August 11 News Items

Loral Reports Second Quarter 2008 Financial Results (Source: Loral)
Loral Space & Communications announced that combined revenues and Adjusted EBITDA, including both the satellite manufacturing and the satellite services segments for the quarter were $383 million and $120 million, respectively. Combined segment revenues and Adjusted EBITDA for the first six months of the year were $769 million and $220 million, respectively. After eliminating the results of Telesat, revenues and Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter were $208 million and $15 million, respectively, and $427 million and $14 million for the first six months, respectively. (8/11)

NASA Selects 'Tuned' Mass Dampers to Solve Ares I Oscillation Problem (Source: Flight Global)
NASA's Constellation program leadership has selected actively 'tuned' mass dampers to solve the Ares I crew launch vehicle's (CLV) first-stage oscillation problem. The damper mass is a spring or springs that will be located either inside or outside the first-stage's aft skirt and can be actively "tuned" to respond to the oscillation frequency of the Ares I first-stage solid rocket motor (SRM). The problem to be solved was a potential coupling between thrust oscillations in the SRM and vibration modes in the CLV. (8/11)

NASA's Slips Internal Target for First Manned Orion Flight (Source: SpaceFlightNow.com)
NASA's internal planning date for the first manned launch of the new Orion spacecraft has slipped one year, from September 2013 to September 2014. The new schedule, managers said today, reflects a more realistic assessment of projected funding, contract realities and technical requirements in the absence of any significant additional support from Congress.

The agency's public commitment to initial operations with the Orion spacecraft remains March 2015, nearly five full years after the shuttle Endeavour flies that program's final mission in the spring of 2010. Between the shuttle fleet's retirement and the debut of Orion, U.S. astronauts will be forced to hitch rides to orbit aboard Russian Soyuz spacecraft. (8/11)

NASA Safety Panel Worries About Moon Ship Design (Source: AP)
NASA is not properly emphasizing safety in its design of a new spaceship and its return-to-the-moon program faces money, morale and leadership problems, an agency safety panel found Monday. The Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel cited "surprising anxiety among NASA employees" about the Constellation moon program and said the project "lacks clear direction." Its 143-page annual report specifically faulted the agency's design of the Orion crew capsule for not putting safety features first.

Officials in charge of the program, defending the design safety at a news conference, wouldn't say whether astronauts are among the worried employees. Astronauts would have to fly in the Orion crew capsule, with a first launch planned by 2015. Past NASA spaceships were built with enough backup safety systems "to ensure safety and reliability," from the start, the report said. But it said that because of weight problems with the Orion design, NASA has used a different approach, one "without all safeguards included" from the beginning. (8/11)

Crist Celebrates Revival of Launch Pad -- But No Talk of How to Pay For It (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Gov. Charlie Crist came to Cocoa to celebrate last week's announcement by Space Florida and the U.S. Air Force that a new commercial launch pad will be built on the site of what was Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The 47-year-old complex will be rebuilt as a multi-use launch site for commercial business and research. Declared the ever-buoyant governor: “We are truly on our way to establishing a space-based, biotech corridor that stretches all the way from Florida to the International Space Station.”

But what Crist, and Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp, didn't say is that it will cost an estimated $100 million or more to rebuild the launch pad, which was retired by the Air Force in 2004. And right now, essentially all the money available is $14.5 million appropriated by this year's Legislature. With the state economy still in the toilet -- and economists about to declare this week that the state's budget has slipped into deficit -- it's not at all clear where the rest of the money will come from. (8/11)

Florida Pad Could Host Launch by 2010 (Source: Florida Today)
The first commercial launch from Space Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station could come as early as 2010 or 2011, said Space Florida President and CEO Steve Kohler. "We have customers we are talking to," said Kohler. Using SLC 36 is subject to completion of an environmental analysis. The action grants the property to the state under a real-estate license for an initial term of five years. The launch complex can accomodate light to medium rockets. Meanwhile, Kennedy Space Center would continue to explore possibilities for a larger commercial launch complex at KSC. (8/11)

Europe Starts Taking Proposals for Mobile Satellite Project (Source: AIA)
The European Commission is taking applications from satellite operators for mobile satellite services operating in the 2GHz bands, a spectrum specifically reserved for covering all member states. The EC will base its decision on technical and commercial ability of the providers as well as the speed at which all the member states will be covered. (8/11)

Saving America's Space Program (Source: Space Review)
Last month NASA released a study which concluded the current Constellation architecture was superior to an alternative, DIRECT, that has been developed by some current and former NASA engineers. Stephen Metschan responds to that study and argues time is short to prevent the destruction of shuttle infrastructure that could be used by DIRECT. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1188/1 to view the article. (8/11)

The (Not So) Big Switch (Source: Space Review)
When Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said earlier this month that he would not delay NASA's Constellation program by five years if elected, it was seen as a major shift in policy. However, Jeff Foust notes, that statement was more of a reconciliation of contradictory statements the campaign had issued on the topic since the end of last year than a new development. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1187/1 to view the article. (8/11)

Senator Obama and Re-Establishing the National Space Council (Source: Space Review)
In a speech in Florida earlier this month, presidential candidate Barack Obama proposed re-establishing the National Aeronautics and Space Council. Ferris Valyn explains how a new council could help redefine national space policy and tap into the broader space community. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1186/1 to view the article. (8/11)

Preparations Begin for New European Mission to Mars (Source: Imperial College)
Scientists searching for life on Mars are now preparing for the most in-depth probe of the Red Planet ever undertaken. The European Space Agency’s ExoMars mission will search for evidence that life may exist, investigate the Martian upper atmosphere, and analyse the physical characteristics and properties of the planet’s surface and interior. With a scheduled launch date of 2013, scientists are already developing and testing the instruments and technologies that will be vital to the mission’s success. (8/11)

Microbes Could Travel from Venus to Earth (Space.com)
Venus, with its boiling-hot surface, doesn't seem a likely place to find ET. But a new paper argues not only that Venusian clouds could harbor microbial life, but also that the life there could potentially hitch a ride aboard the solar wind to Earth. The possibility for microbial life on Venusian clouds has been suggested before, though it's still not widely thought to be likely. However, the assertion that this life could potentially float from Venus to Earth is novel, and contentious. The clouds on Venus are thought to be the planet's best bet for life because the temperatures there are cooler than at the too-hot surface, and water vapor has been detected in the atmosphere. (8/11)

Obama campaign coming back to the Space Coast (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Although the Obama campaign was slow off the mark when it came to space issues, it appears to be trying to make up for lost time as the race for Florida heats up. On Tuesday, the Economic Development Commission of Florida’s Space Coast will host a roundtable for Sen. Barrack Obama’s Florida Policy Director, Ian Bassin, where he will meet NASA contractors as well as other representatives of the aerospace industry and key space advocates.

The event is billed as part of Senator Obama’s Florida Forums for Change series, in which top Obama policy advisors and staff are touring the state, gathering input on issues directly affecting the Florida community. Although Obama was in Titusville just over a week ago neither he nor his campaign staff had met Brevard County officials or Kennedy Space Center workers directly. Until now the biggest influence on Obama’s shifting space policy has been Florida’s Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson. The Tuesday meeting will be the first contact between the Obama campaign and leading space players on the Cape.

While Obama has reversed his policy, saying that he no longer wants to raid NASA’s budget to fund his education reforms, he has been somewhat sketchy on exactly what his plans are, especially regarding the agency's efforts to return astronauts to the moon in 2020 as a first step to going to Mars. Obama has said he supports shrinking the gap between the end of the shuttle program in 2010 and the advent of the next NASA human spaceship, but has not defined his policy goals in any detail. This might be a chance for the space community to get some hard answers. (8/11)