A look at Dream Chaser’s upcoming glide tests.
A look at Dream Chaser’s upcoming glide tests.
Tag: competition
The communications satellite launched by Russia’s Proton rocket has successfully reached its target orbit.
The competition heats up: The communications satellite launched by Russia’s Proton rocket has successfully reached its target orbit.
Stratolaunch officially announced today that Orbital Sciences will build the system’s second stage rocket.
The competition heats up: Stratolaunch officially announced today that Orbital Sciences will build the system’s second stage rocket.
The rocket that Orbital will build for Stratolaunch will launch from the air, the first stage being a giant airplane which will carry that rocket aloft, much like Virgin Galactic’s WhiteKnightTwo and Orbital’s Pegasus rocket. Clark Lindsey at the same website also notes that the efforts of SpaceX (and to my mind Stratolaunch) to make the first stage reusable will likely revolutionize the rocket industry.
A U.S. company is planning on building a commercial jet capable of traveling routinely just under the speed of sound.
A U.S. company is planning on building a commercial jet capable of traveling routinely just under the speed of sound.
It is only a two-seater, and the design is based on a military fighter jets.
Russia’s Proton rocket successfully launched a commercial satellite today.
The competition heats up: Russia’s Proton rocket today successfully launched another commercial communications satellite.
The troublesome Briz-M upper stage still has to get the satellite to its proper orbit, so stay tuned. Nonetheless, this launch, only a few weeks after their last commercial Proton launch, suggests they were serious about launching nine more commercial launches this year.
Meanwhile, we wait for SpaceX’s first commercial launch by the Falcon 9 rocket. Their launch manifest still claims there will be three such launches before the next Falcon 9/Dragon mission to ISS later this year, but two of those launches were supposed to have occurred already. The non-occurrence of the March MDA/Cassiope launch out of Vandenberg is especially puzzling, as there are few scheduling conflicts at that rarely used spaceport.
The Falcon 9 delays at this point are beginning to be worrisome, and suggest the skepticism of some about SpaceX’s ability to compete might have merit. SpaceX has got to launch a commercial satellite soon in order to quell those doubts.
The Tortoise and the Hare
Smith looks at the published construction and flight timelines for the government’s Space Launch System and the private company Golden Spike, and finds something I’ve been noting for several years, there is a new space race going on. And I think private space will win it.
Another perspective — the one I have — is that this creates a new Space Race.
In the starting gate at High Bay 3 is the SLS, a program larded by Congressional pork, dubbed the Senate Launch System by its critics. Many observers believe that it will one day fall to innate political and bureaucratic flaws, as did Constellation before it.
In the other starting gate at High Bay 1 is Golden Spike — all talk so far, but the pieces seem to be falling into place to make the company a viable lunar option. Add to the mix the May 23 teleconference discussing the NASA agreement that allows Bigelow Aerospace to ally NewSpace companies into a possible commercial cislunar program. The report hasn’t been released yet, but it’s logical to assume that Golden Spike is one of those companies.
As with all space programs — government or commercial, crewed or unmanned — these timelines should be viewed with the greatest of skepticism.
But we’re starting to see all the pieces fall into place for the great Space Race of the 21st Century. To the victor goes access to the Final Frontier.
Planetary Resources today announced a Kickstarter fund-raising campaign for its space telescope Arkyd.
Planetary Resources today announced a Kickstarter fund-raising campaign for its space telescope Arkyd.
Forgive me if I am less than enthusiastic about this. Supposedly Planetary Resources had big money backing from a lot of wealthy people, including some Silicon Valley Google billionaires. Why then do they need this campaign? It makes me suspect that the company is an emperor with no clothes.
Japan has decided to develop its first new rocket in two decades and use the private-sector to reduce costs.
The competition heats up: Japan has decided to develop its first new rocket in two decades and use the private-sector to reduce costs.
The article is very vague about how Japan will shift design and construction to the private sector. They need to do this, however, if they want to compete, as their space agency has been very inefficient at accomplishing anything cheaply or quickly.
When government is bankrupt and freedom takes over — in Detroit.
When government is bankrupt and freedom takes over — in Detroit.
A Maine doctor has stopped accepting any insurance, posts his prices online, and is doing fine.
The future? A Maine doctor has stopped accepting any insurance, posts his prices online, and is doing fine.
the decision to do away with insurance allows Ciampi to practice medicine the way he sees fit, he said. Insurance companies no longer dictate how much he charges. He can offer discounts to patients struggling with their medical bills. He can make house calls. “I’m freed up to do what I think is right for the patients,” Ciampi said. “If I’m providing them a service that they value, they can pay me, and we cut the insurance out as the middleman and cut out a lot of the expense.” Ciampi expects more doctors will follow suit. Some may choose to run “concierge practices” in which patients pay to keep a doctor on retainer, he said.
The Russian deputy prime minister told students at the Moscow Aviation Institute on Thursday that they expect their first launch from their new spaceport in Vostochny to occur in November 2015.
The competition heats up: The Russian deputy prime minister told students at the Moscow Aviation Institute on Thursday that they expect their first launch from their new spaceport in Vostochny to occur in November 2015.
He also said that they want to name the new town they are building at the site after Konstantin Tsiolkovsky.
Sea Launch announced it plans four launches in 2014.
Sea Launch announced today it plans four launches in 2014.
The article gives a nice thumbnail summary of the history of the company, including the launch failures that put it into bankruptcy and forced Boeing, the U.S. partner, to get out, leaving the company mostly in the hands of the Russian company Energia.