Daily Archives: September 17, 2014

NASA Awards Boeing And SpaceX Contracts To Deliver Astronauts To The Space Station

Posted: September 17, 2014 at 10:40 am

Concept art of Dragon docking with the space station. (Credit: SpaceX)

NASA officially announced today that both Boeing and SpaceX have been awarded Commercial Crew Transportation Capability contracts. These contracts are for the development of spacecraft that will be able to take astronauts to the International Space Station, with a target start date of 2017. The third company in the running for a contract, Sierra Nevada Corporation, did not receive an award.

This announcement from NASA partially contradicts earlier reports that Boeing was to be the primary winner of the contract, with SpaceX only receiving a secondary award. Instead, NASA doesnt appear to be distinguishing between the two companies as a primary or secondary provider, although there is a difference in the financial value of the two contracts.

Both companies are developing manned capsules which will ferry up to seven passengers and payloads to the International Space Station. Boeings CST-100 is planned to be launched by Atlas 5 rockets, which are built and operated by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed. The SpaceX Dragon capsule will be launched by SpaceXs own Falcon 9 rocket.

Artist conception of Boeing CST-100 approaching the ISS. (Credit: Boeing)

According to Commercial Crew Program Manager Kathy Lueders, both companies will have to meet five separate certification milestones, and will receive payment upon completion of each one. That certification process will include a flight with one astronaut on board. Once the spacecraft are certified for delivery, each company will be contracted to conduct at least two and up to six spaceflights to the ISS with four crew members and cargo payloads.

This will enable NASA and its international partners to perform more research on the international laboratory, nearly doubling its research potential, Lueders said.

The spacecraft will also have the capability to serve as a lifeboat for up to 210 days in the event of an emergency, she added.

According to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, the total value of the contracts to the two companies will be worth up to $6.8 billion over the life of the contract. Boeings potential award is $4.2 billion and SpaceXs potential award is for $2.6 billion.

According to Lueders, both contracts have the same goals and requirements. The values of the contracts are based on the proposals submitted by the companies themselves and the amount of money the companies believed they would need to meet the contract requirements.

Original post:
NASA Awards Boeing And SpaceX Contracts To Deliver Astronauts To The Space Station

Posted in Futurism | Comments Off on NASA Awards Boeing And SpaceX Contracts To Deliver Astronauts To The Space Station

Reports: Boeing To Beat Out SpaceX For NASA Contract – Thanks To Jeff Bezos

Posted: at 10:40 am

Artist conception of Boeing CST-100 approaching the ISS. (Credit: Boeing)

Update on September 16 at 4:32 EDT: NASA has officially awarded both Boeing and SpaceX these commercial crew contracts. You can read the full story about the awards here.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that Boeing is likely to be the primary winner of NASAs Commercial Crew contract. This contract, which is worth billions, is being awarded for the final phase of development for a manned spacecraft that can take astronauts to the International Space Station and serve as a replacement for the Space Shuttle. That contract is expected to be awarded this month.

There are currently three contenders for the Commercial Crew contract: Boeing, which is developing a manned capsule currently named the CST-100; SpaceX, whose unmanned version of its Dragon capsule has made several trips to the space station, and Sierra Nevada Corporation, whose winged Dream Chaser spacecraft will be capable of landing on a runway.

According to the WSJ report, a growing consensus of experts in industry and government believe Boeing will win the primary award of the contract, due to a belief that the veteran aerospace company is the least risky option. The report also notes that there is likely to be a smaller award to develop an alternative to Boeings CST-100, and that award is likely to go to SpaceX.

One thing that may have clinched the deal for Boeing, according to Reuters, is an unexpected assist from Jeff Bezos. According to that report, Bezos commercial space venture, Blue Origin, will be working with the Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture United Launch Alliance to develop a new rocket engine to replace the currently Russian-built RD-180 engine.

Blue Origin is currently developing what it calls the BE-3 rocket engine for flights of its planned New Shephard space capsule. This liquid hydrogen fueled engine had its first successful full-cycle test in December of last year.

Blue Origin tests its BE-3 rocket engine. (Credit: Blue Origin)

Boeings CST-100 is designed to be lifted into orbit on a ULA Atlas 5 rocket, which features the RD-180 engine. However, a number of government officials have expressed concerned about ULAs reliance on the Russian engines, particularly because ULA is currently the only launch provider for the military and other government agencies. Earlier this year, the Russian Deputy Prime Minister threatened that the country would halt the export of RD-180 engines to the U.S. However, engine deliveries since have so far continued uninterrupted.

ULA has stated that it currently has a two year supply of the engines, and last week the company announced that it was finalizing details related to the development of a replacement engine with a U.S. aerospace partner. If these reports are correct and the partner referred to is Blue Origin, this may be what tipped the decision in their favor.

See original here:
Reports: Boeing To Beat Out SpaceX For NASA Contract - Thanks To Jeff Bezos

Posted in Futurism | Comments Off on Reports: Boeing To Beat Out SpaceX For NASA Contract – Thanks To Jeff Bezos

Ten Technologies Affecting You, Your Customers and Your Business: Futurist Jack Uldrich to Keynote an Event with the …

Posted: at 10:40 am

Chicago, IL (PRWEB) September 17, 2014

When your vision is to be the leading global resource for packaging and processing, and your mission is to improve and promote members abilities to succeed in a global marketplace calling in a global futurist like Jack Uldrich to discuss the latest technologies that will affect you and your future is smart thing to do. And that is precisely what the Packaging Machine Manufacturers Institute is doing on September 17th.

Founded in 1933, PMMI is a trade association made up of more than 650 member companies that manufacture packaging, processing and packaging-related converting machinery, commercially-available packaging machinery components, containers and materials in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

PMMI members are globally renowned for making the highest quality equipment, offering responsive service and committing to meeting their customers needs. To that end, being on the cutting of edge of technology is crucial, and Jack Uldrich, as a futurist has his finger on the pulse of the technologies that PMMI needs to be watching for and utilizing in the coming years.

Among the ten technologies that Uldrich will discuss with the PMMI group are things like the new Leap Motion control (hand gesture technology,) advanced 3D manufacturing techniques which may well transform and revolutionize the future of manufacturing, as well as sophisticated robotics which are already providing a healthy advantage in the production of many packaging and manufacturing materials.

When it comes to the future of manufacturing Uldrich says, "Five years ago, a 3D printera device that can manufacture physical objectscost $100,000. Today, similar printers are available for $1,000 and are poised to revolutionize the world of manufacturing. What will the world of tomorrow look like? The time to start thinking about this is now."

The Author of "The Next Big Thing is Really Small: How Nanotechnology Will Change the Future of Your Business" Uldrich will also address how nanotechnology will transform the manufacturing industry in the coming years.

Uldrich says, "In the coming year, packaging leaders can also expect to hear more about the Internet of Things. In its simplest form, the idea is that in the coming decade an estimated 50 billion physical objects will be connected to the Internet through low-cost, wireless sensors. What makes the technology so potentially revolutionary is that some of the sensors will be nano-barcodes that can authenticate products (such as valuable pharmaceutical drugs) or nano-sensors that can read a host of information, including temperature, humidity and the level of exposure to oxygen, and then relay this information to manufacturers, distributors and customers to provide a complete history of the item."

Uldrich who speaks all over the world on a variety of topics such as future trends, emerging technologies, innovation, change management and leadership, is also a leading expert on assisting businesses unlearn and adapt during times of transition. He has served as an adviser to Fortune 1000 companies and is noted for his ability to deliver provocative, new perspectives on competitive advantage, organizational change and transformational leadership.

Parties interested in learning more about him, his books, his daily blog or his speaking availability are encouraged to visit his website. Media wishing to know more about either the event or interviewing Jack as a futurist or trend expert can contact Amy Tomczyk at (651) 343.0660.

Go here to read the rest:
Ten Technologies Affecting You, Your Customers and Your Business: Futurist Jack Uldrich to Keynote an Event with the ...

Posted in Futurist | Comments Off on Ten Technologies Affecting You, Your Customers and Your Business: Futurist Jack Uldrich to Keynote an Event with the …

Mind matrix

Posted: at 10:40 am

Ever wondered how your mind works? Tune into Brain Games on National Geographic to get an informed view.

The Emmy-nominated host of Brain Games, Jason Silva, reveals the inner workings of the mind through interactive experiments. The executive producer of the show invited me to host Brain Games. It has been a wonderful opportunity, says Jason over phone.

In the show, various facets such as addiction, language, superstitions, patterns, compassion, anger, battle of the sexes and intuition are explored, from which startling facts emerge. Speaking of one of the episodes, Intuition, which is often dismissed as irrational, Jason says: What we call intuition is the sub-conscious knowledge that we have collected over years of experience. In the show, we ask a series of questions and try to prove that most people follow their intuition.

A futurist and filmmaker, Jason has generated huge interest on the internet with his short films, Shots of Awe. These short videos has been termed as philosophical espresso. Jason explores topics such as technology, science, the evolution of intelligence and even love. Shots of Awe is what I am truly thinking about, at any given moment. I am a cerebral ruminator. I work through my cerebral philosophical obsessions through a short video platform.

The videos are well executed and inspire one to think beyond. The videos arent just flights of fancy of the mind. They are anchored. There is a desire to reconcile the philosophical tangent with closure.

Jason has been variously termed, as a performance philosopher and an epiphany addict. Ask him how he describes himself and Jason says: I like the term Carl Sagan coined wonder junkie, says Jason who grew up in Venezuela and has a degree in philosophy and film.

Jason believes that technology is seeing a rapid and exponential change. He says that technology will amplify our human experience to a point that we cannot comprehend. The next level of technology is that we are going to put it in our brains.

Jason has been a television presenter on former US Vice President Al Gores Current TV and is a global speaker, and has spoken at TEDGlobal, Googles Zeitgeist Conference, among others.

Brain Games is aired from Monday to Friday on National Geographic at 9 pm.

View original post here:
Mind matrix

Posted in Futurist | Comments Off on Mind matrix