December 27 News Items

Oklahoma Hopes to Increase Aerospace Workforce (Source: AIA)
Oklahoma needs more aerospace workers to meet the demands of the industry. Recent findings by a governor's council suggest that by 2014, the state will be unable to supply about 200 aerospace engineers and 400 electrical engineers needed by aerospace firms. In 2006, lawmakers created the Oklahoma Aerospace Institute to help boost the state's aerospace workforce.

Interest Rekindled in Wallops Island Spaceport (Source: Virginian-Pilot)
Years before the first payload soared into orbit, Billie Reed was convinced that the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island could be a player in the commercial space business. In the afterglow of two successful rocket launches during the past 12-1/2 months, the prospects have never looked better for the Eastern Shore facility, known as MARS. Last winter, fired-up Virginia state lawmakers passed legislation giving commercial operators immunity from liability for human space flight. The law, the first of its kind in the nation, is designed to make the spaceport more attractive to entrepreneurs looking to offer people quick rides into space. This adventure tourism is predicted to grow into a $700 million business with 13,000 passengers by 2020. In its upcoming session in January, the General Assembly will up the ante. Visit http://hamptonroads.com/2007/12/look-back:-interest-rekindled-wallops-island-spaceport to view the article.

Proton Launches GLONASS Satellites (Source: SpaceToday.net)
A Russian Proton rocket placed three GLONASS navigation satellites in orbit, part of Russia's continuing effort to repopulate its satellite navigation system. The Proton-M rocket, using a Block-DM upper stage, lifted off from the Baikonur spaceport in Kazakhstan. The satellites join 15 other operational satellites in the GLONASS system, the Russian version of the US GPS constellation, include three launched in October. The launches are part of an effort by Russia to rebuild GLONASS, which fell into disrepair after the fall of the Soviet Union, and turn it into a global competitor with GPS and other planned satellite navigation systems. Russia anticipates have a full constellation of 24 satellites in operation by 2009.

Indian Official: Need to Look at Habitats on Mars, Moon (Source: Business Standard)
Former Indian President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam has asked budding scientists to explore possibilities of developing alternative habitats on Mars and the Moon for human beings. Kalam appealed students to develop a scientific attitude and work towards solving problems faced by humans. “It’s high time that we start searching for a new habitat as space on Earth is ending fast. The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has already launched projects aimed at the Moon and Mars. Budding scientists like you now have a challenge to explore new ideas and look at the Moon and Mars as new human habitats,” Kalam said.

To Mars ... and Back? (Source: Gainesville Sun)
A new study has unearthed a risk to the health of astronauts leaving Earth's orbit for missions deeper in space. Scientists at NASA have wrestled with countless challenges to an extended space journey to the red planet, ever since the first unmanned spacecraft landed on Mars in 1975. Now, as a result of a new study done in cooperation with researchers at the University of Florida's McKnight Brain Institute and elsewhere, scientists have uncovered an unexpected risk to the health of astronauts leaving Earth's orbit for missions deeper in space.

Dr. Philip Scarpa is a NASA flight surgeon at the Kennedy Space Center and a study co-investigator. "Space radiation has not been a serious problem for NASA human missions because they have been short in duration or have occurred in low Earth orbit, within the protective magnetic field of the Earth," Scarpa said. The success of future space exploration may depend on how well we can protect astronauts from the perils of cosmic radiation as they venuture beyond Earth orbit. Visit http://www.gainesvillesun.com/article/20071226/NEWS/712260303/1004/NEWS to view the article.

International Robotic Rivalry in Space (Source: Space.com)
It has to be some sort of record. At no time over the five decades of sending robot craft into the heavens have so many spacecraft been on duty at such a variety of far-flung destinations or en route to their targets. Ballistic buckshot of science gear is now strewn throughout the solar system — and in some cases, like Voyager hardware — have exited our cosmic neighborhood to become an interstellar mission. The march of time has also meant that more nations have honed the skills and know-how to explore the solar system. For example, Europe has dispatched probes to the Moon, Mars and Venus — and their Rosetta spacecraft is on a 10-year journey to investigate a comet in 2014.

Meanwhile, Japan's Kaguya and China's Chang'e 1 lunar orbiters have each just settled into an aggressive campaign of surveying the Moon. India is set to orbit the Moon with its Chandrayaan-1 in 2008, and the German space agency is also prepping for a future robotic lunar mission as is the United Kingdom. All this action at the Moon — including the rekindling of Russian and U.S. lunar missions — bodes well for bolder ventures ever-deeper into the solar system by multiple nations. And there are other signals stemming from all this outbound traffic. Visit http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/071226-tw-space-robotics.html to view the article.

Prospects Fade for Pentagon Satellite Plan (Source: Wall Street Journal)
When NASA picked Boeing recently to build as much as $1.2 billion of satellites, analysts and company officials predicted it would improve Boeing's chances of winning larger, higher-profile military-satellite contracts in coming months. But the survival of the Pentagon's largest satellite-communications program now appears increasingly in doubt. That could undermine ambitious growth plans not only for Boeing's space unit and its subcontractors, but also for many of its rivals.

Japan: Major Lunar Probe Begins Full Operation (Source: AFP)
Japan's first lunar probe, the world's most extensive mission to the moon in decades, has gone into full operation on schedule. The Kaguya orbiter completed a two-month initial phase to inspect the functioning of all the equipment before starting its main mission on Friday last week, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said. The $478 million lunar probe is on the most extensive mission to investigate the moon since the US Apollo program in the 1960s and 1970s. The satellite has sent many images of the Earth for research and general public viewing, most notably the first high-definition image of the Earth rising, showing a crystal clear blue planet emerging from the moon's horizon.

Rocketplane Still on Track for Launch (Source: Journal Record)
Rocketplane Global Inc. has seen more downs than ups since its inception six years ago, but the company is still slated to eventually send people into space. The project, at the Oklahoma Spaceport at the Clinton-Sherman Air Force Base in Burns Flat, has received support from the state of Oklahoma as well as NASA, although as of yet the company has not sent a reusable vehicle into space on flights more than 60 miles above Earth. Tax credits by the Oklahoma Tax Commission in 2004 amounted to $18 million in transferable credits. In addition NASA committed to more than $200 million with several strings attached.

So far, Rocketplane has not lived up to its requirements set forth by NASA. In addition, the company sold its state tax credits in an effort to fund its suborbital spacecraft. Financial problems have also led to cutbacks and layoffs at the company. But despite setbacks, the company recently rolled out major engineering changes to its Rocketplane XP suborbital vehicle. The team has logged more than 200,000 man-hours devoted to engineering between Rocketplane employees and its subcontractors. The result of their work and modifications were released in October. “We’ve gone away from the Learjet fuselage concept that we originally started off with and just through analysis and wind tunnel testing and other things we’ve been able to head ourselves in a better direction.”

2007: Top 10 Space Stories (Source: New Scientist)
Seething activity on the Sun, Martian caves and bizarre black holes were among the most clicked-on subjects of the year. Visit http://space.newscientist.com/article/dn13118-2007-top-10-space-stories.html to view the article.

New Orleans Gets a Boost From NASA (Source: Washington Post)
The route to the moon and perhaps to Mars now goes through New Orleans, and the detour couldn't come at a better time in the city's struggle to rebuild its shattered economy after Hurricane Katrina. With thousands of houses still in ruins and its population reduced by almost 170,000, a boost is on the way for New Orleans in the form of high-wage jobs and contracts for next-generation space systems at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility. Before the storm, New Orleans' economy thrived on low-wage tourism. But the $156 million payroll at Michoud -- some salaries are in the hundreds of thousands of dollars -- generates paychecks significantly above the city's median annual income of about $27,000.