December 16 News Items

Virginia Technology Alliance Endorses ZeroG, ZeroTax Bill (Source: Spaceports Blog)
With the leadership of the Southwestern Virginia Technology Council, the Virginia Technology Alliance will offer legislative support to the 'ZeroG, ZeroTax' proposal. The state legislation would exempt state taxation on gross income earned from commercial spaceflight launches from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport and income gained from spaceflight training activies from a Virginia airport or spaceport. Upon initial introduction of the 'ZeroG, ZeroTax' bill, the Speaker of the House, William Howell, is expected to refer the bill to the House Finance Committee for a hearing and an initial committee vote in late January 2008. Virginia-based Space Adventures, Transformational Space, and Orbital Sciences Corporation may well be keeping an eye on the progress of this measure in the New Year. Perhaps the federal government should too! Click here for an analysis of the legislation.

Com Dev Forecasts 10-15 Percent Growth in 2008 (Source: Space News)
Satellite-component builder Com Dev International of Canada said a booming commercial-satellite market and a new U.S. business giving it access to U.S. military satellite work will boost the company's revenue by 10-15 percent in 2008 despite the Canadian dollar's strength against the U.S. dollar.

Boeing Eyes $17 Billion in U.S. Government Satellite Contracts (Source: Space News)
Boeing is seeking to position itself for a period that promises an unprecedented volume of U.S. government satellite contracts, company officials said during a Dec. 11 conference call with journalists in which they discussed work on GPS navigation satellites, the Wideband Global Satellite telecommunications system and its bid for the Transformational Satellite (TSat) contract. Officials from Boeing said they had learned the hard lessons from contract glitches that have resulted in cost overruns and delivery delays on their programs in recent years. They estimate that between now and the end of 2008, satellite contracts valued at between $15 billion and $17 billion will be up for competition.

GOES-12 Satellite Set to Resume Duty (Source: Space News)
The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-12 (GOES-12) returned to its normal on-orbit operating mode Dec. 7 after engineers resolved a glitch that had taken it out of action.

SAAB AB Hopes to Sell Space Division by April (Source: Space News)
Swedish space-hardware builder Saab Space is for sale by its owner, Saab AB, which is seeking what it says is a deal "at the right price, to the right buyer" that would conclude before April, Saab AB announced Dec. 11. Saab Space is Sweden's largest space contractor, specializing in satellite payload electronics and in systems used to release satellites from launch vehicles. The company, which has about 510 employees, reported sales of 702 million Swedish krona ($109 million) in 2006. The company added 895 million krona in new orders in 2006.

Out of This World Ride (Source: New York Daily News)
The first thing you notice entering the Shuttle Launch Experience at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex is the noise - and the rumble under your feet. Walking up the industrial steel gangway, visitors are met by the voices of astronauts talking about their actual shuttle experiences - the fear, the joy and the emotions they felt while buckled in and waiting for their shuttle missions to take off. The testimonials are just part of the Space Center's recently opened $60 million Shuttle Launch Experience, which simulates all the sensations of an actual shuttle ride. Space Center operators relied heavily on input from astronauts to make the experience as realistic as possible. The images, the rumbling and the noise help to build excitement - or fear - as you wait to enter the simulator.

ULA Considered for Launching Space Station (Source: Decatur Daily)
While Spacehab and others duke it out for a piece of the NASA pie, others are taking a different route. The common denominators: ULA and Decatur. The most innovative approach comes from Nevada-based Bigelow Aerospace LLC. By 2010, the company expects to have a privately funded, crew-capable space station orbiting the Earth. The company already has two demonstration models — the Genesis I and Genesis II — in orbit. In two years, the company hopes to launch Sundancer, without a crew. After that, it plans to launch two BA-330s, capsules that will attach to either side of Sundancer. Together, the three craft will be a human-rated space complex.

“There’s a misconception that we’re building a space hotel,” Reed said. “That’s not what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to build a commercial space environment for any commercial use, by whatever client wants to lease the space.” That might include use for scientific experiments, Reed said. Or it might — protestations notwithstanding — be for use as a space hotel for tourists. Reed said Bigelow is taking care to make sure any launch vehicle can dock to the Sundancer, but ULA has an edge — both for transport and to get the Sundancer into orbit.

Don’t Call the Aliens, They Might Not be Friendly (Source: Times Online)
For decades it has been a staple of science fiction - somewhere out in the galaxy, a highly developed alien race picks up a radio signal from Earth, and decides to eat us for lunch. In a world plagued by war, hunger and disease, a possible attack by little green men may not rank high among most nations’ concerns. Yet for a small group of scientists who are harnessing increasingly powerful technologies in a trans-galactic search for signs of extraterrestrial intelligence, the prospect of catastrophe has stirred an angry debate.

Two senior scientists have resigned from an elite international study group in protest over a lack of public discussion about the possible consequences of attracting the attention of aliens by sending signals deep into space. “We’re talking about initiating communication with other civilizations, but we know nothing of their goals, capabilities or intent,” warned John Billingham, a former NASA scientist who has quit an extraterrestrial study group set up by the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA).

University Leads in Tuscon-area NASA Deals (Source: Arizona Daily Star)
When the University of Arizona failed to land a $36.8 million NASA contract last week, it was a rare loss in the UA's long history of bringing space dollars to Tucson. The university is the dominant force among the local organizations bringing NASA contracts to Tucson. Educational institutions, led by the UA, have consistently pulled in three to four times the NASA funds that local businesses have. The fight for NASA contracts is "incredibly competitive," said Taber MacCallum, CEO of Paragon Space Development Corp. The UA has proved itself well-equipped to beat the competition, receiving $11.6 million from more than 100 NASA contracts this fiscal year alone.

Feeney: Nation Can't Sit By and Watch China Beat U.S. Back to the Moon (Source: Florida Today
Previously, mastery of the sea and air brought global power and prestige. Today, such respect accrues to those mastering space. America is the world's premier spacefaring nation with dominance in the military, political, technological and economic spheres. Space provides communications, navigation, and intelligence gathering tools that permit military force projection over great distances with accuracy and speed. NASA's human exploration and satellite programs publicly demonstrate America's spacefaring prowess while increasing scientific knowledge and technological advances. Space preeminence stems from the interrelationship among military, civil, and commercial space endeavors. Each adds to the other. Leadership must be maintained in each activity. Strength in only one does not create preeminence.

China now strives for a vigorous space presence. China's leaders understand that if American space-based resources are crippled, we cannot project military power into Southeast Asia in response to Chinese moves such as the 1995-96 Taiwan Straits challenge. Accordingly, China developed anti-satellite capabilities. Earlier this year, China shot down one of its obsolete satellites. Previously, it engaged in laser dazzling (blinding) an American intelligence satellite. These advanced capabilities for space warfare have been rapidly developed. Should conflict occur, Chinese military doctrine anticipates space assets becoming fair game.

China continues developing its human spaceflight program, which I personally witnessed while visiting the Jiuquan Launch Center in January 2006. By 2014, China could send humans to orbit the moon -- similar to Apollo 8's mission in 1968 -- while America's human spaceflight program is temporarily grounded due to the shuttle's retirement. Visit http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071216/COLUMNISTS0205/712160316/1138/opinion to view the editorial by Rep. Tom Feeney.

Air Force Studies Lag in Launch Approvals (Source: Florida Today)
As the government and private industry look to lure new space business to offset the loss of space shuttle jobs, critics say the time and frustration companies face in getting Air Force approval to launch from Cape Canaveral is a competitive disadvantage. To date, the average time it takes a company to get a new rocket or commercial launch venture approved to blast off from Cape Canaveral is more than three years. Now, the Air Force is in the midst of a far-reaching reorganization that could trim one or two years -- and a lot of frustration -- from the approval process. The changes under consideration are part of a national effort called AFSO 21, which is short for Air Force Smart Operations.

Brig. Gen. Susan Helms, a former astronaut who now commands the 45th Space Wing, said the reorganization effort's over-reaching goal is to make the service more efficient in an era when the war on terrorism requires more people and more money being devoted to conflicts overseas. The Air Force needs to find ways to operate more efficiently, so that the smaller forces can accomplish their most important missions and spend less taxpayer money doing it. "If the customer is ready to launch in two years, my goal is to be ready to support that," Helms said. Visit http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071216/NEWS02/712160342 to view the article.