EADS Astrium is looking for partners to build a space solar power demonstration satellite.
Felix Baumgartner wants to set a new diving record by jumping from an altitude of 120,000 feet.
Last night, I appeared on Spacevidcast with Benjamin and Cariann Higginbotham. I had a great time talking about New Space with them. I want to thank them for having me on their show.
NEXT GIANT LEAP PRESS RELEASE
Next Giant Leap, a space exploration company competing for the Google Lunar X Prize has officially announced the addition of PerspectX to their team. PerspectX specializes in advanced visualization, ranging from storyboarding, to Industrial pre-visualization, digital effects, animation, and interactive software development, primarily for clients in Aerospace, Technology, and Entertainment.
International Space Station
NASA PRESS RELEASE
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station received a special software upgrade this week – personal access to the Internet and the World Wide Web via the ultimate wireless connection.
Expedition 22 Flight Engineer T.J. Creamer made first use of the new system Friday, when he posted the first unassisted update to his Twitter account, @Astro_TJ, from the space station. Previous tweets from space had to be e-mailed to the ground where support personnel posted them to the astronaut’s Twitter account.
Exterior view of Bigelow Aerospace's Genesis II
Over at Space.com, Leonard David has a great interview with Robert Bigelow, who plans to launch a private space station into orbit in 2014. The interview makes clear that despite spending $180 million to date, Bigelow still doesn’t quite have a way to get to orbit:
All that is predicated, however, on launch availability — be it on an Atlas 5 or the yet-to-fly Falcon 9 rocket under development by private booster builder Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX). It will take seven rocket flights, he said, to hurl the elements for the first Bigelow Aerospace complex into space.
Asteroid Ida
NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS RELEASE
A new report from the National Research Council lays out options NASA could follow to detect more near-Earth objects (NEOs) – asteroids and comets that could pose a hazard if they cross Earth’s orbit. The report says the $4 million the U.S. spends annually to search for NEOs is insufficient to meet a congressionally mandated requirement to detect NEOs that could threaten Earth.
BILL POSEY PRESS RELEASE
Congressman Bill Posey (R-Rockledge) has again written to the President requesting that he include in his budget sufficient funding for NASA’s human space flight program in order to keep his commitment to close the gap and maintain America’s lead role in space exploration. Specifically, Rep. Posey requests that the President include funding necessary to provide for additional Shuttle flights beyond 2010. The President is set to release his budget plans for Fiscal Year 2011 on February 1, 2010.
SpaceUP Press Release
All systems are go for the launch of SpaceUp, the world’s first public unconference devoted to space exploration and development, on Saturday and Sunday, February 27 and 28, 2010, at the San Diego Air & Space Museum, 2001 Pan American Plaza in Balboa Park, San Diego, CA. Organized by the non-profit San Diego Space Society, registration is $75 per person, with details available at SpaceUp.org.
USRA scientists in front of the centrifuge used for the suborbital flight simulations at The NASTAR Center. From left to right are Dr. Joanne Hill, Dr. Ramona Gaza, and Dr. Scott Wood.
USRA PRESS RELEASE
Three scientists with the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) successfully underwent training this week to gain familiarization with human suborbital spaceflight. Dr. Joanne E. (Joe) Hill, an astrophysicist with USRA working at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, and Dr. Scott J. Wood and Dr. Ramona Gaza, both with USRA’s Division of Space Life Sciences which carries out work for NASA’s Johnson Space Center, participated in the first such course being offered by the National AeroSpace Training and Research Center (The NASTAR Center). The two-day course ranged from altitude training and high-performance centrifuge training to learning about the industry and the opportunity to perform low-cost, hands-on projects in space. Research experiments that will take advantage of the coming era of commercial human spaceflight are already in development.
Giving his final State of the State address, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson gave a big shout-out to one of his signature projects, Spaceport America.
I’m pleased to report that Spaceport America is ahead of schedule and under budget. As we speak four hundred and sixty-seven new workers are on the job constructing the first commercial spaceport in the world, with one hundred and fifty to three hundred more hires expected over this year.
OSC's Taurus II rocket at Wallops Island.
Orbital gives update on Taurus 2 rocket development
Spaceflight Now
Orbital Sciences is still hoping for a March 2011 debut of the company’s medium-lift Taurus 2 rocket, but challenges with facility construction and delays in ground testing could push the first launch later into next year, a senior manager said.
Speaking to Spaceflight Now last week, Orbital senior vice president Frank Culbertson said first stage engine testing at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi is now projected to start in April or May.