ESA is spending about $30.4 million on a study of re-entry technology that could be used to return cargo from the International Space Station, according to an Astrium press release. The project is an evolution of the space agency’s Automated Transfer Vehicle, a robotic freighter that is currently burned up in the atmosphere after its ISS flight.
Artists' conception of a Falcon 9 launch from Cape Canaveral. (Credit: SpaceX)
Commercial Space to add 1,700 Florida jobs but figure may be high
Orlando Sentinel
Sen. Bill Nelson is expected to announce in a speech on Thursday at the Kennedy Center Visitor Complex that if NASA relies on commercial rocket companies to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station, 1,700 jobs would be created in Florida to help launch the rockets and crews.
COMMERCIAL SPACEFLIGHT FEDERATION PRESS RELEASE
January 14, 2010
Showcasing the growing interest in conducting research and education missions aboard commercial suborbital spacecraft, eleven researchers including members of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation’s Suborbital Applications Researchers Group (SARG) successfully completed a training program yesterday at The National Aerospace Training and Research (NASTAR) Center in Pennsylvania.
Jeff Manber talks about space commercialization (via Hobby Space).
Peter Kokh, president of The Moon Society, issued a statement last month outlining his group’s views on how the United States should explore our closest celestial neighbor. It calls for NASA to pursue an international approach on human exploration that would rely on commercial providers to deliver cargo to the lunar surface. The group also endorsed a proposal by Buzz Aldrin to create a Lunar Infrastructure Development Corporation.
Exterior view of Bigelow Aerospace's Genesis II
Space News has a Q&A interview with Bigelow Aerospace founder Robert Bigelow, who is planning to launch a private space station into orbit later in this decade. Much seems to depend upon the success of SpaceX.
Good news for all those perspective Ares astronauts out there: NASA has now solved the thrust oscillation problems that threatened to shake the rocket apart.
Over at Out of the Cradle, Eva-Jane Lark has Q&A interviews with leaders of the Selenokhod and Next Giant Leap teams that are competing in the Google Lunar X Prize.
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist
SPACE FLORIDA PRESS RELEASE
January 7, 2009
As part of his ongoing focus on growing Florida’s economy through job retention and creation, workforce training, and economic development, Governor Charlie Crist today hosted a roundtable discussion with space industry leaders. The discussion was held at the Canaveral Port Authority in Brevard County and featured representatives from the aerospace industry, as well as economic and workforce development leaders.
(more…)
The road to Spaceport America on its groundbreaking day. Virgin Galactic and New Mexico hope it will soon be paved in gold. (Photo Credit: Lucinda Weisbach)
The Spaceport America Winter Newsletter has been published with construction updates on the New Mexico facility:
Florida airport gets commercial spaceport license
Reuters
The sky’s no longer the limit for Cecil Field airport in Jacksonville, Florida.
The airport was awarded a federal license on Monday to fly commercial space vehicles being designed to ferry tourists, researchers and others beyond Earth’s atmosphere.
