Minotaur I launch. (Credit: NASA)
WALLOPS ISLAND, Virg. (NASA PR) — Nine university teams and one high school team experienced on Tuesday a feat that few outside the aerospace industry have ever realized: watching the nanosatellites, or cubesats, that they designed and built launch into space. An addition to the NASA PhoneSat technology demonstration will also be aboard.
Oh wow. The reason behind Ed Mango’s sudden resignation as head of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program has been revealed: Ed Mango has pleaded guilty to a federal felony charge that he improperly intervened to help a colleague to whom he had loaned money. Mango loaned undisclosed amounts starting in October 2012 to the colleague – identified in court records as “C.T.” – including funds to hire a lawyer after her […]
Testimony of Dennis Tito
Executive Director of Inspiration Mars Foundation
Hearing on Commercial Space
Subcommittee on Space
November 20, 2013
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee. I can’t think of a better way to begin today’s discussion on public-private ventures in space than to propose one.
At the Inspiration Mars Foundation, we have designed the architecture for a mission carrying two astronauts to the far side of Mars and back. It would be a voyage around the sun of more than 808 million miles in 501 days. We propose to do this in collaboration with NASA, as a partner in a NASA mission, in the name of America, and for the good of humanity. The endeavor is not motivated by business desires, but to inspire Americans in a bold adventure in space that reinvigorates US space exploration. In fact, the capabilities developed through private funding will belong to NASA for this and future missions.
An artist’s conception of the Inspiration Mars vehicle, which includes a Cygnus derived habitation module (right) and an Orion-derived re-entry capsule (left). The mission architecture would launch the main spacecraft on NASA’s Space Launch System and send a crew aloft later aboard a commercial space transport to dock with it. In testimony on Capitol Hill today, Inspiration Mars Chairman Dennis Tito said about $300 million could be raised privately while […]
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Inspiration Mars PR) – Dennis Tito, founder and chairman of theInspiration Mars Foundation, testified today before the House Science Subcommittee on Space during a hearing on commercial space. Tito shared the results of a 90-day study undertaken by Inspiration Mars and developed through collaborative efforts with NASA centers and industry partners to define a baseline architecture for a human mission to Mars. The Foundation proposes to send a spacecraft in late 2017 or early 2018 bearing two astronauts, a man and woman, to the far side of Mars and return them to Earth.
Within its Architecture Study Report and through Tito’s testimony today, Inspiration Mars asks Congress and the President to grant an American mission to Mars a place within a launch schedule already set, using rockets and systems already in testing, to meet an objective already set forth.
A Minotaur I rocket successfully put a defense satellite into orbit this evening in a spectacular nighttime launch from Wallops Island, Virginia. The Air Force’s Operationally Responsive Space Office’s ORS-3 mission included a record number of spacecraft — 29 — on one launch vehicle. The Minotaur’s primary payload — the Space Test Program Satellite-3 (STPSat-3), an Air Force technology-demonstration mission — was successfully deployed on schedule. The rocket also included […]
WASHINGTON, DC (NASA PR) — NASA took another step Tuesday to restore an American capability to launch astronauts from U.S. soil to the International Space Station by the end of 2017, subject to the availability of adequate funding. The agency’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP) requested proposals from U.S. companies to complete development of crew transportation systems that meet NASA certification requirements and begin conducting crewed flights to the space station.
The XCOR XR-5H25 engine was hot fired for the first time at the XCOR test site located on the Mojave Air & Space Port in Mojave, California. (Credit: XCOR)
Nov. 19, 2013, Mojave, CA and Centennial, CO. (XCOR/ULA PR) — XCOR Aerospace and United Launch Alliance (ULA) announced a significant milestone today, the first successful hot fire of the subscale 2500 lbf thrust XR-5H25 engine in the XCOR® and ULA liquid hydrogen (LH2) engine development program.
“The first hot fire of any engine is a major milestone but the first firing of a liquid hydrogen engine in our LH2 program is an even bigger accomplishment,” noted XCOR Chief Executive Officer Jeff Greason. “The hot fire of this engine moves us forward on a path to routine tests and further demonstration of fully reusable, high reliability rocket engines for which we are known.”
XCOR Engineer Geoff Licciardello outside the test bunker in Mojave. (Credit: XCOR)
XCOR has been chronicling the development and assembly of its first Lynx suborbital vehicle on its blog. Here’s an interview with engineer Geoff Licciardello, otherwise known as Geo.
Today we are breaking things up, and providing you the first part of a two-part interview…
This is the fourth in a series of posts “from the bunker,” interviews with the people behind the scenes at every hot fire and cold flow that takes place at XCOR. Today we continue our discussion about the role of Control, this time with engineer Geoff Licciardello. Geo previously worked as Control on both the Lynx truss (5K18) and LOX pump tests, and currently works on all hydrogen program testing at XCOR.
TOKYO (JAXA PR) — Since the launch of Zarya, the first module of the International Space Station (ISS), on November 20, 1998, five space agencies have worked together to build the orbiting science lab-one of the most complex scientific and technological endeavours ever undertaken.
On November 20, 2013, celebrate with us as we launch a world-wide wave on Twitter to cheer the ISS!
Starting at midnight GMT — the official time zone of the ISS — the European Space Agency (ESA), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) are launching a world-wide wave for ISS on Twitter! We will issue 24 ISS-related tweets in 24 hours, one tweet every 60 minutes at the top of the hour.
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