Sen. David Vitter PR – Washington, D.C. – U.S. Sen. David Vitter made the following statement congratulating NASA for choosing the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans East to construct components of its new heavy-lift rocket. Earlier this month, NASA unveiled the design of the rocket, and Vitter immediately urged NASA to choose Michoud for construction.

“NASA’s selection of Michoud is big, big news for southeast Louisiana,” Vitter said. “Michoud is the only NASA facility that is currently ready to do the large manufacturing that will be required for the heavy-lift rocket. I’ve been working for years with the Louisiana delegation to ensure Michoud remains well positioned for this kind of work, and with local companies in the high-tech Stennis-Michoud corridor to ensure the area remains a vital part of the space program.”

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AEB PR — A Japanese delegation comprising representatives of the embassy, ​​academia and research was received yesterday (21/09), the Brazilian Space Agency (AEB), the director of the Satellite, Applications and Development (Dsad) Thyrso Villela, and the chief Advisor for International Cooperation (ACI), José Montserrat Filho. The main theme of the meeting was the possibility of joint development of micro / nanosatellites.

According to the Japanese delegation miniaturization of satellites is already a worldwide trend in two respects. The first is the low cost of manufacture. While the medium-large can cost anywhere from $ 200 to $ 500 million, small businesses are in the range of $ 2 to $ 5 million, which represents one-hundredth the price.

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Join the TEA Party in Space Conference Call Wednesday – October 5th 2011 – 8PM EDT We hope you will join us on October 5th, 2011 at 8PM EDT for the first TPIS national conference call. The conference call will be lead by Andrew Gasser, Everett Wilkinson, and Isaac Mooers. We will be discussing the following: Introductions of our TPIS team GAO Complaint Update JWST Status TEACON Website tools Questions […]

, Pipistrel-USA.com leader Jack W. Langelaan (right, in suit) celebrates with his team after winning the $1.35 million CAFE Green Flight Challenge.

Pipistrel-USA.com received a check for $1.35 million this afternoon for winning the CAFE Green Flight Challenge, a NASA Centennial Challenge prize funded by Google for the demonstration of fuel-efficient aircraft.

eGenius, of Ramona, Calif., was awarded a second-place prize of $120,000. The team also won a $10,000 prize for the quietest aircraft in the competition.  Erik Lindbergh, the grandson of Charles Lindbergh, presented the smaller prize, which was funded by Jean Schulz, the widow of Peanuts cartoonist Charles M. Schulz. The competition was held at the Charles M. Schulz – Sonoma County Airport in Santa Rosa, Calif.

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Test of a reusable LOX-LNG engine. (Credit: Roscosmos)

The Russians conducted a hot firing last week on a new reusable rocket engine that is powered by liquid oxygen (LOX) and liquefied natural gas (LNG). The test took place on Sept. 28 in Peresvet (Moscow region).

The rocket engine was designed and manufactured by KB Khimmash imeni A.M. Isayeva, which is a branch of GKNPTs Khrunichev. A Roscosmos press release describes the test as being carried out on a “double integration engine.”

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This week on The Space Show with David Livingston…. Monday, Oct. 3, 2011, 2-3:30 PM PDT: Chris Carberry of Explore Mars is back to tell us about their upcoming event, Women & Mars Conference 9-10 November 2011. See www.exploremars.org/page/women-and-mars/women-and-mars-conference-2011 for details. Tuesday, Oct. 4 , 2011, 7-8:30 PM PDT: Marc Boucher of Space Ref.com returns with new information and a look at their new magazine, Space Quarterly. Wednesday, Oct. 5, […]

Scaled Composites WhiteKnightTwo/SpaceShipTwo Test Summary Flight: 73 / GF16 Date: 29 Sep 11 Flight Time: 7 min, 15 sec SS2 Pilot: Stucky SS2 CoPilot: Nichols SS2 FTE: Persall GS Crew: Alsbury, Verderame, Kalogiannis, Vannoy, Glasser, Reid, Inks, Tighe, Bassett Objectives: Post maintenance functional check flight Clean release Evaluate stability and control Flutter expansion Previous flutter point validation Increased weight landing (using water ballast) Pilot proficiency Results: Test card called for […]

Gear down. (Photo: Mark Greenberg)

Attenborough: [Launching our first commercial flight] 18 months to two years from now is achievable, but that isn’t to say that we will achieve it. The only thing that will extend that expected timeline is if something comes up during the remainder of the test flight program.

Or so Virgin Galactic’s Commercial Director Stephen Attenborough tells The Wall Street Journal’s Chun Han Wong . The company’s founder, Richard Branson, has been making similar predictions for years now.

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AEB PR — The two emerging powers need to define forms and fields of cooperation in space. The full awareness of this growing need was clear during a meeting of  Ambassador of India, BS Prakash, the President of the Brazilian Space Agency, Professor Marco Antonio Raupp, on Tuesday.

Outline was agreed by the end of the year, the concrete fields of cooperation to be effective, based on mutual interests and participation of companies from both countries. It was also agreed to devote special attention to the program in future meetings Satellite IBSA forum approved by India, Brazil and South Africa. The technical characteristics of these satellites have begun to be developed.

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A recording of Elon Musk’s talk at the National Press Club in Washington on Thursday.