Category: Military

Blue Origin to Build, Test, Launch from Cape Canaveral

Blue Origin to Build, Test, Launch from Cape Canaveral

By Marcia Smith | Posted: September 15, 2015 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: September 15, 2015 7:35 pm ET

Blue Origin has selected Florida as the location for its manufacturing, engine testing and launch facilities for a new orbital rocket. The company will use Launch Complex 36 (LC-36) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) as its base of operations for the reusable rocket whose first launch will take place by the end of this decade.

Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos was joined by nine federal, state and local political, government and business dignitaries to make the announcement this morning on a stage set up for the event at LC-36.  Bezos said that very spot would become a vehicle processing facility, with an engine test stand for the BE-4 engine 4,000 feet in one direction, and a new launch pad 36 2,000 feet in the other direction.


Space Florida President Frank DiBello (at podium), Florida Governor Rick Scott (first seat on left), Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos (next to Scott)
and other dignitaries at September 15, 2015 ceremony announcing Blue Origin’s choice of Cape Canaveral’s Launch Complex-36 (LC-36)
as manufacturing, engine testing and launch site for new orbital Blue Origin rocket. The event took place at LC-36.  Screenshot from NASA TV.

LC-36 was used for 145 launches over 43 years, but the last one took place in 2005.  The “pad has stood silent for more than 10 years — too long.  We can’t wait to fix that,” Bezos exclaimed.


Red circle marks LC-36 on this map from the Air Force Space & Missile Museum website.

Florida Governor Rick Scott (R), Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL), and Florida House Speaker Steve Crisafulli (R-Brevard County) were among the politicians on stage.  All three had gathered at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, adjacent to CCAFS, just 11 days ago to announce Boeing’s opening of a processing facility for its CST-100 Starliner commercial crew capsule. 

The Boeing and Blue Origin announcements mean jobs for Florida’s Space Coast, which took a beating after the space shuttle and Constellation programs were terminated. Bezos himself was not specific about the economic implications of his decision, but Scott said Blue Origin is investing $200 million locally and creating 330 jobs.

Bezos did not reveal many details about the new rocket, promising more information next year.  Among the missing information is the rocket’s name and what it will launch, although the assumption is that space tourism is one market.   Blue Origin is already building the smaller New Shepard rocket for suborbital human spaceflight.


Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos shows illustration of new orbital rocket that will launch from Launch Complex 36
at Cape Canaveral, FL.  Screenshot from September 15, 2015 event broadcast on NASA TV.

Today, Bezos said only that it will have a fully reusable booster stage, will
launch and land vertically, and use the company’s BE-3 and BE-4
engines.  The BE-4 will be the first commercial rocket engine to use liquefied natural gas (methane) and liquid
oxygen (LOX) as propellant.  United Launch Alliance (ULA) and Blue Origin are partnering to use the BE-4 for ULA’s new Vulcan rocket, a deal they confirmed last week amid media reports that Aerojet Rocketdyne wants to purchase ULA and use its AR1 engine instead.  The AR1 is a conventionally-powered LOX/kerosene engine.

Co-locating the manufacturing, engine testing and launch facilities “eases the challenge of processing and transporting really big rockets,” Bezos explained.  Because acceptance testing of the BE-4 engine will take place there, “you will hear us before you see us,” he added, and launches will begin “later this decade.”

Nelson left the event after he spoke, explaining that he had to catch a plane to Washington to, among other things, continue working to get the Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act finalized.  He was hopeful it would clear Congress “in the next few weeks.”   The House and Senate have each passed versions of the bill, but they are different so a compromise is needed.   One similarity, Nelson said, is that both would streamline the permitting process for commercial companies that want to use Air Force installations like Cape Canaveral.

Last Updated: Sep 15, 2015 7:35 pm ET
SecAF James Outlines "Operational Agility" and "Should Schedule" Initiatives

SecAF James Outlines "Operational Agility" and "Should Schedule" Initiatives

By Marcia Smith | Posted: September 14, 2015 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: September 15, 2015 4:37 pm ET

Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James laid out a new Future Operating Concept today that will be further illuminated in a document to be released later this week.  Its precept is multi-domain “operational agility” integrating cyber, space and air operations.  She also outlined a “should schedule” initiative to speed up acquisitions.

Speaking at the Air Force Association’s annual Air and Space Conference, James offered a future operational agility scenario that, she conceded, sounded like science fiction.

In this hypothetical situation, an earthquake strikes a large city in a remote part of the world.  Within hours, air-launched small satellites are deployed from “the back of an Air Force mobility transport” that provide global communications connectivity and imagery to first responders.  The imagery identifies a usable airport that allows flights to deliver needed supplies and a plethora of small UAVs, controlled through a satellite network, to provide wireless Internet and “cutting edge sensors” for rescue crews.  Meanwhile, back in San Antonio, TX, a “cell of violent extremists” intent on attacking rescue crews is identified by Air Force ISR and cyber teams who then task armed UAVs to “target this leadership cell and, boom, it’s all over for the bad guys.”

She said this is how the Air Force needs to work in the future – a Future Operating Concept – to be detailed in a publication to be released later this week.

Such a plan will take money to execute, of course, and she was quite blunt in her assessment of the current budget situation on Capitol Hill.   “I want to once again take this opportunity to call on Congress to permanently lift sequestration.  We have to send sequestration to the bone yard once and for all.”

She was equally forceful about the prospect that Congress will not pass the FY2016 budget by the end of this month and DOD will be funded through a Continuing Resolution (CR) instead.  Whether the CR will be for a few weeks, a few months, or even the full year is completely up in the air.

James said a long-term CR would be even worse than sequestration.  “It would provide even less money than sequestration, it would not allow us to have any new starts, it would affect every part of our Air Force.”  It would interfere with modernization efforts and “once again hit readiness.”

The Air Force needs to do its part as well to “make every dollar count,” especially in speeding up the acquisition process.  She outlined a “should schedule” analog to the existing “should cost” approach.  Under “should cost,” an independent cost estimate (ICE) is required at key points of a program and program offices and industry are challenged to beat the ICE to drive costs down.   Savings are then directed back into programs.

“Should schedule” would do the same with delivery times, incentivizing industry to accelerate successfully the engineering, manufacturing and development (EMD) phase.   She listed three pilot programs that will be used as experiments: the Enhanced GPS/INS Modernization program, the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System, and the MS-177 electro-optical sensor.  “An accelerated EMD plan would need to survive a detailed scrub by independent engineers,” she stressed.

The title of her talk was Reinventing the Aerospace Nation, which she defined as “the community of air minded people around the globe who engage in and with and through air, space and cyberspace to create ultimately a better world for all of us.”  She encouraged conference attendees to “discard existing paradigms” and “cultivate innovation and creativity.”

Last Updated: Sep 15, 2015 4:37 pm ET
What's Happening in Space Policy September 14-18, 2015

What's Happening in Space Policy September 14-18, 2015

By Marcia Smith | Posted: September 13, 2015 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: September 14, 2015 8:34 am ET

Here is our list of space policy related events for the week of September 14-18, 2015 and any insight we can offer about them.  The House and Senate are in session this week.

During the Week

As of today (Sunday), no space-related hearings have been announced for the coming week (although Rep. Honda is hosting a morning reception and exhibit on Earth and geoscience research on Thursday)  Whether any progress will be made on a Continuing Resolution (CR) to fund the government beginning October 1 or reaching a compromise on either the Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act or the FY2016 National Defense Authorization Act is anyone’s guess.  Stay tuned.

Off the Hill, there are a number of interesting events, starting tomorrow morning (Monday) with a press event at the National Press Club to mark the half-way point for Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko’s “year in space.”  Kelly will participate from the International Space Station (ISS) via videolink.   His twin brother, former astronaut Mark Kelly, will be at the Press Club in person along with astronaut Terry Virts who recently returned from ISS.  NASA TV will cover one hour of it, from 9:00-10:00 am ET.

Also on tap this week is the Air Force Association’s Air & Space Conference at the Gaylord National Resort and Conference Center in National Harbor, MD, just outside Washington, DC.  Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James is scheduled to speak tomorrow (Monday) from 10:30-10:55 am ET on “Reinventing the Aerospace Nation.”  She tweeted last week that it would be webcast.  Gen. John Hyten will speak on Tuesday at 2:25 pm ET on “Preserving our Space and Cyberspace Capabilities.”  Secretary of Defense Ash Carter will speak on Wednesday at 9:55 am ET.  Two commercial guys — Brett Alexander from Blue Origin and Antonio Elias from Orbital ATK — are on the agenda for Wednesday at 11:00 am ET speaking about “Space in the Commercial Sector.”  Not clear if those will be webcast.   We’ll add links on our calendar when and if they are made available.

Speaking of Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos is going to make a “significant announcement” at a media event at Cape Canaveral on Tuesday morning, but everything is hush hush other than the fact that the event will take place beginning at 9:45 am ET.   We’re told a decision has not been made on whether it will be webcast.  If we get a link, we’ll add it to our calendar entry for the event.

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

Monday, September 14

Monday-Wednesday, September 14-16

  • Air Force Association Air & Space Conference, National Harbor, MD (outside Washington DC).  Among the speakers are–
    • Monday, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James, 10:30 am ET
    • Tuesday, Air Force Space Command Commander Gen. John Hyten, 2:25 pm ET
    • Wednesday, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, 9:55 am ET
    • Wednesday, Blue Origin’s Brett Alexander and Orbital ATK’s Antonio Elias, 11:00 am ET

Monday-Friday, September 14-18

Tuesday, September 15

Tuesday-Friday, September 15-18

Wednesday-Thursday, September 16-17

Thursday, September 17

Friday, September 18

Editor’s note:  This article was updated Sunday afternoon to add the Earth and geoscience research briefing on Thursday and the Google+ Hangout on Friday, and on Monday morning adding Secretary of Defense Ash Carter’s talk at AFA on Wednesday.

Last Updated: Sep 14, 2015 8:34 am ET
ULA and Blue Origin Move Forward with BE-4 Plan

ULA and Blue Origin Move Forward with BE-4 Plan

By Marcia Smith | Posted: September 10, 2015 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: September 10, 2015 8:40 pm ET

United Launch Alliance (ULA) and Blue Origin announced an agreement today for expanding production of Blue Origin’s BE-4 engine that ULA wants to use for its new Vulcan rocket.  The announcement takes place against the backdrop of reports that another rocket engine company, Aerojet Rocketdyne, is trying to buy ULA, which would, at best, complicate the ULA/Blue Origin plan.

ULA and Blue Origin, founded by Amazon.com’s Jeff Bezos, revealed amid much fanfare last fall that they were teaming on ULA’s new Vulcan rocket that is intended to eventually replace the two rockets ULA currently uses, Atlas V and Delta IV.  Congress is insisting that use of Russian RD-180 engines that currently power the Atlas V be discontinued by 2019 for national security launches, the mainstay of ULA’s launch business.   Blue Origin’s BE-4 (Blue Engine 4) is viewed by ULA as the most mature domestically made engine that could replace the RD-180s.  Today’s announcement said that BE-4 “offers the fastest path” to a domestic replacement for RD-180s and will “achieve qualification flight in 2017 to support the first Vulcan flight in 2019.”

ULA and the Air Force are trying to convince Congress to provide more flexibility on the 2019 RD-180 cutoff date since a first flight in 2019 is not the same as having a launch vehicle full certified for launching expensive national security payloads.  The House is sympathetic to that argument in its version of the FY2016 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), but the Senate Armed Services Committee is holding fast to 2019.  The two sides are currently trying to reach agreement on a compromise version of the NDAA.

BE-4 uses an innovative design based on liquid oxygen (LOX) and methane as propellant rather than traditional LOX/kerosene.  ULA President Tory Bruno champions Blue Origin’s engine, but also said earlier this year that the company is keeping Aerojet Rocketdyne’s (AJR) new AR1 LOX/kerosene engine in mind as a backup.  Two days ago the Wall Street Journal reported that AJR is bidding to purchase ULA for about $2 billion.  If that deal were to go through — a big if — it clearly would imperil the use of BE-4 for Vulcan.

Today’s ULA/Blue Origin announcement suggests that those two companies are continuing on course nonetheless.  Bezos said the new agreement is “an important step toward building BE-4s at the production rate needed” for Vulcan.

Last Updated: Sep 10, 2015 8:40 pm ET
GAO Lambasts Air Force, Chides DOD, Over GPS OCX Ground Segment Acquisition

GAO Lambasts Air Force, Chides DOD, Over GPS OCX Ground Segment Acquisition

By Marcia Smith | Posted: September 9, 2015 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: September 9, 2015 9:50 pm ET

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) lambasted the Air Force today for poor acquisition decisions on the Global Positioning System’s (GPS’s) future Operational Control System (OCX).  The Air Force has “consistently overstated progress” on OCX and “needs $1.1 billion and four years more than planned.”  GAO recommended that DOD take four OCX-related actions centered on an independent review and chided DOD for brushing them off, warning that without “swift and thoughtful action,” the OCX problems will continue.

The Air Force operates the GPS system, which was designed, built and paid for by DOD, but is used ubiquitously around the globe by military and civilian users for positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) purposes.   GPS consists of the space segment (a constellation of 24 operational satellites, plus spares), the ground segment (a ground-based Operational Control System — OCS — at Schriever Air Force Base, CO, with a backup at Vandenberg AFB, CA) and the user equipment segment (military and civilian receivers).

The Air Force is modernizing all three segments.  GAO has reported previously on the latest series of satellites, GPS III.   Today’s report is about the ground segment as well as the military GPS user equipment (MGUE) portion of the user segment.

The Air Force began work on a modernized ground control system, OCX, to replace the current OCS, in 2007.  OCX is needed to obtain the full functionality of GPS III.  Raytheon was awarded an $886 million development contract for OCX blocks 1 and 2 in 2010, with an option for blocks 3 and 4 in the future.  Total OCX operations costs including the Raytheon contract, prior technology development and other annual costs were estimated at $3.5 billion.  Blocks 1 and 2 were to be delivered in August 2015 and March 2016 respectively.

The $886 million estimate and the program’s schedule have “more than doubled” since 2010, GAO reported. The cost increased “by approximately $1.1 billion to $1.98 billion” because the Air Force “did not follow key acquisition practices.”  For example, it did not conduct a Milestone B review before awarding the development contract to ensure resources and requirements were matched, and did not complete a preliminary design review before beginning development to confirm the preliminary design was ready to “proceed into detailed design with acceptable risk.”  Furthermore, “key requirements, especially for cybersecurity, were not well understood by the Air Force and contractor” when the contract was awarded. 

GAO found that Raytheon experienced “significant software challenges” from the beginning, but the Air Force “consistently presented optimistic assessments” to those overseeing the acquisition process.  As development problems continued, Air Force progress reports “continued to be overly optimistic” even as development was “paused” to fix “root causes.”   GAO’s assessment is that “OCX issues appear to be persistent and systemic, raising doubts whether all root causes have been adequately identified, let alone addressed, and whether realistic cost and schedule estimates have been developed.”

Independent reviews by the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) and audits by the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) found ongoing problems and “undisciplined processes” such as with peer review at Raytheon.  Despite efforts by the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (USD AT&L) to gain better insight in recent years, GAO concluded that “there is little reason to believe that OCX systemic problems have been adequately addressed.”  The DCMA forecast in June 2015 that the OCX cost would increase to $2.15 billion, and the Air Force’s current schedule estimate that Block 1 will be delivered in July 2019 is “still optimistic by at least a year” compared to an independent review conducted in October 2014.

The story on the military user equipment, MGUE, is much the same.  It is “unlikely” that “sufficient knowledge about MGUE design and performance” will be ready in time to make “informed procurement decisions” beginning in FY2018, the report said.

The good news, though, is that the current GPS satellites are lasting much longer than expected.  The current GPS constellation consists mostly of GPS IIR and IIR-M satellites that are lasting as long as 20 years, GAO said, and even newer GPS IIF satellites are now being launched.   Development of the newest GPS III version encountered its own problems.  The expected launch of the first GPS III has slipped from 2014 to 2017.  In 2010, GAO warned that delays in launching GPS III satellites could result in the on-orbit constellation dropping below the 24 satellite threshold needed for a fully operational system.  The extended lifetimes of the GPS IIR and IIR-M satellites mitigate the impact of delays in GPS III and OCX for now at least.  GAO warns, however, that further delays in OCX could reinstate that concern.  As for the M-code for MGUE, GAO estimates that its full deployment “is more than a decade away.”

GAO considers OCX to be the pacing item for GPS modernization.  Its recommendation in this report is for the Secretary of Defense to take five actions, four related to OCX and one for MGUE, as follows:

  • convene an independent task force to conduct a thorough review of OCX;
  • develop high confidence OCX cost and schedule estimates;
  • direct the Air Force to retain experts from the independent task force as a management advisory team;
  • establish a mechanism for ensuring knowledge gained from the OCX assessment is used to determine whether further programmatic changes are needed to strengthen oversight; and
  • incorporate a Critical Design Review (CDR) in the MGUE development effort to allow the military services to fully assess the maturity of the MGUE design before committing test and procurement resources.

GAO provides draft copies of its reports to whatever agency is being reviewed, which then has an opportunity to respond. GAO publishes the response as part of the report.  In this case, DOD concurred with the four OCX-related actions by saying the independent reviews it already conducted fulfilled that intent. GAO pushed back on that, saying those comments “provide little confidence” that the problems will be fixed since the earlier reviews were “non-binding and advisory in nature.”

“If business continues as usual without swift and thoughtful action, OCX will likely continue on its path of demonstrating poor cost and schedule outcomes,” GAO warned.  “We continue to stand by our recommendations calling for a fresh review — this time an in-depth and comprehensive critical review of the program — to identify the true root causes of OCX development difficulties and to ensure the Air Force implements the corrective actions.”

As for the MGUE action, DOD partially concurred, agreeing a CDR is desirable, but noting the potential impact on schedule.  GAO stressed, however, that skipping “best practice” steps like that “generally results in an inability to deliver promised cost and schedule outcomes.”

Last Updated: Sep 09, 2015 9:50 pm ET
WSJ: Aerojet Rocketdyne Wants to Buy ULA

WSJ: Aerojet Rocketdyne Wants to Buy ULA

By Marcia Smith | Posted: September 9, 2015 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: September 9, 2015 11:54 pm ET

Rocket engine maker Aerojet Rocketdyne (AJR) wants to buy United Launch Alliance (ULA) for approximately $2 billion according to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).  No deal has been made yet, but the companies are in “advanced talks” according to the newspaper.

Neither company has made any official announcement so far.  ULA is a 50-50 joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing that builds and launches the Atlas V and Delta IV rockets primarily for national security satellites.   Aerojet merged with its main domestic rival, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, in 2012.  AJR provides the RS-68 engines that power the Common Booster Core for ULA’s Delta IV rocket, the solid rocket motors for Atlas V, and the RL10 engines for the upper stages used for those rockets.

The emergence of new competitors in U.S. rockets and rocket engines, including SpaceX and Blue Origin, coupled with concerns about using Russian RD-180 engines for the national security launches on the Atlas V and reduced demand for national security launches overall is changing the dynamics of the U.S. space launch business. 

ULA has been essentially a monopoly provider of launches for the national security sector since it was created in 2006, but with Air Force certification of SpaceX for certain classes of national security launches, it now has a competitor.  Meanwhile, its Atlas V rocket is under attack because it uses Russian rocket engines and current law requires that use of RD-180s for national security launches end by 2019, although ULA and the Air Force are trying to extend that deadline. 

ULA has announced major changes over the past year, including a decision to discontinue the medium-size version of the Delta IV and initiating development of the Vulcan rocket and ACES upper stage that would ultimately replace Atlas V and the larger Delta IV Heavy.  Vulcan would be an Atlas V, but using Blue Origin’s innovative methane-based BE-4 engines instead of Russian RD-180s.  ULA later said a new AJR engine, AR1, using traditional LOX/kerosene propellant, was a backup alternative.

A consortium of companies including AJR recently tried to obtain production rights to the Atlas V apparently with the goal of substituting the AR1 for the RD-180s, but was rebuffed and the Air Force confirmed that ULA held those rights, not the government.

The prospect of AJR buying ULA is a new twist that could have interesting ramifications both in terms of consolidation in the U.S. launch industry and the ability of new entrants to compete against it, especially in the engine development market.

The WSJ article said an announcement could come “as early as next week.”  Any planned merger would be subject to government review.

ULA is headquartered in Centennial, CO and produces the Atlas V and Delta IV in Decatur, AL.   AJR is based in Sacramento, CA.

Last Updated: Sep 09, 2015 11:54 pm ET
What's Happening in Space Policy September 7-11, 2015

What's Happening in Space Policy September 7-11, 2015

By Marcia Smith | Posted: September 6, 2015 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: September 21, 2015 9:08 pm ET

We’re back to “regular order” this week with our list of upcoming space policy related events only for one week (September 7-11, 2015).  The House and Senate return to work from their summer recess on Tuesday.

During the Week

Monday is a federal holiday (Labor Day), so Congress resumes legislative action on Tuesday, September 8.  It has quite a long to-do list for the month, including funding the federal government before Fiscal Year 2016 begins on October 1.  As pressing as that issue is, the first order of business is the Iran nuclear deal.  Pope Francis will visit Washington, D.C. September 22-24 and speak to a joint session of Congress on September 24 and that also will consume a lot of congressional attention.  

A deal on the budget, therefore, is not likely until the end of the month — if then.  The expectation is that a Continuing Resolution (CR) will be passed to cover the first few weeks of FY2016 since none of the 12 regular appropriations bills have cleared Congress.  The House has passed six,
including those that fund DOD, NASA, NOAA and the FAA’s Office of
Commercial Space Transportation.  The Senate has not passed any yet.

No legislative action on the budget is anticipated this week.  Instead, more voices likely will be raised warning of a possible government shutdown.  The leaders of the House and Senate have repeatedly vowed not to let that happen again.   Most view the 16-day shutdown in 2013 as a costly mistake both financially and politically.  Today some things are different — Republicans control both the House and Senate (the Senate was in Democratic hands in 2013).  But some are the same — the Tea Party wing of the Republican party has a politically volatile topic on which it wants to make a point.  Last time it was Obamacare, this time it is Planned Parenthood.   Another thing that is different is that this is presidential primary season and one of the contenders, Sen. Ted Cruz, was the leader of the 2013 shutdown.  He seems to believe it was a good thing, not the travesty others in his own party and elsewhere portray.  A shutdown could play in his favor in the primary among those who share his views. 

When Congress went into recess, it seemed that the debt limit also would have to be raised soon, adding to the complexity of getting a budget deal.  The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently calculated, however, that the Treasury Department can get by with the “extraordinary measures” it’s been using since the debt limit was reached in March and now has until mid-November or early December to continue paying bills by not investing in government retirement accounts.  (If you’re a government employee and wonder what exactly is going on with your retirement accounts in this regard, Government Executive has a good summary.  Treasury has done this before; the money eventually gets restored.)

Final action on the Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act, versions of which have passed the House and Senate, is possible at any time. The current prohibition on FAA issuing new regulations for commercial human spaceflight during a “learning period” expires on September 30 and both bills would extend it (the Senate bill until 2020; the House until 2025), so there is some motivation to get that done, though it will be a challenge with everything else on Congress’s plate.  As for a new NASA authorization bill?  The House has passed two bills (one for FY2015, which is ending, and one for FY2016 and FY2017), but there has been no action in the Senate.  The Senate Commerce Committee issued a report on August 11 listing the legislation it plans to focus on for the rest of the year and a NASA authorization was not included.  Congress-watchers know, however, that anything can happen at any time.

Perhaps the most notable events this week off the Hill are an interview with the current nine crew members aboard the International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday morning Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) and the return to Earth of three of them on Friday EDT (Saturday local time at the landing site in Kazakhstan).  This is the first time since November 2013 that nine people have been on ISS at the same time.

Those events and others we know about as of Sunday afternoon are listed below.  Check back to look at our calendar on the right menu of our home page for additions as the week goes on.

Monday, September 7

  • U.S. Federal Government holiday (Labor Day)

Tuesday, September 8

Tuesday-Thursday, September 8-10

Wednesday-Friday, September 9-11

Thursday, September 10

Friday, September 11

 

Editor’s Note: the original version of this article said the House
bill extends the learning period to
2023, but it is 2025.  As introduced, it was 2023, but it was amended
during committee markup to 2025. 

Last Updated: Sep 21, 2015 9:08 pm ET
Shotwell: Couple More Months Before Falcon 9 Launches Again, Will be New Version

Shotwell: Couple More Months Before Falcon 9 Launches Again, Will be New Version

By Marcia Smith | Posted: August 31, 2015 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: August 31, 2015 7:54 pm ET

SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said today that it will be a “couple of months” before the Falcon 9 rocket returns to flight, longer than the company anticipated.   She also said it would be the first flight of an upgraded version of the rocket.

Speaking on a panel at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Space 2015 conference in Pasadena, CA, Shotwell said the company still believes that the cause of the June 28 Falcon 9 failure was a bad strut in the upper stage.  SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk announced that preliminary finding in late July, but said the investigation was ongoing.   Shotwell said today nothing has changed that diagnosis.

She said it now was not just a matter of fixing the problem, which is “easy,” but taking advantage of lessons learned and ensuring there are no other problems in the vehicle or the supply chain.  It is “taking more time than we originally envisioned,” but she does not expect customers to object since they do not want to rush and potentially have another failure.

Shotwell characterized fixing technical problems as “fun challenges.”  The bigger challenge for SpaceX, she said, is “maintaining the fast pace of innovation” while still executing the launch manifest for its customers.  “We don’t want to lose that pace of innovation … that sense of our genetics, how we grew up” while still providing reliable, predictable launches.

The panel was entitled “Executive Vision Discussion” and in addition to Shotwell featured NASA Associate Administrator Robert Lightfoot, Lockheed Martin Vice President and General Manger for Civil Space Wanda Sigur, and Vice Commander of Air Force Space and Missile Systems Command Maj. Gen. Robert McMurry.  AIAA President and former Boeing executive Jim Albaugh served as moderator.

Albaugh asked all the panelists what they thought a comparable panel in 2035 would be talking about. 

Shotwell said she hoped they’d be discussing new propulsion systems “to take us out of the galaxy.”   

Lightfoot replied that he hoped they would be talking about the results of samples returned from Mars.   Separately he was asked “are we less than 20 years away from humans on Mars?”   NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden has used that as a theme recently, insisting that, for the first time, it is a reality.   Lightfoot was more circumspect, saying he expected humans to be “around Mars at least” in the mid-2030s, but landing large masses has many challenges.

NASA’s “Journey to Mars” was a major theme for LIghtfoot and Sigur.  Sigur opened the panel by presenting a plaque to AIAA commemorating last December’s Orion test.  She and Lightfoot pointed to the difficulty in pursuing such a long term mission when the set of politicians who determine policy and budgets change every two years.

McMurry, on the other hand, quipped that sending people to Mars was not his focus.  His message was three-fold: resilience is the watchword of the day, but  “we have to figure out what resilience is” and how to measure it; protecting space systems from cybersecurity threats is important, but many space systems “are older than me” and the key is to focus not on how to prevent an attack, but how to cope with it when it happens; and the national security community needs to change its “mindset” in this new era of commercial spaceflight.

Last Updated: Aug 31, 2015 7:54 pm ET
What's Happening in Space Policy August 31 – September 11, 2015

What's Happening in Space Policy August 31 – September 11, 2015

By Marcia Smith | Posted: August 30, 2015 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: August 30, 2015 3:51 pm ET

Summer is coming to an end and this will be the last of our “summer vacation” multi-week lists of upcoming space policy events.  This edition covers two weeks, August 31-September 11.  The House and Senate return to work on September 8.

During the Week

This week begins with AIAA’s Space 2015 conference in Pasadena, CA tomorrow (Monday) through Wednesday.   If you can’t be there in person, AIAA is providing a livestream of at least some of the sessions (the event’s website does not indicate which ones).  Four plenary sessions may be of particular interest and hopefully are among those that will be webcast:

  • Monday, August 31, 8:00-9:30 am PDT (11:00-12:30 EDT), Executive Vision Discussion (with Jim Albaugh, Robert Lightfoot, Maj. Gen. Robert McMurry, Wanda Sigur, and Gwynne Shotwell)
  • Tuesday, September 1, 8:00-9:30 am PDT (11:00-12:30 EDT), The
    Business of Space–How is the Space Business Evolving to Meet Future
    Needs?
  • Wednesday, September 2, 8:00-9:30 am PDT (11:00-12:30 EDT), Pioneering Space
  • Wednesday, September 2, 1:15-2:00 pm PDT (4:15-5:00 EDT), Future Explorations: Our Solar System’s Origins, Water and Life

Another event of special interest is the launch of Soyuz TMA-18M very early Wednesday morning (12:37 am Eastern Daylight Time–EDT).  This mission is a bit of an anomaly in recent years where two of the three crew will remain on board the International Space Station (ISS) for just one week instead of several months.   ESA’s Andreas Mogensen and Kazakhstan’s Aidyn Aimbetov will return to Earth on September 11 EDT (September 12 local time at the landing site) along with Russia’s Gennady Padalka, who has been on ISS since March.  Padalka launched with NASA’s Scott Kelly and Russia’s Mikhail Kornienko and those two are staying aboard for a one-year mission, but their Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft can only remain on orbit for six months so it and Padalka — along with Mogensen and Aimbetov — will come back to Earth. Russia’s Sergei Volkov will command Soyuz TMA-18M and replace Padalka.

Mogensen and Aimbetov’s time aboard ISS will be even shorter than expected because last week the decision was made to use the two-day rendezvous trajectory to get there instead of the new six-hour direct ascent route introduced for crew launches on Soyuz TMA-08M in March 2013.  The two-day trip is necessary because the ISS orbit was raised recently to avoid a piece of space junk, changing the orbital dynamics involved in getting there.  The new orbit also caused a one day slip in the launch date (from September 1).  The Soyuz TMA-18M crew now will arrive on September 4, giving Mogensen and Aimbetov just seven and a half days on ISS.  It may be just as well since the ISS will be a bit crowded — for the first time since November 2013, there will be nine people aboard.  On the other hand, ESA said that it means significant replanning of Mogensen’s research activities and some experiments will have to be left for other astronauts to complete in the future.

Aimbetov, by the way, was a last minute addition to the crew after singer Sarah Brightman withdrew from the mission.  A military pilot, he was selected as a Kazakh cosmonaut in 2002 and trained at Star City.  He became a Russian citizen along the way, but is flying as a Kazakh, not Russian, crew member.  He was assigned to the flight in June and Kazakh officials say they are paying $20 million, so he apparently is filling Brightman’s “space tourist” slot, although he has been through the full training regimen.  He will be the third Kazakh cosmonaut (after Toktar Aubakirov and Talgat Musabayev), not counting Soviet cosmonauts from Kazakhstan when it was part of the Soviet Union.

Those events and others that we know about as of today (August 30) for the next two weeks are listed below.

Monday-Wednesday, August 31-September 2

  • AIAA Space 2015, Pasadena Convention Center, Pasadena, CA (some events will be livestreamed; note that times listed on the conference’s agenda are in local time)

Tuesday, September 1

Wednesday, September 2

Wednesday-Friday, September 2-4

Friday, September 4

Tuesday, September 8

  • Congress returns: House meets at 2:00 pm EDT for legislative business; Senate meets at 2:00 pm EDT

Tuesday-Thursday, September 8-10

Wednesday, September 9

Thursday, September 10

Friday, September 11

Last Updated: Aug 30, 2015 3:51 pm ET
What's Happening in Space Policy August 24-September 4, 2015

What's Happening in Space Policy August 24-September 4, 2015

By Marcia Smith | Posted: August 23, 2015 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: August 23, 2015 3:33 pm ET

Summer will be over before we know it, but for now, our list of upcoming space policy events still spans the next couple of weeks while “business” is slow.   Congress returns on September 8, the day after Labor Day.

During the Week

This week starts off with the docking of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA’s) HTV5 (Kounotori5) cargo spacecraft with the International Space Station (ISS).   The spacecraft was successfully launched on Wednesday and has been catching up with ISS ever since.   JAXA astronaut Kimiya Yui is aboard ISS and will be at the controls of Canada’s robotic Canadarn2 tomorrow morning (Monday) to capture it.   That event is expected about 6:55 am Eastern Daylight Time (EDT).  NASA TV coverage begins at 5:15 am EDT.  JAXA’s coverage begins at 6:05 am EDT.  Installation of HTV5 onto the Harmony node will follow at about 9:45 am EDT.  The crew surely will be happy to get those 9,500 pounds of supplies, equipment and science experiments following the three cargo mission failures (one U.S. Orbital Sciences Antares/Cygnus, one Russian Soyuz/Progress, and one U.S. SpaceX Falcon/Dragon) since last October.   It should be noted, of course, that there also have been five successful cargo missions (three Russian Progresses and two U.S. SpaceX Dragons) during that time, which, if anything, demonstrates just how much resupply from Earth is needed to sustain the crew and their work.

Tomorrow also is the first day of the three-day Outer Planets Assessment Group (OPAG) meeting at the Applied Physics Lab in Laurel, MD.  These “AGs” — assessment groups or analysis groups but NOT “advisory” groups — apparently no longer are officially part of NASA’s advisory process, but are still an opportunity for members of the relevant science community to get together and interact with each other and NASA officials.   The meeting is available virtually via WebEx and telecon.  Among the many interesting sessions, Bob Pappalardo will talk about plans for the Europa mission on Monday at 3:15 pm ET and Alan Stern is scheduled to talk about the New Horizons Pluto mission on Tuesday at 1:30 pm ET.

Rep. Donna Edwards (D-MD) is scheduled to speak at a Maryland Space Business Roundtable (MSBR) luncheon on Tuesday.  (The event is listed on MSBR’s website, but the link to the flyer is inactive.  We assume that’s a glitch and the event is going on as planned, but you might want to check with MSBR to be sure).  Edwards is the top Democrat (“ranking member”) on the Space Subcommittee of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee and a strong NASA supporter, especially of projects at Goddard Space Flight Center near her district.  Her interest in space goes much further, though.  Never mind just trying to convince her colleagues to fund NASA’s “Journey to Mars,” she has said publicly that she wants to go there herself.   Right now, though, she is focused on her current job representing Maryland’s 4th congressional district and running for the Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Barbara Mikulski.

On Friday, the Earth Science subcommittee of the NASA Advisory Council will meet telephonically.  An agenda is not yet posted on the subcommittee’s website, but the Federal Register notice says it is an annual performance review of the Earth Science program as required under the Government Performance and Results Modernization Act.  The public is welcome to listen in.

Those events and others coming up the first week of September that we know about as of today, August 23, are listed below.

Monday, August 24

  • HTV5 arrival at ISS, grapple 6:55 am ET, installation 9:45 am ET (times are approximate)   Watch on NASA TV (5:15 am ET) and JAXA’s YouTube site (6:05 am ET)

Monday-Wednesday, August 24-26

  • OPAG, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab, Laurel, MD (available via WebEx and telecon)

Tuesday, August 25

Friday, August 28

Monday-Wednesday, August 31-September 2

Tuesday, September 1

Wednesday, September 2

Wednesday-Friday, September 2-4

 

Last Updated: Aug 23, 2015 3:33 pm ET

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