DARPA PR — In 1865, Jules Verne put forward a seemingly impossible notion in From Earth to the Moon: he wrote about building a giant space gun that would rocket men to the moon. Just over a century later, the impossible became reality when Neil Armstrong took that first step onto the moon’s surface in 1969.

A century can fundamentally change our understanding of our universe and reality. Man’s desire to explore space and achieve the seemingly impossible is at the center of the 100 Year Starship Study Symposium. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and NASA Ames Research Center (serving as execution agent), are working together to convene thought leaders dealing with the practical and fantastic issues man needs to address to achieve interstellar flight one hundred years from now.

DARPA and NASA Ames Research Center are soliciting abstracts for papers and/or topics/members for discussion panels, to be presented at the 100 Year Starship Study Symposium to be held in Orlando, Florida from September 30 through October 2, 2011.

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The SSA programme is enabling Europe to detect hazards to critical space infrastructure. This artist's impression illustrates how radars, telescopes and networks on the ground can work in unison to detect space hazards including debris in orbit, harmful space weather and near-Earth objects. Credits: ESA - P. Carrill

ESA PR — The European Commission recently set out the EU’s main space priorities, which include protection of Europe’s space assets. The affirmation spotlights the Space Situational Awareness Preparatory Programme as a strategic European necessity and a cornerstone of Europe’s future in space.
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Author: Kosmonauta.net

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has signed a degree, which will begin the accession negotiations between Poland and the European Space Agency (ESA). Depending on the results of these negotiations, Poland might become the 20th ESA member as soon as late 2012 or beginning of 2013.

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SpaceX Sues Safety Expert for Defamation [Courthouse News Service] Space News Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) is suing Herndon, Va.-based Valador Inc. and its vice president, Joe Fragola, in Fairfax County Court for making  what SpaceX says were defamatory allegations about the safety and reliability of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, Courthouse News Service reported June 16. At the heart of the suit is a June 8 email Fragola allegedly sent to […]

SpaceShipTwo glides downward on its first test flight. (Photo: Mark Greenberg)

NSS PR — On May 7th, 2011, the National Space Society’s Space Ambassador program began its year-long mission. The top ambassador will be assigned a research trip to space on Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo.

The program, which was over two years in development, is the first of its kind. The mission of the Space Ambassador program is to communicate the benefits of space exploration to our daily lives and to inspire and educate young people and the public to pursue careers in science, engineering, and mathematics. We wish to inspire a new generation of leaders to take an active role in helping to create the future they wish to see come to pass.

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Video of the Robotic Refueling Mission. This will be transported to Space Station on STS-135 in July 2011 by the space shuttle Atlantis. It demonstrates technology needed to refuel a satellite in space. From the team that built the hardware to repair and upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope.

NASA’s Multi-purpose Crew Vehicle (nee Orion)  has hit the road for a cross-country trip from California to Florida, where it will undergo testing. (more…)

SuperMod launch. (Credit: Armadillo Aerospace)

Armadillo Aerospace’s John Carmack Ben Brockert has a long blog post on recent tests in New Mexico of the company’s Tube (Stig) and SuperMod (Dalek) rockets, neither of which went according to plan.

Below are four videos showing the flights.

Stig Rocket

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Nick Litwin, an engineering student at Carnegie Mellon University, checks a fastener on a newly assembled lunar lander designed to deliver a robot to the moon in 2014 and win the Google Lunar X Prize, a $30 million competition. The lander was built by Astrobotic Technology Inc. and Carnegie Mellon and is being shipped this week to the Boeing Co. in El Segundo, Calif., for testing. (PRNewsFoto/Carnegie Mellon University, Tim Kaulen)

PITTSBURGH, June 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Astrobotic Technology Inc. and Carnegie Mellon University researchers have completed structural assembly of the lunar landing craft that will deliver the Red Rover robot to the moon in 2014. The half-ton aluminum structure will now be shipped to Boeing Co. facilities in El Segundo, Calif., for shake testing to confirm its soundness and its compatibility with the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle.

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Sen. Richard Shelby

In an effort to improve the prospects of contractors in his own state, Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby is urging that NASA undertake competitive bidding for parts of the Space Launch System, specifically solid-rocket boosters produced in Utah. In a letter to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, the Republican senator wrote:

I am concerned, therefore, that NASA is considering a Space Launch System architecture that relies on a booster system for the Space Shuttle. I am particularly concerned that this plan might be implemented without a meaningful competitive process. Designing a Space Launch System for heavy lift that relies on existing Shuttle boosters ties NASA, once again, to the high fixed costs associated with segmented solids. Moreover, I have seen no evidence that foregoing competition for the booster system will speed development of the SLS or, conversely, that introducing competition will slow the program down.

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Video Caption: On Monday, June 13, the robotic lander mission team was poised and ready when the lander prototype in the adjacent building lifted itself off the ground and rose unrestrained higher and higher. Applause broke out in the control room when the lander gently sat back down. This marks the first free flight of this prototype for the Robotic Lunar Lander Development Project managed at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight […]

Commercial Spaceflight Federation Position Statement:

Commercial Spaceflight Federation Supports Use of Space Act Agreements (SAAs) for Next Phase of NASA’s Commercial Crew Development Program

For the next phase of NASA’s Commercial Crew Development Program, following CCDev Rounds 1 and 2, the Commercial Spaceflight Federation strongly supports the use of Space Act Agreements (SAAs) under NASA’s Other Transaction Agreements (OTA) authority, rather than a Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR)-based approach. SAA’s are the best means for NASA to support commercial development of systems to transport crew and cargo to the Space Station.

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