PM Modi Announces Indian Manned Spaceflight Attempt in 2022

As part of his Independence Day speech, Prime Minister Modi announced India will attempt their first manned spaceflight in 2022. There is almost no detail about what is planned. We can make some conjectures though.

We know based on their recent pad abort test that India will be using a more tradition capsule. This will be like most of the current spacefaring nations, the current Russian Soyuz (and dubiously coming Federation), the coming American Orion, Starliner and Dragon and the Chinese Shenzhou. The outliers are the American DreamChaser and the possible Chinese spaceplane coming circa 2022. The capsule will almost certainly launch on the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle III rocket: the initial suborbital test of the rocket carried a test capsule to reentry and recovery technologies.

There's little information on the life support equipment or thruster tests, but given if the Soviet Union and United States of the 1960s could develop this stuff very rapidly, I imagine the rest India hasn't talked about publicly (or I have missed) should be relatively easy to do. India could very well make this deadline.

The bigger problem for India is India: they have a very slow development cycle. The Tejas fighter makes the F-35 development cycle seem speedy. Their indigenous carrier and nuclear sub programs have been going on for 40 years and almost made it to the point of finishing their first examples. If they can cut through the red tape, then India can get this done: they have plenty of very smart people. It's the red tape that seems to be so impressively painful there that will cause them to miss this deadline, not their technical capabilities.

Russia Commits to International Space Station Through 2024, bad Sign for Independent Russian Space Station

Russia has formally notified its International Space Station partners that it will continue in the partnership at least to 2024, ending several months of doubts that were fueled by the current poor state of Russia’s relations with the West.

The 22-nation European Space Agency confirmed that the Russia space agency, Roscosmos, had notified ESA and the other partners of its commitment to 2024, a decision that followed similar guarantees by NASA – the station’s general contractor – and the Canadian Space Agency.

That leaves ESA and the Japanese space agency, JAXA, as the only two current partners yet to make a decision. ESA has yet to commit even to 2020 but expects to do so at a meeting of its member governments in late 2016.

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Much like the Tu-160 line restart is for the PAK-DA bomber, this announcement is a really, really bad sign for an independent Russian space station.  I suspect we will not hear about the independent space station for some time.  The only other way the Russians might do another space station outside of the ISS is with the Chinese.  However, like the ISS being bankrolled by America by and large, so too the other space station would be by China. 

Russia Rumbles About Separate "High-Latitude Orbital Station" After ISS

image credit link at bottom.  However, this pic was too awesome not to credit again. very well done, Anatoly.

On Monday, answering questions from journalists at the end of an annual press-conference, the head of Roskosmos, Oleg Ostapenko said that the agency had been considering options for the development of the High-Latitude Orbital Station, also known by its Russian abbreviation as VShOS. According to Ostapenko, the new space station would enable to monitor more than 90 percent of the nation's territory (thanks to the higher inclination of its orbit toward the Equator than that of the ISS). In the future, the station would also serve as a foundation for the Russian lunar exploration program, Ostapenko said. The orbital outpost could function as a permanently inhabited facility or as a fully automated spacecraft with periodic visits by the crew, according to Ostapenko.

Peculiarly, the Earth-orbiting station concept seemingly contradicted a recently proclaimed Russian strategy to explore the Moon. During his introduction to the event, Ostapenko himself called the Moon the first priority for the manned space program. Obviously, building such a station would divert resources and time from any lunar expedition, observers said.

As often happens in human space flight, the projects are driven forward by reasons other than those officially announced. Industry sources familiar with the situation explained that the decade-old concept to follow the ISS with a small Russian station had received a new impetus in the past few months due to a combination of technical, political and financial problems.

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NASA Moving First Orion Capsule to Launch Pad

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Why NASA did NOT Select Sierra Nevada's DreamChaser

As Boeing and Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) restart work on commercial crew contracts following NASA’s Oct 9. decision to lift a stop-work order, details of an internal agency document reveal why the bid from losing competitor Sierra Nevada lost out.

The three companies competed for $6.8 billion worth of Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CctCap) contracts to transport NASA astronauts to the international space station (ISS) starting in 2017. However, following the awards of work to Boeing for the CST-100 and to SpaceX for the Dragon V2, Sierra Nevada -- which proposed the Dream Chaser lifting body -- filed a protest with the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) on Sept 26, citing “inconsistencies in the source selection process.”

In response, NASA issued a stop-work order to Boeing and SpaceX on Oct 2, only to rescind it a week later on the grounds that a delay to development of the transportation service, “poses risks to the ISS crew, jeopardizes continued operation of the ISS, would delay meeting critical crew size requirements, and may result in the U.S. failing to perform the commitments it made in its international agreements.” The GAO has until Jan. 5, 2015, to rule on Sierra Nevada’s protest.

The internal document, signed by NASA Associate Administrator William Gerstenmaier on Sept. 15, the day before the contract awards were announced, says, “I consider SNC’s (Sierra Nevada Corp.) design to be the lowest level of maturity, with significantly more technical work and critical design decisions to accomplish. The proposal did not thoroughly address these design challenges and trades.” Gerstenmaier goes on to say that Sierra’s proposal “has more schedule uncertainty. For example, some of the testing planned after the crewed flight could be required before the crewed flight, and the impact of this movement will greatly stress the schedule.”

A copy of Gerstenmaier’s document was obtained by Aviation Week.

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NASA Studying Cygnus Derived "Exploration Augmentation Module" for Orion Capsule?

NASA is examining adding a habitation module to the agency’s proposed Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) that would allow astronauts to stay at the asteroid for several additional weeks.

Chris Moore, deputy director of the Advanced Exploration Systems Division at NASA Headquarters, said in a presentation at the 65th International Astronautical Congress here Oct. 3 that the module, intended to serve as a prototype of a habitat for future deep space missions, could be in place before the first crewed mission visits the captured asteroid in the mid-2020s.

“We’re doing a study now of different module types and different times it could be launched,” Moore said. “It may be used on the first mission, if it could be ready in time.”

Under NASA’s current ARM plans, a two-person crew would fly a 26-day mission in an Orion spacecraft once the captured asteroid reached a distant retrograde orbit around the Moon. Only about five days would be spent at the asteroid, allowing for two four-hour spacewalks, with the rest of the mission spent in transit between the asteroid and Earth.

That schedule is driven by the life support capabilities of the Orion spacecraft. Moore said the use of what NASA calls the Exploration Augmentation Module would allow the overall mission to last as long as 60 days. “This module would provide extra life support and consumables to extend Orion’s mission,” he said.

One end of the module would attach to the robotic spacecraft that redirected the captured asteroid into lunar orbit, with Orion docking at the opposite end. The module could also include an additional docking port to allow logistics spacecraft to dock while Orion is there, and an airlock so that astronauts could perform spacewalks without depressurizing the Orion, as currently planned.

Moore described the Exploration Augmentation Module as similar in size to a Cygnus spacecraft, a comparison that may not be coincidental. Orbital Sciences Corp. has expressed interest in finding new applications for its Cygnus cargo spacecraft, including use as a habitat module for missions in cislunar or deep space.

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NASA Video 'Trial by Fire' Describes Upcoming Orion Capsule Test

Why Boeing Beat SpaceX

Boeing Co. received consistently higher rankings than Space Exploration Technologies Corp. during NASA's recent multibillion-dollar competition to build "space taxis," according to an internal agency document.

The memo—dated Sept. 15 and reviewed by The Wall Street Journal—provides an inside look at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's deliberations and reveals why agency officials rated Boeing's bid better across the board than the one submitted by SpaceX, as the smaller company is called.

Chicago-based Boeing ended up with a contract worth up to $4.2 billion, versus $2.6 billion for Southern California-based SpaceX. The goal is to use company-owned and operated spacecraft to start transporting astronauts into orbit by 2017.

The rivalry was widely viewed as the closest head-to-head matchup yet between a big traditional aerospace contractor such as Boeing and a so-called new-space upstart represented by SpaceX.

But the 29-page document, signed by NASA's associate administrator William Gerstenmaier the day before the awards were announced, depicts more of a one-sided contest. Boeing ranked above SpaceX in every major category, from technical maturity to management competence to likelihood of sticking to a timetable.

Boeing's submission was considered "excellent" for "mission suitability," whereas SpaceX got a "very good" ranking. The numerical scores for that category, according to one person familiar with the details, were separated by more than 60 points out of a possible 1,000. The document shows Boeing also garnered the highest ranking of "excellent" for technical approach and program management, compared with "very good" rankings for SpaceX.

Based on Boeing's performance on a preliminary contract, NASA concluded it had "very high confidence" in that company's likelihood of delivering what it promised—the highest ranking possible.

Despite SpaceX's historic achievement of becoming the first commercial entity to put a capsule into orbit and ferry NASA cargo to and from the international space station, the agency had somewhat less assurance in the company's ability to perform, also based on performance on its own preliminary contract. NASA determined it had "high confidence" in SpaceX's pledges.

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China Actively Courting Other Nations for its Upcoming Space Station

China is open to cooperation with foreign nations on its manned space station project, according to a senior space official.

"We reserved a number of platforms that can be used for international cooperative projects in our future space station when we designed it," Yang Liwei, deputy director of China Manned Space Agency, said at a news conference following the opening ceremony of the 27th Planetary Congress of the Association of Space Explorers in Beijing on Wednesday.

"In addition to collaboration in applied experiments, we also designed adapters that can dock with other nations’ spacecraft," he said.

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Saving Soviet Space Station Salyut 7...

The following story happened in 1985 but subsequently vanished into obscurity. Over the years, many details have been twisted, others created. Even the original storytellers got some things just plain wrong. After extensive research, writer Nickolai Belakovski is able to present, for the first time to an English-speaking audience, the complete story of Soyuz T-13’s mission to save Salyut 7, a fascinating piece of in-space repair history.

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Boeing, SpaceX win Commercial Crew Contracts From NASA

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NASA Completes First Orion Capsule

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Idle Speculation: The Nauka Module Will be the Basis for a Russian Solo Space Station or Sino-Russian Space Station

The current situation in Ukraine made me wonder what will happen on numerous fronts. The US and Russian are becoming enemies again. Our operations in Afghanistan are about to become untenable: we will lose the supply lines through Russia and the ones through Pakistan are going to probably go away too. I have personal reasons too (3 are out, btw). However, in space...the space station, we are very, very dependent on the Russians. That will likely go away, too.

Putin's team ha already said they will not be supporting the ISS past 2020. The US and Europe DOES plan to do so. There are a couple modules which are built or being built by the Russians which have not as yet flown. One of them is the Nauka module. Its launch has been postponed to at least 2015, if not 2017. It will have its own propulsion (which is the source of the problems now, but can be fixed).  The Nauka module is based off of Zvezda, which provides a lot of the boost capability for the ISS.

 Then add in the Oka-T-MKS module, the node module and something like a Rassvet or two, you are well on your way.  You can either invite the Chinese or others (Indians?) or go it alone.  Given the political situation and given the capability... I am not totally out there.  OPSEK was an earlier concept which may or may not happen.

Future Planetary Exploration on What Congress' NASA Budget

The two houses of Congress have written their proposed 2015 budgets for NASA. The House bill would add additional funding to almost every category of the Planetary Science budget and would greatly strengthen NASA’s program of planetary exploration. The Senate bill would add substantial funds to the Mars program but pay for this by cuts to other portions of the planetary budget.

In American politics, the President proposes federal budgets but it is Congress that decides federal budgets. Last winter, the President’s budget office proposed a Fiscal Year 2015 planetary budget that was better than proposals for previous years but still well below the levels needed to enact the program laid out by the science community in the Decadal Survey. Both houses of Congress have now proposed their alternative plans (although the Senate budget has not been approved by the entire body yet). How has planetary exploration faired?

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India's Progress Towards National Manned Space Flight

Out of a population of nearly 1.3 billion, only four Indian nationals have received training for a designated spaceflight mission and only one of them actually made it. This week marks the 30th anniversary of Rakesh Sharma’s eight days in space as part of the Soviet’s Interkosmos program in 1984. He never went back and despite announcements in 2006 that the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) would engage in Human Space Flight (HSF), now in 2014 there is no prospect of an imminent launch of an Indian astronaut by ISRO. However, a single successful rocket launch early this year suggests that ISRO may finally be making some headway.

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What is China's Space Station Doing?

Months after its scheduled re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere—and a surprise cameo appearance in hit space flick Gravity—China’s first space station boosted into a higher orbit. It still speeds around the planet, doing … what, exactly?

No one outside of China’s popular but opaque space program seems to know.

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India Prototypes First Manned Space Capsule, Plans Unmanned Flight Before 2017

India is about to take one small step towards human space flight. Last week the country’s space agency unveiled a prototype of its first crew capsule, a 4-metre-high module designed to carry two people into low Earth orbit.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is planning a test flight for later this year – even though it still awaits government approval and funding for a human space-flight programme. The unpiloted capsule will fly on the maiden launch of a new type of rocket that would otherwise have carried a dummy payload.

“We thought it better to gain some confidence in the design of our crew module,” says Sundaram Ramakrishnan, director of ISRO’s Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

Built by Hindustan Aeronautics in Bangalore, the prototype capsule cannot be hermetically sealed and so cannot take people into space. But if the rocket launch is a success, ISRO should be able to remotely test some in-flight controls and see how the module survives the stresses of re-entry and landing at sea.

The capsule will fly on a new variant of India’s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle, with its first test in a few months. When fully operational the rocket will loft satellites of about 4 tonnes to geosynchronous orbit, or place up to 9 tonnes into low Earth orbit. It could even be used to launch a future robotic moon mission.

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Contractors: NASA's Orion Capsule on Track

The biggest accomplishments on the next-generation deep space programs will take place this year, including Orion’s first mission, Space Launch System (SLS) booster and engine firing, and the opening of the SLS Vertical Assembly Center (VAC) – all important steps in preparing for deep space human exploration missions.

NASA’s SLS and Orion four prime contractors met recently at an industry-team meeting to discuss progress to date and ensure the teams are on track for the 2014 and 2017 launches.

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Sierra Nevada Corp to Launch First DreamChaser (unmanned) in Nov 2016

Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) announces that it has confirmed that the first orbital flight of its Dream Chaser® Space System will occur on November 1, 2016. Dream Chaser will be brought to orbit on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket that is being built in Decatur, Alabama and will launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

During SNC’s press event at the John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC), which was carried live on NASA TV, Mark N. Sirangelo, corporate vice president and head of Sierra Nevada Space Systems also unveiled the plans for Dream Chaser flight operations and vehicle processing in Florida through a detailed multi-part presentation.

Sirangelo started the announcement by saying, “SNC is thrilled to be the first company to confirm a launch date for our country’s return to orbital human spaceflight and the restart of human spaceflight operations from Florida’s Space Coast. We could not have done this without the spirit and engagement from our national and state governments, the best aerospace companies in the industry, and several major universities, which all hail from over 30 states. Together these passionate people will return our astronauts to space on American spacecraft and rockets launched from America’s space coast right here in Florida.”

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Boeing Leases Processing Facility at NASA Kennedy Space Center to Build CST-100 Spacecraft

Boeing has finalized an agreement with Space Florida to use a processing facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center to build the Crew Space Transportation (CST)-100 spacecraft, an important step toward restoring the United States’ ability to launch humans into space.

“The resources and expertise on the Space Coast are essential to our plans and this agreement solidifies our partnership with the state of Florida,” said John Mulholland, Boeing vice president and program manager, Commercial Programs. “Boeing is committed to providing the most innovative, safest and cost-effective commercial space transportation system to NASA and other commercial customers, and adding the capabilities of the processing facility to our portfolio plays a big part in our plans.”

Renamed the Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility (C3PF), the former space shuttle hangar known as Orbiter Processing Facility-3 is being modernized by Space Florida to meet requirements for building the CST-100 capsule.

“Boeing and Space Florida continue our partnership in repurposing excess NASA facilities for future use by Boeing’s Commercial Crew Program,” said Frank Dibello, president and CEO, Space Florida. “With phase one complete, we look forward to finishing the next phase of facility modification.”

Space Florida is the state’s independent agency for aerospace development. Phase one of the C3PF renovation was completed in February; phase two began in September with improvements including technology upgrades to the environmental and electrical systems and reflooring the facility. Boeing expects to move into C3PF in spring 2014.

Boeing’s Commercial Crew Program is on track for an expected 2016 test launch time frame, with work continuing in Houston, Huntington Beach, Calif., and Florida. In partnership with NASA, Boeing is continuing to develop the CST-100 with the successful completion of water-recovery tests. The company recently unveiled the full-scale CST-100 mock-up to the world in Houston.

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