May 2 News Items

SpaceTEC Plans National Meeting in Virginia (Source: ERAU)
College and university partners in the National Science Foundation-sponsored SpaceTEC program will meet in Hampton, Virginia, on May 5-8 to discuss progress toward the development of a national aerospace technology training/certification program. Officials from Brevard Community College provide leadership for the national effort. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University is a partner and will attend the Virginia meeting along with colleges from eight states and the Community College of the Air Force.

The SpaceTEC certification is designed for the aerospace technical workforce and is similar in scope to the FAA's Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) certification, which is required of workers who maintain and repair commercial aircraft systems. Headquartered at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport and hosted by Brevard Community College, SpaceTEC is also supported by the Federal Aviation Administration, the U.S. Navy and Air Force, and NASA. (5/2)

SpaceX VP on Web Seminar on May 5 (Source: CSA)
Dr. Jeff Ward, SpaceX Vice President, Avionics, will be featured on the May 5 Innovation in Aerospace and Space Exploration Webinar. The event will begin at 2:15 p.m. (PDT). Click here to participate. Enter your name and email address, and meeting pasword ("innovation"), then click "Join Now".

Hubble Servicing Mission Delayed (Source: SpaceToday.net)
A shuttle mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope has been delayed at least four weeks because of production delays with the shuttle's external tank. Shuttle Atlantis was scheduled to launch on August 28 on the long-awaited STS-125 mission to service Hubble, but that mission will now be pushed back, most likely to early October. That and later missions are being delayed four to five weeks because of changes in the production of the shuttle's external tanks to fully incorporate design modifications made after the Columbia accident. A complicating factor is that since STS-125 will not be going to the ISS, there is no option for the shuttle to stay there as a "safe haven" should a problem prevent the orbiter from returning as planned, requiring a second shuttle be ready to launch on a rescue mission. The delays also mean that NASA will perform five missions in 2008, instead of the planned six. (5/2)

Space Project Recognized By Colorado Legislature (Source: PR Log)
The Colorado General Assembly has recognized the 8th Continent Project and the Colorado School of Mines for their “efforts to integrate space technology and resources into the global economy” through a joint resolution. The resolution praised the project for accelerating the emergence of the space commerce in Colorado and around the world, and for "organizing 'Space 2.0', the emerging generation of entrepreneurial space-related business ventures that will further expand Colorado's global reputation as an international hub for technology and commerce.”

Based at the Colorado School of Mines, the 8th Continent Project is the world’s most comprehensive effort to integrate space technology and resources into the global economy. The 8th Continent provides the infrastructure and resources to solve a wide range of challenges from renewable energy development to biomedical advances to global security. Located in Colorado, home of one of the most concentrated entrepreneurial, investor and aerospace talent communities in the world, the 8th Continent Project brings space down to Earth with the industry’s first trade association, business incubator, funding network and research center, all working together to develop the next generation of space-related business ventures. More information can be found at http://www.8cproject.com. (5/2)

NASA, APL Going to the Sun (Source: Science Blog)
The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory is sending a spacecraft closer to the sun than any probe has ever gone – and what it finds could revolutionize what we know about our star and the solar wind that influences everything in our solar system. NASA has tapped APL to develop the ambitious Solar Probe mission, which will study the streams of charged particles the sun hurls into space from a vantage point within the sun’s corona – its outer atmosphere – where the processes that heat the corona and produce solar wind occur. At closest approach Solar Probe would zip past the sun at 125 miles per second, protected by a carbon-composite heat shield that must withstand up to 2,600 degrees Fahrenheit and survive blasts of radiation and energized dust at levels not experienced by any previous spacecraft.

Experts in the U.S. and abroad have grappled with this mission concept for more than 30 years, running into seemingly insurmountable technology and budgetary limitations. But in February an APL-led team completed a Solar Probe engineering and mission design study at NASA’s request, detailing just how the robotic mission could be accomplished. The study team used an APL-led 2005 study as its baseline, but then significantly altered the concept to meet challenging cost and technical conditions provided by NASA. (5/2)

Top Dems Tout Lampson as Voice of NASA (Source: Houston Chronicle)
The House Democratic leadership is trying to help Rep. Nick Lampson survive a tough re-election fight by advertising that he would be in line to take over the subcommittee overseeing NASA next year — if he wins in November. The rare pre-election commitment by allies to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., underscores efforts on Capitol Hill to strengthen the Stafford Democrat's bid for a second two-year term in a Republican-leaning district long represented by Tom DeLay, the former House Majority leader. Lampson's Republican opponent, Pete Olson, said the move was "just another favor from Nancy Pelosi and just another example of how he's indebted to her and her brand of left-wing politics." (5/2)

Lockheed Martin Employee on NASA Panel Eyed in Conflict Case (Source: Rocky Mountain News)
A Lockheed Martin employee and employees at three other companies helping to build a next-generation NASA spaceship sit on a board charged with scrutinizing the spacecraft's construction, according to a government watchdog. NASA's inspector general also said their membership on the panel violates the law. The NASA inspector general's office said six of the 19 members sitting on the Orion review board - including its chairman - work at companies under contract to build Orion. Four also hold stock in the companies. The report said their employment represents a conflict of interest and that the six should be kicked off the Standing Review Board. (5/2)

FSU Geochemist Challenges Theory on Earth's Formation (Source: FSU)
Working with colleagues from NASA, a Florida State University researcher has published a paper that calls into question three decades of conventional wisdom regarding some of the physical processes that helped shape the Earth as we know it today. Munir Humayun provides a direct challenge to the popular “late veneer hypothesis,” a theory which suggests that all of our water, as well as several so-called “iron-loving” elements, were added to the Earth late in its formation by impacts with icy comets, meteorites and other passing objects.

“For 30 years, the late-veneer hypothesis has been the dominant paradigm for understanding Earth’s early history, and our ultimate origins,” Humayun said. “Now, with our latest research, we’re suggesting that the late-veneer hypothesis may not be the only way of explaining the presence of certain elements in the Earth’s crust and mantle.” Visit http://unicomm.fsu.edu/pages/releases/2008_05/01_munir_humayun.html to view the announcement. (5/1)