Russia may soon need its own trampoline. Overnight, a Russian Proton-M booster lifted off from Baikonur carrying the Express AM4R communications satellite built by EADS Astrium. Like all too many Proton payloads in recent years, it did not reach the correct orbit, or in this case, any orbit at all. Instead it suffered a complete […]
Following last week’s finding by a Federal Judge that the absence of any proof that sanctioned Russian Defense and Space minister Dimitry Rogozin was benefiting from the sale of RD-180’s was good enough to lift a temporary injunction against further purchases, it might have looked as if the issue was reverting back to the […]
Photo credit: SpaceX After a Flight Readiness Review on Monday indicated conditions are “go,” SpaceX is counting down towards a Saturday morning launch for the next Falcon 9 mission. The next step, a static fire of the 9 Merlin 1-D first stage engines was scheduled to take place today. Barring any last minute problems, the […]
Well, it wasn’t about Mars Colonial Transport, or even the official reveal of Dragon 2.0. Instead today’s SpaceX press conference held at the National Press Club, and delivered by Elon Musk, was primarily to announce the fact that SpaceX is filing a lawsuit in the US Court of Federal Claims in an attempt to halt […]
In the six weeks which have passed since SpaceX’s Elon Musk and ULA’s Michael Gass squared off in Congressional testimony over the EELV program, SpaceX has completed another successful mission with the Falcon 9, the ninth overall and the fourth of the Falcon 9 V1.1/ F-9R. ULA has also completed two more launches, both by […]
Image Credit : ULA Editorial Karl Marx once said “The last capitalist we hang shall be the one who sold us the rope.” He may have been right on at least this point. Underscoring once again America’s self-inflicted dependence on Russian technology for launching its own most expensive intelligence assets, a United Launch Alliance Atlas […]
(Video starts at discussion on contingencies) In what has become an passage of spring, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden was testifying before Congress once again yesterday, this time before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies. The committee, chaired by retiring Virginia Congressman Frank Wolf, has been the scene of more than […]
Late Wednesday, NASA’s still cordial relationship with Russia took an odd turn when NasaWatch reported rumors of an internal email advising NASA personnel to suspend all communications with the Russian government, except where the International Space Station is concerned. Later in the evening the agency posted the following “official” statement on its Google Plus account, […]
“Over the past year, the 80 programs of the 2013 portfolio have grown by a total of $12.6 billion, a net cost increase nearly all attributable to the significant procurement cost associated with one program—the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle.” And that’s just from the front page. In what is becoming a repeated annual refrain, the […]
Shockwave/ Image Credit SpaceX It’s not a launch order yet, but Space News reports that SpaceX has received a $4.2 million contract from the Air Force to study payload integration on the Falcon 9 V1.1 for an undisclosed satellite. Although the Air Force was supposed to set aside 14 launch opportunities for open bidding through […]
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