January 29 News Items

Posey to Run for Weldon's Seat (Sources: Florida Today, ERAU)
State Senator Bill Posey, R-Rockledge, told Florida Today that he "is inclined to pursue" the congressional seat Rep. Dave Weldon will leave vacant after he retires following the end his current term. Posey has been a champion of space issues in the Florida Legislature and serves on the board of directors of Space Florida. Weldon surprised folks around the Space Coast Friday by saying he wouldn't seek in eighth term in November. That started scrambling among local office holders enticed by the prospect of a rare vacant congressional seat. Heightening the interest is the fact that many potential candidates are bumping up term limits in the current office.

Rocket Engine Delayed for SpaceShipTwo (Source: AIA)
Scaled Composites must determine the cause of a fatal engine explosion before it moves ahead with developing a rocket for SpaceShipTwo, company founder Burt Rutan said. The company is building a fleet of five SpaceShipTwo vehicles for Virgin Galactic, which will carry paying passengers to the edge of space.

China Advocates Legalizing Prevention of Outer Space Arms Race (Source: Xinhua)
China will actively push for the signing of an international legal document on preventing arms race in outer space during the Disarmament Conference in Geneva, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said. The first 2008 session of the United Nations-sponsored Conference on Disarmament was being held in Geneva from Jan. 23. Wang Qun, Chinese Ambassador for Disarmament Affairs, led the Chinese delegation to attend the conference. "China advocates to peacefully utilize the outer space and opposes weaponization and arms race in the outer space," Jiang said. China has not and will never participate in outer space arms race, She added.

Demand Dropping for ULA's Delta II Rocket (Source: Denver Business Journal)
United Launch Alliance (ULA) has restructured its Delta II medium-lift rocket operation in anticipation of decreased demand in 2009. The Colorado-based company said it would continue Delta II launches, but is getting less military and NASA use for the rocket. "We are working to operate more efficiently at lower launch rates so that when the current market rebounds, we will remain positioned to offer high reliability and competitively priced launch product to support the market's needs," CEO Michael Gass said.

ULA has been "reducing the program's facilities footprint" and making use of synergies created by merging Boeing's Delta rocket program and Lockheed Martin's Atlas rockets. The ULA offers Delta II flights to government agencies and Boeing Launch Services offers commercial use of the Delta II, which has generated 16 launch missions through 2010. The Delta II has 78 consecutive successful launches. However, larger-lift rockets managed by ULA have been pulling demand away from the Delta II.

Virgin Galactic's White Knight II to Roll Out in May (Source: Flight International)
Virgin Galactic expects Scaled Composites to roll out its SpaceShipTwo (SS2) carrier aircraft White Knight II (WK2) in early May for ground tests. Construction of the four-engine, twin-fuselage prototype is 80% complete at Scaled's Mojave, California facility. The WK2 will have an all-carbonfiber airframe with a 42.7m (140ft) wingspan, 23.7m overall length and a tail height of 4.5m. Powered by four Pratt & Whitney Canada PW308 turbofans, the aircraft will have a range, carrying its SS2 payload, of more than 4,200km.

Faulty Cable Caused Russian Space Glitch (Source: AP)
A faulty control cable caused the glitch that subjected two Russian cosmonauts and Malaysia's first space traveler to a rough trip back to Earth. An inquiry revealed that the incident in October had been caused by a damaged control cable. The Soyuz landing capsule went down on a steeper-than-usual descent trajectory, the so-called ballistic descent. It subjected the crew to 8.5 times the force of gravity instead of the usual four times the force of gravity. "It felt like an elephant pressing on my chest, but the Russians trained us very well" to handle a rough descent, Sheikh Muszaphar said shortly after the landing Oct. 21.

Space Debris: Despite Chinese Test, Some Improvement (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
Commercial satellite operators last year worked harder to prevent space debris, although a Chinese anti-satellite test sharply worsened the problem of orbital junk, a French official said. China's test on Jan. 11 2007, in which it used a ballistic missile to destroy an ageing Chinese weather satellite, sparked an international outcry. At a stroke, it created hundreds of pieces of additional debris, posing a potential threat to satellites in low orbit.

There are now more than 12,000 objects that are monitored in orbit, around 1,500 of them debris from the Chinese test, and the tally is increasing by 200 to 250 objects per year. Of the total, 11,500 pieces are in low Earth orbit, which is at an altitude of between 800 and 1,500 kilometres (500 and 950 miles), where there are many commercial, military, scientific and navigational satellites. The maximum altitude of the International Space Station (ISS) is around 450 kilometres (280 miles).

Another 1,147 pieces are in geostationary orbit, about satellite orbits in the direction of the Earth's rotation, at an altitude of approximately 35,786 km (22,240 miles), where telecommunications satellites are typically deployed. A French official said that satellite operators were now doing better on obeying recommendations for disposing of disused satellites in geostationary orbit.

Europe Sets Launch Window for Maiden Mission of ATV Space Freighter (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
The European Space Agency (ESA) expects to carry out the maiden launch of a robot supply ship to the orbital space station between February 22 and March 8 or 9. " Loading and fueling the ATV at ESA's launch pad at Kourou, French Guiana, should be completed by this Saturday. It would then be transferred for final assembly to the Ariane 5 launcher.

GAO Denies Rocketplane Kistler's COTS Protest (Source: Space News)
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) announced Jan. 29 that it has denied Rocketplane Kistler's protest of NASA's plan to give one company $175 million next month to build and demonstrate a vehicle capable of delivering cargo to the international space station.

McCain Says He Supports Space Policy (Source: Huntsville Times)
Space exploration and NASA issues continue to draw support in campaigns seeking the White House this year with one Republican candidate expressing his support Sunday of President Bush's plan to return to the moon and send humans to Mars. In a statement, John McCain pledged support not only for NASA but for continued human space exploration of the moon and missions to Mars. "John McCain has been a strong supporter of NASA and the space program," the statement said. "He is proud to have sponsored legislation authorizing funding consistent with the President's vision for the space program, which includes a return of astronauts to the Moon in preparation for a manned mission to Mars."

Former NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe threw his support behind McCain with an official endorsement Monday. McCain joins the Republican ranks of Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani and Mike Huckabee in supporting space exploration. Democrats Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama have pledged support for NASA and current manned space flight programs. Democrat John Edwards has not publicly taken a space policy stance, and Republican Ron Paul has not taken a position on space-related issues.

U.S. Military Chief: China Evasive On ASAT (Source: Aviation Week)
After a 10-day visit to China, the commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific region says he knows nothing more about Beijing's intentions behind a kinetic anti-satellite (ASAT) demonstration that took place just over a year ago. Also elusive, according to Adm. Timothy Keating, is an understanding of who in the Chinese chain of command approved the Jan. 11, 2006 launch of a ballistic missile carrying a kinetic kill vehicle. It collided with China's aging FY-1C weather satellite, creating more than 2,000 items of debris now in low-Earth orbit.

It also jump-started a public discussion in Washington, D.C., about how much of a threat direct-ascent ASAT technologies pose to U.S. assets in space. Keating says that in his meetings with senior Chinese military officers they consistently made note of a precedent set by the United States, which conducted a direct-ascent ASAT demonstration in 1985 using a missile launched from an F-15.

Russia May Build New Manned Spacecraft by 2015 (Source: RIA Novosti)
Russia's Energia Corp. may build a new-generation piloted spacecraft by 2015, the company president said. Energia has been developing a reusable manned spacecraft since 2000. It is designed to replace the Soyuz and Progress launch vehicles in making regular flights to the International Space Station and even the Moon and Mars. Energia said last November it had developed six projects for new manned spacecraft, two of which will be submitted to Russia's space agency in the near future. It is proposed the craft will carry two professional astronauts and up to four passengers, compared to the Soyuz's three-member crews. Reliability of the craft and safety of its crew are among the main requirements for the future shuttle.

He also said the spacecraft would most likely have a pure lifting body design. In addition, the projects envisage innovations such as an orbital transfer vehicle and a cargo container with an increased payload capacity of 12 metric tons, as compared to the current two tons. Various sources estimate the cost of the Russian reusable spacecraft project, including construction, to total $1-3 billion.

Gravity: The 'Holy Grail' of Physics (Source: BBC)
Newton's concept of gravity has problems, says Brian Cox. Isaac Newton wrote down his theory of gravity in 1689, and his equations are used to this day to send space probes to the outer edges of our Solar System. So what could possibly be wrong with our understanding of it? Visit http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7215972.stm to view the article.