July 15 News Items

Cape Now Gets Look for New NASA Launch Complex (Source: Florida Today)
Due to citizens' complaints about the environmental impact of a proposed new commercial launch complex at Kennedy Space Center, NASA is now considering putting the facility at one of several abandoned Air Force launch pads instead. Hoping to lure a commercial launch company to Florida's spaceport, NASA proposed two pristine sites at KSC for the commercial launch pad. Citizen comment was sought in February. More than 85 percent of those who commented suggested using alternative sites to preserve the natural environment on the KSC property and save taxpayers' money. Nearly half suggested that KSC ask the Air Force to allow a commercial complex at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. (7/15)

China 'Could Reach Moon by 2020' (Source: BBC)
China is capable of sending a manned mission to the Moon within the next decade, if it so wishes, Nasa administrator Michael Griffin has said. The US space agency plans to return people to the lunar surface by 2020 using its new Orion spacecraft. But it is just possible the first people on the Moon since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972 could be planting a flag with five stars, not 50. Dr Griffin said: "Certainly it is possible that if China wants to put people on the Moon, and if it wishes to do so before the United States, it certainly can. As a matter of technical capability, it absolutely can." (7/15)

UI Marks 50 Years as Leader in Space Exploration (Source: Chicago Tribune)
Virtually overnight, the teenage Donald Gurnett traded in his hobby of crafting model rockets to join a fledgling University of Iowa space program. Gurnett graduated high school, won a model airplane competition and started as an engineering student at UI, all in 1957 -- the dawn of the space age. "They wanted anyone who knew something about electronics. I started working on that stuff right off the bat," the 68-year-old UI physicist said. "In a few months, I was down at Cape Canaveral working on real rockets." (7/14)

NASA Engineers Work on Alternative Moon Rocket (Source: Houston Chronicle)
By day, the engineers work on NASA's new Ares moon rockets. By night, some go undercover to work on a competing design. These dissenting scientists and their backers insist they have created an alternative rocket that would be safer, cheaper and easier to build than the two Ares spacecraft that will replace the space shuttle. They call their project Jupiter, and like Ares, it's a brainchild of workers at the Marshall Space Flight Center and other NASA facilities. The engineers involved are doing the work on their own time and mostly anonymously, with the help of retirees and other space enthusiasts.

A key Ares project manager dismisses their design as little more than a sketch on a napkin that won't work. A spokesman for the competing effort, Ross Tierney, said concerned engineers at NASA and some contractors want a review of the Ares plans but can't speak out for fear of being demoted, transferred or fired. Visit http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/space/5887332.html to view the article. (7/14)

Should We Be Phoning E.T.? (Source: MSNBC)
We've been listening for the signs of extraterrestrial civilizations for nearly 50 years - and if E.T.s are out there, they just might have picked up on the radio signals that we've been transmitting for even longer. More recently, some broadcasters have been sending intentional shout-outs to the aliens. Is that so wrong? Yes, in the opinion of physicist-novelist David Brin and other scientists who say such transmissions could bring unwelcome consequences. Visit http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/07/14/1198808.aspx to view the article. (7/14)

Saturn's Moon May Host an Ocean (Source: Science News)
The Cassini spacecraft has found what may be the strongest evidence yet that Saturn’s tiny moon Enceladus has an ocean beneath its icy surface. If the liquid water finding is confirmed, it would suggest that the moon may be one of the most promising places in the solar system to search for signs of past or present extraterrestrial life. Enceladus is already known to vent geysers of water-ice and vapor that contain complex organic compounds. The new evidence for an underground ocean comes from the detection of sodium in Saturn’s E ring, the extensive band of ice particles believed to be fed and replenished by Enceladus. (7/14)

Next Delta 2 Rocket to Carry Sharp-Eyed Spacecraft (Source: Spaceflight Now)
Launch preparations are underway at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California to ready a commercial Earth-imaging spacecraft for its deployment into orbit by a Delta 2 rocket. The GeoEye 1 satellite arrived at the launch site last Wednesday, July 9, after being trucked from the General Dynamics factory in Gilbert, Arizonia. The craft will undergo a final round of pre-launch testing and fueling inside a Vandenberg processing facility. The GeoEye 1 satellite is scheduled for launch Aug. 22. (7/14)

NASA Awards Advanced Planning Assessment Contract (Source: NASA)
NASA has awarded an advanced planning assessment contract to Booz Allen Hamilton. The fixed-price contract has a maximum value of $30 million for a three-year base period beginning July 8 and two one-year options. The contract is a follow-on to an earlier contract, with work being performed at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. Booz Allen Hamilton will give independent programmatic and institutional assessment capability support to Johnson's Advanced Planning Office. It will provide reviews and assessments of tactical and strategic planning efforts and make independent assessments of cost, schedule, technical risk, safety and mission assurance. (7/14)

Florida Woman Gives New Home To Caged NASA Chimps (Source: WPBF)
Carole Noon founded Save the Chimps near Fort Pierce. The facility is home to as many as 300 chimpanzees that have lived in tiny cages for decades at a time. The animals were once used by NASA researchers. Six years ago, the lab had to close and the chimps got a second chance. Noon's facility runs totally on donations. The rescued chimps have 200 acres to roam with 12 private islands to hang out with their new friends. (7/14)

Launch Pad Repairs Enter Phase Two (Source: Florida Today)
The second phase of repairs to the flame trench at pad 39A will begin this week. During Discovery's launch on May 31, fire bricks were blown off a 20-foot by 75-foot section of the wall that directs flame away from the launch pad. A larger area of loose brick has been removed. Crews hyrdoblasted the walls to remove epoxy. Girders and wire mesh will be attached to the wall, and a fire-proof, spray-on material will be applied. The estimated $2.7-million repair will be finished before the next shuttle launch in early October. (7/14)

Heat Shield Threatens NASA's Orion Target Mass (Source: Flight International)
NASA's Orion crew exploration vehicle's (CEV) struggle with its mass could become worse if the US agency's research confirms a need to increase the spacecraft's heat shield size by 20%. The space agency needs to keep the spacecraft's mass at a maximum of about 30,000kg (66,000lb) to enable its booster, the Ares I crew launch vehicle to launch it. Orion has already gone through one redesign to satisfy its mass limits. But now Orion's ablative thermal protection system's (TPS) surface could be the cause of the heat shield mass growth and the issue may not be resolved before the CEV's delayed preliminary design review, expected in November. (7/14)

Mars Pictures Look Surprisingly Like Some Parts of Earth (Source: Daily Mail)
Scientists have released some of the most detailed photographs of Mars ever taken. The pictures, which were snapped from a European Space Agency (ESA) probe, show a region of the Red Planet called the Echus Chasma. The deeply-incised area is a network of valleys that planetary geologists believe were created by channeling groundwater that once flowed on Mars' surface. Click here to view the article. (7/15)

Asteroid Cruises Past Earth ... With a Partner! (Source: Space.com)
A good-sized asteroid sailing past our planet right now turns out to be two giant rocks doing a celestial jig. The setup, catalogued as 2008 BT18, was thought to be nearly a half-mile wide after its discovery by MIT's LINEAR search program in January. Nothing else was known about it. Now seen as two objects orbiting each other, the pair was closest to Earth on July 14, at about 1.4 million miles (2 million kilometers) away. That's nearly six times as far from us as the moon. (7/13)

Saab Reaches Agreement to Sell Space Division (Source: Space News)
Swiss defense and aerospace company Ruag has agreed to purchase Saab Space of Sweden, including the Saab-owned Austrian Aerospace, for the equivalent of less than six months worth of Saab Space's 2007 sales in a deal that includes a price escalator based on Saab Space's future performance, Saab and Ruag announced July 15. (7/15)

Astrium To Build Direct-to-Home TV Satellite for Astra (Source: Space News)
Satellite-fleet operator SES Astra has selected Astrium Satellites to build the Astra 1N direct-broadcast satellite to be placed into Astra's core 19.2 degrees east television-broadcast slot in 2011, SES and Astrium announced July 14. (7/15)

Russia Forgives Tajikistan's Debt in Exchange for Space-Tracking Facility (Source: Space News)
Russia has forgiven Tajikistan's multimillion-dollar debt to Moscow in exchange for ownership of a space-tracking station in the impoverished Central Asian nation. (7/15)

Space Industry Expected to Take Off (Source: Investment News)
Despite a slowing economy and some potential future funding obstacles, the space industry has nowhere to go but up, participants at a recent space industry conference said. Revenue from commercial satellites could take off in the very near future, according to a prominent analyst. He was one of the industry experts who addressed the Space Business Forum conference in New York on June 18. The conference, sponsored by the Space Foundation, focused on the future of the space sector and was designed for an audience of financial advisers, Wall Street analysts, investment bankers and high-risk insurers. Click here to view the article. (7/14)

Japan’s Success in Rocket and Space Technology (Source: Donga)
The assembly line of rocket fuselages at Mitsubishi’s Tobishima factory in Aichi Prefecture was rolling out H-2A rockets that measure over 52 meters. H-2A rocket is the fifth model Japan created after 1975 when it successfully developed and launched its very first model, N-1, with the help of the United States. Although H-2A more or less resembles Korea’s KSLV-1 in its ability to put an artificial satellite in orbit, there is a huge difference in terms of performance and technology. Click here to view the article. (7/14)

“Pit Stop”: A New Way to Return From Space (Source: Space Review)
The use of airbags to help spacecraft land on Mars is a recent example of just how important it is to consider unconventional recovery options for spacecraft. The goal is to reduce or eliminate the usual weight penalty and reliability issues associated with parachutes, touchdown cushioning rockets, water flotation devices, and other complex paraphernalia normally required to softly land a space vehicle on the Earth. The “Pit Stop” concept would involve initial reentry of the spacecraft by conventional means until it slows and descends in the atmosphere to an altitude of perhaps 15,000 meters.

At that height the landing capsule might separate from the disposable heat shield, which then drops away. Aerodynamic control surfaces would then pitch the vehicle over into a vertical dive where it would reach a terminal velocity of perhaps 100 meters per second. The goal is to reduce or eliminate the usual weight penalty and reliability issues associated with parachutes, touchdown cushioning rockets, water flotation devices, and other complex paraphernalia normally required to softly land a space vehicle on the Earth.

GPS signals would help direct the capsule’s final decent. Like a “smart bomb” the vehicle would aim for an exact spot on the earth’s surface. The landing capsule, carefully steered in its plunge to earth, would aim for the opening of a deep vertical shaft set into the ground. The capsule would dive into this hole while still falling at terminal velocity. The landing capsule would fit loosely in the entrance of the pit, but clearance would tighten with depth. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1167/1 to view the paper. (7/14)

Long-Term Decisions, Short-Term Politics (Source: Space Review)
Establishing a spacefaring civilization will take a while. Taking the first steps towards creating a permanent human presence in space, as NASA is currently attempting to do, will take decades. Building the infrastructure—-legal, political, financial, and technological—-to support expansion into the solar system may take even longer. Many political analysts, however, argue that politicians in democratic systems are focused on the short term because their primary goal is to be reelected. That seems fundamentally inconsistent with sculpting sound space policy. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1168/1 to view the article. (7/14)

Energy vs. Space (Source: Space Review)
It’s language and imagery that would make a space advocate’s mouth water. In a television ad released last month by the campaign of presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain last month, a narrator intones, “American technology protected the world. We went to the Moon not because it was easy, but because it was hard.” On the screen, there is a matrix of images: an early satellite, a Saturn 5 lifting off, an astronaut on the surface of the Moon. Was a major presidential candidate really talking about space in a campaign ad?

Well, not exactly. “John McCain will call America to our next national purpose: energy security,” the narrator continued. The imagery on the screen changed: the rocket and astronaut were replaced by a gas pump, oil well, and windmills as the narrator talked about McCain’s plan to reduce gas prices, increase domestic oil production, and promote alternative energy sources. Energy quite literally pushed space out of the picture. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1169/1 to view the article. (7/14)

UCF Project Selected for NASA Explorer Mission (Source: UCF)
NASA recently selected a University of Central Florida project that will measure the temperature and make-up of the Earth’s outer atmosphere as one of two missions of opportunity under its Explorer science space program. The Global-Scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) project led by UCF Physicist Richard Eastes will build and fly a special camera known as an imaging spectrograph to record images of ultraviolet light emitted by the atmosphere approximately 62 miles above the Earth’s surface. (7/14)

Student Satellites: Encouraging Trend or a Sign of Panic? (Source: Space Review)
For at least the last several years, the aerospace industry has been trying to warn politicians that it is facing a major workforce crisis. In spite of all the prodding and a big increase in overall government education spending, the situation has not improved, or if it has the evidence is microscopic. While the presidential candidates pay lip service to the need to train a new generation of scientists and engineers, the leadership of the educational establishment, having successfully shrugged off the pressure from the Bush administration to improve their performance in this area, shows no signs of being ready to change the habits and priorities of a lifetime. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1170/1 to view the article. (7/14)

Lack of Space Leaves a Void at Farnborough (Source: Flight International)
Visitors to Farnborough might be impressed by the amount of space available – but less impressed with the number of space-related exhibits. At Farnborough 2006 there was a dedicated space hall, plus a special space day on the Wednesday. But there’s no space hall this year and also absent are the European Space Agency, Arianespace and Virgin Galactic. One of the reasons is the Berlin ILA2008 Air Show, with its massive space pavilion, courtesy of ESA, which was held in May. It also had three full days of space conferences. A Farnborough spokesperson said that those space exhibitors who are here said they wanted to be in the main halls and not in a dedicated pavilion. (7/14)

Russia to Study Martian Moons Once Again (Source: RIA Novosti)
On July 7 and July 12, 1988, the Soviet Union launched two space probes, Phobos-1 and Phobos-2, to study the surface and atmosphere of Mars and its moons, Phobos and Deimos. Both spacecraft were to have conducted studies of the interplanetary environment en route to Mars, take observations of the Sun and survey the plasma environment around the Red Planet. Phobos-1 operated without a hitch until a scheduled communications session on September 2, 1988 failed to occur. Contact was never reestablished. The failure has since been traced to an error in software that deactivated the craft's attitude thrusters.

Phobos-2 operated normally throughout its cruise and entered Martian orbit without problems, gathering data on the Sun, interplanetary space, Mars, and Phobos. But shortly before the final phase of the mission, during which the spacecraft was to approach within 50 meters of Phobos' surface and release two landers, contact with Phobos-2 was lost. The mission ended when the spacecraft's signal did not reappear on March 27, 1989. The cause of the failure was attributed to a malfunction of the on-board computer. The 1996 "Mars-96" probe never left Earth's orbit and crashed into the ocean.

The situation seems to be improving today. Under a stage-by-stage national program for studying Mars, the Phobos-Grunt automatic probe will be launched in October 2009. This cutting edge modular spacecraft costs just 1.5 billion rubles ($64.4 million). Unlike Mars-96, the new probe will lift off on a Zenit-class medium-size rocket, rather than the heavy-duty and expensive Proton launch vehicle. If all goes to plan, the probe will bring samples of Phobos' soil samples back to Earth. (7/14)