January 22 News Items

Space Florida Sponsors African American Education Program (Source: Space Florida)
Space Florida was a sponsor of a Jan. 20 annual event of the Florida African American Education Alliance (FAAEA) in Orlando. The agency has provided a total of $100,000 to support minority student achievement and participation in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).

Could The Universe Be Tied Up With Cosmic String (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
Cosmic strings are predicted by high energy physics theories, including superstring theory. This is based on the idea that particles are not just little points, but tiny vibrating bits of string Cosmic strings are predicted to have extraordinary amounts of mass - perhaps as much as the mass of the Sun - packed into each metre of a tube whose width is less a billion billionth of the size of an atom. Lead researcher Dr Mark Hindmarsh, Reader in Physics at the University of Sussex, said: "This is an exciting result for physicists. Cosmic strings are relics of the very early Universe and signposts that would help construct a theory of all forces and particles."

Russia To Raise Space Funding, Build New Space Center (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
Russia will increase funding for space projects by 13% and start the construction of a new space center this year. The funding increase does not include military programs. "With the increase in the funds, concrete development programs in the sector should be considered in terms of their efficiency," Sergei Ivanov said. Ivanov, who oversees Russia's military-industrial complex, said a national Security Council session in the first half of 2008 will outline prospects for space industry development up to 2020.

Space Florida Adds to Education/Workforce Staff (Source: ERAU)
Space Florida has added Percy Luney to its staff to serve as the agency's vice president for education and workforce programs. Dr. Luney was previously the dean of Florida A&M University's college of law.

Space Becomes Primary Frontier as Candidates Court Voters in I-4 Corridor (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
For the first time in decades, space policy is emerging as a presidential campaign issue and, political strategists say, could become a decisive factor in the race to the White House. As issues go, space policy can't match immigration or health care or the economy. But experts say candidates are going beyond the lip service traditionally paid to the issue. And for the first time, space policy is being linked to larger issues such as national security, global warming and U.S. competitiveness with China's growing space program.

The renewed interest is driven in part by the fact that NASA is facing its biggest crisis since the end of the Apollo era in the 1970s, with the space shuttle scheduled to retire in 2010 and the future of the next-generation Constellation program uncertain. As a result, the next president will decide the future of the agency. Another basic force is at work: politics. Florida is a vital swing state with 27 electoral votes, and the Interstate 4 corridor is the swing region. Kennedy Space Center and the entire Space Coast, which is largely dependent on NASA-related jobs, is the eastern anchor of that corridor.

"This isn't rocket science. It is crude, but compelling, political arithmetic," wrote Dale Ketcham, director of the University of Central Florida's Space Research and Technology Institute, in a two-page presentation titled "The Keys to the Oval Office Are at Kennedy Space Center." With thousands of KSC jobs at risk when the shuttle retires, the first candidate "to speak boldly" about a comprehensive space vision that assuages these concerns will reap thousands of votes. "All NASA centers have some problems," he wrote. "But only KSC is in the I-4 Corridor!"

Space Exploration Going More Slowly than Imagined, but Still Going (Source: Sun-Sentinel)
The year 2008 promises to be a significant milestone for NASA and the construction of the International Space Station. In an effort to speed up construction, NASA has scheduled six shuttle flights for 2008, twice the number it has managed in each of the last two years. But the shuttle has been plagued with problems and delays, and it is doubtful that the space station will be completed on time.

The space station will be a far cry from the massive stations that so many of us were hopeful we would see in our lifetimes. Indeed, as I thought about the state of the space shuttle, the space station and the entire human space flight program, I could only shake my head in frustration. The space shuttle fleet is aging and will be out of service by 2010, the space station is behind schedule and is a scaled down version of its original design, and the last time a human set foot on the moon was nearly 36 years ago.

To lighten my mood, I looked through my old science fiction books and magazines and reminisce about the days when it seemed as if the human exploration of the solar system was just within our grasp. Thousands from the Baby Boomer generation were drawn to science fiction because of the great strides made during the 1960s and 1970s. Now I'm giving the books and magazines to my two sons. And when I hand them over, I'll tell them, "I didn't get to see these things, but I'm confident that someday you will see them for me."

No Promises from Romney (Source: Florida Today)
Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney peeked into shuttle Atlantis on Monday and didn’t whiff the smell of new hardware in the aging spacecraft. But the Republican candidate, now the Florida frontrunner, wasn’t prepared to pledge another billion or two, if elected, to freshen NASA’s prospects of maintaining a human space program past 2010, when the last shuttle flight is scheduled. "I’m prepared to study it thoroughly," said the cautious candidate, who made stops at Jacksonville, Daytona, Orlando and Cape Canaveral on Monday. Romney reprised rival Rudy Giuliani’s Friday visit with space industry leaders in a roundtable sponsored by the Economic Development Commission of Florida’ Space Coast.

"To close the gap, it’s going to take money,” said Adrian Laffitte, Florida director of government relations for Lockheed Martin. Romney listened closely, but avoided promises."I do not have a budget for you on the gap," he said. “I’m not making promises, because I shouldn’t make promises until I’ve studied something." Lynda Weatherman, who leads the EDC said exposing the candidates to space industry issues was only a first step.“The money issue will come later,” she said.

Romney Articulates His Space Policy (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Mitt Romney toured Kennedy Space Center this afternoon and said a few words about how he sees the future of manned space exploration. It includes turning loose some "professional evaluators" on NASA. Here are a couple of excerpts from his comments: "There's gonna have to be an effort to either narrow the gap or to maintain technology or to provide opportunities for the key engineers and personnel so that we don't lose the capacity to carry the program forward, but that's not something which I have evaluated yet on the basis of speaking with leaders here at NASA or with other professional evaluators."

"I'm not prepared to make commitments without having studied things, having grown up in a sector where you study things thoroughly before you make a decision. That's something I would study with the benefit of not only NASA experts but also people from the outside who would take a good look and see what our options are. But I do want to maintain our space program, I do want to have a successful vision program, I do want to maintain our technology. And I realize technology is resident in the minds of experts, and we can't afford to lose people who have proprietary technology if we're going to do a successful space program."

Left Seeks Explanation on Launch of Zionist's Satellite by India (Source: IRNA)
The successful launch of Israeli spy satellite Polaris by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on Monday came under sharp attack from the Left which has sought an explanation from the government on the scope of this space cooperation. The satellite, said to be capable of taking photographs both in day and night and under cloudy conditions, will take India-Israel military cooperation to a new high. Its profile was reportedly kept under the wraps on the request of the Israel government. "We have been cautioning the UPA government on deepening military ties with Israel. This sends a wrong message to the Palestinian people that India has abandoned their cause. We will seek an explanation from the government on this new space cooperation," said Communist Party of India national secretary D. Raja.

India's Antrix Eyes Space Launch Revenues (Source: Chennai Online)
Buoyed by the successful launch of Israeli Satellite TECSAR, which is its second full - fledged commercial launch, Antrix Corporation,the commercial arm of the Department of Space, is eyeing revenue of Rs 750 crore for the current fiscal ending March 31. Revenues stood at Rs 660 crore during 2006-07 of which the profit after tax was Rs 105 crore. Mr. Nair said it was a red letter day in the history of Antrix, whose revenue climbed up from Rs 450 crore to over Rs 600 crore last year and Antrix had established itself well in the commercial satellite launch market. When asked about the exact rates charged by Antrix for launches, he said, ''It is a commercial secret'' and declined to elaborate.