Space Products: Web Articles
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.
European space company wants solar power plant in space | PhysOrg.Com
"EADS Astrium, Europe's biggest space company, plans to put a solar power satellite in orbit to demonstrate the collection of solar power in space and its transmission via infrared laser to provide electricity on Earth."
"The transmission of power via infrared laser has been tested in Astrium’s laboratories, and they are now concentrating on improving the system’s efficiency. Work on developing converters...[for] received infrared energy to electricity is proceeding rapidly, and Astrium is collaborating in this work with scientists at the University of Surrey, in the UK. The company is hoping to achieve 80% efficiency in the conversion."
Department of Commerce Secretary, Gary Locke's "States of Entrepreneurism" Address
"The United States has not adjusted to a new global marketplace where foreign countries and foreign companies have the ability to outpace their American counterparts. It’s not tenable for...[us] to continue with the status quo. In a world where innovation is critical to U.S. competitiveness, we must do everything in our power to optimize commercialization that stems from our nation’s vast research investments. This is an issue where the Commerce Department is working hard to find solutions.
Last fall, we launched the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, whose mandate is to drive policies and programs that help entrepreneurs translate new ideas, products, and services into economic growth, and to accelerate technology commercialization of federal R&D.
And today, I want to announce that on February 24 [2010], this Office will host a forum with university leaders and key stakeholders on the roles of universities in innovation, economic development, job creation, and commercialization of federally funded research."
Locke's analysis is dead on and includes references to NASA, aerospace and public-private collaboration in commercialization. The emerging suborbital space vehicle industry is a classic example of what he and the Obama administration are strongly promoting and they surely support STEM education as a critical lifeline essential to feed such entrepreneurial innovations.
Suborbital rocket test to carry Purdue experiment | PhysOrg.com
"Purdue University researchers are designing and building an experiment that will operate during a test flight of a new type of reusable rocket to be launched by aerospace company Blue Origin LLC. The experiment will be used to study how fluids behave in low gravity, providing information that could help engineers design better components for a variety of technologies used both on the Earth and in space, said Steven Collicott, a professor in Purdue's School of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
It is one of three scientific research payloads recently selected by Blue Origin to be carried to suborbital altitudes during a flight test of the company's New Shepard rocket. The rocket enables researchers to study phenomena that cannot be effectively observed on Earth or during the relatively brief low-gravity periods that can be created in aircraft flights."
Space-Age Safety: How GPS Satellites Could Help Prevent Auto Accidents | GPS Daily
"Researchers have found potential for a GPS satellite to act as an early warning system that detects when a vehicle is about to lose control and communicate with the vehicle's stability control systems and other safety features to prevent a rollover or other serious accident." Ford Motor Company's investment in university R&D is paying off.
Good News From Africa; Receiving KVH Broadband Internet and Voice Services : Satnews Publishers
“We’re especially pleased with the addition of this new region to our network as it enables us to bring affordable, versatile broadband Internet and voice services to commercial operators supporting the increasingly vital west African offshore oil and gas fields. In addition, more than half a million visitors are expected to visit South Africa next year for the 2010 World Cup and many of them will be traveling or staying on leisure vessels for which our TracPhone® V7 and the mini-VSAT Broadband network are an ideal communications solution.”
Alabama space firm makes "green" space propulsion system | Orlando Sentinel
"Just when you thought sweat, urine and fetid breath were excellent sources of clean drinking water in space (as they are now on the International Space Station) it turns out that expended body moisture is also great fuel for a spacecraft."
A Day Without Space: Economic & National Security Ramifications
"Space systems provide significant benefits to American commerce and national security. On October 16, 2008 the George Marshall Institute and the Space Enterprise Council of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce co-hosted a "A Day Without Space" to discuss the implications of losing access to space-borne assets and information for the U.S. economy and national security."
A final discussion on this topic was held on October 1, 2009 but is not yet published. The value of space to our nations competitivensss, security, and planetary health and survival is a very hot topic due to competing priorities for federal funding. This report reminds us of how much space has become an assumed part of our national infrastructure, but it needs sufficient resources to ensure its survivability.
Radiation-hardened microelectronics could reduce spacecraft weight | R&D Mag
"Space environments can deliver a beating to spacecraft electronics. For decades, satellites and other spacecraft have used bulky and expensive shielding to protect vital microelectronics including microprocessors and other integrated circuits, from space radiation.
Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology are developing ways to harden the microchips themselves against damage from various types of cosmic radiation. With funding from NASA and other sponsors, a Georgia Tech team is investigating the use of silicon-germanium (SiGe) to create microelectronic devices that are intrinsically resistant to space-particle bombardment. "
Communication Key to Engaging the Public on Importance of Space | House of Reps.
“[On the 40th anniversary of the Apollo lunar landing]...It’s of course fitting that we pause to honor those who blazed the trail that leads out beyond low Earth orbit—both the brave astronauts who undertook those hazardous expeditions to the Moon and the countless individuals and organizations who enabled those expeditions to succeed,” said Subcommittee Chairwoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ). “Yet, by definition our civil space program is about the future—not the past. If our space program is to have a sustainable and productive future, it is also about relevance. That is, America’s civil space program must be relevant to our broad national needs if it is going to continue to be supported.”