Who Wants a Space Program?

America's Starmen Are Selling Space, But Who's Buying?

Robert Bigelow, back of inflatable space hotels, has announced the formation of a new company to build and market space stations in Earth's orbit, called Bigelow Space Ops. During his announcement, the company's founder made a point to paint a picture of a thriving U.S.

From article, Boeing and SpaceX are building capsules for NASA astronauts, but plan to sell these flagship rides to other clients. Chris Ferguson, director of the Boeing Starliner, told Space News last year that Boeing is “looking for participants in the form of countries, industries, and individuals that want to participate in this great business of human spaceflight." SpaceX already launches payloads for international customers, and has shown a willingness to send customers anywhere they want to go in the solar system—including a wealthy couple the company says has approached them with plans to fly around the moon in 2019.

These dreams tie into a central question of the commercial spaceflight movement: Now that industry is selling tickets, who’s taking the rides? No one knows for sure yet.

“The time is now to quantify in detail the global, national, and corporate commercial space market for orbiting stations,” Bigelow Space Operations’ website says. “This subject has had ambiguity for many years. BSO will be spending millions of dollars this year to establish concrete answers.

In the short term, delivering American astronauts to the International Space Station will be the cornerstone mission for this new wave of human spaceflight, says John Lodgson, founder of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University. Beyond that, he says, the crewed launch market looks “rather vague.”

The first obvious (but overlooked) customer base would be astronauts from Europe and elsewhere, who need to travel to the ISS before any plans to privatize the station after 2024 come to fruition. Less clear is the possible demand from corporations from around the globe, who could desire to conduct research on to ISS or other research stations.

Then there are other nations who are not ISS partners, but who may want an off-the-shelf launch kit for their astronauts. A range of countries could be interested in such a ticket. “Thinking off the top of my head, the United Arab Emirates,” Lodgson says when prodded to name for possible customers. “Nigeria? Iran always wanted a human spaceflight program.”

Another event last week—the meeting of the reformed Space Council—will have a direct bearing on Americans selling space services abroad. “The Council is looking into how reforming export controls plays into all of this,” Lodgson says.

At issue is the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). Space rockets and military missiles have a lot in common, and for that reason, access to manufacturing facilities and launchpads is limited to citizens and U.S.-based companies. This makes sense for national security reasons, but it also could limit the marketing of space services. For example, a spaceplane landing at an international airport could be subject to ITAR restrictions. A company bringing rockets to another nation clearly would.

The Trump Administration’s Space Council has a clear goal to reduce regulations that hamper commercial space. This week the members directed former NASA official and Space Council executive secretary Scott Pace to conduct an export control policy review. It’s supposed to be done by January 1, 2019 — right around the time of the SpaceX and Boeing’s first crewed launches to ISS.)

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Orange and Rockland County New York's Electric Grid, to get Battery Storage from Tesla. First step in NYS' Plan for Wide Spread Energy Storage

Elon Musk, Tesla, plan for Rockland power program

CLOSE Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk wants to lower your energy bills, Orange & Rockland Utilities customers. On Thursday, the New York State Public Service Commission approved a $5.2 million proposal by the Pearl River-based utility company to team up on a project with Tesla geared at making the power supply smarter and more reliable.

From article, (Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk wants to lower your energy bills, Orange & Rockland Utilities customers.

On Thursday, the New York State Public Service Commission approved a $5.2 million proposal by the Pearl River-based utility company to team up on a project with Tesla geared at making the power supply smarter and more reliable.According to the 32-page plan filed with the state, O&R will work with the electric car maker and energy firm to integrate electric battery storage into the local grid over a three-year period.

Tesla will own and develop the systems, which will be placed at up to eight yet-to-be-identified commercial and industrial customers, as well as at one or two solar projects.

Over the last few years, Tesla’s energy business, which includes batteries and solar panels for residential and commercial use, has been using electric battery storage to supplement or replace parts of the traditional power supply.

There are installations in South Australia, France and Nova Scotia, as well as at SpaceX's spaceport in Texas. Tesla also has partnerships with several utility companies in places like southern California and Nantucket.

“Intelligent grid” systems are able to switch from charging to discharging in a fraction of a second, particularly during times when energy prices spike due to high demand. During those peak demand periods, battery energy storage can help offset purchases from fossil fuels, saving money.

Once in place, Orange and Rockland expects it’ll allow participating customers to reduce their demand charges, which can make up as much as 70 percent of an electric bill. 

According to O&R's proposal, Tesla is "pursuing multiple storage projects" in New York, where Gov. Andrew Cuomo has been pushing for the adoption of clean energy.

Cuomo's "Reforming the Energy Vision" initiative aims to help customers make more informed energy choices, encourage the development of new energy products, create new jobs and protect the environment.

O&R also said the project will help the company meet guidelines set forth by New York’s Climate Plan, a newly announced effort by Cuomo “to combat climate change.” Part of the agenda calls for increased energy storage by 2025.)


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Nano-Satellites Key to Company 'SAS' Mobile Phone services: Text, Voice and Data In Latin America and Africa.

The low-cost mini satellites bringing mobile to the world

Large chunks of the planet are still of out of reach of mobile phone signals - billions are still without access to digital communications. But this could change thanks to shrinking satellite sizes and costs.

From article, (Lower-cost, space-based mobile phone services will soon be a reality thanks to one firm's fleet of nano-satellites that will bounce your voice or text signal from one spacecraft to the next and finally down to the person you're calling.
"People were thinking of using nano-satellites for Earth imagery but nobody had thought of using them for voice or text communications," says Israeli former fighter pilot Meir Moalem, the chief executive of Sky and Space Global (SAS).
"We were the first."

• The new space race

His firm is aiming to offer customers mobile phone connections via a constellation of 200 shoebox-sized satellites weighing just 10kg (22lb) each.

The fleet is set to be operational by 2020 and will provide text, voice and data transfer services to the Earth's equatorial regions - including much of Latin America and Africa - to a market of up to three billion people.

nano-satellites are a game-changer.

"Some customers invest several hundreds of dollars in the hardware for a satellite phone terminal and will pay $50 a month for the service. But if you can offer a solution for half of that - then the price can be compared to conventional mobile phones," he explains.
SAS says it is going for the gap in the market between existing satellite communications operators, such as Iridium, Inmarsat and Globalstar, and land-based mobile networks such as Vodafone, Telefonica, Airtel and Safaricom.
It is targeting customers earning less than $8 a day.

In Ghana, the company has just signed a five-year deal with telecoms provider Universal Cyberlinks to help government agricultural projects and public services, including monitoring cocoa production across 5,000 buying centres and checkpoints.
"When you travel outside of a city in Africa, often you lose your phone signal because it is not cost-effective to put up phone masts everywhere. That's where we come in," says Mr Moalem.
"In the West, we tend to forget that in many parts of the world people are not concerned about high-speed internet, they want to make simple phone calls, texting or money transfers. It's a basic need."
Africa is certainly becoming a key market for mobile services. There were 420 million mobile subscribers in 2016 and by 2020 there will be more than 500 million, around half the population, says industry body GSMA.)

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This is when you know Electric Cars have made it: When a Tesla Model 3 can take on a Pontiac G8 GT, and Win.

Tesla Model 3 shows up at local street race and blows away competition

As Tesla begins to ramp Model 3 deliveries to customers across much of the U.S., one enterprising new owner has taken their vehicle to the local street races in the San Francisco Bay Area, in jest that Tesla's entry-level car can blow the socks off of gas-burning V8s.

From article, (As Tesla begins to ramp Model 3 deliveries to customers across much of the U.S., one enterprising new owner has taken their vehicle to the local street races in the San Francisco Bay Area, in jest that Tesla’s entry-level car can blow the socks off of gas-burning V8s.

Though the folks at Bay Area Racing rally in support of legal racing venues in the Bay Area, according to its website, the group recently posted a video that shows a Tesla Model 3 going heads up against a Pontiac G8 GT in a local street race.

A Model 3 in Midnight Silver Metallic color with Tesla’s range-boosting aero wheels can be seen lining up against a gurgling Pontiac G8. In a traditional gesture that signals the start of a street battle, the flagger throws his arms down, followed by both cars accelerating down what appears to be an industrial street.

Tesla is currently producing the Long Range Model 3 that’s capable of traveling 310 miles on a single charge. Available only in a single motor, rear-wheel drive configuration at the moment, the all-electric compact sedan is marketed as having a 5.1 second 0-60 mph performance figure. By comparison, the Pontiac G8 GT with a 6.0-liter OHV V-8 that pumps out 361 hp can accelerate to 60 mph from a standstill in 5.3 seconds, according to performance testing by Motor Trend.)

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DHL is Mesmerized by the Telsla Semi Specs.

A Tesla Semi electric truck could save us 'tens of thousands of dollars a year', says DHL

The Tesla Semi specs are mesmerizing competitors and customers alike, but some are still skeptical about the company's ability to deliver on them. With this said, DHL, one of the largest logistics firms in the world, is on board and now expects that a Tesla Semi electric truck could save them 'tens of thousands of dollars a year'.

From article, (The Tesla Semi specs are mesmerizing competitors and customers alike, but some are still skeptical about the company’s ability to deliver on them.
With this said, DHL, one of the largest logistics firms in the world, is on board and now expects that a Tesla Semi electric truck could save them ‘tens of thousands of dollars a year’.
In an interview with Reuters, Jim Monkmeyer, President of Transportation at DHL Supply Chain, made the comment today.
He added:

“We are estimating that we could have pay back within a year-and-a-half based on energy usage as well as lower maintenance cost,”

Even though Tesla Semi, which starts at $150,000, is more expensive than the average class 8 diesel truck, Tesla estimates the payback period is just two years because of the significantly more efficient electric powertrain.
Monkmeyer thinks DHL could start saving money even sooner when factoring their current maintenance costs:

“The maintenance savings can be enormous as well. Just because the engines are much simpler in terms of the number of parts and the complexities of the parts.”

Last year, DHL ordered Tesla Semi trucks, which they plan to use in a test program.

Even though the company is clearly on board with electrification, Monkmeyer still has concerns when it comes to the charging infrastructure:

The biggest issue is going to be how is that grid provided and how is it supported and how quickly can we get a network out there for use nationwide, throughout North America, throughout the world. That’s a big question mark. So that to me would be one limiting factor.

Tesla is reportedly already in talks with electric truck customers to install ‘Megacharger’ stations at the locations where they plan to use the Tesla Semi.)

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Bigelow Space Operations is Marketing Space Stations to Private Industries which need Space for Research and Development

Bigelow Aerospace Launches New Company to Operate Private Space Stations

A company that builds big, inflatable space habitats has launched a new venture that will market and operate these structures in Earth orbit and beyond. Today (Feb. 20), entrepreneur Robert Bigelow announced the creation of Bigelow Space Operations (BSO), which will manage the private space stations being built by his Nevada-based manufacturing company, Bigelow Aerospace.

From article, (A company that builds big, inflatable space habitats has launched a new venture that will market and operate these structures in Earth orbit and beyond.

Today (Feb. 20), entrepreneur Robert Bigelow announced the creation of Bigelow Space Operations (BSO), which will manage the private space stations being built by his Nevada-based manufacturing company, Bigelow Aerospace.
BSO will also conduct in-depth market research, to gauge the demand for these space stations and identify the most promising customer bases. [Bigelow Aerospace's Inflatable Space Station Idea (Photos)]

"We intend to spend millions of dollars this year in drilling down, hopefully, to a conclusion one way or the other as to what the global market is going to look like," Bigelow said in a teleconference with reporters today. "We expect to finish that investigation by the end of this year."

BSO was officially established last year, but it started hiring only last month, Bigelow said. The company has already filled a number of key posts, including chief operating officer and general counsel, and intends to hire three dozen to four dozen people this year. Eventually, 400 to 500 people will probably work for BSO, the entrepreneur said.

Bigelow's space-station plans are based on soft-bodied modules that launch in a compressed configuration but expand greatly once they reach space. Such inflatables offer much more habitable volume per unit launch mass, and better radiation shielding, compared with traditional aluminum modules, company representatives have stressed.)

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What is Elium?

New Resin Leads to More Sustainable Wind Turbine Blades

While the benefits of wind power may seem obvious to many, the alternative energy source does come with its own environmental downsides.

From article, (While the benefits of wind power may seem obvious to many, the alternative energy source does come with its own environmental downsides.
To generate wind power using fields of spinning wind turbines, a substantial amount of time and energy is needed to cure the type of resin that makes the 150-foot wide fiberglass turbines both strong and durable.  In addition, turbines generally wear out after 20 to 25 years of use and most of their materials are unable to be recycled.
Researchers from the University of Vanderbilt, the University of Tennessee and industry partner Arkema, are working to make wind turbines more sustainable, developing a lightweight, liquid thermoplastic resin material that can seamlessly blend with glass or carbon fibers, enabling the fiberglass for wind turbine blades to be ultimately be recycled.
“What better application to look at than wind power, where we think about energy and sustainability foremost in our minds? It’s a grand challenge in composites manufacturing,” said Doug Adams, Distinguished Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Daniel F. Flowers Professor, said in a statement.
The new resin—dubbed Elium--creates its own heat and cures at room temperature without creating flaws in the fiberglass.  The novel thermoplastic liquid resin makes it possible to produce continuous fiber reinforced thermoplastic parts using typical closed mold thermoset processes.
The process is also simpler than conventional techniques.
 “Wind turbines are very complex systems, which is one of the reasons we want to look at ways to build wind turbine blades that are manufactured where we can make a single part with composite materials where we don’t have to have multiple materials,” said Adams.
The researchers tested the resin’s self-setting properties using infrared imaging. They also produced an algorithm that manufacturers can use to set up the process on production lines.
“This composite materials technology is exciting because it closes the loop on sustainability in wind energy,” Adams said.
The researchers will now attempt to scale up the process from test-sized components to full-sized blades.)

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Part of A Falcon Nine Rocket Fairing makes its way back to land. What's Next for It?

SpaceX's recovered fairing spotted sailing into port on Mr Steven

Just 24 hours after gently landing in the ocean, SpaceX recovery technicians have successfully recovered one half of an intact Falcon payload fairing for the first time ever. Photos of the return to Port of San Pedro in Southern California, captured by Teslarati photographer Pauline Acalin, show that the halve recovered is in amazing condition ...

From article, (Just 24 hours after gently landing in the ocean, SpaceX recovery technicians have successfully recovered one half of an intact Falcon payload fairing for the first time ever. Photos of the return to Port of San Pedro in Southern California, captured by Teslarati photographer Pauline Acalin, show that the halve recovered is in amazing condition considering its journey from speeds of nearly two miles per second (approximately 30 football fields per second, or more than ten times faster than a commercial passenger jet), to a soft, watery halt.

The most important unknown here is just how well SpaceX’s fairing design is able to cope with even brief contact with or immersion in saltwater, a natural corrosive agent. As a Teslarati reader rightly noted, carbon fiber composites do currently see quite a bit of use in boating, apparently no worse for wear in terms of maintainability. However, carbon fiber components on marine vessels are treated and coated with specially-chosen laminates and waterproofing materials to prevent saltwater intrusion. It’s unclear if SpaceX’s fairings include the same sort of treatment, although it can be all but guaranteed that the outside of the fairing is designed to be perfectly sealed against the environment – a necessity to protect sensitive satellite components from local weather and humidity.

 Of course, reuse for this particular fairing half may be out of the question given its pathfinder position. SpaceX may destructively analyze and test the recovered fairing to gather as much detail as possible about its condition after a rough reentry and some ocean-floating leisure time. In line with my above speculation, recovery technicians and engineers will judge how much (if any) saltwater managed to get inside the fairing, while also judging the condition of the giant halve’s carbon composite structure. Just like SpaceX chose to display its first successfully landed Falcon 9 booster outside of their Hawthorne, CA factory, they may hold onto this intact fairing as a piece of SpaceX history, maybe even put it on display in or around one of SpaceX’s US facilities.)

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Cities like Chicago are unprepared for the Uptick in Electric cars that is coming and the charging infrastructure needed. If done right, cities, energy companies, and technology companies, can make a profit off of chargers.

Study: Chicago Could See 80,000 Electric Cars by 2030

Chicago could see more than 80,000 electric cars on the road by the end of next decade, but drivers will need the city to install thousands of new charging stations in order to power their vehicles. The number of electric vehicles in Chicago and other U.S.

From article, (Chicago could see more than 80,000 electric cars on the road by the end of next decade, but drivers will need the city to install thousands of new charging stations in order to power their vehicles.

The number of electric vehicles in Chicago and other U.S. cities will increase significantly by 2030, according to a new study by left-leaning nonprofits Illinois PIRG Education Fund and the Frontier Group. The study also outlines policy and infrastructure changes required to accommodate the growing “EV” market.

The demand for electric vehicles is already on the rise, with sales increasing by more than 30 percent in each of the last two years, according to data from the nonprofit Veloz. A 2017 report by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory estimates that the U.S. will have 15 million electric vehicles on the road by 2050.

By 2030, when Chicago could have as many as 81,000 electric vehicles on its roadways, the city will need about 2,700 publicly available charging stations, according to the study. Currently, there are fewer than 300 stations in the city.

 Last year, Chicago’s Department of Transportation administered federal grant funding to cover 30 percent of equipment and installation costs for new direct current, or DC, fast-charging stations. Compared to residential-use stations that fully charge vehicles overnight, DC fast chargers supply a full charge in 20 to 30 minutes.

Costs for fast-charging stations range from $80,000 to $100,000, according to the Chicago-based Environmental Law & Policy Center.

As of February 2017, CDOT said there were 34 fast-charging stations in northeastern Illinois.

The new study, “Plugging in: Readying America’s Cities for the Arrival of Electric Vehicles,” calls on cities to map out charging locations for the coming wave of electric cars, particularly in areas without off-street parking.

The study’s authors also instruct cities to adopt policies that support electric vehicles, which reduce emissions of pollutants that can harm human health and contribute to climate change.

“American cities risk being unprepared for the impending arrival of thousands of electric vehicles on their streets,” said Alana Miller, policy analyst at Frontier Group and coauthor of the study, in a statement. “Without forward-thinking policies that give EV owners places to park and charge their vehicles, cities could lost out on the health and air quality benefits that electric vehicles can deliver.”)

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Me, "Cities like Chicago are unprepared for the Uptick in Electric cars that is coming and the charging infrastructure needed. If done right, cities can make a profit off of chargers.

Think about it. Cities charge you to park in certain areas with meter parking at a terminal that dispense tags. Why can't they charge you for charging up your car at a similar charging terminal? This could be a new revenue stream for cities. 

Electricity rates are not that high. Cities could add a usage fee just like a parking meter fee. An energy company provides the power and charges for the power, and a technology company provides the charger, and charges for its use, while making sure it stays in good repair. All these charges are added together in your charging bill when you come back to your electric car. 

Obviously, the bill needs to include the fact that this is a perk for people who can charge their car at home and not a perk for workers or apartment dwellers who do not have access to a garage for charging their electric car. 
The Bill would also stay low because these charging Terminals would be all over the city, (Where there presently are not) making a nice profit, and they would want repeat customers. 
Everybody wins, the City, (Ex. NYC) the Electric power company, (Con Edison) the charger provider, (Tesla, BP, Shell, etc.) and ultimately the customer, (You and Me)." 

What is Holding Up the Electric Car Adoption Market in India?

Auto Makers Race to Build a Cheaper Electric Car for India, Other Growing Markets

The world's auto makers are vying to build an affordable electric car to target drivers in emerging economies and potentially create a competitor to Chinese-made vehicles.

From article, ([India] Industry executives say that for people to switch to electric cars, their price tags have to be comparable to regular cars, the most popular of which in India cost between $6,000 and $8,000. High battery prices are one of the main hurdles for companies trying to build cheaper electric cars.

In the U.S., the best-selling electric vehicles tend to cost more than $30,000. Globally, some electric vehicles sell for less than $10,000, but only after large government subsidies and rebates.

To create enough demand to reach the economies of scale that would bring prices down further, governments need to continue subsidizing consumers while they spend billions building necessary infrastructure such as charging stations, industry executives say.

“We need (China’s) single-minded focus to push electric vehicles” in India, said Guenter Butschek, chief executive of Tata Motors Ltd. , India’s largest auto maker by revenues and the owner of Jaguar and Land Rover. “As the sales volume of mild hybrid and EV in other markets—especially China—ramp up, costs will reduce, making it easier to further grow our market.”

 Auto companies are also betting prices will fall as technology improves and a new wave of battery-making capacity comes online and forces further competition. Batteries are perhaps the most important component in car makers’ quest to create an affordable EV.

At current battery prices, an electric version of Suzuki’s best-selling Alto model, for example, would theoretically cost more than double the standard $5,500 price, said Kenichi Ayukawa, chief executive of Maruti Suzuki, which dominates the Indian passenger car market with close to a 50% market share.

Suzuki plans to launch an EV for the Indian market in 2020, but it is unlikely to be a big seller unless costs fall, he said.

“The battery cost is still very expensive. We need more improvement in that area,” Mr. Ayukawa said. “As long as we cannot provide an affordable price, the customer will not buy.”)

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