Here’s a brief item from Politico.com: Suborbital spaceflight provider Virgin Galactic is bringing on Cozen O’Connor Public Strategies to lobby on issues related to Export-Import Bank financing and export control of suborbital spaceflight. Virgin Galactic is a company within Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, dedicated to the future of the space tourism industry. Howard Schweitzer, a former general counsel for Export-Import Bank, will lobby for Cozen O’Connor. Virgin Galactic hasn’t had […]
AUTHOR
Doug Messier
Artist’s conception of ATK’s High-Power Megaflex Solar Array. (Credit: ATK)
ARLINGTON, Va., Jan. 21, 2014 (ATK PR) — ATK (NYSE: ATK) demonstrated full deployment of a large MegaFlex™ solar array under a NASA contract to further the development of a high-power system to be used for future robotic and manned exploration missions.
CBC News has an interesting article about what lies ahead for Virgin Galactic later this year. Although the story is published under a somewhat sensational headline, “Virgin Galactic space tourists could be grounded by FAA,” it provides some interesting information about the FAA license required for SpaceShipTwo to begin flying paying passengers. Virgin Galactic submitted the license application in late August, and the FAA has six months to review it. […]
State Sen. Steve Knight
The California State Senate is moving forward with changes to a law that limits the liability of spacecraft operators and their suppliers for any injuries or deaths they cause to participants.
The measure, sponsored by State Sen. Steve Knight (R-Lancaster), would require spacecraft operators to enter into a “reciprocal waiver of claims with its contractors, subcontractors, customers, participants, and contractors and subcontractors of the customers or participants” to hold each other blameless in the event of an incident.
NASA Ames engineers are building PhoneSats, demonstrating how “off the shelf” consumer devices can lead to new space exploration capabilities. (Credit:
NASA Ames Research Center/Dominic Hart)
WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) made major strides in 2013, pioneering new technologies and capabilities that added breadth to NASA’s tool kit, aiding current and future missions.
The directorate is engaged in nine major technology development programs that are underway at each of NASA’s ten field centers located across the United States.
By Douglas Messier
Managing Editor
With just over seven months to go, NASA’s commercial crew partners are racing to complete 14 remaining milestones in this phase of the competition to launch Americans into orbit on U.S.-built spacecraft.
The coming months will see SpaceX conduct to abort tests of its Dragon spacecraft and Sierra Nevada conduct at least one additional drop test of its Dream Chaser shuttle. Boeing will conduct three critical design reviews and a comprehensive safety review of its CST-100 spacecraft.
Today Parabolic Arc begins a semi-regular feature looking at various space-related crowd sourcing fund-raising efforts out there. Rocket Thermodynamix, LLC This side company founded by Luke Colby, technical lead of Scaled Composites’ Rocket Propulsion Group, is attempting to raise $25,000 to purchase a CNC lathe. And what do you get for your contribution? A shot glass in the shape of a rocket engine combustion chamber. Learn more Mars One Mars […]
One of the new research investigations that arrived on the space station is the Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus Science Insert-06: Ants in Space. (Credit: BioServe Space Technologies)
ISS Science Highlights: Week of Jan. 6, 2013
By John Love, Lead Increment Scientist
Expedition 37/38
NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins and Richard Mastracchio reviewed the Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus Science Insert-06: Ants in Space (CSI-06) reference materials in preparation for the runs planned. Students in grades K-12 will observe videos of these “ant-ronauts” recorded by cameras on the International Space Station. The students will conduct their own ant interaction investigations in their classrooms as part of a related curriculum. Educational investigations such as Ants in Space are designed to motivate budding scientists in primary and secondary school to pursue their interest in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields.
JAXA will test a 300-meter (1,000-foot) long electrodynamic tether in space next month that is designed to reel in and de-orbit space debris. The idea is that one end of the strip will be attached to one of the thousands of dead satellites or bits of rocket that are jamming up space and endangering working equipment. The electricity generated by the tether as it swings through the Earth’s magnetic field […]
This week on The Space Show with David Livingston: 1. Monday, Jan. 20, 2014, 2-3:30 PM PST (5-6:30 PM EST, 4-5:30 PM CST): We welcome back HOWARD BLOOM to update us on progress with the Space Development Steering Committee which he chairs. Howard also has two new e-Books out on Amazon and we will ask him about his latest books. 2. Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2014:, 7-8:30 PM PST (10-11:30 PM […]