NewSpace News: Issue #100

October 2013

Thanks to your continued readership, the NewSpace News has reached 100 issues! We've been covering the NewSpace Industry since 2005, and we thought it would be fun to summarize some of the top stories that have occurred since our first issue. Enjoy!

Issue #1 - Spaceport America Begins Construction
Issue #15 - SpaceX, Rocketplane Win $485 million through COTS
Issue #16 - Anousheh Ansari Pays $20 Million to Fly to ISS
Issue #17 - Sneak Peak Inside SpaceShipTwo
Issue #18 - Blue Origin Blasts Off
Issue #22 - Bigelow Aerospaces's Genesis II Shipped to Russia
Issue #26 - Northrop Grumman Acquires Scaled Composites
Issue #27 - Google Announces $30 Million Lunar X-Prize
Issue #36 - Bigelow Aerospace Reaches 10,000 Orbits
Issue #43 - NASA Invests $3.5 Billion in Commercial Space
Issue #49 - Orbital Sciences Breaks Ground on New Launchpad
Issue #53 - Masten Space Systems Wins Lunar Lander Challenge
Issue #57 - Dreamchaser Lives
Issue #60 - SpaceX Defies the Odds
Issue #68 - Bigelow to Dock to ISS
Issue #80 - Breaking Ground (Stratolaunch facility in Mojave)
Issue #83 - Planetary Resources Announced
Issue #89 - Success Despite Failure (SpaceX COTS Delivery)
Issue #92 - Deep Space Industries Announced
Issue #93 - Inspiration Mars Declares Human Mission to Mars

We've indeed come a long way, and there is so many more new developments to look forward to. Ad Astra!

Orbital Sciences Corporation has successfully launched its Cygnus spacecraft and berthed it to the ISS, making Orbital the second company ever to ever do so. The spacecraft's development began in 2008 under NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation (COTS) program and has a carrying capacity of 2,000 kg in its standard configuration. Press Release by Orbital

SpaceX has successfully tested its new Falcon v1.1 launch vehicle and delivered Canada's CASSIOPE satellite and several secondary payloads into orbit. SpaceX has also tested the ability to soft land the rocket's first stage, but the second of two burn maneuvers could not be carried out because the segment went into a spin. Article by Space News

Boeing has completed the Mission Control Center Interface test, which is another milestone for its CST-100 program. With this, Boeing has completed half of its milestones (10 out of 20) that it established with NASA for Commercial Crew program. This was also the first time a commercial, crew-capable spacecraft was tested at the Mission Control Center at NASA Johnson Space Center. Boeing and Aerojet have also completed thruster firing tests for its crew capsule. Press Release by NASA

Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) has conducted hypersonic testing of its Dream Chaser spacecraft at NASA's Langley Research Center. The collected data will be used to design the thermal protection system of the vehicle to withstand the harsh conditions during atmospheric reentry. Press Release by NASA

Virgin Galactic has completed another powered flight test for its SpaceShipTwo suborbital spacecraft. This is the second time the vehicle rocketed across the sky with its hybrid rocket engines since the first time at end of April. Video by Virgin Galactic

The Office of Commercial Space Transportation of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has released a 50-page draft document that compiles the safety practices for future human spaceflight. This is the result of the FAA participating in the monthly conference calls with the Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee (COMSTAC) since last year. The FAA currently cannot regulate the industry until October 2015 based on the Commercial Space Launch Act of 2004, but it is taking proactive steps in preparation for commercial human spaceflights, such as Virgin Galactic's planned flights for passengers in 2014. Article by Space News

The first CASIS-funded experiments have been delivered to the ISS with the berthing of the Cygnus capsule. Among the experiments are three student projects from grades five to eleven. Student projects to space are becoming more common, and the destination is not limited to the ISS. For example, JP Aerospace will be launching ping pong-sized experiments built by St. Mary's High School students later in October. Press Release by CASIS and Blog Post by St. Mary's HS

Moon Express is collaborating with NASA Marshall Spaceflight Center to test its flight software using Marshall's "Mighty Eagle" prototype lander. The company has also added new members to its team. Dr. Paul Spudis from the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, TX has joined as the Chief Scientist, and Dr. Jack Burns, who is the director Lunar University Network for Astrophysics Research (LUNAR), has joined as the Science Advisory Board Chair. Press Releases by Moon Express

XCOR Aerospace and United Launch Alliance (ULA) have announced on reaching an important milestone for their liquid hydrogen engine program. XCOR  has successfully tested its liquid hydrogen piston pump, and the next step is to integrate the liquid hydrogen and oxygen pumps with the demonstration engine and test the assembly. Press Release by XCOR

The zero2infinity has launched and tested a stratospheric balloon system, named the microbloon 3.0, which is an inflatable, pressurized pod fabricated using the same material as Bigelow Aerospace's Genesis spacecraft. Press Release by zero2infinity

Swiss Space Systems (S3) has signed a contract with Spacepharma SA to launch a total of 28 small satellites starting in 2018. S3 has also announced to invest $16 million into CleanSpace One, which is a space debris removal satellite. Press Releases by S3

Dennis Wingo, Michael Belfiore, and Michael Listner share their respective NewSpace initiatives with Dr. David Livingston on The Space Show.

The Space Frontier Foundation (SFF) and Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) are proud to announce the Student NewSpace Business Plan Competition, which will take place on Nov. 8th during the SpaceVision 2013 Conference. The competition, featuring over $6800 in prizes including a cash Grand Prize of $1000, tasks students with proposing business plans for space industry or space-scalable businesses. This competition is open to all undergraduate and graduate students with an idea for a frontier-enabling business. Competitors will pitch their space business proposal to a panel of investors and NewSpace leaders and vie for the $1000 grand prize.

The Space Frontier Foundation has announced the date and location of the largest, richest, and most exciting NewSpace Business Plan Competition to date. The competition will be held on October 24th, 2013, and it will be hosted on the Stanford University campus by the Stanford Student Space Initiative in conjunction with the Space Frontier Foundation, NASA, ATK, and the Heinlein Prize Trust. The program will consist of 8 company presentations in the morning, a lunch keynote, and various speakers and industry sessions in the afternoon. Winners will be announced and awarded with cash prizes in the early evening, and this will be followed by a networking reception. The competition is free to attend, and you can register here.