Excalibur Almaz
| Private | |
| Industry | Aerospace |
| Founded | Isle of Man (2005) |
| Headquarters | Douglas, Isle of Man |
|
Key people
|
Arthur M. Dula, CEO |
| Website | excaliburalmaz.com |
Excalibur Almaz is a private spaceflight company which plans to provide a variety of deep space crewed exploration missions, micro-gravity science, and payload delivery. EA also aims to offer Low Earth Orbit cargo and crew delivery and return.
As of 2012[update] plans, design and flight safety reviews were planned for 2015. According to a 2012 interview with Art Dula, the chairman of Excalibur Almaz, the Excalibur Almaz capsule was supposedly at a "very high level of technical readiness" and could be flown within two to three years. The main issue of the first manned flight of the Excalibur Almaz capsule is regulatory, according to Dula, as the VA capsule had already completed nine unmanned test flights during the Almaz program, all of which were successful. The company has entered into an unfunded Space Act Agreement with NASA as part of the Commercial Crew Development Round 2 (CCDev2) activities in 2011 but was not selected to receive funding under any phases of it.
In 2009, Excalibur Almaz hoped to begin flights by 2012 with revenue flights starting as early as 2013.
As of January 2012[update], Excalibur Almaz updated its mission service offerings to include lunar and deep space capabilities. Based on independent market studies, these missions beyond Low Earth Orbit will provide the best business opportunity for commercial space transportation companies. Because of these more ambitious service offerings, Excalibur Almaz has pushed back its first launch to 2015.
In June 2012, Excalibur Almaz signed an agreement with XCOR Aerospace for suborbital familiarization and flight training services.
Excalibur Almaz is based in Douglas, Isle of Man, with offices in Houston and Moscow.
In October, 2011, NASA signed an unfunded Space Act Agreement for work related to the Commercial Crew Development program. Details have not yet been released. In July 2012, Excalibur Almaz Inc. (EAI) successfully completed its Commercial Crew Development Round 2 (CCDev2) partnership with NASA's Commercial Crew Program.
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