons and the chances of launch today were low because of poor weather.  SpaceX’s competitor for NASA commercial cargo launches, Orbital Sciences Corp., has been working toward a May 6 launch of its Cygnus spacecraft on its second operational cargo mission to the ISS, dubbed Orb-2.   NASA indicated several days ago that if SpaceX CRS-3 launched today, it would delay Orb-2 until June 9.   NASA Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations Bill Gerstenmaier said today that he would ask Orbital to continue planning for a May 6 launch until Dragon is successfully berthed to ISS on Sunday.   If that goes as planned, he will release the Orbital team and reschedule the launch for June.

Gerstenmaier said that NASA was planning to have a P-3 aircraft observe the descent of the Falcon 9 first stage today, too, but icing conditions prevented the aircraft from flying.  NASA wants data on the first stage’s supersonic thruster firings during descent because it is applicable to Mars entry-descent-and-landing.

SpaceX’s Hans Koenigsmann, Vice President for Mission Assurance, said that the company will attempt another landing leg test over the ocean on the next flight.  He also confirmed that the first flight of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket will take place from Kennedy Space Center, FL next year rather than from Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB), CA.  SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell made the comment on Monday as she signed an agreement with NASA for a 20-year lease of Launch Complex 39A, the same Launch Complex once used for the space shuttle and Apollo flights to the Moon.

Shotwell’s statement on Monday was a surprise.  In 2011, the company announced it had broken ground on a new launch pad for Falcon Heavy at VAFB.  SpaceX has not yet flown a Falcon Heavy, which is being designed to take 53 metric tons (117,000 pounds) to low Earth orbit.  The company advertises it as  “the world’s most powerful rocket” that will be able to take twice as much mass into orbit as the Delta IV — currently the largest U.S. rocket — for one-third the cost.

Last Updated: Apr 18, 2014 7:06 pm ET

SPACEPOLICYONLINE.COM

About | Contact | Privacy