Senate votes to strike 'lunatic' from U.S. Code

Pete Kasperowicz
The Hill

The United States Senate on Wednesday quickly approved legislation that would remove the word "lunatic" everywhere it appears in the federal code.

The Senate approved S. 2367 by unanimous consent, giving the House a chance to act if it wishes, although no House member has introduced a similar bill.

Read the full article, HERE.

U.S. losing space lead, experts warn Congress

Robert S. Boyd
McClatchy

America's once clear dominance in space is eroding as other nations, including China, Iran and North Korea, step up their activities, a panel of experts told the House subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics Thursday.

"Others are catching up fast," said Marty Hauser, vice president for Washington operations at the Space Foundation, an advocacy organization headquarters in Colorado Springs. "Of particular note over the past decade is the emergence of China's human spaceflight capabilities."

Russia now leads the world in space launches. China recently became the third nation, after the United States and Russia, to send its own astronauts out for a spacewalk.

"China is laying the groundwork for a long-term space program with or without us," said Scott Pace, director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University in Washington. "We should worry if we're not out there with them."

China's rocket launch facilities are "state of the art," Hauser said.

In a competition once limited to the U.S. and the Soviet Union, 60 nations now have their own space agencies, panelists said. Thirteen nations have active space programs, and eight are capable of launching their own satellites into orbit.

More HERE.

The Space Arms Race begins: Should the U.S. and China cooperate?

Gordon G. Chang
Forbes.com

Did the arms race in space begin this week?

"Competition between military forces is developing towards the sky and space, it is extending beyond the atmosphere and even into outer space," said the chief of the Chinese air force in the Nov. 2 edition of People's Liberation Army Daily, the official newspaper of China's military. "This development is a historical inevitability and cannot be undone."

What cannot be undone is the effect of General Xu Qiliang's words. Chinese state media, however, tried to do just that, contending that the foreign media misinterpreted him. Then Chinese diplomats got in on the act. "China has never and will not participate in an outer space arms race in any form," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu on Nov. 5. "The position of China on this point remains unchanged."

China's position--at least up until this week--was that no nation should use space for the purposes of war. In February of last year, Beijing and Moscow introduced a draft space treaty at a disarmament conference in Geneva. The Bush administration opposed it on the sensible ground that a deal would be unverifiable--any object in space can be used as a weapon if it can be maneuvered to arrange a collision, for instance. Moreover, a ground-launched missile can also be used to knock out satellites, space stations or shuttles.

The Russians and Chinese, in all probability, were just engaging in a public relations exercise last year because they obviously had no intention of ever allowing the intrusive inspections that would have to be built into any meaningful treaty. Yet, minutes after his inauguration, President Obama called Beijing's and Moscow's bluff by coming out in favor of a global agreement to keep weapons out of the heavens.

In response to Obama's countermove, Beijing--or at least the People's Liberation Army--has now changed tack and announced its intention to begin the space arms race in earnest. General Xu's bold words, interestingly enough, come at the same time that some in Washington are calling for civilian cooperation with the Chinese in space.

Read the analysis, HERE.

Open letter to President Obama from Astonaut and Dr. Thomas D. Jones urges "unleash Commercial Space"

Scientist, author, pilot, and former NASA astronaut Dr. Thomas D. Jones has written an open letter to President Obama urging the unleashing of the Commercial Space industry, accelerated space exploration beyong low Earth orbit and the maintenance of the United States as preimminent among the growing number of space-faring nations.

The open letter appears on Popular Mechanics online, and can be read HERE.

Florida asked to promote home-grown Space

Orlando Sentinel calls on state legislature not to lose Florida's edge:

We think: Legislators need to stop the decline of the space industry in Florida

Florida legislators now meeting in their annual session are understandably focused on trying to keep the state afloat amid the worst fiscal crisis in decades. But that's not a good excuse for overlooking an economic calamity looming for the state's Space Coast.

Tallahassee, we have a problem.

Ever since 2004, when the Bush administration unveiled a plan that called for retiring the space shuttle in 2010, it's been clear that thousands of high-skill, high-wage jobs at Cape Canaveral would be at risk. Now the Obama administration has reaffirmed the plan to ground the shuttle, and the worst-case scenario may be materializing.

Last week the Sentinel reported that the federal Missile Defense Agency is looking to hire thousands of top engineers for its new base of operations in Huntsville, Ala. NASA's shuttle contractor, United Space Alliance, already is working with the Huntsville Chamber of Commerce to pluck engineers from the shuttle work force that will be idled next year.

If the Space Coast loses this talent, it will seriously undermine the region's prospects of attracting private space-related investment and recovering from the shuttle's retirement. It also could leave NASA short of the skilled work force it will need to run its next rocket program, Constellation, set to start launching from the cape in 2015.

The impact will be felt far beyond the Space Coast. Space is a $2 billion industry in Florida, supporting jobs in 47 of 67 counties. They're some of the best jobs in a state that still relies too heavily on low-wage work.

It's little wonder that more than a dozen other states, as well as a growing list of other countries, are aggressively targeting space-related investments.

Read the rest of the Editorial HERE.

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AIA Report: U.S. Lead in Space 'Perishable'

Andy Pasztor
Wall Street Journal

LOS ANGELES -- Seeking to raise the profile and funding of U.S. activities in space, an aerospace industry group warned that sweeping policy, budget and institutional changes are necessary to protect what it called America's "perishable" lead in satellites, rockets and exploration efforts.

In a report released Monday, the Aerospace Industries Association urged the incoming Obama Administration to end long-standing turf battles over control of satellite projects by mandating government-wide cooperation between the military and various spy agencies. The study also calls for creation of a new, high-level office to oversee the effort, which would report directly to the White House.

Concluding that America's "lead is perishable" and a number of countries have the "vision and resources to equal or even supplant our dominance" in space endeavors, the study recommends significantly closer coordination of federal and commercial initiatives in imaging, collection of weather data and human space flight. "In a very real sense the 'space race' is far from over," according to a cover letter from Marion Blakey, the association's president and chief executive. "We might not be racing, but our global competitors certainly are."

While some of the conclusions repeat familiar industry positions -- including easing of export controls on space hardware -- others break new ground such as recommending immediate fixes to what the study calls "existing and growing gaps in climate measurements and weather satellite coverage."

The report comes amid growing uncertainty about U.S. space priorities, contrasted with aggressive spending hikes and high-level focus on space capabilities by the governments of China, India, Japan, Russia and others.

Read more HERE.