October 8 News Items

New, Smaller Satellites are Developed (Source: Space Daily)
U.S. scientists say they are developing a satellite about the size of a loaf of bread that will be deployed to study space weather. The National Science Foundation-funded project called Radio Explorer, or RAX, is being led by the University of Michigan and the SRI International Corp., a California independent research and technology development organization. The "CubeSat" satellite will be built, in part, by members of the university's Student Space Systems Fabrication Laboratory. CubeSats are approximately 4-inch cube-shaped devices that launch from inside a P-Pod -- a special rocket attachment developed by California Polytechnic State University and Stanford University. The RAX satellite will essentially be made of three CubeSats and will measure the energy flow in the Earth's ionosphere, where solar radiation turns regular atoms into charged particles. (10/8)

Space Club to Recognize Media and Communications Professionals (Source: NSC)
During its November 18 luncheon meeting, the National Space Club's Florida Committee will present its Harry Kolcum Memorial News & Communication Award to Leigh Holt, Government Relations Manager for the Brevard County Board of County Commissioners, and Justin Ray, managing editor for Spaceflightnow.com. The luncheon will be held at the DoubleTree Hotel in Cocoa Beach, beginning at 11:30 a.m. For reservations and information contact LaDonna Neterer at mailto:ladonna.j.neterer@boeing.com, or visit http://www.nscfl.org. (10/8)

China to Select New Generation of Astronauts (Source: People's Daily)
China will start the second round of astronauts selection to replenish a more demanding mission after the Shenzhou-7 mission ends, according to Beijing Daily. Excellent candidates from the fresh team may be involved in the Shenzhou-10 mission with some of China's first batch of 14 astronauts, including Yang Liwei, Zhai Zhigang, who are still capable of fulfilling the Shenzhou-10 mission as their average age is 40. (10/8)

New Operations Office To Open At KSC (Source: Florida Today)
NASA is planning to open a small office at Kennedy Space Center to start preparing to operate Ares 1 rockets and Orion spacecraft once they have been designed, built and delivered to the nation's primary spaceport. NASA's Space Operations Mission Directorate will stand up the office by the end of the year. It's unclear how many NASA managers and engineers will work in the organization, but it won't be a lot of people. (10/8)

Obama, Union Reps Push NASA Funding (Source: Florida Today)
Wednesday afternoon on Florida's Space Coast, Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama's campaign joined with union representatives to tout the candidate's pledge to increase NASA funding by about $2 billion, which they said could save jobs on Cape Canaveral. During a short press conference, they criticized Republican nominee Sen. John McCain's suggestion to temporarily freeze discretionary spending except for defense and veterans programs, a move they they said would presumably freeze NASA's budget. However, during a visit to Cocoa in August, McCain also promised to bolster NASA's budget by about $2 billion, in an effort to narrow the gap between the shuttle's 2010 retirement and the Constellation program's first manned flights. Obama's Florida policy advisor also blasted the Republican National Committee for including increased NASA funding in list of spending proposals that it brands as Obama's "liberal fiscal agenda." (10/8)

NASA Halves KSC Job Cuts Forecast (Source: Florida Today)
Kennedy Space Center could lose about 3,500 jobs following the retirement of the spaces shuttles in two years, according to revised NASA estimates released today. The figure reflects about half the number of layoffs originally predicted earlier this year. The number of KSC employees could drop to as low as 4,500 in 2011, the year after the shuttles are grounded, according to the new NASA estimates. However, KSC would pick up an additional 500 jobs over each of the following two years because of work provided by the shuttle's replacement, the Constellation project, the agency said in a report released to Congress. Read the 34-page report here. (10/8)

NASA Selects ITT for Space Communications Network (Source: NASA)
NASA has selected ITT Corporation, Advanced Engineering and Sciences of Herndon, Va., to perform telemetry, tracking and command services for near-Earth missions under the Space Communications Network Services contract. The contract, with an estimated maximum value of $1.26 billion, will support NASA's Space and Near Earth Networks, which provide most of the communications for a wide range of NASA's science-based Earth-orbiting spacecraft, including the International Space Station, the space shuttle, the Hubble Space Telescope and the Earth Observing System satellites. (10/8)

Just Laid Off From Their Space Industry Jobs, Workers To Respond to GOP's Anti-NASA Stance (Source: NASA Watch)
Engineers and other space industry workers held a press conference to denounce Senator John McCain's plan to freeze NASA spending and his Republican Party's attack on the space program. Workers will also be making phone calls to Space Coast voters to inform them about McCain and his Republican Party's troubling stance on NASA and Senator Barack Obama's plan to invest an additional $2 billion to help save vital space industry jobs. The Republicans' criticism of Senator Barack Obama's $2 billion plan to save space industry jobs comes as NASA Administrator and Republican appointee Dr. Michael Griffin thanked Senator Obama personally for his "leadership" in getting critical legislation passed to help maintain an American presence in space. (10/8)

SpaceX Announces Dates for More Falcon 1 Launches (Source: SpaceX)
Having achieved complete success with its first Falcon 1 orbital mission, after three prior launches, SpaceX plans to conduct Flight 5 in March 2009, carrying a Malaysian primary satellite, as well as US government secondary satellites, to near equatorial orbit. Flight 6 will probably be a Defense Department satellite in the summer and Flight 7 a commercial satellite mission in the fall. In 2010, SpaceX expects the launch cadence for Falcon 1 to step up to a mission every two to three months. (10/8)

NASA Releases New Publication Highlighting Space Technology Spinoffs (Source: NASA)
The 2008 edition of NASA's annual Spinoff publication celebrates the agency's 50th anniversary and highlights 50 new examples of how NASA technology is being put to use in everyday life. This anniversary edition features a 50-year timeline of NASA-derived technologies from historical programs and projects, and a summary of award-winning NASA technologies included in Spinoff over the years. To request a free copy of Spinoff 2008, call 301-286-0561. To access Spinoff 2008 on the Web, and view a searchable database of more than 1,600 NASA-derived technologies that have been featured in previous Spinoff editions, visit: http://www.sti.nasa.gov/tto/.

Congress Warns U.S. Military is Losing "Preeminence in Space" (Source: AIA)
A congressional report approved last week blasts the military's spy satellite program, which has no "comprehensive space architecture or strategic plan [for] current and future national security priorities." After repeated failures to put new satellites in orbit, "the United States is losing its preeminence in space" at a time when "emerging space powers such as Russia, India and China" are stepping up their own programs. Though the problem is partly bureaucratic and partly regulatory, the report says inconsistent funding has been the biggest impediment. "Research investment must be treated like a national priority," investigators wrote. "Fixing the issues that exist will not take a monumental effort like the Manhattan Project, but it will take a paradigm shift." (10/8)

XCOR Flights Help Mojave Log Over Half of this Century’s Manned Rocket Vehicle Flights (Source: XCOR)
With a series of flights, XCOR Aerospace has helped establish the small desert town of Mojave as the world capital of manned rocket vehicle flight. When XCOR flew a rocket-powered aircraft eight times this week, Mojave Air and Space Port became the location of more than half of all manned rocket-powered vehicle take-offs and landings in the 21st century. The company also set a new informal record for the most flights of a single manned rocket-powered vehicle in a day, and cemented its lead as the company that has flown more than half of the world’s manned rocket-powered vehicle flights in the 21st century. (10/8)

Hardly a Thrilling 50th for NASA (Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel)
NASA celebrated its 50th anniversary last week, but it is still waiting for the gift it desires most: enthusiasm. Enthusiasm in the form of revitalized public passion for the space program, and, more importantly, enthusiasm in the form of resources. It's obvious that NASA celebrates its golden anniversary at a time when the agency is not enjoying a golden era. In fact, NASA — once the stuff of our greatest dreams — is facing a harsh reality.

There are still bold ideas coming out of NASA — to go back to the moon and, hopefully, to Mars, and to replace the soon-to-be-retired space shuttle fleet in a few years with the Ares project. There are also the many opportunities for unmanned space exploration with powerful telescopes and technologies. But the world has changed tremendously in the five decades since we were in a space race with the old Soviet Union, and NASA is feeling the pinch along with everybody else. NASA's budget, once 4 percent of the federal budget, is now a fraction of that — 0.6 percent, or about $17 billion. (10/8)

NASA Expected to Forecast Fewer Job Cuts at KSC (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
NASA will release an employment forecast on Wednesday for Kennedy Space Center that foresees fewer job losses than the agency originally thought were coming to Cape Canaveral when the shuttle retires in 2010, according to Congressional staffers in both the House and Senate. According to the officials, Congress has been told to expect "better" than the worst case estimate of 6,400 lost jobs that the agency predicted in April. Some officials say that NASA is forecasting at least 1,000 fewer job losses, and that the worst case number of job losses now is likely to be less than 5,000. NASA officials would not comment on the figures until Wednesday. Congressional staff said they have been led to believe that the numbers will be much improved because they take into context new "transition" jobs that NASA was unable to factor in last April. (10/7)

Iridium Cash Will Launch NEXT Satellites (Source: Flight Daily News)
Iridium, the global voice and data mobile satellite service provider, raised more than $400 million in February and recently announced a complex merger with GHL Acquisition. The cash will help Iridium move forward with the launch of its NEXT-generation satellite system, which should get under way in 2013. Iridium is working with Lockheed Martin and Thales Alenia Space on the design of the new spacecraft. The existing 66 (plus eight spares) satellite system will continue to provide worldwide coverage through to at least 2013-14. (10/7)

X Prize Foundation Finds Lunar X Prize Sponsor (Source: X Prize Foundation)
The X Prize Foundation has added another firm as a "preferred partner" for the firm's Google Lunar X Prize, the challenge to send a robot to the surface of the moon. AGI, a developer of analysis software for the national security and space communities, will offer discounted services to teams competing in its competition. AGI joins Space Exploration Technologies, the SETI Institute, Universal Space Network, and Space Florida as partners in the prize. The Google Lunar X Prize is one of a number of challenge prizes X Prize has created for fostering innovation; the group was behind the Ansari X Prize, the first private spaceship to reach suborbital spaceflight. (10/7)

India's Giant Leap Over China in Moon Race (Source: DNA)
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is confident of sending the first Indian to the moon by 2015. If successful, it would beat the Chinese in the moon race as that country plans to send its first astronaut by 2017. India’s premier space agency has already begun forming teams for the manned moon mission. MC Dathan, Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), Sriharikota, said they have already decided to use the third upgraded launch pad at SDSC to send Indian astronauts to the moon in a “human spacecraft” that will be carried by an advanced version of the geo-stational satellite launch vehicle (GSLV) rocket. (10/7)

Georgia Teachers Get Free Ride on Zero Gravity Plane (Source: FOX)
It was a once in a lifetime experience for dozen's of Georgia teachers Tuesday. They took a flight on a jumbo jet, designed to simulate zero gravity in space. For more than two hours, the specially equipped 727 climbed and dropped out of the sky -- letting the math and science teachers feel the effects of weightlessness. The hope -- in this state with annually low test scores -- these teachers will now inspire future astronauts and engineers. The flight program was sponsored by Zero-G Corp. and Northrop Grumman. (10/7)