In the past week, NASA has signed more agreements with its international partners. In addition to the framework agreement with Canada announced last week, NASA signed agreements with the European Space Agency (ESA) on September 11 and the French space agency Centre Nationale d’etudes Spatiale (CNES) on September 17.

The NASA-ESA agreement provides for exchanging technical information and personnel on civil space transportation systems. Specific areas of cooperation include composite material technology, development of payload shrouds, and management of propellants in spacecraft propulsion systems used for going to and from lunar orbit.

The agreements with CNES cover four space science missions: CNES participation in two NASA missions — the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVE) mission scheduled for launch in 2013; and the Magnetospheric MultiScale Mission to be launched in 2014, and for NASA participation in CNES’ Convection Rotation and Planetary Transits mission. The fourth agreement is for potential cooperation on NASA’s Surface Water and Ocean Topography mission.

After many years of discussion, China has begun construction of a new space launch site in Wenchang city on the island of Hainan according to China Daily. At 19 degrees north latitude, it will be the southern-most of the country’s space launch facilities. China is building a new launch vehicle, the Long March 5, that is expected to make its debut at Hainan in 2014.

The Long March 5 (CZ-5) will have a 25 ton to low Earth orbit (LEO) payload capability — in the same class as the U.S. Delta 4 Heavy, space shuttle, and Ares I (under development). China Daily reported that the Hainan launch site would be used for geostationary launches, space station launches, and launches of deep space probes. It also could be used for Chinese human spaceflight launches beyond LEO.

Currently, China has launch sites at Jiuquan in the Gobi Desert, used for China’s Shenzhou human spaceflight missions and most spacecraft launches to high inclination orbits; Xichang, near Chengdu, used for launches to geostationary orbit; and Taiyuan, south of Beijing, for polar orbit launches.

Japan’s H-IIB launch vehicle appears to have performed as planned. The HTV spacecraft has separated from the launch vehicle and is in its preliminary orbit. The HTV will perform on-orbit tests for the next several days. It is scheduled to arrive at the ISS a week from today, September 17. Unlike other spacecraft, it will not dock with the ISS. Instead it will be berthed — ISS crewmembers will use one of the robotic arms on the ISS to reach out and grapple the HTV and pull it into the docking port.

The United States and Canada signed a new framework agreement for space cooperation today, providing an opportunity for new NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden to stress the importance of international cooperation to NASA programs.

“As NASA continues to enhance the scientific observation of our planet and the solar system, we are looking to Canada and our other international partners to play key roles in our future exploration plans.”

The framework agreement provides general terms and conditions for future cooperation between the two countries in human space flight, exploration, space science, and earth science.

Canada and the United States have a long history of space cooperation dating back to 1962. Among the more historic NASA launches of Canadian satellites was Canada’s scientific satellite Alouette-1 in 1962, and the Anik-A1 communications satellite 10 years later. Anik-A1 was the world’s first domestic communications satellite in geostationary orbit. (The United States was the first country to have geostationary communications satellites, beginning with Syncom in 1963, but until 1974 the U.S. satellites were used only for international traffic.)

Images from many space shuttle missions show Canada’s “Canadarm” robotic arm being used for a multitude of tasks, making it probably the best known example of U.S.-Canadian space cooperation. Canada also is a partner in the International Space Station (ISS), for which it built Canadarm2 and its “special purpose dexterous manipulator,” or “Dextre” as it is now known. Several Canadian astronauts have flown on the space shuttle and ISS, including Steve MacLean who is now the head of the Canadian Space Agency.

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has lost contact with its Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiting spacecraft. According to the Times of India, ISRO has not formally given up on regaining contact with the probe, but the chances do not appear promising. ISRO officials state that the probe completed 95% of its scientific objectives even though it has been collecting data for less than half the scheduled time.

Chandrayaan-1 was launched by ISRO on October 22, 2008 to conduct chemical, minerologic and photo-geologic mapping of the Moon. It achieved lunar orbit one month later and began its planned 2-year mission. The spacecraft carries eleven instruments from India, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, and Bulgaria.

South Korea’s President Lee Myung-bak made a surprise visit to his country’s Naro Space Center today to rally the space program’s workforce. On Tuesday, South Korea’s first attempt to launch a satellite into orbit failed when a fairing did not separate properly. As quoted by the Yonhap News Service, President Lee called the launch “half-successful,” adding “You may have not been able to shrug off your disappointment, but I want you to rise from your disappointment and regrets and once again charge toward your goal and that is why I am here today.”

South Korean officials have revealed that the satellite launched yesterday on the country’s first space launch did not enter orbit. Yonhap News Service quoted Kim Jung-hyun, Vice Science and Technology Minister, as saying that one of two fairings covering the STSAT-2 satellite did not detach properly. The second stage of the KSLV-1 launch vehicle could not generate sufficient thrust to put the satellite and the additional weight of the fairing into orbit. Stablization and navigational control also were affected. The satellite ultimately reached an altitude of 387 kilometers, but then “probably fell back to Earth and was destroyed as it re-entered the atmosphere,” according to Mr. Kim. Russia’s Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center built the first stage of the KSLV-1 rocket, but South Korea built the second stage and the fairings.

South Korea launched its KSLV-1 launch vehicle from the Naro Space Center at 5:00 pm August 25 local time, but the satellite did not reach the intended orbit according to the Yonhap News Service.

Yonhap reported that:

“The Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1 (KSLV-1) that blasted off from the Naro Space Center at 5 p.m. delivered its satellite payload far above its intended orbit, despite successful ignition and separation of its first and second stage rockets, the government said.”

“Related to the launch, KARI President Lee Joo-jin said efforts are underway to determine how the satellite separated so far above its proper orbit trajectory.

‘Since the 100kg scientific satellite does not have any on-board propulsion systems, if it fails to enter proper orbit there is no way to correct its trajectory,’ the expert said.

He declined to say whether the satellite was lost or if it went into orbit, but cannot be found.”

South Korea has rescheduled the launch of KSLV-1 for August 25, according to the Yonhap News Agency. See our previous article for more information about the KSLV’s aborted launch last week and the policy aspects associated with it.

South Korea aborted its first satellite launch eight minutes before its planned lift off yesterday. According to South Korea’s news agency, Yonhap, the problem was a “software sensor connected to the automatic launch sequence that checks high-pressure tanks.” Yonhap also reported that the launch may be rescheduled “before August 26.”

It would have been the first orbital launch by South Korea from its own launch site, the Naro Space Center. The Korea Space Launch Vehicle (KSLV)-1, or Naro-1, has a Russian-built first stage. The launch is scheduled to place a 100 kilogram South Korean-built science and technology satellite (STSAT-2) into low Earth orbit. Other South Korean satellites have been launched, but always by foreign launch service providers.

North Korea warned that it would watch the reaction of the international community to the launch, asking whether South Korea would be subject to the same sanctions it faced after its attempted satellite launch earlier this year. North Korea asserts that it successfully placed a satellite in orbit with that April 2009 launch, but most sources said it did not reach orbit. North Korea was widely criticized and subjected to United Nations sanctions for conducting a missile test under the guise of a satellite launch. North Korea’s complaint prompted the following exchange between State Department spokesman Ian Kelly and an unidentified reporter during the State Department’s daily press briefing yesterday.

MR. KELLY: [snip]

Regarding the launch of the satellite, I don’t really have any comments on it, other than to say that we’ve regularly consulted with the Government of South Korea on a number of issues relating to security. We know that they’ve developed their space launch program in a responsible manner. And of course, they’re a signatory to a number of international agreements regarding nonproliferation. And beyond that, I don’t really have any further comments.

QUESTION: So does that suggest that you don’t believe that North Korea – the North Koreans have developed their space launch program in a responsible manner?

MR. KELLY: Well, as you know, the North Koreans are under a number of UN Security Council sanctions relating to their ballistic missile program, and the UN Security Council called on them to suspend all activities relating to —

QUESTION: Right. But you don’t see – you don’t see that South Korea’s launching a ballistic missile for the reasons that – for reasons that the North claimed they were launching theirs for, as in any way destabilizing the situation?

MR. KELLY: Well, as I said, the North – the South Koreans have developed their program in a very open and transparent way and in keeping with the international agreements that they have signed onto. This is in stark contrast to the example set by North Korea, which has not abided by its international agreements.