NRO Delays ULA's Upcoming Delta-4
Heavy Mission (Source: SpaceFlight Insider)
The flight of United Launch Alliance’s next Delta IV Heavy, with a
payload for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) has been delayed.
Originally scheduled for June 4, ULA delayed the launched per the
request of the customer. No other reason was specified, but the
spacecraft and booster are reported to be secure on the pad.
The last time a Delta IV Heavy launched was in December 2014 when
Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) sent the first spacecraft designed
for humans, Orion, beyond low-Earth orbit (LEO) on a test mission.
(5/27)
SES to Acquire All of 03b
(Source: Space News)
SES will acquire the half of O3b Networks it does not already own. The
satellite operator plans to raise $710 million to increase its stake in
O3b from 50.5 percent to 100 percent. SES had recently announced it was
paying $20 million to increase its ownership from 49.1 to 50.5 percent
and thus have a controlling interest in the broadband satellite
company. SES expects that O3b, which is forecast to generate $100
million in revenue this year, will grow to $680 million by 2023. (5/27)
Senate Cuts GPS Ground System, Launches
(Source: Space News)
Senate appropriators cut funding for a GPS ground system and two
planned launches. The defense appropriations bill, approved by the full
Senate Appropriations Committee Thursday, cut more than $600 million
from the Air Force's proposed budget for 2017. That included a cut of
more than $200 million for OCX, the next-generation GPS ground system
that has suffered delays and cost overruns. The bill also cut funding
for two of five planned launches in 2017, arguing that, because of the
OCX delays, the Air Force does not need to launch GPS 3 satellites as
quickly as planned. (5/27)
ViaSat Accelerates New Satellite Work
at Arizona Facility (Source: Space News)
ViaSat plans to accelerate work on its ViaSat-3 system. The company
said it recently opened a manufacturing facility in Arizona that allows
it to build two ViaSat-3 satellite payloads at a time, allowing it to
develop the satellites "as fast as we reasonably can." ViaSat said it
is increasing R&D spending on payload development in 2017 to
support that work. (5/26)
SLS to Give More Small Satellite Rides
on First Mission (Source: NASA)
NASA's Space Launch System will fly even more small satellites on its
inaugural mission. NASA said Thursday that three cubesats from Japan
and Italy will join 10 others from U.S. organizations on the EM-1
mission, scheduled for launch in late 2018. The two Japanese satellites
with perform space science and lunar observations, while the Italian
satellite will rendezvous with and take images of the SLS's upper
stage. (5/26)
NASA Seeks Community College Scholars
(Source: NASA)
NASA Community College Aerospace Scholars (NCAS) gives community
college STEM students an authentic NASA experience and encourages them
to finish a 2-year degree or transfer to a 4-year university to pursue
a NASA-related field or career. The application for the Spring 2016
session is now open. Click here.
(5/26)
Blue Origin’s Next Spaceflight Will
Test Parachute Failure (Source: GeekWire)
Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos predicts there’ll be a problem with a
parachute the next time his Blue Origin venture flies its uncrewed New
Shepard spaceship. He’ll make sure of it. Flying with a bad parachute
is part of Blue Origin’s plan to test the suborbital craft under
stressful conditions, in preparation for flying passengers to the edge
of outer space in as little as two years.
The demonstration won’t necessarily end in a crash. Three independent
parachutes are used to ease the crew capsule’s descent. If one fails,
the other two should still hold up. There’s also a retro-thrust system
that’s designed to cushion the landing. Bezos didn’t say when the next
test flight would occur [from their west Texas launch site]. Last time,
he provided only a day’s advance notice via Twitter. (5/25)
Life on Ceres? Mysterious Changes in
the Bright Spots Still Baffle Scientists (Source: Space.com)
Scientists studied the bright spots on Ceres in July and August 2015,
using the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS), and
detected unexpected changes in the mysterious spots. However, at the
beginning they thought that it was an instrumental problem. But after
double checking, they had to conclude that the radial velocity
anomalies were likely real. Then the team noticed that they were
connected to periods of time when the bright spots in the Occator
crater were visible from the Earth. So the scientists made an
association between them.
However, these detected variations still continue to perplex the
astronomers as they haven't found a plausible explanation for their
occurrence. One of the proposed hypotheses is that the observed changes
could be triggered by the presence of volatile substances that
evaporate due to solar radiation. When the spots are on the side
illuminated by the sun they form plumes that reflect sunlight very
effectively. The scientists suggest that these plumes then evaporate
quickly, lose reflectivity and produce the observed changes.
They are eager to see the results from the Dawn spacecraft in the next
months. If the team's theory is confirmed, Ceres would seem to be
internally active. While this dwarf planet is known to be rich in
water, it is unclear whether this is related to the bright spots. It is
also still debated if Ceres due to its vast reservoir of water, could
be a suitable place to host microbial life. (5/26)
Russia Helps Guatemalan Man Become His
Country's First Cosmonaut (Source: Space Daily)
Vinicio Montoya de Leon, a 49-year old native of Guatemala, is set to
become the first Central American astronaut in history by late 2018 -
early 2019. The chain of events that led an ordinary Guatemalan dentist
to become a successful candidate for a space flight is nothing short of
remarkable. "My life used to be pretty erratic, but after getting into
a traffic accident I reexamined my priorities. I realized that there's
one thing in the world that money can't buy - life. So I decided to
live it to the fullest," Montoya told Sputnik. (5/26)
ISS Astronauts Enjoy Dish Cooked Up by
Students from Hampton, Virginia (Source: Space Daily)
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station recently feasted on a
spicy Jamaican rice and beans with coconut milk entree cooked up by a
team of culinary students from Phoebus High School in Hampton,
Virginia. The Phoebus team's dish won the 2015 High School Students
United with NASA to Create Hardware, or HUNCH, Culinary Challenge. They
had to compete against six other high school culinary teams last year
during a visit to the Space Food Systems Laboratory at NASA's Johnson
Space Center. (5/27)
Space Wing Shuts Down Another Eastern
Range Asset (Source: City of Cocoa Beach)
The Air Force's 45th Space Wing will be demolishing the “tracking
station” at 3570 Ocean Beach Blvd. in Cocoa Beach. This is located
across Ocean Beach Blvd. from the Wakulla Motel. The engineer for the
project says the demo will take about 90 days. They intend to start in
early June. The property will be disposed of following the established
Federal procedures. (5/27)
Boeing Urges FCC To Plan Satellite
Spectrum-Sharing With 5G (Source: Law360)
Boeing representatives met with Federal Communications Commission staff
this week to press for more spectrum bands intended for 5G technology
to be shared with “next generation” broadband satellite communications
systems currently being developed by the company, according to an ex
parte filing Wednesday. (5/27)
With Shuttles Gone, Private Ventures
Give Florida's Space Coast a Lift (Source: WMFE)
It has been five years since NASA retired the space shuttle, ending a
federal program that employed some 10,000 people around Cape Canaveral.
The loss of those jobs was a blow to Florida’s Space Coast, an area
closely identified with NASA and the nation’s space program. But the
region’s economy is bouncing back and attracting companies that are in
a new space race.
In fact, it might be more accurate now to call it the Aerospace Coast.
In 2009, the Brazilian jet maker Embraer gave this region a boost when
it broke ground on its plant in Melbourne, Florida. And after years of
depending on government contracts, the region is now beginning to tap
the commercial space industry’s potential. Click here.
(5/27)
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