Suborbital Research Enters a Time of Transition, The Space Review
“Several years ago, the idea of using the new generation of suborbital reusable launch vehicles under development, like Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo and XCOR Aerospace’s Lynx, for research applications was not widely accepted. These and other vehicles were seen primarily as serving the space tourism market.”
“Scientists, vehicle developers, and others did come to that NSRC, and the three that followed, including the one last week in the Denver suburb of Broomfield, Colorado. With a community of researchers now sold on the potential benefits of using suborbital reusable launch vehicles–low cost, high flight rates, and in some cases human-tended payloads–versus sounding rockets or orbital platforms, the challenge apparent at last week’s meeting was keeping the timelines for developing experiments and the vehicles that will fly them in sync.”

Marc Boucher is an entrepreneur, writer, editor, podcaster and publisher who has worked in space media for more than 25 years. In 1999 he co-founded SpaceRef with Keith Cowing. The new media company grew into a network that included NASA Watch and The Astrobiology Web. After selling SpaceRef, he joined Multiverse Media, which later merged with SpaceNews. There he helped steer the combined company toward more multimedia, a subscription paywall and intelligence products, and pushed for a mobile app. He is also the founder of SpaceQ Media, Canada’s space news and market intelligence publication.

Marc started his first Internet content business in 1992 and hasn’t looked back. When he’s not working, he loves exploring Canada and the world and expanding his photography skills.