Credit: AIA

Arlington, Va. (AIA PR) – As negotiations to avert the fiscal cliff heat up, little attention has been paid to the impact that mandatory budget cuts would have on the nation’s civil space program and our ability to accurately forecast dangerous storms. A new economic impact analysis concludes that over 20,000 NASA contractor jobs and over 2,500 NOAA jobs related to weather satellites could be lost in 2013 if the Budget Control Act’s sequestration mandate takes effect on January 2, 2013.

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“Rocket-Powered Pickup” — December 13 at 9pm ET/PT. The National Geographic Channel. The Rednecks want to create a cheap, reusable rocket-powered truck, and Travis thinks he has the answer: a hybrid rocket engine. It’s rare in the hobby rocket world, but a hybrid rocket has more control because it combines two forms of fuel — a solid and a gas. Any solid substance with carbon can become “rocket fuel” when […]

Credit: NASA/MSFC/Emmett Given

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (NASA PR) — A 2.4-meter-diameter propellant tank made of composite materials arrived on Nov. 20, 2012 at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., where engineers are preparing it for testing.

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Fred Martino and a studio audience ask questions of Spaceport Executive Director Christine Anderson and Virgin Galactic Senior Program Manager Mark Butler. Editor’s Note: Kind of disappointed with the questions. If I were a New Mexico taxpayer who contributed to this $209 million project, I would have grilled Butler on the precise status of SpaceShipTwo’s engine and why they’re still working on that after eight years. Butler is reassuring but […]

XCOR’s Lynx suborbital vehicle

LONDON, Dec. 11, 2012 (Aon PR) – Aon Risk Solutions, the global risk management business of Aon plc (NYSE: AON), announced today that it formed a partnership with Space Expedition Corporation, the Netherlands-based space tourism company dedicated to making space travel available for private citizens. Aon, in collaboration with Space Expedition Corporation, has designed a unique insurance policy providing comprehensive and customized protection for space travelers.

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Longueuil, Quebec (CSA PR) — In presenting: The State of the Canadian Space Sector 2011, [Download here] our annual report on the health of Canada’s Space Industry, I want to draw your attention to key data, which measures change in the space sector using a number of indicators, such as sector and category of business activity, regional differences, the value of export revenues and the strength of our manufacturing base.

The results for 2011 were mixed. After four years of successive and sustained growth, this year saw only modest growth pegged at 1.3% overall, with total revenues in the space sector edging to reach $3.483 Billion. Domestic revenues increased by 4.8%, while exports dropped by 2.2%. At the same time, after three years of growth, the space sector workforce stalled and shed 9% or 762 space-related positions, among them 471 highly qualified persons in 2011.

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The picture above shows the Mojave Air and Space Port’s boneyard, a large aircraft recycling facility located north of the spaceport’s three runways. It’s an impressive sight for anyone who visits the airport and looks out at the 747s and other large aircraft sitting in various states of dis-assembly. Yet, it’s even more interesting in this overhead view, which shows just how many aircraft are actually out there. This is […]

At noontime on Monday, workers from the Mojave Air and Space Port who ventured into town to frequent Stoken’ Donuts and other popular lunch spots saw quite a startling sight. A truck was driving through downtown pulling a large billboard advertising jobs at SpaceX, which is located about 100 miles to the south in Hawthorne. Elon Musk’s rocket company took it to the streets — literally — in an effort […]

Sen. Steve Knight

California State Sen. Steve Knight has introduced legislation that would extend exemptions of sales and use taxes to includes equipment and materials used in constructing, reconstructing and improving commercial space launch facilities.

Specifically, Senate Bill 19 would include “equipment and materials used to construct, reconstruct, or improve new or existing facilities designed to launch, manufacture, fabricate, assemble, or process equipment that facilitates the renovation, rehabilitation, or reconstruction of commercial space launch sites.”

Knight’s bill would benefit the Mojave Air and Space Port, where Virgin Galactic, Scaled Composites, XCOR Aerospace, Masten Space Systems, Stratolaunch, Firestar Technologies, and Interorbital Systems are working on new space systems.

The law already provides “an exemption for the gross receipts from the sale of, and the storage, use, or other consumption of, qualified property for use in space flight.”

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Ottawa (Ontario), December 6, 2012 (AIAC PR) –- The importance of aerospace trade was highlighted at today’s conclusion of the Canadian Aerospace Summit, an event that drew a record-breaking attendance that included an A-list of aerospace industry executives, as well as foreign diplomats and senior Canadian federal officials.

“Canada’s world-class aerospace sector is an international success story,” said the Honourable Ed Fast, Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway. “By supporting tens of thousands of good jobs that families rely on in every region of the country and contributing billions to the Canadian economy, aerospace is a sector that symbolizes Canadian excellence. Our government is committed to ensuring this vital industry benefits from new markets that we are opening as part of the most ambitious trade expansion plan in our nation’s history.”

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