October 6 News Items

EPA Won't Regulate Rocket Fuel Toxic in Drinking Water (Source: Environmental News Service)
Perchlorate, a toxic component of rocket fuel that contaminates drinking water at sites in at least 35 states, will not be regulated at the national level the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has decided. Instead, the EPA said in a statement that it is "committed to working with states and localities to ensure public health is protected." "States have the right to establish and enforce drinking water standards and EPA encourages state-specific situations to be addressed at the local level," the EPA said.

California and Massachusetts have already passed laws regulating perchlorate in drinking water. Ammonium perchlorate is widely used throughout the aerospace, munitions, and pyrotechnics industries as a primary ingredient in solid rocket and missile propellants, fireworks, and explosive charges. It is a component of more than 350 types of munitions, according to the Department of Defense. (10/6)

Editorial: Houston, We Have a Problem (Source: New York Times)
While no one expects Mr. McCain or Mr. Obama to be Kennedy-esque with regard to this issue, a number of thoughtful people in and out of the business do feel that both men need to understand that if we forfeit our hard fought preeminence in space, it’s a position we may never get back. Coupled with that fear is the understanding that no nation on earth is more dependent upon its assets in space than the United States.

Policy, like music CD’s and novels, often needs a hook. I offer this one: At the height of the Iraq war, the United States was spending close to $1 billion per day. For about 20 days of that budget, we could easily support NASA and find the solutions needed to keep our nation preeminent in space. The Chinese often rightfully calibrate their plans for the future in increments of 50, 100 or even 200 years down the road. With regard to our human space program, a President McCain or a President Obama needs to emulate that thinking. Should that not happen, the logical progression of our destiny may be at risk. (10/6)

Orbital Announces Long-Term Commitment to Arizona with Facilities Expansion (Source: Orbital)
Orbital Sciences Corp., one of the world’s leading space technology companies, announced a major long-term commitment to the City of Chandler by unveiling its plans for an expansion of its launch vehicle research and development, engineering, manufacturing and testing facilities. Orbital is also renewing the lease on its current facility for another 11 years, ensuring that the company will remain an anchor corporate tenant in Chandler for at least the next decade. (10/6)

NASA Probe Sees Big Cliffs on Mercury (Source: Telegraph)
An unmanned Nasa spaceship the size of a car has made a low pass over the rocky surface of Mercury, photographing areas which have never been seen before. The probe, named Messenger, flew at a height of only 124 miles above the planet's baking red terrain and sent back some initial images showing cliffs. However, the bulk of the data from Messenger's pass - the second of three flights to be completed by September 2009 - will be transmitted later and help expand scientists' picture of topography on the planet nearest the sun. (10/6)

K.B. Hutchison Editorial: America Must Renew Commitment to Space Leadership (Source: Humble Tribune)
As our nation celebrates the 50th Anniversary of NASA, we face enormous challenges to our international leadership in space exploration, including a potential five year gap in American manned spaceflight. America must renew its commitment to NASA and technology innovation so that we do not relinquish our leadership role in space. In the 21st Century, America's supremacy in space is no longer a foregone conclusion. (10/6)

Nelson Hits RNC on NASA Stance (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida said the Republican National Committee “just stepped in it” when they blasted Barack Obama for his promise to give NASA $2 billion more in funding. “It’s not only ridiculous, it shows how totally out of it they are,” said Nelson, who said extra NASA funding helps grow jobs in Florida, a key swing state in the upcoming presidential election. “They simply don’t know what they are talking about.” Nelson held the conference in response to a recent campaign dig by the RNC that attacked the Democratic presidential candidate for his “liberal fiscal agenda.” If the Democratic presidential nominee is elected, the RNC estimated that Obama would approve more than $1 trillion in new government spending. (10/6)

COROT Discovery Stirs Exoplanet Classification Rethink (Source: ESA)
Europe's COROT space telescope has discovered a massive planet-sized object orbiting its parent star closely, unlike anything ever spotted before. It is so exotic, that scientists are unsure as to whether this oddity is actually a planet or a failed star. The object, named COROT-exo-3b, is about the size of Jupiter, but packs more than 20 times the mass. It takes only 4 days and 6 hours to orbit its parent star, which is slightly larger than the Sun. (10/6)

Business on the ISS Beyond Space Tourism (Source: Space Review)
Richard Garriott's flight to the ISS later this month is a another step forward for more than just space tourism. Taylor Dinerman explains how the flight may help clear the way for commercial research and other work on the station. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1226/1 to view the article. (10/6)

Space Exploration at a Crossroad (Source: Space Review)
The retirement of the shuttle, a change of presidents, and other factors all put the future of space exploration in question in the US. In the first of a two-part essay, Claude Lafleur reviews the lessons that spaceflight advocates have -- or at least should have -- learned over the last few decades. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1225/1 to view the article. (10/6)

UK Science Minister Backs Astronaut Corps (Source: Guardian)
Britain should launch an astronaut program to inspire young people to take up science, the newly appointed science minister has told the Guardian. Dr Paul Drayson, who was appointed by Gordon Brown in his cabinet reshuffle on Friday, said the country needed large-scale "iconic" challenges to show young people that science can offer a "wonderful life". (10/6)

Russian Record-Holder: Space Crew Conflicts Not Expected for Long Missions (Source: Aviation Week)
Sergei Krikalev, the Russian cosmonaut who holds the record for time spent in space, says he doesn't expect crew conflict to be a major problem on long-duration exploration missions, including 30-month trips to Mars and back. "I think for a mission like a Mars mission, motivation is going to be so high, if you know it's so important, everything will be done to do your job the best way," Krikalev said. He has logged 803 days, nine hours, 39 minutes in space. "From a psychological point of view, I don't see a big problem, especially if you are going to have a very extended scientific mission," he said. "You have plenty of things to do, so it shouldn't be a problem." (10/6)

Expanded ExoMars Lander Mission Is Under Fire from Italy (Source: Aviation Week)
A last-minute about-face by Italy could scuttle Europe's ambitions to take a lead role in Mars and Moon exploration, just as planners are beginning to define a coordinated international exploration road map. ESA has been counting on a ministerial summit in The Hague to recast its space program in new directions, with ambitions more attuned to Europe's economic and technological potential. Leading the agency's wish list are a pair of big exploration objectives - a rescoped ExoMars lander/rover mission, with an expanded science package, and a cargo download capsule derived from the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) that could ultimately morph into an interplanetary freighter and crewed transportation vehicle. (10/6)

One Way Up: U.S. Space Plan Relies on Russia (Source: New York Times)
This place was once no place, a secret military base northeast of Moscow that did not show up on maps. The Soviet Union trained its astronauts here to fight on the highest battlefield of the cold war: space. Yet these days, Star City is the place for America’s hard-won orbital partnership with Russia, where astronauts train to fly aboard Soyuz spacecraft. And in two years Star City will be the only place to send astronauts from any nation to the International Space Station.

The gap is coming: from 2010, when NASA shuts down the space shuttle program, to 2015, when the next generation of American spacecraft is scheduled to arrive, NASA expects to have no human flight capacity and will depend on Russia to get to the $100 billion station, buying seats on Soyuz craft as space tourists do. Senators John McCain and Barack Obama have denounced the gap and promoted their commitment to the space program while on trips to Florida, where thousands of workers will lose their jobs when the shuttle program ends. And antagonism between the United States and Russia, over the conflict in Georgia and other issues, is clouding the future of a 15-year partnership in space, precisely when NASA will be more reliant on Russia than ever before. (10/6)

European Defense Agency Has Growing Interest in Military Space (Source: Space News)
The European Defence Agency (EDA) is quietly moving toward involvement in the military-space sector by providing Europe's civil space authorities with a list of military requirements for future civilian-financed Earth observation and space-situational awareness projects, according to EDA and other European officials. It remains unclear how far the effort will go, and already some heads of individual European government space agencies are protesting that they are being asked to fund programs with military specifications but no military funding. (10/6)

Galaxy Diversity Reveals Clues to Cosmic Evolution (Source: Space.com)
Astronomers peering out into our cosmic backyard have long understood that the Milky Way's galactic neighbors only seem similar on the surface. Now a detailed survey from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has revealed the diversity of those galaxies as they evolve over time. The ACS Nearby Galaxy Survey Treasury (ANGST) program zeroed in on 14 million stars in 69 nearby galaxies. Such galaxies sit close enough so that Hubble's sharp eyes could single out the brightest stars instead of seeing a giant smear of light, and may help settle raging debates over how galaxies and their stars form in the first place. The survey covered galaxies ranging 6.5 million light-years to 13 million light-years from Earth. A light-year is the distance light will travel in a year, or about 6 trillion miles (10 trillion kilometers). (10/6)

Indian Moonshot to be Launched on October 22 (Source: Thaindian)
Chandrayaan-1, India's first unmanned mission to moon is scheduled to be launched from the spaceport of Sriharikota at 6.20 a.m. on October 22. The satellite was transported from here to Sriharikota in a special vehicle last week and has reached the Satish Dhawan Space Center (SHAR). The spacecraft would carry 11 payloads — five from India and six from the US, Europe and Bulgaria. It would be launched on board PSLV-C11. (10/6)

Higher Ed - Aero-Propulsion Center at ERAU (Source: Daytona Beach News Journal)
As NASA plans to retire the space shuttle in the next two years, state officials have been looking for ways to preserve Florida's $100 billion aerospace industry. One of the efforts is investment in something called aero-propulsion. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University is announcing its top-rated aerospace engineering department has established its own Advanced Center for Aero-Propulsion. Maj Mirmirani, dean of engineering, explained that aerodynamics and propulsion are two of the most important sub-disciplines in aerospace engineering. Aerodynamics deals with the analysis of forces that keep a flying object in the air, such as lift and drag. Propulsion is the force that thrusts the object into the air.

"In past years, aerodynamics and propulsion and the other things that go into the design of a vehicle were studied in isolated engineering groups focused on their own disciplines," Mirmirani said. "It became obvious with the advent of high-powered computation it is advantageous these disciplines are addressed in the design of new air vehicles in an integrated way." The Florida Legislature decided to invest $14.5 million in aero-propulsion by establishing a center for excellence, led by Florida State University and involving Embry-Riddle, the University of Central Florida, and the University of Florida. (10/6)