Posted on December 26, 2011 by Bob
Calculations of probabilities of LOV or LOC are not that precise. In the case of shuttle the loss of ET insulation had been observed for years and didn’t get proper attention as had the SRB o-rings. Similar situation have and are occurring in major DOD systems. Of course hindsight is great. One can understand how management can be lulled into a sense of “it is ok”, keep on flying. However, these situations occur in all complex system programs and is not a reason to terminate the program as in the case of the shuttle. Nonconformances should be fixed and the program should continue.
SPM/ Shannon made an excellent point about shuttle safety since Columbia. However, it appears the ASAP had made up their mind, replace the shuttle. Many mistakes were made by various disciplines prior to Columbia accident. However, hindsight is great, mistakes are made, but corrections are made as Shannon noted. You don't end a program as important as shuttle because of these type mistakes, they occur on all complex programs. You fix problems and continue.
The remark that the shuttle is becoming “more riskier” drew anger from throughout the shuttle program, not least due to the fact that major steps forward – via numerous safety modifications – that have been proved via a run of highly successful and “clean” missions since Return To Flight.
The recently landed STS-128 mission is already being classed as the cleanest flight – from a Thermal Protection System (TPS) standpoint – in the history of the program.
Such as been the anger – or more so astonishment – at the Admirals remarks, even Mr Shannon decided to add remarks to the latest Shuttle Standup/Integration report (available on L2) to give his position to the SSP team, made in his usual calm and professional manner.
“There were some disturbing remarks from the head of the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP). We are working to understand these concerns from a Shuttle risk standpoint,” Mr Shannon noted. “We are flying safer now, and have a better safety culture and integrated team approach with many checks and balances to ensure that we are flying as safely as absolutely possible.”
Mr Shannon also cited the recent Flight Readiness Review (FRR) and Mission Management Team (MMT) decisions not to launch a mission until they were absolutely sure the shuttle was safe to carry it out.
These decisions are well documented, from the continuous External Tank foam modifications from STS-114 onwards, to the Engine Cut Off (ECO) sensor/LH2 Feedthrough connector issues surrounding STS-122, to the extensive Flow Control Valve (FCV) discussions, to the GUCP (Ground Umbilical Carrier Plate) misalignment, and right through to STS-128?s LH2 Fill and Drain Valve indications – to name but a few.
However, NASA ‘s manned programs get unusual attention when major failures occur, unlike DoD, which is unfortunate. Two year delays for both Challenger and Columbia with both boards and ASAP making ultra conservative recommendations which hamper the programs.
Look at the contrast with DOD programs, after major failures, they move on. This is why DOD should take over, after all we need the space program and specifically the shuttle.
Look at the two years down time and public testimony during the boards — some circus.
Doesn’t happen with DOD programs. For the good of the nation , DOD must take over critical space operations.
Consider the knowledge, hardware, capability, money, etc. We have in the shuttle. Are we going to wind up in the same place with a new system not as capable as shuttle 10 to 20 years from now.?
Do you think these new efforts are going to be trouble free? Factor in the accident boards, media coverage, delays, the Nation can not afford these upcoming delays. Don’t forget we have a proven vehicle called the shuttle in a Museum, a vehicle which we understand now rather than one it will take 40 years to get to this point, one that we have spent billions on and due to it being in a museum we are not performing space operations that need to be done (HST, ISS) plus paying Russians .5 billion per year for something we CAN do.
Place DOD in charge of space operations and resume and improve the Space Shuttle
Sent from my iPad
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Private spaceflight, up, up, and away
-----Original Message-----
IEEE SpectrumÂ
Aerospace / Aviation
Private Spaceflight: Up, Up, and Away
This year, commercial spaceflight will really take off
By James Oberg  /  January 2012  Â
Photo: Virgin Galactic FUN RIDE Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo, attached to its carrier, WhiteKnightTwo, should be making test flights this year.
The 20th of February, 2012, will be the 50th anniversary of the first U.S. orbital manned spaceflight. To mark the occasion, retired pilot Craig Russell had an over-the-top idea: Reenact astronaut John Glenn's mission, but do it with private funding and off-the-shelf technologies.
Ultimately, a lack of funding killed Russell's dream, but don't lose heart. Truth is, if you've got a more practical reason for putting a person in space, there's never been a better time to try. Over the last decade, a broad advance in the commercial availability of aerospace technologies has allowed small private entities to attempt feats that once had been the monopoly of major governments.
In 2012 privately funded human spaceflight will advance from promises and one-off stunts to serious flight-testing of spaceships. Governments will be the biggest customers, with unmanned systems possibly docking with the International Space Station (ISS) this year and perhaps eventually taking the place of the retired U.S. space shuttles. Meanwhile, spacecraft designed to give well-heeled tourists a thrill will be firing up their rockets, letting their passengers enjoy a few minutes of weightlessness, and gliding in for landings.
Indeed, this could be the year that spaceflight moves beyond the 1960s inspirational phrase "man in space" toward a more inclusive one: "Any man or woman in space."
In spaceflight, as in many other fields, there's an advantage to being first. Virgin Galactic has that advantage. Its SpaceShipTwo is the roomier follow-up to the craft that won the Ansari X-Prize in 2004 for crossing the legal boundary of space (100 kilometers). The British company has already sold nearly 500 tickets at US $200 000 apiece, and it opened a spaceport this past October in New Mexico.
In 2012, "our hope, our plan, is to do powered flight tests, and if things go well, we have a shot of getting into space," says CEO George T. Whitesides. Using the large WhiteKnightTwo aircraft as a carrier, the rocket plane has already begun unpowered drop tests from its development base in Mojave, Calif. And it recently concluded ground-based engine burns that were nearly long enough to put a vehicle into space. Full-duration burns will last between 60 and 70 seconds during an ascent that involves a little less than 4 g's of acceleration.
Actual test flights will be made in small steps, Whitesides says. Turning the engine on and off will be a first step, followed by a 10-second burn, a 20-second burn, and so forth. When asked how many test flights there would be before the first tourists fly, he laughed, saying, "As many as you need."
The other tourist spaceship that is expected to get airborne in 2012 is the Lynx rocket plane from Xcor Aerospace, in Mojave. Its concept is less grandiose than SpaceShipTwo's, with a single passenger sitting in a cockpit next to a single pilot and with initial flights to altitudes of just over 60 kilometers. Company spokesman Mike Massee says the rocket plane's propulsion system was designed for speedy testing and will eventually allow for two flights per day using a single ground crew.
You can also expect to hear more about Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos's secretive spaceflight company, Blue Origin, based in Kent, Wash. Little was known about its spacecraft, New Shepard, which takes off and lands vertically, until an unmanned supersonic test flight this past summer ended in an emergency engine shutdown and the crash-and-burn loss of the vehicle. Another craft from the company is expected to fly this year and at some point could carry one or more test pilots. While it's unknown what altitude pilots will be aiming for, breaking the 100-km barrier is the likely goal for selling seats to passengers.
Up and down isn't the only human spaceflight game in town. The more important work, from a commercial and scientific perspective, is orbital flight. And that arena, too, could pass real milestones this year. Some suborbital tourist firms have dreams of eventual orbital flight, but others are going straight for it.
In terms of spacecraft engineering, the step from short suborbital missions to orbital flight is about two orders of magnitude of energy, vehicle stress, and general complexity. Private ticket prices reflect that: Initial suborbital SpaceShipTwo prices start at $200 000, while space tourist trips to the ISS in a Soyuz have ranged from $20 million to $40 million.
NASA hopes that at least one corporate team will succeed in developing an Earth-to-orbit "space taxi" in the next few years, so it can stop paying Russia $65 million per seat on Soyuz vehicles. If the price is low enough, that same operator could someday also sell tickets to other orbital destinations, should there ever be any—and some are under consideration. But at recent hearings in Washington, D.C., some U.S. congressmen expressed serious skepticism about whether a private market for such flights would ever evolve while the ticket prices remain in the multimillion-dollar range.
That's why SpaceX's Dragon flights this year are so important. The firm, based in Hawthorne, Calif., plans two unmanned resupply runs to the ISS. If successful, these cargo flights will help establish a track record that could eventually lead NASA to approve a SpaceX craft for manned flights. Before that happens, though, SpaceX needs to finish developing and testing its launch escape system.
Illustration: SpaceX Dragon, Fly SpaceX's Dragon capsule will see testing this year.
Two other orbital projects in the works include a shuttle-shaped craft built by Sierra Nevada Corp. that repurposes a surplus Soviet-era design, and a modernized version of the Apollo capsule from Boeing. Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser will be tested in the second half of the year. It will be carried to altitude and dropped by Virgin Galactic's WhiteKnightTwo, and it will then glide under autopilot and land itself. Future flights could be flown by test pilots, but Sierra Nevada has not been forthcoming. These tests, say experts, should help dispel persistent concerns among some spaceflight professionals about the design's controllability. Boeing's craft, the CST-100 (for Crew Space Transportation), is further from flight-testing.
Little is known about the spacecraft from Excalibur Almaz, except that it's based on a Soviet manned vehicle, with modernized innards, and is launched by a commercial booster. Company official Arthur Dula states that it "could provide a crew vehicle two years earlier than the current NASA plans." The company, headquartered on the Isle of Man, recently inked a development agreement with NASA and will spend 2012 on design and safety reviews, not flight-testing.
Harsh reality will eventually sort out the winners from the losers, but for now the field of contestants is satisfyingly broad, as they exploit combinations of classic, proven ideas with bold new innovations. Successes and failures are likely to be spectacular, as the competing projects attempt to push open a wider way for human access to space. Expect a sky full of excitement this year.
This article originally appeared in print as "Up, Up, and Away."
About the Author
James Oberg, worked as an aerospace engineer at NASA for 22 years. He switched to journalism in the late 1990s and now makes his living reporting on space for such outlets as Popular Science, NBC News, and of course, Spectrum.

USA can't put humans in LEO !!
China plans to put man on the moon: On Thursday, Beijing announced that it plans to put an astronaut on the moon, which marks the first official confirmation of its lunar mission. Although the mission is still some time off—slated for sometime around 2020—the statement underscores China’s soaring ambitions and its quest to project more power. The announcement also arrives only five months after the U.S. retired its space shuttle program, leaving America with no manned spacecraft for many years. Former U.S. President George W. Bush proposed sending astronauts back to the moon, but now the U.S. is not even able to send people into space. China’s space program is rapidly rising as nasa trudges through a long period of inactivity and transition.
Credit: the week in review/trumpet.com
Credit: the week in review/trumpet.com
China 's program---" no fits and starts" --orderly unlike USA
Space News
Thu, 29 December, 2011
China Outlines Space Priorities, Including Debris Mitigation, New Launch Vehicles
By Peter B. de Selding
PARIS — The Chinese government on Dec. 29 issued a broad statement on its five-year space program, saying top priorities include developing three new launch vehicles — including a rapid-response launch system — and mitigating its contribution to space debris.
The 17-page white paper, “China’s Space Activities in 2011,” reiterates China’s focus on lunar exploration, with robotic lunar landers and a lunar sample-return mission slated for launch by 2016. The country’s well-publicized development of its manned space station in low Earth orbit is also a priority.
Chinese officials accustomed to criticizing alleged breaches of space etiquette by the United States came in for a large dose of international criticism following China’s intentional destruction of one of its satellites in low Earth orbit in 2007. The maneuver, apparently designed to test a mobile ground-based missile launch system, left a large field of debris that will complicate satellite operations — including China’s operations — in low Earth orbit for decades.
The U.S. Air Force, using the U.S. Space Surveillance Network of ground radars, informed Chinese authorities of debris approaching Chinese satellites on 147 occasions in the 12 months ending in June, according to U.S. State Department data.
The white paper, published by China’s Information Office of the State Council, repeatedly returns to space debris as a concern. China’s Long March rockets are being “fully deactivated” after mission completion to reduce the possibility of future explosion in orbit, the paper says. In addition, it says, operators of satellites in geostationary orbit 36,000 kilometers over the equator, the home of most telecommunications spacecraft, have begun “moving a few aging ... satellites out of orbit.”
Nonbinding international guidelines call for geostationary satellites to be moved several hundred kilometers above the geostationary arc when they are nearing retirement. The same guidelines call for satellites in low Earth orbit to be sent on retirement into orbital trajectories that will cause them to be burned up on atmospheric re-entry within 25 years.
China’s Beidou satellite-based positioning, navigation and timing constellation entered limited regional service in late 2011. By 2020, the system is scheduled to enter full global service with five geostationary satellites and 30 satellites in nongeostationary orbit. Beidou is one of four global satellite navigation systems, the others being the U.S. GPS network; Russia’s Glonass system, which in 2011 returned to operational status; and Europe’s Galileo system, still in development.
The document says China is engaged in international discussions to coordinate satellite navigation radio frequencies to avoid interference. It makes no mention of China’s ongoing talks with the 27-nation European Union with respect to overlapping signals on the encrypted military-security signals planned for both Galileo and Beidou.
The signal overlay will not cause interference for either system, but will make it impossible for either to jam the signals of the other without also jamming its own system.
China’s Long March rockets have been, along with its manned space program, the most visible of China’s space priorities. In 2011, Long March vehicles set a record for annual launch activity, with 19 launches, including the successful launch and in-orbit docking of the Tiangong-1 orbiter and the Shenzhou-8 spacecraft, in preparation for China’s future space station.
Three commercial launches for non-Chinese operators were conducted — the Paksat-1R and Nigcomsat-1R telecommunications satellites for the Pakistani and Nigerian governments, with China providing the satellites as well as the launch; and the launch of Paris-based Eutelsat’s W3C telecommunications satellite.
In a Dec. 27 statement, the China Great Wall Industry Corp., which commercializes the Long March vehicle family, said it plans to launch five non-Chinese satellites in 2012, including the Apstar 7 and Apstar 7B telecommunications spacecraft for APT Satellite Co. Ltd of Hong Kong.
The white paper says the next five years will see completion of development of a fourth spaceport, in Hainan, and development of the Long March 5, Long March 6 and Long March 7 variants.
The Long March 5 is being designed to lift up to 25,000 kilograms of payload into low Earth orbit. The Long March 6 is described as a “high-speed response” vehicle capable of carrying less than 1,000 kilograms into a 700-kilometer polar low Earth orbit. The Long March 7, it says, will be able to place a 5,500-kilogram satellite into the same orbit.
© Imaginova Corp. All rights reserved.
===============================================================
The New York Times
December 29, 2011
Space Plan From China Broadens Challenge to U.S.
By EDWARD WONG and KENNETH CHANG
BEIJING — Broadening its challenge to the United States, the Chinese government on Thursday announced an ambitious five-year plan for space exploration that would move China closer to becoming a major rival at a time when the American program is in retreat.
Coupled with China’s earlier vows to build a space station and put an astronaut on the moon, the plan conjured up memories of the cold-war-era space race between the United States and the Soviet Union. The United States, which has de-emphasized manned spaceflight in recent years, is now dependent on Russia for transporting its astronauts to the International Space Station. Russia, for its part, has suffered an embarrassing string of failed satellite launchings.
China has been looking for ways to exert its growing economic strength and to demonstrate that its technological mastery and scientific achievements can approach those of any global power. The plan announced Thursday calls for launching a space lab and collecting samples from the moon, all by 2016, along with a more powerful manned spaceship and space freighters.
In recent years, China has also sought to build a military capacity in keeping with its economic might, expanding its submarine fleet and, this year, testing its first aircraft carrier, a refurbished Soviet model. Under the new space plan, it would vastly expand its version of a Global Positioning System, which would have military as well as civilian uses.
The plan shows how the government intends to draw on military and civilian resources to meet the goals, which the government is betting will also produce benefits for the Chinese economy. “This approach offers lessons for other advanced space powers, including the U.S., which needs to make sure it sustains its high-level investment in various aspects of space development across the board,” said Andrew S. Erickson, a professor at the United States Naval War College who has studied the Chinese space program.
While a leader in the business of launching satellites, China is still years behind the United States in space. Its human spaceflight accomplishments to date put it roughly where the United States and the Soviet Union were in the mid-1960s.
But China has consistently stuck to a development timeline for its program and met the realistic goals set out in its five-year plans, which are mainstays of the Communist Party’s authoritarian system.
For human spaceflight, the plan lays out a continuation of China’s steady but unrushed efforts to develop technologies and extend its capacities. It says that China will begin the work to land its astronauts on the moon, but it does not provide a target date for when they will go.
“I think it is a comprehensive, moderately paced program,” said John M. Logsdon, former director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University. “It’s not a crash program.”
By contrast, NASA’s direction tends to shift with every change of presidency. President George W. Bush called on NASA to return to the moon by 2020. President Obama canceled that program and now wants the agency to send astronauts to an asteroid. NASA shut down its 30-year space shuttle program after a final flight in July.
“The one thing that is admirable about their program is they don’t have fits and starts,” said Joseph R. Fragola, a space safety expert who has visited the space facilities in China. “Their program is low budget but it is laid out, and they follow it in an orderly process, and we don’t do that.”
Experts say Beijing is approaching its space program the way it did its military modernization. In addition to the aircraft carrier, which it bought from Ukraine, China has also made a progress on an anti-ship ballistic missile, which could be deployed to ward off foreign warships. Last January, the Chinese military tested a stealth fighter hours before Robert M. Gates, the defense secretary at the time, met in Beijing with President Hu Jintao.
Unlike in the United States, where there are separate military and civilian space programs, in China the People’s Liberation Army is the driving force behind development of the Chinese space program. Civilian institutions, including various universities and laboratories, are part of the military-led efforts. In the white paper that laid out the plan, released by the State Council, China’s cabinet, the authors took pains to say that Beijing was not seeking to challenge any nation militarily with its space program.
“China always adheres to the use of outer space for peaceful purposes, and opposes weaponization or any arms race in outer space,” the paper said.
Analysts say one of the more notable goals of the five-year strategy is to further develop the Beidou Navigation Satellite System, which on Tuesday began providing navigation, positioning and timing data on China and surrounding areas. The white paper said China intended to have a global system by 2020, with 35 satellites in orbit. If it met that goal, China would join Russia in having a system that tries to rival America’s. China has already launched 10 satellites for the Beidou system, and plans to launch six more next year.
Beidou is not as advanced as its American counterpart, but it is expected to overshadow the Russian system and would provide the Chinese military with an alternative to relying on a civilian version of the American network. Beidou would also be used for civilian purposes, like providing drivers with a navigation tool.
“This has major commercial implications, it has major security implications,” Mr. Erickson said. “To be a great military and space power, it’s important to have one’s own satellite navigation system.”
The white paper, which follows similar reports released in 2000 and 2006, also said China would develop new Long March launch vehicles to deliver heavier payloads into orbit. It will also work on improving conditions for human spaceflight.
To lay that groundwork, the paper said, China “will launch space laboratories, manned spaceship and space freighters; make breakthroughs in and master space station key technologies, including astronauts’ medium-term stay, regenerative life support and propellant refueling; conduct space applications to a certain extent and make technological preparations for the construction of space stations.”
On deep-space exploration, the paper said China planned to launch orbiters that would make soft lunar landings and do roving and surveying. After that, the paper said, China will collect samples of the moon’s surface and bring them back for analysis.
The paper also said China planned to carry out a comprehensive plan for upgrading its satellite technology and widening the uses of its satellites.
“In aggregate, this is clearly going to propel China even further into space to a significant degree,” Mr. Erickson said. “There’s relentless progress across the board.”
In 2003, China became the third country to send a human into space, behind the United States and the Soviet Union, when it put Yang Liwei into orbit around the earth. It launched a lunar probe in 2007 that orbited the moon and took pictures, and the next year completed its first spacewalk when Zhai Zhigang remained for 13 minutes outside the Shenzhou 7 spacecraft.
China’s Long March 5 rocket, currently under development, would be able to lift about 25 tons to low-earth orbit, comparable to the United States’ Delta IV Heavy rocket and much smaller than the Saturn V rocket that launched the Apollo spacecraft to the moon four decades ago. But that would be enough for China to get to the moon by launching its lunar spacecraft in pieces and assembling it in the earth’s orbit.
Edward Wong reported from Beijing, and Kenneth Chang from New York.
© 2011 The New York Times Company
===============================================================
BBC News
29 December 2011 Last updated at 23:39 ET
China white paper sets out five-year space plan
China's unmanned Shenzhou-8 returned to Earth, after completing two space dockings last month The unmanned Shenzhou-8 returned to Earth, after completing two space dockings last month.
China has released a white paper setting out its space plans for the next five years.
China ''will push forward human spaceflight projects and make new technological breakthroughs'', the report said.
It plans to develop next-generation rockets, new types of satellites and carry out deep-space exploration.
In the long term, China is working towards building a space station and putting a person on the moon.
The white paper also summarised China's space activities since 2006 and spelt out policies for international co-operation, in a move that appeared aimed at allaying concern over its space ambitions.
''China will work together with the international community to maintain a peaceful and clean outer space and endeavour to make new contributions to the lofty cause of promoting world peace and development,'' said the report.
It lists collaborations with countries such as Russia, Brazil, France and Britain. China will also ''continue to make dialogue regarding the space field'' with the US, following a NASA delegation visit in October.
China views its space programme as a key part of its national development and international growth.
Manned mission
According to the white paper, the Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-10 spaceships will be launched to dock with the Tiangong-1 space lab module.
Tiangong-1, which means ''heavenly palace'', was launched aboard a Long March 2F rocket in September. It is the first part of China's space station.
Last month the Shenzhou-8 spent just under 17 days in orbit - the longest Shenzhou mission to date - and rendezvoused with the space lab.
Officials have indicated that at least one of the two next Shenzhou missions would be manned and that 2012 might even see the country's first female astronaut.
The white paper also said China would improve its Long March launch vehicles, building next-generation rockets that used ''non-toxic and pollutant-free propellant''. It plans to upgrade launch sites and finish a new launch base in Hainan.
It will also continue building its Beidou satellite navigation system, with aims to cover the Asia-Pacific region by the end of 2012 and complete global coverage by 2020.
China will also launch orbiters to survey the moon, land on it and obtain samples that can be studied.
Ultimately, it wants to put a person on the moon. In the next five years, the report said, China will ''conduct studies on the preliminary plan for a human lunar landing''.
China's space activities in 2011
Tiangong-1 was launched in September on a Long March 2F rocket
The unmanned laboratory unit was first put in a 350km-high orbit
Shenzhou 8 was sent up to rendezvous and dock with Tiangong-1
The project tested key technologies such as life-support systems
BBC © 2011
===============================================================
Thu, 29 December, 2011
China Outlines Space Priorities, Including Debris Mitigation, New Launch Vehicles
By Peter B. de Selding
PARIS — The Chinese government on Dec. 29 issued a broad statement on its five-year space program, saying top priorities include developing three new launch vehicles — including a rapid-response launch system — and mitigating its contribution to space debris.
The 17-page white paper, “China’s Space Activities in 2011,” reiterates China’s focus on lunar exploration, with robotic lunar landers and a lunar sample-return mission slated for launch by 2016. The country’s well-publicized development of its manned space station in low Earth orbit is also a priority.
Chinese officials accustomed to criticizing alleged breaches of space etiquette by the United States came in for a large dose of international criticism following China’s intentional destruction of one of its satellites in low Earth orbit in 2007. The maneuver, apparently designed to test a mobile ground-based missile launch system, left a large field of debris that will complicate satellite operations — including China’s operations — in low Earth orbit for decades.
The U.S. Air Force, using the U.S. Space Surveillance Network of ground radars, informed Chinese authorities of debris approaching Chinese satellites on 147 occasions in the 12 months ending in June, according to U.S. State Department data.
The white paper, published by China’s Information Office of the State Council, repeatedly returns to space debris as a concern. China’s Long March rockets are being “fully deactivated” after mission completion to reduce the possibility of future explosion in orbit, the paper says. In addition, it says, operators of satellites in geostationary orbit 36,000 kilometers over the equator, the home of most telecommunications spacecraft, have begun “moving a few aging ... satellites out of orbit.”
Nonbinding international guidelines call for geostationary satellites to be moved several hundred kilometers above the geostationary arc when they are nearing retirement. The same guidelines call for satellites in low Earth orbit to be sent on retirement into orbital trajectories that will cause them to be burned up on atmospheric re-entry within 25 years.
China’s Beidou satellite-based positioning, navigation and timing constellation entered limited regional service in late 2011. By 2020, the system is scheduled to enter full global service with five geostationary satellites and 30 satellites in nongeostationary orbit. Beidou is one of four global satellite navigation systems, the others being the U.S. GPS network; Russia’s Glonass system, which in 2011 returned to operational status; and Europe’s Galileo system, still in development.
The document says China is engaged in international discussions to coordinate satellite navigation radio frequencies to avoid interference. It makes no mention of China’s ongoing talks with the 27-nation European Union with respect to overlapping signals on the encrypted military-security signals planned for both Galileo and Beidou.
The signal overlay will not cause interference for either system, but will make it impossible for either to jam the signals of the other without also jamming its own system.
China’s Long March rockets have been, along with its manned space program, the most visible of China’s space priorities. In 2011, Long March vehicles set a record for annual launch activity, with 19 launches, including the successful launch and in-orbit docking of the Tiangong-1 orbiter and the Shenzhou-8 spacecraft, in preparation for China’s future space station.
Three commercial launches for non-Chinese operators were conducted — the Paksat-1R and Nigcomsat-1R telecommunications satellites for the Pakistani and Nigerian governments, with China providing the satellites as well as the launch; and the launch of Paris-based Eutelsat’s W3C telecommunications satellite.
In a Dec. 27 statement, the China Great Wall Industry Corp., which commercializes the Long March vehicle family, said it plans to launch five non-Chinese satellites in 2012, including the Apstar 7 and Apstar 7B telecommunications spacecraft for APT Satellite Co. Ltd of Hong Kong.
The white paper says the next five years will see completion of development of a fourth spaceport, in Hainan, and development of the Long March 5, Long March 6 and Long March 7 variants.
The Long March 5 is being designed to lift up to 25,000 kilograms of payload into low Earth orbit. The Long March 6 is described as a “high-speed response” vehicle capable of carrying less than 1,000 kilograms into a 700-kilometer polar low Earth orbit. The Long March 7, it says, will be able to place a 5,500-kilogram satellite into the same orbit.
© Imaginova Corp. All rights reserved.
===============================================================
The New York Times
December 29, 2011
Space Plan From China Broadens Challenge to U.S.
By EDWARD WONG and KENNETH CHANG
BEIJING — Broadening its challenge to the United States, the Chinese government on Thursday announced an ambitious five-year plan for space exploration that would move China closer to becoming a major rival at a time when the American program is in retreat.
Coupled with China’s earlier vows to build a space station and put an astronaut on the moon, the plan conjured up memories of the cold-war-era space race between the United States and the Soviet Union. The United States, which has de-emphasized manned spaceflight in recent years, is now dependent on Russia for transporting its astronauts to the International Space Station. Russia, for its part, has suffered an embarrassing string of failed satellite launchings.
China has been looking for ways to exert its growing economic strength and to demonstrate that its technological mastery and scientific achievements can approach those of any global power. The plan announced Thursday calls for launching a space lab and collecting samples from the moon, all by 2016, along with a more powerful manned spaceship and space freighters.
In recent years, China has also sought to build a military capacity in keeping with its economic might, expanding its submarine fleet and, this year, testing its first aircraft carrier, a refurbished Soviet model. Under the new space plan, it would vastly expand its version of a Global Positioning System, which would have military as well as civilian uses.
The plan shows how the government intends to draw on military and civilian resources to meet the goals, which the government is betting will also produce benefits for the Chinese economy. “This approach offers lessons for other advanced space powers, including the U.S., which needs to make sure it sustains its high-level investment in various aspects of space development across the board,” said Andrew S. Erickson, a professor at the United States Naval War College who has studied the Chinese space program.
While a leader in the business of launching satellites, China is still years behind the United States in space. Its human spaceflight accomplishments to date put it roughly where the United States and the Soviet Union were in the mid-1960s.
But China has consistently stuck to a development timeline for its program and met the realistic goals set out in its five-year plans, which are mainstays of the Communist Party’s authoritarian system.
For human spaceflight, the plan lays out a continuation of China’s steady but unrushed efforts to develop technologies and extend its capacities. It says that China will begin the work to land its astronauts on the moon, but it does not provide a target date for when they will go.
“I think it is a comprehensive, moderately paced program,” said John M. Logsdon, former director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University. “It’s not a crash program.”
By contrast, NASA’s direction tends to shift with every change of presidency. President George W. Bush called on NASA to return to the moon by 2020. President Obama canceled that program and now wants the agency to send astronauts to an asteroid. NASA shut down its 30-year space shuttle program after a final flight in July.
“The one thing that is admirable about their program is they don’t have fits and starts,” said Joseph R. Fragola, a space safety expert who has visited the space facilities in China. “Their program is low budget but it is laid out, and they follow it in an orderly process, and we don’t do that.”
Experts say Beijing is approaching its space program the way it did its military modernization. In addition to the aircraft carrier, which it bought from Ukraine, China has also made a progress on an anti-ship ballistic missile, which could be deployed to ward off foreign warships. Last January, the Chinese military tested a stealth fighter hours before Robert M. Gates, the defense secretary at the time, met in Beijing with President Hu Jintao.
Unlike in the United States, where there are separate military and civilian space programs, in China the People’s Liberation Army is the driving force behind development of the Chinese space program. Civilian institutions, including various universities and laboratories, are part of the military-led efforts. In the white paper that laid out the plan, released by the State Council, China’s cabinet, the authors took pains to say that Beijing was not seeking to challenge any nation militarily with its space program.
“China always adheres to the use of outer space for peaceful purposes, and opposes weaponization or any arms race in outer space,” the paper said.
Analysts say one of the more notable goals of the five-year strategy is to further develop the Beidou Navigation Satellite System, which on Tuesday began providing navigation, positioning and timing data on China and surrounding areas. The white paper said China intended to have a global system by 2020, with 35 satellites in orbit. If it met that goal, China would join Russia in having a system that tries to rival America’s. China has already launched 10 satellites for the Beidou system, and plans to launch six more next year.
Beidou is not as advanced as its American counterpart, but it is expected to overshadow the Russian system and would provide the Chinese military with an alternative to relying on a civilian version of the American network. Beidou would also be used for civilian purposes, like providing drivers with a navigation tool.
“This has major commercial implications, it has major security implications,” Mr. Erickson said. “To be a great military and space power, it’s important to have one’s own satellite navigation system.”
The white paper, which follows similar reports released in 2000 and 2006, also said China would develop new Long March launch vehicles to deliver heavier payloads into orbit. It will also work on improving conditions for human spaceflight.
To lay that groundwork, the paper said, China “will launch space laboratories, manned spaceship and space freighters; make breakthroughs in and master space station key technologies, including astronauts’ medium-term stay, regenerative life support and propellant refueling; conduct space applications to a certain extent and make technological preparations for the construction of space stations.”
On deep-space exploration, the paper said China planned to launch orbiters that would make soft lunar landings and do roving and surveying. After that, the paper said, China will collect samples of the moon’s surface and bring them back for analysis.
The paper also said China planned to carry out a comprehensive plan for upgrading its satellite technology and widening the uses of its satellites.
“In aggregate, this is clearly going to propel China even further into space to a significant degree,” Mr. Erickson said. “There’s relentless progress across the board.”
In 2003, China became the third country to send a human into space, behind the United States and the Soviet Union, when it put Yang Liwei into orbit around the earth. It launched a lunar probe in 2007 that orbited the moon and took pictures, and the next year completed its first spacewalk when Zhai Zhigang remained for 13 minutes outside the Shenzhou 7 spacecraft.
China’s Long March 5 rocket, currently under development, would be able to lift about 25 tons to low-earth orbit, comparable to the United States’ Delta IV Heavy rocket and much smaller than the Saturn V rocket that launched the Apollo spacecraft to the moon four decades ago. But that would be enough for China to get to the moon by launching its lunar spacecraft in pieces and assembling it in the earth’s orbit.
Edward Wong reported from Beijing, and Kenneth Chang from New York.
© 2011 The New York Times Company
===============================================================
BBC News
29 December 2011 Last updated at 23:39 ET
China white paper sets out five-year space plan
China's unmanned Shenzhou-8 returned to Earth, after completing two space dockings last month The unmanned Shenzhou-8 returned to Earth, after completing two space dockings last month.
China has released a white paper setting out its space plans for the next five years.
China ''will push forward human spaceflight projects and make new technological breakthroughs'', the report said.
It plans to develop next-generation rockets, new types of satellites and carry out deep-space exploration.
In the long term, China is working towards building a space station and putting a person on the moon.
The white paper also summarised China's space activities since 2006 and spelt out policies for international co-operation, in a move that appeared aimed at allaying concern over its space ambitions.
''China will work together with the international community to maintain a peaceful and clean outer space and endeavour to make new contributions to the lofty cause of promoting world peace and development,'' said the report.
It lists collaborations with countries such as Russia, Brazil, France and Britain. China will also ''continue to make dialogue regarding the space field'' with the US, following a NASA delegation visit in October.
China views its space programme as a key part of its national development and international growth.
Manned mission
According to the white paper, the Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-10 spaceships will be launched to dock with the Tiangong-1 space lab module.
Tiangong-1, which means ''heavenly palace'', was launched aboard a Long March 2F rocket in September. It is the first part of China's space station.
Last month the Shenzhou-8 spent just under 17 days in orbit - the longest Shenzhou mission to date - and rendezvoused with the space lab.
Officials have indicated that at least one of the two next Shenzhou missions would be manned and that 2012 might even see the country's first female astronaut.
The white paper also said China would improve its Long March launch vehicles, building next-generation rockets that used ''non-toxic and pollutant-free propellant''. It plans to upgrade launch sites and finish a new launch base in Hainan.
It will also continue building its Beidou satellite navigation system, with aims to cover the Asia-Pacific region by the end of 2012 and complete global coverage by 2020.
China will also launch orbiters to survey the moon, land on it and obtain samples that can be studied.
Ultimately, it wants to put a person on the moon. In the next five years, the report said, China will ''conduct studies on the preliminary plan for a human lunar landing''.
China's space activities in 2011
Tiangong-1 was launched in September on a Long March 2F rocket
The unmanned laboratory unit was first put in a 350km-high orbit
Shenzhou 8 was sent up to rendezvous and dock with Tiangong-1
The project tested key technologies such as life-support systems
BBC © 2011
===============================================================
Friday, December 30, 2011
Political Obstruction Is problem---United Space Alliance-- DeCastro
As I indicated in the Shuttle is safe, it makes no sense and is totally irrational to retire the shuttle. Look at the number of experts who recommended against the shuttle retirement.
Read This Risk Assessment used on shuttle, illustrates the total ineptness of the ASAP and the CAIB, both concluded shuttle unsafe. Bolden nor Garver nor Gustamaier took issue with this totally unscientific conclusion. Look at the record after corrective actions taken after Columbia.
These people, Bolden, Garver, Gustamaier,and Obama do not want a successful American space program. They know these new underfunded efforts will not likely be successful, and if they are with all the delays that will likely occur, a reliable vehicle will not be available for many years therefore leaving America with a 10 to 20 years " shuttle capability" gap. Maybe longer, since new efforts will not meet the shuttle's capability.
America, don't let this ADM, NASA,and Congress kill America's preeminence in space.
For experts opposing shuttle retirement, read Famous Personalities.... Page
Read This Risk Assessment used on shuttle, illustrates the total ineptness of the ASAP and the CAIB, both concluded shuttle unsafe. Bolden nor Garver nor Gustamaier took issue with this totally unscientific conclusion. Look at the record after corrective actions taken after Columbia.
These people, Bolden, Garver, Gustamaier,and Obama do not want a successful American space program. They know these new underfunded efforts will not likely be successful, and if they are with all the delays that will likely occur, a reliable vehicle will not be available for many years therefore leaving America with a 10 to 20 years " shuttle capability" gap. Maybe longer, since new efforts will not meet the shuttle's capability.
America, don't let this ADM, NASA,and Congress kill America's preeminence in space.
For experts opposing shuttle retirement, read Famous Personalities.... Page
Shuttle is Safe---Jeffs
Read all these papers, this one, The Case to Save Shuttle, Nonsensical Retirement of shuttle, and you will conclude the shuttle is safe. Bolden,Garver,Dyer, Gehman and other high level NASA officials and those who have served on panels/accident boards who have stated that the shuttle is unsafe should resign. Congress should re-review shuttle safety and continue to fly shuttle. This is a tragic situation of massive proportions. The American taxpayer should demand a reversal of the decision to retire shuttle.
On the Early Retirement of the Space Shuttle
File image.
by George W. Jeffs
for Launchspace
Bethesda MD (SPX) May 17, 2011
A Symbol: An in-space ballerina and hypersonic flying marvel, the Space Shuttle Orbiter is almost impossible for others to duplicate and continues to generate international admiration and respect for U.S. technical capabilities.
Full Potential Not Yet Realized: The multi-functional Orbiter has performed “as designed” on all assignments including reentry and a key role in the International Space Station (ISS) assembly. Like any new manned system, as crews and engineers become more familiar (like a helicopter) performance “in the box” improves and extending-the-box opportunities are identified. So far the Orbiter has operated generally within the box.
Too Young For Retirement: Each remaining Orbiter has many missions and years of life remaining. The Orbiter was designed for a one hundred mission life with a factor of four (i.e. 400 flight potential). It has experienced low flight rates and has not been structurally overloaded (maximum loads occur during the boost phase and high wind shear situations have been avoided through pre-flight meteorological observations) and receives a complete examination and any necessary refurbishment between each flight.
The System is Safe for Continued Man Flights: No critical failures have originated from within the triply redundant Orbiter itself but like any spacecraft designed for light-weight, it is vulnerable to abuse (e.g. SRB O rings, ET insulation debris); these are now known and addressable problems. The Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSME)s were my principal safety concern through the development years but their flight record has been excellent and it may be that the integrity of recovered, refurbished rocket engines is as good as or even better than new ones. Some rocket engine incipient failures may lie undetected in ocean graves.
On the Early Retirement of the Space Shuttle
File image.
by George W. Jeffs
for Launchspace
Bethesda MD (SPX) May 17, 2011
A Symbol: An in-space ballerina and hypersonic flying marvel, the Space Shuttle Orbiter is almost impossible for others to duplicate and continues to generate international admiration and respect for U.S. technical capabilities.
Full Potential Not Yet Realized: The multi-functional Orbiter has performed “as designed” on all assignments including reentry and a key role in the International Space Station (ISS) assembly. Like any new manned system, as crews and engineers become more familiar (like a helicopter) performance “in the box” improves and extending-the-box opportunities are identified. So far the Orbiter has operated generally within the box.
Too Young For Retirement: Each remaining Orbiter has many missions and years of life remaining. The Orbiter was designed for a one hundred mission life with a factor of four (i.e. 400 flight potential). It has experienced low flight rates and has not been structurally overloaded (maximum loads occur during the boost phase and high wind shear situations have been avoided through pre-flight meteorological observations) and receives a complete examination and any necessary refurbishment between each flight.
The System is Safe for Continued Man Flights: No critical failures have originated from within the triply redundant Orbiter itself but like any spacecraft designed for light-weight, it is vulnerable to abuse (e.g. SRB O rings, ET insulation debris); these are now known and addressable problems. The Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSME)s were my principal safety concern through the development years but their flight record has been excellent and it may be that the integrity of recovered, refurbished rocket engines is as good as or even better than new ones. Some rocket engine incipient failures may lie undetected in ocean graves.
Misguided priorities
Solyndra, Oil Pipeline Show Obama’s ‘Misguided’ Priorities
Add Shuttle retirement to above.
Shuttle retirement impact
1. Put 40,000 out of work
2. Depend on foreign country for manned acess to ISS
3. Waste millions in transport to ISS
4. Put ISS in danger , put 100 billion investment in jeopardy
5. Disbanded shuttle team and workforce–take years to reassemble
6. Impact negatively scientific research
7. Adversely affect our children’s goals in scientific fields
8. Surrender the high ground to China
9. Significant national security impact.
10. American astronauts in danger in vehicles not manned rated
11. Eliminates America Preeminence in space for decades.
12. Wastes hundreds of billions used to develop and test shuttle and years of work by thousands of aerospace workers.
13. Wastes billions on facilities at KSC, JSC, MSFC, and at hundred of contractor/suppliers facilities.
14. Created poorly planned commercial efforts that will not end well while we have the shuttle in a Museum!! Don’t come close to shuttle capability.
15. Eliminated USA ‘s manned access to earth orbit
Credit. Newmax
.1. Solyndra, Oil Pipeline Show Obama’s ‘Misguided’ Priorities
The Obama administration’s handling of two recent controversies — solar panel maker Solyndra and the Keystone XL pipeline — illustrates a misguided approach to energy-related issues, according to an energy expert.
The administration has announced that it will delay for a year a final decision on construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, which would bring much-needed oil from Canada to Texas and the Gulf of Mexico.
At the same time, the administration is under fire for using its influence to help Solyndra obtain a $529 million loan guarantee from the Department of Energy. The company declared bankruptcy and folded in September.
“Even a cursory look at the two deals shows that, once again, the Obama administration’s energy priorities are — how to put this charitably? — misguided,” writes Robert Bryce, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and author of the book “Power Hungry: The Myths of ‘Green’ Energy and the Real Fuels of the Future.”
In an article appearing in National Review Online, Bryce writes that unlike Solyndra, the $13 billion Keystone project does not depend on federal loan guarantees or tax credits from the federal government, and it would improve America’s access to a secure flow of oil.
The pipeline would reportedly create some 13,000 construction jobs in the United States, and indirectly create 7,000 manufacturing jobs — while Solyndra axed 1,100 workers when it went bankrupt.
The pipeline would supply the U.S. with 700,000 barrels of oil each day, enough to generate 380,000 megawatt-hours of electricity daily, according to Bryce.
Meanwhile, all the solar panels in the country, plus all the wind turbines, last year produced 260,000 million megawatt-hours per day.
“Put another way, the Keystone XL pipeline by itself, if it ever gets federal approval — and assuming, of course, that the Canadians don’t decide to build a pipeline to the coast and ship their oil to China or elsewhere — would have provided about 46 percent more energy to the U.S. economy than all the solar panels and wind turbines in the country did in 2010,” Bryce points out.
The Obama administration and its supporters assert that the future belongs to renewables and to companies like Solyndra, Bryce says, adding: “By delaying the Keystone XL, Obama has shown that he’s more interested in political maneuvering than in providing cheap, abundant, reliable energy to U.S. consumers.”
Add to above: Hubble can not be properly supported without shuttle.
Add Shuttle retirement to above.
Shuttle retirement impact
1. Put 40,000 out of work
2. Depend on foreign country for manned acess to ISS
3. Waste millions in transport to ISS
4. Put ISS in danger , put 100 billion investment in jeopardy
5. Disbanded shuttle team and workforce–take years to reassemble
6. Impact negatively scientific research
7. Adversely affect our children’s goals in scientific fields
8. Surrender the high ground to China
9. Significant national security impact.
10. American astronauts in danger in vehicles not manned rated
11. Eliminates America Preeminence in space for decades.
12. Wastes hundreds of billions used to develop and test shuttle and years of work by thousands of aerospace workers.
13. Wastes billions on facilities at KSC, JSC, MSFC, and at hundred of contractor/suppliers facilities.
14. Created poorly planned commercial efforts that will not end well while we have the shuttle in a Museum!! Don’t come close to shuttle capability.
15. Eliminated USA ‘s manned access to earth orbit
Credit. Newmax
.1. Solyndra, Oil Pipeline Show Obama’s ‘Misguided’ Priorities
The Obama administration’s handling of two recent controversies — solar panel maker Solyndra and the Keystone XL pipeline — illustrates a misguided approach to energy-related issues, according to an energy expert.
The administration has announced that it will delay for a year a final decision on construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, which would bring much-needed oil from Canada to Texas and the Gulf of Mexico.
At the same time, the administration is under fire for using its influence to help Solyndra obtain a $529 million loan guarantee from the Department of Energy. The company declared bankruptcy and folded in September.
“Even a cursory look at the two deals shows that, once again, the Obama administration’s energy priorities are — how to put this charitably? — misguided,” writes Robert Bryce, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and author of the book “Power Hungry: The Myths of ‘Green’ Energy and the Real Fuels of the Future.”
In an article appearing in National Review Online, Bryce writes that unlike Solyndra, the $13 billion Keystone project does not depend on federal loan guarantees or tax credits from the federal government, and it would improve America’s access to a secure flow of oil.
The pipeline would reportedly create some 13,000 construction jobs in the United States, and indirectly create 7,000 manufacturing jobs — while Solyndra axed 1,100 workers when it went bankrupt.
The pipeline would supply the U.S. with 700,000 barrels of oil each day, enough to generate 380,000 megawatt-hours of electricity daily, according to Bryce.
Meanwhile, all the solar panels in the country, plus all the wind turbines, last year produced 260,000 million megawatt-hours per day.
“Put another way, the Keystone XL pipeline by itself, if it ever gets federal approval — and assuming, of course, that the Canadians don’t decide to build a pipeline to the coast and ship their oil to China or elsewhere — would have provided about 46 percent more energy to the U.S. economy than all the solar panels and wind turbines in the country did in 2010,” Bryce points out.
The Obama administration and its supporters assert that the future belongs to renewables and to companies like Solyndra, Bryce says, adding: “By delaying the Keystone XL, Obama has shown that he’s more interested in political maneuvering than in providing cheap, abundant, reliable energy to U.S. consumers.”
Add to above: Hubble can not be properly supported without shuttle.
Different approaches to access to space--discussion
Bobby's Profile · Mitt Romney's Profile · Bobby's Wall
Bobby MartinMitt Romney
60% of voters support strong space program which means we must fly shuttle until a replacement is operational. Please support the shuttle --the Nation needs this capability. Thanks, Bobby martin --keeptheshuttleflying.com.
Like · · 23 hours ago ·
Darin H. Kamins The shuttle fleet is to old to fly. It is 60s & 70s technology, to dangerous for manned space flight. The Orian program will start soon. We went for a few years between Apollo and the shuttle, we can wait for a new safe vehicle for us to return to he lead in space.
23 hours ago · Like
Bobby Martin Orion does not have the shuttle's capability such as payload, runway landing, robotic arm. As aldrin says use and evolve the shuttle. Read The Case to Save the Shuttle by al Richardson on nova. Before Orion is reliable, after its share of accidents, it will be many more years than planned before it is reliable. We have learned much about the shuttle, we should improve on it. The age issue is addressed in the above paper.
22 hours ago · Like
Bobby Martin Also, shuttle exists, facilities are here, personnel available, in contrast to these paper programs that have testing, associated test failures, accidents and accident boards, like CAIB , ASAP to deal with. Think this will not happen? It will likely occur with many delays.
21 hours ago · Like
Bobby Martin Right, shuttle technology can't leave earth orbit, but it can deliver vehicles to orbit which can go to moon, mars, astroids, etc.
20 hours ago · Like
Darin H. Kamins Why use that extra step. A larger pooster can deliver a larger payload directly to orbit. Interplanetay vehicles will not fit in the cargo bay of a shutte. Direct Earth/Tranit vehicles are the next step.
12 hours ago · Like
Bobby Martin We still have assets in orbit that require servicing like HST ,and always will. We will always need a shuttle like vehicle. As far as size, modules for interplanetary vehicles, is the answer, or boost the separately, unmanned and dock with them later. We will most likely always have a station of some kind.
11 hours ago · Like
Bobby Martin With no shuttle, and no arm, how do you plan to repair hdw in orbit.
11 hours ago · Like
Bobby Martin When you get another approach operational, fine go with it, if it fills the bill. But until then, that will be a while, in my opinion, it is does not make sense to put the shuttle in the trash. After all the upcoming development, test and various boards some with logic like CAIB, ASAP, it will be a long time. You should read some of the congressional hearings on shuttle extension. The new approach will probably be grounded be dyer or Gehman, if they are still around fo safety reasons. Logic like it's " not unsafe but not safe". Thanks for the visit. Bobby Martin
11 hours ago · Like
Bobby Martin better give some thought to dev, test,,failures, etc, all programs have them. These low budget commercial efforts will be very likely to have them.
10 hours ago · Like
Bobby MartinMitt Romney
60% of voters support strong space program which means we must fly shuttle until a replacement is operational. Please support the shuttle --the Nation needs this capability. Thanks, Bobby martin --keeptheshuttleflying.com.
Like · · 23 hours ago ·
Darin H. Kamins The shuttle fleet is to old to fly. It is 60s & 70s technology, to dangerous for manned space flight. The Orian program will start soon. We went for a few years between Apollo and the shuttle, we can wait for a new safe vehicle for us to return to he lead in space.
23 hours ago · Like
Bobby Martin Orion does not have the shuttle's capability such as payload, runway landing, robotic arm. As aldrin says use and evolve the shuttle. Read The Case to Save the Shuttle by al Richardson on nova. Before Orion is reliable, after its share of accidents, it will be many more years than planned before it is reliable. We have learned much about the shuttle, we should improve on it. The age issue is addressed in the above paper.
22 hours ago · Like
Bobby Martin Also, shuttle exists, facilities are here, personnel available, in contrast to these paper programs that have testing, associated test failures, accidents and accident boards, like CAIB , ASAP to deal with. Think this will not happen? It will likely occur with many delays.
21 hours ago · Like
Bobby Martin Right, shuttle technology can't leave earth orbit, but it can deliver vehicles to orbit which can go to moon, mars, astroids, etc.
20 hours ago · Like
Darin H. Kamins Why use that extra step. A larger pooster can deliver a larger payload directly to orbit. Interplanetay vehicles will not fit in the cargo bay of a shutte. Direct Earth/Tranit vehicles are the next step.
12 hours ago · Like
Bobby Martin We still have assets in orbit that require servicing like HST ,and always will. We will always need a shuttle like vehicle. As far as size, modules for interplanetary vehicles, is the answer, or boost the separately, unmanned and dock with them later. We will most likely always have a station of some kind.
11 hours ago · Like
Bobby Martin With no shuttle, and no arm, how do you plan to repair hdw in orbit.
11 hours ago · Like
Bobby Martin When you get another approach operational, fine go with it, if it fills the bill. But until then, that will be a while, in my opinion, it is does not make sense to put the shuttle in the trash. After all the upcoming development, test and various boards some with logic like CAIB, ASAP, it will be a long time. You should read some of the congressional hearings on shuttle extension. The new approach will probably be grounded be dyer or Gehman, if they are still around fo safety reasons. Logic like it's " not unsafe but not safe". Thanks for the visit. Bobby Martin
11 hours ago · Like
Bobby Martin better give some thought to dev, test,,failures, etc, all programs have them. These low budget commercial efforts will be very likely to have them.
10 hours ago · Like
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Getting into space hard--credit spacecom
Space.com
The plain truth: Getting into space is hard.
Rockets have been launching people, robots and satellites into space for more than 50 years. But major failures still occur, highlighting just how hard it is to escape the bonds of Earth on a rocketship bound for orbit.
The year 2011 saw its share of launch and mission failures; thankfully, none of them involved astronauts. Here's a recap of the biggest space disappointments of the year:
Russian Military Satellite Woes
The year got off to an inauspicious start when a new Russian military satellite, called Geo-IK 2, failed to reach its intended orbit after launching into space atop a Rockot booster on Feb. 1.
The satellite was intended to provide three-dimensional maps of Earth for use by the Russian military. But a failure on the three-stage Rockot booster, which is derived from Russia's SS-19 intercontinental ballistic missile, left it stranded in orbit. Russian space officials managed to regain contact with the satellite to confirm its wrong orbit.
Wayward U.S. Missile
About the last thing you want is a ballistic missile — a long-range weapon that can reach suborbital space — going out of control, and that almost happened in July when the U.S. Air Force test launched an unarmed Minuteman 3 missile.
To be sure, the missile was not carrying an active warhead during the July 27 test, but a malfunction just after the weapon's launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California forced Air Force officials to destroy the missile using a remote destruct command.
$300 Million Satellite Lost in Space
Russia's space industry suffered another major setback on Aug. 18, when a new $300 million communications satellite called Express-AM4 went silent shortly after launching into orbit.
The satellite launched atop a Russian Proton rocket on Aug. 18, then promptly went silent. By mid-day on Aug. 19, U.S. space surveillance monitors found the satellite in the wrong orbit. One industry official said it would be difficult to maneuver Express-AM4 into operational position in geostationary orbit with sufficient life remaining to make the effort worthwhile.
Air Force's Hypersonic Mystery
Another Air Force failure included a test launch of the X51-A Waverider, an unmanned hypersonic X-plane designed to test scramjet technology for ultra-fast vehicles.
The Waverider was air-launched over the Pacific Ocean on June 13 and reached nearly Mach 5 before failing to transition to its scramjet engine, which is designed to sustain flight at hypersonic speeds. Hypersonic flight is generally defined as any speed over Mach 5 (3,805 mph, or 6,124 kph, at sea level).
"Obviously we're disappointed and expected better results, but we are very pleased with the data collected on this flight," said Charlie Brink, the Air Force Research Laboratory's X-51A program manager, in a statement. The test was one of two planned for 2011.
DARPA's Hypersonic Bomber Splash
The Air Force wasn't the only military branch to lose a hypersonic X-plane this year. In August, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announced that a prototype for a hypersonic bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean after a malfunction occurred shortly after launch.
The Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 (HTV-2) reached a speed of about Mach 20 (about 13,000 mph) before crashing. The flight was the second of two HTV-2 test flights and collected nine minutes of data, more than the first flight.
"Here's what we know," said Air Force Maj. Chris Schulz, DARPA HTV-2 program manager, in a statement. "We know how to boost the aircraft to near space. We know how to insert the aircraft into atmospheric hypersonic flight."
What happens next, though, is a mystery.
"We do not yet know how to achieve the desired control during the aerodynamic phase of flight," Schulz said. "It's vexing; I'm confident there is a solution. We have to find it."
Blue Origin's Rocket Failure
The realm of private spaceflight saw its own hurdles in 2011. The private space company Blue Origin, led by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, hit a snag when a flight test of its new suborbital spacecraft failed.
According to Bezos, a "flight instability" drove an angle of attack that triggered the Blue Origin range safety team to terminate thrust on the vehicle. The vehicle roared skyward from the Blue Origin spaceport, located roughly 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of tiny Van Horn, Texas, before the failure.
"Not the outcome any of us wanted, but we're signed up for this to be hard, and the Blue Origin team is doing an outstanding job. We're already working on our next development vehicle," Bezos reported.
Glory Satellite Crash
In March, a $424 million NASA climate satellite failed to reach orbit due to a flaw in its rocket that prevented the booster's nose cone from separating at the right time.
The failure occurred on March 4 during the launch of NASA's Glory satellite, a spacecraft designed to study the interaction between the sun's energy and Earth's atmosphere, with a specific focus on tiny particles – called aerosols – and their role in the planet's climate. But the Taurus XL rocket launching the satellite failed to jettison its nose cone fairing, and both the rocket and satellite crashed into the Pacific Ocean.
It was the second consecutive failure for the Taurus XL rocket. A similar nose-cone glitch doomed another NASA climate satellite in 2009.
China Experimental Satellite Failure
China also wasn't immune to rocket failures in 2011. An experimental Chinese satellite failed to reach orbit on Aug. 18 when its rocket malfunctioned, according to state-run media reports. The satellite, a prototype orbiter called SJ-11-04, had just lifted off atop a Long March 2C rocket when the glitch occurred.
The failed rocket launch was the third in seven days for China, which promptly recovered from the malfunction to launch two unmanned space missions that demonstrated the country's first space docking – a major milestone for China's planned space station program.
Iran Monkey Launch Failure
An attempt by Iran to launch a rocket carrying a live monkey into space in September met with failure, stalling the country's program to pursue a human spaceflight capability, according to press reports.
The Iranian Space Agency reportedly attempted to launch a Rhesus monkey into space atop a Kavoshgar-5 rocket (Kavoshgar means "Explorer" in Farsi) during the Iranian month of Shahrivar, a period that ran between Aug. 23 and Sept. 22, according to an Agence-France Press report.
The setback was apparently a major blow to Iran's space ambitions, as the nation hopes to one day launch humans to space and, eventually, the moon.
Russia's Progress Cargo Ship Crash
August saw more setbacks for Russia's space program when its normally dependable Soyuz rocket failed to launch an unmanned cargo ship to the International Space Station, sparking months of delays for crew and cargo deliveries to the orbiting laboratory.
The Soyuz rocket launched on Aug. 24, but its third-stage engine shut down unexpectedly, plunging the rocket and its attached Progress 44 cargo ship back to Earth. The vehicles crashed somewhere in Siberia.
A malfunction in a gas generator inside the third-stage rocket engine was later found to be the cause, and Russia resumed Soyuz rocket launches in the fall.
Russia's Lost Mars Probe Phobos-Grunt
The last high-profile space failure of the year was Russia's beleaguered Phobos-Grunt mission, an ambitious plan to retrieve a sample of Mars' largest moon Phobos and return it to Earth. The 14.5-ton Mars probe launched on Nov. 8 but failed to fire its engine to leave Earth orbit and begin the trip to Mars.
After weeks of trying to salvage the spacecraft, Russian space officials said Phobos-Grunt had missed its window to depart for Mars. The spacecraft, which is also carrying China's first Mars orbiter, is expected to fall back to Earth by early January 2012.
What Santa needs to bring
The plain truth: Getting into space is hard.
Rockets have been launching people, robots and satellites into space for more than 50 years. But major failures still occur, highlighting just how hard it is to escape the bonds of Earth on a rocketship bound for orbit.
The year 2011 saw its share of launch and mission failures; thankfully, none of them involved astronauts. Here's a recap of the biggest space disappointments of the year:
Russian Military Satellite Woes
The year got off to an inauspicious start when a new Russian military satellite, called Geo-IK 2, failed to reach its intended orbit after launching into space atop a Rockot booster on Feb. 1.
The satellite was intended to provide three-dimensional maps of Earth for use by the Russian military. But a failure on the three-stage Rockot booster, which is derived from Russia's SS-19 intercontinental ballistic missile, left it stranded in orbit. Russian space officials managed to regain contact with the satellite to confirm its wrong orbit.
Wayward U.S. Missile
About the last thing you want is a ballistic missile — a long-range weapon that can reach suborbital space — going out of control, and that almost happened in July when the U.S. Air Force test launched an unarmed Minuteman 3 missile.
To be sure, the missile was not carrying an active warhead during the July 27 test, but a malfunction just after the weapon's launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California forced Air Force officials to destroy the missile using a remote destruct command.
$300 Million Satellite Lost in Space
Russia's space industry suffered another major setback on Aug. 18, when a new $300 million communications satellite called Express-AM4 went silent shortly after launching into orbit.
The satellite launched atop a Russian Proton rocket on Aug. 18, then promptly went silent. By mid-day on Aug. 19, U.S. space surveillance monitors found the satellite in the wrong orbit. One industry official said it would be difficult to maneuver Express-AM4 into operational position in geostationary orbit with sufficient life remaining to make the effort worthwhile.
Air Force's Hypersonic Mystery
Another Air Force failure included a test launch of the X51-A Waverider, an unmanned hypersonic X-plane designed to test scramjet technology for ultra-fast vehicles.
The Waverider was air-launched over the Pacific Ocean on June 13 and reached nearly Mach 5 before failing to transition to its scramjet engine, which is designed to sustain flight at hypersonic speeds. Hypersonic flight is generally defined as any speed over Mach 5 (3,805 mph, or 6,124 kph, at sea level).
"Obviously we're disappointed and expected better results, but we are very pleased with the data collected on this flight," said Charlie Brink, the Air Force Research Laboratory's X-51A program manager, in a statement. The test was one of two planned for 2011.
DARPA's Hypersonic Bomber Splash
The Air Force wasn't the only military branch to lose a hypersonic X-plane this year. In August, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announced that a prototype for a hypersonic bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean after a malfunction occurred shortly after launch.
The Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 (HTV-2) reached a speed of about Mach 20 (about 13,000 mph) before crashing. The flight was the second of two HTV-2 test flights and collected nine minutes of data, more than the first flight.
"Here's what we know," said Air Force Maj. Chris Schulz, DARPA HTV-2 program manager, in a statement. "We know how to boost the aircraft to near space. We know how to insert the aircraft into atmospheric hypersonic flight."
What happens next, though, is a mystery.
"We do not yet know how to achieve the desired control during the aerodynamic phase of flight," Schulz said. "It's vexing; I'm confident there is a solution. We have to find it."
Blue Origin's Rocket Failure
The realm of private spaceflight saw its own hurdles in 2011. The private space company Blue Origin, led by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, hit a snag when a flight test of its new suborbital spacecraft failed.
According to Bezos, a "flight instability" drove an angle of attack that triggered the Blue Origin range safety team to terminate thrust on the vehicle. The vehicle roared skyward from the Blue Origin spaceport, located roughly 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of tiny Van Horn, Texas, before the failure.
"Not the outcome any of us wanted, but we're signed up for this to be hard, and the Blue Origin team is doing an outstanding job. We're already working on our next development vehicle," Bezos reported.
Glory Satellite Crash
In March, a $424 million NASA climate satellite failed to reach orbit due to a flaw in its rocket that prevented the booster's nose cone from separating at the right time.
The failure occurred on March 4 during the launch of NASA's Glory satellite, a spacecraft designed to study the interaction between the sun's energy and Earth's atmosphere, with a specific focus on tiny particles – called aerosols – and their role in the planet's climate. But the Taurus XL rocket launching the satellite failed to jettison its nose cone fairing, and both the rocket and satellite crashed into the Pacific Ocean.
It was the second consecutive failure for the Taurus XL rocket. A similar nose-cone glitch doomed another NASA climate satellite in 2009.
China Experimental Satellite Failure
China also wasn't immune to rocket failures in 2011. An experimental Chinese satellite failed to reach orbit on Aug. 18 when its rocket malfunctioned, according to state-run media reports. The satellite, a prototype orbiter called SJ-11-04, had just lifted off atop a Long March 2C rocket when the glitch occurred.
The failed rocket launch was the third in seven days for China, which promptly recovered from the malfunction to launch two unmanned space missions that demonstrated the country's first space docking – a major milestone for China's planned space station program.
Iran Monkey Launch Failure
An attempt by Iran to launch a rocket carrying a live monkey into space in September met with failure, stalling the country's program to pursue a human spaceflight capability, according to press reports.
The Iranian Space Agency reportedly attempted to launch a Rhesus monkey into space atop a Kavoshgar-5 rocket (Kavoshgar means "Explorer" in Farsi) during the Iranian month of Shahrivar, a period that ran between Aug. 23 and Sept. 22, according to an Agence-France Press report.
The setback was apparently a major blow to Iran's space ambitions, as the nation hopes to one day launch humans to space and, eventually, the moon.
Russia's Progress Cargo Ship Crash
August saw more setbacks for Russia's space program when its normally dependable Soyuz rocket failed to launch an unmanned cargo ship to the International Space Station, sparking months of delays for crew and cargo deliveries to the orbiting laboratory.
The Soyuz rocket launched on Aug. 24, but its third-stage engine shut down unexpectedly, plunging the rocket and its attached Progress 44 cargo ship back to Earth. The vehicles crashed somewhere in Siberia.
A malfunction in a gas generator inside the third-stage rocket engine was later found to be the cause, and Russia resumed Soyuz rocket launches in the fall.
Russia's Lost Mars Probe Phobos-Grunt
The last high-profile space failure of the year was Russia's beleaguered Phobos-Grunt mission, an ambitious plan to retrieve a sample of Mars' largest moon Phobos and return it to Earth. The 14.5-ton Mars probe launched on Nov. 8 but failed to fire its engine to leave Earth orbit and begin the trip to Mars.
After weeks of trying to salvage the spacecraft, Russian space officials said Phobos-Grunt had missed its window to depart for Mars. The spacecraft, which is also carrying China's first Mars orbiter, is expected to fall back to Earth by early January 2012.
What Santa needs to bring
Bolden on Safe Low Budget manned spacecraft---Sufficient oversight vs. Budget
And finally, let me be clear about this: We're committed to having American companies, with sufficient oversight to ensure human safety, send our astronauts and cargo to the International Space Station, rather than continuing to outsource this work to foreign governments.
Editor note--Better not get Dyer or Gehman on your FRR, accident boards, etc. Maybe you aren't going to have any accidents on your low budget efforts. Please read the minutes of the CAIB and the ASAP---concluded Shuttle not unsafe, but not safe---Shuttle in Museum
Taxpayers being taken to the cleaners on the shuttle retirement.
Read post on "getting to space" is hard. Do you think these commercial efforts will provide safe, reliable access to space? How many set back will they encounter? What kind of delays will we see before reliable system operational?
How many years until we have reliable,safe access to earth orbit?
Mean while the reliable shuttle gathers dust in a Museum.
Editor note--Better not get Dyer or Gehman on your FRR, accident boards, etc. Maybe you aren't going to have any accidents on your low budget efforts. Please read the minutes of the CAIB and the ASAP---concluded Shuttle not unsafe, but not safe---Shuttle in Museum
Taxpayers being taken to the cleaners on the shuttle retirement.
Read post on "getting to space" is hard. Do you think these commercial efforts will provide safe, reliable access to space? How many set back will they encounter? What kind of delays will we see before reliable system operational?
How many years until we have reliable,safe access to earth orbit?
Mean while the reliable shuttle gathers dust in a Museum.
X37 Landing
Secret Air Force Space Plane Landing
The U.S. Air Force has a secretive spy spacecraft called X-37B in orbit right now. The unmanned space plane, operated by the Air Force's Rapid Capabilities Office, launched atop an Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on March 5, 2011. It is the second craft of its kind.
Though officials planned for only a nine-month mission, the hush-hush is vehicle is expected to land sometime in early 2012. [Photos: Air Force's 2nd Secret X-37B Mission]
There's also a chance the Air Force will launch another version of the test vehicle next year. Though details are scarce, the spacecraft is designed as a prototype robotic long-duration platform for space-based Air Force activities. The X-37B's payload is classified.
10. Space Station Gets New Additions
The U.S. Air Force has a secretive spy spacecraft called X-37B in orbit right now. The unmanned space plane, operated by the Air Force's Rapid Capabilities Office, launched atop an Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on March 5, 2011. It is the second craft of its kind.
Though officials planned for only a nine-month mission, the hush-hush is vehicle is expected to land sometime in early 2012. [Photos: Air Force's 2nd Secret X-37B Mission]
There's also a chance the Air Force will launch another version of the test vehicle next year. Though details are scarce, the spacecraft is designed as a prototype robotic long-duration platform for space-based Air Force activities. The X-37B's payload is classified.
10. Space Station Gets New Additions
Hubble fantastic---Don't let Obama destroy Hubble --Save Shuttle
1924: Astronomer Edwin Hubble announces that the spiral nebula Andromeda is actually a galaxy and that the Milky Way is just one of many galaxies in the universe. Before Copernicus and Galileo, humans thought our world was the center of creation. Then (except for a few notable stragglers) we learned that the sun and planets did not revolve around the Earth, and we discovered that our sun — though the center of our solar system and vitally important to us — was not the center of the universe or even a major star in our galaxy. But we still grandiosely thought our own dear Milky Way contained all or most of the stars in existence. We were about to be knocked off our egotistical little pedestal once again.
AMERICANS, the Hubble will eventually need servicing and reboost. We must keep the Hubble in service for many more years. Yet another reason to keep the shuttle flying.
We must take care of this magnificent instrument.
DO NOT let BHO destroy the Hubble ---fight for the shuttle ---Hubble needs the shuttle.
AMERICANS, the Hubble will eventually need servicing and reboost. We must keep the Hubble in service for many more years. Yet another reason to keep the shuttle flying.
We must take care of this magnificent instrument.
DO NOT let BHO destroy the Hubble ---fight for the shuttle ---Hubble needs the shuttle.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
China white papers on space
China issues white paper on space exploration
2011-12-29 10:11:01
Full Text: China's Space Activities in 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2011-12/29/c_131333479.htm
BEIJING, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- China on Thursday issued a white paper on the development of space industry since 2006 and the major tasks for the next five years.
The white paper titled "China's Space Activities in 2011" was the third white paper on the country's space activities issued by the State Council Information Office, following the one in 2000 and another in 2006.
The Chinese government has made the space industry an important part of the nation's overall development strategy and adhered to exploration and utilization of outer space for peaceful purposes, the white paper said.
Over the past few years, China has ranked among the world's leading countries in certain major areas of space technology, it said, adding that in the next five years, there will be new opportunities to the country's space industry.
At the same time, China will work together with the international community to maintain a peaceful and clean outer space and endeavor to promote world peace and development, the document said.
FUTURE MISSIONS
Major tasks listed in the white paper for the next five years include space transportation system, Earth satellites, human spaceflights and deep-space exploration.
The country will launch the Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-10 spaceships and achieve unmanned or manned rendezvous and docking with the in-orbit Tiangong-1 vehicle, the paper said.
China also plans to launch space laboratories, manned spaceship and space freighters, and will start a research on the preliminary plan for a human landing on the moon, the document said.
As an important part of deep-space exploration, the country's lunar probe projects follow the idea of "three steps" -- orbiting, landing and returning.
In next five years, the country plans to launch orbiters for lunar soft landing, roving and surveying to implement the second stage of lunar exploration, then it will start the third-stage project of sampling the moon's surface matters and get those samples back to Earth, the white paper said.
In addition, China will build a space infrastructure frame composed of Earth observation satellites, communications and broadcasting satellites, plus navigation and positioning satellites.
MAJOR PROGRESS
According to the white paper, breakthroughs have been made in major space projects, including human spaceflight and lunar exploration, since 2006.
From Sept. 25 to 28, 2008, China successfully launched the Shenzhou-7 manned spaceship and became the third country in the world to master the key technology of astronaut space extravehicular activity.
In November 2011, China accomplished the first unmanned space rendezvous and docking test between the Tiangong-1 space lab module and Shenzhou-8 spaceship.
In addition, the country's lunar probe projects have achieved milestone breakthroughs over the past five years. China successfully launched two lunar probes, the Chang'e-1 on Oct. 24, 2007, and Chang'e-2 on Oct. 1, 2010.
The first probe retrieved a great deal of scientific data and a complete map of the moon while the second created a full higher-resolution map of the moon and a high-definition image of Sinus Iridium.
Editor: Liu
© 2011 Xinhua. All rights reserved.
===============================================================
China to launch orbiters for lunar soft landing in next five years: white paper
2011-12-29 11:12:49
BEIJING, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- China will launch orbiters for lunar soft landing, roving and surveying to implement the second stage of lunar exploration in next five years, a white paper said Thursday.
China's lunar probe projects are based on the idea of "three steps" -- orbiting, landing and returning, said the white paper "China's Space Activities in 2011" issued by the State Council Information Office.
In the third stage, China will start to sample the moon's surface matters and get those samples back to Earth, the paper said.
The country's lunar probe projects have achieved milestone breakthroughs since 2006, with the successful launching of two lunar probes, the Chang'e-1 on Oct. 24, 2007, and Chang'e-2 on Oct. 1, 2010.
The first probe retrieved a great deal of scientific data and a complete map of the moon while the second one created a full higher-resolution map of the moon and a high-definition image of Sinus Iridium.
By the implementation of lunar exploration projects, China will make in-situ analyses, morphological and structural surveys of the lunar surface in landing and roving areas, conduct environmental surveys of the lunar surface and make moon-based astronomical observations.
China will also push forward its exploration of planets, asteroids and the sun of the solar system, according to the white paper.
By using spacecraft, China will study the properties of black holes and physical laws under extreme conditions, explore properties of dark matter particles, and test basic theories of quantum mechanics.
It will also conduct scientific experiments on microgravity and space life science, explore and forecast the space environment and study their effects.
© 2011 Xinhua. All rights reserved.
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China to push forward human spaceflight projects in next five years: white paper
2011-12-29 11:12:37
BEIJING, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- China will push forward human spaceflight projects and make new technological breakthroughs, creating a foundation for future human spaceflight, according to a white paper titled "China's Space Activities in 2011" issued Thursday.
During the next five years, China will launch the Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-10 spaceships and achieve unmanned or manned rendezvous and docking with the in-orbit Tiangong-1 vehicle, said the white paper released by the Information Office of the State Council.
In addition, China will launch space laboratories, manned spaceship and space freighters, make breakthroughs in and master space station key technologies, including astronauts' medium-term stay, regenerative life support and propellant refueling. It will conduct studies on the preliminary plan for a human lunar landing.
According to the white paper, China will build a stronger space transportation system, keep improving its launch vehicle series, and enhance their capabilities of entering space.
It will enhance the reliability and adaptability of launch vehicles in service, develop new-generation launch vehicles and their upper stages, and implement the first flight of the Long March-5, Long March-6 and Long March-7 launch vehicles.
The paper said China will build a space infrastructure frame composed of Earth observation satellites, communications and broadcasting satellites, plus navigation and positioning satellites, and will develop a preliminary long-term, sustained and stable service capability.
It aims at developing and launching new-generation GEO meteorological satellites, stereo mapping satellites, radar satellites for environment and disaster monitoring, electromagnetic monitoring test satellites, and other new-type Earth observation satellites.
It will make breakthroughs in key technologies for interferometric synthetic-aperture radar and gravitational field measurement satellites, initiate a high-resolution Earth observation system and establish a stable all-weather, 24-hour, multi-spectral, various-resolution Earth observation system.
China carries out deep-space exploration in stages, with limited goals.It will launch orbiters for lunar soft landing, roving and surveying to implement the second stage of lunar exploration.
According to the paper, China will further improve its satellite application and service system, expand satellites application scope, and promote the national new strategic industries, to meet demands of national economic and social development.
© 2011 Xinhua. All rights reserved.
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China to develop new-generation launch vehicles: white paper
2011-12-29 10:44:08
BEIJING, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- China will develop new-generation launch vehicles, such as Long March-5, Long March-6 and Long March-7, in the next five years, a governmental white paper said Thursday.
The Long March-5 will use non-toxic and pollution-free propellant, and will be capable of placing 25 tonnes of payload into the near-Earth orbit, or placing 14 tonnes of pay-load into the GEO orbit, said the white paper "China's Space Activities in 2011" released by the State Council Information Office.
The Long March-6 will be a new type of high-speed response launch vehicle, which will be capable of placing not less than 1 tonne of payload into a sun-synchronous orbit at a height of 700 km.
The Long March-7 will be capable of placing 5.5 tonnes of payload into a sun-synchronous orbit at a height of 700 km, according to the white paper.
The country will also conduct special demonstrations and pre-research on key technologies for heavy-lift launch vehicles, the document said.
Since 2006, Long March rockets have accomplished 67 successful launches, sending 79 spacecraft into planned orbits and demonstrating noteworthy improvement in the reliability of China's launch vehicles.
© 2011 Xinhua. All rights reserved.
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China to tighten monitoring on space debris: white paper
2011-12-29 10:45:34
BEIJING, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- China will begin monitoring space debris and small near-Earth celestial bodies and collision pre-warning work in the next five years, according to a white paper published Thursday.
China will continue to strengthen its work on space debris monitoring and mitigation and its work on spacecraft protection, said the white paper titled "China's Space Activities in 2011" issued by the State Council Information Office.
It will set up a design and assess system of space debris mitigation, and take measures to reduce space debris left by post-task spacecraft and launch vehicles, the white paper says.
It will also experiment with digital simulation of space debris collisions, and build a system to protect spacecraft from space debris.
© 2011 Xinhua. All rights reserved.
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China makes rapid progress, breakthroughs in space industry: white paper
2011-12-29 12:06:09
BEIJING, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- A white paper published on Thursday said that China has made innovative achievements and breakthroughs in major space projects, and space technology has been upgraded remarkably.
The white paper, China's Space Activities in 2011, published by the State Council's Information Office, said that the country's Long March rockets have accomplished 67 successful launches, sending 79 spacecraft into planned orbits since 2006.
The Long March rocket series have been improved, and major progress has been made in the development of new-generation launch vehicles, the white paper said.
So far, China has developed Fengyun (wind and cloud), Haiyang (ocean), Ziyuan (resources), Yaogan (remote-sensing) and Tianhui (space mapping) satellite series, plus a constellation of small satellites for environmental and disaster monitoring and forecasting.
Fengyun satellites are now capable of global, three-dimensional and multispectral quantitative observation, and the first Haiyang dynamics environmental satellite launched in August, 2011 is capable of all-weather and full-time microwave observation, it said.
China has won successes in its high-capacity geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) satellite communications platform, space-based data relays, tracking, telemetry and command (TT&C), and other key technologies, showing remarkable improvement in the technical performance of China's satellites and in voice, data, radio and television communications.
The paper said China has comprehensively launched the building of a Beidou regional navigation system, consisting of five GEO satellites, five inclined geosynchronous orbit (IGSO) satellites and four medium-Earth-orbit (MEO) satellites.
Since April 2007, China has launched 10 such satellites and has been able to provide trial services for Asia-Pacific users, it said.
After successfully launching the Shenzhou-7 manned spaceship in 2008, China became the third country in the world to master the key technology of astronaut space extravehicular activity, the white paper said.
In September and November 2011, China successively launched the Tiangong-1 and Shenzhou-8 spaceship, and accomplished their first space rendezvous and docking test, laying the foundation for the construction of future space laboratories and space stations, it said.
In deep-space exploration, China successfully launched its first lunar probe, Chang'e-1, in 2007, retrieving a great deal of scientific data and a complete map of the moon, and successfully implementing a controlled crash onto the lunar surface.
The paper said the success of Chang'e-1 was another milestone for China's space industry, after man-made satellites and human spaceflight, signifying that China has become one of the countries capable of deep-space exploration.
China successfully launched its second lunar probe, Chang'e-2, in October 2010, and created a full higher-resolution map of the moon, and a high-definition image of Sinus Iridium, and completed several extended tests, including circling the Lagrangian Point L2, which laid the foundation for future deep-space exploration tasks, it said.
The white paper said China has improved its three existing launch sites in Jiuquan, Xichang and Taiyuan, enhancing their comprehensive test capabilities and high-intensity launching capabilities. China is building a new space launch site in Hainan to accommodate the launch of new-generation launch vehicles.
China has improved its TT&C ground stations and ships, and has established a very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) network comprising four observation stations and a data processing center, indicating that China has acquired space-based TT&C capabilities.
At present, China's TT&C network is expanding from the ground to space, and from geospace TT&C to deep-space TT&C. The network is able to not only satisfy satellite TT&C demands, but also support human spaceflight and deep-space exploration, it said.
The white paper revealed that using the Shijian satellites and Shenzhou spaceship, China has carried out space experiments in life science, materials science, fluid mechanics and other fields under conditions of microgravity and strong radiation. It has also conducted experiments on crop breeding in space.
China has monitored space debris, and given early warnings against them, ensuring safe flight of Chang'e-1 and Chang'e-2 lunar probes, and Shenzhou-7 manned spaceship.
China has steadily pushed forward its work on space debris mitigation, fully inactivating Long March rockets, and moving a few aging GEO satellites out of orbit, the white paper said.
© 2011 Xinhua. All rights reserved.
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China sticks to peaceful use of outer space: spokesman
2011-12-29 13:28:49
BEIJING, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- China adheres to a principle of peaceful development in its space missions and the use of outer space for peaceful purposes, a spokesman for the China National Space Administration said Thursday.
Spokesman Zhang Wei made the remarks while answering a question at a press conference held in Beijing for the release of the white paper titled "China's Space Activities in 2011."
By clearly listing "peaceful development" as a key principle that governs China's space missions, the paper demonstrates the nation's resolution in carrying out space activities in a peaceful way, Zhang said.
"It has been a common aspiration for the whole of mankind to explore, develop and utilize space for peaceful purposes," he noted.
The white paper says that China always adheres to the use of outer space for peaceful purposes, and opposes the weaponization of, or an arms race in, outer space.
"China develops and utilizes space resources in a prudent manner and takes effective measures to protect the space environment, ensuring that its space activities benefit the whole of mankind," the paper reads.
This is China's third such document detailing the progress of the country's space missions, following two previous white papers released in 2000 and 2006, respectively.
Editor: Lu Hui
© 2011 Xinhua. All rights reserved.
===============================================================
China to launch Shenzhou-9, Shenzhou-10 spacecraft next year: spokesman
2011-12-29 16:38:18
BEIJING, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- China will launch the Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-10 spacecraft and achieve space rendezvous and docking missions with the orbiting Tiangong-1 vehicle in 2012, a spokesman for the China National Space Administration said Thursday.
Spokesman Zhang Wei made the announcement at a press conference held in Beijing for the release of a white paper titled "China's Space Activities in 2011."
However, the spokesman did not unveil a detailed timetable for the launches.
China on Thursday issued the white paper on the development of the space industry since 2006 and the major tasks for the next five years.
The white paper was the third white paper on the country's space activities issued by the State Council Information Office, following one in 2000 and another in 2006.
The Chinese government has made the space industry an important part of the nation's overall development strategy and adhered to the exploration and utilization of outer space for peaceful purposes, the white paper said.
Over the past few years, China has ranked among the world's leading countries in certain major areas of space technology, it said, adding that in the next five years, there will be new opportunities for the country's space industry.
At the same time, China will work together with the international community to maintain a peaceful and clean outer space environment and endeavor to promote world peace and development, the document said.
FUTURE MISSIONS
Major tasks listed in the white paper for the next five years include a space transportation system, Earth satellites, human spaceflights and deep-space exploration.
The country will launch Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-10 and achieve unmanned or manned rendezvous and docking with the currently orbiting Tiangong-1 vehicle, the paper said.
China also plans to launch space laboratories, a manned spaceship and space freighters, and will start research on the preliminary plan for a human landing on the moon, the document said.
As an important part of deep-space exploration, the country's lunar probe projects follow the idea of "three steps" -- orbiting, landing and returning.
In next five years, the country plans to launch orbiters for lunar soft landing, roving and surveying to implement the second stage of lunar exploration, then it will start the third-stage project of gathering samples of the moon's surface matter and getting those samples back to Earth, the white paper said.
China will also build a space infrastructure frame composed of Earth observation satellites, communications and broadcasting satellites, as well as navigation and positioning satellites.
According to Spokesman Zhang Wei, China will also conduct special project demonstrations in other deep-space projects, including an exploration of Mars.
INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
China has signed 66 international space cooperation agreements with 22 states and regions, and 44 of them currently remain in effect, Zhang said at the press conference.
Openness has always been a key principle of China's space program, he said.
The country has engaged in 12 bilateral cooperation mechanisms within intergovernmental frameworks, Zhang said, adding that China has exported communications satellites to Nigeria, Venezuela and Pakistan, and has also contracted with countries, including Bolivia, Belarus, Indonesia and Laos, to export satellites.
China is willing to provide space products and services to more countries and regions, especially developing countries, on the basis of equality, mutual benefit, and peaceful utilization.
Moreover, Zhang stressed that China adheres to a principle of peaceful development in its space missions and the use of outer space for peaceful purposes.
By clearly listing "peaceful development" as a key principle that governs China's space missions, Thursday's white paper demonstrates the nation's resolve in carrying out space activities in a peaceful way, Zhang said.
"It has been a common aspiration for the whole of mankind to explore, develop and utilize space for peaceful purposes," he noted.
The white paper says that China always adheres to the use of outer space for peaceful purposes, and opposes the weaponization of, or an arms race in, outer space.
"China develops and utilizes space resources in a prudent manner and takes effective measures to protect the space environment, ensuring that its space activities benefit the whole of mankind," the paper reads.
Moreover, Zhang said that Chinese scientists are keeping in close contact with their Russian peers on the situation of the Yinghuo-1 Mars orbiter.
The orbiter was launched along with Russia's Phobos-Grunt (Phobos-Soil) spacecraft last month, but the spacecraft failed to complete the orbital transfer scheduled to take it on the path to Mars.
Russian scientists have been making unremitting efforts to try to save the Chinese orbiter, Zhang said.
MAJOR PROGRESS
According to the white paper, breakthroughs have been made in major space projects, including human spaceflight and lunar exploration, since 2006.
From Sept. 25 to 28, 2008, China successfully launched the Shenzhou-7 manned spacecraft and became the third country in the world to master the key technology of astronaut space extravehicular activity.
In November 2011, China accomplished the first unmanned space rendezvous and docking test between the Tiangong-1 space lab module and Shenzhou-8 spaceship.
Moreover, the country's lunar probe projects have achieved milestone breakthroughs over the past five years. China successfully launched two lunar probes, the Chang'e-1 on Oct. 24, 2007, and Chang'e-2 on Oct. 1, 2010.
The first probe retrieved a great deal of scientific data and a complete map of the moon while the second created a full higher-resolution map of the moon and a high-definition image of Sinus Iridium
Editor: An
© 2011 Xinhua. All rights reserved.
===============================================================
2011-12-29 10:11:01
Full Text: China's Space Activities in 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2011-12/29/c_131333479.htm
BEIJING, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- China on Thursday issued a white paper on the development of space industry since 2006 and the major tasks for the next five years.
The white paper titled "China's Space Activities in 2011" was the third white paper on the country's space activities issued by the State Council Information Office, following the one in 2000 and another in 2006.
The Chinese government has made the space industry an important part of the nation's overall development strategy and adhered to exploration and utilization of outer space for peaceful purposes, the white paper said.
Over the past few years, China has ranked among the world's leading countries in certain major areas of space technology, it said, adding that in the next five years, there will be new opportunities to the country's space industry.
At the same time, China will work together with the international community to maintain a peaceful and clean outer space and endeavor to promote world peace and development, the document said.
FUTURE MISSIONS
Major tasks listed in the white paper for the next five years include space transportation system, Earth satellites, human spaceflights and deep-space exploration.
The country will launch the Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-10 spaceships and achieve unmanned or manned rendezvous and docking with the in-orbit Tiangong-1 vehicle, the paper said.
China also plans to launch space laboratories, manned spaceship and space freighters, and will start a research on the preliminary plan for a human landing on the moon, the document said.
As an important part of deep-space exploration, the country's lunar probe projects follow the idea of "three steps" -- orbiting, landing and returning.
In next five years, the country plans to launch orbiters for lunar soft landing, roving and surveying to implement the second stage of lunar exploration, then it will start the third-stage project of sampling the moon's surface matters and get those samples back to Earth, the white paper said.
In addition, China will build a space infrastructure frame composed of Earth observation satellites, communications and broadcasting satellites, plus navigation and positioning satellites.
MAJOR PROGRESS
According to the white paper, breakthroughs have been made in major space projects, including human spaceflight and lunar exploration, since 2006.
From Sept. 25 to 28, 2008, China successfully launched the Shenzhou-7 manned spaceship and became the third country in the world to master the key technology of astronaut space extravehicular activity.
In November 2011, China accomplished the first unmanned space rendezvous and docking test between the Tiangong-1 space lab module and Shenzhou-8 spaceship.
In addition, the country's lunar probe projects have achieved milestone breakthroughs over the past five years. China successfully launched two lunar probes, the Chang'e-1 on Oct. 24, 2007, and Chang'e-2 on Oct. 1, 2010.
The first probe retrieved a great deal of scientific data and a complete map of the moon while the second created a full higher-resolution map of the moon and a high-definition image of Sinus Iridium.
Editor: Liu
© 2011 Xinhua. All rights reserved.
===============================================================
China to launch orbiters for lunar soft landing in next five years: white paper
2011-12-29 11:12:49
BEIJING, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- China will launch orbiters for lunar soft landing, roving and surveying to implement the second stage of lunar exploration in next five years, a white paper said Thursday.
China's lunar probe projects are based on the idea of "three steps" -- orbiting, landing and returning, said the white paper "China's Space Activities in 2011" issued by the State Council Information Office.
In the third stage, China will start to sample the moon's surface matters and get those samples back to Earth, the paper said.
The country's lunar probe projects have achieved milestone breakthroughs since 2006, with the successful launching of two lunar probes, the Chang'e-1 on Oct. 24, 2007, and Chang'e-2 on Oct. 1, 2010.
The first probe retrieved a great deal of scientific data and a complete map of the moon while the second one created a full higher-resolution map of the moon and a high-definition image of Sinus Iridium.
By the implementation of lunar exploration projects, China will make in-situ analyses, morphological and structural surveys of the lunar surface in landing and roving areas, conduct environmental surveys of the lunar surface and make moon-based astronomical observations.
China will also push forward its exploration of planets, asteroids and the sun of the solar system, according to the white paper.
By using spacecraft, China will study the properties of black holes and physical laws under extreme conditions, explore properties of dark matter particles, and test basic theories of quantum mechanics.
It will also conduct scientific experiments on microgravity and space life science, explore and forecast the space environment and study their effects.
© 2011 Xinhua. All rights reserved.
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China to push forward human spaceflight projects in next five years: white paper
2011-12-29 11:12:37
BEIJING, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- China will push forward human spaceflight projects and make new technological breakthroughs, creating a foundation for future human spaceflight, according to a white paper titled "China's Space Activities in 2011" issued Thursday.
During the next five years, China will launch the Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-10 spaceships and achieve unmanned or manned rendezvous and docking with the in-orbit Tiangong-1 vehicle, said the white paper released by the Information Office of the State Council.
In addition, China will launch space laboratories, manned spaceship and space freighters, make breakthroughs in and master space station key technologies, including astronauts' medium-term stay, regenerative life support and propellant refueling. It will conduct studies on the preliminary plan for a human lunar landing.
According to the white paper, China will build a stronger space transportation system, keep improving its launch vehicle series, and enhance their capabilities of entering space.
It will enhance the reliability and adaptability of launch vehicles in service, develop new-generation launch vehicles and their upper stages, and implement the first flight of the Long March-5, Long March-6 and Long March-7 launch vehicles.
The paper said China will build a space infrastructure frame composed of Earth observation satellites, communications and broadcasting satellites, plus navigation and positioning satellites, and will develop a preliminary long-term, sustained and stable service capability.
It aims at developing and launching new-generation GEO meteorological satellites, stereo mapping satellites, radar satellites for environment and disaster monitoring, electromagnetic monitoring test satellites, and other new-type Earth observation satellites.
It will make breakthroughs in key technologies for interferometric synthetic-aperture radar and gravitational field measurement satellites, initiate a high-resolution Earth observation system and establish a stable all-weather, 24-hour, multi-spectral, various-resolution Earth observation system.
China carries out deep-space exploration in stages, with limited goals.It will launch orbiters for lunar soft landing, roving and surveying to implement the second stage of lunar exploration.
According to the paper, China will further improve its satellite application and service system, expand satellites application scope, and promote the national new strategic industries, to meet demands of national economic and social development.
© 2011 Xinhua. All rights reserved.
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China to develop new-generation launch vehicles: white paper
2011-12-29 10:44:08
BEIJING, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- China will develop new-generation launch vehicles, such as Long March-5, Long March-6 and Long March-7, in the next five years, a governmental white paper said Thursday.
The Long March-5 will use non-toxic and pollution-free propellant, and will be capable of placing 25 tonnes of payload into the near-Earth orbit, or placing 14 tonnes of pay-load into the GEO orbit, said the white paper "China's Space Activities in 2011" released by the State Council Information Office.
The Long March-6 will be a new type of high-speed response launch vehicle, which will be capable of placing not less than 1 tonne of payload into a sun-synchronous orbit at a height of 700 km.
The Long March-7 will be capable of placing 5.5 tonnes of payload into a sun-synchronous orbit at a height of 700 km, according to the white paper.
The country will also conduct special demonstrations and pre-research on key technologies for heavy-lift launch vehicles, the document said.
Since 2006, Long March rockets have accomplished 67 successful launches, sending 79 spacecraft into planned orbits and demonstrating noteworthy improvement in the reliability of China's launch vehicles.
© 2011 Xinhua. All rights reserved.
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China to tighten monitoring on space debris: white paper
2011-12-29 10:45:34
BEIJING, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- China will begin monitoring space debris and small near-Earth celestial bodies and collision pre-warning work in the next five years, according to a white paper published Thursday.
China will continue to strengthen its work on space debris monitoring and mitigation and its work on spacecraft protection, said the white paper titled "China's Space Activities in 2011" issued by the State Council Information Office.
It will set up a design and assess system of space debris mitigation, and take measures to reduce space debris left by post-task spacecraft and launch vehicles, the white paper says.
It will also experiment with digital simulation of space debris collisions, and build a system to protect spacecraft from space debris.
© 2011 Xinhua. All rights reserved.
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China makes rapid progress, breakthroughs in space industry: white paper
2011-12-29 12:06:09
BEIJING, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- A white paper published on Thursday said that China has made innovative achievements and breakthroughs in major space projects, and space technology has been upgraded remarkably.
The white paper, China's Space Activities in 2011, published by the State Council's Information Office, said that the country's Long March rockets have accomplished 67 successful launches, sending 79 spacecraft into planned orbits since 2006.
The Long March rocket series have been improved, and major progress has been made in the development of new-generation launch vehicles, the white paper said.
So far, China has developed Fengyun (wind and cloud), Haiyang (ocean), Ziyuan (resources), Yaogan (remote-sensing) and Tianhui (space mapping) satellite series, plus a constellation of small satellites for environmental and disaster monitoring and forecasting.
Fengyun satellites are now capable of global, three-dimensional and multispectral quantitative observation, and the first Haiyang dynamics environmental satellite launched in August, 2011 is capable of all-weather and full-time microwave observation, it said.
China has won successes in its high-capacity geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) satellite communications platform, space-based data relays, tracking, telemetry and command (TT&C), and other key technologies, showing remarkable improvement in the technical performance of China's satellites and in voice, data, radio and television communications.
The paper said China has comprehensively launched the building of a Beidou regional navigation system, consisting of five GEO satellites, five inclined geosynchronous orbit (IGSO) satellites and four medium-Earth-orbit (MEO) satellites.
Since April 2007, China has launched 10 such satellites and has been able to provide trial services for Asia-Pacific users, it said.
After successfully launching the Shenzhou-7 manned spaceship in 2008, China became the third country in the world to master the key technology of astronaut space extravehicular activity, the white paper said.
In September and November 2011, China successively launched the Tiangong-1 and Shenzhou-8 spaceship, and accomplished their first space rendezvous and docking test, laying the foundation for the construction of future space laboratories and space stations, it said.
In deep-space exploration, China successfully launched its first lunar probe, Chang'e-1, in 2007, retrieving a great deal of scientific data and a complete map of the moon, and successfully implementing a controlled crash onto the lunar surface.
The paper said the success of Chang'e-1 was another milestone for China's space industry, after man-made satellites and human spaceflight, signifying that China has become one of the countries capable of deep-space exploration.
China successfully launched its second lunar probe, Chang'e-2, in October 2010, and created a full higher-resolution map of the moon, and a high-definition image of Sinus Iridium, and completed several extended tests, including circling the Lagrangian Point L2, which laid the foundation for future deep-space exploration tasks, it said.
The white paper said China has improved its three existing launch sites in Jiuquan, Xichang and Taiyuan, enhancing their comprehensive test capabilities and high-intensity launching capabilities. China is building a new space launch site in Hainan to accommodate the launch of new-generation launch vehicles.
China has improved its TT&C ground stations and ships, and has established a very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) network comprising four observation stations and a data processing center, indicating that China has acquired space-based TT&C capabilities.
At present, China's TT&C network is expanding from the ground to space, and from geospace TT&C to deep-space TT&C. The network is able to not only satisfy satellite TT&C demands, but also support human spaceflight and deep-space exploration, it said.
The white paper revealed that using the Shijian satellites and Shenzhou spaceship, China has carried out space experiments in life science, materials science, fluid mechanics and other fields under conditions of microgravity and strong radiation. It has also conducted experiments on crop breeding in space.
China has monitored space debris, and given early warnings against them, ensuring safe flight of Chang'e-1 and Chang'e-2 lunar probes, and Shenzhou-7 manned spaceship.
China has steadily pushed forward its work on space debris mitigation, fully inactivating Long March rockets, and moving a few aging GEO satellites out of orbit, the white paper said.
© 2011 Xinhua. All rights reserved.
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China sticks to peaceful use of outer space: spokesman
2011-12-29 13:28:49
BEIJING, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- China adheres to a principle of peaceful development in its space missions and the use of outer space for peaceful purposes, a spokesman for the China National Space Administration said Thursday.
Spokesman Zhang Wei made the remarks while answering a question at a press conference held in Beijing for the release of the white paper titled "China's Space Activities in 2011."
By clearly listing "peaceful development" as a key principle that governs China's space missions, the paper demonstrates the nation's resolution in carrying out space activities in a peaceful way, Zhang said.
"It has been a common aspiration for the whole of mankind to explore, develop and utilize space for peaceful purposes," he noted.
The white paper says that China always adheres to the use of outer space for peaceful purposes, and opposes the weaponization of, or an arms race in, outer space.
"China develops and utilizes space resources in a prudent manner and takes effective measures to protect the space environment, ensuring that its space activities benefit the whole of mankind," the paper reads.
This is China's third such document detailing the progress of the country's space missions, following two previous white papers released in 2000 and 2006, respectively.
Editor: Lu Hui
© 2011 Xinhua. All rights reserved.
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China to launch Shenzhou-9, Shenzhou-10 spacecraft next year: spokesman
2011-12-29 16:38:18
BEIJING, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- China will launch the Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-10 spacecraft and achieve space rendezvous and docking missions with the orbiting Tiangong-1 vehicle in 2012, a spokesman for the China National Space Administration said Thursday.
Spokesman Zhang Wei made the announcement at a press conference held in Beijing for the release of a white paper titled "China's Space Activities in 2011."
However, the spokesman did not unveil a detailed timetable for the launches.
China on Thursday issued the white paper on the development of the space industry since 2006 and the major tasks for the next five years.
The white paper was the third white paper on the country's space activities issued by the State Council Information Office, following one in 2000 and another in 2006.
The Chinese government has made the space industry an important part of the nation's overall development strategy and adhered to the exploration and utilization of outer space for peaceful purposes, the white paper said.
Over the past few years, China has ranked among the world's leading countries in certain major areas of space technology, it said, adding that in the next five years, there will be new opportunities for the country's space industry.
At the same time, China will work together with the international community to maintain a peaceful and clean outer space environment and endeavor to promote world peace and development, the document said.
FUTURE MISSIONS
Major tasks listed in the white paper for the next five years include a space transportation system, Earth satellites, human spaceflights and deep-space exploration.
The country will launch Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-10 and achieve unmanned or manned rendezvous and docking with the currently orbiting Tiangong-1 vehicle, the paper said.
China also plans to launch space laboratories, a manned spaceship and space freighters, and will start research on the preliminary plan for a human landing on the moon, the document said.
As an important part of deep-space exploration, the country's lunar probe projects follow the idea of "three steps" -- orbiting, landing and returning.
In next five years, the country plans to launch orbiters for lunar soft landing, roving and surveying to implement the second stage of lunar exploration, then it will start the third-stage project of gathering samples of the moon's surface matter and getting those samples back to Earth, the white paper said.
China will also build a space infrastructure frame composed of Earth observation satellites, communications and broadcasting satellites, as well as navigation and positioning satellites.
According to Spokesman Zhang Wei, China will also conduct special project demonstrations in other deep-space projects, including an exploration of Mars.
INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
China has signed 66 international space cooperation agreements with 22 states and regions, and 44 of them currently remain in effect, Zhang said at the press conference.
Openness has always been a key principle of China's space program, he said.
The country has engaged in 12 bilateral cooperation mechanisms within intergovernmental frameworks, Zhang said, adding that China has exported communications satellites to Nigeria, Venezuela and Pakistan, and has also contracted with countries, including Bolivia, Belarus, Indonesia and Laos, to export satellites.
China is willing to provide space products and services to more countries and regions, especially developing countries, on the basis of equality, mutual benefit, and peaceful utilization.
Moreover, Zhang stressed that China adheres to a principle of peaceful development in its space missions and the use of outer space for peaceful purposes.
By clearly listing "peaceful development" as a key principle that governs China's space missions, Thursday's white paper demonstrates the nation's resolve in carrying out space activities in a peaceful way, Zhang said.
"It has been a common aspiration for the whole of mankind to explore, develop and utilize space for peaceful purposes," he noted.
The white paper says that China always adheres to the use of outer space for peaceful purposes, and opposes the weaponization of, or an arms race in, outer space.
"China develops and utilizes space resources in a prudent manner and takes effective measures to protect the space environment, ensuring that its space activities benefit the whole of mankind," the paper reads.
Moreover, Zhang said that Chinese scientists are keeping in close contact with their Russian peers on the situation of the Yinghuo-1 Mars orbiter.
The orbiter was launched along with Russia's Phobos-Grunt (Phobos-Soil) spacecraft last month, but the spacecraft failed to complete the orbital transfer scheduled to take it on the path to Mars.
Russian scientists have been making unremitting efforts to try to save the Chinese orbiter, Zhang said.
MAJOR PROGRESS
According to the white paper, breakthroughs have been made in major space projects, including human spaceflight and lunar exploration, since 2006.
From Sept. 25 to 28, 2008, China successfully launched the Shenzhou-7 manned spacecraft and became the third country in the world to master the key technology of astronaut space extravehicular activity.
In November 2011, China accomplished the first unmanned space rendezvous and docking test between the Tiangong-1 space lab module and Shenzhou-8 spaceship.
Moreover, the country's lunar probe projects have achieved milestone breakthroughs over the past five years. China successfully launched two lunar probes, the Chang'e-1 on Oct. 24, 2007, and Chang'e-2 on Oct. 1, 2010.
The first probe retrieved a great deal of scientific data and a complete map of the moon while the second created a full higher-resolution map of the moon and a high-definition image of Sinus Iridium
Editor: An
© 2011 Xinhua. All rights reserved.
===============================================================
Excellent comment: re: Obama space policy
Re: President Obama on Space
« Reply #1 on: 12/20/2011 03:11 PM »
We have to look at his history to understand why he can’t be trusted with this issue. In August 2008, he gave a speech in Titusville and promised four things -
1. Extension of the shuttle program by a minimum of one flight
2. Retention of the KSC workforce
3. Closure of the gap between shuttle and successor
4. Back to the Moon by 2020
The results -
1. No shuttle extension. STS-134 was added in October 2008 by the 110th Congress and George W. Bush via the 2008 NASA Authorization. STS-135 was added, not by Barack as promised, but through a bipartisan effort spearheaded by Senators Bill Nelson and Kay Bailey Hutchison and implemented via the 2010 NASA Authorization Act.
2. Most of the KSC workforce was laid off by default thanks to Barack not following through on promise #1.
3. Gap between shuttle and successor remained in place and in fact, widened (now 2019 or 2020 for MPCV debut).
4. Moon plans cancelled (Barack takes on a “been there, done that” stance). Asteroid set as destination.
All that’s to say is – don’t trust anything he has to say about space policy. He’s just trying to win votes. History shows you won’t get what you vote for with him. I’ll give him credit for extending ISS to 2020 and helping commercial get going a little faster, but that doesn’t make up for his intentional cancellation of the most capable space vehicle program in history. Yes, Bush started it in 2004, but Barack had a chance to overturn that decision and he failed to do so. Responsibility ultimately falls to him.
“The buck stops with me.” – Barack Obama
Logged
« Reply #1 on: 12/20/2011 03:11 PM »
We have to look at his history to understand why he can’t be trusted with this issue. In August 2008, he gave a speech in Titusville and promised four things -
1. Extension of the shuttle program by a minimum of one flight
2. Retention of the KSC workforce
3. Closure of the gap between shuttle and successor
4. Back to the Moon by 2020
The results -
1. No shuttle extension. STS-134 was added in October 2008 by the 110th Congress and George W. Bush via the 2008 NASA Authorization. STS-135 was added, not by Barack as promised, but through a bipartisan effort spearheaded by Senators Bill Nelson and Kay Bailey Hutchison and implemented via the 2010 NASA Authorization Act.
2. Most of the KSC workforce was laid off by default thanks to Barack not following through on promise #1.
3. Gap between shuttle and successor remained in place and in fact, widened (now 2019 or 2020 for MPCV debut).
4. Moon plans cancelled (Barack takes on a “been there, done that” stance). Asteroid set as destination.
All that’s to say is – don’t trust anything he has to say about space policy. He’s just trying to win votes. History shows you won’t get what you vote for with him. I’ll give him credit for extending ISS to 2020 and helping commercial get going a little faster, but that doesn’t make up for his intentional cancellation of the most capable space vehicle program in history. Yes, Bush started it in 2004, but Barack had a chance to overturn that decision and he failed to do so. Responsibility ultimately falls to him.
“The buck stops with me.” – Barack Obama
Logged
China' s space plans----Shuttle in Museum--Smart Move by Obama !!
China reveals its space plans up to 2016
Associated Press
China has released its next five-year space plan to help it on its way to its eventual goals of building a space station and putting a man on the moon.
The white paper released Thursday says that by the end of 2016, China will launch space laboratories, manned spaceships and ship freighters, and make technological preparations for the construction of space stations.
It says the country will carry on exploring the moon using probes, start gathering samples of the moon's surface, and "push forward its exploration of planets, asteroids and the sun."
China places great emphasis on the development of its space industry, which is seen as a symbol of national prestige.
China to build first space telescope
Jiefang Daily (translated by People's Daily Online)
China may build its first large-caliber space telescope on its space station, said Gong Huixing, academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering.
Its caliber will be smaller than that of the Hubble Space Telescope, but its field of view will be wider that of the Hubble, said Gong.
The largest caliber of the primary mirror of the telescope is 2 meters, shorter than Hubble Space Telescope (2.4 meters) by about one-sixth. With a relatively lower resolution ratio, the telescope features larger field of view with wider cosmic space observed at the same time. It can also conduct infrared observation.
China will possess its first space station around 2020, said Zhang Chongfeng, vice general designer of the Space Laboratory System of the Manned Space Flight Project.
Michael
Associated Press
China has released its next five-year space plan to help it on its way to its eventual goals of building a space station and putting a man on the moon.
The white paper released Thursday says that by the end of 2016, China will launch space laboratories, manned spaceships and ship freighters, and make technological preparations for the construction of space stations.
It says the country will carry on exploring the moon using probes, start gathering samples of the moon's surface, and "push forward its exploration of planets, asteroids and the sun."
China places great emphasis on the development of its space industry, which is seen as a symbol of national prestige.
China to build first space telescope
Jiefang Daily (translated by People's Daily Online)
China may build its first large-caliber space telescope on its space station, said Gong Huixing, academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering.
Its caliber will be smaller than that of the Hubble Space Telescope, but its field of view will be wider that of the Hubble, said Gong.
The largest caliber of the primary mirror of the telescope is 2 meters, shorter than Hubble Space Telescope (2.4 meters) by about one-sixth. With a relatively lower resolution ratio, the telescope features larger field of view with wider cosmic space observed at the same time. It can also conduct infrared observation.
China will possess its first space station around 2020, said Zhang Chongfeng, vice general designer of the Space Laboratory System of the Manned Space Flight Project.
Michael
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Does this reveal anything about Adm/NASA ??
NASA should accept Google gift of saving Hangar One
San Jose Mercury News (Editorial)
Inexplicably, NASA-Ames is leaving a perfectly-wrapped present unopened under its tree at Moffett Field: an offer from three Google executives to pay the entire $33 million cost to re-clad Hangar One, whose asbestos-poisoned skin is being scraped to the skeleton this winter. Google CEO Larry Page, co-founder Sergey Brin and executive chairman Eric Schmidt made the offer to save the landmark in September. Local NASA officials seem enthusiastic, but headquarters has given no official response, according to U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo -- ignoring bipartisan interest and repeated letters from her seeking a reaction.
__________
San Jose Mercury News (Editorial)
Inexplicably, NASA-Ames is leaving a perfectly-wrapped present unopened under its tree at Moffett Field: an offer from three Google executives to pay the entire $33 million cost to re-clad Hangar One, whose asbestos-poisoned skin is being scraped to the skeleton this winter. Google CEO Larry Page, co-founder Sergey Brin and executive chairman Eric Schmidt made the offer to save the landmark in September. Local NASA officials seem enthusiastic, but headquarters has given no official response, according to U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo -- ignoring bipartisan interest and repeated letters from her seeking a reaction.
__________
Risk assessment like this used on Shuttle!!
Americans, we have shut down this shuttle program based on this kind of thinking. We need an emergency session of the House and Senate space committees to reassess this situation .
We are in a crisis situation, if any of you know anyone with influence, please get them to help.
Please get this to all your Congressmen and senators. This ought to awaken all of you to the gross mismanagement of the space program by the adm and NASA.
Read this,
it is not unsafe, but not safe, needs more studies.
We believe it would be unwise. DOD aircraft extensions have not turned out well.
The shuttle is risky and becoming more so. More risk than folks should shoulder.
These people adm Dyrer and Gehman have essentially put a Safe multi- billion program in the TRASH, based on their emotions.
Gehman--to be safe we should fly as few missions as possible before retirement.
John Shannon , SPM states that Dryer utterances are disturbing based on the recent (flights from Columbia to present) have been very clean.
Shannon comments below---
.
ASAP----comments
“The ASAP does not, I’ll emphasize that, does not support extending the shuttle beyond its current manifest,” noted Admiral Dyer in his opening remarks to the House hearing to discuss the initial findings of the Augustine Review into the forward path for Human Space Flight.
That comment was specific to safety, as cited in the Admiral’s opening statement, which gained the opening question from Mr Bart Gordon, a Democrat representative from Tennessee – who chaired the hearing.
“In your comments, you made a very definitive statement concerning no extension of the shuttle,” Mr Gordon asked. “Now is that period, or is that or is that in context to 2020 (likely 2015), and would you extend it if it was recertified, or if there was a mission – or two missions – that came up in the next short period that seemed to be very important? Is there still a period where you wouldn’t go one more?”
“Three quick comments: The thing that scares us the most is that kind of serial extension,” responded Admiral Dyer. “Point number 2: We take this position because we think the risk is more than what we should ask folks to shoulder – and we don’t think there is full transparency to that risk.
“Thirdly, the time to extend the shuttle in the panel’s opinion was several years ago when the supply chain was still intact and when there was an opportunity to go forward with a (inaudible) program. A number of folks, who participated on the (ASAP) panel, have lived through an extension of number of Department of Defense aircraft programs after they were supposed to terminate. It is never a good experience.
“I will also offer one other caution. Could you, with significant money and with recertification, extend the shuttle? Yes. The money would be impressive, it would have to go well through the supply chain, and the risk of finding things that demand even more resources during recertification is a real risk.”
With the heavy tone on the risk, and with six shuttle missions still to be launched, Mr Gordon asked if NASA should be looking at one less flight – if the risk was as bad as the ASAP was portraying. That led to an astonishing claim from Admiral Dyer.
“We say in the military world that the operational commander always has the authority to proceed in the face of absolute requirements – and it would be an equivalent position in the opinion of the panel. The shuttle is risky, it is becoming more so, and extension beyond what is planned through the current manifest we believe would be unwise.”
Regarding Hubble repair (sts125, 2009)
Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., was not happy with the decision. Last spring she asked the head of the CAIB, retired Navy Adm. Hal Gehman, to review the decision and address the issue of shuttle safety. He responded on March 5.
Reviewing the actual risk posed during a shuttle mission, Gehman said, for now, and in the foreseeable future, by far most of the risk in space flight is the launch, ascent, entry and landing phases. So, he said, to be safe, NASA should launch the shuttle as few times as possible before it is retired. Though he said it was not unsafe, he also said it was not safe, either, and he called for more studies.
John Shannon SPM comments
“There were some disturbing remarks from the head of the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP). We are working to understand these concerns from a Shuttle risk standpoint,” Mr Shannon noted. “We are flying safer now, and have a better safety culture and integrated team approach with many checks and balances to ensure that we are flying as safely as absolutely possible.”
Mr Shannon also cited the recent Flight Readiness Review (FRR) and Mission Management Team (MMT) decisions not to launch a mission until they were absolutely sure the shuttle was safe to carry it out.
These decisions are well documented, from the continuous External Tank foam modifications from STS-114 onwards, to the Engine Cut Off (ECO) sensor/LH2 Feedthrough connector issues surrounding STS-122, to the extensive Flow Control Valve (FCV) discussions, to the GUCP (Ground Umbilical Carrier Plate) misalignment, and right through to STS-128?s LH2 Fill and Drain Valve indications – to name but a few.
Also, as noted by Mr Shannon as safety culture, internal memos have shown major efforts to welcome dissent from throughout the shuttle engineering team, even when such dissent was proven to be unfounded. A “no stone left unturned” attitude was how one source described the current culture to this site.
Each time a problem has been noted, it has been proven that managers have stepped back, listened to the engineering community, before making absolutely sure they both understand the problem and are in a comfortable position to launch.
“We have demonstrated over the last several flows that when we are not ready to fly, we stop and take the necessary time to understand the situation before we proceed,” added Mr Shannon, who added he wasn’t even sure if Admiral Dyer was speaking of the current program, given how alien his representations were to the reality of the program since Columbia.
“(I am) extremely proud of how the team has worked through recent problems. (I am) not sure if the concerns of the ASAP chairman were echoes of the past, but they do not accurately reflect the current environment. We will work to understand these comments and to be sure that we have not forgotten anything.”
The reality of the actual risk – a risk that is obvious and never underestimated throughout manned space flight – was shown in the extension study report that NASA filed with the White House back in May of this year.
Those findings revealed a 98.7 percent probability of safely executing each flight, which painted a very different picture when compared to Mr Griffin’s alarming 1 in 8 chance of a disaster.
“The latest Space Shuttle probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) indicates that the single mission risk for loss of crew and vehicle (LOCV) is 1 in 77; stated another way, there is a 98.7 percent probability of safely executing each flight,” noted the NASA study into extending the shuttle past 2010 (available on L2).
Interestingly, that study based its figures on the SSP since 1987. Had the study was based on post Return To Flight findings, it would be highly likely resulted in a risk ratio would be significantly lower – simply due to the flight history since the loss of Columbia, and the numerous modifications made since the fleet returned to action with STS-114.
However, even based on the conservative study findings, the risk is not deemed to a ratio that would increase, which directly counters the Admiral’s claims.
“The average risk of LOCV has remained fairly consistent over that time. This risk is predicted to remain consistent over the remaining life of the program. The primary drivers for LOCV are, in order of the magnitude of their contribution to the overall risk: micro-meteoroid/orbital debris (MMOD), ascent debris, and Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) malfunctions.
“In addition, NASA will continue to evolve its PRA tools to address anomalies encountered during flight operations. By monitoring anomaly trends across different categories (for example, by whether an anomaly is due to design issues, age, operations or procedurally-induced effects, or unknown or random phenomena), NASA gains both near-term insights into Space Shuttle performance opportunities for potential safety improvements during ongoing operations as well as longer-term benefit in applying experience-based risk models to future programs like Constellation.
“NASA’s safety and mission assurance strategy emphasizes the need for rigorous program and independent safety reviews, as well as continual safety improvements throughout a program’s life cycle. Improvements to both processes and hardware are made for each Space Shuttle flight, and NASA will continue to invest in prudent safety enhancements through the last mission.”
The latest SSP Top Risks Review presentation on L2 shows the vehicle is becoming safer, with the latest ratio updated to 1 in 81 LOV/C, from the previous 1 in 77.
The SSP also earned praise at the preceding meeting with the Senate side of Hearing from both the politicians in attendance and Mr Norm Augustine himself – who spoke of his “astonishment” at the morale and professionalism of the program’s workforce.
Such comments are a good reflection of the highly respected SSP team. However, the continued uncertainty surrounding the future of both the Shuttle Program and NASA itself is understandably starting to pay a toll, as the program is forced to press ahead of a cull of its workforce based on the current plan to end the program after STS-133.
We are in a crisis situation, if any of you know anyone with influence, please get them to help.
Please get this to all your Congressmen and senators. This ought to awaken all of you to the gross mismanagement of the space program by the adm and NASA.
Read this,
it is not unsafe, but not safe, needs more studies.
We believe it would be unwise. DOD aircraft extensions have not turned out well.
The shuttle is risky and becoming more so. More risk than folks should shoulder.
These people adm Dyrer and Gehman have essentially put a Safe multi- billion program in the TRASH, based on their emotions.
Gehman--to be safe we should fly as few missions as possible before retirement.
John Shannon , SPM states that Dryer utterances are disturbing based on the recent (flights from Columbia to present) have been very clean.
Shannon comments below---
.
ASAP----comments
“The ASAP does not, I’ll emphasize that, does not support extending the shuttle beyond its current manifest,” noted Admiral Dyer in his opening remarks to the House hearing to discuss the initial findings of the Augustine Review into the forward path for Human Space Flight.
That comment was specific to safety, as cited in the Admiral’s opening statement, which gained the opening question from Mr Bart Gordon, a Democrat representative from Tennessee – who chaired the hearing.
“In your comments, you made a very definitive statement concerning no extension of the shuttle,” Mr Gordon asked. “Now is that period, or is that or is that in context to 2020 (likely 2015), and would you extend it if it was recertified, or if there was a mission – or two missions – that came up in the next short period that seemed to be very important? Is there still a period where you wouldn’t go one more?”
“Three quick comments: The thing that scares us the most is that kind of serial extension,” responded Admiral Dyer. “Point number 2: We take this position because we think the risk is more than what we should ask folks to shoulder – and we don’t think there is full transparency to that risk.
“Thirdly, the time to extend the shuttle in the panel’s opinion was several years ago when the supply chain was still intact and when there was an opportunity to go forward with a (inaudible) program. A number of folks, who participated on the (ASAP) panel, have lived through an extension of number of Department of Defense aircraft programs after they were supposed to terminate. It is never a good experience.
“I will also offer one other caution. Could you, with significant money and with recertification, extend the shuttle? Yes. The money would be impressive, it would have to go well through the supply chain, and the risk of finding things that demand even more resources during recertification is a real risk.”
With the heavy tone on the risk, and with six shuttle missions still to be launched, Mr Gordon asked if NASA should be looking at one less flight – if the risk was as bad as the ASAP was portraying. That led to an astonishing claim from Admiral Dyer.
“We say in the military world that the operational commander always has the authority to proceed in the face of absolute requirements – and it would be an equivalent position in the opinion of the panel. The shuttle is risky, it is becoming more so, and extension beyond what is planned through the current manifest we believe would be unwise.”
Regarding Hubble repair (sts125, 2009)
Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., was not happy with the decision. Last spring she asked the head of the CAIB, retired Navy Adm. Hal Gehman, to review the decision and address the issue of shuttle safety. He responded on March 5.
Reviewing the actual risk posed during a shuttle mission, Gehman said, for now, and in the foreseeable future, by far most of the risk in space flight is the launch, ascent, entry and landing phases. So, he said, to be safe, NASA should launch the shuttle as few times as possible before it is retired. Though he said it was not unsafe, he also said it was not safe, either, and he called for more studies.
John Shannon SPM comments
“There were some disturbing remarks from the head of the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP). We are working to understand these concerns from a Shuttle risk standpoint,” Mr Shannon noted. “We are flying safer now, and have a better safety culture and integrated team approach with many checks and balances to ensure that we are flying as safely as absolutely possible.”
Mr Shannon also cited the recent Flight Readiness Review (FRR) and Mission Management Team (MMT) decisions not to launch a mission until they were absolutely sure the shuttle was safe to carry it out.
These decisions are well documented, from the continuous External Tank foam modifications from STS-114 onwards, to the Engine Cut Off (ECO) sensor/LH2 Feedthrough connector issues surrounding STS-122, to the extensive Flow Control Valve (FCV) discussions, to the GUCP (Ground Umbilical Carrier Plate) misalignment, and right through to STS-128?s LH2 Fill and Drain Valve indications – to name but a few.
Also, as noted by Mr Shannon as safety culture, internal memos have shown major efforts to welcome dissent from throughout the shuttle engineering team, even when such dissent was proven to be unfounded. A “no stone left unturned” attitude was how one source described the current culture to this site.
Each time a problem has been noted, it has been proven that managers have stepped back, listened to the engineering community, before making absolutely sure they both understand the problem and are in a comfortable position to launch.
“We have demonstrated over the last several flows that when we are not ready to fly, we stop and take the necessary time to understand the situation before we proceed,” added Mr Shannon, who added he wasn’t even sure if Admiral Dyer was speaking of the current program, given how alien his representations were to the reality of the program since Columbia.
“(I am) extremely proud of how the team has worked through recent problems. (I am) not sure if the concerns of the ASAP chairman were echoes of the past, but they do not accurately reflect the current environment. We will work to understand these comments and to be sure that we have not forgotten anything.”
The reality of the actual risk – a risk that is obvious and never underestimated throughout manned space flight – was shown in the extension study report that NASA filed with the White House back in May of this year.
Those findings revealed a 98.7 percent probability of safely executing each flight, which painted a very different picture when compared to Mr Griffin’s alarming 1 in 8 chance of a disaster.
“The latest Space Shuttle probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) indicates that the single mission risk for loss of crew and vehicle (LOCV) is 1 in 77; stated another way, there is a 98.7 percent probability of safely executing each flight,” noted the NASA study into extending the shuttle past 2010 (available on L2).
Interestingly, that study based its figures on the SSP since 1987. Had the study was based on post Return To Flight findings, it would be highly likely resulted in a risk ratio would be significantly lower – simply due to the flight history since the loss of Columbia, and the numerous modifications made since the fleet returned to action with STS-114.
However, even based on the conservative study findings, the risk is not deemed to a ratio that would increase, which directly counters the Admiral’s claims.
“The average risk of LOCV has remained fairly consistent over that time. This risk is predicted to remain consistent over the remaining life of the program. The primary drivers for LOCV are, in order of the magnitude of their contribution to the overall risk: micro-meteoroid/orbital debris (MMOD), ascent debris, and Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) malfunctions.
“In addition, NASA will continue to evolve its PRA tools to address anomalies encountered during flight operations. By monitoring anomaly trends across different categories (for example, by whether an anomaly is due to design issues, age, operations or procedurally-induced effects, or unknown or random phenomena), NASA gains both near-term insights into Space Shuttle performance opportunities for potential safety improvements during ongoing operations as well as longer-term benefit in applying experience-based risk models to future programs like Constellation.
“NASA’s safety and mission assurance strategy emphasizes the need for rigorous program and independent safety reviews, as well as continual safety improvements throughout a program’s life cycle. Improvements to both processes and hardware are made for each Space Shuttle flight, and NASA will continue to invest in prudent safety enhancements through the last mission.”
The latest SSP Top Risks Review presentation on L2 shows the vehicle is becoming safer, with the latest ratio updated to 1 in 81 LOV/C, from the previous 1 in 77.
The SSP also earned praise at the preceding meeting with the Senate side of Hearing from both the politicians in attendance and Mr Norm Augustine himself – who spoke of his “astonishment” at the morale and professionalism of the program’s workforce.
Such comments are a good reflection of the highly respected SSP team. However, the continued uncertainty surrounding the future of both the Shuttle Program and NASA itself is understandably starting to pay a toll, as the program is forced to press ahead of a cull of its workforce based on the current plan to end the program after STS-133.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Help Save the Shuttle
Americans, we can’t let the shuttle linger in a museum. I am just a nobody who was lucky to have worked on Apollo and shuttle. Many very smart people have tried to use their influence to keep the shuttle flying and have failed to date. The shuttle is complex and expensive, some say too expensive. However, it is here and will work and can be improved in contrast to the systems under development. These new systems will face many pitfalls before becoming reliable. Since we have the shuttle and facilities, personnel , we should use the shuttle until a replacements operational. The accident boards, ASAP did not treat the shuttle fairly as I discussed in safety gone berserk. This will likely occur in future developments. Our goals to operate in space will do better in DOD than in NASA. The shuttle is safe with proper management attention.
To let the shuttle gather dust when the USA needs the capabilities to conduct orbital operations and to be constrained by overly conservative rules is not appropriate.
We must return the shuttle to flight, you hear cost to much, it is not viable. It was flying a few months ago. It can be returned to flight. These other approaches are not as capable as the shuttle. It will be
years before they are operational. The shuttle is unique. Its capabilities can be used for
orbital operation or as vehicle to place building blocks in orbit for missions to mars, moon, etc.
We must get everybody who is interested to get more involved. Lots of people out there who have powerful contacts should use them to get more involved. Former NASA, contractor,and present should get involved and get others involved. Set up blogs, contact media of all types and get the word out. The coalition to save manned space exploration (link on site) has some excellent suggestions. Former and present astronauts can do likewise—many are.
The shuttle is a truly magnificent machine, on which we have spent 100 ‘s of billions and decades of work. We can not let it set in a museum.
One comment that struck me to an article on this subject–tell me what part you need and I will get it for you. This was a comment to” the production lines have shut down.”
Americans, it is up to us. As Newt said the shuttle shutdown, was ” a stupid move”
Read The Case to Save the Shuttle again.
Come on Americans, this President wants the shuttle never to fly again, ARE WE GOING TO PUT UP WITH THIS????
To let the shuttle gather dust when the USA needs the capabilities to conduct orbital operations and to be constrained by overly conservative rules is not appropriate.
We must return the shuttle to flight, you hear cost to much, it is not viable. It was flying a few months ago. It can be returned to flight. These other approaches are not as capable as the shuttle. It will be
years before they are operational. The shuttle is unique. Its capabilities can be used for
orbital operation or as vehicle to place building blocks in orbit for missions to mars, moon, etc.
We must get everybody who is interested to get more involved. Lots of people out there who have powerful contacts should use them to get more involved. Former NASA, contractor,and present should get involved and get others involved. Set up blogs, contact media of all types and get the word out. The coalition to save manned space exploration (link on site) has some excellent suggestions. Former and present astronauts can do likewise—many are.
The shuttle is a truly magnificent machine, on which we have spent 100 ‘s of billions and decades of work. We can not let it set in a museum.
One comment that struck me to an article on this subject–tell me what part you need and I will get it for you. This was a comment to” the production lines have shut down.”
Americans, it is up to us. As Newt said the shuttle shutdown, was ” a stupid move”
Read The Case to Save the Shuttle again.
Come on Americans, this President wants the shuttle never to fly again, ARE WE GOING TO PUT UP WITH THIS????
Privatizing Ast. Flights a Conservative position???--approach must work
James Dean - Florida Today
After the space shuttle's retirement this year, frustration over the decline in the nation's human spaceflight capability may leave President Barack Obama open to attack in the 2012 campaign. But experts say the Republicans vying to replace Obama are unlikely to seek big changes to NASA's post-shuttle transition, which relies on Russia to deliver U.S. astronauts to the International Space Station until the commercial sector is ready to take over the job. Obama's signature space policy shift — privatizing astronaut flights to the space station — is a conservative one, and tight NASA budgets in the coming years will limit flexibility to change course.
After the space shuttle's retirement this year, frustration over the decline in the nation's human spaceflight capability may leave President Barack Obama open to attack in the 2012 campaign. But experts say the Republicans vying to replace Obama are unlikely to seek big changes to NASA's post-shuttle transition, which relies on Russia to deliver U.S. astronauts to the International Space Station until the commercial sector is ready to take over the job. Obama's signature space policy shift — privatizing astronaut flights to the space station — is a conservative one, and tight NASA budgets in the coming years will limit flexibility to change course.
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