November 22, 2015

Zero Gravity Solutions Closes $3 million First Tranche of Equity Private Placement (Source: ZGSI)
Zero Gravity Solutions, an agricultural biotechnology company commercializing its technology derived from and designed for Space with significant applications on Earth, has closed an initial tranche of $3 million of the Company’s Units in an exempt private placement transaction with several accredited investors.

Each Unit in the Private Placement consists of one share of common stock and a warrant to purchase one share of common stock and the Company may sell up to a total of $7 million under the terms of the Private Placement within the next 30 days. (11/20)

It's Who You Know (Source: SpaceKSC)
Auditors found the hires of three administrative assistants supporting Cabana and two other high-ranking officials on the fourth floor of KSC headquarters suggested a deliberate effort to get around federal laws requiring competition and priority consideration for certain military veterans.

“I'm not an expert in all the OPM rules on HR hiring,” he said. “I trust my HR director. When I tell them to do something or ask them to do something, I expect them to do it within the rules, by the book. And I assume it's being done that way.”

The new evidence obtained by Florida Today shows that Cabana himself told the H.R. director to flout the rules. According to today's article: As a result, the final interview lists for both Cabana’s and Petro’s jobs, which had been open to all qualified U.S. citizens, included just three names: Cabana’s “primes.” (11/22)

Contact Lost With Israeli Communication Satellite Amos 5 (Source: Haaretz)
Contact with the Israeli communications satellite Amos 5 was lost on Saturday and customers are no longer receiving service, satellite operator Spacecom announced. The Russian-built satellite accounts for one third of Spacecom's revenue. Spacecom is owned by the Eurocom Group. Contact with the satellite was lost early Saturday morning. Spacecom said it had been unable to reestablish contact with the satellite and had not yet isolated the cause of the problem.  (11/21)

Georgia Spaceport Subcommittee Learns Role (Source: The Brunswick News)
The public won’t get answers from a subcommittee appointed to look at potential environmental issues of a proposed spaceport in Camden County. In fact, committee members have been instructed not to answer questions. But they plan to ask a lot of questions that will ultimately be sent to the FAA. The answers to those questions will likely determine the fate of the proposed spaceport.

The environmental subcommittee held its first meeting Friday in the Camden County Commission chambers in Woodbine. Clay Montague, the subcommittee chair, told members their mission is to understand and communicate the environmental concerns and questions surrounding a spaceport. Topics such as air quality, climate, biological resources, transportation, noise, water and visual effects and more will be covered. (11/21)

Former NASA Officer Arrested for Showing Up at Federal Reserve Bank with Loaded Pistol, Fake Badge (Source: New York Daily News)
A disgraced NASA officer was busted at the Federal Reserve Bank in Manhattan when he showed up for a job interview Thursday armed with a loaded pistol and a fake badge. Cops are trying to determine if Cory Curley, 29, was also responsible for a bomb threat that was called into the Fed minutes earlier, sources said.

When he arrived for his interview, Curley told federal police officers that he was armed and was an active officer with the NASA, sources said. He also showed police a NASA badge. But he had no official NASA police ID card — so federal police at the bank on Liberty St. detained him and alerted the NYPD.

NASA officials told authorities in New York that Curley had been fired on Oct. 8 and the badge he was carrying had a number different from the one previously assigned to him, sources said. A NYPD source said Corley was fired while still in training, for arguing with a supervisor. (11/20)

Construction of China's Mega Radio Telescope Enters Final Stage (Source: Xinhua)
Chinese scientists on Saturday tested the installation of the "retina" of the world's largest ever radio telescope to be completed in September next year. Technicians lifted a 30-tonne feed cabin of the Five hundred meter Aperture Spherical Telescope - or FAST - above a half-finished dish-like reflector measuring 500 meters in diameter and 1.6 kilometers in perimeter. (11/21)

Satellite Sensor Unexpectedly Detects Waves in Upper Atmosphere (Source: Physics World)
Atmospheric gravity waves drive winds, temperature and chemical composition in the middle and upper atmosphere, but not enough is known about those that occur at higher altitudes. Now though, an international team of researchers has unexpectedly discovered that the new "Day/Night Band" (DNB) sensor, on-board a US environmental satellite, can detect disturbances in the upper atmosphere's nightglow caused by the waves. (11/20)

China Launches Communications Satellite for Laos (Source: Xinhua)
A Long March rocket successfully launched a communications satellite developed for Laos. The Long March 3B lifted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center on Friday and placed the LaoSat-1 satellite into orbit. The 3,800-kilogram satellite was built by the China Academy of Space Technology for the government of Laos. The spacecraft will operate at 128.5 degrees east in GEO, providing communications services in C- and Ku-bands. (11/21)

The Asteroid Hunter (Source: Popular Mechanics)
It's highly unlikely that a gigantic space rock will crash through our atmosphere and destroy civilization as we know it. But it's not impossible either. Which is why a small but growing community of scientists and astronomers are scrambling to spot and destroy dangerous asteroids long before they hit us. Click here. (11/11)