While members of Abu Dhabi’s royal family await their chance to fly into space aboard Sir Richard Branson’s SpaceShipTwo, they have found a new travel diversion to keep them occupied.
Specifically, the world’s largest yacht — by quite a lot.
AUTHOR
Doug Messier
Fremont, Calif. (SFF PR) — The Space Frontier Foundation is happy to announce a deadline extension for submissions to the 2013 NewSpace Business Plan Competition. Participants will now have until August 29th, 2013 at 5:00pm (PST) to submit their Intent-to-compete form, a 3-page business plan summary and the $50 application fee. Finalists will compete for $135,000 in cash prizes in Silicon Valley in late October. Entries can be submitted by filling out this form on our customized Decision Desk platform.
Space Florida Evaluation Committee Public Meeting
Date and Time: August 27, 2013, 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. (Eastern Daylight Time)
Place: 505 Odyssey Way, Exploration Park, Conference Rooms 301 and 305
General Subject Matter to be Considered: The Space Florida Evaluation Committee Members will be considering the proposals submitted by vendors in response to the competitive solicitation for the Request for Qualifications for Environmental Services Supporting a Launch Site Operator License for the Proposed Shiloh Launch Complex, RFQ-SF-17-0-2014/MB.
Video Caption: The U.S. has explored space with telescopes, robotic rovers and its shuttle. Now facing budget cuts and reduced resources, NASA has had to reassess its ambitions while heeding the call for new discovery. Judy Woodruff talks to Joel Achenbach of the Washington Post about a new program that aims to capture a small asteroid.
Editor’s Note: Achenbach wrote a story a couple of days ago about the asteroid mission, which is being viewed skeptically by most of the scientists who study these bodies:
But the mission is viewed skeptically by many in the space community. At a July gathering of engineers and scientists at the National Academy of Sciences, veteran engineer Gentry Lee expressed doubt that the complicated elements of the mission could come together by 2021, and said the many uncertainties would boost the costs.
Launch Pad 39A with the space shuttle Endeavour. (Credit: NASA)
The Orlando Sentinel has an update on the battle to control mothballed space shuttle Launch Complex 39A. In a dream match up made in NewSpace heaven, the battle pits billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX against fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, whose bid is supported by United Launch Alliance (ULA), which has made billions launching U.S. defense satellites.
NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy, Expedition 36 flight engineer, works on the Capillary Flow Experiment (CFE-2) aboard the International Space Station on May 22, 2013. The presence of the crew for microgravity investigations provides a valuable human-in-the-loop aspect for researchers on the ground. (Credit: NASA)
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL., August 19, 2013 (CASIS PR) – The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), the nonprofit organization managing research onboard the International Space Station (ISS) U.S. National Laboratory, today announced a four-week contest titled “What Would You Send to the ISS?”, which is open to the general public for submissions. The contest runs through September 16, 2013.
Video Caption: This video is a documentary from the launch of the rocket “Sapphire” by Copenhagen Suborbitals in June 2013. The video shows our preparations and the launch itself – from all available camera angles – including footage from our surveillance airplane. The purpose of the mission was to test active guidance. This is a key element in the CS mission to launch a human into space. The guidance system […]
This week on The Space Show with Dr. David Livingston: 1. Monday, August 19, 2013: 2-3:30 PM PDT (5-6:30 PM EDT, 4-5:30 PM CDT): No show today as I am helping a friend with medical issues. 2. Tuesday, August 20, 2013, 7-8:30 PM PDT (10-11:30 PM EDT, 9-10:30 PM CDT): No show today as I am helping a friend with medical issues. 3. Thursday, August 22, 2013,7-8:00 PM PDT (10-11:00 […]
The quality control problems that have plagued India’s GSLV launch vehicle re-emerged on Monday as ISRO was forced to scrub a crucial launch after a fuel leak was discovered. ISRO Chairman K Radhakrishnan made the announcement: “Leaky proponents observed in the second stage. We need to make an assessment of the cause of the leak in GSLV-D5 vehicle,” the ISRO chief said. “We will announce a new date for the […]
Continuing our look at U.S. launch vehicles, we turn our spotlight onto Orbital Sciences Corporation. Although the Virginia company is traditionally a supplier of small launch vehicles, it recently made the leap to medium-lift rockets.
Orbital currently operates four launch vehicles:
- Pegasus, an air-launched solid-fuel vehicle for small satellites;
- Taurus, a land-based variant of the Pegasus booster with a decommissioned Peacekeeper ballistic missile used as the first stage;
- Minotaur, a family of small solid-fuel launchers that uses a mixture of decommissioned Peacekeeper and Minuteman II ballistic missile stages and Pegasus and Taurus technology; and,
- Antares, a new medium-class, liquid-fuel booster developed under NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program that will launch Cygnus freighters to the International Space Station.
The company also is developing a new air-launched rocket nicknamed Pegasus II for Paul Allen’s Stratolaunch Systems company. This new medium launch vehicle is set to make its debut flight in 2016.
Let’s now take a closer look at Orbital’s programs. The launch history tables below are adapted from Wikipedia.