Space Access ’10 will begin two weeks from now. Parabolic Arc will be attending and providing full coverage of this annual event, which draws the top companies and experts in the emerging commercial space sector. The planned schedule after the break.
This is a really excellent interview. Some major points: The potential for biotech in orbit is enormous; Robert Bigelow has spent $180 million of his own money developing inflatable space station technology; About $200 million more is required to launch a working private space station; The company has a lot of confidence in the Atlas V, which it thinks could be easily human-rated; They would rather fly on a booster […]
GSLV Mark III engine test (Photo: ISRO)
India Set To Launch GSLV
Aviation Week
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) plans to launch India’s first cryogenic rocket engine next month, marking the end of a long effort to develop an indigenous upper stage for its Geostationary Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV).
The launch vehicle — GSLV-D3 — is in the final stages of assembly at the launch center on Sriharikota Island in the Bay of Bengal. In place of the Russian engine that has powered the GLSV upper stage in the past will be India’s Cryogenic Engine. The all-indigenous vehicle will carry the GSAT-4 advanced communications satellite to orbit.
Florida Today reports on activities in the state Senate, where legislators are working on “a broad jobs bill that contains money that would help the Space Coast attract commercial space companies…The package includes:
- $3.2 million to retrain shuttle workers who will lose their jobs.
- $10 million for two new launch service companies and a new payload company at Kennedy Space Center.
- Granting Space Florida flexibility to use $10.8 million remaining from 2008 originally pegged to redevelop Launch Complex 36 for areas such as improving KSC as a location for commercial space firms.
Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center
Florida Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp has challenged Barack Obama to a debate over the proposed new direction for NASA during the President’s visit to Florida on April 15. In an open letter sent to newspaper editorial pages, he writes:
The president has scheduled a “space summit” in April here in Florida. The “health care summit” the president recently moderated amounted to nothing more than the exchange of political talking points. As a state, and as a nation, we cannot allow the space summit to become another political forum with no real effort to find a solution that is in the best interest of the country.
LOCKHEED MARTIN PRESS RELEASE
Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE: LMT) and Alliant Techsystems (NYSE: ATK), have entered into a strategic teaming agreement to offer launch services utilizing upgraded and modernized Athena rockets. These vehicles, based on the flight-proven Athena I and II, are designed to provide reliable access to space for small payloads to a wide range of orbits. Lockheed Martin will provide mission management, payload integration, and launch operations, and ATK will provide integrated vehicle propulsion, launch vehicle structures, booster integration and launch site operations.
The two-stage Athena Ic and three-stage Athena IIc launch vehicles incorporate the new CASTOR® 30 upper stage motor and upgrades to electronic systems. Athena is available for launches beginning in 2012, with a payload lift capability that supports a variety of customer mission requirements including NASA, the Department of Defense and other space markets.
Test pilot Robert M. White, who passed away at 85 last week, never quite achieved the lasting fame of Yuri Gagarin, Alan Shepard or John Glenn. Yet a pioneering mission that he flew nearly 50 years ago may have made as significant a contribution to the human space exploration as any of his contemporaries did.
SSTL PRESS RELEASE
Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) welcomes the British Government’s response to Lord Drayson’s Space Innovation and Growth Strategy report. This morning, Lord Mandelson, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills announced a programme of support that included the launch of the UK’s first national space agency, a small satellite programme to showcase state of the art technologies to the world, and the formation of a working group to give serious consideration to a dedicated UK Earth observation system.
HiFire scramjet vehicle
Success for hypersonic outback flight
ABC News
Australian and United States defence scientists have successfully tested a hypersonic rocket.
It soared through the atmosphere at more than 5,000 kilometres per hour after taking off from the Woomera Test Range in outback South Australia.
The Space Review looks at commercial space, suborbital research, water rights in space, a new Hubble movie, and more. Jeff Foust reports on efforts to win support for commercial crew, and whether time might be running out for commercial advocates. Alan Stern describes what more the government can do to help encourage the use of commercial suborbital vehicles currently under development. Taylor Dinerman notes how access to and control of […]
Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island, Virginia
General Assembly boosts funding for Virginia commercial spaceflight
Daily Press
Commercial spaceflight in Virginia will receive a boost under the General Assembly’s 2010-11 budget.
The budget, awaiting the approval of Gov. Bob McDonnell, includes $837,875 annually for the next two years to help staff the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority. That’s up from the $100,000 the authority has received in recent years, said Laurie Naismith, an authority spokeswoman.
UK Space Agency launches in Swindon with Minister of Outer Space, Lord Mandelson
The Times
The new UK Space Agency (UKSA) will manage all the Government’s activities in civilian spaceflight, with the goal of transforming the sector into an economic powerhouse worth £40 billion a year by 2030.