September 27 News Items

Chinese Astronaut Performs First Spacewalk (Source: SpaceToday.net)
A Chinese astronaut carried out that country's first EVA on Saturday, making a brief trip outside the Shenzhou-7 spacecraft. Zhai Zhigang, one of the three members of the Shenzhou-7 crew, exited the orbital module of the spacecraft at 4:43 am EDT (0843 GMT) and spent about 15 minutes outside the spacecraft, collecting a small experiment mounted on the spacecraft's exterior and waiving a Chinese flag. Zhai wore a Chinese-developed spacesuit, Feitian, while a second astronaut, Liu Boming, wore a Russian Orlan suit and remained inside the depressurized orbital module. The spacecraft is scheduled to return to Earth early Sunday. (9/27)

Ministers Meet to Advance the European Space Policy (Source: ESA)
Ministers in charge of space activities within ESA and European Union Member States met in Brussels for the fifth Space Council. The Space Council was jointly chaired by French Minister of Higher Education and Research Valérie Pécresse, on behalf of the EU Competitiveness Council, and Maria Van Der Hoeven, Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs and current Chair of the ESA Council at Ministerial Level. Günter Verheugen, Vice President of the European Commission and Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry, and Jean-Jacques Dordain, ESA Director General, also took part.

"In particular, Europe needs to ensure that it delivers the flagship satellite applications programs Galileo and Kopernikus. The Council has set out the requirements for an action plan on Kopernikus implementation, which should include sustainable funding, operational service delivery mechanisms, an approach for the overall governance of the system and of all its components and a comprehensive data policy. We will then address new priorities from a position of strength. (9/27)

NASA's Dirty Secret: Moon Dust (Source: Science Codex)
The Apollo Moon missions of 1969-1972 all share a dirty secret. "The major issue the Apollo astronauts pointed out was dust, dust, dust," says Professor Larry Taylor, Director of the Planetary Geosciences Institute at the University of Tennessee. Fine as flour and rough as sandpaper, Moon dust caused 'lunar hay fever,' problems with space suits, and dust storms in the crew cabin upon returning to space. Taylor and other scientists will present their research on lunar dust at the "Living on a Dusty Moon" session during an Oct. 9 conference.

The trouble with moon dust stems from the strange properties of lunar soil. The powdery grey dirt is formed by micrometeorite impacts which pulverize local rocks into fine particles. The energy from these collisions melts the dirt into vapor that cools and condenses on soil particles, coating them in a glassy shell. (9/27)

Economic Summit Planned in Volusia County, North of KSC (Source: Rep. Dorothy Hukill)
On Sept. 30, Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp will come to Volusia County for the First Annual Volusia Economic Development Summit hosted by State Representative Dorothy Hukill. The Summit will bring together state and local officials, community business leaders, and experts in the field of economic development for a roundtable discussion to explore ways Volusia can expand its economy, and how the State can further assist in building Volusia’s economic future. The event will include discussion of the space industry's impacts in Volusia County, which is home to several hundred members of the Cape Canaveral Spaceport workforce. (9/27)

Congress Puts NASA Bill on Fast Track to the White House (Source: U.S. House of Reps)
With unanimous support, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 6063, the NASA Authorization Act of 2008, authorizing programs at NASA for fiscal year 2009 (FY09). H.R. 6063 initially passed the House on June 18, 2008 by a vote of 409 to 15 and was brought back to the House today, after passing the Senate with minor modifications. The bill will now be sent to the White House for the President’s approval. A strong supporter of NASA, Ranking Member Ralph Hall (R-TX) praised the bill saying, “This year marks the 50th anniversary of the NASA. It is a good time to reflect on how far our nation has come in a half-century, but it is also an opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to space flight and innovation.”

Space 'Taxis' Could Cut the Cost of Spaceflight (Source: New Scientist)
In 1982, an Australian spy plane snapped photographs of a miniature space shuttle being fished out of the Indian Ocean by a Soviet ship. The craft turned out to be a BOR-4, which the Russians were testing as part of their short-lived space shuttle program. So intrigued was NASA by the photographs that it developed its own mini-shuttle, the HL-20 - intended as a possible astronaut rescue vehicle until the project's funding was cut in the early 1990s.

But a modified version of the HL-20, called Dream Chaser, could yet reach the final frontier, if its developer, SpaceDev, has its way. Dream Chaser is one of a number of commercial vehicles in the pipeline that may dramatically lower the cost of access to space. Not only could these vehicles give tourists a taste of space, they could also carry cargo and crew to the International Space Station after the space shuttle is retired. (9/27)

Mars Iron is Ideal for Building Future Bases (Source: New Scientist)
Future colonizers of Mars needn't worry about lugging materials from Earth to build their bases - the most widely used building material on Earth, steel, could be manufactured on the Red Planet. The rover Opportunity has found elemental iron - a key ingredient of steel - peppered across the Martian surface as a result of collisions with iron-rich meteorites. The dry conditions and lack of atmospheric oxygen mean that the stuff has not rusted. On Earth, any natural metallic iron rusts in our wet, oxygenated environment, so we rely on iron oxides such as haematite to make steel. Yet these oxides must be stripped of oxygen molecules in the steel-making process, which requires vast amounts of energy. (9/27)

Two Bills Aim for the Skies (Source: Washington Post)
As it prepares to adjourn, Congress is close to passing and sending to President Bush two bills aimed at keeping American astronauts flying to the international space station during a five-year gap when NASA will have no manned spacecraft of its own capable of reaching the $100 billion orbiting laboratory. On Wednesday, the House included a controversial waiver allowing NASA to purchase Russian Soyuz vehicles in a must-pass continuing resolution to keep the government funded, and staff members of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation said that the Senate was expected to do so, as well.

Many members of Congress initially opposed renewing the waiver because of Russia's recent military action in Georgia, but the tactic of tying it to the continuing resolution allowed the measure to sail through. Democrats said the turning point came early this week when presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama wrote a letter to congressional leaders supporting the waiver. The Senate, meanwhile, has added language to the NASA Reauthorization Act that would prohibit NASA from taking any steps to make it impossible to resurrect the space shuttle fleet after 2010, when it is scheduled to be grounded.

The White House has been firm in saying it wants no space shuttle flights after 2010, when the space station should be largely finished. But members of Congress concerned about being unable to reach the space station without Russian help, as well as Florida representatives concerned about the loss of jobs in the space shuttle program, sought to overrule that decision. Senate staffers said that House leaders had agreed to a similar provision and are expected to pass it this weekend. (9/27)

NASA Faces Challenges Comparable to Those at the End of Apollo (Source: Aviation Week)
On a sultry afternoon in July 1969, a few leading citizens of Huntsville, Ala., hoisted a former enemy rocket engineer onto their shoulders and paraded him around the courthouse square before a happy crowd. Their celebration of the Apollo 11 splashdown marked a triumph both for the engineer - Wernher von Braun - and for the bureaucracy cobbled together just 11 years earlier to create the U.S. civil space program.

If past is prologue, that moment held echoes of NASA's tangled origins and foreshadowed the situation its managers face today. A cloud hung over the Huntsville throng that day, as it does over NASA at the beginning of its second half-century. Then, as perhaps now, the agency's spectacular accomplishments were about to collide head-on with shifting national priorities in an ever-changing geopolitical scene. Click here to view the article. (9/27)

Europe's "Space Truck" Heads for Pacific Breakup (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
Scientists have earmarked a remote area of the South Pacific where bits of Europe's massive space freighter may crash when the orbiting craft is destroyed in a suicide plunge on Monday. The "entry zone" is a strip 2,700 kilometers (1,700 miles) long by 200 kms (120 miles) wide. Around a hundred parts of the 13.5-tonne Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) may survive the fiery heat and stress of re-entry and splash down in pieces in this remote sea area. (9/27)

Will USA and ATK Become 'Good Friends'? (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
NASA contractors Alliant Techsystems and United Space Alliance are continuing talks to resolve their contract battle that could threaten NASA's plans for the Constellation moon rocket program. USA had planned a work stoppage to start last week but called it off after the companies declared a one-week true to work out their differences. Talks will continue while USA workers keep working on NASA's next generation Ares rocket and its Ares I-X test model. One source for ATK said that he thought talks were going well and that soon the companies "would be good friends."

Last month USA -- NASA's largest contractor at Kennedy Space Center -- filed a lawsuit in a Brevard County court over what it claimed was ATK's failure to award USA a long-term contract to work on NASA's Constellation moon rocket program. USA is seeking damages for fraud and breach of contract, and an injunction against ATK poaching USA employees. (9/27)

Signs of Underground Plumbing Seen on Mars (Source: Space.com)
A NASA probe has spotted hundreds of small surface fractures near Mars' equator that may have acted as underground natural plumbing to channel groundwater billions of years ago. Geologists compare the fractures in the sandstone rock deposits on Mars to features called deformation bands on Earth, which can arise from the influence of groundwater in the underground bedrock. The bands and faults have strong influences on groundwater movement on Earth, and seem to have played the same role on Mars. (9/26)

Inflatable Surveillance Balls for Mars (Source: Popular Science)
By next fall, NASA plans to launch its biggest Red Planet rover yet, the $1.8-billion, SUV-size Mars Research Laboratory. Even though the MRL will be able to haul five times as much equipment as the Spirit and Opportunity rovers that are already on Mars, a group of Swedish researchers say that they could accomplish far more if accompanied by a squad of helper ’bots. Fredrik Bruhn, the CEO of Ångström Aerospace Corporation, and his colleagues have designed the small inflatable scouts to assist bigger, less mobile rovers in their hunt for signs of microbial life on Mars.

Each foot-wide, 11-pound ball can roll up to 62 miles, snap photos at any angle, and take soil samples, drawing its power from the solar panels on its shell. Unlike wheeled rovers, the rounded scouts have fewer motors to repair, never flip over, and are easier to seal from dust. Plus, they rarely get stuck. “The beauty of the system is it needs very little energy to go around rocks, so unless you’re landing on a surface that looks like a bed of nails, it should be fine,” Bruhn says. (9/26)

NASA Ames Awards Contract For Intelligent Systems Support (Source: NASA)
NASA's Ames Research Center Friday awarded a contract with a maximum value of $300 million to Stinger Ghaffarian Technologies Inc. (SGT Inc.), of Greenbelt, Md., for intelligent systems research and development support. SGT Inc. will provide support to the Intelligent Systems Division at Ames. The division conducts scientific research, develops technologies, builds applications and deploys advanced information systems technology into NASA missions and other federal government projects. Project areas include autonomous systems and robotics, collaborative and assistant systems, discovery and systems health, robust software engineering, and software systems engineering and software project management. (9/26)

Can China Afford its Space Mission? (Source: Guardian)
This year, Chinese central government badly needs some good news to dress up a harmonious and prosperous appearance of the nation. The snowstorm in January, the Tibet riot in March, the earthquake in May and the most recent milk powder scandal have put the authorities under unprecedented pressure. On the economic front, the collapse of stock and property markets has left many investors with huge losses. Meanwhile, high inflation has made living costs in most Chinese cities unendurable. Tens of thousands of middle- and small-sized enterprises have failed due to the tight monetary polices and the rising operating costs. On the administrative front, the regional government's cover-up attempt during several high-profile incidents has triggered widespread dissatisfaction over the Communist Party's ruling. On internet forums, participants, often anonymous, are wondering how accountability can work under a one-party system. (9/26)

ISS Joint Problem Fix Set (Source: Aerospace Daily)
Spacewalking astronauts will lubricate two big rotating joints on the International Space Station (ISS) with grease this year to ease their way until a permanent fix can be mounted in 2010. Engineers have determined the root cause behind a degrading race ring on the starboard solar alpha rotary joint (SARJ) that has limited rotation of the big solar array wings on that end of the station to follow the sun.

Gold plating added to the ring as lubrication has worn off prematurely, causing metallic shavings to flake off the surface and foul the 10-foot diameter geared mechanism. Earlier, investigators determined the trundle bearings that hold the two halves of the joint together were loaded with a tighter squeeze than specified. (9/26)

European Ministers Endorse Military Role for Galileo (Source: Space News)
Research and industry ministers from 29 European governments endorsed a growing role of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Commission in space-based security and defense Sept. 26 and specifically said Europe's Galileo satellite-navigation system will be open to use by Europe's military forces. (9/26)

NFIRE Satellite Observes Minotaur Target Launch (Source: Space News)
Orbital Sciences Corp. on Sept. 23 launched a Minotaur 2+ target launch vehicle in support of a U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) experiment involving a small missile-observing satellite. The Near Field Infrared, or NFIRE, satellite, launched in 2007, is intended to demonstrate the ability of space-based sensors to discriminate between the bodies of ballistic missiles and their exhaust plumes. (9/27)

Harris To Supply More Terminals to U.S. Navy (Source: Space News)
Harris Corp. of Melborne, Fla., has been awarded a $37 million Navy contract modification to provide super-high frequency satellite communications terminals. Harris initially was awarded the contract for its AN/WSC-6 terminals in 2000 and has delivered 73 ship-board units to the Navy. Under this modification, the company will deliver 10 more terminals and approximately 24 upgrade kits. The contract now is valued at $172.5 million and extends an additional 17 months to March 2010. (9/27)

Officials Hopeful of Keeping GOES-R On Schedule (Source: Space News)
Managers of the U.S. government's next-generation geostationary weather satellite system remain hopeful of meeting a targeted 2015 initial launch date despite an uncertain 2009 budget and its potential impact on two major contract awards. NOAA Officials have said they need $477 million in 2009 — a $242.5 million increase from 2008 — for the GOES-R system. Plans call for awarding contracts for the space and ground segments of the system in early 2009. (9/27)

Griffin: Lasers Key to Next Space Communications Network (Source: Space News)
NASA needs to transition to optical communication systems that would allow spacecraft to send high-definition video and other high data-rate products back to Earth — the kind of data that would overwhelm the radio frequency systems used today, said NASA Administrator Mike Griffin. (9/26)

Defense Appropriations Bill Trims T-Sat, Boosts AEHF (Source: Space News)
Congress appears to be hedging its bets on military communications satellites in its 2009 defense spending bill, providing most of the funding requested for the U.S. Air Force's Transformational Satellite (T-Sat) system while funding a fourth of the preceding generation of secure satellites. The measure, part of a massive Senate spending package that also includes additional funds to upgrade the Wideband Global Satcom system. (9/27)

George Ellery Hale's Legacy and the Future of Giant American Telescopes (Source: CSA)
A live interactive NASA webcast will introduce students to producers Todd and Robin Mason of the award-winning new primetime PBS documentary The Journey to Palomar. Students will learn about the super-human efforts of American astronomer George Ellery Hale and his colleagues to build the biggest telescopes of the 20th century, predecessors of the new mega telescopes being built today for the 21st century. Students will have an exclusive, once-in-a-lifetime chance to explore the universe, LIVE with America's top astronomers who are building this next generation of giant American Telescopes. They'll also have a look at NASA's LCROSS mission to search for water on the Moon, live from NASA's launch of the final Hubble repair mission at the Kennedy Space Center. Students from Maine to Hawaii can submit questions directly to the experts via the internet. Visit http://www.californiaspaceauthority.org/html/level-one/event_091008.html (9/27)

CSA Roundtable Luncheon Planned in Los Angeles on Nov. 7 (Source: CSA)
This California Space Authority (CSA) event features the 2008 Aerospace Advisory Committee Report to the Lt. Governor and the Commission on Economic Development. It starts at 12:30 pm and will be held at the Sheraton Gateway LAX. $50 CSA members, $75 Non-members. Immediately preceding the Roundtable is a meeting of CSA's Space Enterprise Advisory Council (SEAC). To RSVP, contact Dianna Minor at Dianna.Minor@CaliforniaSpaceAuthority.org or 805-349-2633. (9/26)

Lockheed Commercial Remote Sensing Satellite Achieves Nine Years in Service (Source: CSA)
The IKONOS commercial remote sensing satellite, designed and built by Lockheed Martin has achieved its ninth year of on-orbit service and continues to provide high-resolution imagery of the Earth to commercial and government customers around the world. IKONOS is owned and operated by GeoEye of Dulles, Va. The world's first commercial high-resolution imaging system was launched Sept. 24, 1999 with an anticipated life expectancy of five-to-seven years. In 2007, Lockheed Martin performed a life expectancy analysis for GeoEye and determined the spacecraft may continue to be fully operational into the next decade. (9/26)

Lockheed Martin Spacecraft to be Flown for NASA's Maven Mars Mission (Source: CSA)
Lockheed Martin has been selected by NASA to design, build and operate the spacecraft for NASA's Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) program. NASA's newest mission will analyze the upper atmosphere and past climate change on Mars. The $485-million project is led by principal investigator Bruce Jakosky of the University of Colorado's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP). NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center will manage the mission. (9/26)