Virgin Galactic slows satellite launcher plans
BBC News
Virgin Galactic’s satellite launching rocket LauncherOne that once attracted $110m in investment is now in doubt. LauncherOne’s manager has departed and the space tourism company’s chief executive is talking only about future possibilities for the rocket…
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AIA PRESS RELEASE
The national security space industrial base faces a tipping point beyond which irreparable harm to our nation’s defense and economy could occur, according to a new report released by AIA.
“Our national leaders, the military and our economic well-being all rely on our space assets more than at any point since the dawn of the space age,†said AIA President and CEO Marion C. Blakey. “It’s critical that policy be backed by strong leadership, integrated strategy and the long-term funding and stability needed to maintain cutting-edge, cost-effective space programs.â€
The report, Tipping Point: Maintaining the Health of the National Security Space Industrial Base, lays out several challenges faced by the national security space industrial base, including overly restrictive export control policies, a shrinking, aging workforce and budget instability.
Common Exploration Plan will be Slow in the Making
Space News
The world’s principal space-faring nations, which have spent the past three years talking about a common exploration strategy, are committed to producing, by June, a document setting out specific measures to enable an international program to take shape, space agency representatives said Sept. 30.
Addressing the 61st International Astronautical Congress here, members of the 14-agency International Space Exploration Coordinating Group (ISECG) reported little concrete results from their three years’ labors.
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UTMB experts researching commercial space guidelines
The Citizen Bay Area
Vanderploeg, who serves as Virgin Galactic’s chief medical officer, and UTMB physician Dr. Richard Jennings, medical director for Space Adventures, will collaborate with scientists at the Johnson Space Center and Wyle Integrated Science and Engineering Group to conduct research projects for the FAA’s Air Transportation Center of Excellence for Commercial Space Transportation.
Space tourist Anousheh Ansari speaks during the recent TEDxMidTownNY event.
A Boeing CST-100 crew module docks at Bigelow Aerospace's Sundancer space station. (Credit: Boeing)
Boeing Statement
On Sept. 29, the U.S. Congress passed S. 3729, a bill to authorize NASA programs for fiscal years 2011 through 2013. The bill soon will be sent to President Barack Obama for his signature, signaling a new direction for human space exploration. Boeing today released the following statement:
“Passage of the NASA Authorization Bill by the 111th Congress is a monumental feat and one that will continue to sustain the United States’ commitment to human spaceflight and exploration. We applaud Congress for achieving a bipartisan, bicameral resolution and for its commitment to maintaining U.S. leadership in space.
China launches second lunar exploration probe
Reuters
China launched its second lunar exploration probe on Friday, boosting the country’s efforts to rise as a major space power eventually capable of landing a man on the moon and perhaps one day exploring far beyond.
The Chang’e-2 lunar orbiter blasted off from a remote corner of the southwestern province of Sichuan a few seconds before 7 p.m. (1100 GMT), state media said, on the same day the country celebrates 61 years since the founding of Communist China.
International Space Station
BOEING PRESS RELEASE
Boeing [NYSE: BA] today announced that it has submitted its final bid for NASA’s Cargo Mission Contract (CMC) for the International Space Station (ISS). Boeing’s bid draws on more than 50 years of the company’s human spaceflight experience, as well as first-hand knowledge of ISS operations and cargo processing.
ROSCOSMOS PRESS RELEASE
An annual meeting of the International Space Debris Committee took place at the International Astronautical Congress 2010 in Prague. Russia is represented in the Committee by Yury Makarov, Head of Roscosmos Division.
“The International Committee which meets annually comprises 4 working groups. Each group also hold their meetings to discuss different relevant topics, including debris monitoring, avoidance, prediction of hazardous situations, etc. Then, the groups report to the Control Board of the Committee,” Makarov explains.
SPACE FLORIDA PROGRAM UPDATE
September 30, 2010
On September 22, 2010, the Department of Commerce – Economic Development Administration (EDA) awarded Space Florida $400,000 for development of a strategic economic development strategy for Florida’s Space Coast Region, to include Brevard and surrounding counties. Space Florida will provide an additional $100,000 in matching funds to the project.
Cecil Field in Jacksonville, recently designated a commercial spaceport.
FAA PRESS RELEASE
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced a new grant program designed to fund projects that develop and expand commercial space transportation infrastructure. The Space Transportation Infrastructure Matching Grants will be awarded to four separate projects located in Alaska, California, Florida, and New Mexico.
Whole Mars500 crew in portrait, September 2010: (clockwise from top left) Sukhrob Kamolov, Romain Charles, Diego Urbina, Yue Wang, Alexandr Smoleevskiy and Alexey Sitev. Credit: ESA
ESA PROGRAM UPDATE
The Mars500 crew is answering your questions by email and the first answers are now here (below). Questions are welcome from the members of the media and also from anyone else who his interested. As on a real trip to Mars this is not in real-time, questions will be relayed to them through ‘mission control’.
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