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http://moonandback.com/2013/03/05/this-isnt-sci-fi/ Wild fire at night photo
Commercial crew program threatened by budget cuts
BY STEPHEN CLARK
SPACEFLIGHT NOW
Posted: February 23, 2013
4
Automatic spending cuts due to go into effect March 1 would likely extend U.S. reliance on Russia for human spaceflight, delay development of badly-needed next-generation weather satellites, and force a reduction in radar scans searching for space debris, according to Obama administration officials.
Artist's concept of Boeing's CST-100 commercial crew spacecraft. Credit: Boeing
That's if Congress and the White House don't act to avoid the across-the-board cuts, which will be automatically triggered at the end of next week without a compromise on how to deal with the federal government's budget deficit.
NASA would lose about $894 million from its current budget outlook in the period between March 1 and Sept. 30, the end of fiscal year 2013.
According to a letter to the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee from NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, the space agency's commercial crew program would suffer the brunt of the budget cuts.
By the second half of 2013, NASA says it will be unable to make payments to companies working on private spaceships under the agency's commercial crew program.
"Overall availability of commercial crew transportation services would be significantly delayed, thereby extending our reliance on foreign providers for crew transportation to the International Space Station," Bolden wrote in a letter to Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
NASA has public-private partnership agreements with Boeing Co., SpaceX and Sierra Nevada Corp. to fund the design and testing of commercial spacecraft designed to carry astronauts to the space station. NASA makes payments to the companies upon completion of predetermined development milestones.
Until a commercial provider becomes operational, which NASA projects by 2017, U.S. astronauts will ride Russian Soyuz spacecraft while voyaging to the space station and back to Earth.
Bolden wrote the automatic cuts, known as sequestration, could cause launch delays for NASA's scientific research satellites and potential cancellations of space technology projects, such as advanced communications, radiation protection, nuclear systems and other fields.
The White House and Congress agreed on the sequestration plan in 2011 as part of a compromise to raise the federal government's debt limit. Sequestration was meant to be a "poison pill" to compel leaders in both parties to reach an agreement to rein in the budget deficit.
But lawmakers could not come to a resolution, and Congress reached a deal Jan. 1 to put off the spending cuts for two months and extend current income tax rates for individuals earning less than $400,000 and households earning less than $450,000.
Sequestration was originally set to go into effect at the beginning of 2013. It impacts all federal discretionary spending, slashing 8.2 percent annually from non-defense government agencies and 9.4 percent from military programs.
Unless Congress and the Obama administration agree on targeted budget cuts - sparing some programs and still hitting others - every corner of the government's military, research and regulatory apparatus will see their funding reduced.
Artist's concept of next-generation GOES weather satellites. Credit: NOAA
NOAA's next-generation geostationary weather observatories, currently scheduled for launch in 2015 and 2017, would face a delay of two or three years if the automatic budget cuts take effect and stay in place.
"This delay would increase the risk of a gap in satellite coverage and diminish the quality of weather forecasts and warnings," said Rebecca Blank, acting Secretary of Commerce.
Defense Department officials say sequestration would be devastating to the military, predicting thousands of furloughs and decreased combat readiness.
Air Force Space Command announced Feb. 8 it would reduce some missile warning and space surveillance operations.
Gen. Mark Welsh, Air Force chief of staff, told a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee on Feb. 13 that Space Command would curtail observations using secondary radars to monitor for missile attacks and track objects in orbit.
The Air Force uses satellites and a network of ground-based radars for the early warning and surveillance tasks.
"We don't have as much redundancy now in the system and we don't have as much capacity to track objects in orbit," Welsh said.
Even if sequestration takes hold, it could be short-lived. The government's current budget resolution runs out March 27, and Congress must pass another budget by then to avoid a government shutdown. The new budget could include deficit reductions directed at specific programs, instead of across-the-board cuts.
SPACE TRAVEL
NASA Awards Commercial Crew Certification Contracts
by Candrea Thomas for Kennedy Space Center
Cape Canaveral FL (SPX) Dec 14, 2012
This artist concept shows the Sierra Nevada Corp. (SNC) Space Systems Dream Chaser spacecraft attached to the International Space Station. Image credit: SNC. For a larger version of this image please go here.
NASA announced Dec. 10 the next step in its plan to launch American astronauts from U.S. soil, selecting three companies to conduct activities under contracts that will enable future certification of commercial spacecraft as safe to carry humans to the International Space Station.
Advances made by these American companies during the first contract phase known as the certification products contracts (CPC) will begin the process of ensuring integrated crew transportation systems will meet agency safety requirements and standards to launch American astronauts to the International Space Station from the United States, ending the agency's reliance on Russia for these transportation services.
The second phase of certification will result in a separately competed contract.
CPC contractors are:
+ The Boeing Company, Houston, $9,993,000
+ Sierra Nevada Corporation Space System, Louisville, Colo., $10,000,000
+ Space Exploration technologies Corp., Hawthorne, Calif., $9,589,525
"These contracts represent important progress in restoring human spaceflight capabilities to the United States," said Phil McAlister, director of the Commercial Spaceflight Development Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
"NASA and its industry partners are committed to the goal of safely and cost-effectively launching astronauts from home within the next five years."
During the Phase 1 CPC contracts, from Jan. 22, 2013 through May 30, 2014, the companies will work with NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP) to discuss and develop products to implement the agency's flight safety and performance requirements.
This includes implementation across all aspects of the space system, including the spacecraft, launch vehicle, and ground and mission operations.
Under the contract, a certification plan will be developed to achieve safe, crewed missions to the space station. This includes data that will result in developing engineering standards, tests and analyses of the crew transportation systems design.
"I congratulate the three companies for their selection," said Ed Mango, CCP manager at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. "This is the program's first major, fixed-price contract. The effort will bring space system designs within NASA's safety and performance expectations for future flights to the International Space Station."
The second phase of the certification contract, expected to begin in mid-2014, will involve a full and open competition. It will include the final development, testing and verifications necessary to allow crewed demonstration flights to the space station.
NASA is facilitating the development of U.S. commercial crew space transportation capabilities with the goal of achieving safe, reliable and cost-effective access to and from low-Earth orbit for potential future government and commercial customers.
While NASA works with U.S. industry partners to develop these capabilities, the agency also is developing the Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System (SLS), a crew capsule and heavy-lift rocket to provide an entirely new capability for human exploration.
Designed to be flexible for launching spacecraft for crew and cargo missions, SLS and Orion will expand human presence beyond low-Earth orbit and enable new missions of exploration in the solar system
Virgin Galactic Selects Sim Platform for Spaceship Command Training
ORLANDO, Fla. — Virgin Galactic will use an advanced real-time image generator to train pilots on spaceship equipment and command. Quantum3D, Inc., a leading provider of visual computing solutions for government and commercial applications, today announced Virgin Galactic, the world’s first commercial spaceline, has ordered Quantum3D’s six-channel Independence® IDX 7000 image generator.
“Our first priority in sub-orbital space exploration is safety, and by leveraging Quantum3D’s IDX 7000 with the most advanced image generation, we are giving our pilots the best training available for space exploration,” said Keith Colmer, senior test pilot, Virgin Galactic. “Quantum3D created an impressive high quality database, including imagery of our spaceship models, buildings, hangars, and spaceport to provide the most realistic simulation possible for our pilots, which will assist in creating a space program to support flying almost anyone to space and back safely.”
The IDX 7000 offers enhanced performance and capabilities to deliver Virgin Galactic a versatile and powerful simulation and training platform that can be setup in a dedicated room or easily transported, to meet a range of onsite, on-location and mobile training needs. Combined with Mantis® shader-based real-time scene management software with geo-specific, worldwide synthetic environments, Virgin Galactic will be able to train their pilots in a variety of simulations, from instrument/cockpit familiarization to a full range of special effects, sensors, weather, and lighting, along with mission-critical functions such as height-above-terrain and line-of-sight intersection testing.
“Virgin Galactic is on the cusp of a new frontier – making sub-orbital space accessibility a reality,” said Wade Guindy, president, Quantum3D. “We are proud to have Virgin Galactic using our IDX 7000 image generator and Mantis software to train their pilots for the future of consumer space travel.”
amazing. looks a bit like the grand canyon with a layer of dust.
Hey we can put you to work on these boards too. lol
Problem is very few people on Ihub care about Space flight. Most of us have our own websites now outside of Ihub. This fall after rehab work is done I'm going to bring Lagrange City on-line. No more pennt stocks just football and Lagrange City.
A lot of people will be moving their personal sites to Lagrange City.
I'm sure we can find a place for you if you're interested.
i got 'volunteered ' to woik on the space and astronomy news board.
am posting lots of links in that ibox. feel free to grab some as i have been stealing them left and right from everyone.
paper on the lunar magnetic 'field'
http://www-spc.igpp.ucla.edu/personnel/russell/papers/Lunar/
http://www.spacex.com/updates.php Draco test fire video cool very cool
http://news.yahoo.com/tinkode-hacker-suspect-arrested-nasa-government-attacks-201805460.html
....'TinKode' Hacker Suspect Arrested for NASA, Government Attacks
By Matt Liebowitz, SecurityNewsDaily Staff Writer
Space.com | SPACE.com – 1 hr 30 mins ago....Email
Share0Print......Romanian police have arrested a man believed to be TinKode, the notorious hacker responsible for several daring, high-profile cyberattacks, including last year's breach of NASA's servers.
Razvan Manole Cernaianu, 20, from Timisoara, is accused of breaking into the websites of the Pentagon and other U.S. government agencies, and posting information stolen from the sites to his personal blog, the Romanian Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorist (DIICOT) said in a press release.
Cernaianu first drew international attention when he tapped into a computer server at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center last April and posted a screen grab of what he said was an FTP server containing files connected to confidential satellite data. [NASA Computer Hacked, Satellite Data Accessed]
TinKode also famously hacked into the websites of the British Royal Navy, the European Space Agency and MySQL, the latter of which he compromised by, ironically, exploiting an SQL injection flaw.
Along with his network intrusions, police said Cernaianu, reportedly an IT student, designed a hacking program, which he put up for sale on his blog, and posted a video on the blog showing the cyberattacks he carried out against official U.S. government sites.
This story was provided by SecurityNewsDaily, a sister siste of SPACE.com. You can follow SecurityNewsDaily on Twitter @Security_SND and on Facebook.
Commercial Spaceflight Federation Lauds NASA for Decision on Commercial Crew Program
By Alex Saltman, December 15th 2011
NASA’s Decision to Use More Efficient Space Act Agreements Will Shorten the Gap, Create Jobs, and Reduce Dependence on Russia
Washington, DC, Thursday, December 15, 2011 – The Commercial Spaceflight Federation congratulates NASA on the space agency’s important decision, announced today, to continue to use Space Act Agreements for the Commercial Crew Development Program. This decision will shorten the gap in U.S. access to space, help spur additional private investment, reduce America’s dependence on Russia, save taxpayer money, ensure the future of the International Space Station, and increase industry competition. Now that the Space Shuttle has retired, the Commercial Crew Program is the fastest way for America to regain our domestic access to space.
“Space Act Agreements are a proven way to get rapid, cost-effective results and will help ensure that the Commercial Crew Program is a success,” said CSF Executive Director Alex Saltman. “Space Act Agreements were used in the previous rounds of the Commercial Crew program, as well as the COTS Cargo Program. A NASA cost study has shown that the COTS Cargo development program, using Space Act Agreements, has been successful for a fraction of what a traditionally run program would have cost.”
“Competition is the key to the Commercial Crew Program, and we are pleased to see that NASA is continuing to promote competition, as recommended by the Government Accountability Office in a report released today.”
“This decision maximizes NASA’s bang-for-the-buck and brings America one big step closer to replacing the Space Shuttle with safe, reliable, and affordable commercial transportation to low-Earth orbit. The commercial crew program is an exciting partnership between commercial companies and NASA to combine innovative ideas and new investment from the private sector with NASA’s deep experience in human spaceflight.”
Today’s decision by NASA to continue using Space Act Agreements is supported by the results of previous programs. All recent NASA and Air Force launch vehicle development programs that have resulted in flights to orbit have used similar milestone-based agreements, rather than traditional contracts, for system development.
In June 2011, the CSF released a public white paper titled, “Commercial Spaceflight Federation Supports Use of Space Act Agreements (SAAs) for Next Phase of NASA’s Commercial Crew Development Program,” stating, “SAAs are the best means for NASA to support commercial development of systems to transport crew and cargo to the Space Station.”
About the Commercial Spaceflight Federation
The mission of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation (CSF) is to promote the development of commercial human spaceflight, pursue ever-higher levels of safety, and share best practices and expertise throughout the industry. The CSF’s member companies – which include commercial spaceflight developers, operators, spaceports, suppliers and service providers – are creating thousands of high-tech jobs nationwide, working to preserve American leadership in aerospace through technology innovation, and inspiring young people to pursue careers in science and engineering. For more information please visit www.commercialspaceflight.org or contact Executive Director Alexander Saltman at saltman@commercialspaceflight.org or at 202.349.1121.
http://www.spacenews.com/venture_space/110930-bigelow-downsizes.html Bigelow staff reduction What a shame a sign of the times
FTL - wheeeeee Star Trek here we come!!!!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44629271/ns/technology_and_science-science/?gt1=43001#.Tnw2UHNMcWw
By Frank Jordans and Seth Borenstein
updated 9/22/2011 5:40:39 PM ET
GENEVA — A pillar of physics — that nothing can go faster than the speed of light — appears to be smashed by an oddball subatomic particle that has apparently made a giant end run around Albert Einstein's theories.
Scientists at the world's largest physics lab said Thursday they have clocked neutrinos traveling faster than light. That's something that according to Einstein's 1905 special theory of relativity — the famous E (equals) mc2 equation — just doesn't happen.
"The feeling that most people have is this can't be right, this can't be real," said James Gillies, a spokesman for the European Organization for Nuclear Research. The organization, known as CERN, hosted part of the experiment, which is unrelated to the massive $10 billion Large Hadron Collider also located at the site.
Gillies told The Associated Press that the readings have so astounded researchers that they are asking others to independently verify the measurements before claiming an actual discovery.
AP
This undated file photo shows famed physicist Albert Einstein, whose special theory of relativity —the famous E (equals) mc2 equation —could be at risk.
"They are inviting the broader physics community to look at what they've done and really scrutinize it in great detail, and ideally for someone elsewhere in the world to repeat the measurements," he said Thursday.
Scientists at the competing Fermilab in Chicago have promised to start such work immediately.
"It's a shock," said Fermilab head theoretician Stephen Parke, who was not part of the research in Geneva. "It's going to cause us problems, no doubt about that — if it's true."
The Chicago team had similar faster-than-light results in 2007, but those came with a giant margin of error that undercut its scientific significance.
Other outside scientists expressed skepticism at CERN's claim that the neutrinos — one of the strangest well-known particles in physics — were observed smashing past the cosmic speed barrier of 186,282 miles per second (299,792 kilometers per second).
Anja Niedringhaus / AP
The globe of the European Organization for Nuclear Research, CERN, is illuminated outside Geneva.
University of Maryland physics department Chairman Drew Baden called it "a flying carpet," something that was too fantastic to be believable.
CERN says a neutrino beam fired from a particle accelerator near Geneva to a lab 454 miles (730 kilometers) away in Italy traveled 60 nanoseconds faster than the speed of light. Scientists calculated the margin of error at just 10 nanoseconds, making the difference statistically significant. But given the enormous implications of the find, they still spent months checking and rechecking their results to make sure there were no flaws in the experiment.
"We have not found any instrumental effect that could explain the result of the measurement," said Antonio Ereditato, a physicist at the University of Bern, Switzerland, who was involved in the experiment known as OPERA.
The researchers are now looking to the United States and Japan to confirm the results.
More science news from MSNBC Tech & Science
K.U. Leuven Robots gear up for the farm
Future of Tech: For the past 10,000 years or so, farmers have been waking at the crack of dawn to tend their fields. Such a bleary-eyed chore could become a thing of the past thanks to robots geared-up for the farm.
Whales mingle as Northwest Passage ice melts
How DEET works: Study says it confuses insects
Before genocide, Bosnians suffered greatly
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A similar neutrino experiment at Fermilab near Chicago would be capable of running the tests, said Stavros Katsanevas, the deputy director of France's National Institute for Nuclear and Particle Physics Research. The institute collaborated with Italy's Gran Sasso National Laboratory for the experiment at CERN.
Katsanevas said help could also come from the T2K experiment in Japan, though that is currently on hold after the country's devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
Scientists agree if the results are confirmed, that it would force a fundamental rethink of the laws of nature.
Einstein's special relativity theory that says energy equals mass times the speed of light squared underlies "pretty much everything in modern physics," said John Ellis, a theoretical physicist at CERN who was not involved in the experiment. "It has worked perfectly up until now."
He cautioned that the neutrino researchers would have to explain why similar results weren't detected before.
"This would be such a sensational discovery if it were true that one has to treat it extremely carefully," said Ellis.
http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20110826/NEWS02/108260322/We-need-heavy-lift-rocket-details-now-lawmakers-tell-NASA?odyssey=obinsite Lawmakers demand update on heavy lift programs
http://space.flatoday.net/2011/08/faa-approves-launch-of-orbitals-demo.html Cargo Flights ISS Trial Runs scheduled
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44329389/ns/technology_and_science-space/ cargo Transport for the ISS
http://www.spacex.com/updates.php Update on the ISS PROJECT
http://www.xcor.com/index.html XCor Update page here
http://www.commercialspaceflight.org/?p=1565 Nice Update and awards proof the space race will continue
x7 flare overnight.
http://www.commercialspaceflight.org/ Awesome future
http://www.theraceison.co.uk/blog/index.php/2011/04/18/is-virgin-galactic-incredible-or-mundane/Personally I think the prospects going foward here are endless, I would love to go up someday.
http://www.spaceweather.com/
ELECTRON WARNING: Analysts at the GSFC Space Weather Lab report elevated levels of
energetic electrons around Earth. ("GOES 13 > 0.8 MeV integral electron flux is
above 105 pfu." ) This is caused by the high-speed solar stream now blowing around
our planet. Spacecraft with orbits passing through or in the vicinity of the Earth's
outer radiation belt could be affected by these charged particles.
http://www.commercialspaceflight.org/?p=1559 SHUTTLE Legacy and Welcome to New commerical Spaceflight
http://sncorp.com/news/press/pr11/snc_dream_nasa_team.shtml News Out Folks
http://www.comspacewatch.com/ News source for us all
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/43211040#43211040 We are featured on MSNBC //Great piece
nasa says expect communication and power disruptions over the next few days
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110607/ts_alt_afp/usspaceweather
watch the video on spaceweather.com. this one is a beaut.
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U.K. spaceplane passes technical review
disclaimer: image is for illustration purposes only
by Staff Writers
London (UPI) May 24, 2011
A proposed British space plane that would function as a rocket but operate from runways like an airliner has passed an important technical review, experts said.
Propulsion experts from the European Space Agency have assessed the proposed Skylon vehicle's engines and declared the proposal technically sound, the BBC reported Tuesday.
"ESA has not identified any critical topics that would prevent a successful development of the engine," they said in their review.
The next step in development of the Skylon should include a ground demonstration of its Sabre engine, a key innovation designed to operate on oxygen from the air like an aircraft jet engine in the early stage of flight before switching to full rocket mode as the vehicle climbs out of the atmosphere.
Skylon's "single-stage-to-orbit" operation and re-usability could substantially reduce the cost of space missions, its backers at a company called Reaction Engines Limited said.
Development of the U.K. space plane concept has been under way for almost 30 years, as an evolution of a concept first put forward by British Aerospace and Rolls Royce in the 1980s.
http://www.commercialspaceflight.org/?p=1541 NASTAR NEWS UPDATE
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=33576 NASA reports first commercial payloads today
http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/73441 US Airforce looking at our Private space launch systems
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Washington, D.C. – The Commercial Spaceflight Federation is pleased to announce that the Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference (NSRC) held in Orlando, Florida, this week set records for the number of presentations, sponsors and attendees. The annual conference brings the research and education communities together with suborbital vehicle providers and government funding agencies to explore the [...] Washington, D.C. – The Commercial Spaceflight Federation is pleased to announce that the Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference (NSRC) held in Orlando, Florida, this week set records for the number of presentations, sponsors and attendees. The annual conference brings the research and education communities together with suborbital vehicle providers and government funding agencies to explore the exciting new era of suborbital spaceflight. CSF is a proud co-sponsor of the event, which was attended by about 350 people. NSRC organizing chairman Dr. Alan Stern of Southwest Research Institute stated, “When we first conceived the idea for NSRC, many people were skeptical that such a meeting would generate much interest. Some even thought the research and education communities were simply not interested in suborbital science. But just as in 2010, people have voted with their feet and come to NSRC by the hundreds. And once again we heard an amazing variety of proposals to exploit the capabilities of next-gen suborbital spaceflight — in fact, the number of presentations by researchers and educators increased 40 percent over last year.” Stern added, “Clearly, many people are very interested in the capabilities that next-gen suborbital can provide to the research and education communities.” Bretton Alexander, president of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, stated, “The interest from researchers in these new commercial suborbital spacecraft was immediately apparent at this week’s Florida conference. The excitement in the air was contagious. It’s becoming increasingly clear that scientists and educators can’t wait to put payloads and experiments onboard these vehicles.” In addition to featuring more than 120 presentations spread among 20 technical sessions, this year’s NSRC also featured four discussion panels, a press conference, presentations or booths by 25 sponsors, and a public evening presentation by Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides. “This year’s NSRC, like 2010’s, has been a galvanizing event for both the suborbital industry and the space research and education communities, demonstrating that the level of researcher and educator interest in next-gen suborbital is dramatically growing,” added Stern. “In response to the high turnout at NSRC in Orlando, we are today announcing that NSRC-2012 will take place in the San Francisco area next February 27-29, and will be hosted by NASA Ames Research Center. I’m looking forward to that already!” About the Commercial Spaceflight Federation # # # |
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Washington, D.C. – The Commercial Spaceflight Federation welcomes the support of more than 50 former NASA astronauts, scientists, educators, and industry CEOs and leaders who sent a letter to Congress yesterday urging full funding of the Commercial Crew Program as critical to America’s leadership in space. Washington, D.C. – The Commercial Spaceflight Federation welcomes the support of more than 50 former NASA astronauts, scientists, educators, and industry CEOs and leaders who sent a letter to Congress yesterday urging full funding of the Commercial Crew Program as critical to America’s leadership in space. The letter states, “We are writing to urge you to fully fund NASA’s plan to use commercial companies to carry crew to the Space Station because it is critical to the health of the Nation’s human spaceflight efforts,” adding, “We include 14 former NASA astronauts, 5 former NASA senior executives, 13 educators and nonprofit leaders, and 24 space industry leaders from a wide variety of firms and institutions, both large and small.” The letter adds, “By hiring American businesses, NASA’s Commercial Crew to Space Station program also generates thousands of high tech American jobs across states ranging from Florida, to Alabama, to Texas, to California, to Virginia, to Colorado, to Nevada, and to Maryland, rather than sending these jobs overseas to Russia to build Soyuz capsules and rockets.” “It has been very gratifying to see the support for Commercial Crew from a broad cross-section of the community, ranging from former Apollo and Shuttle astronauts to scientists and former NASA Center Directors,” stated John Gedmark, Executive Director of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation. Notable signatories include former Apollo-era NASA astronauts such as Owen Garriott (Skylab 3, STS-9) and Rusty Schweickart (Apollo 9); former NASA Johnson Space Center Director Gerry Griffin, who also served as Deputy Director of NASA Kennedy Space Center and NASA Dryden Flight Research Center; former NASA Ames Center Director Scott Hubbard, who also served as a Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) member; former NASA Associate Administrator for Science Alan Stern; former FAA Associate Administrator Patti Grace Smith; and former Columbia Accident Investigation Board member John Logsdon. To view the full letter, please visit http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=1509 About the Commercial Spaceflight Federation # # # |
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Funded agreements announced for 8 to 17 flights on suborbital vehicles Funded agreements announced for 8 to 17 flights on suborbital vehicles Washington, D.C., Monday, February 28, 2011 – Three scientists, including a former NASA executive, will become some of the first scientists to fly on a commercial spacecraft — and they will fly multiple times — under the terms of two funded agreements announced between the nonprofit Southwest Research Institute and two commercial spacecraft providers, Virgin Galactic and XCOR Aerospace. The Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), a nonprofit research institute with annual revenue exceeding $500 million, will purchase a total of 8 to 17 scientific research flights on two vehicles – Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo and XCOR Aerospace’s Lynx Mark I – to fly both scientists and scientific payloads to the upper atmosphere and space. The scientists selected for the flights are Dr. Alan Stern, Dr. Dan Durda, and Dr. Cathy Olkin, and the science payloads will include biomedical, microgravity science, and astronomical imaging projects. All three scientists selected have trained for suborbital spaceflight aboard zero-G aircraft, in NASTAR centrifuges and aboard Starfighter F-104 jet fighters in the last year. Dr. Stern, the former head of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA, stated, “We at SwRI are very strong believers in the transformational power of commercial, next-generation suborbital vehicles to advance many kinds of research. We also believe that by putting scientists in space with their experiments, researchers can achieve better results at lower costs and a higher probability of success than with many old-style automated experiments.” George Whitesides, President and CEO of Virgin Galactic said, “This agreement signals the enormous scientific potential of the Virgin spaceflight system. Virgin Galactic will be able to offer researchers flights to space that are unprecedented in frequency and cost. Science flights will be an important growth area for the company in the years to come, building on the strong commercial success already demonstrated by deposits received from over 400 individuals for Virgin’s space experience.” XCOR Aerospace’s COO, Andrew Nelson, stated, “When someone issues a commercial contract with their own money, this means something,” and XCOR’s chief executive officer, Jeff Greason, added, “I look forward to the pioneering work this partnership will achieve.” Commercial Spaceflight Federation Executive Director John Gedmark added, “This is a historic moment for spaceflight — a scientific research institution is spending its own money to send its scientists to space. I expect that these scientists will be the first of many to fly to space commercially. As the scientific community realizes that they can put payloads and people into space at unprecedented low costs, the floodgates will open even wider.” Dr. Dan Durda, one of the Southwest Research Institute scientists selected to fly, said, “We’re another step closer to the era of routine ‘field work’ in space research. More and more researchers will soon fly with their own experiments in space, and do it regularly enough to allow the important advances that come with iterative investigations. I’m looking forward to that future and helping it become a reality.” The announcements come as more than 300 scientists, educators, engineers, and students are registered to attend the Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference which began today in Orlando, Florida at the University of Central Florida, to discuss the topic of scientific applications of commercial suborbital spacecraft. The conference runs through March 2nd. About the Commercial Spaceflight Federation The mission of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation (CSF) is to promote the development of commercial human spaceflight, pursue ever-higher levels of safety, and share best practices and expertise throughout the industry. The Commercial Spaceflight Federation’s member companies, which include commercial spaceflight developers, operators, spaceports, suppliers, and service providers, are creating thousands of high-tech jobs nationwide, working to preserve American leadership in aerospace through technology innovation, and inspiring young people to pursue careers in science and engineering. For more information please visit www.commercialspaceflight.org or contact Executive Director John Gedmark at john@commercialspaceflight.org or at 202.349.1121. # # #
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The 2011 Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference begins today in Orlando, Florida. The conference promises to be a watershed gathering for researchers, educators, and industry/government, as a forum to discuss utilizing new commercial suborbital vehicles for research and education. The 2011 Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference begins today in Orlando, Florida. The conference promises to be a watershed gathering for researchers, educators, and industry/government, as a forum to discuss utilizing new commercial suborbital vehicles for research and education. Registration is available at the door, and the conference will last from February 28 to March 2. Please visit http://nsrc.swri.org/ for more information. The Commercial Spaceflight Federation is a co-sponsor of the conference. Commercial Spaceflight Federation Executive Director John Gedmark will be delivering a keynote address to the conference attendees at 11 am on February 28, and the Federation will also be moderating a panel on “Payload Integration” at 10:30 am on March 1. For the entire conference, over 120 presenters—a 40% increase over 2010—will discuss everything from flight test progress to planned experiments in 7 different research fields to training and roles for research and educator payload specialists. In total, the meeting will feature 20 sessions, 4 discussion panels, a press conference, presentations or booths by 20 sponsors, and a public night presentation by Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides. The meeting will also include invited talks by experts in diverse fields that include microgravity sciences, atmospheric science, space life sciences, planetary science, education, and crew training. |
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The X PRIZE Foundation, a member of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, announced this week “the official roster of 29 registered teams competing for the $30 million Google Lunar X PRIZE, an unprecedented competition to send a robot to the Moon that travels at least 500 meters and transmit video, images, and data back to the [...] The X PRIZE Foundation, a member of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, announced this week “the official roster of 29 registered teams competing for the $30 million Google Lunar X PRIZE, an unprecedented competition to send a robot to the Moon that travels at least 500 meters and transmit video, images, and data back to the Earth.” The X PRIZE Foundation noted that, “Recently, NASA, the U.S. civil space agency, announced that it will purchase data related to innovative lunar missions from six Google Lunar X PRIZE teams, with contracts worth as much as $10 million each.” This is a demonstration of the power of public-private partnerships in space exploration and discovery. X PRIZE Foundation chairman and CEO Peter Diamandis noted the progress made in the competition to date, stating, “Teams have purchased launch vehicles, they are well into their design process, and we have even seen NASA recognize the value of this competition by purchasing data from several competitors. I want to congratulate the teams that have registered. We are excited to see what they will accomplish in the coming years.” Tiffany V.C. Montague, Manager of Google Space Initiatives, stated, “From the Wright brothers’ first flight to the Lewis and Clark expedition, the most successful and revolutionary discoveries often come from small, entrepreneurial teams. At Google, we share with this global group of innovators a passion for tackling tough technological and scientific challenges, and we wish them the best of luck as they begin the mission phase.” For more information, visit the Google Lunar X PRIZE website at: http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/. |
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The 2011 Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference will be held in Orlando, Florida 28 February through 2 March. That’s less than two weeks away!
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Space Technology Office to Support High-Payoff Programs Including Centennial Challenge Prizes, Commercial Suborbital Science, and Parabolic Flights Space Technology Office to Support High-Payoff Programs Including Centennial Challenge Prizes, Commercial Suborbital Science, and Parabolic Flights Washington, D.C., Tuesday, February 15, 2011 – The Commercial Spaceflight Federation today welcomed the strong support for space technology investments in the new NASA FY2012 proposed budget, including such high-profile programs as Commercial Reusable Suborbital Research, Centennial Challenges, and NASA’s commercial parabolic flight program. CSF President Bretton Alexander stated, “Consistent with the NASA Authorization Act of 2010, these investments in space technology R&D represent a renewed focus by NASA on innovation, which is the seed corn of American economic competitiveness. Between 2005 and 2009, NASA’s technology programs were cut more than 50%, and we applaud NASA’s plan to reverse this decline. Robust funding for technology R&D will help ensure that the United States remains a global leader in space.” Specific technology programs that are part of the new NASA budget include: - NASA’s Commercial Reusable Suborbital Research (CRuSR) program, funded at $15 million per year, which will give scientists and students access to conduct research using low-cost commercial suborbital vehicles. - NASA’s Centennial Challenges Program, funded at $10 million per year, which offers incentive prizes in the mold of the $10 million Ansari X PRIZE to spur innovation in diverse areas of space technology. - NASA’s Facilitated Access to the Space Environment for Technology Development and Training (FAST), funded at $2 million per year, a commercial parabolic flight program to conduct research and technology development on “zero gravity” aircraft. - Other exciting NASA technology programs, including: Cryogenic Propellant Transfer and Storage, In-Space Propulsion, Space Power Generation and Storage, Nuclear Systems, Lightweight Materials and Structures, Human-Robotic Systems, Autonomous Systems, Next-Generation Life Support, Adaptive Entry Systems, and In-Situ Resource Utilization. CSF Executive Director John Gedmark stated, “These will be some of NASA’s most high-profile, exciting programs. They are what the nation needs to generate new technology breakthroughs and precisely the kind of programs that will inspire the next generation to go into fields of science and engineering.” NASA’s decision to increase technology funding follows a letter released last September by a group of 14 Nobel Laureates to Congress that emphasized the importance of technology investment, stating: “Innovative technology development must once again become a high priority at NASA…. We urge that NASA’s total technology investment be increased.” CSF Executive Director John Gedmark concluded, “Yesterday’s technologies are not sufficient to keep America in first place in the global race for economic competitiveness. Technology innovation is what got America to the moon in the 1960s, and we need a renewed focus on technology to drive NASA forward in the 21st century. NASA and private industry can work together to find innovative technological solutions to today’s spaceflight challenges.” About the Commercial Spaceflight Federation The mission of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation (CSF) is to promote the development of commercial human spaceflight, pursue ever-higher levels of safety, and share best practices and expertise throughout the industry. The Commercial Spaceflight Federation’s member companies, which include commercial spaceflight developers, operators, spaceports, suppliers, and service providers, are creating thousands of high-tech jobs nationwide, working to preserve American leadership in aerospace through technology innovation, and inspiring young people to pursue careers in science and engineering. For more information please visit www.commercialspaceflight.org or contact Executive Director John Gedmark at john@commercialspaceflight.org or at 202.349.1121. # # # |
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Commercial Crew Will Eliminate Reliance on Russia, Save Money for the US Taxpayer, and Tap Private-Sector Innovation to Create New Jobs |
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