August 26 News Items

Indian Space Agency's Top Scientist Dies in Road Mishap (Source: IndiaPRWire)
Rajeev Lochan, scientific secretary to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), was killed late Friday in a road mishap. Lochan died along with his driver during a trip to India's Sriharikota spaceport from Bangalore. ISRO publications director S. Krishnamurthy, who was accompanying Lochan, suffered multiple injuries in the mishap and was rushed to a hospital in the temple town of Tirupati for treatment.

Space Florida Plans Board Meeting in Ft. Lauderdale (Source: ERAU)
Space Florida’s board of directors will hold their next public meeting on Aug. 30 at the Hyatt Regency Pier 66 in Ft. Lauderdale. The meeting comes after last week’s successful Florida Space Leadership Forum, sponsored by Space Florida and the Space Foundation. For information on this week’s board meeting contact Juanell Kirkendoll at 321-730-5301 ext. 241.

Disney to Honor Astronauts (Source: Florida Today)
Walt Disney World will host ceremonies honoring the crew of the just-concluded NASA space shuttle Endeavour mission and the achievement of teacher-turned-astronaut Barbara Morgan on Sept. 10. Disney's Epcot and Magic Kingdom theme parks will be the backdrop as park guests and schoolchildren interact with the Endeavour astronauts. Highlights include astronaut Barbara Morgan unveiling a new addition to the Mission: SPACE attraction; interview opportunities with the STS-118 crew; and the astronauts serving as honorary grand marshals in the Magic Kingdom's afternoon parade down Main Street, U.S.A.

Trent Lott: Any Good Trip to the Moon, Mars Should Begin in Mississippi (Source: Clarion-Ledger)
Though many Americans may not realize it, this month America earnestly began our journey back to the moon and on to Mars. And, it's a trip that leads right through Mississippi's Hancock County. It was exciting to be at NASA's Stennis Space Center, near Bay St. Louis, to break ground on a new test stand, where NASA's J-2X engine will be fired up and evaluated. It'll be the first new test stand constructed at Stennis since the 1960s, during the height of America's Apollo program, which first put man on the moon...And, for Mississippians, Stennis Space Center, perhaps one of our best kept secrets, will get an even greater role as an international center for rocket testing.

The V-Prize: One Hour to Europe (Source: Space Review)
Virginia's "V-Prize" will be awarded to the first manned craft capable of crossing the Atlantic in less than 60 minutes. The $10-25 million competition will officially be launched in 2008. “The craft will take off from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in the state of Virginia,” explained Jack Kennedy, chairman of the V-Prize Foundation. The venture must be completed before July 1, 2013, the expiration date of the Spaceflight Liability and Immunity Act passed earlier this year by the state of Virginia to encourage the development of research on manned flights.

Globalstar Plans GPS-Aided Product (Source: Space News)
Satellite-telephone service provider Globalstar said a new product it will introduce in November will open a large new market and help it ride out the degradation of its current satellite constellation with a sufficient base of customers until its second-generation satellites are launched starting in 2009. The new product, called Spot Satellite Messenger, is a hand-held device that will be integrated into a GPS positioning unit to allow outdoor enthusiasts and others to signal their whereabouts in an emergency.

Hearings Plannd on Satellite Surveillance Policy (Source: Space News)
Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), chair of the House Homeland Security intelligence subcommittee, has asked for both classified and public hearings to clarify what the Bush administration's new policy on the domestic use of classified satellite imagery will be when control of imagery used for domestic purposes is transferred Oct. 1 to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Is Space Elevator the Next Ride to the Final Frontier? (Source: Wall Street Journal)
Tie a rock to the end of a piece of ribbon, then spin it over your head. It will be pulled taut as the rock circles about. Now, imagine a ribbon 62,000 miles long, anchored near the equator with a weight on the other end. The centrifugal force of the earth's rotation will make it behave the same way. You'll end up with a kind of elevator to outer space. NASA is sufficiently intrigued that it has kicked in millions of dollars for a space-elevator design competition. The third annual running of the contest takes place in October outside Salt Lake City; 22 teams, mostly from universities, have signed up to compete.

We (Ohio) Could Really Take Off (Source: Sandusky Register)
In the late 1940s Huntsville had a population roughly equal to Sandusky's. Like the Sandusky area, it was home to an Army arsenal that almost closed when it was no longer needed. But Huntsville had a powerful U.S. senator, John Sparkman, who helped steer the Truman Administration into picking Huntsville as the ideal site for missile research. With that decision came Wernher von Braun and his German scientists, part of the core of the emerging United States space program. In 1960, President Eisenhower formally dedicated the Marshall Space Flight Center there. Today, Huntsville's population is approaching 170,000, its metropolitan area nearing 370,000. It is known nationally as "Rocket City."

A similar future could be ours. With proper support from local governments, NASA Plum Brook can move to center stage as the next generation of manned space flight gears up. Its rocket testing facility is unique in the world. The newest European rocket is there now for tests. Soon the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle will be too. NASA recently awarded $51.4 million to an Oklahoma company to improve Plum Brook's Space Power Facility. Economic development planners should look seriously at what else is needed to turn northern Ohio into an aerospace hotbed.