October 6 News Items

Ariane Launches Two Satellites (Source: SpaceToday.net)
An Ariane 5 launched two communications satellites for customers in the US and Australia on Friday. The Ariane 5 GS lifted off from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana. The two payloads, Intelsat 11 and Optus D2, were released into geosynchronous transfer orbit about a half-hour after liftoff. The launch also tested the reignition sequence of the upper stage that will be required when the Ariane 5 launched the first ATV cargo spacecraft for the ISS early next year. The launch is the fourth of six Ariane 5 missions scheduled for 2007.

Russia Faces Lengthy Shortage of Satellite Communications (Source: Space News)
Russia's domestic satellite-telecommunications market is facing a supply shortage likely to be felt as early as 2008 and to last several years as business and government demand for C- and Ku-band capacity outpaces the ability of Russia's satellite operators to keep up. The supply bottleneck is almost inevitable despite the ongoing expansion plans of Gascom and Russian Satellite Communications Co., both of which are in the middle of multiyear fleet expansions, and the continued presence of non-Russian satellite operators including Eutelsat and Intelsat. Unlike most nations with established satellite telecommunications markets, Russia appears to be burning its candle at both ends: sharply rising demand at one end and, at the other, an in-orbit supply that is actually shrinking as older satellites are retired before newer, longer-lasting spacecraft are made ready.

Florida Space Advocates Visit Tallahassee (Source: ERAU)
Elected officials, local agencies, university representatives (including Embry-Riddle) will be in Tallahassee this week for meetings with Governor Charlie Crist and officials from Space Florida. The groups will discuss ongoing efforts to develop recommendations for legislative action aimed at expanding and diversifying Florida’s space industry, and protecting the large number of space-related jobs that are at risk as the Space Shuttle program moves toward retirement.

Russian Official Arrested in Energomash Extortion Scheme (Source: Space News)
A senior member of Russia's federal Audit Chamber (similar to the U.S. GAO) has been arrested on charges of attempting to extort millions of dollars from rocket-engine maker Energomash in a scheme that temporarily disrupted shipments of RD-180 main engines to the U.S. for use in the Air Force's Atlas 5 rocket. The episode began with an investigation of Energomash by the Audit Chamber, Russia's rough equivalent to the U.S. Government Accountability Office. It culminated with a sting operation in which three alleged conspirators were arrested after one of them accepted $1.4 million in cash from a senior Energomash official. In the midst of the Audit Chamber's probe, an export license that Energomash needed to ship RD-180 engines to the U.S. was inexplicably held up. Millions of dollars in contractual payments to the company were deferred as a result.

Rocketplane Kistler President Resigns (Source: Space News)
Rocketplane Kistler, on the verge of losing NASA backing for a rocket intended to carry supplies to the space station, accepted the resignation of its president just days after he sent a lengthy letter to the U.S. space agency blaming it for the company's financial problems. He has been replaced by William Byrd, a member of Rocketplane's board of directors, and a director of the Iowa Space Grant Consortium who worked on the space shuttle and space station programs for more than a decade.

Brinkley, a former president of Boeing Satellite Systems, took over Kistler Aerospace in 2004. He led the company out of bankruptcy and through its acquisition by Rocketplane in early 2006 just as proposals for NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) demonstration program were coming due. Brinkley did not respond the week of Oct. 1 to multiple requests for comment.

FCC Approves Loral's Telesat Acquisition (Source: AP)
Loral said Friday it received the final required approval from U.S. regulators to complete its acquisition of Telesat Canada. The Federal Communications Commission granted Loral approval to acquire Telesat from BCE Inc. for $3.31 billion, a deal first proposed in December. Loral expects to close the acquisition before the end of October. Loral shares rose 51 cents to $42.50 in midday trading.

"Rocket NASCAR," Moon Base Part of 50-Year Space Vision (Source: National Geographic)
A new era of competition to break through the planet's atmosphere has begun, sparking visions of what human space travel will look like 50 years in the future. The governments of the United States, India, China, and Japan have each announced high-profile plans to send humans back to the moon for the first time since Apollo 17 landed there in 1972. Some of these projects involve building permanent lunar settlements that will serve as science stations as well as testing grounds for technology to send pioneering astronauts to Mars.

And renewed interest in space travel has already laid the foundations for a multibillion-U.S.-dollar entertainment and tourism industry, said Peter Diamandis, chair and CEO of the X Prize Foundation. Historians of the future might call it the second space race—although this time the competition will be among private entrepreneurs as well as government agencies. The next generations of rockets and shuttles along with tourist-friendly spaceports across the globe could eventually make space vacations as routine as a trip to Disneyland. For example, Diamandis will soon wave the starting flag for his latest venture, the Rocket Racing League.

Space Pioneers Look to Australia's Colonial Past (Source: Australian Broadcasting Corp.)
It may be a century or two, or even three, before humankind calls another planet home, but researchers say lessons learnt from the settlement of Australia will prove useful for the future colonization of other planets. A University of Queensland research team shows extraterrestrial colonies could end up resembling the worst aspects of outback mining towns. While the images from popular movies, television shows and books tend to shape most people's concept of space travel, the research team has now boldly gone where no researchers have gone before.

In an attempt to come up with scenarios for what they say is the inevitable colonization of other worlds, they have analysed attitudes toward space exploration. Doctor Toni Johnson-Woods says she and her colleagues found there is a prevailing belief that other planets and their natural resources are there simply to be exploited. "The focus is on exploitation of the minerals. Basically, it's just Australia all over again," she said. The researchers concluded that the digging up and processing of minerals is likely to be a factor driving future planetary colonization and doctor John Cokley says that is where Australia's experiences could provide valuable lessons.