March 22 News Items

New Mexico Unveils $198 Million Cost Estimate for Spaceport America (Source: Flight International)
New Mexico's Spaceport America is estimated to cost $198 million to build according to a report by US company DMJM: AECOM, the design and engineering firm hired by the state's Spaceport Authority (NMSA). The almost $200 million price tag was approved by NMSA's board. A cost estimate below $225 million was one of three conditions required by state legislation before the local government releases $100 million in construction funding. The other two are a spaceport licence provided by the FAA, expected by the end of the year or beginning of 2008, and the signing of an anchor tenant agreement. This is expected to be with Virgin Galactic later this year.

The spaceport construction costs will be covered by $115 million already appropriated by the state (including $100 million of construction funds); $25 million in local government road building spending; $25 million in federal government funding over five years; and an expected $58 million from local option gross receipts taxes from the New Mexican counties of Dona Ana, Otero and Sierra. Of that $58 million, $49 million is expected from Dona Ana, $6.6 million from Otero and $2.3 million from Sierra. On 3 April referendums on the issue of raising counties' gross receipts taxes to generate the revenue will take place in of Dona Ana, Otero and Sierra. Without a yes vote in Dona Ana the project will have to stop. A cost breakout is posted at http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2007/03/21/212821/new-mexico-unveils-198-million-cost-estimate-for-spaceport.html.

Wallops Plans Another Rocket Blastoff in April (Source: DelMarVaNow.com)
It looks like round two for the NASA-Wallops Flight Facility as it prepares to launch another satellite into orbit next month. John Campbell, senior manager of the flight facility, told a small crowd gathered at the NASA-Wallops Visitors Center that after the success of last December's launch of the Minotaur 1 rocket, they are gearing up for a very similar launch April 21 at 4 a.m. from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport launch pad. The rocket, called the Minotaur 1, is 70 feet tall and 5 feet wide, Campbell said. It is made up of four stages, two of which comprise the propulsion system that lifts the rocket into orbit.

Embry-Riddle and Industry Leaders to Demonstrate ‘Airport of the Future’ (Source: ERAU)
Technology for an “airport of the future” will be demonstrated March 27-28 at Daytona Beach International Airport (DBIA) by an aviation industry consortium led by Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Lockheed Martin, and DBIA. DBIA will be the national testbed for this project, and the demonstration sessions will be held in the airport’s international terminal. The Integrated Airport Project, to be implemented by the consortium over a three-year period, will showcase emerging technologies in safety, security, capacity, and overall efficiency of the next generation of airports. The effort comes amid industry predictions that air traffic will increase by 300 percent by the year 2025. The conference will take place from 8:30 a.m.-12 p.m. each day. It is the first of three such gatherings planned for 2007. Those interested in attending the event should contact Jean Coker at 386-226-6634 or mailto:cokerj@erau.edu.

Researchers Hope to Improve UAV's Coordination (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
University of Central Florida researchers hope to develop technology that will allow unmanned aerial vehicles to coordinate their operations. Soldiers using laptops control the UAVs but struggle to interpret video and pictures beamed back from vehicles. The research would improve the way the UAVs analyze the images.

Shuttle Launch Delayed Until Mid-May (Source: AIA)
The space shuttle will not launch before mid-May, Wayne Hale, shuttle program manager, said Wednesday. The shuttle was set to launch next month, but a March hail storm damaged the foam insulation that covers its fuel tank.

South Florida Student Team Participates in NASA Launch Program (Source: NASA)
A team of students from Plantation High School in South Florida will once again participate in NASA's Student Launch Initiative at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville on April 25-28. Each team's rocket must be designed to carry a tracking device and a recoverable science payload. The rocket itself is required to be reusable and reach an altitude of one mile during flight. Middle and high school students from Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin are participating. After the flight, the teams will collect data from the payload, analyze it and report the results to NASA engineers and scientists, who will evaluate each rocket design, including propulsion systems, materials used for construction, payload and safety features.

Elon Musk is Part Playboy, Part Space Cowboy (Source: The Economist)
It is midnight at the Playboy mansion and Elon Musk is in the cigar alcove with a couple of friends, holding forth. He is talking expansively about saving the planet and conquering space. Moreover, unlike other Silicon Valley “thrillionaires” who throw money earned in the internet boom into voguish new hobbies, he is proving to be just as original in his thinking about his new pursuits as he was about his old ones. Mr Musk's Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), launched its first rocket from the Marshall Islands last week and although the second stage failed to reach its intended orbit, the Falcon can claim to be the first rocket designed, developed and financed by the private sector that is anywhere near carrying a payload into space. Mr Musk founded SpaceX five years ago and designed much of the rocket himself.

Musk struck gold when he sold PayPal, the online payments firm, to eBay for $1.5 billion in 2002. Rather than retire comfortably, he says he “doubled down” his proceeds into his two other passions: clean energy and space. The first bet was Tesla Motors, an electric-car company that is the first new American automobile firm in decades. In July Tesla unveiled its first model: a sports car which is faster than a Ferrari, more environmentally friendly than a Toyota Prius and can travel 250 miles after charging overnight through an ordinary household socket. The first few have been pre-sold, but the concept will be properly tested only when they start rolling off the production line in August.

Taking on Detroit hardly counts as easy—except if you compare it with conquering space. Giant defence contractors close to the Pentagon and NASA, America's space agency, have long dominated the business of launching satellites. “Launch vehicles today are little changed from those of 40 years ago,” Mr Musk complained during a recent tour of his manufacturing facilities near Los Angeles airport. So he set about redesigning rockets from the bottom up. He compares designing one to writing computer code that can be tested only in parts and which, when run for the first time, must be perfectly bug-free.

NASA Awards Contracts for Spacecraft Systems and Services (Source: NASA)
NASA has selected Loral and MicroSat Systems for award of the Rapid Spacecraft Development Office, Rapid II, contracts with a minimum value of $50,000 each. This award is under a commercial, fixed price, indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract. Each of the Rapid II contracts has a potential maximum value of $1.5 billion. Rapid II is a multiple award contract for core spacecraft systems and non-standard services. The services may include operations, components and studies to meet the government's space, Earth science and technology needs.

Shuttle Launch Likely Delayed Until May (Source: Reuters)
Repairing damage to a space-shuttle fuel tank from a freak hailstorm probably will push the next launch of Atlantis from April to mid-May, NASA planning documents show. Managers were meeting on Wednesday to assess the repair plan and set a new target launch date for Atlantis, which is scheduled to fly to the International Space Station to deliver and install a third set of solar arrays.

Delta 4 Rocket to be Disassembled at Cape (Source: Florida Today)
A United Launch Alliance Delta 4-Heavy rocket destined to launch a U.S. missile warning satellite will be disassembled so recent launch pad damage can be repaired. No new launch date has been set for the 23-story rocket, which still stands at Launch Complex 37 at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. But the repairs likely will delay the launch until late summer. The mishap and the resulting delay are the latest in a series of problems for the Delta 4-Heavy vehicle, which is designed to haul the nation's heaviest and most critical national security satellites into orbit.

Top-secret National Reconnaissance Office satellites and the missile warning spacecraft have remained grounded since the inaugural Delta 4-Heavy mission in December 2004 failed to place its dummy payload into the proper orbit during a demonstration flight. Common core booster problems that were the culprit have been fixed, but the pad damage deals an additional blow to the multibillion-dollar program. Two structural cracks were discovered in the metallic launch table at complex 37 after a Feb. 28 dress rehearsal for a planned April 1 launch.