NASA has selected Terminal Velocity Aerospace for a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award to develop a payload system capable of returning experimental samples from the International Space Station (ISS).

“The device, named RED-4U, is sized to accommodate a payload mass and volume equivalent to four CubeSats, commonly referred to as units or ‘U’,” according to the proposal summary. “The payload accommodations and concept of operations for RED-4U are currently generically defined, but are readily suitable to the ISS small payload return mission. In the proposed Phase I R&D effort, TVA proposes to (1) design, fabricate, and demonstrate RED-4U payload accommodations specifically for high-frequency sample return from ISS; and (2) detail the concept of operations for RED-4U use on ISS.”

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Nitrous nylon engine test on Jan. 16, 2014. (Credit: Ken Brown)

With Virgin Galactic Founder Richard Branson once again supremely confident (90 percent probability!) that he will be flying to space by a definitive date (end of September!), you would think that all the ground testing of SpaceShipTwo’s engine would have been completed long ago.

But, you’d be wrong. As usual. Engineers have been testing up a storm lately, with static engine firings every couple of weeks. And with SpaceShipTwo having not flown for nearly four months, you’d be right to wonder why Sir Richard’s predictions are always so at odds with any known reality in Mojave.

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NASA has selected Made in Space for Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I awards for two projects on 3D additive manufacturing. Each award is for six months and up to $125,000.

Under the SBIR award, Made in Space would develop R3DO, which it describes as a “plastic recycling system for creating 3D printer feedstock on-orbit.

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REDWOOD CITY, Calif., May 8, 2014 (USRA PR) — A new research platform that promises to dramatically reduce the cost of access to space for small scientific and education payloads will be publicly unveiled at MakerCon, which takes place at the Oracle Conference Center in Redwood City next week.

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Is this the end of the line for Excalibur Almaz, the Isle of Man company that had a dream of turning old Soviet space hardware into gold? An anonymous bidder snapped one of the company’s space capsules for $1 million euros ($1.39 million) on Tuesday during an auction at the Kunsthaus Lempertz auction house in Brussels, Belgium. The vehicle had flown into space unmanned on two occasions during the 1970’s […]

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper will sign a measure that will provide for sales, use and storage tax exemptions for spaceflight property during the 30th Space Symposium in Colorado Springs on May 20. The bill defines qualified property for use in spaceflight as: a space vehicle and any component thereof; tangible personal property to be placed or used aboard a space vehicle, regardless of whether such personal property is to be […]

SpaceX has delayed to the scheduled Saturday launch of its Falcon 9 rocket due to a failure to conduct a static test earlier today. Orbcomm which has six satellites aboard the launch vehicle, has issued the following statement: “Today’s attempt to perform the static firing test was stopped while the rocket was being fueled. Both the OG2 satellites and the rocket are in safe condition and will be rotated horizontal […]

Credit: Ken Brown

Virgin Galactic has hired a high-profile firm, Edelman Digital, to help it handle public relations and social media activities as Sir Richard Branson’s space tourism company looks toward the start of commercial flights later this year.

Adweek has a story about the deal that includes an appropriately hyped up headline (“Virgin Galactic Is Going to Be Social Media on Rocket Fuel…a Never-before-seen Buzz Vortex”) and a prediction that one should never, ever use in connection with any type of rocket program (“Can you imagine what Twitter, Facebook and other social channels are going to be like if Branson’s venture gets going for real? The Internet would completely blow up.“)

Sigh… 🙁

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ORBITEC vortex propulsion technology. (Credit: ORBITEC)

NASA has selected Orbital Technologies Corporation (ORBITEC) for three Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and one Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I awards for a high performance nano-launcher, miniature CubeSat propulsion, vortex propulsion technology, and a waste compactor.

The OBITEC proposals that NASA selected for negotiations include:

• High Performance Nanolauncher (STTR with Penn State University)
• Miniature Nontoxic Nitrous Oxide-Propane (MINNOP) Propulsion
• VTX HyHeat — vortex propulsion technology
• Plastic Melt Waste Compactor Flight Demonstrator Payload (PFDP)

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Preliminary Injunction Lifted – ULA Purchase of RD-180 Engines Complies with Sanctions Statement by United Launch Alliance “The U.S. Court of Federal Claims lifted the preliminary injunction on May 8, 2014. United Launch Alliance’s (ULA’s) purchase of the RD-180 engines from our suppliers and partners, RD AMROSS and NPO Energomash, clearly complies with the sanctions against Russia. “The letters submitted by U.S. Departments of State, Treasury and Commerce explicitly stated […]