SPACE ALERT

• I am beginning work on our next Global Network Space Alert! newsletter.  Articles are coming in from around the globe - it's always a great learning experience for me as I pull these various strands together and make some sense of the greater Pentagon and Space Command strategy of global dominance through space control.  Hope to have it printed and mailed by the third week of January. Let us know if you'd like bulk copies for local distribution.  We just ask you to pay for the postage.

• Sung-Hee Choi has posted the current Jeju prisoner information this morning on the No Naval Base on Jeju Facebook page.  It reads:

Mr. Yang Yoon-Mo (Prison #301) hits 339 days in prison 
Br. Park Do-Hyun (#535) hits 189 days
Ms. Kim Eun-Hye (#12) hits 91 days

Address of Jeju Prison, 161 Ora-2dong, Jeju City, Jeju, the Peace Island, Korea.

Dr. Song Kang-Ho was released on bail as of Nov. 29, after 151 days in jail. Mr. Kang Bu-Eon was released on Dec. 5, after 59 days in jail. The appeal court made a decision on Kang with 10 month imprisonment suspended 1 year.

All the peace prisoners are not-guilty. Free all the prisoners immediately! Stop the illegal building of war base that infringes and destroys life!

• After a 10-month selection process involving 25 proposals from 24 states, the Federal Aviation Administration has chosen six unmanned aircraft systems - UAS (drone) research and test site operators across the country. 

In selecting the six test site operators, the FAA considered geography, climate, location of ground infrastructure, research needs, airspace use, safety, aviation experience and risk.

A brief description of the six test site operators and the research they will conduct into future drone use are below:

• University of Alaska.  The University of Alaska proposal contained a diverse set of test site range locations in seven climatic zones as well as geographic diversity with test site range locations in Hawaii and Oregon. The research plan includes the development of a set of standards for unmanned aircraft categories, state monitoring and navigation.  Alaska also plans to work on safety standards for UAS operations. 
• State of Nevada. Nevada’s project objectives concentrate on UAS standards and operations as well as operator standards and certification requirements. The applicant’s research will also include a concentrated look at how air traffic control procedures will evolve with the introduction of UAS into the civil environment and how these aircraft will be integrated with NextGen.  Nevada’s selection contributes to geographic and climatic diversity.
• New York’s Griffiss International Airport.  Griffiss International plans to work on developing test and evaluation as well as verification and validation processes under FAA safety oversight. The applicant also plans to focus its research on sense and avoid capabilities for UAS and its sites will aid in researching the complexities of integrating UAS into the congested, northeast airspace.
• North Dakota Department of Commerce.  North Dakota plans to develop UAS airworthiness essential data and validate high reliability link technology. This applicant will also conduct human factors research. North Dakota’s application was the only one to offer a test range in the Temperate (continental) climate zone and included a variety of different airspace which will benefit multiple users.
• Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi.  Texas A&M plans to develop system safety requirements for UAS vehicles and operations with a goal of protocols and procedures for airworthiness testing. The selection of Texas A&M contributes to geographic and climactic diversity.
• Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech).  Virginia Tech plans to conduct UAS failure mode testing and identify and evaluate operational and technical risks areas. This proposal includes test site range locations in both Virginia and New Jersey.