May 9 News Items

Florida Establishes Aerospace Fund (Source: Florida Today)
The state's legislature has created a Florida Energy, Aerospace and Technology Fund, which will provide up to $250 million for aerospace and alternative energy projects. The Legislature passed the measure late last week with support from Gov. Charlie Crist, who is expected to sign the bill at Cape Canaveral in the next few weeks, and Rep. Bob Allen. Its money could be used to nurture space start-up firms and try to turn KSC into a hub for NASA's moon program by luring facilities for the construction of lunar landers, lunar habitation modules and an array of other research.

The fund combines $125 million in taxpayer dollars with a matching amount from other sources, including union pension funds, energy companies and U.S. Department of Energy grants. It will be jointly managed by the state and private managers, and include strict criteria for ventures to qualify, as well as a solid approach to accountability. Allen wants to double the fund's size next year to $500 million -- again matching public and private money -- which should be done to further advance creation of the high-tech, high-pay jobs that Florida and the Space Coast need.

Space Florida Plans Improvements to RLV Hangar at Spaceport (Source: Space Florida)
Space Florida is soliciting proposals for engineering, architectural, and project management services to facilitate the recommended improvements to the existing Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) Hangar located adjacent to the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) on Kennedy Space Center. Click here for information.

Space Florida Upgrading Rocket Maintenance/Storage Facility (Source: Space Florida)
Space Florida plans to overhaul the fire and security systems within its rocket maintenance/storage facility at Camp Blanding in Northeast Florida. Upgrades are planned for the Security and Entry Control Building (SECB), Transfer Inspection and Maintenance Facility (TIMF), Segment Storage Facility (SSF), Covered Air-Bearing Roadway (CAR), and Pump House. Click here for information.

Loral Announces Quarterly Results (Source: Loral)
Loral announced that quarterly revenue rose 28 percent over last year's first quarter to $221 million. Loral reported a net loss in the quarter of $17 million, compared to a net loss of $16 million in the first quarter of 2006. Loral ended the first quarter of 2007 with $507 million in available cash and short term investments. Loral's total consolidated backlog at March 31, 2007 was $1.559 billion, compared to $1.347 billion at December 31, 2006 and $1.115 billion on March 31, 2006.

Near Miss for Space History (Source: Huntsville Times)
The losses from Monday's fire at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center were not as severe as initially feared. Huntsville firefighters stopped the fire from reaching space exploration artifacts stored near the flames. On Monday, officials speculated that the museum had lost an irreplaceable instruments unit built for the Saturn V moon rocket. The heat appears to have bubbled the paint, but the unit is otherwise OK. Only a nose cone from the launch escape system for a Saturn V test unit was scorched. It can be repaired and will likely be displayed when the museum's new building opens in January.

Airbus Overhaul May Provide Clues About New French President (Source: AIA)
How newly elected French President Nicolas Sarkozy manages the ongoing overhaul at Airbus will demonstrate whether he is a free-market reformer or an economic nationalist. Reforms at the jetmaker could eliminate thousands of jobs and close several factories. Observers expect Sarkozy to give Airbus flexibility to cut costs. They also believe he will try to strengthen France's influence over Airbus.

Vero Beach in Fight for Piper Jobs (Source: Florida Today)
Vero Beach hopes to keep Piper Aircraft -- and its 1,029 local employees -- from taking flight to another manufacturing location in the United States. Piper, a Vero Beach icon since 1957, is considering moving to one of four other locations to produce its new $2.2 million PiperJet single-engine, seven-seat aircraft, as well as its other general aviation products. On Piper's short list of relocation sites are Tallahassee, New Mexico, Oklahoma and South Carolina. To keep Piper in Vero Beach, local officials are considering offering the company a package of incentives worth tens of millions of dollars.

NASA to Test Ares Engines in Mississippi (Source: AP)
NASA plans to build a new rocket engine test stand at the Stennis Space Center on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, according to Senators Thad Cochran and Trent Lott. The new stand will test NASA’s J-2X engines, which will be used in the second stage of the Ares I launch vehicle. Cochran and Lott said the announcement represents an estimated $175 million investment at Stennis to support the Constellation Project. The Stennis Space Center, which opened in the 1960s, is NASA’s primary center for rocket propulsion testing.

SpaceHab Getting Uninhabitable (Source: Motley Fool)
NASA outsources many of its logistical and other services supporting space operations to SpaceHab, and also contracts with it to manufacture space-proof habitat and laboratory modules used on, for example, the Space Shuttle and International Space Station. If it sounds like a sexy business, well, it is. If it sounds like a profitable business, though, well, it isn't. Not by a long shot. Things have deteriorated rapidly. According to their latest earnings report, and also a few of its pre-earnings 8-K filings with the SEC, SpaceHab lost $1.2 million on revenue that declined 2% year over year to $12.2 million for its fiscal third quarter. That brings the firm's net loss for the fiscal year to date to just under $3.1 million.

Embry-Riddle’s Hybrid Race Car Takes Top Awards in Competition (Source: ERAU)
No, it doesn’t fly. But a race car designed and built by students from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University won the Most Innovative Design Award and the Daimler-Chrysler Award for Hybrid Systems Engineering at the inaugural Formula Hybrid International Competition. The Embry-Riddle car – dubbed “Shredder” – also came in first overall among U.S. competitors, which included Colorado State University, Dartmouth College, Drexel University, Florida Institute of Technology, Illinois Institute of Technology, and Yale University. Canada’s McGill University won the overall international competition.

India: Manned Mission in 8 Years (Source: IBN Live)
Government officials have said that India will send the first man to space in the next eight years, if all goes well. Though the Government has not yet sanctioned the project, a minister during Question Hour said, "An Indian manned mission (to space) is under preparation. Government has not yet sanctioned the mission. But, plans are being made to send a man to space. That does not necessarily mean sending a man to moon".