Video Caption: Video of Falcon 9 Reusable (F9R) taking its first test flight at our rocket development facility. F9R lifts off from a launch mount to a height of approximately 250m, hovers and then returns for landing just next to the launch stand. Early flights of F9R will take off with legs fixed in the down position. However, we will soon be transitioning to liftoff with legs stowed against the […]
AUTHOR
Doug Messier
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, carrying the Dragon spacecraft loaded with nearly 5,000 pounds of supplies and experiment hardware for the International Space Station’s Expedition 39 crew, lifted off at 3:25 p.m. EDT Friday from Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Friday’s launch of the third SpaceX commercial resupply services mission sent the Dragon space freighter on a course to rendezvous with the station […]
California Aerospace Industry Economic Impact Study Summary
A.T. Kearney
Aerospace is one of California’s most important sources of jobs and revenues. The state must take steps to support it into the future.
California has been at the forefront of the aerospace industry for more than a century.1 California-based aerospace businesses and government organizations play crucial roles in commercial, civil, and national security programs, and the industry is a crucial source of high-paying jobs, tax revenues, and technological innovation.
A.T. Kearney recently conducted an independent study on the aerospace industry’s impact on California’s economy. This study shows the importance of this industry’s revenue impact, employment impact, and share of the global aerospace market.
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Cyclone-4 first and second stages. (Credit: Alcantara Cyclone Space)
Cyclone-4 Project Status Update
Via Alcantara Cyclone Space
The current events in Ukraine have not impacted the Cyclone-4 Project development. Currently, the Launch Vehicle development is progressing as scheduled, and it will be ready for delivery to Alcantara in the second half of 2015.
Cyclone-4 payload fairing separation test. (Credit: Alcantara Cyclone Space)
The Russian Investigative Committee, that nation’s equivalent of the FBI, has opened a criminal probe into the conduct of RSC Energia President Vitaly Lopota for alleged abuse of office, according to media reports.
Detectives found that “in 2010, Lopota who performed managerial functions at RSC Energia gave instructions to the leadership of its subsidiary, an experimental machine-building plant of RSC Energia, to grant loans to two companies participating in commercial space project Sea Launch.”
Ken Davidian of the FAA passed along this notice to me. Registration for ESIL-06 is Now Open! The latest in a series of workshops for Emerging Space Industry Leaders (ESIL) focusing on different issues and sectors of the emerging commercial space industry, ESIL-06 will engage its participants by focusing on the commercial remote sensing sector of commercial space. Here are the details: WHAT: 2-day workshop including industry panels and working […]
Delta IV lifts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. (Credit: Ben Cooper, United Launch Alliance)
ARLINGTON, Va., April 16, 2014 (ATL PR) — ATK has reached agreement on a $178 million contract award as part of the Air Force’s Phase 1 Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) buy from United Launch Alliance (ULA). The order value includes hardware for both of the current United States Air Force EELV launch vehicles, the Atlas V and Delta IV. The initial contracting period includes large composite structures with deliveries commencing in AFY14 and continuing into early AFY18. The option period includes hardware deliveries in AFY17 through AFY19.
El Segundo, Ca, March 31, 2014 (A.T. Kearney PR) — Global management consulting firm A.T. Kearney today released an original study on the essential role the aerospace industry plays in sustaining the California economy. The study finds that in 2012 aerospace companies manufacturing or providing aerospace-related services in California accounted for $62 billion in revenues, representing 21 percent of the U.S. aerospace market and 9 percent of the global market.
As part of the FAA Center of Excellence in Commercial Space Transportation Task 220 with New Mexico State University (NMSU), a collection of spaceport-related documents, a.k.a., the “Body of Knowledge for Commercial Spaceport Operations” has gone live on the web at the following URL: https://contentdm.nmsu.edu:2011/cdm/landingpage/collection/NMSGCBOK The Framework for Spaceport Operations is an evolving collection of documents and information that represents available documentation of industry best practices. The collection was created […]
Dream Chaser on approach after a successful free flight. (Credit: Sierra Nevada Corporation)
By Douglas Messier
Managing Editor
Sierra Nevada Corporation will conduct additional drop tests of its Dream Chaser space shuttle at Edwards Air Force Base in the fall, Co-program Director John Curry said during the recent Space Tech Expo in Long Beach, Calif.
The approach and landing tests will be conducted using an upgraded engineering test vehicle that glided to a landing at Edwards last October. The upgrades will include the avionics, software, and guidance, navigation and control systems designed for use on the orbital Dream Chaser spacecraft, Curry said.