SpaceX Falcon 6 Rocket Launch: Orbit Insertion success but loss of launcher

Dragon cargo ship on its way to the International Space Station. 

A Space Exploration Technologies Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force tion.

The rocket lifted off at 4:47 a.m. EST (0947 GMT), streaking through nighttime skies as it headed into orbit.

Nine minutes later, the rocket’s upper-stage engine shut down and deposited Dragon into its preliminary orbit.

The capsule was due to reach the space station, which circles about 260 miles above the planet, on Monday.

As Dragon began its solo journey, the discarded first-stage booster was attempting to land itself vertically on a platform in the ocean, part of an ongoing series of tests to develop reusable rockets.

"Rocket made it to drone spaceport ship, but landed hard," SpaceX founder and chief executive Elon Musk posted on Twitter.

The rocket was aiming for a 300- by 100-ft platform stationed about 200 miles off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida, in the Atlantic Ocean.

Ground control teams reported two engine restarts as the rocket descended back through the atmosphere before the communications link was lost.

The rocket was expected to make one more engine burn and extend four landing legs prior to touchdown.

SpaceX engineers stationed on a nearby support ship tried to catch the descent and landing on video, but it was "pitch dark and foggy," Musk said. "Didn't get good landing/impact video ... Will piece it together from telemetry and ... actual pieces."

The ship itself is fine, he added, though some of the support equipment on the deck will need to be replaced, Musk added.

He previously had pegged the chance of a successful touchdown on the first try at 50 per cent.

"Returning anything from space is a challenge, but returning a Falcon 9 first stage for a precision landing presents a number of additional hurdles," SpaceX said in a blog post about the test.

"At 14 stories tall and traveling upwards of 1300 m/s (meters per second), stabilizing the Falcon 9 first stage for re-entry is like trying to balance a rubber broomstick on your hand in the middle of a wind storm."

SpaceX Launch. Credit: M. Staples

To help stabilise the stage and to reduce its speed, SpaceX relights the engines for a series of three burns.

The first burn, the boostback burn, adjusts the impact point of the vehicle and is followed by the supersonic retro propulsion burn that, along with the drag of the atmosphere, slows the vehicle's speed from 1300 m/s to about 250 m/s.

"The final burn is the landing burn, during which the legs deploy and the vehicle's speed is further reduced to around 2 m/s.

“The legspan of the Falcon 9 first stage is about 70 ft and while the ship is equipped with powerful thrusters to help it stay in place, it is not actually anchored, so finding the bullseye becomes particularly tricky,” SpaceX said.

“During previous attempts, we could only expect a landing accuracy of within 10 km. For this attempt, we’re targeting a landing accuracy of within 10 meters,” SpaceX said.

SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket grid fins. Credit: SpaceX

Musk said dark and foggy conditions prevented cameras aboard the rocket and the landing barge from recording good video of the impact, but there is plenty of other data to help determine what happened.

SpaceX engineers revealed that a loss of power in the grid fins caused a loss of control of the launcher, resulting in it being damaged on impact.

Musk tweeted the grid fins added to the rocket launched Saturday “worked extremely well from hypersonic velocity to subsonic, but ran out of hydraulic fluid right before landing.”

An upcoming flight will carry 50 percent more hydraulic fluid, Musk said. The mission “should have plenty of margin for landing attempt next month.”

ESA ATV-5 Georges Lemaitre loaded with cargo after integration with Ariane 5 launcher

All ATVs have been orbited by Ariane 5 launchers, beginning with "Jules Verne" in March 2008, which was followed by "Johannes Kepler" in February 2011, "Edoardo Amaldi" in March 2012, and last June's flight with "Albert Einstein."

Europe's fifth, and final, Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) is now integrated with its Ariane 5 launcher, enabling final cargo loading in preparation for Arianespace's July 24 mission from French Guiana.

The ATV is named after Belgian physicist and father of the Big Bang theory, Georges Lemaitre, and it will deliver fuel, air and more than 2,600 kg. of dry cargo to the International Space Station.

ESA ATV-5 cargo racks filled with cargo for ISS.

In addition, this ATV resupply spacecraft will perform maneuvers to maintain the facility's nominal orbit, as well as test new rendezvous sensors in space.

Using a hoist system set-up in Ariane 5's Final Assembly Building at the Spaceport, the remaining cargo is being loaded through the ATV's top hatch, carefully securing these bags supplied by the European, U.S. and Japanese space agencies.

The ATV program, managed by the European Space Agency (ESA), is part of Europe's contribution to the International Space Station's operation. Prime contractor is Airbus Defence and Space, which also is the industrial architect for Ariane 5.

All ATVs have been orbited by Ariane 5 launchers, beginning with "Jules Verne" in March 2008, which was followed by "Johannes Kepler" in February 2011, "Edoardo Amaldi" in March 2012, and last June's flight with "Albert Einstein."

Arianespace's latest ATV mission in support of International Space Station operations is designated Flight VA219 in the company's numbering system, and will utilize an Ariane 5 ES version of the heavy-lift workhorse.

Expedition 40 Preflight: Soyuz TMA-13M Launcher Rolls Out

The Soyuz TMA-13M spacecraft is rolled out to the launch pad by train on Monday, May 26, 2014, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. 

Launch of the Soyuz rocket is scheduled for May 29 and will send Expedition 40 Roscosmos commander Maxim Suraev, ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst and NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman on a five and a half month mission aboard the International Space Station.

Image Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky

ESA Launcher Controversy: Lighter engines a headache for EADS satellite launcher Ariane-6

EADS Arianespace rockets are said to excel at lifting the heaviest European payloads into space, but a new technology allowing for lighter satellites is causing another headache for an already fast-changing industry.

The number one commercial corporation monopolising the European launcher arena, EADS Arianespace is under intense pressure from a new slate of lower-priced rivals, including US start-up Space X Falcon 9 launcher.

But now lighter-load electric propulsion used by satellites once in space is also attacking the company's hold on the business.

Also known as ion or plasma engines, in 2012 US aerospace giant Boeing was the first to commercially offer a satellite engine that uses electricity from solar panels for thrust.

Most satellite makers followed suit in 2013.

Space X Falcon 9 launcher

While the thrust is weaker than chemical propelled engines, thus taking months instead of weeks to move a satellite after its launch to its final orbit, it uses much less propellant.

This can cut a satellite's launch weight by half, allowing it to be lifted by less powerful rockets, thus lowering costs and creating an opportunity for rivals.

To counter the threat by upstart Space X and other new competitors from India and Japan, the 20 nations that are part of the European Space Agency decided in November 2012 to develop a more powerful launcher and start studies on a second one.

The first is an update of their heavy-lift rocket, the Ariane 5, and should come on line by 2018.

EADS Arianespace 5 ME

The Ariane 5 ME, for midlife evolution, would increase the lift capacity of what is already the biggest commercial rocket to just over 11 tonnes from 10 tonnes.

Simultaneously, at the insistence of France, they began planning for a sleeker Ariane 6 to be ready around 2020 that would be capable of launching 6 tonnes.

To be profitable, the Ariane 5 series must carry two heavy satellites, which can entail delays.

By cutting launch costs, the Ariane 6 makes single satellite launches financially possibile.

Either-or, not both
But France's position has changed and is causing divisions with its ESA partners.

A report by France's national auditor released last week disclosed that Paris now wants to drop the Ariane 5 ME to keep down development costs and push forward with Ariane 6.

The alternative option of "pursuing the two programmes, according to a calendar still to be worked out ... risks a delay to Ariane 6 to a later date -- towards 2025," the auditor said.

Continuing with the Ariane 5 ME is clearly the preference of Berlin, France's top partner in the ESA.

Johann Woerner

"The German position is that we should continue with the Ariane 5 ME to get it onto the market as quick as possible and reflect on what the future launcher should be," the head of Germany's DLR space agency, Johann-Dietrich Woerner, told reporters.

"It won't be possible to finance both programmes 100 percent at the same time. We still need to decide if we move forward with Ariane 6," he said.

While the necessity of launching two satellites is a constraint, it also reduces fixed costs, he said.

Arianespace itself feels the Ariane 5 ME is well adapted for electric propulsion satellites, the first of which Space X is scheduled to launch at the end of this year.

Stephane Israel

After conducting a market study about electronic propulsion satellites, EADS Arianespace believes "there will be a lot of small and medium-sized satellites, and no longer the domination of big satellites that we have seen these last years," said chief executive Stephane Israel.

With a capacity to lift a payload of more than 11 tonnes, the Ariane 5 ME will prove advantageous in that it can lift multiple satellites.

"You can even put three satellites in an ME, a big one and two small ones," Israel told reporters.

"And Ariane 6, also powerful enough to lift two small satellites, will provide an "ultra-competitive" launch offer for customers," he said.

But the question remains whether a market exists for Ariane 6 in its current form and if smaller satellites prevail, it will also find itself with the same disadvantage as Ariane 5 of launching in pairs.

And it will be too big for medium-sized satellites, according to France's national auditor, which will be better served by the Russian Soyuz rockets used by Arianespace for that segment.

Economic Risk of Launchers
Launcher experts have been watching the launch vehicle industry for the past several decades and of all the interesting aspects of the business, the one that stands out the most is the fact that it is exceedingly difficult to make a profit in an industry that spends so much money.

Secondly, it is amazing that so many think they can make money providing launch services to so few customers.

A quick look around the world reveals there are dozens of launch vehicle families vying for the few sales that occur.

There is an old saying: "If you want to become a millionaire in the launch industry, you need to first be a billionaire." The road to success is, in fact, littered with bankrupt companies and ex-billionaires.

Low and behold, EADS Arianespace now finds itself faced with another financial dilemma.

Not only is the European launch company feeling the pressure of competition from the new U.S. startup, SpaceX, but the Euro/dollar exchange rate is also forcing a request to its sponsor, ESA, for more subsidies to shore up support for Ariane 5 operations at its Guiana Space Center in Kourou.

Arianespace claims it is taking steps to remain competitive with SpaceX. However, over the past few months Falcon 9 has begun servicing communications satellite operators, having launched its first two commercial GEO missions.



It is important to note that SpaceX is not subsidized, while EADS Arianespace continues to enjoy well over $100 million in annual gifts from the 20-nation European Space Agency.

The reality of the situation is that EADS Arianespace's subsidies make it non-competitive.

Competition is good. It leads to better products and services at lower prices. It is hard to feel sorry for EADS Arianespace, whose subsidies have been cut in recent years, while it complains about having to face real competition.

SpaceX Falcon 9 launcher: Launch aborted after engine trouble

Topped with a television broadcasting satellite, SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket fired its engines and was moments away from liftoff from Cape Canaveral on Thursday, but the commercial booster aborted the launch after computers detected the engines were too slow building up thrust.

Engineers raced to understand and resolve the problem, but they could not get comfortable enough to attempt the launch again before Thursday's time-constrained flight opportunity closed.

Officials had not announced a new target launch date Thursday evening, but SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk posted on his Twitter account the mission would likely be delayed a few days.

SpaceX was targeting liftoff of the 22-story rocket at 5:39 p.m. EST (2239 GMT) Thursday, aiming to achieve the first Thanksgiving Day launch from Florida's Space Coast since 1959.

The launch was pushed back to Thursday after multiple technical problems thwarted an initial launch attempt Monday.

ESA Vega VV02 Launcher: Ready for liftoff

ESA’s Vega VV02 rocket is ready for liftoff, 4 May, 2013 (GMT). 

Vega VV02 is the first of the five flights scheduled in ESA’s Vega Research and Technology Accompaniment – VERTA – programme, which aims to demonstrate the flexibility of the launch system. 

At a minimum rate of two launches per year, the programme will allow the smooth introduction of Vega for commercial exploitation. 

VV02 will loft Proba-V, the first of four ESA missions, into space. 

Proba-V carries a reduced version of the Vegetation instrument currently flying on the Spot satellites to provide a daily overview of global vegetation growth. 

This first VERTA flight will also demonstrate Vega's capability to launch multiple payloads into two different orbits. 

Proba-V, the prime payload, will be released first. The remaining two payloads: Vietnam Natural Resources, Environment and Disaster Monitoring Satellite (VNREDSat-1) built by Astrium for the Vietnamese government and the Estonian cubesat (ESTCube-1) will be released later, into a different orbit. 

Credit: ESA–S. Corvaja, 2013

Russian Soyuz TMA-11M Rocket Launches Expedition 38 crew to ISS

A Russian Soyuz TMA-11M rocket launches carrying the new Expedition 38 crew for the International Space Station at 11:14 p.m. EST on Nov. 6, 2013.

They also had on board the Olympic torch for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics and are expected to perform a number of stunts to advertise this event

The rocket carrying Expedition 38 flight engineers Rick Masstrachio of NASA, Koichi Wakata of Japan and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin lifted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan.

Soyuz Rocket Ready to Launch New Station Crew

The Soyuz TMA-11M rocket, adorned with the logo of the Sochi Olympic Organizing Committee and other related artwork, is seen in this long exposure photograph, as the service structure arms are raised into position at the launch pad on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2013, Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Launch of the Soyuz rocket is scheduled for November 7 and will send Expedition 38 Soyuz Commander Mikhail Tyurin of Roscosmos, Flight Engineer Rick Mastracchio of NASA and Flight Engineer Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency on a six-month mission aboard the International Space Station.

The crew is to take part in an Olympic torch stunt, and spacewalkers Kotov and Ryazanskiy will carry a lit torch outside the station on Saturday. 

The remainder of the torch stunt will be the return to Earth with Expedition 37, where, allegedly, the same flame will light the receptacle at the opening of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia.

Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Four O3b Network satellites integrated to Arianespace Soyuz launcher

The fifth Soyuz to be launched from French Guiana is now complete following the integration of its upper composite consisting of four O3b Networks satellites, their protective payload fairing and the Fregat upper stage.

This activity was performed at the Spaceport's ELS launch complex near the town of Sinnamary, beginning with the composite's transfer on a special transporter, followed by hoisting to the upper level of a purpose-built mobile gantry.

Final checkout of the Soyuz is now underway, leading to the Arianespace liftoff planned on Monday, June 24 at precisely 3:53:51 p.m., local time in French Guiana.

The cluster of four O3b Networks satellites to be orbited on Arianespace's upcoming flight will initiate the creation of a next-generation satellite network for telecommunications operators, Internet service providers, enterprise and government customers in emerging markets.

A total of 12 O3b Networks satellites are to be orbited by Arianespace in groups of four, with the next mission planned for later this year, and another in 2014.

These Ka-band relay platforms are produced by Thales Alenia Space, and have a liftoff mass of 700 kg. each.

Orbital Science: Preparation of NASA IRIS on Pegasus XL Launcher

Orbital Sciences team members move the second half of the payload fairing before it is placed over NASA's IRIS (Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph) spacecraft. 

The fairing connects to the nose of the Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL rocket that will lift the solar observatory into orbit. 

The work is taking place in a hangar at Vandenberg Air Force Base, where IRIS is being prepared for launch on a Pegasus XL rocket. 

Scheduled for launch from Vandenberg on June 26, 2013, IRIS will open a new window of discovery by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through the chromospheres and transition region into the sun's corona using spectrometry and imaging. 

IRIS fills a crucial gap in our ability to advance studies of the sun-to-Earth connection by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through the foundation of the corona and the region around the sun known as the heliosphere. 

Photo Credit: NASA/Tony Vauclin

ESA ATV-4: European cargo freighter Albert Einstein separates from Ariane-5 launcher

Europe's heaviest-ever cargo carrier to the International Space Station successfully separated from its rocket launcher an hour after liftoff on Wednesday to start a 10-day journey to the International Space Station (ISS).

The Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) Albert Einstein was rocketed into space from Europe's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on an Ariane 5 launcher at 6:52:11 pm local time (21:52:11 GMT).

It separated as planned on reaching an altitude of 260 kilometres (160 miles).

"ATV Albert Einstein has separated from our launcher," Stephane Israel, chief executive of satellite launch firm Arianespace announced at the control centre in Kourou.

The ATV-4 is ferrying a record cargo of 6.6 tonnes to the ISS—food, fuel, water, oxygen, science experiments and special treats for the orbiting crew.

The robot freighter must now deploy its four energy-generating solar panels to start its autonomous navigation, guided by starlight, to the space station.

It is set to dock with the ISS on June 15 at an altitude of 400 kilometres (250 miles) above the planet—at a speed of some 28,000 kilometres (18,000 miles) per hour.

Europe's ATV-4 ready to deliver essential cargo to Space Station

ESA’s fourth Automated Transfer Vehicle, Albert Einstein, is ready for launch on an Ariane 5 to the International Space Station on 5 June from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

Liftoff is set for 23:52 CEST (21:52 GMT), and three hours and four minutes later the vessel will separate from the launcher to begin ten days of health checks and orbital manoeuvres, bringing it to an automated docking with the Station on 15 June.

ATV Albert Einstein, named after the scientist most famous for developing the theory of relativity, will deliver essential supplies and reboost the Station’s altitude during its planned five-month stay in orbit.

With a launch mass of 20 235 kg, it is the heaviest spacecraft ever launched by Europe, and it is carrying the largest load of dry cargo yet to be ferried by any ATV.

The spacecraft is four vehicles in one, bringing equipment and supplies, replenishing the Station’s propellant tanks, keeping the orbital outpost aloft with its boosts, and providing a module for the astronauts to live in.

Albert Einstein, Fourth ATV attached to Ariane 5 launcher

Photo of the Automated Transfer Vehicle being prepared to move to the Ariane 5 final assembly building last week. 

Credit: ESA /CNES /Arianespace /Photo Optique video du CSG /P Baudon

Europe's next Automated Transfer Vehicle, set for launch in June to the International Space Station, was hoisted atop an Ariane 5 launcher in French Guiana on Friday.

The robotic spacecraft's tanks are filled with propellant, water, air and pure oxygen.

Technicians will load the ATV's cargo module with fresh food and other last-minute items over next week before the Ariane 5's 17.7-foot-diameter payload fairing is added to enshroud the resupply freighter.

Christened Albert Einstein, the cargo craft is Europe's fourth Automated Transfer Vehicle. When it blasts off June 5, the freighter will be the heaviest spacecraft ever launched by Europe - weighing in at an estimated 44,610 pounds, according to the European Space Agency.

It is also the largest vehicle to visit the space station since the retirement of the space shuttle. The ATV measures 32 feet long and 15 feet wide, and its four solar panels, arranged in a distinctive X-shaped patten, stretch out 73 feet tip-to-tip when extended in space.

Each ATV can haul three times more cargo than Russian Progress resupply spacecraft, and twice as much mass as SpaceX's Dragon cargo ship.

The massive spacecraft does not return cargo. At the end of each mission, it falls back into the atmosphere and burns up, disposing of trash in a safety zone over the Pacific Ocean.

The Albert Einstein spacecraft arrived last year at the European-run spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

Timed to the second in order to reach the space station, the launch is set for June 5 at 2136:59 GMT (5:36:59 p.m. EDT; 6:36:59 p.m. Kourou time).

The launch time could change slightly based on further tracking of the space station's orbit, according to Alberto Novelli, ESA's ATV 4 mission manager.

The Ariane 5 ES rocket, missing its payload, rolled to the final assembly building in Kourou in March. 

Credit: ESA /CNES /Arianespace /Photo Optique video du CSG /S Martin

Docking with the space station's Zvezda service module is scheduled for June 15.

Managers decided on May 8 to continue preparations for launch June 5, but engineers are analyzing a potential problem with a navigation aid attached to the space station's docking port.

Officials are concerned a stuck antenna on a Russian Progress resupply craft may have damaged a laser reflector mounted on the aft end of the Zvezda module.

Reflectors are used in concert with the ATV's laser-guided navigation system to feed range, orientation and closing rate information to the ATV's computers, which control the spacecraft's automatic approach to the space station.

An array of 26 reflectors is positioned on the back end of the Zvezda module, beaming laser light back to sensors on the ATV, creating unique light patterns captured and recognized by the spacecraft's cameras.

The ATV carries a backup system using telegoniometers, similar to police radar guns, to emit laser light at a different wavelength up to 10,000 times per second.

Cosmonauts Pavel Vinogradov and Roman Romanenko replaced one of the laser reflectors on a spacewalk April 19.

Engineers suspected contamination may have damaged the old reflector.

Novelli said the reflector suspected of damage from the Progress docking is in a different location and has a different use than the unit replaced during the April 19 spacewalk.

Until the Progress leaves the space station, there is no way to inspect the reflector without another spacewalk.

EADS Arianespace Vega: Lite Launcher is readied for its second mission

The four-stage Vega was conceived as a capable lightweight launcher, joining Arianespace's medium-lift Soyuz and heavyweight Ariane 5 to provide a complete family of vehicles that meet the company's motto of delivering "any payload, to any orbit.anytime."

The Spaceport's ZLV launch site in French Guiana is busy with activity as the second Vega undergoes its assembly for a mission scheduled in April.

Build-up of the smallest member in Arianespace's launcher family marked a new milestone this week when its solid propellant second-stage was integrated atop the first stage, which also uses solid propellant.

The vertical assembly process for Vega no. 2 is being performed on the ZLV launch pad, protected by a mobile gantry that will be withdrawn prior to the vehicle's liftoff.

This complex uses the same site previously employed for missions from French Guiana with the cornerstone Ariane 1 and 3 vehicles - having been updated and adapted where needed to meet operational requirements of the new lightweight launcher.

Proba-V Satellite

Vega's upcoming second flight will orbit the Proba-V and VNREDSat-1A satellites, and follows the light-lift vehicle's on-target maiden launch in February 2012 with a payload of nine spacecraft - which served as its qualification mission.

The Proba-V passenger for Vega's no. 2 launch was produced by prime contractor Qinetiq Space Belgium for the European Space Agency, and will monitor global vegetation growth.

With an estimated mass of 160 kg., it is to operate in a Sun-synchronous polar orbit, carrying a newly-designed version of the Vegetation instrument already flown on the CNES Spot series of Earth observation satellites - which also were orbited by Arianespace.

Vega's VNREDSat-1A co-passenger is an optical observation spacecraft built by Astrium on behalf of the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology.

Vegetation Instrument

With a mass of approximately 120 kg., it will support the Vietnamese government's initiative to create an infrastructure that enables better monitoring and studies of climate change effects, improves predictions and actions to prevent natural disasters, while also optimizing the management of its natural resources.

The four-stage Vega was conceived as a capable lightweight launcher, joining Arianespace's medium-lift Soyuz and heavyweight Ariane 5 to provide a complete family of vehicles that meet the company's motto of delivering "any payload, to any orbit.anytime."

Developed in a European program led by Italy's ASI space agency and industrial prime contractor ELV SpA., Vega is tailored to orbit small- to medium-sized satellites, including institutional and scientific spacecraft.

ESA Ariane-5 Launch preparations: Mission ATV - Albert Einstein

Ariane 5’s cryogenic core stage is suspended over the launch table in the Spaceport’s Launcher Integration Building. Credits: ESA/CNES/Arianespace/Optique Video du CSG

The launcher for Arianespace’s fourth flight with Automated Transfer Vehicle 4 (ATV-4), Albert Einstein, is rapidly taking shape at the Spaceport, preparing it for liftoff in the spring from French Guiana with the International Space Station’s latest resupply spacecraft.

During activity this month in the Spaceport’s Launcher Integration Building, the heavy-lift vehicle’s core cryogenic stage was suspended over the mobile launch table, followed by positioning of its two solid propellant boosters.

The launcher’s EPS storable propellant upper stage will then be installed, readying the Ariane 5 for transfer to the Final Assembly Building, where the latest ATV (named after Albert Einstein) is to be mated.

ESA: France, Germany seek Ariane Launcher compromise

ESA, the European Space Agency, made progress towards a deal on budget and a successor to the Ariane 5 rocket at talks on space strategy.

Initiating a two-day meeting against a backdrop of financial constraints, many countries backed proposals to keep spending unchanged over the next few years.

Major ESA players France and Germany seemed to be bridging their differences over a future launcher.

"There is quite a strong view in the council in favour of flat cash," UK's Willetts told reporters, referring to a stable budget.

"My starting point is that... it ought to be able to be possible in tough times to deliver the efficiency savings," he said. "Other major players have made that point as well but as of this moment it is unresolved."

ESA spokesman Franco Bonacina said "progress has been made on certain things" but "for the problematic issues... the debate is still going on", and the outcome would come on Wednesday.

The meeting -- the first at ministerial level in four years -- takes place against a backdrop of money worries, a fast-shifting satellite market and the growing strength of the US private sector in near-Earth space.

ESA Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain told AFP last week he hoped ministers would back a three-year budget of 12 billion euros ($15 billion) but added he would be happy with "something around 10 billion euros".

It would mean a roughly stable budget compared with current levels, "but given the current situation, this is not small beer", he said.

One of the most crucial agenda items is deciding on a future rocket launcher to replace the ageing Ariane 5.

The new rocket should provide more flexible launch options for the swiftly-changing satellite market and wean itself off the 120 million euros a year that the Ariane 5 needs from ESA's budget each year.

France is pushing for a smaller, sleeker Ariane 6, which would require investment of about four billion euros, culminating in a maiden flight in 2021 if all goes well.

But industrialists fear that this timescale is way too long and will give the advantage to fleet-footed rivals in commercial satellite launches.

They prefer a German-backed option, an Ariane 5 ME (for "Midlife Evolution"), which would be ready by 2017 at a putative cost of two billion euros.

"I think we are probably heading towards a compromise, or some kind of understanding, between France and Germany," Willetts told reporters, in remarks confirmed by two other sources.

Those sources said the hoped-for compromise would approve the "ME" and over the next two years study how its technology could be used in a future Ariane 6 to save money.

Weighing on many minds is not just belt-tightening but also the rise of the US private sector.

The bogeyman is the US firm SpaceX, which last month sent an unmanned freighter, Dragon, to the International Space Station under a NASA initiative to delegate resupply missions to private corporations.

In other developments in Naples, ministers agreed to launch a dialogue with the European Union about clarifying what each institution will do in space.

The risk of turf battles has emerged with the EU's Galileo satellite navigation system, which is being launched by ESA.

ESA is an intergovernmental agency that is legally separate from the 27-nation EU; two of its members (Norway and Switzerland) are not part of the EU club, and Canada is an associate member.

ESA ATV-3 (Edoardo Amaldi) set to provide annual service to Space Station

The third Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV-3), to be launched to the International Space Station in March 2012, is named after Italian physicist and spaceflight pioneer Edoardo Amaldi. 

ATVs are an essential contribution by Europe for supplying and maintaining the International Space Station.

The vessels are named after great European scientists and visionaries to highlight Europe’s deep roots in science, technology and culture.

Credits: ESA

Ariane 5 ES launcher for the ATV Edoardo Amaldi is taking shape at Europe's Spaceport in Kourou as the cryogenic main stage, with its the Vulcain 2 engine, was hoisted to vertical position inside the Launcher Integration Building. 

The lower composite of the launcher - the rocket without the payload and fairing - is assembled from the main central stage and two solid boosters in this 58-m high facility.

Credits: ESA, Arianespace, Optique Video du CSG - J.M. Guillon

US Air Force Reusable Rockets: Giant Leap From Spaceport America

Lockheed Martin’s Reusable Booster System Flight Demonstrator Program is under way, designed to advance the affordability, operability and responsiveness of future spacelift capabilities over current expendable launchers. 

This image shows how the vehicle would land.

CREDIT: Lockheed Martin

Billed as the nation’s first dedicated commercial spaceport, New Mexico's Spaceport America is becoming a desirable location to experiment with new types of reusable booster systems.

Armadillo Aerospace, of Heath, Texas, used the site on Dec. 4 to test their STIG A reusable suborbital rocket technology. The rocket shot to a projected suborbital altitude of 137,500 feet (about 42 kilometers) above the Earth.

The STIG A flight demonstrated a number of technologies that Armadillo is assessing for a human-passenger suborbital program, said Neil Milburn, vice president of program management at Armadillo Aerospace.

Armadillo's test program is geared toward providing a way for civilians to access suborbital space through a partnership with Space Adventures Ltd., a space tourism firm based in Vienna, Va.

Time lapse movie: Mobile Launcher Moves

The mobile launcher returned from Launch Pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida following two weeks of structural and other testing. The 355-foot-tall structure is to be used by the Space Launch System.

ESA prepares new technologies for future launchers

ESA and the DLR German Space Center fired a Texus rocket 263 km into space on 27 November to test a new way of handling propellants on Europe’s future rockets.

Texus 48 lifted off at 10:10 GMT (11:10 CET) from the Esrange Space Centre near Kiruna in northern Sweden on its 13-minute flight.

During the six minutes of weightlessness – mimicking the different stages of a full spaceflight – two new devices were tested for handling super-cold liquid hydrogen and oxygen propellants and then recovered for analysis.

Building on over 30 years of Texus missions, flight 48 was the first to demonstrate a new technology for future launchers.

DLR procured the rocket for this flight, which was performed under ESA’s Cryogenic Upper Stage Technologies (CUST) project as part of the Future Launchers Preparatory Programme (FLPP).

ESA Portal - Europe prepares new technologies for future launchers

Improved upper stage
ESA is working on a restartable cryogenic upper stage to improve Europe’s launchers.

Liquids naturally float around in weightlessness but to ensure engine ignition after a long coast in low-gravity, propellant must be held ready at the tank’s outlet using ‘capillary’ forces – the same force that helps paper towels soak up water.

Although this has already been mastered for launchers and satellites that use storable liquids, higher-performance cryogenic fluids are more difficult to handle.

On Texus 48, liquid nitrogen represented the cryogenic propellants to ease cost and safety constraints, and simplify the thermal design.

“The launch of Texus 48 demonstrating new technologies for future rockets was a success. It also shows great cooperation with DLR, where joint efforts made this flight possible on time,” said Guy Pilchen, Future Launchers Preparatory Programme Manager.