April 20 News Items

Branson May Marry Couple in Space (Source: Daily Mail)
Virgin Galactic boss Sir Richard Branson is planning to set yet another record – by becoming the first man to marry a couple in space. The 58-year-old billionaire intends to conduct a ceremony 70 miles above the Earth on the first Galactic sub-orbital flight next year. He has already officiated at one wedding in mid-air. A spokesman for Virgin Galactic said: "We have had two bookings involving marriage, one to get married in space and the other for the couple to have their honeymoon in space. (4/20)

Insurance Payout Empowers Rascom to Replace Satellite (Source: Space News)
Startup African satellite operator Rascom has secured a nearly full insurance payout to compensate for the near-total failure of its Rascom-QAF1 satellite and expects to sign a contract for a replacement satellite within weeks. The insurance payment, which industry officials said was more than $230 million, is enough to finance construction of a nearly identical spacecraft, to be built by Thales Alenia Space, which is a Rascom shareholder and the builder of the first Rascom spacecraft. (4/20)

ESA Signs Contracts for Two Observation Satellites (Source: Space News)
The European Space Agency (ESA) signed two contracts with a combined value of 500 million euros ($790 million) for Earth observation satellites as part of a broad partnership with the European Commission called Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES). Thales Alenia Space of France and Italy will develop Sentinel-3, an oceanography and land-monitoring satellite, scheduled for launch in 2012. A second contract, for a Sentinel-2 optical imaging satellite for land-surface monitoring, was signed with Astrium Satellites. Sentinel-2 features a broader swath width than the U.S. Landsat and French Spot satellites, and is scheduled for launch in 2012. (4/20)

Rocket Fails to Launch in Wyoming (Source: Wyoming Tribune Eagle)
A former Atlas missile silo just south of Chugwater is now home to the company Frontier Aeronautics. The silo was the site of a rocket test Saturday that could help lead the way for personal rocket vehicles and transportation to and from the moon. The "Laramie Rose" looks a bit like a giant oxygen tank on a tripod. But, of course, there's a lot more to it than that. In fact, it's about 800 pounds of compressed nitrogen, fuel and machinery. Saturday's tethered test flight of the Laramie Rose was meant to test the equipment that keeps the rocket flying upright.

"It's like trying to balance a broomstick on your hand," she said. "The rocket uses a large, ice-cream cone-shaped piece of equipment to balance it." The cone, tip down, can sense when the rocket starts to lean one way or another. It then fires one of several nozzles that are situated around the top, which push the cone upright. The plan was to test the equipment, hardware and software that make the maneuver possible. It had all been successfully tested before, said Bob Steinke, president of SpeedUp, the company that hired Frontier Aeronautics for the project.

This time, Steinke said, they had an electric motor running that they didn't have running the last time they tested it. That motor could have generated some noise in the hardware, which activated the abort system, Steinke said. The bottom line is that the Laramie Rose didn't fly on Saturday. But that doesn't mean it never will. The engineers will simply have to debug it, Steinke said. Frontier Aeronautics and SpeedUp are working toward the X Prize Foundation's Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge. (4/20)

Russians Superstitious That Women Drove Soyuz Off Course (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
According to The Associated Press, the Russians were more concerned Saturday about having two women aboard the Soyuz. Federal Space Agency chief Anatoly Perminov referred to a naval superstition that having women aboard a ship was bad luck when asked about the presence of two women on the Soyuz. "You know in Russia, there are certain bad omens about this sort of thing, but thank God that everything worked out successfully," he said. "Of course in the future, we will work somehow to ensure that the number of women will not surpass" the number of men. Challenged by a reporter, Perminov responded, "This isn't discrimination. I'm just saying that when a majority [of the crew] is female, sometimes certain kinds of unsanctioned behavior or something else occurs; that's what I'm talking about." He did not elaborate. (4/20)

NASA, Oklahoma State, Aiming to Attract Workers (Source: The Oklahoman)
NASA has provided a $22 million grant to Oklahoma State University to develop educational programs for high school students interested in science. OSU will manage NASA's Interdisciplinary National Science Project Incorporating Research and Education Experience (INSPIRE). Program coordinator Steve Marks said NASA is trying to create future workers by encouraging them to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Under the grant, OSU will provide administrative services for student recruitment, online resources, logistics and program evaluation. (4/20)