January 18 News Items

India Planning To Launch Satellite To Study The Sun (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
Bangalore, India (PTI) Jan 18, 2008 - In the midst of the buzz about Chandrayaan, the moon mission, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is planning to launch a satellite to study the sun. 'Aditya' should be up in space by 2012 to study the dynamic solar corona, the outermost region of the sun.

Harris Wins Contract to Support Air Force Satellite Control Network (Source: Florida Today)
Harris Corp. has landed a contract to provide support services for the 50th Space Wing's Air Force Satellite Control Network. The contract includes six options and is potentially worth $410 million.

Space: The Final Electoral Frontier? (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
If an internet search for questions for the presidential candidates of both parties is any guide to public political sentiment, then space, it appears, is fast emerging as a hot election issue. Space fans of all political persuasions have come out in force over the last few days, posing questions online for upcoming Republican and Democratic presidential debates. The top questions -- submitted and voted on by online readers -- will be put to the candidates during the Republican Presidential Debate on Jan 30 and the Democratic Presidential Primary Debate on Jan 31.

Questions about space have been posed in the Education, Environment, Economy, Leadership and Social Issues categories. (There is no dedicated Space or Science category.) As of Thursday afternoon, at least two questions about the candidates' vision for the future of space exploration made it into the top 50 questions for the Democrats , while seven space-related questions were among the 100 most popular questions for Republican candidates.

Of all the candidates, however, Hilary Clinton is widely considered to have the most developed and far-reaching space policy. That might change in coming days, as space fans clamor for answers to their questions, and candidates feel obliged to elaborate their positions in the run up to the Florida primary on Jan. 29.

Interference: Astronomy in the Third Millenium (Source: What's New)
At a dark energy workshop in September, Steve Weinberg talked about an "infantile fixation on putting people into space." At the American Astronomical Society meeting in Austin last week, an angry Mike Griffin showed the astronomy community what Weinberg meant. "I hope this is what you want," he sneered, referring to a congressional edict requiring NASA to spend $60M on the Space Interferometry Mission (SIM), rather than the $22M it had planned.

Griffin promised steep cuts in: the James Webb space telescope, dark-energy searches, x-ray astronomy and gravity waves in return. The most exciting discovery in astronomy in this century has been the abundance of extra-solar planets, even as hope of finding extra-terrestrial life in the solar system fades. Most of the extra-solar planets have been huge or we couldn’t see them, which would make life as we know it impossible. With an interferometer baseline of 9 meters SIM should easily detect Earth-sized planets.

Groups Raise Objections to MDA Sale (Source: SpaceToday.net)
A wide range of individuals and groups, ranging from a former foreign minister to an autoworkers' union, are protesting the sale of the space business of Canadian firm MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA) to a US company because they believe it violates a landmine treaty. Last week MDA announced it was selling its space business, which includes the robotic arms for the space shuttle and ISS as well as the RADARSAT spacecraft, to US company Alliant Techsystems (ATK) for $1.3 billion. However, the Canadian Auto Workers union, which represents some MDA employees, and former Canadian foreign affairs minister Lloyd Axworthy are seeking to block the sale, arguing that it violates an anti-landmine provision signed by Canada that prohibits the transfer of public money to companies that manufacture landmines. ATK manufactures landmines for NATO countries and other allies as part of its armament business, and the US is not a signatory to the treaty.

Space Agency Satellites to Monitor Climate Change (Source: Reuters)
Space agencies including NASA have agreed to use their next generation of satellites to help monitor climate change, the United Nations weather agency said. The consensus came at a high-level meeting this week in New Orleans, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said. The aim is to ensure that satellites launched over the next 20 years constantly record parameters such as sea levels and greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Life-Forming Chemicals Found in Distant Galaxy (Source: Discovery News)
Radio astronomers collecting data from a galaxy about 250 million light-years from Earth recently stumbled upon something intriguing: building blocks for life. The astronomers were testing a new, highly sensitive science instrument at the Arecibo Observatory and set their sights on a distant galaxy that seldom disappoints: the ultra-luminous, dual-core Arp 220, a veritable factory for star production. Arp 220 is so thick with stars that astronomers estimate supernovas, the suicidal explosions of young massive stars, are happening four times a year, as compared to our own relatively quiescent Milky Way galaxy, with a supernova about every half-century or so.

So it was with an open mind and no set agenda that astronomers collected data for about 30 hours last April using a device that analyzes multiple frequencies simultaneously. The instrument can detect chemicals that incoming radio waves have passed through before reaching the telescope's collecting dish. What they found, however, was totally unexpected: methanimine and hydrogen cyanide. The discovery, which was unveiled at the American Astronomical Society conference in Austin, Texas, last week, is significant because methanimine and hydrogen cyanide are building blocks for amino acids, the foundation of life.