June 20 News Items

Will Spock Testify at Space Coast Hearing? (Source: NASA Watch)
Even though Mike Griffin seems to think that jobs and space are not campaign issues, they certainly are in Florida. This could get ugly if local Space Coast employees show up (as they should) at this hearing and take Mike Griffin on, face-to-face, about job cuts and the effect upon themselves and their families. The "I don't do feelings - just think of me as Spock" approach certainly will not work in that situation. Florida is a key state in both Obama's and McCain's strategy to win the election. I wonder if the White House really wants an embarassment in Florida over huge job cuts and what will be portrayed as "George Bush's Moon Program" (despite repeated Congressional buy in). Stay tuned. (6/20)

Life in Outer Space? Astronomers Hunt Aliens (Source: Reuters)
Japan's biggest astronomical observatories are teaming up for an unprecedented quest to find out whether there is life in outer space. The project, led by Japanese astronomers, will bring together a dozen or more observatories from all over the country to study one star that researchers see as a potential home to an extraterrestrial civilization. The search for aliens and UFOs is not new to Japan. Last year, unidentified flying objects grabbed the headlines after a lawmaker submitted a question to the cabinet on whether the country had confirmed any cases of their existence. The government's answer: no. Visit http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUST18713920080620 to view the article. (6/20)

Tanker Contract Highlights Pentagon Procurement Problems (Source: AIA)
The Government Accountability Office's criticism of how the Air Force handled a contract for refueling tankers highlights the DOD's procurement problems, observers say. "This is part of a pattern," said Winslow Wheeler, director of the Straus Military Reform Project at the Center for Defense Information. "In the military services, there's a sentiment that 'we can do whatever we want because no one serious is looking over our shoulder.' " (6/20)

Northrop, EADS Postpone Factory Construction (Source: AIA)
Northrop Grumman has postponed plans to break ground on two factories in Alabama where it intended to build aerial refueling tankers for the Air Force. The Government Accountability Office on Thursday said the Air Force made errors during the bidding process and sustained a protest made by Boeing. Northrop has not set a new date for groundbreaking. Meanwhile, suppliers that have contracts with Northrop are concerned that the GAO ruling may affect their revenue. (6/20)

NASA Launches Ocean Satellite from California (Source: NASA)
A new NASA-French space agency oceanography satellite launched from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base on Friday morning aboard a ULA Delta-2 rocket. The satellite will continue charting sea level, a vital indicator of global climate change. The mission will return a vast amount of new data that will improve weather, climate and ocean forecasts. (6/20)

GAO Report Reveals Continuing Problems With NPOESS (Source: NASA Watch)
"Costs increases persist in the program. Testimony from GAO indicates that the likely lifetime cost has grown to between $13.5 - $14 billion, at least a billion dollars over the $12.5 billion estimated for the recertified program in 2006. GAO states that the increases come from the costs needed to correct instrument problems over the last year, the possible cost of upgrading computer security standards for the ground network, and a better estimate of the cost of running the system until its scheduled end in 2026." (6/20)

Reality Check on Budgets (Source: NASA Watch)
Rep. Obey has all but conceded that the only appropriations bills that he will allow to move to a floor vote are Defense and perhaps Homeland Security. The common consensus is that the rest of the agencies will see their budgets bundled into a Continuing Resolution. As such, all of the budget increases that are being tossed around are seen more as more guidance for the next Administration than the current one. Whether these numbers end up in budgets is TBD. (6/20)

Bright Chunks at NASA Phoenix Lander’s Mars Site Must Have Been Ice (Source: NASA Watch)
Dice-size crumbs of bright material have vanished from inside a trench where they were photographed by NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander four days ago, convincing scientists that the material was frozen water that vaporized after digging exposed it. "It must be ice," said Phoenix Principal Investigator Peter Smith of The University of Arizona, Tucson." (6/20)

Space Tourism Firms Set for Big Leaps (Source: Space.com)
Two space tourism firms hoping to give fare-paying customers the rides of their lives are set to take some major steps forward in coming months. On July 28, the suborbital tourism firm Virgin Galactic will unveil the first WhiteKnightTwo mothership for its planned fleet of SpaceShipTwo spaceliners designed by aerospace veteran Burt Rutan and his company Scaled Composites. Meanwhile, the Virginia-based company Space Adventures is preparing to launch its sixth paying customer on a $30 million trek to the International Space Station on Oct.12, with two more orbital hopefuls already waiting in the wings. Visit http://www.space.com/news/080620-virgingalactic-spaceadventures.html to view the article. (6/20)

XM, Sirius Plunge After Merger Report (Source: Washington Post)
Days after the nation's top telecommunications policymaker signaled his approval of a merger between the two satellite radio providers, XM and Sirius, a negative report released on the future of the companies sent shares of each firm sharply lower. XM Satellite Radio stock fell 17 percent, and Sirius Satellite Radio's stock dropped 12 percent yesterday. The declines followed a report by Goldman Sachs analyst Mark Wienkes saying that cash flows of the merged company would suffer as satellite radio services faced increased competition from MP3 players and other technologies such as streaming music on the new iPhone. He advised investors to sell the stocks, saying that even though the merger would help reduce costs, subscriber growth would slow and debt would mount over the longer term. (6/20)

Rally Aims to Show Candidates Impact of Space Job Losses (Source: Florida Today)
Hoping to present "one unified gesture" in support of Brevard County's space industry, a public rally is being organized around Monday's U.S. Senate subcommittee hearing on projected job losses at Kennedy Space Center after the shuttle stops flying in 2010. The organizers' goal is to have 6,400 rally participants to visually demonstrate the impact of 6,400 job losses. The rally is intended to make a point to elected leaders in Washington and, particularly, to the next president. The event is planned for 8:30 at Port Canaveral, outside the meeting room for the Senate hearing. Visit http://www.linktolaunch.org/ for information. (6/20)