November 6, 2011

Voyager 2 to Switch to Backup Thruster Set (Source: NASA)
NASA's Deep Space Network personnel sent commands to the Voyager 2 spacecraft Nov. 4 to switch to the backup set of thrusters that controls the roll of the spacecraft. Confirmation was received today that the spacecraft accepted the commands. The change will allow the 34-year-old spacecraft to reduce the amount of power it requires to operate and use previously unused thrusters as it continues its journey toward interstellar space, beyond our solar system. (11/5)

Space Club Plans Networking Event on Dec. 7 (Source: NSCFL)
Please join the National Space Club Florida Committee and The Missile, Space and Range Pioneers for our next Networking Event on December 7, 2011 from 4:00 to 7:00 pm at Fish Lips at Port Canaveral. Click here for information. (11/6)

When Obama Talks Space, We Should Listen (Source: Florida Today)
Presidents don't talk often about the space program. During the past few days, President Barack Obama talked about the space program on multiple occasions and it seems worthwhile to share exactly what he's saying about an endeavor so critical to the future of our community. Saying "we can't wait for Congress to do its job and give our space program the funding it needs," President Barack Obama took direct aim at the Republican leadership in Congress on an issue he knows is important in a key battleground state in next year's election.

The key point to draw from this is that the president appears to be continually reminding people that he has put the space program on a privatization track, one that Republicans might typically embrace. But this track depends upon funding from Congress that has been slow in coming. He went on to say that his decisions were based out of concern that NASA was back on a frequently tread path of cost overruns and schedule delays, and needed to take a time out to reconsider its direction. (11/6)

European Turmoil Imperils Proposed Leadership in Environmental Science (Source: Aviation Week)
Under pressure to reduce spending, the institutions responsible for setting and financing European space programs will meet this week to hash out space funding priorities against a backdrop of tremendous financial turmoil in Europe. The European Commission has already kicked off months of wrangling among its 27 members after a draft budget plan abandoned future funding for the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) project.

Abandoning GMES would mean giving up on Europe’s ambition to take the global lead in environmental monitoring —a goal well within its grasp. Likewise, a plan to allow private companies to sell some GMES data products and services to the EU would suffer, compromising the health of Europe’s commercial space sector. (11/4)

Western Australia High-Tech Business Helps Astronomers Discover the Universe (Source: ICRAR)
A quest to study the earliest stars and galaxies in the Universe is underway, with local industry building the first major pieces of a revolutionary new radio telescope in Western Australia, as part of the Murchison Wide-field Array.Murchison Wide-field Array (MWA) industry partner and Fremantle-based high-technology company, Poseidon Scientific Instruments (PSI), has been awarded a $1.3m contract by Curtin University to build 16 packages of sensitive electronics.

The MWA is being built by an Australian consortium led by The International Center for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR), a joint venture between Curtin University and The University of Western Australia, in close collaboration with US, Indian and New Zealand partners. ICRAR Deputy Director, Professor Steven Tingay, said PSI was a world-class technology company and working with its local expertise to design and develop components for the international project was an enormous advantage. (11/6)

Budget Pressures Squeeze the Dreams of Mars Explorers (Source: Washington Post)
Mars explorers should be ecstatic. At Cape Canaveral, the biggest, most sophisticated rover ever aimed at our planetary neighbor sits atop a towering Atlas V rocket. Dubbed Curiosity, the $2.5 billion dune buggy-sized robotic scientist is poised for a Nov. 25 launch. Arrival is scheduled for next August. And yet, top Mars scientists are worried and angry. They fear an end to a carefully-crafted campaign underway since 1994 to explore the red planet ahead of an eventual human landing.

At a White House meeting during the last week of October, administration officials “were clearly not very keen on signing up” for unmanned Mars missions in 2016 and 2018, said Daniel Britt. That presents an international problem. In 2009, NASA agreed to jointly fund the dual missions with Europe, a longtime partner in space. But now, “the administration’s position is that they cannot commit to the plan of Mars in 2016 and 2018,” said the chief of NASA’s planetary science division. (11/6)

China's Huge Leap Forward Threatens US Ascendancy in Space (Source: Telegraph)
China took a giant step towards its dream of becoming the pre-eminent power in space, a position some experts believe it may claim by 2040. It was a message to the rest of the world of China's ever-growing reach and ambition, as each successive mission in the country's space program narrows the technological gap with its rivals.

With the Russians also stating that manned space missions are no longer a priority, it is likely that - within 15 years or so - the next men to set foot on the moon will be Chinese. Nor is China looking merely at near space. Later this month, it will launch its first Mars probe, carried into space as part of the payload on a Russian rocket.

Shenzhou 8's launch has set alarms bells ringing, because the craft was delivered so precisely to its intended location. If China can send a rocket into space with such accuracy, it means it can destroy any object in near space as well. China's new strides in its rocket guidance systems comes despite an embargo on US exports of sensitive hi-tech equipment to Beijing. Having relied on re-engineered Russian technology for much of its space program, the docking system that brought Tiangong 1 and Shenzou 8 together was Chinese-designed. (11/6)

Bova: 'Grand Tour' of the Future (Source: Naples News)
A few weeks ago reader Christopher Pritchard asked, "Ben give me your vision of my future." Well, actually, I've been writing my version of the human race's future for several decades. In a series of novels that my readers have dubbed "The Grand Tour" I've tried to show how – and why – the 21st century will develop. The background for this scenario is the inevitable climate shift, caused by global warming, that is already taking place, here and now.

Whatever the causes of today's global warming, the fact is that our planet's climate is changing, as it has many times in the past. At present we're heading into a warm spell. The key factor in my novels is that we do nothing to alleviate global climate change until it's much too late. After nearly a century of gradual warming, the global climate reaches a tipping point. Temperatures rise rapidly and uncontrollably. Sea levels rise high enough to flood coastal cities around the world.

The electrical utility grids that power our civilization crash. Inland areas are devastated by decades-long droughts while killer storms, powered by the warmer atmosphere, wreak havoc. Tens of millions of people are suddenly homeless, jobless, hopeless. Governments around the world become more and more authoritarian, clamping down on individual freedoms as they desperately try to feed and house the hordes of refugees. (11/6)

Keys’ Underwater, Weightless World Helps Prepare Astronauts (Source: Miami Herald)
At 60 feet below the ocean’s surface, alongside coral, fish and a curious goliath grouper, NASA astronauts and scientists spent seven days testing battery-powered jet packs, booms with magnets, robotic arms on one-man subs and other ways to function in zero gravity. The Florida Keys underwater world is helping NASA prepare for humankind’s first trip to an asteroid.

“It would be the first time that human beings have left the Earth/moon system and started to explore the solar system, to explore Mars and beyond,” said NASA asteroid expert Paul Abell. “That’s a very exciting prospect for us.” Such an endeavor will take billions of dollars and years of effort to learn the unknowns and conquer the challenges and risks. But Abell, based out of the Johnson Space Center in Houston, said the ambitious program is worthwhile for many reasons, including this biggie: planet defense. (11/6)

November 5, 2011

Local Air Force Captain Among Women In Aerospace Awardees (Source: WIA)
Captain Amanda Zuber, a SBIRS Field Program Manager with the 45th Space Wing at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, is among seven women honored last week by Women in Aerospace (WIA). She shared the WIA 2011 Achievement Award with Dr. Diane Pugel, a physicist at Goddard Space Flight Center. The WIA Aerospace Awareness Award went to Cheryle Moore McNair of the DREME Science Literacy Foundation. The WIA Aerospace Educator Award went to Rene Kimura of the Hawaii Space Grant Consortium.

The WIA Leadership Award went to Brig. Gen. Laura Jane Strickland Richardson of the US Army. The WIA Lifetime Achievement Award went to Julie Sattler of Lockheed Martin. And the WIA Outstanding Member Award went to Angela Phillips Diaz of the Purdue University Global Policy Research Institute. (11/5)

Japan Also Needs Long-Range Space Development Strategy (Source: Yomiuri Shimbun)
The International Space Station, which was jointly built by 15 countries, including Japan, the U.S., Russia and European nations, is expected to be decommissioned in 2020. There is a growing likelihood that China will become the only country with a facility capable of letting humans stay in space for a long period.

Japan, for its part, has failed to spell out a long-range strategy for space exploration. Given China's rapidly accelerating--and improving--space capabilities, Japan should work with the United States and other nations to prepare for potential threats to this nation's security. (11/5)

Laid-off KSC Workers' Supplies Eagerly Accepted by Educators (Source: Florida Today)
A binder decorated with space shuttle mission stickers. A clock with numbers covered by employees’ pictures. A nameplate labeled “New Guy.” The office supplies once filled desks, filing cabinets and walls at KSC, but are now making their way into classrooms in four counties.

As thousands of KSC contractors were let go due to the shuttle’s retirement this year, their unneeded supplies were rounded up and distributed over the past week to teachers who eagerly carted them away by the carload. “Out of everything bad comes something good, that’s the way I look at it,” said Alice Smith, the KSC manager who oversaw the massive collection project. (11/5)

Aerojet Would Consider Building 'Space Tugs' in Ohio (Source: Dayton Daily News)
Aerojet, a rocket engine contractor that serves the Air Force and NASA, wants to design and build solar-powered “space tugs” that could move satellites into orbit or help push spacecraft toward the Moon, Mars or other destinations. Aerojet wants to work with Glenn Research Center and the Air Force Research Laboratory to develop the technology for a prototype within the next 3-5 years, then build what would be reusable vehicles for long-term deployment in space.

The company would consider building those vehicles in Ohio and developing relationships with local small-business suppliers, though it hasn’t identified potential sites, an Aerojet official said. “As we get closer to building a demonstrator, we’d need to put a facility in place,” he said. The Ohio Aerospace Institute, which promotes the state’s aerospace industry, said it wants to work with Aerojet to bring it to Ohio. (11/5)

Boeing Project at KSC a Welcome Boost in Central Florida (Source: Daytona Beach News-Journal)
The Boeing crew capsules are just part of the plan, of course. The crew vehicle will need to be attached to an Atlas V rocket. A number of private companies continue work on the rocket aspect, trying to find ways to recycle rockets, which are usually disposed of because of their drop in saltwater.

If rocket technology is improved and made more affordable, there will be little else holding back the private sector from robust involvement in space travel and exploration throughout the 21st century. This new phase of space exploration should benefit the Daytona Beach area, which is fortunate to have Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the nation's foremost aerospace university. The school is planning a 90-acre Research and Technology Park that could include companies involved in the development of aerospace technology. (11/5)

Australia Hosts China Space Tracking Station (Source: AFP)
China has acquired a space tracking station in Australia, its first such facility hosted by a close U.S. ally. The station in remote Dongara, about 350 kilometers north of Perth in western Australia, was used during last week's launch of the Shenzhou VIII mission. The U.S. and the European Space Agency have long had tracking facilities in Australia.

Reaction to the Chinese station, its first in a key US ally's territory, will be closely watched to see whether Washington will raise objections. The Dongara station is its fifth outside China, with one each in Pakistan and Chile, another in Kenya and one in Namibia. The Australian defence ministry had no comment on Dongara. (11/5)

Adams Backs Obama Effort for NASA (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Proof again that politics makes strange bedfellows, U.S. Rep. Sandy Adams, R-Orlando, wrote this week to congressional appropriators asking that they fund a NASA program that long has been a top priority for President Barack Obama and his administration. In a two-page note, Adams highlighted NASA’s effort to use commercial rocket companies to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station, calling this approach “a vital piece of the future of human space flight.”

Obama has proposed $850 million annually for the commercial crew effort but Congress has balked at that amount — suggesting funding at either $500 million or around $300 million. In her letter, Adams strongly backs the $500 million amount. This marks a significant shift for Adams, who — while not outright opposing commercial crew efforts — never has been an outspoken proponent. (11/4)

Rover Spots 'New Thing' on Mars (Source: MSNBC)
NASA's Opportunity rover has come across a light-colored line of rocks that could serve as solid evidence for Mars' watery past — and help set the stage for the next Mars mission, due for launch this month. The formation, nicknamed "Homestake" or "The Vein," showed up in pictures that the rover sent back from the rim of Endeavour Crater early this week. It looks like a few paving bricks, sticking edge up from the surrounding soil. Not all that impressive, but it caught the attention of the rover science team as well as the amateur observers who are following Oppy's every move. Click here to see. (11/4)

Air Force Aims To Add 380 Jobs On Space Coast (Source: Florida Today)
The U.S. Air Force will increase the number of civilian jobs at Patrick Air Force Base and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station by almost 400, the office of U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson said today. The increase comes at a time when the service is cutting 9,000 civilian jobs at bases across the country. The cost-savings measure is a service-wide effort to adjust to a new era of defense spending cuts.

Dan McLaughlin, a spokesman for Nelson's office, said the senator was briefed by the Air Force this week. The jobs will be added between now and next Sept. 30, the end of the current fiscal year. Slides from the Air Force briefing show 224 civilian positions will be added at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, a 47 percent increase over the 477 civilian billets there now. A total of 156 civilian jobs will be added to the 1,600 now at Patrick Air Force Base, a 10 percent jump.

The number of civilian jobs at Air Force bases across Florida will increase by 493, or about four percent more than the current 13,034 civilian jobs. The 380 additional jobs on the Space Coast represents more than 75 percent of the total increase. The 45th Space Wing oversees operations at the two bases as well as the Eastern Range. (11/4)

Russia’s Space Program Still Relevant, Experts Agree (Source: Space Policy Online)
At a panel discussion on Thursday, three experts on the Russian space program agreed that despite two recent launch failures widely covered in the media and enduring budget challenges, Russia's space program remains quite relevant today. In fact, the U.S. space program is more dependent on Russia than most realize.

Although a lot of attention is focused on the U.S. dependence on Russia today for taking crews to and from the International Space Station, the U.S. space program also is dependent on Russia for rocket engines for the Atlas V and Taurus II launch vehicles, Smith noted. The two countries actually are interdependent with regard to space programs, Smith explained, since Russia depends on U.S. funds to augment its modest government budget, needs the U.S. as a market for its space wares, and needs a space station. (11/4)

54th Anniversary of Russia Launching 'First Female to Space' (Sources: Science Punk; Space Policy Online)
Nov. 3 marked the 54th anniversary of the launch of the Soviet dog Laika, the first animal in orbit -- or, as SpacePolicyOnline.com founder Marcia Smith commented, the "first female in space." Fifty-four years ago, a plucky little mongrel became the world's first space pilot, taking a one-way trip aboard Sputnik 2. Here's to you, Laika. (11/4)

USAF May Cut Northrop Satellite Program (Source: Aviation Week)
The Air Force could terminate a multibillion-dollar weather satellite being developed by Northrop Grumman, according to two sources. The move comes as the Air Force hunts for ways to trim its budget and help the Pentagon achieve about $489 billion in cuts over the next 10 years. Analyst Loren Thompson said the decision would be short-sighted and could have life-or-death consequences on the battlefield.

“It is a sad commentary about how budget pressures are forcing military services to make dangerous choices,” Thompson wrote in a blog for the Lexington Institute. Termination of the Defense Weather Satellite System (DWSS) would mark the culmination of a saga that began nearly two decades ago, when the White House ordered the Pentagon and NOAA to work on a single next-generation weather satellite that could satisfy both civilian and military needs. (11/4)

NASA Seeks Space Technology Graduate Fellowship Applicants (Source: NASA)
NASA is seeking applications from graduate students for the agency's second class of Space Technology Research Fellowships. Applications will be accepted from accredited U.S. universities on behalf of graduate students interested in performing space technology research beginning in fall 2012. Click here. (11/4) http://go.usa.gov/9SL

Japan, Vietnam Sign Deal for Two Radar Imaging Satellites (Source: Space News)
Vietnam will buy a pair of Japanese-designed Earth observing radar satellites under a just-finalized deal representing Japan’s first export of a remote sensing satellite system. The sale, financed through a Japanese foreign aid package, was sealed in an agreement signed here Oct. 31 by Japan’s ambassador to Vietnam, Yasuaki Tanizaki, and Vietnam’s minister of planning and investment, Bui Quang Vinh. (11/4)

Exploring 'The Hidden Reality' Of Parallel Worlds (Source: NPR)
Our universe might be really, really big — but finite. Or it might be infinitely big. Both cases, says physicist Brian Greene, are possibilities, but if the latter is true, so is another posit: There are only so many ways matter can arrange itself within that infinite universe. Eventually, matter has to repeat itself and arrange itself in similar ways. So if the universe is infinitely large, it is also home to infinite parallel universes. Click here to hear the interview. (11/4)

Space Eats for Mars Trips (Source: Science News)
Even an Iron Chef couldn’t master what a food-centric cadre of NASA scientists do every day: Devise tasty, healthy meals for astronauts to take into low-Earth orbit and beyond — perhaps even to Mars. Feeding people in space is harder than it sounds. Meals have to contain enough nutrients to keep the human body functioning in near-zero gravity. Slicing, dicing and stir-frying are impossible because ingredients float around.

And now that NASA has set its sights on manned trips to Mars, packaged food has to last longer than ever to keep dinner from spoiling. Fortunately, new research reveals how to make long-lasting space chow both possible and palatable. Plant scientists are testing new methods to farm crops in orbit, so that astronauts could snack on space-grown salad. Engineers are inventing new ways to package food to keep it fresh for up to five years. Click here. (11/4)

Telesat Sees Improved Profitability into 2012 (Source: Space News)
Telesat reported flat revenue but improved gross profit for the nine months ending Sep. 30 compared to the previous year and said fully booked satellites scheduled for launch in 2012 will boost the company’s performance. Telesat also filed a $125 million insurance claim following the failure of its Telstar-14R/Estrela do Sul-2 satellite to fully deploy one of its two solar panels. The defect will cut the satellite’s in-orbit life to 12 years from an expected 15 years and will also reduce its broadcast capacity. (11/4)

ITU Board Fails To Resolve Dispute over Iranian Service (Source: Space News)
International regulators have failed to resolve a satellite frequency dispute pitting France, Qatar and satellite operator Eutelsat against Iran, Saudi Arabia and operator Arabsat, setting the stage for a likely showdown in January at a global conference of telecom authorities. The Radio Regulations Board of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) proved powerless to settle an issue that radio frequency experts say could snowball into a threat to the ITU’s ability to manage development of the geostationary orbital arc and the broadcast frequencies used there.

At issue is whether the government of Iran misled the ITU by saying its Zohreh-2 satellite network maintained its regulatory eligibility in past years by being temporarily hosted on U.S.- and French-registered satellites. The service is now being hosted by Arabsat, a major satellite consortium headquartered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, using a satellite located at 26 degrees east longitude. (11/4)

House and Senate Begin Conference Negotiations on Minibus (Source: Space News)
The House and Senate have begun hammering out a compromise spending measure they hope to enact by Nov. 18 to fund NASA and several other federal agencies for 2012 and keep the rest of the government running into December. House and Senate appropriators convened a conference committee Nov. 3 to iron out their differences on a package of three previously separate spending bills, including those funding NASA, weather satellite programs at NOAA, and the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation. (11/4)

Intrepid Submits Proposal for NASA Shuttle (Source: The Real Deal)
After winning one of four NASA shuttles in April, the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum realized the structure might be too big for its existing grounds. This week, the Hell's Kitchen museum submitted plans and architectural renderings to the local community board for a new structure across the West Side Highway from the Intrepid Museum, at West 46th Street, that would house the shuttle. The museum does not yet own the land. The new museum would be a spiraling glass structure with classrooms, labs, a theater and a rooftop restaurant centered around the shuttle.

"A museum! I can't believe it, it's not a massage parlor," said board member J.D. Noland. "It's for kids! It's wonderful. It elevates the community." Intrepid expects the museum to have an additional 300,000 visitors per year, bring 1,186 new jobs and generate $143 million in revenue per annum. (11/4)

NASA Leaders Expected at Langley to Discuss SLS, Orion (Source: DailyPress.com)
Leaders from six NASA facilities will visit Langley Research Center in Hampton on Tuesday to discuss the agency’s new deep space rocket. The meeting, which is closed to the media, comes less than two months after NASA announced the Space Launch System, an Apollo-like rocket designed to eventually take astronauts to Mars. Center directors will also tour Langley and watch a test drop of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle. (11/4)

Monster Sunspot Poses Threat of Significant Solar Storms (Source: Washington Post)
A major sunspot is presently emerging on the surface of the solar disk facing Earth. According to Jess Whittington at NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC), the huge and still growing sunspot is the most active part of the sun since 2005. The area is called Region 1339 and is being referred to as a “benevolent monster.” 8.3 times bigger than Earth, it generated a solar flare which shot out a burst of charged particles yesterday but - this time - was not aimed at Earth.

However, this extremely active area of the sun will be facing earth for about two weeks. At this time there is no way to predict whether new flares will generate significant solar storms aimed towards Earth and, if so, whether they could result in geomagnetic storms capable of dire consequences on “life as we know it”. It’s more likely that we’ll see only an increased chance of auroras. (11/4)

November 4, 2011

U.S. Spaceflight: Commercial Versus Federal (Source: Aero-News.net)
All that was required in order to make the dream of COTS come true was a little bit of Federal money to prime that “engine of competition.” There were, however, a few flaws in the plan. Flaw number one came when NASA gave out the first $175 million. No “private” company can remain private once it hooks up to the I.V. that drips tax dollars--not that there is anything wrong with that. There are plenty of Federal contractors who do great work and spaceflight of any sort is hugely expensive.

Today, both SpaceX and Orbital are doing fantastic things and the US taxpayers are getting tremendous mileage for their dollars. The rub comes with those folks in the spaceflight and political circles who argue for a “pure commercial” space program... supported by more and more Federal dollars. Chief among these folks is President Obama who has gone to the greatest lengths to make this Federally subsidized, pure commercial paradox come true.

The simple fact is, the more Federal dollars a company takes, the less private they must become. This all turns into a dollars vs. the dreams tar pit. Each Federal dollar has a string attached and soon trying operate a program as efficiently as a private corporation turns into trying to sprint in a tar pit of Federal regulations and oversight. Click here. (11/4)

It's More Complicated Than Just "Commercial vs Federal" (Source: Hobby Space)
Aero-News' "Commercial Versus Federal" article is an astonishingly misleading and distorted depiction of NASA's commercial cargo and crew program. What is said is mostly wrong and what is left out is typically crucial. It's ridiculous, for example, to talk about the COTS program without pointing out (1) it is a fixed- price program rather than cost-plus; (2) incremental payments are only made as milestones are achieved; and (3) the companies more than match NASA's funding with private funding.

Rocketplane-Kistler was disqualified precisely because they failed to raise sufficient private investment. (They were passing their technical milestones.) Of the $800M spent by SpaceX so far on development of Falcon 1, Falcon 9, and Dragon, only $300M came from NASA, the rest was from private funding. It's absurd not to point out that the commercial systems are being developed at far, far lower cost than if they were developed as NASA in-house led, cost-plus contracted projects.

The essayist goes on to mislead in multiple areas. For example, it absolutely is NOT law that NASA use only Federally operated systems for its human spaceflight program. And Constellation was canceled because it was grossly over-budget and many years behind schedule as clearly explained by the Augustine panel. NASA would have needed several billion dollars added to its annual budget to maintain Constellation and continue other programs such as the ISS. Click here. (11/4)

Soviet Hardware Enters NASA CCDev Initiative (Source: Aviation Week)
Excalibur Almaz, a Houston-based space tourism company distinguished by its plans to use refurbished Soviet-era military space station hardware for adventure travel and commercial research, has become the seventh participant in the second round of NASA’s Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) initiative. An unfunded Space Act Agreement will permit NASA participation in a series of systems requirements, launch vehicle, test plan, design compatibility, test and operational systems reviews through May 2012, according to NASA.

Earlier this year, the six-year-old company unveiled its unique hardware at its facilities on the Isle of Man, including a pair of Almaz military space stations and four three-person Reusable Re-entry Vehicles. The equipment was developed by the Soviets as military versions of the Salyut series of space stations. Seven Salyut and Almaz versions were launched between 1971 and 1982.

The company plans an unmanned flight test of a refurbished and upgraded RRV as soon as 2014, with manned orbital flights of an RRV with an expendable habitable service module to follow soon after. The launch of a commercial Almaz station would depend on the demand for orbital missions. EAI brings flight-tested vintage RRV hardware to the CCDev competition, including a crew escape system and the capability to touch down on land as well as water. (11/4)

Masten Provides Update on Launcher Program (Source: Masten)
Masten Space Systems is getting a lot of questions on where we’re at on our CRuSR flights and the answer there is “we’re still cooking.” We’ve been flying Xaero a lot. As in multiple days a week, multiple flights per day. We’ve also been flying Xombie quite frequently as we work to expand her capability. We wrapped up our Phase I SBIR with NASA KSC on the development of a Plume Impingement TestBed, and turned in a Phase II proposal.

We were awarded a contract with NASA’s Flight Opportunities Program that will allow us to compete for up to $5M of flights in three different levels. We continue to receive interest in our vertical landing capability. We added three full-time employees, including a full-time CEO. We’re at 12 full-time now. We have nearly completed engine qualification testing on the engine now dubbed “Scimitar” – and it’s a beauty. Throttles between 1100lbf and 300 lbf, is flight weight, and incorporates a number of new technologies. Click here for a video.

Editor's Note: During visits to the Cape Canaveral Spaceport, and in meetings with Space Florida and others, I notice that Masten--according to some schedules in-print--is supposed to start flying from the Cape by the end of 2011. This update from Masten makes no mention of those plans. (11/4)

Three Glonass-M Satellites Launched from Baikonur (Source: Itar-Tass)
A Proton-M rocket carrying three Glonass satellites has blasted off Baikonur, Kazakhstan. “The Proton-M rocket with a Briz-M booster and three Glonass-M satellites aboard took off at 4:51 p.m. Moscow time on Friday,” the Federal Space Agency said. (11/4)

Largest Ever Gamma-Ray Pulsar Discovered (Source: Cosmos)
An uncharacteristically strong magnetic field in a globular cluster has been detected, confirming the presence of a previously unknown, extremely powerful luminous gamma-ray pulsar. Researchers using the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) in the U.S. said the detection of this millisecond pulsar (MSP), which whirls at 43,000 revolutions per minute, will improve our understanding of the physics of hard-to-detect dense matter and magnetic forces in the galactic field. (11/4)

Some Experts Question Washington's Space Commitment (Source: Florida Today)
Some leading space experts are worried a lack of money and vision in Washington threatens the future of the U.S. space exploration program to the advantage of other countries. Priorities like the Webb Telescope and long-planned Mars sample return missions risk being unduly delayed — or scuttled — by budget pressures on Capitol Hill. “We are at a watershed moment,” said Scott Hubbard, a Stanford University astronautics professor who served as NASA’s first Mars Program director. (11/4)

Alternative Approach to GPS Modernization Could Reap DOD Savings (Source: Space News)
The goals of the U.S. Defense Department’s $22 billion GPS modernization effort could be accomplished more quickly and at less cost than currently expected by allocating more resources to receiver upgrades and leveraging a commercial satellite program, a new study concludes.

According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) study, the Pentagon could reduce the GPS system’s vulnerability to signal jamming by equipping planned military receivers with better antennas and inertial navigation systems, the ability to receive data from the Iridium satellite communications system, or both.

Any of the three alternative approaches would yield a significantly more robust system eight years sooner than the 2026 date now anticipated, the study said. Cost savings would range from $1.3 billion to $3.3 billion, depending on the alternative selected, the study said. (11/4)

When is a Hosted Payload Not a Payload? (Source: Space News)
One passage in the U.S. Space Transportation Policy has raised concerns in the hosted payload community: United States Government payloads shall be launched on space launch vehicles manufactured in the United States, unless exempted by the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, in consultation with the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs.

Some hosted payload advocates worry that language like this, if retained in the new space transportation policy, could become an obstacle to the greater use of hosted payloads in the future. Given the small market share of American launch vehicles in the commercial launch market, most commercial satellites are launched by non-American vehicles, like the Ariane, Proton, and Zenit. If strictly interpreted, it would seem to either require government agencies to get administration approval for hosted payloads or sharply limit the number of opportunities for flying hosted payloads.

Or does it? It all depends on how the term “payload” is defined. For satellite manufacturers and satellite operators, payload refers to, in essence, the heart of the satellite: its transponders, cameras, or other instruments that are the reason for flying the spacecraft. But for launch providers, payload typically means something else: the satellite or satellites the rocket is carrying to orbit. Click here. (11/4)

The Space Race is Quickly Becoming a Commercial Endeavour (Source: MacLeans)
NASA doesn’t plan on building more shuttles. The space agency is shifting its focus to deep space exploration, and intends to buy rides into low Earth orbit from private companies instead. Like a commercial airline, these companies will sell rides not only to NASA, but to academics, businesses, and the curious public, too. A handful of ultra-wealthy entrepreneurs are backing some of the most ambitious ventures in space travel.

For these entrepreneurs, vanity may play as big a role as the pursuit of NASA contracts. Branson arrived at the recent dedication of Spaceport America by rappelling down the side of the terminal, spraying a bottle of champagne before taking a swig. And Elon Musk, who has said he wants to retire on Mars, sees his company as similar to “the shipbuilding industry in the time of Christopher Columbus,” says a SpaceX spokesperson. Click here. (11/4)

Griffin/Pace: Propellant Depots Instead of Heavy Lift? (Source: Space News)
Considerable recent attention has been devoted to the possible use of orbiting fuel depots for human exploration beyond Earth orbit. In this concept, large propellant tanks are placed in a suitable low Earth orbit (LEO), to be filled by multiple launches of medium-payload-class vehicles, i.e., a few tens rather than a hundred or more metric tons of payload capacity. These depots are then used to refuel upper stages, which arrive empty in LEO after launch from Earth.

Advocates believe that the money saved by not building a heavy-lift vehicle will more than compensate for the cost and inefficiencies entailed in bringing the required mass of propellant to orbit in smaller packages. The fuel depot concept may be — we think will be — valuable when propellant can be harvested from in-space resources. Unfortunately, we are not yet in a position to exploit such resources, and so for now fuel depots are an answer to a question that is at best premature. Click here. (11/4)

Griffin/Pace Fail to Refute Case for Propellant Depots (Source: Hobby Space)
The Griffin/Pace essay is filled with silly straw-men arguments and with Griffin's notorious obliviousness to budget reality and the crucial need to lower costs. Griffin and Pace are living in a marvelously magical land where: NASA's budget is $30B and growing rather than $18B and dropping; NASA's overhead and fixed costs are not counted in the cost of development of NASA's vehicles; and development, overheard and fixed costs are not counted in the operation of NASA's vehicles (thus making for magically low marginal cost estimates).

With Pace's assistance, this essay perfectly illustrates the obstinacy, the sophistry, the void of imagination, and the bullying brow-beating tactics that made Griffin's tenure at NASA such a disastrous one. Unfortunately, many in Congress continue to listen to him and the disaster looks to linger on at the agency for several more years. Click here. (11/4)

China's Space Exploration Highlights Korea's Defunct Program (Source: Chosunilbo)
Advanced countries are downsizing their space exploration plans due to fiscal burdens. This has created an ideal environment for China to gain a lead in the space race. The Chinese People's Liberation Army is spearheading the country's space program, leading to predictions that China's increasing reach into space will affect the global military and political balance of power.

China's accomplishments in space development offer a stark contrast to Korea's own space program, which has been stuck in limbo for the past 10 years. While Seoul was pushing ahead with the launch of the Naro space rocket using a Russian-made booster, efforts to build a homegrown space launch vehicle have been shelved since around 2002.

The government has set a goal of developing the country's first space launch vehicle by 2021, but a lack of interest by both the authorities and public has cast doubt on whether it will come to fruition. The time has come for Korea to recalibrate its approach to space-related programs and look for ways to cooperate with advanced countries, including in the joint development of components. (11/4)

Six Astrium Satellites to Launch on Second Soyuz at Kourou (Source: Astrium)
Astrium is prime contractor for all six satellites to be launched in mid-December by the second Soyuz launcher to lift off from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana. The Pléiades 1 Very High Resolution (VHR) Earth observation satellite recently left Astrium’s site in Toulouse for Kourou. The four satellites of the Elisa constellation and the Chilean satellite SSOT arrived in Kourou on Oct. 21. This will be the first time that six satellites developed by Astrium are launched simultaneously. (11/4)

Astrium Picked To Build DirecTV 15 (Source: Space News)
Astrium Satellites of Europe, in a rare contract win in North America, will build the large DirecTV 15 television broadcasting satellite for DirecTV Group under a contract announced Nov. 4 by both companies. DirecTV said Nov. 3 that it is accelerating the launch of its DirecTV 14 and the just-ordered DirecTV 15 spacecraft to protect against the possible in-orbit failure of DirecTV 10, whose primary propulsion system failed this summer. (11/4)

China Opens 'Space' Post Office on Docked Spacecraft (Source: Collect Space)
China opened a new post office on Nov. 3 with a street address that is 213 miles (343 km) above the Earth. Coinciding with the country achieving its first ever docking in space between the unmanned Shenzhou 8 spacecraft and Tiangong-1 space lab module, the "China Post Space Office" opened for business both on the ground in Beijing Aerospace City and, at least virtually, on board the newly established orbital complex.

Like any postal facility, the office will process letters and, in this case, e-mails, making it possible for the public to write Chinese astronauts, or "taikonauts," on the ground and in space. The space post office will offer domestic and international delivery as well as philatelic products, with more services expected to be introduced as China's aerospace industry eventually expands. (11/4)

Space Exploration Is Best In Hands of NASA, Not Private Sector (Source: PolicyMic.com)
Much is often made of the free market as a force for innovation, and rightly so. Many are looking at the emergence of Virgin Galactic and Boeing’s commercial space business as proof that the private sector is the best avenue for progress in space travel. But the same constraints that make the free market such a powerful environment for change are not ideal for the long-term planning necessary for space travel.

That is why when it comes to space, the government agency NASA is better suited for innovation and progress. In terms of innovation, the private sector is not suited to long term projects. This is because corporations are based on quarterly reporting. If a project takes 20 years to complete, or even just to show some progress, that project is less likely to receive continual funding. Managers will see money flowing into a program every quarter but with no return on investment. Click here. (11/4)

Mars500 Was Limited in its Realism (Source: Nature)
The Mars simulation exercise was a long way from simulating the pressures of a real mission to Mars, some observers point out. Even though they were isolated and subjected to simulated emergency situations, such as power cuts, the crew members were not presented with any real risk. "The fact that any one of them could bang on the door and ask to be let out does detract from the simulation," says Jason Kring, a human factors psychologist at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

Perhaps a better place to run such an experiment would be in a remote place such as Antarctica, says Sheryl Bishop, a biostatistician and psychologist at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. "I rue the lost opportunity," she says. "They could have done this exact experiment in an environment that was truly remote and in the winter months was truly dangerous."

Kring has other concerns. "I'm disappointed that there were no women," he says. "I think the first mission to Mars will have a woman on board." Kring and others have looked closely at the effect of mixed-gender crews, and he thinks that having both men and women is crucial. A team is more civilized with women and men present together, he says. Click here. (11/4)

Gabrielle Giffords Vows To Return To Congress (Source: Huffington Post)
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords vows to return to Congress in a new book that details months of intense therapy and her emotional battle to come to terms with what happened when a gunman opened fire in front of a Tucson grocery store. The book is written by Giffords' husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly, but Giffords delivers the last chapter – a single page of short sentences and phrases entitled "Gabby's Voice" in which she says her goal is to get back to Congress.

"I will get stronger. I will return," she vows. Giffords, 40, stunned colleagues by appearing on the U.S. House floor in Washington on Aug. 1 to vote for the debt ceiling deal, but she has focused most of her time on her recovery at TIRR Memorial Hermann, a rehabilitation center in Houston. Editor's Note: Rep. Giffords is the Ranking Member of the House Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics. (11/4)

Student Experiment Planned for US National Lab on International Space Station (Source: ASGSB)
The American Society of Gravitational and Space Biology has signed with NanoRacks to launch a sophisticated student payload. The selected payload will study insect flight behavior in the microgravity environment of the International Space Station. Click here. (11/4) http://nanoracks.com/asgsb-signs-with-nanoracks/

Air Force Cutting 97 Civilian Jobs at VAFB (Source: Lompoc Record)
The Air Force is axing nearly 100 civilian jobs at Vandenberg Air Force Base, or about 7 percent, as part of a servicewide reduction. Vandenberg's eliminated jobs - 62 by April 1 and 35 by Oct. 1 - mostly come from support positions such as civil engineering, communications, services, as well some command staff functions including public affairs, protocol and legal offices. While 55 of the positions are vacant, 42 are not and those workers will get pink slips. However, efforts are being made where possible to move employees into open positions if their skills are suitable.

The base has 1,300 Air Force civilian jobs along with hundreds of military members, defense contractors and other civilians jobs, officials said. "I am wholeheartedly committed to minimizing the impact of budgetary reductions and organizational restructuring on Vandenberg's civilian workforce," said Col. Richard Boltz. Overall, the Air Force cut some 9,000 positions and intends to cut another 4,500 in a yet-to-be-announced future round aimed at achieving a goal established by the Defense Department.

Editor's Note: With 9,000 positions to be cut nationwide, I would not be surprised if job losses are soon announced by the 45th Space Wing at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and Patrick Air Force Base. (11/4)

Obama Talks Space with Florida, Texas TV (Source: Space Politics)
President Obama did a series of short interviews with local television stations around the country. These interviews included stations in Houston and Tampa, and in both cases the topic of space came up, particularly in relation to the economy and jobs in Texas and Florida.

To Houston’s KTRK, he said: “I’m hugely committed to manned spaceflight, but I want to make sure that we’re doing it right and that we’re not wasting taxpayer money... What we’ve said with NASA is we need to retool to take that next big leap forward in space. The shuttle program had a wonderful run, but the truth of the matter is that the next phase, including the Orion project, was way behind schedule and didn’t seem to be meeting its budget objectives.”

To Tampa’s WTVT, he said: “We are, for example, working with NASA and the private sector to bring additional jobs into central Florida... Boeing just made an announcement that we’re very happy about.” That was a reference to a deal announced Monday where Boeing would set up CST-100 operations at the Kennedy Space Center, employing up to 550 people by mid-decade. (11/4)

Government Business a Bright Spot for Eutelsat (Source: Space News)
Satellite fleet operator Eutelsat said its division selling satellite capacity to government customers — mainly the U.S. government — in the Middle East and North Africa increased revenue by nearly 26 percent in the three months ending Sep. 30 and was the star performer in an otherwise lackluster quarter. Eutelsat’s Multiusage business has grown enormously in the past decade with the U.S. military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan, increasing to $49 million during the quarter. (11/4)

Efforts Evolving to Reshape the Cape (Source: Florida Today)
On a color-coded chart of Kennedy Space Center facilities, blue represents the center’s new way of doing business and the Space Coast’s hopes for a thriving space industry. That’s the color designating former space shuttle and other government-only facilities that are now being opened to commercial users, like the hangar Boeing will use to build a privately operated human spaceflight capsule.

“KSC is being compelled to reinvent itself,” said Joyce Riquelme, manager of the center’s planning and development office. “Unlike the Apollo transition, this time we have a vision and a plan.” The plan to reshape the Cape as a hub for commercial space activity was the subject of a panel discussion Thursday at the SunComm 2011 conference, hosted by the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association at the Cocoa Beach Oceanfront Hilton.

Government and industry officials promised greater diversity in local space operations and missions in the coming years, but no guarantees that the more than 8,000 contractor jobs lost with the 30-year shuttle program would easily be replaced. Carol Scott, with NASA’s Kennedy-based Commercial Crew Program, said her office is busy working with six other companies and finalizing technical requirements for the vehicles and how their safety will be certified. (11/4)

China's Space Industry to See Accelerated Expansion Over Next 10 Years (Source: Xinhua)
China's space industry will develop quickly over the next 10 years as the country pushes ahead with its space programs after its first space docking on Thursday. Lab modules, a space station and 10 to 20 spaceships will be launched into space over the next 10 years. The country will spend around 300 billion yuan ($47.47 billion) in manufacturing those craft.

There are 20 or so space voyages being planned in China, a newspaper reported, citing Wu Ping, spokeswoman of China's manned space program. The spaceflights will shore up demand for spacecraft manufacturing and launch services. Space infrastructure has been included as one of China's strategic new industries which the government plans to foster over the next five years. (11/4)

Russia to Launch Glonass Satellites on Nov. 4 (Source: RIA Novosti)
Russia will launch a Proton-M rocket carrying three Glonass navigation satellites from the Baikonur space center on Friday after a 24-hour delay due to technical reasons, a source in the Federal Space Agency Roscosmos said. It will be the first launch of a Proton-M rocket with Glonass satellites from Baikonur since the failed launch last year which destroyed three Glonass-Ms. (11/4)

Alliant Suffers as Defense Sees Cuts (Source: TwinCities.com)
As defense and aerospace sales declined, Alliant Techsystems' fiscal second-quarter profits fell 18 percent. The company reported revenue of $1.1 billion, down from $1.2 billion in the previous year, reflecting lower sales on NASA space programs and military small-caliber ammunition and explosives. Net income was $80 million compared with $97 million in the previous year's second quarter.

A slowdown in the aerospace business, largely due to the end of the U.S. space shuttle program and cuts in defense spending, will continue to drag on the company's financial results. The company is the largest supplier of rounds to the U.S. military, and about half of its revenue comes from the Department of Defense. (11/4)

Orbital Teamed with Three NASA Explorer Mission Finalists (Source: Orbital Sciences)
Orbital Sciences Corp. has secured important roles as the industrial partner to three of five finalists for the next round of NASA’s small space science missions. Under the space agency’s Explorer Program, which provides flight opportunities and funding for heliophysics and astrophysics missions, each of five teams will receive $1 million to conduct 11-month mission concept studies. NASA plans to select two of the five finalists in early 2013 for full program funding with targeted launch dates in 2016. (11/4)

Why Did Boeing Choose a Lousy Name for its Spacecraft? (Source: SignOn San Diego)
NASA says its important to inspire a new generation of aerospace engineers. Boeing says the same. So why are they producing spacecraft and satellites with names that bore or confuse the public? I began wondering about it last week when NASA launched the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) from Vandenberg Air Force Base. You have to dissect the name to figure out what the satellite does.

Then there's Boeing's proposed manned spacecraft, which has been named Crew Space Transportation-100, or CST-100. That's the best Boeing can do? The CST-100? Why did Boeing choose a lousy name for its spacecraft? Apollo and Orion are both catchy names. Certainly Boeing can come up with something better than CST-100. I mean, it's newest passenger jet is called the Dreamliner. (11/4)

More Simulated Mars Missions Planned (Source: MSNBC)
More make-believe Mars missions will be getting under way here on the home planet. Next month, the nonprofit Mars Society will begin its 11th field season at the Mars Desert Research Station near Hanksville, Utah. Teams of volunteers cycle through tours of duty at a lonely-looking habitat in a Marslike desert environment. Part of the job is to go out in faux spacesuits and simulate surface exploration, but there are also experiments aimed at testing technologies and procedures that could come into play during a real Mars mission.

The deadline has passed for this season's crew selection, but if you want to volunteer, there's always next year. If you're selected to participate, you'll have to pay a fee and cover some of your travel expenses. The project's organizers also say you'll definitely have a "leg up" in the selection process if you're working on a research project that could yield publishable results.

During the summer, the Haughton-Mars Project provides a home away from home for researchers on Devon Island in the Canadian Arctic, one of the most Marslike places on Earth. Researchers from around the world have conducted Mars analog experiments at Haughton Crater for more than a decade. (11/4)

Sen. Warner Speaks Out for Commercial Crew (Source: Spaceports Blog)
U.S. Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) placed comments into the Congressional Record regarding the NASA commercial crew funding and development at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport. Over the past month, there have been communications between space advocates from Florida and Virginia over commercial crew program and human spaceflight on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.

"Senator [Bill] Nelson and I arrived at what I believe is a fair compromise that will allow us to pursue advances in the commercial cargo and commercial crew fields and harness the innovation and cost savings that the private sector can provide...Supporting development of the commercial space industry will also help create steady, well-paying jobs and spur economic growth--not only in urban tech corridors, but also in more rural areas where launch facilities are located such as the Wallops Island facility in my home State of Virginia."

Warner went on to include: "Moving forward with the CCDEV program will also result in additional opportunities for development at [Wallops] and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport. I have supported the Wallops facilities in Virginia since my time as Governor... Providing funding for the CCDEV program at authorized levels...will help us drive competition in the commercial space industry and will provide opportunities for facilities such as Wallops to further develop their launch infrastructure and provide steady, high-wage employment in areas that sorely need it." (11/4)

November 3, 2011

NASA-Sponsored Study Describes How Spaceflight Impacts Vision (Source: Space Daily)
A new study sponsored by NASA finds that space flights lasting six months or more can cause a spectrum of changes in astronauts' visual systems. Some problems, including blurry vision, appear to persist long after astronauts' return to Earth. The results are affecting plans for long-duration manned space voyages, such as a trip to Mars. Click here. (11/3)

Alexander Saltman to Lead Commercial Spaceflight Federation (Source: CSF)
Eric Anderson, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, is pleased to announce that the Federation has selected Dr. Alexander Saltman as the organization’s Executive Director. Saltman is a physicist who has most recently served as the Legislative Director for Congressman Adam Schiff of California. His appointment will be effective Nov. 14.

Saltman succeeds John Gedmark, the organization’s founding Executive Director, who is departing to pursue a new opportunity. Separately, the Commercial Spaceflight Federation is currently conducting an executive search for a new President to replace Rear Admiral Craig Steidle, who stepped down earlier this fall for medical reasons. (11/3)

NASA's Giant Rocket to Use Existing Launch Platform, Shuttle Crawlers (Source: Space.com)
NASA intends to upgrade one of its Apollo-era treaded crawlers and an inactive mobile platform built for the canceled Ares launcher program to support the agency's colossal super-rocket, officially called the Space Launch System, in time for a test flight in 2017. The $500 million launch platform will have to be altered to support the heavier weight and additional thrust of the heavy-lifter, according to NASA officials.

One of NASA's crawler-transporters will be made ready to haul the massive rocket and mobile platform between the Kennedy Space Center's Vehicle Assembly Building and launch pad 39B. Crawler-Transporter No. 2 will receive steel stiffeners and braces to address overstressed structural areas, increasing its lift load to 18 million pounds and extending its service life another 20 years.

Other upgrades will made to the crawler's jack, elevation and leveling system, which uses hydraulic actuators to keep rockets level on the four-mile journey between the VAB and the launch pad, including the trip up the incline to the pad surface. The diesel-powered crawler's roller bearings have reached the end of their fatigue life and will also be replaced. (11/3)

NASA Plans Next SLS "Industry Day" at Michoud (Source: SPACErePORT)
The NASA Office of Procurement will be hosting an Industry Day on Nov. 14 at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. This Industry Day is being held to provide an overview of NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) Program, SLS Procurement Strategy, the MAF Business Model and Affordability Initiatives, as well as facilities and capabilities of MAF, and a discussion on the MAF Contracting Process.

Editor's Note: At the Sep. 29 SLS Industry Day at Marshall Space Flight Center, a Michoud representative said Michoud Assembly Facility will support SLS with "significant State of Louisiana investment in manufacturing capability." $62 million has already been invested by Louisiana at Michoud for tooling and equipment. Another $60 million could be available from that state, he said. (11/3)

NASA Seeks Info on On-Orbit Robotic Servicing Capabilities (Source: SpaceRef)
Maintaining existing and growing commercial, governmental, and national security orbital assets indicates a need for extending the development and dissemination of on-orbit robotic servicing capabilities for existing and future spacecraft. NASA acknowledges that the commercial satellite industry has the proven capability to finance, design, develop, integrate, operate and own complex satellite systems. NASA is soliciting information to assist in developing strategies for on-orbit robotic servicing capabilities for existing and future spacecraft. Click here. (11/3)

Groups Seek Support for Adding Spaceport Infrastructure Funding in FDOT Budget (Source: SaveSpace)
The Florida Department of Transportation's Tentative Work Program for FY 2013-2017 was finalized on October 31 and currently has no funds budgeted for Space infrastructure for the next five years. This plan is the first step in a legislative budget process, and the exclusion of space funding would jeopardize the state's continued progress in expanding the commercial use of the Cape Canaveral Spaceport.

In this phase last year, the Space infrastructure budget for FY-12 was $15 million and it remained there through the executive and legislative budget process. Those funds have supported Space Florida’s work with SpaceX at Launch Complex 40, Boeing at OPF-3, and other projects yet to be announced. To promote the inclusion of spaceport funding for the FY 2013-2017 timeframe, written comments from interested parties (organizations or individuals) will be accepted by FDOT through Nov. 7.

Comments should be addressed to: Noranne Downs, District Secretary, Florida Department of Transportation, 719 South Woodland Boulevard, DeLand, Florida 32720, and sent to Mary.Schoelzel@dot.state.fl.us. (11/3)

Virgin Galactic Releases Flight Highlights Video (Source: Virgin Galactic)
Check out this short video featuring Sir Richard Branson and the recent test flights of his suborbital spaceflight vehicle. Click here. Editor's Note: Virgin Galactic President George Whitesides will be in Florida on Monday, attending the Field Hearing of the House Committee on Transportation, at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. The visit will also include a tour of Embry-Riddle's NextGen Testbed, where Embry-Riddle and corporate partners are testing technologies that will ultimately enable commercial spaceflight through the National Airspace System. (11/3)

Cobham Lands Pair of Antenna Contracts on Heels of Acquisition (Source: Space News)
British aerospace and defense contractor Cobham PLC announced two six-year contracts valued at up to $72.7 million to provide satellite communications ground antennas to the U.S. Navy and Thales Communications Inc. The awards were made through Cobham Antenna Systems’ newly acquired Trivec-Avant business, a Huntington Beach, Calif.-based satellite antenna manufacturer Cobham bought for $126 million in a deal that closed Oct. 31. (11/3)

Military Leaders Testify Before Supercommittee on Effect of Cuts (Source: The Hill)
Military leaders testified before the congressional supercommittee Wednesday about the dire consequences of further cuts if the committee does not come to agreement. "We're talking hundreds of aircraft and thousands of people" that would have to be cut from the U.S. Air Force, said Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz. The head of the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Army also testified. The Aerospace Industries Association forecast 1 million jobs would be lost from defense cuts. (11/3)

Successful Docking Catapults China Into Elite Space Club (Source: SpaceFlightNow.com)
Two unmanned Chinese spaceships made an automated docking in orbit Wednesday, successfully proving precise navigation and rendezvous technology crucial to China's aspirations for a space station by the end of this decade. Although no one was aboard either spacecraft Wednesday, the precise docking could give Chinese officials confidence to put up to three astronauts on the next rendezvous mission.

Relying on data from radar, laser and optical sensors, the Shenzhou 8 spacecraft's computer automatically guided the capsule to a docking more than 200 miles above China. The docking occurred during a night pass to avoid interference from the sun's glare with sensitive navigation and rendezvous equipment. "I announce the rendezvous and docking of Shenzhou 8 and Tiangong 1 has been a complete success," said Chinese Gen. Change Wanquan, commander of China's manned space program. (11/3)

Lawmakers Slam White House-China Cooperation (Source: AFP)
Two US congressmen blasted the White House and NASA on Wednesday for "dangerous" cooperation with China, saying technology transfer has greatly enhanced Beijing's space and missile capability. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) warned of a ballooning national security threat brought about by what he described as the "overreach" of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), which was accused of violating legislation aimed at curtailing US-China cooperation.

"Anything that allows China any access to our technology... brings forth some major counterintelligence issues," he said, adding that any US effort "to reach out to the communist Chinese, to engage them on matters of technology, is quite frankly not just naive but dangerous." Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA), who has been a major critic of Beijing's human rights policy, told the hearing he was "very troubled with this administration's apparent eagerness to work with China on its space program and willingness to share other sensitive technologies."

Last month the GAO determined that OSTP violated a statute -- introduced by Wolf into a broader law signed by President Obama -- that prohibits the office and NASA from using federal funds for certain bilateral engagements with China. OSTP director John Holdren was told by the Department of Justice that his office's activities fell under the president's exclusive executive authority to conduct foreign diplomacy, and that the statute therefore did not apply to OSTP. (11/3)

KSC's Cabana Speaks at Space Transportation Association Event (Source: @Jeff_Foust)
KSC Director Bob Cabana was the featured guest at a Nov. 3 meeting of the Space Transportation Association in Washington DC. He said KSC's workforce, which peaked in the Shuttle era at about 18,000, now is down to about 8,200. The level is expected to rise to 10,000. He said Pad 39B will be used for NASA's heavy-lift SLS rocket, but will also be available for various commercial rockets. (11/3)

National Space Club (Florida Committee) Invites Award Nominations (Source: NSCFL)
The National Space Club – Florida Committee presents its premier award, the Dr. Kurt H. Debus Award, for significant contributions to the advancement, awareness, and improvement of aerospace in Florida. This award will be presented at our annual Debus Dinner, scheduled for April 12 at the Debus Conference Center at KSC.

Whether as a Space Club member or friend of the aerospace program, we encourage you to submit nominations for the 2012 Debus Award. Nominations must be made in writing and should be mailed to the address shown at the top of this letter to the attention of the Debus Award Selection Committee. The deadline for submitting nominations is Friday, 20 January 2012. Click here. (11/3)

Space Florida Promises Virgin Galactic Payloads (Source: Florida Today)
Space Florida will pay to fly a scientist and student experiments from Florida on Virgin Galactic’s suborbital spaceship, an investment intended to stimulate interest in science and technology education and boost the state’s role in space-based research. The state agency’s board on Wednesday unanimously approved spending up to $400,000 for two seats on a flight.

“We want to be able to position Florida to be the ground node for a lot of that kind of access,” Space Florida President Frank DiBello said during the meeting in Fort Lauderdale. A competition is planned to select the researcher and payloads to be flown in microgravity for about five minutes on Virgin’s SpaceShipTwo, which would take off with a carrier aircraft from the company’s New Mexico spaceport.

DiBello said a doctoral-level scientist would occupy one seat and a rack holding eight experiment compartments would occupy the equivalent of another seat. At least four of the compartments are expected to be filled through a statewide university competition. A similar process at the high school level could fill the remaining slots. In addition to the educational motives of buying tickets on a Virgin flight, Space Florida envisions establishing a local base of customers for suborbital research that will eventually lead that company and others to fly from Florida. (11/3)

Proton Poised to Replenish Russian Navigation System (Source: SpaceFlightNow.com)
A Proton launcher will rocket into orbit Friday with three Glonass navigation satellites for the Russian government, delivering reinforcements for the military-run fleet of positioning and timing spacecraft. The Proton rocket rolled to the launch pad Monday. Powered by six hydrazine-fueled main engines, the 191-foot-tall Proton rocket will blast off Friday from a launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Liftoff was supposed to occur Thursday, but a technical issue delayed the mission until Friday. (11/3)

Last American to Walk on Moon Says China Will Beat Others Back (Source: Globe and Mail)
Former Apollo astronaut Eugene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon almost 40 years ago, is worried China will beat other nations back to the shiny orb. “There’s no question in my mind at all that they are going to develop the capability to go to the moon and probably establish colonies there to take advantage of some of the resources that are on the moon,” he said on Wednesday.

China moved one step closer to setting up its own space station with the successful docking of two unmanned spacecraft above the Earth which was announced Thursday morning. Mr. Cernan spent more than 70 hours on the lunar surface in December 1972 along with fellow U.S. astronaut Harrison Schmitt during the Apollo 17 mission. He said China is “eight or 10 years away” from landing on the moon and when they get there they are going to literally almost own it because no other countries have any plans to go there. (11/3)

Moscow's Mars Volunteers to 'Land' After 520 Days (Source: AFP)
Six volunteers Friday will emerge blinking into the outside world after spending almost one-and-a-half-years in isolation at a Russian research center to test the effects on humans of a flight to Mars. The six men, who have spent 520 days in a capsule in a car park outside the Moscow institute, will at 1000 GMT open the hatch of their module that slammed shut on June 3, 2010, before being taken for a barrage of medical tests.

The experiment simulated blast off in June last year and landing on Mars in February, with volunteers carrying out spacewalks in full space gear in a sand-filled enclosure before setting off on the long journey back to Earth. The all-male team is made up of three Russians, two doctors and one engineer; a Chinese astronaut trainer; and French and Italian engineers, who were sent by the European Space Agency. (11/3)

Russia Looks at Staging Simulated Mars Mission Onboard ISS (Source: Itar-Tass)
Russia’s Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) is looking at staging a simulated Mars mission experiment onboard the International Space Station (ISS) to continue the Mars-500 land-based simulated mission, Roscosmos’ deputy head Vitaly Davydov told Itar-Tass on Thursday. “We are interested in staging such an experiment in actual conditions of zero gravity,” he said but admitted that so far the agency has no specific plans. “It is too early to say when such an experiment could be made,” he added. In his words, such a project might be possible after 2014, since the schedule of ISS work and its crews for the next two years have already been endorsed. (11/3)

Excalibur Almaz, NASA Sign Commercial Spaceflight Deal (Source: Florida Today)
NASA's roster of partners developing commercial vehicles to possibly fly astronauts has expanded to include Houston-based Excalibur Almaz Inc., which plans to fly upgraded versions of capsules originally designed to serve Soviet military space stations. Excalibur and NASA signed a Space Act Agreement that includes no NASA funding but allows collaboration between engineering teams.

A NASA statement says the company's system for flying crews to the International Space Station would use its planned reusable, three-person space tourist vehicle with an intermediate stage, flown on a commercially available launch vehicle to be determined. Excalibur Almaz is the seventh company to partner with NASA in the second round of the Commercial Crew Development program, or CCDev-2. (11/3)

DirecTV to Double the Size of its El Segundo Headquarters (Source: LA Times)
Satellite broadcaster DirecTV Group Inc. has agreed to double the size of its El Segundo headquarters in a lease valued at more than $300 million. DirecTV, which beams television service to more than 19 million subscribers, will rent 630,000 square feet in three buildings near Los Angeles International Airport. The broadcaster said it expects to expand into a total of up to 720,000 square feet over the course of the nearly 16-year agreement. (11/3)

Co-op Powers New Mexico Spaceport (Source: ECT.coop)
New Mexico’s goal of becoming the hub for space tourism and a leading center for commercial space travel is getting a little closer, with the help of an electric cooperative. Sierra Electric Cooperative recently energized a dedicated line to serve Spaceport America, a state-owned commercial spaceport near the U.S. Army White Sands Missile Range. The state paid for a new substation and a distribution line consisting of five miles of overhead conductor and a mile of underground line to serve the 18,000-acre site. (11/3)

Obama Praises New Boeing Jobs in Florida (Source: FOX News)
President Obama has praised the creation of potentially hundreds of new jobs by a Boeing deal in Florida; a state still hurting from the loss of some 7,000 Kennedy Space Center jobs after the president ended NASA's space shuttle program. "The next era of space exploration won't wait, and so we can't wait for Congress to do its job and give our space program the funding it needs," the president said in a statement Tuesday.

But the president recently sliced a chunk out of the space exploration job market by ending NASA's long-running space shuttle program. He did that, he said, so that NASA could refocus on less routine travel and ultimately send a mission to Mars. Separately, Boeing has been at the center of a battle with national labor leaders since the company decided to move a multi-million dollar airplane factory to South Carolina from Seattle, amidst protests there by unionized workers.

The president tried to stay out of the fray publicly on the issue, but the National Labor Relations Board, on which some Obama appointees sit, has sought a legal battle against Boeing for what the board sees as retaliation against union workers. Editor's Note: More typical FOX reporting, incorrectly (but intentionally) blaming President Obama for canceling the Space Shuttle program, then throwing in some unrelated negative 'news' for good measure. (11/3)

November 2, 2011

China Completes Nation's First Space Docking (Source: Space Daily)
China took a crucial step towards fulfilling its ambition to set up a manned space station on Thursday by completing its first successful docking high above Earth, state media reported. The Shenzhou VIII spacecraft joined onto the Tiangong-1 experimental module at 1737 GMT, silently coupling more than 343 kilometers (213 miles) above the Earth's surface. (11/2)

'Sweet Spots' Found for Formation of Complex Organic Molecules in the Galaxy (Source: Space Daily)
Scientists within the New York Center for Astrobiology have compiled years of research to help locate areas in outer space that have extreme potential for complex organic molecule formation. The scientists searched for methanol, a key ingredient in the synthesis of organic molecules that could lead to life. (11/2)

Wind Delays Mars Rover's Move to Launch Pad (Source: Florida Today)
High winds delayed this morning's planned move to the launch pad of the next Mars rover, but NASA says there's no impact to a planned day-after-Thanksgiving launch. Move of the Mars Science Laboratory from Kennedy Space Center's Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility to Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station is now anticipated after midnight tonight. (11/2)

NASA Study of Clays Suggests Watery Mars Underground (Source: NASA)
A new NASA study suggests if life ever existed on Mars, the longest lasting habitats were most likely below the Red Planet's surface. A new interpretation of years of mineral-mapping data, from more than 350 sites on Mars examined by European and NASA orbiters, suggests Martian environments with abundant liquid water on the surface existed only during short episodes.

These episodes occurred toward the end of a period of hundreds of millions of years during which warm water interacted with subsurface rocks. This has implications about whether life existed on Mars and how the Martian atmosphere has changed. "The types of clay minerals that formed in the shallow subsurface are all over Mars," said John Mustard at Brown University. Mustard is a co-author of the study in the journal Nature. "The types that formed on the surface are found at very limited locations and are quite rare." (11/2)

Starfighters Tested at Kennedy Space Center (Source: NASA)
Plans to launch small satellites into orbit from the wings of a supersonic jet are moving along following a taxi test on the runway at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Starfighters, through a cooperative Space Act Agreement, is based in a state-built hangar adjacent KSC's Space Shuttle runway. Starfighter's fleet of F-104 supersonic jets, similar to those NASA started using in the 1960's with Project Mercury, are helping usher in a new age of commercial spaceflight.

The taxi test was conducted to verify the aeronautical conditions of Star Lab. This is the first of eight tests the launch vehicle will undergo. The final flight test will use a simulated mock-up vehicle and will be flown over the Atlantic Ocean. After the booster separates, a parachute will carry the payload for splashdown. Sensors and recorders are encapsulated in each launch vehicle tested and data will be analyzed for the build up to the next test. 4Frontiers is aiming for tests to be completed by early 2012, with commercial flights starting mid-2012.

Star Lab has the potential to carry four to 13 payloads per flight. 4Frontiers is hoping to launch 10 rockets per year with multiple payloads, or more than 100 payloads per year. The company is trying to keep the costs as low as possible and charges will include flight integration and return of payload to owner. Star Lab supports scientific education for students by offering a physical, hands-on learning environment. The launch vehicle is designed by students and built by students. (10/27)

Senate Includes Funds for KSC Upgrades, But Not FAA Tech Center (Source: SPACErePORT)
In addition to $2.8 billion for Space Station, $1.8 billion for SLS, $1.2 billion for Orion, $662.6 million for Space Shuttle close-out, and $500 million for commercial spaceflight, NASA would have $168 million for "21st Century Launch Complex" (21CLC) activities at KSC. It is my understanding that the 21CLC account was intended for spaceport-wide improvements, including to Air Force owned Eastern Range capabilities and commercially accessible launch pads on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

But there's a qualifier in the 21CLC language, stipulating that 21CLC money "may be transferred to `Construction and Environmental Compliance and Restoration' for construction activities only at NASA-owned facilities." It is unclear whether this requires NASA to spend all of the 21CLC money "only at NASA-owned facilities," prohibiting any NASA-funded upgrades to non-KSC commercial launch infrastructure at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport.

Meanwhile, it appears that the proposed KSC-based FAA Tech Center for commercial spaceflight was not funded in the FAA portion of the Senate's bill. This FAA operation would have served the growing need for applied R&D to ensure the safety of commercial spaceflight operations under the FAA's oversight. (11/2)

NASA Must Move on SLS Contracts Before Spending on Commercial Spaceflight (Source: SPACErePORT)
The Senate has approved $500 million for "commercial spaceflight activities," but with a caveat that $192.6 million cannot be spent until "the NASA Administrator certifies to the Committees on Appropriations, in writing, that NASA has published the required notifications of NASA contract actions implementing the acquisition strategy for the heavy lift launch vehicle system." This move is intended to encourage NASA to move quickly on heavy-lift development. (11/2)

Space Florida Plans Spinoff to Manage Launch Competition (Source: Florida Today)
A new nonprofit called the Space Florida Small Satellite Research Center will be set up by Space Florida to manage the new Nano-Satellite Launch Challenge competition, one of 22 Centennial Challenges funded by NASA since 2005. Space Florida’s board of directors is expected to approve the agency’s creation of the nonprofit during a meeting in Fort Lauderdale. (11/2)

New Mexico Schools Get Over $2 Million in Spaceport Funds (Source: Las Cruces Sun-News)
Las Cruces Public Schools spent nearly $1 million in the past year from Spaceport America sales tax dollars. Meanwhile, the Gadsden Independent School District has collected about $1.55 million from the spaceport tax since it took effect in January 2009, Gadsden officials reported. But the district has spent only about $371,000 of that - about 24 percent, they said. The school districts said they've used the money for science and math education programs, mostly for middle and high school students.

Rounds said students are showing improvement and greater interest in those areas. He highlighted several charts, including one that shows the number LCPS middle school students earning a "B" or better in Algebra I increased from 177 in 2008-09, to 208 the next year and 275 last year. The number of high school students enrolling in science, technology and math courses, too, is on the rise, according to a chart. (11/2)

Space Foundation Seeks Teacher Liaison Officers (Source: Space Foundation)
Do you have what it takes to be a Space Foundation Teacher Liaison? Become one of the select few educators from across the nation who will be chosen. This is the tenth year of this prestigious, nationally recognized program, which provides an honored few numerous benefits and privileges that help teachers grow their teaching skills, strengthen their resume, and influence space and science education at a national level. Click here. (11/2)

Chinese Docking System Based on Russian Design (Source: SpaceFlightNow.com)
Since launching Monday from the Jiuquan space base in northwest China, the unmanned 17,800-pound Shenzhou capsule has completed five engine maneuvers to fine-tune its approach to Tiangong 1, a slightly larger bus-sized module fitted with a docking port. The Shenzhou docking collar is similar to the Russian-designed APAS system, which was used in the joint U.S.-Soviet Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, the assembly of the Russian space station Mir and by space shuttles visiting the International Space Station.

The androgynous docking system is designed so either spacecraft can be active or passive. China says the docking system would permit Shenzhou capsules to attach to the ISS if the country was ever invited to join the multinational research laboratory. The Shenzhou docking system is designed to automated or manual dockings on missions with a crew on-board. (11/2)

Asteroid 2005 YU55 Will Zip by Earth Next Week (Source: USA Today)
A close encounter of the harmless kind comes next Tuesday when an aircraft-carrier-size asteroid races past Earth. The asteroid, dubbed 2005 YU55, will come within 202,000 miles of Earth, closer than the moon, before zipping farther into space. Carbon-colored and dark, the asteroid measures some 1,300 feet wide. It will be the closest visit by a space rock this size in more than three decades. NASA and the NSF plan a series of radar telescope and other observations starting Friday, aimed at mapping the asteroid's surface and chemistry. (11/2)

Asteroid Flyby a Missed Lander Opportunity? (Source: USA Today)
With a large asteroid zipping into Earth's neighborhood on Nov. 8, coming closer than the moon, we asked a NASA expert whether a probe landing on the object, 2005 YU55, was ever an option. After all, NASA's space marching orders now include asteroid exploration as an option, and the space agency's Dawn mission had to venture out beyond the orbit of Mars to reach the 330-mile-wide asteroid Vesta this July. Why not visit the smaller, but interesting 2005 YU55 on its visit, given another one its size won't come this close until 2028?

"It would be difficult," says asteroid expert Don Yeomans of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. The best asteroids for landings are nearby ones that follow nearly circular orbits like Earth, he says, in terms of rocket fuel costs. Asteroid 2005 YU55 instead follows an oval orbit that takes it from Venus to Mars and zips through the Earth-Moon system at 30,600 miles per hour, relative to Earth. "We would have to race to catch up to it," Yeomans says. (11/2)

Megatelescopes Look for Support (Source: Nature)
Astronomers in the United States may have to do without government support in the race to create the world's biggest telescopes and gather photons from the Universe's first stars. Two projects — the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) and the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) — are vying for support from the US National Science Foundation (NSF), but the cash-strapped agency says that it may not be able to fund either before 2020, by which time both projects had hoped to be finished. That makes it even more likely that a comparable project, the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT), will be ready years ahead of its US-led counterparts.

The problem, says Ulvestad, is a long queue of major new facilities that the NSF is already committed to funding between now and the end of the decade. Even the cancellation of the Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory in December 2010 is not enough to overcome a poor allocation for such projects from Congress earlier this year. (11/2)

Russia: Women at the Helm of a Spaceship? (Source: IoL)
Half a century after the first human space mission involving legendary cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, Russia's space program is still dominated by men. Gagarin once called female cosmonauts the “Amazonians of space” and even though Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in orbit when piloting the Soviet Vostok 6 in 1963, women cosmonauts continue to be the exception rather than the rule.

“There is a lack of female cosmonauts,” admitted Vitali Davydov, deputy head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos. Media experts covering the area have speculated that the lack of women in the Russian space program is as much to do with male chauvinism as any perceived lack of technical enthusiasm among potential female applicants. Yelena Kondakova was the last female cosmonaut to make it into space 14 years ago and a successor is nowhere in sight. (11/2)

Satellite Industry Group Applauds Satellite Explort Control Bill (Source: SpaceRef)
The Satellite Industry Association (SIA) endorsed the introduction H.R. 3288, the "Safeguarding United States Leadership and Security Act of 2011," legislation that would reform the U.S. framework for satellite export controls. The bill would authorize the President to remove satellites and related components from the U.S. Munitions List, subject to certain restrictions and Congressional oversight.

H.R. 3288 would supersede 1999 legislative provisions that required all commercial satellites, satellite components, associated technical data, and related ground equipment to be treated as "munitions" for export licensing purposes, regardless of their technical sensitivity. SIA and its members have consistently encouraged Congress to reverse this unique requirement for satellites and allow the Executive Branch to determine the appropriate export licensing policy for satellites, as it does for all other technologies. (11/2)

Another Australian Satellite to Head for Orbit (Source: Cosmos)
Australia's next communications satellite will be launched in 2013 aboard an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe's space launch centre in South America, it was announced earlier this week. The 3,200kg spacecraft will have a planned lifetime of 15 years. It will be solar powered, with two huge solar wings protruding from opposite sides of the spacecraft. It will carry ion thrusters instead of the traditional chemical-fuelled versions, with which to keep its orbit finely adjusted. (11/2)

GeoEye To Miss Sales Target; May Sell Aerial Unit (Source: Space News)
Earth imagery products and services provider GeoEye on Nov. 1 said it will not make its previously announced revenue target for 2011, mainly because its biggest customer, the U.S. government, is slowing its contract-award process in the face of budget pressures. GeoEye also said an unnamed European customer that had been expected to make a large order has decided to scrap the idea, at least for now, and that the company’s international business this year in general is not performing as well as hoped. (11/2)

ITT Exelis Revenue Up on GPS Work (Source: Space News)
Work on the U.S. Air Force’s next-generation GPS payload and ground-system programs helped ITT Exelis Inc.’s Geospatial Systems division overcome declines in its classified business to post a $50 million revenue gain for the first nine months of 2011, the company said Oct. 28. ITT Exelis also cited work on the main camera for DigitalGlobe’s WorldView 3 commercial imaging satellite as a factor as Geospatial Systems reported sales of $902 million for the nine-month period ending Sep. 30. The company’s classified business declined by $30 million over that same period. (11/2)

Satellite Battleground in Space? (Source: Discovery)
Space has long been a battleground for disputes between the United States and its rivals, but news this week that the Chinese military may have been behind a hacking attack on NASA satellites has confirmed for some experts that a technological Cold War is well underway. "The reason why space is the must-win region is because, especially for the West, much of our information is collected, transmitted and controlled through space," said Dean Cheng, a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation in Washington.

Space "is where things are happening. The Chinese have been close analysts of foreign wars and they have reached the conclusion that the ability to establish space superiority is key to victory." Cheng and other experts point to a growing number of suspicious incidents that have occurred to satellites in the past few years. To deter such attacks or probes or incidents, the Pentagon recently set up the Joint Space Protection Program (JSPP), which is now trying to figure out how to differentiate between attacks and accidents in space. (11/2)

Specter of Higher Unemployment Lurks Behind Defense Cuts (Source: AIA)
The Aerospace Industries Association commissioned a study on the effects of U.S. defense cuts. The study found that $1 trillion in defense cuts would lead to a 0.6% increase in unemployment for the U.S. "This should bring some ­sobriety to the debate," said AIA President and CEO Marion Blakey. (11/2)

Bombs, Bridges and Jobs (Source: New York Times)
Faced with the prospect of deep defense budget cuts as the so-called Supercommittee reaches its conclusion, Republicans — who normally insist that the government can’t create jobs, and who have argued that lower, not higher, federal spending is the key to recovery — have rushed to oppose any cuts in military spending. Why? Because, they say, such cuts would destroy jobs.

Thus Representative Buck McKeon, Republican of California, once attacked the Obama stimulus plan because “more spending is not what California or this country needs.” But two weeks ago, writing in The Wall Street Journal, Mr. McKeon — now the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee — warned that the defense cuts that are scheduled to take place if the supercommittee fails to agree would eliminate jobs and raise the unemployment rate. (11/2)

Report: Military Blew $1 Trillion on Weapons Since 9/11 (Source: Mother Jones)
But a new report shows the US defense establishment is in much better shape than it claims: The DOD has blown roughly $1 trillion on tanks, ships, and jets since the 9/11 attacks-—and it's often done so with dollars that were supposed to be spent on those troops on the battlefield in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Stimson Center study, "What We Bought: Defense Procurement From FY01 to FY10", says the military is hardly in dire straits when it comes to funding its big-ticket items. "The services capitalized on funding to modernize their forces, especially the major weapons programs that constitute the heart of the services’ capabilities," writes the report's author, a retired Army officer and ex-CIA military analyst.

The study shows there's one big reason the brass are concerned about budget-cutting discussions in Congress: They've been double dipping into the taxpayer's pocket to finance weapons purchases. Of the roughly $1 trillion spent on gadgetry since 9/11, 22 percent of it came from "supplemental" war funding—annual outlays that are voted on separately from the regular defense budget. Those bills are primarily intended to keep day-to-day operations running in Iraq and Afghanistan—meaning that if a member of Congress votes against a supplemental spending bill, she exposes herself to charges that she doesn't "support the troops" in harm's way.

But once the services got the supplemental money, they managed to spend $232.8 billion of it back home on the manufacture of costly weapons like Abrams heavy battle tanks and the troubled F-22 jet fighter-—neither of which has proven particularly useful in counterinsurgency warfare. So what has the military gotten with all that taxpayer money? A thoroughly modern and formidable force, according to the report. (11/2)

Aerospace Clusters: The Role of Stakeholders (Source: ERAU CAAL)
The following examples illustrate how stakeholders at different levels in the U.S. are investing in the industry clusters concept. At the federal level, the U.S. Economic Development Agency is in the process of issuing over $35 million in grants to advance regional innovation in Florida’s Space Coast. At the state level, the governor of Washington has made aerospace a priority – and for good reason. At the end of 2010, the state’s aerospace cluster included over 650 companies at every level of the supply chain.

At the university level, the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness at Harvard Business School recently announced the launch of a cluster mapping web site, which is intended to assist in creating jobs, encouraging innovation, and spurring economic growth across multiple industries, including aerospace.

Today, it is clear that clusters have played a key role in helping the United States become a world leader in the aerospace industry. But it is also important to recognize that if America is to sustain its lead in aerospace manufacturing, leaders at multiple levels must continue to work together to support and grow clusters that can provide America with state-of-the-art innovative products that are the hallmark of the U.S. aerospace industry. (11/2)

ULA Trims 40 From Workforce at Vandenberg (Source: Santa Maria Times)
United Launch Alliance has trimmed its workforce at Vandenberg Air Force Base by 40 people, just days after its last contracted Delta 2 rocket blasted off successfully. The cutback, which occurred Monday, included pink slips along with voluntary departures. A breakdown wasn’t available but most of the cuts were involuntary, a spokeswoman said Tuesday.

The number of slashed jobs represents about 10 percent of ULA’s West Coast staff. “It’s not just Delta 2 (employees); it’s across the company,” spokeswoman Jessica Rye said, explaining that the firm recently issued layoffs at Cape Canaveral, Fla., and Denver locations. On Friday, the final contracted Delta 2 rocket carried a NASA satellite to orbit. That launch came weeks after the second-to-last Delta 2 rocket completed another NASA mission from Florida.

But officials also attributed the workforce reduction to receiving less federal funding through the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program. Over the years, the aerospace firm has integrated its launch teams rather than have separate groups of employees working on its Atlas 5, Delta 4 and Delta 2 rockets. The jobs affected include engineers, technicans and support positions. (11/2)

The Drake Equation Turns 50 (Source: Science News)
On November 1, the formula for estimating the abundance of extraterrestrial life in our galaxy celebrates its 50th birthday. It’s known as the Drake equation for its creator, Frank Drake, who is also my father. The equation grew out of my dad’s need to organize a meeting he’d convened at the Green Bank Observatory, in West Virginia. Then 31, he had been thinking for a while about the materials needed to build communicating, extraterrestrial life.

He ended up crafting a formula that calculates the number of detectable, intelligent civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy. That equation is now found in most astronomy textbooks. The equation has remained unchanged in the half century since it was written, but some of its seven terms have evolved slightly different definitions. Click here. (11/2)

City Lights Could Point to ET (Source: MSNBC)
Astronomers suggest that artificial illumination creates a signature that could point to the existence of civilizations on other worlds. Detecting aliens by looking for the glow of their cities would be a long shot. But a Harvard astrophysicist pointed out that the cost of the exercise would be low. "We say that we can piggyback on existing surveys that people are doing anyway. There's no need to use extra resources. ... My philosophy is simple: If we can do it, why not do it and check? Why put blinders on ourselves?"

Here's how the idea could work: An object's brightness varies with distance, but the relationship between those two factors will depend on whether the brightness is due to reflected sunlight or due to illumination from the object itself. For a self-illuminated object, the brightness varies by a factor of 1 over the distance squared, but "if you have an object that reflects light from another source ... the flux dies out like 1 over the distance to the fourth power." (11/2)