News Summaries for December 13

3 Firms Join Forces to Vie for Ares Work (Huntsville Times)
Three aerospace companies opened a program office Tuesday to compete for work on NASA's Ares I crew rocket. ATK Launch Systems, Lockheed Martin Inc. and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne have formed Team Ares and said they will bid to develop the upper stage of the Ares I rocket. The office is headed by former shuttle astronaut Jim Halsell, who retired from NASA in November to take over as ATK's vice president and program manager for Ares upper-stage work. "Huntsville really is the center of the universe when it comes to NASA's propulsion efforts, and we want to be near our customer - Marshall Space Flight Center - who is managing the Ares program," Halsell said.

Astronauts Forced To Take Shelter From Violent Solar Storm In Space (Source: WKMG)
A violent solar explosion sent a dangerous wave of radiation through space late Tuesday, prompting NASA to order the crews of Discovery and the International Space Station to take shelter overnight. The solar flare erupted around 9:40 p.m., unleashing enough radiation to disrupt radio communications on Earth and in orbit while endangering astronauts circling 220 miles above the planet. NASA flight surgeons and agency radiation experts determined that the burst of highly energetic particles approached a limit that made preventative action prudent,

Shuttle's Left Wing OK After Micrometeorite Strike (Source: WKMG)
Sensors inside Discovery's left wing indicated that a micrometeorite might have struck that area while the shuttle crew was sleeping early Monday. Mission managers wanted the astronauts to take a precautionary look to avoid ordering up a time-consuming focused inspection on the fifth day of a busy flight. An extra inspection of heat-shield panels on the wing Monday night showed no obvious damage, and mission managers said minor damage to a tile on the underside of the orbiter is not expected to be a problem.

New Asian Space Poll Finds Support (Source: Asia Travel Tips)
A new CNN/TIME poll reveals that almost two thirds of people in Asia (59%) believe that expenditure on space exploration is justified. Of the eleven markets polled, those who most strongly support the venture into space are Korea (83%), Hong Kong (73%), and Thailand (72%). Those where it is believed by the majority to be a waste of resources are Indonesia (56%) and the Philippines (51%). An even higher number of respondents (68%) believe that Asian countries should take a more active role in space exploration. Validating China and Japan’s efforts to gain a foothold in the space race, support for Asia’s active participation runs highest in Thailand (92%), Korea (91%) and Hong Kong (80%). On average two thirds of respondents would be interested in taking a trip into space. If money were no object, 49% of Indians said they would be very interested in becoming a space tourist, alongside 46% of Thais, 44% of Singaporeans and 43% of Hong Kong citizens. Those most uninterested in a trip to space were people from the Philippines (51%) and Japan (52%).

Friday is New Target for Wallops Rocket Launch (Source: DelMarVa Now)
NASA officials said they still intend to launch a U.S. Air Force rocket into space from the Wallops Island Flight Facility, with Friday the earliest possible launch date. A planned launch for Monday was nixed after officials found a software problem on the TacSat-2 satellite that is to be placed in orbit. NASA officials said Tuesday they were still running analysis and testing on the satellite's programs. If NASA cannot do the launch Friday, the satellite could be launched at anytime up to Dec. 22.

Spacewalkers Add 2-Ton Girder to Space Station (Source: USA Today)
Two spacewalking astronauts and a 58-foot robotic arm carefully slid a new piece of the International Space Station into place Tuesday. The task was considered by NASA officials to be one of the most nerve-racking moments of a seven-day building blitz at the station. Two astronauts in the station used the station's robotic arm like a construction crane to hoist a 2-ton girder into position, squeezing it past an electronics box less than 3 inches away. If the two objects had collided, the box would have fallen apart. NASA's flight rules normally require the arm and its cargo to stay at least 5 feet from station structures.

Earmark Ban May Save NASA Funds (Source: Florida Today)
Democrats in Congress appear to have given NASA exactly what the space agency's top officer wanted -- no more budget-busting pet projects. Democrats, who will take over the powerful Appropriations committees in the House and Senate in January, declared a moratorium on new special projects, also known as "earmarks," until reforms are adopted to clean up the legislative practice now synonymous with waste and abuse. That could be good news for NASA, which has seen increasingly large slices of its budget committed to congressional projects that appear to have little relation to NASA's core pursuits.

Since 2001, Congress has directed NASA to spend more than $3 billion on these projects, most of them small enterprises sought by lawmakers intent on sending money back home, according to NASA and congressional records. Those projects include funding for planetariums, museums, education programs and equipment for universities. The earmark freeze puts in question the future of the Technological Research and Development Authority based in Titusville. The state agency has received almost two-thirds of its budget through NASA earmarks.

$1 Billion ‘Mikulski Miracle’ on Ice (Source: Space News)
NASA’s chances of receiving a $1 billion emergency supplement to its 2007 budget appear to be dead.

Galileo Oversight Group Remains Without a Home (Source: Space News)
European transport ministers failed to agree Dec. 12 on where the government body overseeing the Galileo satellite navigation project will be headquartered. Eleven of the European Union’s 25 member states are vying to host the organization, and none of them has been willing to stand down to permit a compromise.

No Raise for NASA for 2007 (Source: Space News)
NASA’s prospects for even a modest increase for 2007 were shattered with the announcement that the incoming Congress intends to scrap all remaining spending bills and fund all agencies except for the Defense Department and Homeland Security at their present levels next year.

ILS Proton Successfully Launches Measat 3 (Source: Space News)
Malaysia’s Measat Satellite Systems Sdn Bhd is expected to begin commercial operations of its Measat 3 telecommunications satellite in February following its successful Dec. 12 launch aboard an International Launch Services (ILS) Proton-M rocket, Measat and ILS announced.

Embry-Riddle Partners on Winning Workforce and Education Grants (Source: ERAU)
The Advanced Learning Environment (ALE), a web-based learning system operated by Embry-Riddle after the dissolution of the Florida Space Research Institute, is featured in two new grant programs aimed at mathematics education and high tech workforce development. Embry-Riddle will develop new ALE biotechnology training content under a Workforce Florida program announced last week. Embry-Riddle will also develop new mathematics content for K-12 teachers under a Mathematics & Science Partnership grant from the Florida Department of Education. Embry-Riddle is partnered with multiple universities on these new grants, which are led by Nova Southeastern University and Florida Community College at Jacksonville. ALE was originally developed for aerospace workforce training and access is free for Florida users.

ISRO Set To Test Reusable Space Vehicle (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
Between January 10 and 15, 2007, India's four-stage Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) will thunder off the launch pad at the Satish Dhawan spaceport, carrying with it three satellites. The mission is being viewed with considerable interest by international space agencies because India will evaluate reusable launch vehicle (RLV) technology for the first time. The three payloads that will be carried by the rocket are the indigenous Cartosat-2, a space capsule recovery experiment (SRE) and a 50 kilogram Indonesian satellite called Lapan.

Budget Deal to Keep NASA Funded at 2006 Levels (Source: SpaceToday.net)
A plan by the incoming Democratic leadership of Congress to resolve a number of outstanding appropriations bills for 2007, including one that funds NASA, would keep the space agency's budget at the same level as 2006. On Monday the incoming chairman of the appropriations committees in the House and Senate, Rep. David Obey and Sen. Robert Byrd, said that planned to replace the incomplete appropriations bills remaining in Congress for the 2007 fiscal year with a continuing resolution that would run through the end of the fiscal year. NASA and many other federal agencies have been operating since October 1 under a series of short-term continuing resolutions that keep them funded at 2006 levels; the year-long resolution would also keep spending at 2006 levels with only minor adjustments. That decision would be a setback to NASA and its supporters, who had sought a modest budget increase for NASA in 2007. The decision also ends a separate bipartisan plan by two senators to provide a billion-dollar boost to the NASA budget. The continuing resolution, however, would also be free of earmarks that traditionally have sapped money from the budget for specific pet projects.

City Backs Election on Spaceport Funding (Source: Las Cruces Sun-News)
The Las Cruces City Council agreed Monday to draft a resolution calling for a referendum election that could provide as much as $6.5 million a year in gross receipts tax funding to construct and operate a commercial spaceport near Upham. City Manager Terrence Moore said the resolution will be drafted and presented to the council at its Jan. 16 meeting. If the resolution is approved by the seven-member council, a special referendum election to let voters decide if a one-quarter of 1 percent gross receipts tax increase will be enacted could be conducted April 3. The resolution is expected to be similar to one that will be considered by the Doña Ana County Commission. In October, commissioners authorized county staff members to draft an ordinance for a spaceport sales tax and place the issue on a ballot.

Northrop Wins Buzz Aldrin Space Education Award (Source: Los Angeles Business)
Northrop Grumman Corp. has received the California Space Authority's 2006 Buzz Aldrin Space Education and Workforce award for its weightless flights of discovery teacher development program. The program uses science workshops and parabolic "zero-gravity" aircraft flights to help educators teach students how math, science and engineering principles apply in microgravity space environments.