After defeating John McCain in the bid for the White House, President Elect Barack Obama is determined to bring about the necessary change in government in order to keep the US economy from going off of a cliff.

While Obama is already asking for “meaningful cuts and sacrifices” in order to keep our economy afloat, it looks like his team may be hinting that future budget cuts could potentially affect NASA’s Ares I rocket as well.

(Space.com) U.S. President-elect Barack Obama’s NASA transition team is asking U.S. space agency officials to quantify how much money could be saved by canceling the Ares 1 rocket and scaling back the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle next year. [...]

The questionnaire, “NASA Presidential Transition Team Requests for Information,” asks agency officials to provide the latest information on Ares 1, Orion and the planned Ares 5 heavy-lift cargo launcher, and to calculate the near-term close-out costs and longer-term savings associated with canceling those programs. The questionnaire also contemplates a scenario where Ares 1 would be canceled but development of the Ares 5 would continue.

While the questionnaire, a copy of which was obtained by Space News, also asks NASA to provide a cost estimate for accelerating the first operational flight of Ares 1 and Orion from the current target date of March 2015 to as soon as 2013, NASA was not asked to study the cost implications of canceling any of its other programs, including the significantly overbudget 2009 Mars Science Laboratory or the James Webb Space Telescope.

According to the article, Obama seems to be committed towards keeping COTS alive (which is great news for companies like SpaceX and Bigelow Aerospace).

While Ares I and Ares V do have have their fair share of critics, canceling either may end up hurting America’s chances of beating China back to the Moon–unless a viable alternative can be found.

Note: If President Elect Obama decides to cancel the Ares rockets, NASA may want to consider teaming up with India and Japan, in order to make up for the short fall in funding (as well as support).

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(Hat Tip: Space Transport News )

After three previous launches that ended prematurely, it looks as if SpaceX has finally launched their Falcon 1 rocket, setting a stage for NewSpace (aka the private space sector) and more importantly humanity.

Here is a link (windows media player) to the video for those of you who might have missed the launch. an image of the Falcon rocket at liftoff.

Here is a video of the launch (hat tip: Space Transport News).

Note: Space Transport News has more!

Update: Some are saying that the video is linking to the second launch. I will see if I can hunt down a video towards the fourth launch (as SpaceX has yet to post an official video of the launch an official video of the launch in their gallery section).

Update 2: Clark via Space Transport News has found a video of the launch via YouTube!

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Even though the China lacks the technological superiority to challenge the US today, the Asian giant is making great strides in order to become a major space power (and rival) tomorrow.

(Space Daily) With four boosters, the 59.5-meter-high environmentally friendly rocket’s launching weight would reach 643 tonnes. It would be able to deliver a 25-tonne payload to an LEO, compared with the present 10 tonnes, and a 14-tonne payload to a GEO, compared with 5.5 tonnes now, said China Central Television in a report.

The 14-tonne payload to a GEO means the rocket can carry a heavier satellite or more satellites at one time while the 25-tonne payload to an LEO will enable it to carry the Shenzhou-series spacecraft, said Li Dong, a designer of Long MarchV.

While their rockets are still unable to deliver their citizens beyond Earth orbit, they are slowly (but steadily) improving their technology, and perhaps dreaming of the day when they land one of their own Taikonauts upon lunar soil.

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(Hat Tip: Space.com)

NASA has released another video highlighting their Constellation mission, which features new space suits that will protect them as they venture upon the lunar surface.

Even though it has the backing of Congress, America’s space agency has been facing criticism over the Ares I Rocket, which some view as a “failure waiting to happen.”

While alternatives have been proposed (such as the Direct Launcher), none have been able to make it beyond the “powerpoint stage” and into reality. Despite the criticisms, NASA is assuring everyone that the Ares I rocket is fine, and will fly towards the heavnes with its bigger brother Ares V.

If successful NASA plans on establishing a few lunar outposts which will hopefully spark humanities interest in retaking the stars (not to mention colonizing every planet, moon and dwarf planet along the way).

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With Congressional backing behind them, it looks as if NASA is pressing forward with the Constellation program after a nine month study confirmed what NASA already suspected–that the Ares V rocket can return the space agency towards former glory.

(NASA) “We confirmed that Constellation’s conceptual designs for both Ares V and Altair will enable us to land astronauts and cargo anywhere on the moon and to build an outpost supporting widespread exploration of the lunar surface,” said Jeff Hanley, Constellation Program manager at Johnson. “This extensive review proves we are ready for the next phase: taking these concepts and moving forward to establish mature requirements.” [...]

The review refined early configurations of the Ares V rocket to ensure its capability to deliver the Altair lunar lander, four astronauts and cargo anywhere on the moon and return the crew to Earth at any time. To accomplish those objectives, the current configuration of the Ares V will use six RS-68B liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen engines on a core stage along with two five-and-one-half segment solid propellant rocket boosters, which are a direct evolution from the first stage of the Ares I rocket. The Ares V upper stage will propel the Orion crew capsule and Altair to the moon using the same J-2X engine as the Ares I crew launch vehicle. The Ares V will stand about 381 feet tall and be able to send more than 156,600 pounds of cargo and components into orbit to the moon, and later to Mars or other destinations.

Altair will be capable of landing four astronauts anywhere on the moon, providing life support and a base for the first week-long surface exploration missions, and returning the crew to the Orion spacecraft for the ride home to Earth.

Even though a few space advocates are proposing an alternate “safer” path to reach Earth’s nearest neighbor (hat tip: Space Pragmatism), NASA is probably determined to finish the path that it has started.

While there is no mention of dropping a few roaming space bases upon the lunar surface, it is good to see NASA focused upon returning humans to the lunar surface.

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SpaceX, an emerging space corporation that is slowly (but surely) winning over NASA’s affection has been awarded a contract by the space agency in order to transport cargo into orbit.

(NASA Press Release) NASA has awarded Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, a NASA Launch Services contract for the Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 launch vehicles. [...]

The contract is an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract where NASA may order launch services through June 30, 2010, for launches to occur through December 2012. Under the NASA Launch Services IDIQ contracts, the potential total contract value is between $20,000 and $1 billion, depending on the number of missions awarded.

The contract seeks a launch capability for payloads weighing 551 pounds or heavier into a circular orbit of 124 miles at an orbital inclination of 28.5 degrees. Payloads would be launched to support three NASA mission directorates: Science, Space Operations and Exploration Systems.

Despite the fact that this deals mainly with cargo, SpaceX is one of the few companies attempting at lowering the cost of launching humans and objects into space, thereby making it easier for corporations to enter into space.

If successful, Elon Musk (the CEO of SpaceX) may be able to help humanity not only reach the Moon, but Mars as well.

(Image Credit: SpaceX)

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