KSC-Based World Space Expo on YouTube Channel (Source: WSE)
The World Space Expo, planned for Nov. 1-4 at Kennedy Space Center, is featured on a YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/wse2007. Videos will be posted throughout the next few weeks leading up to the event. For more info and to purchase tickets to WSE visit http://www.worldspaceexpo.com.
Big Dreams, Few Results in Private Space Exploration (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
A dusty launchpad in a remote region of New Mexico could become one of the first gateways to the heavens for private individuals clamoring to be the pioneer generation of space tourists. "I think they [Virgin Galactic] will get two or three missions a day, five days a week, around 700, 800 flights a year," Ben Woods, a member of the New Mexico Spaceport Authority said. Woods said New Mexico authorities hope to regenerate the region through commercial space travel, denying it will merely become a folly of the super-rich.
"If you look at this strictly as saying 'Well we're going to have some rich people come up to take a joyride' you can misinterpret what we are actually doing, what the real endgame is here," Woods said. "The intention from the very beginning was to undertake this as part of an economic development impact for the entire community in New Mexico," he adds. Burt Rutan believes the launch of the first commercial spaceflights will lead to the mushrooming of other private operators.
Are Human Missions Needed to Explore Mars and Beyond? (Source: AFP)
The United States has pledged to colonize the Moon by 2020 and send astronauts to Mars, but many scientists say dangerous and costly manned space missions should be a thing of the past, not the future. Intelligent robots and satellites such as those already exploring the Red Planet, they say, do a good job and are a lot less fragile than human organisms too easily stranded millions of miles from home. No one expected that Apollo 11 would remain the fulcrum of human space exploration for nearly four decades and counting. "Apollo gave us a false sense of security, it showed us what could be done," said an official at the Science Museum in London. "But all we have managed to do since then -- no matter how magnificent it might be -- is to send humans round and round in orbit around Earth."
"We are many decades from robots that can match humans, even in the lab, and laboratory robotics is about 20 years ahead of space robotics," Steve Squyres, an astronomy professor at Cornell University and principal investigator of the Mars Exploration Rover Mission, recently told a science forum. Mike Griffin predicts that human footprints will grace Mars by 2037. But many space experts are skeptical. "I would be surprised if we do it this century," said Millard. "Going to the Moon was almost like going out for a little swim with a snorkel. Going to Mars is a totally different order of magnitude," he added, citing at least three serious constraints.
One is how to protect human beings from the hazards, many of them poorly understood, of long term space travel. Cosmic radiation, weightlessness, psychological stress -- no one knows what it will feel like to watch one's home planet dwindle into invisibility -- all pose serious challenges to any future Mars mission. And adding a human being to an exploratory space mission boosts the cost roughly a hundred fold, said Millard. "You can now put together a pretty decent unmanned mission for a few hundred million euros (dollars), but you are usually talking about many billions for a manned mission," especially if it is something new, Millard said.
USA to Replace Striking Space Center Workers (Source: Florida Today)
United Space Alliance said it plans to hire hundreds of workers to replace members of the Machinists union on strike at Kennedy Space Center since June over failed contract negotiations. Meanwhile, a letter dated Friday from 23 members of Congress to USA's CEO encourages the company "to reach an agreement in a timely manner." The "nation is counting on a continuation" of the productive partnership between the union and the company to "ensure that the remaining shuttle missions are carried out safely and successfully," the letter states. "If we are to transition smoothly from the space shuttle program to the Ares/Orion program, we will need the talents and experience of this workforce."
USA spokeswoman Tracy Yates said the company's hiring plan "is not an effort to replace" the strikers permanently "at this time." Yates said the replacement workers will be hired as subcontractors or temporary company employees, but converting them to permanent employees "is an option that USA could exercise at any time." Working with a federal mediator, the two sides returned to the bargaining table Sep. 20 for the first time in more than three months, but negotiations broke down after one day. In a Florida Today advertisement, USA invites people to apply for "hundreds of opportunities" in a variety of jobs, from painters and welders to machinists and crane operators. Already, USA has hired about 130 temporary workers as subcontractors, and more than 100 workers who are part of the union's bargaining unit are not striking and are working for the company, Yates said.
Union representatives traveled to Washington, D.C., in advance of a meeting Monday with federal mediators, in hopes of getting the company back to the bargaining table. "USA is as eager to resolve this as these members of Congress are," Yates said, referring to the letter. All of the Congressional members who signed the letter are Democrats, and most are members of the House Committee on Science and Technology, and the House Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics, according to a union spokesman. The two members of Congress who represent Brevard County -- Reps. Tom Feeney of Oviedo and Dave Weldon of Indialantic, both Republicans -- did not sign the letter.
VSAT Market Expands Rapidly Despite Land-Based Competition (Source: Space News)
The global market for very small aperture satellite terminals, or VSATs, used by businesses is expanding just about everywhere despite the continued advance of DSL and fiber-optic lines. In the enterprise market alone, more than 1.6 million VSAT units have been shipped worldwide in the last 20 years, with more than one-third of these being delivered in the past two years. These 1.6 million enterprise VSAT terminals accounted for $4.5 billion in service revenue in 2006, a 10 percent increase over 2005, which was a 10 percent increase from 2004.
Satellite Shortages Hit Asia, Africa, Maritime Users (Source: Space News)
Satellite users in South Asia, Central Asia and Africa, plus those with maritime operations, will have to live with a shortage of capacity and rising prices for the little capacity that comes onto the market for another two years or so, according to satellite operators and satellite network operators. It will take that long for spacecraft now on order to be put into service, or for satellite-fleet operators to reshuffle their current businesses to free up space on existing satellites. In the meantime, demand for C-band and, in some cases, Ku-band will outstrip supply, forcing satellite-service providers to sell the idea of higher transmission costs to customers accustomed to prices going in the other direction.
U.S. Senate Set to Vote on Defense, Civil Space Bills (Source: Space News)
The U.S. Senate intends to vote the week of Oct. 1 on a pair of bills funding the U.S. Defense Department, NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for 2008. The NASA and NOAA money is included in the Commerce, Justice, Science spending bill (HR 3093), which cleared the Senate Appropriations Committee in July with $17.46 billion carved out for the U.S. space agency and $4.2 billion for NOAA. Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) said at the time that she intended to wait until the bill moved to the Senate floor to introduce an amendment seeking an additional $1 billion to help offset costs NASA incurred to recover from the 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia accident.
Kazakhs Seek Damages Following Proton Rocket Failure (Source: Space News)
Authorities in Kazakhstan will seek more than $8 million in compensation from Russia following the crash of a Russian Proton-M rocket that was launched Sept. 6 from the Central Asian republic's Baikonur spaceport. "Preliminary calculations demonstrate that the fines will exceed 1 billion tenge ($8.4 million) by far, and this sum will be presented to the Russian side after finalizing the costs related to liquidation of the consequences of the fall of the rocket," Viktor Khrapunov, Kazakhstan's minister of emergency situations, said. The debris fell 50 kilometers southwest of the Kazakh city of Dzhezkagan with no injuries or destruction of property reported.
Sen. Hutchison: U.S. Must be Committed to Being a Leader (Source: Ft. Lauderdale Sun Sentinel)
Since it was founded in 1958, America's space program has been enormously successful. The research that has gone into the program has spurred innovations that have greatly improved our lives, from car phones to heart monitors, from ultrasound scanners to laser surgery. Recently, NASA has begun implementing my plan to use the U.S. segment of the International Space Station (ISS) as a National Laboratory, which means that even more exciting breakthroughs can be expected in the next few years.
The ISS provides our scientists with a unique environment where they can conduct many experiments not possible on Earth. For example, biologists can study the growth of human cells without the influence of gravity, learning details that they would not be able to detect on Earth. By seeing how fire and water behave in outer space, they have discovered better ways of spraying water to put out a fire. There have also been discussions about placing a sophisticated particle detector on the space station to learn more about cosmic rays. The planned research on cosmic rays may provide researchers with vital insights in understanding and using dark matter. As much as 70 percent of the universe is made up of dark matter, but at the present time, scientists know very little about it. Those insights could directly advance our knowledge of using superconducting magnet technology for propulsion and radiation shielding. Click here to view the article.
Asia Could Win Next 'Space Race', US Scientists Fear (Source: AFP)
Fifty years after the launch of Sputnik left the United States scrambling to play catch-up in the first Space Race, US scientists fear history may be repeating itself as Asia emerges as the rising force in space exploration. While the achievements of space programs run by China, Japan and India are modest in comparison to the milestones set by the United States and former Soviet Union, some experts believe it is only a matter of time before Asia leads the field. Many astrophysicists, space engineers and other high-ranking US scientists do not share Mike Griffin's optimism, pointing to waning interest in space exploration amongst young Americans and a lack of government investment in developing elite scientists.
"In America, contrary to our self-image, we are no longer leaders but simply players," said Neil DeGrasse Tyson, the director of the Hayden Planetarium in a recent editorial. "We've moved backward just by standing still." The numbers of new scientists in Asian countries are eclipsing those in the United States. In 2004, around 500,000 engineers graduated in China, 200,000 in India and only 70,000 in the US, according to a report from the National Academy of Sciences released this year.
Ben Bova: Stumbling into the Space Age (Source: Naples Daily News)
Thursday marks the 50th anniversary of the Space Age. On Oct. 4, 1957, Soviet Russia launched the first artificial satellite of Earth, Sputnik I. I was working on the American satellite program, Vanguard, at the time. The experience taught me a lot about how politics interacts with science and technology. In the early 1950s, both the U.S. and the USSR agreed to participate in the International Geophysical Year, an 18-month-long international scientific study in which geophysicists from all over the world would study our planet in all its aspects, including its relationship with the sun. Both the U.S. and the USSR announced intentions to launch one or more artificial satellites to help the IGY studies. No one paid much attention to the Soviet announcement — although American intelligence knew that the Russians were test-flying ballistic missiles over 5,000-mile ranges.
Dwight Eisenhower was president, and for some reason the White House decided that Vanguard would be a “peaceful” program. Vanguard would not be allowed to use the rockets the armed services were developing for military use, even though the Vanguard program would be managed by the Office of Naval Research (ONR), a scientific offshoot of the U.S. Navy. Wernher von Braun, architect of Nazi Germany’s V-2 rocket, which bombarded London during World War II, was now working for the U.S. Army at Redstone Arsenal, in Alabama. His team had developed the Jupiter rocket, a medium-range ballistic missile, and wanted to use it as a satellite launcher. No, said the White House. Von Braun’s team launched a Jupiter variation to show that they could put a payload into orbit, even though they were forced to refrain from actually orbiting anything. Click here to view the article.
By Edward Ellegood
LinkedIn Group
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