eSpace Press Release

eSpace: The Center for Space Entrepreneurship, a non-profit business incubator and workforce development organization for aerospace companies, today announced that it is seeking a second round of aerospace entrepreneurs to participate in the eSpace incubator. The move reflects the industry’s demand for eSpace services as well as the success of the incubator model created by eSpace and its potential for replication to cultivate space entrepreneurs in other regions of the country.

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Masten Space Systems scrubbed its launch today due to communication problems with its lunar lander. It will try again on Thursday to qualify for the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge. The launch window begins at 9 a.m. PT.

NASA manager have declared today’s flight of the space agency’s Ares I-X rocket to be a success:

“I can’t say enough about this team,” said Doug Cooke, associate administrator for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “They’ve been together probably a little over three years now, and they went from a concept to flying this vehicle in that period of time, which is the first time this has been done by a human spaceflight team in a long time.”

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Masten Space Systems experienced problems between its onboard flight computer and ground station during launch attempts for the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge this morning. They are now troubleshooting the problems and hope to make another attempt this afternoon sometime around 1 p.m.

The first launch of NASA’s new Ares rocket took place at Cape Canaveral on Wednesday morning.

AIAA PRESS RELEASE

Aerospace industry leaders will meet on November 2 to debate the future of America’s space programs in light of the recent findings by the Augustine Commission.

The half-day event, “Does the Final Frontier Have a Future? Debating America’s Next Steps in Human Space Flight,” will feature panelists from leading space exploration companies as well as from NASA and academia.

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AEROSPACE ALLIANCE PRESS RELEASE

Governor Bob Riley (R-AL), Governor Haley Barbour (R-MS), and Governor Bobby Jindal (R- LA) today announced the launch of The Aerospace Alliance, a 501(c)(6) private/public organization that will establish the Gulf Coast and surrounding region as a world class aerospace, space and aviation corridor. The announcement was made before hundreds of supporters at an event in Bay Minette, Alabama.

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Artist Impression of Virgin Galactic's WhiteKnightTwo/SpaceShipOne over Spaceport America in New Mexico.

NMSA PRESS RELEASE

The Board of Directors of the New Mexico Spaceport Authority (NMSA) has voted to establish a welcome center for Spaceport America in downtown Truth or Consequences (T or C), New Mexico. With the support of local residents who want the center to be located downtown, the NMSA has agreed to lease an old fire station from the T or C city government. A welcome center is also planned for the village of Hatch, NM, which is on the southern approach to Spaceport America.

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The Mars Society has released a statement in which it basically rejects all five options for the American human spaceflight program put forth last week by the Augustine Commission.

Instead of accepting the limited options presented by the Committee, we urge the Administration to follow a sixth option: Task NASA to develop, within 120 days, a minimum cost, minimum schedule mission to land humans on Mars…

Ain’t going to happen. But, good luck with that…

If you’re interested, the full statement is reproduced after the break.

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RT: @dmasten: Wrapping up the last details for the level 2 #ngllc tomorrow. Need to get sleep, but feel like a child on Xmas Eve.

The Space Review looks at the Augustine Commission, RLVs, space colonies and Saddam Hussein’s space program.

NASA PRESS RELEASE

NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston kicked off an experimental programming competition today in conjunction with TopCoder, Inc. and researchers from Harvard Business School and London Business School. The competition, conducted for the center’s Space Life Sciences Directorate (SLSD), is aimed at developing algorithms that optimize medical kits for long-duration human space exploration.
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