April 2006

Space Watch
Week of April 10 - April 14, 2006

Welcome to Space Watch. This is a weekly update compiled by The Eisenhower Institute of the most significant news items in civil, military and commercial space.

If you are interested in receiving a weekly email update version of Space Watch, please send an email to spacewatch@eisenhowerinstitute.org with the word "subscribe" in the subject line. Space Watch will be sent out every Friday.

 

Civil Space

 

ESA Spacecraft Reaches Venus Orbit
The European Space Agency has confirmed that its Venus Express spacecraft successfully ended its 50-minute engine burn and entered into orbit around the planet of Venus. The $266 million mission is the first to enter Venus' orbit since 1990. The successful insertion into orbit marked the end of a 78 million mile journey from Earth. The Venus Express spacecraft is designed to investigate the planet's confusingly thick atmosphere which has baffled scientists since its discovery. The planet's atmosphere is so thick that it causes the surface of the planet to reach upwards of 900 degrees Fahrenheit. The success means that the ESA is the only space agency with current science programs over the Earth, the moon, Mars, and Venus.
(Clark, Stephen. http://www.spaceflightnow.com/venusexpress/060411voi.html, 4/11/06).

NASA to Crash Spacecraft Into Moon
Following on the heels of the successful Deep Impact mission which crashed a probe into a space comet, NASA hopes to do the same thing to a much closer celestial body: the moon. The moon craft is called the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite and is set to board the same rocket that is going to carry NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2008. The two should be the first steps toward human expeditions as early as 2018. "The crash is expected to dislodge an estimated 2.2 million pounds of material for ground and space-based instruments to study," says NASA official Steve Horowitz. NASA hopes to use the crash to help determine whether or not there is water on the surface of the moon.
(Klotz, Irene. http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20060410/moon_spa.html, 4/11/06).

Russia Man on Moon by 2015
RKK Energia, Russia's leading space company, is leading the charge to send a manned mission to the moon by 2015, according to the ambitious plan that it laid out this past week. The plan envisions a mission by 2015 and then the construction of a permanent base by 2030. Nikolai Sevastyanov, the head of Energia, hopes to fund the program with private sources, while the Russian government has been quite vague in its support of the ambitious time table. Some have suggested that Energia's goals are not feasible. Energia hopes to make use of a new Russian craft still under development called the Clipper. Sevastyanov suggests that the whole project complete with five Clippers would cost around $1.5 billion.
(Isachenkov, Vladimir. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060411/ap_on_sc/russia_;_--, 4/11/06).

Officials Ponder Space Cooperation with China
Last week, China's Vice Administrator for the China National Space Administration, Luo Ge, met with officials at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and with attendees at the National Space Symposium in Colorado Springs. His talks attempted to address China's aims in space and specifically focused on China's intergovernmental cooperation with Russia, the ESA, and Brazil. Some suggest that the US should also join with China in space endeavors. "For the US exploration vision to succeed on a grand scale, it must include China, India, Russia, and other space faring nations," said Joseph Fuller, CEO of the Futron Corporation in Maryland. Others are not so positive regarding increased cooperation. There are "very legitimate concerns" raised by the US military regarding China's ultimate intention, says Representative Tom Feeney of Florida. NASA Administrator Michael Griffin has confirmed that he has been invited to China, but no specific date has yet been set.
(David, Leonard. http://space.com/news/060412_china_cooperation.html, 4/12/06).

25th Anniversary of Shuttle Mission Celebrated
Twenty five years ago this week, the first shuttle mission, Columbia, touched down in California before a crowd of nearly 200,000 people. The 54-hour mission made John Young and Robert Crippen the first astronauts to fly on board the shuttle aircraft. The craft's first flight was also its first manned flight. The other crafts (Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo) were unmanned until they could prove that they were safe. "When those rockets lit off, my eyeballs were about that big," says Crippen, "[It] gave you a real kick in the pants. It was a thrilling ride." The shuttle, though successful its first attempt, turned over time into a risky and cost ineffective route for space exploration, and as a result is set to be terminated by 2010.
(Carreau, Mark. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/space/3790823.html, 4/13/06).

Researchers Release Mars Orbiter Pictures
According to NASA officials in charge of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the two science cameras on board the craft are working as well as could have been envisioned. This revelation comes as researchers today released images from the Orbiter's Context Camera and Mars Color Imager after the first tests of those systems. "The test images show that both cameras will meet or exceed their performance requirements," says Dr. Michael Malin, the team leader for the two cameras. This release comes as the MRO continues to orbit Mars from an extended area. Slowly over the next year, officials hope to drop the craft into its closest orbit at nearly 66 miles from the surface of the Red Planet. From there, the next six science instruments on board the craft will begin to systematically examine the planet.
(Webster, Guy. http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2006/apr/HQ_06184_mars_orbiting_camera.html, 4/13/06).

Shuttle Tank Loses Foam in Testing
This week, NASA put a full-scale model of the space shuttle external tank to the test and failed. According to reports, NASA placed the tank model in a wind tunnel to test whether or not the insulation foam would hold up against forces expected to be greater than those experienced during launch. In the test, the foam insulation suffered "minor damage" while a redesigned ice/frost ramp, suffered "from major foam loss." NASA officials are attempting to remove as much insulation as possible from the tank to minimize the threat of debris shedding during launch. "This is exactly what testing is all about," said one official. "This is where you want to find a problem, not on launch day." More tests are schedule these next weeks but a decision on how to proceed is needed by the end of the month in order to maintain a July launch date.
(Harwood, William. http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts121/060413update/, 4/13/06).

New ‘Planet' Now Thought to be Pluto-Sized
New research on the recently discovered planet beyond Pluto suggests that the planet, originally thought to be much larger than Pluto, is actually not that much larger. Original estimates put the diameter at around 1,860 miles. The new research puts that number at around 1,490 miles as compared to Pluto's 1,422 miles. Though the size is approximately the same as Pluto, the new planet, nicknamed Xena by its discoverer, is much brighter than other planets. It allegedly reflects nearly 86 percent of the light that hits it, compared to Pluto's 60 percent. Astronomers are still debating whether to consider this new celestial body a planet or to demote Pluto from planet status. Most agree, however, that the two entities should eventually share the same terminology as they are extremely close in size and composition.
(Chang, Kenneth. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/12/science/space/12planet.html?_r=3&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin, 4/12/06).

 

 

 

 

 

Commercial

 

 

Sea Launch Again Successful
This week, a Sea Launch Zenit 3SL rocket successfully inserted a Japanese communications satellite into orbit. The satellite, which will serve Southeast Asia and Hawaii blasted off from a floating platform in the Pacific Ocean. "We are delighted to have achieved another successful launch," said Rob Peckham, interim president of Sea Launch. This mission was the company's second success of six scheduled launches in 2006.
(Spaceflight Now, http://www.spaceflightnow.com/sealaunch/jcsat9/, 4/12/06).

 

 

 

Military

 

 

India to Establish Aerospace Command
Indian Air Force Chief Air Marshal S.P. Tyagi said this week that work has begun on the establishment of an Aerospace Command in India. The process, however, is much more complex than originally envisioned. "It's a complex number of personnel who are going to exploit our assets in space," says Tyagi. The Command is thought to be the umbrella which effectively utilizes all space-based assets for military needs. The Command is necessary, according to Indian officials, because the rest of the world is quickly developing their own space-protection assets. "Any country on the fringe of space technology like India has to work towards such a command as advanced countries are already moving towards laser weapon platforms in space and killer satellites," says the former Air Marshal S. Krishnaswamy.
(IANS, http://www.dailyindia.com/show/16308.php/India_begins_work_on_space_weapons_command, 4/11/06).

Russia and India Set to Cooperate in Military Space
Russian and Indian officials are possibly looking to include military assistance as a component of their cooperative endeavor with the Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS). The GLONASS project is present limited to civil cooperation; however, talks will soon begin about the possibility of expansion into the military sphere. GLONASS is designed to be Russia's answer to the Global Positioning System (GPS) of the United States. Russian officials are suggesting that India would be the only country to possibly receive such military assistance with regards to the GLONASS program. The two groups are also looking into possible joint manned efforts into space.
(PTI, http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200604110321.htm, 4/11/06).

 

 

 

Opinion

 

 

Op-Ed: Congressional Outreach; It's Not Rocket Science
In Chris Carberry's recent opinion piece, he argued that, aside from conventional belief, politicians are generally attentive to its constituency, and as a result, those interested in space issues should tell their elected officials about the importance of space exploration. He purports that the refusal to take part in political outreach is "often no so much about hating politics as it is about fearing politics." He stipulates that whether or not you like it, "politics is the most important element in getting us to the Moon and on to Mars," and as a result, members of the space community should send a letter or an email or make a phone call to their representatives in order to support the exploration endeavor.
(Carberry, Chris. http://www.thespacereview.com/article/596/1, 4/10/06).

Op-Ed: China, competition and cooperation
In his recent opinion piece, Jeff Foust contemplates the relationship between China and the US regarding our respective space programs. His piece comes on the heels of a House Appropriations Subcommittee hearing entitled "National Aeronautics and Space Administration," in which representatives spent most of their time discussing China's space program and its implications for US national security. It also comes soon after China's space agency sent an official (Luo Ge) to the US to help explain China's space programs and its objectives. Taking both into account, Foust argues that there is little reason to be threatened by China's space program, as several congressmen suggested. Considering their modest space budget, no one should be concerned about continued US supremacy in the space arena. Foust argues that those who trump up the threat are simply attempting to advocate for increased expenditures. Foust also brings up the possibility of cooperation as a viable foreign policy option in regards to the space issue.
(Foust, Jeff. http://www.thespacereview.com/article/599/1, 4/10/06).

 

Space Watch
Week of April 17 - April 21, 2006

Welcome to Space Watch. This is a weekly update compiled by The Eisenhower Institute of the most significant news items in civil, military and commercial space.

If you are interested in receiving a weekly email update version of Space Watch, please send an email to spacewatch@eisenhowerinstitute.org with the word "subscribe" in the subject line. Space Watch will be sent out every Friday.

 

Civil Space

 

NASA Satellites to Study Earth's Climate
Two NASA satellites, after several months of delays, are finally prepared to be launched into space this weekend. One of the satellites, the CloudSat, will be able to peer inside clouds and produce a much more accurate model of the Earth's changing climate, according to scientists. The satellite is expected to be up to a thousand times more sensitive than existing weather satellites. As opposed to other satellites which simply pure at the cloud tops, this satellite will help develop an internal structure of clouds. "CloudSat's going to be able to fill in that three-dimensional information that we don't have now," says the manager of the CloudSat project. The hope is that CloudSat will provide some much needed information about how the Earth's climate is effected by human and natural activity.
(Young, Kelly. http://www.newscientistspace.com/article/dn9024-cloudsat-set-to-bust-clouds-cover.html, 4/20/06).

US Claims Right to Regulate Space Tourism
According to a set of newly proposed rules, the US would have the right to coordinate and regulate suborbital test flights around the world. According to the rules, drafted by the US Federal Aviation Administration, any organization wishing to operate suborbital flights outside the US will still have to apply for a FAA permit. Interested parties have two months to offer suggestions to the new rules. The FAA hopes the new regulations will come online by 2006. There is no indication of how foreign companies will react to this directive, as currently governments are responsible for launches which occur from within their own borders.
(Flight International, http://www.flightglobal.com/Articles/+claims+right+to++after+treaty.html, 4/18/06).

Lawmakers Worried of China's Space Capabilities
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are beginning to worry about China's efforts to increase their space capabilities nearly three decades after the Cold War instigated the first race in space. Some representatives, including Frank Wolf, the chair of the House Appropriations committee in charge of overseeing the US space agency, want the US to spend more money to retain space dominance. President Bush's original target of 2018 for a manned return flight to the moon might be too late, according to these alarmists. "If China beats us to the moon, we will have lost the space program," said Wolf last week. The interest in China's space program has reached an increased point since Chinese President Hu Jintao began his state visit this week in Washington DC. Some scientists, however, question the need to return to the moon. "If we want to beat the Chinese to the moon, there's no scientific justification for the expenditure. It's a political one," says Douglas Osheroff, the 1996 Nobel Prize winner in physics. John Logsdom, of the George Washington University, said that the idea of a new space race is "overblown."
(Bloomberg, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000080&sid=a5elzidanocM&refer=asia, 4/21/06).

Chinese Visit Nets Space Cooperation
According to White House officials, even though President Bush and Chinese President Hu Jintao failed to make any substantial progress in a large number of important issues, they did agree to cooperate on space exploration. President Bush agreed to send NASA Administrator Michael Griffin to China later this year to talk about lunar exploration, debris avoidance, and other subjects. The two also agreed to consult on sensor technologies, global climate change, and other issues having to do with space.
(Mason, Julie. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/space/3808910.html, 4/21/06).

NASA Postpones Launches
After a last minute glitch and a decision to postpone a launch scheduled for Friday afternoon, NASA hopes to launch two of their satellites as early as Saturday. Just 48 seconds away from the launch of NASA's CloudSat and Calipso weather satellites, the Calipso satellite lost communications with its French support center, and NASA decided to scrub the launch. The two satellites are designed to provide three-dimensional views of Earth's clouds and a much better picture of Earth's atmosphere and possibly even global climate change. The two satellites, once launched, will likely be in orbit for close to three years.
(Malik, Tariq. http://space.com/missionlaunches/060421_cloudsat_calipso_scrub.html, 4/21/06).

Water Thought to be Present on Early Mars
Scientists this week created the first ever mineralogical map of the entire surface of Mars in the hopes of a better understanding of how the planet has developed over the generations. The new map suggests that the red planet was once predominantly wet. According to the scientists, the Martian history can be divided into three epochs, two that were predominantly wet and the third, which continues today that is cold and dry. The map was developed with the help of a new instrument called OMEGA (Observatoire pour la Mineralogie, l'Eau, les Glaces et l'Activite), an instrument that is located on the Mars Express orbiter. OMEGA divides the planet's surface into more than 350 different colors of light. An investigation into the oldest regions of the planet suggest that it was once brimming with water, and that over time, volcanic eruptions likely changed its surface.
(Lovett, Richard. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/04/0420_060420_mars_water.html, 4/20/06).

Planned Space Station Boost Fails
Russian controllers of the International Space Station failed to succeed in a planned test of two long-dormant engines mounted on the station. The hope was that the test would boost the station into a higher orbit. The engines had not been fired since 2000. "We were all set for it but the engines never fired," said NASA spokesperson Rob Navias. Controllers had planned to alter the station by three tenths of a mile. The failure does not affect the plans of the Progress 21 unmanned cargo ship, which expects to be launched on April 24th.
(Malik, Tariq. http://space.com/missionlaunches/060419_exp13_issreboost.html, 4/20/06).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Commercial

 

 

New Mexico Spaceport Ready to Take Flight
The New Mexico Spaceport facilities are now expecting to launch their first rocket flight in July of this year. The spaceport, located 45 miles north of Las Cruces, is in a remote area of New Mexico and is now looking for proposals to design and engineer the hangers, control and support buildings, roads, utilities, etc. required to support the new Southwest Regional Spaceport. "The spaceport is open for business," said Jerry Larson, president of Aerospace, Inc, the group that will conduct the inaugural space blastoff. The first launch will be supported by temporary facilities while the rest of the spaceport begins the construction of permanent installments. Officials hope the inaugural flight will attract space-related commercial business to the area.
(David, Leonard. http://space.com/news/060419_nm_spaceport.html, 4/19/06).

Atlas Successfully Lifts Off from Cape Canaveral
International Launch Services, an international space launching venture, successfully launched a Lockheed Martin Atlas V rocket this week. The success was the third of seven planned launches this year for Lockheed Martin. The rocket was the first one to fly with one strap-on, solid-rocket booster and placed an Astra 1KR telecommunications satellite into geosynchronous orbit.
(MSNBC, http://msnbc.msn.com/id/12410392/, 4/20/06).

 

 

 

 

Opinion

 

 

Op-Ed: Bush Should Embrace China's Space Program
In their opinion piece in this week's Orland Sentinel, Vincent Sabathier and G. Ryan Faith that the "glory days of Apollo are over" and that the return to the moon is not a new space race with China as a competitor. They purported that policy-makers should not force new exploration initiatives into the old cold war template. Two lessons should have been learned from the past, according to the two. One is that multiple transportation systems in space are needed. After the Columbia disaster, it was obvious that the Russian Soyuz became a critical add-on system. The second lesson from the Apollo missions is that international cooperation in these endeavors is absolutely essential. They argue something like the ISS would never have come to fruition under a single political entity. In other words, "multiple transport systems are critical to crew survival and international cooperation is critical to the sustained political support needed for program survival." As voices are starting to grow louder from Capitol Hill worrying about China's space endeavors, the two urged President Bush to seize this opportunity and embrace, not shun, China's manned space program.
(Sabathier, Vincent and Faith, Ryan. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/custom/space/orl-chinaspace1806apr18,0,7989942.story?coll=orl-news-headlines-space, 4/20/06).

 

 

Oddly Enough

 

 

Launch Anything You Want Into Space for $99
A company in California is selling space upon its yet-to-be constructed XA 1.0 rocket for anyone wanting to send something into space. Officials say that they can send anything they want into space as long as it is legal. The kicker?: It will only cost you $99. Advertising their program as "space science at bake sale prices,' the cargo must fit into a canister the size of a soda can and weigh less than 350 grams. Ideally, it also should not be radioactive, explosive, or alive.
(Young, Kelly.
http://www.newscientistspace.com/article/dn9023-send-something-into-space-for-99.html, 4/20/06).

 

Space Watch
Week of April 24 - April 28, 2006

Welcome to Space Watch. This is a weekly update compiled by The Eisenhower Institute of the most significant news items in civil, military and commercial space.

If you are interested in receiving a weekly email update version of Space Watch, please send an email to spacewatch@eisenhowerinstitute.org with the word "subscribe" in the subject line. Space Watch will be sent out every Friday.

 

Civil Space

 

India to Use Only Indigenous Launchers
The Indian Space Research Organization (SRO) has stated that its Insat-4C telecommunications satellite launch, currently scheduled for July, will mark the end of India's complete reliance on foreign rocketry in launching its payloads. India, though it has been launching smaller satellites with indigenous capabilities since 1988, is unable to launch satellites weighing over 2 metric tons and have needed to launch those systems from abroad. The Insat-4C will be launched by India's own launcher, the geostationary satellite launch vehicle (GSLV). "We have achieved self-reliance not only in satellite technology but also in launchers," says ISRO spokesman S. Krishnamurthy. The GSLV's first launch came back in September of 2004.
(Jayaraman, KS. Space News, 4/24/06).

Malaysia Urges More Muslims in Space
Malaysia is planning on sending one of its citizens into space on a 2007 Russian-led scientific mission to the International Space Station. They are also encouraging other Muslims to embark on space exploration missions. "We are all very hopeful that the efforts by the Malaysian government will inspire other Muslims countries to inaugurate space initiatives," said Saiyad Nizamuddin Ahmad, an Islamic professor. Currently, the only Muslim to have ever flown in space is Saudi Arabia's Prince Sultan bin Salman who was aboard the US shuttle Discovery in 1985. The Director General of Malaysia's National Space Agency this week voiced hopes that Muslim nations would cooperate together in sending more representatives into space.
(Yoong, Sean. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060425/ap_on_sc/malaysia_muslim_astronaut, 4/25/06).

Russia Launches Israeli Spy Satellite
According to Russian news sources, later confirmed by Israeli agents, Russia has launched an Israeli spy satellite into orbit. The satellite was inserted by a Topol solid-fuel rocket booster and will likely be used to spy closely on Iran. According to reports, the satellite is equipped with a camera that will allow Israeli intelligence "to observe important Iranian targets in the most minute detail."
(New Scientist.com, http://www.newscientistspace.com/article/dn9062-israeli-satellite-to-spy-on-iran.html, 4/26/06).

China and US to Further Space Cooperation
NASA has confirmed that despite political and economic concerns between the US and China, it will begin to engage the Asian powerhouse in space-related issues. As President Bush mentioned last week, the head of NASA, Michael Griffin, has confirmed that he will be visiting China later this year. Also, NASA has confirmed that representatives from the China National Space Administration have been invited to a NASA-led space workshop in Washington. Though Griffin defers questions about whether China should be seen as a competitor or colleague to the State Department, he did add, "Twenty years ago, who would have imagined that one of our best partners on the space station today is Russia."
(Young, Kelly. http://www.newscientistspace.com/article/dn9057-nasa-and-china-may-boldly-go-together.html, 4/26/06).

Russian Soyuz Launches Cargo to ISS
A Russian Progress 21 cargo ship containing fresh food, water, and other supplies successfully docked with the International Space Station on Wednesday. The cargo ship, an unmanned Progress 21 version, delivered 2,300 pounds of dry supplies, 1,900 pounds of propellant, 661 pounds of water, and 100 pounds of air and oxygen. According to the two astronauts on board, cheeses, fruits, books, and CD's were also on board the supply ship. Also hitchhiking on the space ship was a shipment of live crustaceans. The animals are a part of a Russian science experiment called Aquarium which attempts to study eco-systems in orbit.
(Malik, Tarik. http://space.com/missionlaunches/060426_exp13_prog21_dock.html, 4/26/06).

China Launches Remote Sensing Satellite
China successfully launched the first of a series of 2006 satellite launches from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in North China's Shanxi Province on Thursday. The satellite was launched on board a March 4-B carrier rocket and will be used for scientific experiments, land surveys, and disaster prevention, according to officials with the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology. This launch is the 47th successful space launch in a row since October 1996. Also, in other news, China has announced plans to launch a satellite which will orbit the moon next April. The craft will be the first step in its attempts to send a lunar manned mission in within the next two decades.
(XinhuaNet. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-04/27/content_4480989.htm, 4/27/06).

Mexican Lawmakers Support Space Agency
The Mexican Lower Congressional House passed a law which is widely seen as the first step towards the creation of Mexico's own space agency. The new agency would help to coordinate research and university work with the private sector in order to develop and launch communication and weather satellites. The initial budget passed by the House is $2 million, a sum that is far from substantial, but as a first step, Mexican legislators hope that Mexico can, within time, enter the international space community as a major player. "We'd love it to become the Mexican NASA," says a spokesman for the Mexican Congress's Science and Technology Commission, "but obviously the levels of investment are incomparable. It's very distant, perhaps not in the vision but in the resources." The upper chamber also has to pass the bill.
(Reuters. http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=scienceNews&storyid=2006-04-27T215809Z_01_N27435688_RTRUKOC_0_US-MEXICO-SPACE.xml, 4/27/06).

Senate Panel Questions Gap for Manned Space Flights
At a Senate hearing this week, members of the Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations Subcommittee questioned NASA Chief Michael Griffin as to why the International Space Station is scheduled to be finished the same year that the space shuttle is set to be phased out. According to the NASA timeline, the replacement of the shuttle will be nearly four years after 2010, the expected date of the shuttle's retirement. "Do we have a techno ‘oops'," asked Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD). Griffin then speculated that the gap could be overcome by utilizing other countries or commercial companies in helping complete the ISS. As such, Griffin as set aside $500 million for alternative projects in helping to complete the space station on time and on schedule. Members were not heartened by Griffin's answers, however. Mikulski argued that Griffin's answer contained "a lot of if's."
(Talbott, Basil. http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=33946&dcn=todaysnews, 4/27/06).

NASA Finally Launches Climate Satellites
After a weeks worth of delays due to weather and technical issues, NASA finally successfully launched two research satellites on Friday. The satellites, the CloudSat and CALIPSO systems, were launched on board an unmanned Delta rocket from Vandenburg Air Force Base in California. The two satellites are designed to help scientists refine computer models that forecast weather changes and chart global climate change. CloudSat, according to its principal investigator, is 1,000 times more powerful than other radars and will "answer basic questions about how rain and snow are produced by clouds and how these clouds affect the Earth's climate."
(Reuters, http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=scienceNews&storyid=2006-04-28T110208Z_01_B193600_RTRUKOC_0_US-SPACE-SATELLITES.xml, 4/28/06).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Commercial

 

 

Lockheed Exhibits Frustration with Anti-trust Review
Lockheed Martin's Chief Financial Officer, Chris Kubasik, surprised many industry analysts when he revealed that Lockheed's board would be reviewing and possibly reassessing the rocket launch venture currently being considered with Boeing Company. The new joint venture, called the United Launch Alliance, has been waiting for nearly a year for approval by the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC's antitrust extensive review is prompting the Lockheed group to run out of patience, according to Kubasik. Just as it appeared the FTC was going to approve the deal, recently government lawyers demanded new conditions to be met by both companies. According to spokesmen the delay is harming morale at both companies. Lockheed has warned that it is "time to reach closure, approve ULA and get back to the business of launching rockets."
(Reuters, http://today.reuters.com/business/newsarticle.aspx?type=ousiv&storyID=2006-04-26T170826Z_01_N26190524_RTRIDST_0_BUSINESSPRO-ARMS-BOEING-LOCKHEED-DC.XML, 4/26/06).

 

 

 

 

Military

 

 

NRO To Focus On Ground Systems
The United States National Reconnaissance Office is reportedly shifting its strategic direction towards a greater emphasis on ground-based systems, rather than the more traditional classified space spy satellite programs. Many analysts are suggesting that this move is long overdue as the data collected by expensive satellite programs far outweighs the ability of the intelligence community in processing the infinite volumes of data. The new direction is said to be focused on "value added information instead of increasing volumes of data," according to the NRO Director Don Kerr. The new shift in strategy will be implemented over the course of the next year and beyond. The NRO will seek to improve its own data handling, dissemination and processing as opposed to simply letting other intelligence agencies pick up the analysis.
(Singer, Jeremy. Space News. 4/24/06).

New Space Command Chief Selected
According to reporters, the Air Force Space Command has nominated its new commander. Former NASA astronaut Lt. General Kevin Chilton is set to replace General Lance Lord who retired on March 3rd. The Space Command's top position has been vacant since that time. Chilton flew in three shuttle missions as a member of NASA from 1987 to 1998.
(Rolfsen, Bruce. http://www.airforcetimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-1735882.php, 4/27/06).

 

 

 

Opinion

 

 

Opinion - Cooperation With China: Still Dancing on Eggs
In his recent Space Review opinion piece, Taylor Dinerman argues that the US government should be careful in engaging in cooperative space adventures with China. He suggests that helping China with its space program now based on the hope that China will be ‘nice' to us later "is a delusion." China will act in its own interests, and right now, China is doing just that in pushing for cooperation. However, Dinerman admits that there is room for the US and China to work together on some kinds of technology exchanges. The guiding principle of any of these exchanges for the US government should be based on "Access for Access." For example, Dinerman suggests that China is more than welcome to visit US space centers as long as the same holds true for US officials in Chinese space centers. Any additional, more aggressive cooperation should come only later after four or five years of trust-building exercises.
(Dinerman, Taylor. http://www.thespacereview.com/article/608/1, 4/24/06).