http://www.vny.com/cf/News/upidetail.cfm?QID=129708

WASHINGTON, Oct. 20 (UPI) -- Launching sites for most of the U.S. space fleet may be overhauled if the recommendations of a new study conducted for the Defense Science Board are implemented.

Proposals for upgrades include full integration of a new generation of throwaway rockets and greater use of satellites to track and control rockets in flight, said study leader Edward 'Pete' Aldridge, Jr., who is president and chief executive officer of the Aerospace Corporation in Los Angeles, Calif.

Other suggestions include junking decades-old ground equipment that, in some cases, uses computers and parts that haven't been built in nearly three decades.

Taken as a whole, the changes would revolutionize the way the United States conducts rocket launches and would greatly increase U.S. space competitiveness, proponents said.

"This study clearly calls for a 'space centric' range," said Aldridge. The study was mandated by Congress last year.

A briefing on the status of the U.S. rocket bases was held Thursday in Washington by the Federal Aviation Administration, which is responsible for licensing all commercial space flights.

Aldridge explained that the aging ground equipment used to launch rockets was expensive to operate, difficult to adapt to changing commercial space needs, and spread out across miles of ranges near Cape Canaveral in Florida and Vandenberg Air Base in California. The equipment could be replaced over the next 12 years.

The group proposed using existing Global Positioning Satellites to track rockets as they lift off from the bases. GPS is the same system that guides hunters and pilots and is used increasingly by commercial companies to track equipment and package delivery. By using the GPS navigation satellites, launch officials would have a more accurate way of knowing where a rocket is should a mishap occur.

Aldridge also suggested using communications satellites to send the signals needed to blow up malfunctioning rockets before they stray too far. In addition he proposed the installation of automated destruct equipment reliable enough to phase out the manual back-up system now in use.

While every rocket that has failed in the recent past has been destroyed by its onboard automatic system, maintenance of the secondary manual system costs millions each year.

The report proposed the creation of a new public-private partnership between the U.S. Air Force and rocket industry, aiming to lessen government's role in operating Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg.

Airports could serve as a model for the eventual evolution of the bases into more commercial facilities. As part of the effort, the study group suggested assessing a fee on rocket launches much like the user fees on airplane tickets.

"This fee would only be for the recovery of the actual cost of the launches," Aldridge said, and not for modernization or maintenance. Existing facilities are to remain military bases for now, so the Air Force would provide funding for most of the maintenance and modernization costs. All the changes are part of an evolution of the military's launching sites to accommodate increasing use by the commercial launch industry.

"We are looking at alternative management structures (for Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg Air Base) for these ranges, "said Vic Villhard, assistant director for space and aeronautics at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Villhard said commercial needs and the space business was changing so fast that an annual review was needed to keep space launch range requirements updated.

But military needs, including the government's annual needs for rocket launches, must also be taken into account, said Villhard.

"We have to include requirements that DoD (Defense Department) can live with," he said.

While the fate of the rocket bases' future was under review, a new generation of all-modern space rocket was waiting in the wings.

"We are on track for the first launch of the first EELV (Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle)," said Air Force Lt. Col. Janet Koreca.

Koreca, who is director of launch vehicles for the Air Force Program Executive Office for Space, said the new rocket would drastically reduce the cost of cargo launches and the time it took for each rocket to be built, assembled at the launching bases, and fired aloft.

Boeing and Lockheed Martin are each building and operating a version of the EELV. Lockheed's version uses a booster engine made in Russia.

Koreca said the first EELV launch would take place in November of next year with a commercial satellite installed atop the rocket. With EELV, the rocket's builders rather than the military will operate the launching pads and conduct the countdowns.

"This will call for much less hands-on for the Air Force, " Koreca said.