Category: International

What's Happening in Space Policy June 15-19, 2015

What's Happening in Space Policy June 15-19, 2015

By Marcia Smith | Posted: June 14, 2015 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: June 14, 2015 4:17 pm ET

Here is our list of space policy related events for the week of June 15-19, 2015 and any insight we can offer about them.  The House and Senate are in session this week.

During the Week

The Senate resumes consideration of the FY2016 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).  Floor debate began on June 3 and progress has been slow due to internal Senate politics. Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) chairman Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said late last week that the bill has become “unstuck” now so he is hoping for quick resolution.

The Senate Republican leadership also wants to take up the FY2016 Defense Appropriations Act this week.  We’ll see how that goes.  Democrats have vowed to prevent any funding bills from reaching the floor until Republicans agree to negotiate over the 2011 Budget Control Act (BCA) funding caps.  So far the Republicans don’t seem interested.

One space issue has split Senate appropriators and authorizers.  In the NDAA, McCain is holding DOD’s feet to the fire to discontinue using Russian RD-180 engines by 2019.  He spoke on the Senate floor on Thursday about the need to stop sending money to Russian President Putin and his cronies.  At the same time that day, however, the Senate appropriations committee was approving a bill that would relax that requirement.  McCain’s friend and ally (and Presidential candidate) Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) offered an amendment to strike the language in the bill offering that flexibility, but strong bipartisan opposition led him to withdraw it.

The House already has passed its versions of the NDAA and defense appropriations act.  This week it will take up the FY2016 Intelligence Authorization Act, H.R. 2596.   Most of that is classified, but the House Intelligence Committee said that it “invests in the resiliency of our national security space architecture.”   It is set for consideration by the House Rules Committee tomorrow, with floor debate on Tuesday.

The biennial Paris Air Show is being held this week at Le Bourget (outside Paris) which usually creates a lot of news, so stay tuned.   And the annual Astrobiology Science Conference (AbSciCon) will be held in Chicago all week.  NASA and university scientists will hold a panel discussion on Tuesday afternoon that will be broadcast on NASA TV.

Those and other events we know about as of Sunday afternoon are listed below.

Sunday-Friday, June 14-19 (continued from last week)

Monday-Friday, June 15-19

Monday-Sunday, June 15-21

Tuesday, June 16

Wednesday, June 17

Last Updated: Jun 14, 2015 4:17 pm ET
RD-180 Pits Senate Appropriators Against Authorizers

RD-180 Pits Senate Appropriators Against Authorizers

By Marcia Smith | Posted: June 11, 2015 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: June 12, 2015 9:10 am ET

The Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) may want to hold DOD’s feet to the fire to stop using Russian RD-180 engines by 2019, but the Senate Appropriations Committee (SAC) isn’t so sure.   Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) objected to a provision in SAC’s defense appropriations bill, which was marked up today, that would provide more flexibility as to when use of the RD-180s must end, but his amendment to delete the language won little support and he withdrew it.

SASC chairman Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has been a leader in motivating DOD and the United Launch Alliance (ULA) to replace the Russian rocket engines for ULA’s Atlas V rocket with an American alternative.  McCain and others who share his point of view do not want American dollars going to Russian President Vladimir Putin or his “cronies.”   They want an American-built engine to replace the RD-180 by 2019, a requirement included in the FY2015 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), although waivers are possible for national security reasons.

The Air Force and ULA are seeking to change that language to allow use of the RD-180s into the early 2020s.  They insist that although they might be able to develop a new engine by 2019, it will be 2021 or 2022 before the engine is integrated into a new rocket, tested, and certified for launching expensive, critical national security satellites.  The House Armed Services Committee (HASC) agreed and softened the requirement in its version of the FY2016 NDAA. 

McCain and other SASC members, however, expressed their displeasure with the Air Force’s slow pace during a May 2015 hearing and did not provide any relief in the Senate version of the FY2016 NDAA, which is now being debated on the Senate floor (McCain spoke on the RD-180 issue today).  The Air Force wants to be able to procure 14 more RD-180s, while SASC wants to limit that number to nine. 

The Senate Appropriations Committee does not agree with SASC.   Although the text of the bill is not yet publicly available, Graham offered an amendment today to delete section 8045 that apparently allows greater flexibility in how many RD-180s may be purchased.  Democrats and Republicans both objected to the amendment.

Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) insisted that sufficient time is needed for an alternative U.S. engine to be developed so that the Air Force does not “jump from one monopoly to another.” He cited a letter from Secretary of Defense Ash Carter and Director of National Intelligence
James Clapper endorsing the Air Force’s
position that more time is needed.

ULA has been a monopoly provider of launches for the national security sector since it was created in 2006 as a Lockheed Martin-Boeing joint venture when the launch market could not sustain two competitors.  ULA offers the Altas V, Delta IV Medium, and Delta IV Heavy rockets.   It recently decided to discontinue the Delta IV Medium, leaving it with only Atlas V and Delta IV Heavy.  The Atlas V is powered by RD-180s and Delta IV Heavy, at $400 million per launch, is not cost competitive.  

Last month, the Air Force finally certified SpaceX to compete for national security launches.  ULA supporters therefore argue that if ULA is not allowed to launch Atlas V after 2019 because it cannot obtain more RD-180s, and the Delta IV is not competitive, SpaceX with its Falcon rockets will become a de facto monopoly provider.  Since the goal is to lower costs through competition, the argument goes, SpaceX should not be allowed to replace ULA as a monopoly provider and therefpre Atlas V launches are needed until ULA can offer a new rocket using a new American engine (or other competitors emerge).

The debate pits two groups against each other.  Both agree on the need to end U.S. reliance on Russian rocket engines and reduce launch costs through competition.  The debate is over the timing.

One group is anxious to end reliance on Russia as soon as possible because of its annexation of Crimea last year and its continued action in Ukraine.  Some also are SpaceX advocates intent on lowering government costs for launching satellites through competition with ULA.  On the other side are ULA supporters who want to give the company time to develop and test an alternative engine and remain in the space launch business as well as those sympathetic to Air Force arguments that it needs more time to learn how to interact with the private sector in this new era of public-private partnerships.

SASC is in the first camp, while SAC appears to be in the other, though some SAC members clearly are in tune with the desire to end reliance on Russia sooner rather than later.  Durbin pointed out today that the provision in the appropriations bill, which provides $143.6 million to develop a new U.S. engine, calls it the “Competitive Rocket  Innovation Modernization Engine Assembly” or CRIMEA.  “The acronym tells the story,” Durbin said.

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), chairman of the CJS subcommittee, and Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS), chairman of SAC, both spoke against the Graham amendment, stressing that the bill provides money to develop a new engine and the Air Force and ULA need sufficient time to succeed. 

Graham insisted that the authorizing committee (SASC) already had this debate and decided that the current 2019 deadline was achievable.  We are “not enhancing competition” by allowing ULA to use more than nine RD-180s, “we’re enhancing the reliance on a Russian engine that we need to get away from,” Graham insisted and a “date certain” is needed to “break this dependency.”  Realizing the lack of support for his amendment, however, he withdrew it and said he would continue to work with Shelby on the issue.

Strictly speaking, authorizing committees set policy while the appropriations committee sets funding levels, so this could be an interesting case of jurisdictional and parliamentary dispute depending on the exact wording of the provision in the appropriations bill.

The committee approved its version of the FY2016 defense appropriations bill, but it is not clear when it will be debated on the Senate floor.  Senate Democrats have vowed to work to prevent any appropriations measures from being debated until Republicans agree to negotiate over revising or revoking the spending caps set by the 2011 Budget Control Act.

The House passed its version of the defense appropriations bill (H.R. 2685) this afternoon.

Last Updated: Jun 12, 2015 9:10 am ET
Bolden Blasts Senate Appropriations Subcommittee Cut to Commercial Crew

Bolden Blasts Senate Appropriations Subcommittee Cut to Commercial Crew

By Marcia Smith | Posted: June 10, 2015 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: June 10, 2015 7:41 pm ET

NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden fired back at the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that funds the agency because of its cut to the commercial crew program.  The subcommittee marked up the FY2016 Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) funding bill this morning, cutting the $1.244 billion request for commercial crew to $900 million.  Full committee markup is tomorrow.

In a statement, Bolden said the cut would mean continued reliance on Russia to take American astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) and putting money into Russia’s economy instead of our own.  Bolden said:

“I
am deeply disappointed that the Senate Appropriations Committee does
not fully support NASA’s plan to once again launch American astronauts
from U.S. soil as soon as possible,
and instead favors continuing to write checks to Russia.   Remarkably,
the Senate reduces funding for our commercial crew program further than
the House already does compared to the President’s Budget.   By gutting
this program and turning our backs on U.S.
industry, NASA will be forced to continue to rely on Russia to get its
astronauts to space – and continue to invest hundreds of millions of
dollars into the Russian economy rather than our own.  I support
investing in America so that we can once again launch
our astronauts on American vehicles.”

Bolden has been stressing the need for full funding of the commercial crew request repeatedly this year.   He warns that without full funding, NASA may have to renegotiate its milestone-based fixed-price contracts with Boeing and SpaceX and delay the ability of the United States to once again launch people into space.   NASA has not been able to launch anyone to space since the space shuttle program was terminated in 2011. 

Bolden points out at every opportunity that if Congress had fully funded the commercial crew program from the beginning, the spacecraft would be flying this year.  Instead, the goal now is 2017.  Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) said on the Senate floor today that if the subcommittee recommendation is adopted, it will mean yet another two-year delay.

While many of those in Congress who authorize and appropriate money to NASA agree that America needs its own ability to launch people into space and object to the need to pay Russia for such services, some insist that NASA should support only one company to provide commercial crew services, not two.  NASA insists that it needs at least two competitors for redundancy in case one of the systems has a failure and to keep prices down.

NASA awarded Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCAP) contracts to Boeing ($4.2 billion) and SpaceX ($2.6 billion) last fall as the last phase of the commercial crew program.

Last Updated: Jun 10, 2015 7:41 pm ET
Just 5 More Days to Apply for U.S.-China Forum on Earth and Planetary Science

Just 5 More Days to Apply for U.S.-China Forum on Earth and Planetary Science

By Marcia Smith | Posted: June 10, 2015 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: June 10, 2015 2:48 pm ET

The National Research Council’s Space Studies Board (SSB) has extended the deadline for applications from young (under 40) earth and planetary scientists from the United States and China to participate in the 2015-2016 Forum for New Leaders in Space Science.  The new deadline is June 15, 2015.

As we reported in April, the SSB and the National Space Science Center of the Chinese Academy of
Sciences are extending their cooperative Forum for New Leaders in Space
Science for another year.  The SSB is welcoming applications to participate from planetary or earth scientists who will be no more than 40 years of age as of June 30, 2016.

This is the second year of the Forum and involves participants from
China coming to the United States and U.S. participants going to China
to discuss their research activities.  The goals are to “identify and
highlight the research achievements of the best and brightest young
scientists,” to “build informal bridges between the Earth- and space
science communities” in the two countries, and “enhance the diffusion of
insights” gained by participating in the Forum.

The first Forum focused on astrophysics and heliophysics at meetings
in May and November 2014.  This time the topics are planetary science
and earth science from space.  Participants will meet in China in
October 2015 and in the United States (California) in May 2016.

Eligibility requirements and application procedures are posted on the SSB’s website. 
The revised deadline is June 15, 2015.  The SSB is hoping to receive
applications from a diverse cross-section of the planetary science and
earth science communities’ younger members.

Editor’s Note:  We understand very few women applied for this opportunity last year.  Hope there are more this year!

Last Updated: Jun 10, 2015 2:48 pm ET
Senate Appropriations CJS Subcommittee Approves Less than Requested for NASA-UPDATE

Senate Appropriations CJS Subcommittee Approves Less than Requested for NASA-UPDATE

By Marcia Smith | Posted: June 10, 2015 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: June 10, 2015 6:11 pm ET

Updated with reaction from Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL).

The Senate Appropriations Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) subcommittee, led by two of NASA’s strongest congressional supporters, approved a FY2016 CJS bill today with less funding than requested by the Obama Administration, albeit an increase compared to its current level.  Only a few details are available so far, but the total is $18.3 billion compared to the $18.529 billion requested.  NASA’s current FY2015 funding level is $18.010 billion.

The CJS subcommittee is chaired by Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) and the top Democrat is Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD).  Mikulski pointed out during subcommittee markup this morning that more money is needed overall.   Democrats argue that the spending caps set by the 2011 Budget Control Act (BCA) need to be revised or revoked.  Republicans are insisting that non-defense spending stay within those caps, while adding money to defense spending by placing it in an off-budget account (Overseas Contingency Operations) to which the caps do not apply.  President Obama and congressional Democrats rail against that “gimmick.”  Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has said Democrats will not allow any of the appropriations bills to pass until Republicans agree to discuss a solution.  The President has vowed to veto any bills that abide by the BCA caps.

Shelby and Mikulski both are strong NASA supporters.  NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) is in Alabama and Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is in Maryland.  Not surprisingly, Shelby is especially supportive of the Space Launch System (SLS) being built by MSFC and Mikulski of science programs at GSFC.   Both fare well in the CJS subcommittee-approved bill, although details of how the science funding is allocated were not released today.   The NASA earth science community is concerned at the cuts approved to those programs in the House-passed CJS bill.  

Mikulski is expected to introduce at least one amendment to add more money for NASA during full committee markup tomorrow (Thursday). Unless she has offsetting cuts to propose elsewhere in the CJS bill, however, getting agreement to any amendment adding money is a challenge because the subcommittee was allocated a fixed amount of money to spend pursuant to the FY2016 Budget Resolution.

Few details about the allocation of funds within the $18.3 billion total for NASA were released today.  The following is what is known publicly at the moment.  (See SpacePolicyOnline.com’s fact sheet on NASA’s FY2016 budget request for more information on current funding, the President’s FY2016 request, and congressional action to date.)

  • SLS:  $1.9 billion.  The request was $1.357 billion.  The House bill states that it includes $2.313 billion for SLS, but that is a combination of $1.85 billion for development, $410 million for ground systems, and $53 million for a new category of spending it calls Program Integration.  Presumably the Senate subcommittee’s $1.9 billion compares to the House’s $1.85 billion for development.
  • Orion:  $1.2 billion.  The request was $1.096 billion.  The House approved the request.
  • Science:  $5.3 billion.  The request was $5.289 billion.  The House approved $5.238 billion.  The allocations for Earth Science, Planetary Science, Astrophysics, James Webb Space Telescope and Heliophysics were not provided by the Senate subcommittee today.  The House substantially increased Planetary Science and substantially decreased Earth Science, with a small addition to Astrophysics and small decrease for Heliophysics, to reach its net decrease of $50 million for this account.
  • Commercial Crew:  $900 million. The request was $1.244 billion.  The House approved $1.0 billion.  The Senate CJS subcommittee includes it as part of “International Space Station Crew and Cargo” in its description, although it is not part of NASA’s budget request for that line item.  NASA’s “commercial spaceflight” line item is under the Exploration portion of its budget.  “ISS Crew and Cargo” is part of the Space Operations portion and includes payments to Russia for Soyuz flights and payments to SpaceX and Orbital ATK for cargo flights.  NASA requested $1.605 billion for ISS Crew and Cargo.  The Senate subcommittee approved $2.5 billion, saying it is an increase of $170 million over FY2015 for comparable spending.  Until the detailed breakdown is available, it is difficult to state with certainty, but it appears it is moving commercial crew into the ISS Crew and Cargo line (operations rather than development) making it difficult to compare with prior years and this year’s request.
  • Space Technology:  $600 million.  The request was $725 million.  The House approved $625 million. 

Full committee markup for this bill, the defense appropriations bill, as well as the legislative branch appropriations bill, begins tomorrow (June 11) at 10:30 am ET.

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) voiced his objections to the $344 million cut to commercial crew on the Senate floor following the markup.  He said if the cut is sustained, it will delay the ability to launch American astronauts on American rockets two more years, which means paying Russia for two more years, costing at least as much.   “We need to wake up to what’s happening,” he implored, adding that Mikulski will offer an amendment tomorrow to restore the commercial crew funding and urging his fellow Senators to support it.

Last Updated: Jun 10, 2015 6:11 pm ET
Russia Lays Out Its ISS Schedule for Rest of 2015

Russia Lays Out Its ISS Schedule for Rest of 2015

By Marcia Smith | Posted: June 9, 2015 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: June 9, 2015 10:59 pm ET

Russia’s space agency Roscosmos released a new schedule for Russian launches to the International Space Station (ISS) for the rest of 2015 today.  The schedule, approved by a State Commission, shows the expected path forward following the Progress M-27M failure last month.

The ISS partnership — the United States, Russia, Japan, Canada and 11 European countries — already announced that the Soyuz TMA-15M crew will return to Earth on Thursday, June 11, about a month later than planned.  The schedule announced by Russia today shows the following launches to ISS of Progress robotic cargo spacecraft and Soyuz spacecraft that transport crews:

  • July 3, Progress M-28M
  • July 23-25 (exact date to be determined later), Soyuz TMA-17M
  • September 1, Soyuz TMA-18M
  • September 21, Progress M-29M
  • November 1, Progress-MS (first launch of a new version of the Progress spacecraft)
  • December 15, Soyuz TMA-19M

In addition to these Russian launches, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) today confirmed the date for the launch of its next HTV robotic cargo spacecraft, HTV-5 (Kounotori 5).  It will launch at approximately 10:01 pm on August 16 Japan Standard Time (9:01 am August 16 EDT).  

The next U.S. launch to ISS is SpaceX CRS-7 (SpX-7) on June 26 at 11:09 am EDT.  The robotic SpaceX Dragon spacecraft will deliver cargo.  Three more U.S. cargo launches (2 SpaceX, 1 Orbital ATK) also are expected this year.

The Soyuz TMA-17M crew will be composed of Russia’s Oleg Kononenko, Japan’s Kimiya Yui, and America’s Kjell Lindgren.  Their launch was delayed from May 26 because of the Progress M-27M failure.

Soyuz TMA-18M was supposed to take singer Sarah Brightman to the ISS as a spaceflight participant, but she dropped out of the flight last month.  It is not clear if her backup, Japan’s Satoshi Takamatsu (an advertising executive) or someone else will replace her.  The other two crew members who will launch on Soyuz TMA-18M are Russia’s Sergei Volkov and ESA’s Andreas Mogensen.

Soyuz TMA-19M will launch with Russia’s Yuri Malenchenko, ESA’s Timothy Peake and NASA’s Timothy Kopra.

Those crews are a combination of regular ISS crews rotating on typical 4-6 month missions and short-term (1 week) visitors.  As they come and go, NASA’s Scott Kelly and Roscosmos’ Mikhail Kornienko are remaining aboard for their one-year mission that began in March 2015 and will end in March 2016.  They are scheduled to return on the Soyuz TMA-18M spacecraft.

NASA designates the Progress and Soyuz missions numerically based on how many of those missions have gone to ISS.  Soyuz has been in service since 1967 and has undergone several upgrades, as has Progress, whose first flight was in 1977.  The Russians therefore have different designations reflecting their decades of operation and the various modifications.   For NASA, Progress M-28M is Progress 60 (“60P”); M-29M is Progress 61 and so forth.  Soyuz TMA-18M is Soyuz 44, for example.

Last Updated: Jun 09, 2015 10:59 pm ET
What's Happening in Space Policy June 8-12, 2015-UPDATE

What's Happening in Space Policy June 8-12, 2015-UPDATE

By Marcia Smith | Posted: June 7, 2015 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: June 9, 2015 4:15 pm ET

UPDATE:  The Planetary Society’s telepresser on Wednesday re LightSail has been added.

Here is our list of space policy events for the week of June 8-12, 2015 and any insight we can provide about them.  The House and Senate are in session.

During the Week

The House and Senate will start off the week by continuing debate on the FY2016 Transportation-Housing and Urban Development (T-HUD) appropriations bill and the FY2016 National Defense Authorization  Act (NDAA) respectively.  Last week, an amendment was adopted by the House to the T-HUD bill adding a small amount of money for FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation ($250,000, compared to the $1.5 million increase requested by the Administration and rejected by the Appropriations Committee). 

The Senate Appropriations Committee will markup the FY2016 bills for Defense and for Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS, including NASA and NOAA).   Subcommittee markup for Defense is on Tuesday, subcommittee markup for CJS is on Wednesday, and the full committee will markup both of those plus one more on Thursday.

One may wonder what the point is of moving the appropriations bills and the NDAA (which passed the House in May) through the committee process considering that the President has vowed to veto all of them because of the larger dispute over budget caps. Congressional Republicans are using what many call a “gimmick” to add money for defense in an off-budget account to which budget limits  — “caps” — agreed to in the 2011 Budget Control Act (BCA) do not apply while leaving non-defense spending subject to the caps.   Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) indicated last week that he and his fellow Democrats will not allow any of the appropriations bills to reach the Senate floor for debate until Republicans are willing to negotiate a solution. There is a widespread expectation that eventually Republicans and Democrats will reach a compromise similar to the one engineered in 2013 by Rep. Paul Ryan and Sen. Patty Murray (the Ryan-Murray agreement) to provide more flexibility.   Of course, back then Democrats controlled the Senate and Republicans had the House, while today both chambers have Republican majorities so the politics are quite different now.  Time will tell how it all turns out, but it looks like it will be a long appropriations season.

On Thursday, three International Space Station (ISS) crew members will return to Earth, just about a month later than originally planned.  NASA’s Terry Virts, ESA’s Samantha Cristoforetti, and Roscosmos’s Anton Shkaplerov will undock from the ISS at 6:20 am ET and land in Kazakhstan at 9:43 am ET.  NASA TV will provide coverage.  Their return was delayed while Russia investigated the April 28 Progress M-27M failure.  Russian experts have concluded it was caused by a “design peculiarity“related to frequency-dynamic characteristics between the robotic Progress spacecraft and its Soyuz- 2.1a rocket.   In a bit of a surprise, Russia launched a Soyuz-2.1a rocket carrying a military satellite on Friday, perhaps as a demonstration that they are confident the problem will not recur.  The same day, Russia and NASA confirmed that the ISS crew will return on June 11.

Those and other events we know about as of Sunday afternoon are listed below.

Monday-Wednesday, June 8-10

Tuesday, June 9

Tuesday-Thursday, June 9-11

Wednesday, June 10

Wednesday, June 10 – Friday, June 19

Thursday, June 11

Thursday-Friday, June 11-12

Last Updated: Jun 09, 2015 4:15 pm ET
Progress M-27M Failure Caused by "Design Peculiarity"

Progress M-27M Failure Caused by "Design Peculiarity"

By Marcia Smith | Posted: June 1, 2015 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: June 1, 2015 2:05 pm ET

Russia’s space agency Roscosmos today revealed the results of its investigation into the April 28, 2015 Progress M-27M cargo ship launch failure.  A “design peculiarity” related to frequency-dynamic characteristics between the Soyuz-2.1a rocket’s third stage and the Progress spacecraft was to blame, it said.

Russian experts have been trying to solve the puzzle of the launch failure for more than a month.  They know something happened at the time the rocket and spacecraft separated, but the cause was elusive.   Russia postponed the launch of a military satellite on a similar rocket, Soyuz-2.1b, and rearranged the schedule of crew and cargo launches to the International Space Station (ISS) as a result.

The robotic Progress M-27M spacecraft was loaded with three tons of supplies for the ISS when it blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on April 28.  It quickly became clear that something went awry, with the Soyuz-2.1a rocket’s third stage and Progress both in orbit, but not the correct one, and Progress in a spin. The spacecraft made an uncontrolled reentry over the Pacific Ocean on May 7 Eastern Daylight Time (May 8 Moscow Time).

Roscosmos said today that that “A design peculiarity in the joint use of the spaceship and the rocket related to frequency-dynamic characteristics of the linkage between the spaceship and the rocket’s third stage is the cause” of the failure.  The agency is developing a plan to ensure it does not occur again, but determined there are “no limitations” on use of the Soyuz-2.1a rocket with other payloads.

An adjusted schedule for flights to the ISS will be announced on June 9, Roscosmos said, but the soonest they will occur is July 3 for the next robotic Progress cargo flight (Progress M-28M, or Progress 60 in NASA parlance) and July 24 for the next crew launch, Soyuz TMA-17M.  Roscosmos and NASA announced in May that the schedule for ISS crew and cargo flights would be rescheduled because of the failure.  At the time, they said the Soyuz TMA-15M crew (NASA’s Terry Virts, ESA’s Samantha Cristoforetti, and Roscosmos’s Anton Shkaplerov) would return in early June instead of May 13.   Other reports said they would return on June 11, but NASA declined to confirm that date last week.  NASA Johnson Space Center public affairs officer Dan Huot said via email that NASA was still awaiting confirmation from Russia as to the date and time of undocking and landing.

Last week, Russian officials announced the reasons for the failure of a different rocket, Proton-M, that occurred two weeks after the Soyuz-2.1a/Progress M-27M anomaly.  In that case, a Mexican communications satellite was lost.  Experts determined that, too, was caused by a design defect dating back at least until 1988.

The Soyuz-2.1a and Proton-M failures are the latest in a string of Russian launch mishaps that have tarnished the once-solid reputation of Soviet/Russian rockets and caused several reorganizations of Russia’s aerospace sector, both government and industry, and the firing of several officials.  The current head of Roscosmos, Igor Komarov, is the fourth person to hold that position since Charlie Bolden became NASA Administrator in 2009.  Komarov was head of Russia’s United Rocket and Space Corpoeration (URCC, or ORKK using its Russian initials).

In January, Russia announced that Komarov would replace Oleg Ostapenko as head of Roscosmos, and URCC and Roscosmos would be combined under Komarov’s leadership as a state corporation.  Ostapenko had taken over Roscosmos in October 2013, replacing Vladimir Popovkin, who was in the job for just two years after succeeding Anatoly Perminov.  Each change in command followed one or more launch failures.  Officials in the space industry also were replaced amid charges of corruption. Roscosmos itself now has come under accusations of misusing funds.

 

Last Updated: Jun 01, 2015 2:05 pm ET
What's Happening in Space Policy June 1-5, 2015

What's Happening in Space Policy June 1-5, 2015

By Marcia Smith | Posted: May 31, 2015 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: May 31, 2015 3:32 pm ET

Here is our list of space policy related events for the week of June 1-5, 2015 and any insight we can offer about them.  The House and Senate are in session (the Senate returns to work today, actually, in a rare Sunday meeting to figure out what to do about the Patriot Act).

During the Week

The House is scheduled to consider two FY2016 appropriations bills this week:  Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS), which funds NASA and NOAA; and Transportation-HUD, which funds the FAA, including its Office of Commercial Space Transportation.  Both bills will be up before the House Rules Committee tomorrow afternoon at 5:00 pm ET where decisions will be made on what (if any) amendments may be offered, how much time is allowed for debate, etc.  House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s floor schedule indicates the House will take up CJS first on Tuesday or thereafter.

In other appropriations action, the House Appropriations Committee will markup the FY2016 defense bill on Tuesday morning. Subcommittee markup last week was closed and the committee has not yet posted the draft bill or report.

A number of events off the Hill also are scheduled.  To highlight just one, a panel discussion on Wednesday sponsored by the Center for American Progress is intriguing because of its unusual line up of speakers.  The topic is “Human Space Exploration: Looking Back 50 Years, Getting Ready for the Next 50” and the description talks about the technical, physical and psychological challenges of sending humans to Mars.  With three major conferences already held on that topic in D.C. this year, it is hard to imagine what else there is to say, but the Center has come up with a unique set of panelists:

  • Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James,
  • renowned MIT space scientist Maria Zuber, and
  • the head of a company known more in recent years in civil space circles for its robotic missions (e.g. James Webb Space Telescope) than human spaceflight, Northrop Grumman Chairman, President and CEO Wes Bush.

Fascinating and brilliant individuals all, but not people one would expect to expound on the history of the human spaceflight program or the challenges of sending astronauts to Mars.  Still, Zuber knows a lot about the Moon (she was PI for GRAIL and on the LRO team) and is Vice President for Research at MIT, which gives her a broad portfolio.  Grumman (before its merger with Northrop) had a critical role in the Apollo program building the Lunar Module and for several years was the integration contractor for what was then called Space Station Freedom.  Rudy deLeon, a Senior Fellow at the Center, is another panelist.  He is a former Deputy Secretary of Defense, former Boeing executive, former undersecretary of the Air Force, and former HASC staff director (his government career has a lot of overlap with James’s).  His bio indicates he currently focuses on national security interests and U.S.-China relations, all of which should add another interesting dimension to the discussion. It will be nice to hear some fresh viewpoints on this topic.  Especially the Air Force’s.  The event will be webcast on the Center’s website.

Those and other events we know about as of Sunday afternoon are listed below.

Monday, June 1

Tuesday, June 2

Wednesday, June 3

Thursday, June 4

Last Updated: May 31, 2015 3:32 pm ET
Orbital ATK's New Antares on Track for March 2016 Launch

Orbital ATK's New Antares on Track for March 2016 Launch

By Marcia Smith | Posted: May 28, 2015 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: May 28, 2015 3:07 pm ET

Orbital ATK President David Thompson said today that the new version of its Antares rocket is on track for a first launch in March 2016.  The new version will use Russian RD-181 engines, two of which are undergoing acceptance testing right now.

An Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket intended to deliver a Cygnus cargo spacecraft full of supplies for the International Space Station (ISS) exploded 15 seconds after liftoff on October 28, 2014.  The explosion damaged the launch facilities at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, VA.  It was the company’s third operational launch for NASA under the commercial cargo program.

Orbital Sciences Corporation merged with ATK in February 2015 and is now called Orbital ATK.  Thompson remains as President and CEO of the merged company and spoke today on a regularly scheduled investors conference call.

That version of Antares used different Russian engines, NK-33s, which were manufactured more than 40 years ago.  They were imported into the United States, refurbished by Aerojet Rocketdyne, and redesignated AJ-26. The engines were immediately suspected of causing the failure, but the results of the investigation into precisely what went wrong have not been released.   Reports in the trade press indicate that Orbital ATK and Aerojet Rocketdyne disagree on the root cause.  While both reportedly agree that worn turbopump bearings were to blame, the question is why they were worn.  Aerojet Rocketdyne believes debris in the fuel was sucked into the engine from the first stage fuel tanks, which are manufactured by Ukraine’s Yuzhmash.

In any case, Orbital ATK decided to accelerate plans to change to a new first-stage engine and selected RD-181s built by Russia’s Energomash.  It is a variant of the RD-191 engine Russia developed for its new Angara family of rockets.  Two RD-181s are needed for each Antares launch.  Thompson said seven certification test firings were conducted between late March and early May and the first two flight engines are now undergoing acceptance testing with delivery expected in July.

He added that repairs to the launch complex will be completed in September, all of which means system testing can take place late this year and into January 2016.  First launch of the re-engined Antares is scheduled for March 2016, with one month of schedule margin.

Under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services-1 (CRS-1) contract, the company is required to deliver 20 tons of cargo to the ISS by the end of 2016.  Thompson announced soon after the failure that at least one United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket will be used to send a Cygnus to the ISS later this year, with an option of one more in case there are delays in upgrading Antares, in order to meet that commitment.   NASA recently extended that contract for one more Orbital ATK launch (and three more SpaceX launches) in 2017.   Orbital ATK is vying for a follow-on NASA contract, Commercial Resupply Services-2 (CRS-2), for missions after 2017.  Thompson said today it is his understanding that four companies, including Orbital ATK, are competing for the contract.  Selection is expected in September.  (The bids are proprietary, but SpaceX, Boeing and Sierra Nevada are widely thought to be among the competitors.)

Orbital ATK chose a Russian engine despite the ongoing debate over the use of Russian RD-180 engines for the Atlas V rocket.   Congressional direction that the Department of Defense cease using Russian manufactured engines by 2019 applies only to launches of national security satellites, not to NASA or commercial launches, so does not affect Orbital ATK’s launches of cargo spacecraft to the ISS for NASA.

In other news, Thompson was optimistic that Congress will not make the dramatic cuts to NASA’s earth science program recommended in authorization or appropriations bills now pending in the House.  Orbital ATK builds satellites as well as launch vehicles, including earth science satellites.  He said he was “cautiously optimistic” that by the time Congress is done with the FY2016 budget process, NASA will receive funding at about the level requested by the President with balanced allocations between exploration and science, including earth science.

The President’s request for FY2016 is $18.5 billion. The authorization and appropriations bills recommend the same level, but allocate it differently, with substantial cuts to earth science and other activities in order to pay for programs that are higher congressional priorities (such as a mission to Jupiter’s moon Europa and the Space Launch System).

Last Updated: May 28, 2015 3:07 pm ET

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