Falcon 9 launches the Dragon CRS-9 mission to the International Space Station. (Credit: NASA)

NASA’s new publication, “Economic Development of Low Earth Orbit,” consists of a series of papers that examines a number of important policy questions that will be of rising importance as NASA transitions human spaceflight in LEO to the private sector.

One of the papers, “Venture Capital Activity in the Low-Earth Orbit Sector,”
has detailed information on what U.S. venture capitalists have invested in. Key excerpts from the paper follow.
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Credit: Golden Spike Company

By Douglas Messier
Parabolic Arc Managing Editor

With human flights beyond Earth orbit not expected to occur for at least eight years, the private sector is increasingly eying deep space for a series of ambitious robotic and human missions for both adventure and profit.

Nine programs are currently underway that include robotic and human landings of the moon, human flybys of the moon and Mars, the mining of the moon and asteroids, and even a settlement on Mars. Backers of these initiatives include the X Prize Foundation, Google and its executives, and the world’s first space tourist, Dennis Tito.

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This week on The Space Show with David Livingston…. Monday, Feb. 7, 2011 , 2-3:30 PM PST. We welcome Don Green of the Napoleon Hill Foundation. During this program, we will be applying Napoleon Hill philosophy and rules to space development. We will also be giving away books to callers. Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2011, 7-8:30 PM PST: Open Lines with priority for first time callers. The topics to be discussed […]

A video of the “Moon, Mars, Asteroids: Where to Go First for Resources?” panel discussion held during  the Space Studies Institute’s Space Manufacturing 14 conference in Silicon Valley. Moderated by tech investor Esther Dyson, the discussion included: Prof. Mike A’Hearn, University of Maryland, Dept. of Astronomy Prof. Greg Baiden, Penguin Automated Systems Mark Sonter, Asteroid Enterprises Pty Ltd Prof. John Lewis, Space Studies Institute Dr. Paul Spudis, Lunar and Planetary […]

Esther Dyson says the entrepreneurial space is ready for private equity but not institutional venture capital.

NASA PRESS RELEASE

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden held his first meeting with the restructured NASA Advisory Council recently at the agency’s Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif. Bolden has added four new committees to the council in key areas of importance to the agency’s future: Commercial Space, Education and Public Outreach, Information Technology Infrastructure, and Technology Innovation.

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Brett Alexander, executive director of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, will chair up a new committee of the NASA Advisory Council, Space News reports. Alexander’s appointment is part of the creation of four new committees, including ones headed up by space investor Esther Dyson and former CNN anchor Miles O’Brien.

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Investor and would-be space tourist Esther Dyson had some interesting things to say about commercial space and the International Space Station in an interview with Air & Space magazine. A few highlights:

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Millionaut Richard Garriott aboard the International Space Station with five other lesser known professional space travelers.

Geeks in Space
The Big Money

“There’s a documentary called Orphans of Apollo that’s stated this well,” [Richard Garriott] explained. “There’s a generation of us, who are the tech leaders of today, who were universally inspired to go into science and technology because of the NASA Lunar Space Program. And the reason the movie is called Orphans of Apollo is because, in many ways, we feel orphaned by the fact that the space industry has not done a good job of capitalizing on that momentum of what many of us believed were the first steps into space, carrying the mission of human space flight farther and farther into deep space.”

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Space crew candidates face final test
Russia Today

Russian cosmonauts and their NASA colleagues, as well as two space tourists, are taking an exam in Star City near Moscow on Tuesday. The results will decide who’ll make up the crew of the next mission to the ISS.

One of the space tourists, Charles Simonyi, is hoping to travel to the International Space Station for the second time and thus become the first one to do so twice. Simonyi went to the spacecraft in April 2007.

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