Isleofman.com reports: The Isle of Man’s ever-increasing presence as a major player in the space sector was recognised with one of the top awards at the Isle of Man Newspapers Awards for Excellence going to Chris Stott of ManSat whose wife Nicole is an astronaut. The award as ‘Business Person of the Year’ was handed over to Chris at the Villa Marina on Thursday night at the glittering awards ceremony […]
A Minotaur IV rocket is set to launch a set of innovative nanosats from the Kodiak Launch Complex on Friday evening. The launch is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 19, at 7:24 p.m. CST. The launch can be viewed on the web at this page, https://www.nasa.gov/fastsat, on Friday, Nov. 19, starting at 7 p.m. CST.
Below are NASA’s descriptions of three of the satellites to be launched: FASTSAT, NanoSail-D, and O/OREOS.
- NASA’s FASTSAT (Credit: NASA)
FASTSAT
NASA’s Fast, Affordable, Science and Technology Satellite, or FASTSAT, will carry six small payloads to low Earth orbit, demonstrating a critical ability to provide low-cost and rapid response opportunities for scientific and technical payloads to get to space. FASTSAT is NASA’s first microsatellite designed to create a capability that increases opportunities for secondary, scientific and technology payloads, or rideshares, to be flown at lower cost than previously possible. It serves as a bus or platform that puts scientific research on the affordable fast track for governmental, academic and industry researchers.
The FASTSAT mission is a joint activity between NASA and the U.S. Department of Defense Space Test Program. The satellite was designed, developed and tested at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., in partnership with the Von Braun Center for Science & Innovation and Dynetics Inc. of Huntsville.
The above video from SDO Yuzhnoye describes the joint Brazilian-Ukrainian Cyclone-4 project, which will involve flying the Ukrainian rocket from Brazil’s Alcantara spaceport beginning in 2012. This is not in English, but it is fairly easy to follow. An account of a September meeting between space officials from both countries with background information about the project follows after the break.
This just in: Courtney A. Stadd, a 55-year-old former high-ranking National Aeronautics and Space Administration official, was sentenced in U.S. District Court today in Gulfport to serve 41 months, or about 3 1/2 years, in federal prison followed by 3 years of supervised release….Stadd also was ordered to pay a $7,500 fine and $287,000 in restitution to NASA. If you recall, Stadd was indicted on charges of benefiting personally from NASA contracts […]
Masten's Xombie vehicle
A note from Alan Stern:
The abstract deadline is fast approaching for the 2011 Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference!
The deadline is Tue Nov 23 – and for a limited time, authors of ALL accepted abstracts (for posters and talks) will receive a 50% discount on NASTAR Center Suborbital Space Flight Training! (See https://nsrc.swri.org/ for details.)
NASA PRESS RELEASE NASA Administrator Charles Bolden issued the following statement after participating in today’s Head of Space Agencies Summit in Washington: “This year, the International Academy of Astronautics is marking the 50th anniversary of its founding in Stockholm, Sweden. I congratulate the academy for its dedication during the past five decades in bringing the world’s experts together to discuss and promote space research and exploration. I also want to […]
SpaceShipTwo had another drop test yesterday in Mojave, Calif. A flight summary follows: Flight: WK2 Flight 45 / GF03 Date: 17 Nov 10 Flight Time: 2 hr / 11 min, 39 sec WK2 Pilot: Stucky WK2 CoPilot: Alsbury WK2 FTE: Morgan SS2 Pilot: Siebold SS2 CoPilot: Nichols GS Crew: Binnie, Persall, Knupp, Inks, Bassett, Y. Fuchs, Maisler, Verderame, Zeitlin Objectives: Clean release Evaluate stability and control Stall expansion Expand flutter […]
A report from KGET-TV on the groundbreaking for the Spaceship Company’s production facility in Mojave, Calif. This also includes a discussion of why Virgin Galactic will fly commercially out of New Mexico and not California. (Hint: $$$$$!!!)
The first stage of Orbital Sciences Corporation's Taurus II vehicle is shipped out from Yuzhnoye design bureau in Ukraine. (Credt: Yuzhnoye)
Ukraine has shipped the first stage of Orbital Sciences Corporation’s Taurus II rocket to the United States. has reported.”The assembly of the basic part of the first stage of the booster was completed at the Makarov Yuzhny Machine Building Plant in October. The cargo left the port of Oktiabrsk in Mykolaiv region for the Wallops Flight Facility,” the Yuzhnoye State Design Office said in a statement.
Gov’t cost-cutting panel recommends maintaining space project budget
Mainichi Daily News
The government’s cost-cutting panel, tasked with identifying wasteful public projects, recommended on Nov. 18 that current budget allocations for space projects be maintained.
The recommendation comes just days after the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) confirmed particles contained in a capsule from the space probe Hayabusa — which returned from the Itokawa asteroid in June — were extraterrestrial.
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Dr. David Korsmeyer of NASA Ames discusses the agency’s flexible path exploration architecture during a SETI Institute Colloquium talk in September.
XCOR's Lynx suborbital vehicle
XCOR PRESS RELEASE
Today KLM Royal Dutch Airlines announced to the Netherlands press that they were embarking upon a new relationship with Space Experience Curaçao (SXC). KLM will be supporting future suborbital flights through purchases, inclusion in their frequent flyer program, inclusion in future KLM vacation packages to Curacao, and other yet-to-be-named support. The flights will be made on the XCOR Lynx suborbital spacecraft.