January 7 News Items

Sen. Mel Martinez Featured at Jan. 15 Luncheon (Source: NSC)
The National Space Club (Florida Committee) and the Tiger Bay Club will jointly host U.S. Senator Mel Martinez for a luncheon meeting on Jan. 15 at the Melbourne Airport Hilton. Sen. Martinez will discuss space program issues along with other issues. Call Alden Jacobus at 321-777-4998 or email spacecoasttigerbay@cfl.rr.com for information and reservations.

Japan Plans to Cut Rates for Satellite Launches (Source: Bloomberg)
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Asia's largest aerospace company, plans to reduce satellite launch fees in Japan by about 35 percent next year to be competitive with rivals in the U.S. and Europe. The company, which charges about 10 billion yen ($92 million) to launch Japan's H-2A rocket, aims to trim rates to about $60 million to $70 million. The company also plans to cut the time between orders and liftoff by a third to one year.

Mitsubishi Heavy took over space-launch services, including those for the H-2A rocket, from the Japanese government on April 1 and plans to compete with bigger rivals including Arianespace, the European rocket-launch venture that controls more than half of the world market for launching commercial satellites. Japan has launched 13 H2A rockets, including a failed attempt in November 2003. Mitsubishi Heavy sent two satellites into orbit for government-related firms since assuming control of the H-2A rocket project.

China Set to Launch Manned Mission in 2008 (Source: RIA Novosti)
China is planning to launch its third manned spacecraft and 15 carrier rockets, and orbit 17 satellites in 2008, a senior space official said on Monday. The spacecraft Shenzhou-7 with three astronauts on board is likely to lift off after the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008, said Huang Qiang, secretary general of China's Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (COSTIND). China, which has recently unveiled comprehensive space exploration plans, is only the third country in the world capable of launching manned spaceflights, after the United States and Russia.

Gantry Delay Pushes Back 1st Soyuz Flight from Guiana (Source: Space News)
The maiden flight of Russia's veteran Soyuz rocket from Europe's Guiana Space Center here is likely to slip by several months, to mid-2009, following delays in production of a specially designed mobile gantry that is being built in Russia. Unlike almost every other aspect of the Soyuz launch installation, the mobile gantry is not a copy of the Soyuz launch installations long in use at Russia's Plesetsk and Baikonur spaceports. For Europe's Soyuz operations, the satellite payload will be placed upright onto the vehicle rather than integrated horizontally as is the common Russian practice. Whether the mid-2009 inaugural-launch date can be maintained will depend in part on how smoothly the Russian engineering teams due to arrive here in March are integrated into daily operations.

Did Asteroids Boost Life on Earth? (Source: Cosmos)
Asteroids, oft maligned as harbingers of doom, might have sparked one of the greatest explosions of biodiversity in Earth's history. A new theory suggests that an intense period of asteroid impacts 470 million years ago led to a "renaissance" of diversity on Earth, during the so-called Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event (GOBE).

Life before the asteroids was "primitive," consisting mainly of invertebrates including worms and snails. Many of these species survived the bombardment, but sharing life's stage with them were new organisms, many more complex and specialised than anything that came before. "One can say that the [GOBE] represents the time when biodiversity changed from an all-time low to modern levels." It's unclear how the asteroids and the biodiversity spike are linked, but one possibility is that the impacts created new environmental niches for life on Earth, forcing organisms to change and adapt. It's also possible that the asteroid impacts might have wiped out the most dominant forms of animal life at that time, giving other types a chance to flourish.

COTS 1.5 Roundup (Source: Space Fellowship)
After NASA revoked Rocketplane Kistler the COTS development contract last year due to the missing of required milestones, they decided to run a second competition with the funds, sometimes called COTS 1.5. While the other winner of the COTS phase 1 contract, SpaceX, remains on course for their demonstration flights in 2009, there is $174.7 million available for a new contender. The new contender will have to demonstrate its capabilities for the COTS flights after the Shuttle is retired in 2010.

Of course, the companies that failed to be selected for phase 1 are the natural contenders. Among them are t/Space, SpaceDev and Andrews Space, additionally new alliances are being formed to enter the bidding, SPACEHAB and PlanetSpace for example. These organisations all entered the competition before the deadline in mid-November 2007. The selection of one or more winners is currently scheduled for February 2008. Visit http://spacefellowship.com/News/?p=4127 for summaries of each contender.

Aerospace Medicine Gearing Up for Tourists in Space (Source: AMNews)
A commercial space flight industry is working to make the adventure and romance of space travel available to the general public -- or at least to those with $200,000 or more to spare. Space tourism, still in its embryonic stages, has some experts estimating that 10,000 to 15,000 people a year will fly in orbital and suborbital space in the next decade. For aerospace medicine physicians, this will mean preparing a less physically fit passenger for the demands of space. Instead of 20-year-old fighter pilots in peak condition, space tourists could be 18 to 80 years old with medical conditions that might complicate space travel but not automatically disqualify them. Visit http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2008/01/14/prse0114.htm to view the article.

Russia to Search for Life on Jupiter's Moon Europa (Source: AFP)
Russia plans to participate in a European mission to investigate Jupiter's moon Europa and search for simple life forms, the Interfax news agency reported on Monday, quoting a senior researcher. "The main task is to explore its satellite Europa, on which under a thick layer of ice a liquid water ocean has been detected," said Zelyony. Russia is to participate in the program, called Laplace after French astronomer Pierre-Simon Laplace, and has suggested landing a craft in one of the fissures in Europa's icy crust. Having landed, the craft would melt some of the ice and search for life forms, he said. "Where there is an ocean, life could arise. In this respect, after Mars, the Europa satellite is probably the most intriguing place in the solar system," said Zelyony.

Questions Abound on Space Coast (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Central Florida's Space Coast is a high-tech tale of many companies. And it is a story that raises as many questions as it offers answers. In Melbourne, Harris Corp. has been the fastest growing tech company in the state, adding close to 700 jobs in the past year. Its communications systems are in great demand by customers ranging from the Pentagon and the intelligence community to the U.S. Census Bureau and Federal Aviation Administration. Rockwell Collins Inc.'s Melbourne avionics plant has ridden the wave of commercial aircraft sales, which has boosted an expansion plan for this year that will add 250 jobs. Northrop Grumman Corp., on the other hand, has gone in reverse at its Melbourne operation, cutting more than 200 jobs in 2007 as part of a companywide belt-tightening. It now employs about 1,700, down from nearly 2,000.

STS-122: Real Launch Date is Early February (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
While some level of confusion in the media was caused by deputy shuttle manager John Shannon's January 24 reference last week, STS-122 will "definitely" get another "work to" launch date in around a week's time. NASA, United Space Alliance and Lockheed Martin schedules show STS-122 is currently NET (No Earlier Than) February 2, leading to Flight Director Cathy Koerner to send out a memo of clarification that the launch is tracking the February timeline - not January.