NASA Marks Ares Progress, Could Delay Orion Review

 

Even as it faced the possibility of delaying by two months, to November, the critical design review of its Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle, NASA reached two milestones on its Ares launcher program: the completion of an initial round of tests of the J-2X upper-stage engine and the selection of a contractor to build the mobile launch platform. 

 

The Orion project has been analyzing system design requirements since an initial architecture was established in November 2007, NASA spokeswoman Stephanie Schierholz said May 9. "NASA believes it may be of value to give the design team additional time to further mature this analysis and prepare the required products for Orion's preliminary design review," she said.

 

Meanwhile, NASA announced in a May 8 press release it had selected Hensel Phelps of Orlando, Fla., to construct the mobile launch platform for Ares 1, which will launch Orion, as well as the larger Ares 5. The contract includes an option for a second mobile platform, for a total potential value of $263.7 million, the press release said. The mobile platform will transport Ares to its launch pad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla., and provide ground support functions. Its tower will stand at about 118 meters, the press release said.

 

In a separate press release May 8, NASA announced it had completed a series of tests that began in December on the J-2X, the upper stage engine for the Ares launchers. The J-2X, being built by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne of Canoga Park, Calif., is based on the Apollo-era J-2 engine with additional components designed for NASA's X-33 rocket plane, a 1990s program that was abandoned in mid-development.

 

The tests, completed May 8, focused on the so-called powerpack that pumps liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen into the engine's main combustion chamber to produce thrust. The test results will help engineers determine how to refine the design of the new engine, the press release said. The J-2X is designed to produce 294,000 pounds of thrust, compared with the 230,000 pounds of thrust produced by J-2, the press release said.

 

 

Sea Launch Needs Data Before Lofting Galaxy 18 

 

Sea Launch Co. is moving forward with plans to loft Intelsat's Galaxy 18 satellite the week of May 19 but will not proceed with the launch aboard a Zenit 3SL rocket until it reviews credible data on the performance of the vehicle's Land Launch variant during its inaugural flight April 28. That performance remains unclear, Sea Launch President Rob Peckham said May 8.

 

The Land Launch flight carried the Amos-3 telecommunications satellite, owned by Spacecom of Israel, into geostationary orbit in what was described immediately after the launch as a glitch-free flight. But in recent days, industry officials have said the rocket's Block-DM upper stage placed the satellite into a lower-than-planned orbit, which will require Amos-3 to use more of its fuel than expected to reach its final operating position. This could reduce the satellite's operating life.

 

Land Launch basically uses the same rocket as that used by Long Beach, Calif.-based Sea Launch, and Sea Launch is taking over Land Launch commercial operations. But for the April 28 flight, Sea Launch was not involved. The contract was between Spacecom, Amos-3 manufacturer Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Space International Services Ltd. of Moscow, a company owned by the rocket's Russian and Ukrainian manufacturers.

 

Peckham said he has received no solid data on the Land Launch performance, but will not start the Galaxy 18 countdown until Sea Launch engineers have reviewed that information.

 

"We are not going to launch until we get all the facts on the performance of Land Launch," Peckham said. "Right now we don't have that as we were not party to the April 28 launch and we do not have a license to get the information. But we have made a formal request from our partner, RSC Energia, for a full report on what the orbital parameters were. Until we get the information we need to exonerate the Zenit 3SL, we are not launching."

 

RSC Energia of Korolev, Russia, is the builder of the Block-DM upper stage for the Zenit 3SL. The Sea Launch Odyssey platform  carrying the Galaxy 18 satellite left Sea Launch's Long Beach home port May 6 on its way to the mid-Pacific Ocean launch site. The Sea Launch Commander control ship departed May 9.

 

Peckham said he would need to have solid data on the Land Launch performance within around 10 days to be able to keep to the current Sea Launch schedule without interruption.

 

An official with Spacecom said May 7 that Amos-3 is on its way to an in-orbit-test location before being stationed at its operating location of 4 degrees west longitude. This official referred questions to IAI, which is responsible for the satellite's early orbital maneuvers. IAI officials could not be reached for comment because of holidays in Israel.

 

 

Proposed Supplemental Includes Money for NASA

 

U.S. lawmakers have added $200 million for NASA to an emergency spending measure largely geared toward funding military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

 

With the Senate Appropriations Committee due to vote on the $195 billion emergency supplemental May 15, Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) announced that the bill includes more than $1 billion for priorities important to the commerce, justice, science subcommittee she chairs.

 

In addition to money for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Census Bureau, the Senate version of the spending bill includes $200 million to help pay NASA back some of the expenses it incurred following the 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia accident.

 

"NASA was hit with a terrible tragedy with the loss of Columbia. The agency was never fully reimbursed and was forced to make dramatic cuts to other programs," Mikulski said in a May 8 statement announcing the additional money. "I am committed to restoring this agency's budget to ensure the continued safety of our astronauts, and to [keep] supporting the critical programs that are the hallmarks of their success."

 

The National Science Foundation also would see its 2008 budget increased $200 million if the additions Mikulski announced are approved by the full Congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush, who got the ball rolling on the supplemental by requesting $178 million to keep the Iraq and Afghanistan military operations funded into 2009.

 

 

Following U.S. Approval, Com Dev Buys L-3 Unit

 

Com Dev USA closed its purchase of L-3 Communications Corp.'s passive microwave devices business May 9 following approval by the Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States, which regulates the purchase of U.S. firms by overseas buyers.

 

Com Dev USA of El Segundo, Calif., a subsidiary of Com Dev International of Ontario, Canada, paid $12.2 million for the L-3 unit, which produces circuit components and related products used on commercial and government satellites and for ground applications.

 

 

Bigelow's Genesis-1 Craft Completes 10,000th Orbit

 

Las Vegas-based Bigelow Aerospace announced in a May 8 press release that its unmanned module Genesis 1 completed its 10,000th orbit around Earth after 660 days in space. Genesis 1 is a one-third scale model of the company's planned Sundancer commercial space habitation module. Since Genesis 1 was launched July 12, 2006, it has traveled the equivalent of 432 million kilometers, and its onboard camera has taken about 14,000 images, the press release said.

 

 

NASA Selects Proposals For Instrument Incubator

 

NASA has selected for further development 21 out of 71 proposed technologies that could enable new Earth observation measurements or reduce the risk, cost and time associated with building remote sensing instruments.

 

NASA's Instrument Incubator Program at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., will pay a total of about $64 million over three years to the contract winners, according to a NASA announcement. NASA received the proposals in response to a 2007 research announcement.