The Eastern Shore Post reports that Accomack County is looking to spent $8 million developing a research park on booming Wallops Island:
Accomack supervisors committed Wednesday to borrowing up to $4 million to install water, sewer, roads and other amenities to Wallops Research Park (WRP), a move their financial experts assured them could be made without raising taxes.
WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) successfully have used an experimental version of interplanetary Internet to control an educational rover from the International Space Station. The experiment used NASA’s Disruption Tolerant Networking (DTN) protocol to transmit messages and demonstrate technology that one day may enable Internet-like communications with space vehicles and support habitats or infrastructure on another planet.
Space station Expedition 33 commander Sunita Williams in late October used a NASA-developed laptop to remotely drive a small LEGO robot at the European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany. The European-led experiment used NASA’s DTN to simulate a scenario in which an astronaut in a vehicle orbiting a planetary body controls a robotic rover on the planet’s surface.
With the end of the space shuttle program, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne needs fewer employees:
About 100 employees at Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, most of whom work in the San Fernando Valley, were laid off Wednesday in response to dwindling government spending on space exploration, the company said.
IXV parachute test. (Credit: Pioneer Aerospace)
PARIS (ESA PR) — Europe’s IXV Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle is completing a series of descent and landing tests, including a full-scale splashdown planned for early next year, allowing the mission to move ahead towards launch in 2014.
The ambition for a spacecraft to return autonomously from low orbit is a cornerstone for a wide range of space applications, including space transportation, exploration and robotic servicing of space infrastructure.
Florida Today reports that Space Florida has approved spending $5 million to re-purpose facilities at the Kennedy Space Center for a classified military program code named “Project Coyote.” Speculation centers on the U.S. Air Force’s reusable X-37B shuttle, which launches from Cape Canaveral but lands at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Air Force officials have been looking at saving money by consolidating the program in Florida and landing the […]
BETHESDA, Md., Nov. 9, 2012 (LM PR) – Lockheed Martin announced today that its board of directors asked for and received the resignation of Christopher E. Kubasik, 51, from his role as vice chairman, president and chief operating officer (COO), effective immediately. The board also elected Marillyn A. Hewson, 58, president and COO, and a director effective immediately, and chief executive officer (CEO) and president effective January 1, 2013. Hewson will also retain her role as executive vice president of Electronic Systems business area until the end of this year.
LONDON (UKSA) — The UK’s £9.1 billion space sector is about to become even bigger business after the Government today pledged an extra £60 million ($95.4 million) to the UK Space Agency for Europe’s space programme. The investment was announced this morning (09/11/12) by the Chancellor during a speech at the Royal Society.
The extra investment will also secure the future of the ESA facility in Oxfordshire, including transferring ESA’s telecoms satellite headquarters to the UK and creating over 100 new high-tech jobs.
On Thursday, NASA announced the selection of 39 proposals for Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II awards. Parabolic Arc will be looking at several of the proposals being undertaken by companies we have been following. This post looks at Firestar Engineering, a company based in Mojave, Calif., that is developing non-toxic propellant that will be tested at the International Space Station next year.
Firestar Engineering, LLC
Mojave, CA
PROPOSAL TITLE: Low Energy Electronic Ignition System for NOFBX Thrusters
SUBTOPIC TITLE: Propulsion Technologies
Estimated Technology Readiness Level (TRL) at beginning and end of contract:
Begin: 3
End: 5
Made in Space tests a 3D printer in microgravity. (Credit: Made in Space)
On Thursday, NASA announced the selection of 39 proposals for Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II awards. Parabolic Arc will be looking at several of the proposals being undertaken by companies we have been following. This post looks at Made in Space, a Silicon Valley company working on 3-D manufacturing in space.
Made in Space, Inc.
Moffett Field, CA
PROPOSAL TITLE: ISS Additive Manufacturing Facility for On-Demand Fabrication in Space
SUBTOPIC TITLE: ISS Utilization
Estimated Technology Readiness Level (TRL) at beginning and end of contract:
Begin: 6
End: 8
Jim Sensenbrenner
By Douglas Messier
Parabolic Arc Managing Editor
With the elections over, the race to succeed Rep. Ralph Hall (R-TX) as chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. On Thursday, Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) both formally threw their hats into the ring in a race that also includes Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX).
Hall, who has been a major critic of the Obama Administration’s commercial space push, is leaving his chairmanship because he is term limited under Republican House rules to serving six years in the position.
Rohrabacher has been a major proponent of commercializing spaceflight and has backed the Obama Administration’s efforts in this area. He also has been a major proponent of more oil and gas drilling and a skeptic of global warming, positions that he shares with Smith and Sensenbrenner.
