Entrepreneur's Guide to the Galaxy

Business 2.0 focuses on stellar space investments in a series of articles found in its March 2006 issue. These stories are among the most succinct and insightful we've seen about space and private industry. Highlights include:

"Prepare for liftoff: The space business may be the most incredible new opportunity of your lifetime" http://money.cnn.com/2006/02/27/technology/business2_guidetospaceintro/

"To land humans on the Red Planet, NASA will need new equipment, fresh thinking, and advanced technology. These companies are preparing for mankind's next giant leap."http://money.cnn.com/2006/02/23/magazines/business2/cashinginmars/index.htm

Year of the Dragon?

Looks like t/Space has some competition. SpaceX, the brainchild of PayPal mogul Elon Musk, has also thrown its hat in the ring to win the NASA contract for transporting passengers and payload to space. The company's manned orbital spacecraft is called the Dragon. Should t/Space win the contract, the company has pledged to base the project's operations at New Mexico's spaceport. To date, SpaceX is happily headquartered in El Segundo, CA. Read more at MSNBC: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11699810/ . SpaceRef.com also features some dandy illustrations http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.rss.html?id=1095

He signed you, Bill! Now you're a law!

Oh yeah! Schoolhouse Rock afficionados (and even some government officials) know how this works: first, the senate and house vote on a bill, then it's signed by the executive. Though Governor Richardson has been a proponent of New Mexico's spaceport from the beginning, yesterday's bill signings make it final. New Mexico has passed the laws necessary to create the world's first purpose-built spaceport. In Las Cruces, Richardson signed House Bill 89 establishing the New Mexico Spaceport Authority and House Bill 473 allowing communities to increase gross receipts tax to support the spaceport.