Posts Tagged ‘commercial space’

The US Commercial Service and the New Mexico Economic Development Department will host a unique education and training opportunity on April 4-5, 2012 at the Hotel Encanto de Las Cruces. This program is intended for anyone who deals with global trade compliance (including exports, imports, customs, logistics, business development, marketing, procurement, engineering, operations, security, human resources, contracting, supply chain…) and related regulatory, compliance and enforcement issues.

The Southwest Aerospace & Defense Trade Compliance Forum includes a seminar, networking reception, workshop options and a tour of Spaceport America.

Do you know?

• What are you and your organization’s level of exposure, liability and risk when it comes to international trade and the demanding regulatory driven environment?
• What are the key requirements that you and your organization must abide by?
• What are the ongoing challenging, difficult and sometimes sensitive problems the regulations present?
• What are the potentially devastating consequences if you or your organization get it wrong?

If you need or want answers to these and many other questions, this low-cost, high-quality two-day, hands-on, practical-application and case study-focused program is for you.

Day one seminar topics include:

• Overview and Update on US Export Controls;
• International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) HOT Topics: State Department Trends, Defense Service Exports, Export Control Reform Initiatives, Agreements, Brokering, Third-Country/Dual Nationals, D-Trade, Merger & Acquisition Due Diligence, and much more…;
• Automation & Software Essentials in Trade Compliance;
• Industry Panel – How to Successfully Navigate the ITAR Minefield; Enforcement Update and Latest Consequences of Non-Compliance with Important Case Studies and Lessons Learned.
• Day one ends with a Q&A session followed by a networking reception

On day two attendees have two workshops to pick from:

• TRACK 1 is “Challenges Facing Empowered Officials and Trade Compliance Professionals: Minimizing Exposure, Liability and Risk” and includes sessions on Investigations, Disclosures and Decision Making; What the Regulations Don’t Say and How to Prepare for What’s Ahead, Hands-on Interactive Case Studies and ends with a presenter Q&A period.

• TRACK 2 is “Commercial Space and the ITAR” with sessions on What Every Commercial Space Entrepreneur Needs to Know; USML Categories IV, VIII and XV, as well as Relevant CCL Entries; Obstacles to Export; Interagency and Regulatory Conflicts Launch/Spaceflight Insurance Issues, Defense Services, etc.; Spaceports and the ITAR: Compliance Requirements for the Owner, Operators, Tenants, Suppliers, etc.; Hands-on Interactive Case Studies and also ends with a presenters Q&A.

In the afternoon of day two there is a special Spaceport America tour.

Additional details including registration, hotel information and a complete agenda are linked here.

Article courtesy of the Las Cruces Sun-News

LAS CRUCES – Virgin Galactic announced Wednesday it was chosen by NASA to carry scientists and their technology experiments to suborbital space. The space tourism company plans to eventually launch suborbital flights from Spaceport America, just north of Dona Ana County.

“This arrangement marks the first time that NASA has contracted with a commercial partner to provide flights into space on a suborbital spacecraft and represents another important endorsement of the value of regular commercial space access for a wide range of science and educational applications,” Virgin Galactic said in a news release.

A second Spaceport America client, the Texas-based Armadillo Aerospace, also secured a portion of the $10 million in NASA awards handed out to seven commercial space companies.

Spaceport America director Christine Anderson described the announcement as “exciting news.”  “UP Aerospace, Armadillo Aerospace and Virgin Galactic are already clients of our spaceport, and we are in a unique position to help these companies and the others deliver on their new NASA contracts,” she said in a prepared statement.

NASA’s Flight Opportunities Program, managed out of NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, Calif., announced the awards, according to the company. Through this program, NASA has already arranged the flight of several scientific payloads on low-altitude rockets.

Virgin Galactic’s two-vehicle system – a spaceship launched from a plane – is in development at Mojave, Calif., by the company Scaled Composites. According to a log, 15 glide flights of the spaceliner, SpaceShipTwo, had been completed through June 27.

SpaceShipTwo is the “only crewed suborbital vehicle in flight test today,” Virgin Galactic said. The company “offers a significantly larger cabin than any other company taking deposits today, allowing for unique technology demonstrations and research,” according to the news release.

In February, Virgin Galactic announced it signed a contract with a private, nonprofit research group to fly two researchers and their payloads to space. The group planned to buy six additional tickets.

In all, 445 future passengers have booked flights and made deposits totaling about $55 million, according to Virgin Galactic.

State Economic Development Secretary-designate Jon Barela, whose agency is connected to Spaceport America, said Tuesday that construction on the facility is about 90 percent finished.

Article Courtesy of Las Cruces Sun-News

By Diana M. Alba

Spaceport America officials met Wednesday to formally accept the resignation of Spaceport Authority Director Steve Landeene.

After a closed-door meeting, they also appointed board Chairman Fred Mondragon, based in Santa Fe, to act as executive director until a replacement is named. Mondragon, also state economic development secretary, said he’ll spend two to three days a week in Las Cruces or Truth or Consequences while in the role.

The board granted another of its members, Ben Woods, who’s also a New Mexico State University official, authority to sign documents on Mondragon’s behalf, if Mondragon isn’t able to. Woods said the board will meet again within the next week or two to decide its next steps.

Landeene, 47, served as executive director since January 2008. The Economic Development Department announced his resignation in a news release Friday. Landeene has cited family reasons as the motivation for his decision.

Landeene earns $155,546 annually, said Michael Moxey, spokesman for the New Mexico Economic Development Department. He’ll be paid through May 14, though officials have said he’s only working in an advisory capacity until then.

Spaceport Authority board members Kent Evans and Woods were physically present at the meeting, while members Toots Green of Alamogordo, James Manatt of Roswell, Casey Luna of Belen and Gary White of Truth or Consequences attended by phone.

The spaceport authority oversees the state-owned Spaceport America, a $198 million future launch site for commercial space vehicles that’s under-construction in southeastern Sierra County.

Article courtesy of the Las Cruces Sun-News

By Amanda L. Husson

A master’s degree in aerospace engineering could take Krystal Deinez any number of places – or help her stay right here in southern New Mexico. Deinez, 24, came to New Mexico State University from Maxwell, N.M., to get her bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and will be one of the first students to join the aerospace engineering graduate program this fall.

From there, even the sky’s not the limit. Deinez said she’d be looking everywhere for job opportunities when she finishes her degree, but she sees potential here. “I like southern New Mexico,” she said. “With the spaceport and White Sands, there are a lot of possibilities I could look for.”

Patricia Hynes, director of the New Mexico Space Grant Consortium, said the graduate program, which received final approval on Dec. 15 after a three-year process, was key to developing the highly skilled workforce that will be needed to support the growing commercial space industry in the area. “This is trying to help NMSU become to the commercial space industry what Stanford has become to Silicon Valley,” she said. As a new industry evolves, they’ve got to have the university to back it up.

Tom Burton, mechanical and aerospace engineering department head, said the program – and the industry – need time to grow, but in the long run, more companies will be looking into the area because of both. “Twenty to 30 years from now, there will be a big aerospace presence around the spaceport,” Burton predicted. “There will be an aerospace industry here and we will have the technical base to support it.”

This year more than 60 entering freshmen declared themselves aerospace engineering majors – the largest year-to-year increase in the undergraduate program’s short history. Another 60 are expected in the fall, and an external study calls for a $1 million increase in the program to support students and hire six full-time faculty members. The program employs two full-time faculty members at present, with two more projected to start in the fall.

Deinez, who has already begun her graduate work, will be one of just a few masters’ students this fall. “I haven’t made up my mind,” on a career focus, Deinez said, “but I think I would definitely be more valuable with a graduate degree.”

The January meeting of the MVEDA Business on the Border Forum will be held on Tuesday, January 5, 2010 from 11:30 AM until 1:00 PM at the Day’s Inn Columbus Conference Center, 901 Avenida de Mesilla.  The meeting will begin with a hot entree buffet, followed by an update by MVEDA staff.

Gary Gomes, President of the High Tech Consortium of Southern New Mexico (HTC), will be the featured speaker.  The High Tech Consortium of Southern New Mexico is a grass roots non-profit organization established in 2003 to create a strong high tech business climate in Southern New Mexico and further the quality of life of our community.

The High Tech Consortium’s vision is to make New Mexico a regional technology leader and a national center for technical excellence. The organization’s goals are to:

• Promote a business atmosphere conducive to growing the high-tech sector in Southern New Mexico.
• Be the regional voice representing and advocating the political and business related interests of the technology sector.
• Establish partnerships that promote high-tech industries in Southern New Mexico.
• Support the development and retention of a qualified high-tech workforce in the region.
• Actively foster an environment that produces excellence in education at all levels.
• Support endeavors that enrich the quality of life in the region.

HTC’s areas of focus are:

• Broadband
• Commercial Space
• Digital Media
• Homeland Security
• Renewable Energy

Luncheon cost is $15.00 per person, payable by cash, check or major credit card. The meeting is open to the public and reservations are not required