Barcelona, March 19, 2012 (BMT PR) — Barcelona Moon Team, the only Spanish based team in the Google Lunar X PRIZE, has signed an agreement with China Great Wall Industry Corporation. The agreement completes the team’s capabilities in the lunar mission areas requiring the entry of foreign technology partners. The Chinese company will provide the team with the launch vehicle and propulsion system to place the Barcelona Moon Team spacecraft into lunar orbit, from where it can deploy the robot that ultimately will conduct the international competition objectives. To win the Google Lunar X PRIZE, a privately-funded team must successfully place a robot on the Moon’s surface that explores at least 500 meters and transmits high definition video and images back to Earth.
AUTHOR
Doug Messier
February LA Space Salon VCAPTION: Lost in space? Don’t worry, Dr. Lee Valentine has the map. A champion of commercial space exploration for over three decades and director of the Space Studies Institute, Lee has helped shape policy and programs advancing the cause of permanent manned settlement. Lee will be speaking with us about his unique and powerful perspective, about a future in space not tethered to any planet, about […]
Building 82, future home of the Mojave Makers. (Credit: Douglas Messier)
by Douglas Messier
Parabolic Arc Managing Editor
On Tuesday, the East Kern Airport District board approved a lease with the Space Studies Institute for a storage building at the Mojave Air and Space Port that is being renovated into a maker space. SSI is serving as the lessee until the Mojave Makers, a group composed of employees of different airport tenants, can obtain its 501(c)3 non-profit status.
OHB PR — MT Aerospace received an important follow-up order to manufacture ceramic compound body flaps and heat shield components for the European IXV reentry vehicle: after completion of the development phase and successful Critical Design Review, Thales Alenia Space Italia, as prime contractor, and the Augsburg, Germany based company signed a contract for the qualification and manufacture of the IXV vehicle’s flight hardware. IXV will be launched into space in 2014 to test reentry technologies for future space applications.
The two MoonKAM systems before attachment to the GRAIL-A (“Ebb”) and GRAIL–B (“Flow”) spacecraft. Each system consists of a Digital Video Controller electronics unit and four separate color video cameras. (Credit: Ecliptic Enterprises Corporation.)
Pasadena, CA – March 22, 2012 – Two four-camera color video systems supplied by Ecliptic Enterprises Corporation to NASA’s dual-spacecraft Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) project have been turned on and are generating stunning video views of the Moon’s surface from a vantage point in low lunar orbit.
The video systems, called Moon Knowledge Acquired by Middle school students (MoonKAM) by the GRAIL project, were designed, built and tested by Ecliptic and benefit from the strong heritage of Ecliptic’s popular RocketCam™ product family. Over two-dozen similar systems have been launched on rockets and spacecraft since 2005, and all operated successfully, including RocketCam’s first lunar mission: NASA’s LCROSS lunar impactor in 2009.
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL. (CASIS PR – March 22, 2012) – The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), the nonprofit organization managing research on the International Space Station U.S. National Laboratory, has organized a group of world-class scientists to review experiments flown in space by NASA over the last 10 years. The goal is to identify findings or areas of further study that could lead to breakthrough technologies and products for people on earth.
MOSCOW (Skolkovo PR) — On March 22-23, the Skolkovo Fund, the Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), and JSC “Scientific and Production Corporation (NPC) “REKOD” will hold the first all-Russian scientific-practical conference titled, “Problems Involving the Capacity of Higher Educational Institutions for Training and Advanced Training in the Use of Space Activities, and Ensuring the Competitiveness of Domestic Space Products and Services.”
Opening the conference will be: the head of Russian Federal Space Agency, Vladimir Popovkin; chief executive of a cluster of space technology and telecommunications, Sergey Zhukov; as well as representatives from the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation and the Russian Academy of Sciences. The event will be attended by representatives from leading universities, enterprises, rocket and space industries and regions of Russia.
by Douglas Messier
Parabolic Arc Managing Editor
Stuart Witt is celebrating his 10th anniversary as CEO and General Manager of the Mojave Air and Space Port. He reminisced a bit about his decade as head of the desert facility and looked ahead during a meeting of East Kern Airport District on Tuesday.
Witt recalled his first board meeting where everyone was very concerned about the future of the airport. But, the airport is now thriving as an R&D and test flight center where multiple companies are building the world’s most advanced aircraft and spaceships.
Board Chairman Jim Balentine said that Witt had given the airport strong direction and led it well.
“It’s been the gift of my life to be part of it,” Witt said.
Kiruna, Sweden (Spaceport Sweden PR) — On Tuesday, March 27th, TEDx comes to above the Arctic Circle, bringing an inspiring day full of energy and ideas worth spreading.
TEDxKiruna will be held at the Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Kiruna in Swedish Lapland, on Tuesday March 27th from 9 am until 5 pm. The independently organized event, licensed by TED, is open to the public but requires application and registration at www.tedxkiruna.com. The full day will be streamed live through webcast on www.tedxkiruna.com.
NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver is given a tour of the Bigelow Aerospace facilities by the company's President Robert Bigelow on Friday, Feb. 4, 2011, in Las Vegas. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
Some good news out of Las Vegas, courtesy of Space News:
Bigelow Aerospace, the North Las Vegas, Nev., developer of inflatable space habitats that laid off almost half its employees in September, is ending a “furlough Friday” policy it had instituted for the remaining work force and is looking to do some hiring, according to a company official.