Embattled RSC Energia President Vitaly Lopota, who is the subject of a criminal investigation for alleged abuse of office, was suspended from his post on Friday by the company’s board of directors, ending a seven-year reign over the space company.

The move appears to be part of an effort by Russia’s government to obtain majority control over Energia, of which it owns a 38-percent share. The directors elected Igor Komarov as its new chairman of the board. Komarov is chief of the Russian United Rocket and Space Corporation (URSC), the government-owned company tasked with consolidating Russia’s sprawling space sector.

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Falcon 9 launch (Credit: SpaceX)

HAWTHORNE, Calif. (SpaceX PR) — Through 3D printing, or additive manufacturing, robust and high-performing rocket parts can be created and offer improvements over traditional manufacturing methods. SpaceX is pushing the boundaries of what additive manufacturing can do in the 21^st century, ultimately making the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft more reliable, robust and efficient than ever before.

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WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — As part of the White House Maker Initiative, NASA is seeking to leverage the growing community of space-enthusiasts to contribute to NASA’s space exploration goals. NASA is broadening the CubeSat Launch Initiative to promote a spacecraft nation and develop innovative technology partnerships among NASA, U.S. industry and educational institutions to build upon an existing successful initiative and expand it to include launching 50 small satellites from 50 states within five years. The initiative will enable the acceleration of flight-qualified technology that will increase our understanding of Earth and assist in bridging current strategic knowledge gaps needed to extend human exploration of space beyond low-Earth orbit, potentially reducing our nation’s cost for future exploration efforts.

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Gizmodo has a fascinating story about NASA scientists who appear to have proven that Roger Shawyer’s quantum vacuum plasma thruster, known as the EmDrive (a.k.a., Relativity Drive), actually works. But, they’re not sure exactly why. Shawyer’s engine is extremely light and simple. It provides a thrust by “bouncing microwaves around in a closed container.” The microwaves are generated using electricity that can be provided by solar energy. No propellant is […]

SNC’s Dream Chaser® orbital structural airframe at Lockheed Martin in Ft. Worth. (Credit: Lockheed Martin)

SPARKS, Nev., Aug 1, 2014 – In a joint press conference, Sierra Nevada Corporation’s (SNC) Space Systems and Dream Chaser^® program partner, Lockheed Martin unveiled the Dream Chaser orbital spacecraft composite airframe. This structure will be used to conduct the first orbital launch of the Dream Chaser spacecraft due to launch in November, 2016, atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.

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HOUSTON (Celestis PR) — Celestis announces the opportunity to honor your special animal companion with a final journey among the stars on board the world’s first pet memorial spaceflight service. Celestis Pets places a symbolic portion of cremated remains into Earth orbit, deep space, and onto the lunar surface. Missions that return the cremated remains to Earth are available as part of our Earth Rise service. Your best friend will […]

Earlier this week, Rocket Lab announced plans for a small satellite launcher capable of placing small payloads into orbit for less than $5 million. Although the U.S.-New Zealand company has largely flown under the radar, it does have a series of updates on its website chronicling its technical progress and funding sources.

I’ve reproduced those updates below to provide an overview of what the company has been doing over the past four years. This is an easy way to get caught up.

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Artist rendering of commercial Mars satellites providing communications back to Earth. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

PASADENA, Calif. (NASA PR) — NASA has issued a Request for Information (RFI) to investigate the possibility of using commercial Mars-orbiting satellites to provide telecommunications capabilities for future robotic missions to the Red Planet.

“We are looking to broaden participation in the exploration of Mars to include new models for government and commercial partnerships,” said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate at the agency’s headquarters in Washington. “Depending on the outcome, the new model could be a vital component in future science missions and the path for humans to Mars.”

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Parabolic Arc readers have pronounced the U.S. space program as being far from nominal in our latest poll. A mere 13 percent of readers selected Nominal when asked how they thought the American program is going. Another 48 percent said Subnominal, while another 36 percent selected Subbasement Nominal. A very small minority of voters thought the program is going Super Nominal (2 percent) and Superdupernominal (1 percent). The poll did […]

Captive carry flight (Credit: Generation Orbit)

ATLANTA, GA, JULY 31, 2014 – Yesterday, Generation Orbit Launch Services, Inc. (GO) completed the initial captive carry flight of the Flight Experiment Testbed (GO-FET). Operating out of Cecil Spaceport in Jacksonville, FL, the three hour test flight served as an demonstration of air launch operations both on the ground and in flight.

The flight configuration consisted of a Learjet 35 carrier aircraft with a standardized pod integrated to a wing hardpoint. The set of payloads carried within the pod were designed to gather environmental and dynamics data on propellant management, payload integration, and wireless communications.

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