FLORIDA SPACErePORT

A Weekly Chronicle of Developments in the Space Industry

News and editorial summaries do not reflect the policy or opinions of Embry-Riddle or its partners. Click HERE for a searchable archive with daily updates. Click HERE to be removed from distribution. Click HERE to be added.

November 17, 2008

Shuttle Blasts Off for Home Improvement at Space Station (Source: Bloomberg)
NASA launched the shuttle Endeavour on a home-improvement mission to the space station, where the ship will deliver new bedrooms, a gym and a device that turns astronauts' wastewater into drinking water. Endeavour's cargo will double the station's living capacity to six and includes a second toilet and an extra refrigerator for the $100 billion outpost, currently manned by one Russian and two U.S. astronauts. The shuttle's seven-person crew will spend 15 days off Earth and make several spacewalks for repairs. Gears that rotate the International Space Station's solar panels need lubrication and service. (11/15)

NASA Adds Seven Visitors To ISS In Flawless Launch And Docking (Source: Space Daily)
Space shuttle Endeavour has docked with the International Space Station, marking another flawless day for the world's most experienced space agency. The Station was then placed in free drift to help dampen out the motions that ripple through the Station after a spacecraft docks. (11/16)

NASA Pressured to Keep Shuttles Flying Beyond 2010 (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
There are only nine more scheduled flights before NASA mothballs the shuttle fleet to make way for a new generation of moon rockets. But there is growing pressure on the agency and its chief, Michael Griffin, to keep the shuttles flying beyond their scheduled retirement in 2010. Shuttle supporters on Capitol Hill, and now a group advising President-elect Barack Obama, are saying it should continue flying until a replacement rocket is capable of taking astronauts into space -- which won't happen before 2015.

Although a draft NASA study says it is possible to keep flying the shuttle during that five-year gap, Griffin has been outspokenly opposed -- and has been ratcheting up his warnings that the shuttle is too unsafe to fly after 2010. His critics in the space community say Griffin's real purpose is to protect the shuttle's troubled successor, the Ares I rocket. Without the money now being spent to fly the shuttle, Griffin says, Ares could be delayed past 2015 -- or killed by a new administration.

However, a copy of the NASA draft study to extend the shuttle obtained by the Orlando Sentinel shows that flying the shuttle three times a year through 2015 is feasible and would cost $2.3 billion, less than the current annual budget of at least $3.3 billion. The savings would be achieved by retiring one of the three orbiters and using it for parts, and by small cuts in the work force, the study said. (11/15)

Griffin to Recommend Obama Retire Shuttle in 2010 as Planned (Source: Florida Today)
NASA Administrator Mike Griffin will urge President-elect Barack Obama to retire the space shuttle as planned, even though American astronauts will have to ride Russian rockets to the $100 billion International Space Station for at least five years. "The recommendation I would have for the new administration would be to stay the course," Griffin said in an interview Friday.

"I don't like the fact that the United States is dependent upon them or anyone else for a function as crucial as our own access to space -- to the space station that we built," he said. "So I don't like the situation that we're in. But the path to getting out of it is not to fly the space shuttle for longer periods of time." (11/15)

Griffin's Shuttle Risk Assessment Questioned (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Mike Griffin has been insisting that safety concerns argue against any extension of the Shuttle program. In an interview in September, he said that NASA had determined that flying the shuttle is more dangerous than previously estimated. He had told Congress in April that the risk of losing a crew during the shuttle's 10 remaining flights was 1-in-12. Five months later, he said a re-examination of the numbers indicated that the risks were actually higher: 1-in-8. "These are the odds. This is why the shuttle needs to be retired," he said.

Since then, he has cited that number repeatedly, saying it was computed using an engineering tool known as Probabilistic Risk Assessment, or PRA. But in 2003, soon after the Columbia disaster, Griffin, then CEO of an intelligence-technology company, told Congress that PRA was not entirely reliable. "Analytical methods such as 'probabilistic risk analysis' . . . depend very strongly on underlying assumptions which are, in essence, impossible to verify," he said. "So, in the end, we can estimate risk levels but cannot know them accurately." And, indeed, the draft study estimated the risks of crew loss at 1-in-77 per mission, based on how NASA had expressed its PRA calculations before Griffin's more-dramatic interpretation. (11/15)

NASA Chief Michael Griffin Wants to Keep Job Under Obama (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said Thursday that he would like to continue serving under President-elect Barack Obama -- but doesn't expect to be asked. "If the next president asks me to continue, I would be happy to do it," said Griffin, speaking to Kennedy Space Center workers. But, he said, "I doubt that will happen." He said he would stay on only "under the right circumstances," including being able to continue the Constellation program meant to replace the space shuttle. "If somebody wanted me to stay on but said, 'No, we need to go over here,' well," he said with a shrug, "do it with somebody else." (11/15)

Center's Paper on Space Policy - A Guide for Transition? (Source: NASA Watch)
John Podesta is both the leader of Barack Obama's transition team and the progressive Center for American Progress think tank. The Center recently published a position paper entitled The U.S. Space Program: Restoring Preeminence in Space Science and Exploration, which includes the following recommendations: In the first 100 days, the president, with the advice of his science advisor, should appoint a commission to assess the current status of the U.S. space program and make specific recommendations. The decision to phase out the shuttle by 2010 should be reconsidered; it should be flown until a suitable replacement becomes available.

Talks with our international ISS partners should be held to openly discuss the future of the ISS and commitments by the partner nations. The Vision for Space Exploration should be reevaluated and modified to reflect realistic goals and expectations of future budgets, manpower, national priorities, and opportunities for international cooperation, including access to the program for our space partners. Future U.S. plans to return women and men to the moon and someday to Mars should involve many U.S. federal agencies, universities, and industry, and should be fully international in scope.

Science, including earth observations, should be restated as a top priority for NASA. Wasteful cuts and delays in science missions should be reevaluated and, where warranted, restored. Coordination between NASA, NOAA, and the U.S. Geological Survey should be strengthened. Consideration also should be given to the suggestion that NOAA and USGS be combined to form a new Earth Systems Science Agency. The steady decline in funding for NASA’s aeronautics programs—down 32 percent between FY2004 and 2007—should be reversed. A key stated objective of all NASA’s research and technology programs should be to excite a new generation of scientists and engineers and rebuild scientific and technical expertise within NASA and across the nation. Click here to view the report. (11/13)

Changing NASA's Course? (Source: MSNBC)
Even as NASA works to put the finishing touches on the space station, it's laying the groundwork for the next giant leap. But is that leap heading in the right direction? Some prominent space advocates want NASA to reduce its emphasis on returning to the moon. Other countries have the moon clearly in their sights. It will be up to the Obama administration to decide what kinds of course changes might be required in America's space vision. The lead players in NASA's transition are Lori Garver, a former NASA associate administrator; and Roderic Young, who served as a top NASA spokesman during the Clinton administration.

A Planetary Society roadmap urges NASA to put the moon aside for now, and work with international partners to develop the next generation of spaceships. "Human landings should be deferred until after the costs of the new interplanetary transportation system and space shuttle replacement are largely paid, and after that system has been utilized to conduct the first human missions beyond the moon," the report said. Buzz Aldrin largely endorsed the Planetary Society's plan. "U.S. landings on the moon should be deferred so that they can be part of an international base on the moon preparing for the permanent settlement of Mars," he said in a written statement.

But Apollo 17's Harrison Schmitt (who is also a former U.S. senator), scoffed at the roadmap: "This strategy would leave deep-space activities, exploration and resources to others, i.e., China, India, maybe Russia, for the indefinite future," Schmitt wrote. "I believe that would be major step in initiating the decline of America's global influence for freedom and the improvement of the human condition." (11/14)

Planetary Society Offers Space Exploration Roadmap (Source: Space Politics)
The Planetary Society has released its full-fledged exploration roadmap. The biggest change the society made in NASA’s current exploration plan is to defer the goal of a 2020 human return to the Moon. Instead, they propose human missions beyond the Moon, such as to the Lagrange points and to a near Earth object, before embarking on human lunar landings and a base, and then only if it serves to advance what the society considers the ultimate goal, which is human missions to Mars. Deferring the human lunar missions, they argue, will help reduce the financial burden on NASA and allow it to focus on developing next-generation exploration vehicles. Click here for a copy of the roadmap document. (11/13)

NASA Faces Moon Plan 30-Month Delay and $7 Billion Cost Hike (Source: Flight Global)
The maiden flight of NASA's Ares I crew launch vehicle and its Orion crew exploration vehicle could be delayed until after September 2017, along with an Ares/Orion development cost hike of $7 billion, according to a US Congressional Budget Office report. The 30-month delay figure consists of 18 months represented by the office's $7 billion overrun estimate, combined with its Monte Carlo simulation showing NASA is unlikely to complete the remaining Shuttle missions until December 2011. The $7 billion is calculated from a previous analysis of NASA programs by the budget office that found an average of a 50% increase on original cost estimates.

"If NASA's total budget grew by no more than 2% annually, such cost increases...would imply a delay of as much as 18 months beyond March 2015 [for Orion/Ares' first flight]," the report says. "A one-year delay in retiring the [Shuttle] would result in a...one-year delay [for Orion/Ares]." The remaining flights are the Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission, STS-125, eight International Space Station trips and the launching of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) experiment to the ISS. However president-elect Barack Obama can cancel the AMS mission under the NASA Authorization Act 2008. (11/11)

NASA Seeks More Change for Ares I (Source: Flight Global)
Industry will have from 1 December until early January to bid for a NASA electric Thrust Vector Control (TVC) technical feasibility contract for the Ares I crew launch vehicle (CLV) first-stage. If adopted, the change from using the Space Shuttle solid rocket booster's (SRB) hydraulic TVC would diminish the level of technology derived from the Shuttle, undermining one of NASA's cost-control strategies. A change would also mean the only shuttle heritage used in the CLV first-stage will be the SRB's metal casings - and even that is being evaluated by NASA for a potential change to a filament wound composite.

NASA's Ares project office manager Steve Cook told Flight: "Because [the electromechanical actuator] has the potential to reduce operations costs in the long run. It is a technology study effort at this point. If we did use it, we would likely do it as a downstream upgrade." In 1993 a NASA Marshall Space Flight Center study examined the use of electric TVC for the Shuttle, also to reduce operation costs. Another downstream upgrade that has already been approved for the CLV is the extension of the first-stage's nozzle for lunar missions from 2020. (11/12)

STS-126 SRB Modification to Provide Ares I Thrust Oscillation Data (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
The next Shuttle mission, STS-126, will see the flight debut of two new sets of instrumentation, aimed at gathering more detailed data on RSRM (Reusable Solid Rocket Motor) behaviour during the first stage of launch. The resulting data will benefit the efforts to understand and mitigate Thrust Oscillation on Ares I. The main objective is to record pressure variations inside the boosters at higher fidelity than has been achieved in any previous shuttle flight. (11/10)

Moving The Deck Chairs Around at NASA ESMD (Source: NASA Watch)
NASA Associate Administrator for Exploration Systems Rick Gilbrech announced Wednesday that he will be leaving the agency for a position in the private sector. NASA Administrator Michael D. Griffin announced that Doug Cooke, who has been serving as deputy associate administrator for the directorate since its inception in January 2004, will become the associate administrator. The change is effective Nov. 24. (11/12)

Editorial: Kosmas and Posey Face Different Challenges to Support NASA (Source: Florida Today)
The Space Coast’s two newly elected members of Congress — Democrat Suzanne Kosmas and Republican Bill Posey — face major challenges in gaining support for NASA as it moves closer to the shuttle era’s end amid a fiscal crisis that gets worse by the day. Both should benefit from President-elect Barack Obama’s pledge to increase NASA funding $2 billion, add a shuttle flight or two, and attempt to speed up development replacement vehicles. But getting bipartisan backing to make it happen in Congress is no certainty.

That means Kosmas and Posey will have to tread wisely, a task made harder by the fact they’re freshmen. The job will be easier for Kosmas because she’ll join an expanded Democratic majority that gives her a voice. Her district includes KSC and she has already asked for — and will likely get — a seat on the House Science and Technology Committee that oversees NASA.

Posey’s situation is far tougher, and if he doesn’t handle it right, it could cripple his pro-NASA efforts before he’s even settled in. He’ll join a severely weakened Republican minority in the middle of a fierce ideological battle. Some Republican House members want the GOP to move further to the right and fight Obama hard, and if Posey joins them he could alienate Democratic leaders and ruin any chance he has to become an effective NASA advocate. Posey’s far smarter choice is to align himself with Republican moderates and demonstrate the reputation he gained in the Florida Legislature as someone with a knack to work across the aisle. (11/12)

Arizona and Alabama Members Likely to Sit on Science Committee? (Sources: Space Politics)
Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, a Democrat and member of the House Science and Technology Committee (and wife of NASA astronaut Mark Kelly), handily won re-election to a second term in her district. In Alabama, space advocates fear the retirement of senior lawmaker Rep. Bud Cramer (D-AL), could mean cuts to projects like Ares and Orion. Cramer’s newly-elected successor, Parker Griffith, also a conservative Democrat, said he will seek a seat on the House Science and Technology Committee, one of three committee posts he’s seeking. (Cramer had served on the Appropriations committee). (11/11)

The Transition from Politics to Policy (Source: Space Review)
Change was a major theme of the 2008 presidential campaign, and President-Elect Barack Obama will presumably be bringing some change to space policy as his administration takes office. Jeff Foust examines some elements of the Obama campaign's space policy that themselves could use a bit of change as they're implemented. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1249/1 to view the article. (11/10)

Obamanaut Co-Chair on Radio (Source: Spaceports Blog)
Planetary Radio is conducting a two-week look-see into the 'Barocket Science' of the Obama Administration beginning with an interview of space activist and Obamanaut Tim Bailey. Next week, the new Roadmap to Space with Planetary Society Executive Director Dr. Lou Friedman. Visit http://s3.amazonaws.com/planetary/radio/pr20081110.wma to hear the radio program. (11/12)

Workforce Summit Reviews Steps to Lessen Impact of Shuttle Retirement (Source: Florida Today)
As it makes the transition from the space shuttle to the next-generation Constellation program, NASA must avoid creating the economic hardships that befell Brevard County during the shift from Apollo to the shuttle, the space agency's administrator said Friday. "It really needs all hands on deck: local, federal, state, NASA, and other departments," NASA administrator Mike Griffin told the Workforce Leadership Summit.

Involving more than 100 space industry leaders, the summit met to begin forming the path that will help workers at Kennedy Space Center adjust to the new work environment and changing space program. Already, a state-sponsored van of advisers travels around KSC, helping workers with resumes and retraining opportunities. The new KSC director, Bob Cabana, a four-time shuttle astronaut, promised an effort to keep employment high at KSC. To mitigate the problem of job losses, Cabana has suggested bringing some commercial technical projects to KSC that fit with the technology focus. (11/15)

Machinists Approve Contract with ULA (Source: Florida Today)
United Launch Alliance learned Sunday that a new contract, which includes workers at the company's three sites, has been accepted by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. The union represents 850 workers at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., Decatur, Ala., and Vandenberg AFB, Calif. Ratification of the 3.5-year contract came after IAMAW leadership recommended acceptance of the contract to its members. Some 340 workers at the Cape, out of about 800 ULA employees, are covered by the contract. (11/10)

Machinists Union at Vandenberg Spaceport Ratifies Contract (Source: Lompoc Record)
United Launch Alliance workers, who are represented by the Machinists union at Vandenberg Air Force Base and two other sites, ratified a new contract that puts employees in three states under the same pact, company officials said. The employees who are part of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union voted last week to accept the new contract, which spans more than three years. At Vandenberg, the union workers divided among three launch facilities are composed of 120 Delta rocket workers and 60 Atlas rocket employees. The pact reportedly calls for a 5-percent pay hike the first year, followed by 4-percent boosts each of the next two years. (11/12)

Layoffs Coming for Launch Personnel (Source: Santa Maria Times)
Citing a market slowdown and program consolidations, the main launch firm at Vandenberg Air Force Base will lay off a total of 350 workers from its locations across the nation in February. Just how many United Launch Alliance workers at Vandenberg will receive pink slips isn't known yet. With 4,200 employees overall, the firm has about 400 workers at Vandenberg and 775 for the East Coast launch site at Cape Canaveral, Fla. A second reduction, involving up to 350 more employees, could occur at the end of 2009, officials added.

ULA officials say several factors contribute to the planned layoffs. The company formed in late 2006 from a merger of Lockheed Martin and Boeing's manufacturing and launch operations crews for the Atlas and Delta boosters. “We always knew we'd be smaller but I think there was an expectation that perhaps that shrinking would not have to be tied to a reduction in force,” Andrews said.

The merger also prompted elimination of Huntington Beach operations, which supported ULA during its first two years. Additionally, ULA's workhorse rocket, the Delta 2, is feeling the pinch of a slower launch market, a completed contract for a series of missions and program restructuring. (11/14)

ULA to Lay Off 350 Workers (Source: Florida Today)
United Launch Alliance announced today it will eliminate 350 jobs in February. The job losses will be spread across all locations. A second round of layoffs could occur in the fourth quarter of 2009. The company employs 4,200 nationwide, with about 800 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. (11/13)

SpaceX Could Add 100 Jobs (Source: Florida Today)
A new kind of untested rocket soon will appear on the Cape, ready for its first scheduled flight in the spring. A successful launch could mean more than 100 additional jobs in the space industry, which is threatened by the end of the shuttle program. Measuring 180 feet tall and 12 feet wide, SpaceX's Falcon 9 will have nine newly designed engines and a paying customer for its maiden voyage. The first Falcon 9 is scheduled to arrive late this year and lift off in the spring the Cape Canaveral Spaceport's Launch Complex 40. The pad is being renovated in part with $1 million in funding from Space Florida, the state agency formed to help the space industry.

"Fabrication of the hangar will be complete by the end of November," said Brian Mosdell, SpaceX's director of Florida launch operations. "All major components related to other pad systems, including propellant, pneumatic, hydraulics, video, communications and command and control systems, are in place." SpaceX has grown from 10 employees at the Cape to 35 since February. The company plans to have 150 employees in Florida if the Falcon 9 wins contracts with NASA to resupply the International Space Station. (11/10)

Job Cuts Coming at Michoud (Source: WWLTV)
About 75 percent of the employees at NASA's Michoud plant are assigned to making fuel tanks, but the space shuttle program is slated to end in 2010 and its new fleet of spacecraft won't need that new tank. As a result, Lockheed Martin is expected to make progressive cuts to their workforce at the plant. "Every quarter beginning in 2009, we will reduce the workforce, most likely in approximately 20 percent increments until 2010," said a Lockheed Martin official. The gradual cuts translate to an eventual elimination of about 2,300 jobs over the next three years.

The 500 employees that will remain at Michoud under Lockheed Martin will be in charge of producing the new crew exploration vehicles which will be attached to NASA's new line of space craft. Many of the workers who aren't chosen to work on the NASA project will likely be transferred to other projects contracted out to Lockheed Martin. (11/15)

Colorado a Leader in Space Jobs (Source: ColoradoBiz)
About 55,000 people in Colorado work directly for the space industry. As of 2007, about 26,000 of them were with private aerospace companies — 120 companies dedicated to the space business and at least 180 that dabble in it. That’s more employees than space mainstays Florida, Texas and New Jersey and behind only California, which, with a whopping 250,000 space workers accounts for 20 percent of the global space business, according to the California Space Authority. The military employs an additional 29,000 workers in space jobs at Buckley, Schriever, and Peterson Air Force Bases, Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station, the U.S. Air Force Academy. Colorado has, in short, a huge military space presence. It is an engine for thousands of jobs, primarily in developing ground systems and related software, at such companies as Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and ITT Systems. Visit http://www.cobizmag.com/articles.asp?id=2409&page=1 to view the article. (10/30)

Colorado Aerospace Industry Holding Its Own (Source: KMGH)
The nation's aerospace industry is holding up better than the rest of the slumping economy, and that's likely to offer support for Colorado's economy. Experts expect Colorado's aerospace sector to weather any downturn better than industries such as retail, manufacturing, telecommunications and construction.

They point to the lucrative, long-term contracts Colorado aerospace companies have won and strong Pentagon spending. During the Bush administration, military spending has jumped about 40 percent -- although that spending could taper some because of the unfolding financial crisis and a new occupant in the White House. (11/16)

NASA Awards CU $2 Million Grant for Suborbital Rockets (Source: Boulder Daily Camera)
The more-than-30-year history of rocket programs at the University of Colorado’s Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy has been extended with a $2 million grant that NASA awarded the university for its student sounding-rocket program. A team of about six CU graduate students and professors will design, build, launch and modify the scientific instrumentation for a series of four sounding-rocket launches departing from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The instruments on the sounding rockets will be used to study X-ray emissions throughout the galaxy. (11/14)

NASA Tests Lunar Rovers and Oxygen Production Technology in Hawaii (Source: NASA)
NASA has concluded nearly two weeks of testing equipment and lunar rover concepts on Hawaii's volcanic soil. The agency's In Situ Resource Utilization Project, which studies ways astronauts can use resources found at landing sites, demonstrated how people might prospect for resources on the moon and make their own oxygen from lunar rocks and soil. The Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems, known
as PISCES and based at the University of Hawaii, Hilo, hosted the tests. Research teams and NASA experts held the tests of several NASA-developed systems in Hawaii because its volcanic soil is very similar to regolith, the moon's soil. (11/13)

California Ordered to Prepare for Sea-Level Rise (Source: Scientific American)
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday ordered preparations for rising sea levels from global warming, a startling prospect for the most populous U.S. state with a Pacific Ocean coastline stretching more than 800 miles. Recorded sea levels rose 7 inches during the 20th century in San Francisco, Schwarzenegger said in the executive order for study of how much more the sea could rise, what other consequences of global warming were coming and how the state should react.

California is considered the environmental vanguard of government in the United States, with its own standards for car pollution and a law to cut emissions of carbon dioxide, the main gas contributing to global warming. "The longer that California delays planning and adapting to sea level rise the more expensive and difficult adaptation will be," Schwarzenegger said, ordering a report by the end of 2010. Editor's Note: Florida has 1,197 miles of Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coastline. (11/14)

Space Florida Names Spaceport Operations VP (Source: Florida Today)
Space Florida has hired former Air Force Colonel Mark Bontrager as vice president of spaceport operations. Bontrager will lead the development of the organization's spaceport holdings. Specifically, he will serve as a key resource in the development of Launch Complex 36, two multi-vehicle launch pads located at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Bontrager will also be responsible for managing other Space Florida holdings on Florida's East Coast, including LC-46, LC-47, the Shuttle Landing Facility/Hangar, Space Life Sciences Laboratory (SLSL) and both Space Florida Brevard County campuses. (11/10)

Florida Space Grant Consortium Meets in St. Petersburg (Source: ERAU)
The advisory board of the NASA-sponsored Florida Space Grant Consortium met last week at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg to discuss priorities and budget requirements for the coming year, and to review space education and research projects sponsored over the past several years. A student team from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University gave a presentation on their microgravity rocket fuel slosh experiment. FSGC last month submitted its 20-year report to NASA. (11/13)

To Widen Path to Outer Space, UF Engineers Build Small Satellite (Source: UF)
It’s not much bigger than a softball and weighs just 2 pounds. But the “pico satellite” being designed and built in a University of Florida aerospace engineering laboratory may hold a key to a future of easy access to outer space — one where sending satellites into orbit is as routine and inexpensive as shipping goods around the world. “Right now, the way satellites are built, they’re all large, one-of-a-kind and very expensive,” says Norman Fitz-Coy, an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and the lead investigator on the project. “Our idea is that you could mass produce these small satellites and launch 10 or 20 from a single launch vehicle.” (11/13)

Swarms of Small Satellites Coming Soon (Source: ZDNet.com)
The first satellites were launched about 50 years ago as a way to conquer space. Now, satellites are essential for our civilian and military communications. But they remain large and expensive, some of them costing several hundreds of millions of dollars. This is why researchers from the University of Florida (UF) are building small satellites able to work as a team to take multiple and distributed measurements or observations of weather phenomena for example. These small satellites should cost only about $100,000 to produce. The first one should be launched next year by a NASA rocket and should not be larger than a softball. The goal is to mass-produce these satellites to even reduce their costs. Click here to view the article. (11/14)

Interorbital Systems' Sea Star: Providing the Ride with BOOST-UP (Source: CSA)
CubeSats represent an evolutionary next-step in the industry: 'plug-and-play' (PnP) satellites. The small sats, made largely of commercial-off-the-shelf components, deploy as rapid-response, low-cost, simplified modular systems that can stand alone or function as part of a distributed orbiting array. How will these small satellites reach their full cost-cutting potential if no affordable, frequent launch opportunities are open to them? Interorbital Systems (IOS) views their Sea Star vehicle as a driver for the entire CubeSat/NanoSat community. The rocket, with its revolutionary design, and its at-the-ready, rapid-response launch capability, will serve as an enabling technology for lofting these innovative small sats.

Sea Star will speed the evolution of this new space science movement through low-cost, high frequency launches. Sea Star is truly a plug-and-play launch vehicle created specifically for these plug-and-play satellites. IOS has created the BOOST-UP program: Broad Operational Opportunity for Space Transport of University Payloads. Randa Milliron, IOS Co-Founder and CEO explains, "An individual or company can purchase a multi-satellite Sea Star launch for $500,000, then give away as many as 15 or more individual launch opportunities (approximate value $35,000 each) to academic space science projects. Visit http://www.interorbital.com/ for information. (11/15)

NASA to Study Science Potential of Piloted Suborbital Flights (Source: Space News)
NASA intends to spend up to $400,000 in 2009 studying whether piloted suborbital spacecraft under development by Virgin Galactic and others have the potential to be useful for scientific research. Whether the U.S. space agency ultimately funds scientists to develop and fly actual experiments, however, remains to be seen. The nascent commercial suborbital community — a tight-knit group of mostly U.S. companies vying to field piloted vehicles capable of carrying passengers and payloads to the edge of space for several minutes of weightlessness and stunning views — applauded NASA this summer when it announced its intention to fund up to eight one-year studies of the scientific potential of Virgin's SpaceShipTwo and other commercial piloted suborbital vehicles.

But that enthusiasm has given way to doubts about NASA's commitment to being among the first to take advantage of the scientific potential of human suborbital flight. When NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD) first unveiled its human suborbital research plans early this year, officials spoke at the time about immediately instituting a bona fide flight program backed by a substantial budget. But SMD was under different management then. Under the leadership of Ed Weiler, an old NASA hand recalled from Goddard Space Flight Center in March following the abrupt resignation of Alan Stern, SMD now wants to see if scientists truly are interested in putting payloads aboard human suborbital craft before committing the resources to develop experiments and book passage for them. (11/15)

NASA: Drilling Offshore Virginia May Hurt Wallops Launches (Source: Dow Jones)
NASA is protesting a proposal to lease offshore Virginia for oil and natural gas development. NASA fears that giant platforms would interfere with low-altitude suborbital rockets or make missile launchings from its Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va. much more difficult. On Wednesday, the U.S Minerals Management Service kicked off a 45-day comment-seeking period, an early step toward a proposed lease sale of waters 50 miles off the coast of Virginia. The area could hold 130 million barrels of oil and 1.14 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. The sale could take place as early as 2011. (11/13)

ESA Seeks 340 Million Euros To Fund New Ariane 5 Upper Stage Engine (Source: Space News)
The European Space Agency (ESA) is asking its 18 member governments to spend 340 million euros ($433 million) for early development of a restartable upper-stage engine for Europe's Ariane 5 rocket as part of a 10-billion-euro, 3-year spending package to be presented for approval Nov. 25-26, ESA Director-General Jean-Jacques Dordain said Nov. 10. (11/10)

Sea Launch Prepares for the Launch of SICRAL 1B (Source: Sea Launch)
Sea Launch took delivery of the SICRAL 1B communications satellite this week at the Payload Processing Facility at Sea Launch Home Port in the Port of Long Beach. With additional arrivals this month of associated hardware and personnel, preparations for launch operations are now underway in support of this mission in January 2009. (11/14)

Land Launch Aims for Second Lift-Off (Source: Flight Global)
The international joint venture Land Launch is preparing for its second flight to launch the Space Systems/Loral built Telstar-11N telecommunications satellite in December following its 28 April maiden mission to send an Israeli spacecraft into orbit, says the Russian Federal Space Agency. A Ukrainian Yuzhnoye Zenit 3SLB will be launched from Russia's Baikonur spaceport in Kazakhstan with the payload. The rocket is capable of putting 3,600kg (7,920lb) into geostationary transfer orbit. Land Launch's joint venture's members include Norway's Aker, Russia's Energia, Boeing and Ukraine's Yuzhnoye. These companies have been working together for Sea launch. It is through Sea Launch that Land Launch's services are marketed. (11/11)

Russia Launches Military Satellite (Source: SpaceToday.net)
A Soyuz rocket launched a Russian military satellite late Friday. The Soyuz-U rocket lifted off from the Plesetsk spaceport in northern Russia and placed the Kosmos 2445 spacecraft into orbit. The spacecraft's mission was not identified by Russian officials other than being a defense spacecraft; Western analysts believe it is a reconnaissance satellite. (11/15)

Russian Loans Late for Building Progress, Soyuz Spacecrafts (Source: iStock Analyst)
RKK Energy (Russian State Corporation Energy) has not received a loan for construction of transport spacecrafts Progress and piloted spacecrafts Soyuz, RKK Energy Constructor General Vitaly Lopota said in Korolyov on Friday. "We raised this issue in the government, three weeks have passed since, but they have not extended a loan yet," he said. He said he hoped this issue will be resolved soon and the spacecrafts will be built on time. (11/15)

A Russian Resurgence? (part one) (Source: Space Review)
Russia is bouncing back, both politically and economically, from the post-Soviet collapse of the 1990s, as was vividly demonstrated this summer with its invasion of Georgia. In the first of a two-part article, Nader Elhefnawy examines what this resurgence means for Russia's space program. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1246/1 to view the article. (11/10)

India Plants Flag on the Moon (Source: SpaceToday.net)
A flag-painted probe ejected from India's first lunar orbit hit the Moon's surface as planned on Friday. The Moon Impact Probe (MIP) was ejected from the Chandrayaan-1 orbiter at 9:36 am EST (1436 GMT, 8:06 pm Indian time) Friday towards the Moon, hitting the surface 25 minutes later. The probe impacted near the Moon's south pole. The probe carried a video camera, radar altimeter, and mass spectrometer that returned data during the descent; the probe did not survive the landing, as expected. (11/15)

India Space Effort Important on Many Levels (Source: Sunday Herald)
Indians around televisions in tea shops and streetside electronics stores to glimpse the launch of the country's first-ever Moon mission last month, a huge ego-boost for a country trying to shrug off its former standing as one of the world's poorest and least-developed nations. The Prime Minister said the mission goes toward cementing the country's status as a serious contender in a new space race with China and Japan. Still, the two-year mission is not without its detractors. A few critics griped about spending more than $80 million to map the Moon when there are urgent problems closer to home: crumbling roads, grinding poverty and child malnutrition rates higher than in many African countries.

But the spin-off benefits of India's space program are too good to pass up, say analysts. It boosts India's military and diplomatic clout, coming on the heels of a nuclear deal with the US that ended its status as a nuclear pariah. Its satellite capability is focused on helping speed up telecommunications development, weather forecasting, educational broadcasting, and resource mapping to help farmers improve their crop yields. Arguably, one of the biggest benefits of the mission is that it helps India's bid to win a larger share of the world's estimated $15 billion-a-year commercial satellite launch market. (11/11)

India Plans for X-Ray Spacecraft 2009 Launch (Source: Flight Global)
India's first dedicated astronomy research satellite, Astrosat, designed to observe the universe using the X-ray and ultraviolet wavelengths, is to be launched in 2009 using a four-stage Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). Astrosat's scientific objectives include spectroscopic studies of X-ray binaries, supernova remnants, active galactic nuclei and galaxy clusters. In particular Astrosat will look at active galactic nuclei at the core of the Milky Way that is believed to have a super massive black hole and other cosmological objects including quasars and pulsars. (11/10)

India Plans Astronaut Training Center by 2012 (Source: Flight Global)
An astronaut training center larger than 100 acres, on the outskirts of Bangalore, is to be completed by 2012 in preparation for India's proposed $242 million 2015 manned spaceflight, the nation's first. The center will be set up by the Indian Space Research Organization in collaboration with the Indian air force's Institute of Aviation Medicine, which is also located on the outskirts of Bangalore. Among the astronaut facilities planned are a centrifuge and spacecraft simulator. ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair says that India's proposed human spaceflight program will be a home-grown endeavor. "We do not have any proposal for co-operation with other countries. However, we are not averse to it," he says. (11/10)

Mother Set to Become 2nd Japanese Female in Space (Source: Mainichi Daily News)
Astronaut Naoko Yamazaki is set to become the second Japanese female astronaut to travel in space when she flies on the U.S. space shuttle Atlantis in February 2010. "It's a privilege that I can be involved in the final stage of the construction of the (International Space) Station," 37-year-old Yamazaki said. "I'd like to make my mission successful, for my family and many other people who supported me." (11/11)

Intel Brief: Japan's Space Elevator (Source: ISN)
Due to its advanced research in nanotechnology, and its history of breakthrough technological initiatives, Japan will likely be the first nation to develop the capability to construct a space elevator, and is more likely than not to begin construction by 2018. The Japan Space Elevator Association (JSEA) recently announced its plans to move ahead with a timeline for designing and constructing the world's first space elevator, which would transport objects from earth to space without the customary rocket launch. While ambitious, the prospect of constructing a space elevator is appealing because it offers an easier, less expensive method of traveling into space.

There are several key issues to overcome to make a space elevator a possibility. First, engineers must develop the technology to build the physical structures necessary to enable an elevator to travel to space. Current technology is unable to produce cable material strong and lightweight enough to haul elevator cars from earth to space. Based on likely continued technological advances and current estimates of the types of material needed, nanotechnology is likely to advance to the point of producing the desired material. (11/12)

China Fears India-Japan Space Alliance (Source: Asia Times)
India and Japan's agreement to expand cooperation in the field of disaster management from space, has the raised the ire of a China fearful that the US is masterminding a powerful space alliance between its allies in the region. The growing ties come just as India and Japan are devising an action plan to advance security cooperation. "China is concerned about the general effort of the US during the Bush Administration to form a Japanese-Indian alliance to contain China," said an analyst. "They are more concerned about what this implies about US intentions rather than what it implies about the intentions of the Japanese or the Indians, particularly as it concerns space."

The agreement is a concern for China, as it would be for any nation when their traditional regional adversaries talk about cooperation, adds Weedon. "Most countries still see the national security angle of space as a unilateral effort and are unlikely to collaborate in that area. They will, however collaborate in scientific or civilian areas." There is considerable turmoil in Japan concerning the future of JAXA and how much money the government should be spending on it. The situation is made more complicated by Japan's recently enacted Space Basic Law, which for the first time permits Japan to consider deployment of national security space assets, which the Japanese had denied themselves until now. (11/11)

Chinese Scientist Calls for Cooperation Between Asian Space Powers (Source: Xinhua)
A Chinese scientist on Wednesday called for moon probe program experts in China, India and Japan to step up cooperation to "deepen mankind's understanding of the moon." Ouyang Ziyuan, chief scientist for China's moon exploration program, said the three countries shared goals on moon probe while each had its advantages. Taking a full map of the moon's surface, detecting minerals and studying the space environment were the common goals, he said.

An official also announced on Wednesday that China would launch a second lunar probe, Chang'e-2, before 2012, as part of its three-stage moon mission. The eventual goal is to bring lunar soil and stone samples back to earth for study in about 2017. In 1990, following the Soviet Union and the United States, Japan became the third country to orbit the moon after sending the Hiten spacecraft. India launched an unmanned lunar orbiter last month. (11/12)

Chinese-Built Nigerian Satellite Malfunctions (Source: SpaceToday.net)
A Chinese-built Nigerian communications satellite launched last year has malfunctioned in orbit. The NigComSat-1 spacecraft suffered "electricity power exhaustion", according to the China Great Wall Industry Corp., a problem it blamed on the spacecraft's solar panels. Nigerian officials denied reports in the local media that the spacecraft had gone "missing", but did state that the spacecraft's batteries had failed to charge properly. Reports were unclear regarding whether the spacecraft was a total loss or if the problem could be repaired somehow. NigComSat-1 was built by China and launched on a Long March rocket in May 2007. The spacecraft is the same model as a satellite launched for Venezuela last month. (11/13)

Report: Australia Needs Space Program (Source: The Australian)
Australia needs its own space agency like NASA in the US, a Senate report recommends. The Senate Standing Committee on Economics said Australia is missing out on significant innovation and technology opportunities because it lacks a space agency. The committee's report, Lost in Space? Setting a new direction for Australia's space science and industry sector, said the government should establish a Space Industry Advisory Council to oversee the creation of a fully-fledged agency. The council would be made up of industry representatives, government agencies, defense personnel, and academics and chaired by the federal innovation minister. (11/12)

Czech Republic Joins European Space Agency (Source: Space News)
The Czech Republic has become the 18th full member of the European Space Agency (ESA), the organization announced Nov. 14. Membership is effective immediately, although ESA and Czech authorities will begin a six-year transition period during which an ESA task force will evaluate how best to adapt Czech industry and technology capacity to ESA's requirements. (11/15)

Canadian Space Agency Contracts with MDA for Radarsat Constellation (Source: CSA)
The Canadian Space Agency announced today that MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA) has been awarded a 16-month contract valued at $40 million to begin the design of the RADARSAT Constellation Mission (RCM). The RADARSAT Constellation is the evolution of the RADARSAT Program and will ensure the continued use by government scientific and commercial clients of data produced by Canada's advanced C-band radar instrument. (11/15)

Space Travel May be Key to World Peace, Garn Tells Utah Vets (Source: Salt Lake Tribune)
Jake Garn believes it was America's freedom, prosperity and opportunity that veterans preserved in war that gave him the opportunity to travel into space. And, the former U.S. senator from Utah said today at Provo's Veterans Day commemoration: It was that trip on the space shuttle Discovery that showed him the key to peace on earth.

In space, he said, one doesn't see the Earth as a globe carved up into different nations, but rather as a small part of a vast universe. "When you realize that there are more galaxies out there than there are grains of sand on the beach, you wonder why are we killing each other?" Garn said. And as more people go into space, they will change their attitude about life on earth and realize we're all brothers and sisters. (11/11)

Do You Have the Right Stuff for Space Travel? Take the Test ... (Source: Evening Standard)
Londoners will be able to see if they have the "right stuff" to become an astronaut at the Science Museum this week. The museum's Dana Center will encourage visitors to take tests used by the European Space Agency to choose its astronauts. They include assessments of performance under pressure, in which space wannabes must hit changing targets with a laser pointer via a series of mirrors. The exercise aims to discover whether subjects can perform quickly under intense deadlines. Visitors will also be tested on teamwork, co-operating with others to guide a small remote-controlled helicopter through an obstacle course.

They will be assessed on their resilience to G-force, with volunteers strapped to a chair, spun around and asked to fit blocks through a cut-out template. Each visitor will receive a score showing their fitness for space. Astronaut Jean-Francois Clervoy from the European Space Agency will give a talk. Maya Mendiratta, of the Dana Centre, said: "We hope people will have a lot of fun, but also get a better understanding of what it takes to be an astronaut." (11/11)

Virgin Making Strides in Mideast (Source: Dubai Business)
Virgin puts great emphasis on this personal relationship with its customers, publicizing the project’s development milestones with events that the passengers are invited to, and are hosted by Virgin’s enigmatic creator Sir Richard Branson. A recent event was the unveiling of the White Knight Two carrier aircraft in California. Direct advertising of the product is a no-no, as it cheapens the exclusivity of what’s on offer. “Instead we opt to work with our media partners on story angles and features,” says Sharon Garrett, Virgin Galactic’s head of space marketing and PR. “We compliment these activities with client direct opportunities and guest speaking arrangements.” A seven-page feature in [Gulf News’s] Friday magazine netted two ticket sales, she points out.

“The most difficult challenge to overcome is misleading and untruthful reports by media, particularly with regard to spaceports. The UAE media shares an amazing fascination with spaceports,” she says. False rumors of an Emirati spaceport recently made the rounds, prompting a slew of customer inquiries into whether Virgin Galactic would shift its planned take-off from the US to the UAE...You can’t help but wonder if space exploration even needs promotion. It’s almost too easy for Virgin. “You really just need to talk about the experience in personal terms so people can visualize it,” says Wincer. Garrett agrees. “When these people phone, it is the experience and the detail that they are most interested in. Cost plays a secondary role. Most sales are converted in 72 hours.” (11/11)

UK Starchaser Unveils Suborbital and Orbital Tourism Vehicle Plans (Source: Parabolic Arc)
UK-based Starchaser Industries has submitted a study to the European Space Agency in which it lays out plans for suborbital and orbital space tourism flights. The company is working on its Starchaser 5 rocket, which would launch a reuseable Thunderstar capsules on suborbital flights exceeding 100 kilometers.

The flights would would carry one pilot and four passengers. Occupants would experience about three minutes of weightlessness. Starchaser is working on a larger, vertically launched suborbital spaceplane with seating for 8 people. The company believes the system could be upgraded for orbital flight. (11/16)

FAA Aims to Extend its Space Tourism Rules Worldwide (Source: Flight Global)
Development of personal spaceflight safety oversight should be part of a United Nations process separate from existing international aviation organizations, according to a regulatory model being promoted by the FAA. This year the FAA has discussed the matter with the UK's British National Space Center, the Swedish Space Corporation (SSC), Sweden National Space Board and Singapore's Economic Development Board. Under the outer space treaties the UK will bear some responsibility for the Anglo-American company Virgin Galactic's operations anywhere in the world. The SSC's Spaceport Sweden wants Virgin Galactic to operate there early in the next decade and Singapore was identified as a possible spaceport for Space Adventures' proposed suborbital project.

The FAA views this international approach as a basis for suborbital point-to-point transport. This year the FAA has helped form a new International Astronautical Federation commercial spaceflight safety committee. It has a tri-chair that consists of the FAA, Virgin Galactic and the SSC. (11/11)

$4,000 to Ride Weightless on Europe's "Darebus" (Source: Reuters)
Europe plans to enter the fledgling space tourism market by offering a chance to experience weightlessness to help pay for scientific research. With Europe's space ambitions facing a budget squeeze due to the weak economy, the plan to mix science with adventure was unveiled during a "zero G" flight for European officials on a converted Airbus jet. Novespace, a unit of France's CNES space agency and the 17-nation European Space Agency, claims to be leading the field in scientific deployment with a converted Airbus A300 jetliner.

"Today there are no regulations that authorize this, but a few times a year we could have exceptional authorization where we mix science and demonstrations for observers," an official said, adding he hoped to start public flights within a year. The price tag would be 3,000 euros ($3,869) for 30 parabolas or 22-second bursts of weightlessness -- 11 minutes in all. A U.S. company, Zero Gravity Corp, has offered low-gravity or weightless flights to the public since 2006. The Novespace ticket sales would not aim to make a profit but would help sponsor research carried on board. (11/11)

US Space-Funeral Company Plans to Launch Lunar Cemetery (Source: AFP)
A US funeral business that specializes in launching cremated human remains into Earth's orbit has begun taking reservations for landing small capsules of ashes on the moon. "Celestis' first general public lunar mission could occur as early as 2010 and reservations are now being taken," said Charles M. Chafer, Celestis founder and president. "We can send up to 5000 individual capsules to the lunar surface," he said.

The company hopes to install a cemetery on the lunar surface to hold cremated remains of the dead, or a smaller symbolic portion of them, which one day could be visited by relatives of the deceased, said Chafer. For transportation, Celestis has made deals with two other US private space companies, Odyssey Moon and Astrobotic Technology, which are currently working on making commercial flights to the moon. (11/14)

The Big Picture (Source: New York Times Magazine)
NASA consultants are working with about 25 NASA engineers to devise the interior of a rover module so that two people will be able to sleep, prepare and eat meals, exercise, use the facilities, drive around and conduct scientific research on missions lasting from two days to two weeks — all in about 380 cubic feet. As space becomes a home away from home, with the ultimate goal of establishing a permanent moon colony by 2020, so-called human design has come to play a larger role.

“They think design is about survival, and we come along and say we want to survive well,” Finney says, squashing any Virgin Galactic-fueled fantasies. “The psychological stress is amazing. This is not a serene environment. There is constant white noise, things beeping. It’s like, ‘Is that my phone or a death warning?’ ” According to Finney, who has argued for luxuries like a window large enough for two people to look out of simultaneously, questions like “How acceptable is it to have the toilet close to the table?” quickly dissolve into questions like “What is the definition of acceptable?” (11/15)

NASA Says Can't Reach Mars Lander, Ends Mission (Source: Reuters)
NASA scientists said on Monday that they could no longer communicate with the Phoenix Mars Lander and were calling an effective end to its five-month-plus mission on the Red Planet. Launched in August 2007, the spacecraft landed on Mars in late May, touching down on a frozen desert at the planet's north pole to search for water and assess conditions for the possibility of sustaining life. Since then, Phoenix has recorded snowfall, scraped up bits of ice and found that Martian dust chemically resembles seawater on Earth -- adding to evidence that liquid water capable perhaps of supporting life once flowed on the planet's surface. By late October, the probe had already surpassed its expected operational lifetime by two months. (11/10)

Mars Rover Spirit Has 'Serious' Problem (Source: Space.com)
Even on Mars, misery may love company. On Monday, NASA declared the Phoenix Lander sitting in Mars' arctic plains as a rest-in-peace goner. Dust storm activity and the seasonal decline in sunshine at the robot's landing site meant that the craft's solar arrays couldn't churn up enough energizing power – an expected outcome after five months of exploration.

But now the word is that the Spirit Mars rover may be facing near-death. Resting in its equatorial exploration zone on the red planet, Spirit is in silent mode. "It's hard to say exactly how bad this is," said Steve Squyres, leader of the Mars Exploration Rover twins – Spirit and Opportunity. "We've got a rover with dirty solar panels that took a direct hit from a major regional dust storm, so that's serious business. But we don't know enough right now to say how serious," Squyres told me. (11/12)

Spirit Phones Home After Life-Threatening Dust Storm (Source: Planetary.org)
After taking a “direct hit” from one of Mars’ notorious dust storms last weekend, Spirit phoned home, exactly like its ground team had asked it to do, and members of the rover team at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) cheered. The dust storm hit the already power-challenged Mars Exploration Rover (MER) hard, causing it to suffer a life-threatening drop in energy not long after it began moving again for the first time in some eight months. (11/14)

Images Captured of Four Planets Outside Solar System (Source: AP)
Earth seems to have its first fuzzy photos of alien planets outside our solar system, images captured by two teams of astronomers. The pictures show four likely planets that appear as specks of white, nearly indecipherable except to the most eagle-eyed experts. All are trillions of miles away — three of them orbiting the same star, and the fourth circling a different star. None of the four giant gaseous planets are remotely habitable or remotely like Earth. But they raise the possibility of others more hospitable. (11/14)

Contact with Extraterrestrial Life by 2025? (Source: CNET)
If you're one of the many people who doubt there's intelligent life anywhere else in the universe, or even someone who thinks there is but that it will take centuries to find it, get ready to be surprised. "We'll find E.T. within two dozen years," senior SETI astronomer Seth Shostak said Tuesday night. That is, he said, if the assumptions of many researchers within the SETI Institute are correct, assumptions that are based on a collision of computing power under Moore's Law and the distance into space we can look with new instruments that will be available to researchers in the years to come. (11/12)

Is the American Military Space Program in Perpetual Crisis? (Source: Space Review)
It sounds like a broken record: once again, major US military space programs are facing cost overruns and delays. Dwayne Day reviews the problems with milspace efforts and what causes are at their roots. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1248/1 to view the article. (11/10)

Defense Panel Urges "Bold Action" on Cost Cutting (Source: AIA)
An internal Pentagon panel is warning President-elect Barack Obama that current budget levels are "not sustainable" in the current economic environment. The Defense Business Board is recommending cuts in unspecified weapons programs to ensure funding for sufficient ground forces. "Business as usual is no longer an option," says a briefing prepared for the presidential transition team. "The current and future fiscal environments facing the department demand bold action." Defense analysts say expensive, delay-plagued projects like the F-35 fighter jet and several new Navy ships would be mostly likely to get the ax under any cost-cutting push. (11/11)

Lockheed Martin Wins Air Force EELV Contract Funds (Source: DOD)
Lockheed Martin was awarded two contract modifications last week worth $145.6 million and $27.5 million to provide launch services and hardware for the AFSPC-2 mission using an Atlas-5 Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. The contract modification protects the current launch schedule, avoiding a delay that would adversely impact the launch manifest for a critical national security AFSPC mission. (11/10)

Raytheon Hoping to Transition from Missiles to Rockets (Source: AIA)
With wars in Iraq and Afghanistan expected to wind down under President-elect Barack Obama, the world's biggest maker of guided missiles is looking to NASA as its next big customer. Raytheon Missile Systems believes its technologies can be adapted to rockets, allowing NASA to send astronauts into space for less than the agency is paying now. "We are developing capabilities that have a direct application to NASA's space-exploration mission and could be an untapped resource for the agency," says Donald McMonagle, Raytheon's VP for NASA programs. (11/13)

Boeing Develops Common Software to Reduce Risk for TSAT (Source: Boeing)
Boeing announced the successful demonstration of a common software application that can support the space and ground segments of the Transformational Satellite Communications System (TSAT). The demonstration is one of three being conducted by Boeing and partner Raytheon as part of TSAT risk-reduction efforts funded by the U.S. Air Force. Boeing leveraged its expertise in developing software for satellite communications and onboard satellite operations into a collaborative effort with Raytheon, an industry leader in developing ground control software. (11/12)

FCC Grants TerreStar's Launch Delay Request (Source: Space News)
TerreStar Corp., a start-up mobile satellite services operator, has been given U.S. regulatory approval to delay the launch of its first satellite to June 30, with the deadline for operational service extended to Aug. 30, TerreStar announced Nov. 13. (11/15)

Telesat Says it Has Buyer for at Least One of its Satellites (Source: Space News)
Satellite-fleet operator Telesat, after a months-long search, has found a prospective buyer for one or possibly two of its Skynet satellites that already are in orbit, but with coverage that is outside Telesat's home North and South American markets. If accepted, the $200 million bid would enable Telesat, the world's fourth-largest satellite-fleet operator in revenue terms, to accelerate the reduction of its large debt load, Telesat and industry officials said. (11/15)

Orbcomm Reports Problem with New Satellites (Source: Space News)
All six satellites launched in June for two-way messaging service provider Orbcomm Inc. have suffered attitude-control problems in orbit, raising questions about how effective they will be once they are integrated into the company's current 27-satellite constellation, Ft. Lee, N.J.-based Orbcomm said in a Nov. 10 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). (11/11)

Most Globalstar Satellites Expected to Lose 2-Way Capability in Early 2009 (Source: Space News)
Mobile satellite services provider Globalstar Inc. expects that 42 of the 50 satellites in its current constellation will be unable to provide two-way communications starting in early 2009, threatening the company's ability to maintain sufficient customer backing to pay for a second-generation constellation that will not be ready for launch until late 2009. (11/15)

Dish Profit Drops 54% on Subscriber Losses, Charges (Source: Bloomberg)
Dish Network Corp., the nation's second-largest satellite-television provider, reported a 54 percent drop in third-quarter profit on subscriber losses and an investment writedown. The shares fell 15 percent. Net income declined to $91.9 million, from $199.7 million a year earlier. Sales climbed 5.1 percent to $2.94 billion. Dish lost 10,000 customers in the quarter, leaving it with 13.8 million. Increased competition from cable and phone companies may force the company to spend more on marketing and lure customers away, Dish said in the statement. Dish launched a new satellite in July to increase high-definition capacity to 100 channels from 45 by the end of the year. (11/11)

Sirius XM Radio Reports Third Quarter 2008 Results (Source: Sirius XM)
Sirius XM Radio announced third quarter 2008 results, including pro forma revenue of $613 million (up 16% over the year ago quarter), total subscribers of more than 18.9 million (up 17% from last year) and a 64% improvement in the pro forma adjusted loss from operations of $37 million before purchase accounting and restructuring costs. During the third quarter 2008, SIRIUS XM added 344,100 net subscribers. Pro forma net loss was $217 million, for the third quarter of 2008, compared to a pro forma net loss of $265.5 million in the third quarter 2007. (11/11)

ORBCOMM Announces Quarterly Results (Source: MarketWatch)
ORBCOMM, a global satellite data communications company focused on two-way Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications, announced financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2008. Total Revenues were $8.0 million, an increase of 15.3% from the third quarter of 2007. Service Revenues for the third quarter increased 39.2% to $6.3 million from the comparable period of 2007. Operating loss for the quarter improved by 55.5% year-over-year, but a $1.2 million decline in interest income and $0.3 million of foreign exchange transaction loss led to the increase in net loss versus the same period in the prior year. Net loss for the third quarter was $1.0 million versus $0.4 million in the third quarter of 2007. (11/11)

EchoStar's 3Q Losses Surge (Source: AP)
EchoStar Corp., which sells set-top boxes and provides satellite television services to Dish Network, said Monday that its losses surged in the third quarter due to write-downs and other losses on troubled investments. For the quarter ended Sept. 30, EchoStar's loss widened to $308 million, compared with losses of $7 million a year ago. Quarterly revenue jumped 52 percent to $616 million from $404 million in the third quarter of 2007. (11/11)

Astrium Space Revenue Increases 25.5 Percent (Source: Space News)
The Astrium space division of Europe's EADS aerospace conglomerate reported double-digit revenue and pretax profit increases for the nine months ending Sept. 30, with both being propelled by the Astrium Services division, EADS announced Nov. 14. (11/15)

Intelsat Is Not Feeling Impact of Economic Downturn (Source: Space News)
Satellite-fleet operator Intelsat said demand for its satellite capacity has increased in every part of the world so far in 2008, even in the long-oversupplied Asia-Pacific region, and shows no sign of softening as a result of the global economic slowdown. (11/15)

SpaceDev Reports Third Quarter Fiscal 2008 Results (Source: Market Wire)
SpaceDev reported its financial results for the three and nine months ended Sep. 30 with year to date revenues of approximately $28.3 million, an increase of over 11.6%, net income for the nine months of almost $500,000. SpaceDev reported revenue of approximately $9.0 million and $28.3 million for the three and nine months ended Sep. 30, 2008, an increase of approximately $1.4 million and $3.0 million, or 18.9% and 11.7% for the three and nine month periods respectively, from the approximate $7.6 million and $25.3 million in revenue reported for the same three and nine month periods in 2007. (11/14)

EADS Stock Soars as Profits Beat Expectations (Source: Reuters)
Shares in European aerospace group EADS soared on Friday as it beat expectations for the third quarter. EADS announced 200 million euros of new cost savings for 2011 and 2012 on top of existing restructuring plans and boasted a strong cash buffer against global financial turmoil. The Airbus parent said it had swung to a quarterly operating profit of 860 million euros compared with a 711 million euro loss a year earlier. Third-quarter sales rose 6 percent to 9.701 billion euros. (11/16)

Spacehab Quarterly Net Income at $55,000; Sees Better Days Ahead (Source: Parabolic Arc)
Spacehab announced financial results for the first quarter ended September 30, 2008 of its fiscal year 2009. First quarter fiscal 2009 net income was $55,000 on revenue of $6.0 million, compared with first quarter fiscal year 2008 net loss of $856,000 on revenue of $8.6 million. Working capital at the end of the quarter was $2.2 million of which $1.0 million consisted of amounts outstanding on a revolving line of credit. As of September 30, Spacehab carried a contract backlog of $25.8 million, which represents the expected value of contractually-committed work, portions of which are subject to the space shuttle’s launch schedule or future government funding decisions. (11/14)

Space Coast Businesswoman Receives SWE Entrepreneur Award (Source: Craig Technologies)
The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) has named Carol Craig as the recipient of a 2008 Entrepreneur Award. Craig is the founder and owner of Craig Technologies, Inc., a provider of technical and engineering services for commercial and government entities. Craig is based in Cape Canaveral and supports various space program contracts. (11/14)