Northrop, Air Force Restructure NPOESS Contract (Source: SpaceToday.net)
The Air Force and Northrop Grumman have completed the restructuring of a contract for a new generation of weather satellites. As part of a $4.2 billion contract modification for the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS), the two sides agreed to a revised schedule that calls for the launch a prototype spacecraft, the NPOESS Preparatory Project, in 2009, and the first NPOESS satellite in 2013. The contract includes options for two additional NPOESS satellites. The NPOESS program has been beset by schedule delays and budget overruns and the government oversight of the program, a joint office run by the Air Force, NOAA, and NASA, has been criticized by Congress. Some sensors were removed from the NPOESS satellites to reduce cost and risk. NPOESS is designed to replace existing civil and military polar-orbiting weather satellites.
Endeavour Crew Cabin Leak Persists (Source: Florida Today)
Technicians will test Endeavour's cabin tonight to learn the cause and location of a leak that remained after an attempt to fix it during the weekend. "They are troubleshooting it right now," said Tracy E. Yates, spokeswoman for United Space Alliance. The leak was more than ten times allowable leak rate of .005 psi per hour. The leak rate was about .05 psi per hour. During the weekend, the cabin failed a similar leak test. A nut on a flexible hose was thought to be the cause. The leak at the same rate remained Monday night after the nut was tightened. "It was either not the problem or part of the problem," said Yates. "The issue is with the cabin."
US-Canadian Team on 4-Month Simulated Mars Mission (Source: Voice of America)
When the Phoenix Mars Lander reaches the Red Planet in 2008, the $386-million robotic mission will begin exploring the icy Martian soil. Meanwhile, in a remote field station here on Earth, Canadian and American scientists have been engaged in a simulated expedition to Mars. There is no place on Earth like Mars, except perhaps the arctic polar desert's Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station, 1400 kilometers from the North Pole on Devon Island.
Mars Phoenix Launch Delayed Until Saturday (Source: WKMG)
The planned launch Friday of NASA's Mars Phoenix lander is being pushed back to Saturday because stormy weather is expected to stall a crucial propellant-loading operation. Liftoff Saturday is scheduled for one of two single-second launch opportunities. The first will come 31 seconds after 5:24 a.m., and the second would be 55 seconds after 6:02 a.m. The general weather forecast for launch remains favorable, but the prospect for afternoon and early evening thunderstorms is complicating propellant-loading operations at Launch Complex 17A at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport.
Sirius Satellite Net Loss Narrows (Source: Reuters)
Sirius Satellite Radio posted a narrower quarterly loss that beat expectations as it added more subscribers and spent less to sign them to its pay radio service, sending shares up 3 percent. Sirius, the No. 2 satellite radio service which has agreed to purchase bigger rival XM Satellite Radio, said its second-quarter net loss was $134.1 million, compared with a loss of $237.8 million a year earlier. Revenue at Sirius, whose lineup includes the National Football League, shock jock Howard Stern, lifestyle guru Martha Stewart and the Catholic Church, jumped 51 percent to $226.4 million from $150.1 million.
Measuring Sea Level Rise from Space (Source: BBC)
Meteorologists and climate modellers are eagerly awaiting the launch of a satellite that will be able to measure sea level rise to an unprecedented degree of precision. Jason-2, scientists hope, will help shed light on the oceans' dynamics by measuring the topography - the "hills" and "valleys" - of the world's seas every 10 days. The satellite's radar altimeter, Poseidon-3, is designed to measure the sea level height to within a few centimetres. It will do this from its orbit more than 1,300km above the Earth. Data collected by Jason-2's instruments will help researchers develop more precise forecasts, improve hurricane path projections and reveal how climate change is affecting ocean currents.
Beer in Space: A Short but Frothy History (Source:
After allegations that astronauts flew drunk, NASA's rules on alcohol are under scrutiny. The agency currently doesn't allow its astronauts to imbibe in orbit, but over the years of crewed space travel, many astronauts have enjoyed a tipple. In 1969, Buzz Aldrin took communion after landing on the Moon, sipping wine from a small chalice. In the Moon's feeble gravity, he later wrote, the wine swirled like syrup around the cup. Small amounts of alcohol were apparently allowed on the Soviet space station Mir, and when Russian astronauts joined the International Space Station, there were some grumblings about the decree that it be dry.
That hasn't stopped some researchers from working on ways to brew and serve alcohol in space, however. Graduate student Kirsten Sterrett at the University of Colorado wrote a thesis on fermentation in space, with support from US beer behemoth Coors. She sent a miniature brewing kit into orbit aboard a space shuttle several years ago and produced a few sips of beer. She later sampled the space brew, but because of chemicals in and near it from her analysis, it didn't taste great by the time she tried it.
Radyne Shareholder Pushes Sale of Company (Source: Space News)
Satellite-ground equipment manufacturer Radyne Corp. plans to complete its purchase of small-satellite builder AeroAstro this week and has no plans to sell itself despite the urging of a major shareholder, Radyne Chief Executive Myron Wagner said July 30.
Editorial: NASA's Image Needs Repair (Source: Sun-Sentinel)
It hasn't been a great six months for the people at NASA. These folks have long been seen as the best and the brightest, and deservedly so. But lately they have become fodder for late-night TV comedians. You can't blame people if they pick up supermarket tabloids and expect to see astronauts alongside Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton. The problems started earlier this year, with the love triangle escapade of astronaut Lisa Nowak. That was essentially good for a smile. What has happened lately is a lot more serious, and NASA needs to work quickly to restore its credibility and image with the American public.
OSHA Continues to Examine Mojave Blast (Source: Bakersfield Californian)
Employees at Scaled Composites in Mojave were back at work Monday after Thursday's explosion that killed three of their co-workers. Meanwhile, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) officials are continuing to investigate what happened at the Mojave Air & Space Port that also injured three others. Airport officials hope the inquiry will be complete within a few weeks.
July 30 News Items
E'Prime Investigation and Lawsuit Underway (Source: ERAU)
Amid an internal investigation into E'Prime's former leadership under Bob Davis, after the company's board removed him from office on Mar. 9, Mr. Davis has filed a lawsuit in Florida against the new management team, led by James Oldham. Mr. Davis' legal action seeks payment of funds he claims are owed him by the company.
The internal investigation showed that certain E'Prime Officers and Directors claimed ownership and control of numerous companies including USTM, Inc., Space Plane Systems, Inc. and E'Prime Development, Inc. that were in direct competition with E'Prime. The report further revealed that E'Prime resources and assets were utilized to support these ventures. These actions were undertaken without disclosure to either the public or E'Prime's auditors and in violation of SEC regulations governing actions of related parties. As a result of these findings, the company is contesting certain amounts claimed as accrued salary and loans due to Bob and Betty Davis.
The company's new management has relocated its offices from Titusville to the Washington DC area and has hired new staff to support the company's operations. According to an E'Prime news release, the company is now current with its SEC filing requirements and is "moving aggressively to complete necessary funding to support implementation of its business plan." Meanwhile, activists among the E'Prime's 2000+ shareholders are urging the company to rectify previous statements that its proposed Peacekeeper-derived launch vehicles were removed from START Treaty restrictions. In reality, according to shareholders, all but two of E'Prime's nine proposed launch vehicle designs would be grounded under the treaty.
Spaceport Business Opportunities Expo Planned in October (Source: KSC)
This year's spaceport Business Opportunities Expo is planned for Oct. 16 at Cruise Terminal #4 at Port Canaveral. Government purchasing agents will attend to learn what local and national vendors have to offer. The annual trade show—sponsored by the NASA/Kennedy Space Center Small Business Council, U.S. Air Force 45th Space Wing, and Canaveral Port Authority—will feature over 150 business and government exhibitors from the local community and across the country. Exhibitors will include vendors from a variety of technical product and service areas, including computer technology, communication equipment/services, construction, and safety products. Admission is free and open to the public. Details are available at the following website: http://expo.ksc.nasa.gov.
NASA: 2008 Will Decide if New Rockets Can Deliver Space Station Cargo (Source: Flight International)
NASA expects progress, or the lack of it, next year for the agency's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program to determine whether the COTS rockets can deliver cargo to the International Space Station from 2010. NASA needs an alternate cargo delivery system to maintain the ISS by providing around 54,500kg (120,000lb) of food, water, equipment and spares it is obligated to deliver until its de-orbit, planned for 2016. The agency's associate administrator told Congress that it would know next year if the COTS program, with its two competing companies, SpaceX and RpK, could provide the 9,000kg a year the station will require from NASA.
Top Apollo Manager Opposes NASA's Moon Goal (Source: Aviation Week)
One of the most respected top managers of the Apollo program, Joseph P. Gavin, who led development of the NASA/Grumman Apollo lunar module, is airing sharp opposition to the Bush Administration/NASA goal of returning humans to the Moon as a stepping stone to Mars. He believes the near term Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle lunar plan and Moon base goal should be scrapped in favor of even more emphasis on Mars—especially robotic Mars exploration. “I have been somewhat surprised to see the lack of active criticism of the administration’s vision for space exploration,” says Gavin. “It seems to me to be more concerned with the 'how' as opposed to the 'why'...The argument that the Moon is a necessary training base for eventual manned expeditions to Mars is flatly unpersuasive,” he says.
Gavin says the new NASA lunar vision should be shifted to Mars immediately. “The application of Apollo style technology to replace the shuttle appears to be a desperate effort to save development costs. It also seems to be an invitation to the Europeans and others to jump ahead of us in pushing the frontiers of technology.” Gavin says “our first priority” should be to fully exploit the International Space Station. But the second major U. S. space program priority “should be to undertake further robotic exploration of Mars to see if human exploration [there] is really warranted,” he says.
Several other Grumman lunar module engineers told a recent NASA return-to-the-Moon symposium that they have doubts about whether the national political leadership and public will maintain a commitment to undertake a major new manned lunar effort, as in Apollo. “Because in the 1960s everyone was conscious of Apollo, we were able to attract the best and brightest people to work on the program,” said one of the engineers. “If it is not recognized that [the NASA/Bush lunar plan] is a major national priority people are not going to be as anxious to work on these kind of things as they were in the 1960s.
Museum Official Wants City to Step Up (Source: Florida Today)
Months after signing a memorandum of agreement with the city's community redevelopment agency, Charlie Mars' dream of a larger space for his Space Walk Hall of Fame Foundation hasn't been realized. Mars desires a rent-free, 10,000-square-foot building downtown where he can exhibit his extensive collection of space history. And he feels the city needs to do more to make that dream come true. "The museum is just another part of preserving space history," he said. "We would like the city to feel more passionate about that."
The nonprofit Space Walk of Fame Foundation nets $20,500 each year. But it needs about $150,000 to complete an Apollo monument and wants about $1 million to start a shuttle monument. The city gave the foundation $30,000 for the Apollo monument as part of the agreement.
Editorial: Fixing the Broken Air Traffic Control System (Source: Washington Post)
Congress has the ability to shorten the travel delays that have air passengers so frustrated. First, it should let the FAA proceed with its plan to redesign traffic flow around busy East Coast hubs. It should then force corporate jet owners to pay their share of costs for the NextGen satellite-based air traffic control system.
Editorial: Make Congress On-Time as Well (Source: Lakeland Ledger)
If American travelers want domestic airlines to improve their on-time performance, they should demand that Congress pass meaningful legislation - on time - that modernizes an antiquated air-traffic-control system. According to the FAA: "The percentage of on-time arrivals at the nation's busiest airports has steadily declined each year since 2002, when 82 percent of flights arrived on time at the 35 busiest airports. In 2006 the on-time arrival rate atthose airports fell to 75 percent. Delays in 2006 were the worst in history."
The technology for controlling traffic remains grounded in the mid-20th century. The FAA wants $15 billion to replace the current traffic-control-system - which is based on the radio-wave technology of the 1960s - with new navigation and tracking devices. The FAA contends that the new system would improve the efficiency of commercial aircraft and increase the capacity of airspace. At $15 billion, the cost is immense but, if invested wisely, it would be a bargain. (Just one airport, Chicago's O'Hare, is spending $6 billion on expansion.)
Unfortunately, Congress and the executive branch have spent down the airport "trust fund," and there is little consensus on how to finance the necessary improvements. Congress needs good advice as to whether the FAA has recommended the most-cost-effective solution. But Congress should not require detailed instructions on the need to adopt a responsible FAA funding bill - on time.
Phoenix to "Taste" Martian Water (Source: Florida Today)
NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander, due to launch Friday, will sample the water of the Red Planet. Once it arrives on Mars, the lander will have about three months to dig into the frozen soil, then bake and analyze it.
NASA Fears Collision with Space Junk (Souce: Palm Beach Post)
With a single push, Astronaut Clayton Anderson sent a 1,400-pound, refrigerator-sized ammonia tank flying through space. Space managers expect the item to circle Earth at 18,000 mph, 30 times the speed of a jet, for 10 to 11 months before they reenter the atmosphere and burn up. But just a nickel-sized sphere striking an object at that speed has the effect of a bowling ball traveling 60 mph, NASA says. And a year is a long time for something that big to be potentially in the path of the international space station or a space shuttle such as Endeavour.
Nearly 12,000 pieces bigger than 10 centimeters (about 4 inches) are orbiting Earth. Particles up to 10 centimeters in size number 100,000. And fragments smaller than that are in the tens of millions. In January 2005, two pieces that were not much bigger than microwave ovens - the engine from a 31-year-old Thor rocket and a fragment from a Chinese rocket - collided over the Pacific Ocean. And in July 1996, a briefcase-sized fragment from an Ariane rocket slammed into a French satellite at a combined impact of 31,500 mph, snapping off its 191/2-foot stabilizing boom.
Will Space Guns Provide Low-Cost Access to Space? (Source: Space Review)
Launching people into space using guns was popularized nearly 150 years ago by Jules Verne, but has to date remained in the realm of science fiction. Bart Leahy reports on one venture's effort to develop a gun launch system that could put payloads into orbit for a fraction of the cost of conventional rockets. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/920/1 to view the article.
Spacepower for Warlords (Source: Space Review)
Space technology and services can do wonders for developing nations, but they can also be used to destabilize vulnerable parts of the world, especially in Africa. Taylor Dinerman describes the problem and what companies and governments need to do to resolve it. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/919/1 to view the article.
Tragedy in the New Space Race (Source: MSNBC)
X Prize founder Peter Diamandis said: "This was an industrial accident. This has nothing to do with spaceflight." On a technical level, he is totally correct: The accident is outside the jurisdiction of the FAA and is being handled as an occupational safety matter by Scaled Composites, California, and the Mojave Air & Space Port. But when you set aside the technicalities, the cause that brought Glenn May, Eric Blackwell and Todd Ivens to Mojave has everything to do with spaceflight.
Former Karl Rove Staffer Moves to NASA (Source: NASA Watch)
The vacant White House Liaison position at NASA HQ has been filled with - surprise - a Bush Administration political appointee - Jane Cherry. She recently worked in the White House for Karl Rove as an associate director in the Office of Political Affairs. According to Muckracker.com: "Cherry has worked for Karl Rove at the WH for almost two years. She probably knows a lot about what has been going on at the DOJ and why. Cherry is named as one of the more prolific email users of an RNC email account whose messages (27, 482) have been retained by the RNC as part of a House investigation of possible presidential records act violations.
Preparing for the Worst (Source: Space Review)
Last week's tragic accident in Mojave provided a stark reminder of the risks inherent in spaceflight. Jeff Foust describes what the industry is doing to prepare for the day when a space tourist vehicle crashes. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/922/1 to view the article.
Teacher to Conduct Lessons from Space (Source: Miami Herald)
At age 55, after 22 years of training and waiting, in the wake of two shuttle catastrophes that claimed teacher Christa McAuliffe and other friends, elementary school teacher Barbara Morgan finally is poised to conduct her lesson plans from space. Liftoff of Morgan and six other astronauts aboard shuttle Endeavour is scheduled for Aug. 7 from the Kennedy Space Center. The mission will be closely followed by millions of wide-eyed children -- and their teachers, who know a thing or two about patience.
Will Northrop Join Space Travel Race? (Source: LA Business Journal)
Northrop Grumman's acquisition of Scaled Composites has some wondering if a $30 billion company like Northrop, whose primary business includes shipbuilding and aircraft technology, will be interested in continuing with Scaled Composites’ ambitious agenda of advancing the science of private manned rockets. “I can’t imagine that they really want to get into space tourism because it’s so much out of character from what they normally do,” said Paul Nisbet, an analyst who tracks Northrop. “It’s a rather out-of-the-way acquisition that they’ve made. I have to think that there’s some technology here that may apply to some of their classified work that we are unaware of.”
Amid an internal investigation into E'Prime's former leadership under Bob Davis, after the company's board removed him from office on Mar. 9, Mr. Davis has filed a lawsuit in Florida against the new management team, led by James Oldham. Mr. Davis' legal action seeks payment of funds he claims are owed him by the company.
The internal investigation showed that certain E'Prime Officers and Directors claimed ownership and control of numerous companies including USTM, Inc., Space Plane Systems, Inc. and E'Prime Development, Inc. that were in direct competition with E'Prime. The report further revealed that E'Prime resources and assets were utilized to support these ventures. These actions were undertaken without disclosure to either the public or E'Prime's auditors and in violation of SEC regulations governing actions of related parties. As a result of these findings, the company is contesting certain amounts claimed as accrued salary and loans due to Bob and Betty Davis.
The company's new management has relocated its offices from Titusville to the Washington DC area and has hired new staff to support the company's operations. According to an E'Prime news release, the company is now current with its SEC filing requirements and is "moving aggressively to complete necessary funding to support implementation of its business plan." Meanwhile, activists among the E'Prime's 2000+ shareholders are urging the company to rectify previous statements that its proposed Peacekeeper-derived launch vehicles were removed from START Treaty restrictions. In reality, according to shareholders, all but two of E'Prime's nine proposed launch vehicle designs would be grounded under the treaty.
Spaceport Business Opportunities Expo Planned in October (Source: KSC)
This year's spaceport Business Opportunities Expo is planned for Oct. 16 at Cruise Terminal #4 at Port Canaveral. Government purchasing agents will attend to learn what local and national vendors have to offer. The annual trade show—sponsored by the NASA/Kennedy Space Center Small Business Council, U.S. Air Force 45th Space Wing, and Canaveral Port Authority—will feature over 150 business and government exhibitors from the local community and across the country. Exhibitors will include vendors from a variety of technical product and service areas, including computer technology, communication equipment/services, construction, and safety products. Admission is free and open to the public. Details are available at the following website: http://expo.ksc.nasa.gov.
NASA: 2008 Will Decide if New Rockets Can Deliver Space Station Cargo (Source: Flight International)
NASA expects progress, or the lack of it, next year for the agency's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program to determine whether the COTS rockets can deliver cargo to the International Space Station from 2010. NASA needs an alternate cargo delivery system to maintain the ISS by providing around 54,500kg (120,000lb) of food, water, equipment and spares it is obligated to deliver until its de-orbit, planned for 2016. The agency's associate administrator told Congress that it would know next year if the COTS program, with its two competing companies, SpaceX and RpK, could provide the 9,000kg a year the station will require from NASA.
Top Apollo Manager Opposes NASA's Moon Goal (Source: Aviation Week)
One of the most respected top managers of the Apollo program, Joseph P. Gavin, who led development of the NASA/Grumman Apollo lunar module, is airing sharp opposition to the Bush Administration/NASA goal of returning humans to the Moon as a stepping stone to Mars. He believes the near term Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle lunar plan and Moon base goal should be scrapped in favor of even more emphasis on Mars—especially robotic Mars exploration. “I have been somewhat surprised to see the lack of active criticism of the administration’s vision for space exploration,” says Gavin. “It seems to me to be more concerned with the 'how' as opposed to the 'why'...The argument that the Moon is a necessary training base for eventual manned expeditions to Mars is flatly unpersuasive,” he says.
Gavin says the new NASA lunar vision should be shifted to Mars immediately. “The application of Apollo style technology to replace the shuttle appears to be a desperate effort to save development costs. It also seems to be an invitation to the Europeans and others to jump ahead of us in pushing the frontiers of technology.” Gavin says “our first priority” should be to fully exploit the International Space Station. But the second major U. S. space program priority “should be to undertake further robotic exploration of Mars to see if human exploration [there] is really warranted,” he says.
Several other Grumman lunar module engineers told a recent NASA return-to-the-Moon symposium that they have doubts about whether the national political leadership and public will maintain a commitment to undertake a major new manned lunar effort, as in Apollo. “Because in the 1960s everyone was conscious of Apollo, we were able to attract the best and brightest people to work on the program,” said one of the engineers. “If it is not recognized that [the NASA/Bush lunar plan] is a major national priority people are not going to be as anxious to work on these kind of things as they were in the 1960s.
Museum Official Wants City to Step Up (Source: Florida Today)
Months after signing a memorandum of agreement with the city's community redevelopment agency, Charlie Mars' dream of a larger space for his Space Walk Hall of Fame Foundation hasn't been realized. Mars desires a rent-free, 10,000-square-foot building downtown where he can exhibit his extensive collection of space history. And he feels the city needs to do more to make that dream come true. "The museum is just another part of preserving space history," he said. "We would like the city to feel more passionate about that."
The nonprofit Space Walk of Fame Foundation nets $20,500 each year. But it needs about $150,000 to complete an Apollo monument and wants about $1 million to start a shuttle monument. The city gave the foundation $30,000 for the Apollo monument as part of the agreement.
Editorial: Fixing the Broken Air Traffic Control System (Source: Washington Post)
Congress has the ability to shorten the travel delays that have air passengers so frustrated. First, it should let the FAA proceed with its plan to redesign traffic flow around busy East Coast hubs. It should then force corporate jet owners to pay their share of costs for the NextGen satellite-based air traffic control system.
Editorial: Make Congress On-Time as Well (Source: Lakeland Ledger)
If American travelers want domestic airlines to improve their on-time performance, they should demand that Congress pass meaningful legislation - on time - that modernizes an antiquated air-traffic-control system. According to the FAA: "The percentage of on-time arrivals at the nation's busiest airports has steadily declined each year since 2002, when 82 percent of flights arrived on time at the 35 busiest airports. In 2006 the on-time arrival rate atthose airports fell to 75 percent. Delays in 2006 were the worst in history."
The technology for controlling traffic remains grounded in the mid-20th century. The FAA wants $15 billion to replace the current traffic-control-system - which is based on the radio-wave technology of the 1960s - with new navigation and tracking devices. The FAA contends that the new system would improve the efficiency of commercial aircraft and increase the capacity of airspace. At $15 billion, the cost is immense but, if invested wisely, it would be a bargain. (Just one airport, Chicago's O'Hare, is spending $6 billion on expansion.)
Unfortunately, Congress and the executive branch have spent down the airport "trust fund," and there is little consensus on how to finance the necessary improvements. Congress needs good advice as to whether the FAA has recommended the most-cost-effective solution. But Congress should not require detailed instructions on the need to adopt a responsible FAA funding bill - on time.
Phoenix to "Taste" Martian Water (Source: Florida Today)
NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander, due to launch Friday, will sample the water of the Red Planet. Once it arrives on Mars, the lander will have about three months to dig into the frozen soil, then bake and analyze it.
NASA Fears Collision with Space Junk (Souce: Palm Beach Post)
With a single push, Astronaut Clayton Anderson sent a 1,400-pound, refrigerator-sized ammonia tank flying through space. Space managers expect the item to circle Earth at 18,000 mph, 30 times the speed of a jet, for 10 to 11 months before they reenter the atmosphere and burn up. But just a nickel-sized sphere striking an object at that speed has the effect of a bowling ball traveling 60 mph, NASA says. And a year is a long time for something that big to be potentially in the path of the international space station or a space shuttle such as Endeavour.
Nearly 12,000 pieces bigger than 10 centimeters (about 4 inches) are orbiting Earth. Particles up to 10 centimeters in size number 100,000. And fragments smaller than that are in the tens of millions. In January 2005, two pieces that were not much bigger than microwave ovens - the engine from a 31-year-old Thor rocket and a fragment from a Chinese rocket - collided over the Pacific Ocean. And in July 1996, a briefcase-sized fragment from an Ariane rocket slammed into a French satellite at a combined impact of 31,500 mph, snapping off its 191/2-foot stabilizing boom.
Will Space Guns Provide Low-Cost Access to Space? (Source: Space Review)
Launching people into space using guns was popularized nearly 150 years ago by Jules Verne, but has to date remained in the realm of science fiction. Bart Leahy reports on one venture's effort to develop a gun launch system that could put payloads into orbit for a fraction of the cost of conventional rockets. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/920/1 to view the article.
Spacepower for Warlords (Source: Space Review)
Space technology and services can do wonders for developing nations, but they can also be used to destabilize vulnerable parts of the world, especially in Africa. Taylor Dinerman describes the problem and what companies and governments need to do to resolve it. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/919/1 to view the article.
Tragedy in the New Space Race (Source: MSNBC)
X Prize founder Peter Diamandis said: "This was an industrial accident. This has nothing to do with spaceflight." On a technical level, he is totally correct: The accident is outside the jurisdiction of the FAA and is being handled as an occupational safety matter by Scaled Composites, California, and the Mojave Air & Space Port. But when you set aside the technicalities, the cause that brought Glenn May, Eric Blackwell and Todd Ivens to Mojave has everything to do with spaceflight.
Former Karl Rove Staffer Moves to NASA (Source: NASA Watch)
The vacant White House Liaison position at NASA HQ has been filled with - surprise - a Bush Administration political appointee - Jane Cherry. She recently worked in the White House for Karl Rove as an associate director in the Office of Political Affairs. According to Muckracker.com: "Cherry has worked for Karl Rove at the WH for almost two years. She probably knows a lot about what has been going on at the DOJ and why. Cherry is named as one of the more prolific email users of an RNC email account whose messages (27, 482) have been retained by the RNC as part of a House investigation of possible presidential records act violations.
Preparing for the Worst (Source: Space Review)
Last week's tragic accident in Mojave provided a stark reminder of the risks inherent in spaceflight. Jeff Foust describes what the industry is doing to prepare for the day when a space tourist vehicle crashes. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/922/1 to view the article.
Teacher to Conduct Lessons from Space (Source: Miami Herald)
At age 55, after 22 years of training and waiting, in the wake of two shuttle catastrophes that claimed teacher Christa McAuliffe and other friends, elementary school teacher Barbara Morgan finally is poised to conduct her lesson plans from space. Liftoff of Morgan and six other astronauts aboard shuttle Endeavour is scheduled for Aug. 7 from the Kennedy Space Center. The mission will be closely followed by millions of wide-eyed children -- and their teachers, who know a thing or two about patience.
Will Northrop Join Space Travel Race? (Source: LA Business Journal)
Northrop Grumman's acquisition of Scaled Composites has some wondering if a $30 billion company like Northrop, whose primary business includes shipbuilding and aircraft technology, will be interested in continuing with Scaled Composites’ ambitious agenda of advancing the science of private manned rockets. “I can’t imagine that they really want to get into space tourism because it’s so much out of character from what they normally do,” said Paul Nisbet, an analyst who tracks Northrop. “It’s a rather out-of-the-way acquisition that they’ve made. I have to think that there’s some technology here that may apply to some of their classified work that we are unaware of.”
July 29 News Items
No End to USA Strike in Sight at Spaceport (Source: Florida Today)
In and around tents set up outside the entrance gate to Kennedy Space Center, members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local 2061 sit in defiance of their employer, United Space Alliance. As of today, the union's strike over stalled contract negotiations with the company -- NASA's main space shuttle contractor -- has gone on for 45 days, still with no end in sight. The strike by an estimated 450 to 500 blue-collar workers in the shuttle program has developed into an exercise in labor rights -- and management's ability to adapt to it -- not often seen on the Space Coast.
With the shuttle program scheduled to end in three years, it raises the likelihood of a conflict, as both sides can see a potential end to their income, said a labor expert at Florida International University. United Space Alliance -- a joint venture of aerospace and defense giants Lockheed Martin Corp. and The Boeing Co. -- said it is doing fine without the strikers. A portion of the 570-member union's bargaining unit never joined the strike, and some have crossed the picket lines, while the company has hired 64 replacement workers, and assigned other workers extra duties.
In and around tents set up outside the entrance gate to Kennedy Space Center, members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local 2061 sit in defiance of their employer, United Space Alliance. As of today, the union's strike over stalled contract negotiations with the company -- NASA's main space shuttle contractor -- has gone on for 45 days, still with no end in sight. The strike by an estimated 450 to 500 blue-collar workers in the shuttle program has developed into an exercise in labor rights -- and management's ability to adapt to it -- not often seen on the Space Coast.
With the shuttle program scheduled to end in three years, it raises the likelihood of a conflict, as both sides can see a potential end to their income, said a labor expert at Florida International University. United Space Alliance -- a joint venture of aerospace and defense giants Lockheed Martin Corp. and The Boeing Co. -- said it is doing fine without the strikers. A portion of the 570-member union's bargaining unit never joined the strike, and some have crossed the picket lines, while the company has hired 64 replacement workers, and assigned other workers extra duties.
July 28 News Items
Fatal Blast Stuns Leaders of New Mexico Spaceport, Virgin Galactic (Source: Florida Today)
The fatal rocket test pad explosion that rocked Scaled Composites late Thursday also shook up leaders of the state of New Mexico and Virgin Galactic. Only hours before the explosion they had celebrated the progress being made on SpaceShipTwo and a desert spaceport here that would be home base for the spaceliner fleet.
It's unknown how much impact the accident might have on plans to start early next year on test flights of the new spaceships and construction of the futuristic hangar and terminal at New Mexico's Spaceport America. A half dozen or so top Virgin Galactic officials had flown to New Mexico from London this week, working with the state government to review competing architects' designs for the spaceport terminal. They have picked a winner and were anxious Thursday afternoon to show it off on Friday. Instead, they'll wait until some as-yet undetermined future date.
Chief Astronaut is Skeptical of Allegations (Source: Florida Today)
NASA's acting chief astronaut said his office does not have a widespread alcohol-abuse problem and that he has never seen an inebriated colleague fly an aircraft or spacecraft. "I flew with a lot of astronauts before I got selected, and I've flown twice in space," said Mark Polansky, who joined NASA as an aircraft pilot in 1992 and took a job as an astronaut four years later. "And I can unequivocally say that I have never, ever witnessed what I would consider excessive use of alcohol, anybody intoxicated or impaired, certainly not at the point of getting ready to get on any kind of a vehicle and it affecting their ability to do their job."
NASA Ignored Concerns After Vowing Change, Report Says (Source: Houston Chronicle)
A report on astronaut health and behavior appeared to undermine NASA's assertions for the past two decades that its work culture has been changed to put more value on workers' concerns about the safety of spaceflights. NASA supervisors approved launches despite advice from agency physicians, called flight surgeons, that shuttle astronauts were unfit to fly, according to the report commissioned by NASA director Michael Griffin.
Two of the occasions involved warnings from flight surgeons and fellow astronauts that a crew member was drunk, the report said, and they were among cases in which "major crew medical or behavior problems were identified to (NASA leaders) and the medical advice was disregarded." Air Force Col. Richard Bachmann Jr., who chaired the report committee, said flight surgeons found NASA's treatment of their advice " 'demoralizing' to the point where (they) said they would be less likely to report concerns in the future."
Deputy Administrator Shana Dale said the agency takes safety issues very seriously and had dispatched Bryan O'Connor, chief of safety and mission assurance, to Johnson to interview astronauts about the allegations of alcohol use — and make sure the team is prepared for its next space shuttle launch, scheduled for Aug. 7.
Huntsville Robotics Lab Gets Funding in House Bill (Source: Huntsville Times)
Marshall Space Flight Center will have a new robotics test lab if a key 2008 NASA spending bill makes it through Congress this year. The bill was approved by the U.S. House Thursday and now must be debated by the Senate. U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Haleyville, included $2.6 million in the $17.6 billion spending bill to be used for a Robotics & Exploration Testbed at Marshall, his office said Friday.
Despite Revelations, NASA Declines to Forbid Alcohol (Source: Miami Herald)
NASA has neglected alcohol use and the psychological health of astronauts ''since the earliest days of the astronaut program,'' and alcohol still is readily available in the crew quarters at the Kennedy Space Center, a panel of experts reported. One unidentified astronaut reportedly was drunk when he showed up for a shuttle launch. Several hours after a mechanical glitch scrubbed liftoff, he was drunk again when he boarded a NASA T-38 jet for a flight home.
Another unnamed astronaut was inebriated before boarding a Russian rocket for a flight to the Space Station. ''We don't know if these are the only two incidents in the entire history of the astronaut corps or the tip of the iceberg,'' said Air Force Col. Richard Bachmann Jr., who chaired the report committee. He cautioned against any temptation to ''impugn the entire astronaut corps'' of about 100 men and women, but he and the rest of the committee indicated they suspect the problem might extend much deeper than the two incidents.
Despite the report and the widening scandal, alcohol is not being banned in the astronaut quarters, NASA officials said, and will be available to the crew members of shuttle Endeavour while they go into quarantine three days before their Aug. 7 flight. ''There is alcohol available," said Ellen Ochoa, an astronaut who serves as director of flight-crew operations. "It is permitted, but it's only for off-duty time."
NASA Selects Lightning Protection System Contractor (Source: NASA)
NASA has selected Ivey's Construction Inc. of Merritt Island, Florida, to build a new lightning protection system for Launch Pad 39B at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. The system will support launches of the Constellation Program's Ares I rockets. The lightning protection system is designed to reduce the probability of a direct lightning strike to the Ares I and associated launch equipment during processing and other activities prior to flight. Under the $27,915,000 contract, the company will provide all labor and materials to fabricate and construct three 600-foot, self-supporting structural steel towers and an overhead wire system with associated conductors.
Armadillo Aerospace Reports Progess on Modular Rocket Design (Source: Space.com)
Success is being reported by Armadillo Aerospace of Mesquite, Texas in the group's modular rocket work. The company has completed a set of tethered flights of the first modular rocket segment, flights that went much quicker than expected. Armadillo Aerospace is led and bankrolled by John Carmack, a 36-year-old pioneering programmer in the computer gaming industry. The small research and development team is designing, building, and flight testing computer-controlled rocket vehicles, with an eye towards piloted suborbital vehicle development in the coming years. Over the past six years, Carmack as a rocket entrepreneur has spent slightly more than $3 million sponsoring the work through earnings gleaned from his computer gaming business.
Iridium Satellite Considers Ambitious Earth-Imaging Role (Source: Wall Street Journal)
As U.S. agencies scale back plans to monitor weather and climate changes from space, satellite-operator Iridium Satellite LLC and an international earth-imaging organization are accelerating talks about a potential $1 billion partnership to plug anticipated coverage gaps. Iridium's discussions with the Group on Earth Observations, or GEO, a Swiss-based umbrella group supported by the European Commission and more than 100 countries and international organizations, reflect growing global interest in placing weather and environmental sensors as supplemental payloads on Iridium's next-generation satellite fleet.
Deadly Blast Could Impact Space Tourism (Source: AP)
A deadly explosion at the Scaled Composites test site has cast light on inherent dangers in rocketry that have been overshadowed by public enthusiasm for the adventure of space tourism. The accident, which killed three people, came nearly two years after Scaled Composites first began designing its top-secret suborbital spaceship for British tycoon Richard Branson, who hopes to fly tourists by 2009. The tragedy stunned space tourism supporters, many of whom were betting that Branson's Virgin Galactic spaceline would be the first in the fledgling business to send well-heeled tourists out of the atmosphere. "I suspect that this is a major setback for Virgin Galactic, because they may have to go back to the drawing board for propulsion, for PR reasons if nothing else," wrote Randy Simberg on his blog Transterrestrial Musings.
Spaceport Officials Cancel Announcement in Wake of Explosion (Source: Las Cruces Sun-News)
Spaceport America officials have canceled an important announcement in the wake of Thursday's fatal explosion at a California facility where Virgin Galactic's vehicles were being tested. It is unclear what effect the explosion could have on the fledgling commercial space industry and the ongoing $198 million Spaceport America project in southern New Mexico. Spaceport officials had planned to announce Friday the selection of an architectural firm and engineering team that will design Virgin Galactic's terminal and hangar facilities at Spaceport America, set for construction at a remote site in Sierra County.
Houston-Area Company Supplied NASA's Sabotaged Computer (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
A Houston-area company supplied a sabotaged computer that was to fly aboard shuttle Endeavour in less than two weeks, but was found before being loaded onto the spaceship for a trip to the international space station. Invocon Inc., an electronics research and development firm based in Conroe, Texas, has not yet identified any suspects or motives.
The fatal rocket test pad explosion that rocked Scaled Composites late Thursday also shook up leaders of the state of New Mexico and Virgin Galactic. Only hours before the explosion they had celebrated the progress being made on SpaceShipTwo and a desert spaceport here that would be home base for the spaceliner fleet.
It's unknown how much impact the accident might have on plans to start early next year on test flights of the new spaceships and construction of the futuristic hangar and terminal at New Mexico's Spaceport America. A half dozen or so top Virgin Galactic officials had flown to New Mexico from London this week, working with the state government to review competing architects' designs for the spaceport terminal. They have picked a winner and were anxious Thursday afternoon to show it off on Friday. Instead, they'll wait until some as-yet undetermined future date.
Chief Astronaut is Skeptical of Allegations (Source: Florida Today)
NASA's acting chief astronaut said his office does not have a widespread alcohol-abuse problem and that he has never seen an inebriated colleague fly an aircraft or spacecraft. "I flew with a lot of astronauts before I got selected, and I've flown twice in space," said Mark Polansky, who joined NASA as an aircraft pilot in 1992 and took a job as an astronaut four years later. "And I can unequivocally say that I have never, ever witnessed what I would consider excessive use of alcohol, anybody intoxicated or impaired, certainly not at the point of getting ready to get on any kind of a vehicle and it affecting their ability to do their job."
NASA Ignored Concerns After Vowing Change, Report Says (Source: Houston Chronicle)
A report on astronaut health and behavior appeared to undermine NASA's assertions for the past two decades that its work culture has been changed to put more value on workers' concerns about the safety of spaceflights. NASA supervisors approved launches despite advice from agency physicians, called flight surgeons, that shuttle astronauts were unfit to fly, according to the report commissioned by NASA director Michael Griffin.
Two of the occasions involved warnings from flight surgeons and fellow astronauts that a crew member was drunk, the report said, and they were among cases in which "major crew medical or behavior problems were identified to (NASA leaders) and the medical advice was disregarded." Air Force Col. Richard Bachmann Jr., who chaired the report committee, said flight surgeons found NASA's treatment of their advice " 'demoralizing' to the point where (they) said they would be less likely to report concerns in the future."
Deputy Administrator Shana Dale said the agency takes safety issues very seriously and had dispatched Bryan O'Connor, chief of safety and mission assurance, to Johnson to interview astronauts about the allegations of alcohol use — and make sure the team is prepared for its next space shuttle launch, scheduled for Aug. 7.
Huntsville Robotics Lab Gets Funding in House Bill (Source: Huntsville Times)
Marshall Space Flight Center will have a new robotics test lab if a key 2008 NASA spending bill makes it through Congress this year. The bill was approved by the U.S. House Thursday and now must be debated by the Senate. U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Haleyville, included $2.6 million in the $17.6 billion spending bill to be used for a Robotics & Exploration Testbed at Marshall, his office said Friday.
Despite Revelations, NASA Declines to Forbid Alcohol (Source: Miami Herald)
NASA has neglected alcohol use and the psychological health of astronauts ''since the earliest days of the astronaut program,'' and alcohol still is readily available in the crew quarters at the Kennedy Space Center, a panel of experts reported. One unidentified astronaut reportedly was drunk when he showed up for a shuttle launch. Several hours after a mechanical glitch scrubbed liftoff, he was drunk again when he boarded a NASA T-38 jet for a flight home.
Another unnamed astronaut was inebriated before boarding a Russian rocket for a flight to the Space Station. ''We don't know if these are the only two incidents in the entire history of the astronaut corps or the tip of the iceberg,'' said Air Force Col. Richard Bachmann Jr., who chaired the report committee. He cautioned against any temptation to ''impugn the entire astronaut corps'' of about 100 men and women, but he and the rest of the committee indicated they suspect the problem might extend much deeper than the two incidents.
Despite the report and the widening scandal, alcohol is not being banned in the astronaut quarters, NASA officials said, and will be available to the crew members of shuttle Endeavour while they go into quarantine three days before their Aug. 7 flight. ''There is alcohol available," said Ellen Ochoa, an astronaut who serves as director of flight-crew operations. "It is permitted, but it's only for off-duty time."
NASA Selects Lightning Protection System Contractor (Source: NASA)
NASA has selected Ivey's Construction Inc. of Merritt Island, Florida, to build a new lightning protection system for Launch Pad 39B at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. The system will support launches of the Constellation Program's Ares I rockets. The lightning protection system is designed to reduce the probability of a direct lightning strike to the Ares I and associated launch equipment during processing and other activities prior to flight. Under the $27,915,000 contract, the company will provide all labor and materials to fabricate and construct three 600-foot, self-supporting structural steel towers and an overhead wire system with associated conductors.
Armadillo Aerospace Reports Progess on Modular Rocket Design (Source: Space.com)
Success is being reported by Armadillo Aerospace of Mesquite, Texas in the group's modular rocket work. The company has completed a set of tethered flights of the first modular rocket segment, flights that went much quicker than expected. Armadillo Aerospace is led and bankrolled by John Carmack, a 36-year-old pioneering programmer in the computer gaming industry. The small research and development team is designing, building, and flight testing computer-controlled rocket vehicles, with an eye towards piloted suborbital vehicle development in the coming years. Over the past six years, Carmack as a rocket entrepreneur has spent slightly more than $3 million sponsoring the work through earnings gleaned from his computer gaming business.
Iridium Satellite Considers Ambitious Earth-Imaging Role (Source: Wall Street Journal)
As U.S. agencies scale back plans to monitor weather and climate changes from space, satellite-operator Iridium Satellite LLC and an international earth-imaging organization are accelerating talks about a potential $1 billion partnership to plug anticipated coverage gaps. Iridium's discussions with the Group on Earth Observations, or GEO, a Swiss-based umbrella group supported by the European Commission and more than 100 countries and international organizations, reflect growing global interest in placing weather and environmental sensors as supplemental payloads on Iridium's next-generation satellite fleet.
Deadly Blast Could Impact Space Tourism (Source: AP)
A deadly explosion at the Scaled Composites test site has cast light on inherent dangers in rocketry that have been overshadowed by public enthusiasm for the adventure of space tourism. The accident, which killed three people, came nearly two years after Scaled Composites first began designing its top-secret suborbital spaceship for British tycoon Richard Branson, who hopes to fly tourists by 2009. The tragedy stunned space tourism supporters, many of whom were betting that Branson's Virgin Galactic spaceline would be the first in the fledgling business to send well-heeled tourists out of the atmosphere. "I suspect that this is a major setback for Virgin Galactic, because they may have to go back to the drawing board for propulsion, for PR reasons if nothing else," wrote Randy Simberg on his blog Transterrestrial Musings.
Spaceport Officials Cancel Announcement in Wake of Explosion (Source: Las Cruces Sun-News)
Spaceport America officials have canceled an important announcement in the wake of Thursday's fatal explosion at a California facility where Virgin Galactic's vehicles were being tested. It is unclear what effect the explosion could have on the fledgling commercial space industry and the ongoing $198 million Spaceport America project in southern New Mexico. Spaceport officials had planned to announce Friday the selection of an architectural firm and engineering team that will design Virgin Galactic's terminal and hangar facilities at Spaceport America, set for construction at a remote site in Sierra County.
Houston-Area Company Supplied NASA's Sabotaged Computer (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
A Houston-area company supplied a sabotaged computer that was to fly aboard shuttle Endeavour in less than two weeks, but was found before being loaded onto the spaceship for a trip to the international space station. Invocon Inc., an electronics research and development firm based in Conroe, Texas, has not yet identified any suspects or motives.
July 27 News Items
Spacehab Ready For Last Mission (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
Spacehab is preparing to close the hatch on its shuttle research and cargo carrier enterprise fourteen years after its first pressurized module flew into space on an orbiter while the company begins their strategic journey into space-based microgravity processing. The company provided its first space-rated travel trailer of sorts to NASA in 1993. Later, the design would come in especially handy for missions to the Mir space station and during the construction and outfitting of the International Space Station.
NASA could still enlist a pressurized Spacehab module for a shuttle supply run in the future, but the flight manifest currently leaves that task to the Italian-built multi-purpose logistics modules. The modules are built to attach directly to the space station during a shuttle mission, but still come back with the orbiter. A module from Spacehab remains in the cargo bay during the entire flight. For now, Spacehab is keeping its two modules certified for flight until the shuttles retire in 2010.
Raytheon Announces Quarterly Profits (Source: San Diego Union Tribune)
Raytheon reported a sharply higher second-quarter profit on the sale of its aircraft unit as well as streamlined operations, and became the fourth defense contractor this week to raise its earnings expectations for the full year. Raytheon's profit and revenue beat Wall Street expectations even without the company's $986 million gain from the sale of the former Raytheon Aircraft Co. The world's fifth-largest defense contractor earned nearly $1.34 billion, more than four times the net income of $310 million reported in last year's second quarter. Raytheon reported net income of $356 million, a 29 percent increase from Raytheon's continuing operations profit of $276 million in the year-ago quarter. Raytheon's revenue rose 9 percent to $5.42 billion in the latest quarter, up from $4.97 billion a year ago.
E’Primed and Ready to Launch (Source: Satellite Finance)
Following a change of ownership and a subsequent change in strategy, US-based launch provider E’Prime Aerospace is setting its sights on the commercial market and plans to take a significant market share of the launch industry by 2010. Darron Purifoy, vice president Government Affairs, said: “2010 is what we are trying to shoot for, although this is a conservative estimate as we know we can launch before.” Barry McFarland, chief financial officer of E’Prime, added that the company’s business plan was to initially focus on launching lighter weight satellites. E’Prime’s Eagle Series Launch Vehicles can launch both LEO and GEO spacecraft, while the company claims its Eagle S-VII will be the most powerful launch vehicle in the world, with the capability of launching extremely heavy payloads, such as the International Space Station.
Enterprise Florida Invites Florida Companies to Defense Trade Conference (Source: EFI)
Enterprise Florida invites the Florida Defense Community to participate in DSEi , Defence Systems & Equipment International, held September 11-14, 2007 at the ExCeL Centre in London. DSEi is the world’s largest fully integrated international defense exhibition bringing together senior international visitors and VIP military decision makers in an optimal business environment. Please call Ken Cooksey at 850-298-6632 for information. Commitments are required by Aug. 1.
House Approves NASA Budget (Source: SpaceToday.net)
The House of Representatives passed an appropriations bill Thursday that includes $17.6 billion for NASA in fiscal year 2008. The full House passed the Commerce, Justice, and Science appropriations bill on Thursday on a 281-142 vote. During the floor debate on the bill the House did not make any changes to funding for NASA, leaving the agency funded at approximately $17.6 billion, about $300 million more than what the Bush Administration requested for the agency. The full Senate has yet to act on its version of the NASA budget; the Senate Appropriations Committee approved a bill with about $150 million less for NASA, and with a different distribution of funds among various programs.
House Reallocates Air Force Space Budgets (Source: Aviation Week)
The House Appropriations Committee approved a fiscal 2008 defense spending bill July 25 containing cuts for two Air Force space programs - the Alternative Infrared Satellite System (AIRSS) and the Global Positioning System (GPS) III. AIRSS will have its funding reduced to $75 million, a $155 million reduction from the original request. Additionally, the HAC recommended GPS III's budget be reduced by $80 million to $507 million. The Air Force recently released its request for proposals (RFP) for the system, with the selection of a single contractor to be made by the end of this year.
Space Situational Awareness Systems received a $9 million plus-up to $197 million, while Operationally Responsive Space received a $20 million boost, bringing it to $107 million. Additionally, Space Control Technology gains $25 million in funding under the bill, raising its budget to $62 million. The addition of funds to Operationally Responsive Space was due in part to China's recent successful launch of its anti-satellite weapon in January, appropriators said. Six million of the $20 million increase will be devoted to classified programs. The committee provided $186 million to the Air Force for the Space Radar program - the same as its fiscal 2007 spending level - despite the fact that the service requested no FY '08 funding for the program in anticipation of transferring it to the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO).
House Supports Improvements to Range Technology (Source: Aviation Week)
Faced with what it sees as a lackluster response by the Air Force regarding Ballistic Missile Range Safety Technology (BMRST), the House Appropriations Committee urged the DOD's Executive Agent for Space to continue to "pursue [BMRST] and any other [opportunity] that will provide the Nation with minimal and adaptable launch infrastructure requirements, mobile range options, and launch-on-demand capabilities that fully leverage GPS metric tracking and integrated communications relays." Twenty million dollars will be added to the request for $15 million in PE 605860F, Rocket Systems Launch Program, although funding is not specifically included for the BMRST program.
Iridium Adds Revenues, Subscribers During Second Quarter (Source: Space News)
Satellite-telephone service provider Iridium on July 27 reported an 11 percent increase in subscribers for the three months ending June 30, suggesting that the company has not yet been able to fully capitalize on the perceived weakness of its principal competitor, Globalstar Inc.
Space Shuttle Launch to Go Ahead as Planned (Source: RIA Novosti)
The launch of space shuttle Endeavour to the International Space Station (ISS) will go ahead as scheduled on August 7, and will not be delayed due to earlier reported sabotage. NASA Associate Administrator for Space Operations Bill Gerstenmaier said Thursday an employee from a NASA subcontractor had deliberately cut wires in a computer, which was due to be delivered by Endeavour to the $100 billion ISS. The damaged computer was intended for use in data transmission from various ISS onboard sensors, for instance from solar batteries and accelerometers. An expert said that the damage would not have posed a threat to the ISS crew's safety, adding that he was certain the equipment would be fixed before the scheduled launch of the space shuttle.
Dark Days for NASA (Source: Nature.com)
Space agency hit by claims of theft, sabotage and drunkenness. NASA's reputation took a battering this week as the space agency's staff faced a range of misconduct allegations, including allowing astronauts to fly when drunk, the deliberate sabotage of a computer for a forthcoming shuttle flight, and failing to stop the loss of equipment worth nearly $100 million.
Shuttle Computer System Sabotaged, Mission Launch Not Impacted (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
A computer due to be installed on Endeavour for an August mission was found sabotaged. "One of our subcontractors noticed that a network box for the shuttle had appeared to be tampered with," said a NASA spokeswoman. "It is intentional damage to hardware." Endeavour is due to be launched on August 7. The workers who discovered the damage to the computer equipment intended for Endeavour notified NASA "several days ago. There is an ongoing investigation."
"The tampering occurred at a subcontractor's facility and not while the unit was at the Kennedy Space Center," NASA's Cape Canaveral base, Trinidad said of the damage to the Endeavour equipment. She gave no details of who the subcontractors were nor exactly where the damage was. Visit http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Shuttle_Computer_System_Sabotaged_Mission_Launch_Not_Impacted_999.html to view the article.
Rocket Explosion Kills Three At Mojave In California (Sources: SpaceDaily.com, KNBC)
A rocket exploded Thursday at the Mojave Air and Space Port in the California desert, killing three people and seriously injuring three others, firefighters said. "There are two confirmed fatalities and four seriously injured," said a fire department spokesman...What exploded was a rocket," said a firefighter. The Mojave facility is the site of the aerospace companies like Scaled Composites and XCOR Aerospace.
Wreckage of equipment and vehicles could be seen in a helicopter news broadcast. KNBC reported that the accident involved tanks of nitrous oxide during a rocket test. Scaled Composites uses nitrous oxide as an oxidizer in its rockets, which are tested at the airport. An oxidizer provides the oxygen that rocket fuel needs to burn. Scaled's Web site notes that "temperatures and pressures must be carefully controlled" during oxidizer transfers.
Aerospace and defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp. recently agreed to acquire Scaled Composites. The deal is awaiting regulatory approval and should close next month. Scaled Composites has been developing SpaceShipTwo for entrepreneur Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, who plans to offer $200,000 rides into space for tourists.
Spacehab is preparing to close the hatch on its shuttle research and cargo carrier enterprise fourteen years after its first pressurized module flew into space on an orbiter while the company begins their strategic journey into space-based microgravity processing. The company provided its first space-rated travel trailer of sorts to NASA in 1993. Later, the design would come in especially handy for missions to the Mir space station and during the construction and outfitting of the International Space Station.
NASA could still enlist a pressurized Spacehab module for a shuttle supply run in the future, but the flight manifest currently leaves that task to the Italian-built multi-purpose logistics modules. The modules are built to attach directly to the space station during a shuttle mission, but still come back with the orbiter. A module from Spacehab remains in the cargo bay during the entire flight. For now, Spacehab is keeping its two modules certified for flight until the shuttles retire in 2010.
Raytheon Announces Quarterly Profits (Source: San Diego Union Tribune)
Raytheon reported a sharply higher second-quarter profit on the sale of its aircraft unit as well as streamlined operations, and became the fourth defense contractor this week to raise its earnings expectations for the full year. Raytheon's profit and revenue beat Wall Street expectations even without the company's $986 million gain from the sale of the former Raytheon Aircraft Co. The world's fifth-largest defense contractor earned nearly $1.34 billion, more than four times the net income of $310 million reported in last year's second quarter. Raytheon reported net income of $356 million, a 29 percent increase from Raytheon's continuing operations profit of $276 million in the year-ago quarter. Raytheon's revenue rose 9 percent to $5.42 billion in the latest quarter, up from $4.97 billion a year ago.
E’Primed and Ready to Launch (Source: Satellite Finance)
Following a change of ownership and a subsequent change in strategy, US-based launch provider E’Prime Aerospace is setting its sights on the commercial market and plans to take a significant market share of the launch industry by 2010. Darron Purifoy, vice president Government Affairs, said: “2010 is what we are trying to shoot for, although this is a conservative estimate as we know we can launch before.” Barry McFarland, chief financial officer of E’Prime, added that the company’s business plan was to initially focus on launching lighter weight satellites. E’Prime’s Eagle Series Launch Vehicles can launch both LEO and GEO spacecraft, while the company claims its Eagle S-VII will be the most powerful launch vehicle in the world, with the capability of launching extremely heavy payloads, such as the International Space Station.
Enterprise Florida Invites Florida Companies to Defense Trade Conference (Source: EFI)
Enterprise Florida invites the Florida Defense Community to participate in DSEi , Defence Systems & Equipment International, held September 11-14, 2007 at the ExCeL Centre in London. DSEi is the world’s largest fully integrated international defense exhibition bringing together senior international visitors and VIP military decision makers in an optimal business environment. Please call Ken Cooksey at 850-298-6632 for information. Commitments are required by Aug. 1.
House Approves NASA Budget (Source: SpaceToday.net)
The House of Representatives passed an appropriations bill Thursday that includes $17.6 billion for NASA in fiscal year 2008. The full House passed the Commerce, Justice, and Science appropriations bill on Thursday on a 281-142 vote. During the floor debate on the bill the House did not make any changes to funding for NASA, leaving the agency funded at approximately $17.6 billion, about $300 million more than what the Bush Administration requested for the agency. The full Senate has yet to act on its version of the NASA budget; the Senate Appropriations Committee approved a bill with about $150 million less for NASA, and with a different distribution of funds among various programs.
House Reallocates Air Force Space Budgets (Source: Aviation Week)
The House Appropriations Committee approved a fiscal 2008 defense spending bill July 25 containing cuts for two Air Force space programs - the Alternative Infrared Satellite System (AIRSS) and the Global Positioning System (GPS) III. AIRSS will have its funding reduced to $75 million, a $155 million reduction from the original request. Additionally, the HAC recommended GPS III's budget be reduced by $80 million to $507 million. The Air Force recently released its request for proposals (RFP) for the system, with the selection of a single contractor to be made by the end of this year.
Space Situational Awareness Systems received a $9 million plus-up to $197 million, while Operationally Responsive Space received a $20 million boost, bringing it to $107 million. Additionally, Space Control Technology gains $25 million in funding under the bill, raising its budget to $62 million. The addition of funds to Operationally Responsive Space was due in part to China's recent successful launch of its anti-satellite weapon in January, appropriators said. Six million of the $20 million increase will be devoted to classified programs. The committee provided $186 million to the Air Force for the Space Radar program - the same as its fiscal 2007 spending level - despite the fact that the service requested no FY '08 funding for the program in anticipation of transferring it to the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO).
House Supports Improvements to Range Technology (Source: Aviation Week)
Faced with what it sees as a lackluster response by the Air Force regarding Ballistic Missile Range Safety Technology (BMRST), the House Appropriations Committee urged the DOD's Executive Agent for Space to continue to "pursue [BMRST] and any other [opportunity] that will provide the Nation with minimal and adaptable launch infrastructure requirements, mobile range options, and launch-on-demand capabilities that fully leverage GPS metric tracking and integrated communications relays." Twenty million dollars will be added to the request for $15 million in PE 605860F, Rocket Systems Launch Program, although funding is not specifically included for the BMRST program.
Iridium Adds Revenues, Subscribers During Second Quarter (Source: Space News)
Satellite-telephone service provider Iridium on July 27 reported an 11 percent increase in subscribers for the three months ending June 30, suggesting that the company has not yet been able to fully capitalize on the perceived weakness of its principal competitor, Globalstar Inc.
Space Shuttle Launch to Go Ahead as Planned (Source: RIA Novosti)
The launch of space shuttle Endeavour to the International Space Station (ISS) will go ahead as scheduled on August 7, and will not be delayed due to earlier reported sabotage. NASA Associate Administrator for Space Operations Bill Gerstenmaier said Thursday an employee from a NASA subcontractor had deliberately cut wires in a computer, which was due to be delivered by Endeavour to the $100 billion ISS. The damaged computer was intended for use in data transmission from various ISS onboard sensors, for instance from solar batteries and accelerometers. An expert said that the damage would not have posed a threat to the ISS crew's safety, adding that he was certain the equipment would be fixed before the scheduled launch of the space shuttle.
Dark Days for NASA (Source: Nature.com)
Space agency hit by claims of theft, sabotage and drunkenness. NASA's reputation took a battering this week as the space agency's staff faced a range of misconduct allegations, including allowing astronauts to fly when drunk, the deliberate sabotage of a computer for a forthcoming shuttle flight, and failing to stop the loss of equipment worth nearly $100 million.
Shuttle Computer System Sabotaged, Mission Launch Not Impacted (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
A computer due to be installed on Endeavour for an August mission was found sabotaged. "One of our subcontractors noticed that a network box for the shuttle had appeared to be tampered with," said a NASA spokeswoman. "It is intentional damage to hardware." Endeavour is due to be launched on August 7. The workers who discovered the damage to the computer equipment intended for Endeavour notified NASA "several days ago. There is an ongoing investigation."
"The tampering occurred at a subcontractor's facility and not while the unit was at the Kennedy Space Center," NASA's Cape Canaveral base, Trinidad said of the damage to the Endeavour equipment. She gave no details of who the subcontractors were nor exactly where the damage was. Visit http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Shuttle_Computer_System_Sabotaged_Mission_Launch_Not_Impacted_999.html to view the article.
Rocket Explosion Kills Three At Mojave In California (Sources: SpaceDaily.com, KNBC)
A rocket exploded Thursday at the Mojave Air and Space Port in the California desert, killing three people and seriously injuring three others, firefighters said. "There are two confirmed fatalities and four seriously injured," said a fire department spokesman...What exploded was a rocket," said a firefighter. The Mojave facility is the site of the aerospace companies like Scaled Composites and XCOR Aerospace.
Wreckage of equipment and vehicles could be seen in a helicopter news broadcast. KNBC reported that the accident involved tanks of nitrous oxide during a rocket test. Scaled Composites uses nitrous oxide as an oxidizer in its rockets, which are tested at the airport. An oxidizer provides the oxygen that rocket fuel needs to burn. Scaled's Web site notes that "temperatures and pressures must be carefully controlled" during oxidizer transfers.
Aerospace and defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp. recently agreed to acquire Scaled Composites. The deal is awaiting regulatory approval and should close next month. Scaled Composites has been developing SpaceShipTwo for entrepreneur Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, who plans to offer $200,000 rides into space for tourists.
July 26 News Items
Mars Sample Return Proposal Stirs Excitement, Controversy (Source: Space.com)
Proposals for a multibillion dollar Mars sample return mission - perhaps even a comprehensive sample return program - appear to be on the front burner again, but not without controversy. It turns out, Alan Stern, NASA's new associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, is a big proponent of Mars sample return. But while many NASA planetary scientists share that sentiment, a number of others also worry that such an ambitious mission - Stern estimates it could cost from $3 billion to $4 billion - would suck up all the available money for most other Mars missions in the next decade and disrupt NASA's ability to send at least one robotic mission to Mars every two years.
Congressman Fights for JPL Funding (Source: La Canada)
Several Jet Propulsion Laboratory projects got a vote of confidence recently from the House Appropriations Committee when it passed a bill that included funding for projects managed by the facility. "It is no secret that we have in our region one of the world's premier science institutes," Congressman Adam Schiff said of his continued support of JPL. Schiff was recently appointed to serve on the Appropriations Committee. The bill's total funding is $1.6 billion to $1.65 billion with $1.5 billion coming from the Commerce, Justice and Science Subcommittee, which Schiff is a member. The funding will help three JPL programs: SIM, Mars exploration and NASA's Outer Planet Program.
Panel Finds Astronauts Flew While Intoxicated (Source: Aviation Week)
A panel reviewing astronaut health issues in the wake of the Lisa Nowak arrest has found that on at least two occasions astronauts were allowed to fly after flight surgeons and other astronauts warned they were so intoxicated that they posed a flight-safety risk. The panel, also reported "heavy use of alcohol" by astronauts before launch, within the standard 12-hour "bottle to throttle" rule applied to NASA flight crew members. The panel is composed of military and civilian government physicians, psychologists, lawyers, safety experts and astronauts.
EADS Profit Slumps 85 Percent in 2Q (Source: AP)
Woes at Airbus, including the cost of redesigning the mid-range A350 jet and the delayed A380 superjumbo, caused second-quarter earnings at Europe's EADS to slump 85 percent.EADS, which last week revealed a new management setup aimed at simplifying decisions, said net profit for the three months to June fell to €81 million ($111 million) from €534 million. Sales fell 4 percent to €9.51 billion ($13.07 billion) due to problems on a military transport program and the impact from the weak U.S. dollar -- the currency in which Airbus sells its planes. Airbus accounts for about two-thirds of EADS sales. In the first six months of 2007, self-financed R&D expenses increased to €1,268 million, compared with €1,139 million for the same period in 2006.
EU, U.S. Agree to Common Signal for GPS-Galileo Systems (Source: Reuters)
The United States and the European Union have agreed on a common signal for use by their satellite navigation systems to provide more accurate images and information. The European Union hopes the deal will help its yet-to-be-launched Galileo system, struggling to plug funding gaps, establish itself in the global market for satellite-based navigation and other applications. "This should facilitate the rapid acceptance of Galileo in global markets side by side with GPS," European Commission director general for energy and transport Matthias Ruete said.
India Plans to Double Satellite Launches Within Five Years (Source: RIA Novosti)
India intends to double the number of satellites it orbits within five years, the head of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) said. India has been successfully developing its space program in recent years, regularly launching satellites using its own booster rockets. "On the average, four to five launches annually against a maximum of two a year which we make now," said the official. He said India will have launched 15 telecommunications satellites and 8-10 earth remote sensing satellites by March 2012, when the 11th five-year plan has been completed. ISRO experts estimate the cost of building and launching 25 satellites at 80-90 billion rupees ($2-2.25 billion).
Pentagon, Business Jets Lift General Dynamics' Revenue (Source: Wall Street Journal)
General Dynamics announced that earnings from continuing operations increased 23% in the second quarter on higher revenue from Pentagon spending and orders for Gulfstream business jets. The results exceeded Wall Street's expectations and led the contractor to raise its earnings and revenue outlook for the full year. The news sent shares of General Dynamics to an all-time high of $84.09 Wednesday. General Dynamics reported net income for the quarter of $513 million, compared with $636 million during the previous-year quarter.
Queen's Guitarist to Become Astrophysicist (Source: AP)
Brian May is completing his doctorate in astrophysics, more than 30 years after he abandoned his studies to form the rock group Queen. The 60-year-old guitarist and songwriter said he plans to submit his thesis, "Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud," to supervisors at Imperial College London within the next two weeks. May was an astrophysics student at Imperial College when Queen, which included Freddie Mercury and Roger Taylor, was formed in 1970. He dropped his doctorate as the glam rock band became successful. Queen were one of Britain's biggest music groups in the 1970s, with hits including "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "We Will Rock You."
Astrium's Space Division Posts Higher Profit, Revenue (Source: Space News)
The Astrium space division of European aerospace conglomerate EADS reported sharp increases in revenue and gross profit for the six months ending June 30. The company cited its military satellite-services division and ballistic missile work as the main reasons for the increase. Astrium's higher revenues were in contrast to EADS' overall performance, with the parent company seeing much poorer performance based primarily on problems at its Airbus division.
Ball Aerospace Pays $1 Million in Back Wages (Source: Denver Post)
A federal investigation found that 904 employees weren't paid for overtime or were forced to work during lunch breaks. Employees of Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. are recouping nearly $1 million in back wages following a three-month investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor. The federal agency's probe of the aerospace defense contractor found that 904 employees - more than half of whom worked in Colorado - were not paid for overtime or were forced to work during lunch breaks. The agency said the rest of the employees worked at Ball facilities in New Mexico, Ohio, Georgia and Washington, D.C. Nearly all but $19,000 of the $976,327 owed the employees has been paid out, said Rich Kulczewski, a Department of Labor spokesman.
Amateur Rocketry Faces Greater FAA Scrutiny as Advances Increase Altitude (Source: Denver Post)
Amateur rocketry is getting a closer look from federal regulators as technological advances boost the most sophisticated amateur rockets higher into the air - and even toward space. It's a sign of how far amateur rocket launches have come. As a result, the Federal Aviation Administration felt its regulations for amateur rocketry were outdated. The agency has proposed new rules. The agency said in its proposal that it receives airspace-waiver requests for launches of rockets that can reach 328,000 feet, "approaching altitudes where they could pose a threat to objects in orbit."
Amateur rocket performance "has continued to improve and participation in amateur rocket launches has increased significantly," according to the FAA. "The capability of rockets has advanced to a level far greater than contemplated by existing regulation." Jason Unwin, president of the Southern Colorado Rocketeers, said he's concerned that for certain types of rockets, the FAA may require clubs to report how many will be flown at their events. "A lot of times, you don't really know that until the guy shows up at the range," Unwin said. Heretofore, the events have been casual, with people showing up as they please. The proposed reporting requirements could make it "onerous, more than a hobby. It becomes work," said rocketeer John Wilke.
House Committee Moves Space Radar Funding Back to USAF (Source: Space News)
The House Appropriations Committee July 25 approved $186 million for the Space Radar program and in a major turnaround shifted budget responsibility for the program from the classified intelligence budget to Air Force accounts.
Report: NASA Lost $94 Million in Office Items (Source: Houston Chronicle)
NASA has lost $94 million in office equipment over the past decade. "These problems are deeply rooted in an agency culture that does not demand accountability," the Government Accountability Office said in a report released Wednesday. "NASA's failure to keep track of these items leaves them vulnerable to theft and misuse."
NASA noted the problem five years ago in its own study. Instead of tightening its controls, the agency relaxed them, making $10,000 the minimum value for trackable items — instead of $5,000 — and removing millions of dollars in items from oversight, according to the GAO report. The congressional watchdog recommends 10 steps, such as disciplining negligent employees and toughening standards for equipment oversight. Last year, NASA investigated only a quarter of the 1,136 loss reports submitted and disciplined employees in two cases.
Report Cites NASA on Cost Estimates (Source: Florida Today)
NASA got credit for steps taken to transition shuttle retirement to the next stage of human spaceflight, but a new congressional audit said the agency must pick up the pace for providing details about the cost. Many of NASA’s transition and retirement activities will continue after the space shuttle program retires in 2010, the Government Accountability Office noted in its report Wednesday. Yet the agency lacks estimates for such activities beyond then.
Space Tourism Industry is Lifting Off (Source: Christian Science Monitor)
From the X Prize to civilian trips to the moon, private spaceflight is attracting more interest among investors and would-be voyagers. The first humans to take a swing around the moon in more than 35 years may not be NASA astronauts, but space tourists. That is Eric Anderson's vision. The president and CEO of Space Adventures says he already has his first two passengers, each willing to pay $100 million for a ride around the moon aboard a modified Russian spacecraft. If negotiations go well, the launch could take place in "a small number of years," he says.
Such grand plans from outside the major aerospace players might have been dismissed as wishful thinking a few years ago. Then, much of what passed for an alternative spaceflight industry existed largely as PowerPoint presentations and high hopes. Now, entrepreneurs' shop floors hum with activity. Launches are taking place. Regulations are changing to meet the fledgling industry's needs. And while the industry has yet to see millions of dollars pour in from investment bankers and venture capitalists, these folks are turning out in far larger numbers than they once did at conferences and workshops, several industry analysts say.
Proposals for a multibillion dollar Mars sample return mission - perhaps even a comprehensive sample return program - appear to be on the front burner again, but not without controversy. It turns out, Alan Stern, NASA's new associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, is a big proponent of Mars sample return. But while many NASA planetary scientists share that sentiment, a number of others also worry that such an ambitious mission - Stern estimates it could cost from $3 billion to $4 billion - would suck up all the available money for most other Mars missions in the next decade and disrupt NASA's ability to send at least one robotic mission to Mars every two years.
Congressman Fights for JPL Funding (Source: La Canada)
Several Jet Propulsion Laboratory projects got a vote of confidence recently from the House Appropriations Committee when it passed a bill that included funding for projects managed by the facility. "It is no secret that we have in our region one of the world's premier science institutes," Congressman Adam Schiff said of his continued support of JPL. Schiff was recently appointed to serve on the Appropriations Committee. The bill's total funding is $1.6 billion to $1.65 billion with $1.5 billion coming from the Commerce, Justice and Science Subcommittee, which Schiff is a member. The funding will help three JPL programs: SIM, Mars exploration and NASA's Outer Planet Program.
Panel Finds Astronauts Flew While Intoxicated (Source: Aviation Week)
A panel reviewing astronaut health issues in the wake of the Lisa Nowak arrest has found that on at least two occasions astronauts were allowed to fly after flight surgeons and other astronauts warned they were so intoxicated that they posed a flight-safety risk. The panel, also reported "heavy use of alcohol" by astronauts before launch, within the standard 12-hour "bottle to throttle" rule applied to NASA flight crew members. The panel is composed of military and civilian government physicians, psychologists, lawyers, safety experts and astronauts.
EADS Profit Slumps 85 Percent in 2Q (Source: AP)
Woes at Airbus, including the cost of redesigning the mid-range A350 jet and the delayed A380 superjumbo, caused second-quarter earnings at Europe's EADS to slump 85 percent.EADS, which last week revealed a new management setup aimed at simplifying decisions, said net profit for the three months to June fell to €81 million ($111 million) from €534 million. Sales fell 4 percent to €9.51 billion ($13.07 billion) due to problems on a military transport program and the impact from the weak U.S. dollar -- the currency in which Airbus sells its planes. Airbus accounts for about two-thirds of EADS sales. In the first six months of 2007, self-financed R&D expenses increased to €1,268 million, compared with €1,139 million for the same period in 2006.
EU, U.S. Agree to Common Signal for GPS-Galileo Systems (Source: Reuters)
The United States and the European Union have agreed on a common signal for use by their satellite navigation systems to provide more accurate images and information. The European Union hopes the deal will help its yet-to-be-launched Galileo system, struggling to plug funding gaps, establish itself in the global market for satellite-based navigation and other applications. "This should facilitate the rapid acceptance of Galileo in global markets side by side with GPS," European Commission director general for energy and transport Matthias Ruete said.
India Plans to Double Satellite Launches Within Five Years (Source: RIA Novosti)
India intends to double the number of satellites it orbits within five years, the head of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) said. India has been successfully developing its space program in recent years, regularly launching satellites using its own booster rockets. "On the average, four to five launches annually against a maximum of two a year which we make now," said the official. He said India will have launched 15 telecommunications satellites and 8-10 earth remote sensing satellites by March 2012, when the 11th five-year plan has been completed. ISRO experts estimate the cost of building and launching 25 satellites at 80-90 billion rupees ($2-2.25 billion).
Pentagon, Business Jets Lift General Dynamics' Revenue (Source: Wall Street Journal)
General Dynamics announced that earnings from continuing operations increased 23% in the second quarter on higher revenue from Pentagon spending and orders for Gulfstream business jets. The results exceeded Wall Street's expectations and led the contractor to raise its earnings and revenue outlook for the full year. The news sent shares of General Dynamics to an all-time high of $84.09 Wednesday. General Dynamics reported net income for the quarter of $513 million, compared with $636 million during the previous-year quarter.
Queen's Guitarist to Become Astrophysicist (Source: AP)
Brian May is completing his doctorate in astrophysics, more than 30 years after he abandoned his studies to form the rock group Queen. The 60-year-old guitarist and songwriter said he plans to submit his thesis, "Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud," to supervisors at Imperial College London within the next two weeks. May was an astrophysics student at Imperial College when Queen, which included Freddie Mercury and Roger Taylor, was formed in 1970. He dropped his doctorate as the glam rock band became successful. Queen were one of Britain's biggest music groups in the 1970s, with hits including "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "We Will Rock You."
Astrium's Space Division Posts Higher Profit, Revenue (Source: Space News)
The Astrium space division of European aerospace conglomerate EADS reported sharp increases in revenue and gross profit for the six months ending June 30. The company cited its military satellite-services division and ballistic missile work as the main reasons for the increase. Astrium's higher revenues were in contrast to EADS' overall performance, with the parent company seeing much poorer performance based primarily on problems at its Airbus division.
Ball Aerospace Pays $1 Million in Back Wages (Source: Denver Post)
A federal investigation found that 904 employees weren't paid for overtime or were forced to work during lunch breaks. Employees of Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. are recouping nearly $1 million in back wages following a three-month investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor. The federal agency's probe of the aerospace defense contractor found that 904 employees - more than half of whom worked in Colorado - were not paid for overtime or were forced to work during lunch breaks. The agency said the rest of the employees worked at Ball facilities in New Mexico, Ohio, Georgia and Washington, D.C. Nearly all but $19,000 of the $976,327 owed the employees has been paid out, said Rich Kulczewski, a Department of Labor spokesman.
Amateur Rocketry Faces Greater FAA Scrutiny as Advances Increase Altitude (Source: Denver Post)
Amateur rocketry is getting a closer look from federal regulators as technological advances boost the most sophisticated amateur rockets higher into the air - and even toward space. It's a sign of how far amateur rocket launches have come. As a result, the Federal Aviation Administration felt its regulations for amateur rocketry were outdated. The agency has proposed new rules. The agency said in its proposal that it receives airspace-waiver requests for launches of rockets that can reach 328,000 feet, "approaching altitudes where they could pose a threat to objects in orbit."
Amateur rocket performance "has continued to improve and participation in amateur rocket launches has increased significantly," according to the FAA. "The capability of rockets has advanced to a level far greater than contemplated by existing regulation." Jason Unwin, president of the Southern Colorado Rocketeers, said he's concerned that for certain types of rockets, the FAA may require clubs to report how many will be flown at their events. "A lot of times, you don't really know that until the guy shows up at the range," Unwin said. Heretofore, the events have been casual, with people showing up as they please. The proposed reporting requirements could make it "onerous, more than a hobby. It becomes work," said rocketeer John Wilke.
House Committee Moves Space Radar Funding Back to USAF (Source: Space News)
The House Appropriations Committee July 25 approved $186 million for the Space Radar program and in a major turnaround shifted budget responsibility for the program from the classified intelligence budget to Air Force accounts.
Report: NASA Lost $94 Million in Office Items (Source: Houston Chronicle)
NASA has lost $94 million in office equipment over the past decade. "These problems are deeply rooted in an agency culture that does not demand accountability," the Government Accountability Office said in a report released Wednesday. "NASA's failure to keep track of these items leaves them vulnerable to theft and misuse."
NASA noted the problem five years ago in its own study. Instead of tightening its controls, the agency relaxed them, making $10,000 the minimum value for trackable items — instead of $5,000 — and removing millions of dollars in items from oversight, according to the GAO report. The congressional watchdog recommends 10 steps, such as disciplining negligent employees and toughening standards for equipment oversight. Last year, NASA investigated only a quarter of the 1,136 loss reports submitted and disciplined employees in two cases.
Report Cites NASA on Cost Estimates (Source: Florida Today)
NASA got credit for steps taken to transition shuttle retirement to the next stage of human spaceflight, but a new congressional audit said the agency must pick up the pace for providing details about the cost. Many of NASA’s transition and retirement activities will continue after the space shuttle program retires in 2010, the Government Accountability Office noted in its report Wednesday. Yet the agency lacks estimates for such activities beyond then.
Space Tourism Industry is Lifting Off (Source: Christian Science Monitor)
From the X Prize to civilian trips to the moon, private spaceflight is attracting more interest among investors and would-be voyagers. The first humans to take a swing around the moon in more than 35 years may not be NASA astronauts, but space tourists. That is Eric Anderson's vision. The president and CEO of Space Adventures says he already has his first two passengers, each willing to pay $100 million for a ride around the moon aboard a modified Russian spacecraft. If negotiations go well, the launch could take place in "a small number of years," he says.
Such grand plans from outside the major aerospace players might have been dismissed as wishful thinking a few years ago. Then, much of what passed for an alternative spaceflight industry existed largely as PowerPoint presentations and high hopes. Now, entrepreneurs' shop floors hum with activity. Launches are taking place. Regulations are changing to meet the fledgling industry's needs. And while the industry has yet to see millions of dollars pour in from investment bankers and venture capitalists, these folks are turning out in far larger numbers than they once did at conferences and workshops, several industry analysts say.
July 25 News Items
Lockheed Martin Profit Rises (Source: Reuters)
Lockheed Martin, the world's No. 1 defense contractor, reported a greater-than-expected 34 percent rise in second-quarter profit, helped by higher revenue from its combat aircraft and electronic systems units and lower pension costs. The company reported quarterly earnings of $778 million, compared with $580 million a year earlier. Revenue rose 7 percent to $10.7 billion.
Russia to Use Satellites to Defend Vast Forests (Source: Reuters)
Russia will use satellites to catch loggers felling its vast Siberian forests known as the "green lungs of the planet", the state forestry agency said. Ancient taiga woodlands which cover much of Siberia are protected by Russian law, but since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union illegal loggers have cut down millions of trees, mainly for sale in neighboring China. "From January 1 2008 we will have continual protection," Vladimir Kresnov, head of the Russian forestry agency, said. Ecologists welcomed the satellite protection plan.
Lockheed Forgoing Bids on Commercial Satellites (Source: Space News)
Lockheed Martin is staying out of most commercial satellite contract competitions because they do not meet the company's profit threshold, company Chief Financial Officer Christopher E. Kubasik said July 24.
Astrium Wins Study for New Vega Upper Stage (Source: ESA)
Astrium has won a contract from the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Cologne to investigate concepts for a new upper stage for the European launcher Vega. The project is named “Venus” (Vega New Upper Stage). Currently under development, Vega is a small European launch vehicle which is scheduled for first launch in 2009. The study now awarded to Astrium is worth roughly half a million euros and will run for a period of 18 months. The upper stage currently envisaged for Vega, which is designed to carry payloads of up to 1.5 metric tons, will have a Russian/Ukrainian propulsion system.
Oxygen Device Sets Stage to Expand Station Crews, Research (Source: Florida Today)
A new U.S. oxygen generator was successfully tested this month on the International Space Station, setting the stage for a planned expansion to larger outpost crews. About 60 percent complete, the 250-ton station has been relying on a balky Russian oxygen generator as well as reserves hauled up to the station during supply runs. The new U.S. generator will play a crucial role in plans to expand the size of expedition crews from three to six, an increase that will significantly boost the amount of scientific research that can be carried out on the station.
Boeing Stock Lifts Off (Source: The Street)
Boeing surged past analysts' second-quarter estimates and boosted its full-year projections because of strong aircraft sales. Net earnings were $1.1 billion for the quarter. Revenue rose 14% to $17 billion as aircraft deliveries climbed, besting an estimated $16.2 billion. Boeing increased its 2007 research-and-development forecast to about $3.7 billion, up from between $3.2 billion and $3.4 billion, a result of higher spending than previously forecast to maintain the 787 Dreamliner schedule.
NASA Announces Next Undersea Exploration Mission Off Florida Coast (Source: SpaceRef.com)
NASA will send three astronauts and a Constellation Program aerospace engineer into the ocean depths off the Florida coast from Aug. 6 to 15. They will test lunar exploration concepts and a suite of medical objectives for long-duration spaceflight. During the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations 13 (NEEMO 13), the crew will conduct a variety of undersea "moon walks." They will test concepts for future lunar exploration using advanced navigation and communication equipment.
Similar in size to the International Space Station's living quarters, Aquarius is the world's only permanent underwater habitat and laboratory. The 45-foot-long, 13-foot diameter complex is three miles off Key Largo in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, about 62 feet beneath the surface.
Northrop Grumman Profit Rises (Source: Reuters)
Northrop Grumman said second-quarter profit rose a greater-than-expected 7 percent, helped by higher information technology sales and an insurance gain at its storm-hit shipbuilding unit. The No. 3 Pentagon supplier also raised the lower end of its full-year profit forecast as it projected higher sales overall and better margins. Northrop, behind only Lockheed Martin and Boeing in U.S. defense sales, reported quarterly profit of $460 million, compared with $430 million in the year-ago quarter. Revenue rose 4 percent to $7.9 billion.
Space Station's Future Threatened, Expert Warns (Source: New Scientist)
NASA and its international partners may be hard-pressed to keep the space station alive after the planned retirement of the space shuttle in 2010, a US congressional committee was told. After the shuttles retire in 2010, current plans call for other vehicles, such as the European Space Agency's Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), to pick up some of the slack in servicing the space station. NASA is relying on commercial space vehicles currently under development in its Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program to make up the rest. But Tommy Holloway, who retired in 2002 from his position as manager of NASA's space station program, said he doubts that the commercial vehicles will be ready by the time the shuttles retire, as planned.
New NASA Layer Incorporated into Google Earth (Source: nano2sol.com)
Posted the other day on the Google Lat Long Blog is mention of a new NASA layer being added to Google Earth. It incorporates Astronaut Photography of Earth, Satellite Imagery, and Earth City Lights. The photography layer shows the best images going back to the Mercury missions and is from the online Astronaut Photography collection. The satellite imagery is also a compilation of the best NASA images taken over the years.
Lockheed Martin, the world's No. 1 defense contractor, reported a greater-than-expected 34 percent rise in second-quarter profit, helped by higher revenue from its combat aircraft and electronic systems units and lower pension costs. The company reported quarterly earnings of $778 million, compared with $580 million a year earlier. Revenue rose 7 percent to $10.7 billion.
Russia to Use Satellites to Defend Vast Forests (Source: Reuters)
Russia will use satellites to catch loggers felling its vast Siberian forests known as the "green lungs of the planet", the state forestry agency said. Ancient taiga woodlands which cover much of Siberia are protected by Russian law, but since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union illegal loggers have cut down millions of trees, mainly for sale in neighboring China. "From January 1 2008 we will have continual protection," Vladimir Kresnov, head of the Russian forestry agency, said. Ecologists welcomed the satellite protection plan.
Lockheed Forgoing Bids on Commercial Satellites (Source: Space News)
Lockheed Martin is staying out of most commercial satellite contract competitions because they do not meet the company's profit threshold, company Chief Financial Officer Christopher E. Kubasik said July 24.
Astrium Wins Study for New Vega Upper Stage (Source: ESA)
Astrium has won a contract from the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Cologne to investigate concepts for a new upper stage for the European launcher Vega. The project is named “Venus” (Vega New Upper Stage). Currently under development, Vega is a small European launch vehicle which is scheduled for first launch in 2009. The study now awarded to Astrium is worth roughly half a million euros and will run for a period of 18 months. The upper stage currently envisaged for Vega, which is designed to carry payloads of up to 1.5 metric tons, will have a Russian/Ukrainian propulsion system.
Oxygen Device Sets Stage to Expand Station Crews, Research (Source: Florida Today)
A new U.S. oxygen generator was successfully tested this month on the International Space Station, setting the stage for a planned expansion to larger outpost crews. About 60 percent complete, the 250-ton station has been relying on a balky Russian oxygen generator as well as reserves hauled up to the station during supply runs. The new U.S. generator will play a crucial role in plans to expand the size of expedition crews from three to six, an increase that will significantly boost the amount of scientific research that can be carried out on the station.
Boeing Stock Lifts Off (Source: The Street)
Boeing surged past analysts' second-quarter estimates and boosted its full-year projections because of strong aircraft sales. Net earnings were $1.1 billion for the quarter. Revenue rose 14% to $17 billion as aircraft deliveries climbed, besting an estimated $16.2 billion. Boeing increased its 2007 research-and-development forecast to about $3.7 billion, up from between $3.2 billion and $3.4 billion, a result of higher spending than previously forecast to maintain the 787 Dreamliner schedule.
NASA Announces Next Undersea Exploration Mission Off Florida Coast (Source: SpaceRef.com)
NASA will send three astronauts and a Constellation Program aerospace engineer into the ocean depths off the Florida coast from Aug. 6 to 15. They will test lunar exploration concepts and a suite of medical objectives for long-duration spaceflight. During the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations 13 (NEEMO 13), the crew will conduct a variety of undersea "moon walks." They will test concepts for future lunar exploration using advanced navigation and communication equipment.
Similar in size to the International Space Station's living quarters, Aquarius is the world's only permanent underwater habitat and laboratory. The 45-foot-long, 13-foot diameter complex is three miles off Key Largo in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, about 62 feet beneath the surface.
Northrop Grumman Profit Rises (Source: Reuters)
Northrop Grumman said second-quarter profit rose a greater-than-expected 7 percent, helped by higher information technology sales and an insurance gain at its storm-hit shipbuilding unit. The No. 3 Pentagon supplier also raised the lower end of its full-year profit forecast as it projected higher sales overall and better margins. Northrop, behind only Lockheed Martin and Boeing in U.S. defense sales, reported quarterly profit of $460 million, compared with $430 million in the year-ago quarter. Revenue rose 4 percent to $7.9 billion.
Space Station's Future Threatened, Expert Warns (Source: New Scientist)
NASA and its international partners may be hard-pressed to keep the space station alive after the planned retirement of the space shuttle in 2010, a US congressional committee was told. After the shuttles retire in 2010, current plans call for other vehicles, such as the European Space Agency's Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), to pick up some of the slack in servicing the space station. NASA is relying on commercial space vehicles currently under development in its Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program to make up the rest. But Tommy Holloway, who retired in 2002 from his position as manager of NASA's space station program, said he doubts that the commercial vehicles will be ready by the time the shuttles retire, as planned.
New NASA Layer Incorporated into Google Earth (Source: nano2sol.com)
Posted the other day on the Google Lat Long Blog is mention of a new NASA layer being added to Google Earth. It incorporates Astronaut Photography of Earth, Satellite Imagery, and Earth City Lights. The photography layer shows the best images going back to the Mercury missions and is from the online Astronaut Photography collection. The satellite imagery is also a compilation of the best NASA images taken over the years.
July 24 News Items
TGV Rockets Succeeds in Recent Test Fire (Source: Journal Record)
A Oklahoma-based aerospace engineering research and development company recently announced the successful test firing of a reusable rocket engine that could one day complete suborbital rocket trips into space and save money along the way. TGV Rockets Inc., a 10-year-old company with offices in Norman and Washington, D.C., completed phase-one testing at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. The tests involved a 30,000-pound throttle-able long-life rocket that runs on JP-8 jet fuel rather than rocket fuel. “Our ultimate goal is a transportable spacecraft that can be launched and landed in remote locations to provide quick-look low-cost imagery for both military and commercial applications,” said a company official. “We had a successful series of test firings constituting the completion of phase one testing.” Phase two, which is now in progress, is focused on collecting more detailed information on the performance of the jet fuel on the engine’s configuration.
4Frontiers Announces Financing and Contract Award (Source: 4Frontiers Corp.)
Florida-based 4Frontiers Corp. completed a successful private placement offering in involving thousands of preferred stock shares at a price of $25 per share. The company has raised $550,000, including equity and debt, since the it's 2005 incorporation. The company has also been awarded a contract to provide strategic planning & guidance for a piece of Earth orbital space infrastructure. This work leverages 4Frontiers experience in space facility design and its expanding network of space technology specialists. 4Frontiers has assembled a network of experts to design a Mars settlement and pursue other exploration ventures. Visit http://www.4frontierscorp.com/ for information.
4Frontiers Seeks Interns (Source: 4Frontiers Corp.)
4Frontiers is presently seeking several students to fill vacancies in our internship program. Specific internship opportunities fall into the following categories: Mars Analog Simulation Design; Orbital Facility Feasibility Study; Sales, Promotion & Vender Partnerships; Technical Writing; Education Unit Assembly; Website Development; Public Relations / Promotion / Marketing. Visit http://www.4frontierscorp.com/company/internships.php for information.
Congress Questions Shuttle Schedule, Research Erosion (Source: Florida Today)
During a hearing before the House Space Subcommittee, a congressional auditor expressed concern over NASA's launch schedule. According to the schedule posted as of Jan. 16 missions were to be launched before the space shuttle retires in 2010. That means one shuttle launch every 2.7 months, said a Government Accountability Office official. So far, only one of the missions has flown.
Mark Udall, the Colorado Democrat who chairs the panel, expressed concerned over NASA's budget cuts in the space station's research program over the past few years. "Those cuts have largely decimated the research community that had planned to use the station with potentially serious implications for the productivity of the ISS as a research facility once it is assembled," he said. The only academic to testify before the hearing backed up Udall's concern: "With the loss of motivators such as the possibility of a career in a vibrant, active space-research program, one more incentive for future students disappears," said Paul Neitzel, a fluid mechanics professor at the Georgia Institute of Technolgy.
Rep. Tom Feeney of Florida, top Republican on the committee and the representative whose district includes Kennedy Space Center, said one way to protect the interests of the agency is to protect it against undue burdens. "Demands on NASA must be tempered," he said. "This administration and Congress must deliver the resources needed to complete what has been assigned. That means adequate budgets" in 2008 and beyond.
Alliant to Share in Work on Orion (Source: Baltimore Sun)
Alliant Techsystems Inc. has been named to a team with a $70 million contract to build an emergency propulsion system for the next-generation spacecraft Orion that would allow the crew to separate from the rest of the craft in the event of an emergency. The contract will create 50 jobs in Maryland, most of them at the company's plant in Elkton but also some in Baltimore and Cumberland. ATK employees will build the "attitude control motor" for the launch abort system that will allow the crew capsule to separate and land safely under its own power.
Arizona Observatory Team Discovers Star Spews Molecules Needed for Life (Source: UANews.org)
University of Arizona astronomers who are probing the oxygen-rich environment around a supergiant star with one of the world's most sensitive radio telescopes have discovered a score of molecules that include compounds needed for life. "I don't think anyone would have predicted that VY Canis Majoris is a molecular factory. It was really unexpected," said Arizona Radio Observatory (ARO) Director Lucy Ziurys, UA professor of astronomy and of chemistry. "Everyone thought that the interesting chemistry in gas clouds around old stars was happening in envelopes around nearer, carbon-rich stars," Ziurys said. "But when we started looking closely for the first time at an oxygen-rich object, we began finding all these interesting things that weren't supposed to be there."
Radio Plan: A Price Shift for Satellite (Source: New York Times)
Hoping to persuade skeptical regulators to approve their proposed merger, the nation’s two satellite radio companies announced detailed plans Monday to give consumers the ability to choose the programs that make up their subscription package. The companies, Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio, said they would offer two “Ã la carte” pricing plans. One would enable consumers to purchase the best of the premium services now offered by each company — like professional football, baseball and basketball — for a monthly fee of $14.99. For $6.99 a month, the other would enable listeners to choose 50 of the nonpremium channels, with each additional channel costing 25 cents. To subscribe to the “Ã la carte” plans, consumers would have to buy new radios.
ISS Orbit Adjusted to Host Shuttle Endeavor (Source: RIA Novosti)
Russian Mission Control successfully adjusted the International Space Station's orbit in preparation for the docking of the U.S. space shuttle Endeavor, due to be launched August 8. Corrections to the space station's orbit are conducted periodically before launches of Russian cargo ships and U.S. shuttles to compensate for Earth's gravity and to ensure successful dockings. The adjustment brought the space station to an altitude of 337.5 kilometers (about 210 miles) over the Earth's surface.
Australia Plans Satellite Tracking System for Forest Fires (Source: Cosmos)
Australia plans to lead the development of a global satellite system to monitor forest fires in a bid to halt deforestation. The plan, announced yesterday, involves a network of satellite receiving stations to monitor forest fires in the Asia-Pacific region; and then extending that network's capacity to other parts of the world. "The ability to measure and monitor changes in forest cover is critical to international efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by reducing global deforestation and supporting sustainable forest management," Australian foreign minister Alexander Downer said.
Japan Having Problems Launching SELENE Orbital Moon Mission (Source: iTWire)
The Japanese lunar orbiter SELENE has been delayed again; it is already four years behind schedule. The Selenological and Engineering Explorer (SELENE), also called Kaguya, is a lunar orbiter that, once in orbit about 100 kilometers (60 miles) above the Moon, will send two smaller satellites into polar lunar orbits. Its mission is to study the origins and evolution of the Moon, along with researching the Moon’s surface. However, after being told that another satellite had its onboard electronic condenser installed improperly, engineers at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)—Japan’s space agency—found that similar components on SELENE’s two smaller satellites had been improperly installed.
KSC to Pay for Sheriff's Assistance (Source: Florida Today)
Sheriff Jack Parker and Kennedy Space Center officials will meet this week to work out an agreement for the space agency to reimburse the county when deputies are called to enforce state laws on the spaceport grounds. The private security guards who previously handled those cases on KSC property have been undeputized and stripped of state arrest powers because space center leadership said NASA’s contractor could not legally enforce state laws on the federal government installation.
Space Adventures Sees Wide Range of Public Space Travel (Source: Space News)
Private spacewalks, customer stopovers at commercial Earth orbit outposts, and public flights to the Moon are all part of Space Adventures Chief Executive Eric Anderson's vision for the growing space travel market. Over the last decade, Space Adventures has offered an array of spaceflight experiences to astronaut wannabes, including: parabolic aircraft flights that provide customers short stints in a microgravity environment, simulated Soyuz launch and landing profiles via centrifuge, neutral buoyancy tank training to simulate spacewalking conditions, as well as eight-days of cosmonaut overview training in Star City, Russia. But the big-ticket offering, and the activity that brings in big cash to the company, are private space trips to the international space station (ISS). Visit http://www.space.com/spacenews/070723_sn_spaceadven.htmlto view the article.
A Oklahoma-based aerospace engineering research and development company recently announced the successful test firing of a reusable rocket engine that could one day complete suborbital rocket trips into space and save money along the way. TGV Rockets Inc., a 10-year-old company with offices in Norman and Washington, D.C., completed phase-one testing at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. The tests involved a 30,000-pound throttle-able long-life rocket that runs on JP-8 jet fuel rather than rocket fuel. “Our ultimate goal is a transportable spacecraft that can be launched and landed in remote locations to provide quick-look low-cost imagery for both military and commercial applications,” said a company official. “We had a successful series of test firings constituting the completion of phase one testing.” Phase two, which is now in progress, is focused on collecting more detailed information on the performance of the jet fuel on the engine’s configuration.
4Frontiers Announces Financing and Contract Award (Source: 4Frontiers Corp.)
Florida-based 4Frontiers Corp. completed a successful private placement offering in involving thousands of preferred stock shares at a price of $25 per share. The company has raised $550,000, including equity and debt, since the it's 2005 incorporation. The company has also been awarded a contract to provide strategic planning & guidance for a piece of Earth orbital space infrastructure. This work leverages 4Frontiers experience in space facility design and its expanding network of space technology specialists. 4Frontiers has assembled a network of experts to design a Mars settlement and pursue other exploration ventures. Visit http://www.4frontierscorp.com/ for information.
4Frontiers Seeks Interns (Source: 4Frontiers Corp.)
4Frontiers is presently seeking several students to fill vacancies in our internship program. Specific internship opportunities fall into the following categories: Mars Analog Simulation Design; Orbital Facility Feasibility Study; Sales, Promotion & Vender Partnerships; Technical Writing; Education Unit Assembly; Website Development; Public Relations / Promotion / Marketing. Visit http://www.4frontierscorp.com/company/internships.php for information.
Congress Questions Shuttle Schedule, Research Erosion (Source: Florida Today)
During a hearing before the House Space Subcommittee, a congressional auditor expressed concern over NASA's launch schedule. According to the schedule posted as of Jan. 16 missions were to be launched before the space shuttle retires in 2010. That means one shuttle launch every 2.7 months, said a Government Accountability Office official. So far, only one of the missions has flown.
Mark Udall, the Colorado Democrat who chairs the panel, expressed concerned over NASA's budget cuts in the space station's research program over the past few years. "Those cuts have largely decimated the research community that had planned to use the station with potentially serious implications for the productivity of the ISS as a research facility once it is assembled," he said. The only academic to testify before the hearing backed up Udall's concern: "With the loss of motivators such as the possibility of a career in a vibrant, active space-research program, one more incentive for future students disappears," said Paul Neitzel, a fluid mechanics professor at the Georgia Institute of Technolgy.
Rep. Tom Feeney of Florida, top Republican on the committee and the representative whose district includes Kennedy Space Center, said one way to protect the interests of the agency is to protect it against undue burdens. "Demands on NASA must be tempered," he said. "This administration and Congress must deliver the resources needed to complete what has been assigned. That means adequate budgets" in 2008 and beyond.
Alliant to Share in Work on Orion (Source: Baltimore Sun)
Alliant Techsystems Inc. has been named to a team with a $70 million contract to build an emergency propulsion system for the next-generation spacecraft Orion that would allow the crew to separate from the rest of the craft in the event of an emergency. The contract will create 50 jobs in Maryland, most of them at the company's plant in Elkton but also some in Baltimore and Cumberland. ATK employees will build the "attitude control motor" for the launch abort system that will allow the crew capsule to separate and land safely under its own power.
Arizona Observatory Team Discovers Star Spews Molecules Needed for Life (Source: UANews.org)
University of Arizona astronomers who are probing the oxygen-rich environment around a supergiant star with one of the world's most sensitive radio telescopes have discovered a score of molecules that include compounds needed for life. "I don't think anyone would have predicted that VY Canis Majoris is a molecular factory. It was really unexpected," said Arizona Radio Observatory (ARO) Director Lucy Ziurys, UA professor of astronomy and of chemistry. "Everyone thought that the interesting chemistry in gas clouds around old stars was happening in envelopes around nearer, carbon-rich stars," Ziurys said. "But when we started looking closely for the first time at an oxygen-rich object, we began finding all these interesting things that weren't supposed to be there."
Radio Plan: A Price Shift for Satellite (Source: New York Times)
Hoping to persuade skeptical regulators to approve their proposed merger, the nation’s two satellite radio companies announced detailed plans Monday to give consumers the ability to choose the programs that make up their subscription package. The companies, Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio, said they would offer two “Ã la carte” pricing plans. One would enable consumers to purchase the best of the premium services now offered by each company — like professional football, baseball and basketball — for a monthly fee of $14.99. For $6.99 a month, the other would enable listeners to choose 50 of the nonpremium channels, with each additional channel costing 25 cents. To subscribe to the “Ã la carte” plans, consumers would have to buy new radios.
ISS Orbit Adjusted to Host Shuttle Endeavor (Source: RIA Novosti)
Russian Mission Control successfully adjusted the International Space Station's orbit in preparation for the docking of the U.S. space shuttle Endeavor, due to be launched August 8. Corrections to the space station's orbit are conducted periodically before launches of Russian cargo ships and U.S. shuttles to compensate for Earth's gravity and to ensure successful dockings. The adjustment brought the space station to an altitude of 337.5 kilometers (about 210 miles) over the Earth's surface.
Australia Plans Satellite Tracking System for Forest Fires (Source: Cosmos)
Australia plans to lead the development of a global satellite system to monitor forest fires in a bid to halt deforestation. The plan, announced yesterday, involves a network of satellite receiving stations to monitor forest fires in the Asia-Pacific region; and then extending that network's capacity to other parts of the world. "The ability to measure and monitor changes in forest cover is critical to international efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by reducing global deforestation and supporting sustainable forest management," Australian foreign minister Alexander Downer said.
Japan Having Problems Launching SELENE Orbital Moon Mission (Source: iTWire)
The Japanese lunar orbiter SELENE has been delayed again; it is already four years behind schedule. The Selenological and Engineering Explorer (SELENE), also called Kaguya, is a lunar orbiter that, once in orbit about 100 kilometers (60 miles) above the Moon, will send two smaller satellites into polar lunar orbits. Its mission is to study the origins and evolution of the Moon, along with researching the Moon’s surface. However, after being told that another satellite had its onboard electronic condenser installed improperly, engineers at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)—Japan’s space agency—found that similar components on SELENE’s two smaller satellites had been improperly installed.
KSC to Pay for Sheriff's Assistance (Source: Florida Today)
Sheriff Jack Parker and Kennedy Space Center officials will meet this week to work out an agreement for the space agency to reimburse the county when deputies are called to enforce state laws on the spaceport grounds. The private security guards who previously handled those cases on KSC property have been undeputized and stripped of state arrest powers because space center leadership said NASA’s contractor could not legally enforce state laws on the federal government installation.
Space Adventures Sees Wide Range of Public Space Travel (Source: Space News)
Private spacewalks, customer stopovers at commercial Earth orbit outposts, and public flights to the Moon are all part of Space Adventures Chief Executive Eric Anderson's vision for the growing space travel market. Over the last decade, Space Adventures has offered an array of spaceflight experiences to astronaut wannabes, including: parabolic aircraft flights that provide customers short stints in a microgravity environment, simulated Soyuz launch and landing profiles via centrifuge, neutral buoyancy tank training to simulate spacewalking conditions, as well as eight-days of cosmonaut overview training in Star City, Russia. But the big-ticket offering, and the activity that brings in big cash to the company, are private space trips to the international space station (ISS). Visit http://www.space.com/spacenews/070723_sn_spaceadven.htmlto view the article.
July 23 News Items
NASA and the Next Administration (Source: Space Review)
It has long been a complaint of space advocates that presidential candidates spend little or no time discussing their space policy positions—if, in fact, they have bothered to develop any positions on the subject. Space is near the bottom of the list of topics of interest to the electorate in general, and one that is not a swing issue for all but a small handful of voters. It is also rarely a partisan issue, making it difficult for space policy to become more ammunition in the continuous battles between Republicans and Democrats. Thus, even in the current campaign—which is shaping up to be the longest and perhaps the most contentious in US history—there’s scant attention paid to space. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/917/1 to view the article.
The State of the RLV Industry, 2007 (Source: Space Review)
At the Space Frontier Foundation’s recent NewSpace 2007 Conference in Arlington, Virginia, they spent one day covering “spaceplanes”. This gave some of the industry a chance to show what they were up to. Sadly, it mostly showed that the US government was not ready to fund an all-out reusable launch vehicle (RLV) effort, though neither NASA nor the Defense Department are willing to give up on the idea entirely. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/915/1 to view the article.
It has long been a complaint of space advocates that presidential candidates spend little or no time discussing their space policy positions—if, in fact, they have bothered to develop any positions on the subject. Space is near the bottom of the list of topics of interest to the electorate in general, and one that is not a swing issue for all but a small handful of voters. It is also rarely a partisan issue, making it difficult for space policy to become more ammunition in the continuous battles between Republicans and Democrats. Thus, even in the current campaign—which is shaping up to be the longest and perhaps the most contentious in US history—there’s scant attention paid to space. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/917/1 to view the article.
The State of the RLV Industry, 2007 (Source: Space Review)
At the Space Frontier Foundation’s recent NewSpace 2007 Conference in Arlington, Virginia, they spent one day covering “spaceplanes”. This gave some of the industry a chance to show what they were up to. Sadly, it mostly showed that the US government was not ready to fund an all-out reusable launch vehicle (RLV) effort, though neither NASA nor the Defense Department are willing to give up on the idea entirely. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/915/1 to view the article.
July 22 News Items
Craze Wanes, But Experts Don't Expect Space Interest to Disappear (Source: The Northwestern)
There likely will always be youth and adults enraptured by the Great Beyond, but some local experts say today's fascination with the Final Frontier doesn't reach nearly as high as it did during the Space Race craze of more than 40 years ago. When the Russians launched Sputnik I in 1957, "it unleashed a wave of panic in the U.S.," said Dr. Stephen Kercher, associate professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. What followed was an obsession with space exploration during the 1960s, fueled by political circumstance and NASA campaigns aimed to convince Americans the United States needed to win the Space Race, Kercher said.
"If you asked any child in 1963, any boy, what they wanted to be when they're grown up, there was a very good chance they'd say 'astronauts,'" he said. "It's a very deeply romantic notion of the greatness humans can achieve in space, beyond the atmosphere. And it also been a powerful idea for Americans that there's another frontier out there." But as years passed, so did the heightened interest in sending man to the moon. Kercher said recent research points to NASA's public relations machine in showing proof that interest has declined in recent years. "People started to ask whether it really was worth it for the U.S. government to fund a program that had such limited tangible benefits," Kercher said. "NASA would counter by saying this scientific discovery will yield great benefits to consumers. But what did we get? We got Tang, right? We received some benefits, surely, but not to the extent that they'd promised."
Analysts: Shortage of Pilots Critical (Source: AP)
Analysts say a worldwide shortage of experienced pilots is starting to affect flight safety. The shortage is the result of extraordinary air traffic growth in the Persian Gulf, China and India; the rise of lucrative low-cost carriers in Europe and Asia; and the sustained recovery of the U.S. airlines from the industry recession caused by the Sept. 11 attacks. "There is a giant sucking sound, luring pilots to rapidly expanding airlines such as Emirates and Qatar and the budget carriers," said the had of the Flight Safety Foundation. When experienced pilots leave developing countries in Asia and Africa for the Gulf, those countries must hire replacements fresh out of flight school, he said. And poaching pilots and mechanics is expected to intensify as Asian markets like China and India burgeon.
In the United States, where thousands of veterans were laid off after Sept. 11 and left the industry, regional carriers have been giving jobs to first officers with considerably less experience than would have been required 15 years ago. At some airlines, such as Northwest Airlines, pilot shortages have led to record-breaking flight cancellations in recent months. In the last full week of June, it canceled about 1,200 flights, or about 12 percent of its flight schedule, because it could not provide sufficient pilots to replace those who were grounded after reaching maximum allowed hours.
India`s First Space University to Start Next Month (Source: Zee News)
India's first space university is all set to take wings next month seeking to groom tailor-made experts to fuel the country's satellite and rocket programs. "August middle is our target", said G Madhavan Nair, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization, which is setting up the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) and expected to meet the high technology requirements of ISRO. The institute, which offers technically tuned courses in space science and technology, has already attracted some of India's bright minds encouraging India's space agency.
There likely will always be youth and adults enraptured by the Great Beyond, but some local experts say today's fascination with the Final Frontier doesn't reach nearly as high as it did during the Space Race craze of more than 40 years ago. When the Russians launched Sputnik I in 1957, "it unleashed a wave of panic in the U.S.," said Dr. Stephen Kercher, associate professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. What followed was an obsession with space exploration during the 1960s, fueled by political circumstance and NASA campaigns aimed to convince Americans the United States needed to win the Space Race, Kercher said.
"If you asked any child in 1963, any boy, what they wanted to be when they're grown up, there was a very good chance they'd say 'astronauts,'" he said. "It's a very deeply romantic notion of the greatness humans can achieve in space, beyond the atmosphere. And it also been a powerful idea for Americans that there's another frontier out there." But as years passed, so did the heightened interest in sending man to the moon. Kercher said recent research points to NASA's public relations machine in showing proof that interest has declined in recent years. "People started to ask whether it really was worth it for the U.S. government to fund a program that had such limited tangible benefits," Kercher said. "NASA would counter by saying this scientific discovery will yield great benefits to consumers. But what did we get? We got Tang, right? We received some benefits, surely, but not to the extent that they'd promised."
Analysts: Shortage of Pilots Critical (Source: AP)
Analysts say a worldwide shortage of experienced pilots is starting to affect flight safety. The shortage is the result of extraordinary air traffic growth in the Persian Gulf, China and India; the rise of lucrative low-cost carriers in Europe and Asia; and the sustained recovery of the U.S. airlines from the industry recession caused by the Sept. 11 attacks. "There is a giant sucking sound, luring pilots to rapidly expanding airlines such as Emirates and Qatar and the budget carriers," said the had of the Flight Safety Foundation. When experienced pilots leave developing countries in Asia and Africa for the Gulf, those countries must hire replacements fresh out of flight school, he said. And poaching pilots and mechanics is expected to intensify as Asian markets like China and India burgeon.
In the United States, where thousands of veterans were laid off after Sept. 11 and left the industry, regional carriers have been giving jobs to first officers with considerably less experience than would have been required 15 years ago. At some airlines, such as Northwest Airlines, pilot shortages have led to record-breaking flight cancellations in recent months. In the last full week of June, it canceled about 1,200 flights, or about 12 percent of its flight schedule, because it could not provide sufficient pilots to replace those who were grounded after reaching maximum allowed hours.
India`s First Space University to Start Next Month (Source: Zee News)
India's first space university is all set to take wings next month seeking to groom tailor-made experts to fuel the country's satellite and rocket programs. "August middle is our target", said G Madhavan Nair, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization, which is setting up the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) and expected to meet the high technology requirements of ISRO. The institute, which offers technically tuned courses in space science and technology, has already attracted some of India's bright minds encouraging India's space agency.
July 21 News Items
Northrop Grumman Buys Builder of SpaceShipOne (Source: Space News)
Northrop Grumman Corp. agreed July 5 to increase its stake in Scaled Composites - the builder of the X-Prize-winning SpaceShipOne and a host of record-breaking aircraft - from 40 percent to 100 percent, Northrop Grumman spokesman Dan McClain confirmed July 20. The company expects the deal to close in August pending regulatory approval by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Scaled Composites currently is working with Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic venture on a vehicle designated for now as SpaceShipTwo, which would carry two pilots and six paying passengers into suborbital space for a few minutes of weightlessness. The company also is building a new carrier aircraft, dubbed WhiteKnight2, will carry SpaceShipTwo to an altitude of 15 kilometers before releasing it to soar to suborbital space.
Atlantis Stay of Execution Reversed in New Manifest (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
Atlantis has only two missions remaining - STS-122 and STS-125 - according to a new FAWG (Flight Assignment Working Group) manifest, which shows the orbiter is once again set for retirement in 2008. The rationale for the U-turn is unclear, given Atlantis is no longer required to enter an OMDP (Orbiter Maintenance Down Period) in 2008. The move will see Atlantis cannibalized for spare parts, and could lead to an early reduction in numbers of the United Space Alliance workforce.
Component Glitch Delays Japan Lunar Launch (Source: Space News)
The Japanese space agency, JAXA, has postponed the scheduled Aug. 16 launch of its Kaguya lunar orbiter mission on an H-2A rocket after discovering problems with spacecraft components that were improperly installed. No new launch date has been scheduled.
Martian Dust Storms Imperil NASA Rovers (Source: Space News)
NASA warned July 20 that severe dust storms that have obscured the surface of Mars could damage or even cripple the Spirit and Opportunity rovers that have been traversing the red planet's surface since 2004. The dust is blocking out the sunlight that the rovers use to recharge their batteries. If the sun's rays are blocked out for an extended period, the rovers will be unable to keep themselves warm enough to operate. The brightness of the sun as viewed from the surface is now down to less than 5 percent of what it would be with a perfectly transparent atmosphere.
Spacehab Chief Invites Venture Pitches (Source: Space News)
Spacehab President Thomas Boone Pickens, son of the famous Texas oil tycoon, is looking for new space ventures to fund. Pickens has extended an open invitation to space entrepreneurs to come to Spacehab to pitch their ideas. Pickens said in an interview that his Houston-based company is establishing a "technology incubator" called SpaceTech to serve as a venture capital fund for promising new space businesses.
Brazilian Suborbital Launch Goes Awry (Source: Space News)
The Brazilian Space Agency launched a suborbital rocket carrying nine scientific experiments July 19, but was scrambling to recover the payload, which went off course during its descent. The VSB-30 rocket, which made its initial flight Dec. 1, 2005, in Sweden, was launched 242 kilometers high from the Alcantâra Launch Center in the state of Maranhão. The rocket spent approximately 19 minutes aloft, including about six in space. The descent went off-course due to telemetry signal discrepancies. Teams from the Brazilian Air Force and Navy were sent to recover the payload but had yet to recover it as of press time.
MDA Cancels Plan to Procure Low-Cost Target Missiles (Source: Space News)
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) has canceled an effort to field inexpensive missile targets. The Low Cost Assessment Targets program was intended to field "low cost, quick turn-around missile systems that can be used for assessing and calibrating sensor system developments and modifications, payload developments, sounding rocket experiments, and limited intercept experiments." However, industry's responses, as well as further analysis by the MDA, led the agency to conclude that "potential requirements are insufficient to support continuation of the acquisition," according to a July 18 Internet posting by MDA.
Europe Struggles With Research Satellites (Source: Space News)
Europe's Goce gravity-field and ocean-circulation observation satellite is two years behind schedule following what designers agree were overly ambitious performance and schedule demands but is now on track for a March 2008 launch. The satellite, expected to weigh 1,100 kilograms at launch, is designed to operate from about 250 kilometers in altitude - the lowest orbit ever intentionally used by a European satellite - following its launch aboard a Russian Rockot launch vehicle operated by the German-Russian firm Eurockot Launch Vehicles GmbH. Keeping the satellite steady to permit sensitive gravity-field measurements while compensating for the considerable atmospheric drag at that altitude are part of a host of design challenges. The satellite has no moving parts, and will be powered by small xenon-ion electric motors whose continuous pulses will correct for drag.
Russia Informs Customers Two Satellites Will Be Late (Source: Space News)
The Russian Satellite Communications Co. (RSCC), which until late June had been telling potential customers its Express AM33 and AM44 telecommunications satellites would be available this year, has reversed itself and now says both satellites will be up to half a year late. RSCC says it only recently was informed by its satellite-payload supplier, Thales Alenia Space, that the hardware would not be delivered as scheduled to the prime contractor. The late deliveries will cost the satellite-fleet operator substantially in lost revenue from customers whose contracts stipulate a start date in 2007.
Britain Considering Giving More Authority, Own Budget, to Space Agency (Source: Space News)
A British Parliamentary committee has proposed that Britain's space agency, which currently has less power and influence than its major European counterparts, be given more authority to make early decisions on European programs.
Witness: Plan Would Mitigate QuikSCAT Loss (Source: Aerospace Daily)
The NOAA plan in the event the QuikSCAT satellite fails could mitigate the loss of its data "very effectively" and preserve the quality of hurricane forecasting, a NOAA laboratory director told House lawmakers. Three studies have been undertaken to address the potential degradation to computer hurricane forecasts that might result if QuikSCAT was lost. "In my opinion, the preponderance of evidence from the three studies indicates that computer model forecasts of landfalling hurricanes, especially in the 2-5 day time range, could be degraded if we do not mitigate the loss effectively," said the NOAA official. But "NOAA has recently developed an effective mitigation plan that would make substantial use of other satellites as well as enhanced aircraft observations." If QuikSCAT were to fail today, the National Hurricane Center could use data from the ASCAT European satellite, although it doesn't have the same kind of resolution and coverage of QuikSCAT, which can gather data over an 1,800-kilometer wide swath of ocean.
Northrop Grumman Corp. agreed July 5 to increase its stake in Scaled Composites - the builder of the X-Prize-winning SpaceShipOne and a host of record-breaking aircraft - from 40 percent to 100 percent, Northrop Grumman spokesman Dan McClain confirmed July 20. The company expects the deal to close in August pending regulatory approval by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Scaled Composites currently is working with Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic venture on a vehicle designated for now as SpaceShipTwo, which would carry two pilots and six paying passengers into suborbital space for a few minutes of weightlessness. The company also is building a new carrier aircraft, dubbed WhiteKnight2, will carry SpaceShipTwo to an altitude of 15 kilometers before releasing it to soar to suborbital space.
Atlantis Stay of Execution Reversed in New Manifest (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
Atlantis has only two missions remaining - STS-122 and STS-125 - according to a new FAWG (Flight Assignment Working Group) manifest, which shows the orbiter is once again set for retirement in 2008. The rationale for the U-turn is unclear, given Atlantis is no longer required to enter an OMDP (Orbiter Maintenance Down Period) in 2008. The move will see Atlantis cannibalized for spare parts, and could lead to an early reduction in numbers of the United Space Alliance workforce.
Component Glitch Delays Japan Lunar Launch (Source: Space News)
The Japanese space agency, JAXA, has postponed the scheduled Aug. 16 launch of its Kaguya lunar orbiter mission on an H-2A rocket after discovering problems with spacecraft components that were improperly installed. No new launch date has been scheduled.
Martian Dust Storms Imperil NASA Rovers (Source: Space News)
NASA warned July 20 that severe dust storms that have obscured the surface of Mars could damage or even cripple the Spirit and Opportunity rovers that have been traversing the red planet's surface since 2004. The dust is blocking out the sunlight that the rovers use to recharge their batteries. If the sun's rays are blocked out for an extended period, the rovers will be unable to keep themselves warm enough to operate. The brightness of the sun as viewed from the surface is now down to less than 5 percent of what it would be with a perfectly transparent atmosphere.
Spacehab Chief Invites Venture Pitches (Source: Space News)
Spacehab President Thomas Boone Pickens, son of the famous Texas oil tycoon, is looking for new space ventures to fund. Pickens has extended an open invitation to space entrepreneurs to come to Spacehab to pitch their ideas. Pickens said in an interview that his Houston-based company is establishing a "technology incubator" called SpaceTech to serve as a venture capital fund for promising new space businesses.
Brazilian Suborbital Launch Goes Awry (Source: Space News)
The Brazilian Space Agency launched a suborbital rocket carrying nine scientific experiments July 19, but was scrambling to recover the payload, which went off course during its descent. The VSB-30 rocket, which made its initial flight Dec. 1, 2005, in Sweden, was launched 242 kilometers high from the Alcantâra Launch Center in the state of Maranhão. The rocket spent approximately 19 minutes aloft, including about six in space. The descent went off-course due to telemetry signal discrepancies. Teams from the Brazilian Air Force and Navy were sent to recover the payload but had yet to recover it as of press time.
MDA Cancels Plan to Procure Low-Cost Target Missiles (Source: Space News)
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) has canceled an effort to field inexpensive missile targets. The Low Cost Assessment Targets program was intended to field "low cost, quick turn-around missile systems that can be used for assessing and calibrating sensor system developments and modifications, payload developments, sounding rocket experiments, and limited intercept experiments." However, industry's responses, as well as further analysis by the MDA, led the agency to conclude that "potential requirements are insufficient to support continuation of the acquisition," according to a July 18 Internet posting by MDA.
Europe Struggles With Research Satellites (Source: Space News)
Europe's Goce gravity-field and ocean-circulation observation satellite is two years behind schedule following what designers agree were overly ambitious performance and schedule demands but is now on track for a March 2008 launch. The satellite, expected to weigh 1,100 kilograms at launch, is designed to operate from about 250 kilometers in altitude - the lowest orbit ever intentionally used by a European satellite - following its launch aboard a Russian Rockot launch vehicle operated by the German-Russian firm Eurockot Launch Vehicles GmbH. Keeping the satellite steady to permit sensitive gravity-field measurements while compensating for the considerable atmospheric drag at that altitude are part of a host of design challenges. The satellite has no moving parts, and will be powered by small xenon-ion electric motors whose continuous pulses will correct for drag.
Russia Informs Customers Two Satellites Will Be Late (Source: Space News)
The Russian Satellite Communications Co. (RSCC), which until late June had been telling potential customers its Express AM33 and AM44 telecommunications satellites would be available this year, has reversed itself and now says both satellites will be up to half a year late. RSCC says it only recently was informed by its satellite-payload supplier, Thales Alenia Space, that the hardware would not be delivered as scheduled to the prime contractor. The late deliveries will cost the satellite-fleet operator substantially in lost revenue from customers whose contracts stipulate a start date in 2007.
Britain Considering Giving More Authority, Own Budget, to Space Agency (Source: Space News)
A British Parliamentary committee has proposed that Britain's space agency, which currently has less power and influence than its major European counterparts, be given more authority to make early decisions on European programs.
Witness: Plan Would Mitigate QuikSCAT Loss (Source: Aerospace Daily)
The NOAA plan in the event the QuikSCAT satellite fails could mitigate the loss of its data "very effectively" and preserve the quality of hurricane forecasting, a NOAA laboratory director told House lawmakers. Three studies have been undertaken to address the potential degradation to computer hurricane forecasts that might result if QuikSCAT was lost. "In my opinion, the preponderance of evidence from the three studies indicates that computer model forecasts of landfalling hurricanes, especially in the 2-5 day time range, could be degraded if we do not mitigate the loss effectively," said the NOAA official. But "NOAA has recently developed an effective mitigation plan that would make substantial use of other satellites as well as enhanced aircraft observations." If QuikSCAT were to fail today, the National Hurricane Center could use data from the ASCAT European satellite, although it doesn't have the same kind of resolution and coverage of QuikSCAT, which can gather data over an 1,800-kilometer wide swath of ocean.
July 20 News Items
Brazil Fires Rocket in Bid to Revive Space Program (Source: Reuters)
Brazil launched a sounding rocket carrying scientific experiments on Thursday in an effort to revive a space program that was set back by a deadly accident in 2003. Brazil's main objective is to develop and then sell satellite-launching rockets, as well as to promote its Alcantara spaceport near the equator. The VSB-30 sounding rocket was airborne for only 20 minutes and a module carrying experiments was to be salvaged from the Atlantic Ocean. Officials view the launch as a key step in recovering Brazil's space program after a satellite-launching rocket exploded at the same site in 2003 and killed 21 people, including several scientists. Critics say military control and a small budget are to blame for little progress in the space program of Latin America's largest country.
Honeywell Profit Rises on Aerospace, Construction (Source: Reuters)
Honeywell reported a 17 percent rise in quarterly profit, beating Wall Street forecasts, on strong sales of aviation products and systems used to heat and cool large industrial buildings. The world's largest maker of cockpit electronics said business was particularly strong outside the United States. Honeywell reported second-quarter profit of $611 million, up from $521 million a year earlier.
Virginia Governor May Boost Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Budget (Source: Spaceports Blog)
Virginia Governor Tim Kaine visited the NASA Wallops Flight Facility and the commercial Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport to be briefed on the work involving suborbital and orbital flight projects, Earth Science research and technology development. Governor Kaine has already started writing the budget for the next two years (2008-2009). He says funding for and policy initiatives with the Wallops Island facility are real possibilities. In the past session of the Virginia legislature, Kaine offered and signed the Virginia Spaceflight Liability and Immunity Act that became effective July 1.
Space Foundation Undertakes ITAR Survey (Source: Space Foundation)
In an effort to assess the impact of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) on companies in the space industry, the Space Foundation has undertaken an ITAR compliance survey designed for senior executives and program managers. This survey, commissioned by the Space Foundation, is designed to acquire tangible information such as financial and personnel costs and programmatic delays, to better characterize the effect of ITAR regulations. To share your experience with ITAR, visit http://www.spacefoundation.org/itar/story.php.
Alaska Spaceport Open House (Source: Kodiak Daily Mirror)
A missile isn’t being launched this weekend at the Kodiak Launch Complex, but the missile site will be in the spotlight during an open house with visits from aerospace industry leaders. Pat Ladner, president and chief executive officer of the Alaska Aerospace Development Corp., which operates the Kodiak spaceport, said today the event gives the community a chance to come to site, look at its facilities and ask questions about missile operations. As part of the open house, the Kodiak Cable Co. will have a ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially recognize completion of an underwater fiber-optic cable connecting the launch site to a system that runs throughout the state and the Lower 48, providing fast data transmission. In addition, booths will be manned by the U.S. Missile Defense Agency and contractors including Venturi Corp., MilTech and Sandia Labs.
Michoud Employment to Drop (Source: Forbes)
With the shift of the U.S. space program from the shuttle to the Constellation program designed to send astronauts back to the moon and beyond, employment at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility will drop, a top official said. But how many people will eventually be employed is yet to be determined, said James Bray, program manager for Lockheed Martin's work on the new project at Michoud. The assembly facility currently has about 2,400 workers - 1,000 of which perform the labor-intensive building of the huge external fuel tanks for the shuttle, another 1,000 that provide support services for Lockheed Martin and another 400 that operate the facility for NASA. Michoud has 15 external fuel tanks left to be built for the shuttle program.
Scratch a Space Nut, Find a Hippie (Source: WIRED)
"You're rising higher and higher," intones a soft voice. "You're going out through the top of the hotel, and now you can see the Potomac, and now all of Washington." Cheesy new age music swells. The meditation was part of a kick-off for the annual Space Frontier Foundation conference. The people in the assembled crowd -- which include a former astronaut, several soon-to-be space tourists and lots of clever engineers -- keep their heads bowed and their eyes closed. "Now you're floating, you're floating in space, kind of like Star Child from 2001: A Space Odyssey," says our guide. "And the Earth is below you, and it's amazing and it's incredible, just blues and greens and whites."
It was a surprising prelude to the annual conference held by an earnest, respectable group that advocates entrepreneurial efforts to speed up space exploration and colonization. The event addressed practical realities of the new commercial space industry, and representatives from companies such as Rocketplane Global and Space Adventures were on hand to talk up their offerings. Visit http://www.wired.com/science/space/news/2007/07/overview to view the article.
NASA Studies Shuttle Seal Problem (Source: USA Today)
In an eerie parallel to the problems that doomed space shuttle Challenger, NASA is grappling with O-rings as the agency prepares to launch a second teacher into space. Malfunctioning O-rings, the seals between sections of the shuttle's booster rockets, led to Challenger's explosion shortly into its 1986 flight. Teacher Christa McAuliffe and six crewmates died. McAuliffe's backup, Barbara Morgan, is slated to lift off Aug. 7 on shuttle Endeavour, Challenger's replacement. It will be Morgan's first space flight. A NASA team is studying why recent batches of O-rings have a higher-than-usual number of specks of unmixed rubber, similar to bits of flour in a partially mixed bowl of cake batter. If such specks are too large or too close together, they can make the rings stiffer. The specks, detected by X-ray, are about the size of a grain of salt. On Challenger, the rings were so stiff from cold weather that hot gases escaped from the booster, igniting the fuel.
NASA Launches Interactive Online Tour of the Space Station (Source: NASA)
The International Space Station is now accessible in cyberspace. NASA launched its Interactive Space Station Reference Guide, a new tool that features an in-depth look inside and outside of the orbiting laboratory that has never before been seen. It is available online at http://www.nasa.gov/station. The guide provides an up-to-date interactive overview of the station's complex configuration, design and component systems. It includes a video introduction and narration by NASA astronaut Mike Fincke, who lived aboard the station for six months as an Expedition 9 science officer and flight engineer.
Brazil launched a sounding rocket carrying scientific experiments on Thursday in an effort to revive a space program that was set back by a deadly accident in 2003. Brazil's main objective is to develop and then sell satellite-launching rockets, as well as to promote its Alcantara spaceport near the equator. The VSB-30 sounding rocket was airborne for only 20 minutes and a module carrying experiments was to be salvaged from the Atlantic Ocean. Officials view the launch as a key step in recovering Brazil's space program after a satellite-launching rocket exploded at the same site in 2003 and killed 21 people, including several scientists. Critics say military control and a small budget are to blame for little progress in the space program of Latin America's largest country.
Honeywell Profit Rises on Aerospace, Construction (Source: Reuters)
Honeywell reported a 17 percent rise in quarterly profit, beating Wall Street forecasts, on strong sales of aviation products and systems used to heat and cool large industrial buildings. The world's largest maker of cockpit electronics said business was particularly strong outside the United States. Honeywell reported second-quarter profit of $611 million, up from $521 million a year earlier.
Virginia Governor May Boost Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Budget (Source: Spaceports Blog)
Virginia Governor Tim Kaine visited the NASA Wallops Flight Facility and the commercial Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport to be briefed on the work involving suborbital and orbital flight projects, Earth Science research and technology development. Governor Kaine has already started writing the budget for the next two years (2008-2009). He says funding for and policy initiatives with the Wallops Island facility are real possibilities. In the past session of the Virginia legislature, Kaine offered and signed the Virginia Spaceflight Liability and Immunity Act that became effective July 1.
Space Foundation Undertakes ITAR Survey (Source: Space Foundation)
In an effort to assess the impact of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) on companies in the space industry, the Space Foundation has undertaken an ITAR compliance survey designed for senior executives and program managers. This survey, commissioned by the Space Foundation, is designed to acquire tangible information such as financial and personnel costs and programmatic delays, to better characterize the effect of ITAR regulations. To share your experience with ITAR, visit http://www.spacefoundation.org/itar/story.php.
Alaska Spaceport Open House (Source: Kodiak Daily Mirror)
A missile isn’t being launched this weekend at the Kodiak Launch Complex, but the missile site will be in the spotlight during an open house with visits from aerospace industry leaders. Pat Ladner, president and chief executive officer of the Alaska Aerospace Development Corp., which operates the Kodiak spaceport, said today the event gives the community a chance to come to site, look at its facilities and ask questions about missile operations. As part of the open house, the Kodiak Cable Co. will have a ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially recognize completion of an underwater fiber-optic cable connecting the launch site to a system that runs throughout the state and the Lower 48, providing fast data transmission. In addition, booths will be manned by the U.S. Missile Defense Agency and contractors including Venturi Corp., MilTech and Sandia Labs.
Michoud Employment to Drop (Source: Forbes)
With the shift of the U.S. space program from the shuttle to the Constellation program designed to send astronauts back to the moon and beyond, employment at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility will drop, a top official said. But how many people will eventually be employed is yet to be determined, said James Bray, program manager for Lockheed Martin's work on the new project at Michoud. The assembly facility currently has about 2,400 workers - 1,000 of which perform the labor-intensive building of the huge external fuel tanks for the shuttle, another 1,000 that provide support services for Lockheed Martin and another 400 that operate the facility for NASA. Michoud has 15 external fuel tanks left to be built for the shuttle program.
Scratch a Space Nut, Find a Hippie (Source: WIRED)
"You're rising higher and higher," intones a soft voice. "You're going out through the top of the hotel, and now you can see the Potomac, and now all of Washington." Cheesy new age music swells. The meditation was part of a kick-off for the annual Space Frontier Foundation conference. The people in the assembled crowd -- which include a former astronaut, several soon-to-be space tourists and lots of clever engineers -- keep their heads bowed and their eyes closed. "Now you're floating, you're floating in space, kind of like Star Child from 2001: A Space Odyssey," says our guide. "And the Earth is below you, and it's amazing and it's incredible, just blues and greens and whites."
It was a surprising prelude to the annual conference held by an earnest, respectable group that advocates entrepreneurial efforts to speed up space exploration and colonization. The event addressed practical realities of the new commercial space industry, and representatives from companies such as Rocketplane Global and Space Adventures were on hand to talk up their offerings. Visit http://www.wired.com/science/space/news/2007/07/overview to view the article.
NASA Studies Shuttle Seal Problem (Source: USA Today)
In an eerie parallel to the problems that doomed space shuttle Challenger, NASA is grappling with O-rings as the agency prepares to launch a second teacher into space. Malfunctioning O-rings, the seals between sections of the shuttle's booster rockets, led to Challenger's explosion shortly into its 1986 flight. Teacher Christa McAuliffe and six crewmates died. McAuliffe's backup, Barbara Morgan, is slated to lift off Aug. 7 on shuttle Endeavour, Challenger's replacement. It will be Morgan's first space flight. A NASA team is studying why recent batches of O-rings have a higher-than-usual number of specks of unmixed rubber, similar to bits of flour in a partially mixed bowl of cake batter. If such specks are too large or too close together, they can make the rings stiffer. The specks, detected by X-ray, are about the size of a grain of salt. On Challenger, the rings were so stiff from cold weather that hot gases escaped from the booster, igniting the fuel.
NASA Launches Interactive Online Tour of the Space Station (Source: NASA)
The International Space Station is now accessible in cyberspace. NASA launched its Interactive Space Station Reference Guide, a new tool that features an in-depth look inside and outside of the orbiting laboratory that has never before been seen. It is available online at http://www.nasa.gov/station. The guide provides an up-to-date interactive overview of the station's complex configuration, design and component systems. It includes a video introduction and narration by NASA astronaut Mike Fincke, who lived aboard the station for six months as an Expedition 9 science officer and flight engineer.
July 19 News Items
Price for Trip to Space Station Skyrockets (Source: Florida Today)
U.S. tourists traveling this summer to Europe who complain about the poor exchange rate have nothing on tourists going to space. The cost of flying to the International Space Station aboard a Russian Soyuz spaceship has gone from about $25 million earlier this year to about $30 million to $40 million for trips planned in 2008 and 2009, said Eric Anderson, president and CEO of Space Adventures. "It's mostly because of the fallen dollar," Anderson said. A U.S. dollar currently is worth about 25 1/2 Russian rubles, compared to 32 rubles in 2002.
Satellite in Political Storm has Saved Lives (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
As a debate rages over an aging weather satellite's role in tracking hurricanes, there's no question about its importance to the safety of thousands of ships at sea. "There is no doubt that as a result of ... QuikSCAT, there are ships that haven't sunk, and there are sailors who haven't died... In other words, it saves lives and property," said a NASA official. At a congressional hearing in Washington into the ouster of Bill Proenza as head of the National Hurricane Center, some of the testimony focused on his claim that QuikSCAT is critical to hurricane trackers -- and forecasters' dismissal of that claim. But there is little dispute over QuikSCAT's benefit to boaters, fishermen, cruise ships and the estimated 15,000 tankers and freighters that ply the oceans around the world. QuickSCAT provides detailed measurements of wind direction and speed over vast ocean surfaces. Meteorologists with NOAA say it has significantly improved marine forecasts and warnings.
India To Orbit Israeli Spy Satellite In September (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
A leading Indian broadsheet quoted anonymous sources Wednesday as saying the country is planning to launch an Israeli spy satellite in September. According to information obtained by Times of India, the Indian Space Research Organization's (ISRO) time-proven four-stage Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle will carry a 260-kg satellite named TechSar from the Sriharikota spaceport, on an island off India's southern coast. The launch will cost around $15 million.
Everything OK, Says Rocketplane Kistler (Source: Oklahoma Gazette)
Despite funding problems and layoffs, RpK continues their reassurance that everything is fine and state officials continue to have confidence in the Oklahoma City-based company. RpK officials failed to meet a COTS funding deadline mandated by a NASA. RpK diverted funds from its suborbital space passenger subsidiary to the reusable orbital subsidiary, according to a laid-off RpK manager. During the past few months, RpK laid off about a fifth of its workforce, almost all from suborbital space tourism division, Rocketplane Global. The state of Oklahoma awarded Rocketplane investors an $18 million tax credit to help build the suborbital tourism ship. Company President Randy Brinkley said only one person has left from the reusable rocket company division, but that a total of 17 employees are no longer with the other division due to cutbacks.
Camping on the Moon (Source: DailyPress.com)
Of all the work NASA Langley Research Center employees are contributing to NASA's back-to-the-moon quest, nothing drives home the reality of the next age of manned space exploration quite like the mock-up lunar habitat housed in Building 1148. The inflatable structure isn't a full-scale model or the final design of what astronauts might one day live in during an extended trip to the moon. But it's a start. A trip to the moon where a group of astronauts would stay for four days to a week is on the board for 2020. Langley researchers and engineers are among the many NASA employees and contractors working on the design, structure and materials for the habitat. Early trips may only last a week, but eventually NASA wants astronauts to stay for months at a time, if not erect permanent colonies.
Langley will work with ILC Dover - the company that manufactures spacesuits - to test various materials for the habitat's outer structure. While "inflatable" may sound flimsy, potential materials include Kevlar, and the exterior would likely be made up of layers and measure a foot thick. A number of factors come into play when designing a human living space for the moon's atmosphere. It must protect against temperatures that can range, depending on time and place, from more than 200 degrees Fahrenheit to less than minus-200 degrees Fahrenheit. It must protect the astronauts from potentially harmful cosmic radiation. And it must protect against the chance of getting struck by micrometeoroids.
UP Aerospace Offers Space Generation Advisory Council Low-Cost Launches for Youth (Source: UP)
UP Aerospace, a Connecticut-based company and world leader in responsive and low-cost space access, is offering the Space Generation Advisory Council access to low-cost launches for its youth members. The Space Generation Advisory Council is the leading international body representing youth on all space matters, and its youth members will be able to obtain UP Aerospace’s best educational pricing for the launch of experimental packages. Under this offer, an experiment can be flown into space, recovered, and provided back to young experimenters for as little as $2000.
Space Iinvestors See Potential for Big Payoff (Source: The Age)
Just a few years ago, the idea of bankrolling starry-eyed ventures to fly ordinary people into space was laughed off as science fiction. Now some investors are betting on space tourism as the next big thing. The infant industry got a boost in June when Boston Harbour Angels invested in XCOR Aerospace, a private rocket company developing a spaceship that will take off and land like an aeroplane. "This industry is going to explode or fizzle," said John Hallal of the Boston group. "If it's successful, people will look back and say, 'These Boston Harbour investors are smart guys.' If not, it's not the end of the world."
Florida Raises Share of Industry-Sponsored University Research (Source: SSTI)
Between 2001 and 2005, industry-sponsored research in Florida universities surged forty-four percent to over $104 million. Florida's increase outpaced all but six other states and was higher than the nation's other large states (California, Texas, New York, etc.). Florida's overall total for externally funded university research (government, industry, foundations, etc.) was over $1.44 billion in 2005, including 7.23 percent from industry. Florida ranked fifth nationwide in 2005 for the percentage of industry-funded research.
Space Florida Funds UF Research Project (Source: Space Florida)
Space Florida's board of directors has approved a $349,000 grant to researchers at the University of Florida for a "Precision Attitude Determination and Control System for Small Satellites”. This effort will combine two major areas of research into a viable system for small spacecraft while also having commercial potential. UF proposes to work with industrial partners so that technology transfer and commercialization of the research results will occur in Florida as soon as possible.
Space Florida Joins NASA in Educational Agreement (Source: Space Florida)
Space Florida has signed an Educational Joint Partnership Agreement with NASA to combine their efforts to achieve each entity’s educational initiatives to inspire, engage, educate, and employ the next-generation technical workforce. The agreement will enhance NASA's access to Florida resources when selecting candidates for their education, internship and research programs. Space Florida’s experience in promoting math and science education will also help NASA recruit Florida’s most promising students and prepare Florida’s aerospace workforce of tomorrow.
Sharper Image Hopes ZERO-G Flights Will Stop Falling Sales (Source: San Francisco Business Times)
Shaper Image will start selling ZERO-G aircraft flights with periods of weightlessness for $3,500 per person plus tax. Flights of this type have long been used to train astronauts for work in orbit. Steven Lightman, president and CEO of Sharper Image, said the offering is in line with the company's tradition of selling cutting-edge products. Customers who pay for the flight on a Boeing 727-200 will get several periods of what the company called "various degrees of gravity." Upon landing, customers are offered champagne for toasts and get to keep their flight suits and a DVD of the trip. The price of the flight doesn't include travel to Las Vegas or to Cape Canaveral, where the flights take place.
About the FLORIDA SPACErePORT (Source: ERAU)
The FLORIDA SPACErePORT newsletter is distributed directly to an international audience of over 1,100 space industry leaders from business, government and academia. Re-distribution to additional recipients is encouraged. News items are gathered and posted daily on the FLORIDA SPACErePORT blog at www.spacereport.blogspot.com and then arranged contextually for newsletter distribution on Mondays. The SPACErePORT blog is searchable and includes an archive of all past news items dating back to October 2006. The newsletter began in the early 1990s as a fax publication of the Spaceport Florida Authority, provided as a service of the State of Florida for space industry officials and policy makers in Tallahassee. It is now distributed solely via email and is developed with support from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
U.S. tourists traveling this summer to Europe who complain about the poor exchange rate have nothing on tourists going to space. The cost of flying to the International Space Station aboard a Russian Soyuz spaceship has gone from about $25 million earlier this year to about $30 million to $40 million for trips planned in 2008 and 2009, said Eric Anderson, president and CEO of Space Adventures. "It's mostly because of the fallen dollar," Anderson said. A U.S. dollar currently is worth about 25 1/2 Russian rubles, compared to 32 rubles in 2002.
Satellite in Political Storm has Saved Lives (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
As a debate rages over an aging weather satellite's role in tracking hurricanes, there's no question about its importance to the safety of thousands of ships at sea. "There is no doubt that as a result of ... QuikSCAT, there are ships that haven't sunk, and there are sailors who haven't died... In other words, it saves lives and property," said a NASA official. At a congressional hearing in Washington into the ouster of Bill Proenza as head of the National Hurricane Center, some of the testimony focused on his claim that QuikSCAT is critical to hurricane trackers -- and forecasters' dismissal of that claim. But there is little dispute over QuikSCAT's benefit to boaters, fishermen, cruise ships and the estimated 15,000 tankers and freighters that ply the oceans around the world. QuickSCAT provides detailed measurements of wind direction and speed over vast ocean surfaces. Meteorologists with NOAA say it has significantly improved marine forecasts and warnings.
India To Orbit Israeli Spy Satellite In September (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
A leading Indian broadsheet quoted anonymous sources Wednesday as saying the country is planning to launch an Israeli spy satellite in September. According to information obtained by Times of India, the Indian Space Research Organization's (ISRO) time-proven four-stage Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle will carry a 260-kg satellite named TechSar from the Sriharikota spaceport, on an island off India's southern coast. The launch will cost around $15 million.
Everything OK, Says Rocketplane Kistler (Source: Oklahoma Gazette)
Despite funding problems and layoffs, RpK continues their reassurance that everything is fine and state officials continue to have confidence in the Oklahoma City-based company. RpK officials failed to meet a COTS funding deadline mandated by a NASA. RpK diverted funds from its suborbital space passenger subsidiary to the reusable orbital subsidiary, according to a laid-off RpK manager. During the past few months, RpK laid off about a fifth of its workforce, almost all from suborbital space tourism division, Rocketplane Global. The state of Oklahoma awarded Rocketplane investors an $18 million tax credit to help build the suborbital tourism ship. Company President Randy Brinkley said only one person has left from the reusable rocket company division, but that a total of 17 employees are no longer with the other division due to cutbacks.
Camping on the Moon (Source: DailyPress.com)
Of all the work NASA Langley Research Center employees are contributing to NASA's back-to-the-moon quest, nothing drives home the reality of the next age of manned space exploration quite like the mock-up lunar habitat housed in Building 1148. The inflatable structure isn't a full-scale model or the final design of what astronauts might one day live in during an extended trip to the moon. But it's a start. A trip to the moon where a group of astronauts would stay for four days to a week is on the board for 2020. Langley researchers and engineers are among the many NASA employees and contractors working on the design, structure and materials for the habitat. Early trips may only last a week, but eventually NASA wants astronauts to stay for months at a time, if not erect permanent colonies.
Langley will work with ILC Dover - the company that manufactures spacesuits - to test various materials for the habitat's outer structure. While "inflatable" may sound flimsy, potential materials include Kevlar, and the exterior would likely be made up of layers and measure a foot thick. A number of factors come into play when designing a human living space for the moon's atmosphere. It must protect against temperatures that can range, depending on time and place, from more than 200 degrees Fahrenheit to less than minus-200 degrees Fahrenheit. It must protect the astronauts from potentially harmful cosmic radiation. And it must protect against the chance of getting struck by micrometeoroids.
UP Aerospace Offers Space Generation Advisory Council Low-Cost Launches for Youth (Source: UP)
UP Aerospace, a Connecticut-based company and world leader in responsive and low-cost space access, is offering the Space Generation Advisory Council access to low-cost launches for its youth members. The Space Generation Advisory Council is the leading international body representing youth on all space matters, and its youth members will be able to obtain UP Aerospace’s best educational pricing for the launch of experimental packages. Under this offer, an experiment can be flown into space, recovered, and provided back to young experimenters for as little as $2000.
Space Iinvestors See Potential for Big Payoff (Source: The Age)
Just a few years ago, the idea of bankrolling starry-eyed ventures to fly ordinary people into space was laughed off as science fiction. Now some investors are betting on space tourism as the next big thing. The infant industry got a boost in June when Boston Harbour Angels invested in XCOR Aerospace, a private rocket company developing a spaceship that will take off and land like an aeroplane. "This industry is going to explode or fizzle," said John Hallal of the Boston group. "If it's successful, people will look back and say, 'These Boston Harbour investors are smart guys.' If not, it's not the end of the world."
Florida Raises Share of Industry-Sponsored University Research (Source: SSTI)
Between 2001 and 2005, industry-sponsored research in Florida universities surged forty-four percent to over $104 million. Florida's increase outpaced all but six other states and was higher than the nation's other large states (California, Texas, New York, etc.). Florida's overall total for externally funded university research (government, industry, foundations, etc.) was over $1.44 billion in 2005, including 7.23 percent from industry. Florida ranked fifth nationwide in 2005 for the percentage of industry-funded research.
Space Florida Funds UF Research Project (Source: Space Florida)
Space Florida's board of directors has approved a $349,000 grant to researchers at the University of Florida for a "Precision Attitude Determination and Control System for Small Satellites”. This effort will combine two major areas of research into a viable system for small spacecraft while also having commercial potential. UF proposes to work with industrial partners so that technology transfer and commercialization of the research results will occur in Florida as soon as possible.
Space Florida Joins NASA in Educational Agreement (Source: Space Florida)
Space Florida has signed an Educational Joint Partnership Agreement with NASA to combine their efforts to achieve each entity’s educational initiatives to inspire, engage, educate, and employ the next-generation technical workforce. The agreement will enhance NASA's access to Florida resources when selecting candidates for their education, internship and research programs. Space Florida’s experience in promoting math and science education will also help NASA recruit Florida’s most promising students and prepare Florida’s aerospace workforce of tomorrow.
Sharper Image Hopes ZERO-G Flights Will Stop Falling Sales (Source: San Francisco Business Times)
Shaper Image will start selling ZERO-G aircraft flights with periods of weightlessness for $3,500 per person plus tax. Flights of this type have long been used to train astronauts for work in orbit. Steven Lightman, president and CEO of Sharper Image, said the offering is in line with the company's tradition of selling cutting-edge products. Customers who pay for the flight on a Boeing 727-200 will get several periods of what the company called "various degrees of gravity." Upon landing, customers are offered champagne for toasts and get to keep their flight suits and a DVD of the trip. The price of the flight doesn't include travel to Las Vegas or to Cape Canaveral, where the flights take place.
About the FLORIDA SPACErePORT (Source: ERAU)
The FLORIDA SPACErePORT newsletter is distributed directly to an international audience of over 1,100 space industry leaders from business, government and academia. Re-distribution to additional recipients is encouraged. News items are gathered and posted daily on the FLORIDA SPACErePORT blog at www.spacereport.blogspot.com and then arranged contextually for newsletter distribution on Mondays. The SPACErePORT blog is searchable and includes an archive of all past news items dating back to October 2006. The newsletter began in the early 1990s as a fax publication of the Spaceport Florida Authority, provided as a service of the State of Florida for space industry officials and policy makers in Tallahassee. It is now distributed solely via email and is developed with support from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
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