National Space Symposium Show News - April 7-10, 2008 - (Page 6)

AIA Looks to Election, Fears Leading Democrat Will Slash Space Budgets Despite a history of bipartisan cooperation on space, “It will be a battle if there is a Democratic administration,” warns Aerospace Industries Association space systems vp J.P. Stevens. “One of the first areas that people start looking to cut budgets is in that civil space area, and that’s a real concern as we transition out of what we’ve been doing for the last 20 or 30 years and that’s flying up to low earth J.P. Stevens. orbit and putting together an International Space Station.” “There’s a gap,” Steven says. “After 2010 we need to as soon as possible have a new vehicle.” NASA, and AIA, are is looking to the moon and planets, banking on NASA’s Constellation program—the Ares series of launchers and the manned Orion vehicle—to succeed the Space Shuttle. “This is a developmental program I’m sure there will be more delays,” Stevens says. Already, he told Show News, “We’re spending a lot of money and we will be spending a lot of money and with little pride paying the Russians to take us up there.” “One of the candidates,” the former Marine Corps aviator adds, speaking of Senator Barack Obama, “has come out and said he’s going to use that program and the money in the exploration program to fund one of his educational programs.” “That takes a five-year and maybe a six-year program and makes it become a ten- or 11- or 12-year program.” Military and communications satellites need to be supported too. “We rely on this stuff,” Stevens says. “We need to protect those assets.” The Chinese, he says, “have shown us they have the capability to knock our eyes out of the sky. We need to be able to come back and protect those eyes.” 6 Northrop Builds ‘Suicide’ Satellite Northrop Grumman’s latest satellite is designed to destroy itself by crashing into the moon. The Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite will be launched at the end of this year on an Atlas V and will be the first U.S. craft to return to the moon since 1999. Conceived as an add-on to the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, Northrop Grumman had just 26 months to develop and build LCROSS, half the time it takes to build a traditional satellite. Boeing Hands Over Wideband Satcom Boeing handed over the first of six Wideband Global Satcom satellites to the U.S. Air Force on-orbit at the end of January. The WGS satellite is now being monitored and controlled by the Air Force’s 3rd Space Operations Squadron at Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado. The first WGS effectively doubled the bandwidth available to warfighters from U.S. government satellites. The second and third WGS Block I satellites are scheduled for launch in 2008. The sixsatellite WGS system will eventually replace the Defense Satellite Communications System constellation and reduce the U.S. government’s reliance on commercial satellite communications services. Hamilton Sundstrand Walks in Space The last space shuttle mission was a major achievement for Hamilton Sundstrand and its space suits: they performed flawlessly during more and longer space walks than ever before in International Space Station history. The space walks, or EVAs, occurred throughout the 16-day STS-123 mission to the International Space Station, during which the suits enabled five EVAs totaling more than 30 hours. STS-123, the longest space shuttle mission, was the 122nd space shuttle flight, the 25th to the International Space Station, and the second of six flights planned for 2008. Europe Now ‘Co-Owns’ the ISS “With the docking of Columbus, Europe got its own (apartment) in the ISS building; with the launch of the first ATV, we now have our own delivery truck” says Daniel Sacotte, ESA’s Director for Human Spaceflight, Microgravity and Exploration. “We have become co-owners of the ISS, now we are about to become fully- fledged partners in running it.” The European Columbus laboratory was officially attached to the right side of the Harmony module of the ISS on February 11; the Jules Verne ATV (automated transfer vehicle) re-supply ship was launched on March 9 and was scheduled to dock with the ISS for the first time on April 3. ATK and Ad Astra Team on Plasma Alliant Techsystems (Booth 602) Houston’s Ad Astra have formed a technology development alliance, drawing on ATK’s launch systems integration experience and Ad Astra’s specialty in plasma propulsion technologies for operation in the vacuum of outer space. “We see this as a natural extension of ATK’s efforts, and a critical link to bridge the gap between existing high-thrust, low-specific impulse propulsion systems and low-thrust, high-specific impulse systems,” said ATK strategy and business development Charles Precourt. ATK will announce a new Space Systems group here Tuesday. April, 2008 www.aviationweek.com/shownews http://www.aviationweek.com/shownews

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of National Space Symposium Show News - April 7-10, 2008

Arthur Clarke, 1917-2008 Critical Questions Loom Beyond the Rocket Motor New GPS for the USAF Generals Have Their Say 2,500 Years in Space Virgin Senses Sea-Change Technology Spin-Offs

National Space Symposium Show News - April 7-10, 2008

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