Anatoly Zak has a fascinating article over at RussianSpaceWeb.com about how the Russian government is struggling to find a good use for the new Vostochny spaceport it is building at great expense in the Far East. Other government ministries — which are avoiding the project like the plague — have taken to calling the project a “dolgostroi,” which is Russian for an endless construction boondoggle.
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Doug Messier
Google Maps’ updated view of the Mojave Air and Space Port shows the Stratolaunch hangar under development (above). This image, taken some time ago, shows the roof being placed on the back end of the building (left) with beams for the front end’s walls already raised in place (right). Today, the rear roof has been completed. At the front of the building, the roof structure and parts of the exterior […]
New York/Richmond, BC (SS/L-MDA PR) — MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (TSX: MDA), a provider of essential information solutions, announced today that it has completed and formally closed the previously announced acquisition of Space Systems/Loral, Inc. (SS/L). The combination of MDA and SS/L creates a leading global communications and information company.
At closing, Loral received $968 million in cash plus a bank guaranteed three-year promissory note in the principal amount of $101 million for the purchase of certain real estate used in connection with SS/L’s business.
Elon Musk says this was the “first flight of 10 story tall Grasshopper rocket using closed loop thrust vector & throttle control.”
The Armadillo Aerospace founder is referring to the STIG-B rocket. A similar early abort occurred on Oct. 6.
Cecil Field in Jacksonville.
The Daily Record of Jacksonville has an interesting story about Cecil Airport, the former military base that has become a thriving commercial airport and future spaceport. The facility is anticipating rapid growth and has the cash to attract new companies.
Cecil Airport currently has 3,000 people working within its boundaries, but Jacksonville Aviation Authority CEO Steve Grossman said he expects that to grow to 8,000-9,000 in the next 10 years.
Within five years, he expects more than 5,000 people will be working among the civil, defense and aviation companies on the Westside property. That includes companies and facilities he expects will be created or relocated.
MOSCOW (ROSCOSMOS/EKSAR PR) — Promotion of exports of goods and services for companies in the Russian civilian space industry will be a major area of cooperation between the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) and the Russian Agency for Export Credit and Investment (EKSAR) according to the memorandum of understanding signed on November 2, 2012 at the Open Innovation Forum.
The document was signed by Roscosmos head Vladimir Popovkin and EKSAR General Director Pyotr Fradkov.
WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — NASA is exploring options for larger payload fairings to enhance the cargo carrying capabilities of its Space Launch System (SLS) heavy-lift rocket, now in development, to carry cargo, crewed spacecraft and science payloads. In a Request for Information (RFI) published Thursday, the agency is seeking information about payload adapters and fairings already available within commercial industry.
MOSCOW (Roscosmos PR) — On October 30, a group of eight would-be cosmonauts, formed through an open competition, was taken to Baikonur to see the launch of the International Space Station cargo vehicle Progress M-17M and the Proton-M rocket, intended for injection into orbit Russian communication satellites Luch-5B and Yamal-300K. For most of the cosmonauts candidates, this was their first trip to the space center, and is part of their […]
Video Caption: This year, at the Google Lunar X PRIZE 2012 team summit, we had the chance to sit down with the teams to discuss the state of the prize and see where this competition fits in with the current state of the commercial space industry. What advancements has been made and what is it going to take to complete this mission?