Free Republic

National Space Society Opposes Senate Gutting of Commercial Crew Program [and investing in Russian economy] The National Space Society (NSS) strongly opposes the Senate Appropriations Committee’s $344 million (27%) cut of the 2015 Commercial Crew budget requested by the Administration. The Senate cuts were $100 million more than those recently passed by the House. NSS stands with NASA administrator Charles Bolden when he said “By gutting this program and turning our backs on U.S. industry, NASA will be forced to continue to rely on Russia to get its astronauts into space – and to continue to invest hundreds of millions...

A key Senate panel approved Thursday a 2011 budget proposal for the US space agency NASA that would extend the space shuttle program in a compromise from the Obama administration's demands. Republican and Democratic members of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee unanimously approved the legislation, after months of debate and criticism. The powerful Senate Budget Committee must still approve the bill before sending it to the full chamber for a vote. Although the plan maintains the White House's 19-billion-dollar request for NASA funding for the fiscal year that begins on October 1, it adds another shuttle mission in...

A recent United States Air Force scramjet test has hinted at a future where hypersonic vehicles streak through the sky at many times the speed of sound around the world, and perhaps even open up access to space. The experimental X-51A Waverider used a rocket booster and an air-breathing scramjet to reach a speed of Mach 5 and achieve the longest hypersonic flight ever powered by such an engine on May 26. That technology might not only deliver cargo quickly to different parts of the globe, but could also transform the space industry and spawn true space planes that take...

The proposed cancellation of NASA’s Constellation manned spacecraft program could foster a stronger bond between the civilian space agency and the Air Force, a senior service official said this week. “This is going to drive us to work together,” Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Howie Chandler at an April 28 Air Force Association breakfast in Arlington, VA, when asked if cancellation of Constellation could impact the Air Force. “I think you’ll see us start to do that even more than we have in the past.” To that end, the Air Force is participating in a forum to discuss...

The dominance of the U.S. space industry is threatened by European and Asian firms, the Pentagon’s industrial policy chief said May 25. “We’re at a tipping point with our space industry,” Brett Lambert said at a forum on the strength of the space industrial base hosted by the George C. Marshall Institute think tank. “We have for so long been the dominant player and the most technologically advanced player.” European and Asian countries have developed their space industrial bases “not because they wanted to make those investments [but] because they didn’t have access to our technology,” he said. “As they...

<p>Atomic energy was one of many areas of cooperation discussed as Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin made his first visit to the South American country.</p>

In many fields, elder statesmen—those individuals who have provided a lifetime of service and have made major accomplishments—are often accorded some degree of deference, including when they speak. They often have the freedom to go off the beaten path and make critical statements that would make other speakers—or members of the audience—a bit uncomfortable. Their standing makes them resistant, if not outright impervious, to criticism themselves. There is, though, a fine line between being a critic and being a curmudgeon: one offers specific assessments, and sometimes proposes solutions, while the other is dismissive of most everything. In his luncheon speech...

In 10 or 15 years, when a manned NASA mission to the South Pole of the moon prepares for blast-off, there’s a good chance that mining technology developed in the Sudbury area will be on board, said Dale Boucher, manager of prototype development with the Northern Centre for Advanced Technology (NORCAT). The Sudbury-based product development and innovation centre, in partnership with private sector mining supplier Electric Vehicle Controllers Ltd. (EVC), has won several NASA and Canadian Space Agency contracts to develop drilling technology for the moon and Mars, and hosts an annual symposium to foster collaboration between the space and...

The space industry has landed firmly on the Isle of Man. Andrew Corlett reports on how proposed changes to Manx law will encourage further investment from global companies Space has become big business. In 2005, the sector generated in excess of $125bn (£70.66bn) for the global economy, and the Isle of Man has been quick to recognise this trend. Over the past five years, the island been steadily building a portfolio of space-related businesses and incentives. Inmarsat, Boeing, Sea Launch and Loral already have operational structures there, and 2006 should see the emergence of the island as a recognised niche...

<p>There was a story last week about the unaccountable accounting on the Air Force's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program.</p> <p>This is a program in which the government gave Boeing and Lockheed Martin, the manufacturers of the Delta, and Atlas and Titan launch vehicles, respectively, millions of dollars in funding to help them both improve the performance and reliability of the systems, and to reduce their cost. The catch is that these are ostensibly commercial systems, so this is in effect a taxpayer subsidy of what should be in theory private enterprise.</p>