November 2 News Items

Cunningham Campaigns with/for McCain (Source: Spaceports Blog)
Over the weekend, Apollo 7 astronaut Walt Cunningham toured cities around Florida to help promote Republican hopeful Sen. John McCain’s campaign by backing the candidate and his space platform. (11/2)

Video Highlights Obama's Commitment to Space (Source: LA Underground)
Space advocates have assembled a new video highlighting the Obama campaign's commitment to our nation's space program. Visit http://ca.youtube.com/user/LAUNDERGROUNDTV to view the video. (11/2)

China Picks Europe's Alenia to Build Comsat Payload (Source: Space News)
Thales Alenia Space of France and Italy will build the payload electronics for China's Sinosat 5 telecommunications satellite under a contract with Beijing-based Sinosat, now part of China Direct Broadcast Satellite Co. Ltd. The satellite will use China's domestically built DFH-4 platform, which was first used on the Sinosat 2 satellite that launched in October 2006 and failed when one of its solar panels did not fully deploy. Sinosat 5 is expected to be launched aboard China's Long March 3B rocket in 2011. (11/2)

U.S. Intelligence Budget Topped $45 Billion in 2008 (Source: Space News)
The total U.S. intelligence budget for 2008 was $47.5 billion, according to an Oct. 28 press release from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The disclosure of the National Intelligence Program's top-line figure was mandated by the Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007, which said the amount spent must be made public no later than 30 days after the end of the fiscal year. No further disclosures will be made, the release said. U.S. intelligence budgets traditionally have been classified. (11/2)

Goodrich to Build First Operational ORS Satellite (Source: Space News)
The Pentagon's Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) office issued a contract Oct. 23 to Goodrich ISR Systems of Danbury, Conn., to build a low-cost optical reconnaissance satellite slated to launch within two years. The satellite, dubbed ORS-Sat-1, is being built in response to an unspecified and urgent need from U.S. Central Command, according to Peter Wegner, director of the ORS office. ORS satellite development efforts to date have been limited to experimental craft such as the TacSat series, which is intended to demonstrate the ability to build and launch systems quickly in response to an emerging need. ORS-Sat-1 will be the first procured by the ORS office for operational use. (11/2)

Blue Angels to Dazzle Crowds at KSC Space/Air Show (Source: Florida Today)
An expanded roster of aviation stars will take to the skies Nov. 8 and 9 for the second annual Space and Air Show featuring the Blue Angels at Kennedy Space Center. Tickets for the show are available online at www.kennedyspacecenter.com or by calling 321-449-4400. Air show viewing is from the NASA Causeway within Kennedy Space Center. (10/31)

Japan to Add Sleeping Quarters to Kibo Space Lab on ISS (Source: Mainichi)
New sleeping quarters for long-term residents of the Kibo space laboratory on board the International Space Station (ISS) will be added next year, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced. The extra capsule -- measuring a roomy 1 x 1 x 1.5 meters, around the size of that in the average capsule hotel -- will be hoisted into space during a Shuttle mission next summer, with Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi possibly moving in during the second half of the year. (11/2)

New Mexico County Voters Urged to Approve Spaceport Tax (Alamogordo Daily News)
Of course, the largest benefit to Otero County will be measured in economic impact. Between increased tourism throughout the community and at the space museum generated by the development of commercial space activity, studies predict thousands of new jobs created by the spaceport. There is no allocation or division of opportunity by the spaceport, so there is no limit to the economic opportunity that Otero County can experience. In fact, the return to Otero will be quickly realized through the re-investment of 25 percent of the new tax funds to local schools and education, especially in the areas of math and science. (11/2)

Spaceship Colorado (Source: Colorado Business)
Colorado employs more aerospace workers than all but one state, but its success in the industry rests largely on the flow of money from NASA and the military. Through a plate-glass window in a new $65 million annex on the Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. campus in Boulder, visitors observed workers assembling a spacecraft — or, rather, parts of a spacecraft, as it was in three separate pieces. Technicians padded about in "bunny suits," covered from head to toe in white clean-room outfits. The spacecraft was WorldView-2, a remote-sensing orbiter scheduled to fortify Longmont-based DigitalGlobe’s fleet sometime in 2009.

Engineers Kirsten Sterrett and Michael Horner sat in a control room in front of plate-glass windows offering a WorldView-2 view and, more directly, four flat-screen monitors in the control room. They were in the middle of a software upload. To their right stood racks with labels like "Solar Array Simulator" and "Power Control Console." Both engineers are graduates of the University of Colorado’s aerospace engineering program, she with a master’s degree, he with a Ph.D. Thus, Colorado-educated engineers worked on a Colorado spacecraft for a Colorado customer. Visit http://www.cobizmag.com/articles.asp?id=2409 to view the article. (11/1)

New Aerospace Degree Programs a Perfect Fit for Spaceport America (Source: Las Cruces Sun-News)
Future scientists and technicians working to launch space passengers and commercial payloads into suborbit from Spaceport America stand a better chance of having earned their degrees from New Mexico State University, thanks to a decision by NMSU regents last week to expand the school's aerospace engineering programs to include master's and doctorate-level degrees. (11/1)

KSC Director: "Federal City" Could Save Center (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
The new director of Kennedy Space Center said Friday that the center will lose thousands of jobs whether the space shuttle is retired in 2010 as planned or the next administration gives it a brief reprieve. But Bob Cabana, a former astronaut, said he has an idea that might take some of the sting out of the cuts: turning KSC into a "Federal City" where government agencies, university researchers and big aerospace companies work side by side tapping into the facilities and skilled work force at the landmark site. "There are going to be cuts; there's no two ways about it," Cabana said at his first news conference since starting this week. "The space-shuttle program is going to end. Even if it gets extended for a little bit, eventually it's going to end, and when it ends, there are going to be people out of work."

He had been director of Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, and he said Stennis shows there are ways to offset KSC's job losses. Stennis hosts university programs as well as offices of the NOAA, the U.S. Navy and the Department of Homeland Security. The Government Printing Office makes passports there, and private companies test aerospace-engine designs. "I want to look at the model that Stennis had," Cabana said. (11/1)