San Francisco, CA (Mar. 28, 2012 – Citizens in Space PR) — Citizen scientists and hardware hackers are being challenged to develop payloads for commercial reusable suborbital spacecraft during the International Space Apps Challenge, a NASA-sponsored event that takes place worldwide and aboard the International Space Station on April 21-22.

The International Space Apps Challenge is a two-day “codeathon” which invites developers, hobbyists, and hackers around the world to work on a variety of hardware and software challenges. Citizens in Space, a project of the United States Rocket Academy, is challenging participants to develop suborbital science payloads as part of the event.

Successful payloads may fly into space aboard one of the commercial reusable spacecraft that are now under development by companies such as XCOR Aerospace. XCOR Aerospace is building the Lynx, a two-seat rocketship that is expected to make its first flight before the end of this year.

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Hawthorne, CA (SpaceX PR) – Today, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), one of the leading private companies working to restore America’s ability to carry astronauts to the Space Station, announced it has assembled a team of outside experts to help the company create the world’s safest human spaceflight system. 

“When it comes to manned spaceflight, safety is our top priority,” said SpaceX CEO and Chief Designer, Elon Musk. “These experts will provide us with important insights as we prepare to carry astronauts on the next generation of American spacecraft.”

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Space Access ’12 Conference – April 12-14 – Phoenix Arizona

SA ’12 will be the next round of Space Access Society’s long-running annual get-together for people seriously interested in the technology, business, and politics of radically cheaper space transportation. This year’s conference sessions will run from Thursday morning April 12th through Saturday evening April 14th. (Our Space Access hospitality suite will be open Wednesday evening for early arrivers.)

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Washington, DC — March 28, 2012 (NSS PR) – The National Space Society (NSS) is pleased to announce Dr. Stephen Hawking as the 14th recipient of NSS’s Robert A. Heinlein Memorial Award. The award will be presented to Dr. Hawking at a special ceremony at the Cooks Branch Conservancy in Montgomery, Texas on Wednesday, March 28 and is given in recognition of his outstanding and continuing public efforts in support of human space development and settlement. 

In the last decade, Dr. Hawking has repeatedly and publicly advocated the need to move part of humanity off the Earth in order to avoid the destruction of the human race, either through self-destructive actions such as nuclear war, or natural phenomena such as asteroid collision or, eventually, the death of our nearest star, the Sun.

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ARCA PR — The iQuest company is sponsoring ARCA program of the first Romanian supersonic airplane, IAR 111 Excelsior, participating in the competition of astronautics Google Lunar X Prize.

The partnership between IQuest and ARCA will run until 2015. This demonstrates the long term vision and dedication of iQuest, what is needed to make a space program.

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Check out this update on cooperation with China on human spaceflight: European Space Agency Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain met with his Chinese counterpart March 22-23 to discuss future cooperation in manned spaceflight, including the potential for a Chinese Shenzhou spacecraft to dock with the International Space Station (ISS). The two sides met at Dordain’s request on the sidelines of the European Space Agency’s third Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) launch to […]

BMT PR — Barcelona Moon Team is proud to announce the incorporation of the National Institute for Aerospace Technology (INTA) to the team on its way to the moon. INTA is the Public Research Organization specialized in aerospace research and technology development. Among its main functions it is worth mentioning the adquisition, maintenance and continuous improvement of all those technologies that can be applied to the aerospace field; performing all […]

By Douglas Messier
Parabolic Arc Managing Editor

MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA) and the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada (AIAC) are hailing a new memorandum of understanding signed by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) that deeps space cooperation between the two nations.

“Several Canadian Space companies have strong scientific and business relations with Japan. This MOU will strengthen our ties with the Japanese space community in ways which will benefit both nations scientifically and economically,” said Jim Quick, President and CEO of AIAC, in a press release.

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U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) at the ULA production facility in Dacatur. (Credit: ULA)

DECATUR, Ala., March 24, 2012 (ULA PR) — U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby today discussed important issues facing Alabama and the nation, including job growth, during his visit to the United Launch Alliance (ULA) production facility in Decatur, Ala., where ULA manufactures both Atlas and Delta launch vehicles. ULA launches critical space capabilities for the Department of Defense, NASA, the National Reconnaissance Office and other commercial customers.

Sen. Shelby toured ULA’s production facility and hosted a town hall meeting with Decatur-area constituents, including ULA employees.

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This week on The Space Show with David Livingston… 1. Monday, March 26, 2012 2-3:30 PM PDT (5-6:30 PM EDT, 4-5:30 PM CDT): We welcome DR. PAL BREKKE of Norway, re his new book, “Our Explosive Sun.” 2. Tuesday, March 27, 2012, 7-8:30 PM PDT (10-11:30 PM EDT, 9-10:30 PM CDT): We welcome back DR. JOHN JURIST for the first in a series of programs that will discuss the use […]