January 30 News Items

International Space Conference in Orlando on May 28-31 (Source: ERAU)
The 2009 International Space Development Conference, the annual conference of the National Space Society, will be held in Orlando on May 28-31. Thanks to an amazing effort from friends and members of the three Florida-based NSS chapters, the NSS Board of Directors chose Orlando over a fantastic rival bid from Toronto, Canada. The location will be the Omni Orlando Resort at ChampionsGate. Mark your calendars, and visit http://nssflorida.org/isdc-2009/ for information. (1/30)

Another Retired General Named as Possible NASA Administrator (Source: NASA Watch)
I keep hearing the name Lester Lyles mentioned as a possible choice for NASA Administrator. He was a senior Obama campaign advisor, served on the President's Commission on U.S. Space Policy, has extensive space experience from his days in the USAF, is participating in the ongoing NAS study "Rationale and Goals of the U.S. Civil Space Program", and is also a member of the NASA Advisory Council. Unlike Scott Gration, Lyles has obvious space creds. His bio is posted at http://www.af.mil/bios/bio.asp?bioID=6259 (1/30)

California Rocket Club Offers Mini Grants for Payloads (Source: SEF SpaceWorks)
The Aeropac Rocket Club of northern California (Aeropac.org) is providing mini grants to education organizations to build and deliver payloads for their ARLISS events (ARLISS.org) for launches in June and September of this year. These $2,500 mini grants are given directly to the supporting faculty member to encourage the development of payloads by students and to fly them on the rockets they launch in the Black Rock desert in the north east corner of Nevada. These grants will not pay the total cost of the mission. There are travel expenses and the cost of the motors for the rocket flight. The motor costs are $145-$400. If you are interested, please send an email to mailto:Bob.Twiggs@SEFSpaceworks.com. We would hope that there would be other interested donors out there that would provide additional grants or sponsor their favorite education group. (1/29)

California Aerospace History Project Launched (Source: CSA)
Southern California as we know it would not exist without aerospace. For much of the twentieth century aerospace was the primary economic driver of Southern California’s growth, transforming southern California from sunbelt orange groves to high-tech metropolis. The Aerospace History Project is actively pursuing archival material and oral histories to create a center for aerospace history in Southern California, and promote research into this vital aspect of history. The project is a major initiative of the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West (ICW). Please see the ICW website (www.usc.edu/icw) for announcements of new acquisitions, or contact Peter Westwick (mailto:westwick@history.ucsb.edu) for more information. (1/30)

Securing Space - Opportunities for President Obama on Space Security (Source: Weekly Standard)
As Washington remains engulfed in discussion over expected foreign policy shifts on hot-button issues like Iran and Afghanistan, one critical policy area that is primed for far-reaching modifications, yet receiving little attention, is the future of U.S. space security. Critics of the Bush administration charge that his approach was as unproductive as it was controversial. The U.S. National Space Policy of 2006, including its dismissal of any legal regime to limit U.S. action in space contributed to an unnecessarily hostile approach to space security that has only served to make us less safe.

Thus, it's likely that the Obama administration will make a significant departure from the policies the Bush administration pursued. While recognizing the strategic importance of space, President Obama has chosen to offer the solution of an international treaty banning space weapons, or at the very least a discussion of "rules of the road" for space, as the solution for securing the nation's space assets. The feasibility of this policy and its desirability for U.S. interests has been widely questioned. (1/30)

Russia Makes First Space Launch of 2009 (Source: RIA Novosti)
Russia has successfully launched its first carrier rocket of 2009, putting a Coronas-Photon research satellite into orbit. The launch of the Cyclone-3 rocket from the Plesetsk spaceport in northwest Russia had been scheduled for Thursday, but was delayed by a day for technical reasons. The Coronas-Photon satellite, designed to study solar processes, is the third of three to study the Sun from near-Earth orbit. It will investigate the processes of free energy accumulation in the sun's atmosphere, accelerated particle phenomena and solar flares, and the correlation between solar activity and magnetic storms on Earth. (1/30)

Honeywell Profit Rises on Lower Costs (Source: AP)
Honeywell's quarterly earnings rose 2.6 percent, helped by lower costs that offset weaker sales in most of its divisions. Fourth-quarter net income totaled $707 million. A year earlier, it earned $689 million. Revenue dropped 6 percent to $8.7 billion down in all but one of the company's four segments. (1/30)

‘De-Stalinizing’ NASA? (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
For months we have reported that there was dissent being stifled inside NASA, particularly when it comes to the new Constellation Program that is supposed to return astronauts to the moon. NASA and former Administrator Mike Griffin staunchly denied the reports, saying that employees had ways to direct their complaints or ideas, and that there was no such effort to muzzle criticism. Well, Mike is gone now and a reassessment appears to be taking place.

Take a look at the latest blog by Wayne Hale, an associate administrator. The point of his post is that despite NASA's efforts to create an open environment, the culture of suppression continues. He posted this video dramatizing how NASA managers squash ideas that run counter to prevailing policy decisions. Interesting that the subject the actors are wrestling with involves a flawed space ship and ways to improve it. Where will this lead? A rethink of Ares I? An extreme agency makeover? It will be interesting to see who is watching and what they do about it. (1/30)

University Payloads Launched Through Alaskan Aurora (Source: UAF
After days of waiting for precise aurora conditions, a team from the University of Iowa finally saw the launch of its two scientific sounding rockets from Poker Flat Research Range. The NASA rockets launched Jan. 29 and flew through an auroral curtain, collecting data throughout their flights. Scientists aim to gain a clearer picture of aurora structure by simultaneously collecting data from both the top and bottom edges of an auroral arc. To get the data, two rockets were launched. A two-stage Black Brant IX launched at 12:49 a.m. and reached an altitude of more than 226 miles. The rocket flew for just under 10 minutes. At 12:50 a.m., a single-stage Black Brant V launched, reaching an altitude of nearly 83 vertical miles, flying for roughly eight minutes. (1/30)

Embry-Riddle Supports Aviation Merit Badge at Orlando Science Center on May 9 (Source: ERAU)
Boy Scout Days at the Orlando Science Center are designed to assist Scouts in fulfilling recognition requirements. Each day includes full admission to the Science Center, reserved seating for a giant-screen film in the Dr. Phillips CineDome and a workshop. Workshops usually run from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and more complicated subjects may extend workshop time. Embry-Riddle is supporting a May 9 event where scouts can earn their Aviation Merit Badge. Click here for information. (1/30)

Florida's Aerospace Agency Flounders (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Florida legislative auditors said Space Florida has yet to spell out what it wants to do -- and how it intends to accomplish its mission -- and recommended that lawmakers freeze spending until the agency does so. The report, written in typical low-key auditor style, added, "In the absence of a spaceport master plan, it is difficult for the Legislature to assess how Space Florida's efforts to improve various launch facilities will be expected to contribute to its overall mission of retaining and expanding Florida's space industry."

But several legislators saw the report as damning -- and an indication that the $14.5 million they appropriated to rebuild Launch Complex 36 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station was in danger of being wasted. "It's essential that we get to the bottom of this," said Sen. Mike Haridopolos, R-Indialantic, a budget writer who is in line to be Senate president in 2010. "If they can't improve it, we need to figure out some way to do it better." Money for a rebuilt launchpad, intended to lure commercial ventures, has failed to attract a company willing to launch there. And the study found "there is some disagreement over the feasibility" of plans to have one pad serve different rockets.

Many engineers consider a common launchpad a bad idea. Configuration of service towers, fueling systems and pad clearances vary depending on the size and type of fuel used by a rocket, they say. Rocket-company executives also worry about potential conflicts with other users of a shared pad. That's one reason that Space X, the largest new commercial spaceflight company launching in Florida, uses a pad it leases directly from the Air Force. Click here to view the article. (1/30)

Group Wants Retired Orbiter in Brevard (Source: Florida Today)
A grass-roots group has launched a bid to make certain that either Atlantis, Discovery or Endeavour roosts in retirement at Kennedy Space Center. Museums nationwide are aiming to display one of the agency's three spaceships. The Smithsonian Air & Space Museum in Washington, D.C., likely will have first dibs. The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, is expected to compete, too. So is The Museum of Flight in Seattle and perhaps NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston and Marshall Space Flight Center in Hunstville, not to mention the city of Palmdale, Calif., where the orbiters were built.

"It's clear that everyone thinks it would be an absolute sin if we did not have a space shuttle here for display," said Jim Banke, who is organizing the local effort. "And we absolutely cannot take for granted that we are going to get one. We can't just assume that one of them is automatically ours." Former KSC directors Jay Honeycutt, Jim Kennedy and Bob Crippen -- the latter a former astronaut who piloted Columbia on its maiden voyage in 1981 -- are involved in the bid to bring one of the birds to a final perch at KSC.

NASA officials at KSC will submit a proposal by March 17, and the group will meet in mid-February to form a publicity campaign. The idea is to display an orbiter at the KSC Visitor Complex, one of the most popular tourist attractions in Florida. "We think that we've got a nice place to display the shuttle and to tell the story of the shuttle program," said Lisa Malone, director of external relations at KSC. "It's an important story to tell, and it makes sense to have one of the orbiters at the launch site." (1/30)

Embry-Riddle Space Activities Hightlight National Engineers Week Feb. 16-21 (Source: ERAU)
National Engineers Week at Embry-Riddle will include the author of SpaceShipOne, Dan Linehan; an Embry-Riddle alumna and current NASA Astronaut, Nicole Stott; a student poster session; and a water rocket competition. Linehan will speak on Feb. 17 at 6:45 pm, and Stott will speak on Feb. 20 at 6:00 pm. The water rocket competition will be held on Feb. 21. All events are open to the public and all events except a Saturday banquet are free. Contact Lisa Davids at mailto:lisa.davids@erau.edu for information. (1/30)

Economics of the California Space Center (Source: Santa Maria Times)
As the news of the recession continues to fill the pages of this newspaper, we were pleased about the recent announcement by Col. David Buck, 30th Space Wing Commander, that he will work toward completion of the negotiations for the lease of land by the California Space Center (CSC) from the Air Force. The CSC is a large project that includes a Visitor Center, a Mission Support Complex, Adult Education and Conference Center and a Youth Education Center. The economic impact to the North County is far-reaching. After the lease is granted, construction of the center will begin in three phases. The center is expected to be completed within 10 years, at a total cost of $174.9 million.

Direct jobs created by the project are estimated at 1,713, along with another 1,281 indirect jobs. During the construction phase — 2009-17 — the total impact is projected to hit nearly $320 million. Ongoing economic impacts from the operations are in the neighborhood of $2 billion annually. All of this money is going to help our depleting tax coffers, too. Federal, state and local tax revenues are projected at $235 million. (1/30)