The Future of War in Space is Defensive
(Source: Space Review)
Concerns about growing anti-satellite capabilities of countries like
China and Russia have led some to suggest the US step up its offensive
space capabilities. Edward Ferguson and John Klein make the case that a
more defensive stance to those threats will be more effective in the
long run. Click here.
(12/19)
Dagger of the Mind (Source:
Space Review)
In the 1960s, President Johnson received intelligence briefings about
the development of what would be known as the N-1 rocket, but what did
he actually see? Charles Vick and Dwayne Day discuss declassified
images of the N-1 as presented in those briefings. Click here.
(12/19)
The Possibilities and Challenges
Facing Commercial Space Stations (Source: Space Review)
In the conclusion of an examination of the future of America’s presence
in low Earth orbit, Cody Knipfer explores some of the initiatives NASA
has underway to potentially add commercial modules to the ISS, and the
need for a plan to transition from the ISS to commercial space
stations. Click here.
(12/19)
Will 2017 Finally be the Year of the
Small Launcher? (Source: Space Review)
Several companies continue to make progress on small launch vehicles
even as other suffer setbacks. Jeff Foust examines whether the next
year will see some of those efforts finally take flight, and whether
smallsat developers are interested in using them. Click here.
(12/19)
Are Lunar Fuel Depots Needed for Mars
Missions? (Source: Space Review)
The incoming administration may be interested in redirecting NASA back
to the Moon, arguably to develop infrastructure needed for future Mars
missions. Chris Carberry and Rick Zucker argue that such an approach
would only delay, not support, the goal of sending humans to Mars.
Click here.
(12/19)
Japan's Epsilon Launches Science
Satellite (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
Japan's Epsilon rocket launched a space science mission this morning.
The Epsilon lifted off from the Uchinoura Space Center on schedule at
6:00 am. Eastern and placed the Exploration of energization and
Radiation in Geospace (ERG) satellite into an elliptical Earth orbit.
The 350-kilogram ERG will study the Van Allen Belts and solar storms.
The launch was the second for the solid-fueled Epsilon rocket, after a
2013 launch. (12/20)
OneWeb's Impressive Financing Exceeds
Expectations (Source: Space News)
The $1.2 billion OneWeb raised this week was the equivalent of two
financing rounds in one. Greg Wyler, founder and chairman of OneWeb,
said in an interview Monday that the company had previously planned to
raise two $500 million rounds one year apart, but was quickly
oversubscribed on the first of those two rounds thanks to interest from
SoftBank. Wyler said that OneWeb, which has now raised $1.7 billion,
will finance the rest of the system, whose total cost is estimated to
be $2.5 billion to $3.5 billion, with debt rather than equity. (12/20)
'Anomalous Readings' During JWST Test
Concern NASA (Source: SpaceFlight Insider)
NASA is investigating "anomalous readings" during a vibration test of
the James Webb Space Telescope. The spacecraft's optical system,
including its mirrors and instruments, were undergoing a vibration test
at the Goddard Space Flight Center earlier this month to simulate
launch conditions when the anomaly was detected. Officials did not
provide additional details about the problem, but noted that an
inspection of the telescope did not find any evidence of damage. (12/20)
Controversial Pit Bull Tourism Promo
Deal Could Increase Space Florida Scrutiny (Source: News Service
of Florida)
A controversy involving another state agency and a hip-hop star may
require Space Florida to be more open about its deals. At a recent
meeting of Space Florida's board, one member warned that the agency
must be prepared to explain in detail the return the state will get on
the financing Space Florida offers to space companies.
That concern comes after controversy involving Visit Florida, the
state's tourism agency, and its $1 million contract with Pitbull, the
hip-hop artist; that and other questionable deals led to the recent
ouster of the Visit Florida's CEO. The warning came as Space Florida
agreed to extend a line of credit for a venture known as only "Project
Ice" that plans to produce fiber optic cables in space. (12/19)
Lance Bass Still Wants to Visit Space
(Source: Business Insider)
Lance Bass still wants to go to space. Bass, a former member of the boy
band NSYNC, trained to fly on a Soyuz mission to the ISS in 2002, but
was grounded when the funding for the trip fell through. "There’s no
specific date, but there are plans for me to go," he said in a recent
interview, although it wasn't clear if those plans involved another
attempt to go to the space station or, instead, a suborbital flight.
"Eventually in the next five to 10 years I would say that once we’re
really flying to space a lot more that I’ll be able to take that
mission." (12/19)
NASA Cubesat Mission to Test
Deorbiting Tech (Source: Space.com)
A NASA cubesat to be deployed from the space station early next year
will test a new deorbiting technology. The TechEdSat-5 spacecraft,
delivered to the ISS on the Japanese HTV-6 cargo vehicle earlier this
month, will demonstrate a parachute-like technology called Exo-Brake
that will increase the satellite's drag but also guide the spacecraft.
That technology could eventually be used to guide capsules for reentry
without the need for thrusters. (12/19)
Russia, China Making Progress in
Synchronization of GLONASS, BeiDou Systems (Source: Space Daily)
Russia and China have achieved a significant progress in the
synchronization of GLONASS and BeiDou navigation systems, Roscosmos
head Igor Komarov said. "We have achieved a considerable progress in
the field of cooperation... on the harmonization and synchronization of
GLONASS and BeiDou systems. All contracts have been signed, and the
work is proceeding. (12/20)
Momentum Builds For International Moon
Base (Source: Aviation Week)
Technical and political developments have given Jan Woerner’s “lunar
village” a boost this year, to the point that the ambitious European
Space Agency (ESA) chief sees its development already underway. The
member-states’ science ministers endorsed Woerner’s “Space 4.0” concept
this month to underpin the idea; three teams in the $30 million Google
Lunar X-Prize competition secured launch contracts to keep the robotic
space race alive, and Donald Trump’s election raises the chances that
NASA will refocus its relatively deep pockets on Earth’s natural
satellite. (12/14)
"Small Satellites" Explode in
Popularity -- and Size (Source: Motley Fool)
Small satellites are turning into big business. Since the Soviet Union
opened the Space Age with its launch of Sputnik in 1957, the population
of satellites in Earth orbit has swelled to more than 4,250. Of
these, fully 291 -- or 7% -- are so-called small satellites. But how
big is a small satellite, anyway? It depends on what the meaning of
"small" is.
According to Denver-based "space law" firm Sherman & Howard,
there's actually no single definition for what constitutes a small
satellite, or "smallsat." Rather, the International Academy of
Astronautics lays out a continuum ranging from "minisats" massing under
1,000 kg to "microsatellites" under 100 kg, "nanosatellites" smaller
than 10 kg, and "picosats" below 1 kg. Click here.
(12/18)
Japanese Google Lunar XPRIZE Team
HAKUTO Confirms Rideshare with Team Indus (Source: Hakuto)
Team HAKUTO, the only Japanese team competing for the Google Lunar
XPRIZE, announced today that XPRIZE has officially verified Team
HAKUTO’s launch agreement and it has signed a rideshare partnership
with the India-based competitor, TeamIndus, to carry its 4-wheeled
rover to the Moon.
Both HAKUTO and TeamIndus are competing for the US$30 million Google
Lunar XPRIZE, an international lunar robotic competition that
challenges privately funded teams to develop low-cost methods of
robotic space exploration. To win the competition, a team must
successfully land a spacecraft on the Moon’s surface, travel at least
500 meters and transmit high-definition video and images back to Earth,
before the end of 2017. (12/20)
Peter Thiel Now Leading the Fight for
Commercial Space in Trump’s NASA (Source: Ars Technica)
The future of NASA and human spaceflight has led to a civil war of
sorts within the upper echelons of the incoming Trump administration.
As Ars reported last month, there are essentially two pathways forward
for NASA in the Trump administration—one favors the status quo, while
the other favors increased commercialization. For a time, the forces
for status quo and continuation of the Space Launch System rocket had
the upper hand. But now advocates for the increasing commercialization
of NASA have struck back, led by Silicon Valley investor Peter Thiel.
About two weeks ago, the first formal member was named to NASA's
"landing team:" Chris Shank, a longtime confidant of former NASA
administrator Mike Griffin and his director of strategic
communications. With Shank as their leader, several other members of
the initial landing team also had connections to Griffin, who favors a
model in which NASA develops and builds its own rocket and spacecraft,
rather than handing over the reins to commercial companies such as
SpaceX or Blue Origin.
Then, last week, some of the technology industry's titans convened for
a much-publicized meeting with Trump, vice-president-elect Mike Pence,
and others to discuss policy issues during the Trump administration.
SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk was among a handful of executives who
remained behind for an extended meeting with key Trump officials.
Musk's views, along with others such as Jeff Bezos, convinced Trump
adviser Peter Thiel to intervene with Pence, who leads the transition
efforts for the Trump administration. Thiel's voice, in concert with
former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, prompted a new course for
the NASA transition team. Click here.
(12/20)
Big Year Ahead for Planned Swiss
64-Satellite Constellation (Source: Satellite Today)
Swiss start-up ELSE has raised more than $4 million in funding, putting
the company on track to launch two demonstration nanosatellites in the
fourth quarter of 2017, the first in its 64-nanosatellite
Machine-to-Machine (M2M) constellation, Astrocast.
The company is still looking to raise the last $1 million in its seed
funding round in order to take it to launch, as well as another $6
million in Series A funding in 2017. Still, ELSE has already seen hefty
investment from the European Space Agency (ESA), the Swiss government,
and private investors, as it looks to introduce the constellation
dedicated to the Internet of Things (IoT) and M2M that the company says
it can design, build, launch and operate for under $50 million. (12/16)
Time to End Washington’s Bad Habit of
Changing NASA’s Goals in Midstream (Source: Scientific American)
As a newly minted president, Barack Obama told NASA to steer away from
the moon—a destination set by his predecessor George W. Bush—and head
for Mars instead. Richard Nixon encouraged NASA to cancel its final
Apollo missions to divert funds to the space shuttle program.
Unfortunately, President-elect Donald Trump seems set to follow this
precedent. “After taking office, we will have a comprehensive review of
our plans for space and will work with Congress to set both priorities
and mission,” he said a month before the election.
These repeated relaunches come at great cost. Space exploration is a
long-term proposition: changing our minds every four or eight years
means wasting effort, time and money. Another reshuffle could prove
disastrous. NASA has finally regained momentum after its last change of
plans in 2010 and says it is on track with its giant Space Launch
System (SLS) rocket, intended to target the Red Planet. “This is not a
time that we can start over,” NASA administrator Charles Bolden said in
October 2015. Our space program needs stability, and several groups
have proposed changes that could help.
One is that NASA administrators should serve terms longer than four
years. Currently, when each president takes office, he or she can
nominate a new administrator, to be confirmed by the Senate. The
nonprofit Space Foundation suggested in a 2012 report titled Pioneering
that NASA administrators should serve renewable terms of five years to
prevent an overhaul every time someone new moves into the White House.
Click here.
(12/20)
Trump Vows Lifetime Industry Ban For
F-35 Officials (Source: Law360)
President-elect Donald Trump, who has repeatedly criticized the F-35
Joint Strike Fighter Program, said Thursday he would pursue lifetime
bans for officials working on the project in the defense industry.
Trump had said earlier last week that the costs for the
fifth-generation F-35 fighter were out of control. (12/19)
ESA Preparing for Air Traffic Control
Via Satellite (Source: ESA)
ESA recently completed its first flight trials using satellites to help
bring Europe closer to its goal of modernising air traffic control. The
trials are part of the public–private partnership between ESA and UK
satellite operator Inmarsat to deliver high-capacity secure digital
data links via satellite for air–ground communications for cockpit
crews over European airspace under ESA’s Iris Precursor programme.
By 2019, Iris Precursor will provide air–ground communications for
initial ‘4D’ flight path control, pinpointing an aircraft in four
dimensions: latitude, longitude, altitude and time. This will enable
precise tracking of flights and more efficient management of traffic.
(12/20)
UK's Goonhilly Moves Closer To Space
Exploration (Source: Pirate FM)
The prospect of Cornwall's Goonhilly Earth Station becoming a global
player in the future of space exploration has moved a step closer. It
follows a meeting in Westminster, where west Cornwall MP Derek Thomas
introduced Goonhilly's chief scientist, Matt Cosby, to the Universities
and Science Minister, Jo Johnson. They discussed plans to upgrade the
station's largest antenna so that it is suitable for deep space
communications.
Mr Cosby says that a proposed £8.4 million upgrade, which would be
funded by Growth Deal money through Cornwall's Local Enterprise
Partnership (LEP), would enable the antenna to support human flights
around the Moon. (12/19)
NASA Has a New Way to Fly
(Source: TIME)
If you’re like most people, you probably don’t remember the last time
the U.S. stopped flying people to space. But it was in July 1975 that
the last Apollo flew, 1981 when the first shuttle took its place, and
today America is on track to beat that flightless streak. No astronauts
have taken off from Cape Canaveral or anywhere else on U.S. soil since
the shuttles were retired in the summer of 2011.
In the coming years, however, the launchpads will roar again, with two
new crew-rated ships–made not by NASA but by independent companies.
Both are reminiscent of the old Apollo model–a conical spacecraft atop
an upright rocket–but in nearly all other respects, the spacecraft
represent a complete rethinking of how NASA does business. Click here.
(12/19)
NASA GIFs Are A Cosmic Gift To The
Internet (Source: Forbes)
Part of NASA’s mission is to explore the limitless opportunities beyond
our planet. Another part is to educate the public. The space agency is
working to do that with looping videos and graphics for everyone to see
and share. NASA recently announced that it will post GIFs on its
Pinterest and GIPHY accounts in a concerted appeal to millennials. The
posts include animated graphics, outer-space footage and overly excited
agency employees. (12/19)
Molten 'Jet Stream' Discovered Deep
Inside Earth (Source: Space.com)
A band of molten iron is churning slowly deep inside Earth, much in the
same way as a jet stream, a new study finds. Scientists discovered the
so-called molten jet stream while analyzing data from a trio of
European satellites, called Swarm. The satellites launched in 2013 with
the goal of studying Earth's magnetic field. In this case, Swarm's
observations helped create a view akin to an X-ray of the planet, the
researchers said. (12/19)
Orbital ATK Takes NASA's Scientific
Balloon Program to Record New Heights (Source: Orbital ATK)
Orbital ATK announced a record total of five successful scientific
balloon flight launches at this year’s NASA Antarctica Long Duration
Balloon Flight Campaign. The launches occurred in Antarctica from
November 28 through December 12. All five balloons remained airborne
for six days through December 18 marking a new flight record for NASA’s
scientific balloon team.
The program is administered by the Goddard Space Flight Center’s
Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Virginia and operated from
the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility (CSBF) in Palestine, Texas.
Orbital ATK manages NASA’s Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility and
provides mission planning, engineering services, and field operations
under NASA’s Balloon Operations Contract. The Columbia team has
launched more than 1,700 scientific balloons from seven countries in
the past 35 years. (12/19)
For $75K, This (Beautiful) Balloon
Will Take You Into Space (Source: Fast Company)
Something inside you fundamentally changes when you glimpse the Earth
from outer space. Not many people have had this privilege. In the
history of mankind, only 558 human beings have seen our planet from
this vantage point. But those who have say that seeing the Earth as
nothing more than a tiny blue speck hovering in the ether is
life-altering. Take it from Ron Garan, who logged more than 178 days 71
million miles above the Earth as a crew member on the International
Space Station. Click here.
(12/20)
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