excalibur almaz
excalibur almaz' s space tourism vehicle concept. (credit: excalibur almaz )
excalibur almaz satellite spacecraft mahogany wood mode... excalibur almaz satellite spacecraft mahogany wood mode ...
excalibur almaz had planned to adapt the va spacecraft for use as a private crew and cargo space transport. (excalibur almaz )
excalibur almaz to showcase flown spacecraft to area students - excalibur almaz to showcase flown spacecraft to area students (read full article) .
donna beck sued houston patent attorney arthur dula, his companies excalibur exploration limited, excalibur limited, excalibur almaz limited and excalibur almaz usa inc. , and excalibur directors j. buckner hightower and christopher stott, in harris county court .
almaz, art dula, excalibur almaz, isle of man, j. buckner hightower, space station
an almaz space station module being transported on the isle of man. (credit: excalibur almaz )
excalibur' s concept of the tks transport ship upgraded with a service module. credit: excalibur - almaz
buckner hightower of excalibur almaz spoke at the frontiers of flight museum on saturday. his talk revealed some interesting details of excalibur almaz’s plans and current status .
an artist rendering, circa 2011, depicts the excalibur - almaz space station and a passenger capsule based on the tks return vehicle. credit: excalibur - almaz
this is not the first lawsuit against dula alleging fraud in connection wit excalibur almaz .
excalibur almaz to showcase space stations on the isle of man (read full article) .
image above: an artist' s conception of excalibur almaz inc.' s human spacecraft concept for low earth orbit crew transportation. image credit: excalibur almaz inc. › larger image
horie also alleges that dula and excalibur almaz then resorted to attempted bribery to remedy the problem .
hightower believes excalibur almaz could perform its first l2 mission in about 30 months, after recapitalization .
the almaz - 205 space station acquired by excalibur - almaz and delivered to the isle of man in january 2011. copyright © 2011 anatoly zak
above: a proposed configuration of the excalibur - almaz complex released in 2011. notable is a new light - weight propulsion module on the reentry capsule. credit: npo machinostroenia / excalibur - almaz
excalibur almaz artist' s conceptual cutaway drawing of the proposed space station. image released june 1, 2011 .
in addition to buying several almaz reentry vehicles, the company has also bought two complete almaz space station hulls .
space exploration and tourism company excalibur almaz imported two capsules in 2011 and planned to use them for space holidays costing £100m .
a couple of updates on excalibur almaz, whose soviet - era space station and capsule were seen being shipped from one location to another on the isle of man. excalibur almaz founder and ceo art dula told the independent there wasn’t much to see there :
houston, oct. 1, 2012 (excalibur almaz pr) — excalibur almaz, usa (www. thealmazusa. com) is pleased to announce that dennis k. diemoz has been named president of excalibur almaz, usa (ea usa). he has also been appointed to the ea board of directors. mr. diemoz provides a rich history of aerospace industry executive management .
excalibur almaz limited (ea), the international commercial space exploration company, is exporting two partially completed almaz space stations from russia to the iom today. the stations and excalibur almazâ€™ reusable return vehicles were developed by eaâ€™s russian associate, jsc mic npo mashinostroyenia .
japanese investor takafumie horie has brought a lawsuit against space development company excalibur almaz, alleging that the russian - built almaz capsules purchased by the company could only be used as
museum pieces
.
the interior of the soviet va spacecraft as outfitted by excalibur almaz. the space capsule flew twice without a crew. (lempertz )
those conservative and aggressive estimates are from a market study entitled
market analysis of commercial human orbital and circumlunar spaceflight
carried out for excalibur almaz by the management consultancy futron. in 2009, excalibur almaz officials told urltoken the company' s first flight would be in 2013 .
space stations arrive on the isle of man - the excalibur almaz space stations arrive on the isle of man (read full article) .
bemannte raumfahrt presents all of nasa' s competitors in the ccdev program. this time, excalibur' s almaz, aka human spacecraft .
excalibur almaz’s goal is to create an affordable commercial space transportation to low earth orbit, lunar orbit, near earth objects and deep space .
excalibur almaz to pioneer private orbital manned space flight - excalibur almaz limited (ea), an international space exploration company, today announced plans to open up a new era of private orbital space flight for commercial customers, using updated elements of the “almaz” space system originally developed by jsc mic npo mashinostroyenia (npom) of russia (read full article) .
excalibur almaz has purchased four tks capsules, which it has upgraded to rrv configuration with new electronics, as well as two almaz space stations. excalibur almaz believes it can use the capsules and space - station modules as part of a transportation system for flights to the moon, libration points, asteroids, and deep space, as well as the international space station .
my apologies for not responding promptly, as i was away for the day at the royal aeronautical society conference where the excalibur almaz announcement was made .
in 2014, a year after his release from prison, takafumi horie — excalibur’s biggest investor to date — stumbled upon a trade paper article about an excalibur almaz space capsule sold at auction, and came to the same conclusion .
houston press has a long, sad look at one of the more curious newspace projects, excalibur almaz, and the man behind it, art dula .
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xcor to train excalibur almaz crews
.
commercial space companies are interested, however. xcor aerospace and excalibur almaz recently signed a memorandum of understanding that would open the door for xcor to provide training for excalibur almaz astronauts using the lynx spacecraft. if the idea catches on, suborbital spaceflight may become a standard part of the training toolkit for all future astronauts .
an artist' s conception shows the excalibur almaz reusable re - entry vehicle, or rrv, which is based on formerly top - secret soviet military technology .
art dula is facing another lawsuit alleging fraud connected with excalibur almaz, a company that has been seeking to use old soviet space station hardware for commercial purposes .
' excalibur almaz is willing and able to send crewed missions deeper into space than would be possible aboard any other spacecraft in existence today,' said mr dula .
it looks like the end of the road for excalibur almaz, the isle of man - based space company that has produced more lawsuits than space flights during its existence .
hightower said that excalibur almaz has completed all of its scheduled milestones under its unfunded space act agreement with nasa’s commercial crew and cargo development program. as part of this work, the eads astrium consortium developed a service - module concept for the four russian tks capsules which excalibur almaz has purchased. hightower said that excalibur almaz is prepared to step in and replace one of the primary ccdev partners, if unexpected difficulties arise, but ea’s primary focus is no longer on the international space station or low earth orbit .
excalibur almaz ceo art dula outlined the company’s plans on sunday during the international space development conference in washington. based upon twitter posts by attendees, here are the highlights :
at the end are a few photos of the almaz capsule on display at westminster .
the project is led by excalibur almaz limited (ea), an international space exploration company that has teamed with the almaz rrv spacecraft manufacturer and other russian and u. s. companies. ea is led by art dula founder and ceo of the venture .
brazil has potential to establish one of the most rapidly developing space programs in the world. excalibur almaz’s space program developed from proven, flight - tested spacecraft can add further momentum to brazil’s and the agência espacial brasileira (aeb) ascendency. the aeb’s interest in space research and science as well as its development of launch capabilities and launch sites align with excalibur almaz’s strategic vision to be the world leader in providing space transportation services. excalibur almaz’s science and microgravity research opportunities can also benefit brazil’s national educational initiatives. with cargo missions launching as early as 2014 and crewed missions launching as early as 2015, a partnership between brazil and excalibur almaz would greatly accelerate achievement of the goals of both parties .
we are pleased to add excalibur almaz to the group of ccdev2 companies and look forward to a productive partnership ,
said brent jett, commercial crew program deputy manager .
excalibur almaz participates in moscow air show - the excalibur almaz space vehicle made its long awaited public debut at the maks air show in moscow august 18 - 23, 2009. several thousand visitors were on - hand to see the spacecraft’s “smart space” design that combines proven, space flown technology with today’s advanced engineering and innovations (read full article) .
excalibur almaz is looking beyond sending its soviet - era space vehicles and stations into earth orbit and is actively working on human missions to the moon, asteroids and lagrange points .
suborbital spaceflight will be an integral part of the safety and education program to prepare excalibur almaz crews for orbital and deep - space expeditions. excalibur almaz founder and chairman art dula says, “the xcor [ lynx ] flights will enhance the overall spaceflight experience of our program and help ensure that our passengers are both mission and medically qualified to fly in space. ”
three almaz stations were launched into space under the pretence that they were civilian research craft .
an anonymous bidder has purchased one of four reusable reentry vehicles owned by excalibur almaz for $ 1 million. the vehicle had flown into space unmanned on two occasions during the 1970′s as part of the soviet union’s space station effort. whether excalibur almaz, based on the isle of man, is still pursuing its aim of commercial deep - space flight, is unclear .
michael levin, who is defending excalibur in horie’s lawsuit, said that dula, friedman and excalibur executive vice president buckner hightower would not be available for interview because of the pending litigation .
excalibur almaz hoped to use two leftover soviet - era almaz space stations and a pair of return capsules to launch its own space program. the company had a difficult time finding anyone to fund the program. last year, the company auctioned off one of the return capsules .
lempertz is also auctioning two russian sokol kv - 2 spacesuits worn by astronaut michael foale (left) and cosmonaut alexander kaleri to the international space station and mir. (excalibur almaz )
art dula, founder and chief executive of isle of man - based excalibur almaz, told a space tourism meeting in london:' we' re ready to sell the tickets.'
the station is designed for a crew of six, but excalibur almaz would reconfigure it for a crew of five. this configuration would allow for a three - week mission at l2 .
art dula was at the royal aeronautical society’s 3rd european space tourism conference in london this week, promoting excalibur almaz (ea) and announcing an agreement with xcor aerospace for crew training .
astronaut dr leroy chiao and cosmonaut colonel vladimir titov were among a number of experienced space experts at the press launch of the excalibur almaz space project held at king william’s college on saturday .
one final full almaz station had been outfitted with large imaging radar panels for commercial remote sensing programs. a genuine unmanned almaz space station it was the largest remote sensing satellite ever launched .
nasa' s commercial crew program is entering into an unfunded space act agreement with excalibur almaz, incorporated (eai) as part of the commercial crew development round 2 (ccdev2) activities .
excalibur almaz did not reveal its anticipated price per trip in tuesday' s announcement, but did detail plans to update the rrv spacecraft design with modern technology to support independent flights to orbit .
excalibur almaz is marketing a commercial space capsule called the rrv, or reusable reentry vehicle, based on the tks capsule developed by the soviet union during the cold war. the tks capsule was intended for use with the almaz (military salyut) space station. it was tested in an unmanned configuration, but the almaz program was cancelled before manned flights of the capsule were conducted .
excalibur almaz is marketing a commercial space capsule called the rrv, or reusable reentry vehicle, based on the tks capsule developed by the soviet union during the cold war. the tks capsule was intended for use with the almaz (military salyut) space station. it was tested in an unmanned configuration, but the almaz program was cancelled before manned flights of the capsule were conducted .
the spacecraft station modules owned by excalibur almaz are equivalent to modules flown in space on every space station since 1972, including mir and iss. excalibur almaz is refurbishing the on - board equipment and adding a hall thruster system, manufactured in the u. s. by busec, which is powered by a solar array built by entech in fort worth, texas. ea spacecraft can be launched to low earth orbit (leo) on a commercial proton from kazakhstan. the proton has successfully launched more than 20 similar modules to leo; including three stations like the excalibur almaz spacecraft .
the modules, which have never been launched, were built as part of almaz, a soviet military programme that sent astronauts into orbit to take reconnaissance photographs of earth. but excalibur has also bought four reusable almaz spacecraft, including one that was flown twice, which might be used much sooner .
excalibur has raised
tens of millions of dollars
to initiate what will become a several hundred million dollar program, dula tells spaceflight now. he has spent more than 20 years eying this specific almaz program, something i can vouch for from my own experience with the almaz program in russia .
excalibur almaz limited, based on the isle of man, has acquired several reusable return vehicles, or rrvs, spacecraft initially designed for flying cosmonauts to the former soviet union' s super - secret almaz space stations of the 1970s, the firm announced tuesday at the moscow air show in russia .
excalibur has never taken its capsules to space, but the company has produced some fancy promotional videos .
when the soviets launched almaz craft throughout the 1970s and into the early 1980s, they were explained publicly as being part of the salyut program. one of the space stations was equipped with a very crude cannon. excalibur literature claims that its particular almaz equipment could withstand up to 15 more launches. the outer hulls just needed some paint and a fancy excalibur logo; only the computerized guts needed updating .
a senior colleague forwarded me a media query from a financial times journalist regarding excalibur almaz' s lunar plans. wrote some quick comments, but i was late getting the email and missed the deadline .
spacetek intends the giorgio fedon 1919 space explorer watch to be used onboard its private space station being developed by excalibur almaz. excalibur almaz acquired two salyut - class space stations from what was left over from the soviet space program of the 1970s. the isle of man - based company said it could launch its own station as soon as 2015, though spacetek is planning to begin operations a few years later .
in a lawsuit, japanese investor takafumi horie accused excalibur almaz founders art dula and j buckner hightower of misleading him in order to obtain a $ 49 million investment in the company. horie says the soviet - era almaz space station hardware the company purchased were museum pieces that could never be launched into space .
along the way, excalibur almaz has been sued twice [ here and here ] by investors for alleged fraud. the company and its founders, art dula and j buckner hightower, have denied the claims .
senior executives from excalibur almaz (ea), including ceo art dula, held a briefing on the company' s plans for a wide range of corporate executives and government officials (read full article) .
npom designed, tested and flew several almaz space stations and rrv prototypes in the 1970s. the first almaz (which means
diamond
in russian) station to reach orbit was christened salyut 2, but failed in 1973. two others, dubbed salyuts 3 and 5, later flew with much success. the rrvs flew about nine test flights, with two vehicles reaching orbit repeatedly, excalibur almaz officials said .
the good news is that excalibur almaz, a commercial aerospace company based on the isle of man, announced this week it' s ready to sell tickets for flights aboard a spacecraft that will orbit the moon .
with this announcement, the dream of private orbital space exploration may become a reality in the very near future ,
veteran russian cosmonaut vladimir titov, an adviser to excalibur almaz, said in a statement .
excalibur almaz is now focusing on cislunar flights. the company wants to place one of its two salyut - class almaz space stations in a halo orbit around the earth - moon l2 point, on the far side of the moon. l2 would be the farthest human beings have ever ventured from the surface of the earth .
much of the excitement surrounding the island’s positioning in the commercial space race was tied to excalibur almaz, which had to shelve plans to launch multimillionaires into orbit because of what dula called a fourfold increase in transportation costs .
excalibur almaz is one of eight companies invited by nasa to further discuss their proposals for the commercial crew development (ccdev) program, space news reports. nasa plans to award $ 200 million in funding next month .
us space entrepreneur mr dula has acquired two soviet' almaz' space stations, designed for orbital spying operations .
it is a second chance for two relics of the cold war. shipped from russia, a pair of soviet space station modules arrived in the isle of man last week, home to the fledgling private space firm excalibur almaz .
isle of man today has an interesting story about how one astronaut and two cosmonauts have laid down cold era rivalries to work for excalibur almaz – a commercial company that is using old soviet hardware to launch space tourists into orbit .
the spaceflight firm excalibur almaz estimates that it can sell about 30 seats between 2015 and 2025, for $ 150 million each, aboard moon - bound missions on a salyut - class space station driven by electric hall - effect thrusters .
according to excalibur almaz, the almaz program saw nine unmanned rrv test flights and use of the spacecraft for ferrying equipment and cargo to the almaz space stations. the rrvs were in orbit for up to 175 days, and while docked with the station they were occupied to validate the life support system. while the rrvs spent time in only low - earth orbit, the heat shield is designed to cope with the greater heat experienced from a moon - return trajectory .
excalibur almaz limited (ea) is an international commercial space transportation company based in the isle of man. its goal is the affordable and reliable transportation of humans and cargo to low earth orbit, libration point, the moon and beyond .
during his brief involvement with excalibur, says abbey, russian engineers were not offering any technical support in refurbishing the fleet .
the rich legacy of the almaz program continues to live in all space stations built to date. the orbital manned almaz space station is the origin of the salyut and mir space stations. the international space station (iss) inherited from almaz its main service module
zvezda
. the almaz transport vehicle provided the basis for the iss module
zarya
and also for the salyut - 7 space station module kosmos - 1686 and a line of modules for the mir space station .
to emphasise the company’s readiness to launch as early as 2015, excalibur almaz is exhibiting one of its spacecraft at space base london, a one - off event at the london queen elizabeth ii exhibition centre from june 20 - 22, 2012 .
the auctioned capsule was one of four reusable reentry vehicles (rrv) owned by excalibur almaz, which also acquired a pair of almaz space station modules that never flew. the company’s intent has been to recycle the hardware for use in crewed missions to earth orbit, cislunar space, libration points and deep space. however, the company has never announced a customer .
the company expects to have a test flight in 2013 and then slowly build the frequency of service of its almaz spacecraft .
whether excalibur almaz is still pursuing this aim is unclear. an email to rob lazaro, who is listed as the company’s public relations director on its website, has not been returned. the last news update on the site is from july 2012 .
this is a major milestone for spacetek, which has had strong interest from european and asian investors, and sets us on course to achieve our 2018 launch ,
said beher upon spacetek signing a memorandum of understanding with excalibur almaz in july .
excalibur could also get funding from nasa. it is set to issue awards this year to private firms working on ways to transport astronauts to and from low - earth orbit. with funding excalibur could have a vehicle flying within three years, chiao says .
because of that international involvement and expertise, excalibur almaz
is in a unique position to initiate a new era of private orbital space exploration ,
said the company' s founder and ceo, art dula, a veteran attorney specializing in aerospace issues .
london, united kingdom (xcor / ea pr) — excalibur almaz limited (ea), a commercial aerospace company based on the isle of man, british isles, signed a memorandum of understanding (mou) with california - based xcor aerospace for suborbital flight services. the agreement signed in conjunction with the royal aeronautical society’s 3rd european space tourism conference calls for xcor to provide suborbital flight familiarization and training using its lynx vehicle for excalibur almaz crews traveling on earth orbit, circumlunar, and deep space missions .
ea working with russians on hall thrusters for almaz stations to move to lagrange points. modules 20mt, 90m3, 20yr life .
london, united kingdom, june 20, 2012 - excalibur almaz limited (ea), a commercial aerospace company based on the isle of man, british isles, signed a memorandum of understanding (mou) with california - based xcor aerospace for suborbital flight services. the agreement signed in conjunction with the royal aeronautical society' s 3rd european space tourism conference calls for xcor to provide suborbital flight familiarization and training using its lynx vehicle for excalibur almaz crews traveling on earth orbit, circumlunar, and deep space missions .
as competition mounts in the new space race, excalibur almaz benefits from its high degree of technical readiness. this advantage includes already achieving nine successful reusable return vehicle (rrv) capsule flights, reentries and soft landings with one rrv being flight - tested three times in space and one rrv staying in orbit attached to a salyut space station for 175 days. numerous other ground and flight tests have also been performed on excalibur almaz' s rrv capsules with each rrv expected to be reusable for up to 15 spaceflights .
when nasa and excalibur inked their agreement, it was with the understanding that excalibur could not share technical information with “russian entities” without prior approval, and the entities could not be on a national watch list. at the time, npo mash wasn’t, but it was added in 2014, and it’s unclear what impact, if any, this would have on excalibur’s future dealings with the company .
this contention is seconded by excalibur’s former executive vice president, leroy chiao. a former astronaut who flew three shuttle missions and commanded a 2004 international space station expedition, chiao entered the private sector in 2005, and, intrigued by dula’s dream, joined excalibur. unfortunately, he told the press, he and other excalibur directors did not have the full story of dula’s contract with the russians .
by the time beck had filed suit in 2012, dula switched excalibur’s focus from mining to private space exploration. dula announced that the company would be selling tickets aboard one of the almaz capsules for $ 100 million. trips would start as early as 2015 .
candid moments around the world - cnn june 19, 2012 a space capsule on display in (parliament square, westminster) london. today a british company called excalibur almaz announced plans to fly people to the moon in three years (watch full video) .
brit firm offers trips to the moon... for £100million - the sun june 20, 2012 isle of man - based excalibur almaz will blast passengers into lunar orbit for a £100million “fare”. the first voyages - aboard russian shuttles once used to spy on the west - could launch in 2015. until now space tourists have travelled only to the international space station and back. excalibur almaz has bought and recycled four re - entry capsules and two space stations from russian firm npo mashinostroyenia (read full article) .
“these allegations are baseless and will be vigorously defended. to set the record straight, excalibur almaz is not out of business and is vigorously pursuing a profitable commercial space program utilizing proven russian flight hardware capable of re - use, contrary to recent allegations. ”
excalibur almaz founder and chief executive officer art dula estimates it will take 24 to 30 months to develop the remaining technology needed and to refurbish the ex - soviet spacecraft and space stations the company already owns. it bought four 1970s - era soviet almaz program three - crew capsules and two russian salyut - class 63, 800 - pound (29, 000 kilograms) space station pressure vessels .
a woman from houston in texas had brought the case against excalibur exploration chairman arthur m. dula and ceo j. buckner hightower .
fly to the moon for $ 150 million - fox business network june 26, 2012 art dula, ceo of excalibur almaz, on space travel becoming a reality for the public as soon as 2015 with tickets costing more than $ 150 million (watch video) .
- london, june 20, 2012 – excalibur almaz limited (ea), a commercial aerospace company based on the isle of man, british isles, signed a memorandum of understanding (mou) with california - based xcor aerospace for suborbital flight services. the agreement signed in conjunction with the royal aeronautical society' s 3rd european space tourism conference calls for xcor to provide suborbital flight familiarization and training using its lynx vehicle for excalibur almaz crews traveling on earth orbit, circumlunar, and deep space missions. (read full article) .
the inquiry further noted that much of the hoopla surrounding the supposedly booming industry had to do with the fact that excalibur almaz was one of only two companies with sights set on the moon, and neither company had done much of anything. the most exciting thing to happen to excalibur, it seemed, was when a bunch of manx schoolchildren were invited to the hangar to play around in the capsules .
but the becks didn’t bite until after a july 2006 dinner honoring heinlein, where dula presented the first $ 500, 000 heinlein prize. the couple were impressed by the display, as well as the former astronauts and nasa officials in attendance, the suit alleges. before they cut a check, dula asked them to make it out not to excalibur mines — which would never be formed — but to something called excalibur almaz usa. dula then formed a company in the isle of man called excalibur exploration, where the becks’ shares went .
jenn sander, wearing a spacesuit once worn by us astronaut peggy whitson, sits inside a re - entry capsule owned by british space - exploration company excalibur almaz, who have announce plans to fly people to the moon for the first time since apollo 17 in 1972 .
excalibur almaz presents plan for commercial space flight - excalibur almaz ltd (ea), an international space exploration company, today held a series of events to mark its announcement of plans to provide commercial flights to and from outer space. the events, including a press briefing and vip reception for the local business and educational community, were co - sponsored by the isle of man government and by king william’s college (kwc), which is providing a temporary home for the spacecraft during its short stay on the island (read full article) .
excalibur almaz’s approach is to leverage the billions of dollars of past investment by governments of spacefaring nations and apply advanced technology on an as needed basis to develop a space architecture that provides efficient access to space for commercialization, research and exploration ,
said mr. dula .
excalibur almaz limited (ea), an international space exploration company, today announced plans to open up a new era of private orbital space flight for commercial customers, using updated elements of the â€œalmazâ€ space system originally developed by jsc mic npo mashinostroyenia (npom) of russia .
instead, the us entrepreneur art dula proposed to use the station as a tourist destination and a commercial research outpost in the earth' s orbit. in 2005, the company called excalibur - almaz said it owned eight reusable descent modules of the tks spacecraft and one space station .
now it seems its dreams of taking on the americans, russians and chinese have crashed back to earth after the space tourism company excalibur almaz moved its russian space capsule and space station to an undisclosed location, claiming its lease had expired on the manx hangar where it was stored .
now there' s another british company in on the action. excalibur almaz, based on the isle of man, has announced details of its plans not only to launch private “tours” into space, but also to operate the first moon missions since that of apollo 17 in 1972 .
over the past several years excalibur almaz has performed numerous technical feasibility and design studies related to the rrv’s and their subsystems as well as launch vehicle compatibility and overall program architecture. excalibur almaz also commissioned multiple independent market studies from futron corporation to examine demand for low earth orbit and manned cislunar spaceflight over a ten year period. ea has also acquired state department licenses for the hardware and for the technical services and export licenses from russia to use the equipment in space. the company also recently became the first to complete all of its space act agreement milestones with nasa’s commercial crew program .
to accompany the auction, a history of the capsule — and the almaz program in general — was written up by bernd hoefer, who is identified on excalibur’s website as the “adviser for finance and capital formation in the middle east. ” (hoefer declined to comment for this story. )
excalibur almaz had one of its space capsules on show in london and pocket - lint was on hand to take a look. claustrophobes need not apply; the three - man capsule, as our pictures show, is small, and the outward journey to space takes an epic 34 hours .
the several almaz reentry vehicles were never launched or returned manned because of conflicts in the russian space program between the military and civilian sides and between the more powerful energia (that builds the single - use soyuz) and nprom that had the reusable almaz - a major advance for the 1970s .
unlike tks, the design proposed by excalibur almaz featured no visible rendezvous antennas or docking hardware, suggesting that the va passenger capsule could be launched along with the station. ironically, this would require to launch the station in the
upside down
position comparing to the original liftoff arrangement of the soviet almaz. the development of the new propulsion module for the va capsule was reportedly delegated to an unnamed european organization as early as 2009 .
excalibur almaz has signed an unfunded space act agreement with nasa to obtain the space agency’s assistance with its bid to provide commercial crew services to the international space station. news of the oct. 17 agreement was included in a footnote in the charter of a house science committee hearing taking place this morning .
the project got little publicity until this year, when one partially assembled almaz space station (almaz - 205) along with a hull of another vehicle (almaz - 206) suddenly
landed
on the the isle of man, uk, of all places. at the beginning of january, the local press ran photos of heavy trucks with carefully draped oversize cylinders navigating the island' s awfully steep and angled roads famous for extreme motorcycle races .
the project' s primary technical partner in russia is npo mashinostroyenia (pronounced machine - ah - st - roy - a - ya (nprom). the highly regarded company which builds the reusable almaz reentry vehicles also built the almaz space stations that were at the heart of the military reconnaissance system .
other contenders for orbital space tourism include chicago - based planetspace, inc. , which is designing a space plane called the silver dart; blue origin and its planned orbital space vehicle; and excalibur almaz limited, based in the isle of man, which is retrofitting old soviet spaceships for future commercial flights .
at the time, a company' s press - release said that initially all flights would be limited to the orbiting of the va crew capsule. in order to justify the launch of the refurbished almaz space station, the company would need a backlog of six missions a year. in the interim, excalibur - almaz hoped to upgrade the va capsule with a two - ton service module to provide additional habitable space during tourist missions lasting up to five days .
in addition to electric thrusters to propel a space station to the moon, excalibur almaz must pay for the development of digital flight - control computers, life support systems and an in - space propulsion system. dula indicated that his company has spent about $ 150 million on the in - orbit space propulsion module .
dula is not the first to offer commercial unmanned spacecraft science missions. spacex is planning its dragonlab service, the first of which the company' s website launch manifest states will occur in 2014. spacex' s dragonlab fact sheet does not list any prices. for these missions, excalibur almaz would use a new module, which is being developed with the help of eads astrium. on its website, excalibur almaz describes a service module, which is used for storing consumables and acts as a habitation area, and a cargo module that can deliver up to 22, 000 pounds (10, 000 kg) of cargo .
a critical feature of the rrvs is their reusability, which will reduce logistical, overhead and program costs for commercial access to space ,
excalibur almaz officials said, adding that the spacecraft will be designed to fit atop a variety of launch vehicles in order to lift off from different sites around the world .
dula told huffpost that the four reusable re - entry vehicles excalibur almaz purchased from russia will be launched atop soyuz - fg rockets. when one of the three - person shuttles reaches low earth orbit, it will rendevouz and dock with one of the two habitation modules, each of which will have their own propulsion systems .
the almaz space station was originally designed as a military reconnaissance station, which could photograph the earth and return photos with small ejectable reentry capsules. as a result, the almaz space station has a 2 - meter telescope which could be used to study the moon and the ability to eject small landers to the lunar surface .
using the modular architecture of our spacecraft and service / cargo modules, excalibur almaz transportation systems will provide the lowest development risk approach to create the first step in the infrastructure needed to provide commercially viable business activities in space, including asteroid and lunar mining, research and lunar and planetary exploration ,
said mr. dula .
excalbur almaz is a company based in the isle of man whose goal is to refurbish a couple of soviet - era almaz space stations and four crew return capsule for some type of space mission. the company has gone through numerous iterations, from space tourism to commercial space station to nasa commercial crew to deep space mining facility .
horie filed his lawsuit in harris county district court in november 2014, accusing dula and two excalibur colleagues of fraud. most strikingly, horie alleged that, after snooping around, he learned that the contract between excalibur and the russian entity that sold the spaceships to dula expressly stipulated that the equipment was not to be modified for flight .
excalibur almaz inc. (eai) has successfully completed its commercial crew development round 2 (ccdev2) partnership with nasa' s commercial crew program. through ccdev2, nasa is spurring innovation and development of safe, reliable and cost - effective spacecraft and launch vehicles capable of transporting astronauts to low earth orbit and the international space station .
and, at a reception in the excalibur airport hangar in the isle of man in 2012, dula went so far as to call the company a “nasa contractor. ”
mr stott – who married nasa astronaut nicole stott at st peters in onchan – is a director of excalibur. his lawyers said claims against him had been “totally unfounded” .
“the excalibur almaz proposal was the lowest rated proposal of the eight companies selected for due diligence and it was the only one that received a yellow rating (for business considerations). in addition, there was a consistent theme in many of the proposal’s weakness, which was that the proposal lacked sufficient detail to determine crucial aspects of the cts concept’s technical, business and safety content. for example, there was a lack of detail regarding the team’s engineering and manufacturing experience to fabricate and operate the almaz vehicle, lack of detail about integration of the vehicle, lack of detail about acquisition of hardware, and lack of detail about the resources need for the ccdev 2 work. i felt this lack of detail increased the risk for enabling a commercial cts capability. this fact, in conjunction with the relatively lower ratings, led me to not select excalibur almaz for award. ”
in april 2011, excalibur - almaz released new drawings of the almaz space station integrated with a modified va crew capsule, which was designed to carry station' s passengers to the earth orbit and back. although the capsule itself remained largely unchanged it was equipped with a compact propulsion module and a lattice structure attaching it to the tail end of the station. in the original soviet designs, the va capsule was connected to the massive fgb propulsion and storage module. together va and fgb would form the tks transport ship .
the architecture for the lunar mission involves a soviet almaz reusable return vehicle (rrv), which can carry three people, launched by a soyuz - fg rocket. this rocket also launches russia' s soyuz manned capsule. the rrv weighs 6, 600 pounds (3, 000 kg) and has a habitable volume of 159 cubic feet (4. 5 cubic meters). the lunar flight also uses a salyut - class 63, 800 - pound (29, 000 kg) space station that is launched by a proton rocket. while excalibur almaz intends to use the soyuz - fg and proton initially, dula did not rule out using other rockets, including space exploration technologies' (spacex) falcon 9 in the future. dula said excalibur almaz would wait for the falcon 9 to accumulate enough flights that it became feasible to insure the space station module aboard the rocket .
a bit more information on the sea launch bankruptcy reorganization – which includes excalibur alaz (which is planning to launch a space station) and u. s. - based planetspace :
an anonymous bidder snapped one of the company’s space capsules for $ 1 million euros ($ 1. 39 million) on tuesday during an auction at the kunsthaus lempertz auction house in brussels, belgium. the vehicle had flown into space unmanned on two occasions during the 1970’s as part of the soviet union’s space station effort and had been refurbished by excalibur almaz .
- july 6, 2012 – excalibur almaz, incorporated (eai), a private u. s. company based in houston, tx, has successfully completed all the milestones for nasa’s commercial crew program second development round (ccdev2) of space act agreements (saa). eai’s milestones were fully verified and completed on june 19 (read full article) .
“suborbital flight experience will serve as an integral preparatory step for the safety, education and enjoyment of our customers traveling on crew expedition missions, ” said art dula, excalibur almaz founder and chairman. “the xcor flights will enhance the overall spaceflight experience of our program and will help ensure that our passengers are both mission and medically qualified to fly in space. ”
at least two other efforts to build commercial space stations for private orbital spaceflights: the isle of man - based excalibur almaz is currently working to build new stations based on proven soviet - era designs while the russian team of companies rsc energia and orbital technologies hopes to launch what it bills as the
world' s first commercial space station
by 2016 .
and, if things work out, people will have that chance through excalibur. at the april northern space consortium conference, hightower gave a speech detailing the company’s interest in liverpool’s “precision manufacturing capability, ” which will come in handy for when excalibur begins building more spacecraft. so far, he said, the company has invested $ 30 million on its existing fleet .
excalibur almaz believes a mission to l2 could generate $ 900 million in revenues. that includes three seats which would be sold to sovereign government or private space explorers for $ 150 million apiece, delivery of satellites to l2 for $ 75 million apiece, delivery of small payloads to the lunar surface for $ 350 million apiece, and $ 32 million for naming rights .
for crew transport to low - earth orbit, dula said that nasa was distorting the market by paying $ 63 million per seat, but that his company is still part of nasa' s commercial crew development (ccdev) program with a nonfunded space act agreement. dula said that excalibur almaz had achieved all of its ccdev milestones on time and on budget so far .
suborbital flight experience will serve as an integral preparatory step for the safety, education and enjoyment of our customers traveling on crew expedition missions ,
said art dula, excalibur almaz founder and chairman .
the xcor flights will enhance the overall spaceflight experience of our program and will help ensure that our passengers are both mission and medically qualified to fly in space .
that russian hardware will now be used to
open a new era of private orbital space flight for commercial customers, using updated elements of the almaz space system ,
says dula .
excalibur almaz rrvs and salyut - class spacecraft are tested and possess a history of reliability. this capability offers multiple mission profiles and unique opportunities to the customer. ea has the core leadership, support advisors and professional relationships to establish and operate this private space transportation company. the ea team is experienced in spaceflight ops, complex technical environments, program safety and international business challenges .
the cost is say $ 250 million; we already have much of the nonrecurring expense [ engineering research and development ] paid for this ,
he said. this propulsion system is based on the european space agency' s automated transfer vehicle' s propulsion module. eads astrium is a contractor for excalibur almaz. another contractor is russian military and industrial joint stock company mashinostroyenia .
to drum up more publicity for excalibur’s $ 100 million tickets for space expeditions, dula sent one of the almaz capsules to london for outdoor display at the royal aeronautical society, in parliament square. this seemed to tick off beck, who noted in her suit that the capsule taking up real estate near parliament was supposed to have been planting flags on asteroids and making her rich .
isle of man firm offering £100m trips to moon - sky news june 19, 2012 a british space company has announced details of a plan to take people to the moon for the first time since 1972. excalibur almaz is offering members of the public a passport to orbit the moon - but budding space - travelers will have to find around £100m first (read full article) .
kennedy space center, fla. (nasa pr) — excalibur almaz inc. (eai) has successfully completed its commercial crew development round 2 (ccdev2) partnership with nasa’s commercial crew program. through ccdev2, nasa is spurring innovation and development of safe, reliable and cost - effective spacecraft and launch vehicles capable of transporting astronauts to low earth orbit and the international space station .
capt. david: - - - quote - - - jim - 20 / 3 / 2008 1: 54 pm almaz was a dead end. it never
was
, and
could be
is not a valid. - - - end quote - - - now that' s an interesting statement. since the almaz ops flew multiple times, the tks likewise, as also the va... the
dead end
is, of course, a dead statement. i' m also at a loss for your definition of
never
. is that the
never
like was used by president clinton when he said he
never
had sex with that woman... ? as for the
could be
... the almaz program isn' t over yet! just ask the guys at
excalibur almaz
. i believe
rocket scientist
is the least of their list of credentials.
excalibur almaz is a private spaceflight company which plans to provide a variety of deep space crewed exploration missions , micro-gravity science , and payload delivery . ea also aims to offer low earth orbit cargo and crew delivery and return . as of 2012 plans , design and flight safety reviews were planned for 2015 . according to a 2012 interview with art dula , the chairman of excalibur almaz , the excalibur almaz capsule was supposedly at a " very high level of technical readiness " and could be flown within two to three years . the main issue of the first manned flight of the excalibur almaz capsule is regulatory , according to dula , as the va capsule had already completed nine unmanned test flights during the almaz program , all of which were successful . the company has entered into an unfunded space act agreement with nasa as part of the commercial crew development round 2 ( ccdev2 ) activities in 2011 but was not selected to receive funding under any phases of it . 
excalibur almaz is a private spaceflight company which plans to provide a variety of deep space crewed exploration missions, micro-gravity science, and payload delivery. ea also aims to offer low earth orbit cargo and crew delivery and return. as of 2012 plans, design and flight safety reviews were planned for 2015. according to a 2012 interview with art dula, the chairman of excalibur almaz, the excalibur almaz capsule was supposedly at a " very high level of technical readiness " and could be flown within two to three years. the main issue of the first manned flight of the excalibur almaz capsule is regulatory, according to dula, as the va capsule had already completed nine unmanned test flights during the almaz program, all of which were successful. the company has entered into an unfunded space act agreement with nasa as part of the commercial crew development round 2 (ccdev2) activities in 2011 but was not selected to receive funding under any phases of it.
excalibur almaz is a private spaceflight company which plans to provide a variety of deep space crewed exploration missions, micro-gravity science, and payload delivery. ea also aims to offer low earth orbit cargo and crew delivery and return. as of 2012 plans, design and flight safety reviews were planned for 2015. according to a 2012 interview with art dula, the chairman of excalibur almaz, the excalibur almaz capsule was supposedly at a " very high level of technical readiness " and could be flown within two to three years. the main issue of the first manned flight of the excalibur almaz capsule is regulatory, according to dula, as the va capsule had already completed nine unmanned test flights during the almaz program, all of which were successful. the company has entered into an unfunded space act agreement with nasa as part of the commercial crew development round 2 (ccdev2) activities in 2011 but was not selected to receive funding under any phases of it.