Cosmica Spacelines

11 November 2011, Darmstadt, Germany: VEGA Space hosted the SubSpace 2011 conference in Darmstadt, Germany with leaders of the European space industry addressing current trends and plans for the future of microgravity research on reusable suborbital vehicles.  The purpose of the conference was to break the paradigm of current microgravity research with limited flight rates and high costs.  Reusable suborbital launch vehicles overcome both of these concerns, thereby facilitating innovation.

Cosmica Spacelines’ Founder, President and COO Garrett Smith led off the SubSpace 2011 forum hosted by VEGA Space presenting XCOR Aerospace’s Lynx reusable space launch vehicle and answering questions for the suborbital research round table.  He discussed the opportunities and potential for research through payload integration services provided by Cosmica and through fractional ownership of the Lynx as a microgravity laboratory facility.  Garrett addressed the attendees with an introduction of Cosmica, followed by details on the unprecedented opportunity to make repeat space access an everyday reality and how researchers can benefit in partnership with Cosmica.

Cosmica presented a four step program currently under development to qualify and train future suborbital researcher astronauts to accompany their experiments so they are fully aware of the sensations they will experience onboard the Lynx.  This comprehensive training will prepare researchers for the launch accelerations and weightlessness giving them peace of mind so they can fully focus on the task of operating their experiment.

Dr. Olympia Kyriopoulos of VEGA Space opened and closed the day addressing the awareness of suborbital potential.  VEGA Space has operations in Germany, UK, France, Holland and Spain and more than 30 years experience in space, defense and aviation sectors.  Many years of experience, combined with top specialists and outstanding consulting and process expertise, provide the strategies and tools necessary to meet the challenges in each sector.  VEGA Space analyzes tasks to find the optimal solution for each for their clients by developing innovative solutions in a diverse array of fields.

Cosmica’s potential and growth to serve Europe is what VEGA Space recognized thus requesting our participation at the event.  Cosmica joined other European visionaries including Prof. Dr. Jürgen Blum of TU Braunschweig, Prof. Dr. Ralf Stannarius of Otto von Guericke Universität Magdeburg, Prof. Dr. Oliver Ullrich from the Institute of Anatomy at the Universität Zürich and Dr. Matthias Sperl from the Institut für Materialphysik im Weltraum at DLR.  Business leaders included Carlo Albanese of Telespazio, John Lewis and Dave Salt of VEGA Space, and via telecom Andrew Nelson of XCOR.

During the visit to Germany, Smith also had the privilege of visiting the European Space Operations Center which “has planned missions, operated more than 60 satellites and ensured that spacecraft meet their mission objectives.”  Garrett saw firsthand the control centers for Herschel, Planck, Mars Express, and many other ongoing deep space and meteorological missions.  Garrett was very warmly welcomed and given personal tours of the future Envihab facilities at DLR, the German Aerospace Center, and the European Astronaut Center (EAC) in Cologne.