Space exploration and technology

[LETHALFORCE]

'Stunning' images of distant planet sent by Kepler scope

'Stunning' images of distant planet sent by Kepler scope


by Staff Writers
Washington (AFP) Aug 6, 2009
Five months after it was launched on a mission to find earth-like planets, the Kepler space telescope has sent back to Earth high-precision images of a planet some 1,000 light years away, NASA said Thursday.

But the real excitement at NASA was over how well Kepler was working, and the promise it holds for the future.

With Kepler only in the calibration phase, the telescope, which was launched in March on a mission to find earth-like planets in the galaxy, sent back to Earth highly precise images of a planet with the unromantic name of HAT-P-7-B.

The images of the so-called "hot Jupiter" planet located about 1,000 light years (around 5.9 quadrillion miles, 9.5 quadrillion kilometers) from Earth were "the first time anyone has seen light from this planet," said William Borucki, the principal science investigator for the Kepler mission and lead author of a report that will be published Friday in Science.

But while the scientists were enthusiastic about Kepler's discovery of optical light from HAT-P-7-B -- Carnegie Institution astrophysicist Alan Boss called it "stunning indeed" -- they were even more excited by the fact that Kepler was working, and working well.

"The real headline is Kepler works," said Boss.

"The implication from this is that Kepler has the ability to detect the transit of an earth-size planet passing in front of a sun-type star producing a very tiny dimming.

"Kepler was launched not just to find exo-planets but its prime mission is to count how many earths there are around sun-like stars in our region of the galaxy. We now know Kepler can do it," said Boss.

The data were gathered by Kepler during the first 10-days of data-gathering, boding well for the next few years that the telescope will spend trained on the same spot in space, taking in about 100,000 stars around the Cygnus and Lyra constellations of the Milky Way.

"The observation demonstrates the extremely high precision of the measurements made by the telescope, even before its calibration and data analysis software were finished," NASA said in a statement.

At a cost of nearly 600 million dollars, Kepler is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's first mission in search of Earth-like planets orbiting suns similar to ours.

It is equipped with the largest camera ever launched into space -- a 95-megapixel array of charge-coupled devices (CCDs).

NASA scientists expects to be able to say by 2012 if there are "lots of earths in our galaxy or we are alone," thanks to data sent to Earth by Kepler.

 

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Space shuttle Discovery set for Aug 25 launch

Washington, Aug 19 (DPA) The space shuttle Discovery is scheduled to launch Aug 25 on a mission to deliver supplies and equipment to the International Space Station.
A NASA review panel decided Wednesday that the shuttle is ready for the 1.36 a.m. launch (0536 GMT) Tuesday.

The six US and one Swedish astronaut are to deliver new science and storage racks, a freezer, a new sleeping compartment and a treadmill named after US comedian Stephen Colbert.

The mission includes three spacewalks to replace experiments and install a new ammonia storage tank, which is used to remove heat from the station.

 

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South Korea cancels first-ever satellite launch (Lead)

Seoul, Aug 19 (DPA) South Korea Wednesday cancelled the launch of its first space rocket at the last minute owing to technical problems.
With only eight minutes to go in the countdown, mission controllers decided to suspend the launch of the Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1, which was to send a scientific satellite into orbit, the South Korean science ministry said.

The Russian-made rocket had been scheduled for a 5 p.m. (0800 GMT) lift-off.

“There was a problem in the automatic launch sequence that caused the launch to be called off,” the head of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute was quoted as saying by the Yonhap news agency.

A new launch date was to be set after consultation with Russian experts, he added.

The launch of the $402 million rocket from the country’s space centre on the south coast had been marred by a series of delays.

South Korea aims to join a group of nine others who have succeeded in putting domestically developed scientific satellites into orbit.

North Korea, the country’s Stalinist neighbour, said earlier it was to carefully monitor international reactions to the launch. The country was the target of international criticism after launching a long-range missile in April, claiming it was to put a satellite into orbit.

The launch is widely believed to have been a test for North Korea’s long-range ballistic missile programme. Both Washington and Seoul have said no satellite was launched.

 

[I-G]

South Korea sets new date for launch of first carrier rocket


13:1221/08/2009
MOSCOW, August 21 (RIA Novosti) - South Korea has postponed the launch of its first carrier rocket from the Naro Space Center until August 25, the Yonhap news agency reported on Friday.

The August 19 attempt to launch the Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1 (KSLV-1), carrying a scientific satellite on board, was called off after a technical glitch halted the countdown eight minutes before liftoff.

Yonhap cited South Korea's Ministry of Education, Science and Technology as saying the new date reflects weather conditions and the time needed to prepare the launch vehicle and the satellite for a safe launch.

KSLV-1, built in cooperation with Russia, is based on the Angara carrier rocket. The carrier rocket is designed to deliver small satellites into low orbit and can carry a payload of up to 100 kg (220 lbs).

The rocket was developed jointly by the state-run Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) and Russia's Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center. It weighs 140 metric tons, has a diameter of 3 meters (10 feet) and the height of 33 meters (108 feet).

If the August 25 rescheduled launch is successful, South Korea will become a member of the so-called 'space club,' whose members have developed their own rockets and satellites and sent them into space from a launch facility on their own soil.

A second, more powerful rocket named KSLV-2 could be created and launched by 2018 without foreign assistance. It is expected to be a 50-meter (164-foot) three-stage rocket, capable of carrying up to one metric ton of payload.

The construction of South Korea's first space center on the island of Naro, about 500 km (311 miles) south of Seoul, was completed in June.

The facility covers an area of over 5 square km (1.9 square miles). The cost of construction totaled $248.6 million, according to the country's Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.

South Korea started its space program in 1996 and has so far orbited 11 satellites with the help of foreign carrier rockets launched from territories of other countries.

South Korea sets new date for launch of first carrier rocket | Top Russian news and analysis online | 'RIA Novosti' newswire

 

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UAE launches its first earth observation satellite

Dubai, July 30 (IANS) The DubaiSat-1, the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) first earth observation satellite launched early Thursday morning from Kazakhstan, has reached its desired position in the earth’s orbit, WAM news agency reported.
The ‘eye in the sky’ satellite has achieved optimal position in orbit around the earth and has successfully connected with the Emirates Institution for Advanced Science and Technology (EIAST) earth observation station in Dubai, the report said, quoting officials.

“With the blessing of Allah, the launch process was completely successful, and DubaiSat-1 is now carrying the UAE’s flag into space,” said a jubilant Ahmed Al Mansoori, director general of EIAST.

“DubaiSat-1 is undoubtedly a sterling addition to the UAE’s strategic accomplishments and what we have achieved so far can be attributed to the hard work and dedication of our national engineers and scientists,” he said.

Comparing the achievement with the moon landing, Al Mansoori said: “While the moon landing was a huge leap for humanity, DubaiSat-1 is a huge leap for the UAE’s science and technology initiatives, and for our nation’s aspirations.”

“The satellite will orbit 680 km above the earth with an orbital speed of 27,000 km per hour,” he added.

The satellite was launched from Kazakhstan’s Baikonour launching ground at 10:40 p.m. (UAE time) Wednesday under the supervision of UAE engineers and scientists, who are responsible for more than a third of the project’s implementation.

The EIAST confirmed that scientists at the Dubai earth observation station were able to stabilize DubaiSat-1 in its desired position and deployed its solar panels, which will power the satellite for the next five years.

The EIAST will organise a press conference on Aug 4 to inform the details of the progress and functioning of the satellite.

 

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China may put first woman in space by 2012 - dnaindia.com

Beijing: China's first astronaut, Yang Liwei, has revealed that Chinese women would soon be seen in space.

During a web chat with the official Xinhua news agency, Liwei said: "The selection (of China's first woman astronaut) is underway I believe Chinese women will be seen in space in the near future."

Yang, now 44, made history when he voyaged beyond the planet's atmosphere for 21 hours aboard the Shenzhou V spaceship in 2003.

He was among a batch of 14 Chinese men trained to be astronauts. Now, he is in charge of the country's selection of the next generation of astronauts.

He did not say how many women will be recruited into the program but was adamant women will be among China's second batch of astronauts.

An Air Force source told China Daily that potential female astronauts would be recruited from the 16 female fighter pilots who graduated in April.

The 16 became the first young women in China qualified to fly fighter jets. They were chosen from 150,000 high school graduates in 12 provinces.

Sui Guosheng, the Air Force officer in charge of recruitment, told Guangzhou-based Nanfang Weekly that the first female astronaut could complete her journey into space by 2012.

 

[I-G]

Kazakh satellite on course for 'space burial'

10:1921/08/2009
ASTANA, August 21 (RIA Novosti) - Kazakhstan's first satellite, KazSat-1, has been put into orbit for a 'space burial,' the country's mission control reported on Friday.

The $100 million communications satellite, built for Kazakhstan by Russia's Khrunichev Space Center, was put into orbit approximately 36,000 km above the Earth in June 2006.

Featuring eight Ku-band transponders for landline communications and four Ku-band transponders for TV transmissions, it was designed for broadcasting, fixed satellite communication and data transmission for Kazakhstan and Central Asia.

In June 2008, control of KazSat-1 was lost, restored, and then, in October 2008, lost permanently. In early August of this year a decision was made to discard it, since it posed a threat of collision with other satellites.

KazSat-1's manufacturer-guaranteed service life was 10 years.

Kazakh satellite on course for 'space burial' | Top Russian news and analysis online | 'RIA Novosti' newswire

 

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The Hindu : Sci Tech : Mars mission simulated in isolation chamber
From March 31 to July 14, a six-man international crew called an isolation chamber in Moscow their home. The crew, composed of four Russians and two Europeans, simulated a 105-day Mars mission full of experiments and realistic mission scenarios, including emergency situations and 20-minute communications delays.

U.S. participation in the mission consisted of three research teams with experiments evaluating solutions to conditions that impact work performance.

Lighting effects

The projects evaluated lighting interventions to counter sleep disruption due to shift work or long hours, tested two objective methods of measuring the impact of stress and fatigue on performance, and assessed interactions between crew members and mission control. The three projects were funded by the Houston-based National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI).

“The mission allowed us to look at the feasibility of certain technologies developed for improving performance by deploying them in an extremely demanding work environment.

In this realistic setting, will crews use the technologies and will we get good data?” said Dr. David F. Dinges, leader of the NSBRI group funded from University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Rutgers. “Additional goals were to see how different mission situations affected the various performance measures and to evaluate whether the interventions could indeed improve performance.”

The 105-Day Mars Mission, a partnership between the Russia’s Institute of Biomedical Problems and the European Space Agency, is the precursor to a 520-Day mission scheduled for 2010.

Several modules

The isolation facility consists of several interconnected, modules containing medical and scientific research areas, living quarters, a kitchen, greenhouse and exercise facility.

For researchers, the opportunity to run experiments in this type of environment was invaluable.

“We’ve done experiments in the sleep lab to test the efficacy of lighting interventions, but that is a highly controlled environment,” said Dr. Charles A. Czeisler, leader of the NSBRI project funded from Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and University of Colorado.

Great step

“By transitioning studies into an operational environment, like the 105-Day Mission, we have the opportunity to learn how to best deploy interventions in a realistic mission setting. This analog is a great intermediate step before implementation on an actual spaceflight.”

Participation from the crew and mission controllers was excellent. All three NSBRI projects received data throughout the mission. Final data will be received in the coming weeks, and the teams will begin detailed data analysis.

 

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Rocket propellant goes green - Science - NEWS - The Times of India

WASHINGTON: NASA has launched a small rocket using a clean, green and safe propellant comprising aluminium powder and water ice.


"This collaboration (with US Air Force) has been an opportunity for graduate students to work on an environment-friendly propellant that can be used for flight on earth and used in long distance space missions," said NASA chief engineer Mike Ryschkewitsch.

"These sorts of university-led experimental projects encourage a new generation of aerospace engineers to think outside of the box and look at new ways for NASA to meet our exploration goals."

Using the propellant named ALICE as fuel; a nine foot rocket soared to a height of 1,300 feet over Purdue University's Scholar farms in Indiana earlier this month.

ALICE is generating excitement among researchers because it has the potential to replace some liquid or solid propellants. When it is optimised, it could have a higher performance than conventional propellants. The propellant has a high burn rate and achieved a maximum thrust of 300 kg during this test, said an AFOSR release

 

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NASA begins filling shuttle Discovery's external fuel tank - US - World - NEWS - The Times of India

CAPE CANAVERAL: NASA on Monday began filling the external fuel tank of the shuttle Discovery, one day before it blasts off toward the International The space shuttle Discovery poised for liftoff on the STS-128 mission from pad 39a at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. (AFP Photo)
More Pictures
Space Station carrying a crew of seven astronauts.

As space officials prepared for Tuesday's launch, they said they saw nothing worrisome at this time that would lead to a delay.

"Everything looks normal. There is no technical issue to report," said NASA spokesman George Diller.

Mission officials said there is an 80 percent chance of launch-friendly meteorological conditions, although there is a slight risk of thunderstorms and lightning within an eight-kilometer (five-mile) area of the launchpad.

Discovery's liftoff is set for 0136 am (0536 GMT) Tuesday from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The task of filling the enormous reservoir, which got underway about 10 minutes late, was to be completed at 7:15 pm (23H15 GMT), US space officials said. The space vehicle's external fuel tank was being filled with nearly two million liters of liquid hydrogen and oxygen.

Discovery is to deliver equipment for a new bedroom, a treadmill, a freezer, food and other supplies. It will also be dropping off the newest member of the ISS team -- US astronaut Nicole Stott.

Stott will be taking over from engineer and fellow American Tim Kopra, who has been aboard the ISS since July and is returning to Earth with the Discovery.

The Discovery crew, led by astronaut Rick Sturckow, will be delivering 6.8 tonnes of cargo transported in a pressurized module called Leonardo that was built by the Italian space agency.

Two astronauts from the team are scheduled to conduct three spacewalks of six and a half hours each during the 13-day mission, which is the fourth of five planned for the shuttle this year. The last is scheduled for November.

One of the key goals of the space walks is the replacement of an old liquid ammonia tank, which will be substituted with a new 800 kilogram replacement brought from Earth aboard the Discovery. The substance is used as a coolant.

The astronauts will also be retrieving experiment equipment from the outside of the ISS and returning it to Earth for processing.

The new freezer will store samples of blood, urine and other materials that will eventually be taken back to Earth for study on the effects of zero-gravity.

The COLBERT treadmill, named after popular US comedy talkshow host Stephen Colbert, will be the second aboard the ISS. Exercise is key for astronauts spending long periods of time in space, where zero-gravity can result in muscle atrophy.

Among the seven-member crew is veteran European astronaut Christer Fugglesang, 52, of Sweden.

The shuttle flight also is the first with two Hispanic astronauts: veteran mission specialist John "Danny" Olivas, 44, of El Paso, Texas, and rookie Jose Hernandez, 47, of Stockton, California.

Hernandez will provide bilingual Twitter updates from space, via Twitter.com.

The mission will be the 128th for the space shuttle program, and the 30th mission to the ISS.

Once the Discovery mission is complete, just six more shuttle flights remain before NASA's three shuttles are retired in September 2010.

The International Space Station is a project jointly run by 16 countries at a cost of 100 billion dollars -- largely financed by the United States.

 

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BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Bad weather delays shuttle launch

The latest mission of the US shuttle Discovery to the International Space Station (ISS) has been delayed due to bad weather.

With just a few minutes to go, NASA control called a halt to Tuesday's launch due to rain at Cape Canaveral.

The 13-day flight will deliver science equipment to the platform, including a new freezer to store biological samples and a furnace for baking materials.

The mission will be the 30th flight dedicated to station maintenance.

The current plan is for a further six sorties to be made to the ISS before America's re-useable spaceship fleet is retired at the end of next year or early in 2011.


Christer Fuglesang is part of the mission's strong European focus
The latest mission has a strong European focus.

The lab equipment was made in Europe, which is represented in Discovery's crew by Swede Christer Fuglesang.

Mr Fuglesang - who is with the European Space Agency (Esa) - will conduct two of the three spacewalks planned during Discovery's stay at the ISS.

On one of these walks, the Swede will move cabling on the exterior of the station in readiness for the arrival next year of a connecting unit, called Node 3 or "Tranquility", and a huge window referred to as the Cupola.

The two modules will be Europe's final large-scale contributions to the assembly of the ISS.

Discovery's payload bay is taken up with the Italian-built Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM), which acts as a giant packing box on shuttle logistics missions.

For this flight, the MPLM contains almost seven tonnes of cargo. This mass includes two more important European donations to the ISS project.

One is a Melfi (Minus Eighty Laboratory Freezer for ISS), which can store biological samples.


Increased science means more freezer space is needed on the ISS
"This is the second such freezer," explained Martin Zell, Esa's head of ISS Utilisation.

"This first one is already up there since three years and working extremely well.

"It's the main freezer element on the station and can operate between plus-4C, at the upper temperature, down to minus-80 degrees; and even in different temperatures in its four cold volumes, or compartments," he told BBC News.

The additional Melfi will facilitate the increased science workload taking place on the station now that its resident crew has been raised from three to six.

All manner of biological samples will be stored in the new facility, including blood taken from the astronauts.

This is routinely drawn for study, to further scientists' understanding of the impacts of long-duration spaceflight on the human body.

Growing issue

The other notable European cargo item is the Materials Science Laboratory.

This contains a safe furnace (up to 1,400C) in which astronauts can first melt and then solidify a range of samples, such as metal alloys.


The MSL is the first dedicated materials science facility for the ISS
The weightless conditions on the station mean the fine-scale structures in these cooling samples will grow in a different way from how they would at the surface of the Earth.

Scientists expect these experiments to provide novel information that can be applied to everyday industrial manufacturing processes.

With MSL and the Melfi units, Europe is providing both the coldest and the hottest conditions for science on the station.

As well as preparing the platform for the arrival of Tranquility and the Cupola, the mission's spacewalks will replace experiments that currently live on the outside of Esa's Columbus laboratory.

They will also exchange one of the tanks for storing ammonia, which is used to move excess heat from inside the station to the radiators located outside.

Discovery will also drop off US astronaut Nicole Stott for a three-month stay on the ISS, and pick up colleague Tim Kopra for the ride home. Kopra has been living on the platform for the past five weeks

 

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BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | South Korea launches first rocket

South Korea has successfully launched its first space rocket, which is carrying a scientific satellite.

The two-stage Naro rocket lifted off from an island off the south coast.

The launch was watched with excitement by millions of people in South Korea, but is being viewed with suspicion by the country's northern neighbour.

North Korea was recently subjected to UN sanctions for its own rocket launch, which was widely regarded as a cover for a long-range missile test.

No North Korean satellite has been detected in space, although Pyongyang insists its rocket launch worked and the device is now orbiting the earth transmitting revolutionary melodies.

Huge leap forward?



The 33m-high KLSLV-1 is South Korea's first space rocket
South Korea's half-a-billion dollar bid to join the exclusive club of space-faring nations is an attempt to place a scientific observation satellite into orbit.

If successful in its mission, South Korea will become only the tenth country with the ability to carry out such launches from their own soil.

Before this, South Korea had always relied on other countries to put its satellites into orbit.

It initially planned to launch the rocket in late July, but delayed it several times due to technical problems. Tuesday's launch, though, went according to plan.

The KSLV-1 rocket is 33m long and weighs some 140 tonnes. Its Russian liquid-fuelled first-stage is said to produce 1,700 kilonewtons of thrust at launch.

The second stage, which burns a solid fuel, was produced by South Korean engineers. It is intended to generate 80kN of thrust and is designed to place the Earth observation satellite into its final orbit just a few hundred kilometres above the planet.

Seoul has rejected any comparison with Pyongyang's rocket launch and says its rocket is part of a peaceful civilian space programme.

But some security analysts have suggested that a commercial space programme could still alter the long-term strategic balance in North East Asia, as all rocket technology has potential military uses

 

[Pintu]

The Associated Press: SKorea rocket takes off, satellite launch fails

SKorea rocket takes off, satellite launch fails

By KWANG-TAE KIM (AP) – 49 minutes ago

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea's first rocket launch Tuesday failed to push a satellite into its orbit but the flawed mission may still anger rival North Korea, coming just months the communist nation's own launch drew international condemnation.

The failure dealt a blow to Seoul's quest to become a regional space power. It comes against the complex backdrop of relations on the Korean peninsula — and recent signs that months of heightened tension over the North's nuclear program may be easing.

Also Tuesday, a South Korean newspaper reported that North Korea has invited top envoys of President Barack Obama for the first nuclear negotiations between the two countries under his presidency, but Washington quickly said it has no plans to send the envoys to Pyongyang.

The North gave no immediate reaction to the rocket launch but has said it will watch to see if the U.S. and regional powers refer the matter to the U.N. Security Council — which in June approved sanctions on the North over its recent nuclear and missile tests.

The two-stage Naro rocket, whose first stage was designed by Russia, was South Korea's first launch of a rocket from its own territory. It lifted off Tuesday from South Korea's space center on Oenaro Island, about 290 miles (465 kilometers) south of Seoul.

The rocket was carrying a domestically built satellite aimed at observing the atmosphere and oceans. A South Korean official said they could not trace the satellite in orbit after it separated from the rocket.

"We could not locate our satellite. It seems that communications with the satellite scheduled on Wednesday are unlikely to happen," Science Ministry official Yum Ki-soo told The Associated Press late Tuesday.

He said more details could be available on Wednesday as South Korean and Russian scientists were analyzing data to try to determine the cause of the failure.

Russia's Interfax-AVN news agency, citing an unidentified Russian space industry source, said the satellite never reached orbit and problems occurred in the South Korean-built second stage of the rocket.

In Moscow, an official at the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, declined to comment on the report that the satellite did not enter any orbit or say anything about what happened to it.

In joint statements, Roscosmos and the state-controlled Khrunichev company, which made the rocket's first stage, said that the first stage operated as planned.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak called the launch a "half success."

"We must further strive to realize the dream of becoming a space power," Lee said, according to his office. Among Asian countries, China has conducted a manned space flight, and Japan and India have also sent rockets carrying satellites into space.

The liftoff came after a warning from North Korea that it would be "watching closely" for the international response to Seoul's launch after its own launch in April — suspected as a disguised test of long-range missile technology — drew a rebuke from the United Nations.

The North, unlike the South, is banned from ballistic missile activity by Security Council resolutions as part of international efforts to eliminate its nuclear and long-range missile programs.

South Korean officials said it is inappropriate to compare their launch with the North's because Seoul's is for peaceful purposes and was carried out with transparency.

"As I look at the case, our government, as a member of international treaties on nonproliferation, has been engaging in its space development program with a responsible attitude. We've been doing this openly," Defense Ministry spokesman Won Tae-jae told reporters.

Last week, U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly supported Seoul, saying South Korea has developed its program in a very open and transparent way.

The North sees the contrasting international reactions over the launches as discriminatory. It says its April rocket launch fired a satellite into space, although experts say no such satellite has been detected in orbit.

Kim Tae-woo, a senior analyst of the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, said that despite the North's stance, Tuesday's launch is unlikely to have major implications on inter-Korean relations.

In recent weeks, the North has become markedly more conciliatory, both toward the United States and to South Korea.

Earlier this month, it freed two American journalists following a trip to Pyongyang by former President Bill Clinton. It has also freed a South Korean detainee, agreed to lift restrictions on border crossings with the South and resume suspended inter-Korean projects in industry and tourism.

On Wednesday, Red Cross officials of both Koreas are set to hold three days of talks on resuming reunions of families separated during the Korean War over five decades ago.

In its latest diplomatic sweetener toward Washington, Pyongyang has reportedly invited U.S. envoys for talks on its nuclear program.

North Korea recently offered the invitation to Stephen Bosworth, special envoy to North Korea, and chief nuclear negotiator Sung Kim, Seoul's JoongAng Ilbo daily reported.

But in Washington, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said Tuesday that neither Bosworth nor Sung Kim has plans to go to North Korea.

Pyongyang has long sought direct negotiations with Washington about its nuclear program and other issues. The U.S. has said it is willing to talk bilaterally to Pyongyang, but only within the framework of six-party talks involving the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan, which North Korea withdrew from in April.

Associated Press writers Jae-soon Chang and Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul, Jin-man Lee in Goheung, South Korea, Steve Gutterman in Moscow and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

 

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NASA calls off Discovery launch due to bad fuel valve - US - World - NEWS - The Times of India

CAPE CANAVERAL: NASA has called off the launch of space shuttle Discovery because of a bad fuel valve.


Launch officials halted the countdown late Tuesday afternoon, midway through the fueling process. The seven astronauts had not yet boarded the shuttle for the scheduled early Wednesday morning flight to the international space station. A new launch date was not immediately set.

NASA spokesman Allard Beutel says engineers were trying to open and shut the fill-and-drain valve in Discovery's engine compartment when it appeared to be broken. The exact condition of the valve is not yet known.

The valve is used for the flow of liquid hydrogen from the external fuel tank to the main engines.

It's the second launch delay in as many days for Discovery. Tuesday's launch was called off because of thunderstorms.

 

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Mechanical failure cancels moon rocket test firing in US - US - World - NEWS - The Times of India


PROMONTORY (US): A mechanical failure forced a NASA contractor to call off the first test firing of the main part of NASA's powerful new moon
rocket.

The test wasn't immediately rescheduled as officials scrambled to learn the root cause of the failure.

Alliant Techsystems Inc called off the rocket burn with just 20 seconds left on the countdown clock. Operators cited failure of a power unit that drives hydraulic tilt controls for the rocket's nozzle. The rocket was anchored to the ground in a horizontal position for the test.

It was a setback for a carefully staged, $75 million event that drew thousands of onlookers. Alliant hoped the routine test would prove the performance of a new program for space exploration that, like the test rocket, may not fly because of NASA budget problems.

There was no indication anything was wrong with the rocket itself, which packs 0.45 million kilograms of chemical propellant, enough to boost a 98-meter-long vehicle 58,000 meters into the atmosphere.

At a news conference in Utah, officials said the power unit for the nozzle controls, which steers a rocket in flight, was robbed of fuel, apparently because of a faulty valve.

 

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Russia to launch two transmitter satellites by end of 2011

fullstory

Moscow, Sep 7 (Itar-Tass) Meeting the demand of sending telemetric and research data, two transmitter satellites, Luch 5A and Luch 5B, will be launched by the end of 2011 to fully cover the International Space Station (ISS), Federal Space Agency officials have said.

Currently, the US space shuttles deliver cargo that will stop flying in 2010-2011. "We hope to launch the first satellite next year," manned programs department head Alexei Krasnov told Itar-Tass.

Russian Soyuz spaceships flying cargo have limited capacities - they can return up to 250 kilograms of cargo to the Earth. "Thus, the focus will shift onto satellite transmission of research data," Krasnov said.

At present, the information is being transmitted via American satellites. National satellites become a priority of Russia, he said

 

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Russia to start construction of new space center in 2011 | Top Russian news and analysis online | 'RIA Novosti' newswire

MOSCOW, September 7 (RIA Novosti) - The construction of a new space center in Russia's Far East will start in 2011, a government official said on Monday.

Russia currently uses two launch sites for space carrier rockets and ballistic missiles tests: the Baikonur space center in the Central Asian Republic of Kazakhstan, which it has leased since the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the Plesetsk space center in northwest Russia.

Army Gen. Nikolai Abroskin, head of the Federal Service for the Production of Special Construction Work, said construction of the new Vostochny station would be carried out in three stages, and would be completed in 2018.

"In all, seven launch pads are to be built at the space center, including two for manned flights and two for space freighters," the general said.

He said an inter-agency working group had been created, and that work to design elements of the station's infrastructure was in progress.

 

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domain-b.com : China to develop new Long March 6 rocket for space missions

Beijing: China has begun work on the next generation of Long March 6 carrier rockets for its space programme, the China National Space Administration has announced. According to the agency, the Long March 6 rockets will not only be non-toxic and pollution-free but for the first time will also field a number of new technologies in China.

The Long March 6 rockets are expected to be operationalised in 2013, it said.


Shenzhou VII blast off



The rockets are being developed by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, which has earlier developed the Shenzhou VII spacecraft. Apart from other missions, the Shenzhou VII has also carried Chinese cosmonauts into space.

The payload capacity of the Long March 6 rockets has not been revealed.

China's upcoming space programme includes setting up a simple space lab in 2011 as well as a manned space station in 2020. It also intends to explore deeper in space and attempt a moon landing.

 

[A.V.]

watch the state of nasa

YouTube - NASA losing space race?

 

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domain-b.com : China starts construction of fourth space launch centre

Beijing: China has begun erecting its fourth rocket launching centre near the city of Wenchang on the north-east coast of Hainan Island, which is situated in the southern part of the country. The centre is expected to be operational by 2013.


Shenzhou 7
The Hainan Space Launch Centre is expected to be operational by 2013, the official Xinhua news agency said.

According to Wang Weichang, director of the new station, the new launch pad would be used for the launch of large space stations, deep space-probe and geo-synchronous satellites. It will also be China's first coastal launch centre.

Future space flights would be launched on a new generation of Long March rockets, the first of which would be launched from Hainan in 2014, according to the China Daily.

Being located close to the equator, the new launch pad is expected to help China garner a larger share of international commercial space launches.

China has an ambitious space plan and competes with Asian rivals India and Japan for a larger profile in space-related activities. It has already put a man in space thanks to the expertise provided it by Russian expatriate scientists and like India has chalked out a large space exploration programme.