Stephen Trimble over at Flight Global has an update on XCOR’s test schedule for the year: July/August: Lynx Mark 1 roll out October/November: Taxi tests November/December: Short hop off runway followed by brief first flight The article says that the fuselage is set for delivery during the week of Jan. 16, but my info is that that when it’s due to be completed then but that delivery is set for […]

A 23rd century Star Fleet tricorder. (Credit: Paramount Pictures)

X PRIZE PR — Las Vegas, NV — The X PRIZE Foundation and Qualcomm Foundation today announced the launch of the $10 million Qualcomm Tricorder X PRIZE, a global competition to revolutionize healthcare. In this competition, teams will leverage technology innovation in areas such as artificial intelligence and wireless sensing – much like the medical Tricorder of Star Trek® fame – to make medical diagnoses independent of a physician or healthcare provider. The goal of the competition is to drive development of devices that will give consumers access to their state of health in the palm of their hand.

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BALL PR — BOULDER, Colo., Jan. 10, 2012 — Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. has submitted a mission concept study to NASA for the storage and transfer of cryogenic propellants in space.

Ball Aerospace was one of four companies awarded a six-month contract by NASA to develop a mission concept that demonstrates long duration, in-space storage and transfer of cryogenic propellants. Successful development and in-space demonstration of the technology would advance the state of the art that is required for future exploration elements such as large cryogenic propulsion stages. The Ball concept study proposes solutions to close current gaps in technology to achieve that goal.

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SPACE FLORIDA PR – KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. (January 11, 2012) – Space Florida, the State’s aerospace economic development organization, has announced details of a sub-orbital flight program intended to stimulate market interest in microgravity research via sub-orbital and parabolic flights from Florida.

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Roscosmos reports that engineers are preparing for a series of test firings on the first stage of the new Soyuz-2.1v rocket. Also known as Soyuz-1, this is a stripped down “light” version of the venerable rocket without any strap-on boosters that uses a different first-stage engine, the NK-33. The two-stage booster is based upon the Soyuz-2.1b, sharing the rocket’s RD-0124 second stage engine. The new rocket, set to debut later […]

Mojave Air and Space Port General Manager Stu Witt describes the accomplishments from the past year and looks ahead. Some interesting bits of news: an initiative to open up more of the facility for rocket testing; an effort to revitalize the town of Mojave; and collaborative work with spaceports in Sweden and Curacao. “In 2011 we began the process of designing a new rocket test facility on the east side […]

NASA PR — WASHINGTON — NASA’s Space Technology Program is looking for far-out ideas. The NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts, or NIAC, program is seeking proposals for revolutionary concepts with the potential to transform future aerospace missions. Proposed concepts should enable new capabilities or significantly alter current approaches to launching, building and operating space systems.

NIAC projects are chosen for their innovative and visionary characteristics, technical substance, and early development stage — ten years or more from use on a mission. NIAC’s current portfolio of diverse and innovative ideas represents multiple technology areas, including power, propulsion, structures and avionics.
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SPACE FLORIDA PR – KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL (January 9, 2012) – Today, Space Florida announces the hiring of Jim Kuzma as Senior Vice President and Chief Operations Officer (COO).

Kuzma’s hiring is one of several organizational changes being initiated to help Space Florida create capacity for improved client responsiveness, better face a dynamic marketplace and take advantage of increased business development opportunities in the aerospace industry.

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Roscosmos Head Vladimir Popovkin. (Credit: Roscosmos)

Good God. It’s come to this. The head of the Russian space program is now trafficking in conspiracy theories:

Doomed Martian probe Phobos-Grunt, which was due to fulfill a Russian mission on one of the Red Planet’s moons, might have been a target of external influence. The probe failed while flying over the western hemisphere, outside of Russia’s control.

In an interview to the Russian newspaper Izvestia, head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, Vladimir Popovkin, said that intended influence on the probe cannot be completely excluded.

”I do not want to blame anyone, but these days there are very powerful means to influence space vehicles,” he told the newspaper, adding that it is still unclear why the probe’s engine failed to start in the first place….

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Space News reports: NASA intends to add $375 million to Lockheed Martin Space Systems’ $6.4 billion Orion space capsule contract so that the company can procure a Delta 4 rocket to power a 2014 test flight of the next-generation crew vehicle. In a procurement notice posted online Jan. 6, NASA said it intends to make a sole source award to Lockheed Martin for Exploration Flight Test (EFT)-1 by modifying the […]