March 15 News Items

20 Teams Competing in California-Sponsored Lunar Regolith Challenge (Source: CSA)
The California Space Education and Workforce Institute and California Space Authority have registered 20 teams to compete in the 2008 Regolith Excavation Challenge. The teams competing for the $750,000 prize purse hail from 12 states and represent a variety of backgrounds; including universities, seasoned private sector robotics teams, and industry based competitors. The Challenge event will take place during August 2nd and 3rd on the campus of challenge co-host California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo College of Engineering. Visit http://regolith.csewi.org/ for information.

Hubble Detects Organic Molecule on Extrasolar Planet (Source: NASA)
NASA will hold a media teleconference on March 19 to report on the first-ever detection of the organic molecule methane in the atmosphere of a planet orbiting a distant star. Though the planet is too hot to support life as we know it, the finding demonstrates the ability to detect organic molecules spectroscopically around Earth-like planets in habitable zones around stars.

Templeton Buys Another Scientist (Source: What's New)
The 2008 Templeton Prize was awarded to cosmologist Michael Heller, a Roman Catholic priest. The monetary value of the award is adjusted to be larger than the Nobel Prize. Initially, the prize was given to more saintly types, beginning with Mother Teresa in 1973, but of the last ten winners, seven have been physicists or cosmologists. After all, what’s the point in becoming rich and powerful if you can’t buy that which is important to you? For Sir John Templeton the important thing is scientists declairing that they see the hand of God in the laws of nature. Heller believes God’s existence can be found in the mathematical nature of the world. At the Pontifical Academy of Theology in Krakow, Poland, where he is a faculty member, Heller says he will use his prize to create a center for the study of science and theology, and will introduce his concept of "the theology of science."

Russian ILS Proton Launch Fails (Source: SpaceToday.net)
A Proton launch of commercial communications satellite failed early Saturday when the rocket's upper stage shut down prematurely, stranding the satellite in a transfer orbit. The Proton M lifted off from the Baikonur spaceport in Kazakhstan, carrying the AMC-14 satellite for SES Americom. International Launch Services (ILS) announced early Saturday an "anomaly" with the Breeze M upper stage, which apparently failed during its second burn. The spacecraft is stranded in an elliptical transfer orbit with an apogee of about 28,000 km, short of geosynchronous orbit. The failure appears similar to one that took place two years ago, when Arabsat 4A was stuck in a transfer orbit after its Breeze M upper stage failed; that satellite was later deorbited. The failure comes only six months after another Proton launch failed when its second stage failed to ignite, a problem that was quickly determined and corrected. The failure is likely to put more stress on the commercial launch market, which has encountered higher prices caused by increased demand and constrained supply in the last couple years.

Delta 2 Launches GPS Satellite from Cape Canaveral Spaceport (Source: SpaceToday.net)
A Delta 2 rocket successfully launched a new GPS satellite early Saturday. The Delta 2 7925-9.5 lifted off from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport and placed the GPS 2R-19 satellite into a transfer orbit as planned 68 minutes later. The satellite is the sixth in a series of modernized Block 2R GPS satellites, built by Lockheed Martin. The launch was the second in under 24 hours for United Launch Alliance, the joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin that builds the Atlas and Delta family of vehicles.

NASA Awards Institutional Support Services Contract at Kennedy Space Center (Source: NASA)
NASA's Kennedy Space Center has awarded Rede-Critique of Metairie, La., the contract for Kennedy institutional support services. The indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract has an estimated value of $45 million during a four-year, six-month performance period, which includes a six-month base period and four one-year option periods. The contract consolidates various current institutional support service contracts.

Lockheed Martin Submits GOES-R Spacecraft Bid, Wins DARPA Satellite Contract (Source: CSA)
Lockheed Martin has submitted its proposal to NASA to design and build the spacecraft for the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite - Series R (GOES-R), the next generation geostationary environmental satellites for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The proposal builds upon Lockheed Martin's 48 years of successful partnership with NASA and NOAA providing reliable weather and environmental satellite systems on schedule including TIROS, NIMBUS, UARS, Terra and Landsat.

Meanwhile, a Lockheed Martin team has received a $5.7 million contract from DARPA to compete in Phase 1 development of their System F6 space technology and demonstration program. F6 is shorthand for "Future, Fast, Flexible, Fractionated, Free-Flying Spacecraft United by Information Exchange." The DARPA System F6 program intends to demonstrate that a traditional, large, monolithic satellite can be replaced by a group of smaller, individually launched, wirelessly networked and cluster-flown spacecraft modules. Each "fractionated" module can contribute a unique capability to the rest of the network, such as computing, ground communications, or payload functionality. The ultimate goal of the program is to launch a fractionated spacecraft system and demonstrate it in orbit in approximately four years.

Sea Launch Prepares for the Launch of DIRECTV 11 (Source: CSA)
The Sea Launch Odyssey Launch Platform and the Sea Launch Commander have departed Sea Launch Home Port in California for the equatorial Pacific, in preparation for the launch of the DIRECTV 11 broadcast satellite, planned for Monday, March 17. Liftoff is expected at the opening of a 58-minute launch window, at 3:49 pm Pacific Daylight Time. Upon arrival at the launch site at 154 degrees West Longitude, the team will ballast the platform to launch depth and initiate a 72-hour countdown.

California's Lieutenant Governor Issues Statement on Export Control Policy (Source: CSA)
California Lt. Governor John Garamendi issued a statement for the record that was read during the Aerospace States Association (ASA) Capitol Hill hearing on export controls in Washington, DC last week. ASA called the hearing to bring attention to the unintended consequences of current U.S. export control policies and practices. Panelists representing industry, academia, government, and the media testified to ASA delegates. ASA is a scientific and educational organization comprised of Lt. Governors and Governor-appointed delegates that promotes a state-based perspective in federal aerospace policy development. Visit http://www.californiaspaceauthority.org/images/press-releases/pr080311-1.pdf for information.

Astrium Reports Higher Revenue, Profit for 2007 (Source: Space News)
The Astrium space division of European aerospace giant EADS increased revenue by 10.5 percent in 2007 and pretax profit by 34 percent following continued growth of the Astrium Services business for military users and increased production of the Ariane 5 rocket, EADS announced March 11.

Earth Observation Satellites On the Rise (Source: Space News)
Earth observation satellite operators are expected to launch 29 satellites over the next 10 years, compared to just five in the previous decade. The private-sector involvement in Earth observation is part of a broader boom in the construction of Earth observing satellites expected between now and 2016 as more governments launch their own systems, according to a Euroconsult survey. The next 10 years are expected to see 199 Earth observation satellites placed into orbit, including 48 spacecraft dedicated to meteorology and located in both geostationary and polar low Earth orbit, according to the survey -- nearly double the number of Earth observation satellites launched in the decade ending in 2006.

Fifty-four of the non-meteorological satellites will be launched by governments that are well-established in the sector, including the United States, Russia, France, India, Israel and China. Joining these veteran government Earth observation agencies will be 52 satellites to be financed by governments that, until recently, had no independent Earth observation capacity. Among these nations are Algeria, Chile, Iran, Nigeria, Turkey and South Africa.

Editorial: Without Bush's Support, Congress Has to Look After NASA (Source: DailyPress.com)
It's a shame that Virginia doesn't have anyone on the House of Representatives subcommittee that oversees funding for NASA. A member of Congress with Hampton's NASA Langley Research Center in his or her backyard might be better able (as well as better positioned) to make the case for the important work done here. But while Hampton Roads might reap the direct benefit of NASA Langley's 4,000 jobs, and the well-educated, well-paid workers who contribute to the local economy and community life, the nation benefits from the work they do. We all benefit when our aerospace industry can stand up to foreign competitors — especially the European juggernaut, which is subsidized by governments and by publicly funded research.

We are all the beneficiaries of the discoveries made by NASA scientists studying Earth and space, and the applications to which their research is put. So it shouldn't take a Hamptonian, or a Virginian of any kind, to see what's wrong with President Bush's plan to slash funding for NASA Langley 13 percent. Make that another 13 percent. The center has endured cut after cut, largely targeting aeronautics research, and lost hundreds of jobs. It has lost so much ground that the $608 million the Bush budget allots Langley for next year is actually less than it received in 1996.

"Canada Hand" Successfully Installed (Source: CanWest)
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station successfully powered up Friday night the lab's newest addition - a Canadian-made robotic arm called Dextre. The Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator, also known as the Canada Hand, follows in the tradition of Canadarms 1 and 2 by replacing costly and dangerous spacewalks. Dextre was installed by astronauts after a wiring problem was bypassed by connecting the robot into Canadarm 2. Dextre won't be fully assembled until Tuesday.

CSA Hosts Satellite Conference in San Diego on June 10-12 (Source: CSA)
The California Space Authority is co-hosting a joint conference on satellite communications on June 10-12 in San Diego. For more information on the 26th International Communications Satellite Systems Conference (ICSSC), and the ISCe 2008 satellite & communications conference, visit http://www.isce.com/.

AIAA Sponsors Aerospace Workforce Conference on May 13-14 (Source: SpaceTEC)
Inside Aerospace—An International Forum for Aviation and Space Leaders, a conference focusing on aerospace workforce issues, will be held on May 13-14 in Washington DC. Visit http://www.aiaa.org/agenda.cfm?lumeetingid=1949&viewcon=agenda&pageview=2&programSeeview=1&formatview=2 for information.

Joint Propulsion Conference Planned in Connecticut on July 20-23 (Source: CSA)
This is the AIAA's premier event for engineering and management professionals focused on space technologies, systems, programs, and policy. Visit http://www.aiaa.org/content.cfm?pageid=230&lumeetingid=1874 for information.