President's Report

I’m in the USA at the moment, and writing from my hotel in Boston.  I’m sandwiched between MIT and Harvard, and across the river I can see Boston University, which has recently had three observatory domes incongruously added to the top of its stone structure.  In deference to nearby Fenway Park (home of the Boston Red Sox) the largest of the white domes has a subtle tracing of red paint across it, mimicking the stitching of a baseball perfectly.  It got me thinking, though, about the size and resources of a country that can have three top tier universities in a city that’s by no means its largest.  Drawing a longish bow, it has important implications for space, and for what Australia should be hoping to achieve in space.  I’ve been actually feeling the size of the USA, by travelling across it, by walking around New York City (which seems to teem forever) and by talking with its people, and that has given me an appreciation for the immense resources required for space programs of the size that the USA runs.  With the recent earmarking of Australian budget funds for space we need to urgently consider what sort of space industry we want to try and build in Australia.  My travels in the US have convinced me that the US model is not necessarily the right one for us – the economic disparity is just too vast. 

I’m not just wandering around the US slack-jawed in appreciation at its enormity.  I’m also participating in the National Space Society’s International Space Development Conference (ISDC) which starts on 27 May.  The ISDC is the largest space conference in the world which is geared to the general public, rather than to space professionals or experts.  Speakers include Will Whitehorn from Virgin Galactic,  Elon Musk from SpaceX, former astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Rusty Schweickart, and many others (see www.isdc2009.org).  The conference will be a great opportunity for NSSA to build stronger links with our US parent organisation, NSS.  If you’re on Facebook, log on to the NSSA posting page regularly as I will try and summarise some of the highlights.  There’ll also be a special eSFN just after the ISDC with a day by day account of the high points. 

Back to Australia, the last few weeks have been busy for space in a very positive way.  The May 12 Federal budget contained an unexpectedly large amount of money for space development, and it will be interesting to see how this money is spent.  In some ways the budget finances represent a reward for the hard work of organisations like NSSA, ASICC, Mars Society, ASRI, and others as we all keep space active in the national consciousness.  In the last year, for example, the NSSA-run Australian Space Development Conference and NSSA’s submissions to the Senate Inquiry on Australia’s Space Industry have helped make the case for sensible expenditure on space.  More importantly though the budget represents an opportunity, for if the current seed budget is spent wisely and productively the chances of more money following increase greatly.

There is a strong likelihood of public consultation on the process for awarding grants of the budget money.  NSSA has been asked to help facilitate the consultation process, so stay tuned for details soon.  Full details of the budget allocation can be found in the article below.

Our chapters continue to grow, but not fast enough for my liking!  To help our members further in these tight economic times we’ll shortly be trialling an “in-kind” membership category, where your $50 membership fee is waived if you are active in NSSA activities (like conferences, chapter meetings or eSFN).  More details shortly, but don’t worry, the trial period will last for a full year so no-one will be disadvantaged, even if you have only just renewed your membership.

As always, if you have questions, comments or items you’d like to see in eSFN next issue just let us know:   eSFN@nssa.com.au.

Ad Astra

Anthony Wicht

2009 President

President@nssa.com.au

0410 540 247

In this month's issue:

If there is a topic that you'd like to read about in the next issue of eSFN or your chapter would like to be featured just let us know. Email your Readers Requests to: eSFN@nssa.com.au

New Australian Space Book : THE NEW MOON RACE

http://www.amazon.com/New-Moon-Race-Morris-Jones/dp/1877058823

A new Australian space book was released in April 2009 by Australian writer Morris Jones.
THE NEW MOON RACE describes the dramatic advances currently being made in lunar exploration. In the past two years, spacecraft have been launched to the Moon by China, Japan, India and the United States. South Korea has announced lunar plans, and China’s advanced human spaceflight program is being challenged by a planned Indian human space capsule—in other words, a new space race has broken out in Asia. Regional rivalries are spilling out into space, rather like a repeat of the Cold War space race—but this time China could send astronauts to the Moon before the next manned US mission lands.
Sending astronauts to the Moon in 1969 was the climax of a frantic, exciting period of spaceflight which began in 1957, when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the world’s first artificial satellite. 

Before the turn of the century, it was expected that astronauts would return to the Moon, build bases there, and head onward to Mars, but politics, economics, technology and other factors combined to keep humans away from the Moon after the Apollo 17 landing in 1972. But now the world is returning to the Moon. Robot missions are exploring its surface, and preparing for humans to follow. The stage is set for a new chapter in space exploration. 
The NEW MOON RACE reviews the earlier space race and the reasons for its decline, and covers the plans and ambitions of the world’s major space race players for the near future. Of particular interest are the plans of the new players, China, Japan, India and South Korea, to send manned missions to the Moon. The United States and the European Space Agency have similar plans, and several private enterprises have lunar exploration ambitions. Morris Jones covers these stories in fascinating detail, accompanying them with numerous illustrations.

17th Annual International Conference on Composites or Nano Engineering
ICCE-17 July 26-August 1, 2009 in Hawaii, USA
http://www.uno.edu/~engr/composite

You are invited to submit abstracts for rapid review and possible presentations at the following conferences,

If interested, submit tentative paper title to Prof. David Hui, dhui@uno.edu .These ICCE-17 detailed abstracts will be reviewed and appear as short papers in World Journal of Engineering, upon payment of registration fee and attendance of ICCE-17.   Further, all full length version of these short papers, with paper title change, will be reviewed and published in WJOE or in Composites B journal.   Thus, all participants will have two journal papers as a benefit of coming to ICCE-17 Hawaii.   Due to budgetary constraints, we are unable to offer financial assistance.

Glenys's $280,000 present's out of this world

http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/glenyss-280000-presents-out-of-this-world-20090427-ak9d.html

To celebrate her 60th birthday, neither a European holiday nor an African safari was exciting enough for Glenys Ambe. Instead, she's booked to go to space. Ms Ambe, 53, is the first Australian to buy a ticket on Virgin Galactic - Richard Branson's commercial space travel project - through a travel agent. "I never thought [being able to go to space] would happen in my lifetime ... it's a dream and now I've got this dream that's coming true."

The "dream" cost Ms Ambe, who owns two fashion stores in Queensland, $US200,000 ($281,000). Ms Ambe, who has paid a 10 per cent deposit, says she has no flight date yet because Virgin is still building the spacecraft. The entire trip will be about two hours and the company has sold 300 tickets in 40 countries.

Virgin Galactic claims the technology behind the flight has been developed with environmental concerns in mind. The craft is fuelled by a combination of rubber fuel and nitrous oxide, which is "environmentally benign, safe and cheap but when put together and ignited is extremely powerful", Virgin Galactic's head of astronaut sales Carolyn Wincer said. “Of course, prices would fall over time, and, in 15 years, flying to space could cost the same as buying a new car”, Ms Wincer said.

NASA Astronaut Watches New Star Trek Movie in Space

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/behindscenes/star_trek.html

Many moviegoers likely will have to sit in crowded theaters to watch the new "Star Trek" movie, but not NASA astronaut Michael Barratt. He watched the film aboard the International Space Station while he flew 220 miles above Earth.

The film's production company, Paramount Pictures, transferred "Star Trek" to NASA's Mission Control in Houston, which then uplinked the film to the space station.

“Like many of my NASA coworkers, I was inspired by the idea of people from all nations coming together to explore space," said Barratt. " 'Star Trek' blended adventure, discovery, intelligence and story telling that assumes a positive future for humanity. The International Space Station is a real step in that direction, with many nations sharing in an adventure the world can be proud of."

Former station astronaut Greg Chamitoff and his crewmates viewed the entire "Star Trek" series as a regular weekly event. Films, books and music are important aspects of psychological support for astronauts on long-duration missions. 

Space Agency Spotlight: Japan

http://www.jaxa.jp/index_e.html

Japan has been a relatively new competitor in the space market, starting JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, in 2003. The Japanese space program had previously existed from the 1980s within multiple organizations; however the merging of these into one centralized area has proved to be a great success.

In the last few decades many countries have started their own space agency but Japan has definitely been up there with the top achievers in terms of growth and successes. The first Japanese citizen journeyed to space in March 1992 aboard a space shuttle mission and many other missions with NASA continued. Whilst developing their knowledge in manned space flight, JAXA delved into the field of robotics and EVAs where they started to become leaders in those fields.

Japanese technology played a big part in building various parts of the ISS and in June, 2008 the Japanese Experiment Module “Kibo” was added to the ISS     . JAXA continues to provide expertise and astronauts to maintaining and developing the ISS.

The agency covers many roles, from basic research to development and practical application and has become competitive with therr space-technology advanced nations.  Having launched eleven rockets and nine satellites, JAXA will be an interesting agency to watch in the future. Their vision for 2025? An ideal “Society Through Aerospace Technology”. A nice ideal, and hopefully an achievable one.

The federal budget:  what does it mean for space?

http://minister.innovation.gov.au/Carr/Pages/SUPERSCIENCESPACEANDASTRONOMY.aspx

The federal treasurer announced the budget on May 12, which included significant amounts for space related activities in Australia.  Money has been allocated for the Square Kilometer Array, space science and also for a central coordination unit for space in Australia. 

The SKA bid receives $80 million, space science $40 million and a central policy unit $8.9 million.  This is significant funding compared to the levels under previous governments.  There will be some urgent policy work over the next few months which will put into place the framework for spending this money.

The funding to establish a central policy body for space activities in Australia is an important step forward from NSSA’s point of view, because it gives a central repository for Australian space information, a point of contact for foreign space interests wanting to work with Australia and a legitimacy to Australian companies wanting to deal with overseas corporations and governments.  The important thing now will be to ensure that the body continues through successive governments so that Australian space know-how is preserved.  This relies on the whole Australian space industry continuing to deliver first class results on relevant projects, justifying the existence of a co-ordinating body.

It seems a few of our Ad Astra subscribers haven't been receiving their magazine on time. We've been told this was due to problems in the US publishing house. Most of the "Winter 2008" issues seem to have found their way to us now. The winter issue has a feature article on near-earth asteroids and the likelihood of collision. If you are not receiving Ad Astra, you should let us know. The magazine is handled by NSS in the United States, so you should email membership@nss.org with the subject "Ad Astra not receiving". Include your full name and membership details, and copy president@nssa.com.au so we can help you follow it up.

If you are on Facebook you can join the NSSA group:http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2960810088

How to start an NSSA Chapter

Have you got a group of friends that enjoy discussing space? Would you like to do it regularly and get recognised for your efforts? Well here is your chance! Start a new NSSA Chapter today, it's this easy:


1. Identify which of your friends enjoy chatting about space issues

2. Suggest that a group of you get together one time to talk about space eg. at a cafe

3. If it goes well then suggest you do it regularly eg. once a month

4. Once you have 5 people who are NSSA members let NSSA know and request recognition as a chapter.

5. Ask NSSA for the contact details of other members in your area.

6. Find a regular venue to meet eg. Uni tutorial room or a community centre

7. Appoint a President, a Secretary and a Treasurer (although these do not need to be three separate people).

8. Each chapter receives a share of the membership fees paid by their members who join or renew each year.

9. Arrange a guest speaker eg. A local university lecturer

10. Organise a public outreach event eg. Have a stand at a public event such as National Science Week

11. NSSA can tell you when people of note will be in your area and help you invite them to your meeting as a speaker eg. Andy Thomas is occasionally in Adelaide.

12. Inform the Board of your activities if you are doing something exciting.

13. Have the chance to stand for election to the Board as your Chapters representative.