Week In Space

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 In the news this week, the first European Automated Transfer Vehicle, Jules Verne, docked with the International Space Station last thursday. The cargo ship carried over 7500 pounds of supplies fro the Expedition 16 and 17 crews. Also, NASA’s Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) is entering final testing and preparation for launch on a Delta 2 rocket from Cape Canaveral A.F.S. on May 16.

Commentary this week focuses on a report issued by the Government Accountability Office critical of NASA’s development efforts on the Ares I launch vehicle and Orion crew capsule. GAO identifies several cost, schedule and safety hurdles that NASA will have to overcome in the coming months if the agency hopes to maintain the schedule for bringing Orion online in 2015. Among the concerns are the thrust oscillation problem on the Ares I first stage causing vibrations too high for a manned crew, weight concerns on both the Ares and Orion, and the inability of industry so far to demonstrate the capability to build the thermal protection system that Orion will requires during re-entry. GAO says NASA can overcome all of these issues, but the agency will be hard-pressed to do so before the Ares I and Orion preliminary design reviews this fall.

Listen Now: thisweekinspace_030208.mp3

This week we take a look at the next shuttle mission. Endeavour is scheduled to launch on STS-123 March 11 on a flight to the International Space Station. This is one of the most exciting and complex shuttle flights to date. Endeavour will deliver the first module of the the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Kibo laboratory to the space station and will also take up the Canadian-built Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator, Dextre, which will act like a remote-controlled hand for doing maintenance work on the station. The 16-day flight will be the longest shuttle flight to the station yet.

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Listen Now: thisweekinspace_022708.mp3 

This week we look at some events that will affect the space industry in Florida. A partnership between the state and Google Lunar x-Prize, Orbital Sciences Corp. wining the NASA COTS contract and a proposal from Kennedy Space Center to bulid two new launch pads at KSC for private launch providers.

Space Florida has partnered with Google and the X Prize Foundation to add $2 million to the $200 million Google Lunar X Prize. The incentive is for companies to launch their prize entries from Florida. If the winner launches from Florida, they will get the additional $2 million. Orbital Science Corporation won the second of NASa’s 2 Phase 1 COTS demonstration contracts. They plan to launch from Virginia, which is not good new s for Florida, although their operational flights might take off from the Space Coast of Florida. Kennedy Space Center has started the process for possibly building two new launch pads on KSC property which would be leased out to a private operator who would then market them to private companies in the launch business and who could launch their vehicles from the new complexes. The local community isn’t thrilled about it, believe it or not. Fish seem to be more important to the local residents of the SPACE COAST.