I don’t know, either! BUT, what I do know is that you could’ve talked to the CEO of one that does, Made in Space, last night, IF you had attended the World Affairs Council of Jacksonville’s Quarterly Saloon meeting.

Hosted by the remarkable Baptist Health MD Anderson Cancer Center, a panel of Space experts Andrew Rush, Todd Lindner, and Mark Bontrager (moderated by Zachary Levensohn) talked about the space industry in Florida. They talked about Florida, in general, but also the Cecil Spaceport, which is one of just two horizontal launching sites in Florida.

It doesn’t really matter if you are really “into” space or not, 3D printers in orbit are pretty darned cool.

For the World Affairs Council of Jacksonville, though, this is just another typical event. If this kind of smart conversation appeals to you, consider joining. You won’t regret it. (except maybe your decision NOT to become an astronaut)

You can learn more here.

Thanks for reading.

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So, Santa brought me a really cool photography drone (this one, from DJI), a Phantom 4 Pro… I’ve been playing around with racing quadcopters for a couple of years, but my family’s Jacksonville photography business needs drone photography. Racing quadcopters, especially with a camera and FPV goggles, is really fun but is not very conducive to Real Estate photography.

Which means, of course, that we needed a capable photography drone and FAA certification to fly it for commercial purposes. The certification is called a “Remote Pilot” certification and is described in Part 107 of the Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations, “Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems.” The certification allows operators to use a drone (called UAS) for commercial purposes (not allowed, otherwise), and requires some studying and passing a knowledge test.

Which brings me to the partial government shutdown. I just tried to schedule the test, and was denied… FAA knowledge testing is DOWN for the count, until the folks in Washington get their act together!

Hopefully they’ll do so, soon. Until then, I guess I’ll just have to be content flying for fun. Did I mention it was really fun?

Thanks for reading!

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Read about it over here.

The post LSA weight limit to almost triple to 3,600lbs! appeared first on Brian Tuttle.

Just be hopeful that you can avoid riding with the kid that presses every. single. button. 

Read about it over here.

The post Space elevator planned as soon as 2045 appeared first on Brian Tuttle.

From aopa.org: “HR302, a $90-billion, five-year FAA reauthorization bill, passed in the House of Representatives by a vote of 398 to 23 on Sept. 26. The legislation addresses industry workforce programs, aviation safety, drone integration, and other issues, but to the relief of all general aviation, it makes no mention of so-called air traffic control privatization”

Read about it here.

The post House passes longterm FAA reauthorization bill appeared first on Brian Tuttle.

He aimed to continue that yesterday, by announcing the name of the first paying moon flight passenger, a Japanese businessman.

Read about it here.

The post Elon Musk announces SpaceX’s moonshot passenger appeared first on Brian Tuttle.