January 13 News Items

Delta IV Mission Delayed Until Tomorrow (Source: ERAU)
Tonight's scheduled Delta IV launch of a classified U.S. Government payload has been scrubbed. Another attempt is planned for tomorrow night. (1/13)

Earth-to-Mars in Three Days!? (Source: Spaceports Blog)
Earth-to-Mars in three days! OK? Tell me more. That is what the Magnetic and Electrostatic Nuclear Fusion Reactor, or simply CrossFire Fusor, apparatus designed by 40 year old Brazilian Moacir L. Ferreira Jr. for confining and fusing light atomic nucleus at expressive rates releasing a tremendous amount of energy intended mainly for thrusting a spacecraft promises [patent pending]! To better understand fusion see the Fusion 2100 video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQ9j2cajRo4. (1/12)

Brig. Gen. Bolton Outlines Changes at Cape (Source: Florida Today)
Change will come to the space industry in the form of more launches, an increased commercial emphasis and new rocket systems, Brig. Gen. Edward Bolton, commander of the 45th Space Wing, said Tuesday. Last year, only seven rockets launched from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. Including Wednesday evening's scheduled launch, nine rockets and shuttles are scheduled to blast off by May. "We have more systems coming onto the range and going off the range than at any time in my memory," said Bolton, whose career in the space industry spans 25 years. Click here to view the article. (1/13)

NASA Renegades Pitch Obama Team New Post-Shuttle Plan (Source: Popular Mechanics)
As the Obama team wrestles with the best way to put Americans back in space, a group of engineers is proposing a plan it calls Jupiter Direct to replace NASA's current plans for the Ares rocket. The engineers claim that the new plan would get astronauts to the ISS in less time, and for less money. During a morning meeting at NASA headquarters with Obama administration transition team members, they pitched an idea to scrap NASA's existing post-shuttle plan.

Instead, they want to create a different launch vehicle from space shuttle parts that could reach the International Space Station and, eventually, be used for a return to the moon. According to the current plan, NASA's launchers are slated to fly in 2015, five years after the shuttle is retired. The alternative plan, called Jupiter Direct, promises to trim that date by two years and tens of millions of dollars. Click here to view the article. (1/9)

Meek Plans Run for Martinez's Senate Seat (Source: Florida Today)
Democratic U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, who led the effort to put class size limits in the state constitution, is running for the U.S. Senate. Meek announced his candidacy Tuesday at a news conference in Miami. He’s the first major candidate to get in the 2010 race to replace retiring Republican Sen. Mel Martinez. Meek is beginning his fourth term in Congress. He sits on the powerful Ways & Means Committee, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee. He also has a close relationship with Speaker Nancy Pelosi. If he succeeds, Meek would be the first black candidate elected to statewide office in Florida. (1/13)

NASA Chief Warns of Layoffs if Funding Levels Frozen (Source: Houston Chronicle)
Outgoing NASA administrator Michael Griffin warned that the space agency may have to lay off an unspecified number of contractors on the back-to-the-moon Constellation program if Congress continues to freeze NASA spending below the $17.6 billion requested for this year by the Bush administration. Griffin, who said his resignation would take effect at noon on Jan. 20, declined to specify the number of contractors who might lose their jobs or where the cutbacks might take place. The NASA shuttle program alone employs 17,000 NASA employees and contractors. Houston's Johnson Space Center accounts for some 20,000 NASA employees and contractor employees. (1/13)

National Academies Want Your View on the Future of the U.S. Space Program (Source: Parabolic Arc)
The new study “Rationale and Goals of the U.S. Civil Space Program” is looking for the public’s view on the following questions: What’s the future of human, robotic, commercial, and personal spaceflight? Is your life impacted in a meaningful way by the space program? What kind of emphasis should the space program represent in going forward? How can the country’s civil, or non-military, space program address key national issues? This study is sponsored exclusively by The National Academies, and it is not receiving any funds from government agencies or any other external sources. Click here for information. (1/12)

Transporting Humans to Mars on a Pair of Tethered Space Shuttle Orbiters (Source: Remarkable Technologies)
Instead of retiring the Space Shuttle, and simply moth-balling the orbiters at museums and "rocket parks" around the country, could we give the fleet a last heroic assignment? A grand mission commensurate with their thirty years of service? Something that would be truly historic -- even through the lens of time a millennium from now? UP Aerospace's Erik Knight describes his notion of using two Space Shuttle orbiters, tethered together, to support Mars exploration. Click here for information. (1/12)

Japan Eyes More Satellite Orders After South Korea Sale (Source: AFP)
Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. hopes to receive more satellite launch orders for its H-2A rocket after it won a South Korean contract, its first deal with a foreign customer. The industrial giant aspires to compete with European consortium Arianespace and Boeing-led Sea Launch Co. but previously only had business from within Japan. Mitsubishi Heavy declined to disclose the price of the Korean launch contract, but the company has repeatedly expressed hopes of reducing the amount it charges for a launch from about $90 million to around $60 to $70 million, to bring it in line with overseas rivals. (1/13)

Controversy May Kill Refueling Tanker (Source: AIA)
After igniting a political firestorm last year, the Air Force's $35 billion refueling tanker seems to have fallen entirely off the radar in Washington, and some doubt the new plane will ever be built. Lexington Institute analyst Loren Thompson doesn't expect a new contract before 2010 -- followed by another protest from the losing bidder. "I don't know if we'll ever build the next-generation tanker," he says. "But we're sure building some good law firms in the process." Editor's Note: With hundreds of potential Space Coast jobs for Northrop Grumman, this tanker contract has been viewed as bringing relief for job losses expected with the retirement of the Space Shuttle. (1/13)

California Rejects Superfund Listing for Rocketdyne Site (Source: LA Times)
California's top environmental cop has rejected an offer to list the contaminated Rocketdyne Santa Susana Field Lab near Simi Valley as a federal Superfund cleanup site, saying the state can do the job quicker and more thoroughly. Linda Adams, secretary for environmental protection, said she was concerned that a federal listing would allow the three parties responsible for removing toxic substances from the 2,850-acre former rocket engine and nuclear testing facility to skirt stricter cleanup standards set forth in recently passed state legislation. (1/13)

EADS Astrium Acquires Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (Source: Business Wire)
EADS Astrium, Europe’s leading space company, has acquired Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL), the innovative University of Surrey spin-out company which specializes in the design and manufacture of small satellites and subsystems. This acquisition follows the approval of the European Commission in December 2008. "At Astrium we have a healthy order book and we are recruiting engineers, scientists and technicians to build telecommunication and scientific satellites. Acquiring SSTL means we will have a substantial complement to what we can offer customers around the world.” said Astrium's Colin Paynter.

Professor Sir Martin Sweeting, Executive Chairman of SSTL, said: “This acquisition is essential for SSTL, both in enabling our future plans and maintaining and expanding our R&D investment in competitive new technologies. Being part of Europe’s leading space company will considerably strengthen SSTL’s market position.” SSTL joins EADS Astrium following a decision by the University of Surrey to sell its majority stake of 85% in the small satellite manufacturer. SSTL will remain an independent UK company with its individual brand and unique approach to space. Editor's Note: SpaceX's Elon Musk bought 10% of SSTL last year. (1/13)

Will 2009 Build Towards a Greater New Decade of Space Activity? (Source: Flight Global)
Spaceflight's 2009 challenge is to realize the potential of government and private-sector programs that progressed in 2008 to achieve greater future activity, and to make the nature of that activity as much about commerce as exploration...Broadly, Obama has the choice of cancelling Constellation and making NASA's mission Planet Earth, potentially ending US human spaceflight after 2010, or making the ISS the focus but ending that in 2015 along with the astronaut program, or deferring Shuttle retirement and Constellation's Moon return date and turning to the commercial sector for extended ISS operations.

The first two choices are bad for the electorally important state of Florida and, with a world depression, Obama's re-election strategy could be to maintain the status quo for NASA and defer any retirements and cancellations beyond the recession. Whatever he does, these choices for the USA have major implications for the ISS partners, including the ESA. Click here to view the article. (1/13)

Editorial: Flip Side to Rovers’ Model Missions are Cost Overrruns (Source: Florida Today)
They just keep going, and going and going. They’re NASA’s twin Martian rovers Spirit and Opportunity, which are celebrating their fifth anniversary exploring the Red Planet this month in missions that rank among the most remarkable in the history of space exploration. All the more so when you consider the rovers were supposed to last three months but have proven resilient beyond belief. To say the taxpayers have gotten a big scientific bang for this buck is putting it mildly.

There is, however, a flip side to this coin: It’s NASA’s next major Mars mission — the Mars Science Laboratory — that was supposed to launch from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport later this year but was delayed until 2011 because of technical problems. The trouble will cost taxpayers another $400 million on top of previous cost overruns, pushing its estimated price tag to an inexcusable $2.1 billion. (1/13)