http://www.popularmechanics.com/blogs/science_news/4276745.html

"On the plus side, the flight of our first stage, with the new Merlin 1C engine that will be used in Falcon 9, was picture perfect," he [Elon Musk] wrote in a message to employees. "Unfortunately, a problem occurred with stage separation, causing the stages to be held together. SpaceX will not skip a beat in execution going forward."

eh...

ok...

Our rocket blew up but its ok, the first half before the explosion was good.

um...

I want these guys to succeed, heck I want all of the private space companies to succeed, but this can now be called a trend with SpaceX.

So this goes down as one of those "if-you-can-think-of-it, someone-has-already-made-a-website-for-it" things on the Internet.

I wanted to put together a blog entry detailing all the locations of all the space launch facilities in the world and well wouldn't you know it someone has already done so.

Check out this link.

It's pretty cool.  Every Lat|Long listed is linked to a google map (I woulda used maps.live.com but no big deal).

There were two separate articles that are two sides to the same coin that came out this week.

On the 12th Popular Mechanics had this article: NASA Makes Space U-Turn, Opening Arms to Private Industry which spoke of NASA changing its policy.

NASA officials insist that the budding commercial spacecraft fleet represents the only way the United States can realize its dreams of solar-system conquest on schedule and at an affordable cost.

Wow!  This is great news, it opens the door to the protagonist[s] in our second article from Aviation Week: SpaceX Claims Crew Transfer Ability By 2011.

techrivet.com has reported in the past the business plan that SpaceX and it's principal Elon Musk are pursuing.  They want to be the private space delivery system for NASA and other customers.  Specifically the only ones capable of the heavy lifting needed to supply the ISS.

It appears his plan is well on its way to fruition.

This is fascinating.  We have a private Space Race fully underway.

Several companies pursuing several different strategies.  A couple, like Virgin Galactic, are promoting space tourism with a sub-orbital flight.  SpaceX is looking to create ISS capable rockets.  Bigelow is looking create space hotels.

Heinlein would love it right now.

Anyways check out the pictures of the construction of SpaceShip Two.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/air_space/4256017.html

The much maligned International Space Station keeps moving forward oblivious to its critics.  Yesterday the Shuttle Atlantis blasted off with the Columbus Module aboard.

The Columbus module is another science module with the ability to hold 10 racks of scientific experiments.

It is growing and finally becoming a significant platform in space.  I understand the critics that deride its lack of strategic space location.  Its in-between-ness that doesn't help us much to get anywhere else in the solar system.  I understand the critics that bring up the ROI on a manned space station and compare it to one of our probe missions like the Mars Rovers.

I understand all that.

But I believe it provides other benefits:

1. It teaches us how to construct complicated things in space.  What we are learning from the ISS will be crucial for ANY construction we do in space and if you think there won't be much call for that...well I disagree with you.
   
   This has been done over a period of years.  From a broad base of contributors spanning continents, languages, governments.  It's remarkable.
   
2. We continue to learn how to make livable habitats for humans in space.  We need to have this sussed if we are to do any sort of long range trips in the future - Mars anyone?
   
3. There ARE science experiments that can only be performed by humans in space.  The trick is identifying them and prioritizing them.
   
4. It is a manned presence in space.  Do you realize if things just stumble along like this for another 10 years or so that we might enter an era where mankind will always have a representative in space.  And in my opinion there will be increasing numbers of extra-terran humans as the years go on.  Too many people want to explore "out there".

I also think it is flippin' cool.  And in the grand scheme of government and society expenditures the entire space programs of all the world are hobbies.  NASA has had a 12-15 billion dollar budget since the 1980's.  Through all that inflationary time, where the value of its dollars has steadily decreased, it has maintained the program and accomplished significant things.

It will be fascinating to see if the burgeoning commercial space programs will interface with the existing governmental ones.  Stay tuned...

Update: The final volume of the ISS is going to be approximately 1000 cubic meters. It is more than half done but for the sake of argument let's say there is 500 cubic meters of livable volume in orbit right now.

Well according to the awesome intertubes a standard 40 foot shipping container has 67.5 cubic meters of volume inside it.  That means there are the equivalent of 7.5 shipping containers of habitat up there right now and in the end there will be approximately 15 shipping containers of habitable volume (a little less actually but close enough).

Now that is amazing.  The space boys and girls aren't just whistling Dixie.

...Commercial...Space...Station...

Look, I don't mean to keep talking about all this accelerating change and stuff, but I really think we're on the verge of something here.

1. We have Virgin Galactic releasing their spaceship design and preparing for launches at some undetermined time.

2. We have SpaceX developing a new cost effective rocket system with the intent to be the only ISS supportable US based space system at the time the Shuttle fleet is finally grounded.  They have already had two launches and have several scheduled this year.

And now this news from Bigelow.

Bigelow Aerospace and Denver-based United Launch Alliance (ULA) have been working together for over a year studying what it would take to human-rate the Atlas 5 rocket. Industry sources said Bigelow Aerospace is ready to place an order that includes six launches starting in 2011 to begin assembly and early operation of the new station.

We live in unprecedented times in so many ways this is merely one more manifestation of the change that is taking place all around us.

This Poll will be closing tomorrow Jan. 31 so get your vote in if you haven't already done so.

I don't see the benefits in this plan: Space leaders work to replace lunar base with manned asteroid missions

Well let me re-phrase that, I see the benefits, but I don't think they're compelling enough to make a political argument.  Which is the battle the space program needs to always fight.  And in general they suck at it.  They're engineers, not politicians.

What they need to realize is the the whole man-in-space thing is a tough sell to congress.  And the only things that spark the political will when it comes to the whole man-in-space thing is big mountaintops to summit.

Asteroids are small and pointless.  Small foothills in the landscape of space.

The MOON!

MARS!

Those are marketing messages a politician can sell.

So my space program engineer side says, "duh, the moon doesn't help us get to Mars much."  But my congressional lobbyist side says, "Gimme something I can sell to joe sixpack, 'cause the asteroid belt ain't it."

If it was MY space program I'd be spending way more money than 15 Billion, but it isn't mine, and that is the budget and you can't do everything you want and you HAVE to sell the program.

Sell the moon, sell Mars!

Don't try and sell small rocks with names like numbers...it won't work.

They've been too busy to update the website since August.  And by busy I mean BUSY!

Report from Elon Musk.

Among the many items listed, all of them impressive, is this one that caught my eye.

A few months ago, NASA approved the critical design review (CDR) for the initial flight of our Dragon spacecraft on the Falcon 9 rocket booster. F9/Dragon is intended to provide crew and cargo service to the International Space Station after the Space Shuttle retires in 2010, so passing this review was no small matter. Apart from the flight itself, this was arguably the most important mark of progress in the NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program.

SpaceX is in a unique position.  A place and time in space exploration that is unlikely to come again.  They have a project plan that aligns with a demand from NASA that no-one else will be able to meet.  If they can stay on schedule or near schedule SpaceX could become one of the if not THE private space launch company for the U.S.

Wow!

Overall, the Falcon 9 program remains on track for demonstration of cargo delivery to the International Space Station by the end of 2009.

Go read the whole thing.

Carnival of Space #31

Cool roundup of space news, go check it out.

And then, why then my dear travelers through this universe of ours, we will have the mind blowing space traveling abilities of the far future.  I speak of the awe inspiring year of 2001.

At least that's how science fiction predicted it.  Funny we're still driving combustion engine cars and the grand total of people who have been in space is still less than 1 thousand.  (I guess that is a lot more than 1, but it is still less than a billion).

Self-sufficient space habitat designed

Now we hear about a "new" set of technologies being refined down under in Oz. [linky]

Devised by an international team of 30 space scientists, Luna Gaia would be a 'closed-loop' environment, meaning that almost all material within the system is recycled with very little need for input from outside sources. The current design caters for a team of 12 astronauts under isolation for up to three years.

This doesn't sound Earth shattering except it is a skill set that we do need to have fully understood before we can successfully deploy a space colony. Shipping up a couple of cases of macaroni and cheese gets a bit prohibitive at thousands of dollars per pound of payload.

A lunar base is unlikely to ever be 100 per cent self-sufficient, said Chartres, because no atmosphere is completely safe from leaks and it could not provide humans with all the nutrients that they need to survive.

Luna Gaia...ugh.  Why not call it Lunar Colony Test Facility? 

NASA's Centennial Challenges to Advance Technologies

"The innovations from these competitions will help support advances in aerospace materials and structures, new approaches to robotic and human planetary surface operations, and even futuristic concepts," said Ken Davidian, program manager for NASA's Centennial Challenges, Headquarters, Washington.

More info here.

http://www.spaceward.org/

Ok so it's only for three people, but Bigelow Aerospace is committed to having their Sundancer module launched before 2010.

This is private enterprise at its best.  Let's review.

Paul Allen is involved with Space Ship One / Scaled composites.
Richard Branson also.
...and Northrop Grumman buys the company.

Elon Musk is working hard with SpaceX on the Falcon project.  Successfully launching a Falcon earlier this year.  Impressive in most accounts.  He has revenue coming in from scheduled launches of satellites (whether that covers his costs is unlikely).

And now we have the ambitious plan of Bigelow Aerospace.  This is an unprecedented influx of private industry into the space exploration realm.

The design of the Bigelow modules are very innovative...they inflate once in space.  As long as the interior is sufficiently safe, this is a very cool evolution.  Space stations cubic interior space would no longer be limited by the carrying volume of the launch spacecraft. 

If it is scalable, it would make vastly bigger constructs possible in space.

More info: [cosmic blog ]

SpaceX has just posted its review of its latest launch. The key parts of the review is the impressive job of "Rapid response capability – launched within 70 minutes after hot launch abort". And lower in the anomalies wherein it discusses the upper stage control anomaly. It appears that was due to Liquid Oxygen sloshing in its tank.

Upper Stage Control Anomaly
An oscillation appeared in the upper stage control system approximately 90 seconds into the burn. This instability grew in pitch and yaw axes initially and after about 30 seconds also induced a noticeable roll torque. This roll torque eventually overcame the 2nd stage’s roll control thrusters and centrifuged the propellants, causing flame-out of the Kestrel engine. There is high confidence that LOX slosh was the primary contributor to this instability. This conclusion has been verified by third party industry experts that have reviewed the flight telemetry.

Falcon 1 did not use slosh baffles in the second stage tanks, as simulations done prior to flight indicated the slosh instability was a low risk. Given that in space there are no gust or buffet effects, the simulations did not take into account a perturbation, as occurred due to the hard slew maneuver after stage separation. Extensive 2nd stage slosh baffles will be included in all future flights, as is currently the case with the 1st stage.

Installing baffles will increase weight though...

Go go Elon.