Russian Rocket Failure Shouldn’t Force Space Station Evacuation, NASA Tells Lawmakers (SPACE.com)

The International Space Station likely won't have to be evacuated despite the recent failure of a Russian rocket launched toward the orbiting lab, a panel told U.S. lawmakers today (Oct. 12) on Capitol Hill.

On Aug. 24, Russia's Progress 44 cargo vessel crashed in Siberia after the third stage of its Soyuz rocket failed. That rocket is similar to the one NASA and other space agencies depend on to loft astronauts, raising doubts about whether the issue could be fixed in time for a new crew to get to the station before its three remaining residents depart for Earth on Nov. 22.

A Russian commission recently pinpointed the Soyuz problem as a quality-control issue, not a major design flaw. And an independent NASA team agrees with that assessment, officials announced today, meaning the next manned Soyuz launch should take place as planned on Nov. 14. [Photos: Russia's Lost Cargo Ship Progress 44]

That time frame would keep the orbiting outpost staffed, giving the new three-person crew about five days to learn the ropes from the departing space flyers.

"NASA's confident that our Russian partners identified the most likely failure cause and has a sound return-to-flight plan," Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for NASA's human exploration and operations directorate, told members of the House of Representatives' Committee on Science, Space and Technology.

Fixing the problem

The Russian investigation determined that low fuel feed to the gas generator in the Soyuz's third-stage engine likely caused the Progress 44 crash. The fuel feed issue may have been caused by contamination in the fuel line or a valve.

After consulting in depth with the Russians, NASA formed its own team to look into the Soyuz problem, Gerstenmaier said.

"They did kind of a background check to make sure that the conclusions the Russians were drawing were reasonable," Gerstenmaier said. "We completed that review today within the agency, and we agree with the basic Russian findings."

Since the Progress 44 incident, the Russians have boosted their quality-control efforts, Gerstenmaier added. For example, they've increased the number of people inspecting Soyuz rockets and are videotaping some key assembly operations at the factory.

The engines for the next two Soyuz launches — the unmanned Progress 45 cargo mission on Oct. 30 and the Nov. 14 crewed mission — were built under the newer, stricter oversight, Gerstenmaier said. [Vote Now! The Best Spaceships of All Time]

So the problem that doomed Progress 44 shouldn't crop up again, the panelists said.

"We're confident that the two launches anticipated — one of Progress and the Soyuz launch, hopefully, in mid-November — will put the current issues to rest and return us to a steady-state operation," said Joseph Dyer, chairman of the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel.

Station could operate without a crew

When it's fully crewed, the International Space Station (ISS) harbors six astronauts, who each stay aboard for five- or six-month stints. It currently hosts just three space flyers, and the next Soyuz launch would basically replenish this number rather than increase it.

If that launch gets delayed, the station would be completely de-staffed for the first time in more than a decade. But that wouldn't spell disaster for the orbiting lab, the panelists said.

"The station itself can be flown uncrewed from Mission Control," Gerstenmaier said.

Of course, NASA and its international partners would much prefer to keep the orbiting lab fully staffed. Crew members on board can fix maintenance or servicing issues that crop up, for example, which can't be done from the ground.

And with more crew members aboard the station, more scientific research can get done. On a fully de-staffed station, some experiments could go on as before, such as the recently installed $2 billion Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, which is hunting dark matter, antimatter and cosmic rays.

But many other projects would have to be dropped, or at least postponed, without astronauts on board to conduct them. And NASA hopes it doesn't come to that, officials have said.

"If the ISS needed to be de-crewed, the largest impact would obviously be to crew-tended research," Gerstenmaier said.

You can follow SPACE.com senior writer Mike Wall on Twitter: @michaeldwall. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

View the original article here

US lawmakers press Taiwan on Falungong-linked TV (AFP)

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US lawmakers called on Taiwan to ensure broadcasts of a Falungong-linked television network as the spiritual movement feared that a satellite contract would end due to pressure from China.

New Tang Dynasty television makes its way onto some mainland Chinese televisions through a commercial satellite operated by Chunghwa Telecom, in which Taiwan's government is the largest stakeholder. The contract runs out in August and the company has said it would not renew it.

In letters this week to Taipei authorities, several members of the US House of Representatives known for sympathy to Taiwan voiced concern that political considerations may have been part of the decision.

"As a supporter of a robust bilateral relationship between our two governments, I am concerned that Chunghwa Telecom's decision could reflect poorly on the government of Taiwan," wrote Representative Shelley Berkley, a member of President Barack Obama's Democratic Party from Nevada.

Representative Gerry Connolly, a Democrat from Virginia, urged a "speedy resolution" of the issue and said that due to the government stake in Chunghwa, "any decision made by the satellite company could be perceived as official (Taiwan) policy."

Chunghwa has said that there was insufficient bandwidth on the new satellite it launched with Singapore Telecommunications and that it had offered to help New Tang Dynasty to find a new satellite.

"We've been trying to solve the issue. But apparently our efforts have not been accepted as the matter has been politicized," spokeswoman Chen Hui-yen said earlier in Taipei.

Media rights group Reporters Without Borders has cast doubt on the explanation. New Tang Dynasty focuses on news and cultural programming often unavailable in communist China, which strictly controls the media.

Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou has dramatically improved relations with China, which claims the island. The Taipei government was founded in 1949 by nationalists defeated in the mainland's civil war.

Samuel Zhou, executive vice president of New Tang Dynasty, said that the network wanted to stay with Chunghwa as the Taiwanese government stake ensured more protection than purely commercial satellites, which could face intense pressure.

Zhou, who recently visited Taiwan for talks on the dispute, said that the island had a special role to play as a democracy in the Chinese world.

"It's good to have economic development. There is nothing to blame. But still the Taiwanese government should not yield and take a step back on democracy," Zhou, who is based in New York, told AFP.

Falungong's Buddhist-inspired teachings focus on meditative, martial arts-like exercises. China banned Falungong in 1999 and declared it an "evil cult" after growing alarmed at its organizational clout.

The group says that its practitioners are treated harshly in China and even killed.

View the original article here