AERONAUTICS and ASTRONAUTICS: a CHRONOLOGY: 2008 NASA SP-2012-4034 June 2012 Author: Marieke Lewis Project Manager: Alice R
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AERONAUTICS AND ASTRONAUTICS: A CHRONOLOGY: 2008 NASA SP-2012-4034 June 2012 Author: Marieke Lewis Project Manager: Alice R. Buchalter Federal Research Division, Library of Congress NASA History Program Office Public Outreach Division Office of Communications NASA Headquarters Washington, DC 20546 Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2008 PREFACE This report is a chronological compilation of narrative summaries of news reports and government documents highlighting significant events and developments in U.S. and foreign aeronautics and astronautics. It covers the year 2008. These summaries provide a day-to-day recounting of major activities, such as administrative developments, awards, launches, scientific discoveries, corporate and government research results, and other events in countries with aeronautics and astronautics programs. Researchers used the archives and files housed in the NASA History Division, as well as reports and databases on the NASA Web site. i Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2008 TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE ........................................................................................................................................ i JANUARY 2008 ............................................................................................................................. 1 FEBRUARY 2008 .......................................................................................................................... 5 MARCH 2008 ................................................................................................................................. 9 APRIL 2008 .................................................................................................................................. 13 MAY 2008 .................................................................................................................................... 19 JUNE 2008 .................................................................................................................................... 24 JULY 2008 .................................................................................................................................... 29 AUGUST 2008 ............................................................................................................................. 34 SEPTEMBER 2008 ...................................................................................................................... 38 OCTOBER 2008 ........................................................................................................................... 44 NOVEMBER 2008 ....................................................................................................................... 49 DECEMBER 2008 ........................................................................................................................ 55 APPENDIX A: TABLE OF ABBREVIATIONS......................................................................... 61 APPENDIX B: BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................... 65 iii Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2008 J ANUAR Y 2008 11 January Alliant Techsystems of Edina, Minnesota, announced that Lockheed Martin Space Systems had awarded Alliant a contract to build electricity-generating solar arrays for NASA’s Orion spacecraft. Because solar arrays are expendable, the contract, valued at over US$50 million, could extend at least through 2020. NASA had designed Orion for use in human space exploration and for transporting crews and cargo to the International Space Station (ISS). NASA had chosen Lockheed as the lead contractor for the Orion program in summer 2007.1 14 January European Space Agency (ESA) scientists announced that the Ulysses spacecraft had made its fourth pass over one of the Sun’s poles. Ulysses, engaged in an 18-year, ongoing joint mission operated by NASA and ESA, had completed an orbit of the Sun every 6.2 years. As it passed over the Sun’s poles, Ulysses occupied a unique position enabling the craft to sample solar winds, a vantage point unavailable to any other spacecraft or Earth-based observatory. This most recent flyby of the Sun’s north pole had occurred a week after scientists had observed the beginning of a new solar cycle. “This is a wonderful opportunity to examine the Sun’s north pole within a transition of cycles,” said Arik Posner, a NASA scientist for the Ulysses program.2 15 January Thuraya Satellite Telecommunications, based in Abu Dhabi, successfully launched its Thuraya-3 satellite aboard Sea Launch’s Zenit-3SL rocket, after a November 2007 delay caused by rough seas surrounding the launch site. The launch occurred at 11:49 (UT) from Sea Launch’s platform in the Pacific Ocean. Boeing Satellite Systems had built the 11,381-pound (5,162-kilogram) satellite. Thuraya’s owner planned for the satellite to come to rest at 98.5° east longitude, allowing the company to expand mobile-communication coverage into East Asia. The launch was the first for the California-based international consortium Sea Launch since a January 2007 disaster had disabled its launch vehicle.3 16 January NASA announced that its Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) had passed the first round of flight-testing, after the craft successfully flew five times with its external door closed. The external door is a modification of the craft’s 747SP fuselage. The craft’s 10-foot (3-meter), 19-ton (38,000-pound or 17,237-kilogram) telescope would make observations through the door, collecting data that scientists would be able to use to study the birth and evolution of planets, stars, and galaxies. In addition to confirming SOFIA’s aerodynamics, control, handling, stability, and structural integrity, the tests also assessed the 1 Salt Lake Tribune (UT), “Alliant To Build Solar Panels for NASA,” 11 January 2008; Erik Borg, “Alliance Gets $50 M NASA Solar-Array Contract,” Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal (MN), 11 January 2008. 2 European Space Agency (ESA), “Ulysses at the North Pole,” news release, 15 February 2008, http://www.esa.int/ esaSC/SEMLLN3MDAF_index_0.html (accessed 17 December 2010); Houston Chronicle, “Ulysses Flies over Sun’s North Pole,” 15 January 2008. 3 Associated Press, “Satellite Launched from Ocean Platform,” 16 January 2008; Peter B. de Selding, “Sea Launch Rocket Successfully Returns to Flight,” Space.com, 15 January 2008, http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/ 080115-sealaunch-thuraya3-liftoff.html (accessed 14 December 2010); Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 651, 1 February 2008, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx651.html (accessed 6 December 2010). 1 Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2008 telescope’s tracking abilities. SOFIA, a joint partnership between NASA and the German Aerospace Center, was based at the Aircraft Operations Facility at Edwards Air Force Base, part of NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC).4 17 January Warner K. Dahm, the last of Wernher von Braun’s German rocket team to retire from NASA, died at age 90 in Huntsville, Alabama. A German aerodynamics expert, Dahm had joined von Braun’s program during World War II and had later come to the United States with his colleagues to assist in developing American rocketry. He had worked at NASA first as a member of the team for Operation Paperclip in Texas and later at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). Over the years, Dahm had lent his expertise to the design of the V-2 and Wasserfall anti-aircraft rockets, the Redstone rocket, the Jupiter ballistic missile, Saturn 1, Saturn 1B, the Saturn-5 rocket that flew America’s first astronauts to the Moon, Skylab, and the Space Shuttle Transportation System. In 2006, at the age of 89, he had retired from his position as Chief Aerodynamicist at Marshall. Dahm had received NASA’s Exceptional Service Medal in 2003.5 18 January NASA announced the appointment of Jaiwon Shin to replace Lisa J. Porter as NASA’s Associate Administrator for the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate. Porter, who had held the position since 2005, was leaving NASA to become the first Director of the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity. Her resignation would become effective on 1 February. Shin was serving as Deputy Associate Administrator for Aeronautics at the time of his new appointment. He had previously worked for NASA’s LaRC and GRC, authoring more than 20 papers and receiving numerous professional awards. As Associate Administrator for the Aeronautics Research Mission, Shin would be responsible for guiding NASA’s aeronautics research portfolio in areas such as the fundamental aeronautics of flight, aviation safety, and the national airspace system.6 At a ceremony during the opening of the Spirit of Innovation exhibition at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC, NASA recognized the first winners of the Pete Conrad Spirit of Innovation Award, a national competition that challenges high school students to create concepts that advance the personal spaceflight industry. NASA’s Innovative Partnership Program sponsored the US$10,000 prize for the Conrad Award. The Spirit of Innovation exhibition would travel nationwide to highlight the students’ achievements. The X Prize Foundation announced that, in addition, a scroll inscribed with the winners’ names would travel to the ISS. Michael Hakimi and 4 NASA, “SOFIA Completes Closed-Door Test Flights,” news release 08-010, 16 January 2008, http://www.nasa. gov/home/hqnews/2008/jan/HQ_08010_SOFIA_Flight_Series_End.html