September 12 News Items

Penn State Supplies NASA to the Schools (Source: Penn State)
Coming soon to a school near you is a shiny, silver Airstream RV, emblazoned with "NASA to the Schools, Penn State" as part of a five-year $27.3 million Aerospace Education Services Program contract. Penn State will be NASA's face to K-12 education. Penn State took over Sept. 1 from Oklahoma State University. "This is the only program in the U.S. that can put professional science educators on the ground in 50 states and territories," said William S. Carlsen, professor of science education and director of Penn State's Center for Science and the Schools.

The Penn State program will shift the existing emphasis from one-time school visits and short teacher seminars to university-based space-oriented summer courses for teachers. School visits will continue, but rather than emphasizing auditorium presentations, NASA education specialists will work closely with teachers and school administrators to infuse cutting-edge science content into extended instructional units. Education specialists will also collect data on how summer course experiences translate to the classroom and how teachers adapt materials to the various states and schools.

Dark, but Light: Smallest Galaxies Ever Seen Solve a Big Problem (Source: Keck Observatory)
Scientists may have solved a discrepancy between the number of extremely small, faint galaxies predicted to exist near the Milky Way and the number actually observed. In an attempt to resolve the “Missing Dwarf Galaxy” problem, two astronomers used the Keck Observatory to study a population of the darkest, most lightweight galaxies known, each containing 99% dark matter. The findings suggest the “Missing Dwarf Galaxy” problem is not as severe as previously thought, and may have been solved completely.

“It seems that very small, ultra-faint galaxies are far more plentiful than we thought,” said Dr. Marla Geha, co-author of the study and a Plaskett Research Fellow at the Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics in Canada. “If you asked me last year whether galaxies this small and this dark existed, I would have said no. I’m astonished that so many tiny, dark matter-dominated galaxies have now been discovered.”

The Missing Dwarf Galaxy puzzle comes from a prediction of the “Cold Dark Matter” model, which explains the growth and evolution of the universe. It predicts large galaxies like the Milky Way should be surrounded by a swarm of up to several hundred smaller galaxies known as “dwarf galaxies.” However, until recently, only 11 such companions were known to be orbiting the Milky Way. To explain this large discrepancy, theorists suggested that while hundreds of dwarf galaxies near the Milky Way may indeed exist, the majority might have few, if any, stars. If so, the galaxies would be comprised almost entirely of dark matter—a mysterious type of matter that has gravitational effects on ordinary atoms, but which does not produce any light.

Google Founders Trade Research Chores for Moffett Landing Rights (Source: San Fancisco Chronicle)
Google's founders will carry scientific equipment for NASA on their private Boeing 767 as part of a deal that grants them landing rights at Moffett Federal Airfield. The agreement gives Larry Page and Sergey Brin use of the former naval air station, from which civilian aircraft are normally barred, in exchange for allowing NASA to place instruments on board their planes for atmospheric and other research. The agreement with Google's founders is non-exclusive, meaning that the door is open to others with private aircraft who want to use Moffett Field and are willing to contribute to NASA's mission. NASA also acknowledged that it is negotiating to lease aircraft hangars at Moffett Field.

VAB Work Hinders Schedule (Source: Florida Today)
Foam repair is not the only threat to NASA's chance of launching two more space shuttle missions before the end of 2007. The other hurdle is the traffic jam inside the mammoth Vehicle Assembly Building. Decades of exposure to salty seaside conditions corroded and rusted parts of the gigantic metal doors that cover each of the 45-story openings through which space shuttles must roll on their way out to the launch pads. A few years ago, NASA took on a multimillion dollar effort to replace the doors on one of the two high bays facing the launch pads.

That left the shuttle program with just one bay in which they could stack shuttles for launch. The work was supposed to be finished a year ago, but is behind schedule. Now, the work is set to be complete by around Nov. 1, meaning NASA has to finish out the year stacking shuttles in just one of the high bays.

Alliant Techsystems Gets Space Contract (Source: AP)
Munitions maker Alliant Techsystems Inc. has received an initial $3.3 million Air Force contract to develop a propulsion system for small spacecraft. The contract, for a combined chemical-electric propulsion system that allows spacecraft to maneuver in orbit, includes options worth an additional $4.7 million. Alliant's design was the only one chosen after a competition involving five other competitors last year. The company, which boosted its space-systems portfolio this summer with its acquisition of satellite parts maker Swales Aerospace, will lead a development team that includes Busek Co. and American Pacific Corp.

NASA Plans New COTS Competition if it Terminates Rocketplane Kistler Deal (Source: Space News)
NASA said Sept. 10 that it would hold a competition for $175 million in unspent funds should the U.S. space agency terminate Rocketplane Kistler's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) agreement. The competition would be open to all comers, NASA spokeswoman Melissa Mathews said, including Rocketplane Kistler.

Baikonur Satellite Launch to Go Ahead Despite Rocket Crash (Source: RIA Novosti)
The recent crash of a Russian Proton-M rocket will not affect the launch of a Foton bio-satellite piggybacked on a Soyuz rocket, since the two rockets are entirely different, a spokesman for the Federal Space Agency said. "The Proton is a heavy rocket, which uses highly toxic heptyl as fuel, whereas Soyuz is a medium-class booster using environmentally friendly fuel - kerosene and liquid oxygen," the spokesman said, adding that the two rockets are also produced by different plants - in Moscow and in Samara, respectively.

Engineers Boost Useful Life of Old Satellites (Source: AIA)
Scientists at Purdue University and Lockheed Martin have figured out how to extend the lives of older communications satellites by redistributing propellant in their fuel tanks. The method was tested on two communications satellites launched in 1991. The remaining life of the satellites was increased from six to nine months to about two years. A researcher said the longer life brought in an additional $60 million in revenue for the broadcast companies that owned the satellites.

Russian Rocket Launches Suspended at Baikonur Spaceport (Source: Florida Today)
Kazakhstan today suspended all launches of Russian Proton rockets, following a crash last week that destroyed a Japanese communications satellite and spread toxic chemicals over the Kazakh steppe. Thursday’s crash was the second time in the past 14 months that an unmanned Russian rocket launched from the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome has strewn rocket fuel and debris, prompting angry statements from Kazakh officials. “Launches of all modifications of Proton rockets are suspended until the causes for the (crash) are determined,” Deputy Prime Minister Umirzak Shukeyev said. “This is a temporary measure that will remain in force until a decision is made jointly with the Russian side,” he said.

NM Spaceport Tax District Decision Delayed (Source: Las Cruces Sun-News)
Dona Ana County can't negotiate details of a key step toward spending spaceport tax dollars until Sierra and Otero counties make moves to hold spaceport tax elections of their own, decided the Doña Ana County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday. County Commissioners voted 4-1 to delay action on the creation of a spaceport tax district — an entity that will spend spaceport tax dollars from local governments — until Sierra and Otero counties pass an ordinance setting dates for spaceport tax elections.

Several commissioners said that they were concerned the counties hadn't yet set dates for their elections and that they didn't see any hurry in passing Tuesday's measure, which initially was proposed by the New Mexico Spaceport Authority. No spaceport tax dollars can be spent until a district is formed, under state law. Also, a district must be made up of two or more local governments that approve spaceport taxes, through voter elections, before Jan. 1, 2008.

Rocket Puts Secret Russian Satellite Into Polar Orbit (Source: SpaceFlightNow.com)
A Russian military satellite was lobbed into orbit aboard a Kosmos 3M rocket during a Tuesday launch from the nation's northern launch site. The mission began with liftoff of the 105-foot-tall booster from the Plesetsk spaceport. The two-stage Kosmos 3M rocket successfully deployed its secret payload into a circular near-polar orbit about an hour later.

Space Commerce Centre Lands on the Isle of Man (Source: VNUnet.com)
The International Space University, the only learning establishment dedicated to space science, is to launch the International Institute of Space Commerce (IISC) in the UK. The new body will be located at the Isle of Man International Business School following a five-year commitment by the Manx government to establish and host the facility. "Welcoming the IISC to the Isle of Man is part of our overall strategy to encourage space innovation," said Alex Downie, Isle of Man Minister for Space. "We have attracted some of the space industry's most successful companies along with several niche players to our island over the past few years.

Early Shuttle Termination Eyed (Source: Aviation Week)
NASA is proposing to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that the space shuttle program be terminated six months early, in March 2010 instead of by Sept. 31, 2010, Shuttle Launch Director Mike Leinbach says. Rita Wilcoxon, director of launch vehicle processing at the Kennedy Space Center, said that OMB reacted positively to the idea. The plan would be part of the next NASA fiscal budget. If adopted, it would call for a planning target of March 31, 2010 for termination of the shuttle program, and would include the launch of the STS-131 and STA-133 logistics missions to the International Space Station. Those flights had earlier not been funded.

Under the plan, the March 2010 date would be NASA's termination target for shuttle operations, providing margin against weather and technical delays to ensure that NASA could make the Sept. 31 national target date set out earlier by President Bush. NASA is not asking for any additional shuttle funding in the plan, according to Wilcoxon. And extra funding left over in the budget from an early shuttle termination would first go to pay for termination costs and employee retirement plans, then into the Constellation program.

An early termination would be achieved by beginning to bias the launch dates of the remaining flights toward that target date. It also adds use of the orbiter Atlantis two more times than planned and would add margin to ensure NASA achieves unmanned Ares booster flight-tests as early as possible. The plan is to announce the new target by early October, Leinbach believes.