Legal Times reports that SpaceX has added former U.S. senators Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and John Breaux (D-La.) to its five-member team of lobbyists at the firm of Patton Boggs. The story indicates that SpaceX spent $500,000 on federal lobbying efforts through the first nine months of 2011. According to the report, other companies retained by SpaceX for lobbying purposes include: Heather Podesta + PRASAM Gray Global Advisors Wexler & Walker Public Policy […]
AUTHOR
Doug Messier
Pad OA at Wallops Island. (Credit: Orbital Sciences Corporation)
Virginia needs to immediately allocate more funds into the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority (VCSFA) and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) to facilitate existing commercial launches by Orbital Sciences Corporation and to pursue additional space business opportunities, according to a new report.
NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver has just announced that the target launch date for SpaceX’s Dragon flight to the International Space Station is Feb. 7, 2012. The cargo vehicle will be allowed to berth with the space station. Garver announced the date during a talk at the NASA Future Forum in Seattle this morning.
OK, here’s the official announcement from NASA:
WASHINGTON — NASA has announced the launch target for Space Exploration Technologies’ (SpaceX) second Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) demonstration flight will be Feb. 7, 2012. Pending completion of final safety reviews, testing and verification, NASA also has agreed to allow SpaceX to send its Dragon spacecraft to rendezvous with the International Space Station (ISS) in a single flight.
“SpaceX has made incredible progress over the last several months preparing Dragon for its mission to the space station,” said William Gerstenmaier, NASA’s associate administrator for the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate. “We look forward to a successful mission, which will open up a new era in commercial cargo delivery for this international orbiting laboratory.”
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NASA conducted a key stability test firing of the J-2X rocket engine Dec. 1, marking another step forward in development of the upper-stage engine that will carry humans farther into space than ever before. The Dec. 1 test firing focused on characterizing the new engine’s combustion stability, a critical area of development. During the test firing, a controlled explosion was initiated inside the engine’s combustion chamber to introduce an energetic […]
NASA PR — WASHINGTON — NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver visited Blue Origin in Kent, Wash., today, where she announced the company has delivered its BE-3 engine thrust chamber assembly — the engine’s combustion chamber and nozzle — to NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, where testing will begin in April 2012.
Blue Origin is developing a reusable launch vehicle, designed to take off and land vertically, and an escape system for its crewed spacecraft. Testing will take place on the center’s E-1 Test Stand.
TXA PR — AUSTIN, TX – The Texas Space Alliance (TXA) urged government leaders at all levels to support efforts to build a Texas Orbital Space Port and redouble any efforts now underway to recruit commercial space firms to operate in Texas and fly from the Lone Star State’s southern coast. Citing high level moves in other states such as Florida and Virginia to recruit these new companies using tax, property, and other incentives, TXA warned Texas could miss an opportunity to become the next Space Coast in competition with Florida, and the potentially billions of dollars and large numbers of jobs such a facility might create.
“There is a narrow and closing window of opportunity right now and if Texas doesn’t act soon, we will lose another chance to not only save space jobs, but create even more with a truly thriving space industry in this state,” commented TXA’s Rick Tumlinson.
Virginia has been aggressive in coming up with tax incentives for commercial space companies to locate within the Commonwealth. The latest one not only reaches beyond the Earth but beyond the grave as well: (Cue spooky Halloween music) Individual income tax deduction for certain purchases from space flight entities. Provides an individual income tax deduction in the amount paid for a prepaid contract entered into with a commercial space flight […]
Florida Gov. Rick Scott has proposed keeping Space Florida’s budget stable at $10 million and designating an additional $15 million from the state transportation budget for infrastructure improvements designed to attract commercial business to the Space Coast. The funding is part of a new budget proposal that contains cuts in other areas. The Florida Legislature will now take up the budget plan, which would go into effect next July 1. […]
Colorado has applied to the FAA of spaceport certification of Front Range Airport, which is about 22 miles from Denver and six miles from Denver International Airport. The reason? To prepare for the impending era of suborbital, point-to-point passenger service:
The impetus for applying for spaceport certification now is the result of serious interest on the part of out-of-state companies preparing for future space tourism, said Tom Clark, CEO of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp.
The companies, which Clark would not identify, are working on a spacecraft that takes off horizontally from a runway like a plane but then, tens of thousands of feet into the air, lights a booster rocket capable to taking passengers past the upper reaches of the atmosphere, Clark said.
That would open up the possibility not just of space travel to ordinary — but wealthy — people, but also of ultrafast travel to points on Earth, he said.
“Once you light that thing, then you’re in Sydney [Australia] in an hour and a half,” Clark said. “We in Colorado like to brag about being able to ski in the morning and golf in the afternoon. This would let us boast we can ski in morning and be surfing just after lunch — that’s the future these people are talking about.”
It’s a great vision. I’m not sure just how quickly that will happen. There are a lot of steps involved and it could take some time. On the other hand, why wait until it’s here to get a spaceport designation? And in the meantime, Colorado would be able to attract companies developing the vehicles.
HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif., Dec. 7, 2011 — The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] has received a $2 million contract from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to define requirements and design concepts for the Reusable Booster System (RBS) Flight and Ground Experiments program. This program will enhance space launch capability by providing a reliable, responsive and cost-effective system.
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