June 15 News Items

Contractors Urge ESA to Pursue Ariane 5 Upgrades (Source: Space News)
The principal contractors of Europe's Ariane 5 heavy-lift launcher have begun a campaign to persuade European governments to finance the completion of a more powerful upper stage for the rocket and also pay for an upgrade that would add additional payload capacity to the new Vega small satellite launcher. The campaign, which was not unexpected, is intended to win sufficient backing for the new developments in France, Italy and Germany, leading to full program approval when European Space Agency (ESA) government ministers meet in November. (6/15)

Trial in ICO Lawsuit Against Boeing Set to Begin (Source: Space News)
Mobile satellite services provider ICO Global Communications and its former contractor, Boeing, are scheduled to begin a long-awaited trial June 16 to determine who is responsible for the fact that, 13 years after signing a $2.3 billion contract to build and launch a 12-satellite constellation, 10 of the still-incomplete satellites are in storage in California, and only one is operational in medium Earth orbit. (6/15)

FCC Still Hopes To Make XM-Sirius Ruling by July (Source: Space News)
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) may still meet its goal of ruling before June 30 on the proposed merger of XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said.(6/15)

Shuttle Statues to Orbit the Space Coast (Source: ASF)
The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation will announce Brevard County’s first statue program: Shuttles Orbiting the Space Coast. This community-wide art exhibit will showcase more than 100 8-foot, fiberglass space shuttle statues sponsored by local businesses and individuals. The statues will then be uniquely painted and decorated by a variety of artists and put on public display throughout Brevard County. The unveiling of the first statues will occur at the KSC Visitor Complex on June 19. All proceeds will benefit the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, which offers scholarships to exceptional college students pursuing degrees in science and technology. For information visit http://astronautscholarship.org/shuttles/index.html. (6/14)

Editorial: A Bad Cut (Source: Houston Chronicle)
The administration's opposition to reasonable NASA budget requests threatens a U.S. technological edge. The White House expressed its "strong" opposition to legislation that would increase NASA's funding for the next fiscal year and provide additional funding to cover a crucial five-year gap in space-flight capability needed to fly U.S. astronauts to the International Space Station. The unusually combative statement led to fears that President Bush would veto the bill if changes were not made. A veto would be a shortsighted, disappointing reaction to a reasonable measure and would diminish the competitiveness and effectiveness of this nation's space program at a time when other countries are accelerating their programs. (6/15)

Editorial: What Spaceport Doesn't Mean (Source: Alamagordo Daily News)
Here's why I will not cast my tiny vote for the tax on Otero County for the Las Cruces Spaceport: It is not a good investment for us on this side of the San Andres Mountains. Spaceport director Steve Landeene says it will create 2,500 jobs generating more than $1 billion in economic growth. I do not feel one-third of those jobs will come to Otero. Maybe not even one will, unless it's a local who is lucky enough to land a spaceport job and is willing to drive over the St. Augustin Pass then 50 miles north of Las Cruces on a four-hour daily trek, rather than move nearer the spaceport.

Doña Ana and Sierra counties will be the main beneficiaries. El Paso, with a great airport, Las Cruces with proximity, handy housing, shopping, et al., and those towns along the Interstate-25 corridor will all benefit, directly. I'll vote for the spaceport if our local leaders can negotiate that Otero will receive a guaranteed respectable number of jobs as direct or residual consequences of the Las Cruces Spaceport as some media call it despite the great "Spaceport America" moniker. (6/15)

Accidental Astrophysicists (Source: Science News)
Dmitry Khavinson and Genevra Neumann didn’t know anything about astrophysics. They were just doing mathematics, like they always do, following their curiosity. In 2004, they posted a new result, an extension of the fundamental theorem of algebra, on MathSciNet, a preprint server. Five days later, they received an e-mail. Congratulations, it said. You just proved Sun Hong Rhie’s conjecture on gravitational lensing.

Gravitational what? Khavinson, of the University of South Florida in Tampa, and Neumann, of the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, had never heard of it. When we peer at stars in the distant reaches of the universe, they learned, we can’t simply believe our eyes. Light can play tricks as it travels across such distances. For example, if a star or other massive object lies near the path between the distant star and us, its gravity will bend the light rays. Visit http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/33082/title/Accidental_astrophysicists to view the article. (5/13)

Editorial: Presidential Candidates Should Endorse Search for Knowledge (Source: Naples News)
Question: What do the Phoenix lander on Mars and the current presidential election campaign have in common? Answer: The search for knowledge. Neither of the nominees has said much about his plans for science and technology. Neither candidate has accepted an invitation from ScienceDebate 2008, a bipartisan group of Nobel laureates and other scholars, to hold a debate on science policy.

Sen. Barack Obama has, however, indicated that if elected president he plans to strip some $8 billion of funding from NASA’s exploration initiative and devote that money to education. While increasing federal funding for education might be a worthwhile endeavor, the American taxpayer already spends more than half a trillion dollars on public education each year. Pouring more money into that pot will do little to improve our schools. It will take a fundamental change in the educational system to accomplish that, a change so wrenching that no politician is willing even to think about it. Obama’s stated objective of slashing human space exploration is a mistake. (5/15)