February 11 News Items

Obama Down to Four Names for NASA Chief (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
President Obama told Florida lawmakers on Tuesday that he was down to four names in his search for a new NASA chief, although Obama would not reveal the finalists, according to congressional sources. House Democrats from Florida, including U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson of Orlando, traveled with Obama during his trip to Fort Myers to tout his party’s $800 billion economic stimulus plan. During the commute, Florida lawmakers had a chance to quiz the new president on a variety of issues, including NASA.

Obama also assured U.S. Rep. Suzanne Kosmas -- a freshman from New Smyrna Beach who represents Kennedy Space Center -- that he was a self-described space guy who backs human spaceflight, a critical issue for launch workers at KSC. Several names have been mentioned as a possible replacement to Michael Griffin as NASA chief, including retired Air Force generals Lester Lyles and Scott Gration and earth scientist Charles Kennel. Obama did not give lawmakers a timeline for a selection. (2/11)

U.S. And Russian Satellites Collide (Source: CBS)
A commercial Iridium communications satellite collided with a Russian satellite or satellite fragment, Tuesday, creating a cloud of wreckage in low-Earth orbit, officials said Wednesday. The international space station is not threatened by the debris, they said, but it's not yet clear whether it poses a risk to any other satellites in similar orbits. "Everybody is saying the risk is minimal to NASA assets," said an agency manager who asked not to be identified. Once source said U.S. Space Command was tracking about 280 pieces of debris, most of it from the defunct Russian satellite. A spokesman for U.S. Space Command was not aware of the incident but he said he would try to track down additional details. Calls to Iridium Satellite LLC were not immediately returned.

Iridium operates a constellation of some 66 satellites, along with orbital spares, to support satellite telephone operations around the world. The spacecraft are in orbits tilted 86.4 degrees to the equator at an altitude of about 485 miles. The space station circles the globe at an altitude of about 215 miles in an orbit tilted 51.6 degrees to the equator. Other civilian science satellites operate in polar orbits similar to Iridium's and presumably could face an increased risk as a result of the collision. But again, details were not immediately available. (2/11)

Two Stimulus Plans: Which is Best for Florida? (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
The U.S. Senate agreed to an $838 billion economic-stimulus plan that would pump billions of dollars into government programs while extending tax breaks to a broad range of consumers. The measure attracted little Republican support, as only three GOP senators joined with the Democratic majority to pass the bill, 61-37. Florida's senators split along party lines: Democrat Bill Nelson backed the bill, and Republican Mel Martinez opposed it. Now congressional negotiators must reconcile the Senate's measure with an $819 billion package approved by the House. Both bills would spend multiple billions of dollars on everything from roads, bridges and mass transit to renewable energy, Medicaid, expanded unemployment and food-stamp benefits and Pell Grants for college students.

For Floridians, the Senate bill means a variety of tax credits -- $15,000 for people who buy a house and bigger deductions for new-car purchasers -- as well as tax cuts and a one-time $300 per-person payment to the state's roughly 3.9 million elderly, disabled and poor people receiving Social Security benefits. The House bill offers far less. But the House plan sends far more money to state governments to fund ongoing programs, including public schools. Workers at Kennedy Space Center also have a stake in the final bill. The Senate version has more than twice as much money for NASA -- $1.3 billion, compared with $600 million in the House bill -- and includes money for human spaceflight. (2/11)

AMS in Orbit Within 2010: The Antimatter-Hunting Becomes Reality (Source: Avio News)
NASA has officially scheduled for September 16th, 2010, the mission Shuttle STS-134, that will transport on the International Space Station (ISS) the AMS (Anti-Matter Spectrometer), an ambitious particle physics project carried out with an important contribution by Italy. A mission prototype was put in orbit by Shuttle for 15 days in 1998. The original project involved Italy, France, Switzerland and USA, led by Samuel Ting (Nobel Prize) and Roberto Battiston (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare) as national representative. Only during the Summer 2008 the go-ahead by US Congress for other three flights of the shuttle opened the road to the scheduling of the mission STS-134 that will have to put in orbit the real experiment AMS. (2/11)

Aerospace Industry Resilient Despite Economy (Source: AIA)
The aerospace industry showed modest growth in the midst of extremely challenging economic circumstances in 2008, AIA President and CEO Marion Blakey announced at the 44th Annual Year-End Review and Forecast. Blakey said industry sales are on pace to reach total sales of $204 billion, an increase of 2.1%, a record level for the fifth straight year. (2/11)

Mars Science Lab Draws Critics' Ire (Source: AIA)
Delayed by two years and over budget by $600 million, the Mars Science Laboratory has, for some critics, become a symbol of NASA's problems. Those critics say the strategy of a Mars mission could be accomplished with existing technology but that NASA instead turns its engineers loose with a blank checkbook. However, space agency officials say there's little point in doing the same thing over and over again without pushing the boundaries of what's possible. "Nobody has built something like this before," one official says of the Mars Science Laboratory. "And it has to operate on another planet in which every 24 hours you have to go from the Sahara Desert to Antarctica." (2/11)

New Mexico Bill Would Prevent Space Tourist Lawsuits (Source: TMC News)
Companies hoping to begin blasting big-bucks thrill seekers to the edge of space from southern New Mexico’s Spaceport America would be shielded from passenger lawsuits under Senate Bill 37, fueled by Gov. Bill Richardson. “If somebody’s gonna strap a rocket on their back, come back, get killed, get hurt, and sue someone for it, that doesn’t make sense to me,” said Sen. Clinton Harden, R-Clovis, who is sponsoring the spaceflight immunity bill at Richardson’s request. “It’s not rocket science. That’s just straight common sense to me.”

Not so fast, say state trial lawyers who want to see the bill grounded. A New Mexico Trial Lawyers Association member said any space firms that act with negligence should not have an out under state law. "You should not have immunity for acting unreasonably under the circumstances," he said. "That's bad public policy, because it encourages people to act unreasonably." Harden's bill maintains that human spaceflight carries inherent risks "that cannot be eliminated or controlled through the exercise of reasonable care" -- and that those very risks fuel the "challenge and excitement" that draws people to want to purchase a ticket.

Under the measure, a "spaceflight entity" would have civil immunity from lawsuits brought by passengers or their families if the passengers were properly notified of the risks and gave their "informed consent." The bill specifies that immunity would not apply if a spaceflight firm "commits an act or omission that constitutes gross negligence evidencing willful or wanton disregard for the safety of a participant." The bill also does not apply to nonpassengers who might be hurt as a result of the spaceflights. Andrew Vallejos, a Spaceport attorney, said that Florida and Virginia have already passed similar immunity legislation. (2/11)

Designs for India's First Manned Spaceship Revealed (Source: Space.com)
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), with help from Russia, hopes to join the ranks of nations capable of independently launching astronauts into space around 2015 and has revealed the designs for its first orbiting crew capsule. In its maiden manned mission, ISRO's largely autonomous 3-ton capsule will orbit the Earth at 248 miles in altitude for up to seven days with a two-person crew on board, ISRO's G. Madhavan Nair announced. The capsule will be designed to carry three people, and a planned upgraded version will be equipped with a rendezvous and docking capability. The program is estimated to cost about 100 billion rupees ($2 billion) over an eight-year period dating back to 2007. The manned mission was formally proposed to the government in 2006. Click here for info and graphics. (2/11)

Harris Corp. Delivers Proposed Next-Generation GOES-R Satellite Ground Segment (Source: Harris)
Harris Corp. recently delivered its proposal for a total, end-to-end solution for the ground segment of the NOAA Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-R Series (GOES-R) program. The ground segment provides receiving and processing satellite data, generating and distributing products from these data, and the command-and-control of operational satellites. GOES satellites are a primary tool currently used by NOAA to detect and track hurricanes, thunderstorms, tornadoes, and other severe weather in the U.S. and western hemisphere. (2/11)

Harris Firms Up Proposal for $1 Billion Weather Network (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Melbourne-based Harris Corp.has reached a major milestone in its bid for a deal potentially worth more than $1 billion to build a next-generation weather-data computer network for the government. The communications and electronics company recently delivered its final detailed proposal to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for the ground-based computer network that will serve the agency's next-generation weather satellite constellation.

Harris is competing with Raytheon Co. for the lucrative contract to build the satellite constellation's advanced ground-based computer network, which will operate, control and process the satellite data. The weather agency is expected to award the 10-year contract this spring. A major upgrade to the current system, the new one is known as the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-R program. (2/11)

US General: Iran Space Shot 'Rudimentary' (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
Iran displayed a "rudimentary" space launch capability when it put a satellite into orbit last week, but is now on a path to having a long-range missile, a top Pentagon official said Tuesday. General James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the launch of the Omid (Hope) satellite was of concern because the technologies involved were "compatible with, commensurate with, an intercontinental ballistic missile-type capability." "That's not an automatic," he cautioned. "It doesn't happen in a day or two. And the work that they have done thus far is, at best, rudimentary, very low orbit, very minimal energy to get up there. "This is not a long-range missile but it is the path toward that, so we have to worry about that," he told reporters. (2/11)

Kosmas Backs Stimulus Bill After Obama Visit, Hopes House Restores NASA Funds (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
U.S. Rep. Suzanne Kosmas, D-New Smyna Beach, was one of nine congressional Democrats from Florida who accompanied President Barack Obama to Fort Myers today to help promote the economic stimulus bill pending in Congress. And while fellow freshman Alan Grayson of Orlando was also on Air Force One, he didn't feel compelled -- as Kosmas did -- to issue a press release touting the stimulus package. Kosmas also made clear she far prefers the bill passed by the House to the Senate version, even though that package includes more money for NASA.

“I am glad to see that the Senate included dedicated funding for NASA’s space program, which will help minimize the gap between the Shuttle Program and Constellation,” she said. “But unfortunately, the Senate cut important investments in school construction and education – investments that will create jobs, prevent teacher layoffs and help us provide children with a 21st century education. I am hopeful that the final recovery package will restore much of this critical funding.” (2/10)

DirecTV Profit Falls 5% as Sales Rise (Source: LA Times)
DirecTV Group Inc., the nation's largest satellite-TV provider, reported a 5% decline in net income for the fourth quarter, even as revenue soared, because of higher customer acquisition costs and interest expenses. DirecTV earned $332 million. Last year the company earned $348 million. Revenue rose 9% to $5.31 billion. The El Segundo company expects to roll out a "whole-home" digital video recording service starting in the second quarter that will enable customers to record programs on a DVR in one room and watch them in other areas of the house on TVs hooked up to linked non-DVR set-top boxes. (2/11)

Russia Launches Two New Communication Satellites (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
A Russian Proton-M rocket was launched into space Wednesday with two new communication satellites. The rocket blasted off from Russia's Baikonur spaceport in Kazakhstan. The Express-AM44 and Express-MD1 satellites would allow television, telephone and Internet access for authorities and ordinary Russians throughout the country, officials explained. (2/11)

ISDC 2009 Conference Opens Registration, Call for Presentations (Source: NSSFSC)
The National Space Society has selected Orlando as the site for the 2009 International Space Development Conference (ISDC). The event, planned for May 29-31, is now open for registration. Organizers are also inviting abstracts for presentations on the latest issues in space technology, science, policy, commerce, medicine, exploration, settlement and more. Visit http://www.isdc2009.org for information. Editor's Note: with ISDC registration rates as low as $125, this event is much less expensive than the upcoming National Space Symposium in Colorado, which is charging $1,200 for its lowest-cost registration. (2/11)

SpaceX Pushes for COTS-D Funding in Stimulus (Source: SpacePolitics.com)
SpaceX has made clear its interest in Capability D of NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program—-usually simply called COTS-D—-for crew transportation to and from the ISS. SpaceX has a COTS-D option in its existing Space Act Agreement with NASA, but that option is not funded. Now, as the House and Senate meet to reconcile their versions of the stimulus bill, SpaceX is making a public appeal for support for including COTS-D funding in the package.

According to SpaceX: "What most people aren’t aware of is that SpaceX designed the F9/Dragon system to carry astronauts as well as cargo, and even the word “cargo” here includes biological payloads like plants and mice. F9/Dragon meets all the NASA human rating requirements, such as extra structural safety margins, multi-redundant electronics and acceptable g loads through all phases of flight and abort...The only significant missing element is the launch escape rocket, which carries the Dragon spacecraft to safety in the event of a launch vehicle failure. That can be developed within two years, which means F9/Dragon can be ready to transport astronauts by mid to late 2011."

"In contrast [to the higher-priced Russian rides to ISS] F9/Dragon would cost less than $20M per seat and it is 100% manufactured and launched in the United States. We are estimating that it would create well in excess of a 1000 high quality jobs at Cape Canaveral and an equivalent number in California and Texas, where we do our manufacturing and testing. Moreover, the total cost would only be $1.5B, so taxpayers would save nearly $2B." Click here to view the article. Click here to view a new Falcon/Dragon video. (2/11)