Retired Vice Admiral Sees
No Conflict for Georgia Spaceport and Navy Base (Source:
Brunswick News)
The newest appointee to the Spaceport Camden steering committee doesn’t
see any issues with rocket launches conflicting with operations at
Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay. Retired Vice Adm. Al Konetzni, who
served a tour of duty at Kings Bay during his 38-year career, said the
Navy already deals with ship movements and rocket launches.
“We’ve seen nuclear powered warships moor at Cape Canaveral for decades
with no issues whatsoever,” he said. “Clearly, operational agreements
will be made, communications protocols will be necessary, and emergency
assistance sharing would assist both entities.” Any operational and
scheduling issues are “easily deconflicted,” he said.
“A submariner could transition easily to the space industry and many
have over the decades,” he said. Submariners bring an added value to
companies that hire them, Konetzni said. “I intend to assist the
community here in Camden County in any way possible,” he said. Editor's
Note: Port Canaveral's Navy submarine site is not directly downrange of
the Cape's launch operations. At Kings Bay the subs are docked for long periods downrange, and nuclear weapons are stored there. (5/1)
Japan's Space Industry to
Get Private-Sector Boost (Source: Nikkei)
The Japanese government and four companies, including major trading
house Mitsui & Co. and construction company Obayashi, are
teaming up to develop the country's space business. Under the
partnership, the government will solicit business ideas from the
private sector and the companies will provide part of the financing
needed to commercialize the ideas. Some 20 million yen ($180,000) is
expected to be funded by the companies.
Japan's space business has hitherto relied on government funding. The
latest arrangement comes as the government seeks to broaden Japan's
space industry and companies explore new business opportunities. The
Cabinet Office will set up a new award by this summer for technology
and ideas that could potentially expand Japan's space industry. It
hopes to commercialize them over the course of a few years. (5/1)
She Trained Dolphins,
Researched HIV, and Is Helping NASA Get to Mars (Source:
Motherboard)
To hear her life's highlight reel, it seems like Aubrie O'Rourke has
done just about everything short of finding the Ark of the Covenant.
She's worked with jellyfish in a neuroscience lab, trained dolphins
with the US Navy, did field work in the Yucatan, moved to Saudi Arabia
and dove in the Red Sea, and came back to California where she's begun
researching bacteria aboard the International Space Station. She got
her pilot's license in Oahu, simply because it's "very technically
challenging with pretty big consequences," she said. Click here.
(5/1)
Project PoSSUM Graduates
12 Scientist-Astronaut Candidates at Embry-Riddle (Source:
ERAU)
Project PoSSUM, a non-profit research program devoted to the study of
Earth’s upper atmosphere, announced that it has graduated twelve new
Scientist-Astronaut Candidates as part of PoSSUM Class 1701 at
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida.
PoSSUM, an acronym for Polar Suborbital Science in the Upper
Mesosphere, uses research aircraft, high-altitude balloons, and
commercial suborbital spacecraft to study rare “space clouds” called
noctilucent clouds. These elusive clouds can help scientists address
critical questions about Earth’s climate, but can only be studied in
the upper atmosphere from polar latitudes during a small window of time
in the summer. Project PoSSUM also conducts bioastronautics research,
spacesuit-related technology development, and educational outreach
missions.
The PoSSUM Scientist-Astronaut program, designed by former NASA
astronaut instructors and hosted by Embry-Riddle gives its candidates
the skills to effectively conduct research on commercial space vehicles
as part of international research campaigns. The program is an intense
training curriculum that covers atmospheric science, remote sensing,
celestial mechanics, particle scattering, spaceflight physiology and
PoSSUM instrument operations. (5/1)
Researchers with UCF
Connections Honored with Asteroid Names (Source: UCF)
he University of Central Florida hosts a chapter of an
out-of-this-world club, which recently grew by two. Planetary
astronomer Noemi Pinilla-Alonso from the Florida Space Institute and
UCF alumna Emily Kramer were honored when asteroids were named after
them to recognize their contributions to planetary science research.
That increases the UCF membership in the international club to 14. (5/1)
Space Industry in
Luxembourg Set To Blast Off, Fueled By Government Partnerships
(Source: Forbes)
It wasn't quite like the legendary bar room scene from Star Wars.
Still, the juxtaposition of characters was memorable: A crown prince,
his princess wife, the Economy Minister of one of the world's richest
countries trailed by government officials, a gaggle of reporters, and a
group of Luxembourg-based, private company executives representing
diverse industries (myself among them), all listening to an equally
diverse group of starry-eyed entrepreneurs, financiers, NASA leaders,
ex-astronauts, scientists, rocket ship and satellite builders, among
others. Click here.
(5/1)
Fisher Retires from
Astronaut Corps (Source: CollectSpace)
The last member of an historic astronaut class has retired from NASA.
Anna Fisher joined NASA as part of the 35-member class of 1978, the
first to include women. Fisher flew on STS-51A shuttle mission in 1984,
becoming the first mother to fly in space. Fisher took a leave of
absence from NASA for several years to raise her family, returning in
the mid-1990s to work on the International Space Station and Orion
programs as well as serving as a capcom. (4/30)
SpaceX Launches NRO
Payload, Sticks Landing at Cape (Source: Space News)
SpaceX launched a National Reconnaissance Office payload Monday morning
and successfully landed the first stage. The Falcon 9 lifted off from
Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A at 7:15 a.m. Eastern on a
mission designated NROL-76. Coverage of the launch ended as planned at
payload fairing separation, but the rocket's first stage did make a
landing at SpaceX's Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
The launch was scheduled for Sunday but scrubbed at the last minute
because of a faulty sensor on the first stage. (5/1)
NASA Gets $19.65B in
Omnibus Spending Bill (Source: Space News)
NASA will receive $19.65 billion in a fiscal year 2017 omnibus
appropriations bill released early Monday. The bill provides NASA with
$628 million above the original request made for 2017 by the Obama
administration last year and $368 million above what the agency
received in 2016. NASA's exploration programs, including SLS and Orion,
won significant increases over the original request, as did the
agency's planetary science program. The bill funds several programs,
including a Europa lander and an Earth science mission, not included in
the Trump administration's fiscal year 2018 budget blueprint issued in
March. Congress is expected to pass the omnibus spending bill this
week, before a continuing resolution currently funding the government
expires Friday. (5/1)
Intelsat Mum on Debt
Exchange, Says Epic Business Affirmed by Mobility Customers
(Source: Space News)
Intelsat says mobility users are among the first customers to make use
if its new series of high-throughput satellites. Intelsat CEO Stephen
Spengler said in a call with investors last week that mobility
customers have become "power users" of its Epic series of satellites,
with other classes of customers, including enterprise and wireless
service providers, taking longer to sign on for capacity on its three
active Epic satellites. Spengler declined to comment on the company's
decision to extend a debt exchange deadline for bondholders, part of
the process for Intelsat's merger with OneWeb, from April 20 to May 10.
(5/1)
More Iridium Launches on
Tap (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
Iridium plans to launch four more sets of next-generation satellites
this year. Iridium CEO Matt Desch said last week the next batch of 10
Iridium Next satellites is scheduled for launch June 29 on a Falcon 9
from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Additional launches will
follow in August, October and December, with the remaining satellites
to be launched by mid-2018. The first 10 Iridium Next satellites,
launched in January, are performing well, with eight of them already
placed into operation. (5/1)
India Plans Satellite
Launch for Regional Communications (Source: The Hindu)
India plans to launch a satellite to provide communications for
neighboring countries on Friday. The GSAT-9 satellite is scheduled for
launch Friday on a Geostationary Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark 2
rocket. The 2,230-kilogram satellite has 12 Ku-band transponders that
India will offer as a gift to neighboring countries who are members of
the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation. One of the
members of that organization, Pakistan, has declined the offer. (5/1)
OmniEarth Acquired by
EagleView (Source: Space News)
The company that once planned a constellation of Earth imaging
satellites has been acquired by a data analytics company. OmniEarth
said last week it's been acquired by EagleView, a company based in
Washington state that extracts data from imagery, for an undisclosed
sum. OmniEarth announced plans in 2014 for a constellation of 18
satellites that would provide "scientific-grade multispectral data" of
the Earth on a daily basis, but later focused instead on analysis of
images from other satellites. The deal is the third to involve a
commercial remote sensing company in less than three months. (5/1)
Vector and Citrix to
Bring Virtualization Software Technology to Micro Satellites
(Source: Vector)
Vector, a micro satellite space launch company, announced that it will
join forces with Citrix to bring advanced datacenter and cloud
virtualization technology into space for the first time through the
development of a software defined satellite platform with Vector's
GalacticSky solution. Citrix and Vector will work together to
enhance Citrix XenServer for space use and validate Vector's
GalacticOS, a purpose built satellite app operating system that enables
entrepreneurs to easily develop space based applications. (5/1)
Experts Say 2018 Will Be the Year
Space Tourism Takes Off (Source: CBC)
Space. The final frontier, and quite possibly your family's next March
Break vacation. Experts say 2018 will be the year space tourism takes
off. But while great leaps are being made at what seems like warp
speed, it's a venture that's still fraught with issues that go far
beyond its out-of-this-world price tag. Cost of launch, of course,
remains a major barrier, and one way to bring it down from seven
figures to six, or even five, is to build rockets that don't end up as
space junk after one launch.
The FAA takes a "relatively hands-off approach" to passenger safety,
says Charles Oman, an aeronautics and astronautics researcher and
lecturer at MIT who worries the hype around space tourism overshadows
the potential dangers, and there are no protections in place for
travelers. "For now, the FAA requires only that participants be
briefed on risks by the spaceflight company selling the tickets," Oman
said.
"Who can really objectively inform the prospective buyer how safe it
is?" Oman says he would ultimately like to see travelers discuss their
decision to fly with a "technically qualified, independent ombudsperson
who verifies the participant is aware the risk is far greater than the
one-in-several-million associated with commercial air travel." (4/30)
US Set to Lift Restrictions on
Satellite Tech Exports to Saudi Arabia (Source: SpaceWatch
Middle East)
The United States is set to lift restrictions on the export of
sensitive strategic technologies – to include high-resolution
reconnaissance satellites – to Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member
states, according to a report in the French online publication
Intelligence Online.
The recent visit with President Donald J. Trump and his national
security staff in Washington, DC, by the Saudi Arabian Deputy Crown
Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, along with other senior Saudi national
security officials, has apparently repaired Saudi-US relations after
several years of tensions during the previous administration of
President Barack Obama. (4/30)
Space: The Final Homework Frontier
(Source: Newsweek)
Bacteria are a vexing problem for astronauts. The microorganisms that
colonize our bodies grow uncontrollably on surfaces of the
International Space Station, so astronauts spend hours cleaning them up
each week. How is NASA solving this very tiny big problem? It’s turning
to a bunch of high school kids. Well, not just any kids. It is
depending on NASA HUNCH high school classrooms, like the one science
teachers Gene Gordon and Donna Himmelberg lead at Fairport High School
in Fairport, New York.
HUNCH, or High School Students United With NASA to Create Hardware, is
a program run through Johnson Space Center designed to connect high
school classrooms with NASA engineers. For the past two years, Gordon’s
students in upstate New York have been studying ways to kill bacteria
in zero gravity, and they think they’re close to a solution. “We don’t
give the students any breaks. They have to do it just like NASA
engineers or anyone sending hardware up to the space station,” says
Florence Gold, HUNCH’s implementation project manager. (4/30)
No comments:
Post a Comment