November 8 News Items

Branson Promises Hypersonic Intercontinental Travel (Source: Parabolic Arc)
Speaking with Swedish TV4, the ever-talkative and always optimistic Virgin Galactic CEO Richard Branson was repeatedly “hopeful” on the company’s prospects for launching space tourists from Sweden. “I am hopeful that quite soon after that we have started our space program from New Mexico…that hopefully the next base will be in Northern Sweden“. Branson was also vaguely bullish on the prospects of intercontinental travel via space: "I think that the technology that we are developing at Virgin Galactic for space travels may well enable you to go to Thailand from Scandinavia in half an hour by popping you out of the Earth’s atmosphere and then straight back again at an affordable price. I think that in your lifetime that is a possibility.”

International Space University Dean Walter Peeters is significantly more definitive: “One estimate suggests a ticket for a round trip taking in London, Tokyo and New York would cost more than £43,000. Mr Peeters, however, thinks that the fares in the middle of the next decade will be the equivalent of what passengers were paying to fly on Concorde during its heyday.” Jeff Foust of the Futron Corp. was diplomatically skeptical, calling the schedule “very aggressive” while citing a host of technical, financial and regulatory challenges. (11/8)

Global Civil System for Space Traffic Management (Source: Newswise)
Outer space is a busy thoroughfare of satellites operated by numbers of nations. Earth orbits are crowded with active spacecraft, as well as dead or dying satellites – and countless bits of hazardous space debris. Work is now underway to begin blueprinting a civilian "space situational awareness" (SSA) system – a step toward global space traffic management. A recently held international meeting brought together some 500 specialists from America, Europe, Russia, and China – a cadre of experts in safety from the aerospace world to discuss how best to manage the active spacelanes of today and in the future.

Until now SSA has generally only been talked about in a military context. Increasingly, it is commercial and civil satellites which are being placed into orbit, and the nations and companies that operate them need to have the awareness to be able to operate them in a safe and sustainable way. “This SSA system needs to work in an international context, much the same way as aviation does. But very few companies and States have the resources to fund and operate their own SSA network,” one expert observed. (11/7)

Nelson Urges Obama to Keep Griffin -- For Now (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Sen. Bill Nelson wants Michael Griffin to run NASA until President-elect Barack Obama finds a "surefire" replacement, according to an aide to the Florida Democrat. Nelson expressed his wishes in a phone call this week to Lori Garver, who is running Obama's NASA transition team. Garver is a former NASA associate administrator. "Nelson's position so far is to stay the course. The only caveat is that Nelson wants to to see the shuttle program extended to deal with the (five-year) gap (between programs) and the Russians." (11/7)

India's Spacecraft Enters Lunar Orbit (Source: AFP)
India's first unmanned spacecraft entered lunar orbit Saturday, 18 days after an Indian-built rocket transported it into outer space. "The motor on board Chandrayaan-1 was fired at 5:15 pm (1145 GMT) for 805 seconds, which successfully put the spacecraft into lunar orbit," Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) Director S. Satish announced. Mission controllers hope the spacecraft's orbit will stabilise in about a week. It is then expected to send a probe to the moon's surface to carry out tests. (11/8)

Space Tourists to Get Limited Protection (Source: New Scientist)
The European Aviation Safety Agency is developing safety rules for civilian space flight - but they will only apply while craft are in the Earth's atmosphere. With Sweden already building a spaceport from which Virgin Galactic may offer flights into the aurora borealis, EASA has decided to act. "Both [Virgin's] carrier aircraft and the rocket-powered aeroplane/glider would meet the definition of an aircraft, and therefore fall under EASA's scope," says a spokesman.

But the agency admits it cannot legislate for flights beyond the atmosphere: "EASA has no competency nor mandate for outer space, where international law applies." The International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety wants a United Nations-backed global agreement that mandates safety measures in space. (11/8)