The first launch of a Soyuz rocket from the new launch facility at the Guiana Space Center spaceport will be delayed till the spring of 2011 at the earliest: First Flight of European Soyuz Delayed Again | SpaceNews.com - Sept.7.10.
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ULA wins a commercial payload for the Atlas V: Atlas Launch Report | Atlas 5 rocket picked to launch commercial imager - Spaceflight Now - Sept.7.10.
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Doug Messier recently reported that Bob Richards had resigned as head of the Odyssey Moon project: Bob Richards Left Odyssey Moon to "Pursue Funded Ventures" - Parabolic Arc - Sept.4.10.

Space News reports this week that Richards is starting a new company called Richspace in Mountain View, California that he says will "assist customers in developing a wide array of payloads to send into space".

Via Spaceports blog comes a pointer to the on line SatTV video reports on the space industry. The programs are created by Satellite Evolution Group and they post the weekly short reports on their YouTube SatelliteEvolutionTV Channel.

Here are a couple of recent reports:

ESA its own venture capital fund, managed by a private firm, that backs space technology related companies: Venture capital fund backs business opportunities from space - ESA - Aug.23.10 (via spacetoday.net).
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John Kelly comments on the FAA selection of New Mexico for the Center of Excellence for Commercial Space Transportation site: New Mexico a space contender: FAA picks state to receive cash for its new commercial space center - Florida Today.

Things seem to be happening on the satellite broadband front:
/-- Four US Satellite Providers Win Federal Broadband Grants - SpaceNews.com
/-- Inmarsat Set To Provide High-Speed Internet - Aviation Week
/-- LightSquared Jumpstarts Inmarsat Spectrum Re banding with Cash Infusion - SpaceNews.com - Aug.18.10

A collaboration has been using the Iridium constellation to do space weather studies:
/-- Iridium merges science and communications missions - Spaceflight Now - Aug.18.10
/-- The National Science Foundation, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab, Boeing and Iridium Successfully Demonstrate Space Weather Observation - AMPERE/PRNewswire
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Iridium is also looking for partners in government and industry who would like to place instrument payloads on the spacecraft in its Iridium NEXT constellation, scheduled to starting launching on SpaceX rockets in 2015: Iridium Hosted Payloads Program.

Hosted Payload Specifications:
Weight: 50 kg
Dimensions: 30 x 40 x 70 cm
Power: 50 W average, 200 W peak
Data rate: Up to 1 Mbps

GeoEye and DigitalGlobe get enormous contracts to build and operate next-generation satellite imaging systems for the government:
/-- Government imaging contract will hasten new satellites - Spaceflight Now - Aug.10.10
/-- GeoEye, DigitalGlobe Get $7 Billion from Intelligence Agency to Implement Next-Gen Satellite Imaging - Popular Science - Aug.101.0
/-- NGA to contribute 337 Million to GeoEyes Next Satellite - SpaceNews.com - Aug.10.10
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Here's where satellite technology really proves its utility: Space Helps Coloradans Find Free Beer: 4th Edition Colorado Beer Map Recognized by Space Foundation for Integrating Space Technologies - The Space Foundation - Aug.10.10 (via Jeff Foust).

Some news from the two big LEO constellations:
/-- Globalstar Gets First Next-Gen Comsats - On Space/Aviation Week - Aug.9.10

/-- Iridium Reports Strong Growth in the Second Quarter and Raises All Elements of Guidance for 2010 - Iridium Communications Inc. (via spacetoday.net)

The latest Near Earth LLC newsletter is available: From The Ground Up - July 2010 (pdf).

It includes an analysis by Hoyt Davidson of the growth potential of various markets for space businesses such as Satellite Broadband, Mobile Broadband & Cellular Backhaul, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), and Commercial Space.

The space business world this year has seen some big money deals to finance and launch new large satellite constellations for Iridium, Globalstar, and Ob3. These involve lots of satellites and launches. There may be other high demand markets coming as well such as launching people to Bigelow habitats. Ian Fichtenbaum ponders whether economies of scale will start to kick in and drive down costs and in turn expand the demand for current space markets while also opening new markets.

A discussion about using the Canadian mining tax credit system to encourage investment in space mining and other commercial activities in space: Mining as a Model for the Commercial Space Industry - Commercial Space.
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Arianespace pays the Russian Roskosmos company for a set of launches from the Soyuz launch facility in Kourou, French Guiana: Roskosmos, Arianespace Sign $500 Mil Deal - Spaceports.

Motley Fool has a brief item about SpaceX and the possibility of an IPO at some point: In Space, Everyone Can Hear You Cheer - The Motley Fool - June.9.10
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Colin Doughan interviews "Craig Clark, founder and CEO of Clyde Space, cubesat component provider based in Glasgow, Scottland": Clyde Space: E-Commerce for Satellites - Space Business Blog - June.8.10
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Gregory Olsen is like most of those who have visited space - they want to go back: Millionaire Space Tourist Wants to Go Back - SPACE.com.

He could easily envision a commercial taxi service going to the International Space Station, and said he would like to see the industry take things even further.

"I'm a moon fan," he said. "This mission that Space Adventures is planning – that's all possible. The moon could eventually go to the private sector too."

The spaceflyer said he reminisces about his space journey almost every day. "It'll be five years in October and not a day goes by when I don't think about it."

The experience was truly life-changing, he added.

"When you fly over the Earth, there's no sign of life," Olsen said. "There's nothing to indicate that there's anything going on there – occasional jet trails, but other than that it just looks serene, perfect. When I was up there I just said, 'Wow, I'm the luckiest guy in the world to be able to see this.'"

Iridium has finalized its plan "for funding, building and deploying its next-generation satellite constellation":
/-- Huge order for Iridium spacecraft - BBC
/-- Iridium Announces Comprehensive Plan for Next Generation Constellation - Iridium
/-- Thales Team Beats Lockheed for Satellite Job - WSJ.com

Space News reported that Iridium has place a $19M deposit with SpaceX for a contract to launch the 72 satellites to LEO starting in 2015.

Update: A reader sends a pointer to this video interview with Iridium CEO Matt Desch about the new hardware and financial plan: Iridium's Latest Venture - CNBC.com.

More about the Sea Launch reorganization:
/-- Sea Launch Expects To Resume Launch Operations by Mid 2011 - SpaceNews.com - May.14.10
/-- Sea Launch prepares to reorganize after bankruptcy - Spaceflight Now - May.14.10

The latest Near Earth LLC newsletter is available: From the Ground Up - May 2010 (pdf).
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Misc. launch vehicle news:
/-- Sea Launch Files Plan of Reorganization - Sea Launch

/-- Ariane Launch Report | Arianespace sets date for next launch after inquiries - Spaceflight Now

/-- 50 Years Of The Delta Rocket - Central Florida News 13
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A heavy lift concept as practical as all the others: Ball Unveils New Heavy Lift Concept (Sort of) - On Space/AvWeek

SpaceX may be the launch provider for Iridium when it launches its next-gen constellation of 66 satellites in the 2015-2016 time frame: Iridium Makes Down Payment on Iridium Next Launches - SpaceNews.com

Industry officials said Iridium has been in negotiations with startup launch-service provider Space Exploration Technologies of Hawthorne, Calif., which is advertising prices substantially lower than the competition but has yet to prove it can meet the requirements of a commercial program like Iridium.

Iridium said the $19 million deposit is refundable if the company is unable to secure Iridium Next financing, or if it has not signed a firm Iridium Next satellite construction contract within 12 months. Iridium repeated in its SEC filing that it expects Iridium Next will cost about $2.7 billion through 2016, and that much of this financing will come from the company’s expected operating cash flow.

Orbcomm might launch its next-generation of satellites as secondary payloads on the Falcon 9 rather than the Falcon 1e: Rebounding Economy Boosts Orbcomms Fortunes - SpaceNews.com - May.12.10.
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Russia’s RSC Energia company will invest $140 million in Sea Launch, which will bring it out of bankruptcy proceedings: Sea Launch Says Energia Will Finance its Bankruptcy Exit - SpaceNews.com .

Via the 62 Mile Club blog comes a pointer to an archived KCRW radio program from Wednesday that included comments from Elon Musk and Rand Simberg about the future of the aerospace industry in Southern California.

After announcing that NASA would phase out the space shuttle program, President Obama visited Elon Musk, the head of SpaceX, headquartered in Hawthorne. Will Musk’s Falcon 9 bring aerospace leadership back to Southern California? ...

A new way for space entrepreneurs in the UK to connect: Space Entrepreneurs UK (London, England) - Meetup.com (via Rocketeers.co.uk).
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Jobs in a future with commercial space: 10 Space Jobs From the Near Future - GeekDad/Wired.com

Buzz is a busy guy these days. Besides dancing around, he is opening a web portals for iPhones:
/-- Buzz Aldrin Portal to Science & Space Exploration - TheAppCompany
/-- Buzz Aldrin App Brings Space Program Down to Earth - Tech News Daily
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Scott Lowther is now selling specific articles from the Aerospace Projects Review on topics such as the Rockwell X-33, Project Orion, and Lockheeds “Flying Saucer”: Individual APR articles now available - The Unwanted Blog. (The blog posts includes lots of graphics from such projects.)
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Check out also the Branded products from 62MileClub - 62 Mile Club Blog.

SpaceX lands a contract for the launch of a Space Systems/Loral communications satellite: SpaceX and Space Systems/Loral Sign Contract for Falcon 9 Geosynchronous Transfer Mission - MarketWatch/SpaceX (via twitter.com/flighthyperbola).

This is the first contract SpaceX has won with a mainstream US communication satellite builder. (SpaceX was previously contracted to launch the Astrium built Hylas satellite for the start-up European Avanti broadband satellite firm but that launch was switched to Arianespace last summer.) If SpaceX starts to pick up more such deals it will definitely get the attention of Arianespace and ILS, which currently dominate comsat launches. The SpaceX manifest currently includes commercial satellite launches for Orbcomm and Astrium but these are small payloads that will ride on Falcon 1 vehicles.

The latest issue of the Near Earth LLC newsletter is available: From the Ground Up - March 2010 (pdf).

It includes an announcement about Rich Pournelle, previously at XCOR, joining them.

The "Financings" section has this entry:

SpaceX IPO: Well, despite recent challenges at the Falcon 9 launch pad, we are still very bullish on the prospects of SpaceX. If it can get two or three successful Falcon 9 launches under its belt in the next 12 months, its multi-billion dollar NASA backlog for COTS will be confirmed in investors’ minds and additional commercial satellite operators should see SpaceX as a viable new supplier. With a strengthened and diversified manifest of launches, we would think SpaceX could go public on favorable terms. (see our previous article “SpaceX hits the big time”, September 2009)