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Team STELLAR decides to accept Georgia firm partnership offer

stellar — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 16:32:56 -0700

At today's meeting of the core management team, Team STELLAR decided to accept the partnership offer of a firm in the state of Georgia. Details will be provided once both parties sign the agreement.

Jeff Krukin
www.jeffkrukin.com

Update on talks with Georgia company

stellar — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 14:10:23 -0700

Discussions with a Georgia company have been completed and the company and Team STELLAR agree that a partnership would be valuable to both. Team STELLAR's core team will meet before the end of the month to finalize the arrangement.

Jeff Krukin
www.jeffkrukin.com

Team STELLAR update

stellar — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 17:29:04 -0700

In the spirit of practicing accurate, complete, and concise communications, this week's update will be brief:
- The Communications Architecture document has been updated

Our first transmission from the Moon will be more verbose.

Jeff Krukin
www.jeffkrukin.com

Continuing discussions in Georgia, more press coverage

stellar — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 14:41:33 -0800

I previously mentioned that we had begun conversations with a company in Georgia, and that discussion has entered its second phase.

More press coverage, including an update to an earlier article. Alright!

Please click these links:
- Raleigh's Team Stellar works toward prize: www.technicianonline.com/features/1.1104349-1.1104349
- Rover team back on track after initial delay: www.technicianonline.com/features/rover_team_back_on_track_after_initial...

Thank you.

Jeff Krukin
www.jeffkrukin.com

Investment and technical updates

stellar — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 14:33:37 -0800

On the business side, Team STELLAR has completed another series of meetings with its volunteer attorneys and law students to finalize the investment instruments it will offer. First up are $25,000 convertible promissary notes.

The technical teams have been working on three increasingly detailed levels of technical plans, known as the A-Specification (Spec), B-Spec, and C-Spec. The A-Spec, which is the most general and provides overall technical guidance, has received its final sign-offs. With this effort completed, the very preliminary B- and C-Specs will now receive their first makeovers ("Spec Makeover- Lunar Edition").

-Jeff Krukin
www.jeffkrukin.com

Progress update

stellar — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 10:58:36 -0800

A brief note to highlight progress on several fronts:
1. We continue our efforts to bring corporations on board and have begun preliminary discussions with a firm in Georgia
2. A meeting of the technical subteams earlier this month yielded the latest refinement of our technical plan, now being subjected to a final systems engineering review by the following teams:
- Launch
- Cruise vehicle
- Lunar lander
- Flighty dynamics
- Data Communications
- Project Management
- Mission Control

- Jeff Krukin
www.jeffkrukin.com

NewSpace and European politics... hypergolic or "Can't we all just get along?"

stellar — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 14:28:25 -0800

As reported by Rob Coppinger at Flightglobal, "The prospect of an all-European competitor to US suborbital tourism projects has become stronger with the €7.3 million ($9.68 million) funding of the Future High-Altitude High-Speed Transport (FAST) 20XX project that will focus on two concepts, one suborbital, the other a hypersonic point-to-point transport system." (Full story at http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2009/01/28/321749/europe-aims-for-2...).

I would love to see this happen, as more competition will benefit the industry around the world. However, the words "all-European" immediately raise concerns.

Recent history has demonstrated the difficulties that can occur when European aerospace companies attempt cross-border programs that depend on funding from multiple national governments, and when payrolls of corporations in these countries are affected. For example:
- Several years ago the Airbus A380 suffered serious delays. While the primary manufacturing problem was related to electrical harness installation, that and other problems have been tied to the complex (and perhaps redundant) executive management structure that existed in Germany and France. As Airbus President and CEO Christian Streiff said in a speech on Oct. 3, 2006: "But Airbus is not yet an integrated company. Airbus doesn't yet have a simple and clear organisation. There are shadow hierarchies – leftovers from the never finished integration. And the change we bring about must also include the management culture."
- Airbus announced a one-year delay of its A400M military cargo plane in Oct. 2007. Further delays announced last year mean the aircraft is now slated to enter service in Spring 2010.

You may rightfully say, "Hold on there, Jeff, that's just two examples." True enough, but the parent company of Airbus is EADS, which expressed its NewSpace intent at the Paris 2007 Airshow when EADS Astrium announced its spaceplane design. How is this coming along? As reported in the June 13, 2008 issue of Space News, the company was unable to generate sufficient interest among potential partners. Even worse, the views expressed by European Commission Vice President Guenter Verheugen speak volumes about the attitudes of the European political establishment toward entrepreneurial space activity (NewSpace). Referring to public remarks by Guenter, Astrium Chief Executive Francois Auque said, "I was even told that this project was morally blameworthy because it targets an audience of the rich people."

So, yes, I'm making some assumptions here due to these previous problems and the likelihood that EADS will be involved in the program cited by Rob Coppinger. It is also quite clear that political pressure contributed to unwise business decisions. All of which leaves me wondering if NewSpace can survive European politics when traditional and far more economically important aerospace has suffered from political influence?

I would welcome opinions from our European GLXP compatriots.

- Jeff Krukin
www.jeffkrukin.com

Notes from today's meeting of the core TeamSTELLAR management team

stellar — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 14:32:18 -0800

Several items were addressed at today's meeting:
1. Continued refinement of both the mission plan and business plan
2. First stage of plans for issuing RFQ's to industry later this quarter
3. The bulk of the meeting was spent planning our participation next weekend at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences 19th annual Astonomy Days event (http://www.naturalsciences.org/calendar/events.html). 15,000 attendees are expected, so this is a prime promotional opportunity for us.

- Jeff Krukin

First meeting of Team STELLAR core management team and sub-team leaders after the holidays

stellar — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 18:01:45 -0800

The Team STELLAR core management team and sub-team leaders gathered today and attended to the following issues:
- A report from our representatives at last December's GLXP California summit
- Refinement of the business plan and technology and manufacturing roadmap
- Discussion of US and international launch options
- Advances in rover design and surface experimentation planning, including consideration of equipment requirements for various scenarios, and clarification of different timelines for various capability and accomplishment scenarios

- Jeff Krukin

Team STELLAR Moving Quickly in the New Year

stellar — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 10:10:42 -0800

First and foremost, a Happy NewSpace New Year to all!

Following-up on multiple discussions during the last few months, Team STELLAR is moving quickly in 2009 to connect with new talent and expand its support base in Virginia. Two significant events deserve to be highlighted:

1. Team STELLAR has been invited to speak at the Virginia General Assembly Aerospace Days in early February as part of an effort to develop the Virginia Aerospace Roundtable. Jack Kennedy*, one of Virginia's NewSpace leaders, is a key force behind this effort and we appreciate his invitation.

2. The College of Engineering at Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University is quite interested in Team STELLAR, and we will be presenting at a meeting in mid-February that is being hosted by Dr. Don Leo, Professor of Mechanical Engineering.

Although Team STELLAR headquarters is in Raleigh, NC, we have stated from the beginning that we intend to work across the Southeast United States to broaden both our talent base and the commercial opportunities we will provide. This year will see an increase in our efforts.

*Jack is an attorney and was appointed by Virginia Governor Tim Kaine to membership of the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority and the Virginia Aerospace Advisory Council. He is also an elected "ADVOCATE" of the Space Frontier Foundation

- Jeff Krukin (www.jeffkrukin.com)