ATK and NASA to announce a new commercial space agreement
ATK and NASA to announce a new commercial space agreement on Tuesday.
This is almost certainly in connection to the successful third test firing of ATK’s solid rocket yesterday.
Category: Points of Information
Very brief descriptions, with appropriate links, of current or recent news items.
Senate approves a flat budget for the Department of Energy
The Senate has approved a flat budget for the Department of Energy.
On Wednesday the Senate Appropriations Committee approved $4.843 billion for DOE’s Office of Science in 2012. That’s the same level as this year, and a slight bump over the $4.8 billion approved in July on a largely partisan vote by the House of Representatives covering the entire department. Although the funding is a far cry from the $5.416 billion that the Obama Administration had requested in February for the next fiscal year, which begins on 1 October, officials at the Office of Science’s 10 national labs say they’re not complaining. “Even staying flat when a lot of other programs are getting cut is relatively good news,” says Thom Mason, director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. In budgets, “flat is the new good,” quips Eric Isaacs, director of Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois. [emphasis mine]
That a government official is now happy that the budget is flat is a good sign that we might finally be making some cultural progress in terms of bringing the federal budget under some control. In the past the very thought of no increase would have sent these people into spasms of outrage. Now they realize how pointless such a tantrum would be, and might actually do their budget negotiations harm.
TSA using personal medical records to deny Canadians entrance to US
Doesn’t this make you feel safer? TSA is now digging into personal medical records to deny Canadians entrance to the United States.
New poll shows Republican leading in New York special congressional election
Oh my! Another poll shows the Republican leading in the New York special congressional election, now by an increased margin.
Also, the Democrat candidate admits he doesn’t even live in the district.
The EPA is using taxpayer money to encourage environmentalist groups to sue … the EPA
Madness: The EPA is using taxpayer money to encourage environmentalist groups to sue the EPA.
Newly released data links Saudi family, now living in Saudi Arabia, with 9/11 hijackers
Hmm: Newly released data links a Saudi family, now living safely in Saudi Arabia, with the 9/11 hijackers.
Senators lambast Administration for SLS budget numbers
The space war heats up: Two senators have issued a statement lambasting the Obama Administration for its budget numbers for building the program-formerly-called-Constellation.
All of this is fantasy and foolishness. These senators might succeed in forcing NASA to spend money on the heavy-lift rocket that Congress has mandated, but there is no way the space agency will ever get enough funding or time to finish it. Even if the lower estimates are right, the cost is exorbitant, many times that of what the private companies have spent for their rockets and ships. And if construction does begin in earnest, it cannot be finished before the arrival of a new President in 2016 (at the latest), who, like all new Presidents, will have his own plans and will not want to build something started by the previous administration.
Much better to end this farce and save the money, especially considering the debt of federal government.
GRAIL launch delayed again until Saturday
GRAIL launch delayed again until Saturday.
More Progress freighter crash investigation results
More Progress freighter crash investigation results: it appears there was something that blocked the fuel supply.
“The exposed production defect was accidental,” [the investigation] said, adding the reason may be qualified as an isolated case only after checking all available engines.
This suggests that the problem was an isolated error and that, once they have cleared the available engines, they can start flying relatively quickly.
ATK test fires the five segment solid rocket for Ares 1
ATK today successfully test fired the five segment solid rocket originally intended for the Ares 1 rocket. More here.
This solid rocket motor has value, but ATK’s hope that NASA will use it as part of the Congressionally designed Space Launch System, what I call the program-formerly-called-Constellation, is probably a false hope. They might get a few years of funding from Congress, but the whole thing will die stillborn when the funding runs out.
Better that they packaged the motor as part of a private launch system and tried to get some commercial business with it.
Regardless, the video is fun to watch. Check it out.
Today’s launch of GRAIL has been scrubbed, rescheduled for tomorrow
Today’s launch of the lunar gravity probe GRAIL has been scrubbed due to high winds and rescheduled for tomorrow.
Japan has successfully test fired the engine on Akatsuki
Japan has successfully completed a two second test fire of the engine on its lost Venus probe Akatsuki.