March 3 News Items

Shenzhen to Build 4 to 5 Satellites Every Year (Source: Xinhua)
The aerospace industry is expected to one day become the new growth engine of Shenzhen's economy with the establishment of a satellite manufacturing company on Sunday. Upon completion, Shenzhen Aerospace Spacesat Co. Ltd. is expected to develop six to eight types of satellites and produce four to five satellites every year. The satellites will be used for global navigation, telecommunications, remote sensing and space exploration. The enterprise is jointly founded by China Spacesat Co. Ltd., Harbin Institute of Technology and Shenzhen Aerospace Science and Technology Research Institute. It will be part of a research, development and manufacturing base for the aerospace industry in Shenzhen, company officials said. (3/3)

Editorial: Turn Florida Simulated Space Tourism Into Real Thing (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
It seems that from the Florida political perspective, there are thousands of aerospace jobs at risk, and something must be done. From where I sit, on a March snow day in New York, there is much more than a few thousand jobs at stake. I think the future of the Florida economy is in peril. I certainly appreciate the threat to traditional aerospace jobs. Aerospace accounts for between $4 billion and $5 billion of economic activity annually in Florida. This, however, pales in comparison to the economic impact of tourism, which generates at least 10 times as much economic activity.

If you want to get young people excited about space, try talking to them about Virgin Galactic and other small start-up companies of the NewSpace revolution. Ask them about suborbital flights to anywhere on Earth in under an hour. Find out if they imagine themselves going on vacation in space. Listen carefully to their replies, look at the excitement in their eyes, and ask yourself if any of this activity will be happening in Florida. Virginia, New Mexico, Oklahoma and a number of other states are competing aggressively to attract the NewSpace companies. They are passing favorable liability laws, building spaceports and enacting tax-based investment incentives.

The results will be measured in jobs. Any state wanting a piece of this huge 21st-century market has a great deal to gain. For Florida, with an established brand to protect, the stakes are even higher. There is both more to lose and more to gain. Florida is uniquely positioned to build a synergistic relationship between tourism and NewSpace. Florida is already the leader in space-themed tourism. If it becomes the center of the NewSpace revolution, enormously expanded, simulated, space-tourism experiences could be teasers for the real thing. Click here to view the article. (3/3)

Florida Space Day - A Critical Step to Keeping Florida Competitive (Source: Space Florida)
Representatives of Florida’s major aerospace organizations visited Tallahassee to discuss with legislators the importance of the space industry. These discussions were particularly important this year, at a time when critical space-related market share is being lost to other states and countries at a record pace. In addition to fiscal challenges for the industry, the approaching end of the Shuttle program adds job loss impacts across the state. Keeping Florida competitive for civil, military, and commercial customers was the main topic during conversations between industry and legislators. To learn more about Florida Space Day 2009, visit www.floridaspaceday.com. (3/3)