July 29 News Items

Lockheed Hopes Online Program Spurs Students' Interest in Space (Source: AIA)
A new online program launched by Lockheed Martin is aimed at helping students learn about NASA's mission to the moon and Mars. The program is aimed at inspiring more students to pursue careers in space and is named Orion's Path, after the spacecraft that Lockheed is designing to take astronauts to the moon. (7/29)

Top US Astronaut Welcomes Space Tourism (Source: AFP)
The commander of the latest US shuttle mission welcomed the advent of space tourism, predicting that such travel is on the brink of the massive growth seen a century ago with airplanes. "The private sector can go out and make money doing something that only governments now do. You really are going to see an expansion of the industry," Discovery commander Mark Kelly said. "I personally think it's great," he said. Kelly's comments came hours after Virgin Galactic, owned by British tycoon Sir Richard Branson, unveiled in the California desert a futuristic aircraft dubbed WhiteKnightTwo that will ferry tourists into suborbital space. (7/29)

Lunar Robotic Mission Delayed (Source: Aviation Week)
Launch of NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), the first robotic precursor mission under President Bush's plan for moving human space exploration beyond Earth orbit, will be delayed until after Bush leaves office. Also delayed until late February or early March 2009 is the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), a piggyback payload added by Ames Research Center when LRO was upgraded to an Atlas V-class mission. Launching in place of the NASA missions on an Atlas V from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., will be a classified DOD spacecraft, sources say. That mission will go in the November time frame originally targeted for LRO/LCROSS. Project officials at Ames and at Goddard Space Flight Center, where LRO is on schedule in the final stage of integration and testing, have been notified of the change, but NASA declines to confirm the shift.

Northrop Grumman has finished testing the LCROSS spacecraft, with a science payload provided by Ames, and is storing it at its facility in Redondo Beach, Calif. The orbiter is set to provide mapping and mineralogy data for use by future human explorers on the ground. LCROSS is designed to send the mission's spent upper stage into a deep crater at one of the moon's poles and analyze the debris plume that results from the impact for evidence of water ice that may have accumulated there. (7/28)

The COTS Conundrum (Source: Space Review)
NASA has decided to focus the COTS program on vehicles that can deliver only cargo to the ISS, not people. However, Jeff Foust reports that many in the industry and Congress think that a COTS crewed capability is essential to not only the long-term success of the program but also for the Vision for Space Exploration. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1179/1 to view the article. (7/28)

Europe's Space Ambitions in Context (Source: Space Review)
France is leading an effort to create a unified European Union space policy. Taylor Dinerman examines the reasons why the EU desires a more robust space policy and its implications for cooperation with the US and other nations. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1178/1 to view the article. (7/28)

Infrastructure Needed for Future Space Exploration (Source: Space Review)
The Constellation program has come under criticism from several quarters for its cost, schedule, and potential technical issues. David L. Christensen argues that what's needed is a more robust approach that makes better use of shuttle and EELV hardware. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1177/1 to view the article. (7/28)

Obama's Space (Source: Space Review)
Amitai Etzioni responds to a recent essay on the space policies of Barack Obama and John F. Kennedy by arguing for the importance of "near space" versus human space exploration. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1175/1 to view the article. (7/28)

Virgin Galactic Rolls Out Mother Ship (Source: Popular Science)
Virgin Group head Sir Richard Branson unveiled the latest addition to his air- and spaceline fleet at the Mojave Spaceport in California, accompanied by the craft's chief designer, Burt Rutan. The White Knight 2 is a four-engine jet that will carry an 8-seat spaceship called SpaceShipTwo to an altitude of 48,000 feet so that the spaceship can drop off and fire its rocket engine for a brief run to suborbital space. Branson's Virgin Galactic hopes to begin regularly scheduled passenger service to space in 2010. (7/29)

Raytheon Gets $83 Million NASA Contract (Source: AP)
Raytheon said Monday that NASA awarded it an $83 million subcontract for data and systems work at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The five-year deal is part of a contract between NASA and the California Institute of Technology. Raytheon will work on information technology, Web development and systems engineering and design for the NASA lab. (7/28)

'Gravity Tractor' Could Deflect Asteroids (Source: New Scientist)
A "gravity tractor" could deflect an Earth-threatening asteroid if it was deployed when the asteroid was more than one orbit away from the potential impact, according to a new study. If the space rock was found heading straight for Earth, a combination of techniques – including a gravity tractor – might save the day. The study, carried out by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, shows that the weak gravitational pull of a nearby spacecraft could deflect a hypothetical asteroid 140 metres across, big enough to cause regional devastation if it hit Earth. (7/28)

Aviation Innovators Compete for NASA Technology Prizes (Source: NASA)
The 2008 General Aviation Technology Challenge will be held Aug. 4-10 at the Sonoma County Airport in California. Competitors will demonstrate innovations resulting in aircraft that are safer, less expensive and easier to operate, while having fewer negative impacts on the environment and communities surrounding airports. This year's competition will feature the first Green Prize for aviation. The highlight of the week-long event will occur Saturday, Aug. 9, with the CAFE 400 - a 400-mile, cross-country air race that requires speed and efficiency. (7/28)

NASA Awards Lunar Surface System Concept Contracts (Source: NASA)
NASA's Constellation Program has selected 11 companies and one university to independently develop concepts that contribute to how astronauts will live and work on the moon. Each organization will conduct a 180-day study focused on a topic relevant to lunar surface systems. Selected organizations and topics are: Alternative Packaging Options--Oceaneering Space Systems; Avionics--Honeywell International; Energy Storage--ATK Space Systems Group, Battelle Memorial Institute, and Hamilton Sundstrand; Minimum Habitation Functions--Boeing, ILC Dover, and University of Maryland; Regolith Moving Methods--Astrobotic Technology Inc., and Honeybee Robotics; Software--Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, and United Space Alliance. The awards total approximately $2 million, with a maximum individual award of $250,000. (7/28)