The ATK test facility is capable of assessing high-fidelity performance and operability features of the HPGP thruster technology, which is intended to be used for a wide range of attitude control/space maneuverability propulsion.

HPGP is a green propulsion alternative that has been flight-proven in space to provide increased performance over traditional hydrazine propulsion technology.

By comparison, HPGP is significantly safer and more cost-effective in terms of storage, material handling, transportation and launch-site processing.

"The collaboration of NASA GSFC and ATK to validate HPGP thruster technology enables the development of green propellant options, which hold promise for demonstrating higher performance, cost-effectiveness and the reduction of health and safety impacts to personnel and the environment," said Dr. Christyl Johnson, NASA GSFC Deputy Director for Technology and Research Investments.

"We are pleased to support NASA GSFC in the maturation process of the HPGP thruster technology in the U.S.," said Cary Ralston, vice president and general manager of ATK's Missile Products division. "We are dedicated to making certain our products deliver mission-assured performance, improved safety and reduced life-cycle cost."

ATK is licensed in the U.S. to sell HPGP thrusters and fuel originally developed by ECAPS, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Swedish Space Corporation (SSC). ECAPS has a long, successful track record in the areas of design, manufacturing, testing and integration of HPGP thrusters and complete liquid propulsion systems.

ATK's test facility in Elkton, Md., provides testing of existing HPGP thrusters, development testing of new HPGP thrusters and on-site propellant blending capability.

]]> Thu, 23 MAY 2013 23:04:52 AEST Edwards, CA (SPX) May 17, 2013 - Sierra Nevada Corporation's (SNC) Space Systems Dream Chaser flight vehicle arrived at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, Calif., Wednesday to begin tests of its flight and runway landing systems.

The tests are part of pre-negotiated, paid-for-performance milestones with NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP), which is facilitating U.S.-led companies' development of spacecraft and rockets that can launch from American soil. The overall goal of CCP is to achieve safe, reliable and cost-effective U.S. human access to and from the International Space Station and low-Earth orbit.

Tests at Dryden will include tow, captive-carry and free-flight tests of the Dream Chaser. A truck will tow the craft down a runway to validate performance of the nose strut, brakes and tires. The captive-carry flights will further examine the loads it will encounter during flight as it is carried by an Erickson Skycrane helicopter. The free flight later this year will test Dream Chaser's aerodynamics through landing.

Meanwhile, on the east coast, several NASA astronauts will be at the agency's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., this week to fly simulations of a Dream Chaser approach and landing to help evaluate the spacecraft's subsonic handling. The test will measure how well the spacecraft would handle in a number of different atmospheric conditions and assess its guidance and navigation performance.

"Unique public-private partnerships like the one between NASA and Sierra Nevada Corporation are creating an industry capable of building the next generation of rockets and spacecraft that will carry U.S. astronauts to the scientific proving ground of low-Earth orbit," said William Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for human exploration and operations in Washington.

"NASA centers around the country paved the way for 50 years of American human spaceflight, and they're actively working with our partners to test innovative commercial space systems that will continue to ensure American leadership in exploration and discovery."

The Dream Chaser Space System is based on Langley's Horizontal Lander HL-20 lifting body design concept. The design builds on years of analysis and wind tunnel testing by Langley engineers during the 1980s and 1990s. Langley and SNC joined forces six years ago to update the HL-20 design in the Dream Chaser orbital crew vehicle.

In those years SNC has worked with the center to refine the spacecraft design. SNC will continue to test models in Langley wind tunnels. Langley researchers also helped develop a cockpit simulator at SNC's facility in Louisville, Colo., and the flight simulations being assessed at the center.

NASA is partnered with SNC, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) and The Boeing Company to meet CCP milestones for integrated crew transportation systems under the Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) initiative. Advances made by these companies under their funded Space Act Agreements ultimately are intended to lead to the availability of commercial human spaceflight services for government and commercial companies.

While NASA works with U.S. industry partners to develop commercial spaceflight capabilities, the agency also is developing the Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System (SLS), a crew capsule and heavy-lift rocket to provide an entirely new capability for human exploration.

Designed to be flexible for launching spacecraft for crew and cargo missions, SLS and Orion will expand human presence beyond low-Earth orbit and enable new missions of exploration in the solar system.

]]> Thu, 23 MAY 2013 23:04:52 AEST Stennis Space Center MS (SPX) May 17, 2013 - Engineers install J-2X engine E10002 in the A-1 test stand at NASA's Stennis Space Center. The installation is in preparation for a new series of tests, where the engine will be gimbaled, or pivoted, during test firings.

Gimbal tests are an important part of the design process. When this upper stage engine is used in space, it will need to be able to move freely to steer NASA's Space Launch System, or SLS - an advanced heavy-lift launch vehicle that will provide an entirely new national capability for human exploration beyond Earth's orbit.

This is the first full engine to be installed in the A-1 test stand in almost a decade and the first time gimbal tests will be performed since testing on the space shuttle main engines.

A series of tests was completed on the E10002 engine in the A-2 test stand prior to its installation on the A-1 test stand at Stennis. Once this series of tests is complete, the engine will be removed, and preparations will be made to begin testing the RS-25 engine on the A-1 stand in 2014.

RS-25 engines from the Space shuttle inventory will power the core stage of SLS, while the J-2X engine will power the upper stage of the evolved launch vehicle. The SLS Program is managed at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. The J-2X engine is being built by Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne.

]]> Thu, 23 MAY 2013 23:04:52 AEST Singapore (AFP) May 13, 2013 - British billionaire Richard Branson said Monday that rocket-powered space tourism flights by his firm Virgin Galactic would have only a minor impact on climate change.

More than 500 people have already reserved seats -- and paid deposits on the $200,000 ticket price -- for a minutes-long suborbital flight on the SpaceShipTwo (SS2) set to begin by the end of this year.

"We have reduced the (carbon emission) cost of somebody going into space from something like two weeks of New York's electricity supply... to less than the cost of a economy round-trip from Singapore to London," Branson told reporters in Singapore.

The founder of the diversified Virgin group was in the Southeast Asian city-state to attend a summit organised by the Carbon War Room, an environmental charity organisation he founded in 2009.

"New technology can dramatically reduce the carbon output and that is the challenge we have set ourselves," added Branson.

The SS2's lightweight carbon-fibre body will also "reduce fuel burn dramatically", he said.

The SS2, with two pilots, is designed to be launched by a transport plane called White KnightTwo and will be guided by a rocket motor before gliding back to Earth.

Branson, whose Virgin group includes airlines Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Australia, said the aviation industry could do more to cut its carbon output and shift to cleaner fuels.

Rising carbon emissions caused by industry, transport and deforestation have been blamed for global warming.

"If you have clean fuels, you got a competitor to the dirty fuels and you could hopefully reduce the cost of the fuel, which means you can reduce the price of the ticket," he said.

Branson's Virgin Group and Virgin Green Fund last October announced plans to form a $200 million emerging markets fund with Russia's Rosnano Capital to invest in innovations and green technologies.

The Carbon War Room, which he founded with other global entrepreneurs, aims to enpower industries to find market-based incentives to reduce carbon emissions.

]]> Thu, 23 MAY 2013 23:04:52 AEST Edwards AFB CA (SPX) May 09, 2013 - X-51A WaveRider unmanned hypersonic vehicle achieved the longest air-breathing, scramjet-powered hypersonic flight in history May 1, flying for three and a half minutes on scramjet power at a top speed of Mach 5.1. The vehicle flew for a total time of more than six minutes.

"This demonstration of a practical hypersonic scramjet engine is a historic achievement that has been years in the making," said Darryl Davis, president, Boeing Phantom Works.

"This test proves the technology has matured to the point that it opens the door to practical applications, such as advanced defense systems and more cost-effective access to space."

A U.S. Air Force B-52H Stratofortress from Edwards Air Force Base released the X-51A from 50,000 feet above the Point Mugu Naval Air Warfare Center Sea Range at 10:55 a.m. Pacific time. After the B-52 released the X-51A, a solid rocket booster accelerated the vehicle to about Mach 4.8 before the booster and a connecting interstage were jettisoned.

The vehicle reached Mach 5.1 powered by its supersonic combustion scramjet engine, which burned all its JP-7 jet fuel. The X-51A made a controlled dive into the Pacific Ocean at the conclusion of its mission. The test fulfilled all mission objectives.

The flight was the fourth X-51A test flight completed for the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory. It exceeded the previous record set by the program in 2010.

The X-51A program is a collaborative effort of the Air Force Research Laboratory and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, with industry partners Boeing and Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne. Boeing performed program management, design and integration in Huntington Beach, Calif.

]]> Thu, 23 MAY 2013 23:04:52 AEST Arlington VA (SPX) May 08, 2013 - In 2015, NASA, for the first time, will fly a space mission utilizing a radically different propellant-one which has reduced toxicity and is environmentally benign. This energetic ionic liquid, or EIL, is quite different from the historically employed hydrazine-based propellant, which was first used as a rocket fuel during World War II for the Messerschmitt Me 163B (the first rocket-powered fighter plane).

Within the U.S. space program, hydrazine was used on the 1970s Viking Mars program, and more recently in the Phoenix lander and Curiosity rover Mars missions, as well as in the Space Shuttle's auxiliary power units.

Significantly, monopropellant hydrazine-fueled rocket engines are the norm in controlling the terminal descent of spacecraft. What makes hydrazine desirable as a propellant for this terminal descent role is that when combined with various catalysts, the result is an extremely exothermic reaction that releases significant heat in a very short time, producing energy in the form of large volumes of hot gas from a relatively small volume of hydrazine liquid.

Unfortunately, hydrazine has several significant drawbacks: it is very toxic when inhaled, corrosive on contact with skin, hazardously flammable, and falls short in providing the propulsive power required for future spacecraft systems.

In 1998, driven by these challenges, Dr. Michael Berman, a Program Manager at the Arlington, Virginia-based Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), the basic research arm of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), funded Dr. Tom Hawkins of the Propellants Branch, Rocket Propulsion Division at AFRL's Aerospace Systems Directorate, to find a more benign, yet even more powerful material to replace hydrazine.

This research effort was ultimately associated with a joint government and industry development program, the Integrated High Payoff Rocket Propulsion Technology (IHPRPT) initiative, to improve U.S.

rocket propulsion systems. IHPRPT challenged the Department of Defense, the National Air and Space Administration, and the rocket propulsion industry to double U.S. rocket propulsion capability (cost and performance) by 2010. Beginning in 1996, this IHPRPT challenge meant the development of propellants that would provide far greater energy density than current state-of-the-art propellants.

Dr. Hawkins' interest in EILs began early on in his career beginning at Lehigh University when he worked on advanced propellants for the Strategic Defense Initiative in the 1980s.

Knowing the untapped potential of ionic liquids to provide high energy density materials, he embarked on an effort to design and characterize the EIL family. This effort was funded by AFOSR and continues to the present day.

But it was in 2002 that Dr. Hawkins, "...thought we were on the right track when we produced an ionic liquid monopropellant that incorporated an EIL that was investigated under our AFOSR program. This propellant class, known as AF-M315, has an energy density close to twice that of the state-of-the-art spacecraft monopropellant, hydrazine."

With additional support from the IHPRPT program, the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and related USAF missile programs, a full characterization of one of these new propellants, AF-M315E, was investigated for its overall safety and hazard properties.

According to Dr. Hawkins, these safety properties, coupled with the performance of AF-M315E, were "...absolutely outstanding; we found the oral toxicity of AF-M315E to be less than that of caffeine, and its vapor toxicity to be negligible. The vapor flammability of AF-M315E was essentially nil, and this made it difficult to unexpectedly ignite and sustain combustion of AF-M315E-one could even put out small fires with the propellant!"

In 2005 NASA took a keen interest in this very promising alternative to hydrazine and performed further evaluations. Follow on work performed by Aerojet, Inc. brought AF-M315E engine design to a level that was very attractive for a technology transition to the commercial sector.

But for that to occur, it was necessary to find a champion to sponsor the flight demonstration that would make AF-M315E spacecraft propulsion an 'off-the-shelf' choice for future propulsion systems.

NASA became that champion in 2012 with their selection of Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corporation as the lead integrator for the Green Propellant Infusion Mission-a $45 million program that will produce new AF-M315E- based thrusters for NASA's 2015 spacecraft mission. Additional program team members consist of the Air force Research Laboratory, Aerojet, Inc., the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center and the NASA/Glenn Research Center.

The field of energetic ionic liquids is the product of AFOSR-sponsored research at AFRL that is changing the landscape of work in the energetic materials community.

According to Dr. Hawkins: "The AFOSR- funded program provided the synthesis and characterization work for an EIL that enabled the experimental USAF fuel, AF-M315E, to act as a high-energy density, environmentally benign, easy-to-handle replacement for spacecraft hydrazine fuel."

Hawkins also noted that twenty years is a well-recognized time period for producing such a revolutionary propellant approach and propulsion system due to the fact that the EIL approach to liquid propulsion is completely different than that of hydrazine, and, most significantly, the performance potentials of EIL-based propellants are not small incremental improvements, but significantly larger than any state-of-the-art propellant.

As EIL-based propellants are developed, they will provide lower cost and safer propulsion system operations along with greater mission flexibility and faster mission response times.

]]> Thu, 23 MAY 2013 23:04:52 AEST Oxnard, Calif. (UPI) May 3, 2013 - The final flight of the X-51A Waverider test program saw the scramjet aircraft reach Mach 5.1 over the Pacific Ocean, the U.S. Air Force said Friday.

The unmanned hypersonic researcher craft traveled more than 230 nautical miles in just over 6 minutes Wednesday over the Point Mugu Naval Air Warfare Center Sea Range off California before crashing into the ocean as intended, an Air Force release said.

The X-51A took off from Edwards Air Force Base in California under the wing of a B-52H Stratofortress before being released at about 50,000 feet.

A solid rocket booster took the X-51A to about Mach 4.8 at which point the craft's scramjet engine ignited and accelerated it to Mach 5.1 -- about 3,880 miles per hour -- at 60,000 feet.

Scramjet stands for supersonic combustion ram jet, which has no moving parts; fuel is mixed with air rushing into the combustion chamber at supersonic speeds and then ignited.

"It was a full mission success," Charlie Brink, X-51A program manager for the Air Force Research Laboratory, said in a statement. "I believe all we have learned from the X-51A Waverider will serve as the bedrock for future hypersonics research and ultimately the practical application of hypersonic flight."

]]> Thu, 23 MAY 2013 23:04:52 AEST Sparks NV (SPX) May 01, 2013 - Sierra Nevada Corporation's (SNC) Space Systems is proud to announce that its Hybrid Rocket Motor propelled Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo (SS2) sub-orbital vehicle on its first ever powered flight. SNC's hybrid propulsion system is the largest hybrid ever used for space vehicle propulsion.

SNC manufactures two major subsystems on the SpaceShipTwo vehicle including the main oxidizer valve and the hybrid rocket motor, plus nitrous oxide dump system and nitrous oxide pressurization system control valves.

Upon reaching 47,000 feet altitude and approximately 45 minutes into the flight, SS2 was released from the WhiteKnightTwo carrier plane. After cross-checking data and verifying stable control, the pilots triggered ignition of the rocket motor, causing the main oxidizer valve to open and igniters to fire within the fuel case.

At this point, SS2 was propelled forward and upward to a maximum altitude of 55,000 feet. The entire engine burn lasted 16 seconds, as planned. During this time, SS2 went supersonic, achieving Mach 1.2.

"The rocket motor ignition went as planned, with the expected burn duration, good engine performance and solid vehicle handling qualities throughout," said Virgin Galactic president and CEO George Whitesides.

"The successful outcome of this test marks a pivotal point for our program. We will now embark on a handful of similar powered flight tests, and then make our first test flight to space."

SNC's hybrid rocket systems offer a safe, high performing, and non-toxic alternative to solid and hydrazine liquid propulsion systems. As the rocket motor fuel is industrial rubber, there are no special handling or transportation requirements, thereby greatly reducing the lifecycle cost to our customers.

"I am enormously proud of our team and motor, thrilled to be part of space history, thankful to be in a country where such entrepreneurship is possible and humbled to be part of the dawn of the next era of flight," said Mark Sirangelo, head of SNC's Space Systems.

"This first powered flight test marks a historic day on the path to commercial passenger space flight. SNC's Space Systems is proud to be a part of that success and proves that SNC's safe, non-toxic hybrid propulsion systems can be scaled to meet the needs of many applications," said Michael Borck, SNC's director of programs.

The hybrid rocket motor and the oxidizer valve system are produced in SNC's high rate manufacturing facility located in Poway, Calif., in conjunction with Scaled Composites of Mojave, Cali. This location is currently producing motors for both SpaceShipTwo and SNC's own Dream Chaser orbital crew vehicle.

]]> Thu, 23 MAY 2013 23:04:52 AEST Washington DC (SPX) May 01, 2013 - Engineers developing NASA's next-generation rocket closed one chapter of testing with the completion of a J-2X engine test series on the A-2 test stand at the agency's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi and will begin a new chapter of full motion testing on test stand A-1.

The J-2X will drive the second stage of the 143-ton (130-metric ton) heavy-lift version of the Space Launch System (SLS). The rocket will provide an entirely new capability for human exploration and send humans in NASA's Orion spacecraft into deep space.

J-2X engine 10002 was fired for the last time on the A-2 test stand at Stennis on April 17. This engine set a duration record for J-2X engine firings at Stennis' A-2 test stand on April 4 when it fired for 570 seconds, beating the previous mark set less than a month earlier on March 7, when the same engine ran for 560 seconds.

This is the second J-2X engine Stennis has test fired. Last year, test conductors put the first developmental J-2X engine, called 10001, through its paces. According to J-2X managers, both performed extremely well.

When the engine is eventually used in space, it will need to be able to move to help steer the rocket.

"The A-1 is designed to allow us to gimbal, or pivot, the J-2X during a live firing and test the range of motion for the engine's flexible parts," said Gary Benton, manager of the J-2X test project at Stennis. "This type of testing hasn't been performed since the space shuttle main engines were tested on the stand."

Those space shuttle main engines, also called RS-25s, will make a return to the test stand in 2014. A collection of RS-25 engines, which were used to launch 135 space shuttle missions, will be rated to operate at a higher power level and used to launch the core stage of the SLS.

"While we will get valuable data on the engine from the firing and gimbaling of the J-2X, we're also re-testing the function of the A-1 stand," said Mike Kynard, manager of the SLS Liquid Engines Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., where the SLS Program is managed. "Using A-1 to work on the J-2X gives us a great opportunity to ensure the stand will be capable and ready to test the RS-25s."

The March 7 test, which set the short-lived duration record, was remarkable for another reason in that it marked the first time a 3-D printed part was hot-fire tested on a NASA engine system.

The prime contractor for the liquid engine, Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne of Canoga Park, Calif., built a maintenance port cover for the 10002 engine using an advanced manufacturing process called Selective Laser Melting. This construction method uses lasers to fuse metal dust into a specific pattern to build the needed part.

"This demonstrates affordable manufacturing in a revolutionary way," Kynard said.

"The maintenance port cover built with Selective Laser Melting cost only 35 percent of the cost to make the same part using traditional methods. It performed well enough that we have started building other rocket engine parts using this advanced process, which takes days instead of months. It is a significant savings and one that we'll take advantage of when we build engine parts in the future."

The SLS will first launch during Exploration Mission-1 in 2017, a flight test that will send an uncrewed Orion spacecraft around the moon.

]]> Thu, 23 MAY 2013 23:04:52 AEST Stennis Space Center MS (SPX) May 01, 2013 - Before NASA's new Space Launch System (SLS) flies to space on its inaugural mission in 2017, it will fly in place at the agency's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.

The B-2 Test Stand at Stennis, originally built to test Saturn rocket stages that propelled humans to the moon, is being completely renovated to test the SLS core stage in late 2016 and early 2017. The SLS stage, with four RS-25 rocket engines, will be installed on the stand for propellant fill and drain testing and two hot fire tests.

"These tests will help us understand how the spacecraft and engines behave and provide critical information for ensuring mission safety," said Rick Rauch, manager of the B-2 Test Stand Restoration, Buildout and Test Project. "After all, if there are problems, it's better to address them on the ground than in the air."

NASA is developing the SLS to send humans deeper into space than ever before - to places like an asteroid and Mars. The SLS will launch NASA's Orion spacecraft and other payloads from the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The SLS program is managed at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. The first test flight of SLS will be in 2017. The rocket will send an uncrewed Orion spacecraft around the moon.

Stennis engineers were asked early in the SLS development process to determine the cost of restoring the B-2 stand to the condition needed for green run testing of the spacecraft's core stage.

A green run is the first time the engines are assembled into a single configuration with the core stage and fired at nearly full-power. This will test the compatibility and functionality of the system to ensure a safe and viable design.

The team spent 18 months conducting structural, mechanical and electrical system evaluations to assess the work needed since Apollo- and space shuttle-era testing.

Once the decision was made to proceed with core stage testing, Stennis engineers began converting original hand-drawn facility blueprints into computer models so design work could be completed. The actual renovation work was divided into three phases: restoration, buildout and special test equipment.

"In the first phase, we are restoring the test facility to its original design condition, where it could be used to test any number of stages," Rauch explained.

"In the second phase, we will focus on building out the stand specifically to accommodate the SLS core stage. Then, in the third phase, we will complete the structural, mechanical and electrical interfaces required to test the core stage."

Each phase involves assessment, design and contractor support. In the end, no area of the stand will be left untouched, including all structural areas, as well as supporting mechanical, electrical and piping systems. The fundamental design of the stand will not be changed since it originally was built to test rocket stages.

However, the SLS stage is different from the Saturn stages and the space shuttle main propulsion test article installed and fired on the stand in earlier years. It is taller, standing 212 feet.

To lift the stage into place, the derrick crane atop the stand must be extended 50 feet. The stand's weight and thrust takeout structures also must be modified, and a higher support frame must be erected. The process will involve repositioning an existing 1.2 million pound frame about 20 feet and building a new 100-foot-tall superstructure atop it.

"The teams at the Stennis Space Center are doing a great job preparing the B-2 facility," said John Rector, SLS Stages Green Run test manager at Marshall.

"We're on track to begin testing there in 2016. It's an exciting time for NASA as we establish a new national capability for future space exploration."

Demolition work began on several test stand levels late last summer. Structural restoration has begun. Work is to be completed in time for delivery of the SLS core stage in 2016, with installation and testing to follow.

]]> Thu, 23 MAY 2013 23:04:52 AEST Subscribe to our daily selection of space, military, environment and energy newsletters responseText http://visitor.constantcontact.com/manage/optin/ea?v=0016gbbKsaiGSpQFojVO8ZoHw%3D%3D