April 18 News Items

Space Florida Partners with Spacehab on Biotech (Source: EOG)
Space Florida has entered into a partnership with Spacehab, establishing a space-based, biotech corridor that stretches from the International Space Station to the Space Life Sciences Lab at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. Space Florida is providing capital investment and access to the high-tech, state-of-the-art research facilities at the state-owned Space Life Sciences Laboratory on the grounds of the Kennedy Space Center. Space Florida is also facilitating additional commercial ventures with public and private companies, as well as key state organizations to stimulate the progress of this new market. (4/18)

CBS News Report on Shuttle Retirement & Constellation (Source: CBS)
CBS News has aired "A Bigger Leap For Mankind" featuring the Space Shuttle's retirement and NASA's plans to return men to the moon in preparation for future missions to Mars. Click here to view the report. (4/17)

NASA Deputy Administrator and Florida Governor Discuss Space in Miami (Source: NASA)
NASA Deputy Administrator Shana Dale and Florida Gov. Charlie Crist discussed Friday how space exploration gives Floridians a more competitive economy and better quality of life during a NASA Future Forum at the University of Miami. As an example, Crist used the event to announce a partnership between state-funded Space Florida and Spacehab. They plan to use the International Space Station's national laboratory designation and the Space Life Sciences Lab at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla. to carry out space-based biomedical and biotech research. (4/18)

Arianespace Launches Two Satellites (Source: Arianespace)
On Friday evening, Arianespace boosted two communications satellites into geostationary transfer orbit (GTO): Star One C2 for Brazilian operator Star One, and VINASAT-1 for operator Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (VNPT). This was the 38th Ariane 5 launch and the 24th success in a row for the company. Ariane 5 is the only commercial launcher in service today capable of simultaneously launching two payloads, and gives Arianespace customers unrivaled performance, flexibility and competitiveness. (4/18)

New Mexico Spaceport Opponents Complain Of Heavy-Handed Tactics (Source: KOAT)
Opponents of a proposed quarter-cent tax to fund New Mexico's spaceport allege state Transportation Department workers took down their campaign signs. A woman who is organizing a Saturday protest against the tax, April Schmidlapp, said state workers ordered tax opponents to remove their signs along the town's main street. State workers took the signs down when the opponents refused. Another tax opponent, Leo Rivera, said signs put up by tax supporters were removed as well. (4/18)

GLAST Launch Delay Expected After Pad Accident (Source: Florida Today)
Originally scheduled for May 16 from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport, the launch of a Delta II rocket carrying NASA's GLAST (Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope) is now listed as indefinite. However, officials expect only a minor delay. An adapter beam was fractured during preparations last week to hoist the second stage atop the first stage on Pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The second stage is scheduled to be hoisted atop the first stage on Monday. This week, work to complete the manufacturing, testing and evaluation of the new H-beam associated with the lifting of the second stage was completed. (4/18)

NASA Official Envisions Six-Month Stays on the Moon (Source: AP)
NASA wants astronauts who will return to the moon to take one long step for mankind. The agency hopes to build moon bases that can house astronauts for stays of up to six months, with an intricate transportation and power system, Carl Walz, director of NASA's Advanced Capabilities Division, said. NASA is examining different designs for lunar outposts but that they could be inspired by the orbiting International Space Station (ISS), he said.(4/18)

British Astronauts May Hit Cash Barrier in EU Space Program (Source: Guardian)
You must have an excellent memory, concentration and reasoning abilities, as well as good spatial sense and manual dexterity. You must be competent in biology, chemistry, physics and medicine, or be an engineer or pilot - preferably the whole lot. Oh, and speaking Russian would be a bonus. The European Space Agency has announced it will be recruiting a new cohort of astronauts. But although the ESA has said it will consider applications from all 17 EU states, unless the UK government changes its position on funding human spaceflight any British applicant selected would be blocked from beginning the training. Only seven ESA member states are signed up to the human spaceflight aspect of ESA's budget and Britain is not one of them. It is not clear how far ESA will allow people from states who do not contribute to go in the application process, the latter stages of which are extremely expensive. (4/18)

Exploration-Tech Development Faulted (Source: Aviation Week)
NASA's approach to developing technologies to meet its ambitious human exploration goals could cause problems down the road, blocking progress in the "stepping-stone" strategy outlined in President Bush's "Vision for Space Exploration" because technology readiness levels could be too low for another step. A National Research Council (NRC) panel set up to review NASA's Exploration Technology Development Program (ETDP) found the U.S. space agency is shortchanging operational-environment testing as it lays out its program, and placing so much emphasis on a return to the moon that needed technologies may not be available for subsequent exploration of Mars. (4/18)

More Doubt on Cosmic Climate Link (Source: BBC)
Research has thrown further doubt on the notion that cosmic rays are a major influence on the Earth's climate. The idea that modern global warming is due to changes in cloudiness caused by solar influences on cosmic rays is popular with "climate sceptics". But scientists found changes in cosmic ray flux do not affect cloud formation - the second such report in a month. Separately, other researchers have found that particles from space may affect temperatures at the poles. (4/18)

Editorial: Big Science in Texas (Source: Houston Chronicle)
Big science has been good to Texas: the Johnson Space Center and human space exploration; petroleum geology; medical research, genetics and other biosciences; nanotechnology. Now there is a chance for Texas to play a principal role in creating and wielding the world's biggest astronomical instrument, the Giant Magellan Telescope. This telescope, to be built atop a Chilean mountain, would have 10 times the resolution of the Hubble Space Telescope. If the moon had an atmosphere, the Magellan could observe the light from a single candle burning on the lunar surface. More to the point, it will be able to see to the farthest reaches of the universe, revealing its shape, breadth and all its visible components.

There is only one obstacle: the cost of the Magellan — $600 million — is giant, as well. If the University of Texas, Texas A&M University and sympathetic philanthropists can't come up with $60 million soon, Texas astronomers will not have significant access to the Magellan and will not be associated with the wave of discoveries it cannot help but provide. If Magellan's financing lags, it will be overtaken by other large telescope proposals and won't be built. (4/18)

Celestron Teams Up With Google (Source: Sky & Telescope)
Google Inc. released a new version of Google Earth this week (Version 4.3 Beta) that, of course, has some new features. It will now display sunlight, so that you can see the dark and illuminated portions of the Earth, as well as make cool vistas when you turn on the 3-D buildings. But the most time-wasting aspect is that it now incorporates the Street View capability from Google Maps — and the images are more detailed. I can almost see in the windows of my house. On the Google Sky front, telescope-maker Celestron announced yesterday that they will be providing audio clips from their SkyScout Audio Tours. Currently, the audio clips are very brief identifications of constellations. (4/18)