AEROSPACE COP. PR — EL SEGUNDO, March 30 — The first Reentry Breakup Recorder (REBR), an instrument designed and constructed by engineers at The Aerospace Corporation, successfully recorded data as it plunged through the atmosphere on Tuesday night aboard the disintegrating Japanese HTV-2 spacecraft.
The REBR then “phoned home” the data via the Iridium satellite system as it fell into the South Pacific Ocean Tuesday evening.
The Associated Press reports from Oklahoma City on some aerospace legislation: New Republican Gov. Mary Fallin signed a bill on Monday designed to lure more aerospace companies to Oklahoma by offering tax credits for salaries paid to qualified engineers. The measure, which is projected to cost the state nearly $6 million in its first year, allows companies to be reimbursed up to 10 percent of the salary paid to qualified […]
Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell has signed a law that earmarks any state income tax generated by human space flight or human space flight training to be directed to the Virgin Commercial Space Flight Authority. The measure was supported by Virginia-based Space Adventures because it would direct taxes that it pays to the state toward improving facilities on Wallops Island that it might use for its activities. Space Adventures has said […]
Armadillo Aerospace will not launch its STIG rocket today, Ben Brockert reports from Spaceport America via Twitter: We are not flying today. Obviously we wish we were. We’ll update with whys and hows when we can. The company had to cancel an earlier launch attempt on Saturday for several reasons. This is the company’s first attempt to launch a STIG rocket. The company aims to exceed 100,000 feet in this […]
Bob Richards’ lunar startup, Moon Express, emerged from five months in stealth mode on Monday to announce the involvement of two — count ’em, two — prominent Silicon Valley entrepreneurs in its effort to win the Google Lunar X Prize.
Naveen Jain announced during the annualExplorers Clube Awards Dinner in New York that he co-founded Moon Express with Richards and serves as the chairman of Moon Express. In a separate announcement, the California-based comp;any also revealed that Barney Pell is Barney Pell will serve as co-founder, vice-chairman and chief technology officer.
SPACEX PR — Today, Elon Musk, CEO and chief rocket designer of Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) unveiled the dramatic final specifications and launch date for the Falcon Heavy, the world’s largest rocket.
“Falcon Heavy will carry more payload to orbit or escape velocity than any vehicle in history, apart from the Saturn V moon rocket, which was decommissioned after the Apollo program. This opens a new world of capability for both government and commercial space missions,†Musk told a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.
“Falcon Heavy will arrive at our Vandenberg, California, launch complex by the end of next year, with liftoff to follow soon thereafter. First launch from our Cape Canaveral launch complex is planned for late 2013 or 2014.â€
Musk added that with the ability to carry satellites or interplanetary spacecraft weighing over 53 metric tons or 117,000 pounds to orbit, Falcon Heavy will have more than twice the performance of the Space Shuttle or Delta IV Heavy, the next most powerful vehicle, which is operated by United Launch Alliance, a Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture.
Elon Musk Press Conference
Falcon Heavy
— over 100,000 lbs. up to 117,000 pounds
— more than a fully loaded 737 with 137 passengers and cargo
— more capability than any vehicle than Saturn V
— half the capacity of the Saturn V
— range of possibilities not available
— more than twice the capability of Delta IV heavy and space shuttle
— ready to launch by early 2013
— initial launch from Vandenberg, will later launch from Cape Canaveral
— will cost a third as much as Delta IV Heavy while carrying the twice the payload
— $1,000 per pound to orbit — lowest cost ever
— designed to meet NASA human rating standards
— engine out capability — lose multiple engines but still complete the mission
— start to realistically contemplate Mars sample return with Falcon Heavy
— eliminates the need for several launches, orbital rendezvous, etc.
This week in The Space Review… Space law and the new era of commercial spaceflight As commercial spaceflight, including both suborbital and orbital human flights, become more common, these applications will raise new legal issues. Christopher J. Newman and Ben Middleton discuss some of the issues that space law experts will have to grapple with in the near future. Tough decisions ahead for planetary exploration Last month the planetary science […]
NASA PR — NASA astronaut Ron Garan and Russian cosmonauts Andrey Borisenko and Alexander Samokutyaev launched in their Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 6:18 p.m. EDT Monday (4:18 a.m. Tuesday, Kazakhstan time) beginning a two-day journey to the International Space Station. Their Soyuz, named for Yuri Gagarin, lifted off just one week shy of the 50th anniversary of Gagarin’s historic journey into space from that same launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
Less than 10 minutes after launch, their spacecraft reached orbit and its antennas and solar arrays were deployed.
Scaled Composites reports that it conducted the sixth test firing of its SpaceShipTwo motor on March 24. This is the first test of the engine, which is being developed with Sierra Nevada Corporation, since August 2010. Last month, Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides said engineers were preparing for a 40-second test. The engine needs to fire for 70 seconds for SpaceShipTwo to reach suborbital space. The following is the test […]
A leaked copy of an Aerospace Corporation presentation to NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden on commercial crew program has surfaced. And man, has it set off a sh***storm. Within hours of its publication, the Commercial Spaceflight Federation put out a press release attacking its conclusions. And the blogosphere has lit up with various denunciations of the Aerospace Corporation for supposedly trashing the viability of commercial space. But, when you look at […]
