SpaceDev/SpaceHab/Constellation Services Sign NASA "SPACE ACTS AGREEMENTS"

SpaceDev announced its concept for the SpaceDev Dream Chaser™ vehicle, a six-passenger human space transport system based on the ten-passenger HL-20 Personnel Launch System developed by NASA Langley. SpaceDev believes its SpaceDev Dream Chaser™ can meet the needs of the rapidly emerging commercial space tourism market, and NASA needs for routine, safe and affordable crew access to the International Space Station. SpaceDev believes SpaceDev Dream Chaser™ will be much faster and far less expensive to develop than a new crew launch vehicle as proposed by large aerospace companies.


The design concept for the SpaceDev Dream Chaser™, which is the same size but lighter than the ten-passenger NASA HL-20 vehicle, is also suitable for safe, affordable sub-orbital space tourism applications. The long-term SpaceDev Dream Chaser™ design plan includes a scaled-up version of SpaceDev’s non-explosive, rubber-burning hybrid rocket motors. SpaceDev’s proprietary hybrid rocket motor technology successfully powered Paul Allen’s SpaceShipOne on its historic X Prize winning flights to space last year. To lower risk and cost, the SpaceDev Dream Chaser™ system is anticipated to combine existing and proven designs and technologies.

by Staff Writers, Poway CA

SpaceDev has signed a Space Act Agreement with NASA to facilitate its development of reliable, safe and affordable transportation of passengers and cargo to and from Earth orbit. Under the Agreement, NASA will provide information about the agency's projected commercial demand for crew and cargo services to the International Space Station (ISS) as well as technical support regarding commercial vehicle requirements for rendezvous and docking with the ISS. NASA will also provide inputs to the development program through regularly scheduled technical exchange.
"We appreciate the leadership and foresight of Michael Griffin, Scott Horowitz, Alan Lindenmoyer and the entire NASA COTS office in their commitment to us and the emerging space industry," said Mark Sirangelo, SpaceDev's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
"This Agreement will allow us to work closely with NASA to share data, concepts and updates on our program's progress. Having a continuous interchange with NASA will help accelerate our ability to make strides to meet our country and industry's near and long term needs for space transport. We are committed to the use of the NASA Langley derived HL-20 as the foundation of our space transport program."
This Agreement builds on SpaceDev's continuing and developing relationship with NASA as a result of the COTS (Commercial Orbital Transportation Services) proposal effort, where SpaceDev was one of three finalists in the competition. The SpaceDev vehicle has on-board propulsion utilizing SpaceDev's patented hybrid solid rocket motor technology.

earlier related report:
NASA Signs Commercial Space Transportation Agreements Houston TX (SPX) Jun 19 - Through three new Space Act agreements, NASA is expanding cooperation with companies interested in commercializing access to space. The companies are developing capabilities to transport goods and people to low Earth orbit.
NASA signed nonreimbursable Space Act agreements, which do not provide any government funding to the companies, with SpaceDev of Poway, Calif., SPACEHAB of Houston, and Constellation Services International (CSI) of Laguna Woods, Calif. The pacts establish milestones and objective criteria by which the companies can gauge their progress in developing orbital cargo transportation capabilities.
Under the agreements, NASA will share information that will help the companies understand projected requirements for International Space Station crew and cargo transportation launch vehicles, as well as spacecraft and NASA human rating criteria.
SpaceDev, SPACEHAB and CSI will work to develop and demonstrate the vehicles, systems and operations needed to transport cargo to and from a low Earth orbit destination. SpaceDev also will include crew transport in its development program. NASA will acknowledge the companies' milestone accomplishments.
"This is a significant development," said Scott Horowitz, NASA associate administrator for Exploration Systems. "First there were two, and now there are a total of five private companies cooperating with NASA by dedicating entirely private funding to help establish a robust commercial space transportation industry."
"We're pleased to welcome these entrepreneurs to the growing list of companies willing to invest their own resources as NASA encourages development of a whole new sector of the commercial space industry," said Alan Lindenmoyer, manager of the Commercial Crew and Cargo Program Office at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
The program's overarching goals are to stimulate commercial enterprises in space, facilitate U.S. private industry development of reliable, cost-effective access to low Earth orbit and create a market environment in which commercial space transportation services are available to government and private customers. By stimulating the growth of commercial space enterprise, NASA plans to free itself to focus on long-range exploration to the moon and Mars.
Last year, NASA signed funded agreements with Space Exploration Technologies of El Segundo, Calif., and Rocketplane Kistler of Oklahoma City under the program's competition for Commercial Orbital Transportation Services demonstrations. In January 2007, NASA signed unfunded agreements with Transformational Space Corp. (t/Space) of Reston, Va., and PlanetSpace, Inc., of Chicago, which are similar to the three signed today.
After industry has demonstrated safe and reliable capabilities, NASA plans to enter the next phase of the Commercial Crew and Cargo Program and may purchase transportation services from commercial providers to supply the International Space Station.

earlier related report:
NASA Signs Agreement with CSI
Laguna Woods, CA, June 18, 2007 Constellation Services International, Inc. (CSI) today announced that NASA has signed a Space Act agreement with CSI to facilitate the development of CSI's low-risk LEO Express space cargo system. Under the agreement, NASA will provide information about the agency's projected demand for cargo services to the International Space Station (ISS), as well as requirements regarding rendezvous and docking with the ISS.
"We are pleased to sign this agreement with NASA as part of our commitment to opening the space frontier to private citizens," said Charles Miller, CSI's Chief Executive Officer. "CSI is moving forward with our plans to provide orbital services to commercial customers and this Space Act Agreement allows us to work with NASA on various challenges."
CSI has invested over six years and several million dollars in private investment developing a commercial space station cargo service that uses 100% proven off-the-shelf technology. CSI also won two NASA Alternate Access to Station program contracts, in 2002 and 2003, totaling $3.1 million.
CSI's patented LEO Express space cargo system completed a NASA system design review in July 2003.
The LEO Express system can use over a dozen existing launch vehicles, plus most of the new launch vehicles being developed by private industry. The CSI system can even deliver space station cargo on very small and cheap launchers like the SpaceX Falcon 1 or AirLaunch QuickReach.
"Studies validate that CSI could deliver cargo to a space station in as short as 19 months, and possibly even quicker" stated Tom Moser, CSI's Vice President for Government Programs and former NASA space station program manager.
Moser continued "The LEO Express system uses U.S. launch vehicles that already meet NASA's most stringent 95% reliability standards, which is critical if you are delivering high value cargo. We allow launch vehicles to deliver 30- 100% more cargo per flight compared to current direct ascent approaches."
CSI was founded in 1998 as a commercial space services company. CSI's LEO Express system uses an orbital space tug, and is modeled after Earth-based intermodal cargo systems that use standardized containers. CSI has offices in Laguna Woods, CA, and Alexandria, VA.

MISSION TO SEEK VULCAN, HOME PLANET OF SPOCK!

The SIM PlanetQuest mission will be able to detect habitable planets around other stars.

Astronomers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have recently concluded that the upcoming planet-finding mission, SIM PlanetQuest, would be able to detect an Earth-like planet around the star 40 Eridani, a planet familiar to "Star Trek" fans as "Vulcan." 40 Eridani, a triple-star system 16 light-years from Earth, includes a red-orange K dwarf star slightly smaller and cooler than our sun. Vulcan is thought to orbit that dwarf star, called 40 Eridani A.
When pondering the idea that SIM might be able to detect Vulcan, astronomer Dr. Angelle Tanner at Caltech had two questions: Can a planet form around 40 Eridani A? Can SIM detect such a planet?
She consulted a planetary theorist, Dr. Sean Raymond of the University of Colorado, Boulder. "Since the three members of the triple star system are so far away from each other [hundreds of astronomical units - the Earth-Sun distance], I see no reason why an Earth-mass planet would not be able to form around the primary star, 40 Eridani A," he said.
If Vulcan life were to exist on the planet, the orbit of the planet would have to lie in a sweet spot around the star where liquid water could be present on its surface. Water is an essential ingredient for any organism to live long and prosper. For 40 Eridani A, this spot, or "habitable zone," is 0.6 astronomical units from the star. That means Vulcans would get to celebrate a birthday about every six months.

The SIM PlanetQuest instrument will be so accurate, it could measure the thickness of a nickel at a distance from Earth to the moon. Using a set of mathematical models based on Newton's Laws, Tanner was able to conclude that SIM would be able to definitively determine whether there is an Earth-mass planet orbiting in the habitable zone around 40 Eridani A, and could also determine its orbit.
This is quite an exciting prospect, since NASA's Terrestrial Planet Finder mission, planned for launch after SIM, would not only be able to take a rudimentary "picture" of the planet, but also could search for signatures of life such as methane and ozone.
When asked what life would be like on Vulcan, Tanner speculated that the inhabitants might be pale. "A K dwarf star emits its light at wavelengths which are a bit redder compared to those from the sun, so I wonder whether it's harder to get a tan there," she said.
The results of Tanner's simulations will be submitted for publication in the Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.

For more information about NASA's search for new worlds, visit the PlanetQuest Web site (CLICK TITLE LINK ABOVE).

EADS ASTRIUM PROJECT BEGINS TO TAKE FLIGHT

The whole flight would last one-and-a-half hours.
The European aerospace giant EADS is going into the space tourism business.
Its Astrium division says it will build a space plane capable of carrying fare-paying passengers on a sub-orbital ride more than 100km above the planet.
The vehicle, which will take off from a normal airport, will give the tourists a three-to-five-minute experience of weightlessness at the top of its climb.
Tickets are expected to cost up to 200,000 euros (£135,000), with flights likely to begin in 2012.
There must be millions of people who have dreamt about this since they were little kids
Marc Newson, designer
"We believe it is the will of human beings to visit space and we have to give them the possibility to do that," said Francois Auque, the CEO of Astrium.
"Astrium is by far the largest space company in Europe, so we are very knowledgeable in all these matters. We believe our concept is extremely safe, extremely comfortable and cost effective," he told BBC News.
Two in one.
EADS Astrium is the company that builds the Ariane rocket, which lofts most of the world's commercial satellites. Its space jet is a very different concept, however.
The front end of a full-scale model was unveiled at a publicity event in Paris on Wednesday. From a certain angle, the vehicle resembles an ordinary executive aircraft - but its engineers claim it is in fact "revolutionary".
The production model will use normal jet engines to take off and climb to 12km. From there, a rocket engine will kick the vehicle straight up, taking it beyond 60km in just 80 seconds. By the time the rocket shuts down, the craft should have sufficient velocity to carry it above 100km - into space.
As the plane then begins to fall back to Earth, the pilot will use small thrusters to control its altitude, guiding the vehicle into the atmosphere from where it will use its jet engines again to return to the airport.
The total journey time will be about one-and-a-half hours.
World window.
Astrium says there will be room for four passengers on each mission. Towards the top of the climb, these individuals will be
able to float free in the cabin and look through large windows at the planet below.

Astrium is proposing a different technical solution to the one being pursued by airline boss Sir Richard Branson and his Virgin Galactic enterprise.
Branson's operation - timed to start about 2009 - is basing its vehicles on the record-breaking SpaceShipOne rocket plane which became the first privately built craft to reach space in 2004.
SpaceShipOne had to be carried to a launch altitude by another vehicle before using rocket propulsion; and on its return from space, glided to its home runway. Astrium says its decision to go with a one-stage concept was driven by safety and economic considerations.
The Australian Marc Newson was employed to design the space plane's interior. He said he had put great emphasis on the seats - which he describes as "hi-tech hammocks" - and the windows to maximise the flight experience.
Child's dream.
"The windows are very similar to a civilian jet airliner but they're about 30% bigger; but more importantly, there're 15 windows and only four passengers, so there're are plenty of opportunities to float around the interior of this cabin and take different views of space, the stars, the Moon, and the Earth," Mr Newson explained.
"It will be amazing. You'll actually be outside the Earth's atmosphere; you'll be able to see Earth as a spherical object and everything else around you will be black. There must be millions of people who have dreamt about this since they were little kids," he told the BBC.
EADS Astrium says its space jet project is likely to cost a billion euros to develop. It will be looking for financial and industrial partners over the next year. It says that if development work starts in 2008, the first commercial flights could be made in 2012.
"The development of a new vehicle able to operate in altitudes between aircraft (20km) and below satellites (200km) could well be a precursor for rapid transport, point-to-point vehicles, or quick access to space," Astrium said in a statement.
"Its development will contribute to maintaining and even enhancing European competencies in core technologies for space transportation."

WIRED MAGAZINE SPACE ADVOCATES

WIRED MAAGAZINE IS A BIG INFLUENCE ON OUR ORGANIZATION. THIS MONTHS MAIN ARTICLE FOCUSES ON THE PRIVATE SPACE INDUSTRY, BUT FOCUSES ON THE PIONEERING MAVERICK OF THE CURRENT PRIVATE SPACE HAULING ENTERPRISE, SPACE-X. ELON MUSK HAS WAGERED MILLIONS ON THE SPACE INDUSTRY (his huge investment in the new electric car phenom company, Tesla Motorcars, is another achievement to be discussed later!).


THE COVER OF THE MAGAZINE IS A BRILLIANT RENDITION OF COMPETITION WORKING TOGETHER TO MEET GLOBAL GOALS. CLICK THE TITLE LINK ABOVE TO GO DIRECTLY TO THE ARTICLE.
HERE ARE A FEW PARAPHRASES TO GET YOU INTERESTED...
--- The ultimate objective is to make humanity a multiplanet species. Thirty years from now, there'll be a base on the moon and on Mars, and people will be going back and forth on SpaceX rockets."
---We've developed it ourselves, and no other private company has ever done that. Ever. By next year, we'll be building 30 to 40 rocket engines a year, more than any other company in the US, getting economies of scale that have never been achieved before."
---In 30 minutes if everything goes according to plan, the Falcon will be in orbit above Earth — something so difficult that it has always been the province of nations, not entrepreneurs like Musk.
---"Look," Buzza says, "as launch director I'm extremely uncomfortable putting the vehicle, fully fueled, into a safe state." Buzza orders the fuel drained. "Wait a second, Tim," Musk says, pacing. He's a gazillionaire, a master of the universe, the guy who started PayPal and flipped it to eBay for $1.5 billion, the guy who built the first viable electric sports car. He gets stuff done. "Tim? Tim! If we can launch today, why are we scrubbing?" But he's powerless, stuck half a world away from the action. Buzza cancels the launch. Musk plops back into his chair, shakes his head, and begins frantically sending messages on his BlackBerry.
---The space industry was built by huge aerospace companies on government contracts — thousands of people working with hundreds of millions of dollars. Market forces didn't apply. Rockets were launched once and thrown away, high-performance miracles of engineering — race cars. Musk's basic idea was to use his own prodigious fortune to build not touchy Formula One cars but reliable Camrys. Run a company less like Boeing and more like Google — nimble, aggressive, and cheap.
---He had always been interested in space, convinced that humans were destined to be a multiplanet species. But where were the Columbuses and da Gamas of the 21st century?
Still on Earth — because going to space is hard. An object in low Earth orbit stays there, 250 miles up, only when the force that put it up there equals the gravity trying to pull it back down. And that force comes from one thing: massive amounts of kinetic energy, also known as speed. "Look," Musk says, scribbling equations on a notepad, "the energy increases with the square of the velocity. To go 60 miles into suborbital space, like Rutan and the X-Prize, you need to travel at Mach 3. The square of that is 9. But to get to orbit, you need to go Mach 25, and the square of that is 625. So you're looking at something that takes 60 to 70 times more energy. And then, to come back, you need to unwind that energy in a meteoric fireball, and if there's one violation of integrity, you're toast."

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ENJOY THE RACE BOYS!