ATK PROGRAM UPDATE Alliant Techsystems (NYSE:ATK – News) and NASA will test the second fully developed Ares five-segment solid rocket motor, known as Development Motor-2 (DM-2). The five-segment rocket motor is an upgraded version of the Shuttle’s 4-segment booster, and has also been identified as a key element of NASA’s future Heavy Lift Launch vehicle. What: Horizontal ground test firing of Ares DM-2 Date: Tuesday August 31, 2010 Time: 9:05 […]
Spacevidcast interviews Elon Musk. The SpaceX makes a clarion call to rally “the people” against the “evil” forces of Big Rocket.
ISRO’s 3G deal makes waves for wrong reasons
The Economic Times
The law ministry has told the department of space, or DoS, that it could annul a contract under which 60 MHz of airwaves was leased to a private company five years ago. The DoS had asked the government’s legal arm for its views on an obscure deal between the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Devas Multimedia, in which the firm paid Rs 600 crore for the airwaves.
The company, owned by former ISRO official MG Chandrasekhar, sold a stake to a group of foreign investors, including Deutsche Telekom and private equity firm Columbia Capital, after the frequency spectrum was allotted.
Former NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe, who is now CEO of EADS North America, has reportedly survived a plane crash in Alaska that has taken the life of former Sen. Ted Stevens and four others. O’Keefe, Stevens and seven other people were aboard the plane when it went down in bad weather on Monday evening. Survivors, including O’Keefe’s son Kevin, have been airlifted to a hospital in Anchorage, according to press […]
AIA PRESS RELEASE
AIA has developed a new website at https://spaceleadership.org/ that encourages and assists interested citizens to contact President Obama and members of Congress to support space initiatives that will keep the U.S. space program strong. AIA is deeply concerned by the significant challenges facing the U.S. space workforce and industrial base, and strongly urges Congress and the administration to work together to ensure U.S. global leadership, competitiveness and innovation in space.
Space station repairs run into trouble, NASA budget makes slow progress through Congress, Commerce Secretary visits shuttle workers, retirement homes for the shuttle, Ariane 5 launch and more.
The African Union, a continental wide body that represents 53 nations, is beginning to the process of establishing the African Space Agency, which is develop a common space policy for the continent.
This week in The Space Review…. Griffin’s critique of NASA’s new direction Mike Griffin spent nearly four years in charge of NASA building up an exploration architecture that the administration now wants to dismantle in favor of a new approach to human space exploration. Jeff Foust reports on what Griffin said about that new direction, and what is a “real†space program, in a speech last week. A milestone for […]
The Space Show schedule for this week… Monday, August 9, 2010: This is a replay of last week’s interview with Mary Roach, author of “Packing for Mars.” When you see the program on the website, its ready for play and podcasting. Tuesday, August 10, 2010: This is a replay of the program with Thalia Kohls from last Thursday. When you see the program on the website, its ready for play […]
NewsOK has a bit more on the bankruptcy filings by George French and his Rocketplane, Rocketplane Global and Rocketplane Kistler companies:
Former astronaut John Herrington, who was hired by Rocketplane in 2005, said the rocket’s first design revolved around modifying the body of a Learjet. But the engineering team decided the best route was to build the aircraft from the ground up…
“If we had successfully acquired the capital that we needed, we would have grown into a major player in the commercial space program,” Herrington said.
CSA PROGRAM UPDATE
The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) announced today that it will share leadership for a new science instrument that will probe the atmosphere of Mars in search of biological sources of methane, and consequently, signs of life. The instrument, known as MATMOS (Mars Atmospheric Trace Molecule Occultation Spectrometer), is a partnership between the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), the CSA and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).