Saturday’s CSExtra finds new reporting and commentary on NASA’s decision this week to impose contract termination liabilities on Constellation Program contractors, a decision that will lead to estimated layoffs of 2,500 to 5,000 workers. In Europe, NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver says White House space policy changes will create new opportunities for international cooperation. A Japanese mission deploys a solar sail. Beware the sun! Tracking Gulf Oil spill developments over the web. New findings on the origins of comets.1. From Space News: ATK, the NASA contractor for the first stage of the Ares 1 rocket, a Constellation Program component, pushes back on NASA’s decision to cut spending as part of the agency’s termination liability plans.
http://www.spacenews.com/civil/100611-atk-cries-foul-nasa-curb-constellation.html
A. From the Huntsville Times: Boeing to lay off 100 workers by early September after NASA asks Constellation program contractors to set aside funds to cancel the program.
http://blog.al.com/space-news/2010/06/boeing_says_100_will_lose_jobs.html
Also from the Huntsville Times: Alabama lawmakers call for General Accountability Office investigation into NASA’s handling of Constellation contracts.
http://blog.al.com/space-news/2010/06/congressmen_want_probe_of_nasa.html
B. From Florida Today: ATK believes NASA’s response to the termination liability issue is unwarranted and a change from post contractor practices.
http://flametrench.flatoday.net/2010/06/ares-rocket-maker-says-nasa-created.html
2. Also from Space News: Speaking at the Berlin Air Show, NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver says the space policy changes favored by President Obama will create new opportunities for international collaboration.
http://www.spacenews.com/civil/100611-new-nasa-direction-cooperation.html
3. From the Houston Chronicle: In an editorial the Chronicle note the sun is entering a more active part of a natural 11 year cycle and that the increased activity could interrupt electrical power, satellite communications and ATM transactions.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/7047189.html
A. From Spacepolicyonline.com: The House passes the Grid Reliability and Infrastructure Defense Act, outlining measures to protect the nation’s electrical grid from natural disruption. The Senate lacks a similar measure. But the legislation could be added to another Senate bill.
http://www.spacepolicyonline.com/pages/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=967:house-calls-for-development-of-standards-to-protect-electric-grid-from-severe-space-weather-events&catid=83:news&Itemid=76
4. From the Washington Post: A list of web sites regularly updating developments on the Gulf Oil Spill. One is a NASA site with updated satellite imagery.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/federal-eye/2010/06/the_governments_gulf_coast_oil.html
5. From Spaceflightnow.com: Japan’s Ikaros mission, launched last month, deploys a solar sail. The deployment is part of a test to determine whether the sail will catch and use the solar wind as a propulsion source.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1006/11ikaros/index.html
6. From Scientific American: Most of the comets that wander through the solar system many have originated from planet forming disks around other stars.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=oort-cloud-capture
7. From Space.com: NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, on a mission to the asteroids Ceres and Vesta, set a new record for acceleration earlier this month.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/missionlaunches/dawn-spacecraft-velocity-change-record-100611.html
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