Oklahoma Space Alliance Update Page 1 of 19 February, 2014

Update

President’s Message: By Stephen T. Swift

How did an upstart company like SpaceX emerge as a leader in the space industry in just 11 years? Elon Musk—one of the great visionaries, design engineers and entrepreneurs—is one reason. An outstanding team of leaders and people at SpaceX is another. Tom Mueller—SpaceX Vice President of propulsion development is another.

Although the SpaceX people, from top to bottom, deserve all the credit, what did they do? What directions and actions led to their success?

Continued on page 4

Stephen Hawking in Zero G Parabolic Flight April, 2007

Credit: AP File Photo

Oklahoma Space

Alliance A Chapter of The

National Space Society A free email newsletter of the Oklahoma Space Alliance

February 2014

February OSA Meeting Saturday, February 8, 2014

3:30 PM Harry Bears Restaurant

2113 Riverwalk Dr., Moore, OK (2 tenths of Mile South of S. 19th

West of I35 Frontage Road) 405-799-2327

Program—What’s Happening: Events and Videos, Special Feature: The Increasing Pace of Space Events.

Quote of the Month:

“There are too many accidents that can befall life on a single planet. But I’m an optimist. We will reach out to the stars.” Stephen Hawking

Interview with Daily Telegraph, 2001

Oklahoma Space Alliance Update Page 2 of 19 February, 2014

Table of Contents February OSA Meeting ............................................................................................................................................ 1

President’s Message ............................................................................................................................................... 1

Quote of the Month: ............................................................................................................................................... 1

Table of Contents .................................................................................................................................................... 2

Satellite Tracks Leopard .......................................................................................................................................... 3

Presidents Message Continued .............................................................................................................................. 4

SpaceShipTwo 3rd Powered Flight........................................................................................................................... 6

Virgin Galactic Tests Launcher one Engines ........................................................................................................... 6

Questions Raised About SpaceShipTwo ................................................................................................................. 6

Penn State Launches Crowdfunding for Lunar X Prize Team ................................................................................. 6

NASA Launches Tracking and Data Relay Satellite ................................................................................................. 7

Japan Approves Funding for H-3 Rocket ................................................................................................................. 7

Review Legal Issues with Removal of Space Debris ................................................................................................ 7

Air Force X-37B to Use Former Shuttle Hangar ...................................................................................................... 8

House Passes Funding for Commercial Crew Program ........................................................................................... 8

Russia Plans Seven Space Launches in Two Months .............................................................................................. 8

Sierra Nevada Announced First Orbital Flight for Dream Chaser ........................................................................... 9

Morpheus Lander Completes Flight Test ................................................................................................................ 9

NASA Plans Five Earth Sciences Missions in 2014 .................................................................................................. 9

SpaceX Tests Dragon Parachute System ............................................................................................................... 10

Beijing “We have a Problem” ................................................................................................................................ 10

Ants Now Out Number Humans in Space ............................................................................................................. 10

UrtheCast Cameras Installed on ISS ...................................................................................................................... 11

Bigelow Needs Clarification of Lunar Property Rights .......................................................................................... 11

Company Gets FAA Approval for Commercial Spaceflight Training ..................................................................... 11

California Advances Bill Giving Space Companies a Tax Break ............................................................................. 11

Carbon Dioxide Is Not Just a Greenhouse Gas...................................................................................................... 12

Solar Wind Produces Water in Interplanetary Dust ............................................................................................. 12

NASA Opens Doors to Lunar Lander Development .............................................................................................. 12

Opportunity Rover Explores for 10 Years ............................................................................................................. 13

Research Suggests Plants May Grow in Martian Soil ........................................................................................... 13

Falcon 9 v1.1—Grasshopper 2 (GH2).................................................................................................................... 13

America’s Space Futures: Defining Goals for Space Exploration .......................................................................... 14

NASA Plans for Lunar In-situ Water Mining Demonstration ................................................................................ 14

Head of Roscosmos Says Russia to Build World’s Largest Rocket ........................................................................ 14

Russian Astronauts Harvest Edible Crops ............................................................................................................. 15

February Meeting Agenda .................................................................................................................................... 16

Minutes of January Meeting: ................................................................................................................................ 17

Notes on January OSIDA Meeting ......................................................................................................................... 19

Oklahoma Space Alliance Update Page 3 of 19 February, 2014

Oklahoma Space Alliance

Update February 2014

Editor Stephen Swift

sswift42@aol.com 405-496-3616

The Oklahoma Space Alliance Update is a bi-monthly newsletter of the Oklahoma Space Alliance a chapter of the National Space Society, a non-profit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C. The address of OSA is 102 W. Linn, #1, Norman, OK 73071. Unless otherwise noted, all contents of articles herein do not necessarily reflect the opinion of anyone but the writer. Reprint rights are granted to recognized chapters of NSS, provided credit is given. Articles may be submitted by U.S. mail or electronically. Articles may be sent to the Editor at 1125 S Air Depot Blvd. No112, Midwest City, OK 73110 or to sswift42@aol.com. Each submission should include the author’s name and either e-mail address or phone number (for verification only). A text or Microsoft Word file is preferred. Please contact the Editor by phone, e-mail or texting before mailing your information.

OSA Officers for 2014 President & Stephen Swift

Update Editor

sswift42@aol.com

405-496-3616

Vice President David Sheely

sheely@sbcglobal.net

405-821-9077 Secretary & Syd Henderson

Outreach Editor

sydh@ou.edu

405-321-4027(H)

405-365-8983(C)

Treasurer Tim Scott

ctsscott@mac.com

405-740-7549(H)

NSS Headquarters 1155 15th Street NW, Suite 500 Washington DC

20005 Exec Director TBD

nsshq@nss.org 202-429-1600

Satellite Tracks Leopard

Snow Leopard Uncia Uncia, Bronx Zoo

Credit: Sujit Kumar Mahapatra / WikiMedia

“Wildlife experts in Nepal are tracking a rare snow leopard by using a collar with a satellite link to discover factors affecting its habitat”. Snow leopards are considered an endangered species, and only about 300 to 500 survive in Nepal. See full article at Source: GPS Daily Nepal uses satellite to track rare snow leopard.

Snow leopard cubs play in their indoor habitat at the

Oklahoma City Zoo. The cubs were born May 12, 2010. Credit: PAUL B. SOUTHERLAND - THE OKLAHOMAN

See leopard cubs article and video at Source: NewsOK Snow leopard cubs to debut at Oklahoma City Zoo | News OK

Oklahoma Space Alliance Update Page 4 of 19 February, 2014

Presidents Message Continued The following list itemizes many important factors in SpaceX success, but it is not complete and is not in priority order.

1. SpaceX avoids distractions and tempting tangents by having a clear long-term goal to improve space flight technology while lowering costs.

2. Although SpaceX has a long-term goal, their current products focus on existing markets including NASA, Air Force and commercial satellites. The Falcon 9 LEO and GEO payload capacities match current market needs.

3. All Falcon 9 rockets, regardless of use, are the same. The two stages are the same on all Falcon 9s. There are differences between v 1.0 and v1.1, but SpaceX stopped making v1.0 when the new version went into production.

4. The tanks for both Falcon 9 stages are the same except for length. They are the same diameter, and consist of the same materials manufactured the same way.

5. Stages 1 and 2 use the same engines. They use the same controls, computers, pumps, igniters and fuel. Stage 1 has nine Merlin engines, and stage 2 has one Merlin engine. Achieving maximum thrust efficiency in the vacuum of space requires a different rocket engine nozzle shape than engines operating in Earth atmosphere. The different nozzle shape for stage 2 is the only difference in the engines.

6. SpaceX uses nine engines on the Falcon 9 stage one booster. This approach avoided the much higher cost of developing larger engines. It also gave the Falcon 9 built in redundancy. A successful mission is possible even with failure of two of the nine engines. The remaining engines just burn longer to compensate for thrust lost from the failing engines.

Falcon 9 v1.1 Engines with Altered Configuration Credit: SpaceX

7. SpaceX designs and manufactures all of its rocket engines thereby avoiding costs and

dependency inherent in purchasing engines. Today SpaceX manufactures the Merlin 1D for the Falcon 9, the Draco for reaction control (maneuver) on the Falcon 9 second stage and the Dragon spacecraft and the Super Draco engine for launch abort as well as for Dragon reentry and landing. SpaceX is currently the largest, by number of engines,

Oklahoma Space Alliance Update Page 5 of 19 February, 2014

manufacturer of liquid fuel rocket engines in the United States. SpaceX is currently developing the Raptor, a very large liquid methane engine.

8. Through innovative design, the Merlin 1D engine has the highest thrust-to-weight ratio ever achieved for a rocket engine—150:1. This high level of efficiency helps further reduce costs of SpaceX launches. For comparison see the following table:

Rocket Engine Thrust-to-Weight Ratio Ariane Vulcain 2 81:1 Atlas V RD180 78:1 Antares/Soyuz2 NK-33-1 137:1 JAXA –Japan H-IIA and B 66:1 Delta IV RS-68 51:1 Saturn V F-1 70:1 Falcon v1.1 Merlin 1D 150:1

SpaceX VP Tom Mueller, posing with the Merlin rocket engines at SpaceX's Hawthorne headquarters.

Photo by Roger Gilbertson. Photo courtesy Tom Mueller.

9. SpaceX saves costs by designing for near-term future requirements. For example, the

Falcon 9 requires minimal changes to add the “Grasshopper” landing legs for the future reusable version of the Falcon. Another example is in the Dragon spacecraft. Even though the initial Dragons were for cargo only, they incorporate design elements for future human spaceflight. The simplest example is that all cargo versions of Dragon have portholes for viewing. Sources: Falcon 9 | SpaceX, Falcon 9 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, CNES Figures Out What SpaceX Got Right, But Can Europe Respond? at Parabolic Arc and Comparison of orbital rocket engines - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Return to Beginning

Oklahoma Space Alliance Update Page 6 of 19 February, 2014

SpaceShipTwo 3rd Powered Flight

Image from SpaceShipTwo third powered

flight. Credit: Virgin Galactic

On January 10, SpaceShipTwo rocketed to an altitude of 71,000 ft. and a top speed of Mach 1.4. This was Virgin Galactic’s third powered test of SpaceShipTwo. See full article and video at Space.com Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo Spacecraft Makes Highest Supersonic Test Flight Yet | Space.com .

Virgin Galactic Tests Launcher one Engines The engines, dubbed "NewtonOne" and "NewtonTwo," were test-fired last week, as part of an ongoing program to develop a new launch vehicle for small satellites. See full article at Source: Space.com Virgin Galactic Fires New Engines for Satellite-Launching Rocket | Space.com

NewtonOne Engine Test Credit: Virgin Galactic

Image Credit: Virgin Galactic See LauncherOne at

LauncherOne – Concept of Operations | Virgin Galactic

Questions Raised About SpaceShipTwo “While Virgin Galactic is free with specifics about a small, unmanned rocket that won’t fly until

2016, it has not been very forthcoming about the engine for SpaceShipTwo.” See full article at

the Source: Parabolic Arc Virgin Galactic Suddenly Very Chatty About Engine Progress at

Parabolic Arc. Read additional information at Source: The Guardian Richard Branson's Virgin

Galactic: why is it stratospherically off schedule? | Business | The Guardian

Penn State Launches Crowdfunding for Lunar X Prize Team “We want this to be a mission done by the university but one that allows people around the

world to participate and to be a part of this project,” said Michael Paul, Penn State’s director

of space system initiatives. See full article at Space News Google Lunar X Prize Team Launches

Crowdfunding Push | SpaceNews.com.

Oklahoma Space Alliance Update Page 7 of 19 February, 2014

NASA Launches Tracking and Data Relay Satellite NASA launched TDRS-L a Tracking and Data Relay Satellite on January 23. As the name

suggests, the satellites relay signals between spacecraft including the International Space

Station and ground control stations on Earth. The satellites are a vast improvement over the

string of ground stations that communicated with spacecraft for short periods as they passed

over or near the stations. See more information at Source: NASA Tracking and Data Relay

Satellite | NASA. See launch video Credit: United Launch Alliance Atlas V TDRS-L Launch

Highlights - YouTube.

Atlas V Launch with TDRS-L Photo Source NASA

TDRS Satellite Image Source: NASA / Wikipedia

Japan Approves Funding for H-3 Rocket The Japanese government has officially approved initial funding for a $1.9 billion effort to develop the H-3 rocket. Tentatively scheduled for a first launch in 2020, the two-stage H-3 will capable of placing up to 6.5 metric tons of payload into geostationary transfer orbit. The target cost per launch is $50 million to $70 million. See full article at source Space News Japan Approves $1.9B for H-3 Rocket | SpaceNews.com.

Review Legal Issues with Removal of Space Debris Read about legal and political issues concerning removal of orbiting space debris. See the

following article. Source: The Space Review The Space Review: A brief look at the legal and

political implications of Japan’s space debris removal plans.

Oklahoma Space Alliance Update Page 8 of 19 February, 2014

Air Force X-37B to Use Former Shuttle Hangar Boeing will convert OPF-1, a former shuttle hangar, into the new home for the X-37B, a secret unmanned space plane used by the U. S. Air Force. To date, the X-37B has flown three missions into space. The second orbited the earth for 400 days before returning and landing. See full article at Space.com Boeing to Use Former Space Shuttle Hangar for Secret Space Plane | Space.com.

X-37B Mounted in Faring for Launch

Photo Credit: USAF / Wikipedia

X-37B on Runway prior to Launch atop an Atlas V

Image Credit: USAF / Phantom Report

House Passes Funding for Commercial Crew Program The House of Representatives passed H. R. 3547 providing funding for NASA’s Commercial

Crew Program (CCP). Since retirement of the Space Shuttle, NASA pays Russia for Soyuz

launches to take astronauts to and from the International Space Station. The CCP provides

stimulus funding for SpaceX, Boeing and Sierra Nevada to develop spacecraft for manned

orbital flights. H. R. 3547 is crucial to keep the development programs active. See story at

Space Travel Commercial Spaceflight Federation Applauds Passage of Bill Providing Funding for

Commercial Programs.

Russia Plans Seven Space Launches in Two Months In 2013, Russia conducted 32 space launches. They are starting 2014 at an even more

aggressive pace with seven launches planned in February and March. See full article at Source:

Space Daily Russia to launch seven space vehicles in two months

Oklahoma Space Alliance Update Page 9 of 19 February, 2014

Sierra Nevada Announced First Orbital Flight for Dream Chaser The first orbital flight for the manned spacecraft Dream Chaser scheduled for November 1,

2016. Dream Chaser will launch atop an Atlas V. See full story at Space Travel SNC Announces

First Orbital Flight of Dream Chaser.

Dream Chaser Illustrated atop Atlas V

Illustration Source: Space Travel

Dream Chaser Credit NASA

Morpheus Lander Completes Flight Test

Morpheus Hovering

Screenshot from Flight Video Credit: NASA

Six flights of Morpheus prototype lander were conducted in past two months, at Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility. See story and video at YouTube Project Morpheus Free Flight 06 - YouTube . See NASA Blog on Project Morpheus Project Morpheus : Blog: Greatness on the Horizon

NASA Plans Five Earth Sciences Missions in 2014 "As NASA prepares for future missions to an asteroid and Mars, we're focused on Earth right

now," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. "With five new missions set to launch in 2014,

this really is shaping up to be the year of the Earth, and this focus on our home planet will

make a significant difference in people's lives around the world." See complete article at

Source: SpaceREF / NASA NASA Set for a Big Year in Earth Science With Five New Missions |

SpaceRef - Your Space Reference

Oklahoma Space Alliance Update Page 10 of 19 February, 2014

SpaceX Tests Dragon Parachute System "The parachute test is essential for the commercial crew effort because it helps us better understand how SpaceX's system performs as it safely returns crew," said Jon Cowart, NASA Partner Integration deputy manager working with SpaceX. See full article and video at Source: SpaceREF SpaceX Tests Dragon Parachute System - SpaceRef Business Image is screenshot from SpaceX video of the test.

Beijing “We have a Problem” China’s space agency told Xinhua that its “Yutu” rover has suffered a mechanical abnormality, just as it was about to be temporarily shut down for the next two weeks during the Lunar night. Read complete article on Source: Forbes China's Moon Rover Runs Into Technical Trouble - Forbes

China's Yutu Rover on the Moon

(Credit: CNSA/CCTV)

Ants Now Out Number Humans in Space

Ant Photo Credit: Steve Jurvetson / Popular Science

As part of a student experiment, eight ant farms hitched a ride to the orbiting lab alongside the food, supplies and other gear. The space ants launched into orbit aboard an Orbital Sciences Cygnus spacecraft that launched on January 9. See full article and video at Source: Space.com Ant Farm Hitches Rocket Ride to Space Station (Video) | Space.com

Oklahoma Space Alliance Update Page 11 of 19 February, 2014

UrtheCast Cameras Installed on ISS Two commercial HD cameras are now operational on the International Space Station. After

initial failures, two cameras developed by a Canadian company for the International Space

Station are now functioning. Images from the two HD video cameras will be downloaded to

ground stations on Earth and be made available just a few hours after they're captured,

providing what the company calls the "world's first near-live HD video feed of Earth." See full

article on Source: UrtheCast cameras successfully installed on ISS, CEO says - British Columbia -

CBC News

Bigelow Needs Clarification of Lunar Property Rights Clarification of certain property rights is required before Bigelow or any other investor can

pursue building a lunar base. Bigelow is not asking to own a land tract on the moon, rather he

is seeking the clear rights to extract, use and profit from extraterrestrial resources without

interference. These rights include owning facilities and improvements and owning material

extracted, mined or otherwise processed on the moon or an asteroid. Implicit to these rights

is the need for a “safety” zone around any such facilities. See full article at Source: Space

Property Rights: It’s Time, and Here’s Where to Start | SpaceNews.com

Company Gets FAA Approval for Commercial Spaceflight Training Waypoint 2 Space — a Houston-based company aimed at helping commercial astronauts train

for spaceflight — just received Federal Aviation Administration safety approval for their plan

to train would-be astronauts. See article at Source: Space.com Commercial Space Travel

Training Company Gets FAA Approval | Space.com

California Advances Bill Giving Space Companies a Tax Break The legislation will encourage space companies such as SpaceX to stay in California. See full

article at Source: CNET California may give tax breaks to SpaceX, other space travel firms |

Tech Culture - CNET News.

Oklahoma Space Alliance Update Page 12 of 19 February, 2014

Carbon Dioxide Is Not Just a Greenhouse Gas Productive uses of carbon dioxide will benefit long-term space habitation. Poland scientists make progress in research with carbon dioxide.

Credit: Image courtesy of Institute of Physical Chemistry of

the Polish Academy of Sciences

In common perception, carbon dioxide is just a greenhouse gas, one of the major environmental problems of humankind. For Warsaw chemists CO2 became, however, something else: a key element of reactions allowing for creation of nanomaterials with unprecedented properties. See article at Source: Science Daily Carbon dioxide paves the way to unique nanomaterials -- ScienceDaily

Solar Wind Produces Water in Interplanetary Dust Exciting implications about the chances of finding water on planets and asteroids emerge from

research at the University of Hawaii. “Interplanetary dust that comes from comets, asteroids

and leftover debris from the birth of the solar system, continually rains down on the Earth and

other Solar System bodies. These particles are bombarded by solar wind, predominately

hydrogen ions. This ion bombardment knocks the atoms out of order in the silicate mineral

crystal and leaves behind oxygen that is more available to react with hydrogen, for example, to

create water molecules.” Read full article at Source: SciTechDaily Interplanetary Dust Particles

Can Deliver Water and Organics to Terrestrial Planets | SciTech Daily.

NASA Opens Doors to Lunar Lander Development Success of NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services agreements with SpaceX and

Orbital Sciences opens new doors. Strategic use of NASA funds and resources helped

commercial companies develop orbital launch vehicles and services. NASA is now opening its

doors inviting commercial companies to use NASA resources for development of lunar landing

vehicle(s). Currently, there is no money for the initiative, called the Lunar Cargo

Transportation and Landing by Soft Touchdown, or CATALYST. However, NASA is offering

technical expertise, software and the use of its facilities and equipment. Source: SpaceNews

NASA Looking for Commercial Lunar Landers | SpaceNews.com

Oklahoma Space Alliance Update Page 13 of 19 February, 2014

Opportunity Rover Explores for 10 Years Opportunity landed on Mars on Jan. 24, 2004 PST (Jan. 25, 2004 UTC) on what was to be a

three-month mission, but instead the rover has lived beyond its prime mission and roved the

planet for 10 years. See full story at Source: Mars Daily Ten-Years Roving About On Mars

Opportunity on Rim of Victoria Crater, Mars Credit: NASA

Research Suggests Plants May Grow in Martian Soil In a project funded by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, plants grew in Martian like sand

provided by NASA. The plants grew in Martian like soil and with Earth atmosphere. Read

article at Source: Mars Daily Dutch researcher says food plants able to grow on Mars.

Falcon 9 v1.1—Grasshopper 2 (GH2) A Falcon9 v1.1 has ‘Grasshopper’ legs at SpaceX’s McGregor, Texas test facility. Soot is on the

base of the vehicle and the legs themselves, likely via static test firings. See the full article with

pictures at Source: NASA Spaceflight.com Falcon 9 preparing to stretch her legs via

Grasshopper trials | NASASpaceFlight.com.

Oklahoma Space Alliance Update Page 14 of 19 February, 2014

America’s Space Futures: Defining Goals for Space Exploration The George Marshall Institute published America’s Space Futures: Defining Goals for Space Exploration in December 2013. The authors make a strong statement in support of space: “Cheap access to space, or CATS, is the most critical national and economic security objective for the coming decades.” Several articles about this book are online. See the following at Source: Space Review: The Space Review: What’s a space exploration program for?,

The Space Review: Achieving cheap access to space: the foundation of commercialization (part 1),

The Space Review: Achieving cheap access to space: the foundation of commercialization (part 2)

and Source: The Marshall Institute America’s Space Futures: Defining Goals for Space Exploration.

NASA Plans for Lunar In-situ Water Mining Demonstration NASA is laying the groundwork for a resource extraction unit (RESOLVE) that would ride on a lunar rover and would scout for subsurface volatiles and extract them for processing. Picture shows RESOLVE during testing on Canada's Artemis Jr. rover. Read full article on Source: SpaceNews NASA Planning for Mission To Mine Water on the Moon | SpaceNews.com.

Credit: NASA photo

Head of Roscosmos Says Russia to Build World’s Largest Rocket Oleg Ostapenko, head of Roscosmos in October, said the planned launcher would be able to

lift 80 metric tons into low Earth orbit. It could also be upgraded to launch as much as 160

tons, which would be the heaviest payload ever lifted by a single rocket into space. See full

article at Source: Space Travel.com Russian Space Agency Plans World's Biggest Rocket

Oklahoma Space Alliance Update Page 15 of 19 February, 2014

Russian Astronauts Harvest Edible Crops Russians successfully grew and harvested a variety of crops on board the International Space Station. See article at Source: Space Travel / Moscow (RIA Novosti) Russian Space Farmers Harvest Wheat, Peas and Greens

Russian Space Farmers Harvest Wheat, Peas and Greens

Photo courtesy NASA

Oklahoma Space Alliance Update Page 16 of 19 February, 2014

Oklahoma Space AllianceA Chapter of The

National Space Society

February Meeting Agenda February 8, 2014

Place: Harry Bears in Moore, OK 3:30 PM

I. Business Meeting a. Review Minutes and Agenda b. New mail c. Treasurers Report d. Report on OSIDA e. Old Business

1) Yuri’s Night 2) Art Contest 3) Annual Report 4) Discuss candidate subjects for OSA ‘Feature

Presentations’ in 2014. f. New Business

4:30

II. What’s Happening Many interesting events have occurred since our last meeting. We will review and discuss these events using slides and videos.

III. Special Feature: The Increasing Pace of Space Events—Slides and discussion

IV. Adjourn

Return to Beginning

Oklahoma Space Alliance Update Page 17 of 19 February, 2014

Minutes of January Meeting: Oklahoma Space Alliance met at Harry Bear’s All-American Grill in Moore on January 11,

2014. Attending were Steve and Brian Swift, Dennis Wigley, Tim Scott, Vicki Richartz, Clifford

and Claire McMurray, and Syd Henderson.

Our bank balance, after reimbursing Syd for newsletter printing expenses, is $667.85,

with an additional $267.00 in cash.

OSIDA has moved into its new control center.

Yuri’s Night: They can give a discount dependent on tax-exempt status at both the

Stafford Museum in Weatherford and Science Museum Oklahoma in Oklahoma City.

Claire has talked to David Lee Anderson. Most artists who would be good judges would

be happy to judge. We could use the same rules as the NSS Art Contest. Every contestant in

grades seven through twelve who want to should submit to the NSS Contest. For grades one

through six, we will have ‘What would your home look like in Space?’

Annual reports are due by February 15. There will be a chapters leader telethon on

Annual Reports on Tuesday January 14. There is a new format for the activity report which

differentiates between active and passive outreach. For example, sitting at a table is passive

outreach, but giving Girl Scouts information that they need for space merit badges, or staffing

panels at a convention is active, as was Steve’s presentation to OSIDA.

What feature presentations can we do for the upcoming year?

Mars Contest: Sooner Fashion Mall would be interesting in doing a display of the kid’s

art. Since entries can be submitted electronically, we can pay for color ink. We need

permission forms for displaying the art.

What’s Happening in Space?

Quote of the Day: “We will eventually build space science labs and hotels, prodding the

capability for missions beyond the orbit of the Earth. Our space-hotel guests will be able to

take breath-taking excursions, flying a couple of hundred feet above the Moon’s surface in

small two-man spaceships. In time, we will launch missions to Mars and beyond.” Richard

Branson, Virgin Galactic, in the December issue of The Economist

Presentations this month: (Links to the articles can be found on our website at

http://chapters.nss.org/ok/1401%20January%20Whats%20Happening.pdf , so I won’t

duplicate them here.)

China Deploys Luna Rover. China launched a Moon lander on December 2 and it landed

on December 14, thirty-seven years after the last soft lunar landing. [That last landing was

Luna 24, a Russian sample return mission. Although Jade Rabbit survived its first lunar night, it

sent an alarm message before its second night and we’re waiting to see if it survived. The

Oklahoma Space Alliance Update Page 18 of 19 February, 2014

name “Jade Rabbit” comes from a rabbit that lives on the Moon in Chinese legend, much as

we see a Man in the Moon.]

We watched a preview of Interstellar. The movie will come out in November 2014.

Shape morphing may lead to artificial muscles for robots.

Congress is stumbling along on space policy issues. Among these are commercial launch

indemnification, which expired on December 31 and Congress can’t get its act together to

extend it despite lack of opposition. Debate also stumbles along concerning removal of

commercial spaceflight from the US Munitions List.

NASA Ames developing “Super Ball Bot” designed to land on the surface of Saturn’s

moon Titan. This actually is a robotic linkage that rolls around by changing its shape, carrying

an instrument package in its center.

Movers and Shakers this month was SpaceX, and we had a series of articles on them.

Business Week had an article on how SpaceX is already drastically reducing the price of

launches, and Parabolic Arc mentioned how this is affecting the pricing of Ariane launches.

SpaceX has also won the right to negotiate for use of launch pad LC-39A, the previous home

for Apollo and Shuttle missions.

Steve has changed the format for Space News, as will become apparent when you look

at the January What’s Happening online. Among the other news he has links to are “200-

Kilometer-High Jets of Water Discovered Shooting from Europa,” India’s Mars Mission Adjusts

Course,” “Mars One Slashes Applicant Pool by 99.5%” [from 200,000 to 1,000], and much

more. He also has links to every launch from December 3 (SpaceX launch to geosynchronous

orbit) through January 3 (Orbital Science’s first resupply mission to the space station), and

includes European, Chinese, Russian and Indian launches.

Tim was collecting dues for year 2004.

Minutes by Oklahoma Space Alliance Secretary Syd Henderson

Oklahoma Space Alliance Update Page 19 of 19 February, 2014

Notes on January OSIDA Meeting

The OSIDA board met on January 8, 2014 in the conference room at the Department of

Transportation Building in Oklahoma City. Board members in attendance were Don Wetekam,

James Cunningham, Robert Conner and Robert Cox. In Mr. Goodbary’s absence, James

Cunningham presided. Steve Swift and Syd Henderson attended on behalf of Oklahoma Space

Alliance, and there were three others in the audience.

Oklahoma Spaceport director Bill Khourie will be giving a presentation on January 13 at

the Western Tech Center of an overview of operations that will be taking place at the

Spaceport.

The new Operations Center is now occupied and operational.

Bill is meeting with Bryan Boone of ODOC (Oklahoma Department of Commerce) about

development of the website.

The Control Tower equipment was upgraded by the FAA.

The Spaceport is doing interviews for Operations Manager.

The Board went into two executive sessions in a row. There was a vote to have the next

meeting at the Oklahoma Spaceport at 1:30 p.m. on February 12.

Notes by Oklahoma Space Alliance Secretary Syd Henderson