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Chuck Black
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I have summarized the state of nuclear fusion research before. A notable summary was made three years ago in mid-2010. I believed at the time that there could be multiple successful nuclear fusion project vying for commercial markets by 2018. Progress appears to be going a bit more slowly than previously hoped, but there are several possible projects (General Fusion, John Slough small space propulsion nuclear fusion system, Lawrenceville Plasma Physics - if they work out metal contamination and other issues and scale power) that could demonstrate net energy gain in the next couple of years.
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The International Space Apps Challenge was an overwhelming success as over 9000 participants in 83 cities spent a weekend creating 770 applications. In the Best Use of Data category the Canadian entry from Toronto, Aurora Localization, received an Honorable Mention. A panel of judges consisting of representatives from NASA and other governmental and non-governmental organizations evaluated the 770 applications and selected 134 for global recognition and six best in class winners...
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The Satellite Industry Association (SIA) announced the news this afternoon that the Obama Administration has released the draft rules for easing export controls on satellites. It is another step in a process likely to last for many more months as the Administration implements export control changes agreed to in the FY2013 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)...
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Earlier this week, yet another Congressional committee held hearings on the direction of NASA and future of human spaceflight. Even for policy wonks, this gets old. Maybe though, that is about to change. It has been a long eight years since SpaceShip 1 won the Ansari X-Prize and began to focus the world’s attention on the potential inherent in the NewSpace movement. Now, with the powered flight testing program for SpaceShip 2 already underway, and looking to enter the suborbital realm by the end of the year, and XCOR’s Lynx Mark I right on its heels, it seems apparent that NewSpace is about to get a lot more visible. According to the Hollywood Reporter, (via NewSpaceWatch.com) Cinipix Parters is preparing to produce a film, “Newcomers” which will not only include footage shot aboard an XCOR Lynx, but showcase the Lynx itself in the film...
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Tucson AZ (SPX) May 23, 2013 OSIRIS-REx, the $1 billion asteroid sample return mission led by the University of Arizona, reached a major milestone on May 16: The project passed the agency-level confirmation review called Key Decision Point-C, or...
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Mountain View, Calif. (UPI) May 22, 2013
A U.S. firm said it has developed a device that can monitor vital signs just by holding it to the forehead for 10 few seconds.
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by Brian Orlotti
Space-based quantum cryptography may sound like an ultra-futuristic technology ripped straight from the world of Star Trek, but it is on the verge of becoming a reality…and Canadians may be the first to achieve it...
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Arlene Dickinson estimates she’s personally seen 5,000 entrepreneurs rejected in their pursuit of investor cash in recent years. A dragon on CBC’s The Dragons’ Den, she clearly hears more pitches than the average investor. Still, she detects an underlying issue. “There is a problem in this country in terms of people being able to access money at the startup stage, at the venture capital stage, and at the growth stage,” she said recently, noting that some of her investments from the show have turned into “multi-million dollar companies”.
... In New Mexico, workers are putting the finishing touches on the first of at least ten spaceports currently under construction around the world. More than 800 people have paid as much as $200,000 apiece to reserve seats on commercial flights into space, some of which are expected to launch, at long last, within a year. Space-travel agents are being trained; space suits are being designed for sex appeal as much as for utility; the founder of the Budget hotel chain is developing pods for short- and long-term stays in Earth’s orbit and beyond. Over beers one night, a former high-ranking NASA official, now employed by Sir Richard Branson of the Virgin transportation conglomerate, put it plainly: “We happen to be alive at the moment when humanity starts leaving the planet.”
Via Stratocumulus
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from rawstory.com: U.S. space agency NASA has tapped 3-D printer firm Systems & Materials Research Corporation (SMRC) to create the first-ever “Star Trek”-style food replicator using 3-D printing technology.
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On the weekend of April 20, 2013, 9000 people from over 80 countries responded to NASA’s call to hack their way towards unique and innovative...
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Moonandback Travel, Inc. has partnered with the Students for the Exploration and Development of Space to provide space tourism services to SEDS' membership and alumni.
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Over the last few years multiple companies, institutions and individuals have started building nano-satellites and other small satellites. These little satellites are packed with electronics and range from the size of a computer chip to a smart phone to a pumpkin. With their communication and research capabilities, they have multiple applications working individually or in coordination with one another.
But, with the high cost of earth to space transport, how in the world are they going to get up into space? We challenge YOU to design a 3D printed rocket engine that could become part of a propulsion system and vehicle to carry nano-satellites into space...
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Abbotsford (British Columbia), May 24, 2013 – Today Aerospace Industries Association of Canada (AIAC) President and CEO Jim Quick was proud to join the Honourable Lynne Yelich, Minister of State for Western Economic Diversification (WD), as she announced federal funding for a two-year, multi-faceted project that will support Western Canadian aerospace companies as they develop their supply chains and compete in global markets...
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Bartow, Fla. (UPI) May 23, 2013
A Florida girl expelled from school after her science experiment exploded will be going to space camp with the help of a former NASA manager, officials said.
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Listened to the NASA and Bigelow Aerospace press briefing on the study by Bigelow into possible joint public/commercial endeavors beyond earth orbit. The briefing was given by William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator, human exploration and operations, NASARobert Bigelow, founder and president, Bigelow Aerospace Gerstenmaier first gave a brief review of how the agreement came about. Bigelow...
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The Canadian government will award a British Columbia company an $11-million contract Friday for support and training for a new system that allows the Canadian Forces to obtain data from commercial satellites. The government in November 2011 had awarded MacDonald Dettwiler of Richmond, B.C. a $31-million contract for two mobile ground stations that will allow military commanders to download imagery from commercial satellites, including Radarsat-2. The ground stations, called Unclassified Remote-Sensing Situational Awareness systems, will be fully operational later this year. Friday’s contract will see MacDonald Dettwiler providing maintenance and training for the systems over an initial period of five years. The contract also has three one-year options for extension of the services...
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Moscow (UPI) May 22, 2013
A Russian company designing a new spacecraft for the country's space program says the craft will be reusable and able to make as many as five flights.
Energia Rocket and Space Corp.
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Sheffield, UK (SPX) May 22, 2013
Software developed at the University of Sheffield has the potential to enable engineers to make 'real world' safety assessments of structures and foundations with unprecedented ease.
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Sydney, Australia (SPX) May 22, 2013
If estimates are right, we are probably less than three weeks away from the launch of Shenzhou 10, China's next astronaut mission.
At the risk of over-generalizing, there are two broad points of view among space enthusiasts about the future of American human spaceflight. One group looks at NASA’s inability to go beyond Earth orbit in the last four decades, looks at the numerous policy collapses like the Space Exploration Initiative and the Vision for Space Exploration, and considers the current lack of clearly defined goals and destinations and the resources to actually venture outward, and gets depressed. Another group looks at the rise of “commercial space,” at the Bigelow inflatable habitats and the announced plans for asteroid mining and, above all, the latest press releases from SpaceX, and concludes that the future is so bright that we gotta wear shades. In their view, humans will be landing on Mars perhaps within fifteen years wearing corporate logo polo shirts and drawing the shape of the dollar sign in the pink sky while flipping the bird at the oppressive NASA bureaucracy. But I try to be as analytical as possible about the present: the glass is neither half full nor half empty; it is a 16 ounce glass containing 8 ounces of water. And when it comes to trying to imagine the future of human spaceflight, I watch movies.
Via Stratocumulus
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June is normally a quiet month for STEM conferences.
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Skolkovo, Russia (SPX) May 22, 2013 SPUTNIX has been granted has been granted a license by the Russian Federal Space Agency for engaging in space activity, namely: creating and modernizing small automatic space vehicles for scientific and...
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Raytheon will relocate its Space and Airborne Systems headquarters, one of the company’s four business units, from El Segundo, California to McKinney, Texas, just north of Dallas...
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Rochelle Park, NJ (SPX) May 22, 2013 ORBCOMM has announced the availability of the ORBCOMM GT 1100, a self-powered M2M asset tracking and monitoring device targeted for a variety of global markets including transportation and logistics, heavy...
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