November 30 News Items

California Releases New Space Enterprise Economic Impact Data (Source: CSA)
California has been at the forefront of the space enterprise since the Space Age began a half-century ago. Businesses and government organizations based in the state play critical roles in commercial, civil, and national security space programs. According to the California Space Authority, California space enterprise generated over $31 billion in direct revenue in 2007, giving the state a leading role in the national and global space economy. Space enterprise also plays an essential role in California’s overall economy. California space enterprise had a total impact of over $76 billion in 2007, and accounted for over 370,000 jobs in the state in a wide range of fields, from information technology and finance to manufacturing and health care. The continued growth of this industry is pivotal to the state’s future prosperity. Visit http://www.californiaspaceauthority.org/images/pdfs/servicestoyou-flyer.pdf for information. (11/30)

NASA, ESA Consider Joint Mission to Search for Life on Jupiter’s Moons (Source: Parabolic Arc)
There is an ocean beneath the icy crust of Jupiter’s moon Europa. Strange creatures could be swimming in these alien waters, but so far no missions have been sent there to investigate this possibility...The Europa-Jupiter System Mission (EJSM) calls for one spacecraft to orbit Europa and another to orbit Ganymede, another large moon of Jupiter that also may have a liquid ocean locked beneath an icy outer layer. “EJSM would be a joint mission of NASA and the European Space Agency, with ESA in charge of the Ganymede orbiter and NASA directing the Europa orbiter. Working together, the two spacecraft also would be able to conduct limited studies of the large moons Io and Callisto, as well as the planet Jupiter. (11/29)

SES and EchoStar to Finance New Satellite Serving Mexico (Source: Space News)
Satellite-fleet operators SES of Luxembourg and EchoStar Corp. of the United States have reached agreement on co-financing a large direct-broadcast television satellite to be placed in a Mexican orbital slot that both companies have been cultivating for more than three years. (11/30)

U.S. Air Force Extends Milstar Operations Contract (Source: Space News)
Lockheed Martin Space Systems of Sunnyvale, Calif., has been awarded a one-year, $70.1 million contract modification from the U.S. Air Force to provide additional on-orbit operations and support for the Milstar and Defense Satellite Communications System constellations. Lockheed Martin was the prime contractor for both satellite systems and now is building the follow-on to Milstar, the Advanced Extremely High Frequency system. (11/30)

Observers: DSP-23 Craft Shows Signs of Failure (Source: Space News)
The degradation of the U.S. missile early warning constellation that has prompted the Defense Department to scramble to acquire a gap-filler satellite is likely the result of an on-orbit failure involving the most recently launched Defense Support Program (DSP) satellite, according to a Russian satellite-monitoring group. Observations by the Russian Academy of Science's International Space Observation Network (ISON) and amateur radio operators indicate the DSP-23 satellite stopped transmitting in mid-September and began drifting in October. The DSP-23 satellite was launched in 2007, the last of a generation of missile warning satellites that began launching in the 1970s. The next-generation Space Based Infrared System satellites being built by Lockheed Martin have been delayed for years by technical problems and now will begin launching no earlier than 2010. (11/30)

U.S. Air Force Boosts Value Of Lockheed SBIRS Contract (Source: Space News)
Lockheed Martin Space Systems of Sunnyvale, Calif., has been awarded a $49.9 million contract modification from the U.S. Air Force for additional development work for the Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS). The modification covers additional SBIRS architectural engineering, software enhancement and schedule changes. Lockheed Martin has been working for the past year on software issues that led to hundreds of millions of dollars of cost growth on the SBIRS program. (11/30)

ISRO Takes Steps To Reduce Heating on Chandrayaan-1 (Source: Space News)
Scientists have put in place a "thermal management plan" to stem the rising temperatures inside India's first lunar orbiter, Chandrayaan-1, a senior official of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has said. The temperature rise was not unexpected and does not jeopardize the Moon mission, project director Mylswamy Annadurai said. (11/30)

Syria Shown Sat Images of Lab Israel Bombed in 2007 (Source: Space News)
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) until recently was unable to obtain commercial satellite imagery of a Syrian military installation Israeli forces bombed in Sep. 2007 after concluding the site was involved in nuclear weapon manufacturing, IAEA Director-General Mohammed ElBaradei said Nov. 27. In a statement to the Vienna-based IAEA's board of governors, ElBaradei said the agency had sought, in vain, to obtain satellite data of the Dair Alzour site taken immediately after the Israeli strike, but was unable to find any.

"It is regrettable, and indeed baffling, that imagery for this critical period, which would have been most valuable in helping to clarify the nature of the building that was destroyed, was not available," ElBaradei said in his statement. "The agency has recently been able to secure an agreement to show Syria imagery from member-state satellites of the site shortly after the bombing, and will do so at the earliest opportunity." The IAEA has been unable to confirm Syrian claims that the installation was not involved in nuclear activities. Syrian forces removed the debris from the site after the bombing, which has further complicated the investigation, ElBaradei said. (11/30)

Obama Team Seeks Data on Possible Changes to Ares, Orion (Source: Space News)
President-elect Barack Obama's NASA transition team is asking U.S. space agency officials to quantify how much money could be saved by canceling the Ares 1 rocket and scaling back the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle next year. Obama pledged during his campaign to inject an additional $2 billion into NASA aimed in part at narrowing the gap between the space shuttle's retirement and the introduction of a successor system. While NASA Administrator Mike Griffin and his senior managers are adamant that Ares and Orion are the right vehicles to fill that role, Obama did not endorse either system by name during his campaign. (11/30)

Shuttle Lands in California (Source: SpaceToday.net)
The space shuttle Endeavour landed safely Saturday afternoon in California after weather diverted the shuttle from a Florida landing. Endeavour touched down on runway 4L at Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert at 4:25 pm EST (2125 GMT), wrapping up the STS-126 mission over 15 days and 20 hours after liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center. Endeavour was scheduled to land earlier in the day at KSC, but poor weather there and in the forecast led shuttle managers to have the shuttle land at Edwards rather than remain in orbit an extra day. The California landing will add about a week of processing time and cost over $1 million, but is not expected to impact Endeavour's next mission next year. The next shuttle mission, the launch of Discovery on STS-119, is scheduled for February 2009. (11/30)

Progress Docks Manually with ISS (Source: SpaceToday.net)
A Progress cargo spacecraft docked with the International Space Station early Sunday under manual control. The Progress M-01M spacecraft (designated Progress 31 by NASA) docked with the Pirs airlock module of the ISS, four days after launch from Baikonur. The docking was carried out using a backup manual control system after one of two antennas used by the Progress's Kurs automated system failed to deploy properly after launch. Although that antenna was commanded to deploy a few hours after launch, Russian mission controllers opted to proceed with the manual docking, which took place without incident. The spacecraft is carrying about 2.5 tons of food, water, propellant, and other supplies for the station's crew. (11/30)

Mission to Mars: The Hits to Come (Source: Arizona Star)
The UA-led Phoenix Mars lander mission — labeled a success by NASA officials — was a historic achievement for space exploration, but not necessarily because of what's being hailed by some as its biggest accomplishment. By having a successful NASA scientific mission run by the University of Arizona at an off-site location, Phoenix paved the way for other universities and research groups to take a more active role in space exploration, Mars experts independent of the mission said.

But perhaps the biggest discovery by Phoenix is the one that has yet to be made. While the $428 million spacecraft shut down earlier this month when the lander ran out of power, the work of those involved with the science mission is only beginning. Results from Phoenix must be replicated in laboratories, data analyzed and papers written. It could be months, perhaps even years, before scientists are able to fully understand exactly what Phoenix found and whether the Martian north pole could ever have supported life. (11/30)

5...4...3...2...Yawwwwwn (Source: ABC News)
Astronaut Heidi Stefanyshyn Piper is ready to move on. The tool bag is gone and she is tired of talking about it. In an interview on Saturday, after being asked about it for the umpteenth time, she sighed and said, "It may be a good thing if it gets people to think about the space program and what we are doing up here." NASA's public relations problem is that they've been there and done that, over and over again. Yes the space station is the most complicated engineering project ever designed by mankind, but it is hard for most Americans to care much about the space program when they are worried about keeping their jobs, making house payments, and putting food on the table. In an interview on Saturday, after being asked about it for the umpteenth time, she sighed and said, "It may be a good thing if it gets people to think about the space program and what we are doing up here." (11/29)

Next Big U.S. Satellite Contract Slated for Year-End Award (Source: Wall Street Journal)
Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman are locked in a pricing battle to build the next-generation GOES weather-observation constellation, industry officials said. The winner of the more than $1 billion job is expected to be announced next month by NASA. The contract is seen as the last big-ticket U.S. government satellite project to be awarded before the incoming Obama administration reassesses policies, plans and budgets for building civilian, military and classified spy satellites.

The competition comes a month after the Pentagon scaled back and delayed the next major satellite-communications contract, TSAT, which is not expected to be awarded until at least 2010. All three companies are intent on winning the next GOES contract to keep work flowing through their satellite-making factories, and help retain experienced engineers during what promises to be a lengthy dry spell for new national-security satellites. (11/29)

Home-Made Korean Lunar Lander Unveiled (Source: Korea Times)
Korean scientists unveiled a locally developed spacecraft that could potentially be used for robotic exploration of the Moon, hailing it as an important moment in the country's ambitious space program. A team led by Kwon Se-jin, a professor of aerospace engineering at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), and engineers at local company, Space Solutions, revealed the lunar-lander, which is capable of carrying objects weighing around 20 kilograms to the lunar surface, Thursday. The lander, 40 centimeters tall and weighing 25 kilograms, is equipped with a liquid-fuel rocket engine with a maximum thrust of 350 newtons (N). (11/28)

Most Planets May Be Seeded With Life (Source: Science Now)
Astronomers have detected a building block of RNA floating within the hot, compact core of a massive star-forming region in the Milky Way. The molecule appears to have formed with all of the other stuff that makes up planets, suggesting that many other worlds are seeded with some of life's ingredients right from birth. Using the IRAM radio dish array in France, a team of European astronomers has detected glycolaldehyde--a simple sugar that makes up ribose, one of the constituents of RNA--within the core of what appears to be a coalescing disk of dust and gas in a star-forming region called G31.41+0.31, about 26,000 light-years away. The sugar molecule can apparently form in a simple reaction between carbon monoxide molecules and dust grains. (11/27)

An Alternative Future for the Kennedy Space Center (Source: WMFE)
America's spaceport faces huge job cuts with the end of the Space Shuttle program. NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi sought a new role for itself over concern of job cuts following the end of Project Apollo in the 1970's. The result was an innovative partnership with government, higher education, and the private sector. A WMFE report describes how Stennis' success might provide a path that KSC might follow. Click here to listen to the report. (11/26)

Researchers: Tides Can Cut Life Short On Planets Orbiting Smaller Stars (Source: Univ. of Arizona)
Planet hunters searching for planets suitable for life will likely find them first around low-mass stars because it's technically easier than finding such planets around hotter, more massive stars, researchers predict. But Earth-like planets around stars smaller than our sun won't be liveable for long, according to a study led by Rory Barnes, a research associate with The University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. Such planets can face "tidal extinction" within about a billion years.

A star only a quarter-to-a-tenth as massive as our sun is also cooler than our sun, so the "habitable zone" for its planets – where water is liquid – also will be closer in, Barnes said. "This close proximity results in accelerated tidal evolution," Barnes said. "Tides will be so powerful that the Earth-like planet's orbit will shrink. In some cases, orbits can shrink so much and so quickly that the planet may pulled through the inner edge of the habitable zone in less than a billion years, and all the planet's water will boil away." (11/26)

State on Track to Get Funds for Spaceport Construction (Source: Las Cruces Sun-News)
New Mexico is close to meeting three conditions needed to access funding for the construction of Spaceport America, a project manager for the spaceport told Doña Ana County officials. Some $67 million in state appropriations for Spaceport America is contingent upon the state obtaining a federal license for the facility, negotiating a contract with a so-called anchor tenant company and ensuring the cost for the project doesn't exceed $225 million.

Wayne Savage, a contracted project manager for the spaceport, said the state is expecting a final decision on an environmental study required by the Federal Aviation Administration to be released Dec. 15. He said the study — a key part of the licensing process — will be followed up with a final decision on the license. "That's good news," he said, speaking to commissioners during a regular meeting. "That's a major hurdle for the spaceport." (11/26)