September 15, 2018

Arizona Real Estate Firm Shoots for the Stars with Aerospace Branch (Source: Chamber Business News)
Scottsdale-based commercial real estate firm Keyser Co. recently implemented a new aerospace branch that will assist Arizona aerospace companies in finding optimal facilities. Because of Arizona’s status as the best state for aerospace manufacturing, this development will prove to be mutually beneficial for Keyser and aerospace firms across the valley.

PricewaterhouseCoopers listed Arizona as the number one state in their 2016 Aerospace Manufacturing Attractiveness ranking. By the end of the year, the state boasted 1,200 aerospace and defense companies, which employed over 52,000 people. In addition, Arizona ranked top 10 in both aviation/aerospace employment and aerospace government contracts.

Keyser aerospace broker Karyn MacVean explains why Arizona is the perfect location for aerospace manufacturing. “Tucson has a tech corridor near the airport. In Maricopa County, there’s a lot of interest in the East Valley in terms of industrial space that’s suitable for manufacturing and R&D,” MacVean says. Plus, Yuma will attract some pretty impressive companies because of their potential implementation of a space port.” (9/14)

JAXA Pushes Back HTV-7 Launch Again (Source: Parabolic Arc)
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) have cancelled launch of the H-IIB Launch Vehicle No. 7(H-IIB F7) with aboard the H-II Transfer Vehicle “KOUNOTORI7” (HTV7), the cargo transporter to the International Space Station (ISS). The cancellation is because additional investigation became necessary of the H-IIB F7 propulsion system. The launch was scheduled for September 15, 2018, from the JAXA Tanegashima Space Center. (9/14)

Pentagon Hatching Space Force Legislative Plan (Source: Space News)
The Pentagon plans to develop a legislative proposal for establishing a Space Force this fall. In a Sept. 10 memo, Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan laid out roles and responsibilities for crafting proposed legislation that could be submitted to the White House for review as soon as Dec. 1. Shanahan is overseeing the entire effort but the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the undersecretary of defense for policy also having significant roles; the Air Force will have only a limited role.

The memo states that space activities within the intelligence community will not be included in the Space Force proposal. The memo also indicates that a new U.S. Space Command should be operational by the end of the year, and directed plans to be developed this month for a Space Development Agency. (9/14)

Bridenstine to Meet Russian Counterpart (Source: Space News)
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine will meet his Russian counterpart in person next month. In a rare joint statement, NASA and Roscosmos confirmed earlier Russian statements that the two would meet at Baikonur during the launch of a Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station "on or around" Oct. 10. The statement also addressed the Russian investigation into a hole in a Soyuz spacecraft docked to the station found two weeks ago, and said the agencies would refrain from making "any preliminary conclusions and providing any explanations" until a Roscosmos-led investigation is complete. That statement comes amid rumors, primarily in Russian media, about who might have caused the hole in the spacecraft. (9/14)

Marshall Has a New Director (Source: Huntsville Times)
Jody Singer is the new director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. NASA formally named Singer to the position permanently Thursday after she had been serving as director on an acting basis since the retirement of former director Todd May in July. Singer, the first woman to lead the center, started working at NASA in 1985 and became deputy director of Marshall in 2016. (9/14)

Brexit Could Limit UK Access to Space Debris Warnings (Source: Guardian)
Brexit could limit the warnings the British government receives about space debris. In a white paper, the government said that a "hard" Brexit would cut off the U.K. from access to the EU's space surveillance and tracking program, which has yet to become fully operational. The U.K. would no longer be part of that program after Brexit, and the government and British companies may not have access to warnings about potential collisions. The U.K., though, would continue to get warnings from the U.S. (9/14)

Florida's New Workforce Challenge: Top Secret Clearances (Source: Orlando Business Journal)
Three of the largest defense firms with divisions in Central Florida right now have a combined 869 job openings — mostly high-tech, high-wage careers. But don’t expect them to be filled anytime soon. That’s because all of those jobs require security clearances of some sort — a lengthy, expensive process that can make hiring new, experienced workers a challenge. “Right now, it takes at least two years and about $70,000 to get that security clearance, and that is ridiculously way too much money,” said Space Florida's Dale Ketcham.

Lockheed Martin currently has 515 job openings in Orlando listed as secret and top secret. Northrop Grumman has 109 job openings in Melbourne that require security clearance. And Melbourne's Harris Corp. has 179 job openings that require security clearance. A defense company’s best solution is to hire workers who already have security clearances, and that’s where these defense companies find themselves in a kind of Catch-22. Although Central Florida is a strong resource for those workers due to the growing commercial space industry, those very workers are sought after more than ever by companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin.

In the meantime, it’s an issue that Ketcham is keeping a close eye on — especially in light of the Space Coast’s success in luring in those high-tech jobs. “Even during the depths of the recession, there were major high-wage, high-tech jobs that were unfilled because there were not people skilled to meet those demands. That is a national problem, but because of the success we had here, it is that much more acute here.” (9/5)

We’ve Found a Pulsar Spinning So Slowly That it Shouldn’t Exist (Source: New Scientist)
A distant pulsar is taking it slow – so slow that it shouldn’t exist. Radio pulsars are rapidly-spinning neutron stars that emit a beam of powerful radio waves, and we’ve just found one rotating so slowly that its beam should have been snuffed out. Chia Min Tan at the University of Manchester and her colleagues found this sluggish star using the Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR), a set of radio telescopes based mostly in the Netherlands. This pulsar, called PSR J0250+5854, takes 23.5 seconds to complete a rotation. (9/14)

NASA Awards Fellowships to 12 Graduate Students (Source: NASA)
New fellowships have been awarded through NASA’s Minority University Research and Education Project (MUREP) and Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) to 12 graduate students totaling $1.9 million to conduct research and contribute directly to NASA’s work and mission. NASA Fellowship Activities align with the Office of STEM Engagement’s goal to establish a well-trained science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) workforce.

Editor's Note: Miami-based Florida International University is hosting students receiving fellowships for two projects, including: Frequency Independent Ultra-Wideband Millimeter-Wave Beamformer; and Synthesis and Characterization of Metal Matrix Composites of Boron Nitride Nanotubes and Lightweight Aerospace Grade Alloys for Use in Extreme Environments. (9/14)