ATV upgrade; More on NASA signing & teleconference
Possible changes to the European [ATV][1] cargo carrier: [Europe Eyes ATV Upgrade – Aviation Week][2]
Haven’t heard of this lower altitude proposal before:
> One factor driving the modifications, Quaglino says, is a possible reduction in the reboost capability of the ATV to enable NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services spacecraft to dock at a lower altitude, lowering the ATV’s fuel-storage requirement.
=== Reports on the NASA bill signing and on a post event teleconference with Bolden, Nelson, and others: /– [President Obama Signs NASA Authorization Bill – SpaceNews.com][3] /– [President Obama signs space program agenda into law – Spaceflight Now][4] A good question for NASA:
> “What is in this bill is eleven-and-a-half billion dollars over the next six years, anticipated, even though it’s a three-year authorization, for development and testing of a heavy lift rocket,” he said. “Now if we can’t develop a new rocket for eleven-and-a-half billion dollars, building on a lot of the technologies that were already developed in spending nine billion (on the Constellation program’s Ares rockets), if we can’t do it for that, then we ought to question whether or not we can build a rocket.”
[1]: http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/ATV/index.html [2]: http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story.jsp?id=news/asd/2010/10/11/04.xml&headline=Europe%20Eyes%20ATV%20Upgrade&channel=space [3]: http://spacenews.com/policy/101011-obama-signs-nasa-bill.html [4]: http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1010/11sign/