February 13 News Items

French President Calls for Rules Governing Space Activity (Source: Space News)
French President Nicolas Sarkozy called for a stricter set of rules governing activities in space to prevent events like China's deliberate destruction of its own satellite from recurring, and said Europe should develop its own space-surveillance system to monitor what going on in Earth orbit.

Griffin Seeks Legislative OK to Buy More Soyuz Capsules (Source: Space News)
NASA Administrator Mike Griffin asked U.S. lawmakers Feb. 13 to pass legislation this year permitting the U.S. space agency to buy Soyuz flights from Russia beyond 2011 to deliver crews to and from the international space station.

Crist Supports Space Diversification in Washington (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
That was fast. Eight days ago, President Bush unveiled his 2009 budget request and already Gov. Charlie Crist is in town to lobby for Florida's share. He also jumped into the debate about NASA's future, preaching to the choir on the need to preserve workers on the Space Coast. His remarks to Federal policy makers included: "The Space Coast of Florida is one of the state's most unique treasures and a key economic driver. As NASA transitions from the Space Shuttle to the Orion program, it is imperative that we preserve Florida's role in the national space program. The State supports full funding of NASA programs as we create future opportunities for the scientific expertise of the Shuttle workforce, ensuring a prosperous future for Florida's Space Coast."

The New Space Race: China vs. the U.S. (Source: Time)
Both the U.S. and China have announced intentions of returning humans to the moon by 2020 at the earliest. But right now, the two countries are already in the early stages of a new space race that appears to have some of the heat and skullduggery of the one between Washington and Moscow during the Cold War, when space was a proxy battleground for geopolitical dominance. The scale of Dongfan Chung's alleged espionage for China is startling. According to the Justice Department, Chung may have been providing trade secrets to Chinese aerospace companies and government agents since 1979, when he was an engineer at Rockwell International, a company acquired by Boeing in 1996. He worked for Boeing until his retirement in March 2003, and continued to work as a contractor for the company until September 2006.

The indictment alleges that Chung gave China documents relating to the B-1 bomber and the Delta IV rocket, which is used to lift heavy payloads into space, as well as information on an advanced antenna array intended for the Space Shuttle. According to the indictment, Chinese officials gave Chung a shopping list of information to acquire for them. In one instance, Chung said that he would send documents through an official in China's San Francisco consulate. In another, a Chinese contact suggested he route information through a man named Chi Mak, a naturalized U.S. citizen who also worked as an engineer in California and who was convicted last year of attempting to provide China with information on an advanced naval propulsion system.

India's Moon Mission Likely to be Put Off to June (Source: The Hindu)
Chandrayaan-1, India's first mission to Moon, scheduled to be launched in April, is likely to be postponed to June, an Indian Space Research Organization official said. The much-awaited mission was originally scheduled to be held on April nine or April 23 from India's spaceport of Sriharikota. "Now, it looks doubtful in April. We are working on a (different) PSLV mission for March-April which is important. Chandrayaan-1 is likely to be postponed to June."

New Rocket Chief Replaces Ladner (Source: Kodiak Daily Mirror)
It wasn’t his vision alone, yet Pat Ladner said he helped put a privately owned spaceport on Kodiak together in 1992 and he’s been running it ever since. That is until last week, when it was officially announced that Dale Nash has taken over as president and CEO of Alaska Aerospace Development Corp. “All I did was take the vision of a spaceport in Alaska and made it happen,” Ladner said. “I didn’t do it by myself. There were people that have stood by this organization when everybody else just laughed. Without exception, all of our employees make this happen.”

Once the vision was realized, it had to be changed. “The whole vision of a spaceport in Alaska was based on the planned satellite constellations,” he said. “That was going to be the big commercial venture where you (launched) 60 to 80 satellites in one constellation.” A study showed that there were not enough commercial launch facilities to make that happen. “The problem was that the satellite industry didn’t mature as people thought it would,” Ladner said. “So we had to look for other launches for our launch complex.” The military soon began contracting the use of the facility. It has been launching various missiles ever since with Ladner as head of the company.

Experts See Spying Case at NASA as Wake-up Call (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Chinese engineers didn't gain any major advantages when an alleged spy passed U.S. space secrets to Beijing, but industry experts warn a more damaging leak could occur if authorities are not diligent. "The sky is not falling, but don't be naive and deny there are lots of groups out there who want to find out about our space program," said Jim Oberg. The worry is that China can convert stolen information into military technologies. "Any improvement made to a Chinese space rocket is folded into a military missile," Oberg said. "China is trying to steal as many secrets as they can from us," said U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., who has asked for a NASA briefing on the espionage incident and warns this episode is only the beginning.

U.N. Weighs a Ban on Weapons in Space, but U.S. Still Objects (Source: New York Times)
The Russian foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, on Tuesday presented a Russian-Chinese draft treaty banning weapons in space to the United Nations Conference on Disarmament, an idea that was quickly rejected by the United States. Russia and China have pushed for years for a treaty to prevent an arms race in space, a threat underlined by China last year after it shot down one of its own aging satellites. Responding to previous American assertions that there is no arms race in space and therefore no need for a treaty, Mr. Lavrov instead submitted a draft on “prevention of the placement of weapons in outer space, the threat or use of force against outer space objects.”

Japan Delays High-Speed Internet Satellite Launch (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
Japan's space agency said it was delaying the launch of a satellite aimed at providing high-speed Internet access across Asia due to a technical problem with its rocket. Japan was slated Friday to launch the Kazuna, an experimental satellite looking at how to bring broadband-speed service across Asia even when terrestrial infrastructure goes down. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said it discovered a problem with the gas jet thruster for its H-2A launch rocket on Tuesday at its spaceport on the southern island of Tanegashima. The satellite was jointly developed by JAXA and industrial giant Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., which is handling the launch for the second time since the H-2A was privatized in April 2007.