April 23 News Items

NASA Begins Work to Solve Boil-Off Problem (Source: Flight International)
NASA has started the contractor selection process for its lunar surface thermal control system study that could find a solution to the biggest hurdle in its plans to return to the Moon: stopping propellant loss. For rocket engine efficiency and mass savings NASA would prefer to use cryogenic propellants for its Constellation program's lunar vehicles, instead of the heavier storable fuels and oxidizers. Keeping hydrogen or methane and oxygen in their liquid states requires a very low constant temperature.

But in space the Sun's radiation and heat transmitted through the spacecraft's own structure can raise temperatures causing propellants to vaporise. This increases propellant tank pressure, which is reduced by vapor release. The study will focus on a conceptual lunar lander ascent module that uses liquid oxygen and methane with gaseous helium, stored at the liquid methane's temperature, for tank pressurzation. Three thermal control systems will be compared. (4/23)

General Dynamics Net Jumps 32% on War, Business Jets (Source: Bloomberg)
General Dynamics' first- quarter earnings rose 32 percent, beating analysts' estimates, as the Iraq war lifted sales of ammunition and troop transports. Net income increased to $572 million, from $434 million a year earlier. Sales climbed 11 percent to $7.01 billion, aided by increased deliveries of Gulfstream business jets. (4/23)

Embry-Riddle Students Compete in Transcontinental Air Race (Source: ERAU)
The Air Race Classic, an annual transcontinental speed competition for female pilots, is scheduled for June 24-27, with the race originating in Bozeman, Montana, and finishing in Mansfield, Massachusetts. This is the second year that an Embry-Riddle team has competed in the race. This year the pilots are Marisha Falk, an Aeronautical Science student and a flight instructor, and Amanda Parsons, an Aviation Maintenance Science student along with Aeronautical Science Student and Instructor Lindsay Sorg. Their coach is Carolina Lenz, a Flight Department training manager. The students will be flying the “Riddle-Racer II.” The university's Flight Department is providing the airplane and fuel, but the students need to raise money to cover registration fees and other expenses. For information contact Marisha Falk at: mailto:falkac8@erau.edu. (4/23)

New Mexico County Approves Spaceport Tax (Source: SpaceToday.net)
A county in southern New Mexico overwhelmingly approved a sales tax increase Tuesday that will help fund the development of a commercial spaceport in the state. Voters in Sierra County, New Mexico approved a quarter-cent increase in the county's sales tax by a two-to-one margin in a special election. The majority of the money from that tax will be used to help build Spaceport America, a commercial spaceport planned for southern New Mexico that will be used by space tourism firm Virgin Galactic and other companies. The approval of the tax allows the state to create a "tax district" along with a neighboring county that approved a similar tax last year, allowing tax revenues to be collected and channeled to the spaceport. (4/23)

Boeing Posts Better-Than-Expected Profit (Source: Reuters)
Boeing's first-quarter profit rose, helped by higher deliveries of its commercial planes. The Chicago-based company, which vies with EADS unit Airbus in the lucrative jetliner market, reported quarterly profit of $1.2 billion, compared with $877 million in the year-ago quarter. (4/23)

What's Next for New Mexico Spaceport Project (Source: Las Cruces Sun-News)
Spaceport director Steve Landeene said the next steps for the Spaceport Authority include working to form a spaceport tax district, a political body that will be made up of representatives from Doña Ana County and Sierra County. The district is required by state law to be in place before local spaceport tax dollars can be spent. In addition, he said he'll focus energy on gaining a Federal Aviation Administration license for the spaceport and finalizing an operating contract with Virgin Galactic. (4/23)

EU Galileo Satnav Project Gets Final Greenlight (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
The European Parliament gave approval on Wednesday to the flag-ship Galileo satellite navigation project which the EU aims to have up in space by 2013. In an almost unanimous vote, members of the European Parliament set in stone the legal basis for the system, which has been plagued in the past by delays and infighting among EU nations. The 3.4-billion euro ($5.4 billion) budget will be divided into six segments with contracts for satellites, launchers, computer programs, ground stations, control stations and the system's operation. (4/23)

Mars Rovers Digging Data Years After 90-day Life Expectancy (Source: Florida Today)
The surface of Mars has given up many surprises to rovers Spirit and Opportunity. As of this week, both of the 384-pound rovers have endured four years past their expected life of 90 days. The trusty robots have helped humans see the red planet as a complex world that might hold signs of life, rather than as a forbidding and barren place. Spirit and Opportunity have survived dust devils, the extremes of Martian temperature and attempts to cut the rover program to fund the next Mars exploration mission. Uncovering opals, water, gas and salt, the rovers have made their discoveries in an area only a few miles from their landing points, showing scientists that Mars is far more diverse than anyone imagined. (4/23)

General Dynamics Awarded $116M NASA Spacecraft Contract (Source: Hemscott)
General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems has been selected by NASA to build the spacecraft for the Landsat Data Continuity Mission. Under the terms of the $116 million order, General Dynamics will be responsible for designing and manufacturing the spacecraft bus, integration of the government furnished instruments, satellite-level testing, on-orbit satellite check-out and continuing on-orbit engineering support. General Dynamics will also provide a spacecraft/observatory simulator. The spacecraft will be built at the company's facility in Gilbert, Arizona. (4/23)

April 28: ISRO to Launch 10 Satellites (Source: The Hindu)
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) will launch ten satellites, including eight from abroad, which will be carried by PSLV-C9 on April 28 from the Sriharikota spaceport. The cluster of satellites to be lifted included Indian satellite Cartosat-2A weighing 690 kg. The vehicle would also carry eight nano satellites of 16 to 27 kg from Canada, Netherlands, Denmark and Germany. "All launches are important. But, this is for the first time that ISRO is launching ten satellites together," an ISRo official said. (4/23)