Up to 250 JPL employees could face layoffs as NASA deals with budget uncertainties, Pasadena Star-News “NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory plans to lay off an estimated 200 to 250 employees before the end of March as the space agency deals with evolving federal budget constraints, a JPL official said Wednesday. President Obama’s budget proposal calling for keeping NASA’s budget flat at about $18.7 billion through fiscal year 2012 and beyond […]

Southwest Research Institute SwRI and XCOR Sign First Ever Commercial Reusable Suborbital Vehicle Scientific Flight Contract “In a first for the reusable suborbital launch vehicle industry, XCOR Aerospace announced today that the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), a commercial entity, has purchased six suborbital flights to carry SwRI experiments as pathfinder missions for other SwRI suborbital clients. This is the first such contract SwRI has issued, and XCOR is proud to […]

We asked and you answered. The question was do you like NASA’s new vision statement? “To reach for new heights and reveal the unknown so that what we do and learn will benefit all humankind.” Of the 649 respondents, overwhelmingly 74% of our readers answered no, you don’t like NASA’s new vision statement. The question is why? Let us and NASA know, your comments are welcome. Vision statements for non-Visionaries, […]

NASA Schedules Next Glory Mission Launch Attempt “The launch of NASA’s Glory spacecraft from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California is currently planned for no earlier than Friday, Feb. 25 at 5:09 a.m. EST. Engineers from NASA and Orbital Sciences Corp. continue to troubleshoot a technical issue that arose during Wednesday’s initial launch attempt. The target launch date also will ensure personnel get the required rest before entering another countdown.”

All I want for Christmas (for NASA), NASA LaRC CTO Rich Antcliff “My grown up Christmas list for NASA: – A budget (seriously another three months on last year’s budget). It is disappointing that the congress cannot fulfill its duties in a timely fashion. – An inspiring vision. I just can’t get excited about visiting a NEO. Up until a couple of months ago, I had never heard of one. […]

20-Million Milestone for 100-Year Citizen Science Project “A citizen science project running for over 100 years reached a key milestone this month when an amateur astronomer contributed the 20 millionth observation of a variable star on February 19, 2011. A variable star changes in brightness over time. Records of these changes can be used to uncover the astrophysical processes within evolving star systems. With a database going back over a […]

NASA Picks At Least Seven To Discuss Commercial Crew Proposals, Space News “As it awaits congressional action on its 2011 budget, NASA is proceeding with plans to award roughly $200 million to companies developing technologies in support of the agency’s commercial space transportation goals. NASA contacted at least seven companies in February, inviting Alliant Techsystems (ATK), Blue Origin, Boeing, Orbital Sciences Corp., Sierra Nevada Corp., Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) and […]

Discovery Poised to Liftoff, SpaceRef “NASA is poised to launch space shuttle Discovery on her last mission this Thursday at 4:50 p.m. EST. It seems with all recent attempts to get Discovery launched, NASA is working one minor leak issue. However the issue should not cause any delay.”

NASA Notice of intent to grant a partially exclusive license: Bigelow Aerospace “This notice is issued in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 209(c)(1) and 37 CFR 404.7(a)(1)(i). NASA hereby gives notice of its intent to grant a partially exclusive license in the United States to practice the invention described and claimed in United States Patent 7,509,774 (issued March 31, 2009) and NASA Case No. MSC 24201-1, entitled “Apparatus For Integrating A […]

NASA Tamps Down Massive Solar Flare Impact Hype, PC World “While some of the coverage of the massive Valentine’s Day solar flare made it sound like the world was coming to an end, or darn close to it. NASA’s website this afternoon played another likely more realistic tune: “The particle cloud produced by the Valentine’s Day event appears to be rather weak and is not expected to produce any strong […]