June 6 News Items

Sole Source Award Would Keep Boeing Flying GPS 2 (Source: Space News)
The Air Force intends to forgo a competition and issue a sole-source contract to Boeing Integrated Defense Systems of St. Louis to continue operating the GPS 2 satellite constellation for up to seven more years, the service announced in a June 3 posting on the federal business opportunities Web site. Boeing developed and operates the current command and control system that flies the Boeing-built GPS 2A satellites and Lockheed Martin-built GPS 2R satellites and will operate the Boeing-built GPS 2F satellites when they begin launching later this year. (6/6)

German Sounding Rocket Makes Successful Debut (Source: Space News)
The maiden flight of Germany's Mapheus suborbital sounding rocket successfully launched a package of fluid-physics experiments after liftoff from northern Sweden's Esrange facility, the German Aerospace Center, DLR, announced June 4. The rocket's 113-kilogram payload was returned to experiment managers by parachute drop after about three minutes of microgravity. The two-stage, solid-fueled Mapheus rocket was developed by DLR's space operations facility in Oberpfaffenhofen. The May 22 flight reached 140 kilometers in altitude. The payloads in three experiment modules were activated at an altitude of 100 kilometers for the three-minute microgravity sequence. DLR officials hope to operate Mapheus about once per year. (6/6)

New Budget Account Would Consolidate NASA Construction (Source: Space News)
A new budget line-item was included in the House subcommittee's markup of NASA's FY-10 budget. Dubbed Construction and Environmental Compliance, the new account would be funded at $441 million. Congressional aides said the new line item and accompanying funds are aimed at consolidating NASA's various construction efforts into a single pot of money. (6/6)

Subcommittee Budget Includes Proposed Earmarks (Source: SPACErePORT)
The budget bill marked up last week by the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and Science included hundreds of millions of dollars in proposed earmarks for the Dept. of Justice, Dept. of Commerce, and NASA. Two aerospace-focused items are for Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, including $300K from NOAA (Dept. of Commerce) for an aviation and hurricane research initiative using unmanned aerial systems; and $200K for a NASA Educator Resource Center at the university's Prescott Arizona campus. Among the $15M in earmarks for NASA's budget, none are for Florida-based projects.

Other non-aerospace Florida earmarks in the bill include $1.5M for the Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota; $200K for a Coral Reef Institute at Nova Southeastern University in Ft. Lauderdale; and $22.45M for law enforcement and public safety programs in Jacksonville, Bartow, Clearwater, Gulport, St. Augustine, Ft. Lauderdale, Ocala, Tavares, Naples, Pensacola, Palatka, Perry, Gainesville, Tallahassee, DeLand, Lake Butler, Tampa, Southwest Ranches, Orlando, St. Petersburg, Tamarac, Sunny Isles, Miami, Largo, Palm Bay, Altamonte Springs, Maitland, Hollywood and Homestead. Click here to review the list (6/6)