The first session on Friday morning will be kicked off by Chuck Lauer from RpK, and Dana Andrews of Andrews Aerospace.

[Update]

Chuck is introducing George French, III (son of RpK chairman) to give the talk. Describing how he got interested in space when he went to Space Camp at age 9 with his father, where they both became committed to it. He also realized at that age that he wasn’t going to become an astronaut. Was the only ten-year-old kid with a mockup of the solar system, including every exploratory probe with descriptions. Got into an argument with his science teacher about how the moon wasn’t habitable. He brought in the space binder that he and his dad had been collecting and presented it to the class. George the second started investing in various companies–OSC, Pioneer Rocketplane, Kistler–and the original Space Camp trip eventually led to him becoming CEO of RpK.

RpK only company with two separate reusable concepts–one suborbital and one orbital. On schedule for first suborbital flight in 2009. Same date for orbital system. Finishing CDR on engine injector for suborbital XP by end of March, avionics defined and under design, at PDR level for ECLSS. Moog doing actuators for flight control system. Built six models for wind-tunnel testing. Well along through AST licensing process, just need to do safety review and expected casualty calculation–don’t think that licensing is on the current critical path. Will be able to handle payload modules for microgravity experiments as well as passengers.

Both their launch sites–Burns Flat, OK for XP and Woomera (Down Under) for the orbital K-1–are very flat. Still looking around for spaceport for K-1 in the US. K-1 is meeting COTS milestones, though no details provided in this talk (will provide information later if asked). Structural fab nearly complete.

Will be able to deliver payloads to and from space, unlike most launch systems. Will be able to carry both pressurized and unpressurized cargo.

Here’s news: they’ve signed a letter of intent with Bigelow to carry passengers by 2012. Also have a deal with Microsoft to give away an XP ride as a prize associated with their Vanishing Point game (part of the Vista rollout). Using Abercrombie and Kent to market their services.

Summary–they believe that they will help peoples’ dreams of traveling in space come true.

Charles Lurio asks if they can complete the program if NASA fails to complete funding on COTS. Answer is that they have other funding sources, sufficient to complete K-1, even if NASA reneges. Good news, if true. When asked about the Bigelow deal, don’t want to give any more details, because Bigelow will be making an announcement at the National Space Symposium in early April.

I got here late yesterday, and there was a shortage of space at the bloggers row, so I didn’t bother to live blog anything. But Jeff Foust has a report on perhaps the most interesting talk, by Steve Cook, on something that has little relationship to cheap access to space (and represents in fact the opposite)–Ares 1 and Ares 5. As Jeff notes, there was disputation over costs, and he was (understandably) evasive, though it’s almost certainly true that even NASA doesn’t know (they never really do, the way they keep books). And it’s difficult, and even arbitrary to attempt to allocate fixed and development costs of a program like this that has common elements, so people tend to jigger the numbers to make the case they want to make. Steve deserves kudos for walking into the lion’s den and doing what is, after all, only his job, as best it can be done.

The morning session begins in half an hour or so.

Matt Bowes has an essay on the promise and progress of private spaceflight.

Clark Lindsey has a good roundup of SpaceX stuff, here here, and here.

Clark Lindsey has a good roundup of SpaceX stuff, here here, and here.

Clark Lindsey has a good roundup of SpaceX stuff, here here, and here.

Apparently SpaceX had a computer timing glitch that caused an unnecessary abort yesterday. Launch is back on for 7 PM Eastern.

[Update at 6:25 PM EDT]

The launch is apparently still on, but no webcast yet.

[Update at 7:04 PM EDT]

It’s about an hour before the new schedule for the launch. 8:05 PM EDT. Webcast still hasn’t started, with no explanation as to why.

[Update after schedule launch time]

Wow. Aborted after engine start?

That’s a new one.

But Clark says that there still may be a launch tonight.

[Update at 9:30 EDT]

So far the launch seems succesful.

[Another update]

Complete success seems uncertain at this point, but it’s a huge improvement over the last attempt.

We’ll know more on the morrow. Too late to evaluate for us East Coasters.

More thoughts tomorrow, with more information.

Unfortunately, Windows Media is demanding that I download a new version to view it, which generally involves a reboot, which I’m loathe to do right now, so I don’t know what’s going on. According to the latest reading from Clark, it’s still on.

[Update a little after 7 PM Eastern]

Apparently the scheduled launch was aborted due to a telemetry issue.

Could still go tonight, though.

[Update at 8:34 PM EDT]

OK, apparently not. Maybe tomorrow. Fortunately, my commenters are more on top of the situation than I am. Well, I’ve never attempted to be the site for breaking space news, unless I’m live blogging an event.

Jane Skinner just did an interview with Granger Whitelaw on the Rocket Racing League. Cool video simulations of the rockets played in the background throughout.

The giggle factor continues to dissipate.

Is Galileo the Airbus of space? It never made much sense to me to try to compete with a free service. The only thing that this project ever had going for it was anti-American paranoia and European pride. I don’t think it will be enough to save it.