Photo Release -- Northrop Grumman Developing XS-1 Experimental Spaceplane Design for DARPA

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) with Scaled Composites and Virgin Galactic is developing a preliminary design and flight demonstration plan for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) Experimental Spaceplane XS-1 program.

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XS-1 has a reusable booster that when coupled with an expendable upper stage provides affordable, available and responsive space lift for 3,000-pound class spacecraft into low Earth orbit. Reusable boosters with aircraft-like operations provide a breakthrough in space lift costs for this payload class, enabling new generations of lower cost, innovative and more resilient spacecraft.

 

The company is defining its concept for XS-1 under a 13-month, phase one contract valued at $3.9 million. In addition to low-cost launch, the XS-1 would serve as a test-bed for a new generation of hypersonic aircraft.

 

A key program goal is to fly 10 times in 10 days using a minimal ground crew and infrastructure. Reusable aircraft-like operations would help reduce military and commercial light spacecraft launch costs by a factor of 10 from current launch costs in this payload class.

 

To complement its aircraft, spacecraft and autonomous systems capabilities, Northrop Grumman has teamed with Scaled Composites of Mojave, which will lead fabrication and assembly, and Virgin Galactic, the privately-funded spaceline, which will head commercial spaceplane operations and transition.

 

"Our team is uniquely qualified to meet DARPA's XS-1 operational system goals, having built and transitioned many developmental systems to operational use, including our current work on the world's only commercial spaceline, Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo," said Doug Young, vice president, missile defense and advanced missions, Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems.

 

"We plan to bundle proven technologies into our concept that we developed during related projects for DARPA, NASA and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, giving the government maximum return on those investments," Young added.

 

The design would be built around operability and affordability, emphasizing aircraft-like operations including:

– Clean pad launch using a transporter erector launcher, minimal infrastructure and ground crew;

– Highly autonomous flight operations that leverage Northrop Grumman's unmanned aircraft systems experience; and

– Aircraft-like horizontal landing and recovery on standard runways.

 

 

Northrop Grumman is a leading global security company providing innovative systems, products and solutions in air and space unmanned systems, cyber, C4ISR, and logistics and modernization to government and commercial customers worldwide. Please visit www.northropgrumman.com for more information.

NASA, Navy sign agreement on carrier landings

The Navy has agreed to pay NASA nearly $2 million a year so it can practice aircraft-landing maneuvers at its Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia's Eastern Shore, officials said Thursday.

Using the NASA facility will allow the Navy to stop sending some Norfolk-based squadrons to Jacksonville, Fla., for up to two weeks at a time to practice landings at a Navy airfield there. The Navy has had to turn to the Florida airfield because a nearby one in Chesapeake is frequently over capacity. The use of Wallops Flight Facility is expected to ease congestion at the Chesapeake airfield and save on travel costs.

"We believe this partnership between NASA and the Navy provides the best services for the lowest cost to the American taxpayer," Bill Wrobel, director of the Wallops Flight Facility, said in a statement. 

Under the agreement, the E-2 Hawkeye and C-2 Greyhound aircraft will conduct up to 20,000 passes annually at the NASA site near Chincoteague Island and the Maryland border. The twin-engine, turboprop aircraft are quieter than jet aircraft and the Navy said in January the operations would have no significant environmental impacts.

Officials in Emporia, which is about 70 miles west of Norfolk, had also proposed using the regional airport there as a landing field. But many residents were concerned the noise would ruin their quality of life.

Navy fighter jets based in Virginia Beach will continue to practice landings in Chesapeake.

Joseph Murphy, deputy chief of staff for fleet installations and environmental readiness at the Navy's U.S. Fleet Forces Command, said in a statement the agreement with NASA helps ensure the viability of naval aviation in the region.

The $1.9 million the Navy will pay NASA annually will go toward upgrading the facility's airfield and conducting repairs. The Navy has also agreed to reimburse NASA for support services it uses during training.

The flights are expected to begin this fall after the Navy finishes making improvements to the airfield. Those improvements include construction of concrete pads, putting in place utilities to support a portable landing signal officer workstation and visual landing aids. The Navy is also installing airfield lighting to simulate the deck configuration aboard an aircraft carrier.

The landings are expected to occur in one- to two-week training periods over the course of a year, with a maximum of 28 weeks of field carrier landing practice training. About 120 Navy personnel could live in the area for up to 15 of those weeks to provide mission support.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/05/02//v-fullstory/3376529/nasa-navy-sign-agreement-on-carrier.html#storylink=cpy

Antares test launch paves new highway to space

Soaring into a brilliant blue sky from a new launch pad on the Virginia coastline, an Antares rocket owned by Orbital Sciences Corp. blasted off on a successful test flight Sunday, inaugurating a new launch system to resupply the International Space Station.

The first launch of the Antares rocket is a major step in a joint venture between Orbital Sciences and NASA to develop two commercial space transportation systems to resupply the space station, replacing much of the cargo-carrying capacity lost when the space shuttle retired in 2011. 

"Today's successful test marks another significant milestone in NASA's plan to rely on American companies to launch supplies and astronauts to the International Space Station, bringing this important work back to the United States where it belongs," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden in a statement. 

NASA is turning to the private sector for commercial cargo and crew launches to the space station. Orbital Sciences and SpaceX, which has completed its series of test missions, were picked by NASA for cargo services. 

"Congratulations to Orbital Sciences and the NASA team that worked alongside them for the picture-perfect launch of the Antares rocket," Bolden said. "In addition to providing further evidence that our strategic space exploration plan is moving forward, this test also inaugurates America's newest spaceport capable of launching to the space station, opening up additional opportunities for commercial and government users." 

Sunday's demonstration flight paves the way for another mission this summer, in which Orbital Sciences will launch its second Antares rocket with a Cygnus spacecraft on top on a mission all the way to the space station. 

If successful, the Cygnus mission this summer will clear the path for at least eight operational cargo runs using the Antares rocket and Cygnus cargo craft. 

Engineers will analyze data from Sunday's launch before approving the flight to space station, but early indications are everything well according to plan. 

"It certainly was an amazing achievement for Orbital today, a great day for NASA, and another historic day for commercial spaceflight in America," said Alan Lindenmoyer, manager of NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program, which oversees the agency's agreement with Orbital. "The flight today was just beautiful, and it looks like the preliminary data says all the objectives we established for the flight today were 100 percent met." 

The 13-story rocket lifted off at 5 p.m. EDT (2100 GMT) from launch pad 0A at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport - a facility financed by the government of Virginia - and ascended into the sky atop a pillar of bluish golden flame from two main engines. 

The launch started slow - as designed - with the rocket's two engines providing just enough power to lift the 300-ton booster from the ground. As the rocket burned propellant, and got lighter, the vehicle accelerated southeast from the launch pad at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, disappearing from the view of observers on the ground about four minutes into the launch. 

"After a while it was going like a scalded ape," said Frank Culbertson, a veteran former NASA astronaut and executive vice president at Orbital Sciences. "It was accelerating quickly, and everything looked very good as it climbed into the sky, and it was a beautiful blue sky today." 

The first stage engines, built in Russia in the 1970s and modernized by Aerojet, powered the launcher into the upper atmosphere, sending a wall of sound across the Virginia coast heard for miles around.

The twin-engine first stage shut down less than four minutes into the mission, releasing the rocket's solid-fueled second stage to propel the booster into orbit. 

The Castor 30 second stage motor, built by ATK, ignited for a burn lasting two-and-a-half minutes, accelerating the rocket to more than 17,000 mph. Engineers declared the rocket reached orbit, and the upper stage deployed a 8,377-pound block of aluminum designed to mimic the mass characteristics of the Cygnus spacecraft, which will take the dummy payload's place on the next Antares launch. 

"All of that demonstrated that when we do this again, we know how to make this happen," Culbertson said. "We'll get that payload - the Cygnus - into orbit and on its way to the International Space Station so it can continue its mission, and we can provide the cargo, the experiments, clothing and food that they need." 

The instrumented mass simulator is just dead weight on its own, but a suite of more than 70 accelerometers, thermocouples, thermometers, strain gauges and microphones beamed data back to ground antennas through the rocket's communications radio before it severed ties with the launch vehicle. 

The rocket reached a near-circular orbit with an average altitude of about 155 miles, or 250 kilometers. 

"We will have to do some additional evaluation to see if we're exactly on target, or if we need to make some adjustments," Culbertson said. "If we need to make adjustments to future flights, we will do so, but we certainly achieved orbit and that was the main goal." 

It was the largest rocket ever to launch from the Wallops Flight Facility, which has hosted about 16,000 launches over its 68-year history. With funding from the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority, the historic launch base added a new $120 million launch pad with equipment to support larger rockets and cryogenic liquid propellant. 

Liquid propellant is a new paradigm for Orbital Sciences, which has flown scores of satellite launchers with all-solid-fueled stages. 

Orbital hopes the Antares rocket, which is now on contract to fly nine more times, finds business launching commercial, military and scientific satellites over the next decade or longer. 

The 31-year-old company, based in Dulles, Va., started working on the Antares rocket in 2007 as an internal project. Orbital Sciences won an agreement with NASA in February 2008 to share to design, build and test a cargo transportation system using the Antares rocket and Cygnus spacecraft. 

The agreement with NASA is now worth up to $288 million. The space agency pays Orbital upon completion of preset milestones, and Orbital is expected to collect a $4 million payment following Sunday's successful test flight. 

Including investments from NASA, Orbital and the Commonwealth of Virginia, the Antares rocket, Cygnus spacecraft and the new launch pad collectively cost nearly $1 billion. 

According to Culbertson, development of the Cygnus spacecraft cost about $300 million. The Antares rocket cost a little more, he said, declining to give a specific figure. An official with the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority said the launch pad cost about $120 million. 

In December 2008, NASA chose Orbital and SpaceX for operational resupply flights to the space station. NASA's $1.9 billion contract with Orbital covers eight missions to carry at least 20 metric tons to the orbiting complex. SpaceX received a $1.6 billion deal for 12 missions, including the capability to return equipment to Earth.

NASA IceBridge on its fourth edition to study Antarctica’s polar ice changes

Scientists and flight crew members with Operation IceBridge, NASA's airborne mission to study Earth's changing polar ice have started another campaign over Antarctica. Now in its fourth year, IceBridge's return to the Antarctic comes almost a year after the discovery of a large rift in the continent's Pine Island Glacier.

The flights scheduled until mid November take off from Punta Arenas (Photo: Nasa.org)

The first science flight of the campaign began October 12 when NASA's DC-8 research aircraft left Punta Arenas, extreme south of Chile, for an 11-hour flight that took it over the Thwaites Glacier in west Antarctica.

This year, IceBridge will survey previously unmeasured areas of land and sea ice and gather further data on rapidly changing areas like Pine Island Glacier. The IceBridge Antarctic campaign will operate out of Punta Arenas through mid-November.

Several of IceBridge's planned flights focus on previously unmeasured ice streams feeding into the Weddell Sea. These flights will gather data on what lies beneath these ice streams, something vital for understanding how changing conditions might affect the flow of ice into the ocean and sea-level rise.

NASA’s Operation IceBridge images Earth's polar ice in unprecedented detail to better understand processes that connect the polar regions with the global climate system.

IceBridge utilizes a highly specialized fleet of research aircraft and the most sophisticated suite of innovative science instruments ever assembled to characterize annual changes in thickness of sea ice, glaciers, and ice sheets.

In addition, IceBridge collects critical data used to predict the response of earth’s polar ice to climate change and resulting sea-level rise. IceBridge also helps bridge the gap in polar observations between NASA's ICESat satellite missions.

Year on ISS planned ahead of manned Mars mission

NASA and the Russian space agency plan to send an international crew to the ISS for a year. The extended mission, if it succeeds, may bring scientists a step closer to manned flights to Mars and beyond.

­The plan envisages an international crew, made up of an American astronaut and Russian cosmonaut, blasting off on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft in March 2015.

"A one-year increment on the ISS would be a natural progression as part of preparations for missions beyond low-Earth orbit," NASA spokesman Rob Navias said on Friday.

The extended expedition aims to gather the scientific data needed to send humans to destinations much farther away from Earth. The mission hopes to prove whether or not missions lasting longer than six months are possible.

NASA says the results will add more understanding to existing assumptions about crew performance and health and will be will helpful in reducing the risks associated with future exploration.  Manned missions to an asteroid or Mars are already in the pipeline, being penned for 2025 and 2035 respectively.

Medical and biological studies provide the basis of research aboard the station, which also serves as a $100 billion “laboratory” for technological demonstartions and scientific examinations.

The mission may improve the understanding of how human beings can tolerate the weightless environment of space for that long.

Doctors are particularly concerned about the affect it will have on bone density, muscle mass, strength, vision and other aspects of human physiology.

The yearlong stay will span the space station's 43rd through to 46th expeditions and will become the first time the ISS will host a mission of that duration.

However, the two will not be the only ones to have left Earth for so long.

So far, only four people have spent a year or longer in orbit during a single mission. All four are Russian cosmonauts who served aboard the Mir space station that operated in low Earth orbit for 15 years, before it was scrapped in 2001.

Back then, in 1988, Soviet cosmonauts Vladimir Titov and Musa Manarov spent 365 days in space.

The record set in 1988 was then broken between 1994 and 1995, when Russian, Valery Polyakov stayed on board for 438 days.

It is still to be announced who will take part in the record-breaking 365 day mission on the ISS. There's speculation that Peggy Whitson, NASA's former chief astronaut, might be a potential candidate.

It is expected as many as two additional seats to fly to ISS may be available. Rumors suggest Russia may them to  so-called 'space tourists.'

India steps up space program with big budget, bigger satellites and a leap to Mars

An Indian Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle carrying the communication satellite GSAT- 5P

India is stepping up its space program with a higher budget, the launch of a new satellite and a proposed mission to Mars. The country's space agency will attempt ten space missions by November 2013, bringing its total budget to $1.3 billion.

The 3,400-kilogram GSAT-10 communication satellite – the heaviest ever built by India – launched early Saturday aboard an Ariane-5 rocket, the Alaska Dispatch reported. The satellite aims to be fully operational by November, and has a 15 year lifespan.

The GSAT-10 will boost telecommunications, direct-to-home and radio navigation services by adding 30 much-needed transponders to the country's current capacity. India is currently leasing foreign transponders to meet domestic demand.

The satellite launch was delayed by a week after scientists from Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) detected a small malfunction, discovering one gram of dust in the upper part of the rocket.

Future plans: Ten missions in one year

With the first launch a success, the ISRO faces a hectic schedule for the next year, with 9 more missions on the agenda. The most high-profile event is the launch of an orbiter to Mars, slated for November 2013, which aims to collect data on Martian methane sources. The ISRO timed the mission to coincide with a window where the planet's orbit brings it closest to Earth.

India intends to complete the mission with no international assistance, as a means to demonstrate the growth of the ISRO. “At the moment, we plan to do it on our own,” ISRO chief K. Radhakrishnan said.

Some experts believe that even though India has the capacity to complete the mission without outside help, there is one potential stumbling block.

“How will the Mars orbiter be controlled, being 100-200 million kilometers away from the Earth? India might not have the right technology and the needed resources for this,” Novosti Kosmonavtiki ('Space News') columnist Igor Lisov told SW.

India also has the ambitious goal of sending a manned mission to space by 2016, which will be a huge step for the country, but may also prove difficult to implement in the limited timeframe.

“India has 4 years left, which is not a long time. However, the country has the chance to adapt what has already been developed by Russia, China and US,” Lisov told SW.

Mixed response

The ISRO has grown into one of the world's top six space programs since its inauguration: “The first 50 missions took 27 years, the next 50 took place in the last 10 years and the next 58 missions will happen in the next five years,” Radhakrishnan said.

Though its budget is less than one-tenth that of NASA's, it has increased every year since the early 2000s, jumping from $591 million in 2004 to 2005, to $1.3 billion in 2012 to 2013.

However, India’s space ambitions have been met with a mixed response among the domestic population. The mission to Mars drew widespread criticism for its high costs in the midst of an economic downturn – the venture is estimated to cost the country nearly $90 million.

Nevertheless, India's science community embraced the gains made by their country's space program. “India is a country which works on different levels,” Krishan Lal, President of the Indian National Science Academy told the Alaska Dispatch.

“On the one hand, we have a space mission, on the other hand a large number of bullock carts,” he said. “You can’t, say, remove all the bullock carts, then move into space. You have to move forward in all directions.”

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

Three astronauts land on Earth from ISS in Russian capsule

This image provided by NASA shows Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko (center), Expedition 31 commander; along with NASA astronaut Don Pettit (left) and European Space Agency astronaut Andre Kuipers, both flight engineers, attired in Russian Sokol launch and entry suits, pose for a photo in the Destiny laboratory of the International Space Station Wednesday June 20, 2012. 

A Russian Soyuz capsule carrying three astronauts on Sunday landed on schedule in the Kazakh steppe, the Russian mission control said.

"At 12:14 Moscow time (0814 GMT) the Soyuz TMA-03M capsule landed with an international crew," Russian flight control centre said after Russian Oleg Kononenko, NASA astronaut Don Pettit and Dutch astronaut Andre Kuipers were parachuted to Earth.

"All the operations on descending from orbit and landing went by without any concerns," Russian flight control said in a statement posted on its website.

 "The crew members who have returned to Earth are feeling well," it added. The capsule descended through an overcast sky to land in a grassy field with the three men who had spent more than six months on the International Space Station. The astronauts, weakened by their landing, were extracted from the capsule and lowered into armchairs in the steppe, chatting to rescue workers and speaking on a telephone to family members, in footage shown live on NASA TV.

The expedition commander Oleg Kononenko, who was first to be pulled from the descent module, looked pale and blinked in the daylight as the men adjusted to gravity after spending a total of 192 days in space.

The men blasted off on December 21 from Russia's Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, docking with the ISS two days later. While on the ISS, Kononenko took part in a two-man spacewalk lasting more than six hours.

The men leave three astronauts on the ISS: Joe Acaba, Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin, who will be reinforced later this month with three more crew members expected to blast off from Kazakhstan on July 14.

The next Soyuz flight will take up NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, Russian Yuri Malenchenko and Akihiko Hoshide of Japan, who are due to stay on the ISS until November.

Top secret spy satellite roars to life using world’s most powerful rocket

A Delta IV rocket launched Friday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Complex 37 carrying a top secret NRO satellite.

Using the world’s most powerful rocket, U.S. space agency officials launched a top secret spy satellite early Friday.

 An unmanned Delta IV-Heavy rocket lifted off Friday morning from Cape Canaveral, Florida. It carried a satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office.

“And the RS-68A engines roar to life!” a launch commentator said just after liftoff. “The NRO systems continue to ensure vigilance from above.”

           

Details of the launch are being kept under wraps for obvious reasons.  The NRO is the U.S. Government agency in charge of designing, building, launching, and maintaining America’s intelligence satellites.  It was the second rocket launch for the NRO in the last two weeks, and could be an indication that the U.S. is increasing its presence in space.

Liftoff from Launch Complex 37 came after three aborted attempts earlier in the morning, the first at 6:13 a.m., due to a faulty battery voltage reading and issues with two propellant valves.  The 232-foot rocket blasted blasted off with upgraded main engines beneath three first-stage boosters, each providing an extra 39,000 pounds of thrust over the earlier version.

Built by Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne, the new RS-68A engines are each capable of generating 702,000 pounds of thrust and are more efficient than a previous design, the rocket engine builders say. The engine is considered the most powerful rocket in use today. The Saturn V, launched  from 1967 until 1973m, remains the tallest, heaviest, and most powerful rocket ever brought to operational status, according to NASA.

“This is a stamp of approval for the RS-68A engine and major milestone for Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, our United Launch Alliance customer and, most importantly, the nation,” said Dan Adamski, RS-68 program manager, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne. “The hard work and determination that everyone dedicated to the RS-68A program over the years brings a new large, liquid hydrogen-fueled engine to market – one capable of lifting heavy payloads into orbit and possibly beyond.”

The team notes that the improvements to the rocket actually represent a massive increase in fuel efficiency.

“We’re getting more miles per gallon and more thrust overall due to these improvements,” said Steve Bouley, vice president of launch vehicle and hypersonic systems for engine maker Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne.

While questions over the payload remain, at least one theory holds that the payload could be the last of a Cold War-era program of stealth imaging satellites designed to disguise their location, and could include a decoy sent to a different orbit. That said, some analysts seem to disagree, saying congressional action has left little funding for decoy programs.

The Delta 4-Heavy rocket is currently the largest and most powerful rocket in service. The booster features three core rocket boosters and is topped with a second stage to place payloads into orbit. It is 235 feet tall (72 meters) and can carry payloads of up to 24 tons into low-Earth orbit and 11 tons to geosynchronous orbits.

The mission comes just one week after a top secret spy plane return from low-Earth orbit. The top secret spy plane operated by the U.S. Air Force reportedly returned to Earth after spending an impressive 469 days in orbit, say mission commanders. The X-37B, also known as the Orbital Test Vehicle 2, or OTV-2, was launched in March 2011 from Cape Canaveral, Florida.