NASA continues to make progress on its Orion spacecraft and Ares rocket even as debate rages about whether to continue funding the efforts.
This image shows daytime and nighttime lunar temperatures recorded by Diviner. Credit: NASA/UCLA
“The LRO mission already has begun to give us new data that will lead to a vastly improved atlas of the lunar south pole and advance our capability for human exploration and scientific benefit,” said Richard Vondrak, LRO project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
Disney’s space ranger Buzz Lightyear returned from space on Sept. 11, aboard space shuttle Discovery’s STS-128 mission after 15 months aboard the International Space Station. His time on the orbiting laboratory will celebrated in a ticker-tape parade together with his space station crewmates and former Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin on Oct. 2, at Walt Disney World in Florida.
Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte told reporters he plans to tickle the professional astronauts while they’re sleeping, and he’s also bringing red clown noses to try to lighten things up on the orbiting station.
The National reports that Aabar Investments – which has taken a significant stake in Virgin Galactic – suffered a significant second quarter loss:
Aabar Investments, the Abu Dhabi Government-backed investor, swung to a loss of Dh2.18 billion (US$594 million) in the second quarter after using derivative financial instruments to soak up risks from its acquisition in the luxury car maker Daimler.
The loss caps a period of frenetic investment for the group, which has seen it take stakes over recent months in Daimler and Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic space travel venture, and helped its stock price increase by half since the beginning of the year.
SPACE FLORIDA PRESS RELEASE
Today, during a one-topic Board of Director’s teleconference, Florida Lt. Governor Jeff Kottkamp and the Space Florida Board of Directors unanimously voted to name Frank DiBello as the permanent President and CEO of Space Florida, the state’s agency for aerospace economic development.
“The space industry is critical to Florida’s economy and as a consequence deeply impacts the well-being of all citizens of Florida,” noted Lt. Governor Jeff Kottkamp who serves as Space Florida Co-Chairman of the Board. “I am proud of the Board’s decision to pick Frank DiBello who has demonstrated his outstanding leadership during his tenure as Interim President. Through his leadership, we can continue to ensure Florida is the number one place in the world for the aerospace industry by aggressively attracting a diversity of space-related businesses that will utilize and expand Florida’s world-class aerospace workforce.”
An interesting story about what Barbara Barrett does when she isn’t in a Star City simulator training as space tourist Guy Laliberte’s backup . The former ambassador to Finland and her husband, former Intel CEO and chairman Craig Barrett, run the exclusive Triple Creek Ranch, a high-end, all-inclusive lodge in Darby, Mont.
CNN interviewed Craig Barrett for a story:
After revolutionizing the chip industry and helping the world speed up, Barrett has decided to focus on getting people to slow down. On May 20, the date he stepped down as Intel’s chairman, Barrett, 70, gained a new title: innkeeper at his Triple Creek Ranch, a high-end, all-inclusive lodge in Darby, Mont., that he has owned since 1993.
“I’ve always been a work hard, play hard advocate,” says Barrett. “It’s a place to leave the other side behind for a while.”
Astronaut Nicole Stott leads the International Space Station crew in a water toast for the arrival of Japan’s HTV freighter at the orbiting facility.
Job offer scrubbed: Former NASA official turns down top Space Florida post; interim leader in line?
Orlando Sentinel
Former NASA deputy administrator Shana Dale unexpectedly declined an offer to lead Space Florida, one day before board members of the state’s aerospace development body were supposed to make her hiring official.
Astronaut Nicole Stott uses the space station’s robotic arm to grapple JAXA’s HTV freighter.
Peter J. Brown compares the divergent approaches in space being pursued by America and China in an article titled, “China Struggles for Space Entrepreneurs.” The former has an emerging commercial sector, while the latter is a state-run operation dominated by the military:
China and the US differ greatly in terms of workforce mobility and choices. The US space commerce sector is recruiting talented and skilled personnel, whereas China offers no such opportunities outside its government-supported space sector. Granted, the combination of relatively small companies, tough economic times and the highly specialized nature of the work involved means that choices in the US may be limited, but these opportunities exist….
PRESS RELEASE
Four of the leading operators of communications satellites announced today the formation of a Coalition for Competitive Launches. The coalition is aimed at enhancing worldwide competition in the provision of commercial satellite launches, a business led today by Russian and French companies.
The four members of the coalition, all of which provide a broad range of commercial satellite services in the United States including direct-to-home television, video distribution, broadband, and government services by satellite, are EchoStar, Intelsat, SES and Telesat. Providing leadership for the group is former US Senator John W. Warner (R-VA), a nationally recognized defense and national security expert and former chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee.