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W4DPH > SAT 28.09.03 13:27l 127 Lines 6281 Bytes #-7471 (0) @ AMSAT
BID : ANS-271.07
Read: DF5CU GUEST
Subj: U.S. Space Weather Service in deep trouble
Path: DB0ZKA<DB0SIP<OE9XPI<OE7XLR<OE2XOM<OE2XUM<OE5XBR<ON0AR<ON0AR<LU6DTS<
W4JAX<W4DPH
Sent: 030928/1125Z @:W4DPH.#TPA.FL.USA.NOAM #:6365 [CLW] FBB $:ANS-271.07
From: W4DPH@W4DPH.#TPA.FL.USA.NOAM
To : SAT@AMSAT
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 271.07 From AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD. September 28, 2003
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-271.07
SUMMARY
For Fiscal Year 2004, starting October 1, 2003, the House Appropriations
Bill for Commerce, Justice, and State continues Space Environment
Center's funding at $5.2 M (a reduction of 40% below the FY02 level).
Worse, the FY04 Senate Appropriations Bill zeroes Space Environment
Center and all space weather in NOAA, so services, data and
observations, and archiving would all disappear if the final
appropriation is at the Senate level. At the House funding level,
starting October 1 SEC will rapidly lose about half its staff,
negatively affecting its ability to serve the Nation with operational
products, data collection, and R&D. Unless the appropriation level for
Space Environment Center is restored to the level of the President's
FY04 Budget Request, $8.3 million, the Nation's civilian space weather
service is in trouble. At the President's requested funding level,
Space Environment Center can almost return to FY02 level of services,
data, and R&D.
BACKGROUND
NOAA's Space Environment Center in Boulder, Colorado, provides a range
of services to the Nation related to space weather phenomena. Among
other activities, the Center is the unique provider of real-time
monitoring and forecasting of solar and geophysical events, it conducts
research in solar-terrestrial physics, and it develops techniques for
forecasting solar and geophysical disturbances. That is, Space
Environment Center is the Nation's space weather service, monitoring and
predicting conditions in space, much as the National Weather Service
does for meteorological weather.
SEC jointly operates the Space Weather Operations Center with the U.S.
Air Force and serves as the national and world warning center for
disturbances that can affect people and equipment working in the space
environment. It is the government's official source for alerts and
warnings of disturbances. Customers include DoD, NASA, FAA, airlines,
operators of electric power grids, communicators, satellite operators,
the National Space Weather Program, and commercial providers of
value-added space weather services. Partnering with researchers funded
by NSF, NASA, and the DoD, Space Environment Center is the place where
much of the nation's $100s of millions annual investment in the National
Space Weather Program and in space physics research is applied for the
benefit of commerce, defense, NASA spaceflight, and individual
taxpayers.
SEC's appropriation lines can be found in the Department of Commerce,
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Office of
Oceanic and Atmospheric Research portion of the Budget.
The Senate Appropriations Committee explains its termination of space
weather in NOAA in the Report accompanying its Commerce-Justice-State Bill
as follows.
Solar observation. - The "Atmospheric" in NOAA does not extend to the
astral. Absolutely no funds are provided for solar observation. Such
activities are rightly the bailiwick of the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration and the Air Force.
The full text of the Senate Report may be found at
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/cpquery/T?&report=sr144&dbname=cp108&
Needless to say, there is no evidence to suggest that NASA and the Air
Force agree that one or the other, or both, should operate the Nation's
civilian space weather service.
CONCLUSION
Unless SEC's appropriation level is increased in Conference, the best
outlook is that Space Environment Center shrinks to less than half its
capability (House mark), and the worst is that space weather will
disappear from NOAA (Senate mark). In this case, the Nation's space
weather service will have to be reconstituted in some other agency, at
greater cost and lesser capability, to meet the Nation's needs.
[ANS thanks Ernest Hildner, Director, SEC for the above information]
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-271.08
This Week's News in Brief
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 271.08 From AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD. September 28, 2003
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-271.08
** Ireland (EI) has removed the requirement for Amateur Radio (or
"Experimenters") license applicants to pass a Morse code examination. The
Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) announced September 15
that it took the action in line with the outcome of the World
Radiocommunication Conference 2003 (WRC-03), which removed the requirement
for prospective amateur licensees to prove Morse proficiency to operate
below 30 MHz. . --ARRL
** Singapore Amateur Radio Transmitting Society has been advised by the
nations Info-comm Development Authority that, as of the 15th of September,
the requirement for a Morse code examination for High Frequency operating
privileges in Singapore has been removed. As of the 16th of September all
current and future licenses became convertible to the Singapore General
Class with full High Frequency operating privileges. --Newsline
** Amateur Radio moonbounce (Earth-Moon-Earth, or EME) and microwave
history was made September 24 at 1400 UTC when Josef Sveceny, OK1UWA, and Al
Ward, W5LUA, completed the first-ever 24-GHz EME QSO between the Czech
Republic and the US. --ARRL
** Rohn Industries announces that it and five of its subsidiaries have
filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy relief in federal court. Subject to the
provisions of the Bankruptcy Code, the September 16th filing means that Rohn
remains in possession of its properties and continues to operate its
business. The company says that the objective of the Chapter 11 proceeding
is to maximize recovery to creditors by facilitating an orderly sale of its
assets. --QRZ.com
** A joint academic and industry team conducted the first known flight
test of a powered liquid-propellant aerospike engine this past Saturday, 20
September 2003. California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) and Garvey
Spacecraft Corporation, principal partners in the California Launch Vehicle
Education Initiative (CALVEIN), successfully launched their Prospector 2
(P-2) research vehicle using a 1,000 lbf LOX/ethanol aerospike engine
designed and developed by CSULB students. --SpaceDaily
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