Good News from Washington 

After the recent election, there is a strong possibility that Obama's previous space policy, which the Foundation thinks will advance the cause of settlement, will continue. However, that depends on whether President Obama retains Charlie Bolden as NASA administrator, and whether the President will want to spend any political capital on the issue of space. In other policy news, the House has approved the launch liability extension, giving the commercial industry one less handicap against international competition. Representative Lamar Smith was also chosen as the new House Science Committee Chair. Rep. Smith has historically been less supportive of NewSpace than other Chair contenders such as Rep. Dana Rohrabacher. We will be watching what happens in the future from the Science Committee. Mark K. Matthews at Orlando Sentinel, Marcia S. Smith at Space Policy Online, and Press Release at House Science Committee

Let Our Powers Combine!
Google Lunar XPrize (GLXP) competitors Odyssey Moon and SpaceIL have teamed up, making them a clear favorite in the race to the Moon. In other GLXP news, Astrobotic is building a new headquarters, and the XPrize Foundation has released a video recap of the GLXP Team Summit. Press Releases at GLXP and Astrobotic, and Video at Youtube

More Than Meets the Eye
It turns out SpaceX had more anomalies than just the engine shutdown during their cargo resupply mission to the ISS. Because the investigation into these anomalies is ongoing, SpaceX must delay their next cargo resupply mission. On other fronts, SpaceX is moving ahead at full-speed, completing their third CCiCap milestone, a brief flight of their new Grasshopper vehicle, and buying more land in Texas. Marcia S. Smith at Space Policy Online, James Dean at Florida Today, Press Release at NASA, Update at SpaceX, and Emma Perez-Trevino at The Brownsville Herald

The Tables Have Turned
After SpaceX beat Orbital Sciences to the International Space Station as part of the COTS program, no one would have expected Orbital to replace SpaceX as a contractor for Stratolaunch. SpaceX has apparently decided that some of the new Stratolaunch design changes deviate too far from the Falcon derivative vehicle originally envisioned by SpaceX. Zach Rosenberg at Flight Global

TRL: Now!
Reaction Engines says that the key technologies for their Sabre engine is in place and they are ready to begin construction. Reaction Engines plans to provide Mach 5 Point-to-Point flights that can fly halfway around the world in under 4 hours, taking off and landing on a runway, using a single-stage engine. Press Release and Project Description at Reaction Engines

Deja Vu
Armadillo Aerospace have flown their STIG-B rocket again, and aborted again. This is reminiscent of another STIG-B test in early October, where they also aborted. Although this is undeniably a setback for the Texas start-up, they are far from defeated. Doug Messier at Parabolic Arc

Filling in the Details
XCOR Aerospace has contracted Alliant Techsystems (ATK) for the detailed design and manufacture of the Lynx Mark I suborbital reusable launch vehicle wings and control surfaces. Press Release at XCOR

Farewell Spaceship Company
Well, not really. Virgin Galactic (VG) owner Richard Branson has announced that he will be changing the name of the Spaceship Company to bring it under the VG brand. In related news, VG has partnered with Huntsville-based Zero Point Frontier Corp. in the development of the LauncherOne rocket, which will air-launch satellites into orbit. Press Release at VG and Lee Roop at AL.com

Changing Times
The FAA has made several new appointments to their Advisory Panel. Most notably, the President of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, Michael Lopez-Alegria, has been appointed as Vice-Chair of the panel. Update at FAA

Welcome to the 21st Century
Boeing and NASA have signed a public-private partnership deal to transform a former Shuttle processing facility into a manufacturing facility for Boeing's CST-100 vehicle. Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana has explained that he hopes this deal will serve as a model for converting other old NASA facilities into modern commercial infrastructure. Press Release at NASA

Call Off the Trustbusters
After several months of review by the Federal Trade Commission, the MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA) acquisition of Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) has been given the go-ahead to close the deal. Press Release at MDA

Best of What's New
Every year, Popular Science releases their Best of What's New list, highlighting significant achievements in technology over the previous year. In this year's list, NASA, Tesla, and Red Bull Stratos have made the cut. Articles at Popular Science

Golden Spike
A mysterious company out of Colorado is making an announcement on December 6th about their plans to privately fly to the Moon in 2020. The group is headed by Dr. Alan Stern, but there seems to be little known about their financial backing, aside from a few unverified rumors. Doug Messier at Parabolic Arc

The Space Show
Dr. Alan Stern, Dr. George Sowers, and Jason Andrews share their respective NewSpace initiative with Dr. David Livingston on The Space Show.