The Next Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference is being held in Colorado through Wednesday. I wasn’t able to attend this year, but the following folks are there tweeting away:
Jeff Foust @jeff_foust
Rand Simberg @Rand_Simberg
Colorado Space News @CO_Space_News
Below are updates on Virgin Galactic and Spaceport America based on their tweets.
George Whitesides
CEO
Virgin Galactic
The Spaceship Company
- good progress on glide test flight program in 2017
- Six glide flights so far; 1 more SpaceShipTwo glide flight scheduled before powered flight tests begin in 2018
- a lot of work underway to prepare SpaceShipTwo for powered flights
- Italian space agency ASI has signed letter of intent to purchase research flight with Italian payload specialist scheduled for 2019
- suborbital payload capacity is 1,000 lbs. (453.6 kg) w/ 500 cubic feet (14.16 cubic meters) of pressurized usable volume
- integration of biological payloads within two hours of flight
- access to payloads within 30 minutes of land, possibly as short as 5 to 10 minutes
- company will complete facilities at Spaceport America in 2018
- working on $1 billion investment by Saudi Arabia that was announced in October
Dan Hicks
CEO
Spaceport America
- Commercial space industry is worth $339 billion annually and is growing
- Users of Spaceport America benefit from large area of restricted airspace (adjacent to White Sands Missile Range)
- Developing a infrastructure development plan that will include a payload processing facility with a cafeteria
- Officials will present plan to New Mexico lawmakers in several months
- UP Aerospace plans a sounding rocket launch from Spaceport America in January
- UP Aerospace using a new rocket motor test facility at the spaceport
- Possibility of conducting orbital launches from Spaceport America that do not involve dropping hardware over land