Started in the Apollo era, the Space Congress once drew more than 1,000 aerospace industry professionals from around the country and even internationally to Cocoa Beach and Cape Canaveral for panel discussions and exchanges of technical papers. Buses shuttled guests to multiple hotels and the Congress leadership team could be identified by their colorful blazers.
But over the past decade, for reasons no one is entirely sure about, the event faded and stopped being held regularly. The National Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, held for the 31st time earlier this month, rose to prominence as the industry’s main annual gathering. The Space Congress returns to the Space Coast this week, as local organizers try to revive the once-proud event and build momentum in the run-up to the 50th anniversary of the first Apollo moon landing four years from now.
“Without Space Congress, without some local annual or even biannual conference of that sort, there’s a real void locally that needs to be filled,” Edward Ellegood said. “It brings visibility to the area, and it allows the local community to become engaged and aware of what’s going on at the Cape.” (4/26)
Space Firms Fined by Feds (Source: Valley Morning Star)
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) this year closed inquiries into two events at SpaceX facilities, while it initiated another inquiry at a ULA facility, public records reflect. The serious safety issues resulted in the issuance of citations and fines. The maximum penalty OSHA can assess, regardless of the circumstances, is $7,000 for each serious violation and $70,000 for a repeated or willful violation.
OSHA cited SpaceX for three serious safety violations and fined it $17,400. OSHA opened its first of two inquiries involving SpaceX on June 26, 2014, following the death of a SpaceX employee at the McGregor, Texas, site. A complaint took OSHA to Florida's LC-40 launch pad, where SpaceX received three citations for serious safety violations of rules that address the prevention of falls.
OSHA’s four inquiries into events at ULA facilities led to a combined six violations for serious safety and health concerns for ULA and fines totaling $6,235. Two electricians at Vandenberg had been injured while servicing the electrical substation. OSHA opened another ULA case on Feb. 12 based on a safety issue at the facility in Decatur, Alabama, where ULA’s manufacturing, assembly and integration operations are located. (4/25)
AT&T Returning to Space with DirecTV Deal (Source: Providence Journal)
Half a century after helping launch the satellite communications industry, and later retreating, AT&T is on the verge of getting back into space. When its deal for DirecTV closes, possibly by midyear, the telecom giant will own a multibillion-dollar fleet of advanced satellites that relay television signals to millions of customers on Earth.
The transaction, initially valued at $67 billion including debt, also unites descendants of companies that played major roles in commercializing space, which began in 1962 with the AT&T-financed launch of Telstar. DirecTV traces its lineage to billionaire Howard Hughes and his Hughes Aircraft Co., which developed the Syncom satellites that orbited much higher than Telstar. Syncom 2, launched in 1963, was the first to travel in sync with the Earth's rotation. (4/26)
Replacing Hubble with Hubble 2.0 (Source: Space News)
[I have] spent significant time and energy considering what to do when Hubble reaches the end of its lifetime, I will discuss reasons why a servicing mission idea may not be in the best interests of the astronomical science community or the taxpaying public, and describe an alternative to servicing Hubble — namely, build Hubble 2.0.
Conducting another servicing mission to Hubble flies in the face of the National Research Council’s recommendations in the so-called decadal surveys in astronomy and astrophysics. This in itself is the reason why NASA’s astrophysics program is not pursuing any sort of Hubble servicing options within its highly constrained budget. Click here. (4/22)
Egyptian Space Authority Denies Losing Control of EgyptSat Two Satellite (Source: Sputnik)
On Thursday, the Russian Izvestiya newspaper reported, citing a source in the RSC Energia (Russian rocket and space corporation), that EgyptSat 2 on April 14 did not respond to commands from the Earth and control over the satellite was lost. Human factor was cited as the possible cause behind the loss of the satellite. "What was reported about is in fact a regular technical failure. It happens every now and then to all the satellites. The problem will be fixed in the next few hours," Medhat Mokhtar said. (4/25)
Legal Challenge Awaits Space Manufacturing Site in Volusia County (Source: Daytona Beach News-Journal)
While a land-use change that could pave the way for an aerospace manufacturing facility in Oak Hill awaits a final vote from city leaders, an almost certain legal challenge looms. “I can’t wait to get this case in front of an administrative law judge,” Clay Henderson, a New Smyrna Beach attorney and environmentalist opposed to the land use change, said Thursday.
The Volusia Growth Management Commission — after a six-hour public hearing that stretched from Wednesday night into Thursday morning — approved by an 11-6 vote an amendment that would allow manufacturing on the site. Volusia County and state economic development officials have worked for months with a consultant who is scouting potential sites for aerospace-related manufacturing, but those officials referred to the project only as “Project Panther,” and have not confirmed the company is Blue Origin. (4/23)
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