Spaceport Indiana Plans Exploration
Center (Source: Spaceport Indiana)
Spaceport Indiana is moving forward with the development of the
Spaceport Exploration Centre. The planned interactive centre and museum
will give a unique perspective on the future of space exploration as
part of the commercial space program. The Centre will house space
artifacts but only as a back drop to interactive programming, space
habitat, aeroponics systems, UAV/Drone training/curriculum to name a
few.
The concept for the new facility is to continue building on Spaceport
Indiana's successful edicational outreach and give opportunities to
people of all ages to train, re-train or make career choices that
support STEM fields. Spaceport has become one of Indiana's largest STEM
providers. Our programming includes launches, landers, RF technology,
astronomy and the list goes on. Our goal is to continue to reach as
many youth as possible and engage them in STEM activities. (10/3)
Rosetta Spacecraft's Comet Companion
Is Spouting Jets (Source: Space.com)
A European spacecraft's comet companion is starting to wake up as it
gets closer and closer to the sun. The European Space Agency's Rosetta
probe, which arrived in orbit around Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in
August after a 10-year deep-space chase, has photographed jets of gas
and dust erupting from the icy wanderer's surface.
"What we’re seeing is the product of ices sublimating and gases
escaping from inside the comet, carrying streams of dust out into
space," they added. "As the comet gets progressively closer to the sun
along its orbit, the surface will become warmer, and the level of
activity will increase, producing a vast coma around the nucleus, along
with a tail." (10/3)
FCC Drafting Rules To Streamline
Satellite Registrations (Source: Space News)
The U.S. telecommunications regulator is proposing to revamp filing
procedures for new satellite systems to cut costs and complexity for
satellite operators and reduce their incentive to seek a regulatory
home outside the United States. In a notice of proposed rulemaking
issued Sept. 30, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) proposes
to adopt many of the proposals it has heard from satellite operators in
the two years since the last regulatory reform was undertaken. (10/3)
European Re-entry Demonstrator Ready
for November Test Flight (Source: Space News)
An experimental European Space Agency spacecraft designed to test
re-entry technologies for future reusable vehicles is on track for
launch in November. “All lights seem to be green” for the Nov. 18
launch of the Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV) on an Arianespace
Vega rocket from Kourou, Giuseppe Rufolo said. The Vega will boost the
IXV on a suborbital trajectory, where it will reach a peak altitude of
450 kilometers before re-entering and splashing down in the central
Pacific Ocean. The vehicle will reach speeds of 7.5 kilometers per
second during re-entry, similar to a re-entry from low Earth orbit.
(10/3)
Midterm Elections Could Shape the U.S.
Launch Debate (Source: Space News)
The debate over national security launch policy that has all but
consumed U.S. congressional defense committees for the past six months
could shift after November’s midterm elections, with the direction
depending on the outcome. Republicans hope to win enough seats to gain
a majority in the Senate, a move that could affect decisions on how to
introduce more competition into the U.S. Air Force launch program and
wean the service from the Russian-built RD-180.
If Republicans win the majority, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) likely would
take the chairmanship of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said
Mackenzie Eaglen, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise
Institute, a conservative think tank here. McCain has been a powerful
and persistent competition advocate and critic of ULA in the past two
years.
If Democrats hold on to their majority, Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) is likely
to chair the Senate Armed Services Committee, whose current chairman,
Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), is retiring, Eaglen said. The military space
community is also watching the Colorado U.S. Senate race, which
features incumbent Sen. Mark Udall, a Democrat, facing off against Cory
Gardner, a Republican House member representing the Greeley, Colorado,
area. (10/3)
Air Force Seeks to Apply Satellite
Savings Lessons to Other Programs (Source: Reuters)
The U.S. Air Force hopes to translate its recent successes in driving
down the cost of huge satellite programs to a range of other weapons,
including Lockheed Martin Corp's C-130J transport plane. Lt. General
Ellen Pawlikowski, who won praise for reversing years of cost increases
on big satellite programs in her previous role, hopes to apply those
lessons to other programs after she took over in June as the service's
top military acquisition official.
Pawlikowski has launched a new "matchmaking" initiative to bring
together industry executives from different weapons programs to compare
notes on ways to reduce costs. Pawlikowski has urged Lockheed's space
division to show the company's aeronautics division how it was able to
lower the cost of recent orders for Space-Based Infrared System
satellites and Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellites by over 30
percent. (10/3)
World Beats Path to Israel’s Door for
Better Space Tech (Source: Times of Israel)
Israel hasn’t sent astronauts to the moon, at least not yet, but its
know-how in space technology starred at a major professional show in
Canada this week. Over 200 leaders in the “space business” gathered on
Wednesday at the Israel exhibition at the International Astronautical
Congress in Toronto. The event brings together experts from industry,
government and academia to discuss the latest trends in the satellite
industry, exploration technology, communications, and other
space-related matters. (10/3)
News Soon on Cause of Soyuz Solar
Array Glitch (Source: Itar-Tass)
Roscosmos said on Thursday that the special commission is due to
announce next week the cause of Soyuz TMA-14M spacecraft’s solar
battery glitch. “Technically this is clear to us, but now a commission
is working and we want to find out what caused this incident,”
Roscosmos chief Oleg Ostapenko said. The capsule carrying two Russian
cosmonauts and one NASA astronaut reached the ISS early on Sep. 26,
despite a struck solar battery that failed to deploy just after its
launch from the Baikonur spaceport. (10/3)
MIT Students Study in Near-Weightless
Environment (Source: PhysOrg)
A group of MIT Aeronautics and Astronautics students got to conduct
satellite-instrument experiments in a NASA-sponsored environment that
created near-weightless conditions. The team climbed aboard NASA's
reduced gravity Boeing 727-200, modified to simulate space-like
conditions, to work on satellite instruments used aboard the
International Space Station. (10/2)
Russian Scientists Develop System for
Monitoring Space Junk (Source: Itar-Tass)
Scientists from St. Petersburg Polytechnic University have developed a
monitor system to follow space junk. The system is a set of monitoring
meters intended for a spaceship to ensure its safety if established on
board, said Andrei Rudskoi. The space litter monitoring project aroused
interest at Roscosmos. Chief of the Roscosmos agency Oleg Ostapenko has
promised support to St. Petersburg Polytechnic University to enable it
to test the litter monitoring meters on the orbit. (10/2)
Canadarm Robotics Technology Performs
Breast Cancer Biopsies (Source: CBC)
Canadarm robotic technology has been adapted to perform breast cancer
biopsies inside an MRI scanner, the Canadian Space Agency says. The
iconic Canadarm technology graces the Space Station and flew on NASA’s
shuttles to help position astronauts and satellites. Now researchers
are using image-guided robotics to perform biopsies with greater
accuracy than most humans can achieve.
"The capability of this system to get the tip of the needle to within a
fraction of a millimeter close to the targeted lesion is where this
used the Canadarm technology," said Dr. Mehran Anvari, chief executive
officer and scientific director at the Center for Surgical Invention
and Innovation in Hamilton. (10/3)
After Political Dispute with Russia,
Canadian Satellite to be Launched by India (Source: CTV)
The M3M communications satellite, which was originally to be launched
aboard a Russian rocket, will instead blast into orbit from India next
July. The announcement that a deal has been signed with India was made
at the International Astronautical Congress in Toronto, a few days
after Canada refused to allow Russian delegates to attend the
prestigious symposium which opened on Monday. The exclusion angered
Moscow, which said it flew in the face of international space
co-operation. The Russians said it amounts to politicizing space
exploration over the conflict in Ukraine, where fighting has raged
since Russian troops moved on the Crimea in March. (10/3)
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