Musk Wins Heilein Prize
SpaceX Founder and CEO Elon Musk has been awarded the Heinlein Prize for his contributions to the advancement of commercial space. Announcement at Heinlein Prize
CCDev 2 Progress
NASA has released on update on the progress of all four CCDev 2 competitors. This report has coincided with a report from Inspector General Paul Martin about the difficulties faced by NASA if they use commercial providers.The CCDev 2 companies have also released updates of their own:
SNC Completes Two CCDev Milestones
Dragon 2 Started Up For The First Time
Boeing Prepping for Preliminary Design Review
Thrill Of Victory
With SpaceShipTwo rapidly approaching completion, it is being subjected to increasingly rigorous testing, including two launches less than 24 hours apart. Leonard David at SPACE.com and Announcement at Virgin Galactic
Agony of Defeat
Orbital Sciences has had a stroke of bad luck this month with: a failed engine firing badly damaging their new Taurus 2 engine, NASA's suspension of contract payments after two failed launches, and the loss of their top lobbyist to rival SpaceX. Brian Berger at SpaceNews and Doug Messier at ParabolicArc
Jackpot!
United Launch Alliance has been awarded a $1 billion cost-plus-incentive-fee contract by the Department of Defense as part of their Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) Program. Doug Messier at ParabolicArc
Centrifuge In Space
Astrium and Nanoracks have announced a plan to launch a centrifuge for biology and life sciences gravitational research in space. This agreement comes just one week after NanoRacks received a seed round of funding. Press Releases at Nanoracks
Successful Failure
Copenhagen Suborbitals' June 1st launch was aborted mid-flight due to the rocket flying more horizontally than planned. Much of the craft was lost, but the team says a lot of important data was compiled making the flight well worth it, and consider the launch a success overall. Mike Wall at SPACE.com
Leading The Pack
Leading the pack of Google Lunar XPrize competitors, Astrobotic has now completed the structural assembly their lander. Doug Messier at ParabolicArc
Commercial Ion Propulsion
Aerojet has announced that they will provide ion propulsion to the world-wide commercial industry. News Release at Aerojet
James Cameron Flying To The Moon
Alan Boyle at Cosmic Log believes James Cameron is the person signed up for Space Adventures' circum-lunar flight scheduled for 2015. Cameron apparently plans to bring his 3D camera to film the entire experience.
Space Is More Than Just A Science Lab
Paul Spudis draws parallels between space exploration and the polar exploration of the early 1900's to dispel the myth that the only value of space is for science research. Posting by Paul Spudis at Air & Space Smithsonian
The Space Show
Robert Zimmerman, Robert Zubrin, and Marimikel Charrier discuss their respective NewSpace initiatives with Dr. David Livingston on The Space Show.
NewSpace 2011 Conference
Registration for the Space Frontier Foundation's annual NewSpace Conference is now open. NewSpace 2011: The Next Big Thing, being held at Ames July 28-31, will bring together leaders of the NewSpace industry and NASA to discuss the current state and business of NewSpace, potential government/commercial partnerships, and where we should go from here. NewSpace 2011 will also include a $25,000 first-prize Business Plan Competition.
SpaceVision 2011 Conference
SpaceVision is the largest student-organized conference in the nation focusing on space. Organized by the Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) as the SEDS-USA annual international conference, the conference is dedicated to facilitating networking between college students, professionals, and the public, furthering the development of the National Committee (SEDS-USA), and sharing ideas through interactive lectures and workshops. SpaceVision 2011 is expected to attract 300-500 students and professionals from across the country and around the world.
