NASA PRESS RELEASE
NASA’s Centennial Challenges Program and the Spaceward Foundation will hold the 2009 Power-Beaming Challenge, part of Spaceward’s Space Elevator Games, at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center on Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., on July 14.
SpaceX has delayed the launch of its first Falcon 9 rocket from mid-summer to no earlier than October.
SBSP Session Notes
Lt. Col. Paul Damphousse
USMC
Chief of Advanced Concepts
National Security Space Office
Overall Goal of SBSP Initiative
Generate 10% of military’s power via space by 2050
Hey everyone! Greetings from sunny (and stormy) Orlando!
I attended a couple of ISDC sessions this afternoon on space-based solar power. A couple of key takeaways from the sessions before Iget into posting some detailed notes.
Romania Targets Moon with Balloon-Launched Ball
Space.com
Former X Prize contenders such as the Romanian team ARCA could have called it a day when Scaled Composites’ SpaceShipOne won the $10 million Ansari X Prize on Oct. 4, 2004. Instead, ARCA hopes to build on its previous effort to reach the moon and win the Google Lunar X Prize and even more prize money.
OSC's Taurus II rocket at Wallops Island.
Construction of a new launch pad for Orbital Science Corp.’s Taurus II rocket should begin this summer, the company’s launch site manager said.
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The Augustine panel will include XCOR CEO Jeff Greason and former astronaut Sally Ride, among others.
NASA's Ares I rocket lifts off in this artist's conception. (Credit: NASA)
NASA PRESS RELEASE
The first flight test of NASA’s new rocket configuration to carry astronauts into space will take place later this year. Ares I-X consists of a four-segment first stage solid rocket motor, and a simulated upper stage that represents the weight and shape of the Ares I rocket and Orion crew vehicle. It will be launched in a suborbital arc into the Atlantic to collect data on its flight dynamics and parachute recovery performance.
Artists conception of SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft in orbit
Elon Musk said today that his company SpaceX could fill most the gap between the end of space shuttle flights in late 2010 and the beginning of Orion mission in 2015.
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Scaled Composites has completed the first series of tests on the rocket motor for the SpaceShipTwo spacecraft, clearing a major milestone toward testing of the suborbital tourism vehicle, Virgin Galactic President Will Whitehorn said on Thursday.
O’Malley wants more funds for aerospace
Baltimore Sun
Hoping to tap into an economic engine that can weather the recession, Gov. Martin O’Malley unveiled a strategy Tuesday for bolstering the space industry’s foothold in the state by lobbying for more federal dollars and emphasizing science and mathematics in schools.
A new center catering to adventure travelers and would-be space tourists opened its doors at the St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport in  Florida.
Aurora Aerospace began operating on May 1 as a “Space Camp on steroids,” offering customized programs that include flight training, high altitude jet rides, spacecraft simulations, academic training and more, said CEO Howard Chipman.
