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+From
published reports these companies have significant funding:
Rotary,
as of July of 1999,
had raised around $30M and needs ~$120M
to reach operational status. A vehicle to test the rotary
landing system rolled out March 1 and was flown three times
by the fall of 1999. In June the company reorganized and dropped
the the centrifugal pumped engine, as well as most of the
employees working on it, in favor of using a derivative of
the Fastrac engine developed for the
X-34 program. Current emphasis is the search
for funds while the design for the orbital test model goes
on. See RLV News for latest status.
Kistler
has raised around $500M and needs at least several hundred
additional millions. The company has beed searching for funding
for the past couple of years, see news items below, while
construction has apparently slowed considerably. Poor
corporate bond market would mean paying exorbitant interest
rates so they've decided to postpone a bond issue.
Occasional news articles nevertheless indicate that some vehicle
development continues.
Extensive testing has taken place and continues on the engines,
parachute landing, etc.
March 18, 1999:
Good News - Northrop-Grumman has invested $30M in Kistler
and may invest $30 more.
Bad News - Northrop-Grumman has written off the $30M as a
loss because of the current problems at Kistler.
However, if Kistler can get its finances back on track, Northrop
will continue investing in them.
April 25, 1999: Taiwan banks invest in Kistler, see news.
July
28, 1999: Kistler was reported to receive committments
from Saudi Arabian investors for funds to complete test program
but this apparently fell through later.
@Space Access now
finally has a web page (www.spaceaccess.com) but it is empty
of content. The company's proposed vehicles have been described
in detail in Aviation Week, March 30, 1998 and in a June 1999
Popular Science article. Their vehicle is on the scale of
the shuttle or VentureStar. It will require about 5 billion
dollars of funding but could carry major GEO payloads (with
a 3rd stage orbital vehicle) and people to the space station
as well. See the Space
Access Space Transportation Architecture study for NASA.
Stephen
Wurst's testimony to space subcommittee discusses possible
government financial assistance. According to Space News they
have raised about $100 million so far.
++Burt
Rutan's Scaled Composites company is developing the Proteus,
which is already flying, and it is intended primarily for
non-space applications,
particularly for wireless
transmission stations. However, he also wants to use it
as a first stage for launching a suborbital
rocket. Funding seems to be coming from Scaled Composites
and Angel Techologies,
which is developing the wireless system.
*Kelly has
successfully tested the tow technique with a F-106 towed into
flight by a C-141. They have not been able to begin construction
of their launcher, however, due to funding shortfall. In meantime
they have received several contracts from NASA for studies
of low cost launch technology. A report from SAS says they
will be in the black in 2000. According
to Space News (May 10, 1999) Kelly has spent about $10million
and needs $390million more to build its first vehicle.
**Pioneer
announced in Feb. 1999 the appointment of former astronaut
Ed Gibson as president (There
was also a company restructuring
last year. ) In Nov.
1999 a fourth design iteration passed an external design review.
Robert Zubrin left Pioneer Rocketplane to concentrate on the
Mars Society and other Mars related projects via his Pioneer
Astronautics company. Previously in 1998 Pioneer was one of
4 companies awarded a study grant in NASA's Bantam program.
Pioneer says they successfully showed that their design would
come very close to the $1.5M per launch cost goal (History).
However, NASA chose to discontinue the program.
According to Space News (May
10, 1999) Pioneer has raised about $5million and needs $300million
to fly.
~ Haven't found any data on funding or construction
status for Vela Technology's
sub-orbital system. Vela was previoulsy supported by Zegrahm
Expeditions, a well known adventure tourism company for
their space tourism project. The tourism project was sold
in fall of 1999 to Space
Adventures,which seems to be maintaining the Vela collaboration.
Vela also has a strong development and management team,
as well as a collaboration with reputable AeroAstro.
#Houston
Business Journal reports that Lone Star, formerly
Dynamica Research, needs
$100M to build the Cosmos. They have 3 main investors but
will also raise extra funds by selling sponsorships.
^TGV
aims for the sounding rocket market with a reusable suborbital.
The piloted vehicles would provide rides for microgravity
, astrophysics, atmospheric and other scientific experiments.
They have put together a strong management team and are currently
raising money. They need around $50M.
11
Cerulean
Freight Forwarding is one of the small startup companies
hoping to construct very, very low cost vehicles. Their first
vehicle, the Kitten, will be an X-Prize entry. They need another
$400k to begin construction (private comm.) Follow on vehicles
include an orbiter for 6 people.
Launch dates were gathered from web sites
and published material. I will update them as more info appears.
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