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20031206
"White
House is hoping to renew space intrigue: Manned lunar
and Mars trips envisioned." ... "The Bush administration is developing
a new strategy for the U.S. space program that would send American astronauts
back to the moon for the first time in more than 30 years, according to
administration and congressional officials who said the plan also included
a manned mission to Mars." ... "A lunar mission - possibly establishing
a permanent base there - is the focus of high-level White House discussions
on how to reinvigorate the space program following the space shuttle Columbia
accident this year, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity."
-By Bryan Bender
-Boston/Globe
via -IHT.com
-
-
- "Spy
Satellites Used to Look for Damage on Space Station."
... "NASA has enlisted U.S. spy satellites and taken other measures to
inspect the exterior of the international space station for signs of any
damage that might explain a strange metallic crunching noise that was heard
by the two astronauts on board in the middle of the night of Nov. 26."
... NASA has also shifted steering control of the orbiting laboratory to
Russian-built thrusters while engineers study a new problem in the ailing
U.S.-built gyroscope system, spaceflight officials said yesterday." -By
Kathy Sawyer -WashingtonPost
20031029
-
-
- "Satellite
knocked out by solar flare; more disruptions expected."
... "Another spectacular eruption on the surface of the Sun sent charged
particles hurling toward Earth today, and scientists said the cloud
could significantly disrupt communications on Earth and may even hamper
firefighting efforts in California." ... "The explosion of gas and charged
particles into space from the corona, the outermost layer of the sun's
atmosphere, isn't harmful to people. But it can knock out satellite communications,
which some emergency crews are relying on in battling California's wildfires."
-By Joseph B. Verrengia
-AP via -StarTribune.com
20031009
- "Lots
in space: Orbiting junk, from old satellites
to space gloves, has scientists worried for spacecraft - and engineers
working on ways to clean it up." ... "If you want to get rid of an old
fridge or an obsolete TV, you could call for curbside pickup. But an obsolete
satellite? Or a spent rocket?" ... "Increasingly, the space about Earth
is getting cluttered with such junk. And it's not just messy, it's dangerous.
Full-size rocket bodies can destroy. Even smaller pieces - such as a 1965
space glove that zipped around for a month at 17,000 miles per hour - amount
to more than a smack in the face. They can puncture space suits and cripple
satellites." -By Peter N. Spotts
-CSMonitor
20030724
-
-
- "Air
Force punishes Boeing by taking 7 contracts." ...
"Handing down some of the harshest penalties ever against a defense contractor,
the U.S. Air Force on Thursday stripped Boeing (BA) of seven rocket-launch
contracts and also indefinitely suspended Boeing's rocket defense units
from competing for military contracts." ... "The penalties cap a yearlong
Air Force probe into allegations that Boeing, the nation's No. 2 defense
contractor after Lockheed Martin, used thousands of pages of stolen Lockheed
documents in 1998 to beat its rival for contracts to build a military satellite-launch
rocket." -By Edward Iwata
-USATODAY
20030422
- Space
Shuttle Columbia Disaster News - "Columbia
investigators: Wing seal source of breach." ... "A
seal from Columbia's left wing was apparently the mystery object that floated
away in orbit and it was almost certainly struck by something like a chunk
of foam before it came off, accident investigators said Tuesday." ... "The
investigators also said numerous defects have been found in insulating
foam on a fuel tank practically identical to the one on Columbia. A chunk
of the foam peeled away from Columbia's fuel tank shortly after liftoff
and slammed into the leading edge of the left wing, believed to be a key
element of the Feb. 1 disaster that killed all seven astronauts."
-AP via -USATODAY
20030303
-
-
-
- "Japan
fears N. Korea near point of no return: The
North appears ready to start up a reprocessing plant." ... "Satellite photos
indicating that North Korea is cranking up its nuclear program - turning
on its Yongbyon reactor and testing equipment that reprocesses spent-fuel
rods - are deepening worries in Japan that Kim Jong Il is approaching a
point of no return in his self-styled standoff with the US." -By
Robert Marquand -CSMonitor
20030227
- Space
Shuttle Columbia Disaster News
- "Engineers'
e-mail shows grave doubts on shuttle's survival:
Fears prove eerily prophetic." ... "The e-mail described a far broader,
internal debate about the seriousness of potential damage to Columbia from
a liftoff collision with foam debris than previously acknowledged." ...
"Some NASA engineers were so concerned that they asked the Department of
Defense to redirect a satellite to get a view of the damaged tiles. But
another official then told the Pentagon not to bother." -By
Seth Borenstein and Curtis Morgan -MercuryNews-BayArea
- "Trailblazing
spacecraft falls silent after 31 years." ... "The
US space agency Nasa yesterday announced the death of one of its most enduring
missions - Pioneer 10." ... "After 31 years, the trailblazing spacecraft
has fallen silent, an estimated 7.6bn miles from Earth, and is heading
towards the red dwarf Aldebaran in the constellation Taurus." -By
Tim Radford -Guardian.co.uk
20030226
- "Lonely
Pioneer 10 phones home for last time." ... "What
was apparently the spacecraft's last signal was received Jan. 22 by the
Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Deep Space Network. At the time, Pioneer 10
was 7.6 billion miles from Earth; the signal, traveling at the speed of
light, took 11 hours and 20 minutes to arrive."
-AP via -HoustonChronicle.com
-
- "News Corp,
Liberty Media cut ties: Companies reportedly
scrap joint bid for DirecTV, Hughes." ... "Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp Ltd
and Liberty Media have scrapped a planned joint bid for Hughes Electronics
Corp and DirecTV, with News Corp now pushing ahead with an independent
offer, the Wall Street Journal said on Wednesday."-Reuters
via -MSNBC
20030219
- Space
Shuttle Columbia Disaster News
- "Crews
find shuttle's front landing gear." ... "Space shuttle
Columbia's nose landing gear has been found largely intact in the woods
near [Texas] Toledo Bend Reservoir, officials said Wednesday." ... "Navy
Capt. Chris Murray said residents found the gear Tuesday and notified divers
who were searching the East Texas lake for shuttle debris."
-AP via -USATODAY
20030213
-
-
-
-"Possible satellite
deal on Murdoch's menu." ... "The Australia-based
media conglomerate, according to a variety of financial and media sources,
is looking to acquire, on its own or through a partnership, either DirectTV
Inc. or its rival, EchoStar Communications Corp. The two companies are,
respectively, the largest and second-largest U.S. satellite TV service
providers, with in excess of 15 million subscribers between them." ...
"A News Corp. spokesman denied reports that the company was in discussions
with either EchoStar or Hughes Electronics Corp., the unit of General Motors
Corp. that owns DirecTV. But Lachlan Murdoch, eldest son of Rupert and
deputy chief operating officer of News Corp., said on U.S. television recently
that either DirecTV or EchoStar would be a "great fit" for News Corp.,
which already has such operations in Europe, Asia, and Latin America."
-By Holly Hubbard Preston
-IHT.com
20030204
- Space
Shuttle Columbia Disaster
- "Weight
of space exploration shifts, for now, to Russia."
... "For now, at least, the disintegration of the shuttle Columbia throws
the mantle of space exploration onto a venerable program that is arguably
as safe as NASA's, more experienced in manned flight - and by most accounts,
hard-pressed to shoulder such a heavy burden." ... "Russia's space program
is sophisticated, reliable and poverty-stricken. The national space budget
is $266 million, not 2 percent of NASA's $14.7 billion and barely half
of what India spends." -By Michael Wines
-NYTimes via -IHT.com
- Space
Shuttle Columbia Disaster
- "As
space work goes on, Russia key: With shuttle
fleet grounded, NASA may need Russia to keep the space station aloft."
... "Russia has budgeted for two manned Soyuz launches in 2003 plus three
Progress supply flights to the ISS. Those vehicles are almost ready, and
one Soyuz could be sent up as early as April -perhaps unmanned, in order
to save space and fuel." ... "The Russian Space Agency's budget, $265 million
last year, is dwarfed by NASA's $15.5 billion annual allocation." ... "The
Russian commitment would have to increase significantly to make up for
the shuttle's absence. One of NASA's shuttles can heft 30 tons of materiel
in a single launch; the payload of a single-engined Progress is less than
three tons." -By Fred Weir
-CSMonitor
- Space
Shuttle Columbia Disaster
- "NASA
focusing on tiles possibly hit on liftoff:
Bush heading to Texas for memorial." ... "NASA officials said Monday that
they were focusing for now on the possibility that damage to the space
shuttle Columbia's heat-resistant tiles during liftoff on Jan. 16 might
have caused the shuttle to break apart as it descended toward Earth on
Saturday." ... "NASA set up command posts in Texas and Louisiana as search
teams returned to the flat fields and rain-soaked forests of East Texas,
looking for debris. Divers plunged into a reservoir where a large chunk
of metal splashed down." -By James Barron
-NYTimes via -IHT.com
20030203
- Space
Shuttle Columbia Disaster
- "Workers
Find Columbia Shuttle Nose in Remote Texas." ...
"Workers fanned out across the rugged East Texas terrain on Monday to recover
key components of the space shuttle Columbia, including the nose cone,
as well as remains from seven astronauts killed when the spacecraft broke
apart over the American Southwest." ... "The nose section of the Columbia
was likely found embedded in a wooded area near Hemphill, by the Louisiana
border, said Sabine County Sheriff Tom Maddox, who added NASA would have
to verify it was the front part of the space vehicle." -By
Jon Herskovitz and Judith Crosson-Reuters
- Space
Shuttle Columbia Disaster
- "Breakup
may have begun above California: Caltech astronomer
noted 'debris shedding' as Columbia passed overhead." ... "Top NASA officials
appealed for photographs or video evidence from amateur sky-watchers on
the West Coast, after confirming they had received detailed written descriptions
from a Caltech radio astronomer who said he saw what appeared to be "debris
shedding from the orbiter" as it streaked over the eastern Sierra." ...
"Radio-astronomer Anthony Beasley, of Caltech's Owens Valley Radio Observatory,
told The Chronicle the shuttle had "a sparkle effect" as it passed overhead,
and then he saw a bright piece separate. "It was like it dropped a flare,
and kept going," he said." -By Sabin Russell
-SFGate.com
- Space
Shuttle Columbia Disaster
- "NASA's
No. 1 theory: Tiles damaged during Columbia's liftoff."
... "NASA said today that damage to Columbia's thermal tiles during liftoff
is the leading theory in the investigation into what caused the shuttle
to shatter on re-entry into Earth's atmosphere." ... "NBC News had reported
earlier in the day that two days before the Columbia disaster, NASA engineers
had sent a memo calculating a high probability that launch debris had gaused
[sic] a gash 7-1/2 by 30 inches on the shuttle's left wing." ... "The tiles
are designed to keep the 3,000 degrees of heat generated during re-entry
from reaching and melting the aluminum hull of the space shuttle."
-HoustonChronicle.com
- Space
Shuttle Columbia Disaster
- "A
shuttle crash, a global loss: For space-faring
nations, fresh safety concerns." ... "When the space shuttle Challenger
exploded during its launch into crystalline skies over Cape Canaveral on
Jan. 28, 1986, the loss of seven crew members and an icon of US technological
prowess was a national tragedy." ... "Saturday morning's loss of the shuttle
Columbia and its seven astronauts nearly 17 years to the day after the
Challenger accident was a tragedy of global proportions." ... "The international
makeup of the crew, the condolences pouring in from capitals around the
world, and the aging - and now-dwindling - fleet of orbiters, which serve
as key strands in the lifeline between Earth and the International Space
Station, highlight how closely many countries with space-faring aspirations
have hitched their hopes to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration."
-By Peter N. Spotts
-CSMonitor
Space
Shuttle Columbia Disaster
- "Columbia
shuttle disintegrates just 15 minutes before landing."
... "Space shuttle Columbia broke apart in flames 200,000 feet (60,000
meters) over Texas yesterday [Saturday, 20030201],
killing all seven astronauts, including the first Israeli astronaut, Ilan
Ramon, just minutes before they were to glide to a landing in Florida."
... ""Columbia is lost; there are no survivors," President George W. Bush
announced." ... "It is too early to speculate about what destroyed the
shuttle, said Bill Readdy, NASA's associate administrator for space flight.
A senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there
was no immediate indication of terrorism." -By
Agencies via-Ha'aretzDaily
20030202
-
- Space
Shuttle Columbia Disaster
- "Multiple
investigations will seek answers to space shuttle Columbia tragedy."
... "At least three government investigations will probe the Columbia disaster
and NASA's shuttle program director vowed to find the answers so America
can continue sending people into space." ... "An independent panel comprised
of experts from the Air Force and Navy -- which had five of the seven Columbia
crew members -- and officials from the Transportation Department and other
federal agencies will study the accident, NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe
said." ... "The space agency will conduct its own investigation, as will
the House Science Committee chaired by Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, R-N.Y."
-By Matt Kelley -AP
via -SFGate.com
-
-
- Space
Shuttle Columbia Disaster
- "Shuttle
debris hits Texas and Louisiana: Debris rained down
Saturday over hundreds of square miles of Texas and Louisiana, smashing
a rooftop, splashing into a reservoir and sending emergency crews on a
far-flung hunt for bits of what was once space shuttle Columbia." ... "Authorities
urged the public to report any debris but not touch it for fear of contamination
from toxic substances. The Army sent in helicopters and soldiers to locate
and guard bits of wreckage, which could be pivotal in determining the cause
of the disaster." ... "Debris has been tracked in a 500-square-mile area
but could be spread over a region three times that, said James Kroll, director
of the Emergency Geospacial Mapping Center at Stephen F. Austin State University
in Nacogdoches." -AP
via -CNN
- Space
Shuttle Columbia Disaster
- "Russian
rocket blasts off for ISS." ... "An unmanned Russian
cargo rocket, headed for the International Space Station (ISS), has been
launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan as planned." ... "The
Russians had already made clear that, despite the Columbia space shuttle
disaster in the US, they would go ahead with their launch." ... "The Progress
M-47 blasted off at 1259 GMT from the Baikonur facility, which Russia leases
from the ex-Soviet Central Asian state." -BBC/News
OPINION
- Space
Shuttle Columbia Disaster
- "Turning
point for US space effort." ... "... Nasa will now,
for the first time, have to think seriously about what takes astronauts
into space after the shuttle is phased out, which could come sooner than
once thought." ... "Space travel will never be 100% safe. The space shuttle
has had 113 missions with the loss of the crew on two of them." ... "Considering
what it does, this is a good safety record and there is no shortage of
people willing to accept these odds." -BBC/News
Space
Shuttle Columbia Disaster
- "‘A
Big Blow to the Program’: NASA adviser John
Logsdon talks about what might have caused the Columbia space shuttle
disaster and whether it can be prevented from happening again." ... "The
first sign of trouble came about 25 minutes before the space shuttle Columbia
was scheduled to land on Saturday morning. At about 8:53 a.m. ET, the crew
reported a loss of temperature sensors on the left wing hydraulic system.
That was followed by reports of a series of other problems over the next
few minutes. Still, the shuttle appeared to be proceeding as planned—and
then everything went silent at Mission Control. At the same moment, residents
in central and eastern Texas reported hearing a loud boom and then pieces
of the shuttle started raining down from the sky." -By
Jennifer Barrett -MSNBC/-Newsweek
- Space
Shuttle Columbia Disaster
- "Shuttle
Breaks Up in Mid-Air, Seven Crew Killed." ... "The
space shuttle Columbia broke apart on Saturday as it reentered the Earth's
atmosphere high over Texas, killing all seven astronauts and plunging the
nation into a sense of grief not felt since the Sept. 11 tragedy." ...
"The disaster, almost 17 years to day that seven astronauts were killed
in the Challenger explosion, placed the space shuttle program on hold as
investigators began searching a debris field stretching hundreds of miles
across heavily wooded areas of Texas and adjoining states." -By
Jeff Franks-Reuters
20021229
CLONING
NEWS
- "Cloning
Claim Draws Fierce Denunciations: Vatican, Leading
Muslim Clerics, Jewish Rabbis Denounce Group's Claim That It's Cloned a
Human." ... "The Vatican joined leading Muslim clerics and Jewish rabbis
in denouncing as immoral, "brutal" and unnatural the claim that a cloned
baby had been born. Political leaders, meanwhile, stepped up calls for
a global ban on human cloning." ... "The reaction Saturday came a day after
a cloning company whose leader believes space aliens launched life on Earth
announced that a baby girl, nicknamed "Eve," had been born as a clone of
her mother." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
20021207
-
- "Military’s
use of satellites probed: Investigation launched
amid complaints of unfair advantages." ... "The General Accounting Office
is investigating the Defense Department’s use of commercial satellites,
after competitors complained that Washington-based Intelsat Ltd. has an
unfair advantage in a growing market." ... "Intelsat, incorporated in Bermuda,
is owned by companies and governments in 148 nations, including Iraq and
Iran. Its satellites help the U.S. military communicate with soldiers in
far-flung outposts." ... "The GAO investigation coincides with the Pentagon’s
increasing dependence on commercial satellite providers to provide extra
bandwidth, industry experts say. Government satellite programs have faced
delays and cost overruns even as information has become a key part of battlefield
strategy, they said." -By Renae Merle-WashingtonPost
via -MSNBC
20021202
- "Military space
programs face delays: Officials say defense
programs are over budget, ‘in trouble’" ... "Senior military and defense-industry
officials are acknowledging that most of the nation’s largest military-space
programs —including the satellites needed to construct an elaborate missile-defense
shield over the U.S. —are behind schedule and over budget." ... "Among
the space programs experiencing problems are the two satellite systems
needed to deploy a ground-based missile-defense system: both have been
restructured this year after delays related to design and integration issues.
The National Reconnaissance Office’s next-generation spy satellites, known
as Future Imagery Architecture, are more than a year delayed and almost
$3 billion over cost, spurring an internal Pentagon debate about whether
to proceed with the program at all, say people familiar with the discussions."
-By Anne Marie Squeo -WSJ.com
via -MSNBC
Microsoft
News -
-
- "Briton
Indicted as Hacker: Entry to U.S. Military
Systems Called Biggest Ever Detected." ... "An unemployed British computer
system administrator was indicted yesterday in Alexandria and New Jersey
on eight counts of computer fraud for alleging [sic] penetrating about
100 U.S. government computers, shutting down networks and corrupting data
in what U.S. Attorney Paul J. McNulty called "the biggest hack of military
computers ever detected."" ... "From February 2001 to March 2002, two federal
grand juries alleged, Gary McKinnon, 36, of London, exploited a known security
problem with Microsoft Windows NT and Windows 2000 to break into 92 computers
at NASA, the Pentagon, and more than a dozen military installations in
14 states." -By Brooke A. Masters-WashingtonPost
>TechNews
20020725
"Green
light for Red Planet." ... "In May next year, Europe
will embark on its first mission to explore the Red Planet." ... "Mars
Express will take advantage of Earth's closest approach to Mars for three
years to leave our planet." ... "Launching then cuts both the journey time
and the amount of fuel required for the voyage." -By
Helen Briggs -BBC
/News
20020705
- "Russia
plans to put people on Mars." ... "Russian space
officials have announced an ambitious project to send people to Mars by
2015." ... "Leaders of the Russian space programme said the plan needed
international co-operation and they hoped to win support from both the
US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) and the European
Space Agency (Esa)." -BBC
/News
20020701
"Scientists
estimate 30 billion Earths." ... "Their assessment
comes after the discovery of the 100th exoplanet - a planet that circles
a star other than our own." -By Dr. David Whitehouse
-BBC /News
"Cracks
leave space shuttle fleet grounded." ... "Choosing
safety over schedule, NASA has grounded the space shuttle fleet while engineers
try to determine why tiny cracks are developing in the fuel line feeding
the main rocket engines." -AP
via -USATODAY
20020619
"The
sky is not the limit for Internet, Cerf says." ...
"Internet pioneer Vinton Cerf predicted an interplanetary Internet will
be in place by the end of the decade, with communications satellites in
orbit around Mars and linked with the Earth."-By William
Jackson -GCN.com
"Ice
reservoirs found on Mars." ... "Water-ice has been
found in vast quantities just below the surface across great swathes of
the planet Mars." ... "It confirms early observations that also pointed
to enormous reservoirs of ice just below the surface." ... The water ice
appears to be "in the regolith - the layer of loose rock and dust on the
surface." ... "Melted, [the ice] would create planet-wide ocean 500 metres
deep." -By Dr David Whitehouse -BBC
/News
"Best
seat to watch Olympics could be in space: The
space shuttle and a fleet of satellites have teamed up to strike gold in
the Winter Games, shooting breathtaking pictures and movies of the snowy
Olympic venues around Salt Lake City, Utah." -By Richard
Stenger -CNN
"Alien
Atmospheres: NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has detected
the atmosphere of a planet circling a distant Sun-like star. Astronomers
using the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope have made the first direct detection
and chemical analysis of the atmosphere of a planet outside our solar system.
Their unique observations show it is possible to measure the chemical makeup
of extra-solar planetary atmospheres -- and potentially to search for chemical
markers of life far beyond Earth." -NASA.gov
/Science
20011125
- "Brazil Eyes Spaceport for Private Sector:Brazil
is poised to enter the space age, with a proposal to test rockets from
a base in the northern town
of Alcantara." -By Martin Kaste
-NPR /News
20011123
"China
eyes the Moon. ... says it will launch a manned flight
into space before 2005 to be followed by a mission to the moon." -BBC
/News
20011120
- "Fixing a Noisy International Space Station:
Noise has become a problem on the International Space Station, and some
astronauts have experienced temporary hearing loss. All
Things Considered host Linda Wertheimer talks with space station
acoustic expert Mike Engle." -NPR
/News / ATC
20010912
"Satellites,
space station crew watch horror below: The
smoldering aftermath of air attacks on Washington and New York was clearly
visible in images released Wednesday, snapped by satellites and an international
space station resident." -CNN