Florida Gov. Rick Scott and the Legislature have reached an agreement that will give Space Florida a $10 million budget and access to millions in seed funds while placing it within a larger development organization:

Space Florida, the public-private economic development arm, would remain a separate entity with the power to issue tax-free bonds, but it would answer to the board of directors of Enterprise Florida, the statewide economic development agency. Enterprise Florida would be headed by a secretary of commerce appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate…

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IISC PR — Increasing interest in orbital space tourism has been generated by recent developments of projects and organisations such as Excalibur, Galactic Suite and Bigelows Space Complex Alpha, as well as the Russian Orbital Technologies plans. Although recent years have seen a number of excellent studies published, mainly focusing on suborbital demand, there has been, until now, few detailed studies available on the market demand for orbital personal spaceflight. […]

This week in The Space Review… A muddled future The space shuttle Endeavour was set to launch Friday on its final mission, but was scrubbed hours before liftoff because of a technical issue. Jeff Foust notes the near-term uncertainty about when Endeavour will launch parallels the long-term uncertainty about the future of the Space Coast after the shuttle program ends. Old Reliable: The story of the Redstone This week marks […]

Jupiter Direct Launcher Variants

NASA — already grappling with what it views as an impossible task given to it by Congress — is facing one more worry in its effort to build a heavy-lift vehicle: bid protests. Space News reports:

If NASA chooses to leverage this hardware under existing contracts for the heavy-lift rocket, as directed in the NASA Authorization Act of 2010, it could face a challenge from companies that are not currently in the mix. Propulsion provider Aerojet of Sacramento, Calif., for example, has made clear its desire for a competition to build elements of the Space Launch System.

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SPACE FLORIDA PR — The I² Capital Acceleration Program (www.i2Florida.com) has added 10 members to its Qualification Review Board. I² (which stands for “Igniting Innovation”) is the latest technology-based economic development initiative led by Space Florida and the Technological Research and Development Authority (TRDA) to help stimulate higher levels of investment in Florida’s key technology cluster companies. The I² Review Board members will serve until the program’s completion later this year.

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Eurobot giving a hand to astronaut! Credits: ESA / ÖWF / P. Santek

ESA PR — No wonder it is called Red River: it looks like it could be on the red planet rather than in Spain. The landscape and terrain make it a perfect place for simulating a Mars sortie.

An ESA rover, a spacesuit mockup and a medical monitoring system took centre stage between 18-22 April at Rio Tinto in Andalucia, southern Spain.

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A few interviews of note on the beautiful second day of May: Scaled Composites Test Pilot Brian Binnie talks to Jim Clash at AskMen.com. Bob Richards talks about Moon Express and the Google Lunar X Prize at evadot.com. Bruce Pittman of the NASA Ames Space Portal discusses commercial space at Moonandback.com.

A Presidential task force spent months working on a plan to diversify the Florida Space Coast’s economy only to have the $40 designated for the effort whacked as part of a deficit reduction effort. Florida Today’s Matt Reed examines how and why this happened and finds a story “of neglect and fallout from political brinkmanship” on all sides that doomed the efforts of the Presidential Task Force on Space Industry […]

Air & Space Magazine takes a look at Ad Astra Rocket Company’s VASIMR rocket. Read the full story.

Robert Bigelow

NSS PR — Robert Bigelow, Founder and President of Bigelow Aerospace, <https://www.bigelowaerospace.com>  will be the Honored Keynote Speaker at the ISDC Governors’ Dinner and Gala to be held in the Davidson Center at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama on May 20.  Mr. Bigelow founded Bigelow Aerospace, which is noted for developing and launching the first inflatable space habitats.  At the Gala, Mr. Bigelow will also receive the National Space Society’s Space Pioneer Award for Space Development for his efforts to advance the technology of space habitats and for the significance they may play in the development of space tourism, industry and exploration.

Bigelow Aerospace took over the Transhab space habitat development program after NASA scrapped it, and effectively reinvented it – developing and successfully launching its prototypes, Genesis I and II, in 2006 and 2007. Limitations on payload volume during launch are one of the major constraints of the NewSpace industry, and the Company’s inflatable concept solves that problem for most in-space habitat applications. The lower launch volume and mass per volume of the inflatables, combined with now imminent launch cost reductions, should soon allow delivery of paying passengers to safe and functional orbiting destinations, such as the Bigelow station planned for operation by 2015.

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Aviation Week reports that Sierra Nevada Corporation is planning full-scale drop tests of its Dream Chaser shuttle from Scaled Composites’ WhiteKnightTwo mothership beginning in the second quarter of 2012. The tests from 45,000 feet are designed to “assess handling qualities as well as stability and control during an unpowered descent to a conventional runway landing.” Other details revealed in the article: Sierra Nevada is making progress on the vehicle’s hybrid […]

This week on The Space Show… Monday, May 2, 2011, 2-3:30 PM PDT. This program will focus on Project Icarus. We will have the Icarus team with us including Richard Obousy, Dr. Rob Adams, and Dr. Ian Crawford. To find out more about Project Icarus, visit www.icarusinterstellar.org. CLASSROOM: Tuesday, May 3, 2011, 7-9 PM PDT. Welcome to this Space Show Classroom program focusing on artificial gravity. Our special guest is […]