China Launches Remote Sensing Satellite (Source: SpaceToday.net)
A Long March rocket launched a Chinese remote sensing satellite with potential military applications. The Long March 2D rocket lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on Friday and placed the Yaogan 2 satellite into orbit. The satellite wil be used for a variety of remote sensing applications. Other reports identify the spacecraft as a synthetic aperture radar spacecraft, which can observe terrain both day and night and through adverse weather conditions. Also on board the launch was a one-kilogram picosatellite built by Zheijiang University to test microelectronics.
State Provides $7 Million for Space Florida, Other Funds for Aerospace Projects (Source: ERAU)
The $71.5 billion budget signed by Governor Charlie Crist includes $7 million for Space Florida, several million for defense-oriented grant programs, and hundreds of thousands of dollars for projects like a suborbital spaceflight initiatve and a university space education initiative. These aerospace projects survived a record $459 million in vetoed spending within the budget passed by the Florida Legislature. "The Governor today hit a grand slam for the taxpayers of Florida with his budget message and vetoes," TaxWatch President Dominic Calabro said. "This Governor has indeed set the bar to a new high for sound fiscal stewardship."
Pentagon Worries About China Space Test (Source: AP)
China's recent success at destroying a satellite in low-Earth orbit threatens the interests of all space-faring nations and posed dangers to human space flight, the Pentagon said Friday. In its annual report on Chinese military developments, the Pentagon also said the People's Liberation Army is building a greater capacity to launch preemptive strikes. It cited as examples China's acquisition of long-endurance submarines, unmanned combat aircraft and additional precision-guided air-to-ground missiles. "The [anti-satellite] test put at risk the assets of all space-faring nations and posed dangers to human space flight due to the creation of an unprecedented amount of debris," the report said, adding that this is an important expansion of China's pursuit of weaponry and strategies that are designed to deny U.S. forces access to areas in Asia. "We wish that there were greater transparency, that they would talk more about what their intentions are, what their strategies are," Defense Secretary Robert Gates said. "It would be nice to hear firsthand from the Chinese how they view some of these things."
NASA's Lawyer May Face Inquiry (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
A key congressional leader said Thursday that NASA's top lawyer may have committed a crime in destroying a recording of a controversial meeting between agency Administrator Michael Griffin, his embattled inspector general and agency staffers. A hearing Thursday before the House Science Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee painted "an ugly picture" of how NASA leaders reacted to a highly critical outside investigation of NASA Inspector General Robert "Moose" Cobb, said Chairman Brad Miller, D-N.C. The space agency's general counsel, Michael Wholley, admitted under oath Thursday that he took DVD recordings of a controversial April 10 meeting, snapped them in half and tossed them into the trash because he didn't want them making their way to the public.
U.S. Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., lashed into Wholley for destroying public records and said he is willing to sign a letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales with Miller requesting a criminal investigation. "I think it's very clear the tape was a public record," Sensenbrenner said, brandishing a copy of federal law on preserving public documents. "It's also a crime to destroy public records."
The April meeting was controversial and sparked bad feelings among many of the inspector-general staffers for various reasons, including Griffin's reported comments that the IG's office should lay off technical audits as well as investigations of waste, fraud and abuse that totaled less than $1 billion. Click here to view the article.
Lt. Governor at KSC to Launch 'Experience' (Source: Florida Today)
Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp travels to Kennedy Space Center this morning to help launch a $60 million tourist attraction. Kottkamp appears at the Visitor’s Complex at 10:30 a.m. to inaugurate the “Shuttle Launch Experience.” Opening to the public this weekend, the attraction is housed in the six-story Shuttle Launch Simulation Facility that takes visitors through the steps of a shuttle launch. Groups of 44 patrons are strapped to a platform that jolts them through the 3-g experience of liftoff, the thump of booster separation and the sudden stop of main engine cut off.
Benson Space Improves Design of Its Spaceship (Source: Benson Space)
As a result of a five month-long study by SpaceDev, Benson Space Company (BSC) has chosen to pursue a fresh approach in the design of its Dream Chaser spaceship. Rather than using the orbital NASA HL-20 vehicle as a model, BSC will base its suborbital spaceship on an amalgam of the NASA and Air Force X-2, X-15 and T-38 vehicles. While the new design is safer and more aerodynamic, explains Benson, it will also be easier and faster to construct, allowing BSC to remain on-schedule to make its initial commercial spaceflights in 2009 -- aiming to provide the first, safest and best astronaut-making spaceflights for the emerging space tourism market. "During the past two months a small, highly experienced team has taken a fresh look and concluded that we can do better," says Benson.
No Plans to Join NASA Lunar Program - Russian Space Agency (Source: RIA Novosti)
Russia will not participate in joint lunar exploration with NASA, but will assist the U.S. with its shuttle program until 2015, a spokesman for the Russian space agency said. NASA's program envisions the construction of a manned lunar base, which will require broad international cooperation. Russian funds have not been earmarked for Moon exploration projects under Russia's federal space program for 2006-2015 and Russia will conduct its own lunar research in the next decade using unmanned spacecraft. "Until 2015, we are planning to study the Moon only with the use of unmanned space vehicles," an official said. "However, after 2015, when our program is concluded, we might consider other approaches [to cooperation in lunar exploration]."
Space Tourism Gets Down-to-Earth (Source: MSNBC)
The most popular destinations for space tourism won't be in outer space itself, but right here on Earth. Already, an estimated 1.5 million people stream through Kennedy Space Center's visitor complex every year, and that rate is expected to tick upward after the opening of the Shuttle Launch Experience, the center's virtual space ride. In the years to come, a new generation of space-themed attractions could morph into working spaceports - where crowds of tourists can watch real-life space fliers as they train for the trip of a lifetime.
At least that's the vision set forth by Michael Lyon, managing director of Spaceport. Lyon gave a progress report on the plans for space centers in Singapore as well as the United Arab Emirates during the Space Venture Finance Symposium, a warmup for this week's International Space Development Conference in Dallas. Spaceport has partnered with Space Adventures and other backers to develop actual launch facilities in Ras al-Khaimah, one of the emirates, and in the island nation of Singapore. Eventually, the spaceports would serve as the home bases for suborbital spaceships yet to be built - but even before the first liftoff, they could offer Earth-based activities that give visitors a feel for the final frontier.
This new breed of integrated space center would have spaceship simulators, interactive exhibits and displays of rocket replicas, just like today's space museums. But you could also take a ride on a zero-gravity airplane flight. If that isn't hard-core enough, you could go through a realistic space camp, complete with underwater training and circuits on a high-G centrifuge. And if that's too hard-core, you could simply take the tour, stopping off to look through the window while someone else goes around on the centrifuge.
E-mails Offer Inside Look at NASA Strategy (Source: Florida Today)
E-mails by NASA General Counsel Michael Wholley released by the House science committee Thursday offer an inside look into the agency's strategy regarding the controversy involving Inspector General Robert Cobb and the destruction of video recordings of a meeting about him. The committee released his e-mails even though they are stamped with a statement saying they are "solely for Congressional use and not for further release." In one e-mail to an administration official, Wholley accuses staff members with the House science committee and Florida Sen. Bill Nelson, D- Orlando, chairman of the Senate space subcommittee, of leaking documents. After his destruction of the DVDs was discovered, Wholley wrote a frustrated and apologetic e-mail to another NASA official on April 28 referring to "my bad . . . pure heart, empty head!"
Jacksonville Travel Agent Offering Experience That’s Out of This World (Source: JaxDailyRecord.com)
If you attended the Jacksonville Film Festival and saw the documentary “In the Shadow of the Moon” about America’s Apollo astronauts, you might have left the theater wishing you could screw on a helmet, strap yourself in and blast off in a spaceship. The fact is that’s not entirely out of the question. The screening was sponsored by Suzanne Perritt, a travel agent with Valerie Wilson Travel in Ponte Vedra Beach. She is one of only 47 “accredited space agents” in North America authorized to book passage on Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo. “With Virgin Galactic, I’ve extended my territory to outer space. These trips are literally out of this world.”
Virgin Galactic expects its flights will one day take off from a commercial spaceport that is to be built in New Mexico. The site was chosen for its sparse population and generally favorable weather, but it won’t be ready for takeoffs and landings until at least 2010. If the New Mexico project were to fizzle out for any reason, the Jacksonville Aviation Authority knows a good place where Virgin Galactic could land – Cecil Field. JAA has applied for a license and recently cleared the first hurdle with the FAA.
Microgravity Enterprises, Inc. Launches Commercial Payload from New Mexico Spaceport (Source: MEI)
Microgravity Enterprises, Inc. (MEI) recovered ingredients that were successfully launched into space onboard UP Aerospace’s SpaceLoft-2 (SL-2) rocket on April 28th. These ingredients will be used to make the world’s first consumer food products fortified by elements that have been flown in space. MEI’s initial product offering will include an energy drink called Antimatter, a purified water with important electrolytes called Space2O, and the world’s first true space beer called Comet’s Tail AleTM. “We flew enough ingredients to support almost a year’s worth of production,” said Darryl Hupfer, Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing, MEI. “This is just the beginning. In the next two years, we plan to introduce a broad family of commercial products that are made from ingredients flown in space.”
Another key ingredient of MEI’s business model is the company’s ACCESS for Education program. MEI is donating payload space on every MEI launch for the purpose of conducting research and executing experiments aimed at advancing space commercialization. Payload space will be allocated for a full spectrum of activities, from K-12 inspirational experiments, to next generation commercial space demonstration payloads developed by U.S. universities. Visit http://www.microgravityenterprises.com/ for information.
Astrobiology On Better Footing At NASA Under Stern (Source: Aviation Week)
Astrobiology, which has seemed like the poor stepchild at NASA with Michael Griffin as administrator, has regained some ground under Alan Stern, the planetary scientist Griffin hired as the agency's new associate administrator for science. Stern found funds for four new NASA Astrobiology Institute teams - at the University of Wisconsin, CalTech, Montana State and MIT - to pursue such diverse topics as microbial research that could help build instruments to search for the signatures of life on Mars; the role of iron-sulfide compounds in pre-biotic chemistry, and what it took for multi-cellular life to emerge on Earth. From initial 18-month grants of $350,000, the teams stand to get as much as $7 million each over five years. That is good news for the discipline, which studies how life may have evolved and spread through the universe.
Boeing Stockholders Smiling at All-Time High (Source: AIA)
Boeing stock values rose on news of a $4 billion commercial jet order and an analyst's rave analysis. The company's stock traded at an all-time high of $98.84 the day after its stockholders' meeting. Boeing stock jumped nearly $3 following an announcement that Air France-KLM Group will place an order for 18 of the company's 777 jets. Boeing's stock closed at $97.42, up 1.94% for the day.
SpaceDev Expands Production Capability in North Carolina (Source: SpaceDev)
SpaceDev has signed a five year lease on a new 13,500 square foot design and manufacturing facility located near the Research Triangle Park in Durham, North Carolina. The facility will be the new home for SpaceDev's Electro-Mechanical Components (EMC) group. "The new facility will incorporate features specifically designed to support SpaceDev spacecraft subsystem product offerings," said Mark Sirangelo, SpaceDev's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "Our new facility lease demonstrates our commitment to our North Carolina operations. Our EMC business continues to grow and this new facility dramatically increases our capability in this important product area."
Chairman of Senate Antitrust Panel Pushes to Block XM-Sirius Merger (Source: Wall Street Journal)
Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis), the chairman of a key Congressional antitrust panel, urged the Department of Justice and FCC to reject the proposed merger between Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio. The lawmaker is the chairman of the Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights Subcommittee, which sits within the Senate Judiciary Committee. He is the first chairman of the four Congressional panels which held hearings into the proposed tie-up shortly after it was announced to publicly denounce it.
Pentagon Reaffirms U.S. Right to Deny Adversaries' Use of Space (Source: RIA Novosti)
The United States has the inherent right of self-defense to protect its national interests in space and can deny its adversaries the use of hostile space capabilities, a senior Pentagon official said. "The United States views purposeful interference with its space systems as an infringement on its rights and will take actions necessary to preserve its rights, capabilities, and freedom of action in space including denying, if necessary, adversaries the use of space capabilities hostile to U.S. national interests," Major General James Armor, director of the National Security Space Office said at a congressional hearing. Proposed government spending on space defense programs was hit by severe cuts when the U.S. House of Representatives approved a $2.9 trillion fiscal 2008 budget May 17, but reduced the proposed $8.9 billion on missile defenses by $764 million.
ICO Signs Launch Services and Dual Launch Study Agreement with ILS (Source: ILS)
ICO Global Communications has signed a Launch Services and Dual Launch Study Agreement with ILS International Launch Services (ILS). The contract represents a Proton launch services agreement for up to five launches between 2009-2011. In addition, ILS will design and propose a dual launch capability for ICO's Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellites.
Monster Asteroid to Hit the Earth in 2036 Spawns Earth Rescue Ideas (Source: SatNews)
In February 2006, the Russians reminded everyone that an asteroid should shave by the Earth in April 2029, a scant 29 years away. At its worst, the asteroid—identified as Apophis-99942—should smash into the Earth by 2036. At the least, it should wipe out practically all civilian and military satellites in geostationary orbit, which is about 42,000km above the planet. Russia’s Pulkovo Space Observatory estimates that on April 13, 2029, Apophis-99942 (the inverted three 6s are not lost on the superstitious) will be at its closest distance to the Earth for 200 years. Apophis will pass the Earth at a distance of 30,000 to 40,000 km. Whatever happens, the Earth will suffer from the effects of the close encounter with this asteroid. This chilling doomsday scenario wrought by the “killer asteroid” Apophis-99942 has prompted the California-based non-governmental group, The Planetary Society, to launch the “Apophis Mission Design Competition”.
Space Tourism Still Distant (Daily Bruin)
During travel season, a trip to Disney World may sound exciting, but to some space enthusiasts, taking a space flight in orbit around the earth may sound astronomically more intriguing. But [despite recent reports on the emerging space tourism industry] a trip to the moon is much less attainable than the common individual may think. Space travel and tourism is often misunderstood, as many underestimate the monetary and energy costs of the endeavor. While some space stations have made limited travel somewhat available, the ability to stay in orbit is still a distant reality for a non-astronaut.
“(Currently), you can take a person high enough to a place where the space is black and earth looks curved,” said Michael Rich, a UCLA research astronomer. But the type of trip Rich refers to is a suborbital trip in which those traveling will go just beyond the atmosphere and into space, but will not continue to orbit the earth. “Basically, you go up into space, but you come back down like a rock or baseball – you don’t orbit around the earth,” Rich said.
By Edward Ellegood
LinkedIn Group
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