June 6 News Items

NASA Awards Contracts for KSC Ground Equipment (Source: NASA)
NASA has selected contractors for a multiple award contract to provide fabrication of ground support equipment for Constellation and other space programs at KSC in Florida. The multiple award, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract has a maximum value of $400 million during a five-year ordering period, with potential for a one-year extension. The electrical ground support equipment contract will include Engravers Metal Fabricators of Cocoa, Fla., Jackson & Tull of Seabrook, Md., Spectrum Laser & Technologies Inc. of Colorado Springs, Colo., and TJ Inc. of Christmas, Fla.

The fluids ground support equipment contract was awarded to Hydraulics International, Inc. of Chatsworth, Calif., Precision Fabricating & Cleaning Co., Inc. of Cocoa, Fla., Sierra Lobo, Inc. of Milan, Ohio, and United Paradyne Corp. of Santa Maria, Calif. The mechanical ground support equipment contract was awarded to Coastal Steel, Inc. of Cocoa, Fla., Engravers Metal Fabricators of Cocoa, Fla., Met-Con, Inc. of Cocoa, Fla., Oregon Iron Works of Clackamas, Ore., Precision Fabricating & Cleaning Co. Inc. of Cocoa, Fla., Rogers Associates Machine and Tool Corp. of Rochester, N.Y., Samson Metal & Machine of Lakeland, Fla., and Specialty Maintenance and Construction of Lakeland, Fla. (6/6)

NASA Awards USRA Contract for Science and Technology Support (Source: NASA)
NASA has awarded a contract to the Universities Space Research Association, or USRA, of Columbia, Md., to advance understanding of the effects of the space environment on the functioning of space exploration systems. The association will perform research, analysis and testing for technology and system development in fire prevention, detection and suppression, and other technologies necessary to sustain human life in the harsh environment of space. Other areas of research will include power, environmental control and life support systems, resource utilization and crew health.

The indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity cost plus fixed fee contract's two-year base period begins June 6, 2008, and has a maximum value of $14 million. The contract has three one-year options with a potential estimated value of $35 million, if all options are exercised. (6/6)

NASA Seeks Proposals for Lunar Research (Source: NASA)
NASA's Science Mission Directorate, in cooperation with the agency's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate, recently issued a Cooperative Agreement Notice seeking research projects for the NASA Lunar Science Institute. The institute is located at NASA's Ames Research Center in California. Proposals must include an innovative, interdisciplinary lunar research program that aligns with the institute's goals and objectives. Proposals may address science of the moon, on the moon and from the moon, including objectives that meet NASA's future lunar exploration needs. NASA expects to make $8 million to $10 million available for the research, and anticipates making five to seven awards, including one focused on exploration objectives. (6/6)

Heads-Up - Space Rally Planned for June 23 U.S. Senate Hearing on Space Coast (Source: ERAU)
Senator Bill Nelson has arranged for a hearing of the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Space, Aeronautics and Related Sciences on Florida's Space Coast on July 23. Local leaders are planning a public rally during the event, to show local support for minimizing or eliminating the Shuttle-Constellation spaceflight gap, increased attention to the consequences of the gap, reliance on foreign launch providers, and the overall decrease in the U.S. competitive posture for space commerce and exploration. Central Florida space supporters are asked to mark their calendars to participate in the rally. A strong turnout will demonstrate to our elected officials the importance of the space program to the voting public. Details on location are TBD, and the likely time will be in the morning. Watch here for details next week. (6/5)

Nominations Open for Prestigious California Space Enterprise SpotBeam Awards (Source: CSA)
The California Space Authority is now accepting nominations from its members and partners for this year's California Space Enterprise SpotBeam Awards. The SpotBeam Awards dinner is scheduled for November 19 in Los Angeles. Visit http://www.californiaspaceauthority.org/awards.html for information. (6/6)

CSA and El Camino College Plan ITAR Institute (Source: CSA)
The El Camino College for International Trade Development (CITD) have received a federal grant to establish an International Trade Compliance Institute. The Institute will be a one-stop shop for trade compliance advice, information, training and assistance for California exporters and importers. The California Space Authority is a partner on the initiative. Visit http://www.californiaspaceauthority.org/images/press-releases/pr080605-1.pdf for information. (6/5)

Congressional Hearing Will Focus on Loss of Space Jobs (Source: Florida Today)
Sen. Bill Nelson plans to hold a congressional hearing at Kennedy Space Center later this month to discuss the fate of thousands of Brevard County workers who will lose their jobs after the space shuttles are retired. "The community has asked me to do this," said Nelson, the Orlando Democrat who chairs the Senate panel that oversees NASA. "People are petrified at the Kennedy Space Center," he said. A spokesman for NASA said the agency has informally agreed to participate, although it has not received an official invitation from the committee.

Local and state leaders gathered Thursday morning to discuss strategy, aiming to try to influence the senators while they are here. A public rally is planned during the hearing to show support for the state's space industry. The agreed-upon local message: The leaders of Florida and the Space Coast understand that space exploration is critical to national security, culture and economic competitiveness. (6/6)

Lockheed Martin and NASA Ames Team Selected to Design New Solar Mission (Source: CSA)
Lockheed Martin, NASA Ames Research Center, and a national and international team of co-investigators have been selected by NASA to undertake a $750,000 six-month study to design a new NASA Small Explorer Mission called the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS). IRIS fills a crucial gap in our ability to advance Sun-Earth connection studies by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through a dynamic interface region between the solar corona and heliosphere, where all but a few percent of the non-radiative energy leaving the Sun is converted to heat and radiation. (6/3)

Extending Shuttles' Life Would Delay Moon Mission Without New Funding (Source: Florida Today)
A bill that would allow NASA to add a new shuttle mission and eliminate President Bush's 2010 deadline for retiring the fleet won approval Wednesday from a key House committee. NASA would gain a mission to deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer to the International Space Station. The bill backs two shuttle trips now considered optional among the 10 remaining flights left before the shuttles' scheduled retirement in 2010. The legislation would eliminate the deadline to finish those flights. The bill could get a vote in the full House before the end of the month. A Senate version is scheduled for a June 19 vote.

Richard Gilbrech, NASA's associate administrator for exploration systems, said extending the shuttle's life would delay the return to the moon and cost at least $3 billion a year. Without commenting directly on the bill, Gilbrech said "that would be a threat to our program and potentially lengthen the gap." (6/5)

McCain Space Comments Scrutnized (Source: Space Politics)
In the AP article on McCain's space comments: McCain would “support continuing space shuttle missions” beyond 2010 and that he wants the US to have “a better set of priorities” for the space program. That last point sounds a little bit like what Barack Obama has been saying about reviewing the agency’s direction. Florida Today's editor asked if McCain would spend taxpayer money to extend shuttle missions another year or two, noting the U.S. will have to rely on Russia to maintain the International Space Station. McCain said yes. McCain also said, “I’d be willing to spend more taxpayers dollars” on NASA. How much more money, he doesn’t say, nor how that would fit into his plans for a discretionary spending freeze if elected. (6/6)

Astronauts Continue Work on Lab, New Maintenance Concerns Raised (Source: AIA)
Astronauts at the International Space Station continued to work on the Japanese Kibo laboratory on Thursday. Also on Thursday, an astronaut found deposits on the space station's port-side solar alpha rotary joint. The deposits raise concerns about problems with the mechanisms that keep the space station's solar array wings pointed at the sun. (6/6)

McCain Would Like to See a Man on Mars (Source: AFP)
Presumptive Republican White House nominee John McCain said Thursday he would like to see a manned mission to Mars as part of a "better set of priorities" for NASA that would better engage the public. When asked about funding for the US space agency's shuttle program, which is due to end in 2010, he said he "would be willing to spend more taxpayers' dollars" to continue the program but argued that NASA must do a better job of inspiring the American public, as when it sent a man to the moon in 1969. (6/6)

Insurers Sell AMC-14 Satellite to Pentagon (Source: Space News)
The AMC-14 commercial telecommunications satellite that was placed into the wrong orbit in March following a Proton rocket failure has been sold to the U.S. Defense Department for about $15 million by insurance underwriters, who took title to the spacecraft following a settlement with satellite fleet operator SES of Luxembourg, industry officials said. (6/6)

Astrium's Proposed Space Plane Fails to Win Backing (Source: Space News)
The head of Europe's Astrium space hardware manufacturer said the company's proposal to design a space plane to carry tourists to 100 kilometers in altitude has received almost no support in Europe's established aerospace sector. (6/6)

Griffin Reassures Europeans on U.S. Commitment to Station (Source: Space News)
The United States is likely to continue to use the international space station well beyond 2016 even as it focuses on its lunar- and Mars-exploration project, NASA Administrator Michael D. Griffin said June 5. Griffin said it is "inconceivable to me" that the U.S. government would end its participation in the station in 2015 or at any other arbitrary date. (6/6)

Thales Alenia Space Negotiating to Buy Saab Space (Source: Space News)
Saab AB of Sweden is in exclusive negotiations with Thales Alenia Space over the purchase of Saab Space, industry officials said. While they said a deal could be concluded by July, they also said negotiations already had dragged on longer than expected. (6/6)

McCain: Concerned About Keeping Space Program Competitive (Source: Florida Today)
John McCain says he will support continuing space shuttle missions beyond current plans to stop the space flights in 2010. McCain told a group of Florida newspaper editors Thursday that he is concerned about keeping the space program competitive with countries like Russia and China. McCain, the expected Republican nominee for president, said, though, that he wants the country to have a better set of priorities for its space program. (6/6)

Nelson Plans Florida Hearing (Source: Florida Today)
Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Florida, said he plans to hold a hearing of his space subcommittee this month at Kennedy Space Center to discuss the shuttle transition's on Brevard County residents. Nelson, who chairs the Senate panel that oversees NASA, is tentatively scheduled to hold the meeting on June 23. An exact location hasn't been determined. Neither has a witness list, but expect NASA Administrator Michael Griffin to testify before the panel, Nelson's office said. The senator has tried several times to bring his Senate Subcommittee on Space, Aeronautics and Related Sciences to Brevard County for a hearing. Earlier this year, Nelson said that NASA opposed his previous attempts because the agency didn’t want “to stir up the people.” (6/6)