Excalibur Almaz’s space tourism vehicle concept. (Credit: Excalibur Almaz)

Houston Press has a long, sad look at one of the more curious NewSpace projects, Excalibur Almaz, and the man behind it, Art Dula.

Excalbur Almaz is a company based in the Isle of Man whose goal is to refurbish a couple of Soviet-era Almaz space stations and four crew return capsule for some type of space mission. The company has gone through numerous iterations, from space tourism to commercial space station to NASA commercial crew to deep space mining facility.

So far they haven’t raised enough money for any of these ideas, although the company has generated a couple of investor lawsuits alleging fraud, one dismissed and the other still pending.

There are a couple very troubling allegations that are chronicled in the story. One is that the sales agreement between Excalbur Almaz and the Russian seller stipulated that the technology was not to be modified for space flight. This is alleged in a lawsuit filed by Japanese investor Takafumi Horie.

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A couple of updates on Excalibur Almaz, whose Soviet-era space station and capsule were seen being shipped from one location to another on the Isle of Man. Excalibur Almaz Founder and CEO Art Dula told The Independent there wasn’t much to see there: The company is “still in business and still on the Isle of Man,” he insisted. Refusing to divulge where the equipment is being taken, saying it is […]

It looks like the end of the road for Excalibur Almaz, the Isle of Man-based space company that has produced more lawsuits than space flights during its existence. One of the company’s two space stations and its remaining return capsule has been seen heading for the Isle of Man’s port on the back of a truck. The company’s phone number has been disconnected. And the company hasn’t put out a […]

IOMToday reports that Excalibur Almaz is denying charges that it fraudulently took funds from an investor to use Soviet-era space hardware for human stations: “These allegations are baseless and will be vigorously defended. To set the record straight, Excalibur Almaz is not out of business and is vigorously pursuing a profitable commercial space program utilizing proven Russian flight hardware capable of re-use, contrary to recent allegations.” In a lawsuit, Japanese […]

Art Dula is facing another lawsuit alleging fraud connected with Excalibur Almaz, a company that has been seeking to use old Soviet space station hardware for commercial purposes. The lawsuit, Takafumi Horie v. The Law Offices of Art Dula, which was filed Nov. 10 in a Harris County district court, alleges that attorney Art Dula convinced Takafumi Horie that he could set up a commercial space transportation program to carry […]

There’s some good news for Chris Stott: The Chief Executive of MannSat, Chris Stott, has been dismissed from a lawsuit which had been filed in the United States. A woman from Houston in Texas had brought the case against Excalibur Exploration Chairman Arthur M. Dula and CEO J. Buckner Hightower. Donna Beck alleged Mr Dula defrauded her and her late husband out of $300,000 by claiming his company had a […]

Via Clark Lindsey at NewSpace Watch: A Texas woman has sued Art Dula and Excalibur Almaz over for allegedly defrauding her and her late husband in an asteroid mining scheme:

Donna Beck sued Houston patent attorney Arthur Dula, his companies Excalibur Exploration Limited, Excalibur Limited, Excalibur Almaz Limited and Excalibur Almaz USA Inc., and Excalibur directors J. Buckner Hightower and Christopher Stott, in Harris County Court.

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Excalibur Almaz's space tourism vehicle concept. (Credit: Excalibur Almaz)

By Douglas Messier
Parabolic Arc Managing Editor

Art Dula was at the Royal Aeronautical Society’s 3rd European Space Tourism Conference in London this week, promoting Excalibur Almaz (EA) and announcing an agreement with XCOR Aerospace for crew training.

Based upon what I have read, EA’s latest plan for using surplus Soviet-era space stations and capsules sounds pretty awesome. A flight to the moon and back for the low, low price of $150 million. Pricey, but definitely on the mega-cool side of the spectrum.

But, then again, the company’s plans always sound pretty cool. And then…well…

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Elon Musk of SpaceX and Art Dula of The Heinlein Prize Trust

For the man who has everything, including his own rocketship, even more….

HEINLEIN PRIZE TRUST PR — Trustees of the Robert A. and Virginia Heinlein Prize Trust announced today that the second-ever Heinlein Prize will go to Elon Musk, founder, CEO and CTO of Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX).

The Heinlein Prize honors the memory of Robert A. Heinlein, a renowned American science fiction author. The purpose of the prize is to encourage and reward individuals for making practical contributions to the commercialization of space. Mr. Musk will be honored at a luncheon and award ceremony on June 29, 2011 at the Hyatt in Washington, DC and will receive $250,000, a gold Heinlein Medallion, the Lady Vivamus Sword (as described in Heinlein’s book Glory Road), and a Laureate’s Diploma.

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EA PRESS RELEASE

Excalibur Almaz Limited (EA), an international space exploration company, today announced plans to open up a new era of private orbital space flight for commercial customers, using updated elements of the “Almaz” space system originally developed by JSC MIC NPO Mashinostroyenia (NPOM) of Russia.

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