Tim's Space Diary. Straight and to the point

18-22 September (22 September 2009)

NASA and its international partners have almost completed the assembly of the International Space Station costing $100 million but in 2011, the Space Shuttle will be grounded. ISS crews will be flown aboard Russian Soyuz spacecraft and cargo will be provided by Russian Progress, European and Japanese cargo craft. NASA will have the Orion manned spacecraft - but it is not designed to service the ISS. Manned flights are unlikely to take place until 2014 or even 2018. Russian Progress craft are not able to supply replacement parts. The idea of grounding the Space Shuttle has been described as “numbskull”. However, Space-X may come to the rescue - a man-rated Cygnus cargo delivery spacecraft. The first operational Dragon - flying aboard a Falcon 9 - is scheduled for a launch in 2011 after three test flights. Orbital Sciences plans a similar spacecraft called Cygnus, which would carry cargo and later, crews.

The joint Russian-Chinese mission to Mars has been delayed to 2011. The spacecraft will attempt to return to Earth with a sample of the Martian moon, Phobos.

The crew of the final Space Shuttle mission, STS 133 Discovery in September 2010 to the International Space Station (ISS) has been selected. The commander is Steve Lindsey, with pilot Eric Boe and mission specialists Alvin Drew, Tim Kopra, Mike Barratt and Nicole Stott. All are veteran Space Shuttle fliers, which is a first for multi-crew missions. Barratt and Stott will work aboard the ISS. The mission will deliver a large particle physics experiment.

Echostar, Intelsat, SES and Telesat communications satellite operators have formed a coalition to enhance worldwide competition in the provision of commercial satellite launches.

ESA is pleased with the performance of the universe observation Planck mission from the second L2 Langrange point of the sun-Earth system.

International Launch Services launched Telesat’s Nimiq 5 into orbit on 17 September on the fifth commercial mission of the year and the seventh of the Proton booster. The launch was the 348th of a Proton booster. Nimiq 5, to be stationed at 72.7deg in geostationary orbit was built by Space Systems/Loral based on the SS/L 1300 spacecraft bus.

The European Court of Auditors has “heavily criticised” the 30-satellite Galileo navigation satellite project which has been delayed and badly managed. The European Commission has been accused of not being proactively leading the project which is experiencing considerable cost overruns. Only one test satellite has been launched - in 2005! Anything to do with the EU is heading for pain, suffering, long delays, incredible over-budgets - and extraordinary bureaucracy.
Russia launched a Soyuz booster from Baikonur on 17 September carrying a Meteor-M1 with five piggyback satellites, including South Africa’s Sumbandila satellite.

The apparent “exoplanet” orbiting the a star in the constellation of Monoceros 500 light years away discovered by ESO telescopes completed one orbit in 20.4hrs has apparently a mass of five times of the Earth and a radius 80% larger than the Earth is the smallest exoplanet discovered to date and the closest to orbit its parent star. Of course the“planet” cannot be “seen” and is 5005878499812599 miles away, which puts the data into perspective.

50 years ago
18 September 1959

The USA IGY Vanguard 3, the final satellite in the series of which only three were successfully orbited was launched aboard a Vanguard booster from Cape Canaveral providing magnetic field, lower radiation belts and micrometeorite impacts.

40 years ago
18 September 1969

The Soviet Union launched a Soyuz booster from Baikonur carrying Cosmos 299, a Zenit high resolution reconnaissance satellite with a recoverable film capsule which was recovered on 22 September.

The Daily Mail in Britain reports that “giant plants, bigger and better than anything on Earth, may be grown on the moon in the future. Tests on the Apollo 11 lunar dust show that potentially, it is tremendously fertile”.

The Daily Telegraph reports that “some of the rocks brought back from the moon are of a chemical composition unlike that of any earthly rocks or meteorites and may date to old times earlier than the oldest rocks on earth”.

“In a tartan bag…a little bit of moondust”. London received a little bit of noon today…in a tartan bag. And the samples of dust, carefully packed in foil in 16 plastic containers”.

Vice President Agnew, chairman of the White House Task Force, recommended to President Nixon that the USA should plan for a manned landing on Mars in 1981,with an initial $9,400 million a year, a mission in 1986 costing $7,600 million a year and an option of a mission after 1990 with a $5,500 million a year.

22 September

Japan launched an Lambda 4S-4 from Kagoshima carrying a 25kg technology spacecraft Ohsumi 4 but the fourth stage collided with the spent third stage.

The US Air Force launched a Thorad Agena D from Vandenberg AFB, California carrying a KH-4A reconnaissance satellite with a recoverable film capsule with was recovered on 12 October. The mission was last by a KH-4A. Two piggyback satellites, a radar SRV 743R and OPS 4710, a Sigint spacecraft.

12-17 September (17 September 2009)

China has started work on a new spaceport on the island of Hainan, Wenchang City which will be ready for geostationary flights in 2013 from 19degN. The site will host launches of the Long March 5 booster.

Orbital Sciences has been awarded a contract from the US Air Force to construct the first Minotaur 5 booster for the US Air Force Space and Missile Centre, which will launch NASA’s Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer orbiter in May 2012. Twenty eight Monotaur launch vehicles have been launched.

A group of US Congress lawmakers have “slammed” the Augustine Constellation Human Space Flight Program. Democratic Representative Gabrielle Giffords, the head of the House Science and Technology Committee said that the independent review was going to be a “hard, cold, sobering look at Constellation…to tell us exactly what we need to do here in Congress with our budget in order to maximise the chances of success. Instead of focusing on how to strengthen the exploration programme on which we’ve spent so much time – four years – and billions of dollars, we have a glancing attention to Constellation. Instead, the bulk of the time is spent crafting alternative options…almost like cartoons, lacking detailed costs, scheduled, technical, safety and other specifics. The panel's full report on US human space flight, which was commissioned by President Barack Obama early this year, is due at the end of the month. Also defending Constellation at the hearing was former NASA administrator Mike Griffin, who testified that the key problem facing Constellation was a lack of funding that had previously been promised. Meanwhile, the United Launch Alliance (ULA) has created an expansive plan to utilize the Atlas and Delta Launch Vehicle families to provide the United States with an architecture that both reduces the gap and provides greater flexibility – when compared to NASA’s current Ares-based plans. ULA’s plans range from Low Earth Orbit (LEO) access, to the ability to cater for NASA’s most ambitious lunar base plan.

Armadillo Aerospace successfully flew its Lunar Lander rocket, Scorpious twice to qualify for the $1 million top prize.

Space Shuttle Discovery landed in California on 12 September at Edwards Air Force Base, California after a 14 day mission after poor weather conditions scrubbed two landing attempts. The STS-128 Discovery flight supplied the ISS with provisions and equipment. Three spacewalks were performed for various tasks. Discovery returned with astronaut Tim Kopra, who spent two months on the station and who was replaced by Nicole Stott. Mission duration was 13 days 20 hours 53 minutes and 45 seconds after launch from the KSC on August 28.

50 years ago
12 September
The Soviet Union launched the 858lb Lunik 2, which became the first object to hit the moon.

16 September
An Army Jupiter booster with a NASA biomedical experiment from Cape Canaveral but the rocket fishtailed and was destroyed.

17 September
An ARPA Navy Transit 1A navigation satellite was launched by a Thor Able booster from Cape Canaveral but the third stage failed.

The first powered flight of the X-15 spaceplane was piloted by Scott Crossfield on a 36min flight.

40 years ago
15 September 1969

Two major directions were identified for NASA manned space flight in the next decade. Nation: USA. Program: Skylab. Spacecraft: Skylab, Columbia. Flight: Skylab B. Two major directions were identified for manned space flight in the next decade. These were further exploration of the Moon, with possibly the establishment of a lunar surface base, and the continued development of manned flight in Earth orbit, leading to a permanent manned space station supported by a low-cost shuttle system. To maintain direction, the following key milestones were proposed: 1972 - AAP operations using a Saturn V launched Workshop 1973 - Start of post-Apollo lunar exploration 1974 - Start of suborbital flight tests of Earth to orbit shuttle - Launch of a second Saturn V Workshop 1975 - Initial space station operations - Orbital shuttle flights 1976 - Lunar orbit station - Full shuttle operations 1977 - Nuclear stage flight test 1978 - Nuclear shuttle operations-orbit to orbit 1979 - Space station in synchronous orbit By 1990 - Earth orbit space base - Lunar surface base - Possible Mars landing.

The Soviet Union launched Cosmos 298, a Fractional Orbitial Bombardment System satellite, aboard a Tsyklon booster from Baikonur into a 49deg inclination orbit.

President Nixon says that NASA should concentrate on a 10 year consolidation of manned lunar exploration and delay manned Mars missions until 1980. “A man on Mars is Nixon aim”. “Mars landings in 1980’s” .“Go ahead for Mars”. “Date with Mars”.

9-11 September (11 September 2009)

Premier Vladimir Putin says that despite economic difficulties, space activities will remain priority, with 82 billion roubles. “Fundamentally new models of manned space hardware” are planned.

The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency launched an unmanned H-2 Transfer Vehicle aboard an H-2B booster from Tanegashima on 11 September to the International Space Station, carrying a cargo of 4.5 tons.

The United Launch Alliance Atlas V booster was launched from Cape Canaveral’s Pad 41 on 11 September, carrying a Lockheed Martin-built P360 PAN operated by a US secret agency. The spacecraft is based on an A2100 satellite bus. It is suspected that the spacecraft is a communications satellite.

The Ares 1 DM five-segment rocket motor was successfully tested on 10 September at ATK’s Utah facility. The future of Ares is unsure, as the Augustine Committee included the Ares 1 in only one of the eight options for boosters.

50 years ago
11 September 1959
A NASA boilerplate model of the Mercury capsule was launched successfully launched aboard a Big Joe Atlas missile from Cape Canaveral and recovered in the South Atlantic after surviving reentry heat of more that 10,000degF.

40 years ago
11 September 1969

Britain’s Daily Express: “Shine on, shine on, useless moon”. It cost 10,000 million pounds to put a man on the moon but the place is completely useless to mankind. There is no evidence of life and no immediate chance of economic benefit. Meanwhile, 142 scientists - including 15 British scientists - were provided with moon samples for the Apollo 11 mission.

5-8 September (8 September 2009)

Astrium has been contracted to supply the satellite processing unit, the central bus and the propulsion unit for Argentine’s Arsat to be launched in 2012, the first of a series of planned satellites.

America could launch another manned mission to the moon says Al Bean, the forth man on the moon “but we're not going to. I want to go but I know I'm in the minority." The nation was driven in the 1960s by the desire to prove its superiority over the Soviets, Bean said. Without a similar motivation now returning to the moon will be viewed by most Americans as too expensive. "Future generations will have to find a reason," he said. "There's just not a reason now."

Japan’s space agency, JAXA has hired another astronaut, medical doctor Norishige Kanai to work aboard the International Space Station, especially onboard the Japanese Experiment Module, Kibo. Nanai joins Yui Kimiya and Takuya Onishi, who entered the taikonaut corps in April.

Russia will launch a Soyuz TMA booster on Septembe 30 from Baikonur carrying a Soyuz spacecraft heading for the International Space Station, carrying commander Maxim Suraev, NASA’s Jeffrey Williams and space tourist Guy Lalibertay.

Eutelsat’s Thales Alenia Space-built W7 communications satellite will be launched in November aboard a Proton booster. W7 is based on a Spacebus 400 C4 platform, weighing 5,600kg to be locared at 36degE in geostationary orbit.

STS 128 astronauts Danny Olivas and Christer Fugselang completed a 7hr 1min EVA on 5 September to install two GPS antennas and a rate gyro assembly. It was the last of three EVAs on the mission.

More than three hundred microscopic leaks were produced from the nozzle tubing of an SSME on Endeavour STS 127. Fortunately the launch was successful. How close Endeavour’s No 1 engine came to a major problem is unknown. However, how the engine was passed as fit to fly, before failing leak checks upon its return is under investigation.

"Titan's atmosphere is extremely rich in an assortment of hydrocarbon chemicals, including propane, which we use to fill our barbecue tanks," said Cassini scientist Conor Nixon of the University of Maryland, College Park. "Titan's atmospheric inventory would fuel about 150 billion barbecue cookouts, enough for several thousand years of Labor Days."

40 years ago
7 September 1969
A Government Commission proposed a spectrum of optional goals for space in which could land a man on Mars as early as 1982. The Commission envisaged four development programmes: a nuclear-powered rocket to fly men to Mars or to provide a shuttle service between earth-orbit and moon orbit; a space shuttle operating on an airline-type schedule between Cape Kennedy and an Earth orbiting space station; a permanent 50-man base in Earth orbit; and a reusable space tug to operate between moon-orbit and the lunar surface. The costs of the options were not worked out.

30 August-4 September (4 September 2009)

Orbcomm has booked SpaceX to launch 18 Orbcomm Generation 2 satellites from 2010 to 2014 using Falcon 1e boosters.

The European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton X-Ray telescope has observed a “celestial Rosetta stone”, the first close-up of a white dwarf star, the dead heart of a star orbiting a companion star.

Canadian Guy Laliberte, the founder of the Cirque de Soleil plans to produce a two hour orchestration, “Moving Stars and Earth for Water” on October 9 from the International Space Station after his launch aboard a Soyuz TMA.

The Space Shuttle STS 128 astronauts, Danny Olivas and Nicole Stott completed the first of three EVAs to remove an ammonia tank assembly from the P1 truss from the ESA Columbus laboratory. Danny Olivas and Christer Fuglesang completed the mission’s second EVA on 3 September to replace an ammonia tank on the P1 truss on the International Space Station.

The Thales Alenia Space-built Indonesian Palapa-D satellite which was launched into an incorrect orbit by a Chinese Long Mach booster has been successfully placed into GTO after three perigee boosts.

NASA’s Orion spacecraft has passed a preliminary design review for manned flights to the International Space Station and “other destinations”. NASA warns that if the Ares 1 is cancelled - as in several scenarios under consideration by the Augustine committee - it would take up to two years to redesign Orion to launch on an alternative vehicle, such as one based on existing EELV rockets.

Lockheed Martin has proposed using two mated Orion spacecraft forming a 50 ton manned spacecraft to observe an asteroid. Orion is to first be used replace the Space Shuttle. Asteroid missions and other deep space sites would maximize utilization of the Orion system if lunar landings are deleted as a near term goal.

Space-X has delivered Ultra High Frequency Communications Unit to the KSC for the Space Shuttle STS 129 mission by Atlantis to the International Space Station which will be used for flight of the company’s future Dragon which will be launched to the station.

NASA needs stability and resources say astronauts Jeff Ashby, Michael Bloomfield, Bob Crippen, Roger Crouch, Jan Davis, Brian Duffy, Jim Halsell, Steve Hawley, Rick Hieb, Scott “Doc” Horowitz, Bruce McCandless II, Don McMonagle, Pam Melroy, Charlie Precourt, Ken Reightler and Kent Rominger. "We believe that America's space exploration program has positively impacted the world perhaps more than any single national endeavour during the last half century. Our space leadership is a projection of this country's technical capability leveraged to foster peaceful cooperation among nations in a politically uncertain world. Each of us has been part of this great space legacy — and continues to be committed to ensuring the safety, vitality, sustainability and excitement of the future space program. U.S. investment in space and technology generates tens of thousands of jobs, stimulates small businesses and entrepreneurship, drives innovation and inspires the next generation of engineers, scientists and explorers so critical to America's future."

25 years after its first launch, the Space Shuttle Discovery docked to the International Space Station on 30 August.

The South California wildfires closed the Jet Propulsion on 29-30 August and are threatening the Mt Wilson observatory.

NASA says that it will not need new medium-lift rockets until at least 2014 when Falcon 9 and Taurus 2 boosters will fly resupply missions to the International Space Station, while the Delta II workhorse will be retired in late 2011. Meanwhile, the US Air Force will provide a Minotaur booster to launch NASA’s LADEE mission.

XCOR Aerospace reports that several significant milestones have been reached in the 5K18 rocket engine which will power the company’s Lynx suborbital spacecraft.

South Korea will spend $19.2 million over three years on research and development of space technologies. Each project will get 200 million over the next five years to focus studies on turbopumps, rocket fuel, heat-resistant ceramics, super-high resolution optics for satellites, electric power systems and unmanned land rovers. A 30 ton thrust rocket engine has almost been completed for flights in 2018, with hopes to reach the moon by 2020 and to develop a lunar probe 2025.

The Indonesian 4,100kg, 6kW Palapa D built by Thales Alenia Space and based on a Spacebus 4000B3 communications satellite was launch by a Chinese CZ-3B booster on 30 September but the craft failed to reached the required orbit after a malfunction of the third stage. The satellite carried 35 C and five Ku transponders.

China plans to build a “space station” using three joined laboratories in 2010-15, leading to a “space station” in 2020. A manned mission is planned by 2030.

British scientists with EADS Astrium are the planning phase of a 10 tonne “gravity tractor” which could steer dangerous asteroids away from the Earth.

40 years ago

2 September 1969
The Soviet Union launched a Voskhod booster from Plesetsk carrying Cosmos 297, a Zenit 4 reconnaissance satellite into a 72deg inclination, which returned a recoverable capsule after an eight day mission.