IAASS fellow William Manha is the recipient of the Silver Snoopy Award, the highest honor given by NASA to a non-astronaut “in appreciation for professionalism, dedication and outstanding support that greatly enhanced space flight safety and mission success.” The award, name after the popular character from Charles M. Shulz, consists of a sterling silver “Silver Snoopy” lapel pin flown during a [...]
Articles written by: Andrea Gini
Copenhagen Suborbitals and Exploring “Horrible Deaths”
There is no question that Copenhagen Suborbital has broken ground in the do-it-yourself (DIY) space movement. Founded in 2008 by Kristian von Bengston and Peter Madsen with the express goal of launching themselves into space, the organization has designed and tested a whole family of rockets and a capsule that has significantly evolved over time. The organization has advanced in [...]
A New Commercial Approach to Space Safety
This editorial, authored by International Space Safety Foundation President Joe Pelton and Space Safety Magazine Editor-in-Chief Andrea Gini was first published by Space News on October 15, 2012. It is republished with permission of the authors and publisher. The launch of Sputnik in October 1957 gave rise to the space race – born of the Cold War. The Cold War [...]
IAASS Announcement: Last Days to Enroll in the ISS Payload Design and Operations Safety Course
Training Course: 11-15 June 2012 Venue: Astrium, Friedrichshafen, Germany You can apply to the ISS Payload Design and Operations Safety in the registration page: http://www.congrexprojects.com Overview An introductory course in ISS Payloads Design and Operations Safety for managers and engineers new to ISS payload safety analysis principles and processes and for safety practitioners with no previous space projects [...]
Don Kessler on Envisat and the Kessler Syndrome
A drifting satellite as big as Envisat would be more than just a huge space wreck: in case of collision, given its mass, volume and shape, it might generate a cloud of smaller debris large enough to populate the orbit, initiating a self-sustaining chain-reaction of collisions and fragmentation with production of new debris. This phenomenon, known as the Kessler Syndrome, would eventually make space operations difficult or [...]
First Payload Ready for Next Batch of Galileo Satellites
Source: ESA. The next Galileo navigation payload has been completed and is on its way to meet the satellite platform that will host it in orbit. The first of 14 Galileo ‘Full Operational Capability’ (FOC) navigation payloads has been shipped from Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd in the UK to prime contractor OHB System AG in Bremen Germany. The payload – the [...]
Envisat Service Interruption Increases Likelihood of Collision
The European Space Agency lost contact with Envisat, an 8.5 tons remote sensing satellite flying in a 790 km high Sun synchronous polar orbit. “Our failure review board has been meeting many times since Sunday [April 8]“, said Volker Liebig, ESA’s Earth observation director, ”we are trying to re-establish contact and in parallel to collect more data on the satellite’s status.” According [...]
ROSAT Almost Crashed Into Beijing
According to German newspaper Der Spiegel, the German Roentgen Satellite (ROSAT) almost crashed into Beijing during its reentry. ”ROSAT nearly caused what would have been among the worst catastrophes in the history of space exploration,” reads the article, “In the night from Oct. 22 to 23 last year, the defunct satellite fell to Earth — just barely missing the Chinese capital Beijing, population 20 [...]
IAASS Course on Payload Safety and Operations
On March 19 – 23, 2012, the IAASS Payload Safety and Operations Course was held at the Canadian Space Agency’s John H. Chapman Space Centre in Longueuil, Quebec, Canada. The course was attended by 23 students from across the Space Agency including Safety, Project and Engineering personnel. The course covered such topics as hazard analysis, technical requirements, safety data packages, [...]
Russia is Developing a Nuclear Space Engine by 2017
According to press agency RIA Novosti, Russia is developing a Megawatt-class nuclear propulsion system for long-range manned spacecraft. “At present we are testing several types of fuel,” said Denis Kovalevich, Skolkovo Foundation’s Nuclear Cluster head, “the engine is expected to be ready by 2017.” The source reports a government allocation of 500 million rubles ($16.7 million) in 2010 to start a project of a [...]
