Dave Masten, left, and his crew continue working on the Xaero Rocket in the warehouse of Masten Space Systems at the Mojave Air & Space Port. Masten was on the cover of Aviation Week after winning a million dollar prize for his endeavors in the space field. (Casey Christie/The Californian)

BY STEVEN MAYER
Californian staff writer

MOJAVE AIR & SPACE PORT — Aerospace types love this rural desert location for its clear, dry weather, its sparse population and its comfortable distance from major news outlets.

But Dave Masten, CEO of Masten Space Systems, says there’s another reason his company stays in Mojave.

“The neighbors don’t complain,” Masten says with a grin.

“Even if you’re testing a rocket engine,” he says. “And rocket tests can be very loud.”

Long known as a place where space cowboys and scientist-entrepreneurs could carve out a niche in the specialized world of aviation and aerospace, Mojave Air & Space Port has grown — some might say grown up — in recent years to include ambitious, well-funded companies that are expected to deliver on the promise that the sky is no longer the limit when it comes to private space flight.

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The Xaero vehicle during assembly November 2010. (Credit: Masten Space Systems)

Dave Masten
Masten Space Systems

Developing reusable, highly operable suborbital vehicles and technologies — orbital effort lies in the future

Progress — Past Year

• Lost some team members — replaced them and added a focus on business
• First VTVL Relight Flight
• SBIR
• Plume Impingement SBIR
• Scimitar Engine
• Signed agreement with Space Florida (letter of intent)
• Xaero in the air
• Focus on customers

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Masten's Xombie vehicle

Masten Space Systems and Space Florida announced today the signing of a Letter of Intent to explore performing demonstration launches of a Masten suborbital reusable launch vehicle from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

“We have been looking at Florida as a launch option for some time now,” stated Masten Founder and CEO Dave Masten. “We are excited to begin the process of determining if Launch Complex 36 is a good location for our flight operations, and hope to attempt a demonstration launch sometime in 2011.”

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With all the focus on festivities at Spaceport America, this video was overlooked. The Air Force’s Everyday Sci-Fi show visits Mojave where blogger Derek Nye gets a tour of XCOR Aerospace and watches Dave Masten launch a Xombie.

ISPCS Panel: The Path Forward from DC-X/XA

Bill Gaubatz — President, SpaceAvailable
Jess Sponable — Technical Advisor Air Vehicles Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory
Frederick Bachtel — Director of Strategic Planning & Initiatives, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne
David Masten — President and CEO, Masten Space Systems
Nino Polizzi — Vice President, Universal Space Network
James Ball — Senior Manager Flight Engineering, The Boeing Company
Yoshifumi Inatani — Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
Neil Milburn — Vice President Program Management, Armadillo Aerospace

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Fresh off a cash infusion from new partner Space Adventures, Armadillo Aerospace CEO John Carmack spent some time this weekend sniping at rivals during the NSS International Space Development Conference in Chicago. Jeff Foust reports in The Space Review:

Carmack generated a little bit of controversy when he compared Armadillo’s efforts with those by competing suborbital developers. Virgin Galactic, he suggested, would not be able to fly as cheaply as Armadillo; Virgin currently charges $200,000 for a ticket while Space Adventures is asking for about half that, $102,000. “I think they have explicitly not chosen the most cost effective solution on this,” Carmack said. “I don’t think they will be able to compete on price, eventually, but some people will prefer their experience.”

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Masten Space Systems' 'Xoie' lunar lander.

XCOR/MASTEN PRESS RELEASE
May 25, 2010

XCOR Aerospace and Masten Space Systems, two of the leaders in the New Space sector, have announced a strategic business and technology relationship to pursue jointly the anticipated NASA sponsored unmanned lander projects.

These automated lander programs are expected to serve as robotic test beds on Earth, on the lunar surface, Mars, near Earth objects and other interplanetary locales, helping NASA push the boundaries of technology and opening the solar system for future human exploration.

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