Texas Gov. Rick Perry will be in Midland on Monday to welcome XCOR Aerospace to the state, CBS 7 reports. XCOR officials will finalize a $10 million deal with the Midland Development Corporation and the City of Midland to relocate the company’s headquarters and research and development operations from the Mojave Air and Space Port in California. XCOR plans to maintain some presence in Mojave. The schedule for events for […]
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Doug Messier
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL. (Space Florida PR) – Space Florida – the State of Florida’s spaceport authority and aerospace economic development agency – has received all logo entries for the Nano-Satellite Launch Challenge and would now like to invite the community to participate in choosing the winning logo by voting through the Space Florida Facebook page by Friday, July 13 by 12:00 pm EDT.
A few notes on the XCOR move to Midland, Texas: Mojave Air and Space Port CEO/General Manager Stu Witt has been told that the company is planning to maintain a presence at the California test center. Precisely what that presence would involve is unclear at the moment. [Read my Q&A with Witt] The move won’t be immediate because XCOR is in the process of building the first Lynx space plane […]
I had a chance to talk to Mojave Air and Space Port CEO/General Manager Stu Witt earlier this afternoon about XCOR Aerospace’s decision to move some of its operations to Midland, Tex. At the time of the interview, Witt was still trying to find out the full details of the plan, which will involve XCOR keeping at least part of its operations in Mojave on a long-term basis. We talked about the XCOR news and Witt’s efforts to get a limited liability law passed by the state of California.
Q. News came out today that XCOR will be moving its R&D facility out to Midland, Texas. How are you feeling about that right now?
WITT: “I’m still receiving input on that. I was told one thing and I’m told now just a few minutes ago that my initial report was not correct. And so, I’ve had to retract all my statements to the AV Press this morning. Anything I say at this point I’m kind of afraid to because I don’t know what is actually [happening]….
“I’ve read the press reports from yesterday and I’ve had two communications with [XCOR Chief Operating Officer] Andrew [Nelson] today, and he said they still require long term a facility in Mojave. So I’m not sure what all this means. And I have no idea what they intend to do in this facility or that.
XCOR was trying to keep this story secret until Monday, but the news leaked in Midland. The company is being offered an incentive deal of about $10 million to create a corporate headquarters in Midland that eventually would include enough employees to necessitate a $12 million payroll, said Robert Rendall, MDC board secretary, who’s been working on the project. Andrew Nelson, chief operating officer for XCOR, said Midland had been […]
ORLANDO, FL. (July 5, 2012) – Omega Envoy, the Florida team competing in the Google Lunar X PRIZE (GLXP), and its parent company, Earthrise Space Inc (ESI), announce today the launch of a project on Kickstarter.com, the world’s largest funding platform for creative projects. Rewards offered for backers of the project include 3D printed and metal milled models of the team’s lunar rover, tours of ESI’s Orlando facility, opportunities to test drive the team’s actual lunar rover, and the opportunity for individuals to fly their DNA to the moon. The Kickstarter project will raise funding to allow the purchase of a multi-axis CNC milling machine. ESI’s student team will gain hands-on experience using this machine during construction of the company’s lunar spacecraft.
Excalibur Almaz's space tourism vehicle concept. (Credit: Excalibur Almaz)
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. (NASA PR) — Excalibur Almaz Inc. (EAI) has successfully completed its Commercial Crew Development Round 2 (CCDev2) partnership with NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Through CCDev2, NASA is spurring innovation and development of safe, reliable and cost-effective spacecraft and launch vehicles capable of transporting astronauts to low Earth orbit and the International Space Station.
Silicon Valley, CA (SFF PR) — The NewSpace 2012 Conference will be full of wisdom and wit thanks to the stellar lineup’s years of experience and success. Any one of these space leaders could provide the advice or introduction you need to take it to the next level in the space industry. Don’t miss out on hearing what they have to say and introducing your venture by registering today at NewSpace.SpaceFrontier.org/registration!
My friend Nadir Bagaveyev of XCOR Aerospace has launched this Kickstarter campaign. He is doing this work as an independent project in his spare time at the new Mojave Makers facility at the spaceport. It’s one of a number of interesting projects underway at the maker space. About this project This project is to develop inexpensive lidar from affordable components – laser pointer, small single board computer running linux and […]