January 25 News Items

US, Russian Citizens Want Weapons-Free Outer Space: Poll (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
Washington (AFP) Jan 24, 2008 - Most Americans and Russians want their governments to ensure a weapons-free outer space and would back a treaty underpinning the move, a poll showed Thursday. Seventy-eight percent of Americans and 67 percent of Russians said their leaderships should refrain from deploying any weapons in space as long as no other country does so, according to the poll by http://www.WorldPublicOpinion.org.

CNES To Sell Spot Stake This Year (Source: Space News)
The French space agency, CNES, will sell its 41 percent equity stake in the Spot Image Earth-observation services company this year but the French government will retain its 32.5 percent ownership of the Arianespace launch consortium, CNES President Yannick d'Escatha said Jan. 24.

Russia's Rival to GPS Hit by Technical Problems (Source: Space News)
Russia's bid to create a rival to the U.S. Global Positioning System, or GPS, has been delayed by equipment flaws and other technical problems, a senior Cabinet official said Wednesday.

Bush Signs Off on New Export Regs (Source: Space News)
The Bush administration released arms export regulation changes Jan. 22, saying they "will advance a more efficient and transparent export licensing process and enhance dispute resolution mechanisms." The administration changes affect both the State Department's International Traffic in Arms Regulations and the Commerce Department's dual-use exports.

Griffin Downplays Ares Vibration Problem (Source: Space News)
NASA Administrator Mike Griffin said rocket engineers have numerous options for addressing a potentially dangerous spacecraft vibration issue discovered during computer flight simulations of the launcher the U.S. space agency is building to replace the space shuttle.

Russia Puts South African Satellite Launch on Hold (Source: Red Orbit)
Russian Federal Space Agency chief Anatoliy Perminov said on Jan. 23 there is no opportunity for launching South Africa's satellite Sumbandila. On reasons for Russia's incompliance with obligations to launch South Africa's satellite, he said, "unfortunately, the Russian Defence Ministry refused to launch this satellite, as the South African Defence Ministry for its turn refused to use our satellite. The two countries' defence ministries decided to go their own way, and we did not interfere in these affairs. Today there is no opportunity for the launch," he said.

Russia's Shtil submarine-launched booster rocket should have launched South Africa's Sumbandila remote sensing satellite in 2007. In exchange for the launching service Russia should have got an opportunity to deploy a ground telemetry station to receive data from booster rockets on the South African territory.

Science on the Space Station: A Lot of Paperwork is Involved (Source: What's New)
Expectations for the $100B International Space Station were high in 1998 when on-orbit assembly began, but recent collaborations put it in perspective. An Aeronautics professor at the University of Tokyo and the Japan Origami Airplane Association expect astronaut Koichi Wakata to launch a heat-resistant paper plane back to Earth from the ISS later this year. It’s expected to survive reentry. Another Japanese astronaut is training with the world-champion boomerang thrower to find out on the ISS if a paper boomerang can circle in zero gravity. It can't.

Space Supporter Weldon to Retire from Congress (Source: ERAU)
Congressman Dave Weldon, a Republican representing much of Florida's Space Coast, announced his intention to retire from the House of Representatives at end of his current term. First elected in 1994, Weldon has ascended to a senior position in the Congress, with a seat on the powerful Appropriations Committee. Weldon has been a vocal supporter of the space program.