March 16 News Items

On Space Station, Trash Can't Go To The Curb (Source: UPI)
Taking out the trash is no simple chore on the International Space Station, where some junk is carefully hurled into the Earth's atmosphere to burn. "It's really only a measure of last resort," Nicholas Johnson, head of NASA's orbital debris program told USA Today of the space trash technique. "We don't want to create debris even if it's short-lived, unless it's overwhelmingly necessary." Such disposal takes careful planning and good aim so the trash doesn't hit the space station or a visiting shuttle. The debris should burn within weeks or months.

Two European Launches to Space Station Delayed (Source: Space News)
The launch of Europe's unmanned cargo vehicle to the Space Station aboard an Ariane 5 rocket has slipped to November, with Europe's shuttle-launched Columbus crew laboratory shifting to December, under the tentative station schedule being revised following the U.S. space shuttle's hail damage-related delay. The shuttle's delay is only one of the reasons Europe's Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), to carry thousands of kilograms of food, water and fuel to the station, will not make its late-summer launch date. The ATV's previous July and September launch plans were going to be difficult to maintain as the European Space Agency struggled to complete integration of Russian and European components on the vehicle and resolve outstanding performance issues.

Britain's Beagle 2 'Could Go To The Moon' (Source: BBC)
The scientists behind the Beagle 2 mission, which was lost on Mars in 2003, want to send a nearly identical spacecraft to the Moon. They say Beagle 2's science instruments are ideal for assessing whether humans could exploit lunar resources when NASA returns to Earth's satellite in 2020. It could determine whether deposits of hydrogen, water-ice and hydrocarbons are trapped in the Moon's cold regions. A Beagle could be sent to the Moon on its own, or attached to a lunar rover.

Alaska Spaceport Launch Pad to Get Upgrade (Source: AP)
A launch tower at the Kodiak Launch Complex is getting a $1.5 million face lift. A contract was awarded this week to Dunkin and Bush Inc., an industrial contractor based in Redmond, Washington. Pat Ladner with the Alaska Aerospace Development Corp. says Dunkin and Bush was the only firm to submit a bid for the project during an open, competitive process. The tower stands more than 150 feet high and is one of two built for missile launching and testing. It has been used once since its construction was completed in 2000. The roof and tower will be sandblasted to get rid of accumulated rust. Then coats of special paint made to withstand Kodiak's maritime atmospheric conditions will be applied.

Orbcomm Posts Deeper 4Q loss (Source: AP)
Orbcomm Inc., which operates satellites that provide commercial wireless messaging services, posted a wider fourth-quarter loss as a jump in expenses offset revenue growth. Losses totaled $4 million, compared with a loss of $3.3 million in the same quarter in 2005. Revenue rose to $6.3 million from $5.5 million in the year-ago period, while costs and expenses expanded 52 percent to $11.3 million. Orbcomm, which went public during the quarter, attributed the increase in costs and expenses to higher costs of products sold, staffing expenses, stock-based compensation expenses, repairs and maintenance.

Loral Reports 2006 Fourth Quarter And Full Year Results (Source: Loral)
Loral reported 2006 full year revenue was $797 million, a 27 percent increase from $626 million in 2005. Fourth quarter revenue was $206 million, compared to $197 million reported in the fourth quarter of 2005. In the fourth quarter of 2006, Loral reported net income of $3 million versus a net loss of $15 million in the fourth quarter of 2005. Loral's net loss for 2006 was $23 million, compared to a net loss of $74 million in 2005. Loral's total consolidated backlog increased to $1.347 billion at December 31, 2006 from $1.248 billion at December 31, 2005

NASA Urges Closing Lunar Robotics Office (Source: Aviation Week)
Among the actions NASA recommends in its FY-07 operating plan is shutting down the Lunar Precursor and Robotic Program Office at Marshall Space Flight Center, where a whole generation of unmanned orbiters, rovers, hoppers and penetrators was under consideration as scouts for a human landing on the moon. Management of the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), a piggyback pair of impactors to be carried on the 2008 Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), will be pulled into NASA headquarters, but the rest will be dropped in keeping with the agency's decision to focus on replacing the space shuttle with the Orion/Ares I stack.

Sen. Mikulski Calls for Space Summit to Properly Fund NASA (Source: Aviation Week)
Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), chair of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that funds NASA, renewed her call for a $1 billion increase in agency spending this year to pay back funds it redirected to get the shuttle flying again after the Columbia accident. She has also called for a space "summit" between Congress and the White House like the one that led to the creation of the "Mission to Planet Earth" 17 years ago. "Only through the active cooperation of the White House and the Congress can we have a healthy, robust and balanced space program," she said.

NASA Glenn to do More Work on Moon Mission (Source: Cleveland Plain Dealer)
The NASA Glenn Research Center has landed another $63 million piece of creating the new spacecraft for missions to the moon. The agency will have Glenn test the vibrations of the engines for the new Orion spacecraft at Glenn's Plum Brook testing facility near Sandusky. Glenn is already supervising design and construction of the service module for the $8.2 billion project, due to be ready for flights in about five years and lunar missions by 2018. The new contract will have Glenn will build a large acoustic chamber at Plum Brook's 6,400-acre campus to make sure engine noise and vibrations do not create risks for the vehicle and crew. The $63 million will cover construction and testing costs. Glenn beat out the project's main contractor, Lockheed Martin Corp., for the contract.

Our view: Extend Shuttle If Needed to Complete Space Station (Source: Florida Today)
Even if it means delaying the retirement of the shuttle fleet several months, that's the wisest course of action as NASA faces the program's end in September 2010 and tries to squeeze in 16 more flights before the deadline. But that task may not be possible, as recent events demonstrate. As of now, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin is sticking to the September 2010 deadline to retire the fleet and transfer shuttle funding to the new manned Orion moonship that's set for its maiden launch in late 2014 or 2015. But the final shuttle flights will be crucial to completing the $100 billion outpost and stocking it with enough spare parts to keep it operating after the shuttles stop ferrying up crews and materials.

Congressman Says NASA Needs More Funding (Source: AP)
The chairman of the U.S. House science committee said NASA is headed for "a train wreck" if the space agency isn't better funded to finish building the space station and develop the next-generation spacecraft. The White House has cut NASA's five-year budget plan by almost $2.26 billion in the three years since President Bush announced the "Vision for Space Exploration", said U.S. Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Tenn. at a hearing in Washington on NASA's 2008 budget request.

Space Station's Node 2 Has a Name -- Harmony (Source: Florida Today)
The U.S. hub that will serve as the gateway to European and Japanese laboratories at the International Space Station got a new moniker on Thursday: Blandly named Node 2 now is Harmony. Harmony was the most suggested name in a student competition that involved 62 schools from 36 states and a Department of Defense school in Japan. More than 3,000 students took part. Six schools from Florida, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin offered it up.

NASA: China Could Be the Next to Moon (Source: Houston Chronicle)
China's surging space program could launch explorers on the moon before Americans make a lunar return, Michael Griffin told a congressional oversight panel. Rep Ken Calvert, R-Calif., asked whether the United States might lose its lead in space to China. "How good is their space program? ... Do you think they have an opportunity to get to the moon before we do?" Calvert asked. Griffin, who toured some of China's space installations last year and met with leading scientists and engineers, told the panel that China, with its strong economy, is capable of a come-from-behind lunar landing.

Ice on Mars' South Pole Is Deep and Wide (Source: NASA Watch)
Based on new findings from the Mars Express orbiting probe, the amount of water trapped in frozen layers over Mars' south polar region is equivalent to a liquid layer about 11 metres deep covering the planet. This new estimate comes from mapping the thickness of the dusty ice by the Mars Express radar instrument that has made more than 300 virtual slices through layered deposits covering the pole. The radar sees through icy layers to the lower boundary, which in places is as deep as 3.7 kilometres below the surface.