April 1 News Items

Road Funding Less Than Requested for NM Spaceport (Source: Las Cruces Sun-News)
A roads funding bill approved last week included $10 million for construction of a spaceport road. The money was less than Gov. Bill Richardson's request of $25 million for the project, but enough to start spaceport construction when the time comes, said state economic development Secretary Rick Homans, also chairman of the New Mexico Spaceport Authority.

Florida Senator Says Gap Between Space Shuttle, New System Must Shrink (Source: Space News)
Contractors told a Senate panel March 28 that the budget pressures confronting the U.S. space agency will make it very difficult for NASA to smoothly transition its shuttle work force to jobs associated with the replacement vehicle now under development. As a result, they said, there is a much higher chance that Kennedy Space Center and other NASA facilities will have to cut more jobs than ought to be necessary as the shuttle fleet is retired in 2010.

NASA now faces at least a four-year gap in its ability to conduct its own manned space launches, a matter of no small concern to Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), the chairman of the Senate Commerce space and aeronautics subcommittee, and his Republican counterpart Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas. Both senators represent states with substantial space shuttle work forces and have pledged to press for the additional funding they say NASA needs to field Orion and Ares by 2014 or earlier.

Astrium To Seek Better Terms from Ariane 5 Subcontractors (Source: Space News)
The builder of Ariane 5 launch vehicles is serving notice to its subcontractors that some of them will need to accept lower profit margins in a coming order for 30 vehicles to compensate for overly generous terms they won in a similar order three years ago.

Shift of Satellite from SeaLaunch to Ariane Will Cost $83 Million (Source: Space News)
Hughes’ decision to switch the launch of its Spaceway 3 satellite from Sea Launch to Arianespace will cost the company $83 million in unplanned spending this year. The extra expense, however, will be partly offset by the earnings the company will achieve by getting the Ka-band, two-way broadband satellite in orbit this year. Hughes expects to migrate 40-50 percent of its current customers to Spaceway 3 within three years.

Insurance Rates Contradict Recent Successful Launch Trend (Source: Space News)
Launch vehicles active in placing commercial telecommunications satellites into geostationary orbit have an average 8 percent failure rate over the past decade, while satellites that are successfully launched have a 7 percent failure rate in their first 12 months of operations, according to figures compiled by insurance underwriter XL Insurance. These results explain why some insurers remain reluctant to further decrease satellite insurance premiums despite several years of healthy profits. Insurance brokers trying to cut the best deals for their satellite-owner clients look at the space insurance market’s performance since 2002 and see an industry awash in profit.

Insurance Question Clouds Future of Space Tourism Industry (Source: Space News)
The creation of a viable, affordable insurance regime for future space tourists remains an unresolved issue that ultimately could scuttle the space-tourism industry before it has a chance to prove itself, according to industry experts trying to tackle the problem. Despite the efforts of the U.S. government to craft a legal framework that protects the nascent industry from many liability-related issues, space-tourism companies have yet to persuade insurers that the risks are worth the investment. They also questioned whether the government’s regulations will withstand legal challenge.

Swales Rebuffed in Goddard Contract Protest (Source: Space News)
Rebuffing a suggestion by incumbent Swales Aerospace that it make a dual award, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center again selected SGT Inc. for a five-year engineering support services contract that could be worth around $400 million. NASA originally awarded the Mechanical Systems Engineering Services II/A contract to SGT in December, but rescinded the award in January following a protest by Swales.

Legislators Mix Political Science, Rocket Science in Virginia (Source: Herald Courier)
The General Assembly mixed political science and rocket science with the passage of two bills, two studies and two commending resolutions to boost space transportation at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops Island. In addition to considering the Spaceflight Liability and Immunity Act, the legislature also adopted a measure to establish a 15-member Aerospace Advisory Council to advise the governor and provide continuity to Virginia’s space policy into the next administration.

The legislature also passed a resolution for the Virginia Joint Commission on Technology and Science to undertake a short-term study of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport and advise legislators of needed measures to boost its business success. Both bodies will focus on taxation issues that may be hindering the interstate competitiveness of the Virginia spaceport; encroachment, zoning and mineral development around the Eastern Shore spaceport; new marketing strategies to lure FAA-licensed commercial space launches to the FAA-licensed commercial spaceport; identify what possible role the spaceport may play in the nation’s planned 2020 return to the moon; and, identify ways to Virginia’s universities may play in providing a technically skilled workforce for the spaceport and those associated with it.