Hello everyone! Made Phoenix this evening after a long drive through America’s western deserts. A few brief observations about the drive. The desert is in its springtime bloom meaning there’s lots of green. Lots being a relative term, of course. When compared with say, Rogers Dry Lake at Edwards, the Arizona desert looks like a vast outdoor greenhouse. The contrasts between California and Arizona are striking. Almost immediately after you […]
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Doug Messier
NASA has selected Honeybee Robotics of New York City for two Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I awards for work on a system to return a surface sample from a comet and a drill that can be used to extract soil samples from a variety of heavenly bodies.
“The proposed Phase I investigation will focus on the development of spacecraft systems required to obtain a sample from the nucleus of a comet, hermetically seal the sample within a capsule, and return the sealed sample to an orbiting spacecraft which can return the sample to Earth,” according to the comet proposal’s summary.
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and Chief Financial Officer Elizabeth Robinson will unveil the 2014 budget proposal today at 3 p.m. EDT. I will be on the road to Phoenix for the Space Access Conference where I will be giving a talk and serving on a panel discussion, so I won’t be able to write about the budget until this evening. If you really really need to know before that, you […]
SXC PR — Preparing to go to space is almost as exciting as actually going. From March 19 until March 22 a crew of SXC, future astronauts and potentials went for a dazzling four-day trip to the Acrtic Circle to watch one of the most mesmerizing phenomenon in space; the Aurora Borealis. Three days in a row, the sky actually lit up in green colors as a strong reminder of […]
NASA has selected Tethers Unlimited of Bothell, Wash., for four Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I awards for the development technologies for nano-sat launch vehicles, small satellites, robotic surface explorers, and space manufacturing. The company also has been selected for an Air Force SBIR Phase II award for a CubeSat radio system.
The four NASA proposals include:
- SWIFT-nanoLV Avionics Platform (Nano/Micro Satellite Launch Vehicle Technology)
- SWIFT-HPX – High Data Rate Ka-band Communications for Small Satellites (Game Changing Technologies)
- SPIDER — Sensing and Positioning on Inclines and Deep Environments with Retrieval (Robotic Mobility, Manipulation and Sampling)
- TRUSSELATOR – On-Orbit Fabrication of High Performance Support Structures for Solar Arrays (Expandable/Deployable Structures).
W00t! Just lit Xaero-B’s engine. — David Masten (@dmasten) April 9, 2013 When I drove past the airport earlier today, Masten had a crane out at the test site which indicated they were doing tether tests.
What: The Mojave Marathon When: April 21, 2013 Time: 8 a.m. Where: Gather at the baseball park in Mojave by the Belshaw entrance to the airport (this will also be the finish line) Description A few people in Mojave ran this marathon in 2012 and we have decided to run it again this year. It is a little longer than a standard marathon. Anyone is welcome to join in for […]
Ever wanted to build a spaceship or work for a spaceline? Here’s your chance. Representatives will be taking resumes for both Virgin Galactic and the Spaceship Company during the monthly Plane Crazy Saturday event at the Mojave Air and Space Port on April 20. The free open house runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Spaceship Company is beginning to ramp up production of WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo vehicles in […]
HOUSTON (Ad Astra PR) – Dr. José Antonio Zaglul Slon, a distinguished educator and current president of EARTH University has been elected to the Board of Directors of Ad Astra Rocket Company. The unanimous vote was cast Friday, April 5, 2013, at the Ad Astra corporate headquarters in Houston, Texas during the board’s second meeting of 2013. Dr. Zaglul, a citizen of Costa Rica, becomes the 7th member of the Ad Astra board and the first outside “non-aerospace” director to join the top leadership of the company, highlighting its diversification. His term begins immediately and he will stand for re-election at the company’s annual shareholders meeting in November. All Ad Astra board members are elected annually.
NASA has selected Paragon Space Development Corporation of Tucson for two Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I awards to develop technologies for inflatable space habitats and the regeneration of oxygen for crews on their way to the moon and Mars.
“Paragon Space Development Corp (Paragon) and Thin Red Line Aerospace proposes to explore the utilization of inflatable structures by designing a habitation module as an integrated, all-fabric inflatable structural architecture, rather than modifying rigid space structural designs with an inflatable envelope,” according to the proposal summary. “Paragon and TRLA have developed several concepts with the potential to eliminate the need for hard-material support structure within an inflated habitat.”