Organizations Announce Competition to Promote Research in Zero Gravity

The Heinlein Prize Trust announces the Microgravity Research Competition to reward innovation in the use of microgravity to advance biotech, nanotech, combustion, metallurgy, and other fields. Sponsored by the Trust and Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), the competition offers a $25,000 prize and transportation to and from Low Earth Orbit for the winning experiment aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.

"Decades of demonstrations have shown that the microgravity of space provides a unique window on biological and physical processes," says Art Dula, Trustee of the Heinlein Prize Trust. "Because of substantial recent funding by NASA and the private sector, access to microgravity will soon be more commonplace. This opens an incredibly exciting opportunity for the research community."

The Heinlein Prize Trust is a non-profit foundation which promotes the commercial uses of space. It provides financial prizes to commercial space entrepreneurs, enhances public awareness of commercial space, and uses space to inspire students about opportunities of the next frontier. SpaceX is developing a family of launch vehicles and spacecraft intended to increase the reliability and reduce the cost of both manned and unmanned space transportation, ultimately by a factor of 10. With the Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 vehicles, SpaceX says it offers highly reliable/cost-efficient light, medium and heavy lift capabilities for spacecraft insertion into any orbital altitude and inclination.

The winning experiment will be launched into Earth orbit aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft, the organizations say. NASA recently selected Falcon 9 / Dragon to transport cargo to the International Space Station.

The Microgravity Research Competition is open to U.S. universities and non-profits organizations with industry partners. The winning team will also get to witness the launch of their experiment from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

"SpaceX is excited to offer our Dragon spacecraft as a platform for in-space experimentation services to mainstream researchers," says Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO and CTO. "We plan to fly 'DragonLab' missions starting in 2010 for this express purpose."

In space, there is no gravity-induced convection, sedimentation, hydrodynamic shear force, hydrostatic pressure, or mass transfer, according to the competition announcement. Experiments in microgravity can reveal novel mechanisms fundamental to cell processes, disease processes, and the adaptation of living systems to changes in physical forces, it says.

The announcement, available online, provides an overview of microgravity's practical applications and details on the competition. Proposals are due March 20.

The application and judging process will be supported by the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship. The winner will be announced April 18, at the Awards Banquet for the 2009 Rice Business Plan Competition hosted by the Rice Alliance.

"We very pleased to participate in this important competition," says Brad Burke, managing director, Rice Alliance, "because of the important role of commercializing the promising technology research and innovations."

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Companies Mark Achievements In Commercial Space Development

Two companies receiving NASA commercial orbital transportation services funds achieved significant milestones this month in their efforts to develop and demonstrate new space cargo launch and delivery systems, the space agency says.

Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) completed a preliminary design review for its first orbital demonstration mission, NASA says. Rocketplane Kistler completed a system requirements review for its cargo services system, it says. The two companies want to offer commercial delivery services for cargo, andpossibly crews, to the International Space Station in the future. In August 2006, NASA and the companies signed agreements that established a series of milestones and criteria for assessing progress toward their individual goals.

The goals of NASA's Commercial Crew and Cargo Program are to stimulate commercial enterprises in space; facilitate U.S. private industry development of reliable, cost-effective access to low-Earth orbit;and create a market environment in which commercial space transportation services are available to government and private customers.

Once industry has demonstrated safe and reliable capabilities, NASA may choose to purchase transportation services from commercial providers to support the International Space Station under a second phase of the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services Project.

"These milestones demonstrate genuine progress toward a new way of doing business for NASA and pave the way for the commercial purchase of transportation services needed to maintain the International Space Station," says Alan Lindenmoyer, manager of the Commercial Crew and Cargo Program Office at NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston. "If these companies can continue this rapid pace, the first demonstration launches are right around the corner."

On Feb. 8 SpaceX, of El Segundo, Calif., received NASA approval of a preliminary design review for the first orbital demonstration of its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon reusable spacecraft. That flight, planned for September 2008, will be the first of three outlined in NASA's agreement with SpaceX. The company completed a project management review for the mission in September 2006 and a system requirements review in November 2006. SpaceX delivered its preliminary design review data to NASA Jan. 22. The critical design review is set for this summer.

On Feb. 6, Rocketplane Kistler of Oklahoma City established the requirements for interfaces between its two-stage K-1 reusable cargo transportation system and the International Space Station. The requirements review was the third of numerous milestones NASA will use to measure thecompany's progress toward a full demonstration of its launch capability. Both the first and second stages completed critical design reviews before Rocketplane Kistler joined the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services Project. Those vehicle components are being transported to NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans to begin the assembly phase.

Rocketplane Kistler achieved its first two program milestones,completion of a program implementation plan and an initial round of privatefinancing, in September and November 2006, respectively. Preliminary andcritical design reviews of a new cargo module are planned later this year.

SpaceX and Rocketplane Kistler both won a 2006 competition to share upto $485 million in NASA funding to help finance their activities. Earlier in February, NASA signed unfunded agreements to work with two other companies with similar goals -- Transformational Space Corp. (t/Space) ofReston, Va., and PlanetSpace Inc. of Chicago.

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