Constellations, Launch, New Space and more…
AUTHOR
Doug Messier
AIA: Deep Budget Cuts Could Gut NASA, DOD and FAA

AIA PR — A new report commissioned by AIA demonstrates the irreplaceable impact the aerospace and defense (A/D) industry has on America’s economic and national security. Addressing the current economic crisis, the report emphasizes the industry’s support of more than three million American workers. With federal budget sequestration looming and DOD, FAA and NASA budgets facing severe cuts, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers and Aerospace Industries Association have escalated efforts to educate the public and elected officials on the need for alternatives to budget sequestration.
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  • March 7, 2012
SAS 2012 Conference: All Space, No Rubber Chickens


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

March 6 Update

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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  • March 7, 2012
CSA Extends MDA Contract for ISS Support


Richmond, B.C. (MDA PR) – MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd., a provider of essential information solutions, announced today that it has signed a contract amendment worth CA$14.7 million with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) for logistics and sustaining engineering requirements for the Mobile Servicing System. This amendment extends the work through March 2013, bringing the total contract value to CA $152.7 million.

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  • March 7, 2012
China Eyes Human Lunar Missions as Long March Development Progresses

China's Long March family of rockets. Credit: Jirka Dlouhy

By Douglas Messier
Parabolic Arc Managing Editor

Liang Xiaohong, deputy head of the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, recently spoke publicly about his nation’s rocket plans, which include two new versions of the Long March for orbital flights, a heavy-lift vehicle for sending taikonauts to the moon, and reusable booster technology.

First, the Long March 5:

China has made key technological progress in developing Long March 5 large-thrust carrier rocket and it is hopeful that the new generation rocket will make its maiden flight in 2014, a rocket scientist said Saturday.

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  • March 7, 2012
Dextre to Begin Robotic Refueling Mission Today

This artistic representation shows Dextre (right) performing a robotic refueling task on RRM (center) task box, mounted to ELC4. (Image: NASA)

Robotic Refueling Mission Begins: March 7, 2012
Follow Dextre on Twitter

CSA PR — Satellites are designed to withstand a variety of challenges to ensure that the sensitive electronics on board can survive the effects of launch and perform for years in the harsh conditions of space. One of the major hurdles engineering teams face when designing a satellite is how much fuel it can carry to operate throughout its lifetime. Many satellites are left to die and then become space debris after they run out of fuel. But what if we were able to refuel them?

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  • March 7, 2012
Design a Patch, Win a Free Zero-G Flight

ZERO G PR — ZERO-G is celebrating its 300th flight on April 14 by returning to the airport where it took its inaugural flight – Fort Lauderdale International Airport (FLL). To celebrate this exciting flight we are asking fans to design a unique patch commemorating this milestone. The winner’s design will be transformed into a patch which will be worn by the 300th flight participants. To top it off, the winner will […]

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  • March 6, 2012
Luminox Watches to Fly on SXC Lynxs From Curacao

BASEL, March 6, 2012 (SXC PR) – Luminox, the watch brand that pioneered the use of self-powered illumination in timepieces, is announcing a partnership with commercial spaceliner SXC during Baselworld, from March 8 to March 15, 2012.

Luminox watches have been requested and supplied to a long list of special forces that work in the SEA, AIR and LAND, and now adds a 4th dimension – SPACE. Luminox has been part of the Essential Gear by U.S. Navy SEALs, U.S. Air Force Stealth Pilots, SWAT teams, Police and rescue organizations around the world, and Underwater explorers, and now will be worn by the Astronauts (and passengers) of the SXC Spaceships as a new series of special timepieces are being developed that can withstand the incredible G-Forces and weightlessness encountered in spaceflights.

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  • March 6, 2012
Bobby Block Leaves SpaceX for Troubled CASIS

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL. (CASIS PR) – Today, Robert “Bobby” Block was named director of communications for the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) – the nonprofit entity selected in 2011 by NASA to maximize utilization of the International Space Station (ISS) U.S. National Laboratory.

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  • March 6, 2012
CSA Faces 14 Percent Budget Cut

Things are not looking for very good north of the border:

The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) is bracing for cuts with the announcement that the federal government will reduce the organization’s budget by 14 percent.

The government announced Feb. 28 it would reduce the agency’s budget from the current 424 million ($429 million) Canadian dollars to 363 million Canadian dollars.

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  • March 6, 2012
Ukraine Sees Uptick in Space Sales as Sea Launch Returns to Flight

UKRAINE SPACE AGENCY PR — On January 27, 2011 at Ukrinform, the President of Ukraine HCA YSА Alexeyev held a press conference on the results of the space industry in 2011. Alexeyev said that last year the enterprises of the industry produced and sold products worth almost 3.4 billion UAH., Which is about 1.6 times more than in 2010. In general, the industry completed in 2011 with a net profit amounting to UAH 76.7 million.

Among the major achievements of President of Ukraine HCA said the successful August 17, 2011 launch of domestic spacecraft remote sensing, “Sich-2” on the “Dnepr”. At the present time has received more than 600 pictures of Earth’s surface.On this basis, the HCA Ukrainian specialists performed the first case the task of monitoring the clearing of forests, monitoring of germination of winter crops in different regions of Ukraine and monitoring of emergency situations.

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  • March 6, 2012