The following statement was issued by David Thompson, president of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics: “President Barack Obama delivered an inspiring speech yesterday at the Kennedy Space Center, laying out a comprehensive vision for the U.S. space program. As with President Kennedy’s speech in 1961, President Obama set out goals that will test our ability to advance technology, field revolutionary new systems, and sustain commitment over many years, […]
NanoRacks’ Jeffrey Manber talks commercial space with Ben and Cariann.
XCOR's Lynx suborbital vehicle
During a presentation at the Space Access 10 conference in Phoenix, XCOR CEO Jeff Greason said he was both thrilled and terrified by the opportunity that President Barack Obama had given the emerging “NewSpace” commercial sector. Noting that there is nothing worse than giving a true believer everything he wanted and watching him fail, he said it was time for the industry to “grow up,” stop tearing each other down, and learn to work together to solve common problems.
“We’re all on the same team,†Greason said, referring to the broad commercial space sector that includes everyone from giants like Boeing and Lockheed Martin to small start-up companies like his own. He warned that “if we blow it this time, I’m not sure we’re going to get another chance.”
Greason said he is willing to sell engines even to competitors. In a sane world, a company that has a vehicle without an engine would buy one from a firm like XCOR that specializes in engine propulsion. However, fears of building up a competitor have blocked such moves, Greason said.
The interesting question, which he raised without fully answering, is who exactly might need an engine. This is where things get interesting…
Video of the Rocket Racing League’s X-Racer in the sky at the Tulsa Air
AIAA PRESS RELEASE
Aerospace companies must consider offering newly recruited workers flexible job assignments and a variety of projects to remain competitive with other scientific fields of employment. This was among the conclusions of the “2009 Survey of Aerospace Student Attitudes†discussed at the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Joint Societies Capitol Hill Reception, April 13, on Capitol Hill.
Former Silicon Valley Congressman and Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta has written a rousing endorsement of the President’s commercial plan for NASA in the San Jose Mercury News:
As President Barack Obama outlined in a historic speech last week, NASA will now partner with commercial space companies to bring that Silicon Valley spirit to all of NASA and breathe new life into the space industry.
RIA Novosti reports that Mexico is moving ahead with plans to build a Caribbean launch complex, an initiative urged on by a U.S. astronaut and assisted by the Russian space agency, Roskosmos:
Mexico will create its own space center on the Yucatan Peninsula, deputy economy minister Francisco Pimentel said. “In the next few days, US astronaut Jose Hernandez and engineer Fernando de la Pena will travel there to carry out an inspection, in order to study concrete details of the future construction,” he said.
China's Tiangong-1 space laboratory with a Shenzhou spacecraft approaching it. (Credit: CNSA)
China Open To Human Spaceflight Cooperation
Aviation Week
China’s human spaceflight program is developing a 13-ton cargo carrier to supply the space station it plans to orbit late this decade, but the program’s leader is ready to discuss using it for International Space Station logistics, as well.
Steve Landeene
New Mexico’s Economic Development Secretary Fred Mondragon is now acting executive director of the New Mexico Spaceport Authority following the unexpected resignation of his predecessor, Steve Landeene.
The spaceport authority’s board of Directors made the appointment. It will meet again in 10 days to discuss a successor to Landeene, who had served in the post since January 2008.
Aviation Week reports that just as NASA is beginning to look into using the Atlas V and Delta IV EELVs for crew transport, the U.S. Air Force is finalizing plans to replace them with reusable rocket technology by 2025:
With the Air Force facing escalating costs on the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program, the new system offers the promise of cutting launch costs more than 50% by combining a reusable first stage with expendable upper stages. The booster would take off vertically and return to a runway landing at the launch site.
Launch complexes on Wallops Island, Virginia
The Orlando Sentinel reports that a key senator has still not made up her mind as to whether to support the President’s new commercial focus for NASA:
The reluctance of U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland could prove problematic for Obama. She heads the Senate panel with oversight of NASA’s budget and could block his plan to rely more on commercial rocket companies to send astronauts into orbit.
Air Force officials report the successful launch of the first Minotaur IV Lite rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base on Thursday at 4 p.m. PDT. The new rocket carried DARPA’s Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 (HTV-2), an experimental payload designed to test hypersonic strike capabilities. The HTV-2 was set to crash into the ocean near the Marshall Islands after a brief flight. The Minotaur IV Lite is a new rocket […]