WASHINGTON — NASA’s Space Technology Program is turning science fiction into science fact. The program has selected 28 proposals for study under the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Program.

Eighteen of these advanced concept proposals were categorized as Phase I and 10 as Phase II. They were selected based on their potential to transform future aerospace missions, enable new capabilities, or significantly alter and improve current approaches to launching, building and operating aerospace systems.

The selected proposals include a broad range of imaginative concepts, including a submarine glider to explore the ice-covered ocean of Europa, an air purification system with no moving parts, and a system that could use in situ lunar regolith to autonomously build concrete structures on the moon.

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WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — NASA will issue a news release to announce new agreements with industry partners for its Commercial Crew integrated Capability (CCiCap) initiative at 9 a.m. EDT, Friday, Aug. 3. At 10 a.m. NASA will host a news briefing from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, which will be broadcast live on NASA Television and the agency’s website. NASA also will host a follow-up teleconference for media representatives with detailed questions at 10:45 a.m., immediately following the briefing.

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The Tauri Group report, Suborbital Reusable Vehicles: A 10-Year Forecast of Market Demand, will be the subject of a House hearing today at 2 p.m. EDT/11 a.m. PDT. The hearing will be webcast live here. House Committee on Science, Space and Technology Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics The Emerging Commercial Suborbital Reusable Launch Vehicle Market Witnesses Ms. Carissa Christensen, Managing Partner, The Tauri Group Dr. Alan Stern, Chairman, Suborbital Applications […]

The Tauri Group has published a new report, Suborbital Reusable Vehicles: A 10-Year Forecast of Market Demand. The study was jointly funded by the FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation and Space Florida.

The Tauri Group analyzed 8 different markets, including:

• Commercial Human Spaceflight
• Basic and Applied Research
• Aerospace Technology Test and Demonstration
• Media and Public Relations
• Education
• Satellite Deployment
• Remote Sensing
• Point-to-Point Transportation

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Phoenix satellite concept. (Credit: DARPA)

ARLINGTON, Va. (ATK PR)– ATK announces it has been selected as a key participant to support the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Tactical Technologies Office (TTO) Phoenix Technologies Program. The Phoenix Program is developing technologies to cooperatively harvest and re-use valuable components from retired, nonworking satellites in geosynchronous orbit. The planned repurposing of these satellite components such as antennas represents the potential to create new space resources at significantly less cost.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Charles now tells me that NASA is likely to inform the companies of their decision on Thursday morning. There is usually a lag between that action and a public press conference.

UPDATE: NASA will publicly announce the winners on Friday morning.

Charles Lurio of The Lurio Report has emailed me saying that he has heard from a very reliable source that NASA will announce the next round of commercial crew funding on Thursday or Friday. This is no independent verification of this report.

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 FAA Commercial Space Transportation
Advisory Committee Teleconferences

WHEN:

Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
1 p.m. EDT

Length: Approximately 1 hour

SUMMARY

The purpose of these three teleconferences is to assist the FAA early in its development of regulations to protect occupants of commercial suborbital and orbital spacecraft. Although the FAA has not yet targeted a date for proposing regulations to protect the health and safety of crew and space flight participants, the FAA believes that the development of sound and appropriate regulations for human space flight can only be achieved with a deliberate, multi-year effort. Moreover, the FAA believes that early industry input into this regulatory effort before any formal proposal by the FAA is critical.

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China’s new rocket engine has passed its 200-second test. The test took place in an open field 50 kilometres from Xi’an, capital of Shaan’xi province, in northwest China. The engine was assembled three years ago and has already undergone two tests which lasted 600 seconds each. Sunday morning’s test was to determine if it remains in peak condition. The engine can carry a load of 25 tons. That’s 16 more […]

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Pasadena, CA, July 19, 2012 (BlackStarr PR) — On August 4th, The Planetary Society, with CEO Bill Nye the Science Guy and BlackStarr will host a public evening event in celebration of the historic landing of the Curiosity on the surface of Mars. Our Martian Party kicks off after the first day of The Planetary Society’s Planetfest and spans two floors for an out-of-this world experience! As you mingle with your friends and make new ones along the way, keep your eyes peeled back for space industry persons of interest from Virgin Galactic, SpaceX, and NASA. During the course of the evening, catch sightings and conversations from the most interesting Space Entrepreneurs, Sci-fi Authors, Screen Stars, and Personalities.

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Soyuz launch complex in Kourou. (Credit: ESA – S. Corvaja, 2011)

PARIS (ESA PR) — Today, Europe enjoys autonomous access to space, while holding a leading position in the world launch services market. ESA has begun work on a new strategy to ensure that both can be maintained sustainably in future.

ESA has begun investigating the feasibility of a new approach for European access to space, aimed at making Europe’s launch services fully self-sufficient over the long haul.

The idea behind this New European Launch Service – NELS – is to deliver competitive launch services to both governmental and private European customers while keeping pace with the rapidly changing worldwide launch market.

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