Space Tourism … and Much More
 
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Extending the life of the space shuttle is all but impossible now because of an inability to manufacture additional external tanks, former space shuttle astronaut Jon McBride said on Wednesday.
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Continue reading ‘Decision to End Shuttle Flights Nearly “Irreversible”’
Financial Issues in the Synergy of Space & Hospitality/Tourism/Entertainment
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Amaresh Kollipara: co-founder and managing partner, Earth2Orbit LLC
Michael Leventhal: attorney and founder, MC Squared
Barry Bloom: founding principal, Abacus Lodging Investors LLC
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Space is not a destination, it is an enabler for businesses to expand their existing verticals. Panelists believe that the interest from the hospitality industry will be huge once space tourism gets going.
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Continue reading ‘Space Investment Summit 6: Financial Issues’
AIAA PRESS RELEASE
Corporate members of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) recently joined together to celebrate the recipients of the 2009 AIAA Foundation Educator Achievement Awards, and to show that the aerospace community is appreciative of their outstanding efforts in the classroom to inspire the next generation of the aerospace community.
Continue reading ‘AIAA Celebrates Outstanding STEM Educators’
X PRIZE PRESS RELEASE
The X PRIZE Foundation, with its partners BT Global Services, John Templeton Foundation and the United Nations Office for Partnerships, will host a groundbreaking incentive2innovate conference (i2i) for senior-level executives, June 8-9 at the United Nations in New York.
i2i will provide an intimate forum for attendees to collaborate with extraordinary business leaders on initiatives to make an immediate impact on innovation, operations and revenue generation within their respective organizations.
Continue reading ‘i2i Conference Set for June 8-9 in New York’
Rob Coppinger over at Hyperbola blog has a couple of interesting interviews with leading figures in the UK’s high tech area.
One video features Reaction Engines’ managing director Alan Bond, who discusses the company’s work on the Skylon single-stage-to-orbit vehicle.
Coppinger also interviews Lord Paul Drayson, the UK minister of state for science and innovation. Drayson discusses the Skylon project and other developments within the British space sector.
Endeavour commander Mark Polansky is using Twitter (Astro_127) and YouTube to answer questions.
Alan Boyle has reviewed Michael Potter’s film, “Orphans of Apollo,” for his Comic Log website. He reviews the lessons that the failed effort to commercialize the Mir space station taught people:
The biggest lesson is that you want to have the government as your customer, not your enemy. “I think the slightly more commercial and realistic and politically savvy entrepreneurs who are now investing in private space understood where Walt went wrong,” David Chambers, who was MirCorp’s vice president of strategic planning, says in the movie. “And they’re prepared to play nice with the various governments that they need to play nice with.”
Continue reading ‘Lessons Learned From Failed Mir Effort Fueling New Commercial Ventures’
A One-way Ticket to Mars
Paul Davies
Astrobiology Magazine
What I’d like to talk about today is how to cut the cost of going to Mars. And there’s one very obvious way, which is a one-way mission.
Continue reading ‘Opinion: One-Way Trip Best Way to Go to Mars’
Virgin Galactic's WhiteKnightTwo with Burt Rutan and Richard Branson
All will get taste of oasis for space: Desert launches will benefit KSC
Florida Today
Florida’s Space Coast will lament the end of the shuttle program and the loss of thousands of great jobs. But 2010 could mark the start of one of the most exciting periods in the history of human spaceflight. Gigantic leaps forward in our ability to fly people in space are coming, and they’re coming fast.
Continue reading ‘As Shuttle Era Ends, Private Commercial Spaceflight Begins’
In The Space Review this week:
Bolden’s burdens. Jeff Foust reports on the reaction to the selection of Charles Bolden and what is in store for the former astronaut as he prepares to take over the space agency.
The GAO, the media, and GPS. According to some news reports last week, the GPS system is on the verge of failure because of delays in launching new satellites. Taylor Dinerman discusses why there’s less to be worried about than what those hyperbolic reports claimed.
Making lemons into lemonade. What would have happened if an Apollo mission had been unable to leave Earth orbit? Dwayne Day describes one contingency mission that had been proposed in such circumstances, and its national security implications.
Cars versus rockets. What does NASA have in common with the nation’s troubled automakers? Michael Potter argues that both suffer from some fundamental organizational issues, and that NASA would benefit from better leveraging the capabilities and potential of the private sector.
Review: One Giant Leap. The 40th anniversary of Apollo 11 is approaching, and with it comes a new wave of books revisiting that historic mission. Jeff Foust reviews one book that examines some of the overlooked photography of the mission.
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