SLS cryogenic tank domes. (Credit: Dynetics)

HUNTSVILLE, Ala., March 31, 2014 – Dynetics recently met a milestone in the company’s work on the Space Launch System (SLS) Advanced Booster Engineering Demonstration and/or Risk Reduction (ABEDRR) contract. Using the robotic weld tool at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, the Dynetics friction stir weld team successfully completed the first two dome to y-ring welds as part of its work on a full-scale cryogenic tank for the SLS. The cryogenic tank is an 18-foot diameter welded aluminum structure that weighs more than 20,000 pounds and is composed of some of the thickest material ever welded on that tool.

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NASA intends to extend its Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contracts with Orbital Sciences Corporation and SpaceX by up to two years, according to a pre-solicitation notice posted on the Federal Business Opportunities website. The notice said the extensions until December 2017 would be done at no cost to the government. NASA awarded both contracts in December 2008 for cargo delivery to the International Space Station (ISS) with not to exceed […]

WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — NASA’s commercial space partners continue to meet milestones under agreements with the agency’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP), as they move forward in their development of spacecraft and rockets that will transport humans to destinations in low-Earth orbit.

The achievements in February are the latest development in a cycle that is seeing all four industry partners meet their milestones in their Commercial Crew Integrated Capability and Commercial Crew Development Round 2 agreements with the agency.

Blue Origin, The Boeing Company, Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) and Space Exploration Technology (SpaceX) are developing unique transportation systems and face challenging evaluations and tests in 2014. CCP’s engineering team is working closely with its partners as they develop the next generation of crewed spacecraft. Ultimately, NASA intends to certify and use commercial systems to fly astronauts from the United States to the International Space Station, and back.

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Interorbital launch at FAR. (Credit: Interorbital Systems)

MOJAVE, Calif. (Interorbital PR) — At 12:15 on March 29, 2014, Interorbital Systems’ Common Propulsion Module Test Vehicle (CPM TV) thundered off its mobile launch unit on its maiden flight. The rocket’s 7,500-lb thrust engine performed flawlessly propelling the 1200-lb rocket to Mach 1+ within seconds over the FAR Launch Area. The 30-foot long CPM TV rocket is a boiler-plate test version of the identical rocket units that will make up Interorbital’s modular orbital launch systems.

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This week on The Space Show with David Livingston: 1. Monday, March 31, 2014, 2-3:30 PM PDT(5-6:30 PM EDT, 4-5:30 PM CDT): We welcome PATRICK RITCHIE to discuss the space & STEM aspects of the SXSW event recently held in Austin, TX. Visit the event website for an overview prior to our Monday discussion: https://sxsw.com. 2. Tuesday, April 1, 2014:, 7-8:30 PM PDT (10-11:30 PM EDT, 9-10:30 PM CDT): We […]

PITTSBURGH, PA, March 31, 2014 (Astrobotic PR):  Astrobotic Technology announced today that its autonomous landing technology, the Astrobotic Autolanding System (AAS), performed successfully throughout an open-loop flight campaign on the Masten Aerospace Xombie, a vertical-takeoff vertical-landing suborbital rocket. Testing was conducted at the Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, CA in February 2014. The test was made possible through funding by the NASA Flight Opportunities Program, which is managed by NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center.

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France Córdova

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL., March 31, 2014 (CASIS PR) – The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) announced that France Cordova, Ph.D., has resigned from its board of directors as she will become the new director for the National Science Foundation. Previously, Dr. Cordova served as the chairperson for the CASIS board of directors. With her departure, Lewis M. Duncan, Ph.D., has been named interim chairperson.

Since December 2012, Dr. Cordova has honorably served as the chairperson for CASIS, where she was the official spokesperson for all board-related matters and presided over all board meetings. Dr. Duncan will now assume such responsibilities. Over her tenure, Dr. Cordova was instrumental in the continued growth of CASIS as the manager of the International Space Station (ISS) U.S. National Laboratory, including presiding over the first CASIS-sponsored research payloads sent to the station.

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Video Caption: SpaceX successfully test fired the first stage of F9R—an advanced prototype for the world’s first reusable rocket—in preparation for its first test flight in the coming weeks. Unlike airplanes, a rocket’s thrust increases with altitude; F9R generates just over a million pounds of thrust at sea level but gets up to 1.5 million pounds of thrust in the vacuum of space. The F9R testing program is the next […]

Greetings from Furnace Creek in Death Valley, California — 190 feet under sea level. I’ve been here since Friday evening for a very cool NASA event. MarsFest is an annual outreach event of NASA Ames, JPL and the National Park Service. It’s basically several days of field trips and lectures talking about Death Valley as an analog for Mars exploration. On Saturday, we visited a couple of sites, including Bad […]

Iridium NEXT spacecraft (Credit: Iridium)

Gilbert, AZ 27 March 2014 (OSC PR) – Orbital Sciences Corporation, one of the world’s leading space technology companies, today announced that it has started production of 81 satellites for the Iridium NEXT program as part of a contract between Orbital and Iridium’s prime contractor, French-Italian aerospace company Thales Alenia Space.

Orbital will complete the assembly, integration, test and launch support phases for this second-generation global communications satellite constellation at its satellite manufacturing facility in Gilbert, AZ. The commencement of production also signifies the opening of a Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) at the Gilbert facility, which allows Orbital to reduce program costs by importing foreign-sourced hardware from Thales Alenia Space.

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