NASA will announce the winners of the commercial crew contracts on Friday.
The rumors are now official: NASA will announce the winners of the commercial crew contracts on Friday.
Tag: commercial
The decision on NASA’s manned commercial crew contract will be made this week, according to new rumors.
The decision on NASA’s manned commercial crew contracts will be made this week, according to new rumors.
Trying to buy tickets to the London Olympics: A soul-destroying experience.
Trying to buy tickets to the London Olympics: A soul-destroying experience.
An Obamacare tax on medical devices has caused one company to cancel plans to build five new factories.
Repeal it! An Obamacare tax on medical devices has caused one company to cancel plans to build five new factories.
Nor is this the only such medical device company to pull back due to the tax. Read the whole article.
Ten hotels made of weird things.
Ten hotels made of weird things.
Some spectacular images of galaxies from the new Discovery Channel Telescope.
Some spectacular images of galaxies from the new Discovery Channel Telescope (DCT).
Funded privately by the Discovery channel, the DCT has a primary mirror 4.3 meters wide, or about 170 inches, almost as large as the Hale Telescope on Palomar Mountain. This is a world class telescope which will do real research, and it was built the old-fashioned way, with private money donated to a private observatory in exchange for publicity and good will.
Orbital Sciences has announced an updated schedule for testing and flying its Antares rocket and Cygnus capsule to ISS.
The competition heats up: Orbital Sciences has announced an updated schedule for testing and flying its Antares rocket and Cygnus capsule to ISS.
This article gives a bit more background.
The ten tallest skyscrapers now under construction
Higher and higher: The ten tallest skyscrapers now under construction.
“He stands there at the front of the mob, in his shirt sleeves, swinging that government hammer, exhorting the crowd to use its votes and take what it wants.”
sNASA’s Space Launch System is costing 320 times more than NASA’s commercial space program.
Another opinion: NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) is costing 320 times more than NASA’s commercial space program.
In other words, having NASA build a rocket and capsule makes no financial sense. At these numbers, SLS cannot survive.
Building the first laptops.
The cost of launch
Two news items from NASA today:
- NASA has picked SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket to launch NOAA’s Jason-3 ocean survey satellite.
- NASA has picked United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) Delta 2 rocket to launch the SMAP, OCO-2, and JPSS-1 climate satellites.
What I find most interesting about these stories is the fees charged by the two companies. SpaceX will be paid $82 million for its one launch, while ULA will be paid $412 million for its three launches, or about $137 million per launch.
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Has Sierra Nevada’s Dream Chaser been picked as one of two finalists in NASA’s competition to ferry crew and cargo to ISS?
Tantalizing hints: Has Sierra Nevada’s Dream Chaser been picked as one of two finalists in NASA’s competition to ferry crew and cargo to ISS?
ESA is revamping how it builds rockets in order to compete with SpaceX.
The competition heats up: ESA is revamping how it builds rockets in order to compete with SpaceX.
ESA officials have been spooked by Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, Calif., which has demonstrated its technical prowess with the launch of its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon cargo vehicle to the international space station. SpaceX officials say one of the keys to its success is that Falcon 9 is built in one factory owned by SpaceX.
Read the whole thing. The way ESA builds the Ariane rocket requires too many participants (what we in the U.S. call pork), raising its cost. ESA is now abandoning that approach to cut costs and thus compete with SpaceX.
The Virginia spaceport at Wallops Island is on schedule to hand control of its launchpad sometime this month so that Orbital Sciences can begin ground tests of its Antares rocket.
The Virginia spaceport at Wallops Island is on schedule later this month to hand control of its launchpad over to Orbital Sciences so it can begin ground tests of its Antares rocket.
The irony of this press release story is that Orbital has actually been running things, as it took over prepping the launchpad last year when the spaceport was unable to handle it.
Sierra Nevada has successfully completed testing of the nose landing gear for its Dream Chaser manned reusable spacecraft.
The competition heats up: Sierra Nevada has successfully completed testing of the nose landing gear for its Dream Chaser manned reusable spacecraft.
From Virgin Galactic come two announcements today
The competition heats up: From Virgin Galactic come two announcements today:
- Richard Branson and family will be the first tourists to fly on SpaceShipTwo.
- They are developing an orbital launcher to work with WhiteKnightTwo capable of putting 500 pounds in orbit.
The second is really the big news, especially as it appears they already have some customers.
LauncherOne will be a two-stage vehicle capable of carrying up to 500 pounds (225 kilograms) to orbit for prices below $10 million. The rocket will be launched from Virgin Galactic’s proven WhiteKnightTwo, the uniquely capable aircraft also designed to carry SpaceShipTwo aloft to begin her suborbital missions. Thanks to the extreme flexibility of air launch, Virgin Galactic’s customers will enjoy reduced infrastructure costs in addition to the wide range of possible launch locations tailored to individual mission requirements and weather conditions. Branson and other senior executives announced that work has already begun on the vehicle.
An indoor climbing wall that never ends.
An indoor climbing wall that never ends.
ATK’s push to build its Liberty launch system.
The competition heats up: ATK’s push to build its Liberty launch system.
Liberty was one of the suitors [for NASA’s commercial crew] funding, before losing out to the four aforementioned options during the selection process. However, ATK decided to press on with the development of the system under an unfunded Space Act Agreement (SAA), with a clear intent of convincing NASA they deserve to be awarded funding for the path towards crewed launches.
Indeed, ATK have stated that they will continue with the development of Liberty regardless of NASA funding, as much as Agency support would provide an accelerated schedule towards bringing the vehicle into operation by 2015. [emphasis mine]
If you read the article, you will see that there are many reasons why I would rather NASA did not pick ATK. The system depends too much on the shuttle’s legacy at the Kennedy Space Center (the VAB, crawler, etc), which means it will probably require a large labor force to launch and thus be expensive. However, if ATK can make Liberty profitable without NASA, I am all for them.
The United States of winners
“The United States of winners.”
We didn’t fight hard for our freedom on that summer day in 1776 so we could go ahead and be mediocre. We wanted it so badly because we had lofty goals to be a nation of winners, people who excelled at everything we tried. We wanted to become powerful and prosperous so that we wouldn’t have to rely on anyone else, ever again. And we knew that being prosperous would make us generous. We wanted to win at that, too.
And from there, we went on to win at all kinds of stuff, and we did it without apologizing. Charles Lindbergh didn’t land in Paris and apologize for getting there first. We didn’t have a space race with the Soviet Union to see who could get there last. Bruce Jenner doesn’t have an Olympic gold medal (and two inexplicable earrings) because he’s a loser.
Our desire to win has made us who we are.
And it is for this reason that, right now, the United States is about to develop multiple private companies capable of putting humans into space, while every other country in the world that has tried it can barely manage to come up with one option.