Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com Space.com’s Dave Brody talks space privatization on Fox News — and the interviewers actually shut up long enough to let him speak. What’s up with that?
Bigelow Aerospace module cutaway.
Leonard David has a bit more on Bigelow Aerospace’s proposal to attach its BEAM inflatable module to the International Space Station:
No agreement has been signed yet, said Michael Gold, director of Washington, D.C., operations and business growth for Bigelow Aerospace LLC, based in Chevy Chase, Md. “But we’re looking forward to doing so in the near future and we’re pleased about the progress.”
This week in The Space Review… EML-1: the next logical destination One potential destination for human spaceflight beyond Earth orbit is the Earth-Moon L-1 point. Ken Murphy discusses the various roles a human presence there could play in supporting space exploration and development. The Grand Tour: Uranus Twenty-five years ago today Voyager 2 made its closest approach to Uranus, becoming the first, and so far only, spacecraft to visit the […]
A taikonaut emerges from China's Shenzhou 7 spacecraft after a successful orbital flight
U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission
Request for Proposals
January 24th, 2011
Period of Proposal Submissions Ends: 5:30 PM, February 9th, 2011
The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (hereafter “the Commissionâ€) invites submission of proposals to provide a one-time unclassified report on the development of the national space program of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and the potential impacts on future U.S. economic and national security.
About Proposals
The Commission solicits proposals from contractors capable of providing a one-time unclassified report on the development of China’s national space program, and the potential impacts on future U.S. economic and national security. Key issues and questions to be addressed by the report are:
1.Identify and assess the major motivating factors behind the PRC government’s investments in the space program. Is it motivated primarily by military concerns? Commercial interests? National pride? Or some combination of these or other factors?
A Russian Soyuz spacecraft in orbit
An interesting notice from the Roscosmos website:
Space Adventures, which had announced the conclusion of an agreement with Russian Federal Space Agency and Rocket Space Corporation Energia (RSC Energia) to commercially offer three seats on the Soyuz spacecraft bound for the International Space Station (ISS), beginning in 2013, has not signed any contract neither with Roscosmos, nor with RSC-E, Roscosmos Human Spaceflight Directorate Head Alexey Krasnov told Marker.
According to Krasnov, the a.m. negotiations may commence in spring, provided that Space Adventures finds funding for increasing of Soyuz production, from four to five space vehicles per year.
Pad OA at Wallops Island. (Credit: Orbital Sciences Corporation)
Jack Kennedy informs me that there’s a move afoot in the Virginia Legislature to direct tax dollars generated by commercial human space entities in the state to support the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority and development of the Wallops Island spaceport. The provision in Senate Bill 1447 reads:
Income tax paid by commercial space flight entities.
Beginning July 1, 2011, and for each fiscal year thereafter, the net revenue generated by the corporate income taxes paid by corporations that engage in commercial human spaceflights or commercial spaceflight training shall be transferred to the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority, established pursuant to Article 2 (2.2-2201 et seq.) of Chapter 22 of Title 2.2. The Tax Commissioner shall make a written certification to the Comptroller within 15 days of the close of each calendar quarter providing an estimate of the net revenue generated by the corporate income taxes paid by the corporations that engage in commercial human spaceflights or commercial spaceflight training in the calendar quarter. Not later than 30 days after the close of each quarter, the Comptroller shall transfer to the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority an amount from the general fund that is equal to the estimate provided by the Tax Commissioner.
Roscosmos Head Anatoly Perminov
Roscosmos Head Anatoly Perminov told the media that Russia will spend $6 billion through 2015 to build its new Vostochny spaceport and to develop replacements for the Soyuz rocket and spacecraft, Interfax reports.
“The total cost of building a promising manned transport system, a new space rocket complex, Rus-M, the ground processing facility will be about 180 billion rubles by 2015,” he said.
Perminov said that the new Rus-M rocket being developed by TsSKB Progress will be capable of launching up to 24 metric tons into orbit. The new rocket will be tested in 2015, with human launches of a new six-person spacecraft being built by RSC Energia planned to begin in 2018. Designs for the new rocket and spacecraft were drawn up last year.
This is the first trailer of the Yuri Gagarin fan film produced by Soyuz Fan Film in association with Planet Gagarin Karpov. This fan film is scheduled to release on the day that the world would remember Yuri Gagarin’s flight. Subscriptions and comments are welcome. Release Date: April 12, 2011
Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center
NASA ANNOUNCEMENT
NASA has released a formal Notice of Availability (NOA) and Request for Information (RFI) to identify interest from industry for space processing and support facilities at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The facilities may become available for space-related commercial use following the end of the Space Shuttle Program.
The facilities that may become available are well-suited for entities operating or directly supporting government or commercial launches or space user services.
A P3 Navy aircraft with Hangar One at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California. (Copyright 2009: Douglas Messier)
A consumer watchdog group called (of all things) Consumer Watchdog has issued a report focusing on Google’s allegedly close relationship with the federal government. One of the issues they have raised involves Google’s $1.3 million per year lease of space at Moffett Field, which is under the control of NASA Ames:
One of the most visible signs of Google’s clout, the report said, is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Moffett Airfield, near Google’s world headquarters. When a deal between NASA and top Google executives to use the base was first disclosed in 2007, it called for only four jets to use the base.
But newly released government records show that the Google executive fleet has now grown to six jets and two helicopters, while at least 40 Google employees hold security badges at the base and all of the planes are supplied with Department of Defense jet fuel.
RentalsInVallarta.com Press Release
Puerto Vallarta will host the fourth work session to define Mexico’s Space Policy to be carried out by the newly formed Mexico’s Space Agency. Puerto Vallarta’s sessions will take place January 28-29 at the Puerto Vallarta Convention Center. Find out who is the leading contender to direct the new Space Agency and what the Space Agency task force is looking to accomplish in Puerto Vallarta at https://rentalsinvallarta.com/tag/mexico-space-agency .
AIAA Press Release
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) will co-sponsor the 14th annual FAA Commercial Space Transportation Conference, to be held February 9–10 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, 801 Mt. Vernon Place NW, Washington, D.C.
The conference will feature high-level speakers and panels examining the state of technology and capabilities in the commercial space transportation sector, including new space technologies, government customers for commercial space, and commercial space transportation regulatory issues.