Rocket City Space Pioneers Offer “Rideshare” Services to Space, Moon
RCSP PR – Colorado Springs, Colo. (April 12, 2011) – The Rocket City Space Pioneers (RCSP), a team of Alabama-based industry leaders and educational partners, are selling payload rides to Earth orbit, as well as to the Moon, at approximately half the cost of a dedicated launch.
“The Rocket City Space Pioneers, through our partner Spaceflight Services, are providing low-cost access to space for fixed and deployable cargo and spacecraft,†said Tim Pickens, team leader. “Through standard flight interfaces and a streamlined integration process, we can take your payload to the Moon at half the cost of traditional services!â€
Spaceflight Services is a partner with the Rocket City Space Pioneers, a team competing in the Google Lunar X PRIZE competition. Dynetics is the company leading the Rocket City Space Pioneers. Dynetics designs, develops and delivers aerospace solutions from the subcomponent level to the full system.
Jason Andrews, president and CEO of Spaceflight Services, said, “Spaceflight is providing a very unique commercial launch opportunity to place small and secondary payloads in Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO), Geosynchronous Orbit (GSO) or Low Lunar Orbit (LLO). Using our SHERPA Tug, we can provide launch services for a small primary payload weighing up to 1.5 metric tons, as well as multiple secondary payloads weighing 300 kilograms or less.â€
The rideshare program has additional applications. “Our concept also provides an affordable, in-space advanced technology demonstration platform for propulsion, sensors and other subsystems,†said Steve Cook, director of Space Technologies for Dynetics.
For more information about RCSP’s rideshare program, contact John Savage at [email protected] or 206-359-5202 or go to www.rocketcityspacepioneers.com/space/catch-a-ride.
This announcement was made at the National Space Symposium in Colorado Springs held April 11-15.
About the Team Members
About Dynetics
Dynetics Inc., with headquarters in Huntsville, Ala., and offices throughout the United States, has delivered high-quality, high-value engineering, scientific and information technology solutions to customers within the U.S. government and a range of other market segments since 1974. The company’s mission is to deliver superior quality, high-technology products and services ethically, responsively and cost effectively to meet customer needs in the areas of intelligence, missiles, aviation, cyber and space. Visit www.dynetics.com for more details.
About Teledyne Brown Engineering
Teledyne Brown Engineering, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Teledyne Technologies Incorporated. The company is an industry leader in engineered systems, providing full spectrum systems engineering, integration, manufacturing and lifecycle sustainment solutions to the Department of Defense, NASA, Missile Defense Agency, Department of Energy, Department of Homeland Security, commercial nuclear plants and large prime contractors. Teledyne Brown’s one-stop engineering and fabrication capabilities include expertise in systems engineering, system integration, technology development, hardware design, prototype development, system test and evaluation, advanced manufacturing, logistics services, operations and maintenance. More information about Teledyne Brown Engineering may be found at www.tbe.com.
About Andrews Space
Andrews Space Inc. was founded in 1999 to be a catalyst in the commercialization and development of space. The company is an affordable integrator of aerospace systems and developer of advanced space technologies. To learn more, please visit: www.andrews-space.com.
About Spaceflight Services
Spaceflight Services was established in 2009 by Jason Andrews, president and CEO of Andrews Space, to revolutionize secondary payload flight services for fixed and deployable cargo and transport. More information about Spaceflight Services and specific flight opportunities can be found on the company’s website: www.spaceflightservices.com.
About Draper Laboratory
Draper (www.draper.com) is a not-for-profit applied research and development laboratory that has been involved with nationally critical space systems development for 50 years. Draper’s space systems heritage began with designing the guidance, navigation and control (GN&C) system for Apollo and continues with critical NASA programs including the Space Shuttle, the International Space Station (ISS) and the Constellation program. Draper is part of the team that recently received the Collier Trophy, the highest U.S. aerospace honor, for its contributions to the ISS program, and continues to work with NASA and commercial customers on new launchers, spacecraft and exploration vehicles.
About University of Alabama in Huntsville
The University of Alabama in Huntsville has a long history of developing space flight hardware projects. The University has flown over 18 space shuttle flight payloads as well as three payloads for the International Space Station, and consistently ranks among the top universities in the nation for NASA-sponsored research. For more information, please visit www.uah.edu.
About the Von Braun Center for Science & Innovation
The Von Braun Center for Science & Innovation (VCSI) is a not for profit research for development (R for D) organization that promotes collaborative research in support of key federal requirements. VCSI integrates government, industry and university researchers to provide science applications and engineering solutions. In addition to its focus on R for D, VCSI is highly committed to hands on learning. VCSI is controlled by a board of directors consisting of key industry and university leaders. VCSI also has key member participants. In the last two years, VCSI has been involved with the development of a microsat for the Space Test Program, hurricane forecasting instrument for NOAA, IED detecting robots for the Army and lunar lander test beds for NASA. For more information, please visit www.vcsi.org.
About the Huntsville Center for Technology
The Huntsville Center for Technology, the Engineering Meets Education partner for the Rocket City Space Pioneers, is the technical training center for Huntsville City schools. It serves students from all seven high schools in 14 skilled training areas. Students participate in projects such as NASA’s HUNCH (High School Students United with NASA to Create Hardware) program and the Great Moonbuggy Race. Students have created hardware for astronaut training and have done rapid prototyping for the ARES program. In the summer of 2010, CAD students won first place in a national design contest, and the school took third place at the national competition with a chapter display for the ARES rocket floor system. The school’s moonbuggy racing team has won numerous honors. In May 2010, the school received the NASA Educational Partnership Award. Visit https://www.hsv.k12.al.us/schools/high/hct/index.html for more information.
About the Google Lunar X PRIZE
The $30 million Google Lunar X PRIZE is an unprecedented international competition that challenges and inspires engineers and entrepreneurs from around the world to develop low-cost methods of robotic space exploration. The $30 million prize purse is segmented into a $20 million Grand Prize, a $5 million Second Prize and $5 million in bonus prizes. To win the Grand Prize, a team must successfully soft land a privately funded spacecraft on the Moon, rove on the lunar surface for a minimum of 500 meters, and transmit a specific set of video, images and data back to the Earth. The Grand Prize is $20 million until December 31st 2012; thereafter it will drop to $15 million until December 31st 2014 at which point the competition will be terminated unless extended by Google and the X PRIZE Foundation. For more information about the Google Lunar X PRIZE, please visit www.googlelunarxprize.org.
About the X PRIZE Foundation
The X PRIZE Foundation is an educational nonprofit prize institute whose mission is to create radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity. In 2004, the Foundation captured world headlines when Burt Rutan, backed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, built and flew the world’s first private vehicle to space to win the $10 million Ansari X PRIZE. The Foundation has since launched the $10 million Archon X PRIZE for Genomics, the $30 million Google Lunar X PRIZE and the $10 million Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE. The Foundation is creating and conducting competitions in four prize groups: Exploration (Space and Oceans), Life Sciences, Energy & Environment, and Education & Global Development. The Foundation is widely recognized as the leader in fostering innovation through competition. For more information, please visit www.xprize.org.
