Space Florida Approves Workforce, Diversification Projects (Source: ERAU)
The Space Florida Board of Directors, during their public meeting in Jacksonville on Tuesday, approved the allocation of $250K from their budget to expand an ongoing scoping initiative by the Brevard Workforce Development Board (BWDB) in advance of the Space Shuttle's retirement in 2010. The board's endorsement of a statewide $18M workforce-focused request will be considered after near-term discussions with the state's workforce agency. The board endorsed a $20M Space Technology Research Diversification (STRD) initiative that will expand multi-university involvement in strategic space R&D focus areas. Also endorsed was a launch liability legislative initiative and the expansion of an existing financial incentive program to include space-related business. These items will be considered by Governor Charlie Crist and the Florida Legislature during the 2008 Legislative Session.
Embry-Riddle and Zero-G Collaborate on Weightless Flights (Source: ERAU)
Embry-Riddle and Zero-G will work together to integrate weightless flights and space science workshops for K-12 teachers, develop experiment programs for high school and college students, and expand microgravity, lunar gravity, and Mars gravity research opportunities aboard Zero-G's G-Force One aircraft. The collaboration will include Embry-Riddle's support for development of the Stephen Hawking Microgravity Education and Research Center. The Hawking Center is an initiative of Space Florida, conceived after the renowned astrophysicist flew aboard G-Force One earlier this year. Embry-Riddle's student researchers are frequent flyers on NASA's microgravity educational flights, making the university well qualified to work with Zero-G and Space Florida to develop Hawking Center research projects.
Embry-Riddle Agreement with SpaceTEC Supports Shuttle Workforce Transition (Source: ERAU)
As NASA's Space Shuttle program moves toward its last mission in 2010, an agreement between Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and SpaceTEC will provide new education and training opportunities for workers who may be displaced during the space agency's transition to the new Ares family of launch vehicles. Under the new agreement, Embry-Riddle will provide up to 24 hours of college credit for workers who obtain a SpaceTEC core certification, giving them a head-start toward an undergraduate degree or other Embry-Riddle aviation/aerospace training.
The SpaceTEC certification is designed for the aerospace technical workforce and is similar in scope to the FAA's Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) certification, which is required of workers who maintain and repair commercial aircraft systems. Technical workers who pass the SpaceTEC core certification exam will be eligible for the Embry-Riddle credits, regardless of their prior enrollment in a college or university.
Headquartered at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport and hosted by Brevard Community College, SpaceTEC is an aerospace technical training and certification center sponsored by the National Science Foundation, with support from the Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. Air Force. Embry-Riddle is one of 11 postsecondary institutions, and the only four-year university, partnered with SpaceTEC.
October 31 News Items
Workers' Comp Success Story for Florida Aerospace (Source: Florida Senate)
Legislation passed by the Florida Legislature has succeeded in reducing statewide costs for Workers' Compensation premiums. Just this week, the state's Office of Insurance Regulation approved another 18.4 percent decrease in the statewide Workers' Compensation Insurance rate level. Over the four years since the bill passed, and there have been about $2.8 billion in premiums freed up for other uses. Workers' Compensation rates had previously been among the concerns raised by the aerospace industry in Florida and other states.
SPACErePORT Poll Online (Source: ERAU)
Cast your vote for the presidential candidate who will best support space issues. Visit http://www.spacereport.blogspot.com.
Satellite Service Providers See Soaring Q3 Profits (Source: Ottawa Citizen)
Satellite companies EMS Technologies and Telesat Canada said sales and profits soared in the third quarter compared to a year earlier. Profits at the EMS Satcom division in Ottawa rose almost three-fold to $3.5 million in the quarter. Combined sales of the company rose 13 percent to $73.1 million and operating profits surged 93 per cent to $5.2 million. Telesat Canada said sales rose 15 percent to $16.9 million in the third quarter on strong demand from Latin American phone companies, U.S. direct-to-home satellite services and business clients. Profits surged $6.6 million or 34 percent compared to a year earlier.
NASA Langley to Prepare for Life on the Moon (Source: DailyPress.com)
If NASA Administrator Michael Griffin's vision to "build towns on the moon" is fulfilled, the structures in a lunar village will likely have been designed at Langley Research Center in Hampton. NASA headquarters on Tuesday laid out new space exploration work for its 10 research centers around the country. And one of Langley's assignments is to develop a habitat capable of sheltering astronauts for extended stays on the lunar surface. NASA's outline of new projects both solidifies the agency's intent to follow through on manned missions to the moon and Mars in the next decades and clarifies what role Langley will play.
NASA Hatches Daunting Solar Wing Repair Plan (Source: Florida Today)
In what will be an unprecedented orbital fix-it attempt, a spacewalking astronaut will try to save a damaged International Space Station solar wing this week by mending a torn blanket while anchored to a makeshift scaffold. Discovery mission specialist Scott Parazynski will attempt to stitch up a ripped and rippled section with a series of up to seven straps -- restoring full structural integrity to the solar wing while preventing further damage. Made of lengthy wires with tabs attached either end, the straps will be strung through existing, reinforced holes that are spaced evenly across the 15-foot width of the blanket. The holes were designed for lengthy pins that secured folded up blanket panels in the rectangular boxes they were launched in.
China Developing New Heavy-Duty Carrier Rockets (Source: Xinhua)
China is building a new range of carrier rockets designed to send heavyweight satellites into space, boosting the current carrying capacity by nearly three times. The Long March 5 rockets will be able to carry payloads of up to 25 tons for low earth orbit satellites, up from the current limit of 9.2 tons. In addition to bigger capacity, the Long March 5 rockets will be designed using pollution-free technologies.
Texas Firm to Help Design Spaceport (Source: MySA.com)
San Antonio-based Exploration Architecture Corp. is part of a team that won the design contract for a new spaceport planned for New Mexico. The terminal and hangar facility are projected to cost $31 million and are a project of the New Mexico Spaceport Authority. Leading the project are URS Corp. of the United States and Foster + Partners of Great Britain.
Cape Conference Aims to Attract Space Industry (Source: Florida Today)
About 100 members of the commercial space industry will attend a conference Thursday sponsored by Space Florida. They range from investors to members of the government who are trying to encourage private groups to build rockets. "I think we're getting some serious people here," said Space Florida President Steve Kohler, who helped bring 33,000 jobs to Pennsylvania through a program of government incentives. "It's an indication to the rest of the marketplace that Florida can be serious," Kohler said. The conference will bring several experts to speak.
Brig. Gen. Susan Helms, commander of the 45th Space Wing, will deliver the keynote address. A veteran of five space flights, Helms has logged 211 days in space, including a spacewalk of eight hours and 56 minutes, a world record. Kennedy Space Center Director William Parsons will deliver a welcome message. Group sessions include panel discussions of facilities and the workforce, regulatory perspectives and the commercial possibilities in the space industry. Presenters include Elon Musk, Space Exploration Technologies; Michael Gold, corporate counsel, Bigelow Aerospace; Jeff Greason, XCOR Aerospace; and Dr. Peter Diamandis, chief executive officer of Zero G and founder of the X Prize Foundation.
KSC Keeps Launch Role, But Jobs in Doubt (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
KSC appears almost certain to face job cuts next decade but will hang on to its role as NASA's launchpad and take on the task of assembling the lunar lander under a broad strategy the space agency outlined Tuesday. As space shuttle Discovery orbited the Earth, thousands of KSC workers who helped put it there learned what role the agency plans for the spaceport after the shuttle program is mothballed. Each of NASA's 10 centers would get a piece of its fledgling Constellation program, which aims to develop new rockets and spacecraft to return astronauts to the moon by 2020. But the agency would not provide exact figures on the number of jobs each assignment will carry.
For years, KSC workers have worried whether there will be enough work for them under Constellation. Tuesday's announcement brought a mixed reaction. The center's new role, which will include researching ways astronauts can harvest moon resources, likely won't be enough to offset as many as 5,000 lost jobs expected at KSC when NASA retires the shuttle. "There's nothing in here on the scale of work for the shuttle crew," said Doug Campbell, space adviser for U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla. "I still think we have a real workforce challenge at Kennedy Space Center." NASA wants to use Constellation to reduce operating costs by 60 percent from the shuttle program. As part of those cuts, NASA also wants to make launches easier -- which means reducing parts and the personnel needed to maintain them.
Legislation passed by the Florida Legislature has succeeded in reducing statewide costs for Workers' Compensation premiums. Just this week, the state's Office of Insurance Regulation approved another 18.4 percent decrease in the statewide Workers' Compensation Insurance rate level. Over the four years since the bill passed, and there have been about $2.8 billion in premiums freed up for other uses. Workers' Compensation rates had previously been among the concerns raised by the aerospace industry in Florida and other states.
SPACErePORT Poll Online (Source: ERAU)
Cast your vote for the presidential candidate who will best support space issues. Visit http://www.spacereport.blogspot.com.
Satellite Service Providers See Soaring Q3 Profits (Source: Ottawa Citizen)
Satellite companies EMS Technologies and Telesat Canada said sales and profits soared in the third quarter compared to a year earlier. Profits at the EMS Satcom division in Ottawa rose almost three-fold to $3.5 million in the quarter. Combined sales of the company rose 13 percent to $73.1 million and operating profits surged 93 per cent to $5.2 million. Telesat Canada said sales rose 15 percent to $16.9 million in the third quarter on strong demand from Latin American phone companies, U.S. direct-to-home satellite services and business clients. Profits surged $6.6 million or 34 percent compared to a year earlier.
NASA Langley to Prepare for Life on the Moon (Source: DailyPress.com)
If NASA Administrator Michael Griffin's vision to "build towns on the moon" is fulfilled, the structures in a lunar village will likely have been designed at Langley Research Center in Hampton. NASA headquarters on Tuesday laid out new space exploration work for its 10 research centers around the country. And one of Langley's assignments is to develop a habitat capable of sheltering astronauts for extended stays on the lunar surface. NASA's outline of new projects both solidifies the agency's intent to follow through on manned missions to the moon and Mars in the next decades and clarifies what role Langley will play.
NASA Hatches Daunting Solar Wing Repair Plan (Source: Florida Today)
In what will be an unprecedented orbital fix-it attempt, a spacewalking astronaut will try to save a damaged International Space Station solar wing this week by mending a torn blanket while anchored to a makeshift scaffold. Discovery mission specialist Scott Parazynski will attempt to stitch up a ripped and rippled section with a series of up to seven straps -- restoring full structural integrity to the solar wing while preventing further damage. Made of lengthy wires with tabs attached either end, the straps will be strung through existing, reinforced holes that are spaced evenly across the 15-foot width of the blanket. The holes were designed for lengthy pins that secured folded up blanket panels in the rectangular boxes they were launched in.
China Developing New Heavy-Duty Carrier Rockets (Source: Xinhua)
China is building a new range of carrier rockets designed to send heavyweight satellites into space, boosting the current carrying capacity by nearly three times. The Long March 5 rockets will be able to carry payloads of up to 25 tons for low earth orbit satellites, up from the current limit of 9.2 tons. In addition to bigger capacity, the Long March 5 rockets will be designed using pollution-free technologies.
Texas Firm to Help Design Spaceport (Source: MySA.com)
San Antonio-based Exploration Architecture Corp. is part of a team that won the design contract for a new spaceport planned for New Mexico. The terminal and hangar facility are projected to cost $31 million and are a project of the New Mexico Spaceport Authority. Leading the project are URS Corp. of the United States and Foster + Partners of Great Britain.
Cape Conference Aims to Attract Space Industry (Source: Florida Today)
About 100 members of the commercial space industry will attend a conference Thursday sponsored by Space Florida. They range from investors to members of the government who are trying to encourage private groups to build rockets. "I think we're getting some serious people here," said Space Florida President Steve Kohler, who helped bring 33,000 jobs to Pennsylvania through a program of government incentives. "It's an indication to the rest of the marketplace that Florida can be serious," Kohler said. The conference will bring several experts to speak.
Brig. Gen. Susan Helms, commander of the 45th Space Wing, will deliver the keynote address. A veteran of five space flights, Helms has logged 211 days in space, including a spacewalk of eight hours and 56 minutes, a world record. Kennedy Space Center Director William Parsons will deliver a welcome message. Group sessions include panel discussions of facilities and the workforce, regulatory perspectives and the commercial possibilities in the space industry. Presenters include Elon Musk, Space Exploration Technologies; Michael Gold, corporate counsel, Bigelow Aerospace; Jeff Greason, XCOR Aerospace; and Dr. Peter Diamandis, chief executive officer of Zero G and founder of the X Prize Foundation.
KSC Keeps Launch Role, But Jobs in Doubt (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
KSC appears almost certain to face job cuts next decade but will hang on to its role as NASA's launchpad and take on the task of assembling the lunar lander under a broad strategy the space agency outlined Tuesday. As space shuttle Discovery orbited the Earth, thousands of KSC workers who helped put it there learned what role the agency plans for the spaceport after the shuttle program is mothballed. Each of NASA's 10 centers would get a piece of its fledgling Constellation program, which aims to develop new rockets and spacecraft to return astronauts to the moon by 2020. But the agency would not provide exact figures on the number of jobs each assignment will carry.
For years, KSC workers have worried whether there will be enough work for them under Constellation. Tuesday's announcement brought a mixed reaction. The center's new role, which will include researching ways astronauts can harvest moon resources, likely won't be enough to offset as many as 5,000 lost jobs expected at KSC when NASA retires the shuttle. "There's nothing in here on the scale of work for the shuttle crew," said Doug Campbell, space adviser for U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla. "I still think we have a real workforce challenge at Kennedy Space Center." NASA wants to use Constellation to reduce operating costs by 60 percent from the shuttle program. As part of those cuts, NASA also wants to make launches easier -- which means reducing parts and the personnel needed to maintain them.
October 30 News Items
Solar Panel Ripped on Space Station (Source: AP)
A giant solar wing ripped as it was being unfurled by astronauts aboard the international space station on Tuesday, creating another problem for NASA at the orbiting outpost. The next shuttle flight could be delayed if this latest problem isn't resolved quickly, said NASA's space station program manager. Atlantis is supposed to lift off in early December with a European laboratory. The astronauts immediately halted the wing extension when they spotted the damage. By then, the solar panel was already extended 90 feet of its 115 feet. Space station commander Peggy Whitson said the sun angle prevented her and the others from seeing the 2 1/2-foot tear sooner.
In The Air Or On The Ground, DOT's Peters Favors Tolls Over Taxes (Source: AIA)
Transportation Secretary Mary Peters is on a mission to overhaul how the U.S. pays for its transportation infrastructure. She favors tolls based on use rather than flat fuel taxes, and that philosophy extends from highways on the ground to flight patterns in the air. Editor's Note: Will this include commercial space transportation?
Aviation Week and Embry-Riddle Align to Strengthen Continuing Education (Source: Aviation Week)
Aviation Week, the largest multimedia information and services provider to the global aviation, aerospace and defense industries, has signed an agreement with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University that enables attendees of qualified Aviation Week conferences and forums to earn continuing education credits through Embry-Riddle.
Alliant Techsystems Aims High (Source: Wall Street Journal)
Alliant Techsystems Inc. was for years a staid supplier of rocket motors, content to ride along as aerospace giants like Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp. guided prestigious, multibillion-dollar space projects. But as the U.S. embarks on a new push for manned exploration of space, the midsize company hopes to play a central role in charting the course. Alliant Techsystems beat out its bigger competitors this year to snare high-profile contracts valued at more than $1.8 billion over the next few years -- and probably billions more down the road -- to build big chunks of the proposed rockets planned by NASA for future exploration.
Canine Pioneer: Soviet Mutt Was First Earthling in Space (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
Paris (AFP) Oct 30, 2007 - Fifty years ago Saturday, a perky-eared mutt named Laika, scooped up from the streets of Moscow, became the first earthling to breach our planet's atmosphere and enter space. It was a short and painful voyage for the docile little stray, which died within hours after launch, but a crowning coup for the Soviet Union.
South Korean Rocket to Make First Launch in 2008 (Source: RIA Novosti)
The first launch of a South Korean rocket from the Naro space center, 450 km south of Seoul, built with Russia's participation is set to go ahead in 2008, the Russian Space Agency said. Russian and South Korean space companies are also developing a Korean launch vehicle. In addition, the two countries are also involved in manned space flight cooperation. A contract was signed in December 2006 for a Korean astronaut to fly to the International Space Station (ISS) next spring. South Korea has held a national competition to select the first Korean astronaut. Several possible candidates are currently training at the Gagarin center in Russia under a separate contract.
SpaceX Plans Ground Breaking for Cape Canaveral Spaceport Launch Pad (Source: Space Florida)
SpaceX plans to begin its conversion of Launch Complex 40 with a ground breaking ceremony on Nov. 1 at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. The event coincides with a commercial space conference and the World Space Expo at the Cape.
20 Things You Didn't Know About Living In Space (Source: Discover)
1) Nearly every astronaut experiences some space sickness, caused by the wildly confusing information reaching their inner ears. In addition to nausea, symptoms include headaches and trouble locating your own limbs; 2) And those are the least of your worries. In weightlessness, fluids shift upward, causing nasal congestion and a puffy face; bones lose calcium, forming kidney stones; and muscles atrophy, slowing the bowels and shrinking the heart; 3) At least you’ll be tall: The decreased pressure on the spine in zero-g causes most space travelers to grow about two inches. Click here to view the article.
Lunar Lander to be Assembled at Cape Canaveral Spaceport (Source: Florida Today)
The next lunar lander will be assembled at Kennedy Space Center, helping alleviate possible job losses after the shuttle program ends in 2010. Funding for the Constellation program, however, won't reach NASA's ten centers until 2011, so NASA officials still worry about losing key personnel. The Tuesday announcement was clearly good news for KSC, said U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, a veteran of a 1986 shuttle flight and a long-time proponent of human and unmanned space exploration.
KSC Wins Lunar Work (Source: Florida Today)
According to NASA, new Constellation work for KSC will include: Support lunar architecture work for Constellation Program system engineer; Ground operations and assembly for Orion Block 1 and Ares I low Earth orbit operations phase; Ares V ground processing, launch operations and recovery support during design, development, test and engineering; Final assembly of and ground processing support for human lunar lander; Lunar surface habitat management and integration; Lead for lunar surface in-situ resource utilization systems; Support surface systems logistics concepts.
85,000 Attend X Prize/Air Force Event in New Mexico (Source: Alamagordo News)
Officials estimated 85,000 guests attended events showcasing the 60th anniversary of the U.S. Air Force and commemorating 50 years of space flight. The Air and Space Expo kicked off Friday with an Education Day offering students from southern New Mexico a chance to run experiments, participate in science competitions, listen to NASA astronauts talk about their experiences and meet with airmen who described their roles when deployed to places like Iraq and Afghanistan.
Japan's Lunar Exploration Mission Lacks Perspective (Source: Daily Yomiuri)
The launch of Japan's lunar orbit explorer Kaguya in September was quickly followed by a Chinese lunar orbiter the following month, exemplifying the fact that exploring the moon is at the forefront of space development. Under such circumstances, the Space Activities Commission (SAC) of the Education, Science and Technology Ministry compiled a draft strategy for lunar exploration Friday. Japan had no concrete space exploration strategy in place to follow the launch of Kaguya--also known as Selene--until a working group of the Space Activities Commission drafted the so-called strategy Friday.
The draft contains a plan to land an unmanned probe on the moon and is set roughly for sometime before the middle of the 2010s. As regards plans after this, the draft only says that Japan will "seek to establish a lunar exploration vision after following developments in other countries." The draft is not fully deserving of being called a strategy as it lacks a firm vision. One key element in the draft was was the consideration of landing Japanese astronauts on the moon. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency has put forth a policy to "ask the United States to take Japanese astronauts to the moon." In the process of discussing the draft, JAXA called for an early decision on whether to have Japanese astronauts take part in the U.S. manned lunar exploration program.
Sirius Satellite Radio Narrows 3Q Loss (Source: AP)
Sirius Satellite Radio narrowed its loss in the third quarter as it continued to add subscribers and said it still hopes to close its deal to combine with XM Satellite Radio by the end of the year. The New York-based company lost $120.1 million in the three months ended Sep. 30, compared with a loss of $162.9 million in the same period a year ago. Revenues rose 45 percent to $241.8 million from $167 million a year ago, slightly short of analysts' estimates of $244.3 million.
Harris Appeal of Terminal Contract Denied (Source: Space News)
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has denied Harris Corp.'s protest of a billion-dollar U.S. Navy satellite communications terminal contract that went to Raytheon earlier this year.
SES to Order More Satellites Amid Soaring Projections (Source: Space News)
Satellite-fleet operator SES expects its global business to grow by more than 6 percent per year on average between 2008 and 2010 with continued high gross profit margins in its core satellite-lease business, the Luxembourg-based company said Oct. 29.
NASA: Cloudsat Was Moved to Avoid Iranian Satellite (Source: Space News)
NASA reports that less than two weeks after maneuvering its Terra Earth-observing satellite to avoid a possible collision with debris created by China's anti-satellite weapon test, the U.S. space agency had to move its Cloudsat out of the way of an Iranian satellite.
NASA to Establish Nationwide Lunar Science Institute (Source: NASA)
NASA has announced its intent to establish a new lunar science institute. This effort, with dispersed teams across the nation, will help lead the agency's research activities for future lunar science missions related to NASA's exploration goals. Named the NASA Lunar Science Institute (NLSI), the effort will be managed from NASA's Ames Research Center. Ames currently manages a similar distributed NASA Astrobiology Institute.
A giant solar wing ripped as it was being unfurled by astronauts aboard the international space station on Tuesday, creating another problem for NASA at the orbiting outpost. The next shuttle flight could be delayed if this latest problem isn't resolved quickly, said NASA's space station program manager. Atlantis is supposed to lift off in early December with a European laboratory. The astronauts immediately halted the wing extension when they spotted the damage. By then, the solar panel was already extended 90 feet of its 115 feet. Space station commander Peggy Whitson said the sun angle prevented her and the others from seeing the 2 1/2-foot tear sooner.
In The Air Or On The Ground, DOT's Peters Favors Tolls Over Taxes (Source: AIA)
Transportation Secretary Mary Peters is on a mission to overhaul how the U.S. pays for its transportation infrastructure. She favors tolls based on use rather than flat fuel taxes, and that philosophy extends from highways on the ground to flight patterns in the air. Editor's Note: Will this include commercial space transportation?
Aviation Week and Embry-Riddle Align to Strengthen Continuing Education (Source: Aviation Week)
Aviation Week, the largest multimedia information and services provider to the global aviation, aerospace and defense industries, has signed an agreement with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University that enables attendees of qualified Aviation Week conferences and forums to earn continuing education credits through Embry-Riddle.
Alliant Techsystems Aims High (Source: Wall Street Journal)
Alliant Techsystems Inc. was for years a staid supplier of rocket motors, content to ride along as aerospace giants like Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp. guided prestigious, multibillion-dollar space projects. But as the U.S. embarks on a new push for manned exploration of space, the midsize company hopes to play a central role in charting the course. Alliant Techsystems beat out its bigger competitors this year to snare high-profile contracts valued at more than $1.8 billion over the next few years -- and probably billions more down the road -- to build big chunks of the proposed rockets planned by NASA for future exploration.
Canine Pioneer: Soviet Mutt Was First Earthling in Space (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
Paris (AFP) Oct 30, 2007 - Fifty years ago Saturday, a perky-eared mutt named Laika, scooped up from the streets of Moscow, became the first earthling to breach our planet's atmosphere and enter space. It was a short and painful voyage for the docile little stray, which died within hours after launch, but a crowning coup for the Soviet Union.
South Korean Rocket to Make First Launch in 2008 (Source: RIA Novosti)
The first launch of a South Korean rocket from the Naro space center, 450 km south of Seoul, built with Russia's participation is set to go ahead in 2008, the Russian Space Agency said. Russian and South Korean space companies are also developing a Korean launch vehicle. In addition, the two countries are also involved in manned space flight cooperation. A contract was signed in December 2006 for a Korean astronaut to fly to the International Space Station (ISS) next spring. South Korea has held a national competition to select the first Korean astronaut. Several possible candidates are currently training at the Gagarin center in Russia under a separate contract.
SpaceX Plans Ground Breaking for Cape Canaveral Spaceport Launch Pad (Source: Space Florida)
SpaceX plans to begin its conversion of Launch Complex 40 with a ground breaking ceremony on Nov. 1 at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. The event coincides with a commercial space conference and the World Space Expo at the Cape.
20 Things You Didn't Know About Living In Space (Source: Discover)
1) Nearly every astronaut experiences some space sickness, caused by the wildly confusing information reaching their inner ears. In addition to nausea, symptoms include headaches and trouble locating your own limbs; 2) And those are the least of your worries. In weightlessness, fluids shift upward, causing nasal congestion and a puffy face; bones lose calcium, forming kidney stones; and muscles atrophy, slowing the bowels and shrinking the heart; 3) At least you’ll be tall: The decreased pressure on the spine in zero-g causes most space travelers to grow about two inches. Click here to view the article.
Lunar Lander to be Assembled at Cape Canaveral Spaceport (Source: Florida Today)
The next lunar lander will be assembled at Kennedy Space Center, helping alleviate possible job losses after the shuttle program ends in 2010. Funding for the Constellation program, however, won't reach NASA's ten centers until 2011, so NASA officials still worry about losing key personnel. The Tuesday announcement was clearly good news for KSC, said U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, a veteran of a 1986 shuttle flight and a long-time proponent of human and unmanned space exploration.
KSC Wins Lunar Work (Source: Florida Today)
According to NASA, new Constellation work for KSC will include: Support lunar architecture work for Constellation Program system engineer; Ground operations and assembly for Orion Block 1 and Ares I low Earth orbit operations phase; Ares V ground processing, launch operations and recovery support during design, development, test and engineering; Final assembly of and ground processing support for human lunar lander; Lunar surface habitat management and integration; Lead for lunar surface in-situ resource utilization systems; Support surface systems logistics concepts.
85,000 Attend X Prize/Air Force Event in New Mexico (Source: Alamagordo News)
Officials estimated 85,000 guests attended events showcasing the 60th anniversary of the U.S. Air Force and commemorating 50 years of space flight. The Air and Space Expo kicked off Friday with an Education Day offering students from southern New Mexico a chance to run experiments, participate in science competitions, listen to NASA astronauts talk about their experiences and meet with airmen who described their roles when deployed to places like Iraq and Afghanistan.
Japan's Lunar Exploration Mission Lacks Perspective (Source: Daily Yomiuri)
The launch of Japan's lunar orbit explorer Kaguya in September was quickly followed by a Chinese lunar orbiter the following month, exemplifying the fact that exploring the moon is at the forefront of space development. Under such circumstances, the Space Activities Commission (SAC) of the Education, Science and Technology Ministry compiled a draft strategy for lunar exploration Friday. Japan had no concrete space exploration strategy in place to follow the launch of Kaguya--also known as Selene--until a working group of the Space Activities Commission drafted the so-called strategy Friday.
The draft contains a plan to land an unmanned probe on the moon and is set roughly for sometime before the middle of the 2010s. As regards plans after this, the draft only says that Japan will "seek to establish a lunar exploration vision after following developments in other countries." The draft is not fully deserving of being called a strategy as it lacks a firm vision. One key element in the draft was was the consideration of landing Japanese astronauts on the moon. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency has put forth a policy to "ask the United States to take Japanese astronauts to the moon." In the process of discussing the draft, JAXA called for an early decision on whether to have Japanese astronauts take part in the U.S. manned lunar exploration program.
Sirius Satellite Radio Narrows 3Q Loss (Source: AP)
Sirius Satellite Radio narrowed its loss in the third quarter as it continued to add subscribers and said it still hopes to close its deal to combine with XM Satellite Radio by the end of the year. The New York-based company lost $120.1 million in the three months ended Sep. 30, compared with a loss of $162.9 million in the same period a year ago. Revenues rose 45 percent to $241.8 million from $167 million a year ago, slightly short of analysts' estimates of $244.3 million.
Harris Appeal of Terminal Contract Denied (Source: Space News)
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has denied Harris Corp.'s protest of a billion-dollar U.S. Navy satellite communications terminal contract that went to Raytheon earlier this year.
SES to Order More Satellites Amid Soaring Projections (Source: Space News)
Satellite-fleet operator SES expects its global business to grow by more than 6 percent per year on average between 2008 and 2010 with continued high gross profit margins in its core satellite-lease business, the Luxembourg-based company said Oct. 29.
NASA: Cloudsat Was Moved to Avoid Iranian Satellite (Source: Space News)
NASA reports that less than two weeks after maneuvering its Terra Earth-observing satellite to avoid a possible collision with debris created by China's anti-satellite weapon test, the U.S. space agency had to move its Cloudsat out of the way of an Iranian satellite.
NASA to Establish Nationwide Lunar Science Institute (Source: NASA)
NASA has announced its intent to establish a new lunar science institute. This effort, with dispersed teams across the nation, will help lead the agency's research activities for future lunar science missions related to NASA's exploration goals. Named the NASA Lunar Science Institute (NLSI), the effort will be managed from NASA's Ames Research Center. Ames currently manages a similar distributed NASA Astrobiology Institute.
October 29 News Items
OCP Suborbital Space Pilot Trainer/Simulator at World Space Expo (Source: OCP)
Orbital Commerce Project, under an agreement with Spaceport Florida, will bring a suborbital spaceflight trainer/simulator to the World Space Expo at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. OCP’s goal is educating or interesting participants in the sciences involved in the exploration, utilization, and colonization of space. During the Space Expo, OCP will conduct a contest in its simulators to test the skills of future pilots. Winners will have three opportunities to “fly” to the highest maximum altitude they can achieve, on limited fuel, and land safely back at the spaceport within three minutes. The contest is open to students ages 12-21 and/or teachers. Space Florida will award a certificate for one ZERO-G flight opportunity each day during the World Space Expo.
Space Style 2007 (Source: 62 Mile Club)
Interplanetary nightclub gear, rocket crew uniforms, and pulsing electronic music will join the scene at the California Space Authority's annual Transforming Space conference on Nov. 6. "Space fashion" will be one of fastest growing new markets in the fashion industry. "With upcoming space tourist suborbital and orbital flights, hotels in space, and plans to return and settle on the Moon, people will need clothes that are functional and fashionable," said a JPL consultant. Set in a futuristic theme complete with runway walks and fashion tableaus.
Raytheon: Profits Surge on Continued Operations (Source: AIA)
Excluding income drawn from businesses from which Raytheon posted profits in 2006 but no longer owns, the contractor posted a 39% jump in third-quarter earnings over last year. Sales and income in most of the company's segments increased over last year, but overall income fell 7% due to profits recorded last year from the company's aircraft business, which has been sold.
DARPA Readies Demonstration of Radically New In-Space Propulsion (Source: Space News)
Small satellites could soon get a boost from a novel in-space propulsion system under development at DARPA. Called the High Delta-V Experiment, or HiDVE for short, the program aims within the next year or so to complete a ground demonstration of an unconventional propulsion system that uses the heat of the sun to produce enough thrust to push a 10-15 kilogram satellite into a new orbit. If the ground demo goes well, DARPA would look to press on with an in-space demonstration on a dedicated microsatellite.
Report: ITAR Hurting Remote Sensing Industry (Source: Space News)
A newly released report commissioned by the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and National Reconnaissance Office says the current International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) governing satellite technology exports are hurting the global competitiveness of the U.S. satellite remote sensing industry. The regulations restrict the ability of U.S. vendors to sell certain types of satellites and components to foreign countries or companies, and U.S. government business alone is not enough to keep these suppliers "economically healthy," said the report.
Boeing and Lockheed Both Take 3Q Writeoffs on ULA (Source: Space News)
Boeing and Lockheed Martin both reported increased revenue in their space divisions for the nine months ending Sept. 30 compared to 2006, but both also said their earnings were reduced by write-downs of the value of Delta 2 rocket assets held by United Launch Alliance (ULA), which the two companies own jointly. Indications from the U.S. Air Force are that it will discontinue the use of Delta 2 after 2008 in favor of the heavier Delta 4 and Atlas 5 rockets. If that decision holds, an industry source said, it will sharply increase the cost of Delta 2 vehicles, because the cost of manufacturing the vehicle and maintaining two launch sites will be spread over a smaller population of customers.
Bigelow Aerospace to Offer $760 Million for Spaceship (Source: New Scientist)
Bigelow Aerospace intends to spur development of a commercial space vehicle to take people into Earth orbit by offering to sign a contract worth $760 million with any company that can meet their criteria. Bigelow said the offer is meant to head off a crisis over the lack of transportation options available to get people to the large inflatable space stations it plans to launch by early 2010. Bigelow hopes to rent out space on future stations to astronauts of some of the world's space agencies, as well as to companies that wish to carry out research or other activities in space. The company plans to break ground in less than a year on a factory to mass-produce its inflatable space stations, but they are worried that without an affordable commercial crew launch vehicle, none of its potential customers will be able to pay to get to these space stations.
The contract or purchase agreement would be worth $760 million in total for eight launches. To show that Bigelow Aerospace is serious, it will deposit $100 million in an escrow bank account up front if the plan goes forward. The potential offer tops the $500 million NASA has budgeted for its Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) programme, which is part of the agency's own effort to spur development of commercial orbital crew launch capabilities.
Six Thousand People to be Resettled for New Chinese Spaceport (Source: (Xinhua)
More than 6,000 people will be relocated in China's southern island province of Hainan to make way for a new space launch center. Mayor Yan Zheng of Wenchang city, on Hainan's northeastern coast, said at a meeting on land acquisition on Monday that 1,200 hectares would be obtained for the center. The city's Party chief, Xie Mingzhong, promised they would properly handle issues concerning those to be resettled, such as employment, medical care and education. The new launch center is expected to be completed in 2012 and formally put into use in 2013. A space themed park, with a budget of $875 million and occupying an area of 407 hectares, will also be constructed near the launch center. It is envisioned to create jobs for resettlers.
EU Space Research Sees Four-Month Delay Behind Aeronautics (Source: Flight International)
Despite the fact that the European Union's Seventh Framework Program's (FP7) aeronautical studies started in January, FP7-funded space research is not expected to begin until after April 2008, while the start of Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) program-related work will be three months after that. According to the European Commission, the delay between submission and starting research is due to contractual processes between the EU, industrial and academic partners and ESA. The EC says: "Contracts for space research projects are expected to be signed at least six months from now - probably nine months for the large GMES projects." The research is to develop technologies for space transport, in-orbit telescopes, satellite observation, GMES services, biomedicine and the life and physical sciences, and encourage European Space Agency and inter-EU member state national space agency collaboration.
Damaged Component Could Thwart Space Station Plans (Source: USA Today)
Debris has jammed a key part of the International Space Station, which could delay completion of the station and at least temporarily limit scientific research there, NASA managers said Sunday. The crisis so worries space agency officials that they may ask a space shuttle crew visiting the station to skip crucial work to inspect the malfunctioning part. The extra inspection could be conducted Thursday or Friday, according to NASA. The damaged component is a huge wheel with solar panels attached to it. Normally, the wheel spins freely to point the panels at the sun and to protect the panels from buffeting, functions that are "very important to us," deputy station program manager Kirk Shireman said. Starting last month, engineers saw signs that the wheel was being slowed by an unknown source of friction. NASA sent an astronaut to eyeball the wheel during a spacewalk Sunday.
Orbital Commerce Project, under an agreement with Spaceport Florida, will bring a suborbital spaceflight trainer/simulator to the World Space Expo at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. OCP’s goal is educating or interesting participants in the sciences involved in the exploration, utilization, and colonization of space. During the Space Expo, OCP will conduct a contest in its simulators to test the skills of future pilots. Winners will have three opportunities to “fly” to the highest maximum altitude they can achieve, on limited fuel, and land safely back at the spaceport within three minutes. The contest is open to students ages 12-21 and/or teachers. Space Florida will award a certificate for one ZERO-G flight opportunity each day during the World Space Expo.
Space Style 2007 (Source: 62 Mile Club)
Interplanetary nightclub gear, rocket crew uniforms, and pulsing electronic music will join the scene at the California Space Authority's annual Transforming Space conference on Nov. 6. "Space fashion" will be one of fastest growing new markets in the fashion industry. "With upcoming space tourist suborbital and orbital flights, hotels in space, and plans to return and settle on the Moon, people will need clothes that are functional and fashionable," said a JPL consultant. Set in a futuristic theme complete with runway walks and fashion tableaus.
Raytheon: Profits Surge on Continued Operations (Source: AIA)
Excluding income drawn from businesses from which Raytheon posted profits in 2006 but no longer owns, the contractor posted a 39% jump in third-quarter earnings over last year. Sales and income in most of the company's segments increased over last year, but overall income fell 7% due to profits recorded last year from the company's aircraft business, which has been sold.
DARPA Readies Demonstration of Radically New In-Space Propulsion (Source: Space News)
Small satellites could soon get a boost from a novel in-space propulsion system under development at DARPA. Called the High Delta-V Experiment, or HiDVE for short, the program aims within the next year or so to complete a ground demonstration of an unconventional propulsion system that uses the heat of the sun to produce enough thrust to push a 10-15 kilogram satellite into a new orbit. If the ground demo goes well, DARPA would look to press on with an in-space demonstration on a dedicated microsatellite.
Report: ITAR Hurting Remote Sensing Industry (Source: Space News)
A newly released report commissioned by the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and National Reconnaissance Office says the current International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) governing satellite technology exports are hurting the global competitiveness of the U.S. satellite remote sensing industry. The regulations restrict the ability of U.S. vendors to sell certain types of satellites and components to foreign countries or companies, and U.S. government business alone is not enough to keep these suppliers "economically healthy," said the report.
Boeing and Lockheed Both Take 3Q Writeoffs on ULA (Source: Space News)
Boeing and Lockheed Martin both reported increased revenue in their space divisions for the nine months ending Sept. 30 compared to 2006, but both also said their earnings were reduced by write-downs of the value of Delta 2 rocket assets held by United Launch Alliance (ULA), which the two companies own jointly. Indications from the U.S. Air Force are that it will discontinue the use of Delta 2 after 2008 in favor of the heavier Delta 4 and Atlas 5 rockets. If that decision holds, an industry source said, it will sharply increase the cost of Delta 2 vehicles, because the cost of manufacturing the vehicle and maintaining two launch sites will be spread over a smaller population of customers.
Bigelow Aerospace to Offer $760 Million for Spaceship (Source: New Scientist)
Bigelow Aerospace intends to spur development of a commercial space vehicle to take people into Earth orbit by offering to sign a contract worth $760 million with any company that can meet their criteria. Bigelow said the offer is meant to head off a crisis over the lack of transportation options available to get people to the large inflatable space stations it plans to launch by early 2010. Bigelow hopes to rent out space on future stations to astronauts of some of the world's space agencies, as well as to companies that wish to carry out research or other activities in space. The company plans to break ground in less than a year on a factory to mass-produce its inflatable space stations, but they are worried that without an affordable commercial crew launch vehicle, none of its potential customers will be able to pay to get to these space stations.
The contract or purchase agreement would be worth $760 million in total for eight launches. To show that Bigelow Aerospace is serious, it will deposit $100 million in an escrow bank account up front if the plan goes forward. The potential offer tops the $500 million NASA has budgeted for its Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) programme, which is part of the agency's own effort to spur development of commercial orbital crew launch capabilities.
Six Thousand People to be Resettled for New Chinese Spaceport (Source: (Xinhua)
More than 6,000 people will be relocated in China's southern island province of Hainan to make way for a new space launch center. Mayor Yan Zheng of Wenchang city, on Hainan's northeastern coast, said at a meeting on land acquisition on Monday that 1,200 hectares would be obtained for the center. The city's Party chief, Xie Mingzhong, promised they would properly handle issues concerning those to be resettled, such as employment, medical care and education. The new launch center is expected to be completed in 2012 and formally put into use in 2013. A space themed park, with a budget of $875 million and occupying an area of 407 hectares, will also be constructed near the launch center. It is envisioned to create jobs for resettlers.
EU Space Research Sees Four-Month Delay Behind Aeronautics (Source: Flight International)
Despite the fact that the European Union's Seventh Framework Program's (FP7) aeronautical studies started in January, FP7-funded space research is not expected to begin until after April 2008, while the start of Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) program-related work will be three months after that. According to the European Commission, the delay between submission and starting research is due to contractual processes between the EU, industrial and academic partners and ESA. The EC says: "Contracts for space research projects are expected to be signed at least six months from now - probably nine months for the large GMES projects." The research is to develop technologies for space transport, in-orbit telescopes, satellite observation, GMES services, biomedicine and the life and physical sciences, and encourage European Space Agency and inter-EU member state national space agency collaboration.
Damaged Component Could Thwart Space Station Plans (Source: USA Today)
Debris has jammed a key part of the International Space Station, which could delay completion of the station and at least temporarily limit scientific research there, NASA managers said Sunday. The crisis so worries space agency officials that they may ask a space shuttle crew visiting the station to skip crucial work to inspect the malfunctioning part. The extra inspection could be conducted Thursday or Friday, according to NASA. The damaged component is a huge wheel with solar panels attached to it. Normally, the wheel spins freely to point the panels at the sun and to protect the panels from buffeting, functions that are "very important to us," deputy station program manager Kirk Shireman said. Starting last month, engineers saw signs that the wheel was being slowed by an unknown source of friction. NASA sent an astronaut to eyeball the wheel during a spacewalk Sunday.
October 28 News Items
Cliffhanger at New Mexico Rocket Fest (Source: MSNBC)
Armadillo Aerospace demonstrated how alluring rocket science is - and how damnably difficult it can be - on the first day of the X Prize Cup in New Mexico. The alluring part came when the thousands who thronged to the base watched Armadillo's alien-looking "Mod" rocket ship rise into the crisp desert sky on a tongue of flame. The difficulty was brought home when the Mod tumbled to the ground, missing out by just a few seconds on a $350,000 NASA-funded prize in the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge. Until the crash, Mod had hit every mark on the checklist for winning the $350,000 Level 1 prize: It lifted off from its starting pad, rose to at least 50 meters in altitude, eased back down and across to another pad 100 meters away and touched down safely, staying in the air for 90 seconds.
The good news for Armadillo is that the Mod can be overhauled overnight, and that there will be at least two more chances to win NASA's money on Sunday, the second and final day of the X Prize Cup air and rocket expo. Even before Mod's tragic tumble, Armadillo had been struggling with a fuel-line clog - a glitch that bedeviled them in the morning as well as the afternoon. Led by video-game whiz John Carmack, the team tinkered with the fuel system - at one point reportedly using a bent paper clip to clear the blockage. But this year's tumble - like Armadillo's tumble at last year's Lunar Lander Challenge - just goes to show why rocket science is the quintessential difficult thing to do, and why space entrepreneurs are notoriously bad at predicting when their snazzy spaceships will be good to go.
Florida Universities Eye Space Programs (Source: ERAU)
Multiple Florida universities are pursuing the opportunity to win state funding for research “Centers of Excellence”, with about $100 million available overall. At least two space-focused centers will be proposed, with decisions expected in June 2008. Meanwhile, officials developing recommendations for mitigating post-Shuttle economic impacts in Florida are considering a diversification initiative that would include university space research and technology programs.
Ohio State University Gets $20 Million Donation for Space Research (Source: Columbus Dispatch)
Ohio State University received $20 million for space research from a donor who didn't want to be named. The money will let Ohio State hire an expert in space propulsion and power systems and another expert whose work will focus on finding other planets in the galaxy with the potential to support life. The $20 million will be split among Ohio State's College of Engineering and its College of Mathematical and Physical Sciences. It will pay for two faculty members, one for each school, and provide fellowships for students who can assist in their research efforts. OSU's senior vice president for research, said he hopes the money will help attract the nation's best minds in these fields to help plumb the mysteries of the universe from Columbus.
University of Cincinnati Gets $20 Million Donation for Space Research (Source: Cincinnati Enquirer)
The University of Cincinnati is flying high. UC has received a $20 million bequest from an anonymous donor to study space exploration. It's the largest bequest from a single individual in UC history and will establish two endowed chairs plus a Space Exploration Research Fund. Ohio State University announced an identical gift Friday. For the two endowed chairs, UC will consider candidates currently on campus and conduct an international search. Departments ranging from astrophysics to surgery to cosmology could benefit from the gift.
Rocketplane's Design Unveiled (Source: NewsOK.com)
Keeping quiet about what is happening behind the doors at Rocketplane Global has not won the company much public praise — and that's no secret to Rocketplane leaders. "We've been our own worst enemy because we've been quiet,” program manager David Faulkner said. Rocketplane took a step toward openness Friday when the Oklahoma City company revealed the new design of the XP, the spacecraft that is scheduled to take tourists beyond the Earth in 2010. The new airframe is based on Rocketplane's own design, unlike the original, which was a modification of a Learjet.
"We looked at the costs and it was almost as much to modify a Learjet as it was to build a Rocketplane,” Faulkner said. Other changes to the spacecraft are the tail — now a T-tail instead of V-tail — new jet engines and increased capacity. Rocketplane's initial design held four people, including the pilot. The new XP will hold six people. "We needed to increase the capacity so we could better address the market,” Faulkner said. The change in tail design will help reduce weight on the spacecraft, while the new J-85 afterburning engines will increase performance thrust, Faulkner said. "We'll get up to 40,000 feet before the rocket is lit,” he said. "Before, it would get up to 25,000 feet.”
Space Tourism Plan Not in Line for Canadian Cash (Source: Globe & Mail)
Industry Minister Jim Prentice aborted plans yesterday to approve a project to blast tourists into space under Ottawa's regional development program. Mr. Prentice stepped in after The Globe and Mail reported that PlanetSpace was in line for a $45 million share of the regional benefits flowing from a major purchase of military planes from U.S.-based manufacturer Lockheed Martin. Sources said the Lockheed Martin had won initial approvals to spend $45 million over six years on PlanetSpace's project.
"There have been no discussions between Industry Minister Prentice or any member of his staff regarding Lockheed Martin investing $45 million of its own money in the so-called PlanetSpace space-tourism project in Cape Breton. Nor will there be any such discussions," Bill Rodgers, Mr. Prentice's director of communications, said. To get the contract to sell 17 Hercules C130Js to the Canadian Forces, Lockheed Martin has to promise to spend the equivalent of the $3.2 billion purchase price in the form of regional benefits in Canada. "Space tourism does not qualify as an IRB [Industrial Regional Benefit] under the Government of Canada's procurement policies and Minister Prentice has absolutely no intention of changing that. Space tourism will be left to tourists," Mr. Rodgers said.
A spokesman for Lockheed Martin said it is up to Industry Canada to approve the company's regional-benefits plan. The spokesman added that Lockheed Martin will "not have a problem meeting its IRB obligations," under which the company must lock in 60 percent of investments before the contract is signed. Editor's Note: PlanetSpace is one of several companies with current "Space Act" agreements with NASA to potentially provide cargo and crew transport services for the International Space Station. These services would probably not fall under the "space tourism" categorization identified by Mr. Rodgers.
Reports: Japan Plans an Unmanned Moon Landing by 2015 (Source: International Herald Tribune)
Japan plans to follow up its first lunar satellite orbit this month by sending an unmanned probe to land on the moon by 2015. The Space Activities Commission decided Friday to aim to land a SELENE-2 probe on the moon's surface. The landing would be a follow-up to the launch on Sept. 14 of the Selenological and Engineering Explorer — or SELENE — probe for what officials call the largest mission to the moon since the U.S. Apollo project. The 2015 moon probe — expected to cost about 50 billion yen ($437 million) — would consist of an unmanned lander, a rover to study the lunar surface and a small satellite to transfer data.
Neil Armstrong Gets Purdue University Engineering Building (Source: Journal Gazette)
Purdue University has named a new classroom and research building after an ex-student who took more than seven years to graduate. But then Neil Armstrong’s plans always were up in the air. The first person to set foot on Earth’s moon stepped back onto the Purdue campus Friday for dedication ceremonies at the new $53.2 million Neil Armstrong Hall of Engineering. “For me, this is particularly special, on this homecoming with my family here, this gathering of Purdue astronauts … a full moon … everything is in the lineup,” Armstrong told a dinner audience of more than 500 people – including 15 other astronauts who are Purdue alumni. The media-shy Armstrong did not attend the morning ceremony, but a couple hundred students, faculty, alumni and media did.
Space Teachers Wanted (Source: MSNBC)
Space activists took one small step toward bringing more teachers to the final frontier today, by opening up the application process for a privately backed "Teachers in Space" project. Organizers plan to award seats on a suborbital spacecraft to one science/tech teacher and another teacher in any subject area. Speaking amid the buildup to this weekend's X Prize Cup air and rocket expo, project manager Edward Wright noted that schoolteachers were among the first on the frontier during America's infancy. "We believe that teachers have the right stuff for opening the space frontier and playing the same role today," he told reporters at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico. Visit http://www.teachersinspace.org/apply.htm to apply.
Satellites Help Brazil Reduce Amazon Deforestation (Source: INPE)
The Brazilian National Institute for Space Research (INPE) has placed a contract for a third year with DMC International Imaging (DMCii) to acquire high-resolution satellite images of the entire 5 million square kilometres of the Amazon rainforest. Since 2004 INPE’s program to monitor deforestation has dramatically reduced the rate of logging from 27,000 sq.km. per year to about 10,000 sq.km. in 2007. DMC imagery is provided by the five-satellite international Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC). The DMC small satellites, built by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL), use wide area cameras to capture the high-resolution images. The latest satellite, built for China, was launched into the DMC on 27 October 2005. Two new DMC satellites will be launched in 2008 and a third in 2009.
ISU Launches International Institute of Space Commerce in the Isle of Man (Source: ISU)
The International Space University (ISU) has launched the International Institute of Space Commerce (IISC) as the world's leading authority on space commerce. It is located at the International Business School (IBS) in the Isle of Man to capitalize on the island's growing importance as a space industry jurisdiction. "We created the IISC to focus on the business of space, the policy and regulatory issues facing it," said Walter Peeters, dean of International Space University and director of the IISC. By agreement with the ISU, the Isle of Man Government has made a five-year commitment to establish and host the IISC. Both ISU and the IBS are working together to strengthen links between the two institutions with the longer term goal of facilitating both academic and student exchanges to the benefit of both groups.
First Commercial Spacesuit Debuts at X Prize Cup (Source: Space.com)
Being a well-dressed suborbital space traveler translates into style as well as safety. Orbital Outfitters strutted out the world's first commercial spacesuit here at the X Prize Cup festivities – their approach to solving the engineering, safety and marketing appeal of an emergency crew suit. Dubbed the Industrial Suborbital Space Suit-Crew (or IS3C for short), the garment was presented in catwalk-like fashion, a first generation prototype that Orbital Outfitters envision as the new free-fall collection of apparel. The idea is to create a high quality IS3C system for space flight crews. Orbital Outfitters is implementing a leasing arrangement for the suit to help contain up-front costs for customers.
Trouble Found on Space Station Device (Source: AP)
Spacewalking astronauts doing construction work outside the space station Sunday made a disturbing discovery: what appear to be metal shavings inside a joint that is needed to turn a set of solar power panels. The rotary joint, 10 feet in diameter, has experienced intermittent vibrations and power spikes for nearly two months. Space station managers were hoping a thermal cover or bolt might be hanging up the mechanism, which would have been relatively easy to fix, and were disheartened when Daniel Tani radioed down that metal shavings were everywhere. The astronaut used tape to dab up some of the shavings. It will be returned to Earth aboard Discovery next week for analysis. NASA is uncertain whether the flecks are actually metallic, possibly from the aluminum foil lining the thermal covers, or some other material.
OW! for Four: Armadillo Catches Fire (Source: WIRED)
Armadillo's fourth and final shot at winning the $350,000 portion of the $2 million Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge ended Sunday in flames. After a loud explosion, a pool of fire spread approximately 30 feet away from the rocket, according to one photographer. The dwindling crowd gave Armadillo and its team leader, software icon John Carmack, a better-than-tepid round of applause. "Today is officially a bad day," Carmack told an X Prize representative. It looks like the $2 million purse, a portion of which insiders predicted Carmack would be taking home, will carry over until the 2008 X Prize Cup, which may allow more teams to compete.
Armadillo Aerospace demonstrated how alluring rocket science is - and how damnably difficult it can be - on the first day of the X Prize Cup in New Mexico. The alluring part came when the thousands who thronged to the base watched Armadillo's alien-looking "Mod" rocket ship rise into the crisp desert sky on a tongue of flame. The difficulty was brought home when the Mod tumbled to the ground, missing out by just a few seconds on a $350,000 NASA-funded prize in the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge. Until the crash, Mod had hit every mark on the checklist for winning the $350,000 Level 1 prize: It lifted off from its starting pad, rose to at least 50 meters in altitude, eased back down and across to another pad 100 meters away and touched down safely, staying in the air for 90 seconds.
The good news for Armadillo is that the Mod can be overhauled overnight, and that there will be at least two more chances to win NASA's money on Sunday, the second and final day of the X Prize Cup air and rocket expo. Even before Mod's tragic tumble, Armadillo had been struggling with a fuel-line clog - a glitch that bedeviled them in the morning as well as the afternoon. Led by video-game whiz John Carmack, the team tinkered with the fuel system - at one point reportedly using a bent paper clip to clear the blockage. But this year's tumble - like Armadillo's tumble at last year's Lunar Lander Challenge - just goes to show why rocket science is the quintessential difficult thing to do, and why space entrepreneurs are notoriously bad at predicting when their snazzy spaceships will be good to go.
Florida Universities Eye Space Programs (Source: ERAU)
Multiple Florida universities are pursuing the opportunity to win state funding for research “Centers of Excellence”, with about $100 million available overall. At least two space-focused centers will be proposed, with decisions expected in June 2008. Meanwhile, officials developing recommendations for mitigating post-Shuttle economic impacts in Florida are considering a diversification initiative that would include university space research and technology programs.
Ohio State University Gets $20 Million Donation for Space Research (Source: Columbus Dispatch)
Ohio State University received $20 million for space research from a donor who didn't want to be named. The money will let Ohio State hire an expert in space propulsion and power systems and another expert whose work will focus on finding other planets in the galaxy with the potential to support life. The $20 million will be split among Ohio State's College of Engineering and its College of Mathematical and Physical Sciences. It will pay for two faculty members, one for each school, and provide fellowships for students who can assist in their research efforts. OSU's senior vice president for research, said he hopes the money will help attract the nation's best minds in these fields to help plumb the mysteries of the universe from Columbus.
University of Cincinnati Gets $20 Million Donation for Space Research (Source: Cincinnati Enquirer)
The University of Cincinnati is flying high. UC has received a $20 million bequest from an anonymous donor to study space exploration. It's the largest bequest from a single individual in UC history and will establish two endowed chairs plus a Space Exploration Research Fund. Ohio State University announced an identical gift Friday. For the two endowed chairs, UC will consider candidates currently on campus and conduct an international search. Departments ranging from astrophysics to surgery to cosmology could benefit from the gift.
Rocketplane's Design Unveiled (Source: NewsOK.com)
Keeping quiet about what is happening behind the doors at Rocketplane Global has not won the company much public praise — and that's no secret to Rocketplane leaders. "We've been our own worst enemy because we've been quiet,” program manager David Faulkner said. Rocketplane took a step toward openness Friday when the Oklahoma City company revealed the new design of the XP, the spacecraft that is scheduled to take tourists beyond the Earth in 2010. The new airframe is based on Rocketplane's own design, unlike the original, which was a modification of a Learjet.
"We looked at the costs and it was almost as much to modify a Learjet as it was to build a Rocketplane,” Faulkner said. Other changes to the spacecraft are the tail — now a T-tail instead of V-tail — new jet engines and increased capacity. Rocketplane's initial design held four people, including the pilot. The new XP will hold six people. "We needed to increase the capacity so we could better address the market,” Faulkner said. The change in tail design will help reduce weight on the spacecraft, while the new J-85 afterburning engines will increase performance thrust, Faulkner said. "We'll get up to 40,000 feet before the rocket is lit,” he said. "Before, it would get up to 25,000 feet.”
Space Tourism Plan Not in Line for Canadian Cash (Source: Globe & Mail)
Industry Minister Jim Prentice aborted plans yesterday to approve a project to blast tourists into space under Ottawa's regional development program. Mr. Prentice stepped in after The Globe and Mail reported that PlanetSpace was in line for a $45 million share of the regional benefits flowing from a major purchase of military planes from U.S.-based manufacturer Lockheed Martin. Sources said the Lockheed Martin had won initial approvals to spend $45 million over six years on PlanetSpace's project.
"There have been no discussions between Industry Minister Prentice or any member of his staff regarding Lockheed Martin investing $45 million of its own money in the so-called PlanetSpace space-tourism project in Cape Breton. Nor will there be any such discussions," Bill Rodgers, Mr. Prentice's director of communications, said. To get the contract to sell 17 Hercules C130Js to the Canadian Forces, Lockheed Martin has to promise to spend the equivalent of the $3.2 billion purchase price in the form of regional benefits in Canada. "Space tourism does not qualify as an IRB [Industrial Regional Benefit] under the Government of Canada's procurement policies and Minister Prentice has absolutely no intention of changing that. Space tourism will be left to tourists," Mr. Rodgers said.
A spokesman for Lockheed Martin said it is up to Industry Canada to approve the company's regional-benefits plan. The spokesman added that Lockheed Martin will "not have a problem meeting its IRB obligations," under which the company must lock in 60 percent of investments before the contract is signed. Editor's Note: PlanetSpace is one of several companies with current "Space Act" agreements with NASA to potentially provide cargo and crew transport services for the International Space Station. These services would probably not fall under the "space tourism" categorization identified by Mr. Rodgers.
Reports: Japan Plans an Unmanned Moon Landing by 2015 (Source: International Herald Tribune)
Japan plans to follow up its first lunar satellite orbit this month by sending an unmanned probe to land on the moon by 2015. The Space Activities Commission decided Friday to aim to land a SELENE-2 probe on the moon's surface. The landing would be a follow-up to the launch on Sept. 14 of the Selenological and Engineering Explorer — or SELENE — probe for what officials call the largest mission to the moon since the U.S. Apollo project. The 2015 moon probe — expected to cost about 50 billion yen ($437 million) — would consist of an unmanned lander, a rover to study the lunar surface and a small satellite to transfer data.
Neil Armstrong Gets Purdue University Engineering Building (Source: Journal Gazette)
Purdue University has named a new classroom and research building after an ex-student who took more than seven years to graduate. But then Neil Armstrong’s plans always were up in the air. The first person to set foot on Earth’s moon stepped back onto the Purdue campus Friday for dedication ceremonies at the new $53.2 million Neil Armstrong Hall of Engineering. “For me, this is particularly special, on this homecoming with my family here, this gathering of Purdue astronauts … a full moon … everything is in the lineup,” Armstrong told a dinner audience of more than 500 people – including 15 other astronauts who are Purdue alumni. The media-shy Armstrong did not attend the morning ceremony, but a couple hundred students, faculty, alumni and media did.
Space Teachers Wanted (Source: MSNBC)
Space activists took one small step toward bringing more teachers to the final frontier today, by opening up the application process for a privately backed "Teachers in Space" project. Organizers plan to award seats on a suborbital spacecraft to one science/tech teacher and another teacher in any subject area. Speaking amid the buildup to this weekend's X Prize Cup air and rocket expo, project manager Edward Wright noted that schoolteachers were among the first on the frontier during America's infancy. "We believe that teachers have the right stuff for opening the space frontier and playing the same role today," he told reporters at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico. Visit http://www.teachersinspace.org/apply.htm to apply.
Satellites Help Brazil Reduce Amazon Deforestation (Source: INPE)
The Brazilian National Institute for Space Research (INPE) has placed a contract for a third year with DMC International Imaging (DMCii) to acquire high-resolution satellite images of the entire 5 million square kilometres of the Amazon rainforest. Since 2004 INPE’s program to monitor deforestation has dramatically reduced the rate of logging from 27,000 sq.km. per year to about 10,000 sq.km. in 2007. DMC imagery is provided by the five-satellite international Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC). The DMC small satellites, built by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL), use wide area cameras to capture the high-resolution images. The latest satellite, built for China, was launched into the DMC on 27 October 2005. Two new DMC satellites will be launched in 2008 and a third in 2009.
ISU Launches International Institute of Space Commerce in the Isle of Man (Source: ISU)
The International Space University (ISU) has launched the International Institute of Space Commerce (IISC) as the world's leading authority on space commerce. It is located at the International Business School (IBS) in the Isle of Man to capitalize on the island's growing importance as a space industry jurisdiction. "We created the IISC to focus on the business of space, the policy and regulatory issues facing it," said Walter Peeters, dean of International Space University and director of the IISC. By agreement with the ISU, the Isle of Man Government has made a five-year commitment to establish and host the IISC. Both ISU and the IBS are working together to strengthen links between the two institutions with the longer term goal of facilitating both academic and student exchanges to the benefit of both groups.
First Commercial Spacesuit Debuts at X Prize Cup (Source: Space.com)
Being a well-dressed suborbital space traveler translates into style as well as safety. Orbital Outfitters strutted out the world's first commercial spacesuit here at the X Prize Cup festivities – their approach to solving the engineering, safety and marketing appeal of an emergency crew suit. Dubbed the Industrial Suborbital Space Suit-Crew (or IS3C for short), the garment was presented in catwalk-like fashion, a first generation prototype that Orbital Outfitters envision as the new free-fall collection of apparel. The idea is to create a high quality IS3C system for space flight crews. Orbital Outfitters is implementing a leasing arrangement for the suit to help contain up-front costs for customers.
Trouble Found on Space Station Device (Source: AP)
Spacewalking astronauts doing construction work outside the space station Sunday made a disturbing discovery: what appear to be metal shavings inside a joint that is needed to turn a set of solar power panels. The rotary joint, 10 feet in diameter, has experienced intermittent vibrations and power spikes for nearly two months. Space station managers were hoping a thermal cover or bolt might be hanging up the mechanism, which would have been relatively easy to fix, and were disheartened when Daniel Tani radioed down that metal shavings were everywhere. The astronaut used tape to dab up some of the shavings. It will be returned to Earth aboard Discovery next week for analysis. NASA is uncertain whether the flecks are actually metallic, possibly from the aluminum foil lining the thermal covers, or some other material.
OW! for Four: Armadillo Catches Fire (Source: WIRED)
Armadillo's fourth and final shot at winning the $350,000 portion of the $2 million Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge ended Sunday in flames. After a loud explosion, a pool of fire spread approximately 30 feet away from the rocket, according to one photographer. The dwindling crowd gave Armadillo and its team leader, software icon John Carmack, a better-than-tepid round of applause. "Today is officially a bad day," Carmack told an X Prize representative. It looks like the $2 million purse, a portion of which insiders predicted Carmack would be taking home, will carry over until the 2008 X Prize Cup, which may allow more teams to compete.
October 26 News Items
Honeywell Profit Up 14.2 Percent (Source: AIA)
Honeywell said its profit rose 14.2 percent amid continued strong demand from the aerospace and commercial construction sectors, but results were slightly below Wall Street's expectations. The world's largest maker of cockpit electronics reported a third-quarter profit of $618 million, compared with $541 million a year earlier. Revenue came to $8.74 billion, up 9.8 percent from $7.95 billion a year earlier. Results at Honeywell, which also makes automation systems for large commercial buildings, have also been driven by strong spending on infrastructure, particularly outside the United States.
Eutelsat Projects 5.5 Percent Annual Growth Through 2010 (Source: Space News)
Satellite-fleet operator Eutelsat expects its revenue to grow by more than 5.5 percent per year on average between now and 2010, a period during which its capital spending on new satellites will average 420 million euros ($598.93 million) per year, Eutelsat said Oct. 23.
Commission Addresses Intelligence Agencies' Use of Commercial Imagery (Source: Space News)
The U.S. government must not become dependent on external sources for the provision of critical satellite intelligence data, a newly released report commissioned by a pair of intelligence agencies concludes.
NOAA Says Cost of Environmental Satellite Still Going Up (Source: Space News)
The projected cost of the U.S. government's next generation of geostationary orbiting weather satellites will likely rise again, according to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) official.
Bugs on the Menu for Long Space Missions in Future? (Source: Pravda)
First there was astronaut ice cream. Now insects may become the next food frontier for space cuisine. The Space Agriculture Task Force, affiliated with the Japanese space agency, is looking for ways to feed astronauts on extended missions, like on a stint to Mars. A long stay on the Red Planet would require travelers to grow their own food, but a vegetable- and grain-based diet doesn’t efficiently supply fats and amino acids. Bugs reproduce rapidly, so small farms could produce a steady stream of food for humans or other animals. They also efficiently convert material that is inedible to humans—mulberry leaves, wood, waste—into body mass. So bugs like silkworms, drugstore beetles, termites, or hornworms could help fill in nutritional gaps. Japanese researchers have already made cookies from silkworms, a commonly domesticated species.
Union, USA Labor Talks to Resume (Source: Florida Today)
After more than four months on the picket lines, representatives of the Machinists union at Kennedy Space Center and United Space Alliance will head back to the bargaining table. At the behest of a federal mediator, representatives for the company and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District Lodge 2061 are scheduled to resume negotiations Monday and Tuesday in Cape Canaveral. "We feel the resumption of these negotiations are due to discussions between IAM International President Tom Buffenbarger and United Space Alliance CEO Richard Covey," the union said Thursday on its strike update Web site.
NASA Still Sitting on Union Lawsuit (Source: Florida Today)
The Machinists union is undecided on what will happen with its lawsuit against NASA, calling it "a separate issue that has to be dealt with." The lawsuit, filed in August, charges NASA with interfering in the contract negotiations between the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local 2061 and United Space Alliance, NASA's main space shuttle contractor. The suit also accuses NASA of pressuring the company to take hard-line bargaining positions that led to and has continued the union's strike. A federal judge has granted NASA extra time to file a response to the lawsuit, said a union spokesman. NASA representatives declined to comment on the litigation.
EU's Galileo Satnav Scheme Needs Millions More Next Year (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
The EU's troubled Galileo satellite navigation network, meant to rival the US Global Positioning System (GPS), needs millions more euros next year than planned, European MPs warned. Last July, under the European Union's 2008 budget proposals, the amount to be given to the ambitious project was set at 151 million euros ($216 million). But deputies in the EU Parliament, who share budgetary control with the 27 EU member states, deemed this sum grossly insufficient. The problem is that the extra 739 million euros needed would bust the scheme's projected EU funding for the entire 2007-2013 period, thereby requiring some difficult revisions of the bloc's financial plans for the period.
Russia’s Proton Rocket 328th Flight (Source: Khrunichev)
A Khrunichev–made Proton K launch vehicle, carrying three satellites of the Russian government’s GLONASS constellation, was launched from Baikonur on Oct. 26. The launch marks the 328th Proton mission. The rocket performed normally. The launcher has high power capacity and remarkable operational capabilities. Proton is currently used for implementation of national programs and commercial launches of satellites for customers worldwide. The next Proton launch with GLONASS spacecrafts is scheduled for the third quarter of this year.
Three New Race Teams Join Rocket Racing League (Source: RRL)
The playing field of the Rocket Racing League doubles in size and goes international as three new teams announce their acceptance into the League, bringing a total of six teams primed to compete in the Rocket Racing League's inaugural season. Rocket Star Racing, Team Extreme Rocket Racing and Canada-based Beyond Gravity Rocket Racing join existing teams Bridenstine Rocket Racing, Santa Fe Racing and Thunderhawk Rocket Racing. "Our goal has been to bring diverse international teams to the League with highly skilled world-class pilots and flight crews coming from both civilian and military backgrounds," said company co-founder and CEO Granger Whitelaw. "These guys will be competing with each other even on their drive to the quarterly League picnic."
Editorial: Countdown for Shuttle Program Worries Brevard (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
There's a palpable tension at Cape Canaveral, and it has nothing to do with space shuttle Discovery's impending trip back to Earth after its successful launch this week. The stress is linked to the scheduled end of the shuttle program altogether, just three years and 13 missions away in 2010. No one knows for sure what the full extent of the impact of the shuttle's retirement will be on the local and state economies. NASA has yet to reveal how many jobs will be lost -- though estimates put the figure at about 3,000. The second big unknown is how the next phase of human space exploration will play out, which depends more on politics than science as we watch who wins the White House next year and decisions by Congress about NASA's budget.
Ottawa Eyes Funding Cape Breton Space Venture (Source: Globe and Mail)
The Harper government is considering a $45 million boost to a space-tourism project in Cape Breton as one of the regional benefits flowing from a major purchase of military planes. PlanetSpace, the firm that would benefit, has hired Fred Doucet, a senior Conservative official from the Mulroney era, to help seal the deal. The project is related to the Canadian Forces' purchase of 17 Hercules C130J cargo planes from U.S.-based manufacturer Lockheed Martin Corp. To get the plane contract, Lockheed Martin had to promise to spend the equivalent of the $3.2-billion purchase price in the form of regional benefits.
Sources said Lockheed Martin's proposed list of investments, which was submitted to Industry Canada and is awaiting cabinet approval, includes a promise to spend $45 million over six years on PlanetSpace's project. According to its website, PlanetSpace wants to send 2,000 people into suborbital space flights over five years, even though the company has not started accepting reservations for the $250,000 trips. The company has estimated it will cost about $150 million to build a launch pad and rocket on its site in Nova Scotia. It's not clear how much money the company already has or where its funding comes from. The $45 million investment in PlanetSpace would not be a federal subsidy, but it would be the direct result of federal approval of Lockheed Martin's mandatory plan to provide regional benefits from the aircraft sale.
For the First Time, Women Rule in Space (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
Altogether 46 women from around the world have been in space in the 50-year history of space exploration. Breaking new ground in the history of space exploration, women are at the helm of the International Space Station and the space shuttle at the same time, as they orbit the Earth. Pamela Melroy, a 46-year-old retired US Air Force colonel, was in the commander's seat when shuttle Discovery blasted off. She is only the second woman in the shuttle program's 26-year history to command the spacecraft. Meanwhile, the ISS crew is led by another American, Peggy Whitson, a 47-year-old scientist and the first woman in charge of the station.
Discovery Docks with International Space Station (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
The US shuttle Discovery docked with the International Space Station on Thursday for a complex construction mission to pave the way for the installation of European and Japanese laboratories. The mission is also making space exploration history as shuttle Commander Pam Melroy, 46, and the station's crew chief, Peggy Whitson, 47, became the first women to hold the reins of the two spacecraft at the same time.
Aerospace Firm Plans 150 New Jobs at Cape Canaveral Spaceport (Source: Florida Today)
While many aerospace companies dread the end of the shuttle program in 2010, ASRC Aerospace Corp. is gearing up for the next phase of U.S. space flight. The company this year plans to add about 150 people to its work force of 450 in Brevard County. "We have been hiring electrical engineers," said Pedro Medelius, ASRC Aerospace's associate program manager and chief scientist. Medelius declined to give a total payroll figure. However, he said that with the new positions, ASRC would inject an additional $10 million into the Brevard economy. The company has about 100 projects at Kennedy Space Center.
Honeywell said its profit rose 14.2 percent amid continued strong demand from the aerospace and commercial construction sectors, but results were slightly below Wall Street's expectations. The world's largest maker of cockpit electronics reported a third-quarter profit of $618 million, compared with $541 million a year earlier. Revenue came to $8.74 billion, up 9.8 percent from $7.95 billion a year earlier. Results at Honeywell, which also makes automation systems for large commercial buildings, have also been driven by strong spending on infrastructure, particularly outside the United States.
Eutelsat Projects 5.5 Percent Annual Growth Through 2010 (Source: Space News)
Satellite-fleet operator Eutelsat expects its revenue to grow by more than 5.5 percent per year on average between now and 2010, a period during which its capital spending on new satellites will average 420 million euros ($598.93 million) per year, Eutelsat said Oct. 23.
Commission Addresses Intelligence Agencies' Use of Commercial Imagery (Source: Space News)
The U.S. government must not become dependent on external sources for the provision of critical satellite intelligence data, a newly released report commissioned by a pair of intelligence agencies concludes.
NOAA Says Cost of Environmental Satellite Still Going Up (Source: Space News)
The projected cost of the U.S. government's next generation of geostationary orbiting weather satellites will likely rise again, according to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) official.
Bugs on the Menu for Long Space Missions in Future? (Source: Pravda)
First there was astronaut ice cream. Now insects may become the next food frontier for space cuisine. The Space Agriculture Task Force, affiliated with the Japanese space agency, is looking for ways to feed astronauts on extended missions, like on a stint to Mars. A long stay on the Red Planet would require travelers to grow their own food, but a vegetable- and grain-based diet doesn’t efficiently supply fats and amino acids. Bugs reproduce rapidly, so small farms could produce a steady stream of food for humans or other animals. They also efficiently convert material that is inedible to humans—mulberry leaves, wood, waste—into body mass. So bugs like silkworms, drugstore beetles, termites, or hornworms could help fill in nutritional gaps. Japanese researchers have already made cookies from silkworms, a commonly domesticated species.
Union, USA Labor Talks to Resume (Source: Florida Today)
After more than four months on the picket lines, representatives of the Machinists union at Kennedy Space Center and United Space Alliance will head back to the bargaining table. At the behest of a federal mediator, representatives for the company and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District Lodge 2061 are scheduled to resume negotiations Monday and Tuesday in Cape Canaveral. "We feel the resumption of these negotiations are due to discussions between IAM International President Tom Buffenbarger and United Space Alliance CEO Richard Covey," the union said Thursday on its strike update Web site.
NASA Still Sitting on Union Lawsuit (Source: Florida Today)
The Machinists union is undecided on what will happen with its lawsuit against NASA, calling it "a separate issue that has to be dealt with." The lawsuit, filed in August, charges NASA with interfering in the contract negotiations between the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local 2061 and United Space Alliance, NASA's main space shuttle contractor. The suit also accuses NASA of pressuring the company to take hard-line bargaining positions that led to and has continued the union's strike. A federal judge has granted NASA extra time to file a response to the lawsuit, said a union spokesman. NASA representatives declined to comment on the litigation.
EU's Galileo Satnav Scheme Needs Millions More Next Year (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
The EU's troubled Galileo satellite navigation network, meant to rival the US Global Positioning System (GPS), needs millions more euros next year than planned, European MPs warned. Last July, under the European Union's 2008 budget proposals, the amount to be given to the ambitious project was set at 151 million euros ($216 million). But deputies in the EU Parliament, who share budgetary control with the 27 EU member states, deemed this sum grossly insufficient. The problem is that the extra 739 million euros needed would bust the scheme's projected EU funding for the entire 2007-2013 period, thereby requiring some difficult revisions of the bloc's financial plans for the period.
Russia’s Proton Rocket 328th Flight (Source: Khrunichev)
A Khrunichev–made Proton K launch vehicle, carrying three satellites of the Russian government’s GLONASS constellation, was launched from Baikonur on Oct. 26. The launch marks the 328th Proton mission. The rocket performed normally. The launcher has high power capacity and remarkable operational capabilities. Proton is currently used for implementation of national programs and commercial launches of satellites for customers worldwide. The next Proton launch with GLONASS spacecrafts is scheduled for the third quarter of this year.
Three New Race Teams Join Rocket Racing League (Source: RRL)
The playing field of the Rocket Racing League doubles in size and goes international as three new teams announce their acceptance into the League, bringing a total of six teams primed to compete in the Rocket Racing League's inaugural season. Rocket Star Racing, Team Extreme Rocket Racing and Canada-based Beyond Gravity Rocket Racing join existing teams Bridenstine Rocket Racing, Santa Fe Racing and Thunderhawk Rocket Racing. "Our goal has been to bring diverse international teams to the League with highly skilled world-class pilots and flight crews coming from both civilian and military backgrounds," said company co-founder and CEO Granger Whitelaw. "These guys will be competing with each other even on their drive to the quarterly League picnic."
Editorial: Countdown for Shuttle Program Worries Brevard (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
There's a palpable tension at Cape Canaveral, and it has nothing to do with space shuttle Discovery's impending trip back to Earth after its successful launch this week. The stress is linked to the scheduled end of the shuttle program altogether, just three years and 13 missions away in 2010. No one knows for sure what the full extent of the impact of the shuttle's retirement will be on the local and state economies. NASA has yet to reveal how many jobs will be lost -- though estimates put the figure at about 3,000. The second big unknown is how the next phase of human space exploration will play out, which depends more on politics than science as we watch who wins the White House next year and decisions by Congress about NASA's budget.
Ottawa Eyes Funding Cape Breton Space Venture (Source: Globe and Mail)
The Harper government is considering a $45 million boost to a space-tourism project in Cape Breton as one of the regional benefits flowing from a major purchase of military planes. PlanetSpace, the firm that would benefit, has hired Fred Doucet, a senior Conservative official from the Mulroney era, to help seal the deal. The project is related to the Canadian Forces' purchase of 17 Hercules C130J cargo planes from U.S.-based manufacturer Lockheed Martin Corp. To get the plane contract, Lockheed Martin had to promise to spend the equivalent of the $3.2-billion purchase price in the form of regional benefits.
Sources said Lockheed Martin's proposed list of investments, which was submitted to Industry Canada and is awaiting cabinet approval, includes a promise to spend $45 million over six years on PlanetSpace's project. According to its website, PlanetSpace wants to send 2,000 people into suborbital space flights over five years, even though the company has not started accepting reservations for the $250,000 trips. The company has estimated it will cost about $150 million to build a launch pad and rocket on its site in Nova Scotia. It's not clear how much money the company already has or where its funding comes from. The $45 million investment in PlanetSpace would not be a federal subsidy, but it would be the direct result of federal approval of Lockheed Martin's mandatory plan to provide regional benefits from the aircraft sale.
For the First Time, Women Rule in Space (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
Altogether 46 women from around the world have been in space in the 50-year history of space exploration. Breaking new ground in the history of space exploration, women are at the helm of the International Space Station and the space shuttle at the same time, as they orbit the Earth. Pamela Melroy, a 46-year-old retired US Air Force colonel, was in the commander's seat when shuttle Discovery blasted off. She is only the second woman in the shuttle program's 26-year history to command the spacecraft. Meanwhile, the ISS crew is led by another American, Peggy Whitson, a 47-year-old scientist and the first woman in charge of the station.
Discovery Docks with International Space Station (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
The US shuttle Discovery docked with the International Space Station on Thursday for a complex construction mission to pave the way for the installation of European and Japanese laboratories. The mission is also making space exploration history as shuttle Commander Pam Melroy, 46, and the station's crew chief, Peggy Whitson, 47, became the first women to hold the reins of the two spacecraft at the same time.
Aerospace Firm Plans 150 New Jobs at Cape Canaveral Spaceport (Source: Florida Today)
While many aerospace companies dread the end of the shuttle program in 2010, ASRC Aerospace Corp. is gearing up for the next phase of U.S. space flight. The company this year plans to add about 150 people to its work force of 450 in Brevard County. "We have been hiring electrical engineers," said Pedro Medelius, ASRC Aerospace's associate program manager and chief scientist. Medelius declined to give a total payroll figure. However, he said that with the new positions, ASRC would inject an additional $10 million into the Brevard economy. The company has about 100 projects at Kennedy Space Center.
October 25 News Items
Astronaut Foundation Auctions Miami Dolphins Package with Apollo Legends (Source: ASF)
Miami Dolphins’ fans can bid on a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to attend the Nov. 11 Dolphins/Buffalo Bills Veterans Day game with legendary astronauts, Apollo 14 Moonwalker Edgar Mitchell and Apollo 15 Command Module Pilot Al Worden. The ASF, in partnership with the Miami Dolphins, is auctioning four VIP packages to include two tickets in a sideline suite, pre-game field passes, a VIP parking pass, food and beverages, one night hotel stay and the opportunity to enjoy the game with two of only 24 men that have traveled to the moon. Online bidding begins Oct. 26 at 9:00 a.m. EDT and concludes Nov. 1 at 10:00 p.m. EDT. The auction site is http://www.astronautscholarship.org/dolphins.pl.
Embry-Riddle Partners with Pratt & Whitney (Source: ERAU)
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's "Worldwide Campus" and Pratt & Whitney signed an agreement earlier this year to work together to provide aviation and aerospace higher education opportunities to customers and students. Embry-Riddle leaders are collaborating with the Pratt & Whitney Customer Training Center team to expand the scope and availability of aviation and aerospace education and provide other services. The partnership includes the opportunity to establish an Embry-Riddle satellite location at Pratt & Whitney's Connecticut campus, with a core curriculum connecting Embry-Riddle programs with employee interests and needs throughout the Pratt & Whitney network.
Northrop Grumman Earnings Increase 62% (Source: Florida Today)
Military and aerospace contractor Northrop Grumman Corp. reported increased sales and profit in the third quarter, but the company's growth plans for Melbourne depend on some big pending contracts. Third-quarter profit rose 62 percent to $489 million, from $302 million in the third quarter last year. Also, sales rose 7 percent to $7.93 billion for the quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with $7.43 billion a year ago.
Proton Rocket to Launch Glonass Satellites Friday (Source: RIA Novosti)
The delayed launch of three Glonass satellites on board a Proton rocket is set to go ahead on Friday from the Baikonur spaceport. The Proton K rocket has been on the launch pad in Kazakhstan since Monday. Astana lifted a ban Wednesday on Proton launches from the Baikonur space center, which Russia rents from the ex-Soviet Central Asian country. The ban was imposed following a September 6 crash of a Proton-M rocket for which Kazakhstan is seeking 1.5 billion rubles ($60 million) in compensation.
Personal Spaceflight: The Business Case for 'New Space' (Source: Space.com)
The business of commercial space travel is now far more than a promissory note – but significant challenges and dedicated work are ahead in shaping passenger spaceflight as profitable venture. Experts outlined the coming years in public space travel, speaking at the 2007 International Symposium for Personal Spaceflight (ISPS). The key action item now is to create an economic engine behind personal space travel, said Peter Diamandis, Chief Executive Officer of the X Prize Foundation. "That's what we're trying to shoot for. We're not there yet. We are in this very critical phase that, if we stop ... it stops."
China Sets Proper, Historic Position for Space Exploration (Source: People's Daily)
China launched its first lunar probe on Oct. 24, the first step into its ambitious three-stage moon mission, signifying a new milestone in its space exploration history with a giant, substantial leap of quality attained in spaceflight technology. The Chinese nation is one of those first nations on earth looking up to the outer planets. Such popular legends as "Chang'e, a legendary Chinese goddess, flying into the moon" and Emperor Minghuang or Xuanzhong of Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.) touring the (splendid) moon palace", give expressions to the earliest human aspiration to ascend the moon.
China has developed space technology by leaps and bounds at a amazing speed since the founding of new China in 1949 and the subsequent launch of reform and opening up in the late 1970s. The manned spaceflight of October 2005, in particular, shows to the world that the country has a fairly great capability for spaceflight. It represents a common objective as well as a pursuit of humanity to venture into outer space and explore its mystery. The U.S., Russia and a few other nations have carried out more than 100 moon exploring probes. So China should, too, contribute to the explorations into the moon and outer space naturally. And it should merge its space program into the global spaceflight setup and involve itself directly into the activities of humanity to probe the secrets of the universe.
Chinese Propaganda Reaches New Heights (Source: Canada National Post)
Fifty years after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, and just hours after the U.S. space shuttle Discovery thundered into orbit to work on the International Space Station, China took the next step in a new space race yesterday, sending aloft its first lunar orbiter. Chang'e 1 was launched with a fanfare of patriotic propaganda from the Xichang spaceport in southwestern China. If all goes as planned, it will beam back its first images of the moon in the second half of November. Perfectly timed for a live broadcast on Chinese television's national news, the event could have been a tribute to the just-completed Chinese Communist Party's 17th Congress in Beijing, during which President Hu Jintao unveiled a new lineup of top leaders along with a plan for his country's "scientific development" over the next five years.
Initial Inspection Finds No Shuttle Damage (Source: SpaceToday.net)
An inspection of the exterior of the shuttle Discovery on Wednesday turned up no evidence of damage to the orbiter, while mission managers said very little foam fell off the external tank during Tuesday's launch. The STS-120 crew performed the inspection during the first full day on orbit, and found no evidence of any damage to the orbiter's tiles or panels caused by impacts with debris during launch. Of particular concern were the panels on the leading edge of the wings, after engineers recommended before the launch that some panels be replaced because of evidence of degradation of an outer coating; the panels appeared to be in normal condition on Wednesday.
Miami Dolphins’ fans can bid on a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to attend the Nov. 11 Dolphins/Buffalo Bills Veterans Day game with legendary astronauts, Apollo 14 Moonwalker Edgar Mitchell and Apollo 15 Command Module Pilot Al Worden. The ASF, in partnership with the Miami Dolphins, is auctioning four VIP packages to include two tickets in a sideline suite, pre-game field passes, a VIP parking pass, food and beverages, one night hotel stay and the opportunity to enjoy the game with two of only 24 men that have traveled to the moon. Online bidding begins Oct. 26 at 9:00 a.m. EDT and concludes Nov. 1 at 10:00 p.m. EDT. The auction site is http://www.astronautscholarship.org/dolphins.pl.
Embry-Riddle Partners with Pratt & Whitney (Source: ERAU)
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's "Worldwide Campus" and Pratt & Whitney signed an agreement earlier this year to work together to provide aviation and aerospace higher education opportunities to customers and students. Embry-Riddle leaders are collaborating with the Pratt & Whitney Customer Training Center team to expand the scope and availability of aviation and aerospace education and provide other services. The partnership includes the opportunity to establish an Embry-Riddle satellite location at Pratt & Whitney's Connecticut campus, with a core curriculum connecting Embry-Riddle programs with employee interests and needs throughout the Pratt & Whitney network.
Northrop Grumman Earnings Increase 62% (Source: Florida Today)
Military and aerospace contractor Northrop Grumman Corp. reported increased sales and profit in the third quarter, but the company's growth plans for Melbourne depend on some big pending contracts. Third-quarter profit rose 62 percent to $489 million, from $302 million in the third quarter last year. Also, sales rose 7 percent to $7.93 billion for the quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with $7.43 billion a year ago.
Proton Rocket to Launch Glonass Satellites Friday (Source: RIA Novosti)
The delayed launch of three Glonass satellites on board a Proton rocket is set to go ahead on Friday from the Baikonur spaceport. The Proton K rocket has been on the launch pad in Kazakhstan since Monday. Astana lifted a ban Wednesday on Proton launches from the Baikonur space center, which Russia rents from the ex-Soviet Central Asian country. The ban was imposed following a September 6 crash of a Proton-M rocket for which Kazakhstan is seeking 1.5 billion rubles ($60 million) in compensation.
Personal Spaceflight: The Business Case for 'New Space' (Source: Space.com)
The business of commercial space travel is now far more than a promissory note – but significant challenges and dedicated work are ahead in shaping passenger spaceflight as profitable venture. Experts outlined the coming years in public space travel, speaking at the 2007 International Symposium for Personal Spaceflight (ISPS). The key action item now is to create an economic engine behind personal space travel, said Peter Diamandis, Chief Executive Officer of the X Prize Foundation. "That's what we're trying to shoot for. We're not there yet. We are in this very critical phase that, if we stop ... it stops."
China Sets Proper, Historic Position for Space Exploration (Source: People's Daily)
China launched its first lunar probe on Oct. 24, the first step into its ambitious three-stage moon mission, signifying a new milestone in its space exploration history with a giant, substantial leap of quality attained in spaceflight technology. The Chinese nation is one of those first nations on earth looking up to the outer planets. Such popular legends as "Chang'e, a legendary Chinese goddess, flying into the moon" and Emperor Minghuang or Xuanzhong of Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.) touring the (splendid) moon palace", give expressions to the earliest human aspiration to ascend the moon.
China has developed space technology by leaps and bounds at a amazing speed since the founding of new China in 1949 and the subsequent launch of reform and opening up in the late 1970s. The manned spaceflight of October 2005, in particular, shows to the world that the country has a fairly great capability for spaceflight. It represents a common objective as well as a pursuit of humanity to venture into outer space and explore its mystery. The U.S., Russia and a few other nations have carried out more than 100 moon exploring probes. So China should, too, contribute to the explorations into the moon and outer space naturally. And it should merge its space program into the global spaceflight setup and involve itself directly into the activities of humanity to probe the secrets of the universe.
Chinese Propaganda Reaches New Heights (Source: Canada National Post)
Fifty years after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, and just hours after the U.S. space shuttle Discovery thundered into orbit to work on the International Space Station, China took the next step in a new space race yesterday, sending aloft its first lunar orbiter. Chang'e 1 was launched with a fanfare of patriotic propaganda from the Xichang spaceport in southwestern China. If all goes as planned, it will beam back its first images of the moon in the second half of November. Perfectly timed for a live broadcast on Chinese television's national news, the event could have been a tribute to the just-completed Chinese Communist Party's 17th Congress in Beijing, during which President Hu Jintao unveiled a new lineup of top leaders along with a plan for his country's "scientific development" over the next five years.
Initial Inspection Finds No Shuttle Damage (Source: SpaceToday.net)
An inspection of the exterior of the shuttle Discovery on Wednesday turned up no evidence of damage to the orbiter, while mission managers said very little foam fell off the external tank during Tuesday's launch. The STS-120 crew performed the inspection during the first full day on orbit, and found no evidence of any damage to the orbiter's tiles or panels caused by impacts with debris during launch. Of particular concern were the panels on the leading edge of the wings, after engineers recommended before the launch that some panels be replaced because of evidence of degradation of an outer coating; the panels appeared to be in normal condition on Wednesday.
October 24 News Items
China Launches First Lunar Probe (Source: SpaceToday.net)
Long March 3A launch of Change-1 (Xinhua) China successfully launched its first lunar orbiter mission on Wednesday. A Long March 3A rocket lifted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwestern China at 6:05 am EDT (1005 GMT, 6:05 pm Beijing time) and placed the Chang'e-1 spacecraft an elliptical Earth parking orbit shortly thereafter. Chang'e-1 is scheduled to remain in that parking orbit until October 31, when it will go into a translunar trajectory and enter lunar orbit on November 5. Chang'e-1 carries a number of cameras and other sensors to study the Moon's surface and composition. The mission, highly anticipated within China, is the first in a three-stage robotic exploration plan that also includes a lander with rover and a sample return mission. Chang'e-1 is the second spacecraft launched to the Moon in as many months, after Japan's launch of the Kaguya lunar orbiter in September.
FAA: NASA Study Methodology Questionable (Source: AIA)
The FAA weighed in on the controversy surrounding the NASA study that purportedly shows a greater prevalence of aviation safety issues than generally is reported. FAA officials have not seen the study, which NASA has declined to release, but say they have questions about its methodology and whether the data collected actually are usable.
Lockheed Space Systems Unit Sees Increased Sales, Profit (Source: SpaceToday.net)
Lockheed Martin Lockheed Martin's space division reported increased revenues and profits in the fiscal third quarter of 2007. The Space Systems division reported net sales of $2.21 billion and an operating profit of $222 million for the quarter, compared to net sales of $1.85 billion and operating profit of $176 million for the same quarter of 2006. The company said that increases in its satellites product line, both commercial and government, as well as missile systems, were largely responsible for the increase, offsetting declines in space transportation caused by Lockheed's divestiture of its stake in International Launch Services and the creation of United Launch Alliance. The company did warn, though, that it anticipates commercial satellite sales to slow in in 2008. The company overall reported net sales of $11.1 billion and an net earnings of $766 million for the quarter.
Boeing 3Q Profit Up, Warns on Revenue (Source: AP)
Boeing posted its best profit in nearly four years as its third-quarter earnings climbed 61 percent because of higher commercial airplane deliveries and growth in its defense business. The results beat Wall Street expectations, but the company warned that delays in the launch of its new 787 "Dreamliner" plane would lower its 2008 revenue. For the quarter ending Sep. 30, Boeing's profit rose to $1.1 billion, up from $694 million a year ago. Revenue rose 12 percent to $16.5 billion from $14.7 billion a year ago. Boeing said its backlog reached another record, climbing to $295 million.
A Piece of the Moon Lands in Broward County Library (Source: Miami Herald)
In Susan Eisele Black's life there have been what she calls "moments when the whole world stops and watches." "Two of them were very sad -- when President Kennedy was shot and the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001," she said. "Then there's when Buzz [Aldrin] and Neil [Armstrong] walked on the moon." Eisele Black was part of that memorable moment. "It was incredible," she said. "They didn't just get on a space shuttle and land on the moon. It took years of planning." Her late husband was astronaut and Ret. Air Force Col. Donn Eisele, the command module pilot for the 11-day flight of Apollo 7 in 1968.
NASA is honoring the astronaut's involvement in the space program by presenting Eisele Black with a small piece of history -- a moon rock encased in Lucite, called the Ambassador of Exploration Award. The rock is part of the 842 pounds of lunar samples collected during the six Apollo lunar expeditions from 1969 to 1972. Eisele Black accepted the award Tuesday at the Broward County Main Library, which she chose as the place to display her piece of history.
Gov. Crist Shows Support for Space Program (Source: Florida Today)
Wowed by the launch of shuttle Discovery, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist said NASA and the space program are vital to the state's economic future. "NASA in Florida is a huge economic engine and creates tremendous vibrancy for the state, and so we have to show the appreciation for what this program does for our state," Crist said. Crist and an entourage traveled to Kennedy Space Center for the launch, which was the third of four planned this year. It was the fifth time Crist has been to KSC for a shuttle launch. "I know the economic import, particularly to the Space Coast. I get it," he said.
NASA business resulted in a total economic impact of $3.6 billion in 2006. The agency managed some 1,731 contracts in the state, and the 13,630 people working at Kennedy Space Center earned an average of $72,000. Crist said the state government already is looking for ways to offset any job loss that might come in the wake of the shutdown of the shuttle program in September 2010.
Science Award Winners Inspired by Discovery (Source: Florida Today)
Lucie Guo and Xianlin Li got to watch Tuesday's launch from the coveted Banana River grandstands, next to the Saturn-Apollo Museum. "We thought it was awesome!" said Guo. "We both thought it was actually really moving." The women are the Siemens Westinghouse Science and Technology 2004-2005 Competition winners. They put their $100,000 scholarships to use at Harvard, where they are both undergraduates. Guo said her weekend at Kennedy Space Center, sponsored by Siemens, and viewing of the launch has inspired her to return to her childhood love of space and astrology. While she is considering taking a break after graduation to participate in Teach for America, she said she might also pursue a graduate degree in astrobiology. They were just two among more than 10,000 people at Kennedy Space Center's Visitor Complex for launch day.
Heat Shield Has Astronauts Wary (Source: USA Today)
The astronauts aboard space shuttle Discovery will do a routine inspection Wednesday of their ship's heat shield, taking extra care because of worries that some heat shield panels may be defective. Three of the panels contain possible weaknesses hidden deep below the surface. NASA's engineers don't have enough data to rule out a catastrophic "burn through" of the panels when the shuttle endures searing heat as it re-enters the Earth's atmosphere. A preliminary analysis showed no worrisome debris during the shuttle's launch Tuesday, said a NASA manager.
Malaysia to Build Own Communications Satellite (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
Malaysia's government will build its own communications satellite, to be used for internal security and defence purposes. Science and Technology Minister Jamaludin Jarjis told the official Bernama news agency that the satellite project was a natural progression after Malaysia entered the space age this month. Its first astronaut, Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, blasted off aboard a Soyuz space craft and visited the International Space Station in a program linked to the billion-dollar purchase of Russian fighter jets.
Spaceflight Symposium Takes Off in New Mexico (Source: Las Cruces Sun-News)
The general public got a history lesson, an update and a chance to ask questions about Spaceport America as the first of almost a week's worth of New Mexico space-related activities kicked off Tuesday. Spaceport officials gave a presentation to several dozen at the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum, site of the third annual International Symposium for Personal Spaceflight, which began Wednesday. Those in attendance received a full overview of the spaceport project from its origins more than two decades ago to today, only months away from a groundbreaking ceremony at a remote site in southern Sierra County.
Long March 3A launch of Change-1 (Xinhua) China successfully launched its first lunar orbiter mission on Wednesday. A Long March 3A rocket lifted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwestern China at 6:05 am EDT (1005 GMT, 6:05 pm Beijing time) and placed the Chang'e-1 spacecraft an elliptical Earth parking orbit shortly thereafter. Chang'e-1 is scheduled to remain in that parking orbit until October 31, when it will go into a translunar trajectory and enter lunar orbit on November 5. Chang'e-1 carries a number of cameras and other sensors to study the Moon's surface and composition. The mission, highly anticipated within China, is the first in a three-stage robotic exploration plan that also includes a lander with rover and a sample return mission. Chang'e-1 is the second spacecraft launched to the Moon in as many months, after Japan's launch of the Kaguya lunar orbiter in September.
FAA: NASA Study Methodology Questionable (Source: AIA)
The FAA weighed in on the controversy surrounding the NASA study that purportedly shows a greater prevalence of aviation safety issues than generally is reported. FAA officials have not seen the study, which NASA has declined to release, but say they have questions about its methodology and whether the data collected actually are usable.
Lockheed Space Systems Unit Sees Increased Sales, Profit (Source: SpaceToday.net)
Lockheed Martin Lockheed Martin's space division reported increased revenues and profits in the fiscal third quarter of 2007. The Space Systems division reported net sales of $2.21 billion and an operating profit of $222 million for the quarter, compared to net sales of $1.85 billion and operating profit of $176 million for the same quarter of 2006. The company said that increases in its satellites product line, both commercial and government, as well as missile systems, were largely responsible for the increase, offsetting declines in space transportation caused by Lockheed's divestiture of its stake in International Launch Services and the creation of United Launch Alliance. The company did warn, though, that it anticipates commercial satellite sales to slow in in 2008. The company overall reported net sales of $11.1 billion and an net earnings of $766 million for the quarter.
Boeing 3Q Profit Up, Warns on Revenue (Source: AP)
Boeing posted its best profit in nearly four years as its third-quarter earnings climbed 61 percent because of higher commercial airplane deliveries and growth in its defense business. The results beat Wall Street expectations, but the company warned that delays in the launch of its new 787 "Dreamliner" plane would lower its 2008 revenue. For the quarter ending Sep. 30, Boeing's profit rose to $1.1 billion, up from $694 million a year ago. Revenue rose 12 percent to $16.5 billion from $14.7 billion a year ago. Boeing said its backlog reached another record, climbing to $295 million.
A Piece of the Moon Lands in Broward County Library (Source: Miami Herald)
In Susan Eisele Black's life there have been what she calls "moments when the whole world stops and watches." "Two of them were very sad -- when President Kennedy was shot and the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001," she said. "Then there's when Buzz [Aldrin] and Neil [Armstrong] walked on the moon." Eisele Black was part of that memorable moment. "It was incredible," she said. "They didn't just get on a space shuttle and land on the moon. It took years of planning." Her late husband was astronaut and Ret. Air Force Col. Donn Eisele, the command module pilot for the 11-day flight of Apollo 7 in 1968.
NASA is honoring the astronaut's involvement in the space program by presenting Eisele Black with a small piece of history -- a moon rock encased in Lucite, called the Ambassador of Exploration Award. The rock is part of the 842 pounds of lunar samples collected during the six Apollo lunar expeditions from 1969 to 1972. Eisele Black accepted the award Tuesday at the Broward County Main Library, which she chose as the place to display her piece of history.
Gov. Crist Shows Support for Space Program (Source: Florida Today)
Wowed by the launch of shuttle Discovery, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist said NASA and the space program are vital to the state's economic future. "NASA in Florida is a huge economic engine and creates tremendous vibrancy for the state, and so we have to show the appreciation for what this program does for our state," Crist said. Crist and an entourage traveled to Kennedy Space Center for the launch, which was the third of four planned this year. It was the fifth time Crist has been to KSC for a shuttle launch. "I know the economic import, particularly to the Space Coast. I get it," he said.
NASA business resulted in a total economic impact of $3.6 billion in 2006. The agency managed some 1,731 contracts in the state, and the 13,630 people working at Kennedy Space Center earned an average of $72,000. Crist said the state government already is looking for ways to offset any job loss that might come in the wake of the shutdown of the shuttle program in September 2010.
Science Award Winners Inspired by Discovery (Source: Florida Today)
Lucie Guo and Xianlin Li got to watch Tuesday's launch from the coveted Banana River grandstands, next to the Saturn-Apollo Museum. "We thought it was awesome!" said Guo. "We both thought it was actually really moving." The women are the Siemens Westinghouse Science and Technology 2004-2005 Competition winners. They put their $100,000 scholarships to use at Harvard, where they are both undergraduates. Guo said her weekend at Kennedy Space Center, sponsored by Siemens, and viewing of the launch has inspired her to return to her childhood love of space and astrology. While she is considering taking a break after graduation to participate in Teach for America, she said she might also pursue a graduate degree in astrobiology. They were just two among more than 10,000 people at Kennedy Space Center's Visitor Complex for launch day.
Heat Shield Has Astronauts Wary (Source: USA Today)
The astronauts aboard space shuttle Discovery will do a routine inspection Wednesday of their ship's heat shield, taking extra care because of worries that some heat shield panels may be defective. Three of the panels contain possible weaknesses hidden deep below the surface. NASA's engineers don't have enough data to rule out a catastrophic "burn through" of the panels when the shuttle endures searing heat as it re-enters the Earth's atmosphere. A preliminary analysis showed no worrisome debris during the shuttle's launch Tuesday, said a NASA manager.
Malaysia to Build Own Communications Satellite (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
Malaysia's government will build its own communications satellite, to be used for internal security and defence purposes. Science and Technology Minister Jamaludin Jarjis told the official Bernama news agency that the satellite project was a natural progression after Malaysia entered the space age this month. Its first astronaut, Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, blasted off aboard a Soyuz space craft and visited the International Space Station in a program linked to the billion-dollar purchase of Russian fighter jets.
Spaceflight Symposium Takes Off in New Mexico (Source: Las Cruces Sun-News)
The general public got a history lesson, an update and a chance to ask questions about Spaceport America as the first of almost a week's worth of New Mexico space-related activities kicked off Tuesday. Spaceport officials gave a presentation to several dozen at the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum, site of the third annual International Symposium for Personal Spaceflight, which began Wednesday. Those in attendance received a full overview of the spaceport project from its origins more than two decades ago to today, only months away from a groundbreaking ceremony at a remote site in southern Sierra County.
October 23 News Items
Ares 1 Launch Plans Announced (Source: Florida Today)
With a series of tests, NASA's new rocket is on track for a 2013 trip to the International Space Station. NASA officials unveiled an ambitious testing schedule that potentially narrows the gap between the end of the shuttle program and the introduction of the Ares I rocket carrying humans. The Ares I possibly will carry a test crew to the International Space Station in Sep. 2013, only three years after the shuttle program ends in 2010. The third and final Ares I test flight will be in September of 2014. Flights before 2015 are test flights, but the tests at least give the U.S. only a three-year gap without a vehicle capable of flight to the ISS.
China to Test Space Weapon in Launching Moon Satellite (Source: AP)
A Chinese submarine will send test signals that could change the course of a satellite when China launches its first moon orbiter, as part of the country's effort to develop space war technology, a human rights watchdog said Tuesday. The Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said two survey ships are deployed in the South Pacific Ocean and South Atlantic Ocean to send signals to maneuver the lunar exploration satellite, expected to be launched Wednesday. At the same time, a nuclear-powered submarine will send simulated signals to the satellite as a test, it said in a statement.
Once the satellite-maneuvering technology matures, the group said, China would have the know-how to destroy other satellites in space in wartime. China could launch cheaply-made weapon-carrying objects into space and change their courses to destroy or damage satellites of other countries by sending signals from submarines, the center said.
Rocketplane Kistler Appeals NASA COTS Decision (Source: Space News)
Rocketplane Kistler (RpK) is not going down without a fight. Less than 24 hours after being notified that NASA was pulling the plug on a 14-month-old agreement to help finance the company's effort to develop a commercial transportation service to and from the international space station, RpK appealed the decision. An attorney for RpK of Oklahoma City, sent NASA a letter Oct. 19 asking the agency to either reconsider the termination or give the company $10 million for progress it made toward its unmet milestones. Under the terms of its Space Act Agreement, RpK cannot appeal its termination to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, which normally referees government contracting disputes.
RpK can, however, sue NASA in federal court. But the company first must exhaust a three-step appeals process that begins with NASA's COTS contracting officer and ends with the agency's associate administrator for exploration systems, Rich Gilbrech, who signed off on RpK's termination. RpK's attorney calls NASA's actions "arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of discretion that will not withstand judicial scrutiny should this matter remain unresolved after the three NASA levels of review."
China's Long March to the Moon - Beijing Heats Up Space Race (Source: New York Times)
Fifty years after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the world's first man-made satellite, and jolted the U.S. into a race for space, China is ramping up a new space contest -- with an eye on rival Japan. The China National Space Administration is scheduled to fire a "Long March" rocket to propel a satellite into lunar orbit, an important step toward China's goal of beating Japan to become the first Asian nation to put a man on the moon.
On the southern resort island of Hainan, where China is constructing its fourth space-launch center, officials are also planning to build a space-exploration theme park, with a grandstand for viewing rocket launches and shuttle buses that would ferry tourists around the rocket assembly plant, launch tower and other facilities. Much of what China has been doing is reinventing the wheel -- essentially replicating decades-old accomplishments by the U.S., Soviet Union and other nations. But, Chinese scientists, say, they are making advancements of their own.
Russia Launches Military Satellite (Source: SpaceToday.net)
A Molniya rocket launched a Russian military satellite early Tuesday, according to Russian media reports. THe Molniya-M rocket lifted off from the Plesetsk spaceport in northern Russia Tuesday and placed its payload into an elliptical orbit about an hour later. No details about the satellite, other than that it was for the Russian military, were released, and the launch had not been announced in advance.
Gordon, Miller, Udall Direct NASA to Halt Destruction of Aviation Study Records (Source: NASA Watch)
"By this letter, we are directing NASA to halt any destruction of records relating to the NAOMS project, whether in the possession of the agency or its contractors, and as defined in the attached Appendix. Destruction of documents requested as part of a Congressional inquiry is a violation of criminal federal law 18 U.S.C. 1505."
Space Shuttle Discovery Blasts Off From Florida Spaceport (Source: Reuters)
The U.S. space shuttle Discovery blasted off on a pillar of flames on Tuesday, soaring above Florida marshlands toward a rendezvous in two days with the International Space Station. Discovery's 14-day mission kicks off a refurbishment of the space outpost that will prepare the way for Europe to have its first permanent laboratory in orbit.
NASA Points to Foreign Competition to Spark Support (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
With Discovery on the launchpad ready for liftoff today and only 13 flights left until the three shuttles are mothballed, NASA's top officials are clamoring about a new space race to help push the agency into the future. Their effort, expressed in speeches and interviews during the past several months, is fueled by a fear that unless something sparks a public outcry for an invigorated space-exploration program, the U.S. could lose its global leadership in the quest for the stars. That fear in large part has been created by NASA's own plans for the future, including retiring the shuttle to make way for the $100 billion Constellation Program.
But three years after President Bush charged NASA to return to the moon by 2020, Constellation exists only on engineers' drawing boards and in dreams. There's a five-year gap between the last shuttle launch in 2010 and Constellation's first orbital flight. And there's no assurance that the new president who takes office in 2009 -- let alone the American public -- will endorse a repeat trip to the moon. Aides acknowledge that Griffin -- like the rest of the space community -- is hoping for some kind of a "Sputnik moment," an event capable of driving public demand for space exploration as the Soviet Union's launch of the first satellite did 50 years ago. And recently, he has been warning that America is already falling behind China's aggressive space program.
Not everyone wants to see the shuttle disappear so fast. U.S. Rep. Dave Weldon, R-Indialantic, is pushing to get NASA $1 billion more a year for a limited number of shuttle flights -- perhaps two a year -- until Constellation is ready to go. His aim, he says, is to maintain America's prestige as well as jobs at Kennedy Space Center. Visit http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/space/orl-shuttle2307oct23,0,6120181.story to view the article.
Marshall Role is Key to Ares Work (Source: Huntsville Times)
If America is to return to the moon, beat the determined Chinese and recapture a majority of the space business, it's going to have to rely on "The New Rocket Team" at Marshall Space Flight Center, the head of NASA said during a special ceremony Monday night at the Von Braun Center. Comparing Marshall's ongoing efforts to design and test the Ares I and Ares V rockets to the work of Dr. Wernher von Braun and his Army and NASA rocket teams, NASA Administrator Mike Griffin said the space agency would rely heavily on Huntsville's rocket engineers. That help is needed not only to return America to the moon but also to cut NASA reliance on the Russian Space Agency for crew and supply flights to the International Space Station, Griffin said.
Space Elevator Isn't Going Anywhere Yet (Source: CNET)
Turns out it's not so easy to build and race a space elevator. Who knew? For the third time in three years, no team has claimed the prize money in two NASA-sponsored technology challenges to build a robotic climber and a vertical tether that could one day comprise a workable space elevator. In theory, that elevator would transport supplies from the ground to space without expensive fuel or batteries. Despite the letdown, proponents of the technology were hopeful, and the roughly $1 million in prize money will roll over to next year's events. The contests are part of NASA's Centennial Challenges, a series of government-sponsored competitions that support space exploration by encouraging private industry and universities to develop related technologies for cash prizes.
Brazil to Make $385 Million Bid for Orbit Concession (Source: Xinhua)
The Brazilian government is to bid $385 million for the concession of a space orbit slot strategic to South America. "We need that orbital position," said Helio Costa, Brazil's Minister of Telecommunications. Costa will have a meeting Tuesday in Geneva, Switzerland, with representatives from Colombia, Bolivia and Peru to solve the impasse concerning the concession of the so-called orbit 68. The exploitation of the orbital slot was conceded to the Andean countries seven years ago. However, they had to launch a satellite by Sept. 2007 in order to keep the concession, which they failed to accomplish. According to international rules, other countries could bid for the orbital slot if the deadline expires.
Space Station Addition Should Boost Science (Source: Discovery Channel)
Before the 2003 Columbia accident, NASA used the launch date of the cargo currently loaded into shuttle Discovery as a computer screen-saver. So relentless was the march to install what will be the final U.S. component to the International Space Station, that managers overlooked blatant safety issues, investigators determined after the shuttle's demise. NASA insists it has absorbed the bitter lessons of Columbia and despite a presidential directive to be finished with space station construction in three years, feels no compunction to be driven by the calendar.
Discovery is delivering the space station's final linchpin: the school bus-sized Harmony module, which will attach to new laboratories owned by Europe and Japan. If the 14-day flight unfolds with few delays and no major problems, NASA plans to launch the first of its partners' laboratories on Dec. 6. The flight can't happen soon enough for the European Space Agency, which has weathered launch delays with compassion and patience even while its bank accounts dwindled. ESA's Columbus laboratory was supposed to fly in 2002. Delays with the station's Russian-owned living quarters cost ESA two years' time, which managers handled by slowing development and payments to its contractors.
ESA has a full slate of basic science and technology programs planned for its module, which will become the second of four planned laboratories on the station. Already aboard is the U.S. Destiny module. Japan's Kibo complex is slated for launch next year. Russia is expected to build and fly the station's last lab, though no launch date has been set. Visit http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/10/22/space-station-science-02.html to view the article.
With a series of tests, NASA's new rocket is on track for a 2013 trip to the International Space Station. NASA officials unveiled an ambitious testing schedule that potentially narrows the gap between the end of the shuttle program and the introduction of the Ares I rocket carrying humans. The Ares I possibly will carry a test crew to the International Space Station in Sep. 2013, only three years after the shuttle program ends in 2010. The third and final Ares I test flight will be in September of 2014. Flights before 2015 are test flights, but the tests at least give the U.S. only a three-year gap without a vehicle capable of flight to the ISS.
China to Test Space Weapon in Launching Moon Satellite (Source: AP)
A Chinese submarine will send test signals that could change the course of a satellite when China launches its first moon orbiter, as part of the country's effort to develop space war technology, a human rights watchdog said Tuesday. The Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said two survey ships are deployed in the South Pacific Ocean and South Atlantic Ocean to send signals to maneuver the lunar exploration satellite, expected to be launched Wednesday. At the same time, a nuclear-powered submarine will send simulated signals to the satellite as a test, it said in a statement.
Once the satellite-maneuvering technology matures, the group said, China would have the know-how to destroy other satellites in space in wartime. China could launch cheaply-made weapon-carrying objects into space and change their courses to destroy or damage satellites of other countries by sending signals from submarines, the center said.
Rocketplane Kistler Appeals NASA COTS Decision (Source: Space News)
Rocketplane Kistler (RpK) is not going down without a fight. Less than 24 hours after being notified that NASA was pulling the plug on a 14-month-old agreement to help finance the company's effort to develop a commercial transportation service to and from the international space station, RpK appealed the decision. An attorney for RpK of Oklahoma City, sent NASA a letter Oct. 19 asking the agency to either reconsider the termination or give the company $10 million for progress it made toward its unmet milestones. Under the terms of its Space Act Agreement, RpK cannot appeal its termination to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, which normally referees government contracting disputes.
RpK can, however, sue NASA in federal court. But the company first must exhaust a three-step appeals process that begins with NASA's COTS contracting officer and ends with the agency's associate administrator for exploration systems, Rich Gilbrech, who signed off on RpK's termination. RpK's attorney calls NASA's actions "arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of discretion that will not withstand judicial scrutiny should this matter remain unresolved after the three NASA levels of review."
China's Long March to the Moon - Beijing Heats Up Space Race (Source: New York Times)
Fifty years after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the world's first man-made satellite, and jolted the U.S. into a race for space, China is ramping up a new space contest -- with an eye on rival Japan. The China National Space Administration is scheduled to fire a "Long March" rocket to propel a satellite into lunar orbit, an important step toward China's goal of beating Japan to become the first Asian nation to put a man on the moon.
On the southern resort island of Hainan, where China is constructing its fourth space-launch center, officials are also planning to build a space-exploration theme park, with a grandstand for viewing rocket launches and shuttle buses that would ferry tourists around the rocket assembly plant, launch tower and other facilities. Much of what China has been doing is reinventing the wheel -- essentially replicating decades-old accomplishments by the U.S., Soviet Union and other nations. But, Chinese scientists, say, they are making advancements of their own.
Russia Launches Military Satellite (Source: SpaceToday.net)
A Molniya rocket launched a Russian military satellite early Tuesday, according to Russian media reports. THe Molniya-M rocket lifted off from the Plesetsk spaceport in northern Russia Tuesday and placed its payload into an elliptical orbit about an hour later. No details about the satellite, other than that it was for the Russian military, were released, and the launch had not been announced in advance.
Gordon, Miller, Udall Direct NASA to Halt Destruction of Aviation Study Records (Source: NASA Watch)
"By this letter, we are directing NASA to halt any destruction of records relating to the NAOMS project, whether in the possession of the agency or its contractors, and as defined in the attached Appendix. Destruction of documents requested as part of a Congressional inquiry is a violation of criminal federal law 18 U.S.C. 1505."
Space Shuttle Discovery Blasts Off From Florida Spaceport (Source: Reuters)
The U.S. space shuttle Discovery blasted off on a pillar of flames on Tuesday, soaring above Florida marshlands toward a rendezvous in two days with the International Space Station. Discovery's 14-day mission kicks off a refurbishment of the space outpost that will prepare the way for Europe to have its first permanent laboratory in orbit.
NASA Points to Foreign Competition to Spark Support (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
With Discovery on the launchpad ready for liftoff today and only 13 flights left until the three shuttles are mothballed, NASA's top officials are clamoring about a new space race to help push the agency into the future. Their effort, expressed in speeches and interviews during the past several months, is fueled by a fear that unless something sparks a public outcry for an invigorated space-exploration program, the U.S. could lose its global leadership in the quest for the stars. That fear in large part has been created by NASA's own plans for the future, including retiring the shuttle to make way for the $100 billion Constellation Program.
But three years after President Bush charged NASA to return to the moon by 2020, Constellation exists only on engineers' drawing boards and in dreams. There's a five-year gap between the last shuttle launch in 2010 and Constellation's first orbital flight. And there's no assurance that the new president who takes office in 2009 -- let alone the American public -- will endorse a repeat trip to the moon. Aides acknowledge that Griffin -- like the rest of the space community -- is hoping for some kind of a "Sputnik moment," an event capable of driving public demand for space exploration as the Soviet Union's launch of the first satellite did 50 years ago. And recently, he has been warning that America is already falling behind China's aggressive space program.
Not everyone wants to see the shuttle disappear so fast. U.S. Rep. Dave Weldon, R-Indialantic, is pushing to get NASA $1 billion more a year for a limited number of shuttle flights -- perhaps two a year -- until Constellation is ready to go. His aim, he says, is to maintain America's prestige as well as jobs at Kennedy Space Center. Visit http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/space/orl-shuttle2307oct23,0,6120181.story to view the article.
Marshall Role is Key to Ares Work (Source: Huntsville Times)
If America is to return to the moon, beat the determined Chinese and recapture a majority of the space business, it's going to have to rely on "The New Rocket Team" at Marshall Space Flight Center, the head of NASA said during a special ceremony Monday night at the Von Braun Center. Comparing Marshall's ongoing efforts to design and test the Ares I and Ares V rockets to the work of Dr. Wernher von Braun and his Army and NASA rocket teams, NASA Administrator Mike Griffin said the space agency would rely heavily on Huntsville's rocket engineers. That help is needed not only to return America to the moon but also to cut NASA reliance on the Russian Space Agency for crew and supply flights to the International Space Station, Griffin said.
Space Elevator Isn't Going Anywhere Yet (Source: CNET)
Turns out it's not so easy to build and race a space elevator. Who knew? For the third time in three years, no team has claimed the prize money in two NASA-sponsored technology challenges to build a robotic climber and a vertical tether that could one day comprise a workable space elevator. In theory, that elevator would transport supplies from the ground to space without expensive fuel or batteries. Despite the letdown, proponents of the technology were hopeful, and the roughly $1 million in prize money will roll over to next year's events. The contests are part of NASA's Centennial Challenges, a series of government-sponsored competitions that support space exploration by encouraging private industry and universities to develop related technologies for cash prizes.
Brazil to Make $385 Million Bid for Orbit Concession (Source: Xinhua)
The Brazilian government is to bid $385 million for the concession of a space orbit slot strategic to South America. "We need that orbital position," said Helio Costa, Brazil's Minister of Telecommunications. Costa will have a meeting Tuesday in Geneva, Switzerland, with representatives from Colombia, Bolivia and Peru to solve the impasse concerning the concession of the so-called orbit 68. The exploitation of the orbital slot was conceded to the Andean countries seven years ago. However, they had to launch a satellite by Sept. 2007 in order to keep the concession, which they failed to accomplish. According to international rules, other countries could bid for the orbital slot if the deadline expires.
Space Station Addition Should Boost Science (Source: Discovery Channel)
Before the 2003 Columbia accident, NASA used the launch date of the cargo currently loaded into shuttle Discovery as a computer screen-saver. So relentless was the march to install what will be the final U.S. component to the International Space Station, that managers overlooked blatant safety issues, investigators determined after the shuttle's demise. NASA insists it has absorbed the bitter lessons of Columbia and despite a presidential directive to be finished with space station construction in three years, feels no compunction to be driven by the calendar.
Discovery is delivering the space station's final linchpin: the school bus-sized Harmony module, which will attach to new laboratories owned by Europe and Japan. If the 14-day flight unfolds with few delays and no major problems, NASA plans to launch the first of its partners' laboratories on Dec. 6. The flight can't happen soon enough for the European Space Agency, which has weathered launch delays with compassion and patience even while its bank accounts dwindled. ESA's Columbus laboratory was supposed to fly in 2002. Delays with the station's Russian-owned living quarters cost ESA two years' time, which managers handled by slowing development and payments to its contractors.
ESA has a full slate of basic science and technology programs planned for its module, which will become the second of four planned laboratories on the station. Already aboard is the U.S. Destiny module. Japan's Kibo complex is slated for launch next year. Russia is expected to build and fly the station's last lab, though no launch date has been set. Visit http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/10/22/space-station-science-02.html to view the article.
October 22 News Items
Safety Concerns Aside, Discovery to Launch as Planned (Source: Palm Beach Post)
NASA engineers are evenly split over whether Discovery should fly its next mission without having repairs made to three of its 44 heat panels. "There was a great deal of evidence presented, and the preponderance of evidence in my mind says that we have an acceptable risk to go fly," shuttle program manager Wayne Hale said Tuesday. "And let me make sure you understand that. I didn't say it's safe to go fly and I wouldn't say that. We have an acceptable risk to go fly."
Entrepreneurs Envision a Sea Change in Commercial Space (Source: Space.com)
Entrepreneurial companies are determined to reshape the commercial space industry in the years ahead with ventures designed to reduce the cost of access to space. The wide scope of projects includes the development of vehicles for suborbital tourism, eventually leading to orbital vehicles that could provide transportation to and from lower cost habitats and laboratories in space and even take advantage of one of the planned orbiting fuel depots.
But bullish predictions such as these must be tempered by the realities of a gauntlet of policy, technology, finance and regulatory issues facing all of the entrepreneurs trying to provide public access across the space frontier. Jason Andrews, president of Andrews Space, in Seattle, predicted that vehicles capable of horizontal takeoff and airplane-like operations not only will reduce launch costs, but also stimulate new business in low Earth orbit and ultimately out to the Moon. Visit http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/071022-busmon-entrepreneurs.html to view the article.
Florida Teacher-Astronauts Assigned to 2008 Mission (Source: Houston Chronicle)
Two more of NASA's classroom teachers turned astronauts have been assigned to their first spaceflights. Ricky Arnold and Joe Acaba, who left teaching posts three years ago to join NASA's astronaut corps, are among seven astronauts assigned to the same assembly mission to the Space Station. Scheduled for the fall of 2008, the mission will deliver the last of four solar power modules to the orbital outpost. Acaba joined the space agency after five years of teaching high school and middle school math and science in Florida.
A Guggenheim Fund for Spaceflight (Source: Space Review)
Early aviation benefited from a private foundation that endowed research programs that improved the state of the art of key technologies. Pat Bahn makes the case for creating a similar fund to support the emerging commercial suborbital spaceflight industry. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/986/1 to view the article.
China, The US, and Space Solar Power (Source: Space Review)
A new study has concluded that space solar power is feasible, but leaves unanswered who should proceed and how. Taylor Dinerman argues that China, with its voracious appetite for energy, can play a role as both a customer and co-developer. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/985/1 to view the article.
Space War and Futurehype (Source: Space Review)
Projecting the future of space utilization, including the weaponization of space, is fraught with peril. Nader Elhefnawy looks back at one particularly alarmist prediction and what it means for current concerns about military activities in space. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/984/1 to view the article.
China Considers Commercial Shenzhou Flights (Source: Flight International)
In the second quarter of 2008 a legal bill may be introduced into China's legislative upper chamber, the National People's Congress, to enable public private partnerships (PPP) for the use of the nation's spaceports and its manned spacecraft Shenzhou. The legislation will at the very least update the country's law covering its space transport assets. This information adds detail to a pro-commercial spaceflight statement made earlier this year by the head of the China National Space Administration, Sun Laiyan. The PPP commercial options could include, private management of existing spaceports, China's rockets launching other country's low-Earth orbit microgravity experiments, its spaceports used by third parties' rockets for orbiting similar experiments, or even manned flights and LEO science missions using Shenzhou.
20,000 Fragments of Space Debris Circling the Earth (Source: InterFax)
"Space litter" may hamper future exploration projects, deputy representative of the Federal Space Agency to the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC) Vladimir Priklonsky said. "There are 20,000 registered pieces of space debris in orbit alongside fragments invisible from the Earth," Priklonsky said. The space debris, including dead satellites, rocket stages and their fragments, is moving at various orbits, at heights from several hundreds of kilometers to 36,000 kilometers. Most of the space debris has been traced on low circumterrestrial orbits at a height lower than 2,000 kilometers.
Alabama Space Club Chapter Honors Filmmakers (Source: Huntsville Times)
The man who created the megasuccessful "Star Wars" franchise was honored in Huntsville by the National Space Club. Legendary movie director George Lucas received the National Space Club media award. The club also presented awards in space flight, astronautics, community service, aerospace education and scholarship. Previous media winners have included the HBO series "From the Earth to the Moon"; Discovery Channel founder John S. Hendricks, who grew up in Huntsville; producer/director Ron Howard and CNN's Lou Dobbs.
NASA Withholds Survey on Air Safety (Source: AP)
Anxious to avoid upsetting air travelers, NASA is withholding results from an unprecedented national survey of pilots that found safety problems like near collisions and runway interference occur far more frequently than the government previously recognized. NASA gathered the information under an $8.5 million safety project, through telephone interviews with roughly 24,000 commercial and general aviation pilots over nearly four years. Since ending the interviews at the beginning of 2005 and shutting down the project completely more than one year ago, the space agency has refused to divulge the results publicly.
Last week, NASA ordered the contractor that conducted the survey to purge all related data from its computers. A NASA official said revealing the findings could damage the public's confidence in airlines and affect airline profits. NASA also cited pilot confidentiality as a reason, although no airlines were identified in the survey, nor were the identities of pilots, all of whom were promised anonymity. Among other results, the pilots reported at least twice as many bird strikes, near mid-air collisions and runway incursions as other government monitoring systems show, according to a person familiar with the results who was not authorized to discuss them publicly.
The survey also revealed higher-than-expected numbers of pilots who experienced "in-close approach changes" - potentially dangerous, last-minute instructions to alter landing plans. Officials at the NASA Ames Research Center in California have said they want to publish their own report on the project by year's end. Discussing NASA's decision not to release the survey data, Congressman Brad Miller said: "There is a faint odor about it all."
NASA engineers are evenly split over whether Discovery should fly its next mission without having repairs made to three of its 44 heat panels. "There was a great deal of evidence presented, and the preponderance of evidence in my mind says that we have an acceptable risk to go fly," shuttle program manager Wayne Hale said Tuesday. "And let me make sure you understand that. I didn't say it's safe to go fly and I wouldn't say that. We have an acceptable risk to go fly."
Entrepreneurs Envision a Sea Change in Commercial Space (Source: Space.com)
Entrepreneurial companies are determined to reshape the commercial space industry in the years ahead with ventures designed to reduce the cost of access to space. The wide scope of projects includes the development of vehicles for suborbital tourism, eventually leading to orbital vehicles that could provide transportation to and from lower cost habitats and laboratories in space and even take advantage of one of the planned orbiting fuel depots.
But bullish predictions such as these must be tempered by the realities of a gauntlet of policy, technology, finance and regulatory issues facing all of the entrepreneurs trying to provide public access across the space frontier. Jason Andrews, president of Andrews Space, in Seattle, predicted that vehicles capable of horizontal takeoff and airplane-like operations not only will reduce launch costs, but also stimulate new business in low Earth orbit and ultimately out to the Moon. Visit http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/071022-busmon-entrepreneurs.html to view the article.
Florida Teacher-Astronauts Assigned to 2008 Mission (Source: Houston Chronicle)
Two more of NASA's classroom teachers turned astronauts have been assigned to their first spaceflights. Ricky Arnold and Joe Acaba, who left teaching posts three years ago to join NASA's astronaut corps, are among seven astronauts assigned to the same assembly mission to the Space Station. Scheduled for the fall of 2008, the mission will deliver the last of four solar power modules to the orbital outpost. Acaba joined the space agency after five years of teaching high school and middle school math and science in Florida.
A Guggenheim Fund for Spaceflight (Source: Space Review)
Early aviation benefited from a private foundation that endowed research programs that improved the state of the art of key technologies. Pat Bahn makes the case for creating a similar fund to support the emerging commercial suborbital spaceflight industry. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/986/1 to view the article.
China, The US, and Space Solar Power (Source: Space Review)
A new study has concluded that space solar power is feasible, but leaves unanswered who should proceed and how. Taylor Dinerman argues that China, with its voracious appetite for energy, can play a role as both a customer and co-developer. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/985/1 to view the article.
Space War and Futurehype (Source: Space Review)
Projecting the future of space utilization, including the weaponization of space, is fraught with peril. Nader Elhefnawy looks back at one particularly alarmist prediction and what it means for current concerns about military activities in space. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/984/1 to view the article.
China Considers Commercial Shenzhou Flights (Source: Flight International)
In the second quarter of 2008 a legal bill may be introduced into China's legislative upper chamber, the National People's Congress, to enable public private partnerships (PPP) for the use of the nation's spaceports and its manned spacecraft Shenzhou. The legislation will at the very least update the country's law covering its space transport assets. This information adds detail to a pro-commercial spaceflight statement made earlier this year by the head of the China National Space Administration, Sun Laiyan. The PPP commercial options could include, private management of existing spaceports, China's rockets launching other country's low-Earth orbit microgravity experiments, its spaceports used by third parties' rockets for orbiting similar experiments, or even manned flights and LEO science missions using Shenzhou.
20,000 Fragments of Space Debris Circling the Earth (Source: InterFax)
"Space litter" may hamper future exploration projects, deputy representative of the Federal Space Agency to the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC) Vladimir Priklonsky said. "There are 20,000 registered pieces of space debris in orbit alongside fragments invisible from the Earth," Priklonsky said. The space debris, including dead satellites, rocket stages and their fragments, is moving at various orbits, at heights from several hundreds of kilometers to 36,000 kilometers. Most of the space debris has been traced on low circumterrestrial orbits at a height lower than 2,000 kilometers.
Alabama Space Club Chapter Honors Filmmakers (Source: Huntsville Times)
The man who created the megasuccessful "Star Wars" franchise was honored in Huntsville by the National Space Club. Legendary movie director George Lucas received the National Space Club media award. The club also presented awards in space flight, astronautics, community service, aerospace education and scholarship. Previous media winners have included the HBO series "From the Earth to the Moon"; Discovery Channel founder John S. Hendricks, who grew up in Huntsville; producer/director Ron Howard and CNN's Lou Dobbs.
NASA Withholds Survey on Air Safety (Source: AP)
Anxious to avoid upsetting air travelers, NASA is withholding results from an unprecedented national survey of pilots that found safety problems like near collisions and runway interference occur far more frequently than the government previously recognized. NASA gathered the information under an $8.5 million safety project, through telephone interviews with roughly 24,000 commercial and general aviation pilots over nearly four years. Since ending the interviews at the beginning of 2005 and shutting down the project completely more than one year ago, the space agency has refused to divulge the results publicly.
Last week, NASA ordered the contractor that conducted the survey to purge all related data from its computers. A NASA official said revealing the findings could damage the public's confidence in airlines and affect airline profits. NASA also cited pilot confidentiality as a reason, although no airlines were identified in the survey, nor were the identities of pilots, all of whom were promised anonymity. Among other results, the pilots reported at least twice as many bird strikes, near mid-air collisions and runway incursions as other government monitoring systems show, according to a person familiar with the results who was not authorized to discuss them publicly.
The survey also revealed higher-than-expected numbers of pilots who experienced "in-close approach changes" - potentially dangerous, last-minute instructions to alter landing plans. Officials at the NASA Ames Research Center in California have said they want to publish their own report on the project by year's end. Discussing NASA's decision not to release the survey data, Congressman Brad Miller said: "There is a faint odor about it all."
October 21 News Items
Four Globalstar Satellites Put Into Orbit by Russian Rocket (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
Four Globalstar telecommunications satellites blasted off Sunday from the Baikonur spaceport in Kazakhstan atop a Russian Soyuz rocket and were successfully placed into orbit, an Arianespace spokesman said. The first generation of these satellites were launched in 1999 by Starsem, the Russian-European subsidiary of Arianespace from Baikonur. Four more satellites were put in orbit in May this year. A second constellation of 24 telecommunications satellites is expected to go into orbit starting in 2009, using Russian Soyuz rockets but launched from a South American space center in French Guiana.
Space Station: A Modest Proposal to Solve the Problem (Source: What's New)
Remember the scary incident in June when the Russian computers that control ISS orientation crashed while Atlantis was docked? They found a way around it, but not the cause. James Oberg in IEEE Spectrum explains what happened: a cable connector corroded. It’s a swamp up there. Meanwhile, an opportunity presents itself. Tom Pickens, a Texas investor who amassed his billions by shrewd inheritance, believes Big Pharma should run ISS and reap big profits from – well, protein crystals grown in zero gravity - gasp! In the past I’ve suggested giving the ISS to China, but they don’t seem to want it. Why not give it to Tom Pickens instead?
NASA Jet Hits Tree (Source: Florida Today)
A NASA jet used to train astronauts to land the shuttle clipped a tree during landing Saturday. The Gulfstream jet had minor damage on the left wingtip, including a broken position light and strobe light. The plane is a business jet that's been modified to act like the shuttle. An instructor pilot was behind the controls at the time of the accident. Three other people were on board the plane. No one was injured.
Soyuz Capsule Returns ISS Crewmembers to Earth (Source: SpaceflightNow.com)
A Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft landed in Kazakhstan Sunday, bringing outgoing space station commander Fyodor Yurchikhin, flight engineer Oleg Kotov and Malaysia's first man in space, Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, safely back to Earth after a steeper-than-usual descent that left the ship well short of its intended landing site.
Department of Labor: Inspiring a New Generation of Aerospace Engineers (Source: Challenger Centers)
On Oct. 18, the Department of Labor (DOL) invited the Challenger Center for Space Science to participate in a conference with state lieutenant governors, NASA and leaders in aerospace education and industry. Discussions sparked by keynote speaker Dr. Eric Jolly, President of the Science Museum of Minnesota focused on the need for innovative solutions to inspire and motivate today's youth in the core subject areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) to meet a critical shortfall of engineers in the workforce as baby boomers begin leaving the workforce. General consensus of the roundtable participants was that middle school hands-on laboratory experiences were a particularly successful way of impacting the pre-high school students to choose to study STEM-disciplines.
Personal Spaceflight Bigwigs Will Be in Las Cruces This Week (Source: Las Cruces Sun-News)
Southern New Mexico becomes the center of the universe for the personal spaceflight industry this week as many of the young industry's heavyweights gather for the International Symposium for Personal Spaceflight and the Wirefly X Prize Cup. The symposium begins Tuesday with a public forum and continues through Thursday with a who's who of industry experts and pioneers. Among them will be Elon Musk, founder of PayPal and launch vehicle developer SpaceX; Alex Tai of Virgin Galactic, the company planning to base part of its operations at Spaceport America; and "space tourist" Anoushe Ansari, who in 2006 boarded a Soyuz spacecraft and spent two weeks aboard the international space station. The symposium strives to foster growth in the commercial space industry by bringing some of its biggest names together in one place.
Enjoy Space Expo,Air Show for $28 (Source: Florida Today)
The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex will be the center of the universe for space buffs during the first weekend in November when it marks 50 years of spaceflight and hosts the World Space Expo with astronauts, air shows and a time-warp barbecue. Visit http://www.worldspaceexpo.com for information.
Four Globalstar telecommunications satellites blasted off Sunday from the Baikonur spaceport in Kazakhstan atop a Russian Soyuz rocket and were successfully placed into orbit, an Arianespace spokesman said. The first generation of these satellites were launched in 1999 by Starsem, the Russian-European subsidiary of Arianespace from Baikonur. Four more satellites were put in orbit in May this year. A second constellation of 24 telecommunications satellites is expected to go into orbit starting in 2009, using Russian Soyuz rockets but launched from a South American space center in French Guiana.
Space Station: A Modest Proposal to Solve the Problem (Source: What's New)
Remember the scary incident in June when the Russian computers that control ISS orientation crashed while Atlantis was docked? They found a way around it, but not the cause. James Oberg in IEEE Spectrum explains what happened: a cable connector corroded. It’s a swamp up there. Meanwhile, an opportunity presents itself. Tom Pickens, a Texas investor who amassed his billions by shrewd inheritance, believes Big Pharma should run ISS and reap big profits from – well, protein crystals grown in zero gravity - gasp! In the past I’ve suggested giving the ISS to China, but they don’t seem to want it. Why not give it to Tom Pickens instead?
NASA Jet Hits Tree (Source: Florida Today)
A NASA jet used to train astronauts to land the shuttle clipped a tree during landing Saturday. The Gulfstream jet had minor damage on the left wingtip, including a broken position light and strobe light. The plane is a business jet that's been modified to act like the shuttle. An instructor pilot was behind the controls at the time of the accident. Three other people were on board the plane. No one was injured.
Soyuz Capsule Returns ISS Crewmembers to Earth (Source: SpaceflightNow.com)
A Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft landed in Kazakhstan Sunday, bringing outgoing space station commander Fyodor Yurchikhin, flight engineer Oleg Kotov and Malaysia's first man in space, Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, safely back to Earth after a steeper-than-usual descent that left the ship well short of its intended landing site.
Department of Labor: Inspiring a New Generation of Aerospace Engineers (Source: Challenger Centers)
On Oct. 18, the Department of Labor (DOL) invited the Challenger Center for Space Science to participate in a conference with state lieutenant governors, NASA and leaders in aerospace education and industry. Discussions sparked by keynote speaker Dr. Eric Jolly, President of the Science Museum of Minnesota focused on the need for innovative solutions to inspire and motivate today's youth in the core subject areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) to meet a critical shortfall of engineers in the workforce as baby boomers begin leaving the workforce. General consensus of the roundtable participants was that middle school hands-on laboratory experiences were a particularly successful way of impacting the pre-high school students to choose to study STEM-disciplines.
Personal Spaceflight Bigwigs Will Be in Las Cruces This Week (Source: Las Cruces Sun-News)
Southern New Mexico becomes the center of the universe for the personal spaceflight industry this week as many of the young industry's heavyweights gather for the International Symposium for Personal Spaceflight and the Wirefly X Prize Cup. The symposium begins Tuesday with a public forum and continues through Thursday with a who's who of industry experts and pioneers. Among them will be Elon Musk, founder of PayPal and launch vehicle developer SpaceX; Alex Tai of Virgin Galactic, the company planning to base part of its operations at Spaceport America; and "space tourist" Anoushe Ansari, who in 2006 boarded a Soyuz spacecraft and spent two weeks aboard the international space station. The symposium strives to foster growth in the commercial space industry by bringing some of its biggest names together in one place.
Enjoy Space Expo,Air Show for $28 (Source: Florida Today)
The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex will be the center of the universe for space buffs during the first weekend in November when it marks 50 years of spaceflight and hosts the World Space Expo with astronauts, air shows and a time-warp barbecue. Visit http://www.worldspaceexpo.com for information.
October 20 News Items
Rocketplane to Focus on Space Tourism (Source: NewsOK)
Rocketplane's recent loss of a multimillion-dollar contract with NASA may concern outsiders about the company's future in space tourism. But the concern stops there. Instead, company officials say the halt on the NASA project means Rocketplane will be able to turn its focus to another project: getting tourists into space. "We're looking at a stronger focus on the XP,” said George French, chairman and chief executive officer. The XP is Rocketplane Global's tourism spacecraft.
Although Rocketplane Kistler was unable to raise enough funds to keep its NASA contract, Rocketplane Global is attempting to raise funds for the XP spacecraft; a task French said will be more successful. "XP requires lower levels of funding to move forward,” he said. Rocketplane Global will release the latest designs for the XP next week at the X Prize cup in New Mexico. French said although Rocketplane Kistler and Rocketplane Global are operated by the same parent company, Rocketplane Inc., the two subsidiaries are separate. He said a backslide for one company does not equal a backslide for the other. French said though the loss of the NASA contract may also make it look as if Rocketplane Kistler has abandoned its K-1 project, that is not the case. "We've always had a business plan for the K-1,” he said. "We have other customers in mind. We are looking at all of our options.”
Authority Provides SBIR/STTR "Boot Camp" (Source: TRDA)
Florida's Technological Research & Development Authority (TRDA) is sponsoring a Nov. 8-9 "boot camp" for small businesses interested in pursuing federal SBIR and STTR research grants. Increasing the number of SBIR/STTR awards to Florida businesses has been an important goal for the state as it attempts to diversify its high tech economy. The event will be held at the new TRDA Business Innovation Center in Melbourne. To register or for more information, contact Bonnie O'Regan at 321-872-1050 ext. 107, or mailto:Boregan@trda.org. Also ask about TRDA's six-week "Roadmap to Success" workshop series for emerging businesses.
NASA Readies Shuttle for Tuesday Flight (Source: WESH)
The astronauts who will fly aboard space shuttle Discovery next week arrived at Kennedy Space Center on Friday. The crew took part in training exercises last week, but they took a week off leading up to their arrival in Central Florida. The countdown to launch begins on Saturday at 2 p.m. Discovery will carry parts for the International Space Station and is scheduled to liftoff on Tuesday at 11:38 a.m.
C-Band Fight Tops Agenda at World Radio Conference (Source: Space News)
The world's major satellite-fleet operators — and some of their biggest customers like the U.S. Department of Defense — will begin a four-week battle Oct. 22 to protect their access to 800 megahertz of precious radio spectrum that has been the exclusive preserve of the satellite industry for years, but now is coveted by terrestrial wireless broadband companies. At stake, satellite industry officials say, is the continued functioning of hundreds of thousands of satellite transmission networks that currently enjoy unencumbered use of the C-band radio spectrum from 3.4 to 4.2 GHz. Claiming that their expected growth rates justify the demand for more spectrum, backers of WiMax and other terrestrial wireless broadband technologies want the rights to enter that spectrum even though they concede that coexistence with satellite signals is impractical in many cases.
Chinese Military Space Plans Fuel Concern in Washington (Source: Space News)
Growing concern over U.S. satellite vulnerability was highlighted recently by a report on Chinese space warfare plans and a U.S. lawmaker's call for open hearings on space security. "The Chinese People's Liberation Army and Space Warfare," a report released Oct. 17 by the American Enterprise Institute, concludes that China is preparing for war in space and considers the United States a likely adversary. "They're very serious about developing means to attack targets in the atmosphere and on the Earth's surface from space," Larry Wortzel, the report's author, said.
Orbital Decision Near on Taurus 2 (Source: Space News)
Orbital Sciences Corp. is more optimistic than ever about building a medium-lift rocket, called Taurus 2, which would replace the Boeing-built Delta 2 launch vehicle for U.S. government and commercial customers. Delta 2 is scheduled to be retired around 2010. Orbital Sciences plans a preliminary design review of its Taurus 2 project in December. If the technical and financial assessments remain positive, the company will proceed with early development until a final decision is made in August or September 2008 on whether to proceed with production.
Congressman Pushes NRO, Air Force Space Consolidation (Source: Space News)
The top Republican on the House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee, Rep. Terry Everett (R-Ala) plans to ask for White House support to once again consolidate coordination of classified and unclassified space efforts under one leader. Everett said combining those positions, which previously had been done between late 2001 and 2005, would improve coordination of military and intelligence community space work on issues including protecting satellites. The Commission to Assess United States National Security Space Management and Organization, headed by Donald Rumsfeld from 1998 to 2000, the year before his selection as U.S. Defense Secretary, strongly had recommended combining the two jobs. Opponents of combining the two roles have argued that the two jobs combined are too much responsibility for a single official.
Rocketplane's recent loss of a multimillion-dollar contract with NASA may concern outsiders about the company's future in space tourism. But the concern stops there. Instead, company officials say the halt on the NASA project means Rocketplane will be able to turn its focus to another project: getting tourists into space. "We're looking at a stronger focus on the XP,” said George French, chairman and chief executive officer. The XP is Rocketplane Global's tourism spacecraft.
Although Rocketplane Kistler was unable to raise enough funds to keep its NASA contract, Rocketplane Global is attempting to raise funds for the XP spacecraft; a task French said will be more successful. "XP requires lower levels of funding to move forward,” he said. Rocketplane Global will release the latest designs for the XP next week at the X Prize cup in New Mexico. French said although Rocketplane Kistler and Rocketplane Global are operated by the same parent company, Rocketplane Inc., the two subsidiaries are separate. He said a backslide for one company does not equal a backslide for the other. French said though the loss of the NASA contract may also make it look as if Rocketplane Kistler has abandoned its K-1 project, that is not the case. "We've always had a business plan for the K-1,” he said. "We have other customers in mind. We are looking at all of our options.”
Authority Provides SBIR/STTR "Boot Camp" (Source: TRDA)
Florida's Technological Research & Development Authority (TRDA) is sponsoring a Nov. 8-9 "boot camp" for small businesses interested in pursuing federal SBIR and STTR research grants. Increasing the number of SBIR/STTR awards to Florida businesses has been an important goal for the state as it attempts to diversify its high tech economy. The event will be held at the new TRDA Business Innovation Center in Melbourne. To register or for more information, contact Bonnie O'Regan at 321-872-1050 ext. 107, or mailto:Boregan@trda.org. Also ask about TRDA's six-week "Roadmap to Success" workshop series for emerging businesses.
NASA Readies Shuttle for Tuesday Flight (Source: WESH)
The astronauts who will fly aboard space shuttle Discovery next week arrived at Kennedy Space Center on Friday. The crew took part in training exercises last week, but they took a week off leading up to their arrival in Central Florida. The countdown to launch begins on Saturday at 2 p.m. Discovery will carry parts for the International Space Station and is scheduled to liftoff on Tuesday at 11:38 a.m.
C-Band Fight Tops Agenda at World Radio Conference (Source: Space News)
The world's major satellite-fleet operators — and some of their biggest customers like the U.S. Department of Defense — will begin a four-week battle Oct. 22 to protect their access to 800 megahertz of precious radio spectrum that has been the exclusive preserve of the satellite industry for years, but now is coveted by terrestrial wireless broadband companies. At stake, satellite industry officials say, is the continued functioning of hundreds of thousands of satellite transmission networks that currently enjoy unencumbered use of the C-band radio spectrum from 3.4 to 4.2 GHz. Claiming that their expected growth rates justify the demand for more spectrum, backers of WiMax and other terrestrial wireless broadband technologies want the rights to enter that spectrum even though they concede that coexistence with satellite signals is impractical in many cases.
Chinese Military Space Plans Fuel Concern in Washington (Source: Space News)
Growing concern over U.S. satellite vulnerability was highlighted recently by a report on Chinese space warfare plans and a U.S. lawmaker's call for open hearings on space security. "The Chinese People's Liberation Army and Space Warfare," a report released Oct. 17 by the American Enterprise Institute, concludes that China is preparing for war in space and considers the United States a likely adversary. "They're very serious about developing means to attack targets in the atmosphere and on the Earth's surface from space," Larry Wortzel, the report's author, said.
Orbital Decision Near on Taurus 2 (Source: Space News)
Orbital Sciences Corp. is more optimistic than ever about building a medium-lift rocket, called Taurus 2, which would replace the Boeing-built Delta 2 launch vehicle for U.S. government and commercial customers. Delta 2 is scheduled to be retired around 2010. Orbital Sciences plans a preliminary design review of its Taurus 2 project in December. If the technical and financial assessments remain positive, the company will proceed with early development until a final decision is made in August or September 2008 on whether to proceed with production.
Congressman Pushes NRO, Air Force Space Consolidation (Source: Space News)
The top Republican on the House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee, Rep. Terry Everett (R-Ala) plans to ask for White House support to once again consolidate coordination of classified and unclassified space efforts under one leader. Everett said combining those positions, which previously had been done between late 2001 and 2005, would improve coordination of military and intelligence community space work on issues including protecting satellites. The Commission to Assess United States National Security Space Management and Organization, headed by Donald Rumsfeld from 1998 to 2000, the year before his selection as U.S. Defense Secretary, strongly had recommended combining the two jobs. Opponents of combining the two roles have argued that the two jobs combined are too much responsibility for a single official.
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