The Government has offered Australia's three mobile operators, and vividwireless, renewal of their existing spectrum allocated on 15 year licences in the late 90s and early 2000s at set prices, while the Government expects to rake in $3 billion.
Over on the U.S. side of space exploration, the crew of the STS-125 repair mission to the Hubble Space Telescope completed their first spacewalk on Thursday, May 14, 2009.
Two spacewalking astronauts replaced Hubble’s existing Wide Field Camera with a new $132 million Wide Field Camera 3. They had a few problems with the transfer when one of the bolts stuck on the old camera.
Luckily, a checklist of possible contingency plans found one that worked and the bolt finally was loosened and the new camera installed.
At a NASA press conference later in the day, Hubble senior scientist David Leckrone stated, “There were tense moments during that activity. I don't normally reveal my age, and I'm not going to here, but I can tell you I'm five years older now than I was when I came into work this morning." [CBS News: “Hubble Repair Poses Daunting Challenge”]
The two spacewalkers also replaced a defective science data-handling unit that broke down on Hubble in the fall of 2008 (which delayed the mission from launching) and installed a docking ring so that a robotic spacecraft can eventually make a controlled de-orbit of Hubble when it finally has ended its useful life.
David Bass
| ComOps, a leading Australian provider of business software products and services, has won a competitive tender to deploy its Salvus safety, r…
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