June 21 News Items

Researchers Looking at Effects of Space Travel (Source: Galveston News)
A group of volunteers who’ve been lying in bed for months at a time could help find a way for people to travel space with ease. Since 2004, volunteers have undergone 60 to 90 days of bed rest so that researchers at NASA and the University of Texas Medical Branch can better understand what happens to the human body when it is without gravity for long periods. NASA researchers have known for years that astronauts come back from orbiting the Earth with weakened muscles, heart problems and loss of bone density. Now, finding a way to prevent those problems has gotten a little easier. The bed-rest study, where participants lie horizontally with their heads 6 degrees below their feet, mimics the effects weightless space travel has on the body. (6/21)

Boeing Awards Rocket Project Subcontract to Houston Firm (Source: Houston Business Journal)
MEI Technologies Inc. has been awarded a subcontract to provide services for the development of the Ares I rocket being built as a replacement for the Space Shuttle. The subcontract was one of three awarded by Boeing as part of a larger NASA avionics contract. Houston-based MEI Technologies will support electronic ground equipment development and test activities of the Ares I, a multi-billion dollar project aimed at transporting astronauts back to the moon by 2020. (6/20)

Private Space Age Turns 4 (Source: MSNBC)
Last weekend marked four years since Burt Rutan and his team at Scaled Composites ushered in the age of privately developed spaceflight with the SpaceShipOne rocket plane. But don't expect a big celebration: Rutan told me he's been so busy ushering in the next stage of the spaceflight age that he forgot about the anniversary. "We are so focused on SpaceShipTwo development here, with a lot of new engineers and technicians, that we tend to forget our accomplishments of 2004," the aerospace designer wrote in an e-mail from his headquarters in Mojave, Calif. "I can say that the SpaceShipOne program for [software billionaire] Paul Allen was the most challenging and most rewarding program I have done. (6/20)

A Busy 2009 for India in Space (Source: Hindu Business Line)
Flying high on its recent success of placing 10 satellites into space at one stroke, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), is looking ahead to a busy schedule for the next 18 months. It has six major launches, starting with perhaps the most challenging Chandrayan I (moon mission), which is expected in September. Following Chandrayan I, will be about 5 launches in 2009. These include RISAT (Radar Imaging Satellite), ASTROSAT (Astronomy Satellite), the Indo-French Megha-Tropiques and two commercial launches, he said. (6/20)

Photographer Documents Secret Satellites — All 189 of Them (Source: WIRED)
For most people, photographing something that isn't there might be tough. Not so for Trevor Paglen. His shots of 189 secret spy satellites are the subject of a new exhibit -- despite the fact that, officially speaking, the satellites don't exist. The Other Night Sky, on display at the University of California at Berkeley Art Museum through September 14, is only a small selection from the 1,500 astrophotographs Paglen has taken thus far. (6/21)

UCF Wins NASA Explorer Mission Grant (Source: NASA)
NASA has selected two science proposals to be the agency's next Explorer Program Mission of Opportunity investigations. One of the projects will determine how the Earth's outer atmosphere responds to external forces. Dr. Richard Eastes of the University of Central Florida will fly an atmospheric remote sensing instrument package aboard a yet-to-be-determined future commercial satellite. His investigation initially will be funded at approximately $250,000 for a concept study to aid in a NASA decision on further development.

The other project is a High-Resolution Soft X-Ray Spectrometer (SXS), led by a NASA Goddard investigator, which will probe matter in extreme environments; investigate the nature of dark matter on large scales in the universe; and explore how galaxies and clusters of galaxies form and evolve. (6/20)

OSTP: Urgent Recommendations for the Next President (Source: What's New)
The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars held a media briefing to release a report, "OSTP 2.0, Critical Upgrade." Drawing on the advice of former Presidential Science Advisers, the report calls on the next President to:
1) Name a Cabinet-level Assistant for Science and Technology Policy early; 2) Integrate OSTP with other policymaking bodies in the White House; and 3) Establish mechanisms to obtain expert advice in a timely manner. Above all, the Science Adviser must have easy access to the President. Written by some of the smartest science-policy experts in Washington, the report refrains from bashing the current OSTP. (6/20)

InDyne Wins Air Force Launch Infrastructure O&M Contract Modification (Source: DOD)
The Air Force is modifying a cost plus incentive fee contract with InDyne for $25,744,032. The services called for under the Infrastructure Operations and Maintenance Services contract support mission requirements for vehicle launches, range operations and the overall 45th Space Wing Mission. Locations of service include Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, and locations to include limited services at Patrick Air Force Base, the Florida Annexes, Antigua Air Station, Ascension Auxiliary Airfield and Kennedy Space Center. (6/16)

Lockheed Martin And NASA Ames Team Selected To Design New Solar Mission (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
The Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, the NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, and a national and international team of co-investigators have been selected by NASA to undertake a $750,000 six-month study to design a new NASA Small Explorer Mission called the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS). (6/16)

Lockheed Martin Program Director Inducted Into GPS Hall of Fame (Source: CSA)
David J. Podlesney, a 34-year Lockheed Martin employee, was inducted into the Global Positioning System (GPS) Hall of Fame for 2008 during a May 21 ceremony in Long Beach, Calif. The Global Positioning Systems Wing of the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center established the GPS Hall of Fame in 1995 to recognize individuals who have made lasting contributions to the worldwide system. Previous honorees include GPS co-inventors Dr. Bradford W. Parkinson and the late Ivan Getting. (6/20)

Lockheed Martin Partners with Bay Area Teachers to Inspire Future Scientists and Engineers (Source: CSA)
Lockheed Martin is hosting 20 elementary school, middle school, and high school teachers over the summer as part of the company's on-going partnership with the Bay Area-based Industry Initiatives for Science and Math Education (IISME). The IISME organization works to foster a strong, highly skilled workforce in mathematics, science and technology. A key IISME initiative is its Summer Fellowship Program that places qualified teachers into local companies and research labs for an eight-week learning experience. (6/16)

Aerojet Ships Propulsion System For Mars Science Laboratory Mission (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
Aerojet has shipped the rocket engines destined for use on NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL). When MSL is launched in the fall of 2009 aboard the Atlas V, Aerojet will provide propulsion for every phase of the mission. The Atlas V will be configured with four Aerojet solid motors to provide an additional one million pounds of thrust to the launch vehicle. The Centaur upper stage will use 12 Aerojet 6 to 9-pound thrust monopropellant hydrazine thrusters to provide roll, pitch, yaw and settling burns and eight Aerojet retro-rockets for Centaur upper stage separation. (6/11)

California Report Highlights Competing States' Incentives for Aerospace Industry (Source: CSA)
The California Research Bureau released "Aerospace States' Incentives To Attract The Industry: An Update," a report requested by Senator Roy Ashburn to update "Other States' Incentives to Attract or Encourage Aerospace Manufacturing," published in June 1999. The California Space Authority supported this effort through the California Space Enterprise Strategic Plan 2007-2010 and collaborated with the parties involved. Download the document at http://www.library.ca.gov/crb/08/08-005.pdf. (6/20)

Federal Grant Could Lessen Impact of Space Shuttle Retirement (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
In a move being touted as a break for the Space Coast, the U.S. Commerce Department on Thursday awarded a $500,000 grant to Brevard County groups working to lessen the impact of looming job cuts in the space shuttle program. The grant was announced by U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, who has been fighting to limit the size of job losses at Kennedy Space Center and reduce the five year post-Shuttle human spaceflight gap. The grant was awarded to the Technological Research and Development Authority and the Brevard Workforce Development Board. According to a Commerce Dept. notice, the award: "supports the strategic plan to mitigate the anticipated workforce and economic impacts of the Space Coast Region expected from the announced termination of the NASA Space Shuttle program.” (6/19)