MAIN ARTICLE: Everything you wanted to know about COTS-D and were afraid to ask.
Page 2: Hubble Space Telescope For Sale.
Page 3: Chernobyl fallout could drive evolution of 'space plants'.
Poll Results: The poll yesterday was the Weekly Tracking Poll on space funding. Scroll down for the results, click subscribe for more space news.
Star Trek: In the News. Gyrating Star Trek Tribble For Sale.
Yesterday's Comments: "Wow. The Chinese pirating something. Shocked, I am." - Arken
Today's Poll: Should America fund the Russian Soyuz or fund COTS-D?
BECOMING PART OF THE GAME:
After being flooded with email (one) about COTS and COTS-D I thought it would be good to review the basics of the program. The Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act lays out some ground rules for the goals of an American commercial space launch service and how it will be created.
COMMERCIAL SPACE LAUNCH AMENDMENTS ACT 2004
‘‘(10) the goal of safely opening space to the American people and their private commercial, scientific, and cultural enterprises should guide Federal space investments, policies, and regulations; (image - SpaceX's Dragon capsule: Is it ready for primetime?)
‘‘(11) private industry has begun to develop commercial launch vehicles capable of carrying human beings into space and greater private investment in these efforts will stimulate the Nation’s commercial space transportation industry as a whole;
‘‘(12) space transportation is inherently risky, and the future of the commercial human space flight industry will depend on its ability to continually improve its safety performance;
‘‘(13) a critical area of responsibility for the Department of Transportation is to regulate the operations and safety of the emerging commercial human space flight industry;
‘‘(14) the public interest is served by creating a clear legal, regulatory, and safety regime for commercial human space flight; and
‘‘(15) the regulatory standards governing human space flight must evolve as the industry matures so that regulations neither stifle technology development nor expose crew or space flight participants to avoidable risks as the public comes to expect greater safety for crew and space flight participants from the industry.’ "
--end quote--
NASA responded with the the COTS program:
Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS)
The January 2006 announcement solicited proposals for the initial development and demonstration phase of the Commercial Crew/Cargo Project. Under this project, NASA intends to enter into agreements with private industry to develop and demonstrate the vehicles, systems, and operations needed to resupply, return cargo from, and transport crew to and from a human space facility, with the International Space Station providing the representative requirements for such a facility.
Once demonstrated, industry will be able to provide these new services to non-NASA customers. NASA also plans to enter the next phase of the Commercial Crew/Cargo Project and purchase services from commercial providers to support the International Space Station. In the future, NASA intends to extend its use of commercial space services to other NASA needs, such as in-space fuel delivery to support human exploration missions beyond the space station.
COTS is envisioned to be executed in two phases:
Phase 1 – A period of development and demonstration by private industry, in coordination with NASA, of various space transportation capabilities to and from low-Earth orbit (LEO) determined to be most desirable for the Government and other customers.
Phase 2 – A potential competitive procurement of orbital transportation services to resupply the ISS with cargo and crew, if a capability is successfully demonstrated and the Government determines it is in its best interest.
The activities associated with the implementation of Phase 1, also referred to as COTS Demonstrations or COTS Demos, will be governed by this announcement and any resulting Space Act Agreement (SAA). NASA intended to use its Space Act authority to enter into at least one and preferably multiple funded agreements resulting from this announcement. The actual number of SAAs will be based upon the types of proposed capabilities selected to fit within the available funding.
Earth to orbit space flight demonstrations include the following capabilities:
Capability A: External cargo delivery and disposal. Capability A delivers cargo (payloads) that operate directly in the space environment to a LEO test bed and safely disposes cargo.
Capability B: Internal cargo delivery and disposal. Capability B delivers cargo (payloads) that operate within a volume maintained at normal atmospheric pressure to a LEO test bed and safely disposes cargo.
Capability C: Internal cargo delivery and return. Capability C delivers cargo (payloads) that operate within a volume maintained at normal atmospheric pressure to a LEO test bed and safely returns cargo.
Capability D: Crew transportation. Capability D delivers crew to a LEO test bed and safely returns crew.
The scope of the demonstrations involves the development and operation of an end-to-end space transportation system of services including ground operations and integration, launch, rendezvous, proximity operations, docking or berthing, orbital operations, reentry, and safe disposal or return. The demonstrations will culminate with a crew/cargo transportation mission to and from a LEO test bed for the orbital phase of the mission. NASA intends to provide the ISS as the orbital destination and active test bed if the ISS visiting vehicle requirements are satisfied. Participants may propose an alternative orbital test bed for the capability demonstrations.
Proposals are solicited for crew transportation Capability D, but only as an option to proposals for Capability C. The Capability D demonstrations will consist of multiple missions to LEO and the orbital test bed. The option will be considered for execution only after the successful demonstration of Capability C. Participants are not precluded from incorporating crew transportation technical performance goals in the proposals for Capability C."
--end quote--
Many, including myself, that we shouldn't have waited for cargo launches but the capability D option should have been exercised at the same time.
The Senate tried to push a bill to fully fund COTS-D but it is still languishing and it is my hope the Senate takes up this bill again when a new Administrator comes on board.
The reason for the importance of funding COTS-D is how much America will be spending for space access (see "Russia Charges NASA 51 Million Dollars For Soyuz Seats", 'Americans in Space', May 16, 2009) after the Space Shuttle retires.
Today's poll reflects this problem. Do we ship billions to Russia to support their space program or do we create our own domestic commercial launch services.
PAGE 2:
Hubble Space Telescope For Sale
"Imagine seeing that ad posted by NASA on eBay or Sotheby's. The Hubble Space Telescope has generated alot of excitement over the last 19 years with its breathtaking photos and critical astronomical research. Currently, the space shuttle Atlantis is hooked up to the Hubble for a final service and repair mission which is going well. Quite a few people have been watching the mission on NASA TV and call it nothing more than spectacular. In fact, one DKos commenter had this perceptive comment to say yesterday. The ongoing repairs will help the Hubble to stay in operation until 2014 at which time NASA will likely deorbit Hubble to burn up in Earth's atmosphere. Astronauts are hooking up a docking mechanism to Hubble for exactly that purpose. Why destroy the Hubble?"
--end quote--
PAGE 3:
Chernobyl fallout could drive evolution of 'space plants'
"More than two decades after the world's largest nuclear disaster, life around Chernobyl continues to adapt.
"There are no dogs with two heads," says Martin Hajduch of the Slovak Academy of Sciences – although birds, insects and humans have all been affected to a greater or lesser extent by radioactive fallout.
To determine how plants might have adapted to the meltdown, Hajduch's team compared soya grown in radioactive plots near Chernobyl with plants grown about 100 kilometres away in uncontaminated soil.
Compared to the plants grown in normal soil, the Chernobyl soya produced significantly different amounts of several dozen proteins, the team found. Among those are proteins that contribute to the production of seeds, as well as proteins involved in defending cells from heavy metal and radiation damage. "One protein is known to actually protect human blood from radiation," Hajduch says."
--end quote--
POLL RESULTS:
Yesterday's poll: "Percent of Budget towards Space Spending.", was the 25th week the poll was conducted. Next Sunday I will try and get the 26 weeks totaled so we can take a look at some numbers. (CB = current budget)
WEEKLY TRACKING POLL ARCHIVES:
Sat May 16, 2009
Sat May 7, 2009, Sat May 2, 2009, Sat Apr 25, 2009, Sat Apr 18, 2009, Sat Apr 11, 2009
Sat Apr 04, 2009, --FLOOD WEEK--, Sat Mar 21, 2009, Sat Mar 14, 2009, Sat Mar 07, 2009
Sat Feb 28, 2009, Sat Feb 21, 2009, Sat Feb 14, 2009, Sat Feb 07, 2009, Sat Jan 31, 2009
Sat Jan 24, 2009, Sat Jan 17, 2009, Sun Jan 11, 2009, Sat Jan 03, 2009, Sat Dec 27, 2008
Sat Dec 20, 2008, Sat Dec 13, 2008, Sat Dec 6, 2008, Sat Nov 29, 2008, Sat Nov 22, 2008
Gyrating Star Trek Tribble For Sale
"Either there's a legitimate Star Trek Tribble for sale at eBay today, or someone is about to make $5,000 off a large multi-colored cotton ball.
The auctioneer states that this ball of fur is, indeed, a Tribble from Star Trek: The Original Series. Episode? The Trouble With Tribbles, obviously.
The 42-year-old prop takes two AA batteries, still works, and could be vibrating madly on your desktop in six days if you beat the lofty current purchase price of $5,000.
A certificate of authenticity signed by Scotty's son Chris Doohan makes this all legit"
--end quote--
YESTERDAY'S COMMENTS:
"Four US space policy proposals To operate in synergy:
(1) Adopt Direct 3.0 - this applies to NASA
(2) Fully fund a COTS-D competition - this also applies to NASA
(3) Adopt policies that facilitate a privately owned LEO space station similar in concept (in not engineering design) to what MirCorp attempted. This can be done regardless of the architecture chosen by NASA (ESAS, DIRECT, EELV only) and this proposal need not impact NASA's other goals and objectives.
(4) Adopt policies that facilitate a privately owned EML entrepot space station that can service spacecraft from any nation on Earth capable of reaching an EML point. Again, this can be done regardless of the architecture chosen by NASA (ESAS, DIRECT, EELV only) and this proposal need not be incorporated into NASA's other goals and objectives." - Bill White
"If NASA rents all 24 seats we are looking at $1.224 billion. I haven't priced spaceships lately, but my gut instinct is that the money could be better spent replacing the Shuttle. Now, Russia has money to pay for their space program, courtesy of NASA.
The problem, of course, is that Bush era idiocy and bureaucratic inertia delayed development of a shuttle replacement. Remembering:
The bureaucratic mentality is the only constant in the universe.
Unfortunately, this outlay is probably unavoidable if NASA plans to do anything in space and return safely after 2012.
Is there any chance that we can do a slingshot around the sun to go back in time and convince someone to get on the shuttle replacement issue earlier?" - Casual Wednesday
THE SPACE FUNNY PAGE:
Submitted to the comments section by Pluto.
TODAY'S POLL:
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