October 1 News Items

Technology & Innovation: Where Do the Candidates Stand? (Source: SGPB)
A new Information Technology and Innovation Policy Foundation report compares the two presidential candidates on their innovation and technology policies. The study tracks the candidates' position in eleven key areas, including tax, trade, education and workforce policies. The report notes that McCain and Obama bring different philosophies to the promotion of innovation. McCain's program seeks to create a favorable environment for private sector innovation. His primary preferred tools are tax reductions, tax credits, and limits on government regulation. By contrast, Obama is more open to deploying government as an active partner with business. He envisions expanded Federal funding for R&D and for targeted initiatives around clean energy and health information technology. Obama is also more willing to reevaluate and perhaps reorganize the Federal innovation policy system. McCain appears more willing to operate within the structure of existing Federal agencies and programs. Click here to see the analysis. (10/1)

Vast Differences Between Obama and McCain on Technology Policy (Source: WIRED)
Everyone knows that McCain doesn't use email. What they don't know is that he actually deserves a lot of the blame for the sorry state of broadband in this country. We've gone from 5th in the world in broadband penetration to 22nd, in no small part because of John McCain's policies as chair of the Senate Commerce Committee: his support for mergers in the telecom industry; his opposition to the pro-competition parts of the '96 Telecommunications Act; and his dogmatic pro free-market beliefs, even in a market which by its nature requires government management. Obama's views aren't perfect; but he's miles better. Here's Obama's technology policy. Here's McCain's. (10/1)

Magnetic Hunger Could Drive Space Travelers Insane (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
The Earth's magnetic field intensity is 50 microtesla, which is thousands of times stronger than the magnetic fields of Mars or Mercury. It is this powerful field that protects the Earth's surface and all living creatures from the solar wind, a flow of charged particles from the Sun. The absence of Earth's magnetic field could lead to astronauts developing mental disorders during interplanetary flights, particularly expeditions to Mars, Russian scientists said. Researchers from the Biology and Biophysics Research Institute at Tomsk State University and the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute for Biomedical Problems have conducted a number of experiments to study rats' behavior when isolated from the Earth's magnetic field. The experiments showed that the rats lost social skills, had problems with memory, and experienced changes in their internal organs. (10/1)

NASA Extends Boeing International Space Station Contract (Source: NASA)
NASA has awarded a two-year, $650 million contract extension to Boeing to continue engineering support of the International Space Station to Sept. 30, 2010. The action extends the U.S. On-Orbit Segment Acceptance and Vehicle Sustaining Engineering contract, awarded in January 1995. Work will include completion of delivery and on-orbit acceptance of the U.S. segment of the station, sustaining engineering of station hardware and software, support of U.S. hardware and software provided to international partners and participants in the station program, and end-to-end subsystem management for the majority of station systems. (10/1)

Elon Musk Makes List of Most Influential People (Source: Esquire)
Elon Musk, a cofounder of PayPal, is arguably the most 21st-century entrepreneur on the planet. In addition to running Tesla Motors, the electric-car manufacturer, and SolarCity, which sells and installs solar panels, he is the founder of SpaceX, the only private enterprise currently launching rockets into space. Click here to see how he explains why we need to become a spacefaring species. (10/1)

Unjustified Celebration? (Source: Space Politics)
“Flying in the teeth of White House opposition, the space agency’s congressional supporters have apparently guaranteed a 15 percent budget increase by appending the proposal to a spending measure necessary to keep the government running.” So begins an editorial in the Houston Chronicle, congratulating Congress for having “done its part by providing the money” for NASA. The problem is, it doesn’t appear Congress has done anything like what the newspaper thinks it’s done.

The editorial and an article claim that Congress has given NASA a 15% budget increase by tucking the money into the continuing resolution legislation that the president signed into law yesterday. First, there is no sign of that money in HR 2638, which funds agencies like NASA at FY 2008 levels until early March (or until the passage of an FY09 appropriations bill, whichever comes first); there is an extra $30 million for NASA, but that is for disaster relief. Second, it appears the Chronicle is confusing it with the NASA authorization bill that Congress passed last week, which authorizes $20.2 billion for NASA in FY09, but does not appropriate any funding. Contrary to what the Chronicle thinks, Congress has not yet done its part to increase NASA’s funding for FY2009. (10/1)

McCain on Cost-Plus Contracts (Source: Space Politics)
During Friday night’s presidential debate, Barack Obama made a passing reference to the Shenzhou 7 mission that was in progress at the time. John McCain, though, a short time later, took aim at a bigger issue: the use of cost-plus contracts: "I think that we have to return — particularly in defense spending, which is the largest part of our appropriations — we have to do away with cost-plus contracts. We now have defense systems that the costs are completely out of control… So we need to have fixed-cost contracts."

The comment was made in regards to defense spending, but McCain’s disdain for such contracts would presumably extend to NASA as well. While this comment has raised a few eyebrows, it’s not that surprising given his published policy on national security. It doesn’t specifically mention cost-plus contracts, but one can see how his opposition to cost-plus contracts fits into this philosophy. It’s also not surprising among those defense contractors who have done battle with McCain over the years in the Senate on these issues. (10/1)

China Report Urges Missile Shield (Source: Washington Times)
The United States needs new weapon systems, including missile defenses and other advanced military capabilities, to deter and counter China's steady buildup of nuclear and conventional arms, according to a draft internal report by a State Department advisory board. U.S. defense policy has stressed missile defenses against Iran and North Korea. The report, by the Secretary of State's International Security Advisory Board (ISAB), is the first to recommend such defenses against China, including technology in space. The draft said Chinese strategy goes beyond building forces capable of retaking the island of Taiwan. China seeks to "break out" by projecting power beyond its region including sea lanes that carry energy resources for its modernization, the document said. (10/1)

NASA Defends Lunar Mission as First Step to Mars (Source: AIA)
With several European space agencies pushing for a quicker manned mission to Mars, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin is warning against overconfidence. At the International Astronautical Congress in Scotland on Tuesday, Griffin said astronauts would need to complete a continuous mission of at least 18 months between the moon and the International Space Station in order to simulate a trip to Mars and back. "I am not saying that we have to have conducted such a mission, but that we have to be confident in our ability to conduct it before we send astronauts to Mars," Griffin said. "Otherwise, the crew we send to Mars will not come back." (10/1)

Campaign Creates Florida Space Policy Committee (Source: Obama Campaign)
The Obama Campaign is recruiting members for a Florida Space Policy Committee, which aims to sway undecided space-minded voters by comparing and contrasting the space and technology policies issued by Barack Obama and John McCain. Visit http://my.barackobama.com/page/group/FloridaSpacePolicyCommittee for information. (10/1)

What Has NASA Ever Done for Us? (Source: The Sun)
NASA began 50 years ago today. In that time it has celebrated some historic highs and some tragic lows. It put the first men on the moon, won the space race with the USSR during the Cold War – but lost 17 astronauts in three missions which ended in disaster. The incredible rescue of Apollo 13 gave us the now familiar phrase: “Houston, we have a problem.” Since October 1, 1958, Houston has solved countless problems, not just in space but here on Earth. Contrary to popular belief, NASA did NOT invent barcodes, quartz clocks, smoke detectors, Teflon or Velcro. But most of us have reason every day to thank NASA for giant leaps in technology which we tend to take for granted. Visit http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1752963.ece to view the article. (10/1)

Space Program Helped Shape Florida Community (Source: Florida Today)
When NASA was formed 50 years ago, Brevard County already was the fastest-growing county in the United States from 1950 to 1960 because of the military space program, the population exploded from about 111,000 to 157,000 just three years later in 1963 because of the startup of Mercury. By then, 42 people were moving into Brevard every day. In 1950, Brevard County had 13 schools. In 1963, there were 46 schools teaching 10 times as many students. Brevard went from a place where NASA and military officials worried about the lack of skilled workers to a community that topped the state in education level, income and property values.

The changes meant new roads, bridges, homes and businesses — a construction boom so explosive that neither private industry nor the government could keep up with demand for goods and services. The influx of new people brought about the foundation of community theaters in Melbourne, Cocoa and Cocoa Beach as well as opera and symphony groups, all still thriving decades later. The worldwide attention and, later, launches themselves made Cocoa Beach a famed tourist destination. (10/1)

First Institute for Space Commerce to be based in the Isle of Man (Source: Isle of Man Today)
The Isle of Man is reaching for the stars after achieving a world first. The Manx Government successfully won a bidding war to secure the world's first International Institute for Space Commerce (IISC), to be based at the International Business School. Creation of the IISC project has been a joint initiative between the International Space University (ISU) based in Strasbourg, France, and the Manx Government. The ISU wanted to become more global and wanted to establish a number of associated international institutes around the world. (10/1)

Russian Rocket Sends Thai Satellite Into Orbit (Source: Xinhua)
A Russian Dnepr rocket sent into orbit a Thai satellite on Wednesday. Developed from the RC-20B intercontinental ballistic missile, the Dnepr carried the Theos remote sensing satellite in a launch from the Dombarovsky district in the Ural Orenburg region. "It was a scheduled space launching carried out in accordance with a plan of the activities of Russian Strategic Purpose Troops (RVSN) in the framework of the Dnepr program," said Colonel Alexander Vovk. (10/1)

NASA Funding Boost Added to Veto-Proof Bill (Source: Houston Chronicle)
Flying in the teeth of White House opposition, the space agency's congressional supporters have apparently guaranteed a 15 percent budget increase by appending the proposal to a spending measure necessary to keep the government running. The $20.2 billion NASA budget for 2009 includes $2.6 billion more than President Bush requested. The additional funds will pay for at least one more shuttle flight than currently planned before the fleet is mothballed in 2010.

The extra resources could also be used to extend the lifetime of the shuttle to allow continued access to the Space Station by U.S. space vehicles. That would narrow an expected five-year gap between the grounding of the shuttle and the first flights of a new generation of spacecraft. Lawmakers hope the extra money also moves up the readiness date for the Orion spacecraft and Ares 1 launch system. Senate advocates also added a prohibition against any actions by NASA that could prevent extended operation of the shuttle fleet beyond 2010. That effectively gives the next president the option to extend the operational lifetime of the existing vehicles, a flexibility presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama have requested. (10/1)

NASA Plan for Retiring Shuttles Called Lacking (Source: Houston Chronicle)
Even as Houston's Johnson Space Center and rival sites wage a behind-the-scenes lobbying battle to obtain a space-flown shuttle orbiter for eventual museum display, a government report released Tuesday took NASA to task for failing to plan adequately for the shuttle fleet's post-flight future. A report by Congress' watchdog Government Accountability Office concluded that NASA has yet to develop reliable cost estimates for retiring the shuttle fleet in 2010 and cleaning the coveted space orbiters for display at sites competing for the assignment. NASA's fleet includes the shuttles Atlantis, Discovery and Endeavour. (10/1)

Editorial: A New Rocketship (Source: Anderson Valley Post)
If you don't follow NASA more closely than noting a space shuttle launch or space walk on the International Space Station, you may not be aware that America is building a new rocket. It's called the Ares I, and it is America's rocket that will carry humans into space for exploration missions to the moon and beyond. Together with a larger follow-on rocket, the Ares V, and a capsule called Orion that will house our astronaut crews, the Ares I makes up our country's new space transportation system. Right now, 213 companies in 32 states and Puerto Rico are working on the Ares I rocket. Ninety-five of them are here in California. (10/1)

Martian Fossils May be Hiding Inside White Rocks (Source: New Scientist)
Scientists set out to see if sedimentary meteorites blasted off the Martian surface in an impact could survive the fall through Earth's atmosphere. They attached two sedimentary rocks from our planet, each about 4 centimeters in diameter, to the outside of an unmanned Russian spacecraft called Foton M3. After 12 days in orbit, the Foton M3 capsule plummeted through the atmosphere and crashed in Kazakhstan. The rocks contained tiny fossils and chemical traces of organisms. The team had also coated the back of each rock with a living organism: Chroococcidiopsis, a hardy type of cyanobacteria found on Earth in hot springs and other extreme environments thought to be one of the few creatures that might be capable of living in the harsh environment on Mars.

After impact, each was analysed at the atomic level to see if the signatures of life they transported had also survived the trip. The microfossils, chemical traces of life were still detectable, despite the fact that heat had changed the composition of the rock. The Chroococcidiopsis bacteria did not survive, though their charred remains did. "We think the flames got around behind the rocks and scorched them," said one of the researchers. (9/30)

Spotless Sun: Blankest Year of the Space Age (Source: NASA)
As of Sept. 27, 2008, the sun had been blank, i.e., had no visible sunspots, on 200 days of the year. To find a year with more blank suns, you have to go back to 1954, three years before the launch of Sputnik, when the sun was blank 241 times. "Sunspot counts are at a 50-year low," says solar physicist David Hathaway of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. "We're experiencing a deep minimum of the solar cycle." (9/30)

Action Urged on Asteroids (Source: MSNBC)
Astronauts and other space experts are calling for the formation of new international organizations to monitor a threat that may not be as imminent as the current financial crisis but would be even more catastrophic: a cosmic collision with an asteroid or comet. Such organizations would make contingency plans to divert threatening near-Earth objects, and recommend how to proceed when those plans actually have to come into play. But the final decision to take action should be left up to the U.N. Security Council, the panel says. (9/30)

Branson Space Ships to Measure Greenhouse Gas Levels (Source: Guardian)
Richard Branson's space tourism company, Virgin Galactic, is to use its space planes to gather scientific data on climate change from the highest reaches of the atmosphere under a new collaboration with NOAA. Instruments and sensors will be added to the company's high altitude plane, White Knight Two, and the smaller rocket-propelled SpaceShipTwo, as part of a climate change research project planned NOAA in Colorado. The researchers will use Virgin Galactic test flights, and subsequent commercial launches, to collect air samples from high up in the atmosphere, which will be analysed for greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and other constituents. (9/30)