BALL CORPORATION PRESS RELEASE

Ball Corporation (NYSE: BLL) today reported second quarter net earnings of $133.3 million, or $1.40 cents per diluted share, on sales of $1.93 billion, compared to earnings of $100 million, or $1.02 cents per diluted share, on sales of $2.08 billion in the second quarter of 2008.

For the first six months of 2009, Ball’s earnings were $202.8 million, or $2.14 per diluted share, on sales of $3.51 billion. First half 2008 results were earnings of $183.8 million, or $1.87 per diluted share, on sales of $3.82 billion.

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Ion engine could one day power 39-day trips to Mars
New Scientist

Several space missions have already used ion engines, including NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, which is en route to the asteroids Vesta and CeresMovie Camera, and Japan’s spacecraft Hayabusa, which rendezvoused with the asteroid Itokawa in 2005.

But a new engine, called VASIMR (Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket), will have much more “oomph” than previous ones. That’s because it uses a radio frequency generator, similar to transmitters used to broadcast radio shows, to heat the charged particles, or plasma.

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Northrop 2nd-qtr profit drops 20 percent
Associated Press

Northrop Grumman Corp.’s second quarter profit dropped by 20 percent as the No. 2 defense contractor said it was hurt by higher pension costs and higher estimates of costs to complete several ships being built in its Gulf Coast yards.

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The crew of Apollo 11

Our latest poll is complete, and it seems like you Parabolic Archers have decided that Neil Armstrong is your favorite Apollo astronaut. Neil was far ahead of Apollo 13 Commander Jim Lovell:

Neil Armstrong – Apollo 11 (51.0%, 44 Votes)
Jim Lovell – Apollo 13 (28.0%, 24 Votes)
Pete Conrad – Apollo 12 (11.0%, 10 Votes)
Steve Austin – Apollo 19 (10.0%, 9 Votes)

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

Czechs, Slovaks keep up with world in orbital space tourism
Ceske Noviny

Four tourist space flight tickets have been sold in the Czech Republic and Slovakia since the sale was launched in April 2008, which roughly corresponds to the situation in other countries, Roman Jonas, who represents the future flights’ U.S. operator, has told CTK.

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Roll Call reports that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was turned down from an autograph by Neil Armstrong on Tuesday in Washington:

“I’m sorry, I don’t do that anymore,” Armstrong informed the autograph-seeker.

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TMT PRESS RELEASE

After careful evaluation and comparison between two outstanding candidate sites—Mauna Kea in Hawai‘i and Cerro Armazones in Chile—the board of directors of the TMT Observatory Corporation has selected Mauna Kea as the preferred site for the Thirty Meter Telescope. The TMT will be the most capable and advanced telescope ever constructed.

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Lockheed Martin 2Q profit down 17 percent
Associated Press

Lockheed Martin Corp. said its second-quarter earnings fell nearly 17 percent, as large pension expenses dug into the defense contractor’s bottom line and the company’s government-services unit posted disappointing results.

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Artists conception of SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft in orbit

 

Commercial Space Flight: NASA May Get Onboard
Business Week

One option under serious consideration is whether NASA should tap the private sector more actively. Since its founding, the agency has done the heavy lifting in space exploration largely by itself—conceiving of missions, designing rockets, and executing flights. Companies such as Boeing (BA), Alliant Techsystems (ATK), and Lockheed Martin simply built spacecraft to NASA’s specs. Some experts argue that NASA should lean on private companies more heavily, perhaps to design rockets or execute such mundane missions as shuttling supplies up to the International Space Station. “The commercial sector could have a much bigger role,” says Keith Cowling, editor of a Web site called NASA Watch, which monitors agency projects. “But NASA has to be willing to give up its monopoly on manned space flight. And that’s the big question.”

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Bolden: NASA “cannot continue to survive on the path that we are on right now”
Orlando Sentinel

New NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden had his first all-hands meeting with NASA employees this morning and came across as a nice guy, a self-professed Christian and a man prone to visible emotions. “My dad cried. My dad taught me to cry,” said Bolden, an ex-Marine general who came close to tears several times during his hour-long presentation.

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