NASA boss investigated for possible conflict of interest on biofuel project
Charlie Bolden asked Marathon Oil for its opinion on Project OMEGA — but he has financial interest in Marathon, which has a competing project
Orlando Sentinel

While millions of barrels of spilled oil choke the Gulf of Mexico, NASA is working on an ocean-based biofuels venture that could revolutionize clean-energy production at sea and treat wastewater at the same time.

The scientist running the $10 million experiment, called Project OMEGA, uses words such as groundbreaking and exciting to describe his baby. But there’s a hitch.

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Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center

Space News reports that the Obama Administration wants to shift money from NASA to two other government departments that it believes could better spur job growth:

NASA stands to lose $100 million under an amended budget request U.S. President Barack Obama sent to Congress June 18.

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CSA PRESS RELEASE

As a life-sized Arianne 5 Rocket loomed overhead, and space enthusiasts explored replicas of the Mir Space Station and Soyuz, the Toulouse Space Show ramped up the inspiration level with an evening gala at the nearby Cite de l’Espace. Motivated by the scientific energy of the venue, Andrea Seastrand, Executive Director of the California Space Authority (CSA), delivered a rousing address which tied the educational experiences offered through the Cite de l”Espace to the vision that is the California Space Center (CSC).

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Interfax quotes Roscomos Head Anatoly Perminov as saying that the International Space Station could be transferred to private hands in 2020 if the facility’s international partners can make a breakthrough toward sending humans to Mars. “In 10 year, when the ISS becomes a powerful and home-like orbital outpost, the station could be used by commercial companies,” Perminov said during the International Economical Forum in St. Petersburg. “There is no need to […]

RIA Novosti reports that Roscosmos will begin to increase Soyuz spacecraft production to five per year in order to accommodate commercial flights to the International Space Station. The Russian space agency will begin advance payments to RSC Engeria to pay for the additional production capability. “RSC-Energia need the 5th Soyuz to enter commercial space services market. We were requested about launching their astronauts to the ISS in Russian vehicles by […]

Space Adventures plans to fly tourists around the moon around 2014.

SpaceX's Falcon 9 on the pad at Cape Canaveral. (Credit: Chris Thompson/SpaceX)

VC Funding One Void In Commercial Space
Investor’s Business Daily

True, some wealthy entrepreneurs such as Amazon.com (AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos, Virgin brand founder Richard Branson and Pay-Pal co-founder Elon Musk have poured millions into the emerging field. But venture capitalists who have fueled so many industries have stayed off the launch pad.

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International Space Station

NASA has awarded a grant to the University of Kentucky Lexington to develop a portable, standardized CubeLab bus that will be used to carry out astrobionics research aboard the International Space Station.

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XCOR's Lynx suborbital vehicle

NASA REQUEST FOR QUOTATIONS

This notice is being issued as a Request for Quotations (RFQ) for commercial resusable suborbital flight services. NASA’s Commercial Reusable Suborbital Research (CRuSR) program has a requirement for the transportation of various Government-provided research payloads on the test flights of vendor vehicles (including vehicle prototypes) intended for commercial reusable suborbital markets. Each flight and related services shall be in accordance with the requirements of the Statement of Work (SOW) that is attached to this solicitation. A CRuSR Pricing Sheet is also provided for vendors to quote their proposed firm fixed prices to perform the indicated required services. Additional procurement documentation for completion by the offeror is also attached.

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By Ian Graham
American Forces Press Service
U.S. Department of Defense

Wind tunnels, the tools used to simulate airspeed environments to test flight capabilities, have come a long way since the Wright brothers built a box with fans to test a kite model.

At the Air Force’s Arnold Engineering Development Center White Oak site here, the breadth of that change is apparent. The original supersonic tunnel, created by Werner von Braun and other German scientists to test weapon aerodynamics in World War II, sits in a lobby a few yards away from its most-recent descendent, Hypervelocity Wind Tunnel 9, which can produce wind conditions simulating hypersonic speeds, up to Mach 14.

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Participants experience microgravity aboard a Zero-G Corporation parabolic flight. (PRNewsFoto/Zero Gravity Corporation, Al Powers)

NASA’s Office of the Inspector General has released a report saying that ZERO-G Corporation has “provided inconsistent quality levels of microgravity flight services since it began providing NASA with reduced gravity flights in August 2008.” The space agency’s watchdog also criticized the terms of ZERO G’s contract, NASA’s lack of a backup plan, and poor financial controls that resulted in a small overpayment.

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International Space Station

Roscomos head Anatoly Perminov held a traditional pre-launch tea party for the ISS-24 expedition crew. He met with the prime crew of Fyodor Yurchikhin (Roscosmos), Shannon Walker (NASA), Douglas Wheelock (NASA), as well as backup crew members Dmitry Kondratiev (Roscosmos), Paolo Nespoli (ESA), Сatherine Coleman (NASA).

According to the report from Roscosmos, Perminov revealed that Russia and its international partners are discussing the future use of ISS to support trips beyond low Earth orbit:

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