September 13 News Items

300 SGS Workers Likely to Lose Jobs (Source: Florida Today)
It appears more than 10 percent of the 2,800 workers currently employed by Space Gateway Support at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport will lose their jobs as contracts shift to new employers. SGS handed out formal layoff notices Thursday in advance of the Oct. 1 switchover as 15 companies take over contracts to provide support services to KSC and the Cape. An estimated 300 or more employees will not be picked up in the new hiring, but the final total of lost jobs won't be known until Oct. 1. SGS spokesman Sam Gutierrez pointed out that the loss of 300 jobs, with average salaries of $50,000 per year, could mean a $15 million blow to the Space Coast economy. NASA spokesmen would not provide totals on the number of workers to be laid off or, even, if the new arrangement would be more cost effective. (9/13)

US Astronaut Ppromotes Mexican Space Agency (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
A US astronaut of Mexican origin, part of the crew for an Atlantis Space Shuttle voyage in July 2009, presented a project for a Mexican space agency to senators here Friday. Astronaut Jose Hernandez promoted the plan, including a launch base in the Yucatan Peninsula on the Atlantic Coast, approved by the lower house in 2007 and due to be voted on by the senate before the end of the month. If approved, the agency will begin operations in March next year. (9/13)

India's Moon Mission to Lift Off in October (Source: NDTV)
India's maiden shot at the moon is now all set for lift off in the last week of October. Named Chandrayaan-1 the satellite has just passed a crucial test which simulated how the space craft would perform in the hostile vacuum like environment near the moon. According to the Indian space agency, India's first mission to the moon is to be launched sometime around October 22-26, 2008 from the coast of the Bay of Bengal. It will be lofted up using the Indian Space Research Organization's (ISRO) workhorse rocket the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and the mission is likely to cost Rupees 386 crores. Chandrayaan-I is an unmanned scientific mission designed to map the resources of the moon and would undertake the most intense search for water on the moon surface. (9/13)

European Space Policy Report (Source: Euroalert)
The European Commission has presented on the 11th September a Report about the European Space policy progress. The Report provides an overview on the main progress achieved in the first year of the implementation of the European Space Policy (ESP), as elaborated jointly by the European Commission and the Director General of the European Space Agency. The policy's major areas focus on satellite navigation, Earth observation, and Security and defense. Visit http://euroalert.net/en/news.aspx?idn=7799 to view the article. (9/12)

Congressman Opposes Giving NASA Permission to Buy Russian Spacecraft (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
U.S. Rep. Dave Weldon of Florida announced late Friday that he would oppose giving NASA permission to buy Russian spacecraft -- a stand that NASA Administrator Michael Griffin has warned could jepordize future U.S. presence on the International Space Station. Weldon's opposition could severely hinder those efforts. The Indialantic Republican said in a release that buying Russian spacecraft means sure job losses at Kennedy Space Center and puts Washington in a weaker position when dealing with Moscow. He also took a shot at U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, the Florida Democrat who has been leading the charge in Congress to get the waiver. (9/12)

Researchers Beam 'Space' Solar Power in Hawaii (Source: WIRED)
The key to our energy future may be in space. A new long-range energy transmission experiment opens the possibility of sending solar energy from space to earth. Former NASA executive and physicist John Mankins captured solar energy from a mountain top in Maui and beamed it 92 miles to the main island of Hawaii. Tonight at 10 pm Discovery Channel will air an episode of Project Earth on the recent first-of-its-kind experiment. This long range demonstration of wireless power transmission was also a key step toward space-based solar power satellites. The team also beamed the power almost 100 times farther than NASA's major 1970's power transmission in the Mojave Desert in California.

Although the amount of power sent, 20 watts, is barely enough to power a small compact fluorescent light bulb, and most of it was lost in transmission, the system was limited by the budget not the physics. If they had been able to afford more solar panels, more phased array transmitters and a better receivers (the one they had could only receive in the horizontal direction), Mankins claims they could do much better-- possibly up to 64% efficiency. (9/12)

Phoenix Mars Mission Races Against Clock -- and Waning Sunlight (Source: LA Times)
With the waning of the Martian summer, electrical power to NASA's Phoenix lander has begun to decline, putting scientists into a race to finish their experiments before the dark and cold of winter ends the mission. "We're now at the point ... where we have to struggle to do each of the things we need to do," said Barry Goldstein, the Phoenix project manager at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Goldstein emphasized that scientists were confident they could complete the remaining projects before the lander runs out of power, currently expected in mid- to late November. But the increasingly early sunsets have underscored the fact that Phoenix carried a death sentence when it landed near Mars' north pole May 25. (9/12)

Putin Orders Additional $2.6 Billion for Glonass Development (Source: RIA Novosti)
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin signed a directive on Friday on allocating an additional $2.6 billion to develop the country's Glonass satellite system. Glonass (Global Navigation Satellite System) is the Russian equivalent of the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS). Putin also said he would soon sign a directive on 45 billion rubles ($1.8 billion) in additional funding for the country's space program. (9/12)

'Space Traffic Control' Needed in Junk-Filled Orbits (Source: New Scientist)
With the era of mass space tourism approaching, and more satellites being launched into the heavens, for global positioning, telecommunications and Earth monitoring, for example, the worry is that spacecraft will collide with the debris from old satellites, rocket stages and the like, potentially risking lives and serious damage to multimillion-dollar space vehicles. Right now, spacecraft follow a carefully synchronized dance in orbit, using signals from ground controllers, who track known debris, to dodge any hypersonic junk. For instance, just two weeks ago the International Space Station had to be shifted to avoid debris.

But the sheer volume of stuff in orbit will soon make it difficult to maneuver spacecraft without risking an accident. "We do not have clear rules of the road," admits Vladimir Agapov of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow. "Close and sometimes dangerous operations are now common in some orbits." Action is being taken, however. Space agencies and satellite operators are getting together to try to establish a space traffic control system to ensure spacecraft are safe. And some want to go further still, using robots to retrieve space junk and take it out of orbit. Visit http://space.newscientist.com/article/mg19926736.000-space-traffic-control-needed-in-junkfilled-orbits-.html to view the article. (9/12)

US Space Woes Felt by Europe (Source: BBC)
Europe may have to find its own solutions for transporting astronauts and cargo to and from the International Space Station due to short-sighted US policies that now threaten NASA's ability to maintain a presence on the orbital outpost. NASA chief Michael Griffin recently gave top managers a blunt assessment of the situation in an internal email, in which he said: "My own view is about as pessimistic as it is possible to be." Fueling Dr Griffin's frustration is a US policy to retire the space shuttle fleet in 2010, five years before replacement ships are ready to take over the work.

The problem is not just NASA's, though. The US promised transportation services to its European, Japanese and Canadian partners, which provided laboratories and other equipment for the space station. The European Space Agency (ESA) had joined NASA in designing a station crew-return vehicle based on the X-38 experimental craft, but it was never completed. "That was cancelled by a US government decision when almost all the European components were ready or already delivered," wrote Marco Caporicci, the head of the ESA's Future Space Transport and Infrastructure Division. Europe has a cargo hauler, the ATV, which made its debut flight this year. Caporicci said a proposal is being prepared for the ESA Ministerial Council for a cargo transportation capability that may be evolved to carry astronauts.

"To achieve this second step, it will be necessary to analyse in detail the implications of adapting the Ariane 5 launcher and its ground segment to human spaceflight," Caporicci said. "Any such decision would be coordinated with further improvements of the Ariane 5 launcher driven by the commercial missions. (9/12)

SpaceX Faces Biggest COTS Challenge Yet (Source: Flight Global)
Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) is preparing for what it admits is the toughest milestone yet for NASA's commercial orbital transportation services program (COTS), following the granting of its Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) operational license by the US Air Force. The license will enable SpaceX to initiate launch operations for its Falcon 9 rocket later this year, starting with a fit check this December of SLC-40 using a Falcon 9 that has undergone engine firing testing in Texas and eventually leading to its COTS demonstration mission one, scheduled for June 2009. Meanwhile, SpaceX is facing the critical design review for the COTS International Space Station resupply demonstration missions two and three scheduled for November 2009 and March 2010, during which SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft will dock with the ISS. (9/12)

Sea Launch to Put U.S. Telecom Satellite in Orbit on Sept. 23 (Source: RIA Novosti)
The Sea Launch consortium will put a new telecommunications satellite into orbit on Sept. 23 from its ocean-based platform in the Pacific. Intelsat's Galaxy 19 communications satellite, built by Space Systems/Loral, will provide coverage in the United States, the Caribbean, Canada and Mexico. Galaxy 19 will be the fifth satellite Sea Launch has sent into orbit this year, and the 29th overall.

The Sea Launch consortium, established in 1995, is owned by Boeing, Norway's Kvaerner ASA, Ukraine's Yuzhnoye design bureau and Yuzhmash production association, as well as Russia's RSC-Energia. It is the only company that launches from the Equator, which allows rockets to carry heavier payloads than from other latitudes. (9/12)

China to Launch 3rd Manned Space Flight on Sept. 25 (Source: RIA Novosti)
China will launch its Shenzhou 7 manned spacecraft on September 25, weather permitting. For the launch of the Long March IIF rocket to go ahead there must be no rain forecast, wind velocity of less than eight meters per second, and ground visibility of more than 20 kilometers. In a first for China, one of the three astronauts on board will perform a one-hour spacewalk at an altitude of 341 kilometers from the Earth. China plans to build its own orbital space station and create a space laboratory before 2020. (9/12)

Tour Guide to the Stars Retires (Source: Florida Today)
Most of the staff was awed when movie star Clint Eastwood strolled into NASA's press office at Kennedy Space Center some years ago, while he was directing the film "Space Cowboys." Not Manny Virata. "He just walked up to him and said, 'Hey Clint, how's it going?' " remembered Bill Johnson, chief of the Media Services Division. "Manny is no stranger to anybody."

Virata, who is retiring after a 34-year career at the spaceport, has introduced a "who's who" list of celebrities, dignitaries, astronaut family members and media representatives to KSC in his role as a VIP escort and media projects coordinator. In addition to Eastwood, the list of Hollywood icons includes Tom Hanks, Robert Redford and Jodie Foster. (9/12)

India Approves Satellite Navigation Project (Source: Mangalorean)
The government Thursday gave its approval to a satellite-based navigation system, which would meet the growing air traffic and strengthen aviation navigation system. "The new navigation system would increase safety, improve airport and airspace access in adverse weather conditions, and enhance reliability and reduce flight delays," Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said. The new system, called the Geostationary Augmentation and Navigation (Gagan) project, will also help aircraft to take a straight route instead of navigating on an irregular path.

India will become the fourth country to have a satellite-based navigation system. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) are developing the new navigation system with the help of the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) of the US. The Gagan system proposes to augment the GPS data with the help of a geo-stationary satellite to be launched by ISRO. (9/11)

Russian Cargo Ship Launched for ISS (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
Russian cargo ship Progress M-65 is due to dock with the International Space Station (ISS) after setting off from Kazakhstan early Thursday. Progress is delivering a 2.5-ton cargo of combustible energy materials, water, oxygen, food and medicine for the three-man ISS crew, as well as equipment for scientific tests. (9/11)

Shuttle Art Project Needs More Sponsors (Source: Florida Today)
When they launched Brevard County's first major public art program in June, organizers envisioned 100 or more space shuttle statues dotting the Space Coast. So far, 86 designs have been accepted into the Shuttles Orbiting the Space Coast program. Only 32 have corporate sponsors, and organizers are pushing to get more designs sponsored before a Friday deadline. The goal is for artists to create stunning designs on 8-foot fiberglass model orbiters. The work will be placed around the county, in the same way Chicago's famous cow statues or Orlando's lizard statues became public art. (9/11)

Space Technology Comes to Latin America: Part of the Road to Autonomy (Source: COHA Report)
Latin America has made considerable progress in trying to break away from Washington’s traditional dominance. A home-grown hemispheric space program, with the aid of major outside powers like France, Russia and China, represents the latest round of this growing trend. Latin American space technology is still in its infancy and will be for years (if not decades) to come. It will continue to rely on major foreign powers for technology, expertise and launch-capabilities. Nevertheless, the development of home-grown space technology in Latin America can be defined as both a short-term and a long-term project for many nations.

Space technology provides a nation with a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it can be of great aid to Latin American countries, in order to improve telecommunication capabilities to isolated areas as well as monitoring environmental conditions. At the same time, space technology can easily be used for military means, spying on another country’s armed forces as well as hacking into closed security networks. Very close oversight will be necessary by local governments and by the international community to ensure that the space technology being developed in Latin America does not become another route for regional instability. (9/11)

SpaceX Looks to Close 'Gap' (Source: Florida Today)
By December, SpaceX plans to bring a nine-engine rocket to Cape Canaveral that company officials believe could be one of the next spacecraft to carry cargo to the International Space Station. SpaceX hopes this and future rockets can fill the gap between the end of the shuttle program and the start of flights under NASA's Constellation program. "We plan to deliver and close that gap," said Brian G. Mosdell, the SpaceX director of Florida Launch Operations.

The company, which has failed to orbit a rocket in three tries, has contracts for seven launches from Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The company's first Falcon 9 rocket is under construction in Los Angeles. After arriving in December, it is expected to launch during the first quarter of 2009. Space Florida, the state entity formed to support the commercial space industry, has given SpaceX more than $1 million in cash and in-kind support, including office space, surplus fuel tanks and administrative support. (9/10)

Private Suborbital Spaceships Could Aid NASA Science (Source: Space.com)
NASA is eyeing ways to use privately operated suborbital vehicles to help carry out its space agenda. The U.S. agency appears keen on exploring what benefits can be gleaned from commercial piloted suborbital vehicles over traditional means of hurling payloads on suborbital trajectories to the edge of space. The capability, if realized, could offer NASA a new mode of scientific research: human-tended suborbital investigations for studies in which having a live person in-the-loop would increase the scientific return of flight experiments. (9/10)

NASA Named One of the Best Places to Work in the United States (Source: KHOU)
According to Business Week magazine, NASA is one of the best companies to work for in all of America. The space agency came in at No. 16 on the list. The magazine described NASA as a “sexy” place to work, but noted there is a downside. As a government job, the average pay at NASA is between $40,000– $45,000 a year. The Ernst & Young accounting firm was No. 1 on the list. (9/10)

Pete Conrad Spirit of Innovation Awards Launch Nationwide (Source: Conrad Foundation)
The Conrad Foundation announces the launch of their 2008 Pete Conrad Spirit of Innovation Awards. Teams of high school students across the nation are invited to compete in this innovative program. The competition engages high school students in creating commercial products using science and technology. Students design products in personal space flight, lunar exploration and renewable energy. NASA's call for a human return to the moon and the increased interest in space transportation are the foundation of this year's Conrad Award aerospace challenges. For information, visit http://www.conradawards.org. (9/10)

NASA Slips Orion Review By One Year (Source: Aviation Week)
NASA plans to defer the preliminary design review of its Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) until around mid-2009 as it contends with key decisions such as the final choice of material for the thermal protection system. Speaking at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Space 2008 conference here, a NASA official said "we are going to move it downstream -- we need a bit more runway space to get that design right." (9/10)

AEHF Cost Now Estimated At $9.2 Billion (Source: Aviation Week)
Following the congressionally mandated addition of a fourth satellite to the program, the Air Force's Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) program's total estimated cost has reached roughly $9.24 billion. The fourth satellite, combined with some additional development costs associated with the first three spacecraft, have caused the program to breach the 25 percent Nunn-McCurdy cost growth cap. The Air Force has asked the Pentagon for an expedited review process that would conclude in time to be factored into DOD's fiscal 2010-15 budget plan. The first two AEHF spacecraft cost roughly $6.3 billion, which includes non-recurring engineering work dating back to early this decade. The third spacecraft tallies $939 million, and the cost for adding the fourth is about $2 billion. (9/10)

Workforce: Aerospace Firms Face `Gray Wave' (Source: Daily Breeze)
My generation, which came of age in the 1960s, is largely remembered for free love and anti-war protests - but it wasn't all surf, sand and kumbaya back then. A Cold War also raged, and some from my era, spurred by Sputnik and the Cuban missile crisis, became the scientists and engineers who put a man on the moon as that tumultuous decade came to a close. How we cheered when the American flag was planted by Neil Armstrong, who spoke of a "giant leap for mankind."

And now, in the first decade of this new century, tens of thousands of America's aerospace workers are reaching retirement age. On a recent visit to a large aerospace firm in El Segundo, I was starkly reminded of the "gray wave" threatening to wash over our region. After a briefing on a key satellite program, a young engineer told me: "All my peers are gone." Engineers his age, he explained, are departing the industry in droves - and very few are stepping up to replace them. Some 60 percent of aerospace workers are over age 50, and almost 26 percent are eligible for retirement this year, including a quarter of NASA's workforce. The South Bay's aerospace firms expect as many as half of their employees to retire in the next five to 10 years. Visit http://www.dailybreeze.com/ci_10421163 to view the article. (9/10)

U.S. Space Strategy Urged (Source: Aerospace Daily)
The most effective way to communicate the value of space to the U.S. and the world would be to establish an official national space strategy, ensuring policy gets translated into programs, according Lt. Gen. John Sheridan. Sheridan addressed a crowd at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics' (AIAA) annual Space Conference and Exposition here Sept. 9. "We are on the doorstep of our next 50 years in space," Sheridan said, "but we're still invisible."

He proposed a national space strategy, a document that would communicate the value of space, inspire the public and generate increased interest and attention from Congress. "I think we can achieve something fairly dramatic," he added. "Let's do it as quickly as we can." Elements of the strategy would include continued pre-eminence in space, renewed exploration goals, increased protection for existing and future assets and increased funding for education and aerospace workforce development. (9/10)

Rocket Racing League's Engine Switch Leaves Questions (Source: Space.com)
A growing fleet of rocket-powered racers will fly with a liquid oxygen and alcohol engine developed by Armadillo Aerospace, instead of an XCOR Aerospace design used during the Rocket Racing League's public debut earlier this summer. The league had originally planned to pit a racer with an XCOR engine against a racer with an Armadillo engine in the upcoming Reno Air Races set for Sept. 10-14 in Reno, Nev., but for now will only use the Armadillo engine, said league officials. "When we feel the XCOR engines meet our standards of safety, reliability, reusability, and performance for a rocket racer, then we may bring them back into the league," said league CEO Granger Whitelaw. (9/10)

Bigger Telescopes Needed to Find Aliens (Source: Cosmos)
Large space telescopes could zoom in on the atmospheres of planets around other stars, helping to speed up the search for extraterrestrial life, says a new study. A new space-based telescope costing about $10 billion could detect alien life on extrasolar planets using technology already available today, said an astronomer at the University of California, Berkeley. He said that methods, such as observing the change in light from a star as a planet passes in front, or blocking the light from stars and focussing on the faint light of their planets instead, could reveal tell-tale traces of oxygen, carbon dioxide, methane and water vapour in the planets’ atmospheres. These could then be analysed for clues to alien life. (9/10)

Sirius XM Having Trouble Paying Off Debt (Source: Washington Post)
Newly merged Sirius XM Radio said it doesn't have enough cash to pay back the $300 million in debt due early next year but that it has not looked into selling its Northeast Washington building to raise money. Chief executive Mel Karmazin said that the credit market crisis has made it more difficult to raise funds but that he is confident that the satellite radio provider will resolve its debt troubles through bank financing. The company has more than $1.1 billion in debt that will come due in 2009, with $300 million in convertible senior notes due in February. (9/10)

Turkey Plans to Launch Two Satellites in Six Years (Source: Xinhua)
Turkey's satellite operator Turksat said on Wednesday that it plans to launch two satellites, Turksat 4A and Turksat 5A, in six years. Turksat has started work for a new satellite dubbed Turksat 4A which is planned to cover north and central Africa. "The coverage area of Turkish satellites will stretch out from eastern coast of the United States to China, and also from Arabian Peninsula to central Africa." Turksat plans to invite bids for Turksat 4A at the end of 2008 and launch the satellite in 2011. (9/10)

Mideast Set to Gain from Space Industry Forum (Source: Trade Arabia)
The Global Space Technology Forum in November in Abu Dhabi will witness international space experts discussing how individuals and private companies throughout the Middle East can benefit from the space industry with a global revenue of more than $250 billion. The forum will be held at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Center from November 16 to 18. (9/10)

Com Dev To Begin Building Microsatellites (Source: Space News)
Satellite component builder Com Dev of Canada will "move up the value chain" by becoming a prime contractor of microsatellites without threatening its existing customers and expects to be able to produce three to five satellites per year for diverse markets worldwide, Com Dev officials said Sept. 11. (9/11)

ICO European S-band Proposal Hinges on Lawsuit Outcome (Source: Space News)
ICO Global will not enter the European competition to provide mobile satellite services until it has received a verdict in its legal dispute with Boeing about who is at fault for the collapse of a contract to build ICO's original 12-satellite constellation, ICO Chief Financial Officer Michael Corkery said Sept. 11. (9/11)

U.S. Air Force to Buy 4th SBIRS Satellite (Source: Space News)
The Pentagon's acquisition chief has approved the purchase of a fourth geosynchronous-orbiting satellite for the U.S. Air Force's Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) missile warning constellation, Col. Roger Teague, the service's SBIRS wing commander, said Sept. 10. (9/11)

Gates, McConnell Sign Agreement on BASIC Procurement (Source: Space News)
U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and U.S. Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell approved a plan Sept. 8 that allows the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) to proceed with the procurement of two satellites that will collect medium-resolution imagery for both the military and the intelligence community. (9/11)

SpaceX Plans To Launch Unmanned Capsule in '09 (Source: Space News)
Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, Calif., is planning to launch a free-flying version of its Dragon space capsule aboard a Falcon 9 launcher from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport in June 2009, Max Vozoff, a senior mission manager at SpaceX, said in a Sept. 9 interview. (9/11)

NRC To Conduct Decadal Survey for Astronomy (Source: Space News)
The U.S. National Research Council announced the launch of Astro2010, a decadal survey requested by NASA to set priorities for astronomy and astrophysics mission from 2010 to 2020. Stanford University physics professor Roger Blanford will chair the committee, which is still seeking members. The first meeting of Astro2010 is planned for December. (9/11)

Gates and McConnell Approve BASIC (Source: Space News)
The U.S. military and intelligence communities are moving ahead with the procurement of a pair of commercial-class imaging satellites following an agreement between the two camps on the division of labor, funding and management responsibilities. A memorandum of agreement signed Sept. 8 by U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell signals the resolution of earlier disagreements over plans for the Broad Area Space-based Imagery Collector, or BASIC program. (9/11)