Kiwis to Fly Sky High
The Press
Four Kiwi astronauts-in-training, who will go where fewer than 500 people have gone before, are putting New Zealand on the galactic map.
Jackie Maw, Mark Rocket, Makouri Scott and Ron Stroeven, have bought their $US200,000 ($NZ313,074) tickets to be some of the pioneer passengers on the first commercial flights into space the product of Sir Richard Branson’s space holiday business Virgin Galactic.
An update on Falcon 1 from SpaceX’s Elon Musk:
A week spent reviewing data has confirmed that the flight went really well, including the coast and restart. The mood here at SpaceX is just ecstatic! This is the culmination of six years of hard work by a very talented team. It is also a great relief for me, who led the overall design of the rocket (not a role I expected to have when starting the company). I felt a little sheepish receiving the AIAA award for the most outstanding contribution to the field of space transportation two weeks before this flight.
Swedish Spaceport awaits government go-ahead
Flight International
“An investigation into the national legislative needs of Spaceport Sweden has concluded that Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo could be treated as a sounding rocket.
“Spaceport Sweden is now waiting to hear from its government’s commerce ministry on whether current domestic aviation and sounding rocket law are sufficient to allow commercial spaceline Virgin Galactic to operate. A decision is due by year-end.”
SpaceDev Press Release
SpaceDev, Inc. recently completed its third significant milestone under the Space Act Agreement signed with NASA in June 2007; the Internal Space Vehicle Propulsion Module Preliminary Design Review (PDR). Milestone completion was approved after submission of materials to the NASA COTS office.
Continue reading ‘SpaceDev Reports Progress on Dream Chaser Spaceplane’
PRESS RELEASE
Stephen Hawking, best selling author of “A Brief History of Time” and the children’s book “George’s Secret Key to the Universe” written along with his daughter Lucy, will be sending his digitized DNA into space as part of NCsoft’s® Operation Immortality™.
Lucy Hawking is also participating in the project. Together, the father and daughter are hoping the project will raise awareness of the Archon X PRIZE for Genomics, a competition that will award $10 million to the first person or team that can sequence 100 human genomes within 10 days or less.
Continue reading ‘Stephen Hawking to Send DNA into Space on Garriott Flight’
PRESS RELEASE
The X PRIZE Foundation today announced two new teams and a new Preferred Partner in the Google Lunar X PRIZE, a robotic race to the Moon to win a remarkable $30 million in prizes.
These two teams join the international group of teams that will compete to land a privately funded robotic craft on the Moon that is capable of roaming the lunar surface for at least 500 meters and sending video, images and data back to the Earth.
Continue reading ‘Two New Teams Join Google X Prize; Analytical Graphics Named Preferred Partner’
How Spaceport Sweden plans for suborbital flights
Press Release
30 September 2008
Dr. Olle Norberg held his presentation at the IAC 2008 today, talking about “issues to consider in the space tourism era - how Spaceport Sweden plans for suborbital flights.”
Today’s paper had two main themes:
Continue reading ‘Sweden Moves Toward Legal Regime to Allow Space Tourism Flights’
NMSA Announcement
LAS CRUCES, NM – The New Mexico Spaceport Authority (NMSA) has issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) to contract with a Construction Management firm to oversee and manage the construction of Spaceport America, the world’s first purpose-built commercial spaceport.
The construction management company selected will represent the NMSA in all aspects of construction contractor integration, quality control, value engineering, scheduling and budget management. The proposals are due to the NMSA by 4 p.m MDT October 15, 2008.
‘Magnetic hunger’ could drive space travelers insane - scientists
RIA Novesti
“The absence of Earth’s magnetic field could lead to astronauts developing mental disorders during interplanetary flights, particularly expeditions to Mars, Russian scientists said.
“Researchers from the Biology and Biophysics Research Institute at Tomsk State University and the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute for Biomedical Problems have conducted a number of experiments to study rats’ behavior when isolated from the Earth’s magnetic field.
“The experiments showed that the rats lost social skills, had problems with memory, and experienced changes in their internal organs.”
The Space Review has three articles about extraterrestrial commerce that are worth a look: