News Summaries for January 1

U.S., Russia, China and Japan plan to extend their reach in space in 2007 (Source: Orange County Register)
Five missions to the International Space Station. Two to the moon. One to Mars. Another to an asteroid with craters twice the size of Orange County. The 2007 space docket is long and inspired. This could be among the most productive years yet for humans and robots working in the wild black yonder. Or it could be a bust. NASA is struggling to keep its fragile space shuttle fleet flying. Without the shuttles, the agency can't finish building space station, which has already cost an estimated $35 billion and is only half finished.

All five shuttle flights scheduled for 2007 are devoted to expanding the station so that it can eventually double its crew size to six and become a major research outpost. The lunar missions also represent a technological challenge for the two nations involved – Japan and China. Here's hoping for success. There's much at stake, and many of missions involve contributions from Orange County and the rest of California.

Orion On Track But Overweight; Funding Crunch Could Hit In '07 (Source: Aerospace Daily)
NASA's Orion crew exploration vehicle remains on schedule to carry humans to the International Space Station no later than 2014, and possibly earlier, but it will need to go on a New Year's diet to lose about 3,000 pounds of excess weight. Managers are confident the weight can be trimmed, but they are still studying how the lack of a NASA appropriations bill will affect Orion spending in 2007. Congress adjourned without passing one, and spending levels set by the continuing resolution adopted instead - based on last year's levels - could start to pinch in a few months.

NASA in 2006 set a final configuration for the capsule, which is being developed as a safer route to get crews of six to low Earth orbit and ultimate four-member crews into orbit around the moon. Last month, engineers from NASA and Orion prime contractor Lockheed Martin finished merging design concepts from Lockheed Martin, losing bidder Northrop Grumman/Boeing and two NASA-backed approaches. By picking "the best of all those concepts," Orion went about 3,000 pounds over the 62,000 pounds it is planned to weigh when it takes off with a crew of four to rendezvous with its lunar injection stage in Earth orbit. That figure includes the standard weight growth allowances for every subsystem.

Marshall Engineers Set to Refine Ares Rocket Design (Source: Huntsville Times)
NASA managers hope the coming year will bring key elements of the space agency's new Ares rockets and the design of a lunar outpost into sharper definition. Reports in the aerospace trade press say the Ares is too heavy and underpowered to loft the six-seat version of the Orion crew capsule to the space station, and reports have surfaced that the rocket faces design difficulties with small stabilizing rockets that adjust its roll just after launch.

Like All Else, Space Exploration Goes Global (Source: New York Times)
The skies could get crowded in 2007. This time around it’s not just a space race between the United States and the Soviet Union. New countries, and some rich people, will make it more of a space roller derby. Expect developments from China, which has planned an orbital flight and spacewalk for 2007, and India, which has scheduled an unmanned lunar mission for next year. Both nations are hungry for the kind of international science cred that comes with being a spacefaring nation.

Things are heating up even more on the private side of the space game. Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic has said it will be testing vehicles in 2007 that eventually will take well-heeled tourists to suborbital space. So will Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com, at the West Texas launch site of his secretive company, Blue Origin. Lesser-known companies like XCOR Aerospace, Aera Corp, Armadillo Aerospace, PlanetSpace and Rocketplane-Kistler are also hustling to get vehicles up and running. Robert Bigelow, the founder of Budget Suites of America, is likely to push forward with his goal of putting a hotel in orbit by 2010.

Countdown Begins for Indian in Space (Source: Indian Express)
Ten days into the New Year, India will launch a space capsule. The 50-kg capsule, which will be brought back after 15-30 days, will be the country’s first big step towards a manned space mission. It’s the first time the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will test its “re-entry and recovery” technology. The capsule will fall somewhere in the Bay of Bengal and will be recovered by the Navy. The re-entry and recovery phase is the most crucial aspect of any manned mission in outer space and by putting it to test, sources said, ISRO will send a clear signal that India has started preparations for sending a man to space. This will mark a key shift from ISRO’s policy to restrict space exploration to meet national development goals.

Satellite Radio May Try a Merger (Source: New York Times)
Last year’s debut of Howard Stern’s radio show on Sirius Satellite Radio put the technology on the map, raising the public’s awareness of satellite radio and helping to boost significantly subscriber totals for Sirius and its larger rival, XM Satellite Radio. Today, thanks in part to the outsize radio personality, the Stern Effect has increased Sirius’s base to about six million subscribers, up 80 percent from one year ago. XM has increased its numbers by more than 30 percent, ending 2006 with 7.7 to 7.9 million customers.

But Sirius and XM shares have taken a battering on Wall Street, with prices for both off about 50 percent from their year-ago levels. On Friday, Sirius closed at $3.54, while XM ended the year at $14.45. And now, the industry may be getting ready to try an even more dramatic third act — a possible attempt to merge the two services.

China Upgrades Launch Pad (Source: Xinhua)
A launch tower at the Xichang spaceport in southwest China has been upgraded to increase the country's satellite launch competitiveness. It will be possible that two rockets could be erected simultaneously at the spaceport. The upgrade will improve China's launching competitiveness in the international arena. In the next five years, the Xichang center would develop the capability to launch more than 10 satellites a year.