Political Science = Science Held Hostage to Politics (Source: What's New)
How did Sputnik II miss the Van Allen belts that the U.S. Explorer-1 satellite discover, you might wonder? The data recorder on board wasn’t working. Scientists wanted to delay launch to make repairs. Khrushchev refused - he was headed to an important international conference and wanted to announce another success. Thus, at the dawn of the Space Age, science was already held hostage to politics. Yesterday at the Carnegie Institution in Washington, Hillary Clinton spoke on "Reclaiming our Commitment to Science and Innovation." Her strongest words came after the speech in an interview with the NY Times. She called for protection of research from "political pressure," including restoration of cuts in space-based climate research.
Ascendancy of Chinese Rocketry Worries U.S. Lawmakers (Source: AIA)
China's partnership with French commercial satellite manufacturer Thales SA has U.S. lawmakers concerned and calling for action. Thales also has contracts with the U.S., and critics say American technology could wind up in the hands of China and Third World customers. Thales says it has safeguards in place to prevent that and "continues to be fully transparent with U.S. government officials" regarding the company's commercial space business.
Goddard Lunar Science On A Roll (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
Pack your bags because Goddard's "suitcase science" is taking off. Coming on the heels of two Lunar Sortie Science Opportunities (LSSO) awards for Goddard are two more, this time in the field of astrophysics. As before, the awards are funded by NASA Headquarters for studies that could result in simple, automated "suitcase science" instrument packages deployed on the lunar surface by astronauts. The first proposal, "Precision Lunar Laser Ranging", could lead to suitcase-sized laser reflector arrays and/or laser transponders at various locations on the moon so the distance from Earth to the moon can be determined to the submillimeter level. The second proposal is for a Lunar X-ray Observatory (LXO).
Astronauts To Ride Rails In Emergency (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
As NASA revamps Launch Complex 39B to host the new Orion spacecraft and Ares I rocket of the Constellation Program, engineers are preparing to install a new kind of departure system to evacuate astronauts. The agency calls it the Orion Emergency Egress System, but it is fundamentally a group of multi-passenger cars on a set of rails reminiscent of a roller coaster. Its purpose is to move astronauts and ground crew quickly from the vehicle entry on the launch pad to a protective concrete bunker in case of an emergency. The rail car would stand some 380 feet above the ground. It will be at the same height as the hatch on the Orion capsule, which is where the astronaut crews enter the spacecraft before launch.
Star System Just Right For Building An Earth (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
An Earth-like planet is likely forming 424 light-years away in a star system called HD 113766, say astronomers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Scientists have discovered a huge belt of warm dust - enough to build a Mars-size planet or larger - swirling around a distant star that is just slightly more massive than our sun. The dust belt, which they suspect is clumping together into planets, is located in the middle of the system's terrestrial habitable zone. This is the region around a star where liquid water could exist on any rocky planets that might form. Earth is located in the middle of our sun's terrestrial habitable zone. At approximately 10 million years old, the star is also at just the right age for forming rocky planets.
ISU Sponsors Sputnik Auction (Source: ISU)
The International Space University (ISU) is conducting a 10-day auction on eBay of unusual and interesting Space-related and Sputnik/Apollo era items. Turn your office or home into a museum, dine with an astronaut, party with a movie director, attend a rocket launch, own priceless books and memorabilia, send a payload to orbit, all of these are at your finger tips through an eBay auction. Included in this auction will be a full-size, museum-quality Sputnik 1 replica, the opportunity to fly a 1-kilogram payload in space, to lunch or tour the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum with a former NASA astronaut, acquire space art, to purchase beautiful coffee-table books and other items autographed by Buzz Aldrin, and more! Proceeds from the auction will be used to create a scholarship fund in the U.S. to support deserving students seeking to attend ISU. For the auction, visit “ISU auction” under Stores on eBay.com, or link to it from the ISU website at http://www.isunet.edu.
Astronauts Open Auction of their Artifacts and Memorabilia (Source: Astronaut Scholarship Foundation)
Space fans can bid online for astronaut artifacts and personal memorabilia from some of their beloved astronauts as the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation (ASF) debuts its Semi-Annual Auction of Astronaut Artifacts and Memorabilia at http://www.astronautscholarship.org/auction_ag10.pl. Legendary astronauts have joined together to auction off their space mementos as a way to raise funds to provide scholarships for exceptional college students pursuing degrees in Science and Engineering. Highlights of the auction include: A mission patch FLOWN to the moon aboard Apollo 14 and autographed by astronaut Edgar Mitchell; a painted canvas depicting the Earth and moon signed by 27 legendary astronauts such as Buzz Aldrin and Wally Schirra; Apollo 13 insurance cover signed by the original prime crew: Fred Haise, Jim Lovell and Ken Mattingly (Mattingly was replaced three days before the mission for medical concerns) and a piece of the Apollo 11 thermal protection subsystem which covered the capsule on its flight to the moon.
Boeing Should Retract Remarks About Alabama, Lawmaker Says (Source: AIA)
Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., is asking Boeing to retract remarks that Alabama is a risky place to build a military aircraft. Boeing is competing against Northrop Grumman for a contract to build aerial refueling tankers, and Northrop plans to assemble the planes in Alabama. A Boeing spokesman said the remarks were aimed at the risk of creating a new assembly line, not the skills of Alabama workers.
China May Make it to the Moon Before U.S., Griffin Says (Source: Florida Today)
Chinese astronauts may land on the moon before the U.S. makes its return visit, NASA Administrator Mike Griffin said. The U.S. hopes to send a manned mission to the moon by 2020, and China hopes to beat that deadline. "I think when that happens, Americans will not like it," Griffin said. "But they will just have to not like it."
Japanese Spacecraft Enters Lunar Orbit (Source: SpaceToday.net)
A Japanese lunar probe launched last month has entered orbit around the Moon. The Kaguya spacecraft fired its thrusters on Thursday in a maneuver that put the spacecraft into an elliptical orbit ranging from 100 to over 11,700 km above the lunar surface. The spacecraft will circularize its orbit over the next two weeks and release two small subsatellites. The spacecraft, launched September 14, is billed as the most ambitious lunar mission since the end of the Apollo program 35 years ago. Kaguya features 15 instruments to study the lunar surface and the space environment in its vicinity, including experiments designed to look for traces of water ice thought to exist at the poles.
New Currency for Space Travelers (Source: BBC)
Scientists have come up with a new currency designed to be used by inter-planetary travelers. It is called the Quasi Universal Intergalactic Denomination, or Quid. It is designed to withstand the stresses of space travel and has no sharp edges or chemicals that could hurt space tourists. It was designed for the foreign exchange company Travelex by scientists from the National Space Centre and the University of Leicester. "None of the existing payment systems we use on earth - like cash, credit or debit cards - could be used in space," said Professor George Fraser from the University of Leicester. Visit http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7029564.stm to view the article.
Google Earth Worries ISRO Chief, Wants Dialog (Source: Hindustan Times)
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) chief has expressed concern at high-resolution satellite images offered by Google and said authorities should hold a dialog with it over the display of imagery of some of the country's sensitive locations. "...Some of the places, they have collected images from foreign satellites and that comes to one meter (resolution) and better. For example if you take Bangalore or Delhi, they have given fine pictures -- which normally one is not supposed to do," ISRO chief G Madhavan Nair said. "I think our defense agencies should be worried about it. They have to work out some method by which we can (do something)...We need not display anything," Nair remarked. Several governments, including South Korea and Thailand, have expressed similar concerns.
NASTAR Center Officially Opens on 50th Anniversary of Sputnik Launch (Source: ETC)
The NASTAR Center officially opened for business October 4th, on the 50th anniversary of Sputnik's launch. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University participated in the event. The NASTAR Center is prepared to become a significant contributor to the next fifty years of the space age, during which private space travel is projected to grow substantially. The NASTAR Center is already the leader in space traveler training, having been named the official space training provider for Virgin Galactic.
NASA Launch Control Center Evacuated (Source: Florida Today)
The Launch Control Center at Kennedy Space Center was evacuated Friday after a fire alarm rang out on an out-of-service bridge between the four-story facility and the towering Vehicle Assembly Building. Dozens of NASA and contractor workers gathered in marshaling areas outside the LCC and the VAB and the space center police force stopped all traffic -- including tour buses -- traveling on Saturn Causeway just south of the facilities. "It was not a drill," KSC spokesman George Diller said. "It was a real fire alarm, but it was a false alarm." The evacuees were able to return to their work sites within about 20 minutes.
UCF to Host Planetary Conference (Source: Florida Today)
Some 1,000 scientists will converge on Orlando next week for a conference of the Division of Planetary Sciences, hosted by the University of Central Florida, which is trying to build up its 5-year-old planetary sciences department. A group within American Astronomical Society, the DPS scientists will present scientific papers and discuss the latest developments in their fields Oct. 7-12. Held for the first time in Florida, the conference shows a growing respect for UCF, said Humberto Campins, who is also director of the planetary sciences group housed in the physics department at UCF.
India May Launch Italian Dual Use Satellites (Source: Flight International)
Italy and India have agreed to expand their space links by identifying areas for future co-operation such as earth observation systems, small satellites, networking ground stations and space-based experimentation, according to Italian Space Agency (ASI) president Giovanni Fabrizio Bignami. An Italian-built atmospheric research payload, ROSA (radio occultation sounder), will form a part of India's Oceansat-2 satellite mission, which is to be launched by PSLV sometime in 2008. Bignami also says ASI has given ISRO data from the first of the its four Cosmo-SkyMed satellites, launched in June, and that ASI will consider PSLV for launching at least two of the three remaining Cosmo-Skymed satellites.
Potentially Threatening Space Rock Rediscovered (Source: Space.com)
A recently discovered space rock that could one day threaten Earth turns out to be an object seen more than four decades ago but lost in space ever since. The object, thought to be a burned out comet that now resembles an asteroid, was catalogued as 2007 RR9 this year when found. When it was last seen, in 1960, it carried the designation 6344 P-L. It's considered a "potentially hazardous asteroid" because part of its orbit is near the path our planet takes around the sun. The object poses no specific threat to the planet any time in the foreseeable future. Over time, however, the orbit of a space rock will shift and could cause it to hit the planet.
Flying Mirrors Could Save the Earth (Source: Metro UK)
A collection of flying mirrors could be the best way to save Earth from a catastrophic asteroid collision, researchers have claimed. A fleet of up to 5,000 orbiting mirrors could reflect a beam of sunlight on to a threatening asteroid, heating it to about 2,100°C (3,800°F). This would 'melt the asteroid's surface and nudge it off course'. The announcement came after a research team at the University of Glasgow compared nine different methods of deflecting near-Earth objects such as asteroids and comets. Using nuclear bombs was another feasible option considered by the team but they raised concerns about the risk of debris from such an explosion.
Baikonur Proton Launches to Resume When Damages Claims Met (Source: RIA Novosti)
Proton launches from the Baikonur space center, suspended following a crash on September 6, can be resumed when Kazakhstan damages claims are met, said a Kazakh emergencies spokesman. Viktor Khrapunov, the Kazakh emergency situations minister, earlier said the damage estimate could come to over $8 million. The ministry statement also said the commission decided that "the ban on Proton launches from Baikonur" should be lifted when Russia takes further environmental protection measures and makes payments for the "excessive pollution of the environment" following the crash. A Proton rocket is scheduled to launch three global navigation Glonass satellites October 25 from Baikonur.
Symposium Highlights America’s Space Dependency (Source: Montgomery Advisor)
The first Space Education Symposium was held by Air University’s National Space Studies Center Sept. 25-27. In a video presentation sent to the symposium, Rep. Terry Everett, R-Ala., a senior member of the House Armed Services, Intelligence and Agriculture Committee, said space is mostly an unsecured resource, and few Americans understand their dependency on it. “Too many Americans feel the dark void above us is of little consequence, but nothing is farther from the truth,” the congressman said. He said the dependency on space goes beyond the military, government agencies, and the intelligence community to the use of space assets for weather reporting, global mapping, ATM machines, agricultural reports, global position systems, the trucking industry, communications, airlines, the scientific community, and many other areas.
NASA, NOAA Bill Faces Veto Threat (Source: Aviation Week)
The Bush administration is threatening to veto the Senate's fiscal 2008 Commerce, Justice, Science appropriations bill, which includes the budgets for NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), because the overall bill contains $3.2 billion in funding above the White House's request. "The administration has asked that Congress demonstrate a path to live within the president's topline and cover the excess spending in this bill through reductions elsewhere," the White House said in a Statement of Administration Policy released Oct. 4. "Because Congress has failed to demonstrate such a path, if S.1745 were presented to the president, he would veto the bill."
Canada Needs a Space Policy to Have a Voice in a Crowded Arena (Source: CanadaEast)
Former Canadian astronaut Marc Garneau is urging the federal government to draft a national space policy. Garneau says China, India and Brazil are developing space programs to compete with the U.S. and Russia, and space is becoming an increasingly crowded arena. He says it is important for Canada to be there to have a voice. He said that a national space policy would help Canada achieve a number of national objectives, including Arctic sovereignty. Canada became the third country to place a satellite in orbit, behind the Soviet Union and the U.S. when it launched Alouette in 1962.
How Hitler Won the Space Race (12 Years After He Died) (Source: Daily Mail)
The Officer's Club was thick with three-star generals clinking glasses when a young officer burst into the bar. Too agitated to lower his voice, he grabbed General John Medaris, the commander of the Alabama base. "General," he stammered, "it has been announced over the radio that the Russians have put up a successful satellite!" A deathly hush fell. "It's broadcasting signals on a common frequency!" the young officer added. Fifty years ago yesterday, the world's first orbiting satellite captured the world's headlines. Nowhere was it greeted with more dismay than in Huntsville, Alabama, headquarters of the U.S. Army Ballistic Missile Agency. Click here to view the article.
APT Denies Sale of Company is Imminent (Source: Space News)
The stock price of satellite-fleet operator APT Satellite Holdings Ltd. of Hong Kong has more than doubled on the New York and Hong Kong exchanges in the past two weeks for no apparent reason, forcing the company on Oct. 5 to deny that an acquisition or other deal was imminent.
Rocketplane President Resigns (Source: Space News)
Randy Brinkley has resigned as president of Rocketplane Kistler, the Oklahoma City-based firm on the verge of losing NASA financial backing for a rocket it had hoped to use to carry supplies to the international space station.
Spacehab Subsidiary Wins Space Probe Processing Contract (Source: Spacehab)
Spacehab's Astrotech subsidiary has won a fully funded task order to provide facilities and payload processing support for NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) spacecraft, scheduled for launch mid-2008 from Vandenberg Air Force Base.
Program Gaps Worry KSC Director (Source: Florida Today)
The U.S. could lose technological superiority in space during the four- to five-year gap of manned space flight between the retirement of the space shuttle and the launch of the Constellation mission, the head of KSC said. It's during that gap that competitors from China, Europe, Japan and Russian will be launching astronauts into space and gain ground on the U.S. space program, said Bill Parsons, the KSC director who is overseeing the final launches of the space shuttle, two of which are scheduled prior to year's end. "I think that takes away our technological edge in the world," Parsons said on the absence of manned-space flights between the shuttle and Constellation.
Space-Based Test Bed Falls Again As Spending Rejected (Source: Aviation Week)
Senators have argued over and ultimately rejected the Missile Defense Agency's (MDA) proposed space-based missile defense test bed once again, likely sealing the fate of efforts to begin studies in fiscal 2008. Missile defense advocates tried to resurrect MDA's request Oct. 3, but opponents claimed it was another step toward the so-called armed "Star Wars" concept. So far neither House nor Senate defense authorizers, nor House appropriators, have approved or funded MDA's request.
Senate OKs Extra Billion for NASA (Source: Houston Chronicle)
The Senate approved $1 billion in additional funding for NASA on Thursday, with Democrats and Republicans alike ignoring President Bush's threat to veto any spending bills that exceed his budget proposal. The extra money, which would increase the space agency's budget to $18.5 billion for the 2008 fiscal year that began Monday, is intended to reimburse NASA's accounts that were siphoned in order to get shuttles flying again after the 2003 Columbia disaster. It also could be used to speed up development of the new Orion spacecraft to send astronauts back to the moon, narrowing a planned five-year gap during which the United States would have no manned spacecraft flying after the aging shuttle fleet is retired in 2010. A final vote on the bill will come when the Senate returns after a weeklong break.
Clinton Lays Out Position on Space (Source: Sen. Clinton)
Senator Hillary Clinton, in hopes of gaining the Democratic nomination for President, has released a statement of her position on space exploration: "Pursue an Ambitious 21st century Space Exploration Program -- Hillary is committed to a space exploration program that involves robust human spaceflight to complete the Space Station and later human missions, expanded robotic spaceflight probes of our solar system leading to future human exploration, and enhanced space science activities. She will speed development, testing, and deployment of next-generation launch and crew exploration vehicles to replace the aging Space Shuttle. And in pursuing next-generation programs, Hillary will capitalize on the expertise of the current Shuttle program workforce and will not allow a repeat of the “brain drain” that occurred between the Apollo and shuttle missions."
By Edward Ellegood
LinkedIn Group
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