AST/FAA has released the FAA/AST Quarterly Launch Report - 4th Quarter 2006 (pdf)

Featuring Launch Results from the 3rd Quarter 2006 and
Forecasts for the 4th Quarter 2006 and 1st Quarter 2007. Special Report: Waivers of Liability: Are They Enough for Permittees and Licensees?

Tony Webb and his eSpaceTickets organization are starting a program in which non-profit groups can use space tourism contests to raise money: Contests Offer Public Chance for Space Flight as Space Tourism Begins - eSpaceTickets - Oct.30.06
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More about NASA's Red Planet Capital firm that will invest in startup space related companies: NASA Invests in Its Future With Venture Capital Firm - washingtonpost.com
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As mentioned earlier, funding for additional Centennial Challenge competitions is threatened by the zeroing of 2007 funding in the Senate Appropriations committee bill. Jeff Foust says there may be a chance to reverse this when the House and Senate appropriations committees meet to reconcile their bills: Centennial Challenges funding - Space Politics - Oct.31.06

NASA makes the formal announcement of a Hubble servicing mission "tentatively targeted for launch during the spring to fall of 2008". There will be a news conference at 12:45 pm EST. See it on NASA TV.

* Hubble Space Telescope - NASA
* NASA Approves Mission and Names Crew for Return to Hubble - NASA
* Shuttle Astronauts to Upgrade Hubble Again - NASA

* 'Go' for Hubble servicing mission - Spaceflight Now - Bill Harwood
* Hubble Saved: NASA Approves Shuttle Flight to Service Space Telescope - Space.com

The comeback of the LEO constellations continues. Now Orbcomm is planning to go public and to launch a second generation fleet of satellites: Orbcomm Sets Ambitious Subscriber Goals with IPO - Space News/Space.com - Oct.30.06. They probably will use Orbital launchers but perhaps a lower cost provider could get some of their business.
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The latest update of the Flight Int. Spaceflight section includes:
* Russian Explorer vehicle awaits US cash decision: Prodea pins investment in suborbital launcher development on feasibility study - The Russian suborbital space tourist vehicle promoted by Space Adventures is still in the early study stage.
* Atlas V may be Bigelow launcher - Flight International - Oct.31.06 - LM doesn't see much that needs changing to make Atlas V suitable for manned launches
* Elevator climb beaten by elements - Flight International - Oct.31.06
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A review of the GAO's review of the FAA's regulation of commercial spaceflight: FAA put on guard for space tourism - Atlanta Journal/Cox News - Oct.30.06

Check out the new Launch Magazine: Veteran Magazine Editors Introduce LAUNCH Magazine - Launch Magazine/PRNewswire - Oct.30.06.

With a retro style design, LAUNCH will follow hobby rocketry in all civilian forms including low power, mid power, high power and experimental. In addition, it will cover the growing private, consumer space efforts at places like New Mexico's Spaceport America, as well as NASA's new exploration initiatives. "LAUNCH is uniquely positioned to cover this new Space Age," says Mayfield. "It's time for a magazine as good as exciting as the science it is covering."

A profile of a proponent of the NM spaceport: Ambitions are sky-high for New Mexico spaceport - Los Angeles Times (Via spacetoday.net)
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Unusual to find a science reporter at a mainstream newspaper, especially a liberal British one, taking such a strong position in favor of human spaceflight: How to revitalise science? Send a Briton into space: Astronauts do not come cheap, but it's a price worth paying for the boost it would give to physics and engineering - Guardian - Oct.30.06 (Via spacetoday.net). Here's the RAS study that he refers to.
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Mr. X has some choice words for the Ares launchers: Don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining - Chair Force Engineer - Oct.29.06

The latest issue of The Space Review has this space transport related article:

* COTS winners start showing their hands - Jeff Foust discusses the presentations made by representatives of the two COTS winners at the recent FAA COMSTAC meeting.

Other articles include:
* When politics, semantics, and reality collide: the “space tourism” debate - Michael Turner discusses the controversy over the term "space tourism". He suggests "space travel" might be a good compromise. (See also Another matter of nomenclature - The Space Review - Sept.18.06.)
* Murdering Apollo: John F. Kennedy and the retreat from the lunar goal (part 1) - Dwayne Day begins a series on the question of how the US space program would have fared if Kennedy had not been assassinated.
* A message from deep blue America - Taylor Dinerman responds to an editorial on the recent official US Space Policy document issued by the White House.
* Sex in Space: bizarre reactions - Laura Woodmansee recounts several odd events that occurred with regard to her new book.
* Reviews: books big and small - Jeff Foust gives a brief review of some new "Pocket Space Guides" from Apogee and in a new meteorite reference.

The X Prize Cup from the point of view of an exhibitor: Wirefly X Prize Cup - Decisive Win - Oct.29.06
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CNN will present a one hour program on November 23rd in which a panel that includes Buzz Aldrin and Anousheh Ansari will discuss the future of spaceflight: CNN.com - CNN Future Summit (Via the Spaceports Blog.)
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A NASA sponsored panel finds that a human lunar exploration program will support a human Mars exploration program but it won't overcome all of the challenges of going to Mars: Findings of the NASA Mars Forward Lunar Objectives Science Analysis Group (Draft) - SpaceRef - Oct.29.06

... only some of the developments/lessons learned associated with human exploration of the Moon will be directly relevant to Mars and a Mars-dedicated program will be necessary to resolve remaining issues.

Check out the list of Technical Papers at AirLaunch LLC. See, for example, this interesting report: Performance Modeling of Launch Vehicles utilizing Vapor Pressurization (VaPak) based Propulsion Systems - AIAA-2006-7257 - R. Ewig, B. McKinney, and G. Hudson (pdf).

In 1960 a unique light weight vapor pressurization system (VaPak) was conceived that combines the low complexity and reliability of a solid rocket with some of the performance advantageous of a liquid propellant design. The principle of VaPak propellant pressurization is similar to the process that pressurizes a simple can of hair-spray. In a VaPak propulsion system, the propellants are pressurized by the vapor pressure in the ullage volume, generated by the liquid propellant phase being maintained at a saturated state. VaPak systems hold the promise of low complexity propulsion systems for highly reliable and cost-effective vehicle designs – both for launch vehicle and in-space system applications. No high-pressure bottles, complex valving, or pumps are required, and in conjunction with appropriate engine design, the resulting systems are equally usable for trans-atmospheric or in space operations

Aviation Week gives an overview of activity in NewSpace : Private Spaceflight Industry Drawing Private, NASA Capital - Aviation Week - Oct.29.06 .

Stock sales may not be on the table yet, but venture capital and serious public money is finding its way into the nascent U.S. commercial spaceflight industry.

Via Mark Whittington comes a pointer to the site www.DirectLauncher.com, which offers a single launcher alternative to the two Ares vehicles. The site is purportedly "supported by many engineers and mid-level managers within the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)". Their proposal says"

DIRECT would replace the separate Ares-I Crew Launch Vehicle (CLV) and Ares-V Cargo Launch Vehicle (CaLV), with one single Universal Launcher, capable of performing both roles. This alternative architecture completely removes the costs and risks associated with developing and operating a second launcher system. Additionally, removing the second launcher system from the critical path accelerates the schedule for returning to the moon.

Instead of one small (22mT) launcher and one very large (131mT) launcher, DIRECT leverages the existing Space Shuttle’s facilities and launch hardware to create a single Launcher in the performance “mid-range”, capable of lifting over 70mT in basic configuration or over 98mT with an Upper Stage.

A discussion is going on at the NASASpaceflight.com forum.

If the OMB sent down word to NASA that it must drastically cut the estimated cumulative cost of the Constellation program to reach the Moon, then alternatives to Ares like this one or the EELV system described in the recent CBO study would get a hearing. (Of course, I would prefer an expanded COTS program alternative to either of those.) Otherwise, I don't think there is any hope that the Ares programs are going to be dropped on the short term. Eventually they will become vulnerable when they start to show significant overruns and delays. For now, though, there is too much institutional inertia moving with them plus they have the full support of Mike Griffin.

Looks like a Space Shuttle will be sent to service the Hubble Observatory after all:
* STS-125: Hubble servicing is ON - sources - NASA SpaceFlight.com
* NASA chief to reveal decision on Hubble mission Tuesday - Spaceflight Now
* Hubble Update - NASA Watch
* Final decision upcoming on Hubble: NASA chief will announce Tuesday whether a manned mission will be sent to fix the telescope - Houston Chronicle

Burt Rutan castigates NASA on its poor record of innovation in spaceflight in this 20 minute video: Burt Rutan on TED Talks (February 2006 in Monterey, CA.) (Via The Space Fellowship.)
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Here's a nicely made video compilation with soundtrack of the Armadillo flights at the X Prize Cup: Putfile - Amradillo Aerospace taking the Lunar Lander Challenge during the 2006 X Prize Cup
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Robert Bigelow gets some positive feedback from Arthur C. Clarke: 2006 Arthur C. Clarke Awards To Honor Walter Cronkite And Robert Bigelow - The Arthur C. Clarke Foundation - Sept.12.06. Arthur looks happy about his new cap.

The presentations made at this week's FAA COMSTAC (Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee) meeting in DC are now available on line. They include status reports from the two COTS winners:
* SpaceX - Timothy Hughes (ppt)
* Rocketplane-Kistler - Will Trafton (ppt)

[Update Oct.28.06: Jon Goff comments on the SpaceX presentation: SpaceX COMSTAC Briefing - Selenian Boondocks - Oct.27.06]

Some of the other talks include:
* RLV Working Group Report – Mike Kelly
* Commercial Space Flight Liability: Are Waivers Enough? - Reuben Canada - Can waivers signed by passengers protect space tourist operators from lawsuits after an accident?
* Satellite Industry Update – David Cavossa

Leonard David reports on plans at Armadillo and Masten Space for next year's Lunar Lander Challenge: Despite Setbacks, Teams Set Sights On Lunar Lander Purse - SPACE.com - Oct.27.06.

No word here on whether Armadillo will also return to development of the Vertical Drag Racer (VDR image) and the high altitude 65 inch diameter vehicle (image)
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More X-Prize Cup Videos posted at Tales of the Heliosphere.

John Carmack recommended against making a competition like the Lunar Lander Challenge "the main event" at the XPC. Only one team made it this year and it was a close call for them. I don't think, though, that this will be a problem if the Rocket Racing League gets off the ground by the spring or summer of next year. The racing event will then be the main attraction at the next XPC. Alan Boyle reports on progress with the RRL: Rocket racing revving up - Cosmic Log - Oct.26.06
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A summary of the Space Elevator competitions at the XPC: X-Prize Space Elevator Race Ends With No Winners - Space.com - Oct.26.06
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The Rocketry Online Forums provide some videos of the Tripoli high powere rocket launches at the XPC. (Links via Dick's Rocket Dungeon)

Alan Boyle profiles the next orbital space tourist: Billionaire aims to be "first nerd in space" : Former Microsoft exec Charles Simonyi trains for orbital flight - MSNBC.com - Oct.26.06

Meanwhile, the flight of the previous one continues to have an impact on the country of her birth: Space tourist's voyage makes her a star in Iran - International Herald Tribune - Oct.26.06

Space Adventures makes the official announcement of the flight next March by Charles Simonyi, a former top Microsoft developer: Space Adventures´ Orbital Client, Charles Simonyi, Prepares for March 2007 Spaceflight: Views mission to the ISS as a contribution to space research - Space Adventures - Oct.26.06.

And he has, of course, a spiffy Flash-based website: Charles in Space.

Here's a light-hearted news video by a Popular Science reporter on the scene at the X Prize Cup: Future Girl - Lunar Lander Challenge - Oct.25.06

Robin has also collected a big set of links to articles about the event: True stories of Lunar Lander Challenge (plus news reports) - Lunar Lander Challenge - Oct.25.06
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Dick Stafford provides some background info regarding the Tripoli rockets launched during the XPC:
* High Power Rocketry at the X-prize Cup - Dick's Rocket Dugeon - Oct.13.06
* Jet lagged and trying to catch up - Dick's Rocket Dugeon - Oct.23.06
* Rocket recovery safety put into perspective - Dick's Rocket Dugeon - Oct.25.06

Ed Wright's X-Rocket, LLC company is developing a program with high-altitude supersonic MiG aircraft to provide education and training services in support of the suborbital spaceflight industry. As mentioned by Jon Goff and Rand Simberg, Ed and his team suffered a terrible blow last week when the Piper Cheyenne plane they were using to film their MiG in flight crashed without warning, killing all five people on board:
* 5 Dead in Arizona Plane Crash - ABCNews/AP - Oct.19.06
* Investigators release names of plane crash victims - Daily Courier - Oct.21.06

My condolences to Ed and to the relatives and friends of all those who died on the plane.

Here are some comments on the GAO report (mentioned earlier) on the FAA's performance with regard to commercial spaceflight regulation and promotion:
* Evaluating FAA - Space Law Probe - Oct.25.06 - Jesse Londin
* GAO on FAA/AST and space tourism regulations - Space Politics - Oct.26.06 - Jeff Foust

Armadillo has posted a ton of photos and videos from their Lunar Lander Challenge efforts : X Prize Cup 2006 Media - Armadillo Aerospace - Oct.25.06

Three of the nine Centennial Challenges held competitions during the X Prize Cup: Beam Power, Tether, and Lunar Lander. No team won any of them and the purses will be saved for next year. However, the program clearly has encouraged progress in all three areas. The flights of Pixel were the coolest things I've seen since SpaceShipOne went to space in 2004. The two Space Elevator competitions showed considerable technical advancement over the 2005 competitions and they also attracted tremendous student involvement at a high technical level, probably more so than some of NASA's educational programs that cost a lot more. I don't know if there will ever be a space elevator but I know the concept really excites many students and brings out a lot of energy and creativity from them.

The other six Challenges are coming along as well. Unfortunately, the funding for the Centennial Challenges program will be zeroed out for 2007 if the current Senate version of the NASA appropriations bill becomes law: Senate Appropriations Space Subcommittee Report - 109-280

The Committee does not provide any funding in fiscal year 2007 for the Centennial Challenges program. Funding provided in previous fiscal years for this program is sufficient for NASA to run a prize based competition, as well as to verify that NASA will see tangential benefits from running such a program. Providing additional funds to a program based on prizes only creates a pot of unused funds while other aspects of NASA's mission are being cut or delayed due to a lack of funds.

Despite strong support for the CC program in the House and general support in the Senate for prizes, someone on the committee decided to kill the CC program. Probably Mikulski of Maryland or Shelby of Alabama (or more likely one of their staffers) saw it as a chance to move a bit of money to a NASA center in one of those states. There must be something like three or four hundred million dollars in earmarks in the NASA bill so claiming that $10M for the CC program will starve "other aspects of NASA's mission" is contrived and disingenuous. The CC program clearly does not lack in utility towards NASA's mission. Rather it lacks a voting constituency in the states of members of the Appropriations committee.

Regardless of this bill, the pool of money for the CC will keep the current Challenges going till 2010. However, there will be no new challenges and a couple that were almost ready to be implemented will be killed.

As happened with the X Prize, the Challenges program leverages considerably more money than the program costs. (I'm including the value of all the time that skilled volunteers contribute to the teams.) Diverting this small amount of funding into the maw of the vast NASA bureaucracy is a foolish, short-sighted action.

As I understand it, NASA funding is currently operating under a continuing resolution and the final 2007 appropriations will be voted on in a session after the November elections. If it's not too late to save the CC funding, I would hope that space advocates will push for the House allocation for CC funding. If that isn't possible, then there should be a campaign next year to restore funding in 2008.

To raise money for its solar sail project, the Planetary Society is looking into commercial applications that could take advantage of the ability of a solar sail "to conduct station-keeping at points in interplanetary space that are useful for monitoring in the solar system": Solar Sail Update: Monitoring the Weather? - The Planetary Society - Oct.06

I probably spent too much time in the media tent during the X Prize Cup and should have done more visiting of the exhibition booths and talking with reps from the many organizations promoting various projects and products. I did manage, though, to pick up a few pamphlets and business cards. Here is a sampling of what I found:

* New Forks, LLC is sponsoring a space writing contest:

New Forks, LLC is looking for the best space journalism, period. We're giving a $3,000 prize for the best unpublished piece of space journalism and a $3,000 prize for the best published piece of space journalism. That's two categories with one prize of $3,000 for each category. We're looking for feature stories on the space sector, from the sexy to the serious.

(Deadline Dec. 31, 2006)

* SpeedUp plans to develop low-mid altitude rocket powered vehicles for recreational use. He is teaming with Peroxide Propulsion of Sweden and Frontier Astronautics to design the Hover Bike and a Vertical Drag Racer.

* Skyrocket Distillers - promoted the use of their "ethanol biofuel" for rockets but their website focuses on a more traditional application of their product.

* I need to run a translator on www.manned-rocket.jp and www.ASTRAX.biz. I got a flyer at their booth, which promoted various commercial space activities going on in Japan. This included the Camu hybrid sounding rockets under development at the Hokkaido Aerospace Science and Technology Incubation Center. They are also planning the Taiki Spaceport in Hokkaido.

Spaceward Foundation, which manages the Space Elevator Challenge program, has posted the Official results of the 2006 Space Elevator games. (Link via SpaceElevatorBlog.com)

Matt Wronkiewicz provides this video of the Pixel vehicle coming in for a landing on its third flight during the X Prize Cup.
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The SPACE.com X Prize Cup section also includes several
videos from the event.
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Heres an enthusiastic review of the XPC with lots of pictures: ExplorersWeb Special: The People's race for space - XPrize Cup 2006 - MountEverest.net - Oct.25.06 (Via spacetoday.net)

[Update: Via Lunar Lander Challenge comes a video from Ken Davidian's page at YouTube showing Pixel kicking up a dust storm during its FAA permit qualifying flight on Oct.19th, just before the XPC started.

Also, here's a summary of the event from Jon Goff of Masten Space Systems, which carried out several static firings of its new engine:
]

Here is a GAO review of the FAA's role in regulating and promoting commercial spaceflight: Commercial Space Launches: FAA Needs Continued Planning and Monitoring to Oversee the Safety of the Emerging Space Tourism Industry - GAO - Oct.2006 - GAO-07-16 (pdf, 69 pages). A brief summary is in this Highlights document (pdf, 1 page). They find "that FAA has provided a reasonable level of safety oversight for commercial launches" and so don't recommend any significant changes in the way they are doing things. Instead, they recommend that the FAA's performance in this area be watched closely as the space tourism industry develops, especially with regard to the balancing of regulation and promotion of the industry.

(Thanks to A.C. Charania at SpaceWorks Engineering for this item.)

Alan Boyle talks about the development of commercial space transport with FAA Administrator Marion Blakey and AST/FAA chief Patricia Grace Smith following the X Prize Excutive Summit held last week: The future of flight - Cosmic Log - Oct.24.06.
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The static engine firings by Masten Space Systems at the XPC looked and sounded great. It will be very interesting to follow the progress of their protoype flights, which I believe will start in a month or two. In addition to the web log on the MSS site, Jon Goff has now set up a MSS Q&A Thread on the The Space Fellowship forum. In an initial posting, he describes the goals for their first three prototypes.

A Rocket Racing League press release aboout the new team announced during the X Prize Cup:

Third Team Straps-In For Rocket Racing League

Las Cruces, NM (October 21, 2006) – The Rocket Racing League (RRL) has announced the third team, and the first New Mexico team, to compete in its inaugural racing season that kicks off next year. Founded by Marc Robert Cumbow, an Albuquerque land developer, and his father, Edward W. Cumbow, a retired Air Force pilot, “Santa Fe Racing”, will be joining the Leading Edge and Bridenstine Rocket Racing teams already committed to the league, it was announced on Saturday at the X-Prize Cup in LasCruces, New Mexico.

“We are excited to have a New Mexico team a part of the Rocket Racing League “starting Grid”. This is not a team run a by a pilot, but a businessman, which is a great example of how our business model is resonating outside of aviation and into mainstream American Entrepreneurs vision. It is great to welcome Santa Fe Racing to the League. Marc and the rest of his team will do a great job.”” stated RRL CEO, Granger Whitelaw. “We are honored to have a team from New Mexico furthering this great state’s history in racing with the likes of the Unser family and Galles Racing both of which I know very well.”

Marc Robert Cumbow is an avid aviation enthusiast and entrepreneur with interests in hotels, travel agencies and real estate. Marc is a graduate of Clovis High School and Eastern New Mexico University, Roswell. Marc’s father and partner, Edward W. Cumbow, is a retired Major in the United States Air Force whose 20 year career included time in B-52 Bombers, EB66’s in Vietnam and the F111 Fighter/Bomber in the European Theater.

A press release from the Rocket Racing League:

Former U.S. Congressman Robert S. Walker Joins Advisory Board Of Rocket Racing League

Las Cruces, NM (October 23, 2006) – Former U.S. Congressman and science/space/technology expert Robert S. Walker has joined the advisory board of the Rocket Racing LeagueÔ (RRL) and will serve as its liaison for public and government relations. The RRL, which aims to debut its first NASCAR-style races in late Fall 2007, is a first-of-its-kind aerospace sports and entertainment league formed by X PRIZE founder Peter Diamandis, a space travel enthusiast, and Granger Whitelaw, a two-time Indy 500 champion team partner.

Named one of the 100 most prominent space leaders by Space News magazine, Walker played a key role in major science, space and technology initiatives while serving Pennsylvania’s 16th District for 20 years in the House of Representatives. Former chairman of the Science Committee and the Commission on the Future of the U.S. Aerospace Industry, he has also served on the Aviation and Space Engineering Board of the National Research Council and as a member of the Presidential Commission on the Implementation of the U.S. Space Exploration Policy. Today he is chairman of Wexler & Walker Public Policy Associates, a bipartisan consultancy assisting clients in government affairs, and recently helped impact President Bush’s hydrogen-fuel initiative. Currently a board member of the Zero G Corporation and SpaceDev, and chairman of the Space Foundation, Walker is also a lecturer for the Brookings Institution, Georgetown University Government Affairs Institute and Harvard’s Kennedy School, and a widely seen interview subject and commentator for CNN, Fox, CNBC, PBS and major national newspapers.

Tales of the Heliosphere blog posts photos and videos from the X Prize Cup: Pictures At A Rocket Exhibition: X Prize Cup 2006 - Tales of the Heliosphere - Oct.23.06.

TDR also says this about the usefulness of the Lunar Lander Challenge:

To give Armadillo its due, the company's part-time work force did make a reusable rocket that flew three times in two days before it crashed. Armadillo's attempts at the prize were inspiring to see and it was heartbreaking when little Pixel finally fell to its doom. On the other hand, Armadillo is competing for a NASA funded prize but is making nothing that NASA can use and in the end, the company failed to win the prize. It's not clear from that how NASA or its contractors should be shamed. Nor is it clear just what NASA hopes to get from this particular prize competition.

It's true that NASA will not use the the Pixel vehicle design for its lunar lander. You can't even point to a particular component on it and say that a similar item will definitely be used on NASA's vehicle. However, that doesn't mean Pixel can't have a big impact on the lunar lander program.

Pixel actually flew four times in three days and John Carmack now says that the damage on the last flight was not as severe as initially indicated and Pixel may fly again. A demonstrator project can demonstrate a new technology but it can also use a combination of current technologies to demonstrate new capabilities for a system as a whole. Pixel demonstrated a number of broad system lessons that NASA should could apply to its lunar lander and to its rocket vehicle development in general:
* A rocket vehicle doesn't have to be a fragile, delicate thing but can be robust enough to fly repeatedly with minimal turnaround time.
* A lunar vehicle for a lunar base could be built that is so tough that if it lands hard or even falls over, it can still fly again.
* It can be well worth sacrificing some raw performance to attain fast, low cost operations.
* Avoid unnecessary complexities like poisonous hypergolic fuels that undercut operational practicality.
* A real lunar vehicle should not cost 10 thousand times what it took to build Pixel.

These are not hard, technical lessons from Pixel but relate to subjective attitudes and philosophies. The architecture for the Constellation lunar program did not emerge mechanically from a set of equations solved by Mike Griffin. It came about because of his negative attitude, and that of many NASA managers, towards the feasibility of low cost reusability. The lunar program is based on extremely expensive single use, throwaway systems throughout.

Pete Worden, currently head of NASA Ames, was one of the judges for the Lunar Lander Challenge. He had been considered a strong candidate for the NASA administrator job but his background with missile defense apparently made his nomination politically untenable. Worden participated in the DC-X project that successfully demonstrated that a liquid fueled rocket vehicle could be flown repeatedly and after a short turnaround time. He has seen low cost reusability demonstrated up close and knows that it is feasible. If he had become head of NASA, the Constellation architecture almost certainly would be radically different from what it is today.

Pixel won't change attitudes within NASA immediately but I expect that as more and more reusable rocket vehicles are demonstrated in the next few years by private organizations, the Constellation architecture will be recognized even within NASA as an anachronism long before the first lunar flight is attempted.

The latest set of postings on the Flight Int. Spaceflight section include these NASA Orion reports from Rob Coppinger:
* NASA may pay Energia to do work on Orion crew vehicle
* Shockwaves force a redesign of Orion flare
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The sort of activity described in this Florida Today article is going on in every state with significant Constellation program spending: Agency shooting for moon and more: Program targets jobs, business - Florida Today - Oct.21.06. This will probably keep the program alive regardless of what happens in this election or the one in 2008 (or regardless of how it progresses, or doesn't progress, technically.)

Space elevator guru Brad Edwards gives his summary of the SE Challenge events at the X Prize Cup: Space Elevator Games 2006 Wrap-up - The Space Elevator Reference - Oct.23.06

John Carmack has posted a lengthy report on their X Prize Cup flights and the activity during the couple of weeks leading up to the event: X-Prize Cup 2006 - Armadillo Aerospace - Oct.23.06.

NASA Watch spots this announcement from AST/FAA relieving Blue Origin of some regulatory requirements on preparations for short flights of its prototype vehicle : FAA Notice: Commercial Space Transportation - Waiver of License Requirement for Blue Origin's Pre-flight Preparatory Activities Conducted at a U.S. La - SpaceRef - Oct.23.06.

I wonder if flights of the Propulsion Module 1 (PM1) will be visible to local residents?

The latest issue of the Space Review includes:
* Climbing the learning curve to space - Jeff's article mentioned earlier.
-- Rand Simberg comments: A Slow Maturation - Transterrestrial Musings
* Photo Gallery: 2006 X Prize Cup - more of Jeff's photos
* Words to fear - Bob Clarebrough reviews the nascent efforts in Europe to develop a commercial human spaceflight industry. He points out the many hurdles that entrepreneurs face in Europe when trying to grow a business.
-- I agree in general that it will be more difficult to develop such an industry in Europe but I wouldn't count them out. European companies have learned ways around the many obstacles placed before them by government and culture. Companies like Nokia and Skype have managed to thrive within the Euro environment and to be very innovative and competitive. The EU has a substantial surplus in manufactured goods with the US and productivity levels are very high. (A Euro company does everything possible to avoid hiring anyone since an employee is almost impossible to fire.) One big advantage in Europe is that engineering is held in very high esteem and attracts a substantial percentage of the best and the brightest students. Lawyering, on the other hand, is not a road to riches as it is in the US and attracts far fewer students.

* Satellite navigation stumbles forward - Taylor Dinerman gives an update on the European GPS system under development.
* Review: The Secret of Apollo - Eve Lichtgarn reviews the book: The Secret of Apollo: Systems Management in American and European Space Programs.

More articles and commentary on the flights of Pixel:
* Climbing the learning curve to space - The Space Review - In the latest Space Review, Jeff Foust gives an overview of the XPC in general and includes a lengthy report on the Armadillo effort.
-- Jeff points out that Armadillo had never even flown the quad vehicle design off tether before last Thursday. These were truly test flights that we were watching.
-- The "perfect flight" back in June 2004 was the previous most impressive off-tether flight for the Armadillo group. The Lunar Lander flights were obviously at a far higher degree of difficulty than that one and they did four of them in three days.
* Video: Pixel flight - Personal Spaceflight - Here's a video from Jeff's digital camera of one of the flights as seen from the media tent.
* Armadillo: No Prize but Success - Spaceports - Jack Kennedy somehow got a picture of Pixel in flight sharp enough to see the Mach diamonds.
* Scenes Of A Spectacular XPC Effort: Armadillo Aerospace Puts "Pixel" To The Test - Aero-News Network - more pictures
* A space vision crashes, burns: An X Prize Cup contestant's lunar lander entry ends in disappointment. But he's not giving up - Los Angeles Times - Oct.22.06 - The headline for this John Johnson article is a bit overwrought.
* Rocketing into commercial spaceflight - Los Angeles Times - Oct.22.06 - Johnson interviews Carmack

More articles and commentary on the X Prize Cup:

* El Paso Times - 20,0000 visit space without ever leaving NM - Not sure if this is an estimate or an official number. Most of the visitors seemed to be from the local area.
* X-Prize Cup 2006: Something Corporate - Chair Force Engineer - Oct.23.06 - Mr. X enjoyed it and took some good pictures.
* XPrize Cup: Inspiration Before Exploration: The XPrize Foundation May Just Be The Catalyst To Our Next Evolutionary Leap - Aero-News Network - Oct.23.06
* X Prize Cup day 2, October 21st - a photoset on Flickr - another batch of photos from Jeff Foust
* In thrust we trust: Space is open for business - Toronto Star - Oct.22.06 - An extensive article on the XPC and NewSpace in general from a Canadian perspective. The da Vinci and Planetspace projects are discussed
* XPrize Cup: What Homebuilt Aircraft Does Zero To Mach 1.2 In Five Seconds? - Aero-News Network - Oct.22.06 - The big, high-power rockets from the Tripoli groups were a big hit with the crowd. The XPC should try to increase the number of such launches next year.

Back in Rockville. Will try to catch up with postings on Monday. Here are some items about the space elevator competitions:
* Tensions rise at space elevator challenge - space - 22 October 2006 - New Scientist Space - I saw Kelly Young of New Scientist still typing away on her laptop as I left around 2 am Saturday night from the tether strength event. Apparently, she was writing this nice story about the technical details and the human elements involved in the contest.
* Space Elevator Competition Extended One Day - SPACE.com
* Space Elevator Games Over for this Year - The Space Elevator Reference - The University of Saskatchewan team made it to the top fast enough but not back down in time.
* Space Elevator Games - no winner this year - The Space Elevator Blog

[Update Oct.23.06: More articles this morning include:
* Robot climber comes oh-so-close to prize : Judges say team just misses $150,000 in Space Elevator Games - MSNBC.com - Alan Boyle reports on the final day of the climber competition and also on the tether strength contests.
* Climbers, hitch hikers and heat beyond belief - Flight International - Rob Coppinger also reports on the Sunday activities, or lack thereof.
]

I spent my Saturday evening and part of Sunday morning at the tether strength challenge. Unfortunately, there was again no tether that beat the house sample. One team from Sacramento did pretty well but no check. Next year, when the purse jumps to $500k, I expect that an entry will probably beat the house. It was quite an interesting evening in more ways than one. It's 2am in the morning now, though, and I'm too tired to describe what happened. Check MSNBC and New Scientist for reports on the event.

I'll be traveling most of the day so no more postings till late tonight or on Monday morning.

[Update: Just about to head for the airport. I see that SpaceElevatorBlog.com has a detailed post about how the competition late last night.

There will also be more climber attempts this morning as well.
]

Congrats to Mark Whittington for a nice column in the Washington Post: A Final Commercial Frontier - washingtonpost.com - Oct.21.06
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Glad to see John Wickam get a sizable grant: Rocket scientist wins $730,000 grant - StarTribune [Casper Wyoming] - Oct.19.06 (Via spacetoday.net). He does a lot for amateur rocketry and education.
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Didn't know that the creator of Klyde Morris had a space models company named after one of his cartoon characters: XPrize Cup: Dr. Zooch Is In the Building! Klyde Morris Creator Seeks To Inspire Future Space Explorers - Aero-News Network - Oct.21.06

Summaries and overviews of the XPC:
* Thrills and spills abound at rocket fest: Lunar lander takes a tumble; Space Elevator Games go into overtime - MSNBC.com - Oct.21.06
* X Prize Cup Founders and Spaceport America Look to the Future - SPACE.com
* Pumping up the space industry - New Voyage News - Oct.21.06
* Rocketeers reach for space at New Mexico games - Reuters


Jeff summarizes the LLC and links to several articles about it: Lunar Lander Challenge prizes go unclaimed - spacetoday.net:

The Internet link died in the media tent around 3:45pm so I left and went over to the fairgrounds a few miles from the airport where the Space Elevator competitions were supposed to continue. However, the tether strength event doesn't start till around 9:00 pm this evening and the crane won't be available for the microwave guys till Sunday morning. So I will drop by there later tonight to check on the tether pull.

There is still discussion over whether the USST can be awarded the prize money if the microwave guys don't beat their time. As explained on SpaceElevatorBlog.com, the USST climber got stuck at the top and one of the requirements is to make a controlled descent.
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With regard to the Pixel mishap, the word is that Armadillo did a quick fix on the broken leg after the first flight. When the engine fired to make the return hop back to the starting point, the leg was knocked out from under the vehicle causing the vehicle to take off at an angle. Unfortunately, the software was set up to automatically shut off the engine if the tilt was too big. If the engine had continued firing, John most likely could have got it back on course.

So the problems did not involve anything fundamental. Yesterday's difficulties were also caused by a failure of the legs. John told an interviewer that they had planned on building some better legs but that would have needed a couple more days than they had available.

In general, it was remarkable to see how robust Pixel was. Until this failure, it flew four times in three days despite some hard landings, rainy conditions followed by dusty ones, etc. The flights themselves were very impressive. Even as far away as we were, it was still breathtaking to see the thing hovering and slowly translating so high in the air. They came really, really close to winning. With just some fairly routine technical improvements and some practice runs they could have won both levels. But, as they say in sports, you have to play the game. Until you actually win it, you don't get the prize.

Jeff posts a couple of related items :
* What happened to Pixel - Personal Spaceflight
* And that's a wrap - Personal Spaceflight

One exhibition I forgot to mention was the demo of the Rocket Racing system where there will be a real time display of a vehicle showing it fly through a corridor of virtual gates that define the course. They didn't have a rocket racer here so instead they flew a Learjet around the airport. On the big monitors we could see a realtime display of the jet with the virtual gates superimposed on it (like first down lines are superimposed on the field in America football broadcasts.)

So at races the audiences will be able to both see the vehicles directly as well as follow the position of the vehicles relative to the virtual course via monitors. This will also obviously help with audiences watching via TV.

Other RRL news:
* The Rocket Racing League announced a new team today. The Santa Fe racing team will be the third so far.
* The America's Cup Winner Bill Koch Joins Board of Rocket Racing League - RRL PR/PRNewswire - Oct.20.06

No futher info yet on what caused the failure of Pixel.

Alan Boyle gives an overview of today's events: Rocketeers keep their eyes on the prize: Lunar lander team loses out in third effort to win $350,000 - MSNBC.com.

Other XPC articles:
* Pumping up the space industry - CNET
* X Prize ends today - Las Cruces Sun News

Oh well, there's always next year. Pixel launched for its return leg but just a few meters off the ground it leaned to the side and then fell to the ground. No word yet on what caused the problem.

They still may fly Texel, perhaps for a demo flight, but it's getting a bit late.

The first leg of the second Armadillo flight today seems to have gone OK. Jeff says one foot might be slightly off the pad: Armadillo flies again - Personal Spaceflight.

The report from the pad says they broke a leg on landing but that is not a disqualification. The are on the edge of the pad but looks good enough. They now have an hour and a half to refuel and fly back and land on target to win the $350k.

Here is a photo from the flight.


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I'm told that a climber team got to the top in less than a minute. SpaceElevator.com says that the University of Saskatchewan Space Design Team (USST) got to the top in 58 seconds. If no one beats that time today and the judges find they fulfilled all the requirements, they will win $200k.

Armadillo has just left the staging area for the second try today. Jeff talked with John about what happened earlier: Armadillo to try again this afternoon - Personal Spaceflight. There was a big plume of dust when they landed so I'm not surprised they had trouble with pinpointing where to set down.

Another Tripoli launch was a big hit.

The Space Truck fired its ignitor but the oxidizer didn't flow so their hybrid just produced a bit of flame and a lot of smoke. The rocket powered bike had an ignitor failure and so didn't produce either flame or smoke.

I went down to watch the space elevator competition. The Kansas City Pirates had about dozen big mirrors, each tilted by a volunteer, to shine light on their vehicle, which used water cooling to help their string of solar cells take the heat. It started out quickly but bogged down half-way up. In general, though, the solar cell powered vehicles are doing better than those that rely on the spotlights.

Two of the legs went off the pad on landing and Pixel toppled over. So this run is disqualified. They will try again, perhaps around 11:30am. Not clear if they will use Pixel or Texel.

Other reports:
* Pixel flies, tips over on landing - Personal Spaceflight
* Armadillo will try again - Personal Spaceflight
* Rocketeers keep their eyes on the prize: Lunar lander prototype’s second bid for $350,000 fails - MSNBC.com

Here is a photo from the flight.



Masten Space also did a long static fire (over 90 seconds) of their engine:

I went up towards the end of the fences to try to get a better view of the flight and suddenly Pixel was in the air with no warning. First word is that Pixel "landed off the pad, on its side, no fuel leaks". Hover time was around 104 seconds.

Armadillo has set off for their Level 1 Challenge. They have a 2.5 hour window to complete the two legs of the mission. (A countdown clock is displayed on site.) Monitoring that the teams keep within this window is one of the jobs for the judges. Yesterday, for example there was a delay in delivery of, I believe, some fuel tanks and it was up to the judges to decide if that delay would count against their time limit.

Posting from Leonard David: Lunar Lander Craft, Readied for 2nd Try - LiveScienceBlogs

John says if this flight is a success, they may make an attempt at the Level 2 competition.

Tripoli just fired two cool high powered rockets. Both seem to have parachuted back safely.

Back at the XPC media tent. Looks like it will be another sunny clear day.

The word is that Armadillo is going to make their next attempt at the Lunar Lander Level 1 flight. Jeff Foust talked earlier today with John Carmack about the fixes they did overnight: Armadillo ready to fly again: Armadillo ready to fly again - Personal Spaceflight.

Ken Davidian of the NASA Centennial Challenges says that the two microwave climber teams were not given permission to use their microwave sources at the airport so after the light powered guys finish their climber attempts, they will move the crane to the fairgrounds a few miles away this afternoon and do the climbs there. They may also do the tether strength competition there as well.

XCOR reveals the cool new prototype engine it designed, built and tested for the Rocket Racers: XCOR Aerospace Reaches Testing Milestone for Rocket Racing League - XCOR Aerospace
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The governor of New Mexico and other notables were on hand to unveil the first rocket racer vehicle at the XPC today. Later after the crowds mostly cleared, I took these two photos:





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The Rocket Racing League also revealed the winning name of the first Racer: Introducing: Thunderhawk -- First X-Racer Officially Named - Space.com

Too tired to talk about it myself so I'll just post a round-up of articles and blog postings about the first day of the X Prize Cup 2006:

Armadillo's Pixel flight:
* Rocket fest begins with noble failures: Lander damaged during first bid to win $350,000; second try planned - MSNBC.com - Oct.20.06 - Alan Boyle's lengthy summary of today's events
* Tomorrow's Armadillo Attempts - Transterrestrial Musings - what John told Rand.
* Lunar Lander Rocket Flies But Fails In Bid For Prize Dollars - Space.com - Leonard David reports on the flight and some of what led up to it.
* No winner in lunar lander challenge - New Scientist
* KOBTV.com - X Prize Cup begins two-day event (Via spacetoday.net) - includes a video report
* Up,up and away at the X Prize Cup - CNET News.com (Via spacetoday.net) - collection of articles and many nice photos

General commentary on the XPC:
* At the rocket circus - Cosmic Log - Oct.20.06 - Alan Boyle
* Expand The Venue - Transterrestrial Musings - Suggestions from Rand
* Wirefly X Prize Cup Opens To Rockets Roaring, Delays - Space.com - Leonard David

Space elevator competition:
* Winds end hopes of most space elevator competitors - Flightglobal.com
* Lots of pictures, updates, and comments at SpaceElevatorBlog.com

Armadillo did the first leg of its Lunar Landing Challenge Level 1. They hovered at 50m, translated slowly and then landed. Looked great but apparently they had some problems and missed the target. So they won't do the second leg today. No word on whether they will try again tomorrow. More details later.

[Update: Carmack was interviewed on the big monitors and he said that the vehicle landed too hard and damaged somes legs. That would have been OK but fire from the exhaust burned some phenolic and several wires and the rules wouldn't allow them to fix those for the return flight. They will try again tomorrow. A software change is needed to fix the landing speed.]

Here are some images from the flight.

A sample of pictures:


Lots of exhibitors booths like this one for Masten showing their XA-0.1.


Armadillo with one of their two Quad vehicles on the truck.


The Tripoli Phoenix XL launch.

Armadillo is now setting up for their Lunar Lander Challenge flight. Probably will be an hour or so before they fly.

Another Tripoli launch was a big hit. It was a several meter long rocket with a Q motor. Took off with a roar and went high enough to go out of sight. Got lots of cheers from the throngs of kids here today with their classes.

Still waiting for the Rocket Truck to do it's thing. They spent some time chaining it in place. I assume their car insurance doesn't cover auxilary power with a rocket.

Masten Space is also out on the field setting up for their test engine firings.

Got lots of pictures. Will try to post some of them later.

Jeff and Rand are blogging a lot faster than I am. Also, check out the postings of Rob Coppinger at Flight Int He is sitting across from me. Other blog/news links.

Reporting from the media tent here at the 2006 X Prize Cup. Things are delayed. There was a Tripoli high power rocket launch earlier but now we are waiting for a guy to fly on a rocket belt. Also, the Orion Rocket Truck is being prepared for launch.

There is a rogue WiFi base signal that could interfere with the Armadillo telemetry signal. So they can't fly until they track it down.

SpaceX shows off a Falcon 9 under construction: First picture of Spacex Falcon 9 emerges - Flightglobal.com - Oct.20.06

About to head to the Las Cruces airport where the X Prize Cup is being held. Here are some XPC related items:
* X Prize Cup Contestant to Shoot for Faux Moon - Los Angeles Times

"None of this is really going to the moon," Carmack said. "The real benefit NASA gets if we do this is shaming their contractors," whose budgets run in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

* Airport transformed for upcoming X-Prize Cup - Alamogordo Daily News
* The Rocket Truck - gizmag - Oct.19.06 - Tim Pickens and the Orion Propulsion group have some fun with a hybrid boosted pickup truck that they brought to the XPC.

(Links via spacetoday.net)

So I finally made it to Las Cruces after several hours in the air and a drive up from El Paso. As indicated by the previous post, it looks to be an exciting two days at the X Prize Cup. Got to get up early to be there when the first events start at 7 am.

Here are some miscellaneous XPC related items from Thursday:

* Space.com - X Prize Cup page is devoted to the event. Space.com has been given the exclusive right to webcast from the XPC. Keith Cowing doesn't think this is proper: NASA and X Prize In Stalemate Over TV and Webcast - NASA Watch

* NASA to buy suborbital rides - Cosmic Log - Oct.19.06 - Alan Boyle reports from the exclusive Wirefly X Prize Cup Executive Summit that Mike Griffin said NASA will buy rides on the suborbital RLVs once they prove themselves. This is good news. I've always thought that these vehicles have tremendous potential for carrying science and engineering test payloads to space. If NASA, as well as other agencies like NOAA, take advantage of these capabilites, this could develop into a significant business for the suborbital RLV companies.

* Challenges Ahead for Spaceport America - Space.com - Leonard David reports on development plans for the New Mexico spaceport.
* Space tourism firms must face up to safety risks - New Scientist Space
* Race to space in New Mexico: Space elevator games kick off on Friday - Nature (Via spacetoday.net)
* Check on the Space elevator qualifying runs at:
-- SpaceElevatorBlog.com
-- Space Elevator Reference

MSNBC reports on the untethered test flight today by Armadillo for the AST/FAA: Lunar lander prototype takes to the air: Armadillo conducts rocket test as prelude to $2 million contest - The New Space Race - MSNBC.com. There were some problems, e.g. it tipped over during the landing with no damage, but they don't seem too serious.

FAA inspectors pored over data from the flight, and were expected to decide overnight whether the Quad was safe to fly during the Wirefly X Prize Cup.

[Update 10:20 pm: MSNBC has updated the article and now reports that the FAA has given the go-ahead for Armadillo Aerospace to compete for the Lunar Lander Challenge.

Congratulations and best of luck to the Armadillo team!!
]

Heading for the airport soon. Hope to be back on line this evening if the motel has internet access. Otherwise, I'll will be back in action in the morning via the press facilities on the X Prize Cup site. In the meantime, check the list of XPC bloggers for updates and the status of the Armadillo demo flight for the FAA.

Via spacetoday.net come these XPC related items this morning:
* Cash purse for robot Moon lander X Prize sought - Flight Int.
* Spaceport officials expect 2010 completion - Las Cruces Sun-News
* Nowhere to go but up - Wired
* Space Elevator Visions Going Up: The idea may sound like a sci-fi fantasy, but NASA is hosting a global competition and offering $150,000 to the winning team - LA Times

Leonard David reports on a panel discussion of US astronauts at the Personal Spaceflight Symposium yesterday who gave tips and advice to future space travelers: Astronaut Advice for Future Space Tourists - SPACE.com - Oct.19.06
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Anousheh Ansari certainly enjoyed her experience in space and would like to go back someday: AP Interview: Space traveler hopes dream come true not once-in-a-lifetime experience -International Herald Tribune - Oct.18.06 (Via Lunar Lander Challenge Blog)
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Jeff Foust gives an update on plans by former Microsoft executive Charles Simonyi to fly to the ISS: Simonyi to fly in April 2007? - Personal Spaceflight - Oct.18.06. Unfortunately, there won't be any available seats for other ISS commercial vistors till the fall of 2008.

Alan Boyle reports on the suspense that continues with the Armadillo Aerospace team's efforts to take on the Lunar Lander Challenge: Lunar lander cliffhanger - Cosmic Log - Oct.18.06. They actually could have done their demo hover flight for the FAA on Wednesday but rainshowers prevented it. They now only have Thursday left to show their stuff. The Las Cruces weather forecast shows Partly Sunny for Thursday.
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Jon Goff is also in Las Cruces with the Masten Space Systems team. They will do some demo firings of the engines on the XA-0.1 vehicle: Setting Up At the X-Prize Cup - Selenian Boondocks - Oct.18.06
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Alan also reports that in addition to the various rocket companies, commercial spaceports are also working hard to prove the viability of their business plans: 'Coopetition' reigns among spaceports: Rivals work together on broader issues surrounding future space travel - MSNBC.com - Oct.18.06. Point-to-point travel between one spaceport and another via suborbital spaceships is now being discussed but it's not clear that this is practical, especially with the current vehicle designs.

A reader pointed to a podcast interview on the Boing Boing site with George Dyson in which they discuss the Orion nuclear powered spaceship project along with several other topics: Boing Boing Boing podcast 5: George Dyson and space nukes - Boing Boing - Oct.17.06. Dyson provided images of some previously unavailable documents about the Orion project. See more document images here: Project Orion: unpublished documents - a photoset on Flickr.

Additional documents were included in this follow-up posting: Project Orion: more classified, unpublished space nuke docs - Boing Boing - Oct.17.06. It includes images from an Arabic edition of Project Orion.

I leave for Las Cruces tomorrow and will be blogging from the X Prize Cup by Friday morning. So if you can't attend in person, you can check my blog for updates and watch the event via the webcasting page on the XPC website.

[Update: Here's my list so far of other blogs that I believe will be reporting live, or nearly so, from the event:
* Lunar Lander Blog - Robin Snelson
* Personal Spaceflight - Jeff Foust
* Space Elevator Blog - Ted Semon
* Transterrestrial Musings - Rand Simberg

Alan Boyle and Leonard David will no doubt be posting regular reports on MSNBC and Space.com, respectively. They may also post items on their blogs at:
* Cosmic Log - Alan
* LiveScience Blogs - Leonard's archive

I'll keep the list in the NewSpace section and will update it as time goes on.
]

You can also visit a virtual XPC via Google Earth. They have a set of 3-D files available on the page Wirefly X Prize Cup at Google Earth that allow you to zoom in on the X PRIZE Cup event site and look around. (Via Wirefly X Prize Cup: Experience the Best in Space with Google Earth - LiveScience.com Blogs Blog - Oct.18.06 .)

Robin at the Lunar Lander Challenge Blog says the Armadillo team made it to Las Cruces just fine and they may compete in both levels of the LLC: Things looking up for Armadillo Lunar Lander Challenge bids - Lunar Lander Challenge - Oct.18.06

[Update: "The FAA has awarded Armadillo a test flight permit but the US agency has the final decision on whether the actual Challenge flights can go ahead." : FAA could call halt to NASA lunar lander challenge - Flight Int. Oct.18.06]

A couple of items from the Rocket Racing League:
* On Friday at the X Prize Cup the "Rocket Racing League (RRL) is unveiling the winning name of its first X-Racer." The winner of the naming contest will be flown to the event.

* There is also the following press release:

City Of Las Cruces Approves Land Deal For Rocket Racing League
Las Cruces, NM (October 18, 2006) – The sale of 171.35 acres at the West Mesa Industrial Park to the Rocket Racing League (RRL) for $2.33 million was unanimously approved Monday by the Las Cruces City Council. The land will be used to develop the Rocket Racing League “industry cluster” made up of businesses directly related to rocket racing and the League. The planned RRL Aerospace Business Park surrounds the site south of the Las Cruces International Airport where the RRL is building a 50,000-sq. ft. global headquarters and the League’s flight operations center, commonly referred to as “RRL Gasoline Alley.”

“We are now positioned to attract some of the top manufacturers, designers and other personnel not only for the rocket racing industry, but for aviation and the emerging space industry as well,” stated Granger Whitelaw, president and CEO of the Rocket Racing League. “We are grateful to the City Council for its decision, which will benefit both the RRL and Las Cruces. Since being named the #1 small business community in the U.S. by Forbes, Las Cruces is now poised to join Charlotte and Indianapolis as the nation’s leading racing cities, with New Mexico becoming the undisputed leader in the new space race.”

Check out the latest news on the space elevator competition at Space Elevator Blog. Here are some pictures and audio commentaries from the qualifying climbs: 3 Days and Counting (Part 3) - First Qualification attempt ! - The Space Elevator Blog - Oct.17.06.

See also this video of one run up the tether: "Kansas City Space Pirates qualifying attempt"

Leonard David reports that Armadillo may get the FAA permit after another demo flight but "as this reporter went to sleep last night, Armadillo’s transport of rocket gear ran into snags at the state border crossing.": X-Racer Name, Lunar Lander Challenges - LiveScience.com Blogs - Oct.18.06. So the suspence continues.
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Alan Boyle reports on news from yesterday's symposium: Space tourism prophets predict profits: Companies reveal fresh ambitions at New Mexico symposium - MSNBC.com - Oct.17.06

Interestingly, he says that Jeff Greason of XCOR discussed their "background" work on the XERUS suborbital vehicle and said, "we're just shy a million dollars to put that vehicle in the air". The design has changed, so despite getting an AST/FAA license two years ago, they may have to go back and re-apply for a new one.
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Another report on the symposium: Final frontier closer than ever - Las Cruces Sun-News - Oct.18.06

Here's a new press release from the X Prize Cup organization:

Wirefly X Prize Cup Announces Judges For Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge
-- Six Judges With a Combined 200 years of Space Flight Experience Will Decide Who Wins the $2 Million Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge presented by NASA Centennial Challenges; The Challenge Requires a Vehicle to Simulate a Trip Between the Moon’s Surface to Lunar Orbit, and Back to the Lunar Surface --

Los Angeles, CA (October 17, 2006) - The X PRIZE Foundation announced the names of the official judges for the $2 million Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge presented by NASA Centennial Challenges. The Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge will take place at the Wirefly X PRIZE Cup in Las Cruces, New Mexico on October 20-21. The Wirefly X PRIZE Cup is the world’s first space show and the only annual event where the entire family can see the next generation of spaceships up close and in the sky. Tickets are available at www.wireflyxprizecup.com for the event, which takes place from 7am – 4pm on both days.

Not since the Apollo program has mankind had a working vehicle capable of landing on the moon. If we are to go back, both NASA and its industrial partners need a system that is robust and relatively inexpensive. Spectators and judges will watch as different vehicle designs compete to see which one will be the next generation lunar lander. To win the challenge, a rocket-propelled vehicle with an assigned payload must take-off vertically, climb to at least 50 meters, fly for a pre-determined minimum amount of time and land vertically on a target that is approximately 100 meters from the takeoff point. The vehicle must then fly back to the original pad under the same guidelines and land on the original launch pad. The six judges will decide which team will win the $2 million prize presented by NASA Centennial Challenges.

Leonard David reports on the presentations at today's Personal Spaceflight Symposium in Las Cruces: Progress Touted In Private Space Travel - SPACE.com - Oct.17.06
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New Scientists reports on an announcement at the symposium from Brian Feeney of the da Vinci Project on plans for a series of space tourist vehicles: Former X Prize contender plans new spaceships - New Scientist - Oct.17.06. The program would be run by a new company called Dream Space Group.

Jeff Foust comments on this announcement.
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Another preview of the X Prize Cup: Countdown! XPrize Cup 2006: ExWeb going South - Mount Everest - Oct.17.06 (via spacetoday.net)
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PlanetSpace will participate in the Teacher-in-Space program along with four other space transport companies: PlanetSpace Joins Teachers in Space Project Will Offer Free Rides on its Silver Dart Spacecraft to Top Educators - Space Frontier Foundation - Oct.16.06

Leonard David gives a brief update on the X Prize Cup event: Wirefly X Prize Cup Gets Ready to Rumble - LiveScience.com Blogs - Oct.17.06

And Jeff Foust has a brief preview of the Personal Spaceflight Symposium starting today: Final ISPS preview - Personal Spaceflight - Oct.17.06.

He references this article: Businessmen turn eyes to the skies - Las Cruces Sun-News - Oct.17.06

Still haven't seen any word on whether AST/FAA will grant a flight permit to Armadillo for the Lunar Lander Challenge. Time is getting short. Maybe there will be an announcement during the Personal Spaceflight Symposium, which starts today.

At least there will be the Space Elevator Challenge during the event for sure: Space elevators to heave themselves skyward - New Scientist - Oct.16.06

[Update: Via Ken Davidian of NASA's Centennial Challenges office comes a pointer to the www.spaceelevatorblog.com, where you can get updates on the competition.]

Some articles in Flight International's latest weekly roundup of spaceflight related news includes:
* ATK unveils two-stage solid-fuelled launcher - More about ATK's small launcher project.
* First [Chinese] RLV by 2020? - The Chinese government is developing RLVs at about the same speed as the US government.
* NASA agrees [on] sale of X-43A airframe blueprints to Japan - US finally makes some money from scramjet research.

NASASpaceflight.com has obtained a camcorder video "taken by STS-115 astronaut Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper during Atlantis' re-entry and landing last month": Riding onboard Atlantis during re-entry - NASA SpaceFlight.com. You have to join their Level 2 club to see the full two hours but they provide a ten minute condensed version for free.
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The latest on the Shuttle program schedule: Space shuttle launch schedule gets a makeover - Spaceflight Now - Oct.16.06

This graphic version of the manifest shows how the ISS will be affected by each mission: Space Shuttle Launch Manifest - Oct.16.06

Rob Coppinger says NASA has hired Aerospace Corp to examine what ground tests are needed before they start flight tests of Ares 1 systems: Ground test study stalls Ares plan - Flight International - Oct.17.06.

Interestingly, he also says "NASA is seeking to use the ISS to test Orion systems in the space environment to prove their reliability." Proving out deep space systems first on the ISS has been held by NASA as one of its primary capabilities but Griffin has often sounded like he didn't see much use for the station at all.

Here's a press release from SpaceShot, the skill game developed by Sam Dinkin to provide a way for regular folk to win a suborbital spaceflight ride:

SpaceShot, Inc. Expands to Latin America
Innovative firm brings space flight to middle class

AUSTIN - October 16, 2006 - SpaceShot, Inc. marks the week of activities leading up to and including the "Wirefly X Prize Cup" by announcing the founding of Space Shot América Latina (AL). The development of SpaceShotAL.com will multiply the firm's effectiveness in bringing personal spaceflight to people of all means.

Founder and CEO of SpaceShot Sam Dinkin said, "A rush of personal spaceflight developments from Bigelow Aerospace, Space Adventures, SpaceX and Rocketplane Kistler have strengthened the groundwork for SpaceShot's continuing rollout of spaceflight opportunities for the general public following the successful launch of Space-Shot.com in April. By adding to our staff, our funding and our geographic footprint, we will be better poised to help those who wish to travel to space realize their dreams."

The latest issue of The Space Review includes these space transport related articles:
* A new chapter for a space entrepreneur - Jeff Foust reports on an interview with Jim Benson about the personal and business reasons for his leaving SpaceDev to form Benson Space. (Hear also the recent audio interview with Benson at Rockets Away.)
* Hypersonics, bombers, and space access - Taylor Dinerman looks at plans for hypersonic technology development in the US military over the next few decades.

See also:
* Carrying the torch: opening the commercial space frontier with sports - Rocky Persaud of IPX Entertainment describes their plans to develop the Zero Gravity Football spectator sport (See also spacechampions.com).
* Ensuring NASA’s future workforce - Eric R. Hedman has some good ideas on how to help students relate what they are learning to the real world.
* Review: The View from the Center of the Universe - Jeff Foust reviews a book on cosmological research and how findings in this area have affected sociey.

Here's the first picture I've seen of the Lunar Lander Challenge vehicle from Micro-Space, which they may bring for a demo firing if they don't get an AST/FAA permit : Lunar challenge lures maverick: Local entrepreneur to enter space vehicle in N.M. moon-landing contest - DenverPost.com - Oct.15.06
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Apparently the landing of the first SpaceLoft XL wasn't exactly a soft one: Rocket's launch gives NMSU team a crash course - Las Cruces Sun-News - Oct.16.06
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A preview of the Personal Spaceflight Symposium happening this week in Las Cruces: Meet space heroes and space entrepreneurs at international symposium - NMSU - Oct.13.06
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(The three Items above came via spacetoday.net)

Check out this nicely done article about the business of providing weightlessness experiences via parabolic flights: More Tourists Weigh Zero Gravity Flights, Zero Gravity Flights, Once Available Only to Astronauts, Now Open to Tourists for $4K a Pop - CBS News/AP - Oct.15.06. Good to see that Zero Gravity is doing well:

So far, about 3,000 zero-gravity tourists have paid to fly with Zero Gravity Corp., said chief executive officer Peter Diamandis. He hopes to eventually fly 10,000 people a year.

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Rob Coppinger notes the flurry of unexpected developments in the spaceflight business this year: Lockheed, the US government and the New space industry are surprising us all this year - Flight International - Oct.13.06. One note: he says that neither Rocketplane-Kistler nor Andrews Space would say how much money the latter is bringing to their new partnership. However, this article at Space News (subscription required) said that Andrews was bringing in $10M.
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The people at the New Mexico Museum of Space History are thinking ahead: Museum to house spaceport artifacts - Alamogordo Daily News - Oct.15.06

Continuing with a European transport theme, I thought I would report on the LAPCAT (Long Term Advanced Propulsion Concepts and Technologies) project, which will examine technologies that could

reduce long-distance flights, e.g. From Brussels to Sydney, to less than 2 to 4 hours. Achieving this goal intrinsically requires a new flight regime for commercial transport with Mach numbers ranging from 4 to 8.

By chance I was actually one of the first people to report on the project when I heard about it from someone at the Space Access Society meeting in 2005. I had forgotten about it until a participant on the aRocket forum referenced this article: EU €7m hypersonic research plan considers UK-designed Mach 5 aircraft to fly Brussels to Sydney in 2h - Flight International - June.15.06.

The project, which is funded by the EUROPA general R&D fund rather than ESA, involves a 36 month study that will focus on propulsion systems that could might make such long distance hypersonic flight practical. One of the propulsion systems under consideration is a hydrogen-fuelled turbine-based combine cycle (TBCC) concept developed by Alan Bond and company at Reaction Engines. Bond, of HOTOL engine fame, has for several years been developing the SABRE engine that would power the Skylon spaceplane to orbit. The SABRE is essentially a rocket but while in the atmosphere it uses its liquid hydrogen fuel to cool (but not liquify) air that is fed into a turbo-compressor. The compressor in turn feeds the high pressure air into the combustion chamber. The Sabre would run in this air-breathing mode from the runway all the way up to Mach 5.5 before converting to standard rocket combustion mode.

For the Reaction Rockets LAPCAT study, they are looking at a derivative of the Sabre called the Scimitar. The Scimitar would be much more robust than the Sabre to allow for the long life required for operation with a hypersonic airliner.

Reaction Rockets has actually gone beyond paper studies with its engine designs. A few years ago they obtained funding to do hardware prototyping of the pre-cooler heat exchanger, which is the key technology for the Sabre engine. The website also shows their B9 Test Facilty, where they will do engine testing.

So even if the LAPCAT work doesn't lead to a practical hypersonic airliner for the Brussels to Sydney run, the funding could accelerate development of the Sabre engine for a single stage to orbit spaceplane.

Theo Pirard of the Space Information Center in Belgium passed along a copy of the paper Vehra-SH Suborbital Manned Vehicle by J-P. Haigneré, L. Gathier, P. Coué (pdf) presented at the recent IAC 2006 (International Astronautical Congress) meeting in Valencia, Spain. The authors are founders of the group Astronaute Club Europén (ACE), which seeks to promote suborbital spaceflight development in Europe.

The paper discusses a vehicle concept called the Vehra-SH, which came out of a study at Dassault Aviation. The system involves an airlaunched lifting body (Hermes style) vehicle that would use a LOX/kerosene rocket engine to reach over 100km altitude. The authors propose a 3-5 year development program.

The Romanian ARCA Space group has posted the following message on their home page:

The Mission 1 unmanned flight of the STABILO vehicle will take place in November. The exact date and location will be communicated soon. Nevertheless, it will be a European location. The flight altitude will be 24.000m. On [the ARCA] web site, you can find more news as the event approaches. “We are very excited about the STABILO program and Mission1 flight. We have a real space program under development and for the European private manned space activities, the Mission 1 flight could be an important moment.” - Andrei Hapenciuc, ARCA’s systems engineer.

Hope it goes well. The Stabilo is certainly one of the stranger looking rocket vehicles I've ever seen. Even more exotic that Burt's designs.

An Orbital Sciences Minotaur will launch from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Virigina this December:
* Eastern Shore spaceport sets Dec. 11 launch - The Virginian-Pilot - Oct.14.06 (Via spacetoday.net)
* Liftoff for Virginia's Eastern Shore? Regional spaceport poised for commercialization - Weekly Update - Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond - Oct.11.06
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The big Ariane 5 doing what it was designed for - launching two comsats (plus a piggyback rider or two) at a time: Ariane launches three satellites - spacetoday.net - Oct.14.06

Here's a press release from Orbital Commerce Project

Thousands of visitors nationwide Fly Orbital Commerce Project’s Suborbital Space Pilot Trainer/Simulator

Mojave, CA – October 12, 2006. Orbital Commerce Project has brought its trainer/simulator trailer to thousands of potential space pilots and space passengers, nationwide. This demonstration/investor tour has so far covered ten U.S. states. Sites included the EAA’s yearly fly-in at Oshkosh, Dragoncon Atlanta, Georgia Tech, the Milwaukee Civil Air Patrol, and Mojave Spaceport in California, home of SpaceshipOne; and the X-Prize Cup in New Mexico is next.

While at the Mojave Spaceport, Dick Rutan flew OCP’s simulator six times. After which he proclaimed that it "flew just like the EZ-Rocket." The EZ-Rocket is a rocket-powered aircraft and the XCOR Aerospace technology demonstrator for their Xerus suborbital rocket.

Other notables flying the "sims" were the engineers and fabrication experts from Scaled Composites who built SpaceshipOne. Senior and junior staff from XCOR as well as personnel from a host of other aerospace companies based in Mojave took a turn. All enjoyed the experience and were impressed by the fidelity and feel of the first rocket-powered aircraft simulators. Many were reminded of how exciting and fun the private space industry can and will be.

Another article about the LLC: Lunar Competition Heats Up: Is paperwork the final frontier after all? - Red Herring - Oct.13.06.

Nice to see the NY Times reporting on the rockets at Black Rock: A Cult of Backyard Rocketeers Keeps the Solid Fuel Burning - New York Times - Oct.14.06. On the other hand, I find it a bit annoying that people pursuing a technical hobby are portrayed as part of an odd cult.

Anousheh Ansari appeared on the Oprah Winfrey TV show on Wednesday. Ansari is certainly a marvelous advocate for spaceflight:
* zSHARE - a.ansari.wmv - video clip of Ansari on the Oprah show
* Oprah wants to go - Anousheh Ansari Space Blog - Oct.11.06
* Oprah, Anousheh. Anousheh, Oprah - Personal Spaceflight - Oct.13.06

Rockets Away! has posted a podcast interview with Jim Benson in which they discuss his new Benson Space Company. Several other interviews of interest are also posted on the Rockets Away! Media page.

Looks like Armadillo won't be competing in the Level 2 (180 second) LLC due to shortcomings with the engine performance: Alternative Rocketry inside scoop - Lunar Lander Challenge Blog - Oct.13.06. However, they have done 4 successful 90 second hover runs. So they are clearly ready for the Level 1 event. The big suspense now is whether AST/FAA will provide the experimental flight permit in time.
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So with the above item plus the info in this article - Mock lunar landers to go head to head in X Prize Cup - New Scientist - Oct.13. 06 - the current Lunar Lander Challenge situation looks as follows:
* If the permit is given, Armadillo will go for the 90 second level 1 prize. They may do a 180 second tethered run for show.
... If no permit, it sounds like they may not even try a tethered flight (see John's comments here.)
* Masten Space plans to do some static firings.
* Micro-space hopes to get permission to do a tethered hover.
* Acuity Technologies has dropped out of the event due to engine problems.
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Leonard David previews the X Prize Cup: Wirefly X Prize Cup: Rocketry Takes Center Stage - SPACE.com - Oct.13.06

Jon Goff describes progress with the engine tests at Masten Space: Night Firing - Masten Space Systems blog - Oct.13.06. He indicates that they will do some firings at the X Prize Cup.
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Check out the video of a test firng of the Tim Pickens (Orion Propulsion) rocket truck hybrid motor: Personal Spaceflight info / In Thrust We Trust - Lunar Lander Challenge Blog - Oct.13.06.

More rocket videos at SpaceRaceNews Channel at YouTube.
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Speaking of Tim Pickens, check out his recent interview on the SpaceShow. He tells the most complete story that I've heard about the development of the hybrid propulsion system for SpaceShipOne.

More about the ballute reentry system under study by Andrews-Space: Inflatable cushions to act as lightweight heat shields - space - 12 October 2006 - New Scientist Space. See also the press release about the NASA study contract awarded to Andrews.

NASASpaceflight.com has obtained a copy of NASA's current schedule for the Constellation program: NASA sets Orion 13 for Moon Return - NASA SpaceFlight.com. It covers missions from the

first manned flight of the Orion CEV in September 2014 [to] the first human lunar return mission in approximately December 2019, shortly after a manned mission to the moon, with an unmanned descent to the lunar surface.

Note that the first flight of the heavy lift Ares 5 will not occur till 2018.
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Ken Murphy discusses the CBO analysis of alternative launch systems to NASA's planned Ares vehicles: The CBO jumps into the launcher fray - Selenian Boondocks - Oct.11.06.

Wealth has become the best fuel for propelling progress in space: Ad Astra: Taking Spaceflight Into Our Own Hands - SPACE.com - Oct.12.06
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Some optimism in Scotland over space tourism: Scotland 2040: Spaceships head for Moon with lunar golfers and crater ramblers aboard - Scotsman.com News - Oct.12.06 (via spacetoday.net).

This article provides a bit more info about ATK's ALV X-1 small launcher mentioned here the other day: Alliant readies new launch vehicle - Star Tribune [Minneapolos, MN] - Oct.11.06 (via spacetoday.net). The article says the launch price would be in the $20M range. Still no word, however, on the the payload capability.

John Carmack says in this comment at the Lunar Lander Challenge Blog that Armadillo has not yet obtained the flight permit from AST/FAA that they need to compete in the LLC event at the X Prize Cup next week. They have submitted more paperwork but there is no guarantee they will get the permit in time.

The good news:

We flew Pixel today for a perfect 90+ second flight with no injector erosion at all (on an aluminum one!). We are trying for 180 seconds tomorrow [Thursday]. We have the Isp, the only question is if the engine will hold together.

[Update: Here is a message about the status of the various rocket demos planned for the event: Inside info: What Might Be Up for X Prize Cup - Lunar Lander Challenge Blog - Oct.11.06.]

John Carmack and Dave Masten comment on the challenges (technical, paperwork, and time) involved in flying a vehicle at the X Prize Cup: Why not fly at X Prize Cup - Lunar Lander Challenge Blog - Oct.11.06
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More details about the SpaceLoft XL flight failure but no specific cause has been found yet: UP Aerospace Delays Second Suborbital Rocket Launch - SPACE.com - Oct.11.06

Check out the latest issue (July/August - they are a bit late) of the Horizons newsletter published by the AIAA Houston Section. It includes the interesting article: Bigelow Aerospace Genesis I Takes Flight by Gary Jones of Bigelow Aerospace, Houston Division.

An unofficial shuttle flight schedule: Shuttle manifest re-alignment expected - NASA SpaceFlight.com.

Some highlights:
* 15 total launches left, including a Hubble servicing mission (STS-125) by Discovery, currently set for April 17, 2008
* 5 launches in 2007
* 5 in 2008
* 4 in 2009
* 1 in 2010
* Final flight for Atlantis would be in August 2008.
* Discovery makes next to last flight, Endeavour flies last.

Some miscellaneous X Prize Cup items:
* 2006 Wirefly X Prize Cup promotional video - Google
* Ian Picks - Lunar Lander Challenge Blog - Oct.10.06 - slide show from 2005 X Prize Cup
* Northrop Grumman to Sponsor Lunar Lander Challenge: Competition Offers $2 Million in Prizes to Inspire Development, Demonstration of Next-Generation Lunar Landing Systems - Northrop-Grumman - Oct.11.06 - The prize money comes from NASA but I assume N-G helps pay for all the other event costs.
* Free Lunar Lander Challenge T-Shirt! - Lunar Lander Challenge Blog - Oct.10.06

Alan Boyle looks at what is happening both with the Lunar Lander Challenge competition coming up at the X Prize Cup and with the competition among Northrop-Grumman and other companies to win the contract to build NASA's actual lunar lander system: The next lunar lander - Cosmic Log - Oct.10.06.
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Noted on the Lunar Lander Challenge Blog about a week ago, the X Prize Cup had quietly become the Wirefly X Prize Cup. Now comes the announcements about the title sponsorship:
* Wirefly - Proud Sponsor of the Wirefly X Prize Cup
* Wirefly.com Named Title Sponsor of X PRIZE Cup - BusinessWire/X Prize Foundation - Oct.10.06

Via NASA Watch comes a pointer to a CBO study of alternatives to NASA's Ares 1/Ares 5 vehicles for the lunar program:
* CBO Report: Alternatives for Future U.S. Space-Launch Capabilities - Oct.10.06 SpaceRef - short summary
* Alternatives for Future U.S. Space-Launch Capabilities - CBO - Oct.06 (pdf) - 73 page report

They only consider EELV (Atlas V and Delta IV) alternatives, including super-heavy lift versions. They also consider two schedules: an "ambitous" schedule - ISS flights by 2012 and lunar landing by 2018 - and a "less ambtious" schedule of ISS access by 2014 and lunar landing by 2020.

They estimate that NASA will spend $32B through 2017 if it stays with its current plans. A "pure-Delta" or a "pure-Atlas", where pure "means that both the crew carrier and the cargo carrier are derived from vehicles in the same family of launchers", for the less ambitious schedule and no super-heavy vehicles gives the biggest cost advantage with about $15B spent through 2017 (see Figure 2.5). The various other scenarios show somewhat cheaper totals than the Ares but not as dramatic. The pure EELV scenarios mean up to 8 launches per lunar mission compared to two for the Ares. They include analyses of what this multi-launch approach means in terms of in-space assembly and the affect on a mission if a launch fails.

I've only scanned through it but a search shows nothing about COTS, SpaceX, Kistler or other alternative launch systems. The estimate of launch rates through 2020 does not include any flights to a Bigelow habitat.

Jesse Londin comments on the new National Space Policy released by the White House: Got Policy - Space Law Probe - Oct.10.06
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Daniel Schmelzer examines the recent approval of the Boeing-Lockheed ULA merger: EELV Monopoly Approved -- Should We Care? - Carried Away - Oct.10.06

[Update Oct.11.06: A related article: Security decisive in ULA approval - Flight Int. Oct.10.06.]

This looks like a possible opportunity for low cost launch providers: Globalstar Signs Initial Agreement With Alcatel Alenia Space For Second Generation LEO Satellite Constellation - Globalstar - Oct.10.06. The LEO constelation market looks to be improving. Note that Globalstar is also planning to go public: Globalstar to issue 6.5 mln shares in planned IPO - Reuters - Oct.2.06.

Iridium also recently had a flurry of press releases.

[Update: This article at Space News - Globalstar Opts for Low-Orbit System (subscription only) - says the new constellation would gradually replace the current one during 2007-2010. The next gen spacecraft would be designed to last 15 years at their 1,414km orbit. The new constellation is expected to cost in the $1B-$1.2B range.]

ATK is developing a small launch vehicle called the ALV X-1 (ATK Launch Vehicle) as part of the military's push for "responsive space", i.e. launches of smallsats on short notice and at lower cost than current vehicles: ATK Completes Successful Pathfinder for Its New Launch Vehicle: First Flight of ATK'S ALV Scheduled for 2007: ATK'S Development Program Aimed at Low-Cost Responsive Space Market - ATK- Oct.10.06.

I can't find anything else in the ATK space systems section site about this or about the sounding rocket that was launched last year. It would be interesting to see the specs on the ALV and to find how it differs from Orbital's Minotaur, which also uses ATK motors (the Pegasus and Taurus also use them).

Jon Goff examines the potential benefits of using a tug to bring LEO payloads up to a space station: Apogee Tugs and Cryo Transfer - Selenian Boondocks - Oct.9.06. He notes that such a system could benefit the first generation of RLVs, which will generally offer smaller payloads relative to the major ELV systems.
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A couple of items at Lunar Lander Challenge Blog:
* Lunar Lander paperwork-challenged - A picture of the Masten Systems XA-0.1, which they will bring to the X Prize Cup but apparently for display only.
* X Prize Cup website is different - The big announcement for Monday at the X Prize Cup looks to be a release of a list of event highlights on their home page.
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NASA and the Air Force will split a portion of the money that Boeing paid as a fine for some serious misbehavior: Air Force, NASA to split some Boeing settlement money - Space Politics - Oct.10.06

Looks like the next UP Aerospace launch will be delayed at least a month or two while they figure out what caused the in-flight failure of the first Spaceloft XL: Aerospace firm delays launch of Colo. rocket - Rocky Mountain News - Oct.10.06 (via spacetoday.net)

An advisory group sees support for NASA's programs mainly as a public relations problem: Workshop Report: Building and Maintaining the Constituency for Long-Term Space Exploration - SpaceRef - Oct.10.06. I don't think long term support for NASA's programs will be maintained if NASA just tells "its stories better". NASA doesn't need to communicate more effectively. It needs whole new policies that achieve results that attract support. I'd recommend the following:
(1) NASA should pursue access to space in as low cost a manner as possible. As long as spaceflight is so incredibly expensive, space will be seen by most people as an irrelevant and remote place where only robots and a few government workers ever go.
(2) NASA should support the development and exploration of space by society as a whole rather than just by NASA. This means polices such as
(a) making a genuine partnership of equals with the commercial spaceflight industry;
(b) greatly boosting the funding of low cost suborbital and orbital spaceflight opportunities for engineering and science programs, e.g. make it a routine occurrence at every high school and college in the country to send a student science or engineering payload into space.
(3) Large scale space settlement should be NASA's main long term goal but it should support the technology development to make this possible, (e.g. in-space operations, lunar construction techniques, minimum mass radiation protection, etc.) rather than trying to dictate how it should proceed.

I could go on but NASA isn't going to listen to me any more than it is going to listen to this report.
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The report refers to the Dittmar survey but doesn't mention this finding: "Interest in "New Space" (commercial) human spaceflight efforts such as the X-Prize flights of SpaceShip One is increasing, relative to the results of the previous study." While there are some references to entrepreneurs and grassroots organizations, the group seems generally oblivious to the vigorous activity in the NewSpace community.
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I think NASA would do better with Burt Rutan as an advisor: Acceptance Speech Transcript: 2006 Breakthrough Leadership Award Winner Burt Rutan's Acceptance Speech - Popular Mechanics - Oct.10.06,

The latest update to the Flight International section on spaceflight includes:
* Russia eyes Parom for orbital transfer - Flight International - I hope the Parom project successfully demonstrates the utility of a space tug.
* FSA considers international competition for reusable rocket - Flight International
* Soyuz 2-1b to fly by year-end - Flight International

In response to this article - NASA develops two versions of J-2X engine for Ares boosters I and V - Flightglobal.com - Oct.9.06 - mentioned earlier, a leader in the NewSpace industry, who thinks it's best to remain anonymous, sent me the following commentary:

The J-2XD is a risk reduction exercise, to ensure that NASA has an engine that can power the Ares I’s upper stage in time for the 2012 test flight. The J-2X will use turbomachinery from the abandoned Lockheed Martin/NASA X-33 single stage to orbit vehicle’s J-2+ engine. But that still has to be improved further for the performance the agency wants for the Ares I and V. Before the J-2X system design can begin formally the preliminary requirements review (PRR) and system requirements review (SRR) have to be completed.

"Not at all clear why the "turobomachinery has to be improved further" except to satisfy NASA MSFC's need to throw engineers at the project."

In June MSFC engineers completed testing of a candidate J-2X augmented spark igniter (ASI) that uses Space Shuttle Main Engine ASI design elements, while a full-scale injector test is planned for 2007. In May 2008 the J-2X will have its critical design review and two years later the agency expects to run its first full engine systems ground test. Engine testing will also utilize a vacuum chamber to simulate the J-2X’s two operating environments, low Earth orbit and above 200,000ft.

"Apparently the already proven J-2 and J-2S igniters were not good enough?"

A news release from www.andrews-space.com:

Phase II Contract to Study Flexible Transpiration Cooled TPS concepts for
Ballute Re-entry Capabilities Awarded to Andrews Space, Inc.

SEATTLE, Wash., — October 09, 2006 — Andrews Space, Inc. (Andrews) announced today that it has been awarded a $600,000 Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase II contract from NASA Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC) to perform a study entitled “Flexible Transpiration Cooled Thermal Protection Systems (TPS) for Inflatable Atmospheric Capture & Entry Systems”. These concepts are directly applicable to ballute technologies, which Andrews is in the process of developing. The contract is an extension of the Phase I study Andrews completed in July 2006.

A ballute is a pressure-stabilized, inflatable membrane that provides a large, blunt, high-drag surface for aero-braking systems. Ballutes offer significant advantages over rigid shells for aerocapture and re-entry of spacecraft by providing simplified packaging and lower total weight.

During the Phase II SBIR, Andrews will develop and perform tests for a prototype TPS that is cooled by gas flow through an inflatable membrane during re-entry. Material tests will be conducted in an arcjet chamber to simulate the high heating conditions experienced during reentry into Earth’s atmosphere. The transpiration cooled membrane will allow ballutes to use thinner material stacks and existing material technologies by lowering the effective heat flux to the fabric. Experimental data will be used to refine the ballute design and develop a concept to enable larger operational systems.

“Ballutes offer substantial performance advantages for planetary capture and entry systems. We are excited to help advance the state of the art to enable future spacecraft to include a ballute as a design solution,” said Eric Wetzel, Andrews Director of Engineering.

The SBIR and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Programs provide an opportunity for small, high technology companies and research institutions to participate in government- sponsored research and development efforts in key technology areas.

About the Company

Andrews Space, Inc. was founded in 1999 to be a catalyst in the commercialization and development of space. The company is an affordable integrator of aerospace systems and developer of advanced space technologies. To learn more, please visit: www.andrews-space.com.

NASA will develop two new variations of the Apollo era J-2 engine: NASA develops two versions of J-2X engine for Ares boosters I and V - Flightglobal.com - Oct.9.06

[Update: More Constellation vehicle news: NASA gears up for Ares I-1 flight test - NASA SpaceFlight.com - Oct.9.06.]

Sam Dinkin, who often contributes articles to The Space Review and is chief of Space-Shot, now has his own blog - Decisive Win - where he discusses various space issues in addition to non-space topics.

[Update: Sam will be interviewed on the SpaceShow this Friday, 9:30-11:30 am PT. See the SpaceShow Newsletter.]
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JP Aerospace has posted several videos from their balloon and rockoon projects at Revver. There's also lots of updates about recent work on the JP Aerospace Latest News page.
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Taking personal rocketry to the extreme: Rocket Men: The men who really, really want to fly. By Larry Smith - Slate Magazine - Oct.4.06

This week's issue of The Space Review includes:

* Space sports and space power - Taylor Dinerman says

The emerging space sports industry, including orbital space tourism, suborbital space tourism, rocket racing, and amateur rocketry, all help support the US space industry in ways that the big commercial players and parts of the US government may not really recognize.

This is certainly in the HobbySpace spirit. The benefits of such activities include encouraging education in technical areas, space hardware infrastructure development, broadening and deepening public interest in spaceflight, etc. and they can be enormous in the long term. They all go to support the development of spaceflight but because their effects are indirect they can be mistakenly discounted.
Dealing with risk - Jeff Foust discusses the issue of risk and spaceflight.
Homesteading the solar system: location, location, location - John Barber looks at the possible advantages of orbital habitats over those on the surface of a moon or planet.
Mars: open for business? - Frank Stratford thinks a case can be made for private investment in Mars exploration. For example, a commercial sample return mission might sell Martian material both to researchers and the public and make a profit.

The latest issue of Aviation Week has an article describing the COTS competitors: COTS Companies Spend Big on Private Rockets: NASA's commercial space transport partners have spent big bucks on private rockets - Aviation Week - Oct.9.06 (Subscription only).

Some items of interest include:
* "the agency apparently chose companies that have used private funds to reduce the risk inherent in any space-launch endeavor."
* Randy Brinkley of Rocketplane-Kistler (RpK) says they own "five shipsets of hardware altogether worth approximately $400 million. It should take about nine months to get the first vehicle ready to fly..."
* First flight will be from Woomera, Australia in September 2008.
* Flights every 2 months following the first one.
* About $600M total investment in developing the K-1 so far and they expect it will reach $1B.
* Expect launch prices to be at least half that of a Delta-II class vehicle.
* Investment in SpaceX "is already approaching the $100-million mark, Musk says, and he is planning to spend another $100 million to develop the Dragon cargo and crew carrier that will ride atop the Falcon 9 to meet the COTS requirements."
* Multi-engine test firing for the Falcon 9 is expected in eartly 2007.
* A first stage for the Falcon 9 should be built in about 3 months.
* Once the Falcon 9 development and testing is well underway, they will focus on the Dragon capsule.
* "Plans call for ablative thermal protection on the capsule, with an unpressurized cargo "trunk" along with a pressurized compartment for crew and cargo. Nominal planned cargo/crew capacity is about 3 metric tons up and down..."
* First 3 test flights will be from Kwajalein

Elon's September update gives more details. Except for the initial announcement about the COTS contract, there has been no new info, as far as I can tell, posted on the Rocketplane, Rocketplane-Kistler, or Kistler Aerospace websites.

Robin at the Lunar Lander Challenge blog reports that a "big announcement is coming out tomorrow about some eXciting things that will be flying in the air at Wirefly X Prize cup" : What's in the Air at X Prize Cup - Lunar Lander Challenge - Oct.8.06

She also reports on an interview with Randa Milliron of Interorbital systems in Mojave: Interorbital Systems not in X Prize Cup orbit - Lunar Lander Challenge - Oct.8.06

Allowing for night launches will be a great help to NASA in its quest to carry out the final flights of the Shuttles before the 2010 shutdown of the program:
* Shuttles cleared for night launches - Florida Today - Oct.8.06
* Shuttles to resume nighttime launches; Atlantis damaged - Spaceflight Now/CBS - Oct.6.06
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There is a big push to get Atlantis ready as the rescue backup to support the December 7th target date for the Discovery mission: ET-124 heads into critical flow - NASA SpaceFlight.com - Oct.7.06. If Discovery suffered severe damage to the thermal protection system during launch and NASA decided that the risks were too high for the astronauts to return on it, they will wait for Atlantis to come to the ISS to bring them home. (This is referred to in NASA jargon as "Launch on Need (LON)".)

I'll be surprised if Virgin Galactic doesn't continue to offer passenger flights at Mojave even after it opens its primary base of operations at the New Mexico spaceport. I'm sure Burt Rutan will push them to offer a Southern California flight as an option: Mojave Airport to host spaceflights: Commercial vehicles to carry paying passengers starting in 2009 - LA Daily News - Oct.7.06 (Via spacetoday.net). Of course, even if VG doesn't offer spaceflights out of Mojave, there will be other companies that will.

Mark Whittington has posted some more space articles at Associated Content:
* Toward the First Private Space Station - - A review of recent announcements by Bigelow Aerospace.
* A Brief History of Private Space Travel - I should point out that Sharman selection was not via a random lottery. Her technical background was a significant factor in her selection. See this article about her selection and her trip to space. This is not a big deal except with regard to arguments over whether she or Anousheh Ansari is the first female space tourist.
* A View from July 20th, 2019 - A possible future lunar exploration scenario if Mike Griffin's plans are successful.

Alan Boyle reports - Space elevator scriptures - Cosmic Log - Oct.6.06 - on various publications related to space elevators.

From LiftPort:
* Road Map to the Liftport Space Elevator - 1.0 Beta
* Graphic showing development time line

Brad Edwards has posted a critique of the roadmap here: Analysis of Liftport’s Space Elevator Roadmap - The Space Elevator Reference - Oct.6.06.

Edwards also has a new book out: Leaving the Planetby Space Elevator, by Brad Edwards and Philip Ragan.

Last Spring there came out this anthology of space elevator related writings: Liftport: Opening Space to Everyone

John Carmack posted the following message on the Official Armadillo Q&A thread - The Space Fellowship:

A couple days ago we did back to back 110 second flights with only a half propellant load each, while carrying the 50 pound payload, which means that they should be able to carry arround an 800 pound payload for 90 seconds if fully fueled. Putting 800 pounds above the gimbal would move the CG too far up, so it would have to be hung off the sides or bottom.

I wonder if these set a world rocket hovering time record?

I don't see any new videos posted yet in the Armadillo video gallery but maybe there will be soon.

(This Item via Lunar Lander Challenge Blog.)

With no fanfare, the White House released a new and improved National Space Policy on Friday:
* U.S. National Space Policy - SpaceRef
* U.S. National Space Policy - Office of Science and Technology Policy (pdf)
* New national space policy released - Space Politics - Oct.6.06

[Update Oct.7.06: Leonard David examines the new policy dcoument: New Bush Space Policy Unveiled, Stresses U.S. Freedom of Action - SPACE.com - Oct.7.06.]

I like this part:

The United States is committed to encouraging and facilitating a growing and entrepreneurial U.S. commercial space sector. Toward that end, the United States Government will use U. S. commercial space capabilities to the maximum practical extent, consistent with national security.

and this one:

Use U. S. commercial space capabilities and services to the maximum practical extent; purchase commercial capabilities and services when they are available in the commercial marketplace and meet United States Government requirements; and modify commercially available capabilities and services to meet those United States Government requirements when the modification is cost effective;

This will, of course, immediately force Mr. Griffin to drop the Ares 1/Orion and purchase these capabilities from the marketplace NOT. The document includes so many general principles, goals, guidelines, etc. that Mr. Griffin can easily find justifications here for any and all of his NASA policies

In fact, Mr. Griffin thinks he has things generally back on track: NASA Administrator Michael Griffin says agency had 'lost its way' until recent changes in defence of space policy - Flightglobal.com - Oct.6.06

A news release from UP Aerospace:

UP Aerospace says rocket "needed just three more seconds" to have reached space; homing-in on anomaly cause

HARTFORD, Conn.--October 6, 2006 -- UP Aerospace, Inc., www.upaerospace.com the world's premier supplier of low-cost space access, has announced its preliminary analysis of its September 25th launch at Spaceport America.

According to Jerry Larson, President of UP Aerospace, "We're homing-in on the cause of our flight anomaly. As we suspected early on, we have not seen any major issues. The entire vehicle -- from nosecone to airframe to motor to fins -- remained structurally sound throughout the entire flight. Everything was fine from launch, through apogee, back through the atmosphere, to landing. There were no premature flight events. All of the key systems were operating as anticipated."

Leonard David reports on the upcoming X Prize Cup in Las Cruces N.M. that will take place October 20-21: Showtime for Spaceship Builders - SPACE.com - Oct.6.06. Note the items about a new vehicle design from the da Vinci Project and an orbital upper stage under development at the Hokkaido Aerospace Science Technology Incubation Center (HASTIC) for the Rocketplance XP.
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Prior to the Cup event there is the 2nd Annual International Symposium for Personal Spaceflight on Oct. 18-19 : Symposium brings together those involved, interested in personal space flight - Las Cruces Sun-News - Oct.6.06 - (Via spacetoday.net)
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The spaceport project is starting to have an impact on a sparsely populated area of New Mexico:
* Spaceport development - Personal Spaceflight - Oct.6.06
* Spaceport spurring big growth near T or C - Las Cruces Sun-News - Oct.6.06

Don't know if it is new or old but the PlanetSpace website has this Orbital Space Flight page describing their orbital vehicle configurations, including that for the Silver Dart that was proposed for the COTS competition. -

The ESA Vega vehicle is currently in development in Europe:
* Vega takes a step closer to 2007 debut - NASA SpaceFlight.com - Oct.5.06.
* Vega upper composite passes tests at ESTEC - ESA - Oct.5.06

Arianespace has the Vega listed in its Launcher Family and they are predicting "2-4 missions per year" after its maiden flight in late 2007. It will be interesting to see what they will charge for launching small/medium size commercial satellites. It's performance (e.g. the target capability is "1,500 kg. on missions to a 700-km. circular orbit") looks to be in between the Falcon 1 and Falcon 5. The development cost (paid mostly by Italy) will probably sum to several hundred million Euros by the time of the first launch but I assume this will be written off before calculating launch prices.

Alan Boyle has supplemented a recent posting on NewSpace activities with comments from John Pike: The X Prize's second stage - Cosmic Log - Oct.5.06.

As usual, Pike pretends to teach physics, engineering, and business to people who actually have training in those areas and who work in them everyday. You would think that if he had a modicum of intellectual curiosity he would contact the leaders of the new space transport companies, e.g. Burt Rutan, Jeff Greason, Elon Musk, etc., and ask them why they think they can lower launch costs substantially. However, he takes it for granted that such guys must be fools and they should instead contact him to get the real truth on launch costs.

Despite what he says, it's been pointed out repeatedly that physics, as embodied in the rocket equation, basically only tells you how much fuel you need to get to orbit for a given rocket engine and vehicle design. It doesn't tell you anything about launch costs. In fact, the total cost of the fuel needed for most rocket vehicles is a minor fraction of the total cost of getting to orbit.

Rand Simberg discusses the implications of the recent announcement that Bigelow and Lockheed-Martin would study whether it is feasible to use a version of the Atlas V to access a Bigelow orbital habitat: The Dinosaur Empire Strikes Back? - Transterrestrial Musings - Oct. 5.06

Mr. X at Chair Force Engineer wonders what will happen with the ULA if launch demand increases substantially: Atlas Launch Alliance - Chair Force Engineer - Oct.4.06.
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Many people in Decatur, Alabama, where Boeing builds the Delta IV, are certainly happy about the ULA decision: ULA good in short term, even better in long term - The Decatur Daily - Oct.5.06. The editor should do a bit of research, though, before writing such things. The EELVs are currently the only purely "American" rockets available for large payloads. There are several rockets worldwide that launch big satellites. Boeing's Sea Launch could but isn't allowed to launch US government payloads because of its Ukrainian/Russian boosters. Also, the EELVs have very little commercial business. (Boeing, in fact, stopped marketing the Delta IV for commercial launches.) That is the main reason, in fact, that the ULA was formed. The commercial communication satellite market they expected would support their business plans never showed up.
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This Taylor Dinerman article in Space Review back in June gives some background to the ULA.

More comments about the "Virgin Galactic Charter To Space" item in the Neiman Marcus 2006 Christmas catalog:
* Charter flights to space - Personal Spaceflight - Oct.5.06
* Neiman Marcus Ads Offer $1.76 Million Charter Spaceflight - LiveScience.com Blogs - Oct.4.06.

Atlantis got whacked by a piece of debris or micrometeroroid:
* Atlantis suffered major MMOD hit - NASA SpaceFlight.com - Oct.4.06
* NASA studying a "ding" on shuttle : Was it the result of space debris impact during Atlantis' flight? - MSNBC.com - Oct.4.06 - by James Oberg

John Carmack has posted his monthly update with an emphasis on preparations for the Lunar Lander Challenges at the X Prize Cup: Development, 90 second flight, X-Prize Cup - Armadillo - Oct.3.06.

While it looks like we won’t have any actual competitors for the vertical rocket challenge and the lunar lander challenge this year, there is still a bit of drama with just our performance. If we had a couple more months it would look certain, but we are getting down to the wire now. It looks like the latest engine design has sufficient Isp and thrust to do the 180 second flight, but we haven’t demonstrated it yet. The 50 meter climb and 100 meter translation for the prizes will also be new territory for the vehicles. We can’t test those before hand, because they require a launch permit, and any failure is likely to be a loss-of-vehicle, so we might as well do the spectacular crash for the paying audience. I’m fairly confident that it will work, though.

UP Aerospace now has the remains of its rocket and is trying to figure out what went wrong: Rocket wreckage in Denver as probe enters phase 2' - Las Cruces Sun-News - Oct.4.06 (via spacetoday.net).
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Jeff Krukin of the Space Frontier Foundation comments on the SpaceLoft launch: Space Frontier Foundation Action Report (FAR) #3 - SFF/Spaceref - Oct.3.06

I often disagree with Washington Post article headlines but I think this one is right on: Rocket Monopoly Approved: Boeing-Lockheed Alliance Likely to Increase Costs - washingtonpost.com - Oct.4.06

Jesse Londin comments on the ULA approval: Let's Make (UL)A Deal - Space Law Probe - Oct.4.06

Go Burt! Popular Mechanics Magazine recognizes Burt Rutan as a top Breakthrough leader: FINAL FRONTIERSMAN: Breakthrough Leadership Award Winner: Burt Rutan - Popular Mechanics - Oct.4.06. (Via a HS reader.)

Alan Boyle reports on an extension of the space elevator games program through 2010 and an increase in the total prize purses available: Elevator games get a boost - Cosmic Log - Oct.3.06

See also Leonard David's posting: Space Elevator: Uplifting News - LiveScience.com Blogs.
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A brief overview of developments in commercial human spaceflight: Wide Range of Rocket Tech for Civilian Spaceflight - SPACE.com - Oct.4.06
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Rob Wilson is already making out his letter to Santa Claus: All I want for Christmas is ... - Out of the Cradle - Oct.4.06

Two years after the day the X Prize was won, Alan Boyle posts an update on the status of the X Prize Foundation and on progress in commercial rocket and spaceflight development: The X Prize's second stage - Cosmic Log - Oct.4.06. He includes comments from Peter Diamandis and Gary Hudson.

John Carmack describes his group's efforts to obtain an FAA permit to fly at the X Prize Cup: The Challenge of the Challenges / Lunar Lander Challenge 2007 - Oct.3.06

Leonard David reports on the results of a space tourism survey: Space Tourism Survey Shows Cost, Access Key Selling Points - SPACE.com - Oct.3.06

A summary of the survey is available in this file: The Adventurers' Survey of Public Space Travel - Executive Summary (pdf).

The survey was carried out by Derek Webber, Director of Spaceport Associates, and Jane Reifert, President of Incredible Adventures.

It was an on line survey in which over 1000 people participated.

Here is an earlier article at the time the survey began: New Survey Takes the Pulse of Public Space Travel - SPACE.com - Aug.28.06.

More space tourism survey and market study resources.

The merger of the Boeing and Lockheed-Martin EELV programs has been approved by the Federal Trade Commission. The Wall Street Journal article says the FTC order "sets up an elaborate system of checks and balances to ensure that other satellite makers and fledgling rocket companies won't be unfairly hurt or deprived of the chance to compete for government orders in coming decades." This includes the "mandatory appointment of an independent compliance officer to monitor the joint venture." It will certainly be interesting to watch what happens with all this after SpaceX flies the Falcon 9.

* FTC approves ULA formation - spacetoday.net - Oct.3.06
* ULA, at last? - Space Politics - Oct.3.06
* FTC OKs Boeing, Lockheed creation of United Launch Alliance - MarketWatch
* FTC clears rocket launch alliance - Space News - MSNBC.com/AP - Oct.3.06
* FTC Approves Rocket Joint Venture: Number of Safeguards Are Added To Address Antitrust Concerns - WSJ.com - Oct.3.06 (subscription)

[Update Oct.4.06: Some responses to the announcement:
* ULA reaction from Congress - Space Politics
* Launch deal could mean 800 new jobs - Denver Post
* Rocket venture OK'd: Lockheed, Boeing say deal to close soon; 1,000 jobs could come here - Rocky Mountain News
]

Here is the latest Centennial Challenges Update from NASA:

CENTENNIAL CHALLENGES UPDATE - October 2006

In This Issue:
* CENTENNIAL CHALLENGES BREAKING NEWS
* Three Centennial Challenges Competitions at the X PRIZE Cup
* CENTENNIAL CHALLENGES IN THE NEWS
- Lunar Lander Challenge in August Popular Mechanics
- Lunar Lander Challenge in October Popular Science
*CENTENNIAL CHALLENGES HIGHLIGHTS
* Centennial Challenges Represented at Technology Conferences
* SPECIAL CENTENNIAL CHALLENGES ANNOUNCEMENTS
* Centennial Challenge Program Changes
* CENTENNIAL CHALLENGES NOTES
* LINKS TO COMPETITIONS
* FUTURE PUBLIC APPEARANCES

=== CENTENNIAL CHALLENGES BREAKING NEWS ===

Three Centennial Challenges Competitions at the X PRIZE Cup

Centennial Challenges begins an especially exciting time as three competitions - Beam Power, Lunar Lander and Tether Challenges -- are held at the X PRIZE Cup, October 20-21, Las Cruces, New Mexico. The X PRIZE Cup is a space exposition which features the competitions, rocket launches, rocket planes, static engine test firings, fly-overs, exhibits and other events.

Jesse Londin reports on a panel discussion at NextFest about space vacationing :New Vacationauts in New York - Space Law Probe - Oct.3.06
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Tim Pickens will bring to the X Prize Cup a pickup truck with some added kick: Space travel begins on the ground - Lunar Lander Challenge- Oct.3.06

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I guess it is because of business like this that Jim Benson feels safe in leaving SpaceDev to go build his Dream Chaser spaceship: SpaceDev's Starsys Division Awarded $6.3M Contract for Subsystems on NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter - MarketWire/SpaceDev - Oct.3.06<

Most catapult launcher concepts replace a first stage but a design from LaunchPoint would accelerate a payload all the way to orbital velocity:
* Huge 'launch ring' to fling satellites into orbit - New Scientist - Oct.3.06
* Magnetic sled could hurl objects into orbit - New Scientist - May.22.06

Dealing with atmospheric heating might be more trouble than just using a second stage booster.

More at:
* Magnetic Satellite Launch System
* Magtube Transit System

Check out this new paper by Lee Valentine of the Space Studies Institute, which I have posted here in hypertext format : Critical Trajectories for the Human Settlement of the High Frontier. He presented it at the New Trends in Astrodynamics III Conference held at Princeton this past August.

He lays out a trajectory towards settlement of space via commercial development of low cost space transportation driven by the market for private space travel. "Longer term drivers are likely to be space solar power and asteroidal metals."

See also this more extensive article from 2002: A Space Roadmap: Mine the Sky, Defend the Earth, Settle the Universe.

He was interviewed on the Space Show back on March 14, 2006.

According to the latest print edition of Space News, a joint Congressional committee writing up the 2007 Defense Appropriations Act has decided not to fund the Air Force's Affordable Responsive Spacelift (ARES) program. This was a not very widely publicized effort to build a "hybrid" launcher for sending small payloads to orbit. Here "hybrid" does not refer to the propulsion system but to the combination of a reusable first stage with an expendable upper stage. The AF had requested $19.5M for the program but the committee told the AF to instead use $12M of that money "to buy small expendable rockets". (The rest of the money went to a classified project.) The current funding was aimed towards technology risk reduction.

More about the project at:
* ARES - Affordable REsponsive Spacelift - GlobalSecurity.org
* Aerospace Assists the Air Force on Launch System Study - Aerospace Corp. - Mar.28.05
* DoD Space Transportation Perspective - NASA - Feb.4.2004 (pdf)
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The committee also directed the Air Force "to find ways to open competition for most of its satellite launches to companies other than Lockheed Martin and Boeing" who are the EELV contractors.

The initial tests of the parachute system for the first stage booster for the Ares I CLV (Crew Launch Vehicle) were successful: Arizona system testing for Ares I - NASA SpaceFlight.com - Oct.2.06
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Naming NASA's new Lunar Surface Access Module (LSAM) : NASA to name moonlander after Greek goddess Artemis - Flight International - Oct.3.06.

(Robert Pearlman at collectSpace reported back in January that Artemis was the internal working name for the LSAM. Antares was used for the CEV but NASA decided to go instead with Orion.)

Anousheh Ansari wants to go back to space someday: First Female Space Tourist Keen On Flying to ISS Again - MosNews - Oct.2.06 I hope the ticket price will have come down significantly by the time she returns to space.
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I assume that new partner Andrews Space will bring the $10M that RpK needs: Rocketplane in race to find $10m - Flight International - Oct.3.06.
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More about finding the SpaceLoft XL rocket launched last week: Crashed rocket found in 'desert jungle' - New Scientist - Oct.2.06. This sounds good:

After finding the partially buried rocket, workers retrieved its contents – including about 50 student experiments – and returned them to their owners.

Alan Boyle reports on the latest from LiftPort on their various tether projects: Space elevator ups and downs - Cosmic Log - Oct.2.06.
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The Space Elevator Reference at SpaceRef provides space elevator related news in a weblog format. Reports from the Space Elevator competitions at the X Prize Cup will be posted here during the event. (Via NASA Watch)

Today's issue of the Space Review includes:
* Suborbital traffic jam? - Taylor Dinerman notes the flurry of news about suborbital vehicle projects. He discusses how the development of suborbital RLVs could lead to low cost orbital transports.
* A sneak peek inside SpaceShipTwo - Jeff Foust reports further on the unveiling of the SpaceShipTwo cabin interior at the NextFest event last week:
* Review: Einstein's Jury - The Space Review - Oct.2.06
* Worthy of survival - Dwayne Day takes a serious look at Star Trek and doubts whether today's generation of sci-fi programs could affect attitudes towards space as much as it did.

I know I should avoid talking about ST but I can't help but discuss Dwayne Day's interesting essay...

The Space Frontier Foundation posts its monthly summary of NewSpace News.
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Space News reports on the Orion/CEV hearings last week: Committee Warns NASA To Keep CEV on Track - Space News/Space.com - Oct.2.06
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NASA has set December 7th as the target for the launch of Discovery but it will be quite a challenge to meet that date according to this report: Accelerated launch schedule is ambitious - NASA SpaceFlight.com - Oct.2.06.

I was planning to post something about what a remarkable week it was for NewSpace but this post beat me to it: Competition Heats Up for Space Tourism Bucks - LiveScience.com Blogs - Oct.1.06.

Last week was fun and there will be lots more stuff happening soon in the field of private spaceflight development. The X Prize Cup is coming up in less than three weeks and that will involve all sorts of exciting events and, I bet, a number of interesting announcements. Then there will be the next Falcon 1 launch attempt in late November or early December. At the start of next year there will be the Genesis II launch. I expect that over the next few months flight testing by the VTOL rocket guys (Armadillo, Masten, Blue Origin) will become a routine weekly, if not daily, thing that we can see via videos on the web (or just hear about in the case of Blue Origin). The many other private rocket projects in development will be progressing along as well.

Getting difficult to keep up with all this. I need to put in for a raise...
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An essay in support of private space development: The ups and downs of today's space tourist industry - by Paul Jacob - Townhall.com - Oct.1.06 (Via spacetoday.net).

Besides the new 2006 X Prize Cup Lander Challenges page, Armadillo Aerospace has made a number of additions to their Image and video galleries