Sep 14, 2011

Specifically designed to give students a chance to enter the world of space entrepreneurship, this competition is open to all undergraduate and graduate students with an idea for a frontier-enabling business. Competitors will pitch their space industry or space-scalable business proposal to a panel of investors and NewSpace leaders, and vie for the $1000 grand prize. The winner will also be automatically entered into the NewSpace Business Plan Competition held at the NewSpace 2012 Conference.

To enter the competition, submit an Intent to Compete form by September 30, 2011 to sara.meschberger@spacefrontier.org.

The competition has three parts: the Intent to Compete and Executive Summary submissions, and for selected finalists, a presentation of their plan to the judges. Presentations will take place on October 28th at SpaceVision 2011 in Boulder, Colorado. Judges include Jon Goff of Altius Space Machines and winner of the 2011 NewSpace Business Plan Competition, and Tom Olson, founding partner of The Colony Fund and tech investor. The awards will be announced at the conference banquet. The first prize award is $1000 and automatic entrance to the NewSpace Business Plan Competition, second place award is $500, and third place award is $250.It is highly encouraged that engineers work with business students to fulfill both the product development and business plan portion of the competition. Visit the contest site for rules and details.http://spacefrontier.org/projects/seds/snbpc/

Jon Goff with his Sticky Boom rendezvous and docking unit.

Congratulations to Jon Goff and his Altius Space Machines team for winning the $25,000 grand prize in the Space Frontier Foundation’s annual NewSpace Business Plan Competition.

The company won the award to help it develop the “Sticky Boom” rendezvous and docking technology that does not require a spacecraft to have a docking port. The company plans to use this technology to deliver small payloads to the International Space Station, capture a sample return vehicle in martian orbit, and remove debris from Earth orbit.

Other winners included:

Celestial Circuits: $5,000

Celestial Circuits is developing a commercial line of command and control computers for Nanoracks, Cubesats and other small micgravity experiments. The plug-and-play units will range from $500 to $5,000 and will be used on everything from experiments on drop-tower and parabolic aircraft flights to the International Space Station.

Final Frontier Design: $2,500

FFD’s goal is to design, test and manufacture space suits for the commercial market. Their focus is on functional pressure restraint garment design and prototyping, especially for gloves.

In reality, the Ares I rocket is dead, although ATK is trying to resurrect it as a commercial rocket using an Ariane 5 upper stage. The Ares V (the larger rocket in the photo) should have been listed as a survivor; it has morphed into the Congressional-mandated Space Launch System.

I’ll be covering it from start to finish, so look for my updates here at PA and via Twitter at @spacecom. The hashtag for the event is #NewSpace2011.

My friends Ben and Cariann will be live streaming all the events at www.Spacevidcast.com. The coverage details are:

Dates:
Thursday, July 28 to Saturday, July 30

Hours:
Sessions: 8-8:30 a.m. to 5-6 p.m. PDT (check schedule)
Gala Dinner: Saturday, 6-10 p.m. PDT

The #NewSpaceTweetup will be held at the Hacker Dojo in Mountain View on Friday, July 29 from 7-10 p.m. PDT.

For full information, please visit the conference website. For updates, follow the conference on Twitter @NewSpaceCon.

Deputy NASA Administrator Lori Garver

NASA & SFF PR – NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver will provide opening keynote remarks at the Space Frontier Foundation’s annual NewSpace Conference at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, July 28. Media are invited to attend the conference, which runs July 28-30 at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif.

NewSpace provides a forum for space entrepreneurs, investors, scientists, engineers, regulators and space policy leaders to explore the opportunities and challenges of opening the space frontier to human settlement.

This year’s theme, “The Next Big Thing,” focuses on the near and long-term potential and challenges of the emerging commercial space industry.

Additional conference speakers include Virgin Galactic President and Chief Executive Officer George Whitesides; Sierra Nevada Chairman Mark Sirangelo; Altius Space Machines Founder Jon Goff; Arianespace President Clay Mowry; Space Adventures President Tom Shelley and Moon Express Inc. Chief Executive Officer Bob Richards.

NewSpace conference sessions on July 28 will address the state of the aerospace industry and the critical partnership between the growing commercial industry and civil space. A session will include a roundtable of leaders from NASA centers.

Online registration for the NewSpace 2011 Conference will close on July 25th. The onsite prices for registration and event tickets will increase so register now to save at newspace.spacefrontier.org.

Tickets are limited and available for purchase online now. The Gala is a highlight of the NewSpace 2011 Conference. Conference panels will take place at the NASA Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, CA on July 28-30. Please view the full description of the awards and winner online.

Here are the 2011 NewSpace Award Winners! Drumroll, please…

Yuri’s Night
Best Presentation of Space

Their World Space Party inspired people around the globe and celebrated humanity’s first foray into space with panache! The Presentation of Space Award is given to those who have created an outstanding presentation of the past and future of space endeavors that inform and enlighten the public.

Live Free or Die Trying (Troy Rising) by John Ringo
Vision of the Future Award

John Ringo’s space opera is an engaging tale of heroism that shows a future where the vision of the Space Frontier Foundation is embraced. This award is for future-oriented entertainment and media projects primarily from the science fiction genre that best present the possibilities of the space frontier to the public.

Nanoracks
Vision to Reality Award

Nanoracks is a fantastic model for a successful commercial space company, and they are showing that beneficial science and profit can go hand in hand. Their research modules are flying on the ISS and their business is strong back on earth. The SFF also salutes their slogan, “Space for Everyone.” The Vision to Reality Award is for the development and operation of a device, system, or entity that forwards the opening of the space frontier.

Rand Simberg and his YouTube Channel
NewSpace Journalism Award

An original on the NewSpace scene, Simberg has found yet another way to talk about space. In his YouTube videos he explains space policy and the ridiculousness of current space debates in an entertaining and irreverent way. The NewSpace Journalism Award is for outstanding achievement in journalism that is NewSpace focused.

Ryan Stuit and Kyle Schember of InSpace
Service to the Frontier Award

New to the SFF, the InSpace pair has already made an impact on the Foundation’s media offerings by creating inspiring NewSpace Conference artwork and two videos, Space for the People and The Future of Space. The Service to the Frontier Award is given by fellow advocates to one of their own that have shown outstanding achievement in volunteer service to the Foundation.

Purchase tickets for the NewSpace Awards Gala today! For more about the conference and information on the group rate at the DoubleTree Hotel, visit newspace.spacefrontier.org. Follow @NewSpaceCon on Twitter for the latest updates and invite your colleagues.

SFF PRESS RELEASE

On Tuesday, March 8, 2011, the TEDxMidTownNY headline speaker will be Tom Shelley, Vice President of Space Adventures, Ltd., the only company providing human space missions to the world marketplace. He will provide an “Overview of the Human Spaceflight Training Market.” Tom will share his insights and discuss developments in commercial space transportation and other related industries.

The second speaker for this event will be Noah Zerkin, Research Engineer in the Neurology Department at the Human Aerospace Lab at Mount Sinai Medical Center. Noah designs and fabricates prototype sensor modules for automated mobile neurovestibular evaluation of human subjects who have spent extended periods in microgravity (i.e. at the International Space Station). Noah is also the inventor and developer of the Zerkin Glove, a low cost glove for interacting with virtual objects in an augmented environment, and the author of Augmentation featuring his views on the coming AR revolution.

TEDxMidTownNY takes place about 6 times a year at the Hotel Beacon NYC on Broadway at 75th St., New York, NY, and is sponsored by the Space Frontier Foundation (SFF). The SFF is dedicated to encouraging the exploration and settlement of the space frontier. We invite the public to experience this work through our speaker series, workshops, and the annual NewSpace Conference.

Reservations are encouraged. Advance tickets are available at Brownpapertickets.com. Tickets go on sale at the door beginning at 6:00 pm the evening of the event. Tickets are $20 for general admission and $5 for students with valid I.D. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.

About TED

TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started as a four-day conference in California 25 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives. The annual TED Conference invites the world’s leading thinkers and doers to speak for 18 minutes. Their talks are then made available, free, at TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Al Gore, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Nandan Nilekani, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Isabel Allende and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The annual TED Conference takes place in Long Beach, California, with simulcast in Palm Springs; TEDGlobal is held each year in Oxford, UK. TED’s media initiatives include TED.com, where new TEDTalks are posted daily, and the Open Translation Project, which provides subtitles and interactive transcripts as well as the ability for any TEDTalk to be translated by volunteers worldwide. TED has established the annual TED Prize, where exceptional individuals with a wish to change the world are given the opportunity to put their wishes into action; TEDx, which offers individuals or groups a way to host local, self-organized events around the world; and the TEDFellows program, helping world-changing innovators from around the globe to become part of the TED community and, with its help, amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities.

Follow TED on Twitter at twitter.com/TEDTalks , or on Facebook at facebook.com/TED.

About Space Adventures

Space Adventures, the company that flew the world’s first private space explorers, is headquartered in Vienna, Va. with an office in Moscow. It offers a variety of programs available today such as spaceflight missions to the International Space Station and around the moon, Zero-Gravity flights, cosmonaut training, spaceflight qualification programs and reservations on future suborbital spacecrafts.

SFF ANNOUNCEMENT

Members of the Space Frontier Foundation are headed to Washington on March 6-8, 2011 to urge Congress to “Keep the Promise” when it comes to supporting the new US commercial space industry. The group is inviting all supporters and friends of America’s space efforts to show up and speak up in defense of innovative budget saving initiatives like NASA’s Commercial Crew program, and warn Congress about the damage it will do if it does not act to support this critical new approach to space.

Last year, NASA announced a number of bold new programs to stimulate development of new spacecraft and capabilities by buying commercial space transportation and services. This is inspiring long established companies like Boeing to pursue new markets and encouraging new entrepreneurs like SpaceX and Masten Space Systems. Unfortunately, because of language in last year’s appropriations, money appropriated to NASA under the current continuing resolution must continue to fund wasteful and now canceled programs like Ares, while programs like Commercial Crew are starving for funds.

“Congress has made a lot of noise about these programs,” said the Foundation’s Rick Tumlinson. “But they need to step up and actually fund them, rather than pouring good money after bad and propping up already-canceled dead ends like Ares 1. The Continuing Resolution under which NASA is operating is no resolution – leaving NASA’s engineers, our risk taking space companies, and the American people in limbo, while other nations move ahead in space.”

Therefore, the Space Frontier Foundation and its allies are coming to Capitol Hill to let Congress know that it must fund these programs for 2011 and it must not delay.

“The Space Frontier Foundation is determined to get Congress to break the logjam and get America moving into space,” said “Keep the Promise” project leader Aaron Oesterle. “And we aren’t alone – other organizations like the Space Exploration Alliance and Prospace will be in DC around the same time – so if you can’t make it to one event, go to another, since we are all working towards the same goal – opening the frontier!”

For more information, check out promise.spacefrontier.org, or email Aaron Oesterle at spacepromise@spacefrontier.org.

SFF PRESS RELEASE

In the Summer of 2011, Teachers in Space will offer five one-week professional-development workshops for high-school science, technology, engineering, and math teachers. Teachers in Space project manager Edward Wright announced the workshops during the final session of the Space Exploration Educators Conference, which took place here today.

“Next summer, teachers will have opportunities to experience unpowered aircraft flight with a former NASA Shuttle commander, to fly a flight simulator for the next generation of reusable spacecraft, to study the effects of high-altitude flight in a university altitude chamber, and to build experiments that will fly on a suborbital vehicle,” Wright said.

At the Suborbital Astronautics Workshop, teachers will learn about aeronautics and spaceflight while experiencing some of the training that future space pilots will receive. Expert instructors will include former Shuttle commander and XCOR Aerospace chief test pilot Col. Rick Searfoss (USAF-ret.). Participating teachers will fly in a glider and learn to pilot a flight simulator for a suborbital spacecraft now under development. At the end of the workshop, teachers will receive a copy of the simulator software to take back to the classroom.

The Suborbital Astronautics Workshop will be held for the first time at the Frontiers of Flight Museum in Dallas, TX on June 20-24.

Repeat sessions will be held at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, FL on July 18-22 and at NASA Dryden’s AERO Institute in Palmdale, CA on July 25-29.

At the Space Medicine and Human Factors Workshop, teachers will learn about high-altitude physiology and respiration, decompression and vacuum exposure, space weather and radiation, and the effects of weightlessness, gee forces, noise, and vibration. The workshop will be held at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, FL on July 11-15.

At the Suborbital Flight Experiment Workshop, teachers will gain hands-on experience with space hardware as they build experiments to fly aboard an unmanned suborbital experiment as part of the Excelsior STEM mission. The workshop will be held at the NASA Dryden AERO Institute in Palmdale, CA on August 1-5.
The workshops are being developed by Teachers in Space, a nonprofit project of the Space Frontier Foundation, under a cooperative agreement with NASA.
The workshops will be offered at no charge to teachers. Low-cost subsidized housing will be available for workshop participants. A limited number of travel stipends will be available to defray the cost of meals and transportation.

Additional information and workshop applications can be found at: www.teachersinspace.org/workshops.htm

Masten's Xombie vehicle

SFF PRESS RELEASE

In the summer of 2011, high-school science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) teachers will have the chance to fly experiments on an early unmanned flight of a suborbital reusable launch vehicle (RLV). The Excelsior STEM mission was announced here today by Teachers in Space, a nonprofit project of the Space Frontier Foundation.

Speaking at the annual Space Exploration Educators Conference, Teachers in Space project manager Edward Wright said “Excelsior STEM will provide a historic opportunity for high-school STEM teachers to gain hands-on experience with space-science hardware.”

The Excelsior STEM mission will fly on a vehicle built and operated by Masten Space Systems, based at Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, CA. Teachers will build experiments for the mission during a Suborbital Flight Experiment Workshop that will take place August 1-5 at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center’s AERO Institute in Palmdale, CA. The workshop is being developed under a cooperative agreement between Teachers in Space and NASA. NASA Ames Research Center is helping to develop educational experiment kits that teachers will assemble during the workshop.

“In the past, build/fly workshops have enabled teachers and students to fly experiments on sounding rockets and high-altitude balloons,” Wright said. “Unfortunately, those flight opportunities were rare and expensive. We are about to enter a new era in space exploration. Companies like Masten Space Systems are developing suborbital reusable launch vehicles — fully reusable rocketships — that will bring about a revolution in frequent, low-cost access to space.

“Suborbital RLVs will provide reliable and affordable flight opportunities for scientists, teachers, and students. These vehicles are still in the early stages of development. Excelsior STEM will provide teachers with a unique early flight opportunity. By introducing teachers to the next generation of space hardware at this early stage, we are opening the door for many more education flights in the future. Within a few years students flying space experiments will be a routine part of STEM education.”

In addition to the Suborbital Flight Experiment Workshop, Teachers in Space announced four other workshops for high-school teachers — a Space Medicine and Human Factors workshop and three Suborbital Astronautics Workshops — all to take place during the summer of 2011.

Additional information and workshop applications can be found at:

www.teachersinspace.org/workshops.htm

The Space Frontier Foundation released this video of people promoting the Obama Administration’s space plan. It’s pretty good overall, except it’s dominated mostly by talking heads so it reminds me of a PBS documentary.

Spending the first quarter of the video (two minutes plus) on a Nostradamus/Mayan style humanity is doomed if we don’t do this narrative may not have been the best choice. It’s depressing, for one. And it’s probably far too esoteric for most voters and decision makers, who view doomsday as being laid off or not being re-elected in November. This is a far better argument for a more immediate and existential threat, like an giant asteroid heading our way — or Godzilla reaching the Pacific Coast.

Anousheh Ansari

SFF PRESS RELEASE

The Space Frontier Foundation (SFF) will sponsor the first TEDxMidTownNY event to discuss the continued importance of exploration with X-Prize Cofounder Anousheh Ansari and Deputy Administrator of NASA Lori Garver. TEDxMidTownNY is a local, independently organized event to be held on September 14th, 2010 at 7 PM at the Explorers Club in New York, NY.

A diverse group of scientists, artists, entrepreneurs, adventurers, investors, teachers, and students will share their perspective and leave the event inspired to improve the collective future of humanity through space exploration. Tickets are available now through the Explorers’ Club website.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TED has created a program called TEDx. The SFF and the Explorers Club are dedicated to encouraging exploration of the final frontier. The goal of this TEDx speaker series is to provide a forum where the most innovative and outlandish ideas regarding space exploration can be discussed.

In this spirit, the evening will also feature videos by Carolyn Porco, an expert on exploration of the outer solar system and planetary scientist in charge of the Cassini Mission, as well as Steve Truglia, who is preparing to break the record for an extreme-high-altitude parachute jump from a balloon at 120,000 feet.

TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. This event is called TEDxMidTownNY, where x = independently organized TED event. At the TEDxMidTownNY event, TEDTalks video and live speakers will combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events, including this one, are self-organized. This independent TEDx event is operated under license from TED.

For reservations, please call 212.628.8383 or email reservations@explorers.org. The SFF encourages those who wish to attend to purchase tickets in advance, as admission numbers are limited. Tickets are 20$ for general admission and 5$ for students under 25 (with valid student ID). Check in for this event will begin at 6 PM in the Clark Room of the Explorers Club, 46 E. 70th Street, New York, NY.

Subsequent TEDxMidtownNY events will occur on the second Tuesday of each month, except in December, July, and August. The themes of these events will all pertain to aspects of space exploration and settlement. For more information, please visit www.TEDxMidTownNY.org.

About TED

TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started as a four-day conference in California 25 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives. The annual TED Conference invites the world’s leading thinkers and doers to speak for 18 minutes. Their talks are then made available, free, at TED.com.

TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Al Gore, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Nandan Nilekani, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Isabel Allende and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

The annual TED Conference takes place in Long Beach, California, with simulcast in Palm Springs; TEDGlobal is held each year in Oxford, UK. TED’s media initiatives include TED.com, where new TEDTalks are posted daily, and the Open Translation Project, which provides subtitles and interactive transcripts as well as the ability for any TEDTalk to be translated by volunteers worldwide. TED has established the annual TED Prize, where exceptional individuals with a wish to change the world are given the opportunity to put their wishes into action; TEDx, which offers individuals or groups a way to host local, self-organized events around the world; and the TEDFellows program, helping world-changing innovators from around the globe to become part of the TED community and, with its help, amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities.

Follow TED on Twitter at twitter.com/TEDTalks, or on Facebook at facebook.com/TED.

TED2011, “The Rediscovery of Wonder,” will be held February 28-March 4, 2011, in Long Beach, California, with the TEDActive simulcast in Palm Springs, California.

Steve Heck (left) is one of the Pathfinder 7 - teachers from across America chosen to fly on suborbital space missions.

Ohio Teacher Prepares For Space Travel
ONNtv

Steve Heck is flying high. In fact, he recently took a training flight in California as one of two teachers from Ohio to be picked for the Teachers in Space program.

“At 320 thousand feet you momentarily leave the gravitational pull of Earth but not enough into Earth’s orbit, then coast back down,” Heck explained.

The Milford Junior High school science teacher applied for the program in November, and his students even helped him come up with this experiment.

The hard work paid off and this past May he found out he’ll soon blast off into space.

It is a dream come true for this retired Lt. Colonel who spent 20 years in the Air Force before heading into the classroom.

Read the full story.

After a weekend of presentations by several new companies in the NewSpace field, the judges of the 2009 NewSpace Business Plan Competition awards the following:

1st Place – Flagsuit, LLC
2nd Place – Syntiant
Honorable Mention – Santa Clara Satellite Solutions

The first place winner, Flagsuit, LLC, received a $5,000 cash prize courtesy of the Heinlein Trust and will have the opportunity to present their vision to entrepreneurs and investors alike at Space Investment Summit 7 on September 30th in Boston and attend an upcoming Space Angels Network event.

Courtesy of FundingPost.com, Flagsuit will also receive a three month membership to the Space Angels Network website, 2 tickets to any one of their 15 VC conferences held annually nationwide (including attendance in their workshop), and the FundingPost developed publication, “How to Raise Your First Million Dollars.”

Flagsuit, LLC Company Description:

Affordable spacesuits will transform the emerging private spaceflight industry by making it practical for humans to utilize cheap access to space. Flagsuit LLC is seeking funding to develop a hyperbaric (pressurized) suit with excellent mobility at a price that enables affordable spacesuits. The same product will fill a nonspace consumer need for a mobile chamber for hyperbaric oxygen therapy, creating a convenient way for people to treat and prevent disease. By pursuing both markets, risk from low early demand in the emerging spaceflight market is mitigated, positive cash flow is reached sooner, and Flagsuit becomes well positioned to deliver space qualified hyperbaric suits once that market solidifies.

Syntiant, Inc Company Description:

Syntiant will create a unique platform based on:

• SynseVisionTM Virtual Visionware: a pair of glasses containing bio-feedback technology, GPS, Bluetooth, and stereo HD cameras. Data is captured and transmitted to Syntiant’sTM virtual world for 3D reconstruction so others can plug-in and experience the user’s vision and bio-response virtually.

• Syntiant’sTM virtual world will offer 3D gesture-based data manipulation (as seen in Minority Report) to create an intuitive, easy-to-use navigation system. This overlay will permit a user to organize his or her data in 3D mind maps, navigate social media sites in a 3D gesture-based environment, and add immersive virtual reality 3D to gaming environments.

• Base services are free as long as the user donates 5 hours per day of unused computing time to Syntiant’sTM Global Supercomputing Grid. The more computing time users donate, the more energy credits they earn to buy additional SyntiantsTM products and services.

The Space Fontier Foundation extends a sincere “Thank You” to all of this year’s finalists!

Aeronautic Enterprises
Aerospace Technologies
Flagsuit, LLC
Next Giant Leap
NoumeniaCS
PD Aerospace
Santa Clara Satellite
Syntiant
Thunderbird Communications

If you have a business plan that you would like considered for the NewSpace 2010 Business Plan competition, please watch for updates on next year’s schedule and submission deadlines at the Space Frontier Foundation website.

Gold items:

• Tickets to next year’s NewSpace 2009 conference, including all meals and the Gala event.

• $1500 gift certificate to Aurora Aerospace

• Consultation on business development with Jeff Krukin

• Consultation on angel and investor relations with Guillermo Sohnlein

• Lunch with Bob Werb

• Lunch with Gary Hudson

Blue Items:

• 2suit Patch

• NewSpace Nation: America’s Emerging Entrepreneurial Space Industry, autographed by the author, Jeff Krukin.

• Apollo Lunar Sake Cups – These sake cups are made from simulated lunar regolith in honor of the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission.
• Autographed profile of Vanna Bonta in Investor’s Digest – This interview, signed by its subject, profiles Ms. Bonta and her efforts to visualize the details of a life off-planet.

• Gala Centerpiece – Our Gala this year has wonderful custom-made acrylic centerpieces made by volunteers for the event.
• Regolith Simulant Necklace – This necklace is made from simulated lunar regolith in honor of the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission.

For more information, visit SFF’s website.