'SPACE' IN NEWS

Kepler Statistical Analysis Suggests Earthlike Planets Extremely Rare
San Francisco CA (SPX) Mar 08, 2012
Last week, the Kepler science team released its list of candidate planets based on the data collected during the mission's first sixteen months. The last comparable publication summarized the mission's first four months of data. The update thus yields a much larger number of candidate planets. Significantly, the longer time window means pushing back the veil of two biases that make Kepler's data set, at any point in time, relatively incomplete. ... read more

Proposed nuclear clock may keep time with the Universe
A proposed new time-keeping system tied to the orbiting of a neutron around an atomic nucleus could have such unprecedented accuracy that it neither gains nor loses 1/20th of a second in 14 billion ... more

Take a photo tour of space shuttle Endeavour's hangar
Enclosed within a maze of work platforms, the shuttle Endeavour has spent most of its life inside one of three Orbiter Processing Facility bays at Kennedy Space Center. Join us on a photographic tour of the hangar with these rare views of the shuttle.

IMAGES: ENDEAVOUR'S NOSE, CARGO BAY    IMAGES: SHUTTLE ENGINE COMPARTMENT  IMAGES: HEAT SHIELD, LANDING GEAR

Falcon 9 fueling test completed in Florida
SpaceX loaded more than 75,000 gallons of liquid propellant into the Falcon 9 rocket Thursday for a pre-launch countdown test designed to wring out any issues with the launcher, ground systems and engineering teams before the mission blasts off in April.    FULL STORY    IMAGES: ROCKET ON THE PAD
   FALCON LAUNCH ARCHIVE
ATK five-segment rocket motor to enter qualification
Engineers in Utah started crafting another five-segment solid rocket motor this week for a ground-shaking test firing to qualify the 22-million horsepower booster for flight on NASA's Space Launch System in 2017.    FULL STORY

Robotic refuelling mission in space
The Canadian Space Agency is collaborating with NASA on a new project called the Robotic Refuelling Mission (RRM) to demonstrate how space robots could use specially designed tools and unique manoeuvres to refuel satellites.
RRM will be conducted on the International Space Station using Dextre, the Station's Canadian-built robotic handyman. It will mark the first time that Dextre is used for a research and development project.
Satellites are currently designed to never be accessed after launch; typically, the fuel tank is triple-sealed and then covered with protective blankets. Dextre will perform a series of manoeuvres that will simulate accessing the fuel systems of a typical satellite. The RRM hardware, provided by NASA, includes four specialised tools for Dextre and a customised task box (roughly the size of a refrigerator) that will represent a satellite.
With this RRM toolkit (including a Wire Cutter and Blanket Manipulation Tool, Multifunction Tool, Safety Cap Removal Tool and Nozzle Tool), Dextre will cut through the simulated satellite's exterior, remove layers of insulation and cut away the wiring covering the fuel cap. In the next phase of the operation, the robotic handyman will connect a hose to the fuel valve and pump simulated liquid fuel into the mock spacecraft. The RRM tool kit and task box launched to the Space Station on board the Space Shuttle Atlantis on its final flight in July 2011.
The RRM task box and tool kit was developed by NASA at the Goddard Space Flight Center. Dextre operations for the Robotic Refuelling Mission will be remotely controlled by flight controllers at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, and the Canadian Space Agency's Mission Operations Centre in Saint-Hubert, Quebec.

Solar storm peaks at strong level; why forecasting space weather is difficult

The Northern Lights are seen in the skies near Faskusfjordur on the east coast of Iceland Thursday March 8, 2012. A solar storm shook the Earth's magnetic field early Friday, but scientists said they had no reports of any problems with electrical systems. After reports Thursday of the storm fizzling out, a surge of activity prompted space weather forecasters to issue alerts about changes in the magnetic field. (Jonina Oskardottir - AP) After the sun hurled out the biggest solar flare in five years, media were abuzz, sometimes hyperbolically, about the prospective solar storm threat. Then, when a mere “minor” storm arrived Thursday with minimal impact, headlines pronounced the storm a fizzler.
More .. at ... .Solar storm strengthens overnight but no damage reported; new flare heading to Earth on Sunday  ;   Solar Storm Warning Satellite on Last Legs

Falling Satellite Insurance Premiums Put Market at Risk of Major Upheaval
The price of insuring a commercial satellite’s launch and first year in orbit has dropped by around 50 percent in the past six years and has left the market vulnerable to a violent shock that could occur with just one launch failure, insurance underwriters said. More ...

China Working On Big Range Of Space Engines Bradley Perrett Xian, China
China is nearing what many space engineers think is the ideal for a family of space launchers: a set of rockets built with just a few standard engines and airframe modules, maximizing production runs. The family—the Long March 5, 6 and 7—will cover the 0.5-25-ton payload territory to low Earth orbit and up to 14 tons to geosynchronous orbit, meeting the great bulk of space launch demands.
So it may come as a surprise that the launcher and engine firms under national space industry group CASC are not satisfied. They are looking at introducing solid rockets into the mix, as boosters or small launchers, including some dropped from aircraft. The Long March 7, at least, will get non-standard second stages as its manufacturer, CASC subsidiary CALT, looks for ways to vary its payload (see following article). Chinese engineers are also working on engines fueled by methane or liquefied petroleum gas.

 For Full article pl read … Aviation Week & Space Technology Mar 12 , 2012 , p. 32