A P3 Navy aircraft with Hanger One at NASA Ames Research Center. (Copyright 2008: Douglas Messier)
2010.03.05 UPDATE
The Third Next Generation Exploration Conference (NGEC-3) meeting scheduled for April 5- 8, 2010, is postponed until further notice. We will hold all current applications and inform those who have submitted about upcoming dates for a rescheduled meeting. In the meantime, thank you for your interest in participating in the NGEC-3. We will get back to you as soon as we can.
PRESS RELEASE
An historic 12-day journey to space by legendary game developer and space explorer Richard Garriott will have its world premiere at this year’s South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival in Austin. Richard Garriott: Man on a Mission is set to blast off with two screenings at the 2010 conference. The first will be 1:30 pm on Sunday, March 14 at Austin’s Paramount Theater and the second will be Thursday, March 18, at 2:30, also at the Paramount.
ROSKOSMOS PRESS RELEASE
Yesterday Head of Roscosmos A.N. Perminov, during his mission in Paris had a meeting with president of CNES Yannick d’Escatha. The main subject of the meeting were the questions of bilateral French-Russian cooperation on development and utilization of launch vehicles, human spaceflight, space sciences.
Continuing our look at NASA’s proposed 2011 budget, we see that the space agency is proposing to spent $10 million per year through 2015 on its Centennial Challenges program.
In selecting topics for prize competitions, NASA consults widely within and outside of the Federal Government. The $10 million per year FY 2011 request for Centennial Challenges will allow NASA to pursue new and more ambitious prize competitions. Topics for future challenges that are under consideration include revolutionary energy storage systems, solar and other renewable energy technologies, laser communications, demonstrating near-Earth object survey and deflection strategies, innovative approaches to improving the safety and efficiency of aviation systems including Next Generation Aeronautics efforts, closed-loop life support and other resource recycling techniques, and low-cost access to space. Annual funding for Centennial Challenges allows new prizes to be announced, addressing additional technology challenges that can benefit from the innovation of the Citizen inventor.
This image of Phobos’s surface was obtained by the Super Resolution Channel (or SRC, a part of the High Resolution Stereo Camera experiment) on board ESA’s Mars Express on 3 August 2008 (orbit 5889). The distance from the moon’s centre was 656 km, and the image resolution is 6 m/pixel. The original image has been corrected for mirror distortion. Credits: ESA/ DLR/ FU Berlin (G. Neukum)
ESA PRESS RELEASE
Mars Express encountered Phobos last night, smoothly skimming past at just 67 km, the closest any manmade object has ever approached Mars’ enigmatic moon. The data collected could help unlock the origin of not just Phobos but other ‘second generation’ moons.
Something is not right about Phobos. It looks like a solid object but previous flybys have shown that it is not dense enough to be solid all the way through. Instead, it must be 25-35% porous. This has led planetary scientists to believe that it is little more than a ‘rubble pile’ circling Mars. Such a rubble pile would be composed of blocks both large and small resting together, with possibly large spaces between them where they do not fit easily together.
iOpener is a start-up company from ESA’s Business Incubation centre in ESTEC and has developed a system to integrate world car racing into the virtual world of games console racing by using satellite navigation data. Today the company employs seven people and recently won the Ernst & Young Best Business Case Award 2006/2007. Credits: iOpener
ESA PRESS RELEASE
For years, ESA has been bringing space technologies down to Earth through its Technology Transfer Programme and Business Incubation initiatives. Now, the Agency will strengthen these initiatives by supporting new businesses using space innovations through a dedicated venture capital fund.
The Open Sky Technologies Fund (OSTF) is an early-stage venture capital fund aimed at nurturing the most promising business opportunities arising from space technologies and satellite applications for terrestrial industries. The OSTF will be managed by Triangle Venture Capital Group on ESA’s behalf.
OSC PRESS RELEASE
Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB), one of the world’s leading space technology companies, today announced that it has reached a definitive agreement to acquire the spacecraft development and manufacturing business of General Dynamics Corporation’s (NYSE: GD) subsidiary, GD Advanced Information Systems. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in approximately four weeks. Houlihan Lokey advised Orbital in conjunction with this transaction.
BILL POSEY PRESS RELEASE
Lead by Congressman Bill Posey (R-Rockledge), Florida’s Congressional Delegation has joined together to send a letter to the President expressing the delegation’s deep concerns over his proposed FY 2011 budget for NASA. With the Administration’s decision to retire the Shuttle at the end of this year and an announcement that they are cancelling the Constellation program, the U.S. would be left with a lengthy human space flight gap, no heavy-lift vehicle to launch astronauts and cargo into space, and no clear vision for future exploration.
ISRO PRESS RELEASE
Indian Space Research Organisation successfully conducted the flight testing of its new generation high performance sounding rocket today (March 3, 2010) at 08.30 Hrs, from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), SHAR.
WhiteKnightTwo carries SpaceShipTwo aloft in this artist's conception (credit: Virgin Galactic)
Astronauts from the Gulf help Virgin Galactic to blast off
The National
At least 20 would-be astronauts from the Gulf have signed up to fly out of this world with Virgin Galactic, the space tourism venture in which Aabar Investments of Abu Dhabi owns a 32 per cent stake.
CSF PRESS RELEASE
On Saturday, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson signed into law the “New Mexico Space Flight Informed Consent Act,†following similar legislation already passed in Virginia and Florida. The legislation marks a key step towards commercial operations of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo at the New Mexico spaceport. Recognizing that commercial suborbital spaceflight is a developing industry, the law provides critical liability protections that will enable spaceflight businesses to operate efficiently and effectively for their customers.
ROCKET RACING LEAGUE PRESS RELEASE
Rocket Racing League® (RRL®), the world’s first sports and game franchise based on competitions of piloted rocket-powered aircraft, has announced major milestones in the development of the Rocket Racer®, or X-Racer®, the rocket-powered aircraft being developed to compete in the Rocket Racing League. Test flights were conducted at the North Texas Regional Airport (NTRA), marking the first time in history where two private-sector manned rocket-powered vehicles were flown sequentially in the same day by one crew with common ground support equipment in the same airspace.
