The Celestial Mechanics channel at the Brightcove.tv video site has a big selection of NewSpace related videos from the Moon Society and others:
* Four part series on Orbital Filling Stations
* Six part series of Rick Tumlinson's thoughts on space
* Two part series with Paul Spudis discussing lunar development
* Five part series on a Lunar Greenhouse design

(Via Spaceports.)

Michael Belfiore points to an interview with him at Bloomberg news: Bigelow's Space Hotel, Branson's $200,000 Ferry: Space Tourism - Bloomberg.com - Sept.28.07.

The chapter on Rocketplane from his The Rocketeers book is now posted at the Air & Space Magazine site: The O Prize: Will Rocketplane launch spacecraft from Oklahoma? - Air & Space Magazine - Oct.07 issue
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An article about Young K. Bae and his Photonic Laser Propulsion (PLP) concept in the LA Times: New idea for space travel? A maverick physicist thinks laser power might one day take humans to the stars. - Los Angeles Times.

Speaking of VASIMR, here is an interview with Franklin Chang Diaz about it and other things: To Mars and Beyond: Rocket scientist Franklin Chang Diaz talks about finding the power and propulsion required to colonize space - Technology Review - Sept.25.07. (Link via Centauri Dreams.)

The Responsive Space website offers a big array of interesting presentations and papers presented at the ORS conferences from 2003 to 2007. See, for example, the Responsive Launch and Responsive Spacecraft selections.

Irene Klotz profiles Richard Garriott: Son to follow father's footsteps in space - Reuters
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In view of the 50th anniversary of Sputnik, Konrad Dannenberg, Mike Griffin, Elon Musk and Tom Stafford reflect on the state of space development: From 4 key players, a sense of regret and a call to action - USATODAY.com - Sept.28.07
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If you are in the Houston area on October 18th you might want to catch this lecture by Jim Oberg :

AIAA Lunch N' Learn, Oct 18: Astrodynamics Technical Committee: 50Th Anniversary Of Sputnik

The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Houston Section will host a Lunch n' Learn Seminar on Thursday, October 18, 2007 at the NASA Gilruth Center in the Alamo Ballroom. James Oberg, engineer, author and journalist, will be speaking on the “50th Anniversary of Sputnik.” The presentation will be given from Noon – 1pm. This free event is open to all aerospace professionals. AIAA membership is not required. Seating will be limited to 270 for this LnL (first come first serve). Badging is not required for this event. Professional Engineers will earn one hour of Continuing Education credit for attending this event. For additional information please contact Douglas Yazell at 281-244-3925 as soon as possible to allow adequate time for badge processing. If you plan to attend, registration is recommended online at http://www.aiaa-houston.org/.

See also these articles by Oberg:
* Sputnik’s Legacy
* Russia's Space Program at Fifty -- An Assessment

Not exactly at Enterprise performance, but doing better thrust-wise: Next-generation ion engine sets new thrust record - New Scientist - Sept.28.07.
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Radioisotopic nuclear power generation gets more efficient: NASA To Accelerate Space Nuclear Power - Aviation Week - Sept.28.07.

More info here: NASA’s Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generator (ASRG). Summary Sheet. - NASA GRC - 2007
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However, a nuclear reactor will be needed to power a really high thrust ion propulsion system like VASIMR.

Bigelow Aerospace needs the space transport guys to get a move on real soon : Bigelow Space Modules: Sky High Plans Face 'Significant Concerns' - SPACE.com - Sept.28.07.

The ARCA team has posted pictures taken during their recent Mission 2 test.

A brief report on the mission: Romania's manned Stabilo vehicle successfully completes second unmanned flight - Flight Global
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Alan Boyle reports on the Richard Garriott announcement: Game guru going into space - Cosmic Log
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Some progress on the scramjet front:
* Hypersonic Jets Prepare to Soar - SPACE.com - Sept.28.07
* Mach 20 or Bust By Geoffrey Little - Air & Space Magazine - Sept.07

Mr. X continues a discussion of the advantages of orbital fuel depots: Fuel for a Revolution - Chair Force Engineer
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Here is a beautiful picture of the Dawn mission blast-off. (Via
Spaceports blog).
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University of Nebraska's College of Law gets a star for its space law program that was recently approved: Nebraska Wins Von Der Dunk - Space Law Probe - Sept.27.07

The Space Frontier Foundation has posted the September issue of NewSpace News.
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The Foundation's website for the Teachers in Space program seems greatly enhanced since the last time I checked. They are planning to announce the details of the selection process for choosing teachers for the spaceflights on October 26th as part of the X PRIZE Cup Education & Media Day at Holloman Air Force Base. (Via the Spaceports Blog)

A reader points to this Yazoo | Yazoom contest sponsored by the Dutch dairy company Campina. Two winners and their families will go to New Mexico to watch the launch of an UP Aerospace rocket and then go to Florida for a visit to KSC and a weeks vacation. They also will have a letter and photo taken to space and back by the rocket.

Hope contests and sponsorships become common for these types of businesses that involve launching small personal and educational payloads on suborbital and orbital spaceflights.
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Sam Dinkins discusses the EADS Sub Orbital Business Case.
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More about jumping from suborbital space platforms: Taking Sky Diving to the Next Level With 'Space Diving': Aerospace Firm Wants to Create the Ultimate Extreme Sport - ABC News - Sept.27.07 .

There was also this PopSci article from last summer: High Dive: Ride a rocket into space and then abandon ship? You'd need to be nuts or desperate. Either way, space diving could be the future of reentry - Popular Science - June.2007 issue

Richard Garriott will be going to the ISS in October 2008 and will carry out some interesting commercial activities while there: Space Adventures Announces 1st Second Generation Astronaut: First private spaceflight open to commercial involvement in mission activities. - Space Adventures - Sept.28.07.

He is a well known computer game developer (see bio at Wikipedia) and is the son of former NASA astronaut Owen Garriott. He has also been a long time board member of Space Adventures.

He has opened a website devoted to his flight: www.richardinspace.com.

Reader Armin Ellis attended a debate this week among Democratic Party candidates for President and was kind enough to send in a writeup on the responses he got when he asked some of them about space following the main event. This is a non-political blog but I think it is quite interesting to read their responses even though they are brief.

If you are attending debates or other types of events with candidates for President or Congress (or for whatever office people run for in your country), you might try to get in a question about space. It's not so much that their answers off the cuff will be illuminating as it is that they may get the impression that this is an topic about which a non-zero percentage of the voters care about. To me it's not about getting more funding for NASA but about urging leaders to think about how the money is spent and what long term goals are to be achieved.
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Presidential Question: "What is your vision for America's space program?"

Having a firm vision for America's space program can be a litmus test for a presidential candidate to indicate depth of knowledge about a non-mainstream issue, understanding the role of research and development, new arenas of economic growth, the ability to have and execute a vision and much more. As such I felt that it would be interesting to see how various candidates would react to a simple question: "What is your vision for America's space program?"

Last night I attended the Democratic Party's presidential candidate debate at Dartmouth College. Since my question was not read on air, I decided to take the question to the candidates themselves after the televised debate. Sadly Edwards, Clinton, Obama and Gravel were immediately escorted out of the room and were at that point beyond reach. Nonetheless the remaining answered my question in 15 seconds or less. The following is a mildly paraphrased version of the conversations.

Bill Richardson:
BR - "It's important. We need it for the health of the nation and I want more Apollo style projects and not just for space. I think we should also encourage private companies. We have a great program like that in New Mexico."

Chris Dodd
CD - "I think we're doing okay - thanks a lot for the question"

Joe Biden
JB - "I like the robotic programs"
AE - "How about the manned missions, with clear leadership we could"
JB - "With clear leadership we can do anything, good luck"

Dennis Kucinich
DK - "I think we should double spending across the board on civilian projects and privatize where we can"
AE - "How about the manned programs?"
DK - "I would double that too, I think we can do much better than we are. By the way Glen Research Center is in my district. Did you know that?"

The above is to the best of my recollection, since audio recorders weren't allowed.

With New Hampshire's importance in the primaries, I hope to have the opportunity to pose this question to more presidential hopefuls passing through. It would be interesting to also get some of the Republican views on this topic.

Armin Ellis

John Tierney talks with John Carmack about the issue of returning to the Moon before going to Mars: Is the Moon Dull? Not to the Maker of Doom and Quake - TierneyLab - Science - New York Times Blog

I just heard that Matt Bowes, who posted at the SpaceLiberates.us web log, was killed in a motorcycle accident on September 9th. He was just 19. Here is his obituary notice.

The funeral was last week but you can find his guest book here.

He had been an intern at Masten Space Systems this past summer. I knew him via the net and had exchanged emails with him occasionally. The last messages I got from him dealt with the Scaled accident. Terrible to lose a person so young and one so eager to lead the charge into space. My deepest sympathies to his family.

[Sept.28.07:
* Another Sad Day in Rocket Land - Jon Goff
* Tragic News - Rand Simberg
* A Death Far Too Young - Keith Cowing

I want to express my condolences as well to the family of Matt's passenger, Rachel Karis, who died from her injuries in the motorcycle accident: More Matt Bowes Details - Rand Simberg
]

Congrats to NASA and Orbital Science on a good start to the Dawn mission. This is the first spacecraft built by Orbital for a mission to deep space.
* NASA's Dawn Spacecraft Begins Trek to Asteroid Belt - Space.com
* Dawn set for exploration of largest asteroids by William Harwood - SpaceflightNow.com
* Orbital's Dawn Spacecraft Ready For Launch On 3-Billion-Mile 8-Year Journey To Explore Main Asteroid Belt: Companys First Planetary Mission to Rendezvous with Protoplanets Vesta and Ceres Between Mars and Jupiter - Orbital Sciences
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The spacecraft was launched on a Delta 2 rocket The latest print issue of Space News reports that Orbital is getting serious about developing a Delta 2 class launcher called the Taurus 2. The Air Force has decided to drop the Delta 2 in favor of using the EELVs. NASA then decided that the lower launch rate would mean significant price hikes if it continued to use the Delta 2 so it also decided to switch to the EELVs. Orbital believes this will drive up the costs of launches for its medium sized spacecraft, a market where it is doing well, and so began the Taurus 2 project.

Here are some items of interest from the article, which also includes an interview with Antonio Elias of Orbital :
- OSC expects to develop the vehicle for $100M-$120M
- Launch cost would be around $65M at a rate of 2-3 launches per year.
- Up to 6000kg to LEO, 3700kg to sun-synchronous
- First launch by middle of 2010
- For the first stage they will use two Aerojet Aj26-58 engines, which are the same modified Russian NK-33 engines that were planned for the Kistler K-1. Aerojet has 37 engines in stock and says they could produce the engines themselves if the market becomes big enough.
- During the short lived partnership with Rocketplane Kistler on the COTS project, OSC pushed to make the first stage expendable rather than reusable with the assumption that a reusable stage could be developed later if launch rates grew. RpK said that the COTS contract was for a fully reusable vehicle only.

The article and the interview don't directly address the SpaceX Falcon 9. The F9 page at SpaceX says that "A Falcon 9 (5m fairing) mission to LEO is $35M" and that it can put about 10k kg into LEO. Elia does say

"If the other developers would have demonstrated a faster rate of progress towards a medium-class vehicle, we would not have decided to invest in a new vehicle".

However, if SpaceX meets its schedule and begins launching in late 2008 or early 2009, they will have a lower priced vehicle in operation by 2010.

A new aluminium fibre combination material is stronger than the carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) used in the 787 yet is "also insensitive to fatigue".

By using CentrAl wing constructions, the weight can be reduced by another 20 per cent compared to CFRP constructions. Furthermore, using CentrAl results in considerably lower manufacturing and maintenance costs...
...the new CentrAl materials create possibilities for so-called ‘Carefree structures’. These are aircraft constructions that are less sensitive to damage caused, for example, by fatigue, hail storms, other weather phenomena, trucks that collide with the aircraft and corrosion. Carefree aircraft constructions will be characterised by significantly reduced maintenance costs.

Sure sounds like it has potential for RLV construction:
* New Material for Aircraft Wings Could Lead to Reduced Fuel Consumption - Green Car Congress - Sept.26.07
* New Delft material concept for aircraft wings could save billions - TU Delft - Sept.24.07

WanderingSpace blog this week hosts The Carnival of Space 22, which has the theme of The Art of Space.

Jesse Londin also posted a Wednesday walkabout at Space Law Probe.

The official sponsor of the Wirefly X PRIZE Cup offers a weblog: Wirefly X PRIZE Cup. As I mentioned recently, there is also Will Pomerantz's X PRIZE Blog
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A report on the site of the next Cup event: Holloman Air Force Base: Making Air and Space History - SPACE.com - Sept.26.07
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I've heard that the Personal Spaceflight Symposium is filling up fast. Better act soon if you plan to attend and haven't registered yet.

Europe's Bold Entry into Space Tourism - Popular Science - October 2007 issue
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This AvWeek article quotes Randy Brinkley of Rocketplane Kistler as saying that they have raised $300M of the $500M needed to prevent the cutoff of COTS funding. NASA poised to ax RpK's COTS contract - Aviation Week - Sept.24.07 (Subscription required). If NASA does cancel the RpK contract, COTS program manager Alan Lindenmoyer indicates that SpaceX may get an "adjustment" of funding and that

some of the money could also go toward one or more of several (presently unfunded) alternative concepts being proposed by a number of companies. These include a cargo canister system being studied by Constellation Service International, a combined expendable launch vehicle and reusable hypersonic lifting body from PlanetSpace, a hybrid “Dream Chaser” proposal from SpaceDev, the Arctus evolved transfer vehicle from Spacehab and an air-launched, piloted vehicle and ground-launched cargo module offered by t/Space.

Another Rocketplane article here: Okla. Space Tourism Co. Still Grounded - AP/Houston Chronicle - Sept.26.07

SpaceDev has big plans for the Dream Chaser (if they get the money) : Focus on Core Space Technologies - SpaceDev - Sept.24.07

Well, I think a 11km reel-out was a good first try. Being a relatively low cost project, perhaps we will see YES3. YES4, etc.
* YES2 student payload released from Foton-M3 - ESA - Sept.25.07
* ESA - Young Engineers Satellites (YES)
* Official reports trouble in landing of Fotino reentry vehicle - Interfax - Sept.25.07
* Space tether experiment hits major snag - Spaceflight Now - Sept.25.07
* Experiment to Get Cargo From Space Fails - The Associated Press - Sept.25.07

I see that the market driven economic boom in India hasn't converted everyone from the old time Fabian religion: Scientists warn against colonisation in space -The Statesman - Sept.25.07.

A reader points me to a completely different view on space property rights: Mars: Who Should Own It by Ron Pisaturo - Jan.20.04.
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Jeff Foust comments further on Michael Griffin's views on balancing government versus private space activity: Griffin on balancing the public and private sectors - Space Politics - Sept.25.07
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Speaking of religion, Robert Zubrin takes his Mars missionary zeal to the University of Toronto: A man, a plan, a planet: Mars Direct - theVARSITY.ca - Sept.25.07 (via spacetoday.net). He claims we could get to the Red Planet in seven years if only people would stop putting that darn Moon in the way. (BTW: where in the world did this $450B number come from?)

He has a cute replacement for the old line that it makes no more sense to go to the Moon first to get to Mars than it did for Europeans to go to Iceland first on their way to the Americas. Actually, I think going directly to Mars would be like Europeans going straight to America and bypassing those drab British Isles. Or perhaps more appropriately, like Asians skipping Alaska to get to the rest of the continent - it was sort of on the way.

David Ashford of Bristol Spaceplanes is interviewed by Space Fellowship: Bristol Spaceplanes Talk to The Space Fellowship about the X-Prize, the Ascender and the plan for orbital flights. - The Space Fellowship.

For more about Ashford and the Bristol Spaceplanes, check out this Space Show interview with him from June 2005.

I see that he also recently posted on the SpaceFuture.com website a reprint of an interesting review paper called New Commercial Opportunities in Space.

Congratulations to the ARCA team on a successful Mission 2 flight, which tested their balloon and the rocket stage recovery system:

September 25, 2007 - Cape Midia
SUCCESSFUL FLIGHT!
Mission2 flight of STABILO1B vehicle was launched today at 08:30 local time from Cape Midia Air Force Launch Site. More images and info in short time.

Will Whitehorn expands his Virgin Galactic commitment : PR vacuum filled as Virgin man heads out into space - Telegraph (via spacetoday.net).
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More about the Yuzoz move to New Mexico: Space business commits to Sierra County - Las Cruces Sun-News - Sept.24.07 (via spacetoday.net).

I posted the full press release on the Space-for-All blog the other day.
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Jesse Londin reports on a space law conference in India: Space lawyers in Hyderabad - Space Law Probe - Sept.24.07.

A reader points to this 2008 Defense budget report from the Senate Appropriations Committee. The section dealing with DARPA includes this interesting item:

Additionally, an analysis of DARPA’s top technical performers over the past 3 years shows that roughly one-third of DARPA’s budget is consistently awarded to the same top 15 performers, most of which rank among the world’s leading defense companies. The Committee is concerned that by repeatedly relying on the same performers, DARPA may be missing out on innovative ideas originating from non-traditional, non-defense sources, to include small businesses, creative individuals and small universities and colleges. The Committee encourages DARPA to increase its outreach and awareness initiatives to these potential partners with the specific goal of enhancing greater participation from non-traditional defense sources.

The whole NY Times Science section this week is devoted commemorating the 50th anniversary of Sputnik and offers several space related articles. Haven't read them all yet but here are a couple with input from NewSpacers:
* Future of Spaceflight - New Horizons Beckon, Inspiring Vision if Not Certainty - John Schwartz
* Wanted: Billionaire Risk-Takers Seeking Eternal Renown - John Tierney

[Update: There is also this one: One Giant Leap, Followed by Decades of Baby Steps - Dennis Overbye.]

Rand Simberg reports on a Boeing proposal presented at AIAA Space 2007 for fuel depots in low earth orbit that would provide NASA with a much more robust lunar program : Space Gas Station - Boeing Propellant Depot - Boeing has unveiled a radical redesign of NASA's plan to return to the lunar surface: save weight (and money) by saving gas for an orbital fill-'er-up, then shoot 15 times more material to the moon. Can the space agency jive with private space to get the new propellant depot off the ground? - Popular Mechanics - Sept.24.07. As mentioned earlier, such fuel depots would also become key building blocks for an in-space infrastructure on which a vastly expanded space presence can develop.

Elon Musk talks with NASASpaceflight.com : Elon Musk Q&A; - Updates SpaceX status on Falcon and Dragon

CSI and ULA will study launching the CSI cargo cannisters on the Atlas V: Constellation Services International And United Launch Alliance Agree To Study Launching The Leo Express™ Cargo Canister On Atlas V Launch Vehicle: Combined system could be used to deliver cargo by 2010 to ISS and emerging entrepreneurial space complexes.

A European study examines three schemes using air launch from an Airbus freighter: Airbus A330-200 freighter could air launch space tourists says study - Flight Global - Sept.19.07
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China seeks an equatorial boost: China to build tropical space base - vnunet.com
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Can't tell if this means 60 launches (an average of one per month), which seems like a lot, or 60 different space-related projects : India plans 60 space missions in next five years - Sify.com

Jay Barbree, the NBC reporter who covered space events since the Sputnik era, will be on The Space Show today at 2-3:30 PM Pacific Time to discuss his new book: Live From Cape Canaveral: Covering The Space Race From Sputnik To Today!.

See the full schedule for the other programs on Space Show this week.
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The Space Review this week starts with a report by Jeff Foust on recent speeches by Mike Griffin on Space economies and economics. (I agree with Mr. Griffin at least on the value of suborbital spaceflight.)

Dwayne Day reports on panel discussions at last summer's Heinlein Centennial that dealt with depictions of some of his works in cinema and on TV and why many were not depicted at all: Heinlein in Hollywood.

Taylor Dinerman believes that if Jeff Bezos revealed more about the Blue Origin project it would benefit the broader space effort: Please, Mr. Bezos.

John Hickman argues that the Outer Space Treaty does more harm than good: Still crazy after four decades: The case for withdrawing from the 1967 Outer Space Treaty

Jeff Foust reviews not only the new documentary In the Shadow of the Moon but a book by the same name.

Sigurd De Keyser at the Space Fellowship informs me that discussions with Interorbital and with Micro-Space about the Google Lunar X-Prize have been posted there. There is also a two part report on lunar exploration:
* "We" are going to the Moon - Part 1
* "We" are going to the Moon - Part 2
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The on line Google Moon tool has gotten a lot more interesting since I last looked. Lots more info about the Apollo landing sites.

Jon Goff praises the DIRECT v2.0 alternative lunar exploration program, especially its use of orbital fuel depots: DIRECT v2.0 and Orbital Propellant Transfer - Selenian Boondocks

Mr. X also believes that it is time for NASA to push development of on-orbit propellant transfer: Chariot of the Sun-God - Chair Force Engineer
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Looks to me that the NewSpace "architecture" for space development over the next decade is gradually coalescing around the following elements:

* Suborbital spaceflight will (1) develop robust RLV technologies that lead long term to "re-fuel and fly" orbital transports and (2) encourage the growth of new markets, especially space tourism.

* Lower cost orbital vehicles like the SpaceX Falcons and AirLaunch QuickReach systems will cut access to space to 20-30% of current prices on the short term.

* Orbital habitats from Bigelow will (1) provide commercial destinations that greatly expand orbital space tourism as well as attract new astronaut programs from governments around the world; (2) expand the market for commercial orbital cargo/crew delivery services; and (3) help overcome the chicken-egg / bootstrapping situation in which you have little reason for low cost (i.e. high flight rate) launchers until you have a high traffic destination and vice versa.

* Orbital fuel depots, as discussed above, offer tremendous advantages for deep space missions. They also benefit LEO operations and provide another market to encourage low cost commercial launchers.

* Standardize cargo carriers like those from CSI and Spachab, which can be carried by a different vehicles, provide economic benefits similar to those on earth.

* Space tugs tie all the in-space elements together.

Even without NASA's support, it looks like the private sector can get these elements into action eventually. However, if NASA could be brought on board, it will happen a lot sooner and on a bigger scale and greatly benefit the agency in doing so.

For a general audience, this article gives a excellent overview of the status of private spaceflight industry, even though it focuses mainly on the Texan angle: Texas space ventures rocket into reality: From orbital hotels to low-gravity manufacturing, companies prepare for launch - Dallas Morning News - Sept.23.07. There is an appreciation of the breadth of what is being developed - low cost launchers, space tourism, space habitats, suborbital spaceflights, etc. - and of the priority on incrementalism, cost-effectiveness, etc.

(One item stands out. Mr. Bigelow has always said he would not back a company developing a particular launcher but would instead offer general incentives like the America's space prize and contracts for transport services to his orbital habitats. So I'd like to see a confirmation of the statement that "Mr. Bigelow is looking to invest $100 million in a rocket firm like SpaceX, which has Texas operations.")

An old tune I've often sung here describes how easy it is to be a genius merely by predicting the failure of every new space venture. You are bound to be correct almost all of the time since almost all new ventures in any area fail. There are an infinite number of obstacles and pitfalls faced by a new business and only a few narrow paths to success. E.g. the K-1 RLV design has never had a chance to prove it can succeed technically since it has always been tripped up by financial failures. John Carmack emphasizes this aspect of real life:

"The truth is that while there are a handful of companies that are doing good, innovative work, there's a chance that every one of them could fail," he said.

"It's still extremely speculative. Markets could evaporate. Legislative things could change and make it not possible. Or just the petty everyday things that cause 99 percent of all businesses to fail. It looks promising, and I'm an optimistic sort of guy, but we'll see."

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Another article about commercial spaceflight: Space businesses still wait for countdown: Commercial spaceflight proves slow to take off - Atlanta-Journal Constitution - Sept.23.07 (via spacetoday.net)

Jim Oberg reviews the book ISScapades: The Crippling of America’s Space Program by Donald A. Beattie: Lost in Space - IEEE Spectrum
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Mr. X doubts Mr. Rutan will switch from hybrids: Hybrid Theory - Chair Force Engineer
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Would be rather poetic if the first humans to live on Mars start out as Cavemen (and Cavewomen): NASA Orbiter Finds Possible Cave Skylights on Mars - NASA - Sept.21.07.

NPR reports on the Google Lunar prize: Competitors Build Moon Rovers for Lunar X-Prize - NPR
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Will Pomerantz will provide updates on X PRIZE project via the X PRIZE Blog - The Pomerantz Report.

Here's an update on Bill Stone's project to send a mission to Shackleton Crater where they would have to extract water from ice there to make fuel for the return flight: Exploring the Extreme - IEEE Spectrum. The 2014 date seems a bit optimistic. If development goes smoothly for Falcon 9/Dragon, Bigelow inflatable habitats (Mr. Bigelow has talked about lunar surface versions), and other private space projects and they get a wealthy backer, I think it would be possible by 2020.

The Stone Aerospace website has a page on the Shackleton Energy Company (SEC). He also mentions the project during his presentation at the TED symposium back in March.

If nothing else, it would certainly make a good plot for a movie or TV series.

Another report on Elon Musk's presentation at the AIAA meeting: SpaceX reports milestone, details future plans - CNET News.com.

During his self-described "uncorporate" talk, Musk reported good news for SpaceX, based in El Segundo, Calif. He said the company reached a milestone Thursday by finishing the primary engine for Falcon 9, its larger rocket launcher with which it will conduct a few operational lift-offs with satellites next year. (Musk reportedly said earlier in the week that Falcon 9 could launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station next fall.)

In his most recent update, Elon said the Merlin 1C development phase was complete except for "verification of the new injector to manifold attachment method". I assume from the above statement that this has now been done.

The Mission 2 test flight by ARCA has been postponed for a few days:

September 21, 2007 - Cape Midia
Mission2 flight canceled due to bad weather. Today was extremely cloudy and the wind exceeded 8m/s. The wind speed limit for the solar balloon is less than 4m/s. Next launch attempt on September 25 at 08:00 local time.

NASA wants to start off big on the Moon: NASA Plans Bigger Moon Base, Sporty Rovers for Future Missions - SPACE.com - Sept.21.07
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More hypersonic plans in India: Launch of a technology demonstrator in 2009 - The Hindu - Sept.21.07.

Don't understand why there would be an objection to Indian involvement in the ISS: India seeking Russian help to join ISS project - The Hindu - Sept.21.07. On the other hand, I would prefer they become one of Bigelow's Sovereign Clients.

Rand Simberg reports on the AIAA 2007 meeting : Back In Business - Transterrestrial Musings. Mr. X learns a valuable lesson: AIAA Space 2007, Day 3 - Chair Force Engineer.

David Livingston has posted the first of two shows recorded at the meeting. This one includes

discussion by Debra Facktor Lepore, President of Air Launch, LLC, Dr. Eligar Sadeh and his wife Chris, and Dr. Mike Gruntman, professor at USC. Debra updates us with Air Launch LCC news, Eligar is now a professor at the USAF Academy and has also started a private consulting business, and Dr. Gruntman talks about his educational ideas for space engineering improvements at the college level. [...] At the end of the three interviews, I provide listeners with a brief summary of my tour at Space X in El Segundo, California.

Leonard David gives a preview of the WireFly X PRIZE Cup taking place October 27-28 at the Holloman Air Force Base in Alamogordo, New Mexico: Rockets to Roar at Air and Space Expo - SPACE.com - Sept.20.07
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Red Whittaker rolls out a prototype lunar rover: Carnegie Mellon Building Robot for Lunar Prospecting - Carnegie Mellon University - Sept.20.07. As I mentioned earlier, he plans to make a serious effort to win the Google Lunar X Prize.
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Here is a set of steps showing how a group might go about winning such a prize without overspending to do it: Outline of how to win the Google Lunar robot prize - advanced nanotechnology - Sept..07.

Via Slashdot comes an article about the Andrews Space Mini-Mag Orion propulsion concept : Mini-Mag Orion Will Reach for the Stars - TFOT - Sept.20.07

This in turn led me to an interesting interview with Gerald Smith about the positron based anti-matter propulsion scheme that he and his company have been working on for several years with NASA and Air Force funding : New Antimatter Engine Design - TFOT - Oct.29.07.

More reports from the AIAA conference:
* Rocket Gap Between Shuttle and Ares Could Keep U.S. Astronauts Earthbound - Wired
* NASA pundits launch debate over space flight - CNET News.com
* Space Must Be Priority: Boeing Official - Aviation Week :

Henry Cate posts the latest Carnival of Space - week 21, the XPrize edition - Why Homeschool - Sept.20.07
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The NM spaceport management looks for operations funding: NM spaceport office needs more money - Personal Spaceflight - Sept.20.07
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SpaceDev gets a European backer: OHB-System invests in SpaceDev - spacetoday.net - Sept.20.07

Mr. X gives an update on the AIAA conference:
* AIAA Space 2007, Day 1 - Chair Force Engineer
* AIAA Space 2007, Part 2 - Chair Force Engineer
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Elon Musk reports on plans for the Falcon 9 at the conference: Falcon 9 could soar from Cape next year - Florida Today
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Florida Today editors give the thumbs down on RpK: Our view: Rocket-maker wannabes - Florida Today

The Fifth International Symposium on Beamed Energy Propulsion will take place at the Outrigger Keauhou Beach Resort, Hawaii, November 12 - 15, 2007. Abstracts deadline is Sept. 30th.

The California Space Authority, which manages the Regolith Excavation Challenge for NASA, is requesting input on rules for the next competition event: 2008 Regolith Excavation Challenge Rules Available for Comment | 2008 Regolith Excavation Challenge

Paul Breed is thinking ahead: 400 Days till XPC 2008 - Unreasonable Rocket

Jesse Londin gives an update on the rewriting of amateur rocketry rules going on at the FAA: Launching new amateur rocket rules - Space Law Probe

More Google Lunar Prize reports:
* One Giant Leap for Entrepreneurs: To jump-start the space race with private dollars, Google's Lunar X Prize hopes to spur ordinary citizens to land on the moon - Business Week - Sept.19.07
* CMU to test lunar rover - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

I guess at this point, Red Whittaker would have to be considered the top contender. He is not only a leader in robotics but has already been working on lunar rovers for several years as a member of the LunarCorp effort to launch a commercial rover to the Moon. (LunarCorp was shut down in 2003 when after failing to find a sponsor.)

A reader directs me to the latest news from the Direct Launcher project, which offers an alternative architecture to Ares 1/Ares V. They are presenting a paper (low res, high res versions) this week at the AIAA conference in Long Beach. See the Horizons Magazine - AIAA Houston - Summer 2007 (pdf) for an overview of their proposal, which was created by a group of about 50 engineers and mid-level managers at NASA and major contractors.

The Ares I/V designs initially had a considerable number of Shuttle components but after various re-design cycles they now have very little in common with the Shuttle. The Direct scheme involves a single launcher (with various upgrades) that is "directly" derived from the Shuttle . In particular, it uses an ET core with engines added and two SRBs. (As with the Ares, the RS-68 engine from the Delta 4 would be used instead of the Shuttle main engines). The Jupiter would carry more than twice the payload of Ares I and its proponents say it could begin carrying the Orion capsule with crews in 2012 instead of 2015 as currently expected with the Ares I.

A heavy version of the Jupiter capable of putting 100 tons into LEO would have the same lower stage system but with a muscular upper stage.

I've learned not take too seriously Ares is in trouble sorts of rumors (no matter how big the iceberg ahead, the NASA battleship doesn't change course easily), but I still find interesting this quote from Ross Tierney, a leader of the DirectLauncher team, on the DIRECT v2.0 Forum - NasaSpaceFlight.com

Seriously, from three completely independent sources, I am hearing that change is coming by the end of the year and one of those sources (very reliable and senior NASA official who's name you would all recognize immediately) has identified precisely what is expected in the form of this change. Assuming they are right, Ares-I will be gone by Spring '08 and an alternative will already have been chosen. And they are (quote) "interested to see what DIRECT has to say with the AIAA paper".

That's all I can say at this time.

Of course, if the SpaceX Falcon 9 is a success, then the game will change all over again. NASA will be forced to rethink not only the lunar program but its whole approach to space development if an extremely cheap LEO vehicle is up and running.

Maybe the first Rocket Racer will make "its maiden flight in October" at the X PRIZE Cup:
* Gentlemen, Start Your Rockets: A group of space entrepreneurs is trying to get the Rocket Racing League off the launchpad - Business Week - Sept.24.07 issue
* Making Rocket Racing a Reality - Wired - Sept.19.07
* Rocket Racing League X-Racer - XCOR Aerospace

As part of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Sputnik and the birth of the space age, Michael Griffin gave a lecture yesterday on the importance of space to the US and the world:
* NASA Administrator Griffin Discusses Value of the Space Economy - NASA - Sept.18.07
* Text of speech (pdf)

On the other hand, as illustrated by the unimaginative and hyper-expensive Apollo II program, perhaps NASA is not the leading driver of space innovation: Is NASA's "Space Economy" Visionary Enough? - Wired Blogs.

Maybe the private sector is close to giving us what sci-fi buffs have always dreamed of: an unruly, innovative, constantly surprising space program. That will always be hard for a government agency to do.

In the Q&A; after his talk, Mr. Griffin held up China as a serious competitor in manned lunar exploration: Griffin: China will beat US to the Moon - Space Politics . Rand Simberg doesn't buy it.

Griffin later said

China could use smaller vehicles and LEO assembly. "It's pretty cumbersome, but it can be done."

Yes, it's also pretty cost-effective compared to building a heavy lifter that will seldom fly.

A report from the AIAA conference going on in Long Beach : Space conference takes off: From robots to rockets to the future of space travel, event has it all. - Press-Telegram - Sept.18.07.

"Reusable launch vehicles will dominate the future," Greason said.

Amen, Brother Jeff!

Michael Belfiore points to his cover page article for the October issue of Popular Science in which he describes the Astrium space tourist vehicle project: PopSci cover story on Astrium spaceplane - Dispatches from the Final Frontier.
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Michael points out that the Astrium design is derived from that of the Rocketplane XP. Speaking of which, despite all the money woes and layoffs, Rocketplane soldiers on. This item was released yesterday by a partner firm: Loud Engineering & Manufacturing Enters Into a Formal Agreement with Rocketplane Global, Inc. to Provide the Integrated Landing Gear System for the Rocketplane XP Vehicle. - CIRCOR Aerospace - Sept.18.07.

CIRCOR and Rocketplane will have a display stand at next week's conference of the National Business Aviation Association in Atlanta.

The AIAA SPACE 2007 Conference & Exposition started today. Hope we will get some updates occasionally from Rand Simberg and others who are attending. Last year there were a number of interesting presentations such as the papers from Lockheed-Martin about making a crew version of the Atlas 5. I'm curious as to whether they will provide new info about this.

So not just Russian moguls in the queue for a trip to the ISS: Ultima Game-Maker to Get Trip to Space Station? - Wired Blogs - Sept.17.07. Will be nice to see someone going via a sponsor rather than via their own bank account. Will encourage other firms to sponsor such trips.
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Keith Cowing gives a detailed accounting of his second parabolic flight experience: Returning to Weightlessness - SpaceRef - Sept.17.07

Paul Breed scans the list of Lunar Lander Challenge entrants and finds Armadillo and three other teams left : Quick Update on LLC 2007 - Unreasonable Rocket.
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Some random thoughts about the LLC and rocket development in general:

* John Carmack has noted on the aRocket forum that the LLC is not difficult because individual tasks are "all that hard or complicated, but there are dozens of lessons to be learned in doing remote rocket operations, and you only learn them with a lot of practice".

* Rockets are complex systems. However, as John's statement implies, this just means they involve lots and lots of basically simple components and operations. No team has withdrawn from the LLC because of some profoundly difficult technical hurdle that they could not overcome or because a store was out of unobtainium. Just too many little hurdles left to jump in the time remaining with the people and resources they have at their disposal. If the competition was every 6 months instead of every year, most of these teams would be ready for an April event.

* I often hear the terms "rocket science" and "rocket equation" used like magic incantations that forever curse rocket vehicles to be fragile, unreliable and unsafe. However, when a vehicle like Texel or Falcon 1 fails, the cause is always found to involve one of those simple elements and not because the rocket equation raises its evil head and bites them. A GPS software glitch can be fixed. Fuel leaks can be detected in the data stream and launches aborted. A bad choice for how to deal with fuel sloshing can be changed. Once a design problem is fixed, you go on and deal with other problems that come along in an iterative manner. Gradually the number and severity of such problems will be reduced over time just as has been done with airplanes, jet engines, etc.

* I was amazed by this recent discussion of Space Tourism on the Space Show in which a participant reviews the problems that occurred during the test flights and the first X PRIZE flight of SpaceShipOne and concludes that space tourism vehicles will be even less safe than the Shuttle. This strikes me as a gross misunderstanding of how engineering development is done. Like Texel, SpaceShipOne was a prototype meant to uncover design and operational problems (and to win the X PRIZE). Changes were being made to it throughout. It was never intended to be an operational system.

* Furthermore, the reusability of the SS1 allowed for incremental envelope expansion without losing the vehicle just as has been done in aviation for a hundred years. Problems were found and fixed and they moved on. What was learned from SS1 allows the SS2 design to be far safer than it would have been if they had tried to build it directly.

* As was mentioned on that show, declaring the stupendously complex Shuttle to be operational after 4 flights was clearly preposterous . Declaring the much simpler SS2 or other space tourist vehicles to be operational after a hundred or so test flights is not. Sure, it would be ideal to have a thousand or ten thousand test flights but as long as the adventurers on board are fully aware of what stage of development the vehicle is in, they can take a reasonable risk. And the risk will be far less than riding on a Shuttle. (Rutan. for example, is aiming for safety at the level of first gen jet airliners.)

Masten Space System has been forced to drop out of the Lunar Lander Challenge competition due to the failure of a supplier to deliver the propellant tanks in time: Development Update - MSS Blog.

I've been informed of some space advocacy meetings this fall involving SEDS (Students for the Exploration and Development of Space) :

* SpaceVision 2007, Nov.9-12, Boston, Massachusetts at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
* UKSEDS 19th Annual Conference , Nov. 17-18, The Open University, Milton Keynes.
* Canadian Space Summit, Nov. 16 -18, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada.

The Boeing/Lockheed Martin United Launch Alliance (i.e. the EELV guys) have responded to NASA's request for info on the second phase of COTS : ULA answer NASA's RFI on COTS-2 with list of recommendations - NASA SpaceFlight.com.

* SpaceX and Rocketplane-Kistler are taking part in the first phase demonstration of the capability to provide cargo service to the ISS. The second phase would involve the actual contracts to deliver X amount of cargo over a given number of flights per year for several years. As mentioned before, the fact that both SpaceX and RpK could fulfill COTS -1 successfully but still not get contracts for the ISS servicing has been a big problem for RpK's efforts to raise private funding.

* Interesting that ULA recommends that NASA "separate the launch vehicle and transfer vehicle procurements". The logic of space tug type of operations is gradually becoming accepted more broadly.

* "The presentation also confirmed ULA's ongoing efforts with their manned launch capability". This apparently refers to the study going on with SpaceDev into flying a DreamChaser on an Atlas 5.

[Update Sept.18.07: Here is the original ULA file (link via NASA Watch)]

Speed Up has now announced that they are also withdrawing from the Lunar Lander Challenge. As with Unreasonable Rocket, they have made significant progress but there is too much significant work left to do to participate in this years contest. They may do a tethered demo. They hope to compete in 2008.

Andy Turner, whom I've mentioned several times in connection with Loral's Aquarius launcher project, tells me he is giving a short course on “Satellite Orbital Dynamics” at Santa Clara University on Saturday, September 22 at 9:00 am – 4:00 pm. Here is a description of the course and the registration info.

Jeff Foust provides a review of the Google Lunar Prize rollout and a gallery of photos:
* Google's moonshot - The Space Review
* Photo Gallery: Google Lunar X Prize at NextFest - The Space Review

The Aero-News Network provides a roll-out report as well: ANN On-Scene: A CLOSE Look At The XPrize-Google Lunar Prize Announcement - Aero-News Network - Sept.17.07

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Other items in this week's Space Review issue include Taylor Dinerman's plea to finish the space station, Bob Clarebrough argues that Europe would do well to encourage innovations from its garages, and Tom Hill tells about JPL's volunteer Solar System Ambassador program.

Currently, Plan A at Armadillo Aerospace after the Lunar Lander Challenge is to develop a reusable "straight up / straight down" first stage that goes to 100km where it will release a high mass ratio expendable second stage that would take a small payload to orbit. Theses systems will be based on assemblies of their modular rocket vehicles. John Carmack on the aRocket forum says he is pondering the possibility that this second stage could carry out the Google Lunar Prize task if it were put into LEO with a Falcon 1 (they would need a sponsor to pay for this ride.)

I would recommend that they link up soon with a group with solid experience in low-cost AMSAT type of nanosat projects for help with spacecraft development and space communications. Perhaps at one of the universities in the Dallas area.
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As Space Prizes notes, the LLC competitor BonNova is also talking about competing for the Google Lunar Prize.
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Always nice to see encouraging reports on space tourism but I'll have to point out that so far a few hundred people have bought tickets or put down deposits, which is excellent at this stage but still doesn't constitute "thousands" : With thousands signing up as early space tourists, a new race is on - International Herald Tribune. Also, Galactic Suite is not going "to host its first guests in 2012" according to what Alan Boyle was told.

The October issue of Scientific American has a special report on “The Future of Space Exploration.” I think the editorial - Racing past the Moon - appropriately recognizes the broadening participation in space exploration and development and that this is a good thing. "Space is big; there is room for all. Diverse spacefarers can complement and cooperate more successfully than they can stymie one another."

They also include in the free section this overview of NASA's lunar exploration program : To the Moon and Beyond. I look at this graphic of a lunar mission and marvel yet again at how it imitates Apollo Program I. Brand new vehicles that will be stupendously expensive to develop and operate, virtually no in-space infrastructure created, and most of the multi-billion dollar hardware thrown away after every mission. If I had gotten a group of non-aerospace industry space advocates together any time since 1972 and had them write down everything that the next major US space program should definitely not do, it would match pretty much exactly with what NASA is now planning to do.

Links via spacetoday.net.

Paul Breed says they are Out of Time to compete this year in the Lunar Lander Challenge at the X PRIZE Cup. They have gotten nearly to the tethered testing stage but just too much left to do for a small team (him and his son) working part-time.

From his discussions with other entrants in the LLC, it appears there will be only one or two other teams competing with Armadillo. Unreasonable Rocket and the others have definitely made progress but it looks like they need a few more months to have vehicles flying regularly and reliably. Perhaps some of those that don't compete could do tethered demos at the event.

I assume that Masten Space still has a shot. However, their last update was a month ago so I don't know their status.

If, as Paul suggests, the $500K second place prize is not won this year, then it should be available for 2008. Maybe a sponsor could be found to boost the purse. Would be nice, in fact, to see a Vertical Takeoff, Vertical Landing competition(s) become a permanent part of the X P Cup.

Following last year's event, John Carmack warned that it would be extremely difficult for any other team to be ready for the 2007 competition. Seemed rather pessimistic at the time but he has been proven correct as he often is.

My official bet is that there will be no more than one other competitor next year, and it may well just be Armadillo again. Masten is the closest, but they still need to fly their very first test vehicle, then design, build, and test a more potent vehicle to even be able to compete for the level 1 prize. We spent six months and about a quarter million dollars in direct pursuit of this, and we had a running start at it. For many things, time can be traded for money, but there are limits. One hundred thousand dollars cash out of pocket is probably the minimum amount that someone needs to be prepared to spend to be in the game next year, and that would be for a single vehicle, relying on luck to not have any mishaps.

A little known project that very nearly got a private lander and rover to the Moon was Blastoff!, which began around the year 2000 when Bill and Larry Gross had a lot of money from various dot.com businesses (see Idealab.com). Peter Diamandis gives a brief history of the project here. The company made considerable progress towards getting the spacecraft built for a launch to the Moon by late 2001 but when the dot.com bubble burst, the Gross brothers could no longer support it and the project fell apart.

Rex Ridenoure, who heads the company Ecliptic Enterprises, was involved in Blastoff and describes it in this Space Show interview (about 52:30 into the program). He was very optimistic about the technical feasibility of the project and says that efforts to raise funding from other sources almost succeeded but fell through due to the rapid collapse of the company.

Ridenoure doesn't give a specific number for how much it would have cost them to put the lander on the Moon but he does say that it would have been for less than $100M. He believes an even cheaper approach could do it for a few tens of millions of dollars.

See also:
* Incubators On Life Support: Idealab! - Forbes - Jan.18.01
* Ecliptic Launches a Success With RocketCam - Space News - Jan.27.03

With regard to the magnitude of the cost of a project to win the Google Lunar Prize, I've been surprised to read a number of people say that such a project must surely require $200M-$300M. That seems way over the top. NASA Ames, for example, planned to build one or more microlanders for a quick survey of the areas where Apollo II might send astronauts. They projected a cost for such a lander to be in the $50M-$100M range. The microlander project was canceled due to internal NASA politics over funding for unmanned lunar exploration, not because of technical problems.

Here are some graphics of the microlanders: DigitalSpace Projects : Microsat Lunar Lander for NASA ARC (Summer 2006)
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Another lunar project cost benchmark to consider is the Lunar Prospector orbiter project, which began as a private venture led by a team that included space scientist Alan Binder, the Houston Space Society (HSS), and the Space Studies Institute (SSI). They very nearly got it to space on a Russian launcher but couldn't raise the few million dollars they needed.

The project got reformulated several times under Binder's leadership and eventually he got a spacecraft to the Moon via the NASA Discovery program for about $65M. Binder has said that if it had stayed a private project with lots of volunteer labor, they could have done it for less than $20M.

Binder has written a huge book (1100 pages!) describing the tortured trek of the Lunar Prospector, See this intro and timeline for a quick overview. He also has been on the Space Show several times (e.g. Mar.05 and July.07 ) and recounted the many hurdles the project had to overcome such as Mike Griffin's repeated attempts to kill it when he was a NASA manager.

Jon Goff discusses the Lunar Prize and some of the complaints about it: Google Lunar X-Prize - Selenian Boondocks.

More about criticism of the prize: Skepticism on Google Lunar X PRIZE - Space Prizes

Nice to see Arthur Clarke looking well and endorsing private space development: Sir Arthur C. Clark & James Cameron Endorse Google Lunar X-Prize.
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I've noticed some commentary complaining that Google is sponsoring this prize just to get free PR. Well, I certainly hope it succeeds at that. If it does then other companies will be encouraged to sponsor private space related events and projects. I want to see commercial rockets and spacecraft covered with commercial logos.
* Google Lunar X PRIZE Marketing and Public Relations - Space Prizes
* Out-of-this-World Branding: Google Siezes the High Frontier of Content Marketing - ContentBlogger

It's getting increasingly difficult to keep up with all the stuff that's happening in the NewSpace arena. Alan Boyle gives his summary of the past week or so: Ups and downs on the space frontier - Cosmic Log

Note that an update to Alan's posting yesterday about the Google Lunar Prize includes comments from John Carmack and Pete Worden.
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An OldSpace company funds a flight on a NewSpace firm's aircraft to provide Keith Cowing and a group of science teachers the opportunity to experience weightlessness:
* Weightless Over Washington - NASA Watch
* This Joy Ride Brings Out Teachers' Lighter Side - Washington Post
* Earth's First (Repeatedly) Weightless iPhone - SpaceRef

Some of the claims from Young Bae about his Photonic Laser Propulsion (PLP) system seem a bit over the top: Photon Propulsion Breakthrough Could Cut Mars Transit From Six Months to a Week - BAE / PRNewswire - Sept.6.07. Rather than Mars in a week, it looks more useful for gentle poking to keep a group of satellites in tight formation.

This article helps to clarify how his system works: Photonic thruster pulses into existence - EE Times - Sept.7.07

You can hear a presentation from him next week at the AIAA Space 2007 Conference.

Here's also a Space Show interview with Dr. Bae from last December.

The latest NewSpace news compilation by Ferris Valyn is now available: Space Revolution Weekly News for 9-14-07 - Google's Lunar X Prize
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SEDS-VIT at the Vellore Institute of Technology is sponsoring the SEDSIC 2007 conference on Sept. 23-24. The gathering includes a wide range of programs and events including a timely Moon rover design competiton.
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ARCA says:

September 14, 2007 - RM. VALCEA
The first launch day of Mission2, scheduled for September 20, was canceled due to military maneuvers close to the launch site area. The first launch attempt for Mission2 rescheduled for September 21 at 08:00 local time.

David Livingston says that "Dr. Buzz Aldrin will be on The Space Show today, Friday, Sept. 14, 2007 at 4PM Pacific Daylight Time. Buzz will be with us for about an hour depending on his schedule."
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Speaking of lunar projects, check out the presentations given at the Rutger's Lunar Base Symposium last June.
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Another article about RpK's problems: NASA may pull plug on Rocketplane: Termination would cut field of competitors - floridatoday.com

A Soyuz-U vehicle successfully launched the ESA FOTON-M3 spacecraft into orbit today: Lift-off for Foton microgravity mission - ESA. The FOTON holds 40 experiments including the student built tether experiment YES2 that I mentioned the other day.

This video clip shows how the 30km tether can be used to return a payload to earth without the use of a de-orbit thruster.

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At last, Japan's SELENE heads for the Moon: Japan launches lunar orbiter - spacetoday.net. It will take a few weeks to complete a series of orbital maneuvers that will put it into a polar orbit about 100 kms above the lunar surface. This article outlines the mission, which consists of the primary SELENE spacecraft and two daughter satellites that will be released along the way at different times. The mission will return lots of interesting info such as three-dimensional stereo imagery, more data on hydrogen deposits at the poles, etc.

I thought I would discuss some of the responses to the unveiling of the Google Lunar Prize.

Boring and too far, too soon:
Rand Simberg is underwhelmed and Paul Breed believes they should have created a prize to address the core problem of the high cost of access to low earth orbit.

I'm also personally more interested in space transport endeavors and Paul's idea of a RLV/CanSat to orbit contest sounds great. However, I think any program that broadens and deepens the general entrepreneurial/non-governmental/amateur spaceflight community and industry, i.e. NewSpace, will in the long run benefit everyone involved. If this contest attracts more students to space engineering, for example, and provides them with experience in building hardware under really tight budgets, then it will help expand the NewSpace workforce. Furthermore, space transport companies need payloads. This type of program could lead to follow-on low cost projects to the Moon and asteroids.

David Noland of Popular Mechanics gives a list of reasons why he thinks Nobody Will Win the contest. I'll address each one:

Burt's Busy
It would be great if he had time to pursue the prize but his absence doesn't preclude the possibility of a winner. There may be few at his level of aerospace ingenuity but there are lots of talented and smart engineers in the world. There are also many who have a lot more experience with "in-space" hardware and operations than he does. His tremendous aviation experience gave him a big advantage with the X PRIZE suborbital contest. The emphasis here will be on spacecraft development where he would be a relative newcomer.

Not Enough in the Purse
(1) As Peter Diamandis emphasized for the X PRIZE, if the contest goal is exciting enough, the purse is of secondary importance. He often pointed to the America's Cup sailing contest in which competitors spend on average about $80M (probably a lot more nowadays) to win a competition with no purse at all.
(2) Noland and others have stated that transport to LEO must cost more than $20M. This is not true. SpaceX has offered its Falcon 1 for around $8M. Also, AMSAT and other amateur/student satellites routinely use piggyback opportunities to get to LEO for next to nothing. These are not just nanosats. OSCAR 40, for example, the largest and most sophisticated AMSAT spacecraft launched to date, has a mass of 244kg (don't know if this included its booster engine.)
(3) The follow-on AMSAT-Phase 3E and AMSAT-DL's P5A Mars orbiter project also involve big and sophisticated spacecraft that will be built and launched with budgets in the few million dollar (or EURO) range by groups with proven track records. (Traditionally, the money for AMSAT has come from the amateur radio community. Perhaps one reason why many space enthusiasts know little about their projects.)

Not Enough Time
Definitely a challenge but not insurmountable for groups like those mentioned above. The first AMSAT group launched a satellite just four years after Sputnik.

Too Darn Tough
Again, see the AMSAT projects mentioned above. AMSAT satellites have contributed immensely to communication satellite technology and helped to legitimize small satellites as capable of doing useful tasks. I think a lunar lander is well within the capability of an AMSAT type of group of volunteer engineers, college faculty, and students if they can raise a few million dollars.

It's Coooler to be Green
The US would never have built a 13 trillion dollar economy if everyone at any given time could only work on what was the consensus cool thing.

Why don't we go down to the local university student center or to some trendy cafes and do polling on whether Popular Mechanics is a cool magazine? If we don't get 51% in the affirmative, will the publisher agree to shut down the magazine? I don't think so. I think the magazine is cool and a sizable enough niche of people agree with me to keep it and other nerdy publications going.

I also think building a rover for the Moon is cool and quite a few other people do as well. The big question is whether that niche has enough skilled people with enough resources to make it happen. It's going to be interesting to watch and find out.

The Space Prizes blog has a big compilation of links related to the Google Lunar Prize. Here are some additional ones:
* Pictures from the X Prize event - Personal Spaceflight - Jeff Foust posts photos from the rollout event
* Google Lunar X Prize update - Personal Spaceflight - More info from Jeff about the prize
* Google Lunar X PRIZE Encourages New Space Race - The Planetary Society
* $25 Million in Prizes Is Offered for Trip to Moon - NY Times - "Carnegie Mellon University immediately announced that a roboticist on its faculty, William L. Whittaker, would be pulling together a team to seek the prize."

Music of the Spheres is hosting the latest space carnival: Step Right Up! Carnival of Space #20.
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Jeff Foust explains how Esther Wojcicki scooped everyone on the Google Lunar Prize announcement: Next X Prize will be a real lunar lander challenge - Personal Spaceflight

The September issue of Popular Mechanics has a big special report on the Future of Space - 50th Anniversary of Sputnik. It includes several sections including this Private Space Race Handicap , which reviews the outlook for several entrepreneurial space companies.

There is also this interesting display of most all of the space launches since 1957: Time Line - Every Launch Ever.

More about the Google prize:

* Google Offers $20 Million X Prize to Put Robot on Moon - Wired
* Your Face on the Moon, Thanks to X Prize Foundation - Wired
* Google to Sponsor $30 Million Lunar X Prize - By Leonard David - space.com

[Update: A commenter here points to this article by Alan Boyle who gives some background for the contest and also talked with Elon Musk about the level of difficulty involved and who might win : Google funds $30 million moon prize - Cosmic Log]

An innovative space tether experiment developed by the YES2 European student organization is scheduled for launch on Friday:
* Mission to Test 'Space Mail' Delivery System - Space.com
* YES2 (Young Engineers Satellite 2) blog
* YES2 at ESA
* YES Programme

If YES2 is successful it will be the first proof that 'space mail' can be sent using a relatively simple and cheap mechanism. Simple and cheap enough to send experiments from the International Space Station down to scientists on Earth.

Here are some animations and graphics for the mission.

SpaceX has now issued a press released about the new Falcon 9 launch contract that I mentioned the other day: SpaceX Signs Deal for First Commercial Geostationary Satellite Launch - SpaceX - Sept.13.07.

The SpaceX launch manifest doesn't show it yet but this deal would mean seven total Falcon 9 launches have been contracted, counting the three COTS tests. It would be their first launch of a geostationary spacecraft.

More good news. Duncan Law-Green points to a Flight Global article stating that the British National Space Centre (BNSC), the UK's NASA, will recommend forming an astronaut corps. Until now, the British government has steadfastly refused to support manned space activities in any way.

See also UK 'must have human space role' - BBC.

[OK, I was asked to take down this message earlier to respect the embargo. But now the news is posted at the X PRIZE Fooundation and Google websites.]

A reader here points to this blog posting - Google Lunar XPrize Takes Off - Esther Wojcicki/The Huffington Post - reveals the secret of the new X PRIZE that will be announced formally later today. The $30M purse sponsored by Google will go "for the first private group to successfully put a robotic rover on the moon". Looks like the official web site won't be opened till the press conference at 2pm ET.

Jeff Foust discusses the speculation in this Flight Int. article about the designs of the SS2 and WK2 : What SpaceShipTwo might look like - Personal Spaceflight - Sept.12.07
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The New Scientist space blog talks about Starchaser: UK company reaches for the stars - New Scientist - Sept.12.07

Greg Klerkx has an article about commercial spaceflight in New Scientist but it requires a subscription.
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Alan Boyle talks with Buzz Aldrin and mentions that Buzz "is trying to set up a joint venture with California-based SpaceDev" that involves "spaceship design" :
Cosmic Log : Moonwalker on the run

BTW: See this interesting graphic of a Dream Chaser on an Atlas 5.

Here is a preview of the 2007 International Symposium For Personal Spaceflight to be held in Las Cruces, New Mexico in October 24-25, just prior to the X PRIZE Cup: UPDATE: Space entrepreneurs making tracks to Cruces - Las Cruces Sun-News - Sept.12.07 (via spacetoday.net).
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Reports on the NM spaceport project :
* Spaceport Authority requests more funds - Las Cruces Sun-News - Sept.12.07
* Spaceport tax entity hits a snag - Las Cruces Sun-News - Sept.12.07

Both links via spacetoday.net

Congrats to Paul Breed and son on reaching a major milestone on their way to the Lunar Lander Challenge: Really good news... - Unreasonable Rocket - Sept.11.07

NASA will re-compete the contract for the $175M that will be given up by RpK if the contract termination goes through: NASA Plans New COTS Competition if it Terminates Rocketplane Kistler Deal - Space News - Sept.11.07 (subscription required). Some people had suggested the money might automatically go to whichever company was in third place after the original competition.
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Jesse Londin discusses RpK's legal problems with a partner company involved in marketing XP rides: The last thing Rocketplane needs - Space Law Probe:

See announcements on my other blog about
* Bill Pullman on The Space Show this Wednesday. He will discuss his play Expedition 6.
* “SPACE50” A Celebration of Fifty Years of Space Flight at the Frontiers of Flight museum in Dallas.
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The agenda (pdf)for the October COMSTAC meeting on October 11th has now been posted on the FAA/AST website.
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This brief article - Malaysian businessman books space shuttle flight - thestar.com - Sept.11.07 - manages to scramble several things like the Soyuz with the Space Shuttle and the cost of a trip to the ISS versus that expected for the round the Moon project. Nevertheless, I think the info about the addition of several Asians in the Space Adventures queue for space tourist trips to the ISS is valid and interesting. And so is the fact that trips are fully booked for the next three years.

The Wall Street Journal story mentioned earlier quotes unnamed "industry officials" as claiming that SpaceX has had "difficulty rounding up private investors". Elon Musk, however, says that is completely untrue. "I haven't tried to raise a dime and have had a lot of offers to invest."

Perhaps some "industry officials" want to take advantage of the RpK situation to try to tarnish SpaceX and the whole entrepreneurial space industry.

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Separately, Elon says that they passed a "NASA COTS CDR [Critical Design Review] last month with flying colors".

Charles Lurio, who distributes a NewSpace oriented newsletter and has been following the COTS and RpK situation closely, has submitted this comment:

I hear that, whatever flaws there were at RpK, that's not really the largest part of what happened. This is not from Rpk, but from another source, I cannot be more specific.

This could have happened to any company that required enough development dollars from private sources. There is a consensus that (with possible isolated cases) the industry is not fundamentally advanced to the point that institutional investment is practical. Angels, 'mega-angels, angel groups, relatively small investments, yes, it's gotten to that point and is progressing.

NASA's COTS has set up a situation where a certain amount of institutional investment was _required_ for development work if you didn't have enough from 'personal' dollars plus NASA's.

But in the face of the actuality of the need for assurance to _real_ institutional investors of early enough payback, NASA was not willing to bend to reality with contracts up front - which could have been canceled later for non-performance, but in any case would have gotten the private development dollars.

Private business demand alternatives to ISS supply are simply not assured enough to attract the institutions in this case. The ISS is tangibly there, and must be resupplied. Some of the new markets hold great promise, but they are not yet demonstrated as tangibly.

Result of these factors: A big obstacle to dollars from those institutional investors for the COTS project, in this case RpK's

NASA had the option of _not_ accommodating to the needs of the investors. It is, after all, a government agency. But the consequences for the rest of us could be bad.

The real issue _now_ is that those in the financial/media world with passing or no acquaintance with these factors affecting the situation may very well take the RpK contract drop as a black mark on the more general financial viability of all New Space efforts. This is not mythological, I've heard from people whose experience backs this up. The result would be that _again_ NASA would do damage to any path but the usual one of government controlled and directed spaceflight.

This must be nipped in the bud.

Lack of progress on the XP is starting to cause additional headaches for Rocketplane: Space tourism in limbo, suit says - chicagotribune.com (via spacetoday.net).
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Space Adventures still searching for money and partners for the Singapore spaceport project: US space tourism company short of financing, partners for Singapore spaceport - International Herald Tribune (via spacetoday.net).
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So where exactly do to these modest sized vehicles like the SS1 and SS2 hide all that "enormous fuel"? The emissions myth returns - Personal Spaceflight.

DARPA starts a program that will seek "to produce a lightweight power and propulsion system capable of delivering persistent maneuverability on-orbit." : Fast Access Spacecraft Testbed - ISI Consulting - Sept.11.07.

Additional articles regarding the start of the termination process for the Rocketplane Kistler COTS contract:
* Rocketplane faces funding crisis - Cosmic Log - Sept.10.07
* Rocketplane Kistler press on despite COTS notice - NASA SpaceFlight.com
* NASA Cuts Funds for Private Space Venture - Wall Street Journal - Sept.10.07
* NASA Terminates COTS Funds for Rocketplane Kistler By Loretta Hidalgo Whitesides - Wired - Sept.10.07
*NASA, Rocketplane Agreement Looks to be Over - OKGazette - Sept.10.07

More about the remarks by Burt Rutan that Jeff Foust reported on last week: Virgin Galactic spaceship designer reveals changing ideas. (BTW: the Space Review is an on line journal, not a blog.)

Will Whitehorn says they are "are still hopeful of achieving our 2008/9 testing" for the SS2/WK2 system.
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A press release about the upcoming space prize announcement: X PRIZE Foundation to Announce Largest International Prize in History - X PRIZE Foundation - Sept.10.07
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The International Space University is opening the International Institute of Space Commerce (IISC) on the Isle of Man. It will "focus on the business of space, the policy and regulatory issues facing it":
* Space commerce centre lands on the Isle of Man - vnunet.com
* International Institute of Space Commerce Launched by International Space University
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Alan Boyle reports on the Space Solar Power study by the National Security Space Office : Space solar power gets a boost - Cosmic Log - Sept.7.07

This article says that NASA has begun the formal process of canceling the RpK COTS contract but hasn't actually done so yet: NASA warns Rocketplane Kistler on COTS cancellation - Flight Int. - Sept.10.07
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Rand Simberg ponders what NASA may do with the money intended for RpK.
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[Charles Lurio told me] that the issue that kept coming up during RpK discussions with potential investors was the lack of a firm commitment by NASA to a contract for launches to the ISS if the demo was successful.

More space tug news from Europe: European satellite servicing competitors announce new customers and new spacecraft - Flight Int. - Sept.10.07

Orbital Recovery has been reorganized as Orbital Satellite Services. The tug has also changed:

SMART-OLEV is 500kg (1,100lb) lighter than its 1,500kg predecessor Orbital Recovery's Conexpress-OLEV and will service one satellite by docking with its apogee kick motor.

They have "an undisclosed customer for its first mission".

The article also reports on the orbital refueling and services system from Kosmas Georing Services, which I mentioned the other day.

The Space Show schedule for this week includes a discussion on Tuesday about "he rocket paradigm versus power beaming and more". Other programs include a biographer of Wernher von Braun, Life Sciences at NASA, and the Personal Spaceflight Symposium in New Mexico in October prior to the X PRIZE Cup event. Today's show includes Robert Jacobson, Founder of the 62 Mile Club.
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The new issue of The Space Review includes an article by Frank Sietzen on how NASA could better present the Vision and the lunar exploration program to the public. Taylor Dinerman discusses the exaggerated astronaut scandals stories. Jeff Foust reports on how two leaders in NewSpace found inspiration in the writings of Robert Heinlein. Paul Torrance reviews fundamental mistakes he believes NASA made with regard to Shuttle safety and how they could be avoided in the future. Jeff Foust reviews the new graphic novel, Laika by Nick Abadzis.

Avanti Communications has hired SpaceX to launch its first satellite HYLAS between March and December 2009:
* Avanti Communications Group plc Secures satellite launch services - Avanti - Sept.10.07 (pdf)
* SpaceX Signs British Firm for Falcon 9 Launch - Space news/Space.com (subscription required)

Nice to see SpaceX getting some benefit from the current shortage of launch capacity: Proton Failure Pinches Already Tight Commercial Launch Outlook - Space.com

Note that no other US company has a home grown vehicle that is competitive in the commercial market, though maybe the current shortage will force prices up high enough to entice LM or Boeing back into the market.

I don't have access to the full article at Aerospace Daily & Defense Report but an intro blurb says

NASA has informed Congress it is terminating its Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) agreement with Rocketplane Kistler (RpK) because the company has failed to meet financial milestones. Aides said that after reviewing the company's performance, the space agency sent RpK formal notification Sept. 7 saying that additional activity under the agreement is "not in the best interest" of NASA.

If RpK can't raise the $500M that it promised to do under its contract then the company's NASA funding should definitely go to another company from the COTS competition. However, I still think it is ironic that this happens not long after NASA announced a half-billion dollar cost-plus-award-fee contract to Boeing just for the upper stage (sans engines and avionics) of a vehicle that is, as Griffin demanded, a safe, low risk design. Note that cost-plus-award means Boeing gets extra money if they actually do what they promised to do in the contract. I assume the other Ares/Orion contractors got similar deals.

[Update Sept.10.07: The article is now in the free section: RpK's COTS Contract Terminated - AvWeek - Sept.10.07]

Jesse Londin surveys the space news and finds several legal and policy items of interest: Friday Flybys - Space Law Probe - 9.07.07
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Greg Klerkx doesn't want people to forget Walt Anderson: Top 10 influential space thinkers - New Scientist - Sept.5.07
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Antimatter is the Holy Grail of space propulsion and we may need one to hold the stuff: Engage the antimatter drive - New Scientist - Sept.7.07

Ferris Valyn posts a new compendium of recent NewSpace news: Space Revolution News: Updates - Daily Kos - Sept.7.07. (Note the initial item about the Dkspace forum and his request for help there.)

When I read a summary list like this for a period of just a few weeks, I'm really amazed by how much is going on. It's really become a very active industry and community.
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Who knows what can happen over the next 50 years? 2057 - Samizdata.net - Sept.5.07 (via
Transterrestrial Musings).
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A lot can be accomplished when there are people who are willing to sacrifice to make it happen: I'll sleep when I'm dead - Unreasonable Rocket - Sept.7.07

The AirLaunch LLC folks have posted a lengthy paper given at the recent Utah Smallsat meeting that includes lots of details about the QuickReach vehicle: Progress Toward First Flight of the QuickReach Small Launch Vehicle - SmallSat Conference - Aug.07 (pdf).

The Carnival of Space #19 is now available at http://www.universetoday.com/" target="_d">Universe Today.
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Mr.X discusses fly back first stage designs for RLVs: Fly Away Home - Chair Force Engineer - Sept.6.07
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The upcoming AIAA Space 2007 conference has its own weblog (via transterrestrial).

Col. M.V. “Coyote” Smith of the National Security Space Office announced yesterday at the opening of the new Frontier Spaceport in Second Life the preliminary findings of a Space Solar Power feasibility study, which he has been leading. The Frontier Spaceport blog reports that the results so far look good:

Instead of ending the study September 15 as originally planned, the Pentagon Chief of Future Concepts said the study findings were so compelling that he’ll deliver an interim report October 11, in concert with a press event in Washington D.C., and the study will continue.

He spoke eloquently of the need for fleets of spaceplanes and reusable rockets to accomplish the baseline goals of the study, which envisions 40 powersats in geosynchronous orbit producing 10 percent of U.S. energy needs by the year 2050. (Hey, isn’t that the year Gerard O’Neill predicted way back in the 1970s? it sounded so far away then…)

A first demonstrator project in, say, the year 2015 might power a military base, be capable of sending power to disaster areas, or transmit energy to troops abroad. The cost of petroleum fuel, not only money but lives lost in wars fought over oil, is a big driver of the Pentagon’s interest in space solar power. Coyote has gone from skeptic to enthusiast since the study began.

09/07/07 03:53 AM | Posted by TopSpacer | Category Launch Markets

17 comments | Permalink |

Some more articles about the NM spaceport:
* Amid a Second Tragedy, Plans for a U.S. Spaceport are Unveiled - PopSci
* British architects chosen for Branson's spaceport - The Guardian

Links via spacetoday.net.

UP Aerospace is developing an orbital vehicle: UP Aerospace Using PHX ModelCenter(R) to Design and Develop SpaceLoft Orbital Vehicle - Sept.5.07 (via spacetoday.net). Don't see anything about it on their website except a brief mention in the FAQ.
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MSFC is developing a Cubesat project with the intriguing name of CubeSail: NASA Eyes California University for CubeSail Mission - ISI Consulting - Sept.4.07. Google doesn't turn up any info on it, though.

The GEO-Ring (or GEORING) collaboration of European companies is developing a system called HERMES, which would provide "On-Orbit Servicing for Satellites". The system includes several different spacecraft that provide capabilities ranging from orbital refueling to station-keeping tasks. This whitepaper (pdf) outlines the concept.

The GEORING group recently announced an agreement with ARABSAT to work together: ARABSAT-GEORING Press Release (pdf):

The companies have agreed to cooperate on the development of innovative solutions for extending the lifetime of ARABSAT satellites and for providing the capability to receive fuel replenishment in orbit. ARABSAT will provide material and knowledge assets to fine-tune the services of GEORING to its own particular satellites and needs. GEORING will focus in priority on the needs of ARABSAT for on-orbit servicing.

The Rocket Systems Launch Program at Kirtland Air Force Base wants info that will allow it "to assess the current commercial launch providers capability of meeting the requirements of a Responsive Small Spacelift launch vehicle" : Air Force Seeks Responsive Small Spacelift Vehicle Input - ISI Consulting - Sept.5.07.

I can never keep track of what is happening in the military with regard to space transport development. I thought DARPA and AFRL were in charge of the ORS program but apparently other groups are getting involved as well. The Rocket Systems Launch Program seems to focus on ICBM technologies.

Kazakhstan gets another unwelcome delivery of hydrazine from Russia: Proton Fails Just after Liftoff - Spaceflight Now - Sept.5.07.

Sea launch, land launch, whatever. ELVs suck.

I think we will see this Conquest of Space cliché often in the next month as we approach the 50th anniversary of Sputnik. What a joke. We haven't even conquered access to LEO. Every launch is still a gamble with odds that are absurdly poor for a 50 year old technology.

And it won't get any better if some government agencies have their way. I still find it astonishing to realize that in 2007 NASA is starting development of yet another ELV. If the agency is allowed to carry on with it, then in 2017 we will see the Ares 1 fly two or three times for several hundred million dollars a mission and every countdown will mean yet another pins and needles affair as we wait to see whether the throwaway reaches orbit or falls in pieces into the Atlantic.

The only hope we have for safe and reliable launch is with entrepreneurial development of RLVs. We certainly should know by the 60th anniversary of Sputnik whether they have conquered or been conquered by space.

South Korea will send an astronaut to the ISS for a very short visit next year:
* S. Korean astronaut to fly to space station - Human Spaceflight - MSNBC.com
* First Astronaut: Space Mission to Help Boost Aerospace Research - The Korea Times

I wonder if they will later become one of Bigelow Aerospace's sovereign clients and attain a permanent presence in space?

The California Space Authority (CSA) is holding the Transforming Space 2007 Conference and SpotBeam Awards Dinner in Los Angeles, November 5 - 8, 2007. Looks like an interesting agenda. More info:
Back-to-the-Future Theme Highlights Transforming Space 2007 Conference - CSA/NewswireToday
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There is also the upcoming AIAA Space 2007 Conference in Long Beach, Sept.18-20. See the agenda here. Here is the Program-at-a-Glance pdf.

I wonder if Lockheed-Martin will present anything about a manned version of the Atlas V as they did at last year's meeting?

The Space Show recently had a special program to preview the conference.

The Spaceport America website has posted more of the design renderings. Note: after you click on one of the small images, a larger version of the image will open on another page. With Firefox you can right click on the image and select View Image to see a really large version.

Here are more articles about the design:
* Design revealed for the world’s first private spaceport - Foster and Partners - Sept.5.07 (Foster along with URS led the design team).
* New Mexico spaceport design is 'out of this world' New Scientist - Sept.5.07
* Designers unveil spaceport plan - Las Cruces Sun-News - Sept.5.07
* Spaceport America unveiled - Alamogordo Daily News - Sept.5.07.

I really like how it melds with the terrain. I wonder, though, how the facility would be expanded as traffic grows without spoiling the unity of the design.

Arianespace gets the contract to launch the second gen Globalstar satellite constellation in 2009: Globalstar Signs Second-Generation Satellite Constellation Launch Contract With Arianespace: Satellite service provider finalizes agreements for deployment of new satellite network with launches scheduled to begin in the summer of 2009 - Globalstar - Sept.4.07
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A report on solar sail development: Recent Progress on Solar Sails - Centauri Dreams - Sept.4.07

John Carmack has posted his monthly update with descriptions of the various ups and downs and ups of flight tests and vehicle development during August. Includes videos and lots of photos : Texel crash, Pixel back-to-back 180, Module 105 - Armadillo Aerospace - Sept.4.07

The ARCA homepage has this announcement:

The first launch attempt for Mission2 will take place on September 20 at 08:00 local time, from Cape Midia - Air Force Launch Site. If the weather will not be suitable for launch, the team will stay on the launch site during the next 10 days waiting for good weather.

See the schedule here for this week's programs on The Space Show.

A reader points out that Capt. John E. Draim (USN retired), who was involved in the U.S. Navy's Project Hydra, which investigated water launch techniques (see this rocket test video), will be on the show on Wednesday at 7-8:30 PM PDT.

When I mentioned the other day that the X PRIZE Foundation would announce a new contest at the Wired NextFest event, I assumed it would be one of their non-space competitions. However, it appears it will be a large purse space contest.
* Largest Space Prize Ever to Be Announced at Wired's NextFest September 13th - Wired Blog
* X Prize Foundation to Unveil Big Money for New Contest - Space.com
* Teaser Video - YouTube

The Futures Channel offers a nicely made commercial spaceport documentary video available for free on line (11:45 minutes) : Where is Your Nearest Spaceport? Micro-Documentary by The Futures Channel Provides a Look at a New Generation of Launch Facilities - Futures Channel/Businesswire - Sept.4.07 (link via spacetoday.net).

Steve Fossett has not been heard from since last night when he left a private airport in Nevada in a single engine plane:
* Search under way for aviation adventurer Steve Fossett - CNN
* Plane Carrying Aviation Adventurer Steve Fossett Missing - Fox News

The first of the next 50 years in space sorts of articles and commentary that we will see in the next month or so:
* Space: The Next 50 Years - Experts Opinions - Buzz Aldrin - Tom Wolfe - Burt Rutan - Arthur C. Clarke - Popular Mechanics
* The Next Fifty Years in Space: Musings on the Fiftieth Anniversary of Sputnik and the Space Age by Mark Whittington
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I hope we don't have to wait another 50 years before we get an orbital infrastructure: Debris - Transterrestrial Musings
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A report from the latest Mars Society conference: Scientists, Space Enthusiasts Share Vision for Mars - VOA News - Sept.4.07

R&D; Magazine names Elon Musk its 2007 R&D; Innovator of the Year (IOY). Here is their profile of Elon and his projects:
Rocket Man - R&D Magazine - Aug.07 issue (pdf).

Check out the new Space Lifestyle Magazine. Currently available as a free download, the first issue holds several interesting articles including reports on Beyond Space Enterprises and Yuri's Night.

Here is the press release announcing the debut of the publication:

Space Lifestyle Magazine Launched Online by New Forks, LLC

GRAND FORKS, ND / Sept. 2 / -- Space Lifestyle Magazine, an digital edition publication on the people and happenings in space and the space sector launched today from their site, www.spacelifestylemagazine.com. New Forks, LLC (www.newforks.net) is a virtual media company based in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Subscribers to the free online magazine will be notified of the launch of the magazine through an email blast.

Subscribers and anyone who goes to the site www.spacelifestylemagazine.com can view the magazine online with any standard Internet browser. By using a Published Web Format (PWF), from the magazine’s publisher Texterity, Inc., readers will have the fastest loading time and the sharpest text to read their digital edition. The premier issue of Space Lifestyle Magazine not only has pictures and text, much like a traditional magazine, but readers can also watch video.

To attract subscribers to Space Lifestyle Magazine, New Forks has held a contest, where the 10,000th, 20,000th, 30,000th and 60,000th subscriber will each win a prize. The 60,000th subscriber will win a parabolic flight ticket from the Zero Gravity Corporation (ZERO-G). SmoothLounge.com, the top-ranked Internet radio station, has provided all other prizes. All winners of the contest will be announced together at a future date.

“Everyone involved has worked really hard to put forth this first issue,” said New Forks, company President and Editor-in-Chief of Space Lifestyle Magazine, David Bullock, “Being a virtual company, and both in media and within the space sector and work, advice and help has come from all over.”

Virtual contributors to the magazine include writers Nancy Atkinson, Lois Elfman, Michael Ricciardi and Robert Yeiser. Michael Delia has created layout and art remotely.

New Forks, LLC (www.newforks.net) is an independent, start-up media company based in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

The design renderings from the URS/Foster and Partners team of facilities at Spaceport America in New Mexico have been unveiled today:
* Spaceport America: First Looks at a New Space Terminal - SPACE.com
* First peek at spaceport set today - Las Cruces Sun-News

[Update: More info on the design: Spaceport America: Foster, URS's Final Frontier - Architectural Record]

The 62MileClub.com website now offers a calendar of events related to Commercial Space Travel.

The 62MileClub organization's own kick off event - "Space...it's Closer Than You Think - will be held on October 4th, 6:30 PM - 9:00 pm at the Luxe Hotel, Bel Air, California. The "event will promote the commercial space industry to future customers, investors, and the general high-end demographic."

Paul Breed gives some tips on finding out whether you have a rocket problem.

The latest issue of The Space Review has hit the web and includes an article by Mike Snead on how to convince the next administration to set the country on a course to become a true spacefaring America. See comments on this article by Rand Simberg and Jeff Foust.

In other articles, Donald Beattie thinks NASA has a troubled future if changes are not made soon. John B. Sheldon explains why you shouldn't sell US space power short. Dwayne A. Day investigates a launch pad curse in The Chumash Indians and the Air Force.

And Jeff Foust reviews the book "Live from Cape Canaveral": Covering the Space Race, from Sputnik to Today by Jay Barbree on his 50 years of covering the US space program.

Bigelow Aerospace homepage explains how they used a fish-eye lens (as guessed by several people in comments here) mounted on the front end of Genesis II to make an image with a hemispherical view of the earth, though it orbits at only about 350 miles (563km) altitude. They include a video made with the camera.
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And the identity of the (most likely) first Russian space tourist has been revealed: Russian tycoon-explorer may go into space - Human Spaceflight - MSNBC.com - Sept.3.07
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Spaceports blog points to a Belgian suborbital spaceflight contest.

We'll be on the road most of the rest of today. Will have to wait till tonight to find out about the announcement promised on the Bigelow Aerospace homepage. Otherwise, it is a holiday in the US anyway so not much happening.

Here are some miscellaneous links of possible interest:
* A Great Program Gets Even Better - NASA Watch - More about the Northrop program supporting science teacher flights on the ZERO-G parabolic aircraft.
* First Russian Space Tourist a Mystery - themoscowtimes - This is intriguing: "serious, respectable person who is a businessman and politician". (Link via spacetoday.net.)
* Virgin Galactic Astronauts to Start Centrifuge Training - Wired Blogs - Aug.31.07 - more about the NASTAR training for space tourists.

Space Prizes Blog points to a new engine test video from the Lunar Lander Challenger competitor BonNova.
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Space Prizes also reports that the upcoming WIRED NextFest will have the X PRIZE Foundation as one of several sponsors. The Foundation will make a major announcement about "its largest prize yet. Joining with an internationally-recognized partner, this “New X PRIZE” will motivate and inspire new generations, much like the previous ANSARI X PRIZE". There will also be various space exhibits and presentations. SpaceX will have a Dragon capsule exhibit.
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I thought this was an interesting summary from Lt Col M.V. “Coyote” Smith about why the military should study space solar power: "Why is the DoD interested in this"? Security at all levels! - Space Solar Power

Some additional articles about Russian space tourists and long term space plans:
* Russia Prepares for 2009 Space Tourist Flight, Future Spacecraft - SPACE.com - Aug.31.07
* Spurned by NASA, Russia plans its own moon base - Aug.31.07
* Russia enters "space race" to build moon base - Telegraph - Aug.31.07