by National Space Society | Oct 13, 2019 | Commercial Space, Space Development
By Dale Skran Copyright 2019 On October 9th, a Russian Proton lofted Northrup Grumman’s first satellite life-extension vehicle from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The Mission Extension Vehicle (MEV) is designed to extend the life of satellites by providing...
by National Space Society | Oct 1, 2019 | Space Development
From Dale Skran, Chair of the NSS Executive Committee: Karlton Johnson, Chairman of the Board of Governors of the National Space Society, has a great Op-Ed at Space.com titled “Spread the Word: Space Development Benefits Earth.” I urge every NSS member to...
by National Space Society | Sep 29, 2019 | Commercial Space, Space Development
By Dale Skran On the evening of Saturday September 28th, Elon Musk provided an exciting update on Starship progress at Boca Chica, Texas. By the time you read this, you’ll have probably seen some good articles in the space press summarizing the talk (the entire talk...
by National Space Society | Sep 1, 2019 | Commercial Space, Space Development
By George Mancuso On August 27, Starhopper, utilizing a single Raptor methane-fueled rocket engine, rose 150 meters above Boca Chica, Texas and successfully landed. This is the last Starhopper flight; in the future the rocket will be used as a static ground test...
by National Space Society | Jul 27, 2019 | Commercial Space, Space Development
By George Mancuso On July 25, 2019 Starhopper rose to an altitude of approximately 20 meters at the SpaceX McGregor Texas facility while also performing a pad translation. Starhopper is a low fidelity prototype, intended to test Raptor engines and control systems for...
by National Space Society | Jun 26, 2019 | Commercial Space, Space Development
By Dale Skran Chair of the NSS Executive Committee Image: First SpaceX recovery of payload fairing In March of 2019 I wrote a Dragon 2 focused update on the “SpaceX Triple Trifeta.” In that article I reviewed the status of SpaceX’s three ambitious goals for 2018: •...
by National Space Society | May 17, 2019 | Commercial Space, Space Development
Opinion By Dale Skran, Chair of the NSS Executive Committee In the martial arts there is something called a “committed strike.” That is a blow which cannot be “pulled” or changed in direction by the initiator. The action is complete and will...
by National Space Society | May 14, 2019 | Commercial Space, NSS Press Releases, Space Colonization, Space Development, Space Settlement
The National Space Society (NSS) applauds Jeff Bezos for the hope and inspiration he delivered to the world on Thursday, May 9 when he took the stage in Washington, D.C. to present his company Blue Origin’s plans for improving life on Earth (see his full 51-minute...
