December 4 News Items

Virginia Aerospace Business Roundtable Planned (Source: Spaceports Blog)
The Virginia Aerospace Business Roundtable is now being organized with the assistance of the Virginia Aerospace Advisory Council appointed by Governor Tim Kaine last year. The group hopes to attract corporate, academic, and individual members from throughout the state interested in aerospace-related business. Aerospace Days will be held February 4 and 5 in Richmond to market the sector to the Virginia General Assembly legislators while endeavoring to organize the Virginia Aerospace Business Roundtable similar to that in Maryland. The Legislature has passed studies and commercial space flight legislation and offered millions of dollars in bonds to build a new commercial launch pad in 2009. (12/4)

NASA Delays Mars Mission to 2011 (Source: AP)
NASA is delaying launch of a giant Mars robotic mission that is hundreds of millions of dollars over budget. The Mars Science Laboratory was scheduled to fly next year but will be postponed until 2011. The project has been dogged by cost increases and technical challenges, and the delay could add $400 million to the price tag, which is likely to top $2 billion. "Trying for '09 would require us to assume too much risk, more than I think is appropriate for a flagship mission," said NASA Administrator Michael Griffin. (12/4)

Students Find Planet Outside Our Solar System (Source: Space.com)
Three undergraduate students at a Netherlands university have discovered a large planet orbiting a fast-rotating star. Extrasolar planet discoveries like this have become common, but this one is unusual both for who found it and the type of star it orbits. "It is exciting not just to find a planet, but to find one as unusual as this one; it turns out to be the first planet discovered around a fast-rotating star, and it's also the hottest star found with a planet," said one of the planet's discoverers, Meta de Hoon of Leiden University in The Netherlands. The planet, which is about five times as massive as Jupiter, circles its host star every 2.5 days. It lies at only three percent of the Earth-sun distance from its star, making it very hot and much larger than many other planets. (12/4)

Panhandle Athlete Surgery Center Courts Space Tourists (Source: Florida Today)
A surgical center in the Florida Panhandle known for restoring the otherworldly skills of sports superstars wants to prepare would-be space tourists for their otherworldly voyages. The Andrews Institute for Orthopedics and Sports Medicine in Gulf Breeze plans to announce its personal and medical training program for space tourists this afternoon. The institute, founded by renowned sports surgeon James Andrews, is partnering with Space Florida, which coordinates Florida’s space-related enterprises. (12/4)

Vietnam to Build Space Technology Center (Source: VietNamNet)
A project to build a space technology research and development center at the Hoa Lac Hi-tech Park, Hanoi is now being researched. The total capital for this project totals US $350 million, coming from Japan’s ODA sources. The project will be implemented from now until 2017. The Hoa Lac Space Center will be built in the Hoa Lac Hi-tech Park, 30 km from Hanoi’s center. The center will have a space technology operating zone, a small satellite assembly, integration and testing zone, a planetarium, a research and training zone and a ground station to receive data from satellites. Japanese experts will help Vietnam manufacture a small satellite and apply remote sensing technology to serve economic and social development. (12/4)

Engaging China in Space: US Firms Tired of Being Shut Out (Source: Asia Times)
President-elect Barack Obama will quickly see that dealing with China in space is going to be tricky. In 2009, a new satellite will be launched that speaks volumes about the complexity of the global space environment and the need for the US to delicately balance national security and commercial space interests. After all, China still offers the cheapest rides to space for commercial satellites via its Long March rockets, and beyond that, China still buys foreign-built - especially European - satellites on occasion.

The Palapa-D satellite serves as a painful reminder for US companies who have spent years trying to convince the US government that US satellite companies are being penalized and rapidly losing ground in the commercial space realm thanks primarily to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). The regulations have since 1999 become, among other factors, a major source of irritation for US satellite exporters and space component manufacturers. Click here to view the article. (12/4)

NASA Trains Pilots to Fly High (Source: AFNS)
To achieve their dreams of space flight, NASA astronauts must overcome many challenges -- challenges they can only receive at one place. Whether they are a pilot, navigator or mission specialist, Ellington Field, Texas, is the proving ground where astronauts earn their "wings" through the expert guidance of Air Force experience. Most of the training astronauts receive at Ellington Field is led by former Airmen.

Astronauts training at Ellington Field must become familiar with a wide variety of aircraft. The aircraft includes the T-38 Talon, primarily used for pilot and navigator training; the G-2, a modified aircraft used to teach pilots how to actually land the space shuttle; the C-9, used for zero-gravity training; and a modified Boeing 747, used to carry the space shuttle. (12/4)

China's Future Astronauts Will Be Scientists, Not Pilots, Official Says (Source: Xinhua)
China will select future astronauts from the ranks of scientists rather than military pilots, a top-level engineer for the country's manned space program said. "China's manned space project will start setting up space laboratories and stations after 2012, and by that time scientists will be needed for a large number of experiments in space," said Zhang Jianqi, deputy chief commander of China's manned space project. So far, most Chinese astronauts have been former People's Liberation Army pilots. (12/4)

UCSC Astronomy Department Voted Best in Nation (Source: City on a Hill)
Light-years ahead of the competition, the UC Santa Cruz astronomy department was ranked No. 1 in the nation this month, after a study conducted by NASA scientist Anne Kinney. Kinney, the head of the Solar System Exploration Division, conducted the survey by evaluating how many UCSC faculty members’ articles have been published and the number of times they were cited by fellow astronomers. (12/4)

O'Brien Out at CNN as Network Ends Space Mission (Source: Reuters)
CNN will close its dedicated unit that covered environmental, science and space stories. The cuts affect about five staffers, including longtime correspondent and space reporter Miles O'Brien, who will leave the network. O'Brien has worked at CNN for 17 years, during which time he covered Space Shuttle launches and anchored or co-anchored various shows. CNN executives said it didn't make sense to have the unit as well as a "Planet in Peril" division that covers many of the same topics.

"We want to integrate environmental, science and technology reporting into the general editorial structure rather than have a stand-alone unit," a CNN spokeswoman said Wednesday. "Now that the bulk of our environmental coverage is being offered through the 'Planet in Peril' franchise, which is produced by the ('Anderson Cooper 360') program, there is no need for a separate unit." (12/3)