December 2004
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
President’s Page When you receive this issue you will already know that there is an official winner of the $10 million “Anzari X Prize.” After many years of hopes, specula- tion, skepticism, and competition, “SpaceShipOne” won this coveted prize by becoming the first private reusable launch vehicle (RLV) to successfully fly above 328,000 ft (62 miles or 100 km) twice within two weeks, carrying one civilian astronaut and the equivalent weight of two additional occupants. The “SpaceShipOne” built by Burt Rutan’s Scaled Composites, funded by billionaire Paul G. Allen (Microsoft co-founder), and owned by Allen’s company Mojave Aerospace Ventures, was flown to a record alti- tude of 367,442 ft (69.7 miles or 112.3 km) by test pilot Melchor J. Antuñano, M.D., M.S. Brian Binnie on October 4, 2004. This prize-winning flight occurred exactly 47 years after the launch of the mated ticket price starting at about $200,000 per per- Russian Satellite “Sputnik.” In addition, this flight ex- son. Branson would like to start “Virgin Galactic” com- ceeded the altitude (354,200 ft) reached by pilot Joe mercial operations in 2007. Walker onboard an X-15 on August 22, 1963. Upon According to a Survey on Public Space Travel pro- landing, Brian Binnie received his commercial astro- duced by Futron Corporation, a company that forecasts naut wings from FAA Administrator Marion Blakey space-related markets, the space tourism market could and officially became the 434th human to fly into generate annual revenues in excess of $1 billion by space. However, we should not forget that the 433rd 2021. Suborbital space tourism is expected to produce human to become an official astronaut was Mike $700 million in revenues per year by 2021. Melvill who, on June 21, 2004, had the honor to set the world-record for the first private suborbital flight In my President’s Page published in the October (328,491 feet) onboard “SpaceShipOne.” Melvill flew Issue of ASEM I discussed the impending vote by the once again on September 29, 2004, to complete the first U.S. Senate on the Commercial Space Launch of the two official suborbital flights (337,500 ft) re- Amendments Act of 2004 (H.R. 3752) that lays out the quired to win the “Anzari X Prize.” Melvill and Binnie definition of a suborbital space passenger vehicle, so- have become the pioneers of the next phase in the ex- lidifies the process for licensing such vehicles, and al- ploration and exploitation of space: “Private Manned lows paying passengers to fly into space at their own Space Flight.” risk. Unfortunately, this proposed legislation has been Now that the “Anzari X Price” has been won, the “X put on hold due to disagreements over how much pro- Price Foundation” plans to host an annual “X Prize tection to offer potential space travelers. Cup” to provide financial incentives to private RLV teams to reach higher altitudes, fly faster, carry more I received the news about SpaceShipOne’s successful passengers, and to demonstrate faster RLV turnaround final flight while attending the 55th International times. Astronautical Congress of the International Robert Bigelow (founder of Bigelow Aerospace) an- Astronautical Federation (IAF), the International nounced his decision to sponsor a $50 million prize Academy of Astronautics (IAA), and the International competition to build and fly a private spacecraft capa- Institute of Space Law (IISL). This was the right timing ble of carrying 5 to 7 people into orbit. Such a vehicle for such a development because it gave more relevance would make it possible to transport space passengers to my discussion with the IAA Commission 2 (Space to the orbital hotel that he is currently developing Life Sciences) concerning the medical safety issues of based on NASA’s inflatable space station technology. manned commercial space transportation. They ex- Sir Richard Branson (founder of Virgin Atlantic pressed interest in establishing a study group to ad- Airways) announced his plans to establish a space dress these issues. I am preparing a proposal that will tourism company named “Virgin Galactic.” His plan is be submitted to the Space Life Sciences Commission to license the technology owned by Allen’s Mojave and the Board of Trustees. This will be a good opportu- Aerospace Ventures, and sign a contract with Rutan’s nity for a collaborative effort between IAA and AsMA. Scaled Composites to build a larger version of This was my first time attending this Congress. I was SpaceShipOne capable of carrying 5 passengers on a 3- very impressed with the high quality of their 5-day hour suborbital flight (including 3 minutes of micro- program and the wide variety of topics covered includ- gravity). Space passengers will have to pay an esti- ing astrodynamics, Earth observation, life sciences, ma- Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine • Vol. 75, No. 12 • December 2004 1097 terials and structures, microgravity sciences and cident rates per 100,000 hrs flown were 0.24%, 3.18%, processes, space communications, space education and 2.03%, and 6.69%, respectively. In addition, the corre- outreach, space exploration, space propulsion, space sponding fatalities resulting from these accidents were stations, space systems, space transportation, space de- 0, 0, 33, and 576, respectively. bris and space traffic, space law and policy, etc. This • Between 1990 and 2003 there were about 60,000 air- was a great opportunity for me to learn about other in- craft collisions with birds that caused 400 occupant teresting and important issues that are directly or indi- deaths and produced an average of $400 million in rectly related to our beloved Aerospace Medicine damages per year. The FAA recently completed a series Specialty. Expanding our knowledge and skills is al- of tests on a portable radar unit that can track flocks of ways a challenging and very satisfying endeavor. We birds around airports. The radar has a 3-mile range should always take advantage of every opportunity to and is designed to give fair warning of potential learn new things! strikes on aircraft departing and arriving at airports. The tests were done at Dallas/Fort Worth I would like to share with you some interesting U.S. International and are now being reviewed. The civil aviation facts that you may or may not know: portable system would be part of the National Bird • There are more than 620,000 active civil aviation pi- Strike Advisory System. The system is designed to lots (including about 38,000 women), and about 17,000 provide near-real-time warning of the risk of bird air traffic controllers. strikes by combining radar data and database informa- • There are approximately 19,581 airports, heliports, tion on bird strikes. and seaplane bases (including 5,286 public use airports and 14,295 private use airports). Going back to AsMA business, I am pleased to in- • The civil aviation fleet includes about 5,200 air car- form you that our Executive Committee (ExComm) rier (passenger transport and cargo) and 211,000 gen- has completed the development of our Business Plan eral aviation aircraft. with specific performance targets that support the • There are more than 500 million passenger enplane- Strategic Plan. In addition, after extensive analysis and ments every year. discussion, the ExComm has approved the partial pay- • The latest (2003) confirmed “aviation incident” sta- off (1/2) of our AsMA headquarters building mort- tistics reported 162 near midair collisions, 1,211 air gage. The other half will be re-financed for a 5-year traffic operational errors (0.78 per 100,000 facility activ- term and with no penalty for early payoff. This was a ities), 2,698 pilot deviations (1.64 per 100,000 flight timely decision considering the low-interest mortgage hours), 921 surface incidents (1.47 per 1 million airport rates for commercial property. operations), and 332 runway incursions. In my next President’s page I will share with you • The latest (2002) confirmed “aviation accident” sta- the outcome of AsMA’s involvement in recent aero- tistics reported 41 large air carrier, 8 commuter, 59 air space medicine meetings in Slovenia, Italy, and taxi, and 1,713 general aviation. The corresponding ac- Mexico. 1098 Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine • Vol.75, No. 12 • December 2004 Medical News Executive First International Congress on Space Flight Issues in Director’s the 21st Century, Bellagio, Italy, October 2004 Column By Pamela Day The idyllic setting was conducive to stimulat- ing the creative process, and the remote loca- The First International Congress on Space tion made it easier to concentrate on the task Flight Issues in the 21st Century: at hand. There was a balance of seasoned in- Cardiovascular Effects and Fluid Shift Issues, vestigators and younger students/residents/ came to fruition in Bellagio, Italy, October 18- recent graduates. The mentoring process was 21, 2004, more than 2 years after the initial re- evident throughout the meeting. The impres- quest to hold an international meeting had sive background among the participants and Rayman been made. While we could not hold the vast knowledge of previous studies made it meeting at the Rockefeller Foundation due to a immediately apparent that this was a high cal- Backsliding record number of requests, we decided to pur- iber group. sue other venues in Bellagio. The objectives of the meeting were: After three quarters of membership Sponsored by the AsMA and the Corporate 1) Contribute to the science of space medicine; gains, we have taken a loss during the third and Sustaining Members Affiliate Group, 16 2) Unify Corporate Members to help focus quarter of this year. We are currently, as of AsMA members and guests converged in their energies and create a product to give September 30, at a membership of 3,081 after Bellagio.