Commercial spaceflight is featured in this week’s cover story of Aviation Week and Space Technology, which has selected “The Space Entrepreneur” as its 2009 Person of the Year.

“Space entrepreneurs had a big influence on aerospace in 2009,” write Aviation Week editors Frank Morring and Guy Norris, “although it does not begin to compare with the impact they are likely to have in years to come.”

“After receiving more than $1 billion in private capital, NASA has recently awarded space entrepreneurs with multi-billion dollar contracts for transporting cargo to the International Space Station, and may rely on them to transport astronauts once the space shuttle fleet is retired,” Aviation Week noted in a press release accompanying the cover story.

“We’re at the beginning of a new era in access to space… an era of commercial human spaceflight,” added former astronaut Tom Henricks, president of Aviation Week, in the press release. “It’s exciting that entrepreneurs are pursuing opportunities in space. Only about five hundred people have been to space in the past half century. AVIATION WEEK is proud to recognize these innovative individuals for their enormous contributions to making space accessible to many more in the near future.”

The Aviation Week cover image features Masten Space Systems ’ CEO, Dave Masten, whose company recently won $1.15 million in the NASA Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander X PRIZE Challenge for successful flights of its vertical-takeoff vertical-landing vehicles.  The Aviation Week article also mentions the suborbital science workshops that have been organized by the Commercial Spaceflight Federation to discuss the science, research, and education applications of commercial spaceflight.

(The cover story and accompanying press release are available online from Aviation Week.)

Image credit: Aviation Week and Space Technology

NASA’s Centennial Challenges prize program, FAA’s Spaceports Infrastructure Grants initiative, and the new NASA Commercial Reusable Suborbital Research program (CRuSR) gained momentum after receiving funding in the NASA and FAA appropriations bills for Fiscal Year 2010, passed by Congress and signed by the President last week. The Commercial Spaceflight Federation conducted advocacy efforts for these NASA and FAA programs as part of the CSF’s legislative agenda for this year.

NASA Centennial Challenges: $4 million in funding is being appropriated for new NASA prizes to promote technology innovation, the first time in 5 years that Centennial Challenges has received new funding. This new funding, at the full level requested by NASA in Fiscal Year 2010, builds on the success of Centennial Challenges throughout this year, in which NASA awarded a total of $3.65 million for innovation successes, including $1.65 million for the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander X PRIZE Challenge which was won by Masten Space Systems and Armadillo Aerospace. Prizes are an innovative mechanism for technology advancement that is supported by the commercial spaceflight sector, and the funds will allow NASA to develop and announce more new prizes in the coming year.

FAA Space Transportation Infrastructure Matching Grants (STIM-Grants): An initial amount of $500,000 in Fiscal Year 2010 will be competitively awarded to spaceports nationwide through FAA’s spaceport grant program, the first time the grant program has been funded since being created in 1993. The grants will be awarded by the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST) under Dr. George Nield to allow spaceports to support operations and protect public safety. Existing and proposed spaceports in California, Florida, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Virginia / Maryland, Alaska, Wisconsin, Indiana, and other states, will be eligible for these competitively-awarded grants. In addition to promoting safety, the STIM-Grants program is expected to increase the competitiveness of U.S. launch facilities and create new jobs.

NASA Commercial Reusable Suborbital Research Program (CRuSR): The CRuSR program will fly science, technology, and education payloads aboard next-generation commercial suborbital spacecraft. In addition to funds for the CRuSR program that are expected to come from NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) and the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate (ESMD), NASA received $1 million of new funding in Fiscal Year 2010 for the Innovative Partnership Program’s “Innovation Incubator” account, which includes the FAST program for flights on zero-g parabolic aircraft and funding for the Commercial Reusable Suborbital Research (CRuSR) program. Funding for FAST, formally known as the Facilitated Access to the Space Environment for Technology Development and Training Program, had been zeroed out in the previous year.

Washington, D.C. – The Commercial Spaceflight Federation congratulates Masten Space Systems of Mojave, California, and Armadillo Aerospace, of Rockwall, Texas, for their success in NASA’s $2 million Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge. The prize money was awarded by NASA Administrator Charles Bolden in ceremony yesterday in Washington, DC. The two winning companies qualified for the prize, which is managed by the X PRIZE Foundation, by building and flying vertical-takeoff-and-landing vehicles that hovered for up to 180 seconds, translated horizontally, landed under rocket power, and repeated the feat in two hours.

“We commend Masten Space Systems and Armadillo Aerospace for their tremendous success in NASA’s Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge,” said Bretton Alexander, President of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation. “High flight rates and quick turnaround are exciting features of this new era of commercial spaceflight, and we look forward to seeing these vehicles climb to higher and higher altitudes in the months ahead.”

Distinguished speakers in yesterday’s Capitol Hill prize ceremony in Washington, DC, included:
• Charles Bolden, NASA Administrator;
• Thomas Kalil, Deputy Director for Policy at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP);
• Dr. Peter Diamandis, X PRIZE Foundation Chairman;
• Dr. George Nield, Associate Administrator of the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation;
• Representative Ralph Hall (R-Texas), Ranking Member of the House Science Committee;
• Representative Adam Schiff (D-California), Member of the House CJS Appropriations Subcommittee;
• Mitch Waldman, Vice President for Business Development at Northrop Grumman;
• Doug Comstock, NASA Innovative Partnerships Program Director.

Additional guests at the event included Representative Parker Griffith (D-Alabama), Member of the House Space Subcommittee; Lori Garver, NASA Deputy Administrator; and George Whitesides, NASA Chief of Staff.

David Masten, CEO of Masten Space Systems, stated, “We’d been building our vehicles before the prize started, but the NASA prize was a great incentive along the path towards the market for flying low-cost science and educational payloads. Now we are going beyond the prize and will be flying higher and faster in the coming months. High-altitude flights of aerospace R&D payloads, science experiments, and educational payloads are planned for 2010.”

Phil Eaton, VP of Operations at Armadillo Aerospace, stated, “We see more than a prize – we see the growth of the commercial space industry.”

Bretton Alexander added, “The diverse range of speakers at the prize ceremony, from NASA and FAA to Congress, signals the level of support and encouragement that the commercial spaceflight industry is receiving from policymakers in Washington DC. This week’s ceremony represents another exciting milestone for an industry that has made tremendous strides in the last few years.”

In order to meet the requirements of the Lunar Lander Challenge, the Masten and Armadillo vehicles had to ascend to a height of 50 meters, translate horizontally to a landing pad 50 meters away, land safely on another pad after 90 seconds of flight time (for Level 1), or 180 seconds of flight time (for Level 2), and then repeat the flight. $350,000 was awarded last year to Armadillo Aerospace, and at this year’s prize ceremony a total of $1,650,000 was awarded to Masten Space Systems and Armadillo Aerospace for successfully completed flights.

About the Commercial Spaceflight Federation
The mission of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation (CSF) is to promote the development of commercial human spaceflight, pursue ever higher levels of safety, and share best practices and expertise throughout the industry. CSF member organizations include commercial spaceflight developers, operators, and spaceports. The Commercial Spaceflight Federation is governed by a board of directors, composed of the member companies’ CEO-level officers and entrepreneurs. For more information please visit www.commercialspaceflight.org or contact Executive Director John Gedmark at john@commercialspaceflight.org or at 202.349.1121.

In a ceremony this Thursday on Capitol Hill, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden will award $1.65 million in prizes to two commercial spaceflight companies, Masten Space Systems and Armadillo Aerospace, for completing successful flights in the NASA-funded Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge managed by the X PRIZE Foundation.

Time: Doors open 11:45 am and ceremony begins at noon, Thursday November 5th.

Place: Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2325. Open to the public.

Speakers include: NASA Administrator, Charles Bolden; NASA Innovative Partnerships Director, Doug Comstock; OSTP Deputy Director for Policy, Tom Kalil; X PRIZE Foundation CEO, Peter Diamandis; Rep. Ralph Hall, ranking member of the House Science Committee; Rep. Adam Schiff, House CJS Appropriations Subcommittee; and the winning teams.

The NASA-funded Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge (NGLLC) is a $2,000,000 incentive prize program designed to build an industry of American companies capable of routinely and safely flying vertical-takeoff-and-landing rocket vehicles useful both for lunar exploration and for other applications. $350,000 was awarded last year to Armadillo Aerospace, and this year $1,650,000 will be awarded to Masten Space Systems and Armadillo Aerospace for successfully completed flights.

In a Washington DC speech yesterday, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden delivered a strong endorsement of commercial spaceflight, specifically highlighting NASA’s new Commercial Reusable Suborbital Research program, the importance of commercial human spaceflight, and the value of prize competitions to promote space innovation.

During his remarks to the National Association of Investment Companies, Administrator Bolden said, “NASA’s founding legislation states that we will ‘seek and encourage, to the maximum extent possible, the fullest commercial use of space.’ … NASA must determine efficient and effective ways to leverage the power and innovation of American industry and the American entrepreneur.” Bolden then highlighted several specific NASA initiatives:

• Suborbital science: Bolden stated, “In the 1920s, the U.S. Post Office became a major customer for airmail, which created the demand that justified the private investment in many airlines. NASA is doing something similar right now. We are engaged in a new program — the Commercial Reusable Suborbital Research program — that will buy space transportation services from the emerging reusable spaceflight companies to conduct science research, technology development, with a keen focus on education.”

• Commercial human spaceflight: Bolden stated, “Some of the most exciting companies in America today go by the names of SpaceX, Blue Origin, Armadillo Aerospace, Virgin Galactic, XCOR, Bigelow Aerospace, Masten, Flag Suit, and Ad Astra…. What these companies, and others, are doing is nothing short of inspirational. Today, we at NASA are devising ways to work with these companies and others who will come.”

• Innovation prizes: Bolden stated, “You may not know it, but NASA also has the authority to fund prizes. Over this weekend, NASA just held a competition in California with $750,000 in prizes for anyone in America who could move the most “regolith” — or moon dirt — with a robot. Twenty-three teams competed. The winning team is “Paul’s Robotics”, led by a young man by the name Paul Ventimiglia. … Paul is a college student at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts. … Now that is inspiring.”

Administrator Bolden also talked about the potential for commercial human spaceflight to motivate the nation’s youth to study math, science, and engineering, stating, “What if you were a seventh grader and you knew that if you buckled down, and studied hard at math and science, that you could go to space? Not because you would be the one of the very few who might become a NASA astronaut, as I was so privileged, but because you saw hundreds of people of all nations traveling into space each and every year, and knew in your bones that you could soon be one of them?”

The full text of Bolden’s speech can be found on the NASA website at http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/395165main_Bolden_NAIC_Speech.pdf.