Falcon 9 Engine Loss Still Under Investigation Although no official report has been released, there is talk of Sunday’s Falcon 9 engine loss being due to a fracturing of the Merlin 1C engine’s fuel dome with the failure localized to the fractured region. Experts are viewing Falcon 9′s ability to withstand such a severe failure as a sign of the [...]
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ISS Debris Avoidance Maneuver Called Off; ATV-3 Departure Rescheduled
The International Space Station Debris Avoidance Maneuver scheduled for Thursday, September 27 was called off just seven hours before its planned execution. Further observation showed that the two pieces of debris headed for the station would not enter the “red zone” that would indicate a 1 in 100,000 chance of colliding with the vessel. With the debris no longer of concern, attention [...]
Xaero Test Flight Ends in Fireball
On September 11, Masten Space Systems conducted a test flight of Xaero, its vertical take off, vertical landing rocket. It went up just fine – but the descent got a little rocky. Following an apparent throttle valve failure, the rocket began oscillating. After failing to stabilize, the vehicle’s liquid oxygen engine shut off. The rocket fell to the ground and [...]
Russia Delays 2012 Military Launches After Satellite Failure
Source: RIA Novosti Russia will delay launches of military spacecraft this year because of a failed satellite launch last month, a top defense official said on Tuesday [September 4]. The delays will be “insignificant,” Russian Space Forces Commander Lt. Gen. Oleg Ostapenko said. Two telecommunications satellites were lost on August 7 due to a failure in the Russian Proton-M rocket’s upper [...]
SpaceShipTwo “Dropped Like a Rock” During Test Flight Stall
An interesting article by Leonard David on Space.com about the stall experienced by Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo during the September 29 test flight, reported by the Space Safety Magazine on October 3: According to one observer of the craft’s rapid descent, “It dropped like a rock and went straight down. Typically, it takes 11 minutes to land, but this time it was only [...]
Interview with Secure World Foundation Director
Source Space.com: “SPACE.com caught up with Ray Williamson, executive director of the Secure World Foundation, an organization dedicated to the peaceful use of outer space, to talk about space debris, UARS, and why NASA can’t just destroy the darn satellite before it falls to Earth.” On the reasons for the popularity of the news: Ray Williamson: I think because we’re not [...]
Latest Tumbling Satellite Fails to Warrant Space Intercept
A Elaine M. Grossman article on spacemart.com addresses the scenario of a controlled destruction of UARS satellite using a military missile, like US did on February 4, 2008, to prevent release of toxic hydrazine from the dead USA-193 satellite. The NASA spokeswoman did not include a Standard Missile 3 intercept or similar intervention as an option for the UARS system, noting that the lack [...]
NASA Mulls ‘What-Ifs’ of Unmanned Space Station
An article publishe in space-travel.com highlights some of the scenario in case the ISS was abandoned in November, as a consequence of the 24 August Soyuz rocket failure during delivery of Progres M12-M. Charles Bolden, NASA Adminstrator, has recently released an ISS status update. Excerpt NASA mission managers in Houston are hard at work on contingency plans after both Russia and the United States [...]
Orbital Receives FAA Commercial Space Launch License for COTS Demo Mission
Orbital Receives FAA Commercial Space Launch License for Taurus II COTS Demonstration Mission Orbital Sciences Corporation announced on August 31 that it has received a Commercial Space Transportation Launch License from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which authorizes the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program demonstration mission scheduled for early 2012. “We are very pleased to have been granted the Commercial [...]
Russia May Put Space Program Under State Defense Order
According to the news agency Ria-Novosti, the Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos is considering returning the federal space program to the framework of the state defense order to ensure steady financing and reduce the number of accidents with space launches. “It would be beneficial to return the federal space program and the Glonass program to the framework of the state defense [...]
