Tickets are now on sale for the NewSpace 2010 conference’s luncheons and Awards Gala. The Space Frontier Foundation is holding the conference from July 23-25 in Sunnyvale, Calif.

Friday 7/23 – Lunch with Tim Pickens: Creating a Successful Space Company

What is necessary to create a successful space company? Tim Pickens, founder of Orion Propulsion (acquired by Dynetics), will discuss which skill sets and strategies are important when launching a space start-up, as well as how to formulate a solid business plan and how to forge your way in a developed industry.

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There’s more from RIA Novosti about a proposal to have Chinese Shenzhou spacecraft back up Russian spacecraft that will be supplying the International Space Station with crew and cargo. It quotes Roscosmos Head Anatoly Perminov as saying that Chinese vehicles meet all existing safety requirements to backup Soyuz and Progress spacecraft. According to him, the Chinese can support the program after shuttle retirement in 2011, when Russia remains the only […]

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c Wish You Weren’t Here www.thedailyshow.com Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party John Stewart’s take on Charles Bolden’s comments concerning outreach to the Muslim world.

ROSCOSMOS PRESS RELEASE

Roscosmos Head Anatoly Perminov stated that the mission to Mars is planned after 2035, answering the questions of the students at the opening ceremony of International Students’ Science School “Space Exploration: Theory and Practice” in Russian Federal Space Agency.

“Russia, Europe, the USA are interested in Martian missions today. India and China also have similar projects. There are more talks about human space missions to Mars. Russian Government have approved Federal Space Program which clearly defines sequence of automated space missions, as well as future human missions. The basic strategy implies Martian program to be implemented after 2035,” Perminov stated.

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Conference: The Regulation of Suborbital Flights in the European Context
Thursday 16 September 2010

International Institute of Air & Space Law
University of Leiden
Netherlands

The symposium, which be held on 16 September 2010 in Leiden, will focus on the legal issues arising from this new era of human spaceflight by analyzing the perspectives of various stakeholders, and will attempt to formulate some recommendations for its efficient and adequate regulation.

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The Business Courier of Cincinnati reports that DARPA has awarded a $31.7 million contract to GE Aviation for development of the Vulcan hypersonic jet engine:

GE Aviation will work on constant volume combustion technology for Phase II of the agency’s Vulcan program, which aims to create a hypersonic engine to power a vehicle that could be used for surveillance, reconnaissance or “other critical national missions,” according to the agency’s website.

ATK PROGRAM UPDATE

Engineers and technicians at Alliant Techsystems and NASA have completed installation work on the second Ares I First Stage five-segment Development Motor (DM-2), in preparation for its static-fire, which is currently scheduled for early September.

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EADS ASTRIUM PRESS RELEASE

Astrium has been selected by the European Space Agency (ESA) to undertake initial development studies for a Next Generation Launcher (NGL) for future satellite launches.

This 15 month project has a total contractual value of €8.5 million, of which Astrium will contribute €1.5m of its own funds.

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Just three months ago, Rocketplane Global Vice-president Chuck Lauer spoke optimistically about plans to launch suborbital space tourism flights from Cecil Field in Jacksonville by 2013. A deal with in the works, and the company would make an announcement soon.

Three weeks ago, that dream came crashing to Earth:

George French Jr., owner of Rocketplane Global, decided a mountain of debt and expectations of the same altitude were too much to burden and filed for bankruptcy. He filed the Chapter 7 bankruptcy papers in his home state of Wisconsin, but Oklahomans are suffering the loss.

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As long as we’re on the topic, here’s a brief report from PTI on Saudi Arabian outreach to the world on space:

A delegation of scientists from Saudi Arabia are set to visit India to ink an agreement with space agency ISRO for boosting cooperation that will help the country develop an indigenous space programme.

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Sir Richard Branson with Virgin Galactic pilots, staffers and investors. To his right is Mohamed Badawy Al-Husseiny, CEO of Aabar, which made a $280 million in Virgin Galactic.

Parabolic Arc has been paying close attention to the small but growing role that the Arab world is playing in space exploration. Activities range from cooperative programs with NASA to the purchase of 32 percent of space tourism company Virgin Galactic.

Below is a sampling of Parabolic Arc posts on this topic.

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While there was a big public controversy over NASA’s outreach to the Muslim world, three interns from the United Arab Emirates were busy working at NASA Ames under an internship program.

USRA PRESS RELEASE

The Universities Space Research Association (USRA) recently took great pleasure in welcoming the first contingent of students from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to NASA’s Education Associates Program (EAP). Managed by USRA, the EAP is a unique workforce development program that offers students, post-docs, and faculty the opportunity for hands-on work with NASA scientists and engineers. Under a 3-year agreement between NASA and the non-profit Arab Youth Venture Foundation (AYVF), up to 12 UAE students per year will be participating in the EAP.

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