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NSS Chapters, Members Win Awards

A number of awards for outstanding service by NSS chapters and members were handed out at the 1996 International Development Conference in New York on May 26.

The Robert A. Heinlein Award, for lifetime achievement in space-related fields, was given to Buzz Aldrin. Aldrin was unable to accept the award in person, however, due to the flu. Aldrin joins an impressive list of previous recipients, including Gerald O'Neill, Arthur C. Clarke, Gene Roddenberry, and Robert Goddard.

Space Pioneer Awards were handed out Sunday night to two individuals. The award for business entrepreneur went to Charles Chafer, founder of Celestis. Marianne Dyson won the award for activist of the year. Peter Diamandis was awarded the Space Pioneer Award for special merit on Saturday night, and Jeffrey Kluger won the award for mass media on Thursday evening.

San Diego L5 won the Chapter Excellence Award for chapter of the year. Other chapters winning Chapter Excellence Awards were Heart of America (for community service), NSS of Southwestern Michigan (service to the Society), Langley NSS (education), HAL5 (explorer award), Western Spaceport (publicity), Lunar Reclamation Society (newsletter), and Middle Tennessee Space Society (space TV project).

Several other chapters were given Special Merit Awards, including Sydney Space Frontier Society, Orange County Space Society, OASIS, NSS of North Texas, Beaver Valley Space Education, Clear Lake NSS, Illini Space Development Space Society, and the Metro Orlando Space Society.

Meritorious Service Awards were handed out to the Ann Arbor Space Society, Baltimore Metro Chapter, Central Savannah River Area, Chicago Society for Space Studies, Zero-G Destiny chapter, Illinois North Shore NSS, Colorado Springs Space Society, First Arkansas Chapter, Hawaii Space Society, Louisville Chapter, Memphis Space Society, North Coast NSS, NSS of Northeast Georgia, NSS Southern Oregon, Northeastern Pennsylvania Space Foundation, Philadelphia Area Space Alliance, Rock Valley Space Society, South Dakota Space Society, Sacramento L5, Sheboygan Space Society, Space Frontier Society of New York City, Suffolk Challengers for Space, and the Tucson Space Society.

The NSS Chapters Assembly, in separate awards, named NSS of North Texas the outstanding chapter of 1995 and Greg Allison of HAL5, the NSS chapter in Huntsville, Alabama, the outstanding chapter member of 1995.

The NSS Headquarters Volunteer Awards went to the volunteer editors of three NSS-sponsored publications: Jeffrey Liss (Inside NSS), Richard Wagner (Spacenotes) and Jeff Foust (SpaceViews).

Upcoming Boston NSS Events

Thursday, June 6, 7:30pm

"Solar Power Satellites (SPS)"
by Peter Glaser

Solar power satellites were first proposed by Peter Glaser in the late 1960s as a way to provide nearly limitless amounts of energy to the Earth cleanly. Since that proposal, SPS's have been believed by many to be an important long-term benefit of space exploration and development, but we are no closer to building an SPS today than we were nearly 30 years ago. Peter's talk will look at the history of the SPS concept, and future directions for solar power from space.

Thursday, July 11, 7:30pm

"The Exploration of Venus"
by Larry Klaes

Larry Klaes will discuss the 35-year history of robotic probe exploration of the planet Venus by Soviet and American craft. The lecture details the evolution of our understanding about this mysterious and hellish world and what the human race may one day do with our nearest planetary neighbor. Larry is a member of the Boston NSS Board of Directors and the former Chapter President. [Note that the July meeting will be held on the second Thursday of the month to avoid a conflict with the Independence Day holiday.]

Sunday, August 11

Boston NSS Annual Picnic

Join fellow chapter members for an afternoon of food and fun at the home of the chapter treasurer, Roxanne Warniers. More information to follow!

Boston NSS May Lecture Summary

by Jeff Foust

Three experts in the areas of space commercialization and space policy discussed the future of commercial space development at the May meeting of the Boston chapter of the NSS, held at the Hyatt Regency Cambridge in conjunction with the Space Horizons conference.

James Stuart, vice president for space infrastructure at Teledesic, led off the evening by discussing his companies plans to develop a constellation of low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites to provide data communications between any two points on the Earth.

Stuart differentiated among several different types of proposed LEO constellations. The simplest "little LEO" systems, such as Orbcomm, rely on "store and forward" technology where a satellite receives a message as it passes over a ground station and holds on to it until it passes over the location of the recipient, then transmits it. A single satellite can cover the globe in twelve hours and can deliver faxes, e-mail, and other short messages for about $1 a page, "cheaper than FedEx."

The next level of complexity comes with "big LEO" systems designed for personal voice communications. Iridium is a prime example of a big LEO system, according to Stuart. These systems can provide voice communications at 4.8 kilobits a second for $0.50 to $3.00 a minute.

The largest level of complexity is the "mega LEO" system proposed by Teledesic. Teledesic will require a network of about 1000 satellites in LEO, and will be able to provide computer-to-computer communications from 2 megabits per second up to 1.2 gigabits per second.

Teledesic will provide, in Stuart's words, "wireless fiber... the Internet on steroids."

To provide the giant bandwidth necessary, the Teledesic satellites will use Ka-band signals, a system tested on NASA's ACTS satellite. A disadvantage of Ka-band signals is that they cannot propagate through buildings or in the rain. They can, however, go through rain straight up if transmitted at one hundred times normal power. Thus, Teledesic requires a huge number of satellites in order to keep one near the zenith for any location on the planet at any time.

Teledesic plans to take advantage of cost savings by mass producing satellites and launching from 2 to 8 per booster, depending on the type used. The company hopes to spend about $10 billion putting together the constellation, several times the cost for Iridium.

Teledesic's emphasis on high-bandwidth communications has its roots in its ownership. The Kirkland, Washington-based company is one-third owned by cellular phone magnate Craig McCaw, while another third is owned by Microsoft chairman Bill Gates.

Rick Fleeter, president of AeroAstro, then discussed the growth in small satellite construction in recent years within the context of his company. Fleeter got into the small satellite business because, among other things, "There are only a few things in the world where you can make billions of dollars. There are a lot more things you can do and make millions of dollars."

After building the Chemical Release Observation experiment, a GAScan that flew on the shuttle in 1990 to test the detectability of various propellants in space, AeroAstro moved on to its first "big" project, ALEXIS. The Air Force X-ray telescope satellite was launched on a Pegasus in 1993, although not without some problems. The company has moved on to new projects, such as HETE (High Energy Transient Experiment), a satellite that will look for gamma ray bursts, and TERRIERS, a Boston University satellite that is part of the STEDI program of small student spacecraft.

Fleeter noted that the company's small size has given its employees a greater degree of freedom than found in larger corporations. Only about a third of the company's 45 employees work in its Virginia headquarters. The rest work in satellite offices in Boston and Colorado as well as out of their own homes -- a "virtual company," according to Fleeter.

Lori Garver, executive director of the National Space Society, rounded out the evening by discussing the current status of space policy and its impact on commercial space. A number of proposals for legislation related to commercial space do exist, she said. HR 1953, which would provide tax incentives for commercial space development, has been introduced in the House. The Commercial Launch Services Act may see action in the House once again, as Rep. Robert Walker (R-PA) makes one final attempt to pass it before retiring. However, Garver said, the Senate is far less interested in commercial space legislation than the House, which may doom any efforts to pass commercial space legislation.

Garver also discussed NASA projects whose funding is in question, such as the next phase of the X-33 reusable launch vehicle project and a follow-on to the Lunar Prospector Discovery-class mission.

Over fifty people turned out to the meeting, which was standing room only at the conference room in the Hyatt. Next month promises to be just as exciting, with a presentation by solar power satellite inventor Peter Glaser. See you there!

Philadelphia Area Space Alliance News

by Jay Haines

PASA meets regularly for a business luncheon and formal meeting from 1-3 pm, the third Saturday of every month at Smart Alex Restaurant, Sheraton University City, 35th & Chestnut. 2 hours of free parking with validation.

Scheduled activities: Sat., June 15th, formal meeting; Mon., June 24th, 6:30 pm informal meeting at Elephant & Castle in Holiday Inn, 18th & Market; Sat., July 20th , Space Day activity, no formal meeting. Call Michelle for details.

May 11th meeting: Hank Smith reported on the Phila. Science Fiction Society's Philcon '96 science programming plans. Earl Bennett showed the liquid-mirror optics demonstrator bound for ISDC, and discussed a recent article on the effects of gravity on fluids in LEO. Jim Chestek and Don Cox discussed their upcoming book Doomsday Asteroid: Can We Survive?

Mitch Gordon reported that Space Week is July 14-20th this year, that the Smithsonian 150th anniversary celebration tour will be at the NYC Coliseum 6/11-7/24 (call 800/913-tour for info.), and discussed the latest Inside NSS. The new NSS URL is http://www.nss.org/ .

New Look for Space Exploration Online

Space Exploration Online, the NSS presence on America Online, has a new and improved look. The new front page for the area includes access to space news, shuttle and Mir information, NSS's Ask an Astronaut (also available from the NSS Web site), NSS news, and a forum that allows members to chat with one another. Regular Sunday and Wednesday night chat sessions take place on the forum. Space Exploration Online can be accessed from America Online at the keyword "space". Space Exploration Online is managed by NSS volunteer Glenn Heinmiller.

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