April 17 News Items

Kelly Space And Technology Opens Expands to Rhode Island (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
Kelly Space and Technology has announced it is establishing an East Coast Operation in Rhode Island.To capitalize on the successful progress being made with its lightweight ballistic protection armor technology at its Aerospace Research and Development Center, Kelly Space is seeking to commercialize this technology for watercraft applications. (4/17)

Editorial: We Need a Science White House (Source: Wall Street Journal)
All three major candidates were invited by a bipartisan group of Nobel laureates and other scholars called ScienceDebate 2008 to step on stage at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia and explain how they will ensure that America continues to dominate the sciences. Leading in scientific research and advancement is an essential element to our future prosperity, health and national defense. All three candidates declined. Apparently the top contenders for our nation's highest elective office have better things to do than explain to the public their views on securing America's future. (4/17)

Orbital Sciences Net Profit Up 19%, To Sell Unit (Source: MartketWatch)
Orbital Sciences Corp. first-quarter net income increased 19% to $13.7 million, after revenue rose 30% to $296 million, primarily due to significant revenue growth in the advanced space programs and launch vehicles segments. The firm also said that it will sell its Transportation Management Systems unit to Affiliated Computer Services for $42.5 million. (4/17)

Space Liability Bill Sails Through Senate (Source: Florida Today)
A bill that provides immunity from lawsuits for businesses that send people into space passed the Senate today unanimously and with no debate. Sponsored by Sen. Bill Posey, the bill (SB 2438) says that the business is not liable for injury or death, as long as the passenger signs a consent form recognizing the inherent dangers in space travel. The protection does not apply in cases of gross negligence, Posey said. The House companion, HB 737 and sponsored by several members of the Space Coast delegation, has cleared its committees and is ready for a full vote in that chamber. (4/17)

NASA Wants All-Commercial ISS Resupply (Source: Aviation Week)
NASA will not ask Congress for permission to continue buying cargo space on Russian Progress resupply vehicles for the International Space Station (ISS) after 2011, opting instead for an all-commercial approach under its nascent Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program. Administrator Michael Griffin has sent a letter to Capitol Hill specifically excluding Progress from a request to continue using Russian Soyuz capsules to deliver crew to the ISS after the shuttle retires in 2010. Griffin had no immediate comment, but William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for space operations, said NASA believes one of the commercial vehicles in development under the COTS program will be able to meet its ISS-supply needs. (4/17)

Dark Matter May Have Been Found on Earth (Source: New Scientist)
Particles of invisible "dark matter" have been detected deep inside a mountain in Italy, a collaboration of Italian and Chinese physicists claims. But others remain sceptical of the result, because other experiments have failed to detect any dark matter at all. On 16 April, at a workshop in Venice, Italy, the Dark Matter (DAMA) collaboration announced the results of the 4-year second phase of its experiment. DAMA scientists claimed to see dark matter back in 2003, but some scientists believed the result was a quirk of statistics. Now the evidence is stronger. (4/17)

Virgin Offers Suborbital Rides to Residents if Spaceport Tax Passes (Source: Las Cruces Sun-News)
Virgin Galactic, the commercial space travel company, says it will offer Sierra County residents a chance to fly to the edge of Earth's atmosphere if a southern New Mexico spaceport tax is approved in a special election Tuesday. Virgin Galactic President Will Whitehorn launched the idea at a public forum in advance of the vote. Only one resident per year from the three-county tax district would be eligible to take the suborbital flight from Spaceport America. A seat on a regular Spaceport America flight is expected to cost $200,000. Passage of the gross receipts tax increase—-one-quarter of one percent, or 25 cents on a $100 purchase—-is critical to the project's financing. Doña Ana County voters have approved the tax, now the effort's future falls on Sierra County voters. (4/17)

Lockheed Wins Contract to Build Satellite for Japanese Firm (Source: AIA)
Lockheed Martin has won a contract to build a high-definition broadcast satellite for a Japanese company. Terms of the contract were not disclosed. The satellite, the second that Lockheed has built for the company, will provide broadcast services for 15 years. (4/17)

Alliant Lands Contract Option to Refurbish Rocket Motors (Source: AIA)
Northrop Grumman has awarded a $134 million contract option to Alliant Techsystems to work on rocket motors. Alliant will refurbish parts and replace propellant on Minuteman III Stage 1, 2 and 3 rocket motors. (4/17)

Boeing Awarded Launch Services Contract For Second WorldView Satellite (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
Boeing has been awarded a contract to launch DigitalGlobe's second WorldView Earth-imaging satellite on a Delta II launch vehicle. DigitalGlobe is the provider of the world's highest-resolution commercial satellite imagery and geospatial information products. Boeing successfully launched the first satellite in the series, WorldView-1, from Vandenberg Air Force Base in 2007. (4/17)

Pegasus Launches Military Satellite (Source: SpaceToday.net)
A Pegasus rocket successfully launched a long-delayed US military satellite designed to predict outages in satellite communications and navigation systems. The Pegasus was deployed from its L-1011 carrier aircraft at the Reagan Test Site in the central Pacific Ocean and placed the Communication/Navigation Outage Forecasting System (C/NOFS) satellite into low Earth orbit eight minutes later. The satellite, built by General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, will be used by the Air Force to monitor ionospheric conditions, including disturbances that can disrupt signals from communications and navigation satellites. The satellite's launch had been delayed for several years by technical and other issues. (4/17)

McCain Economic Plan Would Freeze NASA Budget (Source: NASA Watch)
The McCain plan is centered around a one-year freeze in discretionary spending -- with the exception of military and veterans programs -- to allow for a "top-to-bottom review of the effectiveness of federal programs." "'Discretionary spending' is a term people throw around a lot in Washington, while actual discretion is seldom exercised," McCain said. "Instead, every program comes with a built-in assumption that it should go on forever, and its budget increase forever. My administration will change that way of thinking."

NASA Watch note: "In other words McCain would apparently limit NASA's budget for FY 2010 to what it is going to end up being for FY 2009 - based on (I would guess) whatever budget level contained in any budget (or CR) enacted this Fall. That's not going to be good for Ares, Orion, or many other things." (4/17)