Fresh off the passage of a limited liability law protecting spaceflight operators, the Texas Space Alliance (TXA) is aiming for a number of other achievements to help turn the Lone Star State into a magnet for commercial space companies, the non-profit group said in a press release. With the liability law in place, the TXA is working on a Texas Space Plan that includes important items for improving the space […]
Spaceflight operators in Texas are all but exempt from being sued for injuries and deaths they cause to their passengers by placing the following 51-word warning in their flight agreements with clients.
I UNDERSTAND AND ACKNOWLEDGE THAT A SPACE FLIGHT ENTITY IS NOT LIABLE FOR ANY INJURY TO OR DEATH OF A SPACE FLIGHT PARTICIPANT RESULTING FROM SPACE FLIGHT ACTIVITIES. I UNDERSTAND THAT I HAVE ACCEPTED ALL RISK OF INJURY, DEATH, PROPERTY DAMAGE, AND OTHER LOSS THAT MAY RESULT FROM SPACE FLIGHT ACTIVITIES.
SpaceX PR – Hawthorne, CA – Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) has named Bret Johnsen as Chief Financial Officer, bringing 20 years of financial leadership experience in high-profile, publicly traded companies to SpaceX as it undergoes rapid growth on the back of tremendous technological and market success.
Johnsen’s appointment follows the company’s fourth straight year of profitability (2007-2010). The total value of SpaceX NASA and commercial contracts recently topped $3 billion for over 40 launches. The company has also grown to more than 1,300 employees.
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Anatoly Perminov...in happier times
A couple of weeks ago, Roscosmos Head Anatoly Perminov lost his job after two high-profile launch failures and various programmatic delays. One of the more serious charges leveled against Perminov was that the space agency hadfallen behind badly on the production of spacecraft, failing to meet schedules last year.
Well, it looks Roscosmos’ shortcomings are part of a much broader set of problems affecting the entire Russian defense industry. On Tuesday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev chaired a meeting with the leaders of the Russian defense sector – including new Roscosmos chief Vladimir Popovkin — in which he sharply criticized them for delays in implementing key programs that are part of a broad effort to modernize and improve the nation’s defenses.
Artist's conception of Orbital Sciences Corporation's Cygnus freighter approaching the International Space Station.
Andrews Space PR — Seattle, WA — May 10, 2011 — Andrews Space announced today that it has successfully delivered the first of four fight-qualified Cargo Module Power Units (CMPUs) that will supply power to payloads aboard Orbital’s Cygnus spacecraft.
XCOR COO Andrew Nelson has been in Abu Dhabi this week pitching the Lynx at the Global Space and Satellite Forum. “The satellite and space industry has not followed the dramatic growth seen in the computer industry. This is due to availability, pure and simple,” Nelson said. “A reusable space plane, that lands and takes off conventionally, would be a big boon, not only to the space tourism industry, but […]
Spaceport America Preview Tours will begin May 13, 2011, and will be conducted each Friday, Saturday and Sunday thereafter. The tours will feature guided, exclusive access to the spaceport and provide guests an up close and personal encounter with the spaceflight facilities only available during the current pre-operational phase. Guests will also learn the history and evolution of transportation and trade in the area from the Spanish pioneers and Native […]
NASA and ESA are studying whether Europe’s ATV freighter could be adapted for missions beyond low Earth orbit, the BBC reports: Potential projects it could get involved in might include the assembly at the ISS of the components required to make a deep-space craft. This craft might even undertake a brief foray beyond the station; and the ISS partners have already discussed the idea of repeating the 1968 Apollo 8 […]
This week in The Space Review…. Commercial space skepticism Commercial space ventures appear to be moving forward on all fronts, with developments ranging from commercial crew funding to the testing of suborbital vehicles. However, Jeff Foust notes that some both in industry and Congress are skeptical of the long-term success of these efforts, in part because of past experience. Public-private partnerships for space What is the future for space exploration […]
UKSA PR — The International Space Innovation Centre (ISIC) will celebrate its launch today (6 May 2011) with an opening ceremony conducted by HRH Prince Andrew, Duke of York, and David Willetts, Minister for Universities and Science.
Speaking ahead of the event, HRH the Duke of York said: ‘It is reassuring to see that Space is a sector where UK businesses continue to flourish. Innovation and collaboration – within the UK, internationally, business-to-business and business to academia – are essential to maintain this growth and to help the UK compete in the global market.’
Norman Augustine and Virginia Rep. Frank Wolf probably don’t agree on much, but there’s one thing they do see eye-to-eye one: NASA is underfunded and the agency is headed for serious problems unless something major is done.
“I think with regard to this year’s budget, the match is reasonable,” Augustine said. “But if we’re to have a program of the type that we described as attractive in the report that we put out, there’s not enough money in the out years to do it. The question is whether we’ll add that money in the out years or not. If we don’t have it, then we’re probably pursuing the wrong program. If we add the money, then this will be the right program, in my judgment.”
ESA PR — The official ceremony marking ESA’s handover of the Soyuz launch site to Arianespace took place today at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, after the site was declared ready for the first flight and the completion of a simulated launch campaign.
The French space agency, CNES, as prime contractor for the building work, along with its European and Russian partners, has spent recent months qualifying the site.