NanoRacks and Astrium North America are preparing to deploy a $5 million privately funded accommodation for commercial payloads outside the International Space Station, as the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (Casis) continues its effort to promote commercial activities on the orbiting laboratory.
International Space Station partners are beginning to discuss expanding use of the orbital outpost to test “extensible” technology for the long trek to the surface of Mars, with a new pressurized module and year-long tours for as many as a dozen crew members among the topics under consideration.
While cargo operators are parking fuel-hungry Boeing 747s and MD-11s, passenger operators are loading up the belly holds of their new widebody aircraft.
The May 16 crash of a Russian Proton M/Briz M rocket has been attributed to the malfunction of a bearing on the upper-stage steering engine turbo pump, according to a Russian federal investigation into the mishap. The failure led to the loss of Russia’s Express AM4R, a telecommunications satellite built by Airbus Defense and Space for the Russian Satellite Communications Co. That spacecraft was intended to replace the Express AM4 lost during an August 2011 Proton M/Briz M failure caused by a programming error in the guidance system.
Tom Konicki (see photos) has been named director of business development for U.S. and foreign government programs, and T.J. Ogden as director of international security and compliance for Pacific Propeller International, Kent, Washington. Konicki was the Southeast Asia branch chief for the deputy undersecretary of the Air Force for international affairs at the Pentagon. Ogden was manager of security operations and enterprise projects at Aerojet Rocketdyne in Redmond, Washington.
