SOAR Second Stage Space Plane Image Credit: Swiss Space Systems One of the most intriguing of a growing number of NewSpace companies targeting the small satellite launch market is Swiss Space Systems. With its plans for 2/3 reusable launch system consisting of an Airbus 300 carrier plane, and unmanned fully re-usable SOAR rocket plane as […]
Following the delivery of its first flight capable, pressurized cockpit earlier this year, XCOR continues to make steady progress in assembling its two seat Lynx sub-orbital space plane. With fellow intended space tourism provider Virgin Galactic announcing a switch in fuels for the hybrid rocket motor powering SpaceShipTwo, a change which may further delay its […]
Although Virgin Galactic has a tendency to draw the headlines, no doubt in part due to its very high profile founder, XCOR Aerospace is pressing equally hard to get its Lynx space plane into commercial service. The company announced a major step forward today with the delivery of the pressurized cockpit for its Lynx Mark […]
Image Credit: Virgin Galactic If 2014 really is the year the commercial suborbital industry finally takes off, one NASA program is ready to take advantage of the opportunity and help it gain altitude. It is the agency’s Flight Opportunities Program, which originally began in 2009 as the Commercial Reusable Suborbital Research program. Since then, it […]
Yesterday, XCOR and United Launch Alliance announced a major milestone accomplishment in their joint project to develop a low cost, cryogenic propellant pump for upper stage applications. From the Joint XCOR / ULA Press Release: September 23rd, 2013, Mojave, California and Centennial, Colorado – XCOR Aerospace and United Launch Alliance announced significant progress today in […]
The week ended on a high note for the Kennedy Space Center with the announcement today that NASA and Space Florida are hammering out a partnership agreement which would see the State of Florida development agency assume responsibility for the Shuttle Landing Facility.The agreement which is still being worked out could see Space Florida ease the entry of a number […]
Earlier this week, yet another Congressional committee held hearings on the direction of NASA and future of human spaceflight. Even for policy wonks, this gets old. Maybe though, that is about to change. It has been a long eight years since SpaceShip 1 won the Ansari X-Prize and began to focus the world’s attention on the […]
The suborbital space transportation industry took one of its biggest steps to date this morning, with the first powered test flight of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo, the complete details of which are included in the press release below. Coming as it does in the same month which saw Orbital Sciences complete the first launch of the Antares booster, and looking […]
One of the more innovative smaller efforts underway at NASA is the Flight Opportunities Programs, which offers researchers access to the suborbital and high altitude environment on a variety of platforms. The range of the experiment portfolio is impressive, and it has already hosted a number of experiments which could be important stepping stones on the path to permanent and expanding presence in space. For instance, much […]
As spaceship Earth embarks on another trip around the Sun, it’s an appropriate occasion to take a look ahead at the New Year and consider what developments might take place which could change the fundamental cost basis of reaching orbit. Suborbital Space: After seemingly endless delays, 2013 is poised to be the breakout year for the reusable suborbital launch industry. (but […]
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