Funding : Web Articles
Public Offerings for Space Travel | R&D Mag
Space tourism has already enjoyed a nearly 10-year run with steady business (only seven customers, but at $20-35 million apiece). Most of us will never get the opportunity, but we might be able to soon own a piece of the action if space entrepreneur Elon Musk is ready for shareholder meetings. Camille Ricketts of the blog Green Beat thinks it’s one way for the entrepreneur to keep the wheels turning and the rockets burning on his high-flying SpaceX and Tesla ventures.
2nd Annual NASA STEM Educators Workshop Series - AESP
"Calling all teachers in the Charlotte area. NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools are inviting educators to take part in free workshops Feb. 23-25. The second annual NASA STEM Educator Workshop Series will showcase science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education resources relating to studying the NASA mission to return to the moon."
This announcement is from a NASA-sponsored Aerospace Education Services Project (AESP) located at Penn State. STEM education for teachers flows into our classrooms and helps stimulate creation of our future workforce, that includes commercial space enterprises.
This Land - A New Exit to Space Readies for Business | NYTimes.com
Barry digs into the local scene and discovers some background stories about SpacePort America that's emerging from the barren flats of New Mexico.
"This is not a secret government project, or some NASA reception hall for alien dignitaries. This is Spaceport America, a $198 million endeavor by the State of New Mexico to plumb the commercial potential of the suborbital heavens — a place once known only to astronauts, dreamers and the occasional chimp.
Space tourism. Scientific research. Satellite deliveries. All possible up there, where the stars glitter like spilled coins. Who knows? One day you might decide to skip another two-week vacation in the Wisconsin Dells for a two-hour trip into space. Fly Virgin Galactic. See the sights from as high as 80 miles up. Five minutes of weightlessness guaranteed. Just $200,000."
Northrop Grumman Foundation Now Accepting Teacher Applications for 2010 Weightless Flights of Discovery Program - Yahoo! Finance
"The Northrup Gumman Foundation is accepting teacher applications for the 2010 Weightless Flights of Discovery program, a unique initiative that places teachers on micro-gravity flights to test Newton's Laws of Motion and energize students in the formative middle-school years. Middle-school math and science teachers in public schools are welcome to apply for the program."
A SpacePort Field Guide: SpaceWorks Commercial
"The Spaceport Field Guide (SpFG) is a Google Earth-compatible file developed by SpaceWorks Commercial that provides a database of worldwide launch sites and associated facilities. The tool offers information about global spaceports including location, current and potential facilities, current and potential launch vehicles, and a rating of operational readiness (as defined by a Spaceport Readiness Level or SpRL).The tool is available for free download from the SpaceWorks Commercial website. SpaceWorks Commercial, a division of SpaceWorks Engineering, Inc. (SEI), provides this software as an educational service to the community."
Final frontier beckons for researchers | Nature News
"Spaceflight could soon be opened up to hundreds or potentially thousands of researchers rather than just an elite few, said experts at a space-research conference in Boulder, Colorado, this week.
The Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference, which runs until 20 February, has drawn more than 250 delegates, including space scientists, aerospace-industry representatives and government officials. Their aim is to discuss the logistics of doing research aboard commercial suborbital space flights, which the industry says will soon be routine and affordable."
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."
Musk refutes report slamming safety standards | Spaceflight Now
"A commercial space pioneer and a former astronaut are answering claims by an independent advisory panel that private companies do not meet NASA human-rating standards and last year's presidential review of the space program did not adequately consider safety.
In an annual report released Friday, the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel...said it would be "unwise" to abandon NASA's Ares 1 rocket and turn to private companies to transport astronauts to low Earth orbit. The board said potential commercial crew transportation providers do not meet NASA safety standards for piloted vehicles."
Some commentators note that NASA's available safety standards are not clearly defined. SpaceX, the current primary private sector rocket developer contends that its Dragon capsule meets NASA's guidelines and they just need to acquire sufficient budget to develop a launch escape tower. Clear, comprehensive safety standards will be required in order to make objective comparisons between launchers.
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.
Development of the American commercial space industry: imminent federal decisions and implications for economic development in the states
"It’s very early to have much certainty, but I’d say that a shift in federal policy toward commercial operation presages a subtle but notable shift in the center of gravity of the American space program from the South/Southeast to the Far West and Southwest, with lots of interesting economic-development consequences.
The table in this article by Hochman summarizes these data, noting the broad mandates of these space authorities to develop comprehensive aerospace sectors, including enabling technologies of all types. The table also lists states with NASA Centers and their expertises, some but not all of which will be salient to Augustine’s call for enhanced attention to “technology development” necessary to meet long-term, inspirational space goals."