It will rocket into space in 2015 with the blessing of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which last week awarded the firm a $17.8 million contract to demonstrate the technology. Eventually, Las Vegas hotelier Robert Bigelow wants to build separate stations that might be used as research laboratories orbiting Earth or to establish a permanent presence on the moon or Mars. "Ultimately, he's hoping to build hotels in low-earth orbit and have that be one of the up-and-coming space businesses — this will give him more credibility," said Marco Caceres, a senior space analyst with Teal Group Corp. in Fairfax, Virginia. "There's a lot of people out there that say, 'Oh c'mon, hotels in low-earth orbit — that's a fantasy right?' I believe he has the tools to do it." The challenge will be finding customers, Caceres said in a phone interview. Bigelow's primary focus is on corporations and governments interested in developing astronaut programs or doing research. Space tourism is secondary, and the company has tried to steer away from the space hotel label.

Electrical problems and fuel leaks have plagued the new Boeing plane model recently. On Monday, an empty Japan Airlines 787 in Boston caught fire. On Tuesday, a fuel leak forced a different Japan Airlines 787 to cancel takeoff and return to the gate before ultimately completing its trip to Tokyo. "We're getting to a tipping point, where they go from needing to rectify problems to doing major damage control to the image of the company and the plane," said Richard Aboulafia, a defense and aerospace analyst with Teal Group, a consulting firm based in Fairfax, Va. "While they delivered a large and unexpected number of 787s last year, it's possible that they should have instead focused on identifying glitches and flaws, rather than pushing ahead with volume production."

Each mission is expected to take about a month; it takes about five days for the Cygnus to make it to the station, it will stay there for anywhere from two weeks to two months, and it will take another day or two for the spacecraft to disintegrate on reentry. "The idea of now relying on private industry and let[ting] them lead the way has already been decided," said Marco A. Caceres, director of space studies at the Teal Group. "The question is: Can industry do it without too many failures?" He said Orbital's success, along with that of SpaceX, which has already made it to the space station, would provide the needed competition and potentially open the door to more companies. "There's a lot at stake here because you're really talking about the future of human spaceflight. It's not going to be NASA that does it," said Caceres. "It's these companies ... that are supposedly going to be colonizing the moon and maybe even Mars."

The State Department is pursuing "all available options," including administrative penalties, to compel Thales Alenia Space to disclose any U.S.-made parts in eight communications satellites it sold to China, Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs David Adams told Congress. The department's options include withholding licenses the company needs as prime contractor on a $3 billion program to build 81 satellites for Iridium Communications Inc. (IRDM), according to Marco Caceres, a military and civilian space analyst. He said that could postpone Iridium's plans to launch the first of the new satellites in 36 months and possibly force the company to find a U.S. contractor to take over the program. "If they delay it by six months, Iridium needs to do it sooner rather than later," Caceres of the Fairfax, Virginia- based Teal Group, said in an interview.

A pair of government contracting experts told the U.S. House of Representatives' Armed Services Committee on Monday that without reforms, small companies will have an increasingly difficult time doing business with the Pentagon as its budget shrinks.
Joel Johnson, director of the defense consulting firm Teal Group Corp., and Allan Burman, president of the contractor Jefferson Solutions, told the committee that the U.S. Department of Defense would benefit by creating new incentives for small business contracts.

Johnson and Burman testified before the committee as part of an ongoing set of hearings called "Doing Business with the DOD." It is the second hearing this year that has touched on contracting obstacles for small businesses.

According to Johnson, shrinking research and development budgets will cause major contractors to stop subcontracting with smaller counterparts, likely forcing small businesses to make painful workplace reductions.

"Smaller companies currently not doing defense work will be skeptical that this is an area to pursue, particularly if the civil economy is beginning to show signs of life," Johnson said. "This makes it all the more important that the government is not seen by potential innovators in the private sector as being an unattractive customer, partner or investor."