Tuesday, September 4, 2012

9/4/12 news

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Tuesday, September 4, 2012
 
JSC TODAY HEADLINES
1.            Training Opportunity: Building Bridges Toward LGBT Inclusion
2.            This Week at Starport
3.            Back by Popular Demand: Opening Up Your Organization to Innovative Tools
4.            Ever Wonder How to Manage Your Manager?
5.            Caregivers Resource Group
6.            The JSC Safety Action Team (JSAT) Says ...
7.            FedTraveler Live Lab Tomorrow, Sept. 5
8.            Houston Technology Center Presents Tech Link on Sept. 14
________________________________________     QUOTE OF THE DAY
“ I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes several days attack me at once. ”
 
-- Ashleigh Brilliant
________________________________________
1.            Training Opportunity: Building Bridges Toward LGBT Inclusion
The Out & Allied Employee Resource Group (ERG), in conjunction with Human Resources, Equal Opportunity and the Employee Assistance Program, invites you to attend the center's pilot training class entitled, "Building Bridges Toward LGBT Inclusion."
 
Building Bridges Toward LGBT Inclusion is designed to help employees increase their level of awareness and understanding of LGBT: co-workers, peers and allies. You will have the option to attend either the 10 to 11:30 a.m. or 1 to 2:30 p.m. session on Sept. 10 in the Building 30 Auditorium.
 
This training is open to all JSC team members, civil servants and contractors. Attendance rosters will be taken on the day of training (there is no requirement to pre-register).
 
We look forward to your participation as we strive to achieve excellence through fostering an environment that is inclusive for all.
 
Note: If you require special accommodation for a specific disability, please contact Janelle Holt at x37504 no later than 5 p.m. tomorrow, Sept. 5.
 
Anthony Santiago x41501
 
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2.            This Week at Starport
The "SWINTER" event is still running at the Starport Gift Shops! Come by to see what has been added to the sale. Reductions range from 10 to 50 percent. Also, Thursday is "Read a Book Day." Most books will be 40 percent off -- Thursday only. While you are in the store, check out our new arrivals of shirts and jackets.
 
Today is First Tuesday. Starport Partners: Get 10 percent off your merchandise purchase in the Starport Gift Shops and 10 percent off your beverage purchase at the coffee cart.
 
Visit the JSC Federal Credit Union booth in the Starport Cafés on Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. to chat with representatives regarding you checking, savings and other accounts.
 
Shelly Haralson x39168 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/
 
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3.            Back by Popular Demand: Opening Up Your Organization to Innovative Tools
The SA Human Systems Academy is pleased to offer "Opening Up Your Organization to Innovative Tools." This is a repeat of the first course in the series, "Collaborative and Open Innovation: Techniques to Increase Your Productivity." This first course focuses on the philosophy that spurs innovation and self-assessment activities to help participants understand how to define where they are in the continuum and identify areas of improvement, as well as tools for support. The goal is to ignite individual responsibility and contribution through self-awareness on the topic. This course will be held tomorrow, Sept. 5, at 9 a.m. in Building 15, Conference Room 267.
 
For registration, please go to: https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_...
 
Cynthia Rando 281-461-2620 http://sa.jsc.nasa.gov/
 
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4.            Ever Wonder How to Manage Your Manager?
Please join the JSC National Management Association (NMA) for a free professional development discussion for administrative officers and support professionals.
 
If you've ever wondered how to manage your manager as an administrative support professional more effectively, please attend this JSC NMA Brown Bag designed to share lessons learned and best practices.
 
On Sept. 19, this interactive discussion will be available at two different sessions to choose from - 11 a.m. to noon and noon to 1 p.m. - in the newly renovated Building 12. The conference room location will be announced in future JSC Today announcements.
 
Please submit information you'd like to discuss about this topic in advance to Heather Williams at heather.d.williams@nasa.gov no later than Sept. 12.
 
This opportunity is open to all JSC team members and civil servant and contractor administrative professionals.
 
For additional information and for onsite badging, please contact Carolyn Fritz at x32017.
 
Carolyn Fritz x32017
 
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5.            Caregivers Resource Group
Do you want to get more information about how to pay for services for yourself or loved ones? Do you know the difference between Medicare and Medicaid? Who is eligible and what may be covered? Join Gay Yarbrough, LCSW of the JSC Employee Assistance Program, for "An Overview of Benefits for Care Recipients."
 
When: Today, Sept. 4
Where: Building 32, Conference Room 146
Time: 12 noon
 
Lorrie Bennett, Employee Assistance Program, Clinical Services Branch x36130
 
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6.            The JSC Safety Action Team (JSAT) Says ...
"Safety glasses -- all in favor, say EYE." Congratulations to September 2012 "JSAT Says ..." winner Teresa Gilchrist, L&M Technologies. Any JSAT member (all JSC contractor and civil servant employees) may submit a slogan for consideration to JSAT Secretary Reese Squires. Submissions for October are due by Monday, Sept. 10. Keep those great submissions coming. You may be the next "JSAT Says" winner!
 
Reese Squires x37776 \\jsc-ia-na01b\JIMMS_Share\Share\JSAT\JSAT Says\JSAT Says 09-2012.pptx
 
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7.            FedTraveler Live Lab Tomorrow, Sept. 5
Do you need some hands-on, personal help with FedTraveler.com? Join the Business Systems, Innovation and Process Improvement Office for a FedTraveler Live Lab tomorrow, Sept. 5, any time between 9 a.m. and noon in Building 20, Room 204. Our help desk representatives will be available to help you work through travel processes and learn more about using FedTraveler during this informal workshop. Bring your current travel documents or specific questions that you have about the system and join us for some hands-on, in-person help with the FedTraveler. If you'd like to sign up for this FedTraveler Live Lab, please log into SATERN and register. For additional information, please contact Judy Seier at x32771.
 
Gina Clenney x39851
 
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8.            Houston Technology Center Presents Tech Link on Sept. 14
Come learn about Houston Technology Center's incubation and acceleration clients in the energy, life sciences, Information Technology and NASA/aerospace sectors at the next Tech Link on Friday, Sept. 14, from 7:30 to 9 a.m. at the Aerospace Transition Center (16921 El Camino Real).
 
Tech Link members represent the leaders, decision makers and trendsetters of the technology community in the Houston and Clear Lake area. Open to the community, these meetings allow professionals to be involved with and influence the evolution of emerging technology.
 
The featured speaker for this event will be Mario C. Diaz, director of the City of Houston Department of Aviation. Diaz is responsible for the overall management of the Houston Airport System's three aviation facilities and its more than 1,400 employees. He is one of the industry's leading authorities in the study of future developments in commercial aviation.
 
Space is Limited. Register at: http://houstontech.org/events/1031/
 
Pat Kidwell x37156 http://houstontech.org/events/1031/
 
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________________________________________
JSC Today is compiled periodically as a service to JSC employees on an as-submitted basis. Any JSC organization or employee may submit articles. To see an archive of previous JSC Today announcements, go to http://www6.jsc.nasa.gov/pao/news/jsctoday/archives.
 
 
 
NASA TV:
·         5 am Central WEDNESDAY (6 EDT) – Suni Williams/Aki Hoshide EVA coverage begins
·         6:15 am Central WEDNESDAY (7:15 EDT) – EVA begins (Williams’ 6th; Hoshide’s 2nd)
 
Human Spaceflight News
Tuesday – September 4, 2012
 
HEADLINES AND LEADS
 
Williams to undertake sixth space walk tomorrow
 
Indian Express
 
Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams and her Japanese colleague, will again venture outside the International Space Station tomorrow to complete the maintenance tasks they were unsuccessful in during their last outing. In the wake of the unsuccessful attempt to install a replacement power-switching unit on the truss of the International Space Station, NASA's Williams and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Engineer Akihiko Hoshide, will venture outside for a second time in six days to complete the work. This unexpected spacewalk has been scheduled to take place tomorrow morning. Williams and Hoshide will head out once more after last week's attempt to fix a faulty power relay by installing a spare went unfinished.
 
Tree removal for space shuttle arrival tempers excitement
 
Angel Jennings - Los Angeles Times
 

 
Space shuttle Endeavour's final 12-mile journey through the streets of South Los Angeles already promises to be a meticulously planned spectacle: a two-day parade, an overnight slumber party in Inglewood and enough hoopla to create a giant traffic mess. But for some residents in South L.A., the excitement of the shuttle rumbling through their neighborhoods quickly faded when they learned that 400 trees will be chopped down to make room for the behemoth. The California Science Center — Endeavour's final home — has agreed to replant twice as many trees along the route from the shuttle's docking place at Los Angeles International Airport to Exposition Park.
 
Building MLM Under Way at Khrunichev
 
Space-Travel.com
 
The Khrunichev Space Center continue to build the flight version of the Multipurpose Laboratory Module (MLM) for the International Space Station. As of today, Khrunichev have mounted the ESA Robotic Arm, have laid down the onboard harness, have tested the thermal control system and the pneumatic/hydraulic systems, and are mating and tuning the solar panels. The MLM will be passed over to the Energia Corporation (presumably before the end of this year) for system-level tests as soon as the fabrication, assembly and integration of the flight article have been completed. (NO FURTHER TEXT)
 
Putin fires space industry official for lost satellites
 
Pravda
 
Russian President Vladimir Putin fired the 63-year-old head of the Khrunichev Space Center, Vladimir Nesterov. The appropriate decree was signed on August 31. Mr. Nesterov wrote the report about his resignation in mid-August, after he had a meeting with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. The prime minister instructed the government to prepare proposals to optimize the work of the Russian Federal Space Agency, Roscosmos. In addition, the prime minister proposed to strengthen the quality control of space products. Meanwhile, a senior source in the government told the Izvestia newspaper that the head of Roscosmos, Vladimir Popovkin, could be dismissed from his position after a meeting with Medvedev on September 10.
 
Space industry levels off
 
John DeLapp - Galveston Daily News
 
After a period of heavy layoffs, the space industry has stabilized. Not too long ago, there were about 18,000 aerospace jobs at the Johnson Space Center. The shuttering of the space shuttle program was expected to lead to 750 layoffs. Then came the cancellation of the Constellation program. “Overnight, those 750 jobs became 7,000 jobs,” said Bob Mitchell of the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership. Eventually, the layoffs were whittled down to fewer than 4,000 employees, but those people were not able to take their skills to another space center.
 
Whisky space experiment tribute launched
 
BBC News
 
A limited edition whisky has been launched to mark a unique experiment in space. A rocket carrying vials of chemical compounds from Ardbeg's Islay distillery was blasted up to the International Space Station last year to test the effects of near zero gravity on the maturation process. Ardbeg has now released "Ardbeg Galileo" to celebrate the event. The experiment is believed to be the first of its kind.
 
Buffalo jerky heads for outer space
 
Emma Graney - Regina Leader-Post
 
It's one small snack for man, one giant leap for Saskatchewan buffalo jerky. Packages of Trails End Buffalo Stix - from Turtle Lake, 220 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon - will make their way to the International Space Station (ISS) this December. The product is one of 12 uniquely Canadian foods selected to head into space through the Canadian Space Agency's Snacks for Space competition. The competition is being held in honour of Chris Hadfield - the Canadian astronaut who will take the helm of the ISS in March.
 
NASA Simulates Asteroid Mission for Potential 2025 Flight
 
Robert Pearlman - Space.com
 
NASA’s plans to send astronauts to an asteroid by 2025 moved 10 days closer to being a reality this week, even though the target of that mission has yet to be found in space. The agency’s Research and Technology Studies’ (RATS) 10-day simulated asteroid mission, which ended Wednesday (Aug. 29), involved scientists and flight controllers at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston evaluating new operations and exploration techniques for how astronauts might work above and on the surface of one of the small, rocky, solar system bodies. The test used a variety of simulation technologies, including virtual reality and a custom rig that helped recreate the microgravity environment found at an asteroid.
 
NASA Conference Travel Prompts Lawmaker Query
 
Dan Leone - Space News
 
The chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee that funds NASA is asking the agency to detail how much it is spending to send employees to the 63rd International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Naples, Italy, in October. “While this conference merits participation by NASA, it is difficult to accept that taxpayers should fund travel, lodging and conference fees for ‘50 or more NASA employees’ to visit Italy,” U.S. Rep Frank Wolf (R-Va.) wrote in an Aug. 27 letter to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden that cites a recent post on NASAWatch.com
 
Deep Impact: SpaceX has economic promise, environmental concerns
 
Jacqueline Armendariz - Brownsville Herald
 
For an area like Cameron County, supported by unique ecological assets yet historically plagued by economic and cultural obstacles, the possibility of space exploration as an industry poses a bittersweet dilemma: disrupt paradise, or feed the populace? Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX — a Hawthorne, Calif.-based space transport company that earlier this year became the first commercial enterprise to complete a supply mission to the International Space Station — has announced its interest in building a rocket launch site on Boca Chica Beach. Remote yet not inaccessible, the beach is home to the piping plover, the Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle and other unique fauna and flora that have drawn the attention of ecologists committed to maintenance and protection. This, for many, is paradise. The isolated beach area has little commercial or residential development, but surrounding cities like South Padre Island, Brownsville and Harlingen all have taken a keen interest in every move SpaceX makes.
 
Brownsville bets to benefit from SpaceX deal
 
Laura Martinez - Brownsville Herald
 
Gilbert Salinas keeps a couple of poster boards at home that he refers to as his “cheat sheet.” Anything and everything that pertains to SpaceX is listed on those boards. There, via Post-It notes, he tracks how far the proposal for a launch facility has progressed, which points remain to be addressed, and what other issues could arise. Salinas, executive vice president of the Brownsville Economic Development Council, is working with Space Exploration Technologies — SpaceX, for short — on its proposal to build a rocket launch facility on the Gulf Coast near Brownsville.
 
Cameron County communities see gain in helping Brownsville lure SpaceX
 
Fernando del Valle - Valley Morning Star
 
The comparisons to Florida’s Cape Canaveral are inevitable. As Space Exploration Technologies casts its eyes toward Boca Chica Beach as a possible site to launch payload rockets into space, Harlingen and San Benito leaders optimistically anticipate the same kind of economic boom Florida enjoyed when NASA moved into town. But that was 60 years ago, and in another state. Today, in Cameron County, the business of space travel again holds the promise of transformation, this time for the Harlingen-San Benito area. If SpaceX does in fact decide to blast off from Boca Chica Beach, area leaders say, the company could ignite area economies with support businesses and a housing boom.
 
Launch site for SpaceX draws mixed reviews
 
Laura Martinez - Brownsville Herald
 
Bill Wilting’s face lights up when he thinks about the possibility of watching rocket launches from virtually his front door. He talks about all the opportunities the area would have if Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, decides to build a launch site near Boca Chica Beach, just a few miles from where he lives. “I’m excited about it. Rocket ships — are you kidding me? I’m crazy about it. I think it’s the greatest thing,” he says.
 
Cameron County part of united front to attract SpaceX
 
Emma-Perez Trevino - Brownsville Herald
 
Cameron County stands on the cusp of a significant economic development opportunity. As international entrepreneur Elon Musk eyes Boca Chica Beach as a possible launch site for his California-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp. rockets, the potential looms for a capital investment of up to $80 million. “It would just change the whole perception of this area. We would no longer be that county on the border,” said Gilbert Salinas, executive vice president of the Brownsville Economic Development Council. “Now we would be the county that launches rockets into outer space.”
 
Cascos: Attorneys checking ownership of land
 
Emma-Perez Trevino - Brownsville Herald
 
As SpaceX and Cameron County leaders await the results of a federal environmental impact study that will determine whether construction of a rocket launch site is plausible at Boca Chica Beach, land requirements, and ownership, continue to be assessed behind the scenes. There are several land areas under consideration. The first is the main site, consisting of about 50 acres on the flats behind the dunes. This would be the launch site. Within those 50 acres, some 8 acres would comprise the core launch site, where the actual vertical launches would take place. The second area needed would be where the “brain,” or command center, would be, and is located from two to 10 miles west of the vertical launch area. Boca Chica Village, once known as Kopernick Shores and home to a founding Polish community, is within the two- to 10-mile radius.
__________
 
COMPLETE STORIES
 
Williams to undertake sixth space walk tomorrow
 
Indian Express
 
Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams and her Japanese colleague, will again venture outside the International Space Station tomorrow to complete the maintenance tasks they were unsuccessful in during their last outing.
 
In the wake of the unsuccessful attempt to install a replacement power-switching unit on the truss of the International Space Station, NASA's Williams and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Engineer Akihiko Hoshide, will venture outside for a second time in six days to complete the work.
 
This unexpected spacewalk has been scheduled to take place tomorrow morning. Williams and Hoshide will head out once more after last week's attempt to fix a faulty power relay by installing a spare went unfinished.
 
Six days after their first spacewalk, which lasted an incredible 8 hours and 17 minutes, they will leave the space station in order to complete their work on a Main Bus Switching Unit (MBSU).
 
This spacewalk will be the 165th in support of space station assembly and maintenance, the sixth in Williams' career and the second for Hoshide.
 
Williams will wear the spacesuit bearing red stripes. Hoshide will be clad in the spacesuit with no markings.
 
NASA issued a statement that all international partners of the ISS Mission Management Team were in agreement to try a second spacewalk.
 
Hoshide and Williams weren't able to complete their work on August 30th because the bolts would not secure the equipment properly.
 
NASA has been trying to troubleshoot the problem, and believes it is caused by a misalignment of parts or possible damage to the threads on the bolts.
 
NASA will conduct a multi-centre news conference following the conclusion of tomorrow's spacewalk.
 
The news conference will be broadcast on NASA TV and include space station programme and mission operations representatives.
 
Prior to the attempted repairs on August 30th, analysis revealed that there was an internal hardware failure on the MBSU, which is used as the station's primary electrical power routing device.
 
NASA has stressed however that even before last week's spacewalk, there was no threat to the health or safety of the ISS crew, the station itself, or the ongoing research.
 
Researchers say that if they are not able to bolt on a replacement unit, they also have the option of bringing the problem unit inside to try to fix the problem.
 
Tree removal for space shuttle arrival tempers excitement
 
Angel Jennings - Los Angeles Times
 

 
Space shuttle Endeavour's final 12-mile journey through the streets of South Los Angeles already promises to be a meticulously planned spectacle: a two-day parade, an overnight slumber party in Inglewood and enough hoopla to create a giant traffic mess.
 
But for some residents in South L.A., the excitement of the shuttle rumbling through their neighborhoods quickly faded when they learned that 400 trees will be chopped down to make room for the behemoth.
 
The California Science Center — Endeavour's final home — has agreed to replant twice as many trees along the route from the shuttle's docking place at Los Angeles International Airport to Exposition Park.
 
But that's not enough to satisfy some tree lovers.
 
"They are cutting down these really big, majestic trees," said Lark Galloway-Gilliam, a longtime Leimert Park resident and neighborhood council director. "It will be beyond my lifetime before they will be tall like this again."
 
Many worry that the replacements — young, wiry trees that will provide little shade — will pale in comparison to the mature magnolias that line the Crenshaw corridor. Others are concerned that the bare streets will further depreciate property values.
 
City officials and the science center are hoping the historical significance of housing the shuttle will offset the tree loss.
 
In its 25 missions spanning nearly two decades, Endeavour circled the Earth more than 4,600 times, spending 299 days in space. One of those missions was to repair NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, basically giving it contact lenses so that it could peer farther into the universe.
 
"It is a historical artifact and national treasure," said California Science Center president Jeffrey Rudolph. "The community understands that and recognizes that it will help inspire the next generation of explorers."
 
Several alternatives for the Oct. 12 move were considered but ultimately discarded.
 
Taking the massive shuttle apart would have damaged the delicate tiles that acted as heat sensors. Airlifting the 170,000-pound craft was also ruled out. Not even heavy-duty helicopters could sustain that kind of weight, Rudolph said.
 
A freeway route was considered until engineers realized that the five-story-tall, 78-foot-wide shuttle could not travel under overpasses.
 
"We had to identify a route that had no permanent infrastructures like buildings and bridges," Rudolph said.
 
They settled on a final route that will follow Manchester Boulevard to Crenshaw Drive, then onto Crenshaw Boulevard and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard — wide thoroughfares with few permanent obstacles.
 
To make way for the shuttle, some trees will be pruned, power lines will be raised and traffic signals will be removed.
 
Inglewood will lose 128 trees, and communities in South Los Angeles about 265 trees, though the exact number has not yet been determined.
 
Meanwhile, officials have been working to allay fears by sharing replantation plans, seeking community input at neighborhood council meetings and finding compromises where they can.
 
Residents disapproved of a route that would have taken the shuttle through Leimert Boulevard and forced the removal of dozens of pine and fir trees planted years ago to honor the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
 
Engineers found an alternative — albeit longer — route.
 
Construction crews in Inglewood are already chopping pine, ficus and other trees down to their stumps.
 
Inglewood officials see the tree removal as a win-win. The city rids itself of some problematic trees and even gets sidewalks repaired. In total, the California Science Center is expected to spend $500,000 to improve the city's landscape.
 
"The move of the shuttle allows the city to be a part of this national endeavor," said Sabrina Barnes, Inglewood's director of parks, recreations and library services. "And gives the chance to address problematic trees that have eroded the landscape."
 
Workers are expected to start replanting trees a few weeks after Endeavour reaches the science center.
 
Still, Cristina Melendrez said she will miss the sight and smell of the pine trees. But she's also excited about the learning possibilities. She said she's planned a month-long curriculum around Endeavour's arrival as part of her job at AbilityFirst, a nonprofit that serves people with disabilities.
 
"It's a shame they are cutting down these beautiful trees," she said. "But it's going to be fun having our participants witness history."
 
Putin fires space industry official for lost satellites
 
Pravda
 
Russian President Vladimir Putin fired the 63-year-old head of the Khrunichev Space Center, Vladimir Nesterov. The appropriate decree was signed on August 31.
 
Mr. Nesterov wrote the report about his resignation in mid-August, after he had a meeting with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. The prime minister instructed the government to prepare proposals to optimize the work of the Russian Federal Space Agency, Roscosmos. In addition, the prime minister proposed to strengthen the quality control of space products.
 
"Our country annually provides for up to 40 percent of all space launches in the world. In this regard, we have very good opportunities, but we have to draw conclusions from the string of problems that currently exist," said Medvedev.
 
The Prime Minister said that over the past 18 months, Russia has had seven failed launches and lost 10 satellites. According to him, during the period from 2012 to 2015, the state plans to invest 650 billion rubles in the development of the space industry, adds RBC. One needs to find out what causes the accidents with Russian satellites, and who should be responsible for it, said Medvedev.
 
Meanwhile, a senior source in the government told the Izvestia newspaper that the head of Roscosmos, Vladimir Popovkin, could be dismissed from his position after a meeting with Medvedev on September 10.
 
Space industry levels off
 
John DeLapp - Galveston Daily News
 
After a period of heavy layoffs, the space industry has stabilized.
 
Not too long ago, there were about 18,000 aerospace jobs at the Johnson Space Center.
 
The shuttering of the space shuttle program was expected to lead to 750 layoffs. Then came the cancellation of the Constellation program.
 
“Overnight, those 750 jobs became 7,000 jobs,” said Bob Mitchell of the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership.
 
Eventually, the layoffs were whittled down to fewer than 4,000 employees, but those people were not able to take their skills to another space center.
 
“Each of the centers does different things,” said David Braun of Citizens for Space Exploration, a space advocacy group. “The only other centers that would have been closely involved with us were facing the same layoffs. Kennedy Space Center took a much bigger hit than Johnson Space Center.”
 
Many unemployed workers have been able to find jobs in other industries.
 
“What I tell people is that these people were mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, software design engineers and decided to go into the aerospace industry,” Mitchell said. “You can take those skills of mechanical, electrical and design and transition (them) to other industries.”
 
The oil and gas industry was especially receptive to having former aerospace engineers come aboard.
 
“It was right after the (Deepwater Horizon oil) spill in the Gulf, and they were looking for engineers who knew safety,” Braun said. “It was a good fit for a lot of people.”
 
Just as workers were able to move on, the Clear Lake area also proved to be resilient.
 
“It wasn’t D-Day here,” Braun said. “It was not the disaster that a lot of people thought (where) you lay off 4,000 people, and it turns into a ghost town and houses are going to be going for sale.
 
“Sure, some houses sold. Some businesses closed. But that is the normal business cycle anyway. Restaurants come and go. People might look at (a closed eatery) and say, ‘that must be because of NASA,’ No, it was probably going to close anyway.
 
“If you look at the school districts in the area, most of the enrollments went up again last year. So, we’re still adding people to the area. We’re still growing.
 
“We’re still operating the International Space Station. We do a lot of that work here in Houston, and that is going to fly at least through 2020. There is a lot of engineering work being done on the new vehicle (Orion.)
 
“There’s a lot of work with independent companies now that are flying freight and possibly, some day, passengers. We’re still pretty diverse here. I think we’ll do all right.”
 
Whisky space experiment tribute launched
 
BBC News
 
A limited edition whisky has been launched to mark a unique experiment in space.
 
A rocket carrying vials of chemical compounds from Ardbeg's Islay distillery was blasted up to the International Space Station last year to test the effects of near zero gravity on the maturation process.
 
Ardbeg has now released "Ardbeg Galileo" to celebrate the event.
 
The experiment is believed to be the first of its kind.
 
The micro-organic compounds will spend up to two years in space interacting with charred oak in near zero gravity conditions.
 
The results will be compared with a control sample currently maturing on terra firma at Ardbeg's Islay distillery.
 
Dr Bill Lumsden, director of distilling and whisky creation at Ardbeg, said: "So far so good. The experiment went live in January when the scientists broke the separating wall between the two components.
 
'Earthly tribute'
 
"We will not know the results for another year or so but in the meantime we thought we would celebrate the experiment by the introduction of Ardbeg Galileo - our own earthly tribute to the scientific experiment taking place far up in space."
 
The limited edition 12-year-old single malt whisky is a vatting of different styles of Ardbeg laid down in 1999.
 
Ardbeg was invited in late 2011 by Texas-based space research company NanoRacks to take part in the two-year space experiment.
 
The vials that were launched by Soyuz rocket from Baikanur in Kazakhstan in late 2011 contain a class of chemical compounds known as "terpenes".
 
Ardbeg said the experiment could explain the workings of these large, complex molecules and help uncover new information about the change they undergo in a near zero gravity environment.
 
The test should also help Ardbeg find new chemical building blocks in their own flavour spectrum and could have applications for a variety of commercial and research products.
 
Buffalo jerky heads for outer space
 
Emma Graney - Regina Leader-Post
 
It's one small snack for man, one giant leap for Saskatchewan buffalo jerky.
 
Packages of Trails End Buffalo Stix - from Turtle Lake, 220 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon - will make their way to the International Space Station (ISS) this December.
 
The product is one of 12 uniquely Canadian foods selected to head into space through the Canadian Space Agency's Snacks for Space competition.
 
The competition is being held in honour of Chris Hadfield - the Canadian astronaut who will take the helm of the ISS in March.
 
Judy Wilkinson and her husband Kevin developed the buffalo/cranberry snack in 2004 as a healthy addition to lunch boxes.
 
Speaking from their property on Sunday, Judy said a call telling them their snacks would be headed to outer space "totally" blew them away.
 
"And the more you really think about it, the more it blows you away," she said.
 
"It's very strange to think that something I've physically touched is going to be out there in space. It's really hard to comprehend."
 
The Wilkinsons hadn't even heard about the Snacks for Space competition until they received an email from the Canadian Space Agency, informing them they'd been nominated and asking them to send some product over for testing.
 
The Canadian who suggested the product as space worthy was a mystery Edmonton man named Jeff.
 
"We don't even know a Jeff from Edmonton," Judy laughed, "but we'd sure like to thank him."
 
"I think it's awesome somebody liked our product that much and took the time out of their day to recommend us."
 
Judy is remaining tightlipped about how much jerky will end up on the ISS, but will be incorporating their new tie to outer space into signs for the upcoming craft and product fair season.
 
They have already sent a banner off to be made, and Judy laughed that anyone eating the jerky around Christmas will be munching on it "at the same time someone in space is."
 
"We've been getting emails from a lot of people with the coolest puns, saying things like, 'You always knew it was heavenly, now it really is,'" she chuckled.
 
"It's the weirdest thing, because we took it to the post office and we mailed it (to the Canadian Space Agency), but we mail things all the time, and you kind of forget how different this is."
 
Judy said the attention is also positive for the bison industry, of which the Wilkinsons have been part since 1978.
 
In 2004, the couple decided it was time to look at a new product, so they enlisted the help of the Food Centre in Saskatoon.
 
There a food scientist developed a recipe, which the Wilkinsons tweaked until perfect, and voila - Trails End Cranberry Craze Buffalo Stix were born.
 
"I just keep thinking how neat it all is," Judy said.
 
NASA Simulates Asteroid Mission for Potential 2025 Flight
 
Robert Pearlman - Space.com
 
NASA’s plans to send astronauts to an asteroid by 2025 moved 10 days closer to being a reality this week, even though the target of that mission has yet to be found in space.
 
The agency’s Research and Technology Studies’ (RATS) 10-day simulated asteroid mission, which ended Wednesday (Aug. 29), involved scientists and flight controllers at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston evaluating new operations and exploration techniques for how astronauts might work above and on the surface of one of the small, rocky, solar system bodies.
 
The test used a variety of simulation technologies, including virtual reality and a custom rig that helped recreate the microgravity environment found at an asteroid.
 
Potential manned mission
 
President Barack Obama set the goal for a 2025 asteroid mission during remarks he delivered two years ago at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Earlier this week, he restated that aim during a question and answer session on the website Reddit.com.
 
“As we continue work with the International Space Station, we are focused on a potential mission to [an] asteroid as a prelude to a manned Mars flight," Obama said.
 
The president’s use of “potential” to describe the asteroid mission may have been in recognition of the scientific and engineering challenges that NASA has already encountered in early planning for such an endeavor.
 
“Going to an asteroid was a bigger step than I think we thought, because it is a very challenging mission to do,” astronaut Michael Gernhardt told SPACE.com.
 
In addition to the uncertainty created by changing budgets and still-to-be-decided launch vehicle designs, the space agency has yet to find any candidate asteroids that pass close enough to allow for a roughly 90-day mission.
 
“The real problem with these near-Earth asteroids is Mother Nature is not really cooperating with us,” John Gruener, a planetary scientist at Johnson Space Center, told SPACE.com. “We haven’t found any that are close enough and are low enough inclination.”
 
“We would like to find near-Earth asteroids that are in the ecliptic plane and that come in at slow enough velocities so that our [spacecraft] velocities don’t have to be amped up to meet it. But we haven’t found one of those yet,” he said.
 
Ideally, said Gruener, an infrared telescope could be deployed into an orbit that trails Venus around the sun, providing a better chance at finding and tracking candidate near-Earth asteroids. Once a potential target is found, a robotic precursor mission could offer an up-close look at the asteroid, to better refine the types of tools and hardware needed for a crewed excursion, he said.
 
Space rock planning
 
Still, planning for such a mission is moving forward as NASA considers how best to conduct its first crewed flights beyond low Earth orbit since the Apollo moon landings ended in 1972.
 
This week’s simulated mission was centered on NASA’s multi-mission Space Exploration Vehicle (SEV), a modular cabin that can be maneuvered through space using thrusters or on a planetary surface by being mounted to a wheeled chassis. As currently planned and simulated, the SEV would not land on an asteroid but would support spacewalking astronauts exploring the rocky body’s surface.
 
To simulate this on Earth, NASA has built a mockup of the SEV, which it has placed atop an air-bearing floor that works similar to a very large air hockey table.  The vehicle’s “pilots,” who took turns living in the SEV for 3 days and 2 nights during the simulation, could see the asteroid out the cabin’s large forward windows through the use of a video wall that contoured around the vehicle while displaying computer-generated images of the surface they were “flying” around.
 
Simulating the surface
 
When it was time for the simulation’s astronaut-stand-ins to practice working on the asteroid itself, the test split into three areas. At the SEV mockup, the participants could exit the vehicle using an integrated suitport, an alternative to an airlock that employs rear-entry spacesuits that form a seal with the vehicle.
 
Once outside the SEV, they could practice working on the asteroid using one of two simulation methods.
 
At Johnson Space Center’s virtual reality lab, the participants donned goggles and gloves to then be inserted into the simulated asteroid scene that was projected out the SEV’s windows. Or, they could be suspended in the center’s Active Response Gravity Offload System, or ARGOS, which used a crane and harness to offset their weight while being suspended above boulders, rocks and an SEV cabin.
 
The simulation extended to Johnson’s nearby Mission Control Center, where communications between the scientists and flight controllers were delayed by 50 seconds in either direction to mimic what astronauts working at an asteroid would experience.
 
Advanced demonstration
 
The test also deployed two technology demonstrations. An advanced fuel cell similar to the type used during the 1960’s Gemini missions was used to power the SEV mockup during the test, and a water processing module converted water generated by the fuel cell into its component hydrogen and oxygen gases to demonstrate in-situ utilization.
 
The simulation, together with past year’s RATS missions staged in the Arizona desert and work at an underwater laboratory, has given the team confidence that an asteroid mission could be in our near-future.
 
“I am feeling very comfortable that our desert work, this sim, and then NEEMO 16, which we just completed in June where we actually built an underwater asteroid ... [is giving us] a pretty darn clear idea on how we can do this mission, and we have that knowledge years and years before we are going to go there,” Gernhardt said.
 
NASA Conference Travel Prompts Lawmaker Query
 
Dan Leone - Space News
 
The chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee that funds NASA is asking the agency to detail how much it is spending to send employees to the 63rd International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Naples, Italy, in October.
 
“While this conference merits participation by NASA, it is difficult to accept that taxpayers should fund travel, lodging and conference fees for ‘50 or more NASA employees’ to visit Italy,” U.S. Rep Frank Wolf (R-Va.) wrote in an Aug. 27 letter to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden that cites a recent post on NASAWatch.com
 
“If accurate, the cost of this travel and this level of participation would certainly conflict with my May 22 letter warning that excessive conference spending is not appropriate,” Wolf wrote.
 
NASA spokesman Michael Cabbage declined to say how many people the agency is sending to the IAC, an annual conference routinely attended by the world’s space agency heads.
 
“We have received Congressman Wolf’s letter and are in the process of reviewing it and responding,” Cabbage wrote in an Aug. 30 response to a Space News query.
 
Deep Impact: SpaceX has economic promise, environmental concerns
 
Jacqueline Armendariz - Brownsville Herald
 
For an area like Cameron County, supported by unique ecological assets yet historically plagued by economic and cultural obstacles, the possibility of space exploration as an industry poses a bittersweet dilemma: disrupt paradise, or feed the populace?
 
Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX — a Hawthorne, Calif.-based space transport company that earlier this year became the first commercial enterprise to complete a supply mission to the International Space Station — has announced its interest in building a rocket launch site on Boca Chica Beach. Remote yet not inaccessible, the beach is home to the piping plover, the Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle and other unique fauna and flora that have drawn the attention of ecologists committed to maintenance and protection. This, for many, is paradise.
 
The isolated beach area has little commercial or residential development, but surrounding cities like South Padre Island, Brownsville and Harlingen all have taken a keen interest in every move SpaceX makes.
 
In the lower Cameron County area, 30 percent of families last year had an income below poverty level. If the company does build at Boca Chica, it would create hundreds of jobs with an annual salary of no less than $55,000. That is well above the county’s average household income of $15,000 to $24,999, according to five-year estimates from the Census Bureau. And those jobs, along with actual construction of the site and the proposed $80 million capital investment, would bring widespread spinoff prosperity for the county.
 
So, the dilemma now for many is how to reconcile the need for economic opportunity with the need to protect our natural resources. About the reconciled destination, there is no doubt. It is the journey that presents the challenges.
 
In an attempt to explore both the economic and environmental concerns spurred by such development, the staffs of The Brownsville Herald and the Valley Morning Star have undertaken a cooperative project to examine the benefits and drawbacks in many of the individual communities that could feel an impact from SpaceX development. What resulted is this series, “Frontiers,” an eight-day look at what could happen. In large part, there is much speculation, with both sides weighing in with what they want and need to happen.
 
Many questions remain unanswered, pending the federal government’s release of its Environmental Impact Statement, or EIS. Many of the participants in SpaceX negotiations, including SpaceX representatives and local negotiators and officials, are restricted from commenting publicly until the statement is released.
 
Maneuvering the rollout of such a critical project may require a precision similar to the scientific calculations the company uses to launch its rockets. The area is largely Hispanic and historically underserved, making any economic boost crucial. School of Business Dean Mark Kroll, of the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College, cited a number of factors that could be significant for the area.
 
“I think it would also have a material impact upon the position of the community, vis-a-vis the rest of the country. It would give a cachet that it hasn’t had before,” he said. “Anytime you’re shooting rockets into outer space, that’s getting recognized. It’s just one of those things that’s hard to miss.”
 
Kroll said it is possible a launch site would mean an influx of new people moving to the area.
 
“We don’t have that many aerospace engineers running around Brownsville,” he said, noting that a concentration of well-paid residents would be an “economic multiplier.”
 
He likened SpaceX to a smaller version of the Keppel AmFELS shipyard, which counts Brownsville as one of its sites and is a business with significant impact here.
 
“There’s no question when they started opening casinos in Vegas it changed Vegas forever,” he said. “When Boeing first started building military aircraft in Washington state, that changed that area forever.”
 
What really remains to be seen, Kroll said, is the future of the commercial space business.
 
“I think we have to keep it in perspective,” he said. “This may or may not be a growth industry.”
 
Local officials are banking on the new industry raising the area’s profile internationally.
Currently, the largest industries here are educational services, health care and social assistance, followed by retail, then arts, entertainment and recreation, presumably heavily linked to South Padre Island.
 
SpaceX is watching, local officials say. The company already has met with Brownsville school district and university officials to connect with science, technology, engineering and math educators here.
 
The company’s CEO and chief designer is Elon Musk, the colorful entrepreneur who co-founded the Internet payment system called PayPal, created Tesla Motors (which builds electric cars) and Solar City (which builds solar panels), and who in 2002 made no secret of his intention to revolutionize space travel with his new company, Space Exploration Technologies. His ultimate goal: make life on other planets possible for humans.
 
“Our growing launch manifest has led us to look for additional sites,” Musk said last November in a statement announcing the location search. “We’re considering several states and territories. I envision this site functioning like a commercial Cape Canaveral.”
 
At this point, Brownsville is in competition with Florida and Puerto Rico for the new vertical launch area and control center. The site being considered here is near Boca Chica Beach, just a few miles from the major tourism hub of South Padre Island and a neighboring federal wildlife reserve.
 
Nearby is Boca Chica Village, a small residential neighborhood that acts as an example of the infrastructure the proposed launch site currently lacks. Residents have their water trucked in, and the access road is narrow. Many of the homes are seasonal, or completely shuttered. Some of the residents are thrilled about the prospect of watching a rocket launch from the backyard; others say, there goes the neighborhood.
 
SpaceX already has launch facilities at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida and Vandenberg Air Force Base in California as well as a rocket development facility in McGregor, Texas.
 
This summer, NASA said it is not involved in SpaceX’s launch facility initiative and would not officially comment on the matter. However, a Houston-based spokesman from Mission Control at the Johnson Space Center explained there are several programs in which SpaceX is involved. NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program allows for payments to SpaceX for the building of spacecraft, which is different from the contracts awarded to them for supply missions to the International Space Station.
 
And in August, SpaceX also was granted a $440 million contract from NASA under the Commercial Crew Development program to further develop its hardware. The end goal of the program is to create shuttles that would carry astronauts to and from the space station using U.S. companies, instead of hardware from foreign countries.
 
The COTS program, which began in 2006, allows NASA to invest financial and technical resources in the private sector to help develop space transportation. SpaceX and another company will be paid incrementally as they reach certain milestones.
 
In May, SpaceX became the first commercial company in history to send a spacecraft to the International Space Station. And with more than $3 billion of revenue set through 2017, Musk’s vision seems increasingly closer on the horizon. What remains to be seen is whether that horizon will be viewed by space tourists at Boca Chica Beach, or whether the panorama will remain the purview of the piping plover and its friends.
 
Cameron County communities see gain in helping Brownsville lure SpaceX
 
Fernando del Valle - Valley Morning Star
 
The comparisons to Florida’s Cape Canaveral are inevitable.
 
As Space Exploration Technologies casts its eyes toward Boca Chica Beach as a possible site to launch payload rockets into space, Harlingen and San Benito leaders optimistically anticipate the same kind of economic boom Florida enjoyed when NASA moved into town.
 
But that was 60 years ago, and in another state. Today, in Cameron County, the business of space travel again holds the promise of transformation, this time for the Harlingen-San Benito area. If SpaceX does in fact decide to blast off from Boca Chica Beach, area leaders say, the company could ignite area economies with support businesses and a housing boom.
 
The California-based company has picked Brownsville’s Boca Chica Beach as one of three candidates for its proposed site. The other two are in Florida and Puerto Rico.
 
The company’s decision to launch from Boca Chica would create as many as 600 jobs, largely engineering positions with an average annual salary of $70,000. And spinoff development could create some 400 jobs in construction and logistics.
 
“Job creation is not limited to one city; it benefits the entire region,” Harlingen Mayor Chris Boswell said. “Obviously, we think it would have a financial impact on all of Cameron County.”
 
Rick Ledesma, a businessman who serves as president of Harlingen’s Economic Development Corp., said area cooperation is critical, and cities should team up to help attract the company to Brownsville.
 
“A project like that affects the entire region and our region is competing with other regions,” he said.
 
San Benito leaders, too, are cautiously optimistic. City Commissioner J.D. Penny, also a member of the city’s Economic Development Corporation, said jobs that pay well would boost retail spending across the area.
 
“It would impact all of Cameron County with high-paying jobs — technical jobs and engineering jobs,” he said.
 
Housing for SpaceX employees would expand the local real estate market with developments much like San Benito’s new D.R. Horton subdivision, fueling an industry that plunged with the 2008 national recession, San Benito Mayor Joe Hernandez said.
 
“We’re ready,” Hernandez said. “With all those people hired, there would be a huge housing boom for all the cities surrounding Brownsville.”
 
Each rocket launch could attract as many 10,000 tourists to Cameron County, increasing bookings at Harlingen’s Valley International Airport and helping to fill area hotels and restaurants. Harlingen’s mayor definitely sees the potential for his city.
 
“I’m sure it would create additional tourism with people coming here to watch the launches,” Boswell said. “We’ll probably benefit from people staying in Harlingen.”
 
SpaceX also could spur new support businesses, said Connie De la Garza, a real estate broker and a former Harlingen mayor.
 
“That type of project needs a lot of support services,” De la Garza said.
 
Ledesma is adamant that teamwork and cooperation will be an important factor in showing SpaceX that it has the backing of the expanded Cameron County community.
 
“One of the things that are unique to the Valley is that we’ve got multiple communities close together geographically,” he said. “We’re one region, and we have to think about how we can help each other. We have to rally around our sister cities on big projects.”
 
Brownsville bets to benefit from SpaceX deal
 
Laura Martinez - Brownsville Herald
 
Gilbert Salinas keeps a couple of poster boards at home that he refers to as his “cheat sheet.”
 
Anything and everything that pertains to SpaceX is listed on those boards. There, via Post-It notes, he tracks how far the proposal for a launch facility has progressed, which points remain to be addressed, and what other issues could arise.
 
Salinas, executive vice president of the Brownsville Economic Development Council, is working with Space Exploration Technologies — SpaceX, for short — on its proposal to build a rocket launch facility on the Gulf Coast near Brownsville.
 
Brownsville is one of three areas in the country under consideration by SpaceX for a new installation for launches. The other sites are in Florida and Puerto Rico.
 
The site under consideration near Brownsville is at the eastern end of State Highway 4 near Boca Chica Beach, about 3 miles north of the Mexican border. It is about 5 miles south of Port Isabel and South Padre Island.
 
The Federal Register, SpaceX proposes to build a vertical launch area and a control center to support up to 12 commercial space launches per year.
 
Local officials agree that if SpaceX does in fact locate in Deep South Texas, there could be a boom in the economy. It would create jobs – not only at the SpaceX facility itself, but also in the surrounding area. And because economic development continues to be a challenge, the $55,000 annual salary for a SpaceX job would be a substantial upgrade in Brownsville, where the median household income is $31,736.
 
A SpaceX facility could employ about 600 people, officials say, but how many of the jobs would be filled locally is unclear.
 
“We know that as far as recruiting for their operations here, they are not going to get everything they need here; they are going to have to bring in rocket scientists,” Salinas said.
 
Other positions needed would include computer technicians, computer programmers, maintenance personnel, and the kind needed for any fully operational business. Some have speculated that as many as 300 jobs could be created for the local labor force, but no matter the number, Salinas is enthusiastic about the overall ramifications of having SpaceX locate in the Brownsville area.
 
“Whether it was by accident or by destiny, whatever you want to call it, so many things have fallen into place for this project,” he said.
 
Not a done deal
 
SpaceX has been eyeing the South Texas location since March 3, 2011. Salinas remembers the day because he got a call from Gov. Rick Perry’s office, and it was one day before his son’s birthday.
 
“It was late in the evening and they said, ‘We just visited with this company and it’s in the rocket business,’” Salinas recalled. “They gave me the information and said, ‘Follow up.’ … Two weeks later, we were having a face-to-face with (SpaceX founder) Elon (Musk) at his headquarters. That is how fast this project started to move.”
 
The BEDC gets a lot of calls about potential projects, and for every 20 projects considered, about one will close. Since SpaceX has expressed interest in the Deep South Texas area, other companies are starting to contact the BEDC to find out just what Brownsville has to offer. Although the launch facility would not be in Brownsville itself, it is in the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation district, and it could put the city not only on the state and national radar, but also on the international radar, as well.
 
“This is something that would definitely set us apart from communities our size, and everyone else. We would have some swagger now,” Salinas said, grinning.
 
But challenges and obstacles remain. The federal government still is working on the required environmental impact study, to determine what effect rocket launches would have on the area’s flora and fauna. Salinas knows the study is critical, but that doesn’t stop him from being anxious and sometimes, impatient.
 
Some officials have said a preliminary report on the environmental impact statement could come as early as September, but others say it is more likely to come at end of the year.
 
It can’t come soon enough for Salinas.
 
“There is no such thing as being in a holding pattern in economic development,” he said. “When you say you are in a wait-and-see approach, that is when another community or another state comes in and eats your lunch.”
 
Competition
 
Brownsville is still one of only three sites being considered – at least publicly – for the SpaceX launch facility.
 
“It’s a competitive matter, at this point,” Salinas said. “I know Florida and Puerto Rico are throwing big dollar signs out there. We probably will not be able to match that, but we can probably get close to it. We won’t let that be the reason why they decided not to come down to Brownsville, Texas.”
 
As the interested parties await the environmental impact statement, Salinas said, so much could go wrong.
 
“Like everything else, or any other communities that are working on projects, politics can most definitely help a project, or can also hinder a project,” he said.
 
BEDC officials have talked with city and county leaders, encouraging them to be mindful of what they say or write about SpaceX because the company is watching and reading everything.
 
“They are trying to figure out just who we are,” Salinas said.
 
Should SpaceX choose the area, officials believe it could change the perception of the community throughout the state and nation and into the global marketplace, and could help show that Brownsville is a city of innovation and technological achievement.
 
“There are only a handful of cities in the United States that could say that or do that,” Salinas said. “… When we come in and talk to prospects, or I’m up in Dallas or Chicago, meeting with a certain company, we can walk in the door and say, ‘We are Brownsville, Texas. We have an aerospace industry in our backyard.”
 
Launch site for SpaceX draws mixed reviews
 
Laura Martinez - Brownsville Herald
 
Bill Wilting’s face lights up when he thinks about the possibility of watching rocket launches from virtually his front door.
 
He talks about all the opportunities the area would have if Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, decides to build a launch site near Boca Chica Beach, just a few miles from where he lives.
 
“I’m excited about it. Rocket ships — are you kidding me? I’m crazy about it. I think it’s the greatest thing,” he says.
 
Wilting is one of several residents of Boca Chica Village, once known as Kopernick Shores and home to a founding Polish community, who could have a front-row seat to possibly 12 rocket launches a year if SpaceX builds a launch facility here.
 
The Cameron County site reportedly is one of three finalists; the others are in Florida and Puerto Rico.
 
Ground zero
 
Earlier this summer, representatives from SpaceX were at Wilting’s property, running tests on the groundwater, among other things, but they remained mum about why they were doing it, he said.
 
Wilting even has been asked how much he wants for his 4½ acres. (The answer is $100,000, he says.)
 
“Everybody is telling me this is ground zero. … This is going to be the command center,” he says. “I’m excited about it. I think the area needs it.”
 
Not everyone is as enthusiastic as he is.
 
Barbara Ulbright, who has lived at Boca Chica Village since last November, was not impressed by a public hearing (called a “scope” meeting) held in May during which local officials promoted the project.
 
“That was a farce,” she said. “That was a yea, yea, political b—-s—-, that’s what it was.”
 
At the scope meeting, officials talked about the project and discussed the impact a launch pad could have on the environment and the community.
 
For her part, Ulbright believes the launch facility will bring little but noise, traffic and trash to the area.
 
She, and some others, worry that if satellite launches come to Cameron County, people will bring their barbecue grills, beer and parties, and will leave their trash behind. They’ve seen it happen already at Boca Chica Beach and believe the same will occur on the flats.
 
“It’s a super thing for the economy, for the county and Brownsville and everything, but I just don’t want it at the back door. The reason we are here is because it’s peaceful – and (for) the wildlife,” Ulbright said.
 
The area being considered for the launch facility is at the eastern end of State Highway 4, about 3 miles north of the Mexican border on the Gulf Coast. It is about 5 miles south of Port Isabel and South Padre Island.
 
Launches would be toward the east over the Gulf of Mexico.
 
Infrastructure
 
Highway 4, now remote and lightly traveled, presumably would see heavy use if SpaceX moves in. Road maintenance would be provided by the Texas Department of Transportation.
 
The launch facility itself would cover about 8 acres of a parcel of land that totals roughly 50 acres.
 
Since Boca Chica Village has no water lines, Cameron County delivers water every two weeks, filling up a large tank on the property of each resident. SpaceX, too, would have to truck in its water. Some of the power needs could come from batteries and solar panels.
 
Musk is chairman of SolarCity, a residential solar provider, but it is not clear yet if solar energy would be used at a Boca Chica launch site.
 
Pros & cons
 
According to the Federal Register, which provides public notices of government agencies, SpaceX proposes building a vertical launch area and a control center to support up to 12 commercial launches per year.
 
The vehicles would include the Falcon 9, the Falcon Heavy, and smaller, reusable, suborbital launch vehicles. Each launch would be audible for about three minutes.
 
Wilting has done a lot of thinking about the pros and cons of having a satellite launch facility just off Highway 4. He moved down from New York two years ago to get away from the traffic and the noise, he said. But he believes the pros of a launch site in rural Cameron County outweigh the cons.
 
“For me, it’s a win-win situation,” he said, noting that if the launches come to Cameron County and the area changes too much, he would sell his property.
 
“If I don’t sell it, I’m right here, man. Are you kidding? I’m going to be right here watching the stuff go up,” Wilting said.
 
What sealed the deal for him was attending the public hearing last May.
 
He was touched by a comment made by Jose Martinez, a junior physics major at the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College, who said SpaceX coming here would give him the opportunity to work in his hometown.
 
“When that kid made the speech about going to school up there and said, ‘I have a possibility of getting a job down here,’ I wept because there are no opportunities for kids down here,” Wilting said.
 
State support
 
The state has been working with SpaceX for about a year and is preparing an incentives package. Because it is an ongoing negotiation, no details are being released at this time, said Lucy Nashed, a spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Perry.
 
In a letter dated May 9 to the Federal Aviation Administration, Perry expressed his support for locating the SpaceX facility in the Brownsville area. The project could bring “well-paying jobs and economic development to South Texas,” he said.
 
“Please know that I strongly support the efforts of SpaceX and the Brownsville community to bring this business to Texas. I ask you to favorably approve their application for a South Texas launch site,” Perry said.
 
SpaceX, which is based in Hawthorne, Calif., already has an active launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, and currently is developing a launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
 
The company also operates a rocket research and development facility in McGregor, Texas.
 
Cameron County part of united front to attract SpaceX
 
Emma-Perez Trevino - Brownsville Herald
 
Cameron County stands on the cusp of a significant economic development opportunity.
 
As international entrepreneur Elon Musk eyes Boca Chica Beach as a possible launch site for his California-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp. rockets, the potential looms for a capital investment of up to $80 million.
 
“It would just change the whole perception of this area. We would no longer be that county on the border,” said Gilbert Salinas, executive vice president of the Brownsville Economic Development Council. “Now we would be the county that launches rockets into outer space.”
 
The launch site under consideration is off State Highway 4, about a quarter-mile from Boca Chica Beach, and about 3 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The site is about 5 miles south of Port Isabel and South Padre Island.
 
The location is ideal for a number of reasons. It allows for a launch over a vast body of water, in this case the Gulf of Mexico. It also is near the Equator and its gravitational field, providing a faster, more efficient “slingshot” launch that conserves fuel.
 
The control center would be located slightly inland, to the west of the vertical launch area, and the facilities would be built on land that SpaceX would buy or lease.
 
The plans are for SpaceX to launch Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy orbital rockets and other smaller reusable suborbital vehicles from this site. All Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches would carry commercial payloads, including satellites or experimental payloads, for delivery to the International Space Station.
 
Earlier this year, shortly after SpaceX made history when its Dragon spacecraft became the first commercial vehicle to successfully attach to the International Space Station, Musk traveled to the SpaceX research facility in McGregor, Texas, where the recovered Dragon was taken for inspection.
 
There, he very publicly stated that Brownsville—not the sites in Florida and Puerto Rico that also are being considered—is where he wants his new facility to be built.
 
Salinas is careful to stress that a contract with SpaceX is by no means a “done deal” for Brownsville, but he and others remain cautiously optimistic. With 12 missions that are part of a $1.6 billion contract with NASA, and, among other contracts, a recently awarded NASA contract of $75 million to prepare Dragon for transporting astronauts into space, SpaceX sits on a total of $4 billion in launch contracts.
 
With that much economic firepower, local leaders say, some of it could help boost the Cameron County economy.
 
Multiple benefits
 
For Cameron County and its cities, a launch site here would mean an increase in the tax base, revenue from fees, sales tax revenues to the cities, increased employment, and a boost in the retail, hotel, motel, construction and housing industries, County Judge Carlos H. Cascos said.
 
“For every dollar that is invested, it goes around the economy seven times, is what economists say,” Cascos said. “I haven’t seen any numbers of what the total economic impact is going to be.
 
“It’s also so much speculative, but if everything goes the way we’re being told it’s going to be, it is going to be a long-term boost and shot in the arm for our community,” he said.
 
SpaceX has more than 1,800 employees combined at its headquarters in Hawthorne, Calif., its launch facilities at the Air Force Station at Cape Canaveral and the Reagan Test Site at U.S. Army Kwajalein Atoll, its rocket development facility in McGregor, and offices in Chantilly, Va., Huntsville, Ala., and Washington, D.C.
 
If SpaceX does locate in Cameron County, the base $80 million capital investment also would bring about 600 jobs, with a minimum annual salary of $55,000, according to BEDC. It is not certain how many of those jobs would be hired locally, but estimates have ranged from 200 to 300.
 
BEDC cites a potential annual payroll here of about $71 million.
 
“The economic impact and the opportunity that it would provide is tremendous, not including the spin-off effect. We anticipate that quite a few companies would be coming in to support SpaceX operations, and as we see it, they are going to set up shop in southern Cameron County. There is only one way in and one way out of the site (Highway 4) and they ultimately would go through Brownsville,” Salinas said.
 
He also anticipates a boom in the housing industry because SpaceX employees who relocate here would need homes and apartments throughout the area, from Brownsville to Harlingen to South Padre Island.
 
The impact would not be solely economic. Irv Downing, vice president of Economic Development and Institutional Advancement at the University of Texas at Brownsville, said SpaceX would offer opportunities step up the area’s focus on higher education, especially in applied engineering and physics.
 
“It would provide the opportunity for employment at multiple levels from aerospace assemblers to engineers and computer scientists,” Downing said. “That additional diversity of employment opportunity would clearly benefit the regional economy.
 
“The potential for further developing our human capital resources to meet the range of demands SpaceX would have is particularly exciting.”
 
Salinas anticipates that such a project would attract 10,000 to 13,000 visitors to the area.
 
“That is a whole bunch of people that would be coming in. That in itself would be a huge boom to the area. Everybody in Cameron County would benefit,” he said.
 
BEDC estimates the economic impact for the area, per launch, at $1 million. Each launch would attract from 40 to 60 engineers, technicians and scientists for 30-day stays and a constant flow of suppliers to do business with SpaceX.
 
“The hotel-motel industry might not have enough rooms,” Salinas speculates. “Those are nice problems to have.”
 
Infrastructure
 
According to the FAA, the facilities that would be required would include a processing hangar, launch pad and stand with its associated flame duct, propellant storage and handling areas, a work-shop and office area, and a warehouse for parts storage.
 
The proposed control center area would include a control center building and a payload processing facility. It might also include a launch vehicle preparation hangar and satellite fuels storage area.
 
The proposed schedule for all construction is 24 months.
 
Development of access and supporting utility infrastructure for the launch area and the control center area could occur on land other than the ones SpaceX could own or lease, according to the FAA.
 
According to BEDC, Magic Valley Coop would service the site with power, although SpaceX also would consider diversifying with renewable energy like solar or wind support.
 
“They are not huge consumers of electricity for their operations. You’re not going to get into the mega-watt usage,” Salinas said.
 
Water would be trucked to the site and stored in a water tank, as it is for nearby residents at Boca Chica Village.
 
“Their water needs are simple,” he said. A septic tank system would be adequate for their requirements, he said.
 
“The beauty of this project is that they would be building in proximity to State Highway 4,” Salinas said, noting also the availability of State Highway 550 and Farm-to-Market 511, along with looming development of the East Loop project and I-69 corridor to meet increased transportation needs.
 
“We have come a long way since the Apollo and space shuttle days,” Salinas said. “You no longer need the huge infrastructure to launch. SpaceX provides a more affordable and efficient way of launching.”
 
Cameron County Administrator Pete Sepulveda says the project “is very timely, when we are looking at a transformation of the county because of the entire transportation infrastructure that is ongoing.”
 
Cascos recently announced environmental clearance for upgrades to U.S. Expressway 77 to bring it up to interstate standards between Corpus Christi and Brownsville.
 
“That is one step closer to getting us an interstate, a highway into Cameron County. If we were to get a company that would come in and create much-needed, skilled jobs that would help alleviate the unemployment and underemployment that exists in Cameron County, it would be a tremendous injection into our economy,” Sepulveda said.
 
SpaceX development would work hand-in-hand with all other projects that are under way.
 
“Just the mere fact that they are moving forward on preparing an environmental impact study is huge,” he said, “because if they are able to get that environmental clearance, they are able to proceed with the development of the project.”
 
A united front
 
The state of Texas, Cameron County, the city of Brownsville, BEDC and area cities, entities and the region are working together with one common goal: to bring SpaceX to Deep South Texas.
 
Gov. Rick Perry supports the effort, and his office has been involved from “day one,” Salinas said, and having the state behind the project “is huge.”
 
It was the Governor’s Office that contacted Salinas in the spring last year, suggesting he call SpaceX. Today, as the environmental assessment continues, state, county, and local entities continue their work on developing an incentive package that will be not just attractive to SpaceX, but competitive with other sites under consideration, Salinas said.
 
“It is one thing to hook a project, but it is a totally separate and different thing to close the deal,” Salinas said. “We know that there is interest on their part. We see that we’re the best place for it. But that means that there is still plenty of work to do.”
 
“From the county’s standpoint, it is a joint effort of the state of Texas, Cameron County, BEDC and the city of Brownsville. If we can facilitate any of the infrastructures or any of the other components that need to be in place, we are willing to assume that role,” he said.
 
Sepulveda, the county administrator, points out that communication among the entities is solid.
 
“We all understand what our roles are and that it is going to take a united effort. When you combine the state, city, county and BEDC, we can make it happen,” he said.
 
“We are going to do whatever it takes to lure them to Cameron County. At the end of the day, it is about job creation, about providing opportunities to be able to get employment,” Sepulveda said.
 
Cascos: Attorneys checking ownership of land
 
Emma-Perez Trevino - Brownsville Herald
 
As SpaceX and Cameron County leaders await the results of a federal environmental impact study that will determine whether construction of a rocket launch site is plausible at Boca Chica Beach, land requirements, and ownership, continue to be assessed behind the scenes.
 
There are several land areas under consideration. The first is the main site, consisting of about 50 acres on the flats behind the dunes. This would be the launch site. Within those 50 acres, some 8 acres would comprise the core launch site, where the actual vertical launches would take place.
 
The second area needed would be where the “brain,” or command center, would be, and is located from two to 10 miles west of the vertical launch area. Boca Chica Village, once known as Kopernick Shores and home to a founding Polish community, is within the two- to 10-mile radius.
 
Cameron County also owns property within the two- to 10-mile area, and Cameron County Judge Carlos H. Cascos said attorneys are in the process of ensuring that the county has clear title to them. The county is researching title to lots 1, 5-15, 30-42, all in Block 18 of the re-subdivision of parts of Blocks 18 and 19, Rio Grande Beach Subdivision, Unit 2. The goal is to determine what county land could be conveyed, through sale or lease, for the SpaceX project, Cascos said.
 
However, there are numerous other property owners within that radius. The amount of acreage needed for the command center was not immediately available, but is believed to involve a minimal amount of land.
 
According to information presented by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration at a public scoping meeting, all of the facilities would be built on private land that SpaceX would own or lease. The FAA also noted that the development of access and supporting utility infrastructure for the vertical launch area and the control center could occur on lands outside those owned or leased by SpaceX.
 
Gilberto Salinas, executive vice president of the Brownsville Economic Development Council, who has been working on the SpaceX project for more than a year, said SpaceX has been contacting private property owners directly.
 
“They are doing it on their own. They are doing all of that legwork,” he said.
 
According to a map provided of the proposed site by the FAA, which is conducting the environmental impact study, or EIS, and when compared with public records, owners of the land that SpaceX could be interested in appear to be Joe Walsh and Lee Arnett, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, the Robert Clark Trust, and Rudolph Clemencig.
 
However, some of those ownerships are in question. The son of one of the named property owners said his father is deceased and the land has been sold to another party.
 
Also, it was thought initially that Parks and Wildlife might own a narrow strip of land on the south side of State Highway 4, between the proposed SpaceX tract and the road, but the agency later concluded that the Texas Department of Transportation owns the strip of land.
 
Members of the Ruiz family, at a recent Cameron County Commissioners Court meeting, said some of the property being eyed might belong to the Ruiz family estate from a land-purchase protected by the Adams-Onis Treaty of 1819. Under the treaty, Spain ceded Florida to the United States, and disputes regarding the United States-Mexico border were resolved.
 
David Ruiz Cisneros maintains that his family owns about 43,000 acres throughout the Boca Chica Beach area, including land at the Brownsville Navigation District and surrounding area. Cisneros has said that SpaceX should be contacting his family.
 
END
 

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