This week on The Space Show with David Livingston: 1. Monday, Oct. 21, 2013, 2-3:30 PM PDT (5-6:30 PM EDT, 4-5:30 PM CDT): We welcome back MICHAEL BELFIORE to discuss his recent space and tech articles and posts. Follow Michael at https://michaelbelfiore.com. . 2. Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2013, 7-8:30 PM PDT (10-11:30 PM EDT, 9-10:30 PM CDT): We welcome DR. JASON REIMULLER , PoSSUM Principle Investigator. For more information on […]
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Doug Messier
ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico, USA (SatWest PR) – Satwest, one of the world’s first commercial suborbital research and development companies, is partnering with Bosque School, working with the school’s Physics II lab, in order to send the world’s first texts into space.
Satwest, in partnership with private spaceflight company UP Aerospace, will launch a rocket carrying Satwest’s communication payload on Nov. 12 at Spaceport America located near Truth or Consequences, NM. The students will be following the mission via the hashtag #TextsToSpace. Once a specific altitude is achieved, a series of thirty texts will be issued by the students, and tweeted live throughout the event. Once the craft has returned to earth, a recovery team will return the rocket to Spaceport America. Satwest will retrieve the payload, and confirm receipt of the Bosque texts.
San Marino High School’s Jasmine Kuo and Kara Lukas take notes from their Fibroblast Division in Microgravity experiment. (Credit: NCESSE)
By Patrick O’Neill
CASIS Communications Manager
Dreaming big may not literally make the world go round, but it can power student curiosities to circle the globe as orbiting science investigations aboard the International Space Station. On Wednesday, Sept. 18, the private commercial space company, Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., launched its test flight Cygnus cargo spacecraft to the space station on a demonstration mission, taking the students’ cargo with it.
The goal of the flight may be to show the vehicle’s capabilities to send research and supplies to the world’s only orbiting laboratory, but when the flight docked on Sunday, Sept. 29, the young scientists had research on their minds.
Artist’s conception of Ariane 6. (Credit: ESA)
Industry has submitted 150 proposals for building the next generation Ariane 6 launch vehicle. Meanwhile, ESA has awarded incumbent Astrium more than $500 million in contracts for initial work on the new rocket and for an interim upgrading the existing Ariane 5. Space News reports:
The massive response, which officials said was better than they dared expect, will now be evaluated by the 20-nation European Space Agency (ESA) as it crafts a proposal to its governments to finance Ariane 6.
“Some of these responses have been extremely interesting and innovative,” said Jean-Yves Le Gall, president of the French space agency, CNES. CNES has indicated it expects to maintain its leadership in Europe’s launcher sector by financing 50 percent of Ariane 6.
Ariane 6’s current design specifications call for a rocket capable of lifting a commercial telecommunications satellite weighing up to 6,500 kilograms into geostationary orbit at a maximum cost of 70 million euros, or $95 million at current exchange rates.
3D printing builds a solid object from a series of layers, each one printed on top of the last. This ‘additive manufacturing’ technique produces very complex structures with minimal waste and maximum flexibility. (Credit: ESA-N. Vicente)
PARIS (ESA PR) — 3D printing is getting ready to revolutionise space travel. ESA is paving the way for 3D-printed metals to build high-quality, intricate shapes with massive cost savings.
ESA and the European Commission have embarked on a project to perfect the printing of space-quality metal components. The AMAZE project – Additive Manufacturing Aiming Towards Zero Waste & Efficient Production of High-Tech Metal Products – involves 28 industrial partners across Europe.
Amherst, NY (SEDS PR) — The California Space Enterprise Center (CSEC) has formed an alliance with Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) to offer discounted memberships with Green2Gold and Space Entrepreneurship. SEDS members now have the opportunity to purchase memberships for only $99 per year, compared to the usual $350 for a full year membership.
Services offered by Green2Gold include concept to to marketplace mentorship, financing and funding resources, intellectual property protection, strategic planning/marketing, and so much more. For a full list of services see the following webpage: https://www.green2gold.org/services-offered-by-green2gold.
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Michael Simpson
ISPCS Closing Remarks
Michael Simpson
Executive Director, Secure World Foundation
In closing keynote, Michael Simpson says NewSpace industry has matured over last 8 years, more willing to work with gov’t and others. (Jeff Foust @jeff_foust)
SIMPSON: Don’t restrict innovation to engineering. (Alan Ladwig @SpaceArtAl )
Simpson: Don’t confine innovation to engineering. Great ideas are in business, policy, and other fields. (Suzi Gordon @suzigordon)
Simpson: Any place worth getting to in space is going to come faster if we make use of synergies (ISPCS @ISPCS)
Video Caption: Moon Express Principal GNC Engineer, Jim Kaidy, narrates over footage from the successful open loop GNC software test using NASA’s Mighty Eagle lander on September 20th, 2013. Jim and fellow Moon Ex engineer Mike Stewart worked alongside the team at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama to make this collaboration between commercial and government space a reality.
Launch of Delta IV NROL-65, August 28, 2013 from Vandenberg Air Force Base. (Credit: ULA)
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. (ULA PR) — The launch of the GPS IIF-5 mission on a ULA Delta IV launch vehicle, currently scheduled for Oct. 23, 2013, is being delayed.
The team has continued with Phase II of an investigation related to a successful Delta IV launch that occurred in October 2012 in which the second stage RL10B-2 engine thrust was lower than expected. It was determined that a fuel leak occurred within the engine system and that this fuel leak caused the low thrust.
BOCA RATON, Fla. (ZGSI PR) — Zero Gravity Solutions, Inc. (ZGSI ) announces the introduction of BAM-FX™, a proprietary technology designed for use in the space program, which we are now developing and preparing to deploy for agricultural use on Earth to create densely nutritious, immune system enhancing food for application to world agriculture.
Initial data utilizing our technology as applied to agricultural use on Earth has demonstrated, through independent certified laboratory analysis, the ability to systemically deliver targeted minerals and micro-nutrients throughout a plant from seed or root to maturity.