...the who's who,
and the what's what 
of the space industry

Copernical Team

Copernical Team

Saturday, 19 January 2013 07:24

Avatar (spaceplane)

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AVATAR (from "Aerobic Vehicle for Hypersonic Aerospace TrAnspoRtation") was a concept development effort for a single-stage reusable spaceplane capable of horizontal takeoff and landing, by India's Defense Research and Development Organization along with Indian Space Research Organization and other research institutions.

The mission concept was for cheaper military and civilian satellite space launches. The idea was to develop a hyperplane vehicle that can take off from conventional airfields, collect air in the atmosphere on the way up, liquefy it, separate oxygen and store it on board for subsequent flight beyond the atmosphere. The AVATAR RLV was first announced in May 1998 at the Aero India 98 exhibition held at Bangalore. It was planned to be the size of a MiG-25 fighter and would be capable of delivering a 500 kg to 1,000 kg payload to low earth orbit at very low cost for an estimated vehicle life of 100 launches.

Monday, 07 January 2013 06:43

Commercial Spaceflight Federation (CSF)

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The Commercial Spaceflight Federation is a private American spaceflight industry group, incorporated as an industry association for the purposes of establishing ever higher levels of safety for the commercial human spaceflight industry, sharing best practices and expertise, and promoting the growth of the industry worldwide.

Issues that the Commercial Spaceflight Federation work on include, but are not limited to, the STIM-Grants program for spaceport infrastructure, FAA regulations and permits, industry safety standards, public outreach, and public advocacy for the commercial space sector.

Its mission: "To promote the development of commercial human spaceflight, pursue ever higher levels of safety, and share best practices and expertise throughout the industry."

Sunday, 06 January 2013 13:39

COM DEV International

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COM DEV International Ltd. is a global designer and manufacturer of space hardware.

COM DEV is a leader in the production of space-qualified passive microwave equipment, specialized electronics and optical subsystems. In 2012 the company has over 1,100 employees at facilities in Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Sunday, 06 January 2013 08:21

Magellium

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Magellium is a company of specialists on the leading edge of technology who leverage their expert knowledge in signal and image processing, geomatics, innovative learning technologies, robotics and intelligent systems to offer high value-added engineering, systems design, solutions and services.

Its activities cover Space, Defense & Security, Health, Industry. 

Sunday, 06 January 2013 08:19

ISSAT

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The Institut au service du spatial, de ses applications et technologies (ISSAT) (in English Institute of Space, its Applications and Technologies), is a French association supported by French Ministry of Education, created in 1995 in order to develop the aerospace activities in Toulouse and to help developing the knowledge of aerospace in France and Europe.

Friday, 14 December 2012 08:49

Starsem

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Starsem is a European-Russian company that was created in 1996 to commercialise the Soyuz launch services on the international market. It is Starsem is headquartered in Évry, France (near Paris).

Starsem is dedicated to providing commercial launch services with the reliable and proven Soyuz family of launch vehicles.  The European-Russian organization brings together all key players involved in the production and operation of Soyuz and is responsible for international sales of the world's most versatile launch vehicle.

Starsem offers the Soyuz for a broad range of mission needs, including satellite telecommunications systems, scientific spacecraft, and Earth observation / meteorological platforms.

Starsem provides a turnkey service, from manufacture of the launch vehicle to mission preparations at the Baikonur Cosmodrome and successful in-orbit delivery of payloads.

As of Nov. 2012, Starsem has performed the following launches :  Mars Express, Venus Express, Golbalstar communication satellites,  METOP the European satellite for meteorology, etc.  On 21 Oct. 2011, the first launch of the Soyuz rocket was made from the Kourou Space Centre, in Gyuanna.

Thursday, 13 December 2012 19:11

Orbspace

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Orbspace is a research company in the field of aeronautic and space transportation. It was founded in 2006.

The company's main competences are in aerospace engineering such as launch vehicle system design, rocket propulsion, numerical fluid mechanics and multi-disciplinary design optimization. Other competences include space law, aerospace medicine and project management. 

Orbspace offers these services as consulting and as partner in research projects. Our current research efforts are focused on the following topics:

  • Cost efficient ceramic combustion chambers and heat exchangers
  • Laser ignition for rocket engines
  • Vehicle system engineering and optimization
  • Safety of flight
  • Human space flight
  • Space law and certification
Thursday, 13 December 2012 19:02

ASTOS

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ASTOS is a Trajectory optimization and simulation tool for launch and re-entry missions, orbit transfers, design optimization and for re-entry safety assessments.

It solves Aerospace problems with a data driven interface and automatic initial guesses. Since 1989, the European Space Agency has developed, and improved this trajectory optimization environment to compute optimal trajectories for a variety of complex multi-phase Optimal control problems. ASTOS is being extensively used at ESA and aerospace industry community to calculate optimal launch and entry trajectories and was one of the tools used by ESA to assess the risk due to the ATV 'Jules Verne' re-entry. ASTOS is compatible with Windows, Linux and Mac OS platforms.

It is maintained and commercialized by ASTOS Solutions Gmbh for the European Space Agency.

Thursday, 13 December 2012 18:44

Astos Solutions Gmbh

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ASTOS solution was founded and developed to comercialise the software product ASTOS (Trajectory optimization and simulation tool for launch and re-entry missions), intended for the space industry.

ASTOS Solutions has now (in 2012) extended its activities into aeronautics, automtive, robotics, and biomedical.

In the space area the company proposes solutions for space applications like feasibility studies, mission planning & analysis, reference trajectories, performance calculations, vehicle design, safety & risk assessment, verification and validation.

Thursday, 13 December 2012 18:33

X-37 robot spaceplane

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The Boeing X-37 (also known as the X-37 Orbital Test Vehicle) is an American reusable unmanned spacecraft.

It is seen either as a minishuttle or as a robot spaceplane.

 

It is boosted into space by a rocket, then re-enters Earth's atmosphere and lands as a spaceplane. The X-37 is operated by the United States Air Force for orbital spaceflight missions intended to demonstrate reusable space technologies. It is a 120%-scaled derivative of the earlier Boeing X-40.

The X-37 began as a NASA project in 1999, before being transferred to the U.S. Department of Defense in 2004. It conducted its first flight as a drop test on 7 April 2006, at Edwards Air Force Base, California. The spaceplane's first orbital mission, USA-212, was launched on 22 April 2010 using an Atlas V rocket. Its successful return to Earth on 3 December 2010 was the first test of the vehicle's heat shield and hypersonic aerodynamic handling. A second X-37 was launched on 5 March 2011, with the mission designation USA-226; it returned to Earth on 16 June 2012. A third X-37 mission launched successfully on 11 December 2012.

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