October 11 News Items

Space-Based Solar Power Report to be Published on Oct. 10 (Source: NSS)
A National Security Space Office (NSSO)-led study group, which has been investigating space-based solar power (SBSP) as a way to reduce our dependence on foreign-controlled energy supplies as well as a clean, renewable and carbon-neutral solution to the possibility of global warming, is set to announce the study results on Oct. 10. The study also examined the feasibility of SBSP as a source of energy to be transmitted to military forces deployed overseas.

Two Huntsville Firms are Ares I Finalists (Source: Huntsville Times)
NASA has chosen two leading aerospace companies here as finalists for work on the Ares I Instrument Unit, a complex computer guidance and navigation system used to set the rocket on course after launch. Teams led by Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp. and the Boeing Co. have been chosen by Marshall Space Flight Center managers as contenders for the Ares Instrument Unit contract expected to be awarded in early December.

NM County Delays Start of Spaceport Tax (Source: Las Cruces Sun-News)
The collection of a spaceport sales tax in Doña Ana County will be delayed because of an action by the Doña Ana County Board of Commissioners. Instead of being collected Jan. 1, as was previously planned, the tax will be delayed until a spaceport district has been created. The entity must be in place to spend the money, according to state law. Commissioners repeated concerns they've voiced in recent weeks about collecting the tax without having a way to spend the money. Some have said they want more certainty that Sierra and Otero counties plan to hold spaceport tax elections of their own. At least one other county or city must pass a spaceport tax to form a spaceport district and spend tax dollars.

New Space Solar Power Organization Announced (Source: NSS)
The Space Solar Alliance for Future Energy (SSAFE), a new organization advocating investment in space-based solar power technologies to address the planet's future energy needs, has been created. The coalition of thirteen leading research organizations and space advocacy groups focused their inaugural event on the announcement of a new study of space-based solar power led by the National Security Space Office (NSSO). The study concludes that space-based solar power deserves substantial national investment as a path towards addressing America's future energy needs via a renewable energy source with no carbon emissions or hazardous waste. In the Space Solar Power concept, developed in the late nineteen-sixties by Dr. Peter Glaser, energy from sunlight is collected in space and transmitted wirelessly for use on Earth.

The founding members of SSAFE are the National Space Society, Space Frontier Foundation, Space Power Association, Aerospace Technology Working Group, Marshall Institute, Moon Society, ShareSpace Foundation, Space Studies Institute, Spaceward Foundation, AIAA Space Colonization Technical Committee, ProSpace, Space Enterprise Council, and Space Generation Foundation.

Wyle Achieves One Million Hours at KSC Without Lost Time (Source: Wyle)
Wyle’s operations at Kennedy Space Center have surpassed the one million hour milestone without having a lost time injury. The milestone, which took more than two years to achieve for the 250-plus Wyle employees at Kennedy Space Center, was passed in the mid day on Wednesday, Oct. 10, as many employees were preparing for the launch of the STS-120 Space Shuttle mission scheduled for Oct. 23. AT KSC, Wyle is responsible for laboratories, propellants and life support services as well as for the systems engineering, operation, maintenance and utilization of the largest and most diverse fleet of specialized aerospace chemical and personal protective equipment in the world.

Atlas Launches Military Communications Satellite (Source: SpaceToday.net)
An Atlas 5 launched the first in a new series of military communications satellites from Launch Complex 41 at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. The WGS-1 satellite, built by Boeing, carries X- and Ka-band transponders, with 10 times the capacity of older DSCS-series military communications satellites. The spacecraft is the first of six planned for the system, formerly known as Wideband Gapfiller Satellite; the sixth was added to the system just last week as part of an agreement with Australia, who will fund the satellite in exchange for access to the satellite network. The launch was the first for the Atlas 5 since a June mission deemed a partial failure when a leaky valve caused the booster's upper stage to shut down prematurely and place a pair of classified spacecraft in a lower-than-planned orbit.

Texas Investor Eyes Space Station as Orbiting Pharma Lab (Source: WIRED)
A swaggering Texas investor with a famous name wants Big Pharma to pick up the tab for the International Space Station when NASA eases off. Spacehab Chairman Thomas Pickens III thinks the pharmaceutical industry and the space station need each other. Drug discovery is an arduous and extremely expensive project. But in space, disease-causing proteins crystallize so well -- growing larger and clearer -- that finding a drug to stop the protein's damaging activities could happen months, if not years, faster. Scientists have known for decades that some science works better in space -- but it hasn't been easy to get experiments up there. Now, with NASA planning to reduce its $2.6 billion annual investment beginning in 2015, the agency is throwing the space station open for private enterprise. And the Texas financial scion and multimillionaire is ready to transform space science with an injection of capitalism.

"If people knew what I already know, the International Space Station would be considered one of the most valuable resources our world possesses," Pickens said at the ISS National Laboratory Workshop last week. "There are things you can only do in microgravity that will eventually lead to products that could save millions of lives." Pickens, who also manages a $100 million nanotechnology fund, believes that getting paid to grow proteins in space will be the killer app for keeping the $130 billion International Space Station alive. Increased traffic to the ISS could drive down the cost of space flight and open up the station to all kinds of commercial applications, which would come in handy as NASA's financial support wanes.

Spacehab recruited Pickens earlier this year to turn the company around. The 20-year-old penny stock firm has a market cap of about $5 million. You'd never imagine his company's modest finances watching Pickens interact with scientists at the ISS workshop. Pickens is a tall, charismatic Texan. He talks as if every period is a walk-off homerun. The scientists seemed wary of him, which is perhaps appropriate. After all, he is prone to saying, "I am Wall Street." But they are transfixed when he talks about bringing big money into outer space. They're listening, because Pickens and other businessmen are the new variables in the space equation. The science has been there; the salesmanship has been missing.

2006 Space Expenditures of $220 Billion Show 18% Increase (Source: EETimes.com)
Revised figures compiled by the U.S. Space Foundation show an 18 percent growth in combined civilian and military space expenditures worldwide in 2006, with an aggregate figure of $220 billion in total space industry revenues. Space Foundation chief executive Elliot Pulham said some of the most impressive growth rates had come in global positioning system end-user systems, satellite-television services, and XM and Sirius satellite radio.

The Space Foundation compiled early revenues from commercial space transportation services of $30 million: $20 million for the International Space Station trip made by telecom entrepreneur Anousheh Ansari, and $10 million in advance bookings by customers for Virgin Galactic spaceflights out of New Mexico. While a raft of startup space-launch companies are preparing for launches from New Mexico and the Mojave Desert, the commercial-launch business currently is dominated by traditional aerospace companies. The one player attempting commercial launches in 2006, Space-X, did not have a revenue-generating flight last year.

Wing Panel Defects Could Delay Discovery Launch (Source: Florida Today)
A safety group chartered after the 2003 Columbia accident is recommending NASA replace three wing panels on Discovery, a move that would force the agency to roll the shuttle back to its hangar and delay its upcoming mission by at least a couple of months. Slight defects in the composite carbon panels could allow hot gasses to burn through the wing, potentially leading to damage that could doom the Discovery during atmospheric re-entry, the safety group says. The NASA Safety and Engineering Center group said NASA "should change these three panels rather than take the risk." said a JSC spokesman. A separate group of shuttle engineers who specialize in wing leading edge systems said the small cracks in the panels would not jeopardize the Discovery astronauts and recommended NASA proceed with the planned launch, scheduled to blast off Oct. 23. The issue will be taken up again next week during a traditional Flight Readiness Review at KSC.

Rock Band Kansas to Perform at KSC in November (Source: Florida Today)
The rock band Kansas will mark the 30th anniversary of its album “Point of Know Return” with a performance Nov. 10 that launches the inaugural fall concert series at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. The concert series comes on the heels of the World Space Expo, to be held at the Visitor Complex from Nov. 1 through Nov. 4. The concerts will take place at the KSC Rocket Garden.