Keep the shuttle flying

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Fwd: High Demand for Russia's S-400 'Sends Shivers Down Washington's Spine'

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Begin forwarded message:

From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: December 22, 2015 at 9:50:04 AM CST
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: High Demand for Russia's S-400 'Sends Shivers Down Washington's Spine'

US Companies Receive $4.3 Bln in Next Generation Telecommunications Orders
05:44 22.12.2015
017504
Seven communications companies in the US state of Virginia have received $4.3 billion in combined contracts from the Defense Information Services Agency for telecommunications programs, the US Department of Defense announced.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The US military is investing massively in a new generation of communications technology systems with additional levels of encryption to be more resistant to hackers and cyber war attacks.
"Artel, AT&T, BT Federal, Qwest Government Services, GTT Americas, CapRock Government Solutions, Level 3 Communications, and Verizon Business Network Services were… awarded combined $4.3 billion… contracts for telecommunications network solutions and services," the Defense Department said on Monday.
The contracts are to install new communications systems that support the transmission requirements of the Defense Information System Network, the announcement explained.
"Work will be performed globally with a primary focus on regions outside of the continental United States," the Defense Department noted.

High Demand for Russia's S-400 'Sends Shivers Down Washington's Spine'
© Sputnik/ Valeriy Melnikov

09:13 22.12.2015
33420290
Washington is "extremely concerned" that more countries are expressing interest in Russia's cutting-edge S-400 air-defense system, analyst Marco Maier wrote for Contra Magazin.
© Sputnik/ Dmitry Vinogradov
Pentagon: Russia's S-400 Air Defense in Syria Forces US to Ground Warplanes
China has become the first nation to purchase the S-400 Triumf. Moscow and Beijing are said to have inked the $3-billion deal last year and China could receive the first batch as early as 2016.
New Delhi has long been eager to add the "mobile and extremely effective" defensive system to its arsenal, the analyst added. Recent reports suggest that Russia and India will sign an agreement, estimated to be worth $6 billion, in the near future. New Delhi is expected to buy 5 regimental units of the S-400.
Among contracts cleared by DAC today is S 400 air defence systems. As reported, this contract likely to be signed during PM trip to Russia.
— Manu Pubby (@manupubby_ET) 17 декабря 2015
"Washington is not happy about it since [the S-400] could inflict heavy losses on the air forces of the United States and its allies," Maier observed.
Should more nations opt to put Russian-made air defense systems in service, the US and its partners would be unable to attack areas protected by the S-400 with conventional fighter jets, drones and missiles, the analyst added.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx9GV_KTVxM
"If Iran or India buys the S-400, they would be able to protect airspace over Pakistan and Afghanistan. A nightmare for the Pentagon," Maier concluded.
The S-400 Triumf (NATO codename SA-21 Growler) is an anti-aircraft and anti-missile system, which is capable of intercepting all types of modern air weaponry, including fifth-generation warplanes, as well as ballistic and cruise missiles at a maximum range of nearly 250 miles.
© Sputnik
The S-400 Triumf Mobile Multiple Anti-Aircraft Missile System (AAMS)

© 2015 Sputnik All rights reserved.

Monday, December 21, 2015

Fwd: Russia invites ISS partners to take part in earth-bound experiments on long-term isolation

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Begin forwarded message:

From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: December 20, 2015 at 2:13:05 PM CST
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: Russia invites ISS partners to take part in earth-bound experiments on long-term isolation

Russia invites ISS partners to take part in earth-bound experiments on long-term isolation
December 18, 17:11 UTC+3
National contests to select volunteers would be held in the member countries in early 2016

© Sergey Savostyanov/TASS

MOSCOW, December 18. /TASS/. Russia has invited its partners in the International Space Station (ISS) missions to take part in a series of earth-bound experiments on long-term isolation under a program of long-term space flights, Mark Belakovsky, a department head at the Institute of Medico-Biological Problems, a research institution within the Russian Academy of Sciences, told TASS on Friday.
"A campaign has started to send invitations to space agencies of the countries that are cooperating with Russia on the International Space Station project," he said. "Concrete negotiations on organizational issues, research programs and financing aspects will begin after the New Year holidays."
He said national contests to select volunteers would be held in the member countries in early 2016.
According to Belakovsky, after a series of experiments on long-term isolation Mars-500 foreign specialists have been repeatedly contacting Russian partners inviting them to organize a joint international project.
"Whatever the human kind choses as it net goal — Moon, Mars, an asteroid or any of the Lagrangian points — there is one common problem, that is human health. The man is the weakest point, so, the new series of experiments will deal with psychological and physiological problems of long-term space flights," he said.
The text of the invitation available to TASS says the program of experiments under the working name Isolation that is to least till 2020 includes three basic experiments with extending isolation terms: the first one will last for four months, the second one — for eight months, and the final one — one year. The latter experiment will make it possible to compare is results with a 12-month stay at the International Space Station. Additional and technical studies are planned to be conducted in between the three basic experiments.
Each of the three experiments will involve six persons of different sexes and ages. Age limits are set at from 30 to 55.
Equipment of the earth-bound complex built at the institute for the Mars-500 and Moon-2015 isolations experiments in 2010-2011 will be used for the Isolation program.
Since 1967, the Institute of Medico-Biological Problems has conducted several dozens of isolation experiments, including A Year in Spaceship (1967-1968), HUBES (1994), EKOPSY (1995), SFINCSS (2000), Mars-500 (2007-2011). In October-November, a nine-day all-female experiment was held at the institute, when six girls were locked up in a simulated Moon mission.
© 2015 TASS

Walter Cunningham - Apollo VII Astronaut - Space Views -get shuttle back in air!

http://waltercunningham.com/op_ed_051603.htm

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Wow! SpaceX Lands Orbital Rocket Successfully in Historic First

http://www.space.com/31420-spacex-rocket-landing-success.html

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Fwd: This Week in The Space Review - 2015 December 21

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Begin forwarded message:

From: jeff@thespacereview.com (Jeff Foust)
Date: December 21, 2015 at 11:46:12 AM CST
Subject: This Week in The Space Review - 2015 December 21
Reply-To: jeff@thespacereview.com

[ If you no longer wish to receive announcements from The Space Review,
please follow the instructions at the end of this message. ]

Welcome to this week's issue of The Space Review:

The Moon in the crosshairs (part 2)
---
Dwayne Day continues his examination of CIA monitoring of the Soviet Union's manned lunar program by reviewing what the CIA learned of Soviet development of the N-1 rocket and its launch site from 1965 to 1968.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2889/1

A little something for almost everyone
---
Congress passed a final appropriations bill for fiscal year 2016 last week, giving NASA nearly $19.3 billion, more than $750 million than requested. Jeff Foust analyzes the budget and finds that, at least for this year, there are far more winners than losers among the agency's programs.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2888/1

Space commercialization: finally ready for liftoff?
---
The promise of a rapid expansion of commercial space activities has existed for years, but has it finally arrived? Jonathan Coopersmith examines the prospects for greater commercial uses of space based on discussions at a recent conference.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2887/1

GPS origins myths as propounded by Stephen Johnson and Annie Jacobsen
---
The Global Positioning System is one of the most commonly-used space-based services today, but its history is often misrepresented. Richard Easton takes issue with how the development of GPS is portrayed in two recent books.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2886/1

Note: The Space Review will not publish the week of December 28. Our next issue will be Monday, January 4, 2016. Happy Holidays!

If you missed it, here's what we published in our previous issue:

The Moon in the crosshairs: CIA monitoring of the Soviet manned lunar program (part 1)
---
With the declassification of more records, we are gaining a better idea of how much the CIA knew about the Soviet human spaceflight program, and when. Dwayne Day looks at those documents to see how the CIA tracked the development of a Soviet program to send humans to the Moon.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2885/1

Launch failures: the predictables
---
Launch failures always come as a surprise, but some failures were, in retrospect, more predictable and preventable than others. Wayne Eleazer discusses some of those failures and how warning signs leading up to them were overlooked.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2884/1

Staking a claim to space resources
---
A small portion of a new commercial space law, dealing with space resources, has gotten an outsized degree of attention in recent weeks. Jeff Foust reports on the issues some have raised with that section of the bill and how US industry and government officials are defending it.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2883/1

Powering a Moon base through the lunar night
---
One of the major challenges to supporting a lunar base is keeping it powered during the two-week lunar night. Joseph Barrett Bland, Michael Abramson, and Roger Arnold explore concepts for doing so using various beamed power approaches.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2882/1

Review: Emblems of Exploration
---
NASA is famous for its logos, including the "meatball" and the "worm." Jeff Foust reviews a book that provides a history of NASA's insignia, including that developed by its predecessor, NACA.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2881/1

We appreciate any feedback you may have about these articles as well as
any other questions, comments, or suggestions about The Space Review.
We're also actively soliciting articles to publish in future issues, so
if you have an article or article idea that you think would be of
interest, please email me.

Until next week,

Jeff Foust
Editor, The Space Review
jeff@thespacereview.com
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White flag of Surrender

White Flag of Surrender

NASA may have been backing away from the real challenge of human space flight for years, but in canceling Constellation and NASA manned vehicles, we are, in effect abdicating our role as the leading space faring nation of the world. America will lose its preeminence in space.

The real economic impact will not be immediate.

The public at large is not fully aware of NASA's role as a principal driver in our economy for the past 50 years. They forget that much of the technology we now take for granted either originated in the space program or was utilized and improved by the space program. That is NASA's real legacy. The investments we made in NASA in the sixties are still paying off in technology applications and new businesses.

The annual investment in NASA is not simply an expenditure; it is an investment—with a payback. The payback is generated because NASA operates at the frontiers of space, exploring the frontiers of our civilization.

At the frontiers of space, be it going to Mars, or constructing the most amazing engineering project in history—the International Space Station—huge obstacles, sometimes considered insurmountable, are encountered. NASA takes these obstacles as challenges that must be overcome to reach their goals. The solution may lie in new technology, or a new application of existing technology. These solutions eventually make their way into the marketplace with applications we never even dreamed of. NASA has tens of thousands of examples of these "spinoffs."

Now, after spending $11 billion on the development and close out of the Ares 1 launch vehicle and the Orion space capsule, we are eliminating them. Gone! And with them, most of NASA's human space flight program. In the ongoing struggle for leadership in science, technology and exploration, which was represented by America's pre-eminence in space, we have raised the white flag of surrender. Walter Cunningham

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