February 24 News Items

Europe Willing To Buy U.S. Parts for Galileo (Source: Space News)
Managers of Europe's Galileo satellite navigation system are willing to purchase U.S.-built components for Galileo satellites and have assumed that U.S. government technology-export hurdles would not be an issue, according to Giuseppe Viriglio, director of navigation at the European Space Agency (ESA). The 30-satellite Galileo project is often presented as guaranteeing Europe's strategic autonomy in positioning, navigation and timing services. As such, the principal contracts will be awarded only to European companies, Viriglio said. But for subsystem components Galileo builders will be free to use contractors outside of Europe, even if that means being subject to U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulations, or ITAR, rules, he said. "The situation with ITAR is complicated, but we have no intention of exporting Galileo."

Spaceport Expansion Plans Threaten Hot Fishing Spot (Source: Daytona Beach News Journal)
Worry is spreading through the regional angling community that Kennedy Space Center's plan for a new launch complex involves permanently closing a popular portion of the Mosquito Lagoon. That would halt fishing on half of a sport fishing area so treasured it's known as "The Redfish Capital of the World," not to mention badly tarnishing the allure of a resource that attracts untold thousands of dollars to local economies. Tom Lelle, owner of Lelle's Bait & Tackle gave a hint of the potential impact new restrictions on this area might bring. "I hate it when the shuttle is out there on the pad," he said. "Every day that it's out there it costs me $500. If people can't go surf fishing at Playalinda Beach . . . why would they come use my bait shop?"

Space Center officials said nothing has been decided yet but would not rule out possible closures. And they are holding a series of meetings to hear people's concerns, beginning this week in Titusville and New Smyrna Beach. NASA wants to build a 200-acre Commercial Vertical Launch Complex on one of two potential sites. The first is by the beach just south of the existing shuttle launch pads. The second is at the water's edge of the Mosquito Lagoon and at a crossroads of public access leading to boat ramps at Haulover Canal, Bio Lab Road and Eddy Creek as well as to Playalinda Beach, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and Cape Canaveral National Park.

Election May Affect NASA Future (Source: Florida Today)
Amid an election year that will put new leaders into the White House, many are questioning the direction of the nation's space program. The discovery of a serious vibration problem with NASA's Ares 1 moon rocket is causing consternation among some in the aerospace industry. Some are campaigning for a switch to an alternative derived from the Atlas 5 and Delta 4 rockets developed under the Air Force's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program. Others are re-examining the moon-bound course President Bush and Congress put NASA on after the 2003 Columbia accident.

The timing of these issues is not coincidental. "My own opinion is the time is right for this kind of questioning to happen before the new administration takes office," said Scott Hubbard, former director of NASA's robotic Mars exploration program and a member of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board. "I started thinking last year, 'Gee, I wonder what will happen when the administration changes,' " Hubbard said. "Many of us want to make sure we take a critical look at where we're going." Visit http://www.flatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080224/NEWS02/802240330/1007 to view the article.

California Launch Pad Remodeled for New Atlas 5 (Source: Lompoc Record)
Times have changed, not only for the Atlas rocket program but for Vandenberg Air Force Base's Space Launch Complex-3 (SLC-3), which has been remodeled yet again to handle the newest Atlas booster. Compared to the smaller Cold War workhorse - about 85 feet tall, capable of lifting a satellite weighing a few thousand pounds - the new Atlas is about 195 feet tall and capable of carrying some of the nation's largest spacecraft. On the East Coast, Atlas 5 is processed horizontally, before being raised to vertical and rolled out to the launch pad. However, to incorporate that feature into SLC-3 was deemed too costly, prompting officials to forego that aspect and use the heritage mode of stacking the rocket.

Ben Bova: Outer Space Law? It Exists, and Restricts (Source: Naples News)
When the Soviets launched Sputnik in 1957 it caused an international legal flap. Sputnik crossed the borders of virtually every nation on Earth without permission from any government. The Soviets had not bothered to ask for permission to overfly other nations’ territories. Instead, they established the de facto principle that air rights end at the upper fringes of the atmosphere. Therefore, satellites in space could cross national boundaries without hindrance. The United Nations attempted to draft rational principles to guide space exploration and utilization. These were incorporated in 1967 into the Outer Space Treaty, which was ratified by the U.S.

The treaty declares that “outer space, which includes the moon and other celestial bodies, can be freely explored and used by all countries.” The treaty states that no nation may claim the moon or any other body in space as its national territory. That’s why Armstrong and Aldrin announced on the moon that they “came in peace, for all mankind.” Thus the legal standing of any nation or private group that wants to develop bases, hotels, factories or other facilities in space is rather tricky. If a private company (or a government, for that matter) wants to build a base on the moon and start mining, the 1967 treaty says they are free to do so — but they can’t claim the ground on which their base stands, nor the raw materials that they are mining. There’s more work ahead for space lawyers, obviously.

One of the treaty's provisions bans “weapons of mass destruction” in space and outlaws any kind of military bases on the moon. Around that time, a group of scientists suggested using nuclear explosives to propel spacecraft to interstellar speed. Their plan, Project Orion, would have detonated nukes behind the ship to push against a shielded plate and accelerate the spacecraft forward. By exploding bombs every few seconds, the ship could be accelerated to as much as one-third of the speed of light. Project Orion could have taken us to the stars. But because of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty and its ban on nuclear bombs in space, Project Orion was scrapped before it got beyond the paperwork stage. It’s frustrating. In fact, it’s enough to make you think about Shakespeare’s words in Henry VI, Part II: “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.”