February 5 News Items

Russia Says Verbal Deal To Keep Station Operational Until 2020 (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
Russia and its International Space Station partners have an oral agreement to continue using the orbiter until 2020, the president of leading Russian spacecraft maker RSC Energia said on Thursday. "The ISS partners have not yet signed any documents, but verbally we have already settled the initiative [to extend the station's use]," Vitaly Lopota said at a news conference in Moscow. Russia's partners in the International Space Station program are the United States, Canada, Japan, and the European Space Agency. (2/5)

Space Florida Chief Fights Back (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Space Florida President Steve Kohler has sent a memo to state legislators blasting news coverage of a report that faulted his agency for not spelling out how it is spending millions in taxpayer money to build a commercial spaceport. In his two-page response, Kohler wrote that the report "resulted in headlines and stories that are inaccurate and lack critical facts..." The bad press comes as Space Florida is trying to lay the groundwork for an even bigger taxpayer investment.

Now, Rep. Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, who helped secure $14.5 million for the launch complex in this year's budget, said he doesn't want to give the agency more money until there are structural "management changes." Kohler will get a chance to make his case for the current management in person. Sen. Mike Haridopolos, R-Indialantic, plans to call Kohler later this month to testify alongside the legislative analysts about their report. "We've appropriated a lot of state dollars to them in the last two tough budget years," Haridopolos said Wednesday. "I think we'll have a full hearing to make sure that before we appropriate a single dollar [more], these concerns are addressed. And if they're not, they won't get a dollar." (2/5)

Space Hotel: Bookings are Open and Coming In (Source: 4Hoteliers.com)
Four Spaniards will be the first to stay for 4 days at 450 kilometers from the Earth and the space tourism company introduced the first “spa” to be installed in space. The Space Tourism Company Galactic Suite already has 38 reservations made by tourists who in 2012 will travel to the hotel to spend four days at 450 kilometres from the Earth.

The trip, which will cost 3 million euros, also includes 18 weeks of preparation for the tourists to acquire experience in space. This preparation will take place on an island in the Caribbean, where the participants can travel with their families. Of the 38 reservations made through the company’s website (www.galacticsuite.com) since January 2008, 4 belong to people of Spanish nationality, while the rest is divided between people from Russia, USA, United Arab Emirates, Australia, China and South America. Click here to view the article. (2/5)

Space Hotelier Plans Caribbean Spaceport (Source: 4Hoteliers.com)
The new Galactic Suite Spaceport, the first commercial spaceport in the world, will be built on an island in the Caribbean and the project will be designed by the company Equip architecture. Galactic Suite does not rule out building new spaceports in the future in other countries around the world, in order to facilitate accessibility to other hotels built in space to as many people as possible. For the first time, a revolutionary space launch system will be designed to maximize security and minimize the impact on the environment. This new technology is a maglev accelerator suspended in the air over a road.

After reaching the speed of sound, the spacecraft is separated from the accelerator and will reach orbit using its rocket engine. The maglev track will have a length of about 3 miles that will allow the spacecraft to accelerate 1000 kph (620 mph) in less than 20 seconds. The most expensive part of any journey to LEO are the first few seconds - leaving the ground. This technology is very competitive in its cost in respect to other forms of space transportation, and is inherently safe and sustainable. (2/5)

Nelson Fights For NASA Stimulus (Source: Florida Today)
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson is urging members of his own party to preserve "at least a significant portion" of the $1.5 billion in federal stimulus funding proposed for NASA, his office said in a press release today. The release includes a Feb. 3 letter to Sen. Daniel Inouye, the Hawaii Democrat who heads the Senate Appropriations Committee, supporting NASA. Nelson highlights technological innovations and scientific discoveries resulting from NASA programs, and laments the minimum five-year gap in the nation's manned spaceflight capability after the space shuttle's planned 2010 retirement. (2/5)

Japan's Asteroid Sampler Heads Back to Earth (Source: SpaceFlightNow.com)
Japan's Hayabusa probe, potentially loaded with the first rock samples from an asteroid, fired up one of its ion engines Wednesday to begin the second phase of the explorer's return voyage to Earth. Hayabusa ignited a single ion engine Wednesday to begin pulsing for up to 8,000 hours to finish guiding the spacecraft toward Earth. The spacecraft's ion propulsion system has already completed than 31,000 hours of operations since its launch in 2003. The spacecraft still has enough xenon gas to power the ion engine and control its orientation in space, according to JAXA.

Despite the hard work of several dozen engineers, Hayabusa still faces more hurdles before making its scheduled parachuted landing in Australia in June 2010. Officials said the ion engine must accelerate Hayabusa by nearly 900 mph by March 2010, when engineers will turn off the machine to begin the probe's final approach to Earth. "If the current status of Hayabusa (remains) until the final stage, we are sure that it will come back to the Earth," Yoshikawa said. (2/5)

China's Final Frontier (Source: New Statesman)
The Chinese are latecomers to space, and desperate to catch up. Two years after shooting down a satellite, they stand accused of stealing US secrets. A new arms race has begun. Dongfan Chung had lived in Orange County, California, for 45 years. The 72-year-old, known as Greg to his friends, led a quiet life with his artist wife and son. Quiet, that is, until dawn on Feb. 2008, when the FBI came to his home to arrest him on eight counts of espionage.

Chung, who had worked for Rockwell International and then Boeing - both companies involved in operating the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station for NASA - is accused of sending confidential information on the US space program to China over a 30-year period. If convicted, he could face spending the rest of his life in jail. What could have made him do it? The indictment against him includes extracts from a letter Chung wrote in 1979 to a colleague in China: "I don't know what I can do for the country. Having been a Chinese compatriot for over 30 years and being proud of the achievements by the people's efforts for the motherland, I am regretful for not contributing anything...I would like to make an effort to contribute to the Four Modernizations of China."

A list found in Chung's possession showed the extent of the knowledge to which he had access; it included manuals on aircraft and space shuttle design as well as military specifications. It seems he would simply take documents out of the office, hide them at his home, and then travel to China to present the information, sometimes using his wife as a foil; he pretended on one occasion that they were going there at the invitation of a Chinese art institute. His hosts were grateful. Gu Weihao, an official of the ministry of aviation in Beijing, signed off a letter to Chung saying: "It is your honor and China's fortune that you are able to realize your wish of dedicating yourself to the service of your country." Chung was playing his patriotic part, ensuring the motherland gained that defining accessory of a great power: a space program. (2/5)

EchoStar Amasses Sirius XM Debt (Source: Wall Street Journal)
Charles Ergen's EchoStar Corp. has quietly accumulated a substantial portion of Sirius XM Satellite Radio Inc.'s maturing debt in what could be the first salvo in an attempt to take control of the embattled company, according to people familiar with the matter. Mr. Ergen, who controls a satellite-television empire around Dish Network Corp. and EchoStar, has recently acquired part of a $300 million tranche of Sirius debt that matures on Feb. 17, according to the people. Sirius recently converted part of the debt to equity, reducing the total debt outstanding to about $175 million. (2/5)