Latest Space access Stories

MOJAVE, Calif. and YECHEON-GUN, ROK, Dec. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- The Yecheon Astro Space Center announced today that it has selected XCOR Aerospace as its preferred supplier of suborbital space launch services. Operating under a wet lease model, XCOR intends to supply services to the Center using the Lynx Mark II suborbital vehicle, pending United States government approvals to station the vehicle in the Republic of Korea. XCOR is committed to working with the US Department of State,...

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Nov. 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Aerojet, a GenCorp (NYSE: GY) company, under contract to the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), recently completed ground testing of an advanced Scramjet (supersonic combustion ramjet) engine combustor demonstrating a new thermal management approach. This approach, called core burning, forces the combustion flames away from the Scramjet surfaces thereby reducing overall heat load. The technology overcomes the long-standing...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA has awarded $900,000 in prize money to a Seattle company that successfully demonstrated new wireless energy beaming technology which could one day be used to help power a "space elevator." (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) LaserMotive of Seattle was awarded the money after its performance in the Power Beaming Challenge competition, which was a demonstration of wireless power transmission that enabled a robotic...

A Seattle team has won a $900,000 prize in a NASA-supported competition to develop the concept of a space elevator.The winning team's robotic machine charged up nearly 3,000 feet of cable dangling from a helicopter.Powered by a ground-based laser pointed up at the machine's photo voltaic cells, which convert the light into electricity, the LaserMotive completed one of its ascents in just three minutes and 48 seconds "“ fast enough to secure the second place prize.The three-day competition...

NASA's Centennial Challenges program and the Spaceward Foundation kicked off the Space Elevator Games in the Mojave Desert on Wednesday.Teams of engineers have their eye on the $2 million prize to be awarded to the first group to climb just over half a mile of a cable suspended from a helicopter near NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards.Three teams have qualified for this year's event, which will take place on Wednesday and Thursday.Event sponsors hope to see a team successfully...

NASA is partnering with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory to develop a technology roadmap for the commercial reusable launch vehicle, or RLV, industry."NASA is committed to stimulating the emerging commercial reusable launch vehicle industry," said Lori Garver, deputy administrator at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "There is a natural evolutionary path from today's emerging commercial suborbital RLV industry to growing and developing the capability to provide low-cost,...

MOJAVE, Calif., Sept. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Masten Space Systems successfully demonstrated multiple sustained free flights of its XA-0.1B vertical take-off, vertical landing (VTVL) rocket this past week. The longest flight was 93 seconds and involved a flight between two pads 60 meters apart. This marks the first time a purely rocket powered VTVL has flown from Mojave Air and Space Port. "The flight was absolutely beautiful! The control systems were designed to control the vehicle to high...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., Aug. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne's scramjet engine SJY61-2 has been installed in the second X-51A flight test vehicle at Boeing Phantom Works in Palmdale, Calif. This is the second of four engines that will be used in flight testing of the X-51A scheduled to begin later this year. The X-51A is expected to exceed Mach 6 and set the foundation for several hypersonic applications. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is a unit of United Technologies...

The U.S. space agency says it is making the final preparations for its 2009 Power Beaming Challenge, part of the fourth annual Space Elevator Games. The event, part of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Centennial Challenges Program, will be held at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center on Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., July 14. The first competition required teams to ascend a 50-meter tether at an average speed of 1 meter per second with power provided by ordinary...

NASA's Centennial Challenges Program and the Spaceward Foundation will hold the 2009 Power-Beaming Challenge, part of Spaceward's Space Elevator Games, at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center on Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., on July 14.This is the fourth year for the Space Elevator Games. The first competition required teams to ascend a 50-meter tether at an average speed of 1 meter per second with power provided by ordinary spotlights. This year, to be eligible for the $2 million prize,...