April 9 News Items

Global Space Economy Exceeds $250 Billion (Source: SpaceToday.net)
A report released Tuesday concluded that the worldwide space budgets and revenues totaled $251 billion in 2007, an 11-percent increase over 2006. "The Space Report", published by the Space Foundation, looks at both government budgets and commercial revenues in various space-related industries to reach that total. Satellite-based products and services, and US government expenditures, comprise the two largest parts of the space industry, accounting for 80 percent of the overall total. The report also found that space industry employment in the US is growing, and that average wages in the industry are double the overall private sector average. (4/9)

Key Spacecraft Motor Passes Test, Orbital Announces (Source: Washington Post)
Orbital Sciences Corp. announced yesterday that it successfully tested a rocket that can propel astronauts to safety in event of an emergency on NASA's new spacecraft. For the past 18 months, Orbital has been working along with Sacramento-based Aerojet on the escape pod for the next generation of spacecraft that will put humans on the moon for the first time since 1972. The spaceship will also be the forerunner to a planned manned flight to Mars. This successful rocket trial "definitely means they are playing very well with big boys -- the Lockheeds, Boeings, Northrops," said Paul Nisbet, an aerospace analyst with JSA Research. "It's right up there in terms of space technology, and in some areas it might even be better." (4/8)

NASA Awards Contract for Engine Technology Development (Source: NASA)
NASA has awarded a contract to Aerojet-General Corporation of Sacramento, California, to design, develop, fabricate, test and evaluate a workhorse rocket engine using liquid oxygen and liquid methane as propellants. Aerojet will work for 21 months from the effective date of the contract to complete an evaluation of the rocket engine assembly, a 5,500 pound constant-thrust, pressure-fed rocket engine. This cost-plus-fixed-fee contract is valued at approximately $6.9 million. (4/9)

SES Americom Orders Additional Spacecraft From Orbital Sciences Corp. (Source: SES Americom)
SES and Orbital Sciences Corporation announced the order of a third spacecraft under the multi-satellite contract both companies announced in May 2007. Under this contract, the first and second satellites ordered were AMC-5R and a ground spare. That ground spare will now become AMC-1R, and a new ground spare will be produced for a future use. Planned for launch in the second half of 2009, AMC-1R will have a permanent home in geosynchronous Earth orbit at 103 degrees West longitude. (4/9)

Allard Calls for Return to Star Wars (Source: Gazette.com)
Satellites armed with missiles are needed to counter nuclear threats, U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard said Tuesday in Colorado Springs, calling for something akin to the Reagan-era Star Wars program. Allard, serving out the final months of his term after declining to seek re-election, said the space-based weapons would offer a better defense against missiles in flight. "It's important to the longterm security of this country," said Allard, a Republican who serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee. (4/9)

NASA Rejects Non-Shuttle Answers to Atranded ISS Instrument (Source: Flight International)
Pressure on the International Space Station's cargo delivery schedule has left NASA with no way to get an international antimatter experiment to the station. The US Congress has directed NASA to find a way to transport the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) detector to the ISS despite the fact that it is not scheduled to fly on any of the 10 remaining ISS missions to be carried out by the Space Shuttle fleet before its retirement. But NASA has rejected as unfeasible suggestions that cargo delivery be rescheduled, including by use of a European Space Agency Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) to take onboard equipment designated for the Space Shuttle payload bay. (4/9)

Russian Space Shuttle Travels up the Rhine (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
It whizzed around the Earth twice but on Tuesday the Buran 002 Russian space shuttle's journey was more prosaic as it was shipped up the River Rhine in Germany towards its new museum home. The 36 meter by 12 meter shuttle set off from the Dutch port of Rotterdam by barge and was due to arrive in the German city of Speyer on Saturday. (4/9)

Florida Legislators Advance Space Research Bills (Source: ERAU)
Representative Thad Altman and Senator Bill Posey, both serving Florida's Space Coast, received key votes Tuesday in favor of their bills to establish a Space Technology & Research Diversification Initiative (STRDI). The bills were heard by a higher-education committee in the Senate, and an economic expansion council in the House of Representatives. Other space-related bills are also advancing, with the Legislative Session past its half-way point in Tallahassee. (4/8)

USAF Secretary Confident in T-Sat's Readiness (Source: Space News)
The technological readiness of the Air Force's next-generation Transformational Satellite (T-Sat) Communications system is at an appropriate level to move forward with the program, according to Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne. The T-Sat system, which incorporates satellite-to-satellite laser links and space-based Internet routing technology, is expected to provide the U.S. military with an unprecedented level of mobile, protected communications capacity. The system was most recently expected to begin launching in 2016, but the Air Force currently is reassessing the program's direction and does not have an expected launch date. (4/9)

NASA, SpaceX Renegotiate COTS Agreement (Source: Space News)
NASA has accepted a nine-month slip in the first demonstration flight of the commercial space tug Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) is building with the help of $278 million in government financing. (4/9)

GPS 3 contract To Be Awarded April 17 (Source: Space News)
The U.S. Air Force likely will award the multibillion dollar GPS 3 space segment contract April 17, Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne said April 9 at the National Space Symposium. (4/9)

Galileo Deal Opens Door to Non-European Participation (Source: Space News)
European contractors bidding for work on the Galileo satellite navigation constellation will be permitted to include U.S. and other non-European partners in their bids if doing so brings "demonstrated substantial advantages in terms of quality and cost," European Union transport ministers agreed in a document to be presented to the European Parliament the week of April 21. (4/9)

U.S. Air Force, NRO Create Team Focused on Space Protection (Source: Space News)
U.S. Air Force Space Command and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) joined together March 31 to create a new program to advise the military and intelligence community on how to protect space assets. (4/9)

Astrium Assurances of SSTL Independence Helped Seal Deal (Source: Space News)
Britain's University of Surrey agreed to sell small-satellite builder Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL) to Astrium Satellites only after Astrium gave detailed assurances about SSTL's future independence -- specifically about an upcoming competition between the two companies to build Europe's navigation satellites, the university's director of corporate services said April 7. (4/9)

Russia to Conduct 28 Space Launches from Baikonur in 2008 (Source: RIA Novosti)
The number of spacecraft to be launched from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan will increase 33%, year-on-year, in 2008 to a total of 28. Baikonur, built in Kazakhstan in the 1950s, was first leased by Russia from Kazakhstan under an agreement signed in 1994 after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Russian officials have repeatedly said Russia will continue to use the Baikonur launch site until at least 2050. Russia launched a total of 21 carrier rockets from the site in 2007.

At present, the two countries are working to build a space complex at Baikonur, Baiterek, to launch Angara carrier rockets capable of delivering 26 metric tons of payload into low-Earth orbits. The project is being implemented on a parity basis and enjoys tax, customs and other privileges. Kazakhstan and Russia have reportedly each allocated $223 million for the construction of the Baiterek launch site under a 2004 agreement. "We have prepared the documentation and developed technical requirements [for the project], and all that's left is to start construction," said an official. (4/9)

Satellite Protection Lining Up For Increased Funding (Source: Aviation Week)
The idea of being able to protect friendly satellites, and simultaneously interfere with hostile satellites if necessary, is gaining new emphasis at the Pentagon in the wake of demonstrations by China and the U.S. of abilities to destroy satellites. Space Situational Awareness, or SSA, is one aspect of U.S. efforts to protect its satellites, but annual funding has been relatively low-less than 4% of the Pentagon space budget. Recently, however, there has been a boost in investment, according to Gen. Kevin P. Chilton, commander of U.S. Strategic Command. He doesn't elaborate, but is glad to see the up-trend. (4/8)

Officials Try to Sell Sierra County Residents on Spaceport Tax (Source: Las Cruces Sun-News)
New Mexico Spaceport officials hosted a town hall meeting Tuesday to tout the potential benefits of Spaceport America, two weeks ahead of a crucial vote that could push the $198 million publicly funded project closer to reality or set it a step backward. New Mexico Spaceport America Executive Director Steve Landeene told the audience of about 120 people that Sierra County stands to benefit from passage of the tax and subsequent construction of the spaceport. (4/9)

Boeing Urges Major Increase in U.S. Space Funding (Source: Reuters)
Boeing, which calls itself the world's leading aerospace company, said the U.S. was in danger of losing its edge in space to countries like China and India absent major funding increases. "The road back to the moon will be paved with commitment, leadership and innovation and a government willing to step up and fund space innovation at levels that haven't been seen in decades," Jim Albaugh, the head of Boeing's defense arm, told a major space-industry gathering here. "Today, we have ample warning," he said, referring to India and China by name. "We can clearly see our international competitors fast approaching in the rear view mirror." (4/8)

Space Startup Rocketplane Fails to Launch (Source: WIRED)
In the hypercompetitive world of commercial spaceflight, you need deep pockets just to stay in the game. That's why some customers and investors are losing confidence in Rocketplane, which spent 2007 getting outflanked by better-funded competitors and being buffeted by bad publicity -- instead of launching its first suborbital flight, as the company had promised just a few years earlier. In October 2004, when Reda Anderson plunked down her deposit and made the first reservation to be flown to the edge of space, she had a reasonable expectation that she'd be the first civilian "pioneer" (she dislikes the term "tourist") to take that ride. Now Anderson is quietly checking out other companies that could get her off the ground sooner.

"Rocketplane is plan A, absolutely," Anderson told Wired.com. "But there's always a plan B." Rocketplane has suffered largely from the scope of its ambition: It tackled both the suborbital tourist market and the NASA-servicing orbital market at the same time, and tried to do it all without the benefit of a billionaire backer, like Virgin Galactic's Richard Branson. While all of the companies in the young commercial space industry have experienced delays and setbacks, Rocketplane's current position seems shakier than most.

At a recent conference, panelists called the rush toward the first space tourism flight a "horse race" with two clear leaders: the well-financed Virgin and the scrappy but impressive Xcor Aerospace. Almost as an afterthought, panelists mentioned the other companies in the pack: Rocketplane, Armadillo Aerospace and the secretive Blue Origin. Rocketplane has publicly stated that it still expects to start commercial flights in 2010 or 2011, the same time frame now being quoted by Virgin and Xcor. (4/8)

Senator Calls for Young Adults to Consider Space Careers (Source: AP)
U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard says it's time to encourage young adults to consider jobs in the space industry because it needs new, young professionals. Other speakers at this week's National Space Symposium also emphasized the need to encourage young engineering students into the industry, noting they favor other businesses, such as video games, that offer more rapid advancement. The average age of an aerospace engineer is 54, said Boeing's James Albaugh. He harkened back to early days of space exploration when Americans were caught up in the U.S. space race after Russia launched the Sputnik satellite some 50 years ago. Today, he said, few recall the excitement that came with the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs. (4/8)

Democrats, Republicans Differ on Space Weapons (Source: Defense News)
Speakers at the National Space Symposium needed only moments to make clear a difference of opinion among many Democrats and Republicans over whether to pursue development of space-based weapons in response to rising tensions between the United States and China. Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., called for "space-based interceptors" to knock down missiles. Minutes later, Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo., struck a different tone about the U.S. role in space. "Nobody that I know of in the industry and the DoD and the commercial side wants to get in a space race that results in the weaponization of space," Udall said.

Udall called for more "cost-efficient" spending on military space programs to help ease budget pressures on NASA. He said he would "work on" Sens. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., to seek up to $2 billion in additional funds for NASA, should one of them be elected president, and he asked Republicans to do the same with their candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. (4/8)