July 12 News Items

House Passes Bills Commemorating NASA's 50th Anniversary, First Woman in Space (Source: CSA)
The House of Representatives today passed bills commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and honoring the first American woman to go into space. Committee Member, Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), offered H.Res. 1315, commemorating the 50th anniversary of NASA, which was established on July 29, 1958. Specifically, the resolution honors the dedicated workforce at NASA, acknowledges the value of NASA's many discoveries and accomplishments, and pledges to maintain America's position as the world leader in aeronautics and space exploration and technology. (6/18)

Quintron Provides Communication System for Delta II (Source: CSA)
Quintron Systems, the recognized leader in advanced interoperable voice systems and physical access control/intrusion detection systems, participated in the successful launch of the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta II rocket from Vandenberg AFB with the NASA Ocean Surface Topography from Space Mission (OSTM) / Jason 2 spacecraft payload. ULA voice communications was provided by the Quintron DICES equipment, now in the tenth year of operation for the Delta II launch vehicle at VAFB. In addition to DICES, Quintron engineers and technicians provide on-going pad operations support, including closed-circuit television distribution, range and vehicle safety systems, and related control system transmission and distribution across the VAFB operating theater. (7/9)

YC-15 Dedicated on Edwards Air Force Base (Source: CSA)
Boeing's YC-15 was dedicated in a short, but hot ceremony this morning on Edwards AFB. The aircraft, a technology demonstrator for and forerunner to, today's C-17 airlifter resides at the Century Circle just outside of the main or west gate of the Air Force Flight Center/Edwards AFB. Visit http://www.californiaspaceauthority.org/html/government_pages/pr080709-1.html to see photos of the event. (7/9)

CSA Provides Status of Federal Aerospace Legislation (Source: CSA)
The California Space Authority provides information regarding pending federal legislation and policy of interest to the space enterprise community that has been introduced during the 110th session of Congress which began in January 2007 and will conclude in December 2008. A brief summary of the legislation, including current status, is posted at http://www.californiaspaceauthority.org/html/government_pages/fed-agenda-bills_080709.html. (7/11)

Galileo Key to European Defense, Says Parliament (Source: GPS World)
While the European Parliament agrees that European space policy should not support the weaponization of space, it nevertheless recognizes the need for Galileo to serve the European Union's defense and security — a change from its earlier stance on the issue. Galileo proponents originally envisioned the European GNSS as existing completely in and for the civilian realm — one of the chief arguments for Galileo has been the fact that GPS is administered by the U.S. military. In fact the European Parliament in the past has rejected resolutions or legislation that hinted at a military role for Galileo. But with Europe having settled on public funding for the project, on Thursday it recognized the role of Galileo to European defense and military interests in space, effectively changing its collective mind. (7/12)

Editorial: It's All Decked Out, Give It Somewhere to Go (Source: Washington Post)
Consider the International Space Station, that marvel of incremental engineering. It has close to 15,000 cubic feet of livable space; 10 modules, or living and working areas; a Canadian robot arm that can repair the station from outside; and the capacity to keep five astronauts (including the occasional wealthy rubbernecking space tourist) in good health for long periods. It has gleaming, underused laboratories; its bathroom is fully repaired; and its exercycle is ready for vigorous mandatory workouts.

The only problem with this $156 billion manifestation of human genius -- a project as large as a football field that has been called the single most expensive thing ever built -- is that it's still going nowhere at a very high rate of speed. And as a scientific research platform, it still has virtually no purpose and is accomplishing nothing. Visit http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/11/AR2008071102394.html to view the editorial. (7/12)

Price of Soyuz Jumps by 50% (Source: Space News)
The first Russian Soyuz rocket launch from Europe's South American spaceport is still a year away but the vehicle's pricing already reflects the sharp increase in the price of launch vehicles in the past three years, according to European government and industry officials. The vehicle's sticker price has jumped by 50 percent during the period, they said. (7/12)

Rascomstar Orders Replacement Satellite (Source: Space News)
African satellite operator RascomStar-QAF has authorized the start of work on a replacement satellite for its Rascom-QAF1 satellite and has secured a launch date for mid-2010 to assure it is in orbit before the company's current spacecraft is forced into retirement, RascomStar-QAF Chief Executive Faraj Elamari said. (7/12)

The Moonbots Have Landed (Source: New Scientist)
In 1976, four years after the final Apollo mission, a 6-ton spacecraft landed on the moon in the Mare Crisium. Over the course of a single day, it sent back spectacular pictures of the lunar surface, gathered rock samples and then blasted off for the journey home. Luna 24 was an uncrewed Russian sample-return mission, the last of only three to make it safely home. In the bizarre logic of cold war politics, the Luna missions were seen as a defeat for Russia in the battle to reach the moon because they were mere robots. In reality, Luna was a stupendous technical achievement. Luna 17 and 21 deployed the first automated extraterrestrial rovers, and they survived for months and traveled for several kilometers across the lunar surface. Luna 16, 20 and 24 are still the only robotic missions to have brought back soil samples from the Moon. (7/11)

Could Hubble Photograph Lunar Footprints? (Source: Popular Science)
Snug in Earth’s orbit, Hubble is free from the background glare that earthly telescopes must fight to see the stars. This allows its supersensitive camera to take better photos of galaxies farther away—and thus much dimmer—than any optical telescope on the ground can. But despite being closer to the moon than any other telescope, there’s no way the scope could snap a photo of that one small step man took 40 years ago. Considering the distance to the moon and the resolving power of Hubble’s eight-foot-wide main mirror, one pixel in the highest-resolution image that the scope can take of the moon would be about the size of a football field, says Hubble astronomer Frank Summers of the Space Telescope Science Institute. (7/11)

Worms May Yield Salmonella Vaccine (Source: Florida Today)
As the salmonella scare worsens and Florida's tomato industry suffers, SPACEHAB Inc. and its partners are preparing to ask the Food and Drug Administration's permission to conduct human tests of a salmonella vaccine developed partly in space. On the past two shuttle missions, several strains of salmonella were used to attack microscopic worms. The bacteria becomes more virulent in space, and the experiment helped researchers shorten the process of deciding which salmonella strain was right to make the vaccine.

While a salmonella vaccine could be beneficial for the world and profitable for Spacehab, it is simply a test case to prove the technique of making vaccines quickly in space. "Our focus is to develop an ongoing vaccine development model," said Spacehab's president. "Salmonella happens to be the first in the pipeline. "The reason we choose salmonella really wasn't about the market value of the vaccine itself," Royston added. "It was to be quickest to market with it and then get the others in the pipeline." (7/12)

UA Mars Scientists Are Time/Fatigue Guinea Pigs (Source: Tucson Citizen)
It was a simple question: Can you tell me the time? The answer, as Mads Ellehoj discovered, wasn't so simple. "I said I didn't have a watch, and she pointed to this one and said, 'What's that then?' " Ellehoj recalled, displaying the fake wristwatch on his arm. "I had to explain the whole thing about Mars." About 150 scientists at the University of Arizona have worked on Martian time since the Phoenix Mars Lander touched down successfully on May 25. Harvard sleep specialists are studying some of them, and what they learn might help others working unusual schedules, including those most responsible for earthling safety: doctors, police and firefighters. (7/12)

NASA Must Iron Out the Kinks in Space Sex to Settle on Mars (Source: Telegraph)
Dr Jason Kring said astronauts might have to emulate polar explorers and take a colleague as a lover for the duration of their three-year mission, to minimize sexual frustration. Dr Kring, who is studying the best sex balance of crews for the next wave of space travel, is an assistant professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida. The university counts several astronauts and fighter pilots among its former students. His findings are due to be published by NASA’s history division. Click here to view the article. (7/12)