A few Saturday morning commercial space updates: NanoRacks to Sell Space on External ISS Platform. NanoRacks expects to lease space for experiments on an external platform at the International Space Station by the end of 2014. The rack, built for $10 million by Astrium North America, will be carried to the orbiting laboratory aboard a Cygnus cargo ship in October. “We finished manufacturing about a month ago … and it’s […]

Engineers conduct final tests on ESA’s Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV). (Credit: ESA)

PARIS (ESA PR) — All eyes are on ESA’s spaceplane to showcase reentry technologies after its unconventional launch on a Vega rocket this November.

Instead of heading north into a polar orbit – as on previous flights – Vega will head eastwards to release the spaceplane into a suborbital path reaching all the way to the Pacific Ocean.

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Made in Space tests a 3D printer in microgravity. (Credit: Made in Space)

WASHINGTON (NRC PR) – Additive manufacturing, also known as 3-D printing, could contribute positively to space missions, for example by enabling in-orbit manufacture of replacement parts and reducing launch logistical requirements, but the specific benefits and potential scope of the technology’s use remain undetermined, says a new report from the National Research Council.  The report illustrates the substantial gaps between the vision for additive manufacturing in space and the limitations of the technology, as well as outlines the progress that has to be made to develop it for such use.

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By Jonathan Goff
CEO and President
Altius Space Machines

Part 2 of 2

In the last post, I introduced the two SBIR Select Phase 1 contracts that Altius has commenced work on. This blog post will focus on the other two Asteroid Redirect Mission contracts which mentioned there. These have been selected for contract negotiation, but aren’t active contracts yet, so I will try to be a little more high-level in this blog post.

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HOUSTON (NanoRacks PR) –Orbital Sciences’ Cygnus spacecraft successfully berthed to the International Space Station (ISS) Wednesday morning after launching Sunday afternoon from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility.

Onboard were 32 CubeSats and 10 internal payloads from NanoRacks’ customers holding dozens of research experiments onboard.

Orbital’s Cygnus was brought to orbit by a two-stage Antares rocket. Cygnus was carrying 1,664 kg of supplies, CubeSats, and research experiments for the Space Station. Cygnus will remain berthed at the ISS for about 30 days where station crew will unload the experiments and other hardware. This was Orbital Sciences’ third resupply mission to the ISS, including their Orb-D1 developmental milestone launch.

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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL. (July 17, 2014) – The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), the Texas Emerging Technology Fund (TETF), and the Governor’s Office of Aerospace and Aviation today announced a collaboration in support of entrepreneurial ventures in Texas seeking to use the International Space Station (ISS) for development of innovative commercial projects capable of improving life on Earth.

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VANCOUVER, JULY 16 2014 (UrtheCast PR) – UrtheCast Corp. (TSX:UR) (“UrtheCast” or “theCompany”) is very pleased to announce that pursuant to its agreement with NanoRacks, LLC it plans to dramatically expand its Earth Observation data stream by operating state-of-the-art sensors on the NASA segment of the International Space Station (ISS).

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By Jonathan Goff
President and CEO
Altius Space Machines

Part 1 of 2

It has been a while since our last blog post, and those of you have been following the news over the last month may have noticed that Altius has recently been awarded or selected for negotiation on a few significant NASA technology development contracts. These four contracts are:

• ISS Launched Cubesat Demonstration of Variable-Drag Magnetoshell Aerocapture – an SBIR Select Phase I that MSNW LLC of Redmond, WA is priming with Altius as subcontractor

• Multi-purpose Interplanetary Deployable Aerocapture System (MIDAS) – an SBIR Select Phase I that Altius is priming with MSNW LLC as subcontractor

• Kraken Asteroid Boulder Retrieval System – an Asteroid Redirect Mission BAA Phase I that Altius is priming with support from Boston-based Empire Robotics, Dr. Brad Blair of NewSpace Analytics, and the Materials Technology Lab at Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Littleton, CO

• Multipurpose SEP Module for ARM and Beyond – an Asteroid Redirect Mission BAA Phase I study where Altius will be supporting an industry team led by ExoTerra Resources of Littleton, CO.

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BOSTON, MA, July 16, 2014 (CASIS PR) – The Boston Red Sox Foundation today announced a truly out of this world collaborative partnership with the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), the manager of the International Space Station (ISS) U.S. National Laboratory. As part of an initial Partnership with the Red Sox Foundation, CASIS will add its support of the ongoing World Series Ring Raffle by adding a once-in-a-lifetime, VIP trip to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX. The winner and three guests will receive a private tour of ISS Mission Control and the Astronaut Training Facility, as well as four passes to Space Center Houston and an authentic CASIS Mission Patch that has orbited the Earth. Airfare and hotel accommodations are also included.

This prize package will be available to those who enter the promotional code “CASIS” upon ordering their raffle tickets. These tickets are just $2 each, with a minimum of five tickets purchased, and can be found by visiting www.redsox.com/ringraffle. All proceeds from the Ring Raffle will go toward the Red Sox Foundation’s ongoing commitment to youth in our communities.

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Two of the 28 Planet Labs Dove satellites that make up the Flock 1 constellation are seen launching into orbit from the International Space Station on Feb. 11. (Credit: NASA)

SEATTLE (Spaceflight Inc. PR) – Spaceflight Inc. and NanoRacks announced today that an additional 28 Planet Labs Dove CubeSats are en route to the International Space Station on the Orbital Sciences Cygnus Orb-2 Mission. The satellites were manifest via the NanoRacks Space Act Agreement with NASA, and are scheduled for deployment using the self-funded NanoRacks’ CubeSat Deployers manufactured by Quad-M Inc.

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