How Safe Does a Rocket Have to Be?

How Safe Does a Rocket Have to Be?

IPinSpace, 25 April 2012

http://ipinspace.com/2012/04/25/how-safe-does-a-rocket-have-to-be/

In order to regulate and monitor the space transportation industry and share the burden of this potential liability, commercial space launch companies must apply for and obtain launch licenses from the FAA. The FAA cannot permit a launch unless the total expected average number of casualties (E_c) for the launch and subsequent mission is less than .00003. In other words, the FAA cannot issue a launch permit through the traditional launch licensing process if there is a better than 30 in a million chance that people will be harmed by a commercial launch. The FAA has outlined the general methods for making E_c calculations, but sometimes launch vehicle operators and the FAA arrive at different E_c values.

A Quixotic Quest to Mine Asteroids

A Quixotic Quest to Mine Asteroids
Wall Street Journal, 20 April 2012
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303513404577356190967904210.html

A new company backed by two Google Inc. billionaires, film director James Cameron and other space exploration proponents is aiming high in the hunt for natural resources—with mining asteroids the possible target.

Draft Nano-Satellite Launch Challenge Rules Available

Draft Nano-Satellite Launch Challenge Rules
SpaceFlorida, 19 April 2012
PDF: http://www.spaceflorida.gov/docs/misc/draft-nanosat_launcher_challenge_rules.pdf
Main Page: http://www.spaceflorida.gov/nano-sat-launch-challenge

The Nano-Satellite Launch Challenge will result in a maximum total amount of NASA awards of $3,000,000 (three million U.S. dollars) paid directly by NASA to the eligible winner(s) of the Challenge. SFSSRC may attract additional prize funding from other sources, subject to NASA’s prior concurrence. SFSSRC is receiving no funding from NASA to perform its management responsibilities of this Challenge.

A Greener Alternative to Hydrazine

A Greener Alternative to Hydrazine
SpaceRef, 19 April 2012
http://spaceref.com/event/28th-national-space-symposium/a-greener-alternative-to-hydrazine.html

Hydrazine, a mainstay fuel of the space program since the early days, now has a competitor that is easier to store and - when taking all costs into account - is the same price.

A subsidiary of the Swedish Space Corp., called ECAPS, has been developing a High Performance Green Propulsion (HPGP) fuel that is based on ammonium dinitrimide.

Mars Viking Robots 'Found Life'

Mars Viking Robots 'Found Life'
Discover, 12 April 2012
http://news.discovery.com/space/mars-life-viking-landers-discovery-120412.html#mkcpgn=rssnws1

New analysis of 36-year-old data, resuscitated from printouts, shows NASA found life on Mars, an international team of mathematicians and scientists conclude in a paper published this week.

Further, NASA doesn't need a human expedition to Mars to nail down the claim, neuropharmacologist and biologist Joseph Miller, with the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, told Discovery News.

"The ultimate proof is to take a video of a Martian bacteria. They should send a microscope -- watch the bacteria move," Miller said.

"On the basis of what we've done so far, I'd say I'm 99 percent sure there's life there," he added.

Loophole Could Allow Private Land Claims on Other Worlds

Loophole Could Allow Private Land Claims on Other Worlds
Wired, 5 April 2012
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/04/moon-mars-property/

But Simberg argues that the treaty doesn’t explicitly prevent private companies from claiming territory. Though, if the U.S. government accepted such a claim, that could be taken as a declaration of sovereignty, which might violate the Outer Space Treaty, said space law attorney Michael Listner.

Why Are LAUNCH COSTS So High?

Why Are LAUNCH COSTS So High?
Peter A. Taylor, 2004
http://home.earthlink.net/~peter.a.taylor/launch.htm

Why do space launches cost so much? Specifically, why are the costs so far out of line with the cost of seemingly comparable airplane operations? Fuel is about 15% of the operations and maintenance (O&M) cost of a typical military airplane, and 38% for commercial aircraft, according to Aircraft Design: A Conceptual Approach, 1992, by Daniel P. Raymer. Space launches should be more energy intensive than airplane flights, so one would expect that propellants would be a larger fraction of the total operations cost for a launch industry that was as mature as the airline industry. Why are the non-fuel costs orders of magnitude higher for rockets?