News Summaries for November 28

China Confirms Sinosat-2 Failure (Source: SpaceToday.net)
Chinese officials confirmed Tuesday that a new communications satellite launched a month ago has failed and will have to be replaced. Sinosat-2 was launched October 29, but one of the spacecraft's solar panels apparently failed to deploy properly, depriving the spacecraft of the power needed to operate. Although word of the spacecraft's problems leaked out over a week ago, state-run media confirmed the failure only Tuesday.SinoSat-2 was planned to provide direct television broadcasting services throughout China. While another such satellite, SinoSat-3, is scheduled to launch next May, a replacement for SinoSat-2 will take at least three years to build and launch, according to SinoSat officials.

Space Week Lifts Off for Brevard Students (Source: Florida Today)
Brevard County sixth-graders will storm the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex today to learn about space exploration from NASA scientists and former astronauts. Today marks the official launch of the fourth annual Space Week, an effort to provide nearly 6,000 students first-hand knowledge of KSC. About 800 students will visit the center each day for the next nine days. They will participate in a scavenger hunt and experiments with NASA scientists and learn about NASA's plans to build and launch a new crew exploration vehicle back to the moon.

During the summer, a committee of Brevard teachers worked with NASA and the Kennedy Space Center education departments to develop activity guides and curriculum. The goal is to inspire students to continue studies in math and sciences. The students also will receive complimentary passes to return to the center with their families.

NASA Continues Preparations for Dec. 7 Discovery Launch (Source: Florida Today)
Preparations for the launch of Discovery are continuing at Kennedy Space Center. Senior NASA and contractor managers over the next two days will meet for a "flight readiness review." They are expected to set Dec. 7 as the official launch date.

Technical Problems Plague U.S. Plans for Missile Defense (Source: AIA)
The $950 million radar rig known as SBX is months away from being put to proper use. The rig is an illustration of how technical problems have stood in the way of the Pentagon's plan for a missile shield. This year, DOD is spending $9.3 billion on missile defense.

New Mexico Spaceport Launch Moved Back (Source: Las Cruces Sun)
A second attempt to reach space from the Spaceport America site is not likely to happen this year as had been hoped, but the number of flights scheduled for next year has now doubled. UP Aerospace, a Connecticut-based company, successfully launched a sounding rocket — dubbed SpaceLoft XL — in September, but the craft failed to reach space. Company officials said Tuesday that plans to try again by the end of the year have now been scrubbed. UP Aerospace had hoped to be back at the spaceport, about 45 miles north of Las Cruces, for another shot at history by the end of the year. But the company is still working to determine what went wrong during their first launch. They hope to launch again in the first quarter of 2007.

New Mexico Space Museum Opening Exhibit (Source: Alamogordo Daily News)
A private opening to showcase the new SpaceShipOne exhibit at the New Mexico Museum of Space History is scheduled for Dec. 9, featuring several speakers representing the new aerospace industry in New Mexico. Speakers currently on the morning's agenda include representatives from Starchaser, the Rocket Racing League and the X PRIZE Foundation. The event is a fundraiser for the International Space Hall of Fame Foundation's new museum building fund.

Home Improvement on Mars (Source: TCS Daily)
The importance of being able to fix and build things will only increase as space operations are conducted for longer periods and further from Earth. Habitation on the moon or Mars may involve prefabricated domes or tubes, for instance, but will also require improvisation, patch-ups, and knowledge that can only be derived from a close look at the details of an alien environment. Deep-space missions, much like fixing up old houses, will require figuring out what to do, not just following an instruction manual. A major draw for humans to space will be the possibility of doing something once you're there. Over time it should include the possibility of owning and developing property on celestial bodies.

In addition to developing a system of space property rights might, space bonds linked to those property rights could be a valuable incentive for space exploration. At present, neither public nor private entities have any accepted way of acquiring extraterrestrial property...The people who live on Mars will be those who have the skills and desire to build a house there, brick by pressurized brick.

Effort Underway to Save Centennial Challenges Program (Source: Space Frontier Foundation)
The Space Exploration Alliance, the Space Frontier Foundation, and the X Prize Foundation have come together to call on Congress to support and expand Centennial Challenges, NASA's space prize program. Created with an appropriation of just under $10 million in FY2005, Centennial Challenges is currently returning highly leveraged and efficient research, development, and engineering benefits to NASA at extremely low costs – and stands ready to accomplish even loftier goals if given additional funding. Unfortunately, although the House of Representatives voted to support the program in 2007, such funding was zeroed out in the 2007 Senate appropriations bill for NASA. If the program is to be restored to full funding, it must happen during Congressional conference deliberations in the final phase of the budget process.