April 24 News Items

Lockheed Posts 17% Jump in Q1 Profit, Boosts 2007 Outlook (Source: AIA)
Lockheed Martin said Tuesday its first-quarter profit climbed to $690 million from $591 billion a year earlier. Gains from a land sale, an income tax benefit and a reversal of legal reserves helped results. The company also boosted its outlook for 2007 and now expects to earn between $6.20 and $6.36 a share.

First Habitable Earth Like Planet Outside Solar System Discovered (Source: Malaysia Sun)
An international team of astronomers from Switzerland, France and Portugal have discovered the most Earth-like planet outside our Solar System to date. The planet has a radius only 50 percent larger than Earth and is very likely to contain liquid water on its surface. The research team used the European Southern Observatory's (ESO's) 3.6-m telescope to discover the super-Earth, which has a mass about five times that of the Earth and orbits a red dwarf star. Unlike our Earth, this planet takes only 13 days to complete one orbit round its star. It is also 14 times closer to its star than the Earth is from the Sun. However, since its host star, the red dwarf Gliese 581, is smaller and colder than the Sun - and thus less luminous - the planet lies in the habitable zone, the region around a star where water could be liquid.

L-3 Posts Q1 Profit, Announces Acquisitions (Source: AIA)
Growth in four business segments helped L-3 Communications post a 17% jump in first-quarter net income. The company says it has purchased Geneva Aerospace, which provides technology for unmanned aerial vehicles. L-3 also agreed to acquire Global Communications Solutions, a satellite communications equipment and products provider.

DayJet Plans to Launch Service in June (Source: AIA)
DayJet plans to launch on-demand, per seat air taxi service in June, The New York Times' Joe Sharkey writes. The company will start operating in Florida, and, by the fall, will fly among 10 secondary airports. The service is expected to draw business travelers who now drive on business trips in the 300-mile range and those wanting to avoid detours to hubs.

Minotaur Launches From Virginia Spaceport (Source: SpaceToday.net)
A Minotaur rocket successfully launched an experimental missile warning satellite early Monday from Virginia. The Minotaur 1 lifted off from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops Island, Virginia and placed the Near Field Infrared Experiment (NFIRE) satellite into low Earth orbit. The launch had been scheduled for Monday but was delayed because of problems with ground support equipment. The launch is the second in four months from the Virginia spaceport, after another Minotaur launched the TacSat-2 and GeneSat-1 spacecraft from the spaceport in December. Another Minotaur launch is scheduled to take place from the spaceport late this year.

"Out of This World" Weightless Flights by Zero Gravity Corp. Lift Off From Las Vegas (Source: ZERO-G)
To Sin City and Beyond! Raising the bar yet higher in the Entertainment Capital of the World, Zero Gravity Corp. has officially launched regular service from Las Vegas' McCarran International Airport. This, combined with the recently announced relationship with Sharper Image to sell ZERO-G flights in its stores throughout the nation, truly brings an incredible adventure -- previously only available to astronauts -- directly to the general public.

To blast off the attraction, ZERO-G hosted a private VIP flight with notables including Apollo-11 astronaut, Buzz Aldrin. Key Las Vegas casino executives and Vegas entertainers also participated in the flight to experience weightlessness for the first time, flying like Superman, flipping like Olympic gymnasts and enjoying 10-times more hang-time than the world's best basketball player.

UP Aerospace Readies Rocket for April 28th Space Launch (Source: UP Aerospace)
UP Aerospace is geared up for a multi-faceted space launch on April 28th. The mission, named "SL-2", will fly a wide range of educational experiments and commercial payloads into space. UP's vehicle offers a 110-pound payload capacity and 10,500-cubic-inches of payload volume, allowing payloads of up to 10 inches in diameter and 7 feet long. The vehicle offers flight profiles up to 140 miles altitude with a wide range of micro-gravity options. Visit http://www.upaerospace.com/SL-2-flight-manifest.html for a complete roster of customers and payloads for the SL-2 mission.

SpaceX Waits for USAF (Source: Flight International)
SpaceX is expecting a decision from the US Air Force about its possible use of Cape Canaveral, Florida as a launch site before the end of this month. The Cape launch complex would be used for commercial flights of the company's heavylift Falcon 9, designed to place 8,700kg (19,100lb) in low-Earth orbit. The planned Falcon 9 will be used for three demonstration flights under SpaceX's involvement in NASA's COTS program. The company has six flights booked for the Falcon 9 from next year to 2010, with the first, carrying a US government payload, expected in 2008. Commercial launches will either be from the Cape or SpaceX's current launch site on the Kwajalein Atoll island of Omelek in the Pacific Ocean. The company has applied for environmental approval from the US Federal Aviation Administration for both the Cape and Omelek launches of the Falcon 9.

NASA Chief expects Space station to Live On (Source: Flight International)
NASA administrator Michael Griffin expects his agency to change its International Space Station policy and extend its use of the orbital complex beyond 2016. In 2004, the agency revealed plans to stop funding the ISS in 2017 and divert the money to Moon missions. Internal NASA documents say flights of the planned Orion crew exploration vehicle to the ISS will end in 2016, even though its maiden flight is not expected before March 2015.

But now discussions with other space agencies on a global exploration strategy are expected to lead to an extension of the US involvement in the ISS, to 2020 at least. "[The ISS partners] have all been working for a decade and half to put in place these four laboratories," says Griffin, referring to the US, Russian, European and Japanese science modules. "I don't think [political] leaders [in 2016] will end their involvement. Assets like [the ISS] live a lot longer than anticipated. I doubt it will turn into a pumpkin in 2016."