My Top 10 for 2010

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What a year it has been!
Private space has grown by leaps and bounds this year. This year was marked by commercial companies achieving major milestones, new partnerships, and surprisingly, a good amount of NASA funding to help the industry along. Here is my little take on the year, hope you enjoy...

10-9. CCDEV and CRuSR

 
On February 1st, NASA awarded 50 million dollars to 5 commercial companies in order to further their capability in providing transport services to low earth orbit. This included:

Blue Origin (Awarded 3.7 million)
New and very secretive aerospace company started by Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com.

Boeing (Awarded 18 million)
We know who you are, and we are very impressed...They received funds to develop their CST-100, a 7 passenger space capsule.

Paragon (Awarded 1.4 million)
A developer of many environmental systems for spacecraft, including thermal and environmental control systems on the SpaceX Dragon Space Capsule.

Sierra Nevada Corporation (Awarded 20 million)
Their subsidiary SpaceDev developed the composite engine used on spaceship 2, and will also be developing their own orbital vehicle know as DreamChaser.

United Launch Alliance (Awarded 6.7 million)
The Boeing/Lockheed Martin joint venture will be working on emergency detection systems as part of their award money.

Also, as part of NASA's Flight Opportunities Program, the CRuSR (Commercial Reusable Suborbital Research) program has awarded Masten and Armadillo Aerospace over $475,000 to carry out sub-orbital research aboard new vehicles. The 475k was roughly split between the two companies. Virgin Galactic, XCOR, and Blue Origin are also part of this program, but they do not have posted flight dates due to the fact that the vehicles are not going to be ready for a while.

Thank you NASA for all you have contributed to the development of commercial space this year!

 8. Space Adventures and Armadillo Partnership

Space Adventures has been responsible for sending 7 private space explorers up to the International Space Station (ISS) since 2001. In the far future, Space Adventures also plans to provide missions to the moon if you got enough money in your pocket for that trip.  For now, they are still marketing flights to the ISS, as well as marketing future suborbital trips. Space Adventures has partnered with Armadillo Aerospace, a company started by John Carmack to provide the vehicle to provide a safe trip to space. The video provides a lot of great information on the partnership so I highly recommend you check it out! 

7. BOEING! 

 Just as Boeing dominates that sky, it looks as though they want to dominate space with their new CST-100 capsule. This capsule can ferry up to 7 astronauts, or tourists to orbit and dock with a space station. Boeing has made partnerships with 2 very exciting companies in this past year, Bigelow Aerospace and Space Adventures, and here is why I think it's exciting: 

The Partnership with Bigelow Aerospace
Bigelow Aerospace will be developing Inflatable Habitats that in time will easily rival the size of the International Space Station. Boeing looks to provide the transportation to the station, and have already put together an agreement with them earlier this year. This habitat will be marketed to small space programs, microgravity researchers, and also people who just want to have fun in their own space hotel room! 
 
The Partnership with Space Adventures
 
Space Adventures was the first company to market flights for civillians up to the ISS. They now look to work with Boeing and their CST-100 vehicle in marketing orbital spaceflights. So if you don't have the money to stay in your own private space station, maybe you can take a trip around the world instead. The options for space travel are growing and growing.

Note: 
The CST-100 capsule will also require a rocket to launch it into an orbital altitude. This means they will also have to work with a launch provider like ULA, or SpaceX. Boeing is already making sure that their vehicle can be flown with either provider (they think of everything don't they?). 

6. Virgin Galactic Partnership with Orbital and SNC

This is a new development which I am quite excited about. Although Virgin Galactic is currently working with Scaled Composites to finish testing on their sub-orbital Spaceship 2, VG is also looking to sell tickets on future vehicles which may be able to send people on orbital missions around the Earth. The Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) and Orbital Sciences Corp (OSC) have already made plans to develop orbital lifting-wing body vehicles. In a press release by VG they state that these vehicles could "revolutionize orbital space flight in much the same way that SpaceShipTwo has revolutionized sub-orbital space flight."

Virgin Galactic has always had plans to make it farther out into the solar system one step at a time. I'm glad to see they are taking an aggressive approach to getting the space tourism industry on its feet and running. So, for all of those who are looking to take a hop into space, you may just have to wait a little longer (make sure to save some money too...) and you may be able to take some nice orbital trips around the world! 

5. XCOR Completes Successful Supersonic Wind Tunnel Testing

On September 20th, XCOR finished wind tunnel testing on their Lynx Suborbital Spacecraft at the NASA Marshall Spaceflight Center. This finally provided XCOR with data that proved that their spaceship design and shape will provide a stable and controllable flight through speeds up to Mach 3 (roughly 2200 mph). When the Lynx is ready to fly, it will be another provider in the space tourism market by taking one pilot and one passenger up to 103 km (338,000 feet) for a nice ride up to the edge of space.

4. Engine cut off and relight tests of Armadillo and Masten vehicles

Both Armadillo and Masten Aerospace made very interesting flights this year which involved having their vehicles (Armadillos "Mod" vehicle, and Mastens "Xombie") lift themselves in the air, turn the engine off, and then have it relight itself and regain stability before landing it again. This was very important milestone for both companies which are developing VTVL (vertical takeoff vertical landing) vehicles. In a post on PRNewsWire, Dave Masten explains the importance of this launch:

“The ability to turn off our engine, re-ignite it in flight, successfully regain control and land was the next big milestone as we expand our flight envelope to include high altitude flights. Each milestone we hit makes the path to space much clearer.” 
 
Both companies seem to be keeping up with each other in terms of development, and the competition is good and friendly. I'm glad to see that both of them are doing so well. 
 
3. SpaceX: First Launch of Falcon 9

 On June 4th, SpaceX launched their Falcon 9 rocket for the first time, as part of NASA's COTS (commercial orbital transportation services) program. NASA COTS is a program started by NASA to invest financial and technical resources to stimulate efforts within the private sector to develop and demonstrate safe, reliable, and cost-effective space transportation capabilities. Although NASA offered some support, it was really up to SpaceX to prove that they would be able to provide a vehicle that could eventually ferry astronauts and cargo to the ISS. The launch was successful, and set SpaceX up for their best flight this year, which made #1 on my list.

 
2. Virgin Galactic takes to the sky for the first time!

Just this year, after many years of hard work and dedication to building the first real space tourism vehicle, Virgin Galactic was able to fly the WhiteKnight 2 and Spaceship 2 tethered together. This has been a moment that the company has been waiting for ever since they won the Ansari X-Prize back in 2004. After this first flight, they had carried out many more flights in the year, including their first Spaceship 2 drop test. I wish Virgin Galactic and Scaled Composites good luck in the next year, and I can't wait to see what happens!

 
1. SpaceX: Launch of Falcon 9 with Dragon Capsule

On December 8th, SpaceX made history when they launched their Falcon 9 rocket for the second time as part of the NASA COTS program. With the success of their first launch, they were now confident to try and attempt a launch with their Dragon space capsule, a capsule which would eventually be able to carry cargo and humans to the International Space Station. The mission was to take the capsule up, have it orbit the Earth twice, re-enter the atmosphere safely, and splashdown in the pacific. If you had watched the launch or read the news regarding the launch, it went flawlessly for them! It is amazing to think how successful they were, given the fact that only 6 national/governmental space agencies had ever attempted this type of flight before. Read more about it in a previous blog post.

....And that about wraps it up....

Each and every one of these moments during 2010 (and many more) has been very inspiring and proves without a doubt that this is not a dream. This is now a reality, which will continue to flourish into the new year, and for every year after until one day we all get the chance to travel to space.

It is closer than we all think...

Happy New Year Everyone!

-Derek Nye <!--4ba19613862b4ca2b7d5e7268aac0960-->