Saturday, 12 November 2016

"The Space Nation": Room for another dream?


                                                   " Welcome to ASGARDIA ! "

"... Asgardia's legal envelope includes the creation of a new legal platform for the exploration of near-Earth and deep space. ‘Universal space law’ and ‘astropolitics’ have to replace international space law and geopolitics.   ...

  ... And of course we are going to make use of crowd funding and sourcing, and private donations. And we welcome cooperation with new partners and investors. ... "

                           (Quoted from Asgardia Concept page - as found on 12 Nov. 2016)


                      Link to: Concept "Asgardia - the Space Nation" by Dr. Igor Ashurbeyli

Friday, 11 November 2016

Space Poker: Luxembourg's New Trump Card

                               
                                A new draft law on the exploration and use of space resources
                    for commercial purposes has been formally presented to the international press.

                                 Luxembourg will thus be the second country in the world
                                      and the first in Europe to set out a legal framework
                                      "ensuring that private operators working in space
                    can be confident about their rights to the resources they extract in outer space".


Link to: Luxembourg’s New Space Law Guarantees Private Companies the Right to Resources Harvested in Outer Space in Accordance with International Law

Link to: ECSL European Centre for Space Law


                                     
               

Tuesday, 8 November 2016

Rocket science / space for business: ULA, SpaceX and Blue Origin

           
                                                     Fortune (magazine) reporting 
                                            on space flights no longer costing a fortune.

                               Link to: "The Great Rocket Race" by Clay Dillow in FORTUNE

Thursday, 3 November 2016

Agreement finalized between Planetary Resources, Inc. and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg

               
                                   A small step by a small country in the right direction ?

"Planetary Resources and the Government of Luxembourg finalize €25 Million investment and cooperation agreement with first commercial asteroid prospecting mission to launch by 2020." 

                                        Link to full article on planetaryresources.com website
                     

Saturday, 22 October 2016

"Moon matters" : A loophole in the Outer Space Treaty?

                                                             Is it true that
                                    shrewd interpretations of the Outer Space Treaty
                                               could be used as part of a strategy
                                                            to monopolise
                                                      certain space resources
                                                for an unspecified period of time?

                      Link to: Harvard Gazette interview with astrophysicist Martin Elvis
           
      Link to: Cornell University Library, " The Peaks of Eternal Light: a Near-term Property Issue..."




                                 Whatever the answer, the prime challenge remains, of course,
                                                      that of first of all "getting there".

                                                    Link to: Moon Express Press Kit

                        Link to: "China to send Chang’e-4 to south pole of moon’s far-side "

                   Link to: PBS NEWSHOUR "China wants to mine the moon for ‘space gold’ "

                                             Link to: ESA's Interactive Guide to the Moon


                   Link to: Voice of America interview (and video) with Paul Spudis (14 Oct. 2016)

Sunday, 2 October 2016

"NASA, ESA, XTRONAUTS and ASTEROIDS"

                           
(Picture by JR. CHINREST)
                            
  A challenge, a gamble and a game.

                                           Link to: OSIRIS-REx
                                           Link to: NASA PRESS KIT/ August 2016

                                           Link to: "AIM" - ESA's Asteroid Impact Mission

                                           Link to: Xtronaut -The Game of Solar System Exploration


Monday, 12 September 2016

"LUSA"?

Luxembourg (998 sq. mi. / 2 586 sq. km)
could have its own space agency in the near future.
An abbreviation for "Luxembourg Space Agency"
has already been unofficially suggested,
but "LUSA" might somehow not sound particularly convincing 
when read out aloud in English
and pronounced the Luxembourg way
(unless it is meant to serve as an extra incentive to become a winner).


                            Link to: Official Information on Luxembourg and Space

                            Link to: GLAE «Groupement Luxembourgeois de l'AĆ©ronautique et de l'Espace»