Exterior view of Bigelow Aerospace's Genesis II

Orion Propulsion, Inc. today announced completion of a qualification test program for the Forward Propulsion System (FPS) of Bigelow Aerospace’s Sundancer Project, the world’s first commercial space habitat.

The innovative Orion Propulsion thruster system uses hydrogen and oxygen that are produced from Bigelow’s proprietary Environmental Control Life Support System (ECLSS) as propellants for the spacecraft’s attitude control system . This truly “people-powered” space craft, which burns hydrogen and oxygen generated from water, sweat, and urine, eliminates the need for more toxic propellants such as hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide that are more costly to use and harmful to the environment – on Earth and in space.

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Thomas Kalil, the deputy director for policy with the Office of Science and Technology Policy, has posted a blog entry (reproduced below) in which he asks for ideas on prizes that the government could sponsor.

In recent years, there has been a renaissance in “incentive prizes” – which reward contestants for achieving a specific future goal.

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ESA-selected Mars500 crewmember Cyrille Fournier uses a webcam to record a message to send to mission control. Cyrille is one of six crewmembers spending 105 days inside an isolation facility at the Institute of Biomedical Problems (IBMP) in Moscow, Russia. The purpose of the Mars500 study is to gather data, knowledge and experience to help prepare one day for a real mission to Mars. Credit: ESA

ESA-selected Mars500 crewmember Oliver Knickel describes some of the challenges currently facing the crew of six on their simulated Mars mission, including communication delays with mission control of up to 40 minutes.

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PRESS RELEASE

Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] has completed production and testing of the heatshield for NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory (MSL). The heatshield is half of the large and sophisticated two-part aeroshell that will encapsulate and protect the Curiosity rover during its deep space cruise to Mars, and from the intense heat and friction that will be generated as the system descends through the Martian atmosphere.

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THALES PRESS RELEASE

Thales Alenia Space announced today the signing of a contract with Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB) for the design, development, production and delivery of nine pressurized modules for cargo transport – to include equipment, spare parts, scientific experiments and other items – to the International Space Station (ISS). The contract foresees the first unit delivery in December 2010 and the last unit delivery in the middle of 2015.

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LOCKHEED PRESS RELEASE

Lockheed Martin announced today that two launch abort system (LAS) motors for NASA’s Orion crew exploration vehicle are now in place at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico for integration and preparation for the first flight test, known as Pad Abort 1.

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PowerSat's plans for beaming energy from space

PowerSat: Space Solar Flies Closer to Earth
Earth2Tech.com

Solar from space: It may sound like a bad sci-fi movie, but a growing number of companies think it could solve the world’s energy crisis. Among them is Everett, Wash.-based PowerSat Corp., which said today it’s filed a provisional patent for two technologies it claims could help make the transmission of solar power from space more cost-effective.

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IXV rendering (courtesy of CNES)

PRESS RELEASE

The European Space Agency (ESA) and Thales Alenia Space have set the agreement for the authorization to proceed with the development of the atmospheric reentry demonstrator IXV (Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle).

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NASA scrubbed the Wednesday launch of the space shuttle Endeavour at 1:55 a.m. EDT due to another hydrogen leak. A similar leak lead to the scrubbing of the launch on Saturday.

OSC's Taurus II rocket at Wallops Island.

GAO REPORT

Title: Commercial Partners Are Making Progress, but Face Aggressive Schedules to Demonstrate Critical Space Station Cargo Transport Capabilities

Full report  (PDF)

Highlights:

During the course of our review, we found NASA’s management of the COTS project has generally adhered to critical project management tools and activities and the vast majority of project expenditures were for milestone payments to COTS partners. NASA has established fixed-price, performance-based milestones in its agreements with commercial partners and partners are only paid once the milestone has been successfully completed. NASA has also taken several steps since the beginning of the COTS project to ensure that risks were identified, assessed, and documented, and that mitigation plans were in place to reduce these risks.

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WhiteKnightTwo made its ninth test flight on Monday, reaching an altitude of 52,400 feet.

SPACEX PRESS RELEASE

Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) announces Ken Bowersox as vice president of the newly formed Astronaut Safety and Mission Assurance Department. He will be co-located in Houston, Texas, and SpaceX Headquarters in Hawthorne, California.

Bowersox joins SpaceX with over 19 years of experience at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Selected to the astronaut corps in 1987, he has flown five times on NASA’s Space Shuttle, serving as pilot, commander and mission specialist, and once on a Russian Soyuz, where he served as the flight engineer during descent.

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