KickStart Your Rocket City News Review Hugh Stanley Hugh@myKickStart

1. KickStart Your Rocket City News Review Hugh Stanley Hugh@myKickStart.com

2. 1026 0730: HSV SOF Network Meeting with Senator Shelby – HSV Museum of Art 1027 0715: UAH SBDC PTAC 8th Annual Business Matchmaker – Jackson Center 1027 0800: NCMA Fall National Education Seminar “FAR Essentials” – Dynetics 1027 1600: QTEC Hiring Event – NG (301 Voyager) 1027 1730: NSC Von Braun Memorial Dinner – S&RC 1028 0800: WBCNA 5th Annual Big Marketing and PR Event 1029 1800: 3rd Annual, ADAA FA St. Barbara’s Day Dinner – The Summit – MG Hughes 1103 1130: HASBAT Lunch – Jackson Center – David Brock, NASA 1103 2016 WEDC Leadership Conference – Jim Kouzes 1104 2016 Veterans’ Week Begins 1104 Quad-A 10th Annual Army Aviation Ball – Westin 1108 U.S. Presidential Elections 1111 Veterans’ Day – Federal Holiday 1118 1630: Onset of the Turkey Doldrums 1124 Thanksgiving Day – Federal Holiday Look Ahead

3. TVA certification primes Huntsville Mega Site for development...“our international calling card telling global manufacturers we are open for business and a prime place for industry and jobs,”  GEOHuntsville names retired FBI assistant director as new leader ...Garcia recently retired as an assistant director over Directorate of Intelligence with the FBI, where he oversaw the agency's intelligence functions, including its geospatial capabilities. TEDAC Director explains the importance of analyzing explosive devices in counter terrorism development Frequently asked questions about the Cummings Research Park Master Plan. ...a five-decade vision for the future of one of the most important economic engines in North Alabama Huntsville taxpayers to pay more than $30M to improve Research Park area AMC farewells Via, welcomes Perna ... installation says farewell to the first AMC commander to serve his entire tenure at the command’s new home. Four-star command changes leadership ...Gen. Dennis L. Via relinquished command of Army Materiel Command to Gen. Gustave “Gus” Perna during a ceremony Friday UAH SBDC and PTAC host 8th annual Bus Matchmaker event . .Thursday, Oct. 27, Jackson Center Local

4. Space Biz • China has it's own space station and its own shuttle to it... • China to begin building [another] space station in 2017 ...will more economically efficient and uses more data than the current International Space Station (ISS) China may be only country with space station in 2024 • Chinese startups making world's largest space plane and more ...Expace, plans to launch a new-generation quick response rocket. • International Space Station to trial Aussie-designed rocket engines that could fuel journeys to Mars ...Australian-designed rocket engine is heading to the International Space Station (ISS) for a year-long experiment that could ultimately revolutionise space travel. • Satellite owner says SpaceX owes $50 million or free flight ...Spacecom also could collect $205 million from Israel Aerospace Industries, which built the AMOS-6 satellite • Elon Musk: ‘We Have Not Ruled Out’ That UFO Caused Space X Explosion ...provides a very convenient distraction • Dream Chaser: The Spacecraft That Will Transform Humanity's Access to Space ...United Nations is set to launch a revolutionary global space program • US Air Force's X-37B space plane reaches 500 days in orbit - and we STILL don't know its mission ...Theories have ranged from it being a space bomber, to a clandestine probe on a mission to 'take out' spy satellites

5. Space Exploration • OSIRIS-RExbegins 84-million-mile journey to asteroid .. to fly 509M miles to an asteroid to grab 4 lbs of dirt • NASA presents new evidence of water plumes on Europa ... once again demonstrating Hubble’s ability to make observations it was never designed to make • Death of a Spacecraft: Bittersweet Mood as Rosetta Crash-Lands on Comet ..."It's always difficult to accept the end. Me personally, I'm very sad." • Elon ready to write off first Mars pioneers 1st Mars Colonists Should Be 'Prepared to Die,' Elon Musk Says • Want to go to Mars? Be prepared for irreversible damage to your brain • Last data from Schiaparelli Mars lander hold clues to what went wrong ... first sign of trouble came around the time the probe was supposed to jettison its parachute and fire thrusters ESA confirms lander crashed on Mars • Massive Cloud on Collision Course with the Milky Way ...Thirty million years from now, give or take a few million years • NASA May Sink a Sub Under Titan's Ocean to Find Life

6. Companies, Contractors & Characters • Torch Technologies Lands $63M Test Provisioning Support Contract With MDA ...a potential five-year, $62.8 million contract to provide advisory and assistance services for the Missile Defense Agency’s test provisioning process. • Six companies are about to merge into the biggest farm-business oligopoly in history ...Bayer, Monsanto, DuPont, Dow and Syngenta mega-mergers in work • Sierra Nevada Corporation and Solar Junction Corporation Launch New Cost-Saving Advanced Solar Array Technology...new technology will increase efficiency of spacecraft solar array production and operation • DIUxOffers $36 million in FY16 Contracts ... Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit-Experimental ended the fiscal year awarding 12 contracts • MDA Modification Brings Lockheed Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense Contract Value to $2.4B • Aerojet Rocketdyne Delivers First Set of Propulsion Hardware for Boeing’s Starliner Spacecraft • A Last-Minute Push for Turning Feds Into At-Will Employees ...currently enjoy significant due process protections and review boards before terminations.

7. Spending / Budgets / Defense Execs • Contractors Urge Next President to Upgrade Acquisition Workforce ... Professional Services Council’s blueprint • The US Military Is Shedding Civilian Jobs. It Has No Idea How Much Money It’s Actually Saving. ...GAO wants to know • Expect the Same Old Congressional Maneuvers on Sequestration • Why DoD’s Year-End Spending Needs to Change ...most orgs obsessed with spending year-end funds • US Special Ops general: Hurting ourselves’ w/ movies & books ... runs counter to everything any of us in SPECOPS know [is] the right way to do business • Senate confirms Gen. John Hyten as next StratCom chief ...as lawmakers hit the exits, Senate confirmed as the next StratCom chief by voice vote. • Kicking off Farewell Tour, SECNAV Ray Mabus Defends Record ...a self-described “sort of a thank-you tour,”  Ed Snowden and Chelsea Manning have their Christmas lists ready

8. Pictures of the Month Scary Clown Sightings / Galaxy 7 / Ken Bone

9. Aviation • These Swarming Drones Launch from a Fighter Jet’s Flare Dispensers ...Pentagon’s Strategic Capabilities Office … commercial and 3D-printed parts • Lego Universe Creep:  They've got a drone ...in ours Keep Crashing That Drone? Now You Can - It's Made of Lego ...Flybrix • U.S. Army Racing to Catch Up to Russia On Battle Drones ...“ has established air supremacy over Ukraine from the ground” • Navy uses Fire Scout as missile spotter ...has been used to designate targets for missiles fired by manned helicopters • The U.S. Air Force Wants to Build Killer 'Swarms' ...UAS Roadmap is expected to increase use of small drones as explosives to attack enemy targets. • Robotic Wingmen Are Coming. The Air Force Doesn’t Know How to Test Them. ...How to surprise a drone that can revise strategy in an eyeblink? • Fly my pretties: Amazon patents personal mini drones to locate lost cars or kids • Drone receives wireless power, on the fly

10. Missile Defense • Iran Rings Their Most Hardened Nuclear Site With New Russian-Built SAMs ...ominous sign, or just good contingency training? • Missile Defense Agency solicits industry for low power laser demonstration ...one step closer to laser-equipped unmanned air veh w/ plan to compete low power laser demonstrator • USAF test-fires intercontinental ballistic missile across Pacific ... unarmed Minuteman III ICBM at Vandy. Lockheed's Trident II D5 Fleet Ballistic Missile test-fired • Planned ICBM Replacement To Move Forward Without Consensus On Cost ... the delta between the cost estimates for the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) program is “not that high”. • U.S. Gen. John Hyten: North Korea close to ICBM that could hit U.S. Russia moves nuclear-capable missiles to NATO doorstep ...Poland and Lithuania express concern as Russia deploys nuclear-capable ballistic missiles to Kaliningrad on Baltic Sea. Russia & China might co-op on joint response to US missile shield. • US military detects failed N. Korean missile launch ...believed to be of a much-hyped Musudan missile which North Korea has now test-fired seven times -- with one partial success. North Korean missile exploded shortly after liftoff, says US and South Korea • Golfing great Jack Nicklaus joins the battle against crazy Kim Jong-un ... the high-tech defence system will be built on the 18-time major winner’s Skyhill Country Club course

11. Navy • Navy Takes 1st Four Littoral Combat Ships Out of Deployment Rotation ... and overhauling its force employment strategy. …announces Littoral Combat Ship program overhaul • The Navy's most expensive aircraft carrier ever is on track to miss its delivery deadline – again Ford Carrier Problems Worse Than LCS: Navy Secretary Mabus ...derided Ford as “a textbook example of how not to build a ship.” • Future San Diego warship hits tug, starts to leak ...cracked its aluminum hull against a tugboat while under tow Tuesday off the coast of Florida • Littoral Combat Ship USS Montgomery Suffers Engineering Casualty, Fifth LCS Casualty Within Last Year • Broke Down and Tied to the Pier ... only one surface ship designed after 1985 is operational today • Navy Secretary Defends His Unusual Picks for Ship Names ...Medgar Evers, Cesar Chavez, John Lewis, the Harvey Milk.. • US will not numerically match China's submarines at $2.7-4 billion a piece

12. Waiting for the Great Pumpkin • Veepdebate:  Pence doesn't stay up for The Great Pumpkin • What does it take to make priests boo?  Just ask Donald. • Maybe Donald Trump Should Have Listened to Megyn Kelly Instead of Roger Ailes • ‘What President Trump Meant to Say’ • Clinton changes story, admits she didn’t have permission for secret email server • Could the House really flip? • I JUST WANT NATE SILVER TO TELL ME IT’S ALL GOING TO BE FINE • Trump is booed for saying Clinton “hates Catholics” at a charity dinner with New York’s cardinal • GOP: Move to oust Ryan grows over speaker's tepid support of Trump • Where to go if you really want to flee the U.S. after the election ...Canada, Singapore …Mexico

13. All I know is what I read in the papers… – Will Rogers If you would like to try a free two week review of the KickStart business information process, just drop me a line at: Subscribe@myKickStart.com. Thanks, Hugh Stanley, Editor.