Artists' conception of a Falcon 9 launch from Cape Canaveral. (Credit: SpaceX)

The Pressure is On at SpaceX
By Alan Boyle
Cosmic Log

SpaceX founder Elon Musk says it’s hard to imagine being under more pressure than he is now, during preparations for the first launch of a rocket that’s being put forward as a replacement for the space shuttle system.

If the California-based company’s Falcon 9 rocket delivers as promised, it could start delivering cargo to the International Space Station as early as next year. And if NASA gives the go-ahead, the Falcon 9 and its Dragon capsule could be configured to carry astronauts as well in as little as three years’ time.

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Space manifesto proposes economic take-off
The Independent

Plans to help the next government launch Britain’s economy on a multi-billion pound journey into space were set out by industry chiefs today.

The “space manifesto” published by ADS, the aerospace, defence and security trade organisation, comes a month after the inauguration of the UK Space Agency, Britain’s mini-version of Nasa.

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International Space Station

NASA PROGRAM UPDATE

NASA and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) are asking for proposals to enhance small satellite experiments on the International Space Station. The goal is to better utilize the station as a test bed for advanced space technologies.

The effort is centered on Synchronized Position, Hold, Engage and Reorient Experimental Satellites (SPHERES). SPHERES are bowling-ball sized spherical satellites used inside the station to test maneuvers for spacecraft performing autonomous rendezvous and docking.

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AEROJET PRESS RELEASE

Aerojet, a GenCorp company, announced today that NASA has successfully completed altitude testing of Aerojet’s advanced 5500-lbf Liquid Oxygen (LOX)/Liquid Methane (LCH4) Rocket Engine at NASA’s White Sands Test Facility (WSTF). The 5500-lbf LO2/LCH4 engine development effort is funded by the Propulsion and Cryogenics Advanced Development Project (PCAD) under NASA’s Exploration Technology Development Program.

The first-generation Aerojet LO2/LCH4 engine, operating at WSTF, is shown in Figure 1 at T + 40 seconds when the engine assembly has reached steady state thermal equilibrium. The engine, as tested at WSTF, demonstrated a specific impulse (Isp) of 345.2 seconds, and based upon an Aerojet extrapolation of the data to a flight type configuration, it would be capable of producing a specific impulse (Isp) of 350 seconds.

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ESA PRESS RELEASE

The Slovak Republic signed a Cooperation Agreement with ESA on 28 April 2010. This agreement will allow the Slovak Republic and ESA to create the framework for a more consolidated relationship in the future.

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

Falcon 9 Debut Stands Aside For Shuttle
Aviation Week

The first flight of Space Exploration Technologies’ (SpaceX) Falcon 9 rocket will fall behind the targeted May 14 launch of space shuttle Atlantis on the STS-132 mission.

The California-based firm, which holds NASA contracts for Falcon 9 development, demonstration and cargo delivery missions to the International Space Station, had been targeting a “no earlier than” May 8 launch date on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station range schedules.

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SEA LAUNCH PRESS RELEASE Sea Launch has accepted the terms of agreement for debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing from Energia Overseas Limited (“EOL”). As a result of the court-approved agreement, EOL will replace Sea Launch’s existing DIP lender, Space Launch Services (SLS). The new DIP financing agreement with EOL, which received interim approval from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware on April 27, provides additional funding to Sea Launch, totaling $30 million. […]

CSA PRESS RELEASE

The California Space Authority (CSA), representing the diverse space enterprise community of our state, will attend this year’s Toulouse Space Show in France during the week of June 8 through 11. In cooperation with member company ANewWorld Consulting, CSA will lead a delegation of California space companies to the international show, during which six contemporaneous space-related conferences and symposia will be featured.

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Dr. Alan Stern

NASTAR PRESS RELEASE

Environmental Tectonics Corporation’s The National AeroSpace Training and Research (NASTAR(R)) Center announced today that it has retained Dr. Alan Stern as an advisor for space and research related business including the Suborbital Scientist Training Program, which provides researchers and educators with training to perform experiments aboard suborbital vehicles. Dr. Stern is a planetary scientist.

The Associate Administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in 2007-2008, Stern is now an Associate Vice President of Southwest Research Institute and the principal investigator of NASA’s New Horizons mission to Pluto. He has been a researcher in 24 suborbital, orbital, and planetary space missions and led the development of eight scientific instruments for planetary and near-space research missions.

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SPACE TOURISM SOCIETY PRESS RELEASE
April 28, 2010

Nine years ago today Mr. Dennis Tito rocketed into Earth orbit as the first private space traveler, starting the space tourism industry. His famous remark upon entering the International Space Station (ISS) was “I Love Space.”

Today, six other pioneering private space travelers have voyaged off-world (and one flew twice). Eventually tens of thousands of space tourists will cruise in Earth orbit, and around the Moon, and holiday at Lunar resorts.

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U.S. Space Leadership Seen At Risk
Aviation Week

A preliminary version of an upcoming report on the link between national security and U.S. commercial launch capabilities warns that U.S. leadership in space is threatened by poor coordination in setting space policy.

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In the Space Review this week: Roger Handberg examines the history of ISS and how, after nearly being discarded, it is getting a chance to realize its full potential. Daniel Handlin argues that increasing NASA’s reliance on the private sector and enhanced technology investment may simply repeat the mistakes of the past. NASA’s revised exploration plan all but ignores the Moon. Taylor Dinerman considers the prospects should other countries decide […]