NASA and the Private Sector - Page 84

Aerojet Rocketdyne, the company that built the space shuttle’s main engines, on Tuesday stepped up its campaign to supplant Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin as provider of power for the next generation of US rocket systems.

Julie Van Kleeck, Aerojet’s head of advanced space and launch, told reporters in Colorado Springs that the company’s new AR1 engine would allow the US to maintain “assured access to space” with the least disruption and for the least money.

Aerojet’s push comes as United Launch Alliance, the company that until recently had a monopoly on US national security space launches, prepares to choose an engine for its new rocket systems. ULA — a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin — has been forced to develop a new system because its current main rocket, the Atlas V, depends on the Russian-built RD-180 engine. Russia has threatened to stop supplying for US national security launches.

On April 13 2016 00:37 Sn0_Man wrote:

I mean what was the incentive to flying when the wright brothers first got their plane going
It wasn't like you could sell airline tickets or bomb people back then

Anyway satellites are surprisingly lucrative

On April 16 2016 13:29 [[Starlight]] wrote:


Good points.

On April 16 2016 14:47 radscorpion9 wrote:


I'm not sure about that considering we've launched satellites into space and have travelled in space already, so its not like the Wright brother's plane at all.

But as steps towards a long-term future in space where we can land on asteroids and perhaps colonize the moon (if anyone wants to live there?) yes it definitely is helpful.

The first stage of the SpaceX Falcon 9, that successfully helped launch the CRS-8 Dragon to the ISS prior to landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic, has completed its Port Canaveral processing. The stage is now being transported to KSC for a series of static fire tests, with the ultimate goal to clear it for an upcoming mission that would mark the first reuse of a returned SpaceX booster.

COLORADO SPRINGS — Sometime in the past decade, the idea of launching private rockets into space for cheap became reality.

Just in the past two years, space newcomers SpaceX, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic have launched more than a dozen rockets. Some made it successfully to space. Others didn't.

Last week, at the annual Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, commercial companies talked about how the race to bring down the cost even more is gaining momentum, at least in theory.

In his keynote at the symposium, Jeff Bezos shared plans for his company, Blue Origin. The Amazon.com founder, like others, is pursuing reusable rockets and suborbital space travel.

"I think the best way for us at Blue Origin to help other space entrepreneurs is to solve that problem of getting payloads into orbit at incredibly low cost because that would unlock the power of thousands of entrepreneurs. That's what we are focused on," Bezos said.

"It's why we are doing the suborbital tourism mission. It's why our BE-3 engine is liquid hydrogen because we know we need liquid hydrogen for our upper-stage and in-space missions later," he said. "It's why we are using liquid natural gas because our goal is to make spaceflight so cheap that the cost of the fuel actually matters."

Blue Origin has successfully launched and landed its New Shepard rocket at least three times since November. It's unknown how many attempts were made in the past — or the cost. The company declined to comment.

SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket into space on April 8, and after the first stage delivered its payload, the vehicle descended back to Earth and landed on an autonomous drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean.

Now the company hopes to repeat that sea-based feat under more dynamically challenging conditions. The launch earlier this month carried a Dragon spacecraft, destined for the International Space Station about 400km above the surface. With a launch tentatively set for May 3 during the early morning hours, SpaceX plans to deliver a Japanese broadcast satellite into orbit 22,000km above the planet's surface.

This means that the first stage will accelerate to a greater velocity, moving almost parallel to the surface and away from the launch site, before it releases the second stage and the primary payload. This trajectory will leave the vehicle with far less fuel to arrest this horizontal motion, and to control its descent to the barge waiting below.

Since the April 8 launch, SpaceX has returned the flown first stage, including its nine engines, to Port Canaveral for initial checkouts. Last week, SpaceX moved the rocket stage to its hangar at Kennedy Space Center for further tests. The company plans to fire its engines 10 times in a row on the ground. “If things look good it will be qualified for reuse,” SpaceX founder Elon Musk said earlier this month. “We’re hoping to relaunch it on an orbital mission, let's say by June.”

The company needs to master the art of ocean-based landings because SpaceX estimates that only one-half of its launches will have enough fuel to fly back to the coast, where it has a ground-based landing zone, after fulfilling their primary missions. The May 3 launch attempt, with its challenging landing conditions, will go a long way toward determining how much SpaceX has learned so far.

On April 18 2016 02:54 Yurie wrote:


Thing is that people can live anywhere. You can always find people that want to move away from where they are. Standard in Sci Fi is creating religious or political platforms in space where others won't bother them.

After that you have the second and third generations that are stuck there since they can't or can't afford to leave. Followed by the 5:th generation that won't compare it to anything and see it as normal.

I personally wouldn't mind migrating to space, not that I think it would be better, just different. You could probably scrape up 100 million people alive right now that would accept a ticket. The people that can pay for it is a different matter.

Vector Space Systems, a Micro Satellite space launch enterprise comprised of new-space industry veterans from SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, McDonnell Douglas and Sea Launch, today announced it has secured more than $1M in angel funding at Space 2.0 in Silicon Valley.

Vector Space Systems, which sports a roster of technology and aerospace giants to provide industry insight, expertise and leadership, was formed to fundamentally change the dynamics and economics of the space launch industry.

More than just another satellite launch company; Vector Space Systems connects space startups with affordable and reliable launch-enabling platforms and vehicles at a cost point never before possible for accessing space. Featuring the only launch system dedicated to serving the rapidly growing Micro satellite market, Vector Space Systems aims to foster innovation throughout the market segment to spark space commerce growth through reliable and frequent launch opportunities. In addition, Vector Space Systems is developing a platform approach to broaden the access of space technology to non-experts, extending the traditional launch vehicle only model to include space systems that permit anyone to innovate and create space applications without the need for hiring an entirely new satellite development team.

On April 27 2016 04:55 ShoCkeyy wrote:
I mean, the political party thinks that, but I feel like a lot of people in the US actually believe in the space program. If I could choose where to spend my tax dollars, I would put a good portion into NASA.

On April 27 2016 04:51 {CC}StealthBlue wrote:
Looks like NASA is going to have it's budget cut and some programs shelved. WHat hapens when a political party doesn't believe in Science I guess.

On April 28 2016 01:55 JimmyJRaynor wrote:

human knowledge continually expands no matter the status of 1 small government donation. NASA is good at PR spin and excuse-making though. They're doing a good job at that; NASA has people thinking "believing in science" equals "handing NASA donation money"

fortunately, i'm not a US citizen. from my perspective i'm glad the liberals gutted SPAR.

On April 28 2016 02:11 oBlade wrote:

Is there anyone you don't think has good PR?