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SpaceDev, Inc. announced today that SpaceDev Founder and Board Member James Benson, 63, died peacefully in his home. Benson was diagnosed in 2007 with a glioblastoma multiforme brain tumor, the cause of his death early this morning. Mr. Benson had resigned from an operational role in SpaceDev in September 2006. He retained a seat on the Board of Directors of SpaceDev where he had continued to support the Company that he founded in 1997. "Jim was a true visionary," said Mark Sirangelo, SpaceDev's CEO and Chairman of the Board. "He saw that space exploration could be more effective if done...

POWAY, CA--(MARKET WIRE)--Mar 27, 2007 -- SpaceDev (OTC BB:SPDV.OB - News) has been awarded a contract from the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), in response to the Operationally Responsive Space Payload Technology Broad Agency Announcement. The award is for the preliminary design of the Combined Optical, Radio, Radar Instrument (CORRI), designed for a small satellite payload application. CORRI integrates three independent capabilities into a single instrument suite: high resolution optical/IR imagery, high-gain broadband RF up/downlink and sensitive proximity radar.

POWAY, CA--(MARKET WIRE)--Feb 1, 2007 -- SpaceDev (OTC BB:SPDV.OB - News) announced today that it has completed a series of three hot-fire tests of its hybrid upper stage motor, part of the SpaceDev Streaker(TM) Small Launch Vehicle development program. The tests demonstrated the ability to restart a partially spent motor grain and tested a new injector configuration intended to improve motor performance and stability. The tests were conducted at SpaceDev's new hybrid rocket test site in southern Orange County, CA, which will eventually be upgraded to accommodate test firings of larger and more powerful motors.

POWAY, CA--(MARKET WIRE)--Jan 30, 2007 -- SpaceDev, Inc. (OTC BB:SPDV.OB - News) announced today that it has signed a lease on a new 72,000 square foot development and manufacturing facility located in the Colorado Technology Center in Louisville, Colorado, for its subsidiary, Starsys, Inc. Starsys will be relocating from its facility in Boulder, Colorado in March 2007, as its current lease expires. The new facility will be leased from RE Hill Properties, LLC and Quartz Mountain Properties, LLC.

POWAY, Calif., Dec. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- In the wake of hiring retired NASA space shuttle astronaut and decorated Naval pilot Robert "Hoot" Gibson as COO and chief test pilot, Benson Space Company (BSC) has agreed to a proposal from SpaceDev (OTC Bulletin Board: SPDV - News), which will undertake the Phase I development of the SpaceDev Dream Chaser(TM) spaceship. The agreement marks a significant milestone that advances BSC toward the launching pad and promises to shepherd in the era of personal spaceflight. Established in September 2006 by SpaceDev founder Jim Benson, BSC seeks to provide the first, safest and lowest...

POWAY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 1, 2006--Starsys, Inc., a SpaceDev Company (OTCBB: SPDV - News) recently delivered two major subsystems -- the Spacecraft-to-Spacecraft Separation System and the Orbital Express Capture System -- for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Orbital Express program, under contract with The Boeing Company. The goal of the Orbital Express program is to validate the feasibility of the robotic, autonomous on-orbit refueling and reconfiguration of satellites. DARPA foresees that Orbital Express-derived satellites will usher-in a revolution in space operations enabling maneuverable and up-gradable satellites supporting critical national security missions, as well as new and enhanced capabilities for...

POWAY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 29, 2006--SpaceDev (OTCBB: SPDV - News) has been awarded a $1.25 million contract from the Air Force Research Laboratory Space Vehicles Directorate, for the preliminary design of a nanosatellite capable of independently providing localized Space Situational Awareness of the local space environment of a host satellite. SpaceDev's design for the satellite, otherwise known as an Autonomous NanoSatellite Guardian for Evaluating Local Space (ANGELS), includes the satellite hardware assembly, detailed design schematics, software and flight algorithms, operations manuals, testing plans, and interface control documents.

A newly released study has focused on how best to return people to the Moon, reporting that future lunar missions can be done for under $10 billion - far less than a NASA price tag. The multi-phased three-year study was done by a private space firm, SpaceDev of Poway, California, and concluded that safe, lower cost missions can be completed by the private sector using existing technology or innovative new technology expected to be available in time to support human exploration of the Moon in the near-future. SpaceDev announced the results of its International Lunar Observatories Human Servicing Mission study...

POWAY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 7, 2005--SpaceDev (OTCBB: SPDV - News) announced a new high performance microsatellite product program named the SpaceDev Modular Microsat Bus(TM). The SpaceDev MMB-100 microsat is a highly capable modular 100 kg (220 pound) microsatellite based on industry standard "Plug-n-Play" interfaces. In addition to standard Ethernet and USB interfaces, the SpaceDev MMB-100 uses a real-time Linux operating system, and uses CORBA-based object oriented interfaces for subsystems as well as commanding from the ground via the Internet. The basic SpaceDev MMB-100 Bus is expected to price at less than $10 million, not including the payload and payload integration.

SpaceDev, a company known for its contributions to private space travel efforts, announced Oct. 26 that it is merging with Starsys Research Corp. of Boulder, Colo. The Poway-based company will pay $1.5 million in cash and $7.5 million in stock to complete the merger and make Starsys a wholly owned subsidiary of SpaceDev. Approximately $4.6 million worth of debt acquired by Starsys will also be paid off by SpaceDev, which has also agreed to forgive a $1.2 million loan the company previously made to Starsys. SpaceDev, which has about 50 employees, rose to international fame in the space exploration community...

What proof do you have that small businesses can make their mark in space? Well, every project we've done has come in on budget and on time. We have small teams, no bureaucracy, and we let engineers get on with being engineers. Some big companies spend hundreds of millions of dollars just thinking about a problem. When I founded SpaceDev in 1997, I was told by people in the industry that it was impossible to do satellites for less than $40 million. CHIPSat, which carries NASA's Cosmic Hot Interstellar Plasma Spectrometer and was our very first craft, cost $7.8 million....

SpaceDev has been awarded a small contract by Lunar Enterprise Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Space Age Publishing Company to perform the work necessary to create a conceptual mission architecture and mission design for a human servicing mission to the Lunar south pole targeted for the period of 2010 to 2015. The length of stay on the Moon will be seven or more days, depending on cost, practicality and other trade-offs. The study will explore existing technology, technology currently under development, and proposed technology that could be developed by NASA, other countries or the private sector in time to...

SpaceDev has been awarded a contract by Andrews Space of Seattle to design a small spacecraft that will be the first ever to travel to the vicinity of the Moon through a gravity tunnel that is part of the InterPlanetary Superhighway (IPS), a route which requires significantly less fuel than conventional trajectories. The overall program is to design, develop, launch, and operate a small low-cost spacecraft, called SmallTug, on a mission to the Lunar L1 point to demonstrate key technologies and advanced orbital mechanics in support of NASA's human and robotic exploration of the Moon and Mars.

POWAY, CA (May 12, 2005) – SpaceDev (OTCBB: SPDV) has nearly completed a small, NASA funded preliminary study that defines a safe, affordable launch system for transportation of six passengers between Earth and low earth orbits. The launch system propulsion modules would be scaled-up versions of SpaceDev’s non-explosive hybrid rocket motors. SpaceDev’s proprietary hybrid rocket motor technology successfully powered SpaceShipOne on its history making flights to space. The SpaceDev Dream Chaser™ space transportation system would be based on a combination of existing and proven technologies and designs. “These results are very exciting and we believe even more strongly that SpaceDev...

SpaceDev has signed a lease to expand its fabrication and test facilities and to begin constructing portable, high tech rocket motor test support equipment in anticipation of test firing new rocket motors that SpaceDev is developing for its low-cost expendable small launch vehicle called SpaceDev Streaker.

POWAY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 14, 2005--Jim Benson, founding Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and Richard Slansky, President and Chief Financial Officer of SpaceDev (OTCBB: SPDV - News), were honored by the Poway City Council last week for the company's participation in the historic SpaceShipOne flight.

The aerospace firm SpaceDev cast its hat into the ring of private human spaceflight today, announcing its plans to build a reuseable spacecraft that may one day carry passengers into orbit. Based in Poway, California, SpaceDev is designing a piloted sub-orbital spacecraft that could eventually be scaled up for orbital flights. The effort springs from a partnership between SpaceDev and NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California to explore hybrid propulsion-based hypersonic testbeds for routine human spaceflight.

Scaled Composites announced the selection Thursday of SpaceDev of Poway, California as the vendor of choice to supply key elements of the SpaceShipOne's hybrid rocket motor. The selection moves closer the day when SpaceShipOne will attempt to power itself to the edge of space. The craft is being designed to make suborbital flights in order to snag the $10 million X Prize -- a competition to help spur public sector space travel. Under the watchful eye of aerospace maverick and head of Scaled Composites, Burt Rutan, a team of aero-rocket experts have carried out a step-by-step program to ready SpaceShipOne...