The NewSpace Daily

"Poised on the cusp of these new systems, we run the risk of being penny wise and pound foolish as we make the same mistake that doomed the space shuttle to much higher cost operations: starving a spacecraft development program in the name of saving a few pennies for today’s budget bottom line resulting in the compromised systems that, if they fly at all, will not be cheap enough to enable business in space…

"Currently, the commercial space effort stands uncomfortably close to the brink of financial starvation. Deep space transportation development is being stretched out by similar restrictions. Business is looking to see if the government is serious about providing the critical support or whether this effort will be wasted as so many earlier government programs which withered away on the very cusp of success: National Launch System, Orbital Space Plane, and others."

"Those of us in the space industry understand that NASA remains a living legend, changing, improving, adapting to new science and exploration. In fact, the United States' diverse spaceflight talent is a major asset that we are fortunate to maintain. Other nations have put objects into space. Other nations have put humans into space. Some have conducted commercial space launches. But no other nation has done all these things using the resources and genius of both the public treasury and private investment. With safety as its imperative, the United States has shown to the world the ability to integrate space initiatives. No other nation has done that. No other nation has performed space flight as well as we have. And I'm proud to say, we're getting even better at it. We are stronger than ever. We have only just begun."

SAN MATEO, Calif. — Opening spaceflight up to the masses could help spark a global conservation ethic that stems the tide of environmental destruction on Earth, NASA's science chief says.

Seeing our fragile Earth hanging alone in the blackness of space tends to be a life-altering, or at least perspective-changing, experience. If more people around the world are treated to that unforgettable sight, humanity might handle the planet with a bit more care, said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA'sScience Mission Directorate.

"Ultimately, my vision is that lots of people get to go to space," Grunsfeld said here Saturday (May 18) at Maker Faire Bay Area, a two-day celebration of DIY science, technology and engineering. "If we get more people, we'll have folks who can articulate a view of the Earth that leads to more people who want to keep the Earth a nice place to live."

The mothballed Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) began looking towards the future on Friday, after NASA issued a Request For Proposals (RFP) from the commercial sector. A level of interest has already been mooted by several parties, ranging from the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V through to SpaceX’s future monster launch vehicles known as Falcon X/XX.

WASHINGTON — Commercial space advocates here said the private sector should have a larger role in U.S. space exploration plans, even as a legislative aide warned that NASA — still the critical anchor customer for such companies — is in line for yet another difficult budget year.

“As we look toward the future, commercial space does not stop at low Earth orbit,” Mike Gold, director of Washington operations for Bigelow Aerospace and chairman of the Federal Aviation Administration’s Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee (COMSTAC), said at that group’s annual spring meeting May 15. 

Bigelow Aerospace of North Las Vegas, Nev., has a pair of Space Act Agreements with NASA, including a nearly $20 million pact awarded in December to fly one of the company’s inflatable space modules aboard the international space station in 2015.

April 29, 2013 will be remembered as the day a new era began for the human race. It’s the day space tourism has become a certainty. Even if the program won’t open to the public until 2015, we know that it will now be possible to bring non-astronauts to space. Beyond the technological feat, Virgin Galactic has started a new movement that I believe will change humanity’s mindset. Here’s why:

The organizers of a private plan to send two people on a round-trip flyby of Mars in 2018 are choosing between a variety of commercial rockets and a NASA booster for the mission.

The nonprofit Inspiration Mars foundation was founded by entrepreneur and space tourist Dennis Tito, who flew to the International Space Station in 2001 aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. Tito said the flyby mission is aimed at inspiring the public about space exploration and accelerating humanity's quest to visit Mars by taking advantage of a rare launch opportunity that allows for a relatively brief 501-day round trip.

"The way we're going, we'll never get started," Tito said of the government's approach to manned missions to Mars Wednesday (May 8) at the Humans 2 Mars Summit in Washington, D.C. "It's time for us to take the first step."

PARIS — Satellite machine-to-machine (M2M) messaging service provider Orbcomm said the launch of the first eight of its second-generation satellites is likely to occur this fall after its launch services provider, Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX), conducts the first two flights of the new Falcon 9 rocket, Orbcomm Chief Executive Marc J. Eisenberg said.

The launch, which has been delayed repeatedly, will better position Orbcomm in the competition with exactEarth, majority-owned by Canada’s Com Dev, to line up customers for a global automatic identification system (AIS) maritime surveillance service for coastal authorities.

HAMPTON, Va. (NASA PR) – A group of NASA astronauts will be at NASA’s Langley Research Center this week to fly in a simulator that is being used to help evaluate the subsonic handling characteristics of Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) Space Systems’ Dream Chaser spacecraft.

The simulation is of an approach to — and landing at — Edwards Air Force Base in California — the final 10,000 feet (3,048 meters) and 60 seconds of a future Dream Chaser flight. The astronauts will evaluate how well the spacecraft would handle in a number of different atmospheric conditions as well as assess its guidance and navigation performance.

Legendary Apollo 13 astronaut Jim Lovell has signed on with a commercial lunar exploration firm to help make private trips to the moon a reality, the company Golden Spike announced today (May 15).

Golden Spike aims to launch private citizens on round-trip visits to the moon starting in 2020 for a fee of $1.5 billion per flight. The firm, named after the final spike that joined the rails of the First Transcontinental Railroad in 1869, is pitching these lunar voyages to corporations, countries without their own space programs, and even wealthy individuals.

Aviation Week is reporting that SpaceX and the U.S. Air Force are “days away” from finalizing details for a certification plan which would allow the company to compete for national security launches aboard its Falcon 9 V1.1 and Falcon Heavy launch vehicles.  Having already won two launch orders under the Air Force’s separate Orbital/Suborbital-3  (OPS-3)  program, which carries a lower level of risk,  final announcement of  a  certification plan will mark another significant milestone for  company as it seeks to expand its business into the world of EELV launches now monopolized by United Launch Alliance.  It will also mark the beginning of a new era for SpaceX, which having very successfully learned to work with NASA and its Partner Integration Teams will now need to handle a new level of scrutiny from a different organization, the Air Force, as it undergoes far-reaching audits into its systems before winning any launch orders under EELV.

"I believe that we are beginning an era of low-cost, routine space access that will offer incredible new opportunities for the research community. Reusable commercial suborbital vehicles will allow researchers to fly payloads often, conduct more experiments and collect more data, for the price of one traditional launch vehicle. Payloads will have a gentler ride to space, resulting in reduced payload development cost and the opportunity to fly experiments that were prohibitively difficult to fly before. With short lead times, there will be opportunities to launch coincident with terrestrial and astronomical phenomena, providing astronomers and earth scientists telescope observation prospects from the edge of space. Some of the platforms will also fly researchers alongside their payloads, an exciting new addition to spacebased research that will provide flexibility that can only come from having an investigator in the loop, and reduce the need for expensive and error-prone automation. Like researchers on ocean-going vessels, in Antarctica, and on research aircraft, space-based researchers will be able to more effectively conduct their experiments when they fly with them to adapt to discovery and to acquire in-situ data."

"In the last few years, the industry has undergone significant growth in revenue, employees and capability. Much of its success has been based on the tremendous support that NASA has provided in developing and providing technologies, supporting development of space systems and buying services from commercial providers. This partnership between the private sector and NASA has helped create an industry that can provide services to both NASA and private customers, while creating jobs all over America."

A private space plane has arrived at a NASA facility in California to undergo tests that will help vet its ability to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

A test version of the Dream Chaser space plane arrived at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in southern California on Wednesday (May 15) aboard a flatbed truck, wrapped in a protective white caul for the overland journey from Colorado.

Engineers will put the Dream Chaser through its paces at Dryden, testing out its flight and runway landing systems, NASA officials said. The vehicle will be towed down a runway by a truck, for example, to validate the Dream Chaser's brakes and tires.

Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana gave a spirited defense of NASA’s turn toward commercial space operations earlier this week, saying the space agency would not block a proposed commercial launch complex on land it controls at the Shiloh site:

“If it works out that that’s the right thing to do, we’ll make sure that the land is available for them to do that,” he said.

In a recent presentation to the human exploration and operations committee of the NASA Advisory Counsel (NAC), Phil McAlister, Director of the Commercial Spaceflight Development discussed the next steps that will be necessary for commercial crew providers to be certified to begin transportation of commercial crew to the International Space Station in 2017.

NASA is currently funding three commercial crew providers under its Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) program which runs thru May 2014. Optional milestones under CCiCap beyond May 2014 could be exercised by NASA.

Sierra Nevada Corporation's (SNC) Space Systems Dream Chaser flight vehicle arrived at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, Calif., Wednesday to begin tests of its flight and runway landing systems.

The tests are part of pre-negotiated, paid-for-performance milestones with NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP), which is facilitating U.S.-led companies' development of spacecraft and rockets that can launch from American soil. The overall goal of CCP is to achieve safe, reliable and cost-effective U.S. human access to and from the International Space Station and low-Earth orbit.