Time Magazine has named SpaceShipTwo to its list of top 25 inventions in 2013. Here’s the write-up on it (with original emphasis): Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo promises to shuttle citizens—wealthy ones who can shell out $250,000—into space as early as 2014. The ship uses a rocket motor to climb through the atmosphere, then drifts back to earth and lands on an airstrip. It’s Virgin’s bid to become the leading name in space […]
AUTHOR
Doug Messier
Mojave Air and Space Port CEO Stu Witt (Credit: Bill Deaver)
After nearly 12 years at the helm of the Mojave Air and Space Port, CEO and General Manager Stu Witt plans to retire no later than the end of his current contract on July 1, 2015.
On Tuesday, the spaceport’s Board of Directors formed a three-person committee to begin the process of finding a replacement for the spaceport’s long-serving chief. Directors Jim Balentine and Marie Walker will serve on the group, which will develop requirements for the position but not a list of possible replacements, Board President JoAnn Painter said.
Asked if he might leave earlier than July 2015, Witt said he served at the pleasure of the board. He added that under his contract, he is required to give the board two notices, one at 24 months and another at 6 months.
Credit: Orbital Sciences Corporation
WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — NASA managers are postponing the upcoming Orbital Sciences commercial cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station to proceed with a series of spacewalks to replace a faulty pump module on the space station.
NASA Television will air a news briefing at 3 p.m. EST on Wednesday, Dec. 18 to preview the spacewalks.
Orbital Sciences’ Cygnus spacecraft, atop its Antares rocket, now will launch no earlier than January. The postponement of the Antares launch will allow ample time for the station crew to focus on repairing a faulty pump module that stopped working properly on Dec. 11.
Spaceport America is awesome, and it’s just going to get more awesome in the years ahead. So says Christine Anderson, who runs the runs the facility as executive director of the New Mexico Spaceport Authority. Anderson explained the project’s value in an op-ed that ran in the Las Cruces Sun-News on Sunday. The piece boasted about how many jobs the spaceport had created, projected how many more it would produce […]
The Andøya Rocket Range in Norway. (Credit: Andoya Rocket Range)
PARIS (ESA PR) — Last October, ESA’s Education Office, in collaboration with the Norwegian Centre for Space-related Education (NAROM), invited high school students to enter the 2014 European CanSat Competition.
Once again, the demand for places in the competition was very high, with over 50 proposals received from teams in 14 ESA Member States. Nine of these teams were selected to take part in the launch campaign, which will be hosted at the Andøya Rocket Range in Norway, 1-5 June 2014.
Dream Chaser in a captive carry flight over the Mojave. (Credit: Sierra Nevada Corporation
By Rebecca Regan
NASA’s Kennedy Space Center
Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) has successfully completed one of its partnership agreements with NASA, through which the company continued development of its Dream Chaser spacecraft. The Commercial Crew Development Round 2 (CCDev2) agreement culminated with a review of the data collected during the company’s first free-flight test of the Dream Chaser spacecraft. SNC is one of NASA’s commercial partners working to develop the next generation of U.S. spacecraft and rockets capable of transporting humans to and from low-Earth orbit from American soil.
CST-100 engine test
SACRAMENTO, Calif., Dec. 16, 2013 (Aerojet Rocketdyne PR) — Aerojet Rocketdyne, a GenCorp company (NYSE:GY), announced today that it completed development testing of a flight-like Launch Abort Engine (LAE) for an innovative “pusher” launch abort system on The Boeing Company’s CST-100 spacecraft.
The launch abort engine is a critical component of future commercial crew transportation to low-Earth orbit. A pusher launch abort system “pushes” or propels a spacecraft toward safety if a launch abort is needed and, if unused for an abort, the propellant can be used for other portions of the mission.
This week on The Space Show with David Livingston: 1. Monday, Dec. 16, 2013, 2-3:30 PM PST (5-6:30 PM EST, 4-5:30 PM CST): We welcome back BRUCE PITTMAN for commercial space updates, perspectives and more. 2. CLASSROOM: Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2013, 7-8:30 PM PST (10-11:30 PM EST, 9-10:30 PM CST): We welcome back DR. JIM LOGAN AND DR. JOHN JURIST to discuss human spaceflight and space radiation for Mars and […]
ORLANDO, Fla. (December 16, 2013) – This week, representatives from Space Florida and the University of Central Florida (UCF) Office of Research and Commercialization (ORC) announced 20 finalists for the “CAT5 Awards,” an event that will match financing sources with small, Florida-based, high-tech businesses.
The “CAT5 Awards,” (which stands for “Capital for the Acceleration of Technologies in early stage companies) will enable the 20 selected companies to present their business models to venture capitalists, angel investors and strategic corporate investors that may have interest in supporting their businesses. In addition, the top 10 finalists will compete to receive one of two monetary awards totaling $150,000 – through Space Florida sponsorship.
Dream Chaser undergoing a tow test. (Credit: Sierra Nevada Corporation)
Tip of the hat to Clark Lindsey at New Space Watch for finding this release.
BREMEN, Germany (OHB System PR) — OHB System AG and the Space Administration of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) signed an agreement providing for the use of funding from the national space program to finance a study to explore possible uses of the U.S. spacecraft Dream Chaser® developed and owned by U.S. company Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC).