February 25 News Items

Rohrabacher Condemns Use Of Chinese Rockets (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) issued the following remarks during today's Science and Technology Full Committee hearing on the "Impacts of U.S. Export Control Policies on Science and Technology Activities and Competitiveness." He specifically addressed his concerns regarding the recent announcement of an agreement between European satellite operator Eutelstat and the Peoples Republic of China to use Chinese rockets to launch private communications satellites. Since 1998, U.S. export controls have prohibited the use of Chinese rockets to launch satellites containing American made parts.

His remarks: "Everyone agrees ITAR reform needs to happen. We need to make sure that our hi tech exports aren't strangled by regulations. On the other hand, we need to remain vigilant that our advanced technology doesn't end up in the hands of nations who proliferate weapons of mass destruction. We know exactly who these nations are, and we must make absolutely sure that whatever changes we enact to ITAR and other export regulations, that these scofflaw and rogue nations are barred from receiving our high tech systems...Surely we can make sensible changes to ITAR and other export regulations, but we must not go so far as to make them at the expense of our national security." (2/25)

Launch Rescheduling Causes Another South Africa Satellite Delay (Source: Engineering News)
Russia has informed South Africa that the launch of this country's R26-million Sumbandila satellite has had to be postponed yet again. Instead of taking place on March 25, it will now occur in the period May 6 to May 10. However, the delay is not due to any technical, contractual, or political problem, but simply the result of a rescheduling of programmed launches by the Russian space agency Roscosmos. The agency has had to bring forward a manned mission to the International Space Station. (2/25)

The High-Flying Hopes of a Cosmodrome (Source: Spiegel)
Isolated in the steppes of Kazakhstan, Baikonur is the world's oldest and largest spaceport. Now, the former Soviet military facility is being transformed into a purely civilian satellite launch complex. The country hopes it will become a second Kennedy Space Center. Frank McKenna stands on the observation deck for a recent Proton launch with a Western delegation. Proton is the name of the rocket that is sluggishly pushing its way into the night sky from Launch Pad 39 carrying a tank filled with 500 tons of highly explosive fuel.

The normally affable American seems tense. In a sense, he is the commander of this spaceship. McKenna is the president of International Launch Services (ILS), which sells mission and launch services from his office outside Washington. His customer base is made up of 35 satellite operators from 15 countries, which purchase one-way tickets into orbit. Although this launch in Baikonur is nothing out of the ordinary, there's a lot on the line for McKenna. A series of problems have damaged his company's reputation. Since 2006, the company has lost one satellite a year during launches, and now the space center is having to fight to regain its customers' confidence.

To this end, McKenna has established a comprehensive quality assurance plan. With McKenna's help, Russia is currently attempting to expand Baikonur's central role in the satellite business. The Russian military is scheduled to have completely withdrawn from the complex by 2010. After that, the spaceport will be put to exclusively civilian use, which will make it possible to launch even more commercial satellites into space from Baikonur. Click here to view the article. (2/25)

NASA Launches Space Week in Texas (Source: NASA)
It's a space exploration celebration as big as the Lone Star State featuring out-of-this-world space exhibits, educational presentations for students, astronaut appearances, legislative proclamations and the chance to touch a 3-billion-year-old moon rock. Space Week Texas 2009 runs March 4-8 in Austin and March 9-12 in College Station. On March 5, NASA takes over the Texas Capitol for "Space Day at the Capitol." Space proclamations will be read in the Texas House of Representatives and Senate. The public is invited to view space exhibits in the Capitol rotunda and along Colorado Street from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Educational presentations for registered students are scheduled from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the Capitol lawn. Astronaut autograph sessions at the Capitol are set. A special lecture, titled "Why Space Matters to Texas," is planned at the Applied Computational Engineering and Sciences Building on the UT campus. (2/25)

NASA, Feds Investigating UF Professor (Source: Florida Today)
On behalf of NASA's inspector general, the FBI has raided the office of a University of Florida nuclear engineering professor who studies the application of nuclear power to space propulsion. The investigation targets Prof. Samim Anghaie, director of the university's Innovative Nuclear Space Power and Propulsion Institute, officials confirmed. "We're cooperating with their investigation," said Steve Orlando, director of the university's news office.

Investigators began their work before 8 a.m. at Anghaie's office in the Department of Nuclear and Radiological Engineering, Orlando said, and the investigation is ongoing. Founded in 1985, the institute conducts "fundamental and applied research in areas related to application of nuclear power in space," according to its Web site. It is funded by government and private grants.

Anghaie's bio cites several papers or lectures given at NASA-sponsored workshops on the topic of nuclear space propulsion. A 2007 news report also identified him as one of hundreds of professors working on the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, a $1.5-billion experiment that could be flown by the space shuttle to the International Space Station if an additional flight is added. (2/25)

Can SpaceX Win Bigelow's Prize? (Sources: Parabolic Arc, K2 Climb)
Bigelow's prototype Genesis modules have performed as advertised in orbit, but the Achille’s heel of the whole operation remains transportation for visiting astronauts. The only vehicles that could make the trip are the Space Shuttle, Soyuz, and China's Soyuz-derived Shenzhou. NASA plans to retire the shuttle, which is too expensive anyway. The Russian and Chinese vehicles are three seaters - too few to make a space station profitable even if they were available for commercial flights, which they are not.

Bigelow set up an American Space Prize some years ago, offering $50 million to the first American-built, privately funded rocket/spacecraft that can send five people into orbit, dock with a Bigelow Aerospace habitat and stay there for 6 months. The deadline for the Prize is set for Jan. 10, 2010. Elon Musk is pretty confident he is Bigelow’s man: “Falcon 9...is scheduled to carry a payload for Bigelow Aerospace in 2009 or 2010,” Elon said last year, “and Bigelow’s vision of a system of orbiting space habitats can serve as a promising destination for SpaceX’s Dragon crewed spacecraft.”

Musk’s company, SpaceX, must built a human-rated version of the Dragon, which neither he nor Bigelow seem to have enough money to fund on their own. Hence, Musk has been publicly lobbying for NASA to provide an additional $300 million under its COTS program, which has been helping to fund the development of the Dragon freighter and its Falcon 9 launch vehicle. And he would have to do that in less than a year. (2/25)

Support for Space Exploration Soars, Survey Says (Source: AIA)
A survey found the majority of Americans support space exploration despite its high cost. After respondents, who were surveyed twice -- a second time after hearing about NASA's economic impact and technology advancements -- heard about the 500,000 people employed by the industry and how it accounts for billions in sales, their support went from 88% to 96%. (2/25)

China Wins Commercial Launch for ITAR-Free Satellite (Source: SpaceToday.net)
China has won a contract to launch a European communications satellite. The unspecified Eutelsat spacecraft is reportedly a so-called "ITAR-free" spacecraft that does not contain US-built components and thus does not fall under US export control regulations, which prohibit the export of spacecraft or spacecraft components to China. The Chinese family of Long March vehicles have been largely shut out of the commercial launch market since US export control regulations were strengthened a decade ago, but have been slowly reentering the market through the launch of European ITAR-free spacecraft as well as domestically-built satellites. Eutelsat reportedly made the decision to launch on a Long March because of a need to get the spacecraft in orbit quickly after its W2M spacecraft failed last month. (2/25)

University of Colorado Announces Space-Science Initiative (Source: Denver Post)
A comprehensive space-science and engineering initiative announced by University of Colorado at Boulder administrators will bring together faculty and students working in a wide variety of space-related research. Known as the Aerospace Systems Science and Engineering Initiative, the effort will focus on combining climate and environmental research from Earth orbit with space weather research, planetary astronomy and astrophysics. CU officials said the initiative, which includes a planned $40 million Aerospace and Energy Systems Building, is expected to increase collaboration with agencies such as NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the state and national space industry. (2/25)

NASA Spacecraft Crashes with CSU Device to Measure CO2 (Source: Denver Post)
More than a decade of work and planning by two Colorado State University scientists plunged into Antarctic waters Tuesday when a $240 million satellite failed to get into orbit. "Sometimes, you forget how much risk there is in trying to get a delicate instrument into space by exploding a rocket off the Earth's surface," said Graeme Stephens, a CSU distinguished professor. Stephens and Denis O'Brien, a senior CSU researcher, were to lead an international team translating data from the satellite into the most detailed measurements ever made of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. They had been working on the concept since 1995, Stephens said. The satellite that launched Tuesday was eight years in development. (2/25)

Russia to Send Mission to Mars This Year, Moon in Three Years (Source: Russia Today)
The Russian Luna Glob mission to the Moon is set for 2012. The mission aims to collect lunar soil samples and will help to choose a landing site for future missions. "It will fly around the Moon, select a landing space for the rover and other engineering and research vehicles, and study the lunar nucleus with the use of special penetrators,” said an official involved in the project. Equipment of the Luna Globe project will be based on the Fobos Grunt platform, Yefanov said.

The next stage of the project is planned to be a Russo-Indian expedition, which will deliver a lunar reconnaissance vehicle to the site chosen by the Luna Glob. Russia prepares to produce the reconnaissance vehicle, while India will possibly develop the orbiter, he said. The vehicle will collect more samples of lunar soil, which will be stage three of the project. Stage four implies a manned expedition to the Moon and maintaining there a research station. At the same time Russian Federal Space Agency is holding talks with and European Space Agency and NASA on the possible level of Russia’s participation in the ExoMars European Martian mission. (2/25)

China Opens Bidding on Moon Probe Technology (Source: Reuters)
China will open competitive bidding so that domestic schools and institutions can help build crucial parts of the country's moon exploration craft. In October 2003, China became the third country to put a man in space with its own rocket. And the government has made expanding the nation's presence in space, and eventually reaching the moon, a cornerstone of its bid to rise as a technological power. But the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense has decided contributions from the country's universities, institutes and other "qualified" institutions are needed for crucial parts of the lunar effort, which aims to put an unmanned buggy on the moon by 2012, the Guangming Daily reported. (2/25)

2012 Target Set for Private Spaceflight (Source: Huntsville Times)
T-minus three years and counting. That's about how far off the inaugural launch is for a privately supported spaceflight that organizers hope will expand space access to universities. Officials are shooting for a Feb. 20, 2012, launch with two astronauts and a load of space science experiments aboard. The sponsoring organization, the nonprofit Americans in Orbit-50 Years, held a dinner program in Huntsville last week to boost awareness and introduce its astronauts.

The idea was launched in January 2008 with a goal of developing a non-government launch program for universities and research organizations. Cost estimates have ranged from $45 million to $60 million to buy a rocket and develop a two-seat capsule, launch it and manage the mission. Click here to view the article. (2/25)

$5.5B Boost for NASA Included in Spending Bill (Source: Huntsville Times)
A major spending bill making its way through Congress today would boost NASA funding for Marshall Space Flight Center-managed rockets and possibly extend contract options to fly the space shuttle. About $5.5 billion in NASA program money is included in the $429.8 billion spending bill, much of it for Marshall projects such as the continued development of the Ares I rocket, which is intended to replace the space shuttle. The money is for the current government spending year - 2009 - which began Oct. 1.

This money would be in addition to the economic stimulus spending bill, which passed Congress Feb. 13. In that bill, the first major spending bill of the Obama administration, there is about $1 billion for NASA. Before the end of the Bush administration, Congress did not pass a NASA annual spending bill that either party or the White House would agree on, and government agencies were operating under temporary funding resolutions. (2/25)