NASA PRESS RELEASE
Experiments prompted by a 2008 surprise from NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander suggest that soil examined by NASA’s Viking Mars landers in 1976 may have contained carbon-based chemical building blocks of life.
Launch complexes on Wallops Island, Virginia
Space technology leadership rests with Va. delegation
by Jack Kennedy
TriCities.com
Russia, China and India either have, or will have, vibrant human space launch capabilities by before the close of the next decade. The Russians and the Chinese will have multiple human to orbit capable space launch facilities by mid-decade now under construction.
If America is to continue as a leader is space technology, scientific research, and exploration, NASA needs a new and inspiring leadership role that abdicates the role of monopoly access provider to low earth orbit. NASA needs a strong commercial space launch sector regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration. The Senate measure provides it while the House measure simply does not.
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA)Â have both applauded efforts announced this week by the Obama Administration to continue reforming the nation’s restrictive ITAR export reform laws.
“AIAA applauds President Obama’s recently announced changes to the ITAR policy that will consolidate the export review process under one agency, and will better enable the flow of U.S. products into the international marketplace without compromising national security,” said AIAA President Mark Lewis.
Orbital Pushes ‘Cheap’ Taurus Rocket
DoD Buzz
Currently, most DoD launches are handled by the EELV program, not known for its low costs or lack of cost growth over the last five years. EELV launches cost around $250 million a pop. Orbital’s Pieczynski estimates his company can provide Taurus 2 launches for “quite a bit south of $100 million a launch.†He would not get more specific. There are around three DoD launches for payloads of 10,000 pounds to 12,000 pounds each year, Pieczynski said.
X PRIZE PRESS RELEASE
The Isle of Man Government (www.spaceisle.com) and the X PRIZE Foundation (www.xprize.org) are pleased to announce the fourth Google Lunar X PRIZE Team Summit will be hosted on the Isle of Man on October 4-5, 2010 during the United Nations declared World Space Week.
Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center
On Wednesday, the Department of Commerce made its preliminary announcement for the Space Coast Regional Innovation Cluster Competition. The $35 million program will fund innovative projects to help transition laid off space shuttle workers into new jobs. Proposals are due on Oct. 15.
NASA PROGRAM UPDATE
NASA has extended the Space Program Operations Contract with United Space Alliance, LLC, of Houston to March 31, 2011. The $909,593,590 contract extension supports flight operations for the Space Shuttle and International Space Station programs.
X PRIZE PRESS RELEASE
Sept. 1, 2010
Today, the X PRIZE Foundation, an educational non-profit organization that drives innovation through incentive prizes , and LEGO Group, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of play materials for children, announced the winners of MoonBots, a global educational contest.
NASA PROGRAM UPDATE
NASA and the National Space Grant Foundation have selected university teams from Maryland, Oklahoma and Wisconsin as finalists in a competition to design, manufacture, assemble and test an inflatable loft.
NASA is challenging college students to design and rapidly develop prototype concepts for inflatable habitat lofts for the next generation of space explorers. The loft will be integrated onto an existing NASA operational hard-shell prototype habitat. The winning concepts may be applied to space exploration habitats of the future.
TO: California Space Authority (CSA) Members
FROM: Andrea Seastrand, Executive Director
FROM: Janice Dunn, General Counsel
RE: Request for Nomination of Candidates for Election to CSA Board of Directors
It is time once again to solicit candidates for nomination for the election of the CSA 2011 Board of Directors. We are asking members to recruit candidates for election to the Board, keeping in mind that the person is elected as an individual, not as a representative of a specific organization, or business sector.
Armadillo Aerospace’s third lunar lander free flight of NASA’s Project M. (Thanks to Clark Lindsey over at Hobby Space.)
NMSA Announcement
The New Mexico Spaceport Authority (NMSA) has announced that Armadillo Aerospace of Rockwell, Texas, plans to launch three NASA-funded tests of their vertical takeoff and landing rocket technology from Spaceport America this winter.