Approaching Warp Speed: Advanced Space Propulsion

Bruce Pittman (Moderator) – NASA Ames Space Portal
Franklin Chang-Diaz – CEO and President, Ad Astra Rocket Company
Leik Myrabo – CEO, Lightcraft Technologies, Inc.; Research Associate Professor, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Steve Howe – Director, Center for Space Nuclear Research
Vince Teofilo – Lockheed Martin

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Virgin Galactic’s Enrico Palermo closed out Day 2 of the NewSpace 2010 conference with a half-hour presentation in which he said very little new and took no questions from attendees.

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Asteroid Ida

Physical Threats and and Commercial Opportunities:
Orbital Debris and NEOs

Berin Szoka (Moderator) – Senior Fellow, Progress and Freedom Foundation
Dennis Wingo – CTO, Orbital Recovery Corporation
Joe Carroll – Tether Application, Inc.
A.C. Charania – President, SpaceWorks Commercial
Bob Werb – Space Frontier Foundation

Abstract: There’s gold in them there hills. (And nickel and iron and solar cells and spent rocket stages and all sorts of junk.) All we gotta do is to go get it. And all we need for that is clear international law. Liability protection. An agreement with the Russians. The right technology. The government to get out of the way. And…well…we need lots of things…

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Challenges of Human Spaceflight
Dr. Jim Logan – Space Medicine Associates

Abstract

Radiation problems make living on the moon and Mars problematic. Asteroids and the Martian moon Deimos could be settled  by humans while allowing for both resource extraction and exploration.

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NASA May Move Orbital Debris Mitigation Off Back Burner
Space News

NASA’s Orbital Debris Program Office expects to begin active work on how to remove debris in orbit on the strength of the new U.S. National Space Policy, according to the office’s chief scientist.

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Astronaut Shannon Walker activates nanoracks. Image credit: NASA

NASA PROGRAM UPDATE

This July, U.S. Astronaut Shannon Walker activated a fully commercial research facility designed to make access to the International Space Station easy and cost-effective for scientists and educators.

Developed by NanoRacks LLC, of Laguna woods, Calif., the research platforms are designed for use within the pressurized space station environment. Each platform provides room for up to 16 customer payloads to plug effortlessly into a standard USB connector, which provides both power and data connectivity. Its plug and play system uses a simple, standardized interface that reduces payload integration cost and schedule for nano-scale research on the orbiting laboratory.

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Tom Shelley President, Space Adventures Space Adventures 8 flights/7 passengers — ISS flights 6,000 people flown on ZERO-G planes There will be announcements coming out in the next few months about additional orbital missions with clients Armadillo Suborbital Partnership Showed a promotional video 200 Armadillo Aerospace flights so far 40 flights – Armadillo’s rocket racing league vehicles “We believe they really do have a mechanism for radically reducing the cost […]

Orbital’s Revenue Rises as Earnings Fall
Space News

Satellite and launch-vehicle manufacturer Orbital Sciences Corp. on July 22 reported record quarterly revenue but said earnings were eroded by a work stoppage on NASA’s Orion crew transport vehicle, the in-orbit failure of the Intelsat Galaxy 15 satellite and acquisition charges following the purchase of General Dynamics’ satellite business.

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Artist's conception of Obital Sciences Corporation's Taurus II rocket set for launch at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island, Virginia.

Orbital plans Taurus 2 test flight with extra money
Spaceflight Now

The Taurus 2 rocket could be launched on a standalone test flight next summer if NASA provides supplemental funding for commercial cargo services, Orbital Sciences Corp. officials told investment analysts Thursday.

Orbital is designing the Taurus 2 rocket and Cygnus cargo freighter to deliver supplies to the International Space Station through 2015. The commercial resupply system is scheduled for its first test flight in the second quarter of next year, according to David Thompson, Orbital’s chairman and CEO.

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Space: Open for Business
Panel Discussion

Burton Lee – Managing Partner, Innovarium Ventures (Moderator)
Esther Dyson – EDventure Holdings
Bob Richards – CEO, Odyssey Moon
Jim Ball – Center Development Manager, NASA Kennedy Space Center

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Dr. Alan Stern

Alan Stern
Southwest Research Institute
“New Space Economy of the Late 2020’s”

Overview

• More pessimistic about commercial space – “If you’re waiting for Godot, Godot is not coming”
• Why? Put up a picture of Congress in session
• Too many cooks in the kitchen, too many other priorities
• Every other November, my job is at stake…my job is to protect my constituents
• Must think more about how to do commercial space without the government’s involvement

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NASA's Orion spacecraft

Senate compromise may be setting up NASA for another failure
Orlando Sentinel

But even as members of the Senate Appropriations Committee congratulated one another, top NASA officials and space analysts warned that the government rocket created by the compromise eventually could end up in NASA’s scrap heap alongside other abandoned replacements for the space shuttle.

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