November 2 News Items

Russia Launches Third German Radar Satellite (Source: SpaceToday.net)
A Russian Kosmos rocket launched the third in a series of German radar reconnaissance satellites early Thursday. The Kosmos-3M rocket lifted off from the Plesetsk spaceport in northern Russia and placed the SAR-Lupe 3 satellite into orbit. The spacecraft, built by German company OHB-System, is the third of a planned constellation of five satellites that will provide radar imagery for the German military. The first SAR-Lupe satellite was launched last year and the second in July; the final two are scheduled for launch next year.

Space Florida and Bigelow Aerospace Explore Space Transportation Initiative (Source: Space Florida)
Space Florida is teaming up with Bigelow Aerospace on a proposed Florida Space Transportation Initiative. Structured as an investment fund of both public and private financing, the project could support the development of new orbital space transportation capabilities at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. Bigelow has decided to expedite its ‘Sundancer’ space station project, but no domestic commercial launch option can currently meet the company's needs.

Vast Amount of Water Ice May Lie on Martian Equator (Source: New Scientist)
Some puzzling land formations on Mars's equator could be huge glacier-like deposits of frozen water, new radar observations suggest. The material's radar properties might be explained by unusually porous rocky material instead, but if it is water it would represent a huge amount – as much as a polar ice cap contains, providing a potential water source for future human explorers. Scientists have puzzled for decades over a group of mound-like structures at Mars's equator called the Medusa Fossae Formation. A variety of explanations have been offered, including that they are piles of volcanic ash, and that they are glacier-like structures made mostly of water ice. Now, radar sounding has probed the material for the first time 2.5 kilometres below its surface. The way the radio waves interact with the material suggests that it must be either ice or an extremely porous rocky material.

China Says There's No Space Race in Asia (Source: AP)
Over a few short months, Japan, China, and India will all have lunar probes orbiting the moon, sparking talk of a new space race in Asia. China, for one, takes exception at that characterization. On Thursday, a top official in its secretive military-backed lunar explorer program defended the probe launched last week as an innovation that is part of a future wave of cooperation, not competition, in outer space. "It's all peaceful," said Pei Zhaoyu, assistant director of the Lunar Exploration Program Center, when asked whether a space race was on. "The countries involved in lunar exploration are developing an understanding. They're evolving a mechanism for cooperation."

South Africa's Own Rocket Man Makes Audacious Bid for Space (Source: Engineering News)
Should South Africa get back into the business of building space rockets? Could it? One who thinks that the answer to both questions is "yes" is US-trained South African aerospace engineer Mark Comninos, who, in 2002, established his own company, Marcom Aeronautics & Space, to pursue his dream of getting this country back into rocketry. What this country does not have is an independent launch capability. It nearly did, once, as a spin-off of the nuclear weapons program of the 1980s.

Alliant Tech Profit Rises on Ammo, Rocket Sales (Source: Reuters)
Alliant Techsystems said quarterly profit rose 28 percent, helped by strong sales of its small artillery and rocket-launch equipment. The company, which is the No. 1 supplier of bullets to U.S. military forces, and makes rocket motors for NASA, reported fiscal second-quarter profit of $51 million, compared with $40 million in the year-ago quarter. Sales rose 24 percent to $1.03 billion, well ahead of analysts' average estimate of $972.5 million.

UK 'Needs to be in Space' (Source: BBC)
The UK's decision to shun human spaceflight was a mistake that needs to be changed, says Europe's International Space Station program chief. But with NASA on the verge of ending its shuttle program and the Russian Soyuz capsules overbooked, it will not be easy to reverse course. "I think it's a fundamental mistake," Thirkettle said in an interview with the BBC News website. "They've totally blown it."

Editorial: Spaceport's New Moon Work Appears to Solidify Exploration Role (Source: Florida Today)
The difficult task of turning NASA's Kennedy Space Center into a hub for human exploration of the moon has suddenly taken off like a rocket. It happened Tuesday when the agency announced the spaceport would be the assembly point for landers that will carry astronauts back to the moon's surface and manage programs to manufacture their lunar living quarters. KSC also was selected as the place for research and development to design the systems needed to turn lunar soil into fuel or other supplies so astronauts can survive at a moon base. But amid the good news, a strong word of caution.

The next occupant of the White House could decide the moon shot's not worth it and change course. Adding to the uncertainty is that none of the Democratic or Republican presidential contenders -- except Hillary Clinton, who has expressed support for the Orion project -- have provided a detailed position on space. The enormous costs of the Iraq war and domestic needs such as health care, Social Security and education could cause Congress to strip NASA of moon money. It will take concerted leadership by Nelson, Weldon and other members of Florida's congressional delegation to keep this effort on track. It also will take leadership sorely lacking in Tallahassee for the state to create the financial incentives necessary to lure private space companies and entrepreneurs.