Tag: Commercial Space
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Stratolaunch Systems
Today we return to our commercial space series as we look at a new player to the field. Paul G. Allen and Burt Rutan announced yesterday that they were once again partnering to revolutionize the space launch industry. Their last adventure led to the Ansari X Prize winning SpaceShipOne craft which achieved three sub-orbital flights…
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Falling Behind
China are on the verge of surpassing the US for second place in the number of spacecraft launched in a single year. Last year we were tied for second place and so far this year have one more mission than China but with no more planned US launches this year and at least one more…
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Commercial Space – Part Six
Today we continue our look at Commercial Space with Boeing and there contribution to the CCDev/CCDev2 programs. Boeing Working with Bigelow the CST-100 will provide crew and cargo missions to the International Space Station. The CST-100 was first announced by Robert Bigelow in June 2010, just last month NASA announced that Boeing had signed an…
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Commercial Space – Part Five
Today we look at Blue Origin and there contribution to the CCDev/CCDev2 programs. Blue Origin Blue Origin are working on the New Shepherd sub-orbital craft to provide customer’s trip to the edge of space, allow a period of time of weightlessness before returning to the launch site. Unlike Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo this will be a…
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Commercial Space – Part Four
Now we move onto the NASA Commercial Crew Development (CCDev/CCDev2) providers. Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) SNC are currently working on the Dream Chaser spacecraft, designed to lift off on top a man-rated launcher with Delta-V as the current preferred booster. The craft is designed to transport up to seven astronauts as well as cargo. Exact…
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Commercial Space – Part Two
Today we continue our look at the Commercial Space Industry and what Orbital Sciences Corporation has to offer. Orbital Sciences Corporation Orbital is not a new comer to the Space Launch business having been started in 1982 and completed 62 space launch missions since. They currently offer the air launched Pegasus rocket, the ground launched…
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Commercial Space – Part One cont.
This morning during the press conference for the Soyuz docking Bill Gerstenmaier NASA’s Associate Administrator for Space Operations confirmed that SpaceX had provided them with the final Dragon Spacecraft software which will be used for orbital operations. NASA are now reviewing the software and Bill estimated that they should be able to set an actual…
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Commercial Space – Part One
Yesterday I mentioned the SpaceX Falcon Heavy as my preferred launch vehicle for the Mars Rover mission. I have been watching with increased interested the development of the commercial launch business as companies like SpaceX, Orbital and others progress towards supplying the Space Station and offering launch capabilities to the broader industry. SpaceX At the…