SNC Questions NASA Selection of Boeing and Space X for Commercial Crew Program Prize.

 Hey have you heard of this?
SNC (The Sierra Nevada Corporation) has filed a legal challenge to NASA's recent selection for the contract for the Commercial Crew Program prize.

NASA selected Boeing and its CT-100 and Space X with it's Dragon 2. 

SNC, in spite of not challenging any contract selection in over 50 years of doing business with NASA but felt justified in this case, when  NASA's own documents, "indicate there are serious questions and inconsistencies in the source selection process."

Sierra Nevada stated that the $6.8 billion in contracts announced for Boeing and SpaceX will cost taxpayers "up to $900 million more" than a choice that included Sierra Nevada.  


Gizmodo article HERE       AL News from Huntsville HERE

Boeing to Use Its Own System to Lift Its Own Astronauts

Did you know Boeing has its own astronauts? Neither did I, however I was reading this article in Dvice about private companies due to take over a majority of the LEO work and there was Boeing's name right in the middle. From what I hear they were considered front runners to pick up a majority of the Low Earth Orbit flights to the ISS but then I saw a link to their crew lifter called the CST-100, for Crew Space Transportation vehicle, that every one thought was their bid to augment NASA's efforts. But over the past few days it has become clear that the CST-100 will be used for Boeing's own commercial spaceflight program.

From the article:

• To that end, Boeing is aiming at docking its CST-100 with the International Space Station with two of its own employees on board. The company plans to test its craft twice in 2015 before the manned mission attempt: the first time to see how it goes, followed by a second launch to test out the capsule's abort system.

And it seems that Boeing isn't the only company opting for its own Crew Transport System. Lockheed Martin is said to have a vehicle in the works.

Boeing Plans New High Occupancy Capsule

Boeing has announced its plans to produce a low-cost, high-occupancy passenger capsule called the Crew Space Transportation-100 vehicle. Early estimates predict that it could be ready by 2014. The new crew capsule would be used to ferry crew to the ISS and Boeing says that it would be compatible with and very likely could ferry people to the Bigelow's inflatable space stations

Dvice article

Satellite Abandoned Thanks To Patent On Lunar Flybys

From Techdirt.com and the WTF! or you gota be kiddin me department come one of the most ridiculous things I think I have ever head of pertaining to the space program.... It reads like this.

Satellite company SES Americom has to abandon a satellite that had a botched launch due to a ridiculous patent on the concept of a lunar flyby. Basically, what happened is that SES had a problem with a satellite launch, such that the satellite did not reach the proper orbit (it was intended to be a geostationary satellite used by Echostar). SES then figured out that it could get the satellite into a proper orbit by making use of a lunar flyby. That part is just basic physics. But, at that point, SES discovered that Boeing happens to own a patent on doing this sort of lunar flyby, despite the fact that you can't patent physics.

Ever heard the saying "If you can't dazzle em with brilliance....baffle em with BS!"? That seems to be the case. Boeing merely used some jargon to make basic physics appear as a "process." and some numknow at the patent office gives it a rubber stamp and an okeeeedoughkeeeeeeee! Either that or there is some governmental colusion going on here, because that is the stupidest thing I ever heard. Come on! You're telling me that anytime NASA is going to put a spacecraft near the moon they have to pay a licencing fee to Boeing? B.S.!

Boeing BS patent can be found HERE

Complete story here