September 9 News Items

Russian Launch Failure Exacerbates Global Launch Market Squeeze (Source: Space News)
The Sept. 6 failure of a commercial Proton-M rocket following an anomaly in the vehicle's second stage will shut down one of the world's three principal commercial-launch vehicles (Proton, Zenit, Ariane) just eight months after one of the other two - the Sea Launch Co. Zenit 3SL - was grounded because of its own failure. As was the case with the Sea Launch incident, the most serious consequence of the Proton mishap likely will be felt not by the affected customer, Japan's JSAT Corp., but by other commercial operators depending on a launch in the coming months. They have nowhere to turn given the current state of the global commercial-launch industry.

Live Webcast of STS-118 Crew Event at Walt Disney World (Source: NASA)
On Sep. 10, join NASA's STS-118 crew, including mission specialist and Educator Astronaut Barbara Morgan, for a live webcast from Walt Disney World’s Epcot Center. The crew will talk with and answer questions from high school students from Oak Ridge High School Aviation and Aerospace Academy Magnet Program, high school students from Osceola High School Aviation Academy, and middle school students from the Siemens Science Days Program at Epcot. NASA education specialists will provide information about the NASA Engineering Design Challenge: Lunar Plant Growth Chamber for a plant habitat on the moon. They will also discuss thermal protection systems for space (shuttle tiles). The webcast will begin at 11:15 a.m. EDT and will last one hour. The webcast will be archived and made available to educators through NASA’s Digital Learning Network, or DLN. For more information, visit: http://www.disneyworld.com/nasa.

Announcing the NASA Fit Explorer Challenge Site for Educators (Source: NASA)
Inspire the nation's future explorers by joining NASA and the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports in a variety of exciting physical and hands-on educational activities to encourage students to train like astronauts. Developed in cooperation with NASA scientists and fitness professionals working directly with astronauts, the Fit Explorer Challenge is a physical and inquiry-based approach to human health and fitness on Earth and in space. Students in grades 3-5 can participate in physical activities modeled after the real-life physical requirements of humans traveling in space. Through structured, hands-on science activities, students relate physical Earth-based needs to the requirements of exploring space and assist students in gaining additional understanding of the science behind nutrition and physical fitness. Find student handouts and download standards-based education modules related to the challenge at http://www.nasa.gov/education/fitexplorer.

Ares Contracts Help Solidify Huntsville as Rocket City (Source: Space News)
For Huntsville, Ala., the ink NASA put on the Ares 1 upper-stage production contract in August was icing on an already generous slab of cake. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville is leading the U.S. space agency's efforts to design and develop the new human-rated launcher and its proposed cargo-carrying follow on, the heavy-lift Ares 5. The work is expected to provide thousands of jobs in the region in the years ahead and continue a legacy of rocket building that dates back to Wernher von Braun and the Saturn 5.

But as important as the Ares work is to Huntsville's long-standing identity as Rocket City, Marshall's roughly 2,600 civil-servant jobs and 5,800 contractor positions are dwarfed by those of its host, the U.S. Army's Redstone Arsenal. Home to the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command, Army Aviation and Missile Command, and major components of the Defense Intelligence Agency and Missile Defense Agency, Redstone is Huntsville's largest employer, providing some 14,600 government jobs and thousands more contractor positions.

Boeing Satellite Business to Become More Commercially Active in 2008 (Source: Space News)
Boeing Satellite Systems International, which has been on the sidelines of most commercial satellite competitions in the past three years, expects to be more active in this arena starting in 2008, according to the company's chief executive. He said Boeing for the past year has been too busy preparing bids on U.S. government satellite programs - which are usually larger and more profitable - and has been unable to train its resources on as many commercial projects as it might have otherwise. With the coming decisions on the U.S. Air Force's GPS 3 satellite navigation program and Transformational Satellite, or T-Sat, secure communications system, Boeing will be able to free up resources to the commercial-satellite sector.

Indonesian Papua to Accommodate Russian Space Launch in 2010 (Source: Xinhua)
Frans Kaisepo Airport in Biak Numfor district, Papua province of Indonesia, has been designated as the location from where a Russian satellite will be launched in 2010. "The Russian satellite will be launched using an air launch system. And this will certainly require a huge investment," Biak Numfor, District Chief Yusuf Melianus Maryen, was quoted as saying. As the location chosen for the satellite's launching, Biak Numfor would be built with high-tech facility and modern infrastructure by that time, which has positive impact to the local economy and promotion of technology, Yusuf said. The designation was made when Russian president Vladimir Putin had his first visit to Indonesia and reached bilateral agreement with Indonesia on space technology cooperation on Sept. 6.