Video Caption:
There Is Another Way – An Approach to Sustainable Exploration and Settlement of Space
Outlined in the video above is a possible path forward for space exploration and settlement. Settlement because it is a worthy goal, and settlement because it is the only way to explore on a reasonable NASA budget. The entire point of this exercise is that NASA is capable of doing something great, while what it is doing now is a waste.
Crowd sourcing.
It has become ubiquitous in today’s wired world.
Kickstarter campaigns are run for everything from funding trips to building asteroid hunting telescopes. Need a design for something? Describe your project, have designers put forth their best efforts, and purchase the one you like the best.
Now crowd sourcing has come to NASA. And the space agency is doing it for the boldest human spaceflight initiative since Apollo program sent men to the moon more than 40 years ago.
Deputy NASA Administrator Lori Garver
….and the house is relatively empty for the NASA Deputy Administrator’s keynote address titled, “Growing Partnerships.” These 8 a.m. starts are not good after late night partying in the 10th floor Hospitality Su…zzzzzz…..
OK, I’m back.
Sorry.
After a gracious introduction from Bob Werb (“she’s one of us”), Lori is now talking….
Lori Garver
Things are progressing with opportunities (“the best of times”)
We are second to none in space, we are the envy of the world by just about every measure….we spend more than everyone else, but that’s not the only
Well, the first day of NewSpace 2013 is mostly over. I will shortly be heading upstairs for the traditional first night party, which will take place in a suite that is too small, too hot, too crowded, and too loud to really have anything resembling a coherent conversation.
But, there will be free beer. And what are conferences without free beer?
What, indeed?
But, I digress. As usual.
by Douglas Messier
Parabolic Arc Managing Editor
The Senate and House Appropriations Committees have put forth significantly different spending plans for NASA in FY 2014. The Senate would fund NASA at $18 billion, a nearly $300 million increase over President Barack Obama’s $17.7 billion request. The House would cut the request by $1.1 billion to just under $16.6 billion.
The two house of Congress have major disagreements over several funding priorities. The House significantly reduces the Administration’s request for the Commercial Crew Program and prohibits NASA from spending money on its proposed Asteroid Retrieval Mission until the space agency develops a more detailed plan. The House also makes a deep cut in the Earth Science budget.
The Senate makes a much smaller cut in commercial crew, and it is silent on the asteroid plan. It also provides a small increase in the President’s request for Earth science.
Huntsville (ZPFC PR) — This week Zero Point Frontiers Corp. delivered its report analyzing the different approaches that might be used to send people from nations around the world on commercial trips to the Moon. Working with the Golden Spike Company and its various aerospace partner companies, Zero Point Frontiers used the software it developed for NASA to help NASA Johnson Space Center design space missions.
“This was a great test case for us,” said Zero Point Frontiers CEO Jason Hundley. “Golden Spike gave us an opportunity to make apples-to-apples comparisons of multiple commercial space systems. The good news was that we identified several combinations of vehicles that will support Golden Spike’s mission. They were all using several different types of scenarios, rocket stages, crew vehicles, and lunar landers, which made the work challenging.”
No details on what goals this flight had. It takes place nearly 13 weeks after the first successful powered flight on April 29. According to Virgin Galactic’s Facebook page, Scaled Composite’s Mark Stucky and VG’s Dave Mackay were at the controls of SpaceShipTwo.
Ukraine’s Cyclone rocket
Brazil’s decade-long quest to bring Ukraine’s Cyclone-4 rocket to the Alcantara Launch Center is reported to have hit another snag, this time due to financial problems at the Alcantara Cyclone Space (ACS) company. The Jorno do Brasil reports (via Google Translate):
According to sources close to the Alcantara Space Base, where the program is developed in the country, about two thousand [workers] contracted by ACS were discharged in the last two months. The scenery in this place is abandoned, as shown in photos uploaded to the Official Brazil. Most equipment has been rented and returned those remaining on the base are abandoned in the open air without any maintenance, according to the same sources….
Complaints received by the Journal of Brazil also relate to the subject of the work stoppage. According to the sources, to dismiss officials, heads of departments claimed that “it [layoffs] is happening because the company [ACS] has not paid the contractors.”
Officials are considering adding a series of interim milestones to the $30 million Google Lunar X Prize in order to jump start the competition to place the first privately-financed rover on the moon.
The Milestone Prizes would help teams overcome technical milestones, strengthen their business plans, and generate public relations for the competitors and the prize, according to a draft document [PDF] obtained by Parabolic Arc.
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden gets a look at Final Frontier Design’s new spacesuit. (Credit: FFD)
Washington, DC, July 23, 2013 (FFD PR) – Brooklyn, NY, based space company Final Frontier Design (FFD) unveiled their new “3G” space suit today at a NASA event on Capitol Hill. FFD was chosen by NASA to represent small businesses at their “Tech Day on the Hill”, attended by 16 members of Congress and over 500 staff and guests, including NASA’s Administrator, Charlie Bolden.
Credit: FFD
