Kent, WA– September 21, 2011 – Space Angels Network, a national network of seed‐ and early‐stage investors focused on aerospace‐related ventures, today announced an investment in LaserMotive, Inc. of Kent, Washington led by Brad Fleury, a Space Angels Network member and Director of Edge Consulting. LaserMotive is an independent R&D company specializing in wireless power beaming. LaserMotive is the third company so far in 2011 to receive investment through Space Angels Network and its members.
AUTHOR
Doug Messier
NASA PR — WASHINGTON — NASA is announcing the International Space Apps Competition to support the Open Government Partnership (OGP), which President Barack Obama announced Tuesday. The challenge will culminate with a two-day event next year that will provide an opportunity for government to use the expertise and entrepreneurial spirit of citizen explorers to help address global challenges.
During the event, NASA representatives and officials from international space agencies will gather with scientists and citizens to use publicly-released scientific data to create solutions for issues, such as weather impact on the global economy and depletion of ocean resources.
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AIA PR — The Aerospace Industries Association is launching a new campaign to provide information about the industry, potential job losses and national security risks while budgets are being eyed for sweeping reductions. The campaign, titled Second to None, is a public education initiative aimed at ensuring that the U.S. aerospace and defense industry continues to lead the world.
The aerospace and defense industry is a powerful contributor to the economy. According to estimates from Deloitte Development LLC, 2010 aerospace and defense employment stands at more than one million and revenues are nearly $331 billion. The Deloitte estimates place total direct employment by aerospace and defense companies at over 1 million workers.
NASA PR — WASHINGTON — NASA has selected The Boeing Company of Huntington Beach, Calif., for the Composite Cryotank Technologies Demonstration effort. Under the contract, Boeing will design, manufacture and test two lightweight composite cryogenic propellant tanks.
The demonstration effort will use advanced composite materials to develop new technologies that could be applied to multiple future NASA missions, including human space exploration beyond low Earth orbit.
Optional CCDev milestones approved by NASA will include an un-piloted drop test of Sierra Nevada’s Dream Chaser test vehicle as well as a hot firing of the Boeing CST-100 spacecraft’s orbital maneuvering and abort control engine.
The tests are part of $42.6 million worth of optional milestones that would be paid if NASA has funding available and the companies meet all milestones by July 2012. Sierra Nevada’s milestones total $25.6 million while Boeing’s optional awards would amount to $20.6 million.
Editor’s Update: It seems that I missed a clause later in the draft RFP that states: “Notwithstanding paragraph (a), the competition in Phase 2 may result in the award of multiple contracts if budget allows.” That means NASA could fund multiple awards if Congress is generous enough. Jeff Foust at New Space Journal reports that the single-contractor clause is a standard one for FAR contracts, and that NASA is looking to get a waiver from it.
Congressional stinginess with NASA’s Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) budget is forcing the space agency to abandon a key goal of the effort: to obtain multiple, redundant access to low Earth orbit with price competition between providers.
According to the CCDev draft request for proposal released yesterday, NASA will ultimately select only one system to fund to completion:
The acquisition will be conducted as a two-phased procurement using a competitive down-selection technique between phases. In this technique, two or more contractors will be selected for Phase 1. It is expected that the single contractor for Phase 2 will be chosen from among these contractors after a competitive down-selection. [my emphasis added]
Please join us for the ninth SETI Institute Evening Distinguished Speaker Talk Wednesday night at 7.00 pm at the SETI Institute Headquarters at 189 Bernardo Ave, Mountain View. This is a public lecture and will be suitable for audiences of all ages and backgrounds. Title: “SpaceX and the Dragon Spacecraft” Speaker: Abhishek Tripathi (Space Exploration Technologies – SpaceX) When: Wednesday, 7:00pm, September 21, 2011 Where: SETI Institute Headquarters, Ground Floor, […]
A video from NASA focusing on commercial space transportation.
NASA PR — WASHINGTON — NASA unveiled Monday an outline of its acquisition strategy to procure transportation services from private industry to carry U.S. astronauts to low Earth orbit and the International Space Station. The agency also announced the addition of optional milestones for the Commercial Crew Development Round 2 (CCDev2) initiative.
“This is a significant step forward in America’s amazing story of space exploration,” said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. “It’s further evidence we are committed to fully implementing our plan — as laid out in the Authorization Act — to outsource our space station transportation so NASA can focus its energy and resources on deep space exploration.”
TSC PR ― MOJAVE, Calif. ― The Spaceship Company (TSC), the aerospace production joint venture of Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic and Scaled Composites, achieved a significant milestone in making commercial space travel a reality with today’s opening of its Final Assembly, Integration and Test Hangar, or FAITH, at Mojave Air and Space Port. The $8 million, modern, energy-efficient hangar supports the final stages of production for prime customer Virgin Galactic’s WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo, and will add new jobs to the commercial space industry at spaceports in Mojave and New Mexico.