The Crash
A Soyuz malfunctioned during a resupply mission to the ISS several weeks ago, and the Russians have recently determined the cause of the crash. A failed Soyuz launch has major implications for the ISS and NASA, since NASA is relying completely on the Russians for transport to and from the ISS. Luckily, the ISS is in no immediate danger, and NewSpace is here to save it. However, the ISS could be effectively shut down until November.
NASA Selects Seven For FOP
As part of their Flight Opportunities Program, NASA has chosen seven suborbital companies to send experiments into suborbit. Each company has received a two-year contract to integrate and fly indefinite number of payloads to the edge of space. Article at SPACE.com
GLXP Drama
A debate that has existed since the start of the Google Lunar XPrize has been brought back into the spotlight this month. Some teams have gotten fed up with the terms of the Master Team Agreement, which gives all media rights and most IP rights to the XPrize Foundation. Doug Messier at Parabolic Arc
Momentum Building
In the wake of the Shuttle's final flight, and the Soyuz failures, SpaceX is building more momentum than ever. They have released some updates on the Falcon 9/Heavy project and their progress on COTS, received the State's consent to launch from the Cape, and have starting to look for a third launch site. They have even made significant progress getting the DoD to launch with them!
Armadillo Says 'No' To NASA
Armadillo Aerospace had an unusual surge of media attention this month, starting with Founder John Carmack remarking that he wants nothing to do with NASA contracts. Armadillo later clarified Carmack's statements with this article. In other, unrelated Armadillo news, they have released a video of what a ride on their vehicle will look like, released an RFI for industry capability in making space suits for suborbit, and was one of the seven teams selected for NASA's Flight Opportunities Program.
Leading The Pack
Astrobotic is the leader in the GLXP, and despite MTA concerns from many of the competitors, they seem to be moving along at the usual pace. They have won an award from NASA to study lunar and martian lava tunnels, and have recently discussed their reasons for designing their lander to be so large, saying that it will give them an advantage over other teams.
SwRI Providing Payload Integration Services
The Southwest Research Institute has been selected to provide payload flight integration services to Virgin Galactic, XCOR Aerospace, and Masten Space Systems as part of the suborbital flight provider contracts recently awarded by NASA. Press Release at SwRI
Revolutionizing Rockets and Cars
A small, Mojave-based company called Firestar Technologies have developed a green rocket fuel system they call NOFBX. The fuel is low-cost and easy to produce, and could be a "game changing" technology that will make space exploration a lot cheaper. On the side, they have devised an exhaust system that doubles the fuel efficiency of a Prius. No big deal.
Japanese Interested In Bigelow
Bigelow has been in talks with the commercial Japanese Manned Space Systems Corporation (JAMSS) to provide them with an orbiting habitat. JAMSS is interested because the module could be used as an ISS storage unit, making the station less dependent on frequent resupply missions. Paul Marks at NewScientist
FAA Funds Spaceport Upgrades
The FAA has awarded matching-grants to three spaceports for projects that will upgrade their facilities, and help support the growing commercial space industry. Announcement at US Department of Transportation
Red Fish, Blue Fish
Virgin Galactic and XCOR Aerospace have a common goal and are leading competitors in the race to provide space tourism flights. However, they operate on totally different ends of the spectrum. Doug Messier at Parabolic Arc
Space Policy Explained
In this webisode of Rand Simberg's Space Policy Explained, our favorite bubble-headed space-debaters discuss Senator Hutchinson's recent Senate Launch System antics.
The Space Show
Jim Muncy, George Nield, and Jeff Manber discuss their respective NewSpace initiatives with Dr. David Livingston on The Space Show.
NewSpace 2011 Archives
If you missed out on NewSpace 2011, check out Clark Lindsey's compilation of videos and articles (main link). Also, take a look through SpaceVidCast's YouTube channel, where videos of the talks have been uploaded. The Space Frontier Foundation's Flickr account has also been updated with hundreds of photos from the conference.
World Space Week
World Space Week is an international celebration of science and technology, and their contribution to the betterment of the human condition. The United Nations General Assembly declared in 1999 that World Space Week will be held each year from October 4-10.
VLAB Event
VLAB is being hosted in Silicon Valley on September 20th. The event will feature a panel with Will Pomerantz, Bob Richards, Jeff Manber, and moderated by Amaresh Kollipara. The event will answer questions such as how can entrepreneurs successfully launch new ventures in the space industry? Who will fund highly front-loaded capital requirements? And, what business models are effective?
