Goodbye CCDev, Hello CCiCAP
NASA has announced that CCDev competitors have completed eight milestones in the last two months (see second headline in link). This has some people pretty excited. NASA also spoke with potential CCiCAP bidders, and released a Gantt chart showing their plans for transitioning from CCDev into CCiCAP and beyond.
Tick Tock
SpaceX has pushed the next launch of Dragon back to April, due to software issues. In the meantime, they have tested their SuperDraco abort rocket, added two commercial satellites to their launch manifest, and outlined their plans for fully reusable Falcon rockets.
The Magnificent Mr. Masten
Dave Masten and his crew in Mojave have completed several tests this month - and have videos of it all. The tests began with Xaero's un-tethered hover test (main link), followed by Xombie's demonstration of Draper Laboratory's GENIE software, and concluded with a 61m flight by Xaero.
Moving Up
XCOR Aerospace has had a strong month with the expansion of their payload processing network (main link) and a $5 million round of capital investment. The Southwest Research Institute also moved their experiment flights up to be part of XCOR's Lynx test flight program.
Variable Gravity
Astrium North America and NanoRacks have teamed up and built a centrifuge for use in the ISS. Once brought to the ISS by NASA, the centrifuge will be used for molecular and cellular research on plant and animal tissues in varying gravity fields. Virgin Galactic likes what they see, and has chosen NanoRacks for SpaceShipTwo research.
Coming Soon To A Spaceport Near You
Virgin Galactic has scheduled a powered SpaceShipTwo flight for this summer. With a second carrier plane and suborbital craft under construction, and 16 SpaceShipTwo glide tests already completed, Virgin seems to be on the home stretch.
Little Lander, Big Profits
Astrobotic, the current GLXP leader in evadot's ranking, is projecting $70 million in profits from their GLXP endeavors. This means they may choose to pass on the prize money if they do not like the media and IP rights in the team agreement.
New Suborbital Coalition
The Commercial Spaceflight Federation has announced the creation of a new coalition that will bring suborbital spaceflight to students, teachers, researchers, and companies across the country.
Less Regulation, More NewSpace
The FAA has decided to extend their Moratorium on commercial crew regulation until 2015. This means fewer hurdles for NewSpace start-ups, and more rapid settlement of space for us all.
Dragon Panorama
SpaceX has released an interactive, full-view panorama of the inside of their Dragon capsule. If there is one thing that SpaceX has mastered, it is getting people psyched.
Dr. Evil's Moon Base
Last month we reported on Gingrich's speech during the Republican primary. Some may disagree with Gingrich on just about everything - some may even consider him evil - but no space enthusiast should ever disagree with his vision for space. If you are not convinced, here are some responses from Rick Tumlinson, Dave Masten, and Alan Boyle.
Playboy In Space
Yup, that's right. A Playboy play-place in space. Everything from a low-gravity dance club, to fine dining, to "human roulette." Playboy even brought in a team of futurists and scientists, along with VG head designer Adam Wells, to dream up the first truly out-of-this-world party.
The Space Show
Jim Muncy, Dennis Wingo, and Dr. Alan Stern share their respective NewSpace initiatives with Dr. David Livingston on The Space Show.
NewSpace 2012 Conference
The NewSpace 2012 Conference may be months away, but the conference team is already hard-at-work to bring you the best NewSpace Conference yet. Lori Garver has been confirmed to give a keynote address, and the Business Plan Competition will have $110,000 in prizes. Buy your tickets now!
BIL Conference
Ever heard of the TED conference? Well, how about the quirky, populist BIL unconference happening nearby? BIL stands for Brilliance. Inspiration. Life. and will be taking place in Long Beach California March 2nd-4th 2012. The unconference will be hosting a wide array of space speakers including Rick Tumlinson, Will Pomerantz, Barney Pell, and George and Loretta Whitesides.
Note from the Editor There was an error in February's NewSpace News. In the "Time Will Tell" blurb, the United Launch Alliance (ULA) was confused with the United Space Alliance (USA) in one of the articles. ULA has NOT been ordered to stop pursuing business - USA has. ULA is alive and well.
