Stratolaunch vehicle. (Credit: Stratolaunch)

DYNETICS PR — HUNTSVILLE, Ala., Dec. 13, 2011 – Stratolaunch Systems has selected Dynetics to provide overall technical integration and the mating and integration system hardware for a revolutionary air launch system. The system is being designed as a responsive, affordable system to deliver cargo and humans to space. This program will establish Huntsville as a leader in the commercial space launch business, according to Dynetics officials.

“This air launch system will be a game changer in the space launch industry,” said David King, executive vice president of Dynetics. “We will play a vital role in the development of this system, which will have a major strategic impact on the future of spaceflight in Huntsville and the United States.”

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11:01 — Press conference to start within five minutes

Quite a impressive lineup on this project — Burt Rutan and Scaled Composites, SpaceX, Dynetics and Paul Allen and his millions….

Comment from reader: This explains what they’ve been doing over at Scaled….it’s been a bit of a mystery to everyone in Mojave…Also helps explain why Scaled and Virgin Galactic formed The Spaceship Company….Scaled would not have the bandwidth to build production vehicles and do this….

Interesting to see Mike Griffin involved…

Some facts about while we wait:

• Largest aircraft ever built — gross weight of more than 1.2 million pounds and a wingspan of more than 380 feet with six 747 engines

OK….Here we go….Allen is up next…

Allen:

Space exploration was awesome back in the day….Gagarin

Like so many kids, wanted to be an astronaut but was near sided and had no expertise in rocketry, either

SpaceShipOne was awesome — had a great time working with Burt Rutan on that….

With government ambitions fading in space, more opportunity for private space activities…

Just showed a cool animation….

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STRATOLAUNCH PR – SEATTLE, WA, Dec 13, 2011 – Entrepreneur and philanthropist Paul G. Allen announced today that he and aerospace pioneer Burt Rutan have reunited to develop the next generation of space travel. Allen and Rutan, whose SpaceShipOne was the first privately-funded, manned rocket ship to fly beyond earth’s atmosphere, are developing a revolutionary approach to space transportation: an air-launch system to provide orbital access to space with greater safety, cost-effectiveness and flexibility.

The space flight revolution Allen and Rutan pioneered in 2004 with SpaceShipOne now enters a new era. Only months after the last shuttle flight closed an important chapter in spaceflight, Allen is stepping in with an ambitious effort to continue America’s drive for space.

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OSC PR — Dulles, VA 12 December 2011 — Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB), one of the world’s leading space technology companies, today announced that Antares™ will be the permanent operational name for the medium-class launch vehicle created by its research and development program formerly known as Taurus II. Orbital has been in the development phase of the new rocket program for the past four years. The operational phase of the program is scheduled to begin in 2012 with three flights on the manifest that will be conducted under the operational name of Antares.

“We are transitioning to the Antares identity primarily because a launch vehicle of this scale and significance deserves its own name, just like Orbital’s Pegasus, Taurus and Minotaur rocket programs that have come before it,” said Mr. David W. Thompson, Orbital’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “The successful introduction of the Antares launcher, with its contribution to our COTS and CRS programs along with future sales to other customers, is a linchpin of the company’s long-term growth and profitability strategy.”

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This week on The Space Show with David Livingston…. Monday, Dec. 12, 2-3:30 PM PST: We welcome back Mark Bray who typically does our Huntsville reports. Mark will talk about the importance of standards in the space engineering and related fields. We will also get a current update from the Huntsville perspective on space developments. Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2011, 7- 8:30 PM PST: No show today as I am traveling […]

DLR PR — Can new types of engine make spaceflight easier and more economical? This question is being investigated by researchers at the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) using one of Europe’s leading hypersonic wind tunnels, located in Göttingen. The engine is being tested for an Australian Scramjet-based Access-to-Space Systems (SCRAMSPACE) experimental spacecraft – SCRAMSPACE I – scheduled for launch in 2013.

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A4H PR — Tampa, Florida – Astronauts4Hire is pleased to welcome Fuzebox, Inc. to its growing list of supporters helping to further its mission to develop the next generation of astronauts. FuzeBox has granted the non-profit organization a professional-level license for its Fuze Meeting video conferencing and collaboration product.

“Fuze Meeting provides a facet of communication essential for Astronauts4Hire,” remarked Astronauts4Hire CTO Amnon Govrin. “It enables productive high-quality voice and video meetings among members within the organization.”

FuzeBox is a personal telepresence and visual collaboration SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) company whose vision is to empower global professionals with visual collaboration, real-time communication, community, and presence on any platform. Its flagship product is Fuze Meeting, which enables cloud-based multi-party web conferencing and an easy user interface. With its members spread out across the Americas, Europe, and Asia, Astronauts4Hire relies upon the Fuze Meeting virtual collaboration tool to connect its members as it builds the suborbital frontier.

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Phobos-Grunt in orbit around the Earth. (Credit: Ralph Vandeberg -- used by permission)

It is said that success has 100 fathers and that failure is an orphan. And so it is with Phobos-Grunt, whose failure has elicited weeks of silence from the Russian space agency Roscomos. As a desperate effort was made to contact and save the Mars mission, the world had to rely on updates from the European Space Agency.

That silence was finally broken last week. On Thursday, there was a widely distributed “Dear Colleagues” letter from Lev Zelenyi, director of the Space Research Institute (IKI), the organization that oversaw the development of Phobos-Grunt. The letter declared  Phobos-Grunt to be a failure and thanked those who tried to save it.

On Saturday, Roscosmos announced the establishment of a commission to investigate the failure and a Defense Ministry task force to prepare for the uncontrolled re-entry of the satellite, which contains 7.5 tons of toxic fuel. The investigative commission with be headed by Yuri Koptev, who is chairman of the Scientific and Technical Council of State Corporation Russian Technologies.  He formally headed up the Russian space agency when it was named Rosaviakosmos.

Zelenyi’s letter is reproduced after the break.

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VG PR — “Commercial space travel will soon be a reality.”

That was the message that resonated loud and clear on Oct. 18, 2011, at the first-ever “Industry Day,” hosted by Virgin Galactic and its production company, The Spaceship Company,  in cooperation with the New Mexico Spaceport Authority.

The event was designed to actively recruit high-quality local and international suppliers eager to join both companies in making history with the emergence of the world’s first commercial spaceline.

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This rocket launch from the Friends of Amateur Rocketry (FAR) test site near Mojave, Calif., nearly wiped out the remote controlled helicopter sent aloft to film its takeoff. The rocket was launched by Paul Breed of Unreasonable Rocket on December 10. Video used by permission of Paul Breed. Ironically, the helicopter was severely damaged later in the day in an unrelated crash.