Space News - Rocket City Space Pioneers

The Rocket City Space Pioneers, made up of Huntsville team members Dynetics (team leader), Teledyne Brown Engineering, Andrews Space, Spaceflight Services, Draper Laboratory,  Moog, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAHuntsville), the Von Braun Center for Science & Innovation (VCSI), and the Huntsville Center for Technology (HCT), are competing for the Google Lunar X PRIZE. This is a $30 million international competition to safely land a robot on the surface of the Moon, travel 500 meters over the lunar surface, and send images and data back to Earth.

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Announcements & Updates

The Rocket City Space Pioneers’ Lander to be Named “Spirit of Alabama
March 08, 2012

Valley Intermediate School Fourth-Grade Class in Pelham Wins Trip to SpaceCamp™ Pelham, AL (March 8, 2012) – "Spirit of Alabama" will be the name of the Alabama-based Rocket City Space Pioneers' (RCSP's) lunar lander competing in the $30 million Google Lunar X PRIZE, thanks to some help from Karen McDonald's fourth-grade class at Valley Intermediate School. The students won the team's "Name the Lander" contest, earning them a trip ... Read More

Rocket City Space Pioneers Release Free iPad Application
December 01, 2011

Newest Team Member, Analytical Mechanics Associates, Inc.,Developed Game for Fun and Education The Rocket City Space Pioneers (RCSP), the Huntsville-centric team competing in the $30 million Google Lunar X PRIZE competition, invite you to launch a rocket from Rocket City to the moon, land on the moon and explore the moon to meet your mission objectives. RCSP’s new iPad game is now available at the App Store. The game can be downloaded at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/rocke... Read More

NASA Flies Robotic Lander Prototype to New Heights
November 29, 2011

NASA successfully completed the final flight in a series of tests of a new robotic lander prototype at the Redstone Test Center’s propulsion test facility on the U.S. Army Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Ala. Data from this test series will aid in the design and development of a new generation of small, smart, versatile robotic landers capable of performing science and exploration research on the surface of the moon or other airless bodies in the solar system, such as asteroids or the planet Mercury. Dynetics designed, developed, and integrated the high p... Read More

Rocket City Space Pioneers Offer Free Mission to Moon Game
October 20, 2011

New Team Member, Analytical Mechanics Associates, Launches Gamers to Moon Las Cruces, NM (Oct. 19, 2011) – Anyone who has an iPad can participate in a mission to the moon via a free interactive game produced by Analytical Mechanics Associates (AMA) for the Rocket City Space Pioneers (RCSP).  RCSP announced here today at the International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight that AMA has joined their team. The company has developed an interactive game called “RCSP Moon Race... Read More

The Rocket City Space Pioneers Successfully Complete Critical NASA Contract Milestone
September 02, 2011

Dynetics Delivers Data to Agency on Newly Developed Rocket Enginefor Robotic Lunar Landers The Dynetics-led Rocket City Space Pioneers (RCSP) Google Lunar X PRIZE team has successfully completed a critical NASA contract milestone by delivering rocket engine hot-fire test data on Dynetics’ newly developed “green” rocket engine. NASA, through its Innovative Lunar Demonstrations Data (ILDD) contract, selected Dynetics in October to supply flight component data to enable the development of future human and robotic lander vehicles and exploration systems. ... Read More

RCSP Team Leader Tim Pickens and Dynetics Engineer Steve Mustaikis Receive Awards at ISDC
June 06, 2011

Tim Pickens, team leader of the Rocket City Space Pioneers, and Steve Mustaikis, also of Dynetics, were honored recently for their contributions to the Space Industry with awards at the International Space Development Conference (ISDC) 2011’s National Space Symposium (NSS) and the Huntsville Alabama L5 Society (HAL5) Awards Dinner. ISDC, the annual space conference hosted by NSS, was held in Huntsville May 18-22. Mustaikis, a propulsion engineer at Dynetics, received the HAL5 Flame Award. According to Yohon Lo, president of HAL5, the local chapter of NSS, the HAL... Read More

Tim Pickens Receives AIAA Professional of the Year Award
June 06, 2011

Tim Pickens, team leader of the Rocket City Space Pioneers, received the Greater Huntsville Section 2010-2011 Earl Pearce Professional of the Year Award at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) 59th Annual Installation and Awards Dinner on June 2. Pickens is also chief propulsion engineer and commercial space advisor at Dynetics, the company that is leading the Rocket City Space Pioneers in the competition for the Google Lunar X PRIZE. Dynetics brought Pickens on board in December 2009 as part of the purchase of the space company, Orion Prop... Read More

Moog Joins the Rocket City Space Pioneers
May 19, 2011

Dynetics and Moog announced today at the International Space Development Conference that Moog has joined the Rocket City Space Pioneers as the newest team member. Moog brings its heritage and proven flight hardware experience including the ESPA (Evolved Expendable Launch Secondary Payload Adapter). The ESPA was developed under a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract to the Air Force Research Laboratory Space Vehicles Directorate (AFRL/VS) with support from the Department of Defense (DoD) Space Test Program at Kirtland Air Force Base.  Unused launch capacity, a growing inte... Read More

Dynetics and the Rocket City Space Pioneers to Showcase Space Solutions at International Space Development Conference 2011
May 13, 2011

Dynetics and the Rocket City Space Pioneers (RCSP) will showcase a variety of space solutions that range from launching into orbit, to responsive systems on orbit, to planetary exploration at the International Space Development Conference 2011 in Huntsville May 18-22. RCSP and Dynetics have teamed up to be a Gold Sponsor of the conference, which will be at the Von Braun Center, and will have several employees participating. Dynetics will showcase the Fast, Affordable, Science and Technology Satellite (FASTSAT); the Multipurpose Nano Missile System (MNMS); the Bigelow Sundanc... Read More

Siemens PLM Software Partners with World-Class Team Competing for $30 Million Google Lunar X PRIZE
January 25, 2011

Rocket City Space Pioneers to Use Solid Edge and Femap as CAD/CAE Tools in “Engineering Meets Education” Program to Help Reach and Explore the Moon Siemens PLM Software, a business unit of the Siemens Industry Automation Division and a leading global provider of product lifecycle management (PLM) software and services, today announced it has become a supplier of computer-aided design and engineering analysis (CAD/CAE) softwa... Read More

Rocket City Space Pioneers Announce Partnership with SolidWorks
January 05, 2011

Today, the Rocket City Space Pioneers - a partnership of Huntsville businesses, educational institutions and non-profit organizations - announced that Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corp. (DS SolidWorks), a world leader in 3D solutions, has partnered with them as a sponsor to provide software for their entry in the Google Lunar X PRIZE (GLXP). The GLXP is a $30 million competition that challenges space professionals and engineers from across the globe to build and launch to the Moon a privately funded spacecraft capable of completing a series of expl... Read More

Dynetics Awarded NASA Contract to Provide Candidate Flight Hardware to Enable Affordable Human Space Exploration
December 20, 2010

Dynetics, corporate team leader for the Rocket City Space Pioneers (RCSP), the Huntsville-based Google Lunar X PRIZE team, is one of only three organizations selected to supply flight component test data to NASA through its Innovative Lunar Demonstrations Data (ILDD) contract. In October, NASA’s Johnson Space Center made the contract award to six teams, including Dynetics (RCSP), out of 20 total teams competing for the Google Lunar X PRIZE. The ILDD teams will provide data to NASA to enable the development of future human and robotic lander vehicles and exploration systems. Of the si... Read More

The Huntsville Center for Technology Joins Local Google Team to Win $20 Million X PRIZE
November 08, 2010

The Huntsville Center for Technology (HCT) will play an integral role in the Rocket City Space Pioneers’ (RCSP) race to the moon mission to win $20 million, first prize in the $30 million Google Lunar X PRIZE competition. The RCSP today unveiled the details of “Engineering Meets Education,” a unique educational initiative that will allow the RCSP to engage high school students with their engineers and scientists to assist in designing, building and flying aerospace hardware. The RCSP is the Huntsville-based team competing to send a rover to the moon by 2014, move it 500 meters and sen... Read More

 

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