Free Republic

A former chairman of the House science committee told Brevard County leaders Monday that NASA’s next rocket is “on the chopping block” and that a new administration may abandon the Ares I as successor to the space shuttle. The next president may look instead to use military rockets to launch NASA astronauts, said Robert Walker, a former Republican congressman from Pennsylvania who, as a Washington-based lobbyist, represents Brevard County. Walker told county commissioners; U.S. Reps. Tom Feeney, R-Oviedo, and Dave Weldon, R-Indialantic; and representatives of the local aerospace community that the word in Washington and at recent space conferences was...

Acknowledging that a NASA authorization bill is unlikely to be enacted this year, three Republican senators – including presidential candidate John McCain (R-Ariz.) – have written President George W. Bush imploring him to direct NASA to hold off for at least a year taking any action that would preclude the agency from flying space shuttles beyond 2010. McCain, joined by Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) and David Vitter (R-La.), also cited Russia's recent military incursion into neighboring Georgia earlier this month as evidence that Russia's continued cooperation on the international space station program should not be taken for granted. Once...

NASA announced on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 that it has worked out a solution to the excessive-vibration problem in its yet-to-be developed Ares 1 launch vehicle. The Ares 1 rocket will take astronauts into space inside their Orion crew capsule as part of the new Project Constellation for the United States. The first manned flight is due around 2015. However, early in the design phase of the Ares 1, NASA engineers found that combustion in the solid-fuel motor would spread excessive vibration throughout the multi-stage Ares 1 rocket and the Orion crew capsule. Although the larger-than-desired vibrations would only appear...

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — By day, the engineers work on NASA's new Ares moon rockets. By night, some go undercover to work on a competing design. These dissenting scientists and their backers insist they have created an alternative rocket that would be safer, cheaper and easier to build than the two Ares spacecraft that will replace the space shuttle.

NASA is wrestling with a potentially dangerous problem in a spacecraft, this time in a moon rocket that hasn't even been built yet. Engineers are concerned that the new rocket meant to replace the space shuttle and send astronauts on their way to the moon could shake violently during the first few minutes of flight, possibly destroying the entire vehicle. "They know it's a real problem," said Carnegie Mellon University engineering professor Paul Fischbeck, who has consulted on risk issues with NASA in the past. "This thing is going to shake apart the whole structure, and they've got to solve...

Experts are wrestling with a propulsion system problem in the design of the new moon ship that would create dangerously high vibrations for the spacecraft and its astronauts, NASA said today. In a statement, the space agency said it expects to develop several options to address the problem with the Ares I rocket by March. NASA is counting on the Ares I rocket and the Orion capsule that will house astronauts to replace the aging space shuttle fleet. The shuttle is facing retirement in 2010. At current funding levels, NASA hopes to begin launching astronauts to the international space station...

As NASA makes progress in fulfilling the Vision for Space Exploration laid out two years ago by President George W. Bush, the space agency's three California centers are advancing in their own roles for the program. "NASA is in a time of transformation," returning to an emphasis on exploration, said Scott Horowitz, NASA associate administrator for exploration systems. Horowitz gave an update on the nation's new plans to return to the moon as a stepping stone to Mars and beyond during the California Space Authority's Transforming Space Conference on Friday. The event brought together the varied interests that comprise the...

The first test flight of NASA’s crew launch vehicle Ares 1 will use a four-segment solid-rocket booster for its first stage, not the five-segment design specified in the baseline requirement. Ares 1’s current design uses a Space Shuttle-derived five-segment SRB first stage and a new liquid-oxygen/liquid-hydrogen Rocketdyne J-2X-powered upper stage. The launcher will place the agency’s Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) into a suborbital trajectory, from which the CEV’s engine would boost it into low-Earth orbit. The first Ares 1 test is due in April 2009. Steve Cook, NASA’s exploration launch vehicle director, based at Marshall Spaceflight Center, says the first...

Amateur radio operators will take part in a scavenger hunt this weekend, seeking information rather than hub caps or cowboy hats, in an exercise designed to get them acquainted with Southeastern Connecticut before a major emergency drill next month. Wayne Gronlund, who is coordinating the event, said he is trying to put together at least 50 amateur radio enthusiasts for TOPFF, a weeklong exercise that will include simulated terrorist attacks on ports in New London, New Jersey, Canada and the United Kingdom. “We know we're not going to have enough amateur radio resources in New London County to provide all...

Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) teams were ready and waiting as Hurricane Ivan devastated entire sections of the US Gulf Coast early September 16. Packing 115 MPH winds as it made landfall, Ivan zeroed in on the Mobile Bay area of Alabama, but because of its huge girth, the storm wrought widespread death and destruction in the Florida Panhandle and also affected Mississippi. Below-sea-level New Orleans was spared major flooding, however. Alabama Section Emergency Coordinator Jay Isbell, KA4KUN, said ham radio has been helping relief agencies, especially in the hard-hit southernmost counties. "Right now the adrenaline's still up," he said...

NEWINGTON, CT, Oct 27, 2003--As wind-driven fires continue to burn in California, Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) and Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES) teams have activated to assist local authorities and relief organizations. Statewide, authorities report 11 separate fires and at least 13 dead. Gov Gray Davis has declared states of emergency in four counties. Eleven of the fire-related deaths occurred in San Diego County, where incredibly fast-moving fires driven by hot, dry Santa Ana winds have burned over upward of 25,000 acres. ARRL San Diego Section Manager Kent Tiburski, K6FQ, says the fires encroached on more-populated areas, forcing...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2002 November 26 Name This Martian Robot Drawing Credit: Mars Exploration Rover Mission Team, JPL, NASA Explanation: NASA will launch two robots to Mars next year and you can help name them. The Mars Exploration Rovers are scheduled for launch on or near this coming June, when Mars and Earth are relatively close in their orbits. The landing craft are expected to touch down on Mars in January...