Lockheed Plans Makeover of California Research Campus (Source: AIA)
Looking to better compete for Silicon Valley's sought-after engineering talent, Lockheed Martin is planning a "full-scale makeover" of its research campus in Palo Alto, Calif. "Lockheed Martin has made the commitment to transform the campus over the next 10 years by investing and building state-of-the-art facilities," the company said in a letter to the city's architectural review board. (2/20)
Alabama University Students Aspire to be Next Generation of Rocket Scientists (Source: UAH)
Some kids dream of one day becoming a doctor, veterinarian or perhaps a lawyer. But each dream is fueled by different things. There is an aspiring group of students and professors at The University of Alabama in Huntsville whose childhood aspirations were to become rocket scientists. Now, they no longer have to imagine the possibilities -- rocket science is their reality. They are contributing vital research to NASA's Constellation Program, which is working to build America's next spacecraft to return humans to the moon.
The students and professors are participants in the Constellation University Institutes Project (CUIP). The project comprises 24 universities in association with the Constellation Program. The teams work to address some of the technical issues of space access and exploration, including rocket stability and high performance, inexpensive solid propellants. Such issues are critical to the development of Constellation's spacecraft, and these aspiring rocket scientists rise to the challenge. (2/20)
Space Florida Launch Pad Funds Frozen (Source: Florida Today)
Lawmakers on Thursday said they would order Space Florida to halt spending $10 million of the $14.5 million allocated last year for converting Launch Complex 36 at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport, until the group gets its guiding principles in order. Space Florida Executive Director Steve Kohler said delaying spending until the agency's master plan is complete won't hurt the $55 million complex.
There's a Dec. 31 deadline for Space Florida to complete its master plan. Kohler said it would be done "well before" then. Sen. Mike Fasano, a Republican from New Port Richey and chairman of the committee, said language would be drafted to stop the spending of $10 million until the master plan is done. "I would assume that would encourage them to complete it very quickly," Fasano said. Kohler said ongoing development of Air Force and Kennedy Space Center master plans have meant holding off on finishing Space Florida's own plan.
Editor's Note: Space Florida officials say they do not intend to seek state funding beyond the initial $14.5 million for LC-36. Instead, they intend to leverage other industry or federal funding to complete the launch facility. (2/20)
British Skylon Spaceplane Just Ten Years Away (Source: Cosmos)
A high-tech spaceplane that takes off from an ordinary runway, and will slash the cost of flying to space, could be just ten years away, say experts. The Skylon plane – which garnered one million euros ($1.9 million) in support from the European Space Agency this week – is designed to carry up to 12 tons of cargo into orbit and return to land on the same runway. The unmanned, 82-meter plane is totally reusable, unlike most current launch technology. NASA's Space Shuttle is partly reusable and can carry 24.4 tons of cargo to low Earth orbit, but has to be launched like a conventional rocket at phenomenal expense. Skylon's designers estimate that their shuttle could slash the cost of launching into orbit from $100- to 700-million per launch, to just $10 million, and in doing so, encourage a new age of space exploration. (2/20)
Galaxies Form Out of Thin Air (Source: Cosmos)
Experts thought that dark matter was a prerequisite for the birth of galaxies. But a new study of dwarf galaxies, which are forming from remnants of the universe's primordial gases, is turning that idea on its head. These dwarf galaxies – which are relatively small, each containing only a few billion stars – are forming in a ring-shaped cloud of helium and hydrogen in the constellation Leo, according to a report in the British journal Nature this week. The cloud, discovered 25 years ago, appears to lack dark matter, which was initially perplexing for astronomers. In most galaxies, it is thought that invisible dark matter acted as a gravitational seed that attracted visible matter like stars, gas and dust. (2/20)
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