Aussie Invader 5R

PERTH, Australia (Aussie Invader/Interorbital PR) — Interorbital Systems, based at the Mojave Air and Space Port in the High Desert of California, has been chosen by Australia’s world land speed record team to develop, test, and integrate a 62,000-lb-thrust (275,790 Newton) rocket engine into the Aussie Invader 5R.

The Aussie Invader 5R requires an engine that can produce 200,000hp to push the 9 tonne, 52ft (16m) monster rocket-car through the sound barrier and on to a 1,000 mph land speed record-breaking event, set for 2020.

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This upper-stage engine test was conducted on June 30 at the Friends of Amateur Rocketry (FAR) site northeast of Koehn Lake in the Mojave Desert. I was there. It was very cool to watch in person. Engine Details White Fuming Nitric Acid / Turpentine Hypergolic Storable Propellants Ablatively Cooled 750 lbs Thrust

NEPTUNE Liquid Upper Stage Static Test 2.21.2018

Lunar rover (Credit: TeamIndus)

It appears highly likely that the decade-old Google Lunar X Prize will end on March 31 without a winner following reports out of India that Team Indus has pulled out of the race. The Ken reports that

The launch contract that TeamIndus signed with Antrix Corporation—the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro)—in December 2016, in pursuit of its $30-million Google Lunar XPRIZE goal, has been cancelled. Multiple sources within Isro confirmed the news….

Conservatively speaking, the price tag for the PSLV chartered launch alone is said to be upwards of $20 million; the cost of building and testing the moon rover is several million more. It’s learnt TeamIndus couldn’t pony up funds to pay Antrix beyond the initial signing amount. “Isro has cancelled the contract for a lack of compliances and payment issues,” says a person who is close to these developments. He says, “Rahul [Narayan, co-founder TeamIndus] has spoken to all on the floor recently and informed all of Isro’s decision of pulling out of the mission”. TeamIndus did not respond to questions sent by email. Without denying the news, a spokesperson for the company said, “As a company, we’d not comment on this”.

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Lunar rover (Credit: TeamIndus)

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

The clock is ticking for the remaining teams in the $30 million Google Lunar X Prize competition.

Barring another extension, they have until March 31 to land a vehicle on moon and travel 500 meters across it to claim the $20 million first prize or $5 million second prize. It’s not clear whether any of them will make the deadline.

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BLOOMINGTON, Minnesota, December 22, 2017 (BIS Research PR) — According to a market intelligence report by BIS Research titled “Global Small Satellites Market, Analysis & Forecast, 2017-2021“, the global market is expected to reach $10.10 billion by 2021, growing at a CAGR of 31.9% during the forecast period, 2017 – 2021. In the recent years, small satellites have gained traction owing to the significant mass reduction in the subsystems and components along with higher cost-efficiency. The interest in small satellites has increased significantly during the last few years. Over the past decade, nearly $2.5 billion has been invested in small satellites, of which half of the amount was generated in the last two to three years.

Browse 21 Market Data Tables and 125 Figures spread through 266 Pages and in-depth TOC on “Global Small Satellites Market”

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Video Caption: This video show the process of Winding a rocket propellant tanks with a carbon-composite filament winder entirely built ( hardware and software) by Interorbital Systems (IOS).

Interorbital Rolls out NEPTUNE CPM 2.0 Test Rocket! Successfully conducts water-flow test 10/16/17 pic.twitter.com/NszpNVFPcK — Randa Milliron (@interorbital) October 17, 2017

NEPTUNE 1 GTV  (Credit: Interorbital Systems)

MOJAVE, Calif., July 25, 2017 (Interorbital PR)—The Interorbital team is nearing the completion of its N1 GTV launch vehicle which incorporates IOS’ new high-efficiency CPM 2.0 filament-wound tank assembly, its new rocket engine gimballing system, its new CPM controller, and its new in-house developed guidance system. This finless, single CPM launch vehicle will be used in an upcoming low-altitude test flight. Eleven commercial and educational CubeSat and TubeSat payloads are manifested on this flight.

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SpaceIL lander (Credit: SpaceIL)

It looks as if Team SpaceIL is out of the $30 million Google Lunar XPrize.

Quartz reports the Israeli team will not be able to launch its lander/rover to the moon aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 booster until some time next year — too late to meet the end-of-2017 deadline required to win the prize.

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