October 29 News Items

Lesson Learned, McCain Pitch Includes Space (Source: SpacePolitics.com)
Remember last week when McCain was criticized by Democrats for not mentioning NASA in his list of programs that would be exempt from a budget freeze, less than a week after vowing to add $2 billion to the agency’s budget? The campaign, it appears, has learned its lesson, based on a speech McCain gave Wednesday in Miami: "I will freeze government spending on all but the most important programs like defense, veterans care, NASA, Social Security and health care until we scrub every single government program and get rid of the ones that aren’t working for the American people. And I will veto every single pork barrel bill Congresses passes."

Miami is far from the Space Coast, but it seems the campaign wanted to avoid giving the Obama’s Florida campaign any ammunition. It should be noted, though, that the passage above is similar to speeches McCain has given elsewhere, in recent days, like Hershey, Pennsylvania on Tuesday and Dayton, Ohio on Monday; neither of those speeches, though, included NASA in that list of “important programs”. (10/29)

Harris' OS/COMET Product Chosen For Constellation Launch Control Program (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
Harris has announced that NASA Kennedy Space Center has selected its OS/COMET telemetry, tracking, and command (TT and C) software for the Constellation Launch Control System. OS/COMET is a commercial off-the-shelf software tool that provides superior TT and C capabilities for military, intelligence, and commercial satellite constellations. The OS/COMET product will deliver critical command and telemetry processing services to meet the needs of the Launch Control System architecture. The KSC Launch Control System architecture leverages leading-edge industry standards, existing technologies, and commercially available products to provide significant core functionality in the command and control of constellation launch vehicles and ground support systems. (10/29)

NASA May Be Able To Speed Up Launch of Moonship (Source: AP)
NASA officials said Wednesday it might be possible to try out its new moon rocketship a year earlier than its current target date of 2015. That would mean just a four-year gap between the last space shuttle flight and the next-generation spacecraft, instead of five years. Many in Congress, including the two presidential candidates, are troubled by the prospect of the U.S. having to rely on Russia for trips to the space station during that time. NASA is midway through a study looking at ways to move up its March 2015 test launch of the Ares rocket with a crew, in case the next president wants that. The new rocket would ultimately return the U.S. to the moon, but the initial flights would be to the space station. (10/29)

NASA Probe Shows Mercury More Dynamic Than Thought (Source: AP)
Earth's first nearly full look at Mercury reveals that the tiny lifeless planet took a far greater role in shaping itself than was thought, with volcanoes spewing "mysterious dark blue material." New images from NASA's Messenger space probe should help settle a decades-old debate about what caused parts of Mercury to be somewhat smoother than it should be. NASA released photos Wednesday, from Messenger's fly-by earlier this month, that gave the answer: Lots of volcanic activity, far more than signs from an earlier probe. Astronomers used to dismiss Mercury, the planet closest to the sun, as mere "dead rock," little more than a target for cosmic collisions that shaped it. (10/29)

Lockheed Martin Gets $30M Air Force Contract for Space Situational Awareness (Source: Lockheed)
The U.S. Air Force has awarded Lockheed Martin a $30 million contract for the development phase of the Self-Awareness Space Situational Awareness (SASSA) technology demonstration program. Lockheed Martin will develop a technology demonstration payload to provide tactical space situational awareness with dedicated communications. The surveillance system will increase critical awareness of threats to U.S. satellites and demonstrate the capability to control and manage up to eight instruments for operational systems implementation. (10/29)

Venezuelan Satellite Launched from China (Source: AP)
Chinese and Venezuelan scientists hovered over radar screens, a Russian combat jet flew overhead and satellite dishes tilted toward the skies as Venezuela tracked the launch of its first satellite on Wednesday. President Hugo Chavez has increasingly turned toward the East for help in technological development, and his latest endeavor — at a cost of some $406 million — will help him spread his revolutionary message across Latin America.

A rocket launched from China's western Sichuan province carried the 5.1-ton satellite into space and it is supposed to reach its final orbit 21,900 miles (36,500 kilometers) above the earth next week. It will begin carrying radio, television and other data transmissions in early 2009 after three months of tests. Chavez watched the launch by television with Bolivian President Evo Morales at an observation center just south of Venezuela's capital. (10/29)

Spare Hubble Part's Failure Threatens Telescope Mission (Source: Flight Global)
The failure of a Hubble Space Telescope (HST) control unit during qualification testing is threatening the telescope's future and prospects for its final servicing mission. The spare unit is being tested for inclusion in the delayed Space Shuttle STS-125 flight for the HST Servicing Mission (SM) 4. The spare unit's side A failed a qualification test and engineers have concluded that they have an "intermittant problem". The investigation into this and the potential need to manufacture a new unit could see SM4 delayed into 2010, when the Shuttle fleet is to be retired. In September NASA had announced a possible STS-125 delay to February but has since considered a May date. But that was before the unit failure. (10/29)

Ares 1-X Test Flight Target Now July 12 (Source: Florida Today)
NASA's first test flight of a new moon rocket is being pushed back to July 12 as a result of the delay in the agency's fifth and final Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission, officials said today. And that date for the Ares 1-X test flight would be further delayed if launch of the Hubble servicing mission moves from a tentatively targeted liftoff in February to the next flight opportunity in May. NASA Constellation Program Manager Jeff Hanley said the agency still aims to launch the first piloted flight of an Ares 1 rocket and an Orion spacecraft by March 2015 -- the date promised to Congress. But internally, agency engineers are shooting for a September 2014 target. (10/29)

Embry-Riddle Engineering Teams Closing-In on Space Project Designs (Source: ERAU)
The Embry-Riddle Aerospace Engineering Department's Senior Spacecraft Design class will hold thirty-percent design reviews for project teams on Oct. 31 in Daytona. Design Reviews are open to interested members of the professional public. Plans and progress in this year's projects will be presented, including a NASA University Student Launch Initiative (USLI) High Powered Rocketry Competition project; a Northrop-Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge Liquid Rocket Engine Development project; and the Project Icarus Suborbital Rocket project. (10/29)

NASA Measurements Show Greenhouse Gas Methane on the Rise Again (Source: NASA)
The amount of methane in Earth's atmosphere shot up in 2007, bringing to an end approximately a decade in which atmospheric levels of the potent greenhouse gas were essentially stable. The new study is based on data from a worldwide NASA-funded measurement network. Methane levels in the atmosphere have more than tripled since pre-industrial times, accounting for around one-fifth of the human contribution to greenhouse gas-driven global warming. (10/29)

Harris Joins Northrop for $1B GPS Contract Bid (Source: AIA)
Some three dozen Harris Corp. engineers are working on a new control system for GPS satellites, hoping to win an Air Force contract worth up to $1 billion. Harris says its system can control up to 64 satellites, more than double the number currently in orbit. Harris is working as part of a team led by Northrop Grumman Corp., competing against Raytheon Co. for the contract, which is due to be awarded in the spring. (10/29)

Scientist Might Negotiate Plea Deal (Source: DailyPress.com)
Federal prosecutors are considering a plea deal with a Chinese scientist from Newport News accused of sharing sensitive rocket launching technology with the Chinese government. Friday was the deadline the U.S. Attorney's Office had for indicting Quan-Sheng Shu, 68, a scientist and small business owner at the Applied Research Center. But a judge agreed to extend that deadline because Shu and prosecutors are trying to work out a "resolution" of the case. Shu, the president of AMAC International in Newport News, was accused in an FBI complaint last month of bribing foreign officials, providing high-tech documents to the Chinese military that he was prohibited from handing over, and not having a license to sell defense proposals to China. (10/29)

How Much Is That In Apollos? (Source: MSNBC)
How much will $700 billion get you? Roughly speaking, the widely publicized cost of the financial bailout … er, rescue package … is equal to seven Apollo programs. "One Apollo" turns out to be a relatively standard currency unit, the equivalent of $25 billion in 1970 dollars, or roughly $100 billion in today's dollars. (10/3)

Apollo Astronaut Cernan Likes McCain (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
"So I’m not too excited about [Obama], for a number of reasons quiet frankly - lots of reasons actually, politically and on ideology and on the space program - I’m just not too excited about the potential of him being the president of the United States. [...] John McCain, as a kid, had the same dreams as I did. He wanted to fly planes off aircraft carriers, so somewhere down in John McCain’s heart was a dream about wanting to fly, and I think he’s got a better appreciation for the significance of technology in the free world and the continuation (of the US) to be the leader in the free world." (6/30)

Sally Ride Endorses Obama for President (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
In an editorial published Wednesday, the first U.S. female astronaut offered her endorsement of Senator Barack Obama: "Our space program is at a crossroads, and it will take a new generation of leadership to inspire our children to reach for the stars...During this campaign, I have seen young people respond to Obama the way I responded then. He has inspired young people to engage with their communities and has excited them about the possibilities of what they can accomplish. Obama also has impressed me with his grasp of the challenges our space program faces and his agenda for where we go from here. Obama clearly understands the importance of human spaceflight and exploration. That is why he supports increasing NASA's budget to close the gap in American spaceflight capability." Click here to view the entire editorial. (10/29)

India Poised to be Major Player in Global Satellite Manufacturing (Source: Thaindian News)
India can become a major player in the emerging small satellite manufacturing industry. The country’s space agency has estimated a market potential of 50 satellites over the next decade, worth around $1.5 billion, says a space official. Keeping this in mind, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has already formed a special team to manufacture small satellites. The small satellites are now in demand because its “mass and volume are low, thereby reducing the cost of carriage by rocket. Further, the cost of building the satellite as well as the time required to build it are less,” said an ISRO official. (10/29)

Mars Lander Parts Being Shut Down (Source: Arizona Star)
After five months of digging in the red planet's soil, the Phoenix Mars Lander is losing some key instruments in order to conserve power. Phoenix landed in May to study whether the arctic environment could support primitive life. The lander has been struggling to survive with fewer hours of sunlight reaching its solar panels. NASA decided to gradually shut down the spacecraft's instruments in hopes of getting several more weeks of scientific study. Engineers on Tuesday sent commands to disable a heater that warms the spacecraft's robotic arm and oven instrument, a move that will save about 250 watt-hours of power a day. Three other heaters that power other spacecraft electronics will be shut down during the next several weeks. (10/29)

Boosting Israel's Place in the Space Race (Source: Isreal 21C)
It's a moment when all Israelis remember where they were and what they were doing. In 2003, pride turned to grief in an instant when the space shuttle Columbia and its crew - including Israeli astronaut Col. Ilan Ramon - perished when re-entering the earth's atmosphere. A fitting tribute, the Ilan Ramon Scholarship and Endowment Project, was established in 2004 by California-based venture capitalist Michael Potter, in consultation with the Ramon family, to provide scholarship funding for Israeli citizens to attend programs at the International Space University (ISU). (10/29

Do We Need Oil From Outer Space? (Source: RIA Novosti)
Scientists from the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh said, judging by the chemical composition of stars in the Milky Way, our galaxy could contain anywhere between 300 and 38,000 highly developed extraterrestrial civilizations potentially capable of contacting Planet Earth. Although current generations are unlikely to shake hands with little green men, humankind has already discovered sizeable mineral deposits on other planets. But should we pin any hopes on them?

In early 2008, the media said Cassini-Huygens, a joint NASA/European Space Agency/Italian Space Agency robotic spacecraft mission currently studying the planet Saturn and its moons, had discovered oil and gas deposits on Titan, Saturn's largest satellite, and that they exceeded terrestrial deposits by 100 times. Many scientists and analysts say extraterrestrial sources of energy could provide humankind with enough heat and energy for hundreds of years to come and would help it cope with a snowballing energy crisis. (10/29)