DailyDirt: Space Race Continues

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Tue, Jun 26th 2012 5:00pm — Michael Ho

Recently, some cool new space efforts are lining up to deliver people and payloads into orbit. For example, SpaceX shipped some supplies to the International Space Station, and it's on track to providing a rocket system for ferrying astronauts to the ISS as well. More and more commercial space ventures are competing with government space programs, and this new space race will hopefully continue and create even more inspiring space technologies over the next decade and beyond. Here are just a few other interesting developments along the way.

NASA and the FAA have reached a tentative agreement to provide better guidelines for regulating all kinds of space launches. Virgin Galactic has been granted a license, but it might be interesting to see if all those amateur weather balloons and sub-orbital rocket projects will run into any regulatory problems. [url]
Excalibur Almaz is a commercial space transportation company with roots in the former Soviet Union's military space program. For about $100 million, you can hitch a ride on one of these older (but very reliable!) Soviet-era spacecraft that have been extensively tested -- possibly all the way to the moon. [url]
Citizen scientists are putting together an ArduSat -- an open source satellite -- that could be included on a free launch via a NASA or ESA ride-along program. There ain't no such thing as a free launch? [url]
China has recently become the third nation to successfully dock a manned space capsule with another space vessel. Three people (including China's first female astronaut/taikonaut) on the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft joined up with the Tiangong 1 space module in orbit. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post.

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Filed Under: ardusat, astronauts, commercial rockets, excalibur almaz, international space station, moon, orbit, space, taikonauts
Companies: faa, kickstarter, nasa, scistarter, spacex, virgin galactic

11 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 26 Jun 2012 @ 5:22pm

um....
The Soviets never put a man on the moon, so that part don't seem so reliably tested. I'm sure their spacecraft can do low earth orbit and re-entry. The moon would be a altogether different venture for soviet-era tech.
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abc gum, 26 Jun 2012 @ 6:26pm

With irresponsible corporate interests in outer space there will be renewed interest and need for junk collectors. To date little has been accomplished in this field other than empty promises. Gee, let's test our new sat killer on this broken satellite, I'm looking at you China - not that they are any worse than the multitudes of other self interests. Based upon an exponential growth rate, how many decades will it take for the earth to have its very own rings, pretty!
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Michael Ho (profile), 26 Jun 2012 @ 7:03pm

Re:
abc gum,

We'll have to do another dailydirt on space junk removal... :)
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Wolfy, 26 Jun 2012 @ 7:32pm

Just a reminder to poster #1, the soviets have had the most success with landings in the seriously harsh environment of Venus... that kind of thing really, really tests your engineering.
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Wally (profile), 26 Jun 2012 @ 8:06pm

Why the FAA will regulate weather balloon rocket launches
"NASA and the FAA have reached a tentative agreement to provide better guidelines for regulating all kinds of space launches. Virgin Galactic has been granted a license, but it might be interesting to see if all those amateur weather balloons and sub-orbital rocket projects will run into any regulatory problems."

Not that anybody will complain but:
I can think of a couple very good reasons for this.
1.Weather balloons are hard to predict where they will land where rockets are.
2. Any one familiar with the name "Lary Walters" and his story would know this is a very good idea.
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btr1701 (profile), 26 Jun 2012 @ 8:54pm

Jurisdiction
> NASA and the FAA have reached a tentative
> agreement to provide better guidelines for regulating
> all kinds of space launches. Virgin Galactic has been
> granted a license, but it might be interesting to see if all
> those amateur weather balloons and sub-orbital rocket
> projects will run into any regulatory problems.

I wonder why the FAA and NASA think they have the jurisdiction to regulate all space launches.
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abc gum, 26 Jun 2012 @ 9:27pm

Somewhat related link
Whoa ...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nasa_jsc_photo/sets/72157629726792248/
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Anonymous Coward, 27 Jun 2012 @ 1:07am

I would like to see a steampunk satellite powered by a tiny combustion engine in space.

Youtube: El motor V-12 m�s peque�o del mundo.
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Anonymous Coward, 27 Jun 2012 @ 1:18am

Youtube: All quotes from Portal 2's "Space" sphere
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snidely (profile), 27 Jun 2012 @ 3:42am

It's only a matter of time...
How long until somebody attempts to copyright the interface to attach to the international space station? Hey, it's just a big API and it's in SPACE, so it definitely needs a license fee to attach.
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abc gum, 27 Jun 2012 @ 5:04am

Re: It's only a matter of time...
A whole new realm of patent opportunities await in the final frontier. Just imagine the innovation inspired by existing things with "connected to the internet from low earth orbit" appended to them. We have a very bright future my friends.
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