News Summaries for December 1

Now, a Space Monopoly (Source: Air Force Magazine)
The federal government’s two main suppliers of medium and heavy-lift rockets, Boeing and Lockheed Martin, have been cleared to merge their businesses into a space monopoly—the United Launch Alliance. The Federal Trade Commission, which announced the decision in October, said it recognized that the move will hurt competition and boost costs, but believed it was necessary to maintain assured access to space. The two firms supply not only the Defense Department but also NASA and other agencies.

Boeing and Lockheed officials unveiled the ULA plan in mid-2005 and had been awaiting FTC clearance ever since. The two companies, which have been competing against each other in the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program, have been losing money on their launch and satellite operations because there hasn’t been enough business to justify their investment. They are now free to consolidate staffs and facilities.

The EELV program began in the early 1990s, when a forecasted boom in the satellite and launch business led the Air Force to structure its rocket competitions such that it would only pay for services, leaving development and infrastructure costs to be borne by the suppliers. It was expected that USAF would get a good deal on space services if it procured them from a humming assembly line of commercial sales. However, the boom in the commercial space market never appeared and costs climbed rapidly on Boeing’s Delta II and Delta IV and Lockheed Martin’s Atlas V programs.

ULA Deal Finally Closes (Source: SpaceToday.net)
The merger of the government operations of the nation's two largest launch vehicle companies finally closed on Friday, over a year and a half after it was initially proposed. The United Launch Alliance (ULA) combines the government launch operations of Lockheed Martin, developer of the Atlas 5, and Boeing, developer of the Delta 2 and 4. The ULA was first proposed in May 2005 but was delayed by an extended antitrust review by the federal government. The Federal Trade Commission finally approved the ULA this fall, concluding that the national security benefits of the merger outweighed any monopoly concerns. ULA will be headquartered in Denver, where Lockheed has its launch vehicle operations, with manufacturing of both Atlas and Delta vehicles to be consolidated at Boeing's factory in Alabama.

ULA Florida Imacts Unclear (Source: Florida Today)
Boeing and Lockheed Martin called Friday "Day One" of the new United Launch Alliance venture, a 50-50 partnership modeled after a similar structure they used to create United Space Alliance to win the contract for day to day operations of NASA's space shuttle fleet. The new executives of ULA are being cautious about predicting potential job losses. They're candid that there will be reductions from the existing 3,800 employees. They say they hope to handle that through attrition and other means, preventing layoffs. They also say the changes will come slow, focusing first on administrative and manufacturing rather than on launch services.

Almost 800 people work on Boeing's Delta and Lockheed's Atlas rockets at Cape Canaveral. As to that question, new United Launch Alliance chief operation officer Dan Collins (who came from Boeing) had this to say: "We will maintain key jobs that need to be rocket system specific. There are some jobs where people will be focused on Atlas, and some people focused on Delta. But there will be a common pool of people who could work on either system."

Potential Danger: Moon Hit By More Space Rocks Than Thought (Source: Space.com)
Potentially dangerous small space rocks are smashing into the Moon a lot more often than was expected, according to an ongoing NASA study. "We've now seen 11 and possibly 12 lunar impacts since we started monitoring the Moon one year ago," said Bill Cooke, head of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. "That's about four times more hits than our computer models predicted." If further study proves the pace to be accurate, it could figure into plans for putting people on the Moon, according to a NASA statement issued today. A collision with a spacesuit or a habitation module, even from a small object, could be fatal.

Wallops Launch Carries Buzz to Develop East Coast Hub (Source: Pilot Online)
With three more rocket launches planned at the spaceport next year – two involving Defense Department customers and the other government and commercial clients – the economic prospects at the new Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) look promising. The spaceport owns two launch pads and other infrastructure on Wallops Island but leases the land from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility. Wallops will act as mission control for the spaceport’s launch. Inside the facility’s range control center – located six miles from the launch pad on the second floor of a stucco-coated former Navy barracks – workers will track such things as the rocket’s speed, position and heading on a bank of computers and wall-mounted monitoring screens.

The launch will allow Wallops to show potential government and commercial customers how the facility can send payloads into space in a fraction of the time and cost typically required, said John Campbell, the facility’s director. The price tag for this launch, including the cost of the rocket and the satellites, is estimated at $60 million; it was pulled together in six months. That’s compared to the standard 18 months of launch preparation, and expenses easily running more than $100 million.

California Space Authority Releases Strategic Plan (Source: San Luis Obispo Tribune)
The 2007-2010 strategic plan for the California space enterprise community was unveiled Thursday. The plan identifies five key initiatives: a) Support space business development, retention and growth; b) Sustain and enhance California space-related manufacturing and its infrastructure; c) Foster space-related science, research and technology development and innovation; d) Increase space-related education; and e) Educate the general public and local, state and federal policymakers about the benefits and needs of California space enterprise. "Over 200 individuals contributed to this plan. It is truly a collaborative effort," said Andrea Seastrand, executive director of California Space Authority and a former Central Coast congresswoman.

Nasa Looks to a New Frontier by Building Telescope on the Moon (Source: TimesOnline)
The most powerful radiotelescope yet devised is to be built on the Moon, under plans being put together by NASA for its 2018 lunar mission. Mike Griffin, the head of the US space agency, said the construction of a telescope is being “factored into” the mission. It is intended to push forward the exploration of space and, eventually, help to identify how mankind can reach other planets in and outside the solar system. A radiotelescope on the Moon would offer astronomers and physicists an unrivalled opportunity to see farther into the cosmos than ever before and in more detail.