Channel Island Named First 'Dark Sky' Community

– Mon Jan 31, 12:07 pm ET

LONDON (AFP) – The Channel Island of Sark has been designated the first dark sky community in the world in recognition of the lack of light pollution that allows clear views of the stars at night, officials said Monday.

The tiny island, located west of France's Cotentin Peninsula and about 80 miles (130 kilometres) off the south coast of England, hopes the designation from the US-based International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) will help boost tourism from star gazers.

"Sark becoming the world's first dark sky island is a tremendous feather in our environmental cap, which can only enhance our appeal," said Paul Williams, chairman of the Sark government's agricultural committee.

The island, which is three miles long and 1.5 miles wide, has no cars and no public street lighting, but local residents and businesses have also made an effort to reduce the amount of light spilled upwards.

As a result, the Milky Way is clearly visible stretching from horizon to horizon and streaking meteors can be picked out among bright stars.

After an audit last year, Sark now joins a select group of global dark sky sites, although it is particularly special, according to Martin Morgan-Taylor, chairman of the IDA's international committee.

He notes that all the other sites are uninhabited natural parks, with the exception of Flagstaff, Arizona, which has a major observatory -- making Sark the first "dark sky community".

"Here we have a living, thriving community that has made a conscious effort that they themselves will help to protect and help to restore the view of the night sky," Morgan-Taylor told AFP.

Hungary's Hortobagy National Park has also been newly designated by the IDA, Morgan-Taylor said. The other two dark sky sites in Europe are Galloway Forest in Scotland and Zselic Park in Hungary.

"This is a great achievement for Sark," said Professor Roger Davies, president of the Royal Astronomical Society.

"People around the world are become increasingly fascinated by astronomy as we discover more about our universe, and the creation of the world's first dark sky island in the British Isles can only help to increase that appetite."

SpaceX Launches Success With Falcon 9/Dragon Flight

ScienceDaily (Dec. 13, 2010)

SpaceX Corp. tested its Falcon 9 and a fully functioning Dragon capsule combination during a brief mission launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on December 8, 2010. The uncrewed capsule parachuted back to Earth about three hours after liftoff following maneuvers in orbit, a first for the privately owned company.

Flames erupted from the base of the Falcon 9 at 10:43 a.m. as it sat at Launch Complex-40. A few seconds later, the rocket and its Dragon capsule pushed above the surrounding lightning towers and headed into orbit.

The first stage separated on time and the second stage took over as planned. A camera on board the rocket showed the Dragon capsule separate from the second stage and trunk to orbit on its own.

After working through its maneuvers, the Dragon fired its braking rockets to begin re-entry. Like the Apollo spacecraft of the 1960s and 70s, the Dragon pierced Earth's atmosphere protected by an ablative heat shield. Parachutes deployed and the spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California.

"This has really been better than I expected," said Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of SpaceX. "It's actually almost too good."

The test flight was the first under a NASA contract called COTS, short for Commercial Orbital Transportation Services. The contract was set up to encourage private companies to ship cargo to the International Space Station.

"This is really an amazing accomplishment for SpaceX," said Alan Lindenmoyer, NASA's Commercial Crew and Cargo program manager. "From all indications, it looks like it was 100 percent successful."

It was the second test flight for the Falcon 9, a 180-foot-tall, medium-lift booster SpaceX developed in part to service the station. The first Falcon 9 successfully launched a Dragon capsule simulator into orbit on June 4.

"We're beyond the 'Is it possible?' We did it and now we move on," said Gwynne Shotwell, president of SpaceX.

The successful mission could clear the way for a Dragon spacecraft to rendezvous with the station sometime next year, potentially delivering cargo on that flight.

Before the launch, NASA voiced a high level of support for the mission.

"Getting this far this fast has been a remarkable achievement," said Phil McAlister, NASA's acting director of Commercial Space Flight Development. "No matter how this spaceflight goes, we are committed to this program."

NASA wants rockets like the Falcon 9 and Orbital Sciences' Taurus II to carry important supplies, experiments and equipment to the space station after the space shuttle fleet is retired in 2011.

The rockets and capsules could one day carry astronauts to the station as well. But for this flight, the pressure was on SpaceX to demonstrate its nine-engine booster and accompanying capsule would work as advertised.

The next Falcon 9/Dragon launch is slated for 2011.

Robot's Space Debut 'Giant Leap For Tinmankind'

By MARCIA DUNN, AP Aerospace Writer Marcia Dunn, Ap Aerospace Writer

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Space is about to get its first humanoid from planet Earth. Robonaut 2 — affectionately known as R2 — is hitching a one-way ride to the International Space Station this week aboard the final flight of space shuttle Discovery.

It's the first humanoid robot ever bound for space, a $2.5 million mechanical and electrical marvel that NASA hopes one day will assist flesh-and-bone astronauts in orbit.

Imagine, its creators say, a future where Robonaut could take over space station cleaning duties; spend hours outside in the extreme heat and cold, patiently holding tools for spacewalking astronauts; and handle emergencies like toxic leaks or fires.

Why, Robonaut's descendants could even scout out asteroids, Mars and other worlds in the decades ahead, paving the way for humans.

The adventure begins Wednesday afternoon, with the planned final launch of Discovery and Robonaut's six human crewmates. Mission managers gave the green light Monday for the new launch date; shuttle gas leaks had to be repaired before the countdown could begin and forced a two-day delay.

"While it might be just a single step for this robot, it's really a giant leap forward for tinmankind," said Rob Ambrose, acting chief of Johnson Space Center's automation, robotics and simulation division in Houston.

For now, R2 — a collaboration between NASA and General Motors — exists only from the waist up. It measures 3 feet 4 inches tall and weighs 330 pounds. Each arm is 2 feet 8 inches long.

Legs are still in the works. But, oh, what an upper body: perfectly toned arms and hands with palms, a robotic rarity, along with broad shoulders and a washboard stomach. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Hollywood's cyborg Terminator, would be proud.

Watch Robonaut lifting a 20-pound dumbbell, and "you can kind of feel the burn," Ambrose said, showing a video at a recent news conference.

Unlike people who tend to cheat, "this robot will really do what the physical trainers tell you to do, which is to do the bicep curls nice and slow," he said.

Made of aluminum and nickel-plated carbon fiber, the torso and arms are padded to protect Robonaut and the astronauts, all the way down to the five fingers on each hand. No metal, bony-looking fingers for this robot.

R2's eyes are where they should be: in its gold-colored head. Four visible light cameras are located behind the robot's visor, and an infrared camera is in its mouth for depth perception.

But its brain is in its tummy; engineers had nowhere else to put the computerized gray matter.

A backpack holds a power system for plugging R2 into the space station. On an asteroid or Mars, the backpack would contain batteries.

The joints are filled with springs for give, and more than 350 electrical sensors are scattered throughout, allowing R2 to sense even a feather with its fingertips.

NASA began working on its first dexterous robot — the landlubbing Robonaut 1 — in 1997. Lacking money, the project ceased in 2006. General Motors stepped in with the intention of improving car manufacturing and better protecting workers. Early this year, the much speedier R2 was unveiled.

NASA made room for the robot on one of its last few shuttle flights. It is Discovery's 39th mission and the next-to-last shuttle flight for NASA, although an additional trip may be added next year.

R2 is boxed up and stowed away for launch. Its identical twin — identical on the outside, anyway — is at Kennedy Space Center, posing for pictures and awaiting liftoff.

"I'm not even a little nervous; NERVES OF ALUMINUM!!!" R2 said last week in a Twitter update under AstroRobonaut. (OK, so a NASA public relations woman and Robonaut team member are serving as ghost tweeters.)

The robot will remain tucked away at the space station until late December — a nice Christmas present for the station's six inhabitants, Ambrose figures.

While the space station already has Canadian and Japanese robotic arms — resembling cranes — human operators are needed. Once given orders, R2 can carry out preprogrammed tasks by itself.

First will come a series of tests to see how Robonaut operates in weightlessness atop a fixed pedestal.

Legs will be needed before Robonaut can tackle indoor chores like wiping handrails or vacuuming air filters. NASA hopes to send up legs in late 2011, followed a year later by torso and computer enhancements enabling the robot to venture out on spacewalks.

The objective is to help astronauts, not replace them, NASA stresses. Humans have been living continuously on the space station for 10 years — the actual record-setting anniversary is Tuesday — and the wish is for 10 more.

The beauty of Robonaut, officials say, is it's strong yet safe and trustworthy enough to work right next to humans. Think good Autobots rather than evil Decepticons from "Transformers." It's also serenely mute, more WALL-E than R2-D2 of "Star Wars" fame.

Discovery's astronaut-physician, Michael Barratt, would have loved to pawn off toilet cleaning while living at the space station last year. As appealing as Robonaut is, he cautions "it will be a long time" before the robot can do a job as quickly and efficiently as a space station human.

Robonaut's strength, Barratt said, will be emergencies.

"Going into a toxic atmosphere to throw a switch or close a valve," he explained.

And, in a final salute, going down with the ship.

R2 will be on board when the space station stops operating sometime after 2020 and NASA sends it hurtling toward a grave in the Pacific.

___

Online:

NASA: http://robonaut.jsc.nasa.gov/default.asp

Twitter: http://twitter.com/AstroRobonaut

GM: http://www.gm.com/vehicles/innovation

NM Spaceport Sets Stage For Commercial Space Race

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN, Associated Press – Wed Oct 27, 7:05 pm ET

UPHAM, N.M. – British tycoon Richard Branson has dreamed of going to space since he was a teenager. He'll get his wish when Virgin Galactic begins taking tourists into suborbital space from a specially designed spaceport in the New Mexico desert.

Gov. Bill Richardson, a longtime space buff, remembers when astronaut Alan Shepard first reached space and man first walked on the moon. He wants to see space too, but he's not willing to be among the first passengers on Branson's out-of-this-world venture.

Branson and Richardson shook hands five years ago to build the world's first dedicated spaceport. With the runway 45 miles north of Las Cruces complete, and the terminal and hangar facility nearly done, they see their partnership as a major milestone for the world's burgeoning commercial space tourism industry.

It's only a matter of time now — and not much time — before the industry starts to take off, experts say.

"It's a dream come true. It's happened. New Mexico is going to be a leader in space tourism," Richardson proclaimed last week, standing on the nearly two-mile-long concrete runway at Spaceport America.

Others who were present included 130 journalists from around the world, a group of British school children, a few dozen people who have already paid hefty deposits to be among Virgin Galactic's first customers, and former NASA astronaut Buzz Aldrin, who walked on the moon in 1969.

Branson and Richardson predict this place in southern New Mexico will be a hot spot in the next nine to 18 months. But it won't be the only one.

The commercial space industry is rapidly developing with companies like SpaceX of Hawthorne, Calif., seeking to supply the International Space Station for NASA. SpaceX, run by PayPal founder Elon Musk, has successfully placed a dummy payload into orbit and has contracts to lift satellites next.

Other firms, including Masten Space Systems of Mojave, Calif., and Armadillo Aerospace of Rockwall, Texas, are testing systems that would carry unmanned payloads to space.

Amazon.com Inc. CEO Jeff Bezos is also in the race with Blue Origin, a Washington state company that plans to compete as a space taxi.

Boeing Co. has lined up Virginia-based Space Adventures to sell seats on the seven-person spaceship it wants to build to fly to the International Space Station starting in 2015. Space Adventures currently sells seats on trips to the space station aboard the Russian-built Soyuz spaceship.

NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver said the recent flurry of development in the commercial space industry dovetails perfectly with the agency's intention of working more closely with the private sector. Just last month, Congress approved legislation affirming President Barack Obama's intent to use commercial carriers to lift humans into near-Earth space.

After 50 years of NASA space exploration, Garver said, "we need to be confident that credible, innovative, enterprising and bold individuals and entities are ready, willing and able to receive the torch."

The spaceport, she said, will provide a jump start for the commercial space industry by providing a place to launch and land, and by piquing more private interest and competition in space travel.

"No question that over the next five to 10 years there will be more people going to space, whether it's from here in New Mexico with Virgin Galactic, with other entities or from other parts of the country," Garver said.

Private Spaceship Makes First Solo Glide Flight

– Sun Oct 10, 11:51 pm ET

MOJAVE, Calif. – Virgin Galactic's space tourism rocket SpaceShipTwo achieved its first solo glide flight Sunday, marking another step in the company's eventual plans to fly paying passengers.

SpaceShipTwo was carried aloft by its mothership to an altitude of 45,000 feet and released over the Mojave Desert. After the separation, SpaceShipTwo, manned by two pilots, flew freely for 11 minutes before landing at an airport runway followed by the mothership.

The entire test flight lasted about 25 minutes.

"It flew beautifully," said Virgin Galactic chief executive George Whitesides.

The six-passenger SpaceShipTwo is undergoing rigorous testing before it can carry tourists to space. In the latest test, SpaceShipTwo did not fire its rocket engine to climb to space.

Until now, SpaceShipTwo has flown attached to the wing of its special jet-powered mothership dubbed WhiteKnightTwo. Sunday was the first time the spaceship flew on its own.

"It's a very big deal," Virgin president Sir Richard Branson told The Associated Press. "There are a number of big deals on the way to getting commercial space travel becoming a reality. This was a very big step. We now know that the spaceship glides. We know it can be dropped safely from the mothership and we know it can land safely. That's three big ticks."

SpaceShipTwo will make a series of additional glide flights before rocketing to space.

"The next big step will be the rocket tests actually on the spacecraft itself," Branson said. "We've obviously have done thousands of rocket tests on the ground, the next big test is in the air. We'll be doing gentle rocket tests in the air, ultimately culminating into taking the spaceship into space."

SpaceShipTwo, built by famed aircraft designer Burt Rutan, is based on a prototype that won a $10 million prize in 2004 for being the first manned private rocket to reach space.

Tickets to ride aboard SpaceShipTwo cost $200,000. Some 370 customers have plunked down deposits totaling $50 million, according to Virgin Galactic.

Commercial flights will fly out of New Mexico where a spaceport is under construction. Officials from Virgin Galactic and other dignitaries will gather at the spaceport Oct. 22 for an event commemorating the finished runway. The event will also feature a flyover by SpaceShipTwo and WhiteKnightTwo.

___

Online:

Virgin Galactic: http://www.virgingalactic.com

Russia to Launch Commercial Space Station By 2016

Associated Press [5:05am (EST) September 29, 2010]

MOSCOW – A private Russian space firm and a state-controlled spacecraft manufacturer are planning to build and operate the world's first commercial space station and expect it to launched by 2016.

Sergey Kostenko, chief executive of the Moscow-based Orbital Technologies, said in an interview with The Associated Press that the station will cater to space tourists and researchers.

Kostenko said the station will initially be equipped to host seven people but will be capable of significant expansion.

The Russian state space agency, which stands to benefit from the proposed station by leasing launching pads for service modules, says it could be used as a safety back-up for the International Space Station in emergencies.

[U.S.] Air Force to Launch Satellite to Keep Close Eye On Space Junk

Denise Chow, SPACE.com Staff Writer space.com – 4:06pm (Friday, September 24, 2010)

A new U.S. Air Force satellite built to track space junk and other spacecraft orbiting Earth is set to launch tomorrow (Sept. 25) from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

The Space-Based Space Surveillance satellite, called SBSS, is part of an evolving goal to dramatically improve awareness of space debris and other objects around our planet, Air Force officials said.

"Every day, threats to our nation's valuable satellites and space platforms are growing," said Col. J.R. Jordan, vice commander of the Space Superiority Systems Wing at the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center, in a statement. "SBSS will revolutionize our ability to find and monitor objects that could harm the space assets we depend on for security, communications, weather forecasting and many other essential services." [Worst Space Debris Moments Ever]

The 2,277-pound (1,031 kilograms) SBSS satellite system will be launched into orbit on a Minotaur 4 rocket, designed by Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corp. Liftoff is set for 9:41 p.m. PDT (12:41 a.m. Sept. 26 EDT, or 0441 GMT).

The satellite was originally scheduled to launch in Oct. 2009 but was delayed due to technical concerns with its rocket launch vehicle.

Space Junk Sentinel

There are about 500,000 known pieces of space junk orbiting around our planet. Of those, about 21,000 objects are larger than 4 inches (10.1 cm) in diameter, and are being tracked by the Department of Defense as part of the Space Surveillance Network. These are items such as spent rocket stages and broken satellites.

Space junk – even tiny pieces of it – can be dangerous because they orbit the Earth at high speeds and pose risks for impacts and collisions.

The SBSS satellite will provide data for the Air Force's Space Surveillance Network, which already keeps an eye on orbital debris. Aerospace juggernaut Boeing is responsible for the overall SBSS program management.

The Colorado-based Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. developed, designed, manufactured, integrated and tested the satellite, using the Boeing-built onboard mission data processor.

The overall cost of the SBSS program is about $858 million, Air Force officials said.

Sensors In Space

The SBSS spacecraft will be equipped with a visible sensor mounted on an agile, two-axis gimbal. This device will give ground controllers the flexibility to quickly move the camera between targets without needing to reposition the satellite itself or expend additional fuel.

"With its gimbaled camera, reprogrammable onboard processor and open-ground-system architecture, SBSS can respond quickly to today's changing mission requirements and adapt to meet tomorrow's threats as well," said Craig Cooning, vice president and general manager of Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems. "Boeing looks forward to putting these advanced capabilities into action for the Air Force."

The SBSS satellite will collect data to be used in conjunction with observations from ground-based radars and telescopes, but with one clear advantage. As the Air Force's only space-based tracker, SBSS will not be limited by weather, atmosphere or time of day.

"The SBSS team is ready to go on Sept. 25," said Todd Citron, director of the Boeing Advanced Space and Intelligence Systems. "We've thoroughly rehearsed all plans and procedures, the Satellite Operations Center has been configured for flight operations, and the SBSS satellite and Minotaur launch vehicle are completing final preparations. We're looking forward to putting this spacecraft into orbit so that it can perform its vital mission."