Highlights Of The NASA FY 2007 Budget Request

NASA's proposed fiscal year 2007 budget calls for a total of $16.8 billion in funding, or a 3.2 percent increase over last year's request. Major budget line items of the proposal are viewable at this link.

The Space Review: Backgrounder: SpaceX making history by Sam Dinkin

SpaceX was founded in June 2002 by Elon Musk, co-founder of PayPal, the world’s leading electronic payment system. He created SpaceX to help make humanity a space faring civilization.

SpaceX does not rely on decades-old space proven products or even the veteran aerospace testing firms, instead building new components and testing them in house. SpaceX’s control systems are based on modern technologies that are off the shelf such as an ethernet network to run its avionics systems.

The Space Review: United States Space Force: sooner rather than later by Taylor Dinerman

It’s time to admit that the 2001 decision—in keeping with the recommendations of the second Rumsfeld commission—that made the Air Force the “Executive Agent for Space” has just not worked: not due to any malfeasance or corruption or lack of good will, but simply because the USAF has other priorities.

The Space Review: Military space systems: the road ahead by Matthew Hoey

In recent years military space contracts have been an “oligopoly” of the “Big 6” in the US defense industry: Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, General Dynamics (Spectrum Astro), and Orbital Sciences, which is slowly becoming a leading provider of space systems alongside the other five. These companies are listed by economic dominance over the past 12 months. Satellites developed by these companies typically range in size from 500 to 10,000 kilograms and in price from $25 million to $1 billion. Big companies, big satellites, and big price tags.

The Space Review: The third shoe by Wayne Eleazer

The FY 2006 Department of Defense budget slashed funding for a number of military space programs. According to Aviation Week, the Transformational Satellite (TSAT) communications system was cut by $400 million, the Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) High was cut by $50 million, and the Space Radar Program lost $125.8 million. All together, that is a cut of over $575 million; as the late Senator Everett F. Dirksen might have said, at this rate pretty soon we are going to be talking about some real money.

The Other Unlifelike Earth

Clues to finding current or past life on Mars now or at some point in the past begins with an examination of Earth's most extreme environments and the adaptable microscopic life that thrives there, according to a group of researchers launched an international broadcast science expedition January 30, 2006 with The JASON Project.

By investigating "unlifelike" places on Earth where conditions would kill most creatures, scientists can determine the kind of energy and nutrients that may be available to microbial life found under similar conditions beneath the surface of Mars. Extreme environments on Earth that serve as Mars analogs -- or models -- include places that reach the outer limits of hot or cold, are arid or have ultra-high or -low pH.

Spacehab Files Court Complaint For Losses On Space Shuttle Mission

Spacehab is filing a civil complaint against NASA with the United States District Court in Houston for loss and damages suffered during the Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy in February 2003.

Under the FTCA, Spacehab claims that NASA's actions and omissions led to the space shuttle disaster and the destruction of the Company's flight assets. The complaint identifies the tragedy as a foreseeable consequence of NASA's negligence as documented in the Columbia Accident Investigation Board report, which represents the findings of the post-accident investigation

Despite Risks And Pitfalls Entrepreneurs Explore The Final Frontier

Since the launch of Sputnik in 1957, space has overwhelmingly been the preserve of the state, either directly through national agencies, or indirectly, through fat contracts handed to corporations to design and build launch vehicles, satellites and spacraft.

But in the last couple of years, undaunted by the risks and helped by lower entry costs, private entrepreneurs have pluckily started to shoulder their way in. The latest step will take at 0030 GMT on Thursday, when Falcon 1, funded entirely by private capital, is scheduled to lift off from a US military base at Kwajalein, in the Marshall Islands.

The company behind the venture is Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX), a startup based in El Segundo, California, whose declared goal is to boost the cost and reliability of access to space "ultimately by a factor of 10".

Many other entrepreneurs are working on their own space vision - read the full article for more info!

NASA Honors A Legendary Astronaut

On February 20, 1962, John H. Glenn, Jr., became the first American to orbit Earth. On the 44th anniversary of his historic mission, NASA will present Glenn with an Ambassador of Exploration Award in honor of this achievement.

SPACE.com -- Kepler and Mars

Kepler's discovery was based on observational data. Basing his work on Copernicus' then-revolutionary theory that displaced Earth from the center of the solar system (and the universe, too), Kepler's calculations added mathematical credibility to Copernicus' idea that the Sun was actually at the center (actually, at one of the two foci of the ellipse) with Earth and the other planets revolving around it.

New Viewing Technique Bolsters Case For Life On Mars

New examinations of a Martian meteorite found nearly a century ago have strengthened the possibility that the red planet once harbored life...

Peeking Behind The Veil Of Venus

The planet Venus is best known for the thick layers of clouds that veil its surface from view by telescopes on Earth. But the veil has holes, and a New Mexico State University scientist plans on using a solar telescope to peer through them to study the weather on Venus.

SPACE.com -- Fun in Space: Astronauts Bring Antics Down to Earth

Armed with a video camera and sense of humor, the commander of the International Space Station (ISS) is working hard to show students on Earth the ins and outs of orbital life.

“If you think this is really fun, you’re absolutely correct,” McArthur said this week while narrating a video tour of the space station that he had recorded earlier. “The nice thing is, if you decide it’s easier to travel on the ceiling…well, have at it.”

SuitSat Audio Recordings and Updates - AJ3U.com

Some Suitsat Audio!

The Space Review: Will rocket racing help us get into orbit?

Last Monday in New York, the Rocket Racing League (RRL) introduced the first of what they expect will be ten teams of rocket pilots who will be racing a new version of XCOR’s EZ-Rocket, with a more powerful rocket engine fueled by LOX and kerosene, sometime in 2007. This exhaust from this engine will produce a visually stunning six-meter-long yellow flame that should provide quite a show. If all goes as planned, the first Mark-1 X-Racer is now being built by Velocity Aircraft in Florida and will make its debut sometime this autumn.

Planet X Found To Be Larger Than Pluto

German astrophysicists have measured the planetary body called UB313, that orbits beyond Pluto, and have found it is the bigger of the two. By measuring its thermal emission, the scientists were able to determine its diameter is about 3000 kilometers, or about 700 km larger than Pluto.

Mars has a big watery past -- and present, too

The European spacecraft Mars Express has added powerful evidence to the belief that water once covered Mars and large reserves of precious ice lurk close to the surface today, studies presented on Wednesday said.

The find is "nearly pure, cold water ice," with only two percent contamination by dust. Beneath these deposits are large amounts of sand that is probably "cemented" with water ice.

Deep Impact Team Reports First Evidence Of Cometary Ice

Researchers examining data returned by NASA's Deep Impact mission have discovered that Comet Tempel 1 is covered with a small amount of water ice. The results, reported in an advance online edition of the journal Science, offer the first definitive evidence of surface ice on any comet.

NASA's Inspector General Probed

An FBI-led watchdog agency has opened an investigation into multiple complaints accusing NASA Inspector General Robert W. Cobb of failing to investigate safety violations and retaliating against whistle-blowers...

The complaints describe efforts by Cobb to shut down or ignore investigations on issues such as a malfunctioning self-destruct procedure during a space shuttle launch at the Kennedy Space Center, and the theft of an estimated $1.9 billion worth of data on rocket engines from NASA computers...