Enterprise Florida Losing Chief,
Incentive Cash, Operating Funds (Source: Naples Daily News)
Enterprise Florida President Bill Johnson's resignation was a blow to
the organization, on the same day the Governor announced the agency
would undergo an audit. He enlisted former DCF Secretary David Wilkins
to search for $6 million in savings within Enterprise Florida and
provide suggestions on how to refocus its mission.
Gov. Scott also wrote in his memo that Enterprise Florida should learn
to lean more on the $1.6 million in money it receives from private
funds. Florida Chamber of Commerce President Mark Wilson said
Enterprise Florida can use its time without the incentive cash to
re-evaluate how it does business. "Enterprise Florida was not created
to just create jobs," said Wilson, who also sits on the Enterprise
Florida board. "It was created to diversify the economy. (4/15)
Top Google Executive Joining Space
Investment Fund (Source: Fortune)
One of the inventors of Google Earth is joining the advisory board of
Seraphim Space, adding considerable heft to the world’s first
space-focused venture fund. Michael Jones was a cofounder of Keyhole
Corporation, the creator of EarthViewer 3D, on which Google Earth is
based. Google acquired Keyhole in 2004, and Jones went on to hold a
number of senior leadership roles at the Silicon Valley giant,
including serving as chief technology advocate from 2008 until April
2015. (4/15)
Four Reasons ULA is Having a Bad Month
(Source: Popular Science)
The past 30 days have not been great for ULA. Once the military's and
NASA's go-to for rocket launches, the joint venture between Boeing and
Lockheed Martin has fallen on harder times lately, and things only seem
to be getting worse. You can blame ULA's problems on SpaceX, partly.
Whereas a ULA launch costs about $225 million, SpaceX does the same job
for the bargain basement price of about $61.2 million. Result: ULA is
scrambling to lower its costs. Click here.
(4/15)
'It's Always Next Year': The Long Wait
to Realize the Dream of Space Tourism (Source: ABC.AU)
Virgin Galactic unveiled its latest spaceship in California's Mojave
Desert earlier this year. But is space tourism just a pipe dream, or
will a commercial industry one day be a reality? Click here.
(4/15)
Aldrin: Colonize Mars! Not the Moon!
(Source: Inverse)
The moon, says Buzz, is “been there, done that.” Returning would be an
unnecessary drain on our nations resources. Mars, though - that’s where
our focus should be. Buzz is not messing around with this: “Permanence
is key, right from the get-go. Some of my colleagues don’t feel that
establishing a settlement on Mars is wise; others consider it a suicide
mission. I disagree. Over a period of six or seven years, we can
construct a habitat and laboratory on Mars.
"Certainly, some people will go to Mars, stay for a while, and return
to Earth, but we should also seek out and encourage people who with to
travel to Mars and remain there for the rest of their lives."
(4/15)
Arizona County Official Responds to
Lawsuit Against World View Deal (Source: Arizona Daily Star)
County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry said in a statement released
Friday that the county followed state law in drafting the economic
agreement with World View. The Board of Supervisors approved the
agreement with World View in January, agreeing to spend $15 million to
build facilities for use by the company in exchange for 20 years of
lease payments.
Huckelberry said in his statement that World View’s rent will be “lower
initially,” but that it increases every five years over the term of the
20-year lease. “In total, World View will pay $4.2 million more than
the County is spending on the building, even with borrowing costs and
the value of the land included,” Huckelberry wrote. “So, no gift.”
He said the county will own the facility and the land. World View has
the option to buy the building and the land before the lease ends, in
which case World View will pay the county any principal amount still
owed on the bonds issued to finance the facility. In addition, World
View would pay all of the principal and interest payments the county
already made on the bonds, minus the rent already paid and the interest
the county could have earned on the bonds. (4/15)
The $30 Million 'Moon Shot' People
(Source: Asia Times)
“Our plan is to land on the moon, collect that moon dust and bring it
back,” says Internet entrepreneur Naveen Jain, co-founder of Moon
Express from Cape Canaveral. “A tiny amount of Helium 3 in the moon
dust can provide enough nuclear fusion energy to this planet for
generations to come.” To win the Google Lunar XPrize, a team’s moon
robot must travel 500 meters across moon terrain and send back
high-definition video images to Earth. Gathering Helium-enriched moon
dust is bonus work.
Motives driving the Google Lunar XPrize teams worldwide are diverse and
Moon Shot unearths the inspiration for the Internet generation to reach
for the moon dust 44 years after the last Apollo astronaut left his
footprints on it. If the $30 million prize is handed out, it will be
first time ordinary people have sent a messenger to the Moon. The
solitary Moon valleys and mountains have as yet seen visitors only from
space agencies of the USA, former USSR, Japan, India and China.
The team to first complete the Google Lunar XPrize mission will earn
$20 million; $5 million will go for the second team and other Milestone
prizes, but all teams must be privately-funded. No government funds are
allowed to ensure the most cost-effective technologies and also to
enable inexpensive voyages to the stars some day. (4/16)
NASA’s “Rocket Girls” Are No Longer
Forgotten History (Source: Smithsonian.com)
When biologist and science writer Nathalia Holt stumbled,
serendipitously, upon the story of one of NASA’s first female
employees, she was stunned to realize that there was a trove of women’s
stories from the early days of NASA that had been lost to history. Not
even the agency itself was able to identify female staffers in their
own archival photographs. Click here.
(4/16)
NASA Getting Closer to "Boots on Mars"
with Colorado Companies' Help (Source: Denver Post)
Dava Newman said that after 15 years of work on the International Space
Station, and with all the research and technology development, NASA is
well on its way to helping humanity become interplanetary. And
Colorado, she said, is playing and will continue to play a pivotal role
in those endeavors.
Colorado companies are involved in all stages of the process — among
them Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Jefferson County, the
Louisville-based division of Sierra Nevada Corp., and Boulder-based
Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. Firms jumping into commercial
space also help with their focus on opportunities closer to Earth,
allowing NASA to focus on farther-out exploration, she said. (4/16)
Swedish Company Introduces New Ground
Operations Service for Small Satellites (Source: SpaceFlight
Insider)
The Swedish Space Corporation (SSC), a company providing advanced space
services, announced its newest project dedicated to lowering the
operational costs of small satellites. The new product, called SSC
Infinity, is a set of new ground operations services that will utilize
full-motion antennas in the 16-foot (five-meter) or smaller class. The
company hopes that its newest offer will reduce risks associated with
satellite launch, insertion, system and constellation checkout.
The system consists of a range of highly automated services that use
full-motion antennas. These antennas are optimized for communication
with small satellites and constellations. If needed, they could be also
augmented with larger ones to support the most demanding small
spacecraft or even a constellation of satellites. According to a
company official, SSC, due to its vast experience in building
technologically advanced space services, has mastered the development
of ground operations systems. As thus, creating Infinity wasn’t really
a big challenge. (4/15)
Russia is the Sole Country to Reduce
Orbital Space Junk Last Year (Source: Tass)
The amount of space junk accumulated in the near-Earth orbit last year
increased by several hundred objects while Russia proved to be the sole
country to reduce its share of debris in orbit, a NASA report said on
Friday. According to the data of US ballistics specialists, there were
17,385 man-made objects in orbit as of April 6: 4,041 satellites both
operational and withdrawn from operation and 13,344 space rocket upper
stages, acceleration units and various fragments. (4/15)
Obama to Shine Light on Unsung Hero of
Astronomy (Source: Discovery)
Dig deep in the annals of astronomy and you'd be hard-pressed to find
the name of Henrietta Swan Leavitt, a 19th-century astronomer whose
ground-breaking insights about a special kind of star led to a cosmic
yardstick for measuring the universe. In 1923, Edwin Hubble used
Leavitt's research to discover that a faint, fuzzy patch of light known
as Andromeda was not part of the Milky Way, as scientists believed at
the time, but instead was a separate galaxy. The universe suddenly
became a much bigger place.
More than a century after her ground-breaking work, Leavitt will be
acknowledged by the highest office in the United States. President
Obama will conclude his week-long stint as guest presenter on Science
Presents DNews at 9pm ET/PT by talking about Leavitt's contributions.
(4/15)
Ancient Peruvian Mystery Solved From
Space (Source: Discovery)
Satellite observations may have unraveled a mystery surrounding a
series of unique and ancient structures in southern Peru. The desert
area of Nazca is most famous for giant representations of humans,
animals and plants — as well as 900 geometric shapes — carved into the
ground: the so-called Nazca lines. But the lines are not the only
artifacts of the Nazca civilization, which flourished in the area
between 200 BC and 600 AD.
The region also contains spiraling, rock-lined holes, known as puquios.
Long understood to be a series of underground aqueducts, little else is
known about them. But now, Rosa Lasaponara and a team from the
Institute of Methodologies for Environmental Analysis in Italy believe
they have some answers. Using satellite imagery, they were able to
better understand how the puquios were distributed across the Nazca
region.
By considering their positioning relative to water resources and to
settlements, they were able to piece together a picture of just how
extraordinarily advanced the puquio system was. The corkscrew-shaped
tunnels, Lasaponara concluded, funneled wind into a series of
underground canals, forcing water to places in the arid region where it
was needed. (4/15)
As Other Space Companies Grow, ULA
Cuts (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Reports that ULA is planning to cut hundreds of jobs are a big contrast
to the growth of space companies locally that the Sentinel has been
reporting on recently. The company has about 600 people in Florida,
with up to 3,400 nationwide, according to the company's website.
Reuters first reported the story based on an interview with CEO Tony
Bruno, who said the company may cut as many as 875 jobs by then end of
2017, specifically to compete with new space companies like SpaceX and
Blue Origin. (4/17)
U.K. Claims Satellite-Finance
Advantages Over French Coface & U.S. ExIm (Source: Space
News)
Britain’s export-credit agency may be the most attractive source of
satellite project financing that almost none one has heard of or uses.
While its more active counterparts in the United States and France are
most comfortable guaranteeing loans only when a large majority of the
work done in these nations, U.K. Export Finance is willing to support
projects with as little as 20 percent U.K. content, said Peter
Maplestone, senior underwriter at the agency and responsible for
satellite export programs. (4/15)
Alabama Senator Refusing Ex-Im Nominee
(Source: Morning Consult)
Richard Shelby isn't budging on the Ex-Im nominee. Senate Banking
Committee Chairman Richard Shelby is refusing to send forward a pending
Export-Import Bank nominee, even though Senate Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell has asked him to. Ex-Im Bank cannot finance deals of more
than $10 million until another board member wins confirmation. (4/14)
"Purple Space States" Meet in Colorado
(Source: SPACErePORT)
Several states with strong ties to the aerospace industry are not
considered to lean overly Republican or Democratic. Officials from some
of these "purple" states, including Florida, Ohio, Virginia and
Colorado, met last week at the National Space Symposium to discuss ways
they might work together to raise the profile of aerospace issues among
candidates for the presidency and congress.
The idea is that voters who aren't committed to party ideologies will
vote for candidates who share their vision for the economy or their
industry. Candidates who strive to be appealing to these states'
aerospace interests could sway their voters. Presidential campaigns
will focus on these purple states because they could decide the outcome
of the election.
Florida's aerospace-rich I-4 Corridor is a great example. This corridor
connects Tampa, Orlando and the Space Coast and is viewed as an
electoral region that determines which way the state goes in most
presidential elections. Arizona, Colorado, Ohio, and Virginia are other
purple states with strong aerospace industries. (4/15)
ULA and SpaceX See the Future of Space
Launching Very Differently (Source: Denver Business Journal)
It was clear SpaceX expects the evolution of the launch industry to
resemble what its founder, Elon Musk, experienced in launching Internet
companies, where economies of scale drive down costs and makes space so
accessible that getting begins to be considered a service more than a
feat of hardware.
ULA's Tory Bruno doesn’t agree. There’s a lot of potential for
commercial business at ULA, Bruno chaffed when asked whether space
launch will become a commodity, a service where one provider is almost
indistinguishable from another except on price. “Going to space is not
like that and never will be, particularly for large payloads,” he said.
“Commodities are tires. Commodities are cars,” he said. “None of those
products involve 1 million pounds of high explosives and circumstance
where years of work and the investment of hundreds of millions of
dollars can disappear in a fireball in less than 10 seconds.” (4/15)
Who Will Protect Us From Space Pirates?
(Source: Daily Beast)
It may sound like sci-fi. But millions and millions of dollars are
pouring into projects to mine asteroids and the moon. And with a space
gold rush comes space pirates. How to stop them from stealing your
minerals. And whose job it is to chase them down if they do manage to
swipe your billion-dollar space-stash.
No, I’m serious. The subject of orbital grand theft came up during a
panel discussion on the subject of space mining at the Space Symposium
in Colorado Springs this week. It all sounds so outlandish. But it’s
increasingly likely that, sometime in the next few decades, this
seemingly theoretical problem is going to become very real. (4/15)
Aerozone Alliance Working to Entice
Businesses Around NASA Glenn, Hopkins (Source: Cleveland.com)
Northeast Ohio officials want to create a hub of aerospace businesses
around Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and NASA Glenn Research
Center at the center. The Ohio Aerospace Institute is developing a plan
and report for the alliance, and the Cuyahoga County Planning
Commission is paying the group $5,000 for a "professional planning
service agreement." (4/14)
Deniers Sully NASA's Climate Change
Website (Source: Huffington Post)
“We invite you to comment on our page, but we ask that you be courteous
and cite credible sources when sharing information.” That’s the
disclaimer posted atop NASA’s Global Climate Change Facebook page. And
judging from the normally staid government agency’s response to a
handful of climate change deniers who ran amok this week under a post
by media personality Bill Nye, they mean it.
Nye, known as “the Science Guy,” shared a story on NASA’s page Monday
about a climate change denier who refused to accept $20,000 in bets
that the planet will continue getting hotter. The post inspired readers
to share a torrent of poorly substantiated — yet fiercely defended —
theories in the comments section, ranging from outright climate change
denial to vitriolic attacks on NASA itself. (4/14)
Northrop Backs XS-1 Spaceplane to Join
Satellite Launch Market (Source: Flight Global)
Northrop Grumman might be "playing to win" the DARPA XS-1 program, but
the aerospace firm's interest in a reusable spaceplane for rapidly
launching small satellites runs far deeper than any one project or
contract. The company's vice-president says Northrop will likely press
forward with its XS-1 concept through "other ways and means" if it
isn't downselected by DARPA. Click here.
(4/15)
Aerojet Avoids Shareholder Lawsuits
(Source: Sacramento Business Journal)
Sometimes no news is good news — and that was the case for Aerojet
Rocketdyne Holdings Inc. this week. None of the 19 law firms
investigating a financial restatement at the aerospace company ended up
filing suit before the April 11 deadline. Aerojet had announced Feb. 1
that it would restate financial statements for 2013 and 2014 for
purchase accounting related to sales contracts in the wake of a merger.
Aerojet in June 2013 bought the Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne division
from United Technologies Corp. for $550 million. (4/14)
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