News Summaries for December 4

The L2 Alternative (Source: Space Review)
NASA is pressing ahead with its implementation of the Vision for Space Exploration, with the primary goal of returning humans to the Moon. However, as Jeff Foust reports, some people are drawing up alternative plans that bypass the Moon as a fallback should political changes cause the Vision to fall out of favor. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/759/1 to view the article.

EELV or Never? (Source: Space Review)
The EELV launch vehicles may be around for decades, but that is hardly surprising given the longevity of other rockets. Wayne Eleazer argues that what is both surprising and disappointing is how the EELV came to be in the first place. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/758/1 to view the article.

ISS Orbit to be Raised Again on Tuesday (Source: Interfax)
The orbit of the International Space Station will be raised in the early hours of Tuesday to accommodate the next Space Shuttle docking. "The engines of Progress spacecraft will be fired at 00:36 a.m. Moscow time on December 5. The adjustment will be conducted at the initiative of the U.S. side." The orbit will be raised by approximately eight kilometers. An earlier attempt to adjust the orbit failed when Russian rocket engines shut off early.

Speedway in the Sky - Rocket Racing League Aims for Take-Off (Source: Orange County Register)
Granger Whitelaw is giving me a sales pitch that fairly echoes through the mouth piece of his phone. "We've built a 21st-century sport with 21st-century technology for 21st-century people," says Whitelaw, chief executive of the new Rocket Racing League, which is more down-to-earth than its name suggests. Pilots in small, rocket-powered planes will fly through computer-generated "tunnels" in the sky, blending the mind-set of NASA and NASCAR. The virtual track is about a mile wide, two miles long and a mile high.

Spectators on the ground will see what the pilots see; the plane's course through the air will be projected on large TV screens at the airports that host races. The footage also will be broadcast on the Internet, and RRL says it is working on software that would allow computer users to "virtually" fly next to the planes – an option meant to appeal to the computer gaming crowd.

NASA Trimming Moon Project Costs (Source: Florida Today)
Some government auditors worry that NASA could come up billions of dollars short of the money needed to return U.S. astronauts to the moon. However, the agency says it already is closing that long-term funding gap by making money-saving design changes to its proposed Orion spaceships and the Ares rockets that will launch them. Those and other changes made since NASA first estimated the cost of going back to the moon are making people inside the agency more confident they can complete the project on time and within its budget. Today, NASA plans to reveal details about what astronauts will do on the moon and how they will do it.

The GAO, an investigative body used by Congress to audit and investigate federal government agencies and their projects, reported earlier this year that there is a huge difference between NASA's estimated cost for returning to the moon and the program's projected budget between now and 2025. The gap, according to the report, is at least $18 billion but could be much higher because little is known about the costly surprises that come up in any big space project. For instance, not included in current estimates are the as-yet-unknown costs of shutting down the shuttle program after its final flights in 2010. Visit http://www.flatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061204/NEWS02/612040330/1007/news02 to view the article.

Advanced Chinese Space Technology Initiative Off To Disastrous Start (Source: Aviation Week)
The catastrophic breakdown of China's new Sinosat 2 direct broadcast satellite is the worst spacecraft failure in the history of the Chinese space program and a major setback to China's development of a new generation of larger, more powerful civilian and military satellites. The failure of this largest, most complex spacecraft ever developed by the Chinese--launched by China's most powerful rocket--portends a shakeup in the management of Chinese space system testing and quality control. The spacecraft's solar arrays spanning more than 100 ft. and its large antennas all failed to deploy as Sinosat 2 was maneuvered toward its geosynchronous orbit station west of Sumatra.

Our view: Pull Out the Stops (Source: Florida Today)
Florida -- which is facing perhaps 5,000 to 8,000 job cuts at Kennedy Space Center with the shuttle program's end -- must seriously accelerate its efforts to attract new space industries. After years of inaction and falling behind other states, a positive development is coming into view through a set of objectives that Space Florida, the state's new space-recruiting agency, plans to advance to grow space jobs in 2007. The strategy was largely crafted by the Economic Development Commission of Florida's Space Coast -- long a leader on this critical front -- and wisely adopted by the agency.

The plan outlines five areas: 1) Using economic incentives and other lures to attract the private company that will fly unmanned rockets loaded with supplies to the space station after the shuttle is retired: 2) Strong monetary support from the Legislature to convince the contractor that will build the Aries rockets that will carry the Orions into orbit to manufacture the vehicles here; 3) Tout Cape Canaveral and the shuttle runway at KSC as staging grounds for space tourism, which is an infant industry poised for liftoff; 4) Press a management plan that would steer subcontracts from new space business to companies across the state, including those in Brevard County, West Palm Beach, Jacksonville and Tampa; and 5) Foster a climate to lure commercial space ventures to NASA's Space Exploration Park at KSC, which could serve as a hub for moon-Mars research.

Accomplishing these goals will be extremely difficult because Florida has dithered for so long and is swimming against the tide. For instance, companies go to the state that offers the best economic incentives, which means Florida will have to ante-up or fail. Meanwhile, New Mexico and California are light-years ahead in attracting start-up space tourism firms. The bottom line: Space Florida and its new boss, Steve Kohler, should work closely with its experienced EDC allies and others to get Crist and lawmakers to back this important effort. Visit http://www.flatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061204/OPINION/612040308/1004/opinion to view the article.