July 30 News Items

E'Prime Investigation and Lawsuit Underway (Source: ERAU)
Amid an internal investigation into E'Prime's former leadership under Bob Davis, after the company's board removed him from office on Mar. 9, Mr. Davis has filed a lawsuit in Florida against the new management team, led by James Oldham. Mr. Davis' legal action seeks payment of funds he claims are owed him by the company.

The internal investigation showed that certain E'Prime Officers and Directors claimed ownership and control of numerous companies including USTM, Inc., Space Plane Systems, Inc. and E'Prime Development, Inc. that were in direct competition with E'Prime. The report further revealed that E'Prime resources and assets were utilized to support these ventures. These actions were undertaken without disclosure to either the public or E'Prime's auditors and in violation of SEC regulations governing actions of related parties. As a result of these findings, the company is contesting certain amounts claimed as accrued salary and loans due to Bob and Betty Davis.

The company's new management has relocated its offices from Titusville to the Washington DC area and has hired new staff to support the company's operations. According to an E'Prime news release, the company is now current with its SEC filing requirements and is "moving aggressively to complete necessary funding to support implementation of its business plan." Meanwhile, activists among the E'Prime's 2000+ shareholders are urging the company to rectify previous statements that its proposed Peacekeeper-derived launch vehicles were removed from START Treaty restrictions. In reality, according to shareholders, all but two of E'Prime's nine proposed launch vehicle designs would be grounded under the treaty.

Spaceport Business Opportunities Expo Planned in October (Source: KSC)
This year's spaceport Business Opportunities Expo is planned for Oct. 16 at Cruise Terminal #4 at Port Canaveral. Government purchasing agents will attend to learn what local and national vendors have to offer. The annual trade show—sponsored by the NASA/Kennedy Space Center Small Business Council, U.S. Air Force 45th Space Wing, and Canaveral Port Authority—will feature over 150 business and government exhibitors from the local community and across the country. Exhibitors will include vendors from a variety of technical product and service areas, including computer technology, communication equipment/services, construction, and safety products. Admission is free and open to the public. Details are available at the following website: http://expo.ksc.nasa.gov.

NASA: 2008 Will Decide if New Rockets Can Deliver Space Station Cargo (Source: Flight International)
NASA expects progress, or the lack of it, next year for the agency's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program to determine whether the COTS rockets can deliver cargo to the International Space Station from 2010. NASA needs an alternate cargo delivery system to maintain the ISS by providing around 54,500kg (120,000lb) of food, water, equipment and spares it is obligated to deliver until its de-orbit, planned for 2016. The agency's associate administrator told Congress that it would know next year if the COTS program, with its two competing companies, SpaceX and RpK, could provide the 9,000kg a year the station will require from NASA.

Top Apollo Manager Opposes NASA's Moon Goal (Source: Aviation Week)
One of the most respected top managers of the Apollo program, Joseph P. Gavin, who led development of the NASA/Grumman Apollo lunar module, is airing sharp opposition to the Bush Administration/NASA goal of returning humans to the Moon as a stepping stone to Mars. He believes the near term Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle lunar plan and Moon base goal should be scrapped in favor of even more emphasis on Mars—especially robotic Mars exploration. “I have been somewhat surprised to see the lack of active criticism of the administration’s vision for space exploration,” says Gavin. “It seems to me to be more concerned with the 'how' as opposed to the 'why'...The argument that the Moon is a necessary training base for eventual manned expeditions to Mars is flatly unpersuasive,” he says.

Gavin says the new NASA lunar vision should be shifted to Mars immediately. “The application of Apollo style technology to replace the shuttle appears to be a desperate effort to save development costs. It also seems to be an invitation to the Europeans and others to jump ahead of us in pushing the frontiers of technology.” Gavin says “our first priority” should be to fully exploit the International Space Station. But the second major U. S. space program priority “should be to undertake further robotic exploration of Mars to see if human exploration [there] is really warranted,” he says.

Several other Grumman lunar module engineers told a recent NASA return-to-the-Moon symposium that they have doubts about whether the national political leadership and public will maintain a commitment to undertake a major new manned lunar effort, as in Apollo. “Because in the 1960s everyone was conscious of Apollo, we were able to attract the best and brightest people to work on the program,” said one of the engineers. “If it is not recognized that [the NASA/Bush lunar plan] is a major national priority people are not going to be as anxious to work on these kind of things as they were in the 1960s.

Museum Official Wants City to Step Up (Source: Florida Today)
Months after signing a memorandum of agreement with the city's community redevelopment agency, Charlie Mars' dream of a larger space for his Space Walk Hall of Fame Foundation hasn't been realized. Mars desires a rent-free, 10,000-square-foot building downtown where he can exhibit his extensive collection of space history. And he feels the city needs to do more to make that dream come true. "The museum is just another part of preserving space history," he said. "We would like the city to feel more passionate about that."

The nonprofit Space Walk of Fame Foundation nets $20,500 each year. But it needs about $150,000 to complete an Apollo monument and wants about $1 million to start a shuttle monument. The city gave the foundation $30,000 for the Apollo monument as part of the agreement.

Editorial: Fixing the Broken Air Traffic Control System (Source: Washington Post)
Congress has the ability to shorten the travel delays that have air passengers so frustrated. First, it should let the FAA proceed with its plan to redesign traffic flow around busy East Coast hubs. It should then force corporate jet owners to pay their share of costs for the NextGen satellite-based air traffic control system.

Editorial: Make Congress On-Time as Well (Source: Lakeland Ledger)
If American travelers want domestic airlines to improve their on-time performance, they should demand that Congress pass meaningful legislation - on time - that modernizes an antiquated air-traffic-control system. According to the FAA: "The percentage of on-time arrivals at the nation's busiest airports has steadily declined each year since 2002, when 82 percent of flights arrived on time at the 35 busiest airports. In 2006 the on-time arrival rate atthose airports fell to 75 percent. Delays in 2006 were the worst in history."

The technology for controlling traffic remains grounded in the mid-20th century. The FAA wants $15 billion to replace the current traffic-control-system - which is based on the radio-wave technology of the 1960s - with new navigation and tracking devices. The FAA contends that the new system would improve the efficiency of commercial aircraft and increase the capacity of airspace. At $15 billion, the cost is immense but, if invested wisely, it would be a bargain. (Just one airport, Chicago's O'Hare, is spending $6 billion on expansion.)

Unfortunately, Congress and the executive branch have spent down the airport "trust fund," and there is little consensus on how to finance the necessary improvements. Congress needs good advice as to whether the FAA has recommended the most-cost-effective solution. But Congress should not require detailed instructions on the need to adopt a responsible FAA funding bill - on time.

Phoenix to "Taste" Martian Water (Source: Florida Today)
NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander, due to launch Friday, will sample the water of the Red Planet. Once it arrives on Mars, the lander will have about three months to dig into the frozen soil, then bake and analyze it.

NASA Fears Collision with Space Junk (Souce: Palm Beach Post)
With a single push, Astronaut Clayton Anderson sent a 1,400-pound, refrigerator-sized ammonia tank flying through space. Space managers expect the item to circle Earth at 18,000 mph, 30 times the speed of a jet, for 10 to 11 months before they reenter the atmosphere and burn up. But just a nickel-sized sphere striking an object at that speed has the effect of a bowling ball traveling 60 mph, NASA says. And a year is a long time for something that big to be potentially in the path of the international space station or a space shuttle such as Endeavour.

Nearly 12,000 pieces bigger than 10 centimeters (about 4 inches) are orbiting Earth. Particles up to 10 centimeters in size number 100,000. And fragments smaller than that are in the tens of millions. In January 2005, two pieces that were not much bigger than microwave ovens - the engine from a 31-year-old Thor rocket and a fragment from a Chinese rocket - collided over the Pacific Ocean. And in July 1996, a briefcase-sized fragment from an Ariane rocket slammed into a French satellite at a combined impact of 31,500 mph, snapping off its 191/2-foot stabilizing boom.

Will Space Guns Provide Low-Cost Access to Space? (Source: Space Review)
Launching people into space using guns was popularized nearly 150 years ago by Jules Verne, but has to date remained in the realm of science fiction. Bart Leahy reports on one venture's effort to develop a gun launch system that could put payloads into orbit for a fraction of the cost of conventional rockets. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/920/1 to view the article.

Spacepower for Warlords (Source: Space Review)
Space technology and services can do wonders for developing nations, but they can also be used to destabilize vulnerable parts of the world, especially in Africa. Taylor Dinerman describes the problem and what companies and governments need to do to resolve it. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/919/1 to view the article.

Tragedy in the New Space Race (Source: MSNBC)
X Prize founder Peter Diamandis said: "This was an industrial accident. This has nothing to do with spaceflight." On a technical level, he is totally correct: The accident is outside the jurisdiction of the FAA and is being handled as an occupational safety matter by Scaled Composites, California, and the Mojave Air & Space Port. But when you set aside the technicalities, the cause that brought Glenn May, Eric Blackwell and Todd Ivens to Mojave has everything to do with spaceflight.

Former Karl Rove Staffer Moves to NASA (Source: NASA Watch)
The vacant White House Liaison position at NASA HQ has been filled with - surprise - a Bush Administration political appointee - Jane Cherry. She recently worked in the White House for Karl Rove as an associate director in the Office of Political Affairs. According to Muckracker.com: "Cherry has worked for Karl Rove at the WH for almost two years. She probably knows a lot about what has been going on at the DOJ and why. Cherry is named as one of the more prolific email users of an RNC email account whose messages (27, 482) have been retained by the RNC as part of a House investigation of possible presidential records act violations.

Preparing for the Worst (Source: Space Review)
Last week's tragic accident in Mojave provided a stark reminder of the risks inherent in spaceflight. Jeff Foust describes what the industry is doing to prepare for the day when a space tourist vehicle crashes. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/922/1 to view the article.

Teacher to Conduct Lessons from Space (Source: Miami Herald)
At age 55, after 22 years of training and waiting, in the wake of two shuttle catastrophes that claimed teacher Christa McAuliffe and other friends, elementary school teacher Barbara Morgan finally is poised to conduct her lesson plans from space. Liftoff of Morgan and six other astronauts aboard shuttle Endeavour is scheduled for Aug. 7 from the Kennedy Space Center. The mission will be closely followed by millions of wide-eyed children -- and their teachers, who know a thing or two about patience.

Will Northrop Join Space Travel Race? (Source: LA Business Journal)
Northrop Grumman's acquisition of Scaled Composites has some wondering if a $30 billion company like Northrop, whose primary business includes shipbuilding and aircraft technology, will be interested in continuing with Scaled Composites’ ambitious agenda of advancing the science of private manned rockets. “I can’t imagine that they really want to get into space tourism because it’s so much out of character from what they normally do,” said Paul Nisbet, an analyst who tracks Northrop. “It’s a rather out-of-the-way acquisition that they’ve made. I have to think that there’s some technology here that may apply to some of their classified work that we are unaware of.”