Okla. lawmakers study tax breaks to risky ventures
Associated Press
Businesses and many economists say Oklahoma needs to offer corporate tax breaks to expand its economy and remain competitive with other states hoping to lure new jobs. “For us to be able to bring the quality jobs that Oklahomans long for and deserve, we must have these tools,” said state commerce secretary Natalie Shirley.
Richard Branson after his first flight aboard WhiteKnightTwo at the Oshkosh airshow.
Virgin Galactic aims for the Moon
The Mirror
But that’s just the start as [Richard] Branson told me shortly before joining the crew on Whiteknighttwo at its debut at the Oshkosh air show in Wisconsin.
“It’s an enormously historic step forward. The Mothership is a mastercraft.
Aerospace Company Says It’s Far from Finished in Oklahoma
News9.com
“When you run out of money, you lay people off. That’s what we’ve done. A lay-off does not mean we’re dead, it means that we’re on hold,” said Lauer. “We’re in suspended animation until we get more money.”
ODYSSEY MOON PRESS RELEASE
Education has taken ‘the next great leap’ in Britain as Odyssey Moon announces its fifth payload to the Moon.
Google Lunar X PRIZE contender Odyssey Moon Limited today is announcing its partnership with the International Space School Education Trust (ISSET) and their customer Moonlink Ltd. of Yorkshire to put a British science instrument on the Moon.
Laser Propulsion: Wild Idea May Finally Shine
Space.com
New laser propulsion experiments are throwing light on how to build future hypersonic aircraft and beam spacecraft into Earth orbit.
Indeed, a “Lightcraft revolution” could replace today’s commercial jet travel. Passengers would be whisked from one side of the planet to the other in less than an hour – just enough time to get those impenetrable bags of peanuts open. Furthermore, beamed energy propulsion can make flight to orbit easy, instead of tenuous and dangerous.
XCOR's Lynx suborbital vehicle
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Insurance coverage on the final frontier: Space tourism a giant leap for insurers
Business Insurance
Brokers and other observers said it is difficult to speculate on the insurance market for private space flight because the space tourism industry is not yet a reality, but some said they believe the initial ventures would have difficulty buying cover for the risk.
PRESS RELEASE
Scientists, researchers and space enthusiasts from throughout the world will gather on the Microsoft campus August 13–16 for Space Elevator Conference 2009, an exploration of the technical, legal and social issues and challenges of building an Elevator to Space. A variety of events are planned for the public, as well as the scientific community, on this revolutionary way to send cargo and humans into space.
UAE to have space port
AFP
Tourists will be able to journey to outer space via Abu Dhabi as part of a deal by a local investment group to take a stake in the world’s first commercial space travel operator, the two companies said yesterday.
In a move that has left Oklahoma lawmakers furious, space tourism company Rocketplane has pulled out of Oklahoma City and relocated most of its remaining operations to Wisconsin due to lack of investment and high costs.
Virgin Galactic Aiming For IPO
Forbes
Space travel won’t just be for billionaires if Richard Branson gets his way. Fresh from selling a stake in his Virgin Galactic space-tourism subsidiary to Abu Dhabi’s Aabar Group, Branson’s Virgin Group has an even more ambitious aim in mind: to float the company on the stock market while still retaining a significant stake.
SPACEX PRESS RELEASE
Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) announces the successful completion of qualification testing for the Falcon 9 launch vehicle first stage tank and interstage. Testing took place at SpaceX’s Texas Test Site, a 300 acre structural and propulsion testing facility, located just outside of Waco, Texas.
NASA DRYDEN PRESS STATEMENT
The Space Elevator Power Beaming Challenge Games originally scheduled for this summer at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center have been postponed. The Spaceward Foundation conducts this prize competition as part of NASA’s Centennial Challenge Program. The challenge this year requires teams to demonstrate devices that can climb a one-kilometer vertical cable using electrical power transmitted via a laser.
