NASA PROGRAM UPDATE
NASA selected 17 technology demonstration projects for reduced-gravity aircraft flights to demonstrate whether emerging technologies can perform as expected in the reduced-gravity environment of the moon and Mars, or the zero-gravity environment of Earth orbit.
President’s Science Adviser John Holdren clarifies President Obama’s proposed human spaceflight program.
Russia, U.S. may jointly develop spacecraft engines
RIA Novosti
Russia and the United States may soon reach an agreement on the joint development of new engines for spacecraft designed for exploration of deep space, a Russian deputy prime minister said.
SpaceShipTwo was carried aloft on its second captive test flight on May 16.
The Hindu has an interesting story saying that ISRO is in talks with Boeing about joint collaboration work on commercial human spaceflight systems:
Having worked with NASA on the Chandryaan mission, the ISRO is in talks with Boeing, which has a commercial crew development contract with NASA, as a key teammate to initiate the design and development architecture of a commercial transport to and from the International Space Station…
In The Space Review this week: Comsats, commercial crew, Congress, and the future of American space exploration Is the commercial sector ready to handle the transport of astronauts to orbit, as the White House has proposed? Alan Stern sees parallels to the emergence of the commercial communications satellite business decades ago as a reason to believe that it is. Where are we going in space? What might the President’s redesigned […]
The space shuttle Atlantis lifts off on its last mission on Friday.
Miles O’Brien anchors last week’s program from the final launch of the space shuttle Atlantis on Friday.
X-51 Waverider
Over at Spaceflight Now, Craig Covault has a detailed story about the military’s X-51 hypersonic vehicle, which is set to take its first test flight next week. The test is a precursor to what officials hope will be an entirely new way to send payloads into space:
The first hypersonic X-51 scramjet powered long-duration flights to give the Pentagon a new “Prompt Global Strike” capability that ties atmospheric and space propulsion will begin as early as May 25 at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. The X-vehicle scramjet flight tests are also a key step for the use of air breathing propulsion to launch into space.
SpaceX's Falcon 9 on the pad at Cape Canaveral. (Credit: Chris Thompson/SpaceX)
Although NASA’s COTS program is designed to send cargo to the International Space Station, it will also give the U.S. military more options for launching satellites into orbit, according to U.S. Deputy Undersecretary for Space Programs Gary Payton. He told Defense News:
George Whitesides has rejoined Virgin Galactic after a brief stint as NASA’s Chief of Staff. The space tourism company has named him its first Chief Executive Officer.
Whitesides, who was formerly a consultant for Virgin Galactic and Executive Director of the National Space Society, recently left his position as Chief of Staff to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. Prior to joining NASA, he had served on President Barack Obama’s NASA Presidential Transition Team. Whitesides also chaired the Reusable Launch Vehicle Working Group of the Federal Aviation Authority’s (FAA) Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee.
This experience should serve him well in guiding Virgin Galactic through the completion of flight tests for its WhiteKnightTwo/SpaceShipTwo system and obtaining a license from the FAA to fly tourists on suborbital flights. The company also plans to use the system to fly microgravity experiments and launch small satellites.
Virgin Galactic’s official press release after the break.
On The Space Show this week: Monday, May 17, 2010, 2-3:30 PM PDT: We welcome back Janice Dunn of the California Space Authority. Janice will be talking to us about the CSA Space Center and other important projects. CLASSROOM: Tuesday, May 18, 2010, 7- 8:30 PM PDT: THE SPACE SHOW CLASSROOM presents Human Factors Part 2 with co-hosts Dr. Jim Logan of NASA JSC and Dr. John Jurist. For more […]
