March 28 News Items

North Carolina Hopes to Land More Aviation Jobs (Source: AIA)
North Carolina recruiters are increasing their efforts to lure aerospace companies to the state, which has added 483 new jobs in the industry in the past two months. Honda Aircraft plans to build a plant in Greensboro, N.C., and Smiths Aerospace said it will expand in Asheville.

Embry-Riddle Students Rocket into History (Source: NASA)
Icarus, a rocket developed by students from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida, was successfully launched on March 22 from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The students travelled 800 miles over their spring break to launch Icarus to an altitude of 40 miles. Preliminary indications showed that both the first and second stages of the 16-foot tall rocket performed as planned. Analysis is now underway to determine if the rocket reached the projected 40-mile altitude and a record for a university built vehicle.

The 15-pound payload on the rocket contained accelerometers, spin sensors and pressure sensors. In addition, the students used global positioning satellite (GPS) systems to determine the location of the rocket during flight. Project Icarus was founded in the fall of 2003 by the Embry-Riddle Future Space Explorers’ and Developers’ Society. Icarus is the society’s flagship vehicle. The purpose of the mission is to combine classroom knowledge with hands-on experience in rocketry and engineering. Visit http://projectmanager.erfseds.googlepages.com/ for more information and to view the launch.

Musical Chairs for NASA Contractors (Source: DailyPress.com)
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Many of the employees who work for NASA Langley Research Center contractors are accustomed to switching from one employer to another every time a contract expires. When a new company wins a NASA Langley contract, it often hires the employees from the last winning bidder. Some of these workers have worked for multiple contractors out of the same offices, but always for NASA. About 200 local workers have been shifting from their old employer since last fall to a new company as Science Systems and Applications takes over a NASA Langley contract from SAIC.

Lawyers, Insurance, and Money: The Business Challenges of NewSpace (Source: Space Review)
For years individuals and companies in the entrepreneurial space industry have focused on debating technology. Now there is a shift in emphasis towards business and legal issues critical to the industry's long-term success. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/840/1 to view the article.

Falcon-1 - Getting There (Source: Space Review)
Last week's Falcon 1 flight, while not a complete success, was a big step forward for both SpaceX and the emerging space industry. Derek Webber explains what makes that event such a milestone for the future of space access. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/837/1 to view the article.

European Missile Defense: Why Bother? (Source: Space Review)
US proposals to place missile defense systems in Eastern Europe have met with strong opposition by some in Europe. Taylor Dinerman argues that this is another reason why the US should pursue space-based missile defense options. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/836/1 to view the article.

SAIC Lands Contract to Supervise GPS Satellite Development (Source: Source: AIA)
The Air Force selected Science Applications International Corp. to supervise the development of next-generation navigational satellites. Meanwhile, Boeing and Lockheed Martin are bidding on a contract to build GPS III satellites for the federal government.

FAA May Approve Mapping Device Soon (Source: AIA)
The FAA is speeding up the approval process for devices able to display satellite-generated maps in airline cockpits. The maps, which look like Global Positioning System displays in cars, will help reduce the risk of accidents on the ground.

New Launch Of Dnepr Rocket Postponed For Technical Reasons (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
The first launch following last summer's crash of a Dnepr carrier rocket, scheduled for this month, has been postponed due to technical reasons, a spokesman for the Russian Space Agency said Tuesday. A Dnepr rocket carrying a large payload of satellites crashed July 26, 2006 shortly after liftoff from the Baikonur spaceport in Kazakhstan.

Japanese Spy Satellite Suffers Critical Power Failure (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
A Japanese spy satellite has stopped working due to an electrical problem, potentially impairing Tokyo's ability to peer anywhere in the world, officials said Tuesday. Officials said they were having difficulty repairing the satellite, which malfunctioned just a month after Japan completed sending its full set of four spy satellites into space.

Cassini Images Bizarre Hexagon On Saturn (Source: SaturnDaily.com)
An odd, six-sided, honeycomb-shaped feature circling the entire north pole of Saturn has captured the interest of scientists with NASA's Cassini mission. NASA's Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft imaged the feature over two decades ago. The fact that it has appeared in Cassini images indicates that it is a long-lived feature. A second hexagon, significantly darker, is also visible in the Cassini pictures. The spacecraft's visual and infrared mapping spectrometer is the first instrument to capture the entire hexagon feature in one image. "This is a very strange feature, lying in a precise geometric fashion with six nearly equally straight sides," said Kevin Baines. "We've never seen anything like this on any other planet. Indeed, Saturn's thick atmosphere where circularly-shaped waves and convective cells dominate is perhaps the last place you'd expect to see such a six-sided geometric figure, yet there it is."

Space Tourist Charles Simonyi to Perform Research for Japan on Space Station (Source: Space Adventures)
Space Adventures' orbital spaceflight client Charles Simonyi, Ph.D., has agreed to conduct a series of tests on behalf of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) during his 10-day stay onboard the International Space Station (ISS). Dr. Simonyi is scheduled to launch on April 7 onboard a Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Virgin Galactic Signs Spaceport America Anchor Tenant Deal (Source: Flight International)
Suborbital tourism company Virgin Galactic and the New Mexico Spaceport Authority (NMSA) have come one step closer to agreeing a 20-year deal worth more than $27 million with this week’s signing of a memorandum of agreement. Virgin Galactic has agreed to use New Mexico's Spaceport America as its primary launch and operational activities site, leasing 7,747m square (83,400 square feet) for a customer service center, a dedicated hangar and mission control, a staff club house, employee accommodation and medical facilities.

However Virgin Galactic also expects to start commercial operations from Mojave spaceport in California in 2009, before Spaceport America's expected 2010 completion date. The New Mexico agreement comes one week before crucial referendums in three of the state's counties to decide whether local taxes will be used for the spaceport’s construction.

A US-China Arms Race on the Final Frontier (Source: Asia Times)
While some have pooh-poohed Putin's admonition, claiming high oil profits must have gone to his head, the United States may want to heed this "arms race" warning, for if a new arms race does not transpire today between Washington and Moscow, it may transpire tomorrow between Washington and Beijing. Russia is not the only great power the US must worry about. China opposes all theater and national missile defense (NMD) programs. As far back as 2001, China's United Nations envoy for disarmament affairs, Hu Xiaodi, argued that NMD "is, in essence, a disguised form of unilateral nuclear-arms expansion, which will severely hinder the international arms-control and disarmament process and even trigger off a new round of arms race".

China's disapproval was justified, since an ability to intercept ballistic missiles would deprive it of its nuclear retaliatory capability. Chinese officials have openly voiced opposition to US machinations in the past. But recently, they have grown noticeably more restrained. In fact, not one high-level Chinese official has spoken out against America's recent plan to use Eastern Europe as an anti-ballistic-missile base. Is China simply allowing Russia to speak on its behalf? Why have the Chinese shifted from strident opposition to muted acquiescence? One reason may be their desire to dodge US criticism of their own expanding military.

Traffic Spy in the Sky for Britain (Source: The Sun)
Mayor of London Ken Livingstone plans to spend £12million on a satellite that can monitor motorists from space. The cutting edge technology could eliminate the need for road cameras to monitor congestion charge zones as well as do away with controversial mobile phone masts. The London Development Agency board today voted “overwhelmingly” in favor of backing a bid by global mobile satellite communications company Inmarsat, to launch the satellite. London-based Inmarsat went to the LDA, the Mayor’s economic agency, after failing to secure backing from the Department of Trade and Industry. The launch, on a European Space Agency rocket, is being earmarked for 2011. The deal could safeguard 200 jobs at Inmarsat in London and pave the way for 200 more depending on how the technology is used in the future.

Tucson Economy Benefits From Mars Exploration (Source: Arizona Business)
Ask most Tucsonans what single event has the greatest impact on the local economy and the answer is likely to be something along the lines of the annual gem and mineral show or Major League Baseball spring training. Some might even guess the Tour de Tucson bicycle race. All those answers would be wrong, says Michael Drake, head and director of the University of Arizona’s Department of Planetary Sciences and the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, who says the greatest economic impact on the local economy is coming from Mars and the groundbreaking Phoenix Mars Mission, scheduled for launch in August. The Lunar and Planetary Laboratory will serve as mission control for the project. Drake said the mission is the first planetary voyage to be controlled by a university and will bring $60 million to the university. On top of that, $70 million a year will come in by way of direct and indirect economic impact.

Sea Launch To Fly Again By End Of 2007 (Source: Aerospace Daily)
Sea Launch has confirmed that its heavy-lift booster will return to flight before the end of the year, along with the introduction of its two stage Land Launch derivative. Sea Launch reported "limited damage" to the Odyssey floating launch platform after a Jan. 30 explosion at liftoff of a Zenit-3SL rocket. The blast resulted in an estimated $300 million loss, including the booster and payload. The official inquiry into the explosion by Russian and Ukrainian authorities identified foreign object damage as the probable cause of the failure.

Sea Launch's own internal Failure Review Oversight Board (FROB) will begin a probe next month. A launch platform damage assessment shows some 95 percent of the structure is sound, with the gas deflector the only main item destroyed. But there may have been some impact on the radar installation as well. Work already has started on a new deflector and other tasks, including remounting doors and traps blown off by the blast. Rework may take the platform away from its Long Beach, Calif., home port, but it will not have to leave the West Coast.

Kazakhstan Delays $223 Million Loan for Angara Project with Russia (Source: RIA Novosti)
Russia's delay in the implementation of a joint Angara space project has compelled Kazakhstan to put off a $223 million loan for the venture. In 2004, Russia and Kazakhstan initiated the Baiterek project to build a space complex at the Baikonur space center, which Russia rents from the Central Asian country, to launch the Angara launch vehicles, capable of carrying 26 metric tons of payload to low-Earth orbits. "Maturity provisions in the loan agreement are particularly critical for the Baiterek joint venture, and the agreement cannot even be implemented hypothetically given that Russia has put off the previously fixed deadline from 2008 to 2011," said Talgat Musabayev, the Kazakh aerospace agency director.

He quoted the Russian side as saying that tests of the Angara at the Plisetsk launch center in northern Russia had been postponed till 2011. "Considering that the Baiterek launch complex was developed for launching this type of rocket, it is necessary to postpone the implementation of the whole project," the official said. Baiterek, which experts deem to be one of the largest space projects in the former Soviet republics, is being implemented on a parity basis and enjoys tax, customs and other privileges.

Spaceport America Tax Proposal Goes Before NM Voters Next Week (Source: Aero-News)
To many residents of Dona Ana County in southeastern New Mexico, it's a tough sell: a proposed increase to the local sales tax, to fund a project many residents of the resolutely agrarian region consider a spaced-out idea. But the fate of Spaceport America rests in their hands. In February 2006, the New Mexico legislature approved $110 million to fund development of the spaceport through 2009... and plans are underway to build a 10,000-foot runway and terminal facility next year.

A necessary step for future development plans lies in an April 3 referendum... which puts the idea of funding the ambitious project before residents of Dona Ana County, one of three counties the spaceport's land sits in. Voters will be asked to approve a small increase to the local sales tax to show the county's commitment to the project. Neighboring Sierra and Otero counties are holding off their own referendums, to see what the outcome of the first vote will be.

The plan has its share of opponents, too. "I'm not opposed to the spaceport, but I think it's a terrible idea to tax poor people to pay for something that will be used by the rich," said Oscar Vasquez Butler, a commissioner who represents an area of the county that is home of several rural colonias with substandard water, sewage, and roads systems. "They tell us the spaceport will bring jobs to our people, but it all sounds very risky. The only thing we know for sure is that people will pay more taxes."

New Mexico Abandons Legislated Spaceport Funding Criteria (Source: Flight International)
To avoid a lengthy delay New Mexico's legislature has abandoned its three criteria for releasing $100 million of construction funding for the proposed $198 million spaceport. In 2006 the New Mexican government required its newly formed Spaceport Authority to meet three criteria before releasing the money. It was to obtain a cost estimate for the spaceport not exceeding $225 million, arrange for an anchor tenant, and acquire a US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) spaceport licence.

Award of an FAA licence has been held up to 2008 following concerns about a nearby historic trail, the El Camino Real. This meant a potential year-long delay to start of operations for the spaceport. As a result the New Mexican legislature has just released the first $33 million of the $100 million, which will pay for the spaceport’s final design and related road construction. In a statement, only placed on the authority’s website on 17 March, authority chairman Rick Homans said, “The legislature gave its unanimous support to move forward aggressively with the spaceport. With the support of this year's session we will be able to keep to our ambitious schedule to be operational by late 2009 or early 2010.”

However in order to receive the remaining $67 million, the Authority must be licensed by the FAA. Although the legislature accelerated construction spending it did not release $25 million of appropriated state road construction funds that had been allocated for the spaceport area.

Questions Push Commissioner Against Spaceport Tax (Source: Las Cruces Sun-News)
A Doña Ana County commissioner who previously hadn't taken a position on a spaceport tax released a statement Monday opposing it. County Commission Chairwoman Karen Perez, a Democrat, announced she's against the tax because several questions about the spaceport project haven't been answered to her satisfaction. Among her concerns is that a draft environmental study, required by the FAA, won't be complete before the spaceport tax goes before voters next week. The document may raise issues residents don't yet know about, she said. "If they had held off the election until September, and I'd had a chance to look at the Environmental Impact Statement, I may not have opposed it," she said.

Outer-Space Thrills Coming to Vegas (Source: Las Vegas Business Press)
Next month's launch of zero-gravity flights at McCarran International Airport will increase demand for the service, which simulates the weightlessness of space. At least that's the hope of ZERO-G's co-founder, Dr. Peter Diamandis. The company's plan is to bolster brand awareness by identifying itself with Las Vegas. Diamandis says the zero-G experience has generated plenty of buzz. But if potential passengers don't also know it is currently based at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, they don't know where to go to experience it, he explains.

"That's why we need a home," said Diamandis, who is also CEO of the privately held company. "We believe that there is no better place on the planet that matches the brand." ZERO-G will commence regular public launches from Las Vegas beginning April 21 and establish a headquarters here. Diamandis says one reason to establish Zero Gravity's first commercial operation here is the nearly 40 million visitors Las Vegas draws per year. The other hook, he says, is that many come here for exactly what the company promises -- "something unique...We'll see what the market has. In the first six weeks of this year, we booked as many seats as we did in all of 2006."

Zero Gravity sells its services to five sectors: the general public; the entertainment and film industries; the corporate and incentive markets; non-profit research and education; and government. One of the company's largest revenue sources is the corporate and incentive market, Diamandis says. Flights are chartered by "companies that are looking for something different than a golf classic or a cruise" to reward employees. Among the larger companies to charter flights have been Hewlett Packard, Google and Cadbury Schweppes.

Sega: No Nunn-McCurdy Breaches For Milspace (Source: Aviation Week)
Ronald Sega, undersecretary of the U.S. Air Force and the Pentagon's executive agent for space, promised the House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee on March 23 that none of the Defense Department's space programs should incur new Nunn-McCurdy cost or schedule breaches in the near term. Sega attributed the supposed new program stability to space officials' "back-to-basics" development and acquisition effort started more than a year ago as Congress sliced requested funds from ballooning space programs.

NASA May Change Orbiters for Manifest Solution (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
NASA managers have started to evaluate manifest options to mitigate schedule issues, following the continuing re-alignment of STS-117's launch date targets due to the ongoing repairs to ET-124. Managers are assessing the option of switching orbiters on three upcoming missions, STS-120 - to Discovery, STS-122 - to Atlantis, and STS-124 - to Discovery, in order to allow the possibility of four 2007 missions, even if STS-117 is delayed until June.

If New Mexico Builds It, Will Space Travelers Come? (Source: Washington Post)
Come April 3, the voters of this sun-baked area near the Mexican border will have an unusual question to answer: Are they happy enough as home to some hardy cotton and chile farmers, a branch of the state university and a growing population of retirees from up north? Or do they want quite literally to blast into a very different future? In return for raising taxes, southern New Mexico, one of the poorest regions in the nation, would jump on a fast track to hosting the world's first all-commercial spaceport. It's the stuff of "Star Trek" and Buck Rogers, and many skeptical New Mexicans simply roll their eyes. The parched environs are, after all, also home to Roswell, where UFO buffs maintain space aliens and their ship were captured and hidden away for years.

"I'm not opposed to the spaceport, but I think it's a terrible idea to tax poor people to pay for something that will be used by the rich," said Oscar V?squez Butler, a county commissioner who represents many of the unincorporated rural colonias where the poorest New Mexicans live, often without proper roads and water and sewage systems. "They tell us the spaceport will bring jobs to our people, but it all sounds very risky. The only thing we know for sure is that people will pay more taxes."

William McCamley, a 28-year-old county commissioner and leader of People for Aerospace, a group in support of the referendum, calls the tax -- one-quarter of which would go toward improving math and science classes in local schools -- a small investment for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. With the state eager to build the spaceport after expending so much political capital and raising so much money, economic development director Homans was asked what happens if voters say no. His uncomfortable reply: "We have no Plan B."

Bigelow Aerospace Sets a Business Trajectory (Source: Space News)
While its Genesis 1 expandable module circles the Earth, Bigelow Aerospace of North Las Vegas, is preparing a follow-on inflatable spacecraft for launch and getting ready to unveil its long-term business plan for space habitats. Bigelow Aerospace has as its primary focus the development of habitable complexes for a multitude of space users. The firm’s first foothold in Earth orbit was the Genesis 1 module, which launched in July 12, 2006, atop a Ukrainian Dnepr booster.

Genesis 1 remains in excellent shape. Last December, Genesis 1 took a major radiation hit from a solar storm. “It knocked us for a loop … it hit us pretty hard. Our mission control operators [in Las Vegas] had to redo and reboot the complete system,” Bigelow said. “We were one fault away from the spacecraft being dead had we not succeeded in rebooting all the systems.” Bigelow’s next space module, Genesis 2, is now being prepped for shipment to Russia. It is scheduled to be launched via a Dnepr rocket within the first quarter of this year.