NewSpace News: Issue #103

January 2014

Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) has completed another milestone for its Commercial Crew Development Round 2 (CCDev2). Despite an anomaly during the testing program, SNC completed the Integrated Safety Review for its Dream Chaser spacecraft. Up to this point, SNC has completed 6 out of 12 milestones and has 1 awaiting NASA acceptance. Press Release by NASA and Article by Parabolic Arc

Planet Labs has raised $52 million in Series B financing. Some of the new investors include Yuri Milner, Industry Ventures, and Felicis Ventures. Planet Labs has recently succeeded in launching Dove-3 and 4 into orbit, and they will soon be launching Flock 1, which is their first fleet of 28 satellites, from the International Space Station. Blog Entry by Planet Labs

Blue Origin has reached a key milestone in the development of the BE-3 engine. The hydrogen- and oxygen-fueled engine was tested to demonstrate deep throttle, full power, long duration, and restart. The re-ignition is part of their reusable rocket development, similar to SpaceX's Grasshopper program. Press Release and Video by Blue Origin

NASA has selected SpaceX to use and operate Launch Complex (LC) 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. NASA's competitive process for the use of LC-39A was disputed by Blue Origin, but the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) disagreed and denied the protest. Press Release by NASA

Aerojet Rocketdyne has completed the testing of the abort engines for Boeing's CST-100 spacecraft. Boeing is one of the companies developing a manned spacecraft in partnership with NASA in the commercial crew program. Up to this point, Boeing has completed 13 out of 20 milestones and has 2 more awaiting NASA Acceptance. Press Release by Aerojet Rocketdyne and Article by Parabolic Arc

The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) has announced its partnership with Angelus Funding. The members of Angelus Funding span the finance, technology, and legal industries, and they will aid CASIS to identify and possibly fund new commercial projects to the International Space Station (ISS). Similarly, Space Angels Network has announced the sponsorship from Spaceflight Inc. to provide launch services consultation for free in order to encourage new small-satellite startups. In this partnership, Spaceflight will be the preferred launch service provider for small payloads to orbit. Press Releases by CASIS and Space Angels Network

Mars One has contracted with Lockheed Martin and Surrey Satellite (SSTL) to perform mission concept studies for a 2018 robotic mission to Mars. The two companies are also the lead suppliers for the robotic lander and communications satellite, respectively. This will serve as the precursor mission and technology demonstration before they send humans to the planet, and to fund this effort, they have launched a crowdfunding campaign. Mars One has also selected their initial 1,058 candidates from a pool of applicants of over 200,000, who will be going through a more rigorous selection process this year. Press Releases by Mars One

Golden Spike has partnered with Honeybee Robotics to design robotic rovers for a lunar sample return mission. Golden Spike plans to send manned missions to the Moon as a commercial company, and the robotic missions will serve as technology demonstrators and precursor missions before sending humans. Press Release by Golden Spike

Moon Express (ME) has unveiled its MX-1 lunar lander. It is a single-stage spacecraft that can deliver payloads to the surface of the moon from a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO). ME has also announced the addition of Michael Sims as the Vice President, Software and Chief Robotics Officer. Press Releases by Moon Express

Swiss Space Systems (S3) has established a daughter company in Spain. The new company, S3-Spain, is an "Association of Partners" formed by S3, Elecnor, Sener, and Aernnova Engineering, and it targets to strengthen its network in the country and increase its presence. The new structure will allow the partners to coordinate its efforts and continue the engineering development of S3's suborbital rocket. S3 has also announced that it will have an exhibit at the Sochi Olympics to represent Switzerland. Press Releases by S3

Dr. Sara Seager, Dr. Paul Spudis, and Dr. Dava Newman share their respective NewSpace initiatives with Dr. David Livingston on The Space Show.