January 29 News Items

Florida Space Day 2009 Planned on March 4 in Tallahassee (Source: ERAU)
On March 4, 2009, key representatives from Florida’s space industry will visit Tallahassee to participate in Florida Space Day. Participants will include private companies, local, state and federal agencies, and academic institutions. The goal of Florida Space Day is meet with legislators and discuss the challenges faced in ensuring Florida remains at the forefront of the nation’s space program. Click here for information. (1/29)

Legislative Auditors Say Space Agency Lacks Plan, Standards for Spaceport (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Gov. Charlie Crist, military brass and political elites came to Cape Canaveral last October to dedicate the signature achievement of the state’s fledgling aerospace development agency, Space Florida – a future commercial launch pad they hoped would grow into an international hub of private space flight. But now legislative auditors have found such lax financial oversight by Space Florida they’ve recommended lawmakers freeze spending for the spaceport until the agency develops a plan for how to build it -- and what it expects to accomplish.

“Its efforts to promote Florida’s space industry are hindered by its failure to develop a comprehensive master plan,” according to the report from the Legislature’s Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability, which concluded Space Florida had finished only one-quarter of the economic development tasks lawmakers gave it to do when they created the agency in 2006. The report is the latest fissure running through Florida’s space community, raising questions of whether the two-year-old agency is up to the task of pushing the state back to the fore of commercial spaceflight.

The Legislature devoted $14.5 million in this year’s budget to begin work retrofitting the decommissioned Launch Complex 36 at the Cape. But the agency has no guarantee private companies will want to launch from the facility once it's complete. Private sector backers say the project is likely to need another $43 million infusion from the Legislature over the next three years to get finished, while the OPPAGA report found “there is some disagreement over the feasibility” of designing such a multi-use facility. Click here to view the report. (1/29)

Embry-Riddle Attends FAA Space Transportation Conference (ERAU)
Representatives of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University will attend the 12th annual FAA Commercial Space Transportation Conference on Feb. 5-6 in Washington DC. Embry-Riddle is expanding its involvement in space transportation research, technology and policy development. Visit http://www.aiaa.org/content.cfm?pageid=230&lumeetingid=2178 for information on the event. (1/29)

Early March Deadlines for NASA 2009 Internships (Source: NASA)
Undergraduate and graduate students are invited to apply for summer 2009 internships with NASA. The NASA History Division is seeking undergraduate and graduate students. This division's Intern projects are flexible. Typical projects include handling a wide variety of information requests, editing historical manuscripts, doing research and writing biographical sketches, updating and creating Web pages, and identifying and captioning photos. Visit http://history.nasa.gov/interncall.htm

The NASA Planetary Biology Internship Program provides graduate-level opportunities each year for nine or 10 interns to undertake research at NASA research centers, NASA-sponsored laboratories, and academic institutions. The pursuit of such studies is expected to broaden the base of this new science by encouraging people in many different fields to take part. Students will be expected to carry out research with a NASA-sponsored investigator for eight weeks, potentially involving global ecology and remote sensing; microbial ecology and bio-mineralization; advanced life support; and origin and early evolution of life. Visit http://www.mbl.edu/education/courses/other_programs/pbi.html

NASA's Undergraduate Student Research Project is accepting applications for 15-week fall 2009 internships. These internships offer students the opportunity to work alongside NASA scientists and engineers at NASA's field centers, laboratories and test facilities. Participants work on practical problems that will be applied in aerospace or on future NASA missions. Visit http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/postsecondary/programs/Undergraduate_Student_Research_Project.html

New Mexico Spaceport Partners with Swedish Spaceport (Source: Las Cruces Sun-News)
Spaceport America has entered into an agreement with a Swedish spaceport to collaborate in developing the commercial space industry, New Mexico officials said. The nonbinding agreement calls for the two spaceports to "increase global cooperation" in the industry and "promote cultural understanding and stimulate local economic development, tourism and education." Spaceport Sweden, located in Kiruna, Sweden, is that nation's first purpose-built spaceport. Virgin Galactic, New Mexico's spaceport anchor tenant company, also has plans to launch flights from the Sweden facility. (1/29)

Launch of Tsiklon-3 Rocket Postponed (Source: Itar-Tass)
The launch of a Tsiklon-3 rocket with a Koronas Foton satellite has had to be postponed indefinitely, accordint to Mission Control near Moscow. The causes of the postponement were being investigated. (1/29)

Raytheon Income Off Compared with Last Year (Source: AP)
Raytheon's quarterly net income fell sharply from a year earlier, when a big one-time gain lifted profits for the defense contractor. Still, fourth-quarter earnings from its core operations got a boost from the unit that makes Patriot missile systems. Raytheon reported net income of $421 million in the quarter. It earned $598 million a year earlier. Revenue was nearly flat at $6.1 billion. The latest results were weighed down by $45 million in charges from pension adjustments. Earnings rose 17 percent to $466 million on revenue of $6.2 billion. (1/29)

CSULB - Lifting Off in the Name of Aerospace (Source: Daily 49er)
Inspiring students to fulfill their goals and achieve wind efficiency -- while blasting rockets into the air -- was why Eric Besnard, a Cal State Long Beach aeronautics and aerospace professor, received the 2009 Faculty Adviser Award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). Besnard was presented the award at the 47th annual AIAA Aerospace Science Meeting Award Banquet in Florida, and was recognized for his hands-on work as head of an on-campus rocket program called the California Launch Vehicle Education Initiative. (1/29)

ATK Reports Strong FY09 Third Quarter (Source: ATK)
Alliant Techsystems reported that earnings per share (EPS) in the third quarter of fiscal year 2009, which ended on December 28, 2008, rose 19 percent from the prior-year quarter. Sales for the quarter were $1.1 billion, a five percent increase over the prior-year quarter. The company reported net income for the quarter of $65 million, up 12 percent from the prior-year quarter. Margins in the quarter improved to 10.8 percent, up from 10.5 percent in the prior-year period. Orders for the quarter increased 99 percent to more than $1.3 billion, up substantially from the prior-year quarter of $670 million. (1/29)

New Mexico Tech Plays with Big Boys on Lunar Project (Source: KDBC)
New Mexico Tech's Magdalena Ridge Observatory is 1 of 11 telescopes that will help NASA monitor a lunar impact later this year. The telescope science director for Tech's 2.4-meter optical telescope, Eileen Ryan, says Tech has the smallest telescopes on the project. She says Tech feels like it's playing with the big boys. The Socorro school received $30,000 to collect, analyze and interpret data. Apache Point Observatory near Cloudcroft also will monitor the impacts. Other observatories include five in Hawaii, one in Arizona and three telescopes in orbit. The Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite spacecraft will send a 2,000-pound projectile into a moon crater. The spacecraft will impact afterward, with the impacts creating plumes of lunar materials. (1/29)

Chinese Threat to Indian Space Assets (Source: Domain-B)
Chinese attempts to militarize space are being taken note of by an alarmed Indian defense establishment. With all the three wings of the Chinese defense establishment going through a process of massive modernization and augmentation, India has every reason to get worried over the possibility of a "Chinese threat" to the territorial integrity of the country. Against this backdrop, Indian defense minister AK Antony was frank enough to drive home the threat faced by "Indian space assets" from the growing Chinese prowess in the area of "space militarization". India, which is now a major space-faring nation, has a substantial number of satellites for communications, weather watch and earth observation in orbit. (1/29)

CNES Officials Say Mars Mission Should Be Scaled Back (Source: Space News)
Europe's planned lander and rover mission to Mars in 2016 should be substantially cut back to fit within its likely budget constraints, and the downsizing should occur as soon as possible, officials from the French space agency, CNES, said Jan. 28. (1/29)

Stimulus Bill Leaves NASA with Less than Requested (Source: Houston Chronicle)
President Obama has said repeatedly that the $819 billion economic plan approved Wednesday night by the House is just a first step along the road to the final stimulus package. NASA and its supporters certainly hope so. The House on Wednesday rejected pleas from pro-NASA lawmakers to include up to $2 billion for space exploration and accelerated construction of the next generation of manned spacecraft. The measure, approved by a vote of 244 to 188, allotted just $50 million to NASA to repair Houston-area facilities damaged by Hurricane Ike, along with a half-billion dollars for non-space activities. NASA’s prospects seem much brighter in the Senate, where astronaut-senator Bill Nelson, D-Fla., succeeded in inserting $1.5 billion in the Senate’s version of the measure, including $500 million for the manned space program to shorten the five-year gap between the shuttle’s retirement and the initial flight of its successor.

Other sections of the bill for NASA include $500 million for non-space activities, $250 million for aeronautical research and $250 million for repair of facilities worldwide, including those damaged by Ike. Nelson, chairman of Senate panel that oversees NASA policy and a 1986 passenger aboard a space shuttle, is looking for “additional actions he can take to get more funds for NASA, particularly to reduce the gap in manned U.S. space operations,” an aide said. The Senate is expected to act on the economic stimulus package next week, and NASA’s supporters think they have the votes to carry the day. “I am not going to give up,” said freshman Rep. Suzanne Kosmas, D-Fla., who led the fight for NASA.“I will keep fighting to fully fund NASA’s human spaceflight program.” (1/29)

Europe's Past Space Tourism Studies (Source: Flight Global)
Rob Coppinger provides a summary list of European government funded studies and design efforts in support of space tourism and advanced space transport systems. Click here to view the article. (1/29)

Early Attempts to Contact Aliens (Source: AstroBio)
The desire to contact intelligent life on other planets is much older than the UFO craze and the SETI movement. Several 19th century scientists contemplated how we might communicate with possible Martians and Venusians. These early proposals - which predate by 150 years the first extraterrestrial message that was sent in 1974 - were based on visual signals, as the invention of radio was still decades away. In fact, as history shows, ideas for interplanetary communication have largely been driven by whatever the current technology allowed - be it lamps, radios or lasers. "You go with what you know," said Steven Dick, NASA Chief Historian. Click here to view the article. (1/29)

Russia's Space Agency Plans to Build Own Orbital Station (Source: RIA Novosti)
Russia's Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) will propose to the government the construction of a low-orbit space station to support future exploration of the Moon and Mars, an agency official said Thursday. Alexei Krasnov said that Russia, as well as other countries, "is looking at the Moon in a mid-term perspective, and would want not only to go there and come back, but to establish a lunar base, which would allow us to start exploring Mars in the future."

"These are our intentions, but we are working hard to ensure that these plans get adequate financial and legislative support from the government," the official said. Krasnov also said Roscosmos would propose extending the use of the International Space Station (ISS) until 2020. The orbital assembly of the ISS began with the launch of the U.S.-funded and Russian-built Zarya module from Kazakhstan in 1998. The project has taken longer than the planned five years, and as of July 2008 the station was approximately 76% complete. "We are considering the extension of ISS service life at least until 2020, but this decision must be adopted by the governments of all 15 countries participating in the project," Krasnov said. (1/29)

26 Florida High School Teams Registered for National Rocketry Challenge (Source: AIA)
Student rocket teams are preparing their launch vehicles for qualification flights in the opening round of the world's largest rocket contest. A total of 653 teams from 45 states (including 26 from Florida) have registered for the 2009 Team America Rocketry Challenge - the seventh installment of the annual competition. The contest challenges 3- to 10-member teams to design and build model rockets by hand, then successfully launch them and return a raw-egg payload to the ground unbroken. This year's contest goals are an altitude of 750 feet and a flight time of 45 seconds. The rockets must transport one egg laid horizontally to mimic the position of an astronaut.

The 100 teams with the best qualifying scores make it to the final round fly-off at Great Meadow in The Plains, Va., (near Washington, D.C.) on May 16. The teams registered for the contest in December and have until April 6 to submit a qualifying score. AIA sponsors the annual contest, along with the National Association of Rocketry and several partners: NASA, the Defense Department, the American Association of Physics Teachers and three dozen AIA member companies. Click here for more information, including a list of teams from different states. (1-29)