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SpaceX
An artist's conception shows astronauts inside a SpaceX Dragon capsule.
Several space ventures have reported a variety of seemingly small steps that are moving them closer to giant leaps in spaceflight — including the rise of new made-in-the-USA spaceships and commercial missions to the moon.
Here's a smorgasbord of space developments:
NASA is expected to announce sometime this summer which companies will go on to the next phase of its Commercial Crew Program, which is aimed at supporting the development of U.S.-made spaceships capable of carrying astronauts to the International Space Station. The way things are shaping up right now, two teams would receive about $200 million from the space agency to work on an integrated launch system over the course of 21 months, while a third team would be given about $100 million. Blue Origin, the Boeing Co., Sierra Nevada Corp. and SpaceX are receiving funding during the current phase of the program and are close to finishing up their milestones.
SpaceX has completed a concept baseline review for the crewed version of its Dragon spacecraft, NASA reports. A robotic Dragon had its first hookup with the International Space Station in May, and California-based SpaceX is working to upgrade the craft to fit NASA's safety standards for astronaut flights. SpaceX's billionaire founder, Elon Musk, said the completion of the review places his company "exactly where we want to be — ready to move on to the next phase and on target to fly people into space aboard Dragon by the middle of the decade." (Details: NASA news release)
SNC
Artist's conception shows Sierra Nevada Corp.'s Dream Chaser landing on a runway.
Sierra Nevada Corp. has successfully tested the nose landing gear of its Dream Chaser prototype space plane, NASA says. That leaves one last milestone for the current phase of Sierra Nevada's agreement with NASA: an approach and landing test, which is due to take place later this year at NASA's Dryden Research Center in California. (Details: NASA news release and NASASpaceFlight.com)
EAI
Artist's concept shows Excalibur Almaz's spacecraft.
Excalibur Almaz Inc. has completed its unfunded partnership with NASA's Commercial Crew Program, involving the exchange of technical information but no exchange of money. The Houston-based company is developing a launch system that capitalizes on Russian-legacy space technology and would be capable of transferring astronauts and cargo between Earth and the International Space Station. CCP's manager, Ed Munro, said that during the partnership, "NASA learned valuable information about how the company plans to upgrade the existing capsule with modern flight capabilities." (Details: NASA news release)
ATK
The International Space Station's robotic arm extracts the Liberty Logistics Module in this artist's concept.
ATK, the company leading the development of the Liberty launch system, says it intends to offer an expanded crew and cargo capability — in the form of a pressurized pod that could carry up to 5,100 pounds of cargo to the space station. The pod, known as the Liberty Logistics Module, would ride into orbit along with the crew spacecraft, protected by a lightweight shroud. Once the launch vehicle gets beyond the atmosphere, the shroud could be jettisoned, and the LLM could be grappled by the station's robotic arm for a hookup to a docking port. ATK and its partners, including Astrium and Lockheed Martin, are aiming to get in on the next phase of the Commercial Crew Program. (Details: ATK news release)
Moon Express says former Google executive Jimi Crawford has joined the company as chief technology officer and software architect. Backed by dot-com entrepreneur Naveen Jain, Moon Express aims to put a lander and rover on the lunar surface by 2015 to win a share of the $30 million Google Lunar X Prize. Crawford has most recently served as Google Books' engineering director. Among the other lines on his resume is a stint as the leader of the robotics program at NASA's Ames Research Center. "With Jimi's combined space mission and software experience, our technical team just took another giant leap forward," Bob Richards, Moon Express co-founder and CEO, said in a news release. (Details: Space.com)
More about the commercial space race:
- NASA, FAA work out rules for spaceships
- Virgin Galactic rocket to carry satellites
- Private space travel's science benefits
- Cosmic Log archive on commercial space
Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
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This is why I have to stop by "The Cosmic Log" when ever I'm on here ....
Plus the rover landing will be coming up soon , Aug 5 ....
How do I know .... ??
"The Cosmic Log" .... "LOL"
Thanks Alan Boyle , the busy BEE ....
Richard Branson's visions are amazing ....
You have to check out Alan's link ....
Virgin Galactic rocket to carry satellites
And watch the video ....
Amalgamations in space works are developing nicely now ....
There's so much to look forward to with all of these new visionaries jumping into space type ventures ....
Stay Curious ....
"The Rover Curiosity" lands on Mars on Aug 5 ....
I ain't gonna let it get me down that these guys are so far ahead, I was upset when google x prize went institution bound, there is no real reason a balloon hybrid craft could not, even now, take the prize, but if it's all right with ya all, I think I'll keep pluggin away at a non chemical way to leave standard orbit...hehe...meanwhile, Kudus to the american space entreprenours. GOtta keep pace because soon it will be foreign competitors nipping at their heels, and if any of ya all gotta spare million give or take, I could use for the science foundry's enterprise project, no press release yet, just we ARE smart enough to at least start with the gallileo shuttle first......although, for the st fans, there is that little runabout picard and data commandeer and take on a joy ride through an enemies hull...now that would be a ship to make. HEY WHATEVER ANY OF YOU HAVE ON YOUR DRAWING BOARDS, DON"T GIVE UP, THIS SHOW IS ONLY JUST GETTING STARTED!!! GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE!!!
Remember all this when someone says there's no more 'space program.' (whatever that phrase really meant, anyway...)
Everyone has been using President Obama's cancellation of the Constellation Program as a rallying cry against him.
But because he cancelled the Constellation Program government funding through grants has opened the way for private companies such as Space X to provide the same ferrying services to space that the Constellation Program would have provide but at a reduced cost.
Once Space X and other private space industries get into manufacture mode where countries like Russia and China will employ their services as well as purchasing their rocket delivery systems the Space Program will be full swing again.
If China and Russia had any economic sense they would employ America private space firms to conduct their launches for them which will reduce both countries budgets.
I would give the America Space Program another ten years before we start reading about joint Russian/American/Chinese operations to colonize the Moon as well as planning to colonize Mars.
Three heads are better than one.
"If China and Russia had any economic sense they would employ America private space firms to conduct their launches for them which will reduce both countries budgets."
Assuming they even required this, there are (at least) two reasons this won't happen:
1. National pride
2. ITAR.
They won't ask for that kind of help, we won't give them access to anything that we interpret as having 'munitions' value.
Not to mention that both continue to provide commercial satellite launch service. We won't give them access to anything that helps the competition. As long as there's a market they can hole to get a share of, that will continue, no matter what Russia or China do in manned space. And some of those launchers are the same, just as they are here (Atlas, Falcon and maybe Delta will ultimately see manned service )
"Three heads are better than one."
There's also; "Too many cooks spoil the broth."
There's no 'One True Way' to build a spaceship. That's why Apollo didn't look like Soyuz. Not just differing technological capabilities, but different design philosophies. We've made the mistake of creating systems that try to be all things to all users, already (*cough* Space Shuttle *cough*). We must think Darwinian on this. Three different approaches are better than one, because there's a greater chance that at least one of them will produce something that works.
That's why there are multiple Commercial Crew companies. At least one is certain to be successful.
Just wait until StratoLaunch Systems gets their Big Boy up and flying.
http://www.stratolaunch.com/
Carrier Plane Launch Systems will be the next delivery system that companies around the world use to launch their payloads into space.
Who knows after that maybe StratoLaunch would even evolve their Carrier Launch System to incorporate a rocket system that would take the Carrier itself into space where it would be able to dock with the I.S.S.
How does Weyland Corporation fit into this? Looks to me that within 50 years there will be a Weyland type corporation doing much of the space work at a much reduced cost than that of governments.
Why is there no mention of the Boeing CST-100 capsule which is currently receiving NASA funding? They recently conducted drop tests to verify the performance of the parachutes. Also. last October, Boeing was awarded the use of the OPF-3 at Kennedy Space Center. It was a hangar used to house one of the Shuttles between flights. It appears NASA has more faith in Boeing's spacecraft than some of the other ones mentioned in this article.
loved the documentary on this LazyCash43.com