Boeing is looking to partner with ISRO on its human spaceflight program:

Aerospace behemoth Boeing plans to make the most of opportunities tossed up by removal of technology embargo with offers to partner Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in major projects.

The aerospace major has picked two key projects—the advanced medium combat aircraft (ACMA) being designed by DRDO and human space programme of ISRO—as ones with potential for partnership in future.

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This week in The Space Review…. Patent rights and flags of convenience in outer space The effective commercialization of space requires a legal regime that, among other things, protects the intellectual property rights of companies doing work there. Matthew J. Kleiman describes a potential loophole in international space law that could undermine that legal protection. Merging human spaceflight and science at NASA Space science and human spaceflight, long foes in […]

SFF PRESS RELEASE

In the Summer of 2011, Teachers in Space will offer five one-week professional-development workshops for high-school science, technology, engineering, and math teachers. Teachers in Space project manager Edward Wright announced the workshops during the final session of the Space Exploration Educators Conference, which took place here today.

“Next summer, teachers will have opportunities to experience unpowered aircraft flight with a former NASA Shuttle commander, to fly a flight simulator for the next generation of reusable spacecraft, to study the effects of high-altitude flight in a university altitude chamber, and to build experiments that will fly on a suborbital vehicle,” Wright said.

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HOLY FLERKING SCHNIT!

A new commercial rocket proposal based on the Ares 1 first stage and the Ariane 5 core. It’s like Frankenstein meets….rocket Frankenstein! Looks like it will definitely fly. But, is it affordable?

ATK/ASTRIUM PRESS RELEASE

ATK and Astrium (an EADS Company) are working together in response to NASA’s Commercial Crew Development-2 (CCDev-2) procurement.  The team is offering NASA launch services with the Libertyâ„¢ rocket.  This new launch vehicle combines two of the world’s most reliable propulsion systems, with a collective heritage of nearly 150 successful flights.

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Richard Branson

The Independent has an interesting update on Richard Branson’s plans for his Virgin Hotels venture, which is set to launch in about two years:

San Diego and Washington DC are likely candidates, and Branson also announced that one of the the first sites will be in New Mexico, overlooking the spaceport which will send his Virgin Galactic tourist flights into space.

He also told conference attendees that each hotel will be different, saying that putting a Virgin stamp on the hotels wasn’t enough and that the goal was to be the “funnest” hotel for guests to go to.

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NASA PROGRAM UPDATE

NASA has signed an agreement with the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) of Worcester, Mass., to manage the Sample Return Robot Challenge, one of the agency’s new Centennial Challenges prize competitions.

The challenge will demonstrate how a robot can locate and retrieve geologic samples from varied terrain without human control. This challenge has a prize purse of $1.5 million. The objective of the competition is to encourage innovations in automatic navigation and robotic manipulator technologies.

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This week on The Space Show with David Livingston…. Monday, Feb. 7, 2011 , 2-3:30 PM PST. We welcome Don Green of the Napoleon Hill Foundation. During this program, we will be applying Napoleon Hill philosophy and rules to space development. We will also be giving away books to callers. Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2011, 7-8:30 PM PST: Open Lines with priority for first time callers. The topics to be discussed […]

ProSpace Announcement

ProSpace is proud to announce our 17th annual March Storm, which will take place in Washington, DC on March 13-15, 2011. On those dates ProSpace members will take their Citizens’ Space Agenda to Capitol Hill and brief members of the House and Senate on their plan to create new high paying jobs through innovation in the commercial space sector.

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Masten's Xombie vehicle

SFF PRESS RELEASE

In the summer of 2011, high-school science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) teachers will have the chance to fly experiments on an early unmanned flight of a suborbital reusable launch vehicle (RLV). The Excelsior STEM mission was announced here today by Teachers in Space, a nonprofit project of the Space Frontier Foundation.

Speaking at the annual Space Exploration Educators Conference, Teachers in Space project manager Edward Wright said “Excelsior STEM will provide a historic opportunity for high-school STEM teachers to gain hands-on experience with space-science hardware.”
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Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center

Florida Today looks at some of the opportunities and challenges NASA faces in its effort to lease out empty facilities at the Kennedy Space Center:

As capable as many shuttle facilities are, their age and high maintenance costs might make them a hard sell, and renovations could prove prohibitively expensive.

“One of the first questions any company would ask is not only how much it costs to lease, but how much it costs to operate and maintain, and that’s where you may see some companies lose interest in some facilities,” said Edward Ellegood, a space policy analyst at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. “Some, however, are uniquely capable, and duplicating them offsite would be more expensive.”

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The static test of a Falcon 9 rocket on Dec. 4, 2010. (Credit: SpaceX)

Report: Falcon plan OK for environment
Santa Maria Times

A company’s plan to bring a new rocket to an old launch pad won’t cause any significant environmental problems, according to a review of Space Exploration Technologies’ newest proposal for Vandenberg Air Force Base.

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