Silicon Valley, Calif. (SFF PR) — The Space Frontier Foundation today announced the date and location details of the largest, richest and most exciting NewSpace Business Plan Competition to date.

In years past, this competition has been a part of the Space Frontier Foundation’s NewSpace Conference, however, this year the competition will be a stand-alone event on October 24th, 2013, hosted on the Stanford University campus by the Stanford Student Space Initiative, in conjunction with the Space Frontier Foundation, NASA, ATK and the Heinlein Prize Trust.

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Brad Sharp, Dr Melrose Brown and Dr Michael Creagh from the SCRAMSPACE team work to finalise the payload for the upcoming launch. (Credit: Donald Cook)

BRISBANE, Australia (UQ PR) — The six-day window to launch Australia’s SCRAMSPACE hypersonic scramjet began on Sunday, meaning the research flight could launch any day in the week following.

[Editor’s Note: According to the project’s Twitter feed, the flight was canceled for Tuesday due to weather. Another attempt will be made on Wednesday.]

The data-collecting research project led by The University of Queensland is scheduled to launch between September 15 and 21, subject to weather and testing.

SCRAMSPACE Director and Chair for Hypersonics at UQ Professor Russell Boyce said the team was ready and eager to launch the $14 million research project, which is capable of reaching speeds of 8600km/h.

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UKSA PR — The IGS Restack – a programme to revisit the objectives of the 2010 Space Innovation and Growth Strategy – has now reached consultation phase.

The consultation starts now and will close on the 14 October 2013.

Please click HERE (PDF, 472 Kb) to access the Space IGS Consultation Report.

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Four RS-25 engines, like the one pictured undergoing a hot-fire test, will power the core stage of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) — NASA’s new heavy-lift launch vehicle. (Credit:
Aerojet Rocketdyne)

By Megan Davidson
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.

In the iconic comic-book series, “Superman,” the main character, Clark Kent, looks like your average Joe. Under the ruse of a three-piece suit and glasses, Kent’s true identity is “Superman,” who transforms into his mighty persona to do battle for the good of mankind. In the rocket engine world, the RS-25 is Clark Kent.

Four RS-25 engines will power the core stage of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) — NASA’s new heavy-lift launch vehicle. Towering more than 200 feet tall with a diameter of 27.6 feet, the core stage will store cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen that will feed the vehicle’s RS-25 engines.

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Video Caption: NASA’s Commercial Crew Program is four years old and continues to build momentum toward space. After beginning with artist concepts and designs, spacecraft developers now are testing full-size models and taking steps to qualify sub-systems. The agency’s astronauts are practicing launches and landings in simulators to iron out the details in critical software. The Commercial Crew Program’s progress so far is the result of diligent and relentless efforts […]

This week on The Space Show with Dr. David Livingston: 1. Monday, Sept. 16, 2013, 2-3:30 PM PDT (5-6:30 PM EDT, 4-5:30 PM CDT): We welcome DR. PAUL DAVIES to the show to discuss his contribution to the book “Starship Century” and his science work at Arizona State University. 2. Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2013, 7-8:30 PM PDT (10-11:30 PM EDT, 9-10:30 PM CDT): We welcome back BOB ZIMMERMAN to discuss […]

Washington D.C. (CSF PR) – The Commercial Spaceflight Federation (CSF) is proud to announce that Planetary Resources, Inc., the asteroid mining company, has joined CSF’s Executive Membership. The company had been an Associate Member since January 2012. Planetary Resources’ President and Chief Engineer Chris Lewicki will be the newest addition to CSF’s Board of Directors.

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Wednesday will be a great day for watching rocket launches on the East Coast. ULA is set to launch the U.S. Air Force’s Advanced Extremely High Frequency-3 (AEHF-3) mission aboard an Atlas V rocket from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The launch window opens at 3:04 am EDT/12:04 am PDT and closes two hours later. The weather forecast on Sunday continued to show a 60 percent chance of favorable […]

This is a fully outfitted test version of The Boeing Company’s CST-100 at the company’s Houston Product Support Center in Texas. (Credit: NASA/Robert Markowitz)

By Rebecca Regan
John F. Kennedy Space Center

For the first time, the Mission Control Center (MCC) at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston has tested communications with a commercial, crew-capable spacecraft, as The Boeing Company conducted an interface test between the MCC and software planned for the company’s CST-100 spacecraft.

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According to our highly unscientific (but nonetheless totally reliable and legally binding) poll, Parabolic Arc‘s readers don’t think much of Richard Branson’s boast that he and his family will be flying to space this Christmas Day on SpaceShipTwo’s first commercial flight. Only 24 percent of respondents said “Yes” when asked if he would, while another 10 percent responded “Maybe.” Another 30 percent said “No”, while the remaining 36 percent of […]