Golden Spike Company, a startup initiated by former NASA Associate Administrator Alan Stern, has gathered a group of aerospace companies and spaceflight experts to mount commercial human missions to the Moon. Prices for a two-person surface sortie would start at $1.4 billion, according to Stern, who sees a market in national space agencies, corporations and scientific research.
They could not have timed it better: One day after France launched its second high-resolution Pleiades satellite, shareholders of U.S. commercial imagery provider GeoEye approved a buyout by the company's chief U.S. competitor that will leave Longmont, Colo.-based DigitalGlobe operating the largest fleet of high-resolution optical Earth-imaging satellites.
As Hurricane Sandy wound its way north along the Atlantic Coast in late October, the storm appeared to be on a track to head harmlessly out to sea. But data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) polar orbiting weather satellites indicated that the deadly storm would take a sharp left turn and hit some of the most densely populated regions of the U.S., providing days of warning.
A Washington Outlook item in the Dec. 3 issue (page 23) incorrectly stated the outcome of pre-flight pressure testing on the International Space Station's Unity node. According to NASA, the 1996 tests were halted before the node structural test and flight articles reached the maximum design pressure of 23 psia “based on predefined sensor cutoff data being met.” Those strain gauges were positioned to test anticipated “high stresses on the radial port gussets,” and no cracks were discovered in the hardware by subsequent inspections, NASA says.
Stratolaunch, the launch-services startup bankrolled by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, has opened discussions with Orbital Sciences Corp. about modifying one of its rockets for air-launch from the giant airplane it is building with parts from two surplus Boeing 747s. The company turned to Orbital after SpaceX concluded that making the necessary modifications to its Falcon launcher — the original choice for the concept — would not make business sense.
NASA needs a revamp of its strategic plan that follows from a new national consensus on what the agency’s primary mission should be, and what resources it needs to achieve it, according to new reports from the Space Foundation and the National Research Council (NRC).
SHIFTING SEATS: Sen. Jim DeMint (S.C.), who was preparing to lead Republicans on the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, now plans to leave the Senate in January. That leaves the committee in need of a ranking member. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), is next in line. “There is a process for these assignments that will play out, and I look forward to discussing this development with my colleagues on the Commerce Committee,” Thune says in a statement. Thune leads the aviation subcommittee. DeMint was in line to replace Sen.
Powerful solar storms are an imperfectly understood threat to the world’s power grids, but one with the potential for economic damage so catastrophic that the estimated $100-$200 million it would cost annually to deploy an operational space-weather warning system could be trivial by comparison.
HOUSTON — Though committed to launching a U.S. astronaut to the International Space Station for a 12-month flight, the longest space voyage yet by an American, NASA is far from prepared to commit to a succession of 12-month voyages to the orbiting science lab, according to the agency’s ISS program manager and others who expect to gather new insight into the health effects.
NASA’s top science mission planner, Associate Administrator John Grunsfeld, says NASA has the spare parts, plans and knowledge to create another Mars rover for launch in 2020. The mission, with a cost estimated by the Aerospace Corp. of $2.5 billion, needs congressional approval in what Grunsfeld acknowledges are “very tough fiscal times.” But he told members of the American Geophysical Union here Dec. 4 that the proposed mission “really reflects a strong commitment by NASA and the White House to Mars exploration.”
NEW DELHI — India has plans to launch a Geostationary Imaging Satellite (Gisat) for real-time observation over the Indian subcontinent and to shore up surveillance over its sensitive borders, a senior government official says. The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is in the process of designing the Gisat, which will be placed in geostationary orbit at 36,000 km (22,369 mi.) altitude, the official tells Aviation Week. He did not specify a time frame for the launch.
BUYOUT APPROVED: Shareholders of commercial satellite imagery provider GeoEye approved a proposed buyout Dec. 3 that will leave the company’s chief U.S. competitor, DigitalGlobe of Longmont, Colo., operating the world’s largest fleet of high-resolution Earth imaging satellites. Under the terms of the merger, GeoEye shareholders can opt to take 1.137 shares of common stock and $4.10 per share in cash, a 100% cash payment totaling $20.27 per share, or 100% in stock, with each GeoEye share worth 1.425 shares of DigitalGlobe stock.
Fiscal 2014—not 2013—will be the worst year for federal contractors, including defense companies, if the automatic budget cuts known as sequestration take effect in January 2013, says Alan Chvotkin, executive vice president and counsel at the Professional Services Council. That is because sequestration will not cause a sharp drop-off in contracting opportunities until then. Federal contract spending will return to growth thereafter, but under lower top-line budgets outlined by the 2011 law known as the Budget Control Act.
Limiting congressional terms brings in fresh blood, but that also means a change in direction. House Republicans are capping leadership terms at six years, which means that Rep. John Mica (Fla.), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, will hand over his gavel next year. Mica may have rubbed colleagues the wrong way with his continued war against the Transportation Security Administration. But he was a strong advocate for the FAA's NextGen air traffic modernization system who came up through the aviation subcommittee.
