“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” — “Declaration of Independence,” Continental Congress Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – July 4, 1787 “And let me […]
SPACE FRONTIER FOUNDATION
NEWSPACE 2010 CONFERENCE
July 23-25 2010
Sunnyvale, CA
Friday, July 23, 2010 – The Thrill of Victory, the Agony of Defeat: The Business of NewSpace
The opening day of the conference will address the stepping-stone that suborbital spaceflight is for commercial companies, followed by a panel on leaping to more profitable orbital endeavors. As the private sector is entering territory previously controlled by governments, a roundtable on spaceflight law will discuss the pending legal issues. The day will close with a discussion on the new entrepreneurial opportunities presenting themselves and war stories from the trenches of commercial space.
ORBITAL SCIENCES PRESS RELEASE
Orbital Sciences Corporation, one of the world’s leading space technology companies, today announced it has received two separate orders from NASA to launch scientific satellites on its industry-leading small rockets, Pegasus® XL and Taurus® XL. These contracts bring the total Pegasus and Taurus orders to 55 vehicles since the first Pegasus was purchased in 1988. Taken together, the two rockets have launched or will boost a total of 35 NASA scientific and technology demonstration spacecraft on 30 missions since 1990.
Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center
Robert Cabana: KSC’s future looks bright
Florida Today
NASA is prepared to aggressively execute President Obama’s plan to develop commercial space taxis and turn Kennedy Space Center into a 21st-century spaceport, officials said Wednesday.
Europe, Canada eye extra Soyuz for station access
Spaceflight Now
European and Canadian space officials are in talks with Russia to purchase dedicated Soyuz capsules to ferry their astronauts to the International Space Station.
XCOR's Lynx suborbital vehicle
I ran across this item from Lee Valentine that was posted on the Space Studies Institute website back in December. I’m not sure if this new “news”, but it’s interesting and something I hadn’t realized:
It seemed to Professor [Freeman] Dyson and me that the key technology to make SSI’s research worthwhile was a mature space transportation system. Without affordable space access, any additional time, money and talent SSI would spend developing technologies for use in space would be premature and not cost-effective.
SSI CONFERENCE UPDATE
Space Manufacturing 14: Critical Technologies for Space Settlement will be held at NASA Ames Conference Center in Mountain View, CA, October 30 and 31, 2010.
Public registration for the conference will open in July. Abstract submissions shall be submitted on or before August 16, 2010. See below for delays.
NASA CONFERENCE UPDATE The NASA Lunar Science Institute is pleased to announce the 3rd annual NASA Lunar Science Forum, to be held July 20-22, 2010 at NASA Ames Research Center. This year’s forum will feature sessions on scientific results from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, as well as the presentation of the annual Shoemaker medal and associated keynote lecture. As in past years, science […]
Testing of the Common Extensible Cryogenic Engine, also known as CECE, at 100 percent power level. (NASA/PWR)
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Spacecraft attempting to land on an unfamiliar surface need to perform a maneuver called “deep throttling” — a step that allows the vehicle to precisely throttle down to perform a smooth, controlled landing. NASA, in partnership with Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (PWR) headquartered in Canoga Park, Calif., has demonstrated this type of engine control capability to help design a more reliable and robust descent engine that could be used to land space exploration vehicles on the moon, an asteroid or another planet.
The Common Extensible Cryogenic Engine, also known as CECE, recently completed the fourth and final series of hot-fire tests on a 15,000-pound thrust class cryogenic technology demonstrator rocket engine, increasing the throttling capability by 35 percent over previous tests. This test series demonstrated this engine could go from a thrust range of 104 percent power down to 5.9 percent. This equates to an unprecedented 17.6:1 deep-throttling capability, which means this cryogenic engine can throttle up and back down quickly.
Video of a flight by NASA’s Project M lunar lander built by Armadillo Aerospace.
My old GW professor, space policy analyst John Logsdon, has written a great op-ed piece for Space News that sums up my own view of President Obama’s proposed space policy and the often hysterical opposition to it:
NASA SCHEDULE UPDATE Space shuttle Discovery’s STS-133 mission is now targeted for launch Nov. 1 at about 4:33 p.m. EDT. Endeavour’s STS-134 mission is targeted for liftoff on Feb. 26, 2011, at about 4:19 p.m. EST. The target dates were adjusted because critical payload hardware for the STS-133 mission will not be ready in time for the previously targeted date. With Discovery’s move, Endeavour had to plan for its next […]