Catch-Up: Jim Benson Dies at 63

Some sad news was released while I wasn't getting updates. Jim Benson, the founder of SpaceDev and Benson Space died of a brain tumor on October 10.

Benson leaves behind a huge legacy. Though Benson Space was dissolved due to Benson's long illness, SpaceDev remains, and is one of the most exciting companies in space equipment manufacturing today. Most notably, in the world of space tourism, SpaceDev designed and constructed the rocket for SpaceShipOne, the first commercial spacecraft. Despite a personal dispute between Jim Benson and Burt Rutan, SpaceDev has also signed a contract to design the rockets for SpaceShipTwo. In addition, SpaceDev is currently designing the DreamChaser, a spacecraft which if built, could be launched into space atop an Atlas V rocket.

Among other accomplishments, Benson was on the board of the California Space Authority, and he founded the non-profit Space Development Institute. And though by all accounts, he tended to be rather blunt in personal conversation, which tended to rub people the wrong way, he will certainly be missed. And with the advances that are continuing to be made toward the goal of space tourism, my guess is that he would not be disappointed.

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A Few More Space Tourism Companies

Well, I've done it again! In the process of researching for these posts, I've run across a few more potential space tourism companies that I neglected in my previous lists. So here are three more!

SpaceDev
SpaceDev has the stated goal of building a private affordable space program, and they're doing it incrementally by working on designing and constructing various systems and satellites for use in space. They were founded in 1997 by Jim Benson, and started by creating thermal actuator technologies. It has since specialized in (among other things) the design and construction of very small satellites, and it is credited with the design and construction of SpaceShipOne's rocket engine. SpaceDev is currently designing the Dream Chaser spacecraft, which may be used by the Benson Space company for orbital tourist flights. For the record, I have been aware of this company for a long time, but I didn't include them among my space tourism company lists until now because I was not aware that they are the people who are designing the Dream Chaser.

SPACEHAB
SPACEHAB was founded in 1984, and has specialized since then in many spaceflight-related services. Notably, they have designed and constructed pressurized and non-pressurized cargo containers that have flown on nineteen shuttle missions. They have also provided services that facilitated the launch of over 200 commercial satellites, and they provide many other services and technologies to NASA and other government organizations. They are currently designing a module for the International Space Station, named (of course) Enterprise, with plans of potentially selling its use to miscellaneous interests. These are expected to be mainly scientific interests, but this could potentially open up the International Space Station for more tourism. Yeah, I know, it's a really slim possibility, but it gives me an excuse to fill out the list with one more company.

t/Space
t/Space (or Transformational Space) was founded specifically to facilitate NASA's needs concerning the President's Vision in Space Exploration. Already, they have competed and become finalists in NASA's COTS (Commercial Orbital Transportation Services) program to determine who will provide International Space Station transportation services when the space shuttle is retired. Also, they were one of eight winners in NASA's "Concept Exploration and Refinement" competition to advise them on the best method of getting back to the moon and going on to Mars. They are currently in the process of designing a "Crew Transfer Vehicle" (CXV) to get people to low earth orbit, and potentially the International Space Station. Also, the t/Space website states that the CXV will aid in "opening the public to space for the first time" which suggests space tourism uses.

By my count, those three additions bring the list up to a whopping 31 companies that will potentially be involved in facilitating space tourism! I'm having trouble finding any more though, so maybe I've found most of them? Maybe?

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SpaceX Releases Mission Manifest

Well, it seems as if SpaceX has really been busy of late, and is ramping up for full-scale operations. They just released their revised mission manifest for launches from this spring all the way to 2011. There is some pretty interesting stuff here! It goes something like this:

Customer	Launch Date	Launch Vehicle	Launch Site
US Government & ATSB	Q2 2008	Falcon 1	Kwajalein
ATSB (Malaysia)	Q3 2008	Falcon 1	Kwajalein
US Government	Q4 2008	Falcon 9	Cape Canaveral
MDA Corp. (Canada)	2009	Falcon 9	Cape Canaveral
Avanti Communications (UK)	2009	Falcon 9	Cape Canaveral
NASA COTS - Demo 1	2009	Falcon 9	Cape Canaveral
NASA COTS - Demo 2	2009	Falcon 9	Cape Canaveral
SpaceDev	2009	Falcon 1	Kwajalein
NASA COTS - Demo 3	2010	Falcon 9	Cape Canaveral
MDA Corp. (Canada)	2010	Falcon 1	Kwajalein
Swedish Space Corp. (Sweden)	2010	Falcon 1	Kwajalein
Bigelow Aerospace	2011	Falcon 9	Cape Canaveral

Some of these are simply communications satellite launches. However, the items 5, 6, and 8 that say NASA COTS are of some interest. These are demonstration launches of SpaceX's pressurized Dragon capsule. The NASA COTS program (Commercial Orbital Transportation Services) has been set up to finance demonstration flights by several commercial space launch companies to see who might best be able to provide cargo and crew transportation for the international space station after the space shuttle retires, but before the Ares/Orion vehicle project is completed. These three launches will demonstrate the capabilities of the Dragon capsule for NASA, in the hopes that it will be chosen to transport astronauts to the International Space Station. These will also serve as the Dragon's only currently planned test flights (SpaceX is all about the saving of the moneys).

The second interesting item is launch 7. This launch is being performed for SpaceDev, the company that designed SpaceShipOne's rocket, and is a former competitor in the COTS program. The goal of this launch is to put a number of very small satellites in orbit (called micro- and nanosatelites) developed by SpaceDev and others to advance the technologies behind mini floaters of doom. Or something.

The last, but most interesting item is the last on the list, the launch for Bigelow Aerospace. Bigelow Aerospace is a company that is developing very exciting space habitat technologies based on an inflatable design originally developed by NASA. The payload on this launch will likely be Bigelow's Sundancer prototype craft, the third of Bigelow's flight prototypes, though this has not been confirmed. If successful, this launch will almost certainly lead to more interesting space tourism potential.

It looks like SpaceX is going to attempt its first satellite launch this spring without having made a successful test flight, so one way or another, this will be an exciting year for the company! I posted in greater detail about SpaceX just last week here, I will post in greater detail about Bigelow Aerospace in the next few days, and a full profile of SpaceDev is on my to-do list later down the road.

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