February 12, 2017

Orbital ATK Wins $78 Million Contract for Next Space Test Program Satellite (Source: Space News)
Orbital ATK will build the Defense Department’s next experimental satellite under a $78 million contract announced Feb. 3. The company will provide “integration and early on-orbit support” for the Pentagon’s Space Test Program Satellite-6 (STPSat-6), according to a Pentagon press release.

The Air Force announced in 2015 that the primary payload on the satellite will be the Space and Atmospheric Burst Reporting System, or SABRS, designed to detect nuclear explosions and collect data on space weather. STPSat-6 will also include eight secondary payloads from the Space Test Program office, National Nuclear Security Administration, NASA, and other DoD agencies. (2/10)

NASA Watchdog Dings Management Of Operational Systems (Source: Law360)
A NASA watchdog criticized the agency Wednesday for security and operational risks stemming from poor oversight of its critical operational support systems, the day after the watchdog also found weaknesses in NASA’s cloud computing programs. Despite the widespread presence and importance of “operational technology,” or OT, infrastructure across NASA, the agency has failed to fully define what OT is and develop an inventory of — or standard security protocol for — related systems. (2/10)

Launch Woes Diminish Demand for Small Satellites (Source: Space News)
Challenges finding launches for small satellites not only decreased the number of such spacecraft launched last year but also have depressed long-term demand, according to a new forecast. The 2017 Nano/Microsatellite Market Forecast, published by Atlanta-based SpaceWorks Enterprises Inc., projects that up to 2,400 satellites weighing between 1 and 50 kilograms will be seeking a launch from 2017 through 2023. That is 20 percent less than the projection for such satellites seeking launch from 2016 through 2022 in the company’s forecast last year. (2/2)

Smallsat Builders Admit a Little Bigger Might be a Little Better (Source: Space News)
What’s the perfect size for a small satellite? “The answer is 42 kilograms,” said Martin Sweeting, Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. founder and executive chairman. Sweeting noted that 42 is also the answer the supercomputer in the science fiction series The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy provides when asked the meaning of “life, the universe and everything.”

Sweeting said that a couple of years ago he worked with an Air Force Academy PhD student to create a formula to identify the optimal size for a satellite in terms of its cost, power and, most importantly, its utility. Satellites “round about” that 42-kilogram size have maximum utility, he said. After years of celebrating the virtues of satellites smaller than a shoebox, many industry officials attending the Small Satellite Symposium called for a shift toward slightly larger and more capable spacecraft. (2/9)

NASA KSC and USAF 45th Space Wing Sponsor Small Business Event in Georgia (Source: NASA KSC)
Discover what it takes to launch your business as a NASA supplier, subcontractor and/or service provider during the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce’s NASA Small Business Forum on March 16, 2017. The event will be held in Albany, Georgia. The event is open to regional businesses. Cost is $10 (includes lunch) for chamber members and affiliates, and $20 for non-members. Topics will include NASA’s acquisition process, upcoming business opportunities, and best practices to win a direct contract or subcontract, and helpful marketing advice. Following the presentation, attendees will have the opportunity to meet face-to-face with representatives. (2/10)

Maine’s Aerospace Exports Soared to Record $312 Million Last Year (Source: Portland Press Herald)
Exports of civilian aircraft, aviation engines and parts jumped more than 30 percent last year, becoming Maine’s second-most valuable export industry after seafood, according to federal trade data. The total dollar value of Maine’s aerospace exports was a record $312 million last year, about 11 percent of the state’s $2.8 billion in foreign exports. Though Maine’s aviation exports declined between 2012 and 2015, the value has risen dramatically overall in the last decade, jumping more than 700 percent, from $37.8 million in 2006 to last year’s record. (2/11)

Scientists Shortlist Three Landing Sites for Mars 2020 (Source: NASA)
Participants in a landing site workshop for NASA's upcoming Mars 2020 mission have recommended three locations on the Red Planet for further evaluation. The three potential landing sites for NASA's next Mars rover include Northeast Syrtis (a very ancient portion of Mars' surface), Jezero crater, (once home to an ancient Martian lake), and Columbia Hills (potentially home to an ancient hot spring, explored by NASA's Spirit rover).

Mars 2020 is targeted for launch in July 2020 aboard an Atlas V 541 rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The rover will conduct geological assessments of its landing site on Mars, determine the habitability of the environment, search for signs of ancient Martian life, and assess natural resources and hazards for future human explorers. It will also prepare a collection of samples for possible return to Earth by a future mission. (2/11)

In-Flight Internet Breakthrough May Put Inmarsat Back on the Right Course (Source: The Telegraph)
Travelers who cling to the idea of switching off at 35,000 feet may hope that Inmarsat’s latest technological advance fails to deliver. Investors in the satellite company who have watched the shares slide by a third in a year have everything crossed that it is worth the wait. Inmarsat last week completed testing the satellite section of the European Aviation Network, its venture with Deutsche Telekom to bring faster in-flight internet connectivity to the masses.

Sometime in the middle of this year a satellite will be launched from French Guiana to hook up passengers flying through Europe to cabin Wi-Fi that promises a vast improvement on the service airlines including Qantas and Virgin Atlantic already provide. Lufthansa, Air New Zealand and British Airways owner IAG are among customers who are on board and awaiting installation. (2/11)

Bridenstine Defends Intervening In DARPA’s RSGS Program, Orbital ATK Sues (Source: Via Satellite)
Rep. Jim Bridenstine, R-OK, defended intervening in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites (RSGS) program because he didn’t want the program, and its potential commercial capability, to denigrate into the bitter feud that permeates ULA versus SpaceX battle.

Bridenstine told an industry audience Wednesday that though he co-signed a Jan. 25 letter to DARPA Acting Director Steven Walker asking the program to be paused until it is reviewed for compliance with the 2010 National Space Policy, he doesn’t want to hold up the program because capabilities like robotic servicing and maintenance and refueling in orbit are critical capabilities to the United States that aren’t being provided commercially. (2/10)

Do We Need to Establish a Police Force in Space? (Source New York Post)
On January 27, 1967, the United States, United Kingdom and then-Soviet Union, signed the Outer Space Treaty. The short, 17-article document serves as a “constitution” for the worlds beyond Earth’s atmosphere. It was ratified October 10 of the same year, which places us in the midst of a yearlong 50th anniversary celebration. To date, 105 countries have since signed it.

The treaty boasts a half-century of success, but with countries expanding and intensifying their exploration missions, private companies commercializing space travel, and an increasingly hostile international political environment, can humanity be trusted to continue a peaceful co-existence in outer space? Jill Stuart, a fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science, suggested the treaty needs updating and certain clarifications in order to adequately address the inevitable challenges future centuries will face. Click here. (2/10)

Trump's Vision of Space Exploration (Source: New American)
The Trump administration is seriously considering a major new initiative to privatize much of the space sector, promote a return to the moon by 2020, and aim for Mars and other Solar System targets soon thereafter. This, according to Politico.com’s Bryan Bender, citing Trump administration internal documents obtained by Politico.

The central aim of the administration’s new policy under consideration will be the “large-scale economic development of space,” and it will entail such revolutionary moves as fully privatizing lower-earth orbit, allowing for the mass deployment of private space stations, and freeing up NASA to return to cutting-edge research in new realms like manned exploration of interplanetary space. (2/10)

Planet Labs Sees Growth Opportunity in Canada (Source: SpaceQ)
In July 2015 Planet Labs made a significant purchase in acquiring Lethbridge based Blackbridge and its Rapideye constellation of five satellites. Combined with Planet’s Dove satellites, they are now offering an ever expanding suite of imagery products, with the precision agriculture and mapping segments leading the way. Even before the acquisition of Blackbridge in July 2015, Planet Labs had been making a push into Canada, announcing a deal in March of that year with Newfoundland headquartered R&D firm, C-CORE.

At the time, Planet Labs said they were planning to develop products and services with C-CORE using their satellite imagery data combined with C-CORE’s expertise in remote sensing. Then just over three months later they announced they had acquired Blackbridge and its constellation of five RapidEye satellites which had been built by another Canadian company, MDA, as the prime contractor. The deal with Blackbridge also allowed Planet Labs to take advantage of Blackbridge’s network of 100 distribution channels and customers globally. (2/9)

House Ready to Introduce New 2017 Spending Bills (Source: Space News)
House appropriators are ready to move ahead with spending bills for 2017 that should provide near-term stability for NASA’s current programs. Rep. John Culberson (R-TX), chairman of the commerce, justice and science (CJS) appropriations subcommittee, said a new version of a spending bill that funds NASA and other agencies for the rest of the 2017 fiscal year should be released soon.

NASA, like most other federal agencies, is operating under a continuing resolution that funds it at fiscal year 2016 levels through April. While there has been some discussion of simply extending the CR through the rest of 2017 to allow Congress to instead focus on upcoming fiscal year 2018 appropriations bills, Culberson said it was important for him to get appropriations bills passed for this year first in order to provide more detailed direction to agencies. (2/10)

North Korea Fires Missile (Source: Newsweek)
North Korea launched an unidentified object early on Sunday into the sea off the east coast of the Korean peninsula, the South Korean military said. The object was launched from an area in North Korea's western region, the South's Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a short statement. It did not provide further details. Earlier, the country's Yonhap news agency reported in a short dispatch that the North had fired a ballistic missile. (2/11)

Axiom Research Labs has Emerged as India’s First Private Aerospace Company (Source: Economic Times)
Will Axiom evolve into a Blue Origin? Perhaps not, with the capital at its disposal. It looks improbable for India’s private sector today. “Aerospace engineering is learned by experience,” says Rishikesha Krishnan. “Organizations like Boeing or ISRO have cumulative expertise who can build from the experience of trying and failing,” Krishnan explains. “That is hard to replicate and can’t be bought.

The other issue is material — aerospace is all about having very strong but lightweight material, which India currently imports or are not available because of import restrictions.” Axiom has started on the path by blending ISRO wisdom with an organisational model. The market they target needs to be deep, if not a mile wide. Bhat, the ex-ISRO scientist, says India’s private sector can have an infrastructure to build satellites rather than focus on launching rockets. (2/12)

Spaceport Could Mean 400 Jobs For Cornwall (Source: Pirate FM)
Cornwall could see hundreds of new jobs if a spaceport at Newquay gets the green light. Industry bosses say it could boost the Duchy's economy by 40 to 50 million pounds too - in the first stage alone. It comes as the government opens up applications and launches a £10 million grant scheme. That could see the UK become the first place in Europe where commercial space operators can launch small satellites into orbit, or offer spaceplane flights for science and tourism from 2020. (2/12)

Earth’s Best Defense Against Killer Asteroids Needs Cash (Source: WIRED)
The Arecibo telescope is in jeopardy. The National Science Foundation wants to cut back its Arecibo expenditures, from around $8 million to $2 million a year. That’s not just a problem for astronomers. It is a problem for civilization.

Because with the telescope that has shaped his life, Rivera-Valentin is trying to save yours. Together with a cadre of other planetary scientists, he sends radio waves flying from Puerto Rico toward asteroids that venture near Earth. Sometimes too near. Sometimes so near they kill the dinosaurs. “It’s not that different from having a super high-powered version of the radar gun that police have,” says Patrick Taylor, Arecibo’s lead radar scientist. But instead of aiming that gun at your Kia, they aim it at a ragged rock in space. (2/9)