Collaborations: Reports
Endorsements Coming In for Obama's Space Plan
"President Obama’s new plan for NASA, released February 1st, is endorsed by bipartisan groups representing governors, former legislators, astronauts, and former NASA senior managers and a half dozen editorial boards." See the Commercial Space Federation's links to all and the good news for commercial space.
Solar Power Satellites
The latest issue of the "Online Journal of Space Communication" is devoted to Solar Power Satellites. "Evidence is building that 2010 will be the year this turns from an idea to the beginning of reality."
NASA Chief Onboard with Commercial Spaceflight, Suborbital Science & Innovation Prizes
Bolden says NASA must leverage the power and innovation of American industry and the American entrepreneur as it is tasked to do.
Lunar Science: Window to the Past and Stepping Stone to the Future | NLSI
This recent white paper sent to the Augustine Panel by NASA describes how "the NLSI will bring together scientists and engineers from the academic community and NASA Centers to advance lunar science, support both human and robotic missions to the Moon, train the next generation of lunar scientists and communicate the excitement of this scientific exploration to the public." The Google Lunar X-prize announced in Sept '07 has galvanized the emerging entrepreneurial space community. Nineteen international teams are registered and this will inevitably spur development of a commercial lunar industry. NASA is having policy discussions focused on allowing NASA to buy services including payload transport to the Moon from these companies once reliable capabilities are demonstrated. NLSI is pursuing options to contribute small science payloads to private missions to the Moon". Stay tuned.
Approaches to Future Space Cooperation & Competition in a Globalizing World | NAP
"The Planning Committee for the Workshop on U.S. Civil Space Policy (Space Studies Board of National Acad. of Sciences)...organized a public workshop (Nov '08) to review past and present cooperation, coordination, and competition mechanisms for space and earth science research and space exploration; identify significant lessons learned, and discuss how those lessons could best be applied in the future particularly in the areas of cooperation and collaboration." Sixty U.S. and non-U.S. participants represented government, academia, and industry in the areas of: civil and commercial space, science and technology policy, international relations and space history. This workshop was held as the global economic collapse began and provides an excellent foundation for understanding the opportunities and challenges in commercial space. It also includes two first-class invited papers.
Industry Consensus Statement on Improved Access to Space
“What role can—and should—the US government play in supporting the development of low-cost, responsive space transportation (flexible, quick access to space)? That is the question tackled in a one-page statement released today that represents the consensus of over two dozen companies and organizations in the industry. The genesis of this document was a one-day meeting held at the request of the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) in Los Angeles last October immediately before the Space Frontier Conference. AFRL wanted industry feedback on what it can do to promote the development of responsive space options by entrepreneurial firms. Those participants later decided to compile their opinions into a single document, although not at the request, nor with the endorsement, of AFRL.”
Challenges and Opportunities in Space Financing for Emerging Entrepreneurs
“The…dialogue between the young space entrepreneur and the space investor remains difficult. This is particularly true with regards to the market-stakeholders of the financing world, namely the Business Angels and Venture Capitalists. With the support of the European Commission (Innova Initiative) research was undertaken…to assess this problem and potentially develop suitable facilitating solutions. Using a unique and tailored database of space and hi-tech investors key elements of financing problems for start-up entrepreneurs were analysed with the use of questionnaires.” Better communication between space engineers, scientists and the financial community is essential. This can be assisted by developing an educational and supportive multi-disciplinary framework
Opening Space for Humanity:Applying Open Source Concepts to Human Space Activities
“Open source can clearly be applied in the space software area, including modeling and design tools, testing, ground software, and flight software. The paradigm can, however, be extended beyond software, in areas such as system design, compilation of reference data, system verification & validation procedures and associated results, and relevant education and training materials. Many individuals around the world are highly motivated towards contributing to the expansion of humanity into space. Applying open source principles towards space activities can provide them with a means of doing so. A new organization, DevelopSpace, has been created to aid in the advancement of such activities, focused on building up the technical foundations for human space activities, and doing so in an open manner.”