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High-Tech Space Planes Taking Shape in Italy, Russia | Space.com
The U.S. Air Force's secretive X-37B space plane may eventually get some company in low-Earth orbit as other countries such as Italy and Russia push forward with plans for their own reusable winged spaceships.
Italy's prototype space plane, named Pollux, successfully carried out high-speed maneuvers that slowed it down from a falling speed of Mach 1.2 during a test flight in April. More recently, Russia has begun considering whether to revive a Cold War era, air-launched mini-shuttle in response to the U.S. X-37B space plane debut.
Lunar Rover Initiative
"The Lunar Rover Initiative is developing Scarab to evaluate and demonstrate a combined drilling and science rover platform for lunar exploration. Scarab needs to be able to withstand extreme temperatures, perpetual darkness, and intermittent communications to explore polar regions of the moon in order to survey sites and understand resources for future science and exploratory missions. Working for nearly a decade to develop feasible mission concepts and validate technologies in extreme environments here on Earth, we are experienced, skilled, and dedicated to the vision of lunar exploration."
These kind of academic/commercial lunar rovers than can drive, drill, navigate and analyze are the precursors to lunar commercial applications.
NASA, GM believes Robonaut2 will work alongside humans | R&D Mag
"Engineers and scientists from NASA and GM worked together through a Space Act Agreement at the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston to build a new humanoid robot capable of working side by side with people. Using leading edge control, sensor and vision technologies, future robots could assist astronauts during hazardous space missions and help GM build safer cars and plants.
The two organizations, with the help of engineers from Oceaneering Space Systems of Houston, developed and built the next iteration of Robonaut. Robonaut 2, or R2, is a faster, more dexterous and more technologically advanced robot. This new generation robot can use its hands to do work beyond the scope of prior humanoid machines. R2 can work safely alongside people, a necessity both on Earth and in space."
Emergent Space Technologies; Space 2.0 Blog | 8C Chamber of Commerce
Emergent Space Technologies , a founding member of the 8th Continent Chamber of Commerce, is positioned to be a big player in space’s entrepreneurial evolution. They recently teamed with the University of Texas at Austin to develop a picosat capable of performing an automated rendezvous and docking mission. Emergent has engineered picosats to be quick and inexpensive. What used to take years now, because of their software, can take as little as 12 months from concept to launch. They call this the Space 2.0 approach that ultimately shrinks the space industry down and makes it entrepreneurial. It’s not that farfetched to think that someday soon someone in a garage could make and launch their own satellite.
Falcon 1 Successfully Delivers RazakSAT Satellite to Orbit - Space X Photo Update
"Falcon 1, carrying the RazakSAT satellite, lifted off on July 13, 2009 at 8:35 p.m. (PDT) / (July 14 2009, at 03:35 UTC). Liftoff occurred from the SpaceX launch site on Omelek Island at the U.S. Army Kwajalein Atoll (USAKA) in the Central Pacific, about 2,500 miles southwest of Hawaii. After the second burn of the second stage engine, Falcon 1 released the RazakSAT Earth Observation satellite into the intended near-equatorial orbit of 685 km, 9 degrees inclination." You must check this series of photos out of the major launch process events, frame by frame. Truly, you are there. SpaceX is on a roll and must be thrilled with this major success (2nd in a row).
Interplanetary internet gets permanent home in space | New Scientist
"The interplanetary internet now has its first permanent node in space, aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The new software will make sending data from space ...more like using the web. In the modern era of the web and information on demand, teams still have to schedule times to send and receive data from space missions. But the newly installed system aboard the ISS, developed by BioServe Space Technologies, could one day allow data to flow between Earth, spacecraft, and astronauts automatically, creating what is being dubbed the "interplanetary internet".
WHOAA NOAA! Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites
"NOAA scientists have teamed up with experts from the University of Maryland and North Carolina State University to form the Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites. The new institute will use satellite observations to detect, monitor and forecast climate change, and its impact on the environment, including ecosystems." “...we have to find ways to best leverage all of our available resources, including the information we get from satellites,” said Mary Kicza, assistant administrator for NOAA’s Satellite and Information Service. “Bringing together some of the best minds to study satellite imagery and data will shed more light on how our climate is changing.” In addition to several university collaborators with NOAA, Remote Sensing Systems, a business in Santa Rosa, CA provides data processing to users via contract with NASA." Commercial processing of satellite data from a wide range of sources for sale as data products is anticipated in the near-future (search on Cisco).
Innovative Solutions In Space (ISIS) - Job Opportunities
"Working at ISIS means that you will play an active role in the development of new space products and services that will eventually add to the success of space applications. You have the opportunity to work in an exciting sector with a strong focus on the international market. ISIS offers its employees flexibility, responsibility, room for the improvement of your knowledge and skills, and we like to provide you with a way to channel your creativity in brainstorming sessions and conceptual designs that might lead to new business opportunities for the company." ISIS is based in Delft, the Netherlands and lists 3 RF Electronics positions available.
NASA Approves Partial Privatization of the Space Program | Satnews Publishers
"Even the military finds it cheaper to use civilian aircraft for certain missions. So why should space transportation be any different? NASA's beginning to agree. For the first time, after nearly a half century of building its own rockets and orbiters, it has approved the outsourcing of some of the equipment that enables its manned space missions to private contractors."
Space Industry Overview & Metrics: New Ventures & Business Opportunities
This presentation was given at the Space Investment Summit and provides a recent overview of: space industry elements (infrastructure, products & services); industry economics; growth areas; emerging markets; and the key role of the investor. Growth is focused mostly in the space products and services area examples are given of the factors behind this.