Not for full-fledged, hardcore, xtreme members of our NewSpace era only: if you missed the space scene out at Las Cruces and Holloman Air Force Base last week and over the weekend, there's always blogspace for catching up. Thanks to Alan Boyle, Clark Lindsey, Rand Simberg, Jeff Foust and everyone who live blogged the action from the International Symposium for Personal Spaceflight and the far out X Prize Cup.
Scroll through dispatches from the commercial space frontier for recaps and multimedia of the Lunar Lander Challenge, (I like the positive spin in the event's press release: Armadillo missed by only seven seconds. Next year they win), along with payloads of news from New Mexico including Rocketplane Global's unveiling of the reshaped, roomier and beefier XP suborbital spaceplane, Orbital Outfitters voguing of the first commercial spacesuit (strike a space pose; and I might know a few subway riders who'd like to wear it for their commute to the office), Rocket Racing League's announcement of new teams, and lots more.
A few additional highlights:
Space Angels Network: check out the newly launched an online venue to hook up individual investors with space entrepreneurs. The managing angel, Guillermo Söhnlein is a lawyer (or I should say, he is a JD). And I note top law firm Morrison & Foerster is listed as a sponsor/partner of the venture. Some angels prefer rockets to wings.
Big shots: Brian Berger reports on the XPC's invitation-only executive summit hosted by Esther Dyson. (And I see Christopher Stott of the space-friendly, tax-averse Isle of Man had a few things to say about governments as customers: "They are incredibly risky. They pay late, if they pay at all. They cancel contracts on you. They have clauses about Congress changing its mind once a year. Politics intervenes and you investment disappears." Hi, Chris. ;)
OK, it's Teachers in Space not Lawyers in Space. But maybe someday....
Overall, looks like the exposition and events in New Mexico promoted commercial space business, education, and frolicking all around. 'Til next year. (Regards to Governor and presidential hopeful Richardson.)
For now, a quick handful of other assorted Flybys:
Forecast space: Futron has released its 2007 Forecast of Global Satellite Demand. And here's the executive summary. There's no section forecasting demand for satellite lawyers. Extrapolate that yourself.
Defending the Treaty: Finally, after all the recent treaty slamming, someone defends the OST, no holds barred, even if she has to launch a new blog to do it. Congrats again to Joanne and the NCRSASL on Res Communis, a University of Mississippi blog covering aerospace which does include air law but we can overlook that. Great job, PJ and everyone.
Greetings to those gathered at the conference, Risk & Exploration: Earth as a Classroom, - Oct. 28-30, at Louisiana State University. Space lawyer Art Dula will participate in the session tomorrow on, "Risk & Commercial Space Exploration" (2:00-5:00pm) and we can tune in for a live webcast.
Clark reports: "Looks like the PlanetSpace deal with Lockheed Martin and the Canadian government is going nowhere."
Who among us can't use: An Attorney's Guide to Space Travel - Sonia E. Miller (Sept. 19, 2007; New York Law Journal but subscription is unfortunately required, and although I used to work at American Lawyer Media which owns the NYLJ and lots of other stuff, don't ask me to post my little essay, "An Attorney's Guide to Hacking Subscription Sites". You're on your own.)
Spin through Milbank's succinct Space Business Review for Sept. 2007 (which I meant to post a few Flybys ago). Hi to Peter Nesgos.
Kudos: Lots of launch action last week while newspace stormed New Mexico and I want to note these notable events...
Flygirls together: SLP says hats off to Discovery commander Pamela Melroy and ISS commander Peggy Whitson. Very cool.
Congratulations to China on the launch of Chang'e-1, (嫦娥一号) the nation's first moon orbiter. The craft, named after the goddess of the Moon, is expcted to arrive in lunar orbit Nov. 5.
Also, after Kazakhstan lifted the ban on Proton launches from Baikonur which it imposed in the wake of the Sept. 6 Proton crash, on Friday Russia launched a Proton carrying three satellites of the GLONASS navigation system. Meanwhile, Kazakhstan wants $60 million (1.5 billion rubles) in compensation for the September accident. (RIA Novosti) More on that later.
And that's all for Monday.
(By the way, the new Space Lifestyle Magazine, which I have not yet read, gets me thinking: why not a space lawyer lifestyle magazine? Hmm. Nah...)
Finally, if the week is dragging and you're stuck on Earth, take a break and stick your toes in some fake Mars dirt (ok, Martian regolith simulant). Might perk you right up. (Hat tip: SpaceRef) * * *
IMAGE: XP by Rocketplane Global.
// posted by Jesse Londin @
4:17 PM 
