Move over, Peter D! You’ve got company! Former Astrobotic Technology President David Gump has resurfaced with a new company, Deep Space Industries, which will announce the “world’s first fleet of commercial asteroid-prospecting spacecraft” during a press conference at the Santa Monica Museum of Flying on Tuesday, Jan. 22. Deep Space Industries is the second asteroid mining company to make a public announcement in the past year. Planetary Resources — founded […]
AUTHOR
Doug Messier
PARIS, ESA PR (Jan. 16, 2013) — ESA agreed with NASA today to contribute a driving force to the Orion spacecraft planned for launch in 2017. Ultimately, Orion will carry astronauts further into space than ever before using a module based on Europe’s Automated Transfer Vehicle technology.
Automated Transfer Vehicles (ATVs) have been resupplying the International Space Station since 2008. The fourth in the series, ATV Albert Einstein, is being readied for launch next year from Kourou, French Guiana.
The ATV-derived service module, sitting directly below Orion’s crew capsule, will provide propulsion, power, thermal control, as well as supplying water and gas to the astronauts in the habitable module.
By Douglas Messier
Parabolic Arc Managing Editor
Proposed changes to New Mexico’s informed consent law regarding suborbital spaceflights would not only extend protections from lawsuits to spacecraft manufacturers and their suppliers, they would also narrow the circumstances under which injured spaceflight participants and their heirs can sue.
NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver and President and founder of Bigelow Aerospace Robert T. Bigelow talk while standing next to the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) during a media briefing where is was announced that the BEAM expandable space habitat technology will be tested on the International Space Station, Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013 in Las Vegas. BEAM is scheduled to arrive at the space station in 2015 for a two-year technology demonstration. (Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls)
LAS VEGAS (NASA PR) — NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver announced Wednesday a newly planned addition to the International Space Station that will use the orbiting laboratory to test expandable space habitat technology. NASA has awarded a $17.8 million contract to Bigelow Aerospace to provide a Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), which is scheduled to arrive at the space station in 2015 for a two-year technology demonstration.
Mojave Air and Space Port CEO Stu Witt (Credit: Bill Deaver)
MOJAVE, CALIF., Mojave Chamber of Commerce PR (Jan. 15, 2013) — Mojave Air and Space Port CEO Stuart Witt has been selected to receive the 2013 Antelope Valley Board of Trade Navigating Change Award for his efforts in attracting and retaining business at the nation’s first commercial spaceport during the recent economic recession.
While the nation and the world suffered job losses and economic devastation, two of the largest buildings constructed in the Antelope Valley and Kern County were being built and hundreds of new engineering and technical jobs were created in the emerging commercial space industry based at the air and spaceport.
WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — NASA’s Space Technology Program is looking for visionary advanced concepts. This year’s annual call for NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts Program (NIAC) is seeking proposals for revolutionary concepts with the potential to transform future aerospace missions. Proposed concepts should enable new missions or significantly improve current approaches to achieve aerospace objectives.
Steve MacLean
The Canadian and French space agencies will be getting new presidents over the next two months.
CSA President Dr. Steve MacLean will be stepping down on Feb. 1 for greener pastures in the private sector. The former astronaut, who flew in space twice, has served as the agency’s president since 2008.
CNES President Yannick d’Escatha will retire in mid-March when he turns 65, which is the mandatory retirement age for heads of government agencies in France. He has served in that position for a decade since his appointment on Feb. 19, 2003.
Fire: 23 Date: 08 Jan 13 Objectives: Twenty-third full scale flight design RM2 hot-fire. Continued evaluation of all systems and components: – Pressurization – Valve/Injector – Fuel formulation and geometry – Nozzle – Structure – Performance Results: All objectives completed. Fire: 22 Date: 20 Dec 12 Objectives: Twenty-second full scale flight design RM2 hot-fire. Continued evaluation of all systems and components: – Pressurization – Valve/Injector – Fuel formulation and geometry […]
A note from Cindy Conrad:
We are happy to announce that registration and abstract submission are now OPEN for NSRC-2013! (https://nsrc.swri.org)
NSRC-2013 will take place on June 3-5 at the Omni Interlocken Hotel and Resort in Broomfield, Colorado. This year’s conference will focus on in-depth briefings and forums to provide input to NASA, the FAA, and vehicle flight providers on the needs of research and education users.