Look Up: What's in the Sky This Week?
Over the past week, a nearly-confirmed rumor has circulated that while NASA may actually be getting a slight financial boost overall in the President's 2011 budget plan -- which he'll announce Monday -- Obama will also urge Congress to give the Constellation program the axe, big time, leaving the U.S. space program with no plan for human spaceflight in the foreseeable future. (We'll be relying on the Russians to send our astronauts to the International Space Station -- oh, what a few decades change.)
So what is in the sky? Well, there is one area of spaceflight that, almost under the radar, is receiving significant support from government and commercial coffers alike: spaceports. The Federal Aviation Administration has officially licensed seven spaceports (including Richard Branson's Spaceport America in New Mexico) around the country in the last decade, one of which concerns our readership: the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (or MARS) located at picturesque Wallops Island, Va., about a three-hour drive from D.C. MARS and its two launchpads are on the southern tip of the Wallops Flight Facility (WFF), which has been a significant NASA rocket launching facility since 1945 (in fact, before NASA was even called NASA), and is supported by Goddard Space Flight Center, right here at the end of the Green line. The governors of Virginia and Maryland signed a joint agreement and broke ground for MARS in 2003.
MARS works in conjunction with WFF, launching satellites and other missions into low-Earth orbit. With an FAA license, MARS will be able to launch humans on commercial spaceflights for space tourism. Virginia's Governor Bob McDonnell has thrown his full support behind Wallops and MARS (Creigh Deeds and McDonnell matched each other on support for Wallops during the election). Last week, McDonnell urged the Virginia General Assembly to keep former Gov. Kaine's commitment to invest $1.3 million in MARS, despite Virginia's current budget shortfall. As Space Politics noted, McDonnell promised, "We can make Wallops Island the top commercial Spaceport in America, and I ask you to keep that money in place so that we can aggressively recruit aerospace companies and promote space tourism initiatives."
Meanwhile, Florida is feeling the heat from the action in Virginia. As if the folks at Cape Canaveral aren't already feeling the pain -- as the Space Shuttle program comes to an end this year, layoffs have and will continue to hit the Space Coast -- the Orlando Sentinel twists the knife a bit in an article last Monday
This small barrier island off Virginia's coast may not be a household name, but it has the potential to threaten Florida's position as a leader in space flight. The island's primary resident is NASA, and the Wallops Island Flight Facility is prepped to become the 21st century's capital for manned space flight.
The article also notes that Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) has been able to secure over $35 million in federal dollars over the years for the facility.
What does all this mean for the region? Jobs, jobs, jobs, and good ones at that. Investing in WFF and MARS will bring significant scientific, engineering and tech jobs, not to mention big bucks from corporate contracts. If space tourism eventually takes off -- and whether it's in five years or 50, it will -- Virginia and Maryland's economy will get their investment back many times over. The Sentinel notes that in 2008, Florida "saw $4.1 billion in overall economic benefits during the 2008 fiscal year. That figure includes $2.1 billion in household income with contracts stretching across 47 of Florida's 67 counties." If that money moves to Virginia and Maryland in the next five to ten years, well, shoot, you guys could buy your very own panda bear herd.
Let's not forget the fun stuff: you can totally drive to Wallops and watch rocket launches! Unfortunately, they have one of the most useless launch calendars I've ever seen. (Light green denotes launches, but that includes those they support, like Space Shuttle launches from Kennedy Space Center.) It appears there may be a launch at 10 a.m. on February 24, though I couldn't tell you what for. If you'd like to keep track of them, bookmark these two sites: NASA's main launch schedule and Spaceflightnow.com's worldwide launch schedule. Check them once in awhile and just search for "wallops." You can also call the Wallops launch line at 757-824-2050, which currently says "There are no launches for January," and hangs up. We'll try to let you know before the next launch (some of them, we assure you, are particularly awesome).
>> Speaking of launches, mark your calendar for next Sunday, Feb. 7 -- and set that alarm clock early. Space Shuttle Endeavour, carrying the STS-130 crew to the International Space Station, lifts off from Kennedy Space Center at 4:39 a.m. This marks the last night launch for the space shuttle -- and if you've never seen a night launch, it's worth setting the coffee pot to brew early. (Hell, it's worth flying to Florida for the weekend and parking in Titusville to watch, if you've got the time. We hear it's warm down there.) Including STS-130, there are only five space shuttle launches left in the program.
>> Did anyone see the Perigee Moon on Friday night? Us either -- it seems the cloud cover just didn't want to cooperate. Though we're past the exact date of perigee and opposition for the Moon and Mars, they're still pretty darn close and, thus, bright in the sky. Judging by the bright clear day outside right now, tonight seems like a good time to look up and check them out.