October 1 News Items

KSC Staffers Keep Wary Eye on NASA Cuts (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
NASA should get enough federal dollars in 2008 to keep it on track to return astronauts to the moon by 2020 but not enough to address the threat of thousands of future job cuts at KSC. Congress and the White House so far have endorsed at least $17.3 billion for the space agency, including $3 billion to jump-start the production of new rockets and spacecraft that will take astronauts to the moon and perhaps Mars. But the fledgling Constellation program poses two problems for KSC workers. NASA's plans to make Constellation more efficient than the shuttle call for a 60% reduction in operating costs -- including personnel.

Secondly, Constellation isn't scheduled to begin launching astronauts until March 2015. With the planned retirement of the space shuttle in 2010, that leaves a four- to five-year gap. In combination, that is expected to result in job losses for as many as one-third of the 15,000 civil servants and contractors at KSC, although no one -- including NASA, Congress and the unions -- claims to know the exact number. Already there are signs of cutbacks. NASA has estimated it would reduce its pool of KSC civil-servant jobs by 200, from about 2,100 workers in 2008 to 1,900 in 2012. And despite the agency's vow not to repeat the "brain drain" that occurred during the 1975-81 gap between Apollo and the Space Shuttle, NASA has yet to clearly define how it can avoid massive layoffs at KSC.

In the short term, the agency has restricted hiring, started employee buyouts and will devote $25 million in 2008 to the transition effort. But the shuttle must keep flying until 2010 to complete space station assembly, so KSC's shuttle workforce must remain in place. U.S. Rep. Dave Weldon argues Americans are in danger when manned U.S. missions can't access space. He blasts NASA's plan to rely on other nations, especially Russia, to supply the space station during the gap. "This is poorly thought out. It's crazy," said Weldon, whose district includes many KSC workers. "No one seems to be concerned about this, so I'm ringing the bell." Weldon said he intends to introduce a plan to spend billions more to keep the shuttle flying until Constellation is ready. But he's unlikely to succeed, given the price tag and NASA's commitment to the 2010 date.

NASA To Accelerate Space Nuclear Power (Source: SpaceRef.com)
NASA will accelerate missions featuring space nuclear power, Aviation Week & Space Technology reports in its Oct. 1 issue. The decision marks a major milestone for robotic exploration, but is a controversial move among groups that oppose space nuclear power because of launch safety concerns.

NASA Solicits Space Nuclear Power Research (Source: SpaceRef.com)
NASA had amended a research announcement to establish a new program entitled "Discovery and Scout Mission Capabilities Expansion." This new program element solicits mission concept proposals for small planetary missions that require a nuclear power source, such as the Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generator (ASRG) currently under development by NASA. Visit http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.nl.html?pid=25568 for information.

APT Research Awarded FAA Space Transportation Contract (Source: APT)
APT Research has been awarded a five-year multi-million dollar contract for technical support to the FAA’s Office of the Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation (AST). APT’s knowledge and expertise in the areas of commercial space vehicle design, operations, and engineering will be used to support system and flight safety analyses; engineering studies and assessments; risk management strategy development related to ensuring public safety; and safety regulations associated with launch, orbital and reentry hazards.

Discovery Rolled Out to Launch Pad (Source: SpaceToday.net)
NASA rolled the space shuttle Discovery out to the launch pad on Sunday in advance of a mission scheduled for launch later this month. Discovery made the five-kilometer trip to pad 39A Sunday, leaving the Vehicle Assembly Building at 6:47 am EDT (1047 GMT) and arriving at the pad six and a half hours later. The rollout was scheduled for last week but was delayed to accommodate the replacement of hydraulic seals in a landing gear strut. Despite the delay, the mission is still scheduled for launch on its original launch date, October 23, although there is now little slack in the schedule in the event of additional problems during launch preparations. The STS-120 mission will deliver a new node module, Harmony, to the International Space Station as well as move a solar panel to its permanent location on the station's truss.

India and Russia Step Up Space Cooperation (Source: India PRwire)
With joint plans for new satellites, manned space flights and missions to the moon, India and Russia are entering a new phase of bilateral cooperation in space. The chiefs of the space agencies in the two countries met during a global conference here last week to decide on a road map for future missions. The discussed cooperation between India and Russia in areas like Global Navigation Satellite System (Glonass-M and Glonass-K), manned space flights and joint participation in the lunar mission. An ISRO team will now visit Russia to finalize decisions on the launch of the Glonass-M version of the satellite that has improved antennas and a separate transmission frequency dedicated to civilian users. The two sides will also start discussions on India's participation in the Glonass-K project -- lighter, and smaller satellites with an extended service life -- that costs less to launch.

Nations Looking For a Piece of the Exploration Pie (Source: Aviation Week)
A Japanese spacecraft arriving at the Moon on the 50th anniversary of Sputnik this week marks the beginning of what may be a lucrative sweepstakes in space for generations to come. But instead of Cold War-style political prestige, the purse for this space race could be long-term market position as the world’s high-tech economy begins to move off-planet. With China, India and the U.S. planning to follow Japan’s Selene and her two piggyback “daughters” into lunar orbit by the end of 2008, lunar missions are becoming almost a fad. Those nations are already at work on follow-ons, while Germany and the U.K. are plotting their own lunar-development roles. All are among the 14 nations working out a “collaborative” human exploration model that will use the expected early deluge of lunar-orbital data to guide the construction of permanent multinational outposts where they can showcase their technologies for terrestrial markets.

China Still Considering Human Lunar Missions (Source: Aviation Week)
Sun Laiyan, Chinese National Space Administration (CNSA) chief, says China has yet to decide whether it will send its citizens to the Moon, even though NASA Administrator Michael Griffin says it’s his personal belief that the Chinese will get there first this time. Sun says the CNSA is ready to cooperate with anyone “but only as an equal,” and NASA invited CNSA to participate in the series of workshops that produced an initial “framework document” last summer. But so far, it’s an arm’s-length relationship.

ISS Model Not Right for International Exploration Plans (Source: Aviation Week)
Recent NASA-initiated workshops on international space exploration collaboration took the ISS partnership as their starting point. That may be the starting point, but the emerging approach to lunar exploration will be something very different. “The ISS model is not the right model for exploration,” says workshop member Graham Gibbs of the Canadian Space Agency. While the basic goals of lunar exploration are fairly well-understood, relations among participating nations are much more fluid. Nations will take part in some joint efforts on the lunar surface, eschew others and perhaps do some on their own. “We’re looking at, shall we say, a more nimble partnership arrangement,” Gibbs says.

Piero Messina from ESA’s exploration office agrees. He stresses that while the ultimate shape of the lunar collaboration won’t be clear for several years, it will be much more open-ended than the tight bilateral and multilateral agreements governing the ISS. “Some of the features of this new cooperative scheme would be flexibility, for example,” he says. “Participating parties in this scheme would retain control over their own elements. I think one of the things that we are looking at quite carefully is how to limit the interdependence among different elements.”

Russia's Anatoly Perminov says the possibility of a U.S. withdrawal from ISS suggests the need for “more strict rules and conditions for participation from the very beginning” of lunar collaboration to avoid a “situation when some of the participants will try to leave without taking into consideration the interests of other parties.”

Space Station Future Remains Cloudy (Source: Aviation Week)
The future of the ISS is unknown. NASA told its partners it wants to shift ISS funding to lunar exploration after 2015—but Europe and Japan are eagerly awaiting launch of their long-delayed labs in the next few months. “We are convinced that we must have something after 2015,” says ESA Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain. “We cannot just say to the scientific communities that in 2015, everything stops.” Dordain declares, “ESA is not ready to pay the share of NASA when NASA has left the space station.”

Anatoly N. Perminov, head of Russia’s Federal Space Agency, says that Russia isn’t ready to assume the burden either. “We are interested in extending this program up to 2020, but in case the U.S., the EU, Canada or any other participants decide to leave, one thing is very obvious—Russia will be not ready to carry on this project alone.” One possibility for continuing ISS operations is to allow for new partnership members. Permanov says he first raised the issue at the January 2005 ISS Heads of Agency meeting in Montreal. “This question is still pending,” he tells Aviation Week & Space Technology. “No one says yes. No one says no.”

Space Myths (Source: Space Review)
Spaceflight is an expensive, high-tech endeavor that suffers from too much government regulation, right? A lot of people might agree with that sentiment, but Wayne Eleazer busts some enduring myths. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/967/1 to view the article.

Miscalculations of Galileo: Europe's Answer to GPS is Floundering (Source: Space Review)
Galileo has gone from the one serious competitor to the American GPS satellite navigation system to one battling for its survival. Timothy Barnes reviews the history of the European program and problems it has encountered along the way. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/966/1 to view the article.

Beyond the Outer Space Treaty (Source: Space Review)
As the Outer Space Treaty turns 40, some people have criticized it as a relic from the Cold War. Taylor Dinerman explains how the treaty, like other international accords, don't reflect the state of space today. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/965/1 to view the article.

Company Offers Free Rides to Space for Education Projects (Source: MEI)
Microgravity Enterprises, Inc (MEI) has established the ACCESS for Education Foundation. Through this new 501(c)(3) foundation, MEI will provide free rides to space for K-12 and university experiments on its commercial space launches. MEI will provide funding for the ACCESS for Education Foundation through sales of their consumer products (Antimatter Energy Drink, Space2O Purified Water, and Comet’s Tail Amber Ale). The company's goal is to provide one flight per month, with multiple free experiments and educational activities on each flight. Microgravity Enterprises products are available online and in Walgreens (New Mexico locations for now).