Res Communis

Federal Register: Notice of Availability and Request for Comment on the Environmental Assessment (EA) for the Jacksonville Aviation Authority (JAA) Launch Site Operator License at Cecil Field, Florida (FL)

by P.J. Blount with the blog faculty

The FAA Office of Commercial Space Trasnportation published a Notice of Availability and Request for Comment on the Environmental Assessment (EA) for the Jacksonville Aviation Authority (JAA) Launch Site Operator License at Cecil Field, Florida (FL) in today’s Federal Register (74 Fed. Reg. 18274-18275):

SUMMARY: In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended ((NEPA) 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), Council on Environmental Quality NEPA implementing regulations (40 CFR Parts 1500-1508), and FAA Order 1050.1E, Change 1, the FAA is announcing the availability of and requesting comments on the EA for the Jacksonville Aviation Authority (JAA) Launch Site Operator License at Cecil Field, FL.

The EA was prepared in response to an application for a Launch Site Operator License from the JAA. Under the Proposed Action, the FAA would issue a Launch Site Operator License to JAA to operate a facility for horizontal launches and landings of suborbital manned reusable launch vehicles (RLVs). These vehicles, when operated out of Cecil Field, could carry space flight participants, scientific experiments, or payloads. The proposed launch site is located within the city limits of the City of Jacksonville, FL in Duval County, approximately 15 miles
southwest of downtown Jacksonville. The EA addresses the potential
environmental impacts of issuing a Launch Site Operator License for the Proposed Action and the No Action Alternative.

The EA has not yet been posted on the FAA website.

Declaration by the Presidency on behalf of the European Union on recent developments in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

by P.J. Blount with the blog faculty

From the Council of the European Union:

Declaration by the Presidency on behalf of the European Union on recent developments in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

The EU expresses its serious concern over the decision by the government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to withdraw from the Six-Party Talks, cease cooperation with the IAEA and restore its nuclear facilities. This contravenes the UNSC Resolution 1718 and overall efforts by the international community to help secure peace and stability on a future nuclear-free Korean Peninsula through the process of the Six-Party Talks.

The EU calls on the government of the DPRK to reverse its decision to expel IAEA inspectors as well as the decision to restore the nuclear facilities which have been disabled, to maintain its cooperation with the IAEA, to allow an early resumption of the Six-Party Talks, as demanded by the UN Security Council’s presidential statement, and to take such steps as will facilitate lasting stability and the denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula.

Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel Annual Report for 2008

by P.J. Blount with the blog faculty

The NASA Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel has published its annual report Annual Report for 2008.

State Department: UN Security Council Presidential Statement

by P.J. Blount with the blog faculty

From the Department of State:

UN Security Council Presidential Statement

Robert Wood
Acting Department Spokesman, Office of the Spokesman
Bureau of Public Affairs
Washington, DC
April 16, 2009

Q: Does the United States believe that Security Council Presidential Statements, including the statement that the Council adopted Monday on the North Korean launch, are “legally binding”?

A: Under Article 25 of the United Nations Charter, member states are legally required “to accept and carry out the decisions of the Security Council in accordance with the present Charter.”

There is nothing in the Charter that specifies the form in which the Council’s decisions must be recorded and, indeed, the word “resolution” is not used in the Charter. The Charter says that member states must comply with “decisions” of the Council, not that they must comply with “resolutions.”

In this case, the United States presented a draft Presidential Statement rather than a resolution to the full Security Council.

The Presidential Statement adopted on April 13, 2009 has the legal effect that we sought. In particular, Monday’s Presidential Statement makes it plain that North Korea’s recent launch contravenes Security Council Resolution 1718, and puts to rest any DPRK argument that the launch was permissible because it involved a satellite.

The Presidential Statement also reflects the Security Council’s agreement to designate entities and additional goods that will be subject to sanctions. This will be done either by the Committee that implements sanctions under Resolution 1718 or by the Council itself. Regardless of whether these steps are taken by the Council or the Committee, member States, including North Korea, will be legally bound to implement the sanctions.

PRN: 2009/338

CBO: The Budgetary Implications of NASA’s Current Plans for Space Exploration

by P.J. Blount with the blog faculty

The Congressional Budget Office has released a report titled The Budgetary Implications of NASA’s Current Plans for Space Exploration. The summary reads as follows:

Summary
In 2004, President Bush announced his “Vision for U.S. Space Exploration,” which called for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to develop new vehicles for spaceflight that would allow humans to return to the moon by 2020. In response, NASA restructured its plans to achieve that objective, and in September 2004, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) published a budgetary analysis of NASA’s new plans.1 This report updates that analysis, incorporating elements of NASA’s plans that had not been established in 2004.

To meet the goal set by the President, NASA reduced its planned budgets supporting science and research in aeronautics by more than 40 percent and made plans to complete construction of the International Space Station and retire the space shuttle by 2010. Using about $100 billion of potential funding through 2020 made available by those changes, NASA began developing new vehicles for human spaceflight in what the agency calls its Constellation program. Two of those vehicles—the Ares 1 crew launch vehicle and the Orion crew exploration vehicle—are to achieve “initial operating capability” by March 2015. At that point, the vehicles should be capable of carrying a crew of astronauts to the International Space Station. NASA is also developing additional vehicles and systems—including the Ares 5 cargo launch vehicle and the Altair lunar lander—that are needed to return humans to the moon.2

According to NASA, its current plans will require an average of $19.1 billion of funding annually from 2010 through 2025, with the Constellation program accounting for about half of the total by 2017. Under its current plans, the agency also intends to conduct 79 new robotic science missions through 2025, requiring funding of $4.7 billion annually, and to perform aeronautics research, at a cost of about $460 million annually.

U.S. Astronauts on Chinese Spacecraft?

by P.J. Blount with the blog faculty

From Space.com:

U.S. Astronauts Might Hitch Rides on Chinese Spacecraft
By Leonard David
SPACE.com’s Space Insider Columnist
posted: 16 April 2009
12:55 pm ET

Once NASA’s space shuttle fleet is retired next year, U.S. astronauts might arrive at the International Space Station via Chinese spacecraft, according to U.S. President Barack Obama’s science chief.

The prospect is being aired by presidential science adviser John Holdren, head of the White House Office of Science and Technology, in an interview posted on ScienceInsider – a web-based blog from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

In the ScienceInsider interview, Holdren underscored the fact that President Obama’s administration is intent on retiring the space shuttle in 2010, with the president open to an additional shuttle mission flown within 2010.

“If that can’t be done and things slip, then consideration will be given to going beyond that date. And that would be the last shuttle mission. There will be a gap in our capacity to put people in space with U.S. vehicles, because we will not have a follow-on to the shuttle ready before 2015,” Holdren said.

Holdren went on to suggest that the U.S. will have to rely on other spacefaring partners, specifically Russia. “It might also be the Chinese, depending on how our relationship develops,” he added. . . . [Full Story]