The Space Review

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The Space Review jest tygodnikiem kosmicznym założonym przez Jeffa Fousta po katastrofie Columbii. Od tamtego czasu ukazało się już 3957 artykułów i recenzji. Co tydzień publikowanych jest 5 tekstów. Założyciel internetowego tygodnika swoje credo przedstawił we wstępnym artykule.
Crew Dragon jest jedną z odpowiedzi na utratę załogi 17 lat temu i pierwszy jego lot załogowy zbiega się z zainicjowaniem cyklicznego zaistnienia TSR na Forum.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Space_Review

https://www.thespacereview.com/archive.html

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001 02.2003 (2)
002 03.2003
003 04.2003
004 05.2003
005 06.2003

006 07.2003

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204 01.2020 (4)
205 02.2020 (4)
206 03.2020 (5)
207 04.2020 (4)

208 05.2020 (4)
209 06.2020 (5)
210 07.2020 (4)
211 08.2020 (4)
212 09.2020 (4)
213 10.2020 (4)
214 11.2020 (5)
215 12.2020 (3)

[Orionid]

Time to ask the big questions
Is Columbia the most tragic example of the failure of the space exploration paradigm?
by Jeff Foust Tuesday, February 11, 2003

Anyone with more than a passing knowledge of the history of space has a few dates etched into their brains: October 4, 1957; April 12, 1961; July 20, 1969. Also there, sadly, are January 27, 1967; January 28, 1986, and now, February 1, 2003. The Space Age has given us its share of triumphs and tragedies, and while the tragedies are relatively modest when put into a global perspective — 21 deaths in just under 42 years of human spaceflight — it makes them no less painful.

Despite these tragedies, the US space program has forged ahead. After Apollo 1 NASA quickly worked to determine the cause of the accident, fix that and other problems with the Apollo spacecraft, and was flying again in time land on the Moon before 1970, as President Kennedy had asked. The interregnum after Challenger was longer — there was no space race with the Soviets then — but in time a revamped shuttle fleet was flying again. In both cases there was broad public support for maintaining a slightly modified status quo.

Today, there has been a desire expressed by many people inside and outside of NASA to quickly determine what happened to Columbia, fix the problem, and start flying again. Even if there wasn’t pressure to get the shuttle flying again so that it can support the International Space Station, this desire is an understandable one, even a noble one: a refusal to give up in the face of adversity, just as in the case with past tragedies. As the saying goes, if you get thrown off a horse, you need to get right back on it — presumably, after figuring out why you got thrown off in the first place.

The danger in this approach is that this gives NASA, or the space community in general, little time to reflect on the current state of space exploration and development. The situation in 2003 is different than 1967, when the space program’s goals were clear cut, or even 1986. Even before the Columbia tragedy, it was clear that the space activities in general worldwide — commercial, civil government, and military — were dysfunctional, if not downright broken. Space access, both manned and unmanned, is still too expensive to support more than a few applications. The reliability of space transportation is also a problem, from numerous launch delays to catastrophic failures, such as the recent failures of a Proton/Block DM and an Ariane 5 ECA. There are too many launch vehicles chasing too few payloads, with, paradoxically, even more expendable vehicles under development. Human space flight relies today on only two vehicles: the Space Shuttle, an expensive vehicle that has now suffered two catastrophic failures in 113 flights; and Russia’s Soyuz, which is chronically underfunded. This puts at risk the tens of billions of dollars invested to date in the International Space Station, a project years behind schedule that has yet to live up to even basic expectations.

Space transportation is not the only focus of problems. The commercial space industry is suffering from an overall glut of supply: from launch vehicles to satellite manufacturers to on-orbit communications capacity. The remote sensing business has failed to materialize, and many of the existing companies are now heavily reliant on government business for their survival. The failures of several satellite communications ventures garnered enough publicity that “Iridium” became synonymous in the business world for any hugely expensive failure.

Government space programs are no better than their commercial brethren. While much has been said about NASA’s continual battles for more funding, it is in far better shape than other programs around the world, which must either beg for a tiny fraction of NASA’s budget or, particularly in ESA’s case, endure internecine battles among its member nations regarding even modest programs. While these agencies are pursuing a number of excellent projects, none of them have the goals or the vision to capture the interest and enthusiasm of the general public. Those proposals that seem to have the best prospects of resonating with the general public — notably, human exploration of Mars — are considered either too expensive or too far in the future to be officially adopted by these agencies.

All of these issues are symptoms of fundamental problems with how we approach space today. Many of these problems are rooted in decisions made years, if not decades, ago. Exploring these decisions can be useful, if only to best understand the process that led to those decisions. However, we are forced to cope with the consequences of those past decisions today. If this is the best we can do to explore and develop the final frontier, we may be stuck on Earth for the foreseeable future.

As stated above, there is a temptation to quickly patch the problem that caused the loss of Columbia and press on. Yet it’s clear that the way we approach space today is filled with problems and pitfalls; Columbia is not the only evidence of this, merely the most visible and the most unfortunate. Rather than get right back on that horse, perhaps its time to ask some more fundamental questions. How fast should we be riding? Where should we be going? And should we even be riding a horse?

That is what The Space Review is about: exploring the fundamental issues and the fundamental problems related to the exploration and development of space. The Space Review is not another news publication — there are already plenty of those available online — but instead an online magazine devoted to the past, present, and future of space exploration. In particular, there will be an emphasis on where we should go from here: the goals organizations should set in space, the destinations we should explore, the technologies we need to make it happen, the policies that help or hinder us, and so on.

What should you do, gentle reader? First of all, please come by every week and check out our latest articles: we plan to publish from one to three articles a week, ranging from in-depth studies of specific topics to short essays and book reviews. Give us feedback, about both the articles and the site: everything here is currently “in beta”, to borrow the jargon of the software industry, so your suggestions can be easily incorporated into the site in the coming weeks. If you have an article or essay you’d like to contribute to the site, please send an email to jeff@thespacereview.com. Oh, yes: be sure to tell your friends and colleagues about us too.

It is my hope that The Space Review can become an effective forum for discussing and debating our future in space. Recent events have made it as clear as ever that if we are truly interested in exploring and developing space, we need to reexamine why and how to best do it. We owe that to the crew of the Columbia and the others who have paid the ultimate price in the exploration of the final frontier.
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/1/1
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/1/2

[Orionid]

2/II 2003 [2-3]

2) Columbia lost, but not a nation
by S. Alan Stern Monday, February 17, 2003


The Earth and crescent moon photographed during the STS-107 shuttle mission. (credit: NASA)

The sudden and sad demise of the space shuttle Columbia and her crew on the frontier of space this month provided a sharp reminder of the risks of spaceflight. Simultaneously, the heartfelt national reaction to the accident reminded us of the intimate connection that Americans have with frontiers in general, and space exploration in particular.
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/2/1

3) Main engine cutoff
by Jeff Foust Monday, February 17, 2003

Is the American rocket propulsion industry in danger of extinction?


A Rocketdyne XRS-2200 engine, developed for the X-33, runs during a test firing at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in mid-2001. (credit: NASA)

It has been commonplace in recent years to talk about the problems facing the launch industry as if the industry was a monolithic entity. While the launch industry in general does face serious problems, it is not monolithic. Launch vehicles are made of a variety of components, which in many cases are provided by subcontractors. The health of each of those segments of the industry is critical to the future of the overall launch industry. Some segments of the industry, as it turns out, may be hurting more than others.
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/3/1

3/II 2003 [4-5]

4) A “Grand Challenge” for NASA
by Jeff Foust Monday, February 24, 2003


As NASA moves beyond spacecraft like Mars Exploration Rover (above), the agency will need to invest in autonomous navigation and other technologies. (credit: NASA)

It’s unusual for a story about a road race from Los Angeles to Las Vegas to make the front page of the Los Angeles Times, unless there’s great tragedy—and/or famous celebrities—involved. Yet there it was, in the bottom-left corner of the front page of the Times’ Friday, February 21 issue: a story about a vehicle race between the two cities that is not scheduled to take place for over a year.
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4/1

5) The Mars train wreck
by Donald F. Robertson Monday, February 24, 2003


In their search for evidence of life, could future astronauts on Mars do more harm than good? (credit: Pat Rawlings/SAIC for NASA)

Before it even gets underway, human Mars exploration is headed for a political train wreck. The likelihood of trouble is so great that advocates for human exploration of the Solar System probably should look elsewhere—toward a return to Earth’s Moon or asteroid mining expeditions. The problem is life, especially if we find it, but even if we don’t.
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/5/1

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4/III 2003 [6-7]

6) The silver lining that is the Space Age
by Larry Klaes Monday, March 3, 2003


The SPACEHAB research module in Columbia’s cargo bay was home to dozens of experiments. (credit: NASA)

When one contemplates the tragic loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia and its crew of seven astronauts, it is often hard for many of us to separate our emotions from the reasons why we send human beings into space and why those people willingly accept these daring and dangerous missions into a realm that can quickly end life from only a few missteps.
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/6/1

7) Columbia and the media: a one-month report card
by Jeff Foust Monday, March 3, 2003

How have the print and electronic media handled the Columbia tragedy?


NASA administrator Sean O’Keefe has been at the center of the media coverage surrounding the Columbia investigation. (credit: NASA)

The month of February 2003 will not be remembered fondly by most people. A plane crash in Iran killed over 270 people. A subway fire in South Korea killed more than 130. In Chicago, 21 people died trying to escape a nightclub, while a few days later nearly 100 perished in a Rhode Island nightclub blaze. A powerful winter storm dumped over half a meter of snow from Washington DC to Boston, while another deposited a glaze of ice in the south-central US. Terrorist alerts prompted runs on plastic sheeting and duct tape throughout America, as the drums of war beat ever louder in Iraq and North Korea became an increasingly-worrisome nuclear wild card.
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/7/1
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/7/2

5/III 2003 [8]

8 ) Space entrepreneurship, buy the book
by Jeff Foust Monday, March 10, 2003


The rollout of Rotary Rocket's Roton ATV prototype in March 1999. (credit: Rotary Rocket Company)

They All Laughed at Christopher Columbus: An Incurable Dreamer Builds the First Civilian Spaceship
By Elizabeth Weil
Bantam Books, 2002
Hardcover, 230 pp.
ISBN 0-553-10886-7
US$24.95/C$37.95
https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0553108867/spaceviews

Making Space Happen: Private Space Ventures and the Visionaries Behind Them
By Paula Berinstein
Medford Press, 2002
Softcover, 490pp.
ISBN 0-9666748-3-9
US$24.95/C$37.95
https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0966674839/spaceviews

The late 1990s have become synonymous with the “dot-com” era, when many tens of billions of dollars in venture capital were poured into thousands of startup companies, each promising to use the Internet in general, and the Web in particular, to generate bounties of riches in vast assortment of ways. What most of these companies lacked, though, were valid business plans that showed how those investments would generate revenues and, eventually, profits. Instead, dot-com startups used bizarre currencies of mindshare, eyeballs, and stickiness. When the stream of VC funding tried up at the turn of the century, the startups realized how worthless their currencies were; most are now defunct.
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/8/1

6/III 2003 [9-10]

9) The dangers of “creeping determinism”
by Jeff Foust Monday, March 17, 2003


Debris recovered from the space shuttle Columbia is stored in a hangar at the Kennedy Space Center for analysis. (credit: NASA/KSC)

It seems so obvious now, many people observing the Columbia investigation are saying. Foam from the external tank hit the leading edge of the left wing during launch, causing one of the reinforced carbon-carbon tiles there to either fall off or become so damaged it could not prevent hot plasma from getting through 16 days later during reentry. That damage eventually led to the structural failure of the wing and the loss of the orbiter. The images, the paper trail of memos and emails, all seem to show concern among engineers that such an incident during the launch could have caused an accident just like the one that befell Columbia on February 1.
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/9/1

10) The launch industry depression: when will it end?
by Jeff Foust Monday, March 17, 2003


A Boeing Delta 4 Medium lifts off from Cape Canaveral on March 10. (credit: Boeing)

Unless you’ve been living in blissful ignorance the last few years, you’re probably painfully aware of the problems the commercial launch industry has been facing. The boom in launch demand in the late 1990s, primarily by geosynchronous (GSO) and nongeosynchronous (NGSO) communications satellites, has gone bust, undone by overcapacity from existing GSO satellites and the stunning business failures of companies like Iridium and Globalstar. The launch vehicle companies, trapped in a cycle of price wars in an effort to capture the few customers available today, are losing money and looking to governments to keep them alive.
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/10/1

7/III 2003 [11-12]

11) The Gene and Jack show
by Jeff Foust Monday, March 24, 2003

The last two men to walk on the Moon discuss the past and future


Gene Cernan, Jan Evans (widow of Ron Evans), and Harrison Schmitt at the National Air and Space Museum on March 18. (credit: J. Foust)

It’s been over 30 years since Eugene Cernan and Harrison “Jack” Schmitt became the eleventh and twelfth—and, to date, last—humans to set foot on the moon. One would think that, over time, public interest in their feat would have waned. Yet, several hundred people turned out at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum March 18 for the museum’s annual Werner von Braun lecture by the two former astronauts.
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/11/1

12) The million man and woman march to space
by Clark S. Lindsey Monday, March 24, 2003


Relatively small groups can have a major influence on policies. (credit: J. Foust)

Imagine the following press release: “Citing the need to unify the nation as it once was, space advocacy groups announce a campaign to press the television industry to restore the variety show, offer at least three Westerns in prime time everyday, and reduce the number of news programs to two half-hour broadcasts each evening.”
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/12/1

8/III 2003 [13]

13) Space tourism: managing expectations in uncertain times
by Jeff Foust Monday, March 31, 2003


The Xerus, by XCOR Aerospace, is a proposed suborbital RLV that could serve the space tourism market in the next several years. (credit: XCOR/Space Adventures)

For the last several years, space tourism has made significant progress as a viable industry that may be critical to the continued commercialization of space. As recently as five years ago space tourism suffered from a “giggle factor” as both mainstream society and even some within the aerospace industry and commercial space community dismissed tourism as unrealistic. Events since then, most notably the flights of Dennis Tito in April 2001 and Mark Shuttleworth one year later, have altered those perceptions. Almost no one is laughing at space tourism now; indeed, with the decline of other commercial space markets, such as the launch of telecommunications satellites, space tourism is now seen as perhaps the most viable emerging commercial market for the foreseeable future.
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/13/1

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9/IV 2003 [14]

The search for water: picking landing sites for NASA’s Mars rovers
by Henry Bortman Monday, April 7, 2003
[Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared as a pair of articles published last month by Astrobiology Magazine, and is reprinted here with the kind permission of Astrobiology Magazine.]


Illustration of a Mars Exploration Rover on the surface of Mars. (credit: NASA/JPL)

“Follow the water” is the mantra for NASA’s Mars exploration program. But present-day Mars is so cold, and its atmosphere so thin, that liquid water cannot exist on the planet’s surface. What NASA can look for, though, is evidence that water was present and active on Mars in the distant past. There are strong indications, in images taken by cameras aboard orbiting spacecraft, that features of the Martian landscape have been carved by water. But some scientists argue that these features could have been caused by short-lived torrents of water—flash floods.
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/14/1

10/IV 2003 [15-16]

15) John Young’s shuttle secret
by Jeff Foust Monday, April 14, 2003

The commander of STS-1 reveals a little-known incident with present-day implications


John Young speaking at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC on April 11. (credit: J. Foust)

Most of the people in attendance at the National Air and Space Museum last Friday night for a talk by John Young—paying $15-20 a ticket for the privilege—were already quite familiar with the astronaut’s exploits from Gemini through Apollo to the shuttle program. Yet Young managed to surprise most if not all of them by offhandedly discussing an incident with the first shuttle mission that has connections with the current Columbia accident investigation.
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/15/1

16) Suborbital’s ascending trajectory
by Jeff Foust Monday, April 14, 2003

Once dismissed as a dead end, reusable suborbital spacecraft are finally getting respect


An illustration of TGV Rockets' Michelle-B suborbital vehicle being prepared for launch at a remote mobile site. (credit: TGV Rockets)

It’s one thing for entrepreneurs and space activists to tout the benefits of a particular mode of commercial space transportation. When outside experts and the occasional bureaucrat express support for the idea, its credibility grows. However, you know the idea is finally gaining wide acceptance when a leading elected official, speaking on the record, endorses the concept. Commercial suborbital spaceflight achieved that milestone earlier this year.
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/16/1

11/IV 2003 [17]

17) Photo Gallery: SpaceShipOne Rollout
SpaceShipOne suborbital spacecraft on April 18, 2003
https://www.thespacereview.com/gallery/1

Rutan aims for space: A look at SpaceShipOne
by Jeff Foust Monday, April 21, 2003


SpaceShipOne mounted under the fuselage of the White Knight aircraft. (credit: J. Foust)

There is little in Mojave, California, to recommend to the casual tourist. A town of less than 5,000 people in the windswept high desert 150 kilometers north of Los Angeles, near the foothills of the Tehachapi Mountains, Mojave appears at first glance to be little more than a string of gas stations, fast food restaurants, and motels lining Routes 14 and 58. Yet, in aerospace circles, Mojave is well-known, in part because its airport is home to many dozens of commercial jetliners placed into long-term storage. It’s also the home of Burt Rutan and his company, Scaled Composites, which have developed a number of innovative aircraft from the globe-circling Voyager to the high-altitude Proteus.
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/17/1

12/IV 2003 [18]

18) RLV regulation: licensing vs. certification
by Jeff Foust Monday, April 28, 2003


SpaceShipOne, unveiled earlier this month, will not be flown commercially because of perceived high regulatory costs. (credit: J. Foust)

When Burt Rutan rolled out the SpaceShipOne suborbital spacecraft earlier this month (see “Rutan aims for space: A look at SpaceShipOne”, April 21, 2003), one of the biggest surprises had nothing to do with the vehicle’s unique design or flight profile. Instead, despite the fact that the vehicle seemed ideal to win the X Prize and usher in the era of suborbital space tourism, Rutan made it clear there were no plans to put the vehicle into commercial service. SpaceShipOne would fly under an “experimental research and development glider” license on a series of flights to determine what the operating costs of the vehicle would be.
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/18/1

[Orionid]

13/V 2003 [19]

19) Orbital Space Plane: Back to Apollo?
by Jeff Foust Monday, May 5, 2003


Illustration of an Apollo spacecraft approaching the docking adaptor used for ASTP. Will a direct descendant of Apollo perform similar docking with the International Space Station? (credit: NASA)

When NASA first announced plans to develop the Orbital Space Plane (OSP) last year, most people assumed it would be exactly that: a winged, reusable vehicle—in essence a mini-shuttle—that could serve as both a crew return vehicle (CRV) and crew transfer vehicle (CTV) for the International Space Station. Many of the vehicle designs presented to the public by companies like Boeing and Orbital Sciences Corporation in recent months have indeed been either winged or lifting body vehicles, direct descendants of recent experimental designs like the X-37 or older concepts like the HL-20 and X-24.
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/19/1

14/V 2003 [20]

20) The fifth stage of the RLV grieving process
by Jeff Foust Tuesday, May 13, 2003


Vehicles like the Roton (above) were designed to serve a launch market that since dried up. (credit: XCOR Aerospace)

Nearly 35 years ago Swiss-American psychiatrist Elisabeth Kubler-Ross wrote On Death and Dying, a book that reshaped how society viewed death and the reactions to it. The book is perhaps best known for its elucidation of the five stages of grief people go through after the death of a friend or loved one. After an initial stage of denial, a person reacts with anger to the loss, then attempts to bargain with God or nature to reverse the loss. This is followed by depression, after which the person finally comes to terms with the loss and presses on.
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/20/1

15/V 2003 [21-22]

21) Dave Weldon speaks about space policy
by Dave Weldon Tuesday, May 20, 2003


Congressman Dave Weldon speaks with the media earlier this year. (credit: Office of Congressman Weldon)

[Editor’s Note: It is rare to get a member of Congress to devote more than a few sound bite-worthy words about space policy. One exception is Congressman Dave Weldon, a Florida Republican whose district includes Cape Canaveral. Weldon spoke last month on a variety of civil, commercial, and military space issues at the 40th Space Congress at Cape Canaveral. An excerpt of his speech is provided below; a complete copy is available on Congressman Weldon’s web site.]

I want to say how impressed I have been with the level of professionalism and dedication everyone at NASA and the contractor community has exhibited since February 1. I am anxious to review the Gehman Report when it is released later this summer. The Congress stands ready to work with NASA to get the Shuttles flying again and to complete ISS.
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/21/1

22) The young rocketeer’s guide to range safety
by Jeff Foust Tuesday, May 20, 2003


A student-built model rocket lifts off during the Team America Rocketry Challenge on May 10. (credit: J. Foust)

The launch started like any other that day. The public address announcer intoned the final seconds of the countdown: “Five, four, three, two, one, ignition!” There was silence for a few seconds, just long enough to make those of us standing nearby wonder if something had gone wrong. Just as those thoughts surfaced, though, the tail of the rocket belched smoke and flame, and an instant later we heard a distinctive whoosh as the rocket soared off the pad.
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/22/1

[Orionid]

16/VI 2003 [23]

23) Why is Mars so hard?
by Jeff Foust Monday, June 2, 2003


NASA’s twin Mars Exploration Rovers are two of the most complex science spacecraft ever developed. (credit: NASA)

This June will see the beginning of the most ambitious exploration of the Red Planet in a quarter-century. If all goes well, three launch vehicles—one Soyuz and two Delta—will lift off this month, placing four spacecraft on trajectories that will bring them to Mars by this December and January. Those spacecraft include the first European Mars orbiter, Mars Express; Beagle 2, the British lander built with a mix of public and private funding; and NASA’s twin Mars Exploration Rovers, perhaps the most advanced Mars spacecraft even built. They will be joined at Mars by Nozomi, a Japanese-built Mars mission launched in 1998 and forced to take the long road to Mars because of thruster problems.
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/23/1

17/VI 2003 [24-25]

24) Is NASA’s brain drain a myth?
by A.J. Mackenzie Monday, June 9, 2003


Congressman Sherwood Boehlert (above) has introduced legislation to help NASA solve what some perceive to be serious problems the agency has hiring and retaining scientists and engineers. (credit: J. Foust)

“One of the greatest problems NASA faces is a huge retirement bulge. Within five years, a quarter of the NASA workforce will be eligible to retire.”
—Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, chairman, House Science Committee, March 6, 2003

For years NASA and its friends in Congress and elsewhere have been beating the drums about problems with the agency’s workforce. Indeed, it’s accepted as a given now that the agency’s technical staff is getting old. If one believes the dire predictions of some, a torrent of workers will soon escape from their cubicles for retirement homes in Florida and Arizona, depriving the agency of its best and brightest at its most critical time.
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/24/1

25) The phony space race
by Jeff Foust Monday, June 9, 2003


An illustration of China’s Shenzhou spacecraft in orbit. (credit: CAST)

If all goes as expected, some time late this year—perhaps November—a Long March 2F booster will lift off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China. Atop this booster will be a Shenzhou spacecraft, similar in design to four previous Shenzhou spacecraft launched between 1999 and 2002. This Shenzhou, though, will be carrying a different payload than the previous four: one or more humans, who are expected to spend anywhere from a day to a week in orbit before returning to Earth. This flight will make China only the third nation, after the United States and the former Soviet Union, to send humans into space.
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/25/1

18/VI 2003 [26-27]

26) Review: do we need another book about Apollo?
Monday, June 16, 2003



Apollo: The Epic Journey to the Moon
By David West Reynolds
Harcourt, 2002
Hardcover, 272 pp.
ISBN: 0151009643
US$35
https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0151009643/spaceviews

The Apollo program is easily the most chronicled project in the short history of human spaceflight. Published works about Apollo range from chintzy coffee-table books to comprehensive, elegant tomes like Andrew Chaikin’s A Man on the Moon to astronaut autobiographies. These books have provided all types of perspectives on this program, from technology to policy to its lasting effect on those who traveled to the Moon. Apollo has been covered from almost every angle.
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/26/1

27) Watching the CAIB at work
by Jeff Foust Monday, June 16, 2003


A sparse crowd attends the June 12 CAIB public hearing in Washington. (credit: J. Foust)

Like most people, I have been following the Columbia investigation from a distance, relying on media reports as well as the occasional televised or webcast public hearing and press conference as the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) carried out its work in Houston and Cape Canaveral. However, with the investigation phase of the board’s work winding down, the CAIB has shifted operations from Houston to the Washington DC area as it prepares to complete its report, still scheduled for release in late July.
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/27/1

19/VI 2003 [28]

28) The coming space race with China
by Mark R. Whittington Monday, June 23, 2003


An illustration of China’s Shenzhou spacecraft in orbit. (credit: CAST)

This fall, barring any last minute hitch, China will launch its Shenzhou spacecraft with people inside, thus joining the very exclusive club of nations that have sent humans into space. Chinese government officials have openly spoken of breathtaking ambitions for their country’s nascent space effort. Beyond putting people into low Earth orbit, Chinese officials speak openly of first exploring, then settling the Moon in order to exploit its natural resources.
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/28/1

20/VI 2003 [29-30]

29) Review: seeking the ultimate space commercialization guide
Monday, June 30, 2003

Two books take different approaches, but fall short



Space: The Free-Market Frontier
By Edward L. Hudgins (editor)
Cato Institute, 2002
Softcover, 260pp.
ISBN 1-930865-19-8
US$15
https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1930865198/spaceviews

Made In Space: Space Investor’s Guide To The Next Revolution
By Kenneth Schweitzer
1stBooks, 2003
Softcover, 248pp.
ISBN 1-4107-1245-1
US$19.95
https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1410712451/spaceviews

For years space entrepreneurs and enthusiasts alike have been seeking what could be called the “ultimate space commercialization guide”: a description of the benefits and opportunities of commercial space ventures that is so clear and compelling that it convinces investors, regulators, and the media. Writing such a guide, it turns out, has proven as difficult as developing viable commercial space ventures—an obvious conclusion given the current moribund state of many sectors of the industry. This, though, hasn’t stopped people from trying to write such a book, by people both unknown and overexposed. Two recent books approach the problem from opposite directions, but while making valiant attempts to describe the potential of space commercialization, come up short of the mark.
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/29/1

30) The promise of amateur suborbital spaceflight

Homebuilt spacecraft could soon take to the skies
by Andrew Case Monday, June 30, 2003


Illustration of SpaceCub, a proposed homebuilt suborbital spacecraft. (credit: D. Burkhead)

As we approach the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers’ flight at Kitty Hawk, many people are looking at the early history of aviation as a model for the development of spaceflight. One often-mentioned fact about is that within ten years of the Wright Brothers’ flight hundreds of airplanes had been built and thousands of people had flown. It’s not often noted, though, that many of those airplanes were built by private individuals or groups of private individuals who were seeking nothing more (or less) than the thrill of flight and the challenge of an ambitious project. Companies were springing up all over the landscape, but alongside these companies were clubs dedicated to designing and building airplanes for purely personal use. This observation suggests that we could perhaps see the development of spacecraft built by hobbyists and clubs alongside commercial spacecraft.
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/30/1

[Orionid]

21/VII 2003 [31-32]

31) Review: the aftermath of the Space Age
Monday, July 7, 2003



Rocket Dreams: How the Space Age Shaped Our Vision of a World Beyond
By Marina Benjamin
Free Press, 2003
Hardcover, 242 pp.
ISBN 0-7432-3343-3
US$24/C$38
https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0743233433/spaceviews

Countless volumes have been written about the history of the Space Race: the competition between the United States and the Soviet Union to achieve any number of firsts in space, from Sputnik to Apollo 11. Many other books have focused on what has happened in space since then, from the space shuttle to the unmanned exploration of the solar system. Far fewer books, though, have explored the sociological effects of the fast start, and sharp post-Apollo decline, of the Space Age. Marina Benjamin provides such an examination in Rocket Dreams, offering a wide-ranging look at what happened to humanity’s dreams of exploring and settling the space frontier.
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/31/1

32) Space science gets big at NASA

The future of NASA’s planetary exploration plans may rest on larger missions and nuclear technologies
by Jeff Foust Monday, July 7, 2003


Artist’s rendition of the nuclear-powered Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter, a flagship mission of Project Prometheus planned for next decade. (credit: NASA/JPL)

For most of the 1990s—at least from 1992, when Dan Goldin became administrator—the guiding phrase for NASA’s space science programs was the now-famous “faster, better, cheaper.” After a disastrous drought of missions in the 1980s, when NASA focused its energies, and its limited funding, on a few large missions like Magellan and Galileo, the agency changed course and began to support a larger number of smaller missions. The 1990s brought us the Discovery program of planetary science missions, like NEAR and Mars Pathfinder; the Small and Medium-class Explorer programs, including IMAGE and FUSE; and the New Millennium program of technology-demonstration missions, most notably Deep Space One. The Nineties were not without large missions—Cassini was launched in 1997—but that mission dated back to the 1980s, and looked out of place among the fleets of smaller missions.
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/32/1

22/VII 2003 [33-34]

[Orionid]

How has traffic been managed in the sky, on waterways, and on the road? Comparisons for space situational awareness (part 1)
by Stephen Garber and Marissa Herron Monday, June 8, 2020


The growth of both debris in Earth orbit from collisions and explosions as well as active satellites is raising awareness about the need for revised approaches to space traffic management. (credit: ESA)

Disclaimer: the views expressed in this article are solely those of the authors, not of NASA or of the Federal Government.

Most casual observers likely would agree that as the complex space operating environment becomes more crowded with more operating satellites and debris, the topics of space situational awareness (SSA) and space traffic management (STM) deserve more concerted attention. While we’ve had over 60 years of satellites in the large expanse of near-Earth space with only a handful of collisions, this likely will change as space becomes more crowded. To understand what kind of overall STM framework might be both useful and practical, we will examine some of the complexities of current SSA operations. For historical points of comparison, we then will look at literal and figurative “rules of the road” paradigms for traveling on land, sea, and in the air. Curiously, norms and procedures for managing the flights of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), aka “drones”, are evolving faster than those for STM, even though modern drones have flown effectively for fewer years than spacecraft. Some aeronautics researchers have looked at UAS traffic management (UTM) as a possible model for STM.[1] By assessing similarities and differences among how traffic is managed on roads, waterways, and in the air for diverse groups of drivers/pilots, we hope to stimulate careful thought on how inherently global space operations might best be managed in this rapidly evolving era of international capabilities in space, technological change, and commercialization. (...)
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/3961/1

[Orionid]

Imagining safety zones: Implications and open questions
by Jessy Kate Schingler Monday, June 8, 2020


The scarcity of lunar resources like volatiles illustrates the need to deconflict activities on the Moon in a way that is acceptable by all participants. (credit: NASA)

In May, NASA announced its intent to “establish a common set of principles to govern the civil exploration and use of outer space” referred to as the Artemis Accords.[1,2] The Accords were released initially as draft principles, to be developed and implemented through a series of bilateral agreements with international partners. (...)
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/3962/1

[Orionid]

Review: Chasing the Dream
by Jeff Foust Monday, June 15, 2020



Chasing the Dream
by Dana Andrews
Classic Day Publishing, 2020
paperback, 350 pp., illus.
ISBN 978-1-59849-281-1
US$28.95
https://www.retiredrocketdoc.com/shop

The history of spaceflight is littered with concepts that never, literally or figuratively, got off the ground. The recent NASA book After LM described dozens of designs for lunar landers proposed after the Apollo program, up through the cancellation of the Constellation program a decade ago, none of which got even to the hardware production phase of development (see “Review: After LM”, The Space Review, June 8, 2020). The same is true, of course, for many other proposed launch vehicles and spacecraft. (...)
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/3963/1

[Orionid]

How has traffic been managed in the sky, on waterways, and on the road? Comparisons for space situational awareness (part 2)
by Stephen Garber and Marissa Herron Monday, June 15, 2020


The growth of both debris in Earth orbit from collisions and explosions as well as active satellites is raising awareness about the need for revised approaches to space traffic management. (credit: ESA)

Disclaimer: the views expressed in this article are solely those of the authors, not of NASA or of the Federal Government.

Other traditional “rules of the road”

Taking a step back from the complexities of STM and looking at how traffic historically has been managed in other domains may provide some useful insights. One issue that cuts across land, air, and sea is vehicle worthiness. That is, cars, planes, and boats all need to be registered to ensure their safety, and this may be analogous to the satellite licensing process. Cars go through safety inspections to ensure road worthiness and minimum pollution standards, as well as to ensure we have functioning headlights to see and be seen at night, avoiding collisions. Just as cars, planes, and boats should be visible unless bad weather precludes this, so too should satellites be trackable. The technology for each domain is different, but the goal for all these vehicles is to be identifiable to foster communication and coordination of intended maneuvers. (...)
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/3964/1
Part 1 https://www.thespacereview.com/article/3961/1

[Orionid]

Hugging Hubble longer
by Jeff Foust Monday, June 15, 2020


The Hubble Space Telescope seen by the last servicing mission, STS-125 in 2009. (credit: NASA)

The future of space-based astronomy is delayed. Again.

Last week, Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA associate administrator, confirmed the inevitable: the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) won’t launch next March, as had been the schedule for the last two years. This time, a slowdown in work on the telescope that started this past March because of the pandemic will delay a launch, something that appeared increasingly obvious given the limited work that could be done and the available schedule reserves. (...)
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/3965/1