Researchers aboard ZERO-G Corporation's GFORCEONE aircraft. (PRNewsFoto/Zero Gravity Corporation, Steve Boxall)

From NASA’s Flight Opportunities Program blog:

Today we have posted an update to the continuously open Announcement of Flight Opportunities (AFO) for payloads to fly on parabolic and suborbital reusable launch vehicles. The new flight opportunities are listed in the AFO update and under Open Opportunities. Cut off date for proposal evaluation is June 28, 2011.

Use the revised Announcement of Flight Opportunities (Feb 9, 2011) in combination with today’s update to prepare your proposal.

The updated AFO is reproduced in full below.

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TPIS PR — Cape Canaveral, FL — TEA Party in Space (TPIS), a non-partisan organization, today publicly praised a letter sent by California Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden about competing NASA’s procurement of the Space Launch System (SLS). TPIS values non-partisan cooperation among all political leaders who seek a successful space program based on fiscal responsibility, limited government, and the competitive free market. TPIS is happy to join with these two Senators who wisely recognize that NASA must compete its contracts to be fair to the tax payers in this time of budgetary crisis.

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These slides are part of a presentation recently given by NASA Chief Technologist Bobby Braun. The top slide shows what it would take for human Mars exploration if we make no fundamental technology breakthroughs, save for a Saturn V class heavy-lift vehicle.  (This is roughly what NASA is eventually aiming for with its Space Launch System).  Braun assumes as a baseline that NASA would need to land 40 to 100 metric tons of payload on Mars per human mission.

This second slide shows how we can reduce the mass required through a series of technology developments. The launch requirement are reduced down from the mass of 12 International Space Stations to two. By this calculation, the number of Saturn V-class launches could be reduced from 37 to just over six.

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The ARID team in microgravity. (Credits: ESA photo/A. Le Floc'h)

ESA PR — The second series of flights in ESA’s ‘Fly Your Thesis!’ programme concluded recently. After many months of preparation, the 10-day campaign culminated with four student experiments making three parabolic flights aboard the Airbus A300 Zero-G aircraft.

Four student teams, from the UK, France, Belgium and the Netherlands, were selected for this rare opportunity to conduct their own experiments during ESA’s 54th Parabolic Flight Campaign.

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This week in The Space Review…. Human spaceflight for less: the case for smaller launch vehicles, revisited As NASA, Congress, and industry debate what the new Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket should be, some argue that such a rocket isn’t necessary at all. Grant Bonin makes the case for exploration architectures that use larger numbers of smaller, less expensive rockets. New strategies for exploration and settlement For many space advocates, […]

Chris Bergin of NASASpaceflight.com reports that a decision on NASA’s Space Launch System is “just weeks away.” (Isn’t the suspense killing you? It’s like a World Cup final penalty kick shootout. For geeks.)

At the risk of spoiling the fun, it appears that NASA will be selecting an IL SD HLV 70MT –> 130MT, which is to say something a lot like this:

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Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley. (Credit: Jay Baker)

The Maryland state government is making a major effort to commercialize space activities. The effort will include:

• building up and supporting the NASA Wallops Flight Facility and Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS);
• creation of a state development authority to coordinate policies and initiatives;
• establishment of a space-related business incubator; and
• development of a national center of climate and environmental information.

The actions are included in a new report, “Maryland: The Business of Space Science,” which was produced by the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development. Officials are seeking to build upon state’s space assets, which include the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, NOAA, Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), and The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL). These organizations have extensive expertise in the Earth and space sciences.

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U2 delivered a surprise to the crowds at Quest Field, Seattle last night with a video message from Commander Mark E. Kelly. Bono dedicated ‘Beautiful Day’ to Gabby Giffords, before asking, “Imagine a man looking down on us from 200 miles up. Looking down at our beautiful crowded planet… What would he say to us…? What is on your mind Commander Kelly?” Commander Kelly, on a 16-day mission with the […]

This week on The Space Show…. Monday, June 6, 2011, 2-3:30 PM PDT. We welcome back Robert Zimmerman for space news and policy updates. Tuesday, June 7, 2011, 7-8:30 PM PDT. We welcome Major Darren Rhyne, USAF. Major Rhyne has been an avid Space Show listener during his deployments to Afghanistan. He will be talking to us about his experiences. Friday, June 10 , 2011 , 9:30-11 AM PDT. We […]

Russia's Phobos-Grunt spacecraft

ROSCOSMOS PAO reports:

Experts of Lavochkin R&D prepare Phobos-Grunt spacecraft for electrical tests in thermal vacuum chamber. Ground hardware and harness mating is almost finished. The spacecraft will be accommodated in the chamber in the nearest future. The tests are to confirm spacecraft systems’ proper functioning in the environment close to the real one.

The launch of the spacecraft which is to return soil of Martian moon Phobos to the Earth is slated for late 2011.

In addition to conducting in depth studies of Phobos and Mars, the spacecraft will carry a Chinese sub-satellite that will orbit the planet and instruments from a number of other nations, including France. (more…)

Two views of a rocket launch by Paul Breed and Unreasonable Rocket in Mojave. The second video shows a view from a RC helicopter.

Orbital Sciences Corporation's Taurus II rocket and Cygnus freighter are almost as multinational as the International Space Station itself.

OSC’s new Taurus II rocket and Cygnus freighter is an interesting exercise in international collaboration. Key parts of the rocket and freighter are being sourced from suppliers in four other nations. OSC is adding its own considerable expertise and technology to the project and integrating all the pieces for launch from Wallops Island in Virginia. The system is being funded as a public-private partnership under NASA’s COTS program, which is developing commercial cargo systems for the International Space Station.

The graphics below show the origins of key elements in the system.

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