March 4 News Items

The Cadillac of Mars Rovers (Source: LA Times)
Wider than a Hummer, tall enough to roll over boulders and toting a laser "ray gun" that can zap rocks at 30 feet, NASA's next-generation Mars rover looks like something you would paint a skull and crossbones on and enter in a demolition derby. Compared to Sojourner, the dowdy little robot that tooled around on Mars for three months in 1997, the atomic-powered Mars Science Laboratory rover being built at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory is an interplanetary beast. "Nothing like this has ever been sent to Mars before," said Joy Crisp, 49, deputy project scientist for the new mission. But then, this new rover has a big job: settling once and for all whether the conditions on ancient Mars were suitable for life. Click here to view the article.

China and the US: space race or miscommunication? (Source: Space Review)
The rise of China as a major space power is seen by some in the US as a threat to American prestige, if not national security. Jeff Foust reports that, for some experts, the real concern is the misperceptions that exist in the two countries about each other's projects and intents. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1075/1 to view the article.

Xtraordinary Adventures Announces "World's First Space Cruise" Week (Source: Xtraordinary Adventures)
Xtraordinary Adventures is bringing a few famous astronauts aboard the yacht Sea Dream to select several passengers for a future sub-orbital spaceflight. Participants will experience weightlessness on a Zero-G flight from the Kennedy Space Center and G forces during space training. The 'Space Cruise' week event will be held in April 2009. According to company Director Mitchell J Schultz, “ninety-six possible participants from around the globe are expected to register and become a part of space history...With chances no greater than one out of sixteen and with a week full of stimulating space related events, participants will thrill to the experience of a lifetime as they schmooze with others of similar interests and mingle with U S Hall of Fame Astronauts that are all part of the festivities.”

In addition, Xtraordinary Adventures will bring participants to Kennedy Space Center for a variety of special events including a chartered Zero-G flight, where each person will receive a personalized flight suit along with photos and a DVD of their experience. Participants will also receive a special two day space training program at NASTAR, near Philadelphia. With costs ranging from $98,000 to $250,000 for a seat, Xtraordinary Adventures has put together a program for $35,000 that Schultz claims “will allow all our participants an opportunity to not only taste the flavors of a space trip...but will also send up to six lucky participants on a future sub-orbital spaceflight with an authorized FAA licensed carrier or provide for a payment of $150,000 to each of the six if there are no scheduled flights or departures by April 30, 2012.” Visit http://www.XtraOrdinaryAdventures.com.

Will Arizona Lose its Role as Space Science Leader? (Source: Arizona Republic)
For example, with broad support from political, business and philanthropic leaders, investments are being made through Science Foundation Arizona to improve our state's competitive position in biosciences, information communication technologies and fields related to sustainability. Largely overlooked in coverage of these exciting developments, however, has been the fact that, in certain areas of science and technology, Arizona is already widely recognized as a national leader. Astronomy and space science are clearly in this category.

Lowell Observatory was founded in Flagstaff in 1894. Then came Steward Observatory at the University of Arizona. Steward populated the mountains around Tucson with telescopes, and the associated UA Astronomy Department has become one of the largest and most respected in the nation. Strong programs also were developed at Arizona State University and Northern Arizona University. The National Optical Astronomy Observatory and the National Solar Observatory were established in Tucson and built major telescopes on Kitt Peak. The MMT and Whipple Observatories came into being on Mount Hopkins south of Tucson, while the WIYN, MDM and SARA Observatories added to the growing population of telescopes on Kitt Peak.

The UA Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, the ASU School of Earth and Space Exploration (SESE) and the USGS Astrogeology Team in Flagstaff have all filled important leadership roles in NASA missions. Tucson's Planetary Science Institute is also a significant contributor. The bottom line: Research in astronomy, planetary science and space science annually brings more than a quarter of a billion dollars and more than 3,300 jobs to Arizona. Visit http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/viewpoints/articles/0302vip-millis0302.html to view the article.

Astronomers: Humans Will Make Contact with Aliens Within Two Decades (Source: Daily Mail)
Mankind will make contact with intelligent alien life within two decades, leading astronomers claim. The recent discovery of Earth-like planets outside our solar system and the launch of a major NASA mission in 2009 has brought extra-terrestrial contact a dramatic step closer. The American astrophysicist Dr Frank Drake said: "Everything has caused us to become more optimistic." The 76-year-old - who founded the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence project (SETI) in 1961 - added: "We really believe that in the next 20 years or so, we are going to learn a great deal more about life beyond Earth and very likely we will have detected that life and perhaps even intelligent life elsewhere in the galaxy."

SpaceX Announces New Manifest, Falcon 9 Delivery to Cape Canaveral On-Schedule (Source: SpaceX)
SpaceX announced its newly revised mission manifest listing twelve flights of its Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 launch vehicles. “We are on track to deliver our first Falcon 9 vehicle to Cape Canaveral by the end of 2008,” said Gwynne Shotwell, Vice President of Business Development for SpaceX. “In addition, we’are very pleased to have signed a significant new US government customer for our next Falcon 1 flight, and will be releasing details shortly.” The full SpaceX mission manifest extends into 2011 and lists nine customers on twelve flights, including three demonstration flights of SpaceX’s new Dragon spacecraft for NASA, as part of the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) competition. Click here to view the manifest.

Space Society Sponsors Lunar Short Story Contest (Source: SpaceRef.com)
The National Space Society is sponsoring Return to Luna: A Short Story Science Fiction Contest. The contest seeks Science Fiction stories that show the adventure of lunar settlement. We want to feel the romance of life there, the wonder of the lunar frontier, of its magnificent desolation. We prefer near future (50 to 150 years from now), realistic stories about human lunar settlement. We want good characterization and well-written, tight prose. We want to feel what it's like to live on the Moon. Visit http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=24910 for information.

Ecliptic Enterprises and NASA Ames Collaboration in Full Swing (Source: Ecliptic)
A collaboration between entrepreneurial space firm Ecliptic Enterprises and the NASA Ames Research Center reached a notable milestone with final acceptance of the Ames-developed science payload for the LCROSS lunar mission and its shipment to Northrop Grumman for integration and testing with the LCROSS spacecraft. Ecliptic supplied the core avionics control unit -- the Data Handling Unit (DHU) -- that will be used during the LCROSS mission to control and route data from all nine onboard remote-sensing science instruments, including one of Ecliptic's RocketCam color video cameras.