August 1 News Items

NASA Nanosatellites Catch Ride on SpaceX Rocket, Demonstrate Technology (Source: NASA)
NASA will fly two nanosatellites as secondary payloads aboard the SpaceX Falcon 1 rocket planned for launch in August or September. Spaceflight engineers and project managers at NASA's Ames Research Center, and NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, teamed to arrange a fast-paced, low-cost mission. The mission provides an opportunity to demonstrate NASA-developed spaceflight technologies and the Ames-developed modular approach to constructing the PharmaSat Risk Evaluation (or PRESat) and NanoSail-D satellites. (8/1)

Defense Support Program Satellite Decommissioned (Source: SpaceRef.com)
The Air Force's Defense Support Program (DSP) Flight 19 satellite, built by Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC), was decommissioned today following nine years of service. Northrop Grumman personnel stationed at the company's Telemetry and Orbital Test Station in Redondo Beach, Calif., terminated the downlink to Flight 19 at the Air Force's command. (8/1)

Group Offers Obama’s Space Policy Platform (Source: Globehoppin.wordpress.com)
"I met with 15 other people in Austin on July 18th to conduct an Obama for President Space Policy Platform meeting, right after our Space Policy panel at Netroots Nation Convention. Our crew included Netroots activists, aerospace enthusiasts from the Austin area, and even former NASA officials. After several hours of debate, and dozens of follow-up emails among the group, we honed in on three space policy platform planks for the DNC / Barack Obama Campaign. While there was not complete consensus within our group on the three policy planks below, we got really close, and I feel very good about what we came up with." Visit http://globehoppin.wordpress.com/2008/08/01/obamas-space-policy-platform/ to view the blog item. (8/1)

Space Tourism is Nigh, But a New Space Age is Not (Source: Crosscut Seattle)
Four years after Paul Allen won the X Prize with SpaceShipOne, Virgin Galactic has unveiled WhiteKnightTwo, bringing space tourism closer to reality. But in terms of achievement and fundamental technologies, we're merely watching a glitzy remake of the 1960s with private funding. The first flights are expected in late 2009 or 2010. Should you pack your bags for a new era in human history? The grand vision encompasses far more than joy rides for the mass affluent. Space tourism hitches the wagon of rocket science to the star of market forces. In computing, technological advances have increased computing power while reducing cost in a steady, self-reinforcing cycle, a phenomenon known as "Moore's Law." The question is whether the dynamic behind cheap laptops might eventuate in full-blown, interplanetary space travel.

The answer is: not likely. SpaceShipTwo actually will only barely scrape space, eking out a scant 68 vertical miles before succumbing to the gravitational dominance of Earth. The craft musters only about 1/16 the energy needed to reach even low orbit 100 miles up. Attaining orbit requires enormous energy; thus rockets are very tall and almost all fuel. We are accustomed to thinking that technology advances across a very broad front, often in a revolutionary fashion. For propulsion, however, there has been no next technology. Since the dawn of rocketry, engine designers have employed different designs and used different fuels in an exhaustive search for a clever, inexpensive way to escape the planet. They have come up empty. (8/1)

Editorial: Obama Should Detail Plan for NASA, Moon Funding During Titusville Visit (Source: Florida Today)
Sen. Barack Obama is bringing his presidential campaign to Central Florida on Saturday with it a stop in Titusville, putting him within view of the historic launch pads at Kennedy Space Center. On the 50th anniversary week of NASA, it's the perfect moment for the Democratic candidate to discuss his plans for the agency if he wins the White House, and finally do it in detail. (8/1)

Editorial: Eating Dust - California Unveiling of Space Ship Shows Florida Getting Left Behind (Source: Florida Today)
With a healthy dose of razzle-dazzle, British entrepreneur Richard Branson on Monday pulled the cover off his space tourism "mother ship." The unveiling happened in Mojave, Calif. -- not Cape Canaveral -- in another example of how Florida is still eating dust in attracting the 21st century barnstormers who are striving to create commercial space ventures. Branson says 100 people have already paid $200,000 each for a seat with countless more possible if the price could drop to $40,000-$50,000. He hopes to start flights in a few years and the Cape will again lose out with the missions staged from New Mexico.

Florida officials dropped the ball on Branson's project a long time ago, showing neither the hustle or imagination to bring it to fruition. But the future holds more possibilities, which they should pursue with a vengeance. That means loosening the government red tape that prevents entrepreneurs from putting down roots at the Cape and making the spaceport far more business friendly. It also means using the shuttle runway at Kennedy Space Center for commercial start-ups after the shuttles retire. Florida can't afford to miss another boat like Branson's. (8/1)

New Mexico Spaceport Input Hearings Planned (Source: Las Cruces Sun-News)
Public input hearings about the potential environmental impact of Spaceport America are slated to begin next week. The FAA will conduct the first of three days of hearings Tuesday in Alamogordo. Hearings in Truth or Consequences are scheduled for Wednesday and the final round will happen Thursday in Las Cruces. The FAA scheduled the meetings after issuing a draft of an Environmental Impact Study that addressed the potential effects of the spaceport on southern Sierra County where the state plans to build the facility next year. The 500-page study found that the spaceport would have little to no impact on the area. But the study had one caveat — the impact on the historical resources of the area. That includes the famed El Camino Real Trail, which runs through the western edge of the spaceport property. But the statement added that the effects on the trail and other cultural resources could be mitigated. (8/1)

Entrepreneur in Space (Source: Entrepreneur.com)
Sir Richard and Burt Rutan said testing for the WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo will take roughly 18 months to three years. When that is complete, they hope to be ready to start conducting private, suborbital flights with paying passengers. Within the next 10 to 15 years, it is their vision to have more than a dozen spaceports conducting regular launches for suborbital flights for the public on a continuous basis. Rutan believes the cost for space flights can be cut to a fraction of the current price tag once the program is fully in place. In addition, he said that eventually Virgin Galactic wants to have a space hotel, with spaceships shuttling guests from earth into outer space. The long term vision is for private space trips from the earth to the moon and back. (7/31)

Interns at MSFC Work on Rocket Engines, Web Sites (Source: Huntsville Times)
It's been more than answering phones and running errands for these interns. More than 150 high school and college students at Marshall Space Flight Center spent their summer building and testing model rocket engines, creating content for NASA Web sites and learning data critical to space missions. According to Marshall, some interns helped NASA engineers lay groundwork for building the Ares I rocket. The interns came from 23 states and Puerto Rico as part of the new program called INSPIRE - the Interdisciplinary National Science Project Incorporating Research and Education Experience. The internships ended Tuesday. (8/1)