Minutes of January meeting
Oklahoma Space Alliance met January 12 at the Denny’s on the I-240 access road on the north side just east of Pennsylvania Avenue in southern Oklahoma City. Attending were Steve, Karen and Brian Swift, Don Robinson, Linda Shannon, Tim Scott, John Northcutt, Josh Fladie and Syd Henderson. This was Josh’s first meeting.
Space Alliance Appointees and Yuri’s Night were added to the agenda. Does Steve get the Chapter’s Leader (NSS-CL) posts? We need to see who wants to be correspondence secretary and Update editor. Syd’s willing to keep doing Outreach.
Nobody was inducted into the Oklahoma Aviation and Space Hall of Fame this year.
Brian and Steve went to the Oklahoma Spaceport at Burns Flat. We should write letters to the state legislature about space in Oklahoma, not just about spaceport.
We need volunteers for Yuri’s Night. Claire wants to have a party. Steve will make phone calls.
Steve, Tim and Syd need to do the annual report to NSS.
Quote of the month: “Destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.”--William Jennings Bryan
What’s Happening in Space?
ISS Expedition 33 landed in Kazakhstan.
Stratolaunch has parted ways with SpaceX in favor of Orbital Services. This may set them back a year.
SpaceX has been awarded two EELV class ventures. SpaceX is also going to build a new class of rocket engines, the Raptor, with methane as fuel and liquid oxygen as oxidizer. These would be the rockets used in a proposed Mars mission. [They should get together with Robert Zubrin about the return trip.]
SpaceX did a test of their Grasshopper rocket, sending it up 132 feet to hover. Video is at http://www.spacex.com/updates.php.
Mars1 has specified requirements for 2013 asteroid selection. We watched a video on Mars1.
Congressman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) is the new chair of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, which oversees a $39 billion dollar budget. New Oklahoma Congressman Jim Bridenstine is on the committee.
We looked at http://www.universetoday.com/99304/exciting-potential-for-habitable-exomoons/#.
We saw a photograph of sunrise at Tycho crater on the Moon, highlighting the mountain at the center.
--Minutes by OSA Secretary Syd Henderson
Notes on January 9 OSIDA Meeting
The Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority met at the Department of Transportation Building in Oklahoma City on January 9. All seven board members were present. Executive director Bill Khourie and legal advisor Brinda White were also present, but OSIDA secretary Kim Vowell was not. There were five in the audience, including Syd Henderson and Steve Swift.
The Operations Center progress is still on hold, and no brick has yet been ordered for the windows. Board member Goodbary asked what assurance we have that the building will be completed in our lifetime. There’s still a March 31 date for the opening.
The contractor is still working on another part of the building outside of the windows. Most of the interior is now complete, but Bill recommended that OSIDA not move in until the windows are completed.
The spaceport got a dump truck, but it wasn’t what they wanted, so they sent in back and ordered a replacement. On the other hand, the $126,000 runway sweeper should be delivered around February 1.
The new barbed wire fence (to keep out cattle and such) has to be 200 feet from buildings because it would otherwise interfere with radio signals.
The south taxi lane lighting system repair and signage is pre-OSIDA and needs to be replaced. The cost is $112,000, but the FAA will pay 90% of the cost.
Budget committee hearings are coming up, probably in February. OSIDA has submitted a tentative budget.
Bill’s attending the Commercial Space Transportation Conference in Washington, DC, February 15 - 16. This is the weekend after the February OSIDA meeting.
--Notes by OSA Secretary Syd Henderson
Contact person for Oklahoma Space Alliance is Claire McMurray.
PO Box 1003
Norman, OK 73070
Webmaster is Syd Henderson.
Copyright �2012 Oklahoma Space Alliance.