September 16, 2017

Asteroid Mining is Our Best Hope for Colonizing Mars (Source: CNET)
For the first time since the 1960s, space exploration is truly exciting again. This is thanks in large part to the advent of New Space, the name given to the new generation of commercial space companies that are determined to open up the final frontier to all. At the forefront of the new space race is SpaceX, which in less than a decade has managed to turn the rocket industry on its head by pioneering reusable rockets and dramatically cutting the largest barrier to entry when it comes to space: the astronomical costs.

SpaceX isn't content with schlepping research supplies to the ISS and satellites to low earth orbit, however. Its CEO has also made it abundantly clear that he sees his company as the stepping stone to turning humans into a multi-planetary species. At last year's International Astronautical Congress, Musk outlined his plans for getting humans to Mars. This plan involves a whole new generation of spaceships designed for transporting Martian colonists en masse, as well as the successful development of the Falcon Heavy, which will be the largest rocket ever made. Click here. (9/14)

Orlando to Bid on New Amazon Headquarters (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Retail and tech giant Amazon has invited Orlando-area leaders to bid for its second major U.S. headquarters, a project it has been shopping around that could create 50,000 jobs for its eventual home. Economic leaders say they plan to “aggressively pursue this project” and have started to review potential sites for the headquarters. (9/15)

The Spaceport Industry is Booming in Every Corner of the US, from Alaska to Virginia (Source: CNBC)
10 spaceports are quietly driving the commercial space industry, and the FAA says "another half-dozen locations are knocking on the door." The FAA is working to resolve the enduring conflict between aircraft and spacecraft, as the number of rocket launches increases exponentially. Spaceports are economic drivers. One CEO says "the money really is in the vehicle operators." Click here. (9/13)

Two NDAA Amendments Could Change Scope of Satellite-Servicing Robot Program (Source: C4ISRnet)
As the Senate takes up the defense bill this week, two proposed amendments could change the scope of a DARPA satellite-servicing program that a competing company says undercuts the commercial market.

Earlier this year, DARPA awarded a contract to Space Systems Loral for the Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites program. Through the RSGS program, DARPA and SSL hope to develop a robot capable of moving geosynchronous satellites in orbit about 20,000 miles from the Earth, making basic repairs and installing upgrades.

However, Orbital ATK contends that its own product, the Mission Extension Vehicle, or MEV, is being built for the same types of tasks, and that DARPA’s partnership with SSL violates National Space Policy because it subsidizes a vendor in a market space where companies are independently developing commercial technologies. (9/14)

Could Interstellar Ice Provide the Answer to Birth of DNA (Source: Space Daily)
The building blocks of DNA could have come from space Researchers at the University of York have shown that molecules brought to earth in meteorite strikes could potentially be converted into the building blocks of DNA. They found that organic compounds, called amino nitriles, the molecular precursors to amino acids, were able to use molecules present in interstellar ice to trigger the formation of the backbone molecule, 2-deoxy-D-ribose, of DNA.

It has long been assumed that amino acids were present on earth before DNA, and may have been responsible for the formation of one of the building blocks of DNA, but this new research throws fresh doubt on this theory.

Dr Paul Clarke, from the University of York's Department of Chemistry, said: "The origin of important biological molecules is one of the key fundamental questions in science. The molecules that form the building blocks of DNA had to come from somewhere; either they were present on Earth when it formed or they came from space, hitting earth in a meteor shower. (9/15)

Retired Boeing satellite exec to head EO startup Hera Systems (Source: Space News)
California startup Hera Systems has tapped a long-retired Boeing executive as CEO to to help realize the firm’s ambition to develop and launch a constellation of tens of Earth-observing micro-satellites. Roger Roberts ended an eight-year stint as the head of Boeing space and intelligence systems in 2005 as his unit’s marquee classified contract, the Future Imagery Architecture constellation of optical and radar reconnaissance satellites, was facing cancellation. (9/15)

Back to Saturn? Five Missions Proposed to Follow Cassini (Source: New York Times)
NASA currently has no plans to return to Saturn, but that could change. In the latest round in a scientific competition called New Frontiers, NASA specified categories of missions it would consider. Those include a probe to study Saturn’s atmosphere or a mission to go to Titan or Enceladus, two moons known to have oceans. Click here. (9/15)

After Cassini, NASA Plans More Missions to Find Life (Source: Newsweek)
Although NASA has been working toward the Europa Clipper mission for years, beginning before Cassini reached Saturn, Cassini helped shape the future mission’s strategy and determine which instruments will be put on the spacecraft. Here is a partial list of missions and events to look forward to. (9/15)

Turkey Denies Bail for Jailed NASA Scientist — Again (Source: Houston Press)
Before Serkan Golge left Old Dominion University in Virginia to start his job at the Johnson Space Center in 2013, he gave his friend and colleague Alicia Hofler a map of Turkey as a gift, with the names of the cities spelled out in Turkish. Golge had circled Antakya, his hometown, and written next to it that this is where he is from.

“He was always saying that if I wanted to come visit, he would tour me there. He's always been so proud of his country," Hofler says. “He loves Turkey but he has never been a political person. It was shocking to me when he got arrested, because that doesn't make sense for him to be involved in all of that.”

Now, Golge, a 38-year-old NASA scientist, has been held in a Turkish jail for more than a year on charges that the physicist was involved in an attempt to overthrow the Turkish government, an attempt that has ultimately amounted to being linked to a single U.S. dollar bill. On Thursday, at yet another hearing, Golge was once again denied bail. (9/15)

Pitch-Black Planet Orbits Alien Star More than 1,000 Light-Years Away (Source: Mashable)
A planet orbiting a star 1,400 light-years from Earth is darker than asphalt. New data from the Hubble Space Telescope shows that WASP-12b, which has a radius twice as large as Jupiter's, is an incredibly hot planet with a very low albedo—meaning that it's incredibly dark. WASP-12b is known as a "hot Jupiter" because it's about the size of our solar system's largest planet, yet orbits very close to its star. That close distance is also probably responsible for the alien world's pitch-black color. (9/15)

Spaceflight Industries Teams with Europe’s Thales Alenia and Telespazio for Satellites (Source: GeekWire)
Seattle-based Spaceflight Industries has forged a partnership with a French-Italian venture known as the Space Alliance, formed by Thales Alenia Space and Telespazio, to accelerate plans for a 60-satellite constellation of Earth-observing satellites.

The partnership involves a minority investment in Spaceflight Industries, the creation of an industrial joint venture between Thales Alenia and Spaceflight in the United States to produce satellites, and an agreement between Telespazio and Spaceflight’s BlackSky business line for marketing satellite data. (9/15)

Satellites Measuring Earth’s Melting Ice Sheets to Go Dark (Source: Science)
After running for a decade beyond its planned life, the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) is nearly out of fuel and will soon make its final science run. The tandem of satellites—called GRACE-1 and GRACE-2—measure minute shifts in Earth’s gravity to chart flows of mass across the planet, such as the unexpectedly rapid melt of polar ice sheets and the drawdown of underground water reservoirs.

Scientists had hoped GRACE would operate until its successor, the $550 million GRACE Follow-on (GRACE-FO) mission, reached orbit. But troubles securing a ride to space have delayed GRACE-FO’s launch until early 2018. Meanwhile, the battery in GRACE-2 used to store solar power has been deteriorating rapidly, forcing the satellite to burn through fuel. Engineers turned off an accelerometer last year to keep it running, but the satellite’s data have continued to degrade.

On 4 September, scientists lost contact with GRACE-2 after another of its battery cells stopped operating. Four days of feverish work followed, with scientists steeling themselves for the mission’s end. But finally, engineers bypassed the satellite’s flight software, successfully rebooting it. (9/15)

NASA Awards Contract for Ground Processing of Spaceflight Cargo (Source: NASA)
NASA has awarded a contract to Leidos Innovations Corporation in Houston to provide pressurized cargo packing and unpacking for the International Space Station Program.

The Cargo Mission Contract (CMC) 3 contract is a cost-plus-award-fee contract with an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity element. The contract’s phase-in period begins Jan. 2, 2018, followed by a two-year base period, one two-year option, one 18-month option, and one one-year option, all which may be exercised at NASA's discretion. The maximum potential value of the contract, including all options, is $159 million. (9/15)

How Space Capsules Have Improved Over the Past 50 Years (Source: LA Times)
In 1961, an American astronaut reached space for the first time and soared through the heavens in a gumdrop-shaped capsule. Since then, people have flown to the moon, created space planes and designed rockets that return to Earth for precision landings. But when astronauts lift off next year from U.S. soil for the first time in six years, their vehicle of choice will be another capsule.

Despite the sleek spaceships of sci-fi imaginings or the familiar winged body of the shuttle, engineers have returned to the seemingly clunky capsule again and again for a simple reason — it works. Boeing and SpaceX are relying on the tried-and-true design as the two companies each develop spacecraft under NASA contracts to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station. Click here. (9/15)

House Passes Spending Bill with Space Provisions Intact (Source: Space News)
The House of Representatives passed an omnibus appropriations bill for fiscal year 2018 Sept. 14 that keeps funding for NASA and NOAA programs unchanged from earlier bills.

The House passed by a 211–198 vote H.R. 3354, the Make America Secure and Prosperous Appropriations Act, which combined eight separate appropriations bills into a single omnibus bill. Among the original bills included in the omnibus is the commerce, justice and science (CJS) appropriations bill, which the House Appropriations Committee approved July 13.

That earlier bill offered $19.871 billion for NASA for 2018, compared to the administration’s request of less than $19.1 billion and the agency’s $19.65 billion budget for 2017. Those provisions were unchanged in the omnibus bill, and there were no amendments during floor debate of the omnibus to make significant changes to those sections. (9/14)