December 7 News Items

Lawmakers Want Shuttle's Life Extended Despite Dangers (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Despite the objections of senior NASA officials and Columbia disaster investigators, key members of Congress are pushing hard to extend space shuttle operations beyond 2010. Some members of Congress, however, have other ideas. Texas lawmakers led by Republican U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas are drafting legislation to force the agency to fly at least one more mission to launch a $1.5 billion antimatter experiment that NASA grounded because of other priorities. At the same time, Rep. Dave Weldon wants the agency to keep flying the shuttle until the next-generation spacecraft is ready to take its place. That won't be until 2015 and may take longer if the shuttle keeps flying and NASA's budget languishes.

Prominent critics and internal NASA studies say that adding more flights could put astronauts' lives at greater risk by requiring them to fly in an aging and inherently troubled system beyond its recommend retirement date. And doing so without adding more money also would delay and possibly sink the agency's moon and Mars projects. NASA's Michael Griffin was blunt about the impact: "If I am directed to keep flying the shuttle but no additional money shows up, then that additional money has to come out of other programs. There is just no other source."

Griffin said overhead costs are at least $3 billion a year to continue flying. NASA's total budget is about $18 billion. Without extra money, NASA would have to rob the Constellation program, and perhaps kill it. But this year, the agency's allies in Congress haven't been able to persuade their colleagues to support even $1 billion in extra funding next year. "We know it's an uphill battle," said Matt Mackowiak, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's spokesman, but he said his boss and others would continue to press for more money. Click here to view the article.

Florida Among Best States for Small Business (Source: SGPB)
The Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council ranks “the best states for small businesses” in terms of “tax and regulatory climate.” The best states include South Dakota, Washington, Florida, Michigan, Texas, South Carolina, Virginia and Alabama. However, the Council misses the value of technology startups. According to their criteria, the worst states include California and Massachusetts—the long-term leaders in technology-based start-ups. Click here to see their rankings and multitude of indicators.

US Aerospace Industry Sales Near $200B (Source: Motley Fool)
Sales of military and commercial aircraft by U.S. manufacturers are forecast to grow at a slower rate next year, according to the Aerospace Industries Association. For 2007, the association estimates that sales climbed 8.5 percent to $198.8 billion. That figure includes $92.5 billion in sales to foreign customers, an increase of $7 billion, or 8.8 percent, from last year's $85 billion, driven by higher demand for commercial aircraft. Foreign sales of all U.S. aerospace products in 2007 rose for a second year, accounting for nearly half of the industry's business.

Editorial: Shuttle Retirement Decision Shouldn't Rely Solely on Astronaut Safety (Source: ERAU)
Retiring the Space Shuttle in 2010 makes sense for a lot of reasons, but astronaut safety shouldn't be at the top of the list. Astronauts understand and accept the risk of spaceflight when they enlist with NASA, and the agency does everything it can to ensure that the vehicles fly safely. The decision whether to extend the Shuttle's service life into 2011 shouldn't be based on astronaut safety. The failure rate for new rockets is much higher than it is for established ones...sometimes it takes a failure or two to work the kinks out. Ask an astronaut whether she would rather fly on the 121st Space Shuttle mission or on the first, second, or even third flight of NASA's proposed new Ares/Orion launch system.

New Director Named for New Mexico Spaceport Facility (Source: Alamogordo Daily News)
The New Mexico Spaceport Authority board has announced the hiring of Steven Landeene as the new executive director for Spaceport America, the nation's first purpose-built commercial spaceport. Landeene will fill the position left vacant by Rick Homans. Landeene will assume his responsibilities on Jan. 7, 2008. Landeene's duties will include the oversight of all spaceport operations, staffing, planning and development. His role includes working as a liaison between government entities and managing the Spaceport's public relations. Most recently, Landeene served as the director of strategy and planning for sales and marketing of Landmark Aviation out of Phoenix.

Fuel Sensors Force NASA to Delay Launch Until Saturday (Source: USA Today)
With less than a week of launch window left, NASA has decided to postpone the next attempted liftoff of space shuttle Atlantis to Saturday, after a recurrent fuel-sensor problem scrubbed Thursday's launch. If Atlantis doesn't blast off before Dec. 14, it will have to wait until early 2008. NASA officials are eager for Atlantis to lift off this year because the shuttle's cargo, a European laboratory, is five years late getting to space.

Engineers Trying to Develop Rationale to Fly As-Is (Source: Spaceflightnow.com)
Based on electrical data seen during Shuttle fueling, engineers believe the problem involves an open circuit in the wiring between an electronic box in the shuttle's engine compartment and the sensors at the base of the hydrogen section of the external tank. Given the shuttle's short eight-day launch window, NASA managers ruled out opening up the engine compartment to attempt any inspections of repairs. Instead, the team is focusing on developing flight rationale for launching Atlantis as is, using manual procedures to monitor the sensors during ascent to prevent any potentially catastrophic problems.

Manned Lunar Bases May Launch New Era in Space Tourism (Source: Pravda)
The primary goal of Russian and American lunar base projects is to conduct scientific research works to obtain natural and power recourses of the Moon. Japanese cosmic futurologists consider lunar tourism to be the best way to provide profitability. Some measures are to be taken to carry out scientific or other programs connected with continuous presence of people on the Moon; proper living conditions should be provided too. Scientists should explore the lunar power and raw materials recourses to use them while building bases under unusual conditions: habitual building materials deficiency (wood, concrete, glass and metal), and the lack of atmosphere. Visit http://newsfromrussia.com/science/tech/07-12-2007/102442-lunar_base-0 to view the article.