Bigelow News
Some stuff from Bigelow Aerospace who's Genesis II will launch early 2007. Ace Up Our Sleeve It's the workplace pastime for those taking a discreet break from work: Playing computer solitaire. In the best Bigelow Aerospace tradition of making spaceflight fun, a solitaire game with a Bigelow Aerospace twist has been launched today. (more...)
Shanan Dale on COTS
Deputy Director of NASA, Shana Dale, has an editorial out about vision and innovation. On the anniversary of the Wright Brother's flight (December 17th), she says:
NASA is leveraging the power of innovation to enable a viable commercial enterprise in space. This approach is a radical departure from tradition for NASA, which previously has relied on major aerospace contractors and its own engineering talent and resources to acquire their own space capabilities. The demands today, however, are for more efficient, more affordable access to space, something the Wright brothers of today are keen to deliver. (more...)
NASA News and Such
NASA and Google have signed an agreement to work “on a variety of challenging technical problems” related to information management, distributed computing, and human-computer interaction. I guess the Google servers have reached sentience and are ready to leave Earth
FAA Private Space Requirements and other Private Space News
The FAA has released the official requirements for private space passengers and crew.
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An interview with T/Space and how they are continuing forward after loosing the COTS money.
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Dan Rather is Excited about the Lunar Base
Never thought I would agree with Dan Rather on something…
NASA Budget News
Congress can’t get their act together. They only had a year to get the 2007 budget approved. But they have acted to continue funding everything at the 2006 level until Feb 15, when they can pull it together.
This screws the Exploration side of NASA, but aeronautics is happy. If I set up my budget this [...]
Private Space Tibbits
Bigelow has posted two articles on their website about the coming launch of the Genesis II.
Life in a Box - development of a biobox for a select grop fo arthroponauts.
Thinking Outside the Bingo Box: B-I-N-G-O! Aerospace Style - development of a mechanical game system that will allow the public to “play a game of space [...]
Focus of the VSE
Space Alumni.com thinks we need to talk up Mars more:
To attract the future generation of explorers, NASA needs to establish
itself as the agency of the future, not the agency of the past. A return to the
Mike Griffin Responds on the Cost of Exploration
In the USA Today, Mike Griffin rebuts the idea that we can’t afford to explore space:
Our great-great-grandparents accepted the challenge of their frontier. Will today’s generation do less? And if so, why? To save 15 cents per day? To save six-tenths of 1% of the federal budget? Because that is the cost to the average [...]
NASA Releases 3 new RFIs
NASA has released three new RFI (courtesy of Commercial Space Watch):
ISS Cargo Transportation: Obtain information on ISS commercial resupply opportunities in the interim period prior to completion of the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) Phase I demonstrations and initiation of COTS Phase II.
Back to the Moon Discussions
Jeff Foust thinks NASA needs to better explain why we are going back to the Moon.
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Jeff Brooks devises an international plan to allow people to buy land on Mars. Anything with the word international in it is doomed.
Astronomy Tidbits
Jupiter’s Super Hurricane Red Spot (really more of a brown, though).
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Detecting Asteroid impacts on extrasolar planets
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Did I mention the Shuttle Launched Saturday?
And it is doing fine.
New Ideas in Space
GPS like navigation? Cool.
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Spaceport America’s continuing development.
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Aviation Week is focusing on New Space:
It’s Not Just a New Mission, it is a New Charter
After reading a story about Mike Griffin and the Moon Base plan, I came across this interesting comment:
And [the VSE] gives the space agency a mission without an end date when the budget axes start coming out, he said.
