CALIFORNIA PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION
PRESS RELEASE
December 3, 2009

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) today approved a renewable energy contract for Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), furthering the state’s progress towards its renewable energy goals.

Through its power purchase agreement with Solaren Corporation, PG&E is entitled to generation from a first-of-its kind space-based solar project. The experimental technology uses orbiting satellites equipped with solar cells to convert the sun’s energy into electricity, which is then converted into radio frequency energy that can be transmitted to a local receiver station. Space-based solar power has been researched in the U.S. for several decades and this summer the Japanese government announced plans to pursue a space-based solar program.

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SUBCOMMITTEE ON SPACE AND AERONAUTICS PRESS RELEASE
December 2, 2009

Editor’s Note: This is the official press release published by the Subcommittee’s Democratic majority after this week’s hearing on human spaceflight safety.

Today, the House Committee on Science and Technology’s Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics held a hearing to discuss how to ensure the safety of future human space flight in both government and non-government space transportation systems.

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SUBCOMMITTEE ON SPACE AND AERONAUTICS PRESS RELEASE
Republican Caucus
December 2, 2009

Editor’s Note: This is the official press release published by the Republican minority after this week’s hearing on spacecraft safety.

Today, the Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics held a hearing focused on issues related to ensuring the safety of future human space flight in government and non-government space transportation systems.

“Safety is and must be on the minds of the men and women at NASA all the time,” said Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee Ranking Member Pete Olson (R-TX). “We have astronauts orbiting in the ISS right now, and each shuttle flight carries with it the extra increment of risk that an accident could end NASA as we know it.”

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Astronaut-safety hearing becomes pro-Constellation rally
Orlando Sentinel

A congressional hearing on astronaut safety turned into a pep rally for NASA’s troubled Constellation moon-rocket program, with lawmakers and witnesses endorsing it as the best replacement for the space shuttle even as critics complained the hearing was one-sided.

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Apollo 17 moon walker Harrison “Jack” Schmitt was in Vienna addressing the Austrian Academy of Sciences on Wednesday, saying that many challenges remain despite NASA’s discovery of water on the moon. The Chinese Xinhua news agency reports:

However, he pointed out that that was not enough to promote the establishment of lunar manned station. In his view, the key issue about water on the moon was not its scarcity but rather how to use it.

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Spaceport supporters tout project in Washington, D.C.
Sheboygan Press

Advocates for making Sheboygan the Midwest’s hub for aerospace development made their case Wednesday before the House Aviation Subcommittee in Washington, D.C., arguing that the city’s location and industrial base make it uniquely suited for that role.

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NASA PRESS RELEASE

Talented engineering students who have ideas on how future explorers might live on the moon could find themselves working at NASA as paid interns.

The 2010 NASA Moon Work engineering design challenge seeks to motivate college students by giving them first-hand experience with the process of developing new technologies. To participate in the contest, students will submit their original design for tools or instruments that can help astronauts live and work on the moon. Top-ranked students will be offered a chance to intern with a team from NASA’s Exploration Technology Development Program.

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Solaren to Close Funding for Space Solar Power
Green Tech Media

The Manhattan, Calif.-based company, Solaren Corp., expects to close funding in less than two months to start developing the project in earnest, Spirnak told Greentech Media. He hopes to raise more than $100 million, the amount Solaren will need to validate its designs in the lab.

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AIA Presses Obama on Export-Control Reform
Space News

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is expected to introduce legislation this month that could lead to a House-Senate conference next year in what lawmakers consider language-easing restrictions on U.S. commercial communications satellite exports.

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NASA chooses Diaz to lead IT consolidation project
Government Computer News

Deborah Diaz, formerly at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, will lead NASA’s information technology consolidation project, which is expected to cost more than $4 billion, a NASA official confirmed today.

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Tests of Angara rocket postponed to 2012 over lack of funds
RIA Novosti

The test launch of Russia’s new Angara carrier rocket, which had been scheduled for 2011, have been put back by one year due to lack of financing, space agency Roscosmos said on Saturday.

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Artists conception of WhiteKnightTwo and the SpaceShipTwo space tourism vehicle. (Credit: Virgin Galactic)

Virgin Galactic Poised to Unveil Suborbital Space Liner
Space.com

All is in readiness for next Monday’s unveiling of SpaceShipTwo – the first-class space tourist’s wonder machine at the core of the space tourism firm Virgin Galactic’s suborbital fleet.

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