The Times They Are A Changin Blue Origin and United Launch Alliance held a news conference at the National Press Club today entitled “Igniting the Future.” The purpose was announce the joint development of a new main engine to replace the Russian built RD-180 which powers the Atlas V booster. Called the BE-4, the new […]
Several interesting developments suggest the Stratolaunch project is beginning to gain serious traction, marking a new entry into the intermediate class of a launch vehicles left vacant since ULA discontinued production of the Delta II, and SpaceX walked away from the Falcon 5, and its own preliminary involvement in the Paul Allen project. GenCorp, the […]
The company which likes to pride itself on being the original Newspace company, (and often refuses to refer to SpaceX by name) Orbital Sciences, announced today that it is engaging in a “merger of equals” with Alliant Techsystems, or ATK, the defense, munitions and space company which is perhaps best known as the major contractor […]
Two interesting Mars related items are taking place this week. On Monday, officials held a ribbon cutting at NASA’s Stennis Space Center to commemorate SpaceX’s conversion of the E-2 stand to test for testing components of its Raptor engine. SpaceX has made bones about the fact that the Raptor methane engine program is specifically geared […]
Orbital Sciences Press Release ORBITAL SIGNS LAUNCH AGREEMENT WITH SKYBOX IMAGING — Company to Launch Six Commercial High-Resolution Imaging Spacecraft for New Customer Aboard Commercial Version of Minotaur Rocket in Late 2015 — (Dulles, VA 20 February 2014) – Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB), one of the world’s leading space technology companies, today announced that […]
According to a report in aerospace industry magazine Space News, a US district judge has denied a request by United Launch Alliance to dismiss the lawsuit levied against the monopoly launch provider by Orbital Sciences Corporation over access to the Russian built RD-180 first stage engine which powers the Atlas V rocket. Unless the case […]
As with so much else, nobody really knows. In the week which came between two launches towards the one destination almost everyone agrees is the ultimate goal of human spaceflight, at least at current technology levels, three press events shed a little light on the upcoming decision point facing the American space program. First, the […]
NASA announced the winners of the Commercial Crew Integrated Capabilities round on August 3rd. A selection statement released recently provides more insight into the decision and gives us some idea what to look for as this round progresses. The statement, which can be found here, outlines the strengths and weaknesses of each of the four proposals from ATK, […]
Recent Comments