EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESS RELEASE

The European Commission announced today the award of three of the six contracts for the procurement of Galileo’s initial operational capability. The contract for the system support services is awarded to ThalesAleniaSpace of Italy , that for a first order of 14 satellites to OHB System AG of Germany and that for the launch services to Arianespace of France. This will allow the initial deployment and service provision of Europe’s satellite navigation system as of early 2014.

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Richard Branson trains at NASTAR, giving a good sense of what scientist researchers will experience.

Boulder researchers design space flight school for scientists
Daily Camera

Dan Durda and Alan Stern — researchers at Boulder’s Southwest Research Institute and high-altitude space flight veterans — are so excited, in fact, that they’ve helped design a two-day intensive space flight training course for other scientists who may benefit from doing their research in a zero-gravity environment.

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MIT Professor and spacesuit designer Dava Newman shows off her design for a flexible spacesuit. This is a series of videos for the PBS science show Nova. Another video after the break. (more…)

The Sunday, Jan. 10, 2010 edition of the Space Show features Dr. Phil Chapman. Dr. Chapman is a former astronaut and scientist. We will be discussing SSP economics, the Copenhagen Climate Conference and SSP, and much more. The program will air at the usual Sunday time, 12-1:30 PM PST.

JHU APL PRESS RELEASE

Charles Hibbitts is about to join a new generation of space explorers.

On Jan. 12-13, the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory researcher and 11 other scientists will meet at the National AeroSpace Training and Research Center near Philadelphia, where they’ll learn to work and conduct experiments in the wispy upper reaches of Earth’s atmosphere known as suborbital space.

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Florida Gov. Charlie Crist

Crist short on details on help for Brevard during visit to Space Coast
Orlando Sentinel

With the Space Coast facing the loss of as many as 19,000 jobs when the space shuttle is retired later this year, Gov. Charlie Crist came to town to check out what the state might be able to do to soften the blow.

But anybody hoping that Crist was going to throw a lifeline to a deeply anxious region was left disappointed. Crist was long on platitudes and short on specific promises.

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Matangi Tonga has an update on the latest efforts by Interobital Systems, the Mojave-based rocket company run by the Roderick Milliron and his wife Randa:

Pursuing a dream to develop a private space port in Tonga, a couple of space entrepreneurs have the blessing of Tonga’s king to build a small rocket launch site on the king’s estate on the southern tip of ‘Eua this year, with the aim of launching a rocket before the end of 2010.
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Over at Commercial Space Gateway, Richard Mains looks at the ways that the federal government can help the emerging commercial space sector:

Only the government can work to ensure that the bureaucratic barriers to space access for U.S. entrepreneurs are low, but also ensure there are reasonable safety guidelines in place. Government must also be a reliable customer for companies who are able to provide good value, but make it known that it expects to eventually be the first of several customers, as space commerce grows. Government needs multiple commercial providers and doesn’t want to be any industry’s only customer. That’s too risky for all as has been learned many times over in the aerospace contracting industry.

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Early registration for the Next Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference ends on Jan. 15. The confab will be held in Boulder, Colorado on Feb. 18-20.

Peter Siebold (Photo: Scaled Composites)

Cal Poly grad flies high
Mustang Daily

Peter Siebold, who completed his degree in 2001, received the Iven C. Kincheloe award at the 53rd Annual Symposium for the international Society of Experimental Test Pilots (SETP). The award is given after aeronautical companies nominate pilots whom they feel have made a significant contribution to flight test through development, performance and testing.

“It’s without question the most prestigious award a test pilot can receive in his career,” Douglas Shane, president of Scaled Composites and Siebold’s boss, said. “It’s likened to a Heisman Trophy in football.”

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ETC PRESS RELEASE

Environmental Tectonics Corporation’s The National AeroSpace Training and Research (NASTAR®) Center’s inaugural Suborbital Scientist-Astronaut Training Course begins next week at its facility just outside Philadelphia, PA. Thirteen researchers aimed at accompanying experiments on upcoming commercial space missions are expected to train.

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