SpaceDev

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SpaceDev, Inc.

Type	Public (OTCBB: SPDV)
Founded	Poway, California (1997)
Headquarters	Poway, California
Key people	Jim Benson (Founder/Chairman/CTO), Mark N. Sirangelo (CEO)
Industry	Aerospace & Defense
Products	Micro- and nano-satellites, hybrid rocket motor technology, space mechanisms & space robotics
Revenue	USD $9 million (2005)
Employees	200
Slogan	"Making space happen, profitably" and "If we want to go to space to stay, space has to pay"
Website	www.spacedev.com

SpaceDev is an innovative publicly traded space development company in the aerospace industry, now most prominent for its spaceflight and microsatellite work. It designed and built the hybrid rocket motors for Paul Allen's Tier One suborbital SpaceShipOne space program operated by Scaled Composites. It is also developing micro- and nano-satellites, a small expendable launch vehicle, the SpaceDev Streaker, and has designed a piloted suborbital and orbital spaceship of its own, the SpaceDev Dream Chaser, in collaboration with NASA.

The company is based near San Diego in Poway, California. The company's objective is to make routine commercial spaceflight possible and to help open space for all of humanity.

The company's stock is quoted on the OTC Bulletin Board, ticker OTCBB: SPDV.

[edit] History

SpaceDev was founded in 1997 by Jim Benson, who acquired Integrated Space Systems of Southern California and merged it with a defunct publicly traded corporate shell to create the publicly traded SpaceDev. For a while, SpaceDev also owned UK-based Space Innovations Limited.^[1] In August of 1998 SpaceDev acquired all patents, intellectual property, test results, and documents that had been produced by the out of business American Rocket Company (AMROC).

The company's first big project was to be the Near Earth Asteroid Prospector, or NEAP, an innovative commercial small spacecraft mission that would have rendezvoused with and landed on a Near Earth Asteroid (NEO), conducted scientific experiments, and claimed the asteroid as private property. As it turned out however, the company's first big break would come a little closer to home, in the form of CHIPSat [1], the Cosmic Hot Interstellar Plasma Spectrometer microsatellite. SpaceDev built and operated the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) microsat, the first to use only the Internet for its communications, for Berkeley under NASA's University Explorer Program (UNEX). This was followed one year later by supplying the rocket motors that propelled SpaceShipOne into the history books by creating the world's first civilian astronauts and helping Paul Allen win the $10 million Ansari X Prize.

On October 26, 2005 SpaceDev announced that Starsys Research Corporation of Boulder, Colorado would merge with SpaceDev, which would provide SpaceDev with additional expertise and experience with microsatellite technologies.^[2] The acquisition of Starsys on January 31, 2006 put the number of SpaceDev employees over 200, located in three states. The Starsys division is being groomed to become a center of space robotics for SpaceDev. Over 18 years Starsys developed and delivered 2,000 space mechanisms that have flown on over 200 missions, all successfully. SpaceDev has most or all of the moving parts on Mars at this time, had mechanisms on Deep Impact, is supplying the separation system and docking mechanism for the soon to be launched Orbital Express, and has mechanisms on the way to Pluto.

On November 16, 2005 SpaceDev announced ^[3] its Dream Chaser™ concept for a four passenger sub-orbital and a six passenger orbital vehicle, both based on NASA's HL-20 "Personnel Launch System" or "Space Taxi" which was reverse engineered from the successful orbital Soviet BOR-4. SpaceDev's suborbital Dream Chaser will use internal hybrid rocket motors similar to those SpaceDev developed for Paul Allen's SpaceShipOne, while the orbital version will use the internal motors plus larger external hybrid motors. SpaceDev's hybrid rocket technology was pioneered by the American Rocket Company, or AmRoc.

On May 5, 2006, SpaceDev announced it was selected as a finalist in NASA's $500 million Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) demonstration program.^[4] SpaceDev has been working with NASA Ames to design a modern version of the NASA HL-20 Personnel Launch System, called the SpaceDev Dream Chaser. However, on August 18, 2006 it was revealed that SpaceDev had not been named as any of the Phase 1 winners.^[5]

On September 28, 2006, SpaceDev announced that founder and CEO Jim Benson was stepping down to start a new space tourism venture, Benson Space Company (BSC). BSC expects to be one of SpaceDev's largest customers, purchasing multiple Dream Chaser spaceships and safe hybrid rocket motors for use in personal spaceflight.^[6]